Thick clouds rolled in with the night sky, but the darkness was punctuated by several purple spheres appearing and disappearing instantaneously across the city, bursting from nothing in a seemingly random pattern and dissipating just as quickly. The lights continued popping in and out, up and down Ascension's busiest streets, crossing over and sometimes doubling back onto themselves like a person looking for a lost key in a dark field, creating a path that appeared random but was instead a comprehensive recon of Ascension’s fourth sector.
Ethan was on high alert after each jump, pausing in the air until gravity started to force him back down, waiting for Sola to spring forth from a dark corner and launch herself at him. After a half-hour of teleporting throughout sector four, Ethan opened one last portal and stepped out onto a rough, gravel rooftop, panting as he took a seat with his legs dangling over the edge of the Exchange building, one of the tallest skyscrapers Ascension had to offer. For the third night in a row, Ethan had completed an entire canvassing of Sector One in hopes of drawing out Sola, using himself like a fishing lure, and found himself secretly relieved that no other Altered had taken the bait.
He was panting hard, sweat steaming off his face against the chilly evening air. Wiping his brow with the back of his sleeve, Ethan sighed and wished he had brought some water before he left the apartment. Or, fled the apartment, more accurately, given how quickly he had taken off.
After the Maybell incident Alex carried the practically catatonic Ethan all the way back their apartment in Ascension where he wordlessly walked off into his bed for the first time in several months and promptly slept for 36 hours straight. It was an unfortunately necessary development that sapped him of a day and a half of trying to track Sola down, but after a quick shower he saw that Raz had written the jewelry depot’s address down on a sticky note and stuck it to his closet door, allowing him to escape out his window and come straight here.
If he wanted to, he could have just teleported back, grabbed what he needed from his closet and returned right back in under a minute before Alex could ask him any more questions that might lead to her finding out that yes, actually, he knew exactly who attacked her in Maybell, and why.
Plus, he knew exactly how she got powers.
He wanted to tell Alexand Raz everything he knew, but every time he came close the feelings of anxiety and regret that could only be delivered by the disappointed face of his sister who gave you the opportunity of a lifetime and vouched for only for you to spike it into the ground hit him like a rogue wave, causing his heart to race and his palms to sweat.
So, despite just fixing his relationship with Raz a few days ago, Ethan was back to avoiding the apartment and, by extension Alex, staying there only when he knew she was on patrol.
Luckily, he had an excuse to get away.
Desperate to get away from his thoughts, Ethan teleported to the spot of tonight’s stakeout, a different angle on the museum than before, this time covering the loading docks near the back. Just as he was getting ready to settle in, his earpiece beeped, indicating an incoming call.
“Ethan, are you in position?” Raz asked, his voice clear over Ethan’s earpiece.
“Just finished patrol,” Ethan told him, “no takers yet, so I’m officially on watch.”
Ethan nestled himself in between two electrical boxes on the roof of the office building across the street from the Ascension History Museum, crouching so he wasn’t immediately obvious to anyone looking to break in. In front of him, parked in a weathered gravel lot with barbed wire fencing on all sides sat the mobile depot. From this distance it was entirely unassuming, but Ethan knew otherwise. In fact, the depot contained the biggest prize in the city: its immaculate showroom, proudly displaying millions of dollars worth of diamonds and other jewels locked up tightly behind bulletproof glass, the entrance and every window outfitted with an alarm system tied directly to a contracted security outfit that had a response time of less than two minutes if so much as a piece of dust landed the wrong way.
Which, of course, was little more than an annoyance to someone who could melt anything outside of pure tungsten, but the owners certainly couldn’t have anticipated someone with that particular skill set actually existing when they built the place a year ago. Luckily for them (he hoped), Ethan was on the case, using his sixth night to stake the place out, hoping for Sola to come take a crack at him.
“Well, let’s hope that Sola is on as tight a deadline as we are,” Raz said buzzed in through the comms, “because we’re quickly running out of time.”
Ethan’s mind immediately jumped to the conclusion Raz didn’t want to spell out for him. And if I don’t have something by the end of the week, Ethan thought, then all of this is for nothing.
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“Maybe I’m not as tasty a bait as we hoped.”
“Alex would certainly take a swing at you, if she got the chance,” Raz said. “Just a real solid punch right to the jaw. Don’t worry, though, I’ll stand up for you. She wouldn’t hit me. I think.”
Ethan shuddered at the thought. Alex was strong before gaining powers, and Raz, though protective, somehow always seemed to weigh exactly half of Ethan’s weight. “I have to imagine there’s some sort of discipline for fighting another Protector unprovoked.”
“It’s not exactly unprovoked, considering you’re still lying to her.”
“I’m not lying,” Ethan snapped, “I just…haven’t found a great way to tell her that I know who attacked her and why.”
“That’s probably because there’s no easy way to explain to her that you’ve known Rainey’s had powers for months and you kept that secret because you knew Amory wouldn’t let you become a Protector if she thought you unleashed a new Altered on Ascension. Which, really, you did.”
“Rainey’s not in Ascension,” Ethan tried, “at least…not yet. And that’s why we need to focus on capturing Sola first. They have to be working together.”
“Let’s hope,” Raz sighed, “or else you’re going to be back to square one with Rainey.”
“Yeah, well, regardless, if you want to stay in that nice apartment of ours, someone has to bring Sola in.”
“Hey, you wanted the powers, I was fine working in the mine. I liked the old apartment, at least I didn’t have to wait forever for an elevator to the penthouse.”
“Fair enough,” Ethan laughed.
Raz paused, long enough for a knot to form in Ethan’s stomach.
“Is it what you hoped for?” Raz asked.
Ethan stared out at Ascension, neon lights flashing in district two, the Aces stadium lit up for a home game. The frigid breeze brushed against his bare cheeks, a contrast to the consistent, damp conditions that marked the inside of the deepest mine tunnels. There were thousands of sounds and smells hitting him all at once, a symphony of life that invoked a desire to get out and see more, a welcome contrast to the mine where the only noise was the clink of his pickaxe off a vein and the groans of exertion.
“Better than I ever could’ve hoped,” Ethan answered.
“You know, despite how many awful moves you’ve pulled in the past few months…this does beat working in a mine. Especially since you’re the one getting beaten up this time.
Ethan laughed. “Whatever makes you happy, Raz.”
“I just hope you’re happy,” Raz said quietly, but loud enough for Ethan to hear.
If he was being honest, Ethan hadn’t quite made that decision yet. Until he could apologize to Alex and stop both Sola and Rainey, he couldn’t be quite sure.
“Ask me after we find Sola.”
“Will do. Call me if there’s any movement,” Raz instructed, hanging up and leaving Ethan alone in the night, watching a building with no activity in, or near its perimeter. He was, for the sixth straight night, totally alone.
Ethan sighed in frustration. He laid back onto the gravel, watching his breath fade above him.
“None of this is working,” he cursed. “I need to do something different. Something unexpected. If I was trying to rob a jewelry depot but didn’t want to stay out in the cold all night like an idiot, where would I go?”
He eyes his surroundings: Sector Four was primarily residential with a few nicer shops blended in with the empty streets. The north side was a mix of clothing boutiques and closed small restaurants. However, when he looked south, a brightly lit neon sign caught his eye, standing out amongst the dark storefronts. There was a 24 hour cafe just across the road from him with a nearly perfect view of the depot. Ethan glanced at the still-dark museum, then again at the diner. His hands and feet were quickly growing numb in the freezing cold.
“That…certainly would be where I’d go,” Ethan said, imagining how warm and cozy the inside of the diner must feel, practically salivating at the prospect of drinking a warm coffee. “And besides, Raz is watching the alarms, I’ll only be a street away if anything goes off inside the building.”
With one last cautious glance at the depot, Ethan opened a portal to the street below.
“It’s one coffee to keep me alert,” he said out loud. “How bad could it be?”
Within moments he had a table and a warm mug of coffee, wrapping his hands tightly around the glass, sighing contentedly. The cafe was nearlu empty, save for the waitress and, he assumed, a cook in the back, so he chose the table farthest from the door. He sipped his coffee slowly, keeping his eyes fixed on the depot out the window. In his concentration, he missed a woman up to him from behind. She strode next to his table, then finally caught his eye as she sat down across from him.
“Waiting for someone?” Sola asked, a smile tight across her lips.
Ethan cursed quietly.
“Horribly cold out, even for me,” Sola smiled, gesturing out the window with a hand that flashed purple, letting out a quiet hiss.
“We can’t fight in here,” Ethan said quietly, his eyes flickering from her hands to her face, trying to read her intentions. “Someone could get seriously hurt.”
“Someone will,” Sola promised, “unless you hear me out.”
Ethan hesitated, his eyes darting to the family seated next to him, then back to Sola. He sighed, then took a big sip to drain his coffee, nodding. “I’m listening.”
“I have an apartment nearby with better drinks than…this,” she gestured at the coffee that even Ethan had to admit tasted a little stale. “We’ll be going there right after the sedative takes hold.”
“After…what?” Ethan asked, suddenly feeling woozier than he ever had in his life. “What did you…do to me?”
“Perks of being a vet,” she smiled, flashing a small vial she pulled out of her jacket pocket. “You have terrible situational awareness, you know that?”
“I’ve been…told-oh,” Ethan’s head slammed on the table causing the coffee cup to jump.
“Finally, a good night’s sleep,” Sola whispered, sighing contentedly. She pulled out a hundred and waved it to the waitress, leaving it on the table. “You know, Ethan, I like you the best this way.”