“Why is he falling?” Lisa asked, confused.

A man, Gifted or not, did not casually fall while having a conversation. And the height he was falling from had to be significantly high considering how long he had been falling for.

Deoti was happy to say that she, too, was curious as to why he was falling.

“I will not say,” David answered simply.

“You know you can ask me, right, Lisa?” Dorthna said a little too kindly for Deoti’s comfort.

What was more annoying continued to be the fact that they knew nothing of this man called Dorthna. How he knew David and his family was an enigma. Who he was remained an enigma. How he could get away with scolding David and still be scolded by David was an enigma.

You’re thinking too hard about this, she told herself, seeking to calm herself. David’s life does not have to give you all its details. He’s just your boss.

Sadly, David had always treated them more as friends, and that had blurred the lines a little bit. Deoti liked to think of him as a good friend. A quiet friend that rarely if not never talked, but a good friend, still.

“Would you tell me if I asked you?” Lisa asked in response to Dorthna.

“Most likely not,” Dorthna answered, a smile in his voice. “But it’s a nice thing to do.”

“Dorthna,” David’s voice interrupted. “What do you know about the portal?”

“C-rank,” Dorthna replied, changing conversations seamlessly. “At least on paper. From what I’ve deduced, its most likely a pseudo B-rank. Not a B-rank but definitely not a C-rank. At least not anymore.”

“Have Delvers been sent in?” Fendor asked.

David raised his head and gave him a look no one could decipher before returning his attention back to his phone.

Everyone in the room remained confused. Why the look?

“I have it on good authority that there was a casualty at the point of the portal opening,” Dorthna continued. “A child, not Gifted. Which leads me to believe that whatever your third was doing there—sorry, your third child—it was not expected to be something beyond a Gifted’s ability to handle.”

“He is sixteen,” David said.

“He is Gifted. Trust me, there is segregation in this situation. But I digress. It’s been roughly twelve days since he left my reach. While I am not bothered, I would advise haste. As you already know, portals are one of the most controversial things in existence.”

David was quiet for a moment before he asked, “Do you have coordinates?”

“You do know that—”

Dorthna’s words were interrupted by a massive boom. It was loud and world shattering. It was the sound you would expect from a boulder dropped from a significant height.

Lisa perked up at the sound in worry and there wasn’t a single person in the room that did not wince.

Except David.

David simply waited patiently.

“Is he alright?” Axe asked with a touch of worry. “He doesn’t sound alright.”

“He’s alright,” David said.

Dorthna’s voice came through the phone a moment after.

“By Michael’s left wing. I’m going to rip his third eye out and feed it to his left leg when I find him!” he hissed. “Oh, the phone made it. That’s good to know.”

“You were hoping the phone wouldn’t make it,” David said, matter of fact.

“Well, the conversation was kind of encroaching on 'not my problem' territory and I didn’t want to cut the call,” Dorthna said unapologetically. “The phone not making it was supposed to be a better option.”

“Did he just hit the ground?” Saxi asked, looking around to each teammate for an answer.

Deoti believed that was accurate.

Where exactly did he fall from?

“You do know that lies outside my jurisdiction, right?” Dorthna told David casually.

“I do,” David answered. “But I had to ask… in case.”

Deoti wasn’t sure if David was asking because he was a worried father or if he was trying to gauge how he would respond to the outcome of this entire situation when it was over.

If the government had indeed sent Delvers to help his child, it was a good thing. But it also meant that they would have to arrange whatever strategy they came up with to handle those Delvers as well.

That Deoti did not know which of the reasons David was asking for said a lot about David’s relationship with his team.

Dorthna sighed. “You’re lucky I am a fan of at least two of your offsprings. Delvers have been dispatched. And only a few hours ago. From what I can tell, they are not supposed to be enough since the portal is being treated as a C-rank portal. You should get there or send someone you trust. But I’m guessing you’re going in yourself.”

“I am.”

Dorthna chuckled. “For a pseudo B-rank. I pity the portal inhabitants already. I’ll text you the address.”

Then the call cut.

“Why didn’t he just say the address?” Saxi asked no one in particular.

“Because he just might be a bit of an arse,” Deoti answered, hoping she was allowed to talk.

Then she turned to David a moment before the phone in his hand lit up with a message.

“I’ve got a question, Boss,” she said.

David stared down at the phone screen. “Ask.”

The mobile phone looked so tiny in his hands and he looked down at whatever he was looking at as if he couldn’t understand how phones worked.

“Why didn’t you stand up for me?”

It was a petty question, and Deoti knew she shouldn’t have asked it. But she felt offended by the fact that he had not stood up for her the way he had stood up for Lisa. She knew Lisa hadn’t deserved Dorthna’s rudeness, but while she had, Deoti refused to believe what she had done was worth having someone threaten her life.

David’s answer was simple and a little more than she expected.

“Because you would’ve died when he said you would've died.”

That gave everyone another moment of pause. Deoti was an S-ranker. It wasn’t difficult to believe that there was someone out there she didn’t know that was capable of killing her. The time specificity was what had her stumped.

Also, the fact that David had said it so simply and precisely meant that he didn’t believe the man that had been on the other end of the phone call could somehow cause her death on the day of his choosing, he knew it.

“Oh,” Deoti muttered.

That was a bit overwhelming. Especially when her class was technically overpowered.

“Don’t think too hard about it, D.” Fendor patted her on the back softly. “It’s a big world and you’re just a little girl in a large world. There was bound to be somebody capable of killing you at whatever time they pleased.”

Deoti shot him a scowl. “Little girl? You’re younger than me.”

Fendor shrugged. “Semantics.”

David tapped on the mobile phone a few more times, then turned to Axe. “Help.”

“Yes, Boss,” Axe said, then looked at Lisa. “Please do the honors.”

Lisa groaned as she got up from her seat.

“You know you’ll have to learn how to use smart phones at some point in time, Boss,” she said as she walked up to David. “They’ve been around since forever. And you also quite literally own one.”

When she got to him, she held her hand out and he placed the device in it.

“What do we need?” she asked him.

“Gps,” he answered.

“And a plan,” Axe added.

Lisa tapped on the phone screen a few times before turning to Saxi. “I’ve got the gps up with the address. Your turn.”

She tossed him the phone and he caught it easily.

He stared down at the map, committing it to memory. Saxi was their scout and guide. Directions were all abandoned to his responsibility.

Deoti was yet to meet a better scout than the man.

He tossed the phone back to Lisa, who caught it easily. “Got it. Your turn.”

“Confirm you have a pre-planned route as well as alternative routes,” she said, her tone business-like.

“Confirmed,” he answered, then looked at David. “Speed or stealth.”

“Speed,” David said. “We adapt as we go.”

Saxi nodded.

“How’s the leg?” Axe asked him.

Saxi tapped the leg in question on the ground. “Ninety percent. Not a big deal in B-rank portal.”

Everyone agreed.

“Alright, then,” Lisa said, looking at each of them. “Then comms going live in three, two, one…”

Deoti's interface flashed in front of her.

[You have received an Entry request from Lisa.]

[Would you like to accept?]

[Y/N]

Deoti didn’t waste anytime, accepting the request without thinking about it.

[You have accepted]

[You have been afflicted with skill Mind Thief.]

Not for the first time, Deoti was glad that she and Lisa were on the same team. She always got a prompt before the skill affected her, but she’d heard enough rumors about the skill at S-rank being able to intrude on another person’s mind without requesting for permission.

Confirm comms are operational, Lisa’s voice echoed in Deoti’s head along with a slight discomfort in her leg. It wasn’t significant, it was simply just there.

Confirmed, she replied, along with five other voices.

Good, Lisa said, then turned to Saxi once more. I need more access, Saxi. And can you isolate the pain in your leg, it’s trickling into the comms.

Sorry, Saxi apologized. You should have access now.

Thank you.

The words were barely finished when something appeared in Deoti’s periphery. It was hazy, coming to life at the bottom left side of her vision.

It took a second before it took a clear shape. It was round and compact. A map. At one point of it was were six dots. All the dots were green. One was a deeper green than the rest.

David was always designated as the deepest green.

A moment after, the lines representing the roads and pathways on the map lit up. Deoti stared at a single line that ran straight from the box they were currently in all the way to the side of the map until it disappeared into it.

Deoti could never be unimpressed by Saxi’s mapping skill. He said the skill was named the [Gamer’s Guide] and apparently had a few more features than this.

Reroute, David’s voice came through and a visible shiver went through Deoti.

Unlike the others whose thoughts carried the same sound as their actual voices, David’s was different. The sound of his thoughts was…

Deoti didn’t have any actual way to put it into perspective. The best she could describe it, and this was her being nice, was that it sounded like what you would expect a thousand demons crying at the gates of hell to sound like.

She could still remember the way the entire team had reacted the first time they’d heard it. Now they were better accustomed to it. They had to be, since Lisa couldn’t alter it.

Alright, Boss, Saxi replied.

The route highlighted in blue dimmed, then turned yellow. An alternate path lit up in blue.

Good, David thought, then started walking towards the door. Plans will be made in the car.

When he got to the door, he opened it and ducked beneath the door frame so that he could pass.

Um… Boss.

David stopped halfway out the door to look at Lisa. Yes?

Lisa looked down at herself. Like everyone else in the room she was dressed in military black, dark enough to blend in with the night. The attire was custom made, crafted by Fendor. And from her vest hung a military issued automatic rifle along with magazines and a few other items designed to aid in clearing a portal or waging a small war.

Maybe we shouldn’t go out looking like this, Lisa thought back.

David looked down at himself then grunted in what could’ve meant anything. Stepping back into the house, he closed the door behind him.

Fendor, he thought but Fendor was already moving.

Got it, Boss.

Fendor placed his hand on the ground beneath him and it gently sank into the shadow cast by his feet from the candle light, then the shadow expanded.

Alright, kids, I’ll need everyone’s measurements, he thought. I’ve already got Saxi’s, Boss’, and Axe’s… Oh, I’ve got Lisa’s, too.

He turned and gave Deoti an impish grin. I guess that leaves you, kid.

Deoti sighed. I’m older than you.

Each person in the room was already stripping down their attire, removing their guns and vests, taking off their pants.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Bust, waist, hips. Fendor’s smile turned into one of false innocence. The whole shebang.

Deoti sighed, taking off her vest. I ain’t giving you squat.

In a matter of seconds, all their clothes and guns were neatly folded and waiting in front of Fendor. Deoti had given him nothing of the information he'd asked for.

Alright, then, he thought. This will just take a very quick moment.

Each piece of clothing sank into the darkness. The process was simple as they went down one by one. Each pile was replaced by a new pile of the same size, and Fendor called out the name of the owners as they came up, starting with David.

Before long, they were all dressed in casual clothing, comfortable and perfectly sized.

The next time you ask for my measurements, I’m reporting you to HR, Deoti told him as they left the building and made their way down the flight of stairs. I’m sure there’s a sexual harassment policy breach in there.

There is, Lisa said. But they are more likely to take you in than help you.

That was not lost to Deoti. There was a high chance that once they were done with this rogue operation, David would have a sit down with the government and they would all be exonerated somehow. Unlike S-ranks that could always be poached from one country or the other, Oaths were not expendable.

Since they’d gone against Shield directly and had been quite rude to her, Deoti was more than certain that the woman would want their heads on a spike. The legal equivalent would be contract termination of some form or some punishment here or there.

And the government would rather lose five S-rankers than an Oath.

Which meant the only person that could save their careers, not that it really needed saving, was David.

Actually, David was less likely to be the one doing the negotiating. All communications between David and legal bodies usually went through his wife, after all.

When they got downstairs, Deoti led them out of the building and into the alleyway. They would’ve looked no more conspicuous than would be expected of a group of adults walking in the night if not for the behemoths that were David and Axe.

When they got to the alley, Saxi paused and gave Deoti a displeased look.

Really, he thought, gesturing at the car. A mini bus?

It’s called a sienna, Lisa pointed out, walking past him and towards the car. Who’s driving?

Deoti tossed Axe the key. Hopefully Axe. He’s the best driver.

I’m the best driver, Saxi retorted with great emphasis on himself. No one outdrives me.

Axe headed for the driver’s side of the car. Would you like to drive a mini bus, Sax?

It’s a sienna, Deoti groaned. A Si-en-na.

Axe opened the door and hopped into the car. He pressed a button and the side door slid open to the passenger section.

You couldn’t steal a good lambo or something, Saxi muttered as he opened the front passenger door and hopped in.

First, Fendor pointed out. How do you expect Boss to fit in a lambo?

Well, she could’ve picked one up for me, too.

Second, Fendor continued without missing a beat. Where do you think we are that she would find one just lying around? She was picking up a means of transportation not executing a daring heist.

I thought you guys have that lying around.

Fendor entered the vehicle last and Axe pressed a button. The passenger door slowly started sliding shut as he turned the car on.

This isn’t the movies or the Gifted capital city, Sax, Fendor pointed out.

Saxi was a Congolese, from one of the actual villages in the country. When he’d gained his class he’d been closing their portals until he’d had a bit of a mishap in his country a year back. No one knew what exactly the mishap was except David, and from what they knew, David had scouted him personally.

He spent every moment he was not in a portal or answering to government requests in his house in the Gifted capital of the country where there were high priced cars casually parked on the side of the roads.

Everything he knew about the country was from movies and the Gifted capital city. He wasn’t so blinded to reality that he thought expensive cars were parked on the side of the road everywhere in the country, but he was jaded enough to believe that there had to be at least one somewhere.

Axe turned the vehicle onto the road and their journey to their next destination started. On the map at the bottom left corner of Deoti’s view, they were nothing but a bleep moving in a direction down the path.

It was exactly like a gps on any smart phone or a video game.

So about that strategy, Fendor said. Guns are in storage, so I’m guessing I bring them out once we’re in the portal?

Isn’t it better to go guns out before entering the portal? Saxi asked. That’s how we always do it.

Yes, Linda agreed. But this is a pseudo B-rank. Trust me, we’ve got nothing to worry about. We should keep the guns hidden so we don’t look like a threat to anyone currently guarding the portal.

Do you think the Alfa woman’s going to be there? Axe asked.

Personally, no. Deoti drew an invisible circle on the window next to her, simply looking for what to do with her hands. If she’s irresponsible enough to get a kid caught up in a portal, I don’t think she’d care enough to stay through an entire night. She’s probably home.

Then there’ll be night duty cops. Axe took a turn. Innocent people with no relationship to this mess. Best not to scare them with a group of armed people coming up to them.

I take it we’re sneaking in, then, Lisa thought.

Why? Saxi asked, puzzled. We’re S-rankers. They should be happy to have us. I’m sure the moment they know its us, they’ll pull out the red carpet.

He’s kidding… Fendor turned to Lisa. Right?

She shook her head.

Human behavior doesn’t always work that way, Saxi, she told him. In this situation, if there’s anybody who knows enough they’ll panic if a bunch of S-rankers suddenly turn up. If this is as big an internal mess as I think it is—

As it should be, Fendor slipped in.

—Then no one will be pleased to see powerful Delvers showing up, Lisa continued without missing a beat. They’ll most likely want to throw laws in our face to stop us. We’re likely to get told things about how S-rankers aren’t allowed in gates below A-rank unless in specific emergency situations and things like that.

Deoti wasn’t really a fan of that law but she understood it. Having S-rankers go around closing every portal that popped up was only good in the short run. In the long run, it would be problematic since lower ranked Delvers would not have the experience required to close any portal.

A class rank, after all, does not necessarily interpret to a Gifted’s power. An inexperienced A-rank Delver could find themselves dying in a C-rank portal easier than people would believe possible.

So portals have class restrictions except in cases of emergency so that all Delvers get the chance to grow and learn and gain experience.

So what do we do when they hit us with something like that? Saxi asked.

We blackmail them, Fendor replied sinisterly.

We aren’t blackmailing anyone, Deoti snapped at him. Then she turned to David. Right?

David said nothing for a moment, and Deoti got the feeling that he was thinking. Everyone else probably did because no one said anything.

It took about three to five seconds before he finally replied.

When we get there, he thought slowly, his words echoing in their minds chaotically despite also being so slow, Deoti will speak if we run into any official of any powerful capacity.

That made everyone pause. Axe had to look at David through the rear view mirror.

Are you sure, Boss? He asked.

David only nodded.

Deoti was hesitant. Linda was their comms specialist for a reason. She wasn’t just the link to their mental communication but also their mediator between them and normal civilians.

She did it better than the rest of the. She could de-escalate any situation with words as easily as she could escalate anyone. And the entire team always trusted her ability to convey what they needed conveyed in whatever way the situation required.

Uhm… is there a way you would like me to run it, Boss? Deoti asked a little concerned since he was putting her outside her comfort zone.

Free rein, he thought. Whatever you feel.

This was a problem. David only gave them free rein as regards their levels of expertise and their comfort zone.

You did not give a blacksmith free rein at building a card house.

Okay, Deoti replied with concern.

But if she was being given free reign then she was being given free reign. And she definitely knew how she felt about people who would be so stupid as to let a child end up in a portal.

Especially David’s child.

On the map in front of her, their destination appeared within the circle. It was marked with a simple red pin.

Between Fendor teleporting them to the outskirts of Brooklyn, them making their way here, and her stealing a car and buying a phone off some random kid, they were finally on their way to save Mel.

Deoti only hoped they weren’t too late.

Just because she could, she turned to David and asked, what if I was inside a portal on that day.

His thought was a simple response. It came in her head in the same screeching sound of dying demons.

It wouldn’t matter.

The response scared her, not because he continued to be in support of whoever Dorthna was, but because all the demons that were the sound of his thoughts sounded as one.

Deoti was sure of one thing. She wasn’t going to touch the subject of Dorthna again.

…

It had been a few days and they hadn’t cut the lights to the building. Or the water. Portals rarely appeared in residential areas but there were protocols for when they did.

Portals affected humans but they rarely affected anything else when they appeared. Only living things. Buildings remained intact, except on the few occasions when they appeared between walls.

So the lights were on, the house brightly lit.

“Have it.”

Alfa looked up and away from the portal. In front of her was her husband, The Blight, offering her a glass of water.

“If you won’t come home,” he said, “the least you can do is keep yourself hydrated.”

Alfa was in no mood to drink water. Still, she took the glass cup from him and took a sip. The water was room temperature, just the way she liked it.

“Still,” The Blight settled down on the floor and sat beside her, “you should really come home.”

Alfa pulled her legs up to her chest and hugged them after dropping the glass of water beside her.

“I want to be here when they come out,” she said. “I owe it to them.”

“It’s a C-rank portal,” her husband said casually. “And Clinton is a B-rank Delver. Trust me, they’ll be fine. The kid will be fine, too.”

Alfa frowned. “You don’t know that.”

“Maybe not. But sometimes you have to hope for the best while you pray for it.”

“That’s not how life works, babe,” Alfa sighed. Her husband was always trying to be optimistic about almost everything, which was weird when his power quite literally rotted things alive.

“I don’t know,” she said suddenly. “I should’ve been able to prevent this. I should’ve known better.”

“Hindsight is always perfect, love.” Her husband looked up at the ceiling. “You knew better, trust me. The world just works the way it works.”

“I just think that—”

The Blight turned to her when her words stopped abruptly and found her holding a finger to her lips.

“Hey!” someone said from the stairs. “You can’t be here?”

Alfa and her husband waited patiently, listened to the conversation.

“I said you can’t be—”

The words cut off suddenly and Alfa paled. She really hoped tonight wasn’t the night.

Please no.

“What was that?” The Blight asked.

“Something we shouldn’t be experiencing,” she muttered, pulling herself to her feet. “I really hope I’m wrong.”

“What shouldn’t we be experiencing?” her husband asked, coming to stand beside her.

Not for the first time Alfa wanted to tell him what the commissioner had told her, but she couldn’t. She was yet to experience to consequences of the knowledge she was now burdened with but the commissioner had made it sound extremely dire.

In the event that it was the case and it was really terrible, she didn’t want to burden her husband with the same problems.

Instead, she reached for her side arm and pulled her gun free from its holster. It was a simple handgun, government issued. She doubted it would do anything to someone who carried the title of Oath, but there was something calming about having the weapon in her hand.

“Who are we getting into a fight with?” her husband asked in a low whisper.

Alfa inched closer to the door. “Hopefully nobody.”

When she got to the door, she took cover at the wall beside it and pointed her gun, aimed outside.

“Announce yourself,” she instructed.

To her surprise, she got an answer.

“No.”

It was a woman’s voice.

Was it an Oath? The commissioner said nothing about which parent was the Oath. It could be Melmarc’s mother or it could be his father.

She didn’t know which one would turn out to be the better option.

“I’d rather not come and take your gun from you,” the voice said.

Half-certain that whoever the person was had no intentions of attacking her, Alfa stuck her head out so that she could see the person.

A lady in her thirties stood at the head of the stairs dressed in a grey hoodie that said ‘Here for a good time not a long time’ and cargo pants. At her feet were two of Alfa’s detectives. Nan and Kolaski. The latter wasn’t necessarily under her direct command.

Her eyes must’ve settled on the words a little too long because the woman looked down at it, then frowned. She had the expression of someone trying to focus which was unsurprising. It wasn’t very easy to read the words on a shirt you were wearing.

After a moment she swore under her breath. “I’m going to kill him.”

“Babe?” The Blight said beside Alfa and she gestured him to silence.

“You haven’t announced yourself,” she told the woman, gun still aimed.

The woman paused, then groaned like a woman having to deal with a child she didn’t like. “You should know that the moment you pull that trigger, everything is going to go very awry.”

Alfa didn’t want to pull the trigger. “Then you should introduce yourself.”

“No.”

“Are you a Delver?”

“Likely.”

“A ranker?”

Beside Alfa, The Blight stiffened. “Why would a ranker be coming to a C-rank portal.”

“Because the kid’s dad is probably strong enough to be a ranker,” she answered in a low voice.

The woman at the stairs gave a low whistle. “So you do know something. That should make this easier. Stand down.”

“There are rules to portal acquisitions,” Alfa said. “You know that. This portal is a C-rank. Someone of your capacity shouldn’t be here. You don’t have any jurisdiction.”

The moment the words left Alfa’s mouth, she had a very sinking feeling that they were the wrong words to be said because a slow smile split the woman’s face.

Things were about to take a sharp turn and she knew it.

She turned to her husband. “Honey, we need to act—”

When she turned back to the woman, she was gone.

“Shit,” she swore. “We’re in trouble.”

But Oath or not, she wasn’t going to let some Delver walk into her jurisdiction, kill her detectives and just trample all over her and the laws without putting up a fight. That she was the weaker party did not mean that she had to roll over and die.

The Blight was already moving. He’d barely taken two steps when the air in the room pulled in one direction.

Alfa turned and found a black hole opening right at the center of the room. The woman was a teleporter. That was bad, very bad.

She raised her gun, aimed at the black hole appearing. Some teleporters could be hit through their portals, but she doubted the same laws would apply to an Oath.

Come on, come out. She kept her aim low, hoping to shoot the woman in the leg if she had to.

She didn’t have to watch her back in the event that the woman was not alone, after all, there was nobody she could trust with her back more than her husband.

Then a loud thud erupted from behind her and shook the floor beneath her feet.

“If I feel anymore pain than this, I’ll crush your head like a tomato,” a deep voice said from behind her.

It was followed by the low mumbling of her husband’s voice, too smothered for her to make out.

Alfa turned immediately, trained the gun on her new target.

A man stood there. He was tall, maybe five inches over six feet, and he had her husband’s head buried in a crater in the wall. His hand was almost a paw that covered The Blight’s entire lower face.

Alfa’s husband, ever the fighter, had both hands wrapped around the man’s massive forearm, green liquid pooling from it.

Alfa had seen it enough times to know he’d used his skill. The fact that the large man wasn’t screaming in pain was a testament to his pain tolerance.

“Let him go!” Alfa barked, barely containing herself. “I said let him go!”

“So jumpy.”

The words were barely done reaching Alfa’s ears when her hand reached for her second gun. She drew it in one fluid motion and aimed it at the portal. She did not aim low.

“Don’t you come any closer!” she barked at the black hole. “I swear to God I’ll shoot you in the head.”

It was a man’s voice and she found two people standing where there had once been a black hole. A man and a woman.

“Am I the only one with an overwhelming urge to punch her?” the woman asked the man casually, as if there wasn’t a gun currently pointed t them.

The man shook his head. “Nope.”

“But I thought you don’t hit women?” the woman asked.

“I do when she has a weapon.”

The woman made a gesture with a shrug of her shoulders that said she wasn’t going to complain about it.

“Fair point,” she said. “Especially when it’s a weapon riddled in so many enchantments.”

Well, that took the element of surprise out of Alfa’s favor. Most Delvers of significant enough strength weren’t affected by gunshots, but her guns were enchanted, which gave each shot an extra oomf.

If these people knew that, then they wouldn’t underestimate her.

“Hit her in the face and get this over with,” the man said. “You definitely don’t want her pointing a gun at Boss. You know how he can get.”

“He’ll probably be fine,” the woman shrugged.

Alfa hesitated but didn’t put down her gun. “Tell your friend to let go of my husband.”

She said the words slowly, trying to calm herself. They were outnumbered, and there was a high chance that all of them were stronger Gifted than her and her husband.

Alfa didn’t like the fact that she couldn’t avenge her detectives, but her husband’s life wasn’t worth avenging them either. Not to her.

The woman cocked a brow at her. “Do you really not understand that you are in no position to make demands?”

Alfa worried her lower lip between her teeth. “…Please.”

“Would you like to let him go, Axe?” the woman asked.

Axe looked back at her. “If he stops struggling, I will let him go.”

Alfa turned to tell her husband everything was going to be alright when her instincts reacted. She returned her attention to the woman and pulled the trigger of her gun.

There was a muffled cough from her weapon as her silence enchantment kicked in but the woman was gone, weaving beneath her arm.

Alfa tried to readjust her aim but her arm was already in the woman’s hands. In a quick flurry of motion, she’d lost her gun and it clattered to the ground, skidding along it to one end of the room.

Outclassed, Alfa refused to go down without a fight. Her second arm was already in motion, weapon taking aim. The woman disarmed her in the blink of an eye.

Alfa stood, shocked as the woman disassembled her heavily enchanted gun and tossed the parts aside.

“I hate enchanters,” she muttered, then turned to her companion. “Look at all the things she had to go through to imitate a fraction of what I can do.”

“Don’t be a hater,” the man teased. Then he looked at Alfa and added: “Spread your legs and grit your teeth.”

“What?” Alfa stuttered a second before pain flared in her jaw.

A few years ago, she’d enchanted a tooth on both sides of her mouth for this exact situation. She did not see the blow, but one of the enchantments lit up to protect her from the concussive effect of being punched square in the jaw.

Her head snapped to the side even as the enchantment came on and she staggered back. All she thought was how she had to remain on her feet as the world swirled around her.

Then she crumpled to the ground, powerless. Her head was spinning.

“All clear!” the woman called out to nobody over Alfa.

As for the man, he squinted down at Alfa, then looked at the woman. “Did you have to hit her so hard.”

“Oh, please,” the woman snorted. “I barely tapped her. I’m not trying to kill a low rank.”

“Well, that was—”

The man shut up as someone walked into the room.

Their new companion was large, so large that he had to bend to pass the door. Once he was inside, his eyes settled only on the portal. He afforded no one else his attention even as The Blight resumed his chaotic struggle against Axe’s hold.

After a moment, he finally looked at Alfa and she paled.

She recognized his face. She had seen it before. On a video recording.

Life had decided that she had run out of good luck. Naymond had effectively made her the enemy of a man who’d beat a dragon and its knight without breaking a sweat.

And just as he had looked in the video, he remained without expression.

He walked into the room and a lady and a guy followed behind him.

When the man that was Melmarc’s father got to her front, he stopped to look down at her. His eyes remained empty, though Alfa had a strong feeling that he was considering something. In the end, he spoke.

“You are weak.”

Weak. It was a simple word, a heavy word. Alfa heard it and had never been happier to be weak in her life. She had the feeling that he was telling her that she was too weak to gain his attention.

She needed to be weaker. His attention was something she definitely did not need.

“Too weak,” the man continued. “I do not know how to handle this. I do not know what punishment befits such weakness. So I will leave it for the one who decides for me when she returns.”

Then he turned and walked into the portal as if nothing else mattered.

Alfa hoped she was also too weak for whoever ‘she’ was.

The man and the woman who’d come out of the black hole followed Melmarc’s father and disappeared into the portal. Then the man and woman that had entered with him followed, all of them dressed in casual clothing.

Only Axe was left now, and try as she did, Alfa still couldn’t move. Her legs still wouldn’t obey her.

Axe held The Blight up by the head without any strain, then threw him against another wall. Alfa’s husband hit it with a loud thud before falling to the ground.

Axe walked up to the portal, turning his back on The Blight without concern. When he got to it, he did not enter immediately. Instead, he stopped to look at Alfa.

“If you have a God,” he said. “Pray to him, and hope that he does not forsake you.”

Then he disappeared into the portal.

None of them had batted an eye at the statue of pepper on the other side of the room. None of them had cared.

Alfa realized then that the only reason she was still alive was because all of them did not deem her important. She was merely an insignificance that had just happened to be between them and the portal.

They had weighed her value and found her empty.

She had not been worth killing.