Beneath the brim of the wide hat, the scribbled marks obscuring the Hatman’s face spasmed as Dyna pulled the trigger. They stretched and shrank, spun and twisted. Every instant, they redrew themselves, scribbling over his face with a far more frantic urgency. Despite the rapid motion, Dyna still could not see what was beneath the veil.

Or perhaps she couldn’t remember what his face looked like. The goggles she wore did seem to stop him from erasing her conscious memory of his very existence, but she was kind of glad that it didn’t work on his actual face. If he was going to such lengths to hide it, it probably wasn’t anything she wanted to look at anyway.

Not that she cared in this particular moment. Dyna wasn’t sure why she cared so much about his face. Really, all she wanted was for him to not be anywhere near her.

Dyna couldn’t allow herself to get caught.

Not because whatever the Hatman had planned for his victims was surely horrifying and nightmarish, though it certainly was, but because that would mean her only immediate source of help would come from Tartarus.

She was getting enough help from them already. Falling further into their debt… They were already exchanging Grafton for helping Ruby. Dyna didn’t want to know what Id would ask for if Walter had to go to the infuriating woman for more help.

Dyna pulled the disruptor gun’s trigger.

Again and again.

Each pull sent convulsions, twitches, and jerks through the squiggly felt marker streaks. More importantly, each pull locked the Hatman in place. He wasn’t falling down anymore, but he wasn’t coming closer either. Each pull of the trigger stopped him for only a few seconds, but that was enough to take a step backward.

The ghostly entity that was Ruby wasn’t sitting still. Dyna didn’t know if Ruby could perceive her, but she definitely could perceive the Hatman. With the harness on Ruby, Dyna could see the younger girl far better than the transparent ghostly form from before. Ruby still wasn’t tangible, but the harness was doing something. She was slightly more opaque.

And she was trying to get Dyna away. Accidentally or on purpose, Dyna wasn’t sure. Ruby’s arms passed straight through Dyna, but the harness did not. The straps pushed Dyna back, forcing her into a stumbling backpedal to avoid tripping to the ground.

Unfortunately, Ruby was pushing her the wrong away. They were moving away from the Hatman, which was good, but also away from the truck.

Grabbing hold of the harness, Dyna yanked Ruby back. She didn’t stop there. Firing one last blast from the weakened disruptor gun, Dyna pulled Ruby along, moving around the Hatman and back toward the truck. Ruby, thankfully, didn’t fight their change in momentum. Once they got around the Hatman, Ruby ended up leading the way, charging forward ahead of Dyna.

Dyna wasn’t sure if it was the adrenaline, her using Ruby as a guide, or if she was simply getting used to them, but the goggles didn’t make her immediately want to throw up despite practically running. A good part of it might have been her focus on the truck. Their destination. Safety?

Ado stood in the back of the truck, holding another disruptor gun. One quite a bit larger than the one Dyna had, though this one was hooked up to the side of the truck with a thick black cable. She had it aimed right at Dyna and Ruby.

“Duck, please,” Ado said.

Realizing that, if Ado was aiming at her, it must mean that the Hatman was right behind her, Dyna didn’t hesitate in grabbing hold of Ruby’s harness and tackling the currently ethereal girl to the ground.

A wave rolled over Dyna. She felt it tingling in her mind, triggering the training she had gotten at the institute. Before she could try to do anything with that training, her mind seized up. She barely managed to lean away from the harness and Ruby before emptying the contents of her stomach onto the dusty lot. Luckily, with how hectic the day had been, she hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. Little more than liquid came out.

Despite vomiting, Dyna managed to look back.

Ado hadn’t been aiming for her, which was a suspicion that flashed through Dyna’s mind for a brief moment when she felt that wave. One she was glad to have evidence to debase.

The Hatman was still there, just on her feet, but he wasn’t standing any longer. It wasn’t that he had adapted to the gun. As Dyna suspected, her disruptor must have been out of charge. With Ado’s hooked up to the truck, it could probably fire at full power for far longer, if not indefinitely.

Nausea from the disruptor subsiding and adrenaline spiking, Dyna got back to her feet, dragging Ruby along with her. Though she still couldn’t see her, she could definitely tell that Ruby had been affected by the disruptor as well. Where before, Ruby had been spry and rushing forward on her own, now Dyna practically had to force her along.

Dyna now had a new goal in life: She did not want to be on the receiving end of a direct hit from those disruptor weapons. It hadn’t been pleasant on the periphery, she doubted a direct hit would be any better.

Rather than fire a second shot of the disruptor right away, Ado started fiddling with the knobs and buttons on the side of the gun. The same ones that she had told Dyna to avoid messing with. Once done, she took aim again.

This time, Dyna did not want to get anywhere close to its area of effect. Dragging Ruby, Dyna veered off to the side, still headed toward the truck, but hopefully putting herself far enough away from the blast that neither of them would be hit.

Ado fired again. There wasn’t any sound or indication that she did so aside from a slight tensing of the muscles in her fingers and the Hatman’s reaction.

The Hatman, still on the ground from the first shot, let out the first noise that Dyna had heard from him.

A loud, piercing shriek. One of far higher pitch than she would have expected. Almost like the noise an opera singer might hit when going for the high note.

Dyna didn’t look back. She grabbed Ruby and, glad she hadn’t been affected by the disruptor, rushed the last few feet to the truck. Grabbing hold of Ruby’s harness, she did her best to shove Ruby into the back. Ado hung up the gun and then bent to help.

It was awkward, somewhat. Ruby’s translucent legs dangled through the floor. For whatever reason, it didn’t seem like she could physically interact with the truck despite having not fallen through the world itself just a few moments ago. Which probably had something to do with the way the door of the warehouse had been closed for Dyna but open in her view through the goggles. Though, in that light, it was strange that the truck was there both with the goggles and without. Then again, Ruby wasn’t there with the goggles. The goggles let Dyna see something, but Ruby existed just a step away from that.

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Maybe.

That was too much to think about at the moment.

Especially when Ado reached up to her ear and said, “Drive.”

Dyna wasn’t even in the truck yet. She jumped, getting her upper body in, but her own legs were still dangling out the back when the truck started forward. One arm swung wildly, looking for anything to grab hold of to anchor herself inside.

Matt’s hand clasped onto her wrist. Despite his injuries, he did his best to pull back, hauling Dyna up and further into the truck.

The truck circled around in the empty lot, driving clear of the Hatman by quite a distance as it turned back the way it had come. Only once they were out and on a proper street did Dyna finally feel like she could breathe. Her palms were covered in sweat. Trembling tension ran through every muscle. She felt like she was going to throw up again.

But they were away.

The Hatman would probably chase them, but in the truck, he wouldn’t be able to catch them. Not unless he could teleport directly inside. A possibility that Dyna didn’t even want to think about.

“Thanks,” she mumbled. Looking away from Matt and to Ado, Dyna glared. “Did you have to start moving before I was even in the truck?”

The woman didn’t even glance toward Dyna. She hung the disruptor gun up on a rack on the truck’s wall, keeping one hand tightly gripped to a small handle. “Would you have preferred to stay in close proximity to the entity?” As she spoke, she hit a button, closing the rear door to the truck. Only once the door had fully lowered did she actually let go of the handle and take a step back toward the terminal at the opposite end of the truck.

“I would prefer to not wind up left behind,” Dyna said, letting out a small sigh. “Are we safe?”

“I certainly hope so.” Ado didn’t make it all the way to the terminal. The truck took a harsh turn, forcing her to grab a hold of a rack. After the truck straightened out, however, Ado did not continue toward the terminal. She opened up a glass door on the rack she had used for support and pulled out a handheld device. A long silvery rod on the end of a polymer handle, connected by a thin wire to a small rectangular box with a digital screen on the front.

She hurried back to where Ruby…

Ruby’s harness squirmed on the floor of the truck, wiggling and thrashing. With the translucency, Dyna could tell that her legs were still dangling through the bottom of the truck as if it didn’t exist at all. From her perspective, she must be whizzing through the air at fifty miles an hour with nothing around her. Anyone else, and Dyna would have worried about their feet skimming along the ground. Dyna was still worried for Ruby, but at least she could heal road rash.

Dyna pushed the goggles up onto her forehead, letting her see… nothing.

The translucent form of Ruby simply wasn’t there. The harness was. It still moved back and forth, filled out like someone was wearing it. But nobody was there.

“Can you see her?”

“No,” Ado said, shoving the silver rod right into where Ruby’s head was. Not that Ruby seemed to notice.

At the same time, Matt said, “Yes? It’s a ghost, but more real.”

“Likely a consequence of the harness and its attempts to tether her,” Ado said, looking down at the screen of the tool she was using. “I should like to examine you later. If I can devise a method to replicate your natural ability, it could greatly assist our endeavors against the entity.”

“You can do that?” Dyna said.

“Of course. My specialty is replicating or enhancing psychic powers with technology. I devised all the…” She trailed off. Despite the silver face obscuring mask, Dyna could tell she was frowning. “I devised all the non-entity specific technology we use. Which sadly is not the majority these days.”

“So this truck—”

“Almost nothing is my own.”

“Who built it?”

“I don’t know.”

“But—”

“It is a complex situation and one I am not willing to discuss. Drop the subject, please.”

Dyna pressed her lips together. So much for gleaning a little information. She probably shouldn’t be digging while they were working together, especially not while Ruby was in trouble and it was looking like only they would be able to help her, but Dyna was incredibly interested in the subject. It wasn’t even that Walter had told her to gather information before coming down here.

Replicating psychic powers?

That illusion projecting device that Id had used in the self-storage facility had probably been Ado’s invention. That had created illusions that Melanie could have made, but had been a machine rather than a person. The masks that obviously had some kind of psionic shielding in them were probably her creation as well. Maybe even Grafton’s prosthetics? Despite examining him, the Carroll Institute wasn’t sure what they did or how they did it… at least not as far as Dyna had heard. Granted, she wasn’t told everything, but she had asked about it.

What else could she make? Mind control devices? Clairvoyance devices? Precognition devices? Precogs and clairvoyants were notoriously finicky, so what would a machine replicating their effects look like? Finicky as well? Or would she be able to iron out all the oddities?

A loud beep from the device Ado was using interrupted Dyna’s thoughts.

“Good news,” Ado said. “The psionic readings from this area are on par with a standard human. Waveform analysis—”

“Is she going to be alright?” Dyna wasn’t a scientist. Ado could spout off as much jargon as she wanted. Dyna lacked the necessary background to make much use of it. She cared about the end result.

Perhaps that was the wrong sort of thinking. Thus far, she had been surrounded by scientists and doctors. People who had spent perhaps not their lives given how long it had been since the Advent of Psionic Potential, but at least the better part of a decade researching and investigating. Dyna didn’t think she was an idiot, but next to actual doctors, she certainly wasn’t ever the smartest person in any given room.

If she did advance her knowledge, would it help her?

Probably. Especially if she ended up out on her own like this where she didn’t have Doctor Cross or Walter handily available.

But if she could learn a thing or two from Ado… she could already make artifacts. Why not make her own psychic powers while she was at it?

Of course, she doubted such a thing would be possible overnight. Or even within the span of a year or two. She couldn’t just download a copy of Ado’s engineering expertise.

For now, she just wanted to know if Ruby was going to be alright.

And Ado’s long pause wasn’t encouraging.

“Well? What’s the problem?”

“Might I have my property returned?”

Dyna’s hand moved up to the goggles. She hesitated. Last time she had encountered Id’s crew, they had been trying to steal an artifact. If she had just turned these goggles into an artifact, just handing it over… But no. It had taken weeks to turn the mirror into a proper artifact. Before that time, it had returned no appreciable readings. The same was probably true here.

Besides, she had said that Ado could have them back.

After one last glance through them, checking that the transparent Ruby was still where she was, Dyna pulled them off and held them out for Ado to take.

The chief engineer wasted no time donning them, tossing her discarded silver mask onto a hook on the wall. Dyna bit her lip, waiting, wondering if Ado would say anything about changed vision or differences because of it being an artifact.

She didn’t even wrinkle her nose.

Another artifact that only worked for Dyna?

“Well?”

Ado still didn’t say anything, she simply looked down at the harness and the screen in her hand.

“I believe your friend is stable. Though I do not believe it would be wise to leave her in her current state for an extended period of time.”

“You said you were scanning the Hatman while he was around us. Did that give you the data you needed to help her?”

“Not likely. I will send the data off to Doctor Darq for processing. With that, we will be able to calibrate our equipment to capture and contain the entity. From there, I will be able to extrapolate the necessary information.”

“How long will that take?”

“I don’t…” Ado paused. She raised her eyebrows as if a thought just occurred to her. “One day. Doctor Darq works in… curious ways. He will be hasty.”

Dyna nodded. “And how long will it take to calibrate the equipment?”

“Not long.”

“Show me?”

“Excuse me?”

“Show me how the equipment works, what to do, how to calibrate it… I want to be able to do it myself if necessary.”

Ado twisted the corner of her lips into a frown. “Unnecessary, I assure you.”

Dyna narrowed her eyes. “I insist,” Dyna said. “If we’re going to be working together—”

“It isn’t my decision. Proprietary Tartarus technology is already being shared with outsiders.”

“Then call Id and get her approval.”

“You think she’ll give it?”

Dyna, still pretty sure that Id wanted to recruit her, shrugged. “Never know until you ask.”

“Well I—”

A sharp intake of breath pulled both their attentions over to Matt. He had both hands clamped around his leg.

“Sorry,” he said through clenched teeth. “I think the strain of pulling you in messed me up again. Either that or the painkillers are wearing off.”

Dyna looked back to Ado. “Do you have anything for him?”

“That wasn’t part of any agreement.”

Nodding, Dyna looked back to Matt. “Tell her she can’t look at your psychic power unless she helps you.”

“That,” Ado said with a little more urgency than she normally used, “is to help you as well. To help your friend—”

“Oh like that’s all you’ll use it for. You’re going to take the data and examine it for years, figuring out every possible use for it, none of which will be related to this issue right now. I spend eighteen hours of the day around people like you,” Dyna said, easily able to picture Doctor Cross in Ado’s position. “I know how you think.”

Ado didn’t say a word, simply pressing her lips together.

“Call Id,” Dyna said. “She’ll tell you.”

“So certain.”