Damn it all.

The limiter collar was rigged to explode. Luckily, the audible click was enough of a signal for me to activate my arma. It would've been deadly, but instead, I stood alone in the frozen world, surrounded by heat, blood, and debris. If the click was enough of a heads up for me, then Calico should've been able to avoid the explosion with ease, yet her body was nearly in front of me, separating me from the blast. I guess she had been trying to save me before herself. It felt out of character compared to her usual devious nature, but deep down, it was clear she put the safety of her teammates above all else.

Over the past five years, I had developed my arma to the point where I could use it at will. It was more usable now than when it would only trigger at random, but still far from perfect. Though, overuse put a massive strain on my body and mind to the point of sending me into short-term comas. I was examined by Hiko, Dead Circus' lead doctor, and she told me overuse would lead to my brain believing my body was in permanent stasis.

My ability differed now from the first time it triggered. Ever since that day in the tunnels, I’d never been able to project a new body again. Instead, when I stopped time around me, I remained within my physical body. Aside from that, it worked relatively the same; I had just become better at using it. Even though it was only for short periods, stopping time around me allowed me to evaluate my situation and act accordingly.

"Well, shit. This guy must've had some useful information if this was the failsafe. Judging by how far the fragments of the collar traveled before my arma activated, I'd say the explosion isn't strong enough to level the building. Still, it's more than enough to shred us up."

I knew there was no saving the prisoner, as I could see, his head was a blood geyser. Red was splattered in all directions, stuck in stasis with the rest of the shrapnel and pieces of flesh. I needed to get Calico and me out of the blast radius, or we wouldn’t survive.

“Calico, I know you can’t hear me, but I'm apologizing in advanced.”

I scooped her into my arms like a prom date. Carrying her while stopped in time was an odd sensation, as things in stasis are practically weightless. Things still required energy to move, so it was similar to pushing a ball tethered to a counterweight. If she had known what was happening, she would have crumpled my body, or thrown me a kilometer in the air, or maybe just stabbed me. I supposed if she asked what had happened, I'd have to lie.

The door we came in was barred shut, and the explosion was blocking our path to it. Despite it being in stasis, we would still be burned by the heat if we went too close. The window up top was a straight path to the blues. They would’ve heard the explosion and would probably find their way in here once time resumed. Then, I noticed another door, higher up on the walkway from the window. I believed it was a service door, leading out to the next story of the fire escape, perhaps. I took Calico and ran to it, leaving the poor prisoner to his unfortunate fate.

It was hard to tell, but existence had a sound, and only when I stopped the world could I experience true silence. I could tell how much time my arma had left by listening to the ambient noise around me. Birds, wind, or the slight hum of the universe, I learned what to listen for when it all disappeared. By the time I reached the fire escape, I had almost exhausted all my energy. I could hear the slight whine of the steel beams beginning to feel the pressure displacement caused by the bomb. I placed Calico down, closed the door, braced myself against it, and released my arma.

BOOM.

The shockwave shattered every window in the factory and nearly blew the doors off their hinges. I could smell the burnt flesh, and scorched steel as the smoke billowed out of the building. The metal door I was braced against turned hot from the flames of the explosion. It was too hot, and I was forced to give up on holding it shut. Luckily, the door held, but the smoke and ash surrounded us as it escaped the factory.

“What the HELL just happened in there?” Calico yelled. The smoke around us forced her into a coughing fit.

“He fucking exploded, Calico. The limiter was a bomb collar.”

“Damn. That poor guy is probably dead, huh? Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to bring him after all.”

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She was mocking me. However, she hadn't realized I was the one who got us out, so I let it slide.

“Fuck off. Get us out of here before the blues catch us.”

We had to be running out of time; that explosion was loud enough to alert half of sector 5. Aside from the blues, we also had potential military forces to worry about. If that guy was a high profile prisoner, they wouldn't be happy that he was turned into fresh paint on the walls. Additionally, someone had set us up with the wrong target somehow, and I had a feeling they'd be watching the events play out.

I was totally wiped out, depleted of energy, and barely able to hold myself up. Thinking about the situation was a chore of its own. Despite the air tasting typical, every breath was a struggle against the building smoke. Calico extended her harness, clipping it into mine. The ties retracted tightly, bringing us chest to chest and face to face. My face turned flush. I wasn't sure if it was from the intensity of the situation or our bodies being pressed together. I was just hoping if Calico noticed, she wouldn't think it was the latter.

“Hold me tight, Sy!”

I reluctantly wrapped my arms around her, and we took off into the sky. The sun had just started setting, disappearing over the eastern horizon. The view from the walls was one thing, but to look at it as Calico and I sailed through the sky was something else entirely. It almost made me rethink my hatred for Concordia, but not quite. I could see the mountain range to the west and the ocean to the south from up there. The sea always made me think of Palm.

Calico yelled to me over the wind, “I’m almost out of energy, but I should have enough to get us to the rendezvous point. I need you to see if Raust is still on the telepathic link.”

Calico’s arma didn’t let her fly as much as it let her float and glide. While she could feasibly fly, it would require too much concentration to balance her kinetic energy. However, she was skilled enough to guide us into a smooth landing far away from the steel factory. It was a lot like skydiving, but neither of us had a parachute or a planned landing zone.

Raust, this is Sylas. We’re en route to the rendezvous point, but we lost the prisoner. Do you copy?

"..."

Raust, this is Sylas. Do you copy?

"..."

Calico yelled to me again, “is he not responding?”

“No, he’s not. Doesn’t seem like anyone is on the mind link.”

Our meeting spot was a brewery in sector 4 owned by Rodger Pell, an unregistered Cambion. We used the basement as an operating center while working within the city and away from our main base. Hopefully, the team was waiting for us there and just off the link. Though, with what we'd only experienced, pessimistic thinking was hard to shake.

"So, what happened back there, Sy?"

"He exploded."

"Well, I gathered that. I meant, how did we not explode."

"Oh. I used my arma and carried you out that fire escape door."

Damn it. As the words came out of my mouth, I realized I'd forgotten to lie like I told myself I would. I was hoping that Calico wouldn't have heard me with the noise from the wind, but I wasn't so lucky.

"Oh? You did? Like a fireman carry or like a prom date?"

I couldn't see her face, but I knew from the tone in her voice she was wearing that coy smile I knew too well.

"Well...I uh-"

Yeahh, Sylas? Raust here. Sorry about that. Shugr and Eclaire got into an encounter, so I had to help them out. The guildhall is safe. Wipe your feet when you come in.

I'd never wanted to thank Raust more. Despite his videogame terminology being foreign to me, the team was safe, and I didn't have to answer Calico's question.

We reached the wall above sector 4 just as the sun was replaced with the flickering of neon and cheap fluorescent lights. It was a grimy low wealth sector, boasting Concordia's highest population. There were plenty of opportunities to spend your hard-earned factory tokens on alcohol, drugs, or gambling, but compared to sector 18, this place felt like a getaway destination. Calico and I descended the wall into an alleyway and ditched our weapons and harnesses in the locked dumpster behind the brewery.

Rodger was at the counter when we walked in. He was a rough behemoth, unnaturally large for a human or Cambion, with concrete skin and an almost unhinged underbite. Eclaire told me that his people came from a small village far to the south of Concordia, along the sea line. He spoke slowly, with an odd accent that made him sound adventurous and brash. His dialect was harsh but enticing; it made you want to buy a drink from him as well as arm wrestle.

“Aye, Sylas and little Cali! How ya been? Aven’t seen you round in a bit, ya!” Rodger was always excited for customers but extra excited for us.

Calico responded, “We’re doing swell, Rodgey! Have you seen mom, pop, and my darling baby brother anywhere?”

This was all code, in case anyone happened to be listening. By this time, Rodger was closing soon, so most of his guests had filtered out drunk into the night.

“Aye! They’re back in the storeroom! Yer pop was helping me with some o’ the inventory.”

Calico and I went back to the storeroom. It was small, though it was just a closet Rodger pretended to store goods in. Behind a large bookshelf was the door to the basement, and Rodger walked in behind us. He activated his crown, which appeared as a translucent chain necklace. He touched the bookshelf and returned to the bar giving us a thumbs up on the way out.

Rodger’s arma was “lock and key,” which allowed him to lock objects into place. It was perfect for hiding things, and his subtle crown could be passed off as simple jewelry, unlike Calico's cat ears and tail.

The basement had no electricity to hide its existence and was only lit with small oil lamps. Rodger had made this basement from remnants of an old mining tunnel underneath sector 4. He piled bricks and stone himself to make the room, locking all the walls into place with his ability. Unless it was us or Rodger, no one else knew this place existed.

"This place is so dingy, I hate it. Why can't we have meetings in a penthouse suite?" Calico complained. She closed her body off, coldly crossing her arms over her body.

"Ah yes, a secretive and subtle penthouse suite. I've heard of those!"

She continued with her pouting posture, only looking back at me over her shoulder to let me know she was glaring.

"Calico, if you really want, you can wear my coat. It'll keep you dry and clean."

She pounced on the opportunity, snatching it away from my hand as soon as I had it off. I wasn't a large man by any metric, but my coat swallowed her. Calico wasn't that much shorter than me, though she definitely had me in muscle mass. I wondered if the coat looked big on me too. Maybe I should have been training with Calico more to beef up some.

“Welcome, welcome! Good to see ya all safe and sound!" someone exclaimed, "Calico, is that a new jacket?”