“You’re alive!”

Jamie rolled off Chase’s chest and got to his feet, scrambling over to Mia who held up her shield with a menacing look. He got the message, and settled for a fist bump.

Chase took a moment to catch his breath. He hadn’t even come to his senses before the A-Rank crashed into him. Given the sturdy armour the Hunter was wearing, it wasn’t the most comfortable bear hug to be a part of.

“Missed us?” Chase asked. “It was only a whole-ass hotel that fell on us. You know it takes more than that to kill a couple Ballistic Hunters.” He smirked and accepted a hand to pull him to his feet. The gathered crowd of civilians and Ballistic staff stared at the odd interaction, some of them clearly with envy in their eyes. It wasn’t exactly a happy atmosphere in here.

“It absolutely does. We’ve been holed up here for a bit, waiting for you guys. I was giving you another hour until I was taking everyone out of here. I can’t begin to express how glad I am that you’re alive. I’d be handing out resumés again if you died!”

Chase smiled. He’d felt pretty depressed once the action died down, but Jamie’s enthusiasm was revitalising. “Alright, well, let’s make hay while the sun shines. Actually, on that topic, does anyone have a torch or something? The park has basically burnt down to ash, and we’ve gotta go through it to get to One City.”

Marla and Robin stepped forward, pulling small grey torches from their work belts. They were both puffy-eyed, but seemed to have put themselves back together after Lamonsoff’s death. Chase hadn’t seen his body when he’d returned, or else he would’ve been inclined to bury the man. He didn’t want to think about where it might’ve gone.

“These’ll throw out a bit of light,” Marla said. Then she added, “it’s good to have you back.”

“Thanks, Marla. I’m glad you guys are safe. Have you heard anything from Herb?”

“He’s fine. Didn’t even notice anything had happened until he got home and Dad told him. He was worried about me, but I told him I’m safe and he’s happy enough with that.”

Chase nodded. It was easy to forget that Marla and Herb were siblings, considering they didn’t share a great many facial features and they were both completely different in personality and profession. There weren’t many people out there like either of them. Herb was a mad scientist, and Marla was one of the most reliable people he’d ever worked with.

He stood atop a small knoll on the hilltop, addressing the people gathered around him. The light had deepened inside the Dungeon, too, though it wasn’t quite as dark as the outside world.

“Listen up, everyone! We’ve gotta exit this Dungeon soon and get you all to One City. It’ll be safe there, but we have to be cautious when we’re outside. Two City has calmed down — you might’ve seen the news coverage — but that doesn’t mean you can go off alone, okay? Ballistic will protect you. We’ve got four A-Ranks and a B-Rank amongst us, and we’ve taken down countless monsters this size before. But we can’t do our job if we’re watching out for you guys, okay? So keep in a tight group, follow us, and remain calm and quiet. Got that?”

A crowd of heads bobbed up and down before him, so he took that as a yes. There were no questions — everyone was too exhausted to protest any part of the plan.

David came up to him and clapped him on the back as they gathered the group, herding them towards the Gate.

“Four A-Ranks and a B-Rank, huh? Didn’t feel like making me an A too, while you were embellishing everyone else?”

Chase chuckled. “Who says I’m not the B? Don’t count yourself out, man.”

David grinned and exited the Gate alongside Chase. Marcus and Mia had already left, and Jamie took up the rear guard. They kept the civilians in a tight group, like shepherds protecting their flock of sheep.

Outside the Gate, the wolves and foxes were waiting for them, and they were hungry.

Marcus and Mia dropped into defensive stances as the first of the monsters screeched and crashed into them. Chase hesitated before firing, worried a frightened civilian might suddenly run across his bullet’s path. After checking they were all staying still, he fired off a volley, taking out two monsters. David was busy holding off another, while Jamie was struggling to get a decent vantage point for one of his spells.

“Get back in the Gate!” someone cried.

“NO,” Chase roared. “DO NOT LEAVE! STAY WHERE YOU ARE!”

He knew this would happen. All it took was one skittish person to freak out the rest of the group and send them into turmoil. Combined with the cacophony around them as Chase’s gun spat bullets, the Hunter’s Talents fired off and the screeches of the monsters rang, the pack of civilians pushed at each other and attempted to scatter. A few broke through the rear of the group, shoving Jamie as he shot off a spell, nearly causing it to blow up in their faces. Fortunately, the shock reined them in, and they returned to the group like it was magnetic.

David wasn’t so lucky. The C-Rank’s spells weren’t as visually or audibly spectacular, which made him the weakest link of the group. Petrified reporters — somehow still holding their cameras and microphones — edged up against him, pressing against his back as though they wished to sweep him along with their rebellious group.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Jamie began chanting, and a few seconds later a veil of light encircled the group, sending fleeing civilians back into their protection. It also served to keep the monsters out, though it was clearly weakening where they bashed against it. Chase wasn’t game to shoot at it in case the bullets ricocheted off the magical barrier.

“Stop, you numbskulls!” Mia yelled. She and Marcus were outside the aura of safety, bashing away at monsters like they were playing table tennis with their malformed, oozing bodies.

At last, their collective efforts thinned down the cloud of monsters, and Jamie took down the barrier. He was puffing hard, his eyes bloodshot. He looked like he was angry enough to leave some of the civilians behind. When he turned on them, shaking an accusatory gesture at one of those closest to him, Chase stepped in.

“It’s alright, it’s alright!” he said. “We pushed them back, we’re fine now. Everyone stay calm, alright? We’ve got a lot of practice with this stuff.”

The crowd seemed to simmer down, though there was one foul man that seemed keen to go toe-to-toe with Jamie. It wouldn’t end well for him, that was for sure.

Once peace was restored to the group, they ventured south through the barren, burnt park. The lights of One City lay ahead of them like a beacon of hope, guiding them to its embrace. Flashing red and blue beams radiated from the City boundaries as CIU cars scanned for people leaving the mangled remnants of Two City.

They were still a good kilometre away. It was astounding to think that before today, multiple blocks of buildings would have obstructed their vision of New Melbourne’s paramount City. Now, the flattened landscape allowed such a treat. Bordered by wasteland, One City’s grandeur was spectacular.

“Keeping up, Chase?” Marcus called back. He was on high alert, keeping watch of every angle and suspicious mound of rubble. “Need your hoodie so you can match our pace, huh?”

He was trying to lift the atmosphere, but mentioning Chase’s hoodie only soured his mood. It had served him well up until today, to the point that he considered everyone’s warnings about its questionable durability just plain wrong. But the day’s events had turned it to shreds, leaving him no choice but to take it off and cast it away as its powers faded to nothing.

Thousands of Credits down the drain. In his old life, he would’ve never recovered from such a loss. Even now it hurt, but it was more because of its sentimental value. The hoodie was the kind of thing that he was supposed to keep for his whole life, eventually framing it and retaining it as an heirloom in the Ballistic office. Instead, tattered pieces of what used to be his magical garment were now strewn about the City, blowing around gathering dirt like everything else.

He compared his own loss to that of some of the people he’d rescued, but that only made him feel worse.

As if losing my hoodie is even something I have the right to complain about. I’m being pathetic.

In his dejected state, he almost didn’t notice the flash of light as the news helicopter above them exploded.

But he heard the noise half a second later.

It took a moment to process. Why were they still up there? How could they still capture anything in the dark? Were they there to watch him?

All of that was scrubbed from his mind as he realised what had done the damage.

The boss was awake.

He’d secretly hoped that the monster Nebula took down was the boss. It was big enough, without a doubt, but something felt off about it. The beast wasn’t special. Sure, it would’ve turned him to mince-meat, but the boss from a Gate spewing this many monsters would be able to do the same to Nebula.

When he saw its dark, shifting form exit the Gate, he knew it was a job for the Ultras. And more than one of them. Even without enhanced senses, he could feel magical essence pouring off the shadowy monster. It drifted into the streets, half-torn buildings sucking into its sickening form like its body were a black hole. When it passed by a felled monster, it sucked in a black, fizzling smoke from the corpse, feasting on the destroyed minions’ souls.

It had imploded the helicopter with a casual flick of one ghostly hand.

He could only watch helplessly as it swelled with each spirit it consumed. He would be useless against such a monster — he couldn’t imagine any of his bullets doing a single thing against it, unless Herb was given a solid month to engineer the perfect projectile.

Even then, the thought of getting close to that ungodly being, possibly having it target him, sent shivers down his spine.

“Keep going,” he demanded, and something in his voice made it clear there was no room for disagreement. Their group marched onwards toward the relative safety of One City. All Chase knew was that the further they got from that thing, the better. He didn’t care if they walked straight into a den of forty-metre-long Echin. Their odds of survival would be astronomically higher.

Any likelihood was higher than zero.

The first sounds of battle raged behind them like gods casting lighting at one another. Chase couldn’t imagine who in the world might have been capable enough to face the boss. It had only been ten or so hours since the Break — could they have flown in an Ultra from another country?

They navigated the ghastly remains of a primary school. Chase focused on things that weren’t burning or destroyed. The basketball court lay untouched, its hoops so low to the ground that he could dunk without much more than a hop. The white net closest to them was unblemished, rippling in the wind like it would any other day. The doors to the gymnasium were open, an abandoned P.E circuit left in a hurry when the school evacuated.

God, I hope they made it.

They were close now, so there was no reason why they wouldn’t. No reason at all.

A black car bumped along the ruined roads towards them, blue and red lights flashing. Chase nearly fell to his knees in relief, knowing that there was someone who would finally take the civilians from this unbridled and undeserved chaos.

It surged toward their group, the driver stepping on the brakes at the last second and coming to a screeching, skidding stop. Three CIU officers jumped from the back seat.

That’s odd. There won’t be much space for these people.

“Here!” he yelled. “You’re gonna need more cars, we’ve got forty! Hey, you hear me? You need more cars!”

The officers didn’t respond. They ignored Mia and Marcus at the front of the group, instead arcing around to Chase’s side.

“Hey, what the—”

Two of the officers rushed at him while the third stood back, raising some kind of weapon and pointing it at Chase’s chest.

“Comply, motherfucker!” one yelled. They reached for his arm, and Chase darted back, bumping into the crowd.

“What are you doing?” he cried. “Help these people, they’ve been through hell you pri—”

The third officer fired his weapon, hitting Chase square in the chest.

Pain flared through his entire body, then he fell to the ground, whacking his head on a dislodged brick.

The lights of One City, so close just moments before, went dark.