Alex opened his gate wide as he stepped out of the jungle and stood at the entrance to the ruins. The gold-plated buildings around him lit up in his senses as he stood before the lip of the valley, and electricity thrummed through his limbs as power rested like a static charge in his fingertips.

He was confident in his plan. He had given Erin and Artur enough time to get into position. Sayed and Jean were already moving in close from opposite ends of the temple. Li Wen was his backup and had supporting fire if anything went wrong.

It was now or never.

"I'm here, Benbeck," Alex held up a hand as he stepped through the temple's entrance. "Just like you asked. Let the kid go."

The ruins rose around him, and shadows consumed him as he walked toward the center. No one responded to his call, which allowed doubt to be a back door in his thoughts. What if the other crew had just cut and run? What if they had just slit Ikal's throat when Alex hadn't shown up immediately? Alex had to push those thoughts aside.

It just didn't track. Benbeck would think he had been poisoned and weakened by the arrow, which gave him an advantage. No one could expect Erin's healing capability or his body's resilience. Benbeck had to expect that either his crew would show up without him or he would become incredibly weak.

"I'm surprised you came," Benbeck's voice echoed through the temple as Alex approached the center, and Alex stopped. "I thought for sure that Artemis's poison had taken you down."

"Well," Alex said, looking around for the source of the voice. "You can't account for sense."

"I heard you were the kind of man who would fight rather than run, so long as someone you knew was in danger but for a brat? That's a level of stupidity I can never comprehend."

Alex probably should have gotten angry, but in reality, he didn't care what Benbeck thought. In his mind, the situation was simple. The Zoan, despite the initial hostility, had shown them kindness, and that deserved the same kindness in return. If he and his crew had just run, leaving Ikal in Benbeck's hands for a mess they caused, then he and his crew would be no better than trash like Benbeck.

"Even in another world, there's right and wrong, simple as that." Alex sighed. "Why don't you show yourself, and I'll teach you the difference between the two."

Click.

A light shone as Benbeck stepped out on a nearby roof, Ikal in one hand, bound by rope, as he looked down on Alex below. That wasn't expected, and Alex frowned. He had hoped that Benbeck would stay on the top of the temple, but he had changed things. Now, he couldn't count on Erin and Artur coming up behind and taking Ikal out as a piece in the fight.

"Oh, I see the doubt in your eyes, Ortega." Benbeck laughed as he dangled Ikal at the end of his arm. "You had a plan, and that plan was cut off. You couldn't account for our eyes in the sky and the fact that I could counter each one of your moves before you even knew it."

"What are you talking about?" Alex clenched his fists.

Benbeck's crew wasn't there. Alex hoped that he would have concentrated them all on him, that he would try to overpower Alex the moment he stepped out of cover, but they were gone. As far as Alex could see, it was just himself and Benbeck in the ruins. Where was the rest of his crew?

"I sent them to intercept your friends," Benbeck answered the unspoken question. "Artemis's curse allows her to see farther than anyone should, so we knew when you arrived here and saw you split up. Instead of just letting you do what you please, I decided to counter your every movement."

He pulled Ikal up by his ropes, holding a gun next to the boy's head as he looked down at Alex.

"One by one, I've countered your every move." Benbeck laughed. "So, I'll give you a chance to get out of this alive. Surrender now. Bow your head and prostrate yourself in front of me. If you do, I'll let the kid live, and you'll be in chains the entire ride to my client. If you don't, I'll put a bullet in his head, and then I'll kill you."

Alex looked at Ikal. The kid's yellow eyes were wide with fear. Even though his mouth was bandaged, he tried to scream, but it only came out as a muffled cry. Alex took a deep breath. He had options but was less certain now than he would have been months ago. He knew what Benbeck was capable of and didn't want Ikal to die.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

It was his fault that Benbeck had attacked the village. Benbeck's crew was after his bounty. While Alex could cut and run without consequences, that didn't mean it was the right thing to do. It might be stupid, but he was the one who would have to live with the consequences of his decisions. He didn't want the image of Ikal bleeding out, a hole in the side of his head, to haunt his nightmares.

He might try to pull the gun out of Benbeck's hand, but the weapon was inert to his senses. Was the weapon made of a non-magnetic metal, or was it not metal at all? Alex clenched his teeth as he recalled James, who had resisted his curse. Was it Benbeck's will that held it against his curse?

There was no chance of that. The gun also didn't appear ready to respond to his curse. That left him with one other choice. He had to trust in his crew.

"You think you outplayed me?" Alex asked, letting out a sigh. "But are you really so sure? You sent one of your crew members to handle each of mine, but what are you going to do when my crew wins? How will you feel when it's six on one, and you have no one left to save your sorry self?"

Benbeck narrowed his eyes, still holding the gun up to Ikal's head. IKal's eyes were wide, and he still struggled against his ropes in a vain attempt to free himself.

"You're going to fight? I'll kill the kid! Don't think I'm bluffing!"

Click.

Benbeck tightened his finger on the trigger, and Alex took in a breath. He didn't have time to call metal, and he couldn't pull the gun out of Benbeck's hand. Instead, he threw all his magnetic force against the buildings behind him. His muscles tensed as he focused on the roof above him.

He knew it a little, but his conversation with James had reminded him. Curses and techniques had the same origin—aether. Alex could combine curse and technique so long as he could figure out how to fit the blocks of power together. It was like dealing with a box full of random Legos. The question was what he wanted to make and what blocks he could use together to make it.

"Spring Step."

His feet pushed off the ground in a mad flurry of motion at the same instant that he threw himself forward with all the magnetic force he could muster against the building behind him. Alex shot forward like a cannonball, throwing his hand out as he disappeared.

Bzzt. Zap.

Force rocketed down his arm as he slammed into Benbeck, his hand hitting the barrel of the gun the moment it went off. Electricity cracked through the air as smoke filled Alex's nose, and all three of them went down in a pile together. Confusion, darkness, and chaos reigned for a few moments as Alex struggled with Benbeck for control of the gun.

Alex had Benbeck on his back, his arms splayed out with both hands. Alex had his legs trapped with his body weight, and Benbeck couldn't move. Still, Benbeck struggled to aim at Ikal, who had managed to roll a little away on the roof in the tussle.

"I won't let you win!" Benbeck yelled as he tried to control the barrel and aim it toward where Ikal had fallen.

"MIght."

Alex didn't play around. His muscles bulged as he forced the gun down to the ground and held Benbeck's arms pinned. He wasn't about to let Benbeck take control of the situation. Even if he had to break the man's arm or kill him, he wouldn't let Ikal die. That was the one thing he was certain of.

Bzzt. Zap.

A second zap sizzled through the ruins as Benbeck pulled the trigger, but Alex held Benbecks's arm against the ground and didn't let it move. It was over. There was nothing that Benbeck could do that would allow him to break Alex's grip. All Alex had to do now was get the gun out of his control.

"Robismo!" Benbeck yelled. "Robismo Awaken!"

A fist shot out of Benbeck's suit, slamming hard into Alex's abdomen as it exploded from Benbeck's pocket. Alex had a moment to realize what it was. It was the same as the massive robot that had appeared out of the golden ship during the attack out in the nightsea. In the next moment, he was thrown up in the air; Benbeck was left behind as the robot erupted in size below him.

The first hit slammed into Alex like a truck, and he could see the entirety of the ruins below him as he soared up through the sky. His chest burned as the wind raced past his back, and his head swam as he struggled to keep his eyes open. He would have screamed, but all the air had been knocked out of his lungs.

If his body wasn't so strange, that punch alone might have killed him. However, he had the experiments and the general hardiness of a body that had lived on the nightsea for a decade to thank for his resilience. Alex slowed in his flight through the sky as the force of the punch waned, and he had a bird's eye view of the ground below.

To the far side of the massive pyramid, he saw two figures fighting, one glowing blue in the night. That was the direction he had asked Erin and Artur to come to the temple from, and it wasn't a far guess that Artur was fighting. He also spotted two shadowy figures rushing toward the other entrances to the temple, which would have been two more of Benbeck's crew moving to cut off Jean and Sayed.

Benbeck had seen the entire plan and sent each of his crew members to counter it. Honestly, Alex wasn't sure whether that was a better plan than gathering them all up and coming after him as one. He might have done the same in Benbeck's shoes.

However, the massive robot below him reminded him that he had more important things to worry about.

He had a few seconds before the machine would be within range again, and he had to locate both Benbeck and Ikal. The robot stood on top of the roof with one foot, its single visor-eye tracking him as he fell. Alex saw Benbeck then, resting on the robot's shoulder and holding on tight against the outside armor. However, no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't see Ikal.

That left Ikal. Unless he was crushed to death under the machine's foot, Ikal had to be somewhere nearby. Alex squinted his eyes as the wind rushed past his body. He threw his arms and legs wide as he gathered the power of his curse. It hadn't worked on the massive machine out in the nightsea, and he wondered if that would be the same on the island. Instead of taking the risk, he would rely on the metal in the temple below.

"Junk Arm," Alex whispered against the wind rushing past his face as he came down for a fight.