I know what you’re thinking.

I hate unnecessary death, and I just walked away? Some hero, huh?

Well, look. My death is unnecessary, too, sometimes. I mean, even if I ran down the hill the second I saw the monsters, Alpha’s Asshole Association would’ve gotten there first. My skills are basically nonexistant. What could I have offered? Dying like the rest? Adding more mass to the concert crush, so the crush killed more people?

I don’t have crowd control. My killing capabilities on non-human targets aren’t all that much stronger than an ordinary citizen’s. Ten speed is nice, but it’s not a game-changer in the face of overwhelmingly powerful monsters. Even if I swapped my points into attack, it wouldn’t chip those carapaces. Let the hundred-pointers handle them, and us ten pointers can keep walking.

To keep the maximum number of people alive, I had to walk away. Intervene? No. Me or Fira, we’d only get in the way. Distract the heroes. Blockade the citizens from escaping, by trying to run in the same exits they’re running out of. Better to let those heroes do their job for goddamn once, and me keep my amateur ass out of it.

Besides… have you forgotten?

I never said I was a hero.

--

Fira ran after him. “What about my brother? Ethan.”

“Jackof’s working on it.”

“But he was right there. Right down there—”

Levi turned. “You heard his voice over the speakers. You didn’t see your brother. He could be anywhere. On the other side of the world, even. We could rush in there, putting you at the risk of being ability-hunted and at the risk of dying to those monsters, or we could go make progress our own way.

“Jackof is working on finding your brother. While he’s working, let’s figure out what these Apostles are doing.”

“But Ethan—”

“Think about it, Fira. Your brother got on the speakers to warn people about the Apostles. Do you really think this is unrelated? Besides, you wanna leave a bunch of assholes who wanna destroy the city unchecked, while your brother’s running around in it, lost?” Levi pointed out.

Fira fell silent. After a beat, she nodded. “All right. But we’ll pivot to finding my brother as soon as we hear a single word about him.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Sure, whatever.”

Levi looked around them, searching for something as he walked. Fira squinted after him. “What?”

“The Apostles. They said something about ‘rise up, citizens.’ A call to action like that means they’ll put information on themselves up somewhere, so people can join them.” He lifted his phone and typed their name into the search bar. A few seconds later, the results returned, including a scam-looking link. The text under the title read, Answer the call. Rise up, citizens!

Levi instantly clicked it. Black overwhelmed the white search page. In the center of the black, a red eye opened, then bled. It flickered away, finally revealing the text.

Shaking his head, Levi showed Fira the page. “Look at this. What horrible website design. That eye, making me wait ten seconds to load some text? Total garbage.”

Fira nodded, ignoring him as she read the page.

Levi snatched it back to keep reading himself. He skimmed ahead, sliding to the end of the page.

“Hey! I was still reading!” Fira protested.

“Skimming is meta,” Levi muttered distractedly. He stopped on the final paragraph and highlighted a segment.

—if you want to change the world, come to Central Square, 1300 tomorrow.

“Thirteen hundred… is that an address?” Fira wondered.

“It’s a time. One pm.” Levi closed the webpage with a swipe of his finger. “Well. Let’s call it a lunch date.”

“You’re going? Won’t the heroes see that, and go too?” Fira asked.

“Yeah, of course. And of course. There’s no way this is the real meeting. But that is where they’ll reveal the location of the actual meeting. They’ve already given a few clues about where to look for the real meeting’s location, if you’ve been paying attention.”

“But… won’t the heroes just arrest everyone in the square?” Fira asked.

Levi rolled his eyes. “Duh. Obviously I’m not going to be in the square. Look, just stop asking questions. When the time comes, you’ll see. For now, I’m headed back to base. I’ll see you tomorrow, unless you’re coming with me.”

Fira paused. “Where else would I go?”

“Where have you been staying until now?”

“A hotel, but… I can’t…”

“You can’t? Why can’t you?” Levi asked.

Fira shot him a look. “You know why I can’t.”

“He won’t even be considered a missing person for another forty-eight or so hours, and that’s assuming they noticed the moment he was missing. If you’re that worried, check out of your hotel and move to another one, though I wouldn’t do that. It’d make you look guilty. Act like nothing’s wrong. That’s the easiest way to get away with it.”

“I’m not getting away with anything,” Fira muttered. “You’re the one—”

“Do you think the heroes care?” Levi asked abruptly.

Fira froze. She shook her head.

“Right. So. Coming with me, or going back to your hotel?”

She hesitated another moment, then shook her head. “I’ll stay at the hotel.”

“Good. Don’t do anything stupid, and I’ll see you tomorrow. Should be at your place around noon.”

“You know where I’m staying?” Fira said.

“No, but I will.” He handed her his phone, open to a notes page, and gave her an expectant look.

Fira sighed. She took the phone and wrote her details down. “There.”

Levi read it, then backspaced the entire page without saving it and put it back in his pocket. “Got it. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Fira nodded. She turned to go.

“Oh, and Fira?”

Fira paused and looked back.

Shaking his head, Levi grimaced at her. “Don’t put all your points into PWR. It makes you so incredibly fragile to frontal assaults.”

With that, he walked away.