So. Look. I noticed, but I didn’t act. Rookie mistake. Real rookie mistake. Doubted my gut. Doubted my senses. I fucked up.

Yeah, I fucked up. Bad.

I know. I get it. It’s my fault, and no one else’s.

But there was a lot going on. I died a lot. My condition was bad. I was tired. I mean, really knackered. On my last legs.

Sometimes, things just don’t work out the way you want them to.

--

Levi stumbled up to the door. He knocked. “Oy, Maury. Let me in!”

The door swung open. He walked inside, stretching. “Maury, I’m in bad shape. It’s bad.”

“Yeah?” Fira asked.

Levi paused. He looked her up and down. “Wow, Maury, that de-aging lotion is really working wonders!”

Fira gave him a flat look and crossed her arms. “Uh huh. What did you mean by ‘bad shape?’”

“I need to work out more. Have you seen my abs? They’re only a little cut. They could be ripped.” Levi walked past her, heading toward the basement.

As he reached for the knob, Maury opened the door. “Where the hell were you? I tried to find your phone, but it was off. Had to look for you on the cameras, and you know I hate that.”

“I got killed a lot, and I had to rest in the forest. Nothing sus,” Levi defended himself. Reaching into his pocket, he showed her his phone. Dead as a doornail, its screen pure black.

She took his phone and tried to turn it on, then grunted and handed it back. “Good.”

“Maury, come on. I said it wasn’t drugs for me.”

Maury grunted again rather than answer. She turned and walked back down the stairs, clunking on every other one as her metal foot took her weight.

“Did you really think I’d go on a bender? Now? When there’s so much going on?” Levi followed her down.

“I don’t know. You just do whatever the hell you want, whenever the hell you want. I never know what’s going on in your head,” Maury countered.

Levi sighed. “Come on. I’m not that unpredictable.”

Maury stopped on the stair below him. She turned around and fixed him with a look.

He grabbed the railing, almost running into her. “Whoa, don’t move that fast! I’m not in good shape. Seriously.”

A tinge of concern appeared in her eyes, but it quickly vanished. “Uh huh. So? What did you do?”

“Die…get hurt a shit-ton. Seriously, Maury. Seriously. Status: degraded, parens, worsening.”

Her eyes widened. She turned and walked down the stairs, faster than before. “Fuck, that fast? Even if you died-injured yourself fifty times, it shouldn’t have…”

“I’m old. I’m too damn old. It’s like you said. Everything hurts. Body, mind. Powers. It’s all…old, and fucky,” Levi said, rubbing his head.

“No…I wonder,” Maury said, and then she leaned to the side. “Fira, we’re having a bit of a private conversation. You mind?”

“Oh! Oh, sorry. I’ll go back upstairs.” Fira waved her hands and grinned, retreating upward.

Levi stared after her. “How much did she hear?”

“At this point? If she doesn’t know, it’s self-delusion,” Maury muttered under her breath. She waved him on. “If your status is really worsening, then who cares what she thinks? We need to get that taken care of before anything else.”

“Yeah. Anyways…you wonder?”

“I wonder…that’s right. You remember what I said? The Gate particles.” Maury came to the bottom of the stairs and headed into her lab. She leaned against the machine and stared at Levi.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Yeah. They were in people. Turn them into monsters. You said your research was about them, to some extent.”

“To a whole extent.” She fixed her gaze right into his eyes. “They’re what’s in you, Levi.”

“I…” Levi stared at her. He squinted. “What?”

She nodded. “When we tried to force people to awaken, like we did to you, we injected them with Gate particles. Using different principles, obviously, but the same kind of idea. Put bits of the Gate—of that foreign, otherworldly material in someone—and force a change. In your case, it kind of awakened the System. In Alpha’s case…”

“Damn,” Levi muttered. “Good thing I didn’t shoot up.”

“You were considering—” Maury put a hand to her forehead. She took a deep breath, letting it out all at once. “God, Levi. You’re taking years off my life.”

“You have years left?” Levi asked, shooting her a cheeky grin.

She snorted. “Who knows, that this point. Don’t do that, first of all. We took great pains to ensure none of you turned into monsters. The Gate particles in you are very, very carefully balanced and restrained to make sure that never happens...under normal conditions, anyways.”

“Right, right.” Levi nodded. He waggled his brows. “Normal conditions.”

Ignoring him, Maury pressed on. “Secondly, the Gate particles. Right. You were our biggest success, aside from Alpha.”

“Really? I got bullied to hell by all the other successes, back in the day. I remember them having useful skills, and me having jack-all. Otherwise, I never would’ve let you tinker with my System and try to hack it open,” Levi commented, crossing his arms. He leaned back against the table, then looked over his shoulder. A syringe sat atop the table bed, waiting for him. Picking it up, he fiddled with it, spinning it around his fingers.

“Back in the day. But they all died, Levi. No one was long-term compatible with the Gate particles. No one but you, and Alpha.”

“Oh,” Levi muttered. He set down the syringe and stared at it, the red-gold liquid slowly glooping down the glass tube. “Huh.”

“You uh, good?” Maury asked.

Levi shrugged. “I don’t know. Yay, my bullies are dead! Oh no, I have monster making particles in me! I’m kind of just…not feeling anything right now.”

“Alright. I’ll keep going, then. We don’t have long.”

Overhead, boots thumped on wood. Both Levi and Maury glanced up. “Expecting visitors?” Levi asked.

Maury pointed. Across from them, a screen lit up. It flickered for a few moments, then displayed an array of police vehicles outside. Officers in riot gear approached her front door with guns out. On another angle, Fira fled out the back door. “You’re the one who brought guests.”

“Oh,” Levi said. “Whoops. My bad.”

“Yeah. You coming with me, by the way?” Maury backed toward the curtain and threw it aside, revealing the back half of the room. A heavy-duty engine sat atop rails, which wound away into the darkness of the earth. Behind the engine, just big enough for two, was a small cabin.

Levi glanced at it, then the screen. He shrugged. “I think I’ll get taken in.”

“You sure?”

“I feel the hand of destiny in all this. You know. Our friend, E-man,” Levi said, pointing up.

“I don’t know about that. You were hella sloppy at that party. Part of it got broadcast on national tv, you know that?”

“I told them to—” Levi sighed. “This is what happens when you hand out work to contractors.”

“Yeah, well. You coming?”

“Nah. I’m a big believer in stand-your-ground. Besides, if this isn’t the work of destiny…they haven’t built the county jail that can hold me yet.” He grinned.

“You sure?”

Levi nodded, a sad smile flickering over the grin. “They’re after me, Maury. If I give them their prize, they won’t look for you as hard. Don’t worry. I’ll be out before you know it.”

“Right. Well.” Maury cleared her throat, rubbing her chin as she got her thoughts back in line. “Awakened you using Gate particles…right, right. Alpha. Did we awaken him? I’ve never been sure sure. I think he might’ve already awakened the System and been greedy for more. Been a long-time theory of mine that his ‘absorb’ is actually a manifestation of a secondary awakening of the System. A debug version, an admin version, something. I don’t know. He never let anyone fiddle with his System, so I have no proof. But I’ve always wondered if it wasn’t the case.

“Still, it’s wild speculation. Not worth talking about. Except.” Maury took a deep breath.

“Except?” Levi asked.

She nodded. “Except. When I was out there scanning earlier, I was testing a hypothesis. One that I unfortunately couldn’t reject. No…when the Apostles injected all those people with Gate particles, they weren’t just trying to transform them. They were also deliberately spreading the Gate particles. Your quick deterioration might not be from age, or anything like that. You might be getting infected by the Apostles’ rogue Gate particles every time your System activates—that is, every time you die—which, just like teleporting you, which uses Gate particles, or injecting yourself with Gate particles—God, Levi—”

“It hastens my deterioration. Corrupts me faster,” Levi finished for her. He whistled, then froze. Whipping around, he pointed at Maury.

“What?” she asked, suspicious.

“If I’m deteriorating… won’t Alpha deteriorate too?”

Maury opened her mouth, then shut it. She raised a hand to her lips. “You know…”

“It’s a great chance. And I can check out my theory!”

She pursed her lips. “Levi…”

“What? Come on. You tested your hypothesis. Now it’s time to test mine!”

She chuckled. “You might want to hold your horses, just for another few days. I haven’t even mentioned why they were spreading the particles yet.”

Levi settled back down. He gestured for her to go on.

Heavy boots sounded on the steps. Maury backed away, sitting in the escape vehicle. “Big trouble. Probably the shit E-man’s trying to stop. Just—be ready.”

“Got it.” Saluting, Levi walked between her and the stairs.

Maury looked back at him one last time, then slapped a button. The engine started to move, slowly at first, but growing faster with each passing second. “You sure?”

“I’m sure.”

BAM! The door at the bottom of the stairs flew open. “Police! Put your hands in the air!”