Resting against the wall, Levi dozed. His head shifted back and forth, caught up in a dream. The murky world cleared in his mind, slowly taking shape. White tile floor. White tile wall. Men and women sitting around in identical white slips, hair shaved. Men and women walking around with clipboards, taking notes.

He sat against the wall, his head tipped back, enjoying the cool. A few of the other subjects whispered to one another, but he sat in silence. Watching quietly.

Cloth whispered. The wind blowing on the side of his head was interrupted as a fellow subject sat beside him. The man tilted his head at him. “So? You awaken yet?”

“Not yet,” he said. He stared at the far wall. Beyond it. Searching out something he couldn’t find.

The man snorted. “Me either.”

He turned, looking at the man beside him. “What’s your name?”

“Designators only, remember? We’re not supposed to get attached.”

He rolled his eyes. “Designator, then.”

The man lifted his eyes to the ceiling. He twisted his head just a little, shooting him a wicked smile. “Alpha.”

“First to sign up, huh?”

Alpha waggled his brows, proud of it. “Couldn’t help it. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime. Honestly, I’m surprised there’s only this many people here.”

“Not worried about the chance of death?”

“Me? No. You?”

He shook his head, letting it roll against the wall. “Nah. Nothing left to lose.”

“In that case, what’s your designator? Beta?”

He flinched. “Don’t say it.”

“You’re Beta? You’re really Beta?” Alpha laughed. He nudged him. “Hey, don’t be so glum. That means you and I are partners, right? Alpha and Beta.”

Beta cut his eyes at the other man. “Between the two of us, we make a whole Alphabet.”

“That’s not really a pun, you know. That’s just the origin of the word.”

“Yeah. I know.”

Alpha shifted. He extended his arm, showing the puncture wounds from the injections. “Hope they don’t stick us too many more times. I’m gonna look like a junkie by the end of this.”

“You don’t already?” Beta showed his arm, the skin littered with puncture marks.

Alpha’s eyes crinkled. An earnest smile shone across his face, and that infectious laugh burst forth. “Jeez! What’d you do to get that treatment? Tell ‘em you wanted extra shots, or something?”

He couldn’t help but lean in and nudge Alpha with his shoulder. It was that attitude. That attitude, that made him feel like an instant friend for life. That easy charisma, that came like breathing. And his awkwardness, the sad shadow of Alpha’s easy success. “I asked them for the good stuff.”

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

“I’ll make sure not to do that, then,” Alpha said. He reached out and grabbed Levi’s face, right around the nose.

Levi startled. He struggled, grabbing at Alpha’s hand, and kicked off the floor, only to find his legs dangling. He looked down. Far, far below, the street rushed by, people driving, walking, living their lives, with no awareness of the drama high overhead.

A fierce wind blew. Alpha’s cape fluttered in the wind. From under his helmet, he looked Levi up and down, those once-warm eyes calculating. “You should be dead.”

“I—I got out. I got lucky. It’s not…there’s nothing special about me,” Levi said, desperate.

“No one gets lucky. Not like that.” Alpha reached toward Levi’s face. Levi struggled, but it was helpless. Alpha’s grip was like a steel vice.

Fingers. Pressing at his eyes. Pushing. Deeper. He screamed. Blood ran down his face. A pull, a pull, oh god, the pull—

“Is this why you stab people in their eyes?” Alpha asked, leaning in close.

This didn’t happen. It didn’t happen.

He held Levi’s eye up to him, and Levi looked himself in his eye. “Because I took them from you, so now you take them from everyone.”

“It’s—it’s a weak point. A weakness.”

“Isn’t it. Just like you. Nothing but a big, fat, weak, weakness.”

Those fingers pressed in again. Going for the second eye.

“Levi!”

Maury ran across the roof, clutching a shotgun in her hand. She raised it.

KA-BLAM!

Alpha looked at her. He raised his brows. Light shot from his eyes.

Maury screamed. She fell to the ground, grabbing at her leg. Her stump. The hole where a leg had been.

Close. Again. So close he smelled Alpha’s breath. Alpha’s hateful eyes filled his whole vision. “You know, Levi, I don’t want to be immortal if your immortality is this weak.”

“Don’t—I’m not—it’s just—it’s a late activating heal—”

He fell. Plunged. The windows blurred past. Abruptly, he locked eyes with a man standing on one of the floors, just for a split second.

Not yet, Ethan mouthed, looking exactly as he had in the picture.

And down and down, until—

Levi jolted awake. He grabbed all around him, searching for something to ground himself, and his wrists jerked against the suppressors. The pain and cold metal brought him back to reality. He relaxed slowly, panting in the semi-dark of the cells.

He breathed. Leaned forward. Breathed again. What the hell was that bullshit dream? I haven’t thought about any of that in too long.

It’s because Maury…because she brought it up. And because she got hurt. Her shoulder…if she loses that arm, if she loses anything else… His hands clenched, his lip lifting, whole body going tense. I’m going to kill that man. I’m going to make him hurt, and then I’m going to kill him. I don’t care what it takes. He suffers.

Levi mopped his face and sat up. He patted his cheeks. “Smiles, Levi. Smiles. Your mood is a choice you make! Smile.”

“Yeah. Kinda… not in the mood right now, though,” he muttered, leaning his head back against the wall. “Hey, System…”

No response. He looked down at the glowing cuffs on his hands and sighed. “Right.”

He stood. Holding the suppressor cuffs before him, he yanked his arm toward him, imagining elbowing someone behind him. Pain screamed for his hand, and then his thumb broke and his hand was free.

“And just like that, I’m out,” Levi muttered. The faint blue light of the suppressor flickered, then winked out. Without both hands in the cuffs, the suppressor wouldn’t function. Something weird about the way the field worked. Maury understood it, but he didn’t.

“Not that I need to understand it.” Ignoring the flashy new bracelet he had, Levi walked over to the edge of the cell. Bracing his palms against it, he gave the bars an experimental shove. The metal stood strong.

He stepped back, looking them up and down. The bars weren’t reinforced, just ordinary cell bars. They’re relying on their suppressors too much. He eyed his unassigned stat points again.

Level: N/A

ATK: 8

DEF: 1

PWR: 0

PDEF: 0

SPD: 20

EXP: 0 | To next level: 0

AP: 24 | To next AP: 0

Could I break the bars with 32 ATK?

Levi shrugged. Only one way to find out.

ATK: 8 > 32

Lifting his arms, Levi set them to the bars. His broken thumb screamed, but he pushed the pain to the back of his mind. “Alright. Here. We. Go—”

A sharp THRUMMM burst out in the room. Levi startled. He looked over his shoulder. What the hell—?