Levi opened his eyes again, this time to a much quieter cell. The Gate gaped open, but nothing rushed out of it. Taking a deep breath, he climbed to his feet and stretched. “Two ain’t bad. Could be worse.”

He swaggered out of the twisted iron and headed into the police station. Broken walls and shattered glass decorated the floor. He stepped over another set of bars and glanced around.

Splatters of blood and gore marked the officers’ deaths. Gunsmoke hung on the air, and bullet holes drilled into the walls where they’d made their last stands. He kept going, walking along, humming a jaunty tune to himself. “Offices, gear…ooh, gear.” He popped his head in the room, only to find it lined with well-locked metal boxes. Levi scowled. “Never mind.”

He kept going, deeper into the station. “Where is it? Where is my lovely bag…oh! Evidence. That’s what we like.”

Levi kicked the door open. None of the monsters had bothered rampaging in here. He picked through the bins, looking for his bag and knife. “Hmm, hmm, where did we go…”

His eyes lit up. “Here we are!”

He pulled a bin down from the shelf. All the things had been taken out of his bag, individually bagged, and labeled. Unbagging them and throwing them back into his bag, he grumbled under his breath, “Waste of fuckin’ plastic. Don’t they know microplastics are killing all of us? Honestly.”

“Put your hands in the air.”

Levi didn’t even turn. His hand flashed out. A knife hurtled through the air and smashed into the police officer’s face. He screamed, firing. His shot went wide, kicking up sheetrock, and then he crashed into the wall behind him.

Whipping around, Levi sprinted over to him. With one hand, he pinned the man’s gun down, using his newfound high ATK stat. He yanked his knife out of the man’s face, and his eyes widened. “Officer Torkiss! It’s you! How great. I was looking for you!”

The man struggled. “Let go, filth.”

“Nah.” He smashed the knife down on the man’s face again and again, until the man went still, and then some. Finally, he stood, shaking his head. “That’s what you get.”

Knife restored to his possession, he checked his phone, but it was still out of power. He grimaced. Going through Officer Torkiss’ pockets, he found a cell phone and pulled it out. Levi kneeled over the body and typed a familiar number.

The dial tone sounded. Once. Twice. Three times. Each time it rang, Levi tensed a little tighter. Please. Not yet. Not yet.

A grunt. “I’m in the middle of something.”

“Maury? Maury, you’re alive?”

“Yeah, I’m alive. I got hit in the shoulder. What’re you doing, Levi? Decide not to go to prison, after all?”

“No, I’m in prison—breaking out, right now. You uh, you were saying something about the Gate?”

“Yeah. The Apostles were spreading Gate particles all around the city. Enough concentration, and those Gate particles spontaneously—”

“Become Gates, yeah. Experiencing that right now, actually,” Levi commented dryly. From the direction of the cells, a fresh, eerie call screeched out. He glanced over his shoulder. I left the door to Evidence open. Shit.

“Huh. I didn’t think they’d erupt this early. Form, sure, but I thought we had another few hours before any of them started spewing monsters. Guess I’m getting old, after all—”

“I tickled it.”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“…”

“Yeah. It, you know. Seemed like the right thing to do at the time.”

“Fucking hell, Levi. Is it your goal to give me new grey hairs every day?”

“There’s hair left to go grey?”

Maury dragged out a deep sigh. “Anyways, I’m at a healer right now, getting that shoulder of mine knitted up. Don’t do anything rash.”

Another eerie cry. Closer, this time. Levi leaned around the racks, checking the hallway behind him. Nothing but blood, hideously bright in the harsh fluorescent lights. “I’m going after Alpha.”

“What the fuck—”

“When am I going to have a better chance? City’s in chaos. Everyone will be distracted. It’ll be me and him, and that’s it. I know his secret. I know his weakness. I can do it.”

“You know what might be his weakness.”

“I’m willing to risk it. I can’t—Maury, I’m so tired. I’ve been doing this for too long. I want to live. I want to be a normal guy. I want—”

“Too fuckin’ late for that one,” she interrupted him.

Levi paused, mouth opened, then shrugged. “Alright, fine. I mean, sure. I did the normal guy thing for ten years, kind of sucked ass. But the undercover thing, not even talking about myself, never admitting anything, hiding and scurrying and scheming—I’m tired, Maury. I’m so damn tired of it. If I go up against Alpha and die, then—”

“Then we’re all fucked forever.”

“Yeah, well, I mean. You’re fucked for another twenty years on the outside,” Levi reasoned.

She snorted. A sigh escaped her lips. “Alright. Yeah. I can’t tell you how to live your life. I can’t tell you how to die. Do what you have to do, Levi. But do it well. Don’t rush it. Get it done properly.”

“I’m not going up there to die. I’m going up there to kill that bastard.”

“You’re that confident?”

Levi shook his head. He bowed, leaning in on himself. “I mean, yes, but no. I’m crazy. I know that. I think I’m confident, but am I? Should I be? I’m—I’m aware that my grasp on reality is uh, you know.” Gesturing vaguely, he searched for a word.

“Tenuous, at best?”

“Slightly off kilter, is what I was going to say, but eh, fair. So yeah. I’m confident. I’m confident as hell. Should I be? Fucked if I know. And I don’t even know who I can go to, to confirm or deny it.”

“What about Fira? Ethan?”

“Ethan called me here. He wanted me here. Which…I gotta admit, leaning me toward going after Alpha. He put me here. Let me see the Gate immediately. He’s got a reason for doing that. His sister almost got Ability hunted. What if this whole—prophet thing, warning about some big event, was all kind of bullshit? What if he wasn’t going after the Apostles, but maneuvering me to kill Alpha?”

“That’s a stretch. Even for you, that’s a stretch. I mean, come on. We’re in the big event right now. Gates opening all over the city, monsters gushing everywhere—that’s a reasonable event to warn people about. Deciding he did all this for you to decide to go after Alpha—it’s a stretch, Levi.”

“But it’s a stretch I’d make. If he can see the future, he’d know that.”

Maury sighed. “Let’s keep our eyes on the prize. If we try to double-guess the prophet, we’re playing mind-games on mind-games on probabilities. Focus on base reality, Levi. Ignoring Ethan, ignoring—”

“The Hand of Destiny.”

“What?”

“That’s what I call him now,” Levi murmured, mysteriously.

The cry grew closer. He glanced over his shoulder again, but still saw nothing.

“Right. Ignoring him. Do you have the confidence to take Alpha down? Just based on what you know?”

“Yes.”

“You sure?”

Levi nodded. “If it is Alpha’s weakness, he won’t leave any hints out. Not a single sign. He’ll hide it, pretend it doesn’t bother him, lock it away so deep no one will ever suss it out. But there’s hints. Little things. Things you know as well as I do.”

“Yeah. I know. I know,” Maury murmured. “It’s just…”

“I’m confident, Maury. As confident as I’ve ever been.”

“In that case, then…”

Again, the cry, so close Levi flinched. He peered down the hall. A slender, whiplike cat, big as a leopard, paced toward him. They locked eyes, and it leaped.

“Fuck. Gotta go.” Levi hung up and slapped the phone in his bag, jumping around the corner of the evidence shelves.

The cat crashed into the room. Its tail lashed around it like a whip. Jolts of electricity whirled around its body, jittering off the wire racks all around them. Levi sprinted back up the next aisle, toward the exit of the Evidence room. The cat chased after him. Its paws scrabbled on the slick tile. It slid, body flying out sideways as counterbalance, and shoulderchecked the racks. The cat bounced off, slowed, and Levi sprinted out of the room.

He whipped around and grabbed the door.

The cat jumped up. It sprinted toward him, closing in with every passing breath. It leaped, soaring out of the Evidence room.

Levi slammed the door shut. The cat crashed into it, letting out a piteous yowl. It dropped back and glared at him through the window, pacing around in the entry area.

“I left you food and water back in the corner, you’ll be fine for a few days!” Levi shouted in, gesturing toward Torkiss’ body, then ran away.

Gates opening all over the city. They’ll open in a few hours. Now is my window. Before it all kicks off and Alpha has to get involved, but after all the other supers engage—that’s my window. That’s my chance.

I have time. I have elements that will allow me to stall. I have a plan, and I have Alpha’s weakness.

I can do this.