The super raised his hand and pointed at Levi. “You! Did you see a villain run past here?”

“Huh? Like, someone in funny-colored tights?” Levi asked.

“Yes, someone in funny-colored tights. See anything like that?”

“Uh…” Levi cast around. He shrugged. “No, but—oh my gosh, is that Rainer Drift, trapped in that building?” Putting on a shocked face, he pointed at the bottom of Central Tower.

The super turned. He stared, and his jaw dropped. “Excuse me, citizen! I’ll be right back!”

He sprinted toward the building and the monster. Levi watched him go, then chuckled. “Always kills me when they do that ‘citizen’ bit.”

Levi set off at a jog, leaving the building and Rainer Drift behind. He lifted the phone again. “I’m back.”

“I thought we just hung up,” Maury grumbled.

“Yeah, but like…c’mon. You didn’t give me the info I need.”

“What info do you need?”

“About the guy. The dude. Your old friend who’s, you know, Doctor Gate Fuckery.”

“Oh yeah. Him.”

Levi rolled his eyes. Mockingly, he repeated, “Oh yeah, him. So?”

“Spotted a dude who looks a lot like him, but old.”

“So… like him?” Levi asked.

“Shush, you eternal youth. I rolled back the footage. He was rolling around places we know Apostles to frequent. If he’s the guy I think he is, and he’s not the guy behind the Gates, he’s almost certainly connected to the guy who is.”

“Good deal. Give me an address.”

There was a pause. Maury hummed. “Let’s see, let’s see. Mmm, yep. I’m sending the address directly to your phone.”

“That sounds way cooler when I don’t know you’re just using your skill,” Levi complained.

“What? Real hacking is way less cool than skills,” Maury grumbled. She hung up on him.

Levi opened his mouth, then laughed. “That’s where she draws the line? That’s what gets her to hang up on me, out of everything?”

A notification popped up on his phone, and a map app opened up, showing directions to a nearby warehouse. Levi chuckled and shook his head. “I got it, Maury. Let’s get a move on.”

Whoosh. Something hurtled toward his back. Levi spun in time to see the super flying at him, fist outstretched. He threw himself to the side, but too slow. The super’s fist punched through his chest.

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Bones crunched. Blood gushed. He dropped the phone, and it spun away, into the gutter. Levi toppled onto his knees, then down on his face.

“You killed Alpha?” the super asked, looking down at the dying Levi. “You?”

“Can’t…believe it…either…”

Darkness. For the first time in a long time, fear crept into Levi’s heart as the light faded. If Alpha stole my skill, I’m dead for real.

Well. I guess I don’t mind, if he’s dead, too.

[You lost a life!]

[Lives remaining: -17270]

DEBUG: Corruption Level HIGH [URGENT] | Ability Points non-degraded | status DEGRADED [worsening]

Press X to reallocate your ability points.

“I liiiiiive!”

Levi opened his eyes to darkness. He sat up, and fabric shifted around him. Reaching up, he grabbed the fabric and pulled. It shredded down a zipper line.

He laid in a line, mixed in with other bagged bodies. The full moon blazed down from above, almost as bright as the sun. Four supers battled the monster in Central Tower. It easily fended them off even as it continued to squeeze its way out of the Gate.

He blinked. “How long was I out?”

Levi looked at his wrist, but nothing was there. He reached for his phone, then cursed, remembering it flying off into the gutter.

A phone lit up inside the body bag next to his, screen pointed at the thin, plasticky fabric.

“Score.” Levi tore the bag open and stole the phone out. He checked the time.

Three hours had passed.

“Fuck!” Corruption. It’s getting to me. The higher it gets, the longer it takes for me to get back to life. Another few deaths, and I’ll start losing stat points. If I lose all my stat points, I’m fucked. That’s when my body starts deteriorating directly.

I might be fortunate not to suffer the effects of Gate particles, mentally, but corruption is no joke, either.

He climbed to his feet and set off at a run, relying on his memory of the location Maury had sent. Levi slipped the new phone in his back pocket as he went, glancing left and right before he took a turn. Some streets were blocked by supers and monsters. He dodged those, taking quick detours left and right. With his knowledge of the city, it was easy to avoid what he needed to.

I’m going to miss this city, if it can’t survive without Alpha.

In no time at all, he pulled up to the warehouse he was pretty sure Maury had indicated. He kicked open the back door. “FBI, hands up!”

A single chubby security guard jumped behind his desk. He put his hands up, one of them still dusted with orange cheese puff.

“Wrong door. Sorry about that.” Giving him a friendly wave, Levi shut the door again.

He walked down to the next door and kicked it open. Before he even shouted, a dozen Apostles in the masks of old-days heroes whirled to face him, standing around a table.

“Haha, jackpot.” Not waiting for them to react, Levi charged in. He charged directly into one of the smaller Apostles, one of the ones he outweighed, and bulled them under the table. They let out a high-pitched squeak as they knocked their head on the table.

“Sorry about this. No wait, not sorry.” Levi slit their throat, then stole their mask and robe. He yanked them on with the fluid practice of a man used to wearing masks and capes at a moment’s notice, and rolled out from the other side of the table.

One of the Apostles on the other side of the table raised a gun. He grabbed the nearest Apostle. They rooted themselves, far stronger than him. Glancing over their shoulder, they chuckled. “I have fifty ATK. Good luck.”

“Okay.” Levi dragged himself behind them.

Bullets slammed into that Apostle’s chest. He took them like a champ, shuddering with the impacts, but the force still hurt him. He dropped, and Levi sprinted behind the next Apostle.

“Stop! Stop shooting. You’re shooting us!” that Apostle shouted, before dropping in a spray of blood.

With a ‘don’t stop what’s working’ attitude, Levi ducked behind another Apostle. The Apostle tensed.

The gun went silent. The gun-toting Apostle backed up, eyes wide. “Sorry. Sorry!”

“Oh. Pity.”

The Apostle Levi held let out a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness—”

Levi’s knife flashed. They gripped their slashed throat, then, oh so slowly, crumpled.

Levi grinned. As the Apostle dropped, revealing him, he threw out his hands and grinned. “Who’s next?”

The remaining four Apostles glanced at one another, then charged him all at once.