Specter Four braced himself against the gust of wind. The tree he was hiding in swayed back and forth. His power armor registered a subtle crack in the branch he was crouched on. He moved to a lower branch, trying to maintain his view through the Inspira Hospital window. He could still see Evan and Adam in the recovery room, but they couldn’t see him even if they looked right at him. The invisibility illusion was still active.

His suit used the vibrations of matter as well as lip-reading technology to deduce what they were saying. Currently, they were discussing a school assignment about classical physics. Four concluded there was nothing to send Zandith as an update.

It was getting late in the evening, and though he felt his energy levels getting low, he knew to keep watch of Adam until Zandith said otherwise. With Specter Six completing his mission at the mansion, Zandith figured Hector would be getting more involved, so Four would stay as close to his family as possible in order to gain potential intel.

Hector entered the room, still in his officer uniform. “Hey Adam, time to get going. Storm’s only going to get rougher the later you stay.”

Adam started packing his things into his backpack. “I was wondering if you were going to even make it here.”

“The car slid a few times, but your old man’s a pretty good driver.”

“Can you teach me to drive?”

“Hah!” Hector threw his head back in laughter, then went serious. “No, you shouldn’t drive like me.”

“Aw,” Adam said, slumping his shoulders.

They both said their goodbyes to Evan and left the hospital. Four waited until the power armor’s enhanced hearing registered the start of Hector’s engine. He dropped down from the tree, landing gently on the grass. He crept around the corner of the building just in time to see Hector’s gray police car turn onto the street.

Four burst into speed. The suit augmented his natural ability to run, allowing him to keep up with the car on the lower speed limit roads. He traveled mostly by sidewalk, sometimes running on the road to avoid the occasional pedestrian. He made sure to mute his footsteps as well. The metal feet of the armor made a lot of noise on hard surfaces.

He was fortunate today that there was a sever rainstorm. On calmer days, people would take their pets for walks, which lowered his stealth advantage. For some reason, non-human animals weren’t as susceptible to illusions as humans. He remembered Zandith throwing a fit when he reported this. Their only defense against this was making the illusions as high-energy as possible when in the presence of dogs and other pets. These illusions would be far more convincing, but last only a couple of minutes before depleting a medium Aether crystal from full capacity.

When Hector stopped at the police station to exchange the police car for his personal car, Four made sure to stay at least half a mile away. Domrik was known to visit there occasionally, and Zandith had ordered Four to never engage with him.

He followed Hector and Adam to their house. It was perched on a hillside overlooking the main city but not in the outskirts yet. He already knew the location and had watched over it several times in the past, he just needed to confirm they were going home for the night.

As they drove up the driveway, he leapt over their side yard fence and muted his landing. After another high bound, he landed on their wooden backyard awning that overhung the back patio next to the pool. He lied low and peered through the wooden beams into the kitchen.

Lorey was stirring soup. A couple loafs of bread were on the counter ready to be sliced. The table was set with empty bowls and utensils. A minute later, Hector and Adam came in.

“Smells good, Lorey!” Hector said.

“Thanks, dad,” she replied. “I figured soup would feel cozy on a day like today.”

Adam’s footsteps thumped on the stairs. “Sorry, dad, but I still got some homework left.”

“That’s fine,” Hector said as he took a bowl from the table. He poured himself some soup, and Lorey did soon after. They sat facing each other at the dinner table. Hector sighed. “Ah man, I really needed this after today.”

“More criminals taking advantage of the storm?” Lorey asked. She was waiting for her soup to cool down as well.

“It’s just chaos out there right now. Well, more than usual.”

“I bet it’s not too bad out there. When your job is to focus on the scum of the world day in and day out, it’s easy to see that everywhere you look.”

“Trust me,” Hector said, “you’d be surprised at how often people get tickets, and that’s with officers watching. It’s an unwritten fact that everyone speeds when there’s no officers around. We only catch the ones who forget we’re out there.”

Upstairs, Adam started talking into his headset on his computer. He was playing a team-based videogame. Hector and Lorey began eating their bread and soup, talking about policework and philosophy.

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In the middle of the conversation, Hector’s wrist pad started playing a hip-hop ringtone. “Hm, I don’t recognize this contact. Do you know a Duke D?”

“Nope,” Lorey replied.

There were a few seconds of silence before Hector spoke. “Sorry, but I should probably take this. It could be important.”

He migrated to one of the first-floor guest rooms and closed the door. This didn’t have any effect on Four’s armor’s ability to hear using the solid matter of the wood awning and the house.

“Hector Easton here.”

“Ey, Hector. Name’s Duke. Pleasure to be talkin’ with ya. Marvain Norallis gave me your contact.”

“Ah, I see. If that’s the case, I assume you have some valuable intel for me regarding the Phantom Scythe?”

“You’re gonna have to be the judge of that, boss.”

“Just a minute, are you drunk?”

“Just maybe a bit.”

“Makes sense. Continue.”

“I may have had an encounter with the Fated Spear. He was an AetherTech mechanic guy called Denny. Same guy Marvain met.”

“Do you mean Dennis?”

“Yeah, whatever.”

“Okay, tell me all the relevant details you remember.”

Four sent a message to Zandith. “Hector is conversing with Duke concerning Specter Six.”

Zandith received the message but didn’t respond.

As Duke continued on with the details, Four composed another message. “Duke is already aware of the contract manipulation. In addition, Paul is ignorant of Dennis. The Derrick illusion seems to be working so far. Duke says he and Marvain look more suspicious than Dennis so far.”

Zandith responded quickly after he sent it. “It’s surprising the plan has worked so far. Your armor’s power is getting low. After the call is complete, retreat back to base.”

“Yes, sir.”

The conversation was nearing its end when the armor detected movement on the other side of the house. It was someone running very fast to the side gate. The figure vaulted over the gate, rolled on landing, then stopped when he reached the backyard. Four checked the status of the illusion. It was still active.

The man was in a combat suit without a helmet. His blonde hair was matted down from the storm. He glanced around the backyard for a few seconds before the hilt of a blade slide into his hand. Suddenly, he looked straight at Four with vengeance in his eyes. He jumped to the side of the house and used it to leap on top of the awning. The hilt sprouted a curved red blade of Aether energy and he raised it to stab downward at Four’s head.

Four brought up a glowing red screen just in time. Sparks flew everywhere as the energies collided, and he lost the focus required to maintain the illusion. Four launched a kick as he got up, but the other fighter brought up a shield of his own and countered with an Aether-infused fist to Four’s chest. He was thrown off the awning and landed with a giant splash in the pool.

Above him stood a rippling image of his attacker standing at the edge of the pool, waiting. Knowing the water above him would provide temporary cover, he activated the illusion again and sent Zandith another message. “Someone has found me and engaged in combat.”

The answer came back just over a second later. “RETREAT NOW!”

There was no time to reply. He fired an Aether bolt as cover for his emergence at the far end of the pool. The man deflected it with another screen but didn’t counterattack or pursue. Four pushed hard with his arms on the edge of the pool and he was sent flying over the fence into the neighbor’s yard. In three quick bounds, he was back on the street and sprinting back toward the city. As soon as he confirmed the attacker wasn’t following him, he changed course to Zandith’s lab.

The journey back was uneventful aside from dealing with the strong gusts of wind that nearly knocked him onto cars driving on roads. He followed the secret landmarks that led to Zandith’s lab deep in the woods. The entrance opened automatically for him. Once he stepped out of the elevator, he went to the command chamber with all the computer screens where Zandith stood next to Specter Three. He stood at attention. “Specter Four, ready for report.”

Zandith stormed up to him and motioned with a hand. “Off with the faceplate.”

The armor’s faceplate retreated up into the helmet. Zandith got up in Four’s face, their noses only centimeters apart. “What happened out there!? How were you discovered?”

“A fighter arrived at Hector’s house and found me despite my invisibility illusion, sir.”

Zandith grabbed his hair, pacing back and forth in front of Four. “That’s not possible! There has to be a glitch in the suit. The illusion must have dropped for a split second. It’s impossible for humans to pierce illusions like that. Three!”

Three looked at Zandith immediately. “Yes?”

“Inspect Four’s suit when he takes it off, specifically its configuration. Check for any potential software glitches and vulnerabilities. Four.”

Four simply looked at him in attention. Zandith motioned to his own face and body. “What did the attacker look like?”

“A bit on the tall side,” Four said. “Lean. White with blonde hair.”

Zandith put a hand to his eyebrows. “Ugh, great. That was one of Domrik’s students, Jase. They’ll know you spied on them. Four, come with me.”

Four followed Zandith to the medical room. Zandith spoke as they entered. “You will be put into a restoration session. Your suit will have a full charge when you awaken. Our next mission will be vital to all succeeding missions. You will accompany me on another crystal heist, except this time it will be Dranmack Industries trucks. Three says we need maximum stealth, so that means we’re under invisibility the entire time. Our suits need to be in sync, otherwise we won’t be able to see each other. Get out of the armor now and into pod three.”

The front of the power armor opened up and Four stepped out. Pod three was already open. He slipped in was closing the top hatch himself when Zandith grabbed it. “Wait, something’s still bothering me. The illusions. If there was no glitch in the suit, then Jase really did pierce your illusion. Do you have any idea why?”

Four replayed the event in his mind before replying. “It could have to do with how animals are difficult to fool with illusions, seeing as animals are not under any trance level. If the illusions depend on humans being in at least trance 1, then someone could theoretically pierce the illusion by breaking out of trance altogether.”

Zandith made a face. “What? No. Even I’m in trance 1. That’s what it means to be human, and I don’t care how much training Jase has done, he’s still fully human.”

“I agree,” Four said.

Zandith sighed and looked away. “We’ll figure it out eventually.”

He let the hatch close on Four’s pod, and the restoration procedure began.