This was the perfect opportunity to test out my grappling hook and other movement-related systems.

Getting to Browning Street would have only taken me fifteen to twenty minutes if I maintained a consistent jog. My new and improved armor managed to cut this time down significantly. The grapple gave me the ability to safely ascend to rooftops and one of my mobility modules boosted my jumps so I could cross large gaps. As I got closer to my destination, it became clear I’d made the right choice not taking my car seeing as most of the roads were closed.

I could already hear sirens echoing through the streets as fires raged, sending plumes of smoke into the sky. If my gut feeling was telling me anything, it was that all of this was just an ominous prelude to what coming.

Tonight, things were going to get much worse – worse than anything Bayside had seen in years. I just knew it.

Even at a light jog across the rooftops, my lungs were starting to burn. Fatigue was beginning to set in and the night was only just starting. My earlier adventures certainly hadn’t helped and starting out mentally and physically exhausted wasn’t ideal. Hopefully, my suit would be able to cover for any slip-ups I was bound to make tonight.

I had to pause to take a breath. There were fights breaking out in all directions and I hadn’t a clue as to who was where. All that I knew was I had to keep going till I made it to Browning Street. The rest of the team was likely waiting, but I hadn’t heard anything from Alice, so there was no urgency yet.

I was making good time, all things considered.

Almost there.

“Well, would you look at that!” I turned as soon as I heard the words. Mirage sat casually on the ledge closest to the street, applauding me for whatever reason. “The little fish has gotten a taste of the action and now they can’t—”

My laser sheared straight through his chest and he fell backward off the building with a strangled cry.

“Hey!” His voice snapped to my left, just out of the corner of my eye. Instead of sitting, he stood with his arms crossed. “I was in the middle of talking. You couldn’t have waited? Fuckin’ rude.”

“In what world do you think I give a shit about what you have to say?” I replied, sourly. Of all the people I didn’t want to see, this clown was on top of the list. “If you don’t mind, I have somewhere to be.”

“Ah, disculpas. I had thought you had come to sight see,” I didn’t miss the mocking tone he had used. “It is quite the view, no?” he turned, opening his arms to the glowing orange light of the fires against the darkening night sky. “It is the beginning of something new. From the fires of tonight, rebirth!”

“Jesus fucking Christ, do you even hear yourself?” I groaned. “How the hell did you not end up in Pandora with how much you preach?”

Mirage gave me a toothy grin. “I did consider them, but I didn’t really vibe with their message, you know? The way they look at the world is so… plain. Black and white, yeah?” He then held out a hand as if to offer me something. “Those who have power, have all the power, while on the other side of things…” he held out the other hand, “...no power. Those without, are weak. It makes no sense to me, personally.”

“Brilliant observation,” I drawled.

“A complement!” he applauded. “A sarcastic one, but I’ll take what I can get. Life’s too short to worry about the small things.”

I couldn’t figure out his angle. I tried to put myself in his shoes, but that didn’t get me anywhere. I didn’t know why he was here. Was Banshee around and they planned to catch me off-guard? I almost welcomed a knife to the back or a gunshot to the back of the head.

I was certain my suit would protect me from any damage.

“If you want to throw down, then just say the word,” I leveled my gun at him. “You might have your illusions and I might waste some ammo shooting them, but I doubt you have anything that could hurt me. But I’m sure you already know that, so why are you really here?”

“Would you believe me if I told you that you were the one that crossed my path?” He asked. I gave him a blank stare and he took my silence as an answer. He snorted and waved me off. “Ah, that’ll work one day. It is true that I happened across you. I also have somewhere to be, believe it or not. I just thought I’d take the opportunity to chat.”

“Chat?” I couldn’t hide the disbelief in my voice.

“Indeed amigo! It's been a while since we had a conversation man to man, no?”

If I were honest, I was wondering which instance he was referring to. The one when he was tied up, or the one where I was.

“Not long enough. Don’t think I’ve forgotten what you did.”

“Of course not. Why else would you try and shoot me at first sight?” Mirage smiled. “All is forgiven, so don’t fret. We all make mistakes.”

“That wasn’t a mistake.”

Mirage chuckled. “You know, I have to wonder what you’re even doing out here. Your beef is with me. So why involve yourself in all of this?”

“You’re kidding, right? You dragged me into all this,” I countered sharply, keeping my gun leveled at him. “If it wasn’t for you and your fucking cronies, I would have just kept to myself. I wouldn't be in this shitty predicament. The whole reason I’m here is because of YOU.”

“Is it?” Mirage pursed his lips and crossed his arms. He took a few meandering steps toward me before stopping. “Because if I remember correctly, you escaped from me. You could have gone back to a normal life, you know? Just stay at home, go to school and let the heat die down.”

“Bullshit,” I said. “Your group chased me at the mall.”

“Why were you at the mall in the first place, hm? All by your lonesome. So eager to go out after our little rendezvous. Most would have hidden away but not you my friend, no… you chose to step out of your little hole and into the light,” Mirage said. “You wanted to fight back, no? To find me and take back what was yours!”

“You’re damn right I did,” I spat. “Did you think I was just going to roll over and let you walk away with my shit? Fuck off! Don’t even try to pretend you would have just let me go. You said it yourself, you wanted me under your thumb. Whether that was to help you overthrow Grim or not doesn’t matter. You wouldn’t have let me go.”

Mirage grinned, pointing at me and clapping. “Finally.”

His response threw me for a loop and I felt my sudden burst of anger fizzle out a bit.

“It’s so hard to find anyone with a fucking spine nowadays,” Mirage shook his head. “Pandora thinks that the power makes the person. imbéciles! The person makes the power. You’d be surprised how many people just can’t wrap their heads around that.”

I stared at him, trying to decipher his ramblings. For the life of me, I couldn’t seem to understand him.

“You are something else,” I remarked, lowering my gun slightly. “I don’t get you and honestly, I don’t think I want to. So say what it is you came here to say so I can ignore it and leave.”

Mirage looked disappointed. “Tired of me already?”

“I don’t have anything I want to say to you,” I replied. “I could stand here and shoot you but I’d be wasting time. I don’t even know if you are really here. You might be on a different roof, inside this building, across the street. I wouldn’t know.”

It was true as well. I had switched on my analytic mode to check if this was really him. My visor indicated that he was standing in front of me and had a slightly elevated heart rate. His movements and voice produced a sound that my equipment was picking up, but I wasn’t even sure if I could trust them. His illusions might be tricking me into seeing these readouts or tricking my sensors.

I couldn’t even trust my senses.

“Carajo… I guess I’ll get straight to the point then, hm?”

Morbid curiosity kept me from leaving. Despite how much I’d enjoy watching this guy get turned inside out, I still didn’t know why he was here. Nobody was perfect and he could slip up and tell me something that he wasn’t supposed to.

“Would I be correct to assume that there is a bit of bad blood between us, hm?” Mirage asked. He didn’t even give me a chance to answer before he continued. “I get it, I get it. I fucked with you and now you want to do the same. It’s a back-and-forth and it’ll only end up with one of us dead. Pérdida de tiempo…” he shook his head. “So why not let bygones be bygones?”

“Do you expect me to believe that?” I asked, unconvinced. “You know what I look like. Banshee and Bonesmith too. Since Alice stuck her neck out to save me back at the mall, her face is known as well. The way I see it, we aren’t safe walking around while you and your group are active in Bayside.”

Mirage nodded thoughtfully before pointing to his face. He lacked anything that hid his features. He was still in the same getup he had worn when I had first come face to face with him, the same scrappy pants and top that didn’t really work for the current season. He didn’t care for his identity, not like I did.

“You know my face, I think that makes us even stevens,” Mirage lightly argued. “In fact, a lot of people know my face and that doesn’t stop me from going to bingo night. If anything it makes it more interesting, you know? When people look at you and see you for who you truly are. Doesn’t get much better than that.”

“Good for you,” I replied. “But as far as I’m concerned, we’re not even. I might not have been active for long but I’m not stupid. Shit gets ugly when things get personal,” I kept my eye trained on him, while also keeping myself aware of my surroundings. “I’d say you made them pretty personal.”

“Bah,” Mirage brushed off my words with an amused smile. “Amigo, it was never personal. By now you should understand this, okay? You mess around in someone’s territory, there are going to be problems. You’re just luckier than most, but hey, at least you’ve learned how the world works.”

I suppressed my urge to laugh.

“I suppose I did get lucky. Your incompetence allowed me to escape.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Mirage nodded, seeming eager to play into the narrative that I was creating.

“Yes, yes, my incompetence. Stupid me for not foreseeing that someone as prestigious as you wouldn’t have someone looking out for them,” he smacked his forehead like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Lesson learned, eh? We’re similar like that, always learning new things.”

I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

“What?”

“Hm?” Mirage looked at me, feigning ignorance. “Oh…? Did you not—” he cut himself off and covered his mouth, feigning shock. It was impossible to miss his grin. “You don’t know, do you? Mierda, this is something else!”

He’s trying to get under my skin.

“Know what?”

“Did it never occur to you that the phone call was maybe, just maybe, a little bit too convenient?”

“No,” I said, shrugging. Really, it had never occurred to me. Even now, the idea of it being a calculated move seemed silly. Alice probably could with Gold, but that was prior to our meeting and she would have used that as leverage early on. “Am I supposed to believe that I have some kind of guardian angel watching over me?”

“Oho, I wouldn’t say they’re a guardian angel,” Mirage chuckled. “But they are certainly something, catch my drift?”

It all sounded like bullshit.

“Okay, let’s say I believe this yarn you’re trying to spin,” I lowered the gun and took a few steps toward him. Maybe somewhere in his demented mind, he really believed what he was saying. I could play into that and use it against him. “If I really have someone watching over my shoulder, then you must have a death wish coming here. If I were you, I’d stay as far away as possible.”

Mirage laughed. “No you wouldn’t.”

My eyes narrowed. “You sound very sure of that.”

“Of course I am. You’re not like the others – the cowards. You still wanted to fuck me up when you thought I had Grim in my corner,” he explained. “If anything, that call made me even more interested in you,” he got right up into my face, almost close enough to press his face against my visor. “Who are you really, hm? What’s so fuckin’ important about you… I can’t figure it out. I don’t fuckin’ get it and it dominates my every THOUGHT!”

He lashed out and grabbed my head. I fired a shot through his chest. There was a sizzling and the smell of burnt flesh invaded my nostrils. The urge to vomit caused me to gag as he held on tightly. His eyes were like saucers, staring deep into mine as his knees buckled. His grip almost pulled me down with him but I struggled and threw him off me.

He hit the ground and convulsed a bit, reminding me of exactly what I did only a few hours prior. Another one killed.

No… no, it's an illusion. It has to be.

My grip on my gun tightened as I looked around, waiting for some kind of sign – any sign that he was alive.

Then, a tired sigh came from behind me. I turned to find him sitting on the ledge with a distant expression.

“Some fucking kid from some fucking neighborhood in the middle of this fucking city of somebodies and nobodies,” Mirage flicked his temple and closed his eyes. “It wasn’t Grim. It wasn’t Gaea, and it certainly wasn’t that little blonde chica you’ve been prancing around with. So… who?” He turned and looked at me. “Who is it, hm?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I asked, frustration leaking into my tone. “Even if I knew – which I don’t – why would I tell you?”

“Thinking out loud,” Mirage brushed off my words again. “Is a rhetorical question, people use them sometimes. They engage the mind, prompt discussion,” he jumped up from the ledge and sauntered off it. “You think I’m lying to you – that I’m messing with you.”

“Gee, what gave you that idea?” I asked, my tone laced with sarcasm. “You’ve given me absolutely no proof other than your word. As far as I know, you’re insane.”

He pursed his lips and nodded fairly. “Ah, yes. That is a fair conclusion to make. However, I am not lying. Proof though… you’re right on that again. I have nothing yet… yet,” he clapped his hands again, “ah! Eureka! What if I was able to find proof for you, hm? Show you the truth, as it were.”

I scowled. “I’ll be honest, I don’t really care.”

Mirage shook his finger. “Ah, but I think you will. I think you might appreciate knowing the truth.”

“Even if you give me proof, I can’t trust it. Your power is illusions. Besides, how does this even benefit you?” I wondered aloud. “You strike me as the type to only think about yourself.”

Mirage snorted. “That’s every human being, I’m not unique. Selfishness drives our very existence – but I’m not here to get into a philosophical debate. We’d be here until the next ice age. Consider the fact that maybe, we don’t need to be enemies.”

The realization struck me like a bolt of lightning.

I tried to suppress the urge but the laugh came out regardless. I couldn’t believe it.

“You’re scared,” I said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You’re afraid. Without Grim around, you’re going to be run out of the city. It’s just like Alice said; without your head honcho, The Cains are weak and you’ll fall apart at the seams. Coup or not, you’re done.”

Mirage stilled, his head tilted at the insinuation. From the looks of it, he actually took the time to consider my accusation. His head turned as he looked out across the street and across the city. There were more fires and more plumes of smoke rising into the air. The sirens had long since been overshadowed by the sounds of screaming, destruction, and general chaos.

It was at this moment that a message pinged on my visor – one from Alice.

It was her questioning what the hold-up was. I didn’t reply, opting to keep my attention solely on Mirage but I was now aware that I was running late and that whatever she wanted to do, she wanted me present for.

“Fear…” I saw him wrinkling his nose at the word. “It’s been a long time since I felt something like that.”

His tone was unnervingly normal with none of the energy I expected from him. It seemed like he was lost in his own head. I considered for a moment that this version of him might be the real Mirage. The thought had me lifting my gun again to fire but hesitation gripped me. I had already killed one person today and his illusions had me momentarily convinced that I had killed another. Even as much as I hated the guy, the thought of it didn’t sit right.

“Gotta admit, I didn’t think you had it in you,” Mirage started again, changing the topic. “You showed me back at that department store that there was more to you than a prissy school kid. You actually pulled the fuckin’ trigger,” he said like he was recalling the event with a sense of nostalgia. “Then, just now… two lethal shots, enough to kill a man, no hesitation. How quickly things change.”

He’s just wasting my time.

“I’m leaving,” I started off to continue my journey to Browning Street.

He didn’t say anything as I left, but as I crossed another gap and landed on another building, I caught a glimpse of him leaning against one of the ventilation units. He just looked at me and waved, flashing me a grin.

I sneered and kept going.

Every building I landed on, he was there, waiting for me. Sometimes, there were several of him, all leaning against a wall or sitting on the edge, dangling his legs over the side. Eventually, it got so unhinged I had to stop when I landed on a building where there were groups of him that were all actively talking to one another, some were cheering on the chaos in the streets below, while one group sat at a table and played poker.

“Seriously? If your strategy is to annoy me, you’re doing a good job at it,” I goaded as I landed. “Didn’t you say you have somewhere to be?”

“I’ll make time for you,” a Mirage to my left replied. “You never really answered my question, amigo. Shall we bury the hatchet, so-to-speak? Like I said, we don’t need to be enemies.”

“You’re very insistent,” I pointed out. “Are you sure you aren’t scared? It’s okay to admit it. If you do, I just might consider letting go of my grudge.”

Mirage laughed and shook his head. “Of you? Ha, never. There are many more things to be scared of. Grim, Ajax, Gaea to name a few. You might have the potential to make that list one day, but you’re not there yet. Still too fresh to be threatening.”

“Then go bother someone else.”

“I wasn’t offering peace for my benefit.”

I didn’t even hesitate to shoot him this time. I ignored the sounds of the illusion dying, knowing full well it was a trick. He was messing with me and it seemed the only thing that was going to get across to him was violence.

Fine by me.

The moment the illusion hit the ground and ‘died’ all the other Mirages stopped what they were doing and turned to face me. A couple of them cracked their knuckles and stepped forward.

“I didn’t want to have to have to do this,” Mirage said.

“Give me a break,” I scoffed. “You’ve been itching for a fight.”

The illusions chuckled and charged.

I blasted through several of them before they got too close, I had to switch to melee. My retractable blade extended and cut through two before I was tackled to the ground. The illusions piled on top of me and I could feel their crushing weight cutting off my air supply.

I thrashed and kicked but nothing seemed to work. I told myself that this was all in my head – that this wasn’t real, but all of my senses were telling me that it was real. I could feel my rib cage bending under the pressure, stopping me from taking a breath. Even my armor wasn’t going to protect me from something like this.

“That suit won’t protect you,” his voice whispered in my ear. “Nothing you make can stop me.”

Black spots danced in my vision as the world started to fade away.

Then suddenly, the pressure lifted and I gasped for breath. There was a painful ringing in my ears that kept me in a daze.

I rolled over and coughed, trying to gather my bearings. When I eventually climbed back to my feet, I gazed around in astonishment that I was still on the same building where I had started the encounter with Mirage. The ringing that I was hearing was a call coming through my helmet. I blinked hazily and made out the caller ID.

It was Alice.

“Hey,” I answered. “Got a…” I trailed off, trying to make sense of what just happened. “Got a bit held up.”

“Shit, are you okay? What happened?” Her voice was laced with concern. No doubt she was using Gold to try and piece things together. “You were attacked? Shit, who?”

“Mirage,” I growled. “Fucked with my head. Turns out, it doesn’t matter if you recognize his illusions. He can still mess with you.”

“What…? That’s not—” There was a chilling silence on the other end of the line. “If you recognize you’re in one of his illusions, they break. His power is fragile, that’s why he can’t fight people head-on.”

“Yeah, well… no,” I replied bluntly. “He fucking dogpiled me. Copies of himself, they all just came at me. I killed some of them and I’m…” I looked around again, just to confirm what I was seeing. “...not on the same building as before.”

“I…” Alice went silent. “Look, are you able to get here? Are you okay?”

I heaved in another breath and steadied myself. I went to move but my foot kicked something that made a small clinking sound. I looked down to see crunched-up 9mm projectiles. Then, a couple of meters away, I saw empty bullet casings. I examined myself, seeing no real damage to my suit. He must have given up.

I absently rubbed my neck. It felt… tender.

Did he try to strangle me as well?

“Upgrade?”

“Yeah,” I said, turning my attention away. “Yeah… I’m good. I’ll be there in five.”

Gathering my bearings, I set off again, thoroughly unnerved. Mirage didn’t just create illusions.

He could mess with my whole perception of reality.