I recognized the metal. Or rather, the alloy. That telltale light, sparkly grey with muted streaks of soft purple a dead giveaway of starsilver, a relatively new allow that boasted prodigious toughness, more than even the best of steel, and near zero conductivity, perfect for protecting fragile circuits.

It was high-end stuff, not so much for the materials involved, but rather for requiring extremely high pressure and heat, along with a ridiculously precise set of circumstances. If not for Tinkers, the alloy would have most likely been impossible to create. They even claimed the conditions for the alloy to be formed had to be similar to those of the inside of a white dwarf, though I had a hard time believing that.

In any case, to me, this meant one thing: There was definitely something inside there, and it was most likely a tracker.

Other options, such as a microcamera or mic were out of the question, the first due to needing a lense to face the outside, which would be easily spotted, the second because another property of starsilver, though less known, was that it was also a remarkably poor conductor of sound, meaning any sound from outside would reach the inside muted and heavily distorted.

There was also the slightest of chances of it being a bomb, but one so small and enveloped in such tough material wouldn't pack any real punch unless some crazy Tinker magic had been involved in the process.

As I debated whether to risk opening up the casing, a flash of light from outside flooded in through my bedroom window, and I looked up to see what could only be described as a gigantic firework of yelllow-white, eye-searing light, easily a hundred times the power of a normal one.

My startlement lasted a moment before I remembered this was probably caused by Flashlighter, using his Power to liven up some celebration or other, or perhaps just showing off in order to draw attention to himself.

So, shoving aside all distracting thoughts, I set out to dissect the starsilver-encased package out of the coin, taking care not to cut into the metal protecting the fragile insides with my Power. After all, the last thing I wanted was to tip the Government off by disabling their little device.

The process was smooth, if grindy, and about half an hour later I had a small starsilver disk which I didn't dare pop open and a hollow half dollar, with the paper I'd found on the streets the day before neatly folded inside it, the circular opening I'd used to access the innards now sealed shut with such precision the seam was pretty much invisible to the naked eye.

That bit I'd actually done mostly by hand, but the pieces just fit so snugly together that there were barely any signs of it having ever been separated. It was such a tight fit I'd even had to heat the main part of the coin up to temporarily dilate it, since it refused to go in otherwise.

Happy with my achievement, I tucked the hollow coin in my pocket, shoved what I believed to be a tracker into the back of a drawer and then remembered I hadn't told my sister about my Power yet.

'How could I have forgotten!? Damn, I was so caught up with trying out my new Power and the mysterious message and the chip that it completely slippedy mind to tell Kate about it! God, I'm such a bonehead. This is why I don't have any friends, unlike my sister. Why couldn't I have turned out a bit more like her?'

As I had these thoughts, I was making a beeline to my computer to start a holo-call with Kate, but as I was booting the program up I thought better of it and decided to visit her in person.

We hadn't actually seen each other in... probably over a year, already, so I was long overdue for a visit, anyway.

And so, I took a quick shower, told my home AI, Ashley, to pick whatever getup for me, and put it on after using the airjet station (Pricy thing, but worth every penny) to quick-dry my body. Then, I grabbed my backpack, checked that everything was where it should be and I had everything I needed to go out, and set off.

Then I went back inside my apartment and emerged a minute later with a can of soda for the journey.

I usually liked using the subway for travelling to places not within a few streets, despite it being overcrowded more often than not and more than a bit overpriced, but today I felt like going for a change of pace, so I decided to just walk there.

I'd gotten used to the feel and look of the City, having lived inside it since I was born, like most people of the younger generations, but the place really was a feat of modern city planning, engineering, and science.

Stolen story; please report.

A prime example would be the roads that divided the ground into apples (don't ask me why they're called that, I've no clue) and the walkways that connected the buildings above, crisscrossing each other and creating a standardized yet complex maze of multiple levels, all impeccably clean of course, in part due to the heavy fines on littering but mostly thanks to the regular patrols of cleaner bots.

The tall buildings and skyscrapers that lined said roads and walkways were often featureless, plain walls save for windows, pipes and the odd vent, but many others, especially near commercial zones, were edited to be as eye-catching as possible, with curious shapes and colors, the names of their establishments written in all sorts of manners. Adverts were also quite a common sight in those parts, if a less welcome one.

As I walked through one of said zones, not on purpose but rather by virtue of it being the shortest route to my sister's place, I tried to imagine how this commercial zone would have been like if we were in the time before the Power age.

According to what I'd learnt for history class back in my school days, the roads wouldn't be fully made out of tiles but rather with only two strips of it for walking on foot on both sides, called sidewalks, with a paved section in the middle for cars, now a thing of the past within Cities. Most buildings would be much shorter, perhaps two or three stories, with commerces being mostly all on street level, instead of the sprawling complexes spanning full buildings we had nowadays.

There would be almost no overhead walkways, either, meaning the view of the sky would be much wider and less constricted, though probably slightly hazy due to high levels of pollution, again, a problem that was now mostly solved in its entirety.

I tried to picture people only being able to walk through those narrow strips, having to stop at designated points for a light to turn green just to cross to the other side of the street, and I couldn't help but think that perhaps the Power age hadn't only brought death and destruction, despite the amount of people who claimed exactly that.

Lost in thought, my legs carried me to Kate's place seemingly without my brain's imput, and when I snapped out of my musings, I found myself already at the front door of her apartment building.

'Oh, damn, I really zoned out back there. Alright, I'm right in front of the doorway so aaany moment now...'

I waited for a couple of seconds and, sure enough, an emotionless, perfectly emulated female voice addressed me through the small speaker to the side.

"Do you wish to enter the building?"

I simply nodded in response, trusting the motion sensors to pick up on my movement and for the AI to interpret it correctly.

"Please state the reason."

"I want to visit my sister, Kate— Katherine Parks," I answered, hurriedly correcting my slip of the tongue.

After a moment, most likely to process the information and check the relevant databases, the voice replied.

"Connecting through intercom to 5th floor, portal D. You may ask the tenant to let you in."

I sighed, a bit put out by the exchange. These new AI intercoms were supposed to boost security and supposedly had a whole bunch of other benefits that I didn't care to remember, but for the love of Powers were they tiresome and clunky to interact with.

Good thing I didn't visit other people's houses that much, because pretty much every apartment building in the district had one now, mine included, much to my chagrin. As if anyone in their right mind would want to rob a building with cameras watching every street and a very effective (and very bored) judicial system.

Soon though, my cloudy mood brightened, because I heard my sister's cheery voice through the speaker.

"Leon? You actually came to visit me!? What the hell, are you sick? Is there some kind of emergency? Should I be concerned!?"

I stifled a laugh when I heard her playful, almost cheery reproach of my recent lack of visits, settling for a wry grin instead. I was lucky to have such a good sister.

"Don't worry, Kate, there's no emegency. There are some good news though, and I wanted to tell them to you in person," I replied after a moment.

"Aww, so you didn't come just to visit your cute sister? What a terrible brother you are. Come in!"

I shook my head at her antics as I pushed the now unlocked door open, then made my way to the elevator. Less than a minute later, I was in front of the door to my sister's apartment, which she threw open before I could even reach it.

She gave me no time to appraise her despite this being our first physical meeting in a very long while, instead grabbing my arm with both hands and yanking me inside her flat in one swift twirl.

I caught myself before crashing into anything, then turned to face her and huffed in mock anger.

"Young lady, that is no way to treat your big brother!" I chastised her, once again suppressing a smile.

"Oh, shut up, you old fogey! You're just too slow!" She retorted, before letting herself fall limply on her couch with a snort.

I searched for a suitable retort for a moment, before am idea popped into my mind. I smiled evily, taking the hollow coin out of my pocket. "Oh, too slow, you say? Alright, then catch this!" I placed the coin on the back of my right hand, lined the shot up, then flicked it at her with the left much in the way one would when a bug landed on them.

She, of course, looked up as I did so and saw it coming, putting a hand in front of her to catch the projectile.

I teleported the copper piece forward about half a meter, through her outstretched hand. It hit her in the forehead the next moment.

A literal ranged forehead flick.

she gaped at me for a second, then two, then five, before sttutering, "W-wh— wha...? H-how!?"

I smiled.

"That's what I came here to tell you, Kate. I awakened a Power."