Ada's scales were startlingly dark in the light of day. They seemed to absorb the light. No, that wasn't quite right; they seemed to devour it. Even from a distance, Frank thought he saw something shimmer and move inside the immature plates, some ravenous thing that couldn't get its fill.

Frank held his breath as Ada put her shirt back on and stood for questioning. Heller stood to one side, nodding at her in a gesture of approval.

"What is your name, child?" Doc began.

"Ada. Um, Ada Elizabeth Brinkman."

"Do you know your birthday?"

She shook her head.

"How old are you?"

"Almost six."

"And where are you from?"

"I live in Yorktown with Daddy."

She didn't know her height, or her weight, or where she was born, or anything else Doc thought to ask her. As Heller leaned in to speak with the doctor, Tansy took Ada's hand and turned back toward the women's group. Ada stopped, scanning the group of men with anxious eyes. When she looked at Frank, he smiled and gave her a little wave, but she looked right past him and back into the crowd. Which was when he realized what she was doing.

Little Ada was looking for her dad. Frank turned around and searched the faces, then turned back to her and shook his head with a shrug.

"Ada, my darling child!" All eyes turned to Heller, who stood beside the doctor with his hands clasped behind his back, a Cheshire cat grin on his ruddy, pockmarked face.

"Ada, would you like to have some playmates?"

Ada pressed herself against Tansy's leg and looked to her in confusion.

"It must be so boring for you to be with all these grown-ups. Is your father here?"

Ada shook her head. Frank could see she was on the verge of tears.

"Well, then we must find him! Would you like that?"

"Y—Yes?"

"I'll tell you what, Ada. You come with me. There are some children who would love to meet you. And I will have my officers here," he said, gesturing toward the guards, "find your father and bring him to you. Would you like that?"

Don't, Frank thought. Say no, Ada, say no. He tried to make eye contact with Tansy, but she was looking anxiously back and forth between Ada and Heller.

Ada slipped her hand out of Tansy's and took a step toward the officer. "Do you know where he is?"

"Wait," said Tansy, stepping between Ada and the officer. "Don't go with him. He doesn't really know where your daddy is. Do you, Officer?"

Heller kept smiling, not acknowledging Tansy. Keeping his eyes on Ada, he said "Why does your friend not want you to be with your father? Does she want to keep you for herself?"

"Ada, listen to me," Tansy said, kneeling so that they were eye to eye. "Stay with us, okay? We'll keep you safe until your daddy comes for you." She grabbed Ada's hand and turned toward the women's group. Ada walked beside her reluctantly, turning around to look at Heller again.

"It's up to you, Ada. You can stay here if you like. Or," Heller said, shrugging like it was no big deal, "you can come make some friends and be with your father again."

"Okay," Ada said. "I'll come with you."

No!

Heller nodded.

"Ahhhhh!" Frank roared in desperation. He sprung from a crouched position and ran for them, brandishing his water flask and swinging it wildly above his head. Frank aimed, not for Heller, but for the officer reaching to take Ada's hand. The metal flask connected with the officer's bare head with a satisfying thunk. Instantly, the flask rebounded and smacked Frank square in the nose, smashing his vision with shards of white light and filling his face with the flavor of metal and bone.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Ahhhhh!" Frank shouted again, this time in agony and despair. He threw his head back to relieve the pressure a second before electric tentacles seared through his flesh and embedded themselves in his rib cage. He staggered backward as galvanizing tendrils feasted on his nerves. His body shuddered, his knees gave out, and he fell face up on the ground at Tansy's feet.

* New Ability: [Call of Valor] The Urban Bard raises a rallying cry, channeling his passion and the enemy's resolve. All allies within earshot are imbued with a renewed sense of purpose and solidarity, while nearby enemies are drained of motivation. This effect is instant, but immediately exhausts the Urban Bard, resulting in fatigue and emotional vulnerability. This ability has a 36 hour cooldown.

"Frank?" Ada said.

Then the world went dark.

Warble.

A few seconds later, warble warble?

Fuck off, Frank thought. I'm trying to sleep.

Warble warble warble.

"I hate birds," he mumbled.

Ocean waves crashed into him, rolling their briny thunder over the sound of those annoying. little. shits.

"Little shits," he mumbled.

Warble Frank warble.

"...'s my name," Frank said. "Don't. Wear it out."

"Frank!" The pesky, feathered rat wingslapped him hard enough to knock his teeth together. Frank reached up and rubbed his cheek. "Ow."

"Francis Archibald Chaplin!"

"I'm up! I'm up! Geez, Mom." Frank sat up and squeezed his eyes, wiping away the blur and bright sunshine. He blinked a few times, and reality came flooding back.

"Oh shit, my nose," he said. He reached up with both hands and pressed the sides of his nose, sending white-hot, throbbing pain deep into his skull.

"Aaaaaoooooowwww!" he howled.

"Frank, listen to me," someone said. "Do you see this?"

Hands unwrapped a candy—maybe it was a cough drop?—and waved it directly in front of Frank's face.

"Hard not to."

"Frank?" One of the hands snapped its fingers, and Frank's mind responded.

"Yeah, yeah. I see it." He looked up and into the mesmerizing eyes of Elio Rivera. "Hey, you came back."

"I did."

"I'd bet on you, man."

"Oh? Good. Frank, listen. I am going to put this in your mouth. Are you listening?"

Frank nodded and opened his mouth.

"Wait. This is very important. You must suck on this. Do not bite it. Do not swallow, okay? Only suck on it. Do you understand?"

"Yeah," Frank said.

"Do you promise, my friend? Okay? Good. Open."

He hadn't known what to expect, but the lozenge felt cool on Frank's tongue. It tasted mildly sweet and earthy, like raw beets. He rolled it around in his mouth a few times, then wedged it between his teeth with an audible clink.

"Frank! Do not."

"I really want to bite it," Frank said, sounding like he had a mouthful of marbles.

"Do not, Frank. You promised. Just suck on it, okay? Do this for me."

Frank said something unintelligible, then hung his head and laughed quietly to himself.

"What did he say?" Tansy asked.

"I am not so sure we want to know," Elio replied.

Frank shook his head and held out his hands, and they pulled him to standing. Suddenly, all his senses came alive.

The YARD was chaos.

His gaze swept over the pandemonium as he tried to make sense of it all. Guards and SDOs struggled to subdue detainees who resisted in droves. Officers in tactical gear surrounded a few clusters of afflicted, kicking and hitting them half-heartedly with boots and batons. Elsewhere, SDOs wielded tasers and stun guns like shields to fend off approaching detainees. All around him, folks swung flasks over their heads or clawed at pleximasks, trying to get at a face. Officers moved slowly and methodically, seemingly unconcerned by the uprising.

"This way," Elio said under his breath.

Elio took Frank's left arm and Tansy took his right. Wobbly kneed and woozy, he let them guide him.

Frank turned to Tansy. She smelled good. "Like wildflowers in the sun," he said. She looked at him quizzically, then her eyes went wide. "That bad, huh?" he said, assuming she was looking at his nose.

"It's... you..." she stammered. "you're—"

"Here," Elio said. He pushed at the gray concrete wall. When nothing happened, he pushed again, then pressed his body against the wall and heaved.

Suddenly, the wall gave way, and they nearly tripped over each other into a dark, empty hall. As Elio closed the hidden door behind them, Frank stumbled forward in the darkness, reaching out with both hands to steady himself against a wall that wasn't actually there. Down he went—again—and this time his kneecaps took the full brunt of the fall.

"Mother—" he started to say, then he gagged as the lozenge slipped to the back of his throat.

"Frank, no!"