A group of Metamorphs passed through outside Angel Heights. They’d come so close so quickly that it had boggled the minds of the people there.

Victor watched them through a pair of binoculars someone had stashed in their room. It showed him the monsters walking through the streets, scanning it like they did most other buildings. He’d only hoped they wouldn’t come down this street, or else a fight would have to break out.

A light shined through a window on the other side of the street and Victor blinked his eyes.

“It’s for you, they’re trying to tell us something,” he told her.

Audrey grabbed the binoculars right out of his hand and watched. For a few minutes Victor just sat and stared at the old wrinkly woman, as she pieced together the message.

“Some of the kids started crying. They’re trying to quiet them, but it might alert the Metamorphs,” Audrey told him.

“You should grab a Seed for that. Might be easier to communicate if you didn’t need to rely on morse code,” Victor told her.

“We’ve sent another group into the Gate for that. If the map that Brute you killed was carrying had been right, they should find it in there.”

“Unless someone got to the Seed first.”

“If they did, then the least we get is some new Wielders. Those kids are smart, and they’ve got Loki with them,” Audrey ended.

Victor grunted. It was the one thing she’d gotten over him.

“Are you still mad about that?” Audrey asked.

“You took one of my members right out from under my nose, Audrey. That’s one less Wielder for my group,” Victor told her.

“And you took a defenceless girl from me,” Audrey countered.

“If Lillie says she wants to go along with me, that’s her right. You’re not her mother.”

Audrey let down the binoculars and glared hard at him.

“Then why don’t you leave? Your job here is done, isn’t it?” Audrey asked him.

Victor clicked his tongue.

“If it wasn’t for me, this building would’ve fell a long time ago. You know how aggressive the patrols are getting around here!” Victor told her.

Barely a week had passed, yet they could both notice the difference. Once or twice they’d even see an Angelo for a brief moment. But the large beasts didn’t seem to like Earth, because they left soon after.

“You did help us set up the second building. It’s great for spreading our forces out. But something’s been bothering me about you, Amadi.”

What? Victor tried to hide his fear but his eyebrows quirked up a little. Audrey took it as a sign to continue.

“You know what the Seeds are, what the monsters are and most everything new we find. You’ve got that Dragonsilver plate hanging from your chest and Leo only knew how precious it was because of you. So, how much else are you hiding from us?” she asked him.

“I’ve shared everything I can with you, Audrey. Are you still doubting me?” he replied.

“I’m sorry, lad, but I am. That wasn’t the most damning of evidence, but I can’t trust someone who won’t even look me in the eye and give me the whole truth.”

“The whole truth could put the both of us in danger,” Victor told her.

“Maybe, but does that include the part where you knew I was married?” Audrey asked him.

She stood up to her full height, something that shouldn’t have intimidated Victor at all. She was smaller than him by a lot, but the aura she exuded felt suffocating.

“I… didn’t know…”

Her eyes bored holes into him, and Victor backed up against the wall to compose himself.

“When we first met in front of that shop, you called me ‘Mrs.’.”

“I-I assumed an oldbag like you would be married,” he countered.

“Really? Most people nowadays don’t really think to call a woman by her husband’s last name, yet it was the thing you asked for. I thought it a coincidence at the time, but…. What do you really know, Amadi?” Audrey asked him.

Victor knew better than to talk. He kept his mouth shut, even as every single cell in his body wanted to blurt the secret out. With it, he could help them much better. Find them better resources, Seeds, maybe even put up a decent fight without having to fight against every decision they made.

But the cost was too great. And he couldn’t even begin to form the words in his mouth. This was a lone curse he had to bear, and that meant he couldn’t tell a single soul, not Loki, not Lillie, not even Amadeus.

“You’re not going to say anything?” Audrey asked.

Victor kept looking away. He couldn’t meet her gaze still.

“That’s disappointing. Your fuel’s ready whenever you are, though if that Amadeus boy grows any stronger I don’t think you’ll need it,” she told him.

Before truly leaving him there in the hallway, Audrey did give him one last bit of advice.

“A secret can really eat at you if you don’t let it out Amadi. It carves a little hole in your soul and then you can’t bring it out, even if you want to,” Audrey told him. “Take care of Lillie. She’s not mine, but she’s been a darling ever since I met her. Would be a shame to see something happen to the poor lass.”

She passed along a little note for her to him, and Victor stuffed it into his pockets. He stood up to leave too, glancing one last time down at the streets to find Loki and his group returning.

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****

Victor kept enlarging and shrinking the plastic keychain in his hand until his breath turned to gasps.

[Ability Unlocked: Sizing Boost]

He let out a sigh and Lillie gave him a glance.

“Did you get another one of your boosts?” She asked.

“Yeah. And you?”

“Slow coming as always. I feel like I should be doing better… like Loki,” she grunted mentioning his name.

“Not all of us can be as good as him,” Victor told her.

“But the rate he’s getting stronger. Aren’t you a bit annoyed too?” Lillie said.

He shrugged. His mind had been so preoccupied with getting to Charleston that he’d hardly spared the time to think about it. He had just assumed that Loki’s growth would plateau, just like most Wielders.

“Oh, I got a boost! Aww, it’s Recovery,” Lillie said with a bit of annoyance.

“At least you’re getting something. I’m stuck driving this old hunk of junk,” Amadeus criticized.

“It’s not a hunk of junk! It’s antique,” Victor countered.

“An antique hunk of junk then. The rear-view mirror doesn’t even work!”

“Who do you even need to watch out for?” Victor asked him.

“You’re the one who said to go towards a Gate. An insane idea, but I still did it. Wouldn’t a rear view mirror help?”

“Am, if something is chasing us, I am sure we will hear it before we see it,” Victor told him.

“A calming thought, that,” Amadeus grumbled.

“Don’t let Vic scare you, Amadeus. It’s just the way he is,” Lillie told him.

“The paranoia’s beginning to rub off on me, I think,” Amadeus replied.

“I’m sparing you the more grim possibilities, Am,” Victor told him.

“What a great friend you are.”

They kept to the path till the Mustang reached the desert and the Gate that was smack dab in the middle of it. The only problem that they faced on their journey was the fact that they weren’t alone.

Victor lamented the sight in front of him. there was only a single assailant they had to beat to cross over the Gate. The only issue was that it was a Vintaric of Hive Mariticide, with all the mantis-like qualities that came along with it. Claws like scythes extended from its forearms and it had a green colouring that was common among its hive.

“She’s fully grown. Her arms are scythes and she can skewer you through with blades she can make all over her body. Be careful, you two,” Victor told them as he cocked his gun.

The AR-15 hung low near his chest, right next to the Dragonsilver. He hefted it up towards the Vintaric, who looked at him with her alien eyes. She was huge, but still fit into the M category of his bestiary’s size stat.

It was a sobering thought when he’d first met a Huge creature. Compared to them, a Mariticide Vintaric really was just a bug.

The bug chittered and screamed a shrill scream in his direction. It was a pitch higher than the other Vintarics, and more ear piercing because of it. Ironic, considering they were sensitive to sound itself.

Victor spread out from the car and started to shoot at its face while Amadeus launched bolts of lightning at it.

The mantis’ attention was split two ways as they scurried over to opposite ends of the monster. It raised its shining claws into the air to defend against Victor’s bullets, which pinged off loudly from it.

Amadeus scorched its back with another bolt of lightning and the bug screamed. It turned its back to Victor and he saw the damage Amadeus had done. The bug launched itself off from its stick-like legs at an inhuman speed. It landed right in front of Amadeus and Victor felt fear well up.

Thankfully, Lillie was right behind him to catch the swipe of the claw. A pane of light shined out in the air, and the claw stuck inside. The bug struggled to move its claw, so instead blades exploded from its chest. Those slashed Amadeus and Lillie, cutting them across the cheek, side and arms.

Victor grunted and fired another burst onto the bug in anger. If he’d any sense to live, he’d honour what Audrey asked of him. He wouldn’t let Lillie die this time around.

Victor kept running as he loaded more rounds into the monster. Then he picked up the gun by the barrel and enlarged it till it was almost his size. He swung the butt of the rifle right into the monster’s eye, squishing it and causing it to scream again. The monster tried to slash him with its other claw, but Victor brought down the rifle to stop it.

He was sent skidding back in the dirt and dropped the AR-15 on the ground. Then Victor clasped his hands together and enlarged himself again. With his new boosts to Sizing, he’d gained another foot, and stood as tall as a man with Gigantism.

He was slow with his new size, however, and his hands did little to block the slashes from the Vintaric. When another passed and left a shallow cut on his chest, Victor jumped onto its back and grabbed the sockets of its arms. He held it back to prevent the Vintaric from slashing, but saw blades growing on its back.

“Now, Am!” he shouted as a pane of light stopped the growth of the blades from piercing his chest.

Victor looked back to see Lillie raising a single bloody hand up. Amadeus was on the other side, and lightning crackled between his fingertips. The bolts glowed a brilliant white before impacting right through the monster’s chest.

Victor let go immediately as the bolt hit, and kicked off the body. The shock reverberated through its body visibly, until it finally dissipated and smoke rose from the body.

Victor would’ve thought that it would do the trick, but the Vintaric was still strong enough to catch him off guard. The only reason he didn’t lose his head was because Lillie tackled him to the ground.

She was on top of him and raised a hand towards the sky. A domed barrier of light revealed itself around them, just as the monster tried to claw at it. It wrapped its body around the barrier as blades erupted all across it. A thousand small pinpricks started piercing the barrier, leaving no room for light.

“Lillie, let me,” he told her as he got up.

Victor placed his hands on the walls of the barrier and felt even more energy leave him than normal. With it the barrier grew bigger, until the Vintaric’s body couldn’t fully cover it.

It looked surprised but tried to coil around them again. Victor pushed again and the barrier grew even bigger. On top of it he and Lillie found their escape. A hole just big enough for them to get out of.

Before the Mariticide bug could cover it, Lillie made them a platform.

“You first,” she told him.

He stepped up on the platform and a hole opened up in the dome-shaped barrier. He climbed atop it and jumped away from the bug as it slashed at him.

Lillie wasn’t so lucky, as she had to close it back up before the Vintaric could get her.

“Vic!” Amadeus called for him.

“Am! Don’t just stand around, shoot her!” he asked the man angrily.

Amadeus recoiled a bit but nodded fervently. He ran towards the monster while Victor scrambled across the desert for his gun. He picked it up and pointed it right at the Vintaric’s face as he adjusted the aim.

He let loose every bullet in the chamber before reloading and starting again. That would be his last clip, but Victor didn’t care as long as it kept Lillie safe.

He unloaded the last of his ammo just as Amadeus fired another booming bolt of lightning. That got the monster to shriek again and it uncoiled itself from around the barrier.

When it came for Victor and Amadeus again, the both of them jumped in opposite directions. Somehow, it was still moving, despite the burn marks that stretched from its beady eyes to its abdomen.

It looked at him again and ignored Amadeus. Maybe it’d figured something out, but the monster was clearly unwilling to talk about it. Instead it rushed for him with claws raised. When it did, Victor tried his best to dodge and came close again to losing his head.

That sent a spike through his heart but didn’t stop him. he rolled and grabbed onto one of the legs of the monster. With a hint of will, he let loose all the stamina he had left to shrink the monster down.

The Vintaric itself stood confused as it happened. It shrunk by good two feet. And that shrinkage came with a loss of strength as well. Two barriers appeared around its neck, putting it in a vice grip.

It struggled to move out but Lillie kept still. Then, Amadeus hands lit up like the morning sun, and a blast of electricity hit it right in the face.

The monster’s head exploded, spraying green blood all over the desert and Victor. The body collapsed soon after, with something glowing materializing in the middle of it.

Victor couldn’t focus on that when there was ooze all over him through.

“Ugh.”

He tried his best to wipe it on the sand but it just made it clump up. Instead, he resigned himself to using a towel as he shouted for the others.

“You two alright!?” he asked for them.

“Fine here,” Amadeus replied.

“Doing dandy,” Lillie said in a sarcastic tone. The both of them stumbled over to Victor to help him up. He took their hands and got up to his own two feet, despite how tired he felt. After all, the promise of riches made a man much more active.