At the base level, sound is just vibrations passing through a medium. Whether that medium was air or a large steel double door, it didn't matter to his power. Alex knocked on the door, watching through his unique sense as the sound waves propagated through the material. It was very similar to his sonar trick, just with solid objects.

A detailed map of the doors' structure formed in his head, allowing him to quickly identify the spots where the two parts met. Taking a deep breath, Alex dug deep into his stores of sound while putting his wrist-mounted amps on the door.

One of Alex's powers' weaknesses was that he couldn't generate sound from nowhere. So, typically, he wouldn't be able to generate enough vibrational force to destabilize a steel door, even when touching it. But he did have one thing over most other kinetics: he could absorb and store sound for later use.

For him, that meant listening to obnoxiously loud music every day to store up enough to use regularly. But for now, it meant Alex could boost the sound from the amps to such a ridiculous degree that it literally broke the internal mechanisms holding the two doors together.

After that, Alex had to pry the two doors apart and start down the shaft, clinging to the walls with his gloves. Worriedly, he looked down at how much longer the devices could operate and realized he was at around 65 percent power. This mission had already gone on longer than it should have.

Initially, he was just supposed to investigate what project the top Empire scientist might be starting in the building. Unfortunately, he couldn't give up now because whatever they were doing down here was significant. Big enough that if he could take it down, it might seriously-

*Bzzzzt*

"Can you hear me?" The tinny voice of Cass echoed through much worse static than last time.

"Damn," Alex cursed silently, that was unexpected and almost sent him tumbling to the bottom of this pit. Reaching up to the newly functioning earbud, he responded. "I can hear you loud but not clear. What's up with the coms?"

"Hah, I knew it! Those Empire fucks can kiss my ass." Alex ignored her as she ranted a few more seconds about how she had gotten coms to work before finally getting to the point. "Oh shit, no time for that. I just saw the Marquess's convoy ride into the complex."

Fuck. "And we didn't know about it?" He complained.

"Nothing on his official schedule, but…" She trailed off.

"Yeah, It's a bit of a coincidence." He finished, knowing it wasn't anything of the sort. He joined this resistance cell, knowing it was probably funded and controlled by the Empire's enemies across the lake. It's not like they would care if one of their disposable operatives gets caught if it would give them the perfect opportunity to get the information they need.

And it was the perfect opportunity. If the Marquees was coming here, it was almost guaranteed they would talk about something of note. And with Alex being sent here…

None of that mattered now. "I'll finish the mission." More risk should come with more reward. "But I'm getting double time on the bases' free internet access." He reminded her. Anything else would need to be taken higher up.

"If you're sure." She responded hesitantly.

"I am. Just remind me what we have on the guy." It had been a while since he read the file.

"Of course, just give me a sec."

Alex finally reached the bottom of the shaft and was surprised to find it open. He took the opportunity and rushed through the opening into the greater complex below the Museum. Fewer people were down here, and most were wearing lab coats. So, in Alex's professional opinion, they were primarily scientists.

"I got it pulled up here. Robert Drummond is commonly known as the Marquees of Chicago, or, if you want to be strung up in the streets, Mr. Twist. He's an A-Rank Specialist on the Imperial scale." So, definitely stronger than him. He hadn't been officially measured, but Alex was fairly sure that he only reached B Rank Generalist at best.

"Looks like his power specializes in twisting space, focusing on wide range and power. My professional recommendation would be to not engage him at all. If you have to… don't stand still, or he'll twist your body into a pretzel."

That's a happy image. "Is he a complete Specialist? Because some spatial manipulators have extra senses." The Specialist/Generalist divide was less a hard classification and more a spectrum. Alex was pretty far into the Generalist spectrum with his almost complete control of sound. It seemed like the Marquess's power sacrificed that versatility for sheer power.

"Unknown, the Empire keeps the test information on-site in some building out east. The only reason we know he's A Rank is that's pretty much the requirement to hold onto a border territory."

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

"Great," He sighed. "Maybe I will need that luck you wished me."

Once more, Alex released his ultrasonic wave to completely map out the underground lab. Just like he had seen before, the place was massive, though he got to see it in better detail this time.

The entire place was circular, seemingly built around one giant room in the center. Rooms all along the outside had some kind of shielding that made looking inside them from this distance impossible.

He relayed all this information to Cass for the report.

But tubes and pipes went from these rooms to the facility's center. The center is where he could sense multiple armored figures. It wasn't possible to determine what they were saying from this far away, but they were probably with the Marquees.

Silently, Alex climbed up the wall and stuck himself to one of the larger pipes. It was warm but not uncomfortable, so it was the perfect runway to reach the center. And that's what he used it for; over armed guards and scientists, he carefully crawled until he reached the large dome-like room in the center.

"What is that?" Alex mumbled as he stared at the massive structure now that he could see it with his eyes.

Five massive spires jutted from the dome to almost meet in the center. Four are in each cardinal direction, and one is coming down from the ceiling. Alex now stood on the piping leading to the northmost spire.

"I've finally cracked their security enough that I think you could transmit me a video," Cass said, pulling him back to the matter at hand.

"Yeah, sure." He pulled his work phone from his pocket and began filming the place.

"Wow, whatever this is, it's way over my pay grade." It was hard to tell what emotion she felt through the earpiece's static audio. "More importantly, have you found the Marquees?"

Alex looked down under the eastern spire where he had sensed the group of people. It seemed like most had gone somewhere else, leaving only two figures standing on what seemed like a control platform. One wore an unassuming lab coat, but the other was obvious, even from this far away.

The prominent figure was heavily armored in a distinctive purple and black. "Yeah, he's down there. I'm not risking getting any closer, though; I still have to be careful of enhanced senses."

Even if the man did have a passive enhanced spatial sense, it shouldn't reach this far. It would be way too much information to constantly get even for an A Rank. That was assuming he even had a spatial sense. Alex just liked being careful.

The distance was too far to make out intelligible conversation, but with his power, Alex could hear their conversation just fine after a few seconds.

"-and I still don't understand the Emperor's insistence that you check on my work. I very highly doubt you could understand half of the equations I used to make this masterpiece." That must be the Empire scientist.

"Don't know, don't care. I'm just here to make sure your portal doesn't destroy my city." Alex could sense the way the Marquess's bearded face tightened in annoyance as he spoke those words.

Keeping the constant ultrasonic waves scanning the pair was the only way to increase his range this far. It was draining, but it gave him good information on the body language of the scientist. Unfortunately, the Marquess's armor was made of an even better material than the normal legionnaires, so Alex could only scan the man's face.

Alex kept an ear on the conversation while relaying the information he was getting to Cass. His best guess, based on the scientist's talk of portals, was an intercontinental portal network the Empire could use to send people and supplies around instantly. Though she disagreed.

"I don't think that would be worth this large of a facility, especially because they already have some teleporters."

"What do you think it is then?"

"Some people think the Awakening was caused by science going too far and opening an interdimensional portal. Maybe it has something to do with that?"

Alex scoffed at the idea. "Some people think the pyramids were built by ancient aliens. I don't think the Empire would put that much work into something so dubious."

"Well, maybe they know something we don't."

Just as Alex was about to respond, a shudder ran through the pipes beneath him, making him refocus on the conversation.

"Try not to let it overwhelm you, Robert, as you sense the greatest experiment in history!" The Empire scientist was waving his hands around, and the control panel's lever and buttons were moving on their own. Alex marked the man down as a possible telekinetic.

Wait sense?

The tips of the spires lit up an ominous red color as a sixth pillar slowly rose from the ground. Alex could see some sort of light spilled into existence in the ten-foot gap between the spires.

More importantly, if the Marquees were called to watch over the project, he could sense the portal from way down there.

The unarmored face of Robert Drummond looked towards my hiding spot. "Delay the experiment, doctor; it seems we have an Intruder."

Fuck

It all happened in a few seconds.

Alex pointed his arms at the Marquees and activated his amps at the highest frequency. Boosted with as much power as he could pack into the blasts in such a short time, the literal wave of sound crashed towards the two members of the Empire.

The Marquees raised his arm, and a black spot of nothingness formed in the air beside his enemy. The air rippled around it as the speck began to twist the space nearby. Robert could hear the pathetic man beside him worrying over whether his project would be damaged. It was an idiotic concern; Robert had impeccable control of his power and wouldn't dare destroy something so seemingly important to the Empire.

Just as Alex could feel the space around him twisting his body unnaturally, his attack collided with the target. The physical force staggered the Marquees and eardrums burst as the man let out a bellow of pain. The satisfaction was short-lived as the armor's reactive force field canceled out the rest of the attack and saved his life.

Hoping the damage would distract the man long enough for him to leave, Alex tried to leave the rapidly worsening situation. But instead of going away, the spot of nothingness started to expand. In a fit of reactive desperation, the Marquess's power was going out of control.

Instead of pulling on him, the expanded speck was twisting everything nearby. Alex felt the pillar underneath him wrench from the wall, crackling with unstable red energy.

The last thing he saw was a flash of red.