"Hey, Selly," Kathrine asked while taking a sip of some whiskey from a glass. "What does Jason do for a living?"

Currently, the two were at RogueTech's building, in the CEO's office. Selena had offered Katherine a drink and the two were looking out at the large window behind Selena's desk. Katherine was sitting on Selena's desk while Selena was leaning on her chair, drinking away the agitated feeling she had since leaving Jason.

"He was - is - a mercenary," Selena answered after shaking away her thoughts. She still couldn't believe that Jason had a child, how old would he have been to conceive her?

"A mercenary? Huh, interesting," Katherine muttered while taking a sip. She could vaguely remember how he was so good at being a Drifter in her previous life. He joked about being experienced in such works and she had assumed that it meant about the time he spent in the other world. But now, she realized that perhaps he may have been a mercenary even in that timeline. [1]

Jesus. It's like I barely knew the guy, Katherine thought before looking at Selena. All those years …

"Still down about Jay?" Katherine asked Selena who shook her head.

"Nope," she denied quickly but Katherine was able to tell otherwise.

"Selena," Katherine sighed as she put her glass down.

"Uh-oh, it's always bad when you say my name so seriously," Selena whispered to herself and Katherine smiled wryly.

"That's because this is serious," Katherine said as her smile faded. "You need to forget about Jason. I know hi- I've known men like him and trust me, it won't end well."

"I know, it's just -" the rest of Selena's words were drowned when an explosion occurred at a distant building.

Katherine and Selena stood up immediately as they saw the flames devouring the building while debris rained down from the area of impact.

After a stunned moment, Katherine turned back to Selena. "I thought you said this city was safe?"

"I … this hasn't happened in years … there's only been small attacks, none this severe," Selena answered blankly. She refocused her eyes and quickly opened a comm. "You saw the attack? Have every security guard and hired medics rush to the site and help the injured. Go now!"

"Well, this sure is one hell of a day," Katherine muttered as she looked out the window. She had a feeling that there wouldn't be a dull moment during her stay in Sanctuary.

***

Feeling stuffy inside the Baron, Alina took Alice out the car and stretched her legs. That strange feeling she had been having since morning grew stronger the longer Jason was away, causing her to anxiously walk back and forth, while a bemused Alice watched her silently. She couldn't put her finger on it, but it was a sense she developed after training with Jason for two years.

Something's wrong, Alina thought. She turned to Alice and smiled at her.

"Alice, I'm gonna go upstairs and check on Jason. Wanna come?" Alina asked Alice gently. For a moment, Alice seemed eager but suddenly she frowned and shook her head. Alina nodded before continuing. "Then go back in the car and want for me to return, I'll be back soon."

Alina prepared to walk over to the building when Alice grabbed her hoodie.

"Don't go," Alice pleaded and Alina's heart softened.

"Don't worry, I'll be back soon," Alina reassured Alice but the latter shook her head again.

"Don't go there. It's not safe," Alice repeated again while holding Alina back.

"Not safe - ?" Before Alina could finish mulling over Alice's words, an explosion rocked the entire street. Screams and cries of shock ran through as people ran away in every direction while Alina narrowed her eyes.

"Watch out! From above!" A voice nearby cried out and people ran for cover as flaming debris came crashing down from above.

"JASON!" Alina screamed when she looked up and noticed that the center of the explosion was the penthouse.

She grabbed Alice and dodged a large chunk of concrete that came barreling down at them. The concrete debris slammed into the Baron, flattening it like a pancake while Alina used an electromagnetic field to stop any shrapnel from harming her and Alice. The field also protected the people who were hiding in a cafe behind her, their eyes wide with astonishment when they saw the purple field of arcing electricity freezing any and all fragments that would've otherwise harmed them. Alina then grabbed Alice and shoved her inside the cafe before she rushed out again.

"Look after her!" She shouted to the waitress who grabbed Alice's hand. The waitress was grateful to Alina and took her duty seriously while the people inside the cafe also talked and tried to calm down a panicking Alice.

Goddamnit! Alina thought as she looked around. Many people were unfortunate and were hit by either the falling debris or the stampede of people attempting to escape the disaster. I can't hold back, not when -

Alina was preparing to unleash her full power to help the wounded when she looked up at the sky. A speck that was falling among the debris had her heart jump to her throat.

Jason!

Alina could tell it was Jason falling from the sky and she immediately released the suppression she had over her Practitioner abilities. Her strength, speed, and vitality multiplied by over ten times as she buckled her knees and clenched her fists. Right after, she launched herself skywards like a superhero, the jump sending her nearly thirty stories up high before she began to descend. Using her Esper powers, she created a magnetic field that helped her attach her feet to the building and she began running upwards, towards Jason who was unconscious.

"Alina!" Alice screamed as she slipped out of the cafe. She began running with all her haste towards the building when a hooded figure grabbed her and held her back.

"Don't," the figure said quietly while casually sidestepping away from a piece of falling debris.

"Mommy?! When - but -" Alice was surprised when she saw the person holding her. It was Katelyn, her mother.

"No buts," Katelyn said. "And I've always been here."

Alice didn't reply but looked up with worry as she saw Alina scaling the building while avoiding the debris and melting glass.

"They'll both be fine," Katelyn assured Alice who merely glared back.

"Why? Why Mommy? They -" Alice asked Katelyn sobbingly when Katelyn interrupted her.

"I don't want this either but there's no choice," Katelyn whispered. She put Alice down and moved away so quickly, it was as though she teleported. "Stay there and wait for them."

Alina continued running up the building as fast as she could until she reached two levels below him. She then jumped and placed herself underneath him, trying to cushion the rate of speed at which he was already falling.

"Oof!" Alina grunted when she impacted Jason, the force of the blow knocked the wind out of her but she gritted her teeth and grabbed onto Jason.

"Jason! Wake up! C'mon, wake up!" She shoved Jason to try and rouse him even as the two continued free-falling. "Goddamnit! Wake - The - Fuck - Up!"

Each word was punctuated by a slap and a punch that she sent to Jason's face.

Oh, for crying out loud, enough with the punches! Jason bellowed in his mind as he woke up. Everyone had been aiming at punching his face all day, couldn't he get a break?

"Falling, falling! We're falling!" Alina screamed her reminder at Jason even as they got closer to the ground. While Jason couldn't hear her properly because of his damaged eardrums, he quickly realized what was happening.

Jason grabbed Alina and held her in his arms while he placed her above him. At the same time, he used his powers to create an airflow that slowed his speed while manipulating the weight of them both to lessen the pull of gravity. Despite that, he crashed right atop the flattened Baron, the concrete below him didn't help absorb the impact and he cried out when he felt a searing pain on his waist.

"Mngh!" Jason growled as he loosened the grip he had on Alina. The latter grabbed Jason by the shoulders and checked his body for injuries before freezing when she saw his lower body.

"Jason …" Alina noticed blood seeping around the concrete from behind Jason and looked up at his face with concern when he grimaced.

"Just a flesh wound," Jason said with a meek smile before getting up. He groaned and Alina helped him up before checking his back.

"Just a flesh wound?!" Alina muttered when she saw a clean gash on his lower back. Blood was flowing endlessly from the wound but she noticed that it was healing at an incredible rate. The wound was slowly closing up but Jason coughed some blood before grimacing.

"We need to leave this place," Jason said quietly when he heard sirens approaching and Alina placed an arm around her shoulder and helped him walk away. Alice quickly appeared and hugged then both, her face full of relief. Jason patted her head to reassure her before he had A.V.A control another car from his garage to pick them up.

Above them, the sky was filled with large unmanned drones that were loaded with fire extinguishers, dousing the spreading flames with water while first responders made their way through the terror-filled streets. By the time the car arrived, Jason's wound and internal injuries were healed and he was walking without Alina's aid. The silver-colored coupe came flying towards them, it's four tires were on hover mode. Jason quickly urged them inside before driving away over the alleyways, intentionally avoiding the incoming emergency vehicles.

"What happened?" Alina asked.

Jason didn't answer and instead gestured at her to wait. Thirty seconds later a call came through and Jason accepted it.

"What the hell happened, Fenrir?" A grim voice asked harshly.

A small holographic screen appeared over the dashboard and Watson, who was at a command center, appeared on the screen. People around her were scrambling, several running back and forth while many more we sitting on chairs, directing units to aid the civilians in the aftermath of the explosion.

"Your weapons have been compromised," Jason answered in a harsh voice.

"Come again?" Watson couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"That was a missile shot at me, Watson. Who in Atlantis has that kind of weapon capabilities?" Jason replied and Watson shook her head.

"That's impossible, there was no confirmation or alert of a missile being launched. We'd have known immediately if it was one of ours," Watson said.

"Check again," Jason urged her. "It was missile from a Dragonfly or a ground launcher, I don't know. All I know is that as soon as I opened a program, I was targeted."

Watson frowned but gestured at a lieutenant that was overseeing the communication she was having with Jason. The lieutenant quickly opened a report on another screen and began checking for any recorded missile strikes. After a tense moment of silence, she handed a tablet to Watson who read it with a grim face.

"How come there's a missile missing from DA-32? Why am I now receiving this?" Watson demanded and the lieutenant was about to respond nervously when Jason interrupted them.

"Don't blame your folks, the opponent has a skilled hacker. They purposely erased all information of the missile launch as soon as my phone revealed my location. You just need to make sure that they can't do that again."

"I'll see to it. However …" Watson hesitated. "We can't let the public know this was a missile strike, they don't know that AEM has such weaponry and it would cause mass panic and riots if the public knew we had these aimed at the city."

"I agree," Jason said with a nod. He rubbed his chin while contemplating for a minute before speaking slowly. "Just say it was a spell casting experimentation that went wrong."

"Good idea, we'll lay the groundwork for that ASAP," Watson nodded appreciatively. "Also, I'll make sure there's nothing tying you to the attack."

"Thanks, take care," Jason quickly cut the feed and looked at Alina who was frowning.

"This … is wrong," Alina said. "Having missiles locked on the city? What were they thinking? Of course, the population would riot, I would too!"

"We've got walking nukes, literal walking nukes, and you're worried about missiles?" Jason asked while gesturing at himself and Alina, his intention clearly meaning them. Alina looked at Jason with disapproval when she heard him.

"You're agreeing with their methods? What's wrong with you? How could you possibly accept this?" Alina asked incredulously.

"It's just a precaution," Jason shrugged. "And it probably was locked on the penthouse because of me. If I ever went rogue …"

"They'd blow you to pieces," Alina finished grimly.

"I don't think they'd pull the trigger, kid. As I said, it was just a precaution. One that someone used to their advantage," Jason added with narrowed eyes. He was a little annoyed at himself for gleefully accepting the bait; it was clear that the two years of peace had made him complacent.

"Why do you even bother working for these … these assholes?" Alina asked bitterly. "They're so afraid of you and yet you've done everything they wanted! Everything the Council's wanted!"

"Simple," Jason answered calmly. "They swore to protect you, no matter what. If I do anything or, god forbid, something happens to me, Silvia will look after you. And that's enough for me to do their dirty work."

He turned to look at Alina with gentle warm eyes filled with affection. "To me, you're worth it, sis. I'd slaughter the world if it meant saving you, or Alice."

Jason's eyes traveled to Alice who was sitting in Alina's lap with the same affectionate eyes and Alice refused to look back at him, the guilt at the fact that her mother was involved in this attack was too much to bear.

"Don't worry, kid," Jason patted her head as he talked, it was as though he knew what she was thinking. "It ain't your fault. So don't blame yourself."

Alice nodded but felt otherwise. Seeing the destruction and the innocent people who were harmed by it was unbearable. She could still see the fearful crowds and the screaming echoed in her ears.

"What do you mean? Are these the same bastards that attacked us in the carnival?" Alina asked with gritted teeth. "They still after Alice?"

"Something like that," Jason replied evasively. "I promise I'll tell you everything once … once I've done what needs to be done."

"And until then?" Alina asked.

"Until then, we act normal," Jason said. "So that means it's still movie night."

"Seriously? You've just had a missile blow you up and now you're just gonna pretend nothing happened?" Alina looked at Jason with surprise and concern. The missile didn't hit his head, did it?

"Why not? It's not like it killed me," Jason shrugged. "Besides, I just said I'd go through hell and back for my daughter, there ain't no way I'm going to cancel her first time to the theater."

And besides that, I'll take care of the bastards when night falls, Jason thought as a gleam of feral anger passed through his eyes. Seems I've been getting soft recently … I need to rectify that.

***

Emily walked into the same room that she and Asami once visited when they first brought Accelerant. Sitting on the sofa was the dealer who previously sold it to them.

"Yo," the dealer said smugly and Emily narrowed her eyes. She realized that he was expecting her, especially from the way he greeted her. The dealer looked behind Emily with an amused face. "Where's your friend?"

"Just outside the arcade," Emily replied coolly. "And she has the cops on speed dial. So, if I don't show up fifteen minutes later, you'll be getting some company soon."

"Ha, smart. But unnecessary," the dealer said with admiration. "It's bad for business if our customers disappear. Besides, the cops wouldn't listen to a level 0 Esper like you. You're from the Sumps, you know the cops cater to the elite, not your kind. But you're a tough cookie, I like you."

"Pity the feeling isn't mutual," Emily said. She understood that the gang behind this has clearly researched her. Perhaps if she went to the police or AEM, she'd have gone missing by now. "Care to tell me why I'm having side effects to using Accelerant?"

"Well, for someone smart, you're pretty dumb," the dealer laughed below standing up and approaching her. "Let me spell it out for you. We're selling a miracle drug that only works one time. How exactly are we supposed to cover our expenses if it's a one time deal, eh?"

"You mean …?" Emily's eyes widened as a foreboding feeling struck her.

"Bingo!" The dealer clapped his hands when he saw Emily's look. "We decided to add a little something so that our customers would return for our … side products. It's nothing so bad, just a little cocktail of heroin with a hint of meth." [2]

"You …"

"And since it's your first time buying, I'll even throw in a discount!" The dealer said with a grin. He raised two fingers as he spoke. "Double the dose, for the price of one. Whaddya say, beautiful? You in?"

[1] The term Drifter here is equivalent to Adventurers. Basically, in the other world, you have people that always move from place to place while doing odd jobs (not unlike drifters seen in North America) like escorting, hunting, or assassinating. Drifters were part of a large Association that had 4 branches: the Dragon Branch, the Phoenix Branch, the Tortoise Branch, and the TIger Branch. Each Branch had a specialty that made them unique, and Jason was part of the Dragon Branch while Katherine trained in the Phoenix Branch. The origins of this Association had a connection to the Guardians of that world, which is why Jason and Katherine were able to inherit their respective Formulae that eventually evolved them into something more than just human, hence the constant Dragon and Phoenix comparisons I give to the two (although in this timeline, Jason isn't part of the Dragon Branch).

[2] The foreshadowing of this was there a while back when Emily was sick. The side effects of Heroin withdrawal (mild withdrawal) are: Nausea, Abdominal Cramps, Runny Nose, Sweats, Sleepiness, Muscle and Bone Aches. (Information about this and more was gathered from: https://americanaddictioncenters.org/withdrawal-timelines-treatments/heroin)