Thomas’s phantom finger snuck in through the shattered glass door and toward the cabinet, waving his finger in front of it and making it slowly open automatically. “Did you hear that?” Dominic asked, quickly turning back to see the cabinet drawer open but not the thing that had opened it.

“No. Did somebody open the cabinet?” Aria asked, peering over to see the open drawer as well.

“Thomas,” Dominic whispered. Thomas’s phantom finger had hidden just out of sight. However, he couldn’t hear or see where Dominic was. He only moved because he guessed that Dominic would hear him and turn around.

I need to get my eye and ear away from Rosemary and Celine. Slowly, Thomas’s phantom spy began to creep away from Rosemary and Celine as they stood talking in the hallway. Dominic had just turned away from the open drawer as Thomas’s phantom body parts converged on its position. What is that? Thomas thought, looking at the large object inside of the drawer. It was a long line of film reel, covered in various images of Thomas, Rosemary, and Celine. It might be too big. Thomas tried to lift it with just his phantom finger but couldn’t. It was too long.

Suddenly, he saw Aria look over at the cabinet, dead-focused on Thomas’s floating phantom finger, which was slowly lifting up the snake-sized reel of film. But she didn’t say anything. She just kept talking to Dominic as Thomas continued to attempt to lift the reel. Dominic began to turn around. “I don’t think it was Thomas, Dominic. It was probably the wind coming in from that broken window!” Aria gestured nervously to the broken window.

“Yeah, I guess. Rosemary’s probably going to pay for that, right?” Dominic asked.

“Probably not, no,” Aria answered, looking back to the cabinet. The reel was gone, and Dominic looked over at the drawer. “See? Nothing there.”

“Yeah . . .” Dominic answered slowly, then began to walk over. “You know what? I’m actually going to walk over and check it out instead of just saying it’s fine because it really isn’t that far away and there could be serious repercussions—and it’s gone. Thomas got it,” Dominic said, turning to Aria.

“Why is it so bad if Thomas gets his memories back, Dominic?”

“Because if he goes after Dad and whoever else, he could be killed. And if Rosemary and Celine know—”

“Know what?” Celine asked, standing menacingly on the second floor above Dominic.

“Uh, NOTHING! Haha.” Dominic answered as he quickly closed the drawer before Celine could see that the reel had been stolen. “We were just talking about your birthday coming up.”

“You know I think birthdays are for children,” said Celine, scowling. Dominic frowned as she continued. “. . . . and highly competent lawyers,” Celine finished, and a smile returned to Dominic’s face. Suddenly, a phantom eye flew past Celine’s head, turning everyone’s gaze towards the upstairs as Thomas slowly pulled the reel along the floor.

YES! This should keep them distracted for a few minutes. Thomas cheered internally.

“Breaking Point.” The phantom eye was immediately destroyed.

Okay. New plan, Thomas thought as he pulled the reel under the couch, just out of sight. If I can just make a mad dash for the exit, then I could theoretically drop it over the ledge. But they might just rush me. I need to get a phantom hand up there, Thomas thought, sending a hand toward the penthouse a few floors up. But out of the blue, pain filled his hand. He had already powered it up in order to climb as fast as he did, but now he was creating another phantom, which was causing his hand to slip from the pain and exhaustion. Thomas’s hand was able to sneak under the couch. He couldn’t see anything, which meant he didn’t know if anyone had seen him, but he could at least hear what they were saying—and that was nothing.

Thomas quickly snagged the reel from under the couch and brought it over to the balcony, dropping it over the side and into Thomas’s hand. The reel slid into his skin at once, and he remembered. Rosemary and Celine . . . they were members of the Krokodil Crime Family, a group that Thomas had been hunting for years. Same with Aria.

And Aria and Dominic were the third and fourth Krokodils.

Which wasn’t all that hard to figure out based on what he had heard just a few moments ago.

User: Aria, the Youngest Krokodil

Civ: Aria of Sorrow

The user is able to remotely turn people’s skin into small drones. These drones are made from a thick square chunk of a person’s skin that the user can see, and they resemble a spider with veins for legs that can be controlled by the user. The user is also able to turn him or herself into one of these cubic drones and reform in a different location. These drones are created out of a person’s skin whenever that body part takes damage or is deemed less useful than the chunks surrounding it. This can be as serious as a bullet wound or as minor as a weird freckle they don’t like. The user can then swap this chunk with any other chunk on their body by bringing that drone over to that area and swapping them instantly. The user can also trade their own chunks with another person’s to heal themselves and wound others.

User: Dominic, the Youngest Krokodil

Civ: Confusion

The user is able to extract film reels out of objects. This reel, when extracted from an object the user touches, can be used to bind or whip people—or be seen or listened to by the user to reveal information that the object has heard or seen. If the user extracts a reel from a person, the user can extract their memories and separate it from the rest of the reel, causing them to forget the information. The user can also place their reel into other objects or people, causing them to act out the memories the user has taken. The more tape the user creates, the worse their memory and cognitive function become.

“Well then. It looks like you know.” Celine spoke softly as she stood over the balcony, looking down at Thomas as he clung to the building’s side. Along with the three other Krokodil Siblings.

“Heyyyyy, Dominic! Happy Birthday!” Thomas shouted, ignoring the four powerful Civ users standing over him.

“Thanks, Thomas. But this really isn’t the time. I told you not to come here,” Dominic responded, exasperated.

“I thought you were in danger.”

“Aw, well thank you for worrying about me. That’s—”

“Dominic shut the fuck up,” Rosemary hissed.

“Hey, don’t talk to him like that!” Thomas shouted in response.

“Dominic, it’s clear that the approach of erasing his memories has failed. We’ll need to take more aggressive action in order to ensure our secrecy remains intact,” Celine commanded. She made the concept of murdering your brother’s boyfriend seem logical and measured. Which Thomas insisted it was not.

“Don’t fight him, Celine—please,” Dominic pleaded.

“I won’t kill him, Dominic—just leave him unable to cause us any more harm.” All eyes were on Celine and Dominic as the two spoke.

“Oh, that wasn’t a worry.” Celine looked over the balcony as Dominic spoke. Thomas was gone. “It was a warning.”

“Where the hell did he go?” Rosemary shouted as she, too, realized what had happened.

“I won’t kill your sisters, Dominic.”

Celine, Rosemary, and Aria turned around to see Dominic and Thomas standing side by side. “Just make them unable to cause me any more harm. PHANTRANA!” Thomas shouted, unleashing a volley of phantom hands towards Rosemary and Celine, unleashing a veritable beatdown.

“BREAKING POINT!”

“ROSEMARY’S BABY!” the two sisters shouted as they unleashed their Civs, quickly cleaving through the cloud of force that had covered them in bruises. Dominic and Thomas were gone, and Celine turned to see the couple quickly exiting the apartment. Rosemary gritted her teeth as she sprinted off after them, the other two sisters following close behind.