It’s impossible to account for every variable. No matter how methodical your planning, well-thought your reasoning, you’ll always leave something out. The best plans always account for something to go wrong, expect proceedings to go off-course, and leave ample windows to adjust on the fly. Or at least, that was what I thought.

How the hell was I supposed to account for this?

Chrome-mask was more force of nature than sole combatant. He flew through the wrecked door, so quickly it looked as if he might smash into the adjacent wall, only to land on it, feet first. With a graceless swipe, he hurled three glinting flashes of metal directly towards my face.

Waller stepped in front of me protectively. He raised a protective arm too late. A cry of pain followed—one small blades lodging in his arm, the other two landing in his cheek and just beneath his eye. They dug in less than a half-inch, but given the location it must have hurt like hell.

“Waller!” Hawkins cried out, bringing her service weapon up to her eye. Before she even lined up a shot, Chrome-mask was moving again.

Time slowed down as Chrome-mask dove off the wall in a trajectory that was almost a straight-line, directly at us. Hawkins fired a shot that missed Chrome-mask and shattered the window at the end of the hallway, while Foster finally stirred from his momentary paralysis and swiped out with the butt of his pistol.

Chrome-mask twisted in the air to avoid the blow, and something glinted in his hand.

Immediately, I realized what he was trying to do.

I wasn’t certain how his power worked yet, exactly, but seemed to take some setup. A certain number of those thin, needle-like blades in the target before he could use his crimson magic to obliterate the center-point, as he had the Users in the cathedral.

With milliseconds to spare, I dead-legged Waller with a swift kick at the back of his knee, trying to stop Chrome-mask from completing the circuit.

No longer blocked by Waller, Chrome-mask crashed into me with both feet. He was smaller than me and weighed significantly less, but the drop-kick still sent me skidding a small distance down the hallway. I watched helplessly as Chrome-mask scrambled towards the fallen agent, planting the final knife into Waller’s forehead.

Then—almost casually—punched through his face, bathing the surrounding hallway in red.

“No!” Foster screamed.

But Sae was faster. Maybe faster than all of us. She grabbed Chrome-mask’s head in one clawed hand and picked him up, slamming him repeatedly into a metal doorframe. The top left section of his mask came off, revealing a section of brown hair and a vicious green eye.

Ellison.

My heart sank. On some level, I’d known since the transposition. But I’d hoped more than anything that I had missed something. That I’d been wrong.

The brother that I’d loved since the day he was born snarled in a voice I couldn’t recognize as he grabbed Sae’s wrist with both hands. He peeled her chitin thumb back, slipping out of the vice grip and pretzeling one leg around her arm for leverage, kicking at her face with the other.

There was a gunshot, and Ellison’s head snapped back. He plummeted to the ground and landed motionless. Hawkins and Foster advanced on him.

Talia stood over Ellison, growling.

I moved quickly, straddling Ellison’s torso and wrapping my hands around the lightweight material that covered his neck lightly. The bullet from Hawkins’ handgun was flattened in the top portion of his mask.

“What are you doing?” I whispered, furious.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Azure climb through the shattered window at the end of the hall.

“We got this, Matt.” Foster said, and I felt an arm pulling me free as Hawkins flanked from the side. My expression hardened as I let him pull me off Ellison.

Not to mention that he’d killed Waller. This plan was contingent on the feds making it through—by the skin of their teeth, but alive. The death of my biggest detractor reflected badly on me, no matter how you looked at it.

In the past, Ellison always delivered bad news with a similar mix of callousness and apathy. There was a strong possibility he wasn’t lying, here. A coldness settled over me.

Ellison grunted as Foster and Hawkins hauled him to his feet. His visible eye pierced me, a dark anger emitting from it.

The feeling of wrongness grew thick. This wasn’t just about letting him go. If he really wanted my help, all he had to do was threaten to reveal my identity to the public at large. Even if my public face bought me a certain degree of goodwill, someone would eventually make good on the threat. But if he went that route, the bridge between us would be burned to ash. I’d never trust him again.

Instead, he’d brought Iris into it.

Promises were cheap. But Ellison revered our father in a way I’d never understood. It was, perhaps, the one thing he could have said to convince me he’d follow through. In the distance, the sound of a helicopter grew closer.

I closed my eyes and signaled Azure.

Hawkins and Foster stopped in their tracks as foul smelling smoke poured through the hallway. Multiple fire alarms went off one after another, each adding to the dissonant keen, wailing like a demented choir. Audrey’s vine shot through the smoke and lashed Hawkins’ wrist, knocking the gun. Another grabbed Ellison by the ankle and yanked him from their grasp.

Suddenly unburdened, Foster and Hawkins unloaded down the hallway, firing through the smoke. A bolt struck me in the ribcage, scraping against bone. Sae pulled me out of the way as a hail of flashing knives cut through the air.

Talia charged into the smoke, snarling and growling.

Before I knew what was happening, Miles was standing above me, firing arrow after arrow into the smoke, his face twisted in a rictus of anger. He pointed to a nearby door. “Inside!”

We retreated into the open suite. Foster dragged Cook inside, while Talia, freshly bloodied, slipped in just before the doors closed.

A small family huddled together, staring with wide-eyes as our bedraggled group staggered in, slamming the door shut behind us. The sound of whirling helicopter blades grew deafening. A rope ladder banging against the railing on the outside lounge. That must have been how Miles got in. A small assortment of police officers and SWAT unloaded from the helicopter and pushed forward, taking a position beside Miles.

“Waller?” Miles kept his bow trained on the door and glanced at Hawkins.

Hawkins shook her head.

Miles’ mouth turned downward. “God fucking dammit. We’re leaving. Now. Get in the helicopter. All of you.”

Hawkins, Foster, and Sae made their way out onto the balcony overhang. Sae hoisted Cook up the ladder and then dropped back down. When she extended a hand to Hawkins, Hawkins ignored it and pulled herself up. She froze and pointed out towards the distance, her voice barely audible over the noise. “Bogey—is that—Myrddin’s backup is running!”

Sure enough, I saw a paragliding silhouette approximately the size of my brother making solid time towards the moonlit horizon

My blood dripped freely, staining the plush carpet. I stared at the small family huddled in the corner, a resolute tranquility came over me.

“I can’t go.”

Miles grabbed me roughly by my hoodie. “The hell you can’t. You’re bleeding out. He slipped through all your security and literally attacked you where you live. Let the professionals look after your family. It’s not safe here.”

I glared at Miles. “And whose fault is that?”

Miles released me as if he’d stuck his hands into a fire.

“Nowhere is safe.” I pushed. “Everyone in this region is relying on me. If I leave, Myrddin will find a way to make us pay for it. I paid in blood to save them. I can’t abandon them now.”

I nearly cringed at how painfully valiant it sounded. If it were just us, I would have pushed back with my family’s safety instead. But the civilians' presence gave me a unique opportunity to entrench myself in the region further. Solidify that what happened at the end of the event wasn’t just a fluke.

Miles studied me through cold blue eyes. “Myrddin fought half a guild and walked out unscathed. Not to mention, he has backup. Fighting him alone only ends one way.”

“If he was at the top of his game, sure, but he’s injured.” Sae took a place next to me. Talia at her side. “And I want a piece of that fucker as much as Matt does.”

“Who are you?” Miles shook his head. “Never-mind. More importantly, how do you know that?”

Sae glanced at Talia. “Spirit Guardian told me.”

Irritation flooded Miles’ expression. “Of course. There are Spirit Guardians now.”

Foster crossed his arms. “She’s solid, Miles. And Hawkins is out of the game, but I’m not. Way I see it, if we end this here, it saves a helluva lot of trouble in the long run.”

Miles didn’t look convinced. I gave it one last try. “I’ve been spamming messages to Kinsley, trying to get through. Squelch dropped long enough for me to get a message off. Kinsley’s people are on their way. Some patrolling mercs probably heard the gunfire and are already down in the lobby floor. “All we need to do is push him towards the lobby.”

With a sigh, Miles steadied himself. He pointed to the arrow emerging from my ribcage. “Foster?”

Foster studied the arrow’s placement, then drew a serrated blade, giving me a questioning look. When I nodded and grit my teeth, he began to saw the shaft, muttering apologies as every vibration sent a new wave of pain from my body. Eventually, I was left with an inch of bloodstained bolt emerging from my hoody.

“Kid should be alright, assuming nothing tears that out. That’s the most serious injury. An inch difference and that could have been your heart. Everything else is non-vital. You got lucky.” Foster locked eyes with me and inclined his head in tacit approval.

“What’s the plan, Matt?” Sae asked.

I considered that for a moment, grunting at a wave of pain. “My guess? Myrddin’s is leaning on his notoriety from the broadcast. He came here expecting us to run. Engage cautiously, if we engage at all. But no one’s that agile without a drawback. He has to be a glass canon.”

Miles breathed in sharply. “You want to blitz him.”

My expression hardened. “He’s been pushing his agenda uncontested from the start. That stops here.”