The lecture hall was massive—one of those college-style classrooms with tiered seating rising up in semicircular rows. Normally it would hold a hundred students. Tonight it held six people scattered across the empty seats.
Kínitos and Monti sat in the front row, both still shirtless, covered in bandages and bruises. They'd finished their three hundred push-ups twenty minutes ago and could barely move.
Vex lounged in the third row, boots up on the seat in front of her, looking completely relaxed despite the late hour. Axe took up two seats in the second row, his massive frame too big for the standard college furniture. His axe leaned against the wall beside him.
Violet sat off to the side in the first row, tablet in hand, ready to take notes. And at the front of the room, standing behind the professor's podium, was Jade.
A voice called out from the back row—higher up in the tiered seating. "Why are we in something like this?" Everyone turned to look.
Sarah sat near the top, arms crossed, looking distinctly unimpressed with the venue choice.
She had her suit deactivated, wearing casual clothes, her expression annoyed.
"It's more fun this way," Vex called back, grinning. "Makes it feel official. Academic."
"It's a debriefing, not a TED talk," Sarah
replied.
"Could've fooled me," Vex shot back.
Jade cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention back to the front. "If we're done critiquing the venue…"
The room fell silent.
Jade pulled up a holographic display from the podium. Images appeared in the air—The Stack, burning. Security camera footage. News reports.
"Tonight," Jade began, his voice calm and measured, "was supposed to be a simple reconnaissance mission. Kínitos and Monti were tasked with observing a Saint Patro weapons deal, gathering intelligence, and reporting back."
He tapped the display. The image changed to show the explosion—the massive fireball erupting from the sixth floor.
"Instead, the building exploded. Emergency services are calling it a terrorist attack. Forty-three confirmed casualties. Over a hundred injured. The Saint Patro is in chaos, their leadership structure destabilized."
Kínitos and Monti both looked down, unable to meet anyone's eyes.
Jade continued. "The United Front has deployed investigators to the scene. They're looking for whoever caused the explosion. Which means they're looking for us."
Another tap. The display showed security footage of Kínitos and Monti in their suits, fighting in the hallway.
"Our existence is no longer a secret. Multiple parties now know about paradox users operating in the city. The Saint Patro. The man in white. And potentially others."
Sarah leaned forward in her seat. "How bad is it?
"Bad," Jade said simply. "But not catastrophic. Yet." He looked at Kínitos and Monti. "Walk me through it. From the beginning. Every decision. Every encounter."
Kínitos straightened despite his exhaustion. "We followed Marco Delgado from The Stack to a house on Marlow Street. Observed a weapons exchange through a window. Documented it."
"Then we got jumped by the guy from the alley," Monti added. "The one who'd been assaulting the woman earlier."
Jade's expression didn't change. "The woman you rescued. That wasn't part of the mission."
"She was being hurt," Kínitos said. "We intervened."
"It was not judgment but clarification…in doing so, you made enemies of local gang members. Who then tracked you. Compromised your surveillance."
It took a moment Kínitos then answered.
"Yes."
Jade nodded slowly. "Continue."
Kínitos took a breath. "We went back to check on the woman. Found her apartment destroyed. She'd been taken. We traced her to The Stack—they were holding her on the sixth floor."
"So you decided to infiltrate a heavily guarded building to rescue her," Jade said. It wasn't a question.
"Yes."
"Despite knowing the Saint Patro would have security. Despite knowing you were supposed to avoid direct engagement."
"We couldn't leave her," Monti said quietly.
"They were going to kill her."
Jade was quiet for a moment. "I understand the impulse. But you put the entire operation at risk for one civilian." Axe face tightened up as he stairs as Jade. The energy feeels heavy as Jade looks over and sighs.
"She helped us," Kínitos said, meeting Jade's eyes. "She gave us intel. Gave us access. And she was in danger because of us."
Jade studied him for a long moment. Then nodded. "Fair enough. What happened next?"
"We split up," Monti said. "I got her out. Kínitos stayed behind to hold off the zombies—"
"Vampires now," Vex interjected from her seat. "Two Fangs upgraded them."
"Right. But zombies at the time." Monti continued. "I got her to the ground floor, but then the man in white showed up. With Widow."
The room went still at that.
"You encountered both of them?" Sarah asked from the back.
"Yeah," Monti confirmed. "Two Fangs had an army. Widow was hunting through the building." He looked at Kínitos. "That's when everything went to hell."
Jade's eyes narrowed. "The explosion."
Kínitos nodded. "I ran into Marco Delgado on the fourth floor. He was cornered by the man in white's soldiers. One had a flamethrower."
He gestured to his bandaged torso. "Marco got burned. I got him to safety. We ended up trapped in a suite on the sixth floor. Surrounded by vampires."
"So you created a fireball," Jade said.
"I was trying to make a distraction," Kínitos said. "I calculated the formula. Basketball-sized sphere. Compressed paradox energy. Controlled detonation."
"What went wrong?"
Kínitos's jaw tightened. "The reaction was bigger than my math predicted. A lot bigger."
"How much bigger?"
"Entire floor bigger."
Jade closed his eyes briefly. "And Marco?"
"We were in a bathtub. Porcelain and tile. Protected us from the blast." Kínitos looked up. "He manifested his paradox ability during the attack. Parrondo's paradox. Probability manipulation. He's… unstable."
"Which is why he's in isolation," Violet added, making notes on her tablet.
Jade opened his eyes. "Anything else?"
Vex raised her hand like a student. "Yeah. I fought Widow. She's got invisible arms coming out of her back. At least eight of them. Strong, fast, coordinated."
"I engaged the man in white directly," Axe rumbled from his seat. "Used Herbert Hotel to trap him. But then…" He hesitated.
"Then a spacecraft showed up," Jade finished. "Alien design. Organic-mechanical hybrid. With a voice that was afraid of someone called 'he.'"
The room fell completely silent.
Sarah broke it. "I'm sorry. Did you just say spacecraft?"
"Yes," Jade confirmed. He pulled up another holographic image—a sketch based on his memory. The chitinous, insectoid ship hung in the air, rotating slowly.
"What the fuck," Sarah breathed.
"My thoughts exactly," Jade said dryly. "The ship extracted the man in white before we could capture him. Left at speeds that shouldn't be possible. Caused a shockwave that nearly collapsed Axe's pocket dimension."
"And the voice," Axe added. "It was scared. Genuinely terrified. Of whoever 'he' is."
Vex leaned forward. "So we've got aliens now? On top of everything else?"
"It appears so," Jade said. "Which raises the question: what is the man in white? Who is he working for? And who—or what—is this 'he' that even alien technology fears?"
Nobody had an answer.
Jade let the silence sit for a moment, then continued. "Here's what we know for certain. The man in white can raise and control the dead. He's upgraded from zombies to vampires—faster, stronger, more intelligent. He has access to advanced technology, possibly alien in origin. He's working for someone powerful enough to command interstellar resources. And he's specifically targeting paradox users."
He looked around the room. "Which means all of you are targets now."
The lecture hall door opened.