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"Drop the kid and maybe I won't have to peel your skin off, big guy."
The voice came from everywhere and nowhere. One second the alley was empty, the next, a woman in a chrome-slick bodysuit was leaning against a dumpster ten feet away. She looked bored, tossing a small, humming device between her hands.
Kaelen didn't move. He kept his hand on Mina’s shoulder, feeling the girl shaking against his side. He could smell the copper of her blood and the ozone of the city's smog.
"You're fast," Kaelen said. His voice sounded like grinding stones. "But you're out of your league."
"League? Please." She stepped forward, a blur of motion that should have been invisible to the human eye. She stopped an inch from his face. He could feel her breath—mint and adrenaline. "I'm Roxie. And that little oracle you're hugging? She's my ticket to a very expensive cure for a very sick brother. So, here's the deal: give her to me, and I'll let you bleed out in peace."
Kaelen's eyes narrowed. He didn't flinch at the proximity. He leaned in closer, his chest nearly brushing hers. "I don't do deals with thieves."
"Thief is such a harsh word. I prefer 'unauthorized procurement specialist'." Roxie smirked, her eyes scanning him. "You're not even from this sector. Where'd you crawl out of? You smell like old stars and dead empires."
"Get out of my way," Kaelen muttered.
He didn't wait for her to answer. He flicked his wrist.
Gravity didn't just shift; it slammed. The air around Roxie suddenly weighed ten tons. The pavement beneath her boots cracked, spider-webbing outward. She gasped, her knees buckling as she was driven halfway into the concrete.
"What the—" She choked out, her face flushing.
Kaelen stepped over her, shielding Mina. "Run. Now."
But Roxie wasn't done. Even pinned, she grinned, a manic glint in her eyes. "Cute trick. But gravity doesn't stop a bullet from a rail-gun."
From the rooftops, three red laser dots painted Kaelen’s chest.
*Bang.*
Kaelen didn't dodge. He didn't have the core strength left for a full shield. He twisted his body, taking the hit in the shoulder to keep Mina covered. The impact threw him back against the brick wall with a sickening thud.
"Kaelen!" Mina screamed, her voice small and terrified.
He groaned, blood bubbling at the corner of his mouth. The wound was cauterized by the heat of the slug, but his vision blurred. He looked down. The girl was clutching his coat, her eyes wide with a precognitive flicker.
"Left!" she shrieked.
Kaelen didn't ask why. He surged forward, swinging a heavy fist into the empty air to his left. *Crack.* He caught a speedster—another one of Roxie's associates—mid-dash. He didn't just hit him; he collapsed the gravity in the man's chest. The associate folded like a piece of wet cardboard, his ribs snapping inward with a wet pop.
"Damn," Roxie shouted, finally sliding out of the gravity well as Kaelen's concentration flickered. "You really are a monster, aren't you?"
She didn't attack with fists. She moved like a ghost, circling him, her movements a series of jagged, high-speed snaps. Kaelen tried to track her, but his head was swimming. Every time he shifted his weight, the world tilted.
"Just give her to me!" Roxie yelled, appearing behind him. "The Syndicate will kill you both anyway. I can actually get her somewhere safe—after I get the chip, of course!"
"You're lying," Kaelen spat, spinning around.
"Everyone's lying in Ironport, sweetheart!"
She lunged. It wasn't a punch. Her hand flashed toward Mina’s neck. Kaelen reacted on instinct, grabbing Roxie’s wrist mid-air. The force of her momentum nearly jerked his arm out of its socket, but he held on.
For a second, they were locked. Their faces were inches apart. He could see the desperation in her eyes—not just greed, but a raw, shaking fear. She wasn't fighting for a payday; she was fighting for a life.
"Let. Her. Go," Kaelen hissed.
"Make me," she whispered.
Kaelen didn't use gravity. He used raw, brutal strength. He twisted her wrist and slammed her face-first into the brick wall. As she rebounded, he caught her by the throat, pinning her high against the masonry. Her feet dangled, kicking uselessly.
"You want a cure?" Kaelen asked, his voice a low vibration that rattled her teeth. "I can give you a cure for that attitude. It involves a lot of screaming."
Roxie gasped, clawing at his forearm. Her fingers dug into his skin, but he didn't budge. "The... chip... she has the medical chip... I need it..."
"Who is your brother?"
"Doesn't... matter..."
Kaelen tightened his grip. He felt her pulse hammering against his palm—fast, erratic, terrified. He didn't like the fear. It reminded him too much of the people he'd conquered in his previous life. But here, in this gutter of a city, fear was the only currency that didn't lose value.
"Tell me, or I drop the gravity on your lungs and watch you flatten," he threatened.
"He's a lab rat!" she shrieked. "The Apex Vanguard... they have him in the spire! I just need the sequence from the girl's chip to unlock the vault!"
Kaelen stared at her. The same corporate bastards who wanted Mina. The enemy of my enemy is a tool.
He dropped her. Roxie collapsed into a heap, coughing and clutching her neck.
"Get up," Kaelen commanded.
"Why?" she wheezed. "You just tried to kill me."
"Because you know the layout of this city and you're desperate enough to be useful." He looked at Mina, who was staring at Roxie with a mixture of pity and horror. "And because I need someone who can run faster than a falling building."
Roxie laughed, a jagged, broken sound. "You're insane. You think I'm going to help you? I'll sell you out the second I see a better offer."
"You won't," Kaelen said.
He reached into the wreckage of the kill squad's gear and pulled out a heavy, blackened metallic ring—a nerve-linked shackle designed for high-threat prisoners. It hummed with a sickly violet light.
"What is that?" Roxie asked, backing away.
"A contract," Kaelen said.
Before she could blur away, he lunged. He didn't grab her throat this time. He snapped the shackle onto her left wrist.
*Click.*
As the lock engaged, a searing bolt of energy surged through both of them. Roxie screamed, her body arching. Kaelen gritted his teeth, his own heart skipping a beat as the device synced.
He felt it instantly. A rhythmic, pulsing heat.
"What did you do?" Roxie gasped, staring at the ring.
"It's a bio-sync bomb," Kaelen said, his voice cold. "Our heartbeats are now linked. If you move more than a hundred yards away from me, or if my heart stops—or yours does—the thing detonates. We both go up in a very expensive cloud of dust."
Roxie looked at him, horror dawning on her face. She tried to pull her arm away, but the shackle held firm.
"You... you psycho..."
"I'm a warlord," Kaelen corrected. "And you're my new guide. Now, tell me where the nearest safehouse is before the orbital guns decide this block is an eyesore."
Roxie opened her mouth to argue, but then she heard it. A low, distant hum from the clouds. The sound of a targeting laser locking onto their coordinates.
She looked up, then back at Kaelen.
"Five minutes," she whispered. "We have five minutes before the strike team arrives and turns this alley into a crater."
Kaelen looked at the timer blinking on the shackle.
"Then stop talking," he said, "and start running."