Bzzt.

"Can you do it?" Alex asked Artur through his aetheric radio.

"I can only say that I will try," Artur's voice crackled over the speaker. "I will be there, in the sky."

"Do your best," Alex said, dropping the device in his pocket and taking a deep breath.

Power cracked from the device in his chest and out through his arm. The orb sucked in that power, twisting it in a maelstrom contained inside before rerouting it back through his body. Like a dynamo, the power flowed back and forth between him and the orb. It grew each time, amplified by the internal mechanisms in the device.

The power surged and swirled inside him as he jumped, pushing off the base's metal around him and forcing himself high up into the sky. Alex smiled. It was the freest his manipulation of magnetic currents had ever been. It was like he was partying on someone else's money.

The problem was that someone would have to pay in the end.

Bzzt.

Blue lights surrounded him as he folded himself into the electric field. The base lit up for him like static across an old television. He estimated that about one hundred soldiers were on the base during the night shift, mainly spread out near the docks at the ships. A few were deeper inside the base, but all the metal interfered in pinpointing where they were.

"Not that it matters," he whispered, focusing on the nearest empty docked ship and pulling it with a magnetic connection.

Crack. Boom.

Lightning arced in the sphere of blue electric light that surrounded him, lancing out to the ship and drawing the normally invisible connection in sharp light.

Like plucking a petal from a flower, the ship floated toward him until the ropes holding it to the dock went taunt. Alex reached out with one hand, grabbing hold of the line of lightning. It didn't hurt him despite the warmth that filled his hands. He pulled it like a rope with his free hand, pushing with his magnetic ability as he grunted.

Snap.

The tethers broke away, and the ship sailed through the air like it was out in the nightsea. The lighting line that connected him to it faded back to an invisible connection. Alex brought it close, spinning it along with his hands in the direction he wanted to go as he looked out over the docks. He picked a target.

"Are you ready, Arci?" he asked. "We'll have only a few minutes once I start burning through the aether."

"Do what you will," Arci's voice echoed through his mind. "I will control the orb."

Alex took in a breath as another shock jolted out of the orb and down his arm. He pushed with one arm, directing the ship at a collection of docked slipships in the port's water docks. He would start there and then begin pulling the base apart. That would give them time to react.

Maybe some could evacuate, and he could keep the destruction to the dome.

Groan.

The ship shuddered forward on its lodestones, though they provided none of the usual thrust. The light sails were tethered and dormant, and only reserve power and his magnetism kept them aloft. He sent the ship out like a missile, shocks of electricity jolting through his arm as he pushed against the metal. It pierced through the electric bubble that surrounded him. Faster and faster, he focused on the push. Hot liquid touched his lips as he saw it through to the end.

Errn. Splash. Plop. Boom.

His weaponized ship crashed into the center of ten ships in total, metal crashing into metal for one of them as his improvised missile pierced its hull.

A lot happened at once. The ship he had targeted was wrenched and crushed before it shook and ripped apart. An orange and black explosion ripped out from the ship's interior, adding to the shockwave. Several waves crashed out from that center, toppling into the surrounding ships and sending them to crash to their sides. Many sunk. Some, with their lodestones, remained upright or floated upside down in the water.

Ding. Ding. Ding. Wern.

Alex didn't have long to focus on the effects of his damage. Bells along the dry docks, as well as a klaxon, began to blare. He had exactly what he had wanted. They were aware of him now. He turned his eyes to the massive entry gates next, where they rested closed.

"Those are next," he whispered.

"Can you do it? They're over a hundred meters!"

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Arci's voice sounded worried, but Alex shook his head. He didn't know when the orb would break. However, he would need to provide a path of escape before he started to do more serious damage. The massive metal doors were the only way in and out for ships.

He floated over to the gates, the crackling blue electric aura surrounding him, following him across the water. At his back, shuttles and slipships began to mobilize. Alex didn't need to turn to see them; they were alight in his sphere of magnetic senses. Five in total. He didn't have a lot of time.

"Hrrg!"

Crack. Boom. Crack. Boom.

He grunted as he extended both arms out to the two massive doors. Lightning cracked out from his sphere, slamming into the doors with a thundering boom. The tethers laced back to him inside the orb, and Alex pulled on them both with one hand. He had to admit that visualizing his magnetic pull was useful, even if his curse couldn't be managed under normal circumstances.

Groan.

The metal resisted him, and the massive locks on the gates resolved to stand against the power of his curse. Alex just smiled as a sharp pain pierced through his skull—a headache. He was pushing too hard, and he didn't care.

Errn. Crack. Slash.

One of the gates came off its massive hinges. Rocks crashed into the water below as Alex pulled it away. He released his grips on the tethers and reached out with his fingers, focusing on the various locks and clasps and twisting them open. He didn't have the strength to pull off both doors but came away with one. That was all he would need.

Clang.

As the five responding ships approached, he turned with the door, its size dwarfing him as he held it above him at an angle. With a flick of his wrist, he sent it flying into the five slipships, spinning like an oblong frisbee.

Crack. Boom.

Mister Tyson opened his eyes, surrounded by cold. He hated it. He lay on his back out in the lake with only the stone dome to look at. His jaw ached, and he didn't quite remember how he had ended up outside.

"It was all Ortega," he whispered, closing his eyes against the artificial lights that lined the stones above. "That bastard got me good in the jaw, but how did he knock me all the way out to the lake?"

But where had Ortega gone? The outlaw had managed to work one over on him without really trying. He was nothing like what Miss Malone's dossier had described him. According to the files, Ortega could stand up to a Finger with only a minor advantage. Yet Mister Tyson was on his back with hardly a fight.

Something wasn't right.

"There's only one way to settle this." Mister Tyson raised his arms out of the water before slamming them down. "Rebirth Wing!"

Splash. Hiss. Flap.

Two fiery wings erupted from his back when he slammed the water, forming a massive gap in the wave he created. He flew up before the water could completely extinguish his wings, and they only reduced in strength slightly as water folded back in where he had been.

Flap. Flap.

Mister Tyson looked around to get his bearings, his eyes roving the far walls of the dome. His suit clung to him as he floated, and it was an annoyance, but at least his glasses hadn't been knocked from his face. It took him a moment to piece together what was happening around him, but he had all the time in the Empyrean so long as his wings kept him aloft.

Flap. Flap.

Crack. Boom. Errn. Splash.

A piece of metal the size of a skyscraper in Undertown crashed into the waters around the docks, sending ships capsizing on waves. Only seconds later did Mister Tyson realize it was one of the doors to Tartarus. Mister Tyson took a moment to trace where it came from, only to see three slipships flying around a figure encapsulated by a semi-transparent blue orb of electricity.

"That can't be him," Mister Tyson whispered, but a sinking weight in his gut told him it was the 'Tin Man.'

Flap. Flap.

He made for the island, the only piece of ground unaffected by Ortega's rampage. In the distance, ships crashed into the water, sending waves crashing onto the shore. More ships took to the air, but they stayed back from Ortega. It seemed to Mister Tyson that they were coming up with a plan.

Thud.

He landed on the beach and looked at the conflict above the lake.

"What was down there?" he wondered. "Whatever it was, Ortega must have taken it."

Regardless of what the soldiers in the base did, he couldn't see them winning against Ortega as the 'Tin Man' charged out into the center of the ships and sent them flying away like balls on a pool table. Mister Tyson wasn't even sure if Commander Milton could fight Ortega now. How would the commander even get close?

Errn. Splash.

One of the ships crashed in the water near the island, sinking below the waves before it plopped upside down in the water. Smoke trailed out of it, and several soldiers surfaced nearby. Some started swimming for shore.

"I think it may be time to leave," Mister Tyson said, looking out over the structure on the island.

In the distance, Ortega started dismantling the docks, sending the metal structure careening into the water on top of the ships still moored there. Oddly, he left the portion with the shuttles untouched, which spoke to Mister Tyson of an opportunity.

"He's letting them escape," Mister Tyson said. "He must have torn the doors open to make a way out."

The change in Ortega's power alone was enough to report back to Miss Malone and not risk himself in a fight. The second reason was that Ortega would fold him in like a finely pressed suit. That the base wouldn't last long after was a good third reason.

Fights to the death weren't the norm for Fingers or Hands. In general, a tactical retreat was a better idea so that they could try again. So long as your lord was understanding, they would rather keep the asset than kill them. So long as he didn't catch Lord Baccia on one of his acidic days, his retreat would be acceptable. Miss Malone would even praise him for bringing the information.

So, Mister Tyson had every reason to make a tactical escape to start the journey to Grim Aegis. Aherlow wasn't one of the islands connected to the Underground, so he would have to make it the hard way. The only problem would be getting a ship, which would be better handled in Aherlow's docks than in Tartarus.

After all, he didn't want to get near Ortega, even if there was a chance to escape that direction.

"Rebirth Wing."

Flap. Flap.

He took to the skies again, flying through the smoke and destruction left in Ortega's wake without looking back. Whatever the case had done to anger the outlaw, Mister Tyson felt it best not to be involved. It was a mess for Commander Milton to clean up and report to his superiors.

"If he survives the report." Mister Tyson laughed, shaking his head as he exited the gates of Tartarus for the final time.

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