Nothing can top Grim.

I repeated that over and over in my head as I retreated into the apartment complex. I kept an eye on the fire exit and slowed my movements the moment my pursuers gave chase. Copycat was first, vaulting over the railing and rolling into the hallway with enough grace to make him look like he was skating on thin air. Prosperity was close behind, already transformed and sniffing the air.

"Okay newbie, just follow my lead," Copycat said. "Don't split up. We just need to take this slow so we don't get caught off-guard. Dreamweaver is getting the exits as well, worse comes to worst we stall until backup is here."

Prosperity replied with an acknowledging low grumble.

The hallway wasn't big enough for me to slip by them, and I wasn't willing to risk it when Prosperity likely had canine senses. I didn't have anything that masked my scent. I needed a distraction of some kind. I was already mostly invisible so all I needed was to mix in a little bit of chaos and I could easily slip right through.

Simple enough.

I pinged all the electronics in the building, switched them on, dialed their volume all the way to the limit, and blasted as much noise as I could.

It was probably the most villainous thing I had ever done.

Noise cascaded through the building, and Prosperity tried to cover her ears with her paws. Copycat wasn't a fan either, but it bothered him far less. In fact, the overabundance of noise forced Prosperity to shift back to her human form.

"I think I know who this is!" Prosperity shouted over the noise. Copycat gave her a look while I just tilted my head. Did she remember my scent from last time? "Comet said Upgrade did the same thing to her on my first patrol."

I frowned. It was the same tactic, but giving myself away hadn't been the intention. Not that it mattered, I still had the advantage of my camouflage and all the other tools at my disposal. There was still no need to panic. I was the one in control here.

"You think this is Madhouse? Last I checked, they didn't have invisibility," Copycat said, and I could have sworn I saw the gears turning in his head from behind his helmet. "Then again, the guy is apparently an S-rank Mechakinetic. I wouldn't put it past him to make something that can make invisibility."

S-rank? Do they think I'm an S-rank?!

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"What do we do?" Prosperity asked.

"Nothing's changed," Copycat replied. "We flush whoever this is out, and Dreamweaver will get him if he tries to escape. Plus, we've got Sweepers inbound with a Walker. Give it a couple of minutes and they'll be eating concrete."

I found it rather endearing how confident they were.

Doors started opening throughout the corridor and the residents began poking their heads out to try and make sense of what was going on. I was lucky enough that an old man shuffled out of a door behind me, adjusting his glasses. I slipped past him and into his apartment before Copycat could begin to explain.

I found the nearest window and looked out. The Sweepers were already arriving but I was more interested in the strange web-like thread that stretched across the windows. I was inspecting it when one of Dreamweaver's creations skittered across the window leaving a sparkling thread behind.

Interesting…

I didn't panic. It was easy enough to keep my cool as I considered my options.

For all intents and purposes, they had me boxed in with their little impromptu quarantine. It was an impressive display, and from what Alice had shared, Dreamweaver's webbing was problematic to get through. Now, all I had to do was figure out a way to escape without anyone noticing.

So, what were my options?

Any exit would be webbed up soon. I could try cutting my way through, but that would almost certainly alert Dreamweaver and they would converge on me like vultures. Not ideal, but I would be able to deal with it if push came to shove.

Another option was playing the long game, hiding in the building until they believed I had escaped somehow. The Sweepers wouldn't be able to detect me, so that meant just avoiding Copycat and Prosperity as they searched. While the safe option, it would use up a lot of my suit's power and I wouldn't be able to finish my mission tonight.

Third, I could go on the attack. Dropping all pretenses of hiding and actively hunting Copycat and Prosperity. I'm confident I could take them in a fight, probably before Ajax's backup arrived as well. The problem with that is I'd be pissing off the ECU and straining the relationship between our groups even further.

I pursed my lips as I turned away from the window to see Prosperity creeping through the door of the apartment. She was tentatively scanning the room for anything out of place and sniffing at the air. She was following my scent, even when she wasn't transformed. Not like it was unheard of though, Liam could still use aspects of his power when he wasn't fully morphed. He still interpreted sound better than anyone else could and he was surprisingly good at reading lips.

To my surprise, she closed the door behind her.

"I know you're in here."

I leaned against the wall and crossed my arms. Copycat wasn't following her, so either she had received new orders in the last sixty seconds, or she was breaking off to try and confront me all by herself again. It wasn't going to end well for her. My suit was better now and her fire would struggle to do any damage quickly. I was lighter on my feet too, and more sure of my close combat skills than ever. I knew I was still lacking in that department, but practicing with Sam had taught me a few things.

"It's you, right? Upgrade. The guy that… the one I met before."

I tracked every nervous step she took. Prosperity was wide open and I counted a half dozen different ways I could disable her. Still, I said nothing. I wasn't stupid enough to give away my position. If I was right and she was following my scent, then chances were she had heightened hearing as well. Those pointed ears she had on top weren't just for show.

"Listen, I don't know if it's you or not, but I've got something to say," She turned and looked over her shoulder, a grunt escaping her throat. "So I'd really appreciate it if you just… lowered the noise for a moment. It hurts."

An interesting tactic. Abby had asked nicely, though it had been layered in tired sarcasm. Prosperity seemed genuine, and she had that air about her that seemed to indicate that she was far too kind for her own good. It was a quality that would get her killed, even as an ECU Rookie.

Still, I needed a bit more than a please to convince me to lower the volume.

"Damn it! You saved that girl from Grim, I think you want to help people, just like us," She paused and scanned the room again. "You almost crippled me with that laser, so the least you could do is hear me out!"

I made a calculated decision, one I was confident would work out given my judgment of her character.

I started recording with the camera inside my helmet, and I lowered the volume in the room. The rest of the apartment complex was a cacophony of noise, but Prosperity eased up.

"Thank you. I'm not going to ask why you do what you do. I doubt you'd give me an answer, but… you at least don't want people to get hurt. That's my take," she started pacing around the room, and I could see in her body language that she wasn't searching anymore. She was riddled with anxiety. "You saved that girl from Grim, and you guys stood up to him when it mattered most. Without Madhouse, there wouldn't even be a city left for us to save."

Praise… that was unexpected.

She was probably stalling, but her armor wasn't transmitting any information. In fact, her communications had been switched off. I found it curious that a Rookie would even be allowed to do that. They should be packed full of training wheel programs to stop them from doing anything that would jeopardize their safety.

Kind of like this.

"I just want to understand why… whatever you're doing, you've got to know where it's going."

They couldn't know what I was doing now so she had to be referring to something else. That meant The ECU had information on me I wasn't aware of. It piqued my curiosity; did their Mentalists predict my desires to capture and reprogram a Walker for Madhouse? What about my plan to break into their storage? How much did they actually know?

Prosperity was part of the Rookies so it was likely crucial details were being withheld from her, but it was clearly serious enough that they were at least informed something was going to happen. Something that involved me.

The ECU had hundreds of support Mentalists, but ones capable of precognition were exceedingly rare. Foresight had been the first Mentalist to Awaken with it, but he wasn't the last. Given what Abby had revealed to me over the years, the only one that fit the bill was Seer. I wasn't certain how his powers worked, but Abby claimed he could simulate potential futures.

It wasn't hard to put two and two together.

Seer had simulated a future about me, and it wasn't one that ended well.

Or maybe it was all just bullshit and I was about to step into the most obvious trap of all time. My gut was telling me that I was. It didn't make sense for Prosperity's armor to not be transmitting any data. She didn't seem like she had the know-how to play around with Nanoforge's armor, nor did she seem confident enough to disobey Copycat.

Was there any merit to what she was saying? The best lies were the ones that weaved in truths.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Ionizer said she was a bad liar.

This wasn't adding up.

"Eradicating the 'competition' is only going to end in Bayside's destruction."

"So that's what this is about." Prosperity spun to face me, but I kept my cool. My camouflage was still active so it wasn't like she could see me. "You guys think I'm going to destroy the city? Please. I live here, it's where all my stuff is. I'm not interested in waging war against The ECU."

"Yeah I've heard this before."

"I figured you would have, Copycat."

Prosperity straightened up and crossed her arms.

"Now that's interesting. What gave me away?"

I laughed.

"You're a good liar, but Prosperity's not."

"Oh well, what I said still stands. You should probably think it over before we capture you. I give it two, maybe three minutes," Copycat said. "You could just give up. Trust me, it's much less painful."

"Speaking from experience?" Copycat was slowly figuring out my position in the room and he would pounce at any moment. "It's strange you guys think I'm going to destroy the city. As long as you don't give me any reasons to come after The ECU, I'm not going to start anything."

"So what do you call this?" Copycat chuckled. "Come on, I know what you're up to. I've been part of the game before."

"Evidently, you're a shit player."

Copycat chuckled and lunged.

Out of all the rookies, Copycat was the one I was most cautious about. His powers were simple enough to understand on the surface, but they had a multitude of hidden functions.

As his namesake suggested, he was able to mimic Prosperity right down to her looks. He could replicate what she was wearing, and even her powers. However, what really made him dangerous was revealed with the information Cyberspace provided. Apparently, his copying did more than just mimic. If he held on for long enough, he could literally become you, memories and all.

Sam made a point to stay out of close quarters with Copycat because one wrong move could expose our involvement with Cyberspace.

Copycat changed midair, taking Prosperity's Morpher form, and I stepped to the side just in time to dodge the swipe from a pair of nasty-looking claws.

I could hear the Sweepers getting closer, if I was fighting when they arrived then I was screwed. My camouflage could only do so much when they could narrow down my position to a room.

In one swift motion, I extended my blade and plunged it into the closest wall to act as an anchor. I touched the wall and the building unveiled itself in my mind. I isolated the wooden floor beneath me and I spent a charge to change it from pine to oak planks.

The apartment's floor suddenly became liquid, and I watched all of the furniture – along with Copycat – plummet through the upgrading floor. The moment it became solid again, I retracted the blade back into its sheath and bolted out the door.

I burst into the hallway and a crowd of confused-looking people turned away from the real Prosperity who looked incredibly flustered. It only took her half a second to remember that she was an ECU hero and jumped into action. Pushing her way to the front of the crowd, blue flames erupted in her hands.

"You!" she aimed the fire directly at me, despite not being able to properly see me. "Come any closer I will burn you to a crisp!"

I dashed into another open apartment, looking for the closest bathroom. When I found it, I dove inside and used my power on the floor, this time spending a charge making the tiles a different color so I could fall harmless through to the next floor.

Dreamweaver had every exit covered, so that meant every door and window would be monitored. That wasn't even counting the Sweepers that had started monitoring the building. The seismic sensors were already picking up an incoming Walker, so I had less than a minute to escape.

I couldn't help but smile as adrenaline coursed through my system.

I already knew how I was going to get out.

Using my power, I used a single charge to change three different sections of the floor until I made it to the ground floor. Copycat and Prosperity would already be too far behind me to catch up, so my only obstacle was Dreamweaver and the Sweepers.

I moved with purpose, taking care not to make too much noise. I exited the apartment I landed in —scaring the occupant when their door opened and closed by itself— and stalked through the ground-level hallway. I could see Dreamweaver's handiwork all over the outside of the windows.

I reveled in the challenge.

There was a decent chance that more ECU heroes were on the way… or maybe I was giving myself too much credit. They might leave my capture to Dreamweaver and Ajax's Walker. Although, given what Copycat had said… they could pull out all the stops to capture me if there was some kind of doomsday prophecy. I couldn't claim The ECU wasn't the type. It was in their best interests to ensure that annihilation didn't come to pass.

Copycat had said I was S-rank, which honestly still seemed crazy to me.

Basement… I can probably get out through the basement.

I found the stairs to the basement and descended. I stopped halfway when I saw how much junk there was. Moldy furniture, tables, and chairs were scattered everywhere. It wasn't what I expected, but I couldn't say I was surprised either. The store Alice and I escaped from was a retail store with pallets of wrapped goods stored in the basement. It was meant to be tidy, and that wasn't taking into account that the building was in a flood zone, so the stormwater pipes were wide enough to walk through.

I had come down here half expecting to crawl my way to freedom if it was an option. It seemed like it wasn't.

Time for Plan B.

I needed everyone to focus their attention on where they thought I would escape through. It needed to distract them long enough for me to slip out another way, and I had just the solution. I didn't exactly have a rock or a broken bottle to throw, so a high-velocity Mechatech explosive would have to do.

I jogged to the nearest fire exit and tried to push the door open. It wouldn't budge. Dreamweaver's threads had sealed it tight.

That was annoying. I needed the door open for this plan to work.

I extended my blade again and carved a hole through the door. Shimmering neon pink threads snapped, coating my blade in a luminous goo that looked like I had cut through a bunch of glowsticks. I had a feeling that retracting the blade would be a bad idea, and I listened to that gut feeling. The last thing I wanted was to be stressed about my blade jamming. The rain would probably wash it off once I got outside.

I backpedaled to the elevator and readied myself.

I needed to be quick.

Targeting the hole I carved in the fire exit, I took a deep breath before firing a grenade through it. The explosion ripped through Dreamweaver's remaining threads and blew the door off its hinges. It flew back into the hallway from the blast, but I didn't see it land. I was already forcing open the elevator doors when the lights suddenly went out and the building got much quieter, save for a few phones and the panicked sounds of the residents trying to call emergency services. Seems like the ECU had cut the power.

A few moments later I managed to force the doors open and attempted to grapple to the top floor.

Unfortunately, the elevator was stuck in my way at the top of the shaft.

My grapple hit the bottom of the elevator and pulled me up.

I hung there for a few seconds before I found something metal and solid on the side of the wall to grab. My arms and fingers started to burn so I needed to speed things up, or I would lose my grip and fall —note to self, install something that let me stick to walls.

I retracted my grapple and used my spare hand to touch the bottom of the elevator. One charge repairing the wear and tear on the elevator had the whole thing turning to liquid.

I shot my grapple up again and it pulled me through before it could solidify.

There was enough space between the roof of the building and the top of the elevator to stand on without having to bend down, but I couldn't stick around to admire that. I was already wasting precious time as it was, and it wouldn't be long before The ECU and Ajax's Sweepers realized the explosion was just a distraction. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they'd already figured it out.

Still, I was determined to follow through.

I placed my hand against the ceiling and concentrated on this portion of the building. I saw the blueprint in my head, like a virtual wireframe of the building's components. There were exactly three meters of solid concrete, wiring, and plumbing between me and the roof.

It was just high enough for me to comfortably clear.

I sunk a repair charge in and quickly prepared to jump as I switched functions on my impact compensation. The compressed air in the lower part of my suit I used to prevent any broken legs from large falls hissed as they opened. I jumped and a whoosh of air propelled me upwards.

I made it through just in time for the repairing section to become solid again.

Upon landing, I collapsed to my knees and rolled onto my stomach. It wasn't that I needed to, but instead out of a desire to keep as low to the ground as possible. Rain assaulted me, and the vibrations of the approaching Walker were far too close for my liking.

Dreamweaver's creations were skittering all over the building, and despite their spider-like appearance, they were bigger than any dog I was familiar with. They didn't seem to take notice of me, so either Dreamweaver wasn't able to see through them, or my camouflage module was working wonders.

Pushing myself up, I made a break for the neighboring building. I took care to avoid Dreamweaver's creations as I ran, I didn't want to take any more chances now that I was so close to escape. Once I was in range, I grappled off the apartment complex toward freedom.

I had to stop myself from cackling as I tasted victory.

My heart stopped when a Sweeper flew in front of me and I had to twist out of the way. I only missed it by the skin of my teeth, but it stopped midair. I managed to land before it started scanning. Red and green lights hit every surface around it, including me. Then, it took off in the opposite direction.

I let out a breath and got to my feet. Turning around, the apartment complex was like a beehive. Sweepers were looking through every window, Dreamweaver's ethereal spiders skittering around the complex, and a Walker finally entered the street.

It lumbered forward, its body angled toward the building. I watched a compartment on its main body roll like a revolver before streams of blue light shot out. Glass shattered as the lights entered the building, and then the screaming started.

It was like watching angry fireflies. They surged through every room, lights flashing in the windows. Whatever they were, and whatever they did, the residents weren't thrilled to have them invading their personal space. They weren't organic either because my visor was picking up signals from these things. There were thousands of them.

That was far too close.

I turned and fled, knowing this area was far too dangerous now. I would have to return later to install the seismic sensor. For now, I would continue the mission elsewhere.

Another encrypted message came through from Cyberspace.

"We're getting readings from your sensors. Elevated activity in your area. What's your status?"

I paused, taking a moment to word my reply properly.

"Ran into some trouble. Escaped unharmed. Situation resolved."

Cyberspace's reply was instant.

"Good work. Proceed as planned."

I had forty-five percent remaining power in my suit. That was more than enough to complete the assignment.

I chuckled as I took off.

This is getting easier and easier.

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