The campus was a warzone of a different kind. Not with monsters yet, but with human fear. Police cars, lights flashing, blocked the main entrance. Students and faculty milled around in confused, scared clusters. Some were crying. Others shouted at the officers, demanding answers. A man in a lab coat was trying to explain something about "ionic disturbances" to a stone-faced National Guardsman.
Elias pulled the van into a side street a block from the west service gate. He killed the engine.
"Leo," he said into the phone. "You see the white utility building with the rusted pipes? Park behind it. Wait for my signal."
"Got it." Leo's truck peeled off.
Elias turned to his passengers. Lena was in the passenger seat, Sam was kneeling between the seats in the back, peering forward.
"Sam," Elias signed. "You're with me. We move fast, we stay quiet." He looked at Lena. "You stay here. Lock the doors. If anyone approaches who isn't us, Leo is right behind that building. You hit the horn twice, and he'll come."
Lena gripped the seat, her knuckles white. "You're leaving me?"
"To protect the van and our supplies," he said, his voice leaving no room for argument. "It's the most important job. Can you do it?"
She swallowed hard, then nodded. "Just… come back."
Elias and Sam slipped out of the van. He led the boy down a narrow alley choked with dumpsters. The smell of rotting garbage and smoke was thick. He moved like a shadow, and Sam followed, imitating his quiet steps perfectly. The boy was a natural.
The service gate was a tall chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. A small guard shack stood empty. The gate was chained shut.
"Can you climb?" Elias whispered, signing.
Sam nodded. He pointed to the fence, then to his own ears, then shook his head. No noise.
"Good," Elias signed. "Go."
Sam moved first. He was light and agile. He scaled the fence like a spider, his feet finding silent purchase. He was over the barbed wire and dropping to the other side in seconds. Elias followed, heavier, slower, the chain links rattling slightly under his weight. He landed with a soft thud.
They were in a service yard full of maintenance vehicles and stacks of pallets. Ahead was the low, windowless building of the power plant, and beyond that, the biochemistry complex.
Elias pulled out his phone, texting Aris. We're inside. At the west yard. Where are you?
Three dots bounced. Then: Trapped. Lab B-14. Main hall is blocked. There are… people. They're acting strange. Aggressive.
Elias's blood ran cold. Early Awakened with combat Classes, or just people driven mad by Mana exposure. Either way, a problem.
Stay put. Barricade the door. We're coming.
He looked at Sam. "Change of plan. We need to get to Lab B-14. It's across campus. We'll have to go through buildings to stay off the open paths. You lead. Use the map in your head."
Sam's eyes widened, but he nodded. He took a moment, orienting himself, then pointed to a service door on the side of the power plant. He made a walking motion with his fingers, then pointed through the building. Path through.
"Go," Elias said.
Sam moved. He tried the door. Locked. Elias didn't hesitate. He took out his multi-tool, wedged the flathead screwdriver into the door jamb near the lock, and heaved. The cheap metal frame bent with a groan. He kicked it once. The door popped open.
Inside, it was dark and hot, full of the deep thrum of generators. They crept through a maze of pipes and humming electrical boxes. Sam navigated flawlessly, finding an exit door on the far side.
They emerged between two large academic buildings. The quad between them was full of people. A standoff was happening. On one side, a group of students and a professor were holding makeshift weapons, fire extinguishers, chairs. On the other side, three large men in football jackets were… laughing. One of them held a flickering ball of orange light in his hand. A [Pyrokinetic]. The other two had skin that glittered weirdly in the sun, like rough stone. [Low-Tier Brutes].
The football player with the fire tossed the ball playfully from hand to hand. "C'mon, professor," he sneered. "Just give us the keys to the bio lab fridge. We're hungry! All this excitement works up an appetite."
"Those are research samples!" the professor shouted back, his voice trembling. "You have no right!"
The Pyro laughed. "Rights? I can make fire in my hand, old man. I think I make the rights now."
Elias pulled Sam back into the shadow of the doorway. "Not our fight," he whispered. "We go around."
But Sam was staring at the scared students. One of them, a small girl, was sobbing. He looked at Elias, a question in his eyes.
Elias's jaw tightened. Every second counted. Aris was trapped. The clock was ticking. But these idiots with their new toys would bring chaos, attract monsters, maybe even hurt Aris if they went looking for more "snacks."
"Fine," he muttered. "Fast and loud."
He stepped out of the doorway and walked straight toward the standoff. He didn't run. He didn't yell. He just walked, like a teacher approaching misbehaving children.
The Pyro saw him first. "Hey! Back off! This is a private party."
Elias ignored him. He walked right up to the professor. "Professor, you should take your students and go inside. Now."
The professor blinked. "Who are you?"
"The guy who's handling this." Elias turned to face the three football players. Up close, they were just kids. Big, mean kids with a dangerous new power, but kids. He'd fought real monsters. This was pest control.
"Hey, I'm talking to you, loser!" the Pyro said, the fire in his hand flaring brighter. He threw it.
The ball of flame flew straight at Elias's face.
Elias didn't flinch. He brought his left arm up in a blur. Not to block, but to remember.
For a fraction of a second, the air in front of his arm shimmered, like heat haze off asphalt. The fireball hit the shimmer and… vanished. Snuffed out like a candle.
[Chronicler's Paradox Integrity: 96.9%]
The pain in his head spiked, sharp and hot. He'd used his power. Just a tiny bit—manifesting the memory of a Phalanx energy-dampening field for a millisecond. But it cost him.
The Pyro's jaw dropped. "What the—?"
Elias was already moving. While the kid was stunned, Elias closed the distance and drove his knee hard into the boy's stomach. The Pyro doubled over with a whoosh of air, the fire in his hand winking out.
One of the Brutes roared and charged, swinging a fist that looked like a lump of concrete.
Elias ducked under the wild swing. He pulled the pistol from his waistband. He didn't aim at the kid. He aimed at the Brute's foot and fired.
BANG!
The sound was enormous in the confined quad. The bullet sparked off the pavement an inch from the Brute's sneaker.
The boy froze, his stone-skin paling.
"Your skin might be hard," Elias said, his voice cold and loud in the sudden silence. "But your eyes aren't. Your throat isn't. The next shot finds soft tissue. Now, all three of you, sit down on the ground and put your hands on your heads."
Terrified, the three football players complied. The fight was gone, replaced by the primal fear of a gunshot.
Elias looked at the stunned professor and students. "I said GO. Now!"
They scattered, running for the nearest building.
Sam appeared at Elias's side, his eyes huge. He'd seen the gun, the fire vanish.
Elias gestured to the three bullies on the ground. "Watch them. If they move, you scream." He knew Sam couldn't scream, but the boys didn't know that.
He ran for the biochemistry building. He found Lab B-14. The hallway was empty. The door was barricaded with a heavy lab table.
"Aris! It's Elias!"
The table scraped back. The door opened a crack, revealing one of Aris's terrified eyes. She yanked it open and pulled him inside, then quickly re-blocked it.
The lab was a mess of packed equipment. Portable generators, crates of glassware, and a large hard-shell case that he knew held her mobile lab core. Aris herself looked like she hadn't slept, but her eyes were blazing with frantic energy.
"You came," she breathed.
"No time. Can you move all this?"
"Most of it. The core unit is on wheels. The rest are crates."
"Then we move. Now. I've got a van. We have to cross campus. There's trouble outside, but it's contained for a minute."
They worked fast. Elias took the heavy core unit, a wheeled case the size of a large suitcase. Aris grabbed two crates of delicate instruments. They shoved the barricade aside and stepped into the hall.
Sam was there, waiting. He pointed back the way they came, then made a cutting motion across his throat. Not safe.
Elias nodded. "New route. Sam, lead."
Sam took off, not back toward the power plant, but deeper into the biochemistry building. He led them through a series of back halls, down a service staircase, and into a basement tunnel. It was dark, lit by emergency lights, and smelled of mildew. Pipes ran along the ceiling.
"Steam tunnels," Aris whispered. "How did he know?"
"He's good at maps," Elias said.
They followed Sam for what felt like an eternity, the wheels of the core unit rumbling in the quiet tunnel. Finally, Sam pointed to a ladder leading up to a hatch.
Elias climbed first, pushed the hatch open. Daylight. They were in a small, fenced-in utility area, just twenty yards from the service gate. Perfect.
They helped Aris and the equipment up. In two minutes, they were at the fence. Getting the core unit over was a struggle, but they managed.
They sprinted for the van. Lena saw them and unlocked the doors. They threw the equipment and crates into the back, Aris climbing in with them. Sam jumped into the backseat.
Elias got behind the wheel. "Leo! Move!" he yelled into the phone.
Leo's truck peeled out from behind the utility building. Elias followed, gunning the engine.
Aris leaned forward, gripping the seat. "Those students… the football players. They had… abilities. It's connected to the protein restructuring, I know it is. The energy in the air is catalyzing latent genetic—"
"Later, Doctor," Elias cut her off, swerving around an abandoned car. "Right now, the 'how' doesn't matter. The 'what' is all that counts. And what's coming is worse."
He glanced in the rearview. Behind them, back at the campus, he saw a new, larger shimmer in the air over the library. A Gate was opening. Right where they had just been.
They had made it out just in time.
But in the reflection of the glass, just for an instant, he saw not the road behind him, but the blurred, smudged face of the Memory Echo, standing in the middle of the street, watching them go.
It was back. And it was closer.
[Integration Imminent: 4 Hrs, 55 Min, 02 Sec]