Chapter 13

SECOND SPARK

Annie slid to a stop just ahead of Alexander as she stepped out of the narrow smuggler’s tunnel into a maintenance corridor.

The tunnel stretched into the distance in both directions, dimly lit by scattered overhead strips. Narrow walkways clung to the walls, bolted into reinforced concrete. Between them yawned a two-meter gap bridged at intervals by thin crosswalks.

Below the gap, a massive cylindrical conduit dominated the trench. Its ceramic-and-metal shell housed bundled power lines, data cables, and coolant pipes. Access hatches dotted its surface, each marked with hazard warnings. Ladders dropped from the walkways to maintenance platforms along the conduit’s side.

It was like a forgotten artery carrying the city’s lifeblood, smelling faintly of oil and ozone.

As Alexander stepped onto the walkway beside Annie, she froze.

A metallic thunk echoed from the left. A quieter thud answered from the right. Two figures emerged from the shadowy gaps between the lights. They had picked their hiding spots well.

They were definitely humanoid, though Alexander wondered if the term human might no longer be an accurate description.

Both bristled with cybernetic augmentations, red ocular implants glowing in the darkness.

One was broad-shouldered, chrome arms gripping a bulky assault rifle. The other was leaner, with metallic legs ending in taloned feet, armored knees, and a sheathed blade at the waist. Both wore body armor.

The gunman’s voice carried through an implant amplifier. “Anette Sheridan. You are wanted for escaping from a high-security containment facility. We are registered collectors with the Superhuman Threat Evaluation, Pursuit, and Surveillance program. Surrender and you will not be harmed.”

Annie muttered under her breath, just loud enough for Alexander to hear. “Do all bounty hunters take monologuing lessons?”

Alexander raised his hands and faced the gunman. “Well, I’m not Annette Sheridan,” he said, deadpan. “Am I free to go?”

The gunman didn’t smile. “You are a suspect in an ongoing investigation, with multiple counts of aiding and abetting a superhuman fugitive. You will surrender now.”

Annie stayed still. Liquid metal shimmered faintly across her hand, creeping outward, but the metal’s regeneration or recharge rate was slow.

Alexander dipped his chin toward the gunman. “I’ll take that one.”

She stared at him like he’d gone crazy. “Alex, that one has a gun.”

“Yes,” he whispered, lips twitching into a half-smile. “A highly advanced gun. Besides, I don’t know how to fight a guy with a sword.”

Annie sighed and flexed her fingers. “Right. Sure. Because the guy with the sword would be too scary.”

“Exactly,” Alexander said, pleased she understood.

They moved at the same moment.

The rifle muzzle rose toward him.

Is this what they mean by staring down the barrel?

He recognized the weapon type, even though he’d never wielded one himself. It was an energy rifle with variable output for controlled bursts. And it had a failsafe: a disabling burst discharge should the weapon be used by an unauthorized wielder.

So he told the weapon it was in the wrong hands.

Unauthorized user. Initiate discharge protocol.

The rifle whined. The augment froze, looking down in shock. “What the f—”

A blue wave burst outward. The gunman spun away and slammed into the walkway with a metallic crash.

Annie closed in on her opponent. The swordsman unsheathed the beautiful blade in a perfect sweeping strike aimed at her throat. She blocked it with a metal hand.

They paused, taking the measure of each other and looking for an opening.

Annie’s gaze lingered on the blade: a traditional katana. She’d always wanted one.

“I’m so taking that when I’m done with you,” she mocked.

The swordsman attacked, his overhead swing blistering fast. Annie’s left hand shifted into a short blade, deflecting the strike. Her right hand reshaped into dagger-pointed fingers, which she thrust forward—

But his knee shot up, a blade snapping from a hidden slot in the armored cap.

She threw herself sideways into the railing. “Oh, seriously? Murder knees?”

A taloned foot slammed into the railing where she’d been a heartbeat earlier, the metal bending under the impact.

She dropped into a defensive stance. Speed was her only edge. The chromer held the advantage in everything else. Strength. Reach… A cool sword.

I’ve got one shot. Gotta let him think he has me figured out.

Alexander had thought his victory locked in. It wasn’t. The blast had been designed to take out normal people who got their hands on a weapon in a fight, but his opponent was more machine than man.

The gunman, now disarmed, advanced on him, each step heavy.

Alexander reached for his cybernetics, feeling for the familiar obedience through which he might take over the man’s machine parts.

Stolen story; please report.

Instead, he felt only resistance. The devices rejected his authority. It was as if he were trying to convince a berserker not to beat him to death with pretty words.

Well, that’s new.

He pushed harder, trying to force his Technopathy into their systems. There were a few moments… a flickering ocular implant, a servo whined as an arm jerked slightly. The man grunted as something deeper caused a brief discomfort.

Then the augment was on him.

Alexander fought with everything he had, but at the end of the day… he had no formal training to back it up. He kicked, punched, and even bit at the man’s chrome wrist as hands closed around his throat, tightening without intending to break his neck.

He grabbed the cybernetic arms, willing them to shut down or turn against their owner. His foot connected with a knee, earning another grunt. The edges of his vision darkened, and his knees folded. But he refused to yield.

No. No! NO!

Desperate, he reached inside himself to where his Technopathy lived. Not within the mind, which he’d come to realize was simply his understanding, but deeper. Perhaps it might be called the soul, or some other place of self where one’s willpower lived.

Into that dark void he screamed his refusal, demanding more of himself, more of his power.

Something answered.

Lightning burst to life within him, pumped from his heart and into veins, before flooding into his arms. Electricity tore from his hands and into the man’s cybernetics. The metal and electronics absorbed the energy instantly, like a rod welcoming lightning home.

But this wasn’t regulated voltage humming along circuitry. It was raw, surging power directed solely by Alexander’s will and tinged with his anger and fear.

A sharp crack split the air as a shoulder servo blew. Sparks sprayed from the man’s back. He screamed as components failed in a chain reaction until the current reached flesh. His hold on Alexander’s throat slackened as his fingers twitched uncontrollably. His legs buckled, dropping him to the ground.

Alexander held on. He’d learned a valuable lesson earlier: the fight wasn’t over until they couldn’t get back up. When the man finally went limp, Alexander released him and stumbled back, limbs trembling and lungs burning.

Annie!

He turned toward her and staggered against the railing. She was down on one knee, head bowed. The swordsman loomed over her, blade raised.

Alexander lurched forward. “Annie—!”

The sword fell.

Annie’s hand snapped up and caught the blade mid-descent, steel shrieking against metal. She yanked her opponent forward, then let the metal vanish from her left hand. The blade bit through flesh and into bone, but she didn’t so much as flinch.

She gathered all the metal to her right arm, reshaping it into a winged spear which she thrust upward into the side of the man’s mechanical neck.

A coolant line burst, spraying blue fluid into the air. The swordsman’s red eyes flickered in confusion, before his limbs went slack and he crumpled to the walkway.

Annie stood, bleeding from her left hand. She picked up the katana, turned toward Alexander—

And found him slumped beside his already defeated opponent.

“No fair!” she cried out. “I had the boss battle!”

Alexander sighed, then turned and took a dagger from his fallen foe, along with the sheath, before stripping synthetic fabric for bandages.

He limped over to Annie, who was busy admiring her new katana. Blood ran from her wound, seemingly unnoticed. Without a word, he began wrapping the wound.

When she turned and smiled up at him, he couldn’t help but laugh.

“What’s funny?” she asked.

“Just remembering how we got our asses kicked by a couple of lab techs when we first met.”

She giggled. That was a good sign to Alexander’s mind. He knew they were both still dealing with that in their own ways, but at least they could carry it. And amuse themselves with the craziness of it all.

“Well, now we’re fighting guys out of the holos. With swords. And guns. And…” Alexander squinted at Annie’s opponent. “Are those freaking murder knees?”

“That’s what I said!”

He pulled her to her feet. Together, they stepped over the body and started walking. Neither had forgotten they were still on the run from some superhero that was willing to blow up an entire store to get the drop on them.

“Oh, and it turns out you were right,” Alexander said after a beat.

“About what?”

“Me having more than one power.”

Her grin was immediate. “Totally called it. What is it?”

“I think it’s Electrokinesis. The name feels right.”

Annie let out a low whistle. “That’ll be fun.”

He gave a small shrug, though he couldn’t quite hide the corner of his mouth twitching upward. “We’ll see. But what we really need is a way to deal with wounds like your hand if we’re going to be dealing with this kind of thing regularly,” he said, thinking about their options.

“That’s easy. We’ll eventually heal faster. Tier 2s get a minor healing factor somehow. And they can take hits better than we can. At least that’s what everyone says.”

Alexander glanced at her bandaged hand. “I’m guessing that’s a long way off.”

Annie shrugged. “Then we just have to keep winning until we get there.”

They turned down a different tunnel, boots echoing in the dim, flickering light. The silence between them carried the weight of unspoken thoughts and doubts. It had barely been a week since they had escaped the prison, and already there were cybernetic warriors and flame-wielding superheroes hunting them.

Who knew what would be next?

[SYSTEM STATUS UPDATE]

Initialization Stage: 97.17% complete. Estimated completion: 3 months, 8 days, 2 hours.

Nine years, four months, twenty-two days since awakening. Baseline assimilation ahead of projection.

[PRIMARY REALITY INDEX: EARTH_1]

Dominant thematic expression detected: Superpowered paradigm, supported by cybernetic augmentation.

Cultural reinforcement: Stable.

Extreme threat entities: 7 identified.

Entity_01-05: Probability of catastrophic disruption if aligned — 3-64%

Entity_06: Probability — 39-72%

Entity_07 (R. Alexander): Probability — 22-96%

Mitigation planning in progress.

[PARALLEL EARTH COMPARITIVE ANALYSIS]

EARTH_0: Baseline reference. No thematic deviation. Terminated at +0.00%.

EARTH_5: Magocratic civilization.Reality-bending expressed as arcane manipulation. Stable civilization slowing process. Assimilation at 73.12%.

Earth_12: Bio-adaptive martial paradigm. Ki-based physical transcendence dominant. Assimilation at 91.29%.

Earth_18: Sanctified Chivalry paradigm. Devotion-based augmentation and weapon-channelled energy projection. Assimilation at 84.77%.

Earth_26: Entropy cultist paradigm. Civilization collapse accelerated process. Assimilation at 96.88%.

Earth_51: Saurian Supremacy. Hyper-evolved dinosaurs supplanted mammalian development. Assimilation at 65.22%.

[INTEGRATION PRIORITIES]

Increase thematic cohesion.

Amplify progression incentives.

Manage extreme threat entities through engineered narrative pressure.

Initiate cross-reality incursion events in localized dimensional arenas to provoke paradigm conflict.

Ensure subject compliance.

[FINAL ASSESSMENT]

Status: Awaiting full launch.

All outcomes remain within acceptable parameters.

Continue the Dream.