As Shane moved through the dark night, transformed into Ernesto, he felt the familiar, solitary calm that always settled over him when he was alone under the darkness. Whether hunting coons with Duke long ago, walking to the corner store, or confronting a celestial-powered scumbag, a profound sense of quiet settled into his very soul. It was difficult to articulate, but it was soothing.
The city noise seemed to fall away when he was like this.
No crew.
No crowd.
No one asking him questions.
Just a target, a direction, and the dark.
For a few seconds, despite everything that had happened that night, he felt almost centered.
He wanted this confrontation to end quickly. His disguise gave him the look required for access. He held the memories of the other thug and knew the identity of the leader. He felt capable of bluffing his way through enough to achieve his objective.
As he left the relative sanctuary of the Event Center, he noticed a few of the other thugs still milling around, but the majority of the protesters—the rioters—had dispersed.
Most were drifting away in packs, still loud, still agitated, but without structure now that the event itself had slipped out of their control. A few kicked trash cans. One man shouted at no one in particular. Another limped along with a bloody nose and an expression that suggested he had made at least one terrible decision that evening.
Shane, still wearing Ernesto's gear, kept his hoodie pulled low and his head down, moving quickly toward Thorne's downtown office building. He had been maintaining an open line via the system, feeding updates to the team about soft spots with minimal resistance.
Ben's voice came across the comm network first, kept low and clipped. "Street cams are thin where you're heading. Good and bad."
Cory followed immediately. "Good because less coverage. Bad because less coverage."
Shane didn't answer aloud. He just kept moving.
Dressed like this, no one had questioned him once. Suddenly, he saw a great deal of activity up ahead. He was nearing the area of the office tower but still a few blocks away. He noticed several groups of gang members moving swiftly in the same direction he was heading. They paid him no mind, seemingly focused on reaching the same destination. Nothing in the gangster's memories provided a clue as to why, so he targeted one thug close to him and asked, "Why is everyone going to the office?"
The thug spun around, staring at Shane with incredulity. "Didn't you get the message that the boss wants us all there? Something about a bonus."
A second thug beside him laughed harshly. "A bonus," he said. "Yeah, right. More like he wants to scream at everybody in one room."
The first thug shrugged. "Either way, I'm getting paid or I'm taking it out of somebody's teeth."
Shane played the part, rubbing his neck. "Man, my phone got busted in a tussle back there. I was just heading there to pick up my pay."
The thug accepted the story but warned him, "There's gonna be a long line. They called everyone. I think the other group is already there, too."
The second thug snorted. "Good luck getting close enough to even see him. Last time I was in the back for forty minutes listening to idiots argue about territory."
Shane instantly pinged the rest of the team through the system, letting them know about the massive congregation he was about to walk into. He instructed them to remain outside the immediate structure unless he gave the signal and insisted he would handle the situation inside.
Olaf's response came back first. Understood.
VA's followed a moment later. Do not overextend for information.
Freya's message was shorter than the others. Stay alive.
Shane continued walking with the group, keeping conversations to a minimum now that he had sufficient intelligence. He listened as they talked among themselves. He learned that Thorne presented himself as a businessman, but these gangs were terrified of him, especially after their leaders witnessed Thorne kill one of their own with his bare hands—reportedly a single, fatal blow.
One man two steps ahead of Shane muttered, "I'm telling you, man, that wasn't human."
His friend spat to the side. "I don't care what it was. I just don't want him looking at me when he's mad."
A third voice chimed in from the other side of the sidewalk. "Then don't screw up."
Shane knew he couldn't afford to underestimate Thorne; the man could easily be millennia old, bolstered by the celestial power Apex Negativa had been amassing over ages.
Shane reached the office complex. His Ernesto disguise was holding perfectly; no one had suspected him yet. He estimated several hundred gang members were present in the building, which was divided into offices upfront and a massive warehouse section in the rear. Apparently, Thorne was situated in the offices.
The office lobby itself was chaos disguised as organization. Men were shoving each other in lines that weren't really lines. Some smoked despite the no-smoking signs. Others argued in low, dangerous tones. The warehouse beyond was worse—big, echoing, dirty, and full of the type of men who needed only one bad word to decide violence was easier than conversation.
All the gang members in the warehouse area were growing agitated. Several small fights erupted within the mass of people. Shane delved back into the memories he'd copied from the other gangster, trying to map out who was aligned with whom. The system cross-referenced the stolen memories, flagging alliances just before tension spiked. He was currently positioned within a cluster of gang members who apparently did not align with his own gang. Shane (as Ernesto) began to move away casually. One of the men demanded, "Who the hell are you?" Shane just managed to grunt the name out through clenched teeth.
The man narrowed his eyes. "Ernesto? Since when do you walk with them?"
Another voice from behind snapped back, "Since mind your own business."
Tensions flared immediately. Shane prepared himself for a brawl just as a commanding voice boomed from the front of the warehouse.
A man, impeccably dressed in a suit, walked down the short flight of stairs from an office area. He looked utterly out of place amid the rough crowd. He was flanked by a few other gang leaders and a pair of men who appeared to be his personal security detail. Shane scanned the group quickly. His system identified the gang leaders as carrying low-level signatures of Apex Negativa's energy. The security detail radiated significantly higher amounts of AN's celestial energy. When his system scanned Thorne himself, it showed the highest energy reading Shane had ever encountered, surpassed only by the time they witnessed AN animating Jack Paul's body six months prior.
Even without the system, Thorne felt wrong. Too composed. Too cold. Too still in the way only dangerous things were still.
A few of the gangsters nearest the front instinctively lowered their voices when he appeared.
Others just shut up entirely.
Thorne addressed the crowd, or perhaps berated them, for their lack of effective chaos. "How did none of you stop the event? It seems we achieved next to nothing. You rushed the ring and couldn't even injure the actress. You couldn't even terrify a room full of children and women, and most definitively, how did the judge's family survive? How did Hugo Fernandez win? Where is Ernesto?"
A nervous ripple moved through the warehouse.
Nobody volunteered anything.
One thug quietly muttered, "Here we go."
Shane felt a rush of adrenaline spike. He gestured with his hand, an almost imperceptible movement.
Thorne commanded, "Come on up. Explain to everyone how you failed your assignment but somehow managed to live."
A few nearby thugs gave Shane hard looks and then took half a step away from him, as if failure might be contagious.
Shane started to move through the crowd, every eye fixed upon him. Thorne continued a stream of insults, particularly aimed at Ernesto's supposed cowardice. Shane messaged the team through his system, signaling them to prepare, as he was walking into a precarious situation, relaying details about the numbers and power levels.
Ben replied first. Warehouse is packed. Exits on east and rear. We're set.
Oscar came next. Perimeter is covered.
Gary's response was simpler. Say the word.
Outside, the team was working in synchronized order. Olaf and Veritas Alpha were positioned and ready. Saul was testing his newly awakened speed and strength capabilities, ensuring he was prepared to function, though still at a low level.
Saul flexed his hands once, then looked at them with visible unease.
"This still feels strange," he admitted.
Freya, standing near him, answered calmly, "It should. If it felt normal this quickly, I would worry."
Saul gave her a glance and almost smiled.
"That actually helps."
Cory and Ben were relaying surveillance data, confirming that nearly all the gang members were contained within the warehouse complex and reporting on the perimeter guards. They relayed this information to Shane as he navigated the throng toward Thorne.
As Shane approached the inner circle near Thorne, he queried his external support: "Is he a direct avatar of Apex Negativa himself?" Olaf and Veritas Alpha confirmed, "No. He is not AN. He has his power but is still mortal."
The answer settled something in Shane.
Dangerous.
Fast.
Empowered.
But killable.
As Shane pushed through the thugs immediately surrounding Thorne, one of them angrily reached up and yanked Shane's (Ernesto's) hood down. "Show some respect and pull your face out of your collar!"
No one noticed any change—the transformation held perfectly. Shane glared at the individual who had grabbed him but continued his advance toward Thorne. As he neared the inner guard, the two security personnel blocked his path. "Far enough, punk," one of them growled.
Thorne sneered, "So, what's your excuse? I know Hugo won, and I know the Judge's family is still walking around free. And where are the others who were with you?"
His voice had the easy disgust of someone who had not expected resistance from the world in a very long time.
Shane, wanting to buy time for his team and simultaneously close the distance to Thorne, decided to answer precisely what he knew. "Your intelligence was flawed. They had someone who was so fast and so strong he took them all out before they could even blink."
A murmur rippled through the inner circle.
One of the gang leaders snorted in disbelief.
"Yeah right."
Shane (still as Ernesto) replied with heavy sarcasm, yet absolute truth. "That guy could even handle time travel and mimicry, but worst of all… he could transform into anyone!"
As he uttered the last word, Shane activated his Super Speed and Super Strength skills simultaneously, just as his extraction team burst through the service doors on the far side of the crowd.
The room erupted.
Shouts.
Metal scraping concrete.
A few gangsters turned too late toward the sound.
He immediately neutralized the flanking security detail and the nearby gang leaders permanently. As he lunged for Thorne, he noticed the agent was reacting almost as quickly as he was. Shane managed to tackle Thorne from behind just as the agent was attempting to retreat up the short stairs back toward the offices. Shane threw Thorne violently back down the stairway. A few gangsters surged forward to follow Thorne upstairs, forcing Shane to dispatch them first.
Olaf hit the room like a natural disaster.
One of the first men to rush him froze mid-step—literally—as Gungnir's power snapped cold through the air.
VA was worse in another way: controlled, efficient, final.
He saw Olaf, spear in hand, and Veritas Alpha, wielding two smaller battle axes, carving through the remaining gangsters with brutal efficiency, like pruning overgrown fields. Shane continued his pursuit of Thorne, who was frantically using the remaining gangsters as human shields.
Saul, still not fully accustomed to the violence his new enhancements allowed, dropped a charging thug with a blow that sent the man spinning.
He stared for a quarter second.
Then another attacker rushed him and instinct took over.
Shane's system flared brightly: Quest Received—Eliminate high-ranking Apex Negativa Agent. Reward—Celestial Magic Slot #4 unlocked. Frustrated by the system's timing, Shane swiped the notification away.
"Really?" he muttered under his breath. "Now?"
Shane and Thorne exchanged heavy blows. Shane immediately felt the density of Thorne's power, recognizing this opponent would not yield easily.
Thorne grinned through the violence, blood at the corner of his mouth.
"So," he hissed, "you're the problem."
Shane didn't answer.
There was no point.
He clicked his Decisive Execution skill and unleashed a powerful mule kick at Thorne's center mass. Shane didn't consciously control the exact alignment, but the kick connected with devastating force, dropping Thorne instantly.
The feedback rattled through his legs — Slot Five wasn't meant for repeated strikes.
The sensation was vicious and immediate, like the bones in both legs had been hit with a tuning fork from the inside.
Shane stumbled half a step and caught himself.
Shane scrambled, seizing Thorne's body immediately, and moved to an area where he could access him without witnesses. He attempted to use the Copy skill to glean Thorne's memories but was blocked instantly.
The denial hit his system like a slammed door.
No access.
Nothing to steal.
A few agonizing seconds later, Thorne's body disintegrated, dissolving into nothing more than a wisp of smoke and shimmering waves. Shane rolled his eyes in frustration at the denied intel but conceded that eliminating the threat was the only immediate course of action.
"You have got to be kidding me," he said aloud.
Behind him, one of Olaf's followers shouted that there were still hostiles in the warehouse and Shane abandoned the smoke with a curse.
He rejoined the team to help finish off the remaining gang members. Saul, leveraging his developing strength and speed, had performed admirably against his targets.
Saul was breathing hard, sweat running down his face, but he was upright and moving.
When he saw Shane return, he called out, "Thorne?"
"Gone," Shane answered.
Saul blinked.
"Gone gone?"
Shane gave one short nod.
"Yes."
Freya (Jessalyn) assisted the non-celestials nearby, staying close enough to intervene if any danger presented itself. Olaf, with Gungnir, had frozen most of the thugs into crystalline statues and then shattered the ice formations. Veritas Alpha, with his twin battle axes, left a slick, bloody trail. When the skirmish ended, they converged, breathing heavily over the prone forms of the low-level thugs. Olaf contacted his personal security detail, directing them to clear the interior and sending in a specialized cleanup crew.
The warehouse sounded different after the last fight ended.
No more yelling.
Just groans, dripping water from busted pipes, and the crackle of settling frost.
Shane quickly updated the group on Thorne's power level and speed. Olaf, Veritas Alpha, and Freya exchanged knowing glances. The two celestials nodded to Olaf, letting him explain. "That means, much like your relationship was to Veritas Alpha, that Thorne was a direct proxy for Apex Negativa. The celestial power AN invested in him is gone, permanently lost. Unlike vessels such as Hugo, from whom he could retract power, he could not reclaim what he poured into Thorne. When you ended him, he lost that reservoir. It also means Thorne has served him in that capacity for a great deal of time."
Ben, who had finally made it inside once the worst of the killing was over, lowered the camera slightly.
"That's huge," he said.
Cory nodded, eyes still moving over his system data.
"It's worse for AN than losing a lieutenant," he said. "It's losing invested power."
Shane reverted immediately, the Ernesto visage dissolving, no longer necessary. Veritas Alpha addressed Shane, "What transpired here tonight will set Apex Negativa back years. I can attest to that. He tried the same maneuver against me several times in the distant past, targeting my proxies."
Olaf added, "We must remain vigilant for any sign of AN reappearing. We need to watch each other's backs for a considerable period."
Freya stood with blood on one sleeve and absolute calm on her face.
"That much power lost at once will hurt him," she said. "And pain makes desperate beings unpredictable."
Jessalyn looked directly at Shane. Shane felt a distinct internal heat but held her gaze. His foresight immediately flickered, overlaying the present with explicit, intimate visions of the two of them together. His system screen chimed immediately: Quest Complete—Eliminate Thorne. Reward—Celestial Magic Slot #4 unlocked. More information to follow once you are alone.
Shane grimaced inwardly at the system's constant, inconvenient timing as he swiped the message away. Alone. He suspected the Norns would only unlock the slots when he was isolated from the larger group. He couldn't help but wonder how much solitude he'd be getting, already recalling the intense images that had just flashed through his mind.
Freya noticed the shift in his expression.
Not the system, of course.
But the heat.
The interruption.
The way his eyes hardened and then unfocused for just a fraction too long.
Her mouth curved faintly.
Olaf noticed that too.
He said nothing.
But the corner of his beard twitched with what might have been amusement.
⸻
"If you enjoyed Shane's journey, please drop a Power Stone! It helps the Common Sense Party grow!"