“Perps turned east, seven streets down. They’re slowing down.” Nestra had no idea how he could keep talking. All she could do was gulp cold night air and pump her tired legs on the warm asphalt, one foot after the other and again, hoping she would last. MaxSec armor had never been designed for running. Not like keeping up with mana users on foot was reasonable to begin with. The squad had lost them some time ago when the two shapes disappeared behind a concrete corner of the tired hab block. Only the drones would keep up until they ran out of batteries or the users managed to find a hiding hole. Nestra looked up past the drab gray walls and the tired concrete, towards the shining arc of the outer highway and then the imposing black band of Threshold City’s massive kaiju wall, like a collar of darkness. The sight allowed her to center herself. Distract her from the exhaustion. “They’ve stopped near a closed portal gate. E6-105. Small one,” Stib’s voice whispered in her ears. “Gate status,” Camus asked. The tall fucker didn’t even sound winded. It was all Nestra could do not to collapse. Meanwhile, drone operator Stibbons must have been pulling files because she sounded distracted. “Hmmm. Permanent portal gate, closed for now. Monster generation on a nine day cycle, three days of purge time before they escape. Not many resources listed, mostly mana crystals. It was pacified over a week ago by North Star Security, the owner. Oh. They’re trying to wake it up.” “Can they survive in there?” Nestra’s pain faded. The constant aching in her bones dulled to a whisper. Energy washed away her exhaustion, flooding her limbs with renewed energy and a desire to move. To use that strength. More importantly, she felt complete. “I will be going now,” Fox Mask said. She deflected the casual blow meant to push her off, countered. Her blade danced and sang with speed. Fox Mask blocked and backpedaled. Nestra caught her off guard. Nestra pressed the advantage in a flurry of thrusts her foe deflected with some effort. Unfortunately, that was just stolen mana. Fox Mask… was the real deal. She parried and attacked in turn, ever faster. It was Nestra’s turn to fall back. A hand against her shoulder. She was airborne. She was on the ground. Her shoulder hit a brick. Fox Mask stood just as calm as she had always been. Still taking it easy. Sirens blared in the distance. Fox Mask looked up, revealing a triangle of tan skin and a hint of black curls. She returned her gaze to Nestra. Dark iris like pits in the middle of that white ceramic fixed on the prone officer. “Guess you can have it then. As a gesture of my appreciation.” Fox Mask walked through the portal’s aperture without her stolen prize, disappearing as smoothly as through the surface of a lake. A ripple agitated the calm blue surface. Nestra sat back up, winced, then decided to wait. Flashing lights and cheap coffee. Groups of vigils milling around in groups of three, doing fuckall. Nestra took a sip of tea. Too strong. Tepid. What little mana she’d absorbed was gone now, dissipated into the air. She felt cranky. Her forearm and ribs hurt like a bitch. The medic by her side finished waving an old piece of tech around her body. It beeped. She didn’t know the guy. Not interested in small talk. “Bruising, mostly. You’ll be fine. Regen capsule and a pain killer.” “I got some at home.” The medic sighed and leaned back with his hands on his waist. Something cracked. He sighed, more relief than contentment. “Fractured tibia and humerus. Bad. He’s out for at least a month with healer care. Camus has a broken rib. You guys got it easy.” Anxiety chased away the gloom. “Beta squad got in a scrap with gangers. Hmm. Regis is dead. Sorry.” “And district fifteen is rioting. All our users are there right now. The unrest is bleeding through.” Nestra was fed up hearing about district fifteen, especially because a couple of high gleams could have solved the problem in ten minutes two months ago and now it was like a festering wound of crime and trafficking. She didn’t know Regis very well but he’d always been tolerable. Polite, Visit NovelHub for more amazing novels and chapters. A great teammate. Why couldn’t they have killed Gorge instead? There was no justice in this world. The medic felt the mood and left, looking for someone else to help. Nestra just stayed there, not sure what to do. They’d given her a cover made of weird metal but she was still getting cold. Nestra looked up. Stib was offering a hand which she gratefully took. Stib was smiling but it was only skin deep. Brittle. Her eyes were red. She’d been crying. The tiny woman hoisted Nestra to her feet. The darkness made her boyish with her sharp face and tiny frame, hair cut short under a cap. Despite that, her grip was firm. “Thanks. You heard?” Nestra asked. The two made it to the squad vehicle. It was meant to carry eight people, a blocky, armored transport designed to carry a squad in and out safely. It had been top of the line thirty years ago. Now, any mana-powered guilder left it in the dust, a C-class gleam could punch a hole through it, and a B-class could fold it like a fucking paper crane. Budget cuts meant they no longer had a dedicated driver, or a medic, or a dedicated mechanic for that matter. The squad had been cut from six to five and Lance was still in the hospital. Nestra slammed the passenger door shut. The hinges creaked ominously. Inside, it smelled of synth leather and old sweat. There were old blood stains on the upholstery that predated Nestra’s entire career. Stib pulled out. The engine roared like a chimera but the truck moved like a slime. The streets were empty save for transients roasting surprise meat over barrel fires, watching them pass by with the hollow eyes of tracked beasts. The ramp up the wall ring pushed their old rustbolt to its limits. Stib immediately stuck to the slow lane while corpo cars and convoys raced by. “Siobhan. Are we having the talk again?” “Yeah. I guess we are. I mean, after tonight…” There was an awkward silence. Nestra didn’t know how to handle it anymore. Siobhan Stibbons entered that rare category she considered as friend. It meant that when Siobhan talked, she listened. Even though they’d had the same conversation plenty of times. Except… this time it was different. The two remaining squads were mangled. Nestra knew they’d crossed a point of no return. “Yeah,” she finally whispered. “You’ll consider quitting then?” “I mean. Not right away but… I don’t think we’ll have a choice. Short term. Tomorrow we’ll get gleams and city admins on our asses and they’ll ask questions and there’ll be no good answers. It doesn’t even make me mad anymore. It is what it is.” “Yeah. I’ve talked to my parents. They want me out too.” Nestra laughed at that. “What? Old man Stibbons, the career copper?” “Ha ha. Yeah. I guess mom has been working him to the bone. They want me to transfer to Blue River as a drone operator, earthside.” “A guild? Must be freezing in hell.” “Blue River is made of ex-cops. Their gleams exclusively raid while us ‘crunchies’ handle the day-to-day stuff. I’d be carrying crates of material from portals to warehouses and the like. Cozy job, few risks. They said I could even pilot a hovercraft.” “Look, once I’m there, maybe I can get a word in. You’re not really family but you’re close enough by now.” “I know but you know what they’ll ask. I can’t borg up.” Siobhan mechanically touched the silvery plate on her neck where the mind jack was installed. It was non-invasive as far as cybernetic augmentations went but it was still more than Nestra could handle. She felt like an asshole, never explaining to the shorter girl what the deal was. She was being a shit friend. “Look I’ve not told you the exact deal before because it’s, well, painful. Annoying.” “Guess you had to explain many times before, right?” “Understatement of the decade.” “I get it. If you feel like sharing now… Otherwise…” Nestra realized she didn’t mind. The scar had fully formed now. She’d grieved enough for this life. “Thank you. For being understanding. And it’s fine. Look, thing is, I got almost all the pieces to make a proper user. I got a mana structure. I have high mana capacity though that doesn’t even make sense. Riel, I probably even got affinities.” “Lightning for sure, ice maybe. From the advanced testing. That’s the thing. People with mana structures become crazy if you borg them. That’s a fact of life. Maybe quirkies can get away with it if they don’t cut the body part that hosts the mana structure, but even D-class get bonkers, and I got the D-class package. It’s just not working.” “Got it. I’ll still ask. Maybe there is a way. Unless you got a project lined up?” “My contract is due in seven months. If they don’t shut us down before, I’ll move then. The idea was, well, I can probably be an assistant. I’m not going to like it but at least they pay well. And I can get away with external systems instead of a mind jack like you have. My aunt Claire offered it.” “The one who gave you the apartment?” “Yes. I’m forcing her to accept rent, or at least mortgage but…” They stopped for a while to watch a long, train-like convoy race past them. It was entirely black and sported the TDF logo. Probably wall supplies and ammo. “She’s probably saving it all in a rainy day fund?” Siobhan continued. “My grandma did the same. Anyway, she got you a job?” “She offered. If she did, it means she’ll find one. I won’t enjoy being reminded of what I’m not and they won’t like remembering that I can happen to their kids but…it’s probably doable. And much better than becoming a barista. I wouldn’t do well in the service industry. I don’t have transferable skills.” “And you have a shit attitude.” Nestra chuckled. It was true. “That too. And, you know, they don’t ever get near portals.” At that, Siobhan fell silent. Nestra knew why. Some of her family had a history with alcoholism and Nestra’s issue was too close for comfort. “Yeah. About that. Is it like… an addiction?” Nestra chuckled once again. Little Siobhan was daring tonight. “I don’t know. I just know that if I haven’t been near a portal in a while I feel like shit and as long as I get close, it’s like… feeling alive again. Fully functional. If it’s an addiction then I’ve had it since I was a young adult.” “What did Mazingwe say?” “Same as before. My case is so rare that nobody cares about it. It’s not profitable to fix it.” “Got me to the best healers. Even Shinran.” “Wait. You met Threshold’s Guardian? Our Shinran?” “Yep. They all said the same thing. There is nothing wrong with me. I’m exactly what I was born to be.” “Indeed. Nothing to fix. I made a request to have weekly access to active portals. The answer must come soon. If the city government doesn’t say yes then maybe a guild will. That’s why a raider’s personal assistant would be perfect. I mean, getting close to portals would be part of the job.” “Yeah. I hope it works.” Nestra didn’t reply. It wouldn’t work. It had gotten worse over the years. She needed more mana to fill the pit of hunger deep within her every time and every time, it lasted less time. Just like Siobhan said, just like an addiction, one that no one knew how to fix. Maybe some portal item… Maybe. It was the same dream. Nestra watched from above the innocent, young version of herself. That one had white gold hair curled in great loops as was the fashion at that time, not the listless dark blonde mop. That one had lustrous skin, not a gaunt mask marked by tiny scars. That one had bright eyes, gray edging on silver as if on the cusp of awakening, the only thing the current Nestra had kept. That one wore a uniform from the prestigious Threshold Preparatory School at over twelve thousand credits a set. The current Nestra earned a fourth of that every month, hazard pay included. That one walked blithely to the analysis chair like the little shit full of hope she was. Positively vibrating. A kind-looking woman with a teal gleam in her eyes welcomed her with matronly attention. “Miss Palladian, welcome. Are you ready?” “Ready and eager, ma’am.” “Haha, feel free to call me Miss Daendra. Hop in!” That Nestra climbed and closed her eyes. The room had no windows. It was all white tiles suffused with a warm glow. An observation deck overhead hid the complex machinery and control panel required to make it work. That Nestra studiously ignored it. She knew her mom was there. And a few teachers. She had to look cool about it. Mana flooded her body. A pressure on her mind invited her deeper in. She followed it. It was like being submerged in water. Weightless, relaxed. That Nestra dove until she found herself in a luxurious, well-lit reception room. There were doors to the side but she knew without trying that those were locked tight. “Right, we are about to send a mana burst to help you find your core representation. You might also see the affinity you have based on the color so keep your metaphorical eyes open!” “Hoho, well we have a betting pool about that. Sending the burst now. Follow it to your core.” Light filled the reception room. Great arcs of power traced through the air like aurorae. It was beautiful for as long as it lasted. “Miss Palladian, are you in the room?” Dean Daendra asked in a more subdued voice. “Could you please make contact with your core? We cannot seem to get a lock on it.” “I am in the room but I do not see the core. Mana just disperses in the air.”