Free Web NovelChapter 42: Level Up.
『"Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one..."』
CONTAINMENT BREACH: LEVEL 4-B. ALL PERSONNEL TO STATIONS. THE FIVE: REMAIN IN QUARTERS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.
Amara and Ethan jerked apart, hearts still racing from what almost happened as they stared at each other for a moment. Breathless and lips still tingling with the almost-kiss.
"We should go," Ethan said, clearing his throat. His hand lingered on her waist a second longer than necessary before he forced himself to step back.
Amara nodded, trying to steady her breathing. "Yeah... we should."
"Fuck," he muttered quietly, already moving toward the exit.
Amara made a frustrated sound to herself.
She forced herself to focus, pushing down the frustration of the interrupted timing. "What’s on Level 4-B?" she asked, moving beside him as they sprinted through the arena doors.
"Wraith containment. Low-level specimens they keep for research and training purposes." His expression was grim. "If those things get loose in the Institute..."
"I understand," Amara said and they ran faster.
***
The corridors were chaos. Institute agents sprinted past in full combat gear, voices shouting coordinates.
In the distance were sounds of something that might have been screaming or might have been metal tearing.
The red emergency lights were still flashing when Amara and Ethan burst into their quarters, hearts racing from more than just the sprint.
The rest of the team was already there, fully geared up despite the direct order to stay put.
"Wraith swarm," Raj announced. "At least fifty specimens broke containment in the maintenance tunnels. They’re spreading through the lower levels."
"We should help," Hiro said. "Right?"
"We were ordered to stay here," Sophia pointed out, but her helmet was already materialized, the yellow glow indicating she was reading thoughts from across the place of interest.
Her expression shifted, eyes widening just a little. "Fuck. This isn’t good."
"What is it?" Amara asked, moving closer.
Sophia’s eyebrows furrowed as sweat beaded across her forehead from the strain of maintaining so many mental connections. "People are dying down there. I can feel them, their thoughts..."
This was a choice between following orders and doing what was right, and she’d always known which side she’d choose.
"We’re going," Amara decided. Angel’s Bane materialized in her hand. "Orders or not. We’re Awakeners. This is what we do."
Ethan met her eyes, and understanding passed between them, the knowledge that they were making this choice together.
"Let’s go save some people," he said.
They moved as a unit through the Institute’s maintenance levels, following the sounds of combat and the psychic distress signals Sophia was picking up.
Emergency lighting bathed everything in red, making it difficult to tell friend from threat at a glance. Sensing a wraith after it bonded to a host was even harder.
Fortunately, they weren’t relying solely on sight. The dampeners had been temporarily deactivated, allowing Sophia to coordinate them telepathically.
Upon arriving at the breach site, Amara realized that the tunnels were narrow and claustrophobic, with pipes running along the ceiling and steam obscuring vision.
Confined spaces, trapped prey, emotions running high... this was basically the perfect hunting ground for wraiths.
They found the first swarm three levels down. Twenty wraiths, maybe more, all of them feeding on the negative emotions of trapped Institute personnel who’d been doing routine maintenance when the breach happened.
The shadows writhed and twisted, taking vaguely humanoid forms that rushed at them with claws made of solidified darkness.
"Same formation as practice," Ethan ordered.
"And what formation is that again?" Hiro asked.
"The one where I stay at the center?" Sophia replied, unsure.
Amara nodded. "Yeah, I think that’s the one."
Ethan sighed and moved ahead.
His forcefield rose into a defensive wall, holding the wraiths back and allowing the team to advance like a well-oiled machine.
"Oh, that one." Amara blitzed through the wraith swarm, slashing. This time she understood what she was cutting.
Each slice broke the connection between the wraiths and their hosts, severing the parasitic bond that let them feed on human emotions.
The wraiths screamed as they dissolved, their forms breaking apart into smoke that smelled like sulfur.
Raj grabbed a hostless wraith with both hands and ripped it apart. Then he pointed down the corridor. "Move! Safe zone’s that way!"
As for Hiro, he dashed between groups faster than the wraiths could react. He pulled people to safety, sometimes carrying two at a time, leaving trails of red lightning in his wake.
"Keep moving! Don’t stop! That’s it!" He was keeping up a running commentary, probably to calm himself as much as the rescued agents.
Sophia stood at the center, eyes closed and a hand on her temple as she telepathically coordinated their movements.
Three left. Raj.
Got it.
Two above Ethan.
Ethan’s shield appeared upward a second before claws struck it.
Amara, six o’clock.
Amara pivoted and cut through the attacking wraith without breaking stride.
Thanks.
You’re welcome.
While directing the others, Sophia multitasked.
She used her telekinesis to grab wraiths that approached within range and slam them repeatedly against walls, ceiling or anything solid enough to disrupt their forms.
Ahead, Amara saw a maintenance worker convulsing as a wraith fed on his terror, the shadow halfway merged with his body.
One wrong cut would kill him. However, she had fully mastered her ability of selective cutting.
Amara inhaled once and swung.
Angel’s Bane passed through the man without leaving a mark and severed only the creature attached to him.
The wraith dissolved and the maintenance worker collapsed, gasping.
Clear, Sophia announced into all of their minds. Last one in this section.
"Did we win?" Hiro asked, appearing as a streak after transporting the last of the incapacitated agents to the safe zone. "I think we won."
Breathing hard, Amara grinned and nodded.
Institute security arrived thirty seconds later, weapons raised, clearly ready to chew them out for disobeying orders.
But when they saw the evacuated personnel and the last traces of wraith smoke fading into the air, the lead agent’s expression softened.
"The Director is going to have words for all of you," the lead agent said with a weary sigh. He looked at the rescued workers. "Fortunately, most of them are probably positive."
***
Hours later, long past midnight, they arrived at the relaxation center and collapsed onto the couches in various states of exhaustion and exhilaration.
"That’s what I’m talking about," Hiro said, grinning wide and heading to the bar. "We just fought actual wraiths. Plural. And won!" He started pouring shots into shot glasses.
"We did okay," Raj admitted, trying to sound modest and failing completely.
"We kicked ass is what we did," Sophia corrected, stretching an arm out to grab the shot glass Hiro slid across the counter to her. "Let’s not undersell it."
Ethan was quiet, his expression thoughtful as he sat on one of the couches.
Amara saw this and dropped down beside him. "You good?"
"Other than the fact that we disobeyed direct orders? Yeah I think I’m good." A smile brightened up his face.
Then his hand found hers on the couch cushion between them, fingers interlacing naturally, like they’d done this before.
They sat like that for a long moment, neither speaking, just existing together in the comfortable silence while their friends celebrated around them.
"Hey," Hiro tossed Sophia a towel. "You’re bleeding."
She touched her upper lip, fingers coming away red. "Shit. Again?"
"Third time this week," Amara noted with concern.
"Yeah," Sophia said, wiping the blood away. "Happens when I overextend and push too far."
"That doesn’t sound good," Raj said.
"It’s fine." Sophia grabbed a shot glass. "I just need to build up tolerance. Like training any other muscle."
"Or," Ethan suggested, "you could not push yourself."
"Where’s the fun in that?" Sophia grinned.
Hiro stared at the glass she grabbed and grinned as well. "Come on! We saved lives tonight! That deserves a drink!" He grabbed other shot glasses and filled them.
Amara and Ethan looked at each other, sharing a smile. Then they took the shots and, in perfect unison, knocked them back in one go.
The alcohol burned going down, but it felt good.
Across the room, Raj, Hiro, and Sophia began trading increasingly exaggerated versions of the fight, each one making claims of who contributed the most.
"I’m just saying," Hiro argued. "My speed was crucial. Without me moving people, they’d still be down there."
"Get that weak shit outta my face," Raj countered. "Those wraiths would’ve gotten past us in the first thirty seconds without me."
"No... without my telepathic coordination," Sophia said flatly. "...you idiots would’ve been running into each other like a comedy sketch."
The argument was ridiculous and loud. Exactly what they all needed to come down from the adrenaline high.
Then Amara’s device buzzed with a message from the Director:
REPORT TO MY OFFICE. 0800 TOMORROW. NO NEED TO BRING COFFEE.
"We’re in trouble," she noted.
"Maybe," Ethan said, but he didn’t let go of her hand. "But I’d say it was worth it."
"Yeah." Amara leaned her head against his shoulder, too tired to care about maintaining distance or pretending she didn’t want this closeness. "Definitely worth it."
She felt him tense slightly for a moment, then he relaxed, his arm coming around her shoulders to pull her closer against his side.
It felt natural. Right. Like something they should have been doing all along instead of dancing around it for weeks.
"Amara," he said quietly, and she could hear the question in the way he said her name.
"Not tonight," she whispered back. "Tonight we just sit here and let the alcohol work its magic." She paused. "Not sure if the drink’s working though."
"Tomorrow then?"
"Tomorrow," she promised.
They fell asleep with Amara tucked against Ethan’s side, his arm around her shoulders, both too exhausted to move to their actual beds.
Across the room, the others had passed out in various positions. Hiro had drawn the short straw somehow, with Sophia’s leg draped across his face. He was snoring anyway, completely unbothered.
***
Sometime around three in the morning, Raj woke up, unable to sleep.
His body was exhausted, his mind was fried, but something was driving him forward, motivating him towards more power.
The wraith fight had awakened something in him, and he couldn’t ignore it.
He extracted himself carefully from the tangle of sleeping bodies and made his way to the training room, moving quietly through dark corridors.
When he arrived at the training hall, it was empty and silent, except for the hum of machinery.
He went straight to the strength conditioning equipment Maya had set up for him, designed to push his limits.
He adjusted the weights to something that should have been impossible for him to lift. Something that made the machine groan under the load.
Then he got into position and started pushing.
Up. Down. Up. Down.
The Juggernaut Shell flared across his torso with each repetition, emerald light burning brighter and brighter until he had to stop, climbing out of the machine to examine what was happening.
"What the—" The first bar on his chest pulsed twice. Then the second bar permanently imprinted itself on his skin.
Pain flooded his senses, but it was good pain. The kind that came from growth or evolution.
His breastplate, which had only covered his chest until now, suddenly expanded. Arm guards materialized, greaves formed around his shins, and his control over the armor’s abilities increased.
He could feel it now, the ability to manipulate his size was no longer partial and limited to his hands.
He focused, and his right arm swelled to twice its normal size, muscles bulging. Then his legs thickened and expanded along with his core as his entire frame grew larger.
The second bar on his Ascendant Sigil burned bright orange. Raj threw back his head and laughed with pure triumph. "I can’t wait to rub this in their faces!"
Outside the training room, security monitors caught the moment. The footage was immediately flagged as a priority event and sent directly to the Director’s office, where it joined other reports from the night’s events.
Director Hale watched the recording three times with a blank face. Then he pulled up deployment schedules and made several modifications to them.
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RAJ PATEL | The Breastplate
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Spirit Weapon: Juggernaut Shell (Breastplate of Conviction)
Rank: Shaper (▮▮)
Ascendant Sigil:▮▮ (2 Bars - Right Chest)
Abilities Unlocked:
┣ Strength Amplification
┣ Regeneration
┣ Hardening
┣ Size Alteration
┣ ??? [LOCKED]
Status: Excited, Adrenaline rush, Buzzed?
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