"Riley?!"
Riley had appeared out of nowhere. Everyone watching the live hostage simulation was so focused on the student in training, who just happened to be Katherine herself, that no one really noticed him until it was too late.
Katherine, crouched behind a counter in the middle of maneuvering around the kidnapper, froze the moment she saw him. Her eyes widened. And before she could stop herself, she stood up—completely exposing her position.
They were simulating a hostage situation inside a bank. And after a brief shootout that left a guard dead, the kidnapper had taken a small child hostage. As soon as he spotted Katherine, he shoved the barrel of his gun to the girl's head.
"Are you a hero?! Don't take another step or I'll kill this little girl!"
Katherine's heart dropped as soon as she heard that, but then she quickly shook her head when she remembered that she wasn't actually in a real hostage situation.
"Wait! Wait! Pause! Pause!" she shouted, flailing her hands in the air.
The simulation froze instantly. The kidnapper's spit halted in front of him. And the tears of the little girl stopped short upon hitting the floor. The entire room stuttered into a glitch as a familiar voice echoed through the hall.
[Why did you ask to pause, Scarlet Mage?]
"What do you mean, Mr. Blinkshot?!" Katherine yelled. "Someone's in the simulation! He's ruining it! We need a reset!"
She pointed at Riley, who simply blinked and pointed to himself as if unsure why she was yelling at him.
"Get out of there!" She barked at him again. "Mr. Blinkshot!"
[No. The simulation will continue.]
"What?!"
[Random variables are a part of high-stakes operations. Riley's appearance is your variable. Learn to adapt.]
"Are you serious?!"
[The objective remains: neutralize the threat, rescue the hostage. You fail if the hostage dies. Simulation resuming in five seconds.]
"Five seconds?! What are we supposed to do with him?!" Katherine shouted, practically vibrating with frustration as she gestured wildly at Riley.
Before she could protest again, the simulation resumed with a loud bang.
The bang came from a bullet, which grazed the side of Katherine's neck.
"I said, don't move!"
"What the fuck?!" Katherine gasped, instinctively raising her hands. The kidnapper had fired without hesitation and was now swinging his weapon wildly between her and Riley—who, infuriatingly, hadn't moved a muscle.
"Who the hell is this?! There's two of you now? You think this is a game? Kids playing heroes?!" the gunman screamed.
"That…" Katherine clenched her jaw and took a breath, finally deciding to play along. "I'm not with him. He's a civilian!"
"Do I look stupid to you? Look at him! He's all white!"
"That's just a skin condition!" Katherine screamed back.
"Aha! So you do know him!" The kidnapper sneered, once again jamming the gun against the little girl's head, "You're fooling no one, bitch!"
"What?! Why is this simulation so realistic?!" Katherine hissed, starting to panic. Her eyes darted around the bank, searching for anything she could use to create a distraction—but she didn't need to. She already had one.
Right in the middle of the chaos stood Riley. Her distraction, however, seemed to have other plans than her.
"Can you surrender, Mr. Bank Robber?" Riley raised both hands and took a slow step forward. "I am only here to take Ms. Kat–Ms. Scarlet Mage with me."
"S-stop! Don't come any closer or I'll shoot this little girl!"
Riley tilted his head. And then, without the slightest hesitation—
"Please do it," he said flatly, continuing to approach. "So the simulation will end."
"Stop! I said stop! Last warning!" The kidnapper tore the gun away from the girl and swung it toward Riley. But before he could fully turn his arm toward him—
Bang!
The gun fired, the rubber bullet shooting toward Riley, or rather, his telekinetic barrier. It slowed the impact, but not enough. The bullet still punched through and hit his shoulder.
"Oh?" Riley blinked at the red holographic light now resting on his shoulder, and with a sigh, he purposely turned his arm limp… before once again rushing toward the gunman.
The kidnapper panicked and threw the hostage at him. But Riley didn't care about her at all, avoiding her and even slightly pushing her to the side.
And without slowing down, he raised his left hand and hooked his pinkie finger inside the gun's trigger guard.
"What?!" The kidnapper tried to pull the trigger, but couldn't because Riley's pinkie was stuck behind it.
Riley then raised his knee, hitting the kidnapper right in the groin and causing him to crumple and let go of the gun.
It all happened in under three seconds, and the students watching from the control room went silent. Even Katherine was frozen for a beat before she snapped back to reality and moved.
She rushed forward, conjured a sphere of water, and launched it at the kidnapper's limbs. The moment they were soaked, she froze the water, trapping him to the floor.
Then, with a burst of wind under her boots, she launched herself forward and kicked him across the jaw.
"Ha!" Katherine pointed triumphantly at the unconscious kidnapper. "That's what you get—"
She turned to Riley to thank him, but the words died in her throat.
How could he not, when he was now holding the gun…
…and pointing it directly at the little girl.
Katherine's blood ran cold.
"What… are you doing?" She whispered.
Even the hostage, wide-eyed and trembling, stared at Riley, her face streaked with tears.
"W-why are you doing this, Mister?" The little girl whimpered. "Aren't you supposed to—"
Bang!
Riley shot her. Point-blank.
Katherine flinched at the sound, instinctively covering her ears as she spun in place.
"What the fuck was that?! You?! Why did you do that?! What is wrong with you, you psycho?!"
***
"Remind me again—por que estamos haciendo esto nosotros mismos, huh?"
"We're understaffed. And can you not go all Spanish on me?"
"If you ask me, this place could toss us a bit of that budget, no? Dios mio, just look at it! Wasn't like this back when I was around. What about you, Dors?"
Somewhere across the sprawling campus grounds of Mega Academy, Detectives Jake Suarez and Dorothy Adams were riding in the back of a sleek buggy, being escorted toward the faculty building. Though they were there on official business, Jake's roaming eyes suggested he thought they were here to reminisce instead.
"Focus, Suarez," Dorothy muttered, though even she couldn't resist glancing out at the polished walkways, the high-tech buildings, and the immaculate landscaping of the Academy.
"The government's pouring millions into this place," she said. "And yet there are still monsters like Roman roaming the streets."
"The cabron's dead, Dors," Jake said with a shrug. "Relax."
"Yeah. And now we're here looking for the person who killed him."
Jake was quiet for a moment before saying, "You really think Whiteking's our guy?"
"No," Dorothy replied, voice low. "And God, I hope not. Because if it is him—then we're screwed in a million possible ways. But no, it doesn't fit."
"Why not?"
"Because if Whiteking did it, we wouldn't be here," she said simply. "There wouldn't be a body. There wouldn't be a case. There'd be nothing. He can wipe a person off the face of the earth and scrub them from history like they never existed. Erase your digital footprint, delete your social records, even make your birth certificate vanish. If he did it, we'd never know."
Jake frowned. "Ain't he tight with the big boss too?"
"Yeah, he and Prophet go way back. Grew up together, apparently." She rolled her eyes. "Honestly, he should be the one dealing with this. But this is our lead, so… lucky us."
Jake leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "So if it's not Whiteking… entonces quien? Who the hell could do something like that? You saw the body."
Dorothy was quiet for a beat.
"The devil?" She shrugged.
"If not Whiteking… then our only other suspect is—"
"No one." Dorothy whispered, "His son, maybe."
Jake glanced at her. "You think the kid could actually do something like that?"
Dorothy stared out at the Academy's looming faculty building as it drew closer.
"I said we're dealing with the devil. Do you really think someone that cute is capable of something like that?"
"You never know, Dors. You just never know. These chamacos nowadays, I swear… some of 'em? Straight up el diablo, man. El diablo."