The sensation of dimensional travel felt a bit different this time. As reality reformed around him, Tom Jacker wasn't greeted by the silence of a desert or the roar of battle, but by a deafening hustle and bustle. The cacophony of car horns, the roar of a thousand conversations, and the mixed aroma of exhaust fumes and hot dogs filled the air.
He had arrived in the middle of an incredibly busy intersection, surrounded by skyscrapers that seemed to pierce the clouds. Giant digital billboards bathed him in colorful light. New York City.
Tom felt a momentary emptiness. His four previously filled ability slots were now empty. The power to control storms, the ability to create fire, and two others had become the fuel for his journey. But he didn't feel a sense of loss. It was a worthy price for a new stage, a new game. He still had his two favorite toys: powerful Telekinesis and perfect Invisibility, stored neatly in his mental arsenal. Plus four empty slots that felt like a blank page waiting to be written on.
He was just about to start exploring when a small commotion caught his attention a few dozen meters ahead. Police sirens wailed in the distance, getting closer. A young man in a worn-out jacket ran out of a bank, clutching a duffel bag tightly. His face was pale and full of panic.
Tom watched him with the interest of a predator observing an interesting prey. Not because of the money, but because of the desperation in the young man's eyes. Desperate people often did interesting things.
That's when the impossible happened. Just as a few bank security guards began to close in, the air around the young man seemed to tremble and tear. It was as if an invisible rift had opened in the world, swallowing him whole, then snapping shut in the blink of an eye. The young man and his bag simply vanished, leaving only a strange vibration in the air and a few dollar bills fluttering down to the sidewalk.
The security guards and a few pedestrians who saw it stopped in confusion, rubbing their eyes, unsure of what they had just witnessed.
But Tom Jacker saw it clearly. His eyes widened, not with shock, but with pure desire. That wasn't speed. It wasn't an illusion. It was something else entirely. Something incredible.
"What... the hell was that?" he whispered to himself. A slow but sure grin began to spread across his face.
He activated his Invisibility, his body fading from the view of the confused crowd. He walked over to where the young man had disappeared. There, he could see it more clearly. A "scar" in the air, a spatial tear that shimmered faintly before finally fading into nothingness. He could feel the unique residual energy, the energy of an instantaneous transfer.
The familiar System interface appeared before him.
[System Panel]
- System Notification: High-level spatial energy signature detected.
- Analysis: Ability identified as 'Spatial Teleportation', allowing the user to move instantly from one point to another. Highly unstable in novice users.
Tom read the description, and a small, silent laugh escaped him. He forgot about the Garde, the Mogadorians, Lumen, and storms. He had already found his new toy. The best toy he could have ever imagined.
An ability that would allow him to be anywhere, anytime. The potential for mischief, chaos, and fun he could create with that power was nearly limitless.
"Spatial Teleportation," Tom muttered in his invisible state, the name feeling sweet on his tongue. "I must, must, must have that."
The hunt in this new world had officially begun. And Tom Jacker had just found his grand prize.
Tom Jacker decided the best approach to find the novice Jumper was to return to the starting point. Using his Invisibility, he went back to the vicinity of the robbed bank. The crowd had dispersed, replaced by police setting up a perimeter and conducting an investigation.
"Tracking manually is boring," Tom thought. He looked around, his eyes landing on the dozens of CCTV cameras attached to the surrounding buildings. "But watching the replay could be fun."
While still invisible, he floated to the roof of a building using his Telekinesis. He closed his eyes, concentrated, and sent a wave of his mental power into the city's electronic network. He didn't hack like a computer expert; he was more like a brute who forced the system to obey his will. Screens in a security room across the street flickered, randomly and rapidly displaying footage from various angles until they finally settled on the one he wanted: an image of the panicked young man, David Rice.
However, using Telekinesis on such a scale, disrupting the flow of electricity and data, created an unusual energy anomaly.
Far away in a hidden base, in front of a complex monitor screen, a man with a hard face and cold eyes saw a red alert flash. Roland Cox.
"Spatial anomaly detected," a technician reported. "Not a typical jump scar, Sir. This is something else. The energy is massive, unstable, and constant. Location is downtown."
"A powerful and reckless Jumper, or something new," Roland muttered. "Prep a team. We're going to greet him."
Tom, unaware that he had attracted the wrong kind of attention, managed to get a few pictures of David's face. He was preparing to start looking up information on the young man when his sharp Garde-trained senses detected danger. Several unmarked vans pulled up at the end of the street, and a few men in sharp but tactical clothing got out quickly, carrying strange equipment.
"Oh? Looks like I have guests," Tom said cheerfully, still invisible.
He watched as the Paladin team spread out, sweeping the area with detection devices. One of the devices pointed straight at the roof where Tom was. Tom decided to go down and play with them in a quieter alley.
The moment he deactivated his Invisibility and appeared in the middle of the alley, the Paladin team immediately ambushed him.
"Don't move, Abomination!" one of them shouted.
Before Tom could reply with a sarcastic comment, a net coursing with blue electricity was fired at him. The net wrapped around him perfectly. High-voltage electricity flowed through his body. For a normal Jumper, this would cause total paralysis and excruciating pain.
For Tom, it felt like being zapped by a children's toy. His skeleton briefly flashed like in a cartoon, his hair stood on end, and he felt a strange, ticklish sensation.
"Brrr! Not bad," Tom said, easily tearing the electric net as if it were made of string.
The Paladins, including Roland who was observing from nearby, stared in disbelief. They fired high-energy tethers that were supposed to anchor and hold a target in place. Several cables impaled Tom's body. The Paladins pulled on them from various directions.
The result was absurd. Tom's body stretched like rubber. His arms elongated in one direction, his legs in another, his neck stretched out like a giraffe's.
"Whoa, that's a good stretch!" Tom exclaimed, his voice sounding warped. Then, with a single snap, his body returned to its normal shape with a loud 'PLOP!' sound, sending the Paladins pulling the cables flying backward.
Roland Cox stepped forward, his face a mixture of total fury and confusion. "What manner of creature are you?"
"A big fan of your weird gadgets," Tom replied with a grin. "Too bad none of them work."
The fight ended quickly. Tom, with his Garde-level physical strength and Telekinesis, disarmed and neutralized the entire Paladin team without breaking a sweat. He restrained Roland Cox, lifting him into the air with Telekinesis.
"Alright, Mr. Serious," Tom said. "Now you're going to answer my questions. Who are you people? And why are you also chasing the kid who can disappear?"
Under threat from this entity that was clearly not a Jumper and could not be harmed, Roland, though reluctant and full of hatred, explained about the Paladins. About their war against the "Abominations" they called Jumpers, whom they believed to be demons corrupting God's natural order. He explained how they tracked Jumpers through the "jump scars" they left behind.
Tom listened with great interest. So, there were two factions in this game. The Jumpers who had the cool ability, and the fanatic Paladins who had the cool tech to hunt them.
"Thanks for the info," Tom said, then unceremoniously dropped Roland into a pile of trash. "This has been very helpful."
He now had a clearer picture. He could continue trying to track the amateur David Rice, or he could use the information from these hunters to find a more powerful Jumper. Or, even better, he could follow these Paladins and let them lead him to his next target.
Whichever path he took, the game had just become twice as fun.