The piercing shriek of the alarm pierced the predawn darkness of Kaito Swift's tiny apartment. His fist went out of habit, knocking the venerable clock radio with the authority to shatter a fresh crack etching its way through its plastic casing. The abrupt silence that ensued was broken only by the gentle gurgle of an open faucet in the next room and the distant hum of neon lights filtering through his thin curtains.
5:47 AM.
Kaito blew out slowly, watching his breath steam in the chill of his unheated apartment. Thirty-three minutes until first bell at Aegis Institute. His bare feet slapped on the cracked linoleum as he made his way over to his makeshift desk, where a flickering holographic projector automatically cycled up the morning news feed.
CELESTIA ACADEMY'S SERAPHINA VEXIS SHATTERS KINETIC ABSORPTION RECORD—" flashed the title in bluish radiant letters, the thumbnail video of a violet-eyed young woman casually swatting aside what appeared to be an oncoming armored truck with nothing but an extended hand.
Kaito's jaw tightened as he swiped the projection away with more force than necessary. His cramped studio apartment—barely larger than a prison cell, with its peeling wallpaper that smelled perpetually of mildew and the single window that rattled in its frame whenever the elevated trains passed—didn't need another reminder of everything he wasn't.
The shower sputtered and coughed into existence on the third attempt, spewing rusty brown liquid for a few seconds before running clear with a reluctant reluctance. Kaito stood in the lukewarm spray, scrubbing his face with hard hands until it hurt. The steamed mirror reflected circles under his grey eyes when he emerged, the face of an eighteen-year-old who looked five years older.
Clad quickly in his default-issue Aegis gear—a drab grey jumpsuit with the institute's broken shield logo stitched haphazardly over the chest—Kaito slung his crumpled shoulder bag and strode out into the endless twilight of Neo-Haven's lower districts.
The sidewalks were choked with morning rush and drone traffic before Kaito hit ground level. He maintained his hood forward as he moved through the crowd, negotiating by the smooth ease of a man who had spent a lifetime avoiding crowds. The air was thick with the smells of ozone and hot synth-meat from the street stalls, overhung with the perpetual sting of industrial smog.
A group of Celestia cadets in their sleek black-and-gold uniforms sliced through the horde like sharks slicing through the water, the wave of ordinary people parting before them without hesitation. Kaito's shoulders bristled as one of them—a massive boy with lightning leaping between his fingers—"accidentally" elbowed him hard enough to knock a lesser man off balance.
"Whoops," taunted the cadet, igniting his fingers inches from Kaito's face. The release of static made Kaito's hair stand on end. "Forgot Nulls don't have super reflexes."
Gritting his teeth until they ached, Kaito counted silently in his head as he worked his way around the group without missing a stride. The cadets' laughter followed him down the street, merging with the city's ever-present hum.
Null.
The slur clung to him like the streets' perpetual dirt, a tag he'd carried on the day his power test showed blank at the age of six. In a world where ability forged destiny, Kaito Swift possessed no talent.
One day, he promised himself for the thousandth time, hands clutching the strap of his pack. One damn day.
Aegis Institute's rusty steel gates loomed in front of him, their cracked shield emblem reminding him of the role the school played—the city's junkyard for those who were born not gifted. The training hall was filled with the smell of industrial-strength antiseptic and decades of accumulated sweat, the rubber mats worn smooth from centuries of hopeful students eager to show themselves worthy.
Professor Vance continued staring at his tablet when Kaito slipped into the room with thirty seconds to go. "Late again, Swift."
"Train delay," Kaito fabricated easily, gritting his teeth against the throbbing ache in his ribs from last night's sparring session.
Vance's snort was all the answer he needed as he stoked his tablet. "Tetsuro. You're up."
Rin Tetsuro cracked his knuckles in a popping rivet noise throughout the room. His skin shimmered for an instant, turning into liquid steel before going back to its normal olive hue. "Don't die this time, Swift."
Kaito stepped onto the mat, turning his neck until it cracked. Twenty-three past sparring bouts. Twenty-three losses.
Observe. Adapt.
Rin charged indiscriminately—a right hook to Kaito's temple that would have shattered bone if it connected. Kaito turned left—
Crack.
The glancing punch to his ribs saw him staggers against the ropes. Searing pain seared white-hot along his flank as the class erupted into raucous laughter.
"Pitiful," growled Dax Mercer in his customary spot on the wall. His null-field gloves' weak blue flash of light flickered humorously as he adjusted the controls.
Behind the water cooler, Lena Solara bit her lip, her golden eyes large with concern. "You've got this, Kaito!"
Rin switched strategy mid-charge—his right arm elongating like liquid mercury as it whipped out at Kaito's legs. Kaito scrambled over the blow by a hair's breadth as his mind reeled.
*Pattern recognition: 0.8 second delay in transitioning between solid and liquid state—*
Kaito faked left—
Rin's metal-shod knee struck him in the solar plexus with the force of a freight train.
Air escaped from between Kaito's lips as his back thudded onto the mat. White spots were streaking through his eyesight as he fought to breathe, the lights above him whirling in dizzying revolutions.
"Match," Vance grunted, scribbling down a note on his tablet without raising his head. "Tetsuro wins. Again."
Rin extended a hand, his own skin still gleaming with metal. Kaito skirted it, pushing himself up on trembling arms as the metallic taste of blood overwhelmed his mouth.
Next time, his mind spun, already rewinding through every millisecond of fighting, reciting every microexpression that had crossed Rin's face. I'll see the pattern earlier.
The return hike brought him before Celestia Academy's glistening platinum gates, as always. Through the elaborate fence, he observed her, training alone in the courtyard—Seraphina Vexis, her violet ponytail flying through the air as she cleared a cloud of robotic drones with nothing but precise little wiggles of her wrists.
Kaito slowed to an involuntary stop halfway along.
Her latest move was. off. A deliberate flaw in her otherwise perfect stance, as if—
Her head snapped up. Violet eyes locked with his across the chain links with unnerving precision.
Kaito's heart pounded. She'd known he was tailing her.
"Vexis! Debrief in five!" bellowed a coarse voice from the academy stairs.
Seraphina and Kaito locked gazes for one gasping moment—one long enough for him to glimpse something inscrutable flicker behind those purple eyes—before she turned away, leaving him with a mystery and a racing heart.
His apartment welcomed him with low overhead lights and the stale aroma of leftover food from last night. The battered composition notebook appeared even before he had taken off his jacket, its pages brimming with years of diligent note-taking.
Page 87: Rin Tetsuro – Metal Mimicry
Weakness: 0.5-second delay in dorsal shifts. Take advantage of lumbar flexibility when—
A sharp warning screeched from his shattered tablet, shattering his distraction. The screen flashed red warning:
"CITYWIDE ALERT: ROGUE POWERED ATTACK IN PROGRESS—DISTRICT 9. ALL RESIDENTS SHELTER IMMEDIATELY."
Kaito's gaze jerked upward as the city alarms wailed to life. A cloud of smoke curled into the gloomy sky three blocks off.
Glass shattered on the floor downstairs.
Something—someone—was tearing through the apartment complex with nightmare power.
And for the first time in eighteen powerless years, Kaito's skin tingled with something far, far worse than fear.