Bartholomew stood up now and clasped his hands together. “I take it you two have a plan?”

            “Yup, we have five minutes to get out of this cell. After that, we’ll have a tiny opening to make it back outside. Kael is going to make a distraction– I think,” Joshua finished, taking a large breath.

            “And how do we get out of this cell?” the Doctor asked, his hand motioning to the solid bars.

             Joshua opened his mouth wordlessly and then paused in thought. It’s a good point. A very good point. Guess we can wait for Kael to come back for us. Or. . . .

            Movement caught Joshua’s eye, diverting his already paper-thin attention span. Gianna stepped out of the cell--a hole melted through the center of her bars, sending the liquid metal dribbling down like dried candle wax-- and was stalking towards Bartholomew. Melting was an unusual choice for a Combustion Syche, but it was certainly possible with a little extra effort.

            Bartholomew stayed in a ball in the corner, eyeing the girl unsure. Almost dismissively, like she had resigned herself to it, she lazily flicked her hand through the air and Barthlomew’s bars melted to neon orange puddles. Once more and Joshua was stretching in the hallway, feeling a bruise screaming at the top of his stomach.

            “To be clear,” the Doctor said joining them, “you didn’t plan this. If it was just the two of us, we’d be stuck.”

            “There's always a kink in the plan,” Joshua replied. “It happens. Wait until you hear the story of how we found your daughter.”

            As the three escapees turned to the stairs, a voice from behind halted them. “Hold. On,” the prison guard's haggard voice scratched.

            Gianna swung in front of Joshua and Bartholomew, her palms opened towards the guard.

            The man held up his hands in surrender. “Take me with you. I can’t be here if you escape.”

            Joshua placed a hand on Gianna’s wrist, try get past. He managed it, but not without resistance, a sound something like a hiss coming from her. “Name’s Joshua. Happy to save whoever I can.” He casually strode forward and offered the prison guard a hand up.

            “Ladilaus Iderich,” the guard said, grabbing Joshua’s hand and steadying himself to his feet. “If you’re going to shorten it, make it Laus.” He grimaced, standing as straight as he could.

###

So many Syches. Joshua had guessed five in the hotel; there had to be at least twenty-five. Didn’t matter. If there was a way to parse out who’s Sychakenetic energy was who’s, Kael didn’t know it. He could use his powers all he wanted. With this uniform, they’d realize too late. And he doubted he’d even need the extra time.

Still down in bedrock, Kael smiled, just having stepped into a room full of crates, jars, and other perishables. A place free of noncombatants and flammables stacked floor to ceiling. He had never been this free.

###

            Joshua said, “So you made it that close before they caught you?”

            Gianna had been telling the story of her failed escape from the Dark Element as they climbed the stairs. “Barovitche. It’s nowhere close to this base as the capital, but the Dark Element doesn’t have men there. . . I think. And there’s always boats,” Gianna said. “Just not when my group made a break for it. The Dark Element caught us within an hour of arriving in the city, and then I got thrown in prison. The other three dead.” 

            Bartholomew looked to Laus who gave him a dismissive shrug.

            “Going to be an example no doubt,” she continued. A faint shudder ran down her body. “What if they had done something to my elbows?” Her body quaked at the thought.

            At the top of the stairs, they arrived at hospital-esque hallway and shuffled in a straight line to the nearest door. They flattened their backs against the wall and turned off the light as they entered the room; a group of darkly dressed shadows sprinted down the hall. All it took to be killed was for a single one of those voices chattering amongst themselves to use their powers, to look ten feet behind the nearest wall: But they wouldn’t. Joshua could only wonder how blind the average person would be if they had to put real effort into seeing.

            About to signal the group back out, Joshua instead became distracted by a cabinet he spied across the room. He walked over, a finger trailing along a dust covered table. Judging by the contents, scientists really had once been here. And there was that gap in chemistry knowledge again. The bottles and objects in vials were too esoteric for Joshua to pick up on. He snagged a package of something labeled PETN-- that sounded animal friendly. His detour was only interrupted as the rap, rap of Bartholomew tapping on his shoulder refocused the escape.

            Joshua stashed the plastic bag of white powder in one of the many folds of his jacket, but high enough that he wouldn’t accidently sit on it.

“Smoke?” Bartholomew hissed, his brows furrowed.  Sure enough, a thin black smoke was creeping up the staircase from the depths below.

“What did you think Kael was going to do to district them? Name three things better than fire, in any context really,” Joshua responded.

“It's true,” Gianna added, quite emphatically; Joshua pointed to her in affirmation.

###

Pings of Sychakenetic energy bounced throughout the building. Kael couldn’t feel for two seconds without bouncing off someone else’s powers. Too many cooks, everyone blinding each other. Kael was happy to give up his sixth sense for that insurance though, at least outnumbered this severely.

He alighted back into the glistening white hallways, a film of smoke pooling on the ceiling. A man, half dressed in his dark robes, ran by, taking no notice of Kael in appropriate murder garb, and made for the staircase. His descent went faster than intended as Kael’s boot caught him squarely on the backside, launching him forward.

The laugh in Kael’s throat caught as he saw another assassin, this one fully dressed, twenty feet away. The interloper had seen it all but apparently hadn’t understood. They ran forward, demanding an answer from Kael.

Kael slammed his foot down and sent a spasm of energy through the floor in a hook pattern, going around the assassin and igniting on their heels. A concussive explosion knocked them forward at which point Kael delivered a decisive lariat that sent the assassin’s heels spinning over their head.

Wordlessly, Kael continued on. Eager to extend the rampage.

###

Joshua and friends continued through the labyrinthian building under Gianna’s instructions– pointing this way or that.

Sprinting footsteps echoed from some direction around one of the many corners and Joshua forgot to breathe as he dove for an open door. The rest of the group scattered with only Laus joining him. There wasn't time to close the door, and Joshua didn't let his breath go until he could no longer detect the fall of heavy boots—everyone else in Joshua’s group apparently making it to cover in time. He exhaled. The closer they got to the exit, the more enemies they saw. Maybe Gianna or Laus could help– maybe, but Joshua wasn’t too keen betting on the proven losers.

By now, the smoke had become thick on the ceiling, the sheer volume of it oppressive. All around, shouts rang through the research base as it descended into chaos.

Joshua stood at yet another door with his ear listening to the clamor and couldn't help but smile. Bartholomew looked at him as calm as he had always been. Gianna was. . . it was one of those moments where it was entirely unclear what she was thinking. Laus looked appropriately worried.

“Boy,” Bartholomew said to Joshua, “you are enjoying this too much.”

The Doctor was half right: the madcap panic was equal parts horrifying and invigorating and in a week, it would make for a killer story. “They've all headed for the lower levels,” Joshua retorted. “You'll have to excuse my excitement at getting to live.”

“Yup,” Gianna said, “we are close to the exit now anyway. It’s straight ahead and to the right.”

“No it’s to the left and up one more flight of stairs,” Joshua said. Gianna looked like someone feigning shock. Joshua could see that Bartholomew was about to support her so he pressed forward: “I was quasi-conscious as they dragged me in, enough to pay attention. It’s not like I knew someone from this place would be guiding us, or that said person who literally lived here wouldn’t know their way around.” He stared at Gianna as these last few words left his mouth. Joshua couldn’t even be sure that she was angry, a slew of emotions crossed her face in a fraction of a second and he had to admit that there was no reading this girl.

“The boy is right,” Laus chimed in, and this seemed to satisfy Bartholomew.

Sliding the door back open, they stayed low and reached the ground floor. Following the thinning smoke, the group burst out into the bright white light of day, cringing momentarily.

Before they could even see again, the scream of a man met their ears. The man who had captured and beat Joshua was out by the bisected snowman, dragging his fellow assassin, stark naked, back to the base. He dropped his fellow and sprinted towards them.

“Hey Gianna, sic ‘em,” Joshua said, pointing to the sentry. She took a step forward and brought her weight down on Joshua’s foot, hard. “Ow. Sorry. Sheesh.”

Bartholomew snapped his attention to Laus who was still clasping his smoldering chest in pain. “If you don’t mind,” interrupted Bartholomew, “one of you will need to do something, quickly!”

 “The guy without powers has got it,” Joshua said, stepping forward. “Probably.”

As the sentry bore down on them, a black chain of metal whipped out of his sleeve like a razored whip, controlled by the Metal Sychakenetic energy that ran through it.

You give people these powers and this is what they come up with?

Joshua reached behind as if to draw a firearm and the attacker skidded to a stop. The links of his chain flattened into a towering shield that screened the man from view. Joshua threw himself forward, his foot crashing into the shield. He had the momentum now and threw himself over the barricade. “Sike!” Joshua yelled, bringing the heel of his foot down onto the man's face. The man buckled and fell limp.

As if he would ever use a gun; those killed people. Joshua cleared his throat and prepared to cap the heist off with a clever one liner he had prepared that morning. Instead, a dark shape ripped across his vision. His head burst into pain and bright light. Joshua fought against the haze for a second before his body lapsed into unconsciousness in the thick snow.

End of Act 1