“Feisty, aren’t you?” A palm stopped Edward’s kick and pushed him back a step.

He didn’t yield. The trainee jumped, kicking and punching, and his opponent blocked it all using his left hand. Esmi’s sweep sailed through the empty air and a larger figure leapt gracefully away, undoing all their attempts by simply blocking.

The room they were sparring in was part of the hospital’s rehabilitation wing. Here, the nurses helped patients recover after grievous injuries or get adjusted to their new limbs. The sound of marching legs on treadmills, the labored breaths of people moving through assisting rails, and the sound of children kicking balls filled the spacious hall during the day. After dark, guards and some medics loosened up here, except for today, when someone important had arrived from Iterna and the entire security staff was on standby for inspection.

Eliza and Vasily both lay in deep comas; their wounds no longer threatened their lives, but the doctors still worked on them daily, outright replacing some organs, restoring the damaged skin, and then putting them back into healing solutions. Edward saw them. They floated in blue liquid, confined within oval-shaped healing capsules. For modesty’s sake, the doctors blacked out the capsules’ transparent screens, not allowing the group to see anything below their waists. But Edward wasn’t stupid. He could still see the torn edges of Lizzie’s skin floating in the healing fluid. Their condition was far from good.

At first, the two of them slept by their sides, and then the doctors dragged them away by the ear and asked not to bother them for the next week. A week! Neither of the twins had ever heard of anyone being kept on life support for so long in a first-class Iternian hospital. Elina rested on the lower levels, sleeping as her body slowly adjusted to a gleaming steel arm. Carlos waited for his turn, as cloned limbs were in short supply even in the best of times outside of Iterna.

Rowen had a scheduled operation for regaining his hearing tomorrow, and Jumail went to check on his fellow Malformed, who actively worked alongside Governor Abel in repelling another sabotage. He sort of ghosted out, asking the twins to call him if anything happened and leaving them sitting alone in worry at the rooms of their wounded friends, texting Elina, helping Rowen, and teasing Carlos. The last part sucked the most. Jumail was missing all the fun!

Tonight, three days after the terrifying events, their absent brother strode into the hospital, dressed in a blue leather coat and an elegant azure uniform, marking him as a member of the Intelligence, and challenged them to a sparring match. They agreed at once. Esmi and Edward haven’t seen their big brother in years.

“You are okay, right?” Eduardo asked, grinning, and dodged Esmi’s kick. His little sis bounced off the training hall’s wall, and this time it was Edward who made a sliding kick aimed at his big brother’s leg. “Nothing bothers you or anything? Poor sleep, perhaps? Your love taps are more off-mark than usual, midges.”

The skunk dodged again! His legs left the training mats, and Eduardo positioned himself horizontally as his siblings flew over and below him, blocking all their attempts to reach him.

He did a theatrical barrel roll in the air and landed on two feet, inviting them to continue the game. Of all of them, Eduardo resembled Dad and Mom the most. Always composed, never without a sharp look in his eyes, hair cut short and skin fair as snow. It was no surprise to anyone when he announced his desire to join the Intelligence.

Their family had always been a rowdy bunch, never backing down from a challenge. Where Mom’s and Dad’s gifts allowed them to control the body of a living creature, read their thoughts, or influence emotions, their children shared these gifts. Esperanza gained control over living beings; Eduardo could read thoughts; and they received the lesser of the gifts. Their parents trained their children using animals, using their own powers to prevent any harm, and teaching their kids just how dangerous their gifts could be.

What happened to Eduardo? Why hadn’t he never visited them in the past years and only called? The questions ever bothered the twins, and they rejoiced at a familiar mischievous gleam in their brother’s eyes. Whatever it may be, he was having fun. He was still the same buffoon who was throwing shindigs to cheer Esperanza up after she got a bad grade and teased them relentlessly until they chased him around the house, enraged and forgetting all about the sour thoughts.

“Yes, we are fine! Can we fight for real now?” Esmi closed the distance, panting. She feinted a punch and changed it into a grab. Eduardo dodged the maneuver and tackled his sister onto her back.

“Why are you here, Edda?” Edward asked.

“Unhappy?”

“Not in a million years!”

“Then it is confidential!” their brother teased, standing upright and closing his eyes. He leaned back, and Edward’s roundhouse kick sliced through the empty air.

“Asshole!” Edward tried to grab the long end of his brother’s coat, and the material slipped. A light sweep sent him face down on the mat, and the trainee rolled away, fuming at the ease with which their brother was toying with them.

“Okay, he’s gotta read our minds.” Esmi stood shoulder-to-shoulder with her brother.

“Am I?” Eduardo beamed. He reached into the inner pocket of his coat, pulled out a black power-suppressing pill, and swallowed it. “Am I really?”

“He’s helpless! Get him!” Edward fired up, racing at the bro.

They ganged up on their brother in perfect sync. When one punched at the grinning face, the leg of another made a sweep. The sweep turned into a tackle, and Edward found himself flying at a fire extinguisher hanging on a wall when his brother evaded the tackle. Esmi had tried to capitalize on the distraction, but a gloved hand cupped her kick, and a boot swept her in turn.

It was insufferable! He hasn’t changed at all, taking them down gently, always countering in such a way that would leave them plenty of time to cushion a fall or a crash. They howled at humiliation and unleashed their powers, focusing false urges on him. Edward’s going to punch from the left? His mind projected the fear of a sudden leap from the right. Esmi has done the same, trying to confuse the opponent.

The leather-clad figure dodged the incoming assaults, weaving amidst punches and kicks and racing to their backs, patting them and retreating from their elbows. All with closed eyes and never breaking a sweat.

“Still the same,” he laughed. “Predictable and boring!”

“Right back at you!” they roared, trying to shift his happiness to fear.

It was a nasty thing to do. Dad chastised them after they scared a boy who had teased Edward by calling him a girl on one of his birthdays. Dad did nothing to them but transmitted the kid’s memories to them, letting them relive what they had done to him and shutting down the experience at the first nervous gulp. He sat them down, explaining about the proportional response, but they didn’t care about it and barged back to the party, apologizing to the small guest for their behavior.

There were some things that should be off-limits to anyone, or so they believed. Taking someone’s emotions and twisting them, violating a person’s feelings, turning bravery into fear, or friends into foes by instilling a lingering disgust. No one deserved to experience such a thing over a small talk. It was what prompted them to join the Academy, the memories of a crying boy who sniffed and promised he’d never do this again, mumbling the words over and over again. There, the teachers helped them master their power, setting far stricter limits than their parents allowed. Over the years, they talked things out with the boy and tried not to abuse their power.

But their brother could take it! And besides, this is training; he challenged them to give it their all!

“A power is more of a crutch.” Eduardo waved his finger. “It’s good that you have mastered it… to a slightly less incompetent level. But anyone willing to fight must develop himself in all areas, be they mental or physical. I know how your power works, and I have trained myself to push through horror and false feelings, trusting my senses to prevail. And you have slacked off in the physical department, and now your negligence renders you unable to beat me.”

“Poser!” Esmi tapped. “You are simply older than us and… and have access to better implants and biological upgrades! In a few years, we’ll beat your elderly ass up!”

“Language, Esmi! What would our mother say?” Eduardo asked.

“She would say…” Edward pulled out the fire extinguisher he had snuck off the wall. “A little cunning brings a person clicks ahead!”

He pointed the extinguisher at his brother and doused him in a stream of fire-suppressing foam, throwing him off by blinding, deafening, and projecting false emotions. Esmi giggled, pressing her hands to her mouth when Eduardo stumbled.

“Cheats!” He cried.

“You bet!” They laughed and lunged at him.

He and Esmi always shared a closer bond than anything they had shared with their elder siblings. They loved them to death, but often they could act in perfect unison, feeling the limbs of another twin as extensions of their own. Mom once told them that they even breathed in unison for the first few months of their lives, and the twins believed her, remembering how they both experienced the same feeling when they helped mom cook, Edward cut his finger, and Esmi dropped a plate full of vegetables at a sudden pain.

It was, in a sense, a strange condition. And they slowly were growing out of it, no longer clinging to one another and developing their own tastes. Esmi loved to brawl, getting close and personal, while he preferred more complicated and safer means to achieve victory. The differences didn’t stop here; he enjoyed cartoons, but his sister couldn’t stomach them and adored sad black-and-white dramas.

The three of them turned into a curling ball. The twins tried to pin down the legs and arms of their elder brother, and soon after, Eduardo let out a bombastic laugh and slipped off their grasp, wrapping his arms around them.

“I missed you two goofballs so much!” He kissed the protesting Esmi and flushed Edward on their foreheads.

“We missed you too!” They blinked and shattered the cohesion, regaining their individuality.

“Why did you only call?” Edward asked. “Esperanza is dying to see you!”

“Why not come over?” his sister added. “Don’t tell me the government is locking you up. You’re a secret agent!”

“In training.” He led them to a bench, and they wiped the foam off with towels. It didn’t clear that much, but there were showers in the next room. “Is Espi…”

“Still refusing to use her power, and opened a convenience store instead.” Esmi rolled her eyes. “She’s weird.”

“Hey! She simply doesn’t want to violate the autonomy of another human,” Edward protested, not really feeling it. Their sister was quirky. And she has a right to that, even if he finds her reasons funny!

“Yeah, yeah, with great power comes great temptation and all that. Weird,” Esmi said. “Like she was always the strongest! And she gave it all up and started lifting, and she can still beat us all, only now with one hand tied behind her back.”

“That’s weird. Girls shouldn’t uglify their bodies with muscles,” their elder brother agreed, with a hint of laughter in his inquisitory eyes.

“Don’t weasel out of the question, Edda!” Esmi slapped a hand over Edward’s mouth. “Where have you’ve been, and why did you show up now?”

“Told you already. I am in training.” He ruffled their hairs. “No longer baldies, eh? Mom must’ve been mad. Good for you! Anyway.” He leaned against a wall and stopped, searching for words. “Listen, I am a lousy brother…”

“Didn’t said that,” Edward pushed Esmi’s palm aside.

“Doesn’t make it untrue.” A finger tapped him on the nose for interrupting. “I phoned in your last birthdays, haven’t been home in years… Yeah, it’s rough, and I will not lie; it won’t change in the future. But after Mom and Dad retired, Iterna was left without a mind reader. Our world isn’t a nice place, not yet. And it’s the Intelligence’s job to ensure Iterna’s prosperous existence. The ability to read thoughts and discern truth from lies is a rare and valuable gift. It’s why the higher-ups are willing to put up with my antics. And it is why I enlisted; someone had to help create a better world for my adorable family, so why not me myself?” Eduardo corrected his tie and dusted off the collar of his blue shirt. “As for why I am here… What’cha know about this hospital?”

“Freaking enormous,” Esmi said.

“And advanced,” Edward added. “They have cloning vats here, an engineering bay, can mass produce and customize prosthetics for all kinds of patients. There are medical capsules to treat the most severe cases…” He looked at his sister, worried about forgetting the most crucial part.

“And a research wing in the basement.” She nodded and frowned. “With up-to Iterna’s standards… Is it even legal? Wait… Is this why the spaceship was sent here?”

“Ah-ha! Now you get the crux of the issue.” Eduardo gave them a thumbs up. “Here’s a little story. Rho Biomedical has several subsidiaries. The Rhos set them up to have a credible deniability clause that would allow them to wash their hands of any serious mess made by the lesser companies. Officially, they are mining companies. In reality, they are doing God knows what research in the wastelands and in several civilized countries. The Intelligence turns a blind eye to this breach of protocol due to the sheer net benefit to our homelands and the moral restraint shown by Rho Biomedical.”

He gestured around the room.

“Barjoni Self Care is the first, up to Iternian standards, hospital built outside Iterna’s borders. The Family took a different approach, spearheading into Stonehelm to secure the most lucrative contracts they could. They did it for personal enrichment, of course, but there are some possibilities for us. Before, the Oathtakers forced every company operating here to work through a local company. That stifled economic growth and gave the government a tighter grip on the economy. Now they are loosening up the rules to bounce back after the crisis. Oh, there are still some regulations, such as the requirement to hire a certain percentage of workers from the locals, about taxes and so on, but this is a golden opportunity, and the government gave their permission.

“If the Family’s little stunt succeeds, a new type of private healthcare might spread across the two Great Nations, and it will be a boon to both Iterna’s economy and its image, perhaps a first true step in healing the wounds dealt by the Culling and proving that Iterna wants to cooperate rather than dominate. Just a few decades ago, no Abnormal would willingly set foot in our hospitals, and now we have Malformed and Insectoid roaming somewhere around here. If the corporations can expand their reach, the government can soon follow, and even if other countries ban the government, it’ll still give us a certain influence over the politics of our rivals, and we might be able to steer them away from interventionist policies regarding underdeveloped nations.

“The problem is, other corporations have sniffed out the game. Rho Industrials pushed in here, competing with the Family, forging deals with the Reclaimers’ companies, and rebuilding the city. It helps the little guy, and you’ll hear no complaints from me; the locals have earned themselves a peaceful life tenfold. On the other hand, the situation has inadvertently made Stonehelm a land of opportunity. The Dynast wants his cut of the influence over the Oathtakers; we want ours, and our hosts play both sides to their advantage. In short, Stonehelm is a golden keyhole to the Lands of the Oath, and it is filled to the brim with all sorts of important people, all of whom are too valuable to lose. No wonder that the government got permission and sent a spaceship to secure our interests in the region.”

He wrapped his hands around his siblings, drawing them close and ignoring their feigned attempts to break out.

“I am here to check on something. Someone. And because I was worried sick and missed you two so much!”

“We missed you too, Edda,” the twins admitted.

They stopped the fake struggle and hugged him back, letting go of the worries of the past days, the fear for their friends’ lives and their own. They forgot about the nightmares where the rotting figure threatened to snatch them and have their skin peeled off. Their brother was here, and all was well in the world. The three sat by each other side for a while, just like the good old days when Esperanza and Eduardo held their year-old siblings on their knees while Dad read them stories and Mom made pancakes and other treats for the family.

They snapped away from peaceful serenity when the door slid aside.