"Grenade!"

The yell jolted the cadets awake, and they scrambled out of the way. Will engaged his mech at full power and made a rapid retreat, but it was of no use. A thunderous crack echoed behind him, soon after a concussive blast wave surged through Will, sending him flying.

The wind was knocked out of him, and the explosion shredded his protective field like paper. Without his field, the mech dropped dead like a lead weight, and he crashed to the floor. Remy and Becca tumbled on top of him, with Victor sprawled nearby, forming a tangled heap.

"Ow!" Will groaned.

"My channels," Becca mumbled, as she attempted to roll off to the side but only succeeded in flailing around.

Victor gasped. "Can't control the mech."

"That damn psychopath," Remy cursed.

Will strained his neck and looked up. The entire class was on the floor, dazed and disoriented. They had been standing in formation, and clumped together as they were, Damian had gotten them all.

A single pair of footsteps echoed through the training field. Damian strolled among the fallen cadets, raised his fist in the air, and clenched in his hand was another grenade. "This here is a psion disruptor. It's a compact, handheld explosive device designed for one purpose: scrambling psion fields and disrupting mech I/O controls."

"To use it, you must pull the pin." Damian pulled the pin out of the grenade, and the cadets flinched.

"Now pay attention. This isn't a holo vid. Pulling the pin doesn't make it explode," said Damian. "The key is the spoon, this metal lever here. When you release the spoon, that's when the fuse starts burning."

He tossed the grenade high into the air, and someone let out a choked scream.

"Every grenade has different fuse timing. It could be a few seconds or a bit longer. Know your grenade's timer before using it."

Will counted the seconds as the grenade reached its zenith and then began falling. Before it hit the floor, it exploded in mid-air. The concussive blast knocked the trainees to the floor again, and Will felt his psions boiling over. He lost all control over his mech and fell back to the floor as if his strings had been cut.

"There's another way to arm the disrupter, which makes it explode on impact and not on a timer," Damian considered the cadets. "I suppose there's no need to demonstrate that one; you'll get the idea soon enough."

"Now, how to stop a disruptor," Damian continued, bringing out another grenade. "Since it scatters your field, you just have to use more of it. Make a wall between yourself and the blast so it doesn't penetrate into your channels."

He pulled the pin from the grenade and let go of the spoon. The cadets watched in horror as seconds ticked by and Damian still held on to the grenade. At the very last second, psions surged out of Damian. A flash of light, and the grenade exploded in his hand, but it only emitted a muffled whoomp. Damian didn't even flinch. The grenade was still in his hand, charred black and smoking. Damian dropped it to the floor, and it landed with a dull thunk and rolled on the floor. The cadets watched it come to a stop and gasped. A palm print was imprinted on the device, the only place the grenade wasn't burnt.

Sweat drenched Will's back as he watched Damian pace amongst the fallen cadets.

"I'll repeat today's goal. You must make it out of this warehouse within seven minutes. Failure to do so means extra drills. Also, the last four still remaining in the warehouse—" His eyes snapped back to Will, and he grinned. "—will also have special training."

Will's mouth went dry, and beside him, Victor stirred. "Why do I get the feeling that he's specifically targeting us?"

"Your time starts..." said Damian as he fished out his slate. The cadets hurried to their feet, knowing what was coming.

"Now!" finished Damian, and before Will could blink, a grenade rushed at him.

"Son of a—" Remy cursed.

Will gritted his teeth and drew on his channels to bring his field into position, but he was too slow. The grenade detonated, and his field fell to pieces.

Will found himself back on the floor along with Remy and the rest.

Victor groaned. "Now I'm sure he's targeting you!"

Will gasped as he felt his channels recover from the shock. He glanced at his team. "Maybe we should separate. There's no need for all of you to—"

"No," Becca said fiercely. "We're not letting him bully us. We just have to figure out a way."

"Well said," Remy laughed and clapped Becca on the back, and there was a dull thunk as her mech jerked forward. Remy turned toward Victor. "You in, Vic?"

Victor sighed. "Why not? You guys have a plan?"

"We're mostly flying by the seat of our pants," said Remy.

Will frowned, but he didn't correct Remy. They had been jumping from one crisis to the next without pause. It was time they did some active planning. It was time they were proactive.

"Hey, keep this," said Victor and handed him a burnt-out grenade. Will took the disruptor and noticed the palm print on it.

"Why give me this?" asked Will.

"Don't know," said Victor. "Seemed like it would motivate you."

Will snorted and placed the grenade into one of his empty weapon racks on his waist.

"Come on, let's get going," said Will, standing up. His mech hummed as his sync rate came back up. He stretched his neck and scanned the room. Metal bodies got highlighted in his HUD. Half the cadets were lying on the floor, and none had even managed to make it to the halfway mark up the field.

"Keep up the pace, cadets!" yelled Damian, leaning against the warehouse wall. He tossed a grenade up and down with one hand as he watched the cadets, but his attention laser-focused on Will when he saw that he was up.

Damian broke into a grin and sent another grenade their way.

"Incoming!" yelled Will.

Their mechs whirred into motion. They moved as a group and dodged to the left. The grenade flew over their heads and exploded behind them. They managed to get enough distance to escape the disruptive wave but were still shaken by the explosion.

Three more grenades came their way, and they dodged each one. The first one blew up on their right, and the one after that exploded on their left. The third one missed Will by a hair's breadth, but Victor was caught in the crossfire. The boy was sent spinning, and his mech went dead. Remy caught him, and along with Will, they dragged him out of the way of more grenades.

"Bastard!" Remy cursed. "He's not even trying to hide it anymore. He sent the majority of the grenades our way."

"Grenade inbound!" yelled Becca. Will let go of Victor and jumped in front of the group. Psions rushed into his hand, and he thrust his palm out. The field burst out of his hand like a wall, and the grenade exploded a second later with a boom. Will's arm was knocked back, and the concussive blast passed through him, but it was manageable; only his arm suffered the most damage and now hung limply by his side.

"Will!" Becca gasped.

"I'll recover," said Will. "Keep moving. Don't be an easy target."

Remy grunted as he heaved Victor forward, and they rushed towards a group of cadets at the center of the field.

Rowan Kade struggled with his group of friends and was surprised to see them coming. Before the bigger boy could do anything, three grenades flew their way. They were annihilated before they knew it, and Will and the rest rushed away from them as more grenades came at them.

One grenade fell a few feet away from them and spun on the floor. Will braced his right leg with his field, but his amputated leg barely allowed him to channel, and his pitiful attempt at a field wall fell through as the blast raced up his leg. His channels buckled, and something in his knee flexed. He felt his psions rush into the corrupted region, and he instinctively connected to the etherite crystal.

Shock filled his heart as he fought to maintain the connection. He had been attempting to connect with the crystal for days now, and it finally happened. His knee actively fought him for control, but he held on.

"Will, what are you doing?" came a distant yell, but Will was in too deep. He went through a rapid set of field patterns he had used the last time he had synced with the crystal.

Another grenade flew at him, and Will vaguely remembered seeing it through blurry eyes. The crystal connected, and something clicked into place. Time seemed to freeze. The world vibrated around him as the skill got activated, and almost immediately after, pain lanced through his left arm and stabbed into his shoulder blade. The sensation was sudden and intense, lasting for half a heartbeat, and then it vanished as if it were all a dream.

Will was left reeling as he was snapped back into reality. "What just happened?"

Time unfroze. The grenade was still coming at him, and he didn't even have time to react. He set up a hastily erected field wall, and the disruptor tore through it and phased into his left arm. It raced up his hand and reached up to his shoulders, and his left hand fell limp.

Will gasped as the sensation repeated, only this time it was real. Déjà vu! It was the same stab he had felt in his shoulder blades.

His heart hammered in his chest. The etherite's skill made no sense. He needed to figure out what was going on here. He gritted his teeth and activated the crystal again. The air shimmered, and the world vibrated like a drum. He felt a sharp pain on his forehead and sensed his channels going haywire from his neck down. Will blinked, and the pain vanished once again.

As soon as he snapped back to reality, he found a grenade headed right for his face. Will ducked out of the way, and an explosion rocked behind him. Will touched his forehead in shock as he felt the skill fade away.

"Will, why is your mech registering blood loss?" Becca yelled as they kept running.

"It says it is coming from his head," said Remy as he dragged Victor along.

Will blinked. Something trickled down his face into his eye. His forehead scraped against the form-fitting helmet, and a strand of blood-soaked white hair fell on his HUD. Before he could process any of this, the scraping stopped, and hair growing on his temple retreated back into his skin.

"There's no way. No way..." he muttered. The grenade had been about to hit his head, and he had dodged it before he even knew it was coming.

"Will, snap out of it!" said Becca, but before she could protest, Will connected to the crystal again.

The skill activated, and the world vibrated like it was made of strings. This time he wasn't surprised when he felt another sharp stab on his right shoulder. Without even looking, his arm snapped out with a field forming at the end of his fist.

A grenade exploded mere inches from him, but he had blocked it perfectly. The disruptive wave didn't even touch them.

"Holy!" Remy exclaimed, and Victor woke up with a shake of his head. "What happened? Are we still running?"

"Come on, follow me," said Will, escorting the group forward. With Victor back on his feet, they gunned it towards the exit.

More grenades chased them, and Will reached out to the crystal. The world vibrated, and ethereal sensations flowed into him. His left leg burned; then, a blast wave seared his face. After that, an explosion rocked him from behind. The feelings passed as quickly as they came, and Will snapped back into reality. He dodged to the right, the only place free from attack. The rest of the group followed him, and all the grenades flew over their heads, missing them completely.

Explosions surrounded them, but they were always one step ahead, riding through the concussive wave like the surfers of old.

They were close to the exit now, and Will swatted aside a grenade that was aimed for his head. He nervously glanced back at Damian, who was now on his feet, looking at him calculatingly.

Their eyes met, and his cousin grinned. He brandished his hand, and hanging off his fingers were four grenade pins. Will spotted the grenades soaring through the air and immediately reached for the crystal. It was getting harder and harder to connect to the etherite, but he stubbornly held on.

The world around him vibrated again, and he felt explosions—one from behind, another from the right, and the final one from up ahead. Will snapped back to the real world and made a sharp left turn before coming back on course. They dodged the disruptors and were about twenty feet from the door.

A cold chill passed through Will when he realized that they had only dodged three grenades. There were four pins with Damian, which meant...

His head snapped back to Damian, who was already in mid-motion with his arms cocked back.

Will's connection with the shard was fraying at the edges, but he accessed the skill one last time. He poured everything he had into it, connected the skill, and linked it with his eyes.

The world vibrated, and this time he did not just feel; he saw. Damian split into three translucent copies, and Will spotted three grenades soaring into the air. Only one of them was real.

His eyes burned, but Will held on to the connection. The translucent silhouettes merged into one, and he spotted the grenade. He knew which one was real and where it was headed.

He let go of the skill, and he snapped back into reality. The grenade had just left Damian's fingers, and Will reached for the charred-out grenade that Victor had given him. He threw the burnt-out grenade with a snap of his wrist, and it flew straight at Damian's grenade, colliding with it in mid-air. The grenade exploded with a deafening boom, and all four of them were knocked off their feet, and they went flying out of the door.

Snow sprayed off the tarmac as they came crashing to the ground.

"We are alive." Remy groaned as he pumped his fist, and Becca let out a tired sigh.

Victor snorted. "Well, that was fun. That was some good piloting, Will... Will?"

Will lay in his mech, straining not to curse. His internal reserves were drained with the last stunt he had pulled, and he felt a familiar burning sensation creeping up his right knee. He immediately locked himself out of his mech and returned it to manual control. The seizures came fast and strong, and he was left breathless as it passed over him.

"Will, are you okay?" asked Remy.

Will ripped the helmet off his head and lay gasping in the snow. His cheeks flushed with the cold, and the icy air seemed to snap him back to his senses.

He breathed in great lungfuls of air as the full weight of what just happened hit. The shard, that crystal, it...

Becca removed her helmet, bent over him, and whispered, "What is it?"

"You know...the thing stuck in my leg?" Will whispered back.

She froze for a moment and nodded.

"It can see the future."