6. Acquiring Skill Points (Patreon)

Levi climbed back down the stairs with three plates of steaming hot scrambled eggs and toast. “You’re outta bacon, old lady!”

“I gotta watch my fat intake in my old age!” she hollered back.

“Smh, just build yourself a mechanical heart,” Levi grumbled, kicking the door open at the bottom of the stairs.

“Those things clog up even worse than real hearts, ya big dumb idiot.” Maury wiped her hands on her coat and grabbed a plate out of Levi’s hands.

“Learn something new every day.” Levi hefted the other two plates and picked his way through the machines. “Fira, eggs!”

“I heard.” She stood, pushing aside the plastic sheet for Levi.

He ducked through, giving her the other plate as he passed. He plopped down on the bed and set in, not worrying about the crumbs even as they splattered over the comforter.

“Gross,” Fira muttered.

“Not my bed,” Levi said, shrugging.

“I told you not to get those sheets dirty!” Maury shouted across the room.

“They’re already dirty! When’s the last time you washed them, huh?” Levi called back.

Maury muttered something incomprehensible.

“That’s what I thought!” He gave Fira a look as though he’d made the most reasonable argument in the world and shook his head.

Fira snorted. She sat beside him and took a bite, cutting a glance at Levi. “What now?”

“Now? Now we all take a nap. Your brother’s a precog, and that’s dangerous as hell, but also, he’s a precog. He’ll know how to stay out of trouble, at least for a single night. Tomorrow, bright and early, we head out to find him.”

“So we’re just… sleeping here?” Fira tensed. Her eyes flicked to the stairs.

Unbothered, Levi shrugged. “Sure, go look for him. Good luck. He’s one kid in a city of millions, who might be using his skills to keep away from you.”

“He wouldn’t—” Fira fell silent.

Levi pointed at her. “See? You get it. You don’t know what’s happened to him. How long has he been missing, a week? Maybe he’s just neck deep in a filthy drug-fueled orgy, and he’ll break out of his stupor a week from now, realize he’s made a few mistakes, and head back home.”

“He’s fifteen,” Fira said flatly.

Levi spread his hands. “Fifteen-year-olds make bad decisions too. I mean, orgy less likely, but drugs still possible.”

She gave him a dead look.

Levi set his empty plate down, fork clanging against the plastic, and looked her in the eye. “The point is, he’s probably fine, you’re probably overreacting, and we’ll find him hanging out with some mostly-harmless weirdos. We’ll get him out of the city, and Alpha’s clutches, safe and sound by the end of the week, no harm, no foul, no scratches or dings, warranty still intact.”

“And if I’m not overreacting?” Fira asked. “If he’s been ability-hunted, and he’s imprisoned in Alpha’s penthouse right now?”

“Then it’s already game over, gg, no re, we all go home and cry.” Levi shrugged. “But that almost certainly isn’t the case.”

“What makes you say that?”

Levi gestured extravagantly. “Alpha is an egomaniac. If he finally caught a true precog, after that mess with the Lone Star Saintess fifteen years ago, he’d crow it from the rooftops and parade the precog through the streets. He’d make a big point of it on election speeches, going on about how he’d be able to protect the city so much better now that he can foresee what is to come. There’d be t-shirts and hats, figurines, posters—”

“I get the point,” Fira interrupted.

Lowering his arms, Levi nodded. “Rest assured. If your brother has been caught, which is quite possible, Alpha still doesn’t know about him. Worst case, we’re dealing with some kind of ability hunter who thinks he-and-or-she has one over the big boss. As long as we don’t hear about your brother from Alpha, we’re still in the game.”

Fira pressed her lips together so tight they turned pale. She nodded once, tight and quick.

“But I bet he’s just going through his rebellious phase. We’ll find him, you two will have a nice little chat, and you’ll head back home together, wherever that is, since you won’t tell me—and honestly, don’t—and none of us will ever have to think about this again.”

She took a deep breath. “Right.”

The plastic flapped open. “Levi.” Maury’s eyes flickered to Fira, and she smiled. “Should we talk about it upstairs?”

“No, it’s fine,” Fira said.

Maury glanced over her shoulder toward the bloodied table behind her, then eyed Fira’s eggs. “I don’t want to ruin your meal.”

Fira followed her gaze to the table and swallowed with some effort. She looked away and nodded.

“Right. You finish dinner. We’ll be right back down.” Taking his plate with him, Levi followed Maury upstairs.

As they stepped through the door, Maury turned back and threw the deadbolt. Without another word, she clomped up the stairs, Levi just ahead of her.

Throwing his plate in the sink, Levi leaned against the countertop and tossed a nod Maury’s way. “Yeah? What did you want Fira not to hear?”

Maury pressed her lips together. She shook her head at Levi. “I get why you’re hunting the precog. But the other one. Why’s she still alive?”

“Fira? Would I—”

Maury raised her brows.

Levi sighed. “Yeah, okay. Listen. We’re hunting a precog, right? He might be a true precog. If he really is a true precog, with no limitations or drawbacks, then I need to move carefully. For all I know, he’s already seen this conversation. I doubt it, but it’s possible.”

Maury nodded. “Right. So?”

Levi’s eyes hardened, but a smile appeared on his face. He gave her an eager thumbs-up. “I’m earnestly trying to rescue her brother. I can’t let Alpha get his hands on him. No matter what, I’m coming to his rescue! He’ll get out of this city alive, even if I have to die to save him.”

“The fuck… ah. No. I get it,” Maury muttered, nodding slowly. “A precog, right. A precog.”

“After all, I can’t let Alpha get his hands on that precog. No matter what. From the bottom of my heart, I’ll find him, ensure no harm comes to him, and remove him from Alpha’s clutches. Forever.”

After a moment, Levi shrugged. “It’s not as if I’m opposed to getting him out of the city. But there’s a lot of conditions to that. It’s much safer to… earnestly seek him with no negative thoughts in my head, so there’s no future where I do something bad to him, and then handle things from there.

“I even have to treat his sister with kid gloves, act as if her quest is the most important thing in my life, because if he doubts me even a little, he’ll be absolutely impossible to find, what with the seeing the future and knowing exactly what I’m about to do thing. That is assuming there aren’t conditions to his precognition, but even if there are… you know how easy precogs are to spook. Even limited precogs. Paranoid future-seeing bastards.”

“A kind of self-hypnosis, then,” Maury said, nodding. “Well, good luck. Keep your eyes on that future where he gets out of here safe and sound.”

Levi nodded. “It’s my utmost goal right now.”

She shook her head. “Imagine Alpha with that kind of skill. We can basically give up on killing him.”

“Yeah. He’s already super crazy strong at everything. If he can also see everything I’m about to do before I do it…” Levi let out a slow breath, shaking his head. He cut his eyes at Maury. “Plus, who knows how that interacts with the jammer? That old thing hides my presence as long as I’m close enough to Central City, aka in it, but does it protect against precognition? Is it even possible to protect against precognition?”

Gritting her teeth, Maury pushed her hair back. “Fuck. You’re right. It’s probably game over all around. He’ll find you, become immortal…”

“Right. So we can’t let him get his hands on precognition. If it really is true precognition, anyways.”

Maury paused for a second, looking over the dusty, old house, then reached into her lab coat and pulled out a syringe. A strange reddish liquid with a layer of gold oil floating in it sloshed in the glass vial. “Here. I managed to extract a few skill points from him. You’re still ‘level-capped,’ right?”

“Yeah, still can’t level up the normal way.” Levi took it, turning it over to watch the oil blub through the liquid, then slid it in his pocket.

“How many skill points did you lose, while you were playing normal?”

Levi grimaced. “I was seriously laying low. If I looked abnormal in any way, any random Scanner could have fucked my whole play up and outed me, and then it’s back to the old life, and farewell to my rest years.”

“You couldn’t leave…” Maury’s voice trailed off.

“Alpha finds me the second I leave the city, you know that. It’s only thanks to the old jammer that he’s not up my ass 24/7, and that thing only covers Central. I couldn’t leave, and I couldn’t stand out. I had to commit to the bit.”

Maury gave him a look. “So you lost all of them.”

“Not all of them!” Levi patted the black case still slung over his shoulder. “Remember? We extracted some before I went dark.”

Maury shuddered, revulsion passing over her face. “Right. Never make me do that again.”

“What? Why not?”

“It’s different, doing it to a friend.”

Levi shook his head at her. “I don’t get where you draw your lines. A body’s a body.”

“Find another Extractor. I won’t do it,” she replied firmly.

Levi snorted. He shook his head. “Yeah, yeah. You’re getting old anyways.”

Maury gave him a look. She raised her steel leg, aiming the toe between his legs. “Say that again.”

“Old! Maury’s an old lady!” Levi trilled, darting backward.

“Yeah, yeah.” Maury lowered her leg. “I’ll do everything I can to support you. We don’t need Alpha getting any more powerful.”

“Still in it, then?”

Maury laughed. “The dream is still alive. I still want to believe I’ll see Alpha dead before I kick it myself.”

“I’d better move fast,” Levi muttered.

Maury shook her head at him.

Levi jolted. He reached into his back pocket. “Right, before I forget…” He handed a wad of cash over to Maury.

“You’re paying me?” Maury asked, startled.

“Pay you? Don’t be crazy. Make sure that gets to Kella.”

Maury frowned. “What about you?”

“I’ve got a junkie running ATMs for me. I’ll keep most of whatever he gives me,” Levi said, shrugging.

“Well, if you’re sure. It’ll appear on her doorstep by tomorrow.” She put the cash in her pocket.

“Thanks, Maury. You’re a true friend.”

“Yeah, well. Everyone needs one.” She gestured him down toward the stairs. “Let’s head back down before the princess realizes I locked the door.”

“Point.” Levi walked toward the rug trapdoor.

Maury watched him go, then snorted and stomped toward the stairs.