A/N: Bit longer this time around, will try to keep expanding the length of the chapters going forward. As per usual, your feedback is welcome, and thanks for reading.


My breath was heavy as I hurried up the last few staircases toward the top floor of the apartment block. Slowed my pace as I rounded the corner into the main hall. Bare planks of battered wood formed the floor that ran the length of the building. Stained yellow walls, the drywall crumbling in certain places. Slabs of plain wood that formed the doors to each unit, each one a different color.

"You used to live here?" Lexi asked with chiding disbelief.

"It wasn't this much of a dump when I did," I replied, walking as softly as I could to try and keep the floor from crying out, which it did despite my best efforts. The place looked like it had been condemned and taken over by squatters, with anything that could have been worth money taken, down to the brass door numbers, which meant the odds of getting what I had came for were extremely slim. Followed the hallway as it turned left, remembering as best I could which unit had been mine. Fourth door on the right, which was sitting slightly ajar, yellowed afternoon sun peering through the slit. I pushed the door open slowly, stuck my head in. It was surprisingly more intact than I was expecting. Most of the valuables; television, furniture worth taking, stuff like that, was missing. Most of the drawers were left open and their contents shifted through. A mass of loose papers and clothes were scattered across the floor. I entered slowly, padding across the aging carpet toward the closet that was set against the far wall. Opened the door quietly, held my palm out with a slight blue glow that pushed away the dingy blackness. The closet had clearly been ransacked like the rest of the apartment. Anything I had left in here was missing or destroyed nearly beyond recognition, with the important exception of a small combination safe pushed up against the back wall. Right where I had left it. Spun the dial smoothly, a sense of familiarity washing over me. The door popped open with a soft click, and I pulled it open. Inside was a pair of matching rings, simple silver bands, one adorned with a single small diamond, the other threaded through a plain metal chain. A slightly yellowed picture with the corners curling up, the color washed out subtly by age. Gingerly lifted the photograph, slipped it into the back pocket of my jeans. Pocketed the ring with the stone, her ring. It was supposed to be. Latched the other around my neck with the chain. My ring.

"Hey, uh, Aaron?" Lexi called from the next room over, probably the bedroom. "You might want to come see this." I stood slowly, closed the closet door. Headed toward Lexi, who was standing just inside the doorway to the bedroom, staring at the far wall.

"What's up?" I queried as I approached. She tilted her head toward me and pointed at the wall.

"I don't think this is quite how you left it." Looked inside at what she was gesturing toward. The bedroom had been stripped of all the furniture that had been in here, left bare aside from a desk pressed against the far wall, scattered with what looked like newspaper clippings and handwritten notes. Above it, a number of photographs of crime scenes, mugshots, and stills from surveillance camera footage were tacked against the wall. Numerous colored strings connected the pictures together in a baffling web that looked like it had been pulled from a network television crime drama. I moved over to the network of images, examined them. All the crime scene images had a few things in common. They were all murders, and there was no way that a normal human being did any of them.

"Why are they tracing murders committed by conduits?" I muttered to myself. Shuffled through the newspaper headlines. Bio-Terrorist Murder Spree Continues, read one. Another, Superpowered Turf War Leaves Five Dead. Is Saint Louis The New Conduit Gangland?posited the next. I waved my hand toward Lexi, who approached cautiously. "Do you know anything about a conduit gang war? What have we walked in on?"

"Honestly, I don't know much. This started happening a few months ago. I guess it was a few established gangs that got activated and now this is what it's turned into. I think one of them is based on the other side of the river, in East St. Louis." I sighed, rifled through a few more pages.

"Why was the DUP never called in for this? They would've had a field day." Lexi shook her head.

"No idea. Weren't they getting their funding cut because of how few incidents there were?"

"Yeah. That's how the whole Seattle situation started. But still, this seems like the kind of thing that would bring about a DUP occupation. Or maybe even the military." I ran a hand through my hair. "This is really bad. We gotta do something about this."

"Why?" Lexi countered. "This isn't our problem."

"Yes it is. We're both prime conduits. If anyone brings the hammer down on this situation, we're getting caught in it." A long, rattling sigh. "I just got out of a prison, I'm not going back to one over something like this." I started to scramble through the loose sheets of handwritten notes, grabbed any that looked like they had relevant information; names, addresses, plans. "Look around the other rooms, grab anything you think is valuable," I barked at Lexi. Gathered up as many scraps of paper as I could, folded them up, pocketed them. Started to dig through what was once my bedroom closet. USB drive, a few burner cell phones, not much else worth note. Grabbed the drive and left the rest alone before heading to collect Lexi. As I stepped out of the bedroom, I overheard conversation in the hallway.

"Hey, which one of you left the door open?" Hushed muttering, curses. "You guys, on the door. Let's go." I bolted across the open living room to Lexi, who was rifling through a cardboard box. Grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her to the bathroom, closed the door behind us.

"Stay here, be quiet," I whispered. "Whoever's operation this is, they just got back." Her eyes widened, plasma started to crackle at her fingertips.

"What are we gonna do? Fight our way out?"

"No," I stated firmly. "I'm going to fight our way out. You are going to stay here until I say otherwise."

"I know I said that I needed your help but I'm not as useless as you think," she retorted, her eyes blazing violet. As I opened my mouth to again refute her, the door slammed open behind me. I spun on my heel to face a white-hot metal baseball bat rocketing toward my head. Dropped to the floor as Lexi let out a shrill scream and a bolt of plasma that caught my assailant in the chest, incandescent energy splashing across his torso. He doubled over with a loud groan as I leapt upon him, my hands streaking a thick crimson. I tackled him to the ground, wrestled the bat away from him. With one of his now-free hands he blasted me away with a violent surge of superheated air. I hit the tile floor of the bathroom, sprawled out on my back. His allies had already heard the commotion and were standing behind him, two with similar weapons, the other with his power at the ready, bathing his fists in swirling orange flames. Lexi cried out as another blast loosed itself from her palm, crashing ineffectually against the far wall.

"Who you with?" the guy who had found us demanded as he retreated toward his allies. Heat waves emanated from his arms, shimmering in the stiff air. He was dressed in all white, as were his comrades. "How'd you find this place?"

"I'm not with anyone. I used to live here," I stated coldly, spinning the bat as I struggled to my feet. Lexi whimpered as she struggled with her spasming arm, violet tendrils arcing wildly about the room. Another bolt shot out, cracking the tile floor. I placed a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down, ignoring the unpleasant tingling that shot up my arm when I did.

"Well, you picked a bad time to come home, bro," he retorted with a thin smile, rolling his neck. I smirked and loosed a blast in his direction, sending him to the ground as he dove clumsily out of the way. It caught one of the batters in the jaw, blossoming a bright red across his face. He tumbled backward, crashed against the back wall and slumped over. I charged out of the bathroom and swung the bat at the downed man. It slid across the carpet as he jerked his head away, leaving a scorched trail of energy in it's wake. Another bolt from Lexi narrowly missed the other bat-wielding attacker, who rushed toward me. He battered me in the ribs with a blow colder than the grip of death and I crumpled in a heap, air rushing from my lungs and supernovae detonating against my retinas. Dark red sparks erupted from the wound as broken ribs fused and busted blood vessels sealed closed again. Rolled hastily away from a follow-up, countered with a swift kick to his abdomen. The first guy had regrouped with the one that I could only assume was wielding fire, and they unleashed an unholy vortex of flame that rushed toward Lexi, who had just slipped out of the bathroom and was leaned against the wall. She tumbled to the floor as flame crashed against the wall where she had been standing, igniting the aged wallpaper and charring the ceiling. I regained my composure and mounted an attack on the fire conduit. Brought the bat screaming down on the top of his skull, connecting with a deafening crack. He collapsed instantly to the floor as the presumed leader turned and blasted toward me with another gust of hot air. Stumbled to the side as Lexi connected with the ice conduit who was still doubled over from my kick. He was tossed to the floor in a spin, sliding into one of his other incapacitated brethren. I ditched the bat and leapt on the last man standing, choke-slamming him to the floor. Grabbed at his face with my free hand as he tried in vain to loosen my grip on his neck. Tendrils of red seeped into his skin as I attempted to probe at his mind. His eyes widened with horror, rolled into the back of their sockets. I felt his pulse wane as I retracted my hand, having gained nothing. His chest started to heave strongly as his faculties became his own again, but he wasn't going to be waking up any time soon. I could sense that the others would most likely live as well, but even as primes they wouldn't be fighting fit for quite some time. I sighed, wiped my hands on my jeans, collected my bat from the floor. I turned and looked for Lexi, who was still slumped against the wall, stone-faced. I crouched down in front of her, placed a hand on her shoulder. She turned to look at me with dull eyes.

"Hey, you okay? Still with me?" She nodded, but her hands shook violently. "You've never done anything like this before, have you?"

"No," she choked. "I couldn't control it. That was terrifying." Tears were welling in her eyes again. I stood up, reached a hand out to her. She grasped my wrist and I pulled her up to her feet, placed an arm under hers to help her stand. Helped her down the stairs, out the front door. I carried her over to a nearby bus stop, set her down on the bench. "Does it ever get any easier?" She asked quietly.

"To control your power? Yeah, eventually. To hurt people with it? No." We sat in silence for a while as the sun gradually lowered itself below the skyline, the sky alight with streaks of orange and purple.