“Contact left side” The voice chirps in my ear and I whisper “Acknowledged.” Before rotating around to point the barrel of my rifle from around the side of the building. In the dusty street, I see the enemy. A goblin. The small green creature is crouched down in the street its long-boiled nose buried into the corpse of its recent kill. The tip painted green in the humanoid's blood. It holds a club in one hand and a rusted metal and wood pistol in the other. “Spotted” I subvocalize into my comms. I send a mental command to my HUD and a triangle appears above the goblins head. I move the rifle to the right and spot two more goblins waiting in an alley. Staring at me. “Shit” I whisper. I tag two more and move my rifle up moving my head back slightly. I see another goblin peeking out of a four-story apartment building. It’s crouched down holding a spear at the ready staring out of a bombed-out hole in the top floor. I tag this one as well and rotate so that my back is back against the wall with my rifle in the air. “Alpha One come in Alpha One.” There’s a moment's pause before I hear a response. “Alpha Six go for Alpha One.” Comes the reply. “Alpha One it’s a trap. Though I believe I’ve already sprung it. I’ve got one in the street chowing down on a humanoid and there are two more in an alley staring straight at me. One above that is looking down at me from a building. It seems to be holding some kind of spear or staff.” There’s another delay. As I wait for my team leader to process the information I just gave him I peek my head back out. The goblin in the street is no longer even pretending to eat instead it rotates the body and crouches down behind it. I see the long ears of what used to be an elf on the corpse's head, the goblin peeking out above the abdomen staring at me. I rotate the rifle to the alleyway. The two from before are missing. My breath hitches I move the scope upward to see; A SPEAR! Shooting toward me at high speed. I duck my head back as the part of the building I was peaking around is sheered clean. The spear strikes the ground, trembles, and launches backward, clearly recalled by the goblin in the apartment. I rotate around and see the goblin from the street running at me at full speed it’s meal and shield left unceremoniously in the dirt. I fire three times, TAP TAP TAP and the electromagnetically accelerated rounds hit their mark. Two lands in the goblin's chest and one in its head. Viscera explodes out the back of its cranium and I duck back around the corner. “Alpha Six!” The voice of my squad leader comes through the comms. He sounds alert but not panicked. “You’re clear to engage but I can tell you’ve already gotten started. “That’s affirmative Alpha One!” I’m running now back around the other side of the building when I’m hit in the side by a green blur. I fall over losing my rifle in the process. One of the two goblins from the alleyway is climbing on top of me and I hear a sharp DINK DINK, of metal hitting metal. “This little bastard's trying to stab me.” I think with more irritation than worry. The shiv in its hand is hitting my armor and the little creature hasn’t seemed to grasp that it’s not hurting me. I grab its wrist and wrench its hand to the side and I push back on its face. The creature starts to use its legs and right arm to claw at me making it difficult to focus but I ignore its attempts to claw at me instead I zero my thoughts in on its arm. I focus on the idea of displacement, on the thought of moving its arm from one place to another. It blurs and shifts the goblins will fighting against my own. I dig deeper, I visualize myself tearing the arm off. “Bigger, stronger, bigger, stronger, MOVE!” I think in my head. The arm vanishes and reappears two feet to my left. The goblin stops fighting and looks at its missing left arm. There’s a beat where it looks from the stump to me back to the stump but it doesn’t have time to even process its injury as it’s shot by its companion. The second alley goblin must’ve gotten tired of waiting for his companion to move, or seeing its injury assumed that it was dead anyway. The shots from its rusted pipe pistol do nothing more than scuff my armor but I don’t wait for it to get a lucky shot, I sling its comrade at it and draw my sidearm sending two magnetically accelerated shots through the first creature and into the second.

  With three out of four enemies down I take a moment to gather myself. I inhale a deep breath and exhale, “Alpha Team, status report.” I say into my comms as I move to grab my lost rifle. “Alpha Three here. I’m pinned -.” I’m listening to Alpha Three’s, Jax’s, report as I bend over to pick up my rifle but anything he’s saying immediately loses focus for me as that same spear from earlier hits my rifle breaking it in two. I look up and spot the same goblin from the apartment now staring at me from down the street. “Alpha Two here, I’m pinned down just like Three.” Amanda’s voice comes over the comms next as I stare down the goblin with the magic spear. The weapon vibrates and wiggles deeper breaking my rifle even more. Either the goblin is trying to recall it or it wants to rub in the fact that it got the better of me. Either way, I can see it shifting and I know that when it gets free of the dirt it’s going to move straight toward my head. I dash forward jumping through a window on the front side of the building. Glass rains down around me but my armor prevents me from getting cut. I look around and see indoor plants, and counters, as well as chairs, and tables. I hear a loud THUNK from behind me as the spear gets lodged in the wall by the window. The goblin moves up to get a better line of sight and I quickly take stock of where I am. “Lobby, hotel lobby. There’s gotta be stairs somewhere around here.” As I look around I spot them, I can hear the grinding of the spear behind me as the goblin hangs on it kicking its legs up and down trying to dislodge the weapon. It screams and curses in its guttural language before a final tink. The weapon is free but I’m through the doors to the emergency stairs. The spear lances into the concrete behind me but I smile. “Good, it’s line of si-” My thoughts are cut off by the feeling of air being displaced behind me. I throw myself flat against the wall as the spear whizzes by me. “Okay, not line of sight it just works better that way.” I run past the spear that has re-embedded itself in the wall as the final goblin, or at least my final goblin makes its way up the stairs. It babbles and screeches in its language once it sees that it’s gotten its weapon stuck again; the translator in my HUD begins to make sense out of the random assortment of noises but I quickly send a mental command to shut that down. No need for more distractions than necessary. I fire two quick shots from my sidearm causing the goblin to duck out of the passageway. When I make my way to the landing I pause and slap my right hand to my chest and focus. I imagine myself up, way up, much higher on the 10th flight of stairs.

  My body shifts and I disappear. Now if I was a worse teleporter or if I didn’t have such an innate sense of myself and the space around me it’s very likely that I would have teleported straight up and fallen straight back down. Instead, my combination of skill and luck leads me exactly where I wanted to be, I land on the 10th flight of stairs breathing heavily and sweating profusely. I tilt to the side and steady myself on the wall. Below I can hear the clanging, banging, and cursing of the goblin as it makes its way up the stairs. I start to run again but I can hear the goblin and the spear gaining on me. The 11th floor, then the 12th. The sounds are even closer. The 13th floor, 14th floor, and finally the roof arrives. I burst out onto the roof. The hot dry air of the Nevada badlands stinging my lungs. Gathering myself I shuffle to the other side of the door and press my back flat against the wall trying to steady my breathing. I can hear the goblin making its way up to me and I close my eyes, feeling the area around me. I can feel the air humming, the spear making its way up the stairs with the goblin in tow. I can feel my comrade's movements as they each finish off their groups of goblins. And if I stretch my awareness I could feel something else something large beneath us. My throat began to bob for a subvocalization but it was cut off as I felt the spear rocket forward toward the door to the roof. If there’s one thing to remember about teleportation it’s that it’s energy intensive and you should always plan on ways to use it as efficiently as possible. Now stopping the moment of an object is in fact very labor intensive but letting it continue its moment even after it’s been moved is much less exhausting. And that’s exactly what I let it do when the spear rocketed out of the door. I lunged for it grabbing it and forcing all of the will that I could muster into it. “Move!” I thought as loudly and as forcefully as possible. I could feel the goblin controlling the spear reel backward as my will clashed and overtook its own and my world shifted. Both myself and the spear moved backward. Right behind the goblin. The momentum of the magically enhanced spear continued to barrel us forward as the goblin struggled to regain control. By the time it had its wits back together, it could only muster up a final cough and guttural sigh. When the goblin died the control over the spear was released too. I put my foot on the creature's back and wrenched the weapon out. “Oh yeah.” I said aloud “You’re coming home with me. I’m mounting you right above the T.V.” I smiled as I eyed the weapon hungrily before remembering that my job wasn’t done.

  I stumble back out through the door to the roof clutching the goblin's spear. “Alpha Team come in. All contacts in the southern quadrant cleared.” Alpha One, Enrique chimes in. “Good job Alpha Six. Alpha Two and I cleared the northern quadrant.” Next Jax, Alpha Three chimes in. “We’re clear in the eastern quadrant though Alpha Four is bleeding pretty bad.” Alpha Four, Tom. Thomas is a pretty tough guy he’ll pull through. “Alpha Five here, no contacts spotted in the west.” Alpha Five, Kimiko. For a moment I think “Lucky bastard.” Then again she was probably picking off the stragglers that we hadn’t even spotted so who knows if she actually had the easy time I’m assuming she did. I take a seat on the roof as the last of the reports come in my newly acquired spear sitting across my lap. “Oh by the way,” I say into my comms. “What is that … thing below us?” I lay down and face the sky as the questions roll in from the rest of the team. Alpha One, Enrique cuts through the chatter. “Alpha Six please elaborate.” I sit up before responding. “Listen I’m not sure what it is I just know that there’s something underneath-” A rumble. The entire building shakes as quake after quake rocks the ground. Jax chimes in “YOU COULDN’T HAVE SAID ANYTHING EARLIER?!” “Well A3 I was a bit busy fighting for my life.” I shoot back. Alpha One cuts back in. “Can it you two. Alpha Five can you sense anything?” “Already on it,” is Kimiko’s reply. “Casting detect life.” There’s a beat as we wait for Kimiko to report back. I use my spacial senses and reach out to the area around us, feeling for the large creature I had felt before. Kimiko beats me to it just as my senses graze the edge of something massive.

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  “The Ogre the mission packet told us about! Jax are you and Tom on the top of that building!?” As she says it I send a mental command to my suit, telling the HUD to give me Jax and Tom’s location. On top of a skyscraper in the northeast, I sense two figures in the shape of people. My power stretches and I begin to breathe heavily, sweat starts to bead down my face once again, as I yawn and my eyes grow heavy. “Shit,” I whisper to myself as I stumble slightly. I reach for one of the pouches on the front of my vest and pull out a medium-sized flask. The flask is rectangular yet rounded at the edges, and pure silver. The material makes my hands tingle even through my gloves I twist off the cap and flick it. The top stays on thanks to the metal tab connecting it to the rest of the flask. I take a deep breath and say, “Alright let's go.” I throw my head back and chug about half of the container's contents. The blue liquid feels like fire as it burns its way down my throat. Though sharp it’s also refreshing like a mint liquor. I cough and hack, inhaling a large gulp of air as I stumble back slightly. My body vibrates slightly as the influx of mana causes my aura to distort the air around me. My teeth clench and my jaw pulses slightly. I grin and exhale through my clenched teeth. Blue-white smoke trails out as my pupils dilate and my muscles flex and bulge. I jump up and down loosening my body as I stretch my awareness fully encompassing what I believe to be Jax and Tom. I send out a targeted pulse to the duo. I pull on them lightly to alert them to the incoming transition. I give it a beat and send out another light pull. On the second pull their wills are relaxed, smooth, and welcoming. I grin even wider, my skin pulling taught. I focus on Tom and Jax and begin to walk backward on the roof. While I made my preparations the building that they were on began to rumble and shake. When I start to walk backward the building lists to the side. “Alpha Six, hurry the fuck up,” Jax shouts over the radio! Their building starts to shift and the left side begins to crumble. I can sense one of the shapes, more than likely Jax, picking up another shape, probably Tom, and carrying him over to the other side of the building. When my back is up against the door to the roof I reach both hands out and clap. CRACK! I make an outward pulling motion and the air begins to ripple. Finally, I turn my hands downward forming fists and I pull backward violently. I flex my shoulders as I wrench backward. My mental and physical muscles strain as I pull backward my whole body leaning with the motion. My hair begins to stand on edge and my teeth chatter as the boost of magic the mana potion gave me drains out in a torrent.

  With a final heave of effort Jax and Tom fall through thin air to land in front of me. On the other side of the city, the building falls over as the Ogre emerges. I watch through blurring eyes as the ogre begins to emerge from the ground. Tossing chunks of debris off of itself as it climbs out from the hole in the ground, goblins spilling out from around it and pouring into the city. “Well,” I slur. “At least everyone’s already dead.” I shrug after the statement and Jax gives me a disgusted look. I pull open my pouch and drink the other half of my flask. This time it doesn’t give me a burst of energy, instead it simply wakes me up. I get to my feet as I hear someone coming up the stairs. Jax already has his rifle trained on the door but a quick pulse from me reveals three human shapes. I put my hand on the barrel and he drops the weapon to a low ready. Kimiko, who must have been using her own sense ability steps through the door shortly after with Amanda and Enrique in tow. Enrique pipes up first, “This is not our fault.” He’s fuming. “First of all the client said it was a young twenty-foot ogre. They said nothing about it being an ancient ogre and one hundred feet tall. I mean look at that thing it’s still climbing out of the hole!” His voice is comically sheer at this point and the whole group turns to look at the creature as it pulls its chest up and over the hole's lip. It wiggles slightly as it tries to get its hips over the hole. “Anyway,” Enrique continues, in a more relaxed manner. “We’ve got air support coming. Initially, I just ordered some drones from the base but Command put the cabash on that. Said something about the parent company coming in. The group turned to look at me and I just shrugged.

  When I had initially left home I didn’t let anyone know who I was. Instead, I had applied to several small-time adventurer and bounty hunter programs before working my way up to Monsters Bane Inc. I had gone through their standard recruiting process, a recruiter reached out, then I endured a five-round interview process before I was finally allowed to attend their retraining program. Ten weeks later I was selected for their advanced program. Another six weeks and I was put on Alpha Team. The best of the best at Monsters Bane Inc. The problem was, and I didn’t know this until after I was placed, my family owned Monsters Bane. They had bought the company shortly before I joined it and I had no idea. Luckily the news didn’t come out until I had already been on Alpha for about six months. By that point, I had already proven myself and the team had become like a second family, or really my only family since I had skipped out on the first. Of course, everyone on Alpha gave me shit for being a nepo baby but it was mostly jokes.

  “I have no idea what’s coming,” I said matter-of-factly. The rest of the group nodded and shrugged turning back to stare at the horde of goblins spill out from around the ogre that had now gotten most of its body from out of the hole. “Incoming,” Kimiko and I said at the same time. The group turned to look north. Coming in hot and fast was a LUT-T-02. Light Unit Transport, Tactical, Model 2. The LUT’s engines were humming and we could hear a low whine even this far out. As it approached the whine turned into a roar as the transport opened up its cannons. Thirty-millimeter, uranium-depleted, mana-enriched rounds churned from the twin gimballed turrets on the underside of the craft. The plane was a surface-to-air-to-space craft. Its surface had a sleek silvery sheen with wings that pointed upward at the sides and tail. Even its face was opaque, the same silvery sheen as the rest of the craft. The plane used screens reinforced with divination spells in case the electronic components got messed up. Even then the pilot could still retract the shield at the front and run on sight if they needed to. “Damn A6 they sure sent you the big guns.” I rolled my eyes at Enrique who was mostly kidding. Though I could hear the question in the tone of his voice. “What’s going on?” It seemed to say. Goblin viscera exploded into the air, and massive holes punched through the legs body, and brain of the ogre that had just managed to right itself. The giant beast fell into a nearby building and slumped over, still.

  Ten minutes later the craft sidled up beside us. “Give us Alpha Four, and we’ll treat him on board while you clean up the stragglers.” The group worked together Jax cradling Tom’s head keeping him still while Enrique took his legs. Kimiko and I supported his body while Amanda, who was already exhausted from the support she had been providing, kept him stable. When the side door opened on the craft I was so taken aback by who I saw there I nearly dropped Tom. “Amanda!” I shouted incredulously over the roar of the engines. “What’re you doing hear!” “Clean up first then we’ll talk.” I shook my head knowing better than to argue with who was ostensibly my aunt, and placed Tom inside. Once he was deposited we took a few wide steps back. Careful not to let ourselves get turned to char by the mana engines. Though Amanda and Kimiko were loving the closeness to even the runoff energy of the crystals used to power the craft. “Lucky,” I grumbled under my breath. “It’s not our fault you never learned how to channel magic from outside your body.” Kimiko nodded and shrugged in agreement. Making a face that said, “She’s right you know.” I just shook my head. “Not everyone’s abilities work like that Jax is a fighter he has to pull from his internal reserves.” “Yeah, but I can manipulate the energy around me to give my hits an extra umph though.” Jackson piped in. “Oh, whatever are we going to get started or not?” Together we went down the stairs picking off the goblins that had found their way into the building. We cleared it room by room floor by floor until we made it out on the street. We moved in concert, the way we should’ve from the beginning. Moving from alleyway to alleyway and building to building one at a time each person providing cover for the next to move up. Two hours later we were done. Without Kimiko and I’s life and spatial sensing abilities it would’ve taken much longer or a much larger team to clear out the stragglers that were smart enough to hide themselves. The aircraft had come back twenty minutes into our cleanup mission and idled just outside the combat zone. Mind you the drive out here from our FOB took about an hour but the LUT did the flight in about twenty minutes, maybe even less. We walked up to the side door of the craft and it slid open. My veritable aunt stood there watching us in her black suit cold eyes staring me down. I stood there looking at her at the bottom of the stairs eyes not defiant but not wavering either. For some reason, she looks older. The faded sides of her hair had the same silver stubble it’s been for the past seven years. Her body is still strong. Enhanced by magic through meditation, and technology she has the face of a woman much younger than her one hundred years; though her hands callosed through years of fighting and age are tanned, wrinkled, and scarred. Alex opens her mouth, then closes it. She repeats the process once twice and a third time. My stomach drops as Alex has never had trouble saying what was on her mind. Then she steadies herself and stands up straighter her hand releasing the door panel that she was holding on to for… support? “What’s going on?” I think to myself. Alex’s smooths her suit jacket and buttons the front. She looks me dead in my eyes and says. “Kyro Strix, we here at the Strix Transportation Corporation would like to extend our deepest and sincere condolences.” My stomach drops “Is my mom -” but she cuts me off, pushing on. “We regret to inform you that your father James Strix has passed.”