Collapsible and modular in one. Turning the haft over in his hand, Finn weighed the new creation, testing its balance and texture.

  The engineers had only barely gotten it done in time, and it would have taken longer to reach his standards if not for the fact that he was able to provide unique materials. Colossal-class primebeast materials, in fact. There was no conventional way to get your hands on those for the most part, especially when it had uses in any sort of crafting-related profession, including engineering. One of the gangs he dismantled had kept a stash, buried and booby-trapped, like they were hoarding dragon gold. He took it.

  Even with industrial grade tools, it would have been impossible to work this material because it was just so unreasonably tough. Or so they had said. In practice, it had come down to constant use of Finn’s reality weakening power to make it more easily breakable in order to allow it to be cut—and even that had taken a while.

  But the material had been selected and processed in a specific way that would be suitable for machinery of almost any kind. That was, after all, the purpose for which it had been stored. It was a supernatural metal alloy, forged in primebeast blood that turned its surface a smooth black. Overall, he would say that the provided materials had been sufficient, and the craftsmanship had surprised him. The people he’d done business with knew what they were doing.

  As a result, he now held his new weapon in his hands. Currently, it was in its extended form, ready for him to engage in battle with it.

  Going with the philosophy of using what he knew, he had decided on an upgrade of his old staff for the design, making it collapsible and allowing it to work with the features he used most. Just like the first weapon, it was shaped like a steel rod, the difference being that this model was longer and had a point on each end. So perhaps it was more apt to call it a needle.

  For its special functions, he had once again incorporated the ability to absorb and accumulate energy for kinetic impacts. Additionally, he had chosen to focus on his ability to harness light and prioritized that aspect too. It could enhance his lasers for him. But not only that; it could also generate a hardlight blade at the ends of the needle. Should he choose to do that, calling it a glaive might be more accurate.

  The hardlight blade shimmered into existence for a half-second mid-air, casting a streak of refracted color along the rooftop edge before dissipating with a muted hiss.

  And that was it. He had decided not to do anything else because he knew how important it was to refine the tools you had as opposed to spreading yourself thin.

  His kit was upgraded now. Electromagnetism ran through his body itself, no longer needing gadgets, leather cords from his suit instead of the grappling hook, and his new weapon serving as a superior replacement for the staff he had used back then.

  Altogether, he felt it. He had built a foundation for himself, and acquired a tool that would help him translate his power to physical might. Before, his offense had still been lagging behind where it should be, but from today onwards, he had something in his arsenal to hurt strong opponents. Unbound, or Omega.

  Were he in a better mood, he likely would have spent more time testing this thing. Sadly, he had only had one chance to test each feature. Suffice to say, everything was working better than expected. Enough to see the raw potential for destruction he was holding in his hands. And the best part? No one else could wield it, unless they also had both the physical strength to swing it effectively and the same color-guided power to control the internal mechanisms.

  Out of all the people he knew, the number of individuals who would be eligible with those criteria in place was one. A certain jester, capable of copying his power. Finn wondered how the older boy was doing, after the battle with Viperia had ended. Beyond the transfer, he didn’t know much.

  He would see soon enough, he supposed. Because it was almost time to meet with Automique again, and head home. Just a few minutes, intact. He had been cutting it close with the production of his needle. It was a good thing he had been there to use his power to accomplish feats that expedited the process.

  Beneath him, the cityscape passed him in bursts of steel, neon, concrete. When he looked to his left, he was able to see the ocean, boundless and blue. To his right, a skyline stretched into the distance. Within his sphere of perception, he picked up the smallest details.

  One oddity he was noticing was the drop in perceived crime rate? That was significant, considering that he perceived basically everything. Were people scared to commit crimes because of what had happened, or was it something with Finn throwing the black market into chaos? He didn't know.

  Neither did he care, since he was leaving this place with no plans of coming back until Gunther was dead. Maybe someday, he would come back here for a vacation with Lyra. That was what couples did, no?

  Ahem.

  Anyway.

  He had to think this whole ordeal over more. Now that it was actually getting to be time to meet everyone again, these insane thoughts just sprang to mind one after the other.

  Finn sighed. A little bit more, then he would be leaving. For real. He almost couldn't believe the culmination of his accidental journey was so calm. In the back of his mind, he half-expected a meteor to descend from the sky at any moment. Of course, he was rationally aware that no such thing would happen. That was the anxiety speaking. Needless catastrophizing.

  Before long, his destination came into range, a few kilometers ahead. Upon getting closer, he sensed Automique standing there, mechanical wings folded inward. Behind her, the junior hero team stood, some of them looking this way and that. Trying to spot him, he guessed.

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  Tough luck for them. He went invisible, not revealing himself until he was right in front of them, attaching the needle to his back in its smaller form. His nanites released the light distortion when he was right in front of them.

  They were visibly startled, despite some of them attempting to hide it.

  Vindex was the first to recover. “And there we have him. The man of the hour. Or should I say man of the week? Man of the year?”

  “Just Shade is fine,” Finn said, noticing how much more jovial the guy seemed all of a sudden. Compared to their last conversation where his attitude could have been described as standoffish, today he was wearing a wide smile under his teal energy armor, aura radiating joy and… sympathetic satisfaction? No, gratitude. Yeah, definitely gratitude. Was it because of his actions in the past couple of days? He couldn’t think of another reason.

  Automique chose that moment to speak. “You've been busy,” the red-armored woman remarked, stepping up to him. Unlike their first meeting, he was watching her stand in front of him without keeping her distance for fear that any interaction between them could lead to a fight, and she also wasn’t slightly hovering over the ground to maintain her intimidation factor. That left her looking up at him, given that she was around the height he had been two years ago.

  “I had time to spare,” he replied. “Are you ready?”

  “I am. I've got a vehicle prepared if you prefer, but I take it you want to run there?” At his nod, she added, “Great. That should be faster, though I will say: we’re early.”

  “Not for long,” he pointed out, sparing the others a glance. “Are they coming too?”

  “They’re not,” Automique declared firmly, forestalling any protests on their part. “They just figured this would be a good opportunity to ask you some questions and a good reminder that not every super they attack over misunderstanding is going to be nice enough not to squash their heads into the pavement.” Some of them winced at that last part.

  “I wanted to say thank you again for the tips,” Tress spoke up. “And wish you safe travels.”

  “You know when somebody lets you stay overnight, they don't typically expect you to clean the entire house, right?” Vindex joked with a grin.

  Finn acknowledged both with another nod.

  “...Are you actually the Ghost?” Ironeer asked in a quiet voice.

  Looking towards Automique, Finn saw a subtle shake of the head. She hadn’t told him about that? He couldn’t detect signs of deception in her aura, meaning it must have been the truth. The team had put two and two together, it seemed.

  “If that’s what they’re calling me,” was his noncommittal answer.

  “Just wanted to ask before you go,” Echelon hurriedly said. “Do you know Nar? It’s been bugging me for a while since you two were active in the same area. Are you friends with him? It’d make sense if Apexia’s golden boys got along.”

  Tilting his head, he responded, “Sure. And I’ll tell him you said that.”

  “Would that be a good thing?”

  He shrugged.

  Zyph elbowed her companion aside, striding up to Finn and jabbing a finger at his face. “I’m not losing our next race, you got that?”

  “I didn’t know we were racing, but alright.” He raised an eyebrow at the girl.

  She just crossed her arms with a huff.

  Hearing none of them speak anymore, he brought his attention back to Automique, who unfurled her wings to lift into the air. “I think it’s time to go.”

  He didn’t need to be reminded. With a final exchanged wave, the two of them left the young heroes behind to head for the station.

  As they were making their way across the buildings again, his guide flying low to stay close, Finn’s mind went to the nature of the hero establishment here in America. Specifically, how similar it was to those in Apexia. Why was heroism even a legal reality here, considering the different geology, infrastructure and even culture? He had noticed that, compared to his home district, thermm was this relative lack of… pressure, on the children. In Apexia, heroism and the protection of humanity—in other words, the military—were glorified in a way that was entrenched in practically every aspect of society.

  School, television, the marketplace. All of it had been steeped in the propaganda Cyrus had mentioned to him on the day Homeland attacked Mom’s workplace. It carried the message that young people held all the power, that it would be their talents and dedication shaping the future. To a degree, that was even true, but it was a pretext for funneling new recruits into the army or DHD.

  In that context, the US was similar, if a bit more oriented on technological advancement, seeing as that was their greatest strength. Their superhumans moved around a lot, primarily due to the fact that they were fighting a war on two fronts. On top of that, there were also proportionally fewer powered individuals per capita. That gave the government extra incentive to invest in arming their unpowered population in order to even the playing field. That explained why he hadn’t come across a superhuman soldier from the States throughout his entire journey across Seraphim’s territory.

  From that perspective, it probably allowed the national propaganda machine to push for broader specialization in the economy because even peripherally supporting the tech industry was beneficial to the country’s defense force.

  However, that didn’t explain the synchronicity between the hero systems. There was something else at play, and he knew what it was. The Global Accords. This international organization conferred with various nations in order to keep a war from breaking out, and to maintain the network most continents had with each other.

  Perhaps they had decided to establish similar forms of hero culture across the globe in order to create points of commonality between their allies, decreasing the likelihood of any potential wars breaking out. Or it was just the most efficient system they could come up with and implement. He didn’t know for certain.

  Ultimately, his trip to the station near the beach passed uneventfully until the very end. They’d landed, coming to a stop to wait for the arrival of the one he would be traveling with. And then he spotted it. The anomaly.

  Descending in the front of a Global Accords-branded aircraft, he spotted it. His eyes widened. Seated next to the pilot, floating limbs attached to four ends of its metallic blue torso, a mannequin-like figure gazed at the ocean. A figure whose body was nearly full machine.

  It was recognizable. Out of all the representatives they could have sent, Finn had not been expecting this one. He was sensing SEN. Synthetic Envoy Nexus, the face of the entire organization.

  Yet somehow, that wasn’t all. Because something else caught his attention, he couldn’t possibly mistake that trick played on his senses. Inside a small bag the representative was holding, rested an item very similar to his own.

  SEN was carrying a Wanderlust gatekey.

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