[How are you planning on looking for underground tas?] Zin's voice carried a note of skepticism.
"I think I should contact Eva. She might know where to start," Jace muttered, still weighing the risks.
Before Zin could reply, there was a knock at the door.
Jace stiffened. He quickly closed the bathroom door where Serai rested, then his bedroom door, before moving toward the front.
He opened the door a crack. Eva stood there, arms folded.
"Co on, open up."
Jace let her in. She walked past him, her eyes scanning him top to bottom. "Are you okay?"
"Why wouldn't I be—"
"You're all over the news, Jace." She grabbed the remote off the table and flicked on the TV.
"What are you—"
"Look." She pointed as the broadcast cut through the static.
A news helicopter feed showed the collapsed mall. Fires smoldered in the wreckage. Ergency lights flashed red and blue across the broken streets.
The anchor's voice was grave. "Two monsters attacked Grayson Mall this afternoon, killing hundreds and leaving the building in ruins. Amid the chaos, what many are calling Grayson's very own hero intervened, managing to kill both of the creatures."
Jace stared as blurry CCTV footage appeared. His heart sank.
The grainy clip showed him, bloodied, wearing the torn balaclava, fighting the brute. The video cut mid-battle, only resuming when the alien was finally killed.
He muttered under his breath, "Shit."
The anchor continued. "Now, another angle captured by witnesses shows a second battle. Warning: this footage is graphic."
A shaky cellphone video filled the screen. Another alien, larger, with charred skin. Its chest and arms were scorched black, flas still clinging as it writhed.
Eva's eyes narrowed. "See? And when did you get fire powers, Jace?"
He turned to her quickly. "I don't have those powers. You know that."
"I an… you can steal them. So I thought maybe it was you."
He shook his head. "No. That wasn't . Soone else fought it while I was busy with the first."
The anchor's voice returned. "Authorities have not identified this so-called hero. Their face remains hidden, but eyewitnesses confirm they were male, mid-twenties. Whether this hero is friend or foe is unknown."
Jace leaned forward, elbows on his knees, staring at the scorched corpse on the screen. His pulse quickened.
Behind his eyes, Zin's silence stretched uncomfortably long.
Jace finally asked under his breath, "Zin… why are you so quiet?"
Zin finally broke the silence.
[If I had to guess, the fire wasn't natural. Soone else with abilities was there. Possibly another ta. The burns are too specific to be random. Controlled fire, directed force. It looks intentional, not collateral.]
Jace's brow furrowed. "Another alien?"
[Unlikely. Maybe a human ta with a fire-based ability. Either way, it ans soone else intervened.] Zin paused, his voice sharpening. [But here's the problem. How did neither of us detect it?]
Jace leaned back, processing that.
[You and I were in the middle of a fight. I was monitoring every energy fluctuation within a wide radius. The energy from the brute was enormous, but if another battle was happening, especially one involving fire that big, I should have picked up the surge. You should've heard it, at the very least.]
Jace rubbed his face under the balaclava, unsettled. "So you're saying sobody fought right there and we missed the whole damn thing?"
[Yes. Either they masked their presence, or…] Zin hesitated. [Or they weren't there in the way we think. Whatever it was, they seem very powerful]
Eva leaned back on the couch, arms crossed, watching him carefully. "Well, either way, you're getting the credit for both kills. Honestly?" She shrugged. "I wouldn't have been surprised if it really was you."
Jace gave her a sharp look. "Do you think I just run around sleeping with won, stealing powers left and right?"
Her mouth twitched into the faintest smirk. "Who knows… if I could, I probably would."
His eyes widened, caught off guard by how casually she said it. He stared, and she only shrugged again, unapologetic.
He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, lowering his voice. "On that note… I need your help."
Eva's smile faded, replaced with curiosity. "With what?"
Jace hesitated, chewing over the words before letting them out. "I need to find a spot where tas gather. Underground, private, sowhere I can track one down." He paused, his tone sharpening. "Specifically… a healing ta. One that can regenerate themselves."
Her brows rose, but before she could answer, he added, almost too quickly, "And specifically a female."
Eva's expression hardened. She leaned closer, searching his face like she was trying to peel back every layer he was hiding. "You want to steal a healing ability."
Jace didn't answer right away. His jaw clenched, his silence saying enough.
Finally, he nodded once. "Yes."
Eva sat back, shaking her head slightly. "And you want to help you do that?"
His eyes locked with hers. "Yes."
Eva's eyes narrowed. She leaned back slightly, arms folding, but her stare didn't break.
For a long mont, it felt like she was about to unload on him, tear into the selfishness of what he was asking, the gall of dragging her into it.
Jace shifted under the weight of it, but before she could speak, he cut in, his voice sharp and low.
"If you don't help , I'll die. And when that happens, you can say goodbye to ever getting your powers back."
The silence that followed was heavier than anything she could've thrown at him.
Her jaw tightened, her lips parting like she wanted to argue, but the words stalled in her throat.
She looked at him hard, searching his face for any crack, any sign he was bluffing.
Nothing. Just raw conviction.
Inside his head, Zin's dry tone slid through.
[Checkmate. Good play.]
Jace kept his eyes on Eva, steady, waiting for her answer.
Eva's stare finally broke. She dropped her eyes to the floor, her arms folding tighter around herself. A long breath slipped out between her lips.
"I don't know…" she muttered. Her voice was low, but there was a sharpness underneath it. "Well, I do know one. And she actually deserves what's coming to her."
Jace's brow arched. He didn't need Zin to tell him there was sothing more behind that statent.
The flicker in Eva's eyes wasn't just hesitation, it was resentnt. A grudge that hadn't healed.
For a mont, the room was quiet except for the faint hum of the TV.
Inside his head, Zin's voice ca with a note of approval.
[Seems we've found our target. Maybe I underestimated you.]
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