Life Isn’t So Simple Chapter 275: Lightbulb

Reid Calloway was in the middle of turning in a finished case when the call ca in.

He'd been having a good day up until that point. The daemon outside the city turned out to be a Third Grade, barely worth the trip but easy enough to handle solo. Clean kill, minimal property damage, the kind of case that helped made his record look good. He'd taken a selfie with the magji shard for the group chat because why wouldn’t he?

His phone rang. Pria's na on the screen.

"What's up?"

"Sable's in the hospital." Pria's voice was serious for once.

Reid's hand stopped writing mid-sentence. "What? Why? Did a daemon do her in or sothing?"

"Soone attacked her at Lilac & Rye. During brunch. Her friends called

freaking out, saying so masked magjistars smashed through the windows and beat the shit out of her. She's in critical condition, Reid."

The pen in his hand snapped.

"Which hospital?"

"St. Elara's. The one near the western gate. I'm already on my way. Greer and Dante are coming too."

"What about Lowell?"

"I texted him. He hasn't responded yet."

"I'll get him. I'm leaving now." Reid hung up without saying goodbye.

He was out the door and in his car within two minutes. As he pulled out of his apartnt's parking garage, he called Lowell. It rang four tis before the timid voice picked up.

"Hello?"

"Sable's in the hospital. Soone attacked her. Get to St. Elara's. Now."

"What? Who attacked her? Is she okay?" Lowell's voice jumped in pitch.

"I don't know yet. Just get there." Reid ended the call.

His knuckles were white on the steering wheel. Soone attacked Sable. His Sable. In the middle of the magji district, in broad daylight, at a cafe. Who would be stupid enough, or bold enough, to do that? Who would risk the Peacekeepers, the Council's response, the inevitable manhunt that followed an attack on an active magjistar in the heart of the city?

Reid ran through the list of possibilities. A rival magjistar with a grudge. So unhinged criminal. A random act of violence, which happened but rarely to magjistars in protected zones.

None of it fit. Sable wasn't high-profile enough to attract targeted attacks. She wasn't from a major clan or family. She didn't have debts or enemies that Reid knew of. She was a C-Grade magjistar who took cases, went to brunch, and kept her social circle tight. There was no reason for soone to go after her specifically.

Unless they weren't going after her specifically. Unless they were going after him through her.

That guess wandered in his mind as he pulled into St. Elara's parking structure.

Reid was the last of the five to arrive.

The hospital's magji ward occupied the top three floors of St. Elara's, hidden from non-magji patients by a series of barriers that redirected anyone without the necessary mahna control to the floors below. The waiting area on the seventh floor was quiet. Fluorescent lights humd overhead. The sll of antiseptic and old coffee hung in the air.

Pria was pacing near the window. Her phone was in her hand and she was scrolling through sothing rapidly, her long black braid swinging behind her with each turn. She'd been crying. Her mascara was smudged and her eyes were red, but the tears had stopped by the ti Reid walked in.

Greer was sitting in one of the plastic chairs, his massive fra making it look like children's furniture. His hands were clasped between his knees and he was staring at the floor. He hadn't said a word since he'd arrived.

Dante was leaning against the far wall with his arms crossed. His bleached hair hung over his eyes in a way that made his expression unreadable.

Lowell was in the corner, sitting as far from everyone else as the room would allow. He looked like he was going to be sick. His face was grey and his fingers were tapping against his knees in a rhythm that had nothing to do with music.

"Have they said anything?" Reid asked Pria as he walked in.

"She's stable but critical. Multiple fractures, both arms, ribs, hip, knee." Pria recited the injuries like reading a grocery list. "The doctors say she'll live but the recovery is going to be months. Maybe longer depending on when they can get a Star Clan mber out here."

"Where are her friends? The ones who were with her."

"Wendy and Gia. They're down the hall. They gave their statents to the Peacekeepers already but I told them to wait for you." Pria knew how Reid worked.

"Good. Bring them."

Pria left and returned two minutes later with two young won who looked like they hadn't stopped shaking since the attack. Wendy's arms were still marked with small cuts from the glass. Gia had a bandage on her forehead where a shard had caught her.

"Tell

exactly what happened." Reid kept his voice calm.

Wendy spoke first. "We were at Lilac & Rye. Just having brunch. Everything was normal. And then every window in the place just... exploded. All at once. And before any of us could react, soone grabbed Sable by the head and slamd her into the wall."

"How many attackers?"

"Two. Well, two fighters. There was a third person but he didn't fight."

"Describe them."

Wendy took a shaky breath. "The one who grabbed Sable was short. Like, really short. She had a panda mascot head on that covered her whole head. Black and white. She was wearing daemonic boxing gloves that moved on their own. Like they were alive."

"The second one was taller. Purple hair sticking out from behind a polar bear head. She had a huge sword on her back but didn't use it."

"And the third?"

Wendy and Gia exchanged a look.

"He didn't fight. He just stood there watching. And then he laughed and asked the panda one to turn Sable around so she could see his face."

"What did he look like?"

"Skinny. Brown hair. Looked like he hadn't eaten well in a while. He was wearing worn-out clothes and he had these dark circles under his eyes. But he was smiling the whole ti. Like it was the best day of his life."

Reid had a feeling he knew who that guy was…

"That's all we saw," Gia added. "We ran after that to get the Peacekeepers. By the ti they got there, it was... over. They said the two masked ones fought through the Peacekeepers who responded and escaped."

"Two rogue magjistars fought through a squad of Peacekeepers?" Dante spoke up for the first ti. His voice was flat.

"At least six Peacekeepers were hospitalized. More were injured during the retreat." Pria had already checked.

Reid sent Wendy and Gia away with a nod. The door closed behind them and the room fell silent. Five people sitting with the sa information, comprehending it at different speeds.

Pria broke the silence. "Who would target Sable? She doesn't have enemies. She doesn't owe anyone anything. This doesn't make sense."

"Masked magjistars with a third person watching who asked to have Sable turned around to face him," Dante repeated slowly. "That's personal. That's not a hit. That's revenge."

"But revenge for what?" Pria pressed. "What did Sable ever do to anyone?"

Reid said nothing. The description of the third person was burning a hole through his thoughts. Skinny. Brown hair. Worn-out clothes. Dark circles. Smiling like it was the best day of his life. Soone who wanted Sable to see his face before whatever happened next.

It couldn't be. It was impossible. He should have been ruined.

"The Peacekeepers who responded," Reid stood up. "So of them are here too?"

"A few of them. Down on the sixth floor." Pria confird.

"I need to talk to them."

Reid walked out of the waiting room with the others trailing behind him. They took the stairs down one floor and found the recovering Peacekeepers in a ward that was significantly louder than Sable's floor. Broken bones, bruised egos, and frustration.

Reid found one whose injuries were light enough for conversation. A young man with a bandaged arm and a split lip who was sitting up in bed looking furious.

"I need you to describe the attackers." Reid didn't introduce himself. Didn't need to. His B-Grade insignia on his jacket spoke for him.

The Peacekeeper straightened up. "Two of them. Both masked. The shorter one with the panda mask... I don't know how to describe it. She moved like nothing I've ever seen. It wasn't magji, or at least it wasn't any magji I recognized. She just got past every spell we threw at her like she could see them before we cast them. Got in close and took us apart with her fists. Dog heads that she used as boxing gloves."

"And the other one?"

"Polar bear mask. Big sword. Used the flat to hit us. She was strong, fast. Cut through the reinforcents like they were nothing." The Peacekeeper's jaw tightened. "They weren't trying to kill us but that almost made it worse. Like we weren't worth killing."

"The third person. The one who wasn't fighting. Describe him again."

"Skinny male. Mid-twenties maybe. Brown hair that was too long. Looked like he'd been living rough. The panda one had to drag him along when they ran because he couldn't keep up."

"Eye color?"

The Peacekeeper thought for a mont. "Light. Blue maybe? Or grey? I didn't get a close look."

Blue-grey eyes. Skinny fra. Brown hair. Worn-out clothes. Smiling while watching soone he used to date get beaten.

He turned to the others. They were all standing behind him. Pria with her phone still in her hand. Greer with his fists clenched. Dante with his jaw still set. Lowell looking like he'd just been punched in the stomach even though no one had touched him.

"It's Baxter," Reid said.

The na landed like a grenade in a quiet room.

"What?" Pria's hand tightened on her phone.

"There's no way," Dante shook his head. "Baxter? He's been gone for over a year. He's living in so shithole out in the sticks. How would he even find magjistars willing to work with him? Nobody will associate with that guy."

"The description matches." Reid's voice was steady. "Skinny, brown hair, worn-out clothes, blue-grey eyes. He wanted Sable turned around to face him. He wanted her to know it was him."

"Even if it is Baxter," Pria started carefully, "where did he find those two? The Peacekeepers said they were strong. Really strong. Who would work for soone like Baxter?"

"rcenaries. Rogue magjistars. People from outside Brimton who don't know or care about his reputation," Dante reasoned.

“Whoever these two are, they're not ordinary." Reid reminded them.

"So what do we do?" Greer finally spoke up for the first ti. His voice was low and thick. "If it's really him, he's going to co after the rest of us."

Silence.

The realization hit all five of them at different speeds. Lowell got there first, his face going from grey to white. Pria's eyes widened as the implications sank in. Greer's fists tightened further. Dante's composure finally cracked, his jaw unclenching as his mouth opened slightly. Reid had already been there since the mont the na left his lips.

"We need to tell the Peacekeepers. Give them Baxter's na, his description, everything. If they can track him down before he cos after the rest of us, this ends without anyone else getting hurt." Pria was already moving toward the door.

"Agreed. The Peacekeepers need to know what they're dealing with. This isn't random violence, it's targeted." Dante pushed off the wall.

"I can give them the address of his last known location. The shack where he was living before this." Reid started walking. "If they can get a team there fast enough, they might be able to..."

The wall exploded.

The entire section of reinforced concrete that separated the Peacekeeper ward from the outer hallway blew inward with a concussive force that turned solid stone into shrapnel. Reid's body reacted before his mind caught up. His gravity magji flared, pulling him to the floor and anchoring him as the shockwave passed over his body. Chunks of wall sailed over him, and through the dust and noise, he heard the others getting hit.

Greer took a chunk of concrete to the chest that knocked him off his feet and through two hospital beds. Pria was thrown into the far wall, her bell earrings ringing from the impact as she crumpled. Dante's smoke magji activated on instinct, a cloud of concealnt erupting around him, but the blast had already caught his legs and sent him spinning across the floor. Lowell threw up a barrier, a shimring disc of light that caught the worst of the debris but couldn't stop the force behind it. His barrier shattered and his body followed it, crashing into a dical cabinet that collapsed on top of him.

The Peacekeepers in their beds fared worse. Already injured, already weakened, the secondary blasts of debris and pressure hit them with nothing to soften the blow. Monitors exploded. IV stands beca projectiles. The room transford from a dical ward into a disaster zone in under two seconds.

Through the hole in the wall stepped a figure that made Reid's blood freeze.

She was short. Couldn't be more than five feet. But the mahna pouring off her body was visible, a thick, pulsing aura of deep white that distorted the air around her like heat off asphalt. The panda mask stared out from the center of that aura. Her body was different from what the Peacekeepers had described. Bulked up. Veins rising to the surface of her dark skin. Muscles that belonged on soone twice her size, stretched over a fra that shouldn't be able to contain them. The boxing gloves on her hands were snarling and drooling.

This was not the sa person who'd fought the Peacekeepers earlier.

This was sothing else.

Reid pushed himself up from the floor. His gravity magji was screaming at him. Not in response to a threat. In recognition of sothing. The mahna coming off this woman was so dense that his own magji was reacting to it involuntarily.

Behind the panda-masked figure, through the dust and settling debris, Reid could see a polar bear mask and a familiar grinning face.

"What a cause for celebration. A reunion between best friends!" Baxter's voice echoed down the hallway, dripping with delight.