1 Chapter 1

1

Gin ducked behind a crate as a spray of bullets came his way. He aimed an ice blast toward the bullets’ origin with a wince. He wasn’t in love with the idea of actually hurting the mind-controlled Marines firing at him. Mind-controlled or not, the bullets they fired were real and would kill him if they hit.

“Chin up, Gin. You don’t have a choice.” Shocker, the New York team leader, patted his shoulder and sent a bolt of electricity into a Marine running at one of their teammates. “Oh, awesome. The calvary’s here. We can all go home now.”

Gin spared a second from his battle with the Marines to look in the direction Shocker indicated. The doors to the warehouse—doors Gin himself had sealed closed with ice to keep the fight contained and away from civilians—had been blasted open. Gin hadn’t noticed in all the chaos. In the smoking wreckage, a handful of shabbily dressed people stood in dramatic poses, backlighting courtesy of ConEdison.

“Because we needed this to go even further south today.” Gin focused and created a thick box of ice around a knot of five or six Marines. They wouldn’t be able to shoot their way out of it without endangering each other, and the mind control they were under couldn’t force them to self-harm.

At least he wouldn’t have to hurt this clutch of Marines.

He knew who the intruders were. They called themselves Alpha Team. They were Alters, like Gin and his team. Unlike Gin and his team, they felt themselves above petty things like laws and accountability. Gin had no way of knowing whose side they were on today. Odds were good they weren’t on anyone’s side.

One of the Alpha Team jumped into the mix immediately, sending out sonic waves that left Gin cringing and bits of the ceiling and walls crumbling. His best friend, Mud, immediately clutched at her ears. A few of the Marines dropped their weapons. The others just gritted their teeth, ears bleeding, and kept firing.

“Jesus Christ.” Gin took out a pair of earplugs from one of the inner pockets of his suit jacket and concentrated on making another ice box. “You got eyes on Heartstring?”

Shocker scoffed. “No one’s ever got eyes on Heartstring. Best guess would be over in that little knot of Marines over in the middle.”

One of the other Alpha Team members, a guy by the name of Smoke, held out a hand. As he did, the shadows around a clutch of Marines extended, growing arms to restrain them. They fired their weapons as they struggled, unable to see who they were fighting. A stray bullet bounced off Gin’s suit jacket.

“I really fucking hate these guys.” Gin narrowed his eyes and sent a sheet of ice under Alpha Team’s feet. Hopefully it would keep them focused on staying upright and leave the Marines to the grown-ups.

“That’s a strong emotion for you.” Shocker raised an eyebrow. “Are you going in against Heartstring or what?”

Gin straightened his jacket. “Hell yeah I’m going in. Cover me and hope Amateur Hour doesn’t screw too much up.”

Gin considered blanketing the whole floor in ice. It would make it easier to get to his target, but the element of surprise kind of went out the window when he did crap like that. He didn’t like the idea of adding another layer of unpredictability with Alpha Team on site.

So he ran. His official uniform might look like a normal businessman’s suit, but it was as armored as any other super-suit. The only difference was in the helmet, as in Gin didn’t wear one. Most of the time it worked out, and Gin was able to move quietly within the civilian population. The only time it felt like something he might want to reconsider were times like this, when he was trying to sneak through a scene filled with a hail of bullets.

He made it to the next possible cover position, behind a giant cement column. He didn’t feel exactly comfortable standing in the shadow of this thing, especially not with Sound Machine being so reckless with the structural integrity of this thing, but he wasn’t planning to hang around.

“Sorry, Ice Man. I can’t let you go up against Heartstring. He’s mine.” Smoke popped out of the shadows beside Gin. Strong, oddly solid arms made of shadow grabbed Gin to hold him in place.

Gin eyed Smoke and froze him to the ground with a thought. He’d get frostbite if Gin didn’t let him go soon. “Awfully possessive.” He winked. “Sadly, he’s broken eighteen different laws just today alone and we’re going to have to take him in. I’ll be happy to make sure you two lovebirds get to share a cell though.”

The shadows holding Gin in place gripped him even tighter. He’d have bruises later.