Huey stood on the edge of a glass tower, the city beneath him seemed like a circuit board made of light. The tactical gear felt perfect against his skin; black jacket reinforced with fiber mesh, cargo pants loaded with equipment he somehow knew how to use, the katana's weight familiar across his back. His hood cast shadows over a mask that covered the lower half of his face, leaving only his glowing blue eyes visible in the darkness.
The wind caught his medium-length dark hair, giving him the vibe of something out of a movie.
Then reality crashed back."Jazz," he said, his voice muffled by the mask. "I have absolutely no idea how to get to this rift thing. Or what to do when I get there.""Touch the right side of your head, just behind your ear."Huey did so skeptically, and suddenly the world changed. An invisible visor seemed to overlay his vision, displaying information in crisp blue lines. His field of view filled with a gaming-style interface, health bars, a mini-map, status indicators, and in the corner, a detailed profile.
HUEGEN CROSS Level: 2 Class: Investigator ATK: 15 | DEF: 12 | INT: 24 | SPD: 28
Below that, a skill tree stretched out like a neural network, most abilities locked behind gray icons. But several glowed red instead of blue."The system monitors your development," Jazz explained. "You were at Level 28 before the reset. Now you're back to basics, though you've already gained a level just from today's revelations."Huey's eyes widened."
"The red skills are passives, always active detective abilities since that's your specialization. Pattern recognition, environmental analysis, crime scene reconstruction. Very useful for your line of work."One icon caught Huey's attention: a stylized head with a lightning bolt for a body. He focused on it, and information cascaded across his vision.
ELECTROTRANSMISSION [ACTIVE] Convert body into electrical energy for high-speed travel through conductive materials. Range limited by circuit connectivity."Now this," Huey grinned, "looks fun.""You'll need the HUD to activate skills manually for now. Eventually, they'll become instinctive. Go ahead, give it a try."
Huey activated the skill and felt his body dissolve into pure electricity. The sensation was indescribable, being everywhere and nowhere at once, consciousness streaming through copper wires and fiber optic cables.
He materialized on a neighboring building's antenna, then immediately jumped to the next one, chaining between transmission lines like some kind of digital spider.The parkour came naturally. Flips, wall-runs, impossible leaps between buildings that would have killed Marcus Chen but felt effortless now. Huey felt truly alive.I'm actually strong, he realized, landing silently on a water tower
The rift zone appeared ahead, a section of the industrial district bleeding red where reality looked distorted. Buildings twisted at impossible angles, shadows fell upward, and the air shimmered like heat mirages.
Emergency cordons surrounded the area, but Huey could see figures moving inside the distortion field."First time seeing a rift area," he muttered, studying the scene through his enhanced vision. "Never imagined the Topplers would be this outmatched."Black-jacketed figures with phoenix emblems moved through the twisted landscape, Luce Nera operatives engaging small, cat-like creatures that sparked with electrical energy. The agents seemed to be struggling against even these basic opponents.
"Check your HUD," Jazz advised.The passive skill BIRD'S EYE activated automatically, overlaying threat assessments over every figure in the area. The Echoes registered as Level 2 threats. The Toppler agents showed as Level 2 combatants. But deeper in the rift..."That's a Level 3 energy signature," Jazz confirmed grimly. "The initial readings were wrong."
As if summoned by his words, the last Echo fell to a Toppler's energy blast. For a moment, the battlefield was quiet. Then something massive moved in the dimensional distortion.The titan that emerged stood fourteen feet tall, its skin like volcanic rock crossed with exposed muscle. Red veins pulsed beneath its surface, and when it roared, windows shattered three blocks away.The first Toppler to react never had a chance. The creature's foot came down with the force of a collapsing building, and the agent simply... wasn't there anymore. Just a red stain on cracked pavement.
"Fall back!" one of the remaining operatives screamed, but the titan's massive hand swept through their formation like bowling pins. Two more agents went flying, their bodies hitting distant walls with wet sounds.Huey watched trained Topplers reduced to terrified survivors in seconds. He couldn't just stand there.
"Jazz, what are my odds?""Against a Level 3 titan with your current abilities? Seventy percent chance of death.""So thirty percent chance of living.
I'll take those odds."He activated Electrotransmission and dove off the building, his body becoming lightning that struck the titan's blind spots. His attacks barely scratched the creature's hide, but they got its attention and gave the surviving agents time to reach cover behind an overturned concrete barrier.
"Who are you?" one of them shouted, but Huey didn't answer. He stepped forward, drawing his katana as the titan focused its burning eyes on him.The creature moved faster than something that size had any right to. Huey barely dodged a fist that pulverized the ground where he'd been standing, rolling between its legs to slash at the tendons. His blade bit deep, drawing black blood, but the wound sealed almost immediately."Speed versus strength," he muttered, dancing around another devastating punch. "Let's see how long I can keep this up."The titan grew frustrated with his hit-and-run tactics. It reared back and opened its mouth, red energy building in its throat like a miniature star.
One of the Topplers behind cover; a young man with lieutenant stripes couldn't take it anymore. "Screw this! Some random vigilante isn't doing our job for us!". He vaulted over the barrier, his sonic crest activating as he sent visible shockwaves at the titan. The attacks staggered it but also made it angrier. The energy beam that erupted from its mouth could have vaporized a tank.The lieutenant was directly in its path.
Huey moved without thinking. He hit the sonic Toppler in a flying tackle, both of them tumbling aside as superheated air incinerated the space they'd occupied. But the effort left Huey exposed, his body smoking from the beam's proximity.
The titan turned toward them, energy building for a second blast. The surviving agents watched in horror as the vigilante who'd saved their lives struggled to stand.Then the wind changed.Something screamed through the air, compressed atmosphere sharp enough to cut steel. The titan's head slid cleanly off its shoulders and hit the ground with a thud.
She descended from above like an avenging angel, riding a disc of spinning air that dissipated as her boots touched down. Silver braids whipped around a face Huey recognized from family photos, and her black Luce Nera coat bore the silver star of a Vice-Captain.Hailee Cross, ranked 72nd globally among Topplers, surveyed the carnage with professional calm."Status report," she called to the survivors."Ma'am," the sonic Toppler stammered. "Sue, Rodriguez are KIA. Martinez has a collapsed lung.
We underestimated the threat level—""I can see that."
Hailee knelt beside the fallen agents, her expression softening. "Rodriguez has two daughters. Sue was getting married next month." She clasped her hands together and closed her eyes briefly.
"They deserved better than this."When she opened her eyes, the survivors were pointing accusatory fingers at Huey."Ma'am, this vigilante interfered with our operation... "The look Hailee gave them could have frozen fire.
"This vigilante is why any of you are breathing. Stand down."They complied immediately. Hailee dismissed them with a wave, then turned her attention to Huey, who was trying to slip away into the shadows.
"Not so fast."