Super Genetics

Waves of power rolled into Marlon, drowning his senses, filling him until he felt fit to burst.

He heard voices but the words wouldn’t matriculate in his brain, dull sounds rather than coherent sentences.

Space expanded before him like never before and though he didn’t find latent secrets revealed by his rank up, his range did expand tenfold. All around him, he felt the planes of existence, layered like cloth, just waiting to be coaxed into various shapes and configurations.

In the distance, he felt the modifications he’d made to his cats—the subtle pull on his aura, the connection stretching taut, now given new life with his influx of power. He consoled himself with the knowledge that they were making good time and putting dozens of miles between them and the Market.

If Qui Shen made it past them, the evacuation would be a hundred miles away and nearly impossible to pinpoint through the dense stone.

Now, it was up to them to bloody the bastard’s nose and if possible, end his existence forever.

As he finally acclimated to his expanded senses, his mundane senses began to return to the forefront. The notifications in his vision pulled his attention first, but he dismissed them immediately; what use did he have for System-granted Skills or notifications about his Class? He was a Traveler still—didn’t need no notification to know that. And every Skill he used, he did by feel—not the training wheels offered by his System.

Next, he focused on the words that had sounded like they’d traveled through water.

“Did it work?” a deep voice asked.

“Yes, he’s back with us now.”

Marcus and Juliette, he realized.

He turned to face the five of them, forcing a scowl on his face out of habit more than anything else.

“Course I’m back. Can’t a man take a minute to acclimate?”

Terraform stood apart, his eyes closed. At Marlon’s words, his face etched with concern. He turned to the group, his voice grave.

“They’ve split their forces. Qui Shen and Skipper are taking different paths.”

The room fell silent, the weight of his words settling on everyone’s shoulders. Marlon leaned against the wall, arms crossed, while the others exchanged worried glances.

Terraform paced, his mind racing. “This confirms our suspicions. There’s a traitor among the evacuees. How else would they know to split up?”

Marcus stepped forward. “What’s our move, then?”

Terraform hesitated, weighing their options. “I believe Qui Shen is heading to intercept the evacuees. He must suspect the Singularity is with them. Skipper seems to be making for the Market itself with a smaller force.”

He turned to face the group. “We need to intercept Qui Shen.”

Marcus frowned. “What about Skipper? If we leave the Market unattended, he’ll portal in, see it’s been drained, and link up with Qui Shen.”

Terraform’s eyes flicked toward Marlon, who snorted, pushing off from the wall. “I’m staying obviously.”

The room fell silent again, all eyes on the cantankerous man.

“I’m just a decoy anyway,” Marlon continued. “Who cares if they take the Market now? They already suspect the Singularity isn’t here.”

Terraform opened his mouth to argue, but Marlon cut him off.

“You need every chance you can get against Qui Shen. Don’t waste time trying to save a doomed fool.”

The others looked to Terraform, waiting for his decision. He sighed, rubbing his temples.

“You’re right,” he admitted reluctantly. “We can’t afford for Skipper to link up with Qui Shen.” He turned to Marlon. “Are you sure about this? He won’t be alone.”

Marlon waved a dismissive hand. “I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve. Besides, someone’s gotta make sure they don’t get any bright ideas about following you lot.”

Terraform nodded, a hint of admiration in his eyes. “Good luck, Marlon. And... it’s been an honor knowing you.”

Marlon grunted, turning away to hide the flicker of emotion that crossed his face.

Terraform addressed the group. “We move now. Every second counts.”

As the others filed out, Terraform paused at the door, looking back at Marlon. The man stood alone in his shop, surrounded by the detritus of his life’s work. For a moment, Terraform saw not the gruff, irritable Traveler, but a man who had lost everything and was now preparing to make his last stand.

“Marlon,” Terraform said softly. “You don’t have to do this.”

Marlon turned, a wry smile on his face. “Course I do. Now get out of here before I change my mind and decide to come with you after all.”

Terraform nodded, a lump in his throat. He stepped out, closing the door behind him.

Outside, the others waited. Marcus stood like a sentinel. Hunter’s eyes darted about, always alert, always watching. Louisa’s face was set in grim determination, while Juliette fidgeted nervously with the hem of her sleeve.

“Everyone ready?” Terraform asked.

They nodded, a unified front against the coming storm.

“Then let’s move. We have a long way to go and not much time.”

As they set off, Terraform couldn’t shake the feeling that they were leaving Marlon to die. But there was no time for second thoughts. Qui Shen was out there, hunting their people, and they were the only ones who could stop him.

Back in the shop, Marlon took a deep breath, centering himself. He could feel the tremors of Skipper’s approach, the fabric of space twisting and warping. He closed his eyes, reaching out with his newly expanded senses, feeling the layers of reality around him.

“Alright, you bastard,” he muttered. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”

He began to weave his defenses, preparing for the battle to come. The air crackled with energy as he worked, bending space to his will. To his senses, it was clear the continuous attacks were getting stronger, Skipper coming closer with every second.

Marlon opened his eyes, a fierce grin spreading across his face. For the first time in years, he felt truly alive. Whatever happened next, he was ready.

Terry worked for nearly an hour before he had cataloged the differences between Marmalade’s active and passive aura mold. But after the mind-numbing work he’d done cataloging D-ranked Skills, this felt like light work.

With that out of the way, he turned his attention to his portal mold and began comparing the delta between Marmalade’s auras and his Skill. He didn’t quite know what the end goal was; he couldn’t exactly experiment on himself since he already had the portal mold Affixed to his aura and that sounded like a dangerous path to take regardless. Who knew what kind of damage he could end up doing? Yet he wasn’t keen on the idea of animal experimentation. He didn’t have years of experimenting on pottery like Marlon to vet his ideas.

Inanimate objects it is.

The silver bracelet he’d received from his grandfather was a good candidate. He could already manipulate it with his telekinesis, so being able to portal them around without activating his own Skill would be useful. An idea tickled at him—creating kinetic-sensing shield walls by anchoring his metal telekinesis into steel plates. But that was ages away.

For now, he would be content just to mimic Marmalade’s portal ability.

As he examined the delta in Marmalade’s two auras, he found folds and nodules that appeared on the surface to match up with his portal mold. But they were intricate, weaving throughout the mold, challenging to hold the mental image in his mind.

After a frustrating twenty minutes, he decided to just work live and see what happened. It wasn’t a strategy that lent itself well to exactitude, but gave him a more freehanded approach that was more interesting and less mentally draining.

Another ten minutes passed when his attention was pulled away by footsteps behind him. He didn’t release the molds at first, then realized that whoever it was had come for him. Looking up, he spotted Tania staring down at him, a curious expression on her face.

He realized that he hadn’t checked on her since the initial evacuation, hadn’t helped to acclimate her to her Awakening. Instead, he’d thrown himself into distraction selfishly.

“Hey,” he said, feeling a bit chagrined.

“Wow. Is this what you’ve been doing all that time with your mother’s roses?”

He was thrown off a bit by the oblique line of questioning, but she lowered herself into a cross-legged sit beside him, adopting an easy posture.

“Well, uh…yeah. Can you see what I’m doing?”

She squinted her eyes, looking him up and down.

“Not now—I’m guessing you stopped. But I did see something around your aura. Like you were moving pieces around or something.”

He was surprised by that; she must have had advanced aura Attributes to be able to pick up on that at the F-rank. By all accounts, he’d possessed unusually high ranks himself, and would have had trouble spotting the work he was doing.

“It’s not that interesting,” he said quickly. “Boring stuff, actually.”

She scowled, looking around. “What the hell else I’m s’pose to do? You forget, this aura business is new to me. Just—” She bit her lip and he could tell there was something churning under the surface, but he couldn’t quite read her expression. Shaking her head, she stood up. “Nevermind.”

He reached out, grabbing her hand lightly.

“Hey, I wasn’t trying to get rid of you…” She hesitated, looking down at where his hand gripped hers. Realizing what he was doing, he let go in a rush. “I-I’ll tell you about it…if you want?”

Her eyebrows rose, then a genuine smile touched her lips.

“Yeah, that’d be nice.”

As she sat back down, he began to explain all about his abilities, how he learned them, what he’d been doing with Marlon the last few times he’d visited.

When he was done, she leaned back for a minute, processing it all.

Then, a familiar look entered her eyes—a look that had almost always spelled trouble for him in the past.

“Experiment on me,” she said softly.

He shook his head, wondering if he’d misheard her.

“Excuse me?”

She nodded rapidly. “Yeah, experiment on me!”

“Tania…”

“Hear me out!” She stood up and started pacing. “I’m a Seer, right? I can sense things, feel when they’ll go bad.”

“That’s not—”

She whirled on him, her face pinched tight.

“I said hear me out!”

She studied his face a moment, seeing if he’d interrupt. He wanted to shut down this line of thinking; didn’t feel remotely comfortable with the idea. But he also knew that Tania wasn’t the type of person you said no to—it only made her more likely to do something stupid.

So he kept his lips shut, though he felt a bit of his annoyance translate to the slow blink of his eyes. She seemed to pick up on that annoyance, sucking at her teeth, the wind going out of her sails.

“I have a type of danger sense, Terry. I’ll know if something you’re about to do is gonna hurt me.”

His ears perked up at that. “Oh? That sounds pretty cool. Tell me about it.”

She seemed to take that as him letting his guard down, her eyes going animated again. He quickly put his hands up.

“I’m not saying I’m cool with messing with your aura. Just…I wanna hear about your new powers.”

Despite putting the brakes on her, she seemed irrationally hopeful, plopping down into a seat as she spoke.

“It’s pretty sweet, actually. Not portal-sweet, but I can see it being useful in fights and stuff. Basically, I have a passive Skill that only works for me. It’s strange but…here, let me just read the description to you.”

Terry settled back, glad the topic had shifted to something a bit more comfortable.

Her eyes went out of focus, like she was reading from her interface.

“Danger Sense — Personal. Passively scan the ebbs and flows of aura around you. Indicates when hostile attention is directed toward you or when life-threatening events will occur within your vicinity. Note: Aura can be obscured or unreadable, negating this Skill. This Skill will naturally rank up as your rank increases.” She looked up, waving away the message absentmindedly. “Pretty neat, huh?”

Terry nodded. It was pretty awesome.

“It ranks up with you, too? Nice.”

“Is that uncommon?”

He shrugged. “I learned an Upgradeable Skill from Marlon, but Silver told me that’s the sign of a master. I don’t think it’s normal, no.”

She smiled, preening theatrically. “Guess the—” Her eyes went out of focus again and she scowled. System notification, presumably. “The System knows a master when it sees one.”

Terry scoffed. “More like your System knew you were a master at getting into trouble. Knew you’d need a master-level Skill to stay out of it.”

She let out a snort of amusement and gave his arm a gentle smack. But her demeanor shifted almost immediately, taking on a solemn expression.

“My other Skill is interesting, too,” she said, voice low.

“Oh?” He was thrown by her tone. She almost sounded…embarrassed.

Tania’s gaze dropped to her hands, fidgeting in her lap. “It’s called Aura Entanglement. It’s... different.”

Terry leaned forward, intrigued by her sudden shift in demeanor. “How so?”

She took a deep breath. “It lets me connect my aura to someone else’s. Like, really connect. Across any distance.”

Terry’s eyebrows shot up. “That sounds powerful. What exactly can you do with it?”

“Well, once I’m entangled with someone, I always know if they’re in trouble. I can feel glimpses of where they are, what they’re feeling.” She paused, her voice dropping lower. “It seems intense. Like…intrusive.”

Terry whistled softly. “Wow. That’s... that’s something else, Tania. Have you tried it yet?”

She shook her head. “Not yet. Feels like I’d be spying on someone.”

Terry nodded, understanding her hesitation. “Yeah, I can see how that’d be a lot to handle.”

Tania’s eyes suddenly lit up, that familiar mischievous glint returning. “But you know what? I just had an idea.”

Terry groaned internally, knowing whatever was coming next would likely be trouble.

“What if we used it on one of Marlon’s cats?” Tania suggested, her excitement building. “That way, we could experiment with your anchoring ability without risking anyone getting hurt.”

Terry blinked, surprised by the suggestion. It wasn’t as reckless as he’d feared. “I’m not sure...”

“Think about it,” Tania pressed on. “You could try manipulating the cat’s aura into the shape you saw in Marmalade’s aura. If it works, we’d know you can anchor abilities without hurting anyone.”

Terry had to admit, the idea had merit. It was certainly safer than experimenting on a person. “And if it does work?” he asked, already suspecting her answer.

Tania’s eyes gleamed. “Then you try it on me.”

Terry shook his head. “Tania, that’s way too risky. We don’t know what could happen.”

“But that’s where my Danger Sense comes in,” she countered. “I’ll know if something’s about to go wrong. We’ll have a safety net.”

Terry mulled it over. The idea was tempting, but the potential consequences terrified him. “I don’t know, Tania. It’s one thing to experiment on a cat, but on you? That’s a whole different level.”

Tania reached out, placing her hand on his arm. “Terry, think about what this could mean. If you can anchor abilities, you could help so many people. Maybe even find a way to protect us from Qui Shen and Skipper.”

Her words hit home. Terry thought about Marlon, left behind to face those threats practically alone. If he could unlock this ability, maybe he could make a real difference.

“Okay,” he said slowly. “We can try it with one of the cats. But that’s it for now. We’ll see how that goes before even considering anything else.”

Tania beamed, practically bouncing with excitement. “Great! Which cat should we use?”

Terry looked around at the felines lounging nearby. His eyes settled on a fluffy orange tabby. “That one. It reminds me of Marmalade.”

Tania nodded and closed her eyes, concentrating. After a moment, she opened them, a look of wonder on her face. “It’s done. I can feel the cat. It’s... content. Sleepy.”

Terry took a deep breath, steeling himself. “Alright. Here goes nothing.”

He focused on the cat’s aura, comparing it to the mental image he had of Marmalade’s teleportation ability. Carefully, he began to manipulate the energy, folding and twisting it to match the patterns he’d observed.

Tania watched intently, her eyes darting between Terry and the cat. “I can feel something changing,” she whispered. “It’s like... a ripple in the cat’s aura.”

Terry nodded, not breaking his concentration. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he worked, the delicate manipulations taxing his mental stamina.

Suddenly, the cat’s ears perked up. It looked around, confused, then darted off in a rush.

Terry and Tania exchanged sheepish glances as they watched the orange tabby disappear around the legs of a few very surprised people.

“Well, that was dumb,” Terry muttered, running a hand through his hair. “We should’ve seen that coming.”

Tania nodded, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “Yeah, guess we got a bit ahead of ourselves there.”

Terry’s mind raced, trying to salvage their experiment. “Maybe we could catch one? Hold it still while I work?”

As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized how ridiculous that sounded. The image of them chasing cats around the evacuation area, causing a commotion, flashed through his mind. He could almost hear the disapproving chatter, questioning what the hell they were doing.

“Uh, nevermind,” he backpedaled quickly. “That’s probably not the best idea.”

To his surprise, Tania’s face lit up. “Sit back. I’ve got this.”

She stood up, brushing off her pants, and began to look around. Her eyes settled on a fluffy white cat lounging nearby—Eleanor, judging by its System tag. Terry watched, bemused, as Tania’s entire demeanor changed. Her usual brash confidence melted away, replaced by a gentleness he’d never seen before.

“Here, kitty kitty,” she cooed softly, approaching the cat with slow, deliberate steps. “It’s okay, sweetheart. I’m not gonna hurt you.”

Terry’s eyebrows shot up in disbelief. Was this really Tania? The same girl who’d once told Mesmer off and faced down vampires without batting an eye? He bit back a sarcastic comment, not wanting to break her concentration.

To his amazement, the cat didn’t bolt. Instead, it looked up at Tania with curious eyes as she knelt beside it. She held out her hand, letting the cat sniff her fingers. After a moment, the cat bumped its head against her palm, and Tania began to scratch behind its ears.

“That’s a good kitty,” she murmured, her voice full of affection. “You’re such a pretty girl, aren’t you?”

Terry watched, slack-jawed, as Tania scooped the cat into her arms. The feline settled against her chest, purring contentedly.

“Since when are you the cat whisperer?” Terry asked, unable to keep the incredulity out of his voice.

Tania shot him a look that was half-pride, half-defiance. “I’ve always loved cats, dummy. Just ‘cause I don’t go around advertising it doesn’t mean it isn’t true.”

Terry nodded, filing away this new piece of information about his friend. He couldn’t help but think sarcastically, ‘Right, because nothing says cat lover like your usual tendency to solve problems with your fists.’ But he knew better than to voice that thought aloud. Instead, he gestured to a spot near him.

“Well, cat whisperer, why don’t you bring your new friend over here so we can try this again?”

Tania settled down next to him, the white cat curled up in her lap. She stroked its fur gently, keeping it calm and relaxed.

“Okay,” Terry said, taking a deep breath. “Let’s give this another shot.”

He closed his eyes, focusing on the cat’s aura. It was different from the orange tabby’s, but the basic structure was the same. He began to manipulate it, carefully folding and twisting the energy to match the patterns he’d observed in Marmalade’s teleportation ability.

The work was delicate and exhausting. Sweat beaded on Terry’s forehead as he concentrated, trying to maintain the intricate mental image while making the necessary adjustments. Time seemed to slow down, each second stretching out as he worked.

Beside him, Tania remained uncharacteristically quiet, her attention split between the cat in her lap and monitoring Terry’s progress through her newfound abilities.

“I can feel it changing,” she whispered after what felt like hours but was probably only minutes. “It’s like... ripples in a pond, but in the cat’s aura.”

Terry nodded slightly, not wanting to break his concentration. He could feel it too—the subtle shifts in the cat’s energy as he manipulated it. It was doing something, that much was clear. But would it be what they expected?

He pushed on, refining his technique with each passing moment. The cat remained calm in Tania’s lap, seemingly unaware of the changes happening to its very essence.

As Terry worked, he felt a growing sense of accomplishment. This was it—he was actually doing it. He was manipulating an aura, changing its fundamental structure. The implications were staggering, but he pushed those thoughts aside, focusing solely on the task at hand.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Terry opened his eyes. He blinked, adjusting to the light, and looked down at the cat. It looked the same as before, still contentedly curled up in Tania’s lap.

“Did it work?” Tania asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Terry took a deep breath, feeling the fatigue of his efforts settling into his bones. “I... I think so. But we won’t know for sure until we test it.”

Tania nodded, her eyes shining with excitement and anticipation. “So, what now?”

“Now,” Terry said, leaning back and stretching his tired muscles, “we give it a little fright. See if we’ve managed to give this cat the ability to teleport.”