D E L P H I N I U M

The closer we got to the weapons factory, the more on-edge I became. It was a few hours away from the fortress, but I still couldn't shake the weak feeling that I got whenever I was close to Orion and the Tribunal. I hated how I kept looking over my shoulder to see if anyone followed.

So I kept my eyes straight ahead. We were driving through a rural area in the car that Jake and I had stolen. Back at the compound, Hunt had instructed us to rent one, but Jake had insisted that it would be much more efficient to simply take one. Trust him to always turn back to his criminal ways.

I glanced at the map propped up on the center console. "About twenty more minutes."

"We might have to move quickly. Are the bombs ready?"

My gaze dropped to the bag of explosives that Jaxon had shoved into my hands. "Yes. Although it is a bit daunting to be so casually holding enough explosives to blow up an entire factory in my arms."

"We've been in worse predicaments."

I scrunched my nose as a string of images came through my mind: facing Hundsen in his lair, seeing Mariette's dead body stabbed into the wall, the car chase in which our car had rolled onto its side and back over again.

Laughing a little as I remembered, I asked, "Do you remember that time in Hungary when I took out all those Club members?"

"Which time?" He was right—there were many instances in which that same thing had happened.

Giving him a pointed look, I said, "The time you stalled for time while I took out all of our enemies."

"You're remembering it wrong."

Shrugging, I looked away. "You were the one hiding behind both my abilities and reputation."

"You're definitely remembering it wrong. I have a reputation of my own that can certainly hold me over."

A smile found its way onto my face. "And when we first escaped from the Club and robbed that gas station?"

"I seem to recall you slowing us down because of your gunshot wound."

"I seem to remember myself holding a knife to your throat." Shaking my head in mock-disgrace, I continued on, "It's a damn shame I didn't just end it then and there."

Scoffing as though the very idea was preposterous, he sneered, "You really think I would have sat there while you slid your blade across my throat? We both know better than that, Tesla. I was proving a point."

"What point? That I'm more powerful than you?" The words were meant to be sharp, but the ends of my lips turned upwards halfway through.

"You're truly delusional if you believe that. Let's not forget who broke you out of the back of Hundsen's truck in the first place. Without me, you'd be nothing but a pile of rotting bones in that Romanian fortress."

"Maybe I should have slit your throat that night. It might have knocked that ego of yours down a few notches." I chose to ignore the last part of his statement, not wanting to think about what would have happened if he hadn't freed me.

"Bold of you to assume that you even could. Many have tried, all have failed."

"So far." I'd only been joking earlier and I knew that he was aware of it. But my smile dropped when I imagined him with his throat slit, bleeding out on the ground. The thought sent a cold shiver of fear down my spine.

Turning to the right, I watched the scenery whiz by. All the anxious thoughts I'd been having earlier returned.

I glanced over my shoulder again. No one was there.

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In perfect silence, the two of us strode down a slight hill towards the dark facility. There was a chain link fence with barbed wire looped around the top that snaked around the entire perimeter of the place, but that had never stopped us before.

Not even moving my hands, I glared at the fence blocking us from entering. A hole tore in it as the metal ripped apart. Once it was large enough of a gap, I stepped through it. The heels on my boots hit the slightly wet pavement, producing a small thud with each footfall. For once, I didn't care who saw me. We'd waited to strike until the nightfall; everyone would have already gone home for the day, judging by the absence of cars in the parking lot we walked through. Besides, I noticed that Jake hardly ever slept as it was and I preferred to work at night anyway.

The facility itself was almost exactly like the other one we'd been to. It was a massive building, so large that I feared exactly how many weapons were inside and ready for Imperium to use. The only windows were small and twenty feet above the ground. It looked like a prison.

"There are guards to your left," Jake spoke, barely moving his lips. I was surprised he had even spotted them; lighting here was low. I peered over to the place he was describing. Inside an alcove in the side of the building where a side door was positioned stood two guards at attention. Apparently, they were upping the security after what had happened last week. But it would take much more than two men to stop me.

Pressing myself up against one of the only cars in the parking lot for cover, I turned towards my teammate. "Are you insinuating that you want me to take care of them?"

"Why else would I have agreed to come here with you as my partner?"

Narrowing my eyes at him—although he probably couldn't see because of the darkness—I said, "Alright, I'll do it. But only if you owe me one."

I pushed away from the car and stalked toward the two men before he could say anything to object. Maybe he really was rubbing off on me.

The men noticed me as the light above the door bathed me in fluorescent light. Both got out their guns with haste. I held back a dark smile. They'd have no idea what hit them.

I sidestepped past the one holding a gun on the right and slammed his head into the side of the wall. As I moved farther forward, the blow of the other man missed me by inches. His own momentum brought him behind me and I quickly took advantage of the fact by planting a kick backwards into his face. As he fell, I sent my dagger streaking into his chest. Whirling around again, I sliced into the first man. They were both dead in seconds. Apparently, Imperium didn't mind this facility being robbed as much as the other.

Opening up the door, I stepped inside the dark place. "I told you, Evans," I murmured as Jake strode into the warehouse after me, "You owe me one."

He muttered something along the lines of, "We'll see about that," under his breath. Forcing back a smile, I matched forward, triumphant that I now had something to hold over him. It would undoubtedly be helpful to me.

With a wave of my hand and a glance upward to where the light fixtures hung from the ceiling, illuminated by moonlight from the high windows, the lights flickered on and lit the entire warehouse. It revealed the same kinds of machines and weaponry that had been in the other facility. When I took a few steps to the right, I could see straight down an aisle to where the Scorpions were being built. There were even more of them here. Imperium would have an entire arsenal if we didn't blow them to pieces.

So Jake and I went around the whole inside of the building, mounting the bombs on every surface possible. The more widespread they were, the bigger the damages would be.

"You're using your telekinesis more often," Jake pointed out after I used my power to stick a bomb onto a high support beam.

"I suppose." It was true. Now that I wasn't holding myself back anymore, it was freeing. It was like a weight had been removed from my chest.

"It seems to be getting more powerful."

He did have a point; the more I exercised it, the greater it became. I could now feel the power humming in my veins, simmering just beneath my skin. It was comforting in a strange way. I'd always seen it as just another part of myself that Orion had tainted. He had weaponized me. But he hadn't been aware that I would turn on him in the way I did. I was a weapon; the weapon that would ultimately destroy him.

"It is, I can feel it. It's like...like this energy running through me." I then turned to give him a suspicious glance as we walked down another aisle. "Wait...why do you want to know?"

He glared at me flatly, like I should already know the answer to the question. "I want to know how great your power is so I can utilize it in whatever means necessary. If I need you around for a job, I'll need to know exactly how much that mind of yours can do."

I rolled my eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"

We reached the exit. As we walked back outside, I didn't bother to close the door behind me; it wouldn't even exist in a few short minutes anyway.

Making our way back across the parking lot, I tried to push away the dark feelings that rose up inside me whenever I was near Imperium. I loathed them with a burning hatred. I hated how fearful and small I felt when I thought about Orion rising.

I stopped walking. "Jake?"

"Yes?"

"I need to destroy this place myself."

His eyes narrowed. "Can you?" I nodded.

He took a step back. "Then do it."

For a moment, I simply stood there, concentrating on the massive building looming before me. The energy rose in my mind. My hands, outstretched by my sides, shook with potential power.

The entire front of the building blew apart, pieces of the wall flying outwards. A few chunks of metal and concrete soared over our heads. I then focused my gaze on the support posts holding the roof up. They were thick, rectangular slabs of metal. Under the power of my mind, they crumpled, one by one, like soda cans. The entire roof came crashing down, bringing the other three walls downward with it in a deafening clamor. Flumes of dust and debris shot up, clouding the night sky. All the weaponry, all the machines, all the Scorpions were crushed by the rubble.

I watched the dust settle, revealing the mess I'd caused. It was beautiful. It was the start down a long road of Imperium's destruction.

"Tesla," Jake called, snapping me out of my reverie. "Come here."

I obeyed, following him back across the parking lot we'd come from. Eventually, we made it to the hill overlooking the entire place. After reaching into my backpack and pulling out the detonator, I handed it to Jake. "You can do the honors, Evans."

He pressed the button. The entire building—already reduced to shambles—blew up with an ear-splitting boom. A thick column of fire spread upwards, like the very depths of Hell itself.

I smiled freely, glancing over at Jake. His hair, the ring in his nose, those green eyes shone in the glowing light. I turned back toward the mushroom cloud. Even if this place was Hell, there was no place I'd rather be.