F I N N

Water splashed under the platform we walked upon—the ocean was raging far below our feet, frothing and swirling. The only thing keeping us from the merciless waves was a steel slab. I tried not to dwell on it for too long; there was much more to fear here than the might of nature.

This was an off-limits pathway at the harbor, hanging off the main building. But of course, the law didn't mean anything to this group. In fact, even I was beginning to forget law enforcement didn't allow us to do whatever we wanted. From my team, I'd learned that some people were willing to do anything for what they desired. Sometimes, the ends did justify the means.

Especially in this case. Blinking the salty sea air out of my eyes, I looked out to the gray line of the horizon line, dividing the ocean from the cloudy sky. If we didn't step in, more innocent people would be subjected to Imperium's control. They'd be taken far past the horizon and added to Imperium's already massive army.

I knew some of the others thought this was a fool's errand: stopping the flow of new recruits to Imperium's was trying to hold back the ocean. But I surprisingly agreed with Benton: we had to take small steps to be able to make large bounds later on. And any life saved was a victory.

Benton led the group, head held high. His switchblade was hidden in a clenched fist. Kane wasn't here to keep his brother in check; I wondered what an unbridled Benton Shires would be like. I had a feeling we were about to find out.

I didn't understand him. He didn't seem to care for anyone—not even his brother or Delphinium much, and certainly not the rest of us. But he clearly wanted Orion dead more than anything. And that alone was enough to make me have an unsteady respect for him. He'd spent five years imprisoned by the man and hadn't let it break him.

It reminded me of when we first joined the team; at first, I'd been wary of Jake and Arlo. They both seemed a bit...off. In different ways. Like there were some necessities to be a normal human and they lacked them—possibly burned out by the cruelty of the world. Whatever it was, I saw it in the erratic way they acted, the unusual way they thought. It didn't make me view them as any less; that was just who they were and I accepted them for it. But now I was beginning to think Benny was the same.

He and Delphinium knew the way to the dock where the Imperium ship would be taking the recruits to be loaded. The latter was much less emboldened by this heroic plan as Benny was; she hung near me at the back of the group. Like the rest of us, Delphinium was a bit more trustworthy of Benton after his speech earlier. But she was still hesitant; I could see it in the way she watched him like he could turn and grab her at any moment.

Then it struck me: this was the place she'd been taken as a child. This was where her first real brush with Imperium took place. No wonder she was so skittish.

"You don't have to do this," I told her in a voice low enough to only be audible to her. "You don't have to go back there."

She watched me for a split second too long, probably surprised I'd said anything. "Yes, I do."

I understood; she thought she had to somehow pay for what she'd done. I felt the exact same way about murdering the ONNT soldier. Even the thought of it—the melting body, the vacant eyes—was enough to make me nauseous. I often laid awake at night and wondered if anything I did would be enough to atone for what I'd done.

So I told her what I needed to hear. "You don't have to suffer for what they did to you. War makes people do things they'd never do. Survival is instinct. However bad whatever you did was, I think you can start to make it right by trying to do better." I didn't quite believe it, not all the way. But it was what I wished I could believe.

"I was doing so well before," she said softly, like she wasn't sure she was even saying it out loud. "Now it means nothing."

"It doesn't mean nothing," I said, glad to be trying to dig someone else out of their darkness instead of myself. "You were doing so well before. It happened, we all saw it. Now you can be sure you have it within yourself to do it again."

She didn't give an answer—I doubted she had one. It didn't matter; I only hoped she took what I said to heart. And I could only hope the same for myself.

I didn't watch for a response because Arlo said to my other side, "There you go again. We should promote you to our crew's counselor."

"Only if it comes with a pay raise."

"Money-hungry? That's not very moral."

I had no idea why, but I had the urge to look him square in the eye and say, "Maybe I don't want to be completely moral all the time."

With a smile like a knife, he wasn't flustered in the slightest. "Maybe we'll have to test that theory later."

From the tone of his voice, I got a clear picture of what he was insinuating. My face warmed and I hated it. "You wish."

"Though I suppose flirting with a criminal is good enough for now," he continued, watching my reaction. He was trying to make me flustered. And it was working.

"You started it," I said lamely. I couldn't think of anything else to say. My mind seemed to get muddled in his presence.

"You did, Arlo," Jaxon threw over his shoulder as he walked before us. Arlo gave a hiss of disapproval.

"There it is," Benton said, stopping all other conversation. I looked down below, where there was indeed a massive freight ship. There were colorful shipping containers stacked on top, but I knew they were just a front, a distraction as to what would truly be inside.

I scanned the surrounding area; my vision had opened up now that we'd reached the end of the platform. Machinery so large it seemed unreal towered over us while whirring cranes lifted shipping containers onto other ships. The sound of a thousand engines running rang in my ears and reverberated so loud that I could actually feel it in my body. If a fight did break out here—which was inevitable—there were a lot more factors than we'd expected.

"There are no trucks." Jaxon peered over the edge, steel arm reflecting the gray clouds above. "No one's even outside the front doors."

"They're about to leave," Benton concluded, pushing off the railing and beginning to run down the stairs. The rest of us followed his lead. Though my leg had almost completely healed from being sliced open by Delphinium, I couldn't hide my slight limp as I brought up the rear of the group.

Once our feet landed on solid ground, we broke out into a sprint toward the gaping entrance. Still, no guns fired at us. It could have been a trap. It could have been a mistake. But still, we neared.

Then a load-carrying truck pulled up behind us. Perhaps the last load of prisoners. Three soldiers walked out of the ship's entrance but stopped once they saw us. They were dead with a flick of Jake's hand and a series of glinting ice pieces. That left just the Imperium soldiers that were getting out of the truck and preparing to take aim at us.

But they weren't expecting us. Their operation here was so well-covered that they'd probably never had a breach before. Even though we were without two of our own, we out-powered them.

My flames made the new soldiers scramble into Benton, Jaxon, Arlo and Jake who beat and chopped them apart without a problem. Having not fought Imperium—having not taken something from them—in quite a while had renewed the crew's ferocity.

While the others were taking care of the soldiers, Delphinium and I rounded the long truck. Busting open the back doors, we saw at least twenty sets of covered faces turn toward the noise. Two more soldiers stood from the benches when they saw how close we'd gotten to freeing the prisoners.

Before Delphinium or I could even make a move for them, Jaxon jumped forward and clenched his metal fist around their throats until they went limp. He'd wanted to try out his new arm in battle and I figured he was more than happy to do it now.

When the threat was gone, Delphinium and I joined Jaxon inside the truck and began to pull the bags from the prisoner's faces. They were gagged underneath the sacks. As I pulled off bag after bag, faces of all kinds peered up at me with varying genres of fear and anger on their faces. None of them were over the age of thirty. Imperium needed soldiers—young, capable soldiers.

The sound of metal on metal filling the back, Jaxon ripped chains apart. For a moment, Delphinium just stared down at the faces of people who could have had the same fate as her, some deep emotion passive over her features. Then she began to help Jaxon remove the chains with hands hovering over the steel. It was the first time I'd seen her use her power since she came back.

I began to pull the gags out of people's mouths. They began to scream and ask questions, eyes wide with terror. In their understandable confusion, they weren't sure if we were good or bad.

Delphinium speaking in a low voice pulled my attention to the side. "You're free," she said to a shaking woman. Moving to the next, she repeated, "You're free. You're free."

Looking back to the prisoners before me, I mirrored her words as I continued pulling the sacks off their faces.

When every last person was told to run as far away as they could and the back of the truck was filled only with broken chains and discarded burlap sacks, I jumped back out. My leg gave a jolt of pain when I landed, but it didn't stop me from turning to see the other three heading into the open ship.

Jaxon, Delphinium and I followed suit. As soon as my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the ship, I saw Arlo, Jake and Benton already fighting with the flood of soldiers. Jaxon ran to join them. I wondered if the soldiers had to stay inside to keep the prisoners in line, if they weeded out the ones who simply wouldn't obey.

From the looks of it, the entrance to the main room was partially blocked by the sudden swarm of soldiers. If the others couldn't hold them off, Delphinium and I wouldn't be able to get through to the prisoners inside.

I had to step in. So, being sure to gauge where my teammates were fighting, I shot columns of flame into the center of our enemies. The heat didn't affect me; I didn't even look away from the blinding light. The soldiers, however, were not immune to my power. They jumped to either side to avoid being burned alive.

I led the way through the pathway in between the two walls of fire holding the soldiers back. The flames would die out in just seconds; Delphinium and I had to run through. Once we did, I was half-afraid the soldiers would come after us. However, the others saw our predicament and kept them occupied long enough for us to see what was inside. And when I took in what lay before us, my heart plummeted.

It was a large room with a ceiling low enough to feel claustrophobic. And chained to benches that lined the floor were hundreds people with bags over their heads.

I felt sick. If Imperium had their way, these innocent people would be forced to murder for Orion. They'd been taken from their homes—and by the looks of most of them, off the streets—to become soldiers. They'd taken the people that wouldn't be missed, people that wouldn't be looked for once they were gone.

With the fight raging behind us, we got to work again. I pulled the sacks off their heads to reveal countless young people—some still practically children. Delphinium stood at my side, breaking off their chains. Once the prisoners were freed, they huddled against the back end of the room, farthest from the fight. A brave few joined our teammates.

As we worked to free the masses, I finally felt good about something. I'd been stewing for so long in my own guilt. Helping the innocent was a good change. And it made me feel like perhaps I could move on, like I could make a difference despite the blood on my hands.

I saw Delphinium glance to the fight and then back to the long line of prisoners that still needed to be freed. "There's too many."

"There's too many to break out one-by-one," I told her pointedly. "But if we could somehow free them all at once..." I trailed off and let her understand my insinuation. I knew she did when a fleeting look of panic crossed her face. "You can do it. You're more powerful than you think."

"The last time I used my power to that extent..." She bit her lip and her gaze went unfocused. I knew she was remembering.

"Your power isn't evil." I spoke quickly, knowing this had to happen now. "It depends on the way you use it. And you can use it for good now."

After staring at me for a moment in hesitation, Delphinium closed her eyes and concentrated. There were hundreds of chains that still needed to be broken. I knew she could do it, knew she was powerful enough.

The hostage-filled boat erupted into even more chaos as the metal collar around every neck and every cuff around each pair of arms broke apart with a bang. Immediately, the remaining prisoners stood and threw the burlap sacks to the ground. They all faced us.

"You're all free," Delphinium said, her voice bolder than before. "You can leave."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the last of the Imperium soldiers had been cut down. Our opposition was gone.

So, with the hundreds of freed prisoners behind us like an army, we marched out of the boat.