D E L P H I N I U M

As well-hidden as I was, fire burned so brightly I closed my eyes against it.

At first, I'd been ready to throw up just thinking about approaching the Imperium soldiers—the very people who'd stolen me away and made me into one of them. I wanted to be anywhere else, just far away from my abusers. My hands still shook and my throat was still tight with fear.

Finn's sudden waves of fire burned all the Imperium soldiers alive. They ran screaming, flames covering their bodies, until they eventually fell and didn't rise again. I hadn't thought he had it in him, especially not after burning one of our own soldiers alive, as I'd heard from the others. But he'd let his power loose for the good of our friends.

And I hadn't.

When the soldiers began cornering them with the Scorpion, I'd remembered the dream I had—the one in which my team had been slaughtered like animals and my family had blamed me. Would that finally come true today, as I stood back and watched them burn alive under the Scorpion's power?

I'd failed them. Finn shouldn't have had to bear the weight of his mental trauma just to save their lives. Especially not while I stood far out of danger, physically stronger than ever.

Panicking or cowardice? Which was worse?

Most of the Imperium soldiers were dead, their corpses still smoldering. But a few near the Scorpion were recovering. As long as they stood, the Scorpion was still a present threat.

I wouldn't give my dead family any more reason to be disgusted with me. And I wouldn't give my new family my weakness.

The ground beneath the Scorpion began to shake and crack in outward spiderwebbed crevices. The remaining soldiers didn't even have time to look down before the asphalt completely split apart, swallowing them and the cannon whole.

My friends couldn't die because I was too weak to defend them. I owed them more than that.

I wouldn't pretend it didn't cost me; even as I dropped the Scorpion to the depths, I remembered my instructor blindfolding me and forcing me to expand my power. I remembered wire tightening around our prospective client's throat. I remembered my own disgust of myself. But it wasn't as great as my desire to not have any regrets. I couldn't have any more.

The adrenaline began to leave my blood and I leaned against the side of the building. As the others approached, I saw they were all still in one piece, although Kane's nose gushed red and Arlo flexed a hurt hand. A minuscule breath of relief exited my chest when I saw Jake was unharmed—it was bad enough the other two were hurt. He noticed me seizing him up and then promptly looked away.

As we convened in one place, Jaxon wiped his bloody mouth and asked Benton, "What the hell was that? In your rounds of the place you forgot to check for an entire army?"

Giving him a look of distain, Benton said, "They weren't there before. That man you were torturing was stalling for time for them to arrive. Of course, not one of you noticed until I warned you."

"What else did you see in his head?" Riley asked, fiddling with a small knife.

"He was thinking about the setup. I'd say that Rong led us astray, but she didn't know about the false information. Apparently, Imperium planted it to several new recruits to make sure they didn't have any traitors."

"So Imperium doesn't know about Rong yet." Finn ran a hand over his face. "But they'll be suspicious now that we were here." He sounded weary from the power he'd exerted. And the toll it had taken on his conscience.

Benton closed his switchblade and hid it away. "It's not all bad news. I found out where the real facility is—just a bit north. If we make it quick, Imperium won't even know we were there until too late."

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It was dark outside in the parking lot, mist sifting through the yellow light of the street lamps. Behind us, the barbed wire-topped fence was pried open—Kane's work. And ahead of us lay a series of massive buildings sending smoke into the night air.

This place reminded me of the Imperium weapons factories we'd destroyed. But this facility was even consisted of several buildings rather than one—larger of an operation than the weapon developers. And now, we weren't here specifically to destroy; at least, not right away. We were here to investigate how to use this asset to bring Imperium down from the inside.

If we even could. By the size of it, this was bigger than we could deal with on our own. And we were the only soldiers we had.

I glanced at Jaxon. Since he'd scrubbed the blood from his skin, his split knuckles were the only remnant of the fight. Before we'd left for the flight here, he'd been on the phone for hours, speaking in tension-filled hushed tones. I didn't know what he'd been doing; he hadn't bothered to tell anyone. In fact, I wanted to ask him now, but we had to be silent as we approached the facility as to not alert them of our presence.

When my gaze returned to the facility, I saw three figures standing in front of it. They'd seen us coming and were anticipating our arrival after all. That was another assurance that this was the real facility, if the sheer size wasn't legitimate enough.

The three people—all women—seemed to understand who we were without explanation. "We were warned about you," one of them said, an accent in her statement. Her eyes shifted to me. She knew who I was. It made me wonder if the warning was recent.

"Whose side are you on?" Riley asked, dark eyes glittering.

"We make fuel for Imperium's efforts." It was their only answer.

Benton wasn't moved. "Working for someone doesn't ensure your moral support of them." I wondered what he saw in their minds.

The women said nothing more on the subject, but I didn't get an impression of hostility from them. The memory of my threatening weapon factory owners to work for Imperium resurfaced; they'd relented in the end. But they hadn't done it willingly.

"Come in." They turned and beckoned us inside the monstrous place. Hesitantly, we followed. Out of instinct, my hands sought out the two daggers strapped to my forearms. One flex of my wrist and they'd flick into my awaiting palms. After I'd done it, I wondered why I felt the need to. Benny saw their thoughts, and there had been no aggression showed toward us.

If it was possible, the inside of the facility was even larger than it seemed. Machines moved rhythmically, their noises filling the place with a metallic clamor. If I hadn't known otherwise, I would have thought Imperium sponsored the making of the facility with their own constant monetary gain.

"We receive extracts from other facilities," one of them told us, gesturing to the beginning of the assembly line of machines, "And mix them with chemicals of our own to produce what Imperium needs."

"From there, we ship them off to the fortresses. Well, fortress," another said as we faced the ever-growing arsenal of the packaged canisters.

The last woman was watching us rather than the production. "We're not fools. News of what you did to Imperium's forces has spread. We know why you're here. And we plea you, please deal our operation no harm."

News of what we did... We'd made a name for ourselves, but not only as an enemy of Imperium's cause, but also an enemy of anyone who worked for them. While their soldiers were for the cause, not all the workers in the fuel and weapon productions were. My stomach felt like it was sinking as I realized what Orion would have done to the factory workers who'd been too weak to stop us from dealing them damage.

"These workers are innocent," she said, nodding to the few people who were absorbed in their work. "In a way, Imperium might own us, but they do not own this place. If it was gone, they'd have no use for us anymore. It's all we have."

I knew what she was hinting at: if Orion didn't need them, he'd slaughter them for knowing inside information. If we did anything to jeopardize their operation, we'd get them killed.

With a black hole of regret opening in my heart, I wondered if the others had reached the same fate. We'd destroyed several weapons factories, among other smaller things. How many had paid the price?

I hoped the others reached the same conclusion. We couldn't waste any more lives. My conscience was already too heavy.

"I have another proposal," said Jaxon, and I wondered what other options we'd have. Everyone watched him, not sure of what he was about to say.

"What if I asked you to sell Hydrocarbon Petromensium to us?"

"You must be joking," Benton told him with a withering look. "We have no legal sponsor, no weapons other than what we carry and no money."

But as he faced the three women, Jaxon was confident. "My father is a weapons developer who arms the United States military. He's capable of creating weapons to rival Imperium's own. All he needs is the same fuel they have." It took me a moment to realize that Jaxon had foreseen this situation. That was why he'd disappeared earlier: to speak with his father.

The woman in the middle's eyes narrowed. "It's risky for us. If Imperium finds we've been supporting you, they'll take away what little we have."

"It's worth the risk. I've spoken to my father, and he is willing to pay good money. Think about it: he'll make money selling the enhanced weaponry to the military and with two clients, you'll make twice the money. More economic freedom for you. It's a win-win."

A moment passed. Then another. Arlo began shaking his head in defeat and I feared they wouldn't take the deal until the woman in the middle stuck out her hand to shake Jaxon's metal one. "It's a deal. We'll supply Hydrocarbon Petromensium for you as long as it remains a secret."

They shook on it and Jaxon gave them his father's information. The grins on our teammates' faces grew when the weight of it set in: this would even the battlefield between us and Imperium.

Even so, I feared that day would come sooner than any of us expected.