Three flights of stairs and a good number of incapacitated Integrated later, Luke pushed his way out of the staircase and into what looked like yet another deserted floor that used to be an office. Stains on the floors even showed outlines of where desks used to stand. The expansion into New York was still far from complete, by the looks of it.

  Wounds closing, he listened at the door. The police had been nipping at his heels, but they hadn't seen him entering this floor. As he'd hoped, they continued upward. Sensing their heartbeats, counting five officers, Luke shook his head. Bringing the cops into this was just asking for trouble. Alan had them in his pocket. That had to be it.

  A buzzing made Luke check his phone.

  "Ray? You're calling?"

  "Well, I couldn't reach you on those gems, now could I?" Ray said, sounding out of breath, his tone annoyed. "Why are you whispering?"

  "I'm being chased by cops and a bunch of guards. Hiroki showed up, too."

  "Who?"

  "Nevermind," Luke said. "Are you getting close?"

  "Yup."

  "Listen, I've got a plan."

  To Ray's credit, he did listen before complaining about how Luke's plan didn't give him anything cool to do, but in the end, he agreed to pass it on to the others. Having imparted what he knew of Alan's abilities, Luke hung up and crossed the floor, heading over to the windows. Going up the stairs would be too risky at that point, and the elevator was out of the question.

  "I mean, if Spiderman can do it, why couldn't I?" he told himself, forcing a window open.

  Air rushed in but did not disturb the strange fabric of his robe as Luke leaned out and peered up. He swallowed hard, glancing down. This would not be a fun experience.

  Having honed his skills with Threads of Mana and Weaver's Grasp, the skill that let him use the threads outside of people's bodies, he was confident about scaling the side of the building. Somewhat confident. While he'd yet to gain enough mastery to allow the threads to move through solid objects, cutting through them to anchor himself was something he'd practiced a whole lot during the last couple of days. Trying to hold on for dear life as a dragon tried to buck you off its back gave some real hands-on experience, and Luke was grateful for it as he stepped up on the ledge and reached upward, extending two threads as far as they would go.

  "Four feet. Still not far enough," he grumbled.

  Despite the outside of the building being a mix of cement and metal, threads of mana tipped with Needle of Life dug into the materials well enough. Adding another two threads from his feet allowed for a simple enough climb, as long as he focused on just moving no more than two limbs at the same time. It was slow going, but at least this way, the cops wouldn't get to him.

  After making it three more floors up, the slowness of the climb was starting to get to him. Just as he was about to try a different approach, he heard a sound in the far distance. A helicopter.

  "Not again."

  There was no telling whether it was Alan's or not, but Luke had no inclination to wait around and find out. Climbing up another few feet to reach a set of windows, he readied himself to move back inside, easing off with one thread to pull back for a punch that would give an opening to Weavestep through.

  That punch never landed.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  The window exploded outward with the sound of two cars smashing into each other. Shards of glass cut through Luke's robe, then the skin of his arms, legs, and face as his feet flew back, losing their grip of the building's exterior. Something had flown out through the window with enough speed to catch him by surprise. He'd peeked in and seen that there wasn't a single soul within, but judging by the last few seconds, he hadn't searched well enough. Stupid idea to use his sight in the first place, when he had Weaver's Perception. Whatever it was that'd hit him, Luke almost lost his grip, which would have led to an uncomfortable fall, ending with him as a splat on the sidewalk. This time, he didn't have a Jumper with him, so the end result would have been unavoidable.

  Screaming at the top of his lungs, Luke clambered, reaching with threads to pull himself close to the building. Another weight crashed through the window, clipping his shoulder, obliterating the bone and muscle within. With a yelp, Luke turned to see it'd been a literal weight flying past, the round sort you put on a barbell.

  "It better not be Vasilij in there," Luke muttered as he healed his shoulder and used Weavestep to get inside. Thankfully, it wasn't his old gym instructor waiting for him within a gym that stretched across almost the entire floor.

  "Phew. I did not feel like doing squats today," Luke said, dodging to the side to avoid another weight hurtling straight for his head.

  "What?" the woman in front of him asked.

  She was young, perhaps not even twenty, and short with a thin frame. Her light brown hair was tied back in a braid that rested over her left shoulder, and she wore an oversized white T-shirt and too-large black workout shorts, which made her attempt at a menacing stare feel a little out of place.

  "Nothing," Luke said. "Who are you?"

  "Eva."

  "Nice gym you've got here, Eva. Now get out of my way."

  She moved away and gestured to the open space beside her. "Okay."

  "Nice," Luke said, taking a step forward, past an exercise machine that looked like some sort of guillotine. He didn't want to know what muscles you worked out in something as dangerous-looking as that.

  The whole thing groaned and fell right over as he passed, but it was slow enough that jumping out of the way wasn't much of a challenge. Avoiding the two weights that followed, and the dumbbell that came after those, wasn't quite as easy, but Luke managed it with a well-timed weavestep to the right, followed by one straight toward Eva. She was some sort of caster. That much was obvious, so a punch to the face would be just what the doctor ordered. Rather than connect, however, Luke found himself soaring through the air to slam into the wall with a thud strong enough to push the air out of his lungs.

  Coughing and groaning, he pushed up to his feet. "You lied. Not nice."

  "Did you really expect to just walk past me?"

  "Well, no," Luke admitted, shaking his head. "I know that Alan is in your head, but this is getting tiresome."

  Eva's face twisted into something he hadn't expected to see. Rage. "Alan? I won't let you hurt Dot! She helped my friend walk again!"

  Luke, who'd been approaching her again for another attack, stopped dead in his tracks. "Uh, what?"

  "I know that you hurt her. I'm not an idiot! You won't get the chance to do so again. I've got help coming, but I'd just as soon deal with you myself!"

  "Hold on a moment," Luke said, raising his hands, palms forward in a gesture of peace. "I'm here to rescue Dot."

  "Bullshit."

  Another dumbbell came flying from a blind spot. It clocked the back of Luke's head, throwing him forward and to the side, ears ringing from the impact. "Ow, fuck. Stop that!"

  He might've made standing back up look easy, but it'd taken a whole lot of mana to heal his cracked skull after that. This girl was the real deal.

  "I'm telling you, I'm here to rescue her from Alan!"

  "That's what she told me you'd say!"

  More weights flew at him from every angle. They were difficult to anticipate, since Eva didn't create spellweaves to control them. No, the display of power was a result of some skill, not a spell. What a pain in the ass. That didn't mean he was helpless, though, and he dodged out of the way, grabbing a weight and throwing it straight at Eva's face. He didn't want to hurt her more than necessary, but if he got bogged down here, more people would come to her aid, and then he'd be forced to create another mess. His phone buzzed again. Once, then twice. The cavalry had arrived. Good.

  The weight stopped right in front of Eva, but Luke had anticipated that and had thrown it as a way to distract her. Even as he charged forward, his staff materialized in his hands mid-swing, taking his opponent off guard. It wasn't the strongest of blows, which was a good thing, considering it hit her on the side of her head with an audible crunch. A little harder, and she'd be dead. This way, he could heal her and slip away before she woke.

  Back on the stairs, sounds of alarm reached him from both downstairs and up. Ignoring those climbing from below him, Luke raced upward, climbing toward Dot. Alan was there, too. It was time to end this.