The ragged man vanished in a murder of crows as the two officers retreated into their vehicle and started off toward Mia's home. Bryce couldn't help but glance back at where the fight he had aimed to stop was. The gang had fled and two bodies remained motionless where the fight happened moments earlier.

11:27 PM.

Baltimore, Maryland "Are you sure we should be doing this?" Mithra asked nervously. "Can't you hear what's happening down there? It's madness."

Mizuno took a breath and told him to be patient. "I know this is causing a bit of a mess right now, but we needed to cut off communication, otherwise we could possibly have been caught by the Baltimore police by now. And we need to remain in one place if Cladis is ever going to find us."

The group of five, Mizuno, Afifa, Melanie, Mithra, and their captive James Resnik, stood on the rooftop of one of the tallest buildings in Baltimore. The rooftop was rather unremarkable. It had a satellite dish positioned near the center of the roof, a plain white railing that surrounded the area, and a large set of generators and air conditioning units (which Mizuno disabled shortly before Melanie began her broadcast, to lessen the overall noise in the area). Afifa remained close to Melanie, who leaned casually against the railing at the edge of the building. Mithra sat cross-legged on the ground with James Resnik, and Mizuno stood with two polished Glock seventeens readied in his hands. Mizuno kept his eyes fixed on the opposite end of the rooftop where a slightly concealed access point hatch remained closed.

Melanie used her ability to broadcast their conversation, as well as everything that happened on the rooftop, across the greater Baltimore area. She jammed all wireless transmissions at Mizuno's request shortly after their group kidnapped James Resnik from the Baltimore Police Department. Since then, she had grown bored and eagerly awaited the inevitable conflict with their foe.

She glanced over the edge of the building and down at the streets below and asked Mizuno why they even bothered with the broadcast. "You're just going to kill whoever this Cladis guy is, so why are we doing this? For the credit?"

Mizuno ma.s.saged the bridge of his nose and told her it was simply to offer their community a sense of relief when the effort was over. "This city, and the world, is not fully aware of the situation here. Cladis has remained hidden for a very long time and he needs to be stopped. I want this broadcast to reach the people of Baltimore first, so they are aware of the threat that lurks in their own home, but I also want the world to know that there are many unchecked threats that need to be stopped. But most importantly, I need to prove that Cladis is real."

"Okay, but where is he?" Mithra asked. "We've been up here for hours and I don't know about you, but I'm starving."

"Why don't we just leave and grab a bite back in Seattle?" Melanie suggested.

"I wouldn't mind grabbing a burger," James chimed in.

"No, we are going to stay here and finish this."

"But he's not coming," Mithra complained.

"Yes, he is," Mizuno flatly told him. "This guy has not once failed to follow the strict pattern he started back in July, so why would he start making mistakes today?" Mizuno waited a moment before he frowned and let out a breath. "I guess the answer is simpler than I thought. He doesn't know we're on the roof of the Transamerica Tower."

Melanie cursed and demanded to know why he sold them out. "Now everyone knows where we are. What the h.e.l.l were you thinking?"

"I realized something about our opponent," Mizuno said with a smirk. "He had no idea where we are."

"Yes, and now he does."

"That isn't the point." Mizuno told Melanie. "Cladis must have typically followed whoever he aimed to kill next for days at a time, simply until he decided to kill them to fit his pattern. That part is not what I find interesting. What intrigues me is how he discovers his next target and how he finds them."

"Wouldn't he have that planned out ahead of time?" James asked.

Mizuno shook his head, "No. For some reason this pattern exists where when one person is killed, another, somewhere within the city, gains an ability seemingly at random. Cladis shouldn't have any idea who that person might be. And unless he has been extremely lucky and found each and every target by pure happenstance, which I doubt, I would wager that Cladis has an accomplice who aids him in finding new targets."

"What are you saying?" James asked him.

"What I'm saying is that Cladis only knows where he's headed or who he's going to kill because someone else is solving the riddle for him."

James looked at him with a perplexed look and asked, "Cladis doesn't have a vendetta against me?"

"I highly doubt it."

"Then this is random?"

"I would almost say it is, except there's a pattern," Mizuno reminded him. "Other than that, yes, it is random, to a point."

"But who would help him?" Mithra asked.

"It's probably someone who knows him extremely well. I'd even go so far as to say it's someone who already knows a lot about this guy and the murders here in Baltimore."

"So you really do want to lure him here?" James asked Mizuno. "Why don't you just teleport me out of the city and foil his plan that way?"

Mizuno told him it was simpler to solve the problem than dance about the issue. "If we leave he could just kill someone else and restart the pattern. But even that isn't a sure guess as to what would happen if we left, seeing as this is an unstable enemy, which needs to be handled carefully."

"And killing him is the careful approach?"

He looked at James and asked how Cladis was supposed to kill someone if he was dead. "I'm not saying this is the best approach to all matters, but it is to this one."

"Is your group usually this tactful?" James asked sarcastically.

Mizuno ignored him and told his team to ready themselves.

Afifa trembled slightly, partly from the chill of the evening and partly from her anxiety for the impending situation. Mithra and Melanie were both irritated with Mizuno for making them hide out in Baltimore for the whole day, and Melanie was even more wroth because Mizuno made her use her abilities to block all radio transmissions throughout the city for the entire day, which exhausted her. James remained where he was and hoped no one would arrive, though he doubted his fortune would be so great, as the killer had yet to fail. Mizuno stood still, with his eyes glues to the rooftop access hatch, while everyone else looked elsewhere.

"When can I stop doing what I'm doing?" Melanie whined.

"Once this is over," Mizuno muttered.

"This isn't even going to matter after you kill this guy, a.s.suming he even shows up," she complained. "So why bother with this?"

"Because what if we do fail?" Mizuno asked rhetorically. "Then the people of this city need to have as much information on why we failed so they can work to stop him. Now please, be quiet and pay attention."

The building's rooftop was quite empty, which left the group with nowhere to hide and nowhere for Cladis to suddenly attack from. Everyone within the group was worried about the emptiness of the area when they first arrived, but since they had sat there for hours without so much as a single bird landing there next to them, the whole lot, with the exception of Mizuno, lowered their guard.

"He isn't coming Mizuno."

Melanie hardly finished her last word when the steel hatch at the other end of the roof flew open and into the air, freed from the hinges it had previously been fixed to. The airborne hatch came hurdling down toward the group and cause them to split their ranks quickly to avoid the object. Mithra and Melanie dove right while James and Mizuno (who pulled Afifa along) evaded to the left.

"Where is he?" Resnik asked them.

Mizuno paused for a moment, searched the area, and asked Mithra to play his part. After a moment everyone within four city blocks lost their sight.

The unseen a.s.sailant cleared his throat and asked if the trick was supposed to impede him at all. "Or are you simply trying to even the odds, considering you can't see me?"

"It's something along those lines," Mizuno told the man as he silently and swiftly dashed around the individual. His voice carried and echoed out from different places and in no seemingly traceable pattern as to where he came from or where he moved to next. "I'd say first things are first; are you Cladis?"

The man admitted that he was. "Why do you ask?"

"I need to know to make sure I kill the right person."

"How do you know I'm not lying?"

"Oh, I already a.s.sumed you might, but thus far you fit the basic description."

"Which is?"

"Invisibility, super human strength, electronic manipulation, and an odd little trick that allows you to brand your enemies," Mizuno rattled off. "Tell me though, does that stem from another power, or is it a simple parlor trick?"

Cladis gave a slight laugh and said it was nothing he should concern himself with. "So, am I the individual you hope to kill?"

Mizuno said he was as sure as he believed he could be. "Now let me ask you this: why are you killing all of these people? It's obvious you're not collecting abilities, so what's your motive?"

Cladis told him it wasn't his business. "Why on earth should I tell you anything?"

Mizuno admitted that it wouldn't benefit him, but said it was strictly curiosity. "If you don't want to talk about that, can I ask who you're working with?"

The invisible man asked what he meant. "I work alone."

Mizuno called his bluff and told him he knew he worked with someone. "This pattern is extremely complex, so complicated it's nearly on the verge of impossibility, seeing as there is no way I've seen for a chain of people who happen to cross paths to gain some sort of super human ability one right after the other, especially within the same city."

"Do you expect me to tell you everything?" Cladis asked him. "I'm well aware of the transmission you're making right now."

"Of course you are, otherwise you wouldn't be here and James Resnik wouldn't be endangered and your little chain of events would breakdown."

"It isn't that simple."

"Explain that to me."

"I gather you've followed this with more than a mild interest?"

"Yes."

"Then you're aware of the discrepancy with the twelfth murder."

"I am."

"Then you can realize that there is not always a single target, but multiple possibilities."

"Then who was the true twelfth victim?" Mizuno asked him. "Was it Jenna Bell or Ryan Sage?"

"Does it matter? They're both dead."

"True."

"How much more of these meaningless questions do you intend to subject me to?" Cladis inquired as his interest in the situation waned. "You seem to me to be quite intelligent, so you should know what's going to happen here."

"And what's that?"

"I'm going to kill James Resnik and then each and every one of you here."

"I highly doubt that."

"How do you expect to kill me if you can't see me?"

Mizuno chuckled and told him he was more than capable of hitting a target in the dark.

Cladis lunged toward where James Resnik stood moments before total blindness overtook the entire area, but his effort was foiled as Mizuno shot him twice in the back and once in his lower left thigh. Mizuno rushed at the man through the darkness, seized him, and threw him off the edge of the building.

Mithra let his power go so they all could see while Mizuno walked to the edge and looked down to see whether his efforts were successful. All he saw at the bottom was a large crater in the street below.

"You got everything, right?" Mizuno asked Melanie.

She didn't answer.

The foundations of the building shook so violently that Mizuno nearly lost his balance and fell over the edge. He looked at the group and realized he'd made an uncalculated error. Mithra, Melanie, James, and Afifa were huddled together away from him near the center of roof. He told them to scatter, but no one managed to move before the area they stood on was destroyed and a broken, scarred, and bleeding man resurfaced.

Cladis stood, or tried his best to do so, as his limbs, ribs, spine, skull, and nearly every other bone in his body was broken. He managed to keep an iron grip on Mithra and James while the two girls retreated from the monster. Mizuno's eyes flashed, but he failed to glean anything from the fiend. Cladis' bones protruded through his skin, as did parts of his muscles and organs. He bled profusely, his body was contorted into a hideous form, yet while he remained where he stood, his body repaired itself and his hold on the two men grew tighter.

Mizuno rushed forward with two weapons in his hands and shot off all of his remaining rounds at the regenerating foe. He landed thirty-one bullets straight into Cladis' skull and heart, but the man refused to fall. Cladis only continued to reconstruct his body as each of the metal slugs were purged from his system.

"d.a.m.n it," Mizuno swore under his breath. He discarded the weapons and regretfully told Afifa and Melanie that they needed to leave. "

Mizuno made it to the edge and heard Melanie scream as Cladis killed James and Mithra right in front of her. Mizuno glanced back and watched as Cladis lunged at Melanie and tore her head clean off her torso. Mizuno swore again and dove off the building with Afifa in his arms, though Cladis continued to pursue them over the edge. The monster nearly caught the pair, but a bright ray of light erupted from where the two escapees were over Baltimore and they vanished before the monster could reach them.

9:50 PM.

Seattle, Washington Rachel continued to lead the way and hadn't stopped since she and Vladimir uncovered the second part of her ability. She was even rather excited to explore the city with her newfound power, which was the direct reason her complaining ceased, which was a relief to Vladimir. However Rachel's only basic understanding gave her slight unrest, since she couldn't completely tell what an evil spirit would feel like or what it would appear as.

"Where are we now?" she asked Vladimir.

"Pioneer Square," he told her, "Do you see anything?"

"No, I'm sorry."

"It is not your fault, so please do not worry about it. Let us press onward though."

The pair walked down a cobblestone path while Rachel scanned the crowds and saw the worth of their souls. The further they walked the darker things became, so much so that she began to worry about the foreshadowed event altogether.

"Are you sure we shouldn't wait for Pyotr to help us?"

Vladimir glanced at her, saw her trepidation, and rea.s.sured her that everything was under control. "Cipriana may be immortal, but she is not empowered by any means."

"So if we find her there won't be a fight?"

He shook his head and said there would be someone there to protect her. "She is not that foolish. However, the incident will be minimal in comparison to some of the other quarrels I have had the misfortune of partaking of."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Although Pyotr and I have the primary task of vanquishing Constantine and his followers, I have been known to seek out and destroy other forms of evil whenever they present themselves."