Captain Hwang stares at me, flabbergasted.

  “You did what!?”

  “I just pulled off the largest cyberattack in human history. The Conglomerate will likely never recover. Or, at least their digital infrastructure, anyway. But I didn’t get away cleanly. Can you help me out?”

  She stares at me in shock, eyes wide. Every second of delay is a costly one. The Empowered hacker on the other end and I are in a constant digital dance, bouncing across the planet and even into orbit at the speed of light. I jump from server rack to satellite to radio station, racing just ahead of the electronic hound nipping at my heels. We fly with the photons and dance around the electrons that connect the modern world.

  “Captain Hwang, I’m running out of time. I can only dodge them for so long. Will you cover for me? Your Cyberwarfare division will be more or less framed for some parts of the attack.”

  “Yes, yes! God, yes, okay, we can do that.” She shakes her head vigorously. “What exactly are we going to be taking credit for?”

  I lead the determined hacker straight towards the ROK’s cyberwarfare division’s servers. What’s left of them, anyway. It seems that front hasn’t gone much better than the others have.

  “Best guess? Taking advantage of some friendly fire hacking and stealing large amounts of confidential information from Song Technologies’ newest datacenter.”

  The enemy hacker corners me in a server rack deep underground in ROK bunker. I slam their connection full of garbage data and attack key points along their connection. Given the current state of the Conglomerate’s network, they’re forced to use less hardened systems to even get this far. An effective attack to get someone to stop tracing you, but taking a stand like that makes it obvious where you last were.

  I slip out of the system, leaving behind a download stream that’ll hand off the files I stole.

  “It’s done. Conglomerate cyberwarfare specialist has been disconnected, though they’ll know I was connected from your servers. I’m handing off a ton of data I’m sure you’ll be able to put to good use, including a few rootkits on some C-suites’ phones, but I doubt they’ll be up for long.”

  Captain Hwang runs her good hand through her short cropped hair.

  “Thank you? I just.. don’t know what to say. You’re telling me you just destroyed the Conglomerate’s entire network, set them against each other, and stole information in just a couple of minutes?”

  “That’s the gist of it, yes.”

  She stares blankly at me for a moment.

  “Machina. That’s fucking terrifying. You just crippled one of the most technologically advanced military forces on Earth from the other side of the planet. You did it in less time than it takes to make a cup of coffee. You brought down satellites!”

  I can hear her heart race. Sweat builds up on her forehead, and she shakily takes a step back.

  “*What are you?”

  I lumber into the hangar housing the Australian 5-Star and her portal ritual. After Captain Hwang beat a hasty retreat, I was honestly shocked, and a little betrayed. I didn’t want to scare her. I didn’t want to scare anyone. I just wanted to help.

  I did what she asked. I helped.

  But I’m a big boy. I’ll walk it off. I won’t take it personally. We live in a new, unknown world. The unknown can be terrifying, and I suppose no one really knew what I was capable of until I tried. Not even me. I have more important concerns, anyway.

  Like my upcoming global blitz. By the power of logistics I’ll be clearing six Fractures a day, every day, for two weeks. I’ll be helping all across the globe, saving countless lives, and buying invaluable time.

  Hale, the Australian Empowered is busy drawing out the ritual, floating just above the floor.

  “Eh, you’re here, huh? You’re early, it won’t be done for quite a bit longer.”

  The ritual circle itself is four concentric rings, all drawn in silvery chalk that glimmers with faint traces of Potentia. She continues to draw, laying on the air just above it. Each rune is perfectly drawn, her hand as steady as a machine. Her supernatural body that comes with being a high-Starred Empowered means her hand never shakes.

  “How do you know how to do that?” I ask. I know Morgan’s been doing research on the new fundamental force of the universe, but I haven’t seen her release anything on portals.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “Dunno. Just do,” she says, shrugging.

  I fall silent, her answer not brooking any more questions. I watch as over the next hour she slowly floats over the concrete floor, carefully preparing the ritual circle.

  Once she finishes, she places her hands on it. A huge surge of Potentia flows from and through her. The runes light up with a dull, red. They slowly glow brighter and brighter, and when they become a blinding white, an ovoid portal cracks open.

  “Quickly now!”

  I step through and find myself on the other side of the planet instantly. The portal snaps shut with a pop. Around me is a busy naval yard, dozens of ships bustling with crews going about their tasks. An Australian naval officer approaches me.

  “I figure you’re the Machina bloke we’ve been waiting for?”

  He’s a tall, well built, tanned man. He has a smile on his face liable to outshine the sun, an impressive feat in Australia.

  “Yes, that’d be me.”

  “Well, right this way, then.”

  I follow him, and we quickly arrive at an Australia Navy destroyer. The captain greets me.

  “I’m happy to see you’ve decided to take us up on our offer. We’ve got you for a few days, and I promise you’ll have all the monster slaying and Fracture clearing you’ll want. Please, come aboard.”

  We quickly find out that I don’t fit inside the ship itself. With my size and weight, I’m restricted to the helicopter bay and the gun deck. The Captain, a middle aged man by the name of Jason Anderson, looks chagrined.

  “Well, I don’t quite know how we let that one slip by. Sorry about that, Machina.”

  “It’s alright, Captain. I’ll just be at the bow, if that’s alright with you.”

  “Of course. We’ll be on our way shortly.”

  I watch from my place near the main gun on the bow as the ship pulls away from the dock. It’s not long before we’re cutting through the cerulean sea, the coast line disappearing behind us. The sea is calm, but the ship is charging through it, sending spray splashing over the deck and myself.

  The captain pages me through the intercom. I spliced myself into it the moment I was aboard.

  “How’re you doin’ out there?”

  “Just fine. How long until we get there?”

  “*Ten minutes. It’s about eighty meters down, at the bottom of the seabed.”

  “When I’m done, is there a plan to get me up, or am I figuring that out on my own?”

  “I was told you’ve got a way back up. Should I call something in?”

  Some very complicated math done extremely quickly gives me the answer I was looking for.

  “No, I should be able to jump up from the seabed. I’d get some distance from me though. And I hope you don’t like anything down there.”

  “Understood. Once you’re out, we’ll move off and circle. Let us know where you need us then.”

  Several minutes later, and the ship slows and begins the circle. I look down, trying to see the Fracture through the water. I was able to see Fractures in Seoul and Washington from their Potentia signatures even through buildings miles away. It’s odd that I haven’t been able to see this one at all.

  Deep scans with the more conventional sensors I have tell me it’s there. They might not be able to tell what it is, but they do know something’s there. Eighty-four meters down and a hundred and fifty off the right— starboard— side.

  Still, I can’t see this one like I could the other ones on land. Is this a change with Fractures as a whole, or just a side effect of being underwater?

  “We’ve arrived, Machina. Are we close enough for you?”

  “Good enough. I’ll be back, hopefully within two hours, but who knows.”

  “Understood, good luck!”

  I leap overboard, and rapidly begin to sink. I look up, and the shadow of the destroyer looms over me. The light dims, but it doesn’t faze me.

  I used to be scared of the deep ocean.

  Videos of divers cleaning propeller blades of cruise ships used to scare me. And I just blindly jumped into the sea, with the intention of sinking. Honestly, the descent is peaceful. Calm. I catch signs of animal life, mostly bottom feeders like crabs and starfish. I gently touchdown on the seabed, and make my way towards the Fracture.

  As I get closer to the Fracture itself, I notice why I couldn’t see the beacon I saw with the very first Fractures. Instead of Potentia rising up like it did before, it plunges deep into the ground.

  Why did it change?

  I can’t answer that question, so I focus on the Fracture itself. Yet another thing for Morgan to research.

  It’s Category-3, just like I was told. While I haven’t seen a Cat-3 Fracture rupture, what I can see does give me a sense of closeness, for lack of a better term.

  No time to waste.

  I call the Captain of the destroyer circling above me like a hungry shark.

  “Captain, I’m confirming it’s a Category-3. I’ll be heading in now, unless there’s anything else?”

  “You’re cleared to enter, we have nothing to report. We’ve scheduled two hours for this, but we can make time elsewhere if need be. Good hunting.”

  I step into the Fracture, and immediately begin sinking again. I look down, and see nothing but a yawning abyss, eager to devour me whole.

  Alright. I might still be a little afraid of the ocean.