Leon turned his attention to the rug. Peeling it away revealed a hidden hatch that he ripped off with earthbending.

  The smell hit him first. It was the sterile, recognizable scent of chemicals and medicine.

  Leon descended into the dark, his footsteps silent on the cold concrete. At the bottom, his spatial awareness notified him of new entities. There were small figures contained behind heavy, reinforced bars.

  He held a card, charged with just enough energy to act as a fre. The white kinetic glow illuminated the room.

  He froze.

  Six cages. Inside were children, none who looked older than ten, some huddled in corners, others staring bnkly at the floor with eyes that had seen horrors. On a nearby table sat a tablet with a scrolling manifest.

  Consignment #4: Bio-Stock for 'Project Genesis'.

  > Buyer: Machine Head.

  > Status: Pending Isotope Pickup.

  Trafficking children for experiments…

  Leon's jaw clenched as his hands balled into fists. Cold rage and disgust simmered inside him. He had wondered why there were so many members staying in this one building. It was to protect their "merchandise".

  I should've maimed every one of those damn bastards when I had the chance.

  However, with the police on their way and with him deciding to put these kids under his protection for the moment, that wouldn't be the best course of action.

  What is Project Genesis? This wasn't mentioned or hinted at in the show.

  Leon wondered if this was a sign of his worst fear being true—that this universe was entirely separate from the mainline universe. There was also the chance the project was just something that happened behind-the-scenes and outside the main plot. Either way, neither option comforted him.

  Burying his anger and doubts to the back of his mind, he walked to the first cage. He reinforced his arms and grasped the bars, the metal groaning as he bent it like it was wet straw. The child inside let out a whimper of fear that tore his heart.

  In a frantic attempt to escape, the boy crawled into the very back of the cage and huddled into himself. A closer look allowed Leon to see the bruises along the boy's arms and cheek.

  "No! Please, I'm sorry... I'm sorry for screaming and crying! I won't do it again!"

  What have they done to these kids?

  "…It's okay," he said, trying to make his voice sound soft and reassuring. "I'm here to save you. All of you."

  The boy dared a gnce up, his eyes wide and shimmering with unshed tears. He looked at the white, featureless mask and the sharp, formal silhouette of the man standing before him, and he began to shake. To him, Leon was just a more sophisticated-looking monster like the teleporting man that took the others away.

  Seeing the boy's expression, Leon realized the mask was the problem. It was cold. It was inhuman. But he couldn't take it off. Not here. Not with cameras hidden in the corners of every room.

  He remembered a specific, almost-forgotten pull from his first day. A trait he'd dismissed as a meme. He reached out, his hand gloved in purple leather and slowly patted the boy's head.

  The effect was near-instantaneous.

  The boy's frantic breathing hitched, then slowed. The primal, shivering terror that seemed to have locked his muscles began to melt.

  Leon felt the boy lean into the touch. The "Headpat" trait seemed to be doing exactly what it promised, dispelling the negative mental fog of trauma and repcing it with a sudden, overwhelming sense of safety.

  "It's okay," Leon repeated, his voice losing its muffled edge and becoming soft, grounded. "I've taken care of the bad men. No one is ever going to hurt you again. I promise."

  The boy let out a wet sob, but this time, he didn't pull away. He crawled forward, out of the dark corner, and wrapped his arms tight around Leon.

  Leon moved quickly after that. He went to the other five cages, his hands working with the same calming precision. One by one, the bnk, hollow stares of the other children began to crack, repced by the first flickers of awareness and relief.

  Once the children were gathered in the center of the room, Leon turned to the table and grabbed the tablet. It contained transfer logs, showing multiple locations of other "containment sites" for storing "Bio-stock".

  This is unbelievable… How many have they kidnapped? Dozens? Maybe even hundreds?

  What worried him more was the absence of anything about the b for Project Genesis they sent the children to.

  The faint bring of sirens entered his ears. Time was running out.

  "Listen to me," Leon said, his voice dropping to a soft, grounded register. "The police are outside. They're the good guys. They're going to take you to a hospital, and then they're going to find your families. I have to go, but you're safe now."

  He turned to lead them toward the stairs, but he didn't even make it two steps.

  A small, cold hand gripped the edge of his purple waistcoat. Then another. The boy he'd first comforted was shaking again, his knuckles white as he held onto Leon's tailcoat like a drowning man clutching a raft.

  "Please," the boy whispered, his voice cracking. "Don't go. They'll come back. If you leave... they'll come back for us."

  The other children crowded in, a small circle of trembling shadows. One of the younger girls with a cut lip and a purple bruise on her cheek reached out, her delicate fingers grasping his hand.

  Leon froze. A heavy, sickening knot twisted in his stomach, a physical weight that felt more real than anything he'd experienced before. He thought of Theo. He thought of what his brother would look like if he were tortured in this pce and left behind by the one who saved him right after.

  He did want to stay. He wanted to be there until every single one of them was in their parents' arms.

  But he couldn't. The police were minutes away, and if he were caught here, he knew he wouldn't have the will to stop watching over the children.

  Escaping the police would be easy. Escaping these children's hopeful eyes would be like trying to swim with a body made of stone.

  "…I can't stay," Leon said, the words feeling like lead in his throat.

  He knelt, pcing a hand on the boy's shoulder and another on the girl's head, his touch naturally radiating a calm that seemed to still their frantic hearts.

  "There are more of you out there. More cages I need to break. I have to beat the other bad guys in the city, too. If I do that, you won't have to worry about them anymore. That's why I can't stay. But I'm not leaving you alone. I'm going to make sure no one can get to you until the sirens are at the door."

  He guided them up the stairs into the main lobby. Outside, the blue and red lights were already painting the walls. He didn't have much time left.

  Palms facing the roof, he pushed up, and the floor rumbled with a deep, hollow groan. Around the children, the tiles and concrete rose and smoothed out, forming a protective, seven feet high wall.

  Leon jumped, nding on the wall's rim.

  "Remember to call for help when the police get here, okay?" he urged. "They won't know you're in here otherwise."

  He looked at them one st time. The kids were still staring at him, silent now, but with a look of profound loss that made Leon want to put his fist through a wall.

  Leon didn't say goodbye. He couldn't.

  Now outside, he stepped onto the roof ledge, the cold Chicago wind whipping his tailcoat. Below, the first squad cars were screeching to a halt, their sirens a wail that signalled the arrival of "safety."

  Leon looked down, finding that he couldn't move. His hand tightened on the tablet he'd snatched from the b.

  Consignment #4.

  The word consignment burned in his mind. To the police, these were victims of a crime. But to Machine Head? They were just inventory. Lab rats. And Machine Head was a powerful and influential man who probably didn't like losing stock.

  He thought about the corrupt precincts. Machine Head likely had connections in them. Isotope could also simply reach into a locked room and teleport a child out into another cage.

  If he left now, he was just handing them back to the system Machine Head owned.

  "Damn it."

  He dropped back into the window, descending the shadows of the second floor until he stood before the stone ring in the lobby. The children huddled inside, their eyes widening as the white mask reappeared over the rim of the barrier.

  "I'm back," he said, his voice stained with regret. "You were right. The bad men... they have friends in high pces. They might try to find you again, even after the police take you."

  The boy who had held his coat looked up, his face pale. "Then stay? Please?"

  "I can't stay," Leon repeated, kneeling. "But I can give you a way to call me if you're in danger. A way for me to always find you, no matter where they try hide you."

  He reached into his mind, tapping into the Branding ability he'd held in reserve. It could act as a tether that transcended distance. But this was under the repulsive condition of "owning" the branded individual.

  However, under these circumstances, Leon was more than fine with "owning" children temporarily if it meant they had a safety net.

  He reached his hand over the stone wall, palm open.

  "I'm going to give each of you a mark using my powers," Leon expined, his tone gentle but firm. "It's like a secret signal. If anyone tries to take you, I'll know. I'll know exactly where you are, if you're distressed, or if you're hurt, and I can come to you. It might feel a little warm, okay? Tell me to stop if it's painful."

  The children looked at each other, then back at the featureless white mask. The boy was the first to step forward, offering his small, bruised arm.

  Leon pced his thumb against the boy's wrist. He focused his energy as a conceptual cim.

  A faint, violet light flickered beneath his thumb. A small, elegant brand appeared on the boy's skin, a stylized mark that looked like a silver needle or a key, barely the size of a coin.

  "It doesn't hurt," the boy whispered, looking at the mark with awe.

  One by one, the other five children stepped forward. Leon branded each of them, his jaw set. As the final mark settled, he felt a new map unfurl in the back of his mind. Six steady, rhythmic pulses. He could feel their heartbeats, their locations, and even the faint hum of their anxiety.

  I had a feeling, but these reward descriptions are pretty much incomplete summaries, huh?

  Being able to feel the emotions of those he'd branded wasn't included in the description, and yet, he could clearly do so. It was food for thought.

  "Now," he stood up as the police began to kick in the front doors, "tell the officers everything that's happened to you and about the bad guys here. Just don't mention the mark. That's our secret that you can never tell anyone about. If you're ever in trouble, just think of me, and I'll be there."

  The children nodded their heads, though the sad look in their eyes remained.

  Like before, he didn't wait for a goodbye. The city still had filth that needed to be cleansed.

  He vanished into the rafters just as the first officers swarmed the lobby. From the shadows, he watched them find the stone ring and realize there were children inside.

  The six pulses he sensed moved as the officers began the evacuation. They were safe for now, but more importantly, they were under his protection in more ways than one.

  Leon stepped back onto the roof, the wind no longer feeling quite as cold. He checked the tablet one st time.

  "Machine Head. What the hell are you doing with all these children?" Leon murmured before shaking his head.

  No… It doesn't matter why he's doing this. Now that I know about it, I can't just ignore it. Still, I should see what I can get with these points. Might get something useful for this situation. A skill or ability directly reted to stealth could be nice.

  He stepped off the ledge, his feet catching the air as he sprinted towards the horizon. He had work to do.

  [Feat Achieved! Rescued six victims of child trafficking without a loss of life. Reward: 180 GP]

  [Feat Achieved! Cleared an entire compound of armed men with no loss of civilian life. Reward: 350 GP]

  Leon didn't even look at the notifications. He just kept running until he reached his Suite.

  [Total Gacha Points: 1,801]

  -x-

  Leon sat on the edge of his bed in the High Roller Suite.

  He looked at the luxurious silk sheets, then at his mask discarded on the floor. His mind returned to the children in the cages. He thought of the way the air felt in that basement—sterile, cold, and hopeless.

  There were more of them out there, waiting for someone to come save them. But as far as he could tell, no superheroes were on this case. There was nothing on the news or the online forums dedicated to following superhero and supervilin activity.

  No one else but him knew.

  Machine Head's grip on this city might be tighter than I believed. And here I thought I'd have a jolly good time farming points for the next week.

  He had the tablet and the locations of the other sites. But more than that, he now had a grudge and pent-up rage.

  Machine Head ruined people's lives without a single ounce of remorse. That was something Leon already knew because of the show. But this? He was taking children from their families and turning them into unwilling b rats. As far as Leon could remember, nothing in the show indicated the crime boss dipped his toes in this sickening criminal activity.

  What else is Machine Head involved in?

  He wouldn't be surprised if the kingpin also participated in sex trafficking and every other unsavory "business".

  Regardless, Leon knew the tin head wouldn't take this sitting down. Losing "consignment #4" was a blow to his project and his ego.

  Leon looked at his point total. Nearly two thousand. He fixed his gaze on the celestial nebu outside.

  I think I should spread my tickets again like the first time. If I'm lucky, I could get an ability that has good synergy with one of my current ones, and I can fuse them using the tarot card item from before. There should also be a lot of good rewards in the lower tiers that I'm missing out on.

  Some of his most impactful abilities and traits did come from Bronze and Silver Tickets, after all.

  [Requested 5 Bronze Tickets, 3 Silver Tickets, 2 Gold Tickets, 3 Ptinum Tickets. Cost: 1,800 GP. Confirm purchase?]

  Confirm.