Your lungs burned. Your legs screamed. And somewhere behind you, the heavy footfalls of two very determined security guards were getting way too close for comfort.

The diaper pack was gone — shoved into the crying woman’s arms three turns ago. You’d done the good deed. The stupid, reckless, why did I do that good deed. And now you were paying for it.

The alley was narrow, the ground wet with something you didn’t want to identify. A chain-link fence loomed ahead. You could make it. You would make it.

Then something slammed into you from the side.

The impact sent you both crashing to the ground. Metal flashed in the corner of your eye — an arm, silver and solid — before the weight of the man pinned you down, forcing the air from your lungs.

You shoved at him, palms flat against his chest. He didn’t budge. Not an inch. Like trying to push a brick wall.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

The man pinning you turned his head toward the sound. For a split second, his grip shifted. And that was all you needed.

You bucked, twisted, and flipped him, reversing your positions. Your hand clamped over his mouth before he could make a sound. His eyes — blue, sharp, dangerous — locked onto yours.

You didn’t know who he was. You didn’t care. You pulled on the energy coiled deep in your chest, let it ripple through your skin like a second layer of heat, and pushed it outward.

The world shifted. Colors dulled. The two of you vanished.

You stayed frozen. Hovering over a man you did not know, hand pressed tight over his mouth, making him invisible with powers you’d never used on another person before.

The guards lingered. Then, slowly, their footsteps retreated.

You didn’t move. Neither did he. But his eyes hadn’t left yours.

He’d seen everything.