Alex didn't like that life.

"More!" Miss Malone screamed, raising her human arm and revealing a tangle of webs strung between her fingers.

Bzzt.

Blue light flickered around her as a new barrier rose to replace the old. This time, it was no simple wall. Light curved as the barrier conformed to Miss Malone's hrider body. Her long black legs rose a few feet beneath her as it covered her full human-spider form.

"She's going to keep drawing from that well until it's dry." Bolton stood, leveling his pistol at her hand.

Alex's eyes widened as he reached out with a magnetic push. Bolton was aiming at Artur. Alex would not let that happen.

"Stop!"

Bang.

The shot went wild, but the gun stayed in Bolton's hand. He spun on Alex, lining up the barrel with Alex's chest. Alex kept his hand raised, even if he was certain it was the one bullet he couldn't deflect.

Click.

"You need to be reasonable." Bolton pulled back the hammer. "She's going to dangle him until he's dead, and we're dead with him."

"The entire point is to save him. Why else did we come out here?" Alex clenched his teeth. "Do you think Harut is going to pay you if we kill his nephew?"

Behind them, titans clashed as Miss Malone slammed into Drkae. Drake fell back as her arms grabbed him. She wrapped tightly around his body with all eight spider legs as she rode him to the ground. The earth shook beneath Alex as they came to a stop. Bolton's aim never wavered. He was ready to pull the trigger, regardless of what Alex said in the next few moments. Alex wasn't sure what he could do to convince him to do otherwise. The bet to take him along wasn't working out, simple as that.

"We can't collect if we're dead." Bolton moved his jaw from side to side. "She's got no reason to keep him alive other than as a shield from us. Remove him, and we might stand a chance."

The one problem with Bolton's thinking was treating Alex like he would be a reasonable person. However, there was something Bolton didn't know. Artur was one of his crew. He had pulled through for them so many times on the trip from Dry Turtle. While he wasn't the strongest, and wasn't the smartest, the dumb rhyming knight had stuck it out with them. Sure, Artur was the reason they faced most of the problems on the way out, but he hadn't been the one sending Fingers after them.

"He's my friend," Alex said, looking Bolton directly in the eyes. "I'll figure something out."

"Step back, or I'll shoot." Bolton didn't flinch. "I was fooling myself when I thought you'd be reasonable. But I guess everyone has a blind spot."

That was on the head of the massive spider fighting a dragon behind Bolton.

"I can't let you do that." Alex focused his mind, and blue light crackled down his arm.

Bang.

He should have sensed it. He should have had an opportunity to reach out and deflect it. He was a master of magnetism thanks to his curse. However, what he felt in his senses, what he saw cutting through the air in front of him, was a black dot, unrelenting and unable to be stopped.

A bullet, cursed with the power to negate other curses, including his own.

Alex had just a moment to slide to the side, and it wasn't enough. Fire ripped through his shoulder as smoke plumed out of the gun. He dropped. Every muscle in his body suddenly weighed as much as an anchor. The ground punched him in the stomach as he came down, and he rolled onto his back to try to still breathe.

"You can't come to the Core with these half-baked ideas." Bolton stood over him, a black and gray blur as a sun burned in Alex's shoulder. "There's no 'figuring things out' or 'hoping for the best.' You either force your way through, or you lose people. There are no happy endings, brat."

Alex raised one hand, only for it to fall right back down.

Aether flowed out of him like lifeblood. The bullet wasn't just draining his curse; it was drawing out all the aether from his body at the same time. All the enhancements that came with living in a world of magic fled his body. Bolton didn't just negate curses; he negated everything that made the Erth magical.

Bolton was the antithesis of the world.

"Stop," Alex whispered, his voice too weak to carry.

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"You just stay there, Ortega," Bolton said. "I won't kill you because I owe you one for getting me free. After this though, we're even. I'll do the one thing you can't and end this fight."

Click.

In the distance, Alex felt Drake and Miss Malone fighting. Every punch, every kick, shook through the ground beneath him. Bolton drew back the hammer on his revolver, not even moving from Alex's side as he lined up the shot. Alex blinked as he focused his mind. He could still do something. He just needed to get the bullet out of his shoulder.

"Hrngh." He raised his hand, dropping it across his chest almost immediately after in a burst of spent energy.

"Stay still, blast it."

Alex didn't know if Bolton was talking to him or Miss Malone as the ground continued to shake. He also didn't care. All that mattered was getting the bullet out. If Bolton decided he was more trouble than he was worth and finished the job, then at least he wouldn't have to see Artur die. He would still be responsible, but he wasn't about to let go without trying.

"There you are."

Alex dug numb fingers into the open hole in his shoulder, completely blind, but searching for the deadly icy touch of metal. The bullet would have a certain feel, a mix between a hot fire and a cold chunk of ice. He already knew what it felt like in his shoulder. It was just a matter of finding that same feeling with his fingers.

A shock ran through his arm when he hit it the first time, and he nearly fainted from the pain.

"Now."

Alex ripped the bullet out of his shoulder, and his vision came flooding back as he sucked in a full breath of aether. His muscles went alight with a flame as power flooded back into them. It was like they had been starved for weeks, all drained into the bullet in his shoulder. Bolton stood above him, revolver balanced on one arm as he stared down the sight with both eyes. He reached up as Bolton pulled the trigger. His curse flared at his fingertips as he opened his gate.

Boom.

Too late.

The bullet flew out of the barrel, rocketing toward Miss Malone. Alex reached for it. He threw out invisible strings of magnetic force to grab onto the bullet, but his curse just bounced off the metal. The bullet slammed into the barrier around Miss Malone's human arms, cutting through it like a hot knife through butter.

Nothing stopped the bullet from piercing Artur in Miss Malone's open hand. There was no dramatic hit. No loud noises except for the initial gunshot. Artur wasn't sent flying out of Miss Malone's hand. The bullet slammed into him, and he sagged in the webs.

Alex blinked. It wasn't supposed to happen. They still had time to figure things out. They could have tried so many other options before even thinking about shooting Artur. It shouldn't have happened. It wouldn't have happened if he hadn't convinced Bolton to come along.

He was on his feet without realizing. His gate blazed open on its own, forcing its way past the first level of his curse and into the second level without a single thought. Above him, Drake landed a slash of his claws across one of Miss Malone's legs. It broke off from her body, and she let out an echoing scream.

Alex barely registered it.

Blue lightning curled across his skin as metal formed from his body. Gagged spikes erupted out of his arm. It wasn't the normal form, his Junk Arm. It was hard to even call it a technique. It was rage and curse, molded together in the moment's frenzy.

He jumped at Bolton, who raised his arms to defend. Bolton was too close to shoot Alex. They went down together in a tumble. Alex grasped one hand, covered in jagged metal, around the barrel of the gun. Even in his cold rage, he knew he needed to control the gun.

"Get—"

Thump.

Alex punched Bolton's face with his free hand and did it a second time for good measure. When he drew his hand back, blood dribbled down it over Bolton's shirt. Alex raised a fist again and was ready to bring it down until Bolton grabbed hold of his face.

Bzzt.

The same draining cold of the bullet slapped him across the face. The metal across his arm disappeared in an instant, though his gate remained open. The effect when touching his face wasn't the same as the bullet. It was like there was a built in resistance across his skin.

Thump.

Alex brought his fist down again, even as aether drained out of him. Bolton's hand moved, his fingers pushing into Alex's eyes and forcing his head up. Alex kept bringing down his fist. All he could see was Bolton's face. All he could hear were his grunts of pain.

"Ortega!"

Arms wrapped around him from behind and pulled him away from Bolton. Alex fought to get free, but the grip was strong. No matter what he tried, the arms always knew what position to be in to keep him from escaping. Alex didn't understand, but he wasn't in a mind to. All he could see was Bolton scrambling to his feet and running away.

"Let me go!" he jumped against the arms.

"You need to calm down," the voice whispered in his ear. "This isn't over."

Boom.

Alex blinked and saw the battlefield around him for the first time. He stood in a shadow, and only by looking up did he see he was beneath Miss Malone. Grayson held his arms in a lock, and outside of the tangle of legs, Drake paced around them, ready to pounce on Miss Malone's spider body.

They were in a very dangerous place.

"I get it," Alex's voice sounded hoarser than it should have. "Let me go."

"In a second," Grayson said, his eyes roving across the legs before nodding. "Are you in the fight, or am I better off knocking you out?"

"I'm in the fight," Alex said. "Just let me go."

"I'll hold you to that."

Alex's body remained tensed as Grayson released him. It took everything in him not to bolt for the legs and find Bolton. He focused his eyes up at the spider's abdomen above him. While he would find Bolton later, and give the outlaw exactly what he deserved, Miss Malone was just as much at fault. She had started this entire mess to take down Grim Aegis and send Artur fleeing into the hands of slavers. He could vibe with taking her down, if for that reason alone.

He sucked in a deep breath and poured all the aether he could gather through his gate. Lightning crackled across his right arm as he gathered all that power into one place. He raised his hand as a burst of light filled the air around his arm.

"Junk Arm!"

He forced more aether into the arm as the metal appeared, calling it to grow larger than before. He was going to end the fight with one hit. Miss Malone wouldn't get a chance to fight back. She didn't deserve mercy. Whether Drake ripped out her throat, or he took out her heart, she was going down.

"Might!"

He dropped into a crouch, gathering up power beneath him and sending more lightning across the surrounding ground. He pushed down with all his magnetic force. His eyes narrowed as he aimed his entire body and fist at Miss Malone's abdomen.

"Acceleration Piston!"

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