The auction facility was carved into Madripoor's bedrock—a fortress designed to protect the world's most dangerous merchandise.
I stood with Elektra in the main hall, surrounded by hundreds of criminal elite bidding on stolen alien technology. The air was thick with tension and barely concealed weapons. Crystal displays showed the Dominator tech—neural interface weapons, psionic amplifiers, enhanced soldier protocols.
Worth millions. Maybe billions.
And in less than twenty minutes, AIM would attack to steal it all.
I reached out with my telepathy, carefully mapping the facility's security force. Sixty guards—ex-military, well-trained, but not enhanced. I could control them all if I pushed, but maintaining that many minds simultaneously was exhausting.
*Everyone in position?* I sent through our private network.
*Vault access identified,* Felicia responded. She'd infiltrated as catering staff hours ago. *Waiting for your signal.*
*Ready,* from Elektra beside me.
*Security teams briefed,* from Silver, who was coordinating with facility command.
The auction continued. Slick auctioneers presented weapons that could destabilize nations while criminal elite bid casually, as if discussing stocks rather than instruments of mass destruction.
7:50 PM. Ten minutes until AIM's scheduled attack.
I deepened my connection with the facility's security forces, preparing to coordinate them like chess pieces. Sixty minds, soon to move as one under my direction.
Through my telepathic senses, I felt them approaching—enhanced minds moving with military precision. Twenty soldiers, shielded against my direct control but not invisible to my detection.
*Contact in five minutes,* I sent. *Felicia, start moving toward the vault. Everyone else, positions.*
The auction hall was oblivious. A neural disruptor sold for eight million. Psionic amplifiers went for twelve million each. The criminal elite bid higher, completely unaware that in minutes this place would become a war zone.
Then I felt it clearly—the enhanced soldiers breaching the outer perimeter.
*Contact. They're early. Felicia, go NOW.*
The service entrance exploded.
Chaos erupted instantly. Enhanced soldiers poured through, weapons firing. The auction hall became a panic—criminals diving for cover, security scrambling, alarms blaring throughout the facility.
I reached out with my mind, seizing control of the sixty security personnel. Through their eyes, I saw the battlefield from dozens of angles simultaneously.
*Team Alpha, defensive positions at main corridor. Team Bravo, flank east. Team Charlie, protect the auction floor civilians.*
Sixty voices responded as one. Their bodies moved with unnatural coordination, every action synchronized through my telepathic direction.
But AIM's enhanced soldiers were immune to my direct control—their psionic dampeners worked perfectly. I could only coordinate the forces fighting them.
"Contact!" Elektra's voice as she engaged two soldiers. She moved like liquid death, her sai finding gaps in their armor. But these weren't normal opponents. Enhanced strength, enhanced speed, enhanced everything.
Silver's voice through comms: "West entrance breached. Five hostiles. Redirecting Team Delta."
I pushed the controlled security forces harder, making them fight beyond their normal capabilities. It was like conducting a violent orchestra—sixty instruments playing a symphony of coordinated violence.
But we were losing ground. AIM soldiers were cutting through defenders with horrifying efficiency. Enhanced augmentation trumped coordination.
*How long until Felicia secures the tech?* I asked.
*Three minutes,* from Felicia. *Vault security is tough.*
Three minutes we didn't have.
"Elektra," I said, "we need to hold the main corridor. Block their path to the auction hall."
She looked at me, saw the determination, nodded. "Together then."
We moved to the corridor—the direct route from the breached entrance to the auction hall. Eight enhanced soldiers were advancing in perfect formation, weapons raised.
The first one charged. Elektra intercepted, her sai flashing. He went down, but three more were already engaging her.
I used everything I'd learned—combat techniques from Maya, assassination arts from Elektra, military tactics from that Marine. Blocked the first strike, dodged the second, countered the third.
But I was still just human with training. Not enhanced.
A punch caught my ribs. Something cracked. Another blow to my shoulder made my arm go numb.
Through our mental link, I felt Elektra's concern, but she was fighting four soldiers simultaneously, barely holding her own.
I tried a different approach. If I couldn't control the soldiers' minds, maybe I could affect their bodies. Their pain receptors, their balance, their inner ear.
I pushed hard, telepathically overloading the nearest soldier's sensory processing. Made his balance fail, his proprioception go haywire. He stumbled.
Elektra capitalized immediately, her strike dropping him.
But I was bleeding now—nose, mouth, probably internal injuries from the beating I was taking. The strain of controlling sixty minds while disrupting enhanced soldiers was destroying me.
*Felicia, status!*
*Vault secured! Tech acquired! Moving to extraction!*
Thank god.
"Fall back!" I shouted to Elektra. "She's got it!"
We retreated, fighting every step. Enhanced soldiers pursued, but Silver's tactical genius came into play. She'd positioned automated defenses to create choke points, forcing soldiers into kill zones where concentrated fire could overwhelm their augmentation.
One by one, they fell—not from our direct combat, but from Silver's strategic brilliance using every available resource.
When the last soldier dropped, the facility fell eerily quiet except for alarms and groaning wounded.
-----
"Facility compromised! Evacuate!" Silver's voice through facility-wide speakers. "All auction participants, evacuate immediately!"
The criminal elite fled in panic, abandoning millions in bids. Perfect cover for our extraction.
I released my control over the security forces, letting them handle cleanup. Through my telepathic connection, I felt their confusion—they'd fought with unusual coordination but couldn't remember why or how.
We regrouped at the extraction point. Felicia had the Dominator technology secured in specialized containers. Elektra was bleeding from multiple wounds but still upright. Silver looked exhausted but satisfied.
And I felt like I'd been hit by a truck. Multiple cracked ribs, internal bruising, bleeding from overusing my telepathy.
"Mission accomplished," I managed, wincing. "Let's get out of here."
Our extraction was pre-arranged through Silver's contacts—a ship leaving for international waters within the hour. We made it aboard just as Madripoor's security forces finally responded.
As the island faded behind us, I finally let myself collapse.
"That was too close," Felicia said, examining the secured technology. "But we got everything. Every piece of stolen Dominator tech."
"At what cost?" I gestured at our injuries. "We're all beat to hell."
"But alive," Silver said firmly. "Against twenty enhanced soldiers with psionic dampeners, in hostile territory, we won. That means something."
She was right. Six months ago this mission would have been impossible. But we'd trained, grown, become something more than powerful individuals.
We'd become a family. And that made us formidable.
-----
The ship's medical bay was basic but functional.
Silver, with field medic training, worked on patching us up. Elektra's wounds were mostly superficial despite all the blood. My cracked ribs would heal in weeks. Nothing life-threatening.
"You fought well," Elektra told me as Silver wrapped my ribs. "Not expertly, but well enough."
"High praise."
"Take the compliment." She winced as Silver cleaned a cut on her arm. "Another year of training and you'll be genuinely dangerous in close combat."
"I'm already dangerous."
"With your powers, yes. In pure combat?" She shook her head. "You're competent. That's not the same."
Silver interjected, "Your telepathy today was incredible—controlling sixty minds while coordinating complex tactics while disrupting enemy soldiers. That's beyond anything I've seen. But Elektra's right about personal combat. You need to accept your role as coordinator, not front-line fighter."
I thought about that. They weren't wrong. My greatest strength was my mind, not my body. I'd been so focused on learning to fight that I'd neglected developing the strategic thinking that made me truly valuable.
"Alright," I agreed. "More focus on leadership and coordination. Less on trying to match enhanced soldiers in hand-to-hand."
"Good." Silver finished bandaging my ribs. "Now rest. It's a long voyage home."
-----
That night, I found Silver on the deck, watching stars.
"Thank you," she said quietly when I joined her. "For including me in this. For trusting me with your family."
"You earned it. Your tactical expertise saved us today."
"That's not what I mean." She looked at me. "I've spent fifteen years as a mercenary. Always professional, always distant, always alone. And in two days, you gave me something I didn't know I was missing—genuine connection."
"That's what family does."
"Is it really that simple?"
"The connection is simple—we choose each other. Maintaining it takes work, honesty, vulnerability." I took her hand. "You'll see. Being part of this family means carrying each other's burdens, sharing joys. Being known completely and loved anyway."
"I think I can handle that," she said with a slight smile.
Through our mental link, I felt her sincerity. Silver Sable had found her place.
And we were stronger for it.