Targets three and six were added with target four at the dry cleaners as the first splatters of rain began to fall. The video feeds showed foggy puffs as everyone exhaled, an indication that it was now quite chilly in the financial district.

　　"Daman, what`s the temperature here?" Daisy asked once their targets were secured.

　　"The internet says& just below freezing."

　　"Good. Right where it should be. I hope I got it right this time."

　　"There`s no sense worrying about it now," Daman bossed. "We`ve got targets to hunt. Five and two are reasonably clustered; we could probably snag them together."

　　"Which way?" Kane asked, and I couldn`t help but be impressed by his professionalism. Given the amount of running he`d already done this morning, I`d be complaining if I were him.

　　"They`re on the other side of the district. Turn right."

　　While Daisy`s breathing became increasingly ragged through the comms, I looked over Daman`s shoulder at the pair of dots moving through a street map, one yellow and one blue, following a computer calculated, optimal path to the next targets.

　　"Will. You. Stop. That!" Daman snapped, whipping around to slap at the air in front of me. "Stop breathing down my neck!"

　　"Sorry." I frowned and took a resentful step back as he untwisted his torso to resume instructing the pair on the streets. And that`s when I heard it- the thundering of raindrops through my earpiece.

　　"Woo-hoo!" Daisy cheered. "Look& at that, Kane!" she panted. "Not quite perfect, but& some of it& is freezing."

　　"It`s coming down hard," Kane endorsed subtly. "Lot`s of pretty puddles, and Kalak, you`d love the ice sheets forming on these buildings." Shivers of anticipation rolled down my spine at the prospect of partying on this new playground. Suddenly I was itching to put my mask on again. It didn`t even matter that I still hadn`t fully recovered.

　　"At the next intersection, Kane, go& left, Daisy, right," Daman`s blas� navigation continued between a series of clicks and tab shifts, the blue and yellow dots diverging from each other on the street map to follow separate red-marked routes. "You`re going to reach your targets at about the same time," Daman said with a grouchy sigh. "Who wants the noob?"

　　"I`ll take him," Kane said, and if they were saying what I thought they were saying&.

　　"Daisy, go up a couple frequencies so we`re not talking over the top of each other," Daman drawled. "You," he addressed me irritably with a dismissive but attention-grabbing flopping of his wrist, "you`re working with Kane. You`ve got target two."Stolen novel; please report.

　　"Yes, sir!" came my embarrassingly excessive enthusiasm, but I let the awkwardness roll off my shoulders and hopped back into my seat to snatch up the mask and mirror. "Kane, give me half a second&. Ok." A quick glance at the abandoned file under my chair reminded me what target two looked like- a brown-skinned, dark-haired, hazel-eyed, cookie-cutter copy of the rest of the training agents; another glance over Daman`s shoulder gave me an approximate location for both Kane and the target.

　　With that, I dove into the mirror, involuntary cackles of delight bursting from my throat for the spectacularly illuminated web I found my reflection surfing through, the brilliance of the beams contributed by Daisy`s freezing rain enlarging the scope of my own gift tenfold.

　　"Kane, I see you, and&." I zipped through the network, finding a fresh patch of ice forming on the side of a stucco wall. "I see the target. He`s near 3rd and Main Street."

　　Slipping and sliding between Kane and the target was exhilarating- guiding Kane, watching the distance to the target shrinking, my ping-ponging jumps between their positions narrowing. "I see him!" Kane said at long last, the grin in his voice hard to mistake.

　　"The target is on the move," I warned unnecessarily and took a quick look around the immediate area. "Kane, see if you can shepherd him into the alley coming up on the right after the next block. Do you see it?"

　　"Yup."

　　I returned to parallel Kane`s chase, watching him somehow accelerate, closing in on the target and angling his approach to choke off movement to the left. Target two took the bait, and Kane followed him into the trap- a dead end. Game over.

　　"Hands where I can see them!" Kane ordered, multitudinous angles showing me the gun Kane had pulled, the target surrendering, and the cuffs snapping securely around his wrists. "Nice call, new guy," Kane said, giving the general area a thumbs up, so I could see it from wherever I was watching.

　　I returned the gesture with a thumbs up of my own that he certainly could not see, tacking on a belated and self-conscious "thanks&. Uh, Kane, if you`ve got everything under control, I`m going to& take a break."

　　"Do what you need to."

　　Pfft&. I puffed tiredly as I set the mirror down, returning to the letdown of reality. I wasn`t sure how long that chase had lasted, but the fallout hit me all at once. I was drained, and my skull pounded loudly with every beat of my heart.

　　"Daisy? Have you got him?" Daman was asking from somewhere in the background of my misery. "Good. Switch back to the normal channel."

　　Static hissed in my ear. "Can you hear me?" Daisy`s cheerful voice grated through no fault of her own.

　　"Yes," Daman said, his voice echoing with his earpiece tuned into the same frequency as mine. And the noise made my head swim. I sucked my breath in through my teeth and folded to rest my forehead on my knees.

　　"Oran?"

　　"I`m alright," I said automatically through a tense jaw.

　　"Take this."

　　The effort it took to lift my head&.

　　Through the holes of the mask, I made out a water bottle being proffered to me. But I knew that efforts to accept it in my current state would be futile. I hesitated.

　　Quiet hands tugged my mask off when I didn`t move, the air hitting my sticky face its own relief. Then, those same hands twisted the cap off the water bottle and nudged my chest up and away from my thighs. "Open," came the soft command, and I obeyed without thinking, a stream of water tipping into my mouth, some of it dribbling down my chin. I swallowed, and the bottle was capped again. "Most common rookie mistake: it`s not good for anyone if you push too hard," Kalak said, setting the bottle down by my feet before walking away, and despite my headache, I had the presence of mind to wonder how someone who looked to be about my age would even know what the most common rookie mistake was. And yet, I didn`t doubt that he knew.

　　"Last target," Daman announced, stretching his arms over his head and arching his shoulders over the top of his seat, his tubby belly protruding. "Only one left is target one."