Ari thrashed, but she couldn't get a good enough angle to do any damage. She slapped behind her, managing to tug on some hair. Her assailant yelped.

"Stop it! I'm trying to help you!"

She paused. Gingerly, her captor loosened his hand. Without hesitating, she sank her teeth into the flesh.

He yelped again, leaping back from her and waving his hand in the air. She licked her lips, tasting metal.

"You're a wild cat, you are!" he said, reproachful. He was a tall, spindly boy in an over-large checked shirt and smart trousers. Thick glasses rested on a thin nose.

"You're the one who grabbed me! What was I supposed to think?"

"I needed your attention, and I didn't want the Peacekeepers to see me, okay?"

"Well," said Ari, folding her arms, "I'm here. What do you want?"

There was a good two metres between them, now. If Ari needed to run, she could probably make it. At least, she had enough time to blast him with the battery necklace around her neck, if needed. She eyed him, uneasy. Seeing her suspicious face, he held up his hands, palms facing towards her.

"I don't mean you any harm. My name is Rale. I'm a journalist for The Conspicuous Conspiracy."

"That gossip-filled trash?"

He flushed. "We like a good conspiracy, that's all! Just because the proof hasn't been found yet doesn't mean it's worth any less!"

"Or as other people call it, gossip."

"Call it what you will," he said in a heated voice, eyes bright behind his glasses. "We have sources all around the city and we print what people want to read about. And right now the weird explosions are a heated topic."

"No kidding." Ari was unimpressed.

"I have a proposal."

She narrowed her eyes. "I don't want extra baggage. I just want my sister back."

"It's no extra baggage. You want your sister back, I want information. You have your ability, I have my sources. We can help each other."

Ari wanted to dismiss this strange boy's proposal. Instincts tell her he was just winding her up, wanting to manipulate her so he could write a piece about how gullible The Transformer was. But something in his voice and in his manner made her think he, too, wanted to know the truth about what was going on. And with Shon unwilling to help her, the Peacekeepers and Investigators being less than assuring, and no-one else to rely on, perhaps Rale was her only chance.

"I'm listening."

"Come to my office tonight. I've things to show you to prove I'm not lying to you."

"Fine."

"Area Eight, Apartment Thirteen of Block Forty-Nine."

"I'll be there."

****

The sun was setting; the last of the beams bounced off the slanted windows on the opposite building, creating a glare. Ari fidgeted, dangling her legs to the massive drop below. She was too early, but time passed so slowly when Mina wasn't around. It was strange. Mina didn't like Ari's overbearing presence and insistence in helping her with work, but when she had nothing to do, Ari was bored. The worry gnawed away at her concentration so she hadn't even been able to block away her thoughts to play. Her journey to Area Eight from Area Seven – across the complex administrative buildings that centred March City – was a quiet affair. She couldn't even make herself enthusiastic about the journey. The lit roads winked up at her. The pod cars zoomed by like little balls on wheels. A few of the glass windows opposite lit up as students returned from school and work; this area did not have dimmed, one-way glass panes.

She sighed. By the time she found Rale's apartment building and pressed the bell on the slightly grimy keypad, her mood was still low. Worry gnawed in her stomach, a wholly new sensation to her. The dimmed glass pane of the apartment building door reflected her anxious expression.

The scanner ran a green light across her face. Her identity flagged up on the screen beside the door. Ari of Class 5A. The Transformer. Rank A User. She cringed.

"Yes?" came Rale's distorted voice through the communication device.

"It's me." It should have been obvious. Perhaps the transmission was faulty, as the scanner had picked up her identity easily enough. Without another word, there was a low buzz. The weathered metal door slid open, revealing a narrow corridor within, with two lift doors at the end. They were square and noisy, clanking all the way to Rale's apartment, unlike the slick, smooth elevator cylinders in Area Seven. Whenever it shuddered, Ari wondered if it would plummet her to her death.

After what felt like an eternity, the doors slid open, revealing a balcony that overlooked March City, shared by all the apartments along that floor. She knocked on the door of apartment thirteen.

The door slid open just a tad. A suspicious eye peeped at her, relaxing when Rale recognised her face.

"Come in."

Ari stepped through, slipping off her trainers at the door.

"I'm surprised you're on time," said Rale, sliding the door shut behind him.

She stared out of the window, saying nothing. The sun had gone down, leaving an oppressive darkness interrupted by balls of light. She turned around again. Rale's 'office' was essentially his single-room accommodation. A foldable bed was tucked against the wall and a widescreen computer took up most of the far wall space. Cushions lay on the ground around a small wooden table, on which were scattered numerous old articles and hastily-scribbled bits of paper. A hard drive the size of a pod chair leaned against the far corner where a few packets of instant food were stacked together.

"I thought The Transformer is renowned for not caring enough about anything to be punctual."

"I care enough about certain things," she said in a quiet voice. "And don't call me The Transformer."

Rale tilted his head, his intelligent eyes were fixed on her face. "Why not? That was the title bestowed upon you when you ranked in the top ten of March City."

"Yes, when I was ten. The title gets snobbish after a year. I'm just Ari."

"Humility, huh." He clicked his tongue and raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't expecting that."

"What do you mean?"

Rale shook his head, holding his hands in front of him again in a peaceful gesture, like he did the first time she met him.

"I'm not here to pick a fight, Ari. You want to find your sister, I want information about these 'terrorist' attacks. Like I said, I can help you out – if you'll give me the information you find. Have a seat."

Ari crossed her legs and sat on one of the cushions he'd gestured at. "And you'll tell me all you know about these explosions?"

"Yes. Everything I have. You'll have full access to all the files on this case."

"How do I know I can trust you? How do I know you won't sell me out to the Peacekeepers?"

He met her eyes with a steady look as he sat across from her.

"Because I'm the only way you can get Mina back."

Ari swallowed. He was right.

"Fine."

"Let's get to work, then." Rale's tone turned business-like in a snap.

The hard drive in the corner bleeped at his gesture. He shuffled towards the screen and swept his hand across the surface, bringing up several pages at once. Tapping with expert fingers, he inserted his commands with a small touch-pane Ari hadn't spotted in the corner and brought up a series of old news reports. The news reporter was a different person, an older girl with glasses.

"This is from two years ago," said Ari, noticing the timestamp.

"Yes." Rale issued another command, turning on the volume.

"...three missing from the explosions that rippled through the Star Shopping Centre in Area Five," said the reporter. A video of the smoking building played in the background, with students running in terror and Peacekeepers trying to restore order. Ari remembered the area being sealed off for renovation after the damage. Large sky bridges subsequently sprouted in place of the glass buildings, igniting the leisure area in a forest of light. "Investigators have detained several scientists affiliated with a similar project and are undergoing interrogation..."

"I remember this," said Ari, frowning. "But I thought the whole project was expunged due to the dangers it brought and those involved got punished."

"Not all of them. One escaped before the Investigators closed in on the labs."

He tapped again on his keyboard and brought up another screen. A tall boy in a yellow cloak stared with gravity at the camera.

"The Investigators have arrested a group of people believed to be responsible for these attacks. Trials are on-going, although the sentence is expected to be the most severe."

"But the news didn't report the whole truth. You notice how the buildings are cracked down the middle? And how the debris are far from where they started?" Rale paused the video and pointed. The jagged crater in the centre of the ruined shopping centre was similar to the bombed exam building. The glass windows were blown out. Severed laser optic fibres dangled over it instead of pulsing streaks of light that conveyed information across the city. It was as if the same person had done it. "It's the same chemical composition, same pattern, same unexplained aetiology. It's no coincidence."

"So you think one of them escaped jail? After two whole years?"

"No." Rale sat down at the table and flicked through the paperwork. "My source tells me one of them did escape being caught, but she later committed suicide when the Investigators were closing in on her. I believe this is the work of a protégée, continuing their work."

"Work on what? Bombing March City?"

"Ah." His eyes gleamed. "This is where you come in. Two years ago, there were disappearances also, but they were never found. This time, it's exactly the same. Each time there was an explosion, at least one person died."

"You think it's suicide-bombing?" The more Ari listened to Rale's thought process, the more bizarre it seems to her.

"None of the Users who died had anything to do with the group. No, this sounds more like energy overload. Surging. The damage can't be anything synthetic."

"I thought only high level users were at risk of that."

"That's true. And none of the ones that died were higher than a Rank C User. Which begs the question... Where did the energy come from? Was it man-made? Has a drug been created to increase the ability potential? Because in the wrong hands, this is a dangerous weapon. And nobody goes into Area Six now."

"Yeah, the land's unstable and the experiments have polluted the air. It happens."

"A tad convenient, don't you think?"

"This is ridiculous," said Ari, getting up. She had had enough. "These conspiracy theories are nothing more than that. Theories. You're getting carried away with these wild ideas. It's been two years -- is this sudden interest because your trail's been dry for so long? You're seriously thinking some scientist passed on her crazy power-up research and now they're using it to blow up low-level users?"

"That's not what I'm—"

"I've heard enough. You don't have any evidence for any of it. I'm leaving."

She turned and marched to the door. Rale remained by the table.

"I think they're experimenting on Users."

Ari froze, her hand on the swipe door.

"That's illegal," she said, not turning around. Her blood chilled at the very thought.

"That's why nobody knows about it. What if the explosions are failed experiments? What if they're kidnapping the kids who disappeared? What if..."

Ari could hear the curl in his lips as he uttered the next words.

"What if they're experimenting on Mina?"

Behind his thick shiny glasses, Rale had a sly gleam in his eyes, having gotten Ari's attention at last. Her hands shook. Her heart fluttered, out of control.

"They wouldn't," she said, her mouth dry.

"Have you ever seen Investigators struggle with any cases they've come across? You have a friend in the Peacekeepers. Perhaps he can vouch for how good they are at their game. The case from two years ago is unprecedented, and it's happening again."

Ari heaved a breath. "I can't do anything. I'm just a citizen."

"Your friend's a Peacekeeper. You can get away with more than the average student in this place. Plus, even when the areas are sealed off, your gift can deal with the tech."

"You've been planning this." She didn't want him to sense her surprise.

"I've been having my suspicions for a while." He paused. "What will you do, Transformer? Are you going to stand idly by? Mina's not the only one who's missing. Countless numbers of teens have disappeared in these past few months. They're all low level Users, just like Mina. Will you do nothing?"

She would. Ari hated trouble. She'd let the Investigators get on with their work, incompetent as they seemed so far. She felt a pang of pain as she touched the battery necklace Mina gave her for her fourteenth birthday. It was never used, but the gesture and thought that had gone into it had brought tears to her eyes. Now that Mina's involved with all this mess and Ari could potentially be the only one who can rescue her...

With her heart thumping, she nodded.

"Tell me what to do."

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