Ari's phone beeped as she leapt towards the smoking exam dome. With one hand, she uncurled the extension that turned the driver-shaped phone into an earpiece and snapped it behind her ear. Her battery necklace slammed against her throat as she hopped from surface to surface.

"What is it?" she yelled, plunging onto ground level and bolting into the air again. Sunlight bouncing off gleaming panels of glass winked at her. Car pods sped along the roads, becoming minuscule far below.

"Oh no. You are not heading to Dome Ten!" Fris's scandalised voice sounded clear in her ear as if she were right next to Ari. "Peacekeepers and Investigators are heading there!"

"Mina's in Dome Ten. I have to go!"

"Don't interfere. Ari, please!"

Ari brushed off the panic in Fris's voice. She bounced off Dome Five and landed on the telecaster mounted on Dome Six, scouting out her route.

"Breaking news: an explosion in Dome Ten of Area Three has interrupted the first year's preliminary exams. Investigators are currently sealing off the area and awaiting Healers' arrival. Investigators are urging students to stay away from Dome Ten and all nearby exam areas. More information to come."

Healers hadn't even arrived yet. Mina could be crushed beneath lightning-resistant alloy and nobody would find her.

"Look, I'm going in," she said shortly, removing the ear-piece.

"Ari, don't—" Fris's voice cut off.

Ari jumped onto Dome Six and slid down the back, electricity crackling off her and dissipating into the air. The light on the ground flickered when she landed, her bag bumping on her lower back. The teleporters nearby were locked down, damaged by the explosion. Getting any closer from high up would catch unnecessary attention.

The acrid scent of smoke filled her nostrils as she neared Dome Ten, making her eyes water. Students clustered, wearing tense expressions, murmuring amongst themselves. Reporters spoke in grave tones at hovering cameras. Telecasters, normally displaying exam information, flickered on and off, their images distorted. Debris crunched beneath her trainers. Adrenaline and the last remaining traces of electricity tingled in her body.

Up close, the exploded Dome Ten was an even more harrowing sight: deep jagged lines ripped up its surface, flickering flames briefly illuminating the crevice in the centre. It must have taken a great deal of energy to even cause a crack, let alone blasting it into chunks like this. If Mina wasn't blown up or crushed by the debris, she would burn alive or die of smoke inhalation.

Ari pushed past the anxious spectators, soon reaching a projected barrier that spanned from the domes on either side. Peacekeepers in green ponchos barked instructions at students, keeping them away from the threshold. Ari scanned their faces, not recognising any of the faces behind dark goggles. She followed the barrier from afar, keeping an eye on the Peacekeepers' movements. There was a space as the barrier dipped in to avoid a street lamp. Ari ducked under it and continued around the edge.

The Investigators wouldn't find Mina, even with their vast network and jurisdiction over the city. Tens of students had gone missing over the past year and none of them were found; Mina would be just another statistic if Ari put her trust in them like Fris suggested.

"Hold it right there!"

Ari winced. Speaking of Investigators.

She whipped around at the snap of a stun gun firing. The dart bit into her exposed upper arm, making her yelp. Pins and needles tore through her body, making her muscles spasm. Electricity. Drawing the energy into her core, Ari threw her arm out and redirected it back the way it came with an earsplitting crack. A girl screamed. The smell of burning alloys made Ari cough.

Blinking away tears, Ari held the charge from her battery necklace in her hand, ready to throw a another bout of electricity out — only to find her attacker, a girl her age, trembling on the ground, breathless and glaring daggers up at her through dark goggles. A lemon yellow cape half-covering her black uniform told Ari she was an Investigator. The burnt-out stun gun lay smoking beside the girl told Ari the she'd destroyed its circuit board.

"You attacked an Investigator," the girl snarled.

Ari raised both hands before her and dissipated the energy; her left arm still ached where the needles dug in.

"You shot me," Ari pointed out.

"This area is off-limits to civilians. You are breaking rule fifty-five—"

"Do you routinely shoot people in the back before you even know who they are?"

"Shut the hell up," she snapped, pulling out a pistol. A real one. Ari's eyes widened.

"Investigator Evia!"

The Investigator stowed her gun away, but didn't take her eyes off Ari. Another Investigator hurried up to Evia and helped her to her feet.

"Identify yourself, student," Evia said, glowering. Up close, her long sandy brown hair — coming loose from her ponytail after Ari's retaliation — and unforgiving expression seemed familiar.

"That's Ari the Transformer," said the boy, staring at her.

"Ranking third does not exempt punishment by law." Evia's acidic tone could have dissolved the toughest alloy. "I will write you up for trespassing into a crime scene and for attacking an Investigator."

"This is bull." Ari counted the seconds passing, during which Mina suffocated beneath the rubble.

"Are you challenging me?" Evia squared her shoulders, tilting her chin up at Ari. "Resisting punishment is another offense."

"Ari!"

The Investigators turned to the voice. Ari's shoulders relaxed. A curly-haired boy sprinted over, his green poncho flying up to reveal a long-sleeved dark blue jacket with golden buttons and a charge gun at his hip. His expression was a mix of surprise and alarm.

"Peacekeeper Shon," the Investigator next to Evia said in a stern voice. "This civilian committed two sanctionable crimes. We shall deal with this."

"Executing punishment is not the Investigator's duty, with all due respect," Shon said, pulling up his goggles to reveal a frown. "You are not under Central Decree."

"No, but just force is permissible to all law enforcement branches."

"Is it just force to shoot a student in the back?" Shon pointed out. "I happen to witness the entire event from the picket line. I don't want to submit a report about this. I'm sure you feel the same."

Evia hesitated, her hands balling into fists. Ari tilted her head, rubbing her arm. She really did look familiar. Were they in the same class?

"If you don't mind, Investigators, I will take care of this and let us both forget this happened, okay?" Shon's expression did not waver.

Glowering, Evia swept around and stormed off. The other Investigator hurried after her. The melted stun gun lay forgotten on the ground.

Shon lasted a few more seconds before visibly deflating before Ari, sweat trickling down his temples.

"What am I going to do with you, Ari?" he said in despair. "Attacking an Investigator? You're lucky I saw the whole thing and my goggles recorded it all. What with all the recent arrests of students with potential terrorist links, this could have gone so much worse."

"That girl is insane." Ari shook her head. "No warning. She just shot me. What's wrong with Investigators these days?"

"Investigators have been getting a lot of extra leeway in how they manage things recently because of these terrorist attacks. Don't push your luck. You won't be so lucky next time."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm weeping for them. But—" Ari twisted around, staring anxiously at the smoking crevice. "Mina's in there."

"I realised that when I saw the report, but you can't just jump in. It'll look so suspicious if I exempt every one of your reports."

"But what's been going on about this?" She waved a hand at the dome, keeping her voice low. Investigators stepped in and out, encased in translucent, protective bubbles.

"You know I can't tell you. You're a civilian."

"Come on, we're friends. I've helped you tons of times."

"And given me a lot of grief, too!"

"Come on, Shon! It's Mina."

She stared at him beseechingly. Shon bit his lip and shook his head.

"I can't."

She sighed. "Fine."

"Go on. Get out of here before you hit another Investigator."

Clicking her tongue in annoyance, Ari slipped under the barrier again. Shon's hands were tied. The Investigators would press charges if they caught her again, but she couldn't stand by and do nothing. Despite moving further and further along the barrier, the number of Peacekeepers didn't waver. It was as though the entire platoon was deployed for one single explosion. Weaving through the crowd of nosey students, Ari tried to call Fris. She needed a clear mind to talk her through the next steps.

Fris didn't pick up her phone. Ari tried again. Nothing. Their last lesson had passed; she was probably at work.

Clicking her tongue, she slid the ear-piece back to the handle and spun her phone in her hand.

"I'm just saying," said a passing student to his friend, standing on tiptoes to try and see over the crowd, "if Central Administration just deployed Cryo, then he'd totally just decimate the terrorists."

At the mention of his name, Ari shivered, the tiny forest of scars on her shoulders and back tingling at the memories as if the steel-like shards of ice still remained inside.

"That would be awful," said his companion in horror.

"It'll stop those people from messing with our prelims. Where am I going to get credits if I don't get to score here? The pay from recalibrating old e-textbooks is awful and it's killing my eyes."

"My friend said she saw Cryo beating up students because they didn't get out of his way one time at a cafe. I don't trust him."

"They probably did something to annoy him."

"I don't know..."

Ari shuddered, hurrying away. Popping out of the lift on the top floor of a nearby cafe with a balcony, Ari shot off towards Area Five, thoughts swirling in her mind. If she couldn't be seen sneaking in again, she needed someone else to do it for her.

She sat atop one of the department store signs, watching the Investigators in bubbles move in and out of the dome. Central Administration-issued cyborgs moved in, their metallic limbs glinting in the late afternoon sunlight as they patrolled and scanned the rubble with infrared light emitting from the V-shaped slit on their faces. Arms extended, peeling back chunks of debris. Ari made intermittent attempts to call Fris and grew more irritated each time it went to videomail. Despite the explosion, life in March City went on. Students attended their after-school jobs or tutorials. Shopkeepers greeting guests and displaying their latest procurements. Street performers throwing fireworks and spinning colourful lights with their abilities. The telecaster mounted on the arcade opposite her played the news on a loop, reminding her every minute of Mina stuck beneath the rubble of Dome Ten.

She almost dropped her phone into the abyss when Fris finally called back.

"Look, I'm not surprised you can't get in," said Fris, the moment Ari slid the ear-piece in. There was no hologram this time; she was probably sneaking a call in-between customers.

"How did you know?"

"Well, if it worked, you wouldn't have called me fifty times. I knew you were going to barge straight in. There are protocols in place for things like this. It's a terrorist attack."

"You sound like Shon," Ari said sulkily.

"Leave it to the Investigators."

"Like they've made any progress. It's been a year of this and they just keep calling it terrorism and asking us to turn students in." Ari got up and paced. "Shon's not helping either. I need to get in."

"Much as I would like to indulge you, I have my second shift until midnight, so I can't help."

"Great," Ari said, sullen, throwing her arms up at an imaginary Fris.

"Honestly, there's nothing we can contribute that the Investigators with their vast network and resources don't already have. They barely let the press on site as it is."

Ari stopped pacing.

"That's it!"

"That's what?" Fris sounded tired. In the background, the hustle and bustle of a busy shop continued.

"I need the press."

There was a pause. "Well, I mean, you could," Fris said, thoughtful. "They have information and their own links. You're not — yes, can I help you?"

"I'll call you later."

"Ari, wait—"

Unhooking the ear-piece and folding it back into the driver, Ari pulled out its virtual screen and searched for the list of press groups in March City. There weren't many and it only took several touches to bring up the contact numbers for them all. Her screen turned a pale blue as night fell.

"Hello, this is The Marchisan, how may I help?"

"I need someone to help me get into Dome Ten," Ari said without hesitation.

There was a halt at the other end of the phone. "I'm sorry?"

"Dome Ten. The one that blew up today? I need to get inside. I think you can help me."

"It's a restricted area per the Investigators' orders." The voice was tight. "We are not permitted to break March City rules."

"But—"

"Thank you for your time."

Click.

Ari mouthed a curse, entering the next phone number.

"We at Student Express respect and follow the law. We can't send one of our journalists into forbidden areas."

"But Central Administration has been so secretive about these things and yet nothing new has come up." Ari's mind spun, wondering how she could make them intrigued. "Don't you wonder if they're hiding something?"

The tone on the other end changed completely. "This is entirely unfounded and frankly offensive to us as news reporters. False news is punishable under March City Decree. We are not that type of conspiratorial gossip rag!"

Click.

Gritting her teeth, Ari slammed her hand against the wall. The impact sent a jolt through her elbow to her shoulder. Her eyes watered from the sting.

"Think, Ari, think," she said out loud. Every newspaper had turned her down, all with a similar response: aghast at the prospect of breaking the law and insulted at the possibility of Central Administration being dishonest.

Conspiratorial gossip rag...

She pulled out the virtual screen again, scanning the list of small companies in March City. At the very bottom, a single name caught her eye. The Verity.

Only a few weeks prior, she'd made fun of the paranoid paper for claiming Central Administration had unrestricted access to all of the students' private data and the idea of privacy was a facade. Her finger hovered above the 'call' button, her heart pounding. She didn't think she'd be contacting the very conspiracy paper herself.

"The Verity," came a cool male voice.

"I have reason to believe Central Administration has something to hide about these recent explosions, especially with the one in Dome Ten today. I need your help to access that area." Ari's words came in a rush. There was a heavy pause and Ari held her breath.

"I suppose we can entertain that idea."