The robber's hand shook around the revolver.
That made Elias more afraid, not less. A steady man with a gun could choose. A frightened one might mistake a finger twitch for destiny.
Elias closed the door with two fingers and raised both hands.
"I do not keep cash here," he said. "If you came for revenge, my schedule is already full."
The robber stepped closer. His boots left wet marks on the floor. "You cost me my partner, my job, and every place I knew how to hide. Now police are asking questions, and people keep saying you survived because something chose you."
"People say a lot when they are scared."
"You were dead in the street. I saw what we did to you."
The words landed harder because neither of them could pretend they were wrong.
The small creature whispered from inside Elias's chest. "He is too close to the gun. Move his wrist outward if he raises it."
Elias did not look down.
"Whatever happened to me is not something I can hand over," Elias said. "You cannot rob a medical problem."
"Then I will sell you to someone who can."
The robber grabbed Elias by the shoulder, fingers digging into the healing gunshot wound. Pain cut through Elias's arm. His body reacted before thought caught up. He slapped the gun hand outward and turned his shoulder with it.
The shot blew a hole through the kitchen cabinet.
Elias drove into him, not cleanly, not bravely. They hit the counter and sent a bowl of lemons across the floor. The revolver fell, skidded under the table, and stopped against a chair leg.
The robber swung his elbow into Elias's side.
Elias folded around the pain but kept his grip on the man's sleeve. He hooked a foot behind the robber's ankle and shoved. The man went down on one knee, cursed, and reached for the revolver.
"Do not let him touch it," the creature said.
"I gathered that much from context."
Elias kicked the chair sideways. The revolver slid farther under the table.
A siren cut through the window glass.
The robber looked toward it, and that was enough. Elias slammed the heel of his hand into the man's nose. The robber fell back against the couch with both hands over his face.
The front door broke inward.
Two PCA officers entered behind raised weapons. The first swept the living room. The second put a boot on the robber's wrist before the man could recover.
"Planetary Civil Authority is entering the apartment," the first officer said. "Both of you stay where you are and keep your hands visible."
Elias leaned against the counter, breathing through his teeth. "One of us lives here, which should count for something before the cuffs come out."
"It counts after the scene is secure."
The second officer cuffed the robber and dragged him upright. The man tried to speak through blood and got told to save it for processing.
Elias thought the officers would take a statement in his kitchen. That would have been reasonable. Instead, the first officer turned a pair of restraint cuffs toward him.
"Elias Kael, you are being transported for interview under fragment exposure protocol."
"I was attacked in my own apartment."
"That is why the restraints are in front," the officer said, cuffing him anyway.
"That is not as generous as you think."
A transport waited outside with its rear compartment open. Neighbors watched through cracked doors. Someone on the third floor recorded until a PCA drone turned its camera toward them and the door shut fast.
Inside the transport, Elias sat on a metal bench with his hands locked together in front of him. The creature perched invisibly on his shoulder.
"You could have punched the first officer and run through the alley," it said.
"That plan explains why you were not assigned to legal strategy."
"I do not know what legal strategy is."
"That is exactly the point I am making," Elias said as the wall monitor clicked on before the transport moved.
An older man appeared on screen in a military jacket with no decoration placed carelessly. His beard was trimmed short. His eyes had the flat patience of someone who had ordered bad things and slept afterward because the alternative served nobody.
A woman leaned into frame, whispered something, and left.
The man studied Elias for a long second.
"Elias Kael, I am Geras Vorn. I trained your father before Cradle took him."
Elias forgot the cuffs for half a breath.
"That is a serious thing to use as an introduction."
"I am using it because I need you listening before fear decides for you."
The creature went very still on his shoulder.
Geras looked down at a file outside the frame. "You were exposed to a shard during the Covaign event. You were also attacked twice in less than two weeks. That makes you a medical concern, a security concern, and a public order problem. I would prefer to make you a person first."
"Then start by having these cuffs removed."
"This is not my transport or my officers, and I am borrowing the channel before someone less useful reaches you."
Elias leaned back against the wall. "The officers said this was a fragment interview."
"They think I am Senior Officer Rodrigo from PCA compliance. Let them keep thinking that until I finish."
That made Elias look at the screen differently.
"You are lying to your own people."
"I am lying to a system that lies faster than I can file requests. Your father would have appreciated the efficiency."
Elias hated that the sentence made him want to believe the man.
Geras continued. "Commander Ward Divisions are collecting shard exposed civilians; some will be trained, some will be isolated, and some will disappear under medical language because nobody knows what they can become. I can keep you out of the worst version of that, but only if you choose before they choose for you."
"What choice are you offering me?"
"Report tomorrow as a candidate under my authority. You will be tested, watched, and probably disliked by several people with better uniforms than judgment. In return, you remain visible, with records and your name on every door they take you through."
"And if I refuse the offer?"
Geras did not soften the answer.
"Then someone knocks harder, and I may not be the one behind the screen."