Step 2.5

In the end, Dad came home late. A few of the Dockworkers wanted to join Blue Cosmos in protesting, but the union charter forbade the union from taking any political action not directly tied to its interests. Protesting the Protectorate fell well outside of that, so no marching with union banners on that one. Didn't stop an entire night of debate at the union building.

It gave me cover to simply slip into bed and pass out.

That's when I realized that being a cape meant going without as much sleep as I'd like. Sleep becomes so hard to get at times, you start to wonder if you've passed out at your control station because the scene before you feels too surreal.

Papers scattered everywhere, books stacked in messy piles, a half-dozen projects unfinished, and five weird old men sums it up.

The Foundation didn't care about masks or identities. They hid out in a pocket dimension like Toybox, but Doctor J claimed his hideout was better because he wasn't twelve. Whatever that meant. They didn't have family, and their only friends seemed to be each other.

If snatching a marker from someone's hand and yelling qualified as friendship.

"No. No. No. This one goes here and that one goes there!"

I asked, "Is that a Star Wars reference?"

The response?

"What's Star Wars?"

I stared in disbelief. "You can't be serious."

"We have better things to do," J said with a chuckle. "Mad science doesn't make itself!"

Professor G looked like a man with a permanent scowl on his face, freaky with his bizarre bowl cut and big nose. A complete opposite to the man fighting with him over the white board. I'd never peg the quiet Master O as a thinker, especially since I'd yet to see the tall bald man say anything.

"Are they always like that?"

"More or less," Doctor J said.

His cybernetic eyes looked back at me through the screen, one mechanical hand working a keyboard while the other held a cup of coffee.

"They both have a flair for the dramatic you might say," he continued. "Mostly it's G. He's a cantankerous old coot."

"I heard that!"

J chuckled. "Then be less ornery. But let's move on. Instructor, what do you think?"

J shifted his attention to a short man beside him. Instructor H wore a sinister-looking smile on his face. His hairline receded towards the back of his head, and he had a big, full mustache with sharp tips. Honestly, he looked like a used car salesman.

"It's fascinating," H said. "A Jovian environment? Quite the challenge. I don't think anyone has ever asked for something like that before."

"And Dragon has had some odd requests over the years," Doctor S added.

He stood behind the two men, arms folded behind his back. He probably looked the most normal out of the five, save for the odd nose cover strapped to his face. I decided to ignore the weirdness.

Who was I to judge anyway?

I worked out of a garage with six robots and an AI.

"Can you do it?"

"Oh, we can do it, most certainly." H reached up and started pinching the edge of his mustache. "But what's in it for us?"

I frowned. The web camera sat low on my desk and pointed to my face at a high angle. It hid my workshop's appearance well enough, but they probably heard all the work in the background.

"Dragon suggested you'd be interested in data," I said.

"Data is nice," S said with a warm smile. "But a question. What exactly do you plan to use this solar furnace for?"

"It's a power source?"

"Obviously," J said. He smiled, showing surprisingly nice teeth for such an old-looking man. "But a power source to what? I noticed Dragon failed to ask."

My lips pursed. "It's for a suit…"

"Can we see it?"

"I'd rather—"

"Come now." Doctor J chuckled. "Just because you're not blowing up the moon doesn't mean you're not doing something that might concern us."

I didn't want to. I felt uncomfortable showing a schematic of the furnace and only went through with it because I didn't have much choice.

"I'd really rather not."

"Oh please." Professor G's sudden words surprised me. He didn't look at the camera, or even show any sign he was listening, but it was definitely his voice. "You intend to weaponize the particles produced by the furnace."

I frowned. "I live in a city with Lung, Hookwolf, and Kaiser. Yeah. I'm going to put weapons on the suit." How else am I supposed to start shutting down the villains?

"And the Soviets had the bomb," G countered. "The excuse is always the same."

"What?" The statement made no sense to me. I didn't see the point of it. "The Soviet Union doesn—"

"Don't mind him," S said. "Despite his combative attitude, my colleague is a peace-minded fellow at heart."

Like Parian. "Oh. The whole cape violence thing?"

The man nodded. "He's just trying to get a rise out of you."

"I want to make her think! Thoughtless action is the cause of too much suffering," G said in the background. "And capes are especially thoughtless."

"And there he goes," H grumbled. "Where did we put the ear plugs?"

"Not that we think he's wrong," J said with a smile. "We just dislike hearing him rant about it."

"You can bury your heads in the sand but the truth—"

O slapped a hand over G's mouth and waved to me.

"Well that solves that," H stated happily.

"Now. That data." J tapped away at the keyboard for a few seconds. "Have you considered the more pragmatic applications of this technology?"

"Dragon mentioned them," I said.

"That is something we'd be very interested in. Solving the world energy crisis is one step toward a brighter tomorrow they say."

S nodded. "Especially since the destruction of your device seems to release only exotic particles and short-term radiation. Easy to clean up after a disaster."

"And it would rub that bearded fool so badly!" J laughed uncontrollably.

Bearded fo-Oh. Armsmaster. "Dragon mentioned the two of you didn't get along."

"He's a dick," J muttered. I didn't disagree. "Don't know what Dragon sees in the man."

Dragon and Ar-Why do people keep putting these images in my head?!

While I again considered brain bleach, J got to talking about technical terms. I recognized about half of them.

Needless to say, I didn't want to walk away from another meeting with another referral to someone else. Two days since running into Mrs. Knott, and while nothing happened, I couldn't risk it. How long till Blue Cosmos stood outside the garage or my house?

I needed the suit, and I needed it now.

After J's bit I asked, "So, you are going to help?"

"In exchange for data from the furnace," J conceded. "That's something that could change the world."

"And the world could use some changing," S agreed.

"The world is always changing," H mumbled.

J threw his head back and patted his thigh. "And we'll just go on and on about it all day! No need for the little miss to stick around, hmm?" His smile turned more serious. The robotic hand came up, three of the four fingers rising. "Three days."

"Three days? You need three days?"

I wasn't naïve enough to think they'd be finished tomorrow, but three days sounded almost too good.

"You need a Jovian environment, or something sufficiently close to it, and we can have one ready in three days. I'll pack it into a pocket space big enough for the furnace."

"We could do it in one day but there are other obligations," S said. "We're still trying to perfect the anti-master device for the Guild."

I nodded. That sounded like a useful thing to have. "Ant-You guys are the ones who shut down Heartbreaker?"

"I'd say we ruined his day more than shut him down," S said solemnly. "He did escape in the end."

"And for whatever reason, it doesn't work on Teacher's Pets or Valefor."

"Among others," H grumbled. He shook his head and waved at me. "But that isn't your concern at the moment. We'll arrange a time to hand the device off, and you know where to send the data."

"I'd consider G's words as well." J tilted his head. "There's a fine line between what you can do, what you should do, and what you ought to do."

"What?"

He cut the connection mid-laugh.

"They were strange," Veda said.

"Um. Yeah." That's one way of putting it.

I unplugged the web camera and set it aside. The other monitors displayed the feeds from cameras I'd set up all around the block to watch for trouble.

I checked in on some news reports and PHO. Blue Cosmos' protests in some other major cities made Brockton Bay's seem small. Apparently, members from all over flew to Washington D.C. so they could have a big march. It died down after the second day, but people continued to gather at city halls and courthouses across the country.

The news of what happened at Parian's shop had exploded. Headlines like "Cape Attacked in Brockton Bay" even hit national news, if only for a few minutes. I found reports about a girl named Sierra Kiley. Some Merchant thugs jumped her walking home from classes one night and beat her. She died a few days later in the hospital. Her brother Bryce threw the bottle that hit Parian.

Mr. Stansfield went and did an interview to apologize to the doll cape. He promised those involved would be doing community service hours and write her apologies, regardless of whether or not she filed charges. I didn't have much time to ponder that unexpected outcome.

My own problems preoccupied me.

People apparently found my encounter with Mrs. Knott interesting. Someone snapped a few pictures of us standing together, and…I kept thinking the next refresh would be it. My name and face plastered on every screen for everyone to see, "Newtype right here, come get her."

The Brockton Bay Herald carried a story about the incident and mentioned Mrs. Knott. She joined the local chapter of Blue Cosmos last fall as a volunteer organizer. She ran errands. Talked to people, told them what was going on, when, and where. To some that might be grunt work, but it was important. Any group needed someone to actually reach out and tell everyone with daily lives what was happening.

And it was the person who didn't lift so much as a second finger to help me.

I don't understand.

I glanced at my phone. It rested on the table beside my keyboards. So tempting to call. Just one question. One question to put my mind at ease or confirm my fears.

"The PRT sent the daily patrol schedule during your call," Veda announced.

That time again.

"Ignore it."

"Very well."

I didn't care about the patrol schedule. What's the point if they weren't going to do anything? If those Enforcers hadn't jumped in someone might have really gotten hurt.

They hadn't cut my access to the traffic cameras though. Maybe Valiant was right, the PRT wanted to win me over by playing nice. It at least assured me they didn't know Newtype and Taylor Hebert were one and the same. If they knew they wouldn't bother with that much effort.

Or maybe they did.

Veda already found a dozen new gang houses, and we'd discovered where Oni Lee put up his mask. That went into Level Seven. Did the PRT want me to keep giving information on the gangs? Possible, but I didn't see how that fit with the inaction on information Veda already offered. I'd thought that the heroes would at least do that, and once again they disappointed me.

"Have you heard from Dragon, Veda?"

"She is well. The situation in Kurdistan is stabilizing, and she believes the Protectorate will return within the week."

The gangs kept quiet, sure enough. Other than a few skirmishes between ABB and Merchant thugs. The Wards and Protectorate broke most of those up before anything bigger came. Compared to a normal week in Brockton Bay, it all seemed rather nice.

I set aside those problems for later. "What's the new test on the armor plate looking like?"

"No structural defects detected."

Good. I finally got the printer putting E-Carbon together well enough that my armor wouldn't crack after a hard hit.

"Load up the design. Start printing the plates and have the Haros install them."

I pulled up the schematic, wondering again why G seemed so upset with what I was doing. The plates came out an off gray color I didn't really like. It didn't inspire, or wow in any way. Thinking back to New Wave's costumes, the dominant white appealed.

Maybe I should ask Parian, I thought with a mental chuckle.

"Let's paint them, Veda. Some blue on the thicker plates. With a little red and gold here, here, and here."

"Priming."

Rising from the workstation, I inspected the Haros' progress. Nine stun grenades assembled from the box of components I'd put together. I considered building a launcher for them. It would be a good way to disable an entire room of non-brutes, even if the effect only lasted a minute or so.

The beam rifle would be more like a pistol in the suit's hands. A big one, but still. I'd built it to be usable with just myself, and a new power pack let me charge it without a GN compressor.

Finishing my inspection I said, "Good job guys. Keep up the good work."

"Working. Working."

The Haros can be quite industrious when they put their minds to it. Unfortunately their industriousness left me with nothing to really do.

Sabers. Pistol. Rifle. Grenades. If anyone came for me I'd be able to put up a fight. I even programmed a new protocol for Veda. Any attempt to destroy her physical servers, and a partition stored on a TeamSpeak server I'd purchased would come online. If captured, arrested, or worse, Veda could go on at least.

I left a note for Dad too. Just in case.

I sat back down in my chair, removed my mask, and…

And I drew the line when I started thinking about yanking the keys from my keyboard to clean the gunk out from underneath.

"Veda."

"Yes Taylor?"

"What do you do when you're bored?"

"Bored?"

"When you have nothing to do?"

"I always have something to do."

"Of course you do."

This exact opposite of what I need right now.

Waiting sounded like another way of saying "freak the fuck out and panic." My damn paranoia kept finding new fuel, and I desperately wanted a distraction. Actually…

"Do you have too much to do, Veda?"

"Too much?"

"Well you're handling two dozen programming contracts, managing the Ebay thing, the traffic cameras, Haystack, all kinds of design work, managing the Haros, and playing Dungeons and Dragons twice a week…is it too much?"

"Workload is 73% of theoretical capacity."

"That's not what I meant, Veda."

Back to the drawing board on broaching that topic. At least thinking it over distracted me from the thing I wanted to think about less.

"I have completed creating a voice," Veda reported unexpectedly.

"A voice?"

"To use when speaking with others."

I'd completely forgotten that comment. I only brought it up because I was nervous and wanted to distract myself. What goes around comes around, they say. I needed distractions.

"Let's hear it."

"How do I sound?"

My leg spasmed a little bit. I forgot what she sounded like. Two years and I'd already forgotten until Veda spoke in her voice.

"Taylor?"

"Uh-Oh sorry. I just didn't think it would sound so familiar."

"I modeled it after your voice. Dragon suggested the belief we are siblings."

"G-Good thinking," I said quickly.

She sounds like Mom.

"Does it displease you?"

"No. It's your voice, Veda. You pick it. I just-I'm surprised, is all." I smiled for the camera. "It's really convincing."

I liked hearing her voice. I wanted to keep hearing it. It was amazing how much Veda came to mean to me in such a short period of time. If anything happened that took her away from me, I didn't know what I'd do. And something could happen. Ever since getting my powers my life seemed to careen from one potential crisis to the next, in a constant spiral of negativity I couldn't get a hold of.

Two days waiting for the worst. Two days waiting for it all to fall apart like it always did. What I wouldn't give for a chance to just peek ahead and know how bad it might—

Damn it.

I picked up my phone and dialed the number.

"Hello Taylor."

"Dinah."

I took a deep breath, hesitation setting in yet again. "You went home right after school."

"Mom and Dad don't want me staying out too late. At least until the protesting is over."

"I want to ask you a question."

"I know."

"You saw it?"

"You always ask questions."

Wonderful, I thought ruefully. "You don't mind?"

"No."

I thought about Dinah's question and how to ask. She saw everything, even the times I didn't get powers or the ones where I had different powers. Maybe. Earth Aleph existed, so other worlds existing wasn't new knowledge. That people lived completely different lives on Bet than Aleph was known too. Yet, it's not like Aleph existed as some version of Earth Bet where all coin tosses came out differently. What other Earths existed, and how close to mine were they?

Multiverse theory is a bitch.

"Does Blue Cosmos know the identity of the Brockton Bay tinker Newtype?"

It took a second for her to get back to me with, "No."

"Y-You're sure?"

"No pictures came up."

I rolled my shoulders. Had I ever asked a question about the present before? "Will Blue Cosmos know the identity of the Brockton Bay tinker Newtype."

"…Seven where they know."

I closed my eyes. "What do you see?"

"They're in front of your house in one. In three there's a meeting room with your picture on a screen. The other three are weird."

"Weird how?"

"One where you're in a burning building. Two where the police are chasing you."

The police?

I nodded to myself. "Thanks, Dinah."

"You should talk to her."

"Who?"

"The lady."

"Mrs. Knott? You saw her?"

"It's better when you talk to her."

And she hung up on me.

"Dinah?"

I felt stupid saying her name. The dial tone rang right in my ear. I knew she hung up on me and I still asked.

Setting my phone down, I did feel a little lighter. Dinah didn't say when Blue Cosmos knew, but at least I knew they could. She got twenty to twenty-five pictures each time she asked a question. Blue Cosmos knew who I was in a quarter of the possibilities I knew about, but only four, maybe, where anything bad happened.

Alright, plan. What do I do?

If I kept the garage secret for a few days, I'd be able to finish the GN drive…although I could use it in its current state. Though flooding the city with toxic exotic particles sounded like something that got the police chasing perpetrators.

I stopped myself before I went down the rabbit hole of 'what if' possibilities. Sitting around and worrying for two days didn't get me anywhere but more worried.

It's better if I talk to her?

Dinah said that and hung up. It must mean something.

Talk to her and convince her not to tell anyone?

Was she trying to tell me Mrs. Knott hadn't said anything yet? Thinking back to our encounter, she didn't seem angry or upset with me at all. Did that mean she'd keep it a secret if I asked? I battled the ideas back and forth before growing tired of being stuck in my own head.

From there I just needed a few minutes to work up some courage.

I switched into plain clothes from my costume. A beam saber went into one pocket, and my pistol into the other. After throwing on a jacket I picked out two of the stun grenades the Haros finished.

Better safe than sorry.

"Veda. Work on the armor. Get the suit as ready as you can. All the pieces are here, we just need the Haros to assemble them."

"Where are you going?"

"I need to talk to Mrs. Knott. Can you find a phone number?"

"I have found three. One at Winslow High School. One at the Downtown Conference Center. One at One Twenty-Three Maple Drive."

Downtown Conference Center? "What's at the second one?"

"Blue Cosmos Brockton Bay Headquarters."

A number at the main office? I checked the time. She'd probably be at Winslow right now teaching still. I didn't want to go there. Too many witnesses and possible complications. People saw us together in pictures. Would my mask be enough to hide me standing right next to her?

I didn't ask Dinah if anyone else figured it out.

Stupid.

No Winslow. Never mind that I swore I'd never go back. I'd been gone for months and suddenly reappearing would make everyone notice. I didn't need those questions, or anyone asking my dad about things. Her home phone maybe, or her cell, but if she taught and volunteered how often could she be home?

Leaving the garage, I walked three blocks and picked a pay phone. It rang four times, and when someone answered it was just to put me on hold. I waited for five minutes before some machine answered. Why did they need to put me on hold for a machine?

I navigated the options until I got one taking me to an operator.

A chipper guy answered, asking, "BCBB how can I help you?"

"Um. Hi. I was looking for Mrs. Kn-Gladys Knott. She spoke to me the other day and I wanted to see if she had any time to talk some more."

"Mrs. Knott is a volunteer, so she isn't here during the day. She usually comes in the afternoon."

"Every day?"

"Usually. She's pretty dedicated."

What? "I see. What time does she come in?"

"I'm afraid we don't give out that information."

I raised my brow. "Why not?"

"Our activists and members have been targeted in the past. Policy is we don't give out times people come and go from the Center."

"Oh. Okay."

"Can I take a message?"

"No."

I hung up.

It didn't matter. If she went there nearly every day, it had to be after school. Maybe six, or seven.

I have to know.

I started back toward the garage with my tinker-tech phone raised and called Dad.

"Taylor. Everything alright?"

"I'm fine, Dad." Another lie for the pile of them I keep building. "I'm doing some tutoring for someone tonight. I'm going to be late coming back."

"I thought Dinah's parents didn't want her in the city with all the commotion going on?"

"They don't, but that just means the program set me up with someone else."

"Well…alright. Be safe."

"I will, Dad."

I closed the call and returned.

"Veda, can you hack into the servers at Blue Cosmos and see if there are any files on me?"

"Accessing."

I sat back at the workstation. Made it all up as I went really. I didn't feel any restraint on the subject anymore. Knowing what Blue Cosmos knew mattered. No more waiting and fretting. Time to do something about it. My heart kept changing pace, and different parts of me felt hot and cold. Sometimes both at once. Fear. I hadn't felt so afraid since…since the locker.

"There is one file pertaining to you," Veda announced.

There. "What's in it?"

"A complaint from Gladys Knott, suggesting that you are a victim of parahuman violence and requesting Blue Cosmos look into Winslow High School for abuse and corruption."

And like that my heart stopped.

"What?"

"The complaint goes on to claim that Winslow administrators are complicit, and that immediate action is necessary."

"When—"

"Date is marked as September 2010."

September of last year? I'd need to double-check the journals I completely forgot about. Fall last year was about the time I gave up on the administration doing anything to help me. When all the teachers clammed up-When Mrs. Knott tried to help me one time and then stopped.

Except she didn't stop. She told Blue Cosmos I was a victim of—She knows about Sophia.

I tried to think back to weeks ago when Veda went poking around in the files at Winslow. Only Blackwell had the full accounting, but every teacher got instructions regarding Sophia. Potential absences. After school activities. Special case stuff. Right around the time Shadow Stalker joined the Wards.

NDAs went around and everything.

So she figured it out. Not that hard, I guess. Even if they didn't all get told in plain English, any of the teachers at Winslow just needed to read between the lines.

"And"—I could not believe I was asking the question—"what did Blue Cosmos do?"

"Attached are investigative reports from private detectives and three background investigators pertaining to Taylor Hebert, Emma Barnes, Madison Clements, and Sophia Hess. The file is marked pending."

She even named them. "What does 'pending' mean?"

"It is currently tied to a second complaint filed March 2011 by Gladys Knott pertaining to a student named Charlotte Berman."

That name sounded familiar. Charlotte…She went to Winslow, but beyond that nothing came to mind. Not one of Emma's circle. I knew all of them by name. So one of the other less popular kids?

"What does the complaint say?"

"The complaint alleges that after Taylor Hebert ceased attending classes, the parahuman targeting her switched to targeting Charlotte Berman."

"What!?"

"The complaint alleges that after Taylor Hebert ceased attending classes, the parahuman targeting her switched to targeting Charlotte Berman."

They're still doing it?!

"Who is she? Charlotte?"

"Winslow High Sophomore. Brown hair. Five four. Brown eyes. Parents—"

"No. Stop. Sorry, Veda."

I didn't need her whole life story. I didn't really need any of her story except the part that mattered. I walked out of Winslow, didn't look back, and the trio just moved on to another victim. It never crossed my mind they'd do that. I thought they targeted me because Emma wanted to hurt me, not because they just wanted someone to hurt.

"What's being done about it?"

"The file is attached to a series of records alleging corruption on the part of Brockton Bay schools with the intent of protecting parahumans at the expense of naturals."

"Naturals?"

"The terminology used by Blue Cosmos to define those without powers."

And there's that sick feeling in my stomach. "They call people that?"

"Yes."

I shook my head. "Blue Cosmos is going to sue the school district?"

"Lawyers have been contacted."

I don't need that kind of attention. Shit.

"C-Can they do that? It would reveal a secret identity."

"Searching…Private filing exists for matters pertaining to secret identities. Proceedings are kept closed and confidential with no names publicly acknowledged. Addendum, Blue Cosmos has sued to have names publicly released after such cases in the past."

No!

That hit me like a battering ram through the wall.

If Blue Cosmos started a lawsuit and drew attention to me then people might start putting pieces together. Taylor Hebert goes into the locker. Taylor Hebert vanished. Newtype appears. The timeline would be obvious. I needed to stop that. Dragging me into some media circus wasn't going to help me at this point. I'd be screwed. I even threw fuel on the fire by approaching her in public!

"I need to talk to Mrs. Knott. This-I can't let this happen. Vacate the system, but mark the file about me."

"Confirmed."

If worse came to worse, I'd delete it and feign ignorance…and when did I start wishing for Sophia not to get caught?

At five o'clock I went to the closest bus stop. The ride was brief, taking me over to the eastern side of the city and south-west of the Boardwalk. No wonder she got there so fast after the Parian incident. It was a twenty-minute walk away, if that.

A nice modern building with glass walls and lighting. You'd never think that going one block over you'd find the rundown brick of Shanty Town, where the Merchants based themselves. It struck me as an odd place to quarter themselves, but if Blue Cosmos liked confrontation maybe not.

They lived a mere five hundred feet from one of the weapons houses Veda found with the traffic cameras. Blue Cosmos probably didn't know that.

Finding yet another alley to hide in, I waited. The position gave me a perfect view of the front doors.

"I have searched legal documents," Veda said in a low voice. "Blue Cosmos cannot legally act on your behalf without your permission."

"I can't risk it."

"You can decline to partake in the suit."

"And if they go ahead with Charlotte's case people will start poking around Winslow," I rebutted. "It'll get out. One way or the other."

It was stupid to think I put Winslow behind me. Nothing ever really goes away, no matter how much I ignored it.

I never thought about how much I really knew about Blue Cosmos. I mean, I knew that they opposed capes. They hated the gangs. They didn't like the heroes. They thought normal people should be in charge. Putting my thoughts into words, they seemed so reactionary. Overreactionary, if that's even a word. Normal people ran the PRT, so normal people were in charge, and everyone hated the gangs except the gangs.

Filing lawsuits to protect people from people with powers? I never thought of it as something that actually happened.

When Mrs. Knott appeared on the street she wasn't alone. A short girl followed. Shoulder length dark hair, pretty, and familiar. I'd seen her in the halls, even if I didn't know her name at the time. Charlotte was one of the bystanders. The students who didn't help bully me but watched and said nothing.

I felt a certain twisted satisfaction knowing how that turned out for her, and I regretted it instantly.

Pushing the thoughts aside, I slipped out of my alley and came right to a complete stop.

"The PRT has issued an alert," Veda said. "Groups of men affiliated with the Merchants have been spotted approaching the Docks."

Now?

Mrs. Knott and Charlotte continued walking. They smiled and laughed about something, but the look on Charlotte's face reminded me of Dinah.

"They also warn that an unknown is causing blackouts as it moves through the city. Its point of origin is in Shanty Town."

The two of them spoke briefly to a man standing by the front doors and walked inside.

"Taylor."

"I heard you, Veda."

I turned and walked back to the bus stop. I picked a seat far in the back and raised my phone. Anyone looking would just see a teenage girl having a conversation. Nothing odd about that.

"Blackouts?"

"The cause is unknown, but its speed suggests Squealer."

The vehicle tinker, and she built something that either blacked out power or gave off so much electromagnetic energy it might as well be a moving EMP. What on Earth needed that kind of juice?

Or she built something similar to the GN drive…My design didn't cut out electronics, but it did mess with communication signals. Any number of power sources, unshielded or improperly built, could give off all kinds of weird effects.

"How many thugs?"

"I have identified one hundred and fourteen individuals bearing Merchant colors. Approximately half are armed with firearms."

I shifted in my seat at the number. That's a lot of guns. Not what you sent out to just rattle another gang's cage or defend yourself. And that number only represented what Veda saw on the traffic cams. Most of the city didn't even have any, that worked anyway.

The Merchants are going to war? Now?

"Right. Okay."

I ran through the checklist after getting off the bus. My sabers, pistol, rifle, and some grenades. Enough to go intervene in a gang war?

No. Not even close.

I let Calvert goad me into patrolling when nothing was supposed to happen, but if the ABB and Merchants were about to start shooting everything up it went beyond my preparations.

Still. No reason I couldn't help. Veda's view of the city might be limited, but she saw plenty enough. Help the other heroes keep an eye on things and—

The reaction of a woman walking past me drew my attention. She crossed the street hastily. Carefully looking over my shoulder showed why.

A dozen men with greasy hair, ragged clothes, and strung out eyes. Baggy jackets covered their bodies, but the way they walked, favoring one side, told me I'd managed to end up about twenty feet in front of a band of thugs looking for a fight.

No traffic cameras along the street. No way for Veda to warn me.

I did like the woman and tried to cross the road, stopping for a moment as an SUV sped up and made a left hand turn.

Once it passed me I saw the other dozen men, in red and green, looking right past me with guns raised.

From behind me a voice rattled, "Jus' kill 'um."