Step 6.9

"I'll say it," Eidolon said. She landed on a roof to the building's north and crossed her arms. "This is in terrible taste."

I didn't disagree.

Brockton Bay ran to the brim with abandoned buildings, and Shanty Town easily ranked at the top of the list for parts of the city with them. Especially after the Merchants took over and the area declined into its current namesake. Abandoned office buildings ran along the areas near Downtown and the Towers, apartment complexes near the Docks, and plenty of empty warehouses along the coast. Even an old train station that once connected the area to the Trainyard and the ferry station south of the Boardwalk.

Cranial could set up just about anywhere.

And she picked a fucking elementary school.

Eastown Elementary, to be precise. I think Shanty Town used to be called 'Eastown' before it got so run down.

"And she creeped me out to begin with," Manpower said.

He and Flashbang advanced ahead of Prism and the troopers. I waited to the west on a rooftop, and Dragon took her position to the south while the perimeter built itself.

"It's a little odd," Prism said. "There's no one here. Not even Merchants."

"Maybe she left already?" Flashbang suggested.

"Possibly," Dragon said. "No way to know until we look."

Armsmaster remained behind to inspect Squealer's reactor while the rest of us marched, or flew, on. Miss Militia's team kept Mush contained a dozen blocks away, and Trainwreck remained vanished. That made me nervous, but I didn't want to waste Dinah's last question asking about it. Dauntless, Laserdream, and Lady Photon were cleaning up in the border with the Docks, so they'd join us shortly. Not sure we needed the extra firepower, but more fliers might be useful.

"How are we handling this?" Manpower asked.

"Surround the building," Armsmaster said. "Dragon."

"Right," Dragon answered. "Newtype."

I flinched. "Yes?"

"You can see through solid walls with your suit?"

"Yes, but not here." I stared at the school perturbed. "Something about tinker tech throws off my sonic imaging."

I thought it just Bakuda at first, but Squealer's workshop looked hazy, too, and now the school as well. At least it confirmed the presence of a tinker for me.

"Well, on the bright side we know this is the place," Eidolon said.

Dragon's suit lifted off its rooftop and landed on the ground.

I did take some time to look straight down. The cameras didn't see through street as well as buildings, but they did see. Coil got into the bank vault by digging his way up into it, so it seemed prudent to check if anyone tried slipping out under our noses.

"We've got a vehicle," a trooper said. "Northwest side by the gymnasium. Looks like a tour bus."

I directed a Haro that way to get a better look.

"It looks a lot newer than the school," I said.

"Secure the perimeter," Dragon said, "and keep eyes on that vehicle but do not approach it. We'll spread our force out to strengthen all sides. Manpower and Flashbang south, Eidolon north, Prism east, and I'll take west."

Couldn't help but notice. "What about me?" I asked.

Dragon lifted off her roof and landed on the street a block north of me.

"You're easily the fastest responder in the city right now," Dragon said. "Keep a watch on the perimeter. If it breaks, chase down and detain whoever it is."

Is she trying to keep me out of the building?

I scowled, but this wasn't the time or place for an argument.

"Right."

"In the meantime," Dragon said, "We need to search the building. I don't want to advance inside blindly. Can you use the Haros to scout the structure?"

"Yes."

I directed the Haros around the building while the others split off and joined teams of troopers. The school had six entrances, but I didn't see Cranial trying to get out the front door. I left that one to troopers, and instead directed Purple toward the tour bus.

I couldn't see inside it any better than the school.

"I think the bus is tinker tech," I said.

"One of Squealers?" Prism asked.

"Too clean cut for Squealer," I said. "But maybe she modified it somehow. Part of a trade between Cranial and the Merchants."

Cranial supplied Squealer with some kind of network… The Merchants got some of Cranial's tech, and Cranial got some of theirs maybe?

Or maybe not. When I thought of tinker tech vehicles I naturally thought of Squealer, but I built a tinker tech van. Cranial might have cooked something up herself.

All the more reason to poke around.

Purple landed on the ground behind the troopers and popped out of the saddle. She rolled over the ground toward the bus and under the vehicle, her eyes looking around and searching for anything that looked too hi-tech for a basic tour bus.

"StarGazer, how is that network going?" I asked.

"I have begun piecing together some of the data," Veda said. "I do not believe Cranial is attempting to control anyone."

I raised my brow. "What is she doing?"

"The devices found in Brockton Bay injected subliminal images into the TV broadcasts of the affected buildings," Veda explained. "But it also contains a wide range scanner. I believe Cranial is not trying to influence behavior, but instead wanted to observe micro-reactions to images."

I raised my brow. She hijacked hundreds of people's TV's to run a psychology experiment?

"What images?" Dragon asked. "Can you show me?"

"I have recovered a few."

A screen expanded on my visor and, something dropped into my stomach.

I knew the scene. I'd seen it at Winslow.

A shattered skyline, buildings collapsing in waves of golden fire. A red streak in the air, and two figures facing off against one another. The image focused not on Eidolon – the first one – but rather on his opponent.

"Scion?" Dragon asked.

Eidolon turned her head. "What about him?"

"Cranial's devices subliminally inserted images of Scion and she observed how people reacted?" Dragon asked.

"Why would she do that?" I asked. And why am I feeling so uneasy about it?

"Unknown," Veda said. "This data is easily accessed from the devices Cranial has scattered around the city. Her larger network is more elusive. Rather than storing data traditionally, it appears to be organized by casual relationships. My own system is a polar opposite."

Data stored by relationship? Sounded more like a human brain than a computer… Which made some sense. Brain tinker builds a network organized like a human brain. Also explained why Veda might struggle with it. At the end of the day she stored data in a highly structured and regimented way. She didn't fuzz it up the way humans did, or use mountains of mental conscious and unconscious shortcuts to help retain and recall imperfect recollections.

"At least that means the people are okay," Prism said. "That's good."

"Best to confirm," Dragon said. "We should complete the M/S procedures per protocol."

"Oh, we will," Piggot said.

I kept forgetting she was watching and listening. Kind of creepy.

"The Haros are in position," I said. "I'm sending them in."

Green, Red, Pink, Navy, and Orange rolled and flew toward their entrances. Most of the doors opened easily, but one appeared locked.

"Locked, locked," Pink chirped.

"We could leave it," I said.

"It might be locked to make us leave it," Eidolon said.

A pair of troopers ran forward, taking position on either side of Pink and slamming a big metal pillar into the door.

The entire frame snapped, and Pink rolled through the opening while the troopers ran back to the perimeter.

"Thank you, thank you!"

Alright, let's look around.

Green flew in through the gymnasium, which looked about as run-down and abandoned as expected.

Shockingly it looked better than Winslow's, but that's Winslow for you. I hate schools.

Nothing but bad memories.

The Haros started searching rooms, which all seemed innocuous at first. I might be worried we got the wrong place, or arrived too late, if not for the bus.

"The bus is definitely tinker tech," I said. I looked through Purple's eyes, describing the device she found in the undercarriage. "About the size of a person. A glowing internal cylinder with rings around it. Looks like something Squealer might put together. It's roughly welded and kind of junky looking."

The other Haros meanwhile came up with empty rooms and no signs of life, but the school building was fairly large. I'd only searched maybe a tenth of the rooms.

That left all the rest of us waiting around outside. In the distance the sounds of explosions and gunshots died down.

The Merchants are finished.

It's an odd realization, and not as relieving as I'd have wished.

No Skidmark, no Whirlygig, no Squealer. At the rate the fight against Mush went, he'd get caught too. A Lung Trainwreck could never be, wherever he'd wandered to. He wouldn't hold the gang together on his own. The Merchants might not have the age of the Empire, or the power of the ABB, but they'd still controlled a full third of the city. Knocking them down, it's something that needed to happen.

But now what?

No Merchants and their territory went up for grabs. The ABB and Empire would fight over it, and Coil might even get in on it to try and establish himself better. Entirely new gangs might show up to fill the void, with new capes.

I didn't plan to fully knock over any of the gangs for at least another year. I didn't have the infrastructure or the manpower I needed to enforce any kind of peace, and lacked faith the Protectorate could.

There'd just be more fighting… More people dying.

Dragon's head jerked suddenly, moments before someone said, "Movement."

I turned my attention toward the gymnasium. One of the doors hung open. Definitely closed when we arrived, but I didn't see any figures inside.

"Green," I said.

My Haro turned around and started back toward the gym. A big space. Did someone hide inside, or somewhere else? They could have slipped by Green in a few ways. My robots couldn't be everywhere and the entire building looked too fuzzy to see through the walls.

"I've got an open window," Prism said, looking up at the building.

"Same here," Flashbang said. One of his bombs formed in his hand, and he wheeled it back ready to throw.

I assessed the perimeter, capes on all ends with a wall of troopers. I didn't have a full view with the Haros all inside save purple, but I saw most of the perimeter from my rooftop. At least a hundred people. Dragon stood a hundred feet away from me at an intersection ahead of the troopers facing the gym and watching the nearby parked bus further north.

A tinker can do anything. Cranial must have an escape plan. Hold her victims hostage? Threaten the city? What?

Green got back into the gymnasium.

I didn't get a lot of time to look at what they were wearing. Too distracted by what the one by the door held in their hand, ready to throw just like Flashbang.

"Get down!" I shouted.

Troopers and capes started reacting, but the small softball sized orb sailed out of the open doors and windows around the building. Some troopers with riot shields raised them, Manpower and Prism used their powers and Eidolon raised a big golden field between her and the grenade that landed a few feet away. Dragon held her hand out and shot a small projectile from her suit's wrist. The object sputtered halfway through its flight and fell to the ground.

No explosion.

No explosions at all.

And yet, people started falling over.

Wha-

"What's happening?" Piggot shouted.

Armsmaster followed up with. "Prism, report."

"Neil?" Lady Photon asked as the silence dragged out, followed by Brandish calling for 'Mark.'

No one answered.

"Anyone?!" Piggot said.

"I- I'm here," I said. I paused turning my head toward Dragon to see her suit standing stock still. "Dragon?"

I looked south, finding Manpower and Flashbang on the ground with the troopers.

"What's happening?" Armsmaster said.

"They're all down," I said with confusion. "But nothing-"

She emerged from the gymnasium, a shortish to average height woman with brown hair and plain clothes. I recognized her face from the file Armsmaster sent out.

Grace Hicks, aka Cranial.

I stood stock still, trying to figure out why everyone else fell over like a sack of potatoes. The grenades obviously, but how? Some kind of stun effect? Knock out gas? Nerve agent of some kind. No, it hit Dragon too and she was hundreds of miles away! How the hell did Cranial manage to do that with those tiny little grenades?

Inside the gymnasium, some of the kids turned to look at Green with blank expressions.

Veda. "Veda?" I asked. Not sure why I whispered.

"I am here," she said. "I am uncertain what is happening."

"E-Everyone is knocked out," I said. "And Dragon's suit isn't moving."

"You are unaffected?" Armsmaster asked.

"Maybe because I'm further away."

Cranial turned her head my way, but I kept Astraea motionless. She didn't seem alarmed by my presence. Did she think she got me?

She's standing out in the open.

My thumb touched the dial regulating the power output of my pistols. Push it up high enough, and… And I'd… Is my heart always this loud?.

The children inside backed away from Green, most turning and walking outside. They gathered in two lines, and I saw the boy and girl from the day before at one end. They both looked younger than most of the others, the oldest looking about Prism's age. How long ago did Cranial grab him that he'd reached his twenties?

I turned the dial.

Cranial stood out in the open, all by herself.

I only needed to-

"Don't."

I froze. "Dragon?"

"I am fine," Dragon said. "Just wait."

"For what?"

Cranial took a step forward toward Dragon's suit, hands behind her back. Her lips moved. Speech? I didn't hear the words, but she was obviously saying something. One hand waved toward the bus, and most of the kids started moving except for the oldest ones. They followed after Cranial, their eyes serious and focused. They watched the troopers closely, and two of them carried guns.

Pink stopped as someone crossed her path inside the building. Another older girl. She looked at my Haro, and when Pink remained still the girl turned and kept going. She didn't stop when Pink started following.

How did she knock everyone out?

It seemed awfully quiet suddenly. Nothing from Piggot or Armsmaster. Wait. Dragon told me to wait on our private line, the one that ran through Veda.

Did she think Cranial might have cracked the PRT's lines?

Cranial drew closer to Dragon's suit, and relaxed.

I watched the woman's steps silently, my hand turning down the dial. Part of me felt angry, because I realized I couldn't do it. Kill order or not, I wasn't ready to kill anyone. Not even a child murderer.

So, if Dragon wanted to handle it… I stood still and watched as Cranial took the final steps. Dragon's suit remained stock still, arm raised as if frozen in place.

Cranial drew within arm's reach, but Dragon kept playing possum. The woman poked at her armor, which gave slightly but returned to its position absent resistance.

"Faking," a voice mumbled. It came from Dragon's line. "Possibly. Possibly not. Would have grabbed me by now if she were. Not a remote suit? Saint said she only pilots remote suits, intelligence might be incorrect, downgrade Saint's reliability in future trades perhaps. Yes. Probably a bad idea to trust him in the first place. He doesn't understand. No one understands."

And that sounded like crazy talk.

Saint? That tinker thief who got his name stealing from Dragon?

Cranial shook her head. "No matter. Don't have time. Time's running out. Have to finish. So close. Almost found it. Just a little more. The solution to collapse. Collapse the solution.,,"

She kept blabbering, and Dragon remained still.

What's she waiting for?

Cranial turned, one hand ruffling her hair and the other still behind her back holding some kind of remote.

Oh, that.

Dragon's arm snapped back, grabbed Cranial by the throat, lifting the woman up off her feet. Her other hand came forward, and Cranial's forearm bent in a direction that is not anatomically possible without broken bones.

She dropped the remote, and Dragon's foot came down on top of it.

"You've spoken to Saint," Dragon said. "I've been wondering where he's been. He hasn't harassed me in at least six months."

Cranial didn't struggle. She turned her head, looking back at the lenses set in Dragon's suit. If she felt any pain from having her arm broken, she didn't show it. The kids, or former kids, in front of her didn't react either.

"Disappointing," Cranial said. "Now I have to fix my arm with only one good arm. Going to take a whole day. Don't have time for that. Maybe if I don't sleep. That'll have to do. Too close to stop now. Too much at stake."

Too much at stake? What's at stake?

"What is she talking about?" I asked.

"Time and place," Dragon said. Her suit turned its head, looking at the line of downed troopers. "This is over now, all of it. Surrender, release the children and maybe-"

"Nothing, nothing," Cranial mumbled like she didn't even hear Dragon. "The system won't stand. Network collapse inevitable. It'll all collapse. Need a solution. Need the source."

"Surrender," Dragon demanded. "You can't escape me now, and threatening to harm anyone will not save you."

"Don't have time." I don't think it was an answer, just a continuation of Cranial's babble. "Need to find the solution. The source. Too close. Too much at stake. Everything at stake. Stella. I need to finish. I'm almost there. Stella!"

Stella? Who is-

One of the older girl's in front of Cranial, a girl with blue eyes and golden hair raised her gun hand.

"Don't," Dragon said. "It's over now."

I started to move, positioning myself and raising my pistols. Easy enough to stun the girl.

"Another faker," Cranial said, her eyes flicking to me. "Another remote suit? Dragon has a fan girl. Cute. That's cute. No time for it though. Stella. Need to finish. Need to find the source. Stella."

I took aim, not sure why the girl planned to shoot Dragon's obviously empty suit with a gun. Maybe she'd point it at one of the troopers?

Crap?

"Veda, check on everyone else," I said.

The targeting reticule came over the girl as her gun lifted up.

And 'Stella' pointed the gun at her own head.

"What?" I asked aloud.

Dragon stared. "What is this?"

"Release her," Stella said. "Or I pull the trigger."

She pressed the barrel harder against her temple. The boys on either side of her followed suit. One pressed his own gun into his throat, and the other – because fuck me – slipped his index finger into the pin of a grenade.

"Fighting dirty," Cranial said, her voice becoming more frantic. "Have to. No choice. Too much at stake. Dying. Everything is dying. Time running out. Need to find the source."

"Dragon," Armsmaster said. "Cranial's kill order is final. If she has trained her victims to kill themselves…"

Dragon's hold on Cranial loosened.

"Is that an order?" Dragon asked, her voice pleading. I didn't know if she wanted someone to order her to do it or desperately wanted someone not to.

Armsmaster went silent for a moment. Eventually, he asked, "Director?"

I considered shooting. If I stunned them, they might not be able to shoot. Or their bodies might spasm and they'd shoot anyway. Never mind that the grenade pin might get pulled in the process of the boy holding it going limp. Either might go wide and hit one of the troopers, or the line of kids advancing toward the tour bus-

The tour bus.

"Let her go," I said.

"You don't give the orders here," Piggot said.

"I can stop her," I said. "Let her go, Dragon. I'll save the kids."

Dragon turned her suit's head my way.

I began directing the Haros, save Red. Red I pulled outside and had him check on Prism. Still alive, so Cranial just knocked them all out somehow. Maybe a gas after all, something that didn't get through my armor and didn't affect Dragon since she wasn't here.

"We can't let her go," Armsmaster said. "Not under these circumstances."

I frowned. "And how will thirty dead children work as a sound bite?" I asked. "Let. Her. Go. I've slipped one of my Haros under the tour bus, I don't think they know she's here."

Purple reached up and grabbed onto the bus's under carriage. She lifted her ball off the ground, and settled in.

Behind me, Orange flew up out of sight of the people below. The loading arm on Astraea's back unfolded, and I played like I intended to bring out my bazooka. As I did, the arm pulled a rocket magazine, and Orange pulled a rocket from inside. He removed the propellant end and kept the explosive, flying back the way he came and slipping back down into the alley below.

I leveled my bazooka but didn't shoot, Cranial and her victims all taking notice but looking impassive.

"Let them go," I said. "They won't make it far. I'll stun the entire bus with a grenade and we'll grab them all." Really happy I made the new ones non-painful. Though even the painful ones seemed preferable to kids with bullets in their heads.

Dragon didn't wait. She quickly released Cranial and stepped back. Her suit turned to me, and stepped into my line of fire, like she intended to stop me from shooting.

Cranial stumbled on the ground, still babbling.

"Have to go. Come. I'm close. So close. Almost there. Thank you, Stella. Only missing a few pieces. I can find them. So close. Good girl, Stella."

Somehow her words disturbed me more than the young adults with guns to their heads. She sounded like a crazed loon, and not a high junkie. It's one think for a mad scientist to do mad science, but a mad scientist who is actually mad? Everything is dying. Find the source. What did she mean? Something she considered important enough to kill kids over? I didn't know what to make of that.

Stella and the boys didn't lower their guns. They turned and followed Cranial, fingers on the triggers.

I tracked them with my bazooka, and Dragon's suit stayed in the way. That worked. She got to stay close to the kids and make it look like she was 'allowing' them to escape.

She backed up after them all the way to the bus. Cranial went in, and Stella and the boys followed, guns still at their heads. Dragon turned, looking through the windows. The children inside looked back at her.

I directed the Haros through the air, and Veda hacked her way back into the traffic lights. When I stunned the bus I'd stun the driver too, and I didn't want any head on collisions with moving vehicles.

The bus started, the engine rumbling.

And then it vanished.

Dragon stepped forward, hand reaching out through thin air.

"It's okay," I said. "They're just invisible."

I kept my head on a swivel, looking back and forth like I didn't know exactly where Purple was. The bus pulled away from the school and turned south. I tensed, seeing a trio of troopers directly in their path.

Fuck.

I jumped off the rooftop and landed right in the road, my heart pounding as I prayed they didn't get suspicious.

The bust stopped fifteen feet behind me, completely unseen by my eyes. Even the sonic cameras didn't see it, which really weirded me out. If Purple weren't directly under the vehicle and holding on I'd never know it was there.

I turned away and walked towards the troopers. I knelt as if to check on them, the bus waiting motionlessly behind me.

I didn't even hear it.

Is that the trade?

Squealer gives Cranial something to make her bus invisible, and Cranial gives her some help with her tinkering? Shanty Town did seem like the ideal place to experiment on people, and kids went missing in Brockton Bay all the time. Not a bad place to set up shop, and getting an invisible bus to facilitate her escapes would be a nice side bonus.

I lifted the troopers from the road, drawing Red toward me.

"See if you can wake them up," I said. "I'm going to clear the road for EMTs."

"Okay, okay!"

I pulled the troopers off the road and out of the bus's path, really hoping I'd managed to look coincidental. After I cleared the bus's path, I moved over to the next road and continued getting people off the road and onto the sidewalk. I'd just started lifting troopers when the bus started moving again.

It drove straight ahead.

They might be suspicious, but my plan would still work, right?

As soon as they left my line of sight I stood up straight and turned.

"They're driving away from the school," I said. "Going south on Archer's Street."

"I can't see them," Dragon said.

"Me neither, but Purple is directly under the bus. I only have to track her."

"Velocity," Piggot said. "I'm directing ambulances toward the school. Follow them. Be ready to divert and secure Cranial's victims. We've got others on the way to make sure everyone at the school is okay."

"On it," he said.

"I'm on my way," Glory Girl – almost forgot about her – said. "Dragon, Newtype. Do what you need to do. I'll keep everyone at the school safe until help arrives."

Brandish started to protest. "Victoria-"

"I'm just going to pile them all up in one place and make sure no one messes with them!" Vicky said. "I'll be fine. I'll keep Uncle Neil and dad safe."

"Let it be Carol," Lady Photon said. "I'm still bogged down here. Victoria can get there faster than anyone else."

I tracked the bus, the Haros flying fast overhead. They ducked down low a few blocks up, and abandoned their cradles. The bus kept to its straight line going south toward the PRT's quarantine line. Not sure how they intended to drive through that invisibly with so many cars on the road. Maybe they'd just force their way through? Hell, for all I knew the damn thing could fly.

Didn't matter. They'd never make it that far.

As the bus drove up to a street corner at a leisurely forty miles per hour, the Haros gathered on the corner. I left the timing to Veda, and right as Purple passed the intersection, the other four basketballs all rolled out and into the street. Green, Navy and Pink grabbed hold. Pink lost her grip for a second, but Purple grabbed her hand as she rolled past and caught her.

Kind of worked out, 'because that gave Pink a perfect view of an access hatch.

"Green, Navy, work on that generator," I said. "Purple, help Pink get to the access hatch."

They might still have guns to their heads. Not sure I'd be able to do anything about it if they did, but if they didn't…

This is what I can do.

I tried to account for everything. Other vehicles, those in motion and parked on the road side. Cars. Pedestrians. If I let the bus out onto the highway leading out of the city I'd have mostly empty road to work with, but they'd also put on speed. If I waited too long they'd get close to the quarantine line and might crash. I'd have to stun them and hope for the best. At forty miles per hour they'd get hurt, but hitting a parked car or building hopefully wouldn't kill anyone.

Pink reached up to the hatch and pulled the handle. Purple kind of needed to get under her so Pink sort of had something to stand on. She pushed the hatch up and raised her eyes over the lip to look inside.

And found the white haired girl staring back at her.

I panicked. "Orange!"

Orange slammed the rocket into the bus and the air rippled. The bus twisted, invisible tires squealing. The vehicle shook, Purple lost her grip and falling away as the bus mounted the curb. Pink got thrown forward, rolling end over end down the center aisle before the vehicle slammed into a light pole and suddenly stopped.

"Dragon!"

I pressed on the pedals and Astraea burst into the sky. Dragon followed after me, and we both passed in sight of Vicky as she flew toward the school.

I angled down toward the street, watching Pink stabilize herself and look around. I didn't hear any gunshots as the bus crashed.

I hit the ground, sliding along the asphalt and swinging a beam saber into the air.

The bus might be invisible and silent, but I felt the beam slash into the tires and heard the explosion of air as they popped. Dragon landed directly beside me, her hand reaching past Astraea and grabbing hold of the bus. Her clawed fingers compressed, breaking through the fiber glass and rippling the false image of nothingness.

With a heave, she ripped the bus open, and a small boy spilled out.

Dragon caught him on the way down and-

"NO!" She shouted.

I grabbed the grenade from his hand and spun Astraea about. I held the small orb to my chest, hands covering it and my eyes closed. The blast punched right into my chest, but the armor held even as my lungs gasped for breath.

The boy kicked and punched behind me, Dragon holding him tight.

He's still moving.

My heart sank.

No.

I spun, drawing my Bazooka down and pointing the barrel directly into the bus. I fired twice, both rockets slamming into the vehicle and rippling through the air.

I ejected my weapon after firing the third rocket and emptying the magazine. I pushed into the vehicle, and I didn't understand.

The rockets worked. Everyone inside seemed out of it, their movements sluggish and flimsy. But they were still moving how are they still moving?!

I didn't have time to think. I just acted.

I pulled on the controls, and the armor opened up around me.

"StarGazer," I called, "autopilot!"

"Accessing," Veda replied. Astraea's armor closed and the suit began moving around me.

I scrambled, grabbing two guns and a grenade out of hands before anyone could hurt themselves. Pink did the same, snatching Stella's gun as she tried to raise it to her head again. Veda turned Astraea the other way, ripping more of the bus's side off.

I wrenched a small blade from a boy's hand, and my eyes snapped over as one girl managed to get another blade to her throat.

No.

"Whoa!"

Trevor grabbed her wrist and tackled her into the wall. I blinked, watching him struggle with the girl until he managed to pull the knife from her fingers.

The Haros swarmed into the vehicle, bouncing around the interior. They knocked people over. Tripped them. Distracted them. Trevor and I kept moving. I grabbed a gun. A knife. Another fucking grenade who gives children live hand grenades?!

Dragon set the one boy on the ground and walked around to the front of the bus. Her hand slammed into the window, and she dragged Cranial out and onto the street.

"Stop this!" She shouted. "Now!"

The woman somehow kept moving. Sluggish, and clumsily like everyone else but she was still able to speak her babble as I kept grabbing weapons out of hands.

Someone tackled me, their arms going around my waist. I hit the floor hard. Astraea turned, arm reaching past me and grabbing the white haired girl. Veda pulled her off me, and Orange climbed a seat and bound her wrists with zip ties.

I exhaled, my lungs working overtime for air.

My head snapped back and forth. A lot of the boys and girls struggled, but the zip ties around their arms and legs held firm. Someone tried to tackle me again, one of the older boys. Green slammed into his side, and Navy grabbed his hands while Pink wrapped zip ties around his wrists.

I looked past him, searching for weapons.

Time slowed down.

I didn't see any.

Is that it?

I struggled to my feet, looking over Astraea as my suit leaned halfway into the vehicle. A few of the kids did seem immobilized, their bodies lying limp on in their seats or on the floor. The rest lay bound, and obviously alive because they kept trying to get free.

Trevor pinned the boy I'd seen before to the ground, holding him in place while Purple bound his wrists.

"Newtype?" Dragon called.

I flinched, spinning on my heel and leaning out of the bus. Veda used Astraea to peel the vehicle open like a can of sardines, taking some seats and floor with it. Dragon held Cranial against the street, her suit's head looking at me.

"The children?" She asked.

I glanced back, my eyes still searching.

"Newtype?"

"They're okay," I said. I looked them over again. I started kicking and tossing weapons outside and well out of reach, and the Haros did the same. "I think they're okay." A few bumps and bruises, maybe a broken bone given one girl's shoulder, but if she could cry then she was alive. "They're okay…"

I looked over at Trevor as he got to his feet, looking as winded as me. A bruise grew on his cheek. Not sure when he got hit, but it didn't bleed.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

Trevor raised his head. "Huh? Oh. Um. Well, no one ever told me what I was supposed to do, so I've just been zipping around?" He both hands through the air in front of him. "I saw you and Dragon booking it over here, and I heard your plan so I figured," – he shrugged – "help?"

I stared at him and thought back. Thinking back, I don't think anyone ever acknowledge him specifically after the meeting. I'd assumed he'd gone off with Vicky, Shielder, and the Wards to patrol out of harm's way, but I suppose no one ever did specifically tell him what to do. And he didn't ask.

Did we seriously completely forget about him?

I narrowed my eyes.

Trevor flinched. "Um, you okay?"

"Trying to figure out if you have a stranger power," I said.

"I… don't think so?"

Dragon's suit stomped over, her one hand holding Cranial tightly.

"Chariot?" She asked. "What are you doing here?"

Trevor shrugged. "Helping?"

Dragon scanned the interior. I didn't see any blood anywhere. I think we'd kept all the kids from killing themselves.

"Dragon?" Armsmaster asked. "What happened?"

Dragon's suit turned. "We did it," she said. "The children are secured."

Well, secured-ish. They could still bite their tongues or something if they really wanted to kill themselves, not that I'd voice that thought out loud.

"I have Cranial," Dragon said. "It's over."

The silence that followed felt more like relief than anything. I sat myself down, Green rolling over and climbing into my lap. I took another good look – my fifth or sixth – just to be absolutely sure. Purple and Pink jumped out of the bus and started collecting the guns, knives, and three grenades a good twenty feet away from us.

"It's over, Grace," Dragon said. She lifted Cranial up, looking at the woman's dazed face. "Why? Why did you do all of this? What's consumed you so much that you're taking children?"

I turned my head. Dragon called her by her first name, and said it like she'd used it before. Like she knew her.

Dragon worked with Glace to make containment foam years ago. Did she meet Cranial back then? Before she'd started her experiments?

Cranial frowned. "You won't understand. No one understands."

"That's not an answer!" Dragon said. "Tell me! Why did you do all of this? The kidnappings, the experiments! You started Toybox. You started it for people with nowhere else to go, you protected young tinkers from all over the world."

"The world?" Cranial mumbled. "The world is dying. Times running out. I'm so close. I've almost found it."

"Found what? Is this about the Gold War? About Scion?"

Cranial reacted to the name, her eyes going wide, and her face twisting. She seemed, afraid.

Dragon cocked her head to one side.

I watched as her suit lowered Cranial to her feet and released her. I glanced at Dragon, but she kept her suit's gaze fixed on the woman.

They stood silently, Dragon watching her and Cranial staring up with a look of confusion and fear. She didn't babble. She didn't say anything… And suddenly I wanted to know too. Dragon obviously knew Cranial, and Cranial obviously thought she knew something. Something about Scion, and about the world being in danger? Did he survive the Gold War? How did that make him a threat?

"I know you Grace," Dragon said. "Let me help you."

Cranial's lips quivered. "Theres-"

A beam of light cut through the air, and Cranial's chest exploded. Blood and viscera scattered around, painting Dragon's armor and Astraea red all at once. Red spilled from Cranial's mouth, and her body separated at the waist as the bottom half fell to the ground and her torso fell the other way.

I didn't throw up or anything. It didn't register with me at first. I'd seen a lot of fucked up shit since putting on my mask. I guess watching a human being get eviscerated right in front of you loses its impact after already dealing with the likes of Oni Lee and Ali Al-Saachez.

Dragon's suit went still again.

"What did you do?" She asked.

Eidolon turned her hand toward Dragon. "Why did you release her?"

Dragon's suit raised its head. "She surrendered."

"She has a kill order," Eidolon said. "And it looked to me like you were letting her go."

I flinched, snapping my head around.

The kids stared at Cranial, but their expressions didn't seem shocked or sad. They looked, unphased.

They definitely saw she was dead.

They didn't seem sad, or upset.

They looked… determined.