A Waken 12.1

I tabbed back and forth between the screens.

It was a clever idea.

Veda wrote down the day's events on a Blog, and then asked Dinah what was on the front page a week out. Very clever, even down to the name 'Newspaper'. Veda was developing a sense of humor, albeit a rudimentary one.

Not sure Veda intended to become an overnight celebrity.

She had hundreds of comments on each post. Initially people asked what she was doing, and then they started posting things that happened to them. Which was just weird but Dinah ended up seeing the top few comments in her visions.

More points of data, at least.

Though Veda still asked for headlines.

Wise. We didn't want to blind ourselves to someone hacking the Blog or something. We'd struggle to identify it from Dinah's power alone.

Even helped us get around her Endbringer block. One comment three weeks out clearly said 'Behemoth is attacking Delhi'. It got voted to the top in Dinah's visions four times. Twice it was Nanjing, in China.

So somewhere in Asia.

I might not be able to do anything about Behemoth myself. The first Endbringer could manipulate energy, though lethal radiation was what it was most famous for. Did I even want to risk firing a Gungnir or GN particles at it?

Could it turn those weapons back on me, or worse on someone else? I actually preferred the thought of fighting Leviathan again. At least I had an idea for how to kill Leviathan.

I needed information. Leviathan had something it wanted to protect. It ran the moment Veda tried to hit it. Did Behemoth have a weakness too? If so, how could I damage it?

Even if I didn't kill Behemoth, could I force it to retreat?

And then there was the Butcher…

Both were bad matches.

More choices where no matter what I do, people get hurt.

That bugged me lately. More than usual.

I finished reading the Newspaper—Dinah and Veda's name for the answers they assembled—and closed the window.

"We have some addresses," I said.

I typed them out and sent them to her as a text, along with a license plate Dinah wrote down.

"Thank you," Faultline replied. "Did she see him?"

"No," I answered. "I imagine if Number Man were so easy to find, someone would have by now. Forecast saw streets and businesses. Nothing more."

"It'll do. I only need a lead to start."

"You think this is connected?" I queried. "This old story of powers from a bottle?"

"I know they existed," she stated, "and this Teacher business has me curious."

It's fairly obvious when you think about it that the two Teachers can't be the same. The first was defeated in part with the help of precogs. The second one can't be precogged at all. Yet, their powers appeared so similar.

Powers from a bottle.

I'd seen the stories before. Veda found them here and there, mostly on the dark web. Usually it was just some snake oil scam. They were popular on Blue Cosmos Blogs and discussion boards. A few stories circulated about villains or rogues claiming to have bought powers here and there.

The stories were old though, and hardly anyone but Blue Cosmos talked about them anymore.

I didn't know if I agreed with Faultline, but the fact the question got an answer from Dinah gave me pause.

Where is Number Man next week?

I knew that name too. The mystery cape who brokered money for other capes, heroes, rogues, villains. Anyone. He made Toybox's money disappear when Veda started stealing it. That was a feat.

It made sense.

If someone was selling powers, Number Man would know who.

"He won't retaliate?" I asked. "I imagine he doesn't want to be found."

"I don't bank with capes."

"Bank of America." USA. "Well, if he does ask—"

"Schwartz Bruder sends his regards."

Is this rabbit hole worth it?

It was a good question, but what if it all turned out to be paranoia and stories? It didn't cost me much. If she found something, it could be big. If she didn't, I still got something.

"How is Grue?" I asked.

"Adjusting."

That well?

I couldn't think of much else to do with him. Aisha spent a few hours shouting at him apparently, and he shouted back. Family. Been there, done that.

Letting Grue stick around Brockton Bay was inviting the local Protectorate and Wards to come after him. He needed to leave. Lay low.

Sending him off with Faultline seemed a natural solution, but, "I seem to remember you saying something about not being a charity."

"I'm not. You're going to keep an eye on Labyrinth for me and I'm going to keep an eye on Grue for Imp. We come out of this even. If I find something you can use, we'll negotiate price then."

If that suited her. I didn't care about money.

"I have a contract to investigate Cauldron anyway," she continued. "This suits me fine. I'll send you a new number on Friday. We'll do it that way every week for now."

"Alright."

And she hung up.

I hoped Faultline would take Labyrinth being dragged into things personally, and she did. In whatever counted as personal for her. She wanted to go off and look into some things herself and I could use some help.

Dinah and Veda took it upon themselves to handle questions.

That was fair.

Trevor was taking care of the factory. Orga and Tekkadan were setting up a network on the streets to help back up Veda. Bakuda was helping to deal with the villains looking into the city.

I always knew it was all to big for me to do things alone.

Now that I was less alone than ever though, I found myself uneasy.

Suppose I am a control freak.

Not a pleasant self-assessment, but unfortunately accurate.

I couldn't explain my unease any other way. I also couldn't deny things had advanced past the point I could do everything myself. I needed to run the factory, rebuild the economy, investigate Blue Cosmos, Teacher, and the PRT.

My body settled with a deep breath and I checked the time.

07:34 pm

Lafter crossed Exia's path, spinning Kyrios about and then flipping the suit so the head pointed down. The antennae skimmed over the water's surface, cutting into the wave as it rolled beneath us.

"We should invent a sport or something," she suggested. "Haro Ball!"

"Please no, please no!"

"Sport?" Veda asked.

"Yeah, you know. A sport? Like soccer, but with robots. Oh! Or robot MMA!"

"Stupid, stupid!"

"No it's not! Think about it. Taylor could make wacky robots and then make them fight each other!"

"So," I mumbled, "rock 'em sock 'em robots, but bigger?"

Kyrios' head turned.

"We'll call it Gundam Fight!"

"No."

"And here I thought you were finally going to be fun!"

"Nope."

The waves roiled around us and our 'unfun'.

I glanced toward the city. From the light of three GN drives, everyone should be able to tell we were out here. Just some tests. Nothing more.

For the moment.

07:43 pm

I dialed a number.

"'Ello," Aisha greeted.

"Is everything okay?"

Aisha clicked her tongue. "Anyone ever tell you you're a control freak sometimes?"

I did not snap. "It's been thirteen minutes."

"Huh. Hadn't noticed. I'm stacking chairs in the kitchen!"

"Oh." Lafter turned Kyrios around. "Like the movie?"

"Yes."

"What is the purpose of stacking chairs?" Queen hovered above and behind Exia, facing out to sea. "Is it amusing?"

"It will be when they walk in and wonder how the fuck it happened," Aisha jested.

"It is fun to confuse them?"

Always surprising the things Veda had yet to learn. Not sure I wanted her learning Aisha's brand of humor though. Still. It's not like you wouldn't find hordes of stuff like it online.

She'd probably seen such behavior before and didn't understand.

Asking now was convenient because she naturally assumed Aisha did.

"To see the looks on their faces," Aisha explained.

"That seems cruel," Veda answered.

"Yeah well they're nut jobs. They have it coming."

"…They are rather illogical."

"They did stay around even after we kicked their butts," Lafter pointed out. "Though they were a bunch of push overs."

In the grand scheme, the Patriots were the bargain bin of villainy. My issue with them wasn't even their ideology—though it was crazy—but their habit of generating collateral damage. The Patriots kept moving around the US because they seemed incapable of staying anywhere for long without causing a mess.

Last time it was Phalanx crushing a school bus during a robbery escape. Kids got hurt. The driver died.

I wouldn't let them sit in Brockton Bay until they fucked up again.

Lafter and New Wave caught Sheriff and a good number of the unpowered thugs. That left a few guys with guns and Phalanx to deal with.

"Oh"—Aisha clicked her tongue—"show time."

Fortunately, the Patriots set themselves up in the Trainyard.

I turned Exia's head as the first explosion shot into the sky. Big and flashy, just as requested. Better late than never.

"Let's go!" Lafter said as I spun Exia about.

My feet pressed against the pedals and I shot forward. Queen and Kyrios followed.

Kyrios' fins—long on the knees and back—left a distinct trail in the air. Whereas Exia and Queen looked like comets from a distance, Kyrios left a spiraling trail behind it. Four twisting arms and a single trail in the center.

Another explosion ripped into the air, throwing smoke and fire high enough I saw it clearly a dozen miles out to sea.

I did say we should make it flashy.

Ramius called me as we crossed over the Boat Graveyard.

"Bakuda?" she asked.

"She's probably attacking the Patriots. Idiots set up close to the part of the Trainyard she staked out as hers."

"Prism and Triumph are currently in the Docks. Miss Militia is near the Boardwalk with Flechette and Mockshow."

That's different.

I'd almost think she knew I was working with Bakuda, and was warning me how much time I had to clean up before the Protectorate and Wards arrived.

There's been a lot of that lately.

"We'll see them there."

Veda turned Queen up, while I turned Exia North. Lafter peeled off and set a parallel course.

A third explosion blasted onto a street in the Trainyard's northeast corner. As the smoke and fire thinned, flashes of light could be seen inside. Figures moved and the sound of gunfire echoed in the air.

The smoke parted.

A wave of air blasted out, and the men were thrown sprawling.

Bakuda walked out of the ruined building. She tossed something up in the air, and it burst. Spikes blasted through the air, showering the ground all around her in needles.

Debris blasted from the ring shaped crater and the Patriots scattered.

"—ght to bear arms assholes!" She shouted with a laugh. "The fuck is with those puny pea shooters?"

I frowned, trying to count the number of figures scrambling around in the smoke. How many were there before she did that? It would be annoying as fuck if I needed to do something now.

Phalanx is a bitch and a half on his own.

"Lafter."

"Ready!"

Kyrios dove, a wake of air blasting out from behind the suit.

Some of the fatigued men on the ground started to raise guns.

Panels along Kyrios' fins and shields opened, blasting out a solid wall of green light. When the suit landed the men slammed into the ground beneath the GN Field. Some of the guns hit the ground and spontaneously fired.

Lafter's power sent the bullets bouncing through the street.

Two more men fell.

Lafter laughed. "You guys know guns have safeties right?"

Another man fired his gun three times. Kyrios moved a fraction of an inch. The first missed. The second never made it out of the barrel. The third exploded the weapon in his hand.

Lafter held one shield up, a GN Field blocking the road. She pointed the other. The tip opened and she fired bolts of green light into the Patriots.

The men retreated and Queen flew up behind them.

The Fangs darted into the street, firing and spinning about as the Patriots scrambled. Claws extended from one of Kyrios's shields and grabbed hold of a guy.

While Lafter tossed her victim into a wall, I swung my short sword overhead.

Bakuda jumped and threw her feet forward. Her boots ignited and she pulled a flare gun from her coat as she shot back.

"Marching your nose in already, Gunparade?"

At some point I'm going to look up these references.

I hit the ground and turned my wrist.

My pistol fired.

I missed.

Poor guy stumbling behind her got hit square in the chest.

She fired her flare gun.

She missed.

The men running for a truck hidden in an alleyway turned around as the truck blasted off into the air.

A shame our aim was so bad.

The truck flipped in the air and fell. Queen swept over the road and caught it, lurching back and away from the man it almost crushed.

"You're going to hurt someone," I warned.

I wouldn't tolerate corpses. I couldn't let that change. Even maiming was too far.

Bakuda scoffed, "I'm gonna take that as a challenge!"

She shot herself into the air, bringing her grenade launcher down and firing it at me. I raised my shield and flew back. The explosion ripped the air and blew the already ruined wall into further ruin.

The building lurched but remained standing.

She can't be serious.

I swung Exia's arm as the Buster Sword swung forward. Bakuda dodged, throwing a grenade into the air. She rolled backward and chuckled as the bomb exploded behind me, completely obscuring us to anyone out on the street.

"Have fun and shit," she said. "I—"

She flinched and turned.

Phalanx barreled in from her right. She raised her wrist, a burst of fire spitting from the band around it. Phalanx's body shimmered a strange not-black. Dark, but full of color wherever the blast hit him.

He ran right through like he didn't feel it, grabbing Bakuda's wrist and twisting. Her body recoiled and his fist went for her face.

I swung my short sword at the limb. The blade severed, the section that touched him disappearing into the shimmering not-black just over his skin. My brow rose when his punch still missed.

Shit.

Before Phalanx noticed, I swung my shield at her.

Bakuda ducked under the blow and dropped a bomb on the ground.

I flew back.

Phalanx walked over the bomb and threw another punch. My heart jumped, but when he hit Bakuda I didn't see that shimmer of not-black. Her arm bowed slightly, and she grunted. The bomb ripped through the drywall, blasting out the interior walls and reducing the hallway to a skeleton of support beams.

Bakuda faded back in the smoke.

Phalanx's shadow stood motionless in the smoke, that black-twilight shimmering all over him. Weird to look at. Black, yet, full of color all the same. An aurora or something that flared up as tiny rocks hit him.

Weird.

Hopefully he just assumed I was attacking both of them and not stopping him from attacking Bakuda.

The sound of a 'thump' drew my eyes down. Didn't think there was a guy bleeding from his nose behind me before. Did I hit him escaping the blast?

I dragged the man out onto the street, lest the building manage to finally collapse. Bakuda was retreating through the building,

Behind me, Lafter aimed Kyrios' shield tips. The tip opened and GN particles fired. The men who shot back missed, or suffered mishaps. One tripped over a rock as he moved. Another got knocked back when that guy crashed into him. A third got hit by a piece of debris in the groin.

The Fangs fired on the other side of the street, quickly downing the men there. They hit the ground one after another, stunned.

A few fired at Phalanx. The beams vanished into that field hanging over his body like the debris before it.

"First the bomb chink, and now you."

Got his attention though.

"Do you really want to be a racist and a high school dropout?" I asked.

He flinched. "You're just assuming—"

"I'd like to think people who managed to get through a basic education aren't as dumb as you are."

And how much I enjoyed already knowing how wrong I was.

Problems for later.

Bakuda was retreating, one hand holding her other arm. Did he hit her that hard? With one punch? I didn't see that black shimmer when he hit her.

I glanced toward the ground as he walked forward.

And he wasn't falling through the ground.

He couldn't be consciously choosing to use his power on flakes of ash and dust around him.

"Surrender?" I asked.

"Why would I?" he asked back.

"Figured."

I turned my pistol on him and fired.

He stood in place as the beam vanished into his power.

He ran forward. Fast. Faster than he should, but not quite super fast. Mild physical enhancement? Lafter said he moved faster when he fought Vicky.

I dodged backwards as the Fangs darted forward. They surrounded Phalanx and fired. The beams vanished and he moved faster.

He swung a fist at me and I raised my shield.

His fist hit the GN Field hard. I didn't see any twilight.

I ducked left and threw the remains of my short sword at him.

The twilight swallowed it whole.

"Aren't you supposed to be smart?" He turned toward me. "You're wasting both our time little lady."

Kyrios came at him from behind, projecting a solid wall from one shield and firing with the other. Lafter swept down the street, and Phalanx simply stood as the GN Field rolled over him.

Phalanx started forward, mumbling, "What's even the point girlie? You can't touch me. You'll just fly away before I can hurt you. This is a waste of time."

I tilted my head to one side.

"Lafter," I called.

She turned Kyrios' head.

"Yeah?"

"Truck."

She glanced to the vehicle Bakuda flipped into the air earlier. It lay on the curbside where Veda left it.

"Truck?"

"Truck," I repeated.

Kyrios flew forward. Lafter kicking one guy in the chest as he tried to rise and landed beside the truck Bakuda flipped earlier. The suit strained, lifting the weight up and then spinning it about.

Phalanx started to move, the Fangs surrounded him and stopped. He paused.

Veda had already realized what we were doing.

I darted to the left and Lafter released her projectile.

The Fangs retreated.

The truck slammed into ground, a Phalanx sized gouge cutting into the vehicle right until the Engine block hit him. He stumbled back, and I swept forward. Queen appeared on the other side of the vehicle. We slammed into it at the same time, squishing it into Phalanx.

"What are you—"

"I don't have containment foam," I said. "So I'm going to lock you in a wreck."

The Fangs fired, melting parts of the vehicle with projected beams. Lafter came down from above, projecting fields from Kyrios' shields and pinning Phalanx in place.

We folded the truck around him. He absorbed some of it and pushed back with sudden force. Lafter held her position, as did Veda and I. Eventually, the truck stopped moving, with Phalanx in the middle.

Phalanx struggled in the pretzel twisted truck, but he wasn't getting out. Not on his own and with his power only able to absorb what hit him.

Convenient.

With my expanding priorities, Dinah just didn't have enough questions. This was the first fight in a long time I hadn't drilled out with her power. She couldn't use her power for that every time. Not anymore. Time to get used to not having it.

Figured that might make this difficult from what Lafter described. A guy who couldn't be touched because his power absorbed everything. Strength and speed. Neither she nor New Wave could touch him and it let half the Patriots get away.

Fortunately, the weakness in Phalanx's power was kind of easy.

He only absorbed things that hit him, not things he hit. That seemed to give him some kind of stacking strength and speed effect. But it didn't seem to amount to a whole lot or last long.

Just pin him inside something and wait.

"Nice and cozy?" Lafter asked.

"He'd better be," I said. "Once the Protectorate shows up this is just going to get more embarrassing."

Kyrios lifted up and flew back.

Queen turned and two Fangs shot a guy trying to flee down the street.

"Tie them up," I ordered. "I'm going to check inside."

I drifted Exia back toward the ruined building's front and the crouched.

Stepping out of my suit, I glanced down. There was a basement below and three men inside. One on the ground, and the other two scrambling about some boxes. I didn't like how fuzzy the boxes were.

When my sonic cameras got fuzzy, it was usually because of tinker-tech.

And something else?

A second guy hit the ground as I walked into the building. By the time I reached the stairs the third hit the ground. I started reaching for the saber at my waist when a fourth figure appeared.

Fuck, right.

Still getting used to that. At least she used the beam saber instead of the knife.

Aisha kicked one of the men in the side, and Black jumped down from her back to start tying them up.

I made my way down the stairs and stepped over the men.

"This was fun," Aisha laughed. "Not much of a challenge, but fun."

I opened one of the boxes and looked inside.

Tinker-tech alright. But they looked like tinker-tech parts. Why would the Patriots have tinker-tech parts.

"So, what's the stuff?" Aisha asked.

"Parts," I said.

I started shifting through them. Not Toybox make. No. They'd be too smart to antagonize me now. I just cleared out the last two big gangs in Brockton Bay in less than two weeks. No one who'd already been on the receiving end of my wrath would test it now of all times.

Energy cells. Some power converters. Displacers and enforcers. Technobabble.

Tinker-tech guns.

Wonderful.

Someone was selling tinker-tech guns to extreme right wing militia nuts who thought the US government is an occupying force. Exactly what the world needed. Did the other Patriot groups further west have boxes too?

I hoped knocking Phalanx out like this would scare them in some other direction.

With Tinker-tech guns they might change their mind.

While I closed the boxes back up, Red approached Bakuda a block away.

"Are you alright?" I asked through him.

"Why wouldn't I—" Aisha stopped. "Oh, not talking to me. Right. Gotcha."

"Fine," Bakuda answered.

She held her arm in one hand.

"Red can—"

"Don't perforate that sweet little heart of yours." She pushed herself off the wall. "I'm the bad guy. Bad guys get hurt. Heroes are on the way, right?"

She turned away from Red and started walking.

I frowned, but if that's what she wanted…Made things easier for me.

A jeep pulled up to the street as she left the alley. Biscuit pushed a door open for her and she climbed inside. I hadn't seen him in awhile. He didn't seem to be with Orga and the others anymore.

Guess he decided to go with Bakuda.

I sighed and pulled some of the parts from the box. I bundled them together and held them out to Aisha.

"Take these back to the workshop so I can figure out who's making them."

"You're just handing me dangerous tinker-tech?"

"Don't run with it."

I closed the boxes back up. The PRT wouldn't let me take them.

Inevitable.

If Toybox wouldn't fill the demand anywhere near me, someone else would. Just another thing to deal with. Like I needed more of those.

I could hear the sirens as I exited the building. Kyrios and Queen gathered the goons up on the street side, and Phalanx continued to futilely struggle in his cage.

Prism and Triumph arrived first. A van came along soon enough and started collecting people.

"What do we do with him?" Triumph asked, looking at Phalanx. He gave me an odd look, and then looked away like he didn't want me to notice.

Awkward.

"His power only works on things that touch him," I described. "Not things he touches."

"So you just trapped him in a truck." Triumph kicked it with his foot. "That makes sense."

"Brutes are always the worst to move," Prism added. "Armsmaster is on his way. He—"

"Will have to figure it out." I turned toward Exia. "I have to go to school in the morning."

"Oh right!" Lafter exclaimed. "We're doing that now. So weird."

"I will remain here," Veda said from Queen. "I do not go to school."

Prism meanwhile scanned up and down the street. "What happened to Bakuda?"

"She bailed," I not-lied. "Ditched after Phalanx punched her. Oh, right." I turned and pointed. "He gets stronger and faster after absorbing something but it only lasts for like, a second."

I got into Exia and took off.

Didn't want to give Prism time to ask questions. It had been oddly easy to start arranging things in the city without Piggot around and her chair thus far empty. No one pestered Ramius to talk to me, so I didn't get pestered.

Probably wouldn't last much longer.

This dealt with the Patriots before they could make a real scene. I still needed to keep eyes out for the Red Hands, the Adepts, and some bunch calling themselves the Travelers. Nothing too bad on the whole. Better than the assholes they were replacing.

And there it is again.

I looked down at the city.

No gangs.

It wouldn't last, but it didn't have to. The brief two weeks the city enjoyed without neo-Nazis and drug dealers and thugs were all worth it. I hoped. The people who died weren't coming back. The people who got hurt would always be hurt.

I think the worst part of winning is the introspection that comes after.

The wondering if you could have done better.

Or did you even really win?

"You did your homework?" I asked.

"I'm uneducated, not lazy," Lafter said. "I did it. I think."

A decade without school put Lafter in an entire year of remedial classes. Another thing that was probably inevitable. The nuns tried to teach her things but she'd always ducked out and avoided it. Didn't see the point.

Wonder what changed.

Citizenship, maybe. With Miss Militia sponsoring her she'd already gotten her green card. She could go on when it was all done and have a normal life.

And that was worth wondering if I could have done better after we won.

I took a deep breath, looked out over the city again, and turned toward the Factory. We parked Exia and Kyrios in the workshop. Mechanical arms reached down, pulling the GN drives from both suits and drawing them into the lockers over their alcoves.

The factory ran on the drives and the batteries only lasted about half a day. I needed to keep them topped up. Piggot was right. The Factory would always be an easy target for anyone who wanted to come at me.

That was why I installed the GN Field projectors and the mortars along the perimeter.

I checked those real quick. Just did them along with the rest of my mental check list.

Keep Bakuda from going too far. Check.

Make sure Lafter does her homework. Check.

Check in with Faultline. Check.

Patriots. Check.

That just left everything else I couldn't immediately deal with.

Teacher. The PRT and the cape Illuminati. My father and that awkwardness. Being an outed cape, by my own hand. Tattletale vanishing off the face of the planet and worrying I fucked something up on that front really badly. Freeing Dragon and dealing with Saint so I could free her…

I took a deep breath.

Behind me, Lafter yawned. "Waking up at seven in the morning sucks. I'm gonna nap. You need anything?"

"No." I picked up a sticky note left on my desk. "I'm going to take care of something upstairs and go to sleep too."

I went up to the office space overlooking the factory floor. It might start seeing use soon. I needed people to manage phones and payroll. Eh, maybe let Veda handle that last one. The ex-Merchants had been good guys for the most part since I hired them but maybe it would be best to avoid temptation.

Could probably afford to hire more women.

Gangs aren't exactly egalitarian.

"Sorry," I offered as I found my way into the conference room. It wasn't much. A long table, some mismatched chairs and Kurt's old couch. "I was caught up in something."

"It's fine." Orga sat in one of the chairs, papers arranged around him. "Lots of paperwork to do."

"Right." I looked over the papers. "Kati said I needed to sign something?"

Orga looked over the papers and took one stack.

"Here. Naze said we needed to sign both of them."

Right. The other end of the 'let's make this arrangement work' equation alongside Yashima. Tekkadan didn't exactly have the background for a business loan. Being a subsidiary of Turbines gave them the ground they needed.

I took the papers and did a quick once over.

Just a formalized version of the agreement that Tekkadan would be handling transport for Celestial Being.

Carol Dallon included some notes on a page at the back. She wasn't a contract lawyer but I didn't really know any lawyers. Fortunately her firm did have contract lawyers, so it worked out.

I paused as I handed the signed papers back and kept my own copy.

"I um, saw Biscuit. He was with Bakuda. He seemed okay."

"Yeah."

"You're not worried?" I asked.

Worrying about the people around him was the only part of him I did get. He'd dropped the guardedness—couldn't think of a better word for it—weeks ago. Didn't quite know how to gauge him now.

"He'll be okay," he hoped. "He can't come back here after the PRT saw him with Bakuda. She'll probably be better off with him around anyway."

And that still only made about half sense to me.

And actually, "Where's Mikazuki?"

I'd never seen one of them without the other.

Orga paused.

I raised my brow.

"He's downstairs, I think. He wanted to work in a factory if we ever made it out. I think he likes being down there, even if it's just putting bodies in the building."

And with him being unguarded now, I could tell that surprised him.

Guess I'm not the only one adjusting to change.

"Well"—I rose from my chair—"I have school in the morning."

"Right," he said. "I'll finish up and head back over."

"It's fine. Suppose it gets a little loud over there."

He didn't answer at first. Maybe unguarded wasn't the right word. He was still guarded, unsure if he could trust me. But he put less of a front up than before.

"Yes."

"Don't worry about it," I offered. "I've been working with Laughter for weeks. I've seen how it is, and I only have one of her."

I went back down to the workshop. I checked on the tunnel real quick. I wanted to expand the workshop and it turns out aquifers are more like sponges than lakes. Made the work of digging down a bit muddy but manageable.

I needed the space for the next phase of Veda's expansion, and to give myself actual room to test things.

That done, I returned to the floor and looked at the recliner.

I'd never admit it to Lafter, but the chair was a good find. Comfy as hell. I'd take a power nap and then head back to the house for breakfast. Dad could drive me to school afterward.

Green came over as I settled in, throwing a blanket up over me.

"Thanks."

"No problem, no problem!"

"Good night," Veda said as she dimmed the lights.

The noise of the workshop continued, but I didn't mind that.

They were relaxing sounds.

I yawned and closed my eyes. It would be a busy week. Prep for Butcher. Prep for Behemoth. Blue Cosmos intended to finalize and file the lawsuit. I wanted to talk to Dean and Dad for separate reasons. Dragon. School…

What the fuck was I thinking?