A Waken 15.1.T

The Nine. The fucking Slaughterhouse Nine? That was demented. It didn't make sense. How would someone get the Nine to do something? They were psychopaths. All they did was kill people in as public and terrible a way possible!

NT: we have to accelerate Pandora
AM: why?
NT: Dragon is in immediate danger

Kati wasn't here. Good. I didn't have time to explain this multiple times. I could do it after resolving the crisis and before it really became one.

AM: explain
NT: the nine are chasing saint

"Dragon?"

No voice answered me as I entered my room. I quietly indicated for Veda to scan the space. Make sure we weren't being watched or listened to. If Saint hadn't thought of anything yet, I didn't want to give him ideas.

Armsmaster's reply to my reveal was curt.

AM: I need a moment

It said something that he didn't demand proof or further explanation.

Was he going to tell Chevalier? Maybe he should. This—It was bad enough when Saint could do it, but we knew Saint wouldn't or couldn't. The two-bit tinker's only claim to anything was this access to Dragon. Without her, and maybe without the delusion that came from 'guarding' her, he was nothing. The man is a lot less impressive when all his successes are the result of cheating.

The Nine would have no such reservations.

They'd grab the box and run the moment they realized what they had. Bonesaw. Mannequin. What could they do with that kind of access? Mannequin specialized in systems or something. I wasn't really sure but he might be able to do a lot. Bonesaw was a bio-tinker and Dragon's tech ran on wetware.

There were no maybes here.

The Protectorate needed to know. I might be able to obscure things a bit, protect Dragon as much as I could, but—Fuck, I wasn't going to think about that. We were going to solve this now, before the Nine got the box and before Saint panicked and used it himself. We had time.

I hated myself as I hit the dial button.

I tried to talk myself out of it the entire walk back after leaving Relena and Sar—Lisa. I didn't want to do it. By the time I'd made it back to my room at the PRT building, I hadn't thought of a better way. Lisa didn't have enough information on her own. Neither did I. We could get it, but the time it would take?

There just wasn't any other way.

"Taylor," Dinah answered.

"Dinah…" Goddamnit. "Did you get any sleep?"

"Yeah. A little."

Only a little? I closed my eyes in frustration. Damn temptation. "Dinah, I need—"

"It's okay," she interrupted. "I understand. Let me do the only thing I can do."

"That's not—"

"It's fine. It's going to get harder before it ends. I think you and I know that better than anyone. Especially…"

How hard it would become. Hard.

I inhaled and looked at Green. "Veda's going to get some data from Tattletale in a bit. We"—I couldn't believe I was actually asking this question—"need to find Jack Slash. Now."

"Jack Slash," Dinah repeated.

"The Nine have been appearing in possibilities meant to find the Dragonslayers," Veda explained. "A recent conversation with Tattletale has given us reason to think that Saint is not running from us, but from the Nine."

"Count has Tattletale hunting for Jack for no apparent reason." Well, to Tattletale. "She did that to draw my attention to it."

I was certain of that.

I was less certain on whether Count knew what she was doing or not. She claimed she didn't know the end result of her 'paths.' She followed them vaguely, in pursuit of her goals. The individual steps didn't always make sense.

Did she know the Nine were chasing Saint this entire time?

"I can't see why the Slaughterhouse Nine would care," Dinah noted.

"Mannequin," Veda revealed. "He has habitually targeted tinkers since Switzerland. Particularly, those who become very famous or pursue higher goals."

Mannequin became Mannequin when she first appeared. He used to be a hero—Sphere. It was her. The Simurgh.

Damnit.

Because of Noelle, what happened to her, I was seeing that damn monster in the shadows. It made so much sense though. Knowing not just how Dinah's power worked, but how we used it. Manipulating the data points we used to make it more efficient. Drawing our eyes down the wrong line of possibilities.

"He's in Ottawa," I determined, "chasing Saint. Use that in the question. Narrow it down." There was no time to wait. "Hurry, Dinah."

After a brief silence, she replied, "I will."

She set her phone down, but didn't hang up. I heard movement in the background. Ruffling paper. Pencils.

I left her to work.

"Prep Exia," I ordered. "I'll fly back to Brockton Bay. We'll use the teleporter to get as close to Saint as we can." Might be pushing its range, but we'd done that before. "Tell Lafter to be ready. I know we have that thing today, but—"

"What about the Wards?" Veda asked.

"I'm not so sure they're in as much danger as we thought. Drawing me away might be part of the plan. Getting me to look the o—"

"We cannot take that risk."

I grimaced. "Dra—"

"We cannot take that risk," Veda insisted, more firmly than I'd ever heard her before. "The threat to Dragon may be the distraction, and the Wards are the real target. If the attack were to happen, it would be tomorrow."

"The headline was vague," I argued. "Too vague. It was enough to grab our attention, yet we can't get any specifics on it. That's not right."

"The same has been true of Saint for weeks," Veda retorted. "Taylor, I understand, but Dragon would never want to keep her existence in exchange for the Wards. If a choice must be made…"

Veda paused for a long time. That wasn't like her. She thought faster than me. Conversations must feel like slow motion from her perspective.

This is hard for her to say.

"If a choice must be made," she reprieved, "we must choose the Wards. That is what Dragon would want us to do."

I knew she wasn't wrong. Dragon was—is—selflessness incarnate. Not in a masochistic sense, but she would not want her own survival to come at the expense of others. More so if I made the worst mistake and went chasing a needle in a haystack.

Count would know that though.

Telling Tattletale to find Jack was a message. It had to be. So the question then became, was her power tricked too?

The Simurgh already tried to take her out, when it attacked Sweden. Somehow, Count came out of that in one piece… Mostly. The memes couldn't be that accurate. Dinah's power could be interfered with by sudden changes in behavior or other precogs. Seeing the future wasn't flawless. Maybe the Simurgh was better at it, but perfect?

"I don't—"

"I am not saying we should not act," Veda clarified. "I want us to remain vigilant. The Wards are not safe. Their lives too have value that cannot be replaced."

I didn't mean to imply we wouldn't keep an ey—But I was prepared to drop everything and do anything for Dragon.

"She was the first to believe in me," I all but whispered. "Besides you and the Haros, I mean."

There was Dinah too, but her desperation colored how she came to me. Dragon was Dragon. Having someone that important believe in me… It meant so much.

And I never told her that, had I? Looking back, it was shocking to me how little we talked. Dragon meant a lot to me and it suddenly felt like I was a bad person who used her and never gave enough back.

"I know," Veda assured me. "I understand. We will not—Wait."

I started to reply, but suddenly a gagging cough dropped my heart into my stomach. My first thought was that I'd finally done it. The thing I'd always feared I would do, it finally happened. I pushed her too far and Dinah suffere—

"Too l—"

She cut off suddenly, and I turned. "Dinah? Are you okay?" No answer.

"System error, system error."

I grabbed at my phone and found a blank screen. That was impossible. My screen was never blank. "Dinah?"

"System error, system error."

Too 'luh.' As in L? L what? What did that mean—

Green pulled at my leg. "System error, system error."

"That's impossible," I dismissed. "The quantum relays we use can't be…"

I raised my phone, staring at my reflection on the blank screen.

It was some kind of joke. It had to be. That wasn't—We'd just been talking….

My hand twitched. Too lah. No, please no.

"StarGazer…" Nothing. That wasn't possible. The relays covered more than the planet. "StarGazer, this isn't funny." She couldn't be ignoring me. She'd never… "Answer me right now!"

Red tugged my arm. "Newtype, Newty—"

"VEDA!"

All of a sudden, like this? Impossible. That wasn't real. It didn't make sense. We were just talking.

We had time.

The phone must be broke—It's not broken. My throat hitched as the words repeated in my mind. My head pounded with them. It's not broken. But it had to be. How? How could it happen so quickly? Why like this? How?!

I threw my phone at the ground and screamed.

That bitch.

It was her. I knew it was her. Teacher couldn't do this, not directly. This was beyond him, but with her—

She did this on purpose. She set all of this up to fucking brag. To show how much she could see. How much she could manipulate. It wasn't even a master power. It was too big to chalk up to just a master power. Too elaborate. It was precognition taken to an absurd extreme, perfectly timed and placed just like with Noelle.

She thinks she can break me by driving the knife into my chest and twisting.

I realized what was going to happen, but before I could possibly do anything to stop it she twisted the damn blade. She took her name that seriously? She wanted to make me think there was no hope. This was a fucking play for her. A stage play.

"Fuck you!"

Dropping to my knees I grabbed at the phone and pulled the back off. Adjusting the beam of my saber, I started picking at the circuits in the back. I barely noticed the light flicker overhead. Too busy. It was impossible to cut off my quantum relays. Impossible. If the screen was blank, it had to be something else. Something other than the relays that was wrong.

The problem was—

I grit my teeth, the rock in my stomach twisting into a burning stone. With the modifications, raw data flowed back and forth across the screen. I was right, the relays were still working.

Veda was alive. She was processing quickly. Altering her connections. Changing her processing priorities. It was happening so fast I couldn't remotely keep up but why did she need to keep resetting her connections? That didn't make any sense… Unless she was under attack...

'Too late.'

That could only mea—It meant the Nine already had the box or Saint had panicked and used it himself.

If they had the box, and the box let whoever had it control Dragon at worst, access her systems at best, they would know about Veda or that we were about to act. They could attack her with Dragon. Maybe the timing wasn't preordained at all. If Dragon caught wind of something, saw something, and they saw what she saw, then they would know to do something before I sounded any alar—

I'd already sounded the alarm.

I warned Armsmaster.

And that wasn't what was happening.

It was hard to see, but the pieces were there. Bits of code that weren't Veda but still familiar. Dragon. A line of code here. An algorithm there. Veda was cutting at something. Biting. Gnawing. Dragon wasn't attacking Veda. Veda was attacking Dragon, or rather she was attacking the parts of Dragon attacking Dragon.

I glanced up as the light flickered again. Was that Dragon, her systems, or a side-effect of what Veda was doing? I didn't know. Fuck I just didn't know. I didn't have enough information and sitting around wondering wasn't going to he—

Pandora.

Dragon's restrictions were absolute. If she saw a copy of herself, she had to attack it. It could still work. We still had a chance to fix this. I didn't have time to be here, screaming at the wind.

That's what she wanted.

My mind went to everyone else. Dinah. Lafter. Kati. Trevor. Orga. Dad. I needed to warn them.

Veda was right. One attack might be a feint. More likely, one attack was a prelude to multiple attacks. She wanted me distracted. While I was trying to save Dragon, something else would happen. Send some other attack at Dinah, Lafter, or Trevor. Maybe even Dad or Dean.

No. No, I'd wasted too much time already. How long had I been sitting here stewing?

"I need a fucking phone."

Red tilted, then turned and pointed to the one on the bedside. I started towards it but stopped. I didn't know what kind of access Saint or the Nine now possessed, but I wasn't going to use that phone. I couldn't trust anything connected to Dragon now.

Unfortunately, most of the PRT and Protectorate were connected to Dragon.

Drawing a saber from my belt, I turned on my heel and marched toward the door.

The door half opened when I approached.

Trying to lock me in? That was going to be a problem.

Pushing myself into the crack, my knee pressed against the door frame and my shoulder against the door itself. With a creak, I forced it open a little wider and pulled myself through. Green and Red jumped after me into the quiet hall. More flickering lights.

Shit, how widespread was this going to get?

I swallowed and did my best to ignore the claws ripping at my chest. "Green, secure Exia and prep it for launch."

"But—"

"Go." I started down the hall as he rolled off ahead. "Red, find Armsmaster. Then find Chevalier. Tell them Dragon is under attack and StarGazer is trying to stop it."

If I had to steal that box back from the Nine—assuming they had it or were close enough to force Saint to use it—I was going to need help. The time for secrets was out.

I marched down the hall while keeping an eye out for Kati or anyone else I knew.

A phone. There were payphones out in front of the building. A cell phone I could borrow would work too. As long as it wasn't a PRT or Protectorate line. Those couldn't be trusted anymore. Trevor and Lafter—

No, wait. Dinah knew. She'd find a way to warn them. I didn't have to.

Which meant I could focus completely on Dragon.

There was doubt in that, but now wasn't the time. That's what she wanted. That's why she set things up to play out this way. She wanted us to lose hope, to be foiled before we could even act.

I trusted Dinah. I trusted Lafter. I trusted Trevor, and Orga, and Armsmaster, and Veda. That's what broke Noelle. She couldn't trust anyone anymore, not even her friends or her lover. Certainly not me. By the time she realized how trapped she'd become, it was too late to save herself. Too late for me to save her. She was too broken.

Not me.

Fuck the Simurgh. Not again. She already killed all those people in Hartford, plus Gloria and Noelle. She didn't get to win this time.

My jog became a sprint after a few steps.

People noticed me. Called my name. I didn't respond. I wasn't sure what to say. At the moment, I needed to reach Exia. I could start dealing with my other problems once I had my suit. Red was going to Armsmaster, so he'd know what was happening. He could probably explain it to the rest of the Protectorate.

Bit of a bitch move to make him explain everything alone, but I couldn't do anything without Exia.

The suit's systems needed to be severed from Veda and I'd have to make sure it was set and ready without her.

...That would be a first for me.

At least the suit wasn't far. After all the action, I'd pulled the van carrying Exia into a parking garage next to the PRT building. They'd commandeered it and locked the structure down, but let me put my suit there. Green could cut through some spaces I couldn't and arrive in a few minutes. That should get things started.

I went past the stairs leading down to the arena and tram station toward the elevator. I needed to go up two floors to get outside.

As I moved, the glitches spread. Lights flickered. Monitors spewed static. People noticed. A few phones were on the fritz from the way their holders shook them.

Did that feature into a broader plan? Dragon was connected to everything. The PRT relied on her more and more over the years to run things and secure them. If she was being attacked, how vulnerable were those systems?

Enough to make a broad attack possible?

Veda might have been ri—Worry later.

Exia. I needed to get to Exia.

I'd almost reached the elevator when a screen to my right flickered. My feet stopped and I spun about.

Dragon.

That was her face, or her avatar's face. It flickered back and forth, broken by pieces of static or fractals that didn't align right.

"Und—Attack." Under attack? Was Veda's help enough to let Dragon call out for help? That was good. "I—m unde—tack."

"Keep fighting," I mumbled under my breath. "Just hang on."

I turned away and moved toward the elevator. On second thought, the stairs might be safer. Fortunately there was a set just ten feet from the elevator.

"Newtype," she called. "—tacking me."

I froze.

"StarGaz—r AI. At—ng me."

Oh you mother fucking CUNT IN THE SKY.

I gripped my saber tight, eyes darting back and forth.

There were troopers and capes around me. Maybe the—

"What does that mean?" one of the capes asked. He looked right at me.

Yeah, that wasn't my luck today. "I didn't—"

A hand closed on my shoulder. I jerked, fingers closing around my saber.

The hand squeezed down, and Armsmaster said, "Newtype."

I stood in the hall, watching the faces look at me as Dragon—not Dragon, her avatar—continued accusing me of attacking her. Not just me, Ved—Wait.

Did Dragon say 'AI.'

The claws in my chest dug deeper as that sunk in, and I felt my face pale.

Dragon was being forced to out Veda. Was that a counterattack? A response to her efforts to keep Dragon going? Surely Armsmaster—

"Communications across the building are being disrupted," Armsmaster announced. "All of you are to report to your immediate team leaders and superior officers. Prepare yourselves for a potential A-Class response while we assess the situation."

He glanced down at me. "You need to come with me. There are questions you have to answer."

One of the capes in the hall stepped forward. "We should—"

"I will handle this," Armsmaster stated. "Report to your team leader."

One of the other capes frowned, looking at Armsmaster warily. "Protocol is—"

"Protocol schmotocol!" Mouse Protector stepped up on my other side. "Where's your sense of adventure?"

Oh god no.

"Do not take these screens at face value." Armsmaster turned his head and looked at the screen. Dragon was still talking, repeating the same false warning over and over. "We have reason to think Dragon may have been compromised."

The hall fell silent, save for the repeating message. Which actually maybe helped me because a few of those around me looked at the screens curiously. Dragon wasn't a robot. Not as far as they knew. She wouldn't just repeat that warning over and over. And her avatar appeared calm, not panicked.

This might actually—

"Is StarGazer an AI?"

Fuck.

I glanced over my shoulder. Halberd. Of course, it was Halberd. The Armsmaster fan who ironically disliked me because of a feud neither his hero—nor I—were invested in anymore.

"That matter is classified!" Mouse Protector declared. "No gossiping!"

Did she just imply that the Protectorate knew about Veda? Because the way she said it, it made it sound like she already knew—Fuck, did she already know?

Armsmaster pushed me forward. "Report to your team leaders. This is not a drill or a test. Go."

Capes started moving, most of them in the same direction. Armsmaster pushed me forward in the other direction.

"Cooperate," he whispered.

I did, walking at an even pace down the hall while the screens continued playing.

Dragon's avatar said it again. StarGazer, AI. As much as I wanted to be focused and strong, a part of me sank into my gut at the consequences of those words.

We passed the stairs, and Mouse Protector went ahead and pushed a door open. I went inside, looking ahead at a narrow hall. There were cables, pipes, and boxes exposed along its length, and a few junction boxes. The sign by the door in the hallway said 'utilities.'

"This is gonna get spicy," Mouse Protector grumbled. She threw the door shut and then raised her hand. A chair appeared in it—apparently she can teleport things to her—and she wedged it against the door. "We're gonna want to run cause I don't think this'll last."

"Agreed." Armsmaster released my shoulder. "What's happened to Dragon?"

There was a wave of relief that they weren't actually here to detain me. Or at least, they weren't going to interrogate me like a prisoner. Really didn't need to deal with my lowest expectations at present. Things were already shit as they were and I was trying very hard not to think about them.

"The Nine were why Saint kept moving around." I started down the hall at a jog, presuming it went somewhere. "I just asked Forecast where they were and something happened."

"StarGazer?" Armsmaster asked.

"She can't hear you, or maybe she can but she's not answering."

I pulled out my phone and held it back to him. His boots were thumping on the concrete behind me, followed by lighter taps that had to be Mouse Protector. He took my phone while I kept my eyes forward.

"Where does this go?" I asked.

"Runs through the building," Mouse answered. "Old storage area. M&M and Chevie used to go there to be 'alone' if you know what I mean."

Wha—"Did I need to know that part?" Why not just go home?

"You will when you get back to Brockton Bay," she declared. Mouse Protector's grin was visible under her helmet. Guess Miss Militia wasn't the only one who learned how to convey things with just her eyes. "After we've kicked butt and taken names! I assure you, your look when you see her will make her look in response absolutely golden."

Jesus we were fucked because that actually made me feel better.

"Anyway," she continued. "There's a way out the side if we go down a few rights and lefts. I think. I'll remember as we go!"

"There is an invasive program attacking Dragon's code," Armsmaster mumbled. "StarGazer is fighting it." He reached over my shoulder and I took my phone back. "I cannot prepare Pandora this quickly."

I looked back over my shoulder. "Y—You're sure?"

"Yes. If I were to dedicate myself to the task, I could have it ready in thirty-six hours, but I doubt we have that time."

"I wouldn't bank on it," I agreed forlornly. Shit. Now wha—Well, duh. "We need that box."

"What box?" Mouse asked.

I turned right at the end of the hall into another narrow hall. "There's a box. Saint is always guarding it. We think it's what he uses to manipulate Drago—You were there when I explained this to him!"

"I don't pay attention," Mouse Protector declared. "It's too expensive!"

"Seriously?" Now was not the time for more jokes.

"Never touch the stuff. Breaks my suspension of disbelief." I could swear this woman was supposed to be in her thirties. "So the Nine have this box?"

"I was hoping to get help on that part. No offense, but I'm not sure you two are enough."

"We are not," Armsmaster confirmed as we took the second right and first left in short succession. "Not with Dragon's life on the line."

"It's possible Saint used it himself," I clarified, "to keep the Nine from doing it."

Attacking Dragon's code, Armsmaster said. The kill switch. We knew Dragon had one. Saint might have decided his situation was hopeless and that Dragon couldn't become a tool of the Nine in any way. It sucked to think of Saint killing Dragon to protect the world, but that might be exactly what he tried to do.

"We need that box," I repeated for what felt like the dozenth time. I took the second left, then the third. "I was working on finding it when—"

Armsmaster's hand came down on my shoulder. He pulled me back and nodded toward the door ahead.

Wait, "Where's Red?"

"I crossed paths with him on my way down to find you." Armsmaster pressed his halberd to the door and leaned in. "He said he was going to Chevalier."

Shit.

"That may be a good thing," Armsmaster suggested. "Chevalier is rational. He will not take a repeating loop accusation at its word. How much of your technology is dependent on StarGazer's support?"

I blinked. "A lot, but I can operate my suit without her."

"Where is it?"

"Parking garage next door."

Armsmaster nodded. He stepped back from the door and looked at Mouse. "I am going to hit you."

Mouse Protector laughed. "I didn't know you cared!"

"At this point, your career path is essentially teflon."

"You know that's not gonna fly with the Directors." Mouse held her arms up. "And I love it! Be a rebel, Armsie! Join me in the pink side of the forc—"

His fist shot out and hit Mouse Protector square in the middle of her helmet. I jumped as the blow audibly radiated through me and Mouse tumbled back onto the ground.

"If anyone asks," Armsmaster said, "I told you Newtype was innocent and then hit you."

"Lying with the truth." She groaned. "Best way to do it."

"That won't get past all the thinkers," I warned. Especially not when they wonder where that chair came from. Shit, how much of this were we making up—poorly—as we went along?

"No, but it'll give us more time. If she gets the chance, Mouse Protector can inform Myrddin what is happening. He is reasonable, if not rational."

Armsmaster turned to me. I noticed it for the first time then. The small twitch in his lips. The tension in his shoulders. Must be bad that it stood out even under all that armor.

Oh… Right. He was in love with her.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

He grunted. "Are you?"

That was fair. "I sent Green ahead, to prep Exia."

He nodded. "Thinking ahead. Good. We'll extricate from the city."

"Can we reach Chevalier if we do?" I asked. "Or was that coms thing made up?"

"Oh, it's the truth." Mouse Protector sat up and straightened her helmet. "I had to turn mine off because I kept getting calls from random Wards who didn't dial me."

And the shit kept getting deeper. How bad were these disruptions going to get?

"Dragon had access to most Protectorate systems," Armsmaster revealed. "After Hero resigned, she was asked to take over many more."

"You don't say," I grumbled.

First, Noelle exposes the Triumvirate. The Triumvirate are forced to retire. After that, Dragon is asked to fill in in Hero's absence. Why were these dominoes lining up in such a way as to perfectly confirm my suspicions?

Probably because I'm right.

"We will need to move quickly. I can contact him on a private line not connected to anything Dragon can access." Armsmaster put a hand on the door. "I would not anticipate friendly reactions from anyone aware of what is being said on the monitors."

"Look on the bright side," Mouse proposed as she leaned herself against the wall. "Most of the heroes in the city are either already engaged out on the street, or inside the building with no idea what's going on. You'll be fine!"

Dragon's face was the first thing I saw as we went outside. New York had a lot of screens. She was on every single one, repeating the same thing.

Behind me, Mouse offered a shuddered, "I'm just going to shut up now."

"Let's go." Armsmaster pushed me forward, and I started running.

Red was still in the building behind me, but he'd be okay. Worst case, he got caught and tried to explain. Best, he found a place to hide. The Haros were good at that.

"What about Win and Weld?" I asked. Shit, what about Kati? Did she even know what was happening?

"Mouse Protector will look out for them," Armsmaster assured me. "We need to go. Dragon will not be helped if we become tied up fighting off accusations."

Was running really going to help us on that front? Crap, we were making this up as we went.

I broke into a sprint down the street. I pushed everything else from my mind. The people who looked at us. The ones watching the screens. Cars stopped in the middle of the road. Horns blared. Brakes squealed. Tires burned. Dragon was calling StarGazer an AI and the entire city was watching it and I didn't have time to think about that.

There'd be time for damage control once Dragon was safe.

We ran down the street and I forgot there were troopers guarding the way into the parking structure.

"Armsmaster?" I questioned.

"Keep going," he assured.

"You'r—"

"Keep going."

The troopers turned as I ran toward them. One raised his weapon, helmed head turning slightly in the direction of a large TV across the street.

"Armsmaster?" the second called with a guarded motion in my direction.

"M/S fourteen," Armsmaster answered.

"Daisy Rider?" the trooper asked.

"Star Flower," he replied.

The man nodded and stepped back. I ran past him, went under the barrier blocking the on ramp, and kept going. Armsmaster said something else but I didn't stop to listen. I kept going, running up the ramp and past empty parking spaces.

I heard noise ahead, and turned a corner leading up to the next level.

The van was open, and Exia lifted from its prone position on the bed at the back. Mechanical arms loaded the weapons and extra armor onto the frame, and missiles slid into the pods. At least that loaded all my remaining ordinance. The van would just be an uninteresting cool tinker-tech van once we left.

"Green!" He popped out from behind one of the wheels and waved. "Load up!"

"Loading up, loading up!"

He climbed into the slot on the Full Armor pack, and Exia's chest plate opened. I climbed onto the back of the van and then into the suit. Right leg in right. Left leg in left. Test pedals. Controls were good. I strapped myself in, and pulled up the small keyboard stashed in the back of the chest plate.

It was a fragile piece of crap, but this is sort of why I had it.

I linked my visor to the suit and started tapping away at the keys. It wasn't that hard. Normally, Veda backed up my suit's GN field projection and helped regulate the power. I could take care of that in a pinch though. Hopefully.

Armsmaster caught up to me at a more casual pace, guardedly checking left and right as he approached.

"What was that?" I asked as I typed.

"A code sequence for someone being targeted by a master/stranger event."

"Codes for everything."

"This situation is not unprecedented." It was for him. I could hear it in his voice. "Hurry. It is not protocol to bring you to your equipment while being targeted."

I paused and raised my brow.

"If the attack were successful, you would in turn use that equipment against former allies."

That made sense. This did count as a Master/Stranger situation in a way, and I was being targeted in some way. That was practically a message to anyone who came after us as anything we could actually tell them. Clever.

"They will report that," Armsmaster continued. "Communications disruptions are something the PRT is prepared for. Our time is limited."

I nodded. "I only need a moment."

As an extra precaution, I severed Exia's links to Veda. I couldn't discount the possibility that my own systems could be attacked. She was distracted, putting everything into protecting Dragon. I needed to account for attacks.

Speaking of which, the relays still worked. The phones were blank because Veda wasn't interpreting the data but they weren't dead. I tapped into them before cutting Exia off, and sent a series of commands to Kyrios to cut it off as well. I wasn't sure if Lafter could use it without Veda to help but it was better than the suit coming under attack because I left it open.

"Just a few minut—"

"Armsmaster."

That voice.

I raised my head, and the claws in my chest dug deeper as Cranial's death flashed before my eyes. My hand slapped the controls and Exia's armor closed. Exia's head came down over mine, and the GN Drive ignited.

Armsmaster turned. "Eidolon."

The second, to be specific.

The woman walked up the ramp, jaw set and lips turned down. She came to a stop a few feet away from Armsmaster, just beyond his presumptive reach.

"I have to ask you to get out of the suit, Newtype."

Like hell. I hadn't noticed it then, between the blood and the shock of it all. That's the exact same expression she had when she killed Cranial.

And she's one of them.

Was that the scheme? Get me killed while I was alone, and everyone thought I'd done something wrong? By the time anyone figured out what really happened, I'd already be dead.

"She did not attack Dragon," Armsmaster stated firmly.

"You're certain of that?" Eidolon asked.

"I am. She is being set up, likely by the same villains she was attempting to save Dragon from."

"And that would be?"

"Saint and the Dragonslayers."

Or the Nine, but mentioning them right now would probably sound crazy.

He's buying me time now.

Recoding Exia took longer with only the operation controls, but I could do it.

He couldn't outrun Eidolon, but maybe I could. Her power was limited by her charge. Did she want to bur—Stupid. We didn't actually fight Behemoth. She must have months of power built up. I couldn't outrun her. I could probably outrun most capes if I put my mind to it, but not her. She crossed half the continental US in minutes to kill Cranial!

Would be a wonderful time to have a two-way teleporter that I didn't have.

I wasn't going to put any hope in her believing—

"Okay." Her head rose slightly, and the firmness in her jaw relaxed. "We'll take that at face value, for now."

...

"Come again?" I asked. She seemed almost relieved. Was she not here to hurt me?

"If that's true, I can see why you'd run. Dragon's accusing you of attacking her with an AI across the city. Given your experiences, you're hardly inclined to trust us to believe you."

Why does this shit keep happening to me?

Armsmaster relaxed slightly. "We—"

"You still need to get out of the suit," Eidolon warned. "Running now will make you look guilty. If you're not, then we need to go to Chevalier and Rime right now. A few thinkers will confirm you're not lying in seconds."

Huh, hadn't thought of that. Not that it was the point, but I hadn't thought of it. Of course, I also hadn't thought about how Teacher compromised the Think Tank and that idea was basically leaving me fate up to a coin flip. A very convenient coin flip… If not for Chevalier already knowing about the Think Tank.

Maybe? The reveals were fucking dogpiling me and I wasn't exactly in my best headspace with everything happening.

"She is not safe here," Armsmaster stated bluntly. Of course I wa—How did he know that? "We cannot discount the possibility that an unknown third party is influencing these events, or that Newtype is the real target."

I blinked. I knew there was a third party. I even knew which one. Hell, technically it might count as a fourth or fifth party. This situation was convoluted as fuck.

"That's absurd," Eidolon protested. "Just come in and we can—"

"Newtype is not safe in Protectorate custody at this time." He drew his halberd from his shoulder and set the butt of the weapon on the ground.

The fuck is today? I reached a hand toward him. "Armsmaster—"

Eidolon looked taken back. Then angry. Not at me. At him. Why would she be angry at him?

"She's not helping herself by leaving"—she pointed—"and neither are you." She glanced toward me, a strange desperation coming over her face. The fuck did that mean? "If none of us are the villain—"

"I am unconvinced," Armsmaster interrupted, "and I will not waste further time debating the issue."

I glanced at Eidolon as she grimaced. He couldn't mean Cranial, could he? I thought back to right before Noelle died, when I tried to give him a message about the truth of what she said. I never asked him about it, and no one ever asked me about my one lie.

Did he get what I meant and believe it?

But wait, if Eidolon was willing to listen, it might not be a waste of time to—It wouldn't take that long to further explain and if it got us Protectorate help then it would be worth it.

Eidolon grimaced and held up one hand. "Armsmaster!"

"Taylor! Go!"

"Wait!" I cried.

Armsmaster swung his halberd up and launched the head at the same time.

Eidolon shimmered, warping to the side and bursting forward as light enveloped her body. He drew his weapon back and swung the haft around. Eidolon darted up, avoiding the blow before it hit her in the chest and swiping her hand through the air. Armsmaster sidestepped the blast before it scoured a crater through the ground.

The floor exploded, blowing debris and dust into the air. The thrusters on his back fired, and Armsmaster shot forward. His elbow hit Eidolon square in the jaw, but the light around her flared. She grabbed his wrist and flipped him over her head.

He looked at me as she threw him, mouthing the word.

Go.

I hesitated, eyes wide as I debated what to do. This fight was pointless. Even if we couldn't trust the Think Tank, Chevalier already knew Teacher was in it! He'd take it seriously if I made that warning and maybe we could ski—Does he distrust the Protectorate that much? So suddenly?

Eidolon whipped around as Armsmaster hit the ground. She pointed a palm at me, and I reflexively raised my shield. Armsmaster hit the wall with his feet and jumped, crashing into the cape's back and knocking off her aim.

The blast flew past me and the wall exploded outward.

Armsmaster hit the ground and rolled. Eidolon's power flashed, blowing the dust cloud back as she aimed again.

"Taylor," he snapped. "I said go! Dragon will never forgive herself if her life is saved at the expense of yours!"

He swung his weapon again, catching her wrist and closing distance while she raised her other arm to guard from a punch.

My hands pulled back and I raised Exia's legs. For someone willing to hear us out, she sure seemed set on attacking just me. What is this?

The suit dove straight back, through the front end of my new van and the hole now in the wall.

Eidolon blocked the punch and fired a blast of energy from her hand. I snapped out of my daze and threw Exia up into the air as the beam blew under me. I heard more blasts and another shock, and the hole in the wall exploded out onto the street below.

Armsmaster's armor emerged from the debris. His jetpack fired, slowing his fall before he hit the ground and cratered the street. Up and down, people started running or pulling out their phones. Eidolon burst from the dust and I raised my shield as her hand once again pointed at me. Armsmaster launched himself back into the air and struck the woman in her stomach.

It was too fast. His combat prediction algorithm? Did it work on capes now?

He roped an arm around her waist then thrust himself back toward the ground.

AM: you have to go

But—

AM: you can do more for her than I can now

How did I get out of New York without getting into more fights? Straight up? I didn't know the speed of every Protectorate cape, but there couldn't be many faster than Exia. There were capes all over the city though and I didn't know where.

Normally, Veda helped me with that sort of thing. Fuck.

Windows raced past my sides as I turned toward the Hudson. Cars zipped by below. People didn't look up. They were watching all the screens. The screens that surrounded me as I tried to plot a route out of the city.

I could dive. GN Particles didn't last long underwater, but all my suits were airtight. I'd never showcased that ability publicly, so no one would know about it. I could vanish into the river and head out to sea while everyone assumed I'd go inland. Pop out a few miles away and then… Then what?

I didn't even know where I was going. Dragon's main lab was in Toronto. Maybe I could do something there. I never got to warn Trevor or Lafter though. Brockton Bay—That's where anyone would expect to find me. I couldn't leave Dinah, Trevor, and Lafter hanging. What about Dad? What if they were all attacked?

Behind me, beams of light shot back and forth.

Eidolon tried to chase me, but Armsmaster hooked her ankle with the head of his halberd and started to pull like he'd caught a flying fish. She seemed set to keep going until a visible jolt ran up the line and she screamed. The woman's body went limp and she tumbled back toward the ground like a rag doll.

Then Armsmaster got shot in the back.

A shield unfolded from his free hand, and he turned as three troopers started firing handguns at him. Two capes followed behind them, hesitant and steady in their approach. He yanked Eidolon back down when she tried to get back in the air, then sent a current through his weapon that visibly shocked her until she hit the ground.

He drew his weapon back, and turned to face the troopers and capes.

I thought he would surrender.

Eidolon was the only one who could catch me outright. It sort of made sense to tie her down so I could get away. He could just say Master/Stranger and protect himself. We'd clear things up soon enough.

He didn't surrender.

He fucking charged them.

...Why does this shit keep happening to me...

I grit my teeth, cursed, and spun Exia in the air.

This was so fucking stupid. I swear I'd been in this position before. In fucking Boston. It felt a lot less pointless then.

Exia dove back down into the city streets. A car alarm went off as I pulled up before hitting the ground. The air rumbled behind me, and I cursed my motherfucking hero complex.

The shoulder cannon rose and fired. The beam cut across the ground, separating Armsmaster from one of the capes he was fighting. Dust and debris filled the air, spitting out and covering us in a screen. Switching to sonic cameras, I flipped my suit around and fired past him as I decelerated with a painful jolt.

"What are you—"

I snapped. "Seal your armor!"

"Taylor—"

The sub-arms were a fucking nightmare without Veda to help me.

I missed the first swing, and quickly fired the twin-cannons at the ground to my left. More dust and debris filled the air, and when Armsmaster tried to break off from me I grabbed his shoulder.

I growled. "Hold still and seal your armor!"

I got it right on my second try, hooking the sub-arm over his shoulder, across his chest, and around his waist.

"Hang on!"

"Tayl—"

I drew the arm back and pressed Armsmaster against the Full Armor's backpack.

Thrusters fired and Exia roared into the sky.

Hopefully he didn't break any bones because the inertial neutralizers only worked for me.

I broke free of the dust cloud. The shoulder-cannon fired a warning shot at the flying capes overhead. They parted, shouting and snapping in confusion as I blew past them and continued upward.

One tried to follow.

The left shoulder missile pod opened and fired.

"Brace."

Pushing my legs to the left, my body suffered only a mild jolt as Exia's trajectory took a sudden and immediate turn. Armsmaster hit the backpack hard with a grunt. I took that to mean he was still alive.

The missile spun about in the air and shot back, following a straight course toward the pursuing cape before exploding a few dozen feet away. The woman was thrown back and sent tumbling through the sky. She righted herself just before she hit the PRT building, back skating just inches over the windows before she spun about and turned my way again.

She gave chase once more, along with a dozen others.

They gained slowly.

I couldn't go full throttle without risking a case of Armsmaster pancakes now.

"Is your armor airtight?" I asked.

"Why?"

"Because we're going swimming."

As a general rule, I doubted most flying capes could swim as fast as they flew.

The Hudson was out now, so I turned toward the lower bay. We flew over Manhattan as we went, and I glanced down for a moment at the destruction. It occurred to me that being shot down here of all places was a terrible idea and I was horrifically unprepared for completely unsupported improvising.

Not that Armsmaster was any better.

"Idiot," I cursed. I rolled Exia to the right, dodging a bolt of energy fired my way. "What were you trying to do?"

"Buy you time," he grumbled. "I cannot fly and would only slow you down."

Behind us, someone grabbed the cape who fired at me and pulled them back. Good. They didn't know what was happening and were confused. They might give up the chase if no one told them otherwise.

"Well, unless you feel your organs rupturing we're in this shit together now." I pushed Exia forward and used the second sub-arm to hold a shield over Armsmaster. Best I could do to shield him from the elements. "Seal your armor."

He grumbled something. "Sealed."

Exia whipped to the left, then the right, and I started spiraling toward the water below. It was on us in a fraction of a second. The bay exploded into the air in my wake and I plunged Exia down to the bottom before turning back and deciding to approach the Hudson.

Now that I'd made a run for the bay, my plan to go out to sea made more sense. So upriver we went.

I kept an eye on the surface above as we went. Someone might still be able to see us. Super-vision or something. The downside of this plan was I couldn't see them. I only relaxed when we reached the river mouth without incident. They would have done something by now if they could.

Of course, the Simurgh being the complete mind fuck that she was, my escape might be exactly what she wanted.

Well, fuck her.

I needed to come up with a bloody plan fast.

"That was foolish of you," the man held to my back said, ungratefully.

"So is picking a fight with the whole Protectorate," I retorted. "What good is that going to do Dragon?"

"It was not for Dragon."

"Come again?" I asked.

He went silent as I navigated around a sunken building. I hadn't noticed before how much the rebuilding of the city must have built up. They'd deepened the river at some point, maybe to make room for heavier shipping further inland.

Armsmaster still wasn't saying anything.

"Armsmaster?"

"Dragon believes you are the future," he answered. "She will want you to be safe, above all else."

My hands loosened around the controls. "That's not—"

"You would not be safe in the Protectorate or the PRT's care. Even if Chevalier listened, his authority is limited due to Tagg's presence and Tagg will not be objective where you are concerned. Given the unclear level of penetration by other parties—"

"Cauldron and Teacher."

"Them. Yes."

"You believe me?"

"I believe that there is unexplained interference in—"

I frowned. "Don't be a dick."

"I am trying not to be. I asked myself what she would want me to do, so that she wouldn't be disappointed if—"

"That won't happen," I declared. We'd get Dragon back. "I just need to think."

And hope the others were safe.

A Waken 15.1.F

Dinah hated that she couldn't look away. Her power didn't have eyes for her to close. She didn't have a neck to avert her gaze. She couldn't do anything but watch as Bonesaw turned Saint inside out.

She hated that she'd gotten so good at reading lips, because she understood everything the psychotic child said.

"And then," the insane girl mouthed, "we'll just tuck this over here—"

The blood splattered about. Dinah watched Saint scream, eyes darting about the room. Fortunately, she didn't have to hear that.

"Don't make a mess, Riley." Shatterbird covered her face with one hand while she looked through her fingers. Dinah didn't think she was squeamish. "If we spend the night in this dump—"

"I'll clean it up! Promise!"

Shatterbird shook her head and turned her attention back to the screen.

Dinah tried to focus on something else. Anything else. When. She needed to see when this happened. She asked where the Slaughterhouse Nine were in Ottawa. Most of the possibilities were similar, but this one—She needed to see. A date. A time. A location. Anything.

Anything to stop this from happening.

Mannequin roamed the room, clawed hands sorting through scattered items. Tinker-tech mostly. Dinah didn't recognize most of it or what it did.

She needed to find the box too. Maybe they'd overlook it. A teleport and Aisha could get in and swipe the thing.

Where. Where. Where.

The room appeared nondescript. Not originally a living room despite its current arrangement with a couch and several big screens. Lots of work benches and tables lined the walls. Computers, totes, and spare parts were all over. The place was a mess but looked a lot like Taylor's workshop in more than a few ways.

Mostly in the messy and lived in ways.

Shatterbird sat off to the side by a window, tapping at a laptop and scowling because the screen didn't change.

That did draw Dinah's attention when she first saw it. Unfortunately, the damn taskbar was hidden.

"Don't suppose you can fix this before getting all caught up in that thing you do?" the dark-skinned woman asked.

"Ask Uncle Alan!" Bonesaw replied.

Shatterbird glanced toward Mannequin. So his name was Alan. That might be useful. Maybe. The villainess shook her head and went back to trying to make the mouse work. Apparently she'd never heard of control alt delete.

Her lack of basic tech knowledge did help though. There was a window open to PHO. Private messages.

Georgios: what are you playing at?
Georgios: there was no one there just the fucking NINE
Georgios: who are you?
Georgios: fuck it I'll find out myself

They were enlightening. Someone led Saint to the Nine. Dinah didn't like her guesses for who. The messages were timestamped with IP information. Dinah couldn't do anything with the latter, but the former… The last message was marked October eleventh.

Dinah didn't want to watch this horror movie play out. Real horror movies were so stupid they were funny. This wasn't funny.

Movement in the far doorway drew her momentary attention.

The woman clutched at a bloody stump where her arm should be. The Siberian chewed on the appendage, but if Maggie could lay on the ground and scream then she was still alive. Fuck, the zebra woman was just as fucked up as Bonesaw.

Dinah didn't see Dobrynja but given all the blood splattered about the walls further down another hall, he was probably dead in this possibility.

Focus.

Mannequin moved so bizarrely. Did he fake it because of the name, or did the name come from the weird 'on strings' way he moved? He looked like a mannequin, porcelain in color and segmented. The human shape was uncannily off. The head searched without eyes. He was looking around.

For the box or just in general, Dinah didn't know.

The claws on one hand flipped back, and four long and thin fingers slid out from the front of the 'hand' at the end of one arm. Mannequin took a part from a table and began turning it over.

Just looking.

Maybe they didn't know the box existed.

Dinah ignored the spike of pain in her skull. She kept herself in the vision. She needed to see how it played out. She needed to endure. This was too important. Dragon was at stake. Without Dragon—She never asked what happened without Dragon. She never considered it.

Stupid.

Taylor never stopped, but she wasn't invincible. She didn't always win. She could fail.

Dinah should have asked the right questions. Maybe if she had, she'd have seen this coming. Blindsided again, just like before. Every time it fucking counted something had to blindside her.

It was infuriating.

Down the hall, the naked zebra woman turned her head as if seeing something. Unfortunately, Dinah couldn't change her relative position. All she could do was watch. The Siberian woman put on this wide, crazy grin. She grabbed Mags by her torn shoulder and the woman screamed again as she was pulled off the floor and dragged away.

Jack shook his head and turned back, lips mumbling something. Those were harder to read. Less clear to see.

Something about a waste.

He reentered the room with Bonesaw, Saint, and Mannequin. "After all that effort, I thought we'd have a much more interesting climax. Little mecha actio—Having fun there, poppet?"

"Yes, Uncle Jack," Bonesaw replied.

"Good girl."

The way she beamed at that made Dinah want to vomit.

"Now, where was I? Ah, yes. Mecha action. Haven't had any of that since the last time Dragon took a swing at us. That was a good time!"

"She threw Alan through a wall."

"And it was amazing watching her try so hard to achieve so little! Perseverance is a virtue, dear."

The way she beamed at that made Dinah want to vomit more.

Jack tapped the flat of his knife against his thigh. "Though admittedly, perseverance isn't always rewarded, right, Alan?"

Mannequin raised the hand not examining the pieces of tech before him and started tapping a claw against the table.

That was just fucking perfect. She needed to learn Morse code now too. Or binary. A good thing she remembered everything she saw and could reference the taps on Google later. She needed to know if the Nine knew about the box.

Mannequin only tapped a dozen times. It didn't feel like enough for more than a word or two.

"Oh I'm not complaining," Jack's lips replied. "Initiative is an important life skill, and you should give yourself a good pat on the back for giving it such a decisive shot! It's not all a loss. I know how much you and Sibby love a good chase and"—he looked over his shoulder toward Saint—"he is a runner."

Shatterbird gave up on the computer. As she started to stand, she rose off the ground, her glittering dress shimmering in the light coming off the window. "This was a waste of time."

"What did I just say about perseverance?" Jack asked.

"That it's a virtue, Uncle Jack."

Shatterbird scoffed. "Brown-noser."

Bonesaw spun, looking angrily at the older woman. "Rude."

"She's right, you know." Jack's grin took on an air of malice, and Dinah just made out a small shudder in Shatterbird's features. "You really should apologize. Riley did a good job with those body doubles and Alan wanted to try something new. We should be encouraging to one another!"

Ugh.

Shatterbird didn't apologize, but she did back down. She crossed her arms over her chest and floated toward the door. "Where'd Mimi run off to?"

No one responded as she left. Jack watched her with a small glint, then turned his attention back to Mannequin. "What were you saying Alan?"

Mannequin began tapping again and Dinah grimaced.

This was really starting to hurt. One of these assholes could at least do her the courtesy of wearing a damn watch.

It sounded like they didn't get what they wanted though. A bang, he said. They did this for fun. This was fun for them. That turned Dinah's stomach. Bonesaw pulled something red and beating from Saint's body, which was twisted into a pretzel.

She knew they were crazy. Everyone knew they were crazy. It was completely different to see it. She'd never actually asked about the Nine before. She saw bits and pieces of them here and there. Stray questions. Odd possibilities.

She never let any of them play out like this.

Taylor was right to be terrified.

If they got their hands on that box, any number of terrible things could happen.

Looking away for a moment, Dinah tried to find the pull. The pain shrouded the sensation, but if she kept changing her focus she'd eventually find it.

All the monitors in the room were off. There were no clocks or phones visible. No calendar. Nothing that could tell her what day it was. How much time they had. She searched and searched but no amount of wishing made a timepiece magically app—

There.

Dinah followed the mental tug, tracing the strings to one of the tables along the wall. A stack of books and papers piled on the surface. She couldn't read most of it. The books bore no covers or names on their spines. A few files and sheets of paper lay in the pile with scribbles of code she didn't understand.

One sheet was larger than the rest and stuck out and the pull drew her eyes to it.

A map of some kind, with lots of lines and arrows on them. She'd seen those before in geography. It was a map that showed how high or low the ground was. She didn't see a compass or a title on the page. Just the lines. No cities or rivers labeled.

That didn't even remotely help!

"Oh." Jack raised his brow. "What do we have here?"

Dinah searched, trying to see what happened while her attention was elsewhere. Jack stood with his side to Saint, eyes set on the man's mutilated form. Bonesaw was pointing, looking at the thief's eyes and muttering something about 'he's looking at that.'

Dinah followed the finger and would have scowled if she had a face to scowl with.

Mannequin craned his head around at an impossible angle and bent over backwards. His torso turned in the opposite direction until he faced the small case sticking out from under one of the benches. It was yellow with red stripes. It looked like the old first aid kit under the bathroom sink but sturdier.

She realized what had happened quickly.

Saint tossed it under a bench. God damn idiot. In his wanderings, Mannequin must have kicked the corner of the case. Saint looked and then couldn't stop looking. Jack and Bonesaw noticed. Now, Mannequin had the case in hand and was opening it with a clawed fingertip.

"Curious," Jack mused. He glanced back at Saint. "Odd reaction. Something you want to hide?"

"Maybe he keeps his dirty magazines in there," Bonesaw suggested. She looked up at Saint as he stared wide-eyed at Jack. "That's very naughty Mr. Saint, and very unsaintly too."

"Now now poppet, I'm sure he had all the best reasons for picking such a prodigious name."

Dammit.

Mannequin got the box open in a matter of sec—

Dinah's eyes went wide. There was a time attached to the feed. It updated constantly, directly from Dragon.

She just needed to look at the screen and she'd know exactly when—

Mannequin straightened up. His head twisted clockwise. Counter-clockwise.

The silence drew out long enough Bonesaw turned around. "Something interesting, Uncle Alan?"

October twenty-fifth.

Too late…

Water flooded her eyes as the possibility snapped shut and the pain went crashing down into her chest. Dinah grimaced and rolled onto her side. She reached for her phone, fingers fumbling at the edges.

"I know," Veda said. "I understand. We will not—Wait."

A sudden stiffness in her throat overwhelmed her and she coughed. Dinah inhaled quickly and croaked out the words.

"Too late!"

They had the box. They'd had it for more than an hour. They might have already used it. The Nine didn't strike Dinah as masters of impulse control. To hell with what Jack fucking Slash said about perseverance.

She needed to ask another question. A broader one. One that gave her a bigger view so she could see where they were.

"Taylor."

Dinah finally got a finger hooked on the phone. She pulled it toward her across the floor and—

The screen was blank.

The screen was never blank.

"Veda."

Dinah left the phone on the floor and crawled toward her bedside. The glasses were there, the ones that… Nothing. No words on the lenses. No messages. No questions.

"System error, system error."

Dinah turned to look at White.

"System error, system error."

It hit her, and she already hurt.

She messed up.

She wasted too many questio—No. Someone made her waste questions. Saint wasn't where she'd been looking. She remembered all the possibilities she saw. Her power. It kept trying to show her the right direction. She followed the wrong clues.

That one with the fires. It wasn't about the fires. It was about the map. The map of Canada with a travel route drawn out going east. It meant Ottawa, not Manitoba. The park ranger patch in the one with the gunfight in the street. They were at a park. A park in Ottawa, near a river. That cape in the gold and purple outfit. She didn't know what that one meant, but it meant something.

Her power tried to show her but she messed up.

Someone tricked her.

The headlines were wrong. That's what Tattletale figured out. Dinah followed the headlines and asked the wrong questions. Someone messed with the headlines.

Now wha—Dinah caught herself before finishing the question. Her power, unfortunately, didn't care.

She fell back and screamed, grabbing at her head as the pain spiked through her skull. The possibilities flashed by and Dinah could barely look at them. The pain hurt so—

The pull. Dinah looked. She only had a moment. The pull came again, drawing her attention to another possibility before she could even get a good look—She remembered everything she saw. She didn't need to fully watch each possibility or draw it out. That's what her power was saying.

Dinah followed the pull. Looking. Catching only glimpses before moving on. She remembered though.

Some of them she didn't understand, but others she did. Lafter was in danger. Veda too. So many suits. Taylor—No, she couldn't do that. She—

"Dinah!"

Her mother held her tight as the shaking stopped.

"Dinah, this has to stop," he mother pleaded. "Please. I know you know more about things than I do but—"

"We have to go."

Her mother pulled back, one hand cupping Dinah's cheek. "No. No we—"

She didn't understand.

Dinah blinked the tears away.

Never stop.

Taylor thought it was a bad lesson, but it wasn't. It was good to refuse to stop. To keep trying no matter what. No one got anything if they didn't try and keep trying in spite of failure.

Dinah could have been smarter about it, though.

If she'd been smarter, maybe she wouldn't hurt so much. She wouldn't be so exhausted. She'd be able to ask more questions. It was too late for maybes now. Now was the time to act. Regrets could be handled later.

"White," she whispered.

The Haro rolled forward. Her mother started shouting, asking her to stop but there wasn't time.

"House phone," Dinah said. "I need it."

"On it, on it!"

"Dinah I said—"

"I'm sorry."

"Dinah, wha—"

"No questions."

Her mother stopped and Dinah leaned into her. It hurt not to have time. To not be able to explain it to her but now wasn't the time.

"You're safe."

She was. The others weren't. If they waited here the PRT would show up and take them away. She didn't see anything bad in the brief vision, but Dinah wasn't going to bank on it staying that way. There were others. Some she didn't understand but she needed to warn Lafter and Taylor.

Wrapping her arms around her mother's body, Dinah remembered that feeling. That moment her hand became empty as the crowds swept them apart. The sound of her mother's voice shouting for her. The fear of not understanding anything, of not knowing what came next. The crushing nothingness. The powerless unknowing.

She saw something, before she sat back up. Her power showed her something. It's the only vision she couldn't remember.

She felt close to that moment now. No Veda. No Taylor.

Dinah grit her teeth and clung to her mother.

It was just a monster under the bed. A noise in the dark. A shadow.

No time to stop.

"We need to leave," Dinah whispered again. "It's not safe here."

"Whe—We can go to your uncle's house."

She didn't know if that would work. Rory was in trouble, but he was in th—No it was the second place the PRT would look. They couldn't go there. No question.

"Woods. Behind the house."

She could get someone to pick them up there. They needed to get somewhere. Not the factory. The factory wouldn't be safe soon, even if she managed to warn Trevor.

White returned with the house phone in hand.

Dinah pulled herself up to sit in her mother's lap and took the phone.

She remembered all her possibilities.

Handy for finding all the clues Taylor would need to find the Nine and the box, and for remembering phone numbers without her call list.

Dinah dialed. She ignored the pain in her fingers. Everything hurt. Too many questions. No more questions.

No more questions didn't mean she was powerless.

"Dinah," her mother cooed.

"I'm sorry," Dinah pleaded. "I'm sorry."

The phone rang and picked up.

"Who is this?"

Dinah set her jawline and forced her throat to relax. Speaking clearly, she said, "Orga Itsuka."

"Forecas—"

Dinah cut off the dumb question quickly. "We don't have much time. Call the big guy who's always with Lafter. I don't remember his name."

"Akihiro."

"Him. Lafter's in danger. She has to move. Right now. The factory isn't safe. Chariot needs to know." There was silence on the line as Dinah coughed. "We need to protect the factory. It's going to be attacked. Lots of suits. They come from the west."

Orga shouted over his shoulder.

Dinah headed off what she assumed his first question would be. "We don't have Newtype right now. She has her own problems. We need to hold the line." She needed to figure out what the other visions meant.

And the clues… Maybe she wasn't just tricked. She didn't understand the help her power was giving her. Maybe the clues weren't meant to help her stop this from happening. Her power could see the future too. Maybe it knew this would happen no matter what it did.

The clues weren't to help her stop it from happening.

They were to help her solve it.

The stuff about AI in headlines and the electrical explosions. Cyber attacks. War. They all fit together. They seemed random until—

"Orga."

"I'm here. I'm going to Chariot now. Akihiro and Lafter are over at the food drive thing Charlotte organized. Aston is calling them."

"We have to protect the factory at all costs." Dinah grabbed her bed and forced herself to her feet against her mother's insistence. "We need to protect Veda until she's finished what she's doing."