A Waken 15.5

My brain was racing, both from how fast everything had exploded in my face and trying to figure out what to do about it.

"StarGazer is an AI," Armsmaster stated.

When was the last time that happened? "Yes."

"She was one of your first creations."

Everyone knew about Veda now. "Yes."

"That's why Dragon told you."

It wasn't supposed to happen like this. "Yes."

Armsmaster continued to hang from Exia's back as I swam upriver. "I can see why you'd keep that secret."

I couldn't even talk to her right now. What was happening? She'd never… When was the last time I'd been this alone? My trigger? Green was with me, and Armsmaster too but they weren't…

"Veda okay, okay," Green chirped. "Big sis smart, sis smart."

"Big sis?" Armsmaster asked.

Right. If Veda didn't even have time to respond to me, something was very, very wrong with Dragon. That Box.

My money was on either a kill switch or some kind of override.

The video playing on loop looked like a recording. Saint could have cooked that up and then used a backdoor access into Dragon's system to gain control of PRT and Protectorate systems. He could set all of that up to run automatically. A dead man's switch, in case he ever got caught.

So then, the Simurgh set the Nine on Saint and Saint flipped the switch to avoid the Nine getting Dragon. I'd seen him rant about the dangers of AI online—his PHO handle was obviously Georgios—but he'd never tried to destroy Dragon before. He just watched her like a paranoid nut. He would have to realize the danger of letting the Nine have access to that.

So he was trying to kill her.

Outing Veda and setting eyes on me might be a distraction or happenstance.

Either way, the Simurgh set it up. I knew she did. She was attacking Dragon to get at us. It was like Zanzibar. She knew we were coming for her, so she came after us first.

Wonder if a Gungnir could hit her from here?

They'd be okay, somehow. Chariot would be with Orga at the factory and Trevor knew about the GN Field. There were two Drives in their lockers. Nothing was getting through that field short of a WMD. Saint couldn't possibly manage that, not just to destroy Veda.

Destroy Veda.

That was his plan. Take Veda and Dragon out in one go. How, though? If Saint could make Dragon do anything, I think he'd have done it already. He only seemed to be able to backdoor her. Force a restart. Lurk in her systems. He could use those, maybe. Set them on Veda while Dragon was shut down or—

My mind was running wild with speculation.

I knew it.

I just didn't have anything else to do.

Highways flanked the river on both sides, and it was getting shallower. I needed to pop out at some point, but then what? Everyone would see Exia break out of the water. Where to go was a question I didn't even have an answer to.

Brockton Bay, maybe. I could check on Veda. Protect the Factory. Trust her to save Dragon. I didn't like that. If it were that simple, Veda would already have solved the problem and wouldn't need to be silent. Something else was going on and nothing was getting through the GN Field around the factory.

Veda didn't need me right now.

Dragon was the victim here and I needed to get that damn box. Which brought about the problem of how to get anywhere near it.

"Taylor."

I looked at Armsmaster on the rear cameras. He'd been fairly quiet for a bit, since asking about Veda.

"Whatever happens," he said, "Dragon doesn't want either of you to sacrifice yourselves for her."

"I know that."

"If the choice has to be made—"

I snarled. "I thought you loved her."

He stiffened and I felt guilty pretty much instantly for insinuating anything. "I—"

"That's why I want to do what she'd want," he replied. "So she can be at peace if the worst happens."

I bowed my head slightly. "It won't come to that."

"You know it might."

"It won't," I insisted. "We'll figure this out and even if we don't, Veda will." My lips quivered slightly. "She's smarter than me, even if she doesn't realize it."

Armsmaster turned his head slightly. "You see her as a daughter."

"...Yes."

Maybe I should focus on how to end this uncomfortably comforting heart to heart first.

"We should return to Brockton Bay," he suggested. "Stratos and Miss Militia will support us. I warned them something like this might happen after Hartford."

After—"That's why you attacked Eidolon?"

He turned his head back the other way. "She assassinated Cranial. We could not take the chance you would suffer a similar fate once in Protectorate custody."

That didn't make it smart…

Only, Armsmaster didn't know about Chevalier's suspicions. If he believed in Teacher's intentions, he might believe in Cauldron too. How much did he know about them with Rime at his side? I hadn't considered that. For all I knew, he was as in on it as Rime was. Myrddin had been involved at some point and the Triumvirate may have picked the three of them for that reason.

"I guess—"

I didn't really know what I was guessing.

Didn't matter.

My attention shifted to the shore. The sonic cameras were blurry in a single spot, right by the shore. Tinker-tech? Maybe a mover. The Protectorate had tons of Thinkers. They could figure out I went upriver eventually. Wouldn't be hard from there to pinpoint how far we'd gotten.

"I'm accelerating," I warned.

"What is it?"

"Interference in my sonic cameras. That usually means tinker-tech."

It vanished as we passed it. Was it some kind of surveillance device? Maybe it wasn't the Protectorate. A local hero or villain perhaps. There were groups all the way between New York and Albany. Dragon's message in New York probably hit the Internet as soon as it started. There might be other groups looking for me.

Damn the Simurgh.

All she needed to do was trip Saint's stupid scheme and watch. The world might take me out for her. Even if I survived and cleared Veda—and by extension myself—the PR damage could ruin me. It was another no-lose scenario, with us in the middle of it.

"I can't see," Armsmaster said. "Are we being pursued?"

"It's gone. I don"—The interference reappeared a few dozen meters ahead—"It's back! I'm going to break the surface and go."

They might have found me in the water but how many could keep pace in the air? Probably depended on how many movers they brought. If we got lucky they might want to talk. I struggled to think anyone would take a prerecorded message's word...except for Tagg, maybe. Shit. He was still acting as the director in Brockton Bay. I forgot about that.

Armsmaster was right.

Everyone was in danger. Tagg was shortsighted and petty; he'd jump on this to get me out of the way.

The interference appeared again as I accelerated more. The water would churn and the GN Drive's light might become visible with how shallow the river was getting but—

A figure stepped into view. I couldn't make out much detail but it was a girl.

And she was flipping me the bird.

With both hands.

What the fuck?

I pulled back on the controls hard. Exia's limbs flung forward. Thrusters fired. A wave formed in the river, pushing the water upstream. Armsmaster clattered against Exia's back and called out but I burst through the water and spun around.

Tattletale wiped the water from her eyes and looked down at herself. "Was that necessary?"

"How ar—" I looked past her at the shimmering octagon of light. It hung in the air, just over the ground. That's what she meant when she said to just pick a place and I could get the Helpers to Sanc. "You have a mover."

Tattletale patted down her shirt. "Good job Sherlock, you figured out how we got an international celebrity into the states without anyone knowing."

"Is that Tattletale?" Armsmaster asked.

Shit. "Um."

Tattletale leaned over. "Oh good. You hung onto Armsmaster. We might need him." She turned toward the portal and waved me forward. "Come on. Day to save."

She stepped through the portal and vanished.

Armsmaster pulled himself free of Exia's sub-arm as I approached the shore. "You've been working with Tattletale."

I groaned. "I fucking hate today."

With only a moment's hesitation, I pushed Exia forward. The portal looked just big enough for my suit to fit, if I hunched forward. Kind of an awkward position, given how my legs were half in the torso and half above the knee. There was no resistance as I pushed through, though the edges of the field seemed to shimmer.

On the other side, I came to stand in a small walled-in garden. Flower plots hugged the corners and a circular path rounded a tree at the center. It looked old and scarred. One side appeared sheared off, and I noticed small pieces of shrapnel in the bark. The damage wasn't recent.

Looking up past the tree, I noticed the dark sky. Night. Where were we?

Armsmaster stepped through the portal behind me and looked around. "This is the Sanc Kingdom."

Oh. That made sense. But where was—

"Over here!"

I followed the voice, looking past the trunk of the tree to an open door leading into a white stone house. It wasn't very large, probably the same size as my house in Brockton Bay. Not remotely the kind of place I expected to find Relena living. Though the carpets and furniture seemed more in line with my expectations, made of dark woods and elaborate stic—

Exia's chest slid away and I scrambled out of the suit. "Dinah!"

She lay on a couch, drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. I'd really done it this time. I pushed her too far. I barely noticed her mother sitting at her side. Mrs. Alcott didn't look happy to see me, but she looked more desperate than anything.

I ignored the rest of the room as I approached, asking, "What—"

"No questions," Dinah pleaded.

That's when I noticed she didn't have her glasses. Shit. No phones meant no glasses. Veda wasn't helping filter what people said for her.

Dinah turned her eyes to me weakly. "Veda is in danger."

My hands tightened at my side.

"I don't know." I turned, noticing Claire standing by a wall with her hand on the collar of a man in the wheelchair. "Chariot is kind of badassing his way through like, twenty guys right now?"

Trevor? Wait, twenty? What the fuck?

"PRT isn't the problem." Tattletale sat near the center of the room hunched over a laptop. "The problem is going to be the Dragon suits."

"I saw them," Dinah clarified. "They're going to go after Veda."

That might get through the GN Field.

Some of Dragon's suits came with serious firepower. The Icarus could absolutely shred through a GN Field. Dragon built the thing using String Theory's tech.

"You can't go back," Dinah declared.

What? "But—"

"Trevor, Lafter, and Bakuda will protect Veda." Dinah managed to prop herself up on her elbows and gave me a sorry but determined stare. "We need to save Dragon."

I knew that but Armsmaster was… I didn't like that thought, especially when I didn't even need a moment to know that if the choice came down to Dragon or Veda I would choose Veda. Fuck the Simurgh. Fuck her twice. She did that on purpose too.

"One of you must have some idea what's going on," Tattletale stated. "Fill me in fast. We're not exactly chock-full of time."

Armsmaster came in behind me, scanning the room warily. His head snapped around as a door opened and Relena stepped into the room. She blinked at the sight of us, then continued forward and handed Dinah's mother a glass of water and two tablets.

"They're Sarah's," Relena explained. "She takes them when her headaches get bad."

Mrs. Alcott looked at the pills suspiciously, but Tattletale promised her it was just Aspirin.

Dinah grabbed the pills and the water of her own accord. Given what I knew about powers, Aspirin shouldn't actually help with a Thinker headache, but there was always the placebo effect. Now might not be the time for that line of inquiry.

"Describe the room again," Tattletale said.

Dinah swallowed the water down in three big gulps and exhaled. "Den on the side of the house. There are two halls leading from a small room. One went to a kitchen and the other into another room. I didn't see stairs but I think there was a garage. It was on the left hallway, opposite the kitchen."

Tattletale nodded and tapped at her computer.

I thought for a moment, remembered I couldn't ask questions without making Dinah worse, and took my best shot.

"You're looking for Saint," I guessed.

"Saint's dead," Tattletale replied.

My hand twitched.

"Almost dead," Dinah clarified.

"Bonesaw has him." Tattletale looked over her shoulder at me and frowned. "He's dead."

Dinah saw that? I glanced at her, and she clearly didn't like that take. She also didn't vocally disagree with it.

"Maggie is still alive," Dinah mumbled. "Siberian had her."

Bonesaw had Saint, so he might as well be dead if he wasn't already. Siberian had the woman, Maggie. She was still alive. Siberian liked 'playing' with her food, even I knew that. Everyone did. It's what made the cannibal woman such a damned monster, along with the absolute invincibility.

"Saint sent the suits," I figured. "Some kind of automated system."

"He's not that dumb," Tattletale confirmed. "Whatever he set up, he set it up to go off without him watching it. Right now, I'd be worried about how the Nine can make it worse."

She said that like it wasn't the first fear I had when I connected the two together. "That'll depend on how fast they realize what they have," I mused quietly.

"That will not take Mannequin long," Armsmaster offered. He settled his halberd at his shoulder, and the face portion of his helmet pulled back to reveal his mouth set in a strained line. "He was familiar with Dragon before, when he was Sphere. He may recognize the resemblance between her code and her technology."

"I'm more worried what Bonesaw will do," I warned. "Dragon's tech runs on wetware." Armsmaster stiffened. I hadn't even thought through the implications of that before I said it. Could Bonesaw spread some kind of plague by manipulating the organic processors? "We need that box."

Dinah was right.

We needed to save Dragon and we needed to get that box. Maggie might know something we could use. Her and the box. We needed to get both away from the Nine and that might get us closer to Dragon.

But Veda.

"Claire," Tattletale called. "Show her."

"Okay."

"Show me—?"

Claire kept her hand on the man's collar and swung herself around the back of his chair. Her other hand reached out and brushed my cheek.

I blinked frantically. The vertigo hit hard. It felt like being in two places at once. I continued to stand in what I could only assume was Relena's home, but at the same time I was outside my factory.

"Lafter," I gasped. Blood covered her right side, and her top was practically torn open. It looked like a lot of blood. "Lafter's hurt."

"She's fine," Tattletale assured me. "She played her part better than expected, with an assist from the crowd."

Played her part? "Explai—"

Shock interrupted my fury. Lafter covered in blood distracted me at first, then the clear sign that something had exploded just beyond the GN Field. Did someone shoot missiles at my factory? I didn't linger long on that thought.

It was a blur at first.

Movement and energy.

I recognized Sergeant Flemming's armor. He held a staggered line with half a dozen others in golden armor, firing red beams from their rifles. A dark metal arm shielded the chest from the beams. The armor heated, turning red before the withering fire. The suit didn't stop. It crashed into the line like a storm, skating over the ground and whipping itself around until it was behind them.

Flemming rolled away. One of his fellows wasn't so quick. A long arm grabbed his shoulder and the hand squeezed. The man's body seized up and my heart jumped as the suit swung him overhead and into the ground, then swept the body out and knocked two more troopers down as they scrambled back.

Lasers continued to fire, but the suit simply whipped itself around again, completely unfazed.

The face of the armor was familiar. The v-shaped crest. The eyes were a different color—a burning red—but the design I knew well.

My eyes widened. "Trevor built a Gundam."

That couldn't be Trevor though. After he released the trooper he'd grabbed, Trevor kicked him across the street. The body tumbled and rolled before hitting an open fire hydrant with a crack. Two capes were already down, moving, but with clearly broken limbs.

Trevor couldn't do that, could he?

As soon as I pondered the question, a taloned hand grabbed a trooper's helmet and slammed their head into the ground. Before the woman even recovered, he brought a foot down on her arm.

He's breaking their bones. Removing them from the fight in one move. I spotted a pair of troopers in normal PRT armor—the black SWAT kind—with white bands on their arms. Trevor made no move against them as they went around collecting the injured. He even shielded them once from a stray bolt of lightning fired by Dauntless.

Vista and Mockshow were there too, folding the street in on itse—Vista.

"I need Imp," I realized.

"Yo."

Aisha revealed herself leaning against a wall behind me, with Black tucked under her arm. "What u—"

"No questions!" Dinah snapped.

Aisha frowned. "That one was rh—"

"My power doesn't care if it's rhetorical!"

"I need you to go to Vista and tell her to envelope the factory in her power. Just twist it all around." Some of Dragon's suits have enough firepower they could pierce the bunker and destroy Veda's processors. "If we get her to use her power, none of those suits can hit it."

"Yeah, she'll totally listen to me," Aisha muttered sullenly.

"Breakback A-Fourteen," Armsmaster retorted. "Tell her that." I gave him a questioning look, immediately realizing he'd found out about Veda, Tattletale, and Aisha in the course of about five minutes. "The code tells her the official channels have been compromised and that I'm the one saying it."

"That'll work," I agreed. "With that, Veda will be safe. It's the surrounding area that'll be in danger."

How did Trevor get his suit to move like that? The motions were fluid, hardly mechanical at all. It was more like an animal than a machine. Still not the time for that question. Trevor could protect the surrounding area. He wouldn't need to do it for long.

Maybe. Maybe if—

I looked past Claire and locked eyes with the man in the wheelchair.

Claire glanced back and forth between us. "Newtype, Doormaker. Doormaker, Newtype."

"Hello," he greeted with a worried smile. "I wasn't sure your suit could pass my portals. My power doesn't always work with Tinkers."

"Keep looking for the Nine," I decided. "Aisha, go straight to Vista. Claire, show me the inside of my factory." My vision turned, and I spotted Yellow and Orange inside looking around. "Green!"

The Haro popped out of Exia and rolled toward me.

"Say door," Claire explained, "and use the magic word."

The magic word? "Door, please?"

With that, a portal opened in the air and Claire pulled her hand away. I got another sense of vertigo as my senses returned to normal but I forced my feet forward. Passing through the portal, I walked into my workshop. The lights were out and everything was entirely too fucking quiet.

"Veda?"

Silence.

"Are you okay?" Aisha asked.

"I will be. Go find Vista and tell her to shield this place. Then find Trevor and tell him what's happening."

"Armsmaster saw me."

"We're past the point of no return." My brow furrowed behind my visor as it hit me in an oddly quiet way. "The war's begun. Go."

I let Aisha go her way and I went straight to the weapons locker.

"Newtype! Newtype!" Orange and Yellow came to me, jumping up and down in apparent relief. "System error! System error!"

"I know," I told them. I crouched down by the locker and put in the release code. "I need you to do something for me."

The three of them tilted back and forth.

"Veda, Veda."

"Veda needs time," I said. "You three can give that to her. Get outside and support Trevor." I pulled the locker open. "He must have just built that suit. I didn't see any weapons. If a bunch of Dragon's suits show up, he'll need these."

I rose up and glanced around the workshop.

Still nothing.

Did she not know I was here, or did she trust us to protect her while she saved Dragon?

Not hearing her answer me felt so...lonely. She'd been with me from the start, when I was just angry and bitter. What a great place to start teaching someone how to be good. It made me sympathize with Dad yet again.

Of all the things worrying me, Veda worried me the most. Shewas going to be okay. I knew it. Yet, the chance she might not though made me think of all the times I didn't say the things that I probably should have.

I finally understood what Dinah meant about possibility being like a beast. I could almost feel the fangs around my throat with all the prickles along my skin. I tried to ignore them, to continually assure myself that we'd make it through.

I knew we would. I believed it. It still felt crushing. This whole crisis started barely fifteen minutes ago and I just wanted it to end. Yet the possibility remained—a voice threatening, the weight of the walls closing around me.

I wanted to stay here. I wanted to protect Veda, no matter what happened. I wanted to make sure Lafter wasn't hurt and that Trevor hadn't somehow snapped. Fuck, where was Dad? What happened to Kati? I didn't know and…

And that's not why I put on a mask.

"You guys can do this," I forced myself to say. I looked down at the Haros. "Go." I didn't wait. I knew they'd take care of it. "Door, please."

The portal opened and I passed through it quickly. "Tell me where Saint is."

"Somewhere reasonably remote but also big enough to hide a bunch of tinker-tech and whatever vehicles he's transporting it in," Tattletale answered. "He'll want somewhere he can lay low without being noticed. Few people, but not so few people that a big truck will stand out."

Odd set of criteria, mostly in the sense of how we could find them. I didn't know much about the area around that lake. I couldn't even remember its name on the spot.

"Summer services," Tattletale declared. I raised my brow questioningly. She remained hunched over her computer, explaining, "Lake Nipigon has several resort and summer home areas. Places you might host summer parties and events. Those kinds of places need catering, games, events and such. But the only business is in the summer."

We had stuff like that in Brockton Bay for tourist season. No one really came to the city itself anymore, but the nearby mountains were popular and the city was close by. The Boardwalk and Rig were popular day activities. Lots of Dockworkers got part-time work that way.

I tilted my head. "And no one would be surprised by a catering business getting a shipment in the off season. It's just getting ready for all the summering people from the city."

"Exactly."

"No," I determined. When I thought of how I'd do it… "Somewhere abandoned would be even better. A business that shuttered. Trucks in the off season would look like someone was reopening shop."

Tattletale nodded and looked over her shoulder at Dinah. "The map, one last time."

"I couldn't see more than half of it," Dinah replied. "And only the bottom. There was a river and a road, and mountains on either side. I didn't see any labels or anything. It was one of those maps with lots of lines."

"A topographical map." I walked around Tattletale and watched over her shoulder.

She had MapQuest open on her screen, two fingers pinching at her chin. "The Dragonslayers would need it to come and go with their suits."

"They only have one left," I acknowledged. If they had three, maybe they could have escaped the Nine by flying away. "It's probably gone now…but they'll have a lot of other tech."

Oh.

"I can find it," I realized. "You don't need to pinpoint them. Just get me a general area." Tattletale looked over her shoulder at me. "My sonic cameras wonk out when there's tinker-tech around. I can find the right building, smash a wall, grab the box and go."

"Maggie," Dinah reminded.

"Grab the box and Maggie and go," I corrected. I said it with no small amount of spite, but she might know something we needed.

"Nobody could do that more readily," Armsmaster said in a rushed tone. "With far less risk."

"I need her," Tattletale replied. "And I don't know that I want to trust her around Jack Slash."

I raised my brow; it was annoying that I couldn't straight ask why and needed to wave my hand to get her attention.

"There's something off about him," Tattletale elaborated. "I don't know what, but he's too successful for someone with such a lame power. I can't fathom why someone like Siberian or Crawler hasn't just offed him, or even Burnscar. They don't have the same deluded attachments to him that Bonesaw and Shatterbird have."

Before I could speak she shook her head.

"We don't have time to play twenty-questions and try to work out Jack's power. You go in with that heavily armed and armored paperweight of yours. The only ones you need to watch out for are Siberian and Crawler. Crawler is too big to fit in a house. Siberian is slower than your suit and she can't fly, but she is fast. She's the real problem, especially if you want to rescue whoever Maggie is."

"We need her," Dinah insisted.

"I'll make it work."

"In and out," Tattletale warned. "Don't get distracted."

"Dragon is what matters right now," I assured her. "Narrow it down to an area I can search."

"Already have." Tattletale turned back to her laptop and pointed at the screen. "There's a couple places they could be. One of these four. They're the only parts of the northern part of the lake that have summer-based businesses and cover for any unidentified flying objects."

She plugged a phone into the laptop and loaded some files.

I took it once she finished and gave a quick look to Dinah.

"Go," she grumbled. "I'm gonna nap."

She needed it. "Do that."

"Start on the southeast side," Tattletale told me. "Claire can start looking on the northwest."

"Open a portal fifty yards in front of me if you find it and drop me a mile over the location."

I went to Exia with the phone in hand. I'd never realized how much I depended on Veda—or maybe I didn't want to notice it. Might need to do something about that. Not that I didn't trust Veda, but leaving myself this open to this much inconvenience was just bad design.

"Newtype."

I expected Armsmaster. Instead, I turned and found Relena. Armsmaster stood in the doorway, looking almost ashamed...and I could guess that it's because he felt what I felt. That fear that someone he loved was going to vanish. That knowledge of the possibility and the dread of it, even if he knew Dragon would rather I survived if someone didn't.

He wanted me to save her, but respected her too much to implore me to do it. He felt too ashamed of that to ask me not to do it.

Turning my attention back to Relena, I noted, "Not the best start. My reputation might be too damaged after this to help you much."

I might even need to sever myself from Londo Bell, publicly at least. Fuck, how was I going to get through this PR storm? How many people would continue believing that bullshit accusation even after I cleared my name?

"You won't know if you don't come back."

I blinked and stared at her, but she had that look again. That look that said she wanted an answer to her question and she wanted it now. The fact she hadn't asked an actual question didn't change anything.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "For Veda. I imagine this isn't how you wanted the world to learn the truth."

"No," I admitted. "It's not."

"Then you should be sure to come back and fight for her. It'll be hard enough to speak for her with you around. I can't imagine how much harder it'll be if you're gone."

I turned my head. "You're going to speak for Veda?"

Relena kept her gaze even. "She was born. She has the right to exist. To be judged for her character, not her state of birth."

Huh. That was a good line. Cheesy, but good. And deceptively perceptive of her. Maybe she did have a power. Then again, maybe I wore what I was thinking on my face and she was the only one willing to step up and say something.

"Thank you," I offered.

I dropped the phone to the ground and climbed back into Exia.

Fuck, I was about to go confront the Slaughterhouse Nine.

What a fucking day.

Armsmaster approached as Relena stepped back. She greeted him and he gave a curt reply. They kept going in their respective directions.

"This is a bad idea."

"It's the only idea, so matter of perspective."

"No. I mean that I doubt retrieving the box at this stage will help Dragon." Armsmaster scowled and cocked his head to the side. "If Saint thought his plan through enough to disrupt communications and manipulate public perception, then he likely thought through the possibility that we'd already have the box."

"We still need to get it away from the Nine," I countered.

"I agree. I only mean that I doubt the box will be enough to save Dragon."

"Maggie might be able to do something."

"I doubt it. Saint was a fanatic." Emphasis on was. "His followers are unlikely to be any different. We will need to prepare an alternate plan for what to do when you return."

I took a deep breath and checked the time. "It's been half an hour."

Armsmaster grunted. "You get used to it."

"I thought I was used to it."

"You're still young. You lack the experience that separates you from Hannah or Chevalier. Shock is something they've adjusted to dealing with in motion."

I grunted in turn. "I'll be right back."

I closed Exia's armor around me. We'd burned enough time, and time was the thing we had the least of at the moment.

I checked the map quickly, gave one last thought to everything happening in absolute uncertainty, said fuck it, and rose up onto Exia's feet.

"Door, please."

The portal opened directly above me and the thrusters fired. The light from the GN Field caused the edges of the portal to flicker again but I made it through to an open blue sky on the other side.

I'm really doing this.

I spun Exia about in the air and dove through a cloud toward the forests and hills below. The lake lay to my right and a small mountain range was to my left. I built the map of the area myself, and quickly. The locations Tattletale singled out flashed one after the other and I bolted forward toward the closest one.

Maybe I should have grabbed Tattletale's number before going through the portal…

Well, too late now.

I dove toward the ground as I got close to the location. A few neighborhoods hugged low, forested hills. A couple downtown areas dotted the region. Community center. School. Strip mall.

I knew instantly I wouldn't find anything there and moved on. People lived in that area, regardless of what else was there. It wasn't the kind of place Saint wanted to hide. Everything looked packed too close together. He'd want somewhere more sporadic.

A few heads turned as I flew by. Hopefully the Nine didn't watch the news. I needed to stay low to use the sonic cameras.

Treetops swayed in my wake as I raced over a creek and a small mountain to reach the next vista. It looked like a true resort area or vacation zone. Whatever it was called. I wasn't in the mood to figure it out.

I flew low, scanning left and right while the cameras swept the area. I didn't see anyone, though there were a handful of vehicles—caretakers, maybe. Most homes looked empty but meticulously maintained. Nothing too run-down.

It was too frequently maintained to make a good hiding spot.

Adjusting my grip on the controls, I moved on. Exia dove down a gap and flew along a river. My eyes remained very mindful of the clock. Every moment that passed was another moment for something to go wrong.

Part of me felt hollow, like there was something missing. Not Veda—Ah.

I always knew I was going to die. It's just how cape life ended. There were no old capes. Well, except for Recoil but she started old so she didn't count. The point was, I accepted that this might finally be it.

I didn't become a hero to protect myself.

If someone had to be lost, it should be me. If ever there was a moment not to care about my own fate and put everyone else before myself, this was it. The Nine couldn't have Dragon and the Simurgh couldn't be allowed to kill her and Veda off. They were too important.

Armsmaster was wrong. The world needed Dragon and Veda more than it needed me. In a way, I'd already done everything I set out to do. Celestial Being and Londo Bell existed. Veda was firmly established. PR might be bad, but it wouldn't stop her and she had others…

Dad.

Fuck. Hadn't thought of that. No. No, I had. He knew. That's why he always fought so hard and made everything so difficult. He knew it would end this way. Everyone did. I'd never once lied to myself or anyone else.

There's a weird sort of emptiness in accepting impending death. A hollowness. It was kind of peaceful, actually.

I was ready for it.

Now, "Where the fuck are you asshol—"

I threw my feet forward, eyes wide.

A building along the river to my right. Long and narrow. Not big enough for a warehouse but with a loading dock facing the road and another along the small river flowing down the ravine. I didn't know what the business was supposed to be, but it wasn't open anymore.

"There you fucking are!"

Exia snapped about in the air, corkscrewing clockwise and then wheeling back. The sub-arms were hard to use without Veda, but I could grab the shields and hold them in front of me. I drew all my shields in front of me and set my lips in a line.

"Burn red."

TRANS-AM

Exia exploded forward, snapping the trunks of two trees behind me as I rocketed through the wall and the wall behind that.

Heads turned my way.

I charged through their gazes and body-slammed the contorted figure of Mannequin.

"This is so cool!" I turned my shoulder-mounted cannon on the voice and hesitated as Bonesaw smiled up at me. "It's Newtype!"

Her youth shocked me. She couldn't be any older than Dinah. That was one of the most dangerous parahumans on the planet?

It was a stupid time to try and reconcile her apparent youthful innocence with who she was. A multi-jointed arm twisted and spun, striking across Exia's face and leaving only a small scratch in the paint. I swung my arm around again, but Mannequin remained locked around the limb and swiped at me with one free hand.

Shatterbird started to lift into the air and I regained my focus.

My eyes locked on Saint for a moment. Not for long. I didn't need to look long to make a choice. I assumed it was him from the stare his one remaining eye gave and the sight otherwise turned my stomach too much to linger on.

I swung Mannequin into Shatterbird and then drove the pair into the floor. My cannon swiveled around and fired. The wall Saint was pinned to evaporated in the light and blew away.

Bonesaw started scrambling as the blast continued on through the building, blowing out walls and making the whole thing shake.

"That doesn't seem very heroic Ms. Newtype!" she exclaimed.

Saint was dead, and I killed him. Didn't seem like much of a crime in context. I didn't have the means to save him, the box, and Maggie. I'm not sure even Panacea could fix being turned inside out. Leaving him to the Nine was… Yeah. I didn't care about that. If the Nine had a baby and I had no way to save it, I'd shoot the baby.

My mind remembered Othala, trapped in an endless loop of her own suffering.

Yeah.

I'd shoot the baby.

Some fates are worse than death and living with Dragon dying was one of them.

I searched the floor, letting reflex and instinct react to everything else. I flung Mannequin free of my arm, tossing him across the room while I kicked Shatterbird into a wall. Fire erupted from one side of the room as I swiveled my cannon around. It fired, but Burnscar vanished into the fire.

Pellets showered pointlessly against my armor and I fired the twin-cannons into Mannequin and blasted his arm into oblivion.

Huh. I'd never used my weapons at full power on people before. Neat. A plan formed quickly and I started flooding the compressors in the Full Armor modules to overcapacity. Dangerously unsafe, but it wouldn't be my problem soo—

There!

I spun Exia about, kicking Shatterbird back again as she started to scream. Not that it would help. My tech was Shatterbird-proof.

As I lunged forward, I set my gaze on the reinforced case amongst the debris. The screen scrawled with code I knew.

"Leaving so soon?" Jack Slash sat on the fucking couch as if nothing was happening around him. He tapped a knife to his chin. "We jus—"

I pointed every weapon I had at him. "Go fuck yourself and tell the Simurgh I say hi."

Bonesaw froze and snapped at me. "No swearing!"

Another wall exploded, and from the corner of my eye I saw white and black. About damn time. I swung both sub-arm-held shields around in an instant. I flipped Exia down, feeling the floor as I crashed into it. With a free hand, I grabbed at the box and took hold of it.

Yes!

A clawed hand blocked my vision.

Shit.

I watched the fingers—with their disgustingly long bloody nails, not claws—close on my eye. The Siberian was known to be able to tear even Alexandria-package capes apart. Nothing stopped her. She was a literal unstoppable force. That ate people.

I swung my right arm back and hit the body with my elbow. She barely budged and the claws grabbed hold of Exia's faceplate and pinche—

Nothing happened other than a straining sound in my ear. None of the armor alerts sounded. "Huh."

Jack rose up from the couch. "Well, that's fascinating."

I grinned. Trans-Am could strengthen my armor to the point even the Siberian couldn't break it? "You have no idea."

We were right.

I spun Exia around full force and punched the Siberian in the face. The GN Particles flared redder on impact, and the striped woman actually looked a bit surprised as I grabbed her arm and pulled. My shoulder collided with her chest. She swung a leg up, trying to hook it around Exia's waist. My elbow crashed down on her knee. Spinning again, I swung the striped woman around and sent her sailing across the room.

The Simurgh couldn't see Trans-Am!

The Siberian flew through a wall and I threw myself into a hover. I swung all three of my cannons around and fired. Mannequin lunged at me and met the beams, to much the same effect as before. The energy sheared through his chest and sent his head and remaining limbs scattering across the floor behind me.

She'd never have fed me a chance to wipe out the Nine if she could!

"I'll be right back," I declared.

I hit the thrusters and blew through Burnscar's little inferno. Of the Nine, only Bonesaw, Crawler, and Siberian were immediate threats. Burnscar's fires couldn't get through my armor, nor could Shatterbird. I'd proofed my tech against her out of paranoia ages ago. Jack's knife tricks wouldn't cut it either.

Mannequin wasn't a problem anymore.

Of the remaining three, Crawler and Bonesaw weren't fast enough to chase me. My armor was airtight. As long as the seal didn't break, Bonesaw couldn't infect me with anything. Crawler was so big and bulky I could just avoid him.

Really, the only thing stopping me from wiping the Nine off the face of the Earth were Siberian and Jack, and with one of them unable to break my armor for the next eleven minutes—Well. I'd find out.

My thumb flipped the purge control and the Full Armor modules ejected from Exia's frame.

I'd finish off whoever survived the blast. In about ten seconds. "So long assholes!"

"Hey," Bonesaw protested. "No swearing!"

I secured the box to my side and went through another wall, quickly looking in the direction Siberian came from. Taking the indirect route, I flew backwards through a wall, went over the roof and then dove through a window.

Sure enough there was a woman in the room. She lay in a fetal position, crying and clutching at the stump of her leg with one hand. Her opposite shoulder was also a stump. She started to look up as I approached, eyes going wide as I closed my free arm around her waist.

"Cover your damn head," I snarled.

Continuing on my path, I pulled up and aimed for the ceiling.

In the last few moments, I did a mental check. Nine GN Missiles. The twin barrels. The shoulder cannon. Additional thrusters. The mountain of compressors in the backpack. Yeah…that should be a big boom.

I broke through the roof and drove straight up, the box clutched to one side and Maggie to the other.

The house exploded into a swirling ball of green and red below. I took off in an arc, looking back for any sign of—

Oh that's fucking bullshit.

The dust and debris didn't clear so much as the Siberian strolled through it, Jack under one arm, Shatterbird under the other, and Bonesaw riding her shoulders. Burnscar emerged from a line of flame out the side of the building.

My eyes focused on her.

I could get her.

She was separated from the others and looking around, confused. If I dove now and swung the GN Sword out, I could kill her. Fight off Siberian's blows and kill Shatterbird next. I still didn't see Crawler but he'd be around by then. Did I dare try to kill Bonesaw? Everyone always talked like her death would unleash untold horrors, but we were in the middle of nowhere. If we were ever going to do it, why not here?

Somehow, I didn't linger on my immediate plan to start killing the Nine off. The Nine weren't like Noelle, or even Saint.

They were monsters. They had to die. This was it. This was the moment. If there was ever a time to give it everything it was now. Kill the Nine and countless lives would be saved overnight! The others could keep going without me if it came to that.

With Mannequin, Burnscar, Shatterbird, and Bonesaw dead, that left Jack and his knife trick would…

I froze, eyes going wide as I hovered in the air.

That's what you want, isn't it?

I saw the layers suddenly.

The little lines connecting all the traps together. Isolate me from allies. Isolate me from friends. Leave me with little to nothing but desperation and raw strength. I might get into a protracted fight with the Nine. I might get into a protracted fight with the Protectorate. The PRT.

All the while, Veda and Dragon struggled or I made a fatal mistake and—and I accepted dying to save them...

The Simurgh wanted me to walk into my own death. She'd set up a half dozen ways for it to happen all in one swoop, a swoop that pushed me to a mental edge where I...accepted that it was time to die.

Not literally, but in the way I'd always figured I'd die. Casting my life away for some great goal. Saving Dragon. Saving Veda. Stopping the Nine now, while they were disorganized and unready.

She knew me, and she set up the exact scenario I imagined from the start would take my life.

I lingered in the air, arguing in my own head.

I could get the Nine. At least while Trans-Am lasted, Siberian couldn't break my armor. I could outrun Crawler. Half the Nine were dangerous because they were insane with far-reaching powers, but a sword or an energy beam killed them as well as anyone. Even if I couldn't kill all of them, I could break the group forever.

How many lives would that save? How much sufferi—

Unless that's what the Simurgh wanted me to do. How did I know she hadn't set something else up? A surprise. Maybe someone sabotaged Exia while I wasn't looking at just the right time to fuck me. She killed Zanzibar by messing with an AC unit. She could find a way to screw me over when taking a risk that I thought would work.

You don't get to die anymore, Taylor.

Suddenly, that hollow feeling peeled away and I pulled back on the controls.

The Nine's time would come. Just not today. My gut was screaming at me that this was the trap. I could argue and logic it all I wanted but fuck the Simurgh. If she wanted me dead, she'd have to come down here and do it her damned self!

"Door, Panacea please!"

The portal opened above me, and I shot through it and right into a couch. The furniture shattered under Exia's weight.

Amy and Vicky both turned. Vicky's jaw dropped, and Amy sighed.

"Everyone portal on in," she chided sarcastically. "Wreck the house while you're at it."

I kept the box held tight and lowered Maggie down. "I need her alive."

Amy sighed and shuffled toward me.

"Taylor!" Vicky shot past her sister and circled Exia in the air. "What the hell is going on!? Lafter almost died, there's portals, someone shot missiles at your factory and—Taylor?"

I didn't answer.

If I tried, I thought she'd hear it. Whatever it was. I wasn't sure.

I looked down at Exia's hands, which didn't help. It was my hands that were shaking at the controls. I supposed I could have opened the armor but I didn't want to. It felt safer inside Exia while I…

Lived?

The hollow feeling was gone. Now there was just a sort of nothing. Not hollow. Not empty. Just nothing and I didn't understand why.

There were no old capes. We all died. No point running from it. No point trying to run from the inevitable. The best any cape could hope for was to leave behind more than they started with. That's how I saw it, from the start. A hero who wasn't ready to die wasn't a real hero.

I'd accepted that, right?

So why…why didn't I want to die?