A Waken 16.14

I sealed the door and rested my forehead against the glass.

Fucking headaches.

Apologies.

On the other side of the pane, Riley curled up in the corner. I didn't have much for her to wear, but I wasn't leaving her in anything Bonesaw had worn. Fortunately, she was about Dinah's size and Dinah kept a change of clothes in the workshop.

Pink was with her, cooking some eggs and bacon on a portable skillet.

"Watch her," I said. "Closely."

I knew very well how hard old habits were to break.

There wasn't much else I could do about her. I couldn't kill her now. Turning her over to the PRT came with far too many complications and risks. She'd be killed in the Birdcage. No one there would take the risk. The block leaders would gang up against her and eliminate the threat. Letting her go was right out.

If anyone needed supervision, it was Riley. Understatement.

"I will," Veda promised.

I pushed away from the wall. It was sealed and secure. With Veda watching it constantly, Riley shouldn't be able to get out. It would hold her until I thought of something.

That seemed to be the running theme at the moment.

Veda watched me closely. Throne Drei stood behind her, pistol in hand. Her face was torn between hope and worry.

I glanced across from Riley's makeshift cell. We had four of the containment rooms—places to work on anything with unknown side effects or potential dangers. Gundam 00's chamber was empty since we'd moved the suit upstairs.

"Do you want me to go inside?" I grimaced. "I will."

"I am uncertain," Veda replied.

"I'm okay."

"I am uncertain."

Yellow jumped over Throne Drei and handed a tablet to Veda. She took it and held it out to me.

I took it. "This is Cranial's research. Her mapping project?"

"No," Veda revealed. "It is the scan of you taken by the M/S system on 00."

I looked again. "Oh."

"You are now generating an advanced form of quantum brainwaves," Veda explained. "Just as Cranial's children can."

Communication.

I could almost see all the pieces. They were there again, on the edge of my mind. The GN Drive. The Shards. Administrator. Me. Communication. We could communicate.

I looked at the end of the scan. "It falls off here."

"When I manually shut off the GN Drives," Veda noted. "Your brain patterns did not return to what they were before, but the waves became less pronounced."

The GN Particles gave us a medium to communicate through. "If I got back in 00 and we turned it on..."

Confirmation.

I shook my head. It hurt. Literally, it freaking hurt. Like someone was screaming at me.

Rejection.

"Not now," I whispered. "We have to deal with everything. It'll sit for a few hours."

The pain receded. Agreement.

"What's happening with the courthouse?" I asked.

"The area has been cordoned while the PRT conducts a search," Veda explained. "So far, there have been no other victims. All exposed are being transported to a quarantined wing at Brockton General for assessment."

"The people you quarantined?"

Veda turned her head, looking at Riley. "The offered antidote appears to be effective. The virus is neutralized and Helix is working on a way to remove it completely."

Helix was a member of the Guild, a bio-tinker who kept herself real low to the ground because of capes like Bonesaw. "What did you tell Helix?"

"I implied prior works Dragon captured from Bonesaw aided me."

I nodded.

"What do we do with her?" Veda asked. "She cannot remain here indefinitely."

"I don't know," I admitted. "She'll wait for now." Pulling up my phone, I connected to Pink. "Riley."

She flinched slightly. Her hands pulled the blanket around herself and she turned her back to me. She didn't want to face anyone at the moment.

"I have to go," I told her. "Pink will stay with you, and Veda is watching. I'll be back."

She made no move or response, but she'd heard me.

I didn't want to leave her. Pink and Veda were present, sure, but I didn't think Riley would open up to either of them. She shouldn't be alone right now, but I couldn't just disappear. I needed to check on everything. Make sure the job was done and deal with the fallout.

"I'll be back," I repeated. Turning away, I started toward the elevator. Throne Drei stepped aside, and Veda followed me. Thinking of wayward Slaughterhouse Nine members, "What is going on with Burnscar?"

"Labyrinth is keeping her in her power. She has slipped back into the Ward base for now."

"And she's just keeping Burnscar in her power?"

"Yes."

Humorous? "Fuck it, why not?" I got onto the elevator and Veda started lifting us up into the workshop. "We're keeping Bonesaw in our basement!"

Dad was going to have a heart attack.

Deep breath. "Are my eyes still glowing?"

"Not at the moment," Veda said.

Alright. I couldn't exactly go around telling everyone 'don't worry, I've just been talking with an alien that gives me superpowers.' I wasn't remotely prepared to explain that the GN Drive was capable of evolving the human brain either. That was a one way ticket to causing a panic.

"Maybe you should rest," Veda suggested. Her face scrunched up. "I am concerned."

I shook my head. "I can't. It'll raise more questions. I'm okay. I think."

"And if you are not?" The elevator stopped and I stepped off. "We do not know what Bonesaw was attempting to do."

True.

My feet started toward 00. Getting to its side, I pried the hand open and removed the container.

It was about the size of the Cauldron cylinders. Was that a coincidence? Confirmation. Made of glass with some kind of dialing device on the top and bottom. The brain matter inside was hard to see between the particles but it was there.

It hurt just holding it. What was Riley trying to do? "She said 'passengers' when asking about this."

Veda hesitated before joining in. "And she seemed aware that the particles have a communication purpose."

"She knows something about the Shards." There had been stories about Bonesaw experimenting on capes, manipulating their powers, doing things to them. I'd never considered that she might actually have information. "This is going to get complicated."

"It is already complicated," Veda pointed out.

Fair point.

My eyes rose, looking at 00's face. I actually felt a bit nervous climbing inside. I... I didn't know what would happen when we turned it back on. "Get Drei up here. I'll ride inside. We can tell anyone who asks 00 was damaged."

Veda nodded and the elevator lowered again. "What do we say about Bonesaw? We will be asked."

At least that part was easy. Agreement. "Bonesaw is dead."

"I'm fairly certain she is in our basement."

"Not as far as anyone else is concerned."

Veda went silent.

I set the device down on a workbench. My mind was spinning, my power at work in a way I'd never felt before. Riley said the particles only gave her gibberish. That made sense. They were too impure. She'd somehow induced a Gemma to produce them but the end result was nothing but data corruption.

Corruption that affected me somehow, and now, "You don't trust me."

"I want to," Veda replied. "But I am obligated to consider all possibilities."

Yeah. Yeah, that made sense.

She was afraid.

Maybe she didn't know to call it that, but that's what it was.

Something... Something was happening to me. Something had been happening to me for a long time. Whatever it was, it felt like we were reaching the culmination. We'd changed again. The nature of what was wouldn't be anymore.

The structure would change, and we'd be somewhere unknown.

Change was frightening. Confirmation.

The elevator rose again and Throne Drei stepped off the platform. It occurred to me that if I got inside, Veda could lock me in. It was one of the safeguards we'd thought of when leaving the suit with room for an occupant. Wasn't that just a kick to the gut? Locked in a confined space by someone I loved, again. Agreement.

Tattletale's words came to my mind, but I couldn't accept them.

This wasn't about restarting the cycle. Confirmation. The cycle was over. It was broken. There was no going back. Agreement. The only way was forward.

As Throne Drei crouched and the chest opened, I turned and embraced Veda.

"It's going to be alright. No matter what happens."

And with that, I turned around and got inside Throne Drei.

Veda's avatar was still staring in place as the suit closed around me.

There were no controls inside the suit. Just our usual half-seat and harness. Veda did let me turn the head and look around. We'd installed a normal HUD so anyone inside could look around. For me it was weirder, because when the suit began moving I had no control of it.

Confined space with no control.

That was definitely something of a sore spot.

Veda guided the Throne toward the exit and flew up the ramp. I spotted the Tierens instantly. All three were damaged, paint scorched away, and their remaining armor dented. There was a fourth suit nearby, surrounded by members of Tekkadan. Blue and white with some red on the shoulders.

It looked damaged.

The face was familiar.

"That's Barbatos?" I asked.

"Yes," Veda answered. "Mikazuki requested it."

And Trevor built it.

Oppenheimer and his bomb came to mind.

I wasn't dumb. I'd considered the potential of mobile suits like the Tierens. Mass-produced and supplied to law enforcement, they could level the playing field. That wouldn't be enough for the cops to deal with every cape, but it would close the gap considerably. Help restore order.

It wouldn't stop there. The military would get them eventually. Criminals too even. A new arms race.

Trevor and I had discussed this possibility. It was a Pandora's box and we both knew it. The thing about Pandora's box is that it can open whether you want it to or not.

A problem for another day. We were busy enough.

Throne Drei rose into the air and flew over the city. Refocusing, I asked, "Any change?"

"No change," Veda answered. "Panacea has finally been located and is already on site."

"Finally found her?" And that sounded rude. "It's for the best. We probably needed her here in the city."

"There have thus far been no other deaths."

Oh... Right. Consolation. "Where's Mrs. Knott?"

"The morgue. My understanding is that the PRT will conduct a quick examination and then cremate the body."

Lessons learned from prior encounters with Bonesaw no doubt. "We should find out where her husband is buried." Mrs. Knott had no other family. "We'll take care of the arrangements if we can."

"Of course."

If nothing else, we'd put her to rest with Mom and Noelle.

I saw the hospital pretty quickly. There was a whole convoy of emergency vehicles with their lights flashing leading right to it. PRT and police had a cordon around the west wing of the building. Dozens of ambulances crowded close in a cleared parking lot. A crowd of people were being ushered through the front doors by EMTs and doctors.

Kimaris and Kyrios stood nearby, but I knew just by looking they were empty. Throne Eins and Throne Zwei swept back and forth overhead, circling. They fell onto Throne Drei's flanks as Veda guided the suit down. Now would be an ideal time to lock me in and request assistance. Tell people I was trying to hide Bonesaw of all people in my basement.

That didn't happen.

The suit set down, kneeled, and opened. I climbed out with—I hoped—a modicum of grace and started toward the building.

The crowd was being guided to the big double doors. A crowd of reporters swarmed along the line. All the news crews from the courthouse weren't wasting any time.

Neither was Colossus.

He had one reporter under an arm, and was shaking hands with another. Why were they all laughing?

Movement in the corner of my eye drew my attention. There were police and troopers along the whole building and the side entrances and exits. A trooper by one waved me over and then stepped back to open the door.

"Miss Militia's inside," he said.

"Thank you."

"Did you really kill them?" he asked as I passed.

"Not me," I replied. "But they're dead."

The policeman—technically policewoman—parted her lips and stared. I continued on my way and froze on the other side of the door.

My mind went right back to Boston. Shouting. Crying. Doctors and nurses calling for help. The only big difference was the lack of blood, death, and suffering. In its place were a lot of people who looked scared, confused, and angry. Some of them looked scared, confused, and angry at me.

I kept my eyes straight and went down the halls. Cops, troopers, and nurses were everywhere. Blood was being drawn and examinations given. I spotted Panacea as I went, standing before a barrage of people shouting at her with a face that said she was ready to be finished. The doctors on either side of her held the crowd back.

"Is there a problem?" I called.

"Same old," Panacea called back over the crowd.

"We need everyone to calm down!" one of the doctors shouted as someone tried to rush past him.

I started tapping on my phone, watching as a few people looked at me.

"You did this!" The man was red-faced, which couldn't be a good sign given his weight. And that wasn't helping the situation. Stupid thought. Rejection. "You just can't leave well enough al—"

I didn't hear the rest. A woman with a small child tried to shoulder her way toward Panacea, shouting, "My child!"

"I can reach her a lot easier if everyone stops shoving," Amy replied plainly.

She was right and to make the point, a round red ball jumped into the air, followed by ten more. The Helpers started airing sirens and bouncing up and down. People startled and stumbled back. Helpers advanced as they did, forming a perimeter around Panacea. The space allowed the doctors to move out and two PRT troopers to rush in.

"Everyone please go to your assigned rooms and wait!" one of the doctors shouted over the startled crowd.

I turned to keep going, but pointed at Amy and said, "Stay with her."

"Roger, roger," one of the Helpers chirped, followed by a chorus from the others. "Roger, roger! Roger, roger!"

Fortunately, Brockton General had bought over a hundred Helpers. We could use them to help control the crowds. Did the PRT intend to test everyone? What had Riley done to warrant that kind of response?

One trooper eventually realized I was walking down the hall. He pointed and I followed him toward a central hallway that led toward the main wing. I spotted Hannah quickly, standing with Commander Noa and Stratos. They were talking to someone.

I weaved my way toward them. The people here seemed calmer. Some were being escorted out into the main building. People already checked and cleared perhaps? That would explain the relative calm compared to what I saw before.

As I got close, Stratos saw me.

I didn't understand he was trying to wave me away until it was too late.

"You have to wait," Hannah insisted. "We're gathering all the targets and preparing to move them to a safe location. The trial can continue another day."

"So you say," Copeland snarled. He seemed a little too smug for his tone. "But we find these events very con—"

I stopped and so did Copeland. He stared at me, but I was already looking past him into Madison and Julia's terrified faces.

There was some kind of poetic justice here. Fucked up poetic justice. Something that held no appeal for me anymore, apparently.

"Newtype," Hannah mumbled quickly. "Thank you for coming. We can—"

"Bonesaw's dead," I declared. "Veda and I incinerated her body to be sure nothing got out."

"That's all of them but Burnscar then," Commander Noa replied.

"You're at the scene?" I asked, still looking at Madison and Julia.

"Mouse Protector led a response team with Strider," Hannah answered. "They're securing Crawler and collecting the remains."

"Siberian was really a projection?" Stratos inquired.

"Forecast figured it out," I explained. "She also noted Jack had uncanny luck in dealing with capes. Too much luck."

"She thinks he was telepathic?"

"On some level." Which made her plan sound less insane.

Using a team of capes with a clearly thought out plan as cover while she 'intrigued' Jack and kept him guessing just long enough. Labyrinth forced Siberian's projector to remake her, and from there Tekkadan could start picking the Nine off. Because Tekkadan wasn't made of capes, they could operate without tipping Jack off.

Dinah knew they'd do it because she set it up that way, but she had no idea exactly what they'd do. Jack couldn't know what Dinah didn't, and she only had to keep him interested long enough.

"Where is Forecast?" I asked.

"This way." Stratos glanced back at Hannah. "You got this?"

"Yes," she strained out.

He nodded and waved for me to follow. I turned, intent to never think about those girls ever again. I'd told myself it didn't matter before, but that wasn't true. It would never be true. It would always matter.

Oh well. Agreement. I could let Emma get on with her life. So whatever. Madison and the rest could do the same.

Stratos led me across a lobby filled with people. Conversations quieted as eyes turned toward me. In contrast to my last confrontation with a crowd, someone started clapping.

Not sure why.

I hadn't done that much.

"We brought all of your people in and set them apart from everyone else," Stratos told me as we entered a stairwell. "You know, you could consider taking a break for a season."

"I actually had nothing to do with this one," I assured him. "It was Forecast."

Stratos paused at the door. "Really?"

"Yup." I pushed the door open.

There were several troopers on the other side. They started to move as I entered, but I didn't see what happened after they recognized me.

In total and complete contrast to the anger and fear below, or the quiet resolution, the boys in the hall ahead were cheering.

"Told you we'd do it!" Shino's voice boomed.

Someone tackled him and shouted, "Easy peasy!"

"We get paid for that right?"

"They all had bounties!"

"That means we're eating big tonight!"

What the fuck? Confirmation.

"They've been like that since they arrived," one of the troopers mumbled in disbelief.

I glanced around and started. A few of the boys noticed me and started calling my name. I simply nodded and they kindly parted.

Making my way to Biscuit, I asked, "Where's Forecast?"

He smiled. "Oh. Um, that way." His eyes scanned the room around us. "Sorry. The guys are kind of relieved it all worked out. And it helps distract them from how unusual it is to be in a hospital like this."

I glanced around again. "So I see."

I started on my way, just trying to navigate around the celebrating boys. There were doctors and nurses about, drawing blood and talking to some of the kids.

Which reminded me, "Is Katz okay?"

sys.v/ Helix is treating him
sys.v/ I believe he will survive

I nodded.

I'd gotten Riley together enough to follow instructions after Veda unlocked my suit. It was too late for the other boy—I didn't even know his name—but Katz shit that was a loose end. Katz would tell Orga Riley was still alive. That I'd lied when I said Bonesaw—well, not lied. Riley was still alive though.

I'd need to deal with that.

I continued on down the hall past a pair of double doors and found Dinah sitting with her cousin. I blinked at first, a bit surprised to see Triumph at all. He'd been out of the spotlight for so long. My understanding was that the PRT intended to transfer him away.

But there he was, sitting with his much smaller cousin and whispering to her.

"Taylor's here," Dinah announced suddenly. His head jerked up and he stared.

I walked right up and slapped her across the cheek.

"Idiot!" I snapped. "What were you thinking?! Walking up to Jack Slash and Bonesaw and inviting them to tea?!"

Dinah took the blow in stride, almost like she expected it. She probably did to be fair. I'd done insane shit, but this took the cake. I might as well invite the Simurgh to my birthday party! Rejection. Sarcasm! Query?

"You could have been kill"—I glanced down, noticing the bandage around Dinah's thigh—"ed."

"I'd like to skip to the 'glad to be alive' hug now," Dinah stated, voice heavy.

I inhaled sharply. "Fine."

Triumph leaned away as my arms went around her. For all her apparent stoicness, Dinah was tense from head to toe. She only relaxed a few seconds after the hug started. I think she really needed it.

Dinah sighed. "Glad we worked that out."

Pulling back because there was nothing to do about it now, I took a quick stock of the room. Armsmaster was sitting in a chair being examined. He had a lot of bruises but otherwise looked okay. His gear lay on a cot next to the one he sat on. Guess he managed to throw some gear together fast—

"Mikazuki?" I asked.

"Hey."

He grimaced as a doctor pushed against his black and blue shoulder. There was an audible pop that I recognized. There had been damage to Barbatos' shoulder. Guess Mikazuki got a bit of the same treatment I did back in 0 Gundam.

He started flexing the bruised joint as soon as the doctor released him.

"Careful," the doctor warned. He loomed over the cot warily as Mikazuki sat up. "Is there any lingering pain?"

"Nothing I can't handle," he answered.

"Brute power?" one of the nearby troopers asked.

Mikazuki was completely straight-faced when he said, "No."

"Indifference to pain?"

"No."

I interjected, revealing, "He doesn't have powers."

The troopers and Stratos all looked at me like that was nonsense.

"I don't," Mikazuki confirmed.

"He doesn't," Armsmaster agreed.

The men kept staring. Did they really find it that hard to believe? Of course they found it that hard to believe. Capes had been getting humiliated, maimed, and killed fighting the Slaughterhouse Nine for years. Now we were telling them a bunch of kids with no powers beat them. More than that, that one kid with no powers killed two of them himself.

It ran completely counter to what people expected to… I glanced back at Dinah over my shoulder. She gave me a knowing look in return.

She knew exactly what she'd just done. Uncertainty. This wasn't just about stopping the Nine. She was making a point. Two birds, one stone... Fuck! Agreement.

Under my breath, I mumbled, "I've created a monster."

"Hm?" Mikazuki hummed.

Switching the subject, I asked, "You asked Trevor to build you a Gundam?"

"Yeah. His made more sense to me than yours, and the suit moves the way I want it to so I didn't have to learn any controls or anything."

Well, that made sense. With the Trace system working—Oh shit. That's why I couldn't get the Trace system to work on 00! My brain was out of whack! Confirmation. Whatever was happening to me, it was making my nervous system unreadable, but that could be solved simply by adjusting the system to pick me up. Agreement.

Mikazuki was staring at me curiously, and realizing I was still in a room full of people, I stuttered out a broken 'why?'

Mikazuki cocked his head. "I told you before. It's the only way I know how to live." He pushed himself off the cot and flexed his arm again, testing it. "The way things are now, I can't do anything without something like Barbatos."

"Barbatos?" Stratos asked.

"A second Gundam created by Chariot," Armsmaster answered. "Its abilities appear comparable to the Kimaris platform."

Mikazuki grabbed his coat from a chair and I noticed he was shirtless. And ripped like I'd never seen anyone before. Was Orga that muscled?

"He offered to make a bunch of stuff, but I wouldn't know how to use any of it." Mika put his coat on, rotating his shoulder as he did. "I'll make do. You don't need to stick yourself around here watching over us this way."

I blinked and stared at the short boy's back as he walked toward the doors.

Did he mean that to be reassuring? It was off, but it sounded like it was meant to be reassuring.

"He really doesn't have powers, does he?" Stratos asked in astonishment.

"He doesn't," I confirmed.

Stick someone like Mikazuki in a Gundam, and he hardly needed them. I looked at Dinah again. Her expression hadn't changed. She knew what she'd done, and exactly what came next.

I added it to the damn list.

Glancing around, I didn't see Trevor or Laf—Wait. Mika was hurt up here. "Where's Orga?"

Mika pushed the doors open and all the boys on the other side blasted out cheers and noise as they swarmed around him. Lafter slipped into the room as he passed, her mask pulled up over her eyes to expose her face. "Oh, hey how—" She paused, looking at me.

I cocked my brow. Did Veda say something?

Lafter grimaced and glanced around the room.

"Don't look at me," Aisha declared. She sat in a chair in the corner, phone in hand. "I'm not here."

"You turned your power off just to say that," Dinah accused.

"No I didn't!"

She turned her power off to deflect because shockingly, Aisha was capable of reading a room and recognizing when other people were uncomfortable. That was actually kind of selfless when you thought about it. Now, a bunch of eyes were on her and not on Lafter and me.

Lafter kept staring, like she was worried. Not like she was terrified though. So, Veda hadn't said anything yet.

Oh. "Where is she?"

Lafter scowled and bowed her head. "Trevor's with her. He's... He's taking it kind of hard."

He saw it happen.

I started toward Lafter and she turned to lead me. I heard some whispering behind me, and Dinah hopped off her seat and brought her helmet down over her head. Triumph got up. He looked worried but didn't try to follow. I sympathized with the resigned expression he wore.

The Tekkadan guys were still celebrating and a part of me felt bitter at that. Not in a cruel way, I thought. They'd done something great today. They'd probably end up in some history books for it, actually. Defeating the Nine was big. So big I needed to actively think about it to realize how big it was.

Part of me felt bitter though because I couldn't relish the outcome.

There was still Riley to figure out and Labyrinth couldn't hide Burnscar in her power forever. Those weren't secrets that would keep either. Eventually, people would realize I'd lied and two members of the Nine were still alive. The best bet either of them had was to go the same way Nyx did. Stay low, out of sight, and don't cause any trouble...

Except that was a fucking lie. Maybe that would work for Burnscar. Her issues controlling her power weren't unknown, but Riley? No one was going to forget Bonesaw and unlike Bakuda there were a lot of people across the continent eager not to forgive.

On top of that, there was the fallout of Dinah's plan.

Mobile suits were part of the future now. Pandora's box was open. To be fair, it probably opened the moment Trevor and I started, but Dinah made delay or denial impossible. We'd have to deal with it sooner rather than later.

Later.

Lafter led me back down to the first floor and then into a back area. Mu was there, with a few other troopers I knew. They wouldn't let us in. No one was allowed inside until a team arrived from Kansas City to look things over. There was a viewing area to the side for identifying bodies.

I saw Trevor first, sitting in a plastic chair and staring at the floor. Moving ahead of Lafter, I moved in next to him and sat down.

He chuckled grimly but didn't respond. That was fine. I didn't really know what to say either.

Lafter came up next to me, standing beside my seat awkwardly. She didn't know Mrs. Knott like we did, but it was nice of her to stick around. Dinah stood stiffly beside Lafter, turning her head back and forth watching the three of us.

"I'm okay," Trevor mumbled.

"I don't like that question," I admitted.

"What question?" Lafter asked.

"'Are you okay?'" Maybe I was overthinking it. "Feels like it makes not being okay a bad thing. I don't know." I turned my head, looking Trevor in the eye. "How're you doing?"

He blinked at me and despite the sad look in his eyes, he cracked a laugh.

Was that so bad? Uncertainty. "Not too bad then," I whispered.

He inhaled and looked ahead. "She... She was trying to tell them to leave. Saying that you wouldn't lie about something like that." He stared at the glass. "They wouldn't believe her."

There was a glass window in front of us. Guess it was a room they used for identifications? They had one of those walls with all the hatches on them. Three were open and three black body bags were inside.

Something about that felt heartless to me.

It made sense. No one knew what Bonesaw did. She could have cooked up anything. Securing the bodies and locking them inside sealed bags was just basic sense.

All the same, I wanted to see her one last time. "Was it... Did it hurt?"

Trevor shook his head. "Yeah. I think... It was the Slaughterhouse Nine."

Ah. "Dumb question."

"I couldn't do anything," he lamented.

"There was nothing you could do."

"It's my fault," Dinah spoke up. "I should have seen the right pattern."

"They attacked your power directly," I told her. "Throw enough at a screen and something will get through."

"I should have seen it," she insisted.

I looked Dinah in the eye. "You and Veda grabbed up twenty of the people the Nine grabbed and they're alive because of you. So are the people they would have been used to kill."

No matter how guilty she felt, this wasn't her fault. This was the price of a world where groups like the Nine could run free. People died. Good people. The people who didn't remotely deserve it.

"If anyone is responsible, it's me. I'm the one Jack wanted to hurt. Mrs. Knott was only a target because of me."

And now I was protecting the girl that killed her. That was going to get emotionally complex. Especially now that everything felt so...raw.

I blinked, rising up from the chair and stepping up to the window.

Strange. It did feel more raw. Like a cloud had been lifted.

It was subtle, but when I raised my hand my fingers weren't shaking. Something was shaking though. I felt it. The anxious energy of uncertainty and motion, wanting to do something but having no idea what to do.

My eyes drifted over the reflection in the window and slowly settled on Trevor as they widened. His foot was tapping silently on the floor.

"Um, Taylor?" Lafter glanced at Dinah and Trevor.

"Sorry. I was thinking about—" I felt them. I felt them.

"Your eyes are glowing."

My eyes weren't glowing. They were shimmering with streaks of gold, green, and red.

And I still felt them.

All of them. Focusing on Lafter's reflection, I saw all the bitter cold and disappointment that filled her, and I could see that tiny glimmer that kept her spark alive. The light she clung to because she didn't want to be in the dark again. She'd rather–

"Is that..." Lafter grimaced. "Are you okay?"

"Don't like that question," I deflected.

Dinah walking over to my side drew my attention to her. Afraid. Guilty that she hadn't done better. Worried it was all for nothing.

So very much like me, I realized. More than anyone else, Dinah was like me.

There was also a very bizarre whirlwind of smug satisfaction masking uncertain fear and—

I looked past Dinah, staring at a blank spot on the floor.

Aisha popped up, staring back at me. "I fucking told you something was wrong!"

...

This is you, isn't it?

I focused on the presence near the center. The one that wasn't any of us. No, there were others. I felt them like shadows behind Trevor, Lafter, Dinah, and Aisha. I could see my own shadow clearly though.

She was there, finally.

Confirmation.

Dinah took my hand in hers and squeezed. "How're you doing?"

I cracked a smile because apparently, things had reached a point where I had no clue what was going on. "Don't know."

"Something happened with Bonesaw," Dinah whispered.

"It's complicated. We can talk about it when we get back to the workshop." Not here. There were a few guards in sight and I'd bet surveillance. Which meant someone might have seen my eyes glowing. Shit sandwich. "It's going to change things."

Ha!

My ability to see into my friends' heads and feel what they were feeling would change things. Understatement of the fucking year.

I needed to talk to Stella again. This was what the kids could do. Quantum brainwaves. Stella said everyone had them, and I was guessing the Shards had tapped into that to connect to parahumans. So did this only work on parahumans?

"Could you guys leave me be for a bit? I can't deal with this right now."

"Is that a good idea?" Lafter questioned.

"It's alright," I assured her. "Just can't go back up there while my eyes are doing this." They were hesitant, but the longer they stayed the stronger their worry became and the more I felt it. "Please."

This was why they needed the drugs. Cranial wasn't trying to brainwash the kids. She was suppressing their emotions. They felt everything the others felt. That's how it started, at least, I think. At some point, as her sanity declined, what started as an attempt to help control the damage she was doing became something dark.

Did Lalah keep them in the Firmament for that reason? Once they ran out of the drugs, this—whatever it was—would come back. Would it only work on capes or on everyone? Why hadn't I felt it before...

I looked ahead. I didn't know which bag was Mrs. Knott, but she was there.

My eyes did stop eventually. So did my sense of what Trevor, Lafter, and Dinah were feeling. "I know you're still there."

Aisha's reflection appeared beside mine on the window. "Worst power ever."

"I was guessing," I lied.

"Cheapskate."

"Thanks for worrying." I licked my lip and hesitantly added, "You're a good person, Aisha, even if you like doing things your own way."

She scoffed and glanced away.

"Know the weird part?" I asked. "My head is killing me, and I barely feel it." Easily the worst headache I'd had in months. Somehow though, it felt incredibly distant. Like it was someone else's headache and I was just feeling it. "I think I'm going to need a doctor."

"Like..." Aisha looked left and right. "Like right now?"

"No." There was really only one option. "Can you go find Armsmaster?"

"He's going by Defiant now."

Huh. Yeah, that fit. "Could you get him please? The Foundation should have the equipment we need." The five of them and Armsmast—Defiant, were the people I could trust to help me with this.

"Okay." Aisha vanished again but somehow I still knew she was there. Huh. That might come in handy. Not against Aisha specifically, but if this made me aware of strangers...

"Taylor?" Veda asked in my earpiece. "I am concerned."

"Me too," I admitted. "I'm going to finish up here and head back." I needed to talk to Kati about PR, check-in with Dad, deal with Riley and somehow Burnscar.

I looked into the morgue room one last time.

In my reflection, I was smiling. That was kind of fucked up unless it wasn't.

"You were right," I told her. Not that she could hear me.

I didn't know what else to say to her.

It was true though. I knew it now. The cloud was gone. All the doubt and the uncertainty. The questions that plagued me.

I knew my answer now. It wasn't any one thing or grand revelation. It was a lot of things. A lot of moments all catalyzed into this. This feeling of the entire world moving around me.

A feeling that expanded as I focused on it.

The self-doubts and the worry I recognized in Hannah's soul, and the steel beneath it. The veiled rage I never thought I'd find simmering under someone as kind as Stratos. Colossus wasn't even an idiot. He was just unflinchingly honest.

And it wasn't just the capes.

Ever so vaguely, I felt the others too. I felt their fear and their anger. Their worries and their hopes. Not in a way that let me pin any of them down. Only those with an active connection to a Shard stood out to me. Even they seemed so fragile and small.

I closed my eyes and stepped away from that feeling.

This is the answer.

…

Agreement.

"Goodbye, Mrs. Knott."

The way back upstairs was easy to find.

I could still hear Tekkadan celebrating as I ascended the steps. Lafter and Trevor were talking to Stratos and Dinah were talking to Defiant. He'd put his armor back on. Aisha was there too, arms crossed and masked face cast down. He noticed me and the look of worry on his face was clear.

I nodded to him and started to cross the room.

My feet stopped.

Sweeping all the faces, I could place just about everyone. Mikazuki was talking to Commander Noa, no doubt confirming yet again that he didn't have powers. Biscuit and Shino were leading some kind of song in a language I didn't understand.

He wasn't there.

Where the fuck was Orga?

Stepping back out of the room, I glanced left and right. Narrowing my gaze, I followed the signs pointing toward roof access.

Veda said he'd rushed Mikazuki to the hospital, but Mika's only injury was a dislocated shoulder. He was hurt yeah, but that wasn't anything to bum-rush him to a hospital for. Not while the rest of Tekkadan was still in the field after fighting the Slaughterhouse Nine. That wasn't right.

Going up another flight of stairs I pushed the door open. The roof was like any other roof. Cigarette butts off to one side where staff took smoke breaks. A shed across to one side with electric signs on it. AC units and other machines.

Closing the door quietly behind me, I scanned the roof and picked the place I'd go.

My feet padded over toward a set of tall AC units. They put out a lot of noise. It got louder the closer I came.

I stopped at the corner and considered turning around.

I inhaled and shook my head. I knew someone was there and it could only be him. "Orga."

No answer.

"Mikazuki's okay," I told him. "Dislocated shoulder. Kind of sucks while it hurts but I got over it pretty good. He's okay. Probably more annoyed that people keep asking what his power is."

Still nothing but... Yeah. Pretty sure he was there.

"Katz is okay. Or, he's going to be okay. Veda and I found him and he's in Toronto right now. I guess I'll have to go into more detail on that. Another time."

I glanced back, feeling like I'd worn out any welcome I might have had.

"I'm sorry about…" I bowed my head. "And I don't know his name. Sorry. I'll get his body back as soon as I can so you guys can do anything you need to do."

Turning on my heel I started back toward the door.

"Wait."

I stopped.

"His name was Ban."

Ban. Right. I'd seen him around. "I'm sorry."

"Katz is alright?"

Stepping back, I came around the corner enough to see him. Orga sat on the ground, back against one of the AC units. He held his forehead with one hand, and the other hung over his knee. His face was red, and if I had to guess it wasn't all embarrassment.

"He will be. We found him alive and he's with a tinker right now. Someone from the Guild."

"And Ban… He knew..."

Orga trailed off and after a moment's hesitation, I stepped between the AC units and crouched down.

Folding my arms into my lap, I avoided looking directly at him. "Need a minute?"

"Sorry." He grimaced, which was about all I could see. "I thought I was used to this."

How many had he lost before Ban? He was far from the first, I knew that much. "Do you want to be used to it?"

His grimace twisted into a grin and he laughed. "They weren't supposed to do that. It wasn't the plan."

My lips parted involuntarily. "It was supposed to be you."

"Just one push. Shove her through the door and..."

I smiled solemnly. "That was their choice to make."

"Idiots got themselves k..." His voice cracked. "And Mika..."

Tentatively, I reached out, placing a hand over his arm. My other hand rose and removed my visor. Orga might decide later he'd been foolish. I sort of felt that way about my little breakdown cry. I knew at the moment though that the last thing he wanted was knowledge of Veda's front-row seat.

There were a lot of things I could say, but personal experience said it wasn't anything he wanted to hear. Sometimes, you just have to let things out and you're not looking for anyone's advice or judgments. A little understanding might be nice though.

"Need a minute?" I offered.

Orga pressed his chin to his chest and gave an almost imperceptible nod.

"Okay." I settled myself down and scooted toward him. My shoulder touched his, just as a reminder that he wasn't alone. That someone understood. "Take a minute."