A Waken 17.11

The video wasn't long.

Fifteen seconds.

Azrael walked through a crowd, shook some hands, said a few words, and then a man pressed a gun to his head and fired. A half dozen guns come out in the blink of an eye and the shooter hits the ground just moments after Azrael. Along with three more people the idiots apparently weren't paying attention to.

So much for time to think. Houston was already a riot.

Something was wrong with that. I didn't know what. It seemed perfect for David…but there was just something.

Eidolon II.

Hero told me once she was powerful enough to basically freeze things in place with a strong enough charge. I'd seen her do it in Boston. Her charge would be high now…

That riot wasn't going to last.

The Protectorate would call her back and have her freeze the entire thing. Plenty of time to separate the crowds… Which meant this wasn't Teacher's doing?

Restriction.

I tilted my head, squinting at the pain.

My eyes were glowing.

I'd started to grow used to it. It was like wearing glasses really. It was part of living. I rarely thought about it anymore except when attention was called to it. I felt it now though, like screwdrivers in my cornea. Something was happening. Something new. I could feel her arguing. It wasn't like shouting, though it might as well be.

The Shards were fighting.

You want to say it.

Restriction.

Hint?

Restriction.

She thought it with urgency as if it was something she wanted me to know.

"Everyone needs to be on guard," I warned. "Teacher won't come out yet. He'll wait for things to be at their worst and he'll know when that is because it'll probably be his fault."

"I am uncertain we should become involved in riot suppression," Colin replied. "Dealing with Phantom Pain is one thing, but riots become—"

"It's complicated, I know." With a deep breath, I said, "I'm not saying make anyone do anything they don't want to do, but we have shakers. What is the PRT going to do in Brockton Bay?"

"Use Vista and Labyrinth to block all access to the building," Faultline replied.

"Exactly," I said. "Get Tombstone, Auroch, Grue, Gregor. Anyone with a power that can block access. There can't be a fight if people can't reach each other. Keep the crowds separated and we need to watch out for when Phantom Pain or whoever else makes their move."

"We don't have enough capes with appropriate powers," Colin noted.

"We do what we can," I insisted.

Look for it. What were the pieces? Two different assassination plots. Azrael's death was too conveniently timed. The Special Zone. There was a pattern in there somewhere. Would be nice if my intuition power worked on demand. Administrator was distracted, arguing still. Was that part of this? Fuck. Had to be.

What was happening in Shard space now of all times?

A flash of light behind me broke me from my puzzling. Stargazer appeared behind 00, between Kyrios and Dynames.

"I'm afraid we lack time for me to explain," she warned. "One moment."

Stargazer teleported again and Lily was gone.

"Veda?" I asked.

"I am taking Dynames to New York. Phantom Pain is positioning snipers in obscure locations."

"What about—"

Stargazer returned. Apparently, she'd really managed to get the spin-up time way down. She took Lafter next, leaving me alone as I flew south in the general direction of Brockton Bay.

The world was too big.

"It's up to you, then," I said, turning my head forward. "Make all the deployment decisions as you see fit, Veda."

She'd be able to react to everything far faster than the rest of us.

"I will," she replied.

Stargazer reappeared and then flashed.

00 dropped as I cut the thrust. The suit fell, streaking through some low-hanging clouds. I scanned the city below. An old one with curving streets. I spotted the problem quickly.

Swinging 00's legs around, I shot down toward a highway overpass that spanned the city.

I didn't know how it started. A high-speed chase gone wrong maybe from how many cars had crashed into the side rails. At the moment I didn't care. There were four SUVs straddling the middle of the road. One was flipped on its side and the other was on fire. Men in Army surplus were trading gunfire with police.

"How did they manage to make this much of a mess? It's barely been any time at all."

"Look again," Veda clarified.

Aga—Oh shit.

I looked south noticing the crowd behind the police. They weren't running. They'd gathered up and started a fucking brawl in the middle of a traffic jam with a firefight in the middle of the road!

I dropped, flying over the parking lot the highway had become, and crashed into one of the SUVs.

The concussion of the blow threw two of the gunmen to the ground. A third spun around just in time for my sword to catch him in the side and launch him toward the cops. Bullets pattered against my armor and I spun around and fired GN beams from both swords. One shooter ducked fast. The other two didn't. They dropped limp and the last man standing tried to stay low as he moved.

Leaping off the SUV I slammed a foot into another one of the vehicles, knocking it aside and leaving the gunman exposed. He turned on me but I swept his legs and let him hit the ground hard.

Firefight resolved.

Turning to the nearest cop I shouted, "Brawl!"

He turned around, apparently too busy with being shot at to notice before. There were about a dozen people actively throwing punches or hitting each other. A dozen more were trying to break it up or help people out of their cars. At least one had a Blue Cosmos shirt on. Did he hear about Azrael over the radio and decide 'gee, let's go fight these cops?'

I didn't have time to ask. Veda highlighted direction and distance. I took off, flying away from the highway and hoping the police could resolve the mess now that they weren't being shot at.

"I want Tattletale."

"She is not available," Veda revealed. "I can relay her thoughts, however."

Because she knew I'd go looking for her and I was glad my thinker power was nowhere near as annoying.

I arced over a sleepy suburban hill and entered what looked like a historic downtown. Older buildings with lots of rebuilt or redone parts. Wood to brick. Brick to glass. There was a building near the center where several columned buildings presided over grassy courts.

The PRT building was on fire. Not a big fire, but definitely on fire. Troopers were rushing a sparse but spread-out crowd, foaming people down while a few capes seemed to be trying to get the situation under control. The crowds ahead of the building were in chaos. Most people were trying to get away. A very small number were trying to go forward. An even smaller number were actively fighting with some police.

"Tell me."

"She believes that someone else is manipulating events," Veda explained. "There are agitators appearing who behave erratically."

"Erratically how?"

"Their reactions are extreme. Sudden outbursts. Rambling. Aggression, often aimless. Several of the assassins that have been foiled were simply walking toward their targets with no apparent plan or attempt at subterfuge."

That sounded disturbingly familiar.

The riot grew closer and I brought both swords forward. Taking quick aim, I picked out the best targets and fired.

I didn't aim for anyone. I shot between them. Screams preceded the scramble as I kept firing. One of the capes on the ground turned in my direction, seemingly ready to throw a punch. He stopped when he saw it was me.

"We both know who that is," I whispered.

"We both suspect who it is," Veda corrected.

That damn bitch. "We need to figure out what she's after. Was she behind Azrael's death?" I darted left as someone drew a gun and pointed it my way. Aiming around the people trying to get away from him, I fired and struck his hand. "I'm pretty sure that was meant to ruin David's plan."

"Eidolon II has already returned to the city," Veda agreed.

"And she's going to handle that mess. He won't be able to just show up there and save the day. So what's the Simurgh trying to do by foiling David's obvious move?"

I darted again, this time landing with a slide and firing another volley.

Successive barrages had forced the crowds apart. I'd driven them into two sides and one was turning its attention to glaring and backing away from me. A few people still—for some reason—tried to pull guns but I shot each of them and then fired on anyone who tried to get the gun.

What were peopl—

"Newtype?" I turned, finding a young guy—college-age—huddled behind me. "What do we do?"

We? Who wa—Londo Bell.

My eyes darted back and forth as it came together. Londo Bell and Blue Cosmos had both been here. When Blue Cosmos reacted to the news about Azrael, it turned into chaos. Was that happening everywhere? We neede—

I paused again, thinking.

Fuck the Simurgh. It was an endless circle trying to figure out what she did or didn't want. I already knew that so fuck her.

"Get all your people together," I told him. "I'll cover you as long as I can. You need to decide if you're getting out of here or staying."

The boy flinched. "Staying?"

"Your choice," I told him softly. "There's no shame in going. It's dangerous and it's going to get worse. If you want to take a stand though, I'll cover you. Maybe a big crowd will make Blue Cosmos think twice. Maybe it won't. I don't know. You have to decide for yourselves."

He hesitated for a moment and then scrambled off the ground. To my left the PRT troopers and capes were surging in, forcing back much of the crowd I'd managed to separate. That wouldn't last though. More than likely the presence of capes and PRT would draw more responses.

If the police could get through the crowd and get a barricade set back up though, and with me backing them, we could keep things from developing into fights. I could see more people gathering in the distance. The angrier part of the mob would come back.

There was a flash behind me.

No Stargazer this time. This time Strider appeared, teleporting into an open space with four Tierens.

"Veda?"

"I'm sorry," she said. "I will use the Tierens to support in your stead."

I looked past Strider. Veda must have hired him on short notice. We'd discussed the possibility of doing that before if we ever desperately needed more movers.

The boy I'd spoken with was on the courthouse steps. One group was leaving, using a corridor cleared by police who wanted the area cleared. Another group was staying, gathering at the steps and standing opposite a growing crowd I'd separated from them. The courtyard between the two groups looked like a sand trap from how badly I'd shot it up to drive people apart.

Strider came toward me calmly. "One trip to Detroit," he said. "That's what Stargazer told me."

Right.

The Tierens whirled into action and took position between the courthouse and the crowds I'd forced back.

They all carried rifles fitted with the burst rounds we'd made. Non-ideal. I didn't want to get dragged into riot suppression, but I couldn't let every city become a warzone either. People would die if we just let chaos burst out all over the place, especially when we didn't know what Phantom Pain, David, or the Simurgh would do with this mess.

I didn't want to leave but I shouldn't have said I could stay. That was shortsighted. Maybe a lot of things ultimately were rather shortsighted on my part.

"Ready," I confirmed.

Strider nodded and we vanished into a weird sort of blank space for a fraction of a second.

Query?

Administrator?

Before I could investigate further, we'd reappeared. Strider swayed and mumbled under his breath.

"Did you hear something?" he asked.

I stared ahead, wishing I had time to figure out what the hell that just was. "No," I lied. "Should I have?"

Strider shook his head. "Must be stress. I was in the middle of sleeping."

"Sorry."

"Eh, I'm like the postman. Neither snow, nor rain, nor Endbringers, et cetera et cetera. I should go."

"Thank you."

"Job's a job."

He flashed away and I got back to work. I took off, spinning about as I rose.

Just when I thought people were dumb enough.

I dove and decelerated rapidly. I didn't know or care how the brawl started. Two capes were having a fucking punch out in the middle of a riot and that was not going to fly.

Fixing both swords to 00's waist I swung my hands down and caught both capes in the collar. I pulled up hard, using the blowback from the thrusters to knock the larger fighting between the police and the mob apart. Hopefully, that kept the two lines from escalating until I got the children with superpowers under control.

The two capes flailed as I lifted them off one another. One, a woman in a silver and white costume, turned a fist toward me and stopped mid-punch.

"Newtype?"

Veda put the names on my visor. "Silver Crane." That sounded familiar. "And Vidane?" Sounded like he just made up a word.

"What are you doing?" Vidane snapped.

His power was a basic brute power and didn't come with enhanced strength. There wasn't much he could do until I set him down. At the moment I preferred to dangle them over the air. Silver Crane's power was more problematic.

"What are the two of you doing?"

"What?" Crane asked. "I was protecting the protesters!"

"They're rioters!" Vidane snapped, "And you weren't protecting them, you were attacking the police!"

"The police attacked the protesters withou—!"

"Shut up," I said cooly. Now that the capes were out of the way, the rioters and the police were clashing in full. Pretty soon the cops would lose patience or someone would do something Simurgh inspired. "There's no time for this. Help me break up the brawl before people get hurt."

Vidane pointed and flailed causing 00 to sway in the air. "She—"

"I don't care!" I snapped. "Look at that." I shook them both over the crowd below. "How long before that explodes? How many people get hurt, on both sides. This isn't the night for this!"

I spun around, forcing them to look at the crowd rather than each other.

"Why did you put those masks on?!"

Silver Crane and Vidane were both well-known independents in Detroit. When I lowered and let them drop, they both went right to someone I assumed they knew. Crane managed to shove her way through the protesting mob and Vidane simply walked into the police line.

I found a good spot and simply slammed 00 into the ground. It shook the street and rattled everyone but it broke up the fighting for a moment. Swinging both swords out, I managed to separate the two sides in the center and neither seemed to want to press me. Crane—oh, the Harmonious. I thought I felt something weird from her—and Vidane talked to people who apparently had sway. Those people started shouting and they both came back to join me in the center.

A few punches and batons kept swinging but between the three of us, we managed to create a no-man's land of five feet. Crane went to shouting at the protesters to keep a distance and Vidane shored up the police. At that point, I was more worried about how jumpy the cops looked. The protesters, while some gave us capes mean looks, seemed willing to simply shout from their positions.

Were Blue Cosmos and Londo Bell just mixed up in this city? They weren't dividing themselves like they had in wherever I'd been when Strider came.

Another mystery I didn't have time to figure out.

Stargazer teleported into the air, two Tierens dropped onto the ground.

"How bad is it getting?" I asked.

"Do not focus on that," she said. "Everyone is doing their best. The shakers we have are diffusing several situations simply by obstruction. The Protectorate and PRT is not backing down as much as I'd feared."

And yet we didn't even have time to spare.

"The Gundams," Veda continued, "are unique in this situation. One properly employed is enough to handle many incidents. You must remain moving. I will bring others in behind you as we deal with problems."

"I know."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"Nor is it yours." Stargazer teleported away, taking me and 00 with it. "This fire was set long ago."

I didn't really care about that.

I dropped from the sky again, following Veda's markers. Slamming through a wall into an office building, I pulled a beam saber from 00's waist. The men in the room turned and aimed their guns but the bullets meant nothing. They pinged off my armor as I set the saber to overcharge and dropped it.

"Run," I told them.

Swinging the GN Drives forward, I fired them full burst. It threw the gunmen back and away from their vans loaded with ammo, and me back out the way I came. A moment later, the saber detonated and the ammunition went up with it.

Flying down the alley, I flipped 00 in the air and spun back around as I tore down the street. Making a sharp—and painful—turn, I came out into a crossroad where there was once again a group of Phantom Pain fighting with police while mobs raged around them.

This was all definitely happening too fast.

Either David or the Simu—No, Tattletale said two. They were both at work here, but I wasn't getting enough to think it through. Was anyone? If we were all scrambling to put out fires how were we going to catch the firestarters?

Flying down the street, I dropped one foot onto the hood of a patrol car. The vehicle flipped and I used it as a bat to slam the Phantom Pain cape into the air. The vehicle shattered from the swing, pieces flying everywhere. The cape went head over heels above the street and with a quick burst of speed, I zipped ahead, caught him, and broke his collarbone.

With my other hand, I drew a longsword and began firing down the length of the blade. The Phantom Pain members dropped one by one and the police rushed in. The cape I held out.

"Door please, Block H."

The portal opened and I dropped him inside.

That's why Veda got Strider, so we wouldn't overtax Claire and Doormaker. We didn't have the time to play around securing prisoners right now. Dropping them in the Birdcage and sorting them out later was easiest.

At least now I knew what city I was in. I'd been on this street before. Had a lot more water last time, though.

Boston.

I didn't stay long.

We were putting out fires everywhere, and it was constant.

There was barely time to breathe, let alone think.

I separated crowds from police lines. Pulled police out of crowds. Once I had to turn on the police and threaten them because they wouldn't stop trying to rush a crowd that had already backed off.

Restriction.

I know you're trying to tell me something.

00 crashed into the ground, barely able to cut the falling car in half. The vehicle was empty when it fell off the bridge, but there were people on the road below. The debris still hit some of them but the big pieces missed and the injuries were minor. Thanks to Veda telling me where to cut and when. I managed to shield the one person who would have been crushed and shoved the back end of the car away.

What is it? Who are you arguing with?

Restriction.

It was network-related. Had to be. She could tell me if it was anything else. What was the Simurgh doing that it was causing waves in the network?

I flew through one of Doormaker's portals and found Lafter on the other side. A riot had spilled over into gang territory and there was a fucking fight between the gang and the rioters. Some of them. Rioters really wasn't the right word when the crowds were so mixed.

People running. People caught up in the madness. People drawing guns to protect themselves or to shoot at people for no damned reason.

I grabbed that guy by the hand and squeezed until he let go. He proceeded to scream gibberish and foam at the mouth like he had rabies.

"Is this what Tattletale was talking about?" I asked.

"Yes," Veda confirmed. "His name is Henry Collins. He was present in Madison in 2009."

Like bombs the Simurgh let run loose. With what? Hypnotic suggestions? Did she set them up to completely lose it with wild PTSD or something?

No time.

I yanked the man behind me, shielding him as a tear gas canister hit the ground.

"Everyone back!" I pleaded. "Get back!"

Lafter lifted off further up the road, letting the police storm through in full riot gear with armored vehicles behind them. Carrying the crazy guy off, I caught sight of a church burning in an inferno a block over. Fucking why?!

We needed to get ahead of it somehow. "Any sign of David?"

"Not yet," Veda answered. "Defiant is taking lead on those looking for any sign of him. We have noticed a few capes who are working together in a few locations."

Groundwork maybe?

I dropped the crazy guy on a roof and when he proceeded to just thrash about I shot him with a high-powered beam. He went still and I told Veda to let the paramedics know where he was. The guy seemed completely out of his mind.

The Simurgh can do this?

I looked out from the building. The church was still burning. So were a lot of other buildings.

She could do all of this?

Restriction.

I know you're frustrated! I am too! I can't tell what you mean!

Her swirling frustration continued. I just didn't have time to figure it out. Lafter didn't even come over to me. She started to but Kyrios' head turned and she zipped off. No doubt Veda was pointing her elsewhere. Another portal opened beside me and I grimaced as I flew through.

The Registration Act was tearing the EU apart, and now a bunch of capes declared their own nation in the US. Those were calculated moves, but blunt and obvious ones. Those were David. Then Azrael died, drawing Eidolon II back to Houston. Was that the Simurgh? The agitators and the random crazies were… Though, now that I thought about it I didn't feel anything from them like I did with Pets.

Did the Simurgh's power not work like David's, or was it simply not something I could expect to feel?

I didn't know.

It was all chaos.

Pure chaos.

..

Pure chaos.

Restriction.

My eyes widened. That's what all the fighting and arguing she was doing was about.

Restriction.

And she still, somehow, found a way to tell me yes. Pure chaos. That was what the Simurgh wanted, but to what end? I'd seen how she used chaos before. With Dragon she'd been trying to kill me, on top of Dragon and Veda. That one had been smart. Even if I survived my first encounter with the Nine, that put me on Jack's radar.

She'd set me up to die… And right now we were spread out trying to control the mess being made. We were vulnerable. Did she want to encourage David to make a different move?

That made sense to me but it didn't explain QA's argument.

Restriction.

Right. The other time I'd seen her do this, she was trying to screw David over, not me. She'd set Noelle up—Noelle.

On the other side of the portal, I immediately swung a sword and let energy weave out from the blade. The rolling wave of particles crashed into the street first and then washed over the front row of the mob. They were Blue Cosmos, that was obvious. So were the Phantom Pain guys directing them forward.

They were surrounding—or attempting to—a police station.

We'd sent some of the Irregulars to Baltimore not that long ago. They'd helped arrest a bunch of Phantom Pain. Were the rioters trying to free them?

I was about to dive in, taking note of PRT and Wards present at the scene.

A portal opened.

"I'm sorry," Veda said. "A situation has changed."

I flew through the portal and called for Tattletale as I did.

I flipped over on the other side of the doorway and swung a sword through the street. The dust and debris I kicked up obscured the road while I glanced about.

"Connected," Veda informed me.

"Hartford," I said. Turning, my eyes widened at the scene.

"Hartford?" Tattletale asked back. A moment later she cursed. "All this shit is just noise."

"She's trying to make people trigger," I charged.

"You're right. It's the same shit she did with the Travelers."

"Not the same shit." I rose into the sky. "She's going to make it happen everywhere."

I was in Chicago.

Tecton's hands were on the ground, earthen walls shooting up from the street while Raymancer and Mockshow covered him. Around them were PRT Troopers and some police evacuating people from the square. The street itself was a massive brawl. I couldn't even tell what the sides were. People were just fighting. Running. Police were scrambling to try and contain them.

That was bad, but why did Veda switch me over—

"Newtype," Tattletale said. Her voice was oddly calm. "Keep doing what you're doing. David hasn't shown his face yet, which means something didn't go to plan."

"We need to put an end to this!" I snapped.

"We have a plan," Tattletale replied. "Gotta go. Just hang in there a bit longer."

If only it were so easy.

We couldn't keep putting fires out this way. It wasn't going to work.

Behind me, the PRT and the Wards were still evacuating a crowd from a building. There must have been some kind of event going on when everything happened. People were pouring out the building behind me—a stadium—in hordes.

Out in front, it was absolute madness. People throwing punches. Cops trying to pull people apart. An ambulance was being tipped. The Wards and the troopers were focused on evacuating people but the police had no line. Their barricades were further up the street, overturned and overrun.

There were children in all of it. Mothers and fathers protecting kids swept up in a field of chaos that seemed to span three blocks in two directions.

Some people were engaging in a firefight with the police.

I dived into the fray.

The street exploded from my landing. It broke up some of the brawling and drew attention my way. When the dust cleared, I'd drawn both my swords and started firing. It wasn't going to work. I knew it wouldn't.

There were too many people and there were no clear lines. Before I'd had clear lines giving me a chance to split people up. I couldn't see how this fight had started. It looked like people just started punching and it all spread from there. I focused on the brawls. The packs of people caught up in fighting one another.

I shot the ground first and when that didn't work I shot the arms. Can't fight if your arms are too numb to lift.

Someone threw a bottle at me. Why was it always a bottle?

Prediction.

I turned, finding a woman a few feet away. She staggered back when I looked at her and stumbled. There was anger on her face, but it was more than that. She was confused, like she hadn't realized she was throwing anything at a machine that towered over her.

She was afraid.

They all were.

It hit me. Maybe I was tired or desperate. Maybe I'd finally had enough.

There were no villains here. No Phantom Pain. No capes. No idiots, as easy an answer as I usually found human foolishness to be.

It was just people.

People who were afraid. People with rightful anger. People caught up in the storm. A lot of them weren't even fighting really. They were just defending themselves in a mess, or trying to break fights up. Others were just trying to escape. Like dominoes. Knock one over in just the right way, and it all fell down.

The woman stumbled back again, and to her right a man was thrown back while trying to pull a fight apart.

I swung a sword up, catching him before he crashed into the woman. His back landed on the flat of the blade and I pushed him upright. He turned, glancing at me and blinking in surprise.

And I did something I doubted Newtype could ever do. It wasn't who I made her to be. Newtype never begged.

"Please," I pleaded. "Just stop."

It needed to stop.

We needed to get some kind of control going. Enough that we could organize. A dozen capes weren't enough to handle a broken trigger gone wild. Some might be relatively bloodless like Aisha's had been, but others would be like Chloe's in Hartford. Dozens would die.

And that was just here. This same scene was repeating itself all over and escalating.

Grace was waving at me from just behind Tecton's wall. The fortification had expanded since I arrived. I couldn't tell by the motion but she wasn't trying to draw me over. Rather, what I felt was reassurement and relief from that direction. The people in the venue would be safe soon.

That just left the people outside in this massive mess.

The woman who threw the battle fell back, hitting the ground hard. The man I'd kept from tumbling into her backed away. Maybe I could pull this off a different way. This mess started with the first punch thrown and spiraled from there.

If I broke people out of the moment for just a second, they mi—

"Gun!"

I didn't know which officer said it. There were a dozen scattered about. I did see the man twenty feet to my left reaching for his belt and glaring at me. I blinked, staring and—the woman and my sword.

He thought I intended to attack her.

"No."

He drew his gun—why on earth would he think that would help?—but he didn't fire first.

All around, the police were dropping pretenses of riot control. They drew weapons, called into radios, and started pointing. The man dropped to the ground, clutching his leg before even raising his weapon.

No.

"All guns on the ground now!" I turned, pointing my swords in different directions.

When I didn't get the response I wanted, I fired. I didn't care who. Police. Bystanders. Aggressors. Protectors. The shootout had to stop before it began or bullets would fly everywhere. I could already hear an uproar in the distance in response to the first shot.

It wasn't the right choice, but the right choice wasn't available to me. How many times had that happened? Compromise after compromise. Shitty choice after shitty choice because lives were at stake and the 'right' choice didn't save them.

I kept shooting, lifting off into the air to give myself a better angle. The Wards had finished their wall, cutting the riot off from the evacuation. Then I just needed to end the gunfight before i—

I gasped as something tore through my connection to Administrator.

Not yet. "Veda?" She was slow to respond. Maybe wondering how I knew, but I knew. I could feel it. It was close. "Where is it?"

"St. Claire," she answered. "I am assessing."

A broken trigger. In this mess—all of this mess—it could very well lead to a second and a third. Like dominoes.

We had to group and get response teams together who could contain the triggers before that happened. I—

A gunshot rang out and I snapped back to the present yet again.

Another shot followed and I turned my swords to see the OK Corral repeat itself as three police officers and five men off to the side started shooting at one another. At least three of them had shit aim because they missed and hit bystanders.

Darting to the side, the wind whipped around me as I threw myself between the battle. I swung for legs and shoulders, snapping bones and stepping on the guns where I could. One of the cops shot me and I turned on him. He seemed to realize what the fuck was going on then and dropped his gun.

Another cop ran over, a woman in a uniform with sergeant stripes. She started shouting and pointing away from me and toward the crowd. I turned away to let her handle that.

It came again.

Another whatever it was.

Another broken trigger had happened.

More gunshots further down the street. Had everyone decided it was the wild west while I wa—Stupid question. Of course it was the wild west. This was what happened when it all fell apart. People took things into their own hands because they didn't give up so easily.

They tried to find control, even while stumbling in the dark.

I took off back in the air. The police sergeant had gotten her people into line and they were switching gears from shooting to directing. The side roads were crowded but mostly going away from the fighting.

"Veda."

"We ar—"

"I don't know what to do."

Did we pull back to deal with the broken triggers? They'd ravage if we left them unchecked. How many would die? Maybe the same number as if we left the riots to break out and grow uncontrolled. David and the Simurgh didn't even matter anymore. What point was there in stopping them if the world descended into a bloodbath?

I flew down the street and slammed into a car. The family inside were trapped by the vehicles on either side. People were actually driving toward the fight to join it now.

"I don't know what to do…"

Did I make a mistake? I didn't even have time to think about that. Maybe it was worse because I'd focused on the wrong things. Maybe it wasn't as bad as it could be because we'd already gutted Phantom Pain and left it a hollow husk.

But even a husk could kill.

We hadn't done enough.

At first I thought I was just seeing things pass in slow motion. That had happened before. Then they kept getting slower and slower. And then everything froze.

Not metaphorically.

Literally.

It was like time had stopped. All around me, people were locked in place. Mid-step. Mid-punch. Mid-shot. Their eyes were still moving. Time wasn't frozen, they were.

So was I.

I couldn't even blink. It was like I'd been completely locked in place and why was there no consistency on which powers were and weren't working on me?

Complication.

Testing, I raised 00's arm. The Trace system still worked. What was—

"Oh, good. I'd worried about locking you in place but I couldn't let the fight continue like that."

It's a good thing I could still breathe.

I inhaled at that voice. I'd done my research. I hunted down a horde of old videos and recordings. Hero and Legend had always been the public faces of the early Protectorate, but he'd been there too. He spoke with a weight that I even found familiar.

Like the entire world was on his shoulders.

I pulled 00 up and turned about to face him.

The man wore a simple costume. White with lines of green and a broad cape that cloaked his shoulders. His mask was plain and featureless. I assumed he could simply see through it. The similarity to his original costume was clear as day though.

Eidolon.

00's hands gripped at the swords as I stared at him and my blood boiled over.

The dozen other capes around him held me back from acting. I recognized a few. Damocles stood out.

Who was the person with the freezing power? Was that him, or one of the other capes around him. Shit, I was surrounded by a dozen capes. A dozen capes led by the one once considered the de facto strongest parahuman alive. And he just wanted to show up like this? Here and now?

Warning.

Another broken trigger went off and my blood chilled as David turned his head in the correct direction. What the fuck?

Restriction.

Can he hear you?

Negation.

What the fuck then?!

"We should move," David said. "There's something wrong to the east."

"Broken trigger," Damocles said. "I can see it from here. More than one. Two."

A sense of worry overcame David and I flinched. It was genuine worry. And frustration. The broken triggers weren't part of his plan. He hadn't expected them. So the Simurgh was doing something on her own, outside of his control.

That would explain the sense of not-quite betrayal, but annoyance that something was happening. Something that shouldn't be.

And shit what did I do now?

"Newtype," he called.

I held firm, glancing at all the capes and trying to see if I recognized any others. Would he use this as a pretense to attack me? Get me out of the way? Behind me, Administrator had completely tuned out the argument she was still having. Her presence came to the forefront of my mind which was rather reassuring considering Teacher was right there and I still wasn't entirely sure how his master power worked.

"Are you alright?"

I'd say something aloud but apparently I couldn't move my lips so—Oh the fucking prick didn't expect me to answer. Asshole.

Agreement.

We're punching him in the face before this is over.

Encouragement.

David was tense. I'd been working against him, but did he know? For all I knew his tinkers had worked out some way to penetrate our comms and he showed up because I was already at my wit's end.

He lowered himself, hovering down to eye level with 00. His emotions were plain as day, and a lot more complicated than I'd expected. Also more muddled. Frustration and worry. Confidence and certainty. Not sure what I expected really.

He was human too, not a cardboard cutout.

"I am Eidolon," he said suddenly. "A bit before your time. I'd like to talk to you but right now there are lives at stake—"

Oh spare me.

Agreement.

Maybe I should jus—

"One moment please," Veda replied.

The first ring was distant. I didn't even think about it. Then came the second, the third, the twelfth, the twentieth. An entire cascade of phones began ringing, all of them echoing one after the other. They rang and the ringing echoed through the streets. Even frozen, all the eyes started darting around, searching.

Over the stadium entrance, a big screen flashed. David and his party turned to look at it, about the same time Tecton brought the center of his wall down. He and the Wards paused their emergence with the PRT to look back.

Relena's face took over the screen. I actually saw David's shoulders tighten… Wait.

"Listen to me," Relena said in a calm tone I recognized. Her eyes were steady with only a slight flush in her cheeks. Had she been running? "Look around. Look where you are."

Damocles flew lower, whispering something to David. He waved her off. She was more worried than he was. Not that he wasn't worried but he was…excited? Did he still think all of this was a battle against Count?

Possibility, Administrator suggested.

He didn't know Relena, Tattletale, and I were the ones making these moves?

Count.

I'd forgotten about her in the rush of everything. She killed Azrael. The Simurgh didn't give a shit what city David reappeared in. A wave of wild broken triggers would happen everywhere. But sabotaging a stage entrance in Houston? That was her.

David wasn't holding back waiting for a chance to get me.

He was waiting for a chance to get Contessa.

"Look at yourselves," Relena implored, taking on a desperate pleading edge. Her voice shook and it wasn't an act. "Ask yourself why you're doing this. To what end. Will this really get you what you really want?"

Maybe he should be looking for Count. Count was right. This was something Relena could do that Lisa and I couldn't.

"Or are you lashing out because you've been betrayed?" she continued. "Because the world has failed and those with the power to do something about it haven't done nearly enough?"

Relena didn't wear masks, or rather, her masks were transparent and honest. Those around her saw through them to who she really was.

"Please. Ask yourselves why you are here and what you dream."

She was always herself.

"And make a stand."

Okay, not the direction I thought she was going in.

"Do not let yourselves be silenced. Don't twist your power against yourself. Stand! Fight! Don't let yourselves be divided. It is only the paths that differ, not the destination. We all want the same thing. We want peace. Peace for ourselves. Peace for our families. Our friends. You can make that choice, right now!"

I could get technical about that but now wasn't the time. I raised my hand slightly and noticed people in the crowd were starting to move as well. I licked my lips and blinked which wow. My eyes had gotten really dry.

"Make yourselves heard," Relena implored. "Together. As one! The cycle cannot continue. This endless back and forth of violence and the suffering that comes with it. Is that not why you scream? Why you lash out? You can end it now. You have that power!"

I turned my head.

Throughout the street, people were coming out of the power that froze them. A few stumbled forward as their bodies continued on as if they'd never stopped. One woman tumbled hard and knocked someone else over. I worried that would start the dominoes anew, but they both looked at each other, looked around, and they got up.

Some people took their phones out. Others looked to one another. The police sergeant from before didn't wait. She instantly pointed and shouted, directing other officers and telling people to back up onto the sidewalk.

Relena's message began repeating.

"Veda," I realized.

"My apologies," she said suddenly. "It took me time to access every emergency broadcast system on the internet." Wait, every emergency broadcast system? "And Relena needed to record her message in multiple languages."

To my surprise, people were listening.

I wouldn't have thought this could work but… Every phone. Every screen. Every radio. If Veda broke into every emergency broadcast system and started playing this message then everyone was hearing it. No one could ignore it, no matter where they were.

Everyone had to look at Relena and hear the question she was asking.

Broken from the chaos of the moment and given time to do nothing but listen, the anger and fear were quieter. I could tell just looking around some of them were looking for a reason to start up again. Others seemed shaken from the stupor. They ran back and forth collecting people they seemed to know and ushering them away in groups. Others gathered up on the street and stood.

The police were banding back together, getting a makeshift human barricade in place while talking on their radios. The Wards and the troopers who were with them moved forward cautiously, eyes on David's band.

I couldn't quite focus on that.

I kept expecting the chaos to start again. While a few people did start getting rough or shouting, people were moving away from the scenes. The police were quick to respond, breaking fights up before they started. Most of them related to those who'd tried to use guns but mostly they were fleeing or being arrested and no one was jumping to their aid.

"Is this working?"

"Mixed results," Veda informed me. "But the message is coming from so many locations, it is impossible not to hear. The shock, if nothing else, is slowing things enough."

Warning.

Right. I glanced east. "We need teams. If we contain the triggers now—"

David turned, and I tensed. He was still fucking here. Right.

"That's one problem solved," he said unflinchingly.

I inhaled.

There was only one choice. Did I focus on the crisis at hand, or kill David now? Could I even pull either of those off?

Yes.

I gripped both swords and readied myself. "Veda—"

The first blow hit so fast that I missed it.

The shockwave boomed, throwing 00 back a few feet in the air. Asphalt sprayed straight up into the air and then exploded again as a dark rocket streaked from above and struck again. The second punch blew away the first cloud and detonated another. David held his arms in front of himself, shielding his body from the blows as Alexandria whipped around, fist wound back.

Her lips contorted, displaying more emotion than I'd ever seen on her face at any point in her career.

"Traitor!"