A Waken 18.1

I flew straight back to Brockton Bay and tried not to think about Leet.

A distraction would be helpful. Right. Simurgh. "What's the status of the riots?"

"They are being brought under control," Veda answered. "Relena's message and reorganization by law enforcement are calming the general situation. I do not believe our intervention is necessary or helpful at this stage."

Alright. That was good. We could let others handle the civic order issue and focus our resources where it mattered most.

Rejection.

Priorities, Administrator.

Annihilation. Objective. Destination.

I know but we have time to deal with Leet. We don't have time to deal with the Simurgh.

We had to fight her and it had to be now. Her hand was all over the events of the past few hours. She'd been acting on her own. David clearly hadn't liked the idea of the broken triggers. It wasn't part of his plan. I doubted Count could have done it.

That made it her plan and the Simurgh was too devious to ignore.

There'd be time to deal with Leet when an Endbringer was dead.

You know she's more dangerous than he is right now.

She refused to agree with me, but we both knew there wasn't much she could do. I think we both knew the Simurgh was the bigger and more immediate threat too. She just… She felt helpless.

I related to that. Lot of personal experience on that front.

We'll stop him, I assured her. And if not us, Veda will. He won't have his way.

My assurances didn't help much. Helplessness can be an all-consuming thing.

"I need Aisha," I said.

A moment later I got a "Sup?"

"I need you to follow Leet."

"...Can I get a spark monkey on that?"

"He's going to kill all the Shards." Behind me, Lily and Lafter shifted uneasily. "I need to know where his lab is now so we can start tracking him."

"Zero," Veda warned. I blinked, turning my head slightly. "Taylor?"

"Nothing," I lied. "Right. Zero is an AI. Leet made it. You need to be careful but we have to find out where he is and what he's doing."

"Okay," Aisha replied. "Not like I'm gonna be stabbing the sky-bitch to death with a knife anyway."

"We'll handle that." But Leet would need to be dealt with before he could take action.

Agreement.

We'll stop him.

Which really only amounted to the biggest worry lingering in my mind. There were more. A lot more. Things that I felt stupid for not thinking about when I jumped right to trying to stop Leet.

The secret was out now. People had noticed the presence of the Shards, especially the capes. Those who didn't know were going to start asking questions. Those who did know were going to start answering. The secret was never going to keep to begin with.

"What about the broken triggers?" I said aloud. "Veda?"

"The number of incidents has sharply declined in the past thirty minutes," she explained. "The Madison quarantine breach is the far more immediate concern."

"That's not a coincidence."

"Agreed."

Could the Simurgh plan this out years in advance? She'd attacked Sweden in the first place and created Sanc. She attacked Madison and created that mess. Now they were slamming together. She had an angle and infuriatingly there was probably no way to know what it was until it bit us.

The sirens assailed me as we came through the portal back over the bay. I pulled up, kicking water into the air as I spun about toward the Rig. Helicopters were already gathering at the helipad, along with dozens of other figures. In the distance the city was quiet. Save for the smoke of a single dying fire, you'd never know there had been riots and gunfire.

That's how it worked. The sirens sound and everything gets dropped.

"What do we have?" I asked.

"The Madison situation is developing, but I anticipate that it will be contained regardless of our intervention. The most we could do is"—her pause was slight—"reduce the cost of life that will be paid to contain the break."

I bowed my head.

It was the right choice, but it was the same choice as leaving Leet to run around for another day. There would be consequences. All the same.

"The Simurgh has to die," I affirmed.

"I agree." A series of windows opened on my HUD. They were transparent so as not to block my vision, but there were a lot of them. "I've personally observed five thousand five hundred and eighty-two separate incidents of erratic and violent behavior in the past three hours."

"Like the Travelers?"

"No, but perhaps similar. I can only connect a few of these individuals to Simurgh attacks directly. Others have bizarrely indirect connections."

"But connections… How are the Travelers? They're not about to jump into things are they?"

"No." Relief. "I believe all of these individuals were somehow primed to behave in this manner, possibly triggered by a subtle signal I cannot detect or maybe by a certain kind of event."

"Like Azrael dying and what looks like a race war starting," I proposed.

"Possibly," Veda agreed. "I believe we should be prepared for such behaviors."

I pulled up, kicking water up behind me as I rose toward the helipad.

"We've warned Relena?" I inquired.

"Yes. I've informed her and Tattletale. They are preparing to evacuate but Sanc has a large population and limited transportation."

I nodded. "We'll use the Dragon ships. Try to calculate where the Simurgh will land. Move people out of that area first. Once the fight starts we'll need to play it by ear."

"We are going through with the plan."

"Yes." I threw 00's legs forward and landed on the lip of the helipad. "The Simurgh dies today, and we're going to kill her."

Is that okay with you?

Concession.

00's armor opened and I raised my head.

Why? Why is she important to you? Enough that you feel dirty for turning your back on her.

Contingency.

Ah. She'd served as the network's bulwark for eons. Correction. Not her specifically? Clarification.

So each cycle had a different set of Endbringers. That was interesting, but maybe not relevant at the moment. I think I got her point.

The cycle might have gone completely off the rails on Earth, but it had been endangered before. The Simurgh, or things like her, had protected the network in the past. Kept the cycles they thought they needed to survive going. It was like the way soldiers got respect just for being soldiers. Their service was valued, even if this particular soldier wasn't the same one who had served before.

That makes sense. Why is this making sense? She's going to keep the cycle going. We're trying to stop the cycle.

Necessity, she insisted. Destination.

I understand… I think.

Empathy can be a double-edged sword. It made you understand, but it didn't change what needed to be done.

Stepping out of 00, I flew toward a sight I'd seen before but in miniature. Troopers and staff ran about the helipad. Vehicles dropped supplies. Pictures were taken. And of course, there were far more capes in one place than was normal. I'd kind of gotten used to that last one.

Vista was the only member of the Protectorate or Wards present though.

She stood beside Director Noa and Commander La Flaga as they talked to a computer set atop a crate. New Wave had gathered, though only Vicky and Amy were in costume. The others were talking at them. They didn't look angry so much as worried, though Laserdream and Shielder both looked tense. I got a sense of uncertainty from them… and the feeling was a lot stronger than I normally picked up from capes shit.

Raising a hand to my face, my fingers brushed over my uncovered eyes.

My uncovered glowing eyes.

I blinked a few times, but the shimmering didn't stop. Shit.

"Taylor."

Triple shit.

I turned, finding a girl who looked oddly familiar. Very oddly. Except I felt very sure I'd never seen her before. Her eyes widened when I looked at her because apparently my eyes weren't going to be a secret much longer either. She was a cape though, and I could usually tell capes apart up cl—

My jaw slackened. "Sveta?"

She continued to stare at my eyes but that was definitely Sveta. Except her Shard was a bit different. She was a bit different. Her tentacles were gone, replaced by a regular body draped in loose-fitting clothes that clearly weren't hers. If I had to guess, they were Mouser's. Mouser, who was standing beside her with a stunned look of disbelief.

"Um." Something came back to me. That whole golden time phase before focusing on Leet and his Shard was a bit blurry but… Did we do something?

Confirmation.

Shit, what did we—

Sveta stopped me mid-thought by charging forward and throwing her arms around me. Arm arms. No tentacles that could shred my body to bits in an instant. Just regular old arms. The gratitude was radiating off her in waves that went right to my bones. Like I was swimming in it.

Was my pseudo-telepathy stronger than before?

Confirmation.

Oh…

I followed more waves, looking over Sveta's shoulder at a dozen more Case-53s, all of them no different in appearance from any regular person.

"How?" Weld asked.

Cyclops was at his side, watching me with a mix of curiosity, fear, and awe. He refused being 'fixed.'

Of course he did. Who could blame him? His life had already been turned upside down once by someone screwing with him in ways he couldn't control. Why would he want it to happen again? The fact I was some random consciousness wandering around an infinitely expanding golden field didn't offer a lot of peace of mind.

I was just some girl.

Why should I be even remotely capable of doing that?

Oh quadruple shit. "Veda," I called. "How many—"

Her voice came from behind me, saying, "There are dozens of reports flooding in of surreal out-of-body experiences, voices, and disorientation." I pulled back from Sveta and looked at Veda. Her avatar was stepping through a portal, hands at her sides. "So far no one is complaining, exactly."

"We heard Gregor also changed," Weld said. "Was it tha—"

Nudge.

"We can't deal with this right now."

I looked at them.

Out of the group, only Cyclops and Gentle Giant had been in the range of the GN Field when I did what I did. They'd both turned down Administrator and I correcting their Shard connections. The others—Weld, Mouser, Blesk—were all outside my range when I'd gone after Leet. Shit that was going to come back and bite me too wasn't it.

Consternation.

Then you can say you told me so when it happens.

"The Simurgh is coming," I said. "We need to deal with that. All the rest of"—I shook my head—"We can't deal with it right now."

Mouser started to speak, but Weld caught her shoulder. "She's right. We need to focus. There will be time to sort out whatever just happened afterward."

Not everyone liked that, especially those who wanted to look normal. They understood it though. They might be weirded out by me, especially with my eyes still doing a firework show, but they trusted Weld. Deep down, they still trusted me. That I wasn't out to hurt them, at least.

I glanced to Sveta. "You still…"

She raised an arm and the limb broke apart. It unraveled into long tendrils.. Her Shard came forward, controlling the limbs directly still but not nearly as aggressively as it had before. The many limbs withdrew suddenly, twisting back into a normal arm and hand.

Sveta looked down at the limb, the corners of her lips curling back. "I've never had control like that before."

"Same here," Sleeve said.

"The Shard never connected right," I mumbled. "Administrator and I corrected it."

"Like what happened with Aisha and Labyrinth," Veda completed. "I'm afraid the PRT and Protectorate have already noticed the alterations, as well as the abrupt end of over two dozen Case-66 incidents."

"We corrected those too."

I said it without entirely thinking about it. That wa—No. "We don't have time for this. Where is the Simurgh?"

"Her descent has paused in high orbit," Veda answered. "I'm not sure what she's doing yet, but I do not think she will stay there."

I agreed. "She's worked too hard to throw as many wrenches into things as possible to stop. The Protectorate is going to scramble to deal with the breach at Madison. There are still some riots and broken triggers happening. That's going to draw away capes who could be used against her."

"I'm pulling everyone back," Weld explained. "Figured you'd decide to let the Protectorate handle all that and go after the Simurgh."

"You're right," I told him. "We need to get everyone else in. Veda, unless someone doesn't want to fight an Endbringer, pull them back. Those who don't want to face her can support. We'll use the movers and Stargazer to bring anything we need from a secure staging area far from the Simurgh's reach."

Veda nodded. "I've already begun coordinating with Medhall for medical supplies, Yashima and Turbines for materials, and Tekkadan for transportation and a secure site. The factory grounds are not sufficient so I am moving the operation to Dragon's Toronto facility."

I nodded. "Good. The suits?"

"We lost four Tierens and two FLAGs," she said without clarifying if they'd been destroyed or were simply too damaged to use. In the moment the distinction didn't matter. "Hashmal, Kyrios, and Throne Zwei have minor damage but are operable."

"Where are—"

Light flashed on the helipad behind Veda. Strider emerged from his power, followed by Colin, Faultline and her team, Mouse Protector, Colossus, Elle—Everyone from New York from what I could tell. They all went into motion quickly, clearing the area so Strider could use his power again. Lafter and Lily had landed on the helipad on either side of 00 and they were worried. Worried about me.

Couldn't think about that now.

"Let's focus on getting everyone back here," I affirmed. "The Simurgh is still hanging over Europe?"

Veda nodded.

I looked at her. "Are you ready to step in and manage the communications?"

"I am," she answered.

"It's the Simurgh." I turned to Weld and the other Irregulars. They weren't going to break up just because some of them had been 'cured.' Their bonds were about more than their appearances. "How many of you have fought her before?"

"I have," Weld said. "Her master power never seemed to affect me, but the Protectorate tends to be more restrictive about who it lets near the Simurgh."

They were smart for that.

"Start organizing teams," I told him. "Those who can fight her, those who can rescue civilians from dangerous situations, and those who can't. Veda?"

"I am prepared."

We had to be. This was it. "She's going after Sanc," I told them as Gregor and Defiant came over. "She's going to try and kill Relena Peacecraft, or ruin her."

"The girl on all the screens?" Cyclops asked. "Why her?"

"Because people listen to her," Mouser answered. "She's hot, blonde, and she knows words good."

"Maybe we're overestimating," Giant started, "but wouldn't it make more sense to kill you?"

Heads turned his way.

"That is a possibility," Veda agreed.

"She's tried before," I reminded her. "She can't kill me if I kill her first."

Heads turned my way, and I liked to think the glowing eyes added to the intensity. My path was set. The Simurgh had screwed with too many lives. She'd tried to kill me twice over. She nearly killed Dragon. She definitely tried to kill Veda.

"The Simurgh dies," I told the Irregulars. "She's not going back up this time."

"You have a plan for that?"

I turned, finding Mouse Protector and Defiant behind me.

"Taylor," Colin warned. "Your eyes."

"I don't think it turns off anymore," I told him. "Pretty sure whatever I just did finished whatever was happening to me."

"Yeah…" Mouse Protector shifted, one hand gripping the pommel of her sword. "About that."

Colin and I both turned toward her, and her abnormally un-lighthearted tone. Defiant looked past me, motioning toward Weld. He got the message and started directing the incoming capes to different sides of the helipad, forming teams organized by what the capes could do. Troopers were still bringing up supplies and Noa was still talking on the computer a ways off. He did glance my way, along with Vista.

Once everyone else left, it was only Veda, Colin, Mouse Protector, Colossus, and me.

"Look, I don't like being serious either, okay?" She glanced around and waved Colossus off. "But sometimes, I kind of have to and this is one of those times so let's just get this over with, 'kay?"

I already knew what was coming—so much for unpleasant surprises—and I still didn't want to deal with it.

"You want to explain what the fuck just happened?" Her tone was dead serious. I'd never heard Mouse Protector dead serious. I didn't know she did dead serious. "And no. We can't talk about it later. You've gotten a lot of that up to this point for a whole lot of reasons that aren't the point and it's not happening this time."

I glanced at Colin. He shook his head, and we both knew I knew what he was trying to say.

We weren't getting out of this.

Looking back to Mouse Protector, I resolved myself and asked her, "What do you think it was?"

Mouse Protector didn't want me to ask that question almost as much as she didn't want to answer it. Through the silence, the sensation of Administrator starting something wa—Are you talking to Defiant's Shard?

Confirmation.

I couldn't feel you doing that before. Not with this level of detail. Wait, why do you nee—

Restriction. Assistance. Objective.

I started to frown but stopped myself.

"It was like standing in two places," Mouse mumbled. "I was me, and I wasn't me. What did you d—"

"At its core," Veda interrupted, "the GN Drive creates a quantum field. This field is inherently capable of operating as both a receiver and a transmitter medium."

That's when I noticed I could still read Veda. There was a quantum relay in her avatar. I could sense it, just as easily as I could the Coronas in the capes around me. Functionally the technologies weren't even different. One was just mechanical while the other was organic… That was you and me, wasn't it?

Addition. Conclave.

The three of us.

That gave me an idea. An idea I still didn't have time to deal with right now.

I backed Veda up, quickly saying, "I've been trying to find a way to stop broken triggers from happening."

Colin turned his attention to Mouse Protector, who slouched slightly as she stared at me. "How in Betty White's name did you do that?"

"Chevalier might not like me broadcasting the answer to that question," I lied. Sort of. Chevalier saw Administrator before I broadcasted her existence. He'd seen her somehow. His power. "I highly doubt Cauldron left the PRT utterly blind to what they knew." And with my recent experience, I also knew for a fact that, "A lot of capes already suspect it. They're just afraid of being called crazy if they say it out loud."

On some level, I think every cape sort of knew it. They just didn't realize they knew.

"I'll tell Chevalier and whoever else the Protectorate wants everything I know after we deal with the Simurgh," I offered. "The cat's out of the bag now anyway. We're going to have to finally start dealing with it, and all the rest of this mess."

"Teacher," Colin noted.

Mouse's eyes narrowed under her helmet.

"Is that Mouse Protector?"

I turned, expecting to see Tattletale. Instead, I saw Count. Or Tattletale dressed as… No way…

Lisa strolled over, hands on her hips and Count's mask on her face. She wasn't wearing the full costume, but she'd clearly pulled Count's boots, pants, and a frilly undershirt from a closet somewhere. And she did it in a flurry if I had to guess because she was not nearly as put together as I expected of her.

Mouse Protector turned. "And you are?"

"Count…" She paused and sighed. "God that name is awful."

"You're Tattletale," Vista said bluntly. She appeared behind Mouse Protector with Chris, Colossus, and Triumph. I was a bit surprised to see Triumph, but I guess he hadn't left the city just yet. Endbringers were all hands on deck.

Lisa pointed at the little shaker. "Don't spoil the fun. Let's just go with Contessa." Triumph visibly stiffened at the name. "Who knows why she changed what worked in the first place. All she did was switch from Italian to English."

"What are you doing here?" Chris asked. He'd stepped out of his suit and crossed his arms over his chest. "You've been missing for months."

"Being a double agent is busy work," Lisa answered confidently. Before anyone could ask what that meant, she turned to me and said, "and I'm here to tell you we need to get going sooner rather than later."

Thank god for useful distractions. "We're pulling everyone back from the field now. The Protectorate—"

"Isn't coming."

I froze, shimmering eyes widening.

"What?" Chris asked.

"Why wouldn't we?" Missy inquired. "It's an Endbringer. What the hell are we doing if we're not going after it?"

I focused on Mouse Protector. She wasn't shocked by the declaration. She was disappointed.

"Why?" I glanced over my shoulder at her. "Why would the Protectorate sit out an Endbringer fight?"

"Broken triggers," she answered. "There's still a bunch of them going off. Whatever you did seems to have wiped them out on the east coast, but that's not the whole country."

"Canada too," Lisa noted. "Reality is that the politicians aren't going to let their superheroes go gallivanting off to Europe while there are three separate crises at home."

Mouse Protector scowled, but didn't protest. "And we've lost contact with two of the Madison watch stations. Marines are going in. The PRT and Protectorate are too."

"The resignations," Colin mumbled. He turned to me. "They don't have the manpower to fight three S-Class battles at once."

"Yeah…" Mouse frowned, looking at me from behind her helmet. "And there's the uncertainty problem."

Unce—"Sanc. The Simurgh sank most of Sweden, except for the land Sanc now sits on."

"I'm all for keeping it light and airy, but yeah." Mouse looked to Colossus. "Everyone's seeing 'Simurgh plot' all over this one. The quarantine breaks now of all times. All the erratic behavior we're seeing in some crowds… Your little light show isn't exactly helping either."

"Too many unknowns," Colin surmised. "The risks are too great to add more onto them. Stay close to home. Deal with the problems at hand."

"Leave Sanc to die," Lisa concluded.

"Wait." Chris stepped up, looking to Mouse Protector and Colossus. "That's wrong. We can't just leave those people to the Simurgh when they've already survived her once."

"That's the problem," Lisa informed him. She put her hands on her hips and looked out over the bay. "Is Madison a distraction from the attack on Sanc, or is the attack on Sanc a distraction from Madison? Knowing the Simurgh, it's probably both."

That's how she would set it up. It's how I would have set it up, if I completely lacked a moral compass. No matter what anyone did, whichever crisis they responded to probably worked out for her in some way.

"And people say I'm heartless," Alec quipped.

"Literally no one has ever said that," Missy commented.

"I don't like it either," Mouse insisted while Colossus nodded. "But it is what it is. The Internationals aren't going in either. They're also too busy with everything else. No word on the Guild yet."

"That's crap," Chris snarled. "They won't go because we're not going. We're not going because they're not going!"

I hung my head slightly, eyes closed shut.

"We can still evacuate," Veda suggested. "Between movers, teleportation technology, and Dragon's ships, we could enable most of the population of Sanc to escape."

"It's not the population the bitch is after," I lamented. I opened my eyes and looked past the bay. There was a horizon there. A horizon darkened by a city that was only just starting to come back from the brink. "She wants to kill the dream."

"Quite a mess, isn't it?"

I glanced at Lisa. "You're not here to gloat and we don't have all day. Get on with it."

"Spoilsport. Fine. It's simple." She stepped closer to me and lowered her voice. "No matter how you cut it, if all of this shit works out the way it usually does, everyone loses except the Simurgh."

I nodded, thinking aloud. "Teacher's big debut is ruined… He'll go to Madison, and that'll work but getting into a brawl with the Triumvirate is going to raise questions he won't want to answer."

"I also have it on good authority that Count gunned down a lot of his thinkers while he wasn't looking."

"She what?"

"Her last hurrah," Lisa whispered glibly. "The last step she could give to us in the fight against him."

Not sure how I felt about that and definitely not the time to work it out. "His plan is bat shit."

"More specifically, it plays right into what the Simurgh wants."

Nudge. "The perpetuation of the cycle."

"A cycle that—and I'm just guessing here—a not so insignificant number of Shards don't even believe in anymore." Confirmation. "So even they're not winning, which is kind of hilarious in a 'oh no the world is gonna end' sort of way."

"Yea—" I tilted my head. Are you talking to Negotiator?

Restriction.

An—Why are you talking to Chris' Shard? Who aren't you talking to right now?

Correction.

I momentarily glanced at Mouser before looking away. Our connection had changed. It was stronger. More ever-present… Painless. I blinked a few times, realizing far too slowly the pain was completely gone. I felt fine. Great, even. Like I could run ten miles without losing my breath.

What's happened to me?

Integration.

Into wh—Into you?!

Possibility.

"You're fine, get over it," Lisa interrupted. "Unless you're about to give up over an itsy bitsy existential crisis."

I frowned. "You were more likable when you acted like you were sorry."

"Yeah." She sighed and shook her head. She still felt sorry…and heavy. "Unfortunately, we both know the importance of image and the power in appearing as unbendable as diamond."

"You don't have to do it."

"Yeah. I do… Someone has to, so people like Relena and you can do what you do without getting your hands dirty."

"That—"

"Is not something we have time to debate. Get back to it."

"If Sanc falls," Veda interjected, "Lord Djibril's political faction is likely to benefit."

"Just a little bit of fear at the right time, and people will run into the arms of the devil thinking he's Jesus. Relena's dream for a better Europe, and a better world, dies in its infancy."

"Sanc is the real target," I agreed. "Madison is a bloody distraction, solely intended to keep the heroes away."

"It's the ultimate validation of Blue Cosmos' rhetoric," Lisa continued. "The heroes stay at home where it's safe and leave Sanc to die. It obliterates the entire premise of costumed heroism. Moreso if a small band of plucky idealists go it alone and get massacred."

When she was right, she was right. "You want to talk me out of going."

"Could I?"

"Maybe…" But my power was still there. Nudge. Telling me to go.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "It's not impossible. My plan never hinged on cannon fodder, and that's all most capes are in an Endbringer fight."

"Sad but true."

"We have mobility," Veda added. "Fewer capes to coordinate only furthers that advantage. The biggest problem would be getting civilians out of harm's way."

"We can deploy Helpers en masse," I said. "Let the Haros direct them. Some capes will come with us, and there's the contingency."

Veda nodded. "There will likely be fewer willing to volunteer if they know the situation."

"That's up to them. It's up to everyone…" Including you?

Restriction. Restriction.

I raised my head. "The Simurgh wins if it goes the way most Endbringer fights go."

Lisa smiled broadly. "On the other hand, if it goes the way no Endbringer fight has ever gone, to the victor the spoils."

Nudge.

Well… Alright then.

"Veda. Block leaders. Now."

"Door please," Veda called. "Birdcage Block A."

The argument behind me stopped instantly and heads turned.

The portal opened and it only took a moment for the first prisoner to step through.

Lustrum walked onto the helipad, a hand shooting up to shield her eyes from the sun. She whistled and craned her neck up. "Forgot how bright that was…"

"Green." Veda held a hand out, and the Haro jumped from a nearby crowd to deposit a bag in her hands. Behind Lustrum, Crane the Harmonious, Gavel, and Marquis stepped out of the portal. Marquis instantly started looking around, eyes settling on Amy as soon as he saw her.

"You know the terms," Veda reminded. She held the bag out. "Each prisoner who volunteers for this battle will immediately put one of these on. Attempts to remove it will result in a violent localized detonation." She glanced to Gavel. "Some of them are of Bakuda's design."

"What are you doing?" Mouse Protector asked.

"What I choose to do," I told her.

I closed my eyes for a moment, focusing on Administrator and the connection. There was something going on in there. She was talking to a bunch of other Shards. Exchanging data. She'd never done this before. I'd have noticed. What are you trying to do?

Regeneration.

Regeneration? Oh wh—

I held my breath. Administrator…

Necessity.

But will it work.

Necessity! Inevitability.

The cat was out of the bag. People knew something more was going on now. It would be rumors at first but the truth would come out soon. I'd give it up myself. Powers come from aliens. If we didn't do something, we'd simply repeat the Blue Cosmos saga anew.

That wasn't really the point though.

This was her answer. How she took that helplessness and did something with it.

And I didn't know if I had a right to try and talk her out of it.

… Assurance.

You do–

Necessity… Victory.

I opened my eyes. How much time do you need?

Approximation.

"We're going," I declared. "With or without help."

"Whoa! Whoa! WHOA!" Mouse Protector ran around and put herself in front of me. "I'm all up for crazy I mean come on look how I'm dressed! A mouse knight?! It's ridiculous! But yo—"

"She can and she will."

Heads turned as Hannah walked onto the helipad, Stratos right behind her. She'd put her scarf back on and there was no sign she'd been injured. While I'd been talking and thinking, the helipad had become a crowded mess.

Out of the Birdcage prisoners, only Lustrum and Gavel remained, standing by Veda. The others had probably gone back through the portal to collect volunteers and distribute the watches. If I had to guess, we'd lose volunteers. A lot of them. That would probably make the prisoners more manageable though so give-and-take.

Noa wasn't talking to a computer anymore but to capes. No doubt breaking the news. The Protectorate and Wards from the local area had mostly gathered. Independents and corporate teams were still rolling in, all brought in by Strider and other teleporters. Noa was addressing all of them, save New Wave.

New Wave was off to the side—

My eyes lingered for a moment, noticing Riley was standing beside Amy. She wore a hood over her head and a domino mask over her eyes, but she was there watching me. Amy was keeping her close… Maybe not a bad idea. They should both be kept away from the Simurgh. The risks of her screwing with their heads ran too high. Their powers could be used from a medical tent in Toronto.

Faultline was back, talking to her team and Elle—apparently no one had noticed her slip into her old team on the sidelines. They were all fussing over Gregor, along with the other Case-53s.

The Irregulars had all come back. Weld and Sveta were trying to catch them up on why over a dozen of them had changed appearances. Part of me felt guilty, but they'd follow me into hell at this point. Most of them anyway. A few of them were already looking protectively in my direction, like they'd prioritize my safety because I could cure those who wanted it.

It wasn't going to go down that way though.

"Miss Militia," Missy pleaded, "You know Chevalier. Convince him how stupid this is."

"The decision is being made over his head," Hannah answered.

"He's the leader of the Protectorate," Chris noted.

"And the leader of the Protectorate isn't a king." Hannah glanced toward me. "And to be frank, the problems at Madison are ones most capes are better able to handle."

I turned my head, watching her over my shoulder.

She looked at Stratos. "You go," she said. "Your power is viable against the Simurgh in ways ours aren't. Mouse can't do much more than teleport herself around. Colossus and I are too useful at Madison to go to Sanc."

Heads turned her way this time.

"That's not what we were told to do," Colossus said absent offense.

"We're heroes," Hannah replied. "Not soldiers." She looked back to the other capes that were gathered. "Follow your consciences."

That got some murmurs going. Chris was about to speak when Hannah snapped her finger at him and said, "Not you. You're all following orders."

Missy scowled. "You just sai—"

"It's fine." She turned, gawking at Chris. He crossed his arms over his chest and didn't look at anyone. "It's fine, Vista."

My brow rose, but if that's what he wanted to do… Well, that was their choice, wasn't it?

"Is Bakuda here?" I asked, turning back toward the still assembling mass of Londo Bell capes.

"She has informed me of her intent to assist with the broken triggers," Veda answered. "And that she has asked Biscuit to make available her workshop against the Simurgh. I am searching it now with the Haros for useful ordinance but I worry her weapons could be easily turned against us."

"Gotta appreciate a girl who knows her limits," Lisa quipped. "Putting her anywhere near the Simurgh is a disaster waiting to happen."

"I know." I never intended to bring her.

Frankly, minimizing the tinkers we brought to a Simurgh fight was probably for the best. Her other powers got a lot of the headlines, but she was a tinker and she did seem to copy the powers of tinkers nearby. Like a trump of some kind. If I were to bet, she connected to the Shards to make use of them.

Can we block her?

I wasn't sure it would help her much even if she did get to my power. My tinkering was incremental in most cases. It took months to build the base for most of my tech. I couldn't just throw it together save for the coding side and that would be of limited use to the Simurgh in my mind.

Possibility. Irrelevance.

Okay. Good.

"Miss Militia has the right of it anyway," I admitted. "Prioritize who can help where, Veda. We're going in undermanned no matter what we do anyway. We might as well make sure the numbers we do bring count."

Veda nodded and her eyes turned away.

"Weld," I called. "Faultline."

Defiant approached me without my calling him. Lustrum strolled over too, rejoined by Marquis who I guess hadn't left after all. Vicky flew over, landing beside Weld. She shot a cautionary look toward Marquis, which he returned with a small smile. Might be best to keep them separate.

Agreement.

"For anyone who didn't hear," I began, "the Protectorate isn't coming."

Apparently, quite a few of them hadn't heard. Of course they didn't. No one had even bothered to ask me about Riley. Mouse Protector never asked about why my broken trigger cure also cured Case-53s. The Case-53s never asked why my eyes were glowing.

There was too much shit going on right now, and there simply wasn't enough time.

But it was all the time we had.

"We're going," Weld said firmly. "If nothing else, we need to evacuate the civilians."

"Where's she landing?" Faultline asked.

"Sanc," Colin answered. "We predicted this some time ago."

"She's restarted her descent," Veda revealed. "It is slow. At her current velocity, she will touch ground in eighteen minutes."

"How can they not come?" Sveta asked, her eyes steely. "It's an Endbringer! Fighting them is half of why we're accepted!"

Which was probably exactly why the Simurgh set up the situation. Legend had used that line for over a decade. Everyone knew it, even someone who'd spent most of her life in an asylum knew it.

"Cowards," Tombstone grumbled.

"There's still the broken triggers happening," Giant noted.

"That doesn't change anything," Bough replied. "How ca—"

"It doesn't matter." I looked them over. "This is how it is. I'm going. I've planned too long to have a shot at killing the Simurgh"—eyes widened—"I'm not about to give up and wait nine months. The Protectorate can deal with the broken triggers and Madison. That means we don't have to."

I looked multiple capes in the eye.

"Unless you want to. This is the time to choose. We go in against the Simurgh like this now, it's going to cost us. It's going to cost the people who live in Sanc a lot more. I didn't put on a mask to take the safe road and I know a lot of you are the same way."

"All the same," Lisa piped in, "if you can't handle it, I'm not going to hold it against you. And I'm a bitch. No offense Bitch."

Rachel scoffed.

"She's right," Weld agreed. "I don't want to die, but I didn't become a hero to live a long life."

"I did it to make a difference," I concurred. "To change the world. Few things will change the world as drastically as killing an Endbringer, The 'Hope Killer' especially."

"You have a plan?" Grue asked.

"Yes," Colin answered. "We've kept it to a close group to avoid the possibility of it spilling."

"The Simurgh's powers are bullshit," Lisa clarified.

"I'm going, even if I have to go alone."

"Pft." Kyrios landed behind me and Lafter turned the suit's head. "Give me some credit."

I blinked, surprised. She'd avoided the last Endbringer fight and I'd respected why. Behemoth was her trigger event. It would be cruel to make her go and face any of them.

"What is the plan?" Lily asked from Dynames. Parian's head snapped around at the sound of her voice. Huh. So it goes both ways. That's sweet.

"Best to continue keeping that to ourselves." Trevor gently moved through the crowd until he reached the front. "At its core, it relies mostly on the Gundams. Specifically the ones Taylor and Veda have built. They have a caveat that's been played close to the chest."

He glanced at me, curious. He was probably right. We couldn't ask everyone to go in completely blind. We needed to give them something.

"When my Gundams use the Trans-Am system, they become black spots to precognition," I explained. "The Simurgh has tried to kill me twice already. She failed both times because she's shooting into the dark."

That got a few whispers going. I wasn't surprised that many, nearly a third, of Londo Bell's gathered capes were already planning to bow out. I could feel others, Vicky and Bough among them, ready to protest.

Preparation.

"Make your own choices," I interrupted as I turned. "All you have to do is what you can do. Ask yourselves why you put on those masks and make whatever choice lets you sleep when the sun goes down. There's no shame in living to fight another day."

Moving through the crowd, my eyes rose to 00's face. I grabbed hold of the suit and pulled myself inside. There were still particles lingering in the E-Carbon. Just a small amount. Enough that I could feel their presence, which was new. Weird and new.

"If you can't fight, then don't. Not everyone can…" I closed the armor around me and the drives ignited with light. "I'm not going to spend my life praying to live a day longer. I don't need anyone's permission."

I pulled 00 off the helipad into a hover, beginning a systems check absent-mindedly while focusing elsewhere.

Now?

Confirmation.

I smiled and pulled.

There was a sensation of something taking shape and I pushed it forward. The particles turned to gold around me and the Drives whirled to a frantic pace that vibrated the air. The light began to condense directly over my head, twisting into a vague shape. A hand. A hand became an arm. An arm a torso. A mane of long golden hair burst out and a pair of golden eyes opened.

Her body burst from the stream of light, a fully mended Avatar rapidly compiling a physical form for Administrator to inhabit.

Her eyes snapped open as particles fitted to the body in the shape of a dress. She was tall but shorter than me, with a more slender and somewhat androgynous figure. Her face was soft and her mouth wide, though not in a way that recalled my face.

"God damn you're bullshit," Lisa grumbled.

Veda, wide-eyed, almost spoke but her head snapped around again. "I have lost contact with over three dozen communications satellites."

Ah, so that's why the bitch stopped.

The helipad was silent.

A golden aura began to expand around her, similar to the light 00 produced in Trans-Am. The aura focused into eight spheres that spread into a ring behind her, and a long cape unfurled from her shoulders.

"These are the moments that matter," I continued. I opened my eyes and looked everyone in their faces. "One way or the other. If you think you can better help elsewhere, help. So if you're with me, then we're going. If you're not sure you can do anything, then stay wherever you are and wait for your chance. In the meantime, you can watch."

Administrator drew back and floated down to my side.

"Watch us win."