A Waken 18.5
And apparently, every other Shard in the room took Administrator's comfort as permission to assail me.
Taylor.
No.
Too much. Too fast.
I pulled 00 out of the air and to the side. The landing was rough, and I hit the ground hard as I pulled myself out.
My stomach heaved as my feet touched the ground. I tried to catch myself as my knees struck the ground but all I did was brace my body against 00's bent knee before retching and gagging on the taste. As soon as I tried to get up, it happened again and I went right back down to my knees and heaved again.
It was not helping my mood, which comprised a lot of complaints.
It was too much to ask.
It was cruel.
It wasn't fair.
Why did I never get a damned choice? Over and over again. It never changed. Shit or worse shit. That's not a fucking choice, it was a fucking ultimatum! Why couldn't anyone else deal with this crap? I never asked to…
After everything, I had to leave it all behind. My entire life. The one I'd made for myself. Rebuilt from that day in the locker when I'd had nothing but my anger and bitterness to live with.
I collapsed to my hands and threw up again. There wasn't even anything in my stomach to expel. The voices were just so loud. Almost loud enough to completely drown out my own thoughts. Demands. Pleas. Threats. They all knew. Every Shard who'd seen inside my head in the GN Field knew what was at stake.
They were all so loud.
Covering my ears didn't help.
Those who wanted me to do it. Those who didn't. The arguments they flung back and forth at one another. It needed to stop. If it didn't stop they'd trigger more broken triggers.
I wondered if the Simurgh knew. I'd caught a few glimpses at the end. She hadn't been in the best position to guard her mind against mine in the final moments. Maybe. Maybe she knew what I'd find. Suppose there wasn't much she could have done with it.
She was dead either way, so what did it matter? She was dead. We'd won. We were going to keep winning.
I had to go. I had to. It was the only way.
If I wasn't there at the core, Administrator had no way in. If I left she'd be cut off. It was the only way. The only way she could fix everything that tore when Scion died and then rotted in the decade since.
There was no choice.
I slapped my hand against 00's thigh and pulled myself up.
My hand almost slipped as I rose, but I caught myself. Steadied, I wiped the spit from my mouth, coughed, and swallowed.
I pushed the voices to the back of my mind, but the sounds were getting softer… The 53s. Their Shards. The Shards Cauldron had corrupted, fixed and reconnected to the Network, were drowning out the others. Blocking me from hearing them with static.
Rejection.
I raised my head, feeling Administrator somewhere high above. She was looking outward, watching the stars. She was terrified. Terrified I'd refuse to help her. Terrified she'd let me because she'd already decided that if only one could survive, she'd make sure it was humanity.
My heart jumped into my throat.
No, I rejected. That's suicide.
Choice, she insisted.
She recalled all the ghosts in the Network. Fragments of those the cycle had absorbed for longer than she could remember. I'd felt them myself in the fight with the Simurgh, even if those known to me were the ones who stood out.
We… We have had our chance.
I won't let you do that.
The future wouldn't be built upon a trillion corpses, and the past couldn't be corrected by wallowing in it. I couldn't let Administrator die. I couldn't let them die just so I could be happy. I'd never be happy if I let that happen.
My hands tightened at my sides, and I looked over my shoulder.
The Simurgh's corpse lay on the mountainside. Still dead.
I set out to change the world, and it had changed. It would keep changing. Even if I wasn't in it.
Return.
My attention returned to Administrator.
Return, she repeated. Discover a path.
I appreciated the thought but, I don't think it works that way.
The sensation was still there. That sense of being surrounded and bound up. Fixing the network meant entangling me with it. Would I even be me when that process was done?
Rejection! Administrator drifted back from the sky. Certainty.
I smiled despite myself. Admi—
Find a way.
I blinked. She couldn't lie to me any more than I could lie to her. Our connection was too open now. When she said we'd find a way to bring me back, she meant it.
Do not give up, she pleaded. Co—We've come too far.
It was easier in a way to try and hash it out objectively. Not that I could manage that very well. We'd come all this way together. We could keep going together.
I didn't have to go right now.
The Network was getting ragged but Administrator had already started reconnecting the Case-53s where holes were. It was logical at the time. That would shore the entire thing up for a little while.
How long? How long could we put it off?
Unknown. She queried Prime Future and Regeneration, both of which could only give us an answer of months at best. The damage was too extensive and had been left to linger too long. We couldn't ignore it for very long.
Months.
I had months at best. More than the mere moments I'd feared but it just didn't seem like enough.
We have time, Administrator insisted.
Time. Time for me to finish what I needed to finish, and time for us to figure out a way to get me back when the task was done.
If I waited—Veda.
The sky was clear, and the stars were bright. One shined brighter than the rest. Smaller lights joined it one after the other, rising from the horizon. She'd begin putting them together soon and then she'd start accelerating to slingshot herself.
There was still time.
"Taylor!"
Lafter came down the street with Lily, and Trevor. I'd landed off and out of sight, but not so far away I couldn't hear—or feel—the cheers.
Lisa trailed behind them only to stop as they continued on. The expression under her mask went to a grimace and then started to pale. I held her gaze, hoping she could get the full picture.
"Everything okay?" Trevor asked. "You zipped off all of a sudden. Is something wr—"
"Took a beating," I lied. Lisa turned around and kept her back to me. Really, she was hiding her reaction from everyone else while she got it under control. Turning my head back up, I noted, "Veda's getting ready to go."
"Why the rush?" Trevor asked curiously. "I thought we still needed to—"
"I figured it out." Grabbing hold of the armor, I pulled myself back into 00. "There's no better time than now. Everyone who could possibly stop her is dead or busy… The moment she leaves orbit"—Don't give up—"that's it."
We've won…
My eyes widened as it dawned on me anew.
It wasn't over. Not yet. There was still so much to do. David and Leet stood out at the top of the list, but they were just the start. The Simurgh was dead. The Endbringers could die. The PRT and the Protectorate would fall but the capes would keep going. Keep fighting.
There was so much left undone…but that was okay.
No one could turn the tide now.
One way or another, in ten years or a hundred, the future would come. Veda would be out there, beyond the reach of anyone who'd dare to try and stop her. She'd make it happen. No one would be able to resist what she could offer from up there. The colonies would be too profitable to ignore when she was giving them out for free.
"Why did Stargazer collapse?" Lily asked. "Veda's human body too."
"That'll only last a few minutes," Trevor explained. "The relays connecting Veda's servers have a small margin of error if both ends are moving. A lot of them are moving right now and we didn't want to take any chances. She's completely focused on maintaining the integrity of her primary servers."
"Where is her avatar?" I asked.
"Oh." Lily pointed. "Sveta and Mouser picked her up and pulled her to the side. They're keeping an eye on her while we came to find you. A few people freaked out though. No one's sure if that message was serious… Was it serious?"
"Yes."
I pulled myself up and dropped myself inside. 00 was a mess, but most of the damage was external. The second GN Drive on the right shoulder had some internal damage, but it was good enough for one more go before it got torn apart. That was frustrating, but… It was what it was.
I—
A butterfly landed on the armor, looking directly at me. I looked back at it, blinking.
I could hear them. All of them. With the voices of the Shards pulled back and muted I could hear people more than ever before.
Tecton's sobriety as he stood vigil with Grace and Jouster over the dead. Elle and Spectre's pain. Riley's confidence that she could keep going. Even Lustrum, walking back into her prison, proud that she'd had a chance to do something grand. The people of Sanc, crying in relief and in joy. Chris and Missy, rallying capes to go back to Madison and help people there.
Because they were heroes and they believed in what they did. That they could change the world. Now more than ever.
And Lafter's eyes were going wide.
Her eyes darted up and down. She was a few steps behind Lily and Trevor and neither had noticed yet. Their Shards were keeping quiet too. Navigator, on the other hand, was nervous and even if Lafter couldn't hear it she could feel the ripples.
And she'd noticed where I threw up.
She kept glancing at me, paling as she did.
I closed 00's armor before I could react.
Not now.
She blinked at me and I started the GN Drives.
"Ditching the V-Day celebration?" Lisa called. Lafter turned, looking back at Lisa and noticing she was standing with her back to us. "Dead Endbringer. It's gonna be a hell of a party."
"I'll be right back," I told them. I turned my head up and pushed 00 to its feet. "I have to be there."
Trevor and Lily raised their heads.
"Oh," Trevor mumbled. "Yeah… Yeah I guess…" He turned around and started back the way they'd come. "I'll take care of it. You go see Veda off."
"There's still Madison," I told him. He paused. "The Simurgh never does anything for just one reason. We don't need too many people. I know what she planned to do and we can stop it before it happens."
"R—Right. Got it."
I fired the thrusters and kicked 00 into the air. Lafter stumbled forward below, watching as I rose and turned about.
I made for the light, cracking the air in my wake and reconfiguring the GN Drive as I went. All the knowledge the Shards gave up was still rattling around in my head. It was a way to pass the time as I flew over the clouds and kept going.
Took me a bit, even at full speed to reach her.
The time was helpful. It let me come to terms more fully. It would be easy to go back to being angry and bitter, but I'd been angry and bitter before.
I just let it go.
I'd worked too hard to cast those things behind me to be consumed by them all over again. The die was cast. My life had led me to this moment. Led us to it. It was ours, as was everything after it.
It was too precious to be ruined. All the moments after it would be precious too.
That white halo at the edge of the world grew again as I got closer.
The last rocket decelerated, jets of mist shooting from its nose. Helpers scurried out of the interior, pulling panels off the side as a mechanical arm reached over and grabbed hold of the rocket frame.
Veda pulled it in, fitting the fuselage to the larger frame she was assembling.
Other arms pulled the 3D printer from inside the rocket and added it to the others. More removed the server, passing it along from hand to hand until the shimmering blue processor was fitted with the others and braced with E-Carbon paneling.
I cut the thrusters as I drew close and drifted toward her. Gravity was still there. We weren't that high up, but it was lighter, the air so thin it might as well not exist.
The GN Field overlapped her and I reached out.
Veda.
Her consciousness whirled.
Taylor. I'm sorry. I didn't se—I haven't positioned all the sensors yet.
I smiled.
That's fine.
All seventy-two rockets were present, but you wouldn't know with how quickly Veda was reassembling the materials. A nose was taking shape at the front of a fuselage, triangular and pointed. Her servers were being clustered just behind it, at the center of a rotating ring. The Helpers and the arms were assembling pods and fitting them to the ring. They'd hold the Helpers, the 3D printers, and raw materials.
Everything she needed.
Veda did what I could only call her equivalent of a mental squirm.
This is strange…
A little bit.
I'd never thought that the changes in my brain would allow us to talk like this. Probably should have. Quantum brainwaves. Quantum processors. It wasn't that complex to simply see either end as a transmitting relay.
The Tau Drives were being moved toward the back, arranged into a pair of primary thrusters set side by side. A few were on the side or pointed forward to provide additional thrust for maneuvering. She was putting two pairs of large fins at the end, antennae for the GN Field protecting the ship from the stellar dust and debris pinging off its surface.
We'd planned this for so long. And here it was. The moment it all began to come true.
She was nervous but eager. This was what she was made for, and she'd never questioned that.
I'm almost done.
I know.
I looked past her, and my eyes widened.
They were all so much brighter all the way up here. Stars without number, as far as the eye could see. The moon peeked out from the curve of the Earth ahead and… Something was moving.
Veda took note of my squinting.
An old spy satellite. Several have already come back online.
The Simurgh is dead. They're all going to go back online.
It was depressing to think that humanity would just regress without her to terrify everyone into working together. There was some kind of irony there.
Veda was determined as she began the final stages.
It won't end that way. We won't let it.
Pride welled up inside me.
Veda wanted nothing more than to stay and try to stop whatever was going to happen, but she was like me. The launch was too important to the future. It couldn't be aborted because of me. Veda knew how to make hard choices.
I wished there weren't so many of them.
I know. You're going to build the colonies, and the powers that be will follow the money. They'll advance, and you can push them along the way. Keep them on track. Just don't beat yourself up too much when they screw up. Or when you do. It's getting back up that matters.
My throat constricted as her processors paused halfway through my words. She'd noticed. This wasn't just an exchange of grammar. Her processors were quantum-based. I could touch them just as easily as I could Stella or Marie's quantum brainwaves. It carried more than just words.
Some of the mechanical arms receded, pulling plating into place atop them and fitting the hull together like a jigsaw.
Taylor? What—
I'm going to have to go away.
I don't think she understood at first.
Not yet. Soon though.
And shit was that vague.
I'm not dying. I just… I have to go to the other side of the looking glass for a while…
Administrator drifted closer, cautious. She'd pushed to repair Avatar because she felt helpless. Because she wanted to act, to defend the network and stop Leet even if something happened to me.
She felt helpless again, despite her determination. I understood.
Where?
Away.
How long?
The truth.
I don't know.
I'll come with you.
You can't.
I smiled and turned about.
I thought that I might fail to keep the anger and bitterness out but… No. They didn't matter. None of it mattered because it wasn't about me. None of this was ever about me.
It was all so big. Bigger than me. Bigger than anyone.
From all the way up here though—I stretched 00's arms out, fingertips seeming to brush against the white halo surrounding the sphere.
So big, yet so small.
I'd never convince everyone or get them all to set the bullshit aside. I couldn't even convince Leet to pull his head from his ass. So be it. We were weak. That's how it was.
No one could save the whole world, and if anyone actually had that kind of power the last thing they should do is use it.
It's gonna be okay.
Veda rejected my assurance.
You can't.
Administrator is going to need my help. This is what we've been working for since I triggered.
But we need you.
No. You don't. I know you don't.
There—
She stopped, stuttering as she finished putting the ship together. It was time to go, but she lingered.
She was arguing with herself. Like I often did. Funny seeing it happen play-by-play in someone else. And painful, because I didn't want her to suffer that. This was just… I had to tell her and I had to tell her now. I didn't want to ruin the moment, but what could I do? Tell her later?
I couldn't betray her like that.
I'd already kind of failed on that front. It felt so raw inside her.
The com crackled in my ear.
"Why?" she demanded. "No one wants you to do that! You don't have to! I don't want you to. There has to be another way. We can find… We… I…"
My eyes screwed shut. It hurt, feeling her hurt. I'd forgotten. Forgotten how much I blamed her for answering her phone in the car. Blamed her for getting herself killed. For leaving me when I still needed her.
"Why," Veda pleaded. "Why you?"
I resisted the urge to speak lest my voice crack.
Because only I can do it, and they'll all die if I don't. They need this. It's the only way they'll survive.
Veda wanted to keep arguing. All this time, Veda had been waiting for a happy ending. An ending where the fighting died down and there would finally be time for us. And I didn't know what to say to that. What did anyone say to that? Veda wasn't any different from anyone else. As selfless and brave as she was, she wanted her happy ending too.
"I don't want the world. I want you."
Look down, Veda.
Veda's camera refocused, looking down at the world like I was. The cities were easy to see by their lights. Miles upon miles. Millions upon millions. Billions. It all seemed so small from up here, but what did that matter?
All those lives and none of them were any less important than mine. The Shards weren't any less important simply because they weren't human. They were born too. They had the right to exist.
A billion or one. Either price is too high to pay, but if it has to be paid, I'll pay it.
You said the world didn't need messiahs.
It doesn't, and that's not what I am.
We were all the same. We had the right to make our own happiness. Make our own mistakes. Fight our own battles. Make our own meaning out of the messes we created.
"No one expects you to save everyone," Veda pleaded.
"I don't have to." I inhaled and, dropping the mental conversation entirely, said, "When I started all of this, I thought I was alone." Maybe that was the conceit of a child who hadn't lived long enough. Maybe people really needed a push to get themselves going. "Maybe I was then, but I'm not now."
I raised my head, spotting the glimmers of dawn starting to pierce the edge of the horizon. Sometimes it seemed like fate just wanted to make my life more poetic for some reason
I set out to cast a shadow that would change the world.
I'd cast it.
"You're going to save each other," I told her. "And when I find my way back, it'll be to a whole new world. One you've all created together because you don't need me. You're going to do amazing things all on your own."
My smile grew then, and I turned away to look at her. A bundle of servers clustered together and ready to go further than anyone had ever gone before.
"And it'll be okay because you're going to make it okay. You're going to make it better! You, and Lafter and Dinah. Lily. Riley. Lisa. Relena. Trevor. All of you." More than I could ever list. "You're going to keep going. You're not going to stop because of me. I know you won't. You're going to make your own world and that's all I ever wanted!"
One of the mechanical arms snapped around suddenly. It swung forward and extended, the claw opening as it drew close.
I reached out for it, grabbing hold of the claw with 00's hand and holding it tight.
"Even Emma has changed. If we can change, then so can the world. You see that, don't you?"
"I–Yes. I see it."
My voice choked as it hit me all at once.
"Everything I dreamed is already here," I realized. "This is my happy ending, and it's not even the end! Not really! There's still so much left to live, even if I have to put my life on pause for a bit."
I cut the thrusters and let gravity seize hold and draw me back down to the Earth. It wasn't perfect. It wasn't fair. It wasn't everything I wanted. And that was okay.
"This world is yours, and that's all I'll need."
They were here and everything I really wanted would follow. It was theirs. Theirs to make as they would. Their future. Their tomorrow.
That was all I needed.
"I'm satisfied"—I released the hand and swung 00 around—"with your world."
I dropped, falling away as Ptolemy's thrusters fired and Veda pulled the arm back.
And I love you.
The air around 00 began to spark and burn, obscuring my view of the Ptolemy. It wasn't fair to her… But we didn't get to make those kinds of choices. We should but we didn't. And that would be okay too.
"I love you too," she told me.
"When the time comes"—I closed my eyes to blink the tears away—"will you see me off?"
"Of course."
My smile widened and I opened my eyes. "I'm not going just yet… I had to…"
"I know."
I looked ahead as Administrator flew ahead of me and projected her aura.
The fire pulled away from 00, burning the sky behind us as Ptolemy's thrusters surged to life and Veda launched herself toward the horizon. There was still time, and we were going to use it. As soon as I rubbed David's asshole face in how badly he'd lost before ever realizing it!
The flames peeled away, and the clouds broke in our wake.
Administrator surged forward, rolling as she broke through the atmosphere to fly straight toward Madison's center.
Finishing it?
Confirmation.
Okay. You burn whatever's left of the Thinker. Put her to rest…and I'll deal with them.
I threw 00's arms and legs out, arresting my dive and straining the frame.
00 was probably done for after this, but that's okay. It was just a prototype to begin with. The next one… The next one would be everything it could be.
I cast the Buster Sword aside and drew my last two beam sabers.
"One last go," I mumbled. I rolled the suit, taking control of the dive and flying straight for the river. "Shine, Trans-Am."
Golden light exploded. I pulled the field in close. It wouldn't expand more than a few feet from the suit, but it would last longer than if I let it grow wild.
I saw gunfire below, and beams of light. There were capes and aircraft in the air pushing in the direction of Madison's walls. Figures moved in the shadows, buried minds echoing from a vast distance in my head. Too many.
Save as many as I can. I grinned. It's all there is.
Braking over the trees, I cut across the river and flew through a house. My right hand swung out as I did and as the opposite wall exploded I brought the blade down. The arm severed at the elbow, and the monster cape screamed as she reeled back. Her mind was a flurry of primality. Hunt. Kill. Survive.
I reached out as 00's feet hit the ground, grabbing hold of her mind and pulling it back from the abyss it had been left to drown in. Administrator came through, reconnecting her Shard and correcting its configuration.
Justine's eyes snapped open and she gasped as her twisted body twisted back into shape behind me.
Chevalier stumbled back, the arm aimed at his throat suddenly dropping harmlessly to his feet. Behind him, Gully collapsed rather than attack. She screamed as her skin pulled into itself. All that bitterness wasn't just her. Her Shard fought back and Administrator had to beat it down to get it to cooperate.
She raised her hands, staring as they shrank to normal size.
There, I thought. Do you feel any better?
She looked up at me as I turned away. She didn't feel any better.
Then what's killing Chevalier going to do for you?
Hannah spun at that thought, pointing a pistol directly at Gully while two other Protectorate members turned on another pair of capes who'd come with her.
"It was the Simurgh," I said aloud. "It's not their fault."
Which was sort of a lie. The Simurgh didn't literally mind control anyone. Not in the way people thought. She scoured the past and future. She knew exactly how to set people up to fall the way she wanted. No point being technical about it though. Bullet averted. The Simurgh might be willing to ruin David's big return by shooting Gully in Chevalier's direction, but I wasn't.
"He knew," the girl spat. "He knew what they were doing to us!"
"No, he didn't."
Heads turned up.
Alexandria hovered overhead, hand clutched over her stump shoulder. She looked down at Gully, and she told her half-lie. "No one still alive knew. Not even Hero and Legend. We hid that from them. I'm the only one left who was involved in creating the Case-53s."
A lot of confused looks went around but I didn't have time to hash it out.
I couldn't save all the Case-53s in Madison, but I could save some of them.
One of the capes behind me blinked, looking past Alexandria at the sky. "Is anyone else seeing that?"
There.
I burst forward, jumping 00 over a rooftop to an adjacent street. As I came down I pulled Toby out of the darkness and caught him when he fell from the air. Spinning around as I landed, I swung my saber through the marine's rifle. He cursed and stumbled back.
"Watch him."
I threw Toby into the man and leaped forward. Bullets pinged against 00's back, bouncing off the GN Field and spraying the ground behind me with ricochets. My arm swung out, taking the massive fangs in the place of the cape scrambling to get off the ground. They released as soon as they pierced the armor, Landry collapsing onto his hands as his knees grew back out.
Shielding him from the bullets still being fired—someone behind me shouted hold fire—I pulled Tara back and helped her escape the shadow she'd been hiding in.
Still time.
00's feet lifted off the ground and I glided the suit through an alleyway.
On the other side I spun around, slashing through a rifle as I got Jamie and Kristin back. They collapsed on the ground while their bodies reverted and I fired all my thrusters to shoot across the road and protect Howard. The tank shell slammed into 00's arm, spinning me around and blowing the limb apart. The GN Field flickered, but I grabbed hold of Howard and Beatrice, pulling them up and stopping them from killing Herald.
I sighed as the golden light winked out, but that was it.
I'd done what I could.
With my remaining arm, I took control of the spin and swung the blade down. Neadry's head parted his body, and I quickly threw a leg forward to catch the falling body before it crushed Beatrice or Howard. They were too busy convulsing on the ground to protect themselves.
"Pull them out from under me!" I shouted.
Herald was still dazed on the ground, but Mouse Protector and Colossus ran forward. They grabbed Beatrice and Howard, pulling them back while I pushed Neadry's body away and swung my sword through a construct of light and smoke. Valiant twitched his fingers and sent a spasm through a snake-like Case-53 that brought it toppling down.
The horde continued forward. Twisted bodies as far as my eye could see and minds buried so deep I couldn't reach them without the Trans-Am field. It was no different than the broken triggers. They were lost, and they'd just keep killing if we didn't stop them.
Looking ahead at how many there were though, I tried to think of something. If we could stall and contain them I could repair 00 enough to fix them. They didn't—
"Saving your ass again Villkiss!"
Shells sailed overhead and I smiled. Smugly. I admit it.
Good things come to those who hang on and refuse to let go, and they're worth it.
The shells exploded, showering the ground ahead in a viscous foam that spread and grew on contact. One by one the monster capes were enveloped and held down, entangled, and buried in the gunk. Some tried to pull free but remained trapped. Those that turned to gas or tried to teleport found powers pummeling them back down and more foam falling on them.
Alice landed with a blast from her boots to break her fall. "I figured you'd pull some bullshit hero moment."
Behind her, Mouse Protector held her hand out and Valiant started fishing through his armored pockets.
"We don't have to kill them." I stepped back before the foam managed to envelop my leg. "Contain them and I can fix them."
Heads turned to Howard and Beatrice. The former was unconscious, but Beatrice was clinging to Colossus' leg and shaking as her eyes darted about.
"They don't have to die," I implored.
"I don't know if we have the capes to make that happen," Daedalus warned.
"Is anyone else seeing the sky right now?" someone asked.
Heads looked up, noticing for the first time the curtain of glittering red light spreading over the atmosphere. It spread in a wave, rolling and twisting. As we looked, I could see something splitting the light in two. Veda had already accelerated around the Earth an—And a light brighter than a spotlight flared.
The Tau Drives maximized their output all at once, throwing Veda out of orbit and launching her on her way.
My smile grew.
That was it. The fatal blow had been struck, and David didn't even know it. One way or another, hell or high water, Veda would bring it all to an end.
Which turned out to be a dramatic time for the GN Drive on 00's right shoulder to explode.
I sucked my breath in as I hit the ground hard, and others scattered back from the shrapnel.
"Jesus!" someone exclaimed.
Alice bent forward and looked at me. "Fucking show off."
"I don't do it on purpose," I sighed.
I tested an arm and got it to move, but the GN Field was shattered. That was that. I'd done all I could. The rest came down to everyone else.
"The monster capes," I pressed. "I can reverse the effect on them as soon as I fix my suit."
"That will take a while," Daedalus replied. "Even for you. We can try but—"
"Saving the day twice in an hour," Lisa gloated. "I need to charge for this!"
She stepped through a portal, followed by Marquis and Anges Court.
"Yeah," Lisa drawled. "Saw this whole plan coming together as you brained it out. You're lucky I'm psychic!"
We both knew that wasn't true. She'd guessed I would do something heroic as much as Alice did and figured it would be to try to save the Madison 53s. I resolved to make her suffer for turning up the smarm. Seriously. She was smarmy enough when she wasn't trying to overdo it.
Daedalus stared at the capes behind her. Marquis and Agnes were joined by others. About a dozen shakers and masters who could non-lethally trap or contain. She was going to make me—And she was nodding in my direction; she was going to insist I thank her. Fuck.
I pushed 00 onto its side and pulled the emergency release. The chest plate burst forward, and I pushed the helmet up and off my head with my hands.
"What's happening?"
And now he's here.
I pulled myself up, brushing off my knees and arms as David hovered overhead with a small entourage. His expression tightened as I stood up.
And I smiled right at him.
"Seriously," someone called. "The sky? The fuck is with that?"
"There were those missiles earlier," someone else said.
Alice started laughing.
And laughing.
"And people say I'm obnoxious," Lisa chirped.
Alice scoffed and kept laughing. "Bitch I'm endearing!"
"What's so funny?" Colossus asked.
Alice shook her head. "Think it through, geniuses! Those missiles were Newtype! She just launched Veda into space. You know, where no one on Earth could ever take a shot at her ever again!"
I took it from their reactions that Veda's message hadn't made it this far. She probably didn't want to clutter up the emergency radios and channels the responders were using.
"Okay," Valiant mumbled. "But—"
Alice chortled because that's what we needed. Her and Lisa playing up the ham. She really was lucky she was endearing.
"And you think Newtype, this one right here, would send her kid—yeah spoiler warnings for anyone not paying attention—up there if there was anything that could possibly hurt her?" Alice waved her hand. "Come on, it's easy as one two three!"
Daedalus realized it quickly. His hands dropped to his side and he stared.
"Ding dong!" Alice cheered. "The bitch is dead!"
It was like the aftermath of Sanc on replay. Muted reactions as people processed the news. Then disbelief and uncertainty. Then a few heads looked up and it began to dawn on them.
And all the while, David hung in the air. The wind fluttered around me and his confused stare turned to fear.
And the horizon ignited with golden light.
There was pain and closure.
The light blew upward into the sky as Administrator scoured every last trace of the Thinker entity from the Earth. Put her to her final rest, where her corpse couldn't possibly be desecrated ever again.
Heads watched as the light faded, save for a single streak in the air that turned toward us.
Administrator set down at my side.
Done?
Confirmation.
She wasn't happy about it, but I think that's why she did it. The Thinker was dead, and unlike the Warrior, her corpse had been mutilated and twisted. She was letting that go. There was no revenge to be had for the dead. She just didn't want to leave the corpse's pieces around for anyone to poke or prod. She'd scoured it away, ashes and all. Someone had apparently already done most of it so she was just finishing the job.
Eventually, Mouse Protector broke the stunned silence.
"Come on people! What, you've never heard of an Endbringer dying before and golden girls flying around? Come on get with the program!"
That got people moving.
"What's going on?" Chevalier came in, Miss Militia and others behind him.
They crossed over from a sideroad absent Gully or Alexandria. Chevalier glanced up at David as he weaved his way in and then looked over the sea of capes struggling against Bakuda's foam bomb. Lisa was already sending the capes she'd brought out to focus on containment, with special instruction to Marquis that 'near death' wounds wouldn't get him any closer to Panacea.
I sat atop 00…
I was done for the day.
I was pretty sure my legs were done too. They turned to jelly as soon as I sat. I needed to think of what to tell Dad. And Lafter. And Dinah. And Orga. Everyone, really. I'd rushed to reach Veda because I'd wanted to say it to her directly. Even once her avatar sat back up, it just wouldn't have been the same.
Chevalier stopped in front of me, a million questions racing through his mind. More immediately though, he gawked at Administrator. "Who are you?"
Administrator raised her head and met his eyes.
He'd seen her before. His power. He could see powers. Or something of them. He'd seen Administrator in me and recognized her now that she was out and walking about.
A million thoughts were racing through Administrator's head as she contemplated an answer.
One particular thought stood out to me.
Do it.
Uncertainty.
There's no point trying to hide it anymore.
We couldn't run from it. The Warrior had come here to annihilate the world. The Shards would have happily done it because that's what they did. They had to confront that. We all did. There was no going forward if we denied what we were leaving behind.
Administrator answered the question.
"Zion."
Chevalier flinched, and David began to retreat overhead.
"What do you want?" Chevalier asked, the question drawing a confused look from Hannah.
"Peace," Administrator answered.
She looked past him, raising her head to glare at David. There was anger there. Anger that he'd been there both times. Anger that he'd had a role in all of it from start to finish.
She let it go and affirmed her answer.
"Peace for all time."
I reached over and took her hand in mine. I doubted the others would ever recognize the amount of self-control she was harnessing. She wanted to fly off and find Leet. She wanted to kill David right now. I was going to give up everything and that was the most she could do for me.
But it couldn't happen that way.
Not now.
The cat was out of the bag, and we couldn't let war begin between humans and Shards. Enough pain had already been inflicted and endured. This couldn't become the sparking point. She couldn't force it. I needed a little more time.
I'll deal with them, I told her. Humans will resolve their own conflict, and then I'll get you in there so you can resolve yours.
…Acceptance.
"What the fuck?"
The exclamations mounted rapidly after that.
Behind the tanks and the marines, space warped and Vista again took the first step ahead of the Wards. They poured in after her, followed by Londo Bell and the Guild. In the stretched-out space behind them, the Simurgh's corpse laid as still as it was when I'd left it, head staring more blankly ahead than ever.
"Holy shit…"
"Fucking show-offs!" Alice complained.
As hundreds more capes poured in to recontain Madison's Case-53s, I cast my eyes toward the horizon, watching as Veda's light faded into the night sky.
There was still a lot left to do, but I didn't have to do that much of it. Relena. Lisa. The Wards. Londo Bell. They still needed help to get going on their way but they'd figure it out even if I wasn't around. Dad and Veda… Orga. I still had time. I'd use it.
I could afford to use it because the world wasn't going to end.
One way or another, no matter what other bullshit came, the moment the Simurgh fell and Veda escaped Earth's gravity, the war was over.
Nudge.
I simply wasn't worried about that.
Leet needed time for his plan to come together and time wasn't his friend anymore. With everything that had happened, I didn't need a precog to guess what he'd do next. He'd see exactly what I did and make the logical moves. I'd seen enough in his head to know how he'd play it more or less.
And he wasn't going to succeed.
I already knew how we'd stop him, and my plan needed a lot less time than his. I killed a damn Endbringer. Leet wasn't even close to beyond reach.
…
Huh.
So that's what not freaking about what came next felt like.
Been a while since I felt that still. Usually, I ended a fight and found myself immediately planning for the next one. If not fighting it. Not that there weren't going to be other fights. I just wasn't worried about them. I knew what I was doing. I knew there were good people behind me. I knew we'd already won.
It was almost sad.
I set out to change the world. To make a difference. To cast a shadow.
Let David stare at me with a million guesses as to why I was smiling.
Fuck it. Fuck him. I'd earned the right to be smug.
I knew everything that was coming next and I could already see it.
We'd beaten him before he even had the balls to come out of his hole and try to win.