A Waken 19.3

Since I was in the area, I made a detour to Machu Picchu.

It wasn't far from the compound I'd just left, so why not? Peru wasn't exactly safe for tourism anymore. Hadn't been for most of my life. Odd thing though. When a Gundam started flying around, every jerk with a brain went to ground and hoped I'd just fly over them.

That suited me. I took the chance to see a few things around the world I'd only ever seen in pictures or TV shows. Teotihuacan. Pompei. Athens. The Great Pyramids. Petra. There's a lot of places in the world worth seeing.

"Impressive," Veda commented. "The stone appears local to the mountain but getting labor up the slope must have been challenging."

"All to build a nice summer home," I replied. Kind of funny but that's history. "Still neat. Wonder what it looked like in its prime."

"I could likely simulate the original appearance with a detailed material survey."

"Historians and archeologists will probably love that if you can make it work."

"I will add it to the list."

Veda had started collecting potential hobbies to pursue beyond Dungeons and Dragons.

Turning my attention down the slope, I spotted the light of several fires in the forest below the mountain. Ever since the Peruvian government collapsed—rather sordid story of a CIA-backed coup going completely out of control when capes got involved—the country had basically dissolved. Sectarian conflict came to dominate what remained, and what people had survived lived in fortified and isolated small towns, usually with a handful of capes running the place and protecting it.

It was aptly named 'parahuman feudalism.'

It was weird.

Looking back, my entire story started in such a mundane way. An angry girl furious at an uncaring world decided to do what she wants. It had some fantastical elements, sure, but on the whole it just wasn't that special. Teenage rebellion with superpowers.

Then it became about saving Brockton Bay. Saving Brockton Bay became stopping Teacher. Stopping Teacher led to Cauldron and preparing for the PRT to collapse. The Shards. Blue Cosmos plotting war. Creating Londo Bell.

So much in so little time and I couldn't even remember how I'd gone from one point to the next.

Things just happened and I did whatever seemed right or necessary at the time to try and fix it. Things were still just happening. And I was still doing whatever seemed right or necessary to try and fix it. The upside was I had a lot more certainty now than I'd had before.

The thought process felt like trying to simplify something very complex but that was my life at times. Oh well.

"I think I found him," Lily announced suddenly.

I turned my head, looking to the northeast.

"Does he see you?" Lafter asked. On my HUD the dot representing Kyrios was already turning. "Forecast?"

"One second," Dinah replied.

"Anyone ever point out you guys aren't a spec ops team?" Riley asked. "Just asking."

"She has a point," Lafter agreed. "We're way cooler than the Navy Seals."

"Is that the point?" Lily asked back. She'd only just started getting used to Lafter's unique way of dealing with stress.

"Course it is," Lafter replied. "How badass can a bunch of guys be when their mascot is a seal?"

"I don't th—"

"Confirmed," Veda interrupted. "Apologies. Vector has located the target. Sending coordinates now."

I brought Eirene about and flew over the mountains.

Much of South America was, admittedly, the same as Peru. Only the largest cities remained, most not that different from how Brockton Bay had been. Small bands of beleaguered heroes doing their best to maintain a power balance with an array of villains. For everyone else it was life in isolated—often villain-controlled and protected—compounds and walled villages.

Nature had overtaken vast stretches of land. Forests reclaimed streets and buildings that were barely visible from the air. Entire highways were covered and multiple tourist stops and resorts had decayed into ruins like those the tourists would have come to visit.

Now that was irony.

"What is our purpose in this?" Veda asked me.

"Isn't it obvious?" I asked.

"No," she said. "It is not."

Huh. I'd have thought the others would assume the reason. There went the surprise but surprises were kind of stupid so whatever.

"I just want to have a chat."

Borders between South American countries had become kind of a nebulous concept, but I crossed the one between Columbia and Venezuela, flying ahead of the Thrones and toward Kyrios as we all moved toward Dynames.

I'd upgraded most of the suits to the point they weren't really the ones they'd been a year ago, but I liked the names for the most part. Stargazer teleported ahead of us as we closed in, bringing a trio of FLAGs with it. As a single group, we flew across a final range of mountains into a landscape right out of an old black and white Vampire flick.

Way back in the early 90s, a cape with the ability to just 'kill' things appeared. She ran rampant for nearly two weeks before Alexandria and Hero stopped her. Even then, entire swaths of Venezuela were just dead. Blackened trees with no leaves. Gray grass that seemed frozen in place. The ground was covered in a sort of gray-brown mulch from the slow decay of all the dead plants and animals.

The land was simply dead and it had stayed dead for twenty years.

Almost no one lived there anymore.

It made the compound easy to spot as one of the few sources of light for dozens of miles in either direction.

A golden light overhead signaled Administrator's arrival just as I came down to a narrow beaten-up road leading into the walled village. It looked rather ramshackle, but sturdy. Concrete, tin, bricks, and steel fencing were all present, completing the image of something right out of a horror movie.

Out of place was the fairly clean lined and classic muscle car idling on the road. Standing directly in the headlights, I looked forward at the woman sitting behind the wheel. I'd seen Squealer since the robo-tank incident, but I'd not really talked to her at all.

She definitely remembered me though, and all other things aside that bitterness was still roiling under her skin.

The sound of gunfire and explosions sounded behind her. According to the information we had, a tinker ran the base. Clever on Leet's part. There was limited internet access in this part of the world and even less law enforcement. If he wanted to scavenge for the materials needed to build his doomsday device while keeping his profile minimal, this was the kind of place to do it.

But first, I set Eirene to crouch and opened the armor. A rush of rancid air struck me. It was a powerful smell. Nearly knocked me right back into my suit before I caught myself.

Setting my feet on the road, I shook my head and exhaled. "That's a new smell. Hello, Sherrell."

Kyrios and Stargazer landed fifty feet behind me, followed by Dynames, the Thrones, and the FLAGs.

Ahead of me, the car waited as Sherrell debated with herself.

After a half minute the door swung up, a curse echoed and Sherrell pulled herself up. "Haven't you fucked with my life enough?" She shook her head and pinched her nose. "Ever hear of a fucking radio?"

"Probably could have done that," I admitted. It occurred to me that Sherrell and Alice would probably get along. "Thought the face-to-face thing would be more effective."

Sherrell scoffed. "Effective at poisoning me maybe. That how you planning to do us in?"

"If you thought I was going to do that I think you'd have tried to run me over," I told her. The thought had occurred to her. Looking past her, I asked, "Why are you out here? Leet doesn't need the help?"

"Doesn't call himself that anymore," Sherrell grumbled.

"Zero's a bit pretentious, don't you think."

Sherrell rolled her eyes. "Newtype's a bit pretentious, don't you think?"

"That's fair."

Behind me, Dynames' head turned. "What is—"

"I have no idea," Lafter answered.

"Get on with it," Sherrell grumbled. "It stinks out here. What do you want? Just aiming to kill Zippy?"

"Zippy?"

"I'm not calling him Zero," she complained. "That name's shit."

Someone was unhappy, but I'd already known that. Sherrell hadn't done the best job hiding her frustration. Still, she stuck by him. I'd wondered why but I could appreciate her feelings given my own complicated history with friendship.

"I'm not here to kill him," I assured her. "I feel a bit stupid about that now."

"Forgive me if I don't believe you."

"Fair enough," I repeated.

She gave me a confused look. She didn't trust me at all but struggled to see what I was trying to do. Lily and Lafter were unfortunately in the same position. Unfortunately, for this gambit to work I needed to shock everyone. Visibly, and obviously.

Suddenly, Sherrel raised her head, grimacing and reaching for her car as Administrator came to a stop in the air. She hovered a few hundred feet up, cape billowing around her.

"She's just here to watch," I assured. "Administrator and I decided that nothing would ever work if she flies around solving problems for us." My eyes narrowed, the glow in my irises brightening. "We have to solve our own problems, or this'll never work."

Sherrell hesitated before asking, "This?"

"Co-existence," I answered. "One world for everyone. Humans and Shards."

Her brow rose.

I waited.

"You watched Sesame Street 'til you were in high school, didn't you?"

Not really. Actually, pretty sure I'd never much watched Sesame Street. "I like Big Bird."

"Pft. You would."

Apparently.

She relaxed more in mind than in body. Her shoulders remained tense and her hands were ready to reach for something in the car door. Silence had fallen over the compound behind her. Vaguely I could feel several minds. Most were scared but one was terrified and another was… muted?

Did Leet find some way to actually interfere with telepathy?

Impressive, but not ideal. As much as I didn't want to play the part of Jack Slash, there were a few billion lives on the line. If it came down to it, I would have to kill Leet.

One man's goodhearted request didn't outweigh all those lives. Not even close. Leet finding a way to block quantum brainwaves was brilliant—he'd had to have figured them out on some level to do it—but a bit of a complication. Nothing is ever easy, unfortunately.

Concern, Administrator stressed.

I know, I promised her. Future?

Data.

"He's coming out," Dinah said. "Any minute now."

I nodded and waited, asking, "That big project of his coming along? Seems to be some material bottlenecks."

Sherrell shrugged. "Ask Zippy."

I sensed him move well before I saw him. Even with his thoughts muted, actually discerning his location wasn't too hard for me. My eyes traced him from his start in a basement or underground complex back to the surface. There was another volley of gunfire and laser beams followed by silence.

Then he came back to the entrance and stopped.

He'd naturally iterated his suit once again. More thrusters. Heavier armor. Two large pylons were on the back and a whole host of weapons were built not that obscurely into the frame. The paint job was a darker red, with black over the chest.

The suit's single eye looked at me, then snapped up toward Administrator, and then back to me.

"Was wondering when you'd show up," he declared. "Bring your alien friend to help this time?"

"Says she ain't gonna do shit," Sherrell informed him. "Sounds believable, right?"

"Right."

I resisted the urge to react to the surge of bitterness in Sherrell. No need to overcomplicate things.

I had a purpose to my madness and it was time to get the ball rolling.

"What's the matter?" I started. "Did Zero predict some other outcome?"

The eye snapped back to me.

I smiled warmly. "Guess it's not infallible, but I wouldn't sweat it. Forecast is pretty smart and she's wrong often enough. Predicting the future is a messy thing. Fool's errand even. The Shards are super good at it, and I doubt any of them predicted the last thirty years."

"I think if I attack you she attacks back."

"No. She won't."

Lily turned Dynames' head but Lafter already knew about it so Kyrios remained firm.

"Administrator made her mind up a while ago," I revealed. "if it comes down to a choice of one or the other, she'll act to ensure humanity's survival at the expense of the Shards."

"Did she pinky swear?" Leet asked derisively.

Administrator hovered overhead. I was simplifying more than a little. Choosing to die in droves to save others was one thing. It could even be called noble. In a few hundred years, humanity would probably lionize the choice once they'd adapted to the information.

Being annihilated by an attack was very different and carried very different consequences for those who survived.

"It's not hard. In three hundred years the Network starts running out of energy anyway. Reducing their overall numbers is the only way any of them survive if they can't solve their energy problem. Administrator considers the Shards to have had their chance. Humanity is still very young in comparison. We have a long way we can still go unless something apocalyptic happens to us."

I shrugged.

"But that's the Shards' problem to solve."

"Implying I'm yours," he caught on. "Glad to see the marriage is delegating duties amicably."

"Zero didn't see that coming either, did it?"

He rebuffed my criticism by ignoring it.

"Then it'll just be you and your entourage?"

"Nope. They're only here because I expect you'd be looking for sniping positions or ambushes if they weren't clearly visible. This way, we can just skip over the will I or won't I by making it clear I'm not."

Leet started talking. I think. Hard to tell. It wasn't verbal of course. Zero was onboard that suit and it was assessing everything and making predictions. As best as I understood it, which admittedly involved a mountain of guessing.

"Hold on," Lily called. "We're not here to stop him?" Dynames looked about. "I thought we were hunting Leet down to stop him."

"Nope," I repeated.

Lily gawked and I'd apologize for it first chance I had. "Then why are we here?"

"Because she's smart," Leet interjected. "She thinks that my power is still restrained in how many of the same thing I can make. Why make any risks or gambles that might complicate her plans when she can bide her time and keep her options open."

"Alternate possibility," I noted. "Killing you might not be what I want anymore, so I need a way to stop you that involves not doing that."

Leet had indeed found some way to block his quantum brainwaves, but his Shard couldn't do that so easily. Prototype was no less hostile and disinterested in Administrator's overtures than before but we could still hear it.

And I knew he was still restrained. His power could lighten up on a restriction sure, but it couldn't toss it aside entirely.

Leet still had limits.

"And the best way to make sure you can't just build a second genocide machine and try again," I interrupted, "is to wait until the first one is nearly done and destroy that. That way, you can't just sit around, lay low for a bit, and try again."

"So you say," he bluffed.

We know it'll work, I thought. You can calm down now.

Don't want to, Administrator replied.

We had agreed to let me handle this, but that didn't mean she was overly enthused. It was her species on the line. Agreeing to let the Shards fail, to save humanity was one thing. Being annihilated before they could even try to not fail was another.

I'd managed to convince her however that it was unlikely Leet could wipe out every Shard. No matter how things ended, some would survive. The big question was how that survival would be remembered; as the consequence of refusing to change and adapt, or as the near annihilation of their kind by one human.

One of those possibilities had a much better long-term outcome than the other.

"I suppose I could just kill you," I pondered aloud. "But that would waste all the time I've spent on the whole 'beat you without killing you' plan."

"Could have fooled me," he replied. "You seemed dedicated to trying last time."

At his side Sherrell grimaced and got back into her car without a word.

Leet was confident. I'd seen Zero in action and I had to assume his current suit was much better suited—pun not intended—than the last one for a fight. That battle had not been a blowout and I doubted the same tricks would work twice. Hitting him with overwhelming force was one thing but I had to assume Leet could get reinforcements from the Titans. The team had movers.

"Don't feel like it," I declared. "Why take the risk when I can just keep waiting for you to be almost done."

He didn't immediately reply, and I jabbed once more.

"Zero being a bit slow today?"

The eye scanned back and forth quickly before settling on me. His suit took a guarded stance, one foot going back and the arm with a large shield attached to it coming up.

"You're playing at something," he replied.

"I'm playing at a lot of things," I admitted freely, "but for the moment you're still building your doomsday machine and it's still too early to try blowing it up so you can't build another. Of course, I didn't come all the way down here to state the obvious. You're smart enough to figure out why I've left you be this long."

"Here to apologize for trying to kill me?"

"To be fair, you tried to kill me first so I think we can both just drop that. It's not exactly the point anymore for either of us."

"Then get to the point." He hid his frustration well, but not that well.

He was still expecting an attack at the end of all this. No doubt because Zero was telling him to expect it after all the times I'd orchestrated a conversation with someone that ultimately ended with a Gundam putting them into the ground. Figuratively speaking, mostly.

At the end of the day, all predictions were predicated on understanding past actions.

I doubted Zero could comprehend unprecedented action even as a miraculous piece of tinker-tech.

"I wanted to have a talk," I said. "About the state of things. We're nearing the end game now, and I find it tense to try and guess what's going to happen next. A lot has changed in nine months."

"Ten months," he corrected. His posture remained guarded, waiting.

So I just kept talking.

"It's all changed so quickly, and it's amazing what people forget. The PRT and the Protectorate were a keystone of the world for twenty years and now they're just gone."

"Maybe hinging the fate of the entire world on one small group of people with far too much power was a stupid plan," he charged.

"Maybe," I agreed. "But things often go that way, don't they?" I glanced up, more than a little disappointed that the post-apocalyptic display around me was complete with cloudy sky. "I think most people just want to live their lives, and some of us can't content ourselves with quiet acceptance to do that." I looked back at Leet. "Some of us aren't built to just live our lives, for better or worse."

Leet stared at me from behind his suit. I think. Disbelievingly, and suspiciously, he started looking around.

"You can't possibly be here to talk about this." The eye slowly swept his surroundings.

"Why not?" I challenged. "There's not exactly a whole lot of people I can talk to about all this. A lot of people, even those in Londo Bell, are still playing catch up with everything that's happened."

"I still hear it coming," Lafter said behind me.

"Any second now," Lily agreed.

"Besides," I said unperturbed, "I killed an Endbringer—again—and if I want to talk about a topic, then I'm going to talk about the topic."

"She's been riding that one for months!" Lafter exclaimed.

I wasn't one to disappoint.

"Good for you," he quipped.

I tried to gauge how much he was bluffing and how much he really wasn't impressed. Leet's power being what it was, if I had to peg anyone capable of pulling off the same feat I'd probably peg him. Actually, a weapon capable of directly attacking the Shards would probably work on an Endbringer. They were just a core at the end of the day with some multi-dimensional shenanigans built around it.

The cores weren't even that strong or sturdy if you got through the multi-dimensional part. Lily could kill one with a shot in just the right place with just the right weapon. I imagined that's how Scion died. Damocles probably delivered the killing blow with her power after someone else—I'd guess Eidolon—opened Scion up for the attack.

I wasn't sure how they pinned him down long enough to make that attack, but it didn't really matter now.

"Kind of funny how little it really changes things though, doesn't it?" I crossed my arms under my chest and tapped my foot on the ground. "The PRT is gone and now there's the DPA. The Protectorate is gone, but most of the members have just joined up with the same two groups between Londo Bell and the Titans. It's not really that huge a change in the big picture. We just traded one arrangement for another that's more or less the same."

"Good job," Leet congratulated. "I hope it's everything you dreamed of."

"Not just yet, but maybe with time to grow," I replied.

"I'm sure that's a great comfort to everyone who died along the way."

"One of those things people forget," I lamented. "Eight hundred twenty-four people died that night. Phantom Pain. Broken triggers. The Simurgh. Then the changes started sweeping in. More people died. Tip of the iceberg. All that change and it's still not enough."

I looked into Leet's suit's eye and asked, "How many more people have to die?"

His response was slow in coming, but simple. "More."

"At whose hands?" I pressed.

"The Network is collapsing," he claimed, his tone rising. "You know it is and David's making it worse and is too dumb to see it."

"I have a solution for that," I reiterated. "Unfortunately, it's hard to implement when someone's going to kill just as many, if not more people, in the name of saving them."

"I'm not interested in debating it with you," he growled. "Either stop me or go home. I have better things to do with my time."

"Don't we all?" I waited a moment before asking, "Why is David doing it by the way? I never really got that part."

He stared at me.

"Not like we haven't already had our says," I said. "We're not going to convince the other. I don't see the point in retreading old ground."

He kept staring, and the confusion was starting to be shared by Prototype. I was right. Zero had never expected this to happen and now it didn't know what was going on. Had Leet become so reliant on it to figure things out he was losing the ability to make his own choices?

Wonder what Fortuna would have to say about that.

"David's just going to come to me at some point," I noted. "He'll want to appear reasonable before doing anything drastic. Won't be hard for me to figure out then. I'd just like to know now. Anticipation is overrated."

"Same thing all tyrants say. Strength from conflict but conflict is bad. I stopped trying to work it out around the same time I stopped trying to work you out. Better things to do with my time."

Strength from conflict? Now that was disappointing in its predictability, but it was good to have some form of confirmation.

"I was kind of hoping to be surprised," I admitted. "That's rather banal for ten years of scheming on his part."

"Brazen stupidity is easily confused for virtue," Leet spat.

I raised my brow. "And yet you're helping him?"

"He's useful."

"For how long?"

"Long enough. He's kept you off my back. Even if you attack me now, I can last long enough for help to arrive, and then you'll have to deal with all the pointed questions."

"I'm not so sure. I have a very good PR lady."

"You like being understood too much to stop caring what other people think."

I stifled a laugh, completely unable to say why that was so funny. Leet clearly knew about the telepathy thing, but I was willing to put money down he only understood it on a basic mechanical level. The full implications of what an evolved human brain with control over its quantum wavelengths could do probably wasn't a topic he'd delved into.

"You're not wrong though," I admitted. "It's all come down to this little dance. Every other change is going to take its course from how this fight between the Titans and Londo Bell plays out. We have diametrically opposed views on how capes should operate and coming to blows would be inevitable even without David itching for it."

"Struggling?" he asked. "Here I thought everyone glossed over how you took over a small country, have more military power than most countries stored in your basement, and keep monsters like Bonesaw around as a hobby. I'd have thought killing Endbringers would take you farther if you weren't so busy terrifying everyone paying attention."

"Not really," I replied unflappably. "To most people, the Endbringers are just another set of capes running rampant. Very big and very nasty. Hitting every three months and destroying countries. They're the biggest disasters around."

I glanced around, finding the setting itself rather topical. "But there are other disasters in the world. The Nine, Nilbog, the Blasphemies, or Heartbreaker. Kill one of them and it's a relief. Maybe even a huge relief. Japan and Switzerland are jumping for joy with Leviathan and the Simurgh being gone. But there are other nightmares."

Most people had never seen an Endbringer. They were just names and horrible things, but lots of horrible things were happening in the world. To a typical person, an Endbringer simply wasn't that special. Killing one took me far. Killing two farther. But there were limits to how far you could go by killing the monsters under the bed.

People had other worries. Other fears. Other hopes. RemovingRelieving the potentially biggest one off the top of the heap still left a mountain of things to dread.

They had no idea what the Endbringers really were. For the common man and woman and child of the world, the Endbringers were just another monster in a world filled with monsters. They had to be stopped and there was a lot of acclaim for stopping them, but there were limits. The next biggest problem in the pile became the thing to fear and doubt problems of the world weren't instantaneously solved just because a very big one was gone.

"When David loses, it won't be because we killed the Endbringers."

"Only one I see killing Endbringers is you. Very scary."

True, but I had a plan for that. "I think you can see a bit more broadly than that," I told him. "After all, you had the sense to use David as a distraction Carnifex."

Leet's stance shifted then, visibly reacting to the obscure term.

He'd never actually played Warhammer but he'd always been interested in the game. He knew lots about it, including the strategy of using a big scary monster as an expendable bullet sponge to distract from something more important.

In Leet's case, David was his expendable bullet sponge.

"We still jabbering out here?" Sherrel snarled. Leet never took the time, it seemed, to shield her. She was nervous, confused. This situation wasn't one she knew how to deal with. "If they ain't gonna stop us then let's go."

Leet's eye shifted back to me.

"If you want to skip on some scintillating conversation," I lamented. "Go ahead."

I might not be able to read him, but I knew how to bait a hook.

And the best traps were the ones you had no choice but to walk into.

"Why are you really here?" Leet asked. "It's not to kill me. It's not to stop me from taking the material I came for. You're not here just to chat. What do you want?"

"You should learn to lay back and appreciate the simple things, Leet."

"Zero."

"You'll miss them when they're gone." I smiled. "I'd have thought you wouldn't need to learn that lesson. You did become a cape to have a laugh, didn't you?"

He snarled audibly. The sound rumbled coming out of his speaker and he started to raise a weapon.

Dynames, Kyrios, the Thrones, and the FLAGs did the same.

"Don't," I said before turning and looking back. "Leave him be."

Leet stood still, his confusion apparent even with the quantum blocker he had.

Why was I here? It was a good question and I knew for a fact Zero couldn't possibly have the answer. Which in a way was the answer. Ironically.

"The future's a great unknown," I mused. "What's the Star Trek movie?" I looked him intently in his eye. "The Undiscovered Country?"

It was his favorite film in the franchise. I'd never seen it. Not much of a Star Trek fan.

"You used Forecast to look back in time at me," he tried. "What? You know me so you can talk me out of it all?"

"I doubt I can talk you out of it. The only person capable of that isn't alive anymore, is he?"

I waited a moment. Let that sink in. I expected he didn't remotely appreciate the reminder.

"Do you want to talk to him again?" I asked. "Or, a piece of him, at least."

He scoffed. No hesitation. No interest. "So you're just trying to fuck with me."

I'd hoped he might indulge that proposal a bit better, but I suspected I couldn't say anything to convince him. Shame, but I'd expected it. It was good enough though. Rome wasn't built in a day and it took a few centuries to bring it down.

Some sayings are just inaccurate.

"Fine." I shrugged. "I do have a question."

"Get on with it then," he growled. "I have things to do."

"How far are you willing to go to protect your Carnifex? You must be almost done. How much longer do you need him around?"

It was, to be fair, a question I wanted the answer to. Hiding behind David was one thing. It made sense. Going after Leet again could easily be spun like I was the aggressor.

I needed David on the backfoot first if I wanted to make Kati's job easier.

"We both know he's crazy," I commented. "He doesn't really know what he's doing. Even if you think I've gone native and Administrator is manipulating me, he's no less dangerous."

"If you go cliché and propose a team up," he started, "I might just take my chances."

"I don't need your help," I replied. "David lost before this stalemate began. The only question I have is the same one I've always asked."

"And I assume you're going to tell me."

"How many people have to die before it ends," I declared. "The number's lower if you just hide behind your shield and let him fall when the time comes."

"It would seem that the longer the two of you fight the better off I am."

"I don't think you're so immune to the collateral damage." I tilted my head forward. "People are going to die when someone in the Titans finally fucks up and gives me all the excuse I need. Dozens of capes can't fight each other without cost. We both know that."

"The world will keep turning."

"You're not so cold."

"You're so sure?"

"Yes."

The silence drew out. It was all for show, I think. He knew I was right. Whatever else Leet was, he'd changed. His expectations and goals had shifted.

I think he really did want to save the world.

He wanted to leave more behind him than a dead friend and goofy internet videos.

"Neither of us want to see people die," I insisted. "So, let's you and me have our little battle when the time comes and make sure David won't fuck everything irrevocably in the meantime."

"You talk like you already have a plan to beat him," he mumbled.

"Of course I do." I grinned. "I've had a plan to beat him since the Simurgh died."

"You're underestimating him. He was called the strongest parahuman in the world for a reason."

"And I'm the greatest tinker in the world, or so everyone keeps saying." I shrugged. "David won't be the first powerful being I've outdone. The Simurgh was no pushover."

"We both know you had an advantage in that fight."

"I have an advantage in this one too, and it's the same one I've always had."

With the last bit of bait set, I waited.

There was only one real answer to the question of what advantage I'd always had. Most people might mistake it for the Gundams, or Dinah, or Veda. They were advantages, but truthfully they were only parts of the whole. I didn't pull Brockton Bay out of the gutter through power, future seeing, or AI. That's not why the Simurgh fell.

Ultimately, it all came down to one simple thing.

Information.

"You have a spy," he realized. A chuckle escaped him and was amplified by the speakers into a cackle. "Alright. That's funny."

"Sort of is, isn't it?" I agreed. "The puppet master is being puppeted. Who could have guessed?"

"Who?"

"Why would I tell you that? You could go right to telling David who it is."

"Like he won't figure it out when I tell him you have a spy?"

"Will you?" He gave no verbal answer but the silence was sufficient. "Suppose you could."

"...You want me to tell him…"

"We both want him gone. I just need someone to give him a slight nudge right about now."

Ultimately, Leet didn't care to save David. From where he stood, David and I both had to fail. If we took each other out, that would suit him just fine.

Leet's suit shook its head. "He never stood a chance against you."

"No." He would have. "He lost the moment Count killed eighty-five thinkers in the span of twenty minutes. Without them, he simply isn't smart enough to play the endgame he set himself up for while I have plenty of time, thinkers, and tech, to take it all apart."

If he'd still had those thinkers, things probably would have gone very differently. It was interesting to brainstorm but limitations of David's thinker slash master power aside, if he'd had all those thinkers any one of them could have warned him what I was doing. I took it for granted Leet either already suspected or would figure it out soon enough.

That was the other part of his problem.

Now, all he had were Leet's machine and Accord and neither of them cared for David's fate.

Neither were really interested in his goals.

"Besides that, I won long term anyway. Even you can't touch Veda now. The future is coming no matter what anyone does. The only question is what kind of future will it be."

"One with an AI overlord I assume."

"More of the same," I corrected, "or something wholly new. I'm on the edge of my seat wondering. You'll stay out of it then? David that is."

"I don't care what happens to David," he confirmed. "He needs to be stopped as much as you"—he looked up—"and her do."

"Then we're done here." I turned on my heel. "There's nothing left to say."

"Not going to try and convince me?"

"We see the state of things too differently. Nothing either of us says will ever convince the other. All that's left between us is a fight we can't avoid because we're both in one another's way."

He scoffed and his thrusters started up. They fired, launching his suit up and into the air. The engine of Squealer's car roared into life. The tires peeled, kicking up a thick cloud of stinking dust as it tore off the road and drove away. Leet's suit landed smoothly, hovering over the ground as he made a rapid retreat in what seemed like a good window to go.

And that was it.

The job was done.

The best traps are the ones you have to walk into.

Even better are the ones you have to walk into, but you don't know what the trap is.

Good enough? I inquired.

Sufficient, Prime Future replied.

It will do, Administrator agreed.

Then it's done. I turned back to Eirene and climbed into the suit. The stage is set. I paused, staring into the distance.

Administrator bowed her head.

I took a deep breath and dropped into the suit. Just a few more things to do then.

"Are we seriously letting him go?" Lily asked. "I thought we had to stop him."

"We do." I settled myself and closed the armor. Eirene started up and the GN Drives spun to life. I hesitated, but, "I'm not going to be around much longer. It's best to make sure he can never build a second attempt. The first isn't quite ready to be destroyed just yet."

"Maybe this is weird coming from me," Lily protested, "but some people just have to go. You didn't go out of your way to spare Jack Slash. Why would you spare Leet?"

"Leet's not Jack Slash."

"He's going to kill all the powers, and you said that'll kill all of us too."

"Probably," I confirmed.

The best way for Leet to kill the Network was by bombarding it with junk data. That process could easily kill every parahuman as a consequence.

"I get that you don't want to kill him," Lafter started, watching as Leet and Squealer retreated, "but maybe in this case he's kind of asking for it?"

"If it comes to that it comes to that." I set off the ground and rose into the air. Joining Administrator, I glanced east. "We're not there just yet. There's still David to deal with."

"Are we dealing with it?" Lily turned Dynames' head. "I know I'm still the newest person here but why aren't we pressing the Titans already? We're letting them push us around."

"We don't have to push them," I explained. "Like I said. Only a matter of time before someone in the Titans does something stupid. It's a hodgepodge of militant heroes and vigilantes mixed with Protectorate heroes who assume it's the next Protectorate. The whole organization is a powder keg. David isn't Alexandria, Hero, or Legend."

All he had was power.

"Look at it like this," I proposed. "I just killed a second Endbringer. David thinks that's more significant than it really is in how people see the world. He thinks he has to compete. To prove he's stronger."

"If he could kill an Endbringer he'd have done it already," Veda supplied. "He has not."

"Because he can't. He has to wonder now if I'm too powerful for him to stop because that's the only way he can think about things and if he's thinking that way then he's falling back on the only experience he has."

"Scion," Dinah concluded. Correctly.

"And that means he's looking to those around him for ideas."

And my trap was about as flawless as one could expect.

"Can we be less cryptic about it?" Lily pleaded. "I'm still trying to work out what's going on here."

"We're dealing with a cape who can have any power he wants," I pointed out. "He's almost certainly using some thinker powers right now. Trying to cover for the gaps Fortuna left in his ranks. Then there's Zero, and everything we aren't certain about it."

Lily sighed. "Right. I get it. Anti-thinker measures, but—"

"Just hang in there a little longer," I implored. "We're in the end game now. Every move counts. Everything is calculated."

"You're being very PRT right now," she noted.

"I know. Just bear with me. We're almost..." I paused, and turned to look at Kyrios. "Veda, did we get our video?"

"Prepared."

It didn't really matter what Leet did or didn't do with this moment. Not when it came to David, at least. I had what I needed to force him into motion and bring things to a close now.

Lafter stiffened inside her suit. She knew what I meant by look alone. My time was almost up. Even with months of knowing, she dreaded it as much as Orga. As much as everyone.

Lily's reaction was more muted. She didn't have the same relationship with me that Lafter, Dinah, or Veda had.

Shifting my attention back to her, I explained, "Right now I'm trying to give all of you the best chance I can once I'm gone. To leave as few loose ends as possible."

"Killing Leet seems like a quicker route," she replied. "Not that I want to kill anyone, but he's going to kill all of us. Why take the risk?"

I smiled. "A peace bought by killing the problem isn't peace. It's a ceasefire. That's not good enough."

You just make the same world somewhat different.

"Veda. Is anyone inside in need of medical aid?"

"I have already accessed the internal security and deployed Helpers," she replied. "Leet was precise in his attack. Only Genio was injured. His wounds are severe but not life-threatening."

"Leave the FLAGs," I decided. "Have them hold down the fort until he gets back on his feet. Stop any other local groups from making a move."

Lily and Lafter both reacted without surprise but with more confusion.

I appreciated that and felt bad about it.

But I really couldn't take chances with so many lives on the line. The game I was playing with Zero was too precise. We couldn't afford even the slightest slipup.

I flew up into the air. The other suits followed and we turned north and ascended to cloud level. Leet and Squealer were already long gone. Teleporter or mover no doubt. They wouldn't want to linger with us nearby.

Lafter and Lily both simmered in differing frustrations.

Lafter knew the time was coming, but every day made her anxiety worse. She'd be okay, though. Once it was done and the fear of 'that day' faded her whole life was ahead of her. I thought it was going to be a good one too. She'd manage just fine without me.

Lily was understandably annoyed.

And I had far too much familiarity with that specific form of annoyance—of being denied my own sense of security and control—to really ignore it.

We flew about a dozen miles before I'd worked through the best I could do without too much risk.

"Veda," I called. "When is Valiant taking his siblings to go get his father?"

Stargazer looked toward me.

"Three days," she answered.

"We found Heartbreaker?" Lily asked.

"Yeah," Dinah answered. "My power's kind of hamstrung with Taylor and David being so front and center. Lot of things are just kind of blank for me now. Figured I could find Heartbreaker without that problem though."

"She was right." I glanced east again. "He got smarter. Went more culty and more isolated than before. Obscures his presence and is more careful how he goes about collecting his women."

"He's been at it this entire time?" Lily bemoaned.

"Unfortunately, but not for long."

"Most of his children have resistance to his power," Veda elaborated. "And they could use the PR of bringing him in themselves."

"They'll have backup though." I craned Eirene's head around, looking at Dynames. "Just in case something goes wrong. Never know when someone might do something stupid."

Lily watched me for a moment, but it clicked.

Time?

I nodded.

No good plan relies on your opponent being moronic. If they're really stupid, you can always bait them into being dumb far quicker than waiting for them to fall into it. That's how I got the Empire.

"Is there a reason we're not teleporting?" Lafter asked suddenly.

"Nice view," I answered.

The Gulf of Mexico greeted us as we continued, and it was actually kind of beautiful. Many of the coastal cities had been abandoned or reduced to small enclaves. Nature, as it had elsewhere, had reclaimed the land.

It was different from the dreadful graveyards of Miyazaki or Sanc, where cities were visible in the water.

This was more serene. Quiet. Forest and jungle had overgrown roads and houses. Vines climbed buildings. Animals had moved into once human abodes.

"Okay," Lily mumbled. "That is a view."

"Kind of creepy," Lafter commented.

"But pretty all the same," I retorted.

"Fair, but I reserve the right to call it too creepy."

"Granted."

I wondered how it would change once South America began to stabilize. The cities would probably be repopulated, but how would they deal with all the growth? I imagined ways to adapt to it. To keep the new and rebuild the old.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't be around to suggest those things and there were more important items on the menu than landscaping.

"Go on ahead," I said. "I'm going to fly about for a bit."

Lafter immediately knew I was lying. She'd been around me too much for too long. She didn't need telepathy to know.

"I could keep going," Lily replied. "It's interesting. Never thought I'd get to travel this much."

"Didn't you have a thing with Sabah?" Lafter asked.

"Nothing so specific. It can wait a half hour or so."

"If that's what you want," I agreed.

I could spend half an hour.

We followed the coast, cruising along and chatting.

Eventually, Lafter and Lily returned with Stargazer and the Thrones.

Administrator flew up from behind me and together, we turned east.

I accelerated, blowing past the sound barrier and racing toward the Atlantic.

"Is this really how you want to do it?" Veda asked. "It seems… Risky."

"It is," I conceded. "But David isn't wrong. If something isn't done, capes will retain power in some parts of the world for generations. The only way to force them out would be bloody and violent."

I smiled.

"I reject that future."

"This plan will be bloody and violent," she pointed out.

"Less so," Administrator stated matter-of-factly. "Casualties reduced. Estimation; seventy-four percent."

"Worst case scenario," I concluded, "we fail and the worst case happens no matter what we do. I'll take that chance. If it goes south you can quietly shift the blame my way. Not like I'll need the good will."

"Taylor," Veda protested.

I chuckled. "It won't come to that. I've spent hours working this out with Future. There's no such thing as foolproof. No one knows the future." I should probably deal with anyone who thought they did immediately. Leet did come to mind on that front. "But it's a good chance."

It took time even at our speed, but before too long Administrator and I came up on the coast of Africa. We turned south, cutting across the western tropical coast and the southern Sahara on our way to Namibia. What used to be Namibia, that is.

Administrator pointed subtly in the right direction and I followed.

The village was small, nestled between two hills adjacent to a creek. It wasn't where I expected to find her but who says every tyrant wants a palace? Some just want to be left alone. It's not about power but safety. Safety is a hard thing to get in many places.

I landed without warning, setting down on what constituted a main road. The buildings were closely clustered into groups. Family dwellings, really. A few two-story buildings made of bricks and a few others with wood or stone. It was all rather ramshackle, built up over time and without any sort of plan.

It had character.

I turned toward the woman with the monstrous shadow.

"Moord Nag, right?"

She glared at me, her shadow rising up like a looming snake ready to strike. Her clothes were surprisingly plain. A simple top and some white-washed jeans. Put her in Brockton Bay and she wouldn't stand out at all except for her demeanor.

Hostile. Aggressive.

"You are the one who kills the beasts," she snarled.

"I am."

Her eyes flicked up as Administrator hovered overhead. "And now you come to slay me."

"Suppose I could give it a try."

She scoffed. "You may."

Her bravado was good on the surface, but that wasn't good enough to trick me.

I looked deep, listening for a moment.

Moord Nag wasn't a pleasant person. She'd seen horrors, and in seeing them she'd emerged a horror herself. There were reasons of course. Sympathetic and understandable ones. I couldn't help but wonder if Lafter would have ended up the same way were she less fortunate.

Sometimes, we find the hero we need to be ourselves.

Other times, we become the monster to survive.

A monster remained a monster though, no matter how sad their story.

"What happens if I kill you?" I asked promptly, surprising her. "Your subjects go to war, right?"

She didn't answer verbally but she agreed that would happen. Many were only kept in check because she didn't tolerate open warfare in her domain. That wasn't strictly about nobility or wanting to protect people. She simply didn't have any interest in managing the bullshit of others. Anyone who could or did make a mess she simply did away with to protect herself.

That's the world she lived in.

The world that made her.

It had to change.

The world doesn't change overnight.

I turned my head, looking up at a pair of children watching us from a second-story window. One already had a gun in hand.

"How many people die just so I can feel good about myself for stopping you?" I turned my head back to the 'Black Queen of Africa.' Really racist name honestly but I didn't pick it. "How many more like you are born because you're done away with?"

Moord Nag tilted her head, confused but catching what was really going on. "Say what you want or fight. Or leave. I care not which."

"Even if I leave," I queried, "how long until someone else sets their eyes on you? Will you fight them? Kill them? How long until it escalates? Sooner or later the line will be crossed. Be it Eidolon and his Titans, the Internationals or their replacements, or Londo Bell and Veda. How long can you survive like this before it begins working against you?"

Moord Nag was a cruel woman born from a tormented child, but she was not stupid. She didn't become as dominant in central Africa as she was by being dumb. She had to see what was coming her way.

"The world is changing," I pressed. "Are you prepared to change with it, or do I just end you and deal with the hell that follows as best I can?"

The ports on the binders opened, swords at the ready. A small show of force. Something she understood.

"I can wait while you think it over," I told her as I looked over the HUD before my eyes. "It's all in motion now. Change is coming and it won't stop for anyone."

I waited a moment, pondering that.

I wondered if it was some kind of great sin. It wasn't what I intended, but I'd set it in motion all the same. I should have suspected it. We knew from the beginning GN Particles could affect people. After the purified particles began affecting me, I should have considered it wouldn't stop there. That advancing the GN Drive further and farther would have irreversible consequences.

Consequences I'd set in motion and couldn't stop now.

All I could control was whether the evolution of humanity came quickly, or slowly. If I had the right to make that choice for everyone alive and yet to live.

"Are you prepared to change, or does the blood keep flowing?"

She didn't really consider the question.

On command, the GN Drives spun and the golden light began to surround me.

"Does it have to end like this?"

The shadow surged forward as its master made up her mind.

"So it does."

The GN Field exploded, rolling over the land around me as I started my search. I found him quickly, a few dozen miles to the north. Leaving the village below behind, I flew in an off direction and killed the GN Field to hide where I was really going.

Throttling down the output on the Drives, I floated invisibly through the clouds before dropping out and landing in another village before a fire.

The men grabbed rifles and one had an RPG on hand. How bad is the state of the world when you eat with your RPG in arm's reach? The weapons all leveled at me, but no one fired.

The man at the center of the group wore a costume of red and green. A lot of capes outside of the US and Europe didn't bother with masks and he was no exception. His skin and eyes were dark. If not for the fire he really would blend into the forest around him pretty well.

I focused on his eyes, listening before I asked, "Are you satisfied with this world?"

He gave me an odd look and scoffed.

Like Moord Nag before him, he looked up at Administrator, and then back down at me.

In a heavy accent with slurred English he replied, "Of course not."

I smiled. "Then we should talk. Door please, Ash Beast."

The immediate reaction was to jerk back but when the portal opened there was no explosion. A man, ragged and thin from his years trapped in a vortex of pure destruction, stepped through. He was dark-skinned, but less so than the men around him. He looked at me, gaze similar to that of the Case-53s. He'd been keeping explosions going out in the middle of nowhere for a while to hide that I'd paid him a visit until the time was right.

I nodded to him and then looked to 'Kombozi.' "Ready to change the world?"

If I had any regrets, it was that I had to go so soon and I couldn't do much more to help everyone figure things out.

That was okay though.

The world didn't need me that badly.

There were others to take up the flag. They'd been waiting for their time. I thought they'd waited long enough.