"I hope our attack on that Freeman base tomorrow goes well." Jake Wayne said.

It was still the fifth of March. The year was 2022.

Jake's Watcher had called him earlier, and they had talked.

Peter and Maggie had gone to outer space.

Meanwhile, Jake stayed on Earth. He sat at the kitchen table, cloaked in the room's bright light. Kevin sat at the table's head. Sabrina sat at the other one, holding Ben.

Moonlight glowed against the home's walls, shone against the closed blinds.

Four people. Three plates. One bottle.

"It will," Sabrina said. Ben drained milk from the bottle she held. "We're going to see what the Freemans have done to the place, and we'll kill any we find. Maybe Lock Tannis will be there."

The Freemans knew Sabrina and Kevin had assaulted their base in California. Lock Tannis must have known it, too.

Jake and Sabrina had reunited inside a Freeman base in Washington, and it was the last one they had attacked. They had killed almost all its pale occupants. Ben fed from a bottle. That was proof Jake and Sabrina hadn't slaughtered each Freeman they had encountered in the gray building.

Sabrina had adopted Ben. Her identity as his mother wasn't a secret to Jake or Kevin.

In the Freeman base, Jake had searched halls and rooms, but it was Sabrina who had found Ben. Not him.

Neither of the teenagers had encountered Lock Tannis. They had met former High Don Ascend, yes, but they hadn't found his leader.

The universe's worst Soynite.

Sabrina's birth father, Theo Majestic, had made himself into a High. The first one. He had turned Lock into the second High.

After Lock's banishment, Theo had replaced him with Boris Endman.

Lock had killed Boris.

Jake had read the note he had found inside a Freeman conference room. Despite that, he didn't know why Lock had slain Boris. The same Boris who had become his ally.

Why did Lock kill Boris?

The mystery was one of multiple.

Where was Alice Endman? Where was Theo Majestic? How had Lovely Windsore gone blind?

Eleven years ago, Jake had seen Theo teleport away from him and the other five Highs. Even while Freemans struck destruction and chaos upon Soy and its people, Theo hadn't told Sabrina the truth.

Kevin had chosen to do it.

Ten years ago, Jake and Peter had separated from five other Watcher-mentee pairs. Kevin hadn't reunited with Peter. The men were alive at the same time, at least. They could meet again.

"If the two of you find Lock, you will kill him," Kevin said. He dug his spoon into the mashed potatoes on his plate. "Neither of you are as powerful as Theo Majestic, but that doesn't mean you won't get rid of Lock and end this war."

He moved his food into his mouth, chewed.

"I know," Sabrina said. "And it doesn't even matter which one of us kills Lock. Me and Jake want the same thing. We want the good Soynites to win this war. That will happen when one of us defeats the Soynite who is pretending to be a Freeman. My little boy is a real one. Not Lock."

If Jake slipped a sword into Lock's chest, his heart would stop and his flesh would morph into smoke. It wouldn't be evidence Lock had been born as a Freeman.

He would never be a true member of Ben's people.

Sabrina looked at the baby she fed. Ben must have been the only Freeman who viewed her as someone who deserved to live. Sabrina was the reason why he was the only Freeman who had survived the attack on that enemy base. She was his mother.

"You're a real Freeman, my sweet boy," Sabrina said, her voice carrying no spite as she spoke to the little Freeman. "And you're already so much better than the other ones."

Beyond the mansion's walls were other Freemans, ones who wouldn't be satisfied if they didn't hurt or kill Sabrina.

"He is," Kevin said. "You did a good thing when you let Ben live, Sabrina. I thought you should've gotten rid of him, but now I know that would've been a terrible thing to do. Keep your boy safe. I'll do the same."

"Me too," Jake said. "Let's hope your siblings do the same, Sabrina."

"Hailey might," Kevin said. "I hope she will, at least. The truth is that she might not be as compassionate as she was years ago. My niece was a very sweet girl. We need to hope that she's still like that. We need her to be. I don't know how Nick will react to Ben, though. And Anne might try to kill the boy. Bane and Summer are our enemies, ultimately. Anne will do what they want her to. If that includes killing Ben, she'll make an attempt to. I won't let anyone succeed in killing your son, Sabrina. No one is going to hurt my great-nephew."

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Ben was a baby. His mother was a Soynite, yet his skin was as white as snow and he hadn't come from planet Soy. Or Earth.

Free was Ben's home planet. Vale Lit, the murderer of Sabrina's adoptive parents, had been born on Free. Other Freemans were natives of that place. Sabrina had shot and killed Vale. But there were Freemans, ones who weren't like Ben, who lived and breathed. That was an issue.

Sabrina pulled the bottle's nipple from Ben's mouth.

"You're right," she said. "If anyone tries to hurt my Ben, I will kill them. I took him away from that awful Freeman base, and I'm not going to let anyone take him away from me. Any Soynite who won't accept that my son is a Freeman will never be a friend of mine. All of the other Soynites will need to see Ben for what he is. He's a baby. He's a Freeman, but he's a baby. I'm his mom. I will raise him right, and he won't join Lock Tannis and his Freemans. Ben is on our side. He always will be."

She placed the bottle on the table's hard surface. It sat next to the plate, its nipple pointing at the ceiling. No Freeman grenade detonated and ruined the table.

Jake, Sabrina, Kevin, and Ben were safe. Safety covered them. Lock's Freemans hadn't found them.

"This situation reminds me of Anne," Jake said. "You're raising a Freeman. Anne was raised by Bane and Summer, worshippers of Lock Tannis. It's going to be very hard to make Anne side with her family. Her real family."

"It will be tough, I know," Kevin said. Jake moved mashed potatoes into his mouth. He chewed, swallowed. "But it's possible to get Anne back on our side. She spent eleven years in the care of Lock worshippers, but we're going to undo what Summer and Bane did to her. Anne murdered innocent Soynites, and she worships the worst member of our race. It's obvious that making her abandon the Lock Tannis Church will be a challenge. A big one. I survived through big challenges before. All three of us have. We can save your sister, Sabrina."

Jake had seen Anne at that Freeman base a few days ago. She had fired laser beams from her eyes to help during a fight with Freemans, but that hadn't changed the fact she worshipped Lock Tannis. She praised the leader of those dead Freemans.

The fight had ended, but Anne's identity as a Lock worshipper persisted.

"Anne's parents love her very much," Kevin said. "So do I. Summer is Anne's kidnapper. And Bane is that woman's husband. They aren't her parents. Theo is Anne's father, and my sister is her mother. I wish both of them were here. Anne needs them. The truth is that I don't know where Theo and Lilly are, and Anne is part of a horrible cult. Summer and Bane have turned my niece into a monster. Fortunately, it's not too late to save that girl. The former Highs joined Lock Tannis. People can change sides. That means we can get Anne back on ours. I know it won't be easy, but we have to try. We have to."

"We have to win," Sabrina said.

Jake, Sabrina, and Kevin had survived the attack on a Freeman base in Washington. They had encountered Freemans, fought them, and defeated them.

The three Soynites had won.

Yet problems dwelled in their lives. The unwanted situation with Anne Majestic was one of those issues.

She was a child of Theo, the latest out of a group of four.

Nick. Sabrina. Hailey. Anne. The children of Theo and Lilly. The kids were Kevin's nephew and nieces, but Jake had only met two of them.

Nick and Hailey. Jake didn't know where they were.

"And we will win," Kevin said. Jake grabbed his soda can. He took liquid into his mouth, and the cold darkness flowed against his tongue. He swallowed. "Summer and Bane aren't decent people. Neither is Anne. But she's important to me, so that means I'll let her live. I won't kill her. As for Summer and Bane, I'm not going to treat them like I'll treat Anne. They don't need saving. Even before she joined the Lock Tannis Church, Summer was too dangerous to live. She shot Theo. And she's capable of so much more violence, no doubt. How many good Soynites has she murdered? I don't even know."

"We'll kill Summer and Bane, then?" Sabrina said. She caressed Ben's black hair.

"Yes," Kevin said. "They're only a little bit better than the Freemans. Anne is just a kid. She's also my niece. She deserves a chance to be redeemed. Summer and Bane are adults, and they're the monsters who made Anne just like them. They need to be gotten rid of. Summer and Bane managed to escape from us, but a laser gun will prevent them from doing that again. Forever."

Jake had met Summer and Bane inside a Freeman base, and the cultists had teleported. They had escaped.

"Anne is a descendant of Hase Majestic," Kevin said. "Just like the two of you. The nicest Soynite in history is one of Anne's ancestors, but people with Hase as an ancestor can be horrible. Anne is proof of that. It would be easier to kill her, but I don't want to do the easy thing."

"Neither do I," Sabrina said. "Anne is my sister. Saving her from that horrible cult is going to be hard, but it will also be worth it. Anne killed some Soynites. But she can still be redeemed."

Redemption.

Kevin had decided it was Anne's right to have a chance at redeeming herself. Summer and Bane. Kevin viewed them as targets, dangerous people who had lost the right to live.

"I know," Kevin said. "I couldn't prevent Summer from kidnapping her. It's too late. But it's not too late to make Anne fight on her parents' side. Lilly and Theo need to be out there. They have to be somewhere. If they're dead, we won't be able to reunite Anne with her parents. Lilly and Theo might be alive. If they managed to survive up to this point, there's a chance we can reunite them with Anne. She needs to be reformed. And she will be. We'll give Anne what we won't give to Summer and Bane. Mercy."

A few days ago, Sabrina had shown Ben mercy.

Before her reunion with Jake, she had left the mansion. After the reunion, she had returned home with a son. A baby Freeman.

More than once, Jake had almost died inside the Freeman base where Sabrina had found Ben.

It was the building where Jake had seen Peter for the last time. Now, with Sabrina, planned on heading to a different Freeman place, a building in California. A pale enemy might shoot and kill Jake inside the place. Yet he was a Soynite as much as he was a warrior. He had to go into a Freeman base. Soon.

Tomorrow, to be exact.

Ben had left the gray building in Washington alive because Sabrina had decided to spare him. The baby boy's birth parents hadn't been shown mercy. Sabrina had done to them what she had done to Vale Lit. Her adoptive parents' killer.

Years ago, Vale had participated in the invasion.

He had joined many other Freemans, and he had helped them bring massive destruction and stabbing agony to Soynites.

Soy couldn't be revived on its own. The Soy Maker. It had the power to bring trees, grass, and buildings back to the ruined planet. The Soy Maker had created it. It could heal it.

"Anne is fortunate that I want her alive," Kevin said. "I would sympathize with all of my enemies, if they weren't my foes."

Enemies. Foes.

Tomorrow Jake would encounter more of those.