> Lost control? That’s not possible. There’s no way to stop a link transfer, and no way for an AI to exist without stable links. If they shifted the original links to condemned criminals and executed them, that’s that.

>

> – Radio transmission from Voices for Non-Citizens

A selection of bodyguards awaited me atop the tower, including the Turners, several other Fort Autumn residents, and Vince’s coworker, Byron. Well, the Turners weren’t my bodyguards, really, but Vince had suggested they join us. That struck me as something that the Meghan from my memories would have proposed herself, so I’d insisted on it.

They’d been joined by a contingent from the military. Marie was still sticking close to me, keeping me in touch with Arsenal leadership, who still hadn’t made it to Fort Autumn. Instead, they’d sent Flip with a small team of high-Point individuals to keep me alive, including several of the people who I’d met in the dinosaur Challenge. Flip had also brought a crate of gifts, using her Boost specialty to rocket her packages and passengers across town early this morning.

Even with her speed, her flight path had been predictable enough that one of the massive twotwos had targeted her. She’d noticed it in time to avoid death, but she’d arrived with a deep spine-severing gash running diagonally across her back from her right shoulder. She’d been stabilized, but serious injuries had been plentiful at Fort Autumn since the Titan onslaught had begun, so she wasn’t back on her feet. Instead, she was resting in an impromptu medical ward that was slowly expanding through the Quarry as healers carefully organized their ability use.

I hoped she wouldn’t be out of action long. Alexandra was trying to help as many healers earn their Specialties as quickly as possible, hoping someone would get a potent ability that would help turn things around.

I was grateful Flip made the trip. The military bodyguards were nice, but what I was most grateful for were the contents of her crate, a mix of the best gear humanity could create and the best rewards the Maffiyir would provide.

They’d sent dozens of gas masks, several sets of kevlar body armor, a custom helmet modified with gaps for my extra eyes, and several bows specially designed for use by people with enhanced strength. The bows would give Vince and Gavin another ranged attack option besides a gun, and Alexandra’s daughter Sophia had taken a third and started instructing my family members on their use.

I’d have been grateful enough for that, but they’d also sent out elite strike teams with Intensifiers to take down almost a dozen of the bonefurs and new Titans, enough to outfit my family, close friends, and bodyguards with the loot from Enhanced Novice Titan Hearts. Vince hadn’t been able to resist doing a little testing, and he hadn’t been able to dent or break my new Enhanced Novice Shield.

I was going to need it.

I’d only just left the ladder when a massive presence appeared on Life Sense. I telekinetically tugged Vince’s sleeve, and he reacted instantly, rolling toward the opposite wall with Cassie still in his arms.

He was just in time.

A wedge-shaped head and neck burst through the narrow gap between the roof and battlements. It couldn’t quite fit between the roof supports, but it hit them with enough force that the tower shook and the metal struts bit deeply into the Titan’s shoulders, whitish ichor flying out in a spray from the point of impact.

The roof sagged slightly as the supports bent inward, and some of the spikes projecting downward off the roof were driven into the monster’s back.

Unfortunately, the twotwo didn’t seem to pay any heed to its injuries, twisting its head and neck to snap at anyone in reach. I got a closer view of its face than I would have preferred as I dove to interpose my shield between Micah and the beast’s snapping jaw. My oldest had been behind me on the ladder and was just emerging.

For once, I remembered to activate Parry. The monster’s head jerked back after it hit my shield, eyes narrowing in a way that was almost human. Actually, the monster’s eyes were eerily close to human eyes, only differing in their massive size and the lurid turquoise irises.

It twisted its head and bit down on the edge of my shield with a snarl, its beaklike maw filled, somewhat unnecessarily, with teeth.

It likely would have torn a chunk out of my Shop-purchased Basic Shield, but my new Enhanced Novice Shield held strong, not deforming under its bite even as the monster dragged me forward.

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I didn’t get far before Vince’s spear hit it from the side and lifted it away, his spear piercing through its neck to hit the back of its skull.

I scrambled backward as my husband pulled his spear out, positioning himself for another strike.

Before he could, there was a quiet crackling noise and the monster’s eyes went dead. Then, it vanished.

“What…?” I asked.

“Dad put air right next to its brain,” Micah said, pulling himself off the ladder and onto the floor. “I can’t affect the monster, but I just made the air in its stab wound really really cold.”

I blinked as Gavin scrambled nimbly over his older brother. “Uh… great work. Now we just need to fix… Wait. What the heck? I swear those supports were bent in at a 45-degree angle. They’re perfectly straight now!”

Momentarily, I thought I must have gotten turned around, but with my extra eyes I could see every roof support at once, and they were all pristine.

Byron laughed. “Didn’t you hear about Helen’s Specialty?”

I frowned, double-checking. “She’s not up here… And those supports were mostly metal..”

He grinned. “She doesn’t need to be. And Tori got the same Specialty, so they probably cooperated here. I think it’s called Continuing Connection? It’s a passive. When they make or shape something, they can choose to stay connected to it. If it gets damaged, they know immediately and can fix it without coming over to look at it. They gotta spend the energy to make the fix with their other abilities, but it also lets them earn Points if people fight monsters using stuff they’ve made and are still Connected to. It took us a while to get the tower set up, and they’ve been earning Points for every Titan that’s run into the spikes since they made them. By now, they probably have the most Points of anyone here. Well, except maybe your sniper dude.”

“That’s awesome,” I breathed.

I blinked. It didn’t surprise me that Ariel had taken guidance from Pointy - she’d done that before - but it did surprise me that she’d voluntarily contribute to a discussion. She usually only responded if I reached out to her directly, said something she considered inaccurate, or spoke about her specifically.

Thanks, I thought toward Ariel. Hey, though… have you found another way to talk back to Pointy? It sounds like you two were talking even when she couldn’t see any monster spawns.

Oh… great… I thought back at Ariel. So two AIs are using my brain as a janked-up telegraph machine.

A bloom of fire jerked me out of my thoughts. A D-Rex had gotten past Fort Autumn’s outer defenses and shot a blast straight toward us. A Force Shield had interrupted it, spreading the blaze widely in the air in front of us. Even so, I hadn’t felt any heat, just light. I looked at Micah, assuming he’d been responsible, but he was staring at Vince’s co-worker Byron.

Ben’s rifle cracked belatedly as Micah spoke. “Wow. You’re really good at fire.”

Byron shot my oldest boy some finger guns. “You’re no slouch yourself! Good work with the Force Shield. Keeping the spray out of here is a good idea even if we’re around to keep it from igniting.”

Micah stood a little taller at the compliments… for just a moment, until Gavin’s tail yanked him six feet back as another twotwo attacked.

Ariel, I asked. How long have we been up here?

And we’ve already had to defend ourselves from three Titans.

I took a deep breath and focused on the horizon. With my extra eyes, I could see the whole neighborhood at once... or what was left of it. Over near the Pylon, all the houses and trees had been reduced to uneven piles of debris. The rest of the neighborhood had only fared better by comparison, with homes sagging around massive holes where monsters had crashed through or flames had charred parts of the building. Here and there, incongruously, a home was intact, but even these bore signs of the apocalypse, with boarded-up windows and damaged doors.

There were five Titans within a half-mile of Fort Autumn, and I could see a sixth starting to form, half-hidden by the remains of a two-story house.

And that doesn't even count any twotwos in the air above. Well, at least this won’t be boring.