Chun Liao stood idly by as Elaine DeWitt examined the conference room of the space station. Like her, Elaine seemed more at home among this level of technology than she had been in the wastes, although Elaine had definitely been able to accept that place better than Liao ever would. She didn't seem to understand everything, but her eyes flew over complicated diagrams and dense informational displays with more speed than Liao could possibly have mustered. Perhaps she was only vaguely skimming over them... but she had a look that suggested she was reading and thinking about everything she saw.

Elaine was an enigma, that was certain. There were no archons anymore; even Ciddia, who was by rights one of the original Blackhats, had eschewed most technology except that which kept her alive. According to history the Archons had been developed in part, if not entirely, to be a de-stabilizing influence on a world too corrupt to adapt to changing technology--that wanted everything to stay familiar in an era where everything could, would, and inevitably had to be different than it used to be.

The human and evoloid worlds today needed stability, not anarchists. Even well-meaning idealists could do more harm than good if they went around breaking down the very flimsy structure that kept everything in place. But at the same time, Elaine had lived through the hell and chaos of war--and understood what it was like to watch everything go wrong. Depending on exactly what her perspective was, this could all go well... or very poorly.

That's why Ciddia was giving her a moment to pace around while she watched, trying to get a gauge on the woman's personality. Liao knew Ciddia to be an exceptionally shrewd woman, one who would gladly sacrifice time and energy to make exactly the right choice.

Finally, after a few minutes, Ciddia emerged--from a door at the end of the room, not a portal, although Liao suspected she had been on Saturnalia Station until a few minutes ago. Ciddia as always was badly scarred, with a simple blue-gray business pantsuit and three prosthetic limbs--only her right hand was human, and that functioned far worse than any of the artificial ones.

She didn't care.

"Elaine Many." Ciddia offered the woman her right hand, and the woman shook it heartily. "If my memory wasn't artificially enhanced, I doubt I would have remembered you, but there's no question in my mind you're the same woman who led the charge against the Australian army in Azael. That was..."

"A bad day," replied Elaine easily. "I don't remember it as well as most, since I died a number of times that day." She paused, and sighed. "That battle shouldn't have been necessary."

"One could say the same about every battle, and every war." Ciddia gestured to the conference table, and took her seat at the head. "I'm sure you have questions about--"

"I'll cut you off there," said Elaine quickly. "I'm curious, yes, but I've never been a historian and I don't honestly give a crap what the world has been through. I need to know what it takes to survive, and I want to know what I can do to help. The world as I saw it was torn to pieces, and you're..." she stopped and shook her head. "I know the Blackhats always stood aside and let us evolve, let us decide the future of humanity on our own, but this is terrible. There are a lot of people suffering down there."

Ciddia's face lost any sign of warmth, and she stared back at Elaine with a cold look, one that Liao knew was perhaps her most honest face--exhausted, frustrated, resentful, and genuinely unconcerned with appearances.

It was what she wore anywhere but in public, and the Administrators all knew it was simply who she was.

"The Two Worlds as you knew them," said Ciddia after a very long silence, "existed the way they did because we had faith that we understood the world. Technology proved to us that we were close to the truth, close enough to make 'magic' happen. Human beings could be like gods--flying, neigh-invulnerable, eternal, capable of almost anything--and all it took was knowledge and power."

"The point of the Archon Project from the very beginning, if I'm being honest, was a belief from Domino Effect himself that if we just exposed human beings to enough power, eventually they would be worthy of it. Give a few people at a time nearly godly power, and we would learn from their mistakes. One person destroys a city, and we never let it happen again." Ciddia tapped a finger on the table--from her left hand, so it made a very mechanical noise. "Obviously that's not what happened."

"It was arrogance to believe that we understood. It was arrogance that led the Arch Sorcerers of Draco to build a system that was, eventually, the downfall of the Two Worlds. It was arrogance that led Domino to bring the City into battle against a superior foe, and arrogance that led that foe to stand his ground and spite the most powerful person in the world. There are countless examples of human arrogance throughout history, but that one battle, the one that ended all things, that proved that human beings, even after centuries of exposure to power, weren't getting any wiser, any smarter, any... saner. We evolved to be more dangerous, Elaine, but our flaws didn't disappear."

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"If I had my way," Ciddia leaned forward, "I would strip you of your Archon abilities, and return you to a normal human body. It is a temptation, and a powerful one, and don't for a minute think that I can't. That function started being built into Archons long before you joined; it's not as simple as pressing a button, but I do still have the key that would activate that mechanism. If needed, I will use it. But humanity is lost right now, and it needs a symbol. The Administrators can't be it, because... we are the ones who failed humanity. I am the one who failed humanity, the last one that remains." She shook her head. "If nothing else, we need perspective and fresh blood. So I offer you instead the chance to be of value to people."

"Of course I'll accept," said Elaine without hesitation.

Ciddia nodded, although she seemed a little surprised that she didn't think it over. "Mars, Titania, and the various space stations are all intact, and we all largely need nothing from you. The Two Worlds, though... Terra and Draco are still infected by the damaged remnants of the Dragon System, and to a lesser extent, damaged copies of the Archon and Blackhat Systems. These are responsible for the monsters you might have seen--" Ciddia glanced at Chun Liao for confirmation.

Liao shook her head. "On the way back, we didn't see any. I took care of one before we woke her up."

Ciddia raised her eyebrows and quirked a lip just a bit. "Oh good, that's a definite improvement." She paused. "In any event, there are damaged spiritual entities in this world, broken things that use magic and Archon abilities on the world at random, and mostly attack people on sight. Because of this, it has been difficult to resettle outside of a few well-defended hubs. Teddy Helmann's compound is on the outer border of one of these; safe, but only just. The hubs barely trade and have little communication, although we have given them terminals to facilitate things. Mostly, people simply fear the unknown. They have become primitive, lost people."

"That seems unfair," said Elaine, a bit defensive. Ciddia straightened a little in surprise, but Elaine continued. "I saw Teddy's compound. He has tons of computers stacked up there, and that hover sled, I take it, was something he created out of leftover parts. Primitive, you say, but she," Elaine gestured to Liao, "said you don't interfere, which means everything they had was theirs."

"Humanity, on the whole, has fallen very far from where it was," answered Ciddia.

"You say that as someone who lived on top of everything, who still literally lives on top of everything--in space, where things are less dangerous and you can run away from your problems." She suddenly snarled fiercly at Ciddia, which surprised Liao greatly. "Stage me if you want. I mean what I say."

Ciddia looked shocked as well, then laughed. "The Stage system is gone," she replied. "Goodness, that brings back memories. But no, the Stage system used terrawatts of power and took thousands of people to operate. We couldn't continue that today if we tried."

"Fine. I still mean it: you're hiding from your problems." Elaine pushed her rolling chair back from the table and stood. "So you want me to help people to beat the monsters, trade, communicate, and regrow after the end of the world. And somehow in spite of everything you're only now getting back into asking superheroes for help. This is what we were always for." She turned and walked towards the exit, stopping short. "You know, I used to have faith that the Blackhats were doing what they were doing for all of mankind. Even the weird aliens that we could breed with or whatever. But this? Hiding isn't something you do for humanity," she opened the door and stepped through, "it's something you do for yourself." With that, she slammed the door shut.

Liao was genuinely surprised, not least because to Elaine, Ciddia should still have been a godlike figure in her time, yet somehow she was unafraid. Moreso, Elaine had simple... not cared. Not cared about Ciddia, not cared about the space station, not cared that death might await her or that people might hate her. Liao looked to her boss, raising her eyebrows high in the hopes that Ciddia would explain what exactly was going on.

Ciddia just watched the door, deep in thought.

Finally, though, she stood. "Make sure she's supplied with anti-nightmare tech before you send her back," she said, her voice hard and professional as always. "I will put out a more general order in a little while, but I want someone watching her at all times. I hope we won't have to pull her ass out of any fires, but if she underestimates nightmares and causes some shit to go down, well, for the first time in a while that might be on us, so we'll have to handle it."

"Do you want us to give her a shuttle or any other equipment?" Liao fidgeted with her bracelet, using the interface on its surface to add notes to her holo-display, one invisible even to Ciddia--unless she decided to override it, which she always could.

"What for?" Ciddia laughed. "The girl could dive headfirst out an airlock and make it back to Terra from here. In fact, I'm a little worried she's going to do that instead of waiting for you to portal her back." Ciddia waved. "Go make sure she's okay. If she does leave, well, just catch her with the weapons on the ground. Oh, and ask her to please give up any explosives, heavy weapons, ...really any weapon meant for large fights. They won't do her any good, and nobody would be comfortable if they knew she had them. Somehow, I don't think she'll argue the point."

Liao finished adding to her notes and then hurried after the Archon.