Blackett seemed worse and worse over the following days. He began to spend more and more time at the office, coming back more exhausted and defeated every day. Even I, who didn't have any love for the man felt for him.

It sucked when you were putting your all into something and failing. Even if that something was murdering people, and painting a target on innocent Exhumans.

It seemed like the only thing keeping him going was watching us battle one another, and so that became more frequent. I was never again paired up with Tem, and every time I'd been matched with Mage, she'd simply stab herself with a pin and flick some droplets of blood to the mat, but Jack and Tower and I squared off constantly.

And...I found myself enjoying it, despite everything. Each of them was so different from me, but so strong, I had to push myself to my absolute limits to keep up with them.

Tower and I were brutal, his powers negated any physical forces applied to him, but he was completely unguarded against lightning. Similarly, he moved and attacked so fast, I could only barely keep him at bay most of the time.

Jack's fights played out very differently, both of us probing each other for weaknesses constantly. If he moved into reach, I could fill the entire area around me with lightning, but I couldn't keep it up forever and had to pre-emptively guess when he would go in for the kill. At range, he was powerless, but equally untouchable. It was all mind games, as he flickered into existence all around me, and I pressured him as best I was able, both of us knowing it would all come down to one final attack.

Watching Tem fight the others was enjoyable as well. As much as she drove me nuts, apologizing every time I pulled a difficult chore and she got an easy one, or apologizing whenever she lost...or whenever she won, for those few moments when she was in the zone, fighting with her all, I couldn't think of her as anything but strong of spirit.

She...and I hated to admit this, but she did remind me a lot of me. Between her illusions, hard light constructs, and lasers, she had a lot of tools she could fall back on, like I did, and she employed them cleverly, unafraid to play dirty at every turn.

Blackett had given her the okay to use her lasers in small non-lethal blasts, but when she became passionate, engrossed in a fight, she often turned up the volume more than intended. My job was to jump in if it looked like that was happening, because my shield could seemingly absorb any amount of laser, so far as it had been tested. She wound up apologizing as always, which irked me, but whatever, and then the fight would recommence.

Tem and Jack were fighting today, with her creating a random constant barrage of lasers around herself, forsaking her invisibility for a more concrete defense, while attempting to harry him into a vulnerable position, and simultaneously getting her light constructs online. Jack had spent too long evading and hadn't found an opening, and the room was beginning to fill with small colorless motes of light, touching any of which would spell an instant loss for him.

Fortunately, unlike the rest of us, Jack didn't have to walk to get from point A to point B. A solid wall of razors was just a thing for him to appear on the other side of, and all the ever-increasing amount of constructs did was make him reappear in more and more awkward poses as he held himself aloft from the growing danger.

Tem had miscalculated, however. Of all the things her beams could pierce, hard light was not one of them. As the room filled up more and more, her attack angles became more limited, and Jack had both more and less room to operate. He began to appear close to her with greater frequency, often only half an instant from getting a quick slash in with his knife before a laser appearing meant he had to whisk away again.

She'd realized her mistake and was moving the constructs away from her, to give herself more space, but it was too late, it looked like. If Jack found a single opening, he didn't even need to slash to attack, he could simply appear with the blade already millimeters from her.

It was a pretty nice trick, but unpleasant to be on the receiving end, I'd learned.

Still, if he did that and appeared inside a laser, we'd agreed that counted as a loss for him, so he had to find just the right moment to strike. For all his speed and apparently enhanced perception, Jack still had normal reflexes as much as I could tell, and the lasers could fire off after about a third of a second at their fastest. Just slow enough to dodge, but only if that's all you were doing.

Suddenly, imperceptibly, his grin grew confident and he appeared at her side, knife extended through her upper arm. Tower and I had both only just seen the opening and applauded as Jack landed the blow.

And then Tem vanished into nothingness, an illusion the whole time. Jack wheeled around, completely lost, but didn't have time to reacquire his target before having to vanish again as a hail of lasers poured from every angle through where he stood.

It was already over, I realized. I could sense where Tem stood, she was right at the edge of the room, completely surrounded by her constructs, so close that they hovered millimeters from her skin. The whole thing had been a ploy to not raise Jack's suspicion as she gathered all of her constructs in one place around her, making a barrier so large and impassible that he could not appear anywhere within it or strike her through it.

He was still blinking around the room at random, thinking her somewhere in the middle still. He'd grown desperate since he fell for her bait, and had no idea what she'd been planning the entire time. It truly was a thing of beauty watching her slowly but unstoppably extinguish his options as the room filled more and more with the shimmering brume.

Eventually, he was in the same position as she, completely pinned as the cloud closed in around him. He smiled and threw up his hands, dropping the knife to the padded floor. He waited patiently while one single mote floated in and touched the side of his finger, drawing a single drop of blood.

"I'm...s-so s-s-s-sorry about tricking...about tricking you like...like that," she said, appearing at once, as the light began to melt away.

"It was a good fight," he said smiling, still as a statue while the room was filled with blades of light yet. "You have nothing to apologize for."

"I...I must have made you...made you feel very s-stupid. Please, accept...accept my apologies."

And just like that the calculating killer who slowly, mercilessly choked the life and options from her prey became Tem again, simpering little ball of self-doubt.

To my surprise, Blackett stood up, and headed for the door. We all watched with wordless panic as Tem struggled to move the constructs from his path, but he just waved his hand in front of himself like there was a bug, and walked right through them. Swiftly, silently, and with a scowl.

Tem sat down and looked even more down than usual. "I knew...knew he did not like my s-s-strategy," she bemoaned.

"How the heck did he do that?" Tower said, reaching for a wisp of light himself, flinching and pulling back a cut hand. What the heck did he think was going to happen?

I slid sideways carefully into Blackett's spot and then followed the tunnel through the light that his body had left behind. Like whatever had landed on him had simply vanished. I'd assumed he had some secret countermeasures up his sleeve when he met to talk with me before we'd fought, but wasting them here, just to show off? What could he possibly be doing.

I emerged from the sub-gym and followed to his office, where I assumed he'd gone. I knocked on the door.

"What?" he said. It wasn't a response I ever expected from him. Lacking in discipline and propriety, and downright angry sounding.

"Um, it's me," I said. "Wanted to...I guess I wanted to see if you were okay."

I heard him laugh which was a first, just a curt bark of one, but enough to really unnerve me. "Yeah, come on in."

I let myself in and sat down opposite him. He really did look like shit, massaging the bridge of his nose, his tired eyes closed.

"Amazing," he said, without looking up "that you'd finally choose to come around to my side of things, even a little bit, just in time for none of it to matter."

"I'm not on your side," I argued defensively. "I just want to see...you've never really acted like this before."

"No, I suppose not." He sat up and regained a bit of his old strict posturing. "The XPCA is falling apart, and the funny part is, it's all your fault, and I don't even think you know about it."

I furrowed my brow. Was this because of the soldiers and resources I'd destroyed? Was the XPCA that hard-up for men and materiel? I'd always heard they got their choice of everything, it was basically the only government agency the public wanted to always give more funding.

"I don't know what you mean," I said.

"I assumed not. You don't seem the type to watch the news or read the 'net. Nobody here is, except me by necessity, and Mage, whom," he glanced over at me, "I don't think you get along with?"

"Not so much, no."

He reached into a desk drawer and pulled out a tiny black device, aimed it a blank wall, and depressed some button. The wall came to life with a holo projecting over it.

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"Protests continue against the XPCA as more leaks--" he pressed another button and the image changed.

"--legations of kidnapping, misappropriation of government funds, and corruption shake the XPCA. In a statement--"

"...online presence. How so many communities rose against the XPCA at once is a mystery however. Do you have a comment, Director Albion?"

"--will not be silenced, will be heard, until the wrongs of the XPCA are drawn to light and the truth sets us free from their injustices."

"That's Karu," I said, staring at the screen. She was standing in full regalia on a stage, behind a podium, a huge number of mics pointed at her, and apparently an enormous crowd hanging on her every word. I wanted to hear more, but Blackett muted the holo.

"That is Karu," he said, running his fingers through his hair, which now had streaks of grey beginning to form. "She and some of her hunter associates have begun national protests crying out against the injustices committed by the XPCA."

He continued, speaking into the desk with both hands atop his head. "Numerous extremely classified documents and initiatives have also been acquired from seemingly nowhere, and are now cycling freely on the 'net. All damning or incriminating of course, without the benefit of a single lick of context given. Released by a vigilante known as 'Black Shark.'"

"And more," he continued, "a hacker organization under the banner of an unknown entity calling itself AEGIS has repeatedly hacked and defeated every single 'net presence the XPCA owns. We can't access our own files, keep propaganda off our own site, or even control Skyweb. How they can know everything from our server infrastructure to database architecture from a hundred years ago, it's impossible to keep a step ahead of them."

I felt tears brimming in my eyes, as I watched Karu silently speaking to the cameras, passionate, worked-up, sweeping her arms dramatically, and tapping the podium to emphasize her points. She was the most beautiful person I'd ever seen, I felt at that moment, and even with her hair all punked up, and her visor glowing blood-red, I could see the regal bearing of an Irenside hanging from every muted word she said.

They'd...they'd come for me. I don't know how, or even why, but they had, each in their own way. Karu's status as a hunter and political upbringing, Lia's information gathering and strategy, AEGIS' insider knowledge and improbable hacking aptitude...and Saga, presumably, They were all working together, for me.

I felt so unworthy and so blessed. My mouth twitched, and the tears began to pour.

"Oh please, not with the crying, Chariot. I had thought we were past that," he muttered, burying a face in his elbow and throwing a box of tissues in my direction.

I walked to the wall holo and, giving one final smile at Karu's passionate speech, tapped the page and brought up the XPCA's home page.

'XPCA LIES' read the page's banner, and the background was hundreds of small images of faces, each one covered by a large red X. I scrolled down past the blocks of propaganda-esque prose, and at the bottom of the page, found a link to the webmaster. I clicked it, and a new page popped up.

'This page is under management by the SET ATHAN ASHTON FREE initiative. If you are the original owner of this page, you can contact us by SETTING ATHAN ASHTON FREE, you assholes.'

I was surprised to find both instances of my name were links. I clicked one and found myself on an e-cyclopedia, favorably outlining all the events of my life until now, emphasizing how much promise I had and how it had all been brutally cut short by the violent whims of the XPCA. A note at the top of the page mentioned public editing had been blocked on this page because of too much polarizing debate. I pulled open the recent edits and found tens of thousands of edits before the page had been locked, mostly between what was probably the long-time site administrators removing bias and uncited facts, and AEGIS, or her supporters, putting them back in tenfold.

Back on the XPCA homepage, I found a listing of files, thousands of them, of terminated Exhumans, detailing their entire records as the XPCA saw them. As I moved from file to file, I realized these must have been hand-picked by the girls, none of them were legitimate threats or had surrendered willingly. Most of them had the same two fields highlighted.

'Cause of death: Execution.'

'Justification of lethal force: Exhuman.'

"Your little girls," Blackett said, still face down in his elbow on the table "have destroyed everything. We're going to release you, and dismantle the XPCA. The public pressure is too strong."

"Dismantle it?" I asked.

"Yep. The president of the United States himself is demanding it. Apparently even he was unaware of the vast amount of bodies we'd piled up." He sat up again. "But wasn't that the point of it all? We managed the Exhumans so people wouldn't have to worry about the body count? People could live their lives without thinking of all the death going on around them?"

I didn't agree. The XPCA and I had too much between us for me to ever agree with them, but I also couldn't imagine the world without them.

"What happens during an Exhuman event?" I asked.

"Same as in the old days. Military responds. Tanks and VTOLs."

"Tanks and VTOLS?" I asked incredulously. "Tanks and VTOLs can't stop an Exhuman. I would know, I blew up all your tanks, and your VTOLs couldn't touch me."

"Those were supposed to be for troop cover, deployment, and artillery support only. The line commander who ordered fire on you during negotiations was fired with extreme prejudice. By me." He scratched his head aggressively.

He laid back down. "Besides, those idiots don't know the true purpose of the XPCA anyway. They'll think they need to kill every Exhuman they see."

"Isn't...that what you did? Aside from the, what, five of us in this house?"

Unexpectedly, very unexpectedly, he laughed again, shaking the desk. "I thought you were smarter than this," he said, looking up at me again. "You honestly think that's all the XPCA does? Show up to Exhuman events and has a deathmatch until the body count stacks up to one Exhuman's might?"

"Uh...I mean...isn't that what you did up north, with me?"

"Please. The whole point of that operation was to distract you with a large, difficult-to-destroy force while we captured any one of your friends and forced your surrender. As ever, the rank-and-file of the XPCA are there for decoration and not substance."

"And dying?" I said, finding my breath suddenly short.

"And dying. As I mentioned before, they died bravely and honorably, and knew what they were in for. A suicide mission to capture an Exhuman."

"You're telling me," I said suddenly on my feet and feeling very hot "all those people we fought and killed, that was just to keep us busy so you could pick off Lia?"

"We were aiming for Karu, but she proved better armed than anticipated, and the VTOLs couldn't track her well enough to launch their special ordinance. As it turns out, it is very difficult to catch a fly when you have to throw the web at her."

"You're fucking sick. The XPCA does deserve to go down."

"If that's the way you see it. But then who stops the real bad guys?"

"The...the military."

"The military will fight very bravely and die very quickly."

"And how is that different from what you did with your kill squads?"

"Chariot, I cannot believe I have to explain this to you. You are an Exhuman, yes?"

I didn't answer. Just crossed my arms and waited for him to continue.

"Are you familiar with the term 'Ramanathan Window'? I would be surpri--"

"Yes, I am. The theory that an Exhuman's powers are able to adapt, or are even created in response to events which will harm them in the first hours or days of being Exhuman."

"Very good. So why is it, do you suppose, that the XPCA, despite being known for having exotic weaponry to take down any Exhuman, always responds with kill squads using the same standard armaments? Standard missiles, guns, lasers."

I'd never thought about it. Having first responders and also a power set that could grow more dangerous with the situation didn't line up.

"You use traditional firearms so that the window doesn't open up any new powers. Like you did with, what was his name, Ultraman?"

"Yes, the Exhuman who became immune to almost everything. That is what happens when you throw all you have at one."

"So you just take a bunch of doomed people and throw them to their death against an Exhuman they can't beat?"

"No, we stand off against them as long as possible. We buy time for the window to shut. We evacuate civilians and make a grand spectacle for the nation to witness how destructive and evil Exhumans are. Because of that kind of propaganda, most of the time, Exhumans simply surrender, as you did."

"And then what? You fight them for days, just letting your own men die?"

"If we have to."

"Until when?"

"Until the window closes. And then we send in the real kill teams. Men and women you've never heard of. Assassins, black as night, who use the real exotic weapons. You never found it strange that the news would eagerly report out about an Exhuman event resolved with the deployment of a new carbon-dissolving gas, but never any footage of it being used? And even then, they only would know of it when the effects were so drastic or so lingering we wouldn't be able to conceal them."

"And nobody knows about this? Why?"

"Would you sign up to join the XPCA if you knew you were just throwing your life away to just buy a few seconds. By design?"

Now it was my turn to put my elbows on the desk and scratch at my head. "Why are you telling me all of this? And why now, when the XPCA is falling apart?"

"Because I have one final trick up my sleeve, but the only way it plays out is if you decide to cooperate with me. Forgive me, my intentions were to keep you here another few months at least and let you form your own opinions and allow your loyalty to grow organically, but we don't have time for that."

He was sitting back up again, and I mirrored him, at least as worried as I was intrigued.

"I must ask for your loyalty now, full and unwavering, if we are to have any chance to save the XPCA and save this nation. Now is the last moment we have to put my plan into motion, and if it should fail...I have no other plans left. America will be defenseless as Exhumans run unstoppable across her."

He extended his hand.

I hesitated. "I can't just trust you, you know. I can't offer you my loyalty, because honestly, I still hate you and hate all that you represent."

I looked him in the eyes, small and dark.

"But I also agree with you in everything you've said so far. I don't think America can live without some form of XPCA, I've seen and met too many Exhumans and humans alike to believe otherwise. But it has to change. Things can't keep running on fear and executions the way they have been. The XPCA is dying, not because of what my friends are out there doing, but because of what you've been doing all these years."

With the back of my hand against his, I pushed his away.

"So no, I cannot simply give you my loyalty. But if you are willing to work with me, as a partner, as two men who want to defend others from danger, then I will give you everything I have."

"That is everything I require," he said, and held out his hand again. "Partners, then?"

"Partners," I said and clasped his. "Now let's hear what your last-ditch plan is, and I'll tell you how much I hate every single part of it.

"On the contrary," he said with a small smile, the first I'd seen in over a week, and maybe the second or third I'd ever seen him give. "I actually think you'll quite like it.