Jack reappeared not too much longer later, complaining that the tower was too tall, and he had to blink his way up it only a floor or two at a time. Later still, Tower floated in the window, looking miserable.

"Couldn't save 'em," he said, shaking his head. "But I can sure as hell avenge 'em--"

"Tower, no," I said, interceding between him and Saga.

[But he was about to buy me dinner,] Saga pouted.

The generals had been let out. Dozens of XPCA soldiers stood outside the door, 'containing' the 'threat'. They didn't seem sure if this was a hostage situation anymore, or if there was one Exhuman threat up here, or half a dozen. Blackett was barking instructions into his comms constantly, but nobody seemed to be listening.

Finally, head in hands, he had Cosette put him on the building-wide comms.

"This is acting director Blackett. Former director Albion was deceased in the latest Exhuman event. The event has been contained. All response personnel may stand down."

[Yeah, they're not moving,] Saga commented.

"Maybe because everyone in your range can hear you talking," I muttered. "And people usually think voices in their head is a bad sign?"

[I mean, it usually means you're crazy, but in this case, just means you're about to be dead. That's right. I'm talking to you. You're about to be dead. Invest in gold.]

"There is something straight-up not right with that girl. Why aren't we killing her again?" Tower asked.

"Alright, brief history lesson for everyone, okay? This is Saga. She's an Exhuman, and also, she cannot die. How do we know this? Because a hundred years ago, she was locked up in an experimental facility where they tried really hard to make her dead. They tortured the shit out of her, and when it didn't work, she was locked up there, alone, in the dark, for a hundred years. That's her beef with humans, that's her problem with XPCA, and that's why killing her solves nothing. Questions?"

[Yeah, have you been working out? Damn I don't remember that ass being so fine.]

Karu made a face.

"Do you ever think what your statements sound like without any context to, say, the dozens of guys with guns outside this room?" I asked her.

[Yeah. That's about all I ever think of. Non-contextual guys with guns are hawt.]

"Follow-up question!" said Tower. "There is something super wrong with that girl, can I please now kill her?"

"Nobody in this room kills anyone else in this room," said Blackett with authority I just didn't posses. Tem, Jack, and Tower at least piped down a little bit. "There is still a problem of what we do with her, Chariot. She publicly murdered XPCA officials."

"So we execute her for it?" I said with a shrug. "Who needs to know it didn't work?"

[Hey, young man, you watch your tone. I'll have you know that nobody in this room is killing anyone else in this room. Boss man said so, and his word is law.]

"For the record," Blackett said, nursing his temples "if we do make a plan, please do not broadcast it to the entire floor?"

[Look, I'm still of the opinion that it'd be much easier for me just to kill everyone here still. I could pop those guys like it's nothing, and then there's basically no witnesses.] She looked at me with a grin, which slowly withered under my glare. [I'm uh, willing to do a favor for Athan though and not. But please stop wasting my time.]

"Wasting your time?" Jack echoed. "You murdered half a dozen men in cold blood, and are talking about doing more."

[Yeah, and you killed...wow. 41 XPCA when they brought you in...oh no, that was just on the streets. After that, you went through the whole base…]

"Saga, dude. Again. Do you have to piss off every single person that you meet?"

[I didn't piss him off. Look, he's smiling.]

"We can't just let her go, she's a maniac," Tower replied.

"You can't keep her or kill her either," I said.

Blackett sighed. "She's already everything wrong with the system. People won't feel safe with her on the loose, we can't punish her because we're only doing so if she permits it, and she can't die. Chariot, as much as you hate the proposal of keeping Exhumans separated...but not imprisoned," he added, glancing at her "I don't see another option."

"I refuse to accept that," I said. "Like I said, this country once tried separate but equal, remember?"

"Yes, and I remember your insinuations of a second civil war, but what else do you propose?"

"Saga has to walk free. She can make a public apology, throw her support behind the new system, whatever you want, but you're not chaining her up again."

"Her support would actively damn the new task force. People want her dead, not her endorsement."

"Then let her go without the statement. Say she just slipped away."

"Yes, that will go over great. Our new task force responds to an Exhuman event, and for the first time in history, we fail to capture the target," Blackett snapped back.

"Or we just lie and say we got her?"

"I am already opposed to the policies of the XPCA, and bear issue with beginning their turning of a new era, as it were, on lies," Karu added unhelpfully.

"Karu, it's just Saga."

"You may be personally blind to Saga's devious ways, but I am not. Not ten minutes ago did she attempt on my life for the sole reason of me being human. As a hunter, as a proponent of justice, hell, as a human being, how can you expect me to turn a blind eye to that kind of danger on the loose?"

"But that was before. She came to."

"And she came to at your words before, yet still here she remains being a danger to all around her. How you can be so frustratingly incompetent in the name of friendship...it baffles me, Ashton. You are both one of the smartest, kindest, strongest, but also most foolish, cruelest, and weakest men I know. It drives me insane. I can't believe I had forgotten this side of you so quickly."

"Yeah but...it's Saga."

I sighed. I didn't have anything else to argue with. I knew if this were just some random code Xavier, popping civilians' heads, I'd be trying to cut her into pieces...but Saga was different. As terrible as she was...and I had to admit, sometimes, even right now, she was truly a terrible person, unrepentant murderer...I'd spent too much time inside her head and in her heart not to understand her side of things.

"I do not think," Jack said, putting a hand on my shoulder, in a way that was both cold and comforting, "that perhaps you have a clear enough mind for this situation."

I started to argue, but he was right. I really didn't. But I also couldn't just let Saga take the fall for all of this. She was hurt and confused, hiding her agony behind that sarcasm and smirk, and lashing out. She was hiding her heart, but it didn't work on me.

"Take me instead," I said.

"What?" Jack withdrew his hand.

"The people, they don't know or care who did it, they just need an Exhuman to take the fall. Cut me out of the holovid and say it was me. I'll pay for Saga's crimes."

"That's insane," said Jack.

Blackett looked like he was thinking. Karu simply shook her head and started to speak, when Saga interrupted.

[No, it's fine. I'll go to your little concentration camp.]

"Saga, no. I know how you feel about this."

[And I know how you feel, and how stubborn you are. Between the two of us, I know which one Buttkett here would rather put away. If we're both turning ourselves in, I win.]

"Saga, you can't do that. They'll lock you up. You'll…" I tried to remember her exact words. "You'll be putting your life in human hands again. You refuse to accept that, right?"

[I also promised I'd be serving your interests until you die, Athan. You can't do that if they execute you for my crimes.]

"Or, they execute me and then you're free, and you don't have to follow me anymore."

Karu popped up on me, scowl twitching on her face.

"H-hey, Karu," I gave her a diminutive wave.

"Do not you hey Karu me," she said, and slugged me in the gut. I doubled over and coughed. "She needs to be put away, Ashton. If not now, then I will do myself as soon as you turn your back. As for you...you are in no position to offer up your own life."

"W-why not?" I wheezed.

"You are indebted to me, yet. Two more battles, I am still owed, and they are non-transferrable." She pouted and turned her gaze to the ceiling. "Until those are repaid in full, I cannot accept your execution, by any means."

I felt someone poke me in the back, and turned, seeing Tem re-materialized behind me. She looked scared but also determined. "No dying. You s-said s-s-s-so."

"I'm going to die someday, Tem, Karu. You can't just demand I live, that's not how it works."

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"I can and I will, Ashton. I demand that you live. You have far too much...educational value." She blushed.

I sighed. "Can't even be honest with me even now?"

"Last time I was honest, somebody told me it was a love confession and has yet to let me live it down!"

"Maybe…" Mage cut in. "...you should focus a little?"

Karu went bright red. "The...the things you make me say in front of people, Ashton! Director Blackett is my new boss!"

"Yes, and I'm very irritated with all of this nonsense. It sounds to me like the Exhuman Saga is willing to comply and be placed in a secure area."

[I am. You caught me, officer. Take me away.]

"I would like to make it clear to both of you," he said, looking at Saga and me "this is not imprisonment, nor do I intend to make a ghetto or camp out of this. I want somewhere that Exhumans can live in safety, both their own and humanity's. I am afraid...it will be somewhat barren for a while, but hopefully not for too long."

[I'm cool with barren. I am so sick of the voices in here. (Do you even know how many people live in DC? It's insane.)]

"I wonder if it would be possible to get in touch with the government in Canada," I said.

"Hmm? Why?"

"We'll need somewhere to put them. I know a nice excluded little place where Exhumans can live in peace. Might look a little bit like a warzone right now, but there's food and water."

"And also possibly radiation," Blackett said.

"I survived there without any problems."

Blackett sighed. "I had a soldier use a wide-spectrum radiation grenade on you while we were sure your window was still open so that traces up there wouldn't affect you."

I remembered that. The day I was taken in. I was more fixated on the soldier who deployed it, and how he literally melted away when I kicked the 'nade back into him. Insane, to think Blackett was grooming me for this, even back then.

Karu seemed to have the same thought, and scrutinized him critically, suddenly a lot more on guard. He raised his hands up defensively. "I told you, Chariot. This is my last remaining gambit. Don't expect any more deeply-laid hidden plans." He smiled. "Mostly."

"Does that mean...Lia was living up there with us."

"Worry not, Ashton, Lia and I both had rad detection in our kits. She would avoid it if it were there."

I let out a sigh and leaned back. Strange to think that people I loved could have died so easily as that.

[Well if you're all done being all lovey-dovey, I have a ride waiting for me downstairs. It's been a trip, Athan. Stay alive, or else I'll snap and kill everyone you love, okay?]

"Good seeing you too, Saga." I jumped the desk and gave her a hug. Her arms wrapped around me, cold and long, but also clinging to me just a little desperately. I let her hold on as long as she wanted, which was about half again as long as the embrace should have been, but she finally reluctantly let go.

"Wait," I said, having a guilty thought as she slipped out of my arms. "Um."

[AEGIS and Lia are together, in Las Vegas. I shoved their contact info in the memories I gave you earlier.]

"Can't you just tell me now, so I don't have to...relive...that?"

[Nope. If I had to live that, you get to too. Have fun with your sister.]

"That's really fucked," I said blankly.

[Yeah. She really fucked me. I'm not usually vindictive, but just this once, I'm going to enjoy it. Consider that my payment for me being a good little Exhuman now.] She headed for the door. [Try not to fall in love with Karu, or AEGIS, or this one while I'm away, okay?] she said, messing up Tem's hair, making the poor girl flinch and try to shy away.

"None of them is forcing me to experience sex with my sister, Saga."

She just laughed quietly, a real laugh, and stood at the door. Cosette and Blackett flanked her, and he spoke into the building's comms again.

"Attention response personnel. The Exhuman is now being escorted to a transport to be moved to a secure location. Keep weapons trained, and hold fire."

Without anymore fanfare, they opened the door and left, giving us a glimpse of the dozens of guns pointed at the door before it closed.

"I guess…" Jack said. "...we're free to do as we wish then?"

"Here," said Mage, with some seemingly huge effort, like we were barely worth talking to. "Comms." She pulled out a box of XPCA comms, each resting in a moulded velvety-lined plastic well, each identical to the one Blackett gave me before we fought. I had no idea where she'd found these or when. "I left a note for Blackett. He'll be able to find us," she said, took one, and simply left.

The rest of us didn't have much else of an idea what to do, so we each took one as well. I read Mage's note, as people filed in to take one. it was a list our names, and of comms IDs next to each. I looked down at the comms I'd picked up. On a tiny label on the bottom, hard to read, the text XC4832178. Exactly the same number she'd written next to my name.

"If you don't mind, I will take one as well," Karu said. "Or scan the channel in, anyway."

"Yeah...I don't think anyone minds," I said, my mind spinning. I pointed at the note where instead of a comms ID, Karu's name had a frequency listed.

"That's my public hailing frequency. It is widely available," Karu said, unimpressed.

She was the only one who was, however, as we all exited the room and then the building quietly lost in thought. Each of the comms we'd picked up randomly matched what she'd put down for us.

"Is it just me," Jack said as we all walked together along the river, the shadow of the Raven's Nest behind us "or would anyone else very much be interested in figuring out Mage's powers?"

We all agreed silently. I kept reading and re-reading the ID on the back of my comms.

"Well, Ashton, with your release and the new era of the XPCA, I would say my era of campaigning is at an end. I will not miss it."

"You were pretty great though," I said, snapping out of my thoughts. "You have a very regal bearing, and a lot of passion that really comes through. I think...if it's not inappropriate to say...your dad would be proud."

"For proselytizing on behalf of an Exhuman and former enemy of the state? I appreciate the compliment but I do not think you know my father."

"I meant...never mind."

"Anyway," she said, sidling up on me and clinging to my arm. It was a little uncomfortable with all her armor in the way, and a little hard to get close to her with a couple inches of visor hanging off her face and glowing at me in a very intimidating way, but my heart raced anyway. "My meaning was that I suddenly find my schedule a lot more open. Perhaps you might enjoy filling it, so to speak?"

She smiled coyly at me and then suddenly blushed and inhaled sharply, dropping my arm. "My schedule!" she shouted. "Filling my schedule! As in, we could procure dinner together, for example!"

I laughed, and I wasn't the only one. In our wake trailed Tower, Jack, and Tem, all laughing. Tower's boisterous booming, Jack's genuine yet restrained snickering, Tem's embarrassed giggle. Even Karu had to laugh, after she'd resigned herself to her embarrassment, contributing her earnest full-bodied laugh to the cheery atmosphere.

"It's been a while, Karu, and I'd love to, but for tonight, would you be willing to hang out and meet my new friends? I think they might change your mind some on all Exhumans but me being awful people."

"Oh, very well. But I reserve the right to monopolize you all to myself tomorrow for dinner, is that acceptable?"

"You never told me you have a girlfriend!" Tower said, wrapping an arm around me and crushing my ribs. Jack was walking backwards in front of us and smiling, while Tem hung on Karu's other arm and both hesitantly but excitedly plied her for details on how we met, how I asked her out, how long we'd been going out. Between her stuttering and Karu's frantic denials, it was both indecipherable and adorable.

"Table for…" the waiter looked our crew up and down with a worried expression, his eyes mostly lingering on Karu and her weapons and armor, and Tower, who loomed head and shoulders above the rest of us, but also snapped on Tem, who was visible only momentarily behind the rest of us before retreating, and Jack, walking in with his eyes shut and an impossible grin. "...five?"

"But I eat for two!" Tower bellowed, and laughed. The waiter smiled patiently and escorted us to the very furthest reaches of their seating, far from any other patrons.

I didn't mind the isolation. At least we could talk about whatever we wanted over here without drawing suspicion. Everyone was soon lost in the menus and expressing a love for italian.

"Who's paying?" Jack smiled. "I don't believe anyone murdered Saga."

"I'll pay," Karu said, placing her visor on the table and shaking out her hair.

"I was only jesting."

"No, it is fine. Consider it my gratitude for the life you have chosen to live. It is not often that Exhumans choose to commit themselves to a life of virtue, and rarer still that a hunter can sit together with them as allies. Though the world may sometimes be dark on the path you have chosen, allow me at least, to express my thanks for you having chosen it."

"Wow, a little deep there. Haven't even had drinks yet," Tower rumbled. "But thanks. I do eat a lot."

"He does," Jack confirmed. "When we cooked at the manor, I prepared enough for eight. And Tem counts only as a half."

"A manor? That does explain Ashton's new attire. I confess, I am quite a fan, but what man does not improve for a suit, I suppose?"

We gradually caught her up on the events of the past few weeks at Blackett manor, though mostly just talked and laughed, cycling back around to catching her up when the conversation randomly returned back to form. Everyone had a great time, and as the food came out, everyone enjoyed that enormously as well.

"Man," I said, feeling fat and full and lazy. "No offense to you three, but this is the best food I've had in a year, easily. You know, before living there, I was out in the wilds eating whatever I could catch? Compared to that, lasagna is literally a slice of heaven."

"Oh!" squeaked Tem. "You...you s-said you ate...ate a bear?"

I laughed. "Yeah, his name was Apotheosis. Man, that was crazy. Saga sent him to kill my sister, Lia."

By the end of the night, I felt like we were all best friends. Everyone took their turns in sharing stories, though Tem's were mostly halting and she didn't have much to share but drama at her high school...before it was razed to the ground. It was way after dark before we retook the streets and loitered outside.

"Where are you all staying?" Karu asked.

We all looked at each other and kind of shrugged. None of us actually had money or plans, come to think of it. She rubbed her eyes in a very annoyed kind of way.

"Well, I know where you are staying," she said, grabbing my arm and pulling me in close. "I have a hotel nearby, though I am not certain I've ever used the front door."

"Huh?"

"VTOL port on the roof," she said, and turned her butt...or maybe just her jetpack towards me, seemingly unwilling to use her arms now that they were wrapped around mine. "But what of the rest of you?"

"I just...assumed, Master Blackett's…" said Tem.

"He said he's not our master any longer, Tem. It wouldn't be right to burden him." Jack scratched his chin as he thought.

Karu sighed. "Assuming there are any left, I will book the three of you a room, if that is acceptable. Please do not to continue to rely on my charity tomorrow." She fixed them with a lethal stare. "And please do not intrude on Athan and my privacy. We have no interest in breakfast or whatever you may fancy."

"I kind of like the idea of breakfast with them…"

"You will be having breakfast with me," she said, turning that lethal stare on me instead. Her visor was still under her arms--and therefore under my arm--from the restaurant, and her green eyes glittered both beautiful and dangerously.

"I thought...you said dinner?"

"Ashton, I must ask, are you possibly an idiot?"

"We will be happy to take the room, and would not dream of intruding upon your time," Jack said with a graceful bow. "Your generosity is appreciated. I will pay you back as soon as I am able."

"It is unnecessary, but I appreciate it. Let us go then."

She held my arm the entire few blocks to the hotel. We kept up some more small talk until the lobby, where Karu paid for another room, and gave the key to Tem, who looked afraid she was going to lose it.

"Good night then," Karu said, and the three wished us the same as Karu and I disappeared into an elevator.

Despite her pedigree and presumably pretty enormous wealth, it was just a normal room. I wasn't really surprised, Karu didn't seem the type to need more than a spartan accommodation, but it was still a bit odd. I scanned the room briefly as she removed pieces of her armor and stacked them near the sink and noticed something.

"K-karu!"

"Hmm?"

"There's...there's only one bed in here."

She came back out, wearing her flight suit, boots, and random pieces of armor down one arm and on her chest. "Just what did you think we would be doing in this room tonight?" she asked.

I realized her earlier statement was totally true. It was entirely possibly I was an idiot. Somehow, surrounded by friends and laughter, the thought of anything sexual or romantic was the furthest thing from my mind. Now, standing there as she slowly stripped off pieces of her clothes, and I was just staring at this one bed, no other thought could enter my mind.

"Do you need to shower?" she asked as she unzipped the entire length of her flight suit.

I couldn't answer. Only sexual thoughts were allowed in my mind at the moment. She looked in on me, gave me a quick glance, and smiled.

"Well, do not get too excited. I have been sealed in this damn suit all day and smell like a dog. But um, it is good to see you so...happy to see me again."

She giggled, a very effeminate, almost embarrassed giggle, and then the door closed and I heard the curtain slide into place and the water turn on.

I was still standing there utterly dumbfounded and in shock when she came out wearing only a towel, laughed to see me still in place, and knocked me over into the single bed.