It was late, that was about all I knew. Days and nights had kind of blurred together, as I'd become engrossed in my work. Black Shark was back in full force, stronger than ever, and drawing from every available resource, I had pulled and dumped compromising files from the XPCA archives on the 'net publicly.

Most of it had come from AEGIS, who had more access to their systems than even they knew. As an XPCA AI, who had once managed an entire base of theirs, and who was just generally a freaking genius when it came to computers in all ways, she was unstoppable. She had a public campaign of defacing their 'net sites, but had also completely shut down their internal digital operations, whether they knew it or not.

Even freaking Skyweb was under her control. Skyweb. If we really wanted, we could use her data and just that, and surgically remove every single XPCA facility and personnel from the face of America. That was a distant plan B, but it was appalling just how much success she'd had.

> lia

I saw a message pop up on my holo, from her. I was in my pj's, sitting on my chair with my feet on it, having plans to go to bed at some point, hours ago.

> Sup

I responded, tabbing back to the other things I was working on. I kind of hated that most of our conversations were held over messaging now, but I think mostly I was jealous she could do it just by thinking. Native 'net uplink was one of the things she'd built in when she worked on Rua Mk.2, along with a lot of other stuff she tried to show me, but I was really way too busy to care.

> need pw for basement elevator of facility at 36.2, -95.6 ...don't ask

I pulled up the coordinates. Some XPCA base in the middle of nowhere. We'd been cracking those more and more often, as they, in some misguided effort, had begun to distribute their files to more and more remote data centers. This was probably just some warehouse in the middle of nowhere, and they were just piping data into it out of desperation.

Idiots didn't realize that half the time, moving the data just meant we could pick it out of the 'net en-route. AEGIS wasn't just in the XPCA, she was listening to half the traffic on the 'net. The more times they bounced the data around, trying to obfuscate its source and destination, the more likely they were to send it to one of the relays she was eavesdropping on.

This data made it by apparently, and for one reason or another, a basement code would help with it. Must have a drone on-site or something. Truly, given enough time and resources, AEGIS was the scariest goddamn thing I had ever heard of.

> sec

I pulled up some data files I had, but wasn't optimistic. Of course, nobody would have written down a passcode for an elevator in a database, but we'd found stupider things before. After parsing them for a few minutes, I was finding no promising hits, and was too tired to keep raking the tables anyway. Time to do it the easy way.

I checked the time for realsies. Thankfully, it was early morning there, because of course, it was two hours before that here, and here, it was butt o' clock.

I pulled up some personnel records and found some that matched my needs. Having apsych eval on every personnel laying around made my job easy. Cleared my throat, and then cleared it again because, wow, how long had it been since I talked? I chugged some water from a bottle on my desk and then tried again.

"La la la la laaaa."

Good enough. I found the hottest girl who worked in the building, and double-checked her file. She didn't seem like a total bitch, so good enough.

I put a few numbers into my holo and waited while it rang.

"Hi, Geordi?" I said, trying to inject as much charm as possible into my tired voice. "Hi, yeah, this is Ellia Ausa, I work in logistics? I think we might have been on the same mails sometimes." I laughed just a little at my own joke. I was adorable. "Yeah, that's me. You remember me, aww, that's so sweet of you. Hey, Geordi, I had a little favor to ask."

He said something and I don't even really know what it was. I just laughed. Guys loved a girl who laughed at everything they said.

"Yeah, I'm actually in the basement right now. I got down here okay, but I must have forgotten the code because now it's not letting me back up. Can you tell me the code, please? I'd really appreciate it."

> 42776

I hit send, and kept Geordi on the line until AEGIS confirmed.

> its good thx

I hung up, not even saying bye. Geordi and Ellia's life was really no concern of mine, he just happened to be a lot easier to crack than any other part of their security.

I stretched and yawned and realized, if it was morning there, I had to sleep now or the sun would be up again, and that was just the most devastating thing ever. I'd already pulled one all-nighter last night, and two in a row was asking for trouble, no matter how much coffee I had.

But I also wasn't finished with what I'd been working on for Athan. I just needed to put the last touches on another batch of files, clean up any traces of AEGIS' or my fingerprints on them, and get them out.

It wasn't even a decision at this point really. Athan came first. Sleep was the refuge of the weak. Almost habitually, I drank more coffee. My toes curled a little, it was cold, but damn did I need it. I'd wanted to try stims, but Chiho and AEGIS had cut me off, cold stop. I couldn't really blame them, after what I'd done with just beer.

I hadn't caught Saga. Even now, playing it out in my head again and again, weeks later, I have no idea where she went. I'd clocked her foot speed, did the math, estimated the radius of her powers, and the possibility I'd missed her simply didn't exist. Even accounting for her moving away and then back again, I had covered too much area too fast for her to compete. I'd run and run and run until I collapsed in the street, hours later. AEGIS had to come to sign me out of the hospital. They said I was lucky I hadn't been hit, laying in the middle of a road like that at night.

The only option was she'd gotten in a vehicle of some kind, and given that she didn't know how to steal a car, had no money, and it was unlikely there was any public transit running that late...the only option seemed she'd used her powers to hijack a ride with some unwitting patsy. That, or the slim chance of hitchhiking, but that didn't seem her style.

I chewed on my thumb as I moved the files around and verified each of them. My feet kept bouncing on their own. I wasn't too hot on replacing one drink addiction with another, but if vodka made me stupid and selfish, coffee made me smart and...what would you call this? Selfless? Self-sacrificing? Self-destructive? Better than being useless, I thought.

The thought that I'd pushed Saga to using her powers on an innocent, just to get away from me, that she was out there still, willing to use them, it terrified me. Every day, I expected the news I kept running on a third holo in the back to flash a picture of her face under the words 'EXHUMAN EVENT IN LAS VEGAS'.

> lia, coming in

> kk

I finished up my documents and posted them as AEGIS walked in from the hall. She sniffed at the air unhappily as she entered.

"Not showering?" she asked. She couldn't actually smell, but she could measure the level of organics in the air.

It was a little annoying having her in a new body. Rua Mk.2 had heightened senses of all kinds, native 'net hookups, like I said before, and apparently all sorts of crazy combat potential, citing her uselessness at the hands of XPCA as an absolute need.

Really, most importantly, she'd cut down on the bust. She went from an E to a B like mine...but just a teensie bit bigger. I was happy about that, just looking at her used to hurt my back. Otherwise, she looked pretty much the same. Red cable hair, in two tails tied up above her ears, favored light little dresses which toed the line between cute and skanky, bright yellow eyes, and round markings and divots on her shoulders, knees, hips, and elbows.

She told me she didn't need to re-engineer the joints, just had to tell people they were body mods, which was apparently something humans did to themselves to look cool. I don't think the rest of her girl-next-door ensemble would convince anyone she was a hardcore modder, but also didn't really care.

"What do you want?" I asked.

She walked to my holo and put it on national news. I frowned. Someone was physically attacking the Raven's Nest?

"This isn't anyone of mine," I said. I had plenty of supporters...a scary number, actually. Scary to think there were so many people in America who were unhappy enough with the status quo to sign up under a complete mystery Exhuman, but I kept a short leash on them. Information warfare only.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

"Not me, either. Deej says it isn't a hunter, but Karu's apparently in D.C. on business and is responding now."

We watched as the reporter informed us that basically they had no information whatsoever for us. No idea how the Exhuman got in, no idea what powers, no idea where in the building or what they were doing. As the camera zoomed in on the Raven's Nest, the high-tech windows seemingly changed from smokey translucent to pure black, blocking out any possibility of seeing inside.

Abruptly, the camera whited out. After a few moments, it adjusted to the new sudden brightness and there was a huge white streak on the image. I thought something was wrong with the camera, when I realized it was working. The camera was showing us a streak of pure light. The biggest laser I'd ever seen, seemingly eradicating an entire floor from within the top of the building.

"Holy shit," AEGIS said. "That has to be the Exhuman. A mechanical laser that large would be as big as the floor."

"So, laser powers? Doesn't explain how they got inside undetected."

"Maybe they did it the old fashioned way. Sneak in, blast out."

"Or light powers...could be invisible."

"Doubt that'd fool the XPCA security, honestly."

The camera zoomed in on the newly-formed hole as the laser abated and we could see clearly the remaining half of a conference room, though it was dark inside and couldn't make out any shapes at this distance or resolution. There were several figures inside, moving, and that was about all we could get. Suddenly one of them stood up and jumped out of the building. Another followed shortly after.

The second, he fell...faster than possible. The camera didn't track on them as they jumped, presumably it wasn't good to air street pizzas on live TV, but something was off there.

"You see that too?" AEGIS asked.

"Yeah. Did he have some thrusters on or something? Maybe a bodyguard or just liked fancy tech...why going down faster, though? If you had that, wouldn't you go up?"

The reporter unhelpfully narrated all the events we were witnessing, explaining the scene without any useful information, except to add that it seemed the first jumper was dressed in top-ranking XPCA uniform.

"So you break into the XPCA, blow out a whole wall, and then make the top brass jump to their deaths. Sounds a lot like a disgruntled Exhuman to me," AEGIS mused.

"I wonder what this will do to our plans," I said. "If the leadership all dies, do you think whoever replaces them will be more or less open to our demands?"

"More, for sure. They're falling apart in there, they have to cave soon. This is actually a great opportunity for them, in a fucked up way. They can put in new people and accept our demands as part of new leadership policy. Saves them some face."

Two more jumped, and after them another.

We watched in silence for another few minutes and then AEGIS hollered at the screen. "There's our girl!"

It took me another second to pick out the sound of it, but I heard Karu's jetpack picked up by the mic once I listened for it. In a second, she flew over the heads of those assembled on the street with a trail of plasma, and intercepted another man as he fell, slowing his fall enough to drop him without injury, and then blasted into the hole.

"What," said AEGIS flatly.

"What?"

"In the light of the plasma, you could see inside the room for a second. Only half of it, but…"

"What'd you see?"

"It's...nothing," she said. "Let's...just keep watching."

Nobody else fell out. The reporter indicated that one of the individuals who had jumped had survived unharmed, and impossibly, had even caught another who fell, who had also now survived.

"Hmm," AEGIS said.

"Yeah. That's fishy as hell. Think one of them was the Exhuman? Maybe got immune to splatting in their power set?"

"No...but...well...let's just watch."

We watched for the next hour and the sun began to creep up behind us and harass me through my curtains as it often seemed inclined to do. What I had ever done to it to deserve this, I did not know.

Nobody else jumped. Nothing else happened. People just talked up there, it seemed like. Eventually a statement was made that the XPCA director had died, and was now under new leadership. A picture of the new leader and his soundbite played on the holo.

"Gotta be fucking kidding me," AEGIS moaned, and slapped her palm into her face.

"Of all the damn people, how was that guy not NUMBER ONE to throw out of a building?" I yelled at the holo.

"Well there goes all our plans. That asshole would probably rather destroy the whole fucking XPCA before he hands over Athan."

"Seriously. What kind of luck is this? I feel like we're so close, too."

"I guess I didn't see what I thought, earlier. Though. Hmm."

I turned off the news. "Let me see," I said, and held out my hand. She sighed and hesitated.

"You might not like this," she said.

"I don't like Blackett being in charge, but I'm coping, ain't I?" Hand it over."

"I warned you." She fished in her hair and handed me a cable ending in a standard hookup, which I jammed into the holo. After a moment, the holo showed footage from this room. From AEGIS' perspective. Her digital memories, like a camera. From her perspective, I watched the scene again as Karu saved the falling man and then rocketed into the building. As Karu entered, AEGIS slowed the footage down, going forward moment by moment.

For maybe one frame, I saw what she was talking about. The room was lit with a blue glow from within as Karu landed. There, in the middle of the room, apart from all the people around the walls, was what could only be the Exhuman.

The detail was sparse, but there was no mistaking the lanky form and the ancient blue XPCA prison jumpsuit. It was Saga.

"That can't be Saga. Why would she be in D.C.?"

"I don't know."

"Why wouldn't she kill Blackett?"

"I don't know."

"If she's throwing people out of the room, why would she stop? There's like, half a dozen more generals in there."

"Lia, I don't know."

I took the hint and shut up while I thought. Certainly, if she wanted to, Saga would have no problem getting anywhere she wanted, including right up that tower. But why would she want to? I was the one she should be killing, not the fat men in military suits. I mean, Saga had issue with the XPCA too, of course, but even considering that, this was bizarre. There was no hope of anything but a grueling war of attrition in store for her after this, it would be the beginning of the end, Saga vs. humanity. It was too public, too brazen, and too inescapable.

Or maybe, I realized, my heart aching, that was the entire point. I'd hurt Saga so bad she wanted exactly that. Either her end, or that of all humans. She couldn't live in a world where we both existed any longer. I'd shown her the truth about trusting and co-existing with humans, in a way that even a hundred years of torture, murder, and neglect never could. The girl in that tower was more broken than she'd ever been, all on account of me.

I held my head and turned away from the holo. My hands were shaking, and not from coffee. Was this...I had to wonder...the beginning of the end? Was the world ending, here and now, because of Saga, and because of me?

"Wait," AEGIS said, and turned the holo back on. "I don't believe it, listen."

It was a statement being made by Blackett. His first act as acting director...a new task force...made of Exhumans? The same Exhumans who had been present here.

Saga was the only Exhuman there, wasn't she? She stopped pushing XPCA generals out of the building so she could...join them? Was this all some demented plan of hers? She had let Blackett live so she could blackmail him into this?

This didn't sound like a plan of hers. Saga wasn't big on the humans/Exhumans cooperating thing. It almost sounded like…

My breath caught in my throat as the camera cut to footage taken inside the room, Blackett making his statement live. Standing beside him…

"ATHAN?" AEGIS and I both screamed at the holo.

I couldn't hear what Blackett said, or what Karu said after that. But when Athan spoke, the rest of the world fell away, and that little holovid was my entire world.

"Parahumans. That's what the world called us once, when Exhumanity just started. Para, meaning beside. Beside, not on top, not on bottom, but equals, side by side."

My heart melted away. Tears were falling onto my knees. He wasn't just there, he was there. Somehow, impossibly, without AEGIS or me or Karu doing a single thing, he'd worked his way all the way up, was in that room with those generals, with Blackett working towards his plans. I don't know how, but I felt like I was in an impossible dream and I never wanted to awaken.

"We live in the same world, share the same space, breathe the same air, and though we are not the same, we see ourselves as humanity's partners, it's protectors, and friends, not as people who are removed from it, as Exhuman implies."

He was so damn dreamy! Wearing a suit, speaking so plainly, but confidently. I wonder if he knew his words were all over the world right now. The first Exhuman to ever address the world, maybe. I couldn't help but stand up and wriggle in excitement. My brother! My own brother! Standing at the top of the Raven's Nest, like a conqueror! Since we'd lost him, he moved right up to taking over the whole XPCA, having the new director twisted around his finger. It was just impossible.

"And it is for that reason, that we wish to be known as the Parahuman Force! Or P-Force for short."

The camera abruptly jumped back to Blackett who concluded with a few more words I didn't hear. I looked at AEGIS, who seemed like she'd been blushing and crushing at the screen too, and was now standing with her mouth open.

"What…" she gaped. "...what the fuck was that shit?"

I laughed. I don't know why, maybe just relief he was okay, maybe at the fact that, even at the top of the world, my brother was still my stupid big brother. I couldn't know why, I just laughed and laughed and laughed until I cried, and then kept laughing. AEGIS ranted at the screen, screaming about how incredibly lame that was, how could he possibly ruin that moment, what the fuck, and so forth. It just made me laugh harder.

I fell into my bed, laughing into my pillow, feeling my face and sides hurt. The last time I had laughed like this was with him. It seemed so right that seeing him again would turn me into this. I laughed until I was sore and could hardly breathe. At some point, I must have laughed myself to sleep, because the next thing I remembered was waking up in the afternoon light, a peeled orange and sports drink on my nightstand with a note in AEGIS' pristine handwriting that simply said "EAT!"

I laughed again as I thought about her and Athan and popped a piece of fruit in my mouth. I didn't know how, but I felt like all the loose ends of my life had been tied up now. For the first time in a long time, I felt free. I felt happy. I felt able to laugh, just because laughing was what I wanted to do. Athan had, impossibly, ironically, been the one to set me free instead of the other way around.

I sat up and checked the 'net. More work for Black Shark, and it looked good too. I should get on that.

But before then, I decided, I should probably shower first. Eat, and maybe have a real conversation with AEGIS and Chiho that wasn't terse words over messenger.