Tower woke me up. It felt like I'd hardly slept. I'd spent all night waking up and rolling over and taking forever to fall back asleep.

"Chariot. Yo." He gently poked me with one fat finger.

"Wuzzzah," I said, or something like that.

"You have a lady friend visiting. She needs you to sign for her to be admitted."

"Karu?" I asked, sitting bolt upright.

Tower scratched his head. "Uh. No. Avis or Angel or something."

"Oh," I said, things making more sense now that I was awake. Karu was an XPCA contractor, she had free run of the unsecured sections of the base. Thinking she'd need me to sign her in was stupid. "AEGIS," I said, and rolled over, facing the wall.

"So...uh…" Tower said. He was doing a great job of blocking out the lights where he stood. I hoped he stayed there.

I'd only just fallen asleep again when someone poked me awake again. I rolled over and saw yellow eyes behind thin oval frames.

"Heyas," she said.

"AEGIS, what are you doing here?"

"Your buddy signed for me. Told me to tell you not to get in trouble or he'll be the one in trouble."

"AEGIS, go away. I'm sleeping."

"How late did you stay up last night, sheesh?"

"I went to bed right after our thing."

She made an annoyed noise. "That is the saddest thing ever. I know you have a negative motivation modifier right now, but seriously? It's after noon. You've been asleep longer than twenty-four hours."

I didn't even care if it was true. Being awake sucked. I didn't want to talk with her or go on pretend dates or whatever.

"Okay dude, here's your choice. Get up and be a decent damn human being, or I'm getting in bed with you."

"What?"

I rolled over and looked at her. She wasn't all dressed up like she was yesterday, just jeans and a tee. I only realized by its omission that yesterday she must have been wearing makeup or something to make her eyes pop a little more. Her hair was done up in a loose bun that ended in a ponytail that only went halfway down her back, tied up with some sort of sticks poking out of it.

Whatever. She flat-out told me yesterday her plan was to seduce me. It's only natural she'd try to dress up for it a little. I tried to push the thought out of my mind before it became yet another thing I felt guilty about, unsuccessfully.

"So?" she asked.

"You were serious?"

"Duh. If you're not going to do anything, we may as well do what I want to do."

"We're not having sex, AEGIS. That--"

"I never said we were. Freaking perv. So?"

"So go away. I'm not going anywhere." I rolled over again and scooted back so there was no room between my back and the edge of the bed. So it was extremely awkward when she crawled over me on all fours to lay on the other side of the bed, directly in front of me, and facing me. It wasn't that big a bed, and we were sort of tangled together at the hands and knees, as I found her bright eyes just a foot or so from mine.

"You're impossible," I said. She gave a sincere smile and diligently removed and folded her glasses, putting them on the floor behind me, which seemed to involve a whole lot of pressing herself against me, before retreating back and letting me have a hint of personal space again.

"I missed this," she said simply.

"Missed this how?"

"I used to see your face every night when you slept. Not to pull a Tem, but I used to watch you most of the night. Ugh, she's here isn't she?"

"No idea. Probably."

"I used to feel like I was watching over you, keeping you safe while you slept." She grabbed one of my hands and held it in both of hers between us. So impossibly warm. "It was ridiculous, of course. When I had no idea what I was, I couldn't do a thing to protect you, and once I did, I kind of wanted you dead. But just seeing you there, tired after giving it your all, day after day, I think that's when I started to fall for you."

"AEGIS, come on," I said, freeing my hand from her and rolling onto my back, looking up at the bottom of the bunk above me. "Karu dumped me two days ago, how do you think I feel?"

"If you feel like you look, then I'd say you feel like you took a critical hit to the heart. Also, you look like shit."

"Thanks. But yeah. I do. Is it supposed to hurt this much?"

"Look, I'm about as uninterested in talking about your breakup pain as you probably are in doing anything else. Do you remember what happened when you broke my heart?"

"You uh, you turned off your emotions."

"Among other things. I had a war to fight that day, I wasn't allowed to call in sick or mope around, or even not be around you. Do you have any idea how painful that was, now that you're on the receiving end?"

I thought back to the battle. Even when it seemed like there was hope we'd win, AEGIS' smile never seemed to reach her eyes. What I remembered most was her going into controlled panic when I stupidly blew my leg off, slowly turning a tourniquet on me, and then her walking with me into the middle of the battlefield, supporting me so I could risk everything to try to turn the tide single-handedly.

She'd accepted it with nothing but sad resignation. I tried to figure out how someone with my current feelings could possibly do that, and couldn't imagine.

"I'm sorry," I said, speaking to the back of the mattress above me.

"Thanks for saying so. I'm sorry you're going through it, too."

"Sucks."

"It does suck."

She found my hand again and I let her hold onto it this time.

We laid like that for probably an hour, before my basic needs overcame my desire to lay there and feel like garbage. I had to pee, and had a ripping headache, which felt unfair considering I'd done nothing to earn one but lay there.

I excused myself, and she asked if anyone used the bunk next to mine, which I confirmed was empty. When I came back, I found out she'd set us up a picnic in said empty bunk. Sandwiches and energy drink, and a bottle of aspirin.

Just like back in the old days. Even when she disagreed with me, she had my back. I felt my heart twinge heavily with something other than hurt, something approximating happiness.

"Tuna," she said, of the sandwiches. "I know you like fish. I also brought a few games, I don't know how much free time you have around here, or your preference towards trying to keep busy versus being a useless pile of shit, but they're here if you want them."

"I...I dunno what to say."

"Don't worry about it."

"No, I feel terrible. I did this to you back then, and you had nobody. Nobody brought you sandwiches or games, I just expected you to make robots and fight for me."

"I did what I had to do. And I had Lia, too. She's got a lot of anxieties she keeps hidden, but she's a really good kid when she's not fucking up her own life too bad. She checked up on me a lot, and it meant a lot to me."

"She's pretty great," I agreed, sitting on the bed opposite her. I cleared my throat. "Are you sure she's got lots of anxiety? She seems pretty happy to me. Just...wondering."

"Man, you are so clueless. Please eat before I pwn your ass."

"No, I'm serious. Is she okay?"

"I mean, generally, yes. But I don't know how you can fall for her cute smile she wears all the time. Do you really think she'd run away from home and find you because everything in her life was all peachy?"

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

I sat there feeling my mind expand uncomfortably. I wished AEGIS would stop dropping knowledge bombs on me, but on the other hand, felt like obviously I needed it because I was obviously completely stupid.

"But...she's always so happy."

"That's what she wants you to think, dumbnut. That's like the Lia version of Athan trying to protect everyone. You know, your sister and I worked together to hack apart the whole XPCA when they took you."

"Oh yeah, I never thanked you for that."

"Whatever. Point is, I'm a goddamn supercomputer with insider knowledge of how all their systems work and who's built on the same types of infrastructure they still have all their stuff based on. Your sister? She kept up with me pretty good. Any idea how?"

"She's always been really smart."

"Yeah, and don't take this as me being arrogant, but not supercomputer-AI smart. She reads people, Athan, she's a freaking master of social engineering. Her whole Black Shark identity? It's insane what she can get away with because people think they're dealing with one thing, but she's actually something else entirely, and whatever they think her goals are, it's something else they never see coming. She cracked a dozen places I could never get close to, and she did it with only a goddamn mask and a smile."

I blinked. I mean, I knew AEGIS wasn't lying to me, but...she had to be wrong. Lia was...Lia was my little sister. We'd raced each other across the backyard, we'd seen who could jump over the spray from the sprinkler the longest, she played volleyball, for Christ's sake, with a bunch of high school girls I knew.

"I think...I need to lay back down again."

"No you don't. Eat something first, and drink at least one bottle. No sense in you killing yourself over that girl. We can keep the conversation light if I'm blowing your mind too much."

It was more trouble to argue with her than to do what she said, so I numbly put the food in me robotically, eating slowly while she watched like I was a convict likely to make a break for it at any second.

I'd finished my first half sandwich when Cosette came in, looking a little in disarray and with a tablet in her hands. She stopped on seeing the two of us and our picnic.

"Uh, hello. Who's this?"

"I'm AEGIS, it's nice to meet you. Are you another friend of Athan's?" AEGIS asked pointedly.

"When I'm not keeping him from convincing his teammates to kill themselves, I am."

"He did nothing wrong. It was all me," argued Tem's voice from somewhere. Cosette jumped.

"Jesus, Tem. And Chariot, who is she?"

"She's a friend."

She let out a sigh. "Listen, AEGIS if that's your name, stay far away from Chariot. He's just trouble. He was dating a bounty hunter and then she dumped him and he rebounded on Tem so fast she had to attempt suicide just to get out of it."

"Uh, is that so?" said AEGIS, with a strange look on her face.

"I really don't think this went how you think it did, Cosette…" I tried to explain.

"Whatever, man. You do whatever the hell you want with whomever the hell you want, but I'm going to warn them first at least. If she's stupid enough not to listen to me, she's stupid enough to deserve whatever you put her through."

"I probably am that stupid," AEGIS said to me, now bemused. "What plans have you got for me, mister dangerous Exhuman?"

"Cosette, was there a reason you came in here or are you just trying to get everyone to hate me?"

"Right. Exhuman event in Georgia. We're heading out tomorrow, looks like another icing...I mean, another low-priority call. Blackett still wants you guys out there handling as much as you can until we get some good footage of you all at work, in a mission that doesn't go belly-up, so enjoy the easy stuff while you can, I guess. Just starting to round up the troops now…"

She worked absently on her tablet as she chewed a stylus and headed for the door.

"Oh," she added, pausing almost out the door, only her foot in the doorway visible. "Obviously don't go too far, deploying tomorrow like I said. But also keep in mind, no visitors after curfew. I will make sure you get a surprise inspection tonight."

"Aren't we officer class? Can you even have us surprise inspected?"

She leaned back until her glare emerged in the doorway. "Do not underestimate what I can do. Have fun with your friend!"

The door shut with a heavy metal clang.

"Well, now I want to stay after curfew just to see what happens to you," AEGIS said.

"You know, you really don't have to keep trying to make my life hell. It does that fine on its own." I shuffled back towards my bed.

"Nope, no you don't. You're leaving tomorrow, probably early, so today you're hanging out with me. I'm only here for three days, and you haven't even seen Lia yet."

"Lia's here?"

"Yeah, didn't I mention that? Lia, Chiho, and I."

"Chiho?"

"Our roommate. Long story. One of Lia's friends...actually that wasn't that long a story. Anyway, get your butt--" she snaked around me with startling speed "--out of bed, and get some sun and say hi to your sister. Do it for her if nothing else."

I didn't really need the convincing. I already felt terrible for treating AEGIS this way, but if Lia came out here to visit and I never even saw her, what kind of brother would I be?

"Stay here, Tem," I said, as we left the room.

"Nope, nope. I'm following you!"

"I'd invest in a leash," AEGIS muttered.

"Tell me about it. I feel like I can't say or do anything about it without her threatening to blow herself up again, but it's like, seriously, girl."

We started to head out. AEGIS was on her mobile, trying to get ahold of Lia. "How do you live with this kind of 'net reception down here," she said, visibly frustrated. I made a note that if we were ever going to roleplay florists again, I'd do it somewhere with crap reception.

"Damn kids and their phones," I said as we waited for the lift.

We wound up waiting around for most of an hour before Lia and Chiho caught up to us. I spent most of that time wondering how likely I was to get arrested for sleeping in the snow. I'd just about made up my mind that it'd be worth it, when something squealed and impacted me around the middle.

"Dude, bro, you were so cool! And your uniform! Ooh, la, la!" Lia let go of the death hug around my middle to look me up and down. "And you've been working out? My goodness, no wonder AEGIS wants a piece of that."

"Lia!" AEGIS said.

"Well, you do, and everyone here already knows it," Lia pouted, but broke into a vast smile before anyone had the chance to assume she was being serious. "We saw you on the holo, you and Saga and Karu, dude, it was so cool. I was like 'wahh! That's my brother!' but the only person I was with was AEGIS and she already knew that, so it lost some of the effect."

She went on and on, which was just the best thing ever, as she babbled happily and mercilessly roamed from topic to topic, interrogating me briefly in parts, but mostly content to just blab and hear details on my life from AEGIS second-hand. Her happiness was infectious, and leaving me mostly alone so I could just hang out in the periphery and soak it in was exactly the level of conversational competence I was currently feeling.

But AEGIS' words stuck like a needle in my brain. I could believe she was happy, and maybe she was always this happy, but she wasn't always this chatty. Was she only doing this because she could read me an see I was feeling like crap and was pushing herself to make me feel better?

Maybe. But maybe...I didn't really care. It was everything I wanted right now. I found it incredibly obnoxious when the girls schemed around my negative traits, and so I wasn't about to start doing that to Lia, either. As far as I saw it, we were both happy to have her going on and brightening me up.

Somehow, the topic of me wearing my uniform around all the time turned into the fact I apparently needed new clothes, which was a hazardous topic to mention around Lia ever. Sure enough, fifteen minutes later found us in the middle of a department store where 3.01 girls, counting Chiho and Tem, were plying me with more clothes than I knew what to do with.

"Shame he's leaving so soon," Lia mused as she sorted through a rack of dress shirts that looked like the kind of thing I might wear for Senator Irenside and nobody else. "You never even got to show him your bathing suit."

"Lia!" AEGIS hissed.

"We've got it back at the hotel we're staying at. I bet there's an indoor pool in there too. Want to come Athan? It's totally worth it, I promise. They might have gotten smaller, but they're a lot cuter if you ask me."

"Lia!" AEGIS hissed again, now red and very self-consciously holding herself.

I hadn't told Lia anything about Karu, didn't seem worth it to bring up if we were only hanging out for today. Maybe I should have, because Lia was going hard on selling AEGIS to me. I wasn't sure how much was serious or teasing, or whether it was me or AEGIS getting teased, but I couldn't really care, everyone chatting and having fun was…

Well, it was nice. Sometimes I felt a little outside it all, I wasn't sure if it was just my mood, or the fact that obviously the three of them got on so well and were doing so great in their lives. I really envied how happy and carefree they seemed now, and thought, maybe Lia's chances of being a normal happy kid weren't so sunk after all.

It seemed like no time at all before the sun started getting low, and we went out to a sushi place for dinner. All three of them took it in turns to mock me for not knowing how to use chopsticks, but as the girls had placed AEGIS next to me while they sat at the opposite side of the table, it fell on her to teach me, apparently.

"Like that. Just hold these fingers steady and move this one, here," she explained, as she held one of my hands in both of hers, still impossibly warm to the touch. "No, you're doing it wrong still, jeez, didn't you ever use a pencil in school, or did everything go digital in the last hundred years?"

"When did you even bother to learn chopsticks?" I asked. "You don't even eat."

She stood up and stood behind me to get a better angle on my shoulder, wrapping both of her arms around me while she pressed against my back. I don't think she even meant to, but I was able to confirm that it wasn't just her hands that were warm to the touch. Lia was watching with the smuggest of grins but said nothing to upset the moment.

"I...think...a fork is fine, guys," I said, unable to endure this torture any longer. "I think the age of sticks is long gone, right?"

"Hey, that's racially insensitive," said Chiho with a scowl.

"Uh."

"Nah, just kidding. Just use your fingers. My ancestors would flip if they saw me eating with a gaijin using a fork on sushi."

Again, it seemed like no time at all when we were saying our goodbyes and then I was back in my bunk with nobody but Tem and Tower, asleep, for company.

"Tem," I asked the empty-seeming room. "What do you think of my friends?"

"They're great," she said, melting out of the air next to my bed. Come on, she had her own bed like 4 down, why was she on the floor next to mine? "I'm very happy you have them."

"If you weren't invisible all evening, I bet they would have liked having you around too."

"I don't think s-s-so. I only get in the way. I prefer it this way, honestly."

"Have it your way," I said rolling over. I wasn't going to argue with her. Even if I hated her, it was a little pathetic and a little sad that she wouldn't even try to put herself out there. I didn't want her to suffer, just to leave me alone, like, forever.

But that was an issue for another day. Tomorrow, we'd be moving out, and all I needed from Tem was her powers. Tomorrow was my first official command, and no matter my feelings or my current state, or what we were up against, I wasn't going to lose anybody.