It was a pretty friggin' tall room, which meant we had entire seconds to watch the stone ceiling tumbling end-over-end in pieces towards us. Some pieces of stone were as large as entire houses.

For some reason, I remembered going to the museum as a kid and seeing the skeleton of a blue whale hanging from the ceiling. At the time it freaked me out some, realizing that thing was once alive, that stuff like that had been out there, in the ocean I'd played in. I think it was the thought of something so huge moving that made me feel unnerved. So huge, so strong, it could snap its flippers and send me flying without even noticing, like a fly.

I had a very similar sensation seeing the chunks of rock falling like meteors. They seemed so huge, they would crush me now, but somehow they just kept getting larger and larger as they fell.

Someone screamed and the world became white. I fell backwards, completely unable to see, feeling nothing but heat and force in front of me. I could hear nothing but roaring in my ears and the distant scream in my comms.

Another few seconds passed, and I still wasn't dead. Gradually dark shapes appeared out of the brightness, which I realized was only in my eyes, and I blinked frantically to try to see again.

After maybe ten more seconds, I looked up again, my eyes still hurting, my ears ringing, but what I saw took my breath away.

It was like the apocalypse had been cancelled. Directly above me was nothing but sky, tinged a velvety haze as the winter sunset bore down upon us early, the moon and the brightest of stars eager to appear even with the sun opposite them in the sky.

The dome was no more, and the rock above us was no more, blasted into space dust by the pillar of light which was Temperance's, which must have been at least twenty feet in diameter and as hot as the sun, at least, guessing from the void in rock directly above us.

But around that shattered center, thousands of other rocks remained hovering in space, growing steadily in size with distance from the blast center, twisted around the clear central shaft like a vortex. An asteroid field, or a meteor splitting apart in the depths of space, completely motionless, trapped for all eternity in that one moment of explosive destruction.

And on the floor in the middle of it all, the two women who had created this spectacle, our goddess and our savior, AEGIS and Tem, both breathing heavily, arms stretched upwards, not as though pleading to the heavens for our salvation, but demanding it from them, taking the sky into their own hands and forcing it down in a shower of light and earth.

"I...I did it…" AEGIS said, panting. She began to laugh, completely different than before. The laugh of someone who'd fallen off a ledge, and with every effort left in their entire body, had clawed their fingertips into the cliff face and dragged themselves to safety, with nothing in their mind but exhaustion and relief.

Tem, for her part, just collapsed.

AEGIS, still holding the orb urged the spectacle to rest, and the remaining thousands of tons of rocks parted and drifted gently to the ground silently. She looked visibly relieved as she let them fall and they settled all at once with an echoing crunch.

I was grateful, sincerely grateful, and more than impressed, but as the ringing in my ears subsided, I was reminded by the sound of more distant explosions and gunfire that at any moment, another shell could still spell the end for us. We needed to seek shelter.

"AEGIS, can you get us underground? I'm sorry to ask so much of you," I said.

"Hey, no problem," she panted and sat down, possibly not entirely intentionally. "One sec."

She closed her eyes and with a shudder, a twisting stairway imploded into the ground as though a titan with a stairway-shaped mallet slammed the ground there. "There...there you go." she said, and fell over with Tem.

Tower grabbed both of them, Moon now on her own feet again, and we all went down into the blackness.

It felt like we went down for a long time, but at the same time, it was almost no time at all before I was stumbling over the nonexistent next step, and we filtered out into a room. Thankfully for Tower, these rooms were wide, though still pretty low, and as Tem was out right now, we saw the room only in small patches of circular light.

Wide, low arches and bars everywhere seemed the defining characteristics of this place. Algae and hanging moss, depicted in stone clung to the ceiling like fluffy stalactites. Through many of the bars, we could see skeletons chained to the walls, and not the living kind of skeleton either.

Another place built for the dead, but one to make them that way, not one to honor them.

"AEGIS, any idea where this is?" I asked, but she too was unconscious, or had crashed, or worse. "Lia, AEGIS is unresponsive after that last effort. She looks unconscious."

Lia responded mostly with the noise of running and breathing heavily, with the occasional distinctive sound of Taglock's grapple firing explosively and pulling the two of them somewhere. Somewhere safer, out of the war zone, I hoped. As much as I might dislike that guy, there weren't many I would trust to get Lia safely somewhere more than him.

"Sorry," she said at last, still panting. "I have the boot driver, but it's on me, we'll have to meet up."

"Okay. You should prioritize staying safe and alive. Cosette, is there any way we can stop getting shot at?"

"No," she said sounding worried. "That would be the combined part of our combined assault. Obviously the National Guard care literally nothing about the lives of a few errant Exhumans. I've been yelling at them but..."

"It's fine. Thanks Cosette. We'll manage somehow."

"Stay safe you guys. The artillery will stop once the ground force has pressed forward, you can wait until then. Papa-Foxtrot-Central out."

"I guess there's nothing but to wait," I said. "Let's try not to encounter any dangerous enemies down here while two of our hardest hitters are out."

I couldn't let us just buckle down and sit still though. I saw clearly enough on my team's faces that simply sitting here and waiting with a war raging overhead, and two of our friends unconscious for the effort of saving all our lives, I had to keep them engaged in anything, no matter how trivial.

"Might be a little dangerous just sitting on our heels though," I added, lamely. "I will accept volunteers to patrol if anyone wants to stretch their legs. Stay within comms range however."

"I would go," Karu said, which surprised me a little. Next to Taglock, I'd expected her to have the least problem just sitting around waiting, after all, she'd served in the armed forces before, and waiting was 90% of the job. But then I caught her looking at AEGIS' still body with trepidation, and realized that wasn't really her motivation.

"I'd like to keep moving too," Tower said.

"And I shall keep an eye on them," Jack announced.

"Sounds good. Stay in comms range, stay safe, if there's trouble, retreat and regroup with us, all clear?"

"Hooah," said Jack in a tired voice with a smile, and the hunter and the giant turned to leave with Jack flickering in and out of the shadows as they went.

Which left me, our two disabled, and Moon. I sighed and brushed Tem's hair back, feeling her forehead. No fever, slightly sweaty, fast, shallow breathing, slightly irregular. Not exactly good, but probably not life-threatening. If anything, she was probably just overexerted, used her powers too much, like I had back in DC when they cut out and I collapsed.

Still, she really was incredible, for a fucked-up airhead. There were literal tons of rock falling towards us, and she didn't just melt, but outright obliterated a huge amount of it. Given how hard AEGIS had to push herself to catch the rest, it didn't seem like she would have been able to if Tem hadn't done her best blasting it.

Moon sat next to me and looked down at Tem with me.

"You like this girl?" she asked.

"Honestly, not even a little bit. She drives me crazy."

"You are wearing the face of a concerned father."

"She just saved all our lives, Moon. She's my subordinate, and my friend."

Moon studied me for one of her patented long silences. "You said you do not like her. How can you call her your friend?"

"I don't...I don't know. I didn't plan out my words here expecting an inquisition. Friendship is just what happens when you spend enough time with someone and get to know them well enough. I'm not sure 'liking' has anything to do with it."

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

She paused. "That seems to be a unique perspective on friendship."

"I'm an Exhuman, what do you expect?"

Another moment of silence but this time it was me who broke it.

"Look, if Tem wanted to have a party and invited all her friends to come, I'd probably turn her down. It would sound like zero fun, and if I hurt her feelings, that's really her issue. But if I heard she needed me for any reason at all, I'd be at her side even if I had to charter a VTOL. That's how I see it."

"Hmm." She thought about my words for a minute. "Is this what you meant before, when you spoke of protecting others?"

"Sure. I'd do the same for anyone here. Minus Taglock, maybe." I confirmed my comms were not broadcasting before I said anything else stupid.

"Does…" The word seemed to come out before she was prepared, and I had the smallest glimpse of surprise on her face at herself. She trailed into silence instead of finishing the thought.

"That does include you, yes."

"I did not ask that."

"You were thinking of it."

"I was not aware that your Exhuman powers also extended to Code-X. I shall have to report you for immediate termination."

I sighed and let it go. Whenever I'd decided she wasn't as prickly as Mage, I think I got that completely wrong. Girl was so uptight about saying and thinking exactly the right things and ready to yell at me in her own way whenever the conversation didn't go where she wanted it, I almost missed Mage's straightforward attitude of just calling me a shitstain and leaving the room.

I mean, I did miss it. But for different reasons.

"Hypothetically, continuing that conversation," she said warily, eyes locked firmly on Tem now. "You said you considered Temperance a friend and then said...you extend her relationship to all in the group."

Jesus girl, just say what you want to say. "Yes, I consider you a friend too."

"I did not ask that," she said flatly, but since the conversation immediately died, I figured that was indeed the answer she was looking for. After a minute of staring at Tem, she apparently couldn't take the stillness anymore and produced a book from somewhere, flipping through it to find her spot.

"What are you reading?" I asked. She held up the book for me to see and I hit it with my flashlight. "Yeah, those are Japanese letters. I don't read those."

"You asked what I was reading, not to translate for you."

"And yet I still don't know what you are reading."

"Certainly you do. Next time you are in Japan, find a bookstore, and then within it, find a book with the same characters on the cover as this one, and you will have found my book."

"Is there, like, a pathological reason why you don't give a straight answer to anything? Do you have a phobia or a very specific form of OCD where you can only answer a question the third time it's posed to you or something?"

"If I did," she snapped the book shut "it would be highly insensitive of you to ask that question. Shockingly insensitive, even, to the point where I do not believe that even you would be capable of that lack of tact."

Hmm. Based on Lia and AEGIS' reactions sometimes, I wasn't sure that was true at all.

"Therefore, I must conclude that you know full well that I have no such condition, and are simply asking the question to waste my time. Is it unreasonable that when I answer, I do the same?"

"Except most of my questions are actual questions. I wasn't asking what book you were reading to waste your time."

I think I was getting glared at, but her impassive face made it hard to tell.

"Fine, the book in English would be translated to something like Walking on the Tatami Mat Woven in Gold. It is a story about a woman born into a rich family and discovering how to enjoy life. And no, before you draw any insane conclusions, it does not apply to my personal life."

"But you were born in a rich household," I said.

Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Is that a question, or is that knowledge illicitly gained by peering into my memories while under the effect of my powers?"

"Uh," I said. "A question."

"In which case, I have no obligation to answer." She opened her book again.

"Is it any good?"

Her face expressed no emotion but the book snapped shut again loudly. "No, it is honestly quite a terrible book. Since apparently we are holding an interrogation, may I ask you a question?"

"This isn't an interrogation, I was just asking a few questions to get to know you better."

"Kindly do not waste your time. My question is thus, and forgive my potential misunderstandings as I have lived in the states only the last five years, but in America, is it normal to talk to someone repeatedly when they are attempting to read?"

"No. But--"

She cleared her throat delicately and opened the book again.

"But it's also considered rude to open a book in the middle of a conversation."

The book snapped shut again with decisive force and she stowed it. "Oh, my apologies then, conversation-partner-sama. Please forgive my extreme rudeness and converse with me to your heart's content."

"Uh." Again I was a little floored by the whiplash I could get around this girl. If it weren't for the fact she was obviously pissed at me, I had no indication she was actually mad, and could easily have mistaken this for her wanting to start a conversation. I began to speculate the mood whiplash I got around her was more my inability to read her feelings in any gradual sense.

"Uh," she repeated, and nodded thoughtfully. "I see. Starting a conversation with nothing but a discourse particle. I can already tell this will be a good and enriching conversation for the both of us, conversation-partner-sama."

"Who taught you to be such an acerbic brat?" I asked.

"Before I answer, I would like to clarify, is this an actual question, or simply an insult in the figure of speech of a rhetorical question? Because if the latter, I fear our conversation will degrade into simple tit-for-tat insults and will not be as fulfilling as conversation-partner-sama desires."

"Then I suppose it must be the former, isn't it?"

"Then the answer is obvious," she said, her voice imperceptibly raised, and the hate in her eyes undisguised now. "I taught myself. In fact, to save you any future inquiry, simply assume that anytime anything is amiss in my personality, that there is only me to blame. No, in fact, assume that anytime anything involves my past or upbringing, assume it was all done on my own. Do you understand?"

"You are saying...you were always alone."

"I recall saying nothing of the sort!" she said coldly. "I said only what I said."

"But were you?"

"I refuse to indulge this line of questioning any further," she said. "I apologize for the disappointment, conversation-partner-sama. I shall cut open my belly to preserve the honor of my family."

She stood and turned so abruptly after these words, I followed and grabbed her, forcing her to face me and somewhat relieved to see her knife still in its sheath at her shoulder.

A small frown crossed her face. "Joudan," she explained, before her eyelids fluttered and she collapsed in my arms.

"Shit," I said, catching her. I had completely forgotten about the problem with touching this one.

"You are utterly without shame," she said, the purple, hazy echo of my body standing half-in, half-out of me with arms crossed in clear disapproval. "You cannot drag your answers out of me, so you take them from my body instead? You disgust me more than I thought possible."

"No, I--" I tried to explain that this was just an accident, I'd just been concerned with her words and sudden departure coinciding with them, but at her mention of them, the questions she'd left unanswered came bubbling up along with their answers now.

The book was her mother's. One of her only two possessions of hers. She hadn't grown up alone, but rather had lost everything only just before she appreciated it, which she viewed as infinitely worse. She was born in a rich household, her father was--

"La, la, la! Not listening!" I shouted. "How do I turn it off, Moon? How do I get rid of you?"

"Touch my body again after clearing it fully."

I put the body down, took half a step back, clearing it fully, and then stepped back in and touched her hand. At once, I felt like half the thoughts in my head were gone, and she jolted back to life.

"I'm really sorry. Really, really. I didn't mean to." I offered her a hand back up, and then realized that might have been disaster again and whipped it behind my back. She rose slowly and dusted herself off, looking tired.

"I am aware. To be honest, while possessing you, I saw many of your thoughts as well. They rise unbidden, though I attempt to respect my host's privacy. I realized quickly that you had no untoward objective and apologize for assuming the worst."

"But," she snapped a finger to point at my face bringing that whiplash right back around. "I know you think you are only trying to help, but I did answer several of your questions seriously today. One such answer was to tell you to kindly not waste your time prying into my past, or present for that matter."

"That's hardly answering a question."

"Just because you do not like the answer does not render it incorrect. Do. Not. Do you understand?"

"Why, though? I just want to know you better."

"This constitutes prying."

"Maybe if you gave me a good reason why, I would be happy to stop."

She stared at me for a long time in the dark, seeming not to blink. It felt like she'd broken, like AEGIS. After a long few minutes, she stirred back to life and spoke again.

"If I answer your question now, and honestly, will you accept it and cease attempting to pry, even if you do not like the answer?"

"I...guess. I don't have much of a choice do I?"

"You have the choice of saying yes or no."

"Then sure."

"Very well," she said. "I want you to stop prying because I do not think I am worth your effort. I am simply a person who should never have been."

I frowned. "That's stupid."

"Be careful how you summarize another person's entire life."

"I hardly think saying your opinion is stupid is worse than your opinion saying you shouldn't even exist."

"Answer me honestly, Chariot. Do I seem stupid to you?"

"No, of course not."

"Then do not tell me that the conclusion I have drawn from my entire life, made after hours of painful self-reflection is 'stupid' because you dislike it."

"Well too bad, it's stupid. You told me I have to accept it and not pry, but that doesn't mean I can't draw my own conclusion about it. And that conclusion is, your theory is stupid, and I disagree wildly with it, and will prove to you that you are a person who should exist."

She stood silently at my words, maybe drinking them in, maybe hearing only enough of them for her to respond, I didn't know, and I wouldn't, because at that moment, our comms came to life and Jack reported in.

They found the Exhuman.