I was surprised when I woke up at a reasonable hour, and without a robot in my pants. Either she'd decided that yesterday things had gone really well, or things had gone really poorly.

I grabbed my holo from the edge of my bed, and seeing that I had a message waiting, distractedly got up.

"Ow!" shouted Tem, whom I'd accidentally tread on.

I fell off of her and instinctively caught myself in a practiced fall which rolled the back of my head into another bed with a clang and a really painful sudden jolt of awakening.

"Fuck, ow. Damn. Sorry, Tem!"

"Oh, good morning, Chariot," she chimed, apparently completely unconcerned by...everything, holding her bruised side where I'd stepped and rubbing sleep out of her eyes utterly nonchalantly like waking up to a beating was her status quo.

I muttered a few more apologies and once I'd established she was fine, moved back to my waiting message.

It was brief.

> Heyas! Had a great time yesterday. Gonna be busy today, so I won't see you before Christmas. Have a merry one!

> No fooling around with Tem just because I'm gone.

> All my love,

> AEGIS

I gave Tem a quick glance. Yeah, not happening.

If I read between the lines a bit, it seemed to me that at least I hadn't messed up yesterday beyond AEGIS' tolerance. I couldn't imagine many things she'd want to do other than pester me, so it was possible, maybe not likely, but possible that this was related to her crash. I considered giving her a call or message to thank her and wish her luck, but if she was working, I'd rather not distract her and put an obligation to respond on her.

There wasn't anyone else around but Tem, and I didn't have anything to do. After facing down this dilemma for a while, I got restless and went out on a run, Tem joining/following me as she usually did, and I really didn't mind the company.

The rest of the day passed similarly, in a loop of sitting around, feeling bad about sitting around, and then doing something for an hour. I was trying not to think about AEGIS, either good or bad and largely failed, but somehow the day managed to pass anyway.

The next day was much the same. I caught up with Jack and Tower some, wished them a merry Christmas, and learned that for lack of better options, both of them would apparently be attending Lia's Christmas shindig, making me feel even worse about going to Karu's.

"We're Exhumans," Tower laughed. "Having an invite to any Christmas party is pretty good by our standards."

Still, as afternoon began to wane, I put on my dress uniform, vaguely thankful that the thing meant I didn't ever have to make decisions about what kind of formal attire to wear, and caught a cab to Senator Idris Irenside's mansion.

I watched through the cab's window as the huge marble civic buildings turned into dense rowhouses, and then closely-packed miniature White Houses, with pillars and neatly-trimmed hedges, and then actual mansions, on huge plots of land, once we had made it well away from the city center. And it was no surprise that it was out here where the houses and lots grew ridiculous that the senator lived.

My first thought was that someone had tastelessly disgorged Christmas onto every available surface, like a passing sleigh full of elves and their accompanying flying reindeer had become ill and vomited the season across the entire yard.

There was somehow more snow in the yard than on any of the neighbors', and luminescent waist-high candy canes sprouted from the ground all along the road which led from the bough-studded gate up to the wide steps of the front porch, which glistened under a thousand mutely glowing icicles.

The hedge next to the gate was playing cheerful Christmas music as a group of doormen at the gate verified identities and frisked well-dressed people for security. The house itself...it almost hurt to look at, there were so many lights on it, twinkling in synch with the music. You could land a VTOL by these lights.

I closed my eyes, both bracing for the ordeal, and vaguely nauseated already. I noticed, with my eyes closed, and actively trying to block out the world, I could sense the power flowing through the tiny LEDs in the hedge, and could even trace the lines back to the edge of my power's reach. Kind of neat. Kind of pointless, but still neat.

I approached the gate, waiting behind possibly the oldest pair of women imaginable, and once they'd been cleared, the doorman smiled at me professionally and asked for my name, stylus hovering over a tablet in hand.

"Athan Ashton."

"Of course, sir. Just one moment. Are you armed tonight?"

"No, left it at home."

"Except for the Exhuman powers, right?"

I blinked at him in confusion, but he was still smiling professionally at me. I wasn't sure if he was joking or not.

"Right. Can't leave those even if I try."

"It's no problem. Please enjoy yourself, and Merry Christmas, sir."

A little weird. I had to wonder if all of the Irenside servants were so peculiar.

And then I finished strolling up the steps, another pair of doormen in smart suits held open the main doors, and I walked right into Christmas hell.

It was clear at a glance that no expense had been spared. Able to see into huge rooms on my left and right, I saw a enormous spreads of foods, of which I could probably positively identify only a handful. Lights glittered obnoxiously in white, red, and green from every windowsill, shelf, and table, and somehow the guests themselves were even more garish.

People with hair done up in impossible ways, one I was certain had micro-repulsors holding strands of it aloft with little tiny flecks of blue plasma. Women in dresses so sheer and daring that I was pretty sure some of them counted as two half-dresses glued to the body. Men in suits chewing cigars, which I didn't even know were still made or smoked anywhere in the world, with one particularly eye-catching gentleman whose jacket seemed both red and green at the same time in a way which confused my eyes to focus on.

Coming from somebody who had to put a serious effort to tie their own tie, I felt a bit like I'd stepped into an insane asylum where all of the patients had agreed that they were keeping the crazy out, and not in. There was no other possible way to explain how completely unflapped this entire assembly was when there was a woman walking around with what looked like handprints of body paint, and a man in what might be a wooly thing which was all collars and mittens, something you'd put a child in to have some embarrassing pictures to whip out when he brought a girl home fifteen years later.

But the pièce de résistance was the center hall, which I was currently standing in like a slack-jawed hatrack. Not only was there a monstrous chandelier, over ten feet tall, hanging above the hall, hovering as it spun and glistened, individual rings of it moving in alternate directions from each other, making the lights dance constantly within it.

But somehow, more amazing than this insane spectacle even was the snow falling all around me. I held out my hand to catch a flake and it fizzled as it insubstantially passed through me, appearing on the other side of my hand like I wasn't there.

Some kind of room-wide holo projector, but without myself or anything else in here casting shadows. I couldn't see emitters anywhere, no harsh light which usually gave away the source of the lightshow, the illusion was just...perfect. It was snowing indoors in this huge, relatively warm, people-filled mansion. And not a single person but me was standing there, awestruck and looking up, to them, this was just a party trick they'd seen a thousand times, I was sure.

My reverie was ruined as a strong hand wrapped around my shoulder and began to steer me into one of the side rooms. I looked up and saw the straight moustache, strong cleft chin, and sheen of blonde hair belonging to the person steering me, and could have identified him by any of these.

"Athan Ashton. I thought I'd scared you off for good last time my boy," Idris said with a jovial laugh. "So glad you could make it. I know Karen will be thrilled."

"Yes sir. Where is she, if I could ask?"

"I told you before son, there's no need for 'sir' with me. If anything, I should be saying that to you." He let me go and propped me up in place not far from another circle of people. "After all, I should thank you for your service. From what I heard, you saved thousands of lives, if not more, in dealing with that Exhuman event in Oakland. Terrible, terrible business, but that's why the world needs heroes like you, isn't it, son?"

Idris could be suave as fuck when he wanted, but his act was so completely transparent this time, even I picked up on his machinations. Problem was...or maybe the reason why he did it, even with this knowledge there was nothing I could do. As the words of my heroics left his lips, the bizarrely-attired strangers in the group next to us turned their attention, and then within moments, I was utterly swarmed, dozens of admirers shaking my hand and recounting their names and lineages at me, while Idris stood next to me with a big festive grin.

These people were shameless. People were practically hitting each other to have a moment of face time with me, prying my hand out of someone else's handshake to replace it with their own, saying their own names over and over, and getting out a final plea of 'do come to call!' or 'don't forget!' as their brief seconds with me ended as the rest of the pack descended.

"Hello, Thomas Klein, private defense sector, I just love what you managed--"

"Julian Wilkes, I just must say, I've always had such respect--"

"Hello there, Sylvia Wyld, that's with a 'y'. I don't think I've ever heard of such a brave--"

"Edward DiMarco, I'm an attorney in the DA's office, so good to meet you friend, if you ever need--"

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It was easily the most overwhelming experience of my life, as I got passed from person to person like dogs at a park who had all just found the shiniest stick. But it wasn't until a blonde woman in a dress that looked like it'd been made of stickers and cellophane that I realized how wrong I was. These people weren't shameless, she was.

She cut through the group like all the others, but instead of going for my hand and an introduction, she went for my face, and latched herself onto my lips in a passionate kiss. Her arms wrapped around me, pressing me to her heaving chest, and my lips tingled with some exotic flavor on hers.

I tried to shove her off, but it felt like there wasn't any part of her I could touch which wasn't indecently dressed. I settled for pushing back on her head, but she refused to budge. All I could see was half of her face, her eyes closed, covered in dark makeup and long eyelashes, and the rest of the piranhas still circling, more irritated about the time she was taking than what she was doing with it.

Just as I was about to grope out for Senator Irenside's arm, I heard his voice. "All right, Miss Rubi, let the boy breathe."

She held the kiss for another couple of seconds just to make it clear she was doing this on her terms, before holding my head and slowly separating, a strand of saliva bridging the few inches between our lips, which she licked up and swallowed greedily.

"I've always wanted to make love with an Exhuman," she said, batting her dangerously blue eyes at me.

I didn't have any words. I was too busy inhaling and trying to figure out how to leave. I wanted to go back to where people hated Exhumans, please. I was wrong. A cycle of cruelty and oppression was fine. Coexistence was overrated. I want my old world back.

And then, with a crack, and a 'hngr', Miss Rubi fell down and the most beautiful fucking woman in the entire world appeared. Karu stood separate and resplendent in her full armor, gleaming like a white knight, and Miss Rubi let out an inarticulate scream as the shock net engaged and sent her into convulsions on the floor.

"That Exhuman is my prey," Karu spat. The gathered audience who was not currently writhing on the ground applauded politely at the show. The fuck was wrong with these people?

"Karen, why the armor? We've been over this," Idris sighed.

"It is only natural to wear gloves when reaching into a pile of excrement, father."

He frowned, and the air of a humoring father burned off of him. "These are the most influential and wealthiest people in the entire world, Karen dear. You will not make a spectacle of us. Now change at once."

"Father--"

"I said at once!" he said, not actually shouting, but with such menace in his voice he may as well have been. Just as the crowd had applauded Karen taking down Rubi, there were smiles and amused titters as she got cut down herself. This crowd had no loyalty, they turned on anyone to suit whatever amused them. As though sensing this, Karu's face under her visor glowed to very nearly match it, and she held her heart as she drew several rapid breaths.

"Y-yes, father," she said, and began to vanish towards the central foyer.

"Karu, wait!" I said, but a strong hand grabbed me by the shoulder and I turned around and found Idris' shining green eyes and friendly smile.

"I hardly think it's appropriate to help her dress, don't you?" he said. People laughed. He was pulling me back in, and the crowd began to froth as the waters were chummed again. Nobody seemed to notice or care that we were still standing over a woman in a net, even if the tasers on it had stopped clicking by now.

"Hey, quick party trick," I said, ducking and spinning to get the hand off my shoulder. I crossed my arms and blades of lightning emerged from nowhere, straight vertical gashes of light which burned away the strobing green and red glamor of this nightmare. "Be sure to stay back, they are very hot," I said, and to demonstrate, picked up a napkin some random jerk was holding under a tiny crystal goblet, and threw it into one of the blades, where it engulfed in flames and burned away to nothingness before it even touched the ground.

Again, people politely clapped. I gave the blades a flourish so they spun around me like a carousel, and then with a bow, dismissed them and practically sprinted for the foyer.

"Karu!" I shouted at the sea of people, but I couldn't see her. No red visor, no shock of blonde hair, just degenerate debauchery and the masses beginning to press in on me again. I shouted a few more times, weaving between the clusters of people, but to no avail. I turned at random, heading towards a long hallway with a huge wall of windows overlooking a courtyard, when one of the house's servants popped up right in front of me.

The way she had one eyebrow raised and a cheshire grin instantly alerted me to danger, but she was definitely in my way. I moved, she moved. I moved back, she moved back.

"Uh, excuse me," I said at last.

"Master Athan Ashton?" she said.

"Yes. Though can you not say it so loud? These people want my blood. And not even in a murdery way. Way creepier than that."

"Tell me about it, Master. Imagine doing this every year. It's even weirder in July, it's like this but with flags and fireworks."

I gave her half a confused glance. Apparently the servants here were all loopy?

"Anyway, I'm looking for Kar-Karen. Do you know where she is?"

"Well, as she's changing at the moment, I imagine upstairs. It would be pretty irresponsible of a servant to tell you it's up those stairs, two flights, then down the hallway on the left--just ignore the velvet rope telling you to stay out, and then on the left. So I won't say that."

"Uh. Right," I said. I heard something very much resembling my name behind me and glanced back at the emerging wall of flesh beginning to push into the corridor. "Thanks, bye!" I shouted at the servant girl and sprinted up the stairs while she gave an elegant curtsey.

I followed the directions exactly and, after bounding over a velvet rope, came to a large wooden door. I knocked, and the sound of it seemed impotent compared to the solidity and weight of all the wood paneling and molding and even the door itself.

"I am already changing, Father!" Karu yelled back. "Whatever insipid guest you wish for me to meet will simply have to wait!"

"Um, actually, it's me, Karu," I said.

There was a pause. "Who is 'me'?"

"Athan."

Another pause. "I do not suppose that you would be able to positively identify yourself before unlocking the door?"

"Uh," I said and thought. And thought. And thought.

The only things that came to mind to yell back at her were all completely inappropriate. But Karu wasn't exactly a private person, so if we were doing something in private, there was usually a damn good reason for it.

"You are thinking only of lecherous things, aren't you?"

"...yeah."

"I suppose that suffices as identification enough for my needs," she said with a sigh, and the door unlocked and opened. Karu was there, half out of her armor, tank top hanging out of the flight suit still clinging to her arms and her waist. She smiled as she saw me and pulled me into a kiss.

"I am very tempted," she said, as we both went into the huge room, dominated by yet more of the dark wooden furniture which seemed as weathered and solid as Karu "to simply finish undressing and then forget to rejoin the party. I hardly suspect my presence would be missed."

"Yeah, anything to get away from those people. Who the hell are they?"

"Parasites, mostly," Karu said, strutting towards me and lowering the zipper on her flight suit the rest of the way, before stepping her long bare legs out of it, and leaving it hanging off her arms like some kind of military-themed shawl.

"Uh, maybe...we should get back," I said, bumping into a dresser as the space between us vanished.

"Eager to rediscover Miss Rubi?" she asked teasingly, her lips inches from mine.

"C'mon, Karu. We can't just hide in here like teenagers."

Hiding in here like teenagers was, incidentally, exactly what I wanted to do, but I wasn't sure how I'd be able to look AEGIS in the eye if I couldn't make it two days without falling into another woman's arms, especially after I gave her such a hard time in trying to seduce me, and especially after she crashed. That would just be completely fucked up.

Such was my love for the AI, that I'd go downstairs and let those leeches bleed me dry, rather than stay up here with a beautiful woman I loved, throwing herself at me. It was truly an Exhuman's lot in life to suffer.

She held herself to me closely, pressing her cheek to my shoulder so I could feel her somewhat rapid breathing on my neck. I felt a tingle in my spine, and my hairs on my neck stood on end. And something else.

"I missed you, Ashton," she said. It wasn't the voice I always heard, confident and stellar. She was small and defenseless pressed up against me. I felt the overwhelming urge to put my arms around her. She looked up at me, green eyes flickering in the dim light of the room. "You will not hold me?"

I took in and let out a deep breath that felt so heavy, it was like breathing out years of my life.

"Sorry, Karu. You really...did a number on me when we broke up once. And then Saga did her whole thing to me, and now...I guess...I'm a lot more...hesitant about relationships."

She smiled and laughed softly. "I was not asking for a relationship, Ashton."

"Sorry, still...still not sure what I'm doing with myself."

She frowned and moved off of me, leaving a cold spot where she just was. "It is AEGIS, isn't it?" she asked, her face dark.

"I mean, that's part of it, sure. She's been pushing me too, but I haven't been able to tell her yes either."

I expected Karu to say something nasty about 'the AI', but she just bit her lip and said "I see." She looked a little ridiculous with her flight suit still hanging off of her arms and dragging on the floor behind her.

"Hey, let's just get you changed and enjoy the party as best as we're able, okay?" I said.

She brightened up and looked like the Karu I knew again almost immediately.

"Yes. Sulking is a waste of time and time with you, besides." She walked to the other end of the room, bare feet sinking out of sight into a lush red and gold rug, and pulled a tasteful, if somewhat ornate dress off of the back of a chair. "Please be seated, and I must insist on no peeking."

"You were trying to jump me like, ten seconds ago."

"And you have made it clear that was an unwelcome advance, at least for the time being. If you reject that proposal, then peeking privileges are similarly revoked."

"Sure, whatever," I said, and put myself in a chair at a desk near me, facing the wall.

"I propose a game of sorts," she said, as I heard the sounds of her flight suit being peeled off of her, and then the sounds of various objects of clothing hitting the floor. I realized there was a mirror on this desk, and if it was facing just a little further to the right… "I call this game simply, 'avoid my father'. I think you and I would both enjoy playing it? And it would be an enriching opportunity to become more well-acquainted with my family manor...and the various hiding places within."

"I dunno," I said, leaning to my left as imperceptibly as possible. "You and I, running around and hiding in dark corners together all night, I'm pretty sure everyone will gab about it."

"Then let them gab. I have nothing to hide."

"Except yourself, from your father. And me."

"Well, yes, obviously."

She stepped backwards for a moment and into the mirror's field of view, as she stepped into her dress and zipped it up. Sorta missed the best part there, but I guess I couldn't really complain. She glanced over at me for a moment and then began rummaging through some drawers.

"Need help with anything?" I asked.

"You would wish so, wouldn't you? I am perfectly capable of dressing myself."

She found what she wanted and the rummaging stopped. After another few moments she spoke again. "I am presentable."

I looked over and saw her in the elegant white dress, but also with what looked like black fingerless gloves that went up to her elbows. They were featureless and obviously didn't match the dress. On her neck, she wore a plain black choker that matched neither the dress nor the gloves.

"They are hand warmers. My hands were cold," she said, to my silence.

"Sorry. You look nice, is what I meant to say." It was hot in here, but Lia could have cold hands no matter the temperature, so I didn't ask any questions.

She crossed the room and pulled me up by the hand. "Shall we begin then?" she said.

Just then, the lock on the door turned, and the door opened.

"Where are you, child? There's a general downstai--"

Idris froze as he saw me in the room, holding Karu's hand. The rest of his sentence died in his throat and he seemed momentarily unsure whether to rebuke me or put his sleaze back on me. As the smile crossed his face, it seemed he decided on the latter.

"I hear Exhumans are quite the troublemakers, eh?" he said, pulling me by the arm that Karu had recently occupied. "Can't leave your daughter alone in her own room without one sneaking in. Now come, son, I've a few friends in the DoD who are dying to meet you, maybe you can favor them with a tale or two of your exploits?"

I turned back and saw Karu standing sadly, rooted to the spot with her hand still outstretched where mine had been torn from it and then the door closed between us as Idris pulled me ever further away.

Which was just the worst. Karu's game had sounded like so much fun, too.