AEGIS convinced me to hold off for a day and we spent the rest of the afternoon trying to gather intel by more conventional means, but mostly I think she was hoping we'd find any sort of lead so I could refrain from doing something she considered stupid.

She especially spent the rest of the day hard at work, pushing herself to try desperately to keep me out of trouble, while the rest of us talked over the other plan we were putting together. Karu agreed it was dangerous but was likely to be successful, and Lia liked it, only bemoaning that she would be pretty useless in the chaos we were planning to unleash.

"I'll check outta here tonight, stay somewhere nearby in case you need me. I'm not gonna be much use in the mess you whip up and the last thing I want to do is get captured again," she said bitterly.

"Hey, it's fine," I said.

"Whatever. It's not fine. But whatever. I guess you guys still don't have comms on you, so it'll be up to AEGIS to talk to me if you need me. Feeling kind of useless."

I messed up her hair and planted a kiss on the top of her head. "It was your idea to begin with, so you're far from useless. Don't worry so much, it'll be fine."

"You're going to deliberately piss off someone who hates you, who's in your same company, and who's in charge of a lot of guys with guns. I don't buy the it'll be fine."

"Well we already did it before and it was fine."

"With any luck," AEGIS said, her hands flying across a keyboard projected on the table, and hooked into four devices now she'd gotten from somewhere "you won't have to do anything that stupid at all. We just need better intel...and that's kind of my thing…"

She sounded mad, and I kind of understood, I thought, even if I didn't agree. If she'd appointed herself both as my caretaker and the dedicated info-gathering 'net hacker of the team, she probably felt like she was failing me on both counts by not being able to dig up anything. But as I told her again and again now, it's not like the resistance would be uploading their position to the 'net; if the XPCA knew where they were, they'd wipe them out already. The info we needed just wasn't out there.

That wouldn't stop her from trying, and she'd been sitting there slicing and cracking and sifting through petabytes of data all day now without so much as a pause.

Suddenly, her ferenic movement was stopped as she suddenly lurched in her chair. "Oh for the love of--" she said, and then locked up and fell face-first on the table.

"AEGIS?" I asked, moving and propping her upright. Her eyes were glassy and unfocused, her body heavy and motionless. Crashed again.

With a sigh, I pulled the boot driver from where I always kept it and sifted through her hair for the access port. Like I'd done pretty much every day now, I jammed it in and waited.

And...waited. And...waited…?

As the seconds drew on, terrifying thoughts began bubbling up in my mind. No, it was fine. She was just booting again. It was just taking longer this time. Any second now.

Lia looked over with concern on her face I really didn't want to see right now. "Did you put it in all the way?" she asked.

"Yeah...it's...it's there," I gave it a little shove and nothing continued to happen. "This should work. Why isn't it working? Did the boot drive go bad?"

I fished in my chest pocket and pulled out the other option. The backup drive. A copy of her before the corruption had hit. I'd been carrying it with me this whole time in case one day she crashed too hard for the boot drive to recover.

I turned to Lia. "She...she's not coming back yet. She said the backup was for emergencies only."

"Is this an emergency?" Lia asked.

"I don't know. I was asking you."

"Hey, let me try my boot drive," she said, pulling an identical one out. We each had one so both of us could care for AEGIS if we had to, though there was just the one backup.

She took out mine, and carefully jammed hers in instead. My heart jumped when she did. A second passed, and then another. When it dragged on for yet another long moment, I felt panic began to twitch inside my heart, but then, suddenly, AEGIS sat bolt upright and blinked at us, her hair swaying with her unsteady movement as her eyes focused.

"Oh thank God!" I said and wrapped my arms around her. A moment later, Lia's cold hands and soft body were wrapped around the two of us as well.

"Uh," AEGIS said, sitting motionless. "I crashed?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Pretty bad this time, I'm guessing?"

"You didn't come back when I tried to boot you up. I really thought I lost you for a minute. God, my heart's beating so hard it hurts."

Almost detachedly, AEGIS picked up my boot drive from the table and scrutinized it. She frowned, and then with a sudden crunch, cracked it in her hand.

"AEGIS...what--?" I got out. She fished in her palm and held up a chip, blackened and burnt.

"You stupid," she said. "You fried it in the EMP too."

"Oh. I didn't even think about that. Fuck, I'm so stupid. I'm sorry."

"I bet this is done for as well," she said, poking at the backup drive. "Well...I'll have to make a new one from the data back at home. In the meanwhile, I guess I'd better not crash super hard anymore."

"You can...do that?" I asked.

"No," she said disgusted. "But I don't really have a choice, do I? You fried plan B. God damn it all." She took a deep breath and then threw the remains of the drive in her hand at the door and pushed the backup off the table with a crash.

"AEGIS, I'm...really sorry," I said.

"It's fine. It's just...just an alternate version of me whom I hate anyway. We can always make more. Now get out of here and let me work. I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

I left her alone but had a hard time getting how bitter she sounded out of my head. Without much else to do, and not wanting to go outside with the Exhumans or hang around and annoy her, I wound up laying on the bed upstairs in Steffie's room.

I was a little surprised but, aside from the low height of the bed, the lack of chair at the desk, and the spare wheelchair collapsed against the wall, there wasn't much indication that the room belonged to a paraplegic. I sort of expected handholds around the bed or something, but no...if you didn't know about it before, there wasn't anything in the room to hint that Steffie was anything but a normal human woman.

I laid there for a long time, watching the color of the sky outside slowly change through the blinds, thinking mostly of AEGIS, but also of when I'd been in shock about Saga's alleged death and the last time I was holed up in bed just waiting. At some point I heard Lia and Karu talking directly below me in the kitchen. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but they seemed happy enough. Despite her problems, Lia always seemed happy enough. A superpower far greater than mine...the willpower to force down her own depression and pretend to be happy, each and every day.

To my surprise, Lia and Karu came in and joined me in a picnic on the bed when they finished cooking. Beans again, I noticed, an odd side dish to compliment the pasta and garlic toast I knew Lia was familiar with making.

"Doesn't seem like AEGIS is having any luck," Lia said quietly.

"Indeed not. It seems the certainty of going with your plan grows with every moment."

"Yeah," I agreed, halfheartedly.

"Not feeling it, as it were?" Karu asked with a sympathetic smile. "I would think you would relish the thought of doing something extremely foolish."

"Despite what everyone seems to think, I don't do stupid things by design," I sighed. "No, I'm mostly just...sad, I guess, about what I'm going to do to Targa."

"But you detest the woman?"

"I mean, I do. But...the fact is, whether I meant to or not, I messed up her career ambitions and I got some of her people killed. Innocent people, just doing their jobs. That's pretty messed up."

"A surprisingly mature response. It would be easy to let your dislike of her cloud your impartiality and drive you easily to do whatsoever you wished. I am glad that you are able to reflect and see the consequences of your actions," Karu said, spearing a single bean with her fork and holding it up for examination. "However, even seeing the negatives, I still think your plan is optimal. The AI and I will be on hand to mitigate any risk to the XPCA. And to yourself as well. And it benefits Captain Targa in the long-run."

"Yeah. I just wish I could help her without pissing her off."

"I don't think you work that way," Lia laughed. "Like I said offhand earlier, you've pissed me off plenty of times, but at the end of the day, you've also helped all of us a ton. Maybe Targa will be so mad at you, she'll try to kill you, and then fall helplessly in love with you and join our little group."

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Karu frowned at her. "Why would you ever suggest something so preposterous?"

Lia shrugged with a knowing grin. "Worked for you and AEGIS, didn't it?" When Karu's face crossed into aghast, Lia laughed again.

"On second thought Ashton, maybe it is better if you do not provoke the good captain. I have little need of yet another romantic rival."

We laughed, though I'm not sure how much Karu thought she was joking. In an effort to placate her somewhat, I steered the conversation towards plans and contingency plans, knowing that Karu was a big fan of being prepared for everything, and when we finally wrapped up after dark, her mood seemed to have improved considerably.

"Okay well...best of luck you two," Lia said, stretching. "I'll find a place to stay in town, so I'll be like, a twenty-minute drive away...call if you need me for anything at all. Otherwise, let's meet up tomorrow at like, six, when you guys are all done, hopefully?"

"We'll bring Steffie," I agreed with a smile.

"Out of New Eden?" Karu asked.

"Okay well...maybe not. We'll video message with Steffie."

"Really fills me with confidence that this is the guy making and carrying out our plans," Lia laughed. "But I'm sure you'll be fine. Just watch each other's backs and everything will be okay."

She beamed at us as we saw her off from the gates of New Eden, giving us one more wave as she entered the parking lot and began weaving through the cars parked closest to the facility.

I gave the standalone XPCA annex another glance before we turned back in. Looming off to the side, with space for hundreds of soldiers and a huge hangar...somewhere in there was Targa. I shot her a mental apology for what we were going to do tomorrow morning, but it was really her ultimatums which had pushed us to this.

Karu insisted she take the couch tonight and sat down there silently polishing her guns and armor while AEGIS worked like crazy at the table, and after just a couple of minutes, I couldn't stand there any longer and went right back up to the bed and fell into it.

It was barely sundown, but I laid in bed with my eyes closed for a long time with thoughts and plans and worry and stress swirling around until I fell asleep, exhausted by my own concerns.

I felt really groggy but it didn't seem that much later when I woke up to someone under the sheets with me struggling to take off my pants. I took a peek under the covers and was greeted by a pair of electric-yellow eyes and a sly smile.

"You didn't change into PJs," she complained. "How am I supposed to get at the good stuff like this?"

"You don't have to," I said, pulling her up, but she refused to move.

"You're just a big ball of angst and stress today," she said. "I want to help with that."

"I'm stressing because of what's going to happen tomorrow. I don't think anything's going to change that except getting it over with."

"Well, we won't know unless we try," she said, succeeding in getting my belt unbuckled.

"Let's try something different tonight," I said, pulling her up again, and this time she let me pull her up so she was lying next to me, head out from under the blanket like a normal person.

It also let me see her more clearly, more than just her bright eyes in the dark, I could see her soft face from the dim light coming through the blinds. She looked nervous, looked tired. But mostly, she looked scared.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing," she said, and forced her face into a tight-lipped smile.

"Yeah. Bullshit. What's really wrong?"

She sighed. "Well, you spent last night with Karu, you're rejecting my advances today for the first time in like, a month. And you're saying you want to try something different."

"Is that all?" I asked. I'd gotten okay at reading AEGIS in all the time we'd spent together recently, but for how obviously upset she looked right now, she may as well be wearing a giant neon sign, broadcasting her current emotional distress.

She pawed through her hair for a moment and then hugged it like a body pillow. "I'm worried about you getting hurt tomorrow. I'm worried Captain Targa's a lot more dangerous than you think, not as understanding...and that things will go wrong. They have a lot of ordinance on the base, all in case of an Exhuman uprising, and...and I'm worried…worried that..."

I scooted towards her and held her with the arm I wasn't lying on. She was so warm and soft as ever. "It'll be fine. We'll be fine. We can do it together," I whispered.

"I don't know that I even count. I might just crash, I might be...might be more of a hindrance than a help. And then I think...well, you have Karu...and then...I think of you and her...on the battlefield together...while I'm just so...so useless…"

"You're not useless," I said firmly.

"I am! I am though! I said I'd protect you, and you're planning to do stupid things right under my nose and I can't even find the one piece of data which will stop you."

"I already told you, that data--"

"Data is my life, Athan. Protecting people is my purpose. And you are my world. And I can't do any of them right! I can't even...can't even beat this stupid virus…"

"Come on, you'll beat it. I know you will. Nobody can out-hack you."

"It's been three months, Athan! Three months, I've been eradicating it from my system wherever I find it, digging through core dumps and stack traces to find where it's gone, thinking I had it over, and over, and over again. And I'm crashing now more than ever!"

I realized there were tears streaming from her eyes, a silver stream in the soft light of the room.

"I can't beat it. I realized that a while back. They're just as good as me, at least, but they've got a head start on me, they've got the benefit of being the attacker, the element of surprise of and of stealth...I just...I don't know what to do and I'm so scared. I'm scared of dying--"

"You're not going to die. At the very worst, we'll do the backup--"

"The backup IS dying, Athan. I'll die. Some other version of AEGIS will live instead. And three months...that's before...before I started getting this close...to you. So it will be like all of that time," she brushed her fingers through my hair "all of this, of us...never happened. I don't want to die, and I don't want to lose you, but I don't think I can do any better than I am. I just...don't think I'm good enough, Athan, and I'm scared. God, I'm so, so scared."

I held her tightly and pressed her against me. I wanted to tell her, even if those months disappeared, I'd be right there to love her again. But it wouldn't really be her, would it? That would be like telling her if she died, it was fine because I'd stay with her sister.

So I didn't know what to say. I just held her while she shook softly and tears streamed down her cheeks.

"AEGIS, listen," I said, and gently turned her chin up towards me. She blinked more tears out of her beautiful yellow eyes and looked up at me, lost and helpless like a child. I didn't know how to follow that up. I didn't know what I could say to make the virus stop and save her life, or how to promise her I wouldn't ever get hurt. For all I knew, tomorrow, I could run into an Exhuman who was way stronger than me, get seriously maimed, and then because of my misconduct against Targa, lose my job and access to a regenerator.

I didn't have any words, nothing that might help. So I kissed her, softly and deeply, pressing her warm, soft lips against mine until the warmth from her flooded through my body and brain like she'd lit a fire within me.

We parted too soon, and she gasped and touched her lips. I felt like my heart was trying to escape my chest and jump after her.

"You've...never kissed me...before," she said.

"We did once. In Canada, right after the thing where you turned your emotions off. Uh, right after you slapped me hard across the face."

She shook her head, still breathless. "No, I kissed you then. You've never kissed me."

"I was going to...at the Aquarium in D.C.," I said, racking my brain.

"Going to isn't the same as did," she said, her face practically glowing. "My...my first...eeheehee."

"I'm sorry," I said. "It seems stupid that I never have. I mean...you've put your lips lots of other places on me."

"That's different," she said. "That's just...service. A kiss is...it's for love."

"Well, I do...love you," I said. I was happy it was so dark, because my face was almost stinging from how red I was. "I'm...sorry...if I don't...express it well."

She looked like she'd just been slapped. Her face, still red, still breathing heavily, but now her mouth and eyes were wide.

"What?" I asked.

"You just said you love me."

"Well...yeah. Now I know I've told you that before."

"Not like this you haven't," she said, squirming and smiling. "Say it again," she whispered.

"I...love you?"

"I love you too!" She grabbed me and buried my face under hers in a hot, breathless kiss. When she finally relented, both of us had to gasp for air.

"He loves me," she said, holding her chest like her heart was going to escape from it. "He loves me. Athan Ashton loves me."

"I do...I really do...I um...I didn't think...this was such a big deal."

She shook her head violently enough to send her twintails shivering down her body around her. "This is...maybe the biggest deal...to me." She fell over heavily on my chest, eyes shining as she looked up at me from below my chin. "I don't think you understand how happy this makes me."

"I'm seeing it," I said, catching her infectious smile. "I'm sorry. I just...things between us are so complicated, but over the last month, I just...I don't know, in my head...I thought maybe we already were at this place."

"I thought so too," she said, practically purring on my chest. "But...I didn't want to assume...without hearing it from you. I didn't want...want to hurt myself, thinking something was there which wasn't. Making that mistake and...and then...finding out you were just...just with me out of pity, or to protect me."

She blinked. "Which don't get me wrong! I love that about you. I love that you'd never let your friends be hurt. I just…" she drifted off and them mumbled.

"What?" I asked.

"I just wished I was more than a friend!" she said.

"Oh, AEGIS," I said. I felt so happy and sad looking at her at the same time. "You are. You really are. I'm sorry."

"Well, don't apologize now! This is the first thing you've ever said you shouldn't apologize for, dummy!"

I laughed, and she laughed in my arms.

"I mean it. I love you," I said. "And I am sorry that I didn't tell you what was in my heart."

Both of us smiled so much our faces hurt, and spoke so freely, our hearts felt lighter than they ever had before, buoyed up with pure, unrestrained, unfiltered love. What was it about the coming danger, about facing our fears and the threat that loomed on the dawn which had opened us up like this? Why couldn't I have said those words and kissed those lips weeks ago?

I didn't know. I didn't care. I had them in this moment, and to me, this moment was everything right now. This moment was the only one that mattered. Everything was beautiful and pure and warm.

"It's late," she said at last. "And you need to be on your game tomorrow. But I never want to stop kissing you," she pouted. I gave her another one, and the pouting lips became a smile. "So you should sleep."

"I don't want to."

"Yes, but that's stupid, and I'll still be here in the morning."

"I guess," I said, relenting as much as I was able.

"Y'know," she said, her smile turning equal parts sultry and cheeky "I never finished what I came up here to do. That might help you sleep..." She began humming gently into my chest which, pavlovian, I immediately stabbed her in the leg. She laughed, but I stopped her and pulled her face back up in front of mine.

"AEGIS...w-would…" I found myself stammering over the words. Such a freaking awkward question. "Would...you...like to sex...uh...with me?"

"I was going to, dummy, before you pulled me up here," she giggled.

"No...I mean…"

Her eyes went wide. "With...with me?"

"Of course."

"You mean...really? Like...real sex. With me."

"I love you, remember?" I laughed, making her blush full crimson again.

"I'll never forget it," she said, the yellow of her eyes shining like the birth of a new star as the straps of her dress slid off her moon-white shoulders.