I typed out the last of the information I remembered on Jack into the computer and turned the holo towards Steffie. Despite what I thought was some pretty enticing information on there, she was still staring at me.

"Okay, what?" I asked her.

"You seriously got this information from an XPCA agent?"

"Yeah, who else would have it?"

"Like, you not only spread a rumor you knew he'd jump at, you also got taken in, dragged into an interrogation room, and then beat him at his own interrogation to pull information from him instead of the other way around?"

I sighed at her and slumped back in my chair. After being all stiff and formal this morning, being able to melt in a chair and continue the abuse to my posture I'd cultured over a lifetime was amazing.

"It wasn't a real interrogation," I informed her. "He wasn't a real interrogator. Just some random soldier who'd been shipped out here for guard duty who'd seen too many police dramas."

"What, he didn't like, play good-cop, bad-cop properly or something?"

I shook my head. "That's exactly the type of myth that doesn't happen in real interrogations. For starters, as you've just proven, that kind of tactic is already in the public eye, and nobody would fall for a trick like that if they already knew all about it. Also it's just...not as effective to browbeat your suspects, typically. Like, yeah, it does happen, to lock someone away for hours and hours and hours and just go at him and wear him down with authority and abuse, but that's the hard way."

"So what's...the easy way?"

"What I did to him. Just normal conversation, really. At least at the start. Get 'em talking, then erode their confidence and reasons to resist. Tell 'em you don't even need them, that you already have everything you need and they'd just be putting a bow on it for you."

She frowned. "Wouldn't that be lying?"

I laughed and patted her on her blue head, which made her frown deeper. "Oh sweetie. Of course they're going to lie."

She eyed me warily for a moment more, but finally seemed too alured to the information I'd put on the screen to keep arguing my awesomeness to me. Her frown disappeared as she read, but it wasn't replaced with a smile either.

"The admission blocks," she muttered. "Where are those? I don't think I've ever heard of that."

"They're prison cells like any other, under the base out there. They're for holding and processing of new Exhumans who are difficult in some way. Supposed to be temporary and graduate to the city, or maybe the more permanent confinement under the walls, but Jack doesn't seem to be becoming less 'difficult in some way'."

"Because of his powers? Or his behavior?"

I shrugged. "Records didn't say he was misbehaving, but I don't know."

"If only the resistance were still together," she sighed. "Getting in there would be a snap with the right kinds of Exhumans."

I turned that idea over in my head. Certainly Exhumans were all we had to work with here, but I couldn't imagine they didn't have, at the very least, tectonic sensors to detect people digging out under the walls. The old resistance base had been put straight under the city, way down, by some Exhuman at some point...but it seemed more built than dug, as though by a reality-shaper of some kind. If we could find them and convince them to help us…

But that prospect seemed dubious the more I thought about it. Just finding that Exhuman could take a while, and that was assuming they were still here. If they had ties to the resistance, there were better than fair odds they died in the breakout, or were still out there, or were being held like Jack for their connections and potentially dangerous powers. Nothing we could rely on.

Though, it wouldn't hurt to ask around either. I'd been sniffing about for any trace of the resistance since I got here, but found...a startling absence of anyone affiliated with them. It was suspicious enough that I had to wonder if the XPCA was...handling them a little differently this time around.

For now I was tapped out, though. I didn't have any more people or favors, and while I'd have preferred to veg inside and just think for a while, I didn't want to give Steffie the opinion that I didn't have a course of action. So I took my feet, found my bra somewhere, and headed out into the city with a nebulous excuse for her of having something to do.

I was still just thinking, just more on my feet, as they carried me at random through the wide, dusty streets. I could tell when I'd strayed too far by feeling eyes on me again -- New Edeners were pretty pissy by nature, and while my reputation paved the way for me in some districts, in others, I was a complete unknown. Or a threat.

I sat down near the central road like so many of the others slumped against walls, and felt the sun's warmth, almost uncomfortably hot on my back. I felt like a baking potato, which was fine with me. Athan might have always preferred the cold, but I was a sun-seeker. I'd taken advantage of those predilections more than once to put cold hands on him somewhere and sapped the warmth from his body like a parasite, alongside his yelps and my giggles, typically.

And now, he could be anywhere, I thought, the happy bubbling in my mind ebbing away. After my arrest in Oregon a week ago, I hadn't heard or seen a damn thing about him, and I'd been digging constantly. I'd played up my Exhumanity while they held me so that I could get relocated instead of just arrested on the chance he was in here, but in retrospect, that was a stupid decision. It seemed impossible that they'd ever take someone as high-profile as him and just dump him with the rest of the chaff.

If only I had 'net access, even for a little bit. The lack of it was driving me crazy, but was also a mixed blessing. A lot of the favors I'd pulled until now were the kind of thing anyone with a few minutes and a search engine could have sussed out. Many people had holos and could pick up news or shows -- and did, because what else would you do locked up in here? -- but access to the greater 'net was tightly controlled, and even more so after the uprising. But I knew it was in here...just not anywhere the XPCA or a bum like me would find it.

In short, I didn't have my anonymity, my kit, my resources, or anything that made me functional in here, and it felt a lot like I was just bumbling around, telling people what I thought they wanted to hear and hoping it wouldn't bite me in the tuchus. I was growing, and that was bringing me closer to my goals, but it also brought danger, and I had to carefully balance the two.

The warming sun suddenly disappeared behind a glowering face, and I had to shield my eyes to make out what the glowering face was attached to. And as I made out the details, I found my tuchus clenching. Here was some of that danger.

"Hello, Black Shark," said the face, cordial and breezy. "Enjoying the end of spring?"

"It treats me well enough," I told him. "What can I do for you, Argus?"

"Oh, I think you've done enough already. I was led to believe you were an infopath, and that knowledge you attained was infallible."

"I'm just a conduit," I shrugged, wishing he'd move out of my sun. "Knowledge can be subjective. Not all facts are facts."

"Well isn't that convenient. Sorta makes it sound like you can lie to any one of your clients whenever you want and not have to face the consequences. Sorta makes you question the whole point of hiring an infopath to begin with. At best they're unreliable, and at worst, they're just lying to your face."

"There's no need to be upset. If you have any problems with my services, I'm happy to make it up to you." I dug in my pocket and spun a coin into the air towards him, the metallic ping cutting short when his fingers snatched it from the air.

For one brief moment, I could make out his backlit shadow examining the coin. And then he pivoted on me, twisting in a throwing motion, and I felt a sharp pain on my forehead that my sun-shielding hand snapped to by reflex.

"Only an idiot buys a defective product twice," he told me, while I felt blood on my fingertips. "I want a refund."

"You can't refund information," I told him. "What the heck does that even mean?"

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"Not the information, dolt. You had me do you a favor to buy your services. Now you're going to do one for me."

"Yeah, no thanks. I made my offer," I said, rising to escape this situation. I let out an involuntary groan as my tailbone slammed back into the ground. I started to move again and found his hand in front of my face.

My groan became more pronounced and husky as sudden dizziness struck me. My skin felt too tight and my hands were clammy with sweat. They looked shrunken and pale...and too numerous, as my vision swam. My head ached with a pounding that had nothing to do with the cut on my forehead.

"Some of us don't have to lie about our powers," his voice said from somewhere distant-sounding, ringing with a menace which hadn't been there a moment ago. "Don't make me ask again."

I gaped at him wordlessly, feeling like the sun had beaten down on me for an hour, and my body burned like I'd just run for that long. This was his power? To...what, to debilitate? To make another just wither away? If he kept this up, would I die?

It certainly felt like it. I was sweaty and burning up and cold all at once, the desert around me feeling so far away compared to the sun on my skin.

He leaned back and the sensation lessened, or at least stopped getting worse. I sat there reeling in his shadow for a long minute while my vision put itself back together. My headache just grew, though, and I began to shiver...or shake, under my sweat.

"I'm being more than fair," he said. "You cheated me, I want what I deserve. And you'll give it to me, or the XPCA will be sweeping your remains off the streets."

Sweeping my remains. That was a slightly odd turn of phrase, but sort of a terrifying one. It meant two things -- one, whatever his powers did, they didn't leave a tidy corpse when they'd finished, and two, he'd made 'remains' with it before. He probably wouldn't refrain from doing it again. It wasn't looking like I had much of a choice here.

At the very least, not right here, anyway. If I could get away from him, maybe I could get some of the more friendly Exhumans between Argus and myself. Keep him at bay long enough to rescue Jack, at least. Jack could probably handle this chump like he was nothing.

The chump clenched at me again and I felt my veins throb across my whole body. "I'll do it," I gasped at him. "I'll do your favor."

"Smart," he said, backing off again and leaving me reeling. I could see others watching from all around but not one of them moved to help. I reminded myself, these were people who founded an Exhuman fighting ring. My death was their amusement, not some tragedy to prevent. It'd been pure stupidity for me to go anywhere I wasn't completely safe.

I swallowed heavily. Not that there was anywhere completely safe. Not when every single person in this place except me could level a city block.

Still he loomed over me as I slumped backwards. "Just tell me what the hell you want," I growled at him with all the menace I had left. "And then piss off."

"It's not what I want, it's what you want," he said, his giddiness now without reservation. "After all, you want to help me now, don't you?"

When I didn't answer immediately he reached forward again. "Yes!" I shouted as his fingers twitched.

"Good. Besides, this could be the start of a beautiful and prosperous relationship. You see, I'm not just another Exhuman. I see you looking around, wondering if the others are going to come to your aid. Well I've got news for you, missy, they're in my camp. Everyone on this block lives because I permit it and pays tribute because I demand it. You crossed a very powerful man."

A single block? I'd pissed off the worst, pettiest tyrant alive. But I let him continue, anything to improve his mood and to buy me time while my eyes couldn't focus and my body shook.

"Now, you're a very clever girl. I've heard of your reputation growing, and all the knowledge in the world can't hurt either. Impulsive and stupid, though. Otherwise you'd have never crossed the King of Block Seventeen. But that's not me, I'm a strategist, see? A thinker. A schemer, like you've never met. I know how to get people to do what I want, and I know how to use them."

It disgusted me more than a little just how big an ego they could pack into a single person. If I had a dick to measure, I might have been inclined to spout off about the number of followers I had, the information I'd bought and sold, the millions that had passed through my hands, all while working in total anonymity, because true power didn't need a face on it. But of course that'd be moronic, so I stayed shut up. "One day I'm going to run this whole place. And you're going to help me with the next step. You're clever. You can help with one small step, can't you?"

I nodded before he got back into threats and he seemed satisfied, from what I could see of his silhouette. "There's an upstart, like you, getting too big and too smart for his own good. Named Khol. I want you to kill him."

"Kill?" I scoffed at him. "I'm not sure you've seen our current position, but you seem much more suited for killing than I am."

"Oh, I don't know about that," he said, and I could see his teeth glinting in the sun. "There's more to killing someone than walking up and unloading your powers. Not even understanding that is why I'm King of the Block and you're just a stupid girl. If I came at Khol, there'd be a fight, and while I would probably win, I might also lose."

"So you're just a coward then," I panted at him through a grin, only to have my vision swim and my veins burn again in response.

"You should watch your mouth. You don't have many of those in you left before I start doing permanent damage." Considering I didn't even fully understand what he was doing to me, I took his words to heart. That, and the fact that he hadn't risen to my bait anyway. "Regardless, I feel that with time and planning, and all the knowledge in the world, even you could kill him. And so you will...or you'll die."

"What, you expect me to just...use my powers to figure out his weakness and assassinate him or something?"

"Yes, exactly that."

I stared at him for a long minute. As long a minute as I could drag out. Any time he wasn't using his powers on me was good time.

"I know what you're thinking," he said with menace, and for once he wasn't wrong. "You're thinking, if you have the time and knowledge, why not simply kill me? Or, the second my back is turned, why not just run away, disappear and never let me see you again."

He crouched down and I blinked at him and forced my sunlit eyes to focus. He had a greasy ponytail with lines of grey, sallow skin, and a black eyepatch on his left eye. I wanted very little more in the world right now but to have my rifle, several thousand feet, and a bullet to put through his other one.

He gave me a crooked smile and then jabbed his fingers into my chest, just under and feeling like they were grabbing at the bottom of my ribs. I gasped at the sudden blow, coughing and failing to get my shaking, uncoordinated hands to grab his and pull the offending fingers off of me.

And then his powers hit me in a strange, horrible new way. I felt...a dull crushing pain inside me, like my guts had turned to stone, like there was a rock in me. It wasn't as debilitating as whatever else he'd been doing, but it felt worse, wronger than before. He withdrew his hand and stared at me.

"This is why you won't leave, and won't betray me. Your organs are now slowly shutting down. You will have a few days before you die, and only I can stop it. Do your favor for me, and walk away healthy. Or don't, and die. It doesn't really matter much to me, though I do prefer not wasting a promising young life like yours."

He gave my cheek a quick pinch before rising to his feet again, standing as a shadow before the sun another long moment before walking off without a goodbye.

While I sat there, feeling cold and hot and wrong and violated. Even with his powers gone, I felt sick. My body wouldn't stop trembling on its own, my vision wasn't right, and I felt weak and dizzy. And my heart was racing, but I wasn't sure if that was medical or just perfectly-ordinary terror.

I closed my eyes and willed my body to stop malfunctioning. I recited my mantras. I put one foot under me and forced myself to my feet.

Well, almost. I tried, and my knees couldn't hold me. I fell forward on the hot concrete, the sweat on my palms boiling at the touch.

I could almost laugh. The ducking idiot hadn't even left me a choice. How was I supposed to even consider doing his dirty work if I was going to die here? He was so frustratingly incompetent, so damn full of himself despite being nothing.

And yet somehow he was more than I was. What a sobering thought that was. As much as I wanted to believe that I had the smarts and the resources and the plans, the fact was, I was here dying under the sun with my guts shutting down, and he wasn't. What a dumpster fire.

Something else stood in my sun for a second and looked down at me, head cocked. White eyes against dark skin blinked at me in confusion.

"Lia?" he asked me, his voice warm, but cooler than the day, heavy, but lighter than any of the rest of my stay in this toilet. "It is you. Lia! Oh damn, you look like shit. Are you okay? Wait...you look like...did you run across Argus? Self-styled 'King of Block Seventeen?' Hang on, you'll be alright."

Strong hands scooped me up easily and the world streaked to a blurry white as he moved. I closed my eyes to keep from throwing up, but found it dark after just a couple of minutes. I opened them again and we were indoors, I was being laid to rest on a couch, and a cereal bar was being shoved in my face.

And behind it, Tower smiled at me. "Eat," He said. "That dude fucks up your body chemistry. Your blood sugar's probably zero, if he messed with you.

I tried to take it, tried to thank him, tried to do a lot of things really, but failed spectacularly at all of them. Tower just shrugged and smiled, not asking questions or compromising, just putting pieces of food in my mouth and working with me every step of my failure. I wanted to cry at the sudden, completely unexpected mercy the world could show to me.

But I didn't. I saved my tears and my strength and ate, and with every bite, I felt a little bit better. After the one bar, Tower left for a moment and came back with three more, carefully unwrapping the first of them with his giant hands.

I was grateful beyond words, but I'd still give him plenty when I had the strength. I did exactly what he said, drank in his mercy and ate his granola until the blurriness faded and the trembling stopped, and even then.

But the whole while I did, I never once stopped thinking. Argus was a moron, and he told me I didn't plan, couldn't plan. He'd said an incredible amount of idiotic things in his life, but I doubt he'd ever been more wrong than when he said that. Even as I chewed and swallowed and tipped back water and hugged and thanked my friend, I thought and I planned.

Because even as I recovered and even as I felt more myself in my skin again, as my body once again responded to my demands and my eyes saw straight and the pounding in my head subsided, there were still two lumps in me.

One of stone, in my gut, where he'd promised he was killing me slowly. And one of ice in my heart, which promised to kill him in turn.