I wasn't sure what constituted a few days in Argus' mind, but I was coming up on the end of two of them now and it sure felt like I was ready to die at any minute. Parts of me hurt in ways I didn't know they could, and more than once it crossed my mind, why, why, human body, do you have pain sensors there? Like seriously, if your guts were leaden fire, what was the advantage in feeling all of it before you died?

And even though it didn't feel it, I reminded myself I wasn't going to die. I had a modicum of use to Argus that he'd want to squeeze out of me, and then -- I hoped -- he'd play the traditional villain idiot card and get greedy, try to keep me around now that I'd proven myself both useful and easy to control.

And keeping me around meant keeping me alive. As long as he had no reason to suspect I was a threat, things might even work out. He was, after all, an idiot, so I had that going for me at least.

But that was a ways off. Until then, I was under lock, key, watch, and armed guard...armed with Exhuman powers...and was just doing my best to sleep and stop shaking and sweating.

It was a long and uncomfortable night. By morning I could barely stand with the sun, and every fiber in my being just wanted to stay in bed, pull the blanket tight over my head and...well, die, honestly. I'd been dying for so long now, it felt like I may as well get it over with.

My mental faculties were demolished along with my self-confidence. What had once seemed like such a good plan was now just garbage in the morning light. And so was I. What was I thinking, trying to play these murderers and drug-dealers? I was a damn child, not even an Exhuman. Worthless and stupid and weak.

I held my head and permitted myself one more thought, one more tail-end of desperation before filling my head with my mantras. I must always keep trying. I can't cry if I'm too busy smiling.

It took a long time. Thoughts kept threatening to creep in, but every time they did, I moved my lips. My thoughts couldn't move my lips, only me. I could say anything, I could do anything, I was more than nothing.

This morning, like many mornings, it didn't work. When the doubt and worthlessness rushed back in, I focused on the plan. There was always the plan, and all the tiny steps in it. Turn your body. Pull off the blanket. Put your feet on the floor. Find your bag. Get undressed. Get dressed.

I didn't know how to beat depression. I didn't know if it could be beaten. But I did know that nobody controlled my body or mind but me. If I couldn't keep negative thoughts out of my head, I'd push my mantras in until I couldn't think at all. If I couldn't find the energy to get up, I'd find the energy to move one leg one inch. I'd struggle and push and raise my frickin' middle finger to the world, because I knew things could only get me down if I let them.

And I wouldn't. Every step is just a step. I can never give up.

"Dressed and ready then?" the suave voice of Argus carried over to me before he entered. "Well, don't you look perky this morning."

"It's a good day," I told him with a grin. "Today, I'm finishing your job and getting my life back."

"Such confidence!" he raved. "If only I had ten men like you, I'd have realized my ambitions by now. It's close to time, you should be headed off."

"Do you have the bag with the blackmail materials in it?" I asked him and he flashed it at me. "Okay, and do you--"

I took a step, and my knee gave way and despite all the signals I screamed at my body, the ground came rushing up to meet me.

It felt like I'd only blinked, but I was facing the other way, on my back with the ceiling above me, and Argus and his men before it.

I also felt much better. I blinked at him, my confusion completely genuine.

"I fixed you up for the moment," he said. "I don't think he'd take your threats seriously if you were falling over every step. But don't you dare try to run for it, Jackal here can cut you to slivers as quick as you can blink."

His men helped me up, and after a few minutes of feeling like the blood was trickling down from my brain into the rest of my body, I felt very nearly normal. Weak, clammy, uncomfortably hot and cold, achy, tired, and racked with self-doubt and paranoia making me wonder just how much this spill had cost my plans...but otherwise normal.

Nex' bar was a bit of a misnomer. It wasn't any more or less a building than any other, he'd just turned the ground floor of it into a public area and charged exorbitant sums for garbage swills. I'd been there a time or two before, meeting clients in a neutral setting where starting a fight got your backside both beaten and bounced, much like I was allegedly doing now. It was familiar turf for me, which I appreciated.

The good news was, Khol was there, with his own slightly-private table, and was apparently alone. The better news was Tower didn't seem to be following, or Steffie. Everything was going peacefully on-track.

"Where's Argus?" Khol asked, eyeing me with suspicion as I sat down. "I thought you were supposed to convince him to come."

"He'll be just a minute. He wanted to send me first to test the waters, you know. He thinks himself very shrewd, when he's really very stupid."

"I suppose," Khol replied, lowering his voice under the sounds of a wall holo playing the morning news. "And yet, I have to wonder why you don't seem much more ailing, and you aren't at home using the crystal dream I gave you. Did you just take my generosity and make a buck off of it? Hmm, but if so...why would you be here now?"

As he mused, I noticed the bar was probably what would be considered unusually packed for the hour. There weren't weekends in New Eden, but there were mornings, and there were a few too many people here to be a coincidence. I wondered just how many were Khol's men. And how many were Argus'.

My question was answered at once as the door bust open and Argus appeared in it, a dozen men behind him, and in unison, most of the bar rose and bared their various arms and powers as threateningly as they could be brandished. Some just stood and held out their hands, doing apparently nothing, but I knew that meant little, and that guy could possibly be able to disembowel with a thought using his powers.

Khol glared at me as Argus spoke. "I'm sorry to ruin your perfectly-laid plans, Black Shark, but the fact is, death is the only way to be sure. While I appreciated your efforts to blackmail my rival into submission, I appreciate more you luring him into the open at a known time. You really have done me that favor you owe me, though perhaps not quite as you intended."

Khol blinked at me. "Blackmail?"

I shrugged at him. "Argus thinks I'm blackmailing you right now to join his party."

"And it doesn't matter," Argus said. "Because her plans were nothing but a gear in my larger machination. You see Khol, I'm a schemer, and that's why I'm on top. People like her, like you, you may think you have the upper hand on me, but I'm the goddamn King of Block Seventeen. Nobody outfoxes me."

"Huh," Khol said, still focused on me. "I still don't get it."

"That's because you're an idiot--"

"Not you," Khol cut Argus off. "Her. She told you to stay out of here so she could come in and talk to me. She told me you'd come here so I could kill you."

"She what?"

"So she knew that by telling you where and when I'd be, you'd come out yourself so I could do it. But then she's worked very hard to get all three of us in one place, along with all our men--"

"Your men?" Argus asked, looking around at those still seated. Argus' crew wheeled on their nearest adversaries and all through the room a dozen superpowered Mexican standoffs spontaneously emerged. Argus blanched at the sudden disarming of his posse but wheeled back on Khol. "It doesn't matter," he said, extending an arm. "I've got you in my grasp, and my men outnumber yours. If yours have any brains at all, they'll see the tide shifting in my favor and join the winning side."

Khol sighed. "You aren't focusing on the bigger threat here, idiot. You really, truly don't understand what's going on here, do you?"

"It doesn't matter!" Argus yelled, his face suddenly red. "I'm the biggest threat here! I could kill you in a heartbeat!"

"Well, don't do that," Khol said.

"And why wouldn't I?" Argus' grin turned malevolent and his single eye narrowed.

"Look at your chest and see," Khol said with an indifferent shrug, still staring at me, his eyes burning as the thoughts behind them whirled.

"As though...as if!" Argus bellowed. "The oldest trick...like I'd just look down, and...and…"

He looked down and noticed the dozens of glowing dots on his chest. He moved, and the dots moved with him, erratically flickering independently, but seemingly unnaturally attracted to his body. Throughout the room, Argus' other soldiers noticed the laser-sights on them as well, and peering outside, they began to notice men with rifles, positioned at random on roofs and in windows all around the building.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

I very much enjoyed seeing Argus sweat for the first time, and wondered if he felt as cold and clammy as I had the past few days.

"Wh-what is this?" he floundered. "How have you got so many guns?"

"He is stupid," Khol agreed with me finally, and I nodded. "I even already told him that I'd only come here to draw him out via your plan to kill him. Did he think I would kill him with words?"

"I can't imagine so. He doesn't seem to quite understand the power of words," I said.

"No, but you do. And here you are, with the two of us at each other's throats and you in the middle of it. We're one trigger-pull away from destroying each other and this bar, and probably you, and I can't help but to wonder why. You've orchestrated this all, pulled invisible threads to move each of the players to this point and on this stage, made sure we were both here in full force, teeth bared...and for what?"

I smiled at him. "I'm curious to hear your thoughts."

And I honestly was. It wasn't often I faced any of my adversaries personally. One of the advantages of being an anonymous presence. But it did have the downside of never hearing their angle, never knowing how they saw me.

Sure, part of wanting to hear that was purely for ego. He knew I'd manipulated him, and unlike Argus, he was intelligent enough to care. But also, this was potentially useful feedback, from one of Black Shark's thoroughly-served customers. If there was something I could be doing better, this man might know.

He mused at me for another few long moments as the news anchor changed to a new story about the historic rates of Exhuman growth, and Argus shifted uncomfortably like the lasers sights were flies he could shake off. "No, really, I don't get it," Khol said, finally.

"You don't have to be right. Guesses are partial credit."

"Are you one of those Exhumans whose more durable than they look? Regeneration or the like? Are you planning to just walk out of this fight with less harm than the rest of us?"

I shook my head. "You saw what his power did to me."

"And I'll do it again--!"

"Oh shut up," Khol intoned, tapping his fingers on the table as he thought. "Hmm. Or perhaps you're not here at all? Am I speaking to an illusion or a holo?"

"Thinking outside the box, I like that. Most Exhumans get hung up on their powers and never give tech the credit it's due. I'm a big fan that you'd throw the mention of a holo in there...and that you'd arm your men with guns, and distance. That's also my preferred way to scrap."

"The only thing all powers have in common is they have a range," Khol shrugged. "Guns don't."

"But no. I'm really here," I said, rapping my knuckles against the table where I knew he'd feel it in his fingertips.

"Then you must want to talk. It's really the only option. But to what end? When you know everything, what could speaking to us give you? What motivates a mind that can already know all?"

"There we go," I said, tapping my nose. "But if you knew me a little better, you'd know that infopath doesn't equate to omniscience."

"That's right," Argus growled at us, seeming a little too excited to contribute against me in any way he could. "She only finishes a story. She still has to hear how it starts."

"I see," Khol said. "But that still doesn't quite level. Neither of us have any reason to talk to you. Most likely, this is all going to end in blood, and one or both of us will take you out as we go, on account of you presumably running this whole thing, even if we can't quite grasp at why."

"Unless, of course," I said, pulling a coin from my sleeve and placing it on the table "I have something which would provide an absolute advantage to one of you. Because, like you said, why would I engineer this entire situation, put myself in all this danger, put all of us on the knife's edge, all that without anyone feeling like they owe me a damn thing?"

He stared at me, and so did Argus. The latter spoke first. "Wait, you're saying that...you...now...are gonna determine who wins this whole thing? I could kill you where you sit."

"It's advertising," Khol said, his face lighting up. "My goodness, I adore it."

I beamed at him, and Argus looked back and forth between us rabidly. Khol sighed and explained. "She's telling us, by establishing this entire situation, by sitting confidently in the middle of it, by proving, beyond any doubt, that she's the most capable schemer and manipulator we've ever met. She knows that whatever happens here, it's an outcome she thinks she controls. No matter what we say, or do, or think, she thinks she's accounted for it."

"And she's wrong--"

"And the fact that we're both here right now, locked in a stalemate with our knives at each other's throats is proof that if she wants to control us, she can. You weren't even supposed to be here, and yet her whole plan counted on your arrival, and sure enough you came."

Argus blanched and swayed on his feet. I could just tell he wanted nothing so much as to argue that he, King of Block Seventeen, was the world's greatest schemer.

But he finally understood to shut up. And that was a relief for all.

"So who wants the coin?" I asked. Both of them stared at each other before Argus dove and snatched it off the table, the whole bar tensing with his movement.

"What's it cost?" Khol asked as Argus surfaced in triumph. And then hearing those words, he threw the coin back and stood with crossed arms.

"I'm looking for a 'net uplink that bypasses the XPCA relays. Private satellite, dedicated relays, some kind of spoofing encryption, anything. Get that in my hands, and the coin is yours."

"Nobody has--" Argus started, but froze as Khol pulled a device from his pocket and put it into my hands. I tapped it to life and did a few searches, pulling through the settings before I was satisfied, and pocketed it myself. Argus roared and snatched the coin off the table once more, bounding away like a dog with a toy in his mouth a few steps.

"I don't think he understands currency either," Khol said with consternation. "Will that suffice?"

"I think so," I said. "I'll just be one more minute to confirm. My apologies to keep you waiting."

"No, I think I have the utmost confidence in your abilities. Take your time, I wouldn't want to upset you at this juncture."

I navigated to the contacts and put in a new number, sending them a quick message before resuming my browsing. It wasn't like there was any site that would instantly inform me of Athan's whereabouts, but if there were hints out there, at least now I had a chance to find them. I had a chance.

There was a sudden burst of noise and I pocketed the mobile, sitting still and watching the laser sights go out across Argus' body. Before he could notice, the door burst in for the second time that day, but instead of a dozen Exhumans, there was an XPCA soldier in a black exosuit, with a line of matching suits behind him and vans pulling up to disgorge dozens more in the broad street.

Khol gave me a knowing smile as he raised his hands and placed them on the back of his head, most in the bar doing the same. Argus swore and spun on the officer, screaming at him, demanding an explanation.

I couldn't tell through the synthesized voice, but I knew by the way he beelined for me and how he carried himself that this was the soldier I'd helped before, whose wife had, apparently, been faithful after all. He shoved his gun into Argus' screaming face and the screaming subsided for a moment.

"Check his bag," I said to the exosuit's faceplate. "There's a hidden compartment in the bottom. Drugs he's intending to sell, and the main pocket has all the proof you should need to put away this one," I gestured towards Khol.

"Those aren't my drugs!" Argus screamed as black metal hands held him back and pulled the bag off his shoulder. "That was her bag! It's her drugs, arrest her!"

He stopped again as the gun levelled with his face. As much bluster as Argus had, there was one unifying factor of every Exhuman in New Eden -- whether they'd come willingly or fought their way here, each of them had already long ago faced and accepted, or been forced to accept the truth that they couldn't beat the XPCA. In this prison, black was a trump card, and whoever could play it would win.

"Well done," Khol said, smiling at me even as he was cuffed. "Very well done. I'll remember you, Black Shark."

"Fondly, I hope?" I batted my eyes at him as the sea of black which had surged into the bar began to recede with Exhumans in tow.

"Exceptionally so. It's been an absolute pleasure to see you work. I hope next time fate conspires to align us on the same side."

"Well, it may be awhile," I shrugged. "Drug trafficking is a serious issue in New Eden, and I hear they're rather strict about punishing the dealers."

"I'll survive," he said, rising as a soldier turned to him now. "And I know you will too. I expect there to be a new Queen of Block Seventeen by the time I get out, and much beyond."

I gave him a small salute as he was paraded out, and then the bar was empty, just me and a couple lingering XPCA, not in suits, just combing the area for final evidence. And then my friend returned, exosuit clomping on the concrete floors.

"We've been trying to nab those two for months," he said, his voice still all-machine, even with a sigh put through the middle of it. "And after all you've already done for me, you get them in the open and with all the evidence we need to satisfy any tribunal."

"It was nothing," I smiled at him. "Just doing my part to keep my new home clean."

"I wish I could pay you or offer some kind of compensation for your efforts...but that's not exactly how things work around here. You'll have to settle for my thanks, if that means anything."

"It means a lot," I said, standing and stretching. It'd been almost painful to keep relaxed and calm and in control of the situation through Khol's piercing gaze and Argus' hotheadedness, but in the end, somehow, I'd come through. I took a deep breath and marveled at how it didn't really hurt that much anymore to do so. I walked out with the exosuit clomping behind me, the rest of the XPCA already packing up and starting to move out, nobody wanting to spend a minute longer here than necessary.

I saw Tower in the crowd which had loosely assembled, one of the many watching the lightning raid with interest. A smudge of blue somewhere in front of him might have been Steffie.

"Well...if there's nothing else," the synthesized voice spoke from behind me. "Thanks again."

"No problem, like I said. If I run into any more deviants or cretins, keep your comms open, yeah? This could be the start of something good."

"It could be," he said, saluting, as he clambered onboard the back of the last van. And then the door slammed and I felt the heat of the van's exhaust over the desert air as it drove away.

While the other Exhumans wandered as soon as it was evident the excitement was over, Tower and Steffie homed in on me like bloodhounds, babbling and questioning and scolding me in equal parts, way, way too far behind what'd just gone on for any half-arsed summary to catch them up. But the gist that somehow, I was here, I was healthy again, those two had been put away, and I had 'net access in my pocket was easy enough to convey, and they exulted in my glory.

It felt a little ridiculous, practically being paraded through the streets by an overly-enthusiastic Tower while he pushed Steffie along as well, but I couldn't help but share some of his optimism. Things had gone mostly as I'd hoped, nobody had died, and I'd only had to burn through one or two of my backup plans, without any real hitches. AEGIS would have been proud.

And more, I thought about the number entered in my new mobile, and the contact at the other end of it. An ear, directly to the XPCA in this place, to the trump card that beat any Exhuman in New Eden, and to all the new victories this one victory might bring.

It was pretty awesome. And the cherry on top was not-dying anymore. Always a plus.

But even as we went over all of that, discussed eagerly and happily all the ways things went right and could have gone wrong, all the options open to us now and the possibilities, what really, truly mattered most to me was now within my reach.

I napped. And for the first time in days, I slept easily, painlessly, and long, secure in the house of a friend without a ticking clock in my gut, at rest after a long few days of fighting and planning and being Exhuman as best I could.