Karu had spent maybe ten minutes dwelling over Eryn's body in total. Cradling it, touching the cold face and matted hair, fingertips hovering over the fatal wounds. Her lips moved in silent words, maybe prayer, maybe saying her goodbyes, maybe madness.

She'd given her father maybe ten seconds, most of which was spent wiping blood off of herself. When she turned to me, her face was...eerily normal. The calm of experience I always recognized on her. Killing was normal for her. Caring about those who died was not. Hers was a life truly fucked.

Without so much as a word, she gave the gesture for 'follow' and bolted for the stairs, the rest of us trailing in her wake as the sounds of VTOL and sirens intensified. Here and there we saw pockets of people, other servants, speaking in confused murmurs about the flooding and police, or security who hadn't gone too far, perhaps hoping to see Idris coming downstairs, or have him see them not fully abandon him.

Karu led us to the first floor, and then in a direction I'd never yet been, which I recognized as the kitchen, or, I guess, a kitchen, given that this was a mansion and all. Like most other rooms we'd been through thus far, it was lit, flooded, and filled only with the wailing of sirens and fire alarms and the showering of water.

"Where are we going?" Lia asked. "We need to get out of here before we're surrounded."

"You're already surrounded," AEGIS told us. "Police and national guard are there in force, XPCA has a few strike units deployed, but there's a butt-ton more en-route. They don't seem to know it's you yet, information is only getting to them slowly, and I'm helping slow it down where I can."

"Have I mentioned you're the best?" I commented as we ran, following the splashes of Karu's heels blindly. "Because you're the best."

"Well. I do what I can," she said, sounding incredibly pleased. "But a lot of the security teams are being briefed by the police and that's where the XPCA are getting called in, and there's not much I can do to disrupt that."

"So we're on the clock," Lia said.

I agreed. "We've been on the clock. Once cover is blown we're always on the clock."

"Well," AEGIS added, "the XPCA likes going in with overwhelming force, as you're aware. So you have a bit before they move in. Threats of an Exhuman factor will keep the other feds staying well the hell back. But that's like, a ten-minute window, tops."

"We shall be fine," Karu said, bringing us down a haunted-looking hallway, complete with lights out and sheets over the furnishings. Once white, the covers were now drenched and instead gave a lumpy, grey, sticky-looking vibe to all the furniture, like we'd entered a parallel reality where everything was made of dough.

"Are we uh, hiding in here?" Lia asked.

Karu didn't answer, walking to the end of the hall and then stomping her feet. Then she took a few steps backwards and stomped again, a look of mild irritation on her face as she went.

"Must be a passage?" Lia asked me. I shrugged. "Or she's gone insane."

"Yes, a passage," Karu clarified. "But a difficult one to locate, unfortunately. Such is the nature of secret passages that they often were designed to remain secret."

"Dude, I want a secret passage when I grow up," Lia said. I rolled my eyes at her and went over to where Karu was stomping around, plunging my hands into the icy water to try to feel any piece of ground that might feel a bit different.

"I fear it may be flooded at this point. Or worse, if the entrance seals too well, will be impossible to locate."

"Are there lights in this tunnel?" I asked Karu. She nodded, and I closed my eyes.

A lot of my powers had become...just more useful, since I traded back with Whitney. At first, I thought I'd just had a happy reunion with them, and they felt welcome back. But as I'd used them more again, I'd realized that no, they really were just a little better now. Sometimes in surprising ways.

For example, instead of mentally winding each loop of my electric coil to produce an electromagnet, I could now just kinda think about doing it and it'd get done. So much faster and easier this way, it opened a lot of new possibilities...mostly in the realm of shooting off crap like a railgun, like I'd already tried once with decent effect.

Or my swords, which I could now 'shear', as Whitney had done, by controlling the amount of resistance in the stable-circuit until the plasma in it just superheated to a bajillion degrees, eradicating the blade and everything around it. The fact that this trick was hers specifically didn't escape me, and made me think the change in my powers was somehow a holdover from her using them. Like, she'd changed them a little by her use.

Or, my electric sense, which I was now using to sweep around beneath me. It was still much better at picking up low voltages and bioelectric current than household power, but the latter wasn't utterly blinding for me anymore. And that meant I had a new trick I could do which I was testing out at this moment.

I had my hands on the floor and had forced some current into the ground. As usual, I could tell what I was pushing it through, whether it was resistive and how much, what direction the power wanted to flow, where there were open spaces, that kind of thing.

But my newest addition was, when I reached something, I could let the power bleed out a bit, let it fill its container, and then using my sense, I could get an idea of the shape of it. Depending on how homogenous my surroundings were, I could blindly pick out the shape of a whole room in just a couple minutes...or, in worse cases, could waste a shitton of time identifying individual bricks. It was definitely better at working some surfaces than others.

But right now, I was happy to find bricks, and was tracing them backwards and upwards to where they intersected with the floor. I'd originally hoped to find the power down there, thinking that might be easier, but that was kind of a silly goal in retrospect...I was a lot more likely to stumble into the empty space of the tunnel or walls of it than the relatively thin wires of the lights.

"Right here, I think," I said, walking to where the tunnel entrance met the floor. Karu gave me a puzzled luck but came over, and after stomping about a bit, and then feeling the ground, gave me a nod.

"Let us enter quickly and close the door behind us. Both to deter pursuit and prevent flooding."

"Oh man, I do not like dark, underground spaces," AEGIS bemoaned.

"Then look away, you're not even here with us," Lia muttered, not seeming excited about it herself, and I saw the optics on her mask already adjusting in anticipation of the dark.

Karu checked that we were ready, and then, with great effort, lifted a floor tile with the sound of rushing water. I jumped down first, falling maybe ten feet into still-forming mud, and lit the passage with my swords before moving clear. Lia came second, with a splash behind me, and then, with a crunch, and the end of the crash of water, Karu joined us.

Her visor lighting up the dark around her and the sudden silence after water had been beating down on us for minutes now made the tunnels way creeper than they really needed to be.

"Well there's air," Lia said. "And it's not underwater."

"And good timing," AEGIS commented. "The XPCA are just about to move in."

"Kinda cool you own a secret tunnel," I said, starting to head down it. My feet were probably stuck in the sucking mud, but the exoframe compensated without me even needing to think about it, and with its sublime pneumatic power, it gave exactly zero fucks about some paltry wet dirt holding it down.

"I own nothing. This house and those in it are nothing to me anymore," Karu said fiercely, and I realized I'd inadvertently tread on thin ice.

"Sorry," I muttered.

"Sorry nothing," she said, her visor flashing in the dark. "That man had it a long time coming. This family had it a long time coming. I only wish that I had the fortitude that Ikeda did to spit in her father's face and part ways entirely...before innocents were hurt."

We trudged on in painful silence for another while before Karu spoke again, apparently not done with her thought, or her damnation of the family.

"This tunnel continues beneath the entire block and emerges in what I believe is now a clothing store. The location of said store was once a bar, and during the prohibition era, was an illegal purveyor of alcohol. The ancestral Irensides, or whatever they were known to be back then, were not so different from the present ones; important politicians of some kind, who secretly violated the law, quite literally beneath everyone's noses, at it were. This tunnel kept them well-liquored while their neighbors suffered the onerous law."

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

"Ouch," AEGIS commented.

"What?" Karu snapped back.

"Oh. Nothing really, just...there's so many ways you could interpret those facts, and you definitely picked the one that crapped on your family the hardest. It's entirely possible they were decent people back then, even if you have...issues with the current family. Er, ex-current, now I guess."

"While I do not discount the concept of a decent politician as impossible, I have yet to see one, and I have been looking for a very long time. The fact that we are a political family who can trace their lineage back to that era and beyond speaks volumes to me of their self-importance, auto-aggrandizement, and reverence for themselves. There are records today because those people took pains to make sure they would be remembered, because they considered themselves worth remembering."

"Isn't everyone worth remembering, though?" Lia asked.

Karu scoffed, and inwardly, I agreed. There were people who deserved worse than death, to be dead and forgotten, to never have existed at all, that'd be more fitting. People like Brick, I thought. Though I wasn't going to bring that up in front of Lia again.

"Even if that were true, it demonstrates the matter of priorities. Those efforts and energies could have been spent anywhere, but were instead dedicated to the immortal legacy of my forebearers. This act signifies what they considered important -- themselves. Given that, and my knowledge of politicians today, I do not think my conclusions unreasonable."

"Or relevant," AEGIS added. For a moment I thought she was just provoking Karu, but the hunter just shrugged, the vague motion casting shadows in the red light of her visor.

"I assume you to mean that this conversation is not relevant to the situation occurring above our heads. With which I agree fully. Even escaping their first perimeter, we must remain vigilant if we wish to escape unscathed."

"Yeah...we've got a lot to talk about for next steps when you get back. Like I said, I'd rather not do it over comms though."

"For security?" Lia asked.

"Because...I'd rather discuss this in person. It's kind of a doozy."

"Fair enough," I agreed.

And that was the end of our conversation. Agreeing not to talk about something, Karu making the point to discuss only our next critical steps, when really, the only steps we could take were forward, down this tunnel, for as long as it ran...none of it was going to bear any fruitful conversation, and any chatter felt invasive.

The silence felt invasive too. Everything felt weird, and I thought I might know why.

Innocuous as I could, I stole a few glances at Karu as we walked. She looked normal as ever, focused, vigilant, visor blazing in the dark, armor clacking softly, boots clomping on hardened dirt.

But wasn't that completely wrong? She shouldn't look normal at all. Her best friend had just died, she'd just broken and cried in the middle of a mission as I'd never seen her do before. Her dad...was dead, and as much as she pretended that their relationship was simple and hostile, I knew there was way more to it than that.

I really, really wanted to know if it was all an act; if Karu was just pretending to be put together so that she could uphold the virtues of discipline or whatever...or if she really could just turn it off. As crappy as that would be, it seemed an eminently handy trick that I could have used a few times now, when my emotions caught up to me.

As we kept trudging into the darkness lit by my swords, I thought, trying to piece together a way to ask Karu how she really felt, but nothing came to mind.

And then I thought, fuck it. I'm not the diplomat here.

"Karu, are you okay?" I asked.

The effect of the question was instantaneous and surprising. She faltered mid-step, as though caught off guard, and her face hardened like she was working very hard not to show anything on it. But it only lasted a fraction of a moment, before she resumed her stride, her face back to normal almost before I could see it.

I did see Lia's expression though, even with her mask on, the look she shot me was screaming what the hell do you think you're doing, Athan? It was a look I was pretty familiar with.

"I am perfectly fine," Karu said. She affixed me with a wry smile which was, if anything, even more out of place. "'I am fit for service', I believe is how Ikeda would put it."

"She would. Moon is always making stupid jokes with the thinnest definition of humor. But not you."

"I apologize. In retrospect, aligning my sense of humor to hers is a poor precedent."

"You're still joking," I frowned at her.

"Would you rather me not? Would you prefer if I were dour and miserable?"

"No...it's just...you're always analyzing me when I'm under mental stress--"

"So it is turnabout?"

"--and it's saved my butt a couple of times. And I've learned better how to cope with mental trauma, and I know how dangerous pretending it's not there can be."

"You assume this to be an act?" she scoffed.

"Karu," Lia added, her voice a little hesitant and a little soft with concern. "Your friend died. Your dad died. It's okay to be messed up a little."

"While I obviously do not appreciate the concern, I assure you I am fine. There is no threat on my account of the mission being put into jeopardy. And my personal feelings...are also in an acceptable state. I admit that, of course, I am not currently at my best, but I shall survive and suffice."

"Okay," I said. "If you say so. I just…"

I tried to think about what I was saying and so we spent another minute trudging into the dark. At least it felt possibly like we were going uphill now, so...I supposed we were on our way out? The passage was only supposed to be a block long, but given the sizes of the houses around here, maybe it was more like ten regular blocks. The manor was ten regular houses easily, I thought.

"Look, maybe I'm projecting," I said. "But I failed at protecting someone recently and she died right in front of me, and it hit me really hard. I felt weak and useless, I felt depression creeping in to everything I did, and so...thinking I was fighting that off, I did something stupid and went after Dragon myself, in the middle of an XPCA facility. Out of revenge, yeah, but also to keep from falling into nothingness. Like, I had to do something, yeah? And then we lost that fight too, and there were even more people I couldn't protect, and even myself."

I listened for a minute to the sound of my exoframe whirring under me, and how its heavy footfalls contrasted with the even tread of Karu's boots.

"And then I was directionless and lost and...miserable. And I definitely would have spiraled again if AEGIS and Whitney weren't right there, every waking minute I had. They really saved me."

I wasn't sure you could hear an gynoid blush over comms, but I'm pretty sure I did.

"And if it's possible, I want to help you too, Karu. I know...we have our disagreements. You're a lot more...murdery than I am. I wouldn't have killed your dad if I were you."

"But I did," she said. "And it is precisely because of that difference that I believe I do not need the help and guidance of another as you did. I appreciate you opening your heart to me, and your plea to render whatever assistance I may require. You continue to demonstrate that you are a capable, virtuous being."

The reverence in her voice suddenly cut short. "But that man took a life from me which I loved, and so I took one from him in turn. I am not lost or left wondering or feeling powerless, Ashton, I did not fail in anything I set out to do. I will miss her, and I will be more incomplete without her, but she has been avenged, and that is all I can do."

I guess there wasn't much to say to that, because none of us said anything more. It was another long several minutes while each of us did nothing but walk and ponder our own thoughts, our own failures and priorities.

And I had to wonder, if I'd killed Dragon, the real Dragon, would I be a different person now? Would I feel better knowing that I'd avenged Alyssa? Could I describe myself as more incomplete but still whole?

I didn't know. Emotional shit like that was tricky. It wasn't just a matter of causality, because depending on how feelings decided to feel, sometimes doing the wrong thing could feel right, or doing everything I could could feel wrong.

One thing was absolutely certain, though. And that was, death sucked. Really, really, really hardcore. I didn't even know Eryn that well and I felt miserable that she was gone. To me, she was just an odd piece of Karu's life that I'd adored, and now I'd never see that again. Everything she'd ever wanted to do would go unfinished, and everything she knew and saw and remembered would be lost. A hole in the world where she used to be.

And, I thought, those holes defined people. I'd changed with Alyssa's death. When Moon had choked the life out of Diallo, she'd come back a completely different person, willing to do things to me she never would have before. Death recontextualized life.

Or...so I thought. So it should be, even, maybe. But Karu had seen a lot of death, and I didn't know how much any one of them actually affected her anymore. When she'd flipped psycho on me, killing just because murder was, for her, easier and more convenient than the alternative, I'd thought she was sick in the head.

But thinking about it, seeing her here with her friend and her dad, with an ally's and an enemy's blood freshly spilt, I thought...maybe she wasn't insane at all. Maybe she'd just decided life meant a lot less. That didn't seem like a sickness, just…

...I dunno. A sad, exhausting, lonely way to live, maybe.

We reached the end of the tunnel and came out in what looked like a warehouse, albeit one with a low ceiling. It was hard to lift the concrete block at the end without upsetting the shelves resting on top of it, but after a team struggle and getting Lia to squeeze out and adjust things topside, we all made it out.

It was a clothing store's back room. A whole bin of hangars, dozens of racks, a stack of broken-down boxes reaching almost to the ceiling, and piles of clothes awaiting cleaning or hanging or ironing or whatever they did back here.

Which was, actually, kind of fortuitous, since we were all decked out in combat ensemble and there were probably lots of feds in the area looking for us. Each of us helped ourselves to a little shoplifting, and I kept my eyes down as Lia and Karu changed around me, neither seemingly bothered by my presence, which made my decision to change in a corner feel stupid.

And then, a few doors later, we were out into the night air of D.C., the sounds of VTOLs and sirens distant, and the moon bright in the sky.

I supposed it should have felt triumphant, technically. This was the first win I'd had in a while -- we'd gone in with a goal, and got out without trouble having achieved that goal.

But the two deaths in the process seemed pointless, and it somehow felt like we'd walked in more to make sure those people died than anything else. The data, as useful as I'm sure it would be, seemed remote and pointless compared to those two people that I knew, personally, dying for it.

AEGIS seemed to have picked up on my mood and spoke into my ear as we made our way to our car.

"When you get back, I'll tell you what I learned," she said. "It was worth it, I promise."

"Guess I'll decide that when I see," I said.

"Guess you will."