"How are we on the whole god-affair?" I asked Saga.

"Loaded question," she replied, scratching her chin. "I'm not sure...it's really quantifiable."

"Okay. Then without a quantity...how are we on the whole god-affair?"

While she thought it over, I looked around at the others. Lia, Karu, and AEGIS all seemed fine I guess, tired mostly. It'd been a long night already, but none of us were looking like sleep was in our future still. More importantly, Dragon was still hunched over in defeat.

I hadn't said it to Rio because it just felt like pointless gloating but in my heart, I'd beaten him. Not in a punching match or a fight of our powers, but because...I'd been willing to take risks, been willing to...well it felt crappy to think, but I'd been willing to put Lia in danger. And the second it came to what he loved being on the line, his god in jeopardy, he'd given up completely.

Not that I could function without Lia any more than he could without his god, I was sure. But I could take that risk of being completely destroyed, and he wouldn't. In that way if none other, I'd won.

"It's not exactly like talking to a person, you realize," Saga came back to me. "Their god is old, mostly. Like, hundreds of years, of actual living, not just lazing through it like I did. They've been at the center of hundreds of lives for generations now and, well, consider how you are with just a few people, and multiply that by a couple thousand."

"What, so their god is friendly? That's the problem?"

She rolled her eyes at me. "Not friendly, distributed. Interconnected. This thing has lived so many lives and died more times than I have. I'm actually...well...it's scary, honestly."

"Again, you lost me."

She sighed enormously. "Okay, bub. Just settle for it being hard to explain and understand, then."

"But can you get it to let us go? Or do we have to kill it to keep from turning into toads?"

"Now that, I am not sure."

I scrunched up my face at her. "Just what have you been doing in there then?"

"I've been acclimating myself to talking to a huge, alien, multi-intelligence!"

"So that you could get us out of here, right?"

She opened her mouth and then closed it. "Um, sure."

"Saga, dude."

"What? It's like nothing I've ever seen. You can't fault a girl for her curiosity. There's no mind on Earth like this baby, and minds are kinda my thing."

"And you didn't think, maybe you could play with your new toy after you kept us all from going dumb?"

"Honestly, no. It's kind of hard to have too many thoughts of my own when I'm looking in on a hundred others going on at once." At my glare she quickly added "But I'll start now!"

"Saga, I love you, but come on dude."

"I'm working on it," she muttered. "But it's not like I'm in charge here. It's not the kind of thing where I can just force it to think whatever I want. It doesn't even think in the conventional sense I'm used to."

"So...write it a compel or something. You're the expert."

She snorted. "Expert? Compared to this thing, I'm like...a lovable puppy. And that's almost exactly how it looks at me. Which is great, because it doesn't even acknowledge the rest of you as even being alive, really. Big step up. But not big enough that I get to tell it what to do."

"So we cut it down," AEGIS said, and I jumped at her standing behind me. "It lives in a big tree in the middle of the city. I thought it was just a fancy dead tree, but if there actually is an intelligence to it--"

She made a clicking sound with her tongue while drawing a line across her throat.

"Well one problem is that if we intend overt harm, we'll get Dragon back on his feet," I said, glancing over at where he was still crouched.

"Bigger problem is, that stick isn't their god," Saga said. "Physically, he died a long time ago...if I'm sorting through these memories right."

"Died?" AEGIS asked, her brow creased.

"Yeah. Hard to piece together but...my understanding is that he was just an Exhuman, not too crazy different from me. Had this networking power instead of my schtick, decided to use his powers to build this city he lived in -- before the war, mind you -- and then kinda got...brutally killed and strung up in said tree. Actually kind of Jesus-like that his object of death would become his symbol, huh?"

"Again, he's dead?" AEGIS asked.

"Right. And also like me, he's got some kind of functional immortality. His body doesn't come back or anything but...his mind is also detached from his form now. He's literally a disembodied, immortal Exhuman brain. Except, by now, he's gone so far beyond either being human or the limitations of a physical brain that it's...well...transcendent might be a good word for it. Spooky, yeah?"

"And you gathered all of this from tiny scraps of memory floating around in this clusterfuck of hundreds of lifetimes of thoughts?" I asked.

"Yeah. So like I said, that's the narrative I've kind of invented to explain what I know. Not guaranteed to be accurate."

"And you did all that instead of, like, figuring out how to fix our situation?"

She looked at me blankly.

"Honestly, it was a lot more fun," she huffed. "But I'll work on it, okay? Jeez."

"Thanks, Saga," I sighed.

I rejoined the others, exchanging muted bits of conversation before we all lapsed into silence together.

It felt like there shouldn't be anything wrong. Saga just had to slap together some kind of solution for us all to not become lizard-brained, and then we were perfect to get outta here. But that was just in theory. Looking around at the others' faces, I could see just how far that was from reality.

We were all tired, and I think we were all starting to feel the effects of toadification. It was like a pressure on our minds, forcing our square thoughts through round holes. Nobody wanted to say it, but the oppressive air said enough. Lia, I think, was worrying about 'us'. Karu hated code-X more than anything, and being under one even more than that. And AEGIS was a wad of stress any time any of us were in danger, to say nothing about the damage and failure she'd picked up at Dragon's hands.

And then I'd basically just been abusing the shit out of Rio all day, and felt like crap about that, too. Wasn't a good time for any of us, and certainly didn't feel like we were on the cusp of victory.

"If you guys want to sleep a little, I can keep an eye out," AEGIS said, looking up from her busted arm, which was hanging halfway open. "Since we're just waiting."

"I dunno, I don't trust Dragon," I said. "Kinda worried he might try something stupid here at the end."

Lia didn't share my concern, and rose only enough to shuffle over to where I was. The look on her face was abjectly pathetic and miserable, so I didn't complain or make fun as she cuddled down on my legs.

"You should get some sleep, too," AEGIS told me.

"Probably. Probably won't, though."

She smiled, nodded, and went back to reaching into the mess of components on her arm to do what she could. For a while I just watched her work, thinking about what parts were in there, what amount of complex machinery had to exist to make her function. I thought about the multilayered, interconnected servos which had regulated the hand joints in the exosuit I'd helped Whitney put together. AEGIS' systems were at once, much simpler, not at all concerned with an operator inside or their limits of motion, but at the same time, she was expressive and precise in ways that an exosuit never would be.

My eyes glazed over as thoughts of the situation and all our troubles were pushed out by diagrams and models in my head, what kind of voltages I could expect for a system like that, tolerance limits, surge limits, if the whole system needed to engage at once.

I owed Whitney so much, I thought. Not just because she'd temporarily taken my powers off me and given me a taste of a normal life, though I'd be forever grateful and apologetic for that. But also because she'd really taught me a lot about something I turned out to be pretty passionate about. I knew a few of my friends in high school used to talk about what they'd study in college, they seemed so sure, so interested, and I'd never even gotten as far as concretely deciding a major beyond 'football'. It'd always seemed insane to me that someone my age could have their shit together like they did.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

And then Whitney had happened, and it clicked. It was probably there all along, I just needed the right teacher to get me into it. Suddenly, learning seemed more like satisfying my curiosity than something I should be doing for a grade. I had to wonder if all the other guys with their shit together also had a great teacher, if I'd had any of those teachers, and just wasn't paying enough attention.

And then I woke up with a start, the cold night air burning my nose and throat as I snorted it down in surprise.

"Hey, good morning," AEGIS whispered at me. "Lia's still asleep."

I looked down, blinking myself back into reality from my dreams and saw my sister snoring softly on my leg, curled up and sprawled out all at once, her slipskin apparently comfortable enough even on the hard, white stone.

And then I looked up and saw the heavens.

"Pretty cool, huh?" AEGIS asked, and I could only silently nod.

It wasn't dark out, despite being the dead of night, and it seemed like that was all on the moon shining silver and nearly full over our heads. But around it, everywhere I looked, there were so damn many stars, I couldn't even begin to comprehend them individually. It was more like a tapestry or a sprinkling. The sky was stars, no matter where you looked, every single part of it was full of them.

It was a far fuckin' cry from LA where I'd grown up, and you got to see maybe three stars at night, and if you looked carefully, one of them was a VTOL.

"It's only been four hours. You should sleep more," AEGIS whispered. "I'll keep watching over you."

All I could do was mutter my assent and try to get more comfortable without moving Lia, but I was so tired I was out before I knew it.

And then I was up before I knew it, a minute later it felt like. Still dark, still star-studded. But a bit more screaming than last time. Lia muttered but didn't wake, and AEGIS was on her feet, staring into the darkness around us.

"What's going on?" I asked. "Who's the dude screaming?"

"Dragon, I think," she answered.

[Definitely Dragon.]

"Oh thank God, you're back," I told her. I hadn't been so happy to be hearing voices in my head, uh, ever.

[Yeah I kinda...brought Oasis down again. Dragon's having a freak-out as a result. The rest of the city's in a bit of turmoil as well.]

She was just on the other side of the courtyard from us, I might even have been able to hear her talk, but I knew by feeling her -- and how great it was that I could do that! -- that she was just happy to be in my head again.

[Um, so...I kinda...inspired their god with the...concept of novelty.]

"What does that mean?" I asked.

[Well you know me. I do it for the lulz. Their god...he did it because...he's always done it. Kinda lost his damn mind actually, didn't know why he was doing things. Sorta like driving on autopilot actually. Ran the city because...well...as I speculated, that was what he wanted before he...kinda died and went a little mad, huh? So I might have...just a little teensy-weensie bit...made him question his motives in...existing.]

"Uh oh."

"Uh oh, what?" AEGIS asked. "That's bad, Athan. What's uh oh?"

[Um so...the good news is, I have him trying new things just for the fun of it. He picked up a few ideas...from me…]

"Uh...oh fuck."

"Uh oh fuck what?" AEGIS echoed, her eyes wide.

"Saga's...teaching their god about her idea of fun."

Her eyes went even wider. "We should get out of here."

[Well it's not that bad...yet. Dude's still pretty in love with his city, so he's not like, setting people on fire for funsies. It...might just be because he doesn't actually know that people are alive per se, so...I mean...like I wouldn't torture a chair for fun...but uh…]

As we spoke, I heard a buzzing over the sound of the pathetic wailing cries. I thought at first my mobile was somehow going off, but then realized it was the ground, vibrating more minutely than I could feel.

"Uh oh." I said. I wasn't wake enough for this shit. But even my groggy mind remembered what that meant. "Someone's...outside the city?"

"Must be," AEGIS said. "Karu! Yo, Karu."

Lia and Karu both started awake at AEGIS' yelling, the former rolling over and bitching her worst at us, the latter donning her visor and becoming red lines in the dark.

"What," she asked.

"The city's got a visitor," I explained. "Can you use your optics to see who it is? The visions are off for the moment so…" I glanced at Saga across the yard. "Um, I dunno how the city will react.

"HUAH," she said, snapping me a salute and apparently instantly fully alert. Without another word, she shot into the air, blowing all of us sideways with the backblast of hot plasma.

It wasn't even a minute later when she came back, her face ashen in the dark. She said nothing but stood at attention for a few awkward, long moments, before I realized, she wasn't actually fully awake at all. She just functioned better when half-asleep than the rest of us.

"Uh, report out," I did my best to bark at her.

"Sir!" She saluted. "A large hostile force is at the gates, sir. Preliminary recon indicates at least a thousand, combined arms, including tanks, APCs, and artillery, with VTOL likely in the area. The gates are unmanned, and a breach is imminent."

Well I was fucking awake now.

"Saga! Get the visions back on!" I shouted while stumbling to my feet. "Where the hell is Rio?"

[Um, I can't just 'get them on', I spent the last few hours getting him to turn them off. Dude is exploring his new liberties.]

"Well his city is going to burn if nobody is there to defend it. Where the hell are the guards?"

[Wherever the last place is you left them, I assume.]

"Saga, damn it."

[Hey, I'm just doing what you said!]

"Lia, hey," I said, stooping and holding her by the shoulders. She glared at me. "I know. Bad time. But we need all the help we can get. Can you and AEGIS grab all the guns you can and start handing them out to everyone? Just tell them what to do, their minds are conditioned to follow orders, not to think."

"Kay," she said, shuffling up and swaying for a moment before tottering towards the armory.

"Be safe," AEGIS said, giving me a kiss before trotting after Lia.

"Saga, get in contact with Rio and get her helping as soon as she can. Tell her to get all the priests out there, they won't listen to anyone who's not a high priest."

[Rodgeroonie, Caperoonie.]

"And myself?" Karu asked.

"You're coming with me. We're gonna hold the gates as long as we can. Maybe go grab a gun yourself, make sure to try them out because they do all kinds of unexpected things."

"Wilco," she said, lifting into the air. "Meet you at the main gate in five."

There was a deafening boom that I felt in my gut, and the ground shook under us in a much more unpleasant way than before.

"Make it the second gate," I told her. "See you soon."

As I ran out, I passed the guards still standing there, looking a little shaken and confused, and stopped in my tracks. "The city's under attack," I told them. "Come with me and repel the invaders."

They glanced at each other for a moment, as though looking for confirmation, and then nodded, falling in line. I didn't know how they were mobilized in their visions, but it apparently wasn't too far from what we were trying. That gave me a little hope that, if we held out a few minutes, we might actually be able to raise a force.

I ran the rest of the way down the hill, ordering men and women as I went, issuing gates closed and defenses organized, basically just running and shouting like crazy at everything between me and the gates. It was a little more than five minutes before I reached the bottom, the second gate and the outskirts of the middle ring. By then I had a whopping six guards with me, all I thought I could take from the rest of the defense.

And, being able to see below, I knew it wasn't enough. Karu hadn't been exaggerating when she said it was a force of a thousand. Somehow I just hadn't quite considered what a thousand quite looked like until I was staring it down.

Some were XPCA. Most were not. Some had exotic weapons, most didn't. But unlike the mercs who'd come here before, this was a private army prepared to fight. The exosuits were standing at the ready, pivoting and assessing for any threats. The tanks were in a straight column through the main gate and pouring in from outside, surrounded by a cloud of cam-drones and support which fed them a stream of data.

Some of the Oasians had gotten too close, and the troop had taken no risks in dispatching them. Aside from their handful of bodies, and the troops crawling through the dark around the column, this part of the city looked vacant.

I swore again. If I was cut off from the outer ring already, that was a big chunk of the residents of Oasis that I wouldn't be able to reach and arm and call to arms. If they breached the second gate, I'd face the same problem but a hundred times worse -- most of the city slept here, and I'd lose all of them.

I ran to the gate and only barely popped my head over the wall before a hail of fire shot at me from everywhere. Oddly synchronized, as I showed up on everyone's targeting data all at once. I hadn't been able to see anything, really, except that there were definitely people and drones at the door below.

I shot down the stairs at to my side of the gate, a little worried that at any second, they might blow it in and I'd be crushed under a few tons of stone. So there wasn't really anything for it, except to keep that from happening.

Not having time to calm down and feel them out, I shivered, and fired a single ball of electricity off of me, crawling and growing as it jumped away. Hasty work, but effective enough.

It was hard, making the lightning and controlling it to force it to go where I wanted, while also letting it be free to do as it pleased. It wasn't my best effort, but it was enough, and I could feel the lightning pass through the stone slowly, and then back out into the open air, through wires and flesh and composite and metal. By feeling what it passed through, I could create an image in my head of what was on the other side of that gate.

I felt a familiar set of servos and almost smiled. Hands of an exosuit, just as I'd fallen asleep envisioning. They were working on something I didn't recognize, but it was flat, it was being applied to the door. It had large, solid tubes of similar composition and wires connecting them. A bomb of some kind. I took careful note of its orientation and most importantly, where the detonators were.

And then I manifest my swords through the door and cut the bomb away, making sure to keep well clear of those detonators, hacking up the timers, the cables, the logic of it instead. And, of course, the guy doing his best to assemble it all.

Even through the stone I heard the muted scream as I cut into him, his voice synthesizer making him alien. The rest reacted at once, firing in all directions, the gate rumbling and cracking as the nearest tank unloaded into it with a boom that shook the ground.

Exosuits clanked as they landed atop the walls, and the Exhuman guards I'd brought with me flew into action against them, powers lighting up around them like the stars in the sky.

And I was right behind them, swords blazing like the sun, my shield flashing, as I carved my way into the fight.