We didn't see or hear from Trish and Gil again, which was a relief, and I saw news headlines reporting damned lies about the heroic turnabout of a brave squad of the XPCA's finest, who looked suspiciously like us after a round of image editing. But I wasn't complaining, the XPCA needed all the positive press they could get right now, and if they were going to steal our glory, more the better.

Because things were somehow going even worse for them, even with Trish and Gil off the streets. Probably inspired by the flying Exhuman's continued, galling success, there had been a murmur of Exhuman events across the country, and even the world. I remembered reading the news before we went and killed Senator Irenside, about how the world was seeing an unprecedented period of relative Exhuman calm, and world records were being set for number of days without an event, worldwide.

Well that was gone and truly fucked now. We were seeing multiple events pop up every day, and most were taking longer for the XPCA to put out than it took for more to start. People were getting nervous, and the Exhumans doing it...they knew exactly what they were doing.

It was a bit like watching a protest. These people were pissed. Some had signs. Almost all of them were shouting anti-XPCA or anti-establishment vitriol. The difference was what else they were doing while spreading their message.

Most were just killing. Terrorists, in the truest sense of the word. Doing whatever they could to make sure the world saw them and saw their message. They were the worst, and the least creative.

Others turned towards more unique applications of their powers. One city suffered rolling blackouts across the entire power grid, and the source was tracked down to an electrist who'd crammed his house with signs and slogans of his manifesto, spray painted on everything so as to be unmissable when the XPCA rooted him out and found him gone. Another had, more simply, burned large words into a field, spelling out their discontent.

But the events were becoming more frequent, not less, and though we'd been running around putting out as many fires as we could, there was trouble there too, in that the XPCA made us a higher-priority target than anyone else, and they seemed more than happy to train their guns on us and let the actual perps get away, no matter what we said or did. Or how obviously we were helping.

Or how many times we hacked their shit and tried to get us out of the system or otherwise de-escalate. It must have been common knowledge by now to just drop everything to try to kill us, because no matter how much we fucked with their data or communications, the XPCA never stopped trying it. I wondered if Director Hall had a personal issue with us, and how knowledgeable he was about the succession of the last couple of directors.

Because seriously, this was getting ridiculous. We were helping. He kinda needed to focus on not spiraling the country into anarchy here. Petty squabbles needed to be put aside.

"What we need," Saga said, somehow taking up the entire couch by herself "is to send a message. I'm tired of asking people to listen. I've never been much of an asker."

"Well that just sounds like what the Exhumans are doing," I sighed. "Terrorism to send their message. I don't think we'll talk any louder than they will or make any friends by doing the same thing as them."

It was pretty quiet here, for the moment. As the amount of fan-hitting shit was multiplying, we'd started creeping out in groups. Transit was a huge issue, with Karu working almost full-time on flying the Sirius, keeping it fueled, and directing Whitney on maintenance and service...a fun task I'm sure, that had needed a huge amount of research since neither of them were really VTOL owners. But -- and this might have just been hubris -- surprisingly, fighting was harder than I expected as well.

These Exhumans popping out weren't turned yesterday. They were Exhumans who'd integrated or hidden out in human society, escapees from New Eden, or ones who'd never gone. And they were coming out in force because, for the first time, the XPCA was failing, and nothing quite brought out the scavengers like watching a kill in progress.

So they all had their own issues and misery in the lives they'd been forced into, and the selves they'd never been permitted to be. Their ideologies were better-founded, almost sympathetic, I discovered, and many of them had legitimately only just located their voice after years of systemic abuse and repression.

Similarly, these were the ones who'd hidden successfully; they knew how to use their powers, and had done enough with them to survive. It really wasn't anything like fighting a freshly-turned Exhuman, I'd learned. They weren't all confusion and anger, they were simmering resentment, breaking through newly-formed cracks.

And it suuucked. Super sucked. None of them wanted to listen. None of them cared about the XPCA's narrative or role. Many didn't even see humans as worth respecting, just another level of oppression atop them. And so naturally, many of them wound up coming to blows with us, despite my efforts. Some even died.

Some, Saga was on-hand. I wasn't sure it was better than killing them but...I wasn't sure what else to do. Put them under and then, what? Hand them to the XPCA? That was the same as executing them on the spot, with more steps. I couldn't ask her to strip away their feelings or wills or anything without violating who they were but…

But I kinda had. Because something had to be done, and they just wouldn't listen. Of course this hadn't turned out great on our last mission where the XPCA had arrived mid-lobotomy and scared Saga and myself off, leaving a braindead Exhuman in our dust. Hence the chat.

"Not that kind of message," Saga said. "Like, to the XPCA, telling them...ionno, to talk or some shit. Bring 'em in the open. Let me at 'em."

"I don't know that I like you doing that to people who are actively trying to kill us, Saga. Baiting the XPCA so we can ambush their brains...that's kinda fucking sick."

She rolled over and looked at me through the straight black hair falling across her face. "And you don't care that your girls are all out there fighting right now, hmm? AEGIS and Tem and Moon all fighting Exhumans without you? What if they get hurt, you gonna cry?"

"Shut up."

"Ohh. He's already crying."

"Saga, seriously. They have overwhelming force. There's nothing that can take all three of them together. They have Karu on backup and Cosette making sure nothing else shows up, they're fine. Get out of my insecurities."

She cackled a little. "Still. Sucks I couldn't finish my work. That was a good one, too."

I sighed my agreement. "I don't fundamentally disagree we need to hammer something out with the XPCA. But Lia's been trying, almost non-stop to talk to them and they just won't listen. Seems like no matter who she talks to, no matter what she says, the whole agency has a black wall on the subject. I wonder what's been said over there to cut us out so completely."

"Probably not much needs to be," Saga said, batting at the air like a cat with some invisible yarn. "They saw you on the news. Everyone's heard of Pulverizer Athan. Betrayer of Humanity. The Spark of Death."

"You really don't have to put on a dramatic voice for that shit."

"Actually, pretty sure I do. Not sure how to say The Spark of Death except dramatically. Here watch: The Spark of Death. See?"

"You're an idiot," I sighed. "We should be finding another mission to take. World ain't gonna save itself."

I sat up and begrudgingly pulled up the news. Even muted, I could tell it was nothing but Exhuman discussion. More events, more civilians dying and cities being wrecked, and on the face of it all, me. Well, the flying guy, too.

Come to think of it.

"Hey what do you know about the flying dude?" I asked.

"Not much. Most people we've met have nothing more on him than the news'd tell ya. Flies in, destroys what he came to, often law offices or courtrooms or the like, and then zips out."

"And the XPCA haven't been able to stop him?"

"They can't even respond in time. He's too fast and small to track. Some macho bloke from a couple runs back was on some op where they were sending VTOLs all over near Cuba to look for him, but they found nothing. Rumor is, he doesn't eat, sleep, or poop. Other rumor is, he poops a shitton, literally. But all over the place, like a flock of birds. Like it subdivides on the way out the sphincter."

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"What the hell is wrong with you?" I stared at her unrepentant grin..

"You asked. Your mistake, really."

I found myself sighing yet freaking again, and checking the time to see when I might expect the others back. Assuming the mission took zero time, travel alone would put them an hour from now. And it wouldn't take zero time.

"What I really was asking was, same question, different dude. Can we send this guy a message. Maybe like, make sure he knows exactly what kind of havoc he's inciting across the world here. If he's got beef with lawyers, good for him, he can sort that out...but he can't constantly embarrass the XPCA while doing so or he's going to wipe out a lot more than just laws."

"Or maybe that's exactly what he wants," she shrugged.

"Then why attack courts and lawyers?"

"Ionno. I just scramble eggs, not lay 'em. And by eggs, I mean brains."

I thought about what I'd just proposed. It seemed like a terrible idea. If for no other reason than, if the XPCA ever thought their two greatest threats might unify, they'd absolutely flip every last piece of shit they could lay hands on. I could kiss my dreams of ever talking to them goodbye in a hundred different languages, and prepare for everything they had to come down on our heads.

But on the other hand, that didn't actually sound too different from where we already were. XPCA weren't listening to us in the slightest anyway, so what the fuck did I care what they thought? And if I could somehow get fly boy to listen to us...I wasn't asking much, and there wasn't any way he could be less cooperative than the XPCA...maybe one of the biggest crises could go away.

It seemed like a longshot though. I was supposed to be ramping up to head over and give the Oasians the same kind of talk, and they already knew and respected us at least. And by 'us' I meant 'AEGIS', who was one of their god-people or whatever.

But it wasn't impossible. How sick would it be if all of these problems could be solved diplomatically? What the hell would that say about Exhumans, and our promising future of being able to sit down at the bargaining table with the world and show them, we can be more than killers. We can talk, too.

Then the XPCA would fucking have to listen to me. If there was a precedent for Exhuman negotiations? Holy shit.

I scoffed loud enough to make Saga perk up and look at me funny. Yeah, that'd never happen. That was the kind of dream I had back when I lived in the wilds, before I knew anything about the XPCA and how they worked. Back when I thought, we're all still just people, right?

We were all just people. That much was true. But it was completely irrelevant.

"I'd like to try anyway. If things are going to hell, I'd like to know that I gave talking its best shot. I want to give peace every possible chance to succeed."

Saga kinda slouched off the couch in a way not entirely dissimilar to cradling me. I got more from her thoughts than the actual gesture on its intent.

"Athan. Buddy. This world isn't going to hell. It's always been hell. The proof's in the pudding -- these Exhumans popping up? They've always been here. They've always been hiding this resentment, just waiting for their chance to do this. This is the true face of civilization. You think of your Roman Empires and Ancient Chinas and French Revolutions, and you see the same thing always -- when the abusers lose power, the abused rise up and beat nine kinds of hell out of them, ripping up everything in the process. This is just another page turn."

"Except all those other times, it's been humans rising up against other humans. Things won't end the same way if Exhumanity winds up on top."

"Yeah, it'll wind up better. It'll be like, when homo sapiens beat out neanderthals or some shit."

"Somehow I don't think so. I think, given the chance, Exhumans would just replace a systemic oppression based on fear for one based on power. I don't want humans being a second-class citizen any more than I like Exhumans being it."

She shrugged at me, her body shoulder digging into my calf. "You want too much."

"I just want everyone to be decent to each other."

"No, because you also want that to happen without forcing it, and you also want that to happen without doing anything drastic and stupid. By which I mean your definition of drastic and stupid, which, might I add, is a really fine line to walk, because you do plenty of fucked-up shit, and then you'd fight someone else for doing the same--"

"I know, okay? I know. I'm a big fat hypocrite. The difference is, I'm trying to make things right for everyone. Even if I have to kill people or whatever."

"Or sic your beloved code-X on their heads?"

I paused. She was just toying with me, I knew. I'd already asked her to help out with some of the Exhuman troubles we'd faced, that wasn't anything I could take back. But that didn't mean it couldn't be a serious question.

"Yes. Even if it means using a code-X. If Japan taught me anything, it's that sometimes, it's worth doing horrible, abhorrent, completely amoral, completely fucking wrong things to a few people so that you don't trigger a whole country going to shit."

She looked up at me from where she was cuddling my legs. "Wow. Shivers. Instant clit boner. Say it again and I might get off on the spot."

"Be serious every once in a while," I said, deflating as I collapsed backwards.

"Who said I wasn't?" she said with a sly grin. It slowly faded off her face as she studied me. "Okay, I know it takes a lot out of you to say or think that shit, but it's not wrong, right? Every great thing you've ever loved, it got there by shitting on a few people. That's the way the world works. You'll get nothing done if you're afraid of hurting anyone."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it," I murmured.

"No it doesn't." She gave my leg a reassuring pat. "While I'm being serious, there's something I probably should have warned you about. Since it came up recently."

"What's that? And if you talk about clit boners--"

"No not that. I wouldn't warn you about that, I'd just shove it in your face. No, I'm talking about Soran. I kinda thought he was out of our hair after showing up randomly in Vegas...but it seems to me...that guy is just...unknowable."

"So how is warning me about him useful?"

She frowned, and I felt her searching around for words, though the feeling she was conveying in the searching was more precise than words could ever be.

"When he chucked me, I touched his mind, as I often do with strapping young Exhuman lads. And what was going on in there wasn't...human. We kinda know how Mage's power works, and he's got that going on, yeah. There's like, no unconscious anymore in that guy as a result. Everything he does is so practiced and tightly-wound, his mind is like watching an impossibly-fancy machine run. One with lots of brass cogs."

She stretched and shoved more of her shoulder blades into my legs.

"But underneath that was just like...some kind of insanity, almost, but nothing I've ever seen. It was like...pure emotion, but not any emotion I've ever felt, or seen anyone else ever feel. I don't know what Mage's power did to his mind, but underneath it, he's super broken, Athan. And the problem is...I don't think you or I or anyone who thinks like a sane person could comprehend his motivations."

I chewed on what she said for a few minutes. Silence between the two of us was many times less silent than with others, as our thoughts ping-ponged back and forth, faster than either of us could really comprehend. What she'd said wasn't nearly as expressive or precise as what she'd felt, how touching Soran's mind had made her feel, what seeing it actually was like.

"I get that," I said at last. "His actions...haven't had any pattern I can follow. After he 'died', he turned himself in to get into New Eden. He led a resistance movement to get himself out. He showed up randomly with Trish's kid's power and threw all of us out of a warzone to safety."

I frowned and stared at Saga as something half-clicked. "You don't think...he turned himself in and broke everyone out just so he could get to Haley for her powers...to use on us, do you? That seems insane."

"I don't know," she sighed. "It does seem insane. It seems like there's a million other ways he could have bailed us out, if that was his endgame there, if it's true he could plan that hard in advance and execute that well. But. And this is a big ol' surgically-enhanced with silicone but. I must stress, it seems insane. And so does he."

I felt a coil of frustration pass from my mind to hers, where she shrugged it off, somehow blunting the feeling in my own head.

"I just wanted to warn you that I kinda doubt him saving us was his endgame. There's no benefit to him out of it. Or to...Mage's power...if that thing even has motivations or benefits. I highly doubt it, or he, cares much about you being alive explicitly, but more that…"

"...that I'm a pawn in something else he or it does care about."

"Yeah."

We shared another few moments of silence.

"And of course, the implication is, whatever cause that might be, it isn't necessarily one I have to be alive for."

"Pawns do tend to get sacrificed. Assuming I understand the rules of chess properly."

"How do you know how to play chess?" I asked.

"Girl in the base above me knew how to play. She'd always challenge dudes, saying they could fuck her if they won. She always lost, and quickly...even to guys who I'm sure didn't know how to play. That's why I'm not quite sure I do. Good news is though, I'm turned on now when seeing a chessboard get set up. There's an uncommon fetish."

I shook my head. Better not to tell AEGIS about that one. I think she collected fetishes, and that sounded like one we could skip. Saga started laughing despite ourselves.

It was weird, being in each other's heads like this. Every emotion seemed to intensify rapidly. Just as quickly as things had turned super-serious when Saga had, now, at that hint of a joke and the laughter, the mood seemed to crack and fall away with an uncanny ease. The feedback of laughter from her to me to her, and back to me, it was intense, bizarre, but strangely comfortable.

I took a deep breath and steadied myself, closing the connection a bit so I could be more myself.

"When they get back, I'm gonna start making plans to talk to that flying Exhuman. I'd like you to come with me."

"Mind-fuck him and solve all our problems?"

"Not really my intention, but a solid plan-B. No, I just think...hope...stupidly, maybe, that whatever's going on in his head, I can understand it, and you can help. And if we can understand each other, maybe we can work it all out."

She gave me a little crooked smile.

"Man, you're obnoxious," she said.

"Yeah, I'm just the worst."