TARGA.

Fucking TARGA.

Just the sound of that name made my heart race and lightning crackle off my shoulders involuntarily.

She'd been the one who killed AEGIS Prime. The perfect woman, as far as I saw it. The mold after which the last two AEGIS' had based themselves, and both come up variously short. The woman I'd irrefutably loved, without reservation, and taken from me by this egotistical, sick, corruption.

"Woah. Woah," AEGIS said, taking a step forward and squeezing my hands, apparently unconcerned with the lightning arcing between our bodies. "Athan, calm down."

I blinked at her, trying to focus through the red haze. I became dimly aware that there were blades hovering in the air all around me, a good fifty of them or more. They seemed to twitch impatiently, and to track TARGA's nervous movements unerringly.

"Control yourself, ape," TARGA sneered, but hearing AEGIS' corrupted voice coming out of her just made my blood pound hotter.

"Maybe leave it to me, sweetie," AEGIS crooned to her. "You'll just make him mad. Could you start on some paperwork for me?"

Again, AEGIS' words were like a command to TARGA, who stiffened upright, and began moving even before she responded. "Of course!" she said chipper as the original cooking a hearty breakfast. "My pleasure."

My blades twisted in the air to follow as she stabbed her way over to the table where the rest of the girls stared at her without reservation. Her finger-drones extracted a cable from somewhere on her torso and plugged into the table's computer, where images began flashing past on the holo, faster than I could process them.

"I know you have a history," AEGIS whispered. "But I think this really is the best solution, if you can look past that for a moment."

"A history?" I shouted at her. "She fucking murdered you, AEGIS."

"She had orders. She was built to be...more obedient than I am. At the time, you were a huge danger to the XPCA, remember? It's only natural she'd be fighting against you with everything she had."

"I wasn't a danger to anyone, except that she forced me to be. The only reason I was in New Eden was to find Steffie for Jack, and she made that hell. And then, I found out she was behind tearing up Saga. And that's inex-fucking-scusable."

AEGIS gave me an apologetic, placating smile. But even as she did, I could feel Saga raging in my mind, same as me. Everyone else in the room seemed to feel it too, everyone in the building probably. But I wasn't about to correct her behavior now, not when I happened to agree with it entirely.

"Saga...was a threat to the XPCA. Athan, you have to look at this from your new perspective. You changed sides, that means TARGA's an ally."

"I've always been on the side of helping people. Protecting people. Upholding the good for as many as I could."

"Okay," TARGA snapped. "I've endured your stupidass, dumbass, jackass, missclassed, lip-flapping for long enough. And I've been in this room for five minutes. No. Just no."

I stared at her, at the stupid smug >Neutral [https://www.royalroadcdn.com/public/smilies/icon_neutral.gif] on her pixels.

"Athan the purehearted? Give me a break," she continued, the AEGIS in her voice sounding more like a mockery than even her words. "You do whatever you want without concern for the corpses you leave behind."

"I'm not arguing it," I told her. "I know I'm a killer. But I do it for the greater good."

"What greater good is left when you have numbers like this? Eleven hundred killed or hospitalized in the greater Tokyo region. Six in Gifu. Fourteen in Nagasaki. Three-hundred-eighty-one XPCA in Las Vegas. Twelve of whom were civilians."

"I said I know."

"Along the interstate fifteen, another hundred and twelve, and only three civilians. Whom, according to this report, you deliberately brainwashed and had sent to their deaths as a diversion. At the California State University--"

"Don't you fucking dare," I said, my throat suddenly tight. The blades seemed to move on their own, levelling at her. "Don't you talk about Alyssa."

"--well done," she finished, with a cocky crossing of her arms. "When you did your best and tried to blend in with normal society, you only resulted in the murder of four. One police, two campus security...and one student…"

She said the last word almost sing-song, and it was about all I could do not to just scour her from the spot. My blades twitched in the air, jumping towards her, as she stared me down, unflinching. I might have run her through -- just to prove her right -- if AEGIS hadn't stepped between us.

"Now let's just calm down a sec here," she said, glancing back and forth between the two of us.

"But I'm only just getting started," TARGA complained. Her voice when talking to AEGIS was completely different to when she was trying to gut me. "A dozen XPCA in Utah. Two entire squads in a secure facility under a disused plane boneyard. Thirty-five more, including a senator--"

"He gets it," AEGIS confirmed, her eyes looking dead.

"I don't know. 'Getting it' does really seem to be his thing. Plus there's more; thirteen Exhumans in Oregon and one XPCA intelligence officer. And in New Eden--"

"Enough," AEGIS barked, and finally TARGA fell silent.

Mostly silent. She mumbled her last few words about New Eden, loud enough for me to catch. "The MOST egregious," I heard.

"I said enough. Are you defective?" AEGIS snapped. TARGA stood shock upright and stared at her blankly, even scared.

"N-no, darling--"

"Then put aside your squabbles, however justified you may think they are, and do your damn job. You have a role, fulfill it."

TARGA seemed to gape on the spot for a moment. "But he's...a danger to--"

"Did I ask for your assessment?"

"No, but--"

"Looking after Athan is my role. Yours is to keep the XPCA functioning. Don't you dare presume to know my chosen purpose better than me. I don't want to hear any more bickering from the two of you after this. Got it?"

She reminded me of my mother, when Lia and I would fight. Except, with Lia, things always stayed civil. This thing, I would add to her own little body count, happily.

I also didn't miss the almost-perfect allusion to Rio in AEGIS' words. She sounded as snippy and defensive as any of the high clergy in Oasis when challenged. I really was her calling, as weird as that sounded to think.

And then I realized, I was thinking again. My blood wasn't quite so fighty and my head not so clouded, and I'm pretty sure it was AEGIS' sharp diffusal which had brought me down. Not that I really wanted to be, TARGA was a fucking virus that should be wiped out.

AEGIS looked at me and there was a hint of pleading her eyes as though she could see my thoughts. "Athan, you need her."

"I need you."

"And I told you, I can't help you like that. Not without being someone else. She's literally someone else. Give her a shot."

I'd give her a shot of lightning to the face, I thought. Kinda made me happy to think that Úaine wasn't built to be as resistive as Rua. If I cut her or zapped her, she'd probably fry real nice.

But AEGIS was right, because of course she was. In a way, this was a truly genius solution. Another AEGIS was just what we needed, but of course that wasn't an option. This was as close as we'd get. And Úaine was more suited for this kind of computational work.

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Which...just meant that instead of getting distracted and overwhelmed like AEGIS would, she'd retain her personality while she worked. Which was super unfair. Why'd the one of them with the good personality have to become a paralyzed, distracted, blank slate, while the shitty one gets to stay herself?

But she would work. And maybe I could even tolerate her. If I could put up with Dragon being alive, I could put up with her. Maybe. She'd probably take over on the boring bullshit, and free me up to do some actual good out there. And then I'd be there and she'd be here, and I'd never even have to see her.

AEGIS was grinning as apparently my eyes lit up or something at the thought. "See?" she asked.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" I asked her. "She killed Prime. She went insane already once. And she's...your code, twisted. You said before you found that...revolting. Abhorrent."

AEGIS seemed to shudder involuntarily. "Well." She bit her lip. "Yeah. But. You need it."

"You'd make yourself...like...physically ill, even at the thought of this. For me."

She shook her head. "I already told you, I'd do anything for you, Athan. A little existential horror isn't the end of the world."

"Anything except what she's doing."

She took a step forward to playfully bonk me in the forehead. "Because, as we've established, if I did that, I'd never be able to do anything else for you again. And that's not worth it."

I shook my head and instead watched over her shoulder as TARGA focused, the pages on the holo flipping past faster than I could even see, now. It felt like she must just be doing what I had done too much of -- tear through forms and sign them at random. But I knew, if there was any semblance of AEGIS inside there, she had too much integrity and professional pride to just glance and sign. She must have been reading everything at that impossible rate. And the difference in processing capabilities between Úaine and Rua were never more clear.

"Fine," I said, defeated. "We'll try her out. One slip-up and she's toast though. You hear me, cockroach?"

"I don't make mistakes, ape." Her work hardly slowed as she spoke. I rolled my eyes.

"Well then. If I can leave this to her…" I grinned at AEGIS. "Think the rest of us can just...take a step back? Maybe even a break?"

Before AEGIS could answer, TARGA did. "The rest of them, maybe. But you have work to do."

"Me? Doing what?"

"You are, despite your uselessness, a military asset. Something we happen to be very short on at the moment. Which you'd know, if your head wasn't quite so vacuous. And even a useless asset can be used. Cannon fodder and the like."

"Don't worry," AEGIS drew in close to whisper. "I'll review any ops she sends you on to make sure it's not a deathtrap." She grinned before standing on tiptoe to give me a kiss on the forehead. Which seemed to send the pixels on TARGA's face into paroxysms. I resolved on the spot to have as much PDA in this room as possible in the future.

"Thanks. I do enjoy not being in a deathtrap." She giggled, and the holos froze as TARGA writhed on the spot. "Hey, aren't you supposed to be working?" I barked over AEGIS' shoulder. It made my heart soar to see the jittery cockroach jump in alarm and redouble back on her work, veritably sweating.

"You really should be out there, though," AEGIS said, sounding like she disagreed with her words. "It makes you happy. Or...happier. To do something. We can find you something light. Send you along with Karu and Tem."

"Screw that," I said. "I don't just want to do stupid work, I want to fix things. If we've got three of us, we should be going after Soran."

"I would go," Moon volunteered.

"And I can be your central again," added Cosette. "Like old times. Would be nice to be back in the saddle instead of strung up in this yoke."

AEGIS glanced at TARGA, who seemed to give a noncommittal shrug if anything. "Well I guess that works. Although you seem to have forgotten the best part."

"You?" I asked.

"Me!" she beamed. "How long has it been since I've been free to run with you, hmm?" Her arms wrapped around me and her hands buried into the mess of hair at the back of my head. You'd think she'd have just propositioned me for something more intimate than flying across the states to try to fight and kill some Exhuman jerk. Not that I minded, as I kissed her on the spot, half because I wanted to, and half because it seemed to physically harm TARGA.

"Okay...then…" the black robot interrupted, pushing us gently apart with finger-drones from a few feet away. "Enough...of that. We have plans to make and missions to run. I will be happy to see you removed from my presence. Though never from my sight. Remember that," she warned. Probably the only leverage she thought she had at the moment.

Which, y'know, just made me more giddy. I liked kissing AEGIS well enough, but getting a side perk out of it too? Just the best.

It was shocking how quickly a VTOL could be fueled and ready and clear to depart, far faster than anytime Moon or I had handled the proceedings. Almost felt like we were being rushed out the door, but even if that were so, I still had to begrudgingly admire the efficiency with which she was doing so. It was a few minutes, tops, between leaving the office and sitting in a craft, pilots ready and runway cleared.

I had another twinge of guilt, thinking about the six-hundred who'd died just this morning, all because we'd failed to coordinate air transit. As light as this situation felt, it was also a somber reminder of a very legitimate need. I didn't want to feel reassured, exactly, but that was still something TARGA was exuding, even involuntarily.

Because, also, it seemed crazy that we were all just up and leaving like this. Whitney and Lia were still back there. But in a matter of minutes, we'd just been introduced to the new...girl-thing-monster...and we'd just dumped the XPCA into her weird-ass floaty hands and been okay with it. Which was bizarre, except that all of us really were completely sold on her competence and loyalty.

Because AEGIS said so. And I trusted her more than anyone to know. But it was still crazy feeling, as the VTOL roared away from the city and over forests and patchy stretches of road.

"Okay," Cosette said, briefing us in person for once, scratching her head as she flipped through pages on a tablet. Her voice came in calm and even on comms over the roar of the VTOL's engines. "I've got ahold of Karu. She's currently working on something else but she'll join us at the OA. We've got another flight delivering Tem, and then it'll be the five of you with limited support. We'll be on the ground in about an hour fifteen, so we'll cover what we can."

I heard someone tsk in my ear, and shot AEGIS a glance.

"What?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Wasn't me."

"It was me, ape. An hour fifteen for prep? Records indicate you haven't even read and acknowledged the field manuals yet. Just what do you think you're going to achieve out there without having even reviewed the basics of the basics?"

Oh yeah. The field manuals. I'd forgotten that bit.

"I'm going to delay this op until you catch up, in fact. Let me just...signal…the pilot?"

I had no idea why she trailed off at the end, but if she was frustrated at something, that had to be a good sign. I hoped.

"Um. AEGIS?" TARGA asked.

"Yes, dear?" AEGIS' voice was saccharine.

"Why am I locked out of this system?"

"Because I locked you out."

There was a pregnant pause before TARGA spoke again. "Why did you lock me out?"

"Because as I said before, dealing with Athan is my business, not yours. That includes trying to micromanage our ops when we already have a dedicated central, and trying to regulate his actions--"

"But the field manuals!"

"--including what literature he reads or does not. I am declaring him qualified for this op, regardless of manuals consumed." She thought for a moment. "In fact, apply that to the entire XPCA. Those who are already active."

"No. Don't do this to me, darling. Some of those men--"

"If they've been active in the field, I don't want you wasting their time with basics they've already covered. You can have your silly way with new recruits and anyone who needs remediation. Got it?"

"...yes, darling..."

AEGIS shot me a smile and I realized I was grinning ear-to-ear. Seeing TARGA being put in her place, by my girl, no less, made my heart swell.

...at least, I think it was my heart. I saw no reason why AEGIS bullying a variant of herself would awaken something in me, but here we were.

Cosette brought me back down to earth by clearing her throat significantly. "Well if that's all settled, perhaps now we can get to the brief? Good. I'll leave it to you guys to give Tem the relevant bits later...not that she ever pays attention, really. But here's what we know."

And then I saw Soran's face on the holo. A new picture of him, taken today, in Georgia, where we were headed. I'd seen plenty of stills of this kind recently, ruins with an occupancy of one, from Trish to Dork-hand. Though I guess in both of those cases the occupancy was two, but meh.

The real difference was obvious, though. Whereas Trish had been set on drawing out the XPCA by being as destructive and brutal as possible, and Dork-Hand by...publicizing or whatever, Soran was just...incidental catastrophe, it felt.

Things were destroyed, in great measure, but only apparently as an afterthought. Buildings cleaved in half, walls iced at random...it seemed chaotic and haphazard, although knowing Soran, I knew there had to be a reason behind it all. He had Mage's power in there somewhere after all, and that meant that everything he did was directed. Even if I couldn't understand the direction.

It seemed stupid of us to go after him at all, considering that. Except that he'd bailed me out once already, in Vegas, and I knew his sudden reemergence on the day that I was finally freed up to chase down ops couldn't mean anything else. Maybe today I'd get some answers as to what he'd been up to, and why he'd acted the way he had.

But stupid, or maybe overconfident as it seemed, I also knew that I was, in a way, safe. He'd make a scene until I stopped him, and then he'd stop, because if he wanted me dead, he'd had too many opportunities already. He wanted something else instead, and I was dying to find out what.

And also, of course, to put an end to his rampage. I imagined nobody but us could do it.

So I'd been expecting something bizarre, something Mage-like to happen. But I'd also expected it once we'd gotten boots on the ground and were facing him down. It still managed to catch me by surprise when Cosette stopped, mid-briefing, to give her tablet a squirrely look, and then, confusion on her face, turn it around and hand it over to me.

What I saw was a private message, sent directly to this device, and addressed to me. Encrypted, with a bio-lock, which took my fingerprint and retina to open. And inside, I found it addressed also to AEGIS, Moon, as well as Karu and Tem, "care of Athan Ashton." Which just had Soran's uncanny future-sense written all over it.

It wasn't a long message, and I skipped over it to glance at the bottom. Where sure enough, it bore a printed signature. Labelled, even. And followed by some text that made me want to throw the tablet away and order the VTOL turned around to avoid more of Mage's causality-fuckery:

Virtuous-solicitation concludes.

Signature. Muses and THE SORAN

Postscript. THE ATHAN, It is considered poor-taste to consume a missive in an atypical order. Please read content in the order presented.