It didn't take us long to find Lia, which you'd think was a good thing.

It was not. It was a bad thing. A very bad thing.

As our Sirius approached the OA, command did not direct us towards the evacuation efforts as I'd expected. Karu had summoned me into the cabin so I could overhear the conversation in question, but even hearing it, seeing it for myself out the UI-studded viewport of the ship's front windshield, I still had trouble believing what I was seeing.

While I'd been out chasing down the Oasians, I'd thought Lia would be back at the Raven's Nest with TARGA, Cosette, and Whitney. I guess, given that we were all once again wanted for arrest and questioning, it was a good thing that wasn't true...and I had a little spike of guilty panic for where those latter two might currently be. But I'd thought Lia would be mostly handling talking to the president and keeping us our jobs...what she'd been doing instead was plain and terrifying to see.

And yeah, I could see why we were fired. Sorta seemed like a natural consequence, looking down at the scene.

It was late evening, and down there under the falling dusk were the unmistakable lines of battle. An arrayed mass of a few hundred, entrenched in and around the outskirts of Los Vegas, who had fortified the suburban desert sprawl into a veritable castle.

And surrounding them, more XPCA and military than I thought this part of the country even had. Though the distance looked tiny from up here, it was probably a no-man's-land of a mile or more, houses positively flattened in a huge circle, probably created by the defenders to give the military no cover under which to advance.

All of this, right in Justice's projected path. Lia was absolutely fucking insane, and was going to get a hell of a talking to when I got down there.

Karu shook her head. "There are too many eyes for us to even attempt to enter. We have no channels of communication with your sister. Any attempt to fly over the neutral zone would likely prompt an attack from one party, or both."

"Just what the hell is she doing? You're sure she's down there?"

"I am not. You know how your sister trends elusive. Yet that is the prevailing theory within the ranks -- that she wrested control of New Eden operations and facilitated the escape of the vast majority of its detainees."

She spoke bitterly, and despite the apparent fact that these were our allies, or at least Lia's, Karu's low opinion of Exhumanity remained obvious.

"What is she thinking?" I asked. "She's going to just take a handful of Exhumans and stop Justice?"

Karu pulled her attention from the controls to stare at me with a red glare. "Was that not your plan, mere minutes ago?"

"That's...I'm…" I frowned at her. She looked a little ridiculous, still wearing her borrowed air-force uniform, with a visor instead of the cap. "That's not the point."

"Vestibule Alpha-Lima-Niner, report status," the ship's comms barked.

"This is Alpha-Lima-Niner. Status green," Karu answered.

"Then why are you in hover? Get your bird grounded, Vestibule."

"Just taking in the sights, sir."

"Do it on your own time, blimpie."

She sighed as she switched off the comms.

"Blimpie?" I asked.

"Never heard of a blimp?" she chuckled. "Ancient flying machines, balloons filled with lighter-than-air gases. Cumbersome and bulky. Not a pleasant thing to be drawn by analogy."

"Oh." I tried to imagine for a minute what Karu as a balloon of gas might look like, but only got as far as her stretching out her uniform. Which was...probably because that's what she was doing in front of me. I shook my head and hoped she was focused on the controls.

"We'd best put her down. If you wanted to do aught else, now is your opportunity. Chances that we emerge from the base unmolested are low, and lower still the probability of getting the craft back for ourselves." There was almost a hint of pleading in her voice. "Mayhap we should do otherwise and trust Lia to manage the situation on her own?"

"We came out here to find her." I shook my head as I peered out at the lines of soldiers and the fortified Exhuman camp. "That's what we've got to do."

She didn't answer, but her small sigh let me know that she'd known what I'd say before I said it. The fans slowed audibly and the craft began to descend, the lines of the city rising up to engulf the battle scene from our sight.

There was some chatter between Karu and command about where to put our Sirius, what type of cargo, lots of exchange of numbers of various kinds. And then the swish-thunk and swaying in my seat as the bird touched down.

"Let us make haste and disappear before they ask too many questions," she said, pulling off her visor and stowing it in a bag with the rest of her things.

But even with that warning, I was ill-prepared for the hustle and ducking that Karu then led us through. It was the walking equivalent of her driving: barely avoiding head-on collisions constantly by fractions of inches at unsafe speeds. Acrobatically, she dipped and dodged her way past grounds crew and uniformed soldiers alike.

"The trick is," she commented, her voice breathy in my comms...because I was only barely managing to keep up with her, much less remain in conversational range "to look so agitated and busy that anyone with the authority to halt you would assume you are doing something of too much import to halt."

I didn't reply. Karu's strategy might work for her, but I was a dude in a garish exoframe, and behind me was a lithe chick with body-modder hair, hauling what might be construed as a dessicated corpse. Looking busy wasn't exactly gonna work for the three of us.

Yet still, we somehow made it. More than once, I almost crashed into someone, and in their surprised pause, as they looked us over, I saw emotions crossing their face. Surprise, concern, alarm...but always, it ultimately boiled down to this isn't my problem, and they moved on with a muttered 'excuse me', if that.

I had to wonder just how much of that was on Saga.

It wasn't like the XPCA had put out an broad-spectrum alert for our capture or anything, We were, for the moment, merely under suspicion. More importantly, we were also cut off from any official position of authority, general comms, or anything that required credentials, until we could get into the system again.

But with mere hours until Justice came down on this place, I'd rather move than hack.

We made it out of the base and as far as the front lines. Seeing just how much this looked like any other Exhuman event set my teeth on edge. Didn't these people understand that Lia and the New Edeners were positioning themselves to fight Justice? Why the hell would the military oppose that?

I got my answer when we turned a corner and almost crashed into a Lieutenant Colonel in XPCA black. Karu muttered an apology and saluted, and he just stared at us. I could see the gears in his head turning...turning.

But whatever conclusion he was reaching towards, he never made. Maybe Saga gave him a nudge, I couldn't tell. But that didn't stop him from barking at us, once he'd made up his mind.

"Just where do you think you're going?" he asked.

"To the...to the front line?" I offered.

"All middle-grade officers are to report to the staging area at once for the assault. Where is your commanding officer? Where are your rank insignias? Why are you with an air force pilot...and what is wrong with your uniform?" He crossed his arms, his thick eyebrows furrowed brutally. "I'm going to have to write you up. You're coming with me."

He stopped talking, because that's usually what happened when an gynoid kicked you in the chin hard enough to get you some air time. He landed with an ungodly thump, and Karu was already fishing in her bag to draw out some drug to inject.

"What a waste of time," she complained. "It is for situations such as these that we even possess Saga."

"Wow, a possession. Maybe you're the one I should be blasting out."

"Sorry," AEGIS apologized. "I just panicked. He was starting to yell and I didn't want to attract attention."

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Karu jabbed the already-comatose and definitely-concussed man with a needle in the neck, and then, looking around, unceremoniously dumped his body into a dark corner. Only rarely did the XPCA black actually serve as effective camouflage.

"Let us make haste," Karu said.

She started off but I held her up. "Wait. What he said. Staging area. Assault. You don't think the XPCA are actually going to do it, do you? There's hundred of Exhumans in that camp, fortified against attack...and they're obviously trying to fight Justice. Why the hell would they attack instead of just wait a few hours and let two of their problems handle each other?"

"I have a theory," AEGIS said, as she patted down the body. She found a mobile and plugged in. "Hmm. Just a second."

"Theory?" I echoed. "The only theory I could possibly imagine is that the XPCA lost their minds."

"Found it. Yeah, just what I thought. Shit."

"What is it?" I asked. If I didn't interrupt, she might spend all the hours we had going through files.

"Um...orders to this guy. Looks like...this all...ultimately came from the president himself. After our...influence, he's kinda...come to the position that...the XPCA doesn't have qualified leadership, and so his big-brain idea is to run things more personally."

"You're kidding. He's a civilian."

"So are we, Athan." She glared at me. "I'm willing to bet that he spoke with the generals and they advised him that their greatest fear is -- and I should say was and continues to be -- Justice meeting with other Exhumans. Remember how they dropped everything to send the whole goddamned armed forces after us when we met with him?"

Karu frowned. "Military policy is often idiotic, but always consistent. 'Tis the consistent idiocy which belies the issue."

"So what, they think they're just gonna wipe out a few hundred Exhumans in a couple hours, before Justice shows up?" I felt like the words were insane even as they left my mouth. "What the hell is the plan here?"

"If you'll let me finish," AEGIS' eyes flashed dangerously. "The orders state specifically, from the president, his greatest concern about the XPCA at the moment. He feels...and I gotta admit, he has a point here…that the public has lost faith in them. I think I understand, given that angle."

"Understand what? That he's an idiot?"

She pushed up her glasses severely at me. "We all know that the president has lost faith in the XPCA since before Justice, even. He's made a couple motions to disband it, even. The guy has some beef or chip or axe against them for...probably some politically-motivated bullshit reason, whatever it is, it's not important. But we do know that fact, and now, in the moment of greatest crisis, he's seeing his fears confirmed. The XPCA is failing at doing the one thing it's supposed to do."

"Because Justice isn't--"

"Athan, I'm not arguing with you, I'm explaining how he probably sees it. I know, and I agree with you. Justice isn't a normal threat. But the president just sees the XPCA as this institution which has consistently failed, despite having half the total military budget. And every failure of theirs is reflected on him in public opinion."

"Who cares about public opinion right now? The country is being fucking destroyed?"

"He will always care," Karu clarified. "A politician must. One does not simply become president without first being a person whom is ever-cognizant of how one's actions reflect upon themselves."

"Anyway," AEGIS sighed "whatever his motivations, or how stupid he is or isn't, the fact is, he wants this. He wants a final apocalyptic showdown for the XCPA. If they win, he's a hero that stopped Justice. If they lose, he can confirm that they were a defunct agency and move on with his other plans to replace them, without any possible opposition."

"That's just slaughter!" I looked around, wondering if anyone else was hearing how insane this was. "These are American soldiers, putting their lives on the line."

"The military has always had issue with weaponizing patriotism to die in the name of industry, Ashton. Wars for land, for resources, for influence, none of those things are America, and yet all of them have market value."

AEGIS pushed up her glasses. "The worst possible case scenario is if he doesn't order an attack. If the New Edeners defeat Justice, then America as he knows it is over. It won't prove the XPCA defunct, it'll show the entire government being unwilling and unable to defend itself. It'll show that Exhumans are the de-facto power of the US, and of the world."

"But if Justice wins, that's really good for him."

"Maybe. But would you put your entire country on that coin-flip?"

"He's already throwing the country away by ordering an attack!"

"He's throwing the XPCA away. And as we've established, he thinks they're fairly worthless anyway. I know that the black is really huge and important in our eyes, Athan, but consider that this guy typically deals with at least four other military branches on the regular. Ones that he's argued should replace the XPCA anyway, I'll add. So, yeah."

She'd said that. She'd said it before and it was insane the first time, too. I heard my blood pounding in my head and had to stop and sit down for a moment, next to the unconscious lieutenant to get my head on straight.

But straight wasn't how my head needed to be screwed on in order to understand all of this. This was insane. I couldn't believe that at a time like this, with millions of Americans dead already, and the rest of the country at risk, that now was the time for some stupid politician to do some stupid political crap. To throw away so many lives...because of what, some stupid grudge? Some favoritism or stupid bullshit?

But when I put it that way, I understood better than I'd hoped. I'd been in the service long enough to see this kind of thing consistently. How many times had General Moroles shoved his whole face up my ass, obfuscated reports or slyly omitted details in order to make himself look better? There were missions that went absolutely belly-up, entire squads wiped out, and to hear it from him, things had gone wrong, and he'd been a saint who had kept them from spiraling out of control.

It was just shitty that people like him somehow gravitated towards the top. And that good, honest, straightforward men like Director Hall would sooner die...and did.

"Then, I know what we need to do," I said, standing, my head still feeling light. "We're here for a reason. I'd thought it was to help Lia, but...she's going to need more help than we knew. Saga, we're going to need to find the command here and get them to disobey the president's orders."

"Ooh, a little mutiny. Can I make them talk like pirates?"

I shook my head. "You can do whatever the hell you like to whomever the hell you need, as long as this attack doesn't go through. AEGIS--"

"Yep," she nodded, tapping away at the mobile she was still plugged into. "Priorities have changed. Less ass-kicking, more info-gathering. I'll see what I can find, but we're probably going to have to find a better hardpoint."

"Okay. Karu, you and I, we're just gonna be regular military personnel. Infiltrate the staging area, and do whatever we can to sabotage the mission from going. Step one would be to get AEGIS a private place to work with a good connection. And Saga to some VIPs. After that…"

I shook my head. I didn't exactly know what the two of us could do. Hopefully AEGIS could get online quickly and direct us, but waiting around was the last thing I wanted.

And of course, Karu would be on the same page, and asked exactly that. "What manner of sabotage are you suggesting, Ashton?"

"Anything. Everything." I tried not to imagine Lia in a camp of Exhumans as skyweb opened up on them, as VTOLs dumped hellfire missiles across their ranks, as waves of faceless exosuits pressed into them, millions of rounds of ammunition pouring into them from all sides. Just a poor, ordinary girl, caught in a clusterfuck of Exhuman powers and military hardware.

"Everything?" Karu asked with a cocked head. I knew exactly what she was asking.

I nodded. "Everything. If we don't kill them, the New Edeners will. Better a dozen generals die now than ten-thousand soldiers in a few minutes."

"Okay," AEGIS said breathily. "I think I have somewhere for us to start. There's a data cluster set up in the basement of the east building. Guarded, but, if we can get inside, I should be able to hide--"

She stopped, and I thought for a second that she'd found something new through her mobile uplink. But as I looked into her wide eyes, I felt it myself.

A sensation, so uncomfortable, but so familiar by now. Like getting slapped directly in the lungs, a sudden compression of the air itself.

A moment later, there were more booms, so loud I wondered how I'd missed the first one. And after each, the air slapped me again. Explosions, big ones, and not too far off.

"No," I pleaded.

"It's begun," AEGIS bit her lip. "We're too late."

Karu threw her bag to the ground and began stripping on the spot, laying out pieces of her armor as she dug out her flightsuit.

"It's not too late until everybody's dead," I argued. "If we're just reducing the number of deaths at this point instead of stopping them, then that's what we've got to do."

She nodded, but I could see the fear in her eyes. Fear I didn't want to see reflected in myself. The New Edeners would be fine, I knew. Until Justice arrived, anyway. But any individual Edener? Or Lia? Fuck.

And the whole of the XPCA. The entire fucking agency, all massed up in one place. I wondered if they'd live long enough for Justice to get here and finish them all off. We needed them now more than ever; every pointless death here was another arm we couldn't raise against the real threat.

"Everyone get moving. Same plan just...sooner," I said. I grunted as the half-dressed Karu slapped something against my chest, and looking down, found a gun there.

"You have forgotten the most critical element of all, Ashton. What is the first rule of combat?"

My mind hitched in changing gear. "Uh."

She paused dressing to look up at me, her green eyes brilliant. "Do not die."

"Right."

"For all your concern of the others, you would rush head-long in, and would find yourself overwhelmed very quickly. To affect the battlefield, you must first exist on it. Use your head. Use every advantage."

"Use this gun?" I asked, squaring up behind it and looking down the sights.

"I found the ennervator of brutal effectiveness. I pray that these arms hold similar merit."

"Thanks," I said, really meaning it. She was right, I had been prepared to just...charge the line, without even thinking.

She smiled, as the visor came down. "Thanks are unnecessary between comrades. Now, shall we be off?"

AEGIS looked anxiously between our faces. "I'll get into the data center myself. Karu, I'll call you once I'm in, and can direct you where to put Saga to get to command?"

"A sound plan."

AEGIS bit her lip as her eyes set on mine. "Stay with Karu. She's right about you needing not to die, okay, you big dummy?"

I nodded. She was almost tearing up. I couldn't die here, with the last time I saw her being like this.

"I'll be fine," I said, through the lump in my throat. "We'll stick together. Good luck."

"Don't you dare fucking die. No heroics. The order of importance for lives here is yours, and then everyone else's okay? I don't care who we're trying to save…"

"AEGIS we've gotta go," I said, hearing another blast in the distance. She nodded sharply, and then, as though tearing herself away, shot off with a single stride, the boom of her takeoff rivalling the explosions.

It was like the starter pistol for all of us to move. I scooped up Saga, Karu rocketed to a vantage point on a nearby rooftop, and we were all away.

Running towards the danger, as it seemed we always did.