Coop sat next to the bookshelf in the sitting room of the little apartment, back to the wall, window just to the left of his head. It was where he spent most of his time in the apartment, reading the paperbacks Lieutenant Azor had found for him. He balanced the horn at the back of his skull upon the wall with increasing felicity. A small divot had formed in the plaster of the wall where his horn so often rested.

Lieutenant Azor and Specialist Fosro argued about their mission.

“You understand I’m not so taken with Shellback that I want to stay or anything,” Lieutenant Azor said. “My loyalty is to the UPSF and the people we protect. But it’s not so bad here. These people aren’t a threat to us. And under UPSF law they deserve to live their lives as they see fit, even if it’s on the back of a giant turtle.”

“That doesn’t change our orders,” Specialist Fosro said. He pinched the bridge of his nose.

“It does, though. Or, at least, it can. The legality of…”

Coop stared at the little paperback in his oversized hands. He’d lost the thread of the narrative a bit ago when Lieutenant Azor and Specialist Fosro’s debate had intruded upon his concentration. He’d been able to forget his headache for a while. Now it returned with annoyance. His annoyance made the headache worse.

“Uncle Coop, back me up here?”

Coop looked up from the book to the children. They stood in the kitchenette of the apartment, looking at him, exasperated with each other. He wasn’t even sure which of them had asked for support in that plaintive tone. He knew he shouldn’t think of them as children, but they looked so very young and he felt so very old in that moment. He shook his head to refocus. He looked at his HUD and gave the small yellow triangle at the edge of his vision a mental tap, revealing his mission parameters. They were unchanged, as expected.

* Rendezvous with Firefighters

* Proceed to Point of Ignition

* Extinguish Fire

“The boss told me it’s my call as to when and how to put out the fire. I’m counting on you, Kamala, to keep the path clear, and you, Jessica, to tell me whether the fire needs extinguishing.”

Coop thought he’d been clear, but they blinked at him. He shook his head again. “I’m going for a walk.” He pushed himself to his feet, knees and ankles popping, back aching, all four shoulders stiff.

“You can’t,” said Lieutenant Azor.

Coop turned his attention upon her and she took a step back, eyes widening. He hadn’t meant to be aggressive, so he clasped his lower hands behind his back, hunched his shoulders slightly, and cocked his head to the right.

“Why not?”

“Um. We have that meeting. I told you about it yesterday. Remember?”

He didn’t, but nodded anyway. “All right.”

Specialist Fosro sighed with exasperation. “I’ve gotta take my shift at the temple. I’ve never seen a place with so many side halls and hidey holes. I’m still trying to map it all.” He looked at Lieutenant Azor, took a breath as though about to add something, then shrugged and left.

“Something else going on with you two?” Coop asked, and immediately regretted it. Delving into the personal lives of his teammates never ended well. At least, he was pretty sure that was true. He couldn’t remember an actual example.

Lieutenant Azor gave him a flat look. “No.”

• • •

The meeting took place in a large empty hall on the ground floor of another apartment building a few blocks over. Coop got the impression it was a place where local meetings were expected to take place. It had a smooth stone floor and plastered walls painted a pale, neutral color. Folding chairs with thin, black vinyl cushions were lined throughout the room, and a small dais stood at one end for people to stand upon when making their case before the assembled.

Coop was certain he’d be too heavy for the folding chairs, so he stood off to one side, trying not to look like a menacing hulk, and focused on the image of a block of ice melting in the sun. The voices of those speaking kept interrupting. Which isn’t to say he knew what the meeting was about, as he couldn’t focus on that either. Even so, he got the impression a group of kids had been causing a ruckus in the neighborhood.

Idly, Coop wondered what he’d been like as a child. It bothered him that he couldn’t remember. He stretched his neck side to side, trying to ease the building crick.

Someone sighed and grumped next to him.

Coop looked down to find a child.

The kid was short but wiry, with scabby scrapes down one arm and a bandage on their forehead. They were a bit grimy, but Coop’s HUD detected hints of soap. Their jeans were worn at the knees and frayed at the cuffs. Their tanktop looked new. It was pale pink and hung loose and untucked. They went barefoot.

Coop didn’t remember the kid being there when he’d leaned himself against the wall. Not that he’d been paying much attention. His HUD would tell him if someone was armed or being aggressive, and it helped conserve energy to only pay attention when needed.

The kid looked up at him, scowling. “What?”

Coop looked away, back at the woman who was speaking. He’d have blushed if he still could.

“There really is only so much space on the back of the Great Gaia Beast. And those of us who’ve dedicated ourselves to the Voice of Gaia, we shouldn’t have to put up with hooligan freakazoids running about with unnatural powers, waking me up at all hours of the night.”

There was a general murmur of assent from the gathered.

The kid next to Coop grumbled.

Coop looked down again.

“What’s your problem?” the kid asked without looking up.

Coop considered. There were several answers he could give, accurate or otherwise. Eventually he settled for simple truth. “My body doesn’t fit. You?”

The kid looked up at him, eyebrows up, jaw slack, before remembering to scowl. “Same.”

“Is that you they’re complaining about?”

“What of it?”

“You’re a real pain in the ass, aren’t you?”

The kid snorted. Almost a laugh.

The woman speaking sat and another took her place.

“Two weeks ago, some of these… children were galivanting across rooftops and completely destroyed my tomato plants.” A murmur of anger rippled through the crowd.

“Really? The tomatoes?”

The kid sighed and crossed their arms. “It was an accident. Plus, I apologized.”

The complaining went on for half an hour more.

“They’re a menace.”

“Someone should do something.”

“They’re out of control.”

Coop could feel the kid next to him tensing. His HUD detected the kid’s increased heartrate, grinding of teeth, and clenching of fists.

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“It’s just not safe, a pack of kids with beast powers. They should be tossed out.” The man on the dais had saggy jowls and a combover. He was well dressed and haughty, but Coop’s HUD picked up an underpinning of fear to his tone.

“It was me!” the kid screeched. They took several steps toward the dais, arms flailing. “I messed up, all right? I’m sorry. But no one else did anything. It was all me. Leave the rest of them alone.” Their voice was high and raw, their body tense, fists clenched. When they took a breath, it was shaky and held an edge of fear.

A woman in the crowd stood. She was short and round with whispy grey hair and tired eyes. “Salem. It’s all right sweetie. No one…”

“Yes they are!” The kid interrupted; rage high-pitched by tightly-held.

During the meeting, Coop’s HUD had mapped the room and marked the people in it. It had marked everyone as yellow, neutral, except Lieutenant Azor, who was marked green, ally. But the little yellow dot that marked the kid, Salem, shifted a touch, flickering red.

Coop looked at Salem. Though he couldn’t see it, his sensors told him something about the kid was shifting, changing.

The man on the dais puffed out his chest and pointed at Salem.

“Now you listen here, young lady! We won’t have you freaks…”

Coop focused on the kid. His HUD flicked again, a warning. The barest hint of a bulge pushed at Salem’s shoulders, something trying to get out, something Salem poured every ounce of will into keeping within.

“Shut up,” Salem growled.

But the man didn’t hear. “Quite frankly, I think we should drag you before the Voice of Gaia, before the Father himself, and see what he has to say about you and your freaky little friends.”

“Shut up,” Salem said, a little louder. The bulges at their shoulders pushed harder, becoming more obvious. Similar bulges pressed at their shirt, down their spine.

The man on the stage turned on the grey-haired woman with tired eyes. He was full of bluster, pointing at her aggressively. “And as for you, Ms. Kitward…”

“Shut up!”

Coop moved the moment before. He pushed off the wall and the building creaked. He moved around so he was in front of Salem, facing them, knelt, and wrapped the kid in an embrace, not quite touching, spacing his four arms to they blocked shoulders, elbows, knuckles and hips, hoping his torso would be enough to shield the joints below the kid’s waist.

The room gasped and drew back, but Coop ignored them. He spent his next moment, focusing on his HUD. He was at X% energy, it was a risk, but he engaged the telekinetic shield of the Quietgaze simian. He was just in time. His body was enveloped in the shimmering purple of the shield just before Salem’s skin parted with a whiff of cooking meat. Spines launched from every joint in their body. Coop’s shield spat and fuzzed, but shattered most of the spines. Those that didn’t shatter lodged in the behemoth hide of his armor. His HUD showed no damage.

Salem’s face was not quite level with Coop’s, but he could see the fear and pain in their eyes. Around them, the room erupted.

“You hurt?” Coop whispered.

Salem swallowed hard, then shook their head.

“Deep breaths.”

Salem nodded. Tears slipped down their cheeks. They opened their mouth to breath, but the air hitched in their throat. There was a moment of wide-eyed panic.

“It’s all right. Close your eyes, unclench your jaw, the breath will come without trying.” Coop’s voice was low and quiet, like the rumble of a passing truck a block and a half away. But Salem nodded.

“Close your eyes,” Coop said again. The kid did as they were told. “Unclench your jaw…” The kid trembled for a moment, and another, before their jaw relaxed and they took an involuntary breath. “Well done,” Coop said. “Now, Stay behind me, all right?”

Salem nodded again.

The panicked hubbub of the room died as Coop stood slowly and turned to face them. The crowd shied back. Coop gave his HUD a mental tap and the telekinetic shield dropped. Those spines lodged in his armor clattered to the floor.

He’d dropped a point to X%.

The man on the dais smoothed the front to his jacket. “Well.” He cleared his throat. “We’ve seen her do this before, yes? Giant bone spikes lodged in walls after a tantrum. This is precisely what I was talking about. These freaks are dangerous. They should be kept away from us regular—”

He stopped speaking when Coop slowly turned his head to put the full gaze of his skull faceplate upon him.

“You’ve seen this before?” Coop asked.

The man blinked and cleared his throat and stammered. “Um, y-yes?”

“And you provoked them anyway?

“I… what?”

“You knew what would happen, but you provoked a child with an untrained power in a room full of people.”

The man licked his lips and took a step back. “I didn’t…”

“Yes. You did.” Coop lowered his register and his volume just a tick. The gathered leaned in. He clasped his hands behind his back and cocked his head, doing his best to make his hulking frame a little less intimidating.

“I understand this is frightening. I’ve fought both beast and humans and I know what it is to fear for my life. I also know what it is to be the one who is feared.” He raised his upper arms to shoulder height, spreading his hands. Then he raised his lower arms. “I’m new here. I’m not good at problems I can’t hit. And I’m not going to tell a room full of people I don’t much like, what to do with their lives. But I can tell you that this child only needs what we all need.” He lowered his arms and tried to affect a pose of relaxed patience.

Silence murmured in the room: uncomfortable shifting, embarrassed throat clearing, impatient looks directed at him.

He scanned the crowd, nudging his HUD, and found Lieutenant Azor sitting next to Mrs. Kitward. His lower back throbbed and his upper left shoulder ached, and the crick in his neck tightened. He wanted to go home.

It was the man on the dais who spoke. “Um… what is that?”

“What?” Coop returned his attention to the man.

“Um… what is it… that the kid… needs?”

Coop looked down at Salem, tucked under his lower right arm, just behind his armored legs, their new pink tanktop shredded down the back, their worn jeans with new holes at knees and hips. Tears slid down their cheeks and their breathing was tremulous. But their fists were no longer clenched.

Coop looked back up at the man and gestured vaguely. “Someone more like Mrs. Kitward and less like you

The crowd murmured, but Coop did care. He looked at Lieutenant Azor. “I would like to go home, please. This crowd…” He shifted, but everything still hurt. “It makes me itch.”

• • •

Lieutenant Azor put on a record. It was one Coop hadn’t heard before, or at least that he couldn’t remember hearing. It was symphonic, full of strings and woodwinds with deep, hooting base to keep a rhythm. Coop had plucked a paperback off the shelf without looking and tried to focus on reading, but everything hurt and his thoughts throbbed.

“It bothers me.”

“What’s that?” Lieutenant Azor looked up from where she sat at the counter, reading from a large binder.

Coop stared at her for a moment, not realizing he’d spoken. He wondered if prolonged time without updating his HUD in a regulation charging pod was making him absent minded.

“That they were ready to exile a child. Just because they’re different.”

Lieutenant Azor nodded. “The UPSF has been trying to keep the development of humans born with beast powers under wraps, but it’s going to come out soon enough. I think the key will be remembering that people with powers are still people. There are precedents—”

“The UPSF would do well to remember it too,” Coop said.

Lieutenant Azor cocked her head at him. He wondered if she’d picked the mannerism up from him. “How do you mean?”

“Forced enlistment,” Coop said. At her shocked look, he grunted. “I shouldn’t have assumed. What’s your…” Coop shook his head. “Fuck clearance.” He outlined the rescue mission and the cadets who hadn’t wanted to return to the UPSF.

“But that’s illegal,” Lieutenant Azor said.

Coop shrugged. “So is murder, but here we are.”

“Targeted assassination of an enemy combatant—”

“It’s still murder,” said Coop. “Even with legal justification, our plan is to murder the Father. But just because its legal doesn’t mean it’s right. And just because it’s illegal doesn’t mean the UPSF won’t do it.”

“That sounds like sedition, Commander.”

“You going to arrest me?”

Lieutenant Azor swallowed and looked away. After several moments, she said, “I was proud of you. At the meeting. Standing up for that kid. You didn’t have to do that.”

“So that’s a no?”

“No. I’m not going to arrest you. Not my job anyway. If anything…” She scowled, stood and paced. “Never mind.” She walked the length of the room, from the kitchen counter to the wall against which Coop sat and back again.

“You were going to say it’s Kamala’s job.”

Lieutenant Azor shrugged. “I’d rather not talk about him right now.”

“Seriously, what’s going on with you two?” Coop winced at his own prying question.

“He’s a fucking asshole, that’s what.”

Coop would have bit his tongue if he had one.

“I thought we had a nice thing going. We agreed to a no-strings relationship, just physical. You can’t get emotionally involved with someone you’re working with. Not romantically, anyway. But then he started talking about ‘really liking me’ and asking personal questions. He asked for my name. My real name.”

“He was fishing for information?”

Lieutenant Azor nodded. “He said it was because he likes me, but…”

“You want me to kill him for you?”

Lieutenant Azor stopped and looked at him, wide-eyed. Then she laughed, small at first, little bubbling giggles that built into great gales bordering on sobs that dissolved into gasping titters so severe she had to sprawl upon the floor until her breath returned. Coop watched, concerned at first, but happy he’d been able to get her to laugh.

Eventually, Lieutenant Azor stretched out on her back, pointed her toes, and looked back at Coop, tilting her head so she looked at him upside down.

“You were kidding, right?”

Coop shrugged. “Sure.”

She blinked and a few tears escaped to run down her crinkled forehead into her hairline. “What’s that mean?”

“What do you think it means?”

Lieutenant Azor turned over onto her tummy and propped up on her elbows. “Uncle Coop, you can’t kill Kamala.”

“Sure I could. It’d be easy.”

Her expression turned serious. “No, I mean… You just to told me…” She narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re teasing me.”

It felt nice, goofing around with a comrade. He could not remember if he’d ever done it before. For a moment, his body felt light.

“I am.”

Lieutenant Azor’s expression melted to relief and she laughed. “You had me worried for a moment.”

“It would though,” he said.

She cocked her head again.

“Be easy,” Coop elaborated. “He’s no match for me.”

Lieutenant Azor snorted. “Stop that.”

“I could lure him to the edge of town.”

She giggled.

“Drag him off into the woods around Shellback.”

“Uncle Coop…” Her giggles intensified.

“Drop him over the side of the shell and that’d be that.”

“That’s not funny,” she said between snorting laughter. It was several minutes before Lieutenant Azor could get her giggles under control again.