The leather seats bucked as the van screeched to a halt. We stopped in front of a bus stop, erected on the service lane. Catherine leaned forward, drumming her fingers on her thigh.

“Just to be clear,” she said. “You can't visit home, Chetachi. I don’t want you to do anything that could jeopardize your position.”

“I don't intend to.” I grabbed my knapsack and slid out of the car. “I'll be staying with friends. Nowhere close to home.”

Catherine pursed her lips. “May I convince you to return with me to the base one final time? You’re free to do what you want on your leave, but wandering around like this isn't exactly safe.”

“Sorry,” I mumbled and put on the most honest look I could manage. “So much has happened over the last three weeks, okay? I just need a breather.”

Sympathy shaded Catherine’s face. “Why don't you share with the therapist then? Or with me? I know I am your teacher”—she paused—“and your supervisor, and requisitions officer, and the occasional travel companion . . . but I am also a guidance counselor.” She smiled at me. “Maybe I can help?”

Darn it. Catherine was such a nice person. I felt bad for deceiving her, even though I did it to save a life.

Despite myself, I returned the smile. “I'll take you up on that offer after I return.”

Catherine held my gaze, and then she ducked back into the car. “I see your mind is made up. I will check up on you at intervals. However, should you find yourself in any trouble, do not hesitate to call.”

“Will do.”

The van sped off down the carriageway, leaving me alone on the road.

I dialed AV and raised the phone to my ear. “I'm in the clear. Operation Ratcase is a go.”

AV sighed. “That doesn't sound as fitting as you might think.”

“Well, I like it, so excuse me for being tacky.” I looked around the carriageway, feeling strangely exposed. “I'm hitching a ride to Sagidi. Any final tidbits I should know?”

“No. My sources haven't picked up on anything new. The Four-oh-Four has maintained a heavy presence in the area, though they’ve withdrawn from East end in recent days. You wouldn't want to be seen in costume, either way, Chetachi.”

I adjusted my bag, which held my costume alongside some ration bars and a change of clothes.

“If I am going to get shot at,” I said, as a bus approached the stop, “it better be in costume than out of it.”

The conductor on the bus yelled its destination. Not my stop.

“I still think we are going about this the wrong way,” I said, “but I will pretend to understand your reasons for now. I'm bailing at the first sign of trouble though. I’m not risking my life for you, no matter how much you offer.”

“That's fine with me,” AV said. “I have your pay waiting to be delivered in full to a dummy account.” He paused. “I can't thank you enough for this, Chetachi.”

“You can't. So, let's go over this again. I head for Sagidi east while staying out of the way of murderous gangsters. Are you sure your cousin will be at the location?”

“Positive,” AV said. “He won't be anywhere else.” A beeping noise emanated from his end of the line. “You need to find him. Fast. The Four-oh-Four don't take kindly to slights. They will come hunting for him in force.”

“What if I can’t convince him? I don't see why he would listen to me over any of your agents. I mean, I'm a superhero and he's a wanted Super. That's a volatile situation right there.”

“I don't have agents,” AV said, almost sourly. “I am not some mob boss. I have contacts I pay for information.”

“Uh-huh.”

“He will listen to you. Just let me talk to him.”

Another bus screeched to a stop. The conductor shouted locations at the top of his lungs.

“I guess we are done here,” I said. “I'll call again after I've made contact.”

“Very well.”

“One last thing.” I took a deep breath. “I’m doing you this favor, because I think your heart is in the right place. But I won’t pretend that your cousin isn’t wanted for murder. If he gives me any reason to believe my life is in jeopardy, I will respond in kind. Are we clear on that?”

“Chetachi—”

I ended the call.

The next bus was headed in the general direction of Sagidi, and I boarded it, settling into the front seat. AV didn't seem like the malicious sort, but a favorite adage of mine said ‘even kittens have sharp claws.’ I needed to take some precautions, just in case I was in over my head.

‘Working on something,’ I texted Alewo. ‘Might need a wingman later. Think you can pilot the HBK out without alerting the brass?’

Alewo replied the next instant. ‘I can if I flag it as a test ride.’ Then two minutes later. ‘What are we doing btw? Showing off to Eden?’

I resisted the urge to face-palm. ‘I'll contact you. Keep your line open.’

‘Got it. But you didn't say if it’s for Eden?’

I leaned against the window, watching the roads blur past.

God help me, but I needed to make better life choices. Starting with my choice of friends.

I arrived at my destination thirty minutes later. Sagidi hadn’t changed much since our fight with No Light. The environmental workers had cleared the initial piles of rubble, but they had also raised new ones in their place. Heavy machinery plied the roads, toppling buildings deemed unfit to continue. Without the crowd of on-lookers hanging around, I could finally picture the true extent of the damage.

It was horrible.

A large section of the Area had been levelled. Two streets, once teeming with houses, now lay flattened in ruin. The city had pegged the official number of casualties at forty-three, but a simple death toll didn’t capture the full picture. Many of the survivors would live on bearing physical or psychological injuries. It rankled something deep within me that the Four-oh-Four were taking advantage of the chaos to deepen their pockets. If the CAH couldn't step in to help in times like these, what then was the point?

I evened my breathing, letting the tremors bleed out of my arms. Focus now. Worry later. I opened a navigation app and followed its directions to the eastern half of Sagidi in pursuit of my quarry.

Sweat beaded my torso—a consequence of the hot, narrow, dust-filled streets. Ten minutes into the trek, I ran into the first problem.

“Hey, hey, hey,” a squat boy said. “Where are you going in such a hurry?”

I slowed to a stop.

Two hoodlums approached me, brandishing sneers on their ashen faces. Twenty-odd people loitered in the vicinity, but most were thugs and the rest looked so downtrodden I couldn't count on them to help. I had walked right into this one, hadn’t I? A consequence of my inattention. Sheesh.

“Hey,” one of the hoodlums lisped. “What are you looking at?” His mouth featured so many missing teeth, it was a miracle he could manage any kind of speech. “You think you can walk anyhow you like on our streets?”

The second hoodlum chortled. “He's a rich kid, that’s why.” He eyed my phone, scratching his neck. “You carry something, you give us, okay? That's the rule. It's rude to walk past like that.”

I shoved the phone into my pocket and rocked on the balls of my feet. Three weeks ago, I would have been scared out of my hide. But I’d fought a mecha and three Supers in that time, one of whom could kill with electricity. “Sorry,” I said, effecting a smile. “I have nothing on me. I'm as broke as you are.” Which was true.

The second hoodlum circled me, cutting off my escape. “You don't watch the news? Anything you can spare to help the rebuilding will be nice.”

What about a fist to the jaw? I could spare that.

The hoodlums advanced.

“Hold on,” I said, raising my bag. “This doesn't have to end like this. I think I might have something.” Without missing a beat, I stepped into the nearest one's guard and chopped his chest. He blasted toward the ground.

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I bolted after that, much to the laughter of the onlookers. The thugs, about twelve in all, gave chase.

My gosh. They seemed dead set on robbing me, didn’t they? I dodged around a vicious lunge and swung my bag into the attacker’s face. He fell with a cry. Two more suckers closed in on me, but I slipped between their fingers. The old me would have succumbed to panic and gassed out within five minutes. But this wasn’t the old Chetachi. Unpowered thugs weren’t going to stop me, not after my nightmarish drills with Kabash.

I put distance between me and my pursuers and dodged around a shanty to avoid the stones hurled at my head.

Shouts rose behind me. More thugs joined in the chase.

An older woman hanging her clothes out to dry laughed as I surged past her backyard.

“Run o,” she called. “Don't let them catch you.”

What?

A man laughed from his spot on a roadside bench. “The boys after you? You should have just given them a hundred naira.”

Fuck that! Was this some kind of sport?

I ran ten minutes straight before the sounds of pursuit receded. Then I leaned against a building wall, catching my breath.

“That was pretty impressive,” a quiet voice said.

I threw a fist.

The newcomer, a boy around my age, backed away. “Easy there, mate. I saw you running and figured you could use some help.”

Figured I could use some help, huh? At which point would he have finished figuring? By the time I was a corpse?

“Some help you were,” I said instead, wheezing out the words. My lungs throbbed like someone had taken a tractor to them and then rubbed the mush that remained with salt. “Was that entertaining enough for you?”

“No. Not really. I was planning to intervene.”

I heaved, recovering my breath. “Well, if you had eyes, you would see the chase is done. Thanks for nothing.”

He laughed. “Pleasure.”

I gave him a once-over. Despite his impressive physique, he didn't look like a thug. Not like the types who’d tried to accost me at least. “What's up with that anyway?” I asked. “Why didn't anyone step in to help? Is this some kind of pastime the residents indulge in?”

The boy frowned and slung a large backpack over his shoulder. “I wish it was.”

“Then what’s their problem?”

His expression fell. “You know how there's been a lot of vandalism going on, yeah? Gangsters have been moving in too, throwing people out of their homes.”

I didn't even grace him with a nod.

“Well,” he continued, “the local youth decided to do something about it. They patrol during the day and set up bonfires at night. In exchange, they fleece anyone who passes for a few bucks.”

“That's organized robbery.”

He shrugged. “Beats the organized looting we’ve had to deal with. If you have a problem with it, you can call the police.” He sighed. “Except, well, no one's seen them since the Supers got chased off.”

I turned away, continuing down the alley.

“Oi, where are you going?” he said.

“None of your business.”

“You know there’ve been demolitions, yeah? Be careful where you wander.”

I didn't answer. The sooner I left this dump, the better.

East end Sagidi hadn’t been affected by the gas explosion, but the region wasn’t spared the aftermath. A thick cloud of dust surrounded a demolition in progress, overseen by men in armored bulldozers. Residents traipsed across the wreckage or stood around them, some with tears in their eyes. AV had mentioned that the city government intended to rebuild Sagidi to planned standards, but this was all kinds of wrong. These people had survived one disaster. Inflicting another on them right after bordered on callous.

I stopped in front of my destination. The Luminary Christian Center was the only sturdy building on the street. Its bleached beige walls blended in with the dust, punctuated by tall windows stained with crust. A giant cross hung over the building's gable. A matching signboard stood outside the fence, bearing the center’s name.

The rickety gates bore a warning painted in white, but I slipped past anyway, crossing a lawn that was more stones than grass. I rang the doorbell, then knocked on the heavy gilded doors for good measure.

A young girl, no more than sixteen, cracked the door open. “Hello,” she said, eyes narrowed. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“Yes, hi,” I answered. “I’m here to see a friend?”

“Sorry, we aren't taking any more squatters at the moment. Didn't our gate guard tell you that?”

“I'm not here to squat. And I don't see a guard.”

The girl peeked behind me, noting the open gate and the empty gatehouse. She groaned. “Not again.”

I could sympathize. I knew Jimoh, after all. Gatemen in the city had a propensity for abandoning their duty posts.

The girl closed the door. “I'm sorry, I will have to ask you to return tomorrow.”

“Please, wait!” I wedged my foot in the entrance. “Hold on—”

She banged the door.

Ouch!

“What the hell? What are you doing here?”

I turned toward the new voice, cringing at its owner.

The boy with the bag from earlier walked through the gate. A shit-eating grin spread across his face. “You were headed to the Center? No way! We could have just gone on together.”

“Jason,” the girl behind the door said, “you know this guy?”

“Yeah, let him in, Sarah. I'm sure he means no harm.”

“He tried to force his way in,” she said, throwing daggers at me with her eyes.

“It was a misunderstanding,” I argued. “You didn’t even give me a chance.”

“Come on, Sarah. It's no big,” Jason said.

Sarah’s jaw bulged. She let us into the building.

The interior of the bungalow was clean, despite its decrepit front yard. Babies cried somewhere in the building, clashing with a hubbub of other activities. A group of kids ran past as we exited the anteroom into a large, planted atrium. The kids chattered animatedly as they went, jostling a carton of books between their tiny hands.

“Don't think of staying too long,” Sarah said, “our center is filled to the brim. We ran out of bunks three days ago, so newcomers lay their beddings on the floor. You won't find a single spot to sleep in.”

“I have a home,” I said.

“Well, good for you,” Sarah replied. “Many here did too. Not anymore. Finish whatever you came to do, then beat it back to wherever you came from.”

“You are being rude, Sarah,” Jason said. He turned a genial smile on me. “Forgive her. Everyone's been on edge lately, what with the looting and the demolitions. Sarah’s been doing all she can to keep everyone comfortable, but that just means she's snappier than usual.”

Sarah snorted.

“No offense taken,” I said. “I’m sorry for being inconsiderate. It’s been a long week.”

“A weird one too,” Jason said. “The center barely got any visitors in the last month. Then boom—disaster strikes, and half the residents lose roofs over their heads. We couldn’t turn them away, so there you have it: an impromptu IDP camp. Doesn't help that our funding didn't see much increase. We're making do however we can.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Wait, you're in charge here?”

He nodded. “Junior Pastor. But that’s only because we haven't been assigned a senior one since the last got transferred.”

We passed two dormitories, both of which looked nothing like the ones at Base. Double bunks had been jam-packed into every corner, many of them filled with an occupant anywhere between seven years and fifty. Some of the younger ones cheered as they saw Jason and rushed out to greet him.

“No snacks today,” Jason said.

A collective ‘aww’ rose from the kids.

He dropped his bag, glancing at Sarah. “I’ve got hygiene stuff though. And some beans. This means we can finally switch our menu tonight.”

Sarah lifted the bag with ease, which was impressive, considering it had been heavy enough to stoop Jason. “The girls will be pleased,” she said. “You have no idea what we had to make do with.”

Jason laughed.

I wrinkled my nose.

“Come on, mate,” he said, leading me past the dorms toward the backyard. “I'll hear your questions now.”

We strode past corridors filled with upright mattresses. A few people littered those corridors, standing or sitting forlornly. For once, I was the best dressed in a room—a realization that caused me to avert my gaze. It didn't quite bestow the elation I thought it would as a kid.

“How many people do you have here?” I asked, making small talk.

“About seventy,” Jason said. “Give or take. Most of them only show up at night to sleep. The dormitories were installed years ago to shelter homeless youths. But well, you've been out there. You've seen how crazy it is. The youths remain a priority, but we can't ignore the kids or their families.”

I nodded to myself. “It must be troublesome to secure and provide for all these people.”

“Make no mistake,” Jason said, and his eyes glinted, “we only allow believers to squat here. Bonus points if they frequented weekly services before the disaster. We can’t take chances with rape or stabbings, what with the number of crazies wandering the streets. We have enough problems with feeding and bed space without worrying about who prowls around at night.”

“I still can't imagine it being easy.”

“It isn't,” he agreed. “But that's why you ought to forgive Sarah. The strong ones among us barely get a moment to rest. We have no other choice.”

He stopped at the backyard where a group of teens sat in a circle and gestured to an empty spot by the railings. “We have bible class at the chapel in a few minutes so I'd prefer you get straight to the point. You don't look like you need a place to stay.”

“I don't,” I said. “I am looking for Lekan.”

Jason's smile dipped at the sides. “We don't know anyone by that name here.”

“Maybe, but can you make this easier for me? I need to speak with him. Someone he cares about has info on a matter concerning his safety. It's kind of urgent.”

“We don't know anyone by that name.”

The other residents must have picked up on some cue from Jason because they advanced on our position. I was willing to bet naira to earwax that AV was right on the money. Lekan was holed up in here, and his friends had good reason to be suspicious of strangers.

“I'm not an enemy,” I said. “If Lekan is here, tell him family came calling. I can leave my number if that will help. But we don't have much time. Bad things are about to happen. To all of you.”

“I don't know a Lekan,” Jason maintained. “And I think it's time you leave.”

His people formed a semi-circle around us, their expressions severe. I rose to my feet and allowed them to escort me back through the atrium. Sarah busied herself distributing toiletries to a small crowd of girls. She smirked as I passed her.

“Someone painted a large X on the gate,” I called out to no one in particular. “This building is up for demolition, is it not?”

“They have no right,” a boy said. “We have proper papers and everything! The Center followed town-planning specifications.”

Jason hissed and the boy clamped his jaw.

“You have been asked to evacuate,” I said. “And you are resisting.”

“That's none of your business,” Jason replied. “If you are one of the government thugs, tell your paymasters that we won't let them force us out of our home. We know our rights. We did nothing wrong.”

Lekan knew this too. He wasn’t just fighting the Four-oh-Four on principle. If the syndicate was leveraging their influence on the government to displace these people, I could see why he fought as hard as he did. He had friends to protect. Sarah and Jason had both gotten defensive at perceived threats to their home. If Lekan was anything like the two of them, he wouldn’t leave just because I warned him to flee. He would stay to fight the Four-oh-Four, to see the conflict all the way through to the end. This was bad.

“AV, we have problems,” I said into my phone once out of the Center's range.

“Yes?”

“I haven't confirmed Lekan’s location, but I have little doubt he is hiding at the center. Problem is, the building has been marked for demolition. Wrongly too, I assume. This isn't going to end well until we reverse whatever decision got this approved.”

“I can do that,” AV said. “But we don't have the time.”

“What do you mean?”

AV coughed a little. “My contact has warned that the Four-oh-Four are massing thugs nearby. He believes they intend to march on East end tonight.”

My heart sank. “Ain't that peachy.”

“Find Lekan,” AV pressed. “Get him out of there. Please, Chetachi. The building can be salvaged in the future. But if he remains in Sagidi and presses this issue, he could lose his life.”

As could I.

I shoved the phone into my pocket and made a fist around it. I’d suspected this. Suspected that I could end up going in over my head.

The current course of things put me on track to fight the Four-oh-Four.

Why wasn’t I bailing yet?