I could only imagine the bloodbath if Gaea hadn’t been here to keep everyone in check.

One of my hands instinctively twitched towards my gun when Bonesmith took his seat. Thankfully, I wasn’t the only one outraged by his presence. Wildfire stood, a vicious, snarling heat curled off his body. His colleagues took this as their cue to back away from the potential timebomb.

“What is this?” His demand came from a guttural growl. He pointed at the group of Cains, before turning to Gaea with a violent snarl. “You brought them here under truce, after what they’ve done?”

“After what Grim has done,” Gaea corrected. Her tone was even but there was a hint of warning. “They reached out to me and expressed their desire for an alliance against Grim. I doubt it will put your mind at ease but I’ve already validated their sincerity.”

The Queen’s Court had Mentalists. That wasn’t surprising in the slightest.

“Grim’s actions go beyond reason and he endangers us all,” Bonesmith said, laying out his case. “We have been secretly working against him but we are not making much headway. We do not support Grim and we have come here today because we all share a common goal.”

“Bullshit,” I said. Once again, the words slipped from my mouth without any real thought. I’d sooner trust a rabid dog not to bite me than accept his words as truth. “You expect us to believe that?”

Bonesmith and Banshee turned and stared at me. Mirage just grinned, subtly blowing me an air kiss to try and get on my nerves. Unfortunately, he was succeeding, and the urge to shoot him only intensified. The only thing keeping me in check was Gaea sitting mere meters away.

They wanted to use me and my powers to aid in their coup against him.

That’s why they had been so insistent on getting me – why they had been so reckless to chase me at the mall.

They’re desperate…

“The boy is right. Ever since you’ve come to town, your degeneracy has known no limits,” Wildfire’s words cut deep and it was easy to tell that it wasn’t just a personal opinion, but one shared by Pandora as a whole. “You’re poison; a cancer to this city. I’ve been waiting for the day that I could cleanse—”

“Enough,” Gaea’s bored tone cut through his words. “We are not here for you to squabble.”

“A little warning would have gone a long way,” I said, taking my shot at the infamous super. She was a mountain and I was but an ant under its shadow. The difference between us couldn’t be understated but my fear was being overruled by anger and petulance. “Did you expect us to just happily go along with this?”

Gaea didn’t even look in my direction. “Your personal grudge with them is irrelevant. As I have already said, their desires are genuine.”

I felt my jaw tighten. “And we’re supposed to just believe that?”

She turned and stared at me as I felt Alice reach out to grip my shoulder. She squeezed tightly and I felt myself stop breathing. I wasn’t sure if that was my own fear or her doing but I knew I had screwed up. I internally cursed and kicked myself for agreeing to sit in this chair.

“I am in agreement,” Wildfire said, pulling all the animosity off me. I felt myself relax when Gaea looked away but Alice’s grip dug into my shoulder. The warning was clear – don’t do that again. “Why should we believe you? These scum have been following Grim around like lost lambs since their group’s inception. The man is old, not stupid, who’s to say they aren’t spies?”

“We are not!” Bonesmith slammed his fist down on the table. His glare was like fire and I realized this was the first time I was seeing his costume in person. From head to toe, he was covered in a white bone-like armor. “Grim once promised safety. A brotherhood unlike any other – people we could thrive with! That is no longer his concern. Something has corrupted his mind. No longer is he the man I knew.”

There was anger in his voice I was not expecting. My stomach churned when I realized that he might actually have respected him. Then, I remembered he was an infamous Caribbean pirate, driven into hiding by Foresight.

There was honor amongst mass murderers, it seemed.

“Grim is a madman. Always has been,” Wildfire snorted. “To think anything else is nothing but delusion.”

“Think what you will,” Bonesmith countered dismissively. “He has crossed a line even we cannot condone.”

The irony had me snorting. His head turned and I saw his glare.

“Something you find funny?” Banshee chimed in on his behalf. My gaze shifted between all of them as I contemplated my words.

“Just seems hypocritical, considering the shit you guys tried to pull,” I shifted in my seat and leaned forward, resting an elbow on the table. “Where exactly do you draw the line, human experimentation? You clearly have no problems with abduction.”

“We are no different from anyone else sitting at this table,” Bonesmith argued, looking over toward the Pandora supers.

Wildfire roared with laughter. “How typical. Again with these accusations,” he shook his head and sighed like someone who was tired of repeating themselves. “We liberate the helpless and give them direction, purpose—”

“By enslaving them,” Alice cut in, her tone cold and full of hatred. “Go ahead and try to paint your organization's actions as anything but. We all know what you’re really about.”

Wildfire didn’t react but a few of his associates did. They scowled and looked ready to argue but held their tongues.

“The people we take in are free to leave our protection whenever they wish. That’s what you all fail to understand. They come to us for help because we are their betters, we are the gifted of this world,” Wildfire waved his hand dismissively. “But we have not come here to discuss morality, so let’s not get sidetracked.”

Bonesmith grumbled. “Grim must be stopped.”

“Killed,” Wildfire corrected. “That is the only outcome Pandora will accept. Grim must die, nothing less.”

“We are in agreement,” Gaea said.

“I suppose you have a plan then. Otherwise you wouldn’t have gone out of your way to call this meeting,” I said. “Grim’s weakness has been speculated for years. Do we know it? Do we have any leads, anything at all? Otherwise I don’t like our chances of trying to kill a living shadow.”

I was met with silence.

Everyone exchanged glances and I could see the people lurking around the edges of the room tense as the silence lingered.

“A plan?” Gaea mused. “If I had such a thing, I would have dealt with Grim myself. No, this meeting is to establish boundaries; to form a truce until Grim is either dead or gone. I will not have us tear this city apart while Grim continues to cause unrest. There will be no infighting. Cooperation is beneficial.”

Her tone was almost clinical. I felt like shuddering. I could practically hear the politician in her.

“A truce?” My skin crawled the moment Mirage started speaking. “Hmm… I suppose it could work. Yes, could work, could work. The only question is if everyone here will honor it,” he looked around and I saw his gaze linger on me. “Contrary to what you might think, we are not stupid. I know you want us all gone. Not just Grim. Some of you will think this… alliance will be the perfect excuse to wipe us all out,” his head turned to Wildfire and the rest of Pandora. “You said it yourself, hm? You’ve been waiting to… how did you say it, cleanse us?”

“Yes,” Wildfire didn’t even hesitate. “Your gang of degenerates are a blight on this city,” he leaned back in his chair confidently and crossed his arms. “But Grim is the more immediate threat. With him gone, you won’t have any support worth mentioning. If you survive the fighting, dealing with the remnants of your group will be trivial.”

Mirage chuckled. “You sound very confident there, my friend.”

“It’s a simple observation,” Wildfire countered.

“Without Grim, you three aren’t much,” I joined in, glaring at Mirage. I looked past them at the other couple of supers they had managed to bag. “Your new help doesn’t look like much either. So now, I’m wondering why you even bothered to show up. What exactly do you hope to achieve? Do you hope to wrestle control of a gang that’s barely holding itself together?”

I couldn’t see the logic. They’d be trampled and picked at by other gangs and supers until there was nothing left. It was a losing game, they had to know this. The smarter play would’ve been just to skip town but they had come here instead. So either they were either stupid, or they had another card up their sleeve.

Given that Mirage was here, I had to assume it was the latter.

“You underestimate the number of those loyal to us,” Banshee sneered.

“Irrelevant,” Alice dismissed her statement. “Even if you had all of the remaining Cains loyal to you, it wouldn’t be enough. Your resources are severely weakened, and whatever’s left isn’t even worth picking back up. Face it, whatever your plan is to salvage your gang will fail. Without Grim, you become significantly less threatening and that makes you competition for the rest of us,” I could practically hear the smile on her face. “Do you really think we’re just going to let you pick up the pieces?”

A lot of the independents in the room sneered. A couple of them were clearly standing in groups and agreed with Alice.

Even still, Mirage looked unbothered.

“So hostile,” he chuckled. “Who's to say we aren’t doing this out of the kindness of our hearts?”

No one was amused by his joke.

“So hard to believe, hm? No one?” He looked around, nodding to himself. “Ah, fair enough. I wouldn’t believe it either.”

“We are getting off-track,” Gaea stated, impatience bleeding into her words.

“And yet you call this meeting without a plan to dispose of him,” Wildfire criticized. “You might be able to make yourself look younger but it seems you can’t stop your mind from failing,” he chuckled slowly. “You’re getting—”

“Insults are not necessary,” Springsong said, silencing the man with her inaudible song. He reached for his neck and scowled. The object of his ire stood proudly by Gaea’s side, staring down at him as if he were an insect to be squashed. “Consider that your one warning.”

Wildfire grunted. “Was wondering how long it’d take to get a reaction.”

“Liberation’s judgment must be slipping if he sent you to act as Pandora’s voice,” Gaea mused. “Another comment like that and you won’t like what happens. I did not call you all here to trade insults. Unless we want this city to descend into chaos, we must do what the ECU refuses to. I will not entertain that conclusion. We will work together.”

Wildfire rolled his eyes. “Very well. I’m done trading barbs. I’d like to know about this ‘human experimentation’ the boy brought up,” he turned and stared at me from across the table.

“That involves Grim and another reason for the need for a truce,” Gaea said. “A Bunker was discovered within the Cains’ territory. They had people taken and were being experimented on by a third party.”

“Masquerade,” Bonesmith said. “He and Grim have an agreement.”

“What?” Wildfire’s tone changed dramatically. He no longer had that goading edge to his voice. “What kind of agreement?”

“We were not privy to that information,” Banshee said.

Alice laughed. “Not exactly subtle about it, were you?”

“Masquerade's involvement with Grim spelled the beginning of the end for our brotherhood,” Bonesmith said. “I have seen this play out before, men tempted by things beyond their grasp. I was loyal to Grim, I spoke out against this ‘agreement’. My input was ignored.”

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

I half expected a snarky quip from Wildfire but the man was silent. His attention was locked on Bonesmith, his shoulders rigid. Masquerade was dangerous, that much was obvious but to evoke such caution from Wildfire only served to reinforce his prestige.

“Seduced by false promises and delusions,” Gaea mused. “Masquerade has always had a forked tongue. Grim was likely offered something too enticing to refuse.”

“Which is what, exactly?” I asked, looking around. “And what does it have to do with Artificial Awakenings?”

“Artificial Awakenings?” Wildfire parroted in disbelief. There was a noticeable sense of unrest within the Pandora supers. “Explain. Now.”

“We were there,” Alice said. “We were the ones that discovered the Bunker, with some help of course,” she gestured to Springsong and Gaea. “Between the evidence down there and some insight from my power, I am very certain that’s what they were trying to achieve.”

“There was Mechatech supplied by Fireiron Industries,” Gaea said, looking directly at the present Cains. “The Iron Maiden has a history of being unethical. Many of the supers under her command have been Artificially Awakened—”

Wildfire’s fist hit the table harder than Bonesmith had.

“THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!”

Alice grumbled under her breath.

“And heeeeere we go.”

“You dare toy with the gifts bestowed upon us!?” Wildfire stood, head whipping toward Bonesmith and the rest of the Cains so quickly I was surprised it didn’t pop off entirely. “Filth. Absolute filth, all of you! Right under our noses… in our city. I should kill you all where you stand and scatter your ashes to the winds!”

“You will sit down,” Gaea interjected, her tone level. “Grim has crossed the line and they want no part of his schemes, else they wouldn’t be here.”

“And where might that line be? At what point were his actions too far gone?” His venomous words didn’t seem to have the intended effect because the Cains remained still and silent. They withstood his outburst without even flinching like they had known it was coming. “I have stomached your existence in my city for too long. I will have no part in this.”

“You and your ridiculous religion,” Gaea sighed dramatically. “If you leave here today, you and yours will not be protected by any truce, and let me warn you, I will not be kind.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Wildfire sneered.

“You’re in my domain. The only reason any of you are still alive is because I allow it.”

An uneasy silence hung over the Pandora group and I watched with bated breath to see what would happen. I half expected Wildfire to walk away, but to my surprise, he stood rooted to the spot. I could see in his body language the weight of his decision before ultimately, he slowly lowered himself back into his chair.

“Let it be known that I am not excusing their actions. There are enough problems in the world as it is and I loathe to add to them,” Gaea brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes before gesturing for the bar staff to bring her a refill. “Our goal is simple and everyone should understand what needs to be done. We will put a stop to these experiments and the one operating them.”

“Grim is not in charge?” Wildfire grunted.

“No,” Bonesmith said. “There is another. They consult with Grim in private. None of us were able to figure out who they are.”

I remembered my conversation with Alex and the potential biokinetic running these experiments.

Splicer…

Everyone’s heads turned to me, causing me to sit up in my chair.

Shit, did I say that out loud?

I met Gaea’s gaze and managed to hold my nerve.

“What do you know?” She asked.

Up until now, I had been involved in the meeting, speaking whenever I felt like I could get a word in, regardless of the subject. My nerves simply wouldn’t allow me to just sit quietly. However, now that the spotlight was squarely on me, I felt the pressure, the stares of every super in the room, including one of the most powerful people to ever walk the planet. It was suffocating and I nearly choked on my nerves when I turned to get a look at Alice, Anomaly, and Mia.

Alice’s face was blank. She was rolling with what I had said but I could tell she was shocked. I hadn’t brought up Splicer prior to the meeting because it had slipped my mind. There was so much to keep track of. I’d have to develop something to keep myself on top of things… like an upgraded calendar.

Ugh, upgraded calendar… what even—

“Well?”

I could hear the impatience in Gaea’s tone.

“I did some digging after our assault on the Bunker,” I started, trying to gather my nerves. “Came across Splicer’s name.”

“How?” Gaea pressed, curious. “I doubt this information was easy to come by, seeing as it slipped past some of my own.”

I didn’t miss the concealed frustration in her tone. Still, I wasn’t about to sell out my sister, regardless of who was asking.

“I have connections.”

“Clearly,” Gaea took a sip of her glass. “What do you know?”

I bit my lip, feeling the gazes of everyone in the room intensify. Alex had only ever given me basic background info on the guy. His name was the biggest clue to what his powers could be but other than his identity, there was nothing worth mentioning.

“That he’s been traveling around a bit before he ended up here and that he’s still in the city. Other than that I haven’t been able to dig up anything,” I shook my head. “Honestly, I don’t even know if he’s the guy that Grim and Masquerade have been working with. Just a suspect I’ve been investigating.”

“It’s better than nothing,” Wildfire grumbled. “I’ll have people look into it.”

Mirage applauded. “Progress. This is good, yes?”

“So, you were the ones to discover all this?” Wildfire said, ignoring Mirage’s comment, his gaze was firmly locked on me. “I have to say, if it wasn’t for Alice standing behind you, I’d be wondering why you were given a seat at this table,” he crossed his arms and sat up straight. “That’s the most you’ve contributed since this meeting started.”

“And you’ve yet to contribute at all,” Alice said. “Honestly, I was hoping you would’ve taken the opportunity to leave when you did. Things would be so much easier…”

“I’m not here to contribute. I’m here to listen to Gaea’s proposition,” Wildfire retorted. “And so far, this alliance doesn’t seem very enticing, nor beneficial. Pandora doesn’t need anyone’s help. We’ve kept Grim at bay for years—”

“If Grim wished, he could drown this entire city in his shadow and turn it into a graveyard in an afternoon. You have not kept him at bay, you’ve entertained him,” Gaea said, sounding bereft of patience. “And now he’s no longer content with sitting behind the frontlines. I thought the massacre would have made that obvious to you.”

For the first time, someone behind Wildfire spoke out.

“You fucking bitch,” they stepped forward with glowing hands. “Don’t you dare talk about Flare—”

The unnamed super fell over like their strings had been cut, their body hitting the floor like a sack of potatoes.

Gaea sipped her glass as the people around the body stepped away in horror.

“You were all warned,” she turned to a fuming Wildfire. “The next one of your cultists to speak out of turn kills you all.”

Wildfire and the rest of Pandora answered with a hate-filled stare.

“What I propose is simple. Cooperate to minimize Grim’s ability to operate. Should that prove too difficult for you, then the alternative is a cease fire. Do not cause trouble for each other,” Gaea said. “Can we at least agree on the latter?”

There were a lot of reluctant nods and grumbling affirmations from everyone in the room.

“A historic moment,” Mirage said with a smile. “Wish I brought my phone. I’d take a picture and put it on my fridge.”

This fucking guy…

“It only took us two hours,” Alice commented. “I do believe that’s a new record. Now, we just need to figure out how to kill the big ol’ shadow himself.”

“Easier said than done,” Wildfire said, looking toward the Cains. “We need a weakness.”

“Grim has no weakness,” Bonesmith said with certainty.

“We’ll talk in circles if we sit here and debate how we kill him,” I said. “He’s invested in whatever Masquerade’s got going on here and it has something to do with Artificial Awakenings. Our best way of fighting him is figuring out what his goal is,” I reluctantly stared at the renegade Cains. “Unfortunately, I doubt you guys know anything.”

Their group was silent for a moment until Banshee spoke up.

“I recall Grim was adamant that working with Masquerade was necessary.”

“For what?” Alice asked before shaking her head. “Nevermind. If you knew, you’d say. Though, that in itself is a big clue. He wants something and he’s willing to kill a lot of people to get it. So, let’s lay out what we know. Masquerade is involved, along with someone called Splicer. They’re taking people and experimenting on them to try and awaken them. To what end?”

“To build an army?” Springsong offered.

Gaea disagreed. “Grim doesn’t need an army.”

“Maybe he’s getting weaker,” Wildfire said with a low chuckle. “He’s been around for a long time and no one knows what happens to our gifts as we age.”

“He was never concerned about his age,” Bonesmith countered. “I do not believe that is the case.”

“Clearly, he doesn’t tell you anything. Just because he hasn’t discussed it with you, doesn’t mean it isn’t a concern,” Wildfire said. “He’d appear weak and it was obvious you already had issues with his leadership.”

Banshee replied with something snarky that I completely missed and the room descended into bickering. This time, Gaea didn’t bother to stop it. The arguments seemed too petty to turn violent so I just sat back and watched as Pandora traded insults with the renegade Cains. Even the independents hovering in the background got involved, wanting to say their piece after having to remain silent all this time.

“This is a nightmare…” I muttered. “I’m not sure how we’re supposed to achieve anything.”

Alice came up and stood next to me. “Yep. The best we can hope for is a cease fire at this point. There’s almost always too much bad blood for any real team up.”

Once again, my gaze drifted back to the Cains. Mirage wasn’t really paying attention to the bickering. Instead, he found his amusement in watching Gaea. When he noticed we were looking, he sent me a smug look. The thought of teaming up with him made me physically ill, I’d much prefer to fight Grim alone than deal with him.

“You know, I think I can understand that.”

“Your gripes with them are tame in comparison. Imagine the kind of crap they’ve put Pandora through. Vise versa, each side would rather kill each other than work together. The only thing stopping that is sitting in that chair,” she gestured to Gaea and grimaced. “And it looks like she no longer cares to keep the peace.”

Gaea finished her drink before handing it to Springsong to take away. After that, she looked in our direction, meeting our gazes without shrinking away. Then, without a care in the world, she lifted a hand and pointed.

I felt confused at first, thinking she was pointing at me. I felt like a kid again, back at school, thinking I had been singled out by the teacher, only to realize that the person behind me was the actual target. I followed Gaea’s gaze until my eyes landed on Mia. She seemed to notice that Gaea was pointing at her and shrunk away. Anomaly stepped in front of her protectively but Gaea just rolled her eyes.

“You, girl. I will speak with you.”

Gaea’s voice was barely audible over the noise but Mia heard it.

Despite her disguise, I could easily see how terrified she was. Slowly, she edged her way over toward Gaea. We watched from a distance as the two had a private conversation that was drowned out by the chaotic arguing that only seemed to be getting louder.

“She knows,” Alice muttered. “Gaea can read biology. She knows Mia’s the one we rescued.”

“What does she want with her?” I asked.

“Information,” Alice replied swiftly. “This meeting’s pretty much over. Gaea’s just fishing for anything she can get at this point. That reminds me,” she leaned over into my ear. “We need to talk about how you knew about Splicer.”

I cringed and looked away.

“I’m not mad. You didn’t have anything more than a name. I wouldn’t have been able to do much with that anyway. I’m more interested as to where you got it from,” she said. “But that can wait.”

I was surprised. I honestly thought she’d be more angry.

“That’s all?”

“If I get upset over every little slip, then we’re never going to work out. Besides I’m not perfect and everyone hates hypocrites,” she replied earnestly. “Plus, Gold says that you genuinely forgot and honestly it makes sense. We’ve had a lot to think about lately.”

I felt a weight lifted off my shoulders. I had been meaning to tell her about Alex. There was no guarantee she wouldn’t be mad about that but at this point, she deserved to know.

“Later then. Once we get out of here.”

“Yeah.”

We watched the private conversation for a few more moments before it wrapped up and Mia returned to us whiter than a sheet. Anomaly stepped forward intending to ask what the conversation was about since—

A sharp pain made me flinch.

It started in my temple and felt like the tip of a knife slowly pushing into the side of my brain. It was uncomfortable and made me nauseous. From the groans around me, it seemed I wasn’t the only one affected.

“Too much noise,” Gaea drawled as the room quietened down. The pain subsided, along with the rest of the nausea the quieter the room got. “I believe we have reached the end of this meeting. Clearly, none of us are interested in putting aside personal grievances, which is a shame. I had my hopes but once again, I am reminded of the kind of people I am forced to co-exist with.”

Mirage mockingly clutched his chest. “You wound me so.”

Gaea ignored him.

“Regardless, we’ve all agreed to a cease-fire. I will consider any who break it personal enemies,” she stood up and the table, along with all the chairs were reabsorbed into the floor. Alice caught me and pulled me to my feet before I hit the ground. “Now, I’d appreciate it if you saw yourselves out.”

Mirage flashed me a smile as the Cains were the first to leave.

Pandora quietly talked amongst themselves before leaving through another door.

Springsong came over and led us out the way we came and once the door shut and locked us out of the building.

Anomaly cleared his throat.

“Is it just me, or was all of that a complete waste of time?”

I wanted to protest but if I was being completely honest…

It felt like he had a point.