{Pil}

Ross’ head hadn’t hurt this much since she and Kyle scanned all the memory drives Tumu brought back from Razor’s Emporium. The vein pounding along her temple felt close to exploding. And why shouldn’t it? She’d only scanned a million people since arriving at the promenade on Pil.

All their memories returned to the same image. A sixty-five foot Tritan stomping along their homes and businesses.

But their words said something different.

“Rayne.”

“The War King and her accomplice, Primary Tumu.”

“That damned Progeny woman escaped her box and destroyed our people.”

All of them liars.

Ross frowned, on the brink of tears. Hot, frustrated tears. She caught Devis across the main thoroughfare. He shook his head in disbelief. Both of them knew better.

She muttered, “This is exhausting.”

X shrugged beside her and whispered, “They’re frightened.”

Twenty-One stood behind them, taking the role of bodyguard literally. “They make a mockery of King Rayne’s sacrifice.”

“King Rayne makes a mockery of her own sacrifice, saving the likes of Cinder after what they did to Earth.” Miy was a ray of sunshine.

Even X glared at her.

Ross was all too happy Jack accompanied Devis and didn’t hear that blasphemy.

The Lyrik blew the air from her cheeks and crossed her arms in indignation. “They don’t want our help here, big surprise, but they’ll easily take Jack’s head. We should leave while we can—”

“Help! Help! My husband is alive under here!” a Dwarf cried into the streets.

Ross and Twenty-One shared the same smug look for Miy as they all lugged over to the lady. Hopefully, they wouldn’t need Jack’s strength. Ross asked the big Icarus, “Can you do this?”

“I can try, my lady.” Twenty-One climbed further down into the building, avoiding debris and structurally unsafe scaffolding. He called out, “I see him.”

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“Help me!”

Ross called down, “We’re coming, sir. Twenty-One, can I help?”

Miy clicked her tongue. “Better not try. What’re the odds it’ll hold both you and him steadily?”

X whispered, “Twenty-One has him, Ross. Look!”

They all gazed down into the basement, where the mighty Icarus hauled the injured man on his back. “Go, Twenty-One! You’re my hero!” Ross cheered and met Miy’s rolling eyes by sticking out her tongue.

Twenty-One brought the man to the basement’s entrance and laid him inside a safer zone in the building. The man’s wife fell to her knees beside him. With tears in her eyes, she said, “Thank you! Thank you!”

“I’ll grab a doctor.” Ross turned and rushed to one of the rescue stands Jack helped organize. Two doctors were treating survivors and pointed her to a stretcher. She was halfway back to the others when a sight stopped her dead in the street.

Para.

In a carbon fiber jumpsuit, the smallest Valkyrie almost looked inconspicuous, but the way she stood in the middle of the street implied menace, a challenge. That was before her eyes went Atramentous, and her black wings opened.

“Jack! Miy! Do you see this?”

The others spilled into the street, which emptied fast.

It was Para’s voice that spoke, but not her words. “You Progeny work fast, but do you really think you can sway the people from those heavy rewards?” Louder, she announced to the onlookers, “That is Jack, King Regent of Earth, the War King’s brother. And that’s Ross, Story Taker’s sister. The Tribunal would reward such leads to the bounties on their siblings’ heads.”

Murmurs throughout the crowd made Ross uncomfortable in her own skin. Desperate, she reached into Para’s skull and scraped for anything—

Walking around Enki naked. A lab with a woman that could only be Celindria. Pain. Shame. Anger.

“Keep your mouth shut, Para. Or I’ll force you to watch Karter perform on Abresson again. Will that render your obedience?”

Ross fell to her knees in the debris. Her heart opened and collected the hearts of those around her. That couple barely hanging on. The shop owner down the way who lost his son. Everyone who lost their sons. Daughters. Wives. Mothers. The world. The entirety of Pil spilled into Ross until it rushed together in one beautiful, colorful funnel of memories.

Reverse. Flood. Fill.

Every single memory over the last seventy-two hours washed back into those bystanders Ross lived every moment with. All the loss. All the unity. But most importantly.

Remorse. Primary Rem’s sixty-five foot figure crashed into the hundreds of thousands of people that surrounded Pil’s once proud promenade. Now not a single one could deny it.

“You’ll die if you go on much longer,” Devis murmured. Apparently, he held her in his arms. “Let them back to themselves. We need you, Ross.”

Finished. Complete. Ross let go.

In a haze, she watched Jack face off with Para. With that leadership voice of his, he announced, “Imminent committed this atrocity. Not my sister. Certainly not us. We’re here to help.” He picked up a beam that bisected the entryway to a shop. Easily, Jack rested it on his shoulder. “We want to rebuild. That Valkyrie is Primary Rem in control over an innocent woman’s body. He only came here to weaken your efforts. If you want us gone, we’ll leave. But if you want our help, we have to force him out. Capture her, unharmed.”

The crowd pressed in, and that was the last Ross saw before her migraine took her.