Chapter 1

When the Americans created me to infiltrate Liberation’s Praetorians, I don’t think they expected me to make the elite Team Blue. For as horrific as the alien war was – not to mention the stress of being a spy – it was undeniably satisfying being on that team. Particularly when we were doing the whole “saving the world” thing. I missed that feeling in the years I was laying low while the world thought I heroically perished during the last battle on the Demnisen flagship. Which was the reason for the mixed feelings when EMERGENCY CONTRACT flashed across the freelancer network. Holy shit. Emergency contracts were a call for any and all freelancers in range to assist Liberation’s forces to help with a crisis. Based on all the zeroes on this contract, there was a good chance most of us weren’t coming back.

Rene’s calling, Delph informed me. Rene Descartes ran the largest freelancer firm in North America. He was also my main employer. He was also my friend. As much as we could be friends in the freelance business.  

“Kevin, did you see the emergency contract?” Rene asked. His French accent was thicker than normal. That didn’t bode well.

“Let me guess. The powers that be specifically told you not to let me anywhere near it,” I said. When Liberation found out one of their minor freelancers was, in fact, one of their dead heroes, they let their displeasure be known in their strongest terms this side of assassination. They stopped giving me government contracts. That changed recently, but only if I was working for one of the agencies. Blackmail is not an ugly word if it’s keeping you alive.

“Non, I was told specifically to ensure the Metal Ghost showed up at Freedom Tower.” Rene fired off some rapid French to a subordinate. It sounded like “Bring all the heavy guns.” Fuck. Rene came back on the line.

“Kevin, there’s something very wrong with this contract. Liberation’s not just calling in freelancers. They’re offering immunity to any Irregular who accepts the contract. When have you ever seen that?”

“Never.” Liberation made it clear that any Irregular who refused to turn themselves in to for rehabilitation and eventual freedom were preferred dead instead of captured.

“I want to put you under contract for the duration. You might need my firm’s protection.”

“Normal rate and bonuses,” I said. Rene wouldn’t hesitate to throw me to the wolves to protect his firm under normal circumstances. Business was business. That being said, he also knew when he needed to stand with – and provide the legal protection for – a demi who could be an ally. Reputations were important in the freelancer world.

“Be careful Kevin,” Rene said as the emergency contract details came over the link. Except this one was different than the one on the net. This emergency contract was written especially for the Metal Ghost. As I scanned the details, I could hear the ghost of an old comrade laughing at me. She was the one who told me to be careful what I wished for.

Rene was kind enough to provide me with a ride to Freedom Tower. The huge monstrosity dominated the New York skyline. Even the new five-hundred-meter-tall habitation towers were dwarfed by the wreck of the Demnisen flagship. The streets in front of the tower were cleared of all civilian traffic. Non-demi freelancers were being directed by Relief Force constables to help with evacuation or setting up weapon emplacements. The Praetorians were assigning demi freelancers to strike teams. The scene brought back memories of the alien war.

“Metal Ghost.” The voice boomed across the square. Everyone stopped and looked at the man who called my name. The Praetorian Primus Novus Americana, Augustus Optimus. The Team Blue leader was one of the three most powerful demis in the world. His red and blue armor was emblazoned with Liberation’s stylized globe sigil. The helmet tucked under his arm was a stylized version of a Roman centurion. His handsome face was unreadable. He wordlessly motioned for me to join him. The crowds of RFC, Praetorians, and freelancers parted as I walked across Freedom Square. Augustus Optimus said nothing as we walked across the mammoth entryway of Freedom Tower. We stepped into a waiting cargo lift. As soon as we got in the lift, Primus put on his helmet and flashed a familiar sign. It took less than a second for Delph to make a secure connection.

“What is going on Brian?” I asked. My oldest friend didn’t say anything for a long moment.

“Rajesh has gone insane,” he answered. “He destroyed Lyons.” It was like he slapped me across the face. I couldn’t process the words.

“What do you mean he destroyed Lyons?”

“Everything in a ten-kilometer radius of the city center was leveled.”

“How? Rajesh doesn’t have that kind of power,” I said.

“He does now,” Brian said. “He’s coming here.”

Brian removed his helmet as the doors hissed open. We stepped into a shuttle bay. Team Blue was waiting for their leader in two sharp rows. Besides Team Blue, there were also a couple dozen other demis. Most were lower-ranked Praetorians in their standard battle armor as well as a sprinkling of freelancers, most of whom I knew at least by reputation and worked with a couple. All were heavy hitters in the freelancer world. Liberation was bringing all the big guns to take on one of the greatest heroes of the alien war. Brian walked into the middle of the group.

“Short time. We are defending this city against Pantheon.” The gathered demis traded shocked expressions.

“Somehow, Pantheon’s abilities have increased exponentially. According to reports, he laid waste to the city of Lyons.”

“How could he do that?” Mirror, Brian’s deputy, asked.

“I don’t know,” Brian said. Brian’s “game face” slipped, and I saw his pain. Rajesh was a reluctant warrior during the alien war. He spent the post-war years helping Liberation’s humanitarian efforts before retiring for a life of quiet contemplation.

 “Team Gold intercepted Pantheon in New Reykjavik. Details are scarce, but it appears Pantheon killed them all. Along with most of the city.”

“Jesus save us,” a Praetorian muttered before crossing himself. Team Gold guarded Nova Paris – the capital of Liberation. They were led by the Praetorian Primus. He was the scariest demi I knew in terms of raw power. I saw the worried looks the others were trading. If Team Gold couldn’t stop Pantheon, what could they do?

“Pantheon is coming to New York,” Brian continued, “We are going to stop him. The other teams will help contain and take down any of his avatars that get past us. Our job is to stop him by any means necessary.” Almost as if on cue, alarms blared. Brian put on his helmet and strode to the opening of the shuttle bay. A couple of techs raced up to me. I was handed a comm unit and a large weapons case.

“Is this what I think it is?” I asked the tech as he opened the case.

“One destabilizer rifle,” the tech confirmed. Damn. I didn’t know Liberation kept any of the Demnisen destabilizers. After all, they were considered “weapons of great inhumanity.” Still, if Rajesh went insane with super-charged powers, maybe it was a good thing Liberation kept a few around. Not that I intended to give this one back – at least, not in a usable condition. I sent dozens of nannites into the alien weapon to tie it into my systems. Destabilizers were tricky weapons. I clipped the comm unit to the side of my head. More nannites hooked the comm unit into my systems – and let Delph, my ever-helpful infiltration AI, into Liberation’s comm network.

The freelancers were designated Team Cyan with the rest of the Praetorians were Team Azure. I was designated as Cyan-Ten. At least they weren’t stupid enough to make me the team leader. We were to intercept Pantheon at the New South Dockyard. Team Blue all had flight powers or those nifty Liberation jet packs. They took off towards the docks with the Cyan and Azur flyers after them. I hopped onto an assault shuttle with the other demis who couldn’t fly. In a few short minutes, I was dropped on the top of a massive cargo crane.

A glaring red dot in my HUD was approaching fast. Way too fast for normal Rajesh. It was almost as fast as Brian’s top speed. Maestro immediately started offering suggestions. This was why the AI was designed, and he loved every minute of it.

Easy, Maestro, I told the AI. We don’t have enough data. He grumbled and went back to his combat computations.

Got him, Delph announced. A new window appeared. I’m pulling this from a Liberation drone. The blurring image slowed and resolved. An unearthly handsome man in a brilliant white toga with huge three-meter wings coming off his back. He gripped a giant flaming spear in his hand.

Oh joy, he’s wearing his Archangel Michael avatar, I mused. I can’t imagine what sort of hellfire a super-charged archangel can rain down.

Why would an angel rain down hellfire? Delph asked.

Very funny, I shot back. Delph’s humor peaked out at the strangest times.

He’s splitting. Four more red dots appeared right before the feed went blank. Damn it, he killed the drone. I have no idea who he summoned.

Rajesh was one of the rarest of demis – a summoner. Those demis could create creatures (avatars) or forces (elementals). The clearer they could imagine their summoned, the more power they could pour into it. Rajesh was a literature professor with a focus on mythology when Purgatory hit him. His mind was full of possible avatars and a lot of power to pour into them. Most summoners could bring one or two out to play. Rajesh could spawn a half-dozen. To top it all off, he could “wear” his avatars like armor – which he was doing with his Archangel Michael avatar.

Maestro, keep your aim on Rajesh, I reminded the AI, Let the others play with his avatars. Maestro scoffed. He was the ultimate combat AI. He didn’t reminders. Okay, he really didn’t. Reminding him was more me trying to settle my nerves.

The first two avatars came into view. A Valkyrie on a winged horse and the giant eagle Thunderbird. Damn. Those were a couple of his more potent avatars. Brian ordered Team Blue to take the Valkyrie while the Cyan and Azure flyers were tasked with Thunderbird. What the fuck? Team Blue had more blasters. They should deal with the giant bird who could rain down lightning bolts. As the teams engaged, avatars three and four arrived. Artemis and Athena. Those two were a couple of Rajesh’s favorites.

Orders flashed across my screen. Hold position. Cyan and Azure non-flyers will deal with the goddesses. Well, that was a better call. Sort of. It left me to concentrate on the red dot who was once a very good friend. Then it went all to hell.

Red dots multiplied. Where there was one Valkyrie, there were now four. Thunderbird was joined by Crow, Eagle, and Hawk. Artemis was surrounded by two dozen wolves while Athena commanded a full square of Macedonian hoplites. How was Rajesh able to create so many avatars?

The battle on the ground was a massacre. The hoplites marched straight through the gathered Praetorians and freelancers while the wolves hit them on the flanks. Any time one of the more powerful demis managed to slow the hoplites or wolves, either Artemis put an arrow into the demi’s head or Athena cut him down with her spear. It didn’t make sense. Regular RFC’s should have been able to take the smaller avatars. The demis should have torn through them. The hoplites and wolves ignored the demis’ attacks as if they were full-strength avatars. If that was true, we were in real trouble. Desperate calls filled the comms. Every unit near the docks raced towards us.

The battle in the sky wasn’t faring much better. Thunderbird, Crow, Eagle, and Hawk dove on the Praetorian and freelancer flyers. The demis formed a flying wall, unleashing multi-colored blasts at the birds. Thunderbird scattered the beams with a wall of electricity. Damn, that was a neat trick. Then, it was the birds’ turn. Screams filled the comms as the flyers were ripped apart. One freelancer died spectacularly. She waited until Hawk’s claws were deep in her. A massive explosion consumed both.

Team Blue faired marginally better against the Valkyries. Both groups swirled around trading blasts and blows with arrows and sword strikes. Team Blue downed one Valkyrie before Thunderbird, Crow, and Eagle joined the fight. The avatars swirled away and regrouped. A Valkyrie traded her bow for a long spear. Eagle and Crow formed up on her, and the trio dived at Team Blue. The elite Praetorians wordlessly fell into a standard formation. The formal name was Bravo Two. During the alien war we called it “bruisers blocking blasters.” The formation was a balanced and tight flying wall. Or would have been if Thunderbird didn’t unleash a localized hurricane. Rajesh managed that only once before – while wearing the Thunderbird avatar and using all his strength. Yet none of the other avatars even so much as flickered as sudden winds lashed out at Team Blue.

Lightning and arrows rained down. Mirror created dozens of her trademark floating shields. She caught most, but her teammate Prism took three arrows and a lightning bolt before falling from the sky. Team Blue’s blasters went to work. Thunderbird created an electrical shield, but Blue Two was a devious woman. She saw that little trick before, and she was a half-decent summoner herself. From behind Thunderbird appeared dozens of missiles. Thunderbird dodged as the Valkyries archers shot arrows at the missiles with buzzsaw speed. They almost blunted Blue Two’s attack. Almost. There was a brilliant flash as a half-dozen missiles struck a Valkyrie archer.

Eagle, Crow, and the Valkyrie lancer met Team Blue’s bruisers. The Centurion Twins raced out followed quickly by Samurai and Blue Three. Crow flung out its wings. Hundreds of black birds appeared in the middle of Team Blue’s bruisers. It was if a swirling, pulsing, squalling ball of darkness surrounded the four demis. Thunderbird and the Valkyrie archer kept Team Blue’s blasters busy as Eagle and the Valkyrie lancer dove into the black ball. One of the Centurion Twins’ green icons blinked orange an instant before his body fell out of the ball. Then his brother joined him. Samurai fell next, leaving Blue Three to face the avatars alone. I heard muffled explosions as Blue Three triggered his “dynamite punches.” There was the faintest glimmer of hope. Blue Three was one of the ten most powerful demis for a reason. The black ball erupted in a blinding flash. When it subsided, Eagle was still flying, but Blue Three and the Valkyrie lancer were gone. The four remaining Team Blue members tightened up, which wasn’t an easy task in the still raging hurricane winds.

“Blue One, what the fuck? Go help your team!” I screamed at Brian.

“Cyan Ten, stay off the comms,” Brian said. The voice was flat and emotionless. There wasn’t even a hint of command authority.

Delph, get me a direct link to Brian.

I can’t. All his comm ports are locked, Delph said. She was as confused as I was. Delph probably knew Brian better than I did. For an AI, she was incredibly perceptive about humans.

Knock one of them open.

Don’t you think I tried? Delph replied, frustration leaking into her voice.

Rajesh entered the combat zone. I couldn’t see the man under his avatar. The archangel was a Renaissance painting come to life. I let Maestro take command. Destabilizers needed to be handled carefully. An instant before Maestro opened fire, Brian shot across the sky at Rajesh. I grabbed control. I didn’t know what Brian was doing, but I wasn’t going to risk hitting him with even the edge of a destabilizer blast. Maestro would consider Brian acceptable collateral damage. Maestro is ruthless like that.

“Cyan Ten, hold,” Brian ordered as he engaged Rajesh. Brian easily deflected Rajesh’s spear thrust. He closed and slammed a hammer blow across the archangel’s face. Unperturbed, the archangel flew back and spun the spear as a shield. Brian closed carefully. Rajesh attacked again, slashing with the flaming spear. This time Brian sped away. Something about the fight tickled my instincts. I’ve seen Brian fight more times than I could count. It was like Brian was sparring with Rajesh instead of trying to put him down.

Veils dropped and a dozen demis surrounded Rajesh. I recognized their leader. Kate. That explained what was going on. Brian coordinated with his Irregular girlfriend to spring a trap, but why? Brian could take Rajesh apart if he tried. As the Irregulars attacked, Rajesh shot into the sky. They chased, but they weren’t fast enough. Rajesh brought his hands into a prayer. He was summoning. Maestro lined up the shot.

“Kevin, don’t,” Brian said, every bit of command in his voice. A new avatar formed. It was huge – at least sixty meters tall – with multiple arms. Delph quickly supplied the avatar’s identity.

Shiva. I recognized the name.

Rajesh never used any Hindu gods, I protested, despite the angry blue goddess in front of me, He always said it was blasphemy.

He’s obviously changed his mind.

“Metal Ghost, engage Shiva,” Brian said, “That’s what he used to kill Team Gold.” I wanted to ask how he knew that, but it would have to wait for later. If this avatar was that powerful, I needed to kill it fast. Maestro gleefully took control and reoriented towards the huge form as it floated towards Manhattan. Maestro took a few moments to perfect his aim and then unleashed the destabilizer. The orange beam struck the Shiva avatar dead center.

The avatar didn’t even stagger from the beam. It just turned and looked at us as if we were an annoying mosquito. One of its hands waved towards us. Maestro leapt down as the crane disintegrated. It was like a wind just turned the massive structure into dust. Maestro reconfigured the nannites as we landed. Rolling, Maestro brought the destabilizer back up and fired again. Once again, the beam merely annoyed the avatar. We sprinted as Shiva laid waste to the port. Massive cargo cranes and the even more massive cargo ships crumbled under the assault. Why the hell was the most powerful weapon in the Liberation arsenal not doing anything?

The destabilizer’s doing something, Delph said. It’s just too limited of an effect before the avatar dissipates the alien energy with its own. Okay, we needed stronger energy blasts.

Tell Liberation to open fire with the guns on the tower, I told Delph, Those’ve got to have enough juice behind them. I felt her dive into the comm network.

Maestro, let’s lead that thing into our own trap. I reminded him to limit civilian casualties. We jumped over a wall onto one of the low buildings around the port. I expected Maestro to fire again, but he leapt to another building just as Shiva unleashed another wave of destruction. The wall and damn near half a block’s worth of buildings were suddenly dust.

Maestro slid across the roof, bringing the destabilizer up again. He fired and caught Shiva in one of its arms. There was a small hole in the forearm where the beam lanced through. So, it could be hurt. Unfortunately, that little bit of knowledge made Shiva take us more seriously. We sprinted as Shiva lashed out. Two city blocks and part of a third were leveled – along with God knew how many people. There was no way the RFC could’ve evacuated everyone. Screams of the hurt and the dying filled the air as we sprinted towards Liberation Boulevard. The wide main thoroughfare led right to Freedom Tower. The perfect place for Liberation to open up with the alien warship’s weapons.

Maestro hit Shiva again with the destabilizer to keep its attention on us. A fifteen-meter-long blade appeared in one of the avatar’s hands. Yeah, it wanted us dead, and it wanted to make damn sure we were dead. Just a bit longer, and the warship could—

They’re not going to fire, Delph told us as she popped back into our consciousness. Maestro immediately sprinted towards the tower.

What the fuck?

From what I delved, the Freedom Tower staff aren’t sure the guns will fire.

Wonderful. The sword came down. Maestro jinked, and Shiva dug a trench down the center of Liberation Boulevard. Water geysered into the air as underground pipes were severed. Damage alarms blazed in my HUD. The top layer of my armor was gone, including a lot of nannites. The destabilizer was still good for a few more blasts. Then it would have just enough power to slag itself. The thought spurred an idea.

Maestro, get to one of the gun mounts on Freedom Tower. The nice thing about sharing my mind with the AI’s is they know what I’m planning. Maestro bounded up the side of the wrecked battlecruiser. He still had the schematics from when we infiltrated during the last battle of the alien war. Shiva’s blade tore apart the main entryway. As we landed on the nondescript outcropping, Maestro sliced away the facade. Just underneath was an anti-missile laser mount. Then the tricky bit.

Delph, I need a distraction. She hacked the dozens of drones hovering over the combat zone. The drones dove at Shiva en masse. The goddess avatar looked confused, as if she was caught in a surprise rain. As Maestro positioned the destabilizer, I activated my demi power. There was a reason I could control a cybernetic body made of cludged together human and alien tech, along with the two AI’s in my head. I was a machine whisperer. In this case, I reached directly to the nannites coating my body. I felt the alienness of the nannites as I coaxed them into a new form. It was unlike anything they had a pattern for, so I was improvising. Which was dangerous when dealing with nannites and alien power sources.

Kevin! Delph screamed in our shared mind. The nannites weren’t formed perfectly, but it should work. Maybe. Hopefully. Snapping the last bit into place, power from the alien warship flooded into us. Maestro channeled the power through our cybernetic body and into the destablilizer emitter augmented with more nannites. Instead of the standard five-centimeter beam, we fired a fifty-centimeter beam – with all the power from Freedom Tower channeled into the blast. I poured repair nannites as fast as the Freedom Tower’s energy tore through my systems. Ten seconds lasted an eternity.

Shiva silently screamed as the beam hit her an instant before she vanished in an explosion of energy. I was flung off Freedom Tower and down Liberation Boulevard for probably two or three blocks. Every fucking alarm and warning blazed in my head as I bounced down the boulevard before coming to rest. Shiva’s death didn’t have the same destructive power as its attacks, but it was nasty enough. Bodies, vehicles, and building debris were scattered around like a giant’s discarded toys. A quarter of Freedom Tower’s façade was shattered, but the avatar’s destruction didn’t even scratch the warship’s armor.

Kevin, time to escape, Delph said.

Escape? Rene said they wanted me on this contract, I answered, my mind feeling muzzy from the strain. Fucking biologics.

Yes, but do you think they wouldn’t take advantage of our current state to take you apart? Delph asked in reply. Okay, point. Maestro, the ever-helpful bastard, put a course into the HUD. It wasn’t a direct course back to our base, but it would get me there fast enough. Which was good, because I wasn’t sure I had enough nannites or power to repair all my damage. I tossed the Liberation comm unit and staggered down the Boulevard.

Chapter 2

When I was an American spy, my handlers were very free with these nifty medpacks that replenished my nannite and materials reservoirs as well as giving me a brand-new skin sheath. I always kept a couple on hand to keep my cover as a “normal” demi. During the last year of the war, Liberation rooted out the remaining American government and either absorbed or eliminated the remnants. At that time, I was too busy with the “Great Push” to realize my support was suddenly gone. Over the last eighteen months, I managed to unlock some secrets the Americans buried inside my systems. Unfortunately, the medpacks weren’t one of them. Repairing the damage from my battle with Rajesh’s Shiva avatar required dragging myself into my only base and crawling up into the cradle.

The dental-chair looking thing reclined as the shell came over me. I passed out as it went to work. For the next twelve hours, I was disconnected from the world. Which was why I was somewhat shocked when the shell retracted to find Kate sitting at the main computer. I wasn’t surprised Kate was in the base. She knew about this place for the last six months. She visited many times to chat with Delph, and meet Brian for, um, rendezvouses. I was conflicted about the relationship between my ex-girlfriend and my best friend. Both Kate and Brian deserved what happiness they could find. I couldn’t begrudge them that. Didn’t mean I liked it. What shocked me was seeing Kate bloody and battered. She should be in the hands of an Irregular healer or at least a regular doctor. Instead, she sat there talking to Delph. The AI was hovering in her hologram form – a meter-tall, blue, elfin woman. I put on the clothes next to the cradle, so Kate didn’t have to talk to naked me.

“Hey Kev,” Kate said. I heard the strain in her voice.

“Why aren’t you in a coffin?” I asked. The self-contained medical systems were the best medical devices outside of a demi healer.

“There isn’t an available coffin in a fifty-kilometer radius,” Kate said. “I’m hurt, but not as bad as others.”

“Kevin, she has internal bleeding, a damaged kidney, and a broken leg,” Delph reported. “Those are the more serious of her injuries. Unfortunately, she’s just as stubborn as her ex-boyfriend.” Kate shot Delph a betrayed look.

“I’m stable,” Kate growled. “I’ll heal.” Delph looked at me and shook her head. Kate’s face hardened. I knew she wasn’t going to budge.

“So, did you just come here to hide out? Or are you waiting for Brian? Is he bringing you a medical kit?” Intense pain flashed across Kate’s face. I can be slow with social cues, but I picked up this one immediately. Even after losing so many friends since the alien war hit Earth, I still felt terror grip my insides.

“Brian’s alive, but just barely,” Kate said. “I don’t know if he’s going to make it. Pantheon did a number on him. That bastard killed my whole team.” Anger flashed in her eyes. She wanted retribution.

“Pantheon’s still alive?”

“Yeah. The idea was simple. Brian wasn’t sure if he could take on Pantheon by himself. He knew Team Blue would need to fight avatars. My team was to distract Pantheon enough so Brian could capture him. It should have worked, but..” Kate paused as tears streamed down her face.

“It’s all my fault. Brian almost had those demi manacles on him. Then Pantheon turned into this knight and cut Brian down with this huge sword.” Tears flowed from Kate’s face. “Pantheon was completely open. I could’ve finished him. I could’ve swept down and killed him. But Brian was falling into the ocean.” She finally broke down. I crouched next to her and gently took her hand.

“It’s okay Kate. I understand,” I said in as a comforting voice I could manage. I let her cry on my shoulder for a few moments. As Kate sobbed, I looked up at Delph.

“Where’s Rajesh?” I asked the AI.

“Unknown. Liberation is looking for him, but things are so chaotic…” That bothered me. Delph normally didn’t let her sentences trail off.

“Kevin, I need your help,” Kate said, gripping me uncomfortably tight.

“What do you need?”

“Get me into Mercy Hospital,” she said.

“Mercy? Are you insane?” I asked. Mercy was the highest tier hospital in Manhattan. It treated top government officials, wealthy civilians, and the highest ranked military officers. They only took care of lesser people long enough to stabilize them for travel – or if it was a high-profile media case. Security at Mercy was fucking insane. A wanted Irregular and a disreputable former Praetorian-turned-freelancer weren’t just going to get politely turned away. There was a good chance to see the inside of a cell – if not just executed. Still, if there was any place in the Green Zone flush with medical supplies, it would be Mercy.

“That’s where they took Brian,” Kate said. “The thought of him alone in that place, possibly dying. I need to see him.” Well, that complicated things. I’m honest with myself enough to know that there are three people who will make doing insane things seem completely sane. Or at least acceptable. Two are Kate and Brian.

Kevin, I’m good, but sneaking us into Mercy right now is going to be difficult even for me, Delph said in our shared mind. The place is overrun with wounded from the battle and crammed with constables and Praetorians.

Which will make it easier to sneak in. Or at least get through the doors.

I hate it when you come up with these insane ideas. I’ll get Rene on the comm.

Rene was glad to hear I survived the battle. Unfortunately, my survival also caused him some issues. Something about Liberation wanting to void my contract for damages to Freedom Tower. Also, some feisty officials wanted me brought up on charges for destroying Liberation property. Rene was vague about which officials and what charges, but the whole situation didn’t surprise me. Based on the terms of the emergency contract, I should be looking at a seven-figure payout – and not a low one. If I was safely dead, Rene could probably negotiate a small settlement for his firm as my employer. Alive, I was going to cost him a lot of cash to deal with the fallout. Bribes at that level weren’t cheap.

“What if I stayed dead for a while?” I asked.

“That would give me a chance to go through alternate means,” Rene answered. “It would take some time.”

“Hey, what’s a little time between friends?”

“What do you need Kevin? I know you need money. You always need money,” Rene said.

“Okay, yeah, I need some money. I also need a few favors,” I said. “The costs you can take out of my contract.” It hurt saying that. Rene was right. I always need money. Maintaining my cybernetics, nannites, materials, and biologics was fucking expensive. Even when I wasn’t fighting a hero of the alien war. A super-charged hero of the alien war. I told him what I needed. Thankfully, he didn’t ask questions. Rene was too professional for that. Of course, he’d also throw me to the wolves to protect his firm if I got caught. I didn’t hold that against him. He was going to be doing a lot behind the scenes to keep me from seeing the inside of a cell and get my payout. Yeah, he would get his piece, but that’s the cost of doing business as a freelancer.

“For all of that, one hundred thousand,” Rene said.

“I’ve seen you do these jobs for sixty,” I countered.

“Yes, but I won’t get paid until you do,” Rene said. “And I won’t get paid anything if you get caught.”

“Okay, one hundred thousand,” I said.

“My people will meet you at the bus stop.”

Mercy Hospital is the poster child for Liberation Health. No, really. Pictures of its clean rooms, attractive staff, and advanced equipment adorn the halls of all Liberation clinics. The posters were even on the walls of Liberation’s “community clinics.” I’ve seen combat aid stations under fire that looked cleaner and ran more efficiently than those “community clinics”. As we stepped into Mercy, the hospital looked more like those community clinics than its public image. The nice thing about that kind of chaos? Rules go out the window. The staff were just barely able to keep up with the patients they already had. They didn’t want to bother with another newly-arrived patient who was accompanied by a doctor. No one even spared us a second look as I wheeled Kate through the main entrance. The ambulance and team I borrowed from Rene were gang-pressed by Mercy staff into helping and transporting patients. Rene would just bill Liberation for his peoples’ time.

Where’s Brian? I asked Delph as I guided the stretcher through the maze of screaming patients, harried staff, and strewn debris. It helped Kate looked like she should be in the hospital. A med pack from Rene was helping to keep her stable. At least Rene was only charging me for the med pack at cost. From what was on the net, a med pack was selling on the side markets for five hundred percent above retail.

I’m looking, Delph answered, Things might be chaotic for you humans, but the hospital’s systems are still being a pain in my ass. Just head to the elevators. When Delph got that frustrated tone in her voice, it was best just to let her work. Besides, I was busy keeping Maestro from seizing control with all the Praetorians and constables around us. At least Delph didn’t have to waste resources suppressing the demi detectors. With this many Praetorians in the hospital, the security people just turned them off. Got to love humans’ desire not to deal with constant buzzing of “false” alarms. As the elevator doors opened, I pushed Kate in and hit the button for the top floor. That should give Delph time to figure out what floor they were keeping Brian.

Fifteenth floor, Delph said, Room 1556. The VIP section of the hospital, which explained why Delph was so curt. She was trying to caress the hospital’s systems to give us authorization to get past the guards without setting off any alarms. While I had absolute faith in Delph’s abilities, I still let Maestro plan a breach if needed.

As the doors opened, I saw two Praetorian guards. From the first-grade rank devices on their uniforms, they were veterans. As I stepped out into the elevator lobby, Delph still hadn’t confirmed we were good. Maestro was close to seizing control, and I was close to letting him. The two guards stared at us with professional impassiveness, but I could see them tense. No other choice. I had to go through them. Why couldn’t I just go back and wait for Delph? Because there was a very good chance that even with the med pack, Kate could die on me. I couldn’t fail on a promise to Kate. It was foolish and stupid, but it was what I had to do.

Kevin, stop, Delph said with urgency in her voice. The sudden stop brought the guards’ scrutiny. I was now out of profile. Maybe ten seconds before they challenged me. Ten seconds is an eternity. Just as I was about to let Maestro take over, lights started flashing and a piercing alarm screamed from the intercoms.

“CODE DELTA! ROOF ACCESS! CODE DELTA! ROOF ACCESS! FULL REPORT!” The words galvanized the two Praetorians. They sprinted by us to the waiting elevator. The senior Praetorian motioned for us to wait in the lobby.

Delph, what the fuck? I asked.

No time, Delph said. It’s going to be obvious Pantheon isn’t attacking the hospital in about a minute. I shoved the stretcher through the doors. In the years I worked with Delph, one of the things I learned was hesitation was death. If my AI told me to do something, I did it. I felt Delph return to our shared space as I skirted past the staff. They were confused, but I acted like I belonged. That was more than half of getting past people.

The hospital’s anti-intrusion system is looking for me, Delph said. I left one of my children to keep it looking in wrong directions for a little while. A little while in AI terms could be seconds or minutes. Not much more than that. Fortunately, Brian’s room wasn’t too far.

I pushed into the room in case there were more guards inside. I froze as I saw my best friend. He was lying in the bed, covered in nano-bandages like a mummy. His exposed face was pale and crammed with tubes and sensors. He looked nothing like the heroic demi. He looked so human.

“Oh God,” Kate said, nearly falling off the stretcher. “I knew he was bad, but I didn’t think he was this bad.” She turned to me. “Why don’t they have them in a coffin?”

“Because you need one more,” a new voice said. The veil dropped, and three demis in black armor were visible in the corner of the room. Two were holding submachine guns. The speaker was seated, her helmet in her lap. She didn’t have a weapon, but she didn’t need one. Anne Bennington wore her shoulder-length auburn hair tied back, which accentuated her lean, aristocratic face.

“Fucking ninjas,” I said, barely keeping Maestro from grabbing control. The two goons braced but didn’t bring their weapons up.

“I’m not here to fight,” Anne said in her calm, cultured voice.

“That’s why you stayed behind a veil until we were in the room?”

“And didn’t ambush you or your friend,” Anne said. “I knew you would come to see Brian, and you would bring her.” There was an undercurrent in Anne’s voice, but I couldn’t decipher it. The two women stared at each other for several long seconds.

“I’ll bite. What do you want Anne?” I asked. Anne slid her gaze back to me.

“Your services,” Anne said.

“Anne, you have an entire Directorate full of demis and commandos. Plus, you’re no slouch in the powers department yourself. Why the fuck would you need me?”

“Rajesh wants me dead,” Anne said.

“Why?”

“I intend to find out. I want you to watch my back while I do that,” Anne said. “In return, I will make sure Ms. Downton is checked into Mercy under a cover name and placed into this room with Brian.”

“Why the fuck should I trust you?” Kate said. “You’re the head ninja. You want me dead.”

“First, you fulfilled the contract the government offered today. That included immunity for past crimes,” Anne said. “Second, Kevin won’t accept any deal if you’re not treated and protected. Third, and most important, for all our recent disagreements, I love Brian like a brother. As much as he’s tried to hide it, I can see how much happiness your relationship brings him.” Kate thought a moment and then nodded. Anne nodded to one of the commandos. Two nurses appeared and started shepherding Kate into a med coffin.

“Sergeants Blue and Gray will remain to provide protection,” Anne said to Kate. Anne put on her helmet and strode out of the room. I followed a couple of steps behind. We got into the elevator and Anne pressed the button for the basement.

“How does it feel that your best friend dating your ex-girlfriend?” Anne asked.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said.

“Kevin, you can’t lie to me. Not anymore,” Anne said. “I remember how you talked about your first love when we were together. I saw how you looked at her just now.” I mulled my response over for a few long seconds.

“I’ll tell you when I figure it out.”

“Fair answer,” Anne said, sounding like I passed some test. The elevator doors opened into a parking garage. Three spaces down was a beat-up cargo van. Anne got into the passenger seat and fiddled with the navigation. She motioned for me to get into the driver’s seat.

“Follow the nav,” Anne ordered before climbing into the back of the van.

“And if we run into RFC?”

“We won’t. If you follow the nav.” The next two hours passed in silence. True to her word, we didn’t encounter a single checkpoint as we drove out of the Green Zone and across the bridge to Queens. The final nav point was an old mechanic shop well outside the reclaimed section of Queens. Ruined buildings surrounded us. After I parked the van, Anne climbed out. She put on a backpack and pointed at a much larger one for me to grab along with a pair of weapons cases.

I followed her to the ruins of an apartment building. Anne opened the front door and walked inside. I sort of expected to find some secret base. Nope, just ruins. Anne flipped on a small lantern. We walked down the entry hall and up the stairs. Instead of going into one of the apartments, Anne sat down in the middle of the hall. She took her helmet off and looked up at me.

“You can set that down,” Anne said, waving her hand at the floor in front of her. Her voice lost its commanding authority. She sounded tired. That bothered me in a way I didn’t think was possible.

“What are we doing here?” I asked.

“Sleeping,” Anne answered. I looked around at our surroundings.

“Who are we hiding from?” I asked. Anne crooked her eyebrow at me.

“That was a more perceptive question than I anticipated,” Anne said. She tapped the tip of her nose with her index finger. Memories of that particular mannerism flooded back. She was stalling while she figured out how to phrase what she needed to tell me. Anne’s a very precise person, be it with weapons, movements, or even words. I waited patiently as she thought.

“I’m not sure if Rajesh decided to come after me on his own or if someone pointed him at me,” Anne said after a few long moments. “I need to be off-grid to see who he attacks next or who comes after him.”

“Rajesh could just decide to wipe Rikers off the face of the map,” I said. Rikers Island was the Covert Action Directorate headquarters.

“I doubt it,” she said. “Between you taking out his Shiva avatar and Brian nearly beating him to death, Rajesh will need to heal and rest. I expect to see some of his hunter avatars to start showing up. If something else shows up, it might give me a clue as to who wants me dead.”

“Why would someone send Rajesh to kill you?”

“I don’t know for sure. I can’t see any of my enemies being that reckless,” Anne said.

“It is a bit like duck hunting with a grenade launcher,” I said.

“You always did use such odd turns of phrase,” Anne said. “How long can you go without sleep?”

“A while longer,” I answered. She gave me a flat look I knew very well.

“Anne, we’re not exactly on friendly terms.”

“And whose fault is that?” she shot back. Delph tickled the back of our shared mind.

“Mine to start,” I admitted. I wasn’t sure why Delph told me to say that, but it had the desired effect of deflecting Anne’s next verbal jab. When something works, keep doing it. “But let’s keep being honest Anne, when you found out I wasn’t completely loyal to Liberation, you didn’t try to confront me. You tried to kill me.”

“You were a spy!” Anne nearly shouted. “You betrayed us!”

“I never betrayed you,” I said, “I lied to you, yes, but I never betrayed you. Or the team. The Americans never got any details of any of you.”

“Do you think that matters? I know how intelligence works. What you did give them could have been used against the team!”

“Maybe. Maybe not,” I said, “It wasn’t like I had a whole lot of options.”

“You could have told me,” Anne said, “We would have figured something out.”

“Oh, come on! You know how Liberation dealt with disloyalty during the war,” I shot back.

“Not Liberation. Me,” she said. Anne’s mouth clicked shut as if she said more than she meant to say. We stared at each other for a long moment.

“I’m going to get some rest,” Anne announced, her command face firmly in place. “Wake me in five hours.” She abruptly turned away from me and laid down.

Well, isn’t that interesting, Delph chimed in our shared mind.

What’s interesting?

Sometimes, I am amazed at how dense you can be, Delph said.

Is this one of those if-you-can’t-figure-it-out-then-I’m-not-telling-you things? I asked.

Yes, but not because I’m being obstinate, Delph answered, More a matter of keeping you on task. Right now, you can’t afford to be distracted. Particularly since all my children in Liberation’s intelligence network are screaming something major is happening. Delph’s children were non-sentient copies of herself she used to control the various networks she infiltrated. During our time as one of Liberation’s great heroes, Delph planted thousands of her children in various Liberation systems. About eighty percent had been eliminated through various security sweeps, but Delph still maintained enough to give us an early warning.

Are we in immediate danger? I asked. Delph was silent for several long moments. Considering how fast my AI’s normally operated, that delay was ominous.

I don’t think so, but I can’t be sure without risking some of my children.

Just keep an ear out. One of the nice things about sharing my head space with two AI’s is that I didn’t have to focus on guard duty. I told Maestro to monitor our passive sensors. I also strenuously reminded him that he was not to take any action without checking with me first. Maestro still hadn’t gotten the hang of proportional response. Or that we didn’t have unlimited funds for replacements of little things like raw materials, skin sheaths, or munitions. With my guard dog AI on the job, I pulled up the book I was reading. For the record, I hated Moby Dick, but I hated listening to Rene tell me how unlearned I am because I hadn’t read the “classics.” It also kept my mind off the beautiful, but dangerous, woman sleeping behind me.

Chapter 3

Anne woke up about an hour before dawn. After taking care of necessities, she pulled out an energy bar and chewed on it while she flipped open the weapons cases. She handed me a carbine and a couple of magazine pouches.

“You expect me to take down Rajesh with this?”

“No, I expect to take Rajesh down with this,” Anne answered, hefting a familiar weapon. An Omnisen stun rifle.

“Okay, that might work. So, what’s the carbine for?”

“I figured you would want something so you wouldn’t have to go full Metal Ghost,” Anne said.

“What do you mean?”

“Kevin, I am very good at my job. There wasn’t a whisper of Metal Ghost after the war until you revealed yourself. The only way you could have done that was to go out way into the wilderness or not use your abilities. Since you spent years working as a freelancer, you must have kept your powers under wraps because you couldn’t use them often. Probably because you have no or limited access to something the Americans provided to you. Should I go on, or can we get to work?”

I nodded while clamping down hard on Maestro. As good as the combat AI was, I wasn’t sure if we could take Anne. Not when she was ready. Grabbing our packs, we walked out into the ruins. We made our way south for about an hour when Anne’s fist shot up. I froze. Maestro analyzed our passive sensors. He didn’t see what alerted Anne, which made him scream for us to shed our skin sheath and go active. Seconds slowly ticked away as we stood frozen against a wall.

The ghost silently floated by. One of Rajesh’s scout avatars. He was somewhere out there. Anne looked down at a display strapped to her arm. Wordlessly, she slid back and around me. She pulled a metal rod out of my pack, tapped a button, and it glowed faintly pink. She crept away from where the ghost floated down a side street.

Cloaker, Delph said, identifying the device. After another couple of blocks, Anne stopped. She set down her rod and pulled out a thirty-centimeter cube. Anne tapped at her arm display and a dozen tiny holes opened on the top. A swarm of insect-sized drones sped out of the box. The swarm dispersed in a dozen different directions. Recon gnats.

Can you tap into her feed? I asked Delph.

“If you want to see what the nanobots’ report, you can ask,” Anne said.

“How?”

“Kevin, you are not that good at hiding what you’re thinking. I can read you fairly well. At least when I’m not blinded by emotion.” That last part was low enough I wasn’t sure I was supposed to hear it.

“Okay, can I see the feed?” Anne angled the tablet to let me see. Rather than individual feeds from all the recon gnats, the tablet assembled all of them into a combined view of the surrounding area. Nearly a dozen ghosts were out in the ruins. I watched the translucent shapes for several moments.

“Are they walking standard guard patterns?” I asked. Anne tapped commands on the tablet. The recon gnats flittered through the gaps in the ghosts’ pattern and closed on the center. They zipped around until one of them locked onto a human-sized heat source. The recon gnats converged on the shell of a bus depot. I almost didn’t recognize Rajesh. He looked terrible, and not just from all the injuries Brian gave him. He was anorexic thin. His hair was greasy, uneven, and wild. The gray jumpsuit was torn and soiled.

“Sweet mother of God,” I breathed. This was not the gentleman scholar I remembered.

“He’s dangerous Kevin.”

“Thank you for the reminder.” She didn’t rise to the barb.

“He’s a couple hundred meters that way,” Anne said, pointing down the street. “Leave the pack. You will need all your speed.”

“What’s the plan?”

“Keep Rajesh off me while I get close enough to stun him.”

“Thought it might be something like that.”

I smelled Rajesh before I saw him. The stench of unwashed human was an all too familiar odor. Rajesh’s was human-hadn’t-taken-bath-in-months stench. I couldn’t think of what could have caused the normally fastidious Rajesh to smell like that. I glanced back before turning the corner to the bus depot. Anne was gone. Of course. Well, it was time to do my part. I walked out into view.

“You look like shit,” I said to Rajesh.

“Kevin? Aren’t you dead? I remember you dying. Didn’t you?” Rajesh asked, confused. He rubbed his head and grimaced in pain. “No. No, you aren’t dead. You just pretended to be dead. Now, I remember. You blackmailed Praetorian Primus to tell everyone you died.”

“Blackmail is only an ugly word until you need it to survive.” I stepped closer. “Where have you been Rajesh?” His head snapped up. Rajesh fixed a mad stare at me. I felt things going sideways.

“The Metal Ghost was there yesterday,” Rajesh snarled. “The Metal Ghost stopped my avatar.” He stood up on shaky legs.

“Well, Kevin is here to find out what happened to his friend.”

“What happened? You happened. You stopped me. You betrayed me! Again!” Blue lighting swirled around Rajesh.

“Rajesh, your avatar was about to destroy the entire Green Zone. Why would you want to do that? Why would you want to kill all those innocents?” Damn it, Anne better hurry up.

“You, of all people, defend Liberation?” Rajesh asked. Lightning coated his body. He was summoning.

“I wasn’t defending Liberation. I was trying to keep you from doing something you would regret.”

CONTACT! Delph screamed in our mind. Three targets nine hundred meters out. Three hovercraft blinked into existence on my sensors. That was some good stealth. Targeting lasers lit us up. Rajesh screamed in frustration as he summoned a well-muscled man with a dark beard and a lightning bolt in his hand. Damn it. I hated when Rajesh summoned Zeus. Maestro seized control. Nannites flooded out and armor formed around us. Freed from the limitations of our biologics, Maestro took full advantage of our active sensors. Much to my surprise, the AI targeted the three incoming hovercraft instead of Rajesh.

Zeus threw his lightning bolt at the intruders. Thunder boomed as the electric bolt arched across the sky at the lead hovercraft. The armored vehicle staggered, but it quickly stabilized before returning fire. Maestro bounded away as the remains of the bus depot were shredded by explosive shells. Two more lightning bolts lanced out from smoke. They struck the lead hovercraft and sent it crashing to the ground.

Maestro formed a particle rifle. He unleashed a burst of energy fire at the left hovercraft. The stream of charged particles ripped through hovercraft’s vector nozzles. A half-dozen armored troops jumped out as the pilot fought to keep the machine in the air.

The last hovercraft fired off a quartet of missiles. Delph lit off our electronic countermeasures. One missile wandered off and crashed a few blocks away. Zeus took down missiles two and three. Maestro clipped number four enough to detonate a couple hundred meters from me. The high explosive warhead tossed me back down the street.

As we came back up on our feet, the third hovercraft landed about twenty meters from the bus depot. Rajesh walked out from the wreckage. Zeus was gone. In its place were four wolves the size of large horses. They sped off towards the hovercraft. Before I could join the fight, two figures in ninja armor leapt out of an alley.

Why didn’t Anne warn us her people in the area? Delph asked exasperatedly.

These aren’t her people, I answered. Maestro, try and keep one of them alive. Anne’s going to want to ask them some pointed questions. Maestro scoffed at the suggestion. The particle rifle shrank down to a pistol in our right hand as nannites formed a heavy sword in the offhand.

The two not-ninjas landed a few meters from me. Probably close-quarters types. Why get that close if you can engage at range? The taller one dashed towards us, but Maestro sidestepped and went after his partner. Short Not-Ninja hopped back and formed a pair of energy blades. Maestro fired a burst at Short Not-Ninja. His blades absorbed the particles. Well, that was going to make things more interesting. Tall Not-Ninja came up behind to flank us. Not speedster fast, but fast enough. He wasn’t holding a weapon, which meant some form of strength or toughness. Maestro closed with Tall Not-Ninja. The demi lunged with a decent punch. From the ripples in the air, he had some real power. It was just the wrong power against Maestro. The AI side-stepped Tall Not-Ninja’s blow, closed, and slammed our sword’s pommel across the demi’s helmet. Tall Not-Ninja staggered from the blow, the side of his helmet caved in.

Maestro whirled on Short Not-Ninja. To Short’s credit, he was already within slashing distance. That was the smart move against an already engaged opponent. Maestro brought the sword around to parry Short’s energy blades. Short’s blades went through our sword like a monomolecular edge. Pain flashed as his blades dug into my chest armor. Maestro pivoted and fired at Short’s legs. The charged particles curved up into Short’s blades. They glowed just a bit brighter with the additional energy. Nannites swarmed around my forearms as Maestro changed weapons. The pistol and remains of the sword changed into two thick punch daggers with thick forearm shields.

Quit fucking around with him, I told the AI. Dumping extra power into our cybernetics, Maestro ducked inside Short’s next slash. The sudden speed caught the demi off-guard. Maestro used the forearm shields to push away Short’s energy blades and punch the daggers into his shoulders. The two heavy blades pierced the ninja armor. Maestro spread our arms, tearing the demi’s arms off with the action. The demi screamed in pain as he collapsed to the ground. Satisfied Short Not-Ninja was out of the fight, Maestro turned back to Tall Not-Ninja – who was sprinting away. I didn’t blame him. Maestro’s a fucking savage. It’s why I keep him on a short leash.

I looked back to the battle. Rajesh was wearing an unfamiliar avatar of a samurai and swarmed by six flying demis. His wolves were skirmishing with another half-dozen demis on the ground. All were in ninja armor, but they weren’t fighting like ninjas. Kind of like the Not-Ninjas I just fought. What caught my attention was that the Not-Ninjas were all using stunners.

I checked our power reserves. Less than I would have liked. The punch daggers melted and reformed into a precision beam rifle. The first flyer went down with his head missing before the rest of the bad guys realized they were under attack. Of course, that meant they knew they were under attack. Four of the flyers shot towards me. Energy beams of different types lashed out towards me. In response, Maestro unleashed his own torrent of fire. Two of the flyers went down, but damage flared across my systems. Those Not-Ninjas packed a decent punch. Maestro tried to keep us upright but the nannites couldn’t repair the damage fast enough. We hit the ground. Maestro rolled as more fire rained down. Then the fire stopped. I looked up. Anne was in the center of the street. The two remaining flyers were down. Blue lightning circled Anne like lethal haloes. I knew that look on her face. Anne was pissed.

“Leave,” Anne said in a cold commanding voice.

“So, you’re not dead. Doesn’t matter. Stand down Bennington,” replied one of the Not-Ninjas.

“Not happening Marcon. I don’t know what Mongoose is doing, but — “ A fourth hovercraft popped up and ripple fired a dozen missiles. Anne’s blue lightning lashed out. The missiles dropped from the sky and clanged harmlessly on the concrete.

“Marcon, you do not want a war with me,” Anne growled.

“We aren’t the ones trying to start a war,” Marcon replied. “The task force is following the orders of the council.”

“Bullshit.”

I never saw what hit her. One moment Anne was berating the Not-Ninjas, the next she was on the ground. Blood poured from a dozen different wounds. Instinctively, I sprinted to Anne as the Not-Ninjas loaded Rajesh into the hovercraft. Anne didn’t have time for me to waste on the Not-Ninjas.

I need a taser. High voltage. Maestro already knew what I was planning. The joy of having a shared mind. My nannites wouldn’t do anything for Anne, and any medical gear was long gone when I shed my skin sheath. That left one good option. I jammed the taser into a wound and shot a jolt into her. Nothing. A second. Then I felt the power drain as Anne’s powers kicked in. This was the difficult part. I needed to give her enough power without letting her completely drain me.

Kevin, something’s wrong, Delph said. The AI was right. Anne’s powers weren’t working like they should have. She was healing, but so slowly she was bleeding out. My mind raced through options. My eyes fell on the hovercraft Rajesh brought down. Unlike the others, it didn’t self-destruct. I picked up Anne and sprinted into the wreckage. Delph dove into the craft when we got close enough. Following her instructions, I hopped up and found the access port.

Maestro, do it. About eighteen months ago, I found out the Americans buried some nannite forms which allowed me to draw power from places other than the cradle. The beam rifle melted into one of those new connectors. Delph jumped back in as I jammed the connector into the hovercraft’s power receptacle. The hovercraft’s batteries were nearly full. I directed the flow of power through my systems and into Anne. The sudden surge kickstarted her powers. Her blue nimbus reappeared, faintly at first before strengthening.

Satisfied Anne was healing, I left her in the hovercraft’s cargo bay. Time to see if I could dig up some information. The computers on the hovercraft were slagged, so I went out to see if I could recover anything from the dead Not-Ninjas. The Not-Ninjas grabbed most of their fallen, but not Short Not-Ninja. The Not-Ninja armor was an updated version of the standard ninja armor. The onboard computer was in the same place. I yanked it and walked back to the hovercraft.

“Why didn’t you stop them from taking Rajesh?” Anne asked through gritted teeth as I stepped into the hovercraft.

“Doing so would have ended up killing him and letting you die,” I answered as neutrally as I could. She just looked at me for a long moment before closing her eyes.

“Thank you, Kevin,” she whispered.

“Hopefully this will tell us what the task force is up to,” I said, holding up the Not-Ninja’s armor computer.

“Do you really think that it will have any useful information on that?”

“You’d be surprised what I can tickle out of it,” I said.

You mean what I can tickle out of it, Delph protested.

Do you want me to introduce Anne to you?

Just figure out a way to get me into that computer. I popped open an access panel.

“What are you doing?” Kate asked.

“I need a neutral place to hook up this computer,” I answered, fiddling with the electronics.

“They slagged all the computers.”

“They slagged all the critical systems. Some of the non-critical systems are working.”

“And that one?”

“Climate control.” I hooked up Short Not-Ninja’s computer to the panel. Delph set a couple of her children to pull data out of the Not-Ninja’s computer and into the hovercraft’s computer. Satisfied Delph and her children had that under control, I sat down next to Anne.

“Aren’t you going to shift back?”

“Yeah, about that,” I said, hesitantly, “I can’t.”

“Kevin, I’ve seen you naked before,” Anne said.

“No, I mean I can’t in the field.”

“So, how have you been shifting back?”

“Ancient Chinese secret,” I said. She barked out a short laugh, and then groaned in pain.

“That doesn’t look good,” I said, examining her wounds.

“It’s been a while since I was injured more than my powers could heal,” Anne said, leaning back. “Now, why would Sevale’s little minions be doing in my backyard?”

“Mongoose would send Rajesh after you, and he would have no compunctions about laying waste to Manhattan just to get to you.”

“Agreed, but I can’t believe his patrons on the Council would allow the destruction Rajesh unleashed.”

“Assuming they knew what Rajesh was capable of. Maybe they were thinking of old Pantheon. Not this super-juiced Pantheon. How did that happen, by the way?” Anne went very silent.

“The fucking aliens. You’re still working with the fucking aliens!” I stormed to the hatch. “What the hell is the matter with you? After what they did?”

“Get off your high horse Kevin. Humanity is hanging on by the barest thread. Even with all of Liberation’s efforts, we could be gone in two or three generations. Not reduced to small tribes, but completely extinct. Including the demis. Working with the Omnisen keeps us alive. Working with the Omnisen means we get back some prosperity for our children. Do you think it was an easy decision?”

“You didn’t seem to have any problem with kidnapping a bunch of kids for an alien experiment.”

“Let me be very clear. I did not authorize those kidnappings. When I found out what Bernard Descartes had done, I sent a team to quietly sanction him. Then, you got involved.”

“You didn’t stop it.”

“Orlando.” The word slapped me across the face.

“That was war,” I said. The words sounded feeble even to my ears. Buried pain and shame made it hard to protest.

“It still haunts you,” Anne said, a familiar compassion in her voice. I missed hearing that in her voice. The realization brought me up short. I couldn’t say anything, so I just nodded.

“How do you know?”

“Everything I have done haunts me.” Regret tinged her quiet tone. I sat down next to her before I realized what I was doing. We fell into silence. It was both comfortable and awkward. For the first time since Anne found out I was an American spy, I felt close to Anne – and very confused.

A light dawns, Delph commented. It’s about time.

Well, if you knew, then why didn’t you say anything?

Why do you think?

You know I hate it when you’re cryptic.

Because you can be a stubborn ass until you figure it out yourself. Okay, that was probably a fair statement. Damn it. Why did I have to have personal revelations in the middle of fighting a covert government unit? I was saved from further introspection by a flood of information from Not-Ninja’s suit computer. Delph, being the helpful soul, whipped up a summary.

“Anne, what’s in Palo Alto?” She was quiet for a long moment. I was about to repeat the question when she straightened up. Her face wore that careful neutral expression.

“Palo Alto,” she repeated. “Those fools let him into Palo Alto.” She staggered to her feet.

“Again, what’s in Palo Alto?” She stopped and looked at me with a searching look.

“Will you trust me, Kevin?”

“If it’s about what’s going on, yes.” She nodded as if she expected the caveat.

“Palo Alto was a CAD research site.”

“And they’re taking Rajesh there. Wonderful. We need to stop them.”

“Here’s where I need you to trust me. CAD cannot be involved. You need to stop whatever they’re doing with whatever resources you can put together.”

“What the fuck? How the hell do you expect me to take on Mongoose’s minions by myself?”

“I didn’t say by yourself. I said with whatever resources you can put together. Irregulars, freelancers, whomever. It just can’t be from any Liberation source. We’re not ready to confront Mongoose’s patrons.” I wanted to snap back at her, but our earlier conversations came back to me. As much as I hated to admit it, I did sort-of trust Anne. I had Delph make the connection.

CONTRACT – Retrieval of Pantheon from the Mongoose. Reward escrowed for all participants. I dropped the money from the emergency contract, minus Rene’s cut.

Chapter 4

Thirty freelancers met me in the ruins of San Fransisco twenty-four hours later. About half were demis, but I knew everyone either personally or by reputation. These people either fought with or against Mongoose during the alien war. None wanted Pantheon in that man’s hands.

We gathered in a parking garage. Six RF utility vans were parked with all the normal tracking gear removed. Rene provided transport and was even nice enough to waive his usual fee. I also found a crate from the Saxony Cooperative. Well, it was nice of Rene’s business associates to chip in with some of their latest toys. I handed those out as everyone got to know each other. Nice thing about capable freelancers is they have a lot of experience working in hastily formed teams.

“Here’s the target,” I said, pulling out a small projector. A hologram appeared as the others gathered around. Three domes in a triangle around a square three-story building. There were three levels below ground connecting the buildings. The whole compound was surrounded by a three-meter-tall wall.

“What is that?” The speaker, Collins, was a former Praetorian known as a skilled fire-slinger. Working with Mongoose during the alien war was one of the reasons he was a former Praetorian.

“A Liberation research facility. Mongoose and his friends have Pantheon stashed there.”

“What do you mean by ‘his friends’?” Thames asked. She was a tiny woman, but strong. As in she carried around a club taller than her made of fullerene forged from a Demnisen tank.

“On the ground, he’s got commandos and demis. Figure Team Red strength at least. Also, Mongoose is backed by members of the Governing Council. The blowback on this could be epic. Anyone who wants to walk away from this, no judgement.” There was some low murmuring from the group.

“I’m sorry Kevin, but my team can’t risk that level of heat,” said McCrory. Damn, his quartet of demis would bring a lot of power. There was some rumbling from the others. “Look, I want to see Mongoose dead, but if he’s got GC patrons, then we could be blacklisted. Not just by Liberation, but the freelance companies not wanting to risk the government’s wrath.”

“Do you want Mongoose to have control of Pantheon?” Thames asked. “Not the Pantheon we remember from the alien war. The Pantheon who almost leveled Manhattan two days ago.” There were a lot of uncomfortable looks among the group.

“What’s the old saying? If it were easy, anyone would play?” Old Man Sage asked. The wizened man looked like a Chinese monk in tactical gear and easily the most respected freelancer in the North American Sector. I was grateful when he showed up to join our merry band.

“Look, as I said, no judgement. I’ve been out in the cold. It wasn’t fun, and I didn’t have a family to support.” I looked over the group. “Personally, I can’t leave Pantheon in the hands of Mongoose. I have a duty to my old teammate to get him out of their clutches. By any means necessary.” There was a deathly silence as the freelancers contemplated my words. None walked away.

“So, how are we going to do this?” asked Old Man Sage.

Another nice thing about working with a bunch of experienced freelancers is coming up with plans on the fly is so much easier. It’s more of setting some rough guidelines and giving the freelancers space. The whole set up was kept loose and followed the KISS principle – Keep It Simple, Stupid.

Anne thought they would have Pantheon under the main tower. At least, that’s where she would have him if this was a CAD operation. A small team could infiltrate easier than a larger one. If something big kept everyone else’s attention. The small team would be Thames, Collins, and me. Old Man Sage was in charge of providing the distraction with everyone else.

“Just do me a favor Metal Ghost and don’t dawdle. I’d like to continue being an old man.”

The drawback to recruiting my little strike force from the freelancer network was Mongoose knew we were coming. Mongoose was many things, but stupid or overconfident weren’t among them. The area around the complex was lit up. At least a company of Liberation Army mechanized infantry surrounded the complex. Just on that, we were outnumbered ten to one before figuring in Mongoose’s Not-Ninjas.

“The distraction group is going to have a rough time of it,” Thames commented as she scanned the area.

“Where are we going in?” Collins asked.

“There,” I said, pointing at one of the service entrances.

“The one with those two APC’s and a couple dozen soldiers?”

“Yeah, that one.” Maestro had five different ways the three of us could take out the force in front of us. Four of them involved killing everyone, because Maestro doesn’t bother with little concepts like mercy or backlash. He was displeased I opted for the last one.

Explosions signaled the distraction team kicking things off. Praetorians took off from behind the wall. I looked down. Damn. The soldiers didn’t move from the entrance. I sent the plan to Thames and Collins.

Maestro tied the Saxony heavy beam gun to our power and targeting systems. The amplified beam lanced through the first APC’s turret before cutting down through the cockpit like a torch. Collins sent a superheated plasma blast into the second APC’s capacitor bank. As it exploded, Thames bounded towards the soldiers with her club. The infantry did their best, but it was hard to maintain unit cohesion when three demis are spraying fire and energy beams and swinging a short utility pole at them. They scattered within a minute of our attack. Thames used the wreck of one of the APC’s as a battering ram through the gate.

The three of us sprinted to the main building. The main entrance was protected by a blast door. The heavy beam gun carved a nice size hole in the thick metal. Thames tucked in her club and dove through the still red-hot hole. I followed Collins through the hole to find Thames fighting off a pair of Not-Ninjas.

“Collins, help her,” I ordered.

“What the hell will you be doing?”

“Finding out where we need to go,” I answered. Nannites flowed down and formed the needed connector. I tore open the access panel and hooked into the building’s computer. Delph dove into the building’s control systems, sending her children out to gather information and play merry havoc.

“Metal Ghost, a hand here,” Thames said. I looked back to see Collins and Thames facing off against a new quartet of Not-Ninjas. The first two were sprawled on the floor. I let Maestro take control of our body. The combat AI brought the heavy beam gun around laid the reticle on the smallest Not-Ninja.

The beam punched clean through Small Not-Ninja, and he collapsed to the ground with an impressive thud. The kind you only get from having a super-dense body. Never doubt Maestro’s targeting priorities. Thames took on the next, swinging her club. The Not-Ninja held out his hand to catch. It’s always fun when someone’s assumptions come around to bite them. Thames shattered the Not-Ninja’s hand, then slid her club up his arm, and neatly decapitated him. The head bounced off the wall, still in the helmet. The last two drew small machine pistols and sprayed the corridor with gunfire. Collins put up a flame wall dissolving the bullets. It was nice working with professionals.

They’re going to where Rajesh is held. Delph said. I sprinted down the hall. A fist-sized ball of plasma flew by my head and incinerated the left Not-Ninja. I didn’t know Collins could sling flame that precisely. Maestro slid to a stop as the final Not-Ninja darted through a door. An instant later, a blast door slammed down. Sometimes, I think Maestro is psychic.

“What now?” Thames asked. Maestro fired the beam cannon. The blast door sparkled as the beam dissipated.

“A particle screen? When did Liberation figure out how to make particle screens?” Collins asked.

 “They didn’t,” I said.

Can you take this down? I asked Delph.

What do you think I’m working on? It’s like I just slammed into a completely different system controlling whatever’s beyond that door. That confirmed my suspicions. If I could just figure out how to get through that screen. That was when Maestro chimed in with a wild plan.

“Thames, Collins, fall back. I’m not sure if this going to work,” I said. Nannites flooded the beam gun. Under Maestro’s guidance, they reconstructed the weapon’s internals.

“What are you doing?”

“Making a destabilizer.”

“Are you insane?” Collins demanded.

“How can you even do that?” Thames asked.

“Because I’m the Metal Ghost.” It was jury-rigged, unstable, and would draw a lot of my onboard power. For taking down a particle screen, there was nothing better. I fired. The hallway went daylight bright. The good news? The screen was down and there was a decent size hole in the blast door. The bad news? The beam gun and all the nannites inside were now useless, and I felt like I just went a few rounds with Brian.

Thames opened the hole with a couple of quick strikes. Collins shot through as a fiery comet. Thames and I traded a look before jumping in after him. My mind froze as I saw a dozen familiar yellow and white armored forms. A squad of Omnisen soldiers. Maestro and Delph tore my focus away from the aliens to the rest of the room. Rajesh was in a machine that looked like the demi-power-removing machine that CAD and that Omnisen scientist were using before I wrecked it. Omnisen techs were working on the machine. Another half-dozen Not-Ninjas were closing on Collins, Thames, and me.

I don’t think that removes demi powers, Delph said. The power and emissions readings look very different.

See if you can get in. Maestro and I are going to be a little busy. Maestro had control. This was one of those times when his ruthlessness was a good thing.

“Thames, Collins, take the Not-Ninjas!” I wanted Mongoose’s stooges out of the way. Besides, I had more experience fighting aliens. The rules for alien fighting were simple. Speed is life. Distance is death. Take out the strongest first. Maestro formed two monomolecular punch daggers as he sprinted at the biggest soldier. Energy beams sizzled by as the soldiers saturated the area with energy fire. Well, these weren’t veterans. They hadn’t learned that even with light speed weapons, you need to lead your target.

Maestro tackled his victim, piston-punching in the soldier’s side with the daggers. Gold blood painted the floor and nearby aliens. Maestro yanked up the dying soldier and grabbed its particle carbine. He threw the body at the nearest soldier as he sprayed the rest with energy fire. Two went down while the rest scattered. Maestro dropped the carbine, selected his next target, and dashed towards the soldier in less than a second. The punch daggers melted and reformed into a katana. With Omnisen, there was one more rule. Get in the middle. Omnisen would hold fire rather than risk shooting one of their own. Maestro stabbed one Omnisen before pivoting and decapitating another. He was about to attack a third when something huge flew at us.

Maestro slid as Thames’s body thudded into the floor an instant before her club slammed down through her chest. Damn. I liked Thames. Maestro scanned the Not-Ninjas. Two down, two floating in the air dueling with Collins. Two more were on the ground charging me. One of the floaters stopped and looked directly at me.

“One down,” the floating Not-Ninja said, a taunting undercurrent in his otherwise clinical voice.

“Collins, swap dance partners.” The fire-slinger spun and dove at the remaining Omnisen soldiers. Maestro reformed the katana into his preferred weapons – a monomolecular short cutlass and a particle pistol. Bursts of particle fire kept the floaters busy as Maestro lowered our shoulder and slammed into one of the ground Not-Ninjas. Damage alarms blared. It was like the one time we rammed a Demnisen tank.

Tank Not-Ninja staggered. It was just the micro-second opening that Maestro needed. Maestro crouched and slashed across Tank’s ankles. The Not-Ninja collapsed like a falling tree as his feet were severed. Maestro rolled as Floater Number Two rained down meter-long metal spikes.

Floater Number One was at our side. Maestro reformed the cutlass into a buckler and brought it up just as Number One landed a jackhammer blow. More alarms blared as we slid several meters across the floor. The last Not-Ninja appeared in front of us. Not ran over really fast. Appeared. Damn. I hate teleporters.

Porter Not-Ninja grabbed my particle pistol. I knew this tactic. He shifted his portal bubble and snatched my entire hand. Godsdamnit that hurt. Plus, rebuilding a hand was not cheap. Porter Not-Ninja emerged next to the cradle holding Rajesh. He handed my hand to one of the Omnisen techs. It took one look and dropped the hand before sprinting away. I hate smart techs. Particle guns are notoriously unstable. It was why Liberation didn’t use them except for special missions. Excited particles left in a gun tend to be, well, excited. Don’t ask me the physics. I just know the result when a charged particle weapon loses containment.

“Collins! Fire in the hole!” The fireslinger flew back through the hole in the door a moment before the particle pistol detonated with the force of an anti-armor grenade. The blast pulped the remaining Omnisen troopers and a few of the techs. The Not-Ninjas were nowhere in sight, but I wasn’t lucky enough they were also caught in the blast.

“Kevin, what is happening?” Rajesh climbed out of the pod. Maestro screamed to just kill him, but I hesitated. I could see my old friend in his eyes.

“Rajesh, what do you remember?”

“I received a summons from the Governing Council to testify on education efforts on the subcontinent. The Mongoose and a pair of CAD officers met me at my plane. I remember him telling me I was to go with him. There was some sort of scuffle with the CAD officers.” He paused for a moment. “Then, I remember being in those ruins with you. And those other CAD trying to take me.” Another pause. “Now, I’m here with you. In that vein, where is here?” Rajesh sounded weak, but his words carried the cultured accent I remembered from a decade ago.

“Research facility in Palo Alto.”

“How did I get here? And are those Omnisen?”

“What’s left of them.”

“Yes, you are very destructive Metal Ghost,” said a new voice. I turned and found the Mongoose with Strong Floater, Metal Spike Floater, and Porter. Strong Floater was holding Collins’ limp form. I couldn’t tell if the fireslinger was alive.

“Says the man who sent Rajesh to wipe out Manhattan,” I retorted.

“I don’t know what you are talking about. Rajesh did that all on his own. Just like when he destroyed Lyons and murdered Team Gold.” Holy shit. My comment was a shot in the dark. Mongoose’s neutral tone and pleased look said I hit the bullseye.

Rajesh stared at Mongoose in wide-eyed horror. Then his expression turned to rage. I saw the madness return in his eyes. The air shifted as Rajesh started summoning. The three Not-Ninjas braced for combat, but Mongoose stood there with that smug smile on his face.

“Pantheon, stop summoning,” Mongoose commanded. Rajesh froze in place as if he was paralyzed.

Kevin, Mongoose just transmitted to something at the base of Rajesh’s skull.

 I didn’t have time for questions. The three Not-Ninjas attacked. I let Delph figure out what Mongoose just did as I backpedaled for space. Porter Not-Ninja appeared behind me and tried to grab my arm. I slid before he could replicate his body-part stealing trick. Maestro screamed warnings. I ducked as metal spikes lanced through where I had just been. I formed a particle pistol in my remaining hand and sprayed fire behind me. Time to let Maestro do his job.

The trick to fighting a flying strongman, another throwing metal spikes, and one creating portals? Keep moving in unpredictable directions. It was like three-dimensional billiards – and Maestro was the cue ball. Plus, the scattering of micro-jets meant Maestro could “put a little English” on his bounds. Maestro spent crucial seconds watching the Not-Ninjas as he bounced off the walls, ceiling and floor. There were times when I could keep up with Maestro’s “tactical calculations,” but this wasn’t one of those. Maestro bounced off one wall, reached out, and grabbed a metal spike in mid-air. A micro-jet burst and he stabbed the spike into Porter who appeared next to us. Porter screamed as the spike punched through his armor, torso, and out the other side. Maestro landed next to Porter’s body. Maestro’s tactical calculations were the source of rumors that the Metal Ghost was psychic.

Got it! Delph screamed in our mind. I looked over at Rajesh. His hands flicked out and dozens of small, green-scaled monsters appeared. Mongoose froze as the gremlins swarmed towards him cackling their unsettling high-pitched laugh. Metal Spiker turned his fire onto the gremlins while Strong Floater dove at me. Before even Maestro could react, a giant spear pinned Strong Floater to the floor. The five-meter tall ice giant yanked out the spear before hurling it at Mongoose.

Mongoose grabbed Metal Spiker and used the demi as a shield. Metal Spiker didn’t have time to react as the spear punched through his chest and out the back. Mongoose tossed the dying demi aside and sprinted at Rajesh. Maestro launched us at Mongoose, but we weren’t fast enough. Rajesh was summoning when Mongoose grabbed ahold of him. Mongoose’s a leecher. He draws off his victims demi powers to enhance his own strength – and Rajesh was brimming with super-charged demi power. Rajesh’s summoned disappeared as Mongoose yanked all that power out of the older Indian. Rajesh collapsed into a heap as Mongoose fell into a fighting stance.

Maestro slid across the ground, forming a pair of pistols. He stitched a stream of particles across Mongoose. Maestro was caught off-guard as the armor simply shimmered as the charged particles dissipated. For a combat AI, being caught off-guard meant he took a full second to react. The pistols reformed into a pair of forearm shields with monomolecular punch daggers attached. Mongoose attacked just as Maestro formed the new weapons. Good thing, because with all that power, Mongoose was almost as fast as Brian. The punch that landed on our shields was also nearly Brian-strength.

“So, was that your plan? Supercharge a demi to get enough power to take on Augustus Optimus?”

“Do you really think you’re going to get me to tell you my plan like some stupid comic book villain?” Mongoose dodged our lunge and caught us with a backhand that sent us flying across the room. Yep, that was definitely Brian-strength.

“I don’t think you came up with the plan. I don’t think you’re smart enough to come up with even something that simple,” I said as I stood back up.

“You are not going to bait me with childish taunts,” Mongoose said. Maestro deflected two more blows.

“Shucky-darns,” I said. Maestro launched his own flurry of blows. Mongoose danced around the initial strikes before trading several stabs to close. Mongoose clamped his hands down on my left forearm and my faceplate. Mongoose lifted me into the air with his enhanced strength.

“I don’t know why I couldn’t drain you last time we sparred, but I am going take everything from you this time,” Mongoose growled. Heat spread across my face as Mongoose activated his demi power.

“That’s what I like about you Mongoose, you keep trying the same thing and hope for a different outcome. Isn’t that the definition of insanity?” I punched my freed dagger into his side.

“Keep stabbing me with your little blade. It takes a pittance of the power I pulled from your friend to heal,” Mongoose said. His hands tightened their hold. Damage alarms flashed. Good news? Mongoose wasn’t going to drain my demi power unless he could dig his hands to my biological brain. Bad news? With his new strength, Mongoose just might be able to tear me apart. Fortunately, the Americans made this body pretty damned tough. They also gave me some very helpful AI’s.

“Hey Mongoose, you really should have asked your patron to get you some better armor and not a copy of what they ninjas use,” I said.

“Since I’m about to kill you, I’ll play along. Why should I have procured different armor?”

“Because then I couldn’t do this.” Mongoose screamed as the anti-intrusion defenses kicked in by pouring the armor’s power system through internal particle pulses. Delph’s children ran rampant through his armor’s systems. They dumped the med unit into his blood stream. Even with all the power he pulled from Rajesh, it was enough for Mongoose to crumple to the floor. As he did, the armor fell apart from all the fasterners releasing at once. Mongoose was covered in bloody holes from the anti-intrusion defenses.

“How?” he asked, in a voice wracked with pain. I didn’t bother answering. The nice thing about monomolecular blades? They make severing a head so much easier than a conventional sword.

Got everything. We’re clear. Delph was jubilant with how much data she yanked out of the facility’s systems. I knew I should be as well. Sharing it fulfilled our end of the deal with Anne. I was too busy staring at the body of an old friend.

Let everyone know that the mission is complete.

Chapter 5

            Twelve of us survived the raid. Collins wasn’t one. We all waited for the fallout – either blacklisting or assassination. Instead, it was reported that a group of freelancers and Praetorians found Pantheon and stopped him before he could attack another city. Rajesh was depicted as an insane war veteran who finally cracked after using alien tech to supercharge his powers. Just to cement how bad he was, there were leaks of atrocities during and after the war. The ones that happened after the war were utter bullshit.

            Rene called me to his office about a week or so after the raid. I knew he was working on getting me the money from the emergency contract so I could pay the freelancers and their families. It sounded like there were some issues that he wanted to discuss in person. I was surprised when Rene was not in his office when I walked in.

Leaning on Rene’s desk was a face I recognized from news broadcasts. Lilia Webster, the Governing Councilmember for the North American Sector was sipping coffee. The petit woman didn’t even look up from her tablet as I walked in. Anne sat in one of the chairs in front of Rene’s desk. Her face was that unreadable neutral mask.

“Maybe you can tell me why after a decade of being peaceably dead, you have decided to become an agent of chaos against the people trying to keep this world alive?” Webster didn’t even look up as she spoke. She sounded as if she was asking an intern why the coffee was cold.

“Maybe.” The response surprised her. She studied me for a long moment as if I was a curio. The silence grew longer. I knew how to play the nonchalant game too.

“Councilwoman, don’t try to out-stubborn Kevin. You will waste this appointment,” Anne said. I heard her use the same tone when chastising senior officers during the war.

“Thank you, Director,” Webster said pleasantly. Then she looked back at me with an icy glare. “Director Bennington advised me to be very clear and blunt with you. Stay out of the affairs of the Governing Council.”

“Why would I do that? When you’re dead set on selling us out to the Omnisen?”

 “Do you want this world to die?”

“I’m getting tired of hearing that excuse. I know what Anne told me. I also saw what was in those files I turned over to her. You might have been able to convince me to step aside if it was just Liberation conscripting demis to rebuild our world. But selling demis to the Omnisen as foot soldiers?”

“It’s something on the table. It may or may not be in the final agreement. How that final agreement is hammered out will depend on how the Omnisen see Liberation. A strong Liberation can demand more than one that’s seen as barely holding on. Do not contribute to that image or there will be consequences.” Webster slipped her tablet into an attache case and strode out of Rene’s office without another word.  

“So, are you going to tell me the consequences if I don’t heed the great Councilwoman’s words?” I asked Anne

“Kevin, quit being an asshole. I’ve secured your fee from the emergency contract. I’ve also secured payment for the contract you issued for getting Rajesh back. All I’m going to ask in return is that you consider what Webster just told you.”

“I saw the plans.”

“No, you saw one faction’s plans. A faction who is very pissed at you for killing their favorite tool. I have quietly urged them not to seek retribution, but I also warned Rene.” Something in her voice made me take a closer look.

“Thank you, Anne. I appreciate it. I will consider what Webster said.”

“Then our business is concluded.” She stood up, but I caught her before she could walk past me.

“Our deal is concluded, but I don’t think our business is finished.” I was playing a hunch. Delph was silent, which meant she thought I was on the right track.

“What business?” she asked. The words were soft, not defiant.

“I owe you an apology for what happened between us. I’m not going to play the what-if game, but you’re right. You were my teammate, and I should have trusted you.”

“Just a teammate?”

“More than a teammate. I should have realized it then.” Anne smiled. She handed me a card with an address.

“Tomorrow. Seven sharp. Try to look respectable.”

“What’s the job?” “Dinner.”