AEGIS took the news about Karu’s latest attack stoically, by her standards. Only a bare minimum of flighty panic, and constant tugging at her pigtails for reassurance. I think she was trying. But when I told her about the odd, stilted conversation we’d had after the fight, she was silent and pensive.

“She is…growing to accept Exhumans?” AEGIS asked, tentatively when I was done.

“I don’t know. Accept me, maybe. Or maybe not. She did say she might come back trying to kill me again.”

“That is entirely irrational,” AEGIS fumed.

“You’re telling me.”

We lapsed into silence for a few seconds.

“I think…I am growing less accepting of Exhumans,” AEGIS spoke into the air, not looking at me while she spoke.

“I noticed.”

“It is hard to justify any acceptance of them when presented with the overwhelming statistics. Even the most seemingly benign of Exhuman cases–“

“AEGIS, maybe you should stop reading all that Exhuman stuff.”

“Why? Afraid of what I’ll dig up on you?”

I shook my head. She’d gotten so paranoid and personal.

“No, because I’m afraid of what you might dig up on you. I’m afraid that by reading about all the worst of the worst, you’re ignoring the data right in front of you–me, and you, and Saga. All Exhumans who are living without killing hundreds of people.”

“And then there are those which have killed hundreds of thousands.”

“There are. I can’t deny it.” I sighed. “Look, not too long ago, I was dealing with my own issues of prejudice, remember that? I couldn’t accept Saga for who she was because of her race. And somebody gave me some very good advice in dealing with prejudices like that.”

“Is it really prejudice if the statistics back it up?” She was looking at me now finally, her brow furrowed, her braced arms crossed.

“Yes. Yes, it really, really is. In any group of people there are always going to be the exceptions. People like me, who are trying to do good, even if they have the capacity for slaughter. People like Saga, who are totally innocent, even if her people killed billions. You can’t just sweep us under the rug and generalize about the whole group…in fact…that was my point I was trying to make with Saga earlier. I think behavior like that is what causes Exhumans to go bad. If the world expects you to be evil and treats you that way, what other choice do you have?”

AEGIS opened and closed her mouth several times without responding before deflating. “You’re right. I know you’re right. It’s just scary when the consequences of being wrong are so horrible.”

“Well, look at it this way. Karu’s a professional bounty hunter who’s probably seen and killed a whole pile of Exhumans. And she’s on the fence about whether I should be killed or not. So isn’t that some evidence that maybe I am a decent guy?”

“Unless your powers involve corrupting young women’s’ minds.”

“Lighting powers, ma’am. No corrupting here.”

“Saga could have.”

“Karu has never met Saga.”

“Hmm. Okay. Point granted.”

“I’ll take every point I can get. How many does that make now?”

“I think one.”

“I’m on the leaderboard!”

We laughed and chatted a bit more, all awkwardness of the last few days apparently disappeared. It was great having AEGIS back to how she used to be.

“Oh!” She suddenly announced mid-conversation. “I think we have visitors.”

“Visitors?” I stood alert instantly, stepping quickly towards the door.

“No, it’s the man and his boy. Win and something.”

“Oh.” I relaxed immediately. “Wynn and Tate. They’re coming?”

“Yeah,” AEGIS said, tapping some keys on her console. “Just picked them up on my cameras outside. They’ll be here any moment.”

“Awesome. Glad I caught so many fish today.”

It was only a minute before I heard them moving outside and then the flat metallic knock on the heavy metal door. “Anyone home?” Wynn wheezed, stepping to the threshold.

“Hey guys! Just in time for dinner. Come on in, please.”

“Don’t mind if we do. It’s turned so cold out there recently, the boy was shivering last night. Might be the last time we sleep under stars for a while, start preparing to hole up for the winter.”

“Are winters around here bad?”

“Not especially. Plenty bad enough to kill an unprepared man, but temperate compared to many places in this world. A few feet of snow across the whole season, below freezing every night. Poor hunting and foraging unless you know where to look.”

“That doesn’t sound ‘not especially bad.’ That sounds like I’m probably going to die.” Wynn gave a deep wheezing laugh and Tate smiled.

“You have shelter and can fish the winter through. Stock up as much as you can on edible plants, dress warmly, and do not challenge the night and you will be fine. May also want to start closing that door.” Again he laughed. “I can teach you another thing or two before winter falls and you’ll be alright.”

We each shared our bounty and had quite a feast amassed. I got a fire going outside quickly and we started cooking in high spirits. Wynn had some tubers that looked and tasted like potatoes, and showed me how to cook them by burying them underneath the fire. He’d come to visit because he had just shot and butchered a deer and was hoping to trade some of the venison for salt to help keep it.

“I imagine with your powers you don’t have too much of a problem hunting,” he mused as we watched the fire do its thing.

“You’d be surprised. Mostly seems to be focused on zapping things near me, but I can make these sort of lightning bombs I guess. I haven’t tried hunting since I figured out how to make those.”

“Well do give it a try and share the bounty if it works out for you. God knows, my knees are getting too old for sitting in a blind all day.” He stroked his full, white beard. “But now I’m curious, what else do your powers let you do, boy?”

“Not really that much. I can force electricity to move from one place to another within a small area, force it to gather or dissipate, make it break the laws of physics for a little while. Mostly I use it to create and control big swords made of lightning and swing ’em around.” I made a swishing gesture with totally necessary sound effects.

“No lightning speed or anything?”

“Not that I know of. I also don’t think I’m actually shockproof, I just steer the lightning away from my body, so I don’t know how that would even work out.”

“Well that’s a shame. That would make travelling a light bit easier. At least you can make fire, light your way, and hunt. Oh, and fish, I remember that as well. Handy little trick.”

“I restarted someone’s heart earlier. I guess uh, I stopped it too, but that was less intentional.”

“That’s magnificent,” he said, stroking his beard again. “If I could have a gift like yours, I would wish that it could help people like that.”

“Did you miss the part where I stopped her heart?” He laughed and gave me a beady wink.

The food was plentiful and excellent, and we ate inside to include AEGIS in our conversation, even if she couldn’t partake of the meal itself. It probably would have driven Saga into a bliss-induced coma had she been there to experience us eating it. As it was, I was very near a coma by the time I was done. Wynn and Tate looked not far behind, and I offered them shelter for the night again, which they gladly accepted.

We talked and laughed together long after dark, and despite some initial hesitance, AEGIS was soon talking and laughing with us as well. With the warmth inside and full bellies, it felt festive and happy, the closest I’d come to being with friends and family since exile. I was tired and had another long day of dealing with crazy women ahead of me tomorrow, undoubtedly, but I never wanted the day to end. Tate dozed off before long, but Wynn seemed content to ply us with stories of his adventures for as long as we’d listen.

Eventually, even he was exhausted and we all agreed we could pick it up tomorrow if we wanted. With that happy prospect in mind, I curled up in my hammock — Wynn having refused it, and Tate being asleep in a pile of rope — and slipped quickly into a peaceful sleep.

I awoke to a whispered hiss and my eyes snapped open to the relative blackness of the bunker at night. There was a faint yellow light on, and looking over, I could see AEGIS had her holo on low and from her wary stance and wide eyes, was the one who’d hissed at me. I looked around but saw nothing else stirring in the bunker. Where had Wynn and Tate gone?

I rolled silently out of the hammock, landing on all fours and shuffled to AEGIS’ side.

“They’re here, acting super strange. They both woke up suddenly and just stood up. I thought, maybe sleepwalking, but for it to happen to both of them? Anyway, they both shuffled off and seem to be going through the old bunker supplies. Dunno what they’re looking for.”

I nodded at her once and crept forward in silence. At Wynn’s suggestion and AEGIS’ mocking, I’d finally closed the bunker door, and now it was almost pitch black in here. She may be able to see with her fancy optics, but I had to operate off memory and stumbling into things.

Abruptly, the door opened with a grinding, wrenching screech. Outlined in the moonlight, I could see Wynn, a metal tool perched on his shoulder.

“Wynn,” I said. He didn’t respond, and I wondered if somehow he was sleepwalking. “Wynn!” I yelled, stepping towards him.

“Athan, don’t,” AEGIS warned. “There’s something not right about him right now.” I saw it too, barely visible in the moonlight, his eyes were open and pupil-less, staring at me, even as I stood completely shrouded in the dark.

“Wynn, what’s going on, man. This isn’t like you,” I said. Still no response. “Talk to me buddy. Let me know what’s going on. Did you eat something?” Nothing. I decided to change tack. “Where’s Tate? Is he okay?” Like talking to a damn sphynx.

Okay, screw this then. I clapped twice. I regretted it for a moment when I recoiled at the sudden illumination of the whole room, but noticed that Wynn–and Tate, who was standing in the corner, still searching–didn’t even flinch at the sudden light. He just stood passively, with what appeared to be a large hammer or small sledgehammer on his shoulder. Tate fished a shovel out of the rusted heap and shambled toward Wynn, and then as one, the two turned and stumbled out the door.

“What. The hell. Was that?” I asked. “Should I go after them? Should I shock them awake?”

“I don’t think so. I get the feeling they were…very dangerous. They were so single-minded in their task, I’m not sure what would have happened if you tried to stop them.”

“Should I follow them?”

“I don’t know, Athan.” She bit her lip and tugged at her hair. “I’m worried too, but I’m even more worried about you.”

“I know,” I said. I didn’t have time to sit down and think this through if I was heading out. “I’m going after them. If things turn dicey, I’ll back off. They’re just human, they can’t do much to me.”

“But they’re your friends, so you can’t do much to them either,” AEGIS bemoaned. I frowned at her and her shoulders slumped. “Yeah, you should go. I’ll follow on drone as far as they can go. Take care, Athan…of all three of you.”

I was out the door in a flash, hearing the quiet, high-pitched whine of a drone for a moment as I passed the threshold. It was dark out, there wasn’t much moon, and I had no idea which direction they’d went. At their slow shamble, they couldn’t have gone too far, but there were so many trees, they could have gone anywhere. I started heading for the nearest cluster of trees, and felt something bounce off my face.

It was the camera drone. It was wildly off balance, spinning on its gyros and falling towards the grass, but the message from AEGIS was clear. Wrong way. I picked up the drone and let it rest and reorient in the palm of my hand. After a moment of calibrating or whatever the heck she was doing, it picked up and flew to my left. North.

“Thanks, AEGIS,” I said, not sure if the drones had mics or if she could read my lips, but she’d come through for me again. I followed the drone for a few paces to set my bearing, and then pushed past its clumsy flight, sprinting off into the night.

It wasn’t long before I caught sight of the two figures, trudging awkwardly but at a reasonable pace. I settled in behind them, following at a safe distance, but close enough that they’d definitely know I was there. Still, neither showed a hint of reaction, as they marched forwards jerkily, their eyes still blank orbs of white.

I followed for several minutes as they entered the ruins of the facility, skirted the edge of the large crater, and then veered east.

East. Why east. I didn’t have to think very long before it hit me, and AEGIS must have been following the same line of thought as her drone bonked me in the face again, telling me to stop.

East, towards the mine. East toward Saga.

I watched the two shuffling in a direct line towards her domain like zombies carrying digging tools and swore under my breath. AEGIS’ drone buzzed into my face, camera pointing accusingly at me, urging me not to go any further.

“I’m sorry, AEGIS. I can’t let her do this,” I said, and ducked the drone, running after the pair into the darkness again.