When I arrived at Lia's that evening, my head heavy with Karu's words of punishments and only making things worse and of giving up, I found we had an unexpected guest and the house was starting to get rather crowded.

Moon was still here for reasons I could only guess at, having slept in her uniform in the disused bedroom which had once belonged to Lia's idiot boyfriend. She was safely behind her book, completely ignoring the other two girls chatting, while AEGIS hovered nearby, apparently cleaning, but still managing to stare suspiciously at Rito even without discernible eyes.

I had to smile at the scene. Rito was older than me, but tiny, and so at a glance it just looked like two perfectly ordinary high schoolers sitting on the couch gabbing, aided in no small part by the fact that these were easily the two most energetic and gesticulating people I'd ever met.

Not wanting to interrupt, I hovered in the entryway for a bit as they seemingly were debating how good of an ending some specific show had. In the course of the perhaps minute I was sitting there, each of them had stood up to pace or gesture more dramatically, their voices ringing and bombastic, and their laughter genuine.

"No, it was more like this!" Lia said, and did a spin ending in a dramatic pose with both arms pointed in the air to her side. "Oh, hi dude! When did you get back?"

"Just now," I said, stepping in properly. "Hi all."

Rito rose but AEGIS got there first. "Athan, this Exhuman just showed up in our house asking to speak to you. Is this going to become a common occurrence?" she spoke quickly in her creepy synth voice and I found myself shrugging away from her and the little finger-drones she had floating in the air around her. "Do you have some kind of relationship I don't know about? Not that it's any of my business, but she seems a little small for you."

"Too bad Athan likes 'em small," Lia grinned. In the corner of my eye I saw Moon imperceptibly perk up.

"She wouldn't last ten seconds in a fight. Athan needs someone sturdy," AEGIS said, banging her hand-paddle against her chest with a clang.

Lia's smile had turned utterly devious. "She's got some muscle. Besides, is it really the battlefield where you think Athan cares how long she'd last?"

"P-please don't...I'm...I'm right here…" Rito muttered, her face searing crimson.

"Yeah, AEGIS? Stop being jealous. Rito's just a friend. And Lia, stop messing with everyone. You two are impossible."

Lia cackled and threw herself back into a chair while I sat down next to the poor embarrassed girl, making her shift away from me with the least subtle shuffle ever.

"Um, I-I...I needed...needed to talk to...to you," she stammered out at the coffee table.

"I'm right here, whatever you need," I said, trying to be reassuring, but not sure how to do that without sounding like flirting, given the context we'd just been thrown in.

"I um, the Defiant, that is, they want...want to meet again. They...haven't...heard from Talon. It's been...three days."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Who what now?" Lia asked, as AEGIS abandoning all pretense of doing other work and approaching us. Rito, now caught between the jealous beetle bot and me made the wise choice of inching back my way.

"Maybe just the end of the world," I said. "They don't know he's dead, or they wouldn't be calling you, I assume."

"No...I don't think they do. Do know, that is. I didn't tell them...because...well, end of the world."

"Right." Surprisingly smart of her.

"Well...I know I am a dummy but...I've had a few days to think about what I was gonna say..."

I was going to give her shoulder a reassuring squeeze and let her know she wasn't stupid and had done well so far, but the second my hand moved towards her, she bolted up off the couch and moved behind Moon's chair in the corner.

"Reading over my shoulder is very distracting," Moon said without so much as lifting her eyes from the page.

"A-anyway, I don't know what to do, Athan. I thought maybe you might have an idea," Rito continued undeterred.

"Okay, recap please?" Lia asked.

"Sure. Around twenty Exhumans broke out of New Eden and instead of going into hiding, joined together to form a collective called the Defiant Unchained. Their leader was a former lawyer named Talon. Their policy was that an attack on one of them was an attack on all of them. They threatened to destroy the world if they were attacked by the XPCA, and to my knowledge, the XPCA have been too scared to act."

"Okay," said Lia, already beginning to fret.

"Problem is, three days ago, the night the Defiant announced themselves and their policy, Talon was murdered in his apartment. Shot three times in the back by a gun using the same bullets as standard XPCA firearms. The windows were blacked out by XPCA exotics expanding foam, we have a footprint which doesn't indicate a boot or shadow ops stilt, and they escaped by jumping from a second-story window without any evidence they hurt themselves."

Lia frowned. "The fall indicates training. The gun and goo are the most obvious evidence, if both of them are XPCA-affiliated, that indicates them. But the killer would also know that...and might have done it to make it look like the XPCA."

"That was my thinking too," AEGIS said. "The blood footprint was difficult to make out and the carpet was too thick to make a concrete match, but I did rule out any sanctioned XPCA-attire. If it was left on accident, it implies a setup by someone not in the XPCA."

"But why would anyone want a bunch of Exhumans angry at the XPCA?" I asked. "That's just begging for the world to end. Nobody's that stupid."

"Maybe an Exhuman?" Rito asked. I looked at her and she shrunk and blushed. "No, sorry, that was stupid."

"No...I mean, it is stupid, but that doesn't mean someone wouldn't do it. Any Exhuman--"

I stopped as a sound emanated from Rito. Some guy yelling and the sound of a tennis ball getting whacked, I think?

"Love that series," Lia commented. I was obviously missing a reference. Rito pulled out her mobile and glanced at it, going white.

"It's them again. They want to know why I haven't answered. They...they're...they...oh no."

"What?"

"They are trying to meet up right now. They wonder if I've been hurt. This last message is 'to the bastard who took Rito's phone, we'll make you pay', it says. Oh no. Oh no."

"We have to tell them. They're less likely to freak out if it's coming from us than them discovering it on their own," I said. Lia and AEGIS nodded, and Moon snapped her book shut, noticed we were all looking at her, and receded into the back of her chair nervously.

"Okay. I'll message them then--" Rito said, typing.

"Message them what?" Lia asked.

"That he died."

"Don't do that!" Lia half-shouted. "Um, look...whatever you say over messenger, you'll have a huge disadvantage in convincing them. Delay in between messages gives them time to second-guess everything you're saying, they're already on the defensive, and already not convinced you really still are Rito."

"But I am Rito?"

"I meant, the bastard who took Rito's phone."

"Oh. Right."

"Thank God for you, Lia," I said. "Let's help them meet, and talk to them together then?"

"Yeah I think that's best," Lia said, chewing her lip. "I wish I knew more about them. I can try to play off them in general, but this isn't a situation where I can just call back later if I mess up…"

"The facts might sound more authentic coming from a machine?" AEGIS suggested.

We all took one look at her and then all vehemently disagreed.

"No offense, but you look like a murder machine," I said.

"Not that he doesn't still love you!" Lia added glaring at me. "We could...bring Saga. Sort of...force them to see it our way."

"No way," I said, crossing my arms and glaring at her. "We're never doing that."

"Who is...Saga?" Rito asked.

"Bro, if this goes badly...twenty Exhuman event, assuming nobody else from New Eden finds out and joins in. End of the world scenario like you said. It might be a good idea, just to be safe. Just a little nudge, not even the full deal."

"Lia, no. We're not those people, and we're not going to ask Saga to be that person either. That's fucked up and wrong."

[Thanks. I'd rather not. AEGIS would kill me. You're always so nice and respectful of other people's brains.]

"WHO SAID THAT?" Rito yelled as Lia went catatonic on her feet.

[(Oh shitgoddamnit fucking compel!)]

"WHAT IS GOING ON? WHO IS TALKING?" Rito clawed at her skull and I had to laugh as I remembered the first time Saga had spoken in my head and I thought there was a food-obsessed ghost.

"Sorry, that's Saga," I explained. "She talks in your head sometimes. Though she really shouldn't because it freaks out the neighbors." I waited but Saga didn't reply. I did get a vague sense of sheepish amusement from the direction of the tree in the backyard though.

Rito's mobile played man-yelling-tennis noise again and she threw it in front of her eyes with the same panicked intensity of screaming about Saga, her eyes going even wider as she read the message.

"Let's go now," I suggested, before she could freak out any further. "Rito, take us away please."

We averted our gazes and it was only a moment before Moon fell down from not sitting on a chair anymore, and I realized we were all standing in a dark room.

"Wait, why did you bring AEGIS?" I asked, looking around after I'd lit up a couple swords to see.

"Uh, I just...I'm sorry, I forgot," Rito said. "I can send her back--"

"No, wait--" AEGIS said, and when I turned to look, I found myself staring at dirt and darkness, waiting for her to finish her sentence before realizing she was gone.

"Creepy," Lia said. In the dark, I'd found a lightswitch and flicked it on. Faint buzzing and yellow light filled the air as the room lit up.

An unfinished basement, it looked like. Cavernous, wooden ceiling and beams above us, an uneven dirt floor underfoot, studded at random intervals with chunks of concrete embedded in the ground and holding up pillars. There were just a couple of lights directly above us and otherwise the room stretched in the darkness as far as I could see in any direction.

"Um, Rito, where the heck are we?" I asked.

"Under my high school, in Oregon. A little room we found that nobody knows about. We all grew up and moved away, so I still use it sometimes."

I wasn't sure if a 'little room' could possibly describe a lamp installed in the foundations of a school building but sure. Good a meeting place as any I guessed.

"Okay...turn again please. I'm going to start bringing them in…"

It was a bit uncomfortably short down here, and while Rito seemed to have no problem walking around under the beams, and Moon had ample clearance, Lia and I were stooping to avoid getting splinters and dust in our hair. We sat down since it was more comfortable than breaking our backs, and Moon joined us.

Rito seemed to be having some trouble and was typing messages at people, presumably to get them to stop watching each other so she could steal them away, and it was only another minute before there were another dozen people squatting in the dirt with us.

I was happy to note that Trish's girl, Haley wasn't among them. It seemed several of the less-important members weren't coming, because Rito rejoined us as though she were done well before reaching twenty.

"Hi," she said, looking around. "Um, this is Athan. Athan...uh...go."

"Thanks for that intro," I intoned. "Yes, I'm Athan. I met with Talon in the pizzeria that day if any of you remember. I definitely remember a few of your faces, good to see you doing well."

I paused. Why did I say that? I was just aiming for friendly pleasantries but that was not a good preface to 'oh and by the way, Talon isn't doing well at all because he is dead'.

"I don't care who you are, just tell me why you're here. This is a Defiant meeting," said some dark-skinned girl with a head scarf.

"I don't even care about that," laughed an older fatter man with a moustache and a deep voice. "He can fuck off and die. All I want to know is, where's Talon?"

"I might postulate that he is speaking because he is cognizant of the particulars of these queries?" said a thin, pale man, square glasses under a slightly-turned baseball cap which read in lovely white stitching 'I am now accepting compliments'. "Mayhap we might already procure the solutions posthaste, had the two of you not interceeded with your needless outbursts of prattle."

"Shut the hell up, Dork-Hand," Mustache said.

"How typically uncouth," Dork-Hand huffed.

"Both of you shut up and you, start talking," the girl said, stabbing her finger at me.

I could just tell I was going to love this meeting already.

"Okay. Before we begin, I just want to clear the air a little bit. As you probably know from when we last met, I am XPCA, yes. But I'm not--"

"Boring!" belched the man. "Didn't come here to hear you talk about yourself."

"How about you just begin, before I get to punching," the woman said, cracking her knuckles as she glared at me with narrowed eyes.

I took a deep breath. They couldn't be all bad if Talon was working with them. They were just nervous and upset and wary of me.

"Three days ago, someone we believe was unaffiliated with the XPCA broke into Talon's house on the night after the summit, blocked out his windows and cut his power to blind him, and shot him in the back three times. He is dead. Rito witnessed the crime and barely got away, with Talon's last act being to save her."

They muttered amongst themselves. Apparently I'd confirmed what many had feared. The girl stood up and slammed a fist into her palm. She was muscular, lean, and small, wearing a short-cut tank that showed off just how much more defined her arms and abs were than mine.

"And just how much beating the crap outta you is it gonna take to get the whole truth, XPCA?" she said.

"Minerva, honestly," Dork-Hand pleaded. "I am singularly dubious that this gentlesir needs any contusion to facilitate his oration. Conciliate yourself for once."

"It's Mini, and you open your stupid mouth one more time and I'll conciliate the shit outta you," she said, turning on him.

He reached into a pocket and pulled out a tiny holo, only as large as a couple of fingers, and then read. "Conciliate. Verb. To stop one from being discontented; to pacify."

She lunged towards him to slap the holo from his hands but he held it away from her like it was the source of all of his powers.

Idiots. They were all idiots. These were the people threatening the security of the world? I had to hope the others who weren't all speaking up and embarrassing themselves were doing so because they had a shred of normalcy between them.

"Anyway," I barreled on, now that Punchy Chick wasn't directing her fists at me anymore. "We found a footprint in Talon's blood which indicates the murderer was neither an XPCA soldier or one of the stilt-wearing shadow ops units."

"Or the jackass knew how to change shoes. Doesn't prove anything," Mustache said.

"You might think that," I said, diplomatically, "but it's evidence that stands out because it seems left unintentionally compared to the rest. The exotic gel and firearms used indicate XPCA--"

"So it was XPCA," he grumbled.

"--but the shoeprint was clearly left on accident and doesn't--"

"So it was XPCA and they changed their shoes. What are you, stupid?" he asked.

I was about ready to tear out my hair when Lia spoke up.

"Sir, that is how it looks on the surface, but let me assure you...he only looks stupid." She grinned at him and waited, and after a moment he snorted and smiled back. "You hate the XPCA, I bet? Bunch of asses trying to jerk you around."

"'Course I do. Any sane man would."

"Right," Lia nodded. "Which is why this situation is so messed up. See, the killer knows that you hate the XPCA. That's why they used XPCA grenades and guns, they're trying to use your hate to make you jump to a false conclusion." She lowered her voice and tilted her head down conspiratorially. "But if you fall for that trap, they've beaten you. Talon's murderer will walk free, laughing as you and the XPCA go to war just like he wants."

The man bristled behind his bristles. "Nobody manipulates me," he said.

Oh the fucking irony.

"Right! I could see that the second we met," Lia continued. "You don't take bullshit from anybody. And that's why we need your help. We want to find the real killer, and we want to avoid a war with the XPCA at all costs, because if that breaks out, the killer won."

I realized Lia even broke her self-imposed rule about swearing to talk to this guy. Maybe she'd assessed that beating around the bush with half-measured words wouldn't impress him sufficiently. Whatever her reason, the word fell out of her mouth as naturally as any other. I was impressed. But then the other two finished their fight and rejoined us, and Lia sat back down and shut up again.

Hmm. Maybe if I could see through her, she worried they might as well? Whatever the reason it looked like I was back up again.

I was about to start speaking when Moustache did instead.

"I've decided we shouldn't act," he said with all the confidence that his decision had been handed to him on a carved stone tablet from God.

"What? Bullshit. They hit us, we hit them back or we look weak," Mini said.

"Indeed, the pact's subsistence is contingent on the aplomb that we act when browbeat."

"Aplomb isn't the right word," Moon said suddenly.

He cocked his head with a confident grin and glared at her. "Aplomb means assurance. The pact's subsistence is contingent on the assurance that we act," he said slowly and deliberately.

She shook her head slowly. "Aplomb means self-assurance, or confidence. You can't use it to refer to another's certainty."

"I certainly can," he said, brandishing his tiny holo and flipping through it. His brow furrowed as he stood there fruitlessly for long seconds, his fingers flying across the tiny display.

"Idiot," breathed Mini before turning back to us. "I don't care who did it. That's the XPCA's problem. Our rule was you fight one of us, you fight all of us, and it seems to me someone fought one of us, so buckle up."

Moustache scoffed. "And let the real killer walk free and laugh at us? I don't think so."

I could only shake my head at how I heard Lia's exact words coming out of his mouth now. For hating being manipulated, he sure was good at it.

"Then this what we effectuate," Dork-Hand said, stuffing his holo back in his pocket without a single word for Moon. "As we ever have, we rectify the dispute with a ballot."

"Like Talon did," Mustache agreed.

"Whatever. If you all idiots want to let them pick us off one by one, fucking go for it."

"All right, voting time," Mustache suddenly yelled back at the others. "If you want to fight, thumbs up. If you want to wait and figure out who the real killer was, thumbs down."

With all the confidence in the world, he thrust his hand in the air, thumb pointed downwards. Most followed suit after a moment, though a few went up, Mini's among them. Finally, after the majority was already established, Dork-Hand also signaled a thumbs-down.

"Buncha dumbasses," Mini growled. "It's not gonna be me next. It'll be one of you bitches."

"Well," Dork-Hand said with a smile as though he were the diplomat who had just solved global hunger with his medal for creating world peace. "I'd say the predestination of this summit has been pronounced. We shall begin our own inquiries into his death and resolve this, posthaste."

"Are we good then?" Rito asked. "Are you going home?"

"The sooner the better," Mustache said.

"Before I beat one of you idiots to death," Mini agreed.

"Wait, we must commit to a future concourse," Dork-Hand said. "Shall we reconvene in, I submit, a week?"

"Every day, until it's settled," Mustache growled.

"Please. We'd kill each other," Mini said. "We all report in every day, meet every three."

"Fine."

"Splendiferous."

"Speak like a normal fucking person, Dork-Hand," Mini said, as she and the others turned from Rito. It wasn't but a few moments before I realized they were gone and we were too, back at the house in Vegas, with AEGIS wearing a rut in the rug from her pacing.

"Athan! You're back!" she said, and just about lunged at me, which I deftly sidestepped. "How's the world? Ending tonight?"

"Not tonight," I sighed. "Lia saved the world today."

"Aw shucks," she said, sticking out her tongue. "All in a day's work for us Ashtons. Now if you don't mind, I'mma dig up some files."

"I'll come with. You can fill me in," AEGIS said.

"I'll be fine on my own. You have...work to do, remember?" Lia said evasively.

"Yeah...but...end of the world," AEGIS said, stopping her pursuit as Lia wandered out of sight down the hallway.

"If you finish your work and the world ends, you'll be able to go out with a bang!" Lia said, and then her door clicked shut.

I turned to AEGIS, not sure what was going on there. "What work do you have?"

"Oh. Uh. Heh."

"AEGIS? Are you hiding things from your boyfriend?"

"No. Well. Yes." I waited, and watched as the angular black thing sweated it out under my gaze. "Okay...well...it was a surprise, damn that girl. But we're back in manufacturing! I have...taken your input under advisement and realized...this body is definitely...lacking in some ways."

"Oh thank God," I sighed. "I didn't know that I had it in me to stick around this giant black thing forever."

AEGIS froze awkwardly. "Uh. Yeah."

"Problem?" I asked.

"No, no. I was just...was just going to start...work on this body a little bit. Wasn't...planning to...jump out just yet."

"Oh," I said. I really should get my foot out of my mouth one of these days. "Uh, sounds good. So...what were you thinking? Like, real fingers, or...skin maybe?"

"I was going to start with a face."

"Sure. Face. Sounds good. I like faces. Been uh...been wearing one for years," I said, desperately trying to envision any way that a tiny human face on that mess of black metal would look anything other than horrifying.