I watched out the window as the wastes passed quickly beneath us. I found the orange sand, swamps, and ruins familiar and comfortable after my time away. Graves didn’t speak, which didn’t surprise me, I hadn’t known him to speak any more than necessary and sometimes even less than that. I was grateful for it though, after my time in Pott’s during which I spent far too much time in idle conversation. I was also certain that the reprieve was brief. I’d almost certainly be doing more talking than I’d prefer once I reached the Remnants.

It didn’t take long for me to start seeing signs of civilization. We passed over a small town, followed by what looked like some type of military checkpoint, then another of them, and another. We eventually came to a facility that looked like a much larger version of them. No longer were the Remnants based out of tents, now they lived within walls of steel. It was a fort, built with layers of las defenses, patrolling men and women in power armor, and dozens of armed STAR forces milling around. We landed on a small pad near two others that weren’t occupied. Leah had once told me they’d only had a single aerial vehicle, but it appeared she’d either been lying, or they’d produced more recently.

Leah was waiting by the landing pad. She wore a simple black uniform with a long duster. The scar on her throat peeked out from her collar, and her massive sniper rifle was nowhere to be seen. She gave me a smile as I exited the shrike.

“Donovan. Good to see you back safe.”

I didn’t bother turning my lie-detector ability on her. I knew it didn’t work. “Thanks.”

“Your mission… did you succeed?” Her voice came out like a painful croak. She always sounded like someone who’d smoked for two lifetimes.

“Check your notifications.”

She blinked, and her gaze became unfocused for a moment. The small false smile she wore gave way to a true one. “You did it! But why didn’t it hit everyone?”

I pulled out the black data square she’d given me. “This has the answers you want. I don’t understand all of it, but it seems to be a mix of good and bad news.”

She took the square, and gestured for me to follow. “Come, you can brief me along with the Cabinet.”

I fell in behind her, with Graves taking up our rear. Graves had been the first person I’d ever seen wearing a suit of power armor, and now that I could see him near others that were similarly equipped, it was clear that he was on an entirely different level of comfort with the gear. He moved with no stiffness, or hesitation. He was fluid, where all the others I saw on the base walking around seemed to be walking through water. I had never seen him out of his suit, and based on the biometric data from my lie-detector ability, and those few times I’d heard him speak I wondered if he could leave it.

We passed between metal buildings, getting a number of looks, some simply confused by my presence, others fearful. It was easy to tell the Remnants from the STAR natives. The Remnants had an odd gait when they walked, and all kept their eyes forward or downward as they walked. The STAR soldiers all had a kind of swagger to them, an arrogance that was only diminished when Leah, Graves, and I came into view.

We made it to a central building with two power armored guards. They didn’t acknowledge us as we passed between them. We walked straight back into a conference room. Masters, their head of reclamation, sat in the center. He was flanked on the right by Slate, the head of Commerce, the left by Curtis, their head of diplomacy. Next to Slate was Adams, their head of patriotism who I’d heard so recently on the radio. I didn’t see their head of Science, Matthews, but I was grateful for that. She always looked at me as if she would be thrilled to have me on a dissection table.

Masters smiled as I entered the room. Whenever he smiled I felt an odd obligation to return the expression. In the past I’d simply resisted, but this time I returned it with interest, showing my teeth in full. For the first time I saw just a flicker of disgust pass in front of his face, but he recovered quickly.

I activated my lie detector ability.

“Donovan! Welcome back to our patch of reclaimed American soil,” said Masters, standing from his desk and reaching out a hand.

LIE.

“You have good news I hope?” he asked.

Adams scoffed. “I haven’t noticed the Advanced R.A.S. activating, have you?”

Leah looked over at him, wearing her usual smirk. “Check again.”

Adams raised an eyebrow, but checked his notifications. “Why is activating this way?”

“I gave Leah the data with the explanation, but the jist is that the Advanced R.A.S. is mostly fucked.”

The cabinet’s expressions drooped, and a few of them exchanged glances, but Masters never turned his gaze from me.

“Elaborate,” he said simply.

“The advanced part of the system was sabotaged just before the start of the war. It can’t be spread the usual way and has limited functionality. They came up with a workaround, but the patch can only be spread from person to person. I got infected with it, and brought it back with me. The details, what is and isn’t working, that’s beyond my understanding.” I lied about the last part. I knew it was limited to President selection, but I wanted to play things close to the chest.

Masters dropped his smile and brought a hand to his chin, rubbing it for a moment. “This changes things. We may need to make some adjustments.”

“It’s better than nothing,” offered Curtis , adjusting his collar as he spoke.

TRUE.

“It is, but we may have to at least partially implement some of our backup plans.” He looked into the distance thoughtfully for a few moments before turning to Slate. “Go ahead and get his payment together. It’s clear that he’s held up his part of the bargain.”

Slate nodded, adjusting the collar of her shirt absently as she turned to me. “It may take me some time to get everything together.”

“Why didn’t you have it ready? Weren’t expecting me to make it back?”

“N-No, requisitions of this volume simply take some time is all.”

LIE.

Leah looked at me. “Graves, take Donovan out of here, he has free reign, but stay with him.”

Graves nodded and gestured to the door. I walked out in front of him, catching the start of a conversation as I moved.

“That asset of yours keeps paying dividends, huh? Maybe we should give him your job,” said Masters when he thought I was out of earshot. His tone was cruel. Clearly Leah was still having difficulties with her employers, assuming that it wasn’t an elaborate psy-op meant to make me believe there was a schism between them that didn’t exist.

Once we were back outside I turned to Graves. “Mercy here?” I asked.

He nodded.

“Where?”

He started walking, and I fell in step behind him as we made our way to a series of simple metal cubes. He took me to the second to last one and gestured at the door. I nodded at him and knocked twice. I heard movement, and Mercy opened the door.

“Donovan! You made it back!” she said excitedly. She was much the same as the last time I’d seen her. Her eyepatch, the burn scars in patches across her body, the smell of gunpowder clinging heavily to her.

I nodded. “Yes. I’m waiting on Slate to gather my payment, thought I’d stop by.”

Her eye flickered to Graves. “Come inside.”

I stepped in, and paused, pulling a worn paperback from my pack. The cover was of a noblewoman in fine dress pressed against an armored knight with the title, ‘Wearing her Favor’, I handed it to Graves. “I came across this some time ago, thought you’d enjoy it.”

He flipped the book over in his hands and read the back cover. He gave me a thumbs up, then settled into leaning against the outside wall of the apartment, flicking the book open to the first page.

I walked into Mercy’s apartment and closed the door.