THE AFTERMATH
ENGELBERG, SWITZERLAND
“I DID THIS TO BRING US TOGETHER,” EINAR said. “I never wanted us to fight.”
“Jesus, Einar,” Taylor replied. “Do you ever shut up?”
The small field at the foot of the Alps suddenly felt so peaceful. The sun had just dipped below the horizon, tinting the mountains a deep purple. The abandoned town with all its warm kitchens and empty beds seemed so inviting. Taylor just wanted to pop into one of those houses for a quick nap.
But then she heard the moans. She smelled the acrid smoke of Sydal’s burning aircraft.
No time to rest.
Isabela pulled on her arm. “Caleb’s hurt bad,” she said. “Those Earth Garde girls, too.”
Taylor’s whole body ached. She didn’t know how much energy she had left in her. Healing Einar had taken a lot out of her. She looked at him now, pale and shaky, like a strong breeze would knock him over. He’d need time to recover from the blood loss. They could take him down now, if they wanted.
She looked around. It seemed the fight had gone out of everyone.
“Show me,” Taylor said to Isabela, turning her back on Einar.
“You know I’m right, though,” Einar rasped at her back, a note of desperation in his voice. “They don’t care about us. The Academy can’t protect you from what’s coming.”
“Take your people and go,” Taylor said over her shoulder. “But don’t even think about touching Bea Barnaby. She’s our prisoner.”
Bea looked down at her hands. There were black worms writhing beneath her skin, digging their way towards her veins. The same thing was happening to her face, where Five had smashed her with the vial. It was truly disgusting.
Strange, then, that she didn’t feel ill. In fact, she felt more vibrant and healthy than she had in ages, even with the broken nose and assorted bumps and bruises.
“Hello.”
Bea looked up to find Kopano standing over her.
“I wanted to introduce myself. My name is Kopano,” he said. “I’ve gathered that you’re a bad person and part of the Foundation. But I wanted to tell you that your son, Nigel, is one of the best people I know. No thanks to you.”
Bea snorted but had no response. She looked back down at her hands.
“Also,” Kopano continued with a puffed-out chest, “by the power vested in me as a future member of Earth Garde, I hereby place you under arrest. If you tell us everything you know about your Foundation allies, maybe we’ll go easy on you.”
“Hello, mabudachi,” Ran said, plopping down in the mud and snow next to Nigel.
He smiled faintly at her arrival, but didn’t take his eyes off his mother. Nigel felt disgust just looking at her. He watched her over there, Kopano standing guard on her, and waited for Bea to pull one last trick.
Bea’s shoulders were slumped. Kopano helped her to her feet and then walked her over to where Walker kept watch on the Blackstone mercenaries. She didn’t even glance over her shoulder to look for Nigel.
Bea was done. They’d gotten her.
Nigel let out a shaky sigh and rested his head on Ran’s shoulder.
“Getting bloody embarrassing,” Nigel said. “Needing you and Kopano to save me on every mission.”
She rubbed his back. “Your moment will come.”
Nigel hiccupped. He pressed his eyes against Ran’s arm so no one would see the tears. Especially not Bea.
“I always said I hated both of ’em, you know? But I didn’t hate them, not really,” Nigel said, the words pouring out of him after days, maybe weeks, maybe years of bottling it up. “I just wanted them to be better parents. I wanted them not to hate me. And now . . . now I find out they’re monsters. They’re the actual monsters I always pretended they were and I still . . . I still can’t hate her. What am I supposed to do with that, Ran?”
Ran wiped his cheeks. “We must be better than them,” she said. “That is all you can do.”
Nigel sniffed and looked up at her. “Anyway, that’s what’s new with me. The hell happened with you?”
She touched her temple. “Too much to say, but, Nigel . . .”
There was movement over at the road. Walker and Kopano having words. That ended with Kopano turning his back on Walker and jogging over to where Taylor was healing the Earth Garde members. As Ran watched, Walker waved in Ran’s direction, sending Rabiya over towards her and Nigel.
“Holy shit,” Nigel said, noticing the teleporter for the first time. “Where’d she come from?”
“Listen to me, Nigel,” Ran said hurriedly, ignoring his question. “You are my best friend. I care about you deeply. Please remember that.”
“Ran, what’re you on about?”
Before she could answer, Rabiya was in front of them. In her hijab and dress, without even the least bit of blood on her, the girl seemed too clean for this mess.
“Walker wants to talk to you,” Rabiya said dryly, clearly letting Ran know she was just the messenger.
Ran tossed her arm around Nigel’s neck and squeezed him in a hug. Then, she stood up.
“Right,” Nigel said, rubbing his hands across his face. “I’m just going to rest here a bit and contemplate my messed-up origin, if that’s bloody okay with everyone.”
Ran allowed herself a brief smile before narrowing her eyes at Rabiya. “Let’s go.”
Moments later, she stood in front of Walker. The agent nodded across the field, where Einar was walking slowly back towards the Skimmer, rubbing his neck like he could still feel the bullet hole. Five was at his side, carrying the unconscious but alive Duanphen.
“There goes our target,” Walker said.
“You expect me to go after him?” Ran asked. “Take on Number Five again?”
“I don’t want you to get yourself killed,” Walker replied. “But I was hoping you’d have an idea.”
“Kopano put his Inhibitor inside Five,” Ran said. “Why don’t you try shocking him? You’re fond of that.”
Walker took her cell phone out of her pocket and opened the program that controlled the Inhibitors. “The thing’s gone offline. They don’t exactly work right when you just jam them in someone’s head.”
Ran nodded, watching Walker closely. “What about mine?” she asked. “I felt something during the fight when that girl shocked me. It felt like an explosion in my head.”
Walker glanced down at her phone again. Ran saw it then—a shadow across the agent’s face, a flicker of fear. She made a point of looking Ran right in the eyes.
“Nothing has changed with yours,” Walker said. “It’s fine.”
She was lying. Ran could tell.
It was just like she thought. Duanphen had short-circuited her Inhibitor.
Ran turned to gaze across the battlefield, watching Einar and Five as they neared their ship.
“Perhaps,” Ran said, “we should live to fight another day.”
Taylor held Caleb’s face in her hands. She was pretty sure she’d fixed his broken jaw, but he was just staring up at her, giving no indication that she should take her hands away and stop pumping healing energy into him.
“Caleb?” she asked, finally. “Can you talk?”
“Oh,” he said, working his mouth around, testing. “Yeah, guess I can. You done?”
Taylor smirked. “Been done for like a minute.” She let her hands drop away and Caleb sat up. “I thought what you did was pretty brave, by the way.”
“You did?”
“You stood up to Einar and Five, tried to save lives,” Taylor replied. “I think that’s what we’re supposed to be all about.”
“I thought it was stupid,” Isabela put in, peering at Caleb over Taylor’s shoulder.
Taylor turned around to reply sharply, but instead her face split into a grin.
Kopano bounded towards her.
He scooped her up in a bear hug and spun her around, her legs flailing. Despite the chaos of the last hour and the exhaustion she felt, Taylor found herself laughing. She grabbed Kopano’s face and kissed him.
“Where’ve you been?” she asked. “You’re supposed to keep things boring for me.”
“So many places,” Kopano replied. “I’ll tell you, but please kiss me again.”
Taylor happily did as he asked. Isabela rolled her eyes and Caleb looked away.
“Okay, okay, put me down,” Taylor said to Kopano. “I’ve still got people to heal.”
“I’ll help,” Kopano declared. “My moral support will boost your healing.”
Caleb glanced over at Daniela and Melanie, both badly beaten, both unconscious but alive. Taylor would see to them. They’d recover.
His eyes settled on a loose vial on the ground next to him, one of the ones that had spilled out of Sydal’s briefcase when Melanie smashed it on Five’s face. Five had gathered all the others before attacking Bea and Nigel, apparently missing only this one. Caleb picked it up and looked at the black rot contained within.
He remembered Patience Creek. There had been a Mogadorian there, a trueborn woman named Phiri Dun-Ra, who had been bonded to this horrific ooze. She’d stabbed parts of it into John Smith and stolen his Legacies, used them to massacre countless soldiers and a few young Garde who had barely discovered their powers.
Who would take possession of this now? Earth Garde? Some other inventor like Sydal? Who could be trusted to keep such a deadly weapon?
Caleb pocketed the vial. Isabela saw him, raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
As Taylor finished healing Daniela and Melanie, she heard the whup-whup-whup of incoming helicopters. They all did. Everyone around the battlefield—tired and dirty and spent—they stood up, expecting more trouble.
A trio of choppers with the UN logo was headed in their direction. At their vanguard was the Loric cruiser that Taylor had seen once before, the one Lexa kept around for use by herself and Professor Nine. Taylor touched her forearm. The chip had worked. They were coming to get her.
Taylor looked across the battlefield. Einar’s Skimmer was still there, he and Five lingering on the entrance ramp like they were waiting for something. Why hadn’t they left when she gave them the chance?
Now, it was too late.
Before the aerial convoy even had a chance to land, something dropped off from the entryway of the Loric vessel. It hit the ground with an explosion of dirt and snow. Dark hair whipping in the wind, metal arm glinting in the fading light—Professor Nine loved to make an entrance.
And he’d already recognized who was standing on the ramp of the Mogadorian Skimmer.
“FIVE!” Nine shouted.
“Goddamn it,” Five muttered. He took a step down the ramp, but Einar stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder.
They all gathered around Professor Nine. Taylor and Kopano stood to his left, holding hands. Daniela sidled up on his right, nodding in greeting to Nine before turning to glare daggers at Five. Ran and Nigel came to stand at the edge of the group, a glowing stone held in one of Ran’s hands. Melanie hung back, still crying a little but trying to keep it together, occasionally touching her face as if to make sure Taylor had healed her properly. Isabela and Caleb stood next to her. Even Rabiya moved to stand with the Academy group, her eyes warily fixed on Einar.
Together, they formed a loose semicircle, facing down the two boys on the Skimmer’s ramp.
“Surprised to see you here, big boy,” Professor Nine said. “You’re supposed to be playing dead on a private island somewhere.”
“I’m done with that,” Five replied coldly.
“I know someone who’ll be interested to hear that.”
“Yeah?” Five replied, raising his voice. “Look at me. I’ve paid my penance. I’m done looking for forgiveness from you assholes. Not even two years since the war and you’ve already let this world go to shit, failing these kids just like our Cêpans failed us. So you tell her. You tell all of them. They want me? They can come for me. It’ll be the last thing they do.”
Nine took a step forward. “We can get started on that right now, tubby.”
Five moved forward as well. “First thing I’m going to do is jam that toy arm up your—”
“Stop it!” Taylor snapped. “Jesus. Enough. Enough fighting.”
“I agree,” Einar added, putting himself in front of Five. “This will get us nowhere.”
Nine’s brow knit in consternation. “What the hell? You were just letting them leave?”
“Fuck that,” Daniela growled.
“They come with us,” Nine said, staring down Taylor. “As prisoners. They both have too much to answer for.”
“We don’t want to fight you,” Einar said.
“I do,” Five grumbled.
“Kid, I know you don’t want to fight me,” Nine replied, focusing on Einar. “I hear you’re supposed to have some sick Legacies and no mercy, but you look half-dead already and I’ve got years of experience on you. Surrender now and save us some trouble.”
“No,” Einar replied. He looked around at the gathered Garde and spoke louder. “I know you might not trust me. Might hate me. But this Loric and his Academy cannot protect you. Society wants to control you and he is an instrument of that.”
“Bullshit,” Nine growled.
“Come with us,” Einar continued. “There are safe places, away from their watchful eyes, away from their manipulation. We will take care of you. Grow stronger. And wait to carve out a place in this world free from tyranny and—”
“Blah, blah, blah,” Nine interrupted. “Ten on two, by my count. I’m good with that math.”
As Nine took a step forward, a glowing rock landed at his feet. He leaped back just in time to avoid the explosion.
“Nine on three,” Ran said, as she strode forward to stand beside Einar and Five. She avoided looking at Nigel, unable to bear the hurt expression on his face.
“This is crazy!” Taylor said. “Ran—”
“We were kidnapped from under your watch,” Ran said, pointing at Nine. “Your Earth Garde put a chip in my head and forced me to be their assassin.”
“Ran . . . ,” Nine said. “I swear, I didn’t know.”
“That is why I will not go back with you,” Ran said. She looked at Kopano. “You should come, too.”
Kopano shook his head and grabbed Taylor’s hand. “No. I will face what is to come, not run from it.”
Ran bowed her head. “So be it.”
“Goddamn it, Ran,” Nine growled. “You know I can’t let them leave. I don’t want to fight you, but I will.”
Nine took another step forward. Daniela joined him. Melanie sniffed defiantly, clenched her fists, and edged forward as well.
“This is moronic,” Taylor said, but she nonetheless inched towards the Skimmer. Kopano came with her, tightening his molecules, anticipating another throw-down with Five.
“I’m sorry, love,” Nigel said to Ran as he flanked them as well, his eyes wet. “You know how it is.”
Ran inclined her head, her fists aglow. “I understand.”
The crowd of Garde suddenly shifted, jostled as three duplicates of Caleb pushed through their ranks in order to join Einar’s group. Taylor glanced behind her, saw one Caleb still standing there beside Isabela. The guy was split, as usual.
“Caleb? What the hell?” Daniela asked in a strained voice.
“We took a vote,” one of the Calebs said. “Our decision—my decision—is to formally resign from Earth Garde.”
Isabela jumped as the Caleb standing beside her vanished. He was fully on the other side now.
“Caleb, man,” Nine growled, sensing his authority slipping away. “That’s the wrong decision.”
“Maybe. But it’s my decision. In my life, I haven’t gotten to make a lot of them.” Caleb glanced over his shoulder at Einar. “And if he gets out of line, goes too far, he knows I can stop him.”
Einar said nothing, but he touched his cheek, remembering the bruises.
“You’re out of the band,” Nigel said to Caleb.
“Oh, shit on this.”
That was Isabela. She too broke from Nine’s group and crossed over to join Einar and the others.
Taylor’s mouth hung open. “Isabela . . . don’t.”
Isabela tossed her hair. “I never belonged in that place, Taylor. You know that. I belong with people like these.” Isabela took a deep breath and let go of her Legacy. Her face shifted, the skin tightened and scarred, her terrible burns revealed. “I belong with the freaks.”
On one side: Professor Nine, Daniela, Nigel, Taylor, Kopano, Rabiya, and Melanie.
On the other: Einar, Five, Ran, a group of Calebs, and Isabela.
“Now,” Ran said, her fists glowing. She looked at Nine. “Do you still want to fight us?”