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“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?”
Epilogue
THE HUMAN GARDE ACADEMY—POINT REYES, CALIFORNIA
“YOU AREN’T WELCOME HERE, GREGER. NOT AFTER the shit you pulled with Ran and Kopano.”
Greger chuckled. He stood casually before Professor Nine, a team of UN Peacekeepers armed with Sydal Corp anti-Garde weaponry at his back. Nine blocked his way into the Academy’s faculty building, the fingers on his metallic arm clenching and unclenching with a rhythmic creak.
“Ironic,” Greger replied. “Because you are the one who is not welcome.”
“Come again?”
The Earth Garde liaison handed Nine a folded piece of paper.
“That letter is from the UN. You have been terminated as headmaster of this training facility.”
“Bullshit.”
“Don’t be dense, Nine,” Greger replied. “After everything that’s happened, did you honestly expect them to keep you on? You’ve let this place get out of control. The public has no faith in you.”
Nine tore up the letter without reading it.
“You want me out,” he snarled, “you’re going to need an army.”
“That,” Greger replied, “can be arranged.”
It took every bit of John Smith’s willpower to stay silent.
He floated above his old friend Nine, an invisible observer, watching the scene play out. He hadn’t come to the Academy that day expecting to find the place in the midst of a power struggle. He was there on other business. Urgent business.
But if he needed to intervene on Nine’s behalf, John would. Even if that would be in violation of the treaty they’d signed with the humans.
There needed to be a friendly face in charge of the Academy. Someone John could trust. Especially considering what was coming.
Luckily, Greger’s small team of Peacekeepers didn’t seem all that keen to take on Nine. Especially not once they noticed Taylor and an assortment of other students standing behind him, arms crossed, ready to defend their professor.
The Earth Garde liaison backed down. Greger led the Peacekeepers away, back to their guard posts at the Academy’s entrance, where their guns were now pointed inwards.
He would be back with a stronger force. John knew this.
They would have to fight.
But at the moment, there was something more important to prepare for.
A new arrival.
John floated upward, not turning visible until he was out of sight of the Academy. He cut through the clouds, going higher and higher, until he reached the upper limits of Earth’s breathable atmosphere.
He waited there.
John couldn’t keep away the chills when it appeared. The urge to flee or fight ingrained in him. No matter how powerful he became, he’d fought for too long to ever be able to get over that feeling.
Not when faced with a Mogadorian warship.
The massive locust-shaped vessel entered Earth’s atmosphere and headed straight for John.
He raised a hand and waved.
Then, John led the warship down.
The Academy their destination.
