The entire EDA remaining at the convention center clustered around a big screen television the facility had loaned them. On it, the bloodsport event arranged for the benefit of a demon raged on for about fifteen minutes. Mike took an absolute beating, but his opponents expired in batches until only he remained. As he stood there, a monument to perseverence in the face of exhaustion, Sam understood a little of what had drawn Jess to the man. Ew, she thought, not wanting her brain to go down that road.

Then they saw a disembowelment begin on live television. It took about three seconds for the censors to switch the feed back to a studio, where shocked news anchors were staring at a monitor off screen. A voice called out to them that they were live and the man looked into the camera like a deer in headlights. "I don't even know what I'm supposed to say after that. People, this world doesn't make sense anymore." His woman co-anchor licked her lips. "This incident adds a lot of weight to the argument that the EDA presence is a net negative for the city. Their enemies will continue to be drawn here so long as this city is their headquarters."

Greg stood and made an obscene gesture towards the television. "Can't kick us out, Pittsburgh, we're leaving on our own."

"Get your hands away from your crotch," Tracy shouted. "You acting like a dumb ass frat boy."

"You don't have any rank over me," Greg began.

"I do," Sam interrupted. "Try to be professional, Smith."

He shrugged. "Sure thing, Centurion." Then softer: "Hope you can do the same."

She would have let it go, but Diego looked at her with wide-eyed expectation and she realized that her authority had been challenged. How to respond? Erica had told her to be careful raising her voice or lecturing as that came across different for a woman than a man. She wasn't sure about that, but now would be a bad time to test it. "Sergeant Spencer, update tonight's guard rotation so that Soldier Smith stands watch for half the night."

"Yes, Centurion," Erica said.

Smith's nostils flared, but he otherwise maintained a blank expression. His previous military experience had apparently given him some self-discipline. Sam didn't think she would have been able to accept such a punishment without comment. Of course, she wasn't actually a soldier, just a student of the Imperator who received a rank she didn't deserve. In retrospect, she probably became a Centurion as a counterbalance to Mike. Cassandane wouldn't want too much authority invested into a single person under her command.

"Sit down or get out of the way," Kendra snapped. On the television, two groups were flying over the river. Everyone leaned forward to see what was happening. They arrived at the casino, where they stayed for a time.

"Looks lik one of the guys with Nallit fell down," Cody muttered. "Jess is chasing after another one now? Oh, they're zooming in . . . oh no. That's a kid. That's a damn kid. She just cratered the back of some kid's head."

"Cody," Sam snapped, "we don't need commentary."

"Why are they doing this? How can we be the good guys when we are murdering children?"

Sam glanced towards their unmoved Imperator standing in the corner, who showed no interest in joining the conversation. "You've all heard enough about Nallit by now. He didn't give them a choice," she said.

"There's always a choice," Cody muttered.

She was saved the necessity of responding when Nallit flew into the air, pointing an accusatory finger back at the group he had left. Cassandane moved forward from her spot at the back to squint at the screen. "What is happening?"

"Maybe someone goosed Nallit," Greg said.

"He panicked," Cassandane said. "Nallit never panics."

"Mike's talking to him," Erica said.

Everyone squinted at the screen together, trying to make out the movement of lips that weren't even visible. Then Nallit departed with his final prisoner. The members of the EDA shot off in another direction and the room suddenly emptied as the entire army rushed to the balcony. In just minutes, their four missing members flew into view, a news helicopter tailing them in the background. Joe landed far past their cluster at the railing to immediately head inside without speaking to anyone. The other three touched down with an unsteady landing in an unoccupied spot.

Jess looked a mess, face blotchy and makeup streaked from tears. Srinivas stared at the ground in resolute determination. Mike's uniform barely survived, adhering to him mostly due to copious amounts of drying blood.

"What the hell happened on that rooftop," Cody demanded.

"We stopped a repeat of the Empire State Building," Mike said.

"They were children."

Mike's broad shoulders slumped. "It was three lives versus thousands of lives. Don't put this on us. The damn demon created a moral dilemma without any good answers."

Jess stalked forward and pushed Sam hard. "You sent me and Srinivas into that! We could have died, Sam! I had to kill an innocent kid!"

Sam barely maintained her balance on the first push. She readied herself to accept another push, or maybe a punch this time. She deserved it.

"At ease," Mike shouted. "Soldier Green, you just came out of a tense situation, so I'm going to forget you just attacked a superior. Let's grab a room to debrief with the senior leaders."

Sam followed along until they were in their designated meeting room. Mike slumped into a chair. Cassandane chose a seat across from him. Sam, Jess, and Srinivas joined them at the table. Mike looked to Jess. "We might be a gaggle of fools half the time, but this is a military organization. You will never disrespect the rank like that again. If you absolutely must express your opinions to your friend, you do that without witnesses. From where I stand, Sam did nothing wrong. The role she's in means she assigns people to missions. Some of those people won't come back if we're being realistic. You need to accept that. We're fighting a war for the survival of the entire planet."

"Mike," Cassandane interrupted. "What did you do to Nallit?"

"I . . . don't really know. He said I almost pushed him Outside. That's Outside with a capital O. He had my corona suppressed in five dimensions and . . . I might have burrowed into something to create a sixth. Nallit had me wound up more than Jack Nicholson in The Shining."

Cassandane tilted her head as she studied him. "Can you replicate what you did?"

"No. Matter of fact, I can't replicate anything I did today."

"You need rest," Cassandane said.

"Might help, but being tired ain't the issue. My mind got fuzzed from burrowing my corona places it shouldn't go. I'm not vasted right now. Well, I am. There's definitely nous being consumed. But my consciousness got pushed out to make room for . . . I don't even know. The gist is, I'm operating purely on my physical brain right now. I'm not smart enough to corona wrestle or harden my brain or say the alphabet backwards."

Cassandane frowned. "Do you expect the mental degradation to be permanent?"

"I hope not. Either way, it was worth it. Nallit promised to leave without causing any more problems if we can convince the Angmari to move on. He gave us another month-long deadline."

"That isn't ideal," Cassandane said. "We need a continuous external threat to maintain international support for the EDA."

Mike's brow drew down. "Does the EDA exist to protect the Earth or is that just a marketing slogan? We need Nallit gone."

"I will analyze all of our options and come to a decision on the matter," Cassandane said.

"I'm too tired to argue right now, but I want to be part of that discussion."

"Both of my centurions will be involved in strategic decisions."

"Fine. Permission to clean up and take the rest of the day off?"

"Meeting adjourned," Cassandane said.

The room emptied until only Sam and Jess remained. Sam cleared her throat. "I'm sorry. I didn't know any of that would happen."

"You were my best friend and you sent me into a nightmare. We're done, Sam. You can talk to me for work, but that's it. We're strangers from now on."