Surge’s cruiser still reeked of smoke, but I didn’t want to roll down the windows. Not with all the screaming going on. A pit settled in my stomach as I watched a swarm of people rush past the cruiser. Surge struggled to keep his breathing under control as he drove around them. They were running from Rebecca’s rampage, so at least we knew which direction to head toward.

“I think…Frost wanted this to happen,” I blurted out. It all made sense. If Anderson had captured me, then she’d have gotten me back. If we had rescued Rebecca, then this would have happened. Either she’d known the Oppressed would rescue her, or she had been willing to let Rebecca tear apart anyone who dared to save her.

“I kind of pieced that together, kid, but I’m glad you’re keeping up.” Surge gritted his teeth as he slammed on the brakes, flinging us into the dashboard. “For the love of—why is everyone in the street? Hold on.” Surge pushed his door open and leaned out. “Everyone, sidewalk only, please. I’m going to handle this, but I need to get to the situation first!”

As if he’d snapped his fingers, a small crowd formed a circle around us. There was too much chatter to make anything out, but I was sure they were trying to convey to Surge how scared they were. Weren’t these people supposed to be an army? The problem was that they were also kids.

“This is the exact opposite of what I just asked for.” Surge slapped his forehead and groaned. “Wander, go on ahead. I’ll catch up after I comfort a thousand teenagers.”

“Me? But—”

“Now, kid! We don’t have time to waste.”

That was a good point. I sighed and climbed out of the cruiser. A wall of sound blasted me. I’d thought the screaming was loud in the cruiser, but it was ear-destroying in person. I covered my ears and ran into the crowd, but it couldn’t block out everything. My elbows bumped into every other person. I mumbled apologies as I wove past them.

Gasping for air, I broke out of the crowd. I hadn’t realized I’d been holding my breath. I glanced behind me and shuddered. It was like watching a wall of worms squirm. I shook my head and kept running.

I lost track of how long I’d been running (because I kept stopping for air), but I knew I was getting close when I looked up and saw a cruiser falling toward me. I gasped and jumped out of the way.

The cruiser crashed to the ground, causing the area beneath me to shake. I glanced at the cruiser, which now resembled a metal cube in a junkyard. No amount of work would fix that thing. What was Rebecca doing? If I didn’t do anything soon, someone would get hurt…or worse.

The distant shots of gunfire caused me to perk up my ears. I knew that sound. A lot of guns sounded similar, but only one had that specific pitch. The Gamechanger. I took a deep breath and raced over. My legs were burning when I finally reached the battlefield. Rebecca held a rock the size of her torso over her head. A black and yellow cruiser drove in a circle around her. Laura was at the wheel, while Kaela stood in the row behind her, peering through her rifle’s scope. They were using the tactic that Laura and I had pulled on the ruabrum in New Earth’s desert.

Rebecca spun around and hurled her miniature boulder toward the cruiser. Laura screamed as she yanked the wheel. The vehicle swerved away from the rock, which burst through a building behind them.

Kaela squeezed her rifle’s trigger, firing a blue beam. Rebecca blocked it with her arm. It pushed her back, but aside from a dent in her armor, she seemed fine. Her pink eyes flickered as she charged at the cruiser. Laura and Kaela jumped out just before Rebecca rammed her shoulder into it. The cruiser flew back and rolled before landing right-side up. It went right back to hovering. That was one resilient vehicle.

Laura’s eyes widened as she spotted me and ran over. Kaela backed away from Rebecca but kept her rifle trained on her. Rebecca didn’t seem too worried about that.

“About time you showed up,” Laura said as she reached me. “This is the perfect time for you to be edgy with your powers. Zap her!”

“Right, I shoot her with electricity, she shrugs it off, I get tired, and then she body slams me. Great plan. What we need to do is be smart about this. Have you seen Manning?”

“I hoped that he was with you,” Laura said. “Didn’t he use some weird power to beat her last time? How are we going to calm her down without him?”

I inhaled through my nose. “I think I can do it. Her eyes are always glowing pink, which means that this is because of her Implants. Frost must have tampered with them. Maybe raised her aggression, I don’t know. Deactivating them may force her to snap out of this.”

“What? But that means getting close enough to—no, wait. You don’t even know how to do that. You’d need to get up in her face just for a chance. You’ll get yourself killed!”

“Me? Are you even looking at Kaela right now?”

Kaela ducked Rebecca’s punch as she changed her rifle into its staff form. She swung it at Rebecca, but the impact didn’t even make her flinch. Rebecca yanked Kaela’s staff from her hands and chucked it at us. Laura tackled me to the ground as it soared over us. Rebecca grabbed Kaela by the throat and lifted her up. Kaela choked and pounded against Rebecca’s hand, but it had no effect.

“Kaela!” Laura jumped up and took out her knife. “Okay let’s just move. She’ll kill her if we do nothing.”

“Exactly. Wait, do you hear a cruiser?”

I whipped around just as a gray blur sped past me. The cruiser slammed into Rebecca, flinging her. Rebecca’s pink eyes flickered as she fell to the ground. Rebecca dropped Kaela when she was hit, so she fell into the mysterious gray cruiser. She grunted and massaged her throat as she looked up at her savior. Then she coughed again, presumably out of shock.

“Surge?” she asked in a raspy voice. “You saved me?”

“Was I not supposed to?” Surge drove the cruiser around and glided toward us. Rebecca wiped her mouth as she got back up. A cruiser had just hit this woman, and she already wanted to fight again. We definitely wouldn’t win through brute force. I stepped back as Surge ground to a halt in front of us. His eyes were locked on to Rebecca. “Hang back, kids. I’ll handle this.”

“How?” Kaela asked as she stepped out of the cruiser. “Whoever this crazy, cruiser-flipping woman is, she can’t be beaten. What’s an equally crazy guy who can’t flip cruisers supposed to do?”

“Buy time.” Surge looked right at me. “You got a plan?”

I glanced at my hands. “I have an idea.”

“Good enough.” Surge raised his arm as a barrel popped out of it. That stun gun he’d built into his suit. Why did I know so many people with arm barrels? “I’ll be counting on you, kid.”

I looked down. “You and everyone else.”

Surge slammed on the pedal, launching the cruiser at Rebecca. She gritted her teeth as she reeled back. Surge opened his door and tumbled out before she struck the cruiser. Metal screamed as the cruiser shot off. Unlike Kaela’s cruiser, Surge’s didn’t land on its feet. It crashed to the ground, roof first. I hoped that hadn’t been a bad omen.

Rebecca swung at Surge, but he stepped out of her range. He aimed his arm barrel at her and fired it, blasting her face with the white beam. She shook her head as the vapor cleared then charged at Surge. She wasn’t even remotely fazed. He reached for his hip, yanked a pistol out of its holster, and fired it at Rebecca’s face. The blast pushed her back. Surge pulled the trigger again and again, forcing her back.

“After nearly getting my arm blown off, I won’t be solely relying on it again,” Surge told Rebecca as he reloaded the pistol by pulling out the tube and watching it sink back in. “You weren’t there for that, but these kids were. How we doing over there, Wand—oof!”

Surge failed to dodge a punch from Rebecca. He flew back and landed in a crumpled heap. Rebecca cracked her knuckles as she stomped toward him. She raised her foot and gritted her teeth. If she landed this hit, Surge would die. Maybe that was why I finally swallowed my fear and grabbed her wrist.

She glared at me, so I grabbed her face with my other hand. I concentrated on my powers, but then she yanked her wrist away, shattering that concentration. She brought her fist down on my back, slamming me into the ground. Blood spurted from my mouth as I gasped for air. It felt like my ribs were clawing into my lungs.

“Kill me, and Manning will never forgive you,” I said even though it hurt a lot to speak. Rebecca didn’t seem to have heard me as she raised her foot over my head, mirroring what she had planned to do to Surge. Man, did she have a one-track mind. “Think I’m afraid of your foot? Nah I’m not scared at all because I’m the Alpha. That means Hybrids, like you, answer to me!”

I rolled away as she stomped on the area where my head had just been. I lurched at her leg and hugged it.

Light blinded me but soothed me at the same time. I saw flashes of blue and pink, but what I felt went way beyond that. Pure information coursed through my brain. Numbers, letters, feelings…rage. Not just programmed rage either. Rebecca was genuinely angry, which made her all the more susceptible to Frost’s programming.

So what if I removed that programming? Would anything happen to Rebecca? I didn’t have time to contemplate that. Sorry, Rebecca.

BZZZT!

Blue filled my eyes as the information faded. The connection was lost. I’d done it, whatever “it” was. I didn’t know what any of that had been. Two Hybrid minds connecting? I derived these powers from technology, but they were oddly spiritual at times. I rubbed my face as someone pulled me to my feet.

“We got you, dummy.”

I knew that endearing insult. I forced my eyes open and saw Laura and Kaela’s smiling faces.

“Wha—what happened?” I slurred. I felt like I’d only had three hours of sleep before my alarm clock went off. That had been way more draining than the shield generator. At least I hadn’t gotten whisked away to another dimension. “Where’s Rebecca?”

Laura and Kaela stepped out of my line of sight. Behind them lay Rebecca. Her eyes were shut, but, hopefully, they weren’t pink anymore. Also, her head hadn’t exploded, so whatever I’d done probably hadn’t killed her. Probably.

“Good work, kid.” Surge groaned in pain as he pushed himself up. Blood seeped from his lips, and he was clutching his stomach. “I knew you could do it.”

Kaela gasped and ran to his side. “What the heck were you thinking? You could have died.”

“So could you,” he said before wincing. Genuine concern flashed on Kaela’s face as she helped him up. He just grinned like he had a joke prepared. “If I’d died saving you, would you have forgiven me for what I did?”

She shook her head as she massaged her throat again. “That’s the worst apology yet, but I guess it’ll have to do. Consider that beating your punishment.”

“Yeah, next time I make a crazy plan, I’ll remember how broken my ribs feel right now.” He snickered, but then winced again. “Kaela, I’m dying.”

She stifled a laugh. “I know, it’s not funny, I swear. Since my cruiser is still right-side up I’ll be taking this guy to the hospital. Good luck with Sleeping Beasty, guys. Let’s meet up later.”

“Make sure you get your throat checked out while you’re there,” Laura said.

Kaela grinned from ear to ear. “Aww. Someone’s worried about me.”

Laura rolled her eyes. “Why did you have to point it out, weirdo? Just get out of here.”

Kaela smiled as she helped Surge into her cruiser. I turned my attention to Rebecca. She wasn’t moving at all; she was barely breathing. I gulped as I briefly went over possible explanations for this. What if Frost had a fail-safe that I had triggered? What if I’d deleted part of her mind? I shouldn’t have been able to…but what if I had?

“Dude, did you kill her?” Laura nudged her with her foot. No response. “Does she qualify as alive right now?”

“She’s fine!” I said a bit too loudly. Laura recoiled in shock. Right, no loud voices with her. I took a deep breath to collect myself. “Sorry. She’s fine, she’s just resting. If you want to wake her up, it’ll take more than a nudge. We hit this woman with a cruiser, and she got right back up. We’ve got to try something like…this.”

I raised my foot and brought it down on her face. The second my foot made contact, her eyes snapped open. She bolted straight up and roared. I yelped and fell down. This had been a bad idea. I shielded myself as she continued to roar…but why was her roar starting to sound like a yawn?

I opened one eye. Rebecca stretched both arms to the sky as she finished yawning. She smacked her lips as her eyes fluttered open. Neither one was pink. They were pale blue. Had I fixed her after all?

“The only thing more refreshing than a good fight is a good nap,” Rebecca said as she stretched again. She had an accent straight from the Sixteenth Division. It was harsh and had a quick tempo, almost like she was hissing. I think the old word for it started with a G? “Wait, this isn’t my…room? Or the ship. Which ship?”

Rebecca rubbed her head as she stared at the ground. Her face shifted between a variety of expressions. Something told me that mind control was just the beginning of her problems.

I gasped as a cruiser ground to a halt beside us. It was green and black, which was a familiar combination, even if I couldn’t place it. The door swung open, and a boy with greasy black hair stepped out. I may not have recognized his cruiser, but I’d recognize him anywhere.

“Could one of you make yourselves useful and explain what the hell happened here?!” Dylan said in that familiar poisonous tone. “Starting with this giant woman, of course.”

Rebecca Stein, the one-woman army who had nearly killed all of us, burped as she finished her third bowl of beef stew. The cafeteria wasn’t the most ideal place to talk, and she’d refused to say anything until her stomach was full. Now I saw that it had been a trick. Her stomach was a bottomless pit. She’d never be full.

She also coughed every time she slurped on the stew for too long. I could have mistaken that for her excessively fast eating, but it was likely that she was just adjusting to the terrible green air.

Laura and I stood behind her table as she ate. It was easier to watch for sudden movements that way. There was plenty of space to stand around because every table was empty. Dylan had evacuated the cafeteria, so the only people there were us and the staff making all the stew. Rebecca had asked for bratwurst and bratkartoffeln, but no one had known what those were or how to pronounce them. That was why they had prepared soup instead. I didn’t hear her complaining.

“I can’t believe I’m serving soup to the woman who just demolished the base.” Dylan walked over, carrying a fourth steaming bowl of soup. He set it in front of her and crossed his arms. “I hear you sent Surge to the hospital too. Absolutely unforgivable. You’d better have a good explanation once you’re done fattening yourself up.”

“Lay off her, jerk,” Laura said. “We told you she was being brainwashed into doing it.”

“A claim I won’t believe until this heathen earns my trust.” Dylan’s frown grew as Rebecca picked the fourth bowl up and drank from it like it was a can of soda. Everyone ate differently, I guess. “Disgusting. Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?”

It was nerve-racking watching Dylan push someone who could snap us in half with a pinky, but I couldn’t tell him to leave yet. I wanted to know how his mission had gone. However, he refused to say anything until Surge showed up.

Rebecca whipped around and pointed at me. “You, boy. You seem familiar. Have we met? Did I defend your town from an AI attack?”

It was a bit early to tell her that I was the grandson of her leader and also the Alpha Hybrid, so I said nothing. I wouldn’t speak until I had to. I liked it. I loved talking to people who had no idea who I was related to.

“Yeah, of course we’ve met,” I said. “You’re the woman who almost crushed me with a cruiser.”

She shrugged. “That does sound like something I’d do. You said one of my friends was coming to see me? I do not have many of those, so tell them to hurry. I hate suspense.”

I chuckled nervously as I took my phone out. I was sure everyone was on their way, but I didn’t want to test this lady. My heart quickened as I saw that I had an unread message from Nessa. She’d sent it about 32 minutes ago. Yeah, I’d been a bit busy then. I opened it with trembling fingers.

Sounds like chaos out there what’s going on? Are you okay?

I smiled to myself. So this warm feeling in my stomach was why Kaela teased Laura about worrying over her. I wanted to do the same, but I was sure Nessa was in no mood to hear it. I lowered my thumbs to my keyboard.

A giant woman almost crushed my head but she didn’t and now she’s eating soup. I’ll tell u about it l8r.

“Why did you spell ‘later’ like that? It’d only take a second to spell it the right way,” Laura said as she dangled her head over my phone.

I yelped and yanked my phone away. “Laura! Don’t just read my messages without me knowing about it.”

“I was pretty obvious about it, wasn’t I? You never had a problem with it when we were kids.” She smirked. “Although I guess it’s different now that you actually have someone to text.”

My face flushed. “Look—”

The cafeteria’s glass doors opened up. Rebecca glanced over and gasped. She jumped up as three silhouettes walked in. Once they stepped out of the green light, it was evident that they were Surge, Kaela, and Manning. Half of Manning’s face was bandaged, but that didn’t stop him from beaming with joy. Rebecca had probably knocked him out when she’d woken up. Must have been why he couldn’t help us out earlier.

“Theodore?” Rebecca said. “Is that—no…this is a lie.”

“I assure you that I’m real, Becca.” Manning placed his hand over his heart. “I’m here. We both are, and no one is ever going to separate us again.”

Rebecca grinned as she rushed forward and scooped Manning up in her arms. “Theo! It truly is you, my skinny friend. I can’t believe you’re here. That horrible battle was just a nightmare.”

Rebecca exclaimed something in another language. I didn’t understand a word of it, but at least she sounded happy. Manning still wore a huge smile even though Rebecca could crush him at any second. I was happy for them, but what nightmare was Rebecca talking about?

“Thank god she’s friendly now,” Surge said, still gripping his stomach. “We can skip the part where we toss her in confinement. The cell never would have held her.” He walked over to Dylan and ruffled his hair, much to his dismay. “Welcome back, Dylan. How’d the mission go?”

“Stop, stop.” Dylan slapped Surge’s hand away and brushed his hair back into place. “Hair ruffles? Did that woman alter your brain when she hit you? Anyway, the mission went better than expected. We found it.”

“Epsilon?” I said.

“Of course not, fool. We found the base that’ll lead us to Epsilon.”

“Epsilon?” Rebecca dropped Manning, who landed on his feet like a cat. “What in the galaxy are you talking about? You want to go to the birthplace of those creatures?”

Every eye fell on Surge. He’d explained the raid underground, but now he had to do it again. I wished him luck with explaining his plan for ending the war to two Humanity’s Oath members.

“Short version: I want to kill the leader of the AI,” Surge said. “If we can end the war, we might be able to prevent future atrocities. Frost’s assault on Jupiter never would have happened without the war. The only issue is our lack of power. Remember the javelins we gave the ruabrum? They were designed to drain the AI’s power, killing them without resorting to brute force. Unfortunately the spears are too large to be wielded by humans, which was why we needed the ruabrum for the raid.”

“Surge, did you just freaking tell me that you hired ruabrum because you made your spears too big for the rest of us?” Laura asked. “The people who designed the weapons can’t even throw them? Why didn’t you just make them small?”

Surge sighed. “Have you seen our public cruisers? Does it seem like we have enough resources to optimize the AI-killing weapons? We barely made them at all. Anyway, we gave most of the javelins to the ruabrum as proof of our commitment. We have a spare javelin, but…Rebecca is the only one here who could possibly wield it. The raid could still happen if she took the lead. It’s her choice.”

Was that why Surge had wanted us to save Rebecca? No, he hadn’t known strength was her power until now. Things really worked out for him. Or they would if Rebecca agreed.

“This entire situation is baffling,” Rebecca said. “I don’t know what I’m doing here, where the rest of my team is, or who any of you are…but I know that I hate those AI ausgeburten with every muscle fiber in my body. If you have a plan that involves me killing even one of them, I’m all for it.”

Manning winced. “You’re disregarding the fact that we don’t even know who leads the AI! Not to mention that they have a limitless supply of soldiers; we only have children and three adults who are far too old for this.”

“You said it, not me.” Kaela leaned toward Surge. “He’s got a point though. Are we sure that the ruabrum are too occupied to help out? We could at least cruise over and pick up a few javelins. Also…why do we need Rebecca when we could use one of the ruabrum on base?”

“Does everyone have a nitpick?” Surge furrowed his brow. “Who stands a better chance, Rebecca or a single ruabrum?”

“Backup’s not coming either. All flights to Red City are prohibited, and for good reason.” Dylan held his phone up as light shot out of the camera. It projected a moving image onto a nearby wall. Chatter came from his phone as the projection showed a newscast in progress. A scroll of text at the bottom read 14 INJURED IN VERMILION SQUARE RED RIOT, 7 MARTIANS DETAINED. “I don’t think we’ll be seeing the ruabrum for a while. They’ve got their hands full.”

My stomach dropped as I watched the shaky footage. A ruabrum landed on a moving cruiser and drove their javelin through the hood. The cruiser swerved before it rammed into a building. A wisp of energy shot into the ruabrum, making them fall to the ground. Four or five policemen swarmed the immobile body. I turned away from the footage.

I’d have given anything to be back in Red City just so I could help.

Surge sighed. “Just look at the mess I’ve created. This raid plan isn’t set in stone. I think Theodore has a point about our low success rate without the ruabrum.”

“You’re changing your mind after I spent all that time searching for the right base?” Dylan interjected. “Well, not me. I’m going whether you like it or not.”

“Me too,” Kaela said. “If it’ll prevent more Effluviums, then I have to go.”

“My sister’s on Epsilon, so of course I’m going.” I clenched my fist as I remembered the promise I’d made to my parents. I had to save her. “If this actually ends the war, then that’s one heck of a bonus.”

Surge gazed at all of us. Each of us had a distinct reason, but we were all determined to do this. This war had been plaguing our galaxy for generations, so of course we had to end it if we had the chance. Even if it was the most dangerous thing anyone could ever do.

“As long as you understand the risk.” Surge smiled to himself. “We’ll need one more investigation into the AI base that Dylan found, and then I’ll prepare the whole base for the raid. We’d lose in a real firefight, so our objective will be to distract the AI while you all infiltrate the leader’s headquarters. I’ll provide Rebecca with the spare javelin for that.”

This investigation was going to be my first mission as an official Oppressed member. I never thought I’d take pride in that fact. Frost had never even made me an official explorer, but I had become a rebel without trying. That was how I knew that this was where I belonged.