A roar erupted from the wall as the girl gained altitude, the defenders celebrating like whatever war this had been was over. They whistled and cheered all the way along the wall, with one voice booming over all the others.

“THAT’S MY AEGIS!!!”

The girl, Aegis, moved toward the voice, landing on the see-through platform and letting Seth down to hug... her father?

“Aegis that was perfect, you kept your cool and reacted faster than I’ve ever seen! It was amazing!!”

The man was tall, almost way too tall, and was practically built like the wall he was defending. His hair was almost burnt orange, with a short beard to match, though it was caked in dust and dirt. He wore a similar armored bodysuit, but a symbol of sloped walls was embossed upon his chest. The girl pulled away from the hug long enough to breathe something other than too damn big chest.

“Agh! Don’t… Just don’t tell mom you dropped willy-pete on me okay? She’s already going to kill me for agreeing to this.”

The man hugged her in relief again, grin ear to ear and smothering, but her focus turned back to Seth as the cheers died down.

He was lost, unmoving, still struck with everything. The swarm, his mother, being saved by a super, the wall, and all of its merited salvations. And all of this wrapped up in muscles too sore to feel and a stomach too empty to keep going. He barely felt conscious as he took it all in, as darkness seemed to creep in at the edges of his fraying mind… blotted and blocking away his tears.

The man relinquished his daughter and stepped up behind him, kneeling down and putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Are you alright son?”

Seth turned around on simple reflex, a stare that could burn through steel and go on for a thousand miles locked on his face. The man winced, but what shocked him wasn’t the gravity of that stare on a child, it was the slit red pupil Seth had in his left eye.

He blinked and it returned to normal, Seth snapping back to the reality around him. The darkness fading away. The moment broken, the man readjusted himself, hiding his reaction.

“Here! Aegis, take him down to the psychiatric tent. And stay with him, he’s going to need some support.”

The girl grimaced, but- “*sigh* Okay.”

Aegis gripped his hand tight and led him away. A staunch guide to traverse the enormity of this defense. They passed soldiers resting from the fight he followed all the way here, a lot of similar stares meeting his. Whispers about how he got here and where he came from were already spreading down the line. They queued up against the raised lip of the wall, sitting and standing as they pleased, awaiting calls from interspaced spotters scanning the ruins below. Behind them, against the other side of the wall was a line of replacements, they rested even harder, some sleeping or trying to. They all wielded what looked to be rifles at first with large drum mags, but the shell casings Seth shuffled along through made it clear they were automatic shotguns.

The turrets he made out before were even more intricate than he realized, the rotary guns were huge, and were fed from behind the wall by long full tubes of shells. There was also some kind of pulley and railway going out the back of them. As the pair came upon the stairs a new sense of enormity set in, with a strong dose of vertigo. The pulley and rail was connected to an assembly line of more turrets that stretched out into the landscape beyond. Replacements lined up, should the one in place be destroyed. And the stairs going up the wall were filled with replacement troops awaiting need, or casualties. Aegis led him down the triple wide and empty relief stairs, only adding to his overwhelming insignificance.

For as far as he could see past the wall, there were prefab buildings and tents. Slapdash factories churning out munitions and equipment. Barracks filling every space imaginable. The scale of this operation was almost horrifying, but what worried him more was the fact that everything was done by hand or simple machine. The pulley and rail was just that. Ropes, run down along the rail, ended at waiting groups of workers and supers ready to pull a new turret into place. Every landing of the opposite stairs held boxes of some kind with gears and springs visible within, some kind of clockwork battery. And the factories were much the same.

Seth couldn’t feel any electricity here, not a spark or joule for the mile he was led through of this military industrial landscape. They passed soldiers moving back and forth from their shifts, workers moving supplies from loading docks further out, and endless medical wards reeking of antiseptic… and blood. He couldn’t make sense of it all, let alone feel much of anything. The walk became a blur until they finally reached the far flung psych ward that took up the second hand tents at the back of the line, and finally found the first scraps of electricity.

It had lights, but little else. Reams of medical manuals filled shelves, and judging from the traffic it was the designated medical library for this sector. Seth was sat down and examined as Aegis sat beside him, lamenting being volunteered for this, but still focused on caring for her charge. More than likely thankful she was done going over the wall. The psychiatrist on duty hesitated as he looked down at him, worry clear on his face.

“Can… can you tell me your name?”

Seth turned slowly and tried to speak. Nothing came out, even if he still knew how to talk, he was still too shell shocked. The psychiatrist lamented, but turned to Aegis.

“Here, take him out back and sit with him. If he’s responsive that’s a good sign, but this kind of condition will take time I can’t spare right now.”

She sighed again, but acquiesced, pulling Seth up and out of the tent.

She plopped him down on some boxes stacked out back before grabbing two energy bars out of her pockets, offering one with a concerned smile. Seth slowly looked at it, but hunger drove his movements on as he took the bar from her, still shaking from his ordeal. The bar was peanut butter and banana, but he would have taken it even if it was grape or some other nonsense. He tore it open like a starved animal and scarfed it down. It was salty, the granola little more than gravel, and the filling stuck in his teeth… But it was good, maybe just not quite cathartic.

They sat in silence for a time, both munching on their snacks. Seth drooping his head as various service personnel flowed by in the alley between tents, a subtle hand reaching back slightly. Siphoning some electricity from the lights. The hunger was one thing, but he was really missing having any strength. Aegis hemmed next to him with a little disquiet, probably thinking of what she could even do to help. The hustle and bustle of this analog fortress was drowning out any renewed voices, but he could feel them again. Yet he was still left with nothing but himself, until Aegis finally broke the silence.

“So… do you... at least remember your name?”

He was still out of it, a little surprised, but felt her sincerity and turned to nod in confirmation, head still down and fatigue still weighing. She at least perked up though.

“Okay, sweet we’re getting somewhere."

"My name is Dana by the way… But no one really cares to even remember that so they just call me Aegis all the time. Do you-”

A passing pair of wounded soldiers interrupted her and gawked absentmindedly

“Is that him?” “Yeah, the sole survivor of Brighton.”

Aegis leered at them, while Seth retreated into the shade of his borrowed cap, and deeper into his dust caked scarf. A flying shadow crossed the ground with little notice and the soldiers continued on. Aegis sighed, and tried again.

“Do you… Do you at least remember how to speak, or… or is it just too hard?”

Seth furrowed, but didn't really know how to answer. All he could do was turn up to her, somewhat more energetic than before, and shrug.

“Y-you don’t know?! Ugguh!”

Aegis thought for a bit, concern melting with the slightest of upticks. A shadow crept in from the alleyway between tents, but went unnoticed.

“Maybe… I can give you something interesting to talk about? Like a secret.”

Seth perked up slightly, but looked at her more puzzled than intrigued.

“Well it’s how people get me to talk, they trade secrets. Here. I’ll tell you a secret, but you have to tell me something just as good. Okay?”

Seth was hesitant, but slowly nodded.

“Sweet. So you know that shield I put up?”

The shadow in the alley tensed, but didn’t intervene.

“It works like a… a filter. It stops things that want to hurt me, or things that could hurt me. So… stuff like breathable air and light pass right through, but stuff like rocks, or well shrapnel, just bounce off. For people it’s a little more complicated. My dad always says it’s something about ill will or possibilities. I could never get a clear answer from him. But it always sounded like if you don’t want to or won’t ever want to hurt me, you could just pass right on through my shields like they weren’t even there. Heh, I sometimes catch my dad out with them so he’s probably not keeping that stuff in mind all the time.”

As she giggled Seth reeled in confusion, both by her description and her brashness. Why would she tell him that? Isn’t it like her one weakness or whatever? But he knew if she was telling this it was to get him in debt to her, so he had to tell her something.

Aegis pouted at his confusion. “So, what have you got?”

Seth hesitated again, thinking of what to say without giving away too much, but he had to say something. Or… at least show her something. He grunted, but knew what he wanted to say. He thought for a second, then pulled his hat off, showing his shaggy brown hair with spreading stark white roots. Turning his hat around, he stared at the Brighton logo on it, remembering what he promised to do. Then turned it again to give it to Aegis, pointing at the logo, trying to get her to focus on it.

“Something about Brighton… Something about your home?”

The shadow inched closer, as if to catch even the slightest sound. Seth shook his head.

“Not your home. Then…”

He put a hand up to stop her, pointing again then crossing out Brighton to reaffirm that point.

“Brighton’s not your hometown?”

He nodded.

“Then… what was?”

He dropped his head, the truth weighing it down, and pointed passed her, toward the Wall.

“The town out there?”

Seth shook his head and pointed at the cap and then back to the wall but harder this time, trying to say it was beyond that.

“Farther than Brighton?”

Seth nodded.

“But the only place farther than that is…”

Aegis stopped, the shadow tensed, and Seth left her to pick up the pieces. Aegis knew something about Frigateville, that much was clear, but what he didn’t know. She hesitated, but didn’t seem to treat him any different.

“So… you walked all the way here from… there, huh.”

Seth nodded, worried but thankful she was keeping this quiet. Also realizing he felt a little better now, the events not sticking in his mind as much.

The shadow retreated, but rounded the tent to come through, as if directed to them. Before Aegis could ask another question, a woman with medium blond and blue streaked hair opened the flap next to them. She wore a similar armored bodysuit to Aegis and her father, but had some kind of stylized picture of the Earth on her chest. It focused on the upper atmosphere, with an image of ascending lines going up to and past it. Aegis turned toward her and immediately flinched.

“MOM!?”

Aegis was surprised, but also scared at how she was about to react. The woman crossed her arms in a stern knowing blueish glare, but quickly released and hugged Aegis before she could react.

“Oh Aegis I was so worried! The whole sector is talking about what you did and… I couldn’t be prouder! My little girl’s first save!”

Aegis was left stunned as the woman rocked back and forth with glee.

“S-so you’re not mad?”

The woman roared back up in a flash, never letting go, to her daughter’s regret.

“OF COURSE I’M MAD!!! Your father sent you into a monster infested no man’s land and dropped white phosphorus on you! WHY WOULDN’T I BE MAD!?!”

Aegis recoiled from the motherly concern, but brushed off her mother’s grip.

“Don’t… hhu…Don’t put all the blame on dad, I agreed to it! I was the only one who could go out there.”

The woman hugged her again before she could get away, a more tender moment and a deeper hug than before.

“I’m just glad you’re alright… We can talk about blame another time.” But it wasn’t without some tension. She released the hug and turned to Seth.

“So, this is the boy you saved? A little worse for ware, but he seems pretty good for walking all the way here from Brighton.”

Seth caught a hint of her lie, but had little ability to call it out, especially when Aegis interjected.

“Y-yeah, I was just trying to help him get the confidence to speak again. I think he’s been through a lot.”

The woman remained soft, but Seth knew she knew this wasn’t the whole story.

“Well just remember he’s your charge, so take good care of him, okay? It’s the duty-” “duty of heroes to safeguard everyone, I know mom.”

The woman smiled down at her. She pulled back and walked into the middle of the thoroughfare.

“I’m just so proud of you… Your father on the other hand.”

Without warning she- “RAMPART!!!” blasted off and streaked back toward the wall, leaving the pair alone and wiping away dirt kicked in their faces.

Seth and Aegis blinked and coughed away the wake, before giggling the situation apart. A shared sense trying to stay for as long as they could like this. Aegis asked more easy questions and Seth offering up a grunt or a gesture in response. He could do little else, but distance from the horrors was at least helping. But all this had a limit as the psych ward staff returned and took custody of him. The day was overlong already, so Seth was too tired and hungry to focus.

The ward’s tests passed as a blur... and a needle prick. He probably wouldn’t have understood the diagnosis anyway. Before long he was drifting to sleep, passing time with every blink. The ward faded to shadowed figures standing over him, then soon to a bus whisking him away from the military industrial sprawl. And off to the more conventional urban one, in Kadia. The ride was smooth enough that Seth accepted the sleep without a care in the world, only rousing when the handlers left to him announced they'd arrived at his stop.

It was dark, the day long over, but the horizon still seemed to be lit up. Seth groggily walked off the bus to see what could only really be his new residence. Marrow’s Home for the Lost and Abandoned, an absolutely ancient orphanage that has been surrounded by the expansion of industry. Literally, Seth could see a steel mill just a block away. Fires burning up into the night. The war effort not quite done. The whir and clanging of continuous work resounded through this entire part of the city. But… for some reason it reassured him. He turned to the beckoning hands of the orphanage staff and accepted his new life here. He felt a purpose to his being here, something he had to do. He chalked it up to his incorporeal friends, but whatever the reason was, he had placed a debt on to himself. And he was going to pay it back. It... just might take a while.

About ten years to be exact. Ten years to put everything behind him, to keep the past in the past. Ten years of working through just what his self set atonement would look like, what it would cost and what it would take to make it a reality. Ten… ‘Well 8’ years of working his way up in the world. A good job and some complimentary powers certainly helped that along. And ten years to learn just what having these voices in his head meant. ‘Mostly having nightly lectures on every subject Speaker could… eh.’ Their world, their flight, their loss, but importantly… their name. They were the Garkah. And their fate was forever tied with his.