Zack came awake on a floor of concrete, his memories a hazy blur. Last he recalled, he’d been miles up in the sky, gurgling on blood while everyone screamed around him. Now he was back on the ground in a quiet, sunny parking lot. His skin was warm. His mouth was dry. His insides throbbed as if he’d just come out of surgery. What the hell had happened?
“Hello, Zack.”
Melissa sat ten feet away, her body slouched against the grille of her Griffin. She’d touched down at Atropos with nine seconds of power left in the battery, a landing had that shattered every last window and cracked the engine in half. The van was in such wretched condition that even a full-body reversal wouldn’t get it working again. It was the day’s final casualty, or so Melissa hoped.
Zack sat up with a wince, then chortled with black humor. Melissa looked at him askance. “That’s not the reaction I was expecting.”
“Only sane reaction left,” Zack said. “Every time I wake up, I’m someone else’s prisoner.”
“You’re not my prisoner. Far from it.”
He scanned his bright surroundings. “Where are the others?”
“Half your friends are gathering the other half,” Melissa said. “We had some troubles on the way down.”
“Where are your others?”
Melissa looked away with a heavy expression. “You don’t have to worry about them.”
Zack looked over his shoulder and saw the Golds sitting on a nearby bench. Heath tended to Jonathan dutifully as he shivered under a blanket, his shoulders hunched, his head drooped miserably.
“Is he okay?” Zack asked Melissa.
“He’s hypothermic. He’ll be all right as long as he keeps warm.” She studied Jonathan and Heath in wonder. “The orphans are coming out of the woodwork, aren’t they?”
“Orphans,” Zack echoed.
“My term for your people. Hope you don’t mind it.”
“We’ve been called worse.”
Zack looked down and noticed the silver disc on his chest. God only knew what Amanda had to do to get Azral and Esis to heal him. They would have never done it on their own.
He glanced up at Melissa. “You saw them, didn’t you? The Pelletiers.”
She nodded her head, her neck still aching from Azral’s cold fingers. “I have many questions about those two.”
“Three,” Zack corrected. “There are three of them.”
“That’s . . . disheartening to hear.”
A portal swirled to life on the stone wall of the terminal. Peter burst through the surface with Liam in his arms. Theo and David emerged next, the former propping up the latter.
“Any more blankets in the van?” Peter asked Melissa.
She shook her head, her wide eyes locked on the spatial breach behind him.
Peter laid his son out on a bus bench, then disappeared through a new portal. He returned ten seconds later with a pair of thick comforters in his arms.
“My God,” said Melissa. “We always thought Mia created that escape portal last year. It was you. You’re a native-born chronokinetic.”
Her mouth went slack. “You’re a Gotham.”
Peter shot her a tense look before wrapping up Liam. Theo pulled the other comforter around David. Though the future was looking better and better for him and his friends, he could see storm clouds gathering over Melissa’s strings.
Careful, Theo thought. He’s very protective about his people’s secrets.
David lifted his head and flashed a wry, shivering smile at Zack. “H-hey, I know you.”
“God. What happened?”
“Took the scenic route back. D-don’t recommend it.”
Peter stared at him with awe. “That was miraculous what you did.”
“It was foolish,” David insisted. “It was m-miraculous that we lived.”
Amanda stumbled out the aerport’s main entrance, her arms draped around Hannah and Mia. She had to plow through seven tons of wreckage to get to their landing spot, and had nearly been crushed by a collapsing mezzanine. Now the three of them were covered in white plaster dust. They looked like ghosts of themselves, the pale and mortal reflections of the three sister Fates.
The Silvers reunited at the Griffin, too tired and traumatized to even embrace. Only Peter had the strength to wrap his arms around Mia. He hugged her tight, his voice strained with emotion.
“I knew you could do it,” he told her. “I never doubted you for a second.”
Mia looked over Peter’s shoulder and saw Liam watching them confusedly. “Wait. Is that—”
“Yes,” Peter said. “I’ll explain later.”
Theo looked around at the dozen different smoke plumes rising into the sky. “Guys, we have about five minutes before this place is crawling with cops and firemen.”
“It’s all right,” Peter told him. “We’ll be far away by the time they get here.”
Hannah frowned at his implication. She was still recovering from the last portal jump.
Amanda gestured at the Gothams in the back of the Griffin. “What about them?”
Though Rebel remained deeply unconscious, Mercy was beginning to stir. Peter lifted her out of the van and carried her through a portal on the wall. He came back almost immediately. Alone.
“Where’d you drop her?” Zack asked him.
“She’ll be fine.”
Liam eyed the portal anxiously. “Don’t send me back, Dad. I don’t want to go back.”
“No, no, no.” Peter squeezed his shoulder. “I’m not leaving you again. You’re coming with us.”
Melissa climbed to her feet and took a closer look at Rebel. “This man needs medical attention.”
“We’ll take care of him,” Amanda promised.
“That’s what worries me.”
Peter shook his head. “It’s not like that. We want him to live.”
“Speak for yourself,” Jonathan grumbled.
“I put myself at great risk for you people,” Melissa said. “Because I believe you’re all decent at heart. I hope you don’t prove me wrong.”
David chuckled at her. “That’s rich coming from you.”
“She saved us,” Theo reminded David. “We’d all be dead if it wasn’t for her.”
“Same could be said for the Pelletiers. That doesn’t make them our friends.”
Peter raised his palms. “All right. All right. There’s no need to argue. You did us a good turn, Melissa, and we thank you for it. But this is where we part ways.”
Theo shook his head. “We can’t just leave her. Integrity knows she helped us. They’ll hunt her down and lock her up.”
Hannah stared at him incredulously. “You want her to come with us.”
“I want us to go with her,” he countered. “She has a place in Maine. A safe house.”
“No,” said David.
“Absolutely not,” said Peter.
“Would you just listen to me?”
“It’s out of the question,” Peter said. “You know what’s at stake here. I’m not putting our fates in the hands of a government agent.”
Theo threw his hands up. “So what’s your plan, then? We can’t go home.”
“I’ve got another place.”
“Oh, really? Because if it’s as safe as the last one—”
A soft, choking cry cut him off. Everyone looked to Mia. After all her trials and tribulations, all the near-death experiences, her emotions had finally caught up with her. They’d come all this way to save Zack. Now he was just sitting there, unacknowledged.
She crossed the space between them and wrapped her arms around him. Zack squeezed her back with a tired half grin. “Hey, you.”
“Hi, Zack.”
Their hug sent a shock wave of emotion through the others, all the weary combatants who’d climbed halfway to heaven today and somehow found their way back. They were alive. They were alive and reunited, and it was nothing short of a miracle.
Melissa sighed defeatedly. There was no hope of selling Peter on her plan. She didn’t even have time to try.
“Will you be okay?” Amanda asked her.
“I appreciate your concern, but my situation isn’t as dire as Theo believes. I have options.”
“I’m sorry,” said Peter.
“So am I. I just hope that one day soon—”
“No, you don’t understand.” Peter looked away with an uncomfortable expression. “I can’t let you leave with the information you have.”
The Silvers and Golds stared at him in disbelief. Even David was stunned. “You can’t be serious.”
Amanda shot to her feet. “Don’t even think about it.”
Liam eyed her strangely. “What are you people going on about?”
“If he’s talking about killing her—”
“He’s not.”
“He isn’t,” Melissa said. “I’ve been sitting here wondering how his people managed to stay hidden for so long without leaving a trail of witnesses. Now I get it. He intends to erase my memory through reversal.”
The orphans looked to Peter for confirmation. He turned his attention onto Zack. “You up to it?”
“What, you want me to do it?”
“You’re the only one here with the power.”
“The only human,” Melissa clarified. “If you can’t do it, then Peter will have to wound me badly enough to warrant the use of a medical reviver. All told, my chances will be better with you.”
Theo looked at the .38 in Peter’s holster. “Is this really necessary?”
“I’m just trying to protect us,” Peter said. “Your people and mine.”
“Just let me talk to her a second. Alone.”
Peter took a nervous scan of the parking lot. “Make it quick.”
Theo led Melissa to the other side of the Griffin. He threw a furtive peek at his friends, then leaned in for a whisper. “I was right, wasn’t I?”
“About what?”
“You’ve been transmitting to your associate this whole time.”
While Cain listened intently from his home office in Maryland, Melissa reached into her blouse and peeled a small communication device from her chest. She pressed it into Theo’s palm.
“You should tell Peter,” he urged her. “He’ll back off. He’ll know there’s no point reversing you.”
“There’s still a point. The agency will interrogate me about my role in this disaster. A memory wipe will give me plausible deniability. It’s a smart move for all of us.”
Theo studied her incredulously. “You’re really willing to give up all this knowledge you gained?”
“I’ll still have the audio recording,” Melissa reminded him. “And a fair bit of camera footage.”
“You’re a little bit crazy. You know that, right?”
She gave him a glum shrug. “It’s a delicate game I’m playing, Theo. I believe Integrity can become a powerful ally to you and your friends, but not in its current state.”
Melissa looked to the smoking remains of an agency dropship. “The situation will get worse before it gets better, so stay safe. Stay hidden.”
Theo gripped her arm. “Just look out for yourself. Please.”
Hannah watched them through the van’s broken windows. She knew enough about Theo’s body language to know that he was smitten. Jesus, she thought. He really does love a challenge.
Soon Theo and Melissa rejoined the others. Zack cleared a ten-foot space around her.
“I don’t like doing this,” he said. “If it goes wrong . . .”
She grinned at him. “You’re a good man to worry but I assure you that reversal’s quite safe on healthy people.” Her humor quickly faded. “Just don’t overdo it. I’d rather not relive puberty.”
“I’m only setting you back six hours.”
“That’ll work,” she said.
Amanda looked at her, guiltily. “We won’t forget what you did for us.”
“I wish I could say the same,” Melissa joked. “In any case, I’m glad you’re all—” Her eyes went wide in sudden recollection. “Wait!”
Zack stopped his preparations. The others looked at Melissa in puzzlement.
“There are seven people at large in the Seattle area,” she told them. “Chronokinetics, just like you. They destroyed an abandoned church back in March. One of them recently killed a civilian with her tempis.”
Mia rose to her feet, fascinated. “Wait. That mini-Cataclysm that was all over the news . . .”
“That was them,” Melissa said. “I’ve been chasing them for weeks. They’re very elusive. All I’ve managed to capture of them is a hazy ghost image. They each wear a bracelet that closely resembles Heath’s, except not gold. Their bands look more like brass. Or copper.”
Zack was flabbergasted by her news. She wasn’t kidding when she said the orphans were coming out of the woodwork. “Why are you telling us this?”
“Because despite their crimes, I suspect they’re good people in a bad situation, much like you. It’s in their best interest that you find them before Integrity does.”
“That’s . . . incredibly decent of you,” David said.
“We still have a lot to learn about each other. Maybe someday we’ll get the chance.”
Sirens blared in the distance. Melissa turned to Zack. “You better get on with it.”
Zack steeled himself with a breath, then engulfed her in a sheath of bright white temporis. Melissa’s eyes rolled back. Her muscles froze. Her hair and clothes rippled. By the time the process finished, her pantsuit was clean and the bruises on her neck had vanished.
Melissa teetered on her feet, dazed and disoriented. Amanda caught her before she could collapse. She kneeled on the ground beside her and checked her vital signs.
“She’s all right.”
Theo whispered at his hand, into the wafer-thin transmitter that Melissa had given him.
“You keep her safe now, Cedric. I’ll be watching you.”
He threw the device to the concrete and crushed it under his shoe.
A piercing squeal filled Cain’s earphones. Grimacing, he pulled them off his head. It took him ten long seconds to realize that Melissa had never told Theo his name.
All around the aerport, the sirens grew louder. Peter drew one last portal in the wall before tossing a nod at Heath. “Uh, son, if you don’t mind . . .”
Heath conjured another tempic gorilla and sent it to retrieve Rebel from the van. Even Jonathan was thrown by the sight of it. “Apes? When the hell did you start making apes?”
Hannah took his arm. “Come on.”
Two by two, the survivors moved toward the portal—six Silvers, two Golds, two Pendergens, and their prisoner-of-war, the only man who could put an end to the Gothams’ bloody conflict.
This, Peter knew, would be the hardest part.
As the last of his people disappeared through the portal, Peter stopped at the edge and took a final look at the wreckage. He drew a deep breath, stepped into the breach, and then left Atropos behind by miles.