Of course, she’d now been removed from the triggering situation for days. So, she might not be affected.

I set my implant to remind me to respond to Courtney later. Thanks to Hal sending out messages to more than one hundred heroes and groups in my name, I had several times than many responses. Thanks to Hal, most of them wouldn’t need a personal response, but a few deserved it.

One of them was from Prentkos.

“I have been wondering when this day would come since you returned me to my own time. When our team leader called us in for a mission based on messages from the Heroes’ League, I knew it had arrived. I will confess to be a little disappointed not to receive a personal message, but you hadn’t met me yet, had you? I’m sure that you need some time for recovery, but consider yourself as having an open invitation to visit the Euro Team base in Brussels.

“Please call ahead before you come, however. It’s my hope to have a conversation with you that isn’t interrupted by combat. We both know, of course, that even if it seems slow here, there are no guarantees.”

I laughed, added Prentkos’ message to the reminder list, and moved on to the next, finding a collection of messages from Working Man, V8, Mateo, the Detroit Unity team, and the Hamsters (Rembrandt, Vincent, and Hieronymous).

They weren’t personal. Hal had sent them to take out the Nine’s base in Detroit, a few independent heroes that turned out to be plants from the Nine, and a National Guard officer in the local powered armor unit.

They’d had to take out the entire unit before it was over, helped by another Detroit hero who appeared to have power over small mammals. As much as it might be painful to fight Working Man or V8’s mech, I suspected the Nine’s Detroit operatives would be having nightmares about rats for the rest of their lives—to say nothing of humanoid hamsters.

Vincent did leave a personal message at the end and so did Mateo AKA Blue Mask. Vincent’s went, “Holy shit, kid. I just saw footage from the island end of things. Can’t believe the vampires are on your side this time. On the other hand, unlike the bozos we fought together, Dr. Transylvania’s no fool. Did the Nine think to throw rice? Let me know sometime.”

Mateo’s message started with a laugh. “You remember how Working Man told you he didn’t want us getting involved with the League’s problems? When he saw that you wanted us to take out a couple of city council members, I think that he almost fainted. Getting rid of those two may have been his greatest personal fantasy. I can’t say for sure, but he might be proud of having had you here. I thought you ought to know. Let me know when you’re next on this side of the state.”

I added the two of them to my list and managed to get through the rest. After I replied to everyone on my list, I checked the news, reading story after story about teams that we’d emailed with evidence and a plan, sometimes getting to watch a bit of the action.

I also got to watch the odd commentator who managed to become apoplectic about why, if we’d managed to collect this much evidence, we hadn’t acted sooner? Another asked how the Heroes’ League could have gotten access to all of this information. That was a smarter question than the first. If we allowed interviews, we’d have to hide the AIs’ involvement.

Then I asked myself (and my implant) another question, what had we changed?

I knew we’d changed something thanks to the GCD’s message. My implant, however, replied with answers I hadn’t expected.

Xiniti implants were designed for the possibility that any given Xiniti soldier might visit a parallel universe. So when we arrived and the implant connected to the nearest ansible for updates, it noted changes in the newly downloaded history by comparison to what it had before.

There weren’t many changes—in part because the Xiniti didn’t care about Earth history except as it impacted them and in part because there weren’t many.

Back in the 1970s when the Heroes’ League fought the last remnant of the Abominators, the Heroes’ League had found two of them in government. They hadn’t been high up. They’d been state representatives in Arizona and Missouri.

In the new history we’d come back to, they’d never existed. Those were the Abominators I’d killed them during the fight with Magnus, so they’d never shapeshifted into human form and gone into government. I hadn’t killed all of the Abominators, though, just those two.

So the Heroes’ League fought the rest just like before. The two I’d killed hadn’t used their influence to change the world in disturbing ways. They’d fit in and stayed out of trouble. In the new history, the humans in their place hadn’t acted much differently.

What it meant that normal human politicians didn’t act much differently than evil aliens that had been warped by the Destroy faction’s artifact traps, I didn’t dare speculate.

All the same, I began to feel as if I’d missed an important difference. I couldn’t say what, but I felt sure than if I asked the right question everything would fall into place.

As I searched my memory, trying to think it through, Rachel contacted me via the League’s comm system, “Have you thought about Grandma?”

In the end, it wasn’t a long trip. I took the jet up to a high altitude and then aimed the jet downward toward Grand Lake.

We didn’t have any trouble with intercepting planes, missiles, or paranoid supers. Instead, we dropped into the lake, entered through the underwater entrance, and emerged in the base.

After the water drained from the airlock, I floated the jet into the hangar. 

We were home. It wasn’t even 8 AM.

After we’d showered and put away our costumes, everyone paused in the break area. Kayla had picked up breakfast. Whether it was amazing or merely okay, in that moment, it was amazing, not to mention somehow hot enough that it could have come straight from the kitchen.

At least that’s how I remember it. I may be deluding myself. Fitting the pseudo-Waffle House style of the restaurant, there were waffles, sausage, bacon, eggs, toast, and biscuits with sausage gravy.

Also there were lots of them. Supers ate more than most people to begin with, but there were a bunch of us… Haley, Marcus, Jaclyn, Cassie, Amy, Tara, Izzy, Daniel, Camille, Sydney, Julie, Chris, Kayla, Rachel, and I. We’d invited Dayton, Sean, and Jody, but they were bringing Jody to their team doctor.

He’d woken up on the way back and seemed okay, if confused, but the implant modifications hadn’t faded away. They needed to be catalogued and understood.

I couldn’t blame them and honestly, I couldn’t say I minded. As much as he’d been through a hellish experience and I hoped he’d get the therapy and medical attention he needed, I’d been in fights against him three times in the last two days. I didn’t want a fourth.

Near the end of the meal, Cassie said, “I don’t know what you’re doing today, but does anyone want to watch a movie tonight?”

Haley looked up from her plate. “My parents are planning Travis’ funeral today. Since we’re home, I should help, but I might be able to.”

Daniel and Izzy looked at each other and answered, “Sure,” at almost the same time, having most likely had a short telepathic conversation.

By the time we were done, almost everyone could make it. Personally, I decided to play it by ear. If Haley needed me, but wasn’t up for a group of people after family stuff, I’d do something with her.

We kissed as she left, telling me, “I’ll tell you what I’m doing by  three. We’ve made a lot of decisions already. I’ll know if I’m up for people by then.”

Then she stepped into the elevator and the doors closed.

I turned to find Rachel behind me.

“I should have caught the elevator with her and gone home, but I missed a lot. You told me Dad knows now, that Uncle Steve’s here, that Travis died, and that the Dominators messed with Ana, but only in snippets. I want to hear all of it in order and in detail.”

So that’s what we did for the next hour or two. We sat in the break area talking through it and it wasn’t just us. Amy and Tara, the only members of the group that didn’t have families to go home to here, stuck around and helped.

When we were done, Rachel stood up, “Okay. Now I’m going home. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me that Mom killed Number Eight. That’s crazy. And practically in front of Dad and Uncle Steve and in our basement?”

“They seem okay,” I said. “I thought I had, but I guess I didn’t. It’s been one thing after another since Major Justice went after us. Oh… I didn’t see it till just now, but Dad sent me a text saying he’s putting in a new front door himself. All the local handymen are working on mushroom zombie damage. It’s probably a good sign that he’s trying.”

Rachel frowned, “Only if he does better than when he fixed the bathroom door. I think we both need to get home as soon as possible.”

The bathroom door did stick a lot after that, but cutting off the bottom quarter inch fixed it.

“There are a couple things I want to check on first,” I told her. “I’ll probably be an hour, but not longer.”

Crossing her arms and meeting my eyes, she said, “It better not be longer,” but she still left.

I walked into my lab, logged into the computer and found myself greeted by an avalanche of messages. I would have seen them through the comm system except that I’d set a status that allowed Hal to filter any messages from people outside the mission and respond to any that were important.

On a practical level that meant that an AI called Our Mutual Friend might have loosed steampunk style battlemechs on anyone who attacked the League’s families. While I’d told Hal that I didn’t feel comfortable releasing their locations, but he’d told me, “No need. OMF already knows, but he interacted with Lee after individuals in Syndicate L learned your identity and won’t reveal anything.”

Lee had once told me that people in Syndicate L who’d learned my identity had met with, “unfortunate blender accidents.”

I’d told him not to do that again, but hadn’t looked into it too deeply. I didn’t need to know whether it had been a literal or metaphorical blender.

Anyway, most of the messages were from other hero groups that Hal sent messages about the Nine and their assets to. They asked for confirmation and he’d successfully pretended to be me.

From the news alerts that continued to pop up, I couldn’t complain because the last few hours had been a metaphorical bloodbath for the Nine, their mind controlled assets, and businesses. It hadn’t been great for Syndicate L either. A number of their top people had been mind controlled assets.

The other messages came from friends who’d been in the hero groups. Courtney had been hired by a super group secret enough that she wouldn’t tell anyone its name, only that they were on the edge of something big and she couldn’t talk about it.

Her most recent message said, “Hal, thanks for admitting it’s been you, but could you make sure the Rocket sees this one? Rocket? I just watched what you’ve been doing on the island. We should have been coordinating with the League the whole time.

“We discovered that Goldenlash, leader of the Seattle Sentinels was working with the Nine willingly and turned his whole team. Hal just handed us the evidence we’d been missing and the opportunity to catch them in the act. Thanks for that. Oh, and Stephanie says hi. We used her mind control symbols a lot.”

Amy shrugged, “Most of the time I’ve spent in this world was in Florida. I’ve heard that the benefits for working at Waffle House aren’t bad, but the dental care some people got before working there wasn’t great.”

Haley shook her head. “That’s restaurants. The full time staff get benefits, but most jobs are part time and they don’t get benefits at all. Are things different in your world?”

Amy stared out the window.

I’d lifted off by then and we were flying across the ocean, the rising sun on our right, darkness to our left, and the ocean everywhere in sight. I activated our cloaking device and the sunrise dimmed. 

It was best not to be targeted by any defenses the island still had. Plus, it might allow us to avoid any leftover Dominator commands among US air defense staff. 

“It’s different,” Amy said. “We have physicians, but we also have magical healers of different kinds. It depends on where you are and who you are. The tribes and tribal confederations in North America take care of their own. In our colony cities there and back in Europe, most people pay physicians and healers out of their own pockets, but the unions and guilds have arrangements that make it cost less or nothing.”

She stopped, staring out into nowhere, but then said, “I should know more, but I don’t. I’m literally a princess and my family rules most of our planet. I never had to worry about it until I came here. I should go home. I’d like to stay for a month and say goodbye, but I know something was wrong back home and I need to do something about it.”

From further back in the jet, Vaughn asked, “Weren’t you supposed to wait ten years before going back?”

Amy sank into the chair and for a moment, I saw the smaller, thinner version of her in the armored warrior she transformed into. “It’s not that simple. Father said that I should wait ten years, but he also said that I needed to find out what was going on and to use my best judgement.”

Placing the Bloodspear on the floor, she said, “The timing isn’t cut and dried. My father was making his best guess that they could calm down the Bloodlords on and off the Council and solve some other problem by then, but it was only a guess. Anything could have happened by now and I haven’t been contacted by anyone in any way—not even threats from the assassins that are supposed to kill me if I appear to be coming home to try for the throne.”

Sitting a couple of rows back, next to Vaughn, Marcus said, “That’s a good thing, right? If they’re not gunning for you, it might mean they’re okay with what you’re doing. Everyone knows you’re working with us if they pay attention to social media. If they wanted to kill you or even talk, they’d be in Grand Lake.”

“Maybe, yes,” Amy said, “and maybe someone summoned them home to handle whatever’s going on there now. I checked in on the house we lived in after I arrived. It’s empty. There’s no forwarding address. They left three years ago. Our neighbors didn’t know anything. Nothing special happened. There weren’t even any movers.

“When I checked government records, the database hadn’t pegged them as inter-dimensional visitors or even unusual and worth watching. I checked with Reliquary. He’s the one who recruited me for Stapledon. He didn’t know anything either and couldn’t find out more even with clairvoyance. It had been blocked somehow.”

Amy frowned. “Harcourt and his wife are powerful blood magic users, but I don’t think they’re better at blood magic than Reliquary is at magic. Someone else blocked the spell and I need to make sure my family is safe.”

A few seats to Amy’s left, Jaclyn said, “If you need help, we’re with you. Maybe I shouldn’t speak for everyone, but I think I do.”

From the back of the cabin, Tiger gave a small bark that passed for agreement in my mind, followed by everyone else except we used words.

“Even Mr. Sparkles wants to help,” Cassie said, “but I think it’s mostly because he wants another shot at killing a dragon.”

Turning around, Amy’s eyes glistened, but her voice stayed calm, “Thank you. Bringing powerful friends from another world is exactly the kind of thing that would confirm the Bloodlords’ worst fears about my intentions, but if they confirm my worst fears, I’ll take you up on it. For now, I’m going to start small. I’ll go myself, find out the situation, and then make plans.”

Vaughn held up his hand, “I know it shouldn’t be me, but maybe someone should go with you. Stuff happens. You shouldn’t go into this alone. It’s really big.”

Nodding, Marcus said, “This has a Nine Princes in Amber and Dune feel to it—that, or maybe Yona of the Dawn. Epic, you know? Anyway, a second set of eyes won’t hurt.”

“I’ll think about it,” she said. “I’m not leaving yet.”

The jet hurtled through the air toward home, flying over Florida without anyone scrambling jets (or missiles) to intercept. Thinking back to what she’d said before I went through the portal, I couldn’t help but wonder how much this was about me. I knew she had more to worry about. She had to go back for her family, not to mention the alternate version of me that made whatever connection that might be between us one step weirder.

Still, it didn’t feel good. I’d miss her even though I knew from talking to her in the future that she didn’t regret going and we’d see each other again.

We’d get in trouble with the government for stealing the Nine’s tech, but not for using their ideas—probably.

It did worry me that Rook had likely brought back Abominator tech from the Moon and Mars. I didn’t even know where it was if I wanted to destroy it. 

In the main channel, Hal asked, “I’ll appear above the main building shortly.”

“We’ll meet you there,” Haley replied, turning her head to look over the group as we stood on the concrete platform in front of the stairway’s open doors.

“Ready?” She asked and amid the replies turned on her anti-gravity and floated toward the massive white building down the volcano’s slope from us.

Everyone floated after her, with those of us who didn’t need anti-gravity to fly, shooting over her almost as soon as we took to the air.

I didn’t go too far ahead, partly because it was wise to stick together, partly because it made me feel better to see that no one had been left behind. No one was. Even Tiger’s suit included anti-gravity and he understood how to use it, floating downward like a smaller, but unusually realistic, Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade balloon.

Soon after we landed on the roof, the League jet uncloaked above us, a long, silver, winged needle that could have appeared on the cover of an early science fiction magazine. The Defenders’ egg-shaped podjets, descended after it, stopping a few feet above the roof and opening their hatches.

While I might have felt that to be overly trusting, Alex, Brooke, and Jenny stepped out onto the roof. Following them came everyone else we’d left in the room where we fought Dr. Mind—Camille, Julie, Tara, Samita, Rod…

Standing together on the roof, it felt like a lot of people even though I knew every one of them. Every piece of my life was represented—family, high school friends and enemies, childhood playmates, friends I’d met through Stapledon, and even a dog from space.

It felt like someone should be making a speech about the worth of doing the right thing even if it seems hard, the enduring power of friendship, and how the legacy you inherit doesn’t have to define you even if it’s a good one.

I wasn’t the guy to be making that speech. Just like everyone else I could see, I felt dead tired. I may not have felt physically as tired as I’d felt the time I had to walk and fight the Cabal in a suit of dead armor, but I was there mentally.

No one else seemed up for that speech either.

Alex took a step toward where the SoCal Defenders podjets floated and then turned toward everyone. “I don’t know if we took out the Nine forever, but you took down Magnus and Dr. Mind and none of us are dead. Plus, Justice Fist got one of their own back. That’s a win. And even though I don’t dare declare victory over the Nine, I think we hurt them. That’s enough for today. Good job, everybody. I’m proud to have served with you.”

With that, he stepped into the podjet. Jenny and Brooke followed. One of Jenny’s copies told me, “We’re heading to L.A. The other podjets will help bring people back to Grand Lake.”

Sighing, she added, “You have no idea how much I want to be in only one body for a little while—maybe two at most—and both of them will be sleeping. Oh, and tell us when Travis’ funeral will be. We don’t want to miss it.”

Then she discorporated.

It says something about our lives that none of us even blinked at that. We boarded the League jet or nearest podjet without commentary and sat down. 

Haley put her hand on my shoulder, her claws clicking against the ceramic, “Are you up for flying home?”

“I’m more up for flying home than staying. Besides, it won’t take that long. Are you hungry? I want breakfast, but I don’t want whatever alien foodbars we might have left in the jet.”

I connected to the jet’s controls through my implant, running through the checklist even as Haley and I took our seats.

“I’m always hungry, but you’re not thinking of ordering from IHOP again, are you? It didn’t go so well last time,” Haley said, watching as the console in front her glowed.

Everyone in the cabin laughed. Amy hadn’t been around for that, but she laughed with everyone else. It had entered into team legend at some point.

Pulling seatbelts across her black plate armor, she said, “Once I’m back in my real body, I could go for pancakes. This one lives off life essence. If I eat as her, everything I eat disappears with her.”

“Oh shit,” Vaughn said, “I forgot about that.”

“I didn’t,” Amy said, the edge in her voice hinting at some story I knew I didn’t need to hear, possibly from when they were dating.

Good guess. Daniel thought at me. I didn’t want or need to know either, but I do anyway. Angry people are noisy.

“I’ll order,” Haley said. “Dad bought a breakfast restaurant. It’s trying to be a Waffle House. We could order from there and pick it up in the van. Maybe Kayla would be up for it.”

“Do the cooks have all their teeth?” Amy asked. “It won’t feel authentic if they have teeth.”

Dayton sighed but followed it up with, “He’ll probably like the power upgrade.”

“Oh, man,” Sean said. “I bet, but he’s still unconscious, so we don’t know yet. Is he going to be okay?”

We all looked over at Amy. She shook her head. “I don’t know how long he’ll be out, but he’ll wake up. I only took enough of him to make him fall unconscious. Once he regenerates enough… lifeforce? Mana? The best words I have for it are technical and aren’t in English. When he’s regenerated enough, he’ll wake up.”

Sean let out a breath. “What if he doesn’t?”

“He will,” Amy said. “He’s alive. He’ll wake up. I have literally thousands of years of expertise to draw on in this.”

Noticing the dark figures of Sean and Dayton on the roof of the main building, I zoomed in to see Jody lying at their feet. I wondered how much, if anything, of the fight with Magnus he remembered. Daniel and his grandfather had worked hard, but nobody was perfect and they were working on a tight deadline.

Dayton put a hand on Sean’s shoulder, “Relax. Everyone’s doing their best. You’ve seen her stab people without killing them before. Remember back when the dragon attacked Stapledon? She did it on other students because she had to, but didn’t kill any of them, right?”

“Right,” Sean said and slumped, but then sat down next to Jody. “Tell us when we’re leaving. I’ll be right here.”

“Soon,” I said. “We’ll be down as soon as we’re up to speed on everything.”

Dr. Transylvania’s voice carried over the comms, his accent hinting at Eastern Europe. “I presume you’d like to talk to me next? I don’t think that I have much to add that Prime didn’t already mention. My people did assist with the mind-controlled Cabal members. We did get hurt, but while they thought to ward the buildings against us, they didn’t supply them with wooden stakes. Or rice. That would have been annoying. You can’t imagine the compulsion when you see the grains fall to the ground. How many are there? You have to count them.”

He stopped, laughing. “Perhaps you can, V4. You and Blue Mask used them ably from what I’m told. You and the hamster. But nevermind. The Cabal soldiers and the Nine’s troops hurt us, but didn’t kill anyone. My children fed well, though, so they’ll be fine. And Ape Nasty got to hurt people without consequences. That always puts him in a good mood.”

The Atoner spoke up the moment Dr. Transylvania paused. “Don’t think that we let Ape Nasty do whatever he wanted. He stayed within the scope of the mission.”

With a grunt followed by laughter, Ape Nasty added, “You can believe the choirboy. I was well behaved. Everyone I hurt deserved it.”

“Hmmn,” Dr. Transylvania said, “it’s hard to find people that don’t deserve it on this island, but be assured that we pointed Ape Nasty in the right direction. I’m sorry I couldn’t do more for you. While I did figure out how to disable the wards on the building, I didn’t figure it out soon enough to send people to help you. Still, we did help secure this end of the mission. The Nine’s soldiers can’t match a small army of vampires.

“I’d be remiss to omit the help we received from your AI’s book club, particularly OMF. His people were invaluable once the sun came up.”

Vaughn asked, “OMF?”

In an even tone, the Atoner said, “It’s an abbreviation of ‘Our Mutual Friend.’ He’s a difference engine given sentience. He acts as a fence and information broker. He’s based in Chicago, but someone supplied him with a network interface and now he has access to the internet.”

“I don’t know anything about it,” Dr. Transylvania said, “but if I did know something, I’d point out that the event predates when I turned myself over to the state.”

Ignoring him, the Atoner added, “He also has a small army of clockwork robots. They’ve been useful.”

Over the comm, Hal used a pleasant baritone that I wouldn’t have guessed was a computer voice. “It would be nice to have hands, but you’re correct, they have been useful. My report is that all hostilities have ended. I’ve notified the relevant authorities and a task force of troops from nearby countries will be arriving soon. The United States forces will arrive first, followed by Mexico. Unless you wish to answer questions, I’d advise leaving within the next 30 minutes.”

“You heard Hal,” Haley said. “Let’s get out in 10 minutes, if we can, 20 if we have to.”

Off the main channel I asked Hal, “Did you manage to copy the contents of the Nine’s computer systems? I’m particularly concerned about Rook’s and Dr. Mind’s files, but having a full picture of the Nine’s assets and businesses on hand would be good. We’ll probably be following up on them for months.”

Hal replied, “They’re already copied over. You can view them whenever you like, but they’re quite large.”

Colorful birds flew through the air above us. Others perched in the trees or on volcanic mound.

Noticing that, I hoped again that it was inactive, and decided to be grateful that Larry wasn’t here. While he was closer to me than some family members, he had the worst luck with fire and natural disasters.

Grandpa told me Larry had been in the fight that made Mount St. Helens blow early.

Deciding not to check the volcano for now, I said, “We should have everyone check in.”

Aloud, Haley said, “Main channel.”

I switched to it to find reporting in already in progress.

Alex’s voice sounded first. “We’re on our way up and we’re bringing a lot of people with us. Most of the staff surrendered. The way they tell it, you’d think they were kidnapped, forced to live in a tropical paradise, get rich, and direct a massive criminal empire.

“Whatever. Anyway, they seem to respect the guy in charge of the command center. Since he surrendered, we’re not having any problems. The guy who repairs photocopiers has been helpful too.”

Jenny cut in. “I’ve stationed a copy of myself behind each group and at the major intersections. If there’s anyone left behind us, they’re unconscious or hiding.”

Brooke asked, “How did all of you get out? After the explosion, I thought I’d have to open a portal for you.”

With a laugh, Marcus said, “I wanted to take a submarine, but Blue know about another stairway. It’s disappointing. When will we have the chance to steal a  submarine from a secret island base again?”

“Sooner than you think,” Alex said. “My dad’s been in a bunch of them. My stepmom even lived in one for a while.”

“Oh, right,” Marcus replied. “She was a supervillain.”

Prime’s voice cut into the conversation. “I met her once, I think. Pheromone powers, right?”

Alex paused, but then said, “That’s right.”

“The team she was with didn’t know it, but they weren’t much more than dogs following her commands.” Prime laughed. “But we’re supposed to be reporting in, aren’t we?”

“Yes,” Haley said. She looked over at me and used a private channel to say, “Did you notice how he got everything back on track? There’s someone who’s run a few meetings.”

With a snort, Prime said, “It’s a complete success on our end, but not an easy one. We would have ended up fighting our own dominated soldiers to a standstill but nothing else except that we followed the plan… We blocked our own people from playing a role in the fight and took targets of opportunity when we had them. The vampires did their job, hypnotizing our captive brethren.

“As of right now, we’ve got our people in custody. Our teleporters are sending them home. If what the AIs found is correct, we can keep them away from anyone who knows how to trigger them. Given time, the triggers will wear away and we have plenty of time.

“So, Heroes’ League, let’s consider this over. I’m willing to forget the death of my father at the hands of Lee and the Rocket, our humiliation at your hands in Grand Lake, how you publicized our existence, and gave the world’s heroes what they needed to target us and destroy us.

“I’m willing to remember our cooperation in freeing my brothers from the Nine here.” He cleared his throat, “It’s my hope that you’ll be willing to forget our cooperation with Ray and Syndicate L in targeting you as well as attacks our people made on you under Magnus’ control. I’m aware that one of those attacks killed Night Wolf. You have my condolences.”

Haley’s face, the part visible below her mask tightened, but she said, “Thank you. I’m willing to consider it over if everyone else is.”

Though Prime and I had said more or less the same when he’d helped fight the mushroom zombies, I understood how he might want to reiterate it in front of everyone. I said, “Yes,” and I wasn’t the only one. I don’t know if everyone said something, but at least no one objected.

Prime said, “Good. If you need us, you know where to find us, but be aware that if you want our assistance in the future, you’ll have to pay like everyone else.”

“Fine with me,” I said. “I’m hoping we never hit a problem big enough that we need you. I’m also hoping that we don’t come into conflict as a result of any future jobs you have.”

Grunting, Prime said, “We won’t take jobs that will put us into conflict with you. If you find one of us working for one of your opponents, contact me as soon as you can.”

“Absolutely,” I said.

Sean’s voice sounded over the channel, and my stomach sank, expecting him to throw the whole agreement away with a few poorly chosen words.

“Hey,” Sean said, “we’re totally cool with that too. Justice Fist was also there when you guys were fighting. Anyway… I thought we ought to report in. Dayton, Jody, and I got out. We used the stairway too, but we’re back on the main building’s roof now. Oh, and it looks like the zappy eyes thing Rook did to Jody is permanent.”

Amy shuddered as she passed it, telling me, “The little bit of him that’s left saw his dead body. Even for him, it’s weird and creepy.”

Haley shook her head, saying only, “Yuck.”

From behind us, Cassie’s voice carried over the sound of our boots stepping on the debris. “He deserves some weird and creepy. Between him and Dr. Mind, the Nine were trying to corner the market.”

I wondered if we should be bringing out any of them for burial, but would we bring out everyone? Just Rook? I dismissed it with the thought that the nations of the world had both private and public teams devoted to cleaning up after superhero fights, classifying new technology, and handling the inevitable hazardous waste.

Following Izzy into the corridor, I gave a last look at Rook’s combination of lab and submarine base. Noticing the storage cabinets and partially constructed Rook suits, I wondered if maybe we should be blowing up the entire place. Would the world be better if the world’s governments had the chance to study Rook and Dr. Mind’s technology? What about the Abominator implants and what they’d done to Rook’s followers?

If I felt we had to, we could always sear the place with the jet’s main gun. Reminding myself of that, I walked down the hall. It ended in a gray concrete staircase. Unremarkable in every way, from the steel beams to the blocky steps, it could have been in any factory or office building in the world. 

How many similar staircases had I walked up over the last few years? It could have been been the staircase I’d fought vampires on in Detroit, one of many in the Nine’s factory near Chicago, the arena on the island where I’d fought the Grey Giant the second time, the Defenders’ HQ in Chicago, or even our own base in Grand Lake. There had to be more. We hadn’t used the staircases much when we’d fought the mushroom zombies in the underground parking lots, but I knew they had to be there.

Even the stairways in Stapledon’s school in Colorado could have passed for it for a second. They might have been carved out of the rock by Earthmover, but the design wasn’t much different.

Who’d guess the life of a superhero involved spending so much time walking and fighting up and down the stairways in the employee only sections of buildings?

At least we weren’t fighting through this one.

Daniel’s voice sounded through our mental link. Blue’s scan can’t detect anyone in the stairway. When I sense our potential futures, the chances that we’re attacked while we’re in it are about the same as when we’re in Grand Lake out of costume, maybe lower.

I thought back, I’m being paranoid.

Daniel’s amusement carried over the link even before he replied, After today or after every day since our senior year of high school, who wouldn’t be?

I laughed and we walked upward. No one attacked us. The stairway didn’t explode. I could tell from watching everyone through my HUD that I wasn’t the only person expecting the worst. 

Everyone from Jaclyn to Vaughn, Marcus, Haley, Rachel… Well, everyone walked carefully, making micro adjustments with their heads that allowed them to keep everything around us in view.

Even Tiger paused to look down the way we’d come every now and then.

If it reminded me of anything, it reminded me of walking down the stairway into Red Lightning’s secret lair. The gas traps had long ago run out of gas, but the machinegun behind the wall had still worked.

We’d destroyed it after it fired on us. It seemed like forever ago.

You could view that whole incident as superhero life in a nutshell. We’d descended into a supervillain’s lair, risked our lives, but discovered information we hadn’t known before. While there, we’d found the remains of a battle and Red Lightning’s attempt to become even more powerful.

If nothing else, it was a reminder that even with time travel not all deaths could be fixed. Changing Red Lightning’s future would have been a major change to our past. I couldn’t even guess at the consequences.

When we reached the top of the stairway, we found that it ended in two, light green metal doors. Izzy and I looked at each other, prepared to rip the doors out of their hinges.

Before we even had time to turn back to (or test)  the doors, Haley had reached out for the door handle, turning it, and pushing it open. 

Nothing exploded. No alarms rang.

We stepped out onto a concrete platform on the side of a hill next to the (inactive?) volcano in the middle of the island. We were about half a mile from the compound we’d attacked. From our current height, we could see the roof of the building we’d landed on along with the other buildings around it.

Dr. Transylvania’s half-dome of a ship floated above everything, shattered walls and all.

I didn’t see any fighting.

The sun hung low in the sky, a glowing ball in a red sky. I wondered how the vampires were doing.

“Sure,” I said, intending to say nothing forever unless Ray reappeared on Earth.

Lim stared into the camera for a moment, giving the impression that he was studying me even though I knew he was just getting a still of the Rocket suit in his video feed.

Despite that, I felt a little guilty about not telling him much. It was probably a parental tactic—that or something he’d gained after years of handling supers for the feds.

“Okay,” he said. “Please don’t let it become a problem. The Xiniti aren’t going to make a clone army using his DNA, right?”

“No,” I said and checked my implant. It did not have a specific record of Ray, but the Xiniti avoided creating clone armies as a matter of policy. According to my implant, exceptions to that rule existed, but not on a wide enough scale to be called an army.

Though it would be the most honest response, I decided not to inform Lim that the Xiniti wouldn’t ever use Ray to create a clone army, but might create a clone unit if it were the only way to meet important mission objectives.

“Good,” Lim said. “One of him was bad enough. Okay, unless you’ve got something you need to tell me, I’m signing off.”

“I’ve got plenty,” I said, “but none of it’s urgent and it would take a long time.”

“I don’t doubt it,” he said, shaking his head, “and knowing what superheroes face, I’m going to bet that it will make me more nervous about the future instead of less. Anyway, I’m out.”

We said goodbye, and closed the connection, leaving me to pay attention to the world around me.

“What did Lim want?” Haley asked on the team implant channel.

“Mostly to let me know that the Xiniti took Ray to space—which is good. It means that I managed to fulfill my promise, but also that he’s off Earth, hopefully forever. And,” I added, “he also wanted to know what was going on and how much we were involved in the attacks on the Nine that apparently went on all over the world.”

Haley sighed, “I think you did the right thing, but it’s sad that Ray gets another chance and Travis doesn’t.”

I sunk a little inside myself. “I tried. I looked into a bunch of ways to bring back Travis. I even enlisted the machine to see if I’d missed any options. I couldn’t find any. Well, I found one. I could have done it if I stayed on the GCD, disappeared from this timeline, and let another version of myself replace me.”

Her eyes narrowed, “You didn’t, did you?”

“No,” I said. 

Then she turned to Daniel, asking, “He didn’t, right?”

Meanwhile Amy said, “You can’t do that kind of thing. I’ve felt guilty about you almost killing yourself to save me for years.”

A few of the symbols on Amy’s spear glowed with an inner red light.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I underestimated how hungry that thing is.”

Daniel shook his head, telling Haley, “He decided not to. He kept on looking to see if maybe there was another option, though.”

“Good,” Haley said, grabbing my arm. “You’re not replaceable. Neither was Travis, but swapping yourself for him, even if I never know, isn’t an option, okay?”

“I know,” I said, deciding not to mention that technically, if the universe would simply slip another Nick into my spot, I absolutely was. Saying so wouldn’t calm the situation down though, so I didn’t. 

I have learned at least a little about how to handle people.

Jaclyn reached out to pet Tiger, who’d cocked his head to look at me. “I missed even knowing that was an option on the table,” she said.

“I’d frozen time when I was looking into it, so I didn’t discuss it with the group. Anyway, I didn’t like that option.”

“You’d frozen time like Kee froze time?” She turned away from the dog to look at me. “That’s impressive. Seriously.”

I shrugged, “I did it with a device she designed, so maybe not as impressive.”

Jaclyn laughed, “Maybe, but I can’t do that even with the device. Either way, we need to get back up to the surface. The way we came down is filled with rubble now. Even if it wasn’t, I don’t think we should assume the weapons don’t work.”

Izzy stepped through the doorway into the control center, as tall and as powerful as ever, “We can get out. There’s another stairway up.”

“It’s Rook’s,” Amy said. “I asked Blue to check it out after we got everything under control here.”

“Good,” Jaclyn said, peering past Izzy toward the chaos killing Rook and his minions had left. “Let’s go home.”

The polished marble in particular would fit with being in Washington D.C. or a suburb with federal buildings. Lim could easily have been mobilized by the AIs to take down one of the Nine’s outposts.

The helmet and armored black vest with the letters “FBI” on the front told me it wasn’t a normal day at the office. On the other hand, I didn’t hear shouts or gunshots through the connection.

“Rocket,” he said, “you’ve been busy.”

“Sorry I didn’t let you know,” I said, my implant translating my thoughts into speech for the comm system. 

“We got what I assumed was your information about who the Nine controlled in the Bureau, local Nine bases, and influenced figures… There were even triggers to use and who they were connected to,” Lim said. “It was the most complete information on the Nine’s locations and assets that I’ve ever seen.”

He paused, “If that wasn’t you, who was it?”

“We,” I began, deciding that I did not want to explain Hal’s friends, “have a connection with a group that got into the Nine’s systems. They distributed information to the right people for the right task.”

Lim nodded. “I’d say so. I knew it wasn’t you personally, but there had to be a connection. Some of what we got was the Nine’s internal documents. Not everyone could get those. I thought you might be able to. Not only that, a lot of people got directions with a very specific time, order of operations, and the person to handle it. As long as people followed directions, it was easy. I’ve seen reports from all over the world at this point. It’s a crazy amount of detail. Was Lee involved?”

“With part of it,” I said, because Lim didn’t need the full story, “ but not everything. You know about the League jet’s AI and it was designed to simulate battles to find the optimal combination of tactics and strategy? Feed it enough information and you get good results.”

Sighing, Lim said, “I can’t say I entirely trust an alien AI, but you’re playing to its strengths. We can’t know for sure, but if everywhere went as well as it did here, this might be the end of them. Where are you, by the way?”

“The Nine’s headquarters, specifically, their submarine base. I’ll pass along the exact location after we’re done.” I had my implant make a note to remind me to ask Hal if he had a specific plan for when to notify governments about the base.

Of course, given that we had Cabal soldiers fighting other Cabal soldiers above us, the fight may have already been triangulated by earthquake researchers.

That thought prompted another note to my implant to check on how everything on the surface was going. The vampires would have to stay out of direct sunlight.

Lim muttered something and shook his head. “I know we were riddled with the Nine’s assets here in D.C., but it’s a gut punch to have missed out on that.”

I shrugged. “Sorry. If it’s any consolation, we’re in international waters right now, but the Nine being the Nine, I’d bet there are strings tied to some country. By missing out, you’re probably avoiding an international incident. Maybe you can get in on whatever muti-national task force they send in after we’re done.”

Lim snorted. “Unless you stick around the submarine base, probably not. I’m in the middle of a couple of different operations related to the Nine’s assets at the moment. Anyway, I thought I’d check in for where you fit in with all of this and if I was right in guessing I’d been left out of the loop.”

“Sorry,” I began.

“Don’t worry about it. Supers specialize in doing what we can’t and I’ve been expecting you to go up against the Nine soon. I just didn’t expect it to be on this scale. You already had international visibility, but after this… Well, expect more international calls and not all of them will be friendly.

“I don’t mean to rain on your parade. I don’t know how you did it, but between you and your allies, I think you may have just taken down the biggest criminal organization in the world.

“Anyone who plans to replace them will have you in their crosshairs. On the other hand, they may also fear getting your attention and given what I’ve seen today, they’ll be right. Crap. I got a text just now… I can’t tell you any details without permission, but someone following Hal’s instructions hit the jackpot. I’ve got to go. No, wait—”

“What?” I asked.

Shaking his head, Lim said, “I’m an idiot. The main reason I called you today was because of Ray. After we picked up his body, the Xiniti contacted us, insisted that we hand him over, and made us promise that we wouldn’t tell you until today, and even then only after dawn in D.C. Does any of that make sense to you?”

“Kinda, yeah,” I said.

He stared into the camera. “Is it ever going to make sense to me?”

“Let’s hope not.”

He nodded, “Right. I probably shouldn’t ask, but did someone change the nature of reality when I wasn’t looking? Combine a bunch of universes? Destroy a universe? Absorb a universe or two and now we’re going to have a bunch of new teams and villains that we think always existed?”

“Uh… None of those specifically. Has that ever happened?” I did my best to keep my voice even and unworried.

“I can’t talk about it,” he said, “but I will say that I’m sure it would be a huge pain in the ass if it did.”

It was less that we stepped through to the room, so much as fell through at an angle. There was no law, I supposed, that a tunnel through time and space had to synchronize with the orientation of the exit point.

Haley let go of my hand, rolling and coming to her feet. I turned on the suit’s anti-gravity, floating to the ceiling like a Rocket-sized party balloon. 

It hadn’t been a bad idea, though, because managing traffic hadn’t been a high priority in the portal’s design. Vaughn, Marcus, Jaclyn, Daniel, Cassie, Rachel, and Tiger poured out after us, dodging the people who’d appeared before them.

Amy, meanwhile, stood next to a wall filled with controls and computer screens, eyes widening as we filled the room. It wasn’t a big room.

Rachel was the last one through, and the portal closed behind her, causing Amy to blink and pull out the flat stone I’d left with her.

I flew over everyone and landed next to her. She handed the stone over, saying, “And? You won? You lost? Oh, and take this.”

“We won,” I said, “if killing Magnus, freeing Lee and Nataw, and convincing Govan that he should leave the Destroy faction and join Live is winning.”

Amy watched me and paused before saying, “That sounds exactly like winning. It sounds like a complete and total success. What aren’t you saying?”

I looked around; everyone was watching, and no one was saying anything. “Well, the way things worked out, winning may have changed the past a little. We don’t know how much. I got a message from the machine that there were minimal deviations, nothing that should affect anything.”

Haley looked over at me, “You did? I didn’t get anything like that.”

Rachel said, “Neither did I.”

The rest of the team echoed their responses. Daniel frowned, “I wonder if that’s because you controlled it for a little while or if it’s an Artificer thing?”

Rachel said, “Control. I’ve got as much claim to be an Artificer as he does.”

Giving a wave that extended his arm a good two feet longer than normal, Marcus asked, “Did you notice reality warp around you or anything? What happened after we left?”

It seemed impossible that she wouldn’t have been affected herself, but on the other hand, she was holding the portal open. Maybe she’d have been protected? Deciding not to muddy the waters, I only added, “What happened after I left?”

Amy held up her hands, “Not everybody at once. One question at a time. I didn’t notice any changes except for after you all came through. When the portal closed, the stone cut me off. I was connected to it, but I can’t sense it anymore.”

I reached out to it using what Rachel had taught me. It didn’t communicate, but I felt its presence. On the other hand, Lee had wanted an “adult Artificers only” conversation with Govan.

Amy tapped my armor and grinned, “Here’s what happened after you left. You remember how I absorbed Rook? He had passwords to everything and knew this place’s defenses. I locked the doors on their troops, shut off power to their weapons, and gave  Hal access to everything I could.”

“Whoa,” Vaughn said, “that’s why they didn’t send any more troops. We were fighting Power Burst and all of those guys, but it looked like more troops were coming, but they couldn’t get past their own doors.”

Cassie had walked over to the door and looked out, turning around to ask, “They’re still out, right? We fought an earlier version of them on the other side of the portal. I don’t want to fight them for a third time today.”

Frowning, Haley asked, “Do you think it was safe to give all of that information to Hal? He might share them with his friends.”

Amy shrugged, “It was that or lose everything. I’m digesting Rook with every passing second. He’s no one you want to keep in your head.”

She shivered, “He’s fighting it, but he can’t do much. They don’t share everything with me, but the previous Bloodmaidens are united in preventing foreign personalities from taking control.”

Glancing at Daniel, Haley asked, “Do you need any help?”

Daniel shook his head, “She doesn’t.”

Amy smiled, “I don’t. I’ve had plenty of practice digesting unpleasant personalities today. I had to steal Jody’s powers to have a chance of hitting Rook. I didn’t have to kill Jody, but I had both of them in my head while I was shutting the base down. I made sure I finished Jody first. He’s a creepy little bastard.”

“Don’t we all know it,” Cassie said. “We had to fight an earlier version of him in there too.”

Amy’s eyes widened. “You’re making me glad I stayed. That’s too much of him in one day… What do you think you changed in the past?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “There’s one big thing, but that shouldn’t cause any problems if it goes right.”

Cassie laughed. “Right. Letting Ray live is minor.”

“Ray?” Amy asked.

She hadn’t been around then. She might not even have been on Earth. I tried to think of where to start, but Isaac Lim’s name started flashing in my HUD.

I could think of a few reasons our FBI handler might be calling, not least of which being that I wasn’t sure we’d told him we were attacking the Nine’s home base tonight.

I took the call.

Then he stopped and looked over at Kee and Lee, asking, “Right?”

Kee looked up toward Nataw, “I know it’s hard for you. We all have friends among Destroy. If it could possibly happen, we’d like to end this without fighting any of them. We also know that’s unlikely.”

Govan nodded. “I’ve had my own visions. I know it’s unlikely, but hearing you say you see value in their lives is good. The less we kill, the better..”

Turning to meet Lee’s eyes, he said, “You don’t know how angry Destroy is about the way you left and that you took this thing.”

Lee shrugged. “After running from them for thousands of years, I think I might have an idea. They’ve destroyed star systems, intelligent species, interstellar nations, and empires simply because they thought I’d been there and influenced them in some small way.”

Govan stared. “In some small way? You’ve altered species evolution and raised armies that stood a chance of destroying us, and if not us, our servants. Word is that we should be looking for another. You’ve had enough time since the last.”

Lee crossed his arms, “Word from who? It seems like ‘we’ shouldn’t be looking for my hypothetical armies. It seems like Destroy should. ‘We’ already know about those hypothetical armies since we may or may not have created them.”

Govan took in a breath, “You know what I mean. You always have plans. You always have tricks up your sleeve. You put small things in motion that turn into big things later when everyone’s stopped looking. It’s unwise to assume you’re doing nothing and those in Destroy try to be wise.”

Grinning, Lee said, “I’m sure they try, but who’s been saying to watch for my murderous creations?”

Govan sighed, “Mednez, but he’s merely repeating what Halas and some others who knew you better said.”

Lee chuckled, “That’s who I’d have suspected. Halas won’t be doing much advising in the near future. There’s a decent chance he won’t reappear until after it’s all over.”

Shaking his head, Govan said, “At least he’s not dead. Where is he?”

“Mmmn,” Lee muttered, “I’m going to hold off on that one for a bit. I will say though that it was his trap for me that happened to go off on him. It will release him eventually, but not soon. I don’t even know how we’d get him out.

“If you’re still interested in joining up with the forces of leaving the younger species alone, we might want to think about what’s next instead of rehashing what people in Destroy think about me. For example, we might want to discuss whether you’re going to be a double agent or whether you’re going to quietly disappear, leaving Destroy to speculate as to why.”

Govan took a breath, holding it, but then saying, “I don’t have the temperament to be a double agent. I’m no good at lying. No offense meant, but you were better at it as was Kee.”

With a tilt of his head, Lee said, “No offense taken. That’s why I brought it up. We have a number of techniques you might use. Simply fading out everywhere might be good, but we could get some mileage out of staging your death. Setting it up so that you disappeared, but giving hints that the Ghosts killed you might pay dividends.”

Govan paused, but said, “We will have to decide that…”

He looked out at all of us, humans and a dog that watched with interest as unknown futures altered with every word.

Lee waved at us. “Sorry about that. This is going a bit long and you all can’t give away what you don’t know, right? We should continue it without observers. I’ll send you all back and we’ll meet you on Earth. I will, at least. The rest may have tasks elsewhere.”

It didn’t sound like a bad idea. I hoped that all of this with Magnus, the GCD, and four Artificers hadn’t attracted attention. 

My implant informed me, “Should it become necessary, the Xiniti weapons designated for destroying humanity can be repurposed to target Artificers.”

That was another thing I wouldn’t be passing on any time soon.

I felt the energy that hinted at a portal to home opening. As the power peaked, Lee used an Artificer channel to say, “Good job. You did everything you needed to and a few things I wouldn’t have dared to suggest. We’re moving in the right direction, and it shouldn’t be boring. I like that.”

Then the connection ended and I felt myself being thrown through time and space, my suit giving my time stream as the universe I’d come from, but our exact location was a mystery. Tabling any questions I might have for Werner Heisenberg, I let myself be propelled without resisting.

I’d already gone enough places for one day.

Grandpa, Grandma, and the original League disappeared. I wished we’d had a little longer to talk, but it probably wouldn’t have been wise.

The outlines of our League flew through the darkness with me, sometimes illuminated by flashes of light. Haley and I managed to clasp hands somehow and hung on to each other.

In my mind, I heard Spark’s voice, “You’re reentering your timeline. There are mild deviations, not enough to change anything important, but you may find that small details are different.”

With a grunt that edged into a growl, Govan said, “It’s not a question of convincing. We all saw what happened. In universe after universe, lesser beings evolved, grew powerful, and sought us out to destroy us. Some of us were even helping them do it, betraying relationships that predate universes. What were we supposed to do?”

I don’t know if everyone could feel it, but I felt energy swirling around him, recognizing it for what it was: the Artificer equivalent of an unintentionally clenched fist. Lee had taught me to watch for those sorts of tells.

In my head, Kee said, “You don’t have to do anything.”

I didn’t know what she’d noticed, but I wasn’t planning to.

Despite looking as if a strong wind could blow him over, Nataw looked Govan in the eye and said, “We’ve already had this discussion, but I will say this one more time. The future has never been set. It’s never been inevitable. If it’s a bad one, it’s a bad one that everyone made together.

“What would cause the younger races to hunt us down? How about destroying them with booby-trapped technology or deliberately annihilating them when they seem to become too powerful? If we acted as guides and mentors, they’d have no reason to destroy us. If instead we’re a mysterious force that comes out of the stars to cut down starfaring races, they’ll want to defend themselves.

“What’s more, those of us with empathy will want to help them. Creatures that aren’t us are worth something. There’s an infinity of life out there in this universe and the infinity of others we visit. They have their own lives, hopes, and dreams, and they create the most interesting new things. If Destroy weren’t trying to preemptively make the universe safer for us by destroying everyone else, the younger races would have spent their time creating their own futures.”

Nataw paused there, and for the first time since I’d seen him, his eyes narrowed, and his face tightened. Energy around him moved, not being pulled inside in a rush as it had for Govan, but in short breaths.

“There was a race of five-limbed shapeshifters. Destroy’s traps warped them, but instead of being destroyed, they adapted, incorporating whatever they learned about technology into their set of skills. They captured me. They kept me captive for hundreds of years. Not only that, they isolated me, imprisoning my bodies and destroying the ones they couldn’t imprison. They experimented on me and analyzed me, harvesting what they could understand of my makeup and using it in themselves and their servants.

“This wouldn’t have even been possible without Destroy’s efforts to protect us by attacking everyone else. Once a technology’s been created, it rarely goes away. Destroy’s efforts pushed those creatures to create technology capable of harming us, and they based that technology on our technology that we’d spread to destroy them. Destroy created the seeds of our destruction. It’s madness from one end to the other.”

Govan seemed to shrink into himself, but still said, “We saw them, and many saw their own deaths, some at the hands of other races and some at the hands of our own people. Protecting yourself is a right. We had to do something.”

“That’s right,” Kee said, her voice low but still audible to everyone. “We did have to do something, but not what we did. We didn’t come together and try to make a plan that would prevent what we were seeing. We withdrew from each other, and Halas, Bakanan, and others gathered together to defend those they loved and kill the traitors. But then what happened? The futures changed in response to the deaths, but we’re still seeing a future that’s very much the same. Exactly who died has changed, but not the future’s shape. We’re still fighting each other, and the younger races fight along with us.

“Even altering ourselves so that we could no longer breed hasn’t prevented the creation of more of us. Wasn’t that supposed to solve it? Our young people fighting on behalf of the other races were in some of the visions early on. It didn’t work.”

Kee pointed in my direction. “It may have made it inevitable.”

Govan nodded, looking at me and around the group. “Yes. That’s why I let him go. It’s been so long since the first round of visions that I don’t know who was in mine, but I know that over the last few millennia I’ve seen myself fighting alongside him and his friends.

“Since Nataw and then the rest of you left, I’ve been having doubts about Destroy. I know it seems late, but I don’t want to betray my own kind. I’m just not sure what betrayal looks like anymore. The younger races haven’t yet made an organized attack on us, but we’ve killed many of our people. I’d like to join you if you’ll have me.”

“Great,” I thought back to her.

“We’ll keep you out of harm’s way. I think you’ll be quite impressed at the systems I designed for controlling Artificers that make their way inside.”

She looked up, a hint of a smile on her face.

I couldn’t tell from her expression whether I should translate as pride in her design or nostalgia for the time of her life when she was doing the work, but a question did pass through my mind.

“Is there any chance that you might give me a full tour afterwards and maybe even explain how it all works? I’ve figured out a bit, but I know a lot of it is beyond me.”

I sensed amusement through our link, but she said, “Oh, no. Definitely not. Take that as a compliment. It’s much too early for your species to gain access to anything like this. So, if you’re inspired by anything you learned about here, please talk to me before you make anything.”

“Okay,” I thought back.

We might have continued the conversation further, but Lee addressed the whole group: “I’m about to bring in Govan. He’s another member of my species. Most of you have heard me talk about political and philosophical divisions within my species… Everyone here right now would be best considered a member of the Live faction. Govan’s best described as a member of Destroy, but he’s also Nataw’s brother, so it’s likely he’ll give us a moment to talk.”

As Night Wolf and Captain Commando asked Lee questions, Haley looked over at me and said, “You told Lee that when you left Govan, he was depressed?”

“Pretty much.”

In the next moment, Govan stood next to Lee, Kee, and Nataw. Because I’d been talking to Lee, that meant that Haley and I weren’t far from him either.

He looked like he had when I’d left him in the future. Someday, English might include a tense that describes that succinctly. Anyway, he still reminded me of Vengeance or a barbarian from Dungeons and Dragons. Tall, muscular men with chest-length beards gave that impression, even though his red-and-black suit worked against it.

On the League implant channel, Marcus said, “You know who he reminds me of? Lobo. Well, if Lobo dressed up.”

Vaughn asked, “Didn’t Lobo have a goatee and a motorcycle? Or was that only in the cartoons?”

“That’s in most versions of him,” Marcus said. “He also likes space dolphins.”

Jaclyn looked Govan up and down. “This doesn’t look like a dolphin kind of guy. He looks more like a Duck Dynasty kind of guy.”

“Then maybe he likes dogs,” Marcus said. “Besides, Lobo doesn’t look like a dolphin kind of guy either.”

Haley pursed her lips, adding her own thought to the chat. “He looks like he’s had a really bad day.”

She wasn’t wrong. If I had to guess, I’d have said that he looked like he’d spent a few days alone in that pocket universe where we’d talked, barely eating and either not sleeping or sleeping badly.

The bags under his bloodshot eyes and blotchy red skin gave that impression to me at least.

It’s as good a guess as any, Daniel thought at me. I’d try to pull it out of his head, but with the four of them plus you, it’s like being in the middle of a storm.

Oh. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. As invasive as our connection sometimes was, I missed it when it wasn’t there.

You’re not the problem, but you’re connected to them, which makes their aura of madness harder to filter out.

Govan, meanwhile, was taking stock of his surroundings. I could feel him reaching out with his power toward the suns above us, the spot where Magnus died, the other Artificers, Rachel, Grandma, and, of course, me.

He’d nodded in my direction as he scanned me, much like he did the real Artificers. He froze when he examined Rachel and Grandma, though—maybe a little longer with Rachel.

It made sense if the Ghosts could kill Artificers. It might even help. Wouldn’t he be less likely to attack if he knew he’d be facing three members of the Live faction plus Ghosts?

Probably. Well, assuming it didn’t cause him to panic and lash out.

While Govan scanned us, both Leagues watched. Our reactions were practically the same—watchful, but not hostile. I wondered if the original League were commenting among themselves via the Mentalist’s telepathy the same way we were over implants, but didn’t ask.

“Nataw,” Govan said, “where have you been and how is it that you’re here?”

Tiger chose that moment to pee on the floor. I couldn’t blame him. He was a dog. This might have been his first real chance since we got out of the jet.

I wondered if he’d still do that if he understood that they were older than our universe. Then it struck me that, given his understanding of English, he might have decided to start there because he’s a dog.

Nataw watched him and then scratched Tiger behind the ears. Then he said a word that my implant translated as Hideaway’s name in the language of a long-fallen galactic empire. “[Hideaway]. You’re a long way from home. I never liked the Abominators, but I did like what they did with your people. Dogs for hunting dinosaurs. Who’s a good boy?”

Tiger leaned in to the head scratches.

Grandpa turned to me, “Dinosaurs?”

“It’s a long story,” I said, “and I’m not even sure if I’m allowed to tell it.”

Speaking aloud, Daniel said, “The long version is a bad idea, but if you don’t explain why you’re there, the short version works.”

Jaclyn stepped closer to us and said, “We were on an alien planet with dinosaurs, and his pack had died. I took him in.”

C shook his head. “Dogs are so much work. I fought too many supervillains, knowing that if I didn’t finish them soon, the dog wouldn’t wait until I had time to bring him outside.”

Grandma glanced over at Grandpa, folding her arms over her chest, “You’re not the only one.”

Lee looked around the group, meeting everyone’s eyes, and with that small gesture, drew everyone’s attention. “I’ve identified our visitors and let them know they’re welcome. I’m hoping that we’ll be able to have a quiet and productive conversation. If not, the prison will have one new inhabitant.”

Grandma pulled a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from her utility belt.

Rachel, who’d been standing next to her, said, “Grandma, I can tell you for a fact that those will kill you.”

It had come out in a rush. We’d all heard Grandpa tell her the same thing dozens of times when she was alive. I could see from the widening of Rachel’s eyes and how the last word trailed off that she’d spoken without thinking.

Through an implant channel, I told her, “There probably aren’t any consequences if you say that. I checked. It’s okay.”

“Probably?” Rachel asked. “I’m not sure if I should be happy that I haven’t destroyed the future because it’s impossible to stop her.”

Grandma, though, didn’t behave as if it were impossible to stop her. Her jaw dropped as she looked from Rachel to Grandpa and put away the cigarettes. It probably wouldn’t last. She’d tried to quit a few different times, always failing in the end.

As the lighter disappeared into one of Grandma’s belt pouches with a click, Lee said, “Our first guest has arrived. This is my friend Kee. Some of you have already met her. I want to say I chose to bring her in first, but she designed this place and let herself in—which is nice. I’m going to need all the support I can get with our next guest.”

Next to Cassie, Captain Commando asked, “Do we need to be in position?”

Lee shook his head, “If Govan and I fight, I’m sending you all back where you belong.”

As Lee finished, Kee was simply there. It was less that she appeared out of nowhere and more as if she’d been there and I hadn’t noticed her yet.

She stepped out from behind Tiger and walked over to Nataw. She’d chosen to wear a body similar to the one she’d been using when Marcus and I met her. Wearing a blue jumpsuit/thin vacuum suit, she appeared to be a brown-skinned woman in her thirties. In typical spacer style, she kept her black hair short and easy to wear inside a helmet—not that she needed one.

On the bright side, she hadn’t appeared as Tikki, the persona who’d been romantically involved with Marcus. That would have been weird.

Marcus had distanced himself from me for a little bit after that was over. I’d always assumed it was because I’d known Tikki was essentially an avatar for an ancient space god, but that might not have been it. We’d all been through a guerrilla war, and I’d needed a little space after that myself.

Kee, meanwhile, had pulled Nataw into a hug. “You should have stayed in touch. We’d never have let them keep you captive if we’d known.”

Then she let go, looking him up and down. “That’s the body you chose?”

I saw her point. Between his spindly frame, the dandruff, and the suit coat, it did lean a bit into the absent-minded professor archetype. He shrugged, “It felt good.”

“Are you two ready?” Lee asked. “I’m about to let our next guest in. Govan’s sounding a little annoyed at the wait.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Nataw said.

Kee spoke in my head, talking Artificer to Artificer, “Good job. You did practice your exercises, and you survived. How do you think you did?”

The whole trip passed through my mind—through the portal to future Mars and back. “I don’t think I’ll know until I go back to my own time, and it turns out I didn’t destroy my past or future. Plus, there’s whatever happens next with Govan.”

He looked over the group—both versions of the League and Jody’s unconscious body on the ground.

“This is Nataw. He’s a very, very old friend.” Then he winked.

Grandpa said, “One of your people.”

As the questions began, I talked over the group, “There are two more on the way.”

Everyone turned in my direction. Someone (I think Captain Commando) muttered, “Well, shit.”

Lee asked, “Anyone you recognize?”

“Even through the machine, they still look like massive, impossibly powerful beings,” I began, but then realized that the GCD recognized the one from deep space.

“Wait,” I said, “one of them’s definitely Kee. If I had to guess, the other one’s probably Govan. I last saw him a few thousand years in the future on Mars, but provided he came back here, he’d be in the neighborhood. I’m not aware of any others who are around.”

Walking up to me, Lee asked, “Would you mind passing me the car keys? If it’s Govan and he’s angry, I can take him with this thing if I have to, but all I should need to do is tell him Nataw’s here.”

As I handed the stone over, he added, “But if it’s someone else, it’s going to get messy. Maybe I’ll be able to lead him away from the solar system.”

I thought back to when Daniel, Cassie, and I tried to lead the Grey Giant away from Grand Lake. Lee would probably do a better job.

Not our finest moment, Daniel thought at me, but we were new.

I noted that he’d brought Cassie in on that comment. I just told Dad about that. He laughed, she said.

Her mix of joy and sadness carried over the link.

That’s okay? I thought at Daniel.

I checked, Daniel said.

The stone disappeared in Lee’s hand and he said, “It’s Govan. How was he when you left him in the future?”

“Resigned to not killing me,” I said. “Maybe despairing.”

Lee raised an eyebrow. “No kidding? That’s the best case scenario. I think I’ll make contact then.”

Nataw turned to Lee, “Are you sure? He was always the most enthusiastic about family of any of us.”

Lee met his eyes, “You’re family to him. The rest of us also happen to exist.”

I hadn’t noticed but Haley had stepped up to stand next to me. She was good at that. She asked, “What did you do with Ray? He was here and then not.”

I felt a knot in my stomach. “I sent him back to when he came from. What sucks though is that he had control of the GCD. He stopped time and wouldn’t let it move forward until I figured out a way for him to survive.”

Her eyes widened, “What did you do?”

“I figured out a way to do it, but it’ll seem like he died. It’s just that the Xiniti will take him and use him as a soldier. With any luck, he’ll never come back to Earth. Daniel and his grandfather erased his memory of what happened here. I don’t know the details. He might not even know why the Xiniti took him at first.”

She let out a breath, “That’s about the best way it could have ended up. If he doesn’t know who to blame us for it, at least our families are safe.”

Her eyes lost focus as she stared into the distance. I expected her to ask about Travis, but she said, “The Xiniti might get some good out of him.”

“Yeah,” I said, deciding not to bring up what I’d tried to do for Travis. Maybe I could ask Lee or Kee, assuming that Govan’s and Kee’s mutual appearances didn’t turn into a massive fight.

It didn’t seem likely, but they’d been on different sides for several thousand years.

Haley took my hand and I absorbed my gauntlet into the suit so we could touch. She had too. Her hand felt small and warm. I was reminded of how much I needed it after everything. I’d have stepped out my suit, but despite how little my suit would protect me if Artificers fought, this didn’t feel over yet.

I asked Haley, “Did you talk to your grandfather?”

She smiled, saying, “Yes, but we couldn’t say too much.”

Continuing through an implant to implant channel, she added, “Daniel and his grandfather found out there were a lot of topics we couldn’t talk about. Travis, first of all. The family business. Marcus’ parents dating and marrying. That caused a lot of tension back in the day… Anything I want to say is a future destroying grenade.”

Her smile twitched. I knew why she’d gone to an implant channel. His hearing was as good as hers.

Aloud, she said, “But it was amazing to talk to him when he was only a little older than we are.”

It wasn’t worth the risk.

Hypothetically, I could send Jaclyn back to grab Paladin, have him heal Giles from whatever damage the process of empowering him caused, but Vaughn might not even be born then.

On the other hand, it would be a world where Giles never turned evil, where Grandpa never sabotaged his attempt to gain even more power, killing him in the process. It might well be a world where the two of them had retired, remaining friends the whole time, and saving the whole team from pain and grief.

It might be a better world, but the price of making it was more than I was willing to pay.

Could I tell Grandma to stop smoking? That lung cancer would definitely kill her? Grandpa had told her so many times, but she hadn’t managed to quit. I even had Spark check on that one. The GCD returned with “minimal deviation.”

You could take that as meaning that it was too late already, or that she was old when she died anyway, so another year or two wouldn’t make much of a difference.

I needed to stop this. I couldn’t obsess further on how much of the past I could safely change.

I released Lee and Nataw from the GCD’s prison, a pocket universe that used a vast amount of energy. Through the GCD’s direct connection to the Artificer aspect of myself, I also sensed Lee and Nataw.

I’d sensed Artificers before, but only from a vast distance mediated by what I sometimes called the Artificer Superhighway. Sure, I’d seen physical forms of Govan, Lee, and Kee, but those were temporary forms taken for convenience.

Through the GCD, I sensed their full forms. I didn’t then, and still don’t have the words for it. Big is one word that fits, but immense carries more of the right feeling. Big could be a large pickup truck. Immense hits closer to beings that exist in an infinity of dimensions and whose form in this one exists mostly out of phase with what we can sense.

We could see human shapes, but those shapes were less the tip of the proverbial iceberg and more a grain of sand that had temporarily escaped its beach. Through the GCD’s view, I saw them as dark shapes that were larger than planets.

You’d think that as a proto-Artificer/Ghost mix, I’d have the insight to see them as people. I didn’t. I saw them as dark, massive, and impenetrable, and when I zeroed in on them, I felt myself wanting to look anywhere else.

The patterns on the miasma that might have been skin changed without stopping, absorbing what was there, and being absorbed in turn.

Isaac Lim may have been the person who told me about the psychics and sorcerers who’d gone mad trying to sense Lee, not to mention the Syndicate L telepath who’d gone catatonic when trying to scan my thoughts.

At the time, we’d all put it down to defenses Daniel had created in my mind, but he’d been inspired by what he’d sensed while being close to Lee.

In retrospect, that should have been a sign.

I opened up a portal from the prison about 50 feet away from the middle of the room where we all gathered to talk, allowing everyone to see Lee and Nataw before they reached us.

Lee appeared as he always had when we trained with him in Grand Lake, a man with light brown skin and shoulder-length, straight black hair. He wore a black T-shirt and blue jeans. A short sword hung on each hip.

As always, his grin as he surveyed the scene struck me as a little too wide.

The person walking next to him had to be Nataw, victim of the Abominators and unwilling contributor to humanity’s gene pool by way of reverse engineering.

He didn’t strike me as a victim. Thin and almost a foot taller than Lee, Nataw’s attention appeared to be on everything at once. In one moment, he appeared to be scanning the faces of the people in the room. In the next, he seemed to be staring up at the glowing pseudo-suns floating above us.

He wore a threadbare green suit that I could imagine on more than one of my college professors. A sprinkling of dandruff appeared on his shoulders underneath his curly hair.

If he was anything like Lee, the form he took was a composite of the viewers’ expectations. Of course, as a being billions of years old, he probably had some choice in the matter. On some level, this must be how he wanted to be perceived.

Soon, everyone was looking at them. Well, almost everyone. I was distracted. Through the GCD, I could see two more Artificers converging on the GCD from the outside. One of them had flown toward us from the orbit of Earth. The other appeared to be cruising in from deep space.

Within a few moments, everyone had arrived: the old Heroes’ League, the new, Prentkos, and both Jody’s and Colette’s unconscious bodies. Talk about not being able to save everyone. Being turned into Rook’s mind-controlled cyborg was still in this Jody’s future. Though I didn’t need to, I made a check, changing that future had the same problems as saving Travis. I checked on Colette, too, but hers wasn’t any different.

I could do it, but it wouldn’t be worth the price.

I didn’t bring up the topic for discussion either. Nobody was looking at me just then.

Everyone was looking each other up and down. Having already gone through this once, I knew they had a million questions and weren’t sure if they could ask any of them.

The Mentalist raised his hand, glitter on his gloves sparkling in the light of the glowing red suns above us. “Everyone, please. I know you have questions that you want to ask and even more that you shouldn’t. Simply seeing each other tells you things you probably shouldn’t know, but to ensure both teams are sure, my grandson and I have confirmed what you suspect.

“You’re all looking at your grandchildren or your grandparents, except for both Captain Commandos. They’re a special case, but yes, you’re related. My grandson and I have an idea for how to handle questions. He’ll explain it.”

Standing almost a foot taller than his grandfather, his suit black and silver like his grandfather’s tuxedo, but form-fitting ceramic, Daniel said, “Think your question or response to us, and we’ll let you know if asking it will be dangerous. We’ll suggest a safer version if it’s possible. You’re going to put a lot of work into making this future possible. It would be a shame to waste it.”

As they talked, Prentkos made his way to me, his red suit and eagle symbol matching no one else. In a low voice, he said, “I don’t think I should be here for this.”

I nodded. “I can send you back.”

“Please do,” he said. “Don’t hesitate to contact me after this. I’d like to understand what it all meant.”

I grinned within my helmet. “Why not?”

Then I sent him home, sending Jody at the same time. Daniel and the Mentalist had already blurred Jody’s memory. Nothing good could come of his waking up.

I felt Daniel’s approval, but didn’t discuss it with him. Captain Commando was talking, “You’re my daughter?”

Cassie looked up at him. “Technically, I’m your gender swapped clone with a little bit of DNA from Colette. You knocked her out during the fight.”

Captain Commando’s brow furrowed as she said DNA, but he didn’t ask about it. He said, “Dr. Mind’s work?”

She nodded, “Good guess. If it matters, I killed him.”

He smiled, “Don’t expect him to stay dead. I’ve killed him twice already.”

Cassie laughed, saying, “Three times… is what you told me.”

Something about the hesitation made me worry that she’d begun to cry. She hadn’t, but he noticed too.

Captain Commando stopped laughing as he studied her face. “I’m dead, aren’t I? Don’t answer. I never expected to make it any longer than the rest of the team with the chances I take… I’m not surprised. Don’t follow my example in everything. Live. I’m glad we had enough time that you remember me.”

Cassie did cry then, and he pulled her into a hug.

I didn’t watch, and I don’t think anyone else did either. We let them have that moment.

Daniel thought at me, As hard as it is to believe, that doesn’t change anything. In fact, I think it might have been an essential event for our timeline. He didn’t want children and didn’t want to be immortal. I think he’s more careful after this.

I didn’t have time to reply as Giles Hardwick turned to Vaughn, asking, “You’re my grandson?”

Vaughn glanced over at Cassie, who was still crying, and said, “Yeah. I’m not the only one. I’m not even the only one with powers.”

“And this future,” Giles said, “it’s a good future?”

Vaughn looked over at me and then back to his grandfather. “It’s not perfect. There are still problems, but today… Today, I think we may have brought down the biggest criminal organization on the planet. So, it’s not perfect, but I think it’s the kind of not perfect where we can win more often than we lose.”

Giles didn’t say anything at first, but then said, “Good.”

What he got out of that I could only guess, but since neither Daniel nor his grandfather tried to interfere, Giles Hardwick still had a date with death under the Hardwick mansion a few years away in his timeline.

“Okay,” I said, and realizing that this might take long enough that people would notice, I asked, “How hard is it to stop time?”

The instant I thought it, I knew. Using the device, it wasn’t hard at all. Everything froze around me, and I told Spark, “Tell me if I’ve got this right. Because Lee left this place hidden and abandoned, all times from the moment that he left until now are accessible if someone opened a portal here and stayed?”

She nodded.

“Also,” I continued, “from what I understand, even though you can go to times where no portal exists, it’s better to use someone who came from a particular time to do whatever it is you need done. So, even if I could go back to 1927, for example, it drastically increases the chances that things go horribly wrong.”

With a flick of her tail, she replied, “Adding someone from a different time period drastically increases the chance of significant changes even in the case of your sister or grandmother who would find it easy to be unobserved.”

“So…” I thought it through in my head, “my only realistic option is to send someone back to exactly when they left and have them change whatever I want changed.”

“That’s right,” she said, adding, “but the more they deviate from their normal behavior, the greater the risk of a significant change.”

I let out a long breath. “Basically, the only way to change things without a major risk then is to not tell them to change anything and send something back with them that does the work, like the implant we sent back with Ray.”

Nodding in exactly the same way as before, she said, “That’s correct unless what you send back interacts with anything but what you want changed, and if the change affects things differently than the original event. Then history diverges.”

“Okay.” I collected data from the GCD. “We have more than one hundred intelligent beings here that will be on Earth during Travis’ lifetime, and 19 of them, excluding us, will be in Grand Lake. Is there any reason I can’t send the original team, ideally, Travis’ grandfather Chuck, back with an implant that he could give to Travis? It doesn’t have to be him, though. Anyone on the original team could work. C or the Mentalist might be better since they’re alive as of the date we left.”

Spark closed her eyes, and I, connected as I was to the GCD, felt power running through the machine as it calculated, opening up pinhole-sized portals to the past for observation.

Never mind datacenters, predicting the future while accounting for infinite variables and checking your work with time portals drew a lot of power.

When she opened her eyes, Spark said, “It won’t work without significant deviation. Telling the original League to keep the implant for later use will cause deviations that will add up over time. Giving implants to one or all of them so that they could create an implant for Travis will cause just as much deviation.”

I could imagine how that might be true, but asked, “Why?”

“The time in their personal timelines between when they go back and when they would pass on an implant, plus the number of unusual situations superheroes get into, increases the chance of deviation substantially.”

She watched me, waiting for my next question.

I had one, and I felt like it was the best option. If the problem was that the original team couldn’t see the effects of their actions, why not give the implant to someone who could and who I knew would survive long enough to hand it to Travis at the best possible moment?

I asked, “What if I specifically gave an implant to Daniel’s grandfather and left it up to him to dispense it at the right time?”

She met my eyes. “He wouldn’t pass it on. The damage to Travis would not be survivable even with the implant without transforming almost completely into a machine. That opens up possibilities for deviation from the timeline, including more deaths within your group. In addition, possessing an implant, used or not, presents significant potential for deviation while fighting the Abominators in the 1970s.”

I looked at the room around me, my eyes stopping on Haley. I couldn’t think of a fix. I didn’t see a way around the various complications.

I tried a few more ideas without any better results and let time move forward.

I immediately felt a reconnection with Daniel’s mind and his surprise as he absorbed what he’d missed. Wow. I felt our connection break and reconnect, but I didn’t know you’d stopped time.

Not me, I thought back. The GCD stopped time. I just made a request.

The strongest emotion that carried over was Daniel’s resignation. Yeah. It’s still beyond what any but a few supers can do. Let it go. My grandfather told me that he hadn’t seen any futures where all of us survived that we’d want to see come true.

Okay, I thought back and watched as everyone gathered around, old and new versions of the Heroes’ League, looking at each other.

My grandfather held out a hand for Tiger to sniff.

I nodded, “I don’t know either, but I think I’ve got enough of a picture of his long term goals that I can guess.”

Grandpa laughed. “I’m in the same position. Too bad comparing notes might have disastrous consequences for both of us.”

He looked over my Rocket suit. “It’s good to have confirmation that this,” he indicated his suit with his hand, “doesn’t kill me or my children.”

“I’m sure it does in some universes. I think I might be from one of the lucky ones and even we’re not completely unscathed.”

Images from the last few years passed through my mind, ranging from the guerilla war on Hideaway to the people the Cabal murdered in Grand Lake when we were starting up and ending with Travis.

My grandfather turned his helmet toward Spark. “We haven’t been introduced. I’m the Rocket. You appear to already know the second Rocket.”

She nodded to him. “I’m a sentient computer program designed to be a guide and user-interface to the device around you.”

Grandpa nodded. “I knew Lee’s people were far ahead of us, but a computer program that can think is far beyond where we are in my time—though I’ve fought a few computers that appear to have gained consciousness by luck.”

Spark smiled, “I’m aware. I’m in touch with the artificial intelligences of Earth. One or two of them that you fought are still alive and assisting your grandson on his current mission.”

“Are they?” Grandpa tilted his helmet to look in my direction. “Which ones?”

I thought back to stories he’d told me and what I’d read in the League archives but couldn’t think of anything until I remembered the steam powered Difference Engine and its robots. “Have you ever fought a Difference Engine? It had robots. They’re some combination of gears and ancient batteries.”

He shook his head. “I’ve fought robots like that near Chicago. How did you convince them to join you?”

“Magnus had the potential to attract the attention of Lee’s people and they’re likely to destroy the planet that we all happen to be living on.”

“Of course,” he said. “They’re machines. Rational self-interest would work. I wish it worked as well with human beings. All the same, it’s remarkable that you got their help at all.”

I nodded. “We had help. We got together a bunch of people who didn’t trust Magnus—heroes, villains, unhappy former employees of his, and also the world’s AIs.”

Grandpa put his gauntlet on my shoulder, the hard surfaces clicking as they touched. “It’s impressive. I can tell you from experience that even getting groups of superheroes to work together is enough of a challenge. There’s a man who calls himself Vengeance… He’s impossible. That magic dagger he’s got scrambled his brain.”

I raised an eyebrow. “He’s been around that long? I’ve met him. He‘s a pain.”

Grandpa nodded and stepped back. “Every now and then, we hit a problem on the spooky side of things and we need help. Even when he does, he’s got his own mission and if it doesn’t fit with yours, there’s no compromise.”

Grandma appeared next to Grandpa, phasing in out of nowhere, her white costume and twin pistols as I remembered them from old photos. 

Rachel appeared behind her. Despite having dark hair instead of blond, she could have been a twin. Rachel’s white costume was obviously an updated version of Grandma’s with the obvious differences being that Rachel had only one pistol, but also had an axe.

I’d only seen a moment of it during the fight, but they seemed to have worked out a cooperative fighting style where one would disappear and the other remained visible, switching off unpredictably.

“What happened to Ray?” Rachel asked.

“After Magnus died, he took control of the device with this,” I held up the stone, “and wouldn’t let time move forward unless I figured out a way to allow him to survive.”

She blinked, “What did you do?”

I didn’t want to explain it again. What if she thought of a way to avoid making a deal? “I figured out a way to allow him to survive, but become a soldier for the Xiniti and leave Earth for a while, hopefully forever.”

Above her mask, her brow furrowed. “That’s not bad. How easy is it to change the past?”

“Easy,” I said, pausing, “but hard to change it in ways you can control.”

“Of course,” she said, checking behind her. Almost everyone was close now, including Red Lightning, but also Haley. “I can think of a few things people might want to change. Let’s not play with fire.”

I used the GCD’s internal systems to connect to Spark, asking, “I don’t have the skill to use the system for predicting the effects of changes. Do you have the ability to figure out a way to save Travis without destroying our past?”

It was actually simple. Ejecting him to anywhere else would be hard and not just hard. It would also have consequences, changing the past in ways I couldn’t predict.

I hadn’t been wrong about my earlier guess about obvious subsystems to include. The GCD did include subsystems for predicting what would happen based on what someone had experienced in here and being sent back to their own time.

Using them, however, was another thing.

I could use the most basic version, but anything beyond that required understanding an alien conception of time and how to manipulate it. Kee and the other Artificers had billions of years to figure it out and I didn’t. So I wouldn’t be able to simulate all an infinity of options and choose the best one.

Not that it mattered with Ray. For that matter, it didn’t matter with any of them. We were trying not to change anything, after all.

Except, I’d killed those Abominators. That might have effects, but bearing in mind that all Abominators were dead, it shouldn’t be large. The other aliens, Cabal members, True, and for that matter, Prentkos, would be going back to times and locations where it shouldn’t matter. Colette and Jody were a different problem. I decided to bring them to Daniel’s attention.

In any case, the extremely limited version that I could use didn’t show red flags for sending Ray or the others back. It put it as “minimal to nonexistent deviation from the current time line.”

One other question struck me. Could I bring Travis back? Hypothetically, I might include a message to the Xiniti telling them to give Travis an implant before he died and disappear him as well.

There were problems with that. For one, unlike Ray whose body had been collected by the FBI immediately, I knew exactly what happened to Travis. We’d sent him into some of the near miraculous alien tech we had available and it didn’t work on him. We were now using it to preserve his body for the funeral.

The other piece of it was that the Xiniti had withdrawn to help with the war against the Human Ascendancy, leaving us in charge of demolishing the planet if that were necessary. That had already been true when Travis died which meant they couldn’t grab him behind the scenes.

Of course, I could set it up to give us a message. If I sent it to Ray’s implant, the Xiniti could forward it to me via ansible around the right time.

With enough of a lead, I could make it so that Travis’ suit handled Johnny Destruction’s explosive death well enough that he could survive. Even if I could only get close, Travis’ healing factor and the implant’s ability to repair could handle the rest, right?

I fed the idea into the GCD’s predictive subsystem and it not only returned, “Significant deviations predicted,” but Spark said, “Don’t do that.”

Letting my attention center on her instead of the GCD and its virtual dashboard, I said, “Why?”

“Because ‘significant deviations’ means the possibility of never reaching the moment where you entered the portal. Even if you reach here again, it will be different series of events. You’d have the opportunity to integrate yourself into the new time line, but if you wanted to make sure you stayed in control of this device and defeated Magnus, you’d all become refugees from a version of your universe that no longer exists. New versions of yourselves would fill your spots.”

Spark said it without raising her voice or giving any hint that she knew what that would feel like. She was, after all, software.

As I imagined losing our parents, friends, and pasts, I shook my head. “We won’t be doing that. I’ll send Ray back.”

I sent the command to the GCD and Ray faded out. Though I didn’t track the process intentionally, I saw him, as if out of the corner of my eye, fade away and into a hotel room somewhere. When? Spring during my senior year of high school.

In my head, Daniel said, I think you made the right decision. I don’t think that we can survive anything this big without getting hurt. Knowing him, I don’t think he’d want us to exile ourselves to save him.

I think you’re right, I replied. I know I wouldn’t want you to do that to maybe save me. I’m just not looking forward to telling Haley about it.

She’ll get it, Daniel said. By the way, we blurred Colette’s memory of what happened. We’re doing the same to Jody.

He let the conversation go as Grandpa walked up. “You beat them. I’m not even sure how you did it or if I should let you tell me. Have you released Lee?”

“That’s next,” I said.