Chương 53: 52. Consider Yourself Court-Martialed

So. I'm about to head to the ocean, of all places. I assume, anyway. I don't know what else northeast of here has Queens hanging around; it's all human territory between here and the buffer zone with the coast. The great aquatic no-man's-land has been off limits since before I was born, the idea of sailing across the sea just as much of a fantasy to me as sailing between the stars. It's a bit wild to consider. Everything I know about the ocean is from pre-war documentaries and the like.

It seems like it's beautiful there, though. I am, admittedly, looking forward to it. I bet I'll really enjoy being in the water when it's not some freak accident in a tense situation or an active warzone. I guess any other human who went into the water would be in an active warzone, but I'll probably be able to head through just fine. I'm a chosen seeking my Queen. Almost any council would allow passage through their territory for that, and if I end up finding a particularly aggressive one I can just go around.

The ocean, I hear, is a very big place. There's a singular slight problem with this plan, of course. Well, maybe not so slight. And maybe not so singular. There are several big problems with this plan. Namely: Maria, Anastasia, every single one of my friends, and (once again) the entire motherfucking US military. What the hell am I going to do with all of them? I'm defecting, plain and simple. I'll be marked as a supervillain.

My original plan for this (let's face it) eventuality was to just take Ana with me when I do that. But Anastasia can't breathe underwater. I literally can't take her where I'm going. Not unless I change her entire biological makeup, and that… I mean, it's wild that that's a possibility now, but it's a largely untested ability with massive consequences for screwing up.

There's no way in hell I'm using it on Ana until I've got at least a few months of practice, ideally on other people whose powers have influenced their biology. After all, we can't forget that. Reciprocation changed Anastasia's entire genetic makeup, completely reworked how her bone marrow works, turbocharged her metabolism to high heaven, and remade literally all of her blood. If I try to change her body, it's possible her powers might naturally start to change her back, and if that happens while I'm not around…

she drowns. So yeah, not an option for her or my other friends, at least for now. Too many potential issues with something I literally just learned how to do. Maria, however, doesn't have this issue. Her current body is capable of breathing both water and air, like all aliens, and I'm fairly certain her fairy projections don't actually need to breathe at all. So no issues there. Instead…

"WhywhyWHY why wHywhyWH ywh Ywhy—" … I'm worried she might be a little too unstable for travel, especially through human territory. Demon Maria, with the assistance of the other Marias, has stopped trying to attack everything in sight and/or claw her own faces off. She has even managed to remember how to say a few more words, both her vocalizations and her emissions into the pheromone network gaining some texture beyond mindless screaming. In some ways, this is worse.

It doesn't seem like there's enough of her in there to really be her right now. Yet now I know there's definitely enough of her in there to suffer. It seems like some kind of hysterical dementia, her brain made well enough to remember a few things as vague associations, but not made well enough to fit them together in any coherent way. She recognizes her other selves. She recognizes me, especially if I use Lia's body with a facsimile of our training clothes on.

When I approached her in that body, she stopped babbling and started to cry. I haven't done it a second time. All this to say, there's enough of her in there to save. I believe that. I have to believe that. But until I know how to save her, what the hell am I going to do with her? She needs to be taken care of, and I'm not sure the other Marias are up to the task alone. Well, not alone, but… with nothing but other Marias, I mean.

"Allow us to atone."

"Allow us to atone."

"Allow us to atone." Huh!? Did the Legion Queen just respond to my thoughts!? Or… no. I've been leaking them out subconsciously a little via the pheromone network. Alien habits, normal for their culture. I need to clamp down on that.

"I don't know how comfortable I am leaving my loved one with the person who did this to her in the first place," I answer.

"Our mistake. Our responsibility."

"Our mistake. Our responsibility."

"Our mistake. Our responsibility."

"We will defer to your guidance."

"We will defer to your guidance."

"We will defer to your guidance." Huh. So she's intending to follow whatever instructions I give her. And she's an alien, so she literally can't lie about that. That's a better offer than most humans would ever make.

"Hey, Maria?"

"Yeah?" like six different people respond.

"All the Marias," I clarify.

"I think I might have a lead on fixing this, but I'll need to get help. Help from some people that live pretty far away from here."

"What? What are we supposed to do, then?" Blue asks.

"That's exactly what we're going to figure out," I answer.

"We need a plan on how to keep your body as safe and happy as we can reasonably manage. But… well, you're not going to like my idea, I think."

"Oh, god," Orange sighs.

"I already know you're right."

"Yeah. There's no easy way to say this. I don't think we can safely bring your body into human territory. So… that only leaves one other option."

"What? Are you crazy?" Yellow asks.

"Being in alien territory is why this happened in the first place!"

"I know," I answer firmly.

"Trust me, I know. But I'm sure you've noticed we haven't been attacked outside of that initial kidnapping, despite being deep into the local Queen's domain."

"I… that's true," Yellow admits, looking around suspiciously.

"Or… no, wait, the Queen attacked you while you turned that Angel into me! Which was super creepy by the way, please don't do that ever again. I didn't even know you could do that. To other living things, I mean."

"Yeah, I didn't really either? I was having a bit of a moment. But if the Queen wanted to attack us some more, she could do that. She isn't because she's as horrified by this whole situation as we are."

"The Queen is what did this to me!" Yellow shouts.

"Maria," I answer, as calmly as possible, "I know. I promise you, I won't forget that. The short version of what happened is that, in alien culture, a person who receives powers is taken to the Queen and reborn into the body of an Angel. It's a sacred, holy thing to them, or at least something close to it. You and the Queen are both blessed by Legion. When the Queen saw you, she saw what in her eyes was one of her own people, living a life unconnected to the pheromone network her people use to communicate.

She saw a blessed of Legion, forced to live alone. So she took you and did what she thought was normal. It went poorly because of the differences in alien and human biology, and… now we're here."

"This is crazy," Yellow says.

"You're crazy!"

"Hey!" Orange snaps.

"All of this is crazy, but you don't have to be a bitch to our girlfriend about it."

"Agreed on that front," Pink says, "but you have to admit this is absurd."

"I know it doesn't look like it, but I've been talking to these aliens since before they dropped," I say.

"I won't say it's easy to believe, but it's the truth. In the eyes of the Queen, she was trying to save one of her own children from a fate worse than death, and in doing so, she inflicted a fate worse than death. She's beyond distraught. She has agreed to do basically anything I ask of her, because I warned her not to do this and she didn't listen."

"…Wait," Blue says.

"You're claiming you have a Queen under your command? You have an entire alien colony at your beck and call?" I take a deep, slow breath, filling myself with all the knowledge and emotion flowing through the air. Would Omnipresence as Worship do absolutely, literally anything if I ask her to? Yes, I think so, as long as it's relevant towards the goal of saving Maria. And since aliens don't understand the concept of lying, I could just tell her that anything I want is relevant.

Technically, of course, Queens are not in charge of their colony. They are but a single member of the council—made up by all the Angels of the colony—and while they are the most important member, they do not have unilateral control. She's sort of like the chief minister of a senate. That said, I feel no disagreement with her decision. The whole of the council agreed that Maria was to be captured and changed, and the whole of the council is culpable in the consequences.

There are limits, but they will make this up to us with service.

"Yeah," I answer Blue.

"More or less." The Marias stare at me in shock, barring of course the single most notable exception.

"…Prove it," Blue challenges. I shrug. It's a fair request. I point to the side, indicating a particular area of the ground.

"Direct order: tendril creation, indicated location, immediate," I send through the network, and just like that, a beautiful new growth blooms to life in Legion's domain, Omnipresence as Worship responding without question or delay. Demon Maria notices this, and with a shriek of rage she leaps at it, starting to tear it apart.

"Restrain target," I order, snapping my fingers so Maria associates the action as my command. More tendrils bloom from the ground, wrapping carefully but firmly around Maria's limbs, the Queen holding her back from attacking or hurting herself as best as she can. Maria continues to struggle, of course, more than a little freaked out by the Queen's tentacles, so I take Lia's form again (at least on the outside) and approach her as soothingly as I can.

"Maria," I say.

"Loved one," I project.

"Be calm. You are safe." My face… no. Lia's face and voice cause her to pause, her thrashing ceasing as she stares at me with a longing and desire she can no longer comprehend. But there's a comfort to it, and it flows between us in the way only close friends and lovers can achieve, as well as the way only the inhuman can know. Her twisted brain's half-understandings extend to the alien as well as the human, and being comforted on both levels at once seems to have a much more pronounced effect.

I approach slowly, holding out my hands towards her faces, and two different heads each press a cheek into my palms, accepting the affection. It nearly shatters my heart in half.

"Suffice to say, communicating with the Queen might be difficult without me," I say to the other Marias, "but you can count on her help."

"Holy shit," Orange swears.

"I… god," Yellow agrees.

"Okay. Point made, but I still don't like this. Living in alien territory with the Army right on our doorstep? I don't like it."

"I don't like it either," I say.

"So if you have any other ideas, please share them. I think we both know better than to expect help if we just take your body back to the Army, though." They'd be happy to take her, of course. That I have no doubt about. Dr. Bovary would be overjoyed to have someone like her to experiment on. And we'd never see her again.

"…Still," Yellow says, having half the context and still coming to the same conclusion.

"I don't know if we can handle staying out here alone with nothing but aliens for company for who knows how long."

"Well, we'll have each other for company," Pink points out.

"I bet we can find things to do. Maybe one of the houses nearby has some undamaged board games."

"Oh, yo, we can play board games with ourselves," Orange says.

"I never even thought about that!"

"Yeah, there we go, silver linings," I say, doing my absolute best to frame this as not the unrelenting horror show it is.

"I'll be back as soon as I can. Ideally in less than a month."

"A month?" Yellow cringes.

"Geez. That's… a while."

"I expect it to take a while," I shrug.

"Sorry. But I promise I'll do everything I can to cut down the time, because I know how much it'll suck to be here." Plus, in the back of my mind, there's this insistent little thought. It wonders, 'what if this isn't the death Maria was fated to have? What if this doesn't count? What if there's something else coming?' I don't want to believe it, but I can't ignore it. The biggest threat I see now is none other than the military itself. After all, what happens if they attack this colony and win?

For Maria's safety, I need to make sure that doesn't happen.

"To that end," I say, "I should probably get going. There are some things I need to take care of before I completely betray humanity."

"…I know what you mean, but please don't say it like that," Blue sighs. I shrug, not really sure of a better way to say it without sugarcoating it all.

"Sorry about all this," I say.

"It's at least partly my fault, in a roundabout way."

"Oh, geez," Pink rolls her eyes.

"How? Do you control where incursions pop up now?"

"No, but I made the Queen drop earlier than usual," I say.

"And the reason we're both here is because a precog wants to fuck with me. In-Joke. They were here. They implied that they set this all up somehow."

"Well, that's crazy, but it's obviously not your fault. Except the Queen thing, which I guess obviously is. What were you thinking?"

"Well, mostly I was thinking 'if I can stop her from killing all the bystanders when she drops it's morally imperative for me to do so," I answer.

"So I did. And now we have a pseudo-alliance with a Queen, which is pretty huge. I wish we could make it an actual alliance, but the military won't let me… hmm." I trail off, my mind spinning. Alliance. An alliance…

"What?" Orange asks.

"Another stupid idea," I answer.

"Omnipresence as Worship?"

"We submit ourselves to your guidance."

"We submit ourselves to your guidance."

"We submit ourselves to your guidance."

"A stupid idea I'm going to try, apparently," I realize. It'll never work. But if it does…

"What does that mean?" Blue asks.

"It means I'm going to try to stop a war," I answer.

"Again. You all should head back to Centennial Olympic Park, since that'll be the deepest point of Legion territory. The Council will protect you with their lives. They consider you equals to them, so if you do figure out a way to communicate with them, they'll probably be willing to help out."

"One of us could go with you," Blue offers.

"Nuh-uh, you're not getting out of this that easily," Yellow says immediately, Purple nodding firmly in agreement behind her.

"I'm really sorry to just leave you all here like this," I say.

"Thank you so much for trusting me. It's all a big ask, but you're… I'm really lucky to have you. So I'm going to make sure to save you." The various Marias stare at me. Yellow sighs.

"Well, honestly, if we didn't believe in you… what other hope would we have?" A good question. I wish I had an answer to it.

"I won't let you down," I promise. That hope needs to stay alive, or even if I find the answer I won't be able to make much use of it when I return. This is very much the kind of situation that could lead people to do something drastic. Speaking of.

"Designating group as burn squadron 1. Designating group as worker squadron 1. Assigning squadrons to Thief of Torn Wings. Assigned squadrons: stealth escort." Affirmations meld together and flow around me, my borrowed troops following me from the ground as I rise into the air, taking advantage of the wings and eyes of a bird of prey to find where the military is staging their inevitable counteroffensive. I enhance my sight as much as I can, scanning around the area for people I know.

It takes a while, during which I cruise closer, but I eventually spot Anastasia being escorted between tents. I watch until I see where they're taking her and then dive back towards the ground, approaching the staging area at a calm walking pace. I'll run into soldiers long before I ever get there, of course, most likely running into scouts, defensive emplacements, or sappers securing the area ahead of the rest of the force. I see a small group of soldiers a few blocks ahead, in fact. They'll do.

The feeling of exiting Omnipresence as Worship's domain is a palpable weight off my shoulders, but it wasn't an uncomfortable weight. A warm blanket has been pulled away, leaving me with nothing but my own power to protect myself. At what point did I start synchronizing with her? It was probably a while back. It's not as though I had any reason to suspect she might try to betray me. We're on the same side now, so why wouldn't our domains support each other? It just makes sense.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Now, her absence makes me anxious. If that's not a sign I've been irrevocably fucked up by all of this, I don't know what is. Reentering human territory is making me anxious. But why wouldn't it? Humans refuse to listen to a single damn thing I say, treating me like an idiot because in their eyes being weird is the same as being wrong.

Third graders watch cartoons about how incredibly stupid that line of thought happens to be, but it's still inescapable for my birth species. We're all so socially wired that most of us never even notice it's happening. Each and every one of us is deathly vulnerable to objectively absurd psychological effects.

We will instinctively change the weight with which we view the words of others based on things like how attractive they are, what clothes they're wearing, how pleasant their voice is to listen to, and how much they've agreed with us on completely unrelated topics. I know all of this. I could have been much better about using my powers to take advantage of all those tricks rather than fall victim to them. But when I spend time with my friends, and when I spend time with aliens, I don't have to.

And the more I get a taste of that forbidden nectar, the harder it is to return to eating slop. There are a lot of humans I care about very much. But humanity? I have officially run out of patience for those jackasses. I spread out my domain, feeling around for any hidden surprises as I approach the defensive line. Stretching myself to the limit, I… wait. Woah. When did my domain get this big? What the hell? I guess I'm not complaining, but… wow.

Is it because I figured out a bunch of new things about my power today? Questions for later, I suppose. It's probably another thing a Queen of Possibility can tell me. The soldiers I approach are wary of me, but I'm not immediately getting guns pointed my way and I think that counts for something. I am in full Seraphim mode, after all, wings folded behind my back and the eyes on my face peeking through my feathers. I figure it's the best combination of recognizable and peaceful.

It is, after all, the form the Army gave me. There's something intrinsically subordinate about using it even when I don't have to.

"Seraphim?" one soldier greets me.

"That's me," I confirm.

"I wasn't aware we sent anyone into the incursion zone yet," he comments.

"I wasn't sent here, I was here when the damn thing dropped," I say.

"Would you mind calling in a message to whoever's in charge? I need to speak with them. In person, preferably."

"Uh… I can relay the message, sure. Might help if you have a reason why."

"Tell them I have information vital enough to the war effort to explain why I'm not back in Fort Moore already," I answer carefully.

"Wait, they're sending you back to Moore? What the hell?"

"I know, right?" I sigh.

"Dumbest idea they've ever had. I've already taken care of everything and they want to bench me."

"What?"

"Hey, they want you to stay put, Seraphim," a second soldier informs me.

"Fine by me," I agree. My Raptor and Wasp squadrons still need a bit of time to get into position without being seen. Staying hidden is priority one, getting into position is priority two. There's no real point to this if they get spotted early; if that happens, they'll just get shot. It takes a while for anyone to get here, and as much as I feel the need to do things I stay patient, preparing myself and remaining as calm as I can.

I'm obviously not really sure if they'll actually send someone important to talk to me. This could just as easily be a trap where they airdrop Danielle onto my ass and I get to find out why they think she can take me. But I don't think that's likely. I say I think the military is stupid a lot—and they are—but I don't mean it like I think they're a bunch of cavemen banging rocks together and leading around their forces at random.

The core cause of my issues with them isn't an absence of intelligence so much as an excess of paranoia: they have so little trust in me that even my victories on their behalf make them worried rather than happy. It's kind of understandable. Their wartime strategy has almost forcibly been pigeonholed into loss-prevention, years and years of failure requiring them to be extremely careful with any potential disaster in the making.

I'd be the stupid one if I assumed they had no reason to treat me this way, no underlying experience from decades of fighting dangerous, unpredictable Angels with dangerous, unpredictable humans that drives their caution. It's annoying, and it has caused me no end of problems, but just because I can't find the reason they're doing what they do doesn't mean that they don't have one. These people are experts at war. If I can get them to come to the table, if I can start this conversation, it changes everything.

I have to try. No matter what that damn precog says, I have to try again and again until something finally works or the human race is doomed. I doubt it would have been possible to count the number of aliens still inside their home dimension, just waiting to drop. I don't know how long I'm left standing here, but when someone finally comes to meet me, I know I've hit the jackpot. Not just because of the fancy decorations on their uniform, although those help.

No, I'm sure I hit the jackpot because I recognize their escort. Agnus Dei herself approaches alongside the aging man, a full escort of soldiers accompanying them. America's strongest super hovers slightly above the ground as she moves, apparently less than inclined to dirty her brilliantly white costume with the ground. The aging colonel at the front of the procession doesn't look happy with me, his prodigious jowls turned down with displeasure.

I imagine he's more or less running this entire offensive, so I appreciate his decision to wander all the way from the command center down here to meet me. I may not have any trust, but it seems I have at least earned respect. Perhaps too much respect. I poke Agnus Dei's domain with my own as non-threateningly as possible, finding it tight against her body in full defensive configuration. Despite the substantial increase in power I've gotten recently, I can't scan her.

I probably couldn't even if I were standing right next to her. She is a brick wall of raw power, wholeheartedly beloved by none other than Blasphemy. What does Agnus Dei mean again?

'Lamb of God?' Oh, I'm sure they get a kick out of that.

"Seraphim," the colonel greets me flatly.

"I certainly hope you think this is worth getting court-martialed over."

"I do, sir," I nod firmly. Not that I plan to be around to get tried, but you know. Showing my conviction in a respectful manner will help me get taken seriously. Sure enough, the colonel nods.

"Alright then, Warrant Officer. Let's hear it." I take a deep breath. Here we go.

"…This entire offensive is unnecessary," I tell him simply.

"I've been talking with the alien forces here. Which I can do, and I can prove it. This group is fully willing to avoid aggression and talk terms. If I can get us an ally in this damn war instead of yet another fight, I will do everything I can to make that happen."

"My god, you really have cracked," Agnus Dei says, a grin splitting her face.

"I kind of figured you would head that direction when I picked you up, but this might be a new record. You've only been in a single battle!" I ignore her, focusing on the colonel. He sighs.

"I believe you've been told this before, Seraphim," he says, "but you aren't authorized to negotiate on behalf of the United States. If you had respected that, if you had shown you would do what your country asks of you when it asks of you, perhaps we would be making use of the communication abilities you claim to have.

Instead, you have acted like your power gives you the right to do as you please, and that is not an attitude we can tolerate, especially not in a situation as potentially important as an extraterrestrial peace treaty." I sigh. It's a reasonable argument, on the surface. But what is he really saying here? That because I can't keep radio contact while I'm busy fighting for my life, I should be expected to translate incorrectly?

That they want to use my skills, but the fact that I'm the only translator in the entire world doesn't make up for the fact that I'm not a perfect soldier? I didn't play the game well enough, so now I've already lost. There's no future for me here, in the guts of this bleeding organization. No matter how much I tell them I'm on their side, they never listen. They never believe me. So it's time to tell them something they will believe.

"I understand, sir," I say.

"I know I can't negotiate on behalf of the United States. So allow me to take this opportunity to formally resign from my position. My skills as a translator are highly sought-after, even if not by you, and I've accepted an alternative opportunity." Slowly, I start to shift. The wings and feathers of my Seraphim form meld back into my body, replacing themselves with a dark faux-fabric business suit, with a tie of muscle and shoes of bone.

Tentacles replace the hair on my scalp, wrapping around each other and curling up into a professional-looking bun. Immediately, the humans are on edge, despite the fact that I've just made myself considerably less dangerous. Fuck it, then. No sense being subtle about it. Dissolving my own fingernails, I start to replace them all with that sapphire-blue organically grown crystal that every soldier has burned into their memory. I'm doing this. I'm really, actually doing this.

"You cannot resign, Seraphim," the colonel insists.

"You have been drafted. You have been commanded by your country to serve."

"Lia Morgan was drafted," I correct.

"I'm pretty sure that by this point you know I'm not Lia Morgan." I finally change that damn face, shifting through a few possible alternatives mixed together from various people I like. Something generic. Something hard to remember. After all, I don't want anyone to remember a face that isn't really mine.

"I am Thief of Torn Wings," I declare.

"Officially appointed ambassador of Omnipresence as Worship, Queen of Legion. I am here on her behalf, to express heartfelt apologies as to the damage she has unwittingly caused and offer reparations in the interest of peaceful coexistence. So if you please, Colonel, kindly fetch me someone who is authorized to negotiate on behalf of the United States, because you no longer need a translator. I can speak English just fine."

Everyone stares at me, tense silence making it easy to hear my own hammering heartbeat as I wait.

"You're actually serious?" the Colonel asks.

"You're defecting to the aliens?"

"May I call my escort?" I ask.

"Just to prove my authority. I'd appreciate if your men didn't shoot them."

"You can control aliens?"

"No, Colonel, I can talk to them," I answer.

"I've been saying this from the start."

"Command: approach slowly. Show no aggression." I make a random hand signal just so the humans know I've done something, and the Raptors begin to emerge, cautiously falling into formation behind me as the Wasps crawl behind a bit more slowly. The guns are very much up and ready at this point, but one of the wonderfully mad things about the aliens is that even if someone did twitch their trigger finger and kill one, it probably wouldn't even be that big of a deal. The aliens wouldn't panic and they wouldn't attack.

Not without my order. If anything, it would just give us a better bargaining position. Y'know, assuming that any bargaining is actually going to happen. Still, I think I can make a pretty good offer.

"Bow," I command, and the troops formed up behind me all do so, tilting their bodies forwards and curling their forelimbs underneath them as a show of fealty.

"This is really happening," I say aloud.

"Imagine a future where you can send Raptors to die instead of men. And no one has to die today. Surely you've seen the Queen helping save people from the rubble? Surely you've noticed that everyone has been retreating from her domain safely? The rules are different this time. This is a real chance for peace." Again, silence fills the space between us. Ultimately, it's the Colonel who breaks it, letting out an overwhelmed sigh.

"Never in all my years," he says, mostly to himself.

"Three decades of fighting this fight, and I never once imagined I would see a sight like this. I'm gonna have to get someone to call the goddamned President."

"Sir, you can't be serious," Agnus Dei says.

"I can be and I am," the Colonel answers.

"I don't know what I'm looking at, but I'm not gonna deny what's right in front of my eyes. You realize this is not going to be anything close to a quick process, right Ms. Ambassador?"

"If I could get you to agree to a one-month ceasefire, I'd be happy to have all the parties reconvene at the end of it to decide on a more formal treaty," I offer.

"Omnipresence as Worship is willing to condense her domain by fifty percent and return all of that territory to America, with the possibility of peacefully surrendering the rest after negotiations have fully concluded. She would require American assistance to relocate herself to the ocean, but upon arrival she would be willing to work alongside our government to reopen potential trade routes across the Atlantic in exchange for that cooperation.

She understands that she has intruded on sovereign territory and offers these amends as recompense. She regrets that such services are all that she has to give. If relocation is deemed impractical or impossible, she offers instead to support our defensive line."

"Sea routes?" the Colonel mutters.

"Seriously? Well, I'll pass that along."

"No, I don't think you will." Huh? Agnus Dei's words cut through my blooming hope like a beam of burning light. What now? Why now? Everything was going startlingly well!

"Excuse me?" the Colonel says, turning to scowl at her.

"Sir, it's my job to protect you against powered threats, but I can't do that if you aren't following protocol in regards to contact with an Angel."

"Oh, for the love of—you don't need to remind me of protocol, Agnus."

"No, but I do need to follow it," she answers with a smile.

"Contact with Angels, even seemingly nonaggressive ones, must be assumed to compromise the individual unless they are protected by an adequate domain. Even a second under the influence of the wrong power can completely warp someone's mind, sir."

"I don't recall ever claiming to be an Angel," I point out.

"Well, you're obviously not human, so what else could you be?" Agnus asks.

"It's a moot point either way. You admitted to illegally infiltrating the military under a false name, so Angel or not it's only appropriate to treat you like one. You are a hostile powered individual with control over biology. It doesn't take a genius to think of ways that could be used to control someone's mind."

"Your entire damn job is to protect me from that!" the Colonel snaps at her.

"What the hell are you on about!?"

"Terribly sorry, sir, but I just can't guarantee that," Agnus simpers.

"Her domain is substantially stronger than the records indicated. There has clearly been some interference with our intelligence. I don't have any choice but to consider everyone here to be compromised. I'm afraid I must forbid you from speaking with anyone until you can be properly quarantined and checked out for empowered tampering." What the actual fuck? Am I watching Agnus Dei commit treason? Why? What could she possibly gain out of any of this?

She's obviously pulling this out of her ass, there's no way she actually believes I'm mind controlling everybody here. I mean… unless she's inferring that I can't talk to aliens and I'm instead using mind control powers to get them to be docile? That would almost be a reasonable argument, if not for the absolute shit-eating grin on her face. Seriously, what is happening right now?

"Why?" I ask her bluntly.

"Why does any soldier do anything these days?" she asks back.

"For the human race, of course. So then, traitor…" She holds her hand out, palm facing me, a bright glow coalescing in her hand.

"… consider yourself court-martialed." Shit. I start forming flesh at the edges of my domain just in time for the world to go white, I and the aliens with me vaporized by a torrent of power that scours the very earth beneath us clean. Only a tiny lump at the edge of my range manages to stay clear of the blast, and I waste no time teleporting several more times to get myself as far away from the area as possible. Well! That is not how I expected everything to go tits-up, but it was certainly something.

Seriously, what was that? Did the strongest soldier just see red at the thought of making peace with a bunch of filthy xenos? I guess I can see it, but how does she expect to get away with it? There were at least a dozen witnesses. I—woah, Jesus! Another searing lance of energy erupts from Agnus Dei, burning a wide line through the ground and several nearby buildings and nearly wiping me off the face of the Earth. Oh my god, that attack started right underneath her! Did she just kill everyone?

I risk glancing back and see her holding the unconscious Colonel in one of her arms, but that's all. All those other soldiers are absolutely dead. Her smile is gone, though, replaced with a furious glower as she glances all around, clearly looking for me. How does she even know I'm alive? Our domains weren't touching each other when she attacked me, and we aren't in contact now, and her attacks definitely wouldn't have left any evidence behind of a successful murder. A fact she is clearly very aware of! God. Okay.

In-Joke was underselling it pretty fucking hard when they said Agnus Dei was secretly a kook. She just straight-up betrayed and murdered like a dozen people, and I'm not sure she even considered it to be a particularly big deal. She clearly expects to get away with this. She has a system. She's killed before. Outside of the battlefield, I mean. Honestly, I'm not sure what to do with this information other than panic. Agnus fires off a few more death blasts before flying back towards base.

Negotiations are obviously fucked. I need to warn Maria and Omnipresence as Worship, and I definitely need an escape plan for the former. Speaking of escape plans, it's relatively public knowledge that Anastasia, Christine, and the others are my friends. Will Agnus Dei go after them? Can we even do anything about it if she does? I'm extremely powerful. I can beat almost any super one-on-one. Agnus Dei is not almost any super.

She flies as fast as a fighter jet and shoots massive lasers that can obliterate several of my bodies all at once. I could maybe, maybe kill her if I got my hands on her—or my tentacles or what have you—but I seriously doubt she's actually restricted to only shooting energy out of her palms. She'd probably just kill me the instant I got a grip on her, and if I somehow survived being killed again, I'm pretty sure I'll still run out of biomass before she runs out of lasers.

It might not be the safest option, but I have to warn the others. I shift further and further towards the staging grounds, heading towards where I saw them taking Anastasia. I'm already catastrophizing over where and why they could possibly have been moving her like that, but as I sneak a tiny body into the tent I find a fairly standard temporary living space for her and a few women. They were probably just escorting her after she finished a debrief. The poor thing looks devastated, and who can blame her?

Maria got snatched up right from under her nose. I'd be devastated too. Cautiously, gently, I snake my domain into the room and give hers a subtle poke. She perks up immediately, and I press against her to try and tell her to calm down. She does so, glancing around at the other people in the room—none of whom are people I know—and walking up to one of them, tugging lightly on the woman's shirt.

"Hmm? What's up?" the soldier asks.

"I need to go to the bathroom," Anastasia answers softly.

"Oh, uh… yeah, it's right over thataway. Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, I can find it, thank you." Anastasia exits the tent and I hop into her shoe, letting myself be carried all the way into a Porta Potty before growing back into a functional size and giving her a squeeze.

"You're okay!" Anastasia cries out softly, hugging me back.

"I'm so sorry, Julietta. I'm so sorry. They took Maria, I couldn't save her!"

"It's okay, honey, it's okay. Maria's alive," I assure her.

"Really?"

"Really," I promise. It's a promise I have to keep.

"The aliens here are very confused, but they aren't bad. They're taking care of Maria for now."

"Okay…?" Anastasia says, seeming a little concerned about that.

"What happened?"

"They tried to change her so she could speak to aliens like I can," I answer.

"It didn't go very well. I need to go on a trip to learn how to save her."

"Can I come too!?" she asks immediately.

"I'm so sorry, honey. I'm going to the ocean. I can't bring you with me. You need to be strong and protect Christine and Ed. And Peter, if you want to."

"…Yeah, he tried really hard this time," Anastasia says.

"Okay," I say.

"Okay, that's great to hear. Anastasia, I need to tell you something that's really scary."

"It's okay, I'm really tough," she insists.

"I hardly even ever cry anymore!"

"Okay. Honey, Agnus Dei is evil. She just killed a lot of people and she almost killed me."

"Oh," Anastasia blinks.

"That makes sense. Her domain feels super awful. Like the Angels from St. Louis if they were even bigger jerks." Uh.

"Well… yeah, that's pretty much exactly right," I confirm.

"I don't know if it's going to be safe for you here, and I don't have any way to protect you from her. She and the rest of the military are going to try to attack the aliens who are helping Maria. I don't know if it would be better for you to continue fighting with them or to try and run. I'm not sure what would be a safe place to run to."

"I know where to go," Anastasia says.

"What?" I ask.

"How? Where?"

"Well, you said some aliens are nice and some aliens are mean," Anastasia says.

"And you said that the ways that the aliens get powers and the ways we get powers are the same."

"…That's right," I confirm.

"On the other side of the aliens that took Maria are more good aliens," Anastasia says.

"The voice in my dream told me. They won't be mean to anyone who's nice to them, and they won't be nice to anyone who's mean." My eyes widen. She's talking about Reciprocation. Her god pointed her towards her closest Queen, and if it's anything like the pull I'm feeling towards the ocean she'll know exactly where to go to find them. It would be a risk, but it wouldn't be more of a risk than sticking around if Agnus Dei does end up gunning for them.

"…Okay," I nod.

"If you have to run, take everyone there. But you can't let them take you anywhere you don't want to go. They might try to do to you what the others did to Maria. I'll tell the other aliens to warn them not to, but don't run unless you absolutely need to. I'll be back in less than a month and we can figure everything out then. Alright?"

"I won't let anyone else get hurt," Anastasia promises.

"How do we know when to run away, though?" Oh, geez. Am I really about to suggest this?

"…Tell Peter all of this," I answer.

"He'll know when you all need to cut and run. If anyone can sense disaster coming before it hits, it'll be him."

"I will," Anastasia promises.

"You'll come back, right? One month?"

"One month," I promise.

"I'll find you one way or another. Though if you end up somewhere wacky, try to leave me a few hints, yeah?"

"Okay," she says, leaning in to give me another big squeeze.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Ana," I tell her, returning the hug.

"People might say some pretty mean things about me while I'm gone, but just let them, okay? Don't give them any reason to suspect you. Just stay safe, protect our family, and I'll be back before you know it."

"You'd better," she huffs.

"You still have to help me kill all the bad aliens and save the world. And because I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too," I tell her.

"Goodbye, Anastasia." I shift out of the bathroom, making my way back out of the staging grounds to share the plans with Maria and the Council of Legion. I feel like I barely even know what's going on anymore. The aliens don't know why they're invading. The military doesn't know their strongest super is a traitor. The entire world, it seems, doesn't know a single damn thing. But my Queen might. So that's where I'm going to go.