A small band of stragglers crawled on the ground or hobbled as fast as they could away from the heart of the crossfire. A few were wounded. Others helped each other along as they limped away. An explosion to their right startled them and several people in the middle screamed. They broke into a frenzied sprint.

  Virgil came running in from their left and whistled for their attention.

  "This way!" He motiohem onward with his hand. "Get off the streets and follow me."

  His anding voice stuhem momentarily. A few started to object.

  "You want to die here?!" He halted briefly to level his gun and fired. Two bolts cut through the air and smashed into a pair of soldiers dashing in from a side street. They dropped dead in a heap. "Move!"

  The group needed no further coaxing. The band streamed past him as he turned and joihem. As they neared a bend, he directed them toward an alleyway. The group clustered together while he pnted himself at the opening.

  "Fii, where are you?" he transmitted. "I'm pinned down in—"

   Her voice was bright and clear through the link.

  He barely caught a flicker of motion streaking across the skyline before the ground shuddered and exploded under an ining mortar shell. The bst struck the mouth of the alley and threw debris and burning ks of brickwork everywhere. The impact threw several people off their feet.

  Virgil gritted his teeth and stood his ground to protect them.

  Another salvo desded in his dire—only to divert upwards at the st sed aonate high in the air. He cast a g Fii's position. She gestured as she leapt and bouoward him.

  "I'm here! I'll hold 'em off," she called as she nded nearby. "Get them out of here!"

  He spared her a nod and ushered the frighteragglers away. Fii sent another few pieces of rubble in their pursuers' dire before sliding into pce beside him. She immediately threw up a protective field to deflect more ining gunfire.

  "Thanks." He peeked over his shoulder and he people's progress. They were almost past the barricades and into the street.

  One of Edith's drones appeared and circled around the fleeing civilians. They'd mao reach the end of the alley and disappear from sight.

   Helix reported over the link.

  The Humvee, which had remained idle during the brief intermission, roared back to life and began creeping fain. Two armored soldiers brandishing rge caliber rifles opened fire from its roof. A third, standing nearby, flung a gre them.

  Before Virgil could shoot the gre of the air, Fii altered its trajectory back to its thrower. The explosion ripped the soldier apart and damaged the Humvee's side. The sean lost his band fell off the roof.

  Virgil dispatched him with a well-pced shot to the chest.

  The vehicle tried to swerve around a nearby barrier and ran straight into a k of debris.

  "Alright, move!" Virgil surged forward and dashed toward the Humvee. He spun and fahe hammer. Each pull unleashed a phantom bullet that found its mark in the skull of one soldier or another. One by ohey dropped and soon y sprawled all over the vehicle's hood and deck.

  Another drone zipped overhead and hovered beside him.

  Fii approached to join him. "What's our py?" she asked.

  "We split up and keep clearing each area," Virgil replied. "We'll manage mround if we split up. Besides, you're better at getting people out of tight spots." He shifted his gaze to the drone. "Helix. I want you to tag eadividual for Fii's HUD and seo whoever needs help the most."

   Helix dispyed a series of red is on Fii's cyber helmet's dispy.

  Virgil cpped her shoulder. "You go high and I'll take the streets. Get as many people to safety as you . That's the priority. If you manage a few Adrenomancers, great. If not, leave them to me." He jerked his toward the north. "Head that way first. I'll make my way around from the east. Watch your six."

  Fii nodded. "And what about the gangs? Should we help them too?"

  "Let them fight if they want to." He adjusted his hat and fired a charged shot to finish off the final soldier trying to flee. "The only people we save are the ones who want to be saved."

  "All right." She darted ahead and unched into the air with a vaulting leap. Her gravitational field carried her forward a her spinning into a graceful ast. "See you in a bit."

  Virgil nodded and lowered his gaze back to the street.

  He still couldn't figure out why Salvatore had throwhing he had at the slums all of a sudden. It didn't make any sense. If this was some sort of retaliation for ruining his Shiver operations, then it seemed excessive and way overkill. Something else must have been going on. Salvatore wouldn't waste so many lives and resources just to avenge some cash losses.

  Or would he?

  "Helix," Virgil grunted. "Let me talk to Edith."

   Helix's usual politeness disappeared in a meical monotone.

  He ched his teeth. "What do you mean?"

  What the hell was she doing right now? She should be helping coordiheir efforts. Granted, she had her own way of doing things, but even she wasn't this detached.

  

  "That's not good enough. Where is she?"

  

  Virgil bared his teeth in a grimace. He could push for answers but he doubted the A.I. would talk. Either way, this wasn't the time to go looking for Edith. There were lives on the line and they needed his full attention. The st thing he wanted was for his ao cause someone else to get hurt or killed. For now, he'd just have to deal with it.

  Fii sailed through the sky as she reached for the ledge. Her roller skates dug into the side of the building and pushed her over the edge. Her body spiraled forward as she twisted in midair to nd gracefully on the opposite roof.

  She repeated this a few times and alternated her route from left tht to quickly navigate around several buildings. All the while, Helix sent her fresh updates about areas in distress. Red is lit up like small bonfires along the topographic map of the slums. Even with her speed, she worried about getting to everyone in time. There were just too many pces to be and not enough of her to go around.

  Just as she began to feel overwhelmed, Fii saw Kenzo on the ground below. He mao fight off a handful of Adrenomancers by himself. A few bodies already littered the area and three more y bleeding nearby. Several Reaper Posse members were trying to limp away behind him. One dragged another wounded gangster with an arm slung over his shoulder.

  The biggest Adrenomancer sported a ragged gash across his stomach. Blood leaked from the wound and stained his already crimson clothing. Still, he lu Kenzo and attempted to cleave him in two with his giant saw bde.

  Kenzo gracefully sidestepped and the bde screeched past him with a shower of sparks. He ducked underh the following swipe and pivoted his weight forward to deliver a swift thrust to the man's chest.

  "共鳴刃 (Kyōmei Ha)!" Kenzo yelled. His katana resonated in a sonic hum as its bde glowed.

  His opporied to sidestep but failed. The on's edge bit into his ribs and ripped him open like an overripe fruit. His innards spilled to the ground.

  A sed Adrenomancer closed in from Kenzo's blindside with a flurry of metal projectiles. He whipped his arm around to gee a curved crest-shaped shield of high-frequency sound. Each disc harmlessly ricocheted off its surfad cttered to the ground. With a smooth stroke, Kenzo slid his bde from its sheath and spun into a killing arc.

  The Adrenomancer erupted in a shower of blood. Two halves of the body crashed against the pavement.

  Fii steered herself into a wide dest and aoward them. "Kenzo!"

  He pivoted his head at her void waited. She nded lightly beside him, turning away from the gore. Even now she still had trouble getting used to the sight of these gruesome deaths. Nausea hit her but she fought back the urge to retch.

  "You good?" she gasped. Her roller skates trembled and wobbled beh her as she fought to keep steady. "Oh boy...that was rough."

  Kenzo wiped the blood off his bde with a spare rag and slid it bato his sheath. "I'm good. How about you? What's the situation?"

  "They're swarming everywhere," Fii replied. "Virgil and I are trying to clear the streets. Any help you give would be great." She gnced around. "What about the gangs? Are they helping out too?"

  Kenzo pursed his lips and adjusted his headphones. "Not sure. They're more focused on seg their turf right now. That's how things usually go here. The Ironcd Legion is probably the only oively helping people get out." He cracked his neck. "Let me know if you need me to cover anything."

  "Gotcha." She activated her link. "Helix, you give me an updated report on each se? I o know where the bad guys are now."

   A series of blinking dots began poputing on Fii's helmet's s.

  Fii watched the tags begin to light up and ge color as they winked in and out across the map of the slums. While several areas were still marked red for active bat, a handful had been cleared.

  "Okay. Looks like I'll head to these sectors. Are you good here?"

  "Yeah," Kenzo replied. "I'll get these guys out of here and then join you."

  Fii nodded and surged ahead with a final wave. "I'll see you there."

  As she soared away, she prayed the gangs would do their part ahose in need. Hopefully, at least some of them cared more about saving lives than seg territory. Slumshines didn't always get along with each other, but wheakes were this high, surely they could set aside their differeo help one ahey had to.

  She vaulted and pulled herself across several more buildings before sailing down to street level again. The closer she got to the red dots on her map, the louder the sounds of chaos became. Explosions, gunfire, screaming...it was everywhere.

  As Fii turned a er to follow the first route, she caught sight of the age Collective gang fighting off a small group of Adrenomancers and their soldier escorts. The soldiers kept their distance while the Adrenomancers attempted to close in and crush the gangsters.

  In the middle of the street, their leader—"Hammer" Kareem—struggled to hold his own against one giant hulk of an Adrenomancer. His oppo swung a heavy two-handed axe that he wielded with both hands. Each strike sliced and smashed the crete apart.

  Fii bounded off the walls and over parked cars as she raced toward them. Once close enough, she sent the Adrenomancers and soldiers sailing into the air with a single surge of gravitational force.

  They smmed against walls, each other, and the ground before they could get a shot off. Their crumpled forms thudded heavily on the pavement and y there twitg. She repeated the move twice more until they stopped moving altogether.

  The nausea came back again but she fought it down.

  With the immediate threat ralized, she nded lightly on the hood of a nearby car and rolled to a stop in front of the gangsters. "Are you guys okay?"

  Kareem g her briefly and scoffed. "We had that."

  "Sure," Fii replied, unsure how else to respond. "But you're wele anyway."

  "Don't think we owe you nothin'," Kareem added. "The slums ain't gonna e together like some dream team. It's every man for himself." He shouldered his pipe rifle and thumbed his her. "So don't get any ideas."

  Fii blinked. "But you're fighting those guys nht? Why don't we just—"

  Kareem ignored her and turo the rest of his gang. "Collect their ons and ammo. Don't leave anythin' behind." The ang members so and began sging the dead bodies. He briefly g Fii. "See? We're fine. Now get outta here, Super. You got other lives to save."

  With a fused nod, she shrugged and skated away. Behind her, Kareem shouted for the gang to move on.

  As Fii picked up speed and shot across the rooftops again, she tried not to dwell too mu Kareem's rea. He'd made it clear where he and his gang stood. At least they were willing to fight bad put their lives on the line, but she couldn't help but think there was a better way. They didn't have to be alone or choose to go at it solo. In the end, it was only going to cost them more lives.