The door to the room exploded inward, slamming against me with concussive force that knocked me onto my side. Two gunshots knocked Kev off his feet and he went sliding, face twisted into something that wasn’t even a coherent expression, pursued by a blurred figure. I saw Kev raise one hand, an old legacy gesture still stored in his rotting brain.

“Stop,” he commanded.

She didn’t stop. She leaped on top of the Monk, swinging her gun down in a wide, sloppy arc I attributed to excitement-the Colonel Hense I knew would never pull such a shitty, sloppy move out of her ass-which gave Kev plenty of time to shove her off with some force, spraying white coolant everywhere as he did so. Hense’s little body went flying, her shot barking into the ceiling, and before I could wonder why Kev’s Push wasn’t working on her, Happling roared into the room. I could have sworn he was grinning as he ran, pumping shells at Kev. The Monk flipped onto its feet and dodged, moving too fast to keep track of. Happling continued to chase Kev with his gun, emptying a clip while trying to catch him. Then Kev twisted around and made the same bizarre gesture.

“Stop!” he shouted.

Happling froze, and the Monk immediately shot the big man twice in the chest, dead center. Happling tottered a second before crashing down. I was suddenly released, my arm going limp, my gun slipping from slack fingers. I remembered when he’d been human, Kev always had trouble with the Push, trouble having more than one person under his control or keeping people Pushed for long periods. Clarity of mind hadn’t broadened his range much, I supposed.

More gunshots, and Hense rolled out of my view. Kev was a whirlwind, scampering up the walls and back onto the floor in a blur, then leaping into the air as Hense scrambled past me, dropping an empty clip. Before she could reload the Monk crashed into her, knocking her into the wall a foot or two away from me, the whole room shaking with the impact.

“Stop!” Kev screeched, his modulated voice distorted as the circuits tried to compensate for an emotion they’d never been programmed to run. Hense didn’t hesitate, smashing one fist into Gatz’s face hard enough to jerk his head around. For a second we were staring at each other. Then Kev looked back at the colonel and started to swing his gun on her. Hense reached up and grabbed his wrist in her tiny dark hand, and they sawed back and forth, the gun veering this way and that.

Hense wasn’t sweating. I squinted at her to be sure. Then, feeling empty, I turned my head to focus on Ty Kieth. The Techie was right where he’d been left, tied down to the examination table, his gag slick with spittle and pushed partly off his mouth, his tongue working free. Our eyes met, and he froze.

Taking a deep, agonizing breath, I hacked up bloody phlegm, spat it out onto the floor, and pushed myself back into a sitting position. Kieth continued to stare at me, eyes wide, nose still for what I imagined was the first time in his life. I got one foot under me and slowly climbed to my feet while the Techie watched, and stood there swaying while my vision swam again, everything going hazy and then gradually clarifying. I blinked as Hense went hurtling through the air in front of me, smashing into the far wall and leaving an impact crater in the drywall as she bounced back onto the floor. A second later she was up on her feet again, bounding behind Kieth as Kev splashed bullets after her. The colonel wasn’t even breathing hard as she hovered there with the Techie between her and the Monk, sliding a fresh clip into place while Kev considered how to shoot her without accidentally hitting his prized Techie. I stared dully, wondering how it was that Hense could go through this, could fight a Monk hand to hand and be bounced around the room like a fucking rag doll and just stand there looking as fresh as the day I’d met her. I knew System Pigs were hard-core, but this was ridiculous.

As I stared at the colonel, Kev flashed through the air, coat fluttering behind him like the dirty tail of a comet. Hense ducked at the last moment, firing almost directly into the Monk as he sailed over her. A white hand snaked out and grabbed her shoulder with hydraulic strength, tearing the cop from the floor and dragging her with him as they crashed into a bank of medical instruments piled up against one wall.

I put my eyes on Kieth, who’d succeeded in pushing his gag completely out of his mouth, but he continued to stare at me in silence, mouth open, chest heaving. He remained frozen until I was a step away; when I languidly racked a shell into the chamber of my gun, it was as if someone had pressed a button inside him.

“Mr. Cates!” He hissed, forcing a squeamish smile. “Mr. Cates, Ty is glad to see you! Rescue at last!”

Behind me, there was more gunfire, and I sensed movement, harried and desperate, but nothing was left inside me to produce alarm or urgency or fear. I stared down at Kieth with my gun held waist-high, almost forgotten, and felt only a tired sadness.

Kieth licked his lips. “Rescue at last,” he repeated more quietly.

My whole body tightened as I looked down at him, and I brought the gun up. His eyes flashed to it and he convulsed on the table, struggling madly against his bonds, whipping his head back and forth.

“Ty had no choice, Mr. Cates! Ty had no choice! Please, please, Avery-Avery! You know me! You know me! Please!”

I nodded. “I know you, Ty.”

He nodded back eagerly. I felt like the world’s biggest asshole, making him squirm, making him beg. “Ty can work on this, Mr. Cates. We have some time. Ty designed this; Ty can hack it under control. Mr. Cates. Please.”

I could feel the universe pushing against me like wind in a sail, pushing me inexorably, gently toward its preordained destination-which was, unfortunately for Ty, a bullet in the Techie’s head, everyone linking arms and singing as we all got well again. Or some bullshit like that. My city gone, even if they repopulated the buildings. Glee gone. Everything gone.

And I decided, Fuck the universe.

Feeling weak, I jerked my arm and my blade snapped into place, the one thing left in the world that was still working properly. With a slash I cut through Ty’s bonds and then stood there wobbling a little. I let the blade slide back into its holster on its spring and brought the gun up, shuddering a breath into my ruined lungs.

“Ty,” I said raggedly, fighting an epic coughing fit that was beating its way up from my chest. “I’m going to get you out of this building.”

Fuck the universe. I was off the rail, and for the first time in a week felt normal again. I was probably going to die-it was a wonder I wasn’t dead yet-but for a while now I’d known I’d outlived my time. It felt all right. It felt natural. I was going to get Ty out of here, and he’d do his best.

Ty struggled upright, nose quivering, eyes damp and glassy. “Mr. Cates,” he said hoarsely, “Mr. Cates, Ty doesn’t know-”

“Ty,” I said tiredly, waving my gun toward the exit, “you’re not going to kiss me or anything, are you? We don’t have time.”

He smiled, convulsing into an unexpected laugh, radiating relief. As he opened his mouth to say something, the back of his head exploded, splattering a sticky mess of blood and bone onto the wall behind him. As if a supporting thread had been cut, Ty flopped back down onto the table.

I whirled, a push of adrenaline giving me a last burst of energy. Belling stood in the doorway, sweating and pale, one gun still outstretched toward me. His eyes shifted to me, and I squeezed my own trigger, getting a dry click in response.

Belling nodded, keeping his gun on me but not firing. “You never could go that last bit, could you, Avery?” he said, and in his mouth it was a curse. Wordlessly, he turned and strode away.