It helped Gary to pull himself together. “Radio. Let other places know what happened. Uh—we’re going to need people for—”

So many. Attacked and shot for no clear purpose. It caught him off guard.

The ground rumbled as the giant robot landed nearby. Mechanical arms reached out to the nearby power poles, and the power came back on. It wasn’t a good thing, when it brought the losses into sharp relief.

Dragon and Defiant emerged from the craft.

“I’m Dragon, that’s Defiant, and that’s my ship. We can take wounded in her,” Dragon said.

People tentatively drew nearer to the two heroes and their giant robot.

“It was an act of war,” Defiant said. “More brazen than the other recent attacks. They’ve been testing the waters, going after areas they see as vulnerable.”

There was a pause.

“I’m so sorry for your losses,” Defiant said.

“You’re in charge here, Gary?” Dragon asked.

She knew his name?

“You were a candidate for mayor,” she explained.

“I’m—” he started. His voice was small.

That was the thing. He wanted to show emotion but he couldn’t show that emotion, because he would break down.

“Ari was in charge,” he said. “From Mortari.”

“Ari Burke, I assume?” she asked. He nodded.

She knew the names so easily. His. Ari’s.

“Ari’s dead,” she said, her head turned. “Does that put you in charge?”

“I—” he started. He shook his head slightly. “I guess.”

“Let us know if you need anything. Until we get other instructions, we’re going to tend to the wounded and shuttle them to hospitals. We’ll take routes that let us keep an eye out for trouble. When the refugees start coming through again, we’ll take some with us, if they’re willing to settle a location a little further afield. Jeanne Wynn already signed off on it.”

There it was. The magical solutions. Getting to be a hero. Jeanne Wynn was a parahuman, he was ninety-five percent sure, and she got her own magical solutions.

There was no acid taste in Gary’s mouth as he digested that. It had been a long, long time since he’d felt this bitter about something and his body hadn’t conjured up that strange sensation.

It felt too far away, when the here and the now were in such brutal, bloody relief.

“This is horrible,” Dragon said. “Seriously, anything we can do to help, let us know. We’re putting ourselves on the line by showing our faces, but I don’t think we can conscience holding back any longer. We can help with this.”

“Help?” Gary asked. “Why—I mean, if you want to help, let me ask you. Why did this happen?”