“Above all,” Chevalier addressed the room. “Whether you’re facing Fortuna or not, the key here is to avoid panicking. Don’t lose heart. We can do this.”

When he said it, I kind of believed him.

“I know this because I see too many faces I’ve been through too many all-or-nothing battles with. For years we fought Endbringers with the knowledge that one more loss might be what broke us. We fought Scion. Tonight, we fight one more Endbringer, we face down the Fortuna cluster, and we’ll put plans into motion.”

I had the sense that a lot of people believed him. He wasn’t leader of the Wardens for nothing. People in the crowd looked energized, enthused. Scared as shit, but a scared they could push past.

To my left, something clicked and hissed. I turned my head, hand going to my hood to pull it away from my peripheral vision.

Chris had just taken one of his injections by way of the heavy metal collar with the ring of syringes mounted on it. His expression was unimpressed, dark. He looked back at Thunderdome, one of Advance Guard’s capes, someone he’d had a momentary bit of friction with, and I wondered if he was sorry, but unable to phrase it.

Then he marched off. Walking away from all of this.

Complicated. Messy.

Legend, approaching from the side, flew to the stage. When he looked over the crowd, a slice of his face shimmered in rainbow hues, with smokey waves rolling off the top and back of his head. An eye like a perfectly round white disk ringed by darker colors sat where his eye was supposed to be.

“The Simurgh! Pay attention, even if you won’t be fighting her. You can’t know what will happen!” Legend announced, and he was confident, assured. If the head injury had impaired his faculties any, it didn’t show. “Our analysis of the Simurgh comes from years of experience! I can tell you, don’t let your guard down. She will surprise us. She will throw curveballs at us. In all the times we’ve engaged with her, she has had new tricks. Stay the course!”

Images of the Simurgh appeared on the screens.