Smoke still curled from the ruins when the armored truck screeched into the wreckage of John's neighborhood.
Cam stepped out first—helmet hissing with compressed air. Derek followed, glowing faintly from his cybernetic core.
They found John buried beneath twisted scaffolding, his body shifting between diamond and iron as he clawed his way out.
"About time," he growled.
Cam helped him up. "You know how hard it is to track a man made of molecules?"
"Is Speen—?"
"I'm here!" a voice called from above.
They turned to see Speen drop from a rooftop, his shadow morphing into wings before retreating back into his feet.
He looked furious.
"They took Tali."
John nodded. "They got my wife too."
Cam swallowed. "Then it's official. Hawkins is harvesting everyone we've ever loved."
There was silence.
Derek finally spoke. "You put trackers in us, didn't you?"
Cam's face went still. "Only passive ones. I needed to know if something ever happened."
"You didn't ask."
"I couldn't risk you saying no."
More silence.
Then John clapped a massive wooden hand on Cam's shoulder. "You saved us. That's all that matters."
Speen grinned. "This the part where we make some dumb joke?"
Cam grinned back. "I was hoping someone would fart dramatically."
Derek actually did, then blamed the cybernetics.
They laughed—for just a second.
And it was enough.