I left the Plaza Hotel without saying another word to Andrea.
Teleported back to Marcus's apartment. He was still awake, pacing the living room when I appeared.
"What happened?" he asked immediately.
"The Whisperer gave me an impossible choice." I collapsed onto his couch. "Kill it and Andrea dies with it. Spare her and the city keeps burning."
Marcus sat down across from me. "So what are you going to do?"
"I don't know."
We sat in silence for a while. Outside the window, I could see smoke still rising from multiple locations across New Eden. The attacks were ongoing. The corrupted people hadn't stopped just because I'd confronted their director.
"There has to be another option," Marcus said finally. "Some way to separate them that won't kill her."
"I've been trained in advanced mi
