NEXUS

After the shocking conclusion to Swarm, the zeroes are scattered, on the run, and desperate. They're up against challenges from within and from the world around them, and one thing is certainan epic showdown is guaranteed.

It's clear that there are many more Zeroes in the world. And what about all the other Hordes out there? The six Cambrian Zeroes need to learn more about the wider world.

The question is, where are other Zeroes likely to gather? They head to New Orleans, where the Mardi Gras throngs will provide the perfect draw for crowd powers. Almost as soon as they hit town, it's obvious that the crowds are going to be largerand their powers strongerthan anything they've experienced before. There are Zeroes everywhere, all kinds, and each one brings realization of powers. Are they a whole new evolutionary step up, homo nexus, connected humanity?

Anonymous and Glorious Leader both notice weird things happening in the play of energy around the pre-parade crowds. Then Xanthe approaches them. She's a scientist with some theories about the overall meaning of the zero powers, which are appearing worldwide. She's realized that there are predators among them, and she homes in on Mob as having predator potential. Xanthe's view of the powers is pretty simplisticthere are good Zeroes and bad ones, and her job is to stop the sharks from devouring the harmless minnows. To this end she's built a device that simulates the energy of a crowdthis is what Anon and GL saw in operation. She's hoping she can use this device to stimulate the sharks to feed on each other.

The Zeroes aren't sure that this is a great idea, but during the Mardi Gras Parade, Xanthe uses her device to engineer a confrontation between two rival groups of Zero powers. Each Zero has to choose which side they're on, to hold onto their integrity as the feeding frenzy builds around them, and to protect themselves, their new friends, and the civilians caught up in the fight. In this final volume, Flicker's power metamorphoses spectacularly, Mob finds a way to live with her dark side, and Scam undergoes the greatest and most surprising transformation of all.