MIRA

Verity had no grave. Instead, she was cremated and the box was put inside of a wall monument in the New Kingsbury Nondenominational Cemetery. On it were far too many names in black plaques.

These were the confirmed names of dead supervillains.

There was a lot of marble still left, and the addition of Verity’s name made the whole monument look asymmetrical.

I only know because we were allowed to stay to oversee that they made sure procedure was followed.

I watched as they identified Verity, as they put her in the oven for cremation. I watched as they scooped the ashes out, putting it in a box.

They let Dr. Banning hold it. But Ryder, Saige, and Aleister kept their hands on me, to prevent me from running, from trying to hold on to what was left of Verity, just for a moment.

We walked outside, and it was sunny. It seemed all so wrong for such a perfect winter day to happen when Verity was dead.

It was also wrong, the stoic faces on Saige, Aleister, and Ryder’s faces.

Dr. Banning cried. But the other three didn’t. And they gave me a funny look when I did.

“What?” I finally barked, whirling around to face the other three.

Sympathy was in Ryder’s deep brown eyes, and his voice dropped down to the whisper. “You know what we’ve been taught, Mira.”

“What are you talking about?”

“We don’t mourn for the wicked, and especially not for traitors,” Saige reminded me.

“I don’t understand how all of you can be so heartless.” I stepped away. “She was our friend. Our sister. And now she’s dead. Didn’t you love her?”

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“We have to put our attachments aside,” Ryder said, stepping forward and gripping my upper arms. “It does no one in the city any good, if we mourn for those who hurt our city. You’re losing sight of the bigger picture. Of the true enemy.”

But as I turned and saw Dr. Banning put the box in the granite monument, I couldn’t help myself, couldn’t hold back.

In a flash, I was there. I was trembling with nervous energy, forget the fact that I’d have to replenish those burned calories later. I touched the stone of the giant gravestone, as the undertakers nailed in the plaque with her name.

Her real name.

I blinked through my tears.

Verity Banning.

They’d never given us a last name before. We were all supposed to be family, under the Sentinels.

We were supposed to be impersonal, one of many an indistinguishable cell from a whole body.

But now Verity was an individual, a person, at the cost of her death.

I cried again, even if I wasn’t supposed to. I remembered training with her, sparring with her, and how she bit her lip and liked it when we were served ice cream as a special treat every once in a while by Dr. Banning.

She loved the color green and was nervous but she tried so hard because she really did care about the city and about her job and never took it as lightly as the rest of us sometimes did to cope.

And she was gone.

A supervillain.

It made no sense.

“Mi— Mercury, come on.”

Dr. Banning’s voice was somehow both gentle and firm.

“Mercury, we have to leave.”

I shook my head— I felt trapped again, stuck in this moment. Time was too slow, it would never leave me, never leave this moment behind.

I heard footsteps behind me, and felt a hand on my shoulder.

“I’m coming!” I couldn’t help but burst out with the anger I felt as I pulled out of the grasp and turned around.

I nearly stumbled backward into the grave.

It was Warlock.

He wasn’t stoic. He gave me what I can only describe as the saddest smile I’d seen with half his face covered by the mask.

It was wordless, but I somehow knew that he understood.

Then, to my surprise, he gave me a hug. Short and simple and—

I’d never been hugged before. I was initially uncomfortable— but there was something actually comforting about it, something I don’t think I can explain.

When we parted, he handed me a scrap of paper with a phone number scrawled onto it.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“My hero phone, a burner phone,” he said. “If you need anything. . . Let me know, I guess.”

I frowned—I didn’t know what a rogue hero like Warlock would have to offer me. But all the same, nothing made sense anymore so I just tucked it into one of my pockets and nodded.

Then I followed the remaining members of the Miracle Force out of the cemetery.

I looked back once, to see Warlock drop on his knees, whispering something to the monument.