Carmen pushed open the door to her room and flopped onto the bed face first, her entire body aching from the effort. Chip flew in and faceplanted beside her, too, his form transparent and weak. Her brain buzzed with exhaustion after having to keep him active during their entire training session, and she watched him fade away as she finally released the effort.

In the days that they’d been in Marrakesh, Mr. Stone forced her to keep Chip active in his muscle form during every single session, to hone her endurance. Today’s training on multitasking was the worst. Physically, she drilled through burpees while mentally controlling Chip in hand-to-hand sparring against one of Mr. Stone’s dummies. If her focus faltered on Chip, she’d get hit and feel the pain. If she was sloppy on her burpees, she wouldn’t get enough done in time, and the punishment would be even more burpees.

Meanwhile, Mr. Stone turned up the heat on a section of the floor and forced Rafiq to spar on top of it. The ground broiled like heated coals, forcing him to stay light on his feet as he fought and practiced special moves. For Daniel, a fleet of clones surrounded him, throwing water balloons he had to either catch, counter, dodge, or punch.

Like yesterday, today’s training session culminated in another sparring session against the Flow dummies. No one won, but Daniel and Rafiq were at least able to land a combo each, and left the session in smiles and excitement.

She didn’t even touch him.

The Flow clone weaved and broke through all of her strings and setups, and by now, the cold tip of his cane was too familiar. Mr. Stone tried to offer her tips and encouragement afterwards, but she knew the real reason she couldn’t keep up, why she couldn’t fight through the fog in her mind.

Days without the Memory Shot were taking its toll.

Carmen rolled over in bed, following the fan with her eyes and tracing the pattern of the wooden roof. She counted down from ten, hoping that would be the moment her phone would ring with a call from Mei. They hadn’t spoken since their last meeting in Japan, before her fight with Sakura. Carmen could’ve sworn she packed them in her bag and got them through the airport security — surprisingly — but now, they were nowhere to be found.

Training with her mind on low power over the past few days was difficult, and the ranked matches even more so. After training in the morning, they grinded ranked matches in the Fighting Center in the afternoon. Two days of that, and Daniel broke through Golden Class to Platinum Class, first. Rafiq was on his heels, but Carmen was still only halfway there, behind the both of them.

Her phone rang. This wasn’t her parents; she’d picked this ringtone for only one person.

Mei.

Carmen shot upright and hurried to pull it out of her pocket, feeling the soreness in her neck muscles. “Hello?!”

“Hey, Carmen! How’s Marrakesh?” Mei said.

Relief washed over Carmen. “It’s so hot here compared to Japan, and our teacher’s really had us training a lot,” she said. “We haven’t gotten to see a lot.”

“Aw. I hope you guys at least don’t miss out on the Thunderdome Tournament this weekend.”

“Actually, we’re training to enter it. Our targets in the hundreds are there!” Carmen said, not letting on about their real plan.

“Wow! Are those last Memory Shots helping with your training?”

Carmen twirled her hair in her finger. “I wish. I ran out.”

“No way. I thought I gave you so many!”

“I know, but I lost—”

“Did someone take them?” Mei cut her off, her voice quick and sharp. “Where did you lose them? How many do you last remember having?”

Carmen couldn’t even respond for a moment. Where did the ferocity in her questions come from? “Uh…I meant, I might’ve lost track of how many I had. I might’ve drank them all already.”

“Oh.” Mei chuckled. “Oh! Okay. It’s better than losing them. It’s a pretty expensive serum, after all, so getting that in the hands of a random person could be…not ideal. But, I’m sorry, Carmen. Knowing that you’re out makes what I was calling to tell you even worse.”

“What?”

“I won’t be able to make it there in time before you guys leave. I’m caught up with work here,” Mei said, sighing. “And I wanted to try shipping some, but unidentified substances don’t really ship across countries well.”

The relief went away, leaving only dread and disappointment in its wake. Carmen cleared her throat. “It’s fine. It’s not that bad, Mei. I’m getting on fine without them.”

“Are you sure?”

“I miss the feeling, but I can still fight without them.” Carmen clenched her blanket tightly in her fist. Miss didn’t even begin to describe it. At night, she felt restless and on edge, her body tense as if trying to be ready for a threat at any moment, feeling vulnerable without any more Memory Shots left.

“I’m glad about that, at least. I don’t want to get in the way of your climb. I mean, you’re going from taking down Stylus and then Sakura to fighting in the Thunderdome? That’s big! I’m glad you were the one we got to test on. I wish I could do all that, if I was a Fighter.”

“Why don’t you become one?”

Outside of her window, she heard the honk of a car and some ambient shouting.

“My…sister did. She even got amazing powers from it, but she regretted it. Being blessed with that much talent and power made her feel like she had to become a Fighter, like she was stuck to doing it, let alone the pressure from our parents and her teacher.”

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“Really?”

“She really wanted to be a piano player. Instead, her powers were so strong, she had to become a Fighter. But that’s just me and my family,” Mei laughed. “I never thought of doing it since she spooked me so much. I’ll let you know if I’m able to make it to Marrakesh, though, okay?”

“Are you gonna bring more Memory Shots if you do?”

“Is Santa’s beard white? Of course! I have to get to a meeting now, but I can’t wait to catch up with you. Bye, Carmen!”

“Bye, Mei!”

With that, Carmen hung up, left only with the sinking fact that she’d have to do this without Memory Shots. Mei didn’t have an estimate on when she could make it here. She had to get through the rest of their training and their ranked fights like this.

She sighed. The moon peered through her window, and she gazed into its glassy surface for guidance. It would be worth it. If they could infiltrate the tournament and run into a Fifty during the operation to capture Apex, it would all be worth it. She kept that dream in her head, of having her own floor within the Fifty as her phone rang once again from the last person she wanted to talk to this late.

“Hello, mama!”

----------------------------------------

In the auditorium of the SRB’s underground base in Marrakesh, Maya and Avanti were fish in a tank of the world’s most important sharks.

They were seated in the center of the middle row, closer to the front, with a perfect view of the presentation on the massive screen. Director Steele, the head of the Supernatural Crisis Intervention Unit, stood beside Director Grindstaff onstage, facing the auditorium of Senior Agents, head Moderators of entire regions, and dozens of Fighters to help with the cause.

And here they were, a simple Agent and a mage in the middle of it all. A bomb in this room would’ve taken out the international espionage community itself, if that bomb wasn’t disarmed before it could ever be set off.

Director Grindstaff stepped up to the podium, tapping the microphone. “We’re missing one key figure, but I believe we have enough to start, Good evening, everyone,” he said. “I am Director Grindstaff of the Supernatural Investigation Unit, and with me here is Director Steele of the Supernatural Crisis Intervention Unit, here to brief you all on the first Omega-level operation in ten years.”

Silence filled the room like a tidal wave as everyone rose at attention and saluted. Maya followed suit and guided Avanti on how to match before they all sat back down.

The operation had three goals: raid every Arise Health HQ in the world, arrest Mr. and Mrs. Takahara for colluding with a terrorist, and, most importantly, capture Apex and every Fighter allied to her. With a plan existing on such a global scale, everyone involved wasn’t in the room, and Director Grindstaff acknowledged it.

Worldwide, during the night of the Thunderdome tournament, one hundred SCIU Agents and ten Fighters each would raid an Arise Health HQ building. Their jobs, as Maya wrote earlier, would be to lock down the building and their underground facilities, free any found hostages or missing people, and arrest any allies or scientists found.

As Director Grindstaff went on naming and acknowledging specific leaders, Maya’s head spun. All of this was her doing. Hundreds and hundreds of combined Agents and Fighters were moving to attack Arise Health everywhere all at once, all because of the investigation she risked her life for.

From the investigation John died for.

The mocking voice of her voicemail system echoed in her skull. “Voicemail storage full. Unable to save message.”

Everyone here was part of the Marrakesh team, to infiltrate the Thunderdome during the tournament on Friday. Director Grindstaff introduced Fayez the Great sitting in the front row, a broad-shouldered Moroccan man with a turban and a proud smile even visible in the low light. He was the Fifty that Apex was likely here to target.

For Plan A, they’d watch Fayez’s every move, waiting for the exact moment when Apex would appear to challenge him. There, a high-ranking Senior SCIU Agent would place a Limiter cuff on Apex’s neck, preventing her from using her powers as the SCIU Agents and Fighters part of the Confinement Team would flood the room.

In an ideal world, that would be it. They wouldn’t need a Battle team; they would accomplish the goal of capturing Apex alive. At that moment, the other Agents and Fighters within the crowd would reveal themselves, shutting down the tournament until they weed out everyone else present allied with her.

But, this wasn't an ideal world. Director Grindstaff moved to Plan B, where, in case that didn't work, the goal was to kill Apex if necessary in open combat. The Battle Team was responsible for directly fighting Apex and dealing with her abilities. He listed them off, including Senior Agent Hale and Avanti, too.

Maya had specifically singled her out on the Battle Team for her illusions, but choosing the cornerstone Fighter, the highest-ranked Fighter to battle Apex themselves, was up to the directors. Everyone else on the Battle Team existed to support them; fighting had to be left to the professionals.

At that moment, the door flew open, bringing light into the dark room. The "key figure" arrived, clad in his signature cyan gladiator armor, forged of cobalt and obsidian that sparkled like pieces of the night sky in the low light. Atlas, the twenty-fifth ranked Fighter in the entire world, removed his helmet and took a seat in the front row.

Maya hoped it would be him. Getting their hands a God Champion or even a Ten would’ve been ideal, of course, but the god champions were forbidden to keep their powers if they interfered with mortal issues, and the Ten were equally as hesitant to sacrifice their ranks.

Atlas was the next best choice. While Apex was a power stealer, he was a power copier, countering her by throwing her entire stolen moveset back at her. He carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. He was the central focus of the Battle Team, the one most capable to take on Apex head-on.

Director Grindstaff finished detailing the operation and answering any questions that arose. Before he released them all to prepare, a spotlight flickered on.

Light swelled around Maya’s seat.

“This operation would not be possible without the dogged investigative abilities of Agent Wolfe, soon to be Senior Agent Wolfe, who followed Apex’s trail with no powers of her own,” he said. “She is not a Fighter by the System, but her battle may have saved the Fighting World as we know it.”

He didn’t even have to finish the sentence for applause to fill the room, all eyes on her, as her heart thudded in her chest. Director Steele clapped. Atlas applauded. The twenty-fifth ranked Fighter, one of the strongest people in the world, looked up at her with admiration and clapped louder than anyone else.

“You don’t need powers to be like me, pup. You have everything you need to be special.”

Her grandfather’s words echoed through her mind, and a trick of the light made her think she could see him applauding in the crowd, too. To be applauded by her seniors, to know that the fate of the world would rest on her own work, to do a part in dealing true justice…

…was this what she killed her husband for?

Maya’s skin went cold. The praise fell on her deaf ears, before the spotlight faded away and they moved on to closing out the meeting. It wasn’t. It wasn’t why she killed him at all. She saw herself back in the basement of Arise Health, felt the cold metal along her finger as she pulled the trigger.

She killed him for revenge.

Avanti was right, and it kept her from basking in the glory any further. This wasn’t for justice, or for adoration. It was for revenge. Applause wouldn’t bring her grandfather back, and she wanted nothing more than for the plan to work. It had to work.

It had to work, to make everything up to now worth it.