Warm amber light beat against her eyelids. Her head throbbed. June cracked a dust-crusted eyelid and peered up at the sun. Her lips were dry, her throat parched. She licked her lips and came back with a mouthful of dust. Disgusted, she rolled over and spat, gagging against the dryness.

“Fuck,” she muttered.

Her whole body was covered in fine dust. It hurt to move. Tiny cuts protested from every inch of her singed skin. Her ears rang with a vengeance, and her eyes were dry and sore. Slowly, she finagled her aching body to brush the dust off her clothes. With a heavy sigh, she sat up to survey the damage, wiping her face on her shirt.

The skyline was different. For the second time in her life, she looked to the horizon and found it unfamiliar overnight. One of the old, worn-down skyscrapers was gone. In the distance, sirens blared. Smoke darkened the sky, gouting up from where the skyscraper had been.

Dammit.

She turned downward to the roof. A dark scar marked the spot under the explosion, closest to its heat. Arelia sprawled where she’d seen the girl fall, dust-covered helmet obscuring her face. June wanted to rush over, but her body wouldn’t comply. Feet wobbly, her balance shot, she wobbled over and dropped to her knees. Heavy hands wiped the dust off Arelia’s helmet.

On the far side of the visor, Arelia shifted slightly and licked her lips, eyes shut.

June sighed out, relieved, then startled. She whipped around to the left, then the right. Aside from her and Arelia, the roof was empty. Where’s Sasha? “Hey, kiddo? Sasha?”

Footsteps clattered on the ladder to the roof. She turned as a singed Sasha, his face coated in soot and his usually-silky hair mussed around his head and frizzed from the heat, climbed haltingly onto the roof, bad arm clutched to his body. He reached over his shoulder and tossed a water bottle at June.

She caught it and cracked open the seal. Shaking her head, she tossed back a gulp. “Hell of a night.”

Sasha crouched down beside her. He stared at Arelia as he drank from his own bottle, a dangerous glint in his eyes.

“Hey there. We’re not going to hurt her.”

Uncomprehending, he turned to her. “She tried to hurt us.”

“Right, but… I don’t think she knew where she was taking that bomb. She certainly didn’t want to hurt us. I’m not sure she knew the entire plan here, or even most of the plan. When she wakes up, we’ll ask why she had the bomb, what she was doing with it, yadda yadda.”

“And then we kill her.”

June sighed. “No, Sasha. We don’t. Even if it’s the worst case and she meant to kill us, I’d probably still keep her alive. She’d be a good bargaining chip if we needed to confront the Regis Group.”

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He grunted and sipped his water.

“Though… we’ll probably be lucky to keep her out of the hands of the police, at this rate. I bet they’re already out in force looking for the bomber,” June grumbled.

“No.”

“Huh?” June frowned at Sasha.

He shook his head. “On the television downstairs, I heard it. They’re saying it was an unplanned early detonation… or something. The building was condemned, set to be destroyed several months ago, but got delayed… there were a lot of words. They’re investigating it, but they aren’t patrolling the streets or anything.”

“Dammit, Torre. That sly fox. He always finds some way to keep his hands clean. But… why blow up the building? What does he gain?” She scratched her chin, brows furrowed. Especially if it was marked for destruction, anyways. He could have waited. And knowing Torre, he would have. Why now?

Arelia sat up suddenly. She shot an embarrassed, guilty look at them and half-nodded.

She’s been awake for a while, huh? June tucked a stray hair behind her ear and waited, arms crossed. If she’d given herself away, it had to be for a reason.

Silence. Arelia glanced at her hands, then at them, then at the horizon and the missing building, the empty-tooth gap where it had been. She sighed. Emotions battled on her face, two different thoughts each running to their conclusions. Abruptly, her expression smoothed. She turned to them.

“Father wants to bulldoze the Block.”

June raised her eyebrows, then furrowed them. “Why?”

“He… he wants to build a casino. An entertainment district. Become a more legitimate businessman and—”

“No, I mean… why did you help him?” June asked.

Arelia startled. She stared down at her hands.

“She doesn’t see us as people,” Sasha grumbled.

“I—” She stopped and swallowed. “He’s… not wrong. I wasn’t thinking about… the people of the Block. I had never met anyone from the Block. Everyone always talks about how filthy it is, how the people who live here will murder you or mug you as soon as look at you. But…”

June tipped her head. “That’s why?”

She sighed and shook her head. “It was the first time Father had ever asked me to do anything for the Group. The first time… he acknowledged me as… someone who has a future with the Group. Half the time, I’m not even sure he sees me as his daughter.”

Eyebrow cocked skeptically, June looked her up and down, taking in the expensive flightsuit. “I think he loves you just fine, actually.”

“You don’t understand. I’m dirty, to him. I…” She pressed a button at her wrist. With a hiss, the flightsuit’s glove came free. She pulled it off to reveal a harnessed hand. The back of her hand was skin-tone, fleshy, but all the fingers were metal, silver and gold, and jointed like a doll’s. “He hates harness more than anything, but I was born with only half a hand. My mother got my harness when I was little. Ever since, I’ve been nothing to him. A failure. He won’t look at me. He barely talks to me. When he gave me this mission, I…”

“Because he ignored you, you’d do anything for him?” June asked.

“I… thought he’d finally acknowledge me.”

June fixed her with a stare. “Is that worth someone else’s life?”

She glanced down, at her hands. She clenched them into fists. Silver pulled her skin taut. Silently, she shook her head.

June crossed to her. Arelia flinched, afraid.

A warm hand landed on her back. June offered her the water bottle. “You made a mistake. That’s done, and there’s nothing you can do to take it back. But it’s what you do from here that matters.”

Shooting a nervous glance at Sasha, Arelia lifted her visor. When he stayed crouched on the ground, eyes narrowed almost to slits but motionless as stone, she ventured a sip. A small smile on her lips, she nodded at June. “Thanks.”

“Still think we should kill her,” Sasha opined, pursing his lips. He put a hand to his knee and pushed up.

Arelia flinched.

“Sasha,” June warned him.

He scowled. “I don’t wanna get zapped again.”

She pressed her lips together, apologetic. “I’m sorry about that, kiddo. You can’t just attack people, though.”

Shaking his head, he wandered to the edge. Hand on the low border wall, he slung his legs over the edge and jumped down the ladder, out of sight.

June turned to Arelia. “So? Where are you going?”