Five minutes ago, on the run.

Nightmare raced down the road, arms and legs pumping. June scanned as she ran, searching. I’ve got to hide somewhere. Lose the police.

“Were you planning to take on the police?” Sasha asked in her ear.

June jolted. Nightmare stumbled and almost fell into the factory beside her. “What the—”

“Have you never used a radio before?” he deadpanned.

She shook her head and ran off again. Behind them, sirens roared to life. Harnessed police officers bounded after them, swift as gazelles. “I’m not here to kill someone who’s just doing their job. That, and… I wanted to give everyone time to get away.”

“You were stalling.” Sasha settled down in her fist, satisfied.

Kew! Green light burst over her shoulder. Nightmare’s arm went numb. Red warnings flashed in her periphery, overlaying on Nightmare’s vision. No signal! Lost connection to right arm!

June grabbed Nightmare’s arm instinctively. A moment later, her eyes flew wide. “Sasha!”

Black and white flashed around her arm. Sasha jumped from one line of her arm to another like a mountain goat. His toes dug into the gap in her elbow joints. He leaped up and grabbed onto the fingers of her other arm one-handedly, hauled himself up, scrambled across the back of her hand and settled onto her shoulder, in the nook between her mounted guns and her neck. The sling was gone, but he casually favored his injured arm, holding it against his chest. His shoulder was stained with fresh blood and black.

June’s eyes narrowed. Dammit, kid. You’ve got to keep yourself safe!

Out loud, she said, “Keep your head down. Don’t let them see your face.”

Sasha nodded. He lifted his shirt and hooked the collar over his nose.

June rolled her eyes. Better than nothing, I guess.

A small disk whizzed past her face. She threw herself down an alley. Kew! A burst of light cast the street in green bare inches behind her. Policemen poured down the alley after her. The large vehicles split off and whirled around the corner, speeding down the wider roads around them to cut them off. Ahead, the alley opened into a T intersection with the main road, usually bustling but currently devoid of any life.

Nightmare’s arm buzzed with pins and needles, slowly reconnecting with June. She winced and shook her arm. Just in time.

“Sasha, get ready,” June warned.

Immediately, Sasha tensed on her shoulder.

“Autopilot.” She took a deep breath. “Disconnect.”

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The thick wire connected to the back of her skull clunked out of its slot. For a few moments, June laid on the chair, dazed. So small. So weak. Her hands trembled. The world blurred, lower resolution than Nightmare’s eyes. It was cold, the chair under her hot and damp from her own sweat, except where her hands rested on the manual backup controls. Breath rattled in her chest, a startling sensation. She swallowed and blinked, slowly. Come on. Come on.

“June?” Sasha asked.

She yanked the cord out of the back of her head. Metal scraped against metal, rattling against her skull. A shudder ran down her spine. Ugh. It always sucks, and I’m never ready for it.

If only there was somewhere to hide. A convenient nook to slide Nightmare into. But the city, for all its vastness, couldn’t easily conceal a battle harness running wild. Even if she ducked into one of the factories, they’d soon find her.

She gritted her teeth. I don’t want to do this, but it’s the only way. The only way for everyone to get out alive. The only way to keep the streetpunks, and Tooly, and Mad Ag’s men, and everyone else who’d showed up to save their home out of this mess.

“Hold on to your pants, kiddo.” She slapped a black button, and the cockpit’s chest panel cracked open. Clumsy, her fingers wobbled across a touchscreen. A bright red box popped up onscreen. One remaining.

June sighed, then tapped the screen. Thick white smoke billowed out of Nightmare’s shoulders. It filled up the alley, devouring even Nightmare.

“Sasha, jump for the roof!” She tapped the screen a few more times. Nightmare reached to her open chest. Unsteady on her feet, June limped to the edge of the cockpit and stared at the gap. I’ve got this. Go for it. Jump!

Her feet slipped as she pushed. She half-fell, half-jumped. Her upper half fell across Nightmare’s hand. June grabbed on to Nightmare’s fingers and kicked weakly. Her feet couldn’t get a grip. Her legs didn’t want to exert force. Sweat beaded up on her forehead. Her grip loosened, and she slowly slid backwards, down toward the alley and Nightmare’s pumping legs. Of all the ways to die…

Sasha appeared in Nightmare’s hand, dropping out of the fog like a phantom. He grabbed her arms and hauled her into the palm, then slid her arm over his good shoulder.

“I can stand,” June managed.

Dark blue eyes stared up at her. Sasha blinked and turned away, but gripped her arm harder.

She sighed. “Thanks, kiddo.”

Out of the smoke, the dim corner of a building appeared. Sasha ran across the palm, half-dragging June with him. Together, they leaped for the edge. June hit hard, but managed to keep her feet. Sasha pulled her onward. They stumbled over the roof through the smoke, half-blind.

A boxy structure caught June’s eye. She nudged Sasha toward it, and they turned in that direction. As the smoke cleared away, Sasha kicked open the door to a staircase.

June turned back one last time. Nightmare ran into the distance, spewing smoke. The police raced after it, lights flashing in the smoke, sirens echoing up and down the alley.

“Goodbye,” she whispered.

Sasha turned to watch it go, silent. He looked at June, a question in his eyes.

June smiled and scruffed his hair. She stood up straight, without his help, then stretched. Already, her coordination was much better. It wouldn’t be long before the aftereffects of using Nightmare wore off. “I’ll get her back. They can’t cage us forever. None of us.”

She turned away, nodding at the stairs. “For now, though, let’s go find somewhere to hunker down. It won’t be long before they figure out my trick. Best if we’re safe before that happens.”

He nodded and took her hand. She squeezed his hand and led him down the stairs. The tall blonde and the short boy vanished into the dusty factory, leaving chaos behind.

In the distance, so far they couldn’t see, the first cars drove back into the Block. Residents staggered out, amazed to see their homes still intact, or startled at the destruction of Regis Tower and the bloody battlefield. When night came again, at the end of a very long day, it fell on lit neon, bright billboards, and warm windows overflowing with light, spilling like fire from one end of the Block to the other as if the residents proclaimed: This is home, and you will never take it from us.