In the city far below I could hear the clocks just starting to strike 2am, the clang of the bells drifting faintly up to my lofty perch. There was a rush of air and Fireball landed on the tower, twenty feet from where I was tied, right on time. There was someone else with him, a dark figure that at first I thought must be Coal, despite knowing that Coal was actually lying at my feet, dead.

Fireball rubbed his hands together then spread them apart, holding up a fireball to light the rooftop. It illuminated the other figure he had been carrying, and the bottom dropped out of my stomach.

I squeezed my eyes shut, pretending like a two-year-old that if I didn’t see something it couldn’t possibly exist. But when I opened my eyes she was still there. Bea. Why did it have to be Bea?

All the emotions that I had tamped down so thoroughly bubbled up to the surface, struggling to break through and overwhelm my mind.

We all stood there in silence for a few moments, save for the roar of the wind as it rushed between us over the tower. Then Bea gasped, her face going dead white as she saw Sera lying at my feet. She reached out a quivering hand towards the prone girl, and the pain on her face made a lump rise in my throat. I blinked furiously, holding in the tears that threatened to spill out and slip from beneath my mask. Supervillains don’t cry.

Bea looked up at me, her once-kind face a mask of fury. “What have you done to her?” She demanded, her outstretched hand curling into a fist. “If you’ve hurt her...”

I opened my mouth, wanting to tell her I hadn’t hurt Sera, I was trussed up and powerless, and Sera wasn’t even her sister anyway. But nothing came out. The lump in my throat caught all the words, trapping them inside. I slumped in my restraints. What was the point? I was a supervillain, after all. They were hardly going to believe that the most respected and powerful organization in the world was responsible for Sera’s...condition...or that they had been manipulating me all along.

“You killed her, didn’t you?” The harsh voice was Bea’s, but it was barely recognizable in its fury. Her words hit me like a slap in the face.

“First you hurt Peg, now Sera...and why? Why do you hate me so much? Why did you have to come into my life and take away everything I loved? I thought we were...we could have been...friends. And then you turned around and took everything from me. Everything!” Bea took two steps forward, vibrating with anger, and ran into Fireball’s restraining arm.

If I could have moved I would have gladly jumped off the rooftop to put some space between myself and Bea. For the first time, I was almost scared of her.

“I don’t have to answer to you!” I said, sticking my chin out. My voice sounded weak and petulant, a two-year old having a tantrum instead of a powerful supervillain. That wasn’t what I had been trying to say. Why couldn’t I just tell her I was sorry?

Bea spat on the ground.

“You came to our shop day after day and ate our food, chatted with us, and worked by our sides. And after all that, how could you turn around and kill Sera? Not even a stranger, or an enemy, but someone who was just trying to be your friend.” Bea’s voice cracked on the last word.

My mouth gaped open, uselessly. But Bea didn’t know, she couldn’t know, that I was Delphi. I had already dealt with those suspicions.

Bea correctly interpreted my look of shock, and her mouth twisted in disgust. “Yes, you thought you were so clever, didn’t you? Of course we bloody well knew Death’s Dancer and Delphi were – are – the same person. You think two identical girls showing up at exactly the same time wouldn’t raise our suspicions? And I run a clothing store, obviously I can bloody well tell who someone is no matter what clothes they’re wearing.”

“But then, why....?”

“I thought that I could get through to you, dammit!” Bea swiped at her eyes angrily, brushing away the tears that had begun to trickle down her cheeks. “I thought maybe, just maybe, we could show you a path that didn’t involve high-stakes bank robberies and running from supervillains. But now I see how wrong I was. You’re not an innocent girl I can save by showing her another path. You’re a monster, and I should never have let you into our lives.”

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A monster. The words echoed across the roof and pierced deep into my heart. Powerless and pathetic. Bea was right, I was a monster. I might not have killed Sera myself, but if I had just listened to her, if I hadn’t gone after the Rubes, she would still be alive. My career as a supervillain had been more important to me than the life of my only friend.

“Drop your weapon!” The booming voice was Fireball’s. My heart jumped in my chest, thumping painfully against my ribs. I had almost forgotten he was there, not an easy task with him dressed in eye-smarting yellow.

Tears were leaking from beneath my mask now, but I couldn’t help it. For the first time since I was a child, I felt utterly powerless. Even if I told him the truth, that the knife was duct taped to my hand, it might save my life, but it couldn’t bring back Sera.

Bea’s words kept swirling around my head. It was what I had always feared, deep down. Monster. That was why the Rubes had chosen me after all, wasn’t it? Because I was a monster? I never could relate to other people in the effortless way everyone else seemed able to. My parents had always been distant businesspeople, more like unfriendly neighbours than true family. Monster. I’d never had a crush on anyone either. I didn’t even have any friends at school before I went to the Academy. It had been so easy to move to a new school with no one around but other kids and teachers like me. Other monsters.

Sera had been wrong – I was no human. With that realization, a cool wave of acceptance washed over me, putting out the fires of anxiety and guilt.

“Drop your weapon and step away from the girl,” Fireball repeated. He had clasped his hands together, dimming the fireball he was holding and casting dancing shadows behind him. Now he pulled them apart, the ball of fire growing larger than his head. It crackled with raw energy. I could feel its heat, even twenty feet away.

“This is your last chance,” he warned.

I thought again about trying to explain, but really, wasn’t this exactly what I deserved? I had lied, stolen, and murdered my way through this city. I had invited Fireball here today, and the least I could do was see this thing through to the end. I wasn’t strong enough to defeat him – I hadn’t even been strong enough to defend myself against RUBE.

There was only one thing I had left, one thing that I could still do. A small spark lit inside my chest and I lifted my chin, staring down Fireball. “I will never surrender. I am Death’s Dancer, the greatest supervillain this world has ever known, and I will never back down. Do. Your. Worst.”

The crackling ball of energy shot towards me faster than I had imagined possible. Fireball had been expecting me to dodge – I could tell from his and Bea’s open mouths as the fireball slammed into my chest, burning through my restraints in an instant. My ears range fiercely, and an acrid smell of burnt plastic filled my nose.

I looked down, and was mildly surprised to find my black bodysuit was crackling with flames, creating a little spot of light in the darkness of the night. Pain followed quickly on the footsteps of surprise, a roaring flood of sensation that sent sparks dancing across my vision. I swayed where I stood, no longer held upright by the tape, then toppled forward, landing across Sera’s legs.

I reached out my left hand, the one that wasn’t taped to the hilt of a knife, and grabbed Sera’s hand in my own. It was cold and stiff, far colder than any living human hand should be. A single sob broke free from the tight bundle of pain inside of me, and I suddenly found myself bawling.

Sera was dead because of me. She had died believing that I hated her and thought her a liar. Now I knew the truth, but it was far too late to take back what I had said.

Still clutching Sera’s unresponsive hand, I managed to roll onto my back. A wave of burning pain crashed outwards from my chest. I blinked up at the stars, blurred into indistinct streaks by my tears.

To think, I had believed myself capable of reaching those distant balls of fire, and even altering their course in the heavens. Now their cold, impassive light washed unblinkingly over my broken body.

I should have learned from all those who had gone before me. Supervillains don’t get happy endings. Good always wins, in the end. The world continues spinning and the stars continue shining, unheeding of the pathetic supervillain dying on a rooftop high above the city she almost conquered.

I released Sera’s hand so that I could slip my mask from my face, dropping it in the dirt beside me. Much good it had ever done me, when it seemed everyone and their sister knew exactly who I was no matter what I wore.

The fierce wind had died to a gentle breeze, caressing my bare face. I could hear the mournful wail of sirens somewhere far away, and the scuff of shoes on concrete as either Bea or Fireball approached. It didn’t matter now. Nothing mattered in that moment except the stars and me, watching each other in the certain knowledge that our paths would never cross.

With a last sigh, I closed my eyes and allowed the pain to overcome me.