Cyrus shut the heavy metal door behind him and watched the bolts lock into place. It was the same white room again, with the plastic looking bed in the corner. Smudges of dirt and grime had started to build up on the floor. The same man laid on the bed, now with a full beard growing in on his face.

"You're back again, Cyrus."

"Yes Randy, I am."

"So what's the news this time. Captured my nephews again? Broke into the IMB's records and planted evidence? Assaulted a child?"

"No. No. This time I got beat, purely by coincidence. What a shame. That's normally what I excel in."

"You aren't yelling at me. What's changed?"

"I got reminded of my humanity. A mere mortal like everyone else."

Randy sat up on his bed, glaring over at Cyrus. "You don't deserve to have humanity."

"Quite moody today. I didn't come to ask for your forgiveness."

"Good."

"I wish you wouldn't say that with such contempt."

Randy firmly pointed his finger at Cyrus. "You deserve every ounce of contempt. The moment I am freed from here, I am going to destroy you."

"What happened to your usual bravado?" Cyrus sat down on the foot of the bed.

"A demon told me he felt human. Of course I'm off my game."

"Even calling me a demon now, how poetic. If only you knew how bad it was."

"If you just came here to taunt me more, then leave. I'm not working with you." He rolled over, throwing the plastic blanket over his head.

"I'm a fool, Randy!" Cyrus loudly declared. "A fool that has committed sins. Some that can never be forgiven. But even a fool has goals and morals."

Randy tightened the blanket over his head.

"You don't know it, but I was a friend of your grandfather. He was like a brother to me. No, he was a brother to me, one sworn in blood. I want to see him again."

The blanket flew off of Randy's head, crumping against Cyrus's thigh.

"You are insane, Cyrus. My brother is a memory now. My father was gone before I was born. My grandfather is just a name to me. You did all of that. All of it. Now you say you want to bring one of them back. Absolute garbage from an absolute piece of trash. Just fucking kill yourself so you can see him then. Save me the effort."

"I've never done an evil I didn't fully believe I could undo."

"People don't come back from death! Are you fucking dense?"

"Not easily, no. I don't need to tell you of all people just how shallow death is. I need your cooperation, but I won't ask for it right now." Cyrus stood up, already going back to the door. "I just wanted to make sure you are aware, I'm not just a monster."

Cyrus left the room, bolting the door behind him.

***

Maria sprinted up the stairs, two steps at a time. At the top, she busted open the door, letting it slam against the wall with a thud. The light of the moon filtered onto the roof through the clouds. Ricardo was leaning against an old air conditioner, rusted over into a crude brown box.

She shouted at him, "Ricardo!"

He didn't look back and continued staring off into the night. A strong breeze went past, ruffling his hair.

"Ricardo! You haven't even talked to me since then. Why are you hiding from me?"

"I'm not hiding from you."

"You are!" She marched up to him.

"If I was hiding from you, I would have left when I saw you walking in. I just felt I shouldn't go looking for you."

"You aren't even looking at me."

"I'm waiting for someone."

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"I'm here talking to you!"

He sunk his head lower, still facing off into the distance.

"Why won't you look at me?" Maria continued. "You say you care about me, but you are only doing this for yourself! You don't care what I think or how I feel."

Ricardo straightened his back, pulling himself to his full height, and then he turned around. He didn't say anything. He just looked at her, with sad eyes.

"You tried to kill my friend, Ricardo."

"Do you even know who he really is? Don't you know who he went there with? You still trust him, despite him hiding everything about himself from you?"

"He came to rescue me! I saved him from you, and he came back to do the same! I mean, I wish he hadn't, but that's because I didn't tell him anything about myself. So... Why are you doing these things? I want you to be my caring brother again."

"Fine. What do you want me to say? I'm sorry? Will that fix anything? Will that change what I did? No. It won't even make you feel better. Why should I say it? Why should I put myself back in front of your eyes when I can't show anything for it? Don't answer that. I know it'd be something about family."

"You think you know everything, and you're really just alone! Stop pretending to care about me."

"I'm not pretending!"

Maria swung forward, trying to slap him, but he caught her arm. He held closely onto her wrist, staring into her angry face. She ripped her hand away and turned away from him. Another gust of wind blew past them. A tall woman landed with a solid crash, knee first, onto the brown box, with brilliant purple hair fluttering around her. Her cloak settled back to her side, content with the landing.

"Who are you?" Maria asked, slipping a hand to her sheath at the back of her waist.

Ira jumped down, pointing her palm towards Maria. "Don't move, kid. I'm not an enemy."

Maria tried to lunge forward to stab a knife into her, only to be caught by a blast of wind. She fell back, dropping her knife to her side.

"This is your sister?" asked Ira.

"Yes."

"She is weak."

"Yes." Ricardo slumped back against the air conditioner. "You said this was important. I hope you aren't here to just off me."

"We don't reward loyalty with betrayal. I've come to give you your reward."

"A reward?"

Maria got up, dusting rocks off her back with her arm. "You are the reason he did that?"

"Yes. I am. One of them anyways." Ira glanced over to her, disdain building in her eyes.

"What is your goal? Who are you?"

Ira turned to look at her, staring silently at her.

"You can tell her," Ricardo said.

"My goal is to follow orders. In this case it included giving orders."

"Follow? Who do you work for?"

"I can't tell you that."

"It's not like that would change anything anyways," Ricardo cut in. "What's done is done, Maria. I told you."

"Stop being such an asshole!"

"It'd be best for you to go home. I'll talk to you later if you still want," he said.

"Fine!" Maria marched back to the door, slamming it shut behind her.

Ira rolled back her shoulders and whistled. "You really mucked that up."

"Tell me about this reward. I'm not in a good mood."

"It's an opportunity. Cyrus is being quite generous with this. He wants you to take control of District 13."

"And if I don't?"

"This is a reward, not a punishment. It does no good to look at us with suspicion."

"Did you know?'

"Know what?"

Ricard took a few steps to Ira, getting close to her face. The sadness in his eyes had briefly disappeared. "Did you know that the target was her friend?"

"I didn't."

"Did Cyrus?"

"No idea. He could have."

"I don't trust him."

Ira chuckled. "That's probably a good thing. His goal is far more important to him than anything else. If you aren't careful, your usefulness will get you used up as a tool. Your only options are to let another blade get chosen, or to never break."

"That's a rather honest warning."

"What can I say? It's always good to keep a knife sharp."

"Who's knife am I really?"

"Who's to say? As long as you keep enough of a grip on yourself, it shouldn't really matter."

"Tell Cyrus that I don't want to control the district. I just want to keep my sister safe. I need to stop playing around."

"I think you aren't seeing the whole picture. Why don't you reform this place into somewhere she can come back to? It would be better than let it sit in squalor like that man does. I'd thought he would be more than capable, at least he was. Oh, how time takes a toll on us all."

"That man barely controls a fifth. How can you say he could have done something like that? Are you pulling my leg?"

"No. He was once a force to be reckoned with. I remember it dearly." Ira walked over to the edge of the roof, looking down onto the dusty street below.

"He's basically a mayor. A bureaucrat. You're asking me to be just like him."

"Not exactly. I said you could rule. I didn't say as a mere mayor. I have much grander plans for you. After all, it'd take an iron fist to hold this place together, not a majority vote."

"What are you playing at?"

"A king, Ricardo. A wise king, preferably."

Ricardo broke his straight face, wheezing a dry laugh out towards the ground. Just as fast, he pulled himself back up. "I'm sorry, was that supposed to be serious? There's no kings."

"Not literally a king, unless you brand yourself as that afterwards. I mean a ruler, not a representative."

"Why would I do this? To hold Maria back? That's selfish. I keep fucking stuff up. I should just quietly retire."

"What's more selfish? Creating a place for you both, or letting her run off to never see you again? You know she would do it now. Challenge your adoptive father to a duel." Ira turned around, looking over the edge of the building.

Maria stormed out onto the ground below, turning around to look back up at Ira.

"That's it?"

"Do you need more to start?"

"No."

Ira knelt down, a gentle breeze flowing towards her. "I for one would like you to succeed. We'll talk later." A full gale blasted from where she was, the only trace that she had just been standing there. She was already off in the distance, shooting through the sky.