Rafferty had never killed someone before.

Alex with Malice was a bad guy. He hurt people. He killed people. If he's dead, that's good.

You weren't really supposed to kill him, were you? You were supposed to capture him so he could tell you where he kept that special explosive stuff.

She walked along the top of the canyon, peering over the edge into the fog. The fog was so thick it was impossible to see much, impossible to even tell where the edge really was. Rafferty wasn't sure exactly where he had gone over, but she didn't see how he could have survived.

There was a rock on the ground. Rafferty nudged it over the side with her foot, and listened for it to land. It was several seconds before she heard a crack.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"You ok, Kat?" she called out. Katrin should still be nearby, but Rafferty couldn't see her.

"Fine. Is he gone?" came the call back.

"I… I think so," she said.

She looked back toward where Katrin's voice had come from, and saw a silhouette. It looked like Katrin was sitting down, still putting pressure on her elbow joint. It was probably bleeding badly, and would need attention. Rafferty had also heard an explosion. They really should be getting back to the others.

But she wanted to be sure.

Rafferty looked over the edge again.

She hadn't even done it on purpose. She had popped up out of the slide, the punch had landed squarely, and he had just… flown. When he had rapidly disappeared into the fog, there was a part of her that wanted to take it back.

You couldn't move a God like that, not with a punch. The Box was limited by its construction. Girls hit the wall all the time during sparring, and you weren't really going all out.

Rafferty had never hit a regular person as hard as she could before.

It was a fight. He practically blew Katrin's arm off. Besides, the others will have captured some of his guys. They'll know where the explosive stuff is.

He was here, and now he's gone, and that's on you. Are you cool with that?

I don't know.

All of these thoughts were going through Rafferty's head when she heard someone speak behind her.

"What are we looking at, dove?" It was a man's voice.

She spun around, and had only a moment to process Alex with Malice, a smile on his face, and mischief shining in his eyes, before she felt a sharp kick to her middle.

Then she felt weightless.