* * *

“Couldn’t we set up on the third building on the left?” Sarah asked, looking up from the plans.

Since the auto repair shop they suspected was housing New Nation members was a one-story building, they could use the three-story diagnostics lab nearby for surveillance. There wasn’t anything high enough that would block their view on the maps, but it would be good to look over some satellite photos.

Bothered by the silence, Sarah looked up at the rest of the group. As soon as she saw their faces, she knew she’d said something wrong.

Pegasus was frowning, gaze fixed on the map. Unicorn tilted her head, mouth half open as if about to ask a question. Mermaid was laughing. Griffon was staring at her as if he weren’t quite sure what he’d heard, and Scorpion…

Scorpion jumped to her feet and took a deep breath. “Remind me, why did she have to be assigned to us?”

“They said I’d fit right in with the other lunatics,” Sarah replied, surprised at the ease with which the retort came. She even managed a smile. “I’m assuming they meant you.”

Griffon raised a hand, preventing Scorpion from responding. His gaze burned through Sarah.

She sheepishly turned back to Scorpion. “Sorry, that was uncalled for.”

Mermaid laughed harder. “Wasn’t entirely wrong though.”

Scorpion threw her hair tie at Mermaid, who hid behind Unicorn.

Pressing his hands to his temples, Griffon stood. “Children, please.”

Mermaid settled again, pressing her lips together as if that could hide her smile.

“Phoenix, make sure you review the plans again.” With a warning glance at all of them, Griffon collected his things. “I’ll speak with Zeus.”

Apparently, the meeting was over.

Scorpion stormed off right after Griffon left. Sarah blinked at the retreating figure. “Is she crankier than I remember?”

“Please cool it with the jokes during official hours,” Unicorn said before leaving.

Sarah nodded absentmindedly, looking back down at the plans. The third building on the left, which she’d thought was ideal for setting up surveillance from above, was now nonexistent, replaced by a ground level parking garage next to a car wash. Had she counted the buildings wrong?

She followed each street, counting the buildings again, but couldn’t find any that had a clear view like she’d been envisioning. Not only that, she couldn’t find the diagnostics lab anywhere on that section of the map. Burying her head in her hands, she leaned forward on the table. How the hell did she make such a careless mistake? Had she mixed up surveillance footage from two different areas?

“Is it nap time?” Pegasus asked.

Sarah groaned. She hadn’t realized she wasn’t alone. She looked up at him, even more embarrassed when he smiled. “How bad do you think my first evaluation is gonna be?”

“No worse than it should be.”

She cringed. “That bad, huh?”

Today’s lack of composure would also not be a point in her favor. She didn’t know what had gotten into her.

Pegasus placed a hand on her shoulder while the other blocked her view of the map. “Don’t worry about it. It takes more than that to get kicked out of this place—not much more, but a bit.”

“You’re not helping.” But she laughed.

A trace of mischief to his smile made her think his teasing was an attempt at cheering her up. “Everyone makes mistakes. Figure out what led to the mistake in the first place—were you tired, distracted?—and focus on that. And if you need help, ask for it.”

Surprised by the shift in his tone, she nodded.

“You have time to take a breather.” Turning her away from the table, he led her out of the room. “It might help to come back to it with a rested mind.”

“Thanks, I’ll try.”

They caught sight of Cypher waving him over. “I’ll see you later.”

Sarah hesitated, unsure where she was supposed to be going now. Should she go sit in a corner and close her eyes for ten minutes and hope her brain rearranged itself properly?

A touch to her shoulder interrupted her train of thought, and she turned around to find someone she didn’t recognize.

“Hi,” the man said, looking very awkward for a couple of seconds. Unfortunately, Sarah wasn’t sure what to do to rescue him.

“This was your sister’s.” He handed her a knife. “She loaned it to me forever ago. I thought you should have it.”

Sarah took it, surprised that her eyes were stinging.

“She saved my life with that knife.” He smiled, looking fondly at the blade. “She said it was the knife, not her, so she’d give me the knife since she couldn’t keep watching over me every second. Said I was more trouble than I was worth.”

Sarah laughed. That did sound like Robyn.

“We all miss Robyn,” he whispered, squeezing her arm once before he was gone.

Sarah swallowed hard. Dragon was dead, everyone in the W.R.O. called her Robyn now. Once deceased, the operatives reverted to who they were before this place. Someday there would be another Dragon, just as there had been another Phoenix before her. And one day, when Sarah was dead and gone, there would be another.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Self-conscious about staring at a knife with tears in her eyes in full view of everyone passing through Command, Sarah retreated to the conference room. It took all of her self-control to rid herself of the tears.

Unwilling to part from the knife, she clutched it as she went over the mission maps again. Whether because her mind was filled with fragmented memories or simply wandering, she couldn’t identify her mistake.

She searched for the lab she thought she’d seen nearby, but there were no records of such a building ever existing at that address. She couldn’t even find a similar building when she searched for all the labs in the city.

Feeling defeated, Sarah gave up. She’d take up Pegasus’ suggestion and ask for help if she still couldn’t figure it out later.

She grabbed her things and headed for the firing range as she’d initially planned. There were still a few hours of practice she needed to log in for the week. Some repetition might also help her thoughts settle.

The indoor firing range was oddly empty, and all the booths were free. Sarah left her tablet and notes in the locker area before putting on her protection gear. The knife she took with her, placing it in a corner of her booth.

The constant humming of the ventilation system was oddly soothing.

Muffled shots sounded between her own. Someone must’ve claimed one of the other booths.

Sarah cleared her mind, focusing solely on her own target. She aimed for the bullseye on the chest area, landing two perfect shots and another three that she considered acceptable.

Switching her aim to the target placed on the head of the drawing, she pulled the trigger.

Robyn’s face flashed through her mind for a split second, eyes widening a second before she collapsed, dead.

Sarah backed away, fighting the unwanted sight.

Deep breath in. Deep breath out.

The comfortable blanket of white noise was peppered with multiple shots.

Another deep breath. The sudden smell of smoke intruded. Smoke, like from a fire.

Sarah pulled back her respirator mask, one of the many safety precautions they used when shooting indoors. There was a hint of gunpowder in the air, but also of fire smoke.

There were no warnings displayed on the nearby screens. She smelled her clothes and even the inside of her mask, but was unable to identify where the smell had come from.

Just as suddenly as it had appeared, it was now gone.

She readjusted her respirator, repositioned herself, and aimed again at the target.

Her finger squeezed the trigger. The loud pop from her own gun startled her.

The shot echoed back from her memories, reverberating through her as she shuddered.

* * *

Sarah flinched as the loud, repetitive pops resonated in the silence.

Robyn laughed. “What are you doing?”

Her sister pried her hand from the handle and took over the task of stirring the little knob on top of the pan while the kernels popped inside.

Sarah backed away until she hit the table.

The pops continued, speeding up, getting louder.

“Are you asleep over there?” Robyn asked. “Go lay down on the couch. Mom is picking out the movie. Make sure she doesn’t pick anything older than us.”

“Too late,” Mom called from the living room.

Robyn jumped up and down dramatically, shaking the pan as if the end of the world were upon them. “No!”

Sarah wanted to laugh, but her eyes drifted towards the living room, afraid to look. Would Mom really be there?

But why shouldn’t she be? Where would she have even gone?

“Did you guys pick a movie yet?” Dad asked.

Sarah let out a long, deep breath.

“No!” Robyn shouted.

The kernels popped unevenly now, the sound muffled by the popcorn already in the pan. Robyn turned the knob furiously, as if that would speed up the process.

Sarah took a step towards the living room, drawn to the sound of Mom and Dad’s laughter.

When she saw them, her chest tightened. Wetness filled her eyes, but didn’t manifest as tears.

“What’s wrong, sweetie?” Dad asked.

Sarah shook her head. Nothing was wrong.

She was just sad. And so very happy at the same time.

* * *

“You’re the reason your parents are dead. The reason a lot of people will still die. If you die, it stops. It all stops.” On the recording, Robyn’s voice sounded more melancholy than accusing.

Had it been that way as well when Sarah first heard it? It might be wishful thinking, or a kindness her mind had gifted her in exchange for all the cruel things it wished to replay.

Sarah pressed the headphones tighter against her ears as she paced her room, avoiding the backpack sitting in the middle of her floor.

“The orders were to kill you, but I don’t know the specifics. I only know it saves my world, and that’s good enough for me.”

Her own frightened voice came to life through the headphones. “Your world?”

She kicked her half-open suitcase aside, and it threw up a pair of bagged sneakers and a few shirts. Wrapped in a large sweater were two solid shapes. The photo albums.

She unwrapped them, pulling them with her to the couch.

The first picture she saw as she flipped through them was her and Robyn pretending to duel with a couple of French fries.

The smile came on its own then, so did the tears.

It was getting harder not to think about Robyn, but then what did she expect from being in this place her sister had been so much a part of?

She’d hoped it would get easier in time, as it had with Mom and Dad. She still cried sometimes when she thought about them, but Robyn’s absence was almost a living thing in itself—a contradiction perhaps, but that’s what it felt like.

Robyn’s eyes stared back at her from the past, so sure, so alive. Not like the last time, when that vague stare wandered across the hall and found her own.

Sarah tried to make the memory go away before it got to the part where she pulled the trigger. She tried to focus on the image before her instead of the version of Robyn that had conspired to kill her family.

Her mind was still unwilling to separate them, but the photos helped. The smiling Robyn on its pages was the sister she loved, the one she missed more than anything. She stared at the image until the pain in her eyes made her blink.

She wasn’t sure when she’d last seen her sister. That fatal morning maybe, as they shouted at each other across the hall while hurrying to class.

In her ear, Pegasus intruded amidst what Robyn was saying. Sarah curled up on the couch, focusing on the pictures to use them as a barrier to separate her sister from the distorted version ranting at Pegasus in the recording.

She didn’t bother making notes, she’d already written down everything she could remember from that day.

At some point, she closed her eyes, letting herself get caught up in the voices.

The door swung open as if thrown by a hurricane. Sarah looked up from the albums.

“Were you sleeping?” Robyn asked, a crooked smile playing on her lips.

Sarah shook her head, putting the albums down. She went to take the headphones off, but they weren’t there. “What’s up?”

Robyn started playing with her shoelaces. “Nothing much.”

Sarah frowned at her, a sinking feeling settling in the pit of her stomach. Her eyes roved along the room.

“Griffon’s team is back,” Robyn told her.

She shouldn’t be here.

“Any problems?” The words came out on their own.

They shouldn’t be here.

“He got banged up a bit from what Unicorn told me, and they’re all covered in red.”

“Blood?”

This wasn’t home.

Robyn laughed. “Apparently, there were cans of paint being blown up. She said it looked like a murder scene.”

The walls were red with blood. No, there had been no blood on the walls. On the floor, the blood had been on the floor. But it hadn’t been hers.

Sarah shut her eyes tight, focusing on her breathing.

“What do you see?” Robyn asked, as if she could read her mind.

Sarah shook her head dismissively and opened her eyes, trying for a smile. She found a gun waiting for her.

For a moment, she flashed back to that day—the day the girl who was not her sister tried to kill her. Was this a dream then? Her mind tried to play back that moment over this one, but the room was not right, and Robyn wasn’t injured this time.

She didn’t ask Robyn what she was doing. She knew that part already, but still… “This is not how it goes.”

Robyn nodded, adjusting her aim. There were tears in her eyes. “They warned me you’d say something like that.”

Robyn pulled the trigger.