Bazaar.

An unbearable heat flared in my chest. The pain of her betrayal redoubled, feeding off frustrations I'd tried to ignore. I wrapped my fingers around her throat and watched the life drain out of her face.

The hallucination disappeared, and I was on the floor again, giggling uncontrollably.

“Don't fight this, Fingers,” Bazaar cooed. “You know I can do much worse.”

“Why?” I stammered.

“Because.”

I laughed. Fuck. “No, seriously. I thought you liked me. We're married.”

Bazaar stared at me for an eternity. She broke into a chortle. “This shit's fucking with your head, huh? We aren't even friends.”

“Who told you that?”

“I did. You're not my friend, Volley.”

“But you're mine.”

“. . .”

I snickered, recalling a joke.

Bazaar sighed and stepped away. “Did you come after us alone?”

“I . . . did?” I answered. “Not?”

“Fair enough. We’ll find the stragglers. Sleep tight now, Volley.”

Purple painted my vision. Tidal waves rose beneath me, accompanied by squawking seagulls. I reached for the clouds that drifted past, soughing as ice crystals wafted between my fingers.

“Are you sure this is safe?” a new voice asked.

“For the umpteenth time, Bee, yes,” Rabbit answered. “You people whiffed the antidote. You have nothing to fear.”

“Thank you.”

“Ugh, I hate this,” another voice said. “I'd forgotten how troublesome your ability is to have around.”

I rolled onto my side. Violet sunlight washed over my face.

“Hey, that's the bastard,” the second voice continued. “The one who put Hebe in the ICU. I am so going to enjoy this.”

Rabbit moved beside me. “Back off.”

“Eh? What gives? You said he would have killed you if he got the chance.”

“I did. Doesn't mean you get to touch him.”

“I'll touch him all I want! Do you see these scars on my throat? The bastard did that to me!”

I groaned, covering my ears. They were all so loud.

“Back off, Tellmenot,” a new voice said. Or was it the first? “You had a gun, a partner, and no reason to lose. You’re to blame for getting beat up.”

Tellmenot muttered a curse.

I chuckled.

“Fucking bastard's mocking me.”

Pain blossomed on the side of my skull. The purple sky dimmed a little.

“I told you not to touch him!” someone shrieked.

“Screw you.”

A scuffle followed. Or a dance. I was too dizzy to tell.

“Ava, cut it out,” the first voice said.

“Let go!”

“Ava!”

“What the fuck?” Tellmenot cried. “She bit my ear!”

“I'll rip you a new asshole if you touch him again. Try me!”

“We don't have time for this,” the first voice said. “Manbite’s not here yet. And we have less than fifteen minutes before our getaway arrives.”

“Fuck! My ear.”

“I’ll go check on him, Bee.”

“No, Ava. I’m not sending you back to the Heroes. Not with those masks they brought. Tellmenot, you go.”

“Huh. Why me?”

My fingers twitched. The pain at the side of my skull regressed into a dull throb. What was I doing lying here?

For that matter, where was here?

The ocean waves bucked, ebbing in and out of focus. But it wasn't an ocean, was it? It was mud.

“Okay, stop,” Tellmenot yelled. “Stop! I’ll go. Don't break it. Please!”

“I hate when you make me do this, Bakar,” the first voice said. “This is not the time.”

“I said I'll go. Fuck. What's wrong with both of you?” He smoothed his clothes. “Manbite's not the only one lagging. Boil’s stuck at the sawmill too. Shouldn't we help him?”

“Boil can burn for all I care,” came the reply. “YamaYama’s the real power here. Now that we’ve met him, we don't need to settle for less.”

“That's so not smart.”

“Manbite—”

“—is an idiot,” Tellmenot interjected. “And if he couldn’t extricate himself after our reinforcements arrived, then he will need Boil's help to make it in one piece. I can’t save him alone even if I’m a great shot.” A pregnant pause followed. “You're throwing me away, aren't you?”

“Cut that out,” Bazaar spat. “Bee will do the same for any of us.”

“I wasn’t asking you. I don't want a traitor’s opinion.”

“Enough,” Bee said. “I won't leave without either of you, Tellmenot. But you need to move fast. If Manbite goes down, our plan is essentially over.”

Tellmenot swore underneath his breath. He scuttled away, footsteps receding in the dark.

“Your friend has stopped giggling, Ava. Hit him with another dose.”

“Yeah, Supers. They recover too quickly for their own good. And he's not my friend.”

“If you say so.”

I shook my head, dispelling the last of the fog. The large purple sun managed to persist.

“Are you sure you made the right choice in sending Tellmenot after Manbite?” Bazaar asked. “Chances are he won’t succeed.”

“I don't really care, Ava,” Bee said. “As long as you’re safe.”

“That's not cool.”

“I know, and I'm sorry. I have faith they’d return. But . . . it's been a difficult year. The boys have changed. They are not the same people you remember. You are not the same person I remember. Why did you leave?”

“We've been through this already.”

“And it still hurts to think about. Just . . . knock this guy out, okay? Let’s get back to the boss.”

I forced my limbs to move. They rebelled against me. A distant rumble reached my ears, originating from deep in the ground.

“Ava . . .” Bee called. “Do you hear that?”

“. . . yeah,” Bazaar said. “It sounds like . . . Fuck—”

Whatever she intended to say died on her lips.

Trees exploded upward, breaking earth and laying waste to sky. Their large branches pierced the heavens, stretching dark limbs into the night.

Stolen story; please report.

I slid through a fissure in the earth and landed in a nook between a curtain of roots. The world broke asunder. Dirt rained pell-mell on my back. Up on the surface, an impromptu apocalypse raged without end, but there, in my little hole, I huddled into a ball and screamed.

This was it, wasn't it?

This was the way I went.

I was going to die.

I was going to die.

“Volley?”

Gnarly vines pulled me out of the dirt, back to the safety of the surface. Gloved hands shook my shoulders, insistent but effete.

“Are you alright?” Harvest asked, kneeling beside me. Her cold fingers wiped the muck off my face.

A dense rainforest stood in place of the tightly packed street. Giant trees rustled, poised high into the sky. A thick carpet of roots and creepers ran beneath my palms.

“I-I am,” I said, suffering an unnatural chill. “I . . . Harvest, what did you do?”

“I-I don't know,” Harvest said, shuddering fiercely. “I think I overexerted myself. Bazaar's powers were fucking with my head, and I just . . .”

A woman groaned.

An unmasked Cnidarian hung meters in the air, tied in place to a tree trunk. She swished her arm, and the vines snapped, dropping her out of sight.

“My head,” Harvest murmured. “World's spinning . . . Everything’s dark.”

“Hey!”

I grabbed her before she could fall. My bad hand smacked against her ribs. Loud gongs went off in my head.

I braced myself against the pain and exertion and held onto her. Her arms hung limp at her sides, frigid to the touch. Purple dots spotted my vision, and I groaned, fighting hard to keep from fainting.

“You okay?” I asked.

She didn't reply.

“Harvest!”

“Stop,” she slurred. “Stop shouting.” She cradled the side of her head. “I think Catherine mentioned this before. Consequences of using too much power in one go.”

Brain Damp? I'd forgotten that lesson. Dia Mater had suffered similar against No Light too. “Think you can walk? We need to get out of here.”

Harvest shook her head. “I don't . . . It hurts so much.”

I glanced in the direction Cnidarian had fallen. Trepidation rose in my gut. Between Bazaar messing with my head and Harvest messing with the terrain, I wanted to curl up and sleep.

But I couldn't do that now, could I? The fever dream had faded, and the familiar fumes churned within me again.

“Go,” Harvest said. “Leave me here.”

“I would hate myself if something happened to you.”

Harvest glanced up at me. Even through the night and tree cover, her resolve rang like a sword.

“I'm scared, Volley,” she said through gritted teeth. “I don't want to be left alone. But this is our last chance. Ava . . . she's one of us.”

“Ava did this to us.”

Harvest unclasped her respirator and shoved it into my chest. “You don't believe that. Go.”

I held her gaze for one moment, then closed my fingers around the mask. Harvest was right. We had set out with a goal in mind and had to see it to fruition. The night wasn't over. We had yet more to do.

I left Harvest sprawled at the foot of a tree and surged through the creepers in the direction Cnidarian had gone. Finding her didn't take long. Not when she was headed for the shore.

Cnidarian limped between the trees. She reached the edge of the forest, supporting a figure that resembled Bazaar. Both tried to move as stealthily as possible, but between the vines and Bazaar's suppressed whimpers, they might as well have been wearing neon lights.

The only problem? The vines hampered stealth both ways.

Cnidarian perked up right as I cleared the forest. She shoved Bazaar out of harm’s way and blocked my missile with a carapace-covered fist.

I braced myself against the persistent headache and planted my feet on the ground.

“You just don't know when to quit, do you?” Cnidarian growled. Moonlight bathed her form which popped and protruded with corals.

“Ouch,” Bazaar grunted from her spot on the ground. “Fingers?”

“No more tricks from you,” I warned, aiming a shell at her. I activated the fans at the side of the respirator. “Let's talk for now.”

“Talk he says,” Cnidarian remarked. “Yet he comes armed and fires without warning.”

“Harvest's dying,” I said, ignoring the Villain. “Are you listening, Bazaar? She did something with her powers. Sustained damage to the brain—”

“Oh, please,” Cnidarian interrupted, scrunching her features. “We’re not kids. Brain Damp seldom results in permanent injury. The Harvest girl is fine, Ava.”

“She's gone comatose!” I said.

“And you’re lying through your teeth. Volley, is it? Your attempt at mendacity is bootless and inane. You'd capitalize on your teammate’s illness just for a chance to get ahead.”

True. But she had no right to tell me that.

I steadied my aim. “I don't care what you think, Cnidarian. Harvest is hurt. The rest of my teammates are hurt same or worse. My teacher”—and real anger seized me at the recollection of a strung-up Catherine—“Our teacher,” I said, glancing at Bazaar, “was tortured with a knife for god knows how long. Did any part of this play out as you intended? Which of the syndicate’s atrocities did you endorse?”

Bazaar snorted. “Harvest can eat dirt. Ms. Catherine too.”

“They are innocent.”

“They are not on my side.” She averted her gaze. “Do you know what it feels like to live one month under a suppression collar, Volley? Did you think I was happy just because I laughed all the time? Heck, I can’t enter a room without Harvest staring daggers at me. How did she take the news of my backstabbing? Must have been like a wet dream come true.”

“It wasn’t,” I said in a low voice. “Which is what bothers me. Harvest should hate you. Heck, you hate her too. Yet, while lying in mud, riddled with pain, do you know what she told me?” The rage clawed up again. “She begged me to help you. She pleaded for your return.”

“Don't listen to him,” Cnidarian said. “The person he really wants is Elixir. They get her, they give her a Hero's welcome. You—they will throw in jail.”

“I just want it all to make sense!” I snarled. “I want a world where I can trust my friends and have them trust me in return. I want—”

“You are not my friend,” Bazaar said.

Cnidarian shifted, and I switched my aim to her.

Something about their body language bugged me. Bazaar hadn't attacked yet, either with powers or her patented snark. She seemed much smaller sitting next to Cnidarian, a comportment that deviated from her norm. What was I overlooking about the situation?

“Look,” I told her, “I'm not going to pretend I understand. The Four-oh-Four . . . they are people you care about, yeah? People you consider family?”

Bazaar didn’t meet my eyes.

“Yet, you forced them to save Neviecha,” I pressed. “The Villains wouldn’t have helped him otherwise. You also weren’t a party to their initial assault.” The gears spun in my head. “You left with the Four-oh-Four because it was convenient . . . no . . . because you felt you had no choice.”

Ah. Her betrayal made sense now. I wanted to hate Bazaar. I hated her a little for playing a part in the debacle. But I also remembered the jovial girl who sat on the couch and talked Sagidi riots with me. The brusque teen who jumped at the chance to make jokes and defend me against Activity. Bazaar could also be the victim here. Conflict was never clear-cut.

“I don't want a fight, Volley,” Bazaar said. “Just walk away. This will feel better in time. It always does.” She uttered the last part beneath her breath.

“You were running away the first time we met,” I countered. “Why?”

“Maybe I've always been a traitor.”

“Maybe. But you were running. I remember being impressed by the defiant girl I saw. Is this the point you stop moving forward and finally give up?”

Cnidarian advanced. “I tire of this nonsense.”

“No!” Bazaar said, stopping her. She glared at me. “You are right, Volley. When the CAH found me, I was running. Fleeing my past.”

“Ava—”

“Wait, let me say this. Let me get this off my chest.” Bazaar stumbled to her feet. “Have you ever been considered less than human, Volley? And no, I’m not referring to regular discrimination. Not the kind people suffer from the rich, homophobes, or ethnic bigots.

“I mean, less than human, in the sense that your entire life—whether you lived to grow old or died the next second—was subject to the whims of an organization. One who considered your collective worth little different from an animal’s.”

Cnidarian made a noise. “You don't need to tell him this.”

“I was a lab rat,” Bazaar said. “Specimen number Twenty-three: Ra1-Qg5, to be exact. My oldest memories were of me strapped to a bed, jutting probes and needles from my skin. For five years, I lived on intravenous fluids, because any moment I wasn't using my power or being studied was a moment that cost the organization fucking millions in dollars.” She laughed, her voice high and dry. “Ava? Ava Dominic? Fuck that shit. That was the name I came up with when we finally fought free.”

The wind blew wet in our faces. Giant branches creaked overhead.

“I might have been running away from my past,” Bazaar said into the wind. “But that was stupid of me. How do you run from a path in a circle? How can a clock’s hand go past twelve and not end up in one? You can force me to play house with the Pacesetters all year, Volley, but my identity is never going to change. I will always be the girl created in a test tube: Specimen number Twenty-three.”

“Bazaar . . .” I started. The words failed to come. What could I even say to her?

Cnidarian filled the silence. “Are you going to let us leave now? Or will you press the issue?”

I wet my lips. “Are you happy, Bazaar?”

“The fuck you mean, fam?” she croaked.

“I mean, are you fine with this? Because after the story you shared, I get the feeling you’d rather be anywhere but here.”

“Why are you still talking?” Cnidarian asked.

“Well, I'm here now, aren’t I?” Bazaar said. “Can't do shit about it.”

I made a fist with my bad hand, squelching the pain. “You grew up to be this awesome person despite the hardships you endured. But Evans intends to treat Elixir like a lab project; the same horror others inflicted on you. Does that sit right with your conscience?”

“. . . I have already picked a side, Volley.”

“Because you were forced. What if you got a chance to pick again, but this time with the process made much easier?”

Bazaar chuckled. “What are you even saying?”

The shell left my hand. It found her gut with pinpoint precision, bowling her over.

“Bastard!” Cnidarian screamed.

But I was already moving.

The earth tore open behind me. Jagged polyps jutted from beneath, angling to skewer. I ducked back into the forest and slipped behind a tree. A coral spike impaled it, ripping the trunk—roots and all—clean off the ground.

More corals disrupted the forest edge, felling trees left and right. The clamor went off like an earthquake, jarring my sense of balance.

Harvest. Dammit. I shouldn't have left her all by herself. If she got crushed in the chaos . . .

I stepped away from the forest cover.

The corals completed a wide circle, trapping me inside the ring.

I waved an arm at the dust that saturated the air, grateful for the respirator just this once. Moonlight filtered down into the clearing, illuminating a swath of destruction. One other person stood in the circle with me.

Cnidarian tossed her mono braid over her shoulder. “I promised you this fight, Volley.”

I shrugged. “That you did.”

“I should have ripped you apart the moment I saw you. Hurting Hebe and Tellmenot is one thing, but Ava—”

“Bazaar,” I told her. “She’s the Hero, Bazaar, now. And our quarrel is better this way, isn't it? Me, you, no interruptions. Don't act like you didn't want this too. You can't whisper poison in Bazaar's ears with her Hero teammate whispering back, after all.”

“Hero?” The carapace lengthened along Cnidarian’s arms. “You think this is a game? You think adopting fancy titles makes you any different from me?”

“Well, the general public picked those titles, and I daresay I agree.”

Cnidarian shook her head. “You know that thing Heroes do when you beat people down for the sake of your ideals? That's what every powerful person does to the weak.”

“Yet, only one of us serves a madman who abducted an innocent woman and bound her to a bed.”

“Rich. I’m supposed to take this chastisement from the people who abducted said madman and tossed him into a cell without regard for the law?”

“That is different.”

“You're right.” She spread her arms. “The strong make the rules, yes? They decide when it’s noble to break them and when it's despotic to do same.”

I frowned. “Let me get this straight. Are you trying to justify your actions? To me? Because I am not going to stand here and listen to such arguments from the bastards who set entire households on fire!”

“You won't get to stand,” Cnidarian said. “You hurt Ava. There is no alternate reality where you leave this fight with any of your limbs intact.”

She hurled herself at me.