There were certain unglamorous parts of being a teenage superhero. The big one? Taking public transit in costume. Or, in Lauren's case, traveling with her classmates in costume.

  Lauren’s team of twelve occupied a metro car on its way to the International District. The car was already half-full, leaving the teens to squeeze in between regular commuters. There were stares, but fewer questions than Lauren was expecting. Some of the looks were reverent and excited, but the other half reached only mild bemusement or interest. Lucy waved at two young kids with their mother, most of her face hidden behind her witchy visage. Lauren had squeezed in between a disheveled man and a man in a suit who had fallen asleep.

  “Any trouble we should know about?” A man dressed professionally asked from mid-car.

  “No, everything’s fine,” Edward answered in his smooth timbre. “We’re just taking care of some personal business.”

  An old woman with her purse clutched in her lap sitting near Danielle decided to speak up. “A group of ethnic boys in my neighborhood keep stealing my mail!” she squawked. “Can I get some of you to scare them off? I think they’re in a gang!”

  They arrived in the International District within fifteen minutes. Lauren worried about how close she’d have to get to the abduction point before Valley Girl’s seismic sense would kick in, but she apparently had a trail to follow as soon as they stepped off the platform. She led the way in her costume that resembled a skirted cheerleader’s uniform with an attached cowl that covered the upper half of her face. Her hands were open before her, palms toward the ground like two metal detectors. The rest of them followed in a procession. Heads turned to follow them down the streets. Pictures were snapped from stoops and windows. Up and down the hilly streets they went, under arches and strings of lanterns.

  Riot Girl walked near Lauren towards the front of the pack. Lauren felt the girl’s heavy-lidded eyes on her.

  “Have you thought about what we’re going to do with them?” Riot Girl asked.

  Lauren looked back at her. “Do with who?”

  “The monsters,” Riot Girl said. “They are monsters. Not villains. They’re going to try to kill us. Are we gonna try to kill them?”

  Lauren’s mind had been so focused on the rescue she hadn’t put much thought into the creatures they were rescuing from. She had killed some of them the first time, she was pretty sure. Or her fighting brain did. In the chaos of yesterday, the deaths hadn’t registered much, but they did add to her generally shaken nerves.

  “Riot Girl’s right,” Young Gun said. “I looked it up. Subterrans are designated as Outlaws by BASTION threat-ID. Like, literally outside the law. We’re not expected to arrest them. There’s no negotiating with them. Dealing with subterrans is always considered an extermination mission.”

  “That’s heavy shit,” Watchdog said beside him.

  Lauren looked back at her team, all of them waiting for her answer. Why was it on her to have the answer? She just wanted her friend back.

  “I guess… we deal with them in whatever way we have to. Don’t go easy on them. Don’t try to spare them. Our goal is to rescue Mara and the others.”

  “If we don’t kill them, they’ll keep slaving,” Riot Girl countered. She had zeal in her voice for violence.

  Lilith had said the subterrans should be leaving soon. But she couldn’t tell her team that. They’d ask how she could possibly know. And she only had Lilith’s word to go off of. It probably was the smart thing to terminate the subterrans. But making her team all killers… making herself more of a killer… it was hard to give that order.

  She felt the thing inside her rouse at the thought of killing. It was like a second mind behind her own. It was closer than ever to coming to the forefront.

  Valley Girl continued leading until her trance led her to a staircase heading down to the basement floor of a building. The building itself looked condemned, a blocky brick place with boarded-up windows empty of light.

  “Here,” Valley Girl said. She put her hands down and stepped to the side.

  “Here what?” Lauren asked.

  Valley Girl shrugged like it was obvious. “This is the closest entrance that will get us to the source of the seismic disturbances.” She waved dismissively at the door. “Someone clear the way.”

  “You can feel an entire path from here to the subterrans?” Lucy asked.

  Valley Girl’s eyes bugged underneath her mask. “Yes! Don’t ask me to explain it. It’s very complicated. Just clear the way already so we can get this over with.”

  Young Gun stepped down the stairs and began prying away boards. Soon they were able to file into the basement. Boots splashed in a layer of stagnant water. Creatures scurried away from the daylight streaming in. With a murmur, Edward conjured a white sphere of light that bobbed a few feet above their heads. Sure enough, one of the walls had fallen away, behind it a cobweb-choked tunnel leading downwards.

  They continued into the Warrens. The tunnel they followed barely left room for two to stand squeezed side by side. Besides Valley Girl leading, the group naturally sorted themselves into those who could quickly respond to threats at the front. Lauren ended up towards the back with Evergreen ahead of her and Ranger Wild behind.

  “What do you think of all this?” she asked Evergreen.

  “The subterrans?” Evergreen exhaled. “It’s tricky. If they’re trying to kill us, I agree that it’s us or them. We shouldn’t hold back.”

  “But?” Lauren asked, picking up on her hesitation.

  Her artificial green hair fluttered as she shook her head. “I don’t know, Lor. We’re heroes. Maybe I’m too idealistic, but I don’t think we should be the ones to execute thinking creatures. Why’s that on us? Can’t we drop coordinates for BASTION?”

  Ranger Wild spoke up. “They’d get away. There’s a whole civilization of them. They could come back for revenge, undermine the whole city.”

  “So we should kill them all? What if they have babies?” Lucy asked.

  “Tough luck.” Thalia said. “You think babies get spared in nature? This is survival. And its not different rules for us and them. They choose to come up here and be slavers. They know enough to know how to mutilate and mutate people. They know the rules of engagement by now.”

  Riot Girl stuck her finger in the air from further up the line. “She’s right! I like animal girl.”

  “It’s Ranger Wild,” Thalia said.

  Left without anyone speaking up for her, Evergreen took a sulking pose. Lauren put her hand on her shoulder. She didn’t know what the right answer was. She was on the side of the slavers dying. Anyone who took away another’s freedom was an enemy in Lauren’s eyes. Her only concern was how it would change them. It left a stain in the mind. The violent nightmares weren’t something she’d wish for any of her classmates. Was it her okay with killing, or the part of her that had started choking Brain Drain without her say? Not knowing made her want to err on the side of nonviolence. If anything, that felt more unnatural. She still wasn’t thinking like a hero.

  The tunnel led to a slightly wider crevasse. Down and down they switchbacked through tunnels natural, manmade, and possibly dug. Soon they could all feel the tremors of movement underground but still relied on Valley Girl to lead the way unerringly. This was a layer below the Warrens. Humans had no part in shaping the last leg of their journey. Finally, the tunnel leveled out into a more or less straight path.

  “Do you hear that?” Watchdog asked from up ahead.

  The tunnel filled with a cacophony of discordant sounds. The further in they went, the more distinct noises rose above the soundscape; rhythmic pounding, groaning metal, and rumbling of earth being moved. Despite the humid heat of underground, Lauren shivered to think of what lay ahead. It came down the line that they were nearing the source of it all. The nest of the subterran enemy.

  At the end of the tunnel was a mouth that led to a larger cavern. The line of young heroes came to a stop, then were able to spread out until they formed two rows shoulder to shoulder. Edward’s light dimmed to not give away their position.

  It was hard to tell how just large this cavern they had come upon was, but it was definitely bigger than the New Lords hideout. The other side of it was lost in gloom. But Lauren wasn’t focused on the size of it, rather the contents, lit dimly by smudged firelight dotted through the space.

  The bottom of the cavern was a mess of shoddy industry. Lean-tos made of rusty metal and other temporary buildings formed a ramshackle labyrinth, the buildings sized for diminutive inhabitants. Where there weren’t buildings, heavy machinery churned to dig something from the mantle. Bulky vehicles with small viewports and grimy chassis fumed choking smog, further decreasing visibility. Lauren could already hear some of her classmates beside her wheezing. Weaving through it all were people. Hunched people in ragged clothes, chained together and backs bent in fear or pain. The subterrans were among them, supervising work. They had their prisoners shoveling, pickaxing, scooping, and generally moving bits of earth from one part of the cavern to another. What they had them looking for was unclear. Maybe it was just hard work meant to break them in.

  As Lauren’s eyes adjusted to the near-dark, she tried desperately to spot Mara among the chained workers. Dread worked at her insides seeing so many people trapped like this. If Lauren had been kept in these brutal conditions instead of a stark laboratory for the same amount of time, she wasn’t sure she wouldn’t have snapped or died.

  Rage filled her, doing its best to burn out the horror and the guilt of following Maudlin instead of immediately rushing topside for help. If that dumb decision had lead to Lauren getting killed or captured, Mara would be trapped here. In exchange she had a fight that might turn into a lead. She could try to rationalize it all she wanted, but it was a selfish and stupid gamble.

  Young Gun brought her out of her own head.

  “Lauren. We need a plan of attack.”

  She blinked, focusing. “Right. The subterrans aren’t too tough. Take them down where you see them. The bigger threat is their monsters. There’s gorilla-sized ones with digging claws, and at least one big behemoth. And maybe human-sized attackers. I don’t think any of them can be saved.”

  “That’s not up to us,” Lucy said quietly.

  “Before we charge in, give me a minute,” Edward said. “I’ll conjure a bigger light to brighten this whole place up. Should give us an advantage over these sunless beasts.”

  “Good idea,” Lauren said. “Miss Eclipse. I want you to stick to the shadows and keep the prisoners out of the way once the fighting starts. Try to find Mara if you can.”

  She nodded.

  Evergreen spoke up. “I’ve been trying to feel for roots I can use. There isn’t much down here, but I’ll keep trying. I should be on rescue duty too. Riot Girl and I.”

  She turned to Riot Girl, as if to dare her to challenge that she was here to help people.

  “If I can’t do much else, seems fair,” Riot Girl said.

  “I’ll be backline with Edward,” Watchdog said. “I’ll look out for people we rescue and heal where I can.”

  “I’ll try to support, but most of my concentration will be on maintaining the light,” Edward said.

  “I’ll be towards the back too,” Haint said. She hefted her bag. “I’ll unleash my little horrors to help.”

  “Is that safe?” Ranger Wild asked.

  “My babies listen to me,” she said simply.

  “Alright. That leaves Sola, Young Gun, Wild, Lady Titan, Headcase and I as frontline,” Lauren said. She grew her nails into razor edges. In the back of her mind, a door opened. A predator slinked out. It seeped into her muscles, made her senses strange and sharp. She held it on a leash. She wouldn’t lose herself to it. That had been a one-time occurrence with a trespasser in her mind. They would work together. She was in control.

  I’m in control.

  “Edward, tell us when you’re ready,” Lauren instructed.

  He murmured to himself, gathering intangibilities with his fingers like strings of gossamer to weave into a spell.

  They each found their footing. Knuckles cracked. Necks rolled. Gear was readied. Everyone had gathered themselves, prepared to strike.

  “Now,” Edward breathed. He raised his hand to the center of the cavern’s ceiling. A bolt of light traced down his arm and shot from his finger. It lanced into the air, hovered for a single moment, then exploded.

  A miniature star was born, washing everything below in white. The sheer power of it dazzled even Lauren. But she didn’t hesitate in throwing herself forward. She led the charge down the slope of shifting shale below to attack the camp.

  The first few moments were chaos. Afterimages clung to her vision, clearing achingly slow. A trio of subterrans stood directly ahead. They cowered from the light above. In their oversized cloaks, they looked like pathetic children. But those inhuman claws held whips and spears and man catchers, all used to subjugate those weaker than them. Lauren didn’t hesitate in her rampaging stride.

  A bullet entered the hood of the one to the right. An unerring shot from Young Gun a step behind her. It crumpled, dropping its weapon. Before Lauren could reach the other two, Lady Titan landed between them. She must have taken a massive leap from the entrance.

  She punched. One subterran bent ninety degrees at an angle it was never made to. Her other hand reached behind her. As soon as she had a handful of fabric, the creature went flying upwards. Its momentum would have carried it much farther, if it didn’t first splatter against the ceiling of the cavern.

  Lauren came to a halting stop. The first three down, and she hadn’t even had a chance to touch one of them. Her fighting sense wanted action. Maybe she wouldn’t even have a chance to fully unleash it. But the cavern was massive, she had to remember. And the subterrans themselves were far from the most dangerous opponent down here.

  As if on cue, the roar of something terrible and unseen rumbled through the cavern.

  More of Lauren’s team caught up.

  “Stick with each other! Don’t get overwhelmed!” Lauren called. “We’re clearing this whole place out!”

  Her team gave a vicious cheer. Sola zipped into the air, leaving a comet trail of orange energy, while Ranger Wild and Lady Titan took the left entrance to the maze of shacks and Young Gun and Headcase took the right. Evergreen and Riot Girl circled around the outskirts to look for cages.

  Lauren looked back up the way they came. Edward continued weaving his spell, sending energy or whatever powered it up to his artificial sun. Haint crouched beside him, releasing dark things from her bag.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Lauren ignored her own advice and headed in alone. Using her well of untapped energy and strength, she leaped high enough to clear the roofs of the buildings. An unstable sheet of metal wobbled where she landed. She balanced and remained on her feet.

  Sounds of clashes echoed all around. More squeals from subterrans caught blind and off-guard. Where Lady Titan and Ranger Wild entered, small bodies were flung into the air and came crashing back down. Shots rang out to the right.

  Lauren began a loping stride across the roofs. Her senses kept her balanced and focused, always seeming just to know where to place her feet. She took the middle, searching for prey.

  Ahead, the roofs gave way to a clearing. Some sort of plaza. She bounded for it and cleared ten feet to land without looking.

  Seven or eight of the subterrans circled together for protection at the center of the dirt lot. They held electric prods and sharp metal implements outwards like the spines of a curled hedgehog. One of them clung to a chain holding the collar of a girl no older than eighteen, forced to her hands and knees beside her slaver as if she were some sort of perverse comfort item.

  Lauren snarled. Each weapon pointed to her. They were afraid of her. Good.

  She circled their cluster, stalking around them with sharpened nails held ready. An ache to kill them throbbed inside. So pathetic. So vulnerable. They could dominate those weaker than themselves, but crumpled against a bunch of teenagers willing to fight back. Why shouldn’t she kill them? It would be so easy.

  She vibrated with rage for these enslaved people. Where was her killer instinct she had been keeping at bay? She lost track of it. It didn’t matter.

  Lauren lashed forward, striking the ends of their weapons with her claws. Sparks flashed. They stepped back and tripped over each other whenever she moved to strike them. She grinned, feeling immense pleasure in toying with them and causing them fear.

  Playtime’s over. She lurched forward faster than they could react. She grabbed under the head of a spear and yanked it forward. A subterran fell out of the pack. She stomped on its frail body. It whimpered under her boot. She kicked its head, sending it sprawling away.

  Bolts of orange laced the air and zapped more of the cluster. The chained girl was released, allowing her to crawl away. Rounds from Young Gun entering the scene dropped more of them. Soon, only one was left.

  Eeeeeee-

  Two seconds of a whistle before an orange bolt and a bullet took it at the same time.

  “Here comes real trouble!” Lauren called.

  A rumbling charge came from directly below. She jumped backwards. Bits of earth fountained upwards, pebbles and clods showering down.

  Ground churned from five of the pale, bloated diggers bursting their way upwards out of the ground. Their massive paws churned, creating a crater around them. Though she was feet away, the ground underneath Lauren threatened to turn liquid and draw her in to their crushing grip.

  “Stay back! Attack from a distance!”

  Lauren rolled backwards and took shelter in the eaves of the buildings. Young Gun fired a volley into the broad flanks of the thrashing creatures. Sola burned them from above. They were lumbering, but once fully emerged from the ground found their footing and charged in five directions. One came straight for Lauren.

  She rolled to the side. A bulky metal arm pulverized the slim building she had stood beside, flattening it into sharp panes of metal.

  The creature turned and huffed through its metal helm. Bloodshot red eyes narrowed through metal slits.

  Lauren wasted no time thinking. Her body acted. When it charged, she leaped directly upwards. The beast rammed into where she was standing. Lauren landed on its back. She felt its powerful muscles churn. In a second, she’d slip off and get trampled underfoot. So she did the only thing she could to remain on.

  She slammed a bone spike into the creature’s flesh. It bellowed loud enough to deafen.

  Lauren was now riding a rampaging monster through a labyrinth of buildings, hanging on only by a wound she had caused. What was she thinking, jumping onto it? Only she wasn’t thinking. She didn’t have time for the thought to disturb her. Her clear head was going to get her killed. She needed her fighting sense back.

  It consumed her again, a warm tingle behind her eyes. Her brain relaxed.

  She rolled until her arm wasn’t at such an awkward angle. She reached forward with her free hand and gripped the back of the beast’s helm. She pulled her spike free, eliciting another roar. Subterrans and slaves scattered out of its path as it kept bucking forward, toppling their structures like houses of cards.

  The back of its neck wasn’t an easy target, but it was the one she felt she was reaching for. Her mind made calculations she couldn’t track. Like the tail of a scorpion, her arm lashed forward with deadly speed and precision.

  Shhhhk.

  Her spike slid in between the base of its neck and helm. Like strings cut on a puppet, the creature collapsed, something inside it severed.

  Lauren tumbled off its back. She didn’t get much of a break. Electricity jolted through her body. The pain wasn’t paralyzing though. It was clarifying, if anything. Weaker than Reagan’s had once been. Probably because her body had already tasted it.

  She grabbed the prod from the nearby subterran and used it like a bat to beat it down. Getting to her feet, she looked around to get her bearings. She had landed at the edge of the camp. Here was where the vehicles were stored when not in use, as well as prisoners in large cages. Some thirtyish feet away, Riot Girl, Evergreen, and Miss Eclipse were working on prying the cages open. A mob of subterrans lingered nearby. Too many for that group to handle. They’d be overwhelmed. It seemed the subterrans were most concerned with keeping their slaves than confronting the intruders ready to fight them. Tentacles of darkness kept them at bay for now, but they burned in the light of Edward’s artificial sun.

  Lauren came forward to help from behind. She waded into the mob of subterrans. Spikes and prods and whips lashed at her. Cuts scored her skin. She lost track of individuals as she retaliated. A punch here. A stab there. A crunch to the right. It all became a fugue of violence she was barely coherent to. Her limbs worked like separate entities in perfect synchronicity. Subterrans fell. She caught glimpses of their red, beady eyes widening in anger and terror. Their tentacled noses and sharp teeth. She beat the visages back with knuckles coated in bone. Dark blood sprayed. Hers and theirs became indistinguishable stains.

  Despite her speed, she may have bitten off more than she could chew throwing herself headfirst into the mob. The wounds she did suffer, though each small, began to add up and sap her strength. It seemed like more subterrans appeared from the press to replace their fallen. A blade sliced her side as a prod shivered its power through her lower leg. She began to falter.

  A screech sounded behind her. Small hands gripped the back of her jacket. At first, she thought they had circled her and were pulling her down. It wasn’t that. Something climbed her, and soon figures even smaller than the subterrans used Lauren as a platform to leap towards her enemies.

  The new creatures had fur black as night and large animal ears curving off small heads. They were like the silhouettes of monkeys, except instead of faces their heads contained only oversized maws of bright white fangs. Their forearms were large and ended in claws instead of hands. A dozen of them flowed around and past Lauren, guarding her from further hits. They jumped forwards and began climbing over and biting the subterrans. More surged from the sides. They must’ve been Haint’s horde of horrors. They gave Lauren a reprieve to take a breath.

  A few of the cages were open by then. Riot Girl and Evergreen helped prisoners exit. Those strong enough armed themselves from racks of nearby mining tools. Many of them yelled and charged into the fray.

  Headcase and Ranger Wild appeared at the edge of the ruin of structures. Wild took one look at the scene and clutched her wildstone. She stamped the ground, then charged forwards. An invisible wedge of force the size of a rhino sent a clump of subterrans flying. Headcase used telekinesis to lift others and slam them back into the earth. Between them and the swarming horrors, the holdout force was broken thoroughly. Cloaked creatures abandoned their weapons and went running to shadowed tunnels or back into what was left standing of their homes.

  The fight wasn’t over yet. Sola flew above, continuing to rain down blasts. The earth shook again. A bellow sounded. The big one was coming.

  “Are Young Gun and Titan back there?” Lauren asked Wild.

  She nodded. “They’re routing the ones left in the square. The dozer monsters were mostly taken care of when we left. There should just be—”

  She was interrupted by the ground pitching like the deck of a ship. Headcase lost his footing, as did many of the rioting prisoners.

  “We need to go back! It’s here!” Lauren called.

  She didn’t wait to see who would follow. Back into the narrow darkness of the structures. She twisted and turned as she went, following the pounding of something moving ahead. She ignored fleeing subterrans. She felt the blood dry on her face, and her fighting sense washing over her mind.

  She found the clearing at the center again. It was in ruins from the rampaging diggers. They were no longer the threat. In the center, having emerged from the same pit, was the subterran’s champion. Twelve feet tall, it towered over Young Gun and Lady Titan. Skin bulging and jaundiced under the harsh glare of the light. Muscles grotesquely bulging. Bullets pinged off its flesh or dug in uselessly as it ignored any pain.

  Its drill arm whirred as it came down. Lady Titan made the mistake of trying to catch it instead of move. Her hands held the drill for only a second. Then it broke her guard, the tip of it forcing her to the ground and digging into her gut.

  A terrified and pained scream burst from her throat. Blood splattered the ground.

  “NOOOO!”

  The scream came from Lauren before she registered it. Then she was moving. Or her body was, and she was watching. She moved between the thing’s legs. Spikes worked into its ankles as hard as they could. Over and over again.

  The monster stopped its drilling, turning to swat Lauren like a nat. More bullets pinged off its metal head. A concentrated beam from above burned its shoulder. Nothing stopped the hand from plowing into Lauren.

  Lauren was reduced to a bag of meat and bones subject to the whims of force. She plowed into metal siding with no control. A small building toppled over her.

  She was left in darkness, hardly able to move as she listened to the sound of her friends charging in.

  She pushed against the sheet of metal on top of her. Something in her arm was broken. Or maybe her shoulder. She wouldn’t let it stop her. She braced her feet against the metal too. More clashing and yells just past this one stupid barrier. She wouldn’t let them get killed. She had to…

  PUSH!

  The metal toppled off her, exposing her again to the light and the chaos of battle.

  Each blink to adjust her eyes brought a different part of the picture.

  The giant swarmed by dozens of small black creatures biting it.

  Watchdog beside Lady Titan, trying desperately to drag her away while pouring golden healing power to her bloody mess of a gut.

  Headcase sending shards of twisted metal into the exposed skin of the giant.

  Edward approaching. Miss Eclipse shouting something at him. He shouted back.

  Then everything went dark.

  Then darker.

  The first level of darkness came when Edward’s light blinked off. The second layer was different. It was a void; a darkness so thorough no amount of adjustment would bring any vision. It was like everything fell away, even her sense of touch. Lauren had only felt the cold weightlessness once before. When Miss Eclipse had slipped them into the museum.

  A sharp sound rang through the silence.

  Light appeared again. Edward’s light was dimmer, but still plenty to see by. The first thing Lauren’s eyes went to was the giant. It had stilled.

  A massive wedge of shadow cleaved its chest. Dark blood dripped down the edge from where it welled between the pectorals. It swayed once. Twice. Then fell over with a great crash.

  Dead.

  Across the way, Miss Eclipse dropped her arms. She fell to her knees.

  The battle was suddenly over.

  With their beasts dead, the subterrans crumbled. The fighters of the team gathered and disarmed those remaining. Watchdog stabilized Lady Titan. She was in a bad way, unconscious and having lost a lot of blood. But no organs were critically damaged. She was a tough cookie. Watchdog spent all of his healing energy on her, growing pale and sweaty.

  Once her team was gathered and safe, Lauren stumbled her way back to the cages. The prisoners had grouped there. Most of their weapons now abandoned as they clutched each other or gathered themselves. Lauren looked for the face of her friend. Mara wasn’t among them. The dread once again grew over her adrenaline.

  She went down the row of open cages. Each one looked empty, though they held deep shadows in their confines.

  There, finally, was a figure curled in on themselves clinging to the back. Lauren almost missed them. She stepped into the cage, hands out passively.

  “Mara?”

  The figure shifted, not yet turning to her.

  “Mara? It’s me.” Tears ran down Lauren’s face, softening the dried blood. “Mara. I’m sorry. I should have come sooner. I shouldn’t have abandoned you. I’m so sorry.”

  The figure finally turned towards the light.

  If Mara was gaunt before, she was even worse now. Her eyes held fresh tragedy. Her face, new scars. She shifted the thin fabric she was bundled in, arms coming free.

  Arm. Her right had been severed at the elbow, fitted with a crude metal cap.

  Lauren covered her mouth. A moan escaped her.

  “Oh, Mara…”

  They both scrambled to reach each other. They embraced.

  “Lauren…” Her voice was only a hoarse croak.

  “I’m sorry.” Lauren clutched her tighter. “I should have fought harder. I should have come for you.”

  “You did… you did come for me.”

  Not soon enough. She had gone off on her own. No matter what her reasoning had been, to get information on her sister, to know what had taken Mara, to understand the threat they were all under, whatever she told herself, she would never forgive herself for that.

  She scooped Mara into her arms. Even with torn muscles, it wasn’t hard to carry her back. Not with the will to get her friend safe.

  “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” She kept repeating the words over and over again.

  In the clearing, the Rosewell students all gathered. Most injured in some way but still standing. Haint and Valley Girl had come down to join them. Haint held her satchel open as her little horrors crawled back into its interior. Over a dozen subterrans kneeled on the ground, disarmed and taken prisoner. Another dozen wounded and presumed alive piled nearby.

  Evergreen helped Lauren ease Mara down. Eyes widened when they saw her missing arm. Mara rocked gently, keeping the fabric around herself, still caught in the memory of the past day.

  Evergreen marched over to Riot Girl. She shoved a finger angrily into the other girl’s armored chest.

  “You used your powers to make the prisoners riot!” Evergreen accused. It was the first time Lauren heard true anger in her voice. “You made them fight! I felt the emotion.”

  Riot Girl brushed her hand off. She didn’t shrink away from her accusation.

  “So what if I did? We needed help. It’s the least they could do for us saving them.”

  “They are not yours to use!”

  Lauren stepped in between them, holding them each at arms length. Whatever had happened and if it was right could be figured out later.

  “This is not the time for this!” Lauren said. “We need to get the hell out of here. We need to get these people help. And Titan.”

  Evergreen backed away, disgust curling the lower half of her face.

  Young Gun stepped forwards. His armor was scratched and dented in a few places. He had lost one of his guns.

  “First we need to deal with these.” He gestured to the kneeling subterrans.

  “You mean execute them?” Edward asked.

  “They are outlaws. It’s what BASTION would do,” Watchdog said. He still knelt beside Lady Titan, though his powers were depleted.

  Headcase bent, his hands on his knees. “I can’t take any more of this. I’m gonna be sick…”

  “It’s okay. The rest of you don’t have to be involved with this,” Young Gun said. He unholstered his remaining pistol and cocked back the hammer.

  “Ike!” Evergreen gasped.

  He turned to look at her, but didn’t falter. “You should go, Lucy. You should all get to the surface with them. I’ll be right behind you.”

  Sola stepped forward as well. Twin suns of orange energy gathered around her hands. They cast deep shadows over her alien face. “I will finish this too.”

  “No!” Lucy pleaded. “Please! We’re heroes! We’re not killers! I signed up for this to rescue people, not to be executioners.”

  “Lucy, if we don’t stop them now, we’ll have to do this again,” Ranger Wild said. “We’ll have to put ourselves in danger again. They might not have talked about it much, but this is what heroes did. They put down monsters that can’t be reasoned with.”

  “There’s something else we can do.”

  The quiet voice stirred everyone to look around. It was Miss Eclipse, lurking in her white suit towards the back. She spoke through the fabric of her mask.

  “I can put them in the Deep Dark.”

  “What’s that?” Lauren asked.

  “It’s where all shadows come from. It’s a different place. They won’t come back from there.”

  “Does it kill them?”

  “They don’t come back,” Miss Eclipse answered again.

  Edward caught Lauren’s eye. He nodded. He understood the place Harper was talking about. It would be death for them, but one less graphic than putting bullets through dozens of skulls.

  Lauren sighed, weary of this dark place. Left with just Young Gun and Sola, these slavers would be dead already. Lauren only hesitated for Lucy. And, if she was being honest, maybe a bit for herself. Again, she had given control over to her fighting sense without even meaning to. There had been no other choice. It was fight or die, and that side of her was a much more natural fighter. Was it that side of her so okay with executing these slaving monsters? Or was it her experiences as a prisoner treated less than human? Maybe both.

  There was no good choice. But she knew she couldn’t do this again. A bit more violence now might stop a wave of more in the future. Stopping these subterrans now would mean they couldn’t come back to enslave more of the Skells and anyone else caught like Mara.

  Mara, now permanently missing an arm.

  Lauren’s hands shook again. Is this what she was capable of?

  “Do it,” she said to Miss Eclipse.

  Miss Eclipse’s feet were leaden as she approached the subterrans. Everyone backed up to give her space. Her hands disappeared in shadow. As they did, shadows grew and deepened underneath the kneeling figures. They shook in fear.

  Lauren turned away before they were swallowed whole.

  The young heroes led the procession out of the cavern, back the way they had come. Headcase used his TK to help Young Gun carry Lady Titan out. Haint and Riot Girl helped walk Mara. Evergreen walked alone, quiet.

  Ranger Wild squeezed Lauren’s shoulder before she joined the parade out.

  “You did the right thing,” she said.

  No. Lauren was pretty sure she was doing anything but the right thing. This was just a small makeup for one of her mistakes. And it had gotten yet more people hurt.

  Valley Girl was the last out. She lingered beside Lauren. Her costumed was unstained. She rested her hand on her hip.

  “If this is about your stupid favor…”

  “No.” Valley Girl’s voice was serious. Lauren snapped out of her fugue and paid her attention. “There’s a second pulse, Lauren.”

  “What…?”

  “Now that these subterrans are cleared out and dealt with, I still sense a second underground pulse. I felt it before, but I knew it wasn’t them. It’s still going, a mile or so from here. It’s rhythmic. It’s getting incrementally faster.”

  “A second pulse…”

  Lauren was too tired and shellshocked to parse what that meant right now.

  “I just thought you should know,” Valley Girl said with a slightly softer tone.

  Lauren nodded. “Thank you.”

  They wandered upwards and outwards, following the trail of stumbling people. They again reached the warrens, and again the basement they had entered from. It came time for Lauren to exit last. Even the smelly breeze of the alley felt leagues better than the smoggy, claustrophobic darkness.

  She only got a moment to breathe and feel her wounds stitching together before someone called her name.

  “Lauren?” It was Watchdog. Lauren walked to the end of the alley.

  The entire block had been cordoned off, streets empty of traffic. The costumed students and former prisoners were gathered by a troop of waiting BASTION agents. Medical personnel came forward from parked ambulances. Lauren looked around until she confirmed Mara was taken in by medical staff. Lady Titan was already on a stretcher, being carried away. Only then did she look forward to what she knew would be waiting for her.

  Dodds stood in the middle of the street, arms crossed, eyes fixed on Lauren. She walked forwards.

  Lauren didn’t make a fuss. She got to her knees. She put her arms behind her back.

  Cuffs clicked around her wrists. When Dodds spoke, she finally let smug satisfaction color the words.

  “Lauren Boone. For disobeying direct orders and inciting your fellow students into committing unsanctioned acts of so-called heroism, thereby placing them and Pacific City at risk, I am subjecting you to enhanced custody until such time it is determined what shall be done with you.”