“Hey Lia.” I flinched hard. “Whoa, easy, you okay?” I turned around, forcing a smile on my face.

  “Sorry Dennis,” I apologized. “Late night.”

  “Oh right, you were on call, sorry.” Dennis sighed and hefted his backpack. “C’mon, let’s go before we miss the bus.”

  I followed him through the connector, trying to not let my tension show. In truth, I’d barely slept the past two nights, since...Alexandria. I knew I was safe now, knew that Cauldron would probably think twice before sending someone else, but that didn’t soothe the guilt one bit. I’d let a hero, the leader of the Protectorate, go to her death. But as guilty as I felt, I couldn’t bring myself to regret it.

  We joined Amy at the bus stop, exchanging brief greetings before lapsing into silence. She’d had a rough day of it Sunday and I had no doubt it was hanging over her too. She’d been at a hospital when Skitter killed the director and Alexandria. They’d rushed Amy back, but like she told them she couldn’t fix death. With one exception…

  I’d have to make it up to her, make it up to the Wards too. Kid Win had spent yesterday and Sunday locked in his workshop, and since I didn’t see him here he was probably still in there. When I asked Dennis, he just shrugged and said something about ‘countermeasures’. Dennis had been staying at the headquarters, too busy to go home, and Vista wasn’t much better; she at least did go home when all of us asked her to.

  All of it was on me. I could have stopped this, could have told Skitter to hold off and gone and confronted Alexandria. She would have lived, Tagg too for what little that mattered. But where did that road lead for me? Black-bagged and portalled to whatever Earth Cauldron operated out of? Turned into a living reset button whenever something they didn’t like happened?

  No; as bad as my choice was, and it was a bad fucking choice, I didn’t have another one. At least, I didn’t have a choice if I wanted any semblance of a life. If Alexandria hadn’t tied the noose, maybe she’d have lived. She was the one who dug her grave though, I just let her jump inside feet first.

  My stomach wasn’t settled by the time the bus arrived, but it was enough that the rattling and jostling didn’t make me want to throw up a breakfast I didn’t eat. Amy sat next to me as usual, though we stayed quiet. Neither of us were in a state for conversation, but it was nice to have someone beside me that I could trust. She leaned against me halfway through the ride, drawing a sigh out of me. Yeah, the best I could hope for.

  And now back to my regularly scheduled schooling, hopefully with fewer supervillains attending this time. Dennis took me aside and gave me a short lecture about showing up when he called, which I humoured since he probably wouldn’t anytime soon. Then it was off to math class to try and be a regular teenager for once.

  It was a bitch, trying to concentrate on formulas I barely understood with everything weighing on me. I probably failed the quiz our teacher gave us, but I also probably had enough momentum from decent marks before to pass the class even if I screwed it all up. Well, if they even had my marks from before everything. Maybe Amy was better at math than me…

  English was next and not much better. Ah yes the epic of Beowulf, fighting monsters on the regular; I could relate a little too well. I set my book up and put my head down behind it, shutting my eyes with a sigh. If I couldn’t deal with class, a nap was the next best thing. A moment later, there was a poke at my arm and I cracked my eyes back open.

  Amy was staring at me, frowning. I looked down at my desk and saw a folded over piece of paper. I eyed her for a moment, then lifted my head and opened it up. ‘R u ok?’. I rolled my eyes and grabbed my pen, messily scribbling ‘just tired’ in the margins before folding it back up and setting it on her desk. I laid my head back down and tried to settle down for the rest of class. I sighed when I got poked again a moment later.

  ‘U sure? U were quiet on the bus’. I rolled my eyes and sat up. Apparently I was spending my class doing something else. ‘I’m fine’, I underlined ‘fine’ to make a point. Amy took the note back, read it, and knit her brows before scribbling furiously. I suppressed a groan and rested my chin on my palm, watching. A moment later she passed it back.

  ‘Look u don’t have 2 talk rn but I want u 2 know it wasn’t ur fault ok?’ Donk.

  “Amelia are you alright?” the teacher asked.

  “Fine,” I groaned, lifting my head off the desk. “Just tired.”

  “Okay, step out if you need to.”

  Fucking of course Amy would just get it like that. She got guilt like no one else. She probably meant that to be comforting, and if it wasn’t literally my fault it might have been. I couldn’t tell her, no way, no how; Amy wouldn’t understand, no one would. I’d take it to my perpetual grave, and every ounce of guilt with it.

  That was fine, I could deal with more blood on my hands. It wasn’t like I was sleeping well anyway. God...I definitely couldn’t tell Yamada, I wasn’t sure what I could tell her anymore. The memory shit was...well, cat was out of the fucking bag so whatever, sure. She knew about the loop but, well, I wasn’t sure that was in the report. It probably was, considering Alexandria.

  I sighed as class wrapped up, stuffing my book in my bag and headed to the cafeteria. I didn’t feel nauseous anymore, so grabbed an allegedly-chicken salad and made a beeline for the emptiest corner I could find. I sat down, ducked my head, and dug in. Amy sat across from me a minute later, stared for a bit like she wanted to say something, then started eating her own salad without a word.

  At least she also got not wanting to talk about it. If there was one thing I could trust of Amy it was to listen if I told her to back off. I didn’t want to do that all the time of course, she was my friend. There were just things she couldn’t understand, and that was okay. It was just...how things were.

  Mercifully, no one else joined us at the table. A couple people paused as they passed by, but moved on after a brief glare from me. Amy was about as many people as I could handle right now, tense as I was. I spotted Dennis’ shock of red hair a few tables over, sitting with a couple others I didn’t recognize. I guess with Chris back at base, we were the only ones here.

  If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  Not the only only ones of course; Battery was slowly walking the outer edge of the cafeteria, keeping an eye out for trouble. Her new prosthetic was better than the old one, practically seamless by comparison and a lot more dexterous. She’d be back on patrols with us next week, which was actually pretty nice. My first patrol, my many first patrols, had been with her. I didn’t want to see anything bad happen, or at least anything worse.

  PE was next, and me and Amy headed straight for the field. After a few awkward minutes of waiting, the teacher divided us into teams and handed out pinnies to mine. Amy was on the other side, so I was probably going to be pretty bored. I sighed when the teacher dropped a soccer ball in the center of the field; bored and sweaty.

  Fortunately everyone was fighting over offense, so I volunteered for defense. I didn’t really want to run around anyway, I’d get plenty of that in training at work. Dennis took the goal and, once the rest of the team sorted themselves out, the game got started. Our team was hammering them, so I got a chance to take a break.

  “Hey.” Or not.

  “What’s up?” I asked Dennis as he sidled over.

  “You got a meeting with legal right after school,” he said, keeping his voice low. “Trial date got set this morning.”

  “Oh?” I turned my head, checking to make sure we were far enough away that no one would overhear. “When is it?”

  “Thursday.”

  “In two days?” I hissed and he nodded.

  “Expedited because, come on it needs to be,” Dennis said. “Since you’re the arresting officer, you’re gonna have to appear.”

  “God dammit,” I swore. “Fine, whatever, they’re just gonna want statements and stuff right?”

  “Probably,” he replied with a shrug. “Don’t even know why they want you to take the stand honestly, it’s pretty open and shut especially after Sunday.” I wished people would stop reminding me.

  “Yeah probably,” I agreed, my voice only shaking a little. “How’re classes going?” I’d rather talk about anything else.

  “I mean, it’s school,” he said simply. “Rather be uh, out there you know?”

  “I guess yeah.” I sighed and leaned against the goalpost. “What’s—”

  “Heads!” I flinched as my head was struck and smacked into the post with a resounding ‘clang’. “Sorry!”

  “Fuck, shit, asshole!” I swore, massaging my cheek.

  “So much for being invincible,” Dennis muttered, earning a glare as a couple other students ran over, Amy with them.

  “Hey, you good?” a tall kid with dark skin and tight braids asked. “Sorry ‘bout that, was aiming for the goalie.”

  “Hey fuck off Newt,” Dennis snapped. “You broke my nose last time.” The guy just shrugged and gave him a shit eating grin.

  “Hey, hand,” Amy said, pushing past the guys and ignoring them.

  “I’m fine,” I countered. “Just a soccer ball, chill.”

  “And you might have a concussion.”

  “Which you couldn’t do anything about,” I said, keeping my voice low. She frowned and I sighed. “Seriously, I’m fine. Appreciate you worrying and stuff.”

  “You’re sure?” she asked and I nodded. “Fine. Don’t come whining to me when you get a bruise the size of East Texas.”

  “Line up for a penalty shot!” the teacher called, drawing a groan from me and Dennis.

  The rest of the day went by fairly quick, and before long we were on the bus home. Just me and Amy, Dennis was going home with his parents today. She’d taken my hand a bit ago, so I was glad he’d gone; no stupid ‘girlfriend’ comments. My heart was racing by the time we got back, anticipating what the lawyers would want from me. I forced myself to breathe slowly, avoid panic. It wasn’t about me, it was about Taylor.

  “Hey, you um, you wanna hang out?” Amy asked as we got off the bus and headed into the building across from the headquarters. “I started watching this new series, Black-eye Girl. It’s pretty cool, I think you’d like it.”

  “What’s it about?” I asked in reply.

  “Uhh, it’s like...a supernatural superhero thing,” she explained as we walked through the connector. “The protagonist wants to be a hero so bad she makes a deal with dark powers and it goes from there. I only watched the first couple episodes but...yeah, we could watch it together if you want.”

  “That would be cool,” I replied, smiling. “Sounds interesting anyway. I’ve got a thing right now, but maybe I can come by later?”

  “A thing?”

  “Legal stuff,” I said with a shrug. “With Skitter’s arrest and stuff. It probably won’t take that long so...dinner?”

  Amy smiled and nodded, then headed to the elevator. I detoured to my room and changed into my costume. I’d heard rumours they were considering something different, with a bit more armour considering my history of getting hurt. For now though it was just toughened spandex, or whatever the PRT used.

  After making sure everything was on properly, I went upstairs and walked through the unfamiliar office hallways. Dennis hadn’t said anything about where the meeting was, or when exactly, so I figured a visit to the lawfare department was my best bet. They were somewhere around here, though I hadn’t actually had a reason to visit before. I picked up my pace, really didn’t want to be late and get more weird loo--

  “Whoa there!” I started and skipped backwards, heart leaping into my throat. “Ah, good afternoon Amaranth.”

  “Deputy Director Renick, sir,” I replied smartly. “Sorry about that, I’m looking for the legal department. Apparently they needed to meet with me?”

  “That would be with Camilla and her team,” he replied easily. “Actually I’m on my way there now, you can tag along if you’d like.”

  “Appreciated sir.” Truthfully I’d have rather gone on my own, but it wasn’t like I could just say that to him.

  “Have you been doing alright?” Renick asked as we started walking. “I know things have been difficult, and if you need any extra support you just have to let us know.”

  “I’m fine sir,” I answered. “Just...want to get this stuff over with as soon as we can.”

  “With you there,” he said gruffly. “Fortunately the judge agrees, so we get to move a little quicker than usual. Don’t worry, by Friday Skitter will be where she belongs.”

  “Yes sir,” I said as we walked through a door.

  “Deputy director,” a tall, brunette woman greeted him, walking over. Her cold eyes flicked over me before returning to Renick. “This is Amaranth, I take it?”

  “I am,” I answered, shooting her an annoyed look.

  “Good, come along, we need your account of things.”

  She turned on her heel and strode deeper into the office. I glanced at Renick, but all he did was offer a shrug and head his own way. I followed the woman into a small interview room and took a seat across from her. She wasted no time, cracking open a large binder and tersely asking questions.

  Camilla, I learned this was her, apparently hadn’t been sleeping either. There was just a ton of work to do, getting a villain to trial like this. Her questions weren’t anything crazy, mostly she wanted to know why I’d broken Skitter’s wrist. I explained Tattletale’s involvement and the quirks of my power, which was apparently enough. I also had to tell her why I’d fired the pistol. Truth be told...I just wanted to scare the shit out of Skitter to make her listen. Fortunately both her and Tattletale were also armed, so I wasn’t in trouble for that.

  It still took nearly an hour for them to let me go, checking and double checking stuff. I guess they wanted to make sure this was as much of a slam dunk as anyone, so it didn’t really bug me. Finally I was off and heading down to Amy’s a little smile touching my lips. Things were...going okay actually. This wasn’t exactly how Skitter got to a place to stop the end of the world but...she was still around; I didn’t feel bad about making her face justice before Gold Morning.

  “Hey,” Amy greeted me when she answered her door, letting me in. “Things go okay?”

  “Yeah fine,” I replied, shrugging as I pulled off my mask and hood. “Just telling them everything that happened, you know?”

  “Yeah makes sense.” Amy shuffled back, glancing at the kitchen, then the couch. “So uh, what’re we having for dinner?” I took her hand a pulled her towards the kitchen with a smile.

  “Let’s find out.”