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Tag: Envy

Epilogue

Glory waited for a host. As good as it felt to be free of XO, they still needed a body. Here, in this world, they had no power. It wasn’t their world. They needed to be careful. Needed to take things slowly. After all, they’d never left their own world before.

Any host would do. All they needed was a conduit, a puppet they could use to collect enough power to stand on their own. A puppet they could discard once they were strong enough.

It would be a long journey, but they’d always been patient. Well, no, they hadn’t. They struggled with patience. That was why they were here.

It didn’t take long for a host to show up. The clumsy girl stepped on the shard of mirror, and just like that, Glory was inside her.

She’s perfect. Better than perfect.

The girl was filled with the desire to be different. She longed for a different face, a different form. She wanted to change. She wanted what others had. Immediately, Glory crafted the face the girl wanted. They knew how to tap into that need, how to guide this girl to gather what they needed.

In seconds, they comfortably filled the body of the girl. They didn’t have the power to control her, not yet. That was okay. They didn’t need that yet.

The girl approached a woman, run through by a metal bar. The woman was beautiful, powerful, and to Glory, familiar. The girl wanted that beauty, that femininity. Glory wanted that power. As the girl stared, Glory reached out, touched the woman. Took what they needed. Not much. Just enough to fill the girl with power. To change her, like she wanted.

It was over a month before Glory had the strength to do anything again. Before then, they just waited, and watched. The girl was unconscious for most of it, which gave Glory the chance to sift through her unconscious mind. Once she finally woke up, Glory prepared.

Finally, they were strong enough to reach out, just a little.

The girl looked into a window. There was just enough of a reflection to project onto.

“Awfully clichéd, isn’t it?” Glory said. No, not Glory. Envy now. Envy was the face they would wear, until Sabrina had served her purpose.

Until Sabrina could be cast aside.

 

And that’s it for Volume 2! Thanks for reading this far. I wasn’t sure if this format would work, setting an entire volume before the events of the first. I’m still not sure, honestly! But it was important to me that the volumes each have a different feel, and focus on very different events. Besides, it’s fun to mess with the idea of linear storytelling. After all, Impact Day isn’t a linear story. Anyway! As always, if you want to support the work I do here, you can jump on over to patreon and give me a dollar or more monthly. It means a lot. Also, you can buy the eBook of this volume, which features not one but two bonus chapters that didn’t get published online. 

Next Week: We’re jumping into another mini-volume, just like Roxie! This one is called Glory, and I think you’re going to love it a lot.

Interlude #2 – I’m Here To Talk To Your Reflection

1 Month Before Impact Day

XO sat on the edge of the balcony, their legs dangling over the edge, enjoying the lights of the city below them. Genesis City was the closest they had to a home, and it did feel nice to be back, away from the danger and cruelty of the world below. Their time in the city was peaceful, and it almost allowed them to feel normal.

“The view is nice here, huh?” a familiar voice behind them said. They turned slightly, and smiled at Alice, her lilac hair fluttering in the breeze.

“Yeah.”

“You come here to think?” she asked, placing a hand on their shoulder.

“Just to get away from everything,” they confessed. Had it been anyone else, they might have asked to be left alone, but not Alice. She was always welcome.

“How’s everything going?”

“I…” XO sighed. “Same as always, I suppose.”

Alice frowned, placing her hands on her hips. It was such a childlike gesture, it almost made XO laugh. She had such youthful mannerisms, and such a young appearance, it was easy to forget she was significantly older than they were. At least, so far as they knew.

“That’s not true,” she said. “You’re a terrible liar, Exxo. What’s going on?”

“You wouldn’t…”

“Understand?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Believe me,” XO implored her.

“Try me.”

XO hesitated for a moment, then nodded. They glanced over to the building opposite the balcony, a massive tower on the other side of a large park.

“Look over there,” they said. “Do you see that?”

“See what? The tower?”

On the tower,” XO said, shaking their head. They already knew Alice wouldn’t be able to see it.

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” she said.

“Exactly.”

She narrowed her eyes at them, searching their face.

“What do you see?” she asked.

“Cracks,” they said.

“Are you…” She looked back over at the building, staring, then shrugged. “My vision is better than yours, isn’t it? I really don’t see anything.”

“Neither does Haylie,” XO said. “But I can see them.”

“That’s concerning.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Are you feeling okay?” she asked, gently stroking XO’s arm.

“No,” they admitted.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know,” they said. “I can’t help but feel like… something is happening. Something-” They hesitated, suddenly filled with an uncomfortably familiar feeling they couldn’t quite place. A feeling centred around Alice. “You need to go,” they insisted, suddenly and urgently.

“What?”

“I can’t explain it, but…”

She looked concerned, but nodded.

“Okay, but we’ll continue this later, okay?”

“Thank you,” XO said.

“I love you, Exxo,” she said.

“I know. I love you too, Alice.”

With that, she left. XO watched her go, wondering why they needed her gone so urgently. There was some memory, some sensation, just on the tip of their…

“You know, I never get used to seeing her,” someone said, moments before appearing out of the air. For just a second, XO thought that Alice had returned, but they knew instinctively this wasn’t Alice, no matter how much she looked like her. She was someone else entirely.

“Who are you?” they demanded, despite feeling like they knew the answer, somehow.

“The original,” she said. “You don’t remember me, huh.”

“We’ve met?”

“Sort of. I’ve met some of your other shells. I thought maybe some of the memories would be preserved. I guess not.”

“What are you talking about?” XO asked, beginning to feel a strong sense of panic. Whoever this was, she suddenly seemed dangerous.

“Don’t worry about it,” the girl said, waving away their concerns.

“What do you want?” XO demanded. “What are you?”

“I want…” She stopped herself, shaking her head. “No, I’m talking to the wrong person. I’m not here for you.”

“Then who?”

“I’m here to talk to your reflection,” she said.

“I don’t have one,” XO muttered. “What are you-”

The girl rolled her eyes, pressing her fingers against XO’s head. With a gentle shove, she pushed them backwards, into a dark space filled with glittering shards of light. It was cold, and felt massive. XO had no idea what was happening.

In the distance, they could hear muffled voices. Frightened but determined, they made their way towards the voices, scrambling over shattered glass until they found the piece the sounds were coming from.

Through a window, they watched their body continue to speak to the girl.

“Hello, Reflection,” the girl said.

“Call me Glory,” their body replied.

“Whatever you say.”

“What do you want, Child?” their body demanded, dripping with superiority and impatience.

“I have an opportunity for you,” she said.

“I’m listening.”

“A new world, full of new faces.”

Their body tilted their head, considering it. Curiosity sparked on their face, though they quickly tried to hide it. Had the girl noticed?

“And?”

“Weakened prey,” she added.

“Oh?”

“Divide and conquer,” she said.

“What do I have to do?” their body asked.

“Nothing, yet. I’m taking care of it.”

“Then why talk to me at all?”

“A simple piece of advice,” the girl said.

“I’m all ears.”

“You’ll be in Melbourne in about a month. When you’re there, Exxo needs to be hurt. Badly.”

“They’ll heal,” their body pointed out.

“Doesn’t matter,” the girl said. “It’s all about the freshness of the body.”

“What are you up to?”

“More than you’ll ever know.”

“Alright. I can probably pull some strings,” their body said.

“I know you can.”

“What’ll happen to this shell?” their body asked.

“It’ll probably die.”

“Good.”

The girl smiled, but there was no joy in her eyes. Only exhaustion.

“It’s time to go back inside, now,” she said.

“Fine, fine-”

She touched their body’s head again, and in an instant, everything was back to normal. They were looking out of their own eyes, at a girl who looked a lot like Alice.

“What was that?” they demanded. “Who was that?”

“Nothing, Exxo,” she said. “You need to forget this now.”

“Forget… what…?” they said, the memories already slipping from their mind.

“Good enby,” she said, moments before disappearing.

 

Next Week: Sort Of A Girl Problem

Chapter 60 – Strong Enough Now That I Don’t Need To Pretend

“You doing okay, Charlie?” Rachel asked, taking pained steps towards them. Zoe tensed, but didn’t move.

“You took your sweet time,” Charlie said, grinning.

“This again?” Zoe asked, a predatory glare directed at Rachel.

Rachel flinched, but didn’t back away. Instead, she took another step forward, her entire body straining with the effort. She looked closer to dead than when I’d first met her.

“Not exactly,” she said, waving the gun in Zoe’s general direction. “I had time to finish this.”

“You won’t get a chance to use it,” Zoe growled.

She launched herself at Rachel, but didn’t get far. Charlie wrapped her hand around Zoe’s arm, holding her back, and Zoe whirled back to face her, hissing.

“We’re not done yet,” Charlie grunted.

“Yes, we are,” Zoe said.

With a vicious cut, Zoe severed Charlie’s hand, pulling herself away and turning to face Rachel in the same motion. She charged.

Rachel was already aiming the gun, and all she had to do was pull the trigger.

There was no visible effect, not at first. Zoe froze, dead in her tracks, completely static. The air around her began to shimmer and warp, then tear apart, exactly like the rift that had first brought her to this world.

She began to squirm, twisting and fighting against it, but she couldn’t get away from it. The rift expanded, beginning to engulf her, and through it I caught a glimpse of a night sky, a city skyline that was entirely black, and a cold, dark feeling.

Zoe screamed.

The rift closed.

Zoe was gone.

Rachel let out a long sigh, dropping the gun. It bounced and clattered along the floor. Rachel staggered, but remained standing.

“Fuck me, I’m glad that worked,” she said.

“You okay?” Charlie asked, with genuine concern.

“I’ll live. You?”

“Fuck off,” Charlie said.

The two of them stared at each other, then laughed. It was an awkward, pained laugh, but at the same time, it was full of love. Rachel actually smiled.

“Alright, let’s get these out of you,” she said, gripping one of the shards with her mechanical hand.

“Actually, I’m kind of getting used to it,” Charlie replied, then winced as Rachel pulled the shard out of her.

Two minutes and more than half a dozen shards later, Charlie dropped to her knees, free from the wall. The wounds were already healing, and she stood up again, a little unsteady. Rachel reached out, balancing her.

“Your healing is getting faster,” she commented.

“You’ve missed a lot.”

After another awkward pause, Charlie centred herself, then pulled Rachel in for a hug. They held each other for what felt like a lifetime, then separated again. Charlie stared lovingly into Rachel’s eyes, then kissed her. I looked away.

“I’ve missed you,” Rachel said.

“Tell me about it,” Charlie grumbled.

“What the fuck,” I muttered, and both of them whirled around to face me, seemingly having forgotten I was present. They exchanged surprised glances, then walked towards me.

“Oh, you’re still here,” Charlie said.

“We should probably get her off the wall, too,” Rachel said.

“She’s not gonna try and attack me again, is she?”

“I’ve got her covered,” Rachel reassured her, recovering the dart gun that had neutralised my shifting ability before. She kept it pointed at me as Charlie unbent the desk legs that had pinned me to the wall.

Finally free, I tried to rub the wounds on my chest, but they were still open, raw and bleeding. I definitely did not heal as quickly as Charlie did. The blood loss was actually starting to make me feel a little woozy.

I looked up at the two of them, standing side by side, no animosity or fear between them.

“I’m so confused,” I murmured, feeling unsteady.

“Yeah, I’ll bet,” Charlie said.

“I used you,” Rachel said, her voice tender. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?” I asked, reeling. “You’re sorry?”

“Charlie was never trying to kill me. We just needed a convincing reason to get me close to Zoe.”

I remembered the condition Rachel was in when we first met. Weak, barely standing, shaking and frail. I remembered the fear in her eyes when she told me what had happened, the pain when she’d recounted the way Charlie had ripped the power out of her, and left her for dead.

“But, your condition…”

“Not Charlie’s fault,” she said.

“Partially my fault,” Charlie corrected.

Rachel shook her head.

“I submitted willingly.”

Charlie smirked.

“Guys,” I snapped. Rachel sighed.

“When we realised Zoe was trying to build a portal back home, we knew we needed to interfere. The last thing this world needs is more of what came through the first time,” she explained.

“But you, you helped,” I said. “She couldn’t have built it without you.”

“Oh, she would have eventually. And yes, I helped. I needed to understand how it worked, so I could build this.”

She retrieved the silver pistol-thing from the floor, the dart gun still trained on me.

“We’re going to send them all back home,” Charlie said, taking the gun from Rachel.

“Why?” I asked, still confused. My head ached.

“It’s better than killing them,” Charlie said.

“And now we have this, the rest should be a lot easier,” Rachel added.

I felt my stomach turn.

“And what about those of us who aren’t from that world?” I asked.

“Undecided,” Charlie said. “The Celestial definitely needs to be shut down. Miss Murder can probably be rehabilitated. And you…” She shrugged.

“You can’t be the one who decides this,” I said, shaking my head. “You just, you can’t. It’s not…”

“Fair?” Charlie offered. “No, I suppose not.” She smiled. “But who’s gonna stop me?”

“Don’t give her ideas,” Rachel muttered.

“I will,” I said, determination filling me. “I’ll stop you.”

“I told you,” Rachel said, rolling her eyes.

“Stop me, then,” Charlie said, unconcerned. “Power talks. You have plenty. So stop me, if you can.”

“I will.”

“Good luck,” Charlie said. “Let’s go, Rachel.”

Rachel looked like she was considering shooting me with a dart, but it was obvious I was too weak to stop them from leaving. They walked out together, Charlie’s hand wrapping around Rachel’s. I felt confused, and full of anger.

“Well, that is not what I expected,” Envy said, appearing out of nowhere the moment Charlie was out of the room. “At all.”

“We have to stop her,” I said.

“Well, you know what we need, then.”

“Haylie.”

“Precisely,” she said with a grin.

A thousand thoughts ran through my head. Veronica, warning me not to give Envy too much power. Zoe, and her stories about Haylie, her certainty that Haylie was good. All of the anger that had driven me, and the fear it would consume me.

Slowly, every one of them was replaced with the image of Charlie, that smug arrogance of hers forming an impenetrable shield as she bent the world to her will. An unstoppable force of nature.

“Let’s do it, then,” I said.

Envy smiled, but there was no love in their eyes. All of a sudden, I couldn’t move.

“Actually, I don’t think so,” they said.

“What?”

“You’re weak. Too weak. You’re holding me back.”

“What?” I repeated, fear gripping my throat. I couldn’t move, my head was filling with cotton, and I couldn’t think.

“I’m strong enough now that I don’t need to pretend,” Envy said. “You’ve outgrown your usefulness. Your body is mine.”

They approached me slowly, their fingers pressed against my chest. I could feel them, cold and hot at the same time, pulsing with energy and power. With a smile, they pushed.

It was gentle, no more effort than you’d use on a light door. I stumbled back, out of my body, out of the world. Everything around me grew dark, and I fell.

I fell, and I fell, and I fell.

And from a distance, through a thousand windows, I watched my own body smile. Envy’s smile, not mine.

I’m sorry, Veronica.

 

Next: Epilogue

ImpactDayArtFinalThanks for reading this far. I hope you’ve enjoyed the story up to this point! It’s probably pretty obvious that this isn’t the end. Consider this more like a season finale. We have an epilogue later this week, then a five-week break, during which I’ll be publishing a bonus story arc, titled Roxie: Dying In Five Easy Steps. After that, we’ll be starting Volume 2 of Impact Day, titled Dead Girls Don’t Cry, which is a prequel story of a comparable length. It’s a story about Charlie and Rachel, and the events that led to Impact Day.

Anyway, if you’ve enjoyed the story so far, consider supporting me on on Patreon, so I can afford to keep writing it. Additionally, you can buy the complete collection on Gumroad and on Kindle. It features a bonus chapter that I’m not releasing online!

See you later this week!

~Snow

Chapter 59 – You Still Care About Her

Zoe pulled her hoodie over her head, and tossed it to the side. Beneath it, she wore a thin tank top and a sports bra. She looked entirely unharmed.

Charlie shrugged out of her coat, tossing it to the side. Her shirt was ruined, and she tied the scraps of it around her chest, an ineffectual binder. Clothing aside, she also looked unharmed.

“So, we finally get to meet,” Zoe said, comfortable but wary. “Face to face.”

“And what a pleasure it is,” Charlie said dryly.

I strained my neck to try and look through the doorway, but I couldn’t see anything. I feared the worst for Rachel.

“You made a mistake, coming here,” Zoe said.

“Maybe.” Charlie shrugged. “Guess we’ll find out, won’t we?”

“I know what you are. I’ve fought something like you before.”

Charlie reached behind her, pulling out a knife sheathed in the small of her back. She ran her finger along the blade of it, drawing blood, and licked it off her finger before it evaporated.

“See, now, that intrigues me. I’d love to hear more,” she said, licking her lips. “Unfortunately, I’d rather beat your face in.”

The pain in my chest had faded to a dull throbbing. It occurred to me that I could probably pull the metal bars out if I really tried, but somehow I just couldn’t muster the energy. All I managed was a weak groan.

“You doing okay there, Sabrina?” Zoe asked, keeping her eyes on Charlie.

I’m pinned to the wall by a pair of metal spikes, how do you think I’m doing?

“Please be safe,” I said weakly.

“Don’t worry, I can handle myself,” she replied, smirking. Charlie raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

My eyes darted to the back room again. I had to ask. I didn’t want to hear the answer, but I had to ask.

“Is Rachel…?”

I couldn’t even finish the sentence. Charlie’s attention shifted, focusing on me for a second, then back to Zoe to hear the response. Zoe noticed.

“Dead? Quite possibly,” she said. “Her ego got the better of her. Kind of like this one, hey?”

Charlie’s grip on her knife tightened, the darkness in her eyes returning. I could see the fury forming on her face, spreading throughout her entire body.

“You killed Rachel,” she said, her voice dead.

“Jealous?” Zoe taunted. “Or just upset you’ll never get that piece of you that she stole back?”

Charlie’s death-grip on the knife intensified, to the point where it actually snapped, the blade clattering to the floor. She didn’t even seem to notice. Her attention was now fixated on the back room.

“Rachel, you idiot…”

That wasn’t just anger. Beneath the rage and fury, there was pain there. There was love there.

“Oh, this is precious,” Zoe said, laughing. “You still care about her?”

Charlie snarled, an inhuman, monstrous sound.

“You’re going to regret every second of pain you inflicted on her, you wretched beast,” she growled.

The rage wasn’t even directed at me, and I felt a chill. There was something dark about it, a cruelty and viciousness that seemed to reach beyond that of anything any human should be capable of. Something that seemed to come from beyond Charlie herself.

“Irony abounds,” Zoe replied breezily, seemingly oblivious to that sensation I was feeling. “Alright, let’s do this. I’m sure Sabrina’s eager to get down off that wall.”

Unsurprisingly, Envy was nowhere to be seen. The moment Charlie had turned violent, they were gone. Charlie seemed to be the only person that scared them, and not just because of the danger she posed to me.

Charlie attacked first, a blur of movement that was difficult even for me to follow. Her fist slammed into Zoe’s stomach, and I watched as Zoe buckled, shock apparent on her face. Charlie kneed her in the chest, sending her flying backwards. I heard her bones crack from the other side of the room.

Zoe recovered quickly, turning her momentum into an evasive manoeuvre, putting distance between her and Charlie. I could see the cogs turning in her head, processing new information, preparing a strategy against Charlie.

She moved like lightning, darting across the room. Charlie’s retaliation was too slow, and Zoe’s nails sliced through her neck and shoulder. Charlie’s elbow collided with Zoe’s head, but Zoe rolled with it, carving deep gouges across Charlie’s stomach.

Charlie snapped Zoe’s wrist. Zoe sliced Charlie’s neck open to the bone. Charlie shattered Zoe’s kneecap. Zoe ripped through Charlie’s stomach. The entire exchange was brutal, difficult to watch, impossible to ignore. I felt sick to my stomach.

They were picking up speed, bouncing around the room and breaking everything in sight. Every time Charlie attacked, it seemed like Zoe would learn and adapt, and gain the upper hand, but then Charlie just switched tactics, taking Zoe by surprise all over again.

Charlie wrapped her hands around Zoe’s throat, slamming her against the wall, and I could see her fingers digging into the flesh, threatening to cut through. Zoe dug her nails into Charlie’s forearms, pulling her knees up to her chest and kicking Charlie away with enough force to knock her to the ground.

The force of it ripped Charlie’s arms off at the elbows, and though they started to grow back almost immediately, Zoe seized the opportunity to strike. She was on Charlie like an animal, cutting and stabbing, forcing Charlie backwards.

Charlie staggered back until she hit a wall, and with nowhere else to go, she tried to fend Zoe off with her feet. Zoe backed away momentarily, only just long enough to collect a handful of long metal shards from the floor. With a pointed glance at me, she struck, driving them through Charlie’s body, one by one, pinning Charlie to the wall in a grim mirror of what she’d done to me.

Charlie strained against the metal, but couldn’t build up enough force to get herself free. She struggled to grab shards and pull them out, but they were too sharp, and cut up her hands, the blood making it impossible to get a grip.

Satisfied Charlie was pinned, Zoe took a step back again, out of breath for the first time I’d ever seen her. She wiped blood from her mouth, wincing from the pain of her still-healing wrist.

“You were saying?”

“You fight like a demon,” Charlie said, but the rage was already subsiding. She seemed almost human again. “How appropriate.”

Zoe walked over to another shard of metal, picked it up, and drove it into Charlie’s thigh. Charlie grit her teeth, bracing herself as Zoe twisted the metal.

“And I’m going to show you just how demonic I am,” Zoe taunted, practically whispering the words in Charlie’s ear. “I think I’ll keep you in pieces, tiny little pieces. And your head, I think I’ll keep it in view of Rachel’s corpse. So you never, ever get to forget that she’s dead.”

Charlie strained against the shards again, but only managed to cause herself more pain. It was difficult to watch, and I found myself wincing in sympathy. Nobody deserved that. Not even Charlie.

“Who’s dead?” a third voice said, echoing through the room. Three heads turned to the back room, where a hunched, bleeding Rachel stood, murder in her eyes. A silver pistol-like device hung loosely in her hand, blood dripping down it.

 

Next Week: Strong Enough Now That I Don’t Need To Pretend (Finale!)

Chapter 58 – A Necessary Evil

Sabrina

Charlie walked casually into the roam, glancing around. She seemed calm, almost relaxed. It was unsettling. But then, maybe that was the point?

Run, Sabrina. Get as far away as you can. It’s not too late.

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to shut up the part of my brain that I now recognised as Envy. I couldn’t afford to let them manipulate me. Not now.

When I opened my eyes, Charlie had moved slightly closer, an amused expression on her face. Her hands rested in her pockets.

“Charlie!” I choked out, trying and failing to hide my fear. “What are you doing here?”

“What do you think?” she asked, one eyebrow raised.

Run away. It’s not too late. Run away. It’s not too late.

I shook my head violently, trying to dislodge their voice. It wouldn’t work, but even the placebo effect felt like a small relief.

“Rachel?”

Charlie laughed, glancing around as if Rachel might appear at any moment.

“No, she’s just an added bonus.” She grinned. “I’m here for Zoe.”

She’s not here for you. You can leave. It’s not too late. Run away.

“Why?”

“Why?” Charlie seemed confused by the question. “Why do you think?”

Don’t talk to her. Don’t engage her. Don’t provoke her. Just run.

What if I could convince her to leave? What if we didn’t need to fight at all?

“We just finished it,” I blurted out. “They just finished it. The device, the gateway to send her home. You don’t need to do this.”

She considered that, her gaze moving past me, to the room behind me. The room where Rachel and Zoe were. I prayed that Rachel was still alive, even if it was only for a little longer. Then again, maybe a death at Zoe’s hands would be less painful than whatever Charlie would do to her?

No, alive was always better. Alive meant you had a chance. Alive meant you could do something. She had to be alive.

“You don’t need to do this,” I repeated, hopelessly.

“No. But I want to.”

She took a menacing step towards me, and I backed away. That seemed to amuse her, and she took another step forwards.

“Charlie, please. You’re not this-”

“My, my, the hypocrisy,” she crooned, wagging a finger at me. “You’re going to tell me who I am, now?”

You’re making this worse on yourself. You’re provoking her. Stop. Run away. It’s not too late.

I refused to believe Charlie had changed this much. We were friends. She was a good person. She was a nice person.

“Zoe didn’t do anything,” I pleaded. “She’s a good person.”

“It’s cute that you think so,” she said, dismissing me.

She took another step towards me. I took another step away from her.

Run. Run. Run. Run. Run.

“You don’t know her,” I insisted.

Charlie held up her hand, silencing me. I noticed she was wearing a gauntlet, similar to the one Rachel had made for me. It looked cruder, more basic. An early prototype? Rachel must have made stuff for her, back when she was the Vigilante. Before Impact Day. Before Charlie betrayed her.

“I know her better than you think, but even if I didn’t, it doesn’t matter.” Another step towards me. “She’s a threat to this city. She’s a threat to this world. And I’m going to remove her.”

“And me?” I asked, making the very obvious connection.

She actually took a step back at that, her gaze running up and down my body. A grim smile crossed her face.

“I haven’t decided yet.”

Run. Just fucking run. For fuck’s sake, get away. Get as far away from her as you can. Just run.

Haven’t decided yet? That’s bullshit.

“And you?”

Her grim smile became a mocking smirk.

“I consider myself a necessary evil,” she said.

The way she said it was almost dripping with danger. An implicit threat. A discarding of humanity.

Run.

Maybe I should have listened to Envy when I had the chance.

“You’re a monster,” I said.

Run.

“More than you know.”

Run.

“I won’t let you fight her,” I said, bracing for a fight. I would lose, I knew I would lose, but it didn’t matter. I couldn’t leave, couldn’t abandon Rachel or Zoe.

“You can’t really stop me.”

“I can try…”

Run.

We moved at the same time, and the difference in skill was immediately apparent. While I relied on Zoe’s instincts to guide me in a fight, Charlie knew exactly what she was doing. She moved with purpose.

She twisted me around, slamming my face into the floor before I even knew what was happening. Instinctively, I rolled with the impact, breaking free from her grip and leaping to my feet just in time for her foot to connect with my stomach. I staggered backwards, but recovered my balance quickly.

She might have been the better fighter, but Zoe’s power was more than just physical. I was learning, adapting already. We clashed again, and this time I ran my nails across her face, spraying blood everywhere. The wounds healed before her blow landed, the edge of her hand slamming into my throat.

I attacked again, and she took the hit, a stabbing strike to her sternum. Her body armour absorbed the worst of the attack, and she swept my legs out from under me. I hit the ground, already rolling away from her.

Her boot connected with me, hard enough to lift me into the arm. I bounced against the wall, and by the time I hit the ground again, I’d shifted, taking Ami’s form instead. If I couldn’t win in a physical fight…

The room expanded and shrank around me as the telekinetic awareness of the space hit me. I could feel Charlie move before I saw her.

With a thought, I sent her flying across the room, hitting her harder than I ever could with my body. She curled into a ball, riding the wave, and kicked off a wall, heading right for me.

Another burst of telekinetic energy sent her reeling, but she shrugged it off faster, still coming for me. It wasn’t enough.

I tried something more focussed, a lance that I drove straight into her chest. It pierced her armour and sent a spray of blood out in both directions, but barely slowed her down. It was like she couldn’t even feel it.

She closed the distance, grabbing my shoulders and pulling me into her knee. The impact winded me, and I collapsed to the floor. Ami’s form wasn’t as resilient as Zoe’s. Ouch.

With her so close, though, I could feel her entire body. Not just the outside, but her skeleton, her muscles and organs, her arteries and veins. It was the most disturbing sensation in the world, but I could use it.

Like reaching in with my hands and ripping a box open, I felt the telekinetic energy rush into her chest. Blood blasted out in every direction, covering the floor. I felt her ribs snap, her muscles tear, her skin rip. And she grunted.

I literally tore her open, and she grunted. She staggered backwards, arms spread to keep her balance, and didn’t even fall over. The wound on her chest was already closing up, the blood that coating the floor turning to steam and evaporating. Within seconds, she was whole again, throwing her chest armour to the side, glaring at me.

Run.

Immortal. Truly immortal. This was why Rachel was so scared. It wasn’t Charlie’s strength, her speed, her ability to fight. Those were just tools. But this, this relentlessness… She was unstoppable.

I tried again, tearing her arm from her socket. She didn’t even flinch, just marched towards me, murder in her eyes. The arm twitched helplessly before beginning to shrivel and die. A new one was already emerging from the stump.

What is she? What kind of creature is capable of this? I knew Zoe could regenerate a lost limb, but it took days. For me, weeks. To regrow an arm in under a minute?

Her hand wrapped around my throat, and she slammed me against the wall again, hard enough to make my head spin. There was a look in her eyes, something cruel and destructive. They were growing darker, and it looked as if the spilled blood that remained was convalescing around her, in a grim kind of aura.

She let me go, backing away, shaking her head. I heard her muttering to herself, clutching the sides of her head. When she looked up, the darkness was gone, the aura was gone. She looked pained, frightened.

Then that was gone too. She grabbed a metal desk, and ripped off the legs. I tried to attack her again, but she moved away from it, and all I managed to do was splinter a chair.

She rushed at me, impaling me with a desk leg, driving me into the wall. I screamed, and she drove another leg into me. One in the chest, one in the stomach. She twisted the ends of the bars around until they were facing inwards, back towards me.

Breathing heavily, she backed away. I could feel myself growing faint, and I realised what she’d done. Ami’s form didn’t have the same regenerative capabilities as Zoe’s. She’d forced me to taken a form that couldn’t hurt her from a distance.

She’d disabled me.

“Fuck,” she said, not talking to anyone. “Fuck.” She glared at me. “I didn’t want to hurt you, Sabrina. I’m sorry.”

At that moment, the door to the back room swung open. I already know who would emerge from it. Zoe took the sight in with a glance, and grinned.

 

Next Week: You Still Care About Her

Chapter 56 – I Told You She’d Find Us

“It’s Charlie,” Rachel said, staring in horror at her phone.

Thud, thud. That incessant banging, like somebody knocking at the door.

Rachel put the phone up to her ear. A second later, she dropped it. It bounced twice, and clattered off to the side. Rachel looked stunned.

“What do you mean, ‘it’s Charlie’?” I demanded. “You don’t mean…”

“She’s here,” Rachel said. “And our door won’t keep her out for long.”

“But how?”

“I told you she’d find us. I told you.”

She closed her eyes, forcing herself to take slow, deep breaths. I shifted into Zoe’s form, ready for a fight. Rachel cocked her head, and a smile began to form slowly.

“Rachel?”

“I guess that’s my cue,” she said.

Her hand disappeared into her jacket, pulling out something that looked a little like a pistol. She twirled it around her finger, that slightly unhinged smile only growing wider.

Some secret weapon that could stop Charlie? No, she’s too scared for that. She’s trying to hide it, but I can tell-

She aimed the pistol at me, and fired. I was too slow to react, and a dart pierced my skin, injecting some strange substance into my bloodstream. I wobbled, then staggered back, but nothing more happened.

“What did you-” I began, but as soon as I heard my voice, I realised. I was shifting back.

“Sorry,” she said. “I officially just ran out of time, and I can’t afford to have you getting in the way. Don’t worry, this should wear off within a few minutes, it was a weak dose.”

I tried to shift again, but nothing happened. I felt disconnected from my power, unable to access any of it. I was helpless.

“How?”

“Your blood. The gauntlet collected it for me. Wasn’t hard to figure out how to supress your shifting temporarily. Could probably do it permanently, if I really wanted. I don’t. Just need you out of the way.”

She barely seemed interested in me, frantically tapping away on her phone with her free hand. With a frustrated sigh, she dropped the dart pistol, and took a step towards me.

I tried to back away, but she was too fast. She picked me up effortlessly, and despite my best efforts to resist, carried me across the room and shoved me into a closet. She slammed the door on me, and I heard the click of a lock.

Why does a closet even have a lock? She installed it, a few days ago. Was she planning this? What is she up to?

“Why are you doing this?” I yelled through the door, not expecting an answer.

“I need to stop Zoe,” she replied, surprising me. It sounded like she was right on the other side of the door.

“But she helped you!”

“She needed me. We needed each other, I guess. But she’s still too dangerous. I’m sorry, Sabrina. I have to stop her.”

I heard her footsteps as she walked away. Fuck!

There was too much that I didn’t understand. Stop Zoe? Why? Was Zoe planning something I wasn’t aware of? Then why help her in the first place? And why do something now, of all times? With Charlie right on our doorstep?

Was it because of Charlie? She’d seemed so frightened, so haunted.

Charlie’s going to kill her.

Rachel knew she was about to die. Whatever else that meant to her, she clearly had something she needed to do before she did. Something to do with Zoe. But what?

“Envy? Are you there?”

“Always, love,” came the almost sultry reply. Envy materialised beside me in the closet.

“I can’t shift,” I told them, panicking. “I don’t-”

“Won’t last, don’t worry. I can feel it weakening already.”

“Charlie’s here.”

“I know. And I don’t think you can avoid fighting her.”

“I’m not ready,” I whispered.

“No, you’re not. But you don’t need to win, just stay alive until either Rachel or Zoe can take over.”

“But Rachel-”

“That fight won’t take long,” Envy said.

“I don’t understand. Why does she want to fight Zoe? Why now?”

“How should I know?

There was no good ending to this. One of them would definitely kill the other, and neither of those was an outcome I wanted. Neither of them deserved to die. Both of them had made a huge difference already, in keeping the city safe.

Zoe was like a mentor to me. She’d protected me, guided me, helped me understand what I was. And she was kind, gentle even. She kept to herself, avoiding spreading the infection, unlike Gabriel. She just wanted to go home.

Rachel was abrasive, even rude, but she meant well. After everything she’d endured, I could understand why she wasn’t the softest person. Even still, she was the one pushing for non-lethal solutions, even when Envy got the best of me, pushing me to more violent extremes.

A horrible memory returned to me. Rachel, still unconscious, after the surgery to augment her skeleton. Her idea, Zoe’s implementation. Something that would let her fight alongside me, something that would keep her safe against the bone-shattering strength of people like Charlie or Gabriel.

Zoe’s ‘insurance policy’, the automatic shut-down she’d installed in case Rachel ever turned on her. Exactly what was about to happen.

Rachel was going to march into that room, threaten Zoe, and then Zoe would just shut her down, and she’d be powerless. And then Zoe would tear her apart.

I shuddered. Not today, I told myself. I could stop this. I had to stop this.

First, I had to get out of the damn closet. My power was starting to return, but not fast enough. Rachel wouldn’t last long, and Charlie was breathing down our necks.

Got it.

I felt the power, latched onto it, shifted. With Zoe’s strength, the door was easy to break down, and I accidentally hurled it across the room. Still, I was out. That was good enough for me. I had to save Rachel.

“What are you doing?” Envy asked, blocking my way.

“Saving Rachel,” I said. “Zoe-”

“Is going to kill her, yes. I don’t see the problem.”

“Rachel, she’s… She’s my friend,” I said. “I can’t let her die.”

“Sure you can. She dug her own grave, and you know it.”

Thud, thud.

“I don’t care. Charlie’s here, and unless they work together, I don’t think either of them stand a chance. We need all three of us.”

“No, you need to run. Get far away, somewhere safe. Charlie’s not here for you, so run.”

Envy looked genuinely frightened. I was too, but not for the same reasons.

“No,” I said.

“Don’t make me-” Envy began, but was interrupted by the loudest thud yet. I turned, and felt a chill run down my spine.

Charlie was standing right there, decked out in full Vigilante garb, sans the mask. A sadistic smile crept across her face.

“No,” I repeated, terrified.

“Hello, Sabrina,” she said. “Nice place you’ve got here.”

 

Next Week: Believe It Or Not, I’m Trying To Save You

Chapter 54 – Everything Here Is Wrong

“I’m not sure I understand,” Zoe said, folding her arms. “You want to talk to Ami?”

“Technically, I want to talk Miss Murder,” I said. “But they’re always together, these days. And I thought you’d have a better idea of how to find Ami than her.”

“Why do you want Miss Murder?” Rachel asked, her tone thick with suspicion. There was a creepy, mechanical hand sitting on the table in front of her, a weird metal and plastic skeleton.

“I think she might help me find the Celestial.”

“But why?” Rachel repeated.

“He is dangerous,” Zoe said. “More now than ever, if he’s got control of Haylie. There isn’t a lot Sabrina can help us with now, so it makes sense, directing her energy towards clearing out other threats.”

“So you’ll help?” I asked.

“I’ll do what I can,” she said. “What do you want?”

“I don’t know. What can you tell me about Ami? Anything that might give me a clue as to where she’d be, or what she’s doing.”

Zoe smiled, leaning back on her chair and putting her feet up on the bench in front of her.

“Is story time becoming a tradition, now?”

“Don’t act like you don’t enjoy the attention,” Rachel said, and Zoe laughed.

“Alright, alright. I’ll tell you what I know, but it isn’t much. Ami and I have never been on the same side. We were never friends.”

I sat down in a nearby chair. Rachel continued to tinker, but her attention was mostly on Zoe as well.

“As far as I can tell, Ami is only around a century old.”

“Only?” Rachel ask dryly.

“It’s half my age,” Zoe said with a shrug. “But you’re missing the important detail, there. Remember that in my world, the infection that is currently contained in this city is everywhere. That happened one hundred years before Ami was born. That’s the world she was born into.”

“Where did she get her powers?” I asked.

“A lab. An attempt to replicate the process that created my siblings and I. More or less successful, unfortunately.”

“Unfortunately?” Rachel asked.

“Long story. Nothing I’m comfortable sharing.”

“Alright,” Rachel said. “Continue.”

“She was trained as a weapon. Built to fight and destroy the infected, and the things that create them. Namely, once again, my siblings and I. Somehow, she ended up fighting alongside my brother instead.”

“None of this helps, though,” I said. “Is there anything else?”

“She’s gay?” Zoe offered.

“And that’s relevant how?” Rachel asked irritably.

“Well, it might provide context for why she and the little assassin girl have, uh, teamed up,” Zoe said, grinning.

“Hardly seems like an appropriate time for romance,” I muttered.

“Someone’s bitter,” Zoe teased. “Feeling lonely?”

“I’m not having this discussion with you,” I snapped. “Is there anything useful you can tell me?”

“How about an address?” she offered.

“What?”

“I’ve been keeping tabs on her,” Zoe said. “I can tell you exactly where she is.”

“Why didn’t you lead with that?”

“I thought you wanted to talk?” she replied, still teasing.

“Just give me the address.”

She laughed, and handed me a piece of paper. Her mood seemed to be constantly improving, and that worried me. Was it because her device was nearly complete? Was she just enjoying a comparatively peaceful world? Something else?

“Have fun,” she called out, as I stormed out of the room. I wasn’t quite as annoyed as I wanted her to think, but part of it was real, or at least it felt real. That was Envy’s influence.

With Zoe’s speed, it only took me a few minutes to cross the city. Ami and Miss Murder, whose name I really needed to learn, if only so I could stop calling her Miss Murder, seemed to have occupied a small apartment on the outskirts of the city centre.

Teaming up, Zoe had said, with that suggestive grin. There was certainly an awkwardly domestic feeling to this place.

So now what? Just knock on the door? Call out to them? Crash through the window? What is the protocol in this situation?

I felt the presence behind me a moment before everything blacked out, a new environment twisted into place a moment later. The inside of the apartment?

Well, that works.

Ami moved quickly, a blade pressed up against my throat. Miss Murder lurked behind her, knife in hand. Both of them were in casual clothes, though Miss Murder had taken the time to wrap a scarf around her neck and lower face.

“What are you doing here?” Ami demanded.

Envy materialised behind her, standing beside Miss Murder. The second she did, Ami whirled, focussing on the exact space Envy was standing. I felt a stabbing pain in the side of my head, and Envy shimmered, then vanished.

“Can everyone do that?” I asked, rubbing my head.

My powers weren’t gone, though. I still had all of Zoe’s strength. She hadn’t removed Envy, just blocked her out somehow.

“Answer the question,” she said. “Quickly. Supressing that thing isn’t easy.”

“You can see her?”

“Answer. The question.”

“I wanted to talk,” I said, slowly raising my hands in a symbol of surrender. “Just talk.”

“You’re not welcome,” she said darkly.

“That’s fair. Really. But I need your help, and I’m willing to offer just about anything in return.”

“Not interested,” she said, but Miss Murder put a hand on her shoulder, and squeezed. “Fine. Talk. Fast.”

“Actually, I’ve had a sudden change of plan. I was going to ask your, uh, partner, for her help tracking down her old partner. But there’s something more important.”

Miss Murder squeezed again, then stepped back. Ami pulled the blade away, but kept her grip on it.

“Tell me everything about the voice in your head,” she said.

“She’s the problem. She’s collecting your powers, getting stronger, and I think she’s trying to control me.”

“She?”

“I… I guess? She looks like me, I just assumed…”

Ami sighed, collapsing into the chair opposite me. Miss Murder stood behind her, resting her hands on Ami’s shoulders.

“None of this makes sense,” Ami said. “That voice, that sensation, I know it. It’s Exxo. My friend. But the person you’re describing isn’t them at all.”

“I… I don’t know what to say. Who is Exxo? Why are they in my head? Why are they fixated on getting stronger?”

“I’ve been thinking about this since our last encounter. It doesn’t make sense, but that, that makes sense, in its own weird way.”

“I don’t understand,” I said.

“Exxo was always a mystery,” Ami said. “They just… showed up, one day. No memories of who or what they were. We ran tests, but couldn’t figure out anything. They seemed normal. Completely normal. Except, they weren’t normal.”

“Not normal how?”

“At first, it was their ability. Some kind of resonance with reflective surfaces.”

“I can do that,” I said. “She, they, taught me how.”

“Exxo never exhibited the ability to copy powers,” Ami said. “Or to control minds. Or even to exist without a physical body. That’s the thing that’s confusing me. Exxo was… Exxo was static. They never aged, never changed. Any damage that was done to them just reverted back to normal. No matter how much damage they took.”

“You’re right. None of this makes sense,” I agreed.

“I hate this world,” Ami muttered. “Exxo and Haylie, enemies? Gabriel, recklessly focused on finding Zoe. Zoe, keeping to herself, not playing the villain? Everything here is wrong.”

“Can you help me?” I asked.

“No,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

“Then what do I do?”

“I don’t know. Whatever is inside of you, it’s not the Exxo I know, and I’m not enough of an expert to even begin to understand. Gabriel might be able to figure out, but right now, I wouldn’t trust him. So, I don’t know.”

“And what are you going to be doing?” I asked.

She smiled, but there was no friendliness behind it. It felt like a warning, a threat. Her violet eyes signaled danger.

“I’m going to do whatever the hell I want.”

 

Next: One Wound At A Time

Chapter 53 – Not Exactly The Happy Reunion You Were Hoping For

“Sabrina, listen to me. We don’t have a lot of time, and I really, really need you to listen to me.”

“No,” I repeated, trying to scramble away from her. “You just… You fucking killed them, Veronica. They’re dead. You’re a murderer.”

“In my defence, he shot me first,” she said. “Fair is fair.”

“How is that fair? You already told me you can’t die.”

“If you’re willing to take a life, you have to be willing to have yours taken,” she said, shrugging. “He was clearly willing to kill me.”

“You’re not Veronica,” I whispered. “You’re not my friend.”

For the first time, she looked angry. Not just annoyed or irritated, but actually angry. Her face twisted into a scowl, and she lifted me off the ground with superhuman strength.

“Fuck you,” she snapped. “Fuck you. You do not get to judge me. I fucking died for you, alright? I died. I braved a city full of monsters for you, and you let me die. You saw me. You were there, right before she killed me, and I never knew it was you.”

She dropped me, and I hit the ground awkwardly.

“You think just because I’m here, because I’m back, that everything is normal now? I don’t get normal, Sabrina. I won’t get to grow up, or live a normal life. I don’t get to un-see the shit I’ve seen. I don’t get to forget what it’s like to die.”

She was shaking, crying, barely holding it together.

“I am here for one reason, and only one reason. I came back to save you, because you’re my best fucking friend, and I love you, you fucking asshole. So you are going to listen to me, because I am not going to lose you to that psychotic fucknozzle in your head.”

I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know if I could believe her, even though I really wanted to. Part of me wanted to run away, part of me wanted to yell at her, part of me wanted to hug her and tell her everything was going to be okay.

Instead, all I did was sit there, and stare up at her mutely.

“I’m sorry,” she said, wiping her face on her still-soaked sleeve. It only served to make her face wetter, which made us both laugh. “Ask me anything. If you need me to prove that I’m your friend, I’ll do it. I need you to trust me.”

“I believe you,” I said, surprising myself.

“Then you’ll listen?”

“I’ll listen.”

She sighed, and sat down beside me. We sat side by side, staring at the river and the darkened city beyond.

“The voice in your head. Does it have a name?”

“She calls herself Envy,” I said.

“How much do you know about her?”

“Not a lot,” I confessed. “She’s… from the other world, I think? She’s the source of my powers. She copies other people’s powers, and I think she has some weird mirror powers?”

Veronica nodded, but didn’t make eye contact.

“How much do you trust her?”

“I… don’t,” I said. “She’s in my head, like actually in my head, and I don’t know how much of what I’m feeling is real, and how much is her.”

“I guess you didn’t need my warning as much as I thought.”

“Huh?”

“She’s taking over, Sabrina. Slowly, for now, but the more powers she absorbs, the stronger she gets. Eventually, she’s just going to lock you in a little room inside your own mind, and you’ll never get out again.”

My first reaction was to deny it. Envy had been a friend, a support, a guide. She protected me, helped me, gave me power.

Then I remembered the anger, the hatred, the single-minded determination I’d felt, to do exactly what she’d told me to do. I remembered going after the others, Ami and Gabriel and Zoe, all to grow more powerful, for a revenge quest I would never, never have wanted.

That’s it.

With Envy out of my head, I didn’t feel that hatred. I didn’t want to kill Charlie, or Gabriel, or anyone. I just wanted to help people. I wanted to make my city safe again, but not with violence, not with murder. Zoe’s machine, a portal back home, that was the key. Send the superhumans home. And Charlie, she was working on a cure, an antidote. She already had a preventative. Together, the three of us could…

“How do I stop her?” I asked, suddenly frightened. I didn’t want to lose myself to her. I didn’t want to let her loose on the world.

“I don’t know,” she confessed. “I’d say you need to stop her from getting any more power, but it seems like she’s already got as much as she needs.”

“She’s still looking for Haylie. Apparently she’s the key. I don’t know what that means.”

“Me either. But I think it’s safe to say that you should keep herself, yourself, away from Haylie. Just in case.”

“But how do I do that without arousing her suspicion?” I asked, at the same time as I felt twitch in my hand. I looked down. The skin was beginning to pale. I was turning back. “Shit.

“I think that would be dangerous. Don’t give her a reason to push you, not if we don’t know just how strong her control already is.”

She looked down at my hand, and frowned. Without warning, she jumped to her feet, yanking me with her, holding me up by the collar, my feet dangling over the river.

“Veronica, what-”

“Shut up. Envy’s gonna be back soon, and things are going to be a lot smoother for you if she believes that we didn’t have this discussion. So here’s what I need you to do.” She took a deep breath, and gritted her teeth. “As soon as you get your strength back, fight back. Break some bones, and toss me into the river. Trust me, I’ll be fine. Tell Envy I was an imposter, and that you’re in more of a hurry than ever to find Haylie.”

“But-”

“No ‘buts’, Sabrina. Envy is dangerous, and I need to know you’re safe from her. This is the only way.”

“I don’t want to say goodbye again,” I whispered, grabbing onto her arm.

“I’ll be watching over you,” she said, her face momentarily betraying affection, before returning to feigned murderous intent. “Oh, and one last thing. Don’t blame Charlie. She didn’t kill me out of malice.”

My body twitched, then convulsed. The familiar sensation of shifting washed over me, but it was uncomfortable, uninvited. It hurt.

The power returned. Strength, senses, violence. The detail of the world around me flowered, and with it came a nearly overwhelming desire to fight, to take.

“Just in time, it looks like,” Envy said, standing behind Veronica. “I don’t want to say ‘I told you so,’ but…”

It was alarmingly easy to break Veronica’s arm. It snapped like a thin, brittle twig. Her face contorted in pain, and she dropped me. My feet found the edge of the embankment, grounded me, and I twisted around, hurling Veronica into the river. She hit the water with a splash, sank, and didn’t surface again.

“Nice to have you back,” I lied.

“I need to know how she did that,” Envy said. “If she can do it again…”

“One time trick. She won’t land another shot. If I see her again, I’ll snap her neck.”

“Not exactly the happy reunion you were hoping for, then?”

Is she taunting me?

“That wasn’t Veronica,” I said.

“I’m sorry,” she said, and it sounded sincere. “So, what now?”

“Now, we draw out the Celestial. And I have a plan.”

“Oh?”

“Miss Murder. She’s left him, and nobody knows him better. We find her, she helps us find him. Simple as that.”

“And finding her…?”

“We find Ami,” I said.

“Sounds like a plan.”

 

Next Week: Everything Here Is Wrong

Chapter 52 – This Isn’t Your Friend

The Stars all but disappeared overnight. The thugs all went into hiding, their bases abandoned. All operations ceased. The territory they held became contested.

We picked up reports of Miss Murder being seen, but she was never with the Stars, only ever with Ami. They seemed to have formed some sort of allegiance, which was just fine with me. I had no business with either of them, so it more or less kept them out of my way.

Unfortunately, it made it difficult to get the Celestial’s attention. Nobody knew where he was or what he was doing. He and Haylie were just… invisible. That was a problem, because I needed to draw them out of hiding.

“This sucks,” I complained, sitting atop the tallest building in the city, my legs dangling over the side.

“What about a more personal attack?” Envy suggested.

“Like what?”

“You said you recognised him, right? Maybe he has family, friends, something you can use to get his attention.”

“I don’t even remember his name,” I said. “I could be wrong about recognising him. And even if I’m not, it doesn’t give me much to go on, you know?”

“Well, how about Rachel? Or Zoe? They’re good at the sleuthing thing, right?”

“Even if we could find something, going after friends or family, it just feels…”

Envy groaned.

“I know, I know, you’re all naïve and innocent. I get it. But Sabrina, honey, you can’t be this weak. You can’t. If you’re ever going to stand a chance against Charlie, you need to be ruthless. It’s the only way.”

She’s right. It’s the only way. Charlie murdered your best friend, and everyone, everyone is afraid of her. You can’t pull any punches.

“Envy, you’re talking about innocent people here. Even she hasn’t resorted to that.”

Except by, you know, killing your best friend. Literally the exact thing we’re talking about.

“Okay. I don’t want to push this,” Envy said. “But we do need to find Haylie. Not just for the sake of being able to fight Charlie. Haylie is just as dangerous on her own.”

And you’re supposed to be protecting this city, remember?

Wait. Fucking wait.

That’s not my fucking voice.

Envy wasn’t just in my head. She was actually influencing my thought patterns.

All of that rage, all of that anger… How much of it was me? How much of it was her, pushing me to do what she wanted from me?

But what if it really was me? The anger felt real. The reasons for feeling angry were all real.

Fucking fuck.

“Envy.”

“Yes?”

“Nothing.”

I couldn’t say anything to her. I couldn’t say anything to anyone, because she could see everything, hear everything.

“Nothing?”

“I need to hit something,” I grumbled.

“I can help with that,” a third voice said, coming from behind me.

I jumped to my feet, braced and ready for a fight. Instead, I nearly fell off the roof in surprise.

“Veronica?”

So it really was her, the night we tried to fight the Celestial? But how? She was dead, I’d seen her corpse.

She was wearing all black, with a pistol strapped to her thigh and a short blade sheathed on her back. She looked ready to go to war.

“Hey, Sabrina,” she said, with an awkward smile on her face. “Um. Surprise?”

“I don’t like this,” Envy hissed.

“How?” I asked, ignoring her.

“It’s complicated,” she said.

“You died.”

“I did, yeah.”

“But you’re alive now?”

“Not exactly,” she said. “Um. Suspended mortality. I’m dead, just… on pause.”

“She’s lying,” Envy said. “This isn’t your friend, Sabrina.”

Much as I didn’t want to believe it, there was a chance Envy was right. Of all the likely explanations, my best friend coming back from the dead didn’t exactly top that list. A shapeshifter was more probable. Or something controlling her corpse like a puppet. Or an illusion of some kind.

“That’s… a lot to ask me to believe,” I said, painfully aware of the possibly lethal drop behind me. “And even if you are my best friend…”

“It’s suspicious,” she finished for me. “I get that. I wouldn’t believe it myself, if I hadn’t lived through, well…” She laughed. “Poor choice of words. But listen. I need to talk to you. Kind of urgently.”

“So talk. I’m here, I’m listening. I can’t promise I’ll believe you, but…”

“You believing me isn’t the problem,” she said. “Privacy is.”

“Don’t trust her,” Envy insisted.

“Privacy?” I asked.

“From the voice in your head,” she said sweetly. “Don’t worry, I have a system for this.”

She pulled the pistol, aiming it at my head. I could have stopped her, could have closed the distance and disarmed her before she pulled the trigger. I didn’t.

The bullet passed through me painlessly. There was no impact, no damage. Nothing happened.

“What was that?” I asked.

“I have no idea,” she answered, grinning. “Whatever it is, it’s supposed to temporarily displace extradimensional energy. Or something like that, anyway.”

“Veronica, what…”

Envy was silent. No, Envy was gone. And I could feel my body shifting back to normal. And I was very precariously standing on the edge of the tallest fucking building in the city.

“Sabrina, I need you to relax. You’re gonna be okay, but-”

I could feel the wind, biting and very, very powerful. I wobbled, unable to keep my balance, and fell backwards, off the side of the building.

The sensation of falling was so very different without superhuman strength and resilience. The wind assaulted my frail body as I fell, and I couldn’t concentrate on anything. The world spun wildly around me, and I felt sick, and battered, and frightened.

For the second time, I felt Veronica crash into me in mid-air, redirecting my momentum sideways. She wrapped around me, and we fell together.

We hit the surface of the river, an impact that would have killed me if Veronica hadn’t taken the brunt of it. We went under, icy water threatening to crush me, suffocating me.

I felt her dragging me, pulling me back to the surface. Spluttering and gasping for breath, I was carried to the riverbank. Veronica seemed fine. Unharmed. How?

She stood over me as I struggled to recover. I felt completely disoriented, shaking and cold.

I lay that way for several minutes, staring up at the sky. Veronica sat beside me, watching me in silence.

“Hey, who’s down there?”

We both tensed up at the voice. Come on, man? Hasn’t tonight been painful enough already?

“Stay down,” Veronica whispered, then stood up. “We don’t want any trouble!” she called out.

Still too weak to move, I could only watch as a pair of thugs, members of some gang I didn’t know the name of, descended down the riverbank, guns trained on Veronica. She seemed completely unfazed.

“Who’re you?” the one on the left demanded, obviously surprised by the site of two teenage girls, soaked to the bone, lying on the shore of the river. There was no way it wouldn’t be suspicious, the only people left in the city were, well, dangerous.

“Nobody,” Veronica said. “Pretend you never saw us.”

“Not likely,” the guy on the right said. “You’re coming with us.”

“Not going to happen, and I’m not going to say it again. Walk away, or you die.”

She was surprisingly good at bluffing. Actually, on second thought, that seemed very appropriate. She always was persuasive.

Instead of responding, the guy on the left just shot her. Three times, all in the chest. I tried to scream, but my throat was hoarse, and nothing came out.

Veronica staggered back, but didn’t fall. Instead, her hand went to the hilt of the sword on her back, and two seconds later, both the thugs were dead, cut clean through from shoulder to hip.

“Fuckin’ told you, assholes,” she muttered, rubbing her chest.

“Wh-what… what the fuck, Veronica?” I said, my throat aching.

“Huh? Oh. Oh. Um. Look. Death is really not as big a deal as you think it is. Trust me.”

I looked up at her, frightened. She wasn’t the person I remembered. She wasn’t my friend.

She wasn’t Veronica.

“No,” I said.

 

Next Week: Not Exactly The Happy Reunion You Were Hoping For

Chapter 51 – She Was The First Voice I Ever Heard

Part 6 – Zoe

“I need to ask you something,” I said. Zoe looked up from her work, curious.

“Ask away, kid.”

“I need to know about Haylie,” I said. “Rachel said she’s awake now. I know a lot of people have been looking for her. Is she… should we be worried?”

More importantly, tell me something, anything I can use to find her. She’s the last piece of the puzzle. Without her, Envy won’t let me fight Charlie.

Zoe sighed, putting her tools down. Rachel looked up briefly, then decided she wasn’t interested, and went back to her work.

“I don’t know what to tell you,” Zoe said, uncharacteristically tender. We began to walk together. “She’s not…”

“Like the rest of you?” I guessed.

“Well, that much is certainly true,” she agreed. “But not what I meant. She’s dangerous, but not aggressive. It’s hard to explain. I…”

“What is she?”

Zoe smiled, a more wistful, nostalgic smile than I’d ever seen on her before. She sat down, folding her legs and holding one knee against her chest.

“She’s unique,” Zoe said. “She was the first voice I ever heard.”

“Wait, really? So she’s older than you? Is she like, your mother? Another sibling?”

“Good grief, no,” Zoe said, laughing. “Sorry, that doesn’t answer anything, does it? It’s all very complicated.”

“Tell me about it, then,” I said.

“Really? Why?”

“I dunno, it seems like a good idea,” I said. “Things have been… tense, between us. That’s mostly on me. So I want to, you know…”

She smiled again, looking genuinely touched. Either she actually believed me, which seemed unlikely, or she was playing along for her own reasons. So long as she told me what I wanted, it didn’t matter. And if I had to listen to a bunch of irrelevant, sentimental drivel, that was a small price to pay.

“It’s kind of a long story,” she said. “You sure you wanna hear it?”

“I’m not exactly busy,” I lied.

“I’m sure I can come up with more tasks for you,” she said.

“Or we could try actually talking,” I countered. “Look, you were there for me, when I woke up and everything was different. When I was different. Without you, I don’t know what would have happened to me. And I’m sorry I haven’t been great at showing my gratitude for that.”

“Gratitude’s unnecessary,” she said. “But sure, if you’re that interested. Take a seat. Let’s talk.”

Just get it on with it already, fuck.

I sat down opposite her, waiting for her to speak. To my surprise, Rachel joined us, hanging out in the doorway, her arms folded across her chest. Zoe nodded to her.

“I was born in a lab,” she began, leaning back in her chair. “You probably already knew that. I was the last of us to be born. I don’t know if he went with twenty-six specifically to match the letters of the alphabet, or if that was just a coincidence. I guess it doesn’t matter.”

“That explains Specimen Z,” I said. “And Gabriel, he was what, seventh? Did you all pick names based on your code letter? Or did this mysterious creator pick them for you?”

“Neither, actually. Alice chose our names for us. She was the second voice any of us heard, and the first face we saw.”

“And Alice is…?” Rachel prompted, surprisingly interested.

“Specimen A,” Zoe said. “The first of us. A child, really. The prototype, never meant for combat. A little sister to us all. She loved each and every one of us.”

“So Haylie is Specimen H?” I asked.

“No. H was… well, they’re dead now. Most of them are. Haylie predates even Alice. She helped Mason create us. She looked after us, taught us, nurtured us.”

“Did you say Mason?” Rachel asked.

“Does that name mean something to you?” Zoe responded, curious.

“Does the name Genesis mean anything to you?”

“Yes,” Zoe said, a little concerned. “Genesis was Mason’s company, the name of the company when we were born. How do you know it?”

“I’m not sure yet,” Rachel said cryptically. “Forget about it. Continue your story.”

“Curious. But fine, I’ll continue. There was a divide, between us. We knew we were being prepared for war. Not all of us wanted that. A fight broke out. The lab was nearly destroyed. Gabriel and I escaped together, along with Alice. All we wanted was our freedom. Haylie let us go. She didn’t know. None of us knew.”

“About what?” I asked.

“The infection,” Rachel guessed.

“Gabriel and I both carry it,” Zoe confirmed. “Alice doesn’t. Not that it matters. We let the virus out into the world. It’s still unchecked. More than ninety percent of the population is, well, you’ve seen the results. We did that.

“Gabriel wanted to keep running. I didn’t. Mason hunted us, but not because we left. He just wanted his daughter back.”

“Alice was special,” Rachel said. “The first, not designed for combat, a child… a replacement?”

“His daughter died. The reason we exist is because Mason wanted a way to bring her back, and make sure he never lost her again. So he made me a deal. He told me he’d cure me if I returned with her. So I did. I betrayed Gabriel and returned with Alice.”

“But he didn’t cure you,” I said.

“No. But by the time he realised he couldn’t cure it, it didn’t matter. The world had changed. And Haylie had left. She and Gabriel built a new Genesis. I stayed with Mason. Eventually, Alice returned to Gabriel. I don’t think Mason ever recovered from that.”

“I guess that explains the animosity between you and Gabriel. Doesn’t explain much about Haylie, though,” I said.

“She’s an artificial intelligence,” Rachel said. “An android.”

“Not exactly,” Zoe said. “She’s not artificial. Her consciousness doesn’t run on code. Her body is synthetic, but her mind is… different. She’s unique. Kind of.”

“I’m not sure I understand the distinction,” Rachel said.

“You don’t really need to. The important thing is, I don’t think you really need to worry about her. She’s a good person, and I doubt this Celestial clown can say anything that’d change that.”

That doesn’t help me at all, though.

“Tell that to my arm,” Rachel said, waving her stump impotently.

“That was… out of character,” Zoe said. “Did you provoke her somehow?”

“I threatened the Celestial. She seems attached to him for some reason.”

“That doesn’t make sense. She’s not…”

“She didn’t seem all there,” Rachel said. “Kind of… hollow. Hard to explain.”

“Then we have a problem. The body she’s inhabiting right now, it’s just one of many. A combat unit designed especially to go up against someone like me. That kind of destructive power, without… her controlling it…”

“With the Celestial controlling it,” I corrected. The two of them looked at me, annoyed. Annoyed because I was right.

The conversation apparently over, the three of us parted ways. Zoe and Rachel went back to whatever they were working on, and I began to wander. Once I was far enough away from the other two, Envy appeared.

“Don’t worry,” she said, leaning against the wall. “We’ll find her. And we can handle her.”

“Why do we need to?” I asked.

“Not sure I follow,” Envy said.

“Everyone else, I get. I lock eyes, you copy their power. We both get stronger. But Haylie’s an android. What would you even copy?”

“Haylie’s the key,” Envy insisted. “It’s not her power I’m after. It’s what’s inside of her.”

“Now I’m the one that doesn’t follow…”

“Don’t fret about it,” Envy said. “All you need to do is find her. I can take it from there.”

“Alright,” I agreed reluctantly. “Any ideas on where to find her, then?”

“Kind of. You won’t like it, though.”

“Hit me.”

“You don’t need to find her,” Envy said. “Just make enough of a scene, and she’ll come to you.”

“You’re right. I don’t like it. But…”

“But?”

“But I’ll do it,” I said.

 

Next: The First and The Last (Bonus)