“This is boring,” Vista complained with a groan.

  “It’s court proceedings,” Chris said with a shrug, eyes fixed on the TV. “They’re made to be boring.”

  “And it’s going be pretty exciting here in a minute.” Dennis added, leaning forward and grabbing a handful of popcorn.

  “Is it really?” Amy asked, shifting so she wasn’t quite leaning on me. “Like...we all know how it’s going to go.”

  Her only answer was silence and a series of shrugs. We’d all gathered around the TV in the common room, with snacks and drinks. Normally we’d have been working on the weekend’s homework, or getting ready for patrol, but all of us had the evening off. That along with the promise of a verdict in Skitter’s trial had us antsy, in a good way for once.

  Friday and half of today had been occupied by the almost literal tons of evidence she’d left for herself. That rat lawyer Christopoulos was good, but it had been an uphill battle. Even when he’d finally managed to broach the Arcadia shit, it hadn’t made her look much better. All Frakes had done in reply was pull out the video of her landing on top of me, though mercifully I’d been censored. That had been pretty funny, when Chris showed me yesterday's highlight reel.

  But finally, here we were at the end of it all. I was surprised the trial had gone as long as it did, but given who was on Taylor’s side I shouldn’t have been. The Undersiders’ territories had been quiet, and the PRT were worried as hell about today. Probably why Taylor was being remoted in, instead of actually being present in the courtroom. The jurors, masked for their safety, slowly filed back into the room, and all of us leaned in.

  “Judge Hamilton,” one of them began, standing up. “The jury has reached a unanimous decision. On the count of treason against the United States of America, we find the defendant not guilty. On all other charges, we find her guilty.”

  Pop.

  “Here’s to Amaranth!” Dennis exclaimed, pouring fizzy juice in a bunch of tall glasses laid out on the coffee table. “Hero of the hour, maybe of the month.” Vista reached over and smacked my shoulder.

  “Fuck yeah,” she said, a smile on her face. “First Shatterbird, now Skitter? The villains in this town don’t stand a chance.” I felt a smile worming its way onto my lips.

  “You guys would have beat her anyway,” I said, grabbing a glass. “I just...sped things up a bit.”

  “Don’t sell yourself short,” Chris said, sitting on the floor at the foot of what had become the girls’ couch.

  “That’s a low blow, Chris,” Dennis drawled.

  “Oh my god shut up,” I groaned, taking a sip of the juice. Not bad. “I’m going to break both your legs and have Amy heal them shorter.”

  “I wouldn’t do that,” she said quickly.

  “I know you wouldn’t,” I reassured her. “Just giving them shit.”

  “Come on, this is a celebration,” Vista said, smacking my shoulder again. “You’ve been moping for weeks, let’s have fun. God knows you’ve earned it.”

  “I haven’t been…” I stopped and frowned. “Okay but I was also like...doing really badly. I couldn’t help it.”

  “I think we could relax,” Amy said, nudging me. “You’ve been kind of a lot lately.”

  “Ooooh Lia’s girlfriend’s pissed.”

  “Shut up Dennis,” we snapped in unison. I tried to ignore Vista’s giggling, and my burning cheeks, as I continued. “Look...sorry. I keep waiting for the worst to happen, like the Undersiders bomb the place, or something.”

  “Not really their thing,” Chris said, waggling his hand. “Like maybe they’d try and bust her out, but no chance of that with her being held somewhere else.”

  “Unless they know about that,” I countered. “They have Tattletale.”

  “She’s not magical, she’s not even psychic,” Dennis retorted.

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  “Grade A bitch though,” Amy muttered.

  “Look, she’s going to the ‘cage,” he continued, gesturing to the screen. “And you bet your ass she’s going to have a hero escort in spades. Legend’s probably going to be there.”

  “And Assault’s MIA,” I said, knitting my brows. There was something about him… “Wasn’t he a specialist at breaking people out?”

  “Wait what?” Vista shouted, bolting up.

  “You didn’t know?” I asked. “Didn’t he used to be Mad—”

  “Lia,” Amy snapped her fingers. “Wrong memories.” I winced. Not wrong, just...I shouldn’t know.

  “Sorry um, power...thing,” I explained; weak excuse. “Sometimes I remember right, sometimes...not.”

  “It’s literally a medical condition,” Amy offered. “I can’t exactly give you like...a diagnosis, but she’s got a lot of memories. Sometimes, they’re just like...off.”

  “Shit, that sucks,” Chris said. “I...sort of get it.”

  “So you remember Assault being…” Vista trailed off, staring expectantly.

  “Forget it,” I said, shaking my head. “I’d rather not think about it anyway. Can I try taking your advice again and...celebrating?” Vista smiled and smacked my shoulder a third time; that was going to leave a mark.

  I didn’t really mind.

  The ringing of my phone startled me out of a pleasant doze. There was a yelp from the other end of the couch and I felt Amy kick at me. I pulled away until she realized I wasn’t whatever she was dreaming about, then keyed the answer button. I muted the TV for good measure.

  “Hello?” I croaked.

  “Amaranth, it’s Clock,” he said, sounding tense. “Turn on the TV, any news channel!”

  “Who’s that?” Amy groaned, sitting up.

  “Clock,” I answered. “What’s going on dude, it’s...shit, eleven?”

  “Amaranth, news, now.”

  “Fuck, jesus, fine calm down.” I grabbed the remote again and started flicking. “Don’t know what’s so fucking important you have to wake me up and—”

  My jaw dropped and so did the remote, clattering to the floor. On the screen was a looping video of a burning, armoured van surrounded by PRT officers. No less than three heroes were there too, Defiant and Dragon among them. In the background I could see the reflection of flickering firelight dancing on the legs of their aircraft. I read the text scrolling along the bottom, since the TV was still muted.

  ‘Skitter’s Birdcage Transport Attacked. Villain’s Status Unknown.”

  “She’s not—” I choked.

  “Dunno,” Clockblocker saod. “I don’t...what the fuck? I thought there would be a jailbreak, not a bombing.”

  “That’s what happened?” I asked numbly.

  “It’s what they said,” he replied. “I gotta call Vista. Better believe there’ll be a meeting in the morning.” The line clicked and the phone dropped from my hand.

  “Holy shit,” Amy’s voice was shaky. “She’s dead.”

  “Maybe not,” I snapped, sweat beading on my brow. “Might not have been her transport, could be a ruse or…” Or anything but this. Please god anything but this.

  “Would it be that bad if she was dead?” Amy asked hesitantly. I only stared back. “Hey, Lia, what’s the matter?”

  “This wasn’t supposed to happen,” I said. “She’s...no, she’s probably not dead. Come on look, there’s Dauntless.” I snagged the remote and unmuted the TV.”

  “—gret to announce that the vehicle taking Skitter to the Baumann Parahuman Containment Center was bombed approximately thirty minutes ago,” Dauntless said gravely. “Hero teams from the Guild and Protectorate are currently searching for the culprits. Four PRT officers were killed, and there are remains that physically match Skitter’s description. At this time we cannot confirm these remains belong to the villain.”

  We were fucked. Not just me, or Amy, or the late Taylor, everyone. In two years, the world was going to end, and Taylor wasn’t going to be around to stop it. There would be no Khepri, no salvation, just a golden dawn over a dead world. And it was my fault. I’d been sure that even with her going to the Birdcage, we could just get her out when Scion went crazy. And now…

  “I’m going to bed,” I said numbly, rising from the couch. “Um, thanks for hanging out. Maybe next time we watch something other than a legal drama?”

  “Oh, uh, sure.” Amy looked confused, and a little concerned. “Are you okay? Seriously, you looked terrified.”

  “I just can’t believe it.” Still couldn’t really. “But I’m tired and should be ready for things to pick up in the morning so…”

  She rose and gave me a hug, then let me out. I didn’t go to the elevator, instead heading to the staircase way at the end of the hall. I took them two at a time. I hadn’t bothered with my hood and mask, wouldn’t need them. I burst through the door to the roof and paused, checking to make sure I was alone. With Skitter gone, it seemed some security had been stood down anyway.

  I strode to the edge of the roof, then stopped. I didn’t look down, couldn’t look down, but...down was where I was headed. I didn’t have a choice anymore. I’d backed myself into this corner, and there was exactly one way out. Thinking about it made me sick, made my alarm blare loudly in my ears.

  All things considered, my life since Echidna had...it had actually been okay. I had friends, good ones, and I was a fucking hero. I tried to do right instead of just good too, put myself on the chopping block in hopes of saving someone. That had all led here though. And now I had to let it go.

  It would be alright. Four days ago wasn’t that long, and even if it was longer for some reason...well, I could still try and make friends again. This time, if I got really fucked and sent back a couple weeks or something, maybe I could even make Skitter listen to me. Things could be better. All I had to do was take one, last step.

  “Taylor,” I said to no one, raising my foot and leaning forward. “You fucking owe me.”

  I shut my eyes and moved my projection off my head, hoping it at least wouldn’t hu