Serena threads a thin beam of metal through the room. It bends at unnatural angles as it traverses the crowded stage, finally finding its fit, and then it turns, tight. The room draws itself apart and then rearranges itself into another puzzle, another lock for her to feel her way through and solve. They've grown progressively smaller as I've watched, and each time, she fumbles a second before picking it up. This time, as she clicks it in just over a minute, she looks up to me for guidance.

"Looking better."

"Anything more constructive to add?" she asks.

"It's intuitive. You have to think less about what you're doing and more about what you intend to do. It'll respond to that."

"Thanks," Serena says. The next lock arranges itself. This time, it takes up about a third of the room instead of a full half, but the complexity is heightening. "I'm sorry you have to babysit. I can imagine that the others aren't happy about my lack of ability on the field."

"They were dead serious about being happy you're back," I tell her. "Honestly. We want you there, but the intel mission is a little more..."

"Dangerous."

"Yeah."
She picks another. The puzzle contracts again. I slump further forwards onto my hands. I know I should be practicing my own craft, but part of me is out in the Delegation right now, miles below the surface. I can sense where Siren, Onyx, and Umbra should be. The lack of them is making me a mess. I pick up my broadsword, which is too bright to ever need polishing, and run a hand over the gems in the hilt. The ruby and sapphire, perfect twins in different shades, are overkill.

Twins.

I still remember my first training missions here. I rise to my feet, looking past Serena to something in the mirrors, and a face looks at me that isn't quite mine. Anthem, who has situated herself on the corner of my bench, where we can't quite touch, flicks her tail. Her fur is flared. "How are things going?" I ask her.

"Great. We're home," Evan busts down the door. A few of the decorative spikes on his costume are bent. Megan's dress, which has, against all odds, survived most missions, is cut up. Same goes for Harper's cloak. "The good news is that nobody died, even though Nineve showed up."
"She did?" I ask. "I missed it?"
"You would not have wanted to be there," Harper says.

"Yes, I would!" I complain.

Megan laughs, but it's uneasy: less of her usual burbling stream laugh and more of the kind of laugh you give when someone says something that's not funny, but you want to console or impress them and you just have to hand it to them.

"What's the bad news?" I ask.

Megan holds up a mask. "We're not going to be able to get into the new chamber they're working on-- the sonic indoctrination chamber--"

"Echo chamber," cuts in Evan. "C'mon. Echo chamber sounds so much cooler."

Megan continues, "Unless someone is wearing one of these. We don't know if they'd take over our minds instantly, but it's the only solution we have at this point. Sorry, Serena. I know you've been working hard on this, and we really, really appreciate you coming back, but it looks like we're going to have to change tactics."

"That leaves room for a volunteer," I say. "Well. Obviously, I'll--"
"I could handle it," Gen says. She points directly at the assembly of Evan, Megan, and Harper. "If one of you put it on, you could kill all of us. All of your powers are wide-ranging, allow for crowd control, and if you can wreak havoc on robots, a second of loss of control could murder the whole group."

"You have the most dangerous powers, Gen," Evan says.

"Can't use them," she says. "As things stand, I would be the easiest to counter, and if something happened, easier to take down than Adam. You know that. I know that. None of you would actually be able to fight Adam."

"I'm not that strong," I say. "We all know I've always been the weakest link--"

"That's not why," she says. "You're psychologically compromising. I'll handle the mask. We can add it to the training I'm already working with. Alright?"

Unsurprisingly, no dissent.

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to," I tell her.

She looks back with a cold stare. "I don't know if that's true. I'll start tomorrow. Run on the chamber's in a week or so, isn't it?"

"Potentially. We're going to try to interrupt an induction," Megan says.

"Sounds good. I'll be running double training. Can I go home for now? I've been here for two hours. Soccer practice is in thirty minutes. Need to get a project done beforehand. I'd prefer not to be up until 11 doing homework on a weekday, but well, c'est la vie."

"I guess so," I say.

"Serena," says Megan. "Let me walk you out."

Serena's ponytail swings back around, followed by the rest of Serena. "If... if you insist."
Anthem rises, too, and escorts the pair out. I only realize I've been pulling a face like I've swallowed a lemon when they're all gone, but the whiplash I just experienced from Serena was nothing short of painful.

"Well. She's gone for once. So... do you trust her?" asks Harper.

"You're the one who likes Serena," Evan says.

"No, Anthem," Harper says.

"You're worried about Anthem?" asks Evan.

"Aren't you?" I ask him.

"No," Evan says.

"There are a lot of things she could be, archetypally, and some of them are very good, and some of them are very bad," Harper says. "I feel like this is a fairytale. I feel like I am going to be punished if I make the wrong decision, even just for a second."

"Just don't," Evan says. "Play the game."

"You believe," Harper says. "I thought I was still a child, that it would be that easy, but when we're down there... sometimes, for a second, I have a crisis of faith. I know everything we're doing is for the good of humanity, but I just don't know if I can trust the ends to get us to the means. I don't know if we can trust the means, period. Doesn't it all read a little strange to you? You need to save the world, and you pick teenagers to help you stop a cult? What about the fact that she so clearly doesn't want it to get out to the cops?"
"Governments are unwieldy," I say. "She can handle us. She can't handle the whole country. If this is what civilians can do with Diosite, well... I mean, she has explained all this before."
Harper folds her arms. "That's fair."
Evan folds his arms in imitation. "It's going to have to be enough. Are you all ready for next week?"

I shrug. "Ready as ever."

"You say yes, Chief."

"Aye aye."

Evan rolls his eyes.

"Speaking of orders, the two of you need to go home and get some rest. You look like you rolled down a hill covered in sharp metal objects."
Umbra looks at her cape. "It will heal," she insists. "But you're right. Especially you, Evan. You need to stop taking hits."
"Hey, it's what I'm good at," he says. "You can't stop a man from pursuing his passion."

"Get out," I say, but he can hear the affection in my voice, and he definitely feels it when my hand hits one of his decorative, excessive, gaudy 'horns' on the way out. I'm not the only one with unnecessarily sensitive armor.

I take a long time going after them, partially because Anthem's shelves seem larger than normal, less compressed. This means I get to wander through the labyrinth of the worlds' most unfun looking books for even longer, which is truly, really, just a delight. However, there is a hidden gem on these shelves, more precisely between them, and that would be a certain someone. She looks up with wide doe eyes, and then I get that simple smile. It's amazing how little some people have to do to make you feel loved. Really amazing.

"I don't think we're supposed to read anything here," I say. "Aren't these Anthem's memories, or something...?"
"A lot of this is just surveillance of us. I asked, and I was rereading old bits of contact from when we first started. We were kind of cute," she says, with a knowing smile. "It's funny to think there was anything there at all, before we knew. Call me silly, but it feels like I live in a different world now." she turns. "Makes things difficult."

"Have a hard time coming down?" I ask.

"Oh, always. I have to drag myself through the day, but I can go through anything knowing I'll be back to this when it's over. School, family, friends, no matter what's holding me up--"
"Holding you up?" Something Evan said a long time ago comes to mind. You should feel like shit about just trying to get them out of your way.

"I mean— that sounds wrong, doesn't it? I mean obstacles with them. Difficulties." She pauses. "I still love everyone and everything back home. This is just different than that. We're always working towards some solution. Real life is confusing. Events don't have causations or solutions. If things are bad, they're just bad. Sometimes all you can do is live through it. It's different here. We're doing something important. Maybe it would stress me on my own, but you..." I have her hair in my hands, run between my covered fingers. She leans into my grip. "You make things so easy."

Our faces are practically touching. We radiate with heat.

"Now?" I ask. I want to make things easier.

"I don't think I'm ready. I want the first time to be special."

"When?" I ask her.

Her eyes are deep hazel pools.

"I've talked to Evan about it, too. We always come to the same conclusion."
"No one left behind."
"Never."