A/N: Please let me know if I get too graphic with my fight scenes. Thanks!

Sam looked at the council member, his eyes wide.

NO!

It was the only thought on his mind. The only thought he could think.

He remembered the pain in his sister's face, so long ago, when she'd come into his house and asked him to come with her. To become an outcast.

He remembered that he'd caused that pain. He'd sentenced his own sister to banishment.

But now… he'd sentenced her… to DEATH?

It couldn't be. He couldn't have… but it was all too true.

He saw her snarl, defiant even now. A rebel to the last.

"And what makes you think I'm going to just stand here and let you try and kill me?" She spat. Her eyes were always so bright. But now he could see the pain behind them. Pain he'd caused.

He desperately wanted to talk to her; tell her he was sorry, that he didn't want to do this… But it was impossible.

The guards surrounding them pulled out their knives, advancing towards her. Her knife was in her hand before anyone could blink.

"Oh, Rouge Child." The council member smiled and shook his head. "What makes you think you can handle all of us?"

Sam saw his knife flash into his hand. He'd been wanting to hurt her the whole time. Now he might have his chance.

Rouge Child snarled, dodging and weaving. She'd gotten good at fighting. Well, she would. She'd battled Predators, for crying out loud!

Sam knew what he should do, and desperately wanted to do it. He wanted to change his vote, say that he believed her to be innocent. Better yet, he could get in between them and her, snarling and ready to defend his sister.

But… he'd worked so hard. He'd tried desperately to get this position on the council, and he'd succeeded. He'd worked to get his rank…

Despite everything, Sam wanted to laugh. Rank! What did it matter to him now? The council had made him vote against his own sister. Twice!

But… he couldn't give up everything he'd worked for…

So he decided. Rouge Child had always been a good fighter. He'd wait it out, and hope she made it out of there.

And then she looked at him, and his promise almost wavered. She looked… tortured. Her eyes were filled with nothing but pain. But she tried to cover it with her anger, the fight becoming a complicated and very lethal dance. She dodged and weaved with a surprising grace; something he hadn't seen in a long time.

"Such a pity…" The man next to him said. The pattern on his arm shone in the sunlight.

Sam swallowed. Kierto. That was the man's name. Rouge Child had always had a problem with him. Surprisingly, they'd been friends, before…

Sam found the day replaying in his memory. Rouge Child and Kierto had gone out to find a particularly nasty Predator. When they'd returned, Kierto's Florlic was limping, and Rouge Child was furious as all anything. Since then, they barely spoke to each other.

Sam looked at Rouge Child. He desperately wanted to help her. But… he'd only get caught in the crossfire. He couldn't do it. He had worked so hard…

Anomaly dodged, ducking down to avoid the slashing blade. Her own knife was electrified, and she stabbed upwards. She didn't really want anyone to die, but she had to defend herself.

She felt something slash into her. She cried out as the blade burned into her shoulder, going upwards on her neck and up to the bottom of her chin. She lashed out, punching whoever it was in the stomach. She felt it knock the breath out of him, and he reeled backwards.

The council member, the one she called 'sir', came into the fight, smiling cruelly and holding a knife, electrified like hers. She snarled, raising her knife high in the air and slashing down, dodging another blade.

She started to run. There were too many. She couldn't keep doing this…

Then she saw him. Her breath caught in her throat. Sam.

His face was torn with indecision. It didn't matter. She still couldn't forgive him. She would never forgive him.

She ran in front of the others. They looked at her. She held the perfect pose, the one that seemed to tell them she'd given up. She was panting, exhausted.

The man smiled. "Really, Rouge Child, I expected more. Giving up so quickly?"

Anomaly looked at him, her eyes narrowed and filled with hate. "Just make it quick. Sir." She spat out the name, blood going along with it.

He smiled. "No worries." He raised the knife up.

The blow never came. Anomaly struck him in the chest, and she heard the air rush out of him. She dropped down and kicked his legs out from under him. Wasting no time, she ran through the anomaly without looking back.

The council member looked at the others. "Don't just stand there!" He spat. "Stop her!"

Anomaly hated bringing her fight into this new time. She'd barely gained the trust of the others. Now she could end their lives.

She kept running. Despite how short their confrontation had seemed, hours had passed since she'd been in this time. Then again, time never made sense with anomalies around.

She heard them following. She kept going. She had to get to her Florlics. They could even the odds.

But even as she kept going, she knew it was pointless. They were going to catch up with her.

But still she kept going. What else was there?

And she made it to the ARC. The others had come in early. At least, that's how it seemed to her.

"Hey, Anomaly. Where have you bee…?" Cutter asked, before cutting off when he saw the blood pouring down her face.

"No time!" Anomaly kept running. She raced over to Lester. She grabbed him by the shoulders. "Do you have ANY kind of defenses? Anything at all?"

Lester looked at her, perplexed. "What are you talking about?"

"You are in a WAR ZONE!" Anomaly shrieked. There was no time for subtlety. "You need to get some MAJOR defenses out here!"

Lester took an involuntary step back. "Wh… what?"

Anomaly groaned. Her Florlics had come to her side, understanding the danger immediately.

Anomaly looked at the door. It was her only hope. She stared to run.

"Don't even think about it." The man snarled. He came towards her, knife in hand, suddenly appearing in the doorway.

Anomaly snarled, knife in hand. "You will not touch them."

"Too late." Someone else said from behind her. She whirled around. His knife was at Abby's throat. And, as she looked around, she found that was the case for almost everyone.

Anomaly swallowed. Things had gotten out of control way too fast. The Florlics growled.

"Far too late." The man said. "Such a pity."

"Kierto." Anomaly looked at him, her eyes cold. "Let them go. They have NOTHING to do with this!"

"But they have everything to do with it." Kierto replied, his bright green eyes locked on her. "You brought them into it, Rouge Child. Their very lives are affected because you came into their time zone."

Anomaly looked around her, at her friends, the people she cared about. All of them had knives to their throats. Connor was whimpering. Lester was arguing with them, indignant, as usual. Abby's eyes held a quiet fury that told Anomaly she would try and hurt the person behind her soon, but Anomaly knew it would be pointless. Her species of human was faster, more advanced than this one. Steven was trying to reach for a gun. Cutter was calm, simply assessing the situation with watchful eyes.

But they all had something in common. They were staring at Anomaly as thought it was her fault. And, in a way, it was.

"Put down the knife, Rouge Child." Kierto said. "And we'll let them go."

Anomaly could see that she had no choice. Defeated, she threw the knife down. "Tell Sam I hate him." She spat.

Kierto smiled coldly. "I will." He nodded towards the men, who lowered their knives. One of them ran and snatched up her knife, a blur as they took it from the ground.

Anomaly nodded towards the others, and they all looked at her. "What are you waiting for?" She asked. "Get out of here. All of you."

They all cast one last glance at her, before running out of the ARC.

Finally, Anomaly was alone with the others.

"Let's just get this over with." She spat.

Kierto smiled coldly and pulled his knife from his belt. "Of course."

As he came over to her, and raised the knife, Anomaly realized something. She was very lucky. Incredibly lucky, in fact. Because none of the guards were family. And she'd always know something, something the rest of the team could only guess at.

She knew that there was an anomaly that she could open, right here in the ARC.

Right where the others were standing.

She smiled darkly, and Kierto hesitated. It was a smile that said she was in control. A smile that said she knew more then she was saying. A smile anyone like him would fear.

She snarled, and put her hand out, held in a fist. When she opened it, light shone out of it. The light grew, and, in front of their eyes, an anomaly was born. Not just in front of them, but AROUND them. It was everywhere, it was so huge.

The light danced around Anomaly. The distortion shimmered and flickered. Kierto tried to raise his knife again, but it was far too late. Anomaly kicked him back through the distortion in the light, and suddenly, he was somewhere else.

He tried to get back, but it was too late. On the other side, Anomaly closed her hand into a fist again, and the anomaly started to close.

So Kierto did the only thing he could do. He threw the knife through the anomaly just before it closed.

Anomaly screeched in pain as the knife landed in her shoulder. She collapsed to the ground, screaming in pain.

She didn't know how long she lay there. She pulled the knife out from her shoulder, and her Florlics, who had understood what she wanted to do and stayed well away from where the anomaly formed, came over to her. Ikesa ran and brought her some bandages from her old survival kit.

When Anomaly came out of the ARC, she found the others standing outside. Her right shoulder was partially bandaged, but still covered in blood. Her face, neck, and shoulder on her left side were bleeding. Lester looked at her.

"You." He said, barking the words out and pointing a finger at her. "Have some explaining to do."

Anomaly nodded slowly.

"And I'm afraid we can't just let you tell us out of the goodness of your heart." He said, motioning for one of the guards to come over. The handcuffs were on Anomaly's wrists before anyone could blink. The guns were all trained on her.

She took a deep breath, and let it out in a sigh. "I suppose I deserve it." She said.

They all began to move back to the ARC. One thought was on Anomaly's mind.

Out of the frying pan…