Emily yanked at her hair, "you frigging… Do you have any idea what you did?"

The panic room was more like a lounge room. Complete with a personal library and Tron-styled lights and chairs. Taylor only gazed up at the room monitors in a complete awe. She didn't feel nearly as safe as Aryana had assured her. She saw monsters from everywhere, monsters in different rooms being monitored.

Big Daddy vs Deathclaw, Darkspawn vs Heartless. It was a like scenes from horror movies, except cliche monsters killing each other instead of people. Any perception she had that they were harmless was permanently shattered. Now she only wondered how she could turn them in while bypassing the absurd amount of tinker insurances with them.

Aryana's arms were crossed, proud of the havoc she'd unleashed. "That's the beauty of tinker fuckery. Hate it when it's against you, love it when its with you."

Taylor commented, "you nearly died today."

"Exactly."

Emily yelled, "The whole world could've been killed, what the hell made you think releasing this, in our home was a good idea!" Emily pointed to the screen, just in time to show an image of a wolf devouring a man-bat on one of the monitors.

Aryana let out a sigh, "I'll admit, this was sort of a 'accident gone right' situation since I'm getting some sweet livestreaming footage out of it. I only released the Witch by mistake. And I only released the rest of the monsters to try and figure out a way to kill her."

"That's not how you fix a problem," Emily yelled. "You literally threw gasoline in a fire."

"I know that now!" Aryana emphasized. "Things only got out of hand after the Xenomorph made babies with the witch. Turns out, the Predator clan was more than enough to kill all the aliens. And in retrospect, I should've woken up the Predators first, those black motherfuckers know how to get the job done."

"Of course they do," Emily rubbed at her eyes, "the Predators were designed to kill Aliens, they're not supposed be a part of some friggin live streaming gag!"

"Listen, I'll admit that I kind of panicked at first, which I also recorded, but things are under control now." Aryana pointed her thumb at the monitors, "The building's been on lockdown and it would take an act of God for any of them to get out. The Alien infestation is over, I'm not pregnant, and now I'm just waiting to see who comes out on top of this battle royale tournament I set up. It's all good, I just have to settle all those who would win forums that always filled up our website."

Emily tugged at her hair, "I can't even… Are you frigging crazy?"

Aryana curled her lips, knowing better to not answer that.

Taylor asked with a raised eyebrow, "what do you mean you're not pregnant?"

The monitors in front of the room went dark. The lights flickered on and off, and Cortana's small holographic body digitized over the panic room coffee table. "Rush, the Flood has taken control of the security cameras. We're on emergency generators now."

"What?" Rush said, "how the hell could they do that? They're gonna ruin my livestream."

Emily's eyes, "you… Released the Flood?"

Cortana's holographic arms shivered, "also, is anyone else getting really bad deja vu today?"

Aryana answered, "no, Cortana. You're just weird. And Emily, the Flood was the first guys I activated after the Xenomorph aliens made zombie witch babies. There are so many Xenomorph vs Flood forums, I just wanted to settle that question first and foremost."

"Oh my God," Emily ducked her head onto the wall, "this wasn't supposed to happen."

Taylor asked, "why would Leet even create the flood? They eat technology, tinkers should hate that."

"That's why he made it. The whole point of the flood was to take out a tinker that went insane. He never figured out a way to control it, so it was supposed to stay in stasis!"

Aryana's flung her arms up, "well how was I supposed to know that!"

"We left a giant sign that said 'Aryana, do not touch this!'"

"Relax," Aryana said with her hands raising and lowering, "I have a backup plan."

Emily said, "we never made an off switch!"

"I know, but we still have a contingency plan." Aryana pointed a thumb in Cortana's direction.

Cortana raised a finger up, and halo ring wrapped around her holographic finger, "should I reset the timer for the Halo ring?"

"Not yet," Aryana ordered, "I still wanna see who survives now."

Emily's stomach churned, she sat down slowly on the floor, "you brought… You brought his prototype Halo Ring here…"

"Yeah," Aryana said, "Wikipedia says it'll kill the flood. I brought it to our world as a contingency plan."

Emily was now pale. She always knew Aryana was a loose cannon, but she generally had control of whatever situation she put herself in. But with Leet's arsenal? Tools so unpredictable that even Leet himself couldn't understand? This was beyond her normal control.

Aryana began patting Emily on the head as though she were a puppy. Taylor remembered something that Vivan had once told her, about how Aryana actually rarely played video games growing up. It was more like a 'new' hobby she picked up just for the sake of playing something with Vivan.

"Aryana," Taylor asked, "you've… Never played Halo, have you?"

"Nah," Aryana said smiling. "I just like to say I played the classics so that people think I'm a hot gamer girl."

"Of course you don't," Emily said covering her face. "You're so frigging predictable."

"I take offense to that,"

Taylor rubbed the bridge of her nose, "so I'm guessing… You don't know what the Halo Ring does, do you?"

"It kills the flood," Aryana said, "wikipedia says so."

Emily gave off a weak laugh, "and of course Wikipedia never lies."

Taylor said, "Aryana, the Halo Ring is designed to wipe out all life in the galaxy."

Aryana blinked at her. "What?"

"In the game," Taylor recalled, "the only way to kill the flood, is to destroy all life in the galaxy."

Aryana's face turned pale. She looked down at Emily who covered her face in shame. Emily gave off a feeble laugh as she contemplated her life decisions. Rush said, "that can't be true, that's like the shittiest plot device I've ever heard. Cortana, why didn't you tell me?"

Cortana placed her hands on her hips, "you're the one who set the parental blocks on me. I don't know anything about my own games thanks to you!"

Aryana turned to Emily, "Emily, explain."

Emily shook her head in disgrace, "me and Leet made that ring so that if we had to, we could teleport an Endbringer in another dimension and then activate the ring somewhere safe... To see if an Endbringer could survive a destroyed planet."

Aryana's eyes boldened, "but uh… Leet's ring isn't planet sized like in the game. His version is literally pocket sized, so it wouldn't blow up the universe… Right?"

Emily gave off a weak chuckle, "we tested it on a dead planet. It doesn't wipe out the galaxy, but it does scorch a whole planet's surface."

Aryana's face tingled, "oh dear jesus."

Cortana looked at her wrist as though she had a holographic watch, "Aryana, we're already passed the timer from earlier, can I abort the ring again?"

"Abort," all three of them said.

"Aborted," Cortana said saluting.

Aryana commented, "haha, aborted just like my alien baby."

"What?" Taylor and Emily asked.

"Long story, I'll tell you later. But I've got another idea. You know Leet's Cthulhu project?"

"No!" Emily yelled. "You're done, any shitty ideas you have from now on, I'm vetoing it! You've screwed up enough, I'm not letting you use any more of his projects from here on out!"

"But-"

"I'm Leet's lab assistant, what I say goes!"

Aryana's lips curled. Emily covered her face in shame, "God, why did I think you were sane…"

Taylor glanced between the both of them. The monitors were shut off, she couldn't know for sure how long before their room became overrun. Taylor asked, "you guys have said Leet has to work around old ideas to make the same results, right? Like energy. Vivan explained to me that if he made a battery once, he'd have to use a plant battery the second time, and a hamster battery the third time."

"Yeah," Emily said softly, "that's how Leet told it to me."

"So, I have a question. Are there any inventions that don't actually do what they say they do?"

Emily thought for a moment, "teleportation is a one. It doesn't actually teleport us, it destroys our molecules at recreates them somewhere else."

Aryana's eyes bulged, "wait, what?"

Taylor asked, "is there any chance Toy Box can activate or change one of his inventions from the outside?"

"Dodge," Emily snapped her fingers. "The cloaking device on our building, it doesn't actually make the building invisible, it teleports the building between multiple dimensions, making it impossible to see us on radar."

Taylor asked, "Cortana, if we activated the cloaking on the building, could the flood escape it?"

"No," she answered. "Cloaking is equivalent to lockdown."

"Wait," Aryana motioned, "if we teleport the building away to strand them, won't that mean… We lose the house?"

Emily yelled, "there will be a literal apocalypse if we don't stop the flood!"

"But still…"

"No," Emily jabbed in Aryana's direction. "You don't get say anymore. All of Leet's inventions are in my jurisdiction now. Anything his, you don't touch!"

Aryana's lips shrunk. Emily ordered to Cortana, "activate the cloaking."

The building tremmered. The lights in the panic room flickered on and off. A few of the other monsters screeched around the building before the building stabilized again. The girls stood backed up as the lights flashed back to normal again.

"Building is cloaked," Cortana said with her fingers doing air quotes as she said it. "The elevator is still functional and the portal to Bet is opened at the lobby. Me and Marvin will stay behind to make sure nothing escapes. You can all leave safely when you're ready."

Aryana looked over and around the room. She liked this building, it was plainly obvious that she didn't want to lose it. Taylor asked, "if you guys activated the ring in this stasis, would the explosion escape to our world?"

"No," Cortana answered. "The gravity field here is too strong, and energy can't escape the entryway of the portals."

Aryana perked up, "so if we activated the ring here, and all the monsters got destroyed… Our home would stay intact if it came back?"

Emily squinted at her. Cortana answered, "it'll be worse for wear, but yes. The building should survive since the Ring only kills organic matter."

Aryana glanced at Emily for approval. She turned her head away and said, "fine."

Cortana gestured her hand. A loud humming stretched across the building. The ring charged as she smugged proudly with herself, "Done. I've set the timer for one hour from now. I'll bring your home back after its confirmed safe."

Aryana pumped her fists out. "Mission accomplished!"

"This is your fault," Emily said.

"Still, side quest accomplished." Aryana walked toward the elevator. "Come on. I'd rather leave with time to spare than to wait last minute like a shitty hollywood movie."

Taylor stepped onto the elevator, taking a long glance at the dark monitor screens before deciding to leave. The whole day was absurd, she could hardly believe that the Losers had access to such dangerous weaponry. It scared her knowing this. Because she was torn between being glad to know they'd never do anything evil with it, and paranoid that such an irresponsible group of people had access to it. The sooner they were arrested the better.

Emily stepped in front of the elevator and stared directly Aryana. "Aryana, I can't be a part of your team anymore."

Aryana looked back at her, "okay."

The ride downstairs was an quiet one. They were silent even after reaching the floor. "You took things too far," Emily said.

"I know," she replied.

Taylor was physically uncomfortable around them. The contrasts between them were wakingly obvious. Emily wanted to address it, Aryana practically denied it.

The lobby was calm. Untouched by the chaotic monsters from elsewhere. It was almost shocking how the scene had switched from bloody chaos to morbidly clean. The lobby had been locked away for escape purposes, showing some semblance of control Aryana had over the situation.

They left the front doors to the grassy lawn in front of the disappeared building. Behind them, the apartment complex was vanished. A dirtline mark was on the ground where it had once been. But as far as they were concerned, it was safely tucked away far from Brockton Bay.

Aryana laid back on the grass. She waited for her home to come back as Emily and Aryana walked along the boardwalk. The sun was calm, like nothing had changed since the livestream had begun. Despite how long it had taken, it was only midday by the time it was all over. In Aryana's mind, it was a success. No one was hurt, no one had died. She only let the breeze cool by her as she waited for her sense of normalcy to return to its place. Aryana whistled to herself.

All in good fun for the game of cops and robbers.

Emily walked ahead at the boardwalk with Taylor next to her. They were both silent. It was like watching the world rip itself apart and then pretending it never happened. Neither Taylor or Emily were equipped to talk about the situation.

Emily bit her lip and said, "she's whistling right now.."

Taylor rubbed at her neck, "yeah, it's crazy how someone can be so nonchalant about almost dying."

Emily's eyes furrowed, "she was whistling…"

Emily clenched her fists, and marched back to Aryana. She ran forward to find Aryana still whistling in front of the apartment's grassfield, and looked down at Aryana as she looked back up. "Sup homie."

Emily said to her, "this isn't because of the Simurgh."

Aryana cocked her head back, "excuse me?"

Emily pointed to the Simurgh tattoo on her hand, "you, doing this. You putting yourself in danger… That isn't because of the Simurgh, that's just you, and no one else's fault."

Aryana stared at her for awhile. "Okay."

Aryana didn't believe her, but she also didn't want to argue with her. So she simply accepted what Emily said without any rebuttal. Emily said, "and this isn't Accord's fault either. You worked for him, but he didn't make you. Everything you've done, out of spite for him, it's not his fault you're this way, it's your own fault."

Aryana's eyes furrowed, "what the fuck, Emily?"

"You have to hear this," Emily's voice raised. "You're not some chosen child of the Simurgh, and you're not some legacy from Accord. You've been your own person since you came to Brockton Bay, and everything that's happened to you has been your own fault, and no one else's."

Aryana's mouth fell flat. Again, she did her best not to say something brashful to her. She rationalized that Emily was shaken, and was just saying things to vent her frustration.

Emily said, "you're actually worse than both of them combined. You break things just to see how things break, and then you fix things just to see how in control you really are. You take the worst parts of both of them by trying to act against either. And they didn't make you that way, you made yourself that way."

Aryana looked away from her, "Emily, I really don't need to hear this from you."

"Then who are you going to hear this from? Vivan? He thinks you're a saint, and everyone except him knows its wrong. How long before your screw ups get him killed?"

"Shut up Emily," Aryana yelled, "alright, I get it. I fucked up. Now leave me the fuck alone."

Aryana's head faced the ground, not wanting to see her. Emily's eyes closed, her eyes were watery but she didn't want Aryana to see that. "The least you could do, is stop pretending everything's alright. It's sick, not funny. The least you can do is that."

It was at that moment that they both knew what the real problem was: Aryana was in denial. She didn't want to believe Uber and Leet were gone, so she put on this facade like nothing had changed.

Emily turned around and finally left her alone. Taylor was still ahead of her, watching the spectacle out of curiosity. When Emily returned next to Taylor, she said, "Taylor, I'm not going to be a part of this team anymore… Can you promise to check on them? Like the same way you did today?"

Emily rubbed at her eyes. Taylor answered, "I'm not… Sure if I can. You saw what happened today, there are a lot of things outside of my control."

Emily said. "Just… Be their tether, please. My team doesn't know its limits, and I've had to hold them back a lot of times. Since I can't do that anymore, can you promise me that you can keep them in line? Can you promise to make sure they never take things too far?"

Taylor's bug listened to Aryana behind them. She was murmuring to herself, like there were voices in her head she was trying to suppress. Taylor answered, "yeah, I can at least promise that."