The silence spoke volumes, everyone was processing what Helen just said. Manny couldn't believe what she was saying, but why would his best friend lie to his face? He needed more information; everything was still vague.

"What is she talking about, Julie?" Hera questioned slowly.

The woman stayed quiet. Hera didn't like to repeat herself. These were absurd accusations being thrown at her, and she decides to say nothing in all of it. Hera wasn't one to damn someone over one side of the story. Everyone was in an emotional state at the moment.

"Julie… Is she telling the truth?" Hera asked again.

No one moved so Hera decided to do some digging herself. She picked up the discarded phone and looked at the screen. Nothing. She looked through the call-log to see who she was talking to. It said the last person Julie had talked to was her dad last night. Hmm. Maybe an App? Hera scrolled through the phone and saw a few apps that allowed for calling or messaging. She'd have to get one of the IT guys to take a look through it.

"Family. She mentioned her family," Helen added.

"You think her family might be involved? A hostage situation maybe?" Hera thought out loud.

"This shit is so confusing," Manny commented as he facepalmed.

"Sorry Julie but you'll have to stay in the holding cell until we get to the bottom of this," Hera ordered.

The commander called in a few guards to take Julie away, leaving the trio in the room.

"You believe me, right?" Helen pleaded.

"I believe that something isn't right here and it's my job to figure it out," Hera replied firmly.

"I mean her silence is all the evidence you need," Manny chirped.

"I can't know for sure, not until I find out who she's been talking to. Until then, get some rest."

Hera left the room in a hurry, phone in hand. Manny kicked over an empty garbage can in annoyance. He wished he'd been there to hear what Julie was saying. It would be more damning to have two people speak against her. Hera knows of Helen's grudge towards Julie, and with the speedster being in such an emotional state; Manny understood how it must have been difficult for Hera to choose a side. He was angry at himself for being so useless: he couldn't do anything in the fight with the Plumbers and now he couldn't even back Helen up properly.

He watched Helen silently cry in the corner. The Tetramand wanted to say something, anything to cheer her up. But he couldn't think of the right words to put together. So he gave her that physical love that he was so used to. Manny's hand firmly grasped Helen's shoulder to show his support. The woman glanced at her partner with teary eyes, before shaking her head and leaving the room. Manny slowly lowered his arm and stared at the door she exited through. She was right in a way to leave; he needed some time to himself.

**PAGE BREAK**

Present day- 30 minutes before Tetrax's ship arrives.

The investigation into Julie's phone led nowhere. Whoever she was talking to was able to scrub her phone of their history. Whether they did that to keep himself from being found out or to keep Julie clean of this mess was a mystery to Hera. She was still keeping the woman in a cell until further notice. She was relieved to find out that Allen has finally stabilized after almost 48 hours of surgery. They basically had to rebuild his stomach, the sophistication and complexity that went into such a task was beyond her. She heard that nanotechnology was involved, another reason she was thankful for that black-haired woman. The retrieval of dire medicine and supplies gave the doctors another chance in saving those injured from the explosion. Everyone was predicted to make a healthy recovery.

A knock on the door interrupted her journaling, she called for them to come in, as she closed the small book. Manny stepped into the room to give his report. The man had insisted he take over raid duty after Allen's fight. Hera relented after being asked several times, she did need a continued network of supplies. It took a visible toll on the alien; he looked like a mummy with all those bandages and Hera could see the bags underneath his eyes from her desk. Between training new recruits daily and engaging in raids during the night, Manny had no time for sleep.

Manny was about to start the brief when Hera put her hand up for him to stop. She wasn't such a stickler for the rules that she'd make a dead tired man deliver a report. Hera motioned for the alien to sit across from her; she'd be doing the talking this time.

"You're doing a good job. I know the raid was a success; I would have heard otherwise before you even entered the building. Allen is recovering nicely and he'd want his position back you know. How's Helen doing? I haven't heard from her in a bit."

Helen? Shit if you think I'm doing bad then you should see her. Helen hasn't showed up for work at all the past two days. The woman she was working with has since taken over for her predecessor. Helen has closed herself off in her room and refuses to see anyone. Manny is the only one she's willing to talk to through the door. He wants to give her the space but he's worried about her. Fear was tearing her apart inside, regret was eating up the pieces, and depression had set in place of her displaced emotions. The last time Manny talked to her, Helen broke down sobbing behind the door. She really didn't want to do this anymore. Manny had a feeling that she wouldn't last much longer.

"Helen? She's been better but we're dealing with our own shit right now," Manny concluded.

Hera nodded and replied, "Let me know if you guys need anything."

Manny sucked his teeth at the lack of responses he was getting from Helen. He stuffed his phone back in his pocket and decided to visit the woman instead. He made his way over to the residential section of their HQ. They had to give a lot of freedoms joining this resistance and living wherever you wanted was one of them. Manny knocked loudly on the door and waited for the usual monotone greeting. The Tetramand started to get a little nervous when no one answered, he assumed she was in the bathroom.

"Are you looking for Helen? I usually hear her moving around in the morning but I didn't hear a peep from her this morning," the next-door neighbor said as they went inside their own unit.

Fuck. Manny started violently pounding on the door.

"Helen? Helen! Helen, do you hear me?"

Manny had enough of this wishy washy shit, so he stepped back and kicked the door in. He rushed inside of the dark room and pinched his nose at the stink of garbage. It was hard to scan the room when the only light was coming from the doorway. Manny was tripping over random bags when his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he checked under his feet for what it was. He realized it was her belongings stuffed into garbage bags and littered around the room. Another light caught his attention; a sliver of light coming from the ajar bathroom door. Goosebumps covered the alien's arms as he approached the door slowly. Nothing in the vicinity was even remotely scary, yet he could feel fear building up in his stomach. Manny tried to push the door open but it stayed in place, something was blocking it. He used a bit more strength and the door slowly opened to reveal a terrifying sight: Helen was unconscious on the floor of her bathroom with dried foam oozing from her mouth, an empty pill bottle laid near her hand.

Manny went into soldier mode and immediately attempted first aid on the unresponsive woman. He was shaking heavily while he performed CPR, nothing seemed to work on Helen. A scream from behind him turned his attention to the neighbor who had tears in her eyes.

"Call for help!" he shouted quickly.

Manny kept calling Helen's name as he exhausted every option to get her breathing again. This couldn't be happening right now. Why didn't he see the signs?

Manny stood beside Helen's hospital bed in silence. The doctors had just finished pumping her stomach and giving her liquids to flush out the drugs. Things looked bleak at the moment. All they could do is wait and see if she wakes up. Hera insisted she'd wake up soon. Manny wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, and sat down in the chair nearby. Two of his friends were critically injured and he wasn't able to protect them both times. He felt useless yet again. Helen and him were close, really close. He was bewildered as to why she didn't tell him what she was going through. All of them were on the edge, it was each other's jobs to keep everyone from stumbling into the abyss.

Manny knew of Helen's occasional drug use from a couple years back. The woman had immense amounts of anxiety that made daily functions difficult. He remembered her joking about the reason behind it: "I'm fast and my life is always struggling to keep up". She found solidarity in Xanax and claimed "it made her slow down". She sobered up a year ago today. Manny chuckled at the joyful memory of their little celebratory party he and Allen threw for her. Another thought that popped into Manny's head was where she got all those drugs in the first place. The Tetramand prayed for her fast recovery.

A shadow passing by the door window caught Allen's attention. Who's wandering around so late? He assumed they were most likely a doctor or nurse rushing to a patient's aid. Allen couldn't shake the bad feeling from yesterday's mission. He felt like they walked right into a bear trap. Breaking into that supply room should've alerted security to their presence, but the only person who showed up was that freaky girl. The fact that she showed up before they tripped the alarm was strange and he was sure that Wendy bitch didn't push her security button. That means Plague knew they were going to arrive there in a certain time frame, and the only way she'd know that is if someone told her.

A traitor? Allen didn't want to accept the idea but things seemed to point in that direction. Shit. Maybe they have someone with clairvoyance on their side. It seemed too predictable though, and if that was true then why didn't they use their powers to know of any other previous raids? Something was fishy for sure. The only people who knew of that raid were Manny, Helen, Hera, and him; there was no way in hell any of them betrayed the resistance. Allen was trying to think back to who else might've known. A flash of Julie appeared in his mind, and he started to remember their conversation. How she was standing at the end of the hallway with that solemn face and waving so cheerlessly. But she couldn't be the traitor either. Sure, he and Julie had their disagreements from time to time; but the idea of treason was too preposterous as her love for them was immense.

A shadow crept swiftly down the dim-light hallway in the direction of the holding cells. A lone guard yawned as he fluttered his eyes open at a noise. He had to pick up two shifts because the prior man reported to medbay with a cold. He wouldn't even have to be here if this chick wasn't sentenced to the holding cell. They didn't even tell him what she did, but it must've been bad to be thrown in here. The soldier glanced at the sleeping form of the black-haired girl. No way this little girl could have done something so heinous. He stretched and yawned again before resting his head on the cold concrete his chair was up against. This resistance shit was looking worse and worse everyday; they've been losing people left and right. It's been a week since the Tennyson girl went off-world and there has been no word of her returning with Ben. He just wanted to get back and see his girlfriend; he was thinking of proposing after all this shit was over.

"Let's hope Ben fixes this shit before the new year," the guard whispered as he closed his eyes.

"Fat chance."

A splatter of blood rained on the wall, the man's eyes shot open as he clutched his cut throat. Blood poured out into his feeble hands onto the floor. He barely had time to make out his killer before slumping over in his chair, dead. The figure wiped the bloody knife on their sleeve as they stepped over to the cell bars.

Julie stirred in her sleep to the sound of tapping. She groaned, annoyed, as she sat up slowly. She rubbed her tired eyes and yawned loudly. When her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the cell, she could see the source of the tapping. A mysterious figure stood at the door, hitting the metal bars with the flat of her blade slowly. The menacing smile erected on their lips gave the woman chills. Julie's eyes shifted to the still bleeding corpse in the chair, her eyes widened in horror at the sight. She was about to scream when a slight gust of air passed by her face. The sound of the knife embedding in the wall next to her echoed in her cell. She could feel the wetness of blood staining her cheek from where the blade grazed. The scared woman looked back at the smiling intruder who had put a single finger up to their lips, instructing her to be quiet.

Julie couldn't make out the stranger's features in the lack of light. Did she plan to stare at her all night? The woman's question was answered when a note slipped between the bars and dropped to the floor. Julie didn't dare move from her spot on the bed, a hibernating bear could hear her beating heart. The person stepped away from the cell and into the shadows, disappearing as quickly as they appeared. Julie stumbled out of bed to grab the note left behind, her blood went cold reading the words. Hurry up. Mr. Yamamoto won't last long.

Julie clenched the small paper in her hand. Dad… A single tear spilled as more threatened to fall. She was really in the hole now, who would be willing to help her? After betraying their trust Hera would never lend a hand. And Allen… She didn't mean for this to happen. They backed her into a corner. What was she supposed to do? Julie thought she could handle the situation herself, but one thing led to another and now Allen was laying in a hospital bed. She remembered the day as if it was yesterday.

**PAGE BREAK**

Another text from her dad asking her to come home. Julie was frustrated with the latest string of texts her dad had sent. He usually never texted, and he rarely called ever. If it wasn't about tennis or a scholarship he didn't want to hear about it. Even if it was his only daughter joining a dangerous resistance. Since she explained to him about her intentions to help Ben and his friends, he hasn't shown any want for his daughter around. Typical dad.

Julie stepped off the bus and scanned the area, it looked like her own neighborhood. Still the woman wasn't taking any chances; she pulled her hood more over her head. She disguised herself as a student with a backpack, so she wouldn't be randomly stopped by Plumber authorities. If things went south Hera had her keep a communicator on her person, and plus she kept a concealed weapon underneath the pink hoodie. Julie stopped in front of her residence and took a moment to take in the small gray house. She made a plethora of memories here, some good and others bad, nonetheless they were fateful memories.

Her mind skipped over an image of Ben. Those were simpler times when the most she had to worry about were tennis matches. She had Ben Tennyson by her side and there was a time when she wouldn't have it any other way. Things couldn't be any greater, that was a peak age of happiness for the then teenager. It was different now. She didn't understand the man like she used to.

"Dad? I'm home!" Julie shouted as she entered the foyer.

The woman stepped out of her shoes and slipped on her house slippers. Something didn't feel right about the silence that answered her greeting. She was trying to think about what she did wrong to cause such conflict with her father. She walked through the empty hallway into the living room. Julie's heart dropped at the sight before her. Mr Yamamoto was tied to a dining chair in his underwear with cuts and bruises all over his visible skin. His face was almost unrecognizable, it was beaten so badly. Blood was everywhere, on the floor, on her dad, and on the wall.

"Daddy?" Julie choked as she ran over to the beaten man.

"Hey! Daddy! Wake up! Daddy, wake up!" Julie shouted at the unresponsive man.

A cough came from mister Yamamoto as his head slowly raised up to the voice of his daughter. He could feel her hot salty tears spilling into the various cuts on his face.

"Julie… You m-must leave this place. Now!" he croaked painfully.

"No!" Julie argued. "Not without you! Come on, we'll get you to a hospital!" she ensured as she pulled at his restraints.

"Tell me, is that hospital in or out of your rebel base?" a feminuine voice asked from behind.

Chills ran down her back at the similarity of the voice compared to hers. Julie turned around to see herself sitting on their family couch. Magic? Was the first thought in Julie's head. How else would one transform into an exact clone of her.

"Usually my transformations don't work on people close to the cloned individual but I guess your pops was just so eager to see you again, that he didn't realize something was wrong until it was too late. You should've seen the look on his face when his own daughter beat the living shit out of him."

Hearing that felt like an arrow was shot straight through the woman's heart. The thought of her dad missing her was almost nonexistent. Julie didn't stop to think that maybe he'd miss seeing his only daughter, even though he doesn't show it.

"The thing I like most about old people is that they never have any passwords for their devices, it makes invading their privacy very simple. No code on his phone to worry about when attempting to send his daughter multiple texts to stop by. You must've thought this was going to be some type of reconnection. Sorry to disappoint."

Julie saw red from the disrespect this intruder was showing her father. She won't stand for such. The woman pulled out the revolver she kept on her and pointed it at the imposter's head.

"Fuck you," she quipped as she pulled the trigger.

The clone didn't have time to move before the .38 entered their forehead and splattered brains all over the window behind them. A spurt of blood hit the cheek of Julie's straight face. She turned back around to continue removing her father's restraints.

"You kept it…"

"You're hurt, stop trying to talk," Julie replied.

"My Smith and Wesson from my cattle ranch days back in California… The one that I gave to you as a gift for-"

"My 15th birthday. Who gives their daughter a gun for their 15th birthday."

"Well you were growing up and I wanted you to be able to protect yourself. It seems that my calculations were correct; you are all grown up and you're fully capable of protecting yourself."

Mr. Yamamoto smiled at his daughter, his eyes were full of joy for his child. Julie had tears staining her eyes. They haven't shared a moment like this in years.

"How cute! The little girl loves her daddy after all!" the voice mocked.

The clone stood back up like nothing ever happened. She didn't even have a bullet hole anymore. Julie pointed the gun at the clone again.

"You must think that my ability is to disguise myself as other people. I'll have you know that you couldn't be any more wrong. My skin releases a toxic gas in the air that attacks the brain, creating life-like hallucinations. You think that you pulled out a gun and shot me when in reality you haven't even pulled the trigger yet."

"What-"

Julie was interrupted by a nasty punch to her throat that made her drop to her knees, clutching her agonizing neck as she struggled to breathe. The stranger kicked the kneeling woman in the face, sending her tumbling onto her back. Julie tried to get a glimpse of what the person really looked like but her eyes were only showing dark inky blots clumped into a shadowy figure.

"Shadow, we have to leave," another voice announced.

"Can't you see that I'm in the middle of something, Plague?" Shadow shouted at the black-clad woman.

Another person was here? This Shadow person must have blended them into the background using her power. Julie glanced at the discarded weapon a few feet away. Ideas began to stir in her mind.

"I checked her things. There is some sort of communicator in the bag. We can't risk the chance of it being bugged; we must leave immediately!"

They checked my bag? How many things were oblivious to me during this whole thing! Julie slowly inched her hand towards the weapon, she'd shoot the woman in hopes that it disrupts the hallucation.

"Maybe if you actually hit me, but this is a mirage so I could be anywhere in this room."

A mind reader too? I'll have to act now! Julie grabbed for the gun and her fingers passed right through the handle like it was a ghost. She was astonished by the intangible revolver.

"Not a mind reader. Staying in my hallucination for extended periods of time causes you to vocalize all your thoughts. You should've heard all the shit your dad was saying. Anyway you aren't even reaching for the gun, idiot," Shadow taunted with a sinister laugh.

"Enough games! We're leaving right now. This woman is useless!" Plague argued.

"Julie, tell me when and where the next raid is going to be?" Shadow said, ignoring her partner.

Julie stayed silent in fear that her thoughts would betray her again. Shadow took it as a sign of defiance. She didn't like when people didn't cooperate. She squatted in front of the fallen woman and reached out to touch her forehead.

"Maybe this'll change your mind."

As soon as her fingertip made contact with Julie, an antidote was released into her bloodstream. Julie felt like she was in a nightmare; colors mixed and objects were distorted creating an entire new reality. An actuality revealed to Julie that she was oblivious to from the second she stepped foot in the house. Julie's eyes widened at the wrecked living room, many things gathered from her room sat in a messy pile in the center. Her dad was still in the same sorry state she met him in except another person stood in all black next to him. A single gloved hand squeezing the man's shoulder.

"Surprised?" a high pitched voice asked.

A little freckled girl with blond pigtails and a devious smile sat in place of the clone. Julie couldn't believe her eyes, this girl was no older than ten years old. Julie was staring at a young girl who looked like she was dressed for a princess birthday party. Shadow stood up and moved closer to her partner.

"You don't wanna see what happens if she touches your dad without the glove," she taunted.

"What do you want?" Julie pleaded.

"Information."

"They don't tell me anything!" she cried.

Shadow dropped a small phone in front of Julie's face and coldly stated, "You better figure it out. For your dad's sake."

**PAGE BREAK**

Julie hugged her knees to her chest and softly sobbed until morning. There was a lot of commotion when the dead guard was discovered. The resistance was down on manpower as it is and for them to lose even one person, it hurt the cause greatly. Julie was already on the chopping block for suspicion of treason and for a dead soldier to turn up in her vicinity didn't help her case. The woman was currently in the Hera's office for yet another questioning session; she was quickly escorted in there after the crime scene was found.

"I need you to tell me what's going on for me to help you," Hera coaxed gently.

Julie hugged herself, she needed to know this was real. Ever since the incident at her house everything has felt so scripted.

"I don't believe you killed him and I think there's more to this situation than you're letting on."

Julie gritted her teeth and lowered her gaze to the floor. It was too late for help, there wasn't anything anybody could do now. The damage was already done.

"You can start by telling me who gave you this phone," Hera insisted as she placed the device down on the desk.

"They'd kill him," Julie murmured.

"Kill? Kill who? Who's him?"

Tears escaped Julie's eyes but she kept quiet. Hera sighed in frustration. She was irritated at the fact that things were happening right underneath her nose and people were suffering for her negligence. She couldn't even help her own soldiers with their personal demons. Gwendolyn may have been right after all. This isn't a simple war and these aren't disciplined soldiers like the ones from back home. Humans are so emotional. She thought as she glanced at the silently crying Julie.

A knock on her door pulled the warrior away from her daydream. She watched the door slowly open to reveal a bandaged Allen standing in the doorway. He looked a lot better than the last time she saw him in bed. He inched inside using a pair of crutches and kicked the door closed behind him. Hera noticed quick winces of pain as he moved. He may look okay but he definitely wasn't doing well.

"What are you doing out of bed?" Hera demanded.

"Doc said I could stretch my legs if I wanted to. So I thought I'd make a trip to see you."

"And?" Hera said, knowing what he actually wanted.

Allen sucked his teeth, admitting to himself that his act wasn't fooling anyone.

"I wanted to know how Manny and Helen are doing? I asked several people and all of them told me to find you."

Hera smiled slightly at how her subordinates threw her under the bus. One of the many curses of being a leader; people look to you to deliver all types of news, good or bad.

"The mission was a success if that's what you're asking; Manny and Helen safely returned with the medical supplies and they were promptly given to those who needed it."

Allen limped closer to the desk. Julie's back was to him, so he couldn't see her crying face. He leaned over and gave the woman a kiss on her head. Julie shuddered in response, not knowing what to do in this situation.

"So where are they now? Don't tell me they went on another mission already?" Allen laughed.

"Allen, I don't know how to say this: Manny is okay but Helen is in a medically induced coma. He's probably in Helen's room right now if you want to stop there."

Allen was almost too stunned to speak. Almost.

"You just said the raid was a success and they were okay!" he shouted.

"And it was. Until Helen decided to swallow half a bottle of fluoxetine the next day. Manny found her collapsed in her dorm bathroom."

Allen felt like he was about to fall over, he limped over to a dusty bookshelf for support. He could feel his heart racing. Sweat was already appearing at his brow. Fuck Helen, you were doing so good! Why the fuck did you go back?

"And though you do seem surprised, you don't seem completely shocked by this information."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I did some digging into Helen's background: dropped drug charges, Plumber write-ups for failing an official drug test, and an admittance to rehab? When were you going to tell me this?" Hera declared.

"It was none of your business," Allen quipped.

"None of my business? Not knowing one of my soldiers is a junkie is none of my business?"

Allen pointed a threatening finger at Hera and remarked, "Don't you dare call her that! She changed!"

"Yeah… Some change that was."

"So what? You're gonna crucify her for trying to block all of this shit out?!"

Hera was about to vocalize her thoughts when Julie's voice cut her off.

"Stop it! Both of you! This is my fault! I'm sick and tired of all the fighting!"

Allen was spooked by the sudden statement from his girlfriend. He had totally forgotten she was in the room and for the first time he noticed that she had been crying this whole time. Something about what she said made his heart sink into the deepest gutter.

"Babe? What do you mean it's your fault?" Allen asked gently.

Julie, I don't think now is the best time-" Hera started.

"I don't care! I can't stay quiet about this any longer while people are suffering. I gave up your raid location and time to the Plumbers, Allen."

"Babe, I don't understand-"

"The reason why Helen is in the hospital and you have a hole in your stomach is because of me."

"Wait! Helen's overdose was a totally unrelated incident, Julie," Hera claimed.

Allen's head was spinning a million miles a second. He was out for two days and missed an entire novel series of information. Why didn't anyone tell him what was going on? Especially to his best friends. Nobody had the common decency to inform him?

"No… I planted the drugs in her dorm room," Julie revealed with tears still in her eyes.