Warning this chapter for mentioned, offscreen gore.

"Dan, you are going to wear a hole in that floor," Ash said, looking up from another messy, tangled attempt at sewing.

"I'm thinking," he said. "Polar is going to be tricky to take out. He knows me, Ash."

"He knows a scared lab assistant," Ash said. "And by 'knows', I mean he might have gotten a glimpse of you trying to hide."

"The motivator we were testing was hurting him. A lot. There's more than enough reason for him to want to kill me if he knew I was still alive." Polar wouldn't actually need a reason, of course, but Ash had to admit that did put them into a tight spot.

"We won't let that happen," Anna said from the other corner of the room.

"That's what I'm worried about." Dan frowned, then stopped pacing.

"You know, we aren't completely useless without our powers," Anna said.

"Just mostly useless," Ash said. "Speaking for myself, I mean." Her eyes darted back and forth, hoping that Anna wouldn't notice or take offense. Ash didn't know whether it was the lingering effects of recharging the house, or whether it was just that she knew what was going on, but she had felt on edge around Anna ever since then. "You know, you haven't mentioned what Polar can do."

"I wasn't the main person on the project, so I don't know all of the details. Epic powers can get really complicated, you know, but—"Dan stopped. "You don't need me to explain that. The basic things were he could see metal through stuff, and move it around. Both fairly simple powers on their own."

"But devastating in combination," Ash finished. "Like Faultline."

"Yes, like her." Dan smiled. "She would've been a fun Epic to get a tissue sample from." He sighed. "He could also control snow and ice that were already there, but that wasn't what we designed the motivator around. Didn't think it would be as useful. I don't think anyone expected this." He waved his hand around to indicated the blizzard, then stopped, frowning. "There's something I've thought of, but I still need to figure out how I can use it."

"You see, it's important to replicate stuff like what we were researching. Because the first time could've been a fluke, or someone screwing up, or—Sorry. Words getting away again. Anyway, the motivator we were testing when Polar came wasn't the only one we made."

"A backup," Ash said, looking thoughtful. "You sure it still exists after all this time? It's got to have been years since your lab had power."

Dan grimaced. "Dr. Reynolds had us overengineer everything. That thing could've survived a bomb going off on it. Maybe not that. But still."

"If you say so. So, does this doohickey do anything useful, apart from bringing a scary Epic down on us?"

"That's exactly what we're going to be using it for." Anna froze, and Ash felt herself grin despite herself. "No, it makes sense. Polar can't not be curious about it being activated again."

"An ambush. Julie would've loved it," Ash said. "I love it too. You're absolutely sure he doesn't have any defensive powers? Otherwise, we're screwed without knowing his weakness."

"I'm not. Dr Reynolds was the one who knew everything, and even then, there could've been action potentials we missed."

"So there's a nonzero chance he could shrug off anything we throw at him and we all die horribly?" Ash said. There had to be a catch. And she should've honestly seen that catch coming. "Epics like hiding powers when they can. It makes people underestimate them, make mistakes." Just like Julie did, Ash thought.

"Ash, there's a nonzero chance of that anyway. You should know this."

"We knew there was going to be risk when we decided to go after Permafrost," Anna said. "This adds more, but Dan knows what he's doing."

Ash rubbed her temples. "Got it. We're going to just assume that Polar is weak to bullets. What could possibly go wrong?" She closed her eyes. "Please tell me at least one of you have fired a weapon before?"

"You do remember what state we're in," Anna said, looking over to Dan. "I've gone hunting more than a few times, and Dan's even better than I am at shooting tin cans."

"Right," Ash said. "How could I forget that." And no mention of any weapons being aimed at an actual person. There were times Ash forgot she was dealing with amateur hour, but moments like this brought the realization rushing back.

"Anyway," Dan said. "This all is completely academic if we don't have the motivator. The lab is in the middle of Permafrost's territory, so we're going to be a bit discreet about getting it."

"Right. We don't get to do our ambush if Polar knows we have your thingamadoodle."

"Is the word 'motivator' that hard for you to remember?" Dan shook his head. "Whatever. I don't think Permafrost knows what the lab had in it, so it shouldn't be that guarded, but people don't go into the buildings on campus much anymore. So if we're spotted, we're definitely going to look suspicious."

"You don't think?" Ash said. "Doesn't Polar work for him now?"

"I don't think Polar would want to draw attention to a place with motivators that hurt him. There's so many ways that could be used against him."

"Okay, point taken," Ash said. "So, no guards to speak of, but lots of potential danger if we did draw too much attention to ourselves. Any ideas on timing?"

"I've been working on that," Dan said. "Night would give us the advantage of everyone being asleep, but of course we'd need to bring light to see. Which would probably be visible for quite far away, given the snow. Either way, I think sooner is better. We have no idea what Permafrost wants with Polar, and I don't want to find that out."

"Right." At best Permafrost wanted a powerful lackey. At worst, there was some scheme even worse than what Permafrost was already doing to the town, that could blow up in their faces any number of ways. "Any objections to tomorrow?" Ash said.

"Nope," Anna said. "We're running out of time anyway, if we want to hit the next time Permafrost has to renew the storm. And there's nothing that I know of that Aunt Clara wants me for."

"I should probably stop by in the morning," Ash said. "I really don't want to start ditching her after only a day."

"Keep it quick," Dan said, looking at Ash. "I'm thinking of doing it during the day."

"I know. I'm a professional. Sort of. Maybe. On a good day."

"You fill me with confidence," Dan said.

The end of Ash's chores came way too soon. Ash put the last set of supplies she was organizing in its proper place, and headed for the door of the clinic. Her eyes darted back and forth. They weren't even into the dangerous area of town, and she was already a bit nervous. If this goes poorly—Ash froze. If this went poorly, she would survive, but knowing her, she'd probably be the only one. And she'd have another bloodbath on her hands. No. This is a pretty simple mission, just a basic fetch quest. Julie did tons of those without any issues, there's no reason to assume that this will be any different. Though Julie had the advantage of being with trained Reckoners, not a bunch of farm-people and nerds who only had the vaguest idea of what to do in a fight.

Anna's voice shocked her out of her thoughts. "Ash, good to see you. Everything ready for today?"

"Sure, everything's fine. The place is unguarded, it'll be a piece of cake." Ash frowned. "You wouldn't have anything lighter in color I could borrow? I'm not normally that fashion-conscious, but this brown jacket's going to stand out like a sore thumb next to the snow."

"I can think of something," Anna said.

"All the equipment's ready to go?" Ash had spent the evening with Dan organizing all of the scavenged weapons and packs Dan had collected since Calamity had risen, but she had to check.

"As far as I can tell."

"You're absolutely sure you've checked everything? If we get caught, or if we can't find the motivator, we're screwed."

"I can't believe you of all people would be nervous about this."

Ash rolled her eyes. "I'm not nervous, I'm realistic. Things always go wrong."

"Then we'll improvise," Anna said. "But nothing's gone wrong yet."

Ash sighed, and waited for Dan to arrive.

The three of them left shortly after, and Ash went ahead of the other two, scouting the area around the building for any potential threats. There were a couple of Permafrost's guards patrolling the area, but none of them seemed particularly focused on any of the lab buildings. Dan was right, Ash thought. No one cares about this place. Maybe things would go as easily as Anna and Dan seemed to think it would? And even thinking that is the first step to you screwing everything up. Again. And though she could undoubtedly survive any such screw-up, the chances that the much squishier Dan and Anna could were next to none. Unless Anna is hiding some kind of defensive power I don't know about. Which hey, look! Another thing that could go horribly, horribly wrong.

She shook her head, then turned around to go back to the others, who were shivering a short distance away. "All clear, as far as I can tell."

"We should avoid any guards, just in case," Dan said. "Most people aren't interested in the abandoned labs, so we'll look really suspicious if we're spotted."

"Point." Ash nodded in approval. Dan had put more thought into this than she had thought. "Well, standing around like this is definitely going to get us found." She pointed her head in the direction of the building, and surveyed it carefully. A section of roof had fallen in from the weight of the snow, and she had her doubts about whether the rest of the building could hold up either. Wouldn't be the first time one of those things has fallen in on you, Ash thought. But this time would turn out better, even if it did cave in on them. She would make sure of it.

The doors were locked, but a swift kick from Ash was all it took to knock it off its rusting hinges. She noted with some amusement that she didn't even need to use her powers for it. They really should build these things better, she thought. Not that the architects of this building were expecting an apocalypse, or the many years of rust and decay that followed. She gingerly placed the door in place after they entered, and mentally crossed her fingers that no one would look too closely at it. She gestured to Dan. "Lead the way," she said.

The dark, labyrinthine building, if Ash had to be honest, creeped her out. Even the tunnels of Newcago had lights along them, and the solid steel held no scent of mold. That, she thought, wrinkling her nose, Was not true of this place. Ahead of her, Dan sneezed again. "Sorry," he muttered, at the same time as Anna said "Gesundheit." Out of habit, Ash's eyes darted around the air, looking for any sign of movement. Nothing, apart from a stray draft that blew a powdery stream of fallen snow across the floor. Not all abandoned buildings have enemies about to jump out at you, Ash thought. Particularly ones this close to Permafrost's palace. No fugitive would be dumb enough to hide two blocks away from an Epic's hideout.

Dan stopped abruptly at one of the doors. Or, more accurately, he stopped at the space where a door had once been. The hinges were nearly rusted away, but even in their decrepit state Ash could tell they had been ripped apart violently. The door itself lay several feet into the room, the glass of the window shattered. Note to self, Ash thought. Be careful when walking. Her healing factor sometimes worked against her when it came to sharp objects.

"Polar made quite the entrance, didn't he," Ash said, treading carefully into the room. Lab equipment was scattered everywhere, along with the rusty smears of what could only have been blood. The thought of whether she'd see any bodies crossed Ash's mind, but she tossed it aside. This was early enough after Calamity that people made some attempts at burial after an Epic attack. Nowadays, people mostly left the bodies where they were. The dead mattered even less than the living.

Dan took in a sharp breath. "Yeah. He did." He bent down, and picked up a small metal object with a pair of wires coming off of it, and though his back was turned to Ash, she could hear stifled sobs. "He tore this out of Dr. Reynolds's chest." Dan's tone was matter of fact and dull. "Right after he came in. He said it was his punishment for defying the laws of Nature."

Ash stopped in her tracks. "Dan, I'm—" Her voice broke. Back then, you would've done the same, a small, poisonous voice in her head said.

He set down the pacemaker. "It's funny how the memories never really go away." He shook his head and cleared his throat. "Anyway, work to do." He pointed at the back wall of the lab, which held a long-ransacked set of cabinets. "If I'd have to guess, the backup motivator should be around there. Silvery box, about yay big." He held out his thumb and forefinger. "Won't have a proper casing of course, that's something I'll need to figure out once we get back home."

Ash surveyed the mess of trashed mechanical parts on that side of the room. "One needle, one haystack, got it."

Anna walked over, picked up a small piece of metal that looked like it had been ripped from the door of one of the cabinets, and then threw it over her shoulder. "You forgot how all of the hay looks like needles," she said.

Minutes passed as they searched through the rubble, finding nothing but torn pieces from any number of types of equipment. "And you're sure this thing is still intact?" Ash said.

"It better be, otherwise everything we're doing here is pointless."

Anna groaned and stood up. "I can make this a lot faster," she said, closing her eyes.

"Anna..." Dan's voice was wary.

"It'll be for half a second. I don't think Polar is going to notice a muscle twinge and have his first conclusion be 'someone has a motivator made from me.'"She opened her eyes and rapidly turned around, opening one of the more intact cabinets they hadn't gotten to searching. "And done."

"Anna," Ash said, unable to keep the worry out of her tone. "What did you do?"

"I can control tech with my mind. Sort of tell where it is, too. So, I turned the motivator on for a quick second, so I could find it." Sparks. She seemed almost proud of what she did. She ruffled through it, bringing out a box similar to what Dan had described. "We're going to be moving it anyway. It doesn't matter if Polar knows this was here."

"Cool," Ash said. Her voice was dull and flat. "Let's try to never do that in the future."

"Fine," Anna said flatly. "I don't get many opportunities to use that part of my powers anyway."

"Which is a good thing," Ash said.

"I know neither of you like me using my powers, but they're how I can help," Anna said.

"Destroying yourself is not—"Ash broke off, shaking her head. Anna was stubborn. Arguing the point wouldn't help anyone, much less her.

Dan cleared his throat. "We should go. We got what we came for, and if by any chance Polar thought what Anna did was real—"Not finishing the sentence, he turned towards the doorway. He stopped in his tracks, and nodded towards Anna. "Good idea. Risky idea, but we'll see whether it pays off."

Grumbling to herself, Ash followed them out the door.