A Side N

She was majestic, in a terrible sort of way.

"Noelle!"

The figure loomed under the dark sky, a storm of rock, glass, and corpses swirling around her. The alabaster feathers of her many wings shrouded her form, the delicate features of her face expressionless as her hair swirled. She moved with a grace and precision that defied the battle raging through the city. Lights and thunderbolts ignited the air, and yet she remained unphased.

"Luke, lift Jessica!"

And all the while the screaming filled Noelle's ears. The constant, wailing cry. She could hear words hidden in the sounds. Mockeries, asking her why she failed. Why she wasn't good enough. Why she couldn't protect them.

"We have to go!"

Just a little girl, playing at being a hero in her games.

"NOELLE!"

She flinched, spinning on Krouse. He grabbed her wrist before she hit him, pulling her away before she fell back. Her heart pounded in her chest. When had she wandered so close to the edge?

He looked at her frantically, saying, "We have to go!"

Noelle turned, looking down at Oliver.

He wasn't the best player, truthfully. He was capable, at best. Someone who could take up a role and not completely screw it up. The perfect person for a second string. She always felt guilty for that—for using him that way, even when she knew he hoped to be more.

And now he was dead, crushed, blood pooling at her feet.

"Bye."

"What do we do," Mars mumbled, eyes set on the figure in the sky.

The Simurgh. The Endbringer. How? How were they here? Why were they here? Mars' face was pale. Luke was panicking. Cody was hurt. Oliver was dead.

Noelle felt her breath hitch and she put herself in her place.

The skyscraper lay on its side at an angle. The glass around them was broken and cracked. She didn't know how every surface wasn't shattered, but it wasn't.

They weren't that far from the ground. If they jumped from here they'd either fall through a window or break a leg, but if they got a little lower...

"Mars." Noelle grabbed her friend and pushed. She was a dancer once. Even though she hated it, she was light on her feet and balanced. "Mars, you have to go first! Luke will be right behind you to catch you if you fall." She turned to Luke. "Right?"

He nodded weakly, muttering curses under his breath.

"Krouse, you take Jess."

As he did, Noelle tied the girl's jacket around his chest to help support her weight. When the building fell, she hit her head hard. If anyone got hurt, best it was Jess. That felt cruel, but she couldn't walk anyway. They'd have to carry her down no matter what happened.

"Cody! Come on. Let's go. Get up." Noelle pulled him to his feet. "It's going to be okay. Let's go. Come on!"

As Cody rose and Mars started feeling her way across the face of the building, Noelle stiffened.

The Simurgh looked at her, eyes white and empty. It whispered again, that scream still in the back of her mind. Telling her over and over how she couldn't save them. How she wasn't good enough. That she could only play the hero.

"Shut up..."

"Noelle?"

She turned on her heel. "Go!"

She vaguely knew of the snow falling around them, but it hadn't been snowing back home. The building wasn't covered yet, and if they moved quickly they wouldn't have to worry about slipping. They just had to keep moving.

First rule of any game, always stay on the move. Don't stand around waiting.

"We have to jump!" Noelle shouted as Mars reached the end. "It's okay. It's not that far!"

Above, a beam of light cut through the air. Noelle glanced back only for a moment. The golden beam blasted down from the sky, blowing apart a building floating in the air. The Simurgh flew through the falling debris as if it were a mere breeze, and a stream of glass shot toward the clouds.

A man in armor moved to the side.

Hero.

The HERO. The one from Earth Bet, one of the most powerful capes on either world.

"Noelle—"

"It's okay, Mars!" Noelle turned, focusing her attention on what was important. "Luke, take her arm and lower her down." Noelle crept forward, carefully moving over the glass. "Then me. You'll have to lower Krouse and Jess. Cody will help you, then Jess and I will help you both down. Quick. Go!"

They moved without question. They always moved without question, because in the game Noelle always knew what to do. Except this wasn't a game. There was an Endbringer not even a mile away and things kept falling out of the sky.

Have to get off the building, Noelle told herself. We have to get off the building before something hits it!

It was slow. They were still ten feet off the ground, but Luke was tall. His arms were long. Mars stumbled when she landed, but she was okay. Noelle went next, letting her friend catch her before she hit the street. Then came Krouse. Noelle worried about Jess. She was bleeding from the side of her head, but how badly?

"Hold on!"

As Mars helped Cody down, Noelle ran over. They were lucky. A janitor's closet or something must have been nearby. There was a ladder buried under some rubble.

Noelle pulled it free and it made it easier for Luke to join them.

And then they ran. The screaming grew distant for a time, and then it suddenly became louder. The words whispered harsher, crueler. Oliver was there, asking why she left him behind. Why she let him die.

I'm sorry.

"Look out!"

Krouse grabbed her arm and pulled. The rock crashed into the street, followed by a truck. A man smashed into the street, and Noelle watched him flip over in the air and crack his head.

"Is he okay?" Mars asked.

"Grandiose down, D-9," a voice said.

"Not… down..."

"He's alive!" Mars pushed herself up. Noelle followed, ignoring Cody as he shouted after them.

"Are you okay?" Noelle pushed him onto his side. She remembered something like that from some course or another. "Can you hear me?"

"Not… Time..."

The voice was cusp and curt, saying, "Grandiose, she's shut down most of our movers."

"No… Can make—" Grandiose shook his head.

Time? What was a mover? Suddenly, Jess being knocked out didn't seem like the best of the worst thing. She knew a lot more about Earth Bet than any of them.

"I'm sorry," the voice apologized. "I know how fast you can fly."

The man tried to push himself up, and Mars started to help him. His head turned her way, but he looked dazed and confused.

"I have time," he mumbled.

"I'll let your wife know." Wife, know? Why was she talking like he was already dead? "Do you want me to keep a recording for your son, when he's older?"

"Dragon!"

A tone sounded in the air, and Noelle looked down at his wrist.

Her eyes widened. "Mars!"

The man pushed them away and rolled over. "Run."

Noelle had never seen anyone die before. She certainly never saw insides become outsides and splatter her as she sat on her knees and stared.

Why…

"We have to go! She's coming this way. Noelle!"

Krouse pulled her up. Luke and Cody lifted Mars, and when she didn't move, Luke passed her to Cody. Luke looked pale, his eyes constantly moving to the red stain on the ground. Cody lifted Mars up but struggled.

Save them, Noelle told herself. Run.

"No. Luke. You're stronger. Take Mars!"

She didn't look hurt. She wasn't bleeding. Knocked out? Fainted?

Turning to Jess, Noelle checked on her as she hung from Krouse' back. Still secure. "Let's go!"

They ran, and they kept running.

"The fuck was that?!" Cody screamed.

Luke heaved, hand over his mouth. "Why would they blow that guy up?!"

"Just run!" Krouse snapped.

Noelle saw a shadow pass over head and her heart seized. "No!"

She stopped, falling to her knees and scraping the skin off. She grabbed Krouse by the legs, sending him toppling over. Mars hit the ground and gasped, rolling onto her back and barely avoided the monstrous thing of teeth and bone that crashed in front of them.

"The fuck is that?!"

Noelle pushed. "Over there! Down there!" She moved toward a small passage leading into a parking garage. "Go!"

She pushed Krouse and helped Mars stand. All the while the scream laughed at her. Mocked her for even trying.

Shut up!

They ran into the darkness, ignoring the gibbering and flailing monster that never seemed to see them.

"I can't—!" Mars cried. She heaved heavily, hand going to her mouth as she vomited into it. "I—That man!"

She heaved again, and Noelle felt all strength leave her limbs. She couldn't run anymore. How long had they been running? Why was any of this even happening?

"What do we do?" Krouse mumbled. "Noelle? What do we do?"

She didn't answer. She didn't know. It was just supposed to be an exhibition game… Jess was going to play Evelyn for the giggles!

"What are we sitting here for?" Cody paced. When Noelle looked up, her heart sank. She could see it in his stance, in the way he bounced on his feet. "We should be running!"

He was going to leave them. After everything, he would just leave?

"Mars needs a minute," Luke said. He'd moved to her side, his hand rubbing her back as she vomited yet again.

Jess still hung on Krouse's back. Was she even alive? Outside, the battle continued, and Noelle still heard the scream and the whispers no matter how much she shouted in her head. The Simurgh was supposed to be the worst, wasn't she?

It couldn't end here. Not like this.

Noelle forced herself up. "We—"

"We need to move!" Cody snapped.

"Wait."

"We know!" Krouse growled. "Jesus Cody shut up about it! Look at Mars, she can't run right now and Jess isn't exactly a feather!"

"Then fucking leav—"

"SHUT UP!" Noelle screamed. "Shut up, Cody!" That was his problem. He could never shut up and listen! She turned her head. There it was again. "There's someone calling for help. Over there!"

Noelle forced herself forward.

Flashing lights illuminated the garage, dozens of car alarms silently going off. That was strange, but not as strange as the door of concrete on the far wall. It lay half closed, crushing a big SUV under its weight. The vehicle was torn and cut, as if something tried to eat it.

Noelle stood helpless for a moment, staring at the creature on the ground. It was big, bigger than the truck and crushed by the door of stone. Black blood spilled over the asphalt, wisping into the air as smoke. It didn't move, and there was a dead man in the truck with his arm down its throat.

The passenger side door hung open, a woman clutching at her side as she bled. Her skin was dark, a red dot marking her forehead and a doctor's coat over her form. The white was stained red, and she watched Noelle with weak eyes.

Forcefully, Noelle stepped forward. Krouse tried to stop her, but she ignored him.

Oliver was dead. That poor man was dead. How many others were dead?

Not another. Please not another.

"Hold on, I'll—"

"Take it," the woman said weakly. She lifted her arm from her side, blood flowing fast from the wound. Noelle tried to stop her, but she grabbed a briefcase from the ground and pulled it. "Becca… Take it to Becca… She..."

Noelle waited, but no more words came.

The woman stared at her, eyes empty and dead.

And the voices mocked her for letting someone else die.

The battle ended abruptly. The Simurgh stopped fighting and…flew away.

They were running from the monsters now.

Noelle's hand gripped the handle of the case, her mind doing its best to ignore the blood slicking her palm. She didn't know why she carried it. The thing meant nothing to her, but that woman died for it.

Whatever the contents were, they were important.

Jess woke at last, but she was weak. One of her legs was dark and swollen. Internal bleeding? Broken bone? She needed a doctor. Noelle tried to ask one of the heroes for help, but the man attacked her. Shouted into some radio in his helmet. Sector isn't secure? Something like that.

She escaped him, barely.

One of the monsters came wailing from an alleyway and speared the man on a tentacle. Again, she watched someone die. Fortunately for her, the other heroes started fighting it and she slipped away during the chaos.

The others were hungry. They were dirty. The fucking heroes weren't being very heroic.

She could still hear the voices, mocking her. Oliver asking why she didn't save him. The woman looking at her with dead eyes begging for help. That hero, exploded by the other heroes.

They never got much news about Earth Bet on Aleph, but Noelle never thought it was like this.

They were resting again. Krouse held her, fast asleep for his part. Jess, Luke, and Mars clustered against the opposite wall in the hallway, and Cody had stalked off. Noelle kept expecting him to leave and never come back, but so far he always returned before the others woke.

She didn't know how long they could keep running. Sounds of fighting continued outside. The howls and the screams. The monsters weren't everywhere, but there were enough of them. She didn't know where they came from but they kept the heroes busy.

She'd overheard two talking. Something about a quarantine for the city. They were going to wall it off. Anyone who didn't escape before that would be trapped inside.

Krouse snored in her ear and Noelle quietly opened the briefcase. The woman didn't have any ID or a phone that worked. She hoped looking inside would tell her something.

There were papers within. Several notebooks and some files. She didn't understand them. Then there were five cylinders, each marked with strange names. The papers didn't really make sense to her, but some of the words written…

She took one of the cylinders, marked 'Division.' The name was on the notes too. The 'mechanism by which the agents divide themselves.' 'Agent' appeared a lot more times in the notes, enough for her to gather what the word meant.

A power.

Just a little girl, playing hero. She kept hearing the words. They were right.

Slowly, Noelle gripped the top of the cylinder and twisted it off. The note made it pretty obvious the contents were to be swallowed. She didn't look inside. She looked to Mars. To Jess. To Luke. She felt Krouse's chest against her back, his arms around her waist.

Be a hero, she told herself. Be the hero they needed to survive.

She closed her eyes, threw her head back, turned the vial up and swallowed.

She didn't understand at first. After waking up, she didn't feel any different. She closed the vial and put it back in the case. Maybe they just didn't work? Stupid. Powers in a vial? As if that would work.

Then one of the monsters found them. It dropped from a hole in the ceiling, lashing out with arms longer than Noelle's entire body. It knocked her aside, cut Luke's face. Bit into Marissa's shoulder.

She screamed. She screamed and scratched at the thing as it just bit down and thrashed. Noelle threw herself at it, tired to push it away.

And she saw…she saw the woman. She was in a lab of some kind while someone watched her. Someone afraid and alone. Terrified. Confused.

Then it was just there. A light in her mind. A power.

She only needed to squeeze it out, cast a shadow from the light.

Noelle stood and watched as the creature tore into itself. Two identical monsters—not monsters, people—ripping and tearing in their pain. He had a name, but he couldn't remember it. He didn't even look like himself anymore and he knew it. He was wrong and the world was twisted.

He wasn't the only one.

The suffering haunted her dreams.

One. Two. Three. Four.

Every time they saw one of those poor people, every time she touched one, she felt their suffering. How they begged for someone to help them, trapped in bodies that weren't theirs. She saw faces and forms she recognized. People who were important enough on Earth Bet she'd heard of them on Aleph. Big ones.

Why didn't they help any of them? They called themselves heroes.

At least the memories helped her get the others out of the city.

There were tunnels, a maze of them, under Madison. The monsters filled them before, crushing and hurting one another in their desperation for escape. Knowing the tunnels existed helped explain one of the loose sheets of paper in the briefcase.

It was a map, and there were different routes marked. The woman must have tried to escape whatever hellhole she had under the city and used the one that took her to the parking garage. Working from that, Noelle noticed another line, one that went far to the east.

It took some convincing, and pushing the lights she held in her mind out. The shadows could protect them. They weren't real people. Just shades of poor souls left to suffer in the dark.

The path winded a lot, circled back on itself more than once. It seemed convoluted as an escape route. Probably why the mad scientist didn't use it.

It worked.

When they emerged out of the far end, without much difficulty, they were in a suburb, far from the fences and lights the army had established around the city center. Noelle noticed the door was ajar when they left, as if someone had come and gone recently. She didn't see anyone nearby though.

Strange that none of the monsters had come this way. Maybe they couldn't. Some of the tunnels were collapsed by debris and rubble from above.

"What now?" Mars asked.

Noelle looked toward the lights in the distance and rows upon rows of tents. "We find Jess a doctor."

"Noelle?" She flinched, turning at the shadow in the doorway. Krouse stared at her, a frown on his face. "Noelle, you promised."

She looked down at herself and frowned. The costume wasn't good. She'd thrown it together from clothes Goodwill was handing out to the refugees. The blood didn't make it look any better.

"They're dying," she whispered. "The heroes are killing them."

"They're attacking people."

"It's not their fault!" Noelle felt the tears well up. "They're confused and afraid! I've seen it! They saw them in the labs. The Triumvirate. They're supposed to be heroes but they're not! They're not protecting people out there"—she stabbed a finger at the window—"they're covering it up!"

"You said you wouldn't go out," he snapped. "Noelle. We're barely hanging on. Cody keeps skulking off. Mars keeps crying. Jess and Luke can't stop arguing with each other… I can't do this alone."

Noelle felt her heart sink, but what could she do? They wanted to go home, but there was no going home.

If they admitted how they got into Madison, the Protectorate would lock them up. She didn't trust the Triumvirate. She couldn't. People who would do such horrible things—who would turn a blind eye to the suffering of dozens, hundreds even—weren't heroes.

Krouse just glared at her. It hurt. It hurt more when he stalked off, hands in his pockets.

He looked so defeated.

She felt defeated.

How easy her life had been. The feelings of lost love, burning anger, and overwhelming sorrow. It went beyond anything she'd ever experienced. In comparison, her life was perfect. So many of the little lights in her mind were probably dead now. Killed with no one to speak for them, to tell their story or give voice to their suffering.

She couldn't let it go. Someone had to do something. Someone had to be the hero they needed and didn't get.

The army was building a wall around the entire city now. Even the tunnel they'd used to escape was being sealed off. Noelle wanted to stop it, but she couldn't without revealing herself. She couldn't do that. It would bring the heroes down on all of them.

She couldn't do it alone…

Turning to the bed, Noelle looked at the darkened space beneath. The briefcase was there, and the four remaining vials.

She heard their voices. All of them. She remembered the scream and the cries within it. Oliver begging her to save him. That woman mocking her for even trying.

She couldn't save those people. Their bodies were twisted, and if she were honest with herself, so were their minds.

She could at least avenge them, with help.

She convinced the others. Cody wasn't hard. He was desperate for anything to let him feel in control. Jess always liked capes. The idea of having a power was exciting to her, and when Noelle explained what her power was showing her, Jess was furious. Mars wanted to feel safe again. Luke took more convincing, but after Krouse refused and shouted at her for what she was doing, he took the last vial.

They could make something good from this.

Someone had to do something.

Someone needed to be the hero.

The people flying around, talking to the cameras with their false smiles…they weren't heroes.

Noelle pulled herself back around the corner. She'd barely covered her head before the man clipped the stone and kept going. Rock and dust blew into her side, and her knee gave out as a particularly large piece slammed into her thigh.

She hit the ground, hands scrambling for purchase.

It wasn't like a game.

She pulled herself up, panting and coughing for breath as the smoke swirled. In the distance she saw both her shadows tearing through the street. One swung with impossibly large arms while the mouse lady threw her sword at the other. She flashed, vanishing before the claws struck and reappearing as the blade dug into the back of the other.

"That's not Gouda'nuff!"

Noelle ignored the crazy mouse woman.

Mars swung her sun down, the burning sphere incinerating her second shadow in a matter of seconds. They didn't last long, even when they had some kind of invincibility. Luke and Cody were a few steps back from her, helping people get out of cars and pretending to fight the monster crocodile Jess created.

They were safe.

The Protectorate wouldn't fight three capes that were trying to help while 'monsters' were smashing through the streets.

A groan drew her eye away.

Noelle swallowed and crawled toward the man. He wore a loose robe over his body and a hood to cover much of his head. The mask beneath that obscured his face but she recognized him.

Myrddin.

He was there. He saw what the doctor was doing. He'd know more about who was involved.

"Ar—Are you okay?" Noelle cursed how fake that sounded, but she reached out anyway. "Mister?"

His eyes rolled as he sat up. She told the shadows not to kill anyone. How did tossing the guy into a building not kill him? Was it something about that shimmering field his power made right before he got hit?

Noelle hesitated at the last moment, but then she remembered. She heard the voices. Felt the fear.

Someone had to do something.

She stretched, pressing the tip of her finger to his cheek. The light ignited in the back of her head and as it formed she saw the flow. She searched, poking through the onrush of moments, feelings, and sensations.

It wasn't there.

Why wasn't it there?

"Hey!"

Noelle startled, pulling back and turning. The men flanked her, one pointing some kind of nozzle to the ground while the other moved toward Myriddin.

"We have another civilian," one said. "Myrddin looks like he took a bad hit."

Noelle glanced down the alley, trying to gauge if she could run.

"Right. We're on it." The man lowered the nozzle and pointed. "That way, it's not safe here. Martins, get him up. We're taking him south to Triage."

Noelle didn't wait. Pulling herself up, she broke into a sprint and ran. It's easy to slip away in chaos. The battle continued behind her. The screams. The gunshots. The crashing.

Not like a game at all.

"I saw him," she muttered.

"Did you?" Cody snarled. He sat across from her, hand clutching his shoulder.

The cape in the mouse getup was more dangerous than all the puns suggested. Puns. Who fucking did that while people were getting hurt?

Noelle glanced around the van. They'd swiped it weeks ago and so far no one seemed the wiser. If only everything else went so smoothly. Mars was exhausted at the front wheel and Luke was angry beside her. Jess was still asleep, her body lay in its cot while her dream-shape flew overhead and kept an eye out. Noelle didn't hold much hope she would react better.

It wasn't anything like a game. Screaming. Shouting. Chaos. She barely managed it, and in the end Cody got hurt and everyone else was miserable.

All this to get close to Myrddin, and when she finally touched him—helped him up after he got knocked down—he didn't know anything. She tried to explain the weird black spots in his memory, the gaps where she could swear something should be, but was just nothing.

"I saw him," Noelle repeated. "He was there. He saw what they were doing."

"Maybe you're just crazy," Cody growled.

"Please stop arguing," Mars pleaded. "Please."

Maybe Krouse was right.

Three months of trying and what did she have for it?

Three months and she wasn't any closer than when she started.

But someone had to do something. Someone had to care about what was really going on.

At least it didn't take long to get home. She could talk to Krouse about it and try to think of something.

"Guys." Mars stumbled back from the kitchen. "There's—"

Noelle threw herself forward, hands held out as she pulled at the lights. Myrddin. Chevalier. The crazy Mouse woman. They'd do.

Had someone found them? The Triumvirate? One of their cronies?

Krouse was right. They shouldn't have gotten involved. If the Protectorate came after them now, they'd all be killed. It would be her fault.

"No need for that," the man said. He sat on the couch with a bowl of cereal in hand. The TV was on, turned to a news channel playing a report about the 'Chaos in Chicago.' "It's clever, using your powers to produce a 'monster' to draw attention. Then you jump in. The fight becomes a mess. It's easy to walk around collecting powers that way."

Noelle swallowed.

She recognized him. A short and ugly man. He was distant in the memories she'd gathered, a figure only the oldest knew. He was one of them. One of the capes who helped that woman torture and mutilate.

They'd been found.

"Can I ask why?" The man glanced at her. "I'm curious."

Luke and Cody were spreading to her right, while Mars stayed behind her. Mars wasn't good in a fight. She hated it. Hurting people wasn't something she could bring herself to do. Jess was still downstairs in the van. Did she even know they were under attack?

Noelle forced herself to focus on the moment. If she threw herself at him, maybe the others could get away. Go into hiding. They didn't really know much anyway. Cody and Luke barely believed her at all.

"I—"

"Myrddin isn't with them anymore, though I applaud you for putting it together, however you did."

Noelle's jaw slackened. "What?"

"Myrddin. He's not with Cauldron anymore. Too decent a man to tolerate what they're doing. They let him walk away. Wiped his memories relating to the project. As twisted as my old friends are, the truth is they're not completely heartless. Just misguided."

Cauldron. She recognized that name. Some of the capes she touched knew it. A rumor or a ghost. A secret group that sold people powers. Then Cauldron were the ones hurting so many people?

Noelle lowered her hands, watching the man eat his cereal as if a fight were the furthest thing from his mind. How did he know what she was doing? Was this a trap? A way to fish for what she'd discovered.

Or… The way he talked about his 'old friends.'

"What do you want?" Noelle asked. "Who—"

"David," he said. "I'm retired from the life"—he waved a hand at her thrown-together costume—"as it were." He sighed and set the bowl aside. "That said, I'm not sure how much longer I can feign ignorance about what the rest are doing. It was supposed to end a long time ago, when we put an end to Scion." His face turned grim, anger filling his eyes. "They seem unwilling to let it go."

Noelle watched him. "Scion?"

"A long story."

"No—Façade."

Noelle turned to Mars. She nodded down the hall, and she turned to see Krouse stepping inside. He looked confused, grocery bags in both hands. Why couldn't he stay away a while longer?

"Ah, Francis is back."

Noelle's head snapped back around, glaring at 'David.'

"Good. You've all got nothing but cereal around here. I know the saying is to eat a balanced breakfast, but sugar and corn is hardly balanced."

The fuck?

Noelle moved forward quietly. One thing Cody could do without complaining; sit on a roof across the street and constantly reset someone if they woke up. Made creeping into their houses a lot easier. He could only send something back a few seconds, but that meant a sleeping person stayed asleep and didn't remember waking up at the sound of someone in their house.

It was a nice house, she supposed. A little big for a woman who lived alone. Not that Noelle cared.

She stopped every few steps. She scanned the shelves. Poked at the floor. Conjured her shadow of the Elite woman to wreck the place if anything happened.

Something rubbed her wrong about David.

If he cared so much about Cauldron, why wasn't he the one doing these things? Why send her out to 'figure it out for herself?' He seemed to know plenty on his own.

The woman sat up every few steps Noelle took, clearly stirred by the creaking in the floor. Cody kept putting her back, leaving her in place as Noelle slowly made her way across the room.

A trap, she expected. Some sort of ploy. Something that might get her more if she walked into it than tried to avoid it.

By the time she made it to the bed though, there was nothing.

She reached out, pressing a hand to the woman's neck. She shot up and Noelle pulled her hand back as Cody reset her. Then, she dropped her Strider shadow and teleported away.

She and both her shadows appeared on the roof. Noelle needed a moment to assess the costumed figures. She still wasn't used to them.

Mars' was striking, black armor with red panels, with a visor over her eyes. Luke's was much the same, with big shoulder pads in silver and pouches across his chest. Cody wore a silver bodysuit with padding and a full-face helmet. They looked good, especially compared to Noelle's use of a simple suit and a bulletproof body skin underneath.

Agnes Court was an agreeable sort, if you could pay her.

Noelle didn't like paying her with David's money.

"Well?" Mars asked.

Noelle reviewed what she'd learned, noting some of the gaps in Magic Hat's knowledge. It was strange, like someone just punched holes into her memory. Strange. The holes felt a lot like some of the holes in the Case-53s. Spots of just…blank. Nothing to see. Nothing to remember but a discernible sense that something was missing.

Still, there was enough.

"It's so much worse than I thought." Noelle poked a finger at the pillow beneath her. "They have all these projects. Contingencies, they call them." The suffering of millions is a fucking contingency.

Krouse leaned in, kissing the nape of her neck.

"Calm down," he whispered. "You know it's no good when you start talking in circles."

"But they're monsters," Noelle pleaded. "They're making villains and heroes 'for the balance' like the world is a game state!"

It wasn't a game. People were dying.

Noelle screwed her eyes shut and pushed herself back into his chest. Things were better between them at least. Having better places to live, food to eat, and running water brought everyone's stress down. Mars was managing better. Luke and Cody were playing games again. Jess struggled still, but she was better.

"Then David told the truth."

David told the truth. "I guess."

Yet, he refused to let her touch him.

On the face of it, Noelle could understand why. It must be invasive, knowing that someone knows the things you know. Feels the things you feel.

She couldn't shake the feeling that he had another reason.

He knew something he didn't want her to know.

"I'm sorry."

Noelle turned her head in surprise. "Sorry for what?"

"For being so difficult. For refusing to take one of the vials when you asked. Now you're all going out there, risking your lives to try and stop bad people from doing bad things the only way you can." He smiled grimly. "All I can do is sit here."

"No." She turned in his arms to face him, burying her face in the crook of his neck. Stress and fear can push things to places they'd never been before. Guess that had come full circle for Krouse. "I'm glad you're safe. Gives me something to look forward to."

A reason to keep going, to hope there would be some reward for her at the end.

"You don't have to do this."

She pleaded, begged.

Krouse wouldn't listen. It wasn't right. Krouse was fine before, why did having a power and helping matter so much now? Had she just not paid enough attention?

Did she fail again…?

David stood nearby, one hand in his pocket and a cylinder in the other. 'Split' it said. What did that mean? How was it different from Division? The notes sort of explained the other vials, even if Noelle couldn't comprehend most of them.

"Please." Noelle took his hand. "Krouse."

He smiled at her. "It's going to be okay."

Would it be? She tried to think of something, anything, that might change his mind. What words could convince him they could do this some other way?

She didn't find any and she felt Oliver's gaze looking back at her asking why she always failed to make any sort of difference.

Noelle threw the door open.

"He's using us!"

"Calm down," Mars said. She followed behind her, hands up at her side. "Noelle, please."

"No!" How could she calm down? "We never should have trusted him!"

"Are you going to bother explaining that." Jess rolled herself into the room with a scowl. "Or would you rather keep screaming?"

"Think about it. Why does he need us to fight Cauldron? Why is it that the last ten leads he's given us have all resulted in huge fights in the middle of cities with nothing to show for it!?"

"He said—"

"I know what he said, Jess! I was fucking there!"

The girl recoiled in her chair, eyes wide.

"Noelle?"

"What?!" She spun on Mars, angry that they weren't angry. Then she saw Mars' face and a chill came over her. "What?"

Mars hesitated, eyes hidden behind her visor. "Jus—Just calm down. Please?"

When was the last time she stopped to breathe? Noelle stumbled back, finding herself a seat and taking it. Pulling the domino mask from her face, she breathed in and out slowly.

"Sorry."

"It's okay," Mars said. Jess' face disagreed.

Luke came in a moment later, the bag with Cody's body in it hanging from his shoulder. Noelle closed her eyes at that thought. Cody deserved better than to be stuffed into a bag.

She failed again. Oliver. Those poor people in Madison. Everyone who'd been killed and hurt in the crossfire the past few months.

Now the fucking Nine and that zebra-striped woman joined the chorus of mockery and lamentation in her mind, as Cody's throat being torn open played over and over again.

"He's not trying to stop Cauldron," Noelle snarled. "He's not."

"But—"

"He's not!"

She thought back over the past few weeks. Fights in four different cities, always somehow stumbling into the Protectorate. Always somehow blowing up in the chaos no matter how she planned. How she directed the others. Or what Krouse said his power was showing—

Krouse. The chair flew back as Noelle ran down the hall toward their bedroom. She threw the door open.

"Krouse?" Her heart sank. Where was his bag? Where was he? "Francis…"

Everything was gone, save her clothes and toiletries packed nicely into her bag.

"I'll go check outside," Luke said.

"I'll tell Jess," Mars replied. "Noelle…"

They left. Maybe they should. They never wanted this fight.

Once they were gone, Noelle reached into her pocket and retrieved her phone. The text came after she entered the room. Had he been here in one of his splits? Staying so that he'd know when she arrived and when to send the message?

Noelle hesitated, but thumbed the open button and read the words.

You were right.

She paced through the night.

"Go to sleep."

She couldn't.

Jess scowled, her dream-shape set into a form similar to her actual body. She couldn't perfectly replicate it, no matter how hard she tried. Something was always off. Currently, it was the scales along her arms and legs.

But this way she could walk, and it's not like she ever truly slept.

Her real body lay silently in the back of the van, resting in the cot. Mars and Luke shared a sleeping bag across from her, fast asleep. Noelle didn't know when that started. She tried to be more happy for them than jealous.

"Noelle."

"Can't sleep, Jess."

"Staying awake isn't gonna help."

She knew that. She didn't want to sleep all the same.

It was all down to Newtype now. Did she believe them? Did Noelle spill so much information, only for Cauldron or David to come knocking at their door?

Triumph's memories were clear. He 'knew' she didn't work with Cauldronn, but the Triumvirate did keep their secret. They didn't ever consider that she was a Pet, but she might be.

The only real lead Noelle had on that was a mix of Triumph and Parian's memories. The news never reported that Newtype was at Canary's concert because someone warned her Sam Stansfield was going to die. The PRT knew, but if Calvert withheld that information from Krouse...

David knew they were working against him.

Letting Taylor arrest Krouse was just getting him out of the way, locked away somewhere. How long had he known? Since Krouse asked for a vial? After? David backed away so suddenly, giving them space to move without him being so close by.

Was it all just a long con?

"I'm going for a walk."

"Noelle."

"I'll be back."

She moved toward the door and kept going. It was quiet in the mountains, the hustle and bustle of the city distant toward the coast. Plenty quiet to think, even with all her demons chattering away at her failures and the prices she paid.

It almost seemed too good to be true.

Was there finally, after two years, someone else trying to stop the madness? If Taylor really was as real as Parian believed, as idealistic as Cauldron thought she was, and as hellbent on never stopping as she presented herself… Maybe. Maybe Jess, Luke, and Mars could settle in Brockton somehow. Get out of the fight that was never theirs and that they resented her for dragging them into.

She could team up with Taylor and keep going after Teacher.

Maybe find some way to get Krouse out of prison.

Did she want to reveal that much?

It was easy to talk about 'finding' the vials and not mention it was in Madison. She'd learned a lot since arriving on Bet, and the most important thing was to never ever bring up being near the Simurgh. It gave people an uneasy look, like they were assessing a threat.

The Hopekiller terrified everyone, and Noelle didn't blame them.

It was easy to talk about trusting David too much and Krouse being dragged in. If she mentioned how he'd tried to investigate David from within though, would Taylor believe them? If she was a pet she'd already know though, and why go along with any of this?

And then came the next question.

"Give me the notes," she'd said. "I'll see what I can make of them."

Noelle walked down the dirt road to a small drainage ditch. She hid the briefcase inside, though it seemed like it might be excessive. David never seemed interested in the contents, but the way that woman tried to protect them…

The notes were important to someone.

Taylor's power made her smarter. The news didn't talk about that either and she discounted the rumors online. It seemed true though.

If Taylor could read the notes, would she find something Noelle couldn't?

Reaching into her pocket, Noelle pulled out her old phone and turned it on. She started looking through the message. Warnings about Teacher's plans that Noelle usually failed to stop. Potential pets who might know something. Free capes who were in league with him.

She scrolled past those, looking for the smaller, more tender messages.

I love you.

She didn't cry. She wasn't sure she had that in her anymore. The past two years were too hard.

Something needed to change. The game that wasn't a game kept getting worse. She couldn't keep playing catch up.

With a deep breath, Noelle closed the messages and powered the phone off. The old burner was long dead. Krouse's final notes were the only thing on it worth keeping.

She turned her other phone on and dialed the number she was given.

It didn't even finish ringing once.

"Façade," StarGazer answered. "May I help you?"

"Is Taylor there?"

"She is asleep at the moment."

Of course she was. It was late and they'd been up sharing and probing one another for deceptions for hours.

That bothered her, like it did with David.

Taylor saw her but she never saw Taylor. Hard to read a person by just their voice. It was rational for Taylor to be nervous. The whole touching thing.

But what did Taylor really have to hide if their enemies and goals were the same? If she was a pure and noble as presented, why hide anything? Hiding was what Cauldron did. What David did. People doing bad things wanted to hide them.

A question Noelle intended to answer, but she'd have to get close for the chance to really know. If Taylor was a real hero, then they needn't be enemies. If she wasn't… Well, she'd serve her purpose. Just like all the rest.

For that, she needed to keep the line between them open.

"Okay," Noelle said. "I'll give you the notes."