hello everyone! so sorry it took me so long to post! I was gone at a summer camp for the whole week, but now I'm back!

welcome to Shattered Sun! We've reached the halfway point of Resistance, and I am SO excited! I have tons of plot twists and epic events planned...I hope you enjoy this part!

also, thot i needed to put in an age log so you know how old everyone is. I did age some characters down (like krei, momokase, and chief cruz, who is still old enough to be Megan's dad, don't worry) and some characters are aged up (like fred and liv) so the pairings will all work without being weird. sorry i probably haven't been super clear! so here are everyone's ages: hiro is 15, megan is 15, tadashi is 18, honey is 20, fred is 19, gogo is 21, wasabi is 20, momakase is 20, karmi is 18, granville is 40-something, chief cruz is 30-something, callaghan is 50-something, krei is 30, liv is 26.

also, I'm looking for any fanart anyone wants to make of any of my stories, especially Wasteland and Resistance! I would love to see your depictions...if anyone would like to make any art you can private message me and I'll tell you my email so you can send me pics! I may even use some pics to replace the Wasteland covers...they could totally be cooler!

thanks everyone! You guys are the best!

peace out!

—HIRO—

We don't stop running until we reach Muirahara Woods, which means we have to go all the way down Main Street and then cross the bridge. By the time we reach the latter, I'm so tired I can barely walk, let alone run.

I glance over at Megan, whose arm is still wrapped around my shoulders. My best friend's face is pale, sweaty, and smokestained, and blood drips from her forehead down her face. I'm sure I can't look that much better, but she was in the burning café longer than I was. I hope Meg is okay.

"We're almost there," Tadashi gasps. "Mr. Krei, we're almost there, right?"

"We're getting close," Krei agrees, swiping a hand across his forehead. "Only about half a mile left."

I groan inwardly, not wanting to walk any farther. I don't think I was badly hurt in the fire, but my burns are stinging and I feel bruised in several places. My asthmatic lungs are still protesting the smoke, and I keep having to stop walking for violent coughing fits.

"We're almost there," I whisper to Megan, whose eyes are half-closed. "Just a little farther."

She nods, sweat dripping down her face along with the blood, her grip tightening on my shoulder. I wince as her fingers probe the bruised skin but don't protest.

"How bad are you hurt?" I ask quietly as we enter the woods. "I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner."

"It's okay," Meg whispers. "I think my ankle's broken again, but that's the worst of it."

I raise an eyebrow at her, and Meg laughs weakly. "Really, Hiro, I'll be okay. I don't think it's even as bad as it was in the bombing. How're you doing?"

"I'm fine," I reassure her, even though I kind of want to collapse to the ground. My head aches where it hit the ground, and while it's only a bruise, it's enough to warrant Advil. My shoulder, back, and hip all feel bruised, and I know I have small burns on my face, neck, and probably my ankles. My hair might also be somewhat singed. I know I only have minor injuries, but I still wouldn't mind laying down and passing out for several hours.

After what seems like days, Krei declares, "This is it," and we stop. I gently help Meg sit down and then collapse beside her, pressing my back against a tree.

Tadashi immediately hurries over and crouches down beside me, and I only just now realize that he's carrying Mochi. Setting the cat down on the ground, Tadashi looks concernedly at me. "Are you okay, Hiro? Are you hurt? I'm so sorry, I should have come and helped—"

"I'm okay," I interrupt, putting a hand on Tadashi's shoulder and realizing that his face is stained with smoke and tears. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Tadashi replies, dragging a hand across his eyes. "Just—everything's been so crazy lately, and now we don't have anywhere to live—I think we got most of the stuff we'll need, but Hiro—we couldn't take the computer. It's gone. The Silent Sparrow designs are uploaded to the printer, which we have, but all the files on the computer will be gone. I'm so sorry, Hiro."

"It's okay, Dashi," I whisper. "I don't blame you. At least we got everyone out. What else did we bring?"

"Some food and water, Mochi, all our superhero gear, and most of your tools and spare parts," Tadashi rattles off, "but we don't have any bedding or the computer. I grabbed everyone a jacket so we can keep warm, but that's the extent of our clothes. This is bad, Hiro. Really bad."

"Yeah," I whisper. "It really is. Tadashi, do you think you could take a look at Meg? She's definitely hurt from the fire."

"Of course," Tadashi agrees, moving to sit in front of Megan and pulling out his first aid kit. "Where does it hurt, Meg?"

"I'm fine," Meg insists. "You should treat Hiro first."

I shake my head vehemently, then wince as it throbs. Tadashi smiles and says, "You're up next, Hiro," then turns back to Megan and begins re-splinting her ankle. I lean back against the tree, rubbing the side of my head where I hit the ground. Thankfully, it hasn't swollen up into a goose egg, but the skin is tender and bruised and hurts to touch. Hopefully Tadashi has some ibuprofen in his first aid kit.

"We'll need to post a guard!" Krei calls. "I'll take first watch—Chief, can you take second?"

"Of course," Chief Cruz responds. "Make sure you have your weapons ready if we get attacked! Vortex could come back at any time, so we have to be careful."

"I'll watch with Al," Liv volunteers. "Watching in pairs might be good, just in case."

Both of them head to the edge of the clearing and sit down on a fallen tree, and through the darkness, I see Krei wrap his arm around Liv's shoulders. There's no doubt about it—those two are together. I hope they can stay together until the end of the war.

"Your turn, Hiro," Tadashi announces, wrapping a length of self-adhering bandage back into a roll. "Meg seems fine. A few small burns, and her ankle's been rebroken, but it's not a serious fracture. It should heal in a few weeks."

"Awesome," I reply, smiling faintly. "I'm glad you're okay, Meg."

"Where does it hurt?" Tadashi asks me, pulling out a roll of gauze and some bacitracin. "And don't try to tell me it doesn't, because it's pretty obvious that something does."

I sigh. "I just need some Advil, Tadashi. That's it."

"Where'd you get burned?" he asks as he retrieves a bottle of ibuprofen capsules from the first aid kit. He shakes out a few and hands two to me, two to Meg.

"My cheek," I tell him. "And the back of my neck. Maybe my ankles, but I haven't checked."

Tadashi gently runs his fingers over the burned areas, gauging how bad the injuries are. He pronounces them minor second-degree burns and smears them with bacitracin. I do, in fact, have one small burn on my left ankle, but it's not as big as the other ones.

"They'll heal in about seven to ten days," Tadashi informs me as he wraps gauze around my ankle. "I'll change the dressing every so often. Just keep an eye on them and they should be fine."

"Thanks," I mumble, fingering the gauze on my cheek. "Do we have any water? I need to take this Advil."

Tadashi runs to retrieve bottles of water for me and Megan, and he returns with them at the same time Mochi ambles across the clearing and curls up in my lap. I take the Advil as quickly as I can and then stroke my cat, comforted by his loud, vibrating purr.

"Should we go to bed?" Fred asks, the most serious I've ever seen him. "We're not gonna be able to defeat anyone if we don't get some sleep. I think we should try, at least."

"That's probably a good idea," Megan agrees. "Tadashi, you said you brought jackets—we can sleep on those. Sorry, everyone, but you're probably gonna have to sleep in your armor. It might be uncomfortable, but we can't afford having to put it on again if Vortex attacks. Or North Korea, for that matter."

Tadashi turns to a pile of jackets that have been thrown haphazardly onto the dirt and pulls out my hoodie. I take it gratefully and spread it out on the ground, making the sorriest bed I've ever seen—but at least I don't have to sleep entirely on the ground.

Meg takes her windbreaker from the pile and curls up on it, and Tadashi lays down on his blazer the other side of me. As I lower myself onto my makeshift bed, I see that even Krei has sacrificed dignity and lain down on his suit jacket. Chief Cruz sighs and goes to relieve him of the watch, coming over to kiss Meg goodnight first.

The whole camp gradually falls asleep, Tadashi passing out almost immediately and most of the rest of us slowly slipping into darkness. I shift my weight around on my hoodie, trying to get comfortable, but I can already tell that sleeping on the forest floor is not going to treat me kindly.

After a few minutes of laying on my hoodie, I give up and just put it on. Setting my gauntlets aside, I pull the hood over my head and curl up on the ground again, thankful that it's summer or I would be absolutely freezing.

"Hiro," Megan whispers, and I roll over to face her. "Yeah?"

"You okay?" she asks, stretching out a hand and placing it on mine. "I'm really sorry about your house."

"I'm fine," I mumble, trying not to shake with adrenaline at Meg's touch. "We'll rebuild it when all this is over, I guess. Don't worry about it."

"That's kind of a big thing to worry about," Meg replies. "You know, you can cry if you want to. I won't judge."

"I won't cry," I whisper. "I already did that. Now all I can do is be angry at Karmi and potentially ask God to smite her. I know I shouldn't wish—smiting on anyone, but I'm just…" I trail off. "Why would anyone do that? Maybe we shouldn't have kicked Vortex out."

"But you know we can't take part in an assassination," Meg reminds me. "Besides, they would have left eventually. Our plans are too different to really work together."

"Maybe we should have tried," I say quietly, and we say no more for the rest of the night.

The next morning dawns misty and damp, and as I drift out of unconsciousness, the faded sunlight streams into the clearing. Illuminated with golden light, the woods are a beautiful scene, but it's kind of hard to appreciate it when I'm all wet from the dew and sore from last night. It also doesn't help that I'm still exhausted.

As quietly as possible, I get up and stumble into the woods, needing to relieve myself. After doing so, I return to the camp and sit down against my tree from last night, looking at my sleeping friends. Although they're resting, none of them look peaceful. Tadashi is curled up in a ball, shivering, and Megan—

Wait.

Where is she?

"Meg?" I whisper-shout, getting up and crossing the clearing again. "Where are you?"

No answer comes, but I can faintly see a shadowy figure through the morning mist, sitting beside the river. The waterfall roars faintly in the distance as I climb over fallen trees and roots, nearly falling on my face several times.

As I climb over a thick tree trunk, I stretch my bruised shoulder a little too far, and I let out a small yelp of pain and surprise as I lose my grip and tumble to the ground, landing on my stomach in the dirt. Megan, of course, hears me, and her head jerks up.

"Sorry," I whisper, pushing myself up on my elbows and offering Meg an embarrassed grin. "Didn't mean to surprise you."

"It's fine," she replies, smiling a little as she comes over and grabs my hand, pulling me up. "I was just thinking."

"Do you want me to leave?" I ask, brushing dirt off my hoodie. "Because I can totally leave if you want me to—"

"No," Meg interrupts. "You can stay."

I sit down beside her, and we sit there, staring at the river, for several minutes. Then Meg speaks.

"Hiro," she whispers, "you were right."

"About what?" I ask, genuinely bewildered.

"Maybe we should have tried to work with Vortex. It's my job as leader to make sure we all collaborate, to look out for everyone. But I didn't do that, Hiro. Your house was burned down, and you almost died, and it was my fault." Meg sighs. "So I'm resigning. I want you to be the leader of Echo."

"What?!" I yelp. "Meg, no! You're a great leader! It's not your fault they left, and it's definitely not your fault that café burned down. I can't be the leader—that's your job. Seriously, you can't resign."

Megan sighs. "But I feel like everything that's happened is my fault."

"Hey," I whisper. "It's okay. I don't blame you for anything. You're an amazing leader—and an amazing person. I know you'd never do anything like this on purpose."

Meg smiles faintly. "Thanks, Hiro."

"You're not resigning," I tell her firmly. "Because I would be a terrible leader."

She laughs. "Okay, fine. I won't step down. But—" Meg sighs. "What should we do now?"

I stare at the mist rising from the softly flowing water as golden sunlight streams onto the riverbank. "I guess we're gonna have to make some kind of camp. I'll start printing Silent Sparrow—thank goodness the printer is wireless—and then we can figure out our plan from there. It isn't much different than what we were already planning, I guess. We just don't have a place to sleep anymore is all.

Meg sighs again. "we've gotta get some kind of bedding. That or find a building to camp in."

"I'd say Basemax, but they'll probably expect that," I say, thinking out loud. "I think we might just have to stay here."

"Yeah," Meg agrees. "We'll make it work—maybe you could print us some tents or something. I don't know if the 3D printer can do that, but it would be totally awesome."

"I'll see what it can do," I promise. "But I don't think I can print anything that's not already downloaded onto the printer, since the computer is gone."

My voice quivers slightly as I say it—I really liked that computer. And, you know, my house. Where am I going to live after the war is over?

I shove the thought out of my mind as Meg speaks again. "I guess we should get back to camp. The others are probably worried—especially Dad."

I stand up and follow Meg back through the woods, climbing carefully over the fallen tree this time. Even so, I still slip, but Meg reaches out and steadies me before I can hit the ground.

"Thanks," I whisper, blushing slightly. "Sorry, I'm super clumsy."

"That's okay," Meg replies, a small smile coming over her face. "And thanks for listening to me. It's hard sometimes, I know."

"It's really not that bad," I tell her. "It's actually kind of nice. We—we should do this more often." The blush creeps farther up my cheeks. Why do I say things like this?

Meg breaks into a grin, and I can tell she knows I'm embarrassed. "Hey, you wanna race back to camp?"

I smile back. "Try to catch me."

We take off through the golden mist, and for a few precious moments, I don't have a care in the world.

When we return to camp, panting and flushed, Tadashi immediately launches into a rant about how worried he was and how we shouldn't go off on our own without telling anyone.

"But I'm the leader," Megan reminds him. "So it's okay. Don't worry, we were just—having a meeting. As leader and second in command or whatever."

"But—but—you're only fifteen!" Tadashi explodes. "What if the North Koreans attacked you? Or Vortex came back? Or you fell in the river? I'd never forgive myself if you guys got hurt!"

"Hey, Dashi, it's okay," I soothe. "We're fine. I'm sorry we ran off, but don't worry—I promise I'll tell you where we're going next time."

Tadashi gives me a weary smile. "It's okay, Hiro. I'm sorry for overreacting, guys—I just want to know that you're safe."

"We'll be fine, Tadashi," I whisper. "Really, we'll be careful. Should we start making a plan for the day?"

"No plans!" Meg interrupts. "We'll just do basic training with our suits, you can start printing, Tadashi can, I don't know, organize his first aid kit or something. Whatever works. Well, I guess we should start building a real camp—maybe put up some kind of tents, establish a source of food and water, that kind of thing. Actually, I don't know why we haven't started that yet. Everyone, start building a camp!" she yells, and those not awake yet hiss at the sound of her voice.

Fred, who's on watch, asks, "Do we have to? I kind of wanted to take a nap."

"You can take a nap, since you've been on watch," Meg decides. "But only you! The rest of us need to work on building some kind of temporary shelter."

"Honey, maybe you could—" Tadashi starts, but Honey shoots him a glare and he flushes pink, his gaze flicking to the ground. I can already see tears shimmering in his eyes, and I wonder if my brother will burst into tears every time Honey so much as looks at him.

"What were you gonna say, Tadashi?" Meg asks, surprisingly kindly.

"Only that maybe we could figure something out with chem balls," Tadashi mumbles. "They might make good shelters—but what do I know? I guess chopping down some trees might work—wait, no, we can't chop down trees, that would be bad—sorry, guys, I'm so dumb—"

"You're not dumb," I tell him firmly. "We'll figure something out."

Tadashi smiles, looking slightly embarrassed, and rubs the back of his neck. "Thanks, Hiro."

"Chem balls would make good beds," Meg says thoughtfully. "Honey, what if you just threw out a few? We wouldn't have to sleep on the ground."

"I'd love to do that," Honey replies, "but they're really noticeable from far away. Vortex would see us in a heartbeat. And besides, they're made of chemicals—they're not designed for long-term exposure. You could potentially get sick from sleeping on them." She shrugs. "Sorry, guys."

"Maybe we'll figure out the sleeping situation later," Meg decides. "Okay, let's just work on some basic training. If anyone needs a shower—sorry, you're just gonna have to use the river. I'll take first watch, and Dad, you can go after me. Hiro, could you start printing Silent Sparrow?"

"I have to fix my wing first, if that's okay," I tell her, suddenly remembering the several feathers that snapped off in our leap out the window. "Just in case. But then I'll start on Silent Sparrow."

Meg gives me a nod. "Yeah, that's fine. We don't wanna be without your wings. But everyone else, get working! See what you can figure out for shelter, and practice shooting with whatever weapon you've got. Try not to blow anything up. Fall out!"

Chief Cruz puts a hand to his forehead in salute, and the camp disperses. Meg goes and sits on the fallen tree, staring into the woods to make sure no one approaches, and I pick up the 3D printer and blueprints from the ground and carry them over to the edge of the clearing.

Sitting down, I remove my armor and stretch out my wings on the ground, examining the damage. Both are a little scuffed and bent, but they work for the most part. About two and a half feathers have snapped off the left wing, and the edge is sharp and jagged. Thankfully, it won't be a major repair—I just need to print new feathers and fuse them to the wing.

I fire up the printer and feed the carbon filament into it. It only takes a few minutes to print new sheets of carbon fiber, and then I carefully attach them to the existing wing and stretch it out again. I can barely see the fuse lines, so it should work properly.

Putting my breastplate back on, I extend the wings and jump a few feet into the air. I immediately crash into a tree branch, but the wings appear to work.

"You okay, Hiro?" Tadashi calls as I drift back to the ground.

"Yup!" I respond, giving him a quick thumbs-up and rubbing my hip where I hit the branch. "It's fine! They work!"

Tadashi smiles and returns to blasting rocks with electricity, obviously not wanting to hurt any trees. His aim isn't that great, but it's getting better, and I think he'll be able to hit the North Koreans pretty well if they attack us.

Sitting back down, I spread the Silent Sparrow blueprints out on the ground, pinning the corners down with rocks. Looking over them, I can tell they've been very expertly designed—both Callaghan and Krei had some great ideas for this project. If I could just find a way to keep the magnetic containment field in balance…

And then it hits me.

Graphene.

If I could make graphene, I could completely reinforce the portal so the magnetic containment field won't explode. It's bulletproof—it could certainly contain the energy. It's also made only of carbon, which I have a ton of sheets of—I could probably make some kind of machine to convert it into graphene. I'd need some kind of adhesive and a pressing mechanism…

Three hours later, I've printed off a graphene processor. I feed a sheet of carbon into it and hold my breath as it begins to whir, the adhesive clamping down on the carbon and peeling tiny layers off. It then strips the layers apart with little probes, and I watch, wide-eyed, as it presses them into thin sheets. Finally, a square-inch piece of pure graphene exits the machine, and I pick it up, studying it. It's thinner than anything I've ever seen, and I'm afraid I'll break it—but it's insanely strong, and no matter how hard I try, I can't snap it. This is perfect—I'll coat the whole inside of the portal with graphene, and then there's no way the magnetic containment field will fail.

Well, if I'm gonna cover the whole portal, I'd better hurry and start printing more graphene. I feed every carbon sheet I possess into the processor, knowing that it'll take a while to print all the graphene, but that it'll hopefully pay off in the end. Still, at this rate, it's gonna take at least a few days to print enough graphene to cover the inside of the portal.

As the processor continues to whir, I suddenly hear Megan's voice calling from across the clearing.

"You guys! We need to have a meeting—stat!"

I leave the graphene processor to its work and head over to the middle of the clearing, sitting down next to Tadashi. Mochi leaps into my lap again and I smile, stroking my cat's fluffy head. The rest of Echo sits in a circle around Meg, who claps her hands together to begin the meeting.

"Alright, you guys, I've come up with some plans," she starts. "But first, we need to take inventory and report on our progress. Krei, you go first—have you come up with any ideas for how to survive out here? You're the expert."

Krei clears his throat and stands up. "Well, we have enough water for a few days, and after that, I believe we could find some kind of natural spring. I may know of one or two nearby, so we can always resupply there. As for food—there are several species of edible mushrooms and berries in Muirahara, so we could harvest those. Although I believe I should be the only one to do so, because the destroying angel mushroom is found in some places nearby. I would advise not consuming any plants until you've run them by me. Lastly, for shelter—we could potentially build lean-tos, we'd just have to look for an inordinate number of fallen branches or cut some down. Some of us have graphene blades, right?"

"Hiro and Meg do, but we shouldn't cut down trees," Tadashi replies. "That's destroying nature—I don't want to hurt the forest."

"And we need shelter," Krei retorts. "We won't be able to appreciate the forest if we're all dead. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and these are pretty desperate times, don't you think?"

Tadashi sighs. "Yeah, you're right. But let's try not to cut too many down."

"Sounds like a plan," Meg says triumphantly. "Hiro, any progress on Silent Sparrow?"

"Yes, actually," I tell her. "I had this idea—if we reinforced the portal with graphene, it won't break as easily. Graphene can withstand fourteen million pounds per square inch of force—so why not the energy in Silent Sparrow? I'm processing the graphene right now, but it'll take a few days to make enough to cover the whole portal. I promise I'll finish as fast as I can."

"Hiro, that's amazing," Callaghan says in awe. "Krei and I never would have thought of that. I'm impressed."

"Thanks," I mumble, rubbing the back of my neck. "Hopefully it works."

"It will," Meg says dismissively. "They always work. Has everyone been practicing with their respective weapons?"

There's a general murmur of assent, and Meg gives a nod of approval. "Excellent. Now—I have a plan. You guys probably aren't gonna like it, but I really think it's necessary, especially after what Vortex did to us."

My eyes widen as I realize this plan is probably going to involve revenge and attacking Vortex. Nevertheless, I listen as the scheme unfolds.

"I don't think Karmi remembers that she told us where her base is," Megan begins. "At the meeting, she said she was going back to SFIT with anyone who would come with her. She was so angry, I don't think she even realized she'd given away the location. Which means we have the element of surprise—Vortex doesn't know we know where they are, and we could attack their base. They deserve it anyway—after they burned down the Lucky Cat, there's nothing they don't deserve."

"What—what are we going to do to SFIT?" Callaghan asks, his voice shaking slightly.

Meg looks him dead in the eyes and says, "We're going to burn it to the ground."