'So…' Naomi flopped down on Aidan's bed, raising an eyebrow. 'What's your big plan you called us over here for?'

'Did you find out where Endgame came from?' Roxy asked hopefully. Naomi was pretty sure if that was the case, Aidan would be doing one of his happy-dances, but she was curious nonetheless.

'Well…' Aidan started, sitting down in his desk chair. 'I managed to create a full outward schematic of Endgame, that…someone…was able to run through the web.'

'Someone?'

Aidan whistled awkwardly at Naomi's question, and she decided to drop it. They both had skeletons in their closets. Far be it for her to try and drag someone's skeletons out into the daylight.

'Anyhoo, I found data on Endgame!'

Naomi's eyes lit up, and she bolted to her feet. 'Seriously?! Aidan, that's fantastic!'

Roxy and Manuel hid smiles at the usually gothically disdainful fairy's outburst, and Naomi cleared her throat awkwardly.

'I…um…whatever.' She walked over to Aidan's desk, her eyes scanning the screens for any sign of answers. '…Where is it?'

Aidan cleared his throat uncomfortably. 'Should probably have opened with this…I found where we could get some data. And all we have to do is go to Zenith, break into The Spire, get to a computer outlet, plug in this flash drive that totally doesn't have an illegal virus on it, and boom! Robert's your uncle just as soon as I painstakingly decrypt that data on it!' He beamed as though he'd just announced they were two pages from the end of this debacle, when in fact they were still blatantly a good few chapters away.

Naomi tried not to let her disappointment show, but she visibly drooped. Aidan drooped right along with her, his smile faltering.

'…Sorry, Naomi. That's really the best I've got.'

'No, don't apologise.' Naomi gave him a tired smile, trying to focus on the positives. Not the natural course of action for her, but she just asked what the adorable puppy dog of a boy next to her would do and managed to dredge up a whisper of a real smile. 'You did amazing, Aidan. I can totally break into The Spire. Easy.'

Manuel snorted from his position leaning against the wall. 'Hunter, I like you, but you're just plain delusional sometimes. Breaking into The Spire? You're talking about the most secure palace in the dimension.'

'And you're talking to the best fairy in the freshman class,' Naomi huffed, folding her arms.

'Ooh, the best freshman?' Manuel rolled his eyes. 'Naomi, you can't break in there. No chance. As you said, you're a freshman. And I don't care what your dads taught you; you're not that OP.'

Naomi glowered at him, her snark working overtime to create the perfect snappy retort, but Roxy interjected before she could. 'Manuel's right, Naomi. You can't just break in without a plan.'

'What if I had a plan?'

Roxy shook her head, and Naomi sighed, hopping up onto the armrest of Aidan's chair. Okay, so she wouldn't break in anywhere she couldn't get out of. In all fairness, despite her lack of actual crimes, she was still the daughter of the Fairy Hunters. A court would not look positively on her if she broke into a royal palace. But…

'How do we get answers, then?' she asked aloud. Nobody had a pitch.

Naomi was reticent to leave the safety of Alfea over the next few weeks. She didn't even try and pitch her two cents when the Winx rushed back to the Infinite Ocean to fix the Pillar of Balance. She listened every time Roxy got back from the summit, which had still accomplished little to nothing beyond a few uneasy treaties between kingdoms that trusted each other, agreeing to allow mutual troop mobility. But mostly, she stayed focused on her classes and avoiding people, the cogs in her brain whirring madly to try and find a solution.

One evening, Roxy stumbled back in, exhausted from keeping up a diplomatic smile for another full day rather than just hitting everyone in the room with a shoe the way Naomi knew she wanted to.

'Hey, Princess. Rough day?'

'What's the drinking age on Magix?' Roxy mumbled into her pillow.

'Eighteen. But the drinking age on Eraklyon is seventeen, and the legal drinking age on Lynphea is sixteen.'

'Seriously?' Roxy lifted her head, looking incredulously intrigued. 'I could have vodka if I was on Lynphea?'

Naomi frowned. 'Not sure. I think there are certain limits…plus, the planet doesn't have much in the way of strong liquor.'

'Oh. Well I'll just underage drink vodka on Magix.'

'Pretty sure Grizelda has some in her desk; wanna pull off a heist?' Naomi eyes sparkled with dimmed mischief, and Roxy played with her blanket thoughtfully.

'As good a story as that would make, Imma take a rain check.'

'Fair enough. We already have a crime to plan. Let's not swamp ourselves.' Naomi got up and began looking in her closet. For what? A conversation opening, honestly. She'd been putting off the question for weeks, but she just had to ask.

'…Roxy?'

Roxy looked up, raising an eyebrow at Naomi using her real name. That was something of an unusual occurrence, and it usually spoke of a situation too serious for playful nicknames.

'Yeah?'

'I…' Naomi fingered a purple tank top, trying to find her words. 'You…said you'd ask Nebula…about…'

Roxy stilled, and Naomi frowned as she heard her roommate's heart speed up.

'…Oh. Oh yeah. Yeah, I asked her…'

Naomi didn't turn, not wanting Roxy to see the quiet hope flickering in her eyes. She knew she'd be waiting years in all likelihood, but if Roxy told her they'd be moved within a decade, even two? She could see them again. And that would give her something to cling to.

'…Nebula…Nebula told me… She doesn't know, exactly.'

Naomi's heart dropped. '…Oh?' Her fingers twisted into the fabric of her favourite dress, her chipped nail polish glinting amid the black fabric. 'She…has no idea?'

'A vague idea…it's just…she's such a technophobe…I asked if she could look into it…I'll remind her, get some answers. Sorry, I've just been so distracted with Endgame…'

'No, no, it's fine.' Naomi plastered on the expression of a stable person and turned around, smiling with what she hoped was reassurance. 'You don't know how much I appreciate you trying.'

Roxy gave her a thin smile, and Naomi faltered. Roxy was a bad liar. She had tells. And Naomi was seeing them all. Was there something she wasn't telling her? No. No, she wouldn't do this. She wouldn't start questioning the few people she trusted. Roxy was her friend; she wouldn't lie to her. She had trust issues, and she had to deal with them. Roxy would tell her as soon as she had something.

What the hell was she doing? Roxy rolled over in bed, unable to sleep for guilty tossing and turning. She knew the wizards had eternity, and she was leading Naomi on! That was unconscionable! Why would she even do that? She knew why. She knew her reasons. She didn't want to hurt her. Everything had been so much, she didn't want to throw this at her too. And…she didn't want Naomi to get mad at her. When she offered to investigate, she hadn't thought she'd have to give news this bad. She and Naomi were so close now, but that didn't mean she wanted to rock the boat. Not to mention that Naomi had trust issues…

Which you're just gonna make worse when she finds out… Roxy groaned, burying her head under her pillow. Thanks, internal voice. That's so helpful. She should just tell her. Get it out now. The sooner she admitted she'd lied, the less it would hurt. Right? Well, only one way to find out.

She sat up, drawing breath to ask Naomi if she was awake, but just as the words left her lips, she gasped. The lights flickered on, then off in a mad, strobing display, and both girls' phone buzzed and screeched with dizzying madness.

'What?' Naomi jolted awake, whimpering as the stimulations were all too much. 'What's happening?' She covered her ears, squeezing her eyes shut to try and cope with the assault. 'Is it Endgame? Is the world ending?'

'I…I don't know!' Roxy bolted across the room, trying the light switch, but it made no difference. She flicked it a few times, recoiling as it sparked and smoked.

'Roxy…' Naomi whimpered. 'It hurts…make it stop…'

'Oh god…' Ignoring the screeching phones, Roxy rifled through her drawers, pulling out the darkest sunglasses she could find, locating some noise-cancelling headphones under a sweatshirt.

'Here! Put these on.' Roxy slipped the headphones over Naomi's ears, the sunglasses over her eyes, and Naomi visibly relaxed.

'There…' Roxy adjusted the headphones, taking Naomi's hand in hers. 'Better?'

Naomi nodded slightly. 'I can still hear it…still hear you…but it's not so bad. I can cope.' She laughed weakly. 'Show this to anyone that says shapeshifting is OP. Take me to a rave and I'm screwed.'

'Noted.' Roxy got up, guiding Naomi. 'C'mon. Something tells me this isn't just an us thing.'

As they headed into the hallway, she was proven right. Fairies were running everywhere in a panic, while lights, aircon, fire alarms, sprinklers…everything was going haywire. Naomi whimpered, even with her headphones, and Roxy quickly pulled her through the school, ignoring the teachers trying to get control in favour of getting Naomi somewhere she was comfortable.

'Miss Wilde!' Grizelda called out to her, catching up. 'Do not run! All students are gathering in the lecture hall-'

'Sorry, Miss Grizelda, but Naomi's overwhelmed. Her senses can't handle this. I'm getting her outside, into Gloomywood.' She didn't wait for permission, hurrying down the stairs and out the door, breathing a sigh of relief as she saw the cool, quiet expanse of Gloomywood stretching out in front of her. Naomi would be able to think there.

But, as they approached the gates, Naomi dug her heels in, shaking her head.

'No…not out there…not alone…what if…' Oh. Of course. Naomi had been attacked twice in that forest. But she had to get somewhere calm and quiet…

'Hold on one second.' Roxy pulled Naomi back towards the school, glancing around. 'Musa! Stella!'

'Roxy?' Stella detached herself from a panicking freshman, hurrying over. 'What's wrong?'

'Naomi can't handle these lights. She can't handle the sounds either. I gotta find Musa, can you stay with her and try and make the light around her less dizzying?'

Stella nodded, taking Naomi's hand. 'Poor thing…Naomi, it's Stella. I'm gonna help you out here, okay?'

Naomi nodded, and Stella began carefully playing with the light around her, twisting and teasing it until it became more uniform.

Meanwhile, Roxy pelted through the corridors, calling out for Musa. 'Musa?! Musa, I need you!'

'For what?' Musa emerged from a classroom, her hair askew and her pyjamas drenched. Evidently she'd encountered one of the haywire sprinklers.

'Naomi's having sensory overload from the light and sound; Stella's helping with the light, but I really need you.'

'Show me where.' They hurried back through the school, ignoring Grizelda's bewildered berating, until they found Stella and Naomi nestled under the main stairs, Naomi hugging her knees to her chest and breathing hard while Stella created a uniform brightness around them, trying to keep it as dim as possible.

'Damn, you weren't kidding.' Musa knelt in front of Naomi, taking a deep breath. 'Lot of noise, but I'm an Enchantix, so not too hard…Harmony's Respite.' A soft, soothing melody drifted from Musa's hands, spreading out in an orb to mingle with the edges of Stella gentle light, until the alcove under the stairs was rendered a safe haven from the cacophony of madness raging outside.

'Naomi…?' Roxy reached out and touched Naomi's shoulder. 'Are you…are you okay?'

Naomi nodded, managing to remove the headphones, though she kept them ready to slam back on if necessary.

'…Yeah. Thanks, guys.'

'No problem. You want to go outside?' Stella offered. 'Into Gloomywood? It might be quieter…'

'No!' Naomi looked away as Musa and Stella exchanged a surprised glance. 'I mean…no, thank you. I want to be in here. I need to know what's going on.'

'I'll find out,' Roxy offered, slipping out of the field of serenity and staggering as the pandemonium hit her head-on. For a heartbeat, she understood Naomi's reaction. It was…overwhelming. Like jumping into a hurricane. She didn't know where she was supposed to look, what she was meant to do, why everything was so loud, and she had to lean against the stairs for a moment to recover. Once she'd centred herself, she pushed through the shrieking crowds to find Faragonda, Grizelda, any authority figure that could explain.

'Roxy!' Tecna rushed over to her, elbowing through several fairies. 'Calm down!' she ordered of the freshman screaming that this was the end of days. 'There is only a seven percent chance you will die today! Fifteen if you continue running around with no regard for personal safety!'

The freshman fell silent and began walking in a more orderly fashion, earning an approving nod from Tecna.

'Roxy, have you seen Stella and Musa? We need them. We know what this is. The Pillar of Control has been hit, and it's taking out tech everywhere. We need to get going as soon as possible.'

Roxy grimaced. Of course this was Tritannus. It always was.

'Stella and Musa are under the stairs with Naomi.'

Tecna frowned, confused, before her expression cleared. 'Ah. Sensory overload?'

'Mhm.'

'Understood. I will go appraise them of the situation. Meanwhile, I believe Faragonda is set to make an announcement.'

Roxy turned to see the headmistress trying to hold court from the stairs, Grizelda yelling in an attempt to calm the students, while Palladium was trying to calm the deputy head, since they had quite enough noise already.

'Attention! Students! Students!'

As Faragonda failed to garner attention, Wizgiz, surveying the scene with a sigh, transformed himself into an animal Roxy didn't recognise, but when it roared, the building shook. Every pair of eyes whipped to the stairs, and Faragonda cleared her throat. 'Ahem…yes, thank you, Professor. Students! I understand you are scared, but you must remain calm! Tecna has informed me that these events are a result of the Pillar of Control being attacked. Rest assured that the Winx will rectify this as they have saved the last two pillars. This will all be okay!'

'And what, we just sit around in this madhouse while they do that?' snapped a voice Roxy was damn sure was Olivia.

'Glad you brought it up, Miss Silvers.' Grizelda adjusted her spectacles, pulling out her clipboard. 'According to the communications Tecna and other techno-magic fairies have managed to get online, all planets are dealing with this crisis. As future guardians of this dimension, you, the Red Fountain boys, and the witches are being sent out as aid to help people through this and deal with any repercussions while the Winx attempt to rectify the situation.'

There were several loud groans, but Roxy just focused on pushing her way through the crowd.

'Miss Grizelda!'

'Your teachers and I will be handing out your assignments now.'

'Miss Grizelda!' Roxy ducked past Kyral, popping up in front of her teacher. 'Miss Grizelda, what's Naomi's assignment?'

Grizelda raised an eyebrow, but opted not to berate Roxy for jumping the line. 'Let me see…Zenith. The situation is worst there. Everything's gone haywire, and people need to be evacuated away from malfunctioning droids. As such a promising fairy, Naomi seemed suitable.' No. No way could Naomi handle that assignment. Zenith would overload her senses.

'What's my assignment?'

'A Red Fountain transport broke down and released a dragon. It's somewhere on Magix, and your skills were deemed apt to handle the situation.'

'Can Naomi and I swap?'

Grizelda looked taken aback. 'You want to go to Zenith?' Yes. She did. They needed a way onto Zenith, into The Spire, and this was perfect. Nobody would be paying attention. But more than that, Roxy didn't want Naomi going to Zenith. She'd never be able to cope.

'Yes. Naomi doesn't cope well with too much sensory input. She won't handle Zenith. I can take it. That way you don't have to screw with any other assignments.'

Grizelda frowned, but nodded. '…Well…alright. Yes, you can swap. Just take each other's assignments sheets.'

Roxy accepted the two pieces of paper handed to her, hurrying back to Naomi. She skimmed Naomi's sheet. Zenith…Titania… That was the capital. So right near The Spire, then. All she had to do was get the Phantom from Aidan, and she could get the data they needed. Meanwhile, the assignment she'd traded to Naomi was in Gloomywood with a decent squad size. Far from this madness. Safe in the quiet. She honestly didn't know how Naomi would handle tracking a dragon, but Gantlos was a tracker, right? Surely he'd shown Naomi enough to keep her in the game. And if not…well, it was better than having a meltdown on Zenith.

Naomi hadn't felt well enough to make it back up to her dorm to change, so she'd just wound up in her pyjamas, topped off with a coat and hiking boots. Fortunately she didn't sleep in a skimpy nightdress, and she could totally adventure in her pants and t-shirt, but that didn't mean she didn't feel a tad odd heading out to track a dragon in her pjs.

'You sure you're okay?' Roxy asked for the nineteenth time as they waited by the gates for their groups, along with about fifty other students.

'As okay as I can be.' Naomi had kept the headphones on, deciding she'd ditch them only when the noise had truly calmed down. There was still a constant, shrill shrieking coming from every bell and alarm in the school, and the headphones were her lifeline. She had a pair of her own, but she had hardly been in a position to trade out for them, and Roxy hadn't said anything to the effect of needing them back.

'Hey, look! A ship!' Kyral did everyone a favour and pointed out the thing they could all see, just in case their eyeballs just temporarily stopped working for a minute. Normally, Naomi would make a comment, but she was just too out of it to manage. She'd bring it up some other time.

'Anyone for Zenith?' Brandon leaned out of the ship, opening the door and letting down a ramp. 'C'mon. We got this ship back online, but who knows how long we'll have control.'

Roxy gulped. 'Wait…so we might just lose control in space?'

'That's the Winx life,' Naomi remarked. 'Go on, Princess.'

'No…' Roxy whispered. 'I have to go to Red Fountain…get the Phantom…' Of course. Just as Naomi was scrambling for an excuse, both girls' faces lit up as a familiar head of black hair poked out of the window.

'C'mon, Roxy! Road trip! I got everything!'

A few people gave Aidan odd looks, but Roxy and Naomi exchanged grins. Yes!

'Coming!' Roxy hurried aboard, giving Naomi a quick hug before she did. 'Good luck.'

'Right back atcha, Princess.'

The ship took off for Zenith, leaving Naomi waiting as more and more groups set off. An ominous scent stayed very much put as the numbers at the gate dwindled, and she very pointedly avoided looking. Had to be another group. No way was she stuck with her.

'Hey, sorry it took so long!' Manuel, flanked by several witches and Specialists, jogged up to the school. 'Everyone else needed the ships that we could get to work. Who's for the dragon?'

Naomi stepped forward, and Olivia stepped right along with her. Yomi, who hadn't really done much in a while, looked like she wished her first actual assignment to do something plot-relevant had been anywhere other than between two girls glaring at each other in a way that said they'd rather like to wear the other's head as a flattering hat.

'Oh, you are kidding,' Olivia snapped. 'You?' She looked Naomi up and down. 'What, we weren't important enough to warrant wearing actual clothes? And headphones? Tunes more interesting than helping Magix?'

'Leave her alone, Liv.'

Olivia looked dumbfounded at Manuel interrupting her to actually call her out, but he ignored her dropped jaw.

'Naomi, what's with the headphones? You alright?'

'Alfea's just a bit loud for me,' Naomi admitted. 'Shifter senses.'

Manuel nodded, accepting the answer. 'Okay, everyone with this group, follow me. We're heading for the ridges; that's where the dragon got out.'

Naomi, Olivia, Yomi and and upperclassman named Francine followed the group, and Naomi quickly fell into step beside Manuel.

'Roxy and Aidan are headed for Zenith,' she whispered, glancing around to check nobody was listening. 'They've got the Phantom.'

'I hope they've got a strategy…' Manuel muttered. 'You can't break into a place like The Spire without a plan.'

'Normally? No. But something tells me the situation is pretty insane.'

Roxy thought she'd seen things get as mad as possible when Gardenia had been turned into a jungle. She was wrong. Zenith was pandemonium personified. Droids of every shape and size rampaged across the Titania, blasting, welding, picking up objects and people with no rhyme or reason, just chaos.

People flooded the streets, screaming in panic, and Roxy paled. She hadn't been expecting…this.

'Great Prime…' Aidan whispered, his face just as pale as Roxy's. 'This is chaos.' His eyes widened. 'My dad! He doesn't live far from here! He could be in danger!'

'We'll hit up your street first,' Roxy promised, hurrying off the ship as it was quickly powered down to avoid any malfunctions. 'The Spire is secondary to helping these people.'

As she ran off the ship, she gasped and staggered back, her breath practically freezing in front of her. Zenith was so cold! She balled her fists up inside her gloves, shivering uncontrollably. The intense cold dragged back unpleasant memories, of lying half-conscious on Aurora's ice, hearing Bloom shout and scream at Nebula as everything faded into a frozen haze of delirious certainty that she was going to die.

'…Roxy?' Aidan put a hand on her shoulder, looking at her worriedly. 'You alright?'

Roxy took a deep breath, stepping onto the street. 'You know, I'm really not sure. Roxy, magic, transform!' She gasped as the cold intensified, her magic not doing an amazing job at hiding the fact she was wearing a crop top in sub-zero weather. Why are fairy forms this goddamn impractical? She remembered DuFour mentioning that, when a fairy earned her Charmix, she could begin to adapt her form to different environments, but Roxy didn't have her Charmix. Maybe she could earn it super quick; she was freezing her wings off out here!

'How…' she gasped out, flying down the street after Aidan, blasting droids attempting to vaporise people, 'do…you…live here?'

'Pretty easy when you grew up in the cold.' Aidan lashed his whips around a falling droid, yanking it away from the civilians that now owed him their lives. 'That way!' he ordered them. 'Out of the city! You'll be safe in the hills until the situation is resolved!'

'You know…' Roxy remarked, her lungs burning from the cold. 'Having seen you make up the word 'fantabudidiliono', it's kinda surprising to see you like this. Sometimes I forget that all you guys go to a military school.'

'Think lots of people do. Right up until we start blasting stuff and slicing it up.' Aidan skidded to a halt, pelting down the street. 'Dad?!' He burst through the door of an apartment tower the spiralled so high that Roxy was getting vertigo from down here.

'C'mon, we need to check the building.'

Roxy started for the elevators, but Aidan caught her arm.

'No. All tech is haywire, remember? That includes the elevators. We'll take the stairs.'

Thanks to the freezer burn affecting her lungs, Aidan easily kept pace with Roxy as they ran/flew up the building, Aidan tapping pointlessly at his scanner to try and pick up heat signatures.

'Roxy! You have life-based magic; got a spell that can sense people?'

Roxy shook her head. 'I'm not great at technical spells yet, Aidan. You need something blasted, I'm your girl.'

They reached the top of the stairs, and stopped short. The roof had been blasted in, rubble blocking the hall, and the sounds of a seriously defunct droid.

'Dad?' Aidan called. No answer, but plenty of shouting.

Just as Aidan started to panic, Roxy stepped forward. 'Like I said, Aidan. If you needs something blasted…Mystic Talons!' Her attack sliced through the debris, clearing a path through. 'I'm your girl.'

'Everyone, this way!' Aidan called, rushing through the hole. 'Down the stairs! Orderly fashion, please!'

Zenith must be very different from Earth, because everyone actually listened to Aidan, proceeding in a calm and orderly line as per his direction. However, the spider-like droid had no such plans, slashing its legs towards the civilians and forcing Roxy into very chilly action.

'Wasp Sting!'

The droid paused, looked unimpressed, and went right back to wrecking stuff.

Roxy's cheeks heated up with a mix of rage and cold, and she decided to screw magic, picking up a piece of metal and just beating at the droid's legs.

'Stop…being…so…annoying!' she screamed, her face the picture of surprise as she actually managed to break one of the robotic legs. 'Hey, Aidan! It worked!'

'Great!' Aidan electrified the bot, allowing Roxy to blast it out the gaping hole in the building and zap it to smithereens.

'Awesome!' Roxy gave Aidan a high-five. 'That was easy! How many more if these to go?'

'Zenith has a roughly seven million techno-droids.' Roxy's heart dropped. 'In Titania.' Roxy's heart plunged into the pit to Hell. 'Roughly eighty-million on the planet as a whole.' Roxy's heart was impaled on a particularly sharp rock just as it vaporised from the heat of the underworld.

'…Fantastic.'

'Aidan!'

Aidan forgot all about statistics at the call, whipping around and throwing himself into the arms of the statuesque man clambering out from under some rubble.

'Dad!'

'Are you alright? Let me assess your functions. Arm mobility? Toes? You can follow my finger with your eyes? What is Pi to six figures?'

Aidan flapped his arms, wiggled his feet, flicked his gaze back and forth, and recited, '3.14159. I'm good, Dad.'

'Oh thank Prime. What are you doing here?'

'Red Fountain dispatched its students to help with the chaos. The Pillar of Balance is down, and everything's going nutso-roony-haywire!'

Aidan's father frowned. 'Son…I do not believe that to be a word. Or series of words.'

'Personal figure of speech, Dad.' Aidan turned and beckoned to Roxy, who was nervously eyeing a twitching robot arm that was just…lying around. In a very creepy way. 'Roxy! Roxy, this is my dad, Apollo Ross. Dad, this is my friend-'

'Roxanne Guinevere Wilde!' Roxy just stared for a second at the middle-naming, and Apollo continued. 'The fifteenth terrestrial princess in the line of Siobhan the Shining, Fairy of Animals and future Queen of Earth!'

Roxy did what all uncomfortable people do when unable to think of something to say: she made finger guns. 'Yep! That's…me. In…shocking levels of detail. And you're…Aidan's dad!'

Aidan took his dad's hand, guiding him for the way out. 'Dad, we need to get you out to the hills. It'll be safe out there.'

'Alright,' Apollo agreed, moving with the same calm efficiency as everyone else on this planet. 'I will see you when your task has been accomplished.'

'See you then, Dad.'

As soon as Aidan's dad was safe, Aidan let out an awkward laugh. 'Sorry about that. Spouting everything you know about a person is a pretty common way of greeting on Zenith. It's actually a sign of respect, to show that you value the other person enough to spend valuable time and effort on learning information about them.'

Roxy blinked. That was…oddly sweet. She had to appreciate that, and at the end of the day, this was a different culture. She made a mental note, before giving Aidan an understanding smile.

'I get it. Though, honestly, I didn't know who the heck that Siobhan the Shining woman was. But she sounds important.'

'She was!'

Roxy raised an eyebrow, and Aidan shifted awkwardly.

'I…read up on Earth history to impress Naomi.'

'Speaking of Naomi…' Roxy muttered, blasting a droid in half as her gaze drifted to the huge structure towering over everything. 'How are we gonna get in there and upload the-' She squeaked with surprise as Aidan covered her mouth. 'The heck are you-'

'Don't say it out loud, okay?' Aidan glanced around furtively, his expression uncomfortable. 'Look…I don't know how true this is, and with everything so nutso, it wouldn't work anyway, but…people have been saying The Prime has…well, increased the surveillance. More stuff is being recorded. Being heard. And I just…'

'Better not to risk it.' Roxy nodded confidently, but internally she couldn't help thinking that Zenith just got a million percent creepier. 'Let's take out every droid we can, evacuate everyone we need to, then…'

Aidan nodded, and they pelted through the streets, Roxy switching to her wings as her chunky boots skidded their way along the ice. Well, here we go. Time to commit a potentially life-ruining felony.

She could finally hear again. Breathing a sigh of relief, Naomi shed her headphones, letting her protectors rest on her neck. Dragon bless Roxy! This assignment was perfect. They were so far out that the cacophony of chaos couldn't reach even her ears.

'Hey…' Manuel glanced over, smiling at her relaxed state. 'Feeling better?'

'Much.'

'Manuel! Manuel, I think I found something!' Olivia's shouting made Naomi's skin crawl, and she muttered a very strong Gaelic expletive Ogron didn't know he'd taught her under her breath.

'Seriously, be needier,' she muttered as Olivia dragged Manuel over to look at a tree. Just a normal tree.

Olivia's lips pursed together in a sour little frown, and she flicked her head up to glare at Naomi. 'Excuse me?' Dammit. Her noise perception must be off. She'd said that a tad too loud. Well, no point being shy about it.

'I said, be needier.' She cocked a hip in the classic display of girl dominance. Olivia mirrored her. Copycat. 'I'm not trying to seduce him, y'know.'

Olivia's face flushed, and her hip dropped to be replaced with two fists clenched at her sides with all the fury her singular brain cell could muster. 'Why you little-!' She took a deep breath, unclenching her fists and smoothing her hair. It was a miracle she didn't get stuck in her hair gel. 'I know that. Manuel has these things called standards.'

'And he just ignored them when he decided to go out with you?'

Olivia's attempt at bitchy serenity was slapped in the face with sarcasm, and the princess shot a glance to Manuel. 'Aren't you going to defend me?'

'Liv…' Manuel started nervously. 'Liv, Naomi, you guys need to stop.'

Naomi faltered at the worry on Manuel's face, but Olivia would not be shut up. 'Manuel!'

'Olivia! Shut up!' A second later, everyone wished she'd listened, as they all had to dive out of the way of a stream of very miffed fire.

'Liv!' Olivia was tackled out of the way, Manuel practically jumping through the fire to get his girlfriend out of the way.

'Everyone, we found the dragon! Girls, transform!' shouted a green-haired witch. Every fairy's wings burst from her back, while dark fabric swirled around the witches as they all took to the skies. Naomi flew up right after them, her head still swimming a little, but clear enough to cope.

'Quenching Torrent!' The dragon looked incredibly put-off by Francine's attack, forcing the fairy to summon another burst of water to extinguish the flames that subsequently licked at her heels.

'I'm just gonna say it!' Naomi snapped as she backflipped over a lashing tail, attempting to zap the dragon. 'This is a job for the military or something! Obsidian Flux! We are college students!'

'Welcome to Magix,' replied the green-haired witch. 'Igneous Strike!' A column of stone shot from her hands, battering the dragon down to the ground.

'Whoa there, Kalkie!' snapped a specialist with the same hair. 'Play nice, sis.'

'Someone forget to give it that memo, Jayce?'

'Tie it down!' Manuel shouted, but before anyone could try, the beast roared furiously and leapt back into the air, thrashing and knocking roughly half the group into trees.

'Dammit!' Naomi shouted as she barely avoided being cleaved in half by the knives someone had had the gall to call claws. 'We got a plan here, or are we just dying?'

'Maybe if you hadn't been too whimpery to do your actual task and let the Fairy of Animals come deal with an animal, we'd have a plan.'

Naomi rolled her eyes, whipping around to glower at Olivia. Her eyes blazed as she saw she was still in her tank top and shorts, no wings in sight.

'Hey, Olivia, you wanna help, or you wanna criticise and vilify me based on my sensory limitations? Don't answer that, I don't give a damn. Endless Change!' She threw another attack at the dragon, jumping up and transforming the stream of fire shooting for Yomi into bubbles.

'Wow…' Yomi breathed, reaching for one, but Naomi yanked her away.

'No! They're still deadly hot, Yomi. Don't touch.' One of the bubbles burst in a spray of orange flames, and Yomi recoiled with a squeak. 'Yep, toldja.'

The dragon returned its attention to the two girls, and Naomi quickly shoved Yomi out of the way.

'Move! Dark Orb!' She had a horrible feeling that her shield was about to get fried, her inside it, but, in a twist that had her wondering if she'd somehow got high, a blue fairy form with an unspecified weigh of better-than-you-smarm inside it popped up in front of her.

'Shimmering Mirror!' The fire was reflected back at the dragon, inflicting minimal damage, but blinding the creature long enough to allow the Specialists to get ropes around its ankles, allowing the girls to start a binding spell.

'…The literal f*#k?'

Olivia glared at Naomi's remark. 'What? I have a pair of wings, and I know how to use them.'

'Kinda figured you'd use em to shove me into its jaws.'

Olivia scoffed, rolling her eyes. 'Oh, please. I know you grew up around supervillains, but here, when someone hates you, it doesn't end with murder. Also, we might be being graded on this, and I can't fail this term, okay?'

'Good. Great. Glad to know you don't care. Then I'd have had to get rid of all those insults I wrote down about you.'

'I can see why Nebula opted to ship you here rather than have to deal with you.'

Naomi had always found that the one comeback better than an ominously-veiled death threat was just to leave mid-sentence. And this time was no different. Olivia huffed furiously as Naomi ignored her insult and flew down to join the others.

'Transmutation!' The ground under the dragon changed to sand, making it far easier to hold the animal down.

'Hold it steady!' called out a witch with blue hair that Naomi was reasonably sure was called Lucrezia; she'd been on the news, but she couldn't remember why.

'Somnolent Whisper…' she murmured, pressing her forehead to the dragon's. A few moments later, it let out a huge yawn, its breath hot against Naomi's skin, before its eyes closed and it sagged to the ground. Naomi was forced to step back, her fingers twitching on her headphones as its snores echoed across the forest, a deafening sound shaking the ground like an earthquake.

'Will we wake it up if we're too loud?' Francine whispered, and Lucrezia shook her head. Francine's eyes lit up, and she punched the air. 'Yes! We did it! Mission accomplished!'

High-fives were exchanged all around, and Naomi joined the celebration, even if she was wincing her way through it. She just really needed to sleep…somewhere quiet.

'Liv…' Manuel approached where Olivia was inspecting her nails, scowling at a tiny chip in her nail polish. I'm missing half my nails after using them to slow my fall so I didn't die. Grow up, your highness.

'Liv, that was amazing.' Naomi made a face as Manuel scooped his girlfriend into a hug. Olivia's cheeks actually heated up, and she slipped her hand into his, tilting her head to press her lips against his.

'Oh, it was nothing…' Great, Naomi's life was nothing. Ugh, god, did this mean she had to save Olivia if she was ever in danger? Yes, she took after Gantlos and thus had self-sacrificing crazy person tendencies, but she'd hoped to never apply them to Olivia. If she did…well, she could just go to Lynphea and get so hammered she never had to remember.

Just casually walking towards the most secure building on the planet…no reason in particular…don't look over here… Roxy had done her fair share of illegal stuff, but it had never really come with higher stakes than having to give back whatever she'd freed from the zoo. This was risking…well, she wasn't sure, but she wasn't certain that this couldn't end in her sharing a ravine with the wizards.

'Okay…' Aidan hissed, smashing a droid into a wall. 'We need to get in there. Who's the distraction?'

'Um…me?' Roxy pitched. 'I got no clue what I'm doing.'

'Roxy…' Aidan started awkwardly. 'You…might be better for this. I can hook myself up to the Spire's controls, and keep an eye on things as best I can from out here. Plus, I know how to talk to any Zenithians that might see me out here.'

Roxy's heart sank. Seriously? 'But…but what do I do?!'

'Plug this into any computer outlet,' Aidan explained. 'Wait until it flashes three times and pull it out. Then just meet me back out here.'

'But what about the glitching? Won't that stop it working?'

'No; this whole virus is based off chaos. It's how it gets in. It'll work. Trust me.'

Roxy nodded hesitantly, walking up to the doors. Aidan tapped furiously at a keypad, managing to get them slashing open and closed like a horizontal guillotine.

'Transform back; that way nothing can get a read on your magic,' Aidan instructed, and Roxy complied, throwing herself through the doors just as her wings vanished, landing on her knees on a frozen metal floor. She sighed with relief at the return of her winter coat, scrunching her fingers up inside her gloves as she got to her feet. Fairy forms were so stupid…why couldn't she just fight in her jeans? Why did she need to fight in sparkly green crop tops? Did it make her stronger? Was she hoping her midriff held some secret powers she wasn't aware of? Her mom didn't have to deal with this…

She hurried through The Spire, ducking past several droids trying to determine what her intestines would look like against the metal floor. She really hoped the Winx got this under control soon…but not so soon that she got stuck in a fully-functional Spire.

'If I were a computer terminal…where would I be?' Apparently, she'd be under that desk in front of her. Glancing around to make sure nobody was watching (who the heck would be watching?), she crawled under the desk, slipping the flash drive out of her pocket and slotting it into the outlet. It looked so innocent as it bleeped cheerfully, downloading classified government information with what Roxy was damn sure was an illegal virus. The happy fish on the stick didn't seem that fitting. Perhaps Aidan should have used a different drive. Though she'd seen some of his others, and they all sported happy ducks. Really cute ducks, actually. She should ask where he got them.

The drive bleeped three times, its flashes almost blending with the mad blinking of the building's lights, and Roxy breathed a sigh of relief, seizing it from the outlet and slipping it into her coat. Now to get out of-

'Lord Prime, we must evacuate!'

'Such a tone is uncalled for,' intoned a cold voice, and Roxy covered her mouth to hide a squeak as she shrank back under the desk. People were in here! Kryos was in here! F*#k.