No plan survives contact with the enemy, Ekko told himself as he walked behind Jinx. That's why we adapt. And she's been adapting well so far. No talking with ghosts yet. No deaths yet. We've gotten through the first two stages and no explosions or gunshots. You have every reason to show calm to the team.

"Jinx, it would be better if I lead," he asserted. It's much easier to talk with her alone. I don't have to mediate between the needs of the Firelights in real time and ensure she is doing well.

She halted. He could see her shoulder muscles tensing and her grip on the pistol tightening. "Why?"

"My weapons are less visible." And less lethal.

She tapped the muzzle of her firearms together. "Just in front of me and to the left. You'll obscure Pow-Pow."

Quietly releasing a breath, he slid past her and they continued the walk. It wasn't until the first inmates rushed forward and he had to side step directly in her path that she spoke again.

"What do you think she'll say? She'll do?" Jinx said in a low voice as the alarm continued and the lights flashed. Her tone sounded pensive and curious.

He hand signaled for them to advance. "Vi probably won't know much of anything since that night, so she'll be surprised. Surprised you've grown; surprised you're rescuing her; surprised you're, well, Jinx."

"Who will Jinx be to her?"

He held up his fingers in a pinch motion. Some guards ran past, taking little notice of them. A group of inmates followed, making it uncertain who was pursuing whom or if they all believed the disaster was real.

The trek resumed. "I can't say."

She grabbed his shoulder and turned him around. Narrowed blue-gray eyes struck his widened brown ones. "Don't lie. Not now."

Glancing behind her, he saw the discomfort of the team. They won't interfere as long as they know I'm safe. Not a good look though. Slowly, he put his hand over hers. "I wasn't. I don't think Vi will be in great shape after all this time here and my experiences from that night onward have left scars too."

She released her hold on him. She looked aside and spoke soundless words to the apparitions. Is it a winless game? Maybe only Vi can help her where I'm failing.

"Will… she be as broken as me?" Jinx finally asked.

He didn't speak until more inmates ran by. "Jinx, truthfully I don't know. People aren't meant to stay the same. We change. Powder became Jinx. Little Man became Boy Savior. Vi became 516."

Fury flashed on her face. "She's not a damn number."

"And I don't love the 'Boy Savior' name and I doubt Vi will want to call you 'Jinx'. We're different, but we should work at being our best selves for… for the people we love."

He slowly turned back and when she did the object resumed walking. Did you just confess your love in the most obtuse and awkward way possible? You think that will help her? And now, of all times!

His internal dialogue was interrupted when at a sharp corner the first guard's baton struck him solidly in the chest, temporarily winding him. The second guard swung for his head but she was stopped by a bullet destroying her thumb. The third guard, panicking at the gunfire, discharged their firearm rapidly.

Fortunately for the jailbreakers the gun was loaded with rubber bullets, but the Firelights tactics and skills thrived on agility. In the corridors of a dim prison, they could do little to evade, conceal, or cover from the blasts and ricochets. Jinx, however, had little concern for her death and even less for pain.

She took a hit in her arm and responded with one pistol shot into the third guard's nose. The firing stopped.

The first guard pulled out a tear gas canister and threw it at Jinx's feet. She chuckled at that and advanced, letting the wounded Firelights deal with the nuisance. N was screaming loudly. A threw a crystal bomb on the canister, rendering it useless.

"Jinx," Ekko gasped as air returned to his lungs. "You don't have–"

A hail of bullets from Pow-Pow ended his statement as well as the life of the first guard. The second guard fell on her knees. "I surrender! Please don't!"

Jinx's eyes were cold and she brought Pow-Pow close to the guards head. Before she could act, Ekko was up and pushed the barrel down. "No."

The two stared for a moment. Her coldness switched to heat and she snarled. Ekko used the distraction. "Run. Run now," he ordered the guard.

She complied. Jinx remained a bundle of rage near bursting as the guard fled away. Scowling, she jerked Pow-Pow back and looked to the fleeing guard. She still might kill her.

Ekko lightly set a hand on her shoulder, but this time she took it off. Not reflexively or hostility, but in determination. "N looks like he caught a bullet in the eye. You should give him something," Jinx stated.

He looked over and saw that Jinx was right. Alisha was wounded too, but minorly compared to the half-blinded Neil. Eve had already given a painkiller shot to him, but it hadn't kicked in yet. Sighing, he left her to lead.

"A, you're good enough to help N, right?"

Alisha nodded.

"Bring him out to the ferry," he knelt down and squeezed Neil's hand. "It should stop hurting soon. We will take care of you, friend."

Neil's screaming quieted down and he was helped up by his teammates to lean onto Alisha. As they walked away, Eve looked back. "Where's Jinx?"

Another spray of gunfire answered the question. Eve and Ekko rushed to catch up. Two inmates ran past with their hands up.

Around a corner, Jinx was struggling with a group of five prisoners. Well, three now. She headbutted the one of the two who was grappling with Pow-Pow and swung a foot into the knee of the other. The third had a black steel pipe and was trying to land a blow on her.

Ekko's club swung up, knocking out the assailants pipe and devastating many of his fingers. Eve landed a crystal bomb just a little beyond the two Jinx was struggling with and their mobility disappeared.

A second blow from Ekko knocked the pipe-wielder down and out. Before he could see anything, Jinx swung Pow-Pow's across the faces of the frozen convicts and fired. One of the deadly bullets ricocheted from the crystals and the walls and hit Eve's wrist.

As she screamed and Ekko knelt over her, Jinx blinked in confusion. She aimed the machine gun to the side. "Shut up! Shut up! You know it's not her!"

Ekko gave her some painkillers and helped her to her feet. "Head back, E. We must be close to the elevator now."

Eve glared at Jinx who seemed to be calming. "Lead. We can't afford–"

"It'll be okay," he assured, partly to himself. "We'll be out soon. Just go." He helped her up.

Eve looked defiant but after a deep breath headed back. Jinx and Ekko stood among the bodies for a moment trying to collect themselves. Then she moved on.

"Jinx, before we run into another group, we–"

"I have something to confess, Ekko."

That caused Ekko's heart to skip a couple of beats. Now? She wants to say this now?

She was doing a form of crabwalk to keep moving forward but have an eye on him too. Somehow, it felt appropriate.

After staying silent for a couple of moments, Jinx took it as a cue to keep going. "I hated you."

Ekko laughed. A small laugh, like an inside joke shared between friends. It infected Jinx for a little, but then she became solemn again.

"Or at least, I felt like I hated you. After Benzo was killed, I killed my family, made Vi hate me, betrayed those left, I told myself I had to. That I deserved it. But there was you. You telling me it wasn't all my fault; you apologizing; you pleading with me to leave Silco."

Ekko slowly nodded uncertainty. Was I also a ghost to her in those early days?

"And the Firelights! Janna! After so much distress, you create a family that resists Silco's empire, that heals shimmer addicts, that fights without killing, that literally raises young Zaunites up."

"Jinx, it–"

She held up her palm and he stopped. "When you were unmasked, remember how I told you 'I'm glad it's you. It had to be you.' I loved that my best friend who I spent hours with tinkering, sneaking, stealing, singing, dancing…" she smiled wistfully, "and shooting, that he could flourish in hell of the Undercity. And I hated that too. It showed me how I was Jinxing myself. That I wasn't capable of turning my own wreckage, my scraps into a wonderful creation. The Firelights are a reminder that I'll say Powder is dead, but her greatest failure lives on. And its name is Jinx."

Ekko swallowed as they approached the elevator door. "But, assuming I agree, Jinx is not finished. A work can be reexamined, redesigned, repurposed, modified, or attached."

Frowning, she moved close to him. "Only with time and resources though. We never made something in the scrap heap with wishes, hope, or love."

She put a hand on his hip. Ekko felt his cheeks burn. "We can't get lost in the analogy. People aren't gadgets. Maybe the love between Vi and you will improve you both."

"Maybe, but so far my feelings for my old friend…" she said while they stared into each other's eyes. "Are hurting us both."

She pushed him back with one hand and pulled out one of his crystal bombs with another. Swiftly, she threw it at his feet. Ekko leapt back but the crystals still caught him in the air. My weight should reduce the five minutes down. Especially if I can hack at it with the club soon.

He looked back at Jinx and saw her move to one of the small barred windows. She held a device in her hand.

"Don't, JInx! We're an elevator ride and probably a corridor away now. Don't make this worse."

"I ALWAYS make it worse, Ekko. We're not the crow and the firelight, Ekko. We're the scorpion and the frog. The scorpion can cry for itself or cry for its victims or blame nature that it's a scorpion or try its darndest to be a good scorpion, but a scorpion it remains. It has no choice."

Ekko shook his head. "There is always a choice."

She looked back with sorrow yet hope. "And my choice is to keep your farther away and your team closer." She extended the smoke flare out the window with her left hand and pulled the pin with her right. Ekko could not help but admire the color interplay between the flashing pink and blue lights and the smoke residue that wasn't making it out the window.

The smoke will only bring more smoke. Again, he shook his head as the signal went out. Another song from the jukebox was coming to him. Well, what else do I have to do now?

"Kiss your perfect day goodbye

Because the world is on fire"

Already Scar and the Firelights with him were throwing smoke bombs into the vents on top and through the small windows. A tired smile formed on Jinx's face and she joined his singing.

"Tuck your innocence goodnight

You sold your friends like guns for hire"

The last of the smoke emptied out and she tossed it to him. A gift? A memento? She opened the elevator and backed into it.

"Go play with your blocks

And now you'll pay"

Jinx closed it. The elevator began its descent with her and her voice faded away. We did sound good together.

"When these walls come tumbling down

Oh, they're tumbling down"