Siobhan stared at us, her entire body bathed in that aura of electricity, looking like she was about to rocket off at any moment.

  She’s a speedster, really? I thought to myself.

  How could we get out of this? If she could move that fast, this close to us we’d be doomed.

  Suddenly, I felt strings wrap tight around my midsection, causing me to flinch. What was Anton doing?

  BOOM!

  There was that crack of thunder again; immediately, I felt the strings around my body tighten before I was suddenly launched into the air. I let out a yelp as I flew, looking back towards Anton.

  “Do not worry, I can take her!” He shouted to me. As if to prove him wrong, Siobhan immediately hit him hard enough in the stomach to send him flying with a flash, before zapping off after him.

  I winced as Anton disappeared, before I hit the ground with a thud. I rolled, trying to pick myself back up, as I was now in the middle of what was left of that horde of automatons that Siobhan had wreaked havoc on.

  I glanced around, before focusing my power into my right hand. This time, each of my fingers shot forward, the bones extending into long needle-like lengths. Two of them glanced against the bodies of automatons, but the other two struck true, downing them before the bones rapidly retracted into my hand, the skin knitting itself back together quickly.

  CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

  I turned as I saw a pair of the automatons topple over, sparking, each of them with a golfball-sized dent in the backs of their heads. Looking down I realised that they were…

  Jawbreakers?

  I looked up, focusing on Elena in the trees. Or at least I tried to, before something slammed directly into my chest. It was rock-solid and cold, cold enough that I gasped despite this thing hitting me square in the chest and knocking the wind out of me. I staggered, almost dropping to one knee before catching myself.

  “Sorry!” Elena shouted, though the laugh betrayed that she’d fully meant to do that. I looked up at her, watching as she pulled something from one of the pockets on her suit and poured it into her mouth.

  I looked at the centre of my chest at what had hit me. It was cold, obviously, but coloured a bright white-yellow. Had she hit me with…ice cream?

  Pulling myself up, I started running towards the tree she was perched on. Immediately, I could hear the loud sound of her spitting stuff up, but it wasn’t a singular wad of something like I’d seen her do when we’d fought together; it was a rapid-fire barrage of smaller projectiles, each one slamming into the ground near me.

  One slammed into the side of my face, hard enough to make me stumble. The mask blocked the worst of it, but it still hurt. I threw my arm-shield up to block more as they shot at me, cracking against the bone with a thud.

  She’s getting better. I thought to myself as I got towards the base of the tree. I looked up; this tree was easily twenty feet tall, and she had perched herself on top of a pretty sturdy branch.

  She reared back again, shooting something else at me; I just barely dodged out of the way, huddling around the trunk so she couldn’t see me.

  How was I going to get up there? Climbing wasn’t exactly my strong point; I’d tried at the tryouts with my hands and that had been like pulling teeth.

  Something landed to my side with a thud, rock-solid and brightly-coloured; another jawbreaker.

  “Come on, Skye!” Elena shouted from up on her branch, cackling. “Don’t tell me you’re chickening out on me, dude!”

  I wouldn’t say I was ‘chickening out’, not really. I just really, really didn’t want to fight Elena. There was also still the issue of the tree. Namely, it was huge, and I had no idea how I was going to climb it without getting brained by one of her jawbreakers.

  I turned around to face the trunk directly, keeping myself covered from Elena while trying to wrack my brain.

  Then my mind went back to Slaughterhouse. How she’d scaled that building with her weird, muscley tendrils like some kind of spider.

  A spider…

  Wait.

  I closed my eyes, focusing my power back into my ribs. Rather than having them rocket out of me like before, they pushed their way out through my sides slowly and deliberately. It still hurt as they tore through muscle and skin, but I could bear it.

  I opened my eyes again. Within a few seconds, six of my ribs - three each side, long, pale, and sharp at the ends - were jutting from my sides and stretched out in front of me like skeletal limbs.

  Even for me, this is weird. I thought to myself, trying to focus and get them to move. It felt weird too, like I was controlling new arms I didn’t know I had. I managed to get them to move, twitching one after the other. A crawling sensation ran under my skin and up my spine as they shifted, scraping against tendons. Up, down, left, right.

  Another jawbreaker slammed into the tree with a crack.

  “Skye, c’mon!” Elena yelled. “Don’t tell me you’ve left? Or maybe Siobhan’s got you?”

  I was trying to ignore her, as hard as that was. But she was right, I only had so long until Siobhan was done with Anton. I could faintly hear the cracks of thunder in the distance; hopefully she hadn’t reduced him to a smear.

  But I had to focus on what was right in front of me. I could move my ribs. Now to see if they could hold my weight.

  I took a breath and lined them up, then I jammed my ribs into the side of the tree. Each one embedded itself into the bark with a crunch, wood splintering; one rib, then another, then a third, until all six were firmly planted inside. I lifted my legs off of the ground for a second; for that terrifying second, I was suspended entirely by my own ribs.

  They held.

  Holy shit.

  Then slowly, carefully, I pulled each one out one at a time before embedding it a bit further up, enough to slowly pull me off of the ground.

  THUNK! Another jawbreaker against the tree.

  Ignoring it, I kept going. I got my ribs moving one after the other in a rhythm; embed, pull, rise, embed, pull, rise. Within a couple of seconds, my feet were hanging beneath me, my ribs letting me clamber up the tree like the legs of a spider.

  Another jawbreaker hit the tree again, but where I used to be rather than where I was now. I kept going, my ribs clicking and groaning with each shift; the movement was already getting smoother, more fluid and natural. I was getting faster, curling up the tree.

  As I got closer to Elena’s perch, I rounded the trunk, ribs skittering along the surface. Then-

  “Skye are you- oh my god!” Elena’s voice cracked as I pulled myself level with the branch, stopping just above the base of the branch before I pulled my ribs out from the bark, landing right where the branch met the trunk.

  My ribs still exposed, I turned to look straight Elena.

  “What the fuck, dude?!” She shouted. She was staring at me slack-jawed, sounding genuinely unnerved.

  I didn’t say anything as I stepped forward, trying to keep myself balanced. Rather than having my arms outstretched, my ribs did the balancing for me, fanning out like wings and twitching as I walked across the branch towards Elena.

  She reared back, her mouthguard splitting open as she spat out something; more ice cream, by the looks of it. I ducked, focusing my ribs to hook into the branch, keeping me upright.

  Elena took a step back.

  “Skye? You’re not saying anything, dude,” She said, backing up towards the edge of the branch.

  I took another step forward, before I stopped. The branch was getting thinner, and Elena was maybe two steps away from its edge.

  “Kinda freaking me out over here.”

  That made me flinch. ‘Freaking her out’?

  “S-sorry, I-” I started, “I was just trying to-”

  Elena’s face completely changed, that look of fear replaced with a cheeky grin.

  “Gotcha!” She shouted, before rearing back again and spitting. Jawbreakers and balls of ice cream shot from her mouth all at once like a shotgun.

  I yelped, pulling back; my ribs hooked back into the branch again. I held up my arm as a bone-shield emerged from it, just in time to catch her shots.

  Why did I fall for that? I thought.

  Couldn’t focus on that now, not with her launching edible bullets at me; I took another step forward towards her, holding firm as my shield was battered by her barrage. The branch creaked beneath us as I stepped forward; it was getting thinner, and Elena didn’t have much space left.

  She stopped spitting, taking another step back as-

  Her foot slipped.

  “Shit!” She yelled, flailing her arms as she began to topple to the side, trying to keep balance. But she slipped off of the branch into the open air.

  My heart stopped. I didn’t even think, I just moved, launching myself off of the branch after her. It was enough of a launch that I was able to grab onto her and twist us around in mid-air to brace the fall as my ribs started extending further, wrapping around us both like a shield until-

  CRUNCH!

  We slammed onto the ground, hard. I wheezed as the pain shot through me, my vision swimming. The ribs on my right side cracked on impact.

  I laid there for a second, hissing as the pain subsided, before-

  “Skye, I can’t breathe.” Elena said, her voice muffled.

  I blinked, looking down.

  Elena was planted face-first into my chest, my arms wrapped tight around her.

  Blood rushed to my face under the mask.

  “S-shit Elena I-I’m sorry, I-” I stammered as I quickly let go, my ribs rapidly retracting under my skin with a series of wet cracks.

  Elena was shaking as she rolled off of me. I was half-expecting her to be mad or embarrassed. But she was laughing, fully on her back on the ground, crying her eyes out like it was the funniest thing in the world.

  “Jesus, Skye, can you stop jumping off of high places?!” She shouted, barely able to stop laughing.

  I let out a breath, then I laughed. A proper, genuine laugh; hers was so contagious, it felt wrong to not join in.

  “The hell were those rib-leg things?” She asked, pulling herself up to her feet, “You didn’t tell me about that.”

  “I-I only thought of it in the moment,” I responded, rubbing the back of my neck, “I needed a way to g-get up and it just felt natural.”

  She nodded, looking at my sides. “It’s a sick trick, dude. It's gross, but sick.”

  I opened my mouth to respond-

  BOOM!

  A loud thunderclap echoed across the clearing.

  I felt myself freeze.

  There was a pause, then a flash of light carved through the grass, as Siobhan zipped into view about twenty feet from me, electricity crackling off of her like fire.

  “Bad news, Skye,” she said, her voice crackling with static, “Anton’s down. So it looks like it’s just you versus us now.”

  I turned back to look at Elena.

  “Sorry dude,” she said cheerfully, shrugging, “Them’s the breaks. Good luck though!”

  She immediately bolted away, ducking near a bush.

  I sighed under the mask, groaning, before looking back at Siobhan.

  Great. I thought, I really don’t want to fight Siobhan…

  The simulated forest around us was scorched black, the trees still burning and cracking around us, the air thick with the smell of simulated smoke and very real ozone.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Siobhan was bouncing on the balls of her feet, shadow-boxing. It was so weird to see her this lively and energised.

  She’s probably gonna run right at me… I thought, focusing my power into my forearms again; a thick plate of bone emerged from each one, completely enveloping my arms in flat shields.

  Siobhan took that as her cue. “Come on, come on, come on!” she shouted, grinning. “Let’s go go go!”

  BOOM!

  She shot forward with a crack of thunder. I raised my arms quickly, but-

  CRACK- I barely managed to catch her fist as it slammed into the bone-shield.

  Pain shot through my forearm; it felt like I was being hit by a car, the bone plate on my arm splintering and cracking. Then a jolt of electricity shot through me, causing my body to recoil and tense up like I was being tazed. I staggered, teeth rattling.

  Another crack of thunder as Siobhan sped away, loud and close enough that it made my ears ring. I spun, trying to follow the trail of burning grass she left behind herse-

  THUD-THUD-THUD!

  Three jawbreakers cracked into the back of my helmet one after the other, causing me to stumble. I turned, watching as Elena ducked behind a tree stump, cheeks puffed and ready to spit again-

  CRACK!

  Siobhan’s fist buried into my side, knocking the wind out of me. My muscles spasmed and tensed as that electric shock shot through my body again, sending me spinning to the floor in a heap before she shot away again.

  Shit, they’re double-teaming me?! I thought.

  I shook my head to try and reorient myself before standing up. I turned to look at Elena, before turning my back to her deliberately. I had to try and close a gap. If I couldn’t stop Siobhan straight away, maybe…

  I started walking backwards towards Elena. Another shot from her hit me in the back, but I gritted my teeth.

  I kept my arms in front of me, shields ready, waiting for-

  A tiny flash of light blared in the distance in front of me. I dove to the side, praying, leaving Elena exposed as Siobhan rocketed towards where I had just been standing, almost slamming into her. She skidded to a stop, the grass around her igniting and blackening.

  I lunged forward, jabbing my right hand at her. She barely had a chance to look up before the arm-shield cracked into the side of her face, sending her staggering back.

  She turned to look at me, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. Her grin didn’t falter; it widened, electricity still crackling around her.

  “Smart…” She hissed, wiping the blood from her face, “Elena?”

  Elena turned to look at her. “Yeah?”

  “Get back!”

  Elena barely had a chance to scramble behind a fallen log. Siobhan’s electric aura flared violently. I held up my arms as she rocketed forward-

  WHAM!

  Her fist slammed into my shield again, a jolt of electricity shooting through me.

  Then she hit the shield again. Then again. And again. And again, faster and faster until her fists were hammering into me like a high-caliber machine gun, each one sending another jolt ripping through my body and making it harder and harder to stay upright. She was hitting me hard and fast enough that I could see bolts of lightning shooting out from her.

  I couldn’t move. I could barely breathe. Electricity was pumped through my body with each hit, causing my muscles to constrict and lock up.

  I had to stop this somehow.

  I funneled my power through my arms and into the shields, forcing jagged spikes to erupt from the surface, right between Siobhan’s punches.

  Her next punch slammed full-force and knuckles-first into the spiked shield with a crunch, hard enough to make me take a step back. Siobhan immediately stopped, screaming in pain. I lowered the shield for a second, gasping in relief; blood was pouring from the fingers on her right hand, dripping onto the ground. She looked up at me, angry but excited, grinning.

  I felt a pang of guilt at first, but couldn’t help smiling under the mask.

  BOOM!

  There was another flash and a crack of thunder, and she zipped away.

  BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

  More cracks of thunder began echoing, but scattered around me. There was no clear pattern or direction to them.

  Where the hell is she-?

  Left.

  The thought slid into my mind. I turned quickly to my left, holding my arms out in front of me. Sure enough, Siobhan shot towards me, but didn’t make contact this time, bolting away at the last second with a crack of thunder.

  I blinked, realising what had happened. How did I know that?

  I couldn’t think about that now. I stood firm.

  Something slammed into the side of my head, cold; more ice cream. It was enough to shock me out of my focus, completely losing track of-

  Behind.

  I spun around wildly, swinging my right arm-shield wildly behind me.

  CLANG!

  Something slammed into my arm hard enough to cause the force to reverberate through me, my forearm cracking as Siobhan landed with a thud by my feet.

  She was on her back, a stunned expression on her face.

  There was a pause as Elena and I just stared down at her as she stared up, pure confusion on her face.

  “How the fuck-” She started, before bolting to her feet. “No, fuck this!”

  Her entire body began glowing, the electric aura around her body intensifying. Then she took off, but not into the distance like before. She started running in a wide circle around the clearing, fast enough that she was forming a wide ring of crackling blue light with me dead in the centre, the air literally humming with electricity.

  My eyes darted around frantically trying to keep track of her before-

  WHAM!

  She slammed her hand into my ribs as she rushed past me, hard enough to send me stumbling.

  Again, in the stomach, hard enough that I felt bile rising.

  And again, in the knee, causing me to hit the ground with a thud.

  Every hit was a jolt of pure electricity, rattling my insides.

  I tried to keep myself upright. This was getting me nowhere; I had to finish this now or it just wouldn’t end.

  I raised my arms out in front of me like I was ready to throw a punch, quickly reforming the shields into more solid, compact masses like makeshift boxing gloves.

  Dead ahead.

  Siobhan shot out towards me with a flash; I barely caught a glimpse of her. I jabbed my arm forward-

  B-BOOM!

  My jab struck true, hitting her square in the face.

  So did hers, slamming me square in the face too.

  Electricity shot through me, pain lancing through my jaw and jamming it shut.

  There we stood for a second, locked in place by the impact and shock, completely still.

  Then another.

  Then we both dropped, arms going limp as we fell to our knees in the dirt. Lights danced behind my eyes. My ears were ringing.

  I was panting, exhausted. I felt like I’d been hit by a train.

  Barely focusing, I looked at Siobhan. That aura of electricity she’d had was starting to fade, the light around her dimming.

  “Good- good fight…” She murmured; she looked exhausted.

  I could barely open my mouth either. “Y-you t-too…”

  She smiled; not the manic grin, but more genuine. “You need to…need to catch… catch me…”

  Her voice trailed off as eyes rolled back.

  “W-wait, wha-”

  She fell into my arms, crumpling like her strings had been cut. I was just barely able to catch her.

  I didn’t know what to do; for a horrible moment I thought I’d killed her. But she was breathing, at least. I could barely move, too worn out to do anything but stay there, breathing slowly and trying to let that static shock pass through me as she laid in my arms.

  The scenery around us slowly began to bleed away; the trees, the flames, the sky, all of it melting into a plain, unassuming beige-white. As it faded, I heard Anton walking towards us.

  He looked rough; his face was covered in bruises, his costume looked battered, and he was limping.

  “Jesus, what did she do to you?” Elena asked from behind me.

  Anton chuckled, wincing. “What didn’t she do to me?”

  I looked at him, then down at the unconscious Siobhan in my arms.

  “I-is she…is she ok?”

  Anton nodded. “She is fine. This happens when she overexerts. You gave her good fight?”

  I nodded, slowly. “Y-yeah…yeah I t-think I did.”

  Special Case Room, Young Defenders Training Facility, Meritas City. October 10th, 2014, 12:00

  After the simulation ended, the four of us made our way back to the Special Case Room. Anton had helped me carry Siobhan back; she barely stirred at all the entire trip back, she was out like a light. I wasn’t much help; barely able to keep myself upright, let alone carrying her.

  As we got in, we set her onto the couch in the middle of the room. She looked like she was sleeping, her fingers twitching every now and then, but otherwise she didn’t stir.

  As soon as I stopped, I felt my legs give way. Elena rushed over to grab me, keeping me steady.

  “S-sorry,” I murmured, “Th-think that took more out of me than I thought…”

  “Dude, don’t be silly,” Elena said, helping me into one of the other chairs to let me relax, “I’ll grab you some food, ‘kay?”

  I nodded, taking a breath and leaning back in the chair. I pulled off my mask with one hand, dropping it onto the floor beside me.

  My entire body felt sore, like it had been put through the ringer. I let my power run through my bones, just to see if there was any damage. Three ribs cracked from where I hit the ground with Elena, slight fracture on my jaw. Thankfully I could feel parts of me healing; my jaw writhed slightly as I felt the crack seal itself shut.

  My train of thought stopped as a tap-tap-tap sounded from one of the room’s windows. Turning my head, I could see-

  My heart stopped.

  Glory- Jessica. She was floating at the window, fully dressed in her costume, visor shining and golden accents gleaming against the black dress.

  Anton stepped over, one hand pressing an ice-pack against his face, the other extending his strings to open the window. A cold draft blew through as Jessica flew into the room, touching down gently.

  “Thanks.” she said, before looking around; at Anton, at Siobhan, at Elena, then at me. “The fuck happened to you guys?”

  “Combat trial.” Anton responded. “Skye and Elena’s first.”

  Maddie - wait, when had she gotten here? - stepped over to the unconscious Siobhan, leaning over to get a closer look.

  “Wow, she’s out like a light!” Maddie chirped, “Haven’t seen her like this for a while, not since-”

  “Since the last time she duked it out with me, right?” Jessica interrupted, smirking.

  “Yeah, and she rocked your shit.” Maddie snorted.

  “She didn’t ‘rock my shit’, Mads, we were even.”

  “Is that why you tried to break her leg?”

  “I didn’t try to-” Jessica started, before taking a breath, I guessed to calm herself, “Not the point. So who got her to wear herself out then?”

  There was a pause. I didn’t say anything, I barely even moved, just looking down at my hands.

  “Skye did.” Elena spoke up as she walked up next to me.

  Jessica turned slowly to look at me, like she’d only just realised I was in the room.

  She looked me up and down, her expression unclear behind that golden visor. “Really?” she sneered, “You?”.

  I slowly looked up at her. The first actual conversation since our encounter in the Quads, and it was this.

  “I asked you a question.” She said again. I saw Elena tense up out of the corner of my eye.

  I took a breath; my body still ached all over. “Y-yeah, I d-did. It was a g-good fight, too.”

  “‘Fun’?” Jessica snorted, “You look like you got your ass-”

  “I-it was a fair fight too.” I snapped, looking her dead in the eye, “No funny business. She wasn’t trying to kill me.”

  Jessica’s eye twitched. Only she and I really knew what I meant. Truthfully, I could feel a tight knot in my chest. Was this going too far?

  “Fine.” She said, “Congrats, I guess. Sure you did great.”

  She walked away, going to the other end of the room where she normally sat. Maddie didn’t follow her at first, watching her go, before she looked down at me.

  She gave me a small, slow nod with that grin on her face, before following behind Jessica.

  I exhaled as she left, that knot in my chest undoing itself just a bit.

  Elena tapped a sandwich against my hand, which I happily took from her.

  “Told you you were awesome.” She whispered, smiling.

  We spent much of the next hour just relaxing; well, as best as I could. Most of my injuries fixed themselves as I ate and chatted with Elena, but my body still felt sore even as I sat there.

  But after that hour had passed-

  “Jesus…fuck,” came a raspy voice from the couch. Siobhan slowly stirred, her eyes gradually peeling themselves open.

  She shifted, grimacing, before looking around the room. She looked like she’d woken up from a years-long nap.

  “How…how long was I out?” She asked, her voice scratchy.

  “Hour-and-a-half?” Elena replied, leaning back in her chair.

  Siobhan nodded slowly. “Ok…not bad, all things considered.”

  “What were you expecting?” Elena asked, raising an eyebrow.

  Siobhan tried to pull herself up into a seating position, but hissed in pain and dropped back onto the couch.

  “Bad idea…Anton!” She shouted; I saw Anton’s head pop up like a meerkat.

  “How long was I out for last time?” Siobhan asked.

  “Eight hours!” Anton shouted from the other end of the room.

  I just stared at Siobhan, mouth agape.

  “W-why?” I asked.

  She looked up at the ceiling, a crooked smile on her face. “My power’s got a few… problems. Passing out when I go too hard’s one of ‘em.”

  “Sounds like you might need this then.” Elena said, placing a cup of coffee on the table by the couch. Siobhan leaned forward, hissing in pain slightly as she grabbed the cup before taking a sip.

  I just looked at her, unsure what to say. I looked at her bloodied knuckles and suddenly felt guilty about how much I’d hurt her; the punches, the spikes-

  “Oi!” She barked, making me jump. She gestured at me to come over to her. Slowly, I pulled myself from my seat, Elena helping me up, before I staggered over to her.

  “Don’t you fuckin’ get guilty over hurtin’ me, ok?” She said, “I’m not some delicate doll that can’t take a few knocks.”

  “I-I didn’t-”

  “Look,” she interrupted, her voice firm despite her lying flat on her back, “I wanted a fight, and you gave me a good one, Skye. If you’d gone easy on me, then I’d have kicked your arse. During and after.”

  That got a laugh out of me. She smiled up at me.

  “Besides, you’ve got guts, Skye.” She said, her eyes locking onto mine, “More guts than people way stronger than you could even dream of.”

  Her eyes flicked, very pointedly towards Jessica.

  “T-thanks, Siobhan.” I said, letting a smile linger on my face.

  She held a hand out, palm open, waiting. I paused for a second, looking confused, before Elena nudged me gently. I raised my hand, our palms slapping together in a firm grasp as she pulled me in for a half-hug, tapping me on the shoulder.

  Or at least, she tried. She groaned in pain as she pulled me, as did I when she tapped on the shoulder. Still too sore. We shared a bit of a laugh, even with the pain we were in.

  I slumped back into my seat, head tilted.

  For all of two seconds before the door clicked open, as Red stepped in.

  “Well!” She said, a cartoonish smile beamed onto her helmet’s display screen. “Very nice first go at a combat trial, gang! Congrats on Skye and Elena for a job well done!”

  I shrank a little bit, but Elena put her hand on my shoulder.

  “I’ll be giving you individual scores and feedback later on, but for now, feel free to enjoy the rest of your day! As far as I’m concerned, you’ve done great this morning!”

  I smiled, looking up at Elena.

  “Oh, before I forget!” Red chirped again. “Skye, Elena?”

  We both turned to look at Red.

  She tapped her chin theatrically. “Monday afternoon. Do you two have any plans after your morning classes?”

  I blinked. Did I?

  “I uh… don’t think so?”

  “How do you two feel…” her voice taking on a bit of a bouncy energy “About doing your first patrol?”

  I felt Elena light up next to me, letting out an excited gasp.

  I didn’t say anything. I just sat there, my heart racing.

  First patrol already? I thought, Was I really ready?

  There was only one way to find out.