The text that popped up on Vivainne’s phone vanished as soon as she read it, scrubbed from her phone. The message burned on Vivainne’s eyelids, flashing when she blinked. She ought to be moving, gathering her things, getting ready to go. But she couldn’t.

  A stalled breath escaped her lungs as she sat at her desk, frozen. Equal parts relief and terror wracked through her, leaving her body trembling as she fought to control the emotions. It was finally ending. They’d raid her mother’s lab, get all the definitive evidence they needed, and lock her up. She would get her answers.

  It was so much to take in. Not that she hadn’t been hoping, praying, for it for years, but now that it was finally happening, it was hard to accept. She’d imagined so many times. The worst scenarios. The best scenarios. But usually the worst. She had to keep those at bay, refusing to let herself linger on the idea that Vora would find out before the raid had a chance to happen.

  She wouldn’t find out, because Vivainne wouldn’t let her know anything was off.

  She dressed quickly, throwing clothes into a backpack as she did. There wasn’t much she wanted to take with her, but she did her best to fit it all into a single bag, unsure what would happen after tonight or if she’d have a chance to come back for anything. It was better to grab everything now.

  Getting out of the house without making her mother suspicious would be an issue, if she didn’t already know Vora was out at a meeting with some of her backers. Monet Industries backers, not one of her mysterious allies in exchange for an unknown benefit. She should have known the heroes would choose today to raid, especially since she’d been the one to tell them that information.

  Well, she had known, she just couldn’t bring herself to believe it until it was happening, afraid it would all fall apart in the last instance.

  But Recompense was better than that.

  Carrying everything she could think to bring, Vivainne didn’t waste time walking to the front door. She phased directly through the wall in front of her and out into the sunlight, where her shadows immediately weakened and pulled on the fractured edges of her core until she was forced to drop them. Pulling herself to her feet, she ran to the gate, slipping out just as the world in front of her warped and twisted, turning into a swirling of color and light.

  A hand reached through it, dark brown with nails painted a light pink.

  Grasping it, she was hauled through, Jordan helping her to keep her balance as the portal vanished. Or The Path, as he wore his costume, a blue, green, and brown suit that seemed odd if you didn’t know what his power was.

  “That’s disorienting,” Vivainne said, pulling her hand back as the world stopped spinning.

  “Always is,” The Path agreed. “Is that what you’re wearing?”

  “I don’t exactly have my own hero suit yet,” Vivainne deadpanned. They stood in a quiet corner of a bustling room, off to the side and out of sight of most of the people preparing for the raid, both the heroes who would lead it, and the techs helping them get ready, as well as the agents coming along to take category of the evidence they found.

  Across the room, Recompense laid eyes on her and slipped away from the agent he was speaking to. People stepped out of his path as he moved through the space, walking up to them.

  “You can still back out of this,” Recompense said as greeting. “We can do the raid without you. Stay here and stay safe.”

  “No,” Vivainne said, gritting her teeth. She had to be there for this. Had to see her mother get taken down. Her plans shattered. Her secrets uncovered. “I’m coming.”

  “Dispatch is going to hate you for that,” The Path said.

  “I know,” Recompense said with a sigh. “But it’s her own choice. You won’t ever be in danger.”

  “Do you have someone going after my mother?” Vivainne asked. If Vora got wind of this, she’d disappear, and she couldn’t let that happen.

  “Stardust is,” Recompense said. “Joined by Joint Pain and Hephestus. They’ll more than have her well in hand.”

  Vivainne nodded. Hopefully that will be enough, she thought, all the while resisting the urge to tell the heroes they were underestimating her mother. But she wasn’t sure what those other heroes could do, and fighting a living star was undeniably hard to do. Stargirl had proven that decades ago when she helped shape the hero system into what they had today. Vivainne could only hope it would be enough, and that none of them would get their cores broken in the process.

  “Come.” Recompense laid a hand on her shoulder and guided her across the room, gliding easily through the packed space. Eyes darted in their direction, judgment clear even as Recompense brought her to an alcove full of supplies.

  He stepped away from her and crossed the room, picking up a black mask that would be able to hide all but her eyes behind its smooth surface. For a fleeting moment, it reminded her of the Monet Industries tech and cold flushed through her body.

  “Wear this,” he instructed. As she smoothed her hair back, he caught sight of the hair tie and motioned for it. “You can also give up the contacts and hair tie now,” he added.

  “Right.” She’d gotten so used to wearing them, taking them out was strange. Her eyes felt weirdly empty as she removed the contacts and blinked the sensation away, placing them in an empty case alongside the recording hairband. Left without a way to put up her hair, she did her best to secure it behind the blank black mask.

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  “Why do I need to wear this?” she asked, voice muffled behind heavy plastic.

  “I have already pulled a number of strings to keep you involved with this investigation,” he said, fingers pressing gently into the side of the mask as he adjusted it on her face. Unused to someone touching her without threat, without nails digging into her skin, she held her breath as he finished helping her put it on. “I’m on particularly thin ice with Dispatch at the moment. If I’m going to bring you along, you have to wear this mask, and you cannot touch anything.” He moved back, and their eyes met through the mask as she lifted her head to stare at him. The solemnity there was something she couldn’t brush aside.

  “Yes sir,” she said, thankful for the mask. With it on, he couldn’t see her flush as she lied. She wanted to listen to him, she really did. But she needed answers, and if he didn’t get her what she sought, she would have to disobey. She didn’t have a choice.

  “Stay close to me,” Recompense ordered, and walked back to the center of the room. Not ready to go against his word so soon, Vivainne followed on his heel, aware of the attention on her now more than ever. Just how many favors had Recompense needed to pull to be able to bring her along?

  The weight and guilt of it settled in the pit of her stomach, along with all the other emotions that had built up over the course of the day. They could wait there with all the rest until this matter was finished and she was able to…

  She wasn’t sure what she would do. She hadn’t ever allowed herself a chance to imagine what she would do once her mother was out of the picture. She knew she wanted to be a hero, set herself apart from Vora in every way possible, but beyond that? She didn’t have the slightest idea.

  After tonight, she would have the time she needed to figure it out.

  Gathered around a wide holographically topped table, sandwiched between the imposing bodies of The Path and Recompense, Vivainne listened as one of the Unity agents outlined their plan for the raid and the parameters set in place for it. Much of the conversation went over her head, though it brought to light how much cooperation there was between the Unity of Heroes and law enforcement. It shouldn’t have been surprising. Heroes weren’t officers of the law, they worked with it, though it was hard at times to determine where those lines lay when heroes could change the very laws of nature.

  As soon as they finished, The Path raised his arms. “I know the ether is pretty, but don’t touch it,” he warned as the world wrapped around them all.

  In a blink, they stood on the lawn outside of Vora’s perfectly manicured, fake house. A car sat in the parking spot out front and for a moment, Vivainne was terrified her mother was here, not with her investors.

  She opened her mouth to call out a warning when Recompense’s outfit exploded.

  At least that was how it looked, before she made sense of the set of drones flying toward the front door. One attached itself to the doorknob, unlocking the door while the other whirred, beginning to glow. Recompense began moving forward as his creatures pushed inside, marching with a storm of confidence that would make anyone quiver in his path.

  Vivainne followed, slowed only by The Path, who gave her a soft look through the mesh mask over his eyes. “Stay back?”

  She shoved his hand off and followed Recompense through the door.

  A scream pierced the house as she stepped inside.

  Her heart leapt into her throat as she broke into a run, phasing quickly to slip around the man clad in black utility armor and slip into the front room.

  Recompense stood above a woman and little Vanya, holding his hands up peacefully even as the pair of drones energized on either side of him, flanking him like his own personal sidekicks.

  “Quiet now, you’re okay,” he said, his voice low and soothing. “I’m a hero. Recompense. What’s your name?”

  Vivainne slipped up behind him, deftly avoiding a hand meant to hold her back by turning her arm to shadow the moment the glove touched it. “That’s my sister,” she whispered, nodding at the little girl.

  “And the woman?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I’m her nanny,” the woman answered, the words coming out jittery. “What are you—”

  “Get them out of here.” He grabbed the woman by the arm, not roughly but firmly enough she didn’t attempt to struggle, and pulled her away from Vanya. In the woman’s absence, Vivainne rushed forward and grabbed her little sister. She scooped her up, surprised by how heavy she was, and ran to The Path.

  “Can you get her out of here?” she asked, pushing the girl into his arms as she whimpered.

  The Path cast a glance at Recompense, reading something in his face, and nodded. He took the girl and vanished, leaving nothing but an afterimage as he stepped into another region of space.

  Recompense’s voice shook her back into the moment. “The elevator?”

  He knew where the elevator was, he must, but she led him to it anyway, opening up the closet door and revealing the shining metal front. Before she could phase through the door, he held up a hand and one of his drones attached to the scanner. Less than a moment later, the door beeped and opened.

  “How did you do that?”

  “You don’t become a tech hero for nothing,” Recompense said, laying a hand on her shoulder. “Come on.”

  They stepped into the elevator, followed by the crew of faceless agents joining them. With only one button inside the elevator, they had no choice but to go down, descending into the earth. Under the faintest bit of pressure, Vivainne felt as they dropped level by level, almost like a weight on her shoulders.

  The door opened, revealing the dimly lit corridor with dozens of doors off on either side.

  Recompense stopped her before she could step out the door, allowing the others to move through first, splitting up into pairs as they moved down the hallway. “Stay close,” he ordered. “And do not touch anything.”

  Vivainne let out a long breath beneath her mask as she followed Recompense into the hallway. He wasn’t going to make it easy for her to slip away. Perhaps he knew what she was planning, which did put a damper on her plan, but her power was uniquely suited to this sort of work. And she knew exactly where to go.

  Recompense followed one of the pairs into a room, setting his drone to work opening the door. In short order, they were through and into a room with rows of shelves, full of boxes, bottles, and odd mechanical objects. The officers in black set to categorizing it, with Recompense whipping out another tool from his suit seamlessly and putting it to work helping them.

  Was this all they were going to do? Go room by room, opening doors, inventorying their evidence?

  She wouldn’t get anything out of this.

  Vivainne glanced over her shoulder. The lights of the hallway flickered, fluorescence shuddering.

  No one was watching. Recompense read over a few labels on the boxes, inspecting them as he went down the line. The two in utility armor hadn’t paid any attention to her the entire time, except to eye her oddly when she joined their group.

  In a blink, she transformed, shadows seeping out into the hallway. It was silent and seamless, the darkness of the space only making it easier. As quickly as she could, she escaped down the hallway, looking for the door her mother had brought her through before.

  She phased through a door, nearly gagging despite her shadow form as she passed into a room smelling of human waste. A crumbled form curled into the corner, shivering in the cold.

  Vivainne slipped back out into the hallway, feeling sick. The heroes would get to her. That wasn’t her responsibility.

  She reached a door, pausing outside as her tendrils of shadow felt along its surface. The faintest impression seemed to rest upon it, and she slipped through the door.

  A sigh of relief escaped her as she reformed her body. She’d found it.