Jayden stopped the memory there. She didn’t need the near past messing with her head during a job. Her head was woozy, and she took a moment to reorient herself.

She was still standing Helios’ office. He was still in the closet. Airin was looking around for Roux’s file, and Brandy was still messing around the files on the wrong side of the room.

“Hey, what’d you find?” Jayden called out to Brandy. Brandy closed the drawer she was looking into and leaned on it, stretching lazily.

“Just curious about stuff. Did you know the election’s in two weeks?”

Airin stomped on the ground to get their attention. “I cannot find a file under ‘Roux Amboise,’” she signed, “but there is one for ‘Heartbreaker Underground.’ I also found Marius.’” She dropped two files on the ground and curled up for a nap. “Good night.”

“Wait a moment. Help Brandy with the address first,” Jayden said. Airin blinked disinterestedly and inched over to Brandy. “So they don’t know Roux’s a part of this?” Jayden asked while flipping through the Heartbreaker file. They had less than nothing on Roux; none of the four had registered powers, and it seemed like the government was going crazy trying to find them. Jayden chuckled. “They think that superhero with the shadow-travel powers is Heartbreaker.”

“That’s hilarious.” Brandy licked her finger and flipped through the Marius file. “What about the basement they rented in the Aries suburbs?” she asked. Airin shook her head.

Airin pointed to a line in the file. “Read this to me.”

“It’s an apartment on Shaughnessy street.”

“She always loved the flower boxes in the building across the street.”

“And the lease isn’t up.” Brandy slammed the file shut. “Awesome. It’s worth a shot.”

“Wait.” Jayden put the Heartbreaker file back where Airin found it. “If Roux isn’t implicated, shouldn’t we stay away? If we show up, authorities might put two and two together.”

“We might do what?”

The three of them whirled around to see a woman leaning on a cane standing beside a very awake Helios. She tilted her hat at them and brushed invisible dust off her epaulets. Her white uniform shone bright against her dark skin.

Airin let out a small gasp despite herself. “Roux?” she signed. The woman didn’t react.

Jayden and Brandy were thinking the same thing: the woman looked exactly like an older, longer-haired Roux dressed in the uniform of their enemy.

“What might we do, Announcer?” The woman asked again, tapping the steel tip of her boot with her cane. “That is your name, of course.” Beside her, Helios had picked up his destabilizer rod, grinning like a predator who knew his prey had been caught.

“I’m not hallucinating, right?” Jayden signed, hands shaking so much they were almost unreadable. The woman hadn’t come up by elevator; there would’ve been a tremor, a vibration of the elevator cables.

The woman cocked her head slightly. A smile tugged at the edges of her mouth. “No, you aren’t. I think I’d know if I was a hallucination,” she replied, white gloves flashing over each other, cane hooked on her elbow. She was remarkably fluent.

“It’s not Roux,” Airin signed behind her back. Her pale skin was even paler with shock. “She doesn’t know her namesign.” Airin had given Roux her namesign, and there’d be hell to pay if either of them forgot it.

“Hey, Helios!” Brandy jeered. “Letting an inquisitor fight your battles? Very brave!”

He sneered, showing a single gold tooth. “You’ll regret your words when they toss you in the deepest, darkest –”

“That’s enough,” the woman said. “I would like to have a civil conver –”

“Plan B!” Brandy suddenly yelled.

Airin nodded and ran straight at the window. She shoulder-checked it with such force and velocity that it flew clean off its frame. Airin tucked and rolled onto the next building over.

“Bye,” Brandy said, and jumped out the window. She re-adjusted her glasses before they fell off, and teleported beside Airin. She waved at the window she could barely see anymore.

Jayden stood in the center of Helios’ office, pretending to be utterly at ease.

The woman chuckled. “Your comrades just abandoned you,” she mused.

“All part of the plan,” Jayden replied. The woman frowned, though Jayden had no idea why. Jayden continued, crossing her arms behind her back. “You see, I know the exact frequency the glass in this building shatters at, and if I am who you say I am, then you know what I can do to this entire building. So, I’ll be leaving now.”

Jayden started walking towards the elevator, but a cane blocked her way. Panic rose in her throat, and she shoved it down. She turned to the woman with fake disinterest. “What now?”

“I’d like to offer you a dea –”

“No thanks.”

The woman stabbed her cane into the ground, sending a sharp ting through Jayden’s bones. “I will offer you a deal, Jayden Mach. If you testify against your friends in court, who, I remind you, we already know the names of, then we’ll release a press conference that says you had nothing to do with the murder and that you are definitely not Announcer Underground.” Jayden’s breath hitched. “You could go back to school, to the surface. Nothing would be different.”

It sounded too good to be true. Jayden didn’t even bother dignifying that with a response. She called the elevator.

“The offer stays until you commit another crime. If you do, then you will be arrested and banished, or worse. Are your so-called friends really worth all you’ve ever worked for?”

Jayden instinctively reached for her key, but stopped herself. She couldn’t shake the woman’s likeness to Roux, and her curiosity got the better of her. “Have you ever heard of the name Amboise?”

The woman’s grip tightened around her cane, but she just laughed. “Is that your way of telling me your friend’s name?”

“Sure. Let’s pretend it is.”

And then the elevator came. Jayden entered, and the doors closed behind her.

Inside, Jayden breathed a huge sigh of relief. She had seen scientists develop that glass. Nothing can shatter it, not even her. Thank gods no one called her bluff.

Laurel had the exact same thought. Nothing can shatter the glass, but she still let the girl go. Helios was throwing some sort of man-child tantrum, but she didn’t care.

Maybe she thought she might still betray her friends. Maybe she wanted to give someone the chance to have a peaceful life. Or maybe the girl’s comment had shaken her to the core.

Because how did she know the last name she threw away so many years ago?