We made it back to the group feeling just a little bit better. Clarisse and Lucas were already outside Carter’s room. They were holding hands with somber looks on their faces. I smiled and wrapped my arms around them.

“Who are you and what have you done with Lydia?” Lucas laughed.

“Shut up. I’m in a good mood ok.” 

I let go of them. They looked slightly happier. I still felt some tightness in my chest but I knew it would go away over time. 

Suddenly, the stakes felt so much higher. I had just assumed that we were invincible. There was no way that anything bad could happen to us. Carter easily proved me wrong. Something can happen and will happen and there was nothing we could really do about it but get lucky.

“Why don’t we go out somewhere and get our minds off things?” Keira suggested.

We all agreed and started making our way to the entrance of the building. Things still felt pretty off without Carter. Everything was much quieter. I didn’t realize that it was he who made the most noise.

Just as I’m about to exit the building I hear a noise behind me. I turn around and it’s Julia. She managed to jump on Lucas’s back. He struggled to get her off. The rest of us stood there dumbfounded. The most sophisticated, strongest leader had just attacked someone from our group. 

Lucas managed to get her off his back. He didn’t attack her though. This didn’t stop her barrage of punching and kicking him. Tears stream down her face in waves. Her face was red from the exertion.

Clarisse and Keira came to their senses before I did and ran over to them. They each managed to grab one of her arms. She was flailing her arms and kicking to get free. Their lock on her arms was solid. 

I walked over to her, “What was that?”

She clenched her fists, “It’s his fault that this happened to Carter,” she yelled.

Her words sent a knife through my heart. I felt bad for this girl. Her cousin got seriously injured while the rest of us came out virtually unharmed. The person who was held to a higher regard of responsibility in looking out for his teammates was right in front of her. I didn’t blame her for what she did, I would’ve done the same. If anything had ever happened to Alexandra I would’ve killed the person responsible.

“This whole situation sucks, I know,” she sighed, “But anything can happen. This is what we signed up for. We knew the risks.”

Julia managed to swing her fist back and hit Keira right in the face. She managed to escape and Keira was sent flying back onto her butt. 

“As a leader, I know more than anyone. It’s also the leader’s job to protect their group. I don’t know how you can call yourself a leader after what happened,” her voice cracked.

A big welt was forming on Lucas’ cheek, “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. Carter did it to save us.”

“That’s just the way he is,” she commented. “I will never forgive you.”

She managed to punch him square in the jaw before walking away. Clarisse ran up to him. She pulled his head down a little bit and observed the bruises. 

“You walked into that one,” she laughed weakly.

“Yeah. I did,” a small smile formed on his face.

“I know this situation is so dang hilarious, but there’s currently a red river gushing out of my face,” Keira commented. Sure enough, blood was pouring from her nose.

Lucas reached down and grabbed her arm, pulling her to her feet. “Let’s head back to my place.” He wrapped his arm around and we started our trek to his apartment.

“I hope you know this is your fault,” Keira said nasally. 

“Yeah, yeah whatever,” he rolled his eyes.

We miraculously made it to his apartment in one piece. Keira sat on the couch with her nose pinched while I grabbed her a paper towel. By this point, she had blood all over herself. Her nose was pretty swollen as well. 

“I can grab you some clothes if you wanna get changed?” I suggested.

“No thanks.” 

“Are you sure? I wouldn’t mind.”

She turned to look at me, “Not my first bloody nose. I can handle myself.”

I rolled my eyes and sat down next to her. We were the same height but she looked much shorter sitting next to me.

“I’m so hot that you can’t help but stare at me,” she winked.

“You’re ridiculous,” I stood up. She laughed.

Clarisse and Lucas came back into the room. They sat down next to Keira. Clarisse was holding an ice pack on his face. He winced in pain. The swelling had gotten worse and the bruise was getting darker in color. That thing was gonna hurt by tomorrow.

“We’ve all seen better days,” Lucas laughed.

“Getting punched in the face is nothing,” I smiled.

“Say that for yourself,” Keira said as she checked her nose.

I chuckled, “You’re just overreacting.”

She chucked her bloody paper towel at me. “I’m not getting you a new one,” I smirked.

We spent the next couple of minutes just contemplating everything that had happened so far. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that the Agency would be anything like this. I honestly wasn’t expecting my teammates to be such morons. Unfortunately, that made me a moron as well.

“We should probably stay in tonight. We might get weird looks if we go out in public,” I suggested.

“That’s fair,” Lucas half grinned.

“Let’s watch a movie!” Keira jumped to her feet. Her nose stopped bleeding and was now extremely swollen.

“Sounds good to me,” Clarisse nodded.

I made popcorn while everyone agreed on a movie. Serious movies were more up my alley. Something like a drama with character motivations and stakes. That’s not to say that I won’t watch a stupid comedy but it’s not my favorite.

We all managed to squeeze in on the couch. By that I mean we were all extremely squished. Being this close to Keira gave me goosebumps. I much prefer when she keeps her distance.

“This movie is so unrealistic,” Keira comments halfway through the movie.

“Oh you mean a superhero movie is unrealistic, that’s so weird,” I chuckled.

“We’re essentially superheroes and we can’t do anything like that.”

Sitting next to her was starting to make me sweat. “We aren’t even close to being superheroes. Do I look like I'm wearing a cape to you?” I raised an eyebrow.

“You should. You’d look good in a cape,” she grinned

My face turned red. Keira and her stupid comments. I looked over at Lucas and Clarisse who were sound asleep. She was leaning on him and he had his arm wrapped tightly around her.

“They’re definitely together aren’t they?” I said.

“For sure,” Keira responded back.