An inarticulate scream ripped from my throat, and I charged, careening past the gaping Sons of Liberty to launch myself at him. I didn’t have a plan other than to do some damage. Rip out his hair? Punch him? Smear some of the nastiness on him too? All of the above would be fine, thanks.

I hit him full force, and he fell backward as his bad leg gave out. Our combined momentum sent us right into the small group of men just as they hefted a barrel of tea toward the top deck. The barrel they’d been holding fell sideways, cracking open on impact. For a minute it was just one jumbled mass of arms and legs and yelling men, but I think I landed at least one solid punch to Elliot before everything got too tangled to tell which way was up.

Luckily, I ended up on top of the heap, and unluckily for Elliot, he ended up somewhere on the bottom. I managed to roll myself clear of the fray and stumbled to my feet as the men angrily attempted to untangle themselves. I took a wary step backward. Taking out a group of hyped-up colonial rebels was probably not my best idea. Before I could decide if now was a good time to run for it or not, I spotted the Butterfly. He must have been lurking near the back of the men hoisting barrels, because he was struggling to get out from under a rather large man. I hesitated a moment. This guy was way bigger than any Butterfly I’d ever dealt with before. My hesitation cost me the element of surprise as he spotted me and redoubled his efforts to free himself.

My Chaos Cuffs found their way into my hands without my even realizing I’d grabbed for them, and I lunged and snapped the first one onto the Butterfly’s right hand just as his left connected with the side of my head. I lurched backward, black spots blooming in my vision as he attempted to pry the cuff off his arm. Blinking hard, I ducked his next swing and grabbed ahold of his left hand. His elbow popped me hard in the jaw and I bit down on my tongue, my mouth filling with the sharp, metallic taste of blood. Then Elliot was there, grabbing the man’s flailing left arm and holding it steady for the half second I needed to get the other cuff on. I hit the activation button on the cuffs and everything around us went instantly dark. The simulation was over.

Chapter Thirteen

Elliot

I sat bolt upright in the freezing simulation room, breathing hard as the very real adrenaline from the very fake simulation raced through my system.