“No problem, we’ll show you out,” Feng said.

Chalice and Stormy exchanged glances. Bugz buried her face in her phone. From the elevator, they walked out to the front steps and onto the asphalt loop the ambulances used to access the hospital’s ER. The warm air of the summer evening felt good on Bugz’s skin. The two girls traded pulls from a vape pen and blew the smoke high into the air above them.

“Mine’s better, I look like a dragon,” Stormy said of her cloud, smiling.

“You look like a dinosaur,” Chalice teased.

“Is that an ‘old’ joke? The reason I’m a grade ahead of you is cause you failed, missy. We are the same age!”

“I didn’t fail…I just didn’t get all the credits I should’ve.”

Stormy laughed.

Feng crossed the street and sat on a nearby picnic table. Bugz followed him; Stormy and Chalice too. Feng immediately dove into the Floraverse and swiped through updates. Bugz grimaced as she did the same. Chalice pulled out her phone and scrolled through her messages.

“Oh shoot, I forgot my phone,” Stormy said. “Must be upstairs.” She led Chalice back into the hospital.

“Things are getting pretty bad for us in the ’Verse,” Bugz said. “I can’t turn this thing around without Mishi-pizhiw’s nest.” Bugz noticed a scowl on Feng’s face. “What’s up?”

“Nothing.”

“Come on, obviously something’s bothering you.”

“I’m just reading through my messages. And they’re nothing but hate mail from all my clanmates.” Feng swiped quickly through the feed. “Former clanmates, I guess.” He shook his head. “They all think I’m a traitor. Some are even talking about doxing me. Here, look.”

As Feng’s fingers swiped through his inbox, Bugz scanned a series of insults, memes, and outright hate speech, all of it way too familiar to her.

“That’s really bad.” Bugz thought of biting her tongue but decided not to. “But you know what? That’s exactly the type of thing your friends do to me. Just be glad they didn’t make any deep fakes of you.”

Feng scrunched up his nose.

“I told you. Neo-alt-right losers.”

“They’re still my bros.”

“What? Look at that one right there. That’s racist.” Bugz pointed out a particularly offensive meme Feng had received.

“Well, some of them haven’t done anything. Like the ones I’m really close with. Behemoth, Joe…” Feng seemed to search for a third name to add to his list.

“But they’re not stopping it either, are they?” Bugz said quietly, sensing that she’d pushed Feng toward his limit.

“Those guys got my back.” Feng continued shaking his head as his lips pursed tightly. “Had my back.”