I led them through the dark waters, into the maze of wooden slats and fence material.

There was no roar anymore, no distant explosions as Damsel of Distress tore down a wall. Even high above, it seemed like the fighting had stopped.

Crystalclear helped to navigate. We found our way up, and when the coast was clear, I pulled them up at my maximum speed, hauling them to where we could all breathe again.

Dripping, panting, we all caught our breath.

I started to head forward, and Swansong reached out with one hand. It didn’t move well, and I could see her wince, before pressing her forearms against one another in an ‘x’.

“Sveta,” she whispered. “She’s compromised. Kingdom Come got her.”

“Sveta should be okay now,” I said. “Rinsed off.”

“Did you confirm with a password?” Crystalclear asked.

“Sveta’s one of the very few people in this world who I don’t need to,” I said.

“There’s a lot of people out there who probably thought the same thing and they regretted it later,” he said.

I nodded. I would have explained, but I didn’t have the words.

“Ratcatcher ran?” I asked.

“She went up one of the ventilation ducts that isn’t supposed to hold a person,” Crystalclear said. “We thought she’d get help.”

“We haven’t seen hide, hair, nose or tail of her,” I said. “Goddess won, we think. And we destroyed the server.”

“You destroyed it,” Crystalclear said. “You do realize that could have just set everything off?”

“They were going to set it off,” I said. “Given a choice between a certainty and a possibility of making it, they chose the second option. I didn’t disagree.”

“They were really going to go that far?” Crystalclear asked.

I nodded.

“Because Goddess won,” Swansong said.

“Yeah,” I said. I wanted to be happy about it, but I couldn’t bring myself to. Too many close calls, too many questions. My sister was out there, and I couldn’t avoid this… third confrontation. The third in one night.

One fucking long night.

“I think the situation is as resolved as it’s going to get,” I said. “Teacher loses, he can’t blow the bombs, Goddess has her army. The heroes are up there. I think—if there’s anything left to contribute to the situation, we help her keep the peace.”

“We help them,” Crystalclear said. “We help the heroes. This protocol, I’m invoking it.”

As if we hadn’t fought enough uphill battles tonight.

But I nodded.

The others had caught their breath. Ashley was rubbing her forearms, moving her hands with a little bit more in the way of dexterity.