Crystal didn’t argue.

Banded closed her fist. The veins flashed, and all the flesh within a foot of each vein proceeded to liquefy. Gray and pink turned to dark water.

The old woman collapsed into the muck, and the flesh that met that puddle began to dissolve too. She fought to crawl free of it with overlong arms, moving faster as the burden of her lower body melted away.

Probably bad optics, Crystal observed. There were bystanders watching. She aimed a laser at the woman’s head. There was enough crap piled up around it that it didn’t feel effective… but the woman wasn’t dripping gray oatmeal anymore.

She drew closer, because each forcefield she placed down felt like it was heavier and harder to get started, and her laser wasn’t cutting effectively at this range. By getting closer, she could keep the woman from scrabbling over to Banded, who was easily spooked, or Vault, who hadn’t contributed much at all.

A muffled bang marked the execution of the man with the tongue. Crystal looked back, and saw her family already making their way to the man.

Carol, laser-axe in hand, swung it underhand, cleaving directly through the man, to more effect than Crystal had managed. Mark followed up by throwing grenades at the old woman, who was leaking fluids from her face and upper body, which were really all that were left of her, and those two parts of her had just been bisected.

Crystal knew how this went. Her forcefield was a dome, and it was joined soon after by her mother’s.

To keep the detonation contained.

Some damage to the road, but it was only dirt. The old woman was gone now, reduced to charred gray flesh that no longer leaked anything.

Carol pointed with her weapon. She hadn’t even broken stride from the moment where they’d finished off the man with the tongue. The cleaving of the old woman had occurred mid run, and she kept running, toward the other fights.

Crystal didn’t mind that she hadn’t made the big play or provided the big answer. Part of what the PRTCJ had drilled into her was that glory and heroism weren’t synonymous. Doing the job with the smallest number of casualties and the best chances was best. If she had to fight the next one hundred threats like this, hemming them in and shooting strategically, she would.

She wasn’t here to stay. This team wasn’t holding together and she didn’t imagine she would find her fit here even if it did manage to keep from splintering.