Heritage

Freya was knocked back by Sariska's kick, but managed to maintain balance and stood up with a backflip. From her form, she dived forward into a roll, the momentum allowing her to deliver a forceful spring kick with both her legs. All things considered, Freya was quite skilled with her legs. A combination of impressed whispers and inappropriate comments came from the crowd. Sicily was being awfully quiet, as opposed to her usual self.

Aurora smiled as she listened to Chloe talk about her sister. Aurora smiled. It was rare and graceful - like a mythical woodland animal. "I was assigned as Miss Star's intern to look after her needs and to make her work easier," she said. "But after the past few days, it seems like she cares more about looking after us." And just like that, the smile faded. "I don't think I'm very good at my job. I only enrolled in West Winddrift Institute because it was what my host parents wanted me to do. Sometimes at night I think about my old home and it makes me cry, but when I'm with Miss Star and the others, I remember what it was like to be around people that care. Even when my internship is over, I will still wish to be around Miss Star and you."

Sariska grabbed Freya's ankles and used her own momentum to throw her aside with only a little grunting. She was starting to believe Freya preferred her kicks to throws or punches, but Sariska hadn't really thrown anything offensively yet. She ducked behind her fists, crouching low as she advanced with short, fast steps. Sariska delivered two swift jabs, never minding any counters or blocks. In and then out in quick succession. She was fast like this, but not as fast as she knew she should be.

Sariska retreated, practically sliding back on her toes and started bouncing from one foot to the other again. She could feel the wall with her whole body, the wall that kept her from doing what she knew she could do.

Chloe was feeling tingly inside. She got to see a smile from Aurora. It was like a gift from the heavens with how rare such a thing could be. What a precious treasure Aurora was. "I'm afraid I wouldn't know too much about oppressive parents," Chloe admitted. "Ours were always open minded to what we wanted to do, no matter what it was. Sariska could have been anything. A lawyer, a doctor, a politician or a spy or an army general. She chose to be an artist instead. A musician, a dancer, an actress. But the important thing is she chose what she wanted to be. If there's anything to learn from being Star's intern, it's that you should choose who you want to be."

Chloe put on a full smile, flashing her perfect teeth at Aurora. "But you'll always be our friend. You don't get to choose that one. And if you ever need help with anything, count on us to be there for you. I already said Star is reliable, but I'm pretty good about it myself, too."

It was almost inhuman. No matter how much Freya took, her tolerance to pain was on a whole different level. Sariska was now initiating strikes and it was now her turn to play on the defensive. Freya planted her feet firmly into a stance as Sariska darted at her - Freya wasn't about to let her get any more free hits. She allowed Sariska to strike, but grappled onto her arm and pivoted her legs around Sariska's shoulder so that she could perform an armbar submission as soon as Sariska slid back. A comment sprang from the crowd.

"Hey! I know that move! That one former WGC champ used that technique all the time!"

Looks like Freya wasn't self-taught.

Aurora brushed aside a lock of her hair as she listened to Chloe. She couldn't help but giggle - an even rarer sight than her smile. "You really are a lot like Miss Star. She once told me she did what she did because she enjoyed it. So it made me think about what I would enjoy doing." Despite the unusual crimson color, Aurora's eyes were gentle and innocent. Her doe-eyed expression was full of wonder, and she couldn't help but shut them as she let out another smile that showed her dimples. "You say I can ask you for help I need anything?" Aurora asked. "Well if it's not too much trouble... could you possibly... help me remember what a hug feels like? It's been so long I've forgotten."

Sariska didn't expect Freya to latch onto her when she slid back, but clenched her fist and tensed her whole arm. Freya would hang in the air for a second longer than she might've expected before twisting her arm so her fist faced her chest and they dropped to the ground. Sariska pushed her fist into Freya, expecting the recoil to loosen Freya's grip so Sariska could yank her arm out and roll back onto her feet. She shook her arm out and grinned, tensing it again to show off her muscles.

Freya wouldn't let her get any more hits in, that much was clear. But Sariska felt that wall of hers getting torn down with that last move. She felt so light on her feet and all she wanted to do now was wait for Freya to come after her again.

Chloe blushed a little and stuffed her face with more chips to hide it. If Aurora were gay, Chloe wouldn't try to date her just because she was far too cute and precious to do anything except fawn over. Without even saying a word, Chloe stepped right up to Aurora and wrapped her arms around her and squeezed tight, grinning the whole time.

"When Star gets home, you should ask her for one too," Chloe suggested. "It'd make her day, and she can give you a bear hug way stronger than mine."

Freya released the hold when she was slammed back down onto the mat. She rolled backwards to keep her distance from Sariska, and turned her head up just to see that grin again. Freya clenched her teeth in annoyance. Was this just some sort of joke to her? Sariska realized how serious this cause was, didn't she? There was even a crowd to witness the humiliation. Maybe asking this woman for help was a bad idea. If this were all a game to her, maybe Freya would have to return the favor. Sariska wouldn't be grinning so much if her breasts were exposed to the crowd during the fight. No, that would be going too far.

She was letting it get to her. She was fighting to kill rather than to win, and she was already considering taking it too far. Freya took steady breaths to keep her temper under control and had to keep in mind that Sariska wasn't the enemy. She curled her fingers to her palm and took a fighting stance reminiscent to a certain Beastfolke's style. Sariska was quicker than her despite never having been exposed to performance-enhancing formulas, so there wasn't a point to trying to out-speed her.

Such foot speed was only useful over a range, and Freya would have to close the gap to negate the speed advantage. Freya maintained her stance while steadily making herself closer to Sariska, waiting for Sariska slip up. When they were close enough, Freya would begin delivering heavier strikes with her palm.

Aurora nodded and yawned, plopping down onto the couch. "I will wait for them to return then," she said. Aurora curled up onto the seat like a little kitten and closed her eyes to rest.

Sariska slid to and fro on the heels of her feet, watching as the emotions boiled over on Freya's face. Her grin was getting to Freya already - she was hot-tempered. That did not spell well for their alliance, if she couldn't control her temper. Freya eventually calmed down, but not quickly enough. Sariska would have to have a serious talk with the others about this. Anger gets people killed. Did Freya understand this?

Since she was calming down, Freya slowed her movements and clenched her fists. Her stance wasn't one Sariska knew, but from the looks of her it seemed Freya was abandoning her speed in favor of heavier combat. That wasn't good either. Or maybe she was just putting a priority on reaction? So it was her turn now to bring the fight to Freya.

Sariska kicked off, putting on a burst of speed before jumping over Freya, easily clearing the girl's height before landing, twisting around on her heel and throwing herself up onto Freya's shoulders. She locked her legs around Freya's neck and dropped her momentum, body weight, an a loud grunt in a twist, bringing them both to the ground. At the last moment before groundfall, Sariska pulled out of the twist and let her knees take up some of the impact so she didn't hurt Freya too badly. The girl would still feel it though. Sariska kept her legs tightly locked around her neck though, pinning her there in a position where it would be an easy effort to snap her neck of crack her skull.

Sariska tapped the ground twice and loosened her grip. "You alright down there? Didn't break anything did I? I usually save that move for the muscle heads, but you're pretty tough, too."

It was over, there was no way Freya would be able to continue if this were an actual fight. She submitted to defeat and tapped for Sariska to release her. She got to her feet and rubbed her neck. "I'm fine," she assured, though she spoke with a sour tone. She was fine physically at least. Freya didn't take to losing too well, especially when she felt like she was being mocked. Their audience had now dispersed.

Sicily walked up to the two girls, chewing on a granola bar she somehow obtained while watching the fight. "Damn, Star," she said. "Didn't know you could do that. You should sign up to join the WGC. I bet you'd make bank." She leaned closer to Sariska to whisper. "Might wanna say somethin', though. I'm detecting huge salt levels from Sugartits."

"I have to get going," Freya said suddenly. "I need to prepare for tomorrow. If you need anything else in the meantime, just call me." She then left, putting on her biker helmet as she walked through the doors. Sicily shrugged.

"Girl needs to loosen up a little, don't you think?"

Sariska pulled up to her feet and stretched out her back a bit as Sicily came up after the fight. Sariska couldn't help but smile, but she didn't have any intention of being a pro wrestler. Freya looked a bit worse for wear but otherwise fine, though the sour countenance was a little off-putting. If she couldn't get control over her emotions, they'd have a lot of problems in the coming days. As Freya left, Sariska stayed put with Sicily so they could talk.

"I'm have a few concerns with working with her," Sariska said, referring to Freya. "You've already noticed, but she get angry very easily. Some people can use anger well, but she looked ready to kill me a few times. She managed to keep it under control this time, but if we go up against an enemy, I have a feeling she'd grow reckless. Maybe we should have a chat with her later."

"WGC stands for World Gladiator Circuit, Star," Sicily explained. "As in, actually gladiator fights. You can bring in fucking weapons, and it's not the scripted shit you see on TV. 'Course the fact that they use Duple Corp's own advanced medical technology might make for a conflict of interest." She placed her hands into her pockets and shrugged at Sariska's concerns. "You don't naturally expect to get along with everyone, do you? People are how they are - and if Sugartits is a naturally angry person then there's probably not much we can do about that. Can't change who a person is at their core, anyway. Still, we're going to have to make it work. She's the only one of us with the slightest hint of direction on how to approach this whole Duple Corp situation and trying to fight them without her and her resources is pretty much out of the question."

"I wonder how long I'm gonna have to crash at your place, though. Not that I don't enjoy leaving my own personal imprint on your couch and raiding all your chips or anything."

"I know," Sariska said. "But I can damn well try, yeah? As long as she directs her anger right, I suppose I can just cover for the rest." She paused a moment to think about Sicily's situation. They really didn't have any good ideas for her, and she couldn't stay in the apartment forever. They couldn't hope for Duple Corp to roll over and die either.

"You might have to look for a job," Star suggested. "Hastel is out of the question and I don't think you'd be able to squat anywhere else. We can think about it later. We should get going before it gets dark. Still have Aurora to worry about."

The two made it back to the apartment after wrapping things up at the gym. Sicily followed Sariska in behind. "You know, money isn't really an issue for me," Sicily brought up. "Never really has been. When I was living with my uncle, everything was pretty much paid for. And when I was in Hastel, I made big bucks suckering chumps with some loaded dice and sometimes pulling off a little 'sleight o' hand.' I'm not really the type that's cut out for a nine to five job like the rest of the regular jack-offs in this city. The shark dude was pretty cool, maybe he'll give me a place here."

Aurora perked up from her nap when Sariska entered and walked up to her. Taking to Chloe's previous suggestion, Aurora slipped her hands around Sariska's waist and brought herself in. She made a contented sigh as she pressed her cheek against Sariska's shoulder. "Hey, how about one for your big sis, Sicily?" Sicily said.

"But I'm older than you," Aurora responded.

"Really? I'm twenty-two."

"I'm twenty-three."

"Well shit. Guess you're the big sis. Whatever, give me a hug anyway."

"Well, he seems to like you, so next time you got a chance to talk you can work something out." Sariska pushed the door open and paused at the door as Aurora came up to her. Without saying a word or even bothering to ask for it, she was suddenly in a hug with her. Sariska laughed and wrapped her arms around Aurora, squeezing her so tight she lifted the girl off the ground and turned about before setting her back down.

"Do I get one of those too?" Chloe was coming in from the kitchen after putting away the bag of chips she was snacking on. Stress eating. Sariska smiled at her sister and pulled her in for a bear hug too.

"I'm twenty-seven," Sariska added helpfully. "So I'm your big sister."

"Star is pretty old, isn't she?"

"That's enough out of you. I've got nothing else planned for tonight. Y'all are free to veg out."

Aurora's expression made a dour turn when Sariska said she had no other business to tend to. "I actually have to get going," she said, trying to mask her anxiety. "I... I have made a prior engagement, and I need to go to it now. I'm sorry, Miss Star. I'll be available tomorrow if you need me." She had that look again. The same one she had the night Chloe took her size. Hiding her eyes away underneath her bangs, her head hung low as she made her way out of the apartment. Sicily shook her head.

"You don't have to be a people person to read that kinda vibe," Sicily remarked. "Something's going on, and we need to get to the bottom of this. Either of you know where her professor's at?"

Sariska frowned. There was no real way of knowing what Aurora was going through. She felt bad for the girl already. Without tailing Aurora herself, there wasn't a real way of knowing exactly where Kaufmann was. Unless...

"I have his Exanet information," Sariska said suddenly, taking out her phone and doing a quick search. When she found what she was looking for she threw her phone to Chloe. "Come on, we're heading out."

"I guess that means I'm navigator?" Chloe wondered aloud, glancing down at the phone in her hands.

Kaufmann's address was listed plainly on his profile for anyone to see. He didn't live too far away from Blue Avalon, in fact. Sicily peeked over from Chloe's shoulder to take a look at the phone. "We should go," she said, sounding so different than she was just a few minutes ago. "This is turning out to be a long night." The girls headed into Sariska's car and set off for Kaufmann's home; Sicily remained unusually silent the entire ride. The car took them to another set of apartments - smaller than those in Blue Avalon, and Aurora was seen walking up to one of the doors where she was greeted by the professor.

When Aurora and Kaufmann went inside, Sicily wasted no time in getting out of the car and shiftily walking around the building. She vaulted over the garden hedge and moved up against the back patio window. She removed the beading and extended out her index finger, where her nail began to extend and form a sharpened shape. In a few seconds, she managed to pry off the pane so she could listen in. Sicily waved Sariska and Chloe over when she was sure the coast was clear. From their position, they could hear the conversation going on.

"You've kept me waiting these past few days," Kaufmann's voice rang out.

"I'm sorry, I've just been really busy..." Aurora responded.

"No matter. You're here now. Well, what are you waiting for?"

"I..."

"Something wrong? This isn't the first time we've done this. Do I need to remind you the position that you're in?"

Aurora did not respond.

"Aurora, I am growing impatient. I don't wish to hurt you again, but you're going to leave me little choice."

Still no response.

"Aurora!" Kaufmann asserted more firmly. "I won't say this again. Take off your clothes."

Aurora could be heard sniffling at this point.

"Don't you forget, I can release the pictures of you at any time. I own you. I've known your host parents for longer than they've housed you. I promised them I would help you find your career in the music industry by enrolling in the institute, and I will. But that doesn't come free, Aurora. Even if you ever become successful, I will still own you. If you defy or refuse me at any turn I can and will ruin you, and you will never be able to show your face in the streets. You're nothing, you know that? Nothing more than a stupid slut made for my own personal use. If it weren't for your singing talent, that mouth would be good for nothing other than to wrap around my cock. You're mine forever, Aurora. Now... get to work."

Sicily was livid. She made heavy, furious breaths as her the rest of her nails took vicious form. She sprouted a pair of fangs and her pupils constricted.

"I'm going to rip his fucking throat out."

The car ride over was silent. Sariska felt the tension growing, but she didn't turn on her radio. She let the silence simmer. They found the apartment, and with the apartment they found Aurora. Sariska, dreading the worst, grabbed the sword from her trunk and followed Sicily with it. They knelt by the window and listened.

"I'm glad I got in the habit of bringing one of these everywhere I go," Chloe murmured, holding up a small voice recorder. She placed it on the windowsill turned on.

Sariska's knuckles turned white from gripping her sword hilt for so long. The simmering silence brought with it a rage she hadn't felt in years. Her hands shook. The blade slid noiselessly from it sheath.

"Both of you step back." Sariska said coldly. Once they were far enough away, Sariska raised her sword and cut down. The blade whisked through the crack on the door and sliced clean through the lock. She threw the door open, found Kaufmann, and charged him. The moment before the tip of the blade pierced through his throat, she stopped dead in her tracks.

"I'm inches away from making your death the most painful one in recorded history," Sariska snarled.

"Aurora!" Chloe ran forward to grab Aurora and pull her away. "It's okay, love. I have you. You're safe. You're safe."

Sariska pressed the blade against his neck. "Sicily, find these pictures he has of Aurora. All of them. I'll have him spill the beans and some blood." She threw her fist at his jaw. At the moment he flinched, she pulled her sword back and sliced through one of his fingers.

Chloe glanced up and grimaced. "I guess we're not bothering with the official channels."

"No, we're not."

Kaufmann reeled back from the shock of losing a finger. It all happened so suddenly, but he could piece together what was going on. "You..." he wheezed, looking at Sariska. "You're that third-rate actress from before." His shifty eyes then turned to Aurora. "You set this all up, didn't you Aurora?" Aurora buried her face into Chloe's arms. "It doesn't matter. I told you what would happen if you defied me, didn't you? As for the rest of you... just who do you think you are-"

"Right about now, I'd say we're the ones who are about to put you in the ground!" Sicily yelled. "You put your filthy hands on our Aurora, blackmailed her, and the only thing keeping you alive right now is the fact that we need to find out where you're keeping these pictures.

"Too bad for you. I have my cloud storage ready to spread those pictures all across Exanet. And it will spread those pictures unless I personally am there to postpone the sending every twenty-four hours.Did you honestly think I wasn't prepared for a situation like this? You kill me, those pictures go live."

"Which is why you're going to be the one to delete those pictures," Sicily demanded.

"Am I? I don't think so. Go on and kill me. Kill me, and Aurora becomes exposed like the little whore she is."

Sicily growled and raked her claws against his face, she then began swinging at him.

"We still have the right to fuck you up," she grunted with every punch. Aurora trembled at the sound of Sicily's fists meeting Kaufmann's face. Sicily then tossed him back to the ground.

"You got any ideas, Star? Feel free to take your time if you haven't figured out what to do with this shithead. I can do this all night if I have to."

Third-rate actress, was it? Sariska almost laughed at that. If this sorry excuse for a man thought he could unnerve her with a comment like that, he had another thing coming. She glanced back to Chloe and Aurora. Chloe was holding Aurora's head to her chest. Both of them cried, but Chloe's face contorted into an angry glare. Sicily went to town on Kaufmann and she didn't bother stopping her.

"What kinds of things did he make you do?" Chloe murmured. "I'm so sorry, Aurora. I should have noticed. I should have noticed."

"It's not your fault, Chloe," Sariska said. She slid her sword back into it sheath and started rummaging around the apartment. A phone, a laptop, some kind of computer had to be around here somewhere. She paused a moment and glanced back at Kaufmann. "Sicily, stop hitting him for a second. We don't want the pain to turn him numb."

Sariska approached the professor and crouched down. She was confident he wouldn't be able to overpower or surprise her. There were no weapons nearby, save for her own sword. "You don't know me very well, professor, but I can tell you a little bit about myself to fill you in. I grew up in a military family. We were very well-known back in the day, my grandfather especially. Well, a few years ago... hmm, lets say about ten or twelve years ago, I started working as a vigilante. While I was working, I learned a great deal about the human body. The head, for example, bleeds profusely above the nose, but doesn't hurt that much. Your foot, however," Sariska slid her sword out and shoved it through the ball of his foot.

Sariska waited for the pain to subside before wiggling the sword back out of his foot. "I can put you through a great deal of pain. Torture was one of my least favorite parts, but it was a great learning experience." She got back to her feet and stepped back a bit. "Sicily, every two minutes he doesn't tell us his passwords, I want you to twist one of his toes until it snaps. If you run out of toes, start over. Once you're done that you can start peeling his little cock like a banana. Chloe, I want you to take Aurora back to the apartment. Keep her safe, keep her close. Sicily and I will be fine on our own."

"Okay," Chloe said. She gently persuaded Aurora away from her shit of a teacher.

Aurora wouldn't budge. She looked up from Chloe's embrace, cheeks stained with tears, but she wouldn't go with her. She watched on in silence; it seemed like she was done crying. Kaufmann remained unrattle despite the duress he was in - one would have to give him credit for that at the very least. "You want to know what I did to Aurora?" he said as he gave a bleeding grin towards Chloe. "You should be asking what I didn't do. I've made use of each of her tight little holes. There practically isn't an inch of her body that I haven't touched. Through it all... I'd say she secretly enjoyed it. Does that make you angry? Knowing that your doting intern was used as my own personal fuckslave? Nothing you can do at this point will undo all that I've done."

"Piece of shit!" Sicily exclaimed, digging her warped claws into his stomach. Kaufmann winced in pain, while Sicily was only one motion away from disemboweling him entirely. "Get rid of those fucking pictures before I make a mess of your floor!"

"Alright," he conceded. "I just wanted to make sure you knew just how badly I fucked her. You can take the pictures for yourself if you want. I don't care." Kaufmann stood up and hobbled over to his desk. He pulled a key from his coat pocket and unlocked a compartment on his desk. Turning a smirk, he pulled a gun from the compartment and aimed it at Sariska. "See you in hell."

Before he knew it, his hand was instantly frozen. Encased in a block of ice. His face turned to shock as he looked over to see Aurora - eyes glowing and a face filled with rage.

"How dare you... point a gun at Miss Star!"

Sariska narrowed her eyes as Kaufmann stood up. All of a sudden he wanted to give them the pictures? Bullshit. She didn't need to be an expert in reading people to know how full of shit this guy was. One thing was clear to her though: torture would not work. At least not the conventional kind. Sariska slowly followed him. When he pulled the gun out she quickly ducked under the barrel's view and slid forward.

The sword cut right through his chest. Under his right arm and out his right shoulder. The blade sang in her hand. Sariska glanced at the hand holding the gun and saw the ice there. Ice? Ah, Aurora. In a world of vampires and what felt like magic and super humans, this was no surprise. Kaufmann only had enough time to see his frozen hand. She didn't know when he died. But there was no talking to him now.

Sariska tipped his body over and watched him fall. The cut she made didn't split him open like she expected it to. Maybe the reach on her sword wasn't enough. Sariska dug in his pockets, looking for his phone. He ought to have it somewhere on it. She could use his fingerprint to unlock it and then hack into his Exanet account.

Chloe, on the other hand, wouldn't let go of Aurora. She was to stunned by what she saw.

Music: Resolution

Spoiler:

The girls watched Kaufmann plummet to the ground, lifeless. Sicily knelt down next to Aurora to check on her. "Aurora," She called to her. "Why did you keep all this from us?" Aurora could only answer with a sigh. "I honestly don't know where to begin with all this," Sicily went on. "You have powers? Also, how long was this thing going on between you and him? Aurora, you should have told us!"

Aurora stood up, and slipped her hand away from Chloe's. "...There was nothing I could have done," Aurora merely said.

"'Nothing you could have done?' You could have turned him into a human popsicle at any second, and you say there was nothing you could have done? Like holy shit, Aurora, he fucking raped you!"

"What do you want me to say, Sicily?! Do you want to know why I've come to hate singing? It's because of him! Back in my old country, I used to have fond memories of singing with my mother as she held my hand and walked with me through the snowy fields every day. Then I became separated from her and lived with my host parents here in Winddrift. I would keep singing so that I would never forget my mother. One day, my host parents heard me sing and praised me for it. They were the ones that showed me to Kaufmann - he was a long time personal friend of theirs. Kaufmann promised them that he could make me a famous singer and make money for them, so they had me enrolled at West Winddrift Institute. One day, I came by his office for his help, and he took advantage of me."

"Aurora..."

"He said that if I ever told anyone, he would destroy everything I ever cared about, and that not even my host parents would believe my word over his anyway. I never wanted to sing again after that night. He then demanded that I keep seeing him and servicing him whenever he asked. I was so helpless, what was I supposed to do?"

"You should've ended the fucker the moment he laid his hands on you. How long have you had powers?"

"Ever since I was born. My mother and I are dragons."

"Wait, what?"

"Our kind has been hunted to near extinction for our scales and fangs. In order to survive, we've had to blend in with humanity. With our abilities, we took to their form, learned their language, and we lived amongst them. Some of us have gotten used to living the life of humans, but overall the majority of our kind isn't very trusting of them. My mother said that I should never reveal my abilities or my true form unless it was to protect someone I loved. When Professor Kaufmann pointed a gun at Miss Star, I had to protect her just like she was protecting me."

Aurora looked down at the corpse and her eyes welled up with tears.

"What have we done?"

"Don't tell me you feel sorry for the bastard!" Sicily exclaimed. "Not after what he did to you!"

"We took a life, Sicily..."

"He deserved it! If you ask me, even death is too good for him! Look, I know offing someone doesn't exactly leave a clean taste in your mouth, but it had to be done! Don't you remember what we were getting ourselves into when we threw our lot in with Freya? I seriously doubt this will be the last time we make someone take a dirt nap."

"That doesn't make me feel any better, and now... in just a few hours, those pictures will be released online." Aurora looked hopelessly at Sariska going through Kaufmann's phone. "Miss Star, it's pointless. They're all linked to more than just his phone. I... I don't think I can stay in Winddrift anymore."

"Wait, why not?"

"When the photos are released, I'm sure West Winddrift Institute will sever all ties with me to keep up their appearances. I'll be blacklisted by every potential employer or agency that gets a hold of those pictures. I won't leave the institute with a diploma, I won't find work, and not even my host parents will want to see me. What's more, if Professor Kaufmann's body is found, I'm sure to be tied to all this. If worse comes to worst, I'll even be arrested. I should just leave town."

"No... No, don't say that," Sicily begged, tears now trickling down her cheeks. "I'll get a place, and... and you can stay with me. I promise I will never let something like this happen to you again! You can't leave, I won't let you, Aurora!"

"Sicily, thank you, but... I've caused you all enough trouble as it is. This is for the best. Please... do not come after me."

"I said I won't let you! We have to try something for fuck sake! Maybe we can ask Freya and see if she knows anyone that can shut all this down! Or one of Star's cop friends! I'll take the fall for all this if it'll help! Star, we can't just let Aurora walk out on us!"

Sariska stared down at Kaufmann's body. There was a chance, though he made all of these threats, that the pictures he mentioned never existed to begin with. She wiped her sword on his shirt to get the rest of his blood off before sheathing it. Now she was supposed to believe dragons existed, too. But this was Aurora. Aurora wouldn't lie. Not about something this ridiculous. She managed to get into the professor's phone, but didn't find anything worth looking at.

"Sicily. Aurora. Neither of you were here tonight. If it comes down to it, you are to put the blame on me and me alone." Sariska held the phone up and took a picture of Kaufmann's dead body. Within a few seconds she had the picture uploaded to the net. In huge, bold letters across the image she wrote the word 'JUSTICE' and signed with an 'S.' When that was done, she tossed the phone back onto Kaufmann's body. She turned and smiled at Aurora.

"I don't believe I ever released you from your internship," she said. "Besides, what are you going to do on your own? The police won't be hunting you down anytime soon with what's been going on with Hastel."

"Star's right," Chloe said, snatching Aurora's hands back. "You've spent too long on your own besides that. If you abandon us then you'll be alone, again. Do you really want that?"

"There's really only one option here. We criminals stand a better chance of surviving as a group. And I'm going to need that strange power of yours when we lay siege to Duple Corp."

Sariska was awfully calm about all this. Then again, it wasn't her world going up in flames. Even if she tried to take full responsibility for murder, there was no guarantee the police wouldn't find a way to pin it on more than just Sariska. She even went as far as uploading Kaufmann's mutilated body to the net where it could quickly be brought to the police's attention; even with the commotion in Hastel. Sariska just wasn't going about the situation logically in the slightest. She didn't stop to think about the consequences of her raging warpath - the very consequences that prevented Aurora from taking matters into her own hands. Even if they could get off without a trace, there was still one jarring, unresolved matter.

"In a few hours, the pictures Kaufmann had of me will be released," Aurora spoke. "I know because he showed me himself. If you know someone - anyone that can intercept and delete them before they reach Exanet, then now would be the best time to make a call. Miss Star, under no normal circumstance would I ever make such a demanding request, but I am out of options. If you can do this for me, however, then I will stay... for as long as you want me to."

Sariska hesitated. Aurora begged her to find a way. But there was no way. She didn't have the computer know-how to do this. Any hacker she might have known was long gone or impossible to contact. Chloe only hung out with rich people. Freya stood a chance, maybe, but with the modd she was in earlier would she even want to help?

She glanced to Chloe. In order to do better, she had to pull herself back. She reacted out of fear for her own life and killed him. In the victories she so prided herself on she made an even worse spectacle of it. From the look on Chloe's face, Star knew she was going to be having a long, drawn-out chat with her sister tonight.

"I'm sorry, Aurora," Sariska said quietly. "For everything. I won't be able to stop it. But what I can do is help you disappear."

"Star, can't we-?" Sarska cut Chloe off with a shake of her head.

"No, we can't." Sariska grimaced. "I got really good at hiding during my time as a vigilante. You can trust me on that part, at least. We should go now, before anyone stupid enough to check this place out comes along."

Aurora hung her head in defeat. ”I understand, Miss Star,” she conceded. ”If you can still help me, I will place myself in your care.”

”Dammit, isn’t there anything we can do?” Sicily said, slamming her fist against the wall. ”We fucked up, and we fucked up bad.”

”No, it’s okay, Sicily. This is what would be called a zero sum game. No matter how we look at it, there would be no overall positive outcome that could have been achieved. Miss Star played out what she believed to be her best move in protecting me. I cannot place fault onto her for that. Now, I have to play my best move which is to continue putting my trust in her. So I will. It’s best I don’t return to the institute for the time being. Miss Star, is it okay if I live with you until this ordeal is cleared?”