Tracy instantly reached for her mouth, covering it with Jackie expecting a scream—muffled or otherwise.

But even she realized that this moment required absolute silence. If she screams, she’s only giving into the fate of dying screaming early.

Everyone darted their eyes, turning their heads towards the painfully still ambience of the night. Looking for any single sign that N’atural Savage was anywhere near them, any closer.

But Jackie knew this by now. Doing just that was never enough.

“What if she’s coming now--?” Jackie asked in a hush, pointing to where they saw the now-dead Nulgarrt. “From there—from there—”

“Do we run—do-do we spilt away-do-do--?” Tracy tried to keep her crackling voice down some pitches.

“There is no fucking way we’re splitting up—” Jackie returned.

“Yeah—” River could add.

“Splitting up is always the worst thing to do in this situation and—”

“There’s no fucking time for rants,” Maddie cut Jackie off, her voice already so small that making it soft felt effortless. “Plans, anyone?!”

Jackie picked up the worn scooter again in a scramble, holding it while her strong arms shook to the bone. “I throw this into the trees, chuck it with all of my power, so it simulates us running the fuck away—River, you have to figure out the code to get in there while I’m out—get in and find a room to hide in—that good--?”

“I don’t have a choice either way--!” River legitimately sounded mournful, afraid.

Jackie moved forward, started to spin in place as she readies herself and started to loosen her grip over the scooter.

The last things she heard was her own “siVis Ability!”

***

River raced to the door, her knees buckling and past-the-point of ready to give out.

She reached the door again, trying in vain, using siVis or whatever to rip apart of her memory for anything, any shred of a lead with this number.

She toggled the same starting code, guessed the last few, and denied. Again, again, and again.

Her fingers began to lock up, as she cursed to herself and directly to herself.

Why be useless now, of all times? You’re useless in general, but to fuck that up somehow now of all days goes to show that there shouldn’t have never been any interest, any responsibly given to her.

All she could vision, other than her twitch, still hand—was the “gears” within herself once again.

Old, cracked, broken for years.

Needed to be removed. But still has to be used. Still has to work and be worked.

“RIVER!” she could hear Maddie shouting behind her in a strain. “HURRY UP, HURRY UP! WE COULD DIE HERE, MAN!”

Her glasses started to fog as her eyes swan in the forming tears, searching for anything to give her a fucking clue before she breaks down fully.

All she can do, in that moment, with useless fat stumps for hands that keep locking up on her, was bash her head with them in anxiety and fear as she just stared at the lock.

“TODAY, TODAY RIVER, IT WOULD GREAT IF YOU DID THIS SOMETIME TODAY--!” Maddie pleaded.

Despite that being a plead, the echo only resembled what she always heard from her brother.

She was finally stuck. She finally broke down. She finally became useless, during the time she was needed the most.

But it was only when her sight began to blur that she realized how to save everyone.

She used her useless hands again, forcing her stiff index to pound the beginning code in once more.

As she looked at which numbers and symbols were dimmer than the others, and guessed the possible combinations with that.

One finally did it.

The doors unlocked and the girls ran in, ran straight into the once-Principal Office by practically knocking the door open by their sheer mass.

***

Jackie awoke when she fell on the floor along with the rest.

It seemed that Maddie and Aiko teamed up to carry her away, she glanced to Tracy panting muchly by herself near the help desk, with River on her knees.

“Good plan I guess,” Jackie looked up to a Maddie looming over her, “But considering we couldn’t like, throw a trashcan in to break in or something due to the noise, that nearly fucked up there—”

“We counted on River and she pulled through,” Jackie responed, rising from Maddie’s lap… And carefully moved away from a down Aiko’s back. “She comes through, always has.”

She saw River constantly shake her head on the spot, clearly harrowful as she sniffles and continues to cry as she clutches her head.

“Oh no…” Tracy moved over quick, hugging River from behind as she calmly swayed. “It’s okay, dearie… You did your best, you did your best…”

“I don’t…” Jackie tried to make sense of this.

“You gave the chick that thinks she’s fucking up just by existing the hero moment,” Maddie summarized. “Fucked her up, the stress and all, it looks like… I sure as hell didn’t help, definitely my bad on my part-“

“But sh—we proved that we can overcome all of that.”

“And we’ve proved just as much, if not more, that we can’t. We’re in the realm of coin toss, literal chance. Of course she broke.”

Jackie sighed, putting hands on her head as she closed her eyes. “Okay. That’s fair. That’s completely fair…”

She and the others went silent. For how long River needed for her blubbering inhales turned into soft sniffling.

“Okay,” Jackie opened her eyes. “There’s two immediate options here. She either took the bait and is heading back here or she didn’t take it at all and is waiting for her time to strike. Barring any other possibilities… It makes our plan even more of a sprint.”

“And if we do the exit part of our plan…” Aiko brought up, still laying belly-first on the floor. “How do we mask our trails without letting her loose on the city at the same time? I’m sure Extant is better equipped than us, but it would be… Shitty. If we not only ran but made things worse.”

“Hear hear… Now that brings us to the next matter… N’atural herself. River, you don’t have to jump in, but let’s make sure we’re all on the same page regarding her history.”

“Well shit,” Maddie pipped up. “I get to be useful for once man, I’ve listened to her whole saga just as much as her album.”

Jackie perked an eyebrow. “You’re a Music fan? Fan of hers?”

“You don’t have to join some circlejerk cult to just like something, Jackson,” Maddie traded back. “I just like the beeps and boops and people’s stories—I don’t need some cred to show that.”

Jackie sighed. “Sure, yeah. Anyways. She’s around our ages… Desireé Schwartz-Lars, already sole heiress of a influent family, became a rising pop star… 15? 16? I’m not into music in general, but I definitely heard her name a lot… Before literal tragedy struck.”

“Mhm,” Maddie agreed. “Her shit was pretty midcard—good, but was basically audible snack food. Until she had that press conference, announced to the whole wide world that she had siVis—and proceeded to yak up something red and they cut the fucking cameras quick.”

“Her ability has something to do with… Transformation,” Tracy followed up on. “She was—and still is… Turning into a monster. That was… possible animal leavings that she made a mess of. They modified how Trends are tracked because of her, trying to keep what little humanity she has left by not confining her and telling us where she is, how she breathes, and what not…”

“Y’know, I think calling that ‘animal leavings’ somehow makes her chowing down on squirrels a lot worse, so thanks Tracy—” Maddie interjected.

She puffed her cheeks, still holding River.

“But yeah, turns out dehumanization along with dehumanization kinda makes the mind go yonder. Cue her recent album that basically put down what it’s like to have siVis and how she’s not human anymore in musical form. Shit’s a trip and deep at the same time, fucking kicking myself for not listening to it again in the hospital, considering—”

“Yeah…” Jackie crossed her arms. “Because… Despite all that. She is still human. And siVis, despite the surreal horror show, it is intertwined with us as people. Maybe we can offer kindship. Kindred spirits talking, and we can convince her to…”

“…I don’t think that’s an option anymore, Jackie,” Tracy politely argued. “They’re called Trends because they cross a certain threshold… They can’t come back to normalcy, whoever they were is buried under something we can’t understand… Poor N’atural is the endpoint for us, not a friend on the same starting line…”

“Tracy’s right,” Maddie nodded. “Sure, treat her right because life sure as hell didn’t… But I don’t think anyone’s home in that head, chief. Just a beast in a cage, shaped like a girl.”

“That was mostly a pipe dream, anyways…” Jackie rubbed her nape of her neck. She shot up, and walked towards the doorway.

“So, what are we doing?” Aiko asked.

“The plan’s still on, just with added speed into the mix,” Jackie said. “But in general? If we even suspect N’atural is here? We might have to pull a Megaplex. Trap her within here, somehow.”