Milly took the same route back. Down the stairs, down Abigail’s coat, and across the street.

The only difference was that Milly took a minute to ditch the hot bunker gear and found a new set. This one she carried with her back to the apartment building where she used Orchid’s vines to find her way up past the burning floors and all the way back to Stella and her little group.

Practically nothing had changed in the time that Milly had been gone. Which to be fair wasn’t a lot of time. Stella, the new girl, the dog man, and the dog were all still there. They’d gathered around to inspect the door that Milly had kicked in last she was there.

“Dang it. I was afraid that messing with stuff here would distract them. Really should’ve thought of that sooner.” Milly sighed then casually took off the bunker gear, setting each part on the mid air as easily as she would set them on a shelf.

Once she was free, she pulled out her notepad and jotted down a quick message for Stella.

Terra is hurt (I think?)

Much of her sand is glass.

Careful. Terra is hot to touch.

This suit will protect you.

-00:00:01

“That’ll work.” Milly plucked a heavy glove from the air and slid it over Stella’s hand then stuck the note to it. She maneuvered it in front of Stella’s face. “Okay, now let's get you dressed up!”

It took longer than Milly anticipated. Dressing another person was a pain in the rear, especially if they were bigger. Not only that, but she also had to carefully maneuver around the three others since they were all crowded around the same door.

Eventually, she managed to get Stella all decked out.

“Finally!” Milly groaned. The whole thing was an exercise in frustration, but luckily she knew just what she could do to blow off a little steam. She wrote a quick note and handed it to the new girl to explain that some doors were going to open to make it easier on them. They were already distracted, so that wasn’t a concern anymore.

Cracking her knuckles, Milly walked down the hall and eyed up the first door. “I’ll think of something clever after this.” She kicked the door off of its hinges.

Better.

“I guess we’re both a little unhinged right now?”

Milly giggled while she made her way to the next door. She resolved to be a little more careful with the others. Just in case there was anyone checking out the commotion through the peephole or something.

By the time Milly got to her fifth floor, she’d settled for just breaking the lock, door after door. She ran out of good puns after the first floor. Out of terrible puns after the second floor. Out of knock-knock jokes after the fourth floor.

With a sigh, she broke another lock, bored out of her mind already. Half the point of talking to herself was to keep sane. She should’ve brought a magazine or something to read while she was doing this.

When she reached the stairs again, she looked out the window at the police station across the street. She could see that Terra was still there. Milly wondered if Terra felt uncomfortably hot too. Milly had only been there for a few seconds and she still felt like she had a fever. The air alone had to be hot enough to burn a person. Worse if they breathed it in.

“Good thing I borrowed some gear before going there. Imagine if I’d run across like I originally planned.” Milly shivered at the idea. “I really should’ve left that firefighter with more than just a blanket and a thank you note. Both of them, I guess. Since Stella needed one too.”

Something sparked in the back of her mind. She remembered the time that she’d just missed Stella’s teleportation back at the recruitment party for ACE. A vivid memory of the confusion she felt when Stella was not where she’d left her, only leaving wisps of smoke in her place. It was a clue that directed Milly to find her near the girls smoking by the window at the time.

“Oh, yeah. Stella trades with the air,” Milly recalled before she spun on her heel and ran down the stairs. Stella was protected from the heat, but everyone around her wasn’t. “I ain’t sure whether a teen-sized blast of super hot air and smoke could actually harm anyone, but better safe than sorry!”

To Milly’s relief, Stella hadn’t left yet. She was showing the note to the others with one hand and waving with the other. Even though Milly was practically deaf at her current speed, she could almost hear Stella say ‘bye!’.

“Think calm thoughts!” Milly told herself while she sprinted across the hall. If she was too panicky, she might hurt Stella. Taking a deep breath to force some sense of control over herself, Milly snatched Stella up and dragged her away from the rest of the group.

How far was far enough? Should she play it safe and take Stella to the end of the hall?

Wait. Where was the hall?

Save for Milly and Stella, the whole world was gone! Instead, Milly saw a swirl of stars and colors as if she was standing inside the northern lights. Everywhere she looked overwhelmed her with colors, a green haze hung over all of it. Except, Milly could tell the stars weren't as far away as stars should be.

A cluster of three looked closer than the others. A thin, glimmery thread as though from a spiderweb loosely waved from the star on the left to Stella. Once Milly noticed it, she spotted several more threads flowing from Stella, at least six of them. Most were loose like the first one, but one was pulled taut between Stella and another star.

When Milly looked back to the trio of stars, they looked further away amid a green nebula that she had been surrounded by a moment ago. When she looked ahead toward the taut line, she saw vague dark shapes beneath and behind it as though she was simultaneously looking at a star and a blurry lamp sitting on a shelf. A deep red mist wafted away or toward it like a migrating swarm of butterflies.

A fraction of a moment later, the world returned all at once. The experience couldn’t have been more than half a Milly-second.

Now they were face-to-face with Terra, who had used the couple of seconds to grab the axe Milly had left behind. A wounded animal was said to be the most dangerous, and Terra gave off that vibe and then some.

Milly marveled at the strange sight she’d experienced. Was that how Stella’s teleportation looked? Or did it only look like that for a fraction of a second? Milly had been teleported by Stella multiple times and never saw anything like that. The main difference between then and now was her superspeed.

Where had they gone? Was that a place between worlds? Some pocket dimension? A visual guide for Stella?

A thousand and one thoughts thundered through Milly’s mind. She felt like she was about to overheat. Then it dawned on her where she was. On the burning police station, without any protection.

“No!” Milly’s eyes widened and she clasped her hands over her mouth and nose. If she breathed so much as whiff by accident, there was no telling how bad that might be for her! If she’d felt like she had a fever before, now she felt like she’d been in an overboiled sauna for an hour.

She had to get out of here! What were her options?!

Stella hadn’t even touched Terra yet, it would take too long to hitch a ride back.

The stairs were even hotter than the edge of the roof, she’d never make it through without the gear and the whole place was filled with smoke.

What else was there!?

Abigail!

Milly sprinted across the police station roof toward the apartment building. Abigail should be on that side. It was only a one story drop if she could just get there and jump into her palm!

Forget the sauna. Milly could feel her skin start to boil. She dove through a smoke plume just to get where she needed to go faster and tore through an ankle-high plastic pipe that definitely should have tripped her.

Just before her bacon cooked, Milly reached the edge at a mad dash. Abigail was right below her. Unfortunately, she wasn’t standing up anymore! Several seconds had passed since Milly last saw her, and she was now crouched down to safely deposit a handful of survivors on the ground.

Milly’s heart sank.

There was no time to try anything else. This was her only shot!

Her eyes settled on Abigail's long raven-black hair. If she was lucky, maybe she could slow her fall by getting tangled up in there. It made for a rough five-floor drop, but it sure beat a ten-floor drop onto concrete.

Both scenarios beat getting flame grilled!

Without so much as slowing down, Milly kicked off from the edge, arms outstretched. Abigail was so far away, she had to bridge the gap between them if she wanted to stand any chance of grabbing on.

She launched herself across that gap.

The impact against the edge felt familiar, similar to when she’d kicked the wall in the medical office. She swore she could feel it shatter beneath her feet. Not that she had any time to look back when she was too busy looking down. The street scrolled by under her without even getting the slightest bit closer.

She was already halfway across the street and easily passed well above Abigail before it fully dawned on her that she’d jumped at superspeed. Her very next thought was to brace for impact when the apartment building became her new landing zone. Specifically, the tenth floor.

Luckily, that was the floor with the giant hole in the exterior wall. Milly passed right through it which gave her just enough time to sling her backpack off one shoulder and put it between her and the interior wall right before she slammed straight into it.

Everything went dark after that.

Five seconds ago.

“Gotcha!” Terra blasted a torrent of sand over the last flame sprite. She grit her teeth as she felt the control slip her grasp. She called back the waves of sand she still controlled and swirled them around her fist, absorbing it back while she pointed a finger at the gigantic T-Rex. “Last chance. Back off before I smother you too.”

That was a gross lie. She hadn’t brought nearly enough sand for a job this big. Nobody had told her there would be a damn dinosaur! You’d think that would be the first thing people mentioned, but nooo. Apparently, that was an insignificant freaking detail next to a couple of waddling fireballs.

She hated how carrying extra sand made her feel. Or rather, not feel. Her core consciousness already barely felt anything; each scoop of sand on top of her original mass just spread what little sensation she had left even thinner. That went for positive and negative sensation, so that extra bit of endurance at least made her feel good for something.

The T-Rex opened its maw and vomited forth a wide jet of flame so hot she could feel her hair catch on fire even as she dodged the cone itself. Damn. She had two more wigs, but this one was her favorite; it was a little bit shorter, as though she’d just gotten a haircut. More importantly, Ruth never failed to notice and often complimented her on how it looked even better than her last haircut.

Terra pulled out her old flip phone, only for the case to melt in her hand. “Damnit! Hard enough to find something without a touch screen! I thought these things were supposed to be practically indestructible.”

So much for calling the cavalry. This stuff used to be so much easier. As much as Terra made fun of Clover for having all the same powers as a walkie-talkie, she really missed ‘Over-n-Out’. As psychic powers went, mental communication just wasn’t in Ruth’s skill set.

Stella wasn’t coming to check on her either. She’d be grilled by the heat before she finished her usual ‘hi!’.

Still, it didn’t matter. She barely felt the heat, anyway. She concentrated the sand of her right arm into a long sharp spike. “You’ve got some guts, huh? Let's see!” she yelled and drove the spike into its stomach. With any luck, she’d damage the organ that it used to create the flames.

Instantly, she lost control of every kernel of sand she’d invested into making her weapon! “The heck!?” Rather than hurt it, the creature didn’t seem the least bit bothered at being impaled. Glass simply dripped out of its new makeshift belly button.

Before she even had time to reassess the situation, another gout of flame came down over top of her. It started scorching her even deeper than before while she yelled out a string of expletives too perverse to make it into any mission report.

Spotting a glint of metal to her right through the flames, she ripped it off whatever it was attached to and held it over her head to buy herself a second to think up her next move. She’d lost too much mass too quickly! Was the entire beast that hot? All she could do was ride out this attack and then figure out a way to message the others. Abigail was the closest, probably.

Not that she could leave the roof. If nobody kept this monster occupied, it would resume the barrage it started on the nearby buildings. Obviously, it had been designed to wreak havoc. If it turned her to glass, would that kill her? Or just leave her stuck for four thousand years like some kind of genie? Would she even care? Ruth and Stella might be happier with just the two of them, no matter what they said. Even the team was getting new members now.

She sensed a sudden rush of air while the world blurred for a fraction of a second. Then she found herself on the other side of the roof. She dropped to the ground before she could even wonder why she couldn’t feel her legs or how she got here. The sound of roaring flames behind her abruptly cut short, replaced by heavy thuds.

“What the actual f—” Terra grabbed a fire axe that somehow ended up against her. She snatched it, but the edge melted off before her eyes as though it had been used to carve up the earth’s molten core for a second.

The pieces fell into place. She should’ve figured it out immediately. Terra scowled at herself while she gripped the axe harder. It had to be that speedster girl. Did the heat not bother her? Maybe she was elemental of some kind as well. Made of lightning perhaps.

A sound like muffled machine gun fire briefly sounded in the background.

A firefighter appeared out of nowhere in front of Terra. Somehow that was the most confusing part of all of this. Why would :01 bring a single firefighter here?

“Hi!” Stella’s muffled voice came through the helmet. “Woah, are you okay?”

The sound of an explosion came from the apartment building across the street. As though somebody fired a cannonball into it. No screaming, though, so it was probably not a problem. Good, because the last thing Terra wanted was for Ruth to see her ‘without her face on’.

“Oh, it’s you,” Terra looked her sister up and down. She didn’t bother to entertain Stella’s nicety. No matter how much of a mess she must look, they both knew she was practically immortal. “Where did you get that getup?”

Stella giggled. “I have no idea!” She held up a yellow sticky note on her palm that immediately incinerated in the scorching atmosphere before Terra could read it. Genius. Either that had slipped Stella’s mind or she was trying to be funny. Still, that indicated this was :01’s doing.

Terra shifted her mass to expel the useless glass and grow some new legs. She only had enough to create a child-sized body, but she needed mobility. Stella’s squeal of joy almost made her reconsider.

“I always wanted a little sister!” Stella grinned and ruffled Terra’s bald head. “Hey! Wanna go to the nearest playground? Just so you can restock in the sandpit, and for no other reason, promise! Unless you want a turn on the swings?~”

“Shut up.” Terra batted Stella away, then ran a hand through her hair to fix it, shaping a poor facsimile of short flowing hair. Her efforts were in vain and she knew it. Static sand-sculpted hair was so obviously fake at second glance. “Just take me home. No, forget I said that. Where’s the T-Rex?”

The intention behind Stella’s attempts to cheer her up were appreciated, but Terra wasn’t in the mood. She had to get eyes on that T-Rex as soon as possible and figure out her next move.

Clutching the half-molten axe, she rounded the corner back to the battlefield. On the way, she spotted a dust cloud spew out of the hole on the tenth floor. If the T-Rex had jumped across that’d be the worst case scenario! She ran over to the edge of the roof to get a better look. In the process, she ran past a pile of flaming dinosaur bits. Terra did a double take.

A dozen slabs of red hot T-Rex steaks. Emphasis on ‘red hot’ as beneath the scales the thing was nothing but elemental fire. Same as the flame sprites.

Strange, they’d assumed that the attack was orchestrated by a pair of villains. One who could fire constructs and a second one who could transform. But, this suggested both the flame sprites and the dinosaur were constructs of a single villain’s power. Why the deception? More importantly, where was the villain? Their only lead was laying before her in pieces and going up in smoke.

Stella came up beside her to check out what had her so interested. She wrapped her arms around Terra from behind, letting them dangle over her small shoulders. “Oh, you’re warm! Really war—Ah! Hot, hot, ho-oh, hey! There’s a blond girl across the street!”

Terra had just about tuned Stella out until that last part. She followed her sister’s gaze to the hole where the dust was settling. She was right. A girl had collapsed against a wall, right under a huge impact crater. It looked a lot like a bigger version of the one in the medical office this morning. “Stella!”

“I know.” Stella grabbed Terra’s shoulder and the next moment they were across the street near the girl who suddenly looked awfully familiar. “Hi! Oh, isn’t that, uhm, what's her name? Milly?”

Terra remembered her. Could that girl not stay out of trouble for five minutes? How did she even get here? Dressed in her pajamas no less.

“Is there anyone you don’t know?” Terra growled dismissively while she stood back and focused on cooling her temperature. The last thing they needed was more burn victims due to a careless touch. The process was easy, exchanging the hot outer layer of sand with the cooler layers deeper down. “You got an anchor on the paramedic team below, right?”

Such a strange feeling. To be warm on the inside again. Terra had all but forgotten what it felt like. A little more human.

Stella checked Milly over. She was scraped, bruised, and a little singed, but at first blush she wasn’t a shattered sack of meat and bones despite the meteoric impact. “Yep.”

At the center of the crater, Terra noticed the remains of a backpack crushed into the wall. Milly’s belongings were scattered around her. They hadn’t weathered the impact as well as she had, or perhaps they’d taken the brunt of it?

A blond girl just like the one from the jeweler surveillance footage, evidence of a high speed impact, and a visit from their mystery speedster right before? Investigation had never been Terra’s strong suit, but she wasn’t a complete idiot. Especially when she could see a packet of yellow sticky-notes on the floor.

She just hadn’t expected that :01 would be that young.

“One sec.” Terra ran her hand along Milly’s face, leaving a thick coating of sand as she went until she pulled back only the stump of her wrist. The sand obscured all major features of the mystery girl’s face.“Now.”

One good turn deserved another.

“The heck is going on down there!?” Ruth leaned over the busted staircase above them. She looked at the three of them. She was soon joined by a boatload of survivors, all curious and weirdly okay with being that close to an obviously compromised structure.

Terra kept her head down.

Stella looked up and waved. “Bye!”