Having never traveled outside of Enchantment City in the Metaverse, it becomes clear quickly that Austin is a separate beast entirely. The outer limits of the city are devoid of life, even in the form of shadows. Yet there are buildings and structures around that go beyond mere reflections of the real world. They are built of a metallic material, but stand in various states of decay and partial destruction, as if a Meta-tornado had come through one day, and nobody bothered to rebuild. In some places, acidic substances I know not how to identify are splashed across the floor. But the strangest feature of the landscape is above us. What appeared to be an enormous airship floats far above the city. It’s hard to make out from a distance, but it seems to be propelled, somehow, by the spinning of very large fans. When the airship comes into view, my parents briefly stop and gaze up at it.

Breaking the silence, Anja says, "Please don't tell me that's where the strip club is."

"I don't think so," Dad says. "If I'm not mistaken... that is what we call a 'palace.'"

"Wait, you know what a palace is?" I question.

At this, my mom glances sideways at me, wordlessly gazing, a look of something like resignation on her face.

"What?" I ask, irritated.

She shakes her head, and turns away from the floating construct to instead point to the horizon in front of us. "I believe that is our destination."

I look ahead in the direction she's pointing to see a bright light in the distance, like an electric flash.

Mom then turns to look at our immediate surroundings, the seemingly war-torn buildings, which I can only speculate the purpose of. "It has been decades since this scum was so bold as to return here," she states. "Today, we are not just rescuing Zoe, we are cleansing a stain upon our community."

"And then what?" Anja questions flatly. "They'll come back a few decades later?"

"If they do, we'll just have to cleanse them again," Dad says curtly.

"That’s right," Mom agrees. "Come on. No time like the present."

My parents continue walking. Anja sighs a tired, world-weary sigh, and follows them. I do likewise.

The flashing light in the distance grows larger and brighter as we approach. But what my vision is most drawn to as we walk is the airship, also growing ever close as we approach downtown. We've seen four palaces now, but none like that. Who does it belong to? How do we even get to it, should we choose to assault it next?

Come to think of it... given that there were four palaces in our town alone, how are we not passing one on every corner in such a big city as this? Perhaps here, the unsavory are united into one craft. Like how the reactionaries at our church shared a mindset and goal, and thus shared a palace, this airship is some sort of hotbed of sin and ignomy. Perhaps it is the epicenter of the city's organized crime... except, no, the organized crime is down here. Some evil even greater lies above. The airship hovers over us like a dragon as we pass underneath, and finally we behold what the light we have been chasing is: a twenty-foot tall electric fence of unnatural green lightning.

Now, how are we supposed to get past that? If Nova were here, perhaps he could do something with his lightning powers. But with just Anja and I... what could we do?

Try to go above or under it? I suppose my flame form gives me limited flight capabilities, but it was also exhausting. I wouldn't have energy left for the inevitable battles we will fight within the building. Anja's wind powers could do something, but I've never seen her outright fly before. She's more of a "falling with style" type.

But hold up... Mom can fly! Didn't I just see her flying in the distance?

"Mom. I have an idea," I say.

"Oh, do you?" she asks.

"Yeah, I do. Can you fly above the fence and... turn it off from the other side?"

She raises one eyebrow at me. "I have a better idea," she says.

She turns towards the fence, and before our eyes, two purple crystalline pillars rise from the earth. The electricity bounces off of the gems, creating a gap in the fence wide enough for us to walk through.

I feel annoyed. I had no idea she could do that! Would've been nice if they explained... literally anything while we were walking here.

"This discreet entrance will not buy us much time," Dad explains. "We will undoubtedly run into resistance soon. Be prepared to fight with any means you have, and stay behind us."

"We can fight too," I say defensively. "We have lots of experience." I look to Anja for support, but she’s not meeting my gaze; only looking at my mom with a somewhat dazed expression.

"I'm not having this fight with you right now," Mom says, exasperated. "Let’s go."

The two of them walk in, not waiting on the two of us. Still feeling miffed, I follow them as close as I can with Anja.

Past the fence, I recognize the building as the same one from Charlotte’s mom’s memories. In this world, there are no signs or markings on it, but the shape of the building gives it away. In the front, is a large, box-shaped room. Entering through the doors reveals a large hall, sort of an auditorium, except the stage protrudes out like a runway, and the seats are arranged in circles around poles. This must be where the entertainment happens.

“My first time entering a strip club,” Anja comments, a bit of her usual humor finally returning to her face. “That’s one off my bucket list.”

“Your bucket list?” Dad questions. “Aren’t you sixteen?”

Anja shrugs. “I didn’t expect to cross this one off so early. That was more of a long-term idea.”

“That’s besides my point…” Dad says.

“There’s a hidden downstairs to the building, and that will be where Zoe is,” I explain, remembering when that girl said she came “up the stairs.”

“I wish Ruth were here,” Anja groaned. “She’d be able to find them in-”

“Down,” Mom says in a low voice. The four of us crouch behind the nearest pole-dancing booth. We hear footsteps from by the stage, and soon, a door to the right side flies open.

A highly familiar figure darts out: The Dark Trooper. Or should I call her, Anja’s Aunt Kierstyn. She runs past the stage and towards the front doors. Within a few seconds of her passing by us, Mom springs to her feet. After a swift series of motions so fast that I can’t make out exactly how it happened and rumbling in the ground, Kierstyn is encased in Mom’s purple crystal, unable to move any of her limbs.

“What is this?” Kierstyn scowls.

“Is it true? What they told me?” Mom interrogates, stepping up to her threateningly.

“Alyssa?” Kierstyn asks, recognition dawning on her face. She struggles against the crystal. “I don’t have time for this! Let me out!”

“Did you kill Ellen?” Mom asks, looking more furious than I’ve ever seen her.

“I didn’t want to,” she pleads. “I was forced to… please let me out…”

A large group of men, a dozen or so, charge out of the doors she came from, all carrying weapons. That explains why she’s so anxious to be let out. They come to a halt when they see my mom and raise their weapons at her.

“Running to your Thief friends for help?” One of the men in the front says. The leader has sleek black hair, brown skin, and a somewhat impressive mustache and goatee.

Before I have time to process anything going on, Dad stands up, and that horrible sound of church bells plays again, the brooding minor key tones echoing through the hall. All the men who ran into the room are suddenly stiff, as though paralyzed, and many of them are breathing deeply or moaning in fear.

“Thanks, honey,” Mom says.

Anja makes eye contact with me and mouths Woah, her eyes wide.

“You have powerful allies!” Kierstyn says, sounding impressed.

“That’s my husband,” Mom says cooly.

“Dear… Zoe,” Dad says calmly.

“I know,” Mom replies. “But we can’t just leave this lot to themselves, can we?”

“Anja and I will go,” I say, standing up.

Mom sighs. “Ashley…”

“Mom, lovingly, I don’t care what you think,” I say bluntly.

“Believe it or not, I can sympathize with dealing with a kid who doesn’t ever listen,” Kierstyn says, glaring at Anja.

I ignore her and help Anja to her feet, and we take off towards the hallway in a run, Anja not sparing so much as a glance for her Aunt.

“Ashley!” Dad calls.

“You’re not stopping me,” I shout back.

“I know,” he says. This gets me to pause. “But a warning. Don’t allow yourselves to be hit by their weapons.”

“I’ll try,” I say. But I’ve been zapped by Kierstyn’s weapons many times before, including earlier today. I can tough out whatever happens.

“Duly noted,” Anja says. “Let’s go get Zoe out of there!”

I chase her down the narrow corridor, intent on not letting her get away!

In another damp catacomb, she is quickly climbing up a ladder. I fire a rocket at the top, causing the whole ladder to fall down. Ms. Patel hits the ground with a smack, the ladder and some rubble burying her!

“Now you’re trapped down here with me!” I taunt.

She pushes the ladder off herself and glares at me, more blood on her face and clothes from the fall. I reckon I have her on the ropes!

But then, the sneaky little bitch does her shadow shit again, only this time, she doesn’t come after me with it; she uses it to hastily retreat up the wall.

Uh, shit. Well I knocked down the ladder, so now I have no way of getting up.

Uhhhhhhh… Okay, I got it.

I kinda moved the earth to get out of my tomb right? It was just like that show I watched as a kid, Avatar.

I stand next to the wall where the ladder once was, and I clench my fists to shake the ground beneath me, and then pump them up. As I hoped, the floor comes with me, pushing me upwards. Only, it goes so fast that I get catapulted off of it, instead of the smooth ascent I intended. Thinking fast, I grab the ledge on top, and pull myself upward. What can I say? I don’t know my own strength.

Through the doorway is a different part of the palace. It looks sort of like an old prison. There are large rooms carved out that are blocked off by iron bars, and behind them are really pathetic looking people. Each cell seems to hold a family, all of whom are wearing tattered clothes like peasants, and who seem to have a number of odd cuts and injuries. Then, I pass by a couple of people I recognize: Jason and his mom!

“What are you guys doing here?” I ask, running to the bars.

“Oh, I’m so pitiful! Poor me!” Jason’s mom complains dramatically. She’s wearing the same rags as the others and looks particularly downtrodden, having two black eyes and torn clothes. “Oh how my husband beat me and cheated on me, so I had to leave him. I’m so put upon! Waaah!”

“Uh, Jason, what’s up with your mom?” I ask.

“Um, sweetie, actually nothing’s up with my mom!” Jason says in this weird, whiny voice. “And, pretty racist of you to assume something’s up, tbh.”

“Huh?” I say. “Jason, what the fuck?”

“Um, are you criticizing me? Sweetie, actually that’s like, super homophobic, cuz you know, I’m gay, so you can’t be mean to me, uwu!”

“Bro, we literally came out as gay together!” I tell him. “It’s me, Charlotte!”

“Sounds like a pretty white name, tbh,” Jason says. “Why don’t you check your privilege, whitey!”

“I’m a biracial trans girl!” I argue. “What privilege could I- urgh, never mind!”

There’s clearly something about the palace fucking with these two’s brains. I don’t think I’m going to get anything out of talking to them, so I move along the hallway, trying to find Ms. Patel to finish her off for good.

It takes a while for me to find her, and when I DO? It’s actually one of the most horrifying things I’ve ever seen in my life.

I find her with none other than my own parents, and the ugly version of me that Ashley must’ve met earlier. Except she’s hunched over my mother, who’s laid on the floor going totally pale and lifeless!

“HEY! GET OFF OF HER!” I yell. I think about throwing in some grenades, but I don’t want to accidentally hurt Mom and Dad.

Ms. Patel looks up at me, grinning, the blood she was drinking dripping from her mouth. I notice that all of her wounds seem to have healed…

In a flash, she changes back to a shadow and darts away. I sit there horrified. Both at my mom’s lifeless body laying on the floor, and at the idea of fighting an enemy who can totally heal herself any time she wants.

Aaaand, I start crying.

Anja and I charge into the hallways. Without the first idea of where to start looking, we simply keep to the left and check every door. An entrance to such a place must be kept hidden, so we comb every inch of the rooms we come across. First we come across a sort of break room with a kitchen. We don’t search here for long, however, since they seemed to be keeping this a secret to low-level employees, so it wouldn’t make sense to put the stairs somewhere they could easily be found. Next is what looks like a closet, with an array of sexually charged outfits, such as the bunny outfit that Charlotte’s mom wore, which I’m now blotting out of my mind so I can stay focused. We check every corner of the closet, seeing if there’s any kind of secret door, even a trapdoor.

“Ashley! Footsteps!” Anja warns me. Both of us hide behind the hung clothes and go still.

The footsteps are coming from opposite directions, and both stop when two people meet outside our door.

“Where are you going?” A man’s voice says. “The disturbance is that way.”

“Have you not heard? Agent EU7-04 has turned coat!” says the voice of a woman. “She’s attempting to escape now!”

“Man, what is going on today?” the man muses. “An awakened kid interfering with our business; a dead cop; and now this. I’m so ready for the week shift to end.”

“You and me both,” the woman agrees.

“So… which way should we go, then?” he wonders. “There was something about a wild animal downstairs, and some of the kids got loose.”

“They can handle a few scrawny little kids,” she scoffs. “By the way, did you leave this door open?”

“I didn’t touch it,” he says. “Think 7-04 could be hiding here?”

“It’s worth a look,” she agrees. The two walk into the closet we’re hiding, weapons raised.

Well, shit.

At this point, it’s inevitable that we’ll be found. Might as well take the element of surprise while we have it.

I concentrate the angelic power within my body, and shoot a blinding stream of light at the man, knocking him over with an “OOF!”

“Who’s there!” the woman shouts, turning my direction.

Anja dives into the open, laying down cover fire with her tommy gun. The woman retreats into the hallway after being hit with a few good welts.

I jump to the man I knocked to the floor and punch my sword into his chest. I immediately hit some sort of breastplate he was wearing under his shirt, so I don’t think it killed him, but the blunt force does cause him to cough up a little blood and pass out.

“We should keep the other one conscious to question her,” Anja suggests.

“Not a bad idea,” I say. “Come on.”

We race into the hallway, and quickly see the woman limping away in a sort of half-jog a few yards down. She turns around and points her gun at us. “Not another step,” she growls.

I ignore her, and charge at her with my sword in hand. She opens fire, and I’m hit with an electric shock. I’m ready to brace for the pain, but I instead feel a sort of intense stiffness, and I fall forward onto my face.

Before the woman can celebrate, however, she’s knocked onto her ass by a strong gust of wind from Anja, who seemingly was able to dodge her attack. She lands near the woman from a sort of glide, and puts one foot onto her neck. “Where are the stairs?” she asks curtly.

The woman gives a defeated sigh. “Go straight past the closet, then right, then it’ll be your third door,” she answers.

“Thank you,” Anja says. Anja makes a strong snap with her fingers, which creates a flash that badly disorients the woman. She rolls around on the ground, moaning.

“Come on,” Anja says, offering me a hand. With some difficulty, I climb back to my feet, shaking out the stiffness of my legs.

“Something’s wrong,” I say. “I feel different…”

I attempt to shoot more of my angelic light… but nothing happens.

“My powers,” I say, the realization of what happened crushing me.

“Ashley, you dumbass! That’s why your dad told us not to get hit!” Anja scolds me. She grabs my hand. “Whatever. I’ll just have to carry us for now. Come on.” She takes off, dragging me along, as I feel thoroughly humiliated.

Anja follows the directions given to her. The halls are pretty empty; it seems that between the scene in the front and the supposed wild animal, all hands are on deck elsewhere.

We find a door marked maintenance personnel only, which Anja drags me into. It’s a strange room; there are a few generators humming, and in glass parts of them, there’s green lightning identical to that of the fence outside, arching back and forth.

We check behind the generators, and lo and behold, the stairs. Before heading down, however, Anja pauses.

“There’s something weird in the air here,” Anja comments. “Some sort of field.”

“Interesting,” I say. “Zoe’s down there.”

“I know,” Anja says. “Let’s go.” We both hurry down the stairs.

We enter a highly strange hallway with all the walls painted black. We encounter resistance instantly. Two men who were seemingly standing outside of a fortified-looking door talking turn to us.

“Get out of our fucking way,” Anja says threateningly, pointing her tommy gun at-

Her tommy gun is gone.

In fact, so is her dress. She’s back in the sweater she had been wearing before! I look down to see that I, likewise, have returned to civilian clothes. Somehow, we left the Metaverse!

The two men smile snidely at us, and are quickly upon us. Unfortunately, there is really not much we can do. We are quickly restrained, our arms held. I try to wrestle free, but the burly man who grabbed me is much stronger than me.

“Two more for our crop, eh?” the blonde man holding Anja says in this obnoxious thespian voice. He looks at me somewhere lower than my eyes, his own eyes glinting. “You’ve got such a nice figure. I’m sure we can make use of you.”

“Keep looking at my breasts, and I’ll stab both of your eyes out,” I growl.

“I’m thinking maximum security for these two as well,” the man holding me says. “But how did they even get in?”

“We’ll deal with that question later,” the blonde one says. “For now, you’re quite right.”

“Can we get some extra hands over here?” The man holding me shouts down the hallway.

We hear footsteps… many footsteps. At once, my half-formed plans of wrestling away and overpowering the two seem to be dashed. I turn my head up to look down the hall, expecting to see more workers.

But what I actually see is very different.

It’s a crowd of children. They range widely in every way you can imagine. Some seem as young as six years old, others are about our age. Most, but not all, are girls, and a solid majority of them have some skin tone darker than white.

I try to look behind them, expecting to see more guards shepherding them. But there’s no such thing. Instead, my eyes are drawn to a girl in the front. She looks slightly younger than me, with dark brown skin and hair, and a pair of dirty glasses to match her dirty clothes.

And in her arms is a certain armadillo.