"Yep," Boris said, a dreamy smile curling at the corner of his mouth. "That one's stuck in my mind. Very stylish."

Tanya's voice dropped to a whisper. "I've seen them."

Boris turned, eyes wide. "Pardon?"

"In my head. After Adder—" She swallowed hard, her throat tight. "After they pulled memories out of me. Bits left behind, fragments. That thing was in there. That coat."

Boris's grin slipped. "Well, that's… disturbing."

Tanya stepped forward, her eyes fixed on him. "You sure it wasn't some glitch? I mean, you don't forget killing a mini-boss."

He blinked rapidly, frowning. "Now that you mention it… I don't recall the moment it died. Just the noise. The light. And then—poof—it was over. Huh. Curious."

"Curious?!" Tanya barked. "Someone messed with your mind, Boris!"

He tilted his head. "Yes, but… they also saved my life."

Tanya stared at him, dumbfounded. "So you're fine with that?"

Boris raised a brow. "Would you rather I be dead?"

Tanya opened her mouth, then closed it again, exasperated. She shook her head. "That's not the point!"

"I think it is," he said, his voice calm but firm. "Some mysterious, fabulous entity stepped in, took control, saved my life—and possibly Fifi's too. If they left with a few memories, I'm willing to call it a fair trade."

"You're mental," Tanya muttered.

"Possibly," Boris said brightly. "But at least I'm alive and mental."

Tanya shook her head in equal parts shock and awe. She flopped back against the wall again.

He's still out there, takin' memories. But he saved someone too? What is this guys deal?

"And you?" Boris asked.

It snapped her out of her thoughts. "Hm?"

He indicated towards the parlour. "What about all of you?"

"Oh, right," She moved closer to point through a battlement. "You know Olena so, uh, Mrs Eceer is a Bunker Wizard. She survived alone in her flat against a mob for hours for that one—absolute legend. Then Little Fahad has Urban Ghost."

He nodded. "I've met one of those before. Strange fellow who said he survived a fight by hiding in a phone box."

"Sounds similar then."

Tanya leant beside him, staring out across the street and basking in the calm. There was nothing like someone stronger than you beside you and a huge monster of a dog chained to your window to make you feel safe.

"And you?" he requested.

"Oh, right. I'm a Tattoo Summoner."

He scratched his chin. "Sounds like a Unique Class. Is there a tale there?"

She snorted. "Yeah, there is actually. I was held hostage by a mob boss—"

He gasped and turned towards her, lips parted.

"That wasn't even the worst part. His fuckin' gang tattoo comes to life right as I finish. Never seen nothin' like it." She shook her head.

He wagged his finger at her. "You owe me the rest of that story later."

"Better find me some good shit on this scavenge then," Tanya joked.

"Deal," he said, and he offered out his hand.

She shook it, smiling. "Let's see if everyone's ready."

Inside, the parlour was in peak chaos. Bits of packaging, furniture, and reclaimed hairdressing equipment lay scattered across every surface. The counter and filing cabinets were soon stacked even higher with gear bags and makeshift armour. Every single bag seemed to triple in size once someone started unpacking it.

Ishita, as always, unpacked, sorted, and then repacked her bag over and over like a woman possessed. Boris and Olena were cracking up in a corner, tangled in some inside joke that involved explosive jokes and hand gestures.

Tanya ducked past them and narrowly avoided collision with Fahad, who had launched himself onto the sofa to peer at Fifi through the gaps in the boarded window.

"Oops! Sorry, Tanya!" Fahad called.

"S'okay but slow down!" Tanya yelled over her shoulder.

"…take the quiet jobs and leave me the ones that explode!" Olena cried, dramatically pointing a screwdriver like a wand.

"That's because you like the ones that explode," Boris replied. "And that time—"

Fahad jumped up and down on the sofa, the springs squeaking under his weight. "Fifi is soooo cool. She'd make an awesome legendary Pokémon, right Mum?!"

Ishita didn't answer. She was too focused on her backpack, unzipping and re-zipping like a nervous tic.

Tanya made her way across the minefield of scattered supplies, nearly twisting her ankle on a box of mirrors. She pressed herself against the counter as Mrs Eceer emerged from the kitchen, nose buried in her Interface, muttering in the clipped tones of someone scrolling through a hundred tabs at once.

Tanya paused. She looked around at all of them—Fahad bouncing on the couch, Olena play-sparring with a butter knife, Boris unknotting an even larger chain than the one on Fifi, and Mrs Eceer glaring at her Interface.

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She caught Ishita's eye. They both started laughing.

Tanya leaned on the counter and grabbed her water bottle, which was still there from last night. She took a long swig and closed her eyes as the cold hit her throat. She remembered laughing with Olena in the same spot a few hours ago, gossiping over nonsense. Before all this, that would've been a dusty bottle of corner-shop gin. She'd have had a hangover by now.

She smiled faintly. Didn't even think about drinkin' last night.

Too busy havin' fun, I guess.

"How you holdin' up?" Tanya asked.

Ishita wrinkled her nose.

Tanya chuckled. "Hey, it's not a trick question."

Ishita sighed and indicated to the room. Olena was showing Boris how some cannon module worked.

Mrs Eceer yelled, "Don't wave that thing around inside!"

Fahad tugged on the coat Boris had slung over his arm. It made him look like a butler.

"...Fifi come inside too, pretty pretty please? I think she's cold…."

"Yeah, it's a lot," Tanya said. "But we are gonna get you those levels, and be safe doing it."

"I know, I know, I just worry about Fahad," Ishita said.

Tanya took her by the shoulders. "Did you see him teleport with Fifi? That boy could run rings around any monsters nowadays. We will all keep an eye on him, the lot of us, right, folks?" She yelled the last couple of words, both to calm Ishita and hype them up. "We will all keep an eye on Fahad so Ishita can focus on levelling?"

There was a chorus of "Yes," and "Of course," and a "Hey I don't need babysitting!" from the sofa. Their conversations poured back in like they'd never stopped.

"See," Tanya said, quieter. "I know it's your job to worry, but, for once, I want this trip to be about you too. Fahad'll get to Level 3 easy with his feints, an' I have a feelin' all this shadow practise will be helpin' his Ability stuff in the background. Let's see how high we can get you, eh?"

She bit her lip but nodded, placing the items back inside the bag with more finality.

"Summon Prosthetic so you're practisin', yeah? Actually, come with me." She ushered Ishita out into the kitchen. Ishita followed with equal parts curiosity and nerves.

"Be right back guys," Tanya yelled. This time she didn't get much response at all. A couple of them tore their eyes away from their conversations and nodded, or in Olena's case, being chased around the room by a winded Boris.

Tanya pulled the table out of the way and slipped out into the back garden.

"What are we doing out here?" Ishita asked, looking around.

Tanya was already making her way through the gate at the end and into the small alleyway that wrapped around her building and Mrs Eceer's. She knew exactly what she was looking for, scanning the fences towards the side of the buildings. The bricks on the other side of the alley wouldn't be much use.

"Are we going far?" Ishita said, pulling her cardigan tighter around her body.

"Nope," Tanya said as she stopped before the bakery's back gate.

Perfect, it's rotten like the one by the door.

Tanya turned to the corner post of the fence, grasped it with both hands and yanked.

"Tanya, have you lost your mind?" Ishita asked, jokily.

She grinned and looked over her shoulder. "Not yet"

Ishita looked one way and then the other as if someone was about to appear and tell them off for breaking private property.

"We need you a weapon," Tanya said, straining. The wood finally broke off with a snap and she passed it to Ishita by the decorative ball at the top.

"It's a fence post?" Ishita said.

"Ishita, you wound me," Tanya said, clutching her chest. "That there fence post saved me life more than once." She leant round the corner and pointed to the empty spot by the door.

Ishita followed her gaze. She turned it over between her hand and stump, struggling to work out how to hold it.

They both began walking back to the parlour. Their footsteps echoed around the alleyway and they took it in turns to glance around and make sure theirs were the only footsteps.

"Here and…here," Tanya said. She shrugged and mimed hitting something with a bat. "That's how I used it anyway."

Ishita held it with her good hand, attempting the same hit but instead just flailing it.

"You're gonna need two hands," Tanya said.

Ishita sighed, lifting her hand to her shoulder and summoning Prosthetic. The fingers moved robotically one by one. Ishita furrowed her brows, trying to force it to do her bidding.

Tanya opened the gate to her little garden, let Ishita through, and shut it behind her. "It'll take a little practice to smooth the swing, but just holdin' it with Prosthetic will get you more used to havin' the new hand."

Ishita tried a swing, wobbling and aiming higher than she meant to. Her Prosthetic hand slipped off. She looked down, hair covering her face.

"It's just you and me out here," Tanya said, placing a hand on her shoulder. She was surprised when Ishita raised her eyeline again and Tanya saw that it wasn't insecurity like she'd expected; it was rage.

She scraped her hair out of her face. "Stupid fucking hand," Ishita whispered with malice.

Tanya's mouth dropped open. It felt like seeing your childhood teacher swear.

She held her arm with Prosthetic on the end out in front of her. "You are going to hold this bat and you are going to swing it." She shifted her weight from side to side, raring herself up. "Ishita, your bat won the year 6 rounders tournament. You will prove why."

She did another swing, then another. Each was more forceful than the last. What they lacked in finesse, they made up for in speed.

Tanya watched with surprise and pride.

It's not just Fahad who can handle himself then, eh?

Turning to Tanya, Ishita's eyes ablaze with determination. "I'm ready."

Tanya gave Ishita a once-over, nodding with approval. The swing wasn't perfect, but there was a fire in her now, a fire that hadn't been there before. Tanya knew that kind of determination. It was the kind that only came when something deep inside you snapped, when you said "enough" and decided to take control.

"That's the spirit," Tanya said, her cockney accent thickening as she grinned. "You'll swing that thing like you've got the whole bloody world on your shoulders, yeah?"

"Right!" Ishita said.

Back inside, the group were already huddled by the door.

"Woah, mum got a baseball bat!" Fahad called.

Ishita giggled and held it up like she was going to swing. The others turned to look at her and she looked down, her cheeks turning pink.

"I voted for the kebab shop," Mrs Eceer said. "We've cleared both neighbours so this means opposite is cleared as well. The other's have agreed. Tanya? Ishita?"

Ishita nodded.

"Yeah, that sounds good," Tanya said. She'd been nervous about that one so it was probably best to get it out the way. Hopefully Asad and his wife were safe, or far away.

Goin' sooner gives us a better chance of helpin' 'em.

"Onward!" Olena yelled, lifting her cannon arm in the air.

The group stepped out of the tattoo parlour. Tanya glanced over at Ishita, who was adjusting her Prosthetic arm with quiet determination. Her focus had shifted, that spark of frustration from earlier replaced with resolve. Tanya couldn't help but admire the shift. There was something about her that had changed.

"You ready?" Tanya asked, her voice steady but carrying the weight of something unspoken.

Ishita gave her a curt nod. "Let's go."

The others began to move, slowly falling into step behind them. Olena's cannon arm glinted in the light as she adjusted the straps of her gear, while Boris shuffled forward, the weight of his harness almost as large as his towering dog beside him. Tanya caught a glimpse of the dog's massive head, eyes alert as if sensing the change in the air. It wouldn't stop growling and its paws thudded with each step. Not that they could sneak with something that big anyway.

Tanya looked back at Fahad, who was walking behind his mother. He peered this way and that to see around her, looking more and more frustrated that he couldn't run ahead.

Mrs Eceer began a speech as they reached the crashed car. She stared into space again, her eyes flicking around, obviously looking at some kind of Overlay. "Boris, guard the entrance with Fifi. Me and Olena will go in first to scout. Olena, only shoot anything explosive on my signal after my barriers are up." She looked at the others. "If you hear explosions, do not come inside until my signal. Tanya, stick to Ishita and Fahad like glue. If you have any trouble inside, pull out that sword of yours. We have a lot of firepower here but not much we can use inside so you're their bodyguard."

Tanya nodded with respect. There was a chorus of agreement.

This must've been what she was up to.

They had a plan, for now. And for the first time, it felt like they were more than just a group of individuals—they were a team.

And whatever came next, they'd face it together.

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