The silence after the fight wasn't silence at all.
It screamed.
Ava sat slumped against the wall, her torn arm wrapped in a blood-soaked rag, face hollow but furious. Her lips were tight, her jaw clenched—stubborn even in agony.
Lilly stood a few feet away, fists still trembling, mouth-stained crimson like a ghost of the rage that had just consumed her. She hadn't moved. Couldn't. Her chest rose and fell like every breath was a war.
Sam was between them. Arms out, heart pounding, caught between the fire and the fuse.
And then—
Ava broke the silence.
"You really are the thing they warned me about." Her voice was low. Razor sharp. "A loaded gun with no safety. I should've put you down when I had the chance."
Lilly snapped her head toward her.
"You think I wanted to be this?" she shouted, voice raw. "You made me! You carved this into me! You taught me how to disappear, how to kill without blinking, how to shut off every piece of my soul—and then you vanished like I was just some failed experiment!"
Ava pushed herself up, teeth gritted. "You were never a failure. You were too good. That's what scared me."
Lilly's laugh came out broken. "You don't get to be afraid of me. You don't get to run from me and still haunt every damn part of me."
Sam took a step toward Lilly, eyes wide. "Lilly, please…"
But Lilly kept going.
"All those nights I waited. All those fake names, burned files, fake deaths. And you—you were out there playing shadow games while I drowned."
She turned on her heel, pacing like a caged beast. "And now you want back in? You want to act like nothing happened?"
"I didn't come back for you," Ava said coldly. "I came back because the mission changed."
"Of course," Lilly whispered. "Always the mission."
A beat passed.
And then Lilly turned to Sam.
Her voice cracked. "Tell me, Sam. When the dust clears… when all this explodes… are you gonna vanish too?"
Sam's eyes glistened.
"No," she said fiercely. "I'm not her. I don't run from the people I love."
Lilly flinched—like that word physically struck her.
"Don't," she whispered. "Don't say that unless you mean it."
"I do," Sam said, stepping closer. "And you can hate me for it later. But I'm not walking away. Even if you bite, even if you burn."
Ava watched, breathing hard.
"You don't know what she is," she muttered.
Sam didn't look away from Lilly. "No. I know exactly what she is."
Lilly's walls cracked again. Deeper this time.
turned away. "I need air."
And she walked out— Hurt, breathless, and haunted.