The world had fundamentally changed.

  Not in a way that was outwardly noticeable to the general public. To the average person, life was just as scary and complicated as it always was. No, the common folk still toiled their lives away, just like they had always done. But for those in power, the age old game of war and influence had taken its first drastic change in nearly a century.

  Just like when mankind first split the atom, humanity once again found themselves at the forefront of a new arms race. An untapped frontier in how soldiers could fight on the battlefield. And for those who succeeded in properly harnessing this new technology, the possibilities were limitless.

  …

  An unmarked SUV pulled up to a small cabin and two men stepped out.

  Most people would be forgiven for thinking of Page Arizona as the middle of nowhere. Nestled between the border with Utah and hours away from any decently sized city, the town was merely a speed bump for travelers cutting through the desert, on their way to or from the various national parks that dotted the landscape.

  But for the two men, they felt the out of the way nature was probably part of the charm.

  “You sure this is the place?” The shorter of the two asked.

  “Intel was pretty solid this time around.” The taller one replied. He cupped a hand behind his ear for a moment, hearing the faint tinkling of metal hitting metal on the wind, and then smiled. “Yep, this is the place! Come on, let's go say hi.”

  The shorter man looked at his normally stoic colleague with a confused glance before shrugging his broad shoulders. “Meh, can't be worse than the last guy.”

  Due to his position behind his coworker, the shorter man completely missed the malicious smirk his comment inadvertently created on his colleagues’ dark face.

  …

  Ash was pissed off.

  That in itself wasn't exactly a new phenomenon. For as long as she could remember, anger issues had been just another one of her character traits, right alongside stubborn and petty.

  No, anger was nothing new to Ashley Wolff. The source of her fury however, that was at least something different from the usual list of irritants she normally dealt with at her desert home.

  “The fuck do you want?” She asked the two men standing at the entrance to her smithy. She had a large batch of horseshoes she needed to finish by the afternoon and the two chuckleheads in fancy suits were hogging all the daylight.

  “Oh, is that how you greet an old friend?” The large man asked. He removed the large sunglasses away from his mocha brown face, revealing piercing crystal blue irises that swiftly scanned the small room down to the tiniest detail. “Ya know, for someone like you, this ain't no Great Wolff Lodge. Not nearly enough water slides.”

  “You tell jokes now Sam? When did that happen?” Ash asked, quickly trying to mask her shock behind several layers of snark and indignation. She had been completely off guard by the familiar face twisted in an entirely unfamiliar smirk. And Ash was not a fan of unexpected surprises.

  Sam gave a lopsided grin that showed off his perfect pearly white teeth. “Marriage truly does change a man.” He said while holding up his left hand to show the simple ring on his finger.

  “You got married too?! Why the fuck wasn't I invited?!” Ash shouted, a bit of her earlier anger bubbling back to the surface. She thought they were friends, one of the only ones she had left.

  Sams’s grin turned sheepish. “Yeah… about that. Remember when Chells and I tried to invite you out last year? And how we were super pushy about it?”

  Ash combed through her memories and could vaguely recall something like that standing out. “Yeah, I was at a family event with the whole clan.” She froze, understanding hitting her like a sucker punch to the face. “Wait… are you telling me you invited a bunch of people to an event and DIDN'T TELL THEM IT WAS YOUR DAMNED WEDDING!!?”

  It felt like a betrayal. She wanted nothing more than to punch the bastard standing in her doorway right in the face. But she knew better than almost anyone how futile her attempts would be. One did not simply land a blow against Sam Edwards. “You fucking idiot! You know how I am when it comes to family. But if you just fucking told me I would have dropped it all in a heartbeat!”

  As if sensing the impending shitstorm about to land, Sam held up his hands in surrender. “Hey, hey, I'm sorry about that. Look, our anniversary is coming up soon and we were thinking of taking the gang out to celebrate with us. Sounds good?”

  Ash sighed and did her best to reign herself back under control. “Yeah… I-I'd like that. It's been too long since I've seen you guys.”

  Sam gave an understanding smile. “The past few years haven't been kind, to you especially.”

  A harsh cough cut through the air like a knife. “I hate to interrupt, but we came here for a reason other than to shoot the sh-”

  “Piss off!” Ash barked and launched a small metal marble from the desk beside her straight towards the short man’s forehead.

  The man let out a yelp of surprise, but rather than being pelted in the face, somehow his hand came up and caught the metal projectile at the last possible moment. Ash narrowed her eyes in suspicion. She could count on one hand the number of people who could avoid her attacks. And somehow, two of them were standing right there in her smithy. On official business no less.

  “While rude, the kid’s right. We did come here in an official capacity.” Sam said while schooling his features into something more professional.

  Ash let out a great defeated sigh. She swept her rapidly cooling project off the anvil to the floor, turned, and sat down, arms crossed, upon the great block of steel like it was her own personal throne. Since she built the place with her own two hands on land that she personally owned… it kinda was in a sense.

  “Fine then. Let me repeat my original question. What. The fuck. Do you want?”

  Sam crossed his own arms. “We're reactivating old assets.”

  Ash's frown deepened. “And I'm retired.”

  “You're twenty eight.”

  “And? It doesn't make my pension checks any less valid.”

  The shorter man scoffed. “So you'll just abandon your country when it needs you?”

  Ash looked first to the idiot, then over to Sam. “Did he not read my file?” She asked incredulously.

  The tall man chuckled darkly. “No, no he did not.”

  Ash turned back to the short man. “Who the hell did you piss off so badly that they sent you here without any idea of who you’re dealing with?”

  “He didn't piss anyone off… yet.” Sam said with a laugh. “All files of former operatives are sealed shut for the safety of everyone, this includes yours. It's why I'm paired up with him for this mission. Don't need a file if I already know what's in it.”

  Ash narrowed her eyes at her old friend. “I still find it hard to believe a frosty bastard like you would let him walk in here without even a warning.”

  “Why would I need a warning for a washed up blacksmith rotting away in the middle of nowhere?” The other man said with a sneer.

  Ash was taken aback. Never in all her life had she seen someone in his position make such a bone headed assumption. Slowly, that shock soon gave way to the boiling fury she had spent nearly her whole life trying to control. Her eyes blazed and she shot forward like a bullet until her slender fingers wrapped around the collar of his shirt. She felt a small measure of satisfaction seeing the look of shock on his handsome face. She knew full well just how scary a bitch she could be.

  “Listen here you little shit.” She growled. At just a hair over six feet tall, Ash towered over most people regardless of gender. And the man staring up into her piercing hazel eyes was certainly no exception.

  “Ten years. Ten goddamned years I've sold my body, innocence, and even my fucking soul to serve my country. Ten years of service, over a third of my damned life, that was the deal. I serve my time, and in exchange, you motherfuckers leave me the hell alone.” She turned her fiery glare towards her former comrade. “So what is it? What's so monumentally fucked up that you two had to come all the way out here just to drag me back in?”

  Sam let out a great sigh and fixed his icy blue stare with her own blazing orbs. “The formula's been leaked.”

  “What?” Ash gasped. She was so lost in the revelation that she accidentally let go of the shorter man's shirt, causing him to drop back down to the floor with a thump.

  “Keep in mind that this is all highly classified.” Sam warned, all traces of his previous playfulness wiped away. “But yeah, the secret sauce that they used on us is out in the wild.”

  “How?” She asked. “How can a fucking soda company keep their formula safe for well over a century, but the mother fucking US government can't keep their damned super soldier formula secret for more than a couple decades?! Did they learn nothing from Klaus Fuchs or Morris Cohen?!”

  “Who the hell are they?” The short man asked from well out of grabbing range.

  Ash palmed her face. “And you just inadvertently proved my goddamned point.” She groaned.

  “Few people are as enthusiastic about history as you are Ash.” Sam sighed. “But I agree, this shouldn't have fucking happened.” He held out his long arms to either side. “But it did. And right now, we are awaiting the inevitable shitstorm that's about to crash down on all our heads. We need people, good ones who not only know what's about to go down, but actually have the skills and experience needed to neutralize those threats before they have a chance to do any real damage.” He stood up straight. “We need someone like you. Former special operative Ashley Wolff, codename: Crucible.”

  Ash scowled at hearing her old moniker. The clusterfuck of emotions that one simple word brought forth was almost too much for her to handle. She needed a moment to think, to refocus on what was important.

  “Why me? Why not ask the other, less mentally fucked up operatives?”

  “We did.” Sam replied softly. “There’s only a handful of people from our batch still alive, and even fewer who are fit and able to come back into the fold.”

  “All the more reason to question why you think I would be a good pick for this shitshow.” Ash growled.

  Sam eyed her critically. “Really Ash? I know what the brass did was fucked up, and what happened between you and-”

  “Don't you dare talk about that person.” Ash warned. They may be old friends, but there were some topics you just didn't bring up.

  “Right, sorry about that.” He apologized. “Anyways, you talk a good game, but do you really expect us to believe you wish to leave the life behind when you have a whole obstacle course set up in your backyard?” He asked while hooking a thumb in the direction of her extensive backyard.

  The reveal of her formerly secret training grounds gave her pause. “What if I just wanted to train for Ninja Warrior?” Ash asked petulantly.

  “Aren't all current and former operatives banned from competing in any and all forms of public competition?” The other man asked.

  Ash flinched.

  “We are indeed.” Sam confirmed. His grin grew predatory. “So what’s a blacksmith in the middle of the desert doing with such an extensive setup if she wasn’t preparing to come back?”

  Ash ground her teeth in frustration and threw up her hands. “Fine! You caught me. I built it to keep myself in shape just in case, all right?” She crossed her arms and gave a childish pout. “I ought to kick you right in the snowballs for calling me out like that.” She grumbled.

  “So?” He asked.

  “So yes! Sometimes I miss it, okay? I'm pretty sure you’ve never been to my property and you can't see the course from the road, how the hell did you know it was there?”

  Sam gave an innocent whistle. “Oh, you know. When I heard we were coming to visit… I may have gotten a few satellite photos of your property, just in case.”

  Ash looked at the man completely dumbfounded. “You seriously used my tax dollars to peep into my backyard? I don't know if I should consider that ballsy or just plain crazy.”

  “The latter.” Short man grumbled. “Definitely the latter.”

  “Meh… I'd say about fifty fifty.” Sam said with a shrug.

  “Fine then Sargent-”

  “Captain actually.” Sam corrected. “I got promoted right after you left. I'm now the commander of the whole unit.”

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  Ash shook her head. “A promotion, marriage, and even managed to gain a sense of humor? I'm not sure you’re even the same man I served with.”

  “Oh I've always had a sense of humor. It just took a while for it to adjust to what those lab coats put us through.” Sam said with a sigh.

  Ash put a comforting hand on her friend’s broad shoulder. “You don't have to explain it to me. I know better than most how much you struggled after the procedure.” She looked around her smithy, at the rapidly cooling pile of unfinished horseshoes. “So when do you need me to leave?”

  “We were given several hours to convince you to join up.” Sam said with a slight twinkle in his eye, a bit of his previous good mood returning.

  “Was recruitment going that poorly?” Ash asked.

  “I'll say. Over half the ungrateful bastards practically attacked us on sight!” The other operative grumbled.

  “And the other half probably either tried to run or pretend you guys weren't there until you gave up and left.” Ash wagered, knowing full well the type of people and their trama’s the government was trying to bring back.

  “Got it in one.” Sam chuckled. “So yeah, we got some time for you to pack everything up before we leave.”

  “So that's just it? We spent all this time getting cursed out only for this woman to just drop the act and come along? What the actual fuck?!”

  Ash glared balefully at the man before turning back to Sam. “I feel it's best if you explain.”

  The tall man eyed his colleague with a mix of exasperation and pity. “She was testing us. Don't get me wrong, if we backed off too easily or if the situation wasn't as dire as it is, she would have sent us both packing with a fresh boot print on our asses.”

  “Damn straight.” Ash agreed. “I may not be able to take Snowpirce on in a regular fight, but out here,” She gestured to indicate their current environment. “I got a decisive advantage.”

  “So what?” The young man scoffed. “Even I can beat the commander in a fistfight.”

  “Bullshit!” Ash shouted. She refused to believe her old rival could be beaten by a cocky kid she never heard of.

  “It's true. His skillset counters mine. Just like mine is a hard counter to yours.” Sam said calmly.

  “I'll believe it when I see it!” She growled. She turned to face the shorter man. “Come in kid, we're going out back.”

  “I have a name you know!” He complained.

  “And yet you've been quite rude, coming into my home and not even introducing yourself.” Ash shot back, all but dragging him towards a circular clearing behind her home filled only with light pink sand that was everywhere in her small desert town.

  “I'm Anh Tran.” The short man introduced himself. “I'll tell you my codename after we're done here.”

  Ash nodded her head. “Fair enough, Mr. Tran.” She stepped inside the circle and gestured for him to do the same. “If we're going to be working together, I'm sure as shit going to have to see what you can do first.”

  “Fine by me.” Anh said, shrugging off his coat and tossing it to Sam, exposing the broad and well built physique that was previously hidden underneath.

  Ash gave an appreciative whistle. “Good. Captain Edwards will act as referee, so come at me with everything you got.”

  The second the words escaped from her lips, the man dashed forward in an aggressive attack stance. For all the immaturity the young man showed so far, Ash had to admit that when it was time to throw down, he didn’t hesitate. That was at least one point in his favor.

  Ash felt the neurons in her mind begin to fire off like a bullet factory burning down. Out of all the myriad of ‘gifts’ she had been given due to the super soldier program, this was the one that gave her the least trouble, and thus was a staple in her fighting style. Steadily, the world around her slowed down to a fraction of its normal speed, including her charging opponent.

  In this state of heightened awareness, her body felt leaden, like she was suddenly trying to walk at the bottom of a pool. Ash was always annoyed by the fact that no matter how hard she trained, her body’s agility never seemed to keep up with her superhuman reflexes. Stepping to the side to avoid the first swing, she noted with more than a small hint of pride that she was still considerably faster than her opponent, at least for the time being.

  It never hurts to be careful around people with superpowers after all.

  “Good form, pretty decent speed and precision.” Ash said, deliberately slowing down her voice so that she would appear to be talking normally for her audience. It was a technique she developed after many years of trial and error. If she had tried to speak with what she perceived to be a normal cadence, her words would have blurred together into a high pitched string of sounds reminiscent of a squirrel overdosing on PCP.

  While this was admittedly funny as hell to listen to, it was not ideal in more serious situations where clear communication was paramount. Ash inwardly cringed at the memory of an early mission in her career where she forgot to slow herself down before radioing in a scouting report. The resulting laughter from the rest of the team completely shattered the element of surprise like a brick through a window and nearly cost them the mission.

  “Tough talk from someone only dodging.” Anh shot back. His voice was also stretched and distorted by her power, but she had plenty of practice in understanding slow-speech.

  From the corner of her eye, Ash saw Sam give slow-motion wince. Honestly, it was his own damn fault for not adequately warning the kid of who he was trying to goad, so he had only himself to blame for what was going to happen next. She may not be nearly as hot headed as she was back in high school, but she was still not the type of person to let an insult go unchallenged.

  She had a reputation to uphold after all.

  “Very well.” She said with an air of finality. “Prepare yourself.”

  She gave him only a single heartbeat before she charged forward and sent a right cross straight for his nose. With her enhanced perception, she saw his chocolate brown eyes grow wide, saw the small gears in his head start to turn in realization, and knew that he wouldn't have any time to react before her fist would dig itself deeply into his jaw.

  And yet… her punch never landed.

  At the last possible moment, his hand shot up just in time to get between her knuckles and his tender flesh. Ash narrowed her eyes and hopped back to reassess. Her enhanced mind replayed the scene over and over in an effort to glean as much incite as she could before they had to clash again.

  She had managed to surprise him, of that there was no doubt. It would take a masterclass level of acting to fake those kinds of reactions. There was the possibility that his body reacted on its own, but she would need to probe his defenses a bit more to confirm that hypothesis.

  The whole situation almost reminded her of precognition, but there was a small nagging voice in the back of her head that disregarded the idea. Briefly glancing at Sam, she reaffirmed her belief.

  No, Anh didn't have the swagger of a precog. The kind of confidence that comes with knowing every single move you are about to make, and having a counter for each and every single one. What this kid had was something else. A single punch may not have done anything, so perhaps it was time to turn up the heat.

  With a plan in place, she struck. Like opening the floodgates to a massive dam, her attacks roared forth like a thundering waterfall of brutality. High, low, from the sides, and even directly behind, her fists flew in rapid succession all around him. To give credit where it was due, the man held up extremely well against the onslaught. Anh wasn’t nearly skilled or fast enough to react to every attack Ash launched at him, but he managed to evade, block, and even parry more than half of them.

  Even more curious wasn’t just his ability to avoid damage, but in his choices of which attacks to block or let through. Aside from a few easy blows Ash threw his way for the sake of variety, virtually every attack he negated was either a powerful blow to his vitals, or a primer meant to set him up into a devastating combo that would have ended the fight right then or there. Ash had to admire the young operative. Either his combat instincts were top notch, or his powerset really was some sort of precognition.

  Ash delivered a kick to his stomach that was meant more to push him away than to cause damage. “I’m impressed!” She said between gasps of breath. Even in her prime, that stunt took a lot out of her. She needed to end the fight quickly, she was built for short sprints, not grueling marathons. Still, she relished the opportunity to catch her breath. “Not many people without enhanced toughness or endurance could withstand all that.”

  “Oh course you are.” Anh panted back, equally winded from the torrential downpour of punishment he just endured. “I was trained by Harbinger. And you… you aren’t nearly as terrifying to fight as that woman.”

  Ash’s brows rose slightly in recognition. She hadn’t heard that name in a long while. Regardless of who trained the kid, she still had a fight to win. She dashed forward and swung her leg in a roundhouse kick to his ribs. Just as she anticipated, Anh quickly brought up his knee to block. What Ash didn’t expect was his arm to wrap itself around her shin in a hold.

  “Time to show you what I can really do.” He growled and tightened his hold.

  It was then that Ash felt his power activate where their bare skin made contact. She felt something strange drain out of her leg, something vital. Not wanting to sit around and find out exactly what he planned to do with her, she leapt up and kicked him in the face hard enough for the man to let go and stumble back.

  “Ow, you bitch!” He shouted, clutching his bleeding nose.

  Ash rolled back to her feet and watched her opponent warily. A quick mental pat down showed that her body was still reacting the way it should. Still, she had no idea what he drained out of her, and that made her all the more wary.

  Anh was still clutching his face and spewing curses that were honestly quite impressive. Ash made a mental note to write some of those down for future use. Aside from his composure finally shattering into pieces, there was also a sort of haze emanating from his shoulders. It could almost be mistaken for the heat haze that constantly wafted up from anything the desert sun shone upon, but it was too wild, too chaotic. It was almost like his temperature rose to rival that of a forge. But that was impossible, he didn’t exhibit any of the telltale signs. Not unless he suddenly-

  Ash whipped her head over to Sam. “He’s a fucking copy-cat?!” She shouted in rage and disbelief. “And you let him use his powers on me?!”

  The big man didn’t look nearly as shocked as she felt was warranted. “He is, why do you-?”

  “Because we’re both fucking elementals!” Ash screamed. “Our powers make us mentally unstable, mine especially! And I highly doubt he has the same ‘iron’ to temper himself with like I do.”

  Sam’s blue eyes went wide. “Oh… Shi-”

  “I”LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!”

  Anh’s scream broke the two friends' conversation like a cannonball through a stained glass window. Both of them turned just in time to see the short man burning with rage.

  Literally.

  Flames erupted out from Anh’s torso, sending a wave of heat so intense that even Ash felt somewhat uncomfortable. Embers flew in every direction, with several clumps splashing against the walls of Ash’s home. With a feral scream, he charged once more, all previous caution and training burned away with his enhanced fury.

  “Shit! I’ll knock him out, you make sure those flames don’t spread!” Ash shouted before charging back in herself.

  Anh opened up his mouth and a torrent of fire roared out to completely engulf the target of his ire. Ash could feel the heat of the inferno, the sheer power needed to bring such flames to bear. With her own mind stretched forth she grabbed hold of the ephemeral energy sustaining the blaze…

  And tore it away.

  The wall of orange all around her dissipated into little more than a warm breeze. Well, warm by the standard of a blacksmith who lives in the desert anyways. With an opening made, she leapt forward and grabbed a hold of the out of control operative. With his wits dulled by anger, she easily slipped past his feeble attempts to throw her off and slipped behind him. Throwing out a prayer for luck, her toned arms wrapped around his head and neck while her long legs kicked his knees out from underneath him.

  “Come on, come oooooonnn… Go to sleep, go to sleep, gotosleep!” She chanted quickly as she cut off both blood and air to the young man’s brain while he thrashed around like a wild bull.

  “Hey, can I get some help with these?” Sam asked. A steady stream of ice and frigid air was shooting out of his open palm, slowly smothering the pockets of fire his subordinate inadvertently threw around everywhere.

  “I’m a little busy here!” Ash shouted. “In case you havn’t noticed, he’s still on fucking fire! It’s taking nearly all my concentrating to keep him pinned while also making sure he doesn’t burn off my fucking clothes!”

  “Hey, that doesn’t sound too-”

  “Finish that fucking sentence and I swear to god I’ll roast your balls until their nothing but tiny lumps of charcoal! Now go and make sure my goddamned house doesn’t burn to the fucking ground!”

  Sam blinked at the sheer fucking brutality of her words, and the look in her eyes told him she ment every word.

  “You got it!” He shouted back and redoubled his efforts in putting out the pockets of flame.

  With only a few more seconds of struggling against her chokehold, Ash was relieved to find the young man’s eyes finally closed and his trashing ceased. “Fuck!” She shouted in exasperation before letting go and falling back to the sand.

  “Well this is nostalgic.” Sam mused. Since all the fire was put out, he padded over towards the two combatants and crouched down beside his subordinate to check for a pulse. “Didn’t you pull off something similar in your first week of school?”

  “Fuck you and that fucking school.” Ash cursed in exasperation.

  “Hey, I’m not the one who burned it down to the ground.” He joked.

  “Neither was I!” She shot back. Literal hothead or not, she had at least some self control. Ash looked down at the man resting between her legs. “Oi! That’s enough sleep out of you. Time to wake up.” She said while gently slapping him on the cheeks.

  Anh stirred and started to blink his eyes open. “Ugh… wha?”

  “Hey! The power you copied from me, you need to turn it off right now!”

  “The… The power goes away if I stop trying to hold onto it.”

  Ash let out a long sigh of relief. “Thank, fucking, goodness. Man, it would be a bitch and a half if I had to deal with all that a second time.”

  Anh was still looking around like he was still half asleep. “I… I lost… didn’t I?”

  “Yes, yes you did.” Ash said smugly.

  “How?” Anh asked. “My powers are good enough to beat the commander, and he’s one of the strongest combatants we have.”

  “Well Do-Over, what we have here is a classic weapon triangle, or in this case, a power triangle.” Sam said with a smirk.

  “Do-Over?” Ash asked with more than a hint of amusement.

  “Shush you!” Sam shot back. He cleared his throat and continued. “The point is, I beat Crucible here because I can foresee any and all moves she will make before she makes them. And you beat me because whatever future I see gets wiped every time you rewind.”

  “Wait, he can rewind time?! That’s fucking bullshit!” Ash grumbled indignantly.

  “He can, but not very far back, and it's not something he can just abuse willy-nilly.”

  “So how come my ability wasn’t that effective on her?” The defeated Do-Over asked.

  Snowpierce smiled wide. “I’ll answer that question with another question. How many moves do you typically plan ahead in a fight?”

  The young man looked thoughtful for a moment. “Uh… maybe three or four. Depends on the fight really.”

  The big man nodded his head in agreement. “Not as much as me, but it's still decent.” He looked up. “Crucible, how about you?”

  Ash chuckled and shook her head. “Zero.” She stated firmly.

  “Bullshit!” The shorter operative shouted.

  “It’s true. Take it from someone like me, this woman is a pure reaction fighter. Every move is determined by the outcome of the former.” Sam confirmed.

  “But that’s impossible.”

  Ash quirked a lone brow. “Says the man who can steal powers and rewind time.”

  Anh opened and closed his mouth several times in an attempt to come up with a proper retort. “I guess that’s fair.” He finally admitted.

  “Yep, so while you negate my power, and I negate hers, she also is a perfect counter to you. Doesn’t matter how many do-over’s you got, she’ll just react to you all the same.” The smirking captain concluded.

  “Anyways… While nearly burning my house down has been fun and all, I should probably wrap things up here before I leave with you.” Ash sighed. She looked down and examined herself. “Oh, and take a fucking shower too. I doubt I’ll do the car’s upholstery any favors after rolling around in the sand.”

  “I’ll dust this guy off and meet you at the door.” Sam laughed and Ash joined him.

  For the first time in over a year, Ash felt happy. She rekindled an old friendship, got to throw down with a fellow super, and soon she would be back in the life that had dominated so much of her time on earth. A life that she somehow came to love, despite how seriously fucked up it got.

  “Hey Ash!” Sam called out.

  She turned. “Yeah?”

  “Welcome back!”

  She smiled, pure and genuine. “It’s good to be back.”