Alter: Olivia

Local Network World: 0007/0103/0098

Dates: 13/07/2025

Antithesis

“So what’s the plan, guys?” Seven raised an eyebrow. “Kade throws me through into my old world, you shut down access so I can’t leave, and…what? What now?” Olivia reached behind her, pulling the gun out of the back of her jeans, levelling it at Seven and pulling the trigger. The first bullet hit Seven in the stomach, doubling her over. Olivia took a couple of steps forward, aiming again - this time with one eye closed - and as Seven looked up at her, she shot her in the forehead, the bullet going through her skull; a mist of blood bursting out the other side. Seven’s eyes crossed slightly as she slumped forward and onto to the ground. Olivia stepped closer, emptying the rest of the clip - another three bullets - into Seven’s back, trying to approximate where her heart and lungs would be from behind.

The silence was anticlimactic. Quiet, intermittent breeze whipped around them as Olivia and Kade watched Seven’s body suspiciously. Thick, rapidly moving clouds swam and darkened overhead. The remnants of Seven’s Edenglassie towered around them: dense patches of weeds bristling through cracks and gaps in concrete and asphalt; some buildings standing, others in various states of collapse and decay, scorch marks from fires and jagged cleavages from explosions scarring their facades. Olivia was aware that, a few city blocks away, Maya was safely tucked away as they had planned, shutting down outbound access. As they waited, Olivia let her mind drift back to Kade’s plan:

“Okay, hear her out! Then we can all vote on it!” Ari had shouted over the other Alters as the room descended into critique and argument.

“So, to clarify: your pitch is that we trap Seven. On her own world.” Kira had summarised.

“Essentially, yeah.” Kade had nodded. “I’ve been practicing with Otherwheres. I can create one small enough that she goes in one side and out the other.”

“Told you it was teleportation…” Olivia had smirked, bumping lightly into Kade. Kade had nudged her back, folding her arms across her chest and smiling to herself.

“Could you actually handle it, Maya? Have you guys tested that?” Kira had asked.

“Yeah. It doesn’t really take any effort, just intent. We’ve tried it a bunch of times. I think it would work.” Maya had shrugged.

“What’s to stop Seven from attacking Maya?” Tash had asked.

“She won’t be close.” Kade had explained. “We’d put her somewhere a ways away, so Seven can’t see her or attack her. It’d just be me and Olivia.”

“What, why?” Tash’s brow had furrowed.

“Because I won’t risk any of you. Just us. I know this is personal for all of us, but for Liv and I…” Kade had trailed off, looking over towards Olivia, searching for support.

“We made a promise to someone.” Olivia had explained. “It has to be us. If we die…do what you want. But unless it’s over our dead bodies, we’re not risking any more friends to this bullshit.” Olivia had nodded to Kade.

“Glad we’re on the same page.” Kade had acknowledged.

“What then, though?” Sage had asked. “Imagining that part goes smoothly, it’s just you two and Seven. Then what?”

“Well…then we test her theory that she can’t die.” Kade had said slowly.

“And this is where you lose me…” Kira had shaken their head. “Helios attacked Seven when she first got her powers. It went so badly that they didn’t try again for years. That says a lot.”

“They weren’t trying to kill her. We will be.”

“How?” Sage had asked.

“We’ll go back to Alice’s world. We’ll get the gun.” Kade had replied quietly.

“That world isn’t accessible.” Sage’s brow had furrowed.

“I can do it.” Kade had assured her. “I know how, now.”

“There’s a symmetry to that idea that I kinda fucking love…” Olivia had noted.

“What gun…?” Tash had asked.

“Never mind ‘what gun’,” Olivia had waved off the question. “There’s a gun. We know where it is. Shouldn’t be a problem to get it.”

“Can you aim a gun, Kade? Do you know anything about recoil? What if there’re no bullets left? Where would you get more?” Kira had asked.

“We know there were three shots fired.” Kade had said. “As for aim and recoil…we’ll get close and hope for the best.”

“This is a bad plan.” Maya had observed.

“Yeah, it is.” Kade had shrugged. “But what other shot do we have? Whose world is going to be next? We don’t have the time, or the resources, or the competency for anything better, unless I’m missing something?” Kade had asked, looking around the room. None of the other Alters spoke up.

“Also…” Olivia had added: “We’ve just found out that our friend is one of the main Alters working with Helios. Do we want to risk Seven working that out, if she hasn’t already? Kira fucked up, but they’re still one of us.”

“Thanks, Liv.” Kira had smiled.

“You’ve had all of our backs. Whatever else has happened, that’s not nothing.”

“So we vote.” Ari had concluded. “Kade’s plan, everyone?” The Alters all - slowly, uncertainly - raised their hands.

In the present, Olivia glanced over at Kade.

“I think we’re - "

“ - I told you…” Seven growled, looking up and slowly getting to her feet. Blood was still smeared down her face and staining her clothes, but the entry wounds were gone; healed over without a trace: “I can’t die.”

“Fuck, that’s such bullshit.” Olivia groaned.

“Oh yeah? Was it not good for you?” Seven sneered, back on her feet. “Cause it was super fucking fun for me. Didn’t hurt at all.”

“Oh my heart bleeds for you,” Olivia rolled her eyes. Seven paused, looking around. Distractedly, she raised her arm up, using the sleeve of her stained and torn hoodie to wipe blood off of her face, leaving a few small smears and dots.

“So you guys brought me home. It’s looking a little worse for wear, after all this time. Y’know, this is the first time I’ve been back? If you wanted to visit, you could have just asked.”

“Seven, we - "

“ - Ugh. Kade. Give me a few seconds for a little nostalgia, would you?” Seven turned away from them, looking away from the city and out towards the horizon. “I don’t miss it, really. My life here was garbage punctuated with false hope and loss and pain. It was pretty much constant, really. Still, when it all started falling apart, it was hard to not feel some type of way about it. First there were the riots, and then there were the wars. Before long - before the broadcasts stopped - America and China were firing nukes at each other, then Pakistan and India…I think Russia just felt left out at that point, I’m not sure what they were trying to achieve when they joined in. It all happened so fast. So much faster than…well, you know. The other ones. It was just a few days, and by the time I got a handle on what was happening, even if I had been able to stop it…” Seven shrugged, turning back to Kade and Olivia, a kind of cold emptiness behind her eyes.

“Stop acting like it just…happened,” Olivia spat.

“Didn’t it, though?” Seven asked. “I just…shifted things. Just a little. The fact that people acted like they did: turned on one another, targeted every aspect of difference? That was humanity. That’s what we are. It’s not even deep in, it’s just below the surface. It should not be that easy to tear a world apart, but it was, and that’s not on me.”

“Oh come the fuck on - "

“ - Liv. Look: if you go into someone’s house, shift every item an inch to the right, and they respond by killing their family and burning their house down? Yes, you’re an asshole, but…c’mon, really?” Seven sighed, shaking her head. “Alice got it. She knew that none of it would have been possible without…” She paused, considering: “Infrastructure.” She finished, sounding out the word with a disgusted little scowl.

“Do you even believe your own bullshit?” Olivia raised an eyebrow. Seven considered that for a moment.

“Yeah, for the most part.” She shrugged: “I mean, I’m flexible on some of the more esoteric points, but I’m pretty damn clear on the kinds of worlds we live in; the kinds of vicious pack-animals we’re surrounded by. No, actually…that’s not fair, is it? For animals, cruelty doesn’t tend to be part of the fun when they’re tearing things apart. People’re just this…endless fucking horde of echoes and shadows of the same old reactionary drivers. Like…tell me, just between us dolls: how do we feel about random bars? Dark alleys? Walking home alone at night? Groups of drunk men? Groups of sober men? How do we feel about using public bathrooms? Public transport? Joining up for some low-stress organised sports, maybe? How about leaving…the fucking…house?” Seven growled the last question out through bared teeth: “Any of that not filling you with bone-deep horror? Are either of you honestly gonna tell me you disagree that what happened on those worlds could’ve happened on any of our worlds without any input from me?”

“Yeah, but it hasn’t.” Kade insisted.

“Yet.”

“Even if - " Kade started, moving forward. Seven held up a hand slightly above her waist - palm out - rolling her eyes. Kade stopped - coughed - hands raising towards her throat, eyebrows knitting together. She coughed again, bending at the waist this time, like there was something stuck in her throat.

“Stop, Seven,” Olivia barked as she stepped protectively toward Kade, keeping an eye on Seven while reaching out to place a hand on Kade’s back. Seven just shrugged, lowering her hand, letting Kade’s breathing return to normal.

“Eventually the radiation will make its’ way down here.” Seven said, her voice emotionless. She glanced back over her shoulder, nodding out towards the horizon. “Have you guys ever seen that movie, On The Beach? I think it was a novel, originally. Big nuclear war in the northern hemisphere, takes awhile for the radiation to get all the way south. It’s like that. I preferred the remake, but I think it was like…Ava Gardner, when they did the original film? She said Melbourne was ‘the perfect place to make a film about the end of the world’, which is…objectively pretty funny. I wonder if there’s still anyone down there? Probably not. Everyone lost their fucking minds. It was like…well…” Seven smiled ironically: “Guess I don’t need to tell you guys what it was like. But yeah: most everywhere is gone at this point. It’s…quiet, here.”

“Why?” Kade breathed. “Can you just tell us that much? Why did it have to happen?” Seven shrugged again.

“I mean…like I said: people.”

“No, you - "

“ - Oh me? Why did I do what I did? Dunno, Kade: why don’t you ask the bitchy Oracle over there?” She nodded in Olivia’s direction, before addressing her directly: “That’s your whole thing, right? You see through Alters, tell them who they are and why?” Seven snickered quietly to herself for a few moments, shaking her head. From an external point of view it looked like she was enjoying a private joke. “Oh that’s right…you can’t read me properly, can you? Doesn’t matter, really. Do they know what a hypocrite you are, Liv? You act like your power is to objectively see through Alters’ facades, but all that’s really happening is you can see why they’re different from you. Then you use that information to judge them about it. For a girl, you’re very invested in that whole male stereotype of believing your opinions are facts and withholding empathy over differing ones, no?”

“Shut the fuck up.” Olivia rolled her eyes. “I don’t have to justify myself to you.”

“Oh, absolutely. Yes sir.” Seven sneered. “God, this whole veneer of stoicism and self-reliance…I mean, maybe it’d be kind of admirable if you weren’t so completely fucking hopeless, y’know? If you were actually the person you spent so much time shitting on others for not being? But you’re not, are you? You’re just an avoidant, alcoholic dumpster-fire of a person. Always have been, too. I know you have this whole story you tell yourself about how you set out into the multiverse with just a shirt on your back and a song in your heart or whatever the fuck it is people say. Anna thought it was cute. She was so proud of you. But in like…the way you’d be proud of a baby giraffe who keeps completely fucking up the process of standing, y’know?”

“Fuck you.” Olivia spat. She could feel her breathing becoming uneven. Her face felt flushed. “Don’t fucking talk about her.” She forced out through gritted teeth. She was trying to sound commanding, but as the words left her mouth they sounded more like a plea. Like she was begging. Seven just continued on, affecting a mocking imitation of Anna’a voice:

“‘Poor, pathetic little thing: at least she’s trying’. The truth is, you’re just like the rest of them. You have no idea what the fuck is going on. You’re just doing random crap and hoping for the best. Kade was right, actually: you made this one choice, and it kinda worked out for you. You claim your transition didn’t go well, but the proof is in the pudding and from where I’m standing, your journey has been a fuck of a lot easier than either of ours. And then, wow, day one in the big, wide Multiverse, you found someone who loved you so hard that it didn’t matter how broken you were, how incapable of being the one to reach out, how many times you tried to push them away. Someone who made absolutely sure that you knew you were loved. To recycle a Buffy line: that doesn’t make you better than us. It makes you luckier than us.”

“And then you fucking killed her.”

“She had it coming.”

“So do you.”

“You want another shot? Please. Try.” Olivia started to take a step forward. Seven started to raise her hands, her left eyebrow and the left edge of her lip inching up in tandem. Olivia paused, mid-step. “Yeah, that’s pretty much what the fuck I thought.” Seven growled.

“What the fuck is the point in comparing our shit?” Kade took a definitive step forward. Seven’s eyes narrowed. “We’ve all fucked up, and failed, and lost things. People. We all know how it feels to be completely and utterly broken.” Olivia could practically feel the emotion rolling off of Kade like choppy waves. Instinctively, she grabbed for Kade’s hand. She didn’t know exactly why. It felt like the right thing to do. Seven’s sneer deepened malevolently as she clocked it, staring down at their interlocked fingers. “So what’s your point? That she had it easier than you so she’s a hypocrite? Our own lives are our own responsibilities. You could’ve - "

“ - What, tried harder?” Seven cut her off with a patronising glare. “C’mon, Kadence. You know better than anyone that effort doesn’t always equal efficacy. It’s like those mediocre white cis dudes who believe in meritocracy despite never having done better work than the people around them; never having tried harder; never having deserved it more. The ones who get ahead because the world’s just sort of designed for them. You’re telling me to pull myself up by my bootstraps? Please. The best you can do is pull your broken ass out of bed in the morning, and even that’s kind of hit-or-miss. You know as well as I do that when you’re like us, being yourself has consequences. It’s not empowerment…it’s certainly not freedom. It’s one thing and one thing only: it’s the knowledge - the certainty - that when people treat you like you’re nothing, it’s really, truly you that they think is nothing. And she doesn’t see it at all, does she? Not really. She doesn’t see how hard you try, how much work you’ve done on yourself, or how much everything - fucking everything - hurts, all the time. She doesn’t respect how much it’s taken from you to even still be here. She just thinks you should be better - ”

“ - I don’t, I - “ Olivia turned to Kade, quietly starting to explain before Kade cut her off:

“ - Stop, Liv. Ignore her. She’s not in my head, don’t let her get in yours. We’re good.” Kade assured her. Seven just laughed.

“Come on, Kade. Don’t buy in. It’s all a smokescreen with her; a mirage. I can see her for what she really is. She’s lucky. Privileged. And privilege tends to be pretty fucking invisible to the privileged. We both know it. For some of us, the system is just rigged. And having girls like this,” she gestured towards Olivia, “lecture girls like us about trying harder, when, for them, effort actually sees consistent results? Doesn’t that piss you off? C’mon…be real about it, Alter to Alter: doesn’t that make you fucking angry? That you have to work so much harder for so much less, and all anyone ever tells you - even other versions of yourself - is that you shouldn’t be bitter about it? That you should just keep smashing your head against the wall until eventually…hopefully…maybe, it’s the wall that gives out?”

“You’re right. I am angry. I am bitter. But y’know what the difference between us is? I’m not so fucking stupid that I think that being in pain inherently correlates to someone else being responsible for it. Yeah, people that care about me wish I could find some peace. They can’t give it to me, so they give me what they can. Sometimes the way they do that is misguided, or has more to do with what they’ve been through in the past than what I’m going through in the present. Sometimes it hurts more than it helps. And sometimes, it’s just too much emotional labour, and they have to pull back. And that’s fine. That’s people. That’s how they work. The second you start blaming the people who wish they could help for the fact that they can’t, you start pushing away the only things that make continuing to try worth it. So what else can you do other than keep trying?”

“I dunno.” Seven shrugged. “I guess you could kill yourself, right Kade? Or you could become some judgemental cunt that gets off on telling girls with bigger problems than them that we’re all in the same boat rather than actually putting in the work to better yourself, right Liv?”

“Just checking in: is this your whole ‘villain speech’ thing?” Olivia retorted. “Gonna be honest, I’m not sure bottomless self-pity hits the right notes.”

“Villain?” Seven chuckled, raising an eyebrow. “You keep saying that. I guess from your perspective, maybe. If you don’t know enough to know I can sort of see how it would look that way.”

“What other way is there to look at it?” Kade asked. “If there’s more to the situation than we know, why not just tell us?”

“I’ve tried that. I’ve learned my lesson, trusting Alters.”

“God, you’re in so much pain,” Kade sighed.

“Oh, and now you’re not all of a sudden? Jesus Liv, that must have been one really great fuck to pull her up and out of her bullshit. Was that really all it took, Kade? Getting a good railing and a mediocre ‘come to Jesus’ chat from some self-righteous bitch who treats your nearly-forty-year-old-ass like a child, and all of a sudden you see the light?” Seven snorted. “Couldn’t be me, but hey.”

“Enough!” Kade shouted. Olivia saw nothing; felt nothing other than this sensation of momentarily falling as she was thrown back and away from Kade. She rag-dolled along the torn-up bitumen, managing to raise her arms to shield her head as she tumbled. Lying still for a moment before pulling herself up with a groan, digging her elbows in behind her, she looked over at Kade who was just standing there. Seven was on the ground as well, off in the distance.

“What was that…?” Olivia asked. Kade looked back at her. There was confusion in her eyes.

“I’ve got no idea, but - ” She was interrupted by the sound of slow, rhythmic clapping. They both looked over towards where Seven lay. She made no effort to get up, but her hands were in the air, slapping together. From where she lay prone, angled up on her elbows, Olivia could see Seven shaking with quiet laughter. Seven slowly got to her feet.

“Finally.” She sighed out. “I mean it’s insane that it’s you, but you have no idea how long I’ve been looking for someone useful.”

“Useful…” Kade repeated the word back, her brow furrowing.

“So this was…what, a test?” Olivia asked, pulling herself up from the ground, moving back towards Kade.

“Test?” Seven shrugged. “What, you mean the stuff I was saying? No, not really. It’s just…being around Alters, I’m constantly picking up on thoughts, and experiences, and it gets kind of overwhelming sometimes. Nice to get some of it off my chest, y’know? Better than therapy. I mean…” She looked over at Olivia: “Not like I have to tell you that. It’s kinda your whole deal, no? The thing is, to me, the whole lot of you are just some bullshit metaphysical collage of self-righteous, hypocritical little echoes of me who had it better, got luckier, and have zero ability to acknowledge that fact. Kinda like a joke the multiverse is having at my expense. So…y’know…turnabout is fair play. This whole thing?” Seven raised a finger in the air, spinning it around in little circles: “It’s not actually real, Liv. I keep telling you: It’s all just copies of copies of copies. None of it actually matters. But understanding that requires perspective, I guess. Which, in fairness, none of you have. You don’t even know who the actual bad guys are, here. You’re all running around, trying to stop…what? A couple of drops of water being removed from an ocean? A couple of grains of sand being removed from a beach? Infinity isn’t a number, ladies: it’s a constant. A fact. A natural law, like the conservation of energy. None of you understand that nothing’s actually been lost. None of you understand the real problem: we’re trapped like rats in a maze by a bunch of dicks who can do whatever they want to us, whenever they want to do it. Ironically, the only thing that’s been keeping you safe from them is that they’re scared of me. Y’know…the girl you want dead? The one you’ve been blaming for the consequences of Helios’ actions? But it’s fine. It’s fine. You don’t need to understand. I’m handling it. You’re welcome.” Seven raised her hand and flicked her wrist outward. Olivia stumbled on her feet. She could feel…something. The Rifts. “Say…Liv? What job did you guys give Maya again?” Seven feigned a look of confusion, holding her arms out, tilting her head to one side in an exaggerated shrug. “Seems like whatever she was doing isn’t happening anymore. Should probably go check on that, no?” Kade and Olivia exchanged a look. Olivia could see panic in Kade’s eyes: “Anyway, Kade and I have places to be.” Kade’s eyes widened and she lunged towards Olivia. She didn’t reach her. Kade and Seven disappeared into thin air.

Xibalba

The side of a collapsed office building had crumbled over the quickest route between streets.

“Fucking bullshit, fuck,” Olivia grunted, clambering over rubble and rebar, trying to be as careful as she could be despite her shaking hands and her heart hammering in her chest. Her brain was flooded with Kade and Maya, desperately worried and overwhelmed. Her ankle caught and twisted, causing her to fall with a muted yelp of pain; her chest hitting a lump of concrete, knocking the breath from out of her lungs. Her right hand slipped between chunks of concrete, shards of glass slicing a long gash into her forearm. Pulling herself up, cradling her arm, she managed to get over the top and down the other side, wheezing as she staggered back to solid ground. That was when she felt it: an opening to an Otherwhere. On the other side, Maya. Olivia’s vision blurred as she phased through the barrier, revealing Maya lying there, motionless.

Olivia looked around, finding herself standing in a room; large and poorly lit. It looked, at a glance, a bit like a function area. Dark blue walls, dim lighting…several tables with cheap, white, plastic tablecloths lined with a motif of yellow, red, blue and green balloons and underlined with long bars of yellow. Helium balloons hung passively in the air. Yellow plastic cups sat, haphazardly strewn around each of the tables. Hanging on the far wall, a long ‘happy birthday’ banner in a gauche kaleidoscope of bright and varied colours. The others started to appear around the room. Tash first, then Ari and Sage, then Kira. Olivia slowly moved towards Maya, falling to her knees, her teeth gritting as her ankle reminded her of what just happened back on Seven’s World.

“Is she okay?” Kira asked, the words more of a plea than a question.

“I don’t know.” Olivia muttered. She didn’t know what to do, but started by reaching out to gently shake Maya’s shoulder. No response. Olivia looked up at Kira: “Help me?” Olivia’s brain momentarily registered confusion at the sound of her own voice; a choked squeak of a sound. Kira just nodded, running forward and skidding to their knees beside them. Olivia watched them check for a pulse, nodding with relief, before holding their hand under Maya’s nose.

“She…has a heart beat and she’s breathing, which is, I think, good?”

“How do you know how to do this stuff?”

“I don’t,” Kira admitted. “I’ve seen people do this on TV. Seemed…right.”

“What’s happening…?” Maya groaned, slowly starting to move. Olivia watched her face contort with effort as she forced herself up on her elbows.

“We don’t know. Seven threw you through into an Otherwhere, it seems like.” Olivia explained.

“Olivia? Where’s Kade?”

“Alive, I think. Seven has her.”

“So we lost?” Kira inferred, meeting Olivia’s eyes over Maya’s body. Olivia slowly nodded.

“Yeah. We lost.”

“…Where the fuck are we…?” Ari muttered from across the room.

“Oh. Jesus.” Kira scanned the room, their expression unreadable. “It’s the room from that one scene, near the end of that movie. I Saw The TV Glow. She made it for us, clearly.”

“Why would she do that?” Sage asked. “Like what’s her point?”

“She’s fucking with us. That’s her point.” Olivia growled. “She’s telling us that all that time we spent trying to work this problem, to stop her…that it was all wasted. That we’re delusional, hiding from a fundamental truth, going down a wrong fucking path. She’s mocking us. And doing it like this is…well, it’s fucked up on a good couple of levels.” Olivia got to her feet, pacing back and forth. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears, graduating from a consistent metronome to a deafening rhythmic thud; her body felt electrified, dysregulated and on the edge of collapse…and with a broken, desperate scream, she kicked out with her twisted ankle, hard enough to dramatically destabilise one of the trestle tables, skidding it backwards and causing two of its’ legs to flip closed and the larger structure to fall to the ground with a reverberating bang. Plastic cups fell to the ground, pinwheeling quietly. Olivia staggered backwards and fell back to her knees, still screaming. The other Alters just stood there. Somewhere, in the still-coherent back of Olivia’s mind, the symmetry of the situation was not lost on her. And it was so…deliberately vicious. So needlessly cruel. So comically fucking personal. Olivia felt the tears starting to come. Her chest heaved and her body shook involuntarily. She wrapped her arms around herself, self-soothing, rocking back and forth on her knees: “Maybe she’s right. Maybe she’s…maybe she’s right?” Olivia rambled, “Do we cut our losses? Do we give up? What do we…do?”

“Liv,” Maya murmured. Olivia watched her slowly get to her feet, holding out her hand. “We’ve got to go. We don’t know how long this place will hold.”

“Maybe we just let it close.” Olivia sniffled, her voice croaky and nasal, avoiding Maya’s eyes.

“We don’t give up.” Maya insisted.

“Yeah, except when we do.” Olivia countered.

“Olivia.” Ari joined Maya, taking a knee, reaching out to gently hold Olivia’s chin between their thumb and forefinger, forcing eye contact: “I know we have our differences. You can be a massive prick. But you’re also the toughest girl I’ve ever met. Are you really going to let her fuck with you like this and get away with it?”

“I just…I don’t see where we go from here. Every time we try, we lose. We’ve lost so fucking much. I don’t know how much more I can stand to…” She trailed off, raising one of her hands to wipe tears from her cheeks.

“We’re not fighting because we think we can win, we’re fighting because not fighting is worse than losing.” Kira repeated back what was rapidly becoming their mantra as they and Sage and Tash joined Maya and Ari.

“God, you’re always saying that. It’s fucking…depressing-ass messaging to be honest.” Olivia sniffled, taking Maya’s hand and getting slowly to her feet.

“I’m not wrong, though. And you know it.” Kira said. Olivia allowed them a small, begrudging nod.

“So…Kira’s apartment? Strategy All-Hands?” Ari proposed. Everyone nodded, disappearing one by one until it was just Maya and Olivia, hands still clasped together.

“You have no idea how glad I am that you’re safe.” Olivia said quietly. Maya nodded.

“Real talk, Liv. I’m here for you, okay? Ride or die. Don’t be like us. Lean on me if you need to.” Maya pulled her into a hug. Olivia gripped her tightly, nodding into her shoulder.

“We better go before this thing closes.” Olivia sighed. Maya nodded as they separated. Olivia noticed a wry, stupid grin crawling its way across Maya’s face. “What? What’s funny?”

“We’re gonna get her back, Liv. Y’know why?”

“Why…?” Olivia asked reluctantly. Maya took a few moments to performatively look around the room they were in.

“Cause there’s still time.” She grinned, holding up her hands in a big, theatrical shrug and blinking out of the Otherwhere.

“This fucking bitch…” Olivia’s eyes flickered closed as the muscles in her face tensed, trying to hold back a smile. “Didn’t even know you’d seen the film…” Olivia opened her eyes, mentally preparing herself. Her vision blurred as she pictured the interior of Kira’s apartment and pushed through the weak point. She was the last one back. Silently, the Alters started coordinating. Ari guided Olivia onto the couch, inspecting her ankle while Tash and Kira got together some warm water in a bowl with salt mixed in, a clean hand-towel, some cottonwool, antiseptic and bandages for her arm. The cut was deeper than Olivia had thought, fresh blood still seeping from the wound. Her entire arm was slick with red.

“You might need stitches.” Kira informed her.

“Can you do stitches?”

“Probably?” Kira shrugged.

“‘Probably’ is not an appropriate answer to that question.”

“I’ll look it up on YouTube.”

“Still not filling me with fucking confidence, Kira…” Sage held out a mug. Olivia’s brow furrowed. “Hmm?”

“Vodka tonic. Lime. Figured your alcoholic ass could use it.”

“Well, you’d be right about that…” Olivia sighed, taking the mug appreciatively. “I’m dizzy.” She frowned.

“You lost a bit of blood. Could be that. Drink slowly.” Kira advised. “Do you feel up to telling us what happened?” Olivia nodded reluctantly, taking a sip of her vodka tonic. It was bitter and cold and strong, just how she preferred it. She mouthed a ‘thank you’ to Sage, who smiled back at her.

“We talked. Big…villain speech from Seven, y’know? But I think she was goading us, trying to get us angry. Kade, specifically.”

“Why?”

“Kade did something, near the end. She threw us back, kind of like Seven did to me in Anna’s apartment that one time. Telekinesis, I guess. She didn’t mean to, it was like she lost control. It seemed like that was what Seven was going for: seeing what happened with Kade’s powers when she got mad. And then…she just…flicked her wrist, and I could feel Maya’s power stop working. She did it like it was nothing, from all that distance away, and then she took Kade.”

“At the risk of stepping on Olivia’s lines, here…” Ari replied: “It feels like we’re just…consistently, hilariously ill-equipped for this fight.”

“You’re not wrong.” Kira acknowledged. “But that’s always been the case.”

“Yeah, and it’s why we keep losing. We can’t even slow her down, let alone hurt her.” Tash added.

“And she can’t be reasoned with.” Olivia sighed, taking a large mouthful of vodka tonic, swallowing it down before continuing: “The way she sees people…the way she sees us, is just…” She shook her head. “We’re ants. If that. And the worst part of it is, it’s not just her perspective, it may as well be true for all we can do to stop her.”

“I hate to say it, but our best chance was Kade.” Ari added. “She was our heavy hitter.”

“You remember that time you told me her powers were useless?” Kira looked over at Olivia.

“That seems like forever ago, now.” Olivia admitted. The room fell silent. Olivia sipped her drink, considering. “Okay. I’m done. I am not losing another piece of me to this delusional, narcissistic bitch. It’s enough. We’ve lost enough. We’re going to save Kade.”

“What are you thinking?” Ari asked, clearly skeptical.

“We’re going to go to Helios.”

Slouching Towards Bethlehem

“So I’m half a pariah for working with them, and now we’re all going to?” Kira scowled as they walked together through the streets of Olivia’s Brisbane.

“It wasn’t working with them that was the problem, it was lying to us about it.” Tash rolled their eyes.

“You damn well know that, too.” Ari seconded.

“Hey, randomly Kira, like…you remember you were talking about the ‘consultant’ work you did for Helios?” Maya asked.

“I do.”

“Did you ever wonder if the reason they were getting you to help with mapping out the Local Network wasn’t because they didn’t already know all about it…since they built it, but because they wanted to get a read on how much we knew? Y’know…through you?” Maya mused.

“Umm…” Tash hummed with alarm.

“Oh. Fuck.” Kira muttered under their breath.

“Not the time, guys.” Olivia shook her head.

“Yeah, just a thought I had.” Maya shrugged. “So what’s the plan? You haven’t been very specific.” Maya asked Olivia.

“There isn’t one. We go in there, we tell them that Seven has Kade and that we need to save her. We ask for help.”

“But we have no leverage. Nothing to offer.” Sage countered.

“I know.”

“So to confirm: we’re literally just going in and throwing ourselves at the mercy of this incredibly powerful organisation who is…let’s face it, probably evil?” Ari asked.

“Yep.”

“This is a bad plan.” Ari sighed.

“It isn’t a plan.” Olivia rolled her eyes. “When we were all in Anna’s world, Lee and Kier had a plan. They wanted to go confront Seven directly. How did that go for them, Kira? You were there.” Olivia demanded.

“You know how it went.”

“I do, yeah. It got them fucking killed. When Kade and I were in Alice’s world, we tried to be smart. We tried to make our own plans. We hoarded groceries, we were careful to avoid the mobs, we holed up in Alice’s apartment and waited for Kade to work out how to save us. We tried to be strategic, every step of the way. And then Seven killed Alice. Personally. And then Faith almost got fucking…” Olivia took a deep breath, unable to finish the sentence. She decided to leave the implication hanging in the air and move on: “And then she had her chest smashed in on a fucking beach and shot herself to force me and Kade to leave her and save ourselves.”

“Jesus christ,” Maya murmured.

“Kade had a plan. One that we all signed off on. Maybe our best plan to date. And how did that go? Maya could have died if Seven didn’t have such a mad-on for making us look like fucking idiots, and now Kade’s been kidnapped. What the fuck has having a plan ever done for us? Literally, how could not having one possibly be worse?”

“I didn’t know about…” Kira reached out to put their hand on Olivia’s shoulder. Olivia shrugged it off.

“It’s fine. I mean, it’s not fine…I think I’ll have nightmares about what happened to her for the rest of my fucking life, but…if I dwell on it, it’s just too much for me. I can’t let myself think about it.”

“Okay, so we’re here…” Ari said as they reached the street directly across from the front of the Helios Foundation building. “Are we just gonna - "

“ - C’mon. Let’s go.” Olivia stated, cutting them off and walking ahead. Following after her, the group neared the entrance. Olivia glanced back at them, noticing they were pointedly avoiding eye contact with the mirrored, tinted glass. As she reached out to push open the front door, it was pulled open from the inside, revealing an Alter. “Who are you?” Olivia’s eyes narrowed.

“My name’s Lacey, welcome to the Helios Foundation.” She stepped outside, letting the door close behind her. Olivia found her face more than slightly jarring to look at. The wide, earnest smile - plastered across a mirror image of her own face - looked uncanny and almost doll-like. Lacey was wearing a black silk blouse and a long skirt with gold patterning articulating up from the bottom in finely stitched waves. “How can I help you?”

“Seven has our friend.” Olivia stated.

“Oh, sorry to hear that!” Lacey frowned. “But….what did you…want from…us?” She asked, drip-feeding her words slowly while raising her shoulders into an emphatic shrug.

“We want you to help us get her back from Seven.” Ari clarified.

“Oh.” Lacey seemed surprised. “No, see, Seven’s very dangerous. We do our best not to antagonise her.”

“We’re very fucking aware that she’s dangerous,” Olivia closed her eyes, raising a hand to massage the bridge of her nose. “Hence why we need help”

“Also…” Kira added: “If you’re doing your best to not antagonise her, it kind of seems like you’re doing a spectacularly bad job?”

“Oh! Hi Kira!” Lacey waved, grinning broadly.

“Do we…know each other?”

“Oh, only by reputation. You did some consulting with our Mapping Department, which has been super useful for my department. Love your work.”

“Bet you do.” Maya muttered.

“Can we stick to the point, maybe?” Tash asked.

“Sure!” Lacey beamed. “Which was…”

“Our friend. Kidnapped. By Seven.”

“Oh! Right,” Lacey slapped her forehead. “Obviously. See…the thing is, Kira’s right. The Acquisitions Department, they’ve tried to bring Seven in previously and it has not gone well. So…” Lacey paused, as if trying to remember where she had been going with the line of thinking: “Right: why would we kick the proverbial ant-hill again?” Olivia opened her mouth to reply, but Lacey held up a hand, looking away, her brows furrowing and the little lines on her forehead creasing in as she held up a hand to her left ear. “Uh huh. Oh. Really? That’s interesting. Well sure. I mean…I was going to anyway, but…no, I heard you, Cee. Can do.” Lacey dropped her hand, rolling her eyes with an exaggerated sigh before looking back towards them, a bright smile spreading back across her face. “So. Big backflip on my part. Looks like we’ll be working together to help solve this problem. Seven and your friend are on Local Network World fifty-five, and appear to be headed towards the Helios Foundation building there.”

“So what do we do; what are the next steps?” Olivia asked.

“Well…” Lacey drew the word out over a couple of seconds, her eyes narrowing. Around the plaza, multiple men - grey shirts, black jackets and jeans, buzz-cut hair, holding handguns - materialised. Olivia counted six. In unison, they moved towards the Alters, raising their guns. “Let’s get you all inside. Can I get anyone a coffee? Tea? Water?”