Sunset stood in the range, studying the target at the other end. She wasn’t with Aya today. In fact it was the first time she was in the range by herself since… ever now that she thought about it. One of the others was always with her; either Pinkie or Jodie watching over target practice, someone else was practicing with her too or, more recently over the last couple weeks, being taught by Aya. But since Aya had the day off and she was only practicing her powers, she was allowed to be in the reinforced room alone.

It was kind of weird honestly. Not to mention a little eerily quiet.

Shaking off the errant thought, she stared at the simple bullseye ahead. She’d made a lot of progress with Aya; she could make fireballs almost as easily as the veteran hunter now, and even managed to make a solid stream of flame briefly. So with the basics now properly down, it was time to knock it up a notch.

It was time to get magic involved.

She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t still a bit apprehensive. She’d been shoring her magic back up after letting it slide for a couple months, testing its own limits in this world during her off hours. Her control was still fairly acute even without her horn, now that she’d grown used to her new body and her arcane energies could better accumate. The power was the real bottleneck: Earth just didn’t have nearly as much ambient magic to make use of and she just couldn't channel enough of her reserves without her horn. Said personal reserves were still replenishing thankfully, so it was just a matter of seeing if they and her mitochondrial energy could help supplement one another.

Aya was right, her mitochondrial abilities weren’t spells. Even the methods of shaping wild magic didn’t quite sync up. They were similar though, and while the techniques didn’t need any ritual or spell matrix, she wasn’t convinced they couldn’t still be used as part of one. So with that in mind she closed her eyes and began preparing a matrix for a simple magic fireball; shaping the magic like she tried to with her NMH affinity, only without the igniting component. She then added a lensing effect and accepting weave to allow it to accept outside energy and magnify it.

Spell done and hand raised, Sunset opened her eyes smirked as she instructed her mitochondria.

Rupert was sifting through a filing cabinet in his office after something about the surprise package from Drop's old partner had occurred to him. He hoped the cross reference he was looking for was still there. Otherwise he’d have to go digging through the archives. A small, satisfied smile graced his lips as the file that may give some direction for the info they hadn’t been able to do much with for weeks was right where he thought.

The smile faltered however as a muffled explosion reached his ears and a small tremor vibrated the floor.

Sunset stumbled out of the range’s outer door, coughing from the thick black smoke wafting out with her. How she made so much smoke she had no idea but she looked back to see it had indeed filled the whole range. There thankfully wasn’t any actual fire, not that it was that much of a concern in an almost pure concrete and metal room, but it would take a while to air it all out.

She however didn’t have to worry about that long before a wave of dizziness overtook her and forced her to lean against the wall. She slid down and held her head. The sound of rapid steps echoed from the direction of the stairway, followed by Twilight’s voice.

“Sunset! Sunset are you okay?” the doctor knelt in front of the teen. Not a moment later more footsteps followed with murmured questions. Finally Rupert’s bartone cut into her head.

“She alright?” he asked calmly, Twilight taking a moment to finish looking her over before answering.

“She seems to be. Other than some obvious disorientation and minor respiratory irritation, she’s not even singed.” the bespectacled woman returned. The words echoed through Sunset’s head, distorted by a near constant murmuring and hissing. The scientist’s tone grew firmer. “Sunset, you’re not supposed to be experimenting with anything high level without Aya.”

“It wasn’t-”

“You were using that extra layer, I could feel it” Twilight cut her off “Aya-”

“Can’t help me with it.” Sunset interrupted back, managing to shoot a wincing, momentary glare before closing her eyes again to fight the dizziness “She doesn’t have it, only I do.”

“Still doesn’t warrant blowing up the range” Rupert’s disapproving tone cut in.

“It was just a normal fireball!” the teen argued before squinting at the hazy range “Or… it was supposed to be...”

“And that left you drained like this?” she heard Dash’s voice amid the white noise.

“She’s not drained” Twilight answered “Quite the opposite actually. Her mitochondria are hyperstimulated. You hearing anything?”

“Echos and hissing” Sunset answered, the back of her head thumping against the wall behind her.

“Not surprising. Come on, let’s get you to the lab” Twilight slid in under her arm and helped her to her feet and, surprisingly, guided her away from the stairway. The teens eyes snapped open at a soft ping before a space opened in front of her.

“Wait. How long have we had an elevator?!”

“Always” Rupert answered as he followed them in and pressed G on the panel. “You’re about to see why we never use it.”

Sunset leaned against Twilight and waited… and waited… and waited until the chime finally sounded again and let them out into a rarely used hall the one floor up.

“Seriously?”

“I know, right?” the doctor quipped “We keep meaning to get it looked at but it just hasn’t been enough a priority to remember.”

The pair helped her to the lab, Rupert even staying through the tests. Sunset wasn't sure why at first until Twilight started explaining why she was disorientated. As she declared downstairs, the redhead’s mitochondria were overstimulated, practically overloaded and trying to adapt. This was overwhelming her senses and what left her in her current state. In other words: Her mitochondria were more in charge of her inputs at the moment than she was.

‘He’s worried I could change,’ she tried not to grimace at the thought, understanding the need. Still, it was a cold comfort ‘At least he’s not armed… I think.’

Eventually though, Twilight cleared her to leave and Rupert gave her the rest of the day off. It surprised her that he didn’t seem upset, not any more than usual anyway. He had Dash drive her home, where Fluttershy was waiting for them in the garage. She was already starting to feel better but was still hurried off to bed, taking the pills Twilight gave her. They were thankfully just something to put her to sleep and not suppressants; she’d been told while those could calm her mitochondria and help knock her out, it would be in a far less pleasant way.

She was asleep before she knew it.

She was running, pulse pounding in her ears.

Her perspective tilted and the screeching from behind grew distorted as the world briefly spun. The teen steadied herself and looked back, the skull faced monstrosity suddenly gone.

Until a maw of sharp teeth clamped down on her shoulder from behind.

She gasped and was leaning against a door, hand against a bloody gash in her side. She began to stand only to fall back to the floor, slumping forward as her body grew unresponsive as her life fluids poured out of her.

She couldn’t even respond to the sound of shattering glass as the stalker leapt through the shop class window.

Glass rained around her as she crumpled to the ground, a stinging in her side and a burn in her chest from the ball of light that hurled her into the trophy case. She pushed to rise when a massive hand clamped down on her neck, lifting her off the ground easily. Her feet kicked as she stared into the golems mask, the woman in her control helmet standing behind it.

Her vision began to darken and she began to heat up. The red slits of the woman’s control helmet burned into her as echos of whispers began singing in her mind, clouding her sense of self.

“Sunset…”

The fiery haired teen shot up in her bed, gasping for breath. Her skin was flushed and sweat beaded her brow.

“Sunset?”

She jumped at the quiet call accompanied by an exceptionally subtle knock at the door. A moment of silence later, it cautiously opened to reveal Fluttershy peaking in.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to just walk in but-”

“No, it’s okay…” Sunset interrupted, rubbing her forehead. “That bad, huh?”

“You’ve had worse,” the nurse offered with a small shrug “Don’t worry, no actual raises in temperature. Rainbow hasn’t mentioned any hot flashes at least.”

“Still, after blowing up the range, you felt the need to check on me.”

The pink haired girl shuffled in and sat on the edge of the bed.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mention your fits,” she began “I thought you knew and just didn’t want to talk about it. I still remember how bad mine were…”

“You had nightmares?” Sunset asked, trying not to sound too relieved. The nurse nodded.

“I was afraid of changing, of turning into something like all the animals did. And then after what happened at the orchard… well, we all had nightmares after that…” Fluttershy answered with a heavy sigh “I thought maybe they wouldn’t be as bad the second time around…”

“Do…” the teen began hesitantly “Do you still have them?”

“Sometimes” she returned somberly “I wish I could tell you they get better… but they really don’t. You’ll have them less often though, and will learn to deal with them better, one way or another.”

“How do you deal with it?”

“Different things. Reminding myself it’s not real, trying to focus on the good things that came from it and how we’re helping people not have to go through what we did.” she shrugged before a small smirk found her “Petting Angel helps too. He’s very fluffy.”

A snort escaped the redhead. She then sighed.

“You think it’s safe for me to take another one of the pills Twilight gave me?”

“Hmmm, it’s usually best not to take it consecutively like that but it’s been long enough that it should be fine. Especially with our metabolism.” she hummed thoughtfully “Speaking of, I could make you something quick if you’re hungry.”

“No. No, I’m alright” the girl shook her head “I think I’d like to just get back to sleep.”

“Well okay. There’s always leftovers in the fridge if you get hungry later.” the curtains of pink swayed as she tilted her head with a warm smile.

“Yeah…” was all Sunset mumbled in response as the nurse rose to leave. She did add just before the door closed “And um- …y’know, Thanks.”

Fluttershy simply gave her another smile and closed the door. The redhead sighed again and, with another pill, fell back into a thankfully dreamless sleep.

Sunset was sitting in the lab petting Angel while Twilight tried to get an excited Spike to sit still on the table. Since she was going to be running a bunch of tests and observations on Sunset after the previous day’s incident, she figured she could get the pets’ regular examinations out of the way too. They were two of only four stable infected animals, or NMAs, on the planet.

‘And I thought the awakened were unique’ she thought, absently scritching at the rabbit’s fur. Rainbow said he could be a real jerk sometimes but he always seemed fine around the former pony ‘And he is pretty fluffy.’

“So what’re the other two?” Sunset asked.

“The first was a cat Doctor Maeda took in and now lives at the Manhattan branch. They apparently made her their office mascot. Then Spike was infected…” the doctor’s expression dropped slightly “Then Angel and finally, at least that we know about, is a crow Fluttershy just recently encountered.”

“You mean Brandon?” the teen arched an amused brow “That one that lives in our tree and lets us hand feed him sometimes? He’s smart.”

“Yeah, a little too smart” Twilight grumbled “We haven’t been able to catch him to run any tests. I keep telling Fluttershy we won’t hurt him but even she can’t seem to get him to cooperate. You never noticed he’s infected?”

“Nope, though he only gets close when Shy’s around. I wouldn't be able to tell with her there.”

“I wish we could at least tag him, in case he becomes infectious himself or turns” she frowned. That is until Spike looked up and gave her chin a quick lick. With the canine finally calmed, she cooed soothingly and took a blood sample “There we go boy, that’s all the needles for today. But yes, it’s a risk leaving him unaccounted for too long, especially considering the range crows have.”

Sunset nodded along with the scientist’s explanation. Infected birds were a high priority to neutralize for that very reason. They were less likely to be infected but they could spread an infectious strain just as easily. AJ’s grandmother was proof enough of that. Fluttershy didn’t seem at all concerned though so maybe she was just waiting for him to grow up a little. She had said he was pretty young.

“But!” Twilight announced happily as she set Spike back on the floor “On to why you’re here. I consulted with the others, even had a little correspondence with the other offices and you’re right; Aya doesn’t have whatever this extra layer is. She still may be able to help you but for now we won’t be mixing it with your natural mitochondrial inclination.”

Sunset opened her mouth to argue but the doctor cut her off with a raised hand.

“But this is something to still test, before it catches us off guard again. We just won’t be using fire.” she elaborated “Starlight mentioned Pyrrha’s been sharing her early experiences with magnetism with you, yes?”

“Um, yeah but what does…” the teen started until Twilight pulled out a handful of different sized ball bearings and a set of small plates stuck together from her drawers. "Oh."

“I can actually manipulate magnetism some myself, so between the two of us you should pick it up pretty fast. It’ll be significantly safer too.” she beamed at the teen, not failing to notice the still somewhat dejected look on her face “Don’t worry, it’ll be fun! Especially with this!”

The scientist pulled a pair of small plastic containers from the same drawer and set them on the table between them. Popping one open, she poured a thick black slime onto the surface. Sunset made a face but Twilight merely smirked and held her hand over the goop. A moment later it slowly started to rise toward her palm. If that wasn’t enough, she then wiggled her fingers, sending little ripples through the fluid.

‘Alright, maybe this will be fun’

Sunset was riding through a warehouse district, and a fairly worn down one at that. Not for any particular reason other than it was were she ended up. She’d taken up the habit of going for bike rides a couple times a week to better learn the city and just to get outside. Not that her job was very sedentary but it came in bursts and tended to keep her cooped up for stretches.

The last week, for example, had been little more than uneventful patrols and ‘earth’ training. Between Twilight, Pyrrha and later Aya and Applejack, she felt she was making fairly good progress. At least as far as moving small magnets and ball bearings around was concerned. She had to accept it was a very predictable, and thus slow progressing branch. As Aya told her in that first email that now seemed so long ago, you got out what you put in. She was also learning it followed the same concept when altered with magic too.

Still she was learning something new and making progress. Her current challenge was to separate a bearing from the magnetic slime without any clinging to it. It was proving a challenge and after a couple hours of her day off trying, she decided it was time for a break. Nevertheless, the precision would help once she scaled things up, which was all that was needed once she got it down. While the different techniques would need honing and practice of their own, it was just a matter of putting in more energy once you did. Equivalent exchange; It actually reminded her of alchemy almost more than magic.

She was drawn out of her thoughts by a sudden pang at the edge of her senses. It was brief but she definitely hadn’t imagined it. She got off the bike and walked it back, paying more attention. She frowned as she couldn’t find it again. She ventured a little further into the warehouses proper and still nothing. She sent a quick text to Rupert, telling him about the feeling and asking if they had anyone registered that would be in the area. She’d hate to get herself in trouble by making things awkward for some infected just trying to do their job out here.

Suddenly a burst of mitochondrial energy lit up her senses like a signal flare. It was strong enough for her to even feel the direction before fading beyond her range again. That could only mean one thing:

Someone was using powers.

She sent another text and quickened her pace. Following the flares, she eventually felt whoever it was proper. She grew more concerned at the sight of an empty patrol car parked further in and what she could faintly hear after she passed it: a faint popping sound, muffled by whichever warehouse they were coming from.

She dropped her ride and sprinted toward the shots. She slowed as she closed on the building, acutely aware she wasn’t armed. While her powers were getting stronger and quicker, she couldn’t afford to get sloppy. Not when the cost was her life. What sounded like a small explosion, followed by a quick pair of shots, urged her to hurry though.

She crept to the thankfully heavy metal door slightly ajar and peaked in. She spotted a uniformed officer sweeping the area with his aim turned upward. She could see towering shelves of rusted industrial piping and their support beams deeper into the sizable building. There were also several scorch marks dotting what she could see.

Another flare of energy came from beyond her view, from directly opposite to where the cop was facing.

She burst through the door, hand aflame before launching it to intercept a ball of sickly colored light flying at the uniform. She followed it to the source and paused.

It stood at least half again taller than her, if not more. A long, overstretched head sat atop an even more gangly body with long, thin limbs and arms ending in paddle-like flippers. It’s menacing gaze turned curiously to her, it’s mouth stuck in a silent, broken toothed scream while the metal bands binding it’s brain gleamed under the fluorescent lights.

She quickly forced the moment of shock aside and reignited and swept a lance of fire at the NMC. She blinked as the monstrosity leaped away with a grace defying its clumsy appearance and to a distance that didn’t match its build. It landed amongst the stacks of beams before slithering into their depths and out of sight.

What couldn’t have been mistaken for anything but a twisted, gurgling laugh followed in it’s wake.

“There’s ones that can still think for themselves?!”

“Yea, and they’re total assholes too…”

“Aw fuck.”

“Sunset?” the officer asked in a familiar voice. She backed up to be able to look at him without completely taking her eyes off the stacks. She blinked again as her eyes landed on the familiar features of Officer Sentry.

“Oh, hey Flash.” she gave awkwardly. He didn't seem to notice as he was staring at the redhead’s hands.

“You just threw fire.” he stated bluntly, face lost in confusion.

“Oh um, yeah, about that-” she started with an uneasy chuckle. A loud clang quickly quashed the reaction and brought them back to the moment. “Later, yeah?”

“Right” Flashes expression hardened and returned to his sweeps. His eyes not leaving the shelves, he quickly asked “You armed?”

“Not technically” she returned disheartened. The cop didn’t seem put out as he just nodded and took a knee. Still focused on the pipes, he lifted a pant leg and pulled a small revolver from a hidden holster, glancing her way for just a moment to hand off the weapon. As soon as her aim joined his, he looked away again to dig into a small pouch on his belt. Seconds later she was dropping a handful of extra rounds into her jean pockets.

“Best I got, sorry.” He offered, flinching at another clang and more mutated laughter rang through the warehouse.

“Better than the nothing I had.” she quipped with her voice only somewhat shaking. She blanched when a third voice came from the stacks.

“LiTiLe hUntER” the thing gargled with yet another of its horrible chuckles.

“So you MIST guys deal with kind of thing all the time, right?” Flash swallowed hard, keeping his sweeps wherever hers weren’t.

“Not exactly” she admitted “I've never seen one like this before.”

“Great…” the office bemoaned before a shadow peaked from its cover, promoting a flurry of shots its way. It ducked back without a single round hitting home.

“YouUUUUuuU CAnT cATch mEeeEhEHEehee…” it taunted from the protective shelter. They tried to follow the path of its noisy movement through the shelves only to dodge another blast exploding at their feet. The game of cat and mouse repeated several more times, their ammo and wits dwindling with each cycle.

A shriek suddenly escaped the redhead when a powerful shock ripped through her. Flash sprinted to catch her fall, dragging her back with aim frantically snapping about in search of the unseen threat.

“GoTtA wAThC ThoSE RAiLs” it gurgle growled with a twisted mirth. Sunset grimaced and pushed past the pain to crack open her watery eyes. She saw a metal track along the floor used to help move the shelves right were she had been standing and snarled. Struggling out of the officer's grip, she willed her body to stand and felt her mitochondria heat as they combated the numbing effects of the NMC’s attack.

“Easy Sunset-” the uniform tried but was ignored by the teen now whipping her head about the space, obviously looking for something besides their adversary. Her scowl deepened and he frowned as he tried to follow her stomping towards a far wall without risking his back to the creature. His expression grew more befuddled when the girl broke the ‘In Case of Fire’ glass and pulled out an axe “Sunset I know we’re low on ammo but I don’t think close combat’s a… good… idea?”

If Flash was confused before, the sight of Sunset using the axe to break the lock off the emergency kit next to the case and pulling out a large silver sheet left him baffled.

“What-” he began before she threw the sheet over his head. Frantically pulling at the shiny covering to see again, he gulped as he witnessed the furious woman stalking toward the shelves abruptly ignite, fire quickly covering her head to toe.

“SO YOU THINK YOU'RE HOT SHIT HUH?!” she bellowed, her flames growing in intensity by the second. He dove back under the protective sheet as the temperature within the warehouse skyrocketed and only a single, icy cold sentence could be heard over the roaring blaze.

“I’ll show you HOT…”

Rupert and Aya jogged through the paths between the rundown warehouses, following the constant flares of energy as best Aya could pinpoint them.

“You sure it’s this way?” the director asked, revolver already in hand.

“There’s sure as hell something this way.” the blonde panted back without breaking pace, 93R also ready and bobbing with every step. They spotted the teen’s bike laying next to the patrol car ahead of them, unfortunately it was laying at a crossroads of pathways leading to any number of different warehouses. “Damn it… I can’t tell which way, there's too much scattered through the air.”

“Shit!” Rupert cursed with a grimace. Not a moment later they stumbled back as an explosion rocked the area. They righted to see smoke billowing out the shattered windows boarding the top of the storage facility ahead of them. Their weapons snapped up as a twisted, burning lump of an NMC struggled to stand among the falling embers.

The door of the warehouse slammed open not a moment later and a very pissed off looking Sunset strode out with a small revolver raised before emptying all six shots into the burning creature, finally ending it.

She let out an irritated huff and looked back to the not quite on fire building, spotting another figure draped in a silver fire blanket covered in soot shuffling out in daze.

“You good?” she called out, eventually receiving a slow, shaky thumbs up back. The teen was smiling triumphantly as she turned back around, at least until she spotted the pair of MIST veterans. She opened her mouth but froze, pupils shrinking to pinpricks and smile trembling as she glanced back at the thick smoke still pouring from the building and then back to the pair.

“I… can explain?”

Sunset sat in Rupert’s office, trying not to pass out while she waited for the director. Her pyrotechnics may have been impressive but it swiftly caught up to her once the adrenaline faded. It cost basically all of both her reserves to make that big a blast while still maintaining enough of a focus matrix to keep it from killing her and Flash too. Nevertheless, her head drooped to her chest as she let out a heavy sigh.

“AH!” she yelped with a jolt as an intense cold met her cheek. Head snapping around, she saw an amused Aya holding a can of soda in each hand, one offered to the teen. “Oh, thanks.”

“Figured you would need it after that kind of light show” she chuckled and took the seat next to her “You managed to saturate the whole area with basically mitochondrial chaff; I’m not sure whether to be impressed or terrified.”

“I didn't know back up was so close...” her dejected mumble was almost drowned out by the hissing of her opening the can “How mad is he?”

“Well, we’re lucky it was in an area without much traffic and that those warehouses haven’t been used in a while. We can write it off as a chemical fire or something. Saving Flash will win us some brownie points with the force and the fact it was actually a damn Stinger- seriously Sunset, what is with your luck? But yeah, that bought you some leeway…” she listed off “Buuuut that still wasn’t a great play at the end Shimmer.”

“No, it wasn’t.” the redhead jumped at the deep tones of the director rumbling right behind her. She shrunk in her seat as he closed the door and took his seat. She tried not to cringe at the flat, irritated look cast her way.

‘Aw fuck…’

Officer Sentry was just down the hall from the trio, seated opposite Shining Armor as he tried to come to terms with everything he was now being debriefed on.

“So, we understood?” the federal lesion concluded with all the seriousness and authority of his position.

“Yes sir” he answered stiffly. Not only had he just learned what was really going on in MIST, or at least some of what was, but he was now going to have to keep the secrets himself. That wasn’t going to make him any friends back at the station, especially with his supervisor. Before he could fall further into those uncomfortable thoughts however, the agent rose from his seat with an extended stretch.

“Well then, with all the official nonsense out of the way!” he said happily as his joints popped and rounded to the side of his desk, propping himself up to sit casually on its edge “How are you doing, really? Off the record.”

A relieved sigh escaped the patrolman as he closed his eyes and shook his head. The rivalry between cops and feds wasn’t nearly as exaggerated as it was in the movies, something Flash was very thankful for right now. Yeah, there was still a little bit of one, but it was friendly far more often than not. Truthfully, he was even occasionally grateful when he had to hand his cases off sometimes; If nothing else it cut down on the paperwork. He opened his eyes and gave the agent a tired smile.

“It’s… a lot to take in. I mean I’d heard the rumors of course, and even seen a few of the messed up rats and such but…” his smile faded as his gaze fell with another heavy breath “But to learn just how deep it actually goes. Monsters, people with powers, infections…”

“It’s a total shit show, huh?” Armor smirked, Sentry nodding along slowly. “Still, all that considered, you’ve seemed to have handled yourself pretty well, both in the warehouse and after.”

“I think I might still be a little overwhelmed to freak out yet” he admitted.

“Still works. Most people definitely would have by now.” Shining shrugged. A few silent moments passed, the agent waiting by as Sentry continued to simply process what he learned. It wasn’t even the worst of it all but he hadn't been lying that he was holding it together better than most. He took the opportunity to study the young man. He had of course looked into his background given how often her was assigned to secure the perimeter for MIST. Even if he hadn’t though, he knew better than to ignore the feeling he was getting in his gut.

“Tell me Mr. Sentry, have you ever thought about joining the bureau?”

The officer snapped out of his stupor, only able to stare dumbly in response.

“Wait, W-what?”

Rupert sat back in his chair, a couple fingers of whiskey in the glass in his hand. He took a sip followed by a deep breath, eyes on the report laying in front of him.

"You should have been home an hour ago" a voice drew his attention to the door, to Aya leaning against the frame. She sauntered in and took a seat, frowning at his drink "Too many of those and you'll have to take a cab there, 'cause I'm not going to be the one driving you home."

He didn't respond right away. She'd never liked the fact he drank, even though he only did off duty. She knew better than to argue with him about it anymore though. She only took solace in the fact he was almost always responsible about it. Almost.

"Could you have done that?" he asked. The blonde tilted her head at the query. "The blast, could you make one that big?"

"Maybe, though I'd probably want some of Maeda's special solution ready" she returned before frowning "But as fast as she did while also saturating the area like that? Probably not without ascending again at least."

A heavy sigh escaped the director as he brought a hand up to massage his forehead. He leaned forward and tapped the computer's space bar, replaying the footage from Flash's body cam. He paused it at the clearest shot of the Artificial NMC.

"A fucking Stinger..." he grumbled before taking another sip "Two artificial Chasers in the woods, a Greater Stranger transformation triggered in Reno, that whole mess in Missouri, a massive cult gathering in a damn high school and now an actual fucking Brain Stinger, still self-aware and everything. And that's just what our branch has been dealing with."

"They're moving again" Aya returned grimly "That's way too many occurrences to mean anything else. Honestly I'm a little surprised it took them this long."

"Maybe it didn't. Maybe they're just strong enough again to stop hiding as much." he countered "All around the same time we find an awakened that could end up more powerful than you... god I hoped to never see another EVE."

"She's not an EVE Rupert" the blonde scowled at him "No more than any of the rest of us."

"Your sister included?" he blurted out before he could think better of it. A regretful sigh escaped him as his friend glared daggers at him. He managed to speak first "I'm sorry. I'm... sorry, that was uncalled for. I know Evie didn't have a choice, and the most stable of any of you now. It's just all this, all at once..."

Aya's glare continued to seer into her old partner for a moment, but the burning of her gaze gradually softened.

"I know we've been hit with some troubling signs lately, but I really don't think Sunset's one of them" she gave "I know she's a little isolated but she's a good kid."

"Is she?" he offered "She's lying about her amnesia-"

"Some of it-" Aya interjected but the director continued undeterred.

"She keeps trying to advance on her own, refuses to make any connections-"

"She's made connections, even if she won't admit it-"

"And we still have no idea who or even entirely what she is. We had a girl who may not even be as young as she claims and that transformed into what looked like a fucking demon at a cult gathering orchestrated by a damn golem and a woman in a control helmet. And now she's managed to make herself a hunter right in our ranks and growing more powerful and reckless by the day and it all 'Just happens' to align with the return of Ark."

"It can't all be a coincidence."

A still silence followed the director's rant. He brought the glass up for another pull only to find it empty. Frowning at the tumbler he reached across his desk to the half empty bottle. A gentle hand landed on his as he gripped it. He looked up to see his old partners staring back, her expression one of sorrow.

"Melissa was a coincidence." the man blinked back at her, mildly stunned. Aya never liked talking about EVE, and avoided speaking of the poor woman she had been before the pair unknowingly awoke the other's mitochondria like a plague. The blonde swung around the desk and propped herself up to sit right next to the man, looking down sadly "The fact she ended up with with Maya's kidney, that I ended up with her cornea, and that we both inherited her mitochondria as a result was a coincidence. The fact she was preforming at Carnegie Hall that night, the same night I finally gave into that pretty boy Chet, who 'just happened' to take me to her performance, was all coincidence. EVE was a coincidence Rupert."

"...You're saying that's a good thing?"

"I'm Saying... that just because bad things happen by coincidence doesn't mean they're the only things that can. It also doesn't mean no good can come from them even when they are." she clarified "Fluttershy was coincidently infected a year before the orchard was infested, coincidently saving her friends lives with her suppressants. Who then all coincidently wanted to join and gave us one of the best damn teams we could have hoped for."

"I don't know what Sunset is, but I know she's not out to hurt us. Use us, maybe. But I'm pretty sure she's a better than person than even she expects" she finished before taking Rupert's other hand and hefting him out of the chair. "Now come on, let's get you home."

"I thought you weren't going to be the one driving me" he smirked. Aya rolled her eyes.

"Please, you know that's not how we do things here" she smiled and lead the way to the garage. Rupert just shook his head, smirk still in place.

"How'd Pinkie put it? One big, messed up family of mutants?

"That's MIST."

Author's Note

Sorry about the wait again lovies, been having trouble getting the momentum back after letting slip last month. But here we are! Still not Entirely satisfied with how it turned out, but it's a lot better than the first draft of it. I think it may just be because it need a few points that didn't transition too well and needed to set some stuff up for the future. Some obvious, some not so much, I'll leave it to you to see if you can figure them all out

Fun fact: the whole last bit with Rupert and Aya wasn't even a thing until I did my pass through after transferring the story here. Just kind of came to me, so I hope you liked it.

But yes, I will endeavor to ramp up the momentum back up at least some. Until then, as always, thanks for reading and hope to see you for the next chapter. Have a good one