The SVE club quietly made their way through the top floor of the deserted mall, the emptiness of the building suitably eerie for the occasion.

    "You remember this place?" Sam whispered to Midas, referring to the first time they'd met.

    Midas nodded, trying not to let the memories of the incident cloud his thinking. It was tempting to dwell on that perfect time- When he had been a hero, saving people, and putting villains behind bars. Nowadays it seemed he was doing the opposite- He was a villain, putting people in danger, and helping a villain to take over the world.

"Why didn't you give me your autograph back then?" Sam continued to whisper, unheard by the other members. "You promised that if we survived the attack, you would sign my book."

Midas gave her a strange look. "That's a weird question to ask in the middle of all this."

Sam shrugged. "I just figured, since there's a possibility we won't all leave this fight alive, I might as well get an answer to something I've wondered about for the past two years."

    "To be honest, I thought you were just kidding back then," Midas admitted. "I was going to humor you, but then after Empress was taken care of, the police were asking a lot of questions and we got separated. By the time I found you again, you were with your family again, and they looked really happy to have you back safe. That was enough for me. To know you were safe. That was my job."

    Sam nodded. She waited a beat and then said, "Thanks for that."

    Midas found that he couldn't respond, not because of any menta interference, but because he simply couldn't think of any words to counter with.

    "Whatcha talking about?" Rachel asked a bit too loudly as she popped up between them.

    Sam and Midas both jumped. Midas faced Rachel. "What'd we say about quiet?" he hissed.

    "Oh, come on," Rachel said, speaking in her normal tone. "There's nobody in here."

    "Um... There's somebody," Willow squeaked, pointing a shaking finger at the still moving escalator. Sure enough, they could just make out the silhouette of someone standing by it.

    "Quick!" Midas said, pulling Sam into the nearest store and motioning for the others to follow. "Did they see us?"

    Evan peeked around the corner at the figure Willow had pointed out. "Her back is to us. It looks like she's patrolling. Do you know this kid, Midas?"

    Midas took a look. "That's Firesse. She's a-"

    "Dynamopsych," Sam finished. "I met her at ISH."

Midas nodded. "We can't let her see us. Is there another way?"

    Sam shook her head. "We need to get past her somehow. It's the only way out of here."

The others were quiet for a moment. Evan glanced pensively at Nate and Taro, his forehead wrinkling as he thought. "There... might be one way." He looked back at Midas. "Dynamopsych powers are sight based, right? Taro, Nate and I could distract her."

    Nate's eyebrows shot up. "No. No way. We're staying together, remember?"

    "Nate's right," Midas agreed. "We can't let her see any of us."

    Taro seemed to sag in relief.

    "And she doesn't have to," Evan protested. "I think I have a bit of a plan... Anyway, as long as Insomnium doesn't see Sam, isn't that the important thing? He wants to take Sam out, but if he sees she's not with us three, he probably won't spend much effort on us."

    "You can't know that for sure," Midas countered.

    "Maybe not," Evan said. "But do you have a better plan? We can't hide here all day. The best we can do is split up for now. Once we've distracted Firesse, we can meet back up with you four."

    "I'm not going to leave you guys again," Midas insisted.

    "If you don't, we all could die. This mission could be for nothing," Evan said. "Our priority should be shutting down Insomnium, and keeping Sam out of his sight." It was obvious he felt very strongly about this.

    Midas nodded reluctantly. It made sense, but he still felt like he'd be sending them to a death sentence. "Do you two agree with him?" he asked Nate and Taro.

    Taro frowned, but said, "Yeah. I think I do. Evan's right- We're kind of out of options."

    Nate scoffed. "No way. I'm not getting blown up. End of story."

    "Nate, please," Evan pleaded. He looked desperate. "We won't have a chance to survive unless you come, too."

    "Last time you and I got cornered by a super, we got lucky," Nate said. "But this girl will kill us if she gets the chance."

    "Yes, but this time we have a plan," Evan said.

    Nate hesitated. "What is your plan?"

    "We need to draw Firesse to the elevators on the other side of the mall," Evan said. "Once we get inside, we close the doors, go down to the bottom floor and then run as fast as we can. By then, we'll be out of Firesse's sight and have a good head start. Then we can follow after the others."

    "If you guys are going to do this," Sam said, "Everyone should agree." She put her hand up, feeling ashamed. But Evan was right- This was the only way. "I guess I'll start."

    Her shame was lessened when Evan gave her a grateful half smile. With solemn nod in Sam's direction, he lifted his hand also. Taro put his up, followed by Rachel and Willow.

    Nate watched Midas suspiciously. "Aren't you going to put your hand up?"

    "Only if you do."

    Nate sighed. His head dropped and his hand raised. Midas followed suit.

    The group was silent and acceptant. Evan, Taro and Nate began to move towards the door.

    "The second she comes away from the escalators," Evan said to the others, "Run like heck."

    There were nods. Taro opened the first binder and ripped a sheet out, handing it to Evan. "How fast are you going to be folding these things?" Taro asked.

    "As fast as you can hand them to me," Evan answered.

    Nate pulled his first deck of cards from their box and fanned them out. "I'm ready."

    "Be careful," Sam warned. There were tears in her eyes. "And please run very fast."

    "Same goes to you," Evan said. "All of you."

    "You don't have to do this," Midas said, still unsure. "We can find another way."

    "No. Evan was right," Nate said. "There's no time. We move now, or not at all." He looked at Taro and Evan. "We ready?"

    They nodded.

    "On three," Evan said. "One. Two."

    They can't do this, Midas thought. Don't they know what a risk they're taking? Why are they sacrificing themselves like this?

    "Three!"

    Evan, Taro and Nate ran as fast as they could towards the elevators. They caught Firesse's attention immediately.

    "Aim for the eyes! Aim for the eyes!" Nate could be heard shouting. A barrage of paper airplanes and cards swirled around Firesse's head as she emotionlessly sprinted away from the escalators and ran after the boys. Some of the cards and planes exploded, but so far the SVE members were unscathed. As they ran farther away through the mall, Midas wondered if he'd see them again. Had he just sent them to their dooms?

    "We need to run. Now," Rachel said, waking Midas out of his thoughts.

    "Let's go," Midas said, leading the way to the escalators. His heart felt as if it would beat out of his chest as he realized that all it would take was one glance behind for Firesse to realize that he and the girls were there. The SVE club ran swiftly, though, and they reached the bottom of the escalators quickly. They wasted no time and began to head for the far exit, the one that would put them out closest to the school.

    As they ran, they could still hear the explosions and shouts that rang out above them. All silently worried that the rest of the team might not be successful, though nobody dared voice their doubt out loud. Instead, they simply focused on putting one foot in front of the other.

    For Insomnium was getting close. And they would need every bit of focus they could muster when they came to face him.