Sister Cities

Part 1: Vi

I'm laying low

A stray dog in the street

You took me home

We're sister cities

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"My mum," Caitlyn says.

The whole of the Undercity is silent. Half the capitol building is torn open— I can't even tell where the Council room used to be, but wherever it was, it sure as hell isn't anymore.

"My mum," says Caitlyn. "Jayce— my mum—"

"Powder," I say, and I drag us to the railing before I can think too much about what I'll find. All at once, the noise below us cuts in, and I'm not certain it was ever actually quiet at all. Every single trencher is either outside or making their way there. Their shouting melts together into something like its own entity, part horror and part confusion and part disbelieving glee. Their words are mostly the same: "Capitol," "bomb," "Topside," "Zaun," "enforcers," "Silco," and "revolution."

As for Powder, all I can see from here is a blue braid curling into the street.

"Can you keep walking?" I ask Caitlyn. "We have to get down there."

"Down there? I have to get across the river. Someone else can handle Jinx. Every enforcer we have will be here in minutes—"

"Then we have to get down there right now. They'll kill her."

Caitlyn pulls away from me, stumbles, and catches herself on the railing. "You don't think— she's just— do you not see what she's done? She assassinated everyone on the Council and you want to protect her?"

I'd have no coherent argument even if I hadn't been knocked out cold an hour ago. What I manage is: "She's my sister."

"And my mum is dead because of her!"

"I'm sorry."

Caitlyn gapes for another moment before her eyes take on the quality they carried when she and I first met: caution, fake calm, the tools you use when you're faced with something wild. This time, she mixes them with pity. But if that's gonna bother me, it's not gonna bother me right now; all that counts right now is: "Okay. We'll go get her. And we'll— do something."

"Can you walk?" I ask again, already knowing the answer.

"You can go ahead of me. You can probably just jump down, can't you? I'll meet you in a second."

If she's right that we only have minutes, I should accept that. "No," I say. "It's fine. We'll go together."

I draw her arm back around my shoulder and we take the long way down, back past Powder's grotesque tea party and Silco, who I refuse to look at.

She's like his daughter.

How badly do you have to hurt to let a man like that into your life?

"Vi?"

"What?" I kick myself and carry on, and we eventually reach the street. Powder's sprawled on her back, and it's honestly a miracle she hasn't been trampled yet by the crowds— no one pays her any mind, maybe because they don't notice her. Maybe because they no longer care who's doing what anymore, just that we're in the fight for real now and the future is coming.

I let go of Caitlyn as carefully as I can and drop down at Powder's side. She's unconscious, a small streak of blood on the pavement under her head, but she's breathing. The recoil on that missile was enough to push her straight off the platform. I wonder if she knew.