“Trust is our most vital Blessing. A League of Agents will crumble without it, but they’ll always win when they have it.”

  --an excerpt from an interview with Paragon-class Agent M.G. Myriad, published post-mortem.

  The blood kept flowing onto the floor of the elevator and the walls of June’s mind. Alex and Claudius were saying something, but June couldn’t hear it. She kept staring at Isaac’s wound. It was the first time she saw something so. . .

  She remembered when her Blessing first activated.

  It was far too early for her to return home from school. June tried to be as quiet as she could as she sneaked through the crowd in her family’s store. Lucky Takakura was doing decent at the time, but not decent enough for her father to miss his daughter’s attempt at stealth. Just as June reached the staircase to her room, she felt her father’s heavy hands on the sleeve of her uniform. He didn’t know why June skipped school, and she didn’t explain herself either. Why would she do that? Just for him to go to school and make things worse for her?

  As he started his lengthy interrogation, June lost her patience, as usual. She had been blinking back tears all the way home, and couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore. So she shut her eyes, and tried to tear her arm away from her father by yanking her shoulder forward.

  That was when her Blessing activated.

  Neither of them were ready for such force to come from such a puny girl. So she yanked her shoulder forward, not realizing she yanked her muscly, ex-gangster of a father too. And so, in front of an audience of her father’s customers, and with the popping sound of a dislocated shoulder, June finally won a fight. Against someone she loved the most.

  No, the only one who loved her.

  “June!”

  Isaac’s voice dragged June away from that memory. She rapidly blinked, sucking in as much air as possible. Claudius had begun tearing cloth from his long sleeved robe. He smoothed his hair back, revealing his gaunt face. Claudius' eyes were narrowed in focus. Alex was putting pressure on Isaac’s side, but blood still poured out from the opposite end. Isaac stared up at June, relieved to see signs of life from the girl.

  “Glad you’re back with us. You don’t mind putting some pressure on my bullet hole wound? Thanks.” Isaac tried to grin, but his lips trembled.

  June scrambled to place her hands on Isaac’s side. His blood was so warm. . . It’s not real, it’s not real! June screamed in her head. She tried to close her eyes and burn the image out of her head, but Claudius spoke sharply.

  “June, don't close your eyes.” Claudius said. His voice was strict, full of authority unheard from the gloomy-looking boy. “Your strength could worsen his wounds, so you must keep your eyes open.”

  June listened as her reddened eyes fought to hold back tears.

  “Brother Isaac, your blood type?”

  “Uhm, O-positive? Ow, this hurts! I thought I was supposed to be a superhero!”

  “Wait,” Alex shook his head. “You aren’t doing what I think you’re doing?”

  “I am. Brother’s blood type is whatever I decide it to be.”

  Isaac’s eyes bounced between Alex and Claudius in confusion before the plan dawned on him.

  “No way!” Isaac weakly shook his head. “You are not IV’ing me with your Brother’s body!”

  It’s all my fault.

  “You are rapidly losing blood. You will die within minutes.” Claudius said.

  I got too desperate, too hasty.

  “Yeah, but. . .” Isaac muttered.

  Getting him of all people to take the fall for you.

  “Wait a sec.” Alex interjected. “Isn’t this a temporary fix? Wouldn’t your Brother’s blood go away once you reconjure him?”

  “Yes, but only if I reconjure him. We will simply finish the rest of the mission without him.” Claudius grimaced.

  Alex shook his head.

  “That’s not happening. We still have to escape with the hostage and your Brother’s too important to miss out on that.”

  Not like this.

  “I'm O-positive, too!” June said. She separated a bloody hand from Isaac’s side and thrust it out towards Claudius.

  “Do it to me. That way, your Brother doesn’t have to sit out.”

  “For real?” Isaac said.

  Claudius didn’t wait for confirmation. The ball of flesh spawned, but it was the least human Brother she had seen so far. It was a lumpy skin bag the size of her head. Claudius held it, as two long, sharpened veins wormed out from its pores. Isaac stared at the repurposed vein with wide eyes.

  “Maybe I should just die?” Isaac asked.

  “Quiet, Isaac.” Alex said.

  “Alright, just. . .” Isaac turned his head away from the approaching needle and stared at June, a pleading look in his eyes. Like her, he fought to keep his tears from spilling.

  “Talk to me? Distract me for a little?”

  June wiped her face, attempting to compose herself.

  “How about why I joined? Is that alright?”

  Isaac nodded. He looked weaker by the second.

  “I’m bad for business. When my Blessing finally came, I went from the pushover that the other girls used to boost their self-esteem to the school bully in one day. I also pulled my Papa’s arm out of his socket during store hours.”

  June laughed bitterly as she watched the needles poke through her and Isaac’s skin. She quickly continued, despite the burning in her chest begging her to shut up. Whatever pain she felt, Isaac felt ten times worse.

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  “Turns out, people don’t wanna shop at a store where a little girl could knock your jaw off for looking at her the wrong way. All that goodwill my Papa managed to build up in the neighborhood—even with his criminal record—gone just because I got a taste of power and went wild.”

  “You got something on your face there.” Isaac said. He slowly brought his hands up to wipe the tears June didn’t realize was falling from her face. “Got it. Keep going?”

  “Lucky Takakura goes down if I don’t make it in. Either I prop up the store long enough to clean up its reputation, or I ruin everything my father built. That’s why I…”

  June choked on her tears. The frantic sobbing echoed in the bloodied elevator.

  “That’s why I screwed up so badly! Isaac. . . I’m sorry. . .”

  Isaac continued to methodically wipe her tears, from her left eye to her right, then to the left again.

  “Man… You got a hell of a reason to join up!”

  “Huh?”

  “Really though, I thought you joined to wipe your record or something. I feel like a piece of garbage for that now that I know!”

  Isaac grinned.

  “You got a way better reason than me. I don’t regret taking that bullet, but now I’m kinda proud of myself!”

  Isaac tried to prop himself up next to June but froze still.

  “Oh wait, lemme stay still so you can inject me.”

  “The transfusion is already complete.” Claudius said.

  “Wait, really? Niiiice.”

  “It’s a temporary fix, of course. Merely a way for us to buy time until the simulation ends.” Claudius let his hair fall forward, returning to its pseudo-veil look. His sleeves were removed, turned into the wrapping over Isaac’s bullet wound.

  “I suggest we get moving.” Alex said. “They wouldn’t happen to have a working sink right? I don’t need to smell Isaac’s blood on my hands for the rest of this.”

  “It doesn’t smell bad right?” Isaac frowned. “It’s healthy, right?”

  June found herself laughing again, this time with a little less bitterness than before. This guy, She thought. That’s just how he is, huh?

  Alex and Claudius helped the two up, and both June and Isaac had to fight against the dizziness.

  “Isaac, what do you say?”

  “About what?”

  “You forgive me?”

  Isaac tilted his head.

  “For what? C’mon, we got a P.O.W. to save!”

  “Man, what the heck is this?”

  “Fuck if I know. . .!”

  “This is most concerning.”

  “I need a nap.”

  They found their POW, but like everything else in this Assessment, it wasn’t what they expected. The elevator had reached the top floor, but due to Isaac’s wounds, the surroundings were put on the backburner. While supporting Isaac, June scrunched her face at the intense smell of the prison as they strolled down the rows of cells. Sparse yellow bulbs and a ray of moonlight through a single glass-less window provided them with sight. June felt Isaac shiver at the winter breeze. Despite the horrid stench of unwashed prisoners, the cells were all empty.

  “I think I preferred Isaac’s blood to this.” Alex said.

  “Agreed.” June laughed. “Hey Ballsa-uh, I mean, Isaac. Start bleeding again.”

  “Not funny, June. But it does smell like trash here. Let’s hurry up.”

  Claudius made it to the end of the dark hall of cells, and he pointed to one on the right. His hair swayed in the wind, forming a jet-black blindfold over his face.

  “This cell appears to be occupied, I believe?”

  Alex peered into the cell, his blue irises gleaming in darkness.

  “Looks like it.”

  June and Isaac trudged over to meet them. There really was something in there, but what? It wasn’t a person. Maybe the next step to finding them. Either way, they were getting in there and finding out.

  “Don’t see a scanner here.” Isaac swiveled his head side to side. “Anyone got a key?

  “I do.” June reached out with her free hand. With her eyes shut, she bent two iron bars to the side like play-doh.

  “Hah! Should’ve expected that, not gonna lie,” Isaac said. “But are you sure you should be pushing yourself? You lost a lot of blood for me.”

  “Yeah? And you lost a lot of blood for me, too.”

  “Naaah, I just wanted an excuse to use my Blessing and look cool all at once!”

  “Just get in the cell, dumbass.”

  And there they were, looking at their so-called hostage. It was a boulder-sized sphere of black metal. It buzzed slightly, and small dots of multicolored light blinked in and out of its shiny center. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, June spotted a bundle of wires connecting to the machine, snaking along the corners of the floor and out into the hallway.

  “So their hostage was some kind of valuable tech?” June said.

  “I was wondering why they had power in an abandoned tower.” Alex rubbed at his tired eyes.

  “But how did they get it up here? That thing is way too big to bring up an elevator.”

  “Perhaps we should be asking how we bring it back down, yes?” Claudius asked.

  June’s eyes lit up. Could this be a chance to redeem herself?

  “I carry it, duh.”

  Isaac spluttered.

  “B-but the elevator can’t fit—”

  June raised a fist, then gestured it towards the wall where the window provided a view of the crescent moon. Isaac let his mouth close slowly.

  “Should’ve expected that, not gonna lie.”

  “That’s cool and all,” Alex said. “But what about the rest of the plan?” He looked expectantly at June.

  “That’s my contribution.” June said. “I won’t call the shots. You guys got us this far, not me. I’ll just do the heavy lifting.”

  Her pride burned within her at her words. The same pride that got people hurt. Fine, let it burn 'til there’s nothing left. She thought.

  “Nope. That ain’t right.” Isaac decided. “We gotta do the planning and the footwork together.”

  “Isaac. . .”

  “Isaac’s right,” Alex said. “You want to take a step back because you think this—” Alex pointed at Isaac’s patched up torso. “—is all your fault, but no. Messing up doesn’t mean you get a free trip out of taking responsibility.”

  When have I ever faced myself when I fucked up?

  “Earlier, I said that your Blessing is meant to comfort you,” Claudius added. “But the Blessed you come across also share a purpose within each other. Like cogs in a machine, we must work, think, and be as one.”

  When have I ever truly been a part of something?

  Isaac stared at her with an intense flame in his eyes.

  “Heroes don’t get to run away when things get rough. That’s for bad guys and civvies.”

  When have I ever tried to be a hero?

  June shut her eyes. She spent so much time wondering if she could trust these three, but what did she do to earn their trust? What did she do to even trust herself?

  The answer would be nothing.

  We start now, June. Right now.

  “Would’ve been a cool line if it wasn’t coming from a bled-out idiot.” June smirked.

  “So you admit I’m cool? About time.”

  “Shut up and let me think.”

  June took account of the three boys and what they could do, not as accessories to her brute force Blessing, but as pieces of the puzzle. Wasn’t that what life was all about? Did she really think she could force her way through everything and everyone forever?

  “What a fucking idiot.” June whispered.

  “What was that?” Alex said.

  “A spiritual breakthrough, perhaps?” Claudius hurriedly asked as tears of joy welled up in his eyes.

  “It’s nothing, I said nothing! Alright, huddle up and hear me out. . .”