My skin itches and stings with mutation. The thrill of a fight fades along with the adrenaline in my veins--adrenaline I need. My bones ache, they threaten to start their twisting. Tremors snake under my skin once more, that same crawling returns to the surface. My breathing becomes labored, heavy and uneven around a strange heartbeat.

I fall away from Fix's corpse and sink into a creaky wooden chair. Sweat drips from my cheeks and chin, I drag my fingers into the front of my hair and pull, then send a long string of spit onto my chest.

"Mom, this looks bad," Eli says. He picks up Fix's light gun and slings it around his shoulders, then makes his way over to me, brows knitted and eyes wide as he stares at my misshapen arm.

I sniff and place my elbows on my knees, then spit onto the ground, struggling to hear him over the pulse in my ears.

"I'm serious, you went too far this time," he says.

"I'm fine." I wave him away. The room spins, a gray light seeps into the corners of my vision, like a distant but comforting fog...

"Shit." The ground shakes beneath us, something rumbles outside the skyscraper walls, angry and loud. Gunfire pops somewhere over the horizon and loosens dirt from the high ceiling. I snap awake and reach to my back where my bag should be. "Where is it, where is it..."

"I got one," Eli says, but I ignore him in my frantic search for my belongings, mumbling curses under my breath. With every movement my skin crawls a little more, my bones ache, that fog creeps a little closer in my eyes.

"Mom! Here!" Eli catches my wrist and shoves a cold metal syringe into my palm.

I freeze, bite the inside of my cheek, then wrap my fingers around it and snatch it to my chest. "Where did you get this?"

"Don't ask questions," he snaps. "Just take it."

"Eli, where did you get this."

He scratches his head. "Empress."

"Are you lying?"

"Mom, please just take the medicine."

"Does anyone else know you have this?"

"Just Empress."

The windowpane rattles, we both snap our heads at the same time, reflexes trained and in-tune with one another. I follow his command. Careful not to break the fragile canister, I uncap the massive needle and jam it through my sternum. The metal sinks through the bone, cold serum rushes my veins, freezing and feverish at the same time. I grit my teeth and throw the syringe away, then smash it under my foot until the shards pierce my toes.

Eli winces, his hands curled into fists as he watches me retch and cough. He reaches for me but stops halfway, distracted by a loud engine somewhere high above us. I sniff and lean against the back of the chair as if that would stop the stinging in my chest--it doesn't, the serum burns twice as much.

"What's wrong?" I ask as if the pain isn't overwhelming. "You nervous?"

He frowns. "Yeah, I'm nervous."

"About them?" I point to the ceiling.

He nods.

"Seriously? We do this all the time."

"Well, no, I'm nervous about you."

"Me?"

"You don't look good. Even when I saw you first, before this, you're all skinny and...beat up."

I throw a playful punch at his shoulder. "There's nothing wrong with me, kid."

"Mom, you were gone too long this time."

Sweat drips off my forehead, I rub my mangled wrist across it and wipe ink across the ripped fabric of my thigh. "Not really."

"A whole month."

"Yeah, but—"

"What happened? Who were you fighting?"

"Someone really bad," I say through gritted teeth. "Ah, my god," the insects swarm my veins and bring the fire with them. I wrap my arms around my stomach and lean onto my legs, then rake my fingers through my sweaty hair again. "They were...getting ready to attack us. It's alright, they're gone now."

"I wish you hadn't. They hurt you too much."

"I'm not hurt."

"Then why do you look like this?"

I point to Fix's mess of bloated skin and bones.

"You know what I mean," he says.

"There's nothing wrong with me. Let it go." I drag my melting body to another metal beam in the wall, then shove my claws through the sides. They screech like nails across a glass plate; the sound makes Eli squirm. My knuckles anchor to the siding and catch hold. The wooden floorboards threaten to put splinters in the bottoms of my feet as I crunch my strange excuse for toes between the cracks. My teeth threaten to fracture when I cram my jaw back into place with my left hand, then pull my right arm from the mass of misplaced muscles and bulging indigo flesh. The high rafters echo with the sounds of breaking bones and puddled ink, long strings of sticky armor cling to my shoulder like bits of taffy. I punch through the warm strings of mutated insides, leaving the monstrous limb to dangle from the metal beam.

"Hurry," Eli says. "Fix is coming back."

"Shoot him in the head, then." My knee snaps, I drag my leg out of the mess of blue ropes, forcing the cat-like joint to crack forward into place. The Beast falls behind me and decorates the ground, like a snake shedding its skin. Puddles of ink flick off my arms and slap across the broken chairs and tables. I sniff, readjust my dirty combat suit, then walk away as if I'd never changed.

Fix stirs around the metal in his body, his bloated limbs moving on their own accord, eyes still closed and bleeding mucus. Eli scoots closer to me, staring at Fix as if he's never seen him before. He offers me an absent-minded hand.

"Mom, you never answered my quest—"

"Eli," I take it and curl a strand of hair behind his ear, then wipe my bloody cheek onto my shoulder. "Stop worrying. I'm okay, you're okay, we're going to get out of here. Now, let's go."

He grabs the straps on my combat suit and pulls me down. "Please don't lie to me about being sick."

"You know I'm not sick."

He shrugs. "I really don't. And please don't leave me that long ever again."

"You know I can't promise that."

"Well, you should."

I bite the inside of my cheek. "Fine. No more lying, no more long solo missions."

He raises his eyebrow. "You mean it?"

"I mean it." I give him my pinky. He curls his around mine, I kiss his hand to sanction the promise, then brush his hair away from his brows and plant a kiss on his forehead. He squeezes his eyes shut and pulls away.

"Stop it, I'm not a baby."

"Oh," my heart sinks a little. Strange, a new sensation, and I don't like how much it hurts.

He tugs my shirt and nods to the door. "Let's get out of he—what's that?"

The doorway glows at the edges, not with the brightness of the desert sun, but with a blinding glare. The windows disappear inside the light. Blue spots explode in my vision, heat pours from the rafters, the ground shakes beneath us as something screeches outside.

"No," I shout. "NO!"

I lunge toward Eli, arms outstretched, reaching to the back of his clothes. His cotton shirt brushes my fingertips just out of reach. Something wrenches him away. The bar shifts around me, the door switches places with the stairs, the walls trade with the ceiling, trapping us inside the chaos of smoke and rubble. The world turns white.

Every fiber of my body burns. Every vein, every organ, every piece of sinew boils from the inside out. My mouth explodes with the taste of metal, my skin peels away from itself one layer at a time. Debris rips my clothes and speckles me with bits of shrapnel, slicing up my face as I fall away from my son. Smoke closes the space between us, it envelopes him, then shrouds us in darkness. The blast throws me as if someone punched me in the stomach, but my vision fades before I hit the ground.

Rough slabs of concrete cradle my head and scrape dried blood across my curls. Glue seals my swollen eyes shut. Dust settles in my throat and burns my cracked lips. Fluid wracks my lungs. I cough up ash and pull my thick lashes away from one another, but the ring in my ears blurs my vision too much to see.

The film over my eyes dissipates the more I blink. I groan and stare up at the rafters. Smoke barrels through tears in the brick and mortar, beams blackened and swallowed by flames. Fires scatter the open floor to devour splintered wood hidden among the rubble. The heat sticks my skin to the ground. Deep-set burns line my body in shiny red patches. They close one at a time, fueled by the remaining serum in my veins. I check to see if my right arm is still there--thankfully it is, although numbed with pins and needles, draped over a jagged pile of concrete blocks.

"No," I cough and snap awake. "No, no, no, no, no..."

The pins and needles leave my limbs. Half-broken, half-burned, I pull my tattered mess out from the rubble. Rocks crash against one another, bricks clatter across fallen metal beams. Smoke bears down on my shoulders and forces me back inside my concrete tomb--but I resist. I stumble along the piles of ripped-up floorboards and burning tables, brushing aside the smoke as if it were a curtain.

"Eli?" My cracked voice doesn't carry far. I clench my fists, open my chest, and scream until it hurts. "Eli!"

Only the crackle of flames and the distant pop of gunfire answers me. My foot catches on a shiny black shard of metal, gray numbers printed across the side--a missile.

"Huh, nice try." I kick the casing into the flames. "But I'm not that easy to kill. Eli!" A heavy engine smothers my voice. Airships howl outside the burning windows, shouts ricochet across the empty city. Thousands of footsteps pound the desert ground, countless light guns clanking against armor--Mars undoes the hinges of her mouth, then spits her scum across the Earth.

The burning skyscraper creaks all-around a crumbling structure, dust falling to meet the flames. Sharp rocks trip me as I tear through the rubble, screaming Eli's name over and over again. The debris cuts my palms, hot metal burns my skin, but I dig through it all regardless. Ice floods my bloodstream, my thoughts race--please be alive, please be alive, please...

The ash yields nothing but hot embers and broken pieces, everything blown to bits. I find no bones or tissue, but that's far from comforting. The skyscraper creaks a little more with every overturned stone and loosened brick, smog coats my lungs and blackens my vision--soon only a faint sunbeam at the obliterated doorway lights my way.

It's hopeless, King. He's gone.

"Shut up," I tell it. "Eli!"

I wipe the soot off my face and storm through the smoke. "Those fucking bastards. I'll make them pay."

"Mom!"

My heels scuff across the ash. I come to a standstill and lock my knees, listening through the roar of flames and starship engines. Please let that be real.

"Mom!"

It's coming from outside. "Eli!" Bent metal bars and scattered bricks trip me as I limp to the shard of sunlight, forcing my way through the smoke. My eyes burn, the sweltering air stings what open wounds I have left, the Beast taps the edges of my vision, but I press on.

Nothing remains at the doorway except skeleton supports and hanging pipes. Bits of ancient pink insulation rain fiberglass onto my head. I stumble to the few rays of gray sunlight and catch a warm metal beam, coughing the smoke from my lungs. A thick haze settles on the desert air, powerful, but not dense enough to hide the destruction of Colossus.

Starships burst from invisible transporters to sit on top of tall spires, light guns charged and prepared to level the shredded buildings. The perfect shiny ships contrast the decay of my Ancient World. White stingray shaped monoliths with drippy red Phoenix symbols scald the desert city with their blue engines. Dark glass hides hundreds of Legion troops where they stare down through pointed black helmets--Cockroaches, we call them. Their armor carries little resemblance to the insects but they're an infestation all the same. The ships blot out the clear blue sky with their serrated wings. Cabs open, ropes spill from their insides, armored troops crowd the lines like bugs streaming from an old shower drain. I raise my lip in disgust.

Shouts of commanders and troops overcome the ringing in my ears. Soldiers pour through the skyscrapers, bursting through windows and shooting useless light charges, then coming out from the evacuated rooms to suffer the wrath of their impatient commanders. The city is empty. I face Mars alone.

But perhaps it isn't empty yet. A large stingray ship hovers above a cluster of dead orange trees, shrouded by yellow dust and dark gray clouds. Legion soldiers race down the ramp, their bodies covered in scale-like metal armor, faces hidden behind sleek black helmets. They surround a bloated mass of flesh, an all-too-familiar one, with yellowed skin tarnished by an inky black mutation.

Fix.

The muscles in my neck tighten. My hands and feet grow cold. "You lucky son of a bitch," I say. "I told you to stay dead."

He defies me from afar, lesions healing over his fat skin, the puncture wounds in his back and neck long gone. But it comes with a price. He bloats with ink and misplaced bones, face twisted as he turns to a soldier and begs for salvation. The recruit nods his shiny black helmet and comforts him with words I don't have to hear to know are lies. Pathetic and broken, Fix follows a group of soldiers into the belly of the ship, where they guard him as if he were royalty. It makes me sick.

"What a sorry fool," I say. "We'll meet again someday. I'll humiliate you in front of your Martian friends, and then I'll hang you up by your entrails at the Gate." I wad up a blood-soaked pile of spit in my mouth, then send it in his direction. He disappears among the crowd of shining black scales, forever at the mercy of Mars and all of her deceptions. "Eli?" I shout. "Where are you hiding? I know I heard you, we have to go."

"Mom!" he says. High-pitched and blood-curdling, his screams overpower the thunder of a fallen city. The sound wrings my stomach and heart together, blood rushes my ears. Eli's not afraid of anything. That can't be my boy...

There beyond the ruined city stands my son, held between a mass of Legion soldiers, chest filled with blue feathers and long needles. He struggles against the hulking guards with failing limbs, punching and kicking with all his might, shrieking my name with what gasps for breath he's allowed. They drag him up the ramp of the starship, muzzles pointed at his chest, cartridges loaded with tranquilizers. He weakens with every move, every shout, reaching through the gaps of the soldiers holding him down.

"No, let go of him!" I say. "Let go of him, now!" The ground tears my bare feet; I race across the rubble and scorching concrete, but the pain doesn't matter. "Eli, fight back! Fight back!"

Smoke barrels around me and turns the city into a wasteland, the skyscraper creaks behind me, ready to collapse. I follow Eli's faint voice and the blue glow of starship engines. Garbage, tires, broken windows, pipes, and beams of wood appear inside the fog and try their best to stop me, but I clear each obstacle as if my bones had never been broken and as if my feet aren't bleeding.

Shouts and explosions resound through the hidden towers, gunfire and missiles destroy buildings, adding debris and floating ash to the smog. The Martians tear the city open in search of survivors long gone, then trap me inside their destruction.

My legs carry me as if unhindered, voice hoarse as I fill my lungs with exhaust and scream for Eli over and over again. A bit of sunlight clears the fog, tainted by the blue flame of a starship turbine. The city blurs at the sidelines until it fades away, only the slap of my bare feet against the concrete reminds me it's still there.

I burst into the hot daylight, jaw locked together, legs begging for rest. The starship's thrusters blaze until the concrete cracks under the blue flames. A white ramp closes, locked tight to its sleek underbelly. Gray clouds spew from the thrusters, engines shake the ground as the ship lifts into the air.

Unbearable waves of heat dry the sweat on my skin and force me back into the smog. Dust and cinders fly into my eyes, I shield my face and chase it down, lost in the smoke and invisible to the soldiers inside the cabin. No matter how fast I run, no matter how far I push myself, I can't keep up. The space between us grows too wide. I leap over busted cars, climb piles of concrete slabs, sprint through the suffocating air, then scream until I have nothing left to say.

The airship ascends the blue desert sky, nose pointed to the stars.