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I pop the tooth

Without changing her broken expression, Victra coils her legs under her The acid releases into oes cool, aligning itself to recognize e between her cuffs Then I spit the rest at the lock of the cell It begins to s

“It’s in their teeth,” Harirl She wheels around “It’s in their teeth!” Before theclonk

I’ve never been to Mercury or its Hippodrome But I’ve seen videos of old chariot races When the horn sounds, there is a rippling of htened

Victra bursts from the cell

Wounded, tired, spent fro her baby, these et the Victra they made

She kills the firsthis back with a kick to his lower spine The second, she kills so she can use him and his thick blast vest as a shield His body erupts when his boys fire on the their attacks as they co them as she pivots to break the next Those she doesn’t kill are mon by their friends Bullets and pulseblasts ricochet around the prison I lie flat and two pulseblasts almost take off my feet

Harets one look at this, aims down her rifle, and shoots one of her own soldiers in the back of the neck as Victra throws hih the air between the her head fro e forward

Like a good cockroach, Harmony bolts

Victra tries to give chase, but the Red Hands throw theer to let Harmony escape even if it costs them their lives Victra takes them up on that offer

When she takes her foot from the shattered back of her last victi prisoners Victra hunches, breathing heavily, bullet through her shoulder, gashes around her legs, soht buttock

Then she walks out of the roo to look up from their bullet-riddled cells They won’t be any use out there They’re so thin I run to catch up with Victra, calling her naone Bloody footprints lead left I follow them to the sound of wet thumps, and find Victra in the coathers around her bare feet as she absorbs the hologra up a tunnel at Red Hands Several hundred more huddle behind them, ready to pick up a weapon if another drops They’re out from the township down to meet them at the main tunnel

“You did this?” she asks without turning

“Yeah But I think I need some help now”

She looks over, then back at the screens Har up a stairwell