The hallway was dim, humming with the low buzz of Maya's underground systems. Somewhere, wires crackled like they already sensed it—what was coming.
Lilly wasn't walking
She was hunting
Barefoot.
Bare-souled
Her breath came slow and deliberate her eyes burned amber-bright, flecks of gold catching in the shadows like dying stars.
She'd been quiet for too long, forgiving for too long, merciful for too long.
And mercy? It wasn't in her blood anymore not after what Ava did.
Sam stirred from the room, sensing the shift "Lilly?" Sam called softly, reaching out.
But Lilly just turned her head slightly, voice low and final
"Stay here, Sam this doesn't involve you anymore."
Ava was in the main room, booted up at a stolen console, eyes locked on something no one else could see she smirked without looking up.
"Oh, look who finally found her claws," Ava said, not bothering to stand "come to play, kitten?"
Lilly stepped forward her bare feet left scorched prints behind the air shimmered around her heat waves, dancing like ghosts.
"TURNAROUND,"
Lilly said her voice was jagged glass and burning.
Ava did slowly, carelessly she always had that swagger, that arrogance, that smirk that said, I'll win. I always do.
"You going to cry? Or finally throw a punch?"
Lilly didn't answer.
She lifted her hand instead It caught flame, a real flame born from within,
Not tech
Not illusion
Just rage given shape
Ava blinked. "Oh," she said softly then, "Well that's new."
Lilly lunged.
It wasn't a fight,
It was an eruption.
The walls blistered the ground cracked the temperature spiked like hell itself had burst open. Ava ducked and rolled, throwing knives that melted before they hit their mark Ava tried to fight really, she did.
But Lilly wasn't human anymore.
She was wildfire.
Ava landed a blow—sharp, fast, dirty—but it didn't stop Lilly didn't even slow her down, because this wasn't about pain, It was about justice.
No vengeance.
She slammed Ava into the wall, once, twice, three times.
Then lifted her flaming hand and held it an inch from Ava's throat.
Ava choked out a laugh "So this is it? You going to kill me, Lil?"
Lilly's eyes burned bright and for a moment, she looked divine terrible and divine.
"Not kill," she said then leaned in.
"Cleanse."
And she let the flame go.
When the smoke cleared, Ava was unconscious, barely breathing singed, broken, her clothes scorched her smirk… gone.
Sam appeared in the doorway, breath caught in her throat. "Lilly—what did you—?"
Lilly turned, flames dying slowly along her arms, skin shimmering with heat. Her voice cracked like embers in ash.
"I finally let her feel what she's made me carry."
And in the shadows?
The Woman in White smiled.
"Oh, now that's interesting," she whispered. "She's finally becoming what I always knew she could be."