SELF DISCOVER was worthless to Corinna. She knew things about herself that she didn't want to know. She knew new things about herself that she didn't want to remember. She knew that she would have to talk to Jordan about what they saw her do back in Cate's memor— back in her memories.

And Jordan remembered it all.

Corinna punching the wall.

Her knuckles growing red with blood.

The bloodstains in the wall.

Luke.

Luke being there for her when they weren't.

Maybe people were right... maybe their parents were right... maybe her parents were right.

Corinna needed someone better.

Corinna needed Luke. Luke needed Corinna.

And maybe Jordan realized that.

I mean, that's what had been on their mind since. They would pass glances over towards Corinna to see if she seemed upset, if her smile fell, if she was brushing her knuckles, if she had a shake in her voice.

They wanted to be the one Corinna needed.

They wanted to be the one Corinna wanted.

And Jordan kept their look locked on Corinna as subtly as they could as she ate the final bites for her croissant in the small diner that Marie, Cate, and Andre all sat at.

They all sat and watched the news about how Victoria Neuman would be visiting Godolkin for her vice presidential campaign.

"Shetty can't meet right now." Cate said.

"The fuck does that mean?" Jordan asked in their feminine form.

"Why not?" Corinna asked softly. "Where is she?"

Cate answered. "The city. She'll be back later."

"So what do we do?" Jordan asked.

"I'll wait for her at her house, and the when she comes home, I'll make her tell everyone everything." Cate said.

"I'll go with her." Andre spoke.

"It's okay."

"No, I'm going."

Cate sighed. "You can trust me."

Jordan quickly sifted from their feminine to their masculine form before speaking. "Stay out of our fucking heads. Then maybe we'll trust you."

Jordan quickly stood up from the booth and stormed out of the dinner with the others watching them leave.

"I swear." Cate said, looking over at Corinna. "You can trust me."

Corinna nodded. "I really want to Cate."

"I know you do."

Corinna sighed and glanced over at the ones before sliding out of the booth herself and following Jordan outside.

She found Jordan making their way down the alley and she followed behind swiftly.

"Can you stop for a second?" She asked.

Jordan turned, pausing as they looked at her. "She was reading our thoughts, Corinna."

"Maybe she can't help it." Corinna said. "Who knows how long she's been on or off Shetty's shit."

"Why are you making excuses for her?" They asked as they approached her.

"I'm not!" She exclaimed and clasped her hands together. "She can fuck with our heads at any given moment, whenever she wanted to, but she hasn't. We have to believe that she's on our side."

Jordan scoffed as they looked down at Corinna's hands. Her left hand massaging over the right as they spoke.

So, with a deep breath, Jordan nodded and Corinna gave them a soft smile.

"And you've got to stop changing into a dude when you want to get your point across to us."

"Fine."

"Fine."

Jordan looked over at Corinna, a playful smile across both their faces as they soon began to laugh at their banter.

Jordan stepped forward, slowly moving his hands to cup Corinna's cheeks as their thumbs gently caressed them.

They felt Corinna leaned into their touch and glanced down to see her hands separating as she moved them to rest on their (Jordan's) wrist.

Jordan took in a deep breath. They would hate to ruin the moment, but the thought of yesterday kept playing over and over in their mind.

"We have to talk, Rin."

Corinna was slightly taken aback. She didn't really expect to talk about that right here, right now, but then again, she didn't really expect Jordan to bring it up either.

"Oh, okay." She said. She pulled both their hands away. "Yeah, of course."

Jordan paused as they dropped their hands. Corinna had clasped her hands back together and they continued to look at each other.

"Promise me that you aren't doing it anymore."

"I promise."

Corinna eyes followed Jordan's as they lead to their hands, her thumb caressing the back of her other hand.

She quickly let them go and looked back up at Jordan.

"I'm sorry." She sputtered. "I do that when I'm nervous or um... whenever I feel like I need to, if you know what I mean. But I promise, I'm having done that in months."

Jordan nodded. "I- I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?" She questioned. "What are you sorry for?"

"I should've known." They said. "I should've been there for you. I- I should've done something. All I did was ignore you and-"

"Hey, hey." Corinna softly smiled, taking Jordan hands. "You didn't know-"

"But you were going to tell me and I brushed you off like it was nothing." They said. "They were right. I don't deserve you or-"

"Okay, shut the fuck up, okay." Corinna instructed. "If Luke didn't find me that day, no one would've known. I didn't want anyone to know. But I'm with you because I care about you and you care about me. You've cared about me then and you care about me now. That's all I can ever ask you for."

Jordan nodded, taking Corinna's and softly smiled.

It felt like the right time to say it. They've been dating long enough for either of them to say I love you, they just haven't.

They were both scared, Jordan more so than Corinna.

Jordan had never really been accepted for who they were until they met and when Corinna found out that Jordan could shift, it scared them.

But Corinna wasn't spooked (she was but that's when she didn't know what Jordan's powers were at the time and she shifted using their powers). She was more than understanding of why they weren't so open with them in the beginning.

But saying I love you, meant a lot. And a lot scared Jordan. What did "a lot" even mean? There was so much that Jordan wanted to do with Corinna and it meant the world if she felt the same way, but what if she didn't? What if this was all an act for her? What if she up and left after they said it?

They only thought of the worst.

So, Jordan nodded and cupped their hands back onto Corinna's cheeks with a small smile.

Jordan leaned forward and pressed their lips to Corinna's in a gentle kiss.

Jordan's hands felt warm against the skin of her cheeks, and she could feel their fingers gently caressing the nape of her neck, sending shivers down her spine.

As they pulled away from the kiss, Jordan looked deeply into Corinna's eyes. "You're everything to me," they whispered, their voice thick with emotion.

Corinna smiled, tears of joy glistening in her eyes. "I feel the same way," she replied, kissing Jordan once again.

Corinna closed her eyes, savoring the feeling of Jordan's lips on hers. Her heart fluttered with joy as they pulled away from the kiss, their eyes still locked onto hers.

"I really hate to ruin what's happening right now," Corinna muttered, "but we need Cate."

She watched Jordan roll their eyes, but kept their distance close.

"She's the only way to get Shetty to expose The Woods."

Jordan paused. "Unless we get proof ourselves."

"How?"

"Shetty's in the city all day." Jordan explained. "I got the key to her office. I'm her T.A., remember? Look, we find proof about The Woods, or what they've done to Sam and those other kids down there, it doesn't matter what Cate does."

"Then what?" Corinna asked. "What do we do next? Post it on Twitter? You think they're gonna believe some bisexual girl who's "too woke for Twitter" and a bi-gender Asian Supe over Vought? They're gonna mow us down and twist it like they twist everything else."

"You're "too woke for Twitter"?" Jordan asked.

"I'm banned on Twitter because I have my pronouns and sexuality in my bio and someone asked me to take them down and when I told them no they mass reported my account."

The two of the nodded, but Corinna raised her eyebrows as a thought began to sink into her head.

"Maybe we can get someone people will listen to."

The new plan would be getting Corinna and Jordan into Shetty's office and finding whatever they needed to find about The Woods. They would relay that news to Marie who would try her best to give that information to Victoria Neuman and hopefully she will find some solution about The Woods and people would have no choice but to listen to her because it would be recorded and put on the news in no time.

So, with that said, Corinna and Jordan, now in their feminine form began to look around Shetty's office for any clues or insight on what The Woods held.

Corinna finally pulled out a blue folder that stood out amongst the red ones and sat down at Shetty's desk to read it.

"What's that?" Jordan asked.

"No idea." Corinna said, flipping the pages. "It was hidden in her drawer. Looks like it's all about a plane crash. Transoceanic Flight 37."

"Yeah, I remember that." Jordan said. "It was terrorist, right?"

"That's what the news said." Corinna continued to read and looked down at the pages before she pointed at two names. "Look."

"Shetty, Lily, age 11. Shetty, Paul, age 46." Jordan read. "Her family was on the plane."

They suddenly heard the door beep and grabbed the files from the folder and hid underneath Shetty's desk.

Dr. Cardosa soon entered the room. "You want me to increase the viral infection rate. Right." He slurred.

"Kill the all! She says. And sign my own death certificate."

There was silence after that, his voice sluggish and slurred and the sounds of his footsteps hit harder than they should've as he stepped closer to the desk.

They soon heard the sound of a zipper and that followed the sound of a stream. Corinna slowly poked her head out to see Cardosa pissing into what looked like a glass of champagne or liquor and ducked back under the desk.

Once he was finished, he set the glass down and slapped something onto the desk. With that, he finally left the room.

The couple looked over at each other before Corinna spoke.

"What did he say about infection rate?"

THERE WASN'T much they had gathered, but it was enough for them to figure out that Shetty and Cardosa had figured out how to make some sort of infection down in The Woods.

They found Marie on campus and explained what they had found and began making their way towards the auditorium where the conference for Victoria would be held.

There was already a crowd of people outside of it and may other student either lingering around or talking with each other.

The trio couldn't get in touch with Cate to save their lives, but they didn't have much time to figure what was happening or why she couldn't answer.

They signed once they saw security outside the building. There was no way they could get inside with them standing there.

"Any chance either of you know a teleporter?" Marie asked.

"No, but I can cause a distraction." Jordan said, still in their feminine form.

"What are you gonna do?" Corinna asked.

"Don't get caught." Was all they said as they left Corinna and Marie's side and down towards Justine who stood by her friend who'd been recording.

From a distance, the two girls watched Jordan and Marie speaking to each other, but neither of them could understand what was being said. All they knew was one second they were talking and the next, Jordan was throwing their arm back and knocking Justine's jaw out of place.

Jordan was able to start enough communication to start a fight between all the supes that were all out there and Jordan was able to step back and towards Marie and Corinna who were able to sneak inside the venue without the guards noticing.

Soon enough, Marie returned, getting the message to Neuman, Emma found Sam who'd somehow snuck out of her dorm and into the meeting with Neuman and now they were (minus Andre who'd been M.I.A.) making their way towards Shetty's to see if Cate had actually done her part.

They stepped inside her house to see Shetty and Cate standing in the living room.

"What happened?" Jordan asked, now in their masculine form.

Cate's eyes had been bloodshot red, she'd definitely been using her power.

"I'm okay," Cate replied. "And now she'll do whatever we want."

"Maybe you should rest." Marie said.

"I feel fine." Cate insisted. "It wasn't my powers that were fucking me up. It was the pills she was giving me. I've never felt better."

"Cate." Shetty called. "Listen to your friends. They care about you."

Cate turned. "Shut up! You had your chance to talk, and now it's my turn."

"Please, Cate, you don't have to do this." Shetty pleaded. "I love you."

"I know you love me. It doesn't change the fact that you're a fucking bitch."

"Cate," Jordan called, "what the fuck is going on?"

"Don't worry, we're on the same side."

"Okay, sorry," Emma said. "can I get a quick SparkNotes version? 'Cause I have no idea what the fuck you guys are talking about."

Cate turned towards Shetty once more. "Tell them what you told me."

Shetty swallowed before speaking. "This school is a front. Thomas Godolkin was a behavioral scientist. He built this place to figure out what makes Supes tick, their weakness, how to control them. You're not here to study. The school is here to study you. You're subjects. Not human."

"We're better than humans." Sam suddenly said.

"We found out that she has some kind of virus to kill the kids in The Woods." Corinna said. "She wants to make it more contagious."

"She wants more than that. Don't you."Cate asked.

"I want it to spread across the globe and kill all of you."

"Holy fuck." Emma muttered.

"Why?" Marie asked. "We don't want to hurt you or anyone. You know that."

"Don't lie." Cate told Shetty. "Tell her."

"Homelander."

"So... so all this because he lasered that Starlighter dude?" Emma asked. "No, sorry, it's fucked up, don't get me wrong, but like, killing all of us seems... seems a little melodramatic."

"Homelander?" Corinna questioned. "He took down that plane? He killed your family?"

"It's not just him." Shetty said. "You all leave a path of destruction behind you. You have ruined countless lives." She turned towards Marie. "Just look at what you did to your parents. You can't help it. It's your species."

"Tell them what your last assignment was for me." Cate said.

"Kill everyone in The Woods."

"Jesus Christ." Jordan mumbled. "Did you?"

Cate scoffed. "Of course not, Jordan. I'm trying to show you what kind of a monster she is. She wants to wipe us off the face of the earth. They all do, so we have to strike first. Starting with her." She said, turning towards Shetty.

"Cate," Shetty called, her voice shaking. "make me forget. We can start over. I'm gonna take care of you."

"Shut up, shut up!" Cate repeated. "Shut the fuck up!"

"Cate!"

"Indira." Cate paused. "It's time."

With that said, Shetty, held a knife up that had been placed at her side.

And Shetty simply took that same knife and dragged it across her neck, slitting it open and falling towards the ground as blood quickly gushed out.

The group gasped and Jordan and Emma quickly rushed to Shetty side to apply pressure to her neck.

And as soon as Corinna and Marie stepped forward to help, Cate placed her hands on their shoulder and simply told them not to help her, which they had no other choice but to follow through with.

"Marie, Corinna, do something!" Jordan shouted.

Marie begged Cate to let them help but all she did was shake her head and watched as Shetty took her final breath.

And there was nothing they could do about it.

"Cate," Marie muttered. "do you know what you've done?"

"Justice." Sam said.

"For all of us." Cate added.

If this was "justice" it wasn't something Corinna wanted anymore.

— lucy has something to say !!

thank you for your patience :) i was finishing school and that's pretty important for me to graduate but im finished now and im here to give you this chapter of misery business :)

anyway this is the last trigger warning and the second to last chapter of this act of misery business :)

the show has been picked up for a second season but who knows what that's coming out but i'll be here waiting just like yall :)

but like can we talk about this look specifically GODDAMN

bye :))))