Vidya's parents strolled into the house carrying grocery bags. The two of them shopping together was a rare sight since their work schedules were so conflicting, yet here they were, grinning from ear to ear as they shuffled around the kitchen.

"We got watermelons!" Mom exclaimed. She put one large paper bag on the counter and kept the rest looped on her arms, opening the fridge.

Also rare. None of them even liked watermelon that much. And why watermelons, plural? One would be enough for a family of three, but there seemed to be a whole bag of them.

Vidya got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen, her steps inexplicably heavy. Her peripheral vision was blurry and unidentifiable. She ignored the uneasy feeling and stood on her tiptoes to peek into the bag on the counter. There weren't any watermelons in there.

There were severed heads.

Six of them, to be exact, all with blonde hair and the wide, terrified eyes of the poor woman in the mall. One by one, the heads began to explode. Vidya stood unflinching as skulls burst apart and meat and bone spewed out of the bag. A lot of the gore hit her directly in the face, getting in her eyes, in her mouth, and some up her nose, but she didn't move, didn't react.

After the last head met its demise, Vidya slowly raised her gaze. The entire kitchen was bathed in blood. Pink mush garnished Mom's head, dripping down her graying hair, and there was a tooth sitting on José's glasses, but neither of them noticed, and they turned to Vidya with unfaltering smiles.

"What's wrong?" José asked. The tooth fell off as he adjusted his glasses.

"You don't see it?" Vidya asked quietly.

Mom frowned. "See what?"

Vidya jerked awake, almost falling to the floor. It took her a moment to figure out where she was: Marvel HQ. She'd fallen asleep on the common room couch while doing homework, judging by the worksheets spread on the coffee table. Thankfully, there was no one around to laugh at her.

Vidya rubbed her eyes. Her open backpack was leaning against her leg, and she kicked it aside to stretch out. Her heart was still pounding; she rarely remembered her dreams, but she had a feeling that this nightmare was going to stick around for a while.

There was a noise behind her, and Vidya sat up and twisted her head around. Lady Marvel had just shown up, and she was rifling through the nearby kitchen, looking for something. Her fingers tapped impatiently against the doors of every cabinet she opened.

"Are you okay?" Lady Marvel asked without looking at her.

Vidya sank against the couch. Of all the people to open up to...Lady Marvel was not high up on that list, but she was here, and she was asking.

"I don't know," Vidya said quietly. "I just...I can't get the image out of my head, of...her head exploding right in front of me."

"Yeah, well." Lady Marvel laughed. "That's what happens."

Vidya blinked, unsure if she'd heard correctly. "Excuse me?"

"Heads explode, limbs get blown off, innocents get caught up in carnage." Lady Marvel pulled a glass coffee pot out of a cabinet with an indifferent sigh. "Nothing unusual, nothing to feel sorry for."

Vidya stared at her, jaw dropped.

Lady Marvel finally turned to her and blinked. She tilted her head curiously, holding the coffee pot against her stomach. "You're not seriously hung up on Emily, are you?" she asked. When she didn't get an answer, she laughed again, a little nervous this time. "Listen, you're going to have to get used to—"

"I'm not an idiot!" Vidya screamed.

Lady Marvel flinched, her hands fumbling with the coffee pot. It really looked like she would catch it, but she failed—it tumbled out of her grip and hit the ground, shattering.

Vidya had already jumped to her feet, hands clenched. "Don't talk to me like I'm stupid," she snapped. "I'm not stupid. I know life isn't all peaches and cream. I know that heroes aren't perfect, and I know that no matter how hard we try, we can't save everybody. I know all that!" Her throat was burning, but she couldn't stop, and she didn't want to stop. "We have to get used to all the violence and death, but don't you think you're being a little extreme? You're talking as if those lives don't even matter—what is wrong with you? You're all acting like psychopaths!"

Lady Marvel was perfectly still, eyes a little wide in disbelief. She stayed silent even as Vidya glared at her with an intense hatred she didn't think she'd ever directed at anyone, let alone a superhero who could tear her in half.

Vidya turned around and shoved everything into her backpack. Her movements were so sloppy and angry that the worksheets she'd worked on so carefully were being bent and torn, but she didn't care. They didn't care about Emily, so why would she care about a freaking worksheet?

Vidya shouldered her backpack and walked right past Lady Marvel on her way out, almost brushing against her arm. Neither of them said a word. A few tears slipped down Vidya's face, and there was a scream bubbling up in her throat. She held it all in until she was alone in the elevator, cruising down the building, and then she let it out, screaming at the closed doors. Angry and upset and so, so sad.

____________________

As soon as the elevator had closed on Frostbite, Lady Marvel turned on her heel and marched into the meeting room. Juggernaut was in his chair, looking at a spread of papers on the table, his expression completely neutral.

"Did you hear all that?" Lady Marvel asked.

"I only paid attention after the sound of glass breaking."

It worked, Lady Marvel thought, pleased. The fumbling around with the coffee pot had been real—Frostbite's scream truly did surprise her—but she'd ultimately dropped it on purpose so that Juggernaut would notice and start listening.

Lady Marvel crossed the room and sat on the table in front of her designated chair, clasping her hands together. She was rattled, and she didn't like it.

"You should've seen her face," Lady Marvel said, shaking her head. "There wasn't any disappointment or guilt or sadness—it was just anger." She looked over her shoulder at him. "And you still think it's a good idea to have her on the team?"

Juggernaut sighed; this must be the hundredth time he'd had to defend his decision to Lady Marvel. "Look," he said, oddly sympathetic, "she genuinely cares about saving people, and she's upset with us for not feeling the same way. I don't see anything wrong with that."

"That's not the problem," Lady Marvel said. "The problem is that she hates us." She shook her head again. "And people do terrible things out of hate."

Juggernaut froze. "You're right," he murmured, rubbing his face with a resigned smile as if she'd reminded him of something he was trying to forget. "People do terrible things out of hate."

Lady Marvel blinked. "Why do I feel like we're not talking about Frostbite anymore?"

"Is Fox still in her office?"

"I think so."

He swept all the papers into a folder and held it out. "These are the autopsy details on Matthew, Stephanie, and Talia, if you want to take a look."

She didn't, but she took the folder to give it back to Emika later. "Where are you going?"

"I have a theory." Juggernaut stood up and walked backward toward the door, saying, "A bad one, but it's still a theory, and I have to talk to Fox about it."

Lady Marvel narrowed her eyes. "Are you going to tell me what it is?"

He winked. "Later."

"You can't tell me you have a theory and then walk away without telling me what it is," she complained, raising her voice as he walked out the door. He didn't come back. She rolled her eyes, but it was fine: if he said later, then he meant it.

Now alone and without anything to do, Lady Marvel ventured a peek at one of the autopsy reports. The first words her eyes landed on were intestine weight. "Nope," she said immediately, slamming the folder shut.