The whir of the coffee machine permeated the tense silence in the conference room. Most of the proxies had been sent to their respective cabins, but not all of them, as the conference room was currently occupied by Tim, Brian, Kate, Rouge, Toby, and X-Virus. Also there were Liu and Lyra, Liu sitting upright with his hands clasped on the table and Lyra laid back in her chair with her feet on the table, ankles crossed. Toby and Lyra were glaring daggers at each other. X-Virus looked as though he didn't fully know what was going on. Kate tried to keep a stone face, but she was clearly nervous.

"Okay," Tim began as he filled his mug of coffee, "so, Lyra, you're saying that you made a pact with Slenderman?"

"Hell yeah," Lyra answered, as if it had been obvious. "How else was I gonna protect Katie?"

Brian's jaw tensed. He had to admit, he was disappointed in Kate, and it was clear that Tim shared the same sentiment.

"You know that basically makes you an Operator, right?" Tim asked Lyra.

As the reality of the statement sank in, everyone exchanged shocked glances. Lyra, an Operator? Was that why she was so powerful?

"Holy shit," Lyra muttered. There was a hint of pride in her colorless eyes. Liu let out a long, low whitle.

"Kate," Tim said, "you're really lucky Slenderman was willing to make an exception to this rule. You could've gotten yourself killed."

"I know that." Kate snapped bitterly. "You seriously think I wasn't constantly second-guessing myself?"

Rouge reached out to sympathetically pat Kate's shoulder. Toby rolled their eyes. The tension in the room was so thick it could be cut with a knife.

"So, how long've you guys stayed in this forest?" Brian asked.

"Five years," Liu answered. "We were travelling as a group, but we were forced to settle down when my lovely wife became pregnant."

"And which one of you is the leader?" Tim followed up.

"We both are," Lyra answered. "Liu's the brains, I'm the muscle."

"Kate, how'd you and Lyra meet?" Tim went on. There was a frown on his face. "I'm really curious to hear that."

Lyra scoffed, as though she didn't want to explain herself. Kate met her eyes and cleared her throat.

"We crossed paths when I went on patrol once." Kate explained. "I knew I couldn't kill her, so I let her be. We kept meeting up on accident, so we decided to say 'fuck it' and become friends. Then one thing led to another, and here we are."

"You could've at least told me." X-Virus scolded Kate. He looked betrayed. "Lyra's my half sister, and you're supposed to be my best friend."

Kate's face fell, and she mumbled an apology.

"Yeah, I had a right to know, t-too." Toby added. "I mean, I s-spent my entire childhood with her."

Lyra's eyes widened with fury, and her nostrils flared. Before Liu could reach out to grab her arm to stop her, Lyra shot up from her chair so fast that her chair screeched backwards. She pointed a scarred forefinger at Toby.

"You," she yelled, "had no fuckin' right to know after everything you did to me and our mother! And especially not after what you did to Kate!"

"C'mon, s-sis, th-that was a long time ago!" Toby shot back. "Besides, you can't blame me for snapping after e-everything our dad put us through!"

"I'm talking about a lifetime of gaslighting and abuse, Tobias!" Lyra roared. Her white eyes began to glow. "Yes, you were a kid who needed to be protected. But Mom and I gave everything to keep you safe - from Dad, your peers, injuries! I couldn't even get any help for my own shit, we had to devote all our time and money to your lazy ass! And what did we get in return!? Nothing but trauma! I lost my life saving you from that stupid fucking car crash, and you left me to bleed out! And then, after you killed Dad, instead of just running off with your tail between your legs, you decided to set the house on fire with our mom in it! What the hell did she do to deserve that!? 'Cause I can't think of shit!"

As Lyra spoke, the room itself seemed to tremble, as if an earthquake was rumbling deep beneath the ground.

"The main reason Liu and I teamed up in the first place was, if I helped him find Jeff, he'd help me get my revenge on you! Imagine my shock when I realized that Kate was forced to study under you when she became a proxy - and you were doing nothing but using her as a fucking punching bag! I would've set out and killed you right there if Kate hadn't stopped me!

"Every day, I question whether or not I'm good enough - all because of you and our sorry fuckin' old man! You owe me your life, you ungrateful, soulless, pitiful excuse for a human being!"

By the time Lyra's tangent had ended, everyone was tense with fear - all except for Liu and Toby. As Lyra stood there, seething, her eyes brimming with tears of rage, Toby simply groaned.

"Are you done?"

Lyra was about to fly across the table and tackle him when Liu and Kate grabbed her and held her back. Lyra was letting out cry after cry of rage, bearing her teeth, kicking her legs, and calling Toby every curse word in the book. Everyone else backed away from her, all on edge, waiting with bated breath for Lyra to calm down.

At last, Lyra took some deep breaths. It was a miracle that, with her strength, Liu and Kate had managed to keep her from lunging at Toby and mauling him. She wiped the tears from her eyes and slammed her fist into the wall, causing everyone but Liu to either flinch or jump (Liu seemed used to this).

"Can I at least punch him?" Lyra demanded, her voice dripping with venom. Her fist had left a significant dent in the wall.

Tim and Brian looked at each other anxiously, but Toby shrugged.

"Give it y-your best shot, bitch." they dared her.

Lyra needed no further signal. She ran towards him and thrust her fist into the side of his face, causing them to fly backwards and hit the wall before falling to the floor. Toby clutched at their broken jaw as blood flowed from his mouth. They spat out a tooth, which clattered to the floor in a puddle of blood.

"Holy shit!" X-Virus cried out.

"That felt good," said Lyra through gritted teeth as she wrung out her hand.