The floor was scorched black the walls melted inward like wax. And Maya? Maya just stood there with her arms crossed, eyes flicking between the crumbling ceiling and the human torch that used to be her sister.
"...You blew a hole through my damn bunker," Maya said flatly.
Ash floated through the air like haunted snow. Lilly knelt on the ground, hands trembling, hair still smoking from the last surge of power Sam was behind her—arms locked around her waist like a lifeline.
"I warned you about Ava," Maya muttered, kicking a piece of rubble with her boot "I told you—she'd turn on you again."
That's when Ava coughed.
The sound cut the silence like a razor.
Everyone turned.
Ava was moving
—slowly, painfully
blood at her temple
lips cracked.
But smiling.
"You gonna finish the job, or just sulk?" she rasped, using the wall to stand.
Lilly's head snapped toward her her eyes lit again this time brighter
"You don't get to smile at me," Lilly growled, rising to her feet, Sam still clinging to her.
"You don't get to breathe."
"Watch me," Ava said, her own voice now sharpening, deepening—flames crackling at her fingertips.
Maya stepped back
"Oh, hell," she muttered. "She's triggering again."
And she was right.
Lilly's flame ignited again—
wilder
hotter
angrier
than ever before. It roared from her skin in searing waves, and the air began to shimmer and warp Metal twisted concrete groaned.
"LILLY!" Sam shouted, holding her tighter "You have to stop—! You'll burn yourself out!"
"I want to," Lilly choked, eyes locked on Ava
"Let me burn her let me end this."
"I won't let you destroy yourself for her!"
The heat lashed out—scorching.
Sam gritted her teeth, then lifted her hand—
And ice bloomed from Sam's palm.
It spread like frostbite across the room, racing toward Lilly's flames. Where heat met cold, steam exploded, a wall of fog rising between them like ghosts screaming in both directions.
Lilly staggered.
"Sam?" she whispered.
Sam's arms were still around her, her skin pale and glowing blue now, frost creeping up her arms as she poured everything into calming the storm. "I'm here. I'm here. Let me help."
Lilly collapsed into her again, flames sputtering, dying—but not gone
Ava watched from the smoke, her expression unreadable.
Maya cracked her neck and raised an eyebrow "Well... looks like things just got elemental."