"I'll make sure you and September and the cats are clear before any demolition," she says, mock seriously.

"Good priorities."

And off to bed.

The next few days go quite well. Hughes conspicuously doesn't push Bellona on the whole Barry question, letting them know there's a manhunt for him up north but nothing's been turned up yet. The woman Bellona saved doesn't impose on them, choosing instead to move all the way across the country to get away from everything.

Tucker gets more and more distracted as the time for his yearly review comes up, and September frets over him more - there seems to be some tension, there, escalating to at one point Bellona finding a half-burnt letter September had written to her absent mom, that Tucker obviously hadn't sent on.

That night they're invited to the Hughes's. September doesn't go along, a bit uncharacteristically. Her father claims she has school work to do.

When they get back, the house is quiet. No dog nor little girl excitedly greets them. The cats don't greet them, either, except for a flash of eyes under one couch and an alarmed, rattling 'mrrrrrr.'

"September?" El calls.

"September!"

There's no answer.

"I'm not alone in having a bad feeling about this, right-"

"No."

"Let's stay together."

"Yeah."

"We should check Tucker's lab."

She nods, seriously.

"I'll lead."

"Okay."

Creeping onward:

And then, as they reach a basement door with light shining through - past chimeras, that moan or cry or chitter at the girls' passing or at their own pain - Tucker's voice, calling, tiredly, "In here, girls."

Bellona stills, then pushes the door open.

Tucker's back is to them.

He turns, though.

And there's a chimera behind him, lying in the middle of an array, struggling to get up.

"What have you done?"

"Isn't it obvious to those as clever as you?" Tucker asks, tilting his head. The lamp light catches his glasses, concealing his eyes.

"You're a monster," Bellona says, voice low and dangerous.

Tucker glances over at her. "Me? A monster? I'm not the one who turned my sister into a bodiless husk, or who joked around after a murder - or who performed the alchemist's ultimate taboo. You two were curious, weren't you? Wanted to know the limits of your abilities. Thought your science was better than this human morality."

"You don't know anything about it."

"Don't I? Aren't we both alchemists, challenging God and nature? Knowledge is the pinnacle of human achievement."

("It hurts," the chimera whines.)

(Tucker ignores her.)

"We're not the same," El says.

And then, because this is what she does, she turns him into dust.

"We need to fix her."

Maybe later she'll regret that they didn't make him scream.

Right now she's just glad he shut up.

"We should call Akira."

"We - have her number for her current station - do we know no one will listen in? Unless she goes to a phone booth - September's hurting - "

"This has be right on the first try and she knows more biology than us. Just- say she needs to take emergency leave and in the meantime we can try painkillers."

"...Okay. Yeah. I'll go call her. It's - how are we gonna keep this secret?"

"Dunno. Maybe we won't. Worry about it later. Akira might have ideas."