The training yard behind the abandoned observatory shook as something slammed into the dirt.
Ava rolled across the ground, coughing, her palms burning from impact. She barely had time to lift her head before a shadow loomed over her.
"Get up," Riven said.
Her eyes glowed faint silver, veins of alien light pulsing along her arms. The air around her warped like heat off asphalt.
Ava wiped blood from her lip. "You didn't have to throw me that hard."
"I did," Riven snapped. "You hesitated."
"I was trying not to kill you!"
Riven laughed, sharp and humorless. "Then you'll die in a real fight."
From the sidelines, Luna clenched her fists. "That's enough."
Riven ignored her.
"Again," Riven said. "Transform."
Ava hesitated.
Her GeneShift bracelet vibrated against her wrist, its alien core humming softly. She hated the feeling of it crawling through her veins bones bending, skin hardening, mind slipping just a little.
"I said transform," Riven repeated.
"I'm tired," Ava said. "We've been training for four hours."
"And you'll train for four more if you want to live," Riven replied. "Enemies won't care if you're tired."
That did it.
Ava stood up fast. "You don't get to decide everything."
Riven turned fully toward her. "I'm the only one here who knows how to fight."
"Knowing how to fight doesn't make you our boss!"
The tension snapped like a wire.
Mira stepped forward. "Guys!!!"
"Stay out of it," Riven said.
Ava activated her GeneShift.
Blue energy erupted around her body, forming a sleek, crystalline frame of armor over her skin. Her eyes glowed a bright neon cyan.
"You want me to fight?" Ava said. "Fine."
Riven's lips curled. "Good."
She triggered her own GeneShift.
Her body shifted instantly muscle hardening, eyes turning star-black, jagged light patterns spreading across her skin like scars made of starlight.
The air between them felt heavy.
Then Ava lunged.
She moved faster than before, sliding low and swinging upward with a glowing fist. Riven twisted aside, grabbed Ava's arm, and hurled her over her shoulder.
Ava slammed into a rusted metal container with a scream of steel.
Luna ran forward. "Stop!"
Riven raised a hand. "Stay back."
Ava pushed herself up, shaking. "You think fear makes us stronger?"
"Yes," Riven said. "Because it keeps you alive."
Ava fired a blast of blue energy.
Riven blocked it with her forearm, the impact sending a shockwave across the yard. Dust rose into the air.
"I lost my home," Riven said quietly. "I won't lose this team."
"You're turning us into soldiers!" Ava shouted.
"And you're acting like a civilian," Riven shot back.
Mira stepped between them.
"That's enough!" she yelled.
Both powers flickered.
Mira's voice shook. "We're supposed to protect people. Not hurt each other."
Riven stared at her.
"You think I want this?" Riven asked. "You think I enjoy pushing you like this?"
She pointed at her own chest. "This thing inside me doesn't care about your feelings. It wants war."
Ava's glow dimmed slightly.
"Then why are you letting it lead?" Ava asked.
Riven froze.
From the shadows near the observatory wall, Nyra finally spoke. Her voice was calm, almost cold.
"This was inevitable."
Everyone turned.
"You can't fuse seven unstable minds with alien DNA and expect peace," Nyra said. "Conflict was programmed."
Luna rounded on her. "Don't talk like we're experiments."
Nyra's eyes flickered gold. "We are."
A sharp silence fell.
Ava looked at Riven again. "You don't trust us."
"I don't trust weakness," Riven said.
"That's the same thing," Ava replied.
Riven stepped back.
For the first time, her posture sagged.
"I watched people die," she said. "I froze. I didn't move fast enough."
No one spoke.
"I won't let that happen again," she whispered.
Ava's power faded completely.
"So you hurt us first?" Ava asked.
Riven didn't answer.
Suddenly, a pulse of pain hit them all at once.
Every bracelet flashed red.
Nyra gasped. "Signal spike something's coming."
Mira looked between Ava and Riven. "We can't fight each other and fight that."
Riven closed her eyes.
Then she deactivated her GeneShift.
The alien light drained from her body.
"I don't want to be alone in this," she said. "I just… don't know how not to be."
Ava walked forward.
Slowly.
Carefully.
She held out her hand.
"Then stop acting like we're enemies."
Riven hesitated.
Then took it.
The bracelets stopped glowing red.
But the damage was done.
Cracks had formed inside the team.
And something out there had felt it.