The Silk Moth Dream (Season 1 Complete)

EPISODE 24: AT LAST, TOGETHER

Mercury, Nevada. 2040.

Shailene barely has two seconds to blink the dust out of her eyes before Ragnar is grabbing her arm and shouting at her. "Get up! McNamara and his WRAITH troops are here."

Everything in her body aches — Fiona has never been as zealous or talented as her in combat, but the girl still knows how to land a blow. Shailene pushes herself off the ground to see Cacio e Papa wrapped between a world of chaos. In the distance, Shailene can see Fiona and her monk boyfriend in the car, talking to the ever-disgusting Ryan McNamara. And as two other tanks roll into the parking lot, Left Behind members are activating their mechsuits and preparing their explosives. They look to Shailene and Ragnar, waiting for an order.

"We need to stop them from taking Fiona and Seraph," Ragnar whispers urgently, pulling Shailene behind a dumpster. "We have our whole team here. We can create a diversion big enough for all of us to escape."

Shailene frowns, watching Fiona's fiery hair in the distance. The air is muggy and her blurry figure glints strangely, as if the light is bending around her. Shailene blinks herself back to normalcy. "But why sacrifice the safety of the team for those two bozos? They're just going to leave us again. We need to retreat."

"Shailene," Ragnar says with a sigh, as though disappointed with her. "Even if you didn't care about what happens to Fiona, Left Behind can't afford to have her captured by McNamara's team. They know too much."

Shailene doesn't say anything for a moment, trying to scrutinize Ragnar's thoughts. For most of her life, she worshiped the Ragnar Blomberg, ex-scientific prodigy and leading climate change activist. But now he watches Shailene, waiting along with the rest of the team for her to give her orders.

"Open fire," Shailene says, her eyes still on Ragnar. She nods. "Open fire!" Shailene repeats, looking around at the shell-shocked LB members. "Do whatever you can to stop them from taking Fiona and Abin."

Everyone springs into action. Hani salutes and immediately pulls herself up, using Cacio e Papa's gutter to lift herself onto the roof. Sanjay and his explosive units take cover and the sounds of pins dropping before they throw their grenades clink musically against the ground. Shouts erupt from the parking lot as McNamara's team realizes that Left Behind haven't left yet, and Shailene can only catch a glimpse of Fiona grabbing Abin out of the car before she loads her gun and takes off.

"Cover me!" Shailene yells as she tears through the parking lot, activating the shields on her mechsuit. She feels her cheeks go hot from the explosives deploying all around her, rattling her teeth against each other. But this is her moment, and she's not letting McNamara out of her sight.

She fires a few shots into McNamara's small group and feels a few bullets whiz past her in retaliation. Even through the smoke and dust, she can make out the sight of Fiona and Abin fighting off a group of soldiers. Despite the shaking ground, Shailene's fingers don't even quiver as she loads more bullets into her gun. This is what she's been made to do. This is who she is. And it's as natural as breathing air.

"Is that Shailene Fischer that I see?" Colonel McNamara's voice is unmistakable, even over all of the sounds of carnage and pain. "How brave of you to finally show your face."

"It's not my fault your team's so bad at catching so-called criminals," Shailene responds, aiming her gun at him. Through the dust, she can just barely see the barrel of a gun pointing right back.

"Seems like I've got you right where I need you now," he laughs as another agent joins his side, also pointing their gun at Shailene. "But your confidence never ceases to amaze me."

"Or we have you exactly right where we need you," Ragnar says, stepping up next to Shailene. The four of them standoff as explosives continue to rattle the ground around them. Half the restaurant is on fire at this point, but nobody makes a single step to move.