Chapter forty-seven: Judas in Red Lipstick

The aftermath of the brawl looked like a villain-themed gender reveal party gone horribly wrong.

Ava stood with a split lip and Maya had a chunk of hair missing, but neither had the satisfaction of claiming victory just bruises, rage and enough loathing to melt steel beams.

"Are we done?" Sam asked arms crossed, voice dry as sandpaper.

"Emotionally? Never," Maya muttered.

Lilly leaned back against the wall, arms folded, trying not to look like she was plotting all their funerals "Cool can we maybe not burn down the one place that's not on the map?"

A beat of silence.

Then Maya exhaled, dragged a USB drive from her coat pocket, and tossed it on the table like a blackjack dealer ready to ruin someone's night. "I have a plan."

Ava scoffed "Of course you do."

"Shut up, Chaos Barbie."

"Make me, Dollar Store Lex Luthor."

Lilly groaned. "I swear to god I will duct tape your mouths shut."

Sam touched Lilly's shoulder, grounding her. "Let her talk."

Maya nodded, her voice suddenly sharp, surgical. "There's a frequency. Buried beneath encrypted comms the Woman in White uses to trigger her tech. She built it with a backdoor."

Sam blinked. "You can hack it?"

"I can trap her in it."

Ava tilted her head. "You're suggesting a digital cage."

"Not just digital" Maya's grin was feral "Neural we bait her in, fry the tech, scramble her mind."

Lilly narrowed her eyes. "That's... twisted."

"It's justice."

A moment passed.

Then Maya added, almost too casually: "But we need Ava."

Everyone turned to look at her.

Ava raised a brow. "I'm flattered."

"You shouldn't be," Maya replied. "You're the only one who's ever gotten close enough to her to plant the device."

Lilly stiffened. "What?"

"Yeah," Ava said, licking her bottom lip "Didn't I mention? We go way back."

"How far back?"

"Oh," Ava purred, eyes meeting Lilly's. "All the way to Havana."

The air went razor-sharp.

"You knew who she was," Lilly said, voice barely above a whisper.

Ava didn't deny it.

"You've known this whole time."

A slow shrug. "I was protecting you."

"You lied to me."

"I do that," Ava said, smile brittle, "especially when the truth is ugly."

Sam stepped forward, voice low, warning "Ava. Tell her what else."

Ava hesitated.

Maya smirked, like she'd been waiting for this moment her whole life "Oh, she hasn't told you?"

Lilly's stomach dropped. "Told me what?"

Ava looked at her then, really looked—like someone about to slit their own throat with a secret.

"She wasn't supposed to survive," Ava said. "The Woman in White. After Havana... I was ordered to kill her."

"And?"

"I didn't."

Lilly's world cracked. "Why not?"

"Because..." Ava paused. "Because she was useful."

The room spun her pulse thundered in her ears betrayal bloomed in her chest like shrapnel.

"You let her live you knew what she'd become."

"I didn't think she'd come for you."

"Bullshit!" Lilly's voice shattered the room. "You played me, you used me you made me kill her brother, and then let her turn into this monster, and now you're dragging us all back into your mess—

Ava flinched.

And for the first time, didn't have a comeback.

Sam stepped between them, tension radiating off her like wildfire "Enough we deal with this later."

But Lilly's eyes never left Ava.

"You're not doing this for justice," she whispered "You're doing this to clean up your own sins."

Ava turned away.

And for the first time, Lilly wasn't sure if she ever wanted her to turn back.