The Ninth Department's meeting room smelled like burnt coffee and sweat. Cloud Nine stumbled in one by one, their costumes shredded, smeared with soot, Warmonger's chaos still clinging to them.
Hermes was already standing by the door with Aphrodite, waiting.
"Rough day?" Hermes asked, though the question sounded weak even to him.
Eris shoved past him, tossing her cracked sword onto the table. "Don't start, Copy Cat. You saw the broadcast. You know exactly how it went."
Victorina collapsed into a chair, legs spread, tutu flopping like a deflated balloon. She fanned herself with a broken street sign she'd picked up as a souvenir.
"Girl, when I tell you that was hell? That was hell. Not the fun, drag-show-on-Saturday-night kind of hell either. The sweaty, losing-your-wig-in-public kind."
"...We tried," Vera muttered, slumping against the wall.
Her armor was dented, her black lipstick smudged, her dark unicorn gone.
