Chaos in the Aftermath

Cate had barely stepped back from Gale when the Supe started panicking.

“Starlight!”

It wasn’t joy. It wasn’t even relief. It was terror.

Cate’s gaze sharpened.

Gale was frantically looking around, grabbing for her burner phone, hands shaking just slightly, like the absence of that voice in her head had left her… hollow. Off balance. She wasn’t fighting anymore—but she also wasn’t sticking around.

Cate sighed.

“Jesus Christ. You’re welcome,” she muttered under her breath.

And then—chaos.

Someone stumbled into the bar, the door slamming against the wall as a half-drunk, barely upright woman in an FBSA jacket lurched forward.

She belched. Loudly.

Cate’s nose wrinkled in disgust. Wonderful. Just what this situation needed.

The woman—Timberly, apparently—slurred something completely incomprehensible, then loudly declared:

“Statpifht! Ypj qre i der arresr!”

And then she face-planted onto the floor.

Starlight blinked. Cate just… stared.

Timberly rolled onto her back.

And then vomited everywhere.

Silence.

Starlight pressed a very slow hand to her forehead. “What the actual fuck is happening?”

Gale, to her credit, moved instinctively, stepping forward to help the woman, even as her entire face screamed regret. Cate, meanwhile, had zero intention of getting anywhere near that mess.

She folded her arms, leaning against the table, watching as Gale cleaned vomit off a half-conscious disaster of a human being.

And then—the piss.

Cate saw the exact second Gale realized what had just happened.

Her whole body stiffened.

Her eye twitched.

For a second, Cate actually thought she was about to shock the woman out of sheer disgust.

Cate exhaled sharply, shaking her head. “Yeah, no. I’m done for the night.”

She turned to Starlight, arching a brow.

“Have fun with… this.”

And with that, Cate took a very deliberate step away from whatever fresh hell had just entered the bar.

Starlight, meanwhile, pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.

“Jesus Christ. I need a drink.”