Stasis

“Look alive,” Ana shouted from the back of the ambulance. “Another emergency just came through.”

Red reached up and turned on the sirens. “Where to?”

“Near the stadium.” From the passenger seat, Verona pulled up a map on the dashboard. “Rush hour traffic on the highway.”

Red smirked and veered towards the on-ramp. “That’s what I’m here for.”

Ana braced herself. “Make sure we get there in one piece, please.”

Up ahead, traffic had come to a complete halt. Red gripped the steering wheel tighter and sped up, his eyes beginning to glow. In an instant, the entire ambulance became translucent. They continued through traffic, barely visible to the cars around them as they passed through each of them. Red took deep, measured breaths to maintain focus.

It was an odd sensation, and had taken Ana a while to get used to. Red’s ability let him manipulate the particles in his body to phase through objects. After years of intense training in med school, he extended his range to the size of an ambulance, letting them bypass traffic in an emergency. Ana enjoyed catching a glimpse of people’s lives as they passed through the different cars; kids coming from school, friends on a vacation, businessmen after a long workday. To the other cars, they were just a brief flash of light in their peripherals.

“Two minutes,” Verona glanced back at Ana.

Ana nodded and re-read the details on her tablet. “Multiple reports of injuries from a building fire. One in critical condition with third-degree burns. A mage in his thirties.”

“Here!” Red brought the ambulance to a screeching halt behind a line of firetrucks and squad cars. He loosened his grip on the steering wheel and worked to catch his breath.

“Good work, champ. We’ll take it from here.” Ana grabbed the medical bag and leapt from the back of the doors, Verona close at her heels. Firefighters and water mages had put out most of the fire by now. Others tended to people with minor injuries. One mage spotted them and gestured towards one of the side streets.

The victim’s clothes were singed and his body covered in burns. A few people were already tending to him, but looked relieved to see Ana. Ana dropped down next to them. “Hello sir, I’m an EMT. Can you tell me your name?”

“Felix…” He shivered nonstop and struggled to keep his eyes open.

Ana nodded to the others. “We’ll take it from here.”

Verona joined Ana on the ground. “Ok, Felix, stay with me now,” she said in her soothing voice. She glanced at Ana, who placed her left pointer finger against his chest. Verona continued, “You’re gonna feel a sharp sting for just a second.”

Golden light emerged from the watch tattooed on Ana’s wrist. The hour hand spun around until it pointed directly down her hand towards Felix’s heart. “One hour.” The arrow extended in a sudden flash, striking Felix through the chest before disappearing. He flinched then went still. In reality, his movements had been reduced to 1/3600 of an hour. What would normally take one second now took the equivalent of one hour. Ana immediately started dressing his wounds.

Verona’s hands glowed a red color as she traced her fingers over his body with slow, deliberate movements. The burns began healing and the pain on Felix’s face slowly subsided.

“Cell reconstruction is amazing,” Ana breathed. It never ceased to impress her every time she saw it in action.

“He’s stable for now. Let’s get him into the ambulance.”

Red had already pulled the gurney from the ambulance and rushed over to them.

—

Ana loved being an EMT, as demanding as it was. Ever since leaving her old life behind to follow the straight and narrow, she had used her ability to give others—and herself—a second chance at life.

Back at the station, Ana plopped down onto one of the couches in the lounge area. “What a night.” She shot Red a knowing look. “Surprised you could keep up.”

Red kicked his feet up on the recliner. “Meaning what exactly?”

“You were gasping like a fish out of water all night” she teased.

“Sorry, I was too busy controlling the very fabric of space itself.”

“Because time dilation is such a walk in the park.”

“You both could use some stamina training.” Verona walked in and dropped a bag of food on the counter. “Also, pretty sure cell reconstruction has both of you beat.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Red conceded.

Ana smiled. “We make a pretty good team.”

Ana had only known Red and Verona for a few years, but she couldn’t imagine a life without them. They ate while reminiscing over some of their past calls: the aftermath of a young lycan mage who’d gone on a rampage; an ice wielder who accidentally froze themself and their friends in a lake while swimming; two aerial mages on drugs who raced through restricted airspace and crashed through a skyscraper’s windows.

“Don’t they know how dangerous those enhancements are?” Red shook his head.

“Especially when they don’t have full control of their abilities yet,” Verona added.

Ana subconsciously placed a hand on her side, over a scar she’d gotten from a particularly violent interaction during her days in a magic gang. An infamous blacksmith who sold illegal magic enhancement drugs on the Dark Trade decided to become the supplier for their rival gang, and the boss had sent Ana to put a stop to it. Only one of them walked away that night. Ana shook her head to bring herself back to the present, forever grateful to be out of that life.

The conversation was cut short as another call came in. They jumped into action. From the ambulance, Verona pulled up the information. “Male, twenties, major chest pain.”

“Nothing the three of us can’t handle,” Red said. “Three minutes.”

It was just after 2AM, but the city was eerily empty. A chill ran up Ana’s spine that she couldn’t explain. But this wasn’t the time to panic. She jumped out as soon as they came to stop. A man in a hoodie laid motionless on the ground a distance away. The streets were completely empty. The man stirred as Ana knelt down next to him.

“Sir, we’re from the hospital. Just hold tight and we’ll help you out. Can you tell me what–”

The glint from the streetlights reflected off the gun as he pulled it from his pocket. Ana put her hands up slowly as the man dropped his hood, a smug smile on his face. “Long time no see, Analog.”

He didn’t look familiar in the slightest, but there was only one group of people who ever called her that. “You’re with Time,” she whispered.

“The hospitals here are pretty slow. Low on teleportation mages or something? I was lying there for ages.” He stood up and brushed himself off, keeping the gun pointed at Ana. “The name’s Sunadokei, by the way.”

“Sunadokei. As in ‘hourglass’?”

“You know your languages.” He looked impressed. “But Suna’s fine. You probably don’t recognize me anyways. I was still a lowly scrub when you abandoned the org. Nice to finally meet the legendary Analog.”

Ana had spent the last few years running from that part of her history. She had finally escaped that life. Her heart beat loud and fast, and only then did she realize how quiet the world had gotten. Behind her, Red made it to the back of the ambulance, about to pull out the gurney. Verona made it halfway to Ana, frozen mid-stride. “You stopped time.”

“Pretty cool, right?” Suna rolled down his sleeve, revealing an hourglass tattoo under his palm. It glowed gold, the sand moving steadily from one side to the other. “30 seconds before time goes back to normal.”

Ana couldn’t use her ability on Suna, since time mages were immune to the effects of time magic. She still would have had the upperhand, had she not been staring down the barrel of a gun.

“How did you find me?”

“You really thought you could just walk away?” Suna chuckled. “Father sent me here with a message. Despite your betrayal, he wants you to come back.”

“Why the hell would–”

Ana was no stranger to the sound of gunshots. She’d spent her teenage years dodging as many bullets as she fired. At point blank, all she could do was close her eyes. She just wished she could have lived a longer life with the other two.

But the pain never came. Was death supposed to be painless?

“Hey, my aim’s pretty good.”

Ana opened her eyes and examined herself. Nothing. Suna stood there with his stupid grin. Ana looked back and her heart dropped. Bullets hung in the air in front of Verona and Red, split seconds before making contact. Their expressions remained unchanged, unaware of the danger they were about to be in.

“A real game changer once I learned to control individual objects within my space.”

“What the fuck?”

“ You can’t outrun Time. Sincerely yours, Father.’ ”

Ana had nearly forgotten the cruelty of Time’s boss. “This has nothing to do with them!”

“In case you had any reservations.”

“Bastard!” Ana lunged towards him, but stopped when he trained the barrel at her forehead.

“You’ve gone soft, Analog. To think I used to look up to you. Personally, I think Time’s outgrown you, and this should have been an elimination mission instead. But Father still sees some use for you. So either way, you’re coming back with me.”

Ana’s blood boiled, and she wanted nothing more than to see the light leave Suna’s eyes and wipe that smug look from his face forever. “Over my dead body.”

“I’ll give you some time to think about it. Best not to try anything stupid in the meantime.” Suna slowly backed away, pulling up his hood. “I used to look up to you, Analog. We all did.” He took off.

Ana gritted her teeth. Had she really gone soft? It took all her willpower not to go chasing after him, but the screams brought her back to her senses. The bullets had hit their targets. Verona crumpled to the ground, arms around her stomach. Red was slumped against the floor of the ambulance.

“Shit shit shit.” Ana ran first to Verona. Light emitted from her shaky hands, but it was faint.

“What…”

“You’re gonna be ok.” Ana placed a finger over Verona’s heart, but she grabbed her hand.

“Just…the minute…” She took a long, raspy breath. “Red needs the hour.”

Ana nodded, fighting back tears. “One minute.” The hands on her watch glowed as she fired the minute arrow. She scrambled her way to Red. His pulse was faint and breathing shallow. Blood soaked his back and streamed down his limp arms. “Hang in there, champ.”

Red’s eyes fluttered open, but they were unfocused. Ana fired the hour arrow and the bleeding slowed. She quickly dressed the wounds before working to get him into the ambulance. She struggled to get a good grip, her hands and clothes slick with his blood. She paused to catch her breath and to fire another minute arrow at Verona, still on the ground. The light from her hands flickered. For once, time was not on Ana’s side.

After a few more grueling moments, and several more rounds of minutes for Verona, Ana secured Red in the emergency bed and ran back to Verona. Her wounds had closed slightly, but the light from her hands was quickly fading. “Stay with me, Verona.” Ana gently shook her shoulder. Her eyes remained closed, but the light returned.

Ana’s muscles ached and her chest tightened. She hadn’t used this much magic in years. She pushed through the pain and fired another arrow before carefully lifting Verona. She secured her into the backseat, shaking her shoulder again. “Come on girl, don’t stop now.” Ana did her best to imitate Verona’s soothing voice. “Remember, cell construction has us all beat.”

A smile appeared at the corner of Verona’s mouth, quickly replaced with a grimace. “I’m ok…just need…keep healing…”

“That’s it, just keep healing.”

Ana jumped into the driver’s seat, drenched in sweat and covered in blood. Her hands shook as she fumbled to get the keys into the ignition. She turned on the sirens and sped off towards the hospital.

No one was going to die on her watch.

—

Ana was fifteen when she saw her first death, and lost the only true friend she’d had. A mission gone wrong, due to her own misjudgment. To make matters worse, her friend had been the previous Father’s granddaughter. The boss hated Ana all the way to his deathbed, evidenced by years of sending Ana on countless missions that she was never meant to return from alive. After his death, the succeeding Father made her an admin when she turned eighteen, impressed by her resilience in completing and surviving all those missions. Sometimes she wished she hadn’t. She'd spent the following five years plotting her escape.

You can’t outrun Time.

Ana couldn’t stop replaying the events from that night. Suna’s message from Father had echoed in her head for the past week. No one simply walked away from an organization like Time. Leaving was more difficult than even her most dangerous of missions. She had crossed an entire ocean and they still found her. Just when she thought she could lead a normal life.

“I’m glad you weren’t hit, otherwise we wouldn’t have had a fighting chance.” Verona’s face twisted in pain as she shifted in her wheelchair. She put her hand against her torso.

“Try not to move so much,” Ana said as they continued towards the ICU. Verona had managed to stay conscious for the drive back to the hospital, using her ability to start the healing. Her operation had only taken a few hours, and she could mostly function again as of this morning.

They stopped in front of the ICU viewing area where Red was deep in a coma, hooked up to numerous machines and clinging to life.

“It was so strange,” Verona said quietly, “I didn’t even see where the bullets came from.”

Ana stared at her reflection in the glass. “Yeah.” Guilt flooded her, but there was no way she could ever reveal the full extent of what happened. The station had been dealing with technical issues during that time and said they never dispatched any EMTS that night. Ana guessed other Time lackeys must have interfered somehow. Ana’s cover story described it as a case of mistaken identity; being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ana knew firsthand the only crime worse than defecting, in the eyes of Time, was snitching.

“He’s tougher than you think.” Verona smiled softly and closed her eyes. “Still, I don’t know what we would have done without you.”

Lived a more peaceful life, Ana thought.

Father still sees some use for you.

There was no telling how many more people Father would send her way. Running away again would never work. Organizations like Time had impossible exit costs. But saying ‘no’ was a death sentence in itself. One way or another, Ana would get her life back.

A quiet filled the space, interrupted by the rhythmic beeps of hospital machinery. Red’s chest rose and fell ever so slightly. Ana put a hand to the glass. Had she really gone soft after all these years?

“Ana?”

“Hm?”

Verona gave her a concerned look. “I said, we should get some rest.”

“You’re right.” Ana took one last glance at Red and started back to Verona’s room.

“You’ve been in your head all day. What’s up?”

Ana let out a long sigh. “It’s…been a long week.”

They walked the rest of the way in silence. Outside, the sun hung close to the horizon, the final rays of the day creating dancing shadows on the walls. Ana never believed in karma, but she’d been foolish to think the universe would suddenly forgive and forget her muddied past, despite the years spent cleaning her record. And she was an even bigger fool for thinking she could simply run away from it.

Back at Verona’s room, Ana helped her into the bed.

“It’ll be a while before the Dream Team’s back to work. What’ll you do until then?”

Ana thought for a moment. “I think I’ll take a little vacation. Might even reach out to some old friends of mine.”

“As long as you use this time off to rest. Doctor’s orders.”

“Speak for yourself,” Ana laughed, “cell reconstruction is no walk in the park.” She grabbed her bag. “Need anything else before I go?”

“I’m all set. And Ana, don’t be so hard on yourself. You did your best.”

Ana waved her hand dismissively. “Nothing compared to some of the other stuff we’ve dealt with–”

Verona’s face turned serious. “You’d let me know if something was bothering you, right?”

Ana bit the inside of her cheek. “Of course I would.” Verona could read people like an open book. Maybe it came with her ability to tune into body language on the molecular level. Regardless, the less she knew, the better.

Verona seemed unconvinced, but didn’t press. She reached out and placed a hand on Ana’s arm. “Promise you’ll take care of yourself, ok?”

You can’t outrun Time.

Ana mustered up her most reassuring smile, squeezing Verona’s hand for what could very well be the last time. “You too, Verona.”

Verona smiled back and settled under the covers. “Keep me updated on this vacation of yours. I’m sure Red will want to hear about it too.”

“I’ll tell you both about it when I get back.” Ana walked to the door and glanced back. “That’s a promise.”