(AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN…) ROUND AND ROUND WE GO II

The first thing Taylor did after resetting was sit very, very still, mostly because the memory of pulling the trigger still felt lodged somewhere deep inside her head, intense enough that moving too quickly made her stomach twist unpleasantly. She could still remember the pressure of the barrel against her skin, the deafening crack afterward, and the strange instant of nothing that had followed.

But honestly, she still preferred being shot to burning alive.

That was probably a horrible conclusion to arrive at as a person, but at this point Taylor felt she had earned the right to rank traumatic deaths however she wanted.

After a few long breaths, she pushed herself upright and started moving before she could think too hard about any of it. This time, she already knew where Lung was, and that alone made things easier.

The walk back through ABB territory felt shorter now that she had an actual destination in mind, though the neighborhood remained just as tense as before. People noticed her again almost immediately, and judging by several openly baffled stares, at least a few of them had figured out her destination. Either way, Taylor ignored them and kept walking.

Eventually, she reached the building.

Two men near the entrance straightened the moment they saw her approaching, confusion flashing across their faces so openly that Taylor almost laughed. One of them even glanced behind himself briefly, like he expected someone else to appear and explain why a skinny white girl had come to the building Lung was in.

Still, neither man stopped her quickly enough.

By the time they started moving properly, Taylor had already slipped past them and entered the room beyond.

Upon sighting her, several armed men turned toward her all at once, expressions ranging from suspicion to outright disbelief. A few started forward instinctively, hands moving toward weapons, while others just stared at her like she had materialized out of thin air.

At the center of it all sat Lung.

He looked exactly the same as before, massive frame relaxed against his chair, dark eyes fixed on her with enough intensity to make the room feel smaller around them.

Then he raised one hand, and everything stopped.

The effect was immediate enough that Taylor felt it more than saw it. The men who had been moving toward her halted without hesitation, attention snapping back toward Lung as silence settled heavily across the room.

And there it was, the presence she had expected the first time.

It rolled off him now in a way that made the air itself feel heavier, something hot and predatory sitting beneath the surface calm. Taylor suddenly understood, very clearly, why people feared him.

“What are you doing here?”

His voice reverberated through the room, loud and rough enough that several nearby men visibly straightened at the sound alone.

Taylor considered the truth for about half a second, then she remembered getting burned alive.

Yeah, no.

“I’m here to join the ABB,” she announced.

A few heads turned back toward her so sharply it almost looked painful.

Taylor kept her face completely straight despite the fact that the sentence sounded ridiculous even to her own ears. Still, it technically made sense. If she could not get the information from Lung directly, maybe getting close to him another way would work better.

Honestly, at this point she was willing to try almost anything.

Lung stared at her. Then:

“No.”

Taylor blinked.

Well, that was fast.

“Why?” she asked.

Lung looked at her for a long moment without speaking, and somehow that expression alone conveyed everything clearly enough.

Taylor glanced down at herself.

“…Seriously?”

Nobody answered.

She frowned slightly. “You’re going to discriminate against me? For shame.”

Several of the ABB members looked deeply uncomfortable all of a sudden. One man actually lowered his head into his hand like he physically could not bear witnessing this conversation anymore.

Lung’s expression darkened, then fire exploded toward her.

Taylor had just enough time to think oh come on before the flames swallowed everything.