Thanatos stood in the bathroom mirror with its hands upon its hips. It wore Iris' body; those were her hands perched upon her hips, and that was her face staring back at her.

But it wasn't her smile.

Iris ran. She ran through the door into the barracks corridors; she ran down the hallway to her room through the dim twilight of the overhead lighting; she ran through her door and into the safety of her room.

Thanatos was there, standing in the centre of the room with hands on hips, just as it had been in the bathroom mirror.

"You can't get away from me," it said, a sneer infecting its borrowed voice.

Either this was a horrible dream, or Iris was going mad.

"Only so far as everything is a dream," Thanatos replied. It chuckled in self-satisfaction.

Iris sighed. It figured that it would be able to read her thoughts.

"What do you want?" she asked.

Thanatos rolled its eyes. "Always the pushover. Can't get away from me, so satisfying me is the next best option." It clambered onto the desk and lay down on it awkwardly with limbs in all directions, Iris' borrowed hair trailing down the side. "Don't know how you can put up with it. If I were you, I'd have killed Willow by now. And Harry."

Iris frowned. "What's wrong with Harry?"

"Going behind our back to Dad. Or did you forget?"

She hadn't.

"When are you going to visit him, anyway?"

Iris asked again: "What do you want?" All concern about the time of night was gone; she was on the verge of yelling.

Suddenly, Thanatos was off the desk, standing right by Iris' shoulder. It hadn't moved, exactly; it was as though Iris had blinked herself into a different reality, one where this weird echo in her mind was up close and personal in her space. She shuddered.

"I want you to stand up for us," it said. Its breath was hot against Iris' ear. "I want you to tell Searl to fuck himself. I want you to tell Willow to fuck off. I want you to tell Amanita to fuck you."

Thanatos grabbed her by the waist. Iris yelped; its nails dug into Iris' belly like tiny knives, poised to tear her open at a moment's notice.

"And I know you want to do all of that, so I want you to tell me what's the fucking problem!"

This was a nightmare, Iris told herself. Any moment now, she was going to wake up. Right?

"Honestly, you shouldn't even be here! You're only here because you couldn't say no to Doctor Klein!"

She was going to wake up. She was going to wake up. She had to…

"I'm only here because of your own pathetic—"

Iris rolled out of bed, groggy, but awake, the memories of the night before already fuzzy in her mind. She'd fallen asleep in her clothes, apparently; she stripped them off quickly, rubbing her body to try to ease some of the aches in her muscles. She washed away the bitter taste in her mouth with a quick glass of water before throwing her exercise clothes on and walking out of the door.

Her legs were exhausted, for some reason, but there was nothing like a morning run to shake the cobwebs off. It was a slow start, but she soon got into the rhythm of it, taking a long, circuitous route around the barracks floor, keeping her mind occupied with counting the number of bright green floor tiles she passed on the way. She could feel the blood pumping in her veins, the burn hitting her lungs and her thighs. It was her natural state of being.

Soon, her strange experience last night was as distant as a dream.

The rest of the day didn't pan out eventfully. Iris spent most of it sitting in a break room on the main operational floor of the base; close enough to where she might be needed, but free to spend the whole time listening to the radio and filling up on coffee and digestive biscuits. It suited her fine: she could use a break from giant monsters, awkward interpersonal bullshit, inscrutable military scientists and… whatever else was going on for her. Not to mention from Willow.

In fact, she decided, what she really needed was a girls' night.

She accosted Amanita on the way to dinner. "You like movies, right?"

Amanita was wearing a lavender hoodie and jeans; the hood was up, but still, it wasn't hard to recognise her, even from behind. Nobody else would wear that here.

She stopped walking, and turned to face Iris. "Yes?"

Iris smiled. "You've got that big screen, too."

Amanita nodded.

"Let's have a movie night."

Amanita blinked; apparently Iris had caught her off-guard. "A movie night?"

"A movie night," Iris repeated. "You know, we'll get together, watch some films." Surely Amanita knew what that was?

Apparently, she did. "What would we watch?"

Iris shrugged; she wasn't really the right person to ask. "Two or three films, nothing too… confusing? Just some fun stuff, you know."

Amanita pondered for a while; Iris could almost hear the mechanisms running behind her eyes.

"I have some ideas," she said eventually.

Iris beamed. This was going to be fun!

"Great!" she said. "Let's start at 8?"

With that, she rushed off to dinner.

Iris knocked on Amanita's door with a smile on her face. She'd already changed into pyjamas — she was feeling like being cosy tonight, though she had picked out a pretty nice set to wear — and had brought with her a couple bumper-sized bags of crisps. She had to wait in the hallway for a minute or two before the door opened.

It was Willow.

"Iris," she said flatly, gazing out of the gap in the door with a totally unreadable expression. Her voice lacked its usual hostility, but it still wasn't exactly the sweetest sound Iris could have heard. Unlike Iris, she was still dressed for the day, wearing a grey skirt embroidered with flowers and an off-white blouse. "Amanita's just off sorting snacks. Come in."

Iris sighed inwardly as she stepped over the threshold of the door. Why was Willow here? Since when did she care about Amanita or Iris? Was this some weird scheme to ingratiate herself more to the two of them?

She pushed those thoughts aside. She could still make a good go of this, after all.

The last time Iris was here, Amanita's room had been a mess. Since then, it had transformed completely. It was tidy. The bed was made. There were no stray clothes or ramen packets anywhere. In fact, the only thing that still made it feel like Amanita was actually living there was the makeshift sofa built from beanbags that sat opposite the large monitor on the desk.

Though that was new, too.

"Look, I…" Willow began awkwardly. "I know we don't always get on, but…"

Oh no. This was a peace offering.

"But I was hoping we could put some of that behind us."

The voice was Willow's, but the words didn't fit her at all. Iris was taken aback by it; the only explanation she could think of was that Willow had some ulterior motive.

On the other hand, even a fake peace could be nice.

"Sure," she replied, against her better judgement. Hopefully she wouldn't come to regret it.

The door swung open again as Amanita came into the room carrying two large bowls of popcorn. She was wearing pyjamas too, and though they were just her normal sleepwear that Iris had seen before, she somehow managed to look even more cosy. The warm, greasy smell of oil drifted in behind her; Iris wrinkled her nose reflexively, but she did appreciate the thought.

"Hi," Amanita said.

"Hey," Iris replied, smiling slightly; her apprehension melted away like snow in spring. Sure, it wasn't going to be the one-on-one girls' night she'd been hoping for, but she almost didn't care. Willow seemed to genuinely want to have a good time, so maybe this could be the start of a new leaf for them.

Plus, a third wheel sort of took the pressure off…

Apricot Jam (2033), dir. Paulette Halley

Screwball romantic comedy. Office worker Theresa (Renée Franklin) has a breakdown at work and is sent to a mental institution where she meets fellow inmate and schizophrenic Bobbi (Fiona Fox). The two patients quickly become close, starting a budding romance despite the interference of overbearing orderly Miller (Marcus Howe) and Bobbi's uncle James (Thomas Lee).

"Okay, but let's be clear," Willow said. She had the tone of someone speaking with completely unearned authority. "Bobbi was nuts, and not just because of the voices in her head. Like, what did she even see in Theresa?"

Amanita shrugged. "I liked Theresa."

"How could you like Theresa more than Bobbi?"

"Wait a moment," Iris cut in. "Didn't you just say Bobbi was crazy?"

Willow crossed her arms in front of her. "Just because someone's crazy, doesn't mean I can't admire them."

Iris pondered that idea for a moment.

"I liked Bobbi," she admitted. "I liked the bit where Bobbi played a prank on the nurse guy—"

"Miller," Amanita supplied.

"Yeah, Miller. The prank where—"

"Technically," Willow interjected, "he's an orderly, not a nurse."

"—where they redecorated his room to have pictures of clowns all over."

Willow grinned. "Yes!"

Amanita looked thoughtful. "Do you think they knew he had a phobia?"

Iris shrugged.

"I hope so," Willow said. "It makes it so much better."

The Seas Are Unkind Now (2040), dir. James Wu

Post-apocalyptic action film. In a world ravaged by floods and mutant sea monsters, nomadic sailor Frank (Arthur Truman) comes across a woman floating in the Atlantic (Yvette Georges). Chased by a gang of futuristic pirates led by the mysterious Blackbeard (Ed Lehrer), the pair race to find a treasure left behind by reclusive billionaire Simon Hooper (himself, archival footage and deepfakes).

"I don't get these kinds of stories," Iris admitted.

"Why not?" Amanita replied curiously.

"Hm." Iris took a crisp from the bag. She looked at it in her fingers thoughtfully, finding herself following the cracks and speckles and crevasses that decorated the surface of potato matter. "I mean, why were they even looking for the treasure? It's a post-apocalyptic society, do they even need money?"

Willow snorted derisively. "You always need money."

"Everything's free here in the base," Amanita pointed out.

"Yes," Willow said, "but it's not like they don't get anything from us in return."

"But like," Iris continued, "why were the pirates just acting like, well, pirates?"

"Partying like it's 1699?" Willow retorted playfully. "Why not?"

Iris giggled despite herself. "I mean, there are giant monsters roaming the Earth," she replied. "Doesn't that solve the whole food problem? Why fight when you can eat Nessie?"

"There are giant monsters roaming the Earth right now," Willow replied darkly.

Amanita left to go fetch more snacks; it turns out three teenaged girls could demolish quite a bit. As she left, Iris felt the tension between her and Willow reappear like an old friend, like the relaxation from before had been, on some level, an illusion. She looked deathly serious in the dim light of Amanita's bedroom, and her eyes bore into Iris' skull like a drill.

"Iris," she said. "We should talk."

A truce and a casual hangout were one thing. But Iris wasn't sure she was exactly prepared for a serious conversation with Willow just yet. She answered anyway.

"About what?"

Willow sighed. "About the Aberrants," she said, as thought that was obvious.

Iris responded with a quizzical look. What about them?

"They're not what we're being told," Willow continued. "They're…"

"They're what?" Iris asked.

"They're human."

If not for the seriousness of Willow's tone, Iris would've assumed it was some kind of sick joke. The Aberrants were unthinking monsters; how could they possibly be human?

"What do you mean, human?" she asked.

Willow sighed. "I mean, they used to be people. Something happened to them, and…"

Iris felt Willow's words fade away into a cloud around her.

"That's ridiculous."

"What do you mean?"

"They're not human. That's just stupid."

Willow bristled. "You don't get to call me stupid."

"I do if you're being stupid."

SLAP!

Iris blinked. Her cheek stung. Had Willow just hit her? She looked pissed.

"Is everything okay?"

Amanita stood in the doorway holding a fresh bowl of popcorn, expression as blank as ever. When had she gotten back?

"Sorry," Iris said automatically. "I was being an idiot."

Willow folded her arms in front of her, her expression telegraphing clearly that the conversation was not remotely over. But the apology seemed to satisfy her for now.

"She was," she said. "But it's fine now. How are you so calm?"

Amanita shrugged. "Probably the medicine."

"What, diazepam?" Willow retorted.

Amanita nodded. Wait, was she really—

"Shit," Willow blurted out. "You're actually on tranquillisers?"

"Yes."

"Uh, maybe we shouldn't—" Iris began.

"Wish they'd give me tranquillisers. They tried me on fluoxetine for a bit."

Iris blinked. Was she the only one here not on psychoactive medication? All she'd ever had was things like birth control and the odd paracetamol.

She felt weirdly left out.

Invasion (2031), dir. Brandon Bennett

In this horror-inflected surrealist political thriller, DOD agent Paul Connor (David Duquesne) discovers a conspiracy to replace government officials with alien replicas. Daniel Craig plays an ageing British ambassador to the UN.

"That was… weird," Iris admitted.

"Too right," Willow agreed. "What was even going on there?"

"They're all like that," Amanita said, the barest hint of apology in her voice.

Maybe Iris was imagining that.

"All?" Willow echoed.

"All Bennett films," Amanita explained. "He likes to play around with genre and paranoia."

Willow smirked slightly. "Sounds fun. Maybe I should watch some more of his films, then."

Iris wasn't so sure. She had enough paranoia in her life already.

It was late, almost 1 in the morning, by the time things started to wrap up. Willow left almost immediately, but Iris stayed behind in Amanita's room. It hadn't been nearly as bad a night as she'd been afraid of — Willow was actually capable of being pleasant when she wanted to, it had turned out — but still, she wanted the one-on-one time with Amanita that she'd been hoping for. And so, she stayed behind, and helped Amanita clear up a little.

"This was fun," she said, discarded crisp packet in hand.

Amanita nodded. "Yeah." She held out the bin for Iris, and Iris dropped the packaging in it. She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Maybe we should do it again."

Iris smiled shyly. "That'd be good. I… I like spending time with you."

Amanita looked back at her blankly. But slowly, realisation dawned on her features. "I… like you too."

Iris blushed. She wasn't exactly practised at flirting; in fact, this was probably the first time she'd ever really tried. Ilwich hadn't really been a full social calendar for her, and before then she'd not really been old enough to have romance on her mind that much. Everything she'd read online had told her that it would just come naturally to you when you needed it. That was clearly bollocks: nothing was coming naturally to Iris at all. Her every word and movement felt clumsy and awkward and honestly, just weird.

She'd just have to be direct.

"You know," she tried, "you're really pretty."

Amanita stopped and looked at her.

"…thanks."

Iris' cheeks were burning; her heart was pounding; her hands were shaking.

"Can I…" Come on Iris, just say it… "Can I…" Fuck, why was this so hard? "Can I… kiss you?"

The last words came out almost as a whisper. But from Amanita's response, she heard it well enough.

"Okay." Her voice was almost a whisper.

Iris had never kissed anyone before. Not like this, at least; kissing her dad on the cheek didn't count. She walked up to Amanita, closer than she'd ever been before, and leant in. Her eyes were fixed on Amanita's lips. Her hand found Amanita's hip. She felt Amanita's breath on her cheek.

When they finally kissed, it felt like an explosion of colour.

Next time:

The last time we saw Iris' dad, he was being taken away in an ambulance after an Aberrant attack. By now Iris is long overdue for a visit, so she makes her way to the Royal Arms Hospital for a visit. But Harry Searl's been talking to him, about Thanatos. Who knows what he'll have to say…

Find out in the next exciting episode. Episode Ten: The Holy Family!