Location: Dorm Building

Time: 12:15 PM, 2/14/08

“It’s unfortunate, but I’m going to have to kill you girls as well now.”

Neither Olivia nor I knew how to respond to Kathrin’s casual comment.

“You see, Olivia, you were one of the potential targets from the beginning, so there’s no escaping that. And Emily, I can’t say I’m very concerned with you or your friends, but after what you’ve seen I can’t exactly let you live either. If any word got out it would ruin the whole plan.”

“Plan? What plan? I thought you were just trying to replace your sister?”

Having regained some composure, I managed to finally say something.

“Of course there’s a plan. I’m not some crazy woman who’d start killing for no reason.”

Could have fooled me.

“But unfortunately I’ve got no reason to discuss any of those details with you. Out of friendship I was willing to discuss some of my private motivations, but revealing anything else about what we’re going to do here would just be unprofessional.”

“We’re? Who else are you working with?”

Kathrin clicked her tongue in annoyance.

“See? This is why I have to kill you both.”

The space around me was engulfed in a pillar of fire. If I hadn’t already been on edge after watching her kill someone with a sneak attack earlier there’s no way I would have been able to dodge in time to avoid turning into a well done Emily.

While I was tumbling across the ground I noticed Olivia managed to dodge it as well.

So then, what next?

In an actual fight to the death against Kathrin, my odds of success were incredibly low. Unfortunately, not all of us came from a great lineage or had our genes artificially constructed. I’m just a girl with a supernatural power. It’s not even a convenient power.

So then, should I try to escape? I don’t really like my odds with that either, but at least I’d have a better chance.

If I ran Olivia and Ms. Kaldsen would be as good as dead though. Well, Ms. Kaldsen was already dead, right?

At some point during our brief conversation, her entire body was encased in a casket of crystalline ice. I’m not sure what that is about, but no one, except maybe an aberration, could survive a wound like the one she got.

Thinking about it, wouldn’t escaping while Ms. Kaldsen and Olivia get killed be an absolute win? I’d be given a hero’s welcome back at W. Getting a Kaldsen and an Oldridge taken out while also learning that the youngest Kaldsen was a lunatic? That would definitely help destabilize the current regime.

I don’t like it, but escaping on my own is the ideal move. I’d even have news to spread about Kathrin Kaldsen killing her own sister.

An image of Jaxon flashed in my mind.

Why did he do what he did? Why did he get himself branded as a criminal and a terrorist?

Because he knew it was the right thing to do. He wasn’t worried about the consequences or the chances of success. He was just acting true to his beliefs.

Then what about me? I wanted a better world. A world with real heroes. Not based on punishing evil, but based on protecting everyone. Even the people I don’t want to protect.

Isn’t that why I joined W? I wanted to help this city. If I threw away my ideals in order to advance W’s agenda aren’t I the world’s biggest hypocrite? I was just confused. I’m not a tool for W to use. W is my tool.

Stolen novel; please report.

Escaping is the ideal move? Not a chance. The smart move maybe, but it’s not ideal. At least not for me. The ideal situation is getting everyone out of this alive. If I can’t do that I’ll never be a hero. Why should I settle for anything less than that?

“Kathrin! Surrender. I won’t let you hurt anyone else!”

I tried my best to sound confident.

“I wasn’t looking for your permission in the first place!”

I figured.

It looked like Olivia was still shaking in fear. Not that I’d blame her. I couldn’t see her being overly helpful.

“Olivia, I’ll handle Kathrin. You take Ms. Kaldsen’s body and get out of here!”

“Ahaha, I like your bravery, but you’ll handle nothing.”

The air surrounding me started to heat up again. Before Kathrin’s fire could materialize, I swiped my hand across the clock on the wall behind me.

“Explosion!”

With the extra force generated by the explosion, I was able to gain enough speed to avoid Kathrin’s second round of attacks. As I was moving I grabbed the rest of the ball bearings in my pocket and threw them in Kathrin’s direction.

Without moving, she summoned a wall of fire in the ball bearings path. As they passed through, the metal was unceremoniously melted.

Exactly as I had expected.

“Explosion!”

Once it was close enough to Kathrin, I exploded the liquid metal that used to be the metal ball bearings.

Her body was cloaked in a fiery dress while she covered her face with her arms.

My attack seemed to cause minimal damage, but that’s fine. I wasn’t expecting it to work anyway.

Sure it would have been great if she could have just gotten taken out, like any reasonable person would from having an explosion happening a few feet from their face. But of course not. She had to be some kind of superhuman monster. I probably took more damage from my own attacks than she did.

It’s not like I’m bitter about it or anything.

“Wow! That one actually surprised me. I didn’t realize your augmentation would still work under those circumstances.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me!”

“Well, I don’t plan on making the same mistake twice.”

That’s exactly what I was counting on.

I started running through the dorm building, barely managing to avoid Kathrin’s flames while grabbing everything I could and throwing it in her direction. Nothing managed to get close to her. No matter what I threw, she burned it into nothing but smoke and ash.

She patiently followed behind me, leaving burning footsteps in her path.

[Alert. Participant Devesh Darnal has been eliminated. Critical injuries have been sustained. Medical attention is necessary.]

I didn’t have the time to worry about Devesh. It was probably just team four taking him out.

Even if he wasn’t fine, I had more than enough problems already. The condition of the building was, well, as you’d expect. The fire prevention system was doing its best, but there was no way it could keep up with the flurry of Kathrin’s attacks. Just her body alone was hot enough to catch the walls on fire as she walked.

“Listen, Emily, at first I thought you had something in mind. If this is all you’re capable of, I’m done playing with you. I’ll end this in an instant.”

She wasn’t joking, was she? She was deliberately attacking me in a way that allowed for back and forth. I wasn’t avoiding her attacks, she wasn’t trying to hit me in the first place.

That realization came with some serious damage to my pride, but that didn’t matter. I’d use whatever chance I could find.

“Not so fast, Kathrin Kaldsen! I’ve got you right where I want you!”

I struck the most dramatic pose I could as I pointed right at her. I’d make her regret playing around with me.

“You might have thought you were destroying everything I threw at you, but that was all part of the plan. This building is now full of the smoke and ash that those items became after you burned them.” I knelt down and wiped some of the dust off of the floorboards.

“If I were to say that word this entire building would be nothing but a smoking crater. Not to mention we’ve both been breathing in that smoke. We’re absolutely covered in it. No one would survive if I said the word, not even you.”

“Impossible.”

“It’s not. Don’t you remember what happened earlier? Just because you turned my ball bearings into a liquid it didn’t change the connection I had with them. Changing an item’s state doesn’t matter! Unless you destroy it down to its very atoms, my control over it will remain!”

“No, I don’t think that’s possible.”

“That’s what augmentations are, the impossible becoming possible! Now surrender, or I’ll say it!”

Kathrin stopped to think for a moment.

“No. You’re bluffing.”

Well of course I was, but she wasn't supposed to figure it out so quickly.

“The ball bearings may have melted, but the liquid all remained together as a single mass. The smoke in the air is different. There's just no way someone like you could maintain a connection with every individual particle. Besides, even if you could, I don’t think your augmentation is strong enough to explode that many things at once. Even under the perfect circumstances, I don’t think you could create an explosion big enough to destroy a building.”

Why did she have to know so much about me? If it wasn’t for our present circumstances I might actually think we were close friends.

“Then let’s see! Explosion!”