The only thing that ran through my mind as the current scenario unraveled in front of me was the diffusion of the situation. I had to get Remie out of here. Out of anyone, I had to keep him safe. This was bigger than my one-sided grudge against him.
“Nat…”
“I’m fine, Remie! Just leave! Remember what dad said! No superheroes—”
“I don’t like you, Remie Begnoll.” Todd said as his unamused gaze trained on Remie’s frame.
“You don’t like me? You’re the one with my big sister under your boot…” Remie said with a weak voice that was turning into a growl.
“Do you know what I do to people I don’t like?!” He grinded the heel of my boot against my cheek as Remie watched.
“Let her go…”
“I raze 'em to the ground!” He ran towards Remie and pointed his gun at him, while Remie in turn ran toward him.
“I said let her go!”
He didn’t listen. And because of that, I shut my eyes and turned away from the gunshots I heard. I didn’t want to see him get hurt…
And I didn’t.
When I opened my eyes, I saw Remie beating up the last member of the crew. He gripped onto the scruff of his shirt and laid into him punch after punch, with tears of rage welling in his eyes. When he saw me, he let go of the member and came running towards me. He held me in his arms and began to cry.
“I’m so sorry, Nat! I know what dad says about superheroes, but I couldn’t help myself! You were getting in w-with bad people a-and I didn’t want you to do something you’d regret. I should’ve known you were just scoping them out to fight them!”
“Yes…I totally meant to do that….” I simply said as I rubbed the back of his head.
“I’m such a bad son! I’m such a bad little brother!”
“No! You’re not bad at all! If anything, you’re the best thing that ever happened to us!”
This moment solidified it for me: my little brother was extraordinary. To be able to dodge those gunshots, beat someone like Todd, and then the rest of the gang is incredible. This extraordinary brother of mine wasn’t just good at being the perfect model citizen, he was the model human. A cut above the rest.
A cut above the rest that believed in me. So I have to believe in myself. From that point forward, I decided to believe in myself.
“You maggots are the sorriest, most pathetic, most lackadaisical generation of trainees I have ever met! I can already tell! You will be the hostages. You will be the nuisances. You will be the ones that the real counter terrorists will have to come and save—” Instructor Matthews stopped in his tracks and turned to face me.
“And what in God’s name are you supposed to be?”
I wore a black cloak with a hood that I let down to reveal myself. As I did, my black hair and red eyes became reflected in the sunlight. My lips were shaded a crimson red and I drew moles directly underneath my eyes.
“What am I?! I’m none other than the Shadow Queen, the femme fatale, the black death herself, Natalia Begnoll!” I struck a dynamic pose and gave a fearless smile to the man that was scaring me half to death.
But that was the path I chose…
===
My brother was an extraordinary child. Everything he did came to ease to him. That’s why I aimed so high. That’s why I decided to be a fraction of what my little bro expected of me. This is the path I chose…so I’ll unapologetically follow it!
“Create a darkness blacker than black! Overclock: Dark Void!”
Nellie
“These fights have been very interesting. This batch of trainees are more skillful than I anticipated. To be able to read such a drastic change in the battlefield and change to an all or nothing tactic like pursuing titled CTs…amazing. Truly amazing.” Commander Milton expressed his astonishment.
“W-well…they’re not as good as my royal guard did you know? Before the police were established, the royal guard kept the peace of the people! They’re the strongest might in Holia—”
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“Oh my God! What is that?!” I practically jumped across the table, microphone in hand, and pressed my face against the glass. At first, an entire dome of black encompassed a section of the battlefield. Afterwards, a bright light dispelled the black mass and—WAIT! What kind of reporter am I? I should be covering this!
“Ladies and gentlemen, I am seeing something never before seen in the cross zone finals! The very arena is getting absorbed—NO—devoured. Devoured by a singular black mass the size of the thread of a needle! Nothing can escape it! Not even the light around it is escaping! At this rate, the arena…and at this rate… the world will be swallowed—OH MY!” While I was narrating, the glass in front of the box we were in shattered and the glass flew towards this thing’s gravitational pull. Regardless, I kept reporting the news.
“I…I am now being pulled towards this gravitational entity along with all the trees, all the vegetation in the area! Will anyone stop this terror?!”
Therese
Tomi Shimamoto…she’s way stronger than I thought she’d be. She alone tipped the entire scale of my strategy. Not only that, but as the clock ticks, more and more people are entering this fight. It’s like an all-out hunt where I’m the prey—
All of a sudden, I tripped and tumbled. Several trainees tried to pounce on me from all sides, but I created a cage of wood to protect myself. I quickly expanded that cage to blow that group of pursuers away. When I viewed the source of my trip, I saw none other than a chunk of ice big enough to trip an unsuspecting runner, but small enough to go under their radar. I searched for where such an attack could come from and found exactly who I thought it was at a nearby cliff top.
“Don’t be scared, Ms. Cistra! You’re the one who foolishly set this stage without thinking of the repercussions. Did you seriously not think that the trainees would converge on a trainee with a monopoly on the regular badges?” It was Ori and her man Arno, looking down on me.
“On paper, anyone would—”
“Now I see why someone as dumb as him would stick by you…you like hearing yourself talk, little leech. And he just lets you run your mouth because it’s not like there’s anything better going through that head of his.”
The rest of my pursuers are gonna catch up soon. Should I use one of my other stematas?! Damn it! I wanted to keep them in my back pocket for the other days we have. The more info someone has on your stemata, the more of an advantage they have against you. If I reveal my hand this early, it’s like I’m giving these bastards the upper hand. Damn it! Just like a parasite to swoop in and reap whatever benefits they can.
“Go ahead. Use it…” Ori’s words cut through my very thoughts.
“What?”
“I know you’re dumb, but you’re not that dumb. You have something up your sleeve and I wanna see it. So be a dear and either hand over the badges, or show me this ace of yours before things get ugly.” She motioned with her hand to give her the badge, with her stupid boyfriend behind her nodding fervently.
Screw it. I’ll use one…no, maybe I should use all of them. That way, I can probably kill them right here and claim it was an accident. I’m a special case, after all.
Yeah, I’ll do it. I’ve got no choice, after all…
That’s when a miracle happened. Everything around the three of as started to warp as I looked at the source to my left. Trees, debris, the very ground itself was all fair game to this mysterious gravitational force. Immediately after, Nellie Ruth announced that some sort of black hole was created and threatened to swallow everything…
I couldn’t ask for a better distraction.
“Whoops!” I threw my basket towards the gravitational pull and uncoiled the wood holding all of the badges in one place. The badges then went flying towards whatever the hell was down there. I obviously kept a few for myself so I wouldn’t run the risk of failing.
After that, I quickly retreated to a section of the forest that hadn't been uprooted yet using my stemata. Good luck, parasites. I’m no longer your problem now!
Ori
Are you kidding me?! How is this situation getting so hectic? Isn’t that where Natalia was? What is she doing?!
“Ori! Arno! Where did Therese go?!”
Lo and behold, Rono shows up with his Derris, an army of trainees, some little girl and…a bearded man?
“Oh! This is Agathor!”
“I don’t remember asking, Rono!” The both of us were shouting over the sound of the world around us being pulled to the force. “Listen everyone, Therese threw the badge basket towards there! If we approach it though, we might die!” As soon as I said that, an uproar of agitation began to rise from the army of trainees.
“Are you kidding me?”
“How the hell are we supposed to pass now?!”
“I just wanna pass…”
“Looks like everyone’s losing faith. Aside from our friends, of course.” Arno gave a weak smile. I don’t know what else to tell them. The situation is wildly different now because of that huge force pulling everything in. I want to go over there, but if she really did summon a black hole, then we need to get away as far as…
Wait a minute…
“Everyone! Follow my lead if you want a chance at becoming a Counter Terrorist!”
“ORIIIII?!”
“NO WAY ARE WE FOLLOWING YOU!”
Almost in unison, both Arno and almost all of the trainees reacted to me jumping off of the cliff and immediately being pulled towards the possible black hole. Into the very jaws of death itself.