Ayda returned to endlessly combing the hallways in search either of Dr. Vahlen or someone who would know where to find him. She didn't hold out much hope for the latter, though. Vahlen was clumsy, but not stupid. He wouldn't tell just anyone where he was going. Ayda would need to find someone very important if she wanted that information. Someone like...

There was an intersection up ahead where two hallways crisscrossed one another. Having long since abandoned running everywhere, Ayda approached it at a brisk walk. Were she not so focused on her goal, she would have easily heard the other footsteps approaching from the east. As it stood, however, she had no inkling of any other presence until they met in the center of the junction.

There, not even ten feet away, stood the General and the duo of troopers escorting him. Both parties froze in utter shock at encountering one another. Ayda couldn't believe her fortune. First the complete lack of patrolling soldiers, then finding Di'lan, and now this? Her plan couldn't possibly go any better!

Being an experienced military man, the General was the first person to come to his senses. Without warning, he took off down the hall, running away from both his men and aggressor. Everyone else realized his flight a moment after. The soldiers tried to raise their weapons at Ayda, but they were much too close. She cut them down with two separate motions, not even really trying. When the were dealt with, the chase was on.

If it could really be called that. It was hilarious just how much faster Ayda was than the old man. She caught up to him in a matter of seconds. Ayda tackled him to the ground. Limbs impossibly intertwined, they rolled across the floor a few times, but Ayda tucked all her weight in close to control the rotation. She came out on top. Immediately, she swung her leg around to transition into a top guard, straddling him at the waist. His feeble attempts to struggle meant nothing. Ayda pressed her staff laterally against his throat, just hard enough to hold him in place. He wheezed and flailed, desperate to get free, but to no avail.

"Where is Dr. Vahlen?" Ayda shouted at him.

"I don't—I don't know!" The General struggled to say through his constricted larynx. Ayda pressed down even harder.

"Tell me..." she menaced.

"I don't know, really!" The old man insisted. "He said something about saving his autopsy reports, but that was a while ago. He might still be in the operating room."

"There, see? Was that so hard?" Ayda mocked him. He commanded so much authority at any other time, but here under her thumb, he was just a helpless has-been.

"Don't hurt me, Twelve!" The General continued. "I know we did some bad things, but we were just following orders." Reduced to begging. He was pathetic.

"That's no excuse! The things you did—that you allowed to happen—were pure evil. A good man would've put a stop to it. There's just as much blood on your hands as Vahlen's." Ayda's face twisted in rage. She'd never been more disgusted in her life.

"I'm sorry, Twelve," the General made one final attempt to redeem himself. Ayda leaned down so their faces were inches apart. She whispered in his ear.

"Sorry isn't good enough anymore."

A twist of her staff broke his neck. His eyes went blank and head rolled limp. The General was dead.

Ayda took off like a fighter jet, making a b-line for the operating room. She propelled herself on little blasts at the bottoms of her feet, anything to increase her speed. Her spirit soared. She finally had a lead, even if Dr. Vahlen wasn't still there, she could at least get a bearing on his final destination. This was it, the culmination of everything she'd been working toward that day. She would finally have the revenge she so desperately needed.

Any opposition she met was dealt with post-haste, no matter the size of the patrol. There were still relatively few soldiers to deal with, but she did come across a few scattered groups. It was not far to the operating room. These few mindless rats would not stop her. No force on Earth could.

When finally the swinging double doors stood in front of her, Ayda picked up the pace even further. Her heart threatened to beat out of her chest. Everything so far led up to this moment. If Dr. Vahlen was not on the other side of those doors, she would have to start back at square one. She hated the notion.

Ayda bust through the precipice, and saw she needn't have feared. There, shuffling through papers on the counter at the other end of the room, stood the source of all her suffering; the man who'd caused her such anguish and terror over the past six years, the target of her unending hatred.

Dr. Vahlen whipped his whole body around the moment Ayda entered the room. A metal tray and a few miscellaneous instruments tumbled to the floor with loud clinks as he did. The Doctor looked upon her with big round eyes. His breaths were shallow. Ayda smiled. After all this time, the tables had turned.

"Twelve..." he breathed.

Ayda hadn't time for words. Too much anticipation welled up within her heart. She stepped toward him, malicious intent flaring in her brown eyes. She only made it a couple feet before Vahlen brandished a compact handgun at her. Ayda stopped in her tracks and held her staff up defensively at a diagonal slant, but not out of actual fear for the weapon.

"Stay back, Twelve! Don't make me use this." Vahlen threatened, even though his hand shook.

"Try it." Ayda returned with a cock of her head.

Vahlen pulled the trigger. Ayda's maneuver was perfect. She reflected the slug with a quick blast. The projectile made a U-turn and returned to its sender. Vaheln cried out in pain and dropped the gun, opting instead to clutch his right bicep. Blood stained his lab coat around the wound where the bullet had entered.

Ayda crossed the distance between them. Utterly defenseless, Vahlen made a desperate attempt to scurry around her and run out the door. She was running out of patience. Lazily, she intercepted him with a blast. Although only meant to destabilize, it sent him careening into the counter. He slumped onto his feet, visibly stunned. A bit more than she'd intended, but it would certainly do. Before Vahlen could properly regain his balance, Ayda put the tip of her staff against his neck as if it were a blade, effectively pinning him in place. He raised his hands in submission.

"Now, now, now, Twelve, why don't you take a moment to catch your breath, calm down, and then maybe we can—"

"Calm? You want me to be calm?" Ayda laughed. "That's hilarious!"

"Please, Twelve, you're not thinking clearly." Vahlen made another attempt to calm her.

"Oh, I've never been more sure about anything in my life!" She asserted. There came a short pause. Vahlen's eyes darted around, clearly looking for some sort of escape. Ayda couldn't stand the sight of him. "Y'know, I used to fantasize about what I would say to you in this moment, but now it all seems a bit pointless."

"That's good!" Vahlen nodded. "That's... that's good. Maybe if you lower your staff we can come to some sort of agreement?"

"Agreement? You tortured me every day for six years. I bled and cried for you. I murdered for you. And you think we can just end all this with an agreement?" Ayda couldn't believe her ears.

"Murder is such a strong word..." Vahlen trailed off.

"Eight, Twenty, Sixteen, Forty-two, Thirteen, Fifty, I killed all of them because you told me to. You never gave me a choice. Don't you dare try to justify it!" Ayda pressed her staff further into his neck, not to clarify some point, but because she wanted to hurt him, to make him feel at least some of the same pain.

"Okay, maybe I was wrong, but I did it all in the name of science—"

That was all Ayda could take. In a momentary loss of temper, she jabbed the wall behind him. Dr. Vahlen went flying across the room, smacking hard against the far wall. He crumpled to the ground, laying pathetically on his side. Before he could even think about leaving, Ayda walked over and kicked him onto his back. Again, she placed her staff against his neck.

"And that's not to mention my parents," she said. "Did you shoot all the other families, too? And what of the kids you killed? You have a lot to answer for."

"I never—"

"Don't play dumb!" Ayda smacked him across the face with her weapon. "You ordered all those deaths, which means you're just as responsible. What do you have to say for yourself."

"I'm..." Vahlen downcast his gaze. "Sorry. I'm sorry, Twelve."

Ayda shook her head. "Despicable." She looked him right in the eyes. "I already had one of your loyal underlings contract the U.S embassy in Tehran. They'll be here any minute to shut down your little operation. It's over, Cyrus. You lost."

"No..." This pathetic whimper was the only response he could manage. Where once was a proud and confident man lay one broken and defeated. When he spoke, his voice was surprisingly calm.

"I can't go to jail. A guy like me? I wouldn't last a day among real criminals." It almost sounded like he was speaking to himself.

"Real criminals?" Ayda raised an eyebrow. The sheer irony of that statement was the greatest joke she'd ever heard. "You still don't think you've done anything wrong. Well, don't worry. Jail is too good for you."

Ayda dropped her staff and hauled Vahlen up by his shirt. Forcibly, she slammed him down on the operating table before he had a chance to resist.

"Hey! What are you doing?" His energy returned to him all at once.

He tried his best to struggle, to scurry up off of the table. Ayda subdued him with a quick blast to the head. The Doctor, not accustomed to such pain, was stunned momentarily. Ayda took advantage of this to swiftly strap his wrists into the leather restraints he so often used against his test subjects. That done, she began toward the wall, and the lever placed ominously upon it.

"No! Ayda, wait!" The Doctor screamed. She stopped dead in her tracks.

"You know my name." She breathed, rounding on him. "All this time you knew my name and yet you still reduced me to a number instead?"

"It was meant to give you a sense of unity with the other test subjects and—"

"Bullshit!" She yelled. "You never cared about any of us. We were just tools to you, a means to an end."

"That's not true, you were all like family—"

"Shut up!" She cut him off again. "I'm through listening to your lies!"

Ayda walked over to the switch. Vahlen craned his neck around to follow her. She ran her fingers gently down the length of the device, teasing him with it, relishing in his terrified stare.

"I'm sure you remember this. Whenever you wanted to study us individually, you'd strap us to the table and turn on our implants with this, instead of using the observation chamber. I'm willing to bet you've never actually been shocked by it."

"Ayda, please, don't do this," the Good Doctor begged for mercy.

"No, you don't tell me what to do anymore!" Ayda shouted. She took a deep breath. "Before, I did whatever you said because I was scared. I saw what you did to the ones who disobeyed you, and I was afraid I'd end up like them. But now I'm calling the shots. Now that I'm the one who's in control, tell me, Dr. Vahlen. Which one of us is afraid now?"

She flipped the switch. Current consumed Dr. Vahlen's body. His back arched. His mouth opened in a silent wail. After a few seconds, his muscles relaxed a bit. Vahlen writhed in agony. His excruciating screams reverberated off the walls and spilled into the corridor outside. Everyone in the facility would be able to hear his cries.

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Ayda only stayed to watch him for a moment. The man she'd feared more than the devil himself; even in death, he was nothing but pathetic. She had no stomach to witness him wither and die. She left him to his fate, listening to his screams fade away as she walked down the hall.

When she was finally out of earshot, Ayda took a moment of long-needed rest. She turned a corner and leaned back against a wall, letting it take the majority of her weight. She cradled her head in her hands, caring not about how her staff clinked to the floor. She released a shuddering breath. It was over. She'd done it. Dr. Vahlen was dead or soon would be. The only dream she ever remembered dreaming came true. She was free.

So, why was she hit with such a sense of aimlessness? Everything from here on out should be easy. Get out of the base and move on with her life. It was just that simple, right? So, why didn't it feel that way? It felt like her life was over. The only thing she'd been living for was accomplished. Fulfilling your dreams was supposed to be a rewarding experience, and it was, nothing could ever make her feel more vindicated. So, why the confusion? What was she supposed to do now? No one ever explained what to do after happily ever after.

Ayda gathered up her staff and slowly walked down the hall, eyes downtrodden. The sounds of faint blasts and gunshots serenaded her. The soldiers still put up a good fight from somewhere, but they didn't stand a chance against the kids, her kids.

This was supposed to be her great victory, the single greatest achievement of her young life. I didn't feel like that, though. Sure, she won—it would look like absolute conquest to any outsider—but there was more to it than that. After so much time fearing for her life, the absence of that same fear felt like a gaping hole. Without her hatred for Dr. Vahlen, who was she? What was her purpose in life? Who was Ayda?

She would have spent an eternity more time thinking about this, but something utterly unexpected interrupted her train of thought. Through the intercom yelled a little voice, the sounds of battle in the background.

"Hello?" Said the disembodied little child. "Twelve, are you there? I don't know if you're hearing this, but we need you in the garage!" A loud blast went off. The child paused to let it pass. "A lot of the soldiers have dug in here. We can't win. Please, Twelve, we need you! You're the only one strong enough to—" A gunshot stopped the message short. The child screamed before the intercom cut out.

Ayda took off back the way she came, turning right around the first corner, headed for the motor pool. Fire burned in her eyes. No one hurt her children, not while she still drew breath. From spiraling down the pits of despair, she found her answer. Ayda had purpose once again. The children were all victims of Vahlen's evil. She would protect them if it was the last thing she ever did.

Even though walking away from the operating room had taken her in the exact opposite direction of the motor pool, Ayda still blazed a trail toward her destination. Little blasts propelled her at breakneck speeds. World class sprinters wouldn't have made it there so quickly. She emerged from upon one of the catwalks overlooking the garage.

From her perch she could see the battle below. The soldiers held their ground closer to the doors. The children huddled behind various pieces of cover while bullets whizzed all around their heads. Lacking any proper weapons, most were confined to hiding in fear of their lives. Some fought back with blast propelled rocks or stolen firearms, but they didn't make much progress. The older and more skilled of them tried their hands at reflecting bullets, but they didn't have Ayda's power. They were promptly cut down. Ayda watched as her former cellmate, the first one to trust her in this little rebellion, twirled his staff around, blocking bullets. He only lasted a few seconds before hot metal ripped through his body. He fell in a bloody heap. She looked on with utter horror. Of all the death and destruction of the day, this angered her more than any of it.

A determined look on her face, she ran back through the door. When she returned, it was at full sprint. At the end of the catwalk, Ayda launched herself over the railing with a downward blast. Some of the soldiers spotted her as she flew through the air, straight as an arrow. They attempted to fire on her, but their bullets were useless against her masterful defense.

Ayda's jump was perfect. The way she flew was almost majestic, poetry in motion as purple explosions surrounded her body. She crashed directly into the center of the enemy position, staff pointed downward.

Time seemed to slow as adrenaline pumped through her veins. An incredible shockwave spread through the floor in all directions, taking with it all in its path. Chunks of concrete flew into the air, propelled like rockets by the energy behind them. The floor shattered and buckled at the strength of her impact. Men and debris took flight in every which direction. Vehicles careened across the ground, turned into deadly battering rams. They smashed into soldiers foolish enough to stand before them. An unlucky trio found themselves squished between a truck and the wall. When it was all over, Ayda knelt in a crater just deeper than she was tall.

The dust began to settle. The devastation was insurmountable. Anyone who didn't know any better would never have known this room had been a garage just moments before. The vehicles were mostly reduced to twisted hunks of rubber and metal. Only a few remained recognizable as automobiles. Death was all around her. Most of the soldiers lay bloody and dead. Some had been eviscerated, their limbs scattered about the floor. The destruction was not rampant, however. Ayda had complete control over her actions. The shockwave never reached the entrenched children.

In the center of her crater Ayda slowly stood to her feet, the queen of death incarnate. Unlike before with the observation room doors, she had a plan. The dust and debris concealed how laggard her movements were, and kept the enemy from a clear shot. Ayda focused to feel her power returning in unsteady waves. A deep breath in, and then out. She assumed a ready stance as the smoke settled.

All at once, those few soldiers who continued living turned their guns upon her. They opened fire. Ayda twirled her staff madly, blocking bullets from all directions. Even though most of them were dead, it was still an impressive volume of fire. Even though Ayda could still clearly see every bullet in the air, she was just barely able to react to them all in time.

But that wasn't the only problem plaguing her. Creating such a massive blast took a lot out of her. She didn't have much energy left in the tanks, even with the time she'd given herself to recover. Her brain needed a few seconds to make more, but that was time she didn't possess. She could feel her defenses breaking. Her blasts became progressively weaker, just barely strong enough to deflect the projectiles. She couldn't keep this up much longer. When all hope seemed lost, a single young voice rang out atop the gunfire.

"CHAAAAAARGE!"

A cry of battle the likes of which never heard before by human ears dominated the room. Children poured from their hiding places, flooding upon the soldiers like a typhoon. The men attempted to shift their fire, but it was too late. The tide of war was upon them. What started out as a stalemate turned into an unrighteous massacre.

Any momentum the soldiers may have had was lost in an instant. They were outnumbered and hopelessly outgunned. Against a torrent of super powered children, these mere mortal men couldn't hope to stand tall. Ayda fought shoulder to shoulder with her compatriots, the legendary hero of an epic story. She spun her staff in a maddening maelstrom, knocking aside both bullets and bodies. Soldiers fell all around her in broken heaps. This was the wrath of a truly tortured soul. All of these monsters would reap what they had sewn.

Ayda blocked bullets from two soldiers in front of her. She managed to reflect the slugs back at one of them. Many shots penetrated his chest. She spun to gain ground on the second, coming out of it with a great slash. He flew across the room. Two children rushed up on either side of her, taking enemies down with terrible prejudice.

A line of three men presented themselves. They were a prime target. Ayda launched herself forward, straight at them. They opened fire but couldn't get an effective shot in. She flew past, landing behind them. Ayda leveled a blast into the back of the last man in line. He smashed into the other two and together all three of them flew toward the children. They were promptly mobbed on the ground and killed.

The battle raged on for several minutes more. Every blast signified the death of a soldier. The most prominent were Ayda's. They were louder and larger than any of the rest. Only scattered spurts of gunfire broke up the constant barrage of energy explosions. Nothing the soldiers tried produced any results. Their morale was broken. Victory would not be possible. The only thing they could do was go down in a blaze of glory like the true warriors they thought they were.

Then, all of a sudden, it was over. Ayda spun around, ready to engage another enemy, but only wore a look of confusion when there was no one left to fight. The noise of blasts had subsided. If anything, it was downright quiet, as if someone pressed the mute button. She looked around. All she saw were dead soldiers and victorious children. That was it. The battle was over. They won.

Ayda smiled. This was her great victory, the realization of her dreams. Freedom, true freedom, for all of her children. That was what it meant to truly defeat Dr. Vahlen, to defy his every action. Nothing could stop her from conquering the world.

Off to her right, a circular rabble of children had formed. They jeered and some threw rocks. Clearly, there was some great commotion. Ayda made her way over to the group. Through the gaps she could see the wounded visage of a soldier. Likely, he was the only survivor. The kids yelled at and threatened him. They wanted blood, and rightly so, but Ayda had different plans.

"Leave him," she called. The the children made way for their great leader, circle parting to allow her entrance. "We'll need someone to confirm our story." She pointed to two of the older boys. "You two, take him to the corner over there. Watch him like a hawk. If he so much as blinks funny, break his legs. If he needs further encouragement, come talk to me."

The two boys swiftly took the soldier away, following their orders to a tee. The crowd, including Ayda, dispersed. One of the teenagers caught up to her. It was one of the four people she appointed as her lieutenants when she took the testing chamber. She smiled at him, glad to see he made it out alive.

"What should the rest of us do?" He got straight to the point.

"I... don't know." Ayda looked up pensively. She hadn't thought this far ahead, quite honestly. She considered the situation for a moment, going through all the possible courses of action, although the best answer was obvious as soon as she found it. "Ah, there are still groups of children hiding all around the facility. Get some of the older kids to round up a few search parties and find them. Bring them here."

"Alright, I'll spread the word." He ran away to his assigned task.

Most children stayed behind with Ayda, keeping guard over the motor pool. Not that Ayda really expected any significant enough number of soldiers remained to stage any sort of meaningful counter-attack. But, it always paid to be safe. Every once in a while, a search party would return with a few more kids, but they never added many. Most of them must have gathered in the motor pool for the final battle. That was a good thing, in the end. It made the task of rounding everyone up much easier.

Several hours passed waiting around in the motor pool. After the first couple, someone figured out how to open the garage doors. The view outside was rather boring, a bunch of sand and scrubby bushes, but it beat the destroyed interior.

Nothing really important happened for a long time. There was sporadic conversation, and morale seemed high, but mostly the kids were just nervous. They all heard before long about how Ayda had contacted the United States. The only thing for most of them to do was wait.

And wait they did. With every hour which ticked by, Ayda could feel spirits sink. They had enough food and water to last for months, so supplies weren't the problem. Instead, what worried her was boredom and anticipation. Even the most well fed army could suffer from despair. What if people thought the Americans weren't coming? How could she keep them all together? Anarchy would rip them apart. They didn't have months. Ayda could maintain control for a few days, at most.

...

The sun dipped low in the sky, just barely a sliver over the dunes lighting up the sky orange and yellow and red. Ayda sat upon the hood of a mostly intact truck, idly dangling her foot. She took a deep breath. This was dull, and the rest of the kids felt it. She'd fall asleep soon, just from sheer tedium.

Then, something rumbled in the distance. It was low and carried along by the desert wind, but had a certain rhythm to it. This thing, whatever it was, could not be natural. Ayda turned her eyes to the dunes ahead of her. She activated her powers, squinting her eyes against the light. This didn't actually make her vision any better, but heightened reaction time could make it easier to see any motion from so far away. Silhouetted against the painted sky, several black dots rapidly approached, and she wasn't the only one who saw them.

"Look up in the sky, over there," a child called out, pointing. "What are those?"

Ayda muttered to herself. "They're here."

Everyone gathered around the entrance to await the arrival of the newcomers. Before long, it became obvious the objects in the sky were helicopters, seven in total. With every inch they covered, Ayda's anticipation grew, yet she stayed stoic upon her truck. She was the emotional rock of the entire group. If she allowed excitement to take her, any semblance of order would fall apart.

Before long the helicopters reached them. They fanned out in a wide arc, covering the flanks of the facility. They hovered low to the ground, tan paint blending in with the sand beneath. Ayda hopped down from her perch and made her way to the front of the group. She put her hands up.

"Weapons down, hands up, everyone," she yelled over the loud rotors. "Show them we're not a threat. No matter what happens, stay behind me."

The helicopters descended. Soldiers spun down to the ground upon ropes extended from the aerial vehicles. They advanced upon the children, stopping several feet away with guns trained defensively. They did not fire nor make any attempt at hostilities.

One of the choppers landed completely. A man and his bodyguard exited. He was an aging chap, clearly someone of importance by his fancy military attire and calm, confident swagger. He approached the group of children all with their hands up. As she was the one in front, Ayda established herself as the obvious leader. As such his attentions were on her.

"What's the meaning of all this?" He spoke in perfect Persian. "Who are you kids?"

"We're all the subjects of experiments conducted by Dr. Cyrus Vahlen inside this very building." Ayda explained in clear terms. "May I ask who you are?"

"My name is Colonel Ben Hammond of the United States Marine Corps," he said quickly, as if he'd repeated those very words a thousand times. "You said Cyrus Vahlen was here? Where is he now?"

"Dead, along with the rest of his soldiers. You have me to thank for that." Ayda couldn't stop herself from smirking.

"You killed Vahlen?" Hammond asked incredulously. He looked into the building. "And who did all of this?" American soldiers were now entering the garage. A few of them stopped to inspect the damage.

"That was me too," Ayda said. "Well, mostly. My friends here helped out a lot."

"But, you're just a bunch of kids." The Colonel struggled to understand. "You're just a little girl."

"There's a lot you don't know, Colonel. I'll tell you everything, but I won't say a word until I know your men won't hurt any of my friends." Ayda laid out the terms of her cooperation.

"As long as I get the same promise from you, we won't have a problem," Hammond acknowledged.

"Of course," she agreed. With a nod from the Colonel, the soldiers lowered their weapons.

"Now, get to explaining," demanded the Colonel.

"Why don't you come inside, sir?" Ayda offered. "I think it would be easier to just show you."

"Alright." Hammond nodded again. He and his bodyguard walked toward the building. Ayda turned and began to lead him in, but he stopped her. "Hey. What's your name, kid?"

She turned to him and smiled.

"Ayda."