《DarkLight》 Chapter 1 Leila stepped into Captain Thorne''s office, wondering why she was asked to meet with the captain of another BPI section. Tamara Thorne was the BPI Captain in Charge of the local intelligence operations and while Leila had worked well with Thorne''s people in the past, her style didn''t really lean towards the sort of subtly ¨C read leave the building standing ¨C that Thorneencouragedamong her undercover agents. Thorne was behind her desk, the normally relaxed captain looking just a fractiontenser than she normally let on. The sources of that tension were standing to either side of her. Two people, one male, and one female ¨C male suit and tie, female jeans and t-shirt ¨C who''s body languagescreamed"I''m an FBI Agent!" stood on either side of the Captain. hissed the sword on her hip. Leila shut the voice up. Keeping her internal arguments with her paranoiac omnicidal sword on theinsidewhere it belonged and not all over herfacefor the spymaster in front of her to see and start asking all sorts of inconvenientquestions,Leila cleared her throat. ¡°What does the FBI need from me, ma''am?¡± The two Agents stiffened at her abrupt tone as an almost imperceptible amount of Tamara''s tension drained left her posture. Leila filedthatreaction away for future reference. "They have an operation that your unique abilities make you an ideal candidate to pull off." Thorne''s tone was absolutely neutral. Leila resolved to get to the bottom of her friends'' hidden animosity towards the FBI. ¡°SAIC Purdue will brief you.¡± The male Agent ¨C definitely capital A ¨C leaned slightly forward as he spoke. " We are currently in the middle of an investigation into the dealings of a human trafficking cartel. We are trying to get to the leader but can''t get much information on him other than he likes to have a hands-on approach to the major deals. As part of their advertising strategy, they run a fighting ring where they sell off the combatants after each tournament." Leila nodded.And you want me to suppress my powers and fight to get a person on the inside, are you people insane!!.While as a lower Class 5, she was capable of doing that, herofficialpower level was a Class 4-6, just above the middle of Class 4.If this place is supposed to be selling combat slaves, the top would probably be mid-fours as well.Do they want me to disguise my powers and fight at full power? Or... Shut up Mo! Do youwantto get caught?Purdue kept on talking, oblivious to the fact that his audience was barely paying attention to him. ¡°Understood?¡±Finally, the Agent got bored of the sound of his voice.Leila replayed the past few minutes over in her mindscape before responding. "Not happening."If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. The Agents both started at that.Not in the script huh?Tamara didn''t react at all, but Leila somehow got the feeling that if she had her brothers abilities, she would be feeling quite a bit of amusement from the other woman. The male was the first to recover. ¡°You weren''t given the option of refusal.¡± Leila felt her lips draw back into a smile. ¡° I don''t report to you or Captain Thorne. I''m a member of Section Three. Patrols, Agent, not investigations.¡± And if you know anything about what we ''coincidentally'' come across on our ''patrols'' you wouldn''t push me.Another political note to file away, apparently, an FBI agent who knew enough of her file to try to recruit her was actually trying to pressure her.Heshouldknow enough to not bother trying. If I didn''t think that this could help Jim and myself, he wouldn''t succeed. ¡°The BPI is under the Authority of the FBI,¡± Purdue snapped. ¡°I can have the head of this area order you to comply.¡± No, you really can''t.Before she could respond, however, Tamara cut in. ¡° Why won''t you do it? You haven''t shown any aversion to going undercover before this.¡± Leila snorted. ¡°Normally, I don''t have a good chance of dying,¡± She gave the two FBI agents a look that told them just how unimpressed she was by their threats. ¡°You want me to go into hostile territory, restrict my power, and pretend to be a slave to an under-experienced agent that looks like she''s maybe a year out of Quantico, who by the way will also be in charge of the op. This sounds like a great plan. Especially the part where there are only three months until the tournament so we don''t have enough time to set me up as a known fighter and I can''t imitate another person''s psionic wavelengths so setting me up in place of somebody who already exists is just going to get us killed faster." The female agent looked like she wanted to take offense from that, but a glance from her partner stopped her. ¡°What do you propose?¡± he asked. Calmer than she had expected. ¡°One, I''m in charge. This is non-compromisable. She-¡± Leila glanced at the female, ¡°will likely have more freedom and so will be in charge of communications, but if I say we pull out, we pull out.¡± Purdue nodded. Leila continued.¡±Second, I will be responsible for preparations and training for this operation. I will be using resources from outside the government that I will not disclose to you.¡± Purdue thought for a moment, ¡°Can you disclose the identities of the providers and nature of these resources?¡± Unbelievable, what a ridiculous change in attitude. ¡°Primarily training and intelligence. I can not disclose the identities of the providers.¡± Purdue nodded again, ¡°Acceptable. Any further conditions?¡± Leila looked the agent in the eyes. "No plea bargains. Not for anyone arrested. I don''t care if they offer to give testimony on the kingpin of entire America, you don''t accept." ¡°That''s not within my power Agent.¡± Purdue shook his head, ¡°I can''t guarantee that the AG won''t want additional testimony.¡± An idea came to mind. ¡°No, you can''t.¡± Leila agreed calmly. ¡°But if you tell whoever in the military that''s behind this, that she''s not getting her new soldiers until I get that guarantee in writing. I think the AG will find my conditions a lot more... agreeable.¡± Agent Purdue stared at Leila for a long minute. Tamara''s expression barely changed, making it impossible to read. The female agent seemed to be stunned at Leila''s bold statement. Finally, Purdue nodded. "I''ll bring it up." Sold,Leila inclined her head. ¡°I''ll need a month for preparations and training. If I don''t have the paper in a week, this is off.¡± Purdue tapped the other agent on her shoulder, startling her. The other woman walked around Captain Thorne''s desk and stuck her hand out. ¡°Raina O''Hara¡± Leila took it and grinned, ¡°Leila Drake. Dinner at my place?¡± Chapter 2 Raina O''Hara watched Leila Drake as the other woman drove them to her apartment. After the meeting, Drake had gone to file some paperwork and inform her captain of her new assignment and Justin pulled her to the side as they waited for the other woman to be done. She frowned, thinking about her AICs'' order. ¡°I want you to keep an eye on Drake and everyone that she introduces to you over the course of the investigation. Don''t take any notes or try to inform me about anything in association with her associates, but be prepared for a full debriefing on them when this is done.¡± The other FBI agents'' gray eyes had been even more somber than usual. Isn''t standard procedure to allow locals to maintain the confidentiality of their informants? She hadn''t asked the man that, just nodded and figured that she would cross that bridge when she came to it. That hadn''t been the most disturbing part of the day, however, that particular honor belonged to Justin and Drake casually agreeing to refuse criminals the right to plea bargain. ¡°Why do you care if some of the freed slaves decide to join the Army?¡± She broke the silence with a question that had been on her mind for a while. And why would the Army pressure the AG in order to get them? ¡°I don''t,¡± Drake replied, making a left turn. ¡°Though I somehow doubt it''s going to be their choice.¡± Raina stiffened. ¡°What do you mean?¡± "We''ll be having dinner with your trainer, then we''ll have about an hour training and the rest of my people will arrive shortly after. We should be done by midnight, you''re welcome to the guest room if you don''t want to go home that late." Raina ground her teeth at the dismissal of her question. ¡°What. Do. You. Mean.¡± The other woman shrugged. ¡°Do you think that the government is just going to let however many skilled, high class, combat psions just walk around free?¡± Raina smirked, ¡°Conspiracy theory much?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Drake drawled, ¡°I''m a conspiracy theorist. That''s why your boss agreed to put some pressure on the AGO before we even started the investigation as soon as I brought it up.¡± The car was silent for the rest of the drive.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Raina followed the other woman into her apartment and looked around. It was fairly spacious and impressively clean, with a small sitting area, a fully equipped kitchen, dinette and a modestly decorated sitting room. There were several weapon racks on the wall with a diverse assortment of weapons hanging on them. Raina frowned at that, but it wasn''t that uncommon for combat enhancers to need frequent replacement weapons. Drake gestured at one of the couches, "Make yourself at home." She offered, "I''m going to start preparing dinner." Raina shrugged. ¡°Want some help?¡± she offered. ¡°No thanks, the actual cook''s getting here in ten minutes so I need to hurry. I''d just end up running around you getting everything ready.¡± Drake smiled to take the edge off the implication. Raina didn''t take any offense, it wasn''t as if she knew where to find anything in the other woman''s kitchen anyway. "Who''s the cook?" ¡°My brother.¡± Drake grinned, beginning to emit powerful Enhance waves. Raina made sure that she was not directly behind the other woman, her previous experience with Enhance specialists having taught her that they sometimes kicked off the ground a bit too hard. She needed to get a healer during training after a rock hit her while watching a demonstration match between two Enhancers. The point of the demonstration had been to show just how much damage a good Enhancer could take before finally dropping out of sheer exhaustion. Raina had taken it as a lesson to never be the arresting agent when the perp was an Enhancer. She noticed that Drake hadn''t hung her sword up ye. ¡°Won''t that get in the way?¡± She asked pointing. ¡°Nah,¡± Drake responded before blurring around the room. Raina watched in awe, as cabinets opened and food moved practically of their own volition onto the counter-top. She had watched the Enhancer match, but this was another league entirely! She had never seen somebody move so fast, yet with enough control that let alone break the floor, Drake hadn''t even made a sound! Within five minutes, there was a chopped salad and pasta dough and ingredients waiting for Drake''s brother to arrive. Three minutes later, the brother came in. Raina blinked, surprised at how different the two Drakes looked. While Leila was a slightly tall 5''6 to Raina''s own 5''4, Lila''s brother, who looked to be in his mid-teens was probably an inch shorter than she was. Aside from height, the most striking difference between the two was their hair. Leila''s was a deep blood-red that framed a face that hinted at an Oriental ancestry, while her brother''s black hair did nothing to make his rather standard features any more memorable. The only feature that the two had in common was their eyes. Deep blue, with the same confidence in them that said they could take whatever was thrown at them. Even the FBI. Raina suppressed a shudder, imagining what may have happened if Justin had tried to push Leila Drake. The blur from before kept showing up in her mind. Instead of running around a kitchen, however, she saw it heading at her. The teenager extended a hand as he formed two more out of psionic energy. ¡°Jim Drake,¡± he introduced himself as the psionic arms extended to the kitchen and began to feed the pasta dough through a pasta maker. ¡°I''m going to be your teacher for the month.¡± Chapter 3 Jim gave the woman in front of him a quick once-over as he began to feed the pasta through the machine. She was about average height, 5''4 to his sisters 5''6, and had hair that was only a drop darker than his own brown. He made small talk with her as he pushed some of his consciousness at the mental connection between him and his sister. Typical of his sister, she hadn''t given much of an explanation earlier, only telepathing to him that she needed him to help train someone. Leila a classical paranoiac, had refused to send any details over their connection, worried that people might listen in. Just because people are after us, sis doesn''t mean that you aren''t paranoid, he thought. Mae and Sheryl ¨C two of the best psychics that the Drakes knew ¨C couldn''t detect the connection, let alone hack into it without the siblings ¨C neither of them slouches when it came to mental defense ¨C knowing about it. Two mental packets floated out of Leila''s side of the bond, one containing memories of all the events starting from when she had entered Captain Thorne''s office until he arrived, the other containing her analysis of what was behind the operation. Leaving O''Hara to his sister and cooking on autopilot, Jim quickly played the memory packet before taking a bit more time looking through the analysis portion. he warned his sister. Leila answered, sounding for all the world like a sensible person who, after thinking long and hard about a problem, had come to the logical conclusion. Leila winced at the telepathic shout. Jim didn''t let up. ¡°Excuse me,¡± O''Hara cut in.¡±It''s rude to telepath in front of other people about them.¡± Jim smiled, slightly embarrassed to be caught. ¡°Sorry, most of that wasn''t about you though.¡± ¡°Riiight,¡± drawled O''Hara. ¡°So what was it about then?¡± "Why she wanted me to be the one training you," Jim answered. A partial truth. "That''s still about me." O''Hara pointed out. "Although I was wondering the same thing. How is a kid in his teens supposed to train an FBI agent?" Jim smiled, ¡°I''m twelve.¡± Raina gaped. ¡°How about I explain while we eat? Pasta''s almost done, and the garlic bread should be coming out soon.¡± Refusing to say any more, Jim set his arms to preparing a salad while he checked the refrigerator for drinks. A few minutes later the three were sitting at the table eating. Jim was trying not to laugh at the frustration that O''Hara was radiating, it may have been a bit immature, but he enjoyed the feeling as long as he could. Calm before - ¡°So why should I be wasting my time getting ''trained'' by some kid not even in his teens?¡± This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it And here comes the storm. Jim sighed. ¡°Because I''m one of the very few people who have a mental landscape that can be used to accurately simulate reality.¡± Another persons'' shock was always a nice feeling, it wasn''t so much a new emotion as a sudden skip in their emotions, Jim savored the moment of relative peace until O''Haras'' emotions came back. Curiosity and some denial. "Explain," O''Hara demanded. Jim smiled, "I have the ability to give you about a year''s worth of skill training over the next few weeks. The only other person who we have access to that has a similar capability is Leila, and she needs the time to develop a new fighting style and disguises. I also have experience with multiple skills and programs that can assist in your training." O''Hara frowned. No more denial, just curiosity, and suspicion. "So you can take me into your mental plane and slow down relative time?" Jim nodded. "So two questions. First, why should I trust you to not take control of my mind while I''m in your territory? Second, what is this ''skill training'' going to consist of?" Leila sent something that felt like a smirk through their connection. Jim sent a mental glare at his sister before answering the FBI agent. "I can''t actually bring your mind into my mental landscape without risking more than I would be willing to. What I can do, however, is analyze your power and create an avatar in my mindscape with those base abilities and then allow you control over the avatar. Neither of us will have direct access to the others mind. The training will be methods of controlling your psi, some programs that I will think that suit your abilities, and combat and other basic non-psionic skills. It might result in some actual power increase, but that would probably not be significant." O''Hara nodded, ¡°How much time dilation are we talking about?¡± "It depends partially on our compatibility and your level with Enhance and Psychic, but we should get at least ten times dilation." He felt her excitement rising before he added, "there is also the issue of mental fatigue so we won''t be able to take full advantage of the extra time." Raina tilted her head. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Jim shrugged. ¡°There is a limit to how many injuries you can take -¡± ¡°- even in a mindscape like mine, before your brain decides that it''s had enough. It''s not seriously dangerous, just something that will probably happen.¡± O''Hara nodded, absorbing the information. ¡°Sounds like a reasonable risk to me. When do we start?¡± Jim noted the caution in her emotions, she would probably find someone to consult about the risks of the training before the next lesson. While he liked the sense of caution, he didn''t want random people knowing about his abilities. Note: Make sure that by the end of the night, she won''t talk to the wrong people. He looked at the table. Somehow they had finished almost all of the food. He shrugged. ¡°Once you explain to me why a rookie SA is being assigned to something like this.¡± O''Hara glared at him, not appreciating his tone. ¡°My ability makes me perfect for any information gathering assignment.¡± Jim raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised by the level of anger that he had evoked from the woman. Someone has a chip on her shoulder. ¡°Must be quite the ability, if it''s supposed to make up for a total lack of experience.¡± He said aloud, deliberately keeping his tone as dismissive as possible. "Invisibility," O''Hara replied smugly. Jim raised an eyebrow, "Well, that''s pretty useless. If you need to use psi to go invisible, then anyone near you will be able to sense the active psi. It''s not bad for combat since it hides your attacks, but it''s no good for infiltration." O''Hara glared at his further dismissal, ¡°You can''t detect my psi while I''m invisible.¡± Leila broke in, forestalling Jim''s retort, ¡°That''s pretty impressive, does it apply to all your psi or just the program?¡± O''Hara turned towards Leila, ¡°Other psi?¡± ¡°Can you Enhance while invisible?¡± Leila clarified O''Hara frowned, ¡°I can, but it takes a lot more energy and a good Psychic could probably find me.¡± Jim nodded, ¡°I see. I''ll include some combined type training in your schedule. Alright. Let''s start. Hide.¡± Chapter 4 Raina nodded, somewhat confused by the odd kid in front of her. The younger Drake showed a gift for pushing her buttons that seemed to be deliberate. If what he was saying was true, then she would be able to train at a rate that would be nothing short of insanity but... had he been listening to a word she said? "What''s the point in me hiding? It''s not like you''ll be able to tell how it works for your simspace, I thought we would use it for other skills that should work well with Invisibility?¡± The boy gave her a level look, ¡°First, there are ways to detect you through invisibility without sensing your psi. Second, I don''t know if I can''t detect you and figure out the method you use for invisibility until I try. Third, we won''t get anywhere with your training if I need to explain everything to you, ask what''s the point again, and we''re done.¡± Raina thought several words that would probably end the younger Drake''s cooperation if she said them out loud. He''s trying to get to you. Calm down. She took a deep breath, calming herself, if he doesn''t train me, Drake will probably call the op off. A kernel of suspicion formed in her, does he want me to lose my temper? It would certainly explain his constant barbs. She filed the thought away for the moment until she could find a way to confirm her suspicions. Giving the younger Drake a nod, she stood up. "So how do you want to do this, Sensei?" That finally got a wince out of him. So he can be annoyed by something. It was immature of her, but she couldn''t resist the temptation to needle him just a bit. ¡°Go invisible and hide.¡± Drake-sensei ¨C as he would now be labeled in the privacy of her mind ¨C answered, ¡° I''ll give you thirty seconds to hide, then I''ll find you.¡± She glared at him, ¡°Good luck with that.¡± She spat, fading from his vision and moving as silently as she could away from him, heading towards the sitting room. ¡°Fifteen seconds.¡± Raina took a calming breath, keeping as quiet as she could, standing by one of the couches. ¡°Time.¡± Raina froze, not making a sound. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. A man appeared in front of her, his hand flashing towards her throat. Raina jumped back, screaming as her invisibility broke. I''mdeadI''mdead. Panicking, she fell back, tripping over her feet. She barely noticed the hands that caught her, lying her down on the couch. OhGodhe''sgoingtokillmehe''sgoingtokillme. Voices that she couldn''t understand said something. Raina curled up into a ball, shivering in terror. ¡°Raina. Calm Down.¡± Jim. What was he thinking, telling someone to calm down? Had anyone in the course of human history ever-. Huh. She was calm. Slowly, Raina uncurled herself, "Sorry," she muttered before she realized that nobody was paying any attention to her. Leila and Jim were glaring at each other from opposite sides of her. ¡°It wasn''t his fault.¡± Raina surprised herself by defending Jim. ¡°He didn''t know that that would happen.¡± Leila broke off her glare, turning to Raina, ¡°I guess that whatever trauma that was, is why a weak three was able to create an ability that would make fives die of envy?¡± She asked, her eyes softening. "I was a one," Raina replied quietly. Leila nodded, not pushing the topic. ¡±The Dawson''s should arrive in a couple hours. Let''s use that time.¡± She turned to her brother, obviously telepathing him something. Jim cleared his throat, ¡°We''ll go to the gym, Leila will use the apartment.¡± Raina nodded, standing up. ¡°Lead the way, Sensei.¡± Jim winced, walking to the door.¡±Let''s go.¡± Raina stood awkwardly, trying to think of what to say after her little performance in the apartment. Sorry I just had a panic attack? So what did your sister tell you to do? "So who are the Dawsons?" She blurted out. ¡°Mine and Leila''s adoptive parents¡± Jim replied, ¡°Leila want''s to tell them what she''s planning and ask them to help with fake backgrounds and general intel.¡± ¡°How can they help?¡± Raina asked. Jim hesitated, ¡°They are some of the founders of Xcution Action Group.¡± Raina gaped, the XAG was a mercenary and bounty hunting organization. She had met some agents who had worked with XAG hunters, and the one thing that they had all agreed on was that all the active XAG members were powerful psions in their own right. While nobody knew exactly who sat on its boards due to some interesting legal tricks, anyone who had that kind of firepower at their disposal was not someone to cross. "What makes you think I won''t tell anyone what you just told me?" Anyone with that sort of power, whose identity wasn''t known, probably didn''t want it publicized and had probably taken precautions against her identity leaking. Jim shrugged, ¡°It''s probably known to the national security types, Mae just doesn''t like people bothering her more than they already do.¡± Wait a minute... ¡°Mae Dawson? As in the CEO of Saber Initiatives? She''s founded XAG?" ¡°Among others, yes.¡± The elevator pinged, opening to an empty gym. Jim walked out, followed by Raina. ¡°So, how should we start Sensei?¡± Raina asked. Rainas Backstory chapter 1 Raina laughed as Don regaled her with stories of his chemistry professors'' antics that she used to keep the class focused. ¡° And then she said '' I know most of you aren''t going to be using anything that I teach here at all. Ever. So here is what we''ll do. The top ten percent get to learn how to blow things up once we''re done the semester.'' And I said ''Uh Professor? Half of us already can blow things up by thinking about it and the other half are Enhancers who can practically fly. Who needs to waste time after finals by messing around with some chemicals that can probably give us cancer or something.''" Raina laughed. Doms'' chemistry professor would probably be fired if this was pre-advent. Post-advent, however, it was hard enough to find someone competent enough to teach anything science related who hadn''t been picked up by the government or some less savory organization. ¡°So what did Moren say?¡± ¡°Moron said that it was these chemicals that gave the US the ability to fight the Union, and if it wasn''t for them we would all be slaves or some other stupidity, I tuned him out after he started blathering.¡± Raina laughed. " I swear you are the only person alive who uses the word ''blathering''. What century were you born in any way?" Dom rolled his eyes. ¡°How far is it to wherever you''re taking us?¡± Raina let her boyfriend change the subject. ¡° Two more blocks to the best burgers you have ever had.¡± Dom was about to say something when a scream cut through the afternoon coming from a nearby building. ¡°Wait here.¡± He ordered, sprinting to the building with Enhanced speed. "Not on your life you misogynistic asshole," Raina grumbled running after him. Being a Class One psionist with no major talent for Enhancement, she had to put a lot of effort into just keeping Dom within eyesight. The man was sweet, but there were times that he would go full-on caveman with her. I don''t need you to protect me. She followed Dom into the apartment building just as another scream pierced the air. Dom immediately ran to the stairwell shoving the door open with his shoulder. Raina followed, reaching into her pocket for her cell phone. Slipping past the door, she called 911. The phone rang as she raced up past the second-floor entrance, following Dom to the third floor. The second-floor door slammed open behind her. Raina froze and turned as a tall man covered in blood walked out into the stairwell. Dom didn''t. Raina stared as her boyfriend somehow flew over her head tackling the blood-soaked man in front of her. "Run!" Dom screamed, pounding the other man''s face. Raina couldn''t move. Even as his face was getting his face pounded in, the man manifested a jagged dagger and stabbed Dom. There was no blood, but Dom screamed as if he was dying. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Reina heard a police operator answer her call. Finally, she forced herself to run, bolting up the stairs, screaming the building address into her phone. Raina ducked into the third floor as Doms screams abruptly stopped. Don''t think about it don''t think about it don''t think about it. There was a janitorial closet half open down the hallway, Raina bolted towards it, closing the door behind her. Her blood pounded in her ears as she tried to not think about why Dom stopped screaming.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Someone walked down the hall. "Hello? You dropped your phone." Not Dom''s voice. Oh, G-d, what did that monster do to him? Footsteps sounded, coming closer to her closet. "Your boyfriend was so disappointed in you when I killed him you know." The voice sounded almost casual, coming closer. " He must have thought that you would help him." The voice sharpened "He might have almost stood a chance if you had." He was almost in the closet. Raina backed up until she was pressed against the corner. You can''t see me. I''m not here. Nothing to notice. She heard the man touch the doorknob. You can''t see me. You can''t tell I''m here. The door opened a crack. A bolt of light split her consciousness. The man stepped into the closet. Some of the blood had dried on his face. Raina forced herself to stop breathing. The man frowned, reaching out to were Raina. She ducked, the mantra pounding through her. The hand passed over her head, through the space that she had been occupying a moment ago. The man turned around. Walked away. Minutes later Raina heard another scream. She curled up in her corner. The police found her there fifteen minutes later. Chapter 5 About an hour and a half later, Jim had several conclusions about his current situation. First, there was something wrong with his new student ¨C besides her annoying habit of calling him ''Sensei''. If he didn''t know better, he would swear that she had been brain-jacked over the course of dinner. The emotions that she had been radiating all night had cooled after her panic attack, and by the time they had gotten out of the elevator, seemed to be gone. It was pretty disturbing when someone asked a question about something they wanted to know, and didn''t feel anything. Leila is totally going to blame me for this. Second, Raina seemed to have gotten through Quantico without learning the first thing about her powers. While teaching someone without any preconceptions was ideal, as they would be able to create a unique style that suited themselves best, he didn''t have time to let her choose her own pace. Third, he actually enjoyed teaching her. Even if he hadn''t brought her into his simspace for some real training, he found himself actually having fun coming up with a training plan for the woman. Said woman was lying on her back, exhausted after pushing her psi farther then she had ever before. Jim mentally added a few extra exercises to improve her stamina to the plan, before contacting his sister. Jim sent his sister an image of Raina''s current position. Mental laughter rang through his head. Leila sent an impression of a nod at him. Jim assured her. ¡°So what''s next, Sensei?¡± Raina had finally recovered somewhat. "We''re done with training for today," Jim assured her. "Leila will be up here in a few minutes for a spar, and I want you to see how much of it you can track." Raina nodded, immediately going beginning one of the recovery meditations that he had shown her earlier. After a few minutes, a woman exited the elevator. If it wasn''t for Jim''s connection with her, he would never have thought she was his sister. Leila had a full makeover. Her cheekbones were higher and more pronounced, her nose was a bit smaller, her formerly blood-red hair was now a space-black and she had added a few inches, making herself five feet ten inches tall. The most noticeable characteristic of the now Leila wasn''t her height or her new hair color, but her eyes. They had changed from a deep blue to a piercing forest green that immediately drew Jim''s eyes to meet them. Jim felt a shiver run down his spine as he looked into those eyes. He felt his eyes trying to shift to match but fought down the urge. Not the place for a dominance fight. Better to do that later, in private. As his sister walked towards him, he noticed that, for the first time since he had given it to her, she didn''t have her sword on her. Before he could comment on that, his eyes narrowed as he spotted an intricate gray tattoo going up her right arm. He also noticed, that despite her new size, his sister''s clothes fit her perfectly. His sister nodded. Aloud she asked, ¡°Ready?¡± Gesturing to the reinforced ring in the center of the gym. Jim nodded. ¡°Ready.¡± Jim watched his sister as he prepared his psi for the first stage of the test, hand-to-hand combat. He would be using primarily Enhance for speed and agility, with a kine technique to increase to the power of his strikes. Focusing, he charged his sister. Leila''s right arm, the one that had the gray tattoo, was suddenly covered by a black energy that seemed to be a part of her skin. The tattoo shone bright silver against the pitch black of the energy. Jim''s eyes widened at the sight slowing his advance. Moving more carefully, Jim probed his sister with a couple of jabs, which she easily avoided, stepping around his line of attack. The black arm shot at Jim, forcing him back. The two went at each other, with fast probing attacks, that were either deflected of dodged outright. After a few minutes, Leila overextended on a punch. Taking advantage of the instants opening, Jim sent a powerful punch wrapped in amethyst colored Kine energy for extra effect. Leila twisted, catching Jim''s amethyst hand with her black one. Jim''s eyes widened. While Leila was more powerful then he was, she had been suppressing her psionic powers to match his. As far as he could tell, that hadn''t changed, but it felt he had just made the mistake of punching Howard Dawson. While his aura had protected his fist he had the feeling that if it wasn''t for that, he would have a broken hand. As Jim stared at his sister, the gray tattoo glowed, creating some sort of energy that began dissipating his protective aura, even as his sister began increasing her strength, trying to crush his fist. Grunting, Jim switched his Enhance from speed to power and twisted, ripping his arm out of his sister''s grasp. He sent his sister. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. She agreed, resetting her stance. Yato. Jim commanded his psi, creating two identical curved blades. Leila started towards him. Aura: Standard. A dark aura condensed around his body, reinforcing his body. His sister smirked, ¡°Who in their right mind dual wields?¡± ¡°Idiots and skilled people.¡± Jim returned her smile, flowing forward, using his aura to increase his speed. The two met again, Jim''s blades flowing, some cuts getting deflected by Leila''s arm, a few cuts, however, flicking around the arm, drawing a couple shallow cuts on her stomach and chest. Leila grimaced slashing with her black arm, pushing Jim back and following up with a couple of jabs. Jim suggested, dodging his sister''s attacks without much difficulty. Leila''s eyes narrowed as the power on her arm spread out into a large kite shield. Jim nodded, Flow, he commanded his aura as he resumed his attack, making the previously static aura flow in currents around his body and up his swords, increasing their cutting power. To no avail as he found the twin blades stopped cold by the shield, the cutting aura being drained from around them. As he watched, Leila''s power began to climb up the swords. Jim tried to pull his swords back, only to find the black power holding them to the shield. Eyes widening, Jim released the blades just as Leila''s normal fist came at his face. Even without the energy on her right arm, Leila had plenty of destructive power behind her punch, Jim barely managed to roll with it, avoiding some of the force, but was still send tumbling. Ironically, had he not switched from his standard aura type to the more speed and offense-oriented flowing aura, he might not have taken such a bad hit. Jim rolled, coming to rest on his feet, shutting off the pain from what was probably a fractured cheekbone, and ignoring the pain as his sister destroyed Yato. Emerald eyes met sapphire, Leila''s mouth curving into a smirk as she took the moment to begin healing the cuts on her body. Jim probed his cheek for a second with his Enhance for anything that would stop him from fighting. Satisfied that the damage wasn''t anything that would need immediate attention, Jim reactivated his Kine. Asteroid. Belt Rotation. Twenty small spheres appeared at his waist, beginning to orbit his body. Sekandar. A two-handed version of a shamshir manifested in his grip. Flow. His aura resumed it''s previous flow, this time entering the sword. Leila inclined her head, taking the offensive for the first time, rocketing towards him, body protected by her shield. Jim evaded, leaping back. Release. The Asteroids shot at Leila, using the centrifugal force that they had built up. Leila ignored the kine attacks, safe behind her shield. A thought from Jim, however, and the spheres split, attacking his sister from both left and right. Leila spun, managing to block most of the spheres and twisted to avoid the last two attacks. The spheres made it to the ropes, before dissipating just before leaving the ring. Leila''s gaze returned to her brother, her eyes widening as she registered the sheer power that Jim had stored in his blade. Jim met her gaze, an adrenaline-fueled grin pulling his lips back, showing his teeth. Leila charged again, trying to close the distance before he could put any more power into the blade. Before she could reach him, Jim performed a single two-handed slash. Release. A slash of shadow-black energy flashed toward Leila, who had no choice but to take the attack directly on her shield. Gritting her teeth against the force, Leila felt herself start to get pushed back. With a roar, the woman managed to deflect the attack, sending the shadow slash out of the ring. The slash flew towards where Raina was standing, trying to keep track of the match, cutting a line through the floor. No! Jim prepared to forcibly cancel the attack before the slash hit the woman. Before he could, however, a wall of kine power appeared before the slash. The shadows rushed at the wall, only to shatter without leaving a mark on it. The terror that Jim had felt only an instant turned to pure dread as a wave of irritation came at him from the woman who had created the wall. ¡°I hope there''s a good reason why you two are destroying the building.¡± Mae Dawson said with a calm the belied the emotions that Jim felt coming from her. ¡°And it had better have something to do with why I had to cancel movie night with Howard.¡± Chapter 6 Raina looked at the woman who had appeared behind her while she was trying to keep track of Leila and Sensei fight. She had been able to keep up for the beginning of the spar, but as soon as Sensei had created his swords, he and Leila had turned into a pair of blurs that she had been unable to track until a shock of black power had flown at her. She tried to move to avoid it, but it felt like she was stuck in tar, barely able to avoid the attack. Then, as suddenly as the attack had come, it was blocked by a woman who had apparently been standing behind her without anyone noticing. ¡°Well?¡± the woman demanded, ¡°Why am I missing a nice movie, and why are you two trying to kill each other?¡± Leila cleared her throat, embarrassed, ¡°I''m running a sting on a fighting ring. Jim was helping me with designing a new fighting style that won''t give me away.¡± She sighed, ¡°I didn''t mean to sound like it was urgent, sorry Mae.¡± The woman ¨C Mae ¨C looked at Leila for a long moment before turning to look at Raina, "I''m assuming that you''re her partner on the sting?" she asked. ¡°Yes ma''am¡± Raina answered respectfully. No sense in accidentally annoying the woman who could level the building without much effort. Mae''s eyes narrowed, ¡°Leila.¡± she growled, ¡°What. Did. You. Do.¡± ¡°Jim did it!¡± Leila exclaimed, pointing at her brother. What were they talking about? Mae transferred her glare to Sensei. ¡°Jim.¡± ¡°It was an accident!¡± Senesi protested. Raina turned to look at him, ¡°What are you talking about Sensei?¡± Someone burst out in laughter. Raina turned to the sound, finally noticing a teenage girl who had been standing behind Mae. Jim glared at her, ¡°Shut up Erica! It''s not funny!¡± Erica forced herself to stop laughing, but the quivering of her shoulders made it obvious that she really found Raina''s address for Jim particularly funny. Raina vaguely sensed a telepathic message being sent from Mae to Erica. Whatever the message was, it made the girl switch from being one word away from bursting out into laughter again, to an expression of icy calm. ¡°Jim?¡± Erica asked calmly, ¡°Can you fix her in the next twenty seconds?¡± Her expression hardened for an instant, along with her voice.¡±Because if you can''t, I will turn you into charcoal.¡± Leila stepped in front of her brother, ¡°We were going to do that as soon as we finished our match.¡± ¡°Convenient.¡± Erica stared the older woman down. ¡°Don''t let me stop you.¡± Raina turned back to face Leila, ¡°What are you going to do?¡± The other woman sighed, ¡°Just relax. This won''t take long.¡± Raina opened her mouth to ask another question, but before she could say a word, Leila raised her hand, a white wire flying from her palm into Raina''s forehead. Raina gasped as she felt a foreign presence in her mind. It was quickly joined by another consciousness that she somehow recognized as Sensei. A sudden surge of power came out of the first presence, driving Raina to her knees in pain as she felt something in her get burnt out of existence. As abruptly as the assault started, it stopped, leaving Raina reeling from the pain. As Raina tried to remember how to breathe, Jim''s mind sent out a tendril of mental power. Unable to resist, Raina was helpless as his mind touched her own. She felt a pulse of power from his mind and something snapped into place. Fury, panic, and fear combined inside her in a storm of emotion that had her trembling on her knees. A sudden burst of clarity shot through her as the Drake''s minds retreated. Raina looked up at Leila, ¡°What,¡± against her will, her voice trembled, ¡°did you do to me?¡± The other woman looked at her, ¡°I''m sorry.¡± Sorry? That''s what you have to say? Raina felt a buzzing in her ears. You r*ped my mind! A hand touched her shoulder. Raina turned to see Erica watching her with sympathetic eyes, "How about, you go downstairs and take a hot shower. They have a sonic cleaner if what you''re wearing isn''t too delicate. Once you''re ready," Erica''s eyes went past her, hardening as they focused on the Drake siblings, "we''ll talk." Suddenly exhausted, Raina nodded. Erica helped her stand up accompanying her past Mae to the elevator. Suddenly, Erica turned, firing a blast of electricity from her hand. Raina half turned around, seeing Erica standing, glaring at Leila. ¡°Make one move in this direction, and I won''t miss. Ask your brother if you think I''m bluffing.¡± ¡°Erica.¡± Mae''s tone warned her daughter to calm down. The elevator dinged, Raina turned back, entering it, followed by Erica. The girl didn''t seem to have much to say as the elevator took them to the hallway, and she led Raina into the apartment, showing her to the bathroom. That was fine, Raina didn''t want to talk much either.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Raina stripped, opening the cleaner and throwing her sweaty clothes into the cleaner in the wall. Turning the shower up to as hot as she could stand, Raina, tried to come to terms with what had just happened. The Drakes performance earlier hadn''t been any sort of attack, she was sure of it. That feeling she had when Jim had done... whatever he did, it was like something that she was missing had been slotted back into its place. Then she had felt. A shiver ran through her body despite the hot water. She had felt. She hadn''t felt anything since. Calm Down. Jim''s voice echoed in her memories. He had forced her to calm down somehow when he told her ¨C ordered her ¨C to stop panicking. She began to shake, finally internalizing what had happened. What that meant. Jim didn''t need to use any sort of connection in order to control her. All he had to do was give the order, and she would obey. Call off the sting. Leave. She could do it. All she had to do was tell Purdue what happened and they would open a case into the mental assault. A pit opened in her stomach as she realized that the investigation would be done by the BPI. Leila would use her connections to make sure that nothing happened. Okay Raina, calm down. Suddenly struck by the irony of using the same words that Jim had used earlier, Raina started laughing hysterically, letting out all of the tension and stress that had built up over the day. After a few minutes, Raina took a breath, in control of herself for what felt like the first time all day. She closed her eyes, letting herself relax some more before she decided what to do. Okay Raina, options. She had three choices, leave and tell Purdue that she was mentally assaulted by Leila''s brother in order to call the op off. Second, she could keep the op running, and refuse to have anything more than absolutely necessary with either of the Drakes. Third... she could continue working with the Drakes, with some restrictions. She immediately discarded the second, there was time for taking the middle ground, this was not it. The first option was tempting, safe, but for some possible backlash on her career, not really much of a loss when the alternative was risking her mind. He thought you would help him. She gritted her teeth at the memory. Never again. She had entered the FBI so that she could help people. Yeah, but you never had to risk yourself like this. Never had to worry that your own partner would take over your mind. Mae would keep them from doing anything to her. Don''t be ridiculous, Mae isn''t going to be there the entire time, and it''s not like she''s going to stop Jim from talking to you. She would be on her own once Mae left. It''s too risky. No. No, it wasn''t. Dom had risked his life to slow that monster down. He lost it too. Do you want to die? No. No, she didn''t want to die, she didn''t want the Drakes to take over her mind again. Another image appeared in her mind. Two figures fighting, moving so fast that all she could see were flashes of light, a flash of black heading at her only to shatter against an invisible wall. Jim''s voice, came to mind, calmly instructing her on methods of using her psi that she had never considered. Another voice, one she couldn''t place, from her childhood. The reason dragons have gold is because, what we need most, is often where we least want to be. In order to reach our greatest potential, in order to get that horde of gold, we need to face the dragon. And win. Sure there is some danger. Dragons wouldn''t be dragons, honey, if they couldn''t eat you. But if you need that reward. If what the dragon guards is so valuable that you find you can''t do without it. Face the dragon, Raina. And if you get burned, what do you do? Raina smiled, finally placing her uncle''s voice. Another man who fell to his dragon, she hadn''t thought about him for years. Put some cream on the burns, rest up, and come back in a fireproof suit. She gave a small chuckle, Sebastian had been a character. So much like Dom. Raina turned the shower off, somehow decided on her path. Now to make myself some fireproof armor. Jim had given her some pointers, Raina used them as well as she could, breathing to center herself. First, make an image. Raina sat cross-legged on the bathroom mat, imagining an avatar of herself, standing in a grassy field that stretched to the horizon. Defenses, the field shrunk to an island, floating in space, her avatar stretching out her arms, creating a defensive field around the platform. Next feel your power. Raina reached inside herself, and push it into the image, giving it substance. It felt like she had a pond of distilled psychic power inside of her, Raina created a stream leading from that pond to the image of the avatar and it''s defensive barrier. Something clicked in her mind, the image flickering for a moment before becoming more solid in her imagination. Raina sagged, her first psychic program taking a toll on her stamina. A slow smile spread across her face as she realized what she had just done. Not time to celebrate yet, she reminded herself. Armor is nice, but something that can eliminate intruders would be better. Raina thought for a moment, coming up with what she needed for her active defenses. First, they would have to identify any foreign influence in her mind, then take steps to destroy them. The avatar stretched out her arms again, creating two groups of spheres, the set on the right, was white, and designed to constantly scan her mind. The group on the left was red when the white spheres identify something wrong, the red spheres would then destroy it. Raina created another stream, powering the spheres. A bolt of white-hot pain split her head. Raina barely held herself back from screaming, it felt like her brain was melting. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the pain receded to a dull throb. Note to self, don''t create powerful psionic programs when you''re already almost tapped out. Raina checked her mental plane and grinned despite her pain when she saw that everything was still intact with the defensive spheres patrolling the area around her floating island. She walked over to the cleaner, taking her freshly cleaned clothes out. Now, let''s face that dragon, shall we? Chapter 7 Raina dressed and finally left the bathroom, heading for the living room. Entering the room, she saw Mae and Erica sitting on a couch across from the Drakes. Finally calm, Raina took a good look at the Dawson''s, noting that the two looked nothing alike. Mae had the looks of an Asian supermodel, while her daughter was one of the few powerful psionist''s who had average Caucasian looks at best. Jim mentioned that he and Leila were adopted, maybe Erica was as well? Come to think of it, why doesn''t Jim live with the Dawson''s? Tabling those questions for later ¨C assuming that she didn''t leave this apartment with her recent memories erased ¨C Raina took a seat between Mae and Erica, giving the two Drake''s ¨C and Jim in particular ¨C a level stare. First, take as much control of the conversation as possible. "Explanation," Raina demanded calmly, her voice hiding any signs of her internal nervousness. Jim met her eyes, ¡°I''m sorry, I was trying to calm you down, and I lost control of my abilities.¡± Raina glared at the teen, ¡°So you only wanted to control my mind a little bit?¡± She asked incredulously, ¡°That isn''t exactly a good apology.¡± ¡°It wasn''t supposed to be mind control!¡± Jim protested, ¡°I was trying to use projective empathy, it''s not the same thing!¡± Erica was glaring at Jim now, "You know Jim when most people say they did something by accident, they actually mean that they didn''t mean for whatever happened to happen. Not that they meant for it to happen another way." Jim returned her glare full force, "So projecting emotions is a crime now? I can feel every d*mn emotion that anyone has within a thousand feet of me, and I''m the bad guy for trying to make someone who''s having a panic attack calm down? Are you kidding me?" He turned his glare on Leila, "You know what? I don''t have to deal with this. You want to have your secrets, fine. You want to play some game that you''re not going to tell anyone else about, fine. Just don''t drag me into all of this bull." He stood up turning. "I''m just going to go back to school, spend my time in my cabin, and not deal with any of this. Your problem, not mine. I''m done with this sort of cr*p." Jim looked at Raina, "And for what it''s worth, I''m sorry you got dragged into this mess." ¡°Not my problem.¡± everyone looked at Leila. ¡°What?¡± Jim asked incredulously, ¡°you drag me into the city, make me agree to train someone who shouldn''t even be a part of the op to start with, and then you tell me it has nothing to do with you?¡± "Because it doesn''t," Leila responded, somehow the only calm person in the room other than Mae, who still hadn''t said anything. Raina had been shocked when Jim said he was an empath, but what was Leila saying? She had her own agenda when she agreed to the op, anyone with half a brain could see that, but she had agreed in the end, so why would she say that it had nothing to do with her? ¡°I could walk away,¡± Leila continued, ¡°I could walk away, and never involve myself in anything again. I''d be fine if I would take that path, nothing would harm me,¡± she turned, meeting the eyes of everyone in the room in turn, ¡°I would be fine,¡± she repeated, ¡°But the rest of you would die.¡± ¡°What are you...¡± Jim''s voice trailed off, the fury on his face slowly being replaced by horror. ¡°You looked didn''t you?¡± An adult Jim stood in front of an army, facing a single woman with eyes as red as her hair. Without a sound, Jim''s army attacked, flinging bolts of power. Fire and lightning roared towards the woman, who simply raised her hand, sending a wave of molten lava at the assault, tearing through it easily. Jim took a step forward, black armor materializing on him as he punched, sending a blast of energy to destroy the incoming lava. His body shifted, growing, skin turning red, spiraling horns rising at an angle from his temples as he charged. Still no sound. Raina watched as the woman met Jim''s army on equal grounds. A slashing hand cut a man in half even as another wave of lava erupted behind her, covering a woman who had tried to take advantage of the distraction. Still no sound. Jim''s mouth opened in an unheard roar as he materialized a sword in a slash that was blocked by the woman''s bare arm. The world turned white. Raina felt herself get pulled up into the sky, where she looked down to see a mushroom cloud rising above where the battle had been. A man appeared in front of her, standing in the air as if it was solid ground and smiled. With a wave of his hand, the cloud was blown away, the man dropping towards the former battlefield. Raina followed him, only to see the man standing alone with nothing but desolation around him, not a trace to be found of the men and woman she knew where there just minutes ago. Suddenly, particles of light began rising, coalescing into the woman who Jim had been fighting. The man said something that Raina couldn''t hear, to the woman who didn''t answer before walking away. Raina gasped as the vision ended. The shocked expressions on Jim and Erica''s faces showed that she hadn''t been the only one who Leila had shown that vision too. Her eyes flickered to Mae, who seemed to be as calm as anyone Raina had ever seen. "And what," Mae said calmly, "are you going to be doing while your brother goes to his death." If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Leila met the woman''s gaze without flinching. ¡°Getting ready to end it.¡± ¡°End what?¡± Raina blurted out without thinking. Seven people stood in a circle on top of a mountain facing each other with their eyes closed. Three women and four men. Other than Leila, the rest of them had faces that were shrouded in mist. A group of psionists hundreds strong flew at them. Raina recognized the man and woman from the previous vision, charging alongside hundreds of beings like themselves at the circle. The circle didn''t move even as the horde surrounded them. The army attacked, and one of the men spoke a word. Even in the vision, Raina felt something pass through her as everything went blank. As suddenly as the vision went blank, Raina felt something change and a universe unfolded. She saw Leila, somehow standing on nothing, eyes closed, as primal light and darkness chased each other around her. Suddenly Leila opened her eyes and flung her hands out to her sides, sending the primal powers surrounding her into the universe. Raina felt her mind tremble as she watched suns and planets coalescing, absorbing the light even as the darkness began to erode the very fabric of all existence. Raina fought down a scream as she emerged from the second vision, seeing Leila sitting in front of her, she tried to reconcile the woman who sat across from her, with the goddess who had created a universe. That can''t be real. She knew that thought for a lie as soon as she had it. What was I thinking? She had been about to negotiate with a woman who would kill the universe. ¡°How long?¡± Mae interrupted her thoughts, calm as she had been the entire conversation. "Any time from ten years to fifty," Leila admitted, "My future sight isn''t very good at determining time." Mae nodded, Erica gaped at her mother, "How can you be so calm about this?" "Because she already had some idea of what''s coming." Leila answered, " Why do you think your mother founded an organization designed to find independent psionists with good combat potential, and give them training and experience while running one of the leading psionic R and D companies? She''s known about the dangers for a long time." Erica opened her mouth, " Before you ask, no she couldn''t tell anyone about it. I''m pretty sure she still can''t answer any questions that you have, even if you already know the answers." Mae nodded, ¡°I hope you don''t put too much information out, not everyone who''s silent is... the one on the receiving end.¡± She winced as she said that. Raina wondered what sort of power it would take to place a mental compulsion so powerful that any reference to it caused pain to a Class 5 psion. Is it too late to back out now? She wondered, probably. Jim collapsed onto the couch next to his sister, all signs of his previous fury drained by Leila''s revelations. ¡°Can we win without... that?¡± Raina was gratified to know that she wasn''t the only person who was having trouble with the memory of the universe''s end and rebirth. Leila sighed, ¡° I don''t know for sure. It''s gotten better from the last time I looked for that battle.¡± ¡°How much better?¡± Erica asked, ¡°Jim was about to get slaughtered before someone nuked everything?¡± Leila hung her head, ¡°The first time I saw that battle, Jim was fighting alone, and nobody detonated the nuke.¡± Some form of realization flashed in Jim''s eyes. "We will talk later about exactly when you had that first vision." Leila inclined her head formally, "For now, how about telling us what your real goal is, and we''ll figure out what each of us needs to do for it to happen." Leila took a deep breath, ¡°I want to complete a sting op against an underground slave fighting ring. I have a couple of primary goals that I want to accomplish: First I planted a suggestion that I believe will get sent up the chain that the military will take the former battle slaves and use them for their own purposes. This should simultaneously give humanity a better chance at fighting the Enemy armies and lower government corruption somewhat. Second, Jim, you were probably planning to get your own copy of any data that would be found on while the actual raid is underway, right?¡± Jim flushed, ¡°That should be useful to you when you need to bring the underground under control, just make sure not to jeopardize the actual op.¡± ¡°What I need, is from Erica and Mae, complete new identities for myself and Raina, and a general information background on fight clubs. Jim, I need you to get Raina up to specs within three weeks, I''ll cover for you with school until then. Additionally, you probably know some people who would be able to infiltrate the clubs easier than Mae''s hunters, right?¡± Jim thought for a moment before nodding, ¡°See if you can get them to be Raina''s contacts while they keep tabs on me.¡± Leila looked around, ¡°Any questions?¡± Raina spoke up, ¡°I thought you said earlier that Purdue''s original intention was to conscript the slaves into the military?¡± Jim snorted, ¡°If that was the case, he wouldn''t have sent a rookie and a BPI Patrol Officer. He probably didn''t give your full details to whoever is controlling him, but he shouldn''t need to. Send a couple armatures into this sort of thing and they will mess up somewhere. Leila probably just gave him a suggestion that he''ll give to the military for protection once you two succeed and his patrons decide that he''s no longer reliable.¡± Raina thought that over. While she didn''t like the picture that script painted of SAIC Purdue, given what she had seen in the past ten minutes, there really wasn''t much that could shock her. She looked at Leila, meeting those blue eyes that had watched the beginning of a universe, searching for the woman who had given that universe, both life, and death. "One more thing. No more lies, no more half-truths. If you can''t tell me something, say so and I''ll drop the topic. Just tell the full truth." Leila met Raina''s gaze without flinching, ¡°I can''t guarantee that. If I think I need to lie to you, I will. I''ll try to keep it to a minimum, and only lie if absolutely necessary, not as a matter of convenience. Deal?¡± she asked, extending her hand. Raina considered the offer, best you''re going to get from her. She took the offered hand, ¡°Deal.¡± Chapter 8 Jim''s avatar followed Raina as she raced through his illusory forest invisible to all of the constructs that he had set to patrolling. While his student''s ¨C and how weird was that thought ¨C invisibility was a pretty straightforward illusion ¨C Jim had never even heard of someone who actually let light go through his body ¨C it had taken the two of them some time to figure out what Raina was doing to make her psi usage undetectable. Eventually, they had figured out that it was a separate Kine/Psy emission, using some form of combination wave to negate all emissions from the invisibility illusion. Once Raina had realized that point, she had immediately begun to experiment with making other abilities and programs undetectable. Case in point, she had just placed several Kine ''bombs'' at some key locations on the patrol routes, as well as on some carefully selected trees, boulders, and a bunch on a cliff face that she had found. Jim suspected that she was planning on destroying the cliff simply because she could, and not for any tactical reason. The ''bombs'' weren''t much, just a condensed ball of Kine power that Raina could make explode at will. Which she did immediately after getting into a good position to make a dash for her target, a massive white flag that waved in a wind that didn''t seem to affect the rest of the simulation. Jim grinned at the chaos that Raina created with her bombs. Only a few of the explosions actually injured anyone directly, but the exploding trees and rocks made for impressive shrapnel bombs. Raina flickered out of her invisibility, switching to full Enhance, making for the flag. Jim frowned, she had tried a similar tactic in one of her previous runs and had gotten cut in half for her troubles. Raina hadn''t made the same mistake twice yet, Jim was interested in what she had come up with for this opponent. Raina''s body erupted with Kine power that condensed into an aura as she ran. Jim nodded, Raina was using the fighting style that they had worked out for the op. The aura was a general-purpose technique that offered protection and some physical reinforcement. It was a decent fighting style, and common enough that it wouldn''t attract much attention. The problem with Raina using that style to get past the ambush that Jim had placed near the flag, was that despite having had over a year''s worth of training, subjective time, she simply wasn''t skilled enough to take on the ambush in a straight fight, let alone finish her off before the patrol units got their footing back and caught up to Raina. Well, let''s see what she has planned. Raina charged at the flag, her aura flickering around her, picking up traces of the ambush that Jim had set for her. The first time she had tried this mission, she tried to simply sneak up to the flag. While it had taken her some time to figure out how to get past the patrols ¨C being invisible did not mean that you didn''t leave any trace behind you ¨C it wasn''t really that difficult. A few lessons on how to hide your tracks in the forest, some real-life practice, and she was pretty much able to walk around the map all day if she wanted to without getting detected. Then she had gotten killed while reaching for the flag. Jim had dealt with her accusations of unfair play by pointing out that she still couldn''t fly, and she had obviously bent the grass when she stepped on it, alerting the psionist who had been waiting with powers deactivated to avoid detection. Her next tactic was to first locate the enemy and take her out before grabbing the flag. She had lasted about ten seconds before a patrol unit had arrived and killed her from behind. After complaining to Jim about unfair tests and failing to convince him to use models of actual people for the patrols, not faceless goons in suits, she demanded a fair fight with the model that Jim had used for the ambush. Jim told her not to count on fair fights, adding some images of what he somehow managed to label ¨C how do you label a telepathic image ¨C of '' Idiots who Aimed for A Fair Fight'' and set her against the woman in a colosseum match, not unlike how Raina figured Leila would be fighting in soon enough. The result had been gory, turned out that when the model had been waiting to ambush, she hadn''t been using any psi, a feat that told Raina quite a lot about how fast Jim wanted her to be able to activate her Enhance if it ever became necessary. When her powers weren''t at a low from having just been activated, Raina couldn''t even last the ten seconds that she had managed in the forest map.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Raina located her opponent hiding behind a bush, and flew at her, creating points on her palms where her aura gathered to increase the power of her strikes. The model, a girl probably not much older than Jim was, went forward to meet her, drawing a katana that immediately began to glow as her Kine psi Reinforced the blade. Raina boosted her reflexes in anticipation of the attacks that she knew would be coming. She wasn''t disappointed. The sword came rushing at her in a one-handed slash, glowing gold. Get inside her range. Raina went low, turning, striking at the girls back with her left palm. The girl turned, matched Raina with a punch of her own, fist glowing with the same light that had shone on her katana. Release. Raina forced all the power gathered in her palm out in a single burst. The collision sent the two stumbling back, Raina forcing herself to ignore the pain shooting up her left arm. She consulted her mental clock. 1.7s from detonation. She had bought herself some time with her bombs earlier, but that shouldn''t delay the patrol models for more than another five seconds at most. She had fifteen seconds total, or howsoever long it took for the girl to raise her powers enough to kill her. Move. She attacked, moving fast, building up energy in her palms for more Release strikes, Hardening the aura on the back of her hands to deflect the sword. 5s. She wasn''t going to be able to defeat the model in time. Plan B. Time to see if I can pull this one off. Raina went in close, trying to force her way past the sword. She blocked the glowing weapon with both hands, resisting, trying to push it to the side, and it seemed for a moment that she had succeeded. Then the katana exploded. Raina flew back, rolled to her feet and dove to the right, avoiding the follow-up attack. The woman advanced, Raina frantically backpedaling. Now. She shifted her balance and lunged, closing the distance, allowing the sword to finally hit her, Reinforcing to keep herself from being getting injured too badly. Raina screamed as the blade pierced her shoulder, forcing the white-hot pain away, another burst of pain from the sword. Trying to tear me apart from the inside. Dampen. Her aura condensed, shot down into her shoulder and swirled around the blade, fighting the sword''s power. That won''t work for long. Good thing she didn''t need it to. Raina grabbed the girl''s sword arm with her functional hand. Release. The impact blew the arm off at the forearm. Screaming, the girl''s power broke, giving Raina the chance to stop focusing on her aura and prepare her final attack. Don''t stop ''till it''s over. Jim''s voice echoed, and it takes a lot to make any Enhancer believe it''s over. Release. The cliff face, hundreds of feet away exploded. Reaction Enhance. Raina felt almost detached from her body as she sensed the rotating points of power that she had planted what felt minutes and years ago. Release/Partial. Angles noted. Release/Partial. The screams cut off abruptly, the girl''s remaining hand starting to glow. 8.3s Release. The screams began again, from the patrol units this time, as the boulders rained down like meteors. The girl''s eyes blazed as the glowing palm approached Raina, unstoppable. Release. This rock was the size of a melon, only a drop slower than a bullet ¨C and on the side of the girl that Raina had already injured. She didn''t have a chance. With her Enhanced reaction speed, it felt like an eternity as Raina watched the girl tumble aside, red drops vivid against the flags white and the forest''s green. The world returned to its normal speed and the body hit the ground, rolling. Raina walked forward, her shoulder burning white, and placed her hand on the flagpole. The world around her faded, and Raina O''Hara fell out of the mental plane. Chapter 8.5 Jim let Raina out of his simspace, stunned by her victory. Class Three psions, even skilled, well-trained psions, which Raina definitely qualified for after around a subjective year of his training, didn''t defeat Class Four psions in a straightforward fight. He double-checked the variation on Claudia that he had been using to counter Raina. Still, a Four, although his restrictions on her Kine abilities had probably played into the result of the battle, somewhat. Jim ran a review of the data for an explanation of what had happened. He sighed, Claudia''s habit of not letting go of her weapon had always been her main weakness. It was ironic, he supposed, that someone who had convinced him to make sure that he was as capable unarmed as he was with a weapon, someone who was herself equally talented in both armed and unarmed combat, would be functionally incapable of releasing her weapon when it got trapped. Jim shook off the flash of rage that thinking of his friend tended to bring up, switching his attention to his analysis of Raina''s performance. While her ultimate victory had been due in large part to the fact that when she trapped Claudia''s katana, Claudia hadn''t let go and torn Raina apart with her bare hands, that didn''t make Raina''s win any less impressive. On the contrary, she had first set dozens of psionic bombs inside the cliff, and after detonating a large number of them, she had used a combination of Enhance and Psychic ability to track the remaining bombs, which she then set off in a series of perfectly focused explosions, turning what had been ''simply'' a rain of rocks, into a lethal mortar barrage. Then, she had used one of the remaining rocks as a perfectly targeted bullet ¨C on Claudia''s injured side ¨C all within seconds, and with a sword stuck through her shoulder. Absolutely amazing. Jim smiled and left his mind to congratulate his student ¨C and to remind her not to get too overconfident. A whirlpool of emotions hit him immediately. Raina''s emotions were almost as chaotic as they had been the time he had triggered her panic attack. She was shaking, pale, disbelief and horror, mixing with terror and self-loathing radiating off of her. A ray of pride shone for a bare instant only to be drowned by the storm of negative emotion. She feels like she killed Claudia, Jim realized, cursing his stupidity in springing this on her before she was ready. While Raina had killed previously in his simulations, all of her kills had been ''bots, randomly generated for whatever test he happened to be giving her. Claudia had been fourteen when she was murdered. Idiot, idiot, idiot! You just made your student kill a teenage girl and you wanted to congratulate her for it? ¡°I... killed her.¡± Raina''s voice was soft, still finding the reality nearly impossible to believe. Lightning ran through Jim''s veins at her words, ¡°No. You didn''t.¡± Raina looked at him then, the tears finally falling, ¡°Like hell I didn''t! I saw her face -¡± her voice trailing off into sobs. ¡°Raina.¡± His voice as hard as the steel will that he use to leash overwhelming urge to hunt the b*sterd who he knew was responsible. "I know who killed her. And if I thought it was you, you would either be dead... or wish you were." Raina stared at him, ¡°What?¡± Jim suddenly recalled the situation, ¡°You didn''t kill anyone. It was just an illusion.¡± He made a conscious effort to soften his voice and expression, fighting harder to control his temper and calm Raina. From her expression and emotions, it seemed that while he hadn''t been entirely successful at controlling himself, she had at least noticed the effort, and basic logic of his statement.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Who was she?¡± Raina''s voice was soft, and if her face and emotions didn''t match her tone, he wasn''t going to comment. "Her name was Claudia Reiss," Jim felt his rage start to cool as he spoke, "she was... a good friend who helped me get myself together after... I went through a bad part of my life." ¡°What happened to her?¡± ¡°She was found one morning at the bottom of the stairs, her neck broken as if she had died from the fall.¡± Somehow, the act of saying it was calming him, taking the rage that held him whenever he thought about Claudia, and while the fire wasn''t quite going down, it was becoming... more distant. It was still there, just more quiet. ¡°You don''t believe that it was an accident.¡± Not a question. ¡°She was a Class Four. The girl could dance on water.¡± A faint smile touched his lips at the memory, ¡°She didn''t fall.¡± ¡°Nobody believed you?¡± Raina''s voice was soft, and the sorrow Jim felt from her was touching, if misplaced. He didn''t deserve any of it. ¡°They believed me,¡± he admitted, ¡°they just didn''t let me track the guy who did it. He escaped eventually ¨C got help from a teleporter.¡± Raina took a deep breath, ¡°Thanks for that, I''m feeling better now.¡± She looked around, embarrassed, ¡°So, have you been in touch with Mae?¡± Jim let the awkward change of topic slide, ¡°Erica sent me the data on most of the rings two days ago, you didn''t get it?¡± ¡°Yeah, but I was kind of hoping that her mother ¨C who is apparently in charge of an organization that has quite the need for information, and is also your foster mother ¨C would be able to confirm some of that?¡± Jim laughed, ¡°Erica is an extremely gifted electrokinetic, she can actually interpret electronic data. If she puts her stamp on anything, it''s probably good.¡± He quickly flashed her images of Mor and Lee, along with their full names. A brief flutter of surprise ran through her, although he wasn''t sure if it was about Erica''s abilities or the fact that he actually knew people who would be able to infiltrate what was, according to Erica''s report a pretty tight ring, ran by a pre-Advent CIA operative. ¡°How do you know these people, if you don''t mind me asking?¡± Raina asked, cautious, she had previously tried to get Jim to tell her about his past. An attempt that Jim had refused in no uncertain terms, and increased her training load shortly after. Jim hesitated, he was feeling more open than normal but... ¡°¡± Raina winced a bit under the pressure of the power he put behind the combined audible and telepathic commands. While he hadn''t outright attacked her mind and forced her to never speak of anything he would tell her, the pressure that he put into the command would push her to avoid the topic in the future, and she knew it. Jim also knew that she could get rid of it within ten minutes, he had taught her nothing less. Hopefully, she would see the compulsion as the assist in avoiding the topic that he meant it as, and not the violation which it admittedly qualified as. Raina met his eyes, anger flaring for a second, replaced by a combination of understanding, resignation, and interest. She nodded. "When I was ten, I was kidnapped. Long story short, it sucked and one of the kids managed to start a minor revolt. We got to a phone and I called Mae. She traced the call ¨C Erica hadn''t learned how to yet ¨C and flew in to rescue us. She and Howard helped a lot in finding homes for the ones who didn''t have anywhere to go to. Not all of us are really... good at staying in one place, so we set up a network for us to keep tabs on each other so we would know if someone disappeared or needed help. Mor and Lee are like this sort of stuff so I asked them to get a job with Jhon Martin as soon as I found out he was the security head." He gave a wry smile, "The only hard part was convincing Mor to not join as a fighter." ¡°I''m guessing that she''s something of an adrenaline junkie?¡± Raina asked jokingly. "The only times I''ve ever seen Mor actually calm is after she''s had a match," Jim replied, being very careful to not scare Raina anymore than he already had today with just how furious that thought made him. "She seems to find beating people up, therapeutic." Jim got up, signaling the end to the conversation. ¡°According to Erica''s information, the first ring that you and Leila should enter will be opening next week. Rest up and relax. You won''t be getting much of either for the next few months.¡± Chapter 9 Leila woke up surprised. This was the first time that Asmodaeus hadn''t tried attacking her in her sleep since Jim had given her that damned thing. She looked at the blade suspiciously. The gray sword looked like normal, even to her not quite normal vision. Too normal. Leila turned her senses inward and gasped. Her mindscape was... desolate. The palace where she stored the most important pieces of herself was still intact, but the rest of it? Wasteland. Her gardens had withered to nothing. Planets she had formed and placed into orbit around her palace, shattered. Holding back panic, she checked her connection with her brother. Jim''s mental avatar entered her mind through the link. Solid ruby eyes surveyed her domain critically, as the avatar refused to face her. "So that''s what happened," he muttered, beginning to fade from her mind. ¡°Wait!¡± ¡°What?¡± Jim snapped. He had been like this ever since he had found out the truth, he''d pay some attention to her requests, but would completely ignore her otherwise. ¡°Are you all right? Did any of it get to you?¡± The avatar froze. Then turned very deliberately, black runic tattoos forming on skin that was rapidly turning crimson. Leila only had a moments warning as a wave of telepathic power flew through the avatar and hit her. Hundreds of faces, twisted in horror as they died. Millions of voices screaming in incoherent rage and pain. She felt her mental realm shake as the assault ended, a single face replacing the thousands. The man''s face was peaceful as he lied beneath her, dirt and blood marring his face as he smiled gently. Then a fist, covered in amethyst power, descended on that face, crushing it, destroying the smile forever. A wave of pure mental agony, regret mixing with a fury and absolute need to destroy the people responsible for all the pain. Jim looked at her, the fury pulling back as his face turned to stone. ¡°Yes,¡± he lied, ¡°I''m fine.¡± Leila didn''t stop him from leaving this time. You knew the price that he would pay when you made your choice. And you would do it again. You will do it again and you know it. Is it any surprise that he knows it too? She took a moment, forcing herself past the guilt. She couldn''t afford to lose to her sins, no matter what she did. She had seen the alternative to her not acting, and if the price of a fighting chance was creating hell after hell for her brother to forge himself in. If the price was to make that gamble was to condemn herself and her family for all eternity. It would be a bargain that she would grab with both hands. Next on the agenda. Leila spread her senses around her mental realm searching for Asmodaeus. She found the daemon in the wreckage of where his cage had been, its body wounded, unable to move. Leila frowned, knowing that if the daemon could break out of her cage, it would have done so already, and willed herself to its side, banishing the remains of the cage. Leila sighed, the daemon was nearly gone, if she had slept for just a few more minutes, whatever had destroyed the cage might have finished it too. ¡°Neither of us gets off that easy, Mo,¡± Leila murmured, using her powers to reform the Asmodeus. ¡°I''ve got plenty of work ahead of me, and you will eventually help me with it.¡± The daemon coughed, opening its eyes, ¡°I will devour your soul.¡± Leila rolled her eyes at the growled threat, ¡°That would be more intimidating if you were a bit further away from oblivion. What happened?¡± Asmodeus''s eyes widened in surprise, ¡°You don''t know?¡± It laughed, low and harsh, before flashing an image at her. A disc of Light and Darkness, impossibly fused together, began to change. At first, the change was slow, the darkness separating from the light, beginning to turn the disc into two distinct parts. Suddenly, the Darkness surged, threatening to devour the Light. The Light surged in response, crashing into the Dark. The two merged into a chaotic mess before exploding, destroying planets and stars, only stopping once it reached the Palace at the center of the dimension. Leila gasped, some of that power had gone through her connection with Jim. Leila checked the cord in the back of her mind that bound her brother to her, worried to find it slightly frayed. She considered whether she should check on him again, but he hadn''t seemed to be injured when he came earlier. And he wouldn''t tell you if he was. Asmodeus charged at her, trying to take advantage of her distracted state. Leila absently raised a hand, creating a cage of Light that burned the daemon''s newly regenerated skin when the two came into contact. No, Leila decided, her brother didn''t want her help and had probably only come earlier out of curiosity as to what had happened to her to send her power out of control. Which was something that she needed to figure about as well. It had been over three years since the last time her powers had gotten out of her control. Balance. Her mother''s advice echoed. You are the Origin of All. The essence of your power lies in its inherent contradictions. The only way to truly control the Light is by standing in the Dark. And only someone who''s eyes can see, will be able to know the Darkness. She had been using Dark for her disguise as it was the power that nobody had seen. While she wasn''t worried about someone figuring out what she was ¨C the only likely result of that being the observant woman either leaving or offering her services in as discreet a manner possible ¨C she was worried that if she would use Light somebody might figure out who she was. And the rewards that one may get from helping a hidden Scion, were nowhere near the profits that someone could get off the body of Marie Drake''s daughter. Even without including Asmodeus in the haul. Leila banished that train of thought, not about to go over decisions that she had already made. Balance. She could do that. Leila pulled the Light to her, demanding, calling it to her side, drawing the dispersed powers around her. Asmodeus roared in pain from the proximity of the sheer power Leila wielded. She ignored the daemon as the Light ran through her, cleansing her insecurities and fears. Light alone cannot create. One of her few memories of her father. She couldn''t use the pure Light to reconstruct her mental sanctuaries, it wasn''t flexible enough. What she could do with it though... Defend. The Light exploded away from her, forming a massive sphere around her consciousness, pulsing with the destructive power of a sun. Leila checked her mental plane for Darkness, finding it sunken into the debris scattered all over the place. She could extract and condense the Dark, but that would risk a replay of what had happened earlier. Her two primary powers tended to get volatile when they were both condensed and awake. Better to leave things as they were until the op was over. She gave Asmodeus some power to make sure it didn''t die, cast a regretful look around what used to be her beautiful planets, and exited her mind. Leila walked down Broadway, window shopping, and looking for a nice coffee shop that Adrian had told her about that should be right over... found it. Somehow, she wasn''t surprised to see the boy standing by the front door. Adrian Danvers waved cheerfully at her grinning. ¡°Thought you''d come here on your day off Leila!¡± He practically cheered, looking for all the world like the teenage boy that she knew for a fact he wasn''t.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°Captain,¡± she answered politely. Adrian grinned at her attempt to brush him off, ¡°How about I pay for our coffee''s and we go for a walk together.¡± The smile left his eyes, letting her know that this was one of the few times that he wasn''t simply flirting with her. Leila nodded, ¡°I''ll have a cocoa then, thanks.¡± The boy nodded and opened the door, ¡°After you, milady.¡± After getting Leila the promised cocoa and himself an espresso, Adrian looked at her ¡°Out of the city? I know a nice spot, great view.¡± Leila frowned, He shrugged ¡°No need, Tamara spoke to them, I''ll meet up with them later.¡± She sighed, the man had thought of everything. Not having much of a choice, she followed him outside, sealed her cup with some kine power as the captain began to Enhance, Adrian leaped, rocketing up to the rooftops across the street, Leila smiled apologetically at the bystanders, before following her captain in an Enhanced leap of her own. Adrian set an easy pace, one that any Class Four enhancer would be able to keep up with. Also, one that was certainly illegal, especially going over the rooftops as they were. she cut off the transmission at the stunned expression on his face. Not even Adrian - Adrian sent back, Leila growled at the idiot, who apparently had never listened to her about the difference between taking a risk and being a complete, total, moron. Almost on cue, she felt a couple of auras heading at them. She grabbed Adrian with a hand made of Light, manifested wings, and took off. The idiot asked. Leila replied. She rolled her eyes, Adrian sent her a location. Leila grinned at one of her rare verbal wins over the man. She knew the place he showed her, had actually considered taking a boyfriend there once for the privacy, though that had been before. Adrian hung from her psionic arm silently for a while as Leila flew, enjoying the feeling of the wind in her face, adjusting her wings to deal with random gusts of wind. Leila held back the impulse to shrug, making a mental note to not tie the wings to her upper body muscles in the future. They made it outside the city fairly quickly, somewhat to Leila''s disappointment. She made a mental note to fly with wings sometime in the future if she wasn''t worried about getting shot at. The spot Adrian had directed her to was just how she remembered it, a small hill, without much trees on it, but an amazing view of the forest and distant mountains. Adrian yelped as the hand that Leila was holding him disappeared, dropping him unceremoniously to the ground, nearly a hundred feet below, he Enhanced as he hit the ground, not even stumbling at the impact. Leila followed, her wings vanishing, being replaced by a bright aura that lowered her to the ground at a much more sedate pace than her captain. < Tamara wanted to know if you understood what you''re getting into.> Aloud Leila added, ¡°And that wasn''t what I asked. That was how you got Tamara to call off your tails for the day. What did you want to talk about Adrian?¡± Adrian sighed, ¡°I wanted to know if you understood what you''re getting into.¡± Leila glared, ¡°I told you -¡± ¡°Not with the FBI.¡± Adrian clarified, ¡°Although I don''t think you have all the information on that.¡± He met Leila''s eyes, golden orbs burning bright, ¡°do you know what this will cost you? You are going to be a pit fighter. Most of the people you fight aren''t going to be there of their own free will. Some of them are going to be kids. You might need to kill some of them.¡± Leila looked away, ¡°I know, but if that''s the price I need to pay...¡± she closed her eyes, voice trailing off. ¡°Now.¡± The command echoed, as the twelve of them released powers that had been designed for this moment. Leila didn''t bother trying to watch what the others did, she just laughed in pure ecstasy, as she let the parts of her that she had held back her entire life out and devoured the remnants of a universe that the others had unbound. She opened her eyes, ¡°It''s worth the gamble.¡± She didn''t want to be that person. No matter what the cost. Adrian shook his head, ¡°Is there anything that I can do to help?¡± She laughed harshly, ¡°Not allowed. That would probably be considered my creating my own power, and while I''m important, I''m not irreplaceable.¡± "How could they replace you?" Adrian asked calmly. ¡°Apparently there''s a pair of twins in Russia.¡± She answered casually. Leila answered. Adrian sat down, leaning his back against a tree, his face calm. Leila thought that if she was her brother, she would be running as far as she could right now. ¡°What can I do to help?¡± Adrian''s voice was calm. Leila shivered at the thought of what Adrian helping her could cost. ¡°You could die. If he decides to kill you, he will. You can''t beat him.¡± Adrian looked up at her, and for the first time, Leila didn''t see a child''s face staring at her. ¡°I know. What can I do to help?¡± ¡°Nothing,¡± keep him out of this. Adrian stared at her for a long moment before replying, ¡°Then I''ll do it all on my own, risk running across whoever this bogeyman is, and die horribly.¡± He smiled cheerfully, ¡°So how''s Jim doing?¡± Any amusement that Leila might have felt at Adrian calling that man a bogeyman was wholly covered by her terror at the prospect of his death, and what her shame of she had done to Jim... and what she would do to him in the future. ¡°What do you want?¡± she said woodenly. Adrian blinked, surprised at her giving in so easily, "What''s the goal?" Leila collapsed next to him, "I need to either save the world or end it." ¡°Which do you want to do?¡± Leila stared at him, ¡°What?¡± Adrian met her stare, ¡°Say it.¡± ¡°I... I want to save the world.¡± He smiled, suddenly turning back to the boy that he normally looked like, "Good, keep saying that. What''s your plan?" Leila turned away from him, her cheeks burning at her admission. She took a deep breath, sitting up straighter, somehow feeling calmer. "I need to get as many people who will fight, as powerful and united as possible." ¡°Limitations?¡± ¡°I can influence, but I can''t lead or directly advise. Beyond that, none.¡± Adrian sucked in a breath, ¡°Define ''none''¡± ¡°Jim.¡± The name tumbled out of her mouth without her thinking. Adrian was silent for a while, ¡°You knew what was going to happen.¡± ¡°Not the details. Just that it would be bad. And that he would come out stronger. With an army.¡± ¡°Would you do it again?¡± His voice was calm, not judging her, ¡°I... I''m going to let it happen again. Sometime in the next six months to a year.¡± Leila felt tears coming and forced them back. ¡°He needs to get stronger.¡± ¡°He knows?¡± ¡°Just found out.¡± ¡°Leila.¡± Adrian was somehow still calm, ¡°Look at me.¡± She did, scared of what she would see there. ¡°I know what your brother feels. My sister used me for what she thought was the greater good. She was probably right. I don''t believe that her way was the only way forward. But I do think that she meant well. You remind me of her in a lot of ways, except for one.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I could forgive her for everything she made me do. All she needed to do was say was that she was sorry. She couldn''t.¡± ¡°I would do it again.¡± Leila couldn''t understand what he was trying to say. Adrian reached out, touched her face. His fingers came away wet. ¡°If you aren''t sorry Leila, why are you crying? Monsters don''t cry. You''re not a monster.¡± Leila choked back a sob, Adrian reached out again, pulling her against him, ¡°It''s okay to not be a monster. You can cry sometimes too.¡± For the first time since she was fifteen, she did. Chapter 10 Raina took a final look at Leila before they set out for the location that Erica said that an underground fight would be taking place. No matter how often she saw the woman, Leila''s supernatural disguise abilities never ceased to stun Raina. Leila was in a similar form to the one that she had used... was it only a few weeks ago? No wonder Jim had warned her about using his simspace to often, it really messed with her sense of time. Leila''s hair appeared to be even darker than the last time she had seen the transformation, seemingly absorbing the light around her. Raina was somewhat relieved that the other woman had taken her advice and shrunk down to five feet tall. It was hard for her to act dominant with her supposed ''slave'' towering over her. Finding the location of the ring was surprisingly easy despite it being an illegal fight club that apparently condoned slavery. Raina was beginning to understand why the agents she knew that had worked with Xcution tended to be impressed by their intel. There was a touchpad on the wall, next to a door. Raina put the code that Erica had given her into the pad, causing the door to open smoothly. ¡°Hello,¡± An attractive woman greeted them politely. ¡°Are you here to fight or watch a match?¡± Raina, remembering that her persona was supposed to be lesbian, gave the girl an appreciative once over before answering, ¡°I''m here to get some extra cash,¡± she pointed over her shoulder at Leila, ¡°She''s going to be fighting.¡± The woman''s eye''s flickered behind Raina, apparently noticing the metal control collar around Leila''s neck, before she looked back at Raina, ¡°The rules for betting on a slave are: No betting against your slave, and we are not responsible if she should die during a match. Additionally, she must fight a minimum of four matches in her class and your minimum bet is a thousand crypt.¡± Raina barely managed to keep herself from hissing at the ridiculous ''minimum''. A crypt was a cryptocurrency that had gotten popular over the past couple of decades. Raina didn''t know the exact exchange rate to dollars off the top of her head, but it was around three hundred dollars the last time she had checked it. Well, Mae gave you all those nice accounts, right? Might as well use them. ¡°That''s fine,¡± She said, ¡°assuming that I''m not responsible for other fighters injuries.¡± ¡°You will not be held responsible for any injuries that take place during combat, however, if your slave injures an opponent after the match has been concluded, you will be required to pay a penalty.¡±Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Raina nodded, ¡°Fair enough.¡± ¡°If you would just give me the slave''s name and class, you will be escorted to the viewing boxes where you can place your bets.¡± ¡°Kine-Enhance: Low Four.¡± ¡°Name?¡± ¡°Achlys.¡± Raina placed her bet, trying to hide her nervousness. It was ridiculous for her to worry about Leila getting injured, she knew that. She had watched Jim get limbs cut off while training, the boy hadn''t even flinched. And if there was one thing that Jim had made clear to her over the past the weeks, it was that his sister was infinitely more powerful than he would ever be. Still, Raina couldn''t keep herself from getting a bit worried about the other woman. ¡°First time?¡± She turned, seeing a man of average height, looks and from the feel of it, power. ¡°So who do you spy for?¡± The man raised an eyebrow, ¡°Excuse me?¡± Raina laughed, ¡°I was just thinking, if you aren''t involved some sort of espionage or security, it would be a total waste of your looks.¡± The man cracked a grin, ¡°Nothing so crude as spying, I assure you!¡± his voice taking a faux sophisticated accent, ¡°I am merely an observer of beautiful women, such as yourself, and one can hardly fault myself for that when you appear as a goddess before my eyes. It is all I can do to not kneel at your feet and beg for the privilege of worshiping your beauty!¡± Raina cracked up at the over-the-top flirting, ¡°Before we take this any further, I should probably tell you that you don''t have the right set for me.¡± The man''s expression turned comically disappointed. ¡°Although, I still want to know who you''re observing me for?¡± The man raised an eyebrow, ¡°I would tell you, but I would have to kill you.¡± Raina shrugged, ¡°If you just want to talk, then fine, but I''m not cutting any deals with a middleman. Tell whoever you report to if you think I''m worth dealing with, and they can meet with me.¡± The man gave her a long look, his face unreadable, Raina didn''t blink, ¡°What makes you so sure that what you have is worth their time?¡± She smirked at his attempt to fish for information, ¡°That''s for you to decide. I''m only here for the night, so if they want to meet, it''s up to them to show up.¡± ¡°And who should I say they would be meeting with?¡± Raina considered for a moment, coming up with an obviously false name, ¡°Hmm, Lenore Raven sounds nice, what do you think?¡± The man shrugged, ¡°A bit dramatic, don''t you think?¡± ¡°I''ve been reading a lot of Poe recently. Let''s use that, what should I call you?¡± He thought for a moment then grinned again, the mask of humor coming back up, ¡°Cthulhu Crow.¡± Raina made a face as she checked the schedule, ¡°I''m not calling you Cthulhu, how about, I''ll just be Raven and you''ll just be Crow?¡± He shrugged, ¡°Fine by me, when is your match starting.¡± Raina scrolled down the schedule, finally finding the match, ¡° First match? Now.¡± Chapter 11 Leila expanded her senses, allowing herself to get familiar with the arena while keeping her eyes on the door opposite her. Glad to know that you''ve recovered Mo. A ghost of a smile touched her lips as the door swung open, a tall man walking through to the cheers of the crowd. The announcer screamed something and the crowd roared its approval. Leila fell into herself, and Achlys looked out at the world. The man''s crouched, his psi rising. An Enhancer, high class three at best. Achlys looked at the crowd. This is pathetic. The man charged, Achlys moved, ignoring the impact of his fist against her body, she swatted him away like a fly. The man hit the wall and bounced off, rolling to his feet, only for Achlys to appear in front of him without any warning and swat him again. The man flew away, and stayed down this time, only rising after the judge called Achlys''s victory. Achlys felt herself receding as she walked out of the arena, head high as the crowd booed her opponent. That was annoying, fighting without killing your opponent is just senseless violence. Either finish or don''t start at all. Leila saw Raina walking towards her as she regained full control of her body. He wasn''t the enemy, She told the condensed essence of Darkness within her. I know, Achlys replied, but I am not Light, to burn all our enemies away. I am darkness, and I offer a final peace to all, even a boy who will meet an unfortunate punishment for giving up in a fight that he had no hope of winning. ¡°Good work,¡± Raina said coolly, braking Leila out of her internal conversation. ¡° Don''t get cocky, we''ve got bigger fights ahead of us.¡± Leila raised an eyebrow, questioning. "You have a place in the Achilles Tournament," Raina said, her voice hard. "Don''t let me down, girl." Leila nodded, her face stone. As they walked down the hall towards the exit, Leila took the moment to appreciate her brothers training Raina. There was barely a trace of the FBI rookie that had shown up in Tamara''s office only a few months ago. That Raina had been emotional, naive and hadn''t the faintest clue as to how far out of her depth she was planning on going.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Still doesn''t, but hey, who cares about her anyway? You''ve never let that stop you. Leila winced internally at the reminder, not letting the pain that thought caused her show. The two women approached Raina''s car when Leila noticed three men walking towards them. Raina''s left hand twitched towards the two on the left side. Good training Jim. Leila moved, Enhancing immediately, her power spiking as she threw a fist at her first target. He twisted, absorbing some of the punches'' force even as his partners'' hand glowed, firing an energy blast. Leila dropped to the ground, black power running down her right arm, adhering to the concrete as she launched herself at the ranged fighter. The first man slammed an Enhanced elbow into her back before she made it past her. Leila hit the ground hard cracking the concrete. And at least a few ribs. His hand was on her neck before she had a chance to rise and he slammed her face on the concrete a few more times to make sure she was disoriented before he held her up for his Kinetic partner to deliver the final attack. Then he got blasted from behind, sending both of Him and Leila airborne. Leila twisted grabbed and threw the man at his partner. The remaining man dodged his partners'' body as Leila landed a few feet in front of Raina, wincing as her back sent shards of pain through her. God, I miss teaming with Fives. "Achlys," Raina commanded. Leila didn''t react, walking towards the remaining man, her power covering her arm. The man shot blasts at her. Easy shots. The black hand moved by instinct, catching and Devouring the blasts. Huh, some sort of Psychic aspect. Jim would love taking that apart. ¡°Wait!¡± The man shouted. Leila didn''t, grabbing the man by the throat and squeezing, careful not to crush the windpipe. Leila looked over her shoulder at Raina. ¡°Put him down, and hold them while I deal with the car.¡± The woman ordered. She obeyed, dropping her captive as the other woman started their car. ¡°You can''t leave without someone with you.¡± He chocked out, rubbing his throat. Raina looked at him. ¡°Rules. You can''t be away from an official before the tournament. Security risk.¡± Raina looked at Leila. A ghost of a smile touched Leilas'' lips as she grabbed the talkative man, picked him up and put him in the passenger seat. Raina took the wheel, starting the car. "Try anything and I''ll rip your hands off." Leila stood in the lot with two unconscious men. She looked at the first man that Raina had beaten, impressed by her efficiency in making sure that he wouldn''t be getting up any time soon. It doesn''t matter how good of an Enhancer you are, shattered kneecaps and wrists will keep you out of commission if you don''t have another way to move yourself. Jim had done good work. Now it''s my turn.