How To Kill A Person's Spirit

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brief note about this chapter: there are some graphic scenes. like it is one big graphic scene. be warned.

Guardian Headquarters was dark. Black, almost, as I scanned the room. The center, especially, was not unlike that of a cave, and it took me just as long to adjust my eyes as it did to adjust my body. For once, the familiar surroundings felt so jarringly unfamiliar.

I made a note to have Cecil recalibrate that the next chance he got. There was a lot that could go wrong during the first ten seconds, which was all the time it took for me to gather my bearings.

I realized quickly how clean the room had gotten. I wasn't upset - I certainly didn't want to see all the blood and gore that remained of my fallen compatriots. But I felt somewhat bittersweet, knowing it was that east just to sweep them all up and brush them away. Like they had never been there at all.

The second thing I noticed was the silence. It was eerily quiet, especially for an emergency alert. Nobody was out wreaking havoc, there were no other heroes. No Eve, no Invincible, even no Rex. It was just me and the echos on the wall.

Since when did I do solo missions?

Using my previous knowledge and critical thinking, I wasn't safe. At all. I couldn't fathom why Cecil would call me here.

Taking a couple steps in, I hesitantly tried to get a better look at what was going on. My steps echoed on the linoleum floor, making tinny noises off the walls. The responsible thing to do was look around, obviously, but I was questioning just how responsible I was. Nothing was out of the ordinary.

It was so silent. So horribly, eerily silent.

I checked my watch, making sure I hadn't somehow ended up in the wrong spot. Misplaced directions or something. But no, I was right where I was supposed to be, judging by the message sent with no trace information.

No trace information. Meaning it wasn't sent by Cecil. Meaning...

My heart sped up. Without thinking, I found my shaky hands tapping in commands to teleport me right back home. It was so silent I could hear every soft pad of my fingers.

It was so silent I could hear a pin drop. I definitely heard something drop.

I jumped, stepping into high alert. My focus shot in the direction of the noise - a grey table on the far side of the room, once used to store important files and paper. The table was bare, now, with only a lone coffee mug sitting atop. Behind that desk sat a chair.

On top of that chair was someone I'd never seen before.

She, I believed, sat cross legged on the chair, one knee rising above the table. Her skin was a sunset-like orange that stood in stark contrast to the darkness around us. She sported two angular yellow eyes that almost seemed to glow. In fact, every bit of her looked jagged, from her pointed ears to the deep scratches on her shoulders.

The being wore an outfit that appeared entirely metal, like a more flexible suit of armor. It had jagged edges and a deep purple trim, standing out relatively elegantly against the scratched grey. By the wear and tear of the suit, this was definitely not its first battle.

I stepped back slowly, trying to give myself as much time to assess the threat as possible. Her lips quirked up into a smile, two fanged teeth staring back at me. Her eyes narrowed slightly, glinting. Was this what real vampires looked like?

"Affinity," was all she said. Her voice sounded smooth and hoarse, all at the same time.

I blinked, falling into a defensive stance. My jaw hung loose, words stolen into the air. Who the heck was this?

"I bet you're wondering who I am," the being announced, taking the words right out of my mouth.

"More like why you know me."

"Why shouldn't I know you?"

I pursed my lips, forcing myself to swallow. This was a new threat and I was all alone.

At least I had home advantage?

Wishful thinking.

Before I could even breathe, she was right in front of me, at least six and a half feet tall. I hadn't seen her move, despite the fact I hadn't been able to blink since I first laid eyes on the mystery intruder. She moved quickly and roughly, grabbing my chin with long, strong fingers. Her hand flexed, squeezing my bone hard enough I thought I might lose teeth, and she forced my head to look her straight in the eyes. I grit my teeth, my heart pounding out of my chest.

"My name's Minta," she spat, eyes wide and crazy, "and I'm about to be your worst nightmare."

I was hardly aware she had thrown me across the room until I felt the reinforced wall slam against my back. The noise reverberated around the room, as did the pain that shot down my back. Every bit of air in my lungs spewed out with a grunt.

I rubbed my chin, glaring up to where Minta remained. She seemed to glow neon, her every movement standing out against the lightless room.

Seriously! Who. the fuck. is this.

I felt my body firing up, getting ready to heal itself at record speeds, and I started to feel like time was moving slightly slower. Just another side affect of my powers. Every sense I could possibly use was on high alert.

I stood up on steady feet, recovery time record breaking, although mentally I was entirely shaken up.

"What are you trying to do?" I asked, harsh and sharp. I threw my hands in the air, gesturing wildly. "The Guardians are dead. There's nothing left here for you to want!"

Minta smiled, flashing threatening fanged teeth. "That's the thing - the Guardians are, but you're not. That's not very fair, now, is it?"

"What is one of us going to do, really?" I commented, advancing on my attacker. "I'm not gonna single handedly save the world. I was the weakest one there. I'm hardly in a mental state to be doing this shit. Why would you come back? Haven't you done enough?"

"Back?" Minta laughed, amused. "You think I'd come back? I would've finished off this job the first time. Except... I have to applaud whoever did that for waiting for your absence. They must've planned ahead."

I closed the distance between Minta and myself, sending a flying punch in her direction. I threw my whole force into it, but despite its perfect placement and form, she hardly seemed to sway on her feet. Her skin was like reinforced steel, some sort of exoskeleton. I'd never seen anything like it.

"Nice one," Minta remarked, grabbing my wrist in my surprise and squeezing tightly. "Better luck next time!"

I swear I could hear my bones cracking and straining as she squeezed, her nails digging into my skin while her tight grip shattered my bones. She twisted my arm in various ways, unnatural ways, adding depth to my injury. I tried to swing through with my other fist, but I couldn't find enough mobility to put up much of a fight.

My wrist was on fire. My hand would've been hanging limply, already inflating from the trauma, if it hadn't been for her iron grip preventing any slack. I grit my teeth through it, trying to twist away or fight back or do anything but just stand there. But Minta was the immovable object to my unstoppable force, and I was trapped feeling every second of my wrist breaking. My bones felt like they were being ground to dust. I wanted to crumple to my knees.

What's worse is I knew I was already trying to start healing. It terrified me that she seemed to know me, but I didn't know a thing about her. If she really knew me, I feared what she might try to do.

It was very very possible that this was her only game plan. If Minta was able to incapacitate me for long enough, at some point my body wouldn't be able to heal itself anymore. I'd be entirely vulnerable.

My eyes swam with red and my head pulsed. I could feel every nerve in my forearm sending shocks throughout my body, diverting all force to one spot. I felt like someone lit my insides on fire, trying to unbreak something that was constantly broken.

Meanwhile, the constant breakage of the bones was sending strength to my muscles. My body was confused, overstimulated with the constant breaking, healing, and growing. My powers were all going at once and my head felt faint.

Minta placed her other hand on my head, gripping my cranium like a basketball. I shook my head around, despite the discomfort with every movement, but her grip held firm.

"I always wondered what it would take to kill someone like you," she mused to herself. I felt my head get hot, and although I couldn't see what she was doing, I knew it wasn't good.

"Someone like me?" I spat out, somehow making my mouth move.

"Someone so invincible. They call your species 'the everlasting evolution,' you know," Minta remarked. "And you're a little... different. It'll be a pleasure seeing the life leave your eyes."

I couldn't bear to have my bluff called. Throwing on my bravest face, I muttered, "And what makes you think you'll be seeing that?"

Minta smiled. Her face phased in and out through quick flashes of red.

"Have you ever seen everyone you know and love die right in front of you?" Minta's mouth moved like it was being animated. I thought my head was going to explode.

I thought she was going to elaborate, but all she did was dig her fingers further into my head until I thought she might just be able to reach in and drag my brains out like pumpkin insides, and splatter the grey matter across the walls.

She closed her eyes, still smiling, and suddenly I couldn't see the room anymore.

Or, not the same room. I was still here, but it wasn't me. Everything was blurry and muted, like I was watching it on an old fashioned TV. All around me, I saw HQ, the old HQ, and it was silent. The only thing to see was the blinking light at the main control table.

Until the Guardians started showing up. I couldn't believe my eyes. They were back from the dead - and they were going to join me. There was no way in hell it was happening - Cecil would have a field day. Suddenly the fight was looking a whole lot easier.

I tried to call out to them, grab their attention, but my voice wouldn't come out of my mouth. My lips moved and my throat hurt, but I couldn't hear. Nobody could hear.

I think I knew, though, deep down I was hallucinating. But in my moment of most desperate, I was willing to cling on to anything I could. That cling made it so much worse when I started to see them all dying, one by one.

I couldn't see who was doing it, maybe because I didn't know within my own brain, but I could see them dying. I could see how they created the bloody aftermath, with guts and gore spilling out, with body parts bursted, with torsos split entirely in half. I could see in full detail their faces as they died, and watched each other die. I could see them fighting with every ounce of strength within themselves until their last breath. Every bit of the nightmare of finding them was relived, ten times worse.

I watched Red Rush's head get crushed like a watermelon. Martian Man ripped apart like cloth. Immortal split completely in half, his blood and intestines spilling over the floor. I had to have been dreaming - War Woman's face was smashed in with her own hammer, leaving an unrecognizable mass in its place.

Everyone dropped like flies. That could have been me. That would have been me.

That should have been me. If I had just been on time... maybe it wouldn't have been anyone.

I watched in a daze, completely immobile. Helpless to do anything about it. I knew I couldn't change the past, but to see it like it was the present was like being locked in a cage.

Minta laughed. I had almost forgotten about the situation I was in right now in the present. The physical pain shot back, disorienting me and sending me through another wave of mental stress. I realized I'd been screaming.

"Well, now you have," she grinned.

I had never wanted to give up more than I did in that minute, but my body wouldn't let me. And looking at Minta's fucking grinning face, I knew even if I couldn't change the past, I damn well could change the future.

The last Guardian isn't gonna die today.

Using all of my accumulated strength, I took a last ditch grab at her throat and dug my fingers in. Her eyes widened and her laughter fell short, which made me smugly scoff, despite the fact I was easily worse for the wear.

In her surprise, her grip on me loosened and I fought through the pain to rip my other arm out of her grasp. It was sore and tender, swinging around uselessly, and didn't seem to be aligned right at all, but it was free and I was free and I had Minta right in my grasp. Her hands, instead, moved right to her throat in an attempt to pull me off.

I felt like I was blinded, seeing red. I didn't feel right, like I was on some unearthly autopilot, but I could feel my hand squeezing her throat, feeling myself dig into her esophagus. I wondered, briefly, if I could pop her head right off.

I hardly saw her moving as I was so distracted by bloodlust, but in my peripheral I could tell Minta was moving. Her hand shakily left her throat, leaving me open for even more pressure, which I gladly took. What I'd failed to realize was that she was going for my head.

I felt that same feeling I'd felt before, her fingers digging into my skull, and suddenly I was seeing tunnels. Whatever she was doing, it was more powerful than the last time.

I doubled over backwards, feeling like I couldn't stand on my feet. My hand loosened and I watched Minta gasp for breath through terse, straggly inhales. I guess I did some damage.

"You..." Minta breathed, her words forced and purposeful, "Aren't as heroic as you think you are."

"I've only ever fought for good," I heaved, my hands entirely moving to my knees now. I felt every inch of the head pain, forcing all of my power down to my wrist. I was drowning in myself, disoriented and unable to find solid ground. "My mom taught me well."

"And where is she now?" Minta heaved, still catching her breath. We were like two uncoordinated dancers, both trying to mark down each other's score while keeping ours high.

"Back at Vakilia. Saving her planet. Saving the universe," I replied.

"And do you really know that?" Minta asked, her confidence slowly returning. Her throat was beginning to show discoloration, I was sure there would be deeply colored bruises left behind, but she was fighting against any pain. "Has she ever let you know how she's doing even once?"

"She's billions of light years away," I countered. "Beyond our observable universe. It's not like UPS goes out there. She'll come back when the time is right."

Minta was silent for a moment, just watching me. She stood above me, and then she smiled and asked, "Did she ever love your father?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" I exclaimed, my body feeling a sudden fire within. My feet felt solid again and my muscles felt light. My vision fixated on the target in front of me like a high quality scope.

"Maybe she really did just leave and never plan to come back," Minta suggested.

The room was filled with ghostly apparitions of my parents. It was like watching a fucked up montage, my parents arguing and screaming. I could make out few words, but I could see my father doing his best not to back down, despite the threat of this infinitely strong woman. I watched my mother poke a strong finger at his chest, him flinching away. I saw their faces go red.

I heard the words divorce, the mention of up and going.

"I should've never come here!" My mother yelled. "You all are weak - only specs in the span of the grand universe. I could wipe you out, one by one."

"You wouldn't. That's not you," My father begged, his chest puffed out with tears forming on his face. They sparkled in the spectre, like the most beautiful piece of diamond.

"It's not who I am," My mother agreed, her face steeled. "But it's what I am. Born to heal, cursed to harm."

The vision floated away and I fought against Minta's hold. I threw punch after punch at her, even going so far as to try my body, but she had me trapped. Wriggling, I fought like a fish on a hook.

"Or maybe she was at threat of being discovered. Maybe she did some things she wouldn't want you to discover."

Another vision appeared, this one back at the hospital. It was a room I recognized well - an intensive care unit, the person in there surely in a precarious state.

My mother walked in, then, clipboard in hand, scrubs on. The person in there seemed hardly aware of her presence, either sleeping or comatose. She looked down at her clipboard again, hair falling loosely in her face, and stepped up to the bed.

I watched her place her hands on the persons heart, watched in horror as they glowed, not the usual hue of healing, but instead a sickly yellow color. The person laying there seemed to still as she did so, almost managing to lose color, even in the faded apparition.

My mom removed her hands and looked behind her, paranoid. Once she was sure the coast was cleared, she slammed on the emergency call button.

"Help!" Her lips read. "We have a patient dying in room 102!"

"No!" I yelled, the vision clearing. Minta stomped on my foot with an ironclad boot and slammed it into the floor. She dug her heel in, smashing it like a brute. I felt every bone break, and my balance toppled.

The pain swimming around was so much, it didn't even feel like my foot. Only pain. Only a million bullets piercing the skin. The feeling travelled all the way into my calf.

"Maybe she's done all of that. Not my place to share," Minta smugly reported, looking down on my form crumpled on the floor. "But you wanna know the real reason why she's never came back, even after all those nights of wishing she were there? Wishing she would hear your pleas and just come home?

"No," I breathed, the reality of what she was suggesting dawning on me harshly all at once.

"Your mom is dead, (Y/N). Vakilia is no more. You wonder where she's been? You wonder why you haven't seen her in so long? I killed her. In fact, I killed all of them."

Minta took a step closer, and impossibly picked my limp body up by the head. Blood rushed immediately to my feet, causing another wave of pain.

"Shut up! Shut up, shut up!" I cried, my voice cracking, my good foot light against the floor, "I swear to God, shut up."

I felt like I'd just taken a bullet to the brain. An apparition began to form, and I saw my mother standing there. I tried to close my eyes, look away, anything so I didn't have to see it, but no matter what I did, the vision remained.

"Your god can't save you now," Minta said, digging her fingers further into my head and grabbing my shoulder. Instantly, I felt an impossible pressure. She was trying to rip it out of its socket. "All that praying to God she'd come home. And what of it? Even He couldn't save her from me."

"I fucking said shut. up." I grabbed her wrist, fire burning through me again like an engine renewed by coal, and placed my other hand on her bicep.

I tugged myself to my feet, on solid ground, putting almost all of my weight on my good foot considering there was nearly no position that didn't have me wanting to crumple again. Only my heel remained in tact, and even that was feeling the fire.

I stumbled backwards, freeing myself swiftly out of her grip. In a motion so smooth even I was impressed, I swung her around and threw her at the wall, just like she had done to me. Her body made the same reverberating noise as she crumpled to the floor.

Before she could recover, I stormed over to where she lay, and lifted her up by her collar. A soft groan escaped her lips as I held her strongly against the wall and let it rain upon her.

Punch after punch after punch, I pummeled in her chest, her face, any bit of access I could get. She hardly seemed fazed, still, but the brute force of it all seemed to be getting to her. My knuckles were starting to bleed, but I couldn't even feel it.

I only noticed when I saw blood coming away, and Minta had only one scratch. My blood wiped away at her face, leaving copper trails along her cheek.

Eventually, her nose started bleeding. Our blood intertwined, a mixture of red smearing all over. For some fucked up reason, I was encouraged to keep going. To make it worse.

Still, Minta's body, although stunned, was amply alert. And somehow she was able to grab hold of my wrists and knee me in the stomach. I doubled over, feeling it straight in my gut.

"You think you're so far above everything," Minta huffed, holding my arms above my head. "But you're no better than the worst of us."

"At least I don't go around picking fights," I argued, lifting my head up as much as I could to meet her eyes. "At least I strive to be good."

"You say that now... but I can see it in your eyes already," Minta remarked. "You have that desire to kill like the rest of them. To drain me of everything I have."

"Drain you?" I exclaimed. "I don't even want to fight you!"

My words were pleas on deaf ears. "You know what your problem is? You give all this love, and you convince yourself everyone loves you, too," Minta thought aloud. "But what are you going to do when you realize they don't, I wonder."

"It doesn't matter who loves me!" I shouted. "I was blessed with this power. I was chosen. The least I can do is use it for the benefit of everyone else."

"You wanna know what's going on right now, Affinity?" Minta asked, although I knew I wasn't going to get a chance to answer. "Your precious boy-toy is out with another girl."

She gripped my scalp again, holding both it my arms with one hand and digging in slightly weaker than last time, and gripped my hair.

Visions flashed through my mind of Mark and Amber rolling around in a bed. A boys bed. In a boys room, with blue wallpaper and comics strewn across a disordered desk.

She was on top of him, and when the pair broke away they laughed. I could see Mark's smile, his award winning white smile, and I swear I could hear his laugh. My heart lurched. My heart broke.

In that moment, watching that scene, this twisted memory or whatever the hell it is, I realized I liked Mark.

I like-liked Mark. I wished that was me.

And I was going to die before I ever got the chance to say anything.

Fuck the fact I felt like I was intruding on their private time - that was definitely something I should not have been watching - I had this sick desire to see more. To somehow see something that would prove to me it wasn't real, or that he wasn't enjoying it, or any number of (admittedly selfish) outcomes.

But the vision was stripped away from me as soon as it came, leaving me just as emotionally frustrated as I was mentally.

"And Invincible?" I asked hesitantly, even less excited to see what she would show me. Surely...

"I think you've seen enough," Minta remarked. A slow smile spread across her face. "Although... let's just say he's likely in a similar position. I think you know her. Atom Eve?"

I closed my eyes, trying to wash away all of what I was hearing. Somehow, not seeing, not knowing, was worse. Having to speculate and wonder... the suspense was killer. As far as mind games go, Minta was playing chess against someone who'd just learned checkers.

I couldn't even be upset. Eve and Invincible were two of my closest friends. They deserved to be happy. And yet...

I wasn't feeling very happy at all.

"At least there's always William, right?" Minta commented with a shrug. I struggled in her restraint as she spoke, wishing I could run far far away. "Shame you haven't heard what he says about you when you're not there."

I couldn't bear to hear about William. He was my most trusted friend - the idea he was shit talking me was heartbreaking. I couldn't even think of anything I'd done wrong.

An absolute breach of trust. I was walking on glass in my brain, torn between what I knew to be the truth and what else might be. And how could I know if anything was real?

My head hurt as much as my heart.

"He wouldn't," I argued. Although I had a sinking feeling it was more for myself than for Minta.

"Believe what you will. But I'm telling you, you've got some pretty disappointing friends on your hands."

"Why do you know so much about me?" I cried, harshly pulling away. Minta's hands parted like the sea, allowing me to step back and circle her. We were boxers in a ring. "Why do you even care?"

"I don't know anything about you," Minta cryptically replied. "I'm only showing you yourself."

I took an opening and swung, aiming right for the sweet spot between Minta's ribs. To my surprise, I found myself sprawled on the floor instead.

"You're erratic. You're not thinking. I overestimated you," Minta smiled over me, kneeling down to my level. I rubbed my head and groaned, my legs curled up underneath me. "You're weak."

Before I could get another word out, she was hitting me with a barrage of attacks. Verbal, physical. Minta straddled me, pinning my arms above my head, and went to fucking town. Punches rained down upon me, hitting my face, my neck, my chest, even my arms. Time slowed, every minute of agony feeling like an hour.

"You couldn't even defeat a weakling like me. Your species is supposed to be so superior. You've healed yourself over and over again. But look at how you're breaking in pieces."

I coughed up blood after a particularly hard hit to my stomach. The words weren't even registering anymore - I could hear, but it was like my brain had shut down.

"Nobody's came to check on you. Cecil hasn't even realized there was a mistake in the system." Minta paused. "Or maybe he did, and he just didn't care. What's one hero of a million?"

I choked on something hard - probably a tooth. For some reason, through it all, I found myself wondering if I could regenerate that.

After what felt like ages, Minta let go of my arms and stepped off of me. She stood just above me, proud of the victory she had accomplished. I rolled over onto my side and coughed, spitting out a clump of mucus and dark blood.

"You wanna know why you feel so weak? Why I'm able to whittle you down to your very core?"

There was another pause, as if she was actually waiting for me to answer this time. I gasped, like a fish out of water, but I could hardly move my lips to swallow. All I could taste was blood.

"Its simple," Minta continued, despite my lack of answer. "In order to destroy a Vakilian, you have to break their spirit."

Winking in and out of conscious, my body fighting between a deep pain and a soft warmth, desperately trying to heal itself of the endless trauma it was enduring, I created a coherent thought. I don't know from what depths of my brain it came from, but it spoke, only a whisper, just enough for me to hang on to.

It sent a warmth down my core, down my chest, the strongest warmth of the day. As if my brain were trying to heal itself, too.

My mother's voice sang through my ears, musical and strong. Almost as if she were in the room with me, distant but nearby, I heard her say, "You're a Vakilian. If you can breathe, you can fight. You have an affinity for good - never stop fighting.

That quote was my namesake. And she was right.

I was still breathing. I could fight.

I have to fight.

Even if the only thing left to fight for was myself.

I let out one more cough, a big hacking one that sent another wave of pain down my spine, before I felt myself fire up. My cells heated up, filling me with a renewed sense of strength.

I don't know if it was adrenaline, or my body producing a last ditch wave of healing, or some stroke of God's miracle, but I felt... not great. But I felt stable. I felt alive. I felt not-quite-on-the-brink-of-death.

And I registered, in the nick of time, that Minta was coming at me with two clawed hands, ready to finish me off.

I scrambled backwards, as coordinately as I could with bruised and broken limbs, until my back hit a metal barrier. The aluminium of the desk clanged, echoing around the room like a gong signaling the start of a fight.

In only a moment, I went from hopeful to hopelessly desperate. I was trapped.

My fingers felt around in a futile attempt to find anything I could use to defend myself. My breath quickened and my heart beat at the fastest rate of the night. I was shutting down - I could feel my cells working harder than ever in an attempt to heal me, bringing the rest of my body to exhaustion. I didn't want to die here.

I touched empty space, only air and the bare floor below it.

Closing my eyes and readying myself for the final few seconds of my life, waiting painfully for the finishing blow, I stretched my arm to its limits and felt my fingers graze against something. Hope flew once again through my veins, a breath caught in my throat. Silently, I prayed I wouldn't flick it away.

Tentatively I rolled it towards myself, picking it into my hand with lightning speed as soon as I could confidently grasp it. As Minta came in for the finishing blow, her right hand intending to kill, I slammed it straight into her eye.

A pen. A fucking blue pen, probably something Cecil accidentally left behind ages ago. Probably knocked to the floor twenty minutes earlier.

A fucking blue pen that was sticking right into Minta's eye.

I heard a lung shattering cry and for a moment I couldn't tell if it were her or me. She stopped mid punch, her normal hand coming up to cup her eye. A milky red liquid slid down her cheek like magma flowing from a volcano.

I scrambled backward, trying in vain to tear my eyes away from the sight before me. Her blood, mixed with ocular fluids, would not stop flowing. The pen was halfway into the socket.

Minta screamed, anguished, and fell to her knees. Never had I ever heard someone cry out in so much pain - it was entirely primal.

She felt around blindly, still howling, one hand on her eye and the other searching for me. I slid away as carefully as possible, trying not to make noise.

Just as I thought I was getting away, her hand made contact with my ankle. She dragged me toward her, albeit weakly, and stifled pained moans.

"I didn't think you had it in you," she remarked, breathless, though somehow still keeping her gusto despite only having one working eye.

Something about that, knowing she still felt so confident she had won, despite being the one here who had been wounded the most mortally, sent a fire through my soul. Plus, she had gone in for another... something.

She could have just let me go. But she kept at it. Minta truly believed she had me beat.

I shoved my leg out of her grasp and pushed myself up, unable to feel any of the pain I had just been wracked with. Momentarily, I was invincible.

I stomped on her outstretched hand. Hard.

Shattering her bones, just as she had shattered mine.

Minta cried out again, unsure whether to cradle her hand or her eye now. Before she could decide, I stepped on it again, trapping it to the floor.

"You look at me like I'm below you," I stated, malice lacing my words, "But now I'm the only one who will be looking. And it looks like you're below me."

I stepped away and reached down, picking her up by her hair. I hadn't noticed before how light she felt in my hands. Her body was like a dolls, something malleable and limp.

I held her face level to mine, her good hand still covering her injured eye as her good eye pierced into mine. She was defiant, even as she lost.

I grabbed the pen and tore it out, causing her to cry out again. Milky blood flowed out between her fingers, running down her face like tears.

The pen came away smoothly, my sword in the stone, and I stabbed the soiled writing instrument straight into her throat, in that nice little ridge right between the collar bones.

Deep down, I knew this wouldn't hurt her as badly as it would many others. This would not be the finishing blow. But I felt a sick satisfaction as her next cry came out gurgled, largely due to the pen now lodged in her airway.

"Fuck you!" I screamed, unable to come up with anything more meaningful through my brain's red haze. "Fuck you!"

I threw her across the room, not even hearing her body hit the wall through the blood rushing around my head. I lifted her up to the wall by her throat, just above the pen, and rained hell upon her, just as she had done to me moments prior.

Entirely subconsciously, I felt myself growing stronger. There was a sickening hue illuminating between us, and I realized it was my hands.

They were just like my mom's.

"Yes!" Minta howled, coughing as I beat her to a pulp. Despite her damaged throat, her voice came out loud and clear. My hands glowed brighter, the same nasty yellow, each hit causing Minta's glow to dull. "You see, now, you are no hero. You Vakilians are all the same."

"I am nothing like that," I remarked through gritted teeth. My eyes narrowed, matching my furrowed brows. "I didn't start this fight. I'm just going to be the one to finish it."

I tightened my grip on Minta's throat, both hands on deck. My hands glowed brighter, almost blindingly so. I focused now, not only on taking her strength, but giving her my weakness. Pushing all the pain I had felt today into her withering body. She squirmed against my embrace, trying to push me away, but I was stronger.

I was fueled by my strife and by my pain. I was fueled by Minta, her very life force being channeled into mine.

In that moment, I was on fire. I was fire itself. My whole body, my soul, my very being burning bright with white-hot light. It sparked and fizzed, my eyes clouding over with red as I committed the moment to memory, keeping every curve, every edge, every single smidgeon of interaction in the deepest part of my brain. I could hardly breathe, nothing left to register other than the blood flowing through my body, accumulating in my face and hands. Red. I was red, like fire, and I was not going to be put out.

I don't think I was even breathing. My eyes felt glazed over, seeing what was happening but not truly seeing. It was like I was watching myself from my body, as someone else. Like something was taking over me.

Minta's body grew weak in my hands, as did the light illuminating from them. They seemed to glow brighter the more strength they tapped.

It seemed fitting that our grand finale would be Minta's life force, joining mine. We would come together as one, into my dying body.

Just as she had hurt me, she would be the one to revive me.

She took a gasping breath, eyes wide and worried for the first time that night. Her grip on my hands loosened significantly, and I felt her starting to go limp.

Some part of that seemed to flip a switch within me, turning my brain back on. I took in a sharp breath, sobering, and watched Minta struggle in a confused daze.

Was my fury really worth this much? Was I entitled to take a life?

My gut wanted to answer yes. But my head and my heart disagreed.

As Minta's eyes finally fluttered closed, though, it felt like mine opened. I felt myself reclaim my own body, the reality of the situation coming to life. Her body had lost almost all of its color, and her breathing was so shallow I was sure each breath would be the last.

And I? I was the one to cause that.

Breathing heavily, I looked upon her with wide eyes and morbid curiosity for just a second - before I let go, dropping her straight to the ground, and jumped back like I was afraid she might somehow come right back up.

I felt tainted. Undeserving of myself. I was standing there with someone else's strength, and I had enjoyed taking it.

My stomach churned. I walked myself carefully to the opposite end of the room, as far away from Minta's body as possible, and lowered myself to the floor, taking deep breaths.

I didn't want to touch myself. I felt the desperate need to was my hands, my body, and my mind.

Maybe Minta had a point. Maybe I was just as bad as her.

Maybe she really did win. I might not be the one on the floor, but I would never be the same.

I looked again at Minta's body, missing an eye, pierced through her throat, and bleeding all over. I had done that, somehow, to a being that was untouchable only thirty minutes ago.

I was horrified by myself. I'm a monster.

I slumped against the wall, losing strength quickly. Adrenaline pumped out of me with every breath and I could feel all of my injuries coming to life. After coming away from my high, I was left to face every pain I'd endured over the course of the battle, rushing back at once. There's only so much healing my powers can do, even with a little... push.

The thought made my stomach roll yet again.

Scanning the scene around me, I was filled with an overwhelming feeling of dread. It was a new fear, a stronger fear. I was afraid of myself and I was afraid of having to fight someone like this again.

I had hurt people before. But something about this felt so much worse. It was personal, fueled by my anger towards Minta. Never before had I seen myself fight that way, so uncalculated and brutally.

Not to mention all the shit I had to see today. I couldn't even tell what was real and what was fake. I didn't want to believe any of it was real, but considering how accurate the Guardian's display was.... I couldn't write it off.

My face felt tight and my head spun. Where could I even go from here? How do I move on from this? How am I going to step foot in this building ever again?

I'll be looking over my shoulder forever. My home away from home could no longer be a home.

Every emotion from the past few months, whether that be frustration, anger, sadness, uncertainty, fear, or hope, or longing, or excitement, or even love bubbled up in this terrible concoction of overwhelming feeling.

There was so much going on. There was a fucking dead(?) body in here - I wasn't going to check if I finished her off. So many people had died here. I was almost one of them.

Not to mention whatever the fuck was up with my parents, and with Mark, and with William, and with any of the previous Teen Team.

It was all too much. I finally hit my breaking point.

And for the first time in ages, I cried. I cried until the salt from my tears stung my open wounds, I cried until I could no longer breathe and I was gasping, desperately sucking in air. I cried, until it hurt more to rack my body with sobs than any emotion I could possibly be feeling, and then I cried some more.

I cried for my mom. I cried for the Guardians. I cried for Eve. I cried for my dad. I even cried for Minta.

And then I cried for myself, the pain of today's events mixing in with the pains I felt inside. I was so, so confused. I'd had my world flipped upside down, inside out, and back around. Breath was stuck in my lungs and with every rattling intake of air, my entire body ached.

Eventually, my tears ran dry and I could feel my body finally shutting down. My face felt sticky and chapped.

One final tear ran down my cheek as I shakily lifted my teleportation device to my face. I hit emergency call and prayed someone was there.

"Cecil," I slurred, the world swimming in and out of my vision, "I'm at HQ. There's something you might want to see."