Sonya felt her paw trembling slightly while she drank the tea and listened to Lexi’s explanation. Lexi came into the room two days ago after she heard non-stop ringing from the terminal and found Sonya in a near coma-like sleep, unresponsive to either touch or sound. Naturally, the woman called medics, who arrived within minutes. After some examination, they found that her own body put her into this state in order to flush out the effects of the power suppression pills from her body.
The medics proposed leaving Sonya in the house to prevent any panic, stating that she will wake up in a day or two. Lexi agreed to this, turning off the terminal and allowing medics to come each day, injecting Sonya’s body with medicine to prevent her from suffering dehydration or excessive hunger.
"This is pretty much all," Lexi said, walking around the kitchen at double speed, putting new and new dishes before the increasingly embarrassed Sonya, "I need to call the hospital and tell them that everything is ok."
"Lexi, listen, there is really no need for all of this…"
"I won’t hear a thing! The good doctors said that you need to recover lost weight!" The elderly woman waved her finger, "You saved our people from a maniac! That and well, my grandsons rarely visit at this time of year, I am not throwing my only chance at cooking for someone away. You eat it all and this is final, miss!"
"Yes, ma’am!" Sonya replied automatically, causing the woman to explode with laughter. The scout joined her after a second. What happened, happened. Now she will simply have to deal with the fallout.
Lexi executed herself, hearing a doorbell. Without the elderly woman around, Sonya utterly dropped all manners, grabbing plates with both paws and throwing entire pieces of meat, pouring a whole soup and sending oversized fish into her jaws, one after another, crushing the bones and swallowing them all. The hunger was… annoying. It was not a hunger of life or death, no, rather her body demanded new material to bring her body up to the previous level.
"…Surely, after these troglodytes dared to attack so brazenly…"
"Jasmin, please don’t dehumanize your opposition." Sonya’s ears twitched, and she turned to look at the TV program.
She knew some of the people who were giving the interview on something about "superpowers debate". Stunningly beautiful Eugenia, massive yet somehow gentle-looking, dressed in a pristine white business suit, her hair freely flowing across her white armchair. A crimson pin on the lapel of her stylish jacket gave starring contrast to the utter paleness of her outfit. On the opposite side of her sat a giant of a being, an AI known as Artificer. His mere arms were larger than Sonya’s entire body, the whole blue-colored body looked deceptively bulky, but Sonya knew just how fast this Elite could be. He was one of the few who could match the blessed mother blow for blow and keep going. His head looked like the helmet of a knightly suit. Instead of a face, he had a visor with green lights dancing behind it. Next to him sat a woman in a crimson suit, with a symbol of a golden snake on her shoulder. Her black hair was fashioned in a bowl cut style, her eyes looked tiredly at Eugenia, betraying a hint of annoyance at being interrupted. Due to the difference in size, Eugenia and Artificer made the woman look like an infant in comparison to them.
"We do have legitimate grievances," Eugenia continued, speaking in a melodic and inspiring tone, "Punishing the weak only fosters dissent, instead of bringing our society together."
"I respectfully disagree with your assessment, Eugenia," Artificer’s voice was low, calm, and gravely. Not a hint of machinery working could be heard in his speech, "With all due respect, no one oppresses the abnormals. If anything, we are being pampered."
"The ones who experienced beatings from the archangels might think otherwise." Eugenia smiled to him.
"They might, but here is the key part: they still have their minds and the ability to think," Artificer responded to the rebuke, "Please refrain from using the word "beating". Archangels never kill by accident; only terrorists and the Numbers should be afraid of them. Their professionalism is out of the question, I will personally vouch for each and every one of them."
"Yes!" Jasmin nodded eagerly, "Eugenia, surely you have to see the reason! In the past two months, we have experienced three terroristic attacks! Attacks made by this crimson bustard, attacks that took lives! No, they do not get the right to say that the government is going too hard on the abnormals, not after the abnormals are the ones who willfully spill the blood of others in an attempt to push their change!"
"They do not!" Eugenia and Artificer said in unison, looking at each other, before the machine nodded and Eugenia continued, "Jasmin, use words carefully! No one from the opposition party came out with any support for these attacks."
"And besides, it was the abnormal who saved the lives of people in the recent attack. A tourist, of all people." Artificer added.
"Who, by the way, became a victim of "submission" by one of the archangels afterwards." Eugenia added in a honeyed voice, earning her another glance of Artificer.
"Glad to see that you are awake, miss Sonya." Karine walked to the kitchen, casting an annoying glance at Surano, who was pushing alongside her. The youth still wore his school uniform, but now it was pristine and clear. The pair were followed by Lexi and Sonya quickly put the last plate on the table, pretending to eat normally.
"Sonya, is this right?" Surano asked in a worried tone, bowing slightly, "On behalf of my mother and myself, I wish to express our deepest apologies for…"
"The main thing is that you are alive and well," Sonya replied to him honestly, "How is your mother?"
"She is still very distraught to the point of being unable to leave her quarters…" Karine started talking, and the teen stomped on the floor.
"No, she is not!" Surano ruffled his hair, "Enough with these lies, Sonya deserves to know the true reason why mom and I were…"
"No, Surano, she doesn’t need to know about a private business of our family," Karine cut him off, walking directly to the table and putting a document folder on the table, "Here it is, retraction from the World Without Borders, and other idiots who dared to run off with the story and taint your name. Now that this sorry mess is taken care of, we can finally sue the bastards, who nearly caused an international diplomatic accident, and make you a rich woman."
"Listen, it’s all well and good, and I am really thankful for all the help that both you and the family gave me," Spirits know, I am not worth it. Sonya looked at Surano, "There is no bad blood between us. You needed help, so I helped. But right now, I really need to get back to the train…"
"This could be a problem," Karine corrected her glasses, "Because when people found out how the cops repaid you for your assistance, they were furious. Protests are ongoing in the square before the train station. One side is protesting the harsh treatment of abnormals during arrest, while the other is vehemently pro-safe," A hint of poison slid into the woman’s speech, "approach. Due to protest…"
Sonya’s eyes became round. Protest. In her youth, such things often ended up clashing with police officers, leaving both sides injured. If the same happens here, because of her… She leaped from the table, circling around two women and the young man with ease in the tight kitchen, racing toward the door and jumping out.
I won’t let people hurt themselves on my behalf, and neither will I cause any more problems for Janine or Aranea.
****
Karine raced from the doors, looking around, but the strange woman disappeared in thin air.
"Shit," She cursed, reaching for a terminal in her pocket, "Can’t she just listen for one damned minute? I can’t catch up with this on foot."
"Maybe some tea while you are waiting for your ride?" The owner of the house offered.
"Will be much obliged," The lawyer smiled at her before blinking and looking around, "Where in the world is Surano?"
****
Sonya raced across the streets toward the square before the train station, noticing more and more people, before running into a literal crowd of people. The cars on the crossing roads stopped, surrounded by a sea of faces, their drivers were busy texting something while the protestors shouted something about "humane treatment for all" and "no price is too high for the safety of our children". Sonya put on her glasses and looked around weakly, unsure how to stop… This.
There were two tall office buildings on opposite sides of the main road leading to the train station. From the looks of it, they were closed right now, along with all the stores for the tourists. Police officers stood guard at the entrances. Other police officers helped people trapped in the car to leave the crossing, although the majority of people preferred to stay inside. The two demonstrations mostly split the crossing equally, the ones screaming about the police brutality took the eastern part, while those who shouted about the need for safety stood on the west side, with a thin line of police officers between them. A few drones from the news agencies were busy humming in the air, filming the demonstrations, and several reporters were busy interviewing people. Sonya grabbed her head, noticing her own photo on one of the protestors’ posters.
"Enough!" She roared, jumping over people in the crowd and landing on one of the empty cars on the road. The car trembled slightly beneath her while Sonya straightened, looking at the faces around her, "Please, everyone, just stop! There is no need to do any of this!"
"Like hell it is! We saw how the police mauled you!"
"She wasn’t mauled! It was a misunderstanding!"
"Listen to me, you fools!" Sonya shouted at the top of her lungs, deafening the screams of the crowd around her and getting her attention for a moment, "I came to Azgat to buy a fucking ice-cream for my nephew and to have some books signed for my niece by her favorite author. And somehow, I messed it all up, I brought shame to my leaders, my superior is planning to skin me alive and somehow all of this also happened!" She pointed at the people, "I don’t want any of you to get hurt, you morons! All of you have families at home and friends who care about you! Imagine how they will feel if you kick the shit out of each other…" She looked at them in desperation.
The crowd was silent for a second, people were whispering to each other, asking if she was serious.
"But we don’t plan to fight." One protestor said, rubbing his eyes and handing his sign to another, whose trembling hand couldn't hold the poster.
"What?" Sonya blinked. She felt as if someone had grabbed her lungs and squeezed them all of a sudden.
"Yes, this is just how we sort things out in Iterna," Another woman joined in, coughing in her fist, "We made the government listen to us by…" She stopped, coughing more violently into her fist.
"Police!" Sonya screamed, turning around and feeling the car shake because of the tremors that ran underground, "Get everyone away from here, right now!"
****
"You are not to reveal anything that you’ve seen here, you got it, Hekanta?" Zero weakly said, taking off her helmet.
Hekanta merely sighed, wanting nothing more than to have another cig. Alpha was cruising around the room, resembling more of a drone that had lost its destination point. Her arms were behind her back, long claws on her legs tapped an uncanny melody, while her hair scratched against the ceiling. Meanwhile, Zero was sitting on a bed, her cloak thrown nearby, while the woman was removing the power armor off her body. The moment she took off her helmet, two new suns of amber color appeared in the room, shining more brightly than even electric lamps from above, giving stark contrast with the utter darkness of Zero’s fur.
"Am I supposed to know you or something?" Hekanta asked, noticing the wary look of Zero.
"Finally. They are finally forgetting…" Zero sighed, removing the rest of the armor and unzipping her pitch-black body suit. Hekanta simply rolled her eyes, feeling glad that she had decided to listen to Alpha’s advice and put on sunglasses.
Weirdos. All of them. Hekanta began a physical examination of Zero, struggling to spread her fur. The skin beneath was milky white, almost as pale as snow, untainted by any sunlight. The medic frowned, finding no trace of any scars. According to the medical records, Dominator once punched through Zero, sending her liver all the way to the sunset. This was bound to leave a mark or two on the midsection. Scars usually fade but do not disappear completely. And organs certainly do not reappear anew. Sure, the regenerator types of new breeds, like trolls, for example, could remove scars from their bodies and restore even lost body parts over time, but Zero was not one of their kind, at least not according to the medical records. The muscles felt like knots of barely held back explosion, tingling while she ran her fingers over them, giving Hekanta a feeling that Zero was compressing them here and now, not allowing them to expand in full. The medic made Zero stand on the examination slab, checking the body for any signs of inner trauma. None. Another mystery.
Hekanta lifted her brow in surprise, taking a blood sample. Zero’s muscles were not like the ones of Valerye's; she didn’t suffer from a lack of myostatin, this much Hekanta knew for certain. However, and this was an undeniable fact, the supreme warlord weighed over 300 kilos, making her appear much heavier than she looked like. Is she suppressing her power too?
"The situation can’t get any worse, right?" Alpha asked, walking around the room, "First this idiot Aranea and her…" The warlord clicked her fangs, "And now Sonya is still not replying to my messages…"
"Maybe she deserted?" The medic asked, "I know that I would try to run if someone promised to skin me."
"Unlike you, medic, Sonya is of far greater stock. Her sense of duty is second to none," Alpha replied coldly, "Abyss take it. I'll make her pay, right after I apologize for my behavior."
"Why in the world did Sonya even go to Iterna anyway?" Hekanta dared to ask, forcing Zero to face the wall and check her body.
"She wanted to buy ice-cream for her nephew and something about the book for her niece," Alpha replied, stopping for a second, "Judging by what Iterna’s intelligence disclosed to us, she certainly did not get to order any ice-cream."
"Then order it yourself," Hekanta said, feeling how Alpha’s eyes burrowed into her back, "Think about it. The kid…"
"Cub."
"…the kid will be happy, and you can be free from any need to make excuses." Her words made the warlord stop in her tracks.
"Brilliant idea, medic," Alpha tapped her lower jaw with a claw, "Yes, this will also make her look stupid as well…"
The terminal on the wall made a buzzing sound that made Alpha growl with anger. Hekanta curses, leaving Zero alone and going to turn on the terminal. Alpha came here to morally support Zero, otherwise the number one warlord would never show up for the scheduled medical checkup. They were supposed to be left alone until the end of all procedures. If the terminal was ringing, then something truly important had happened.
"Show me." Alpha hissed, stopping the officer’s report, and the man quickly nodded, pressing a button. The display shifted, showing Sonya standing before a large crowd, her arms lifted up in a gesture of calling for peace.
"… And somehow, I messed it all up" The scout shouted desperately to the people looking at her, "I brought shame to my leaders, my superior plans to skin me alive …"
Alpha froze in place, her eyes becoming rounder by the second. She lifted her paws, as if to argue with the image, trembling ever so slightly. For a moment, the medic thought that Alpha would break the display.
"Hekanta," Alpha said, still looking at the display, and the medic gulped, feeling genuine fear. Never before had Alpha called her by her name. Never. It was always "medic" this, "medic" that…, "Pass me a cig, please."
Zero made a quick chuckle, followed by another one and another one, before falling on the bed and grabbing her sides with her paws, laughing non-stop and jerking with her leg. Alpha looked at her, but the number one warlord continued laughing without any dignity or care, while tears ran down her cheeks.
"Hekanta," Alpha slowly came over the warlord, "I believe that Zero is scheduled to receive some vitamin shots today, right? Use suppositories instead."
Zero stopped for a second, looking up at Alpha, before wiping out a tear and saying: "Still totally worth it."
"Make it a triple dose. Zero’s wellbeing is our priority after all." Alpha spoke in a deadly calm tone, while Zero kept on laughing, hearing how the terminal rang again, announcing that Ivar, Scorpio, and even the Dynast wanted to speak with Alpha at once.
Hekanta pushed out a small chuckle as well, amused by the sheer insanity of this situation. With Alpha's eyes on her, the medic pressed both hands to her mouth to stop herself from doing something undoubtedly stupid and fatal, feeling her face going red from holding down the laughter.
All laughter died in the room the moment panicked screams came from the terminal, which still showed Sonya and the crowd of people.
