Chapter Eighteen
As the first week of my term nears a close, I can't be more relieved with the workload I have. I can actually sleep at this point and I don't feel like I am drowning. Leaving classes on Friday I make my way over to Voyager. I know Alexander said he needed to meet with me, but he didn't specify why. I wonder if his dad will be joining us for said meeting. Knocking on his office door I smooth down my button-down and fix my ponytail. Alexander throws the door open and I see a gentleman in a chair.
"Aviva!" Alexander says with a smile.
"Hi, sorry I am so late, the subway took forever!" I exclaim walking in.
"That's quite alright," Alexander says taking a seat at his desk.
"Aviva, you remember my dad, right?"
"Hi, Mr. Caspian," I say
"I told you that you can call me Benjamin," he says shaking my hand.
"Of course," I say taking a seat next to him.
"Dad, Aviva has a few questions regarding her mother," Alexander starts.
"That was a while ago, but I will do my best to answer them," Benjamin says.
"I want to hear about how she died, I know she was saving someone, but I need to know more of what happened," I say.
"That's an awfully difficult conversation for someone to have about their own mother," Benjamin says.
"I need to know," I say in a serious tone.
"Well everyone was at work considering it was a Wednesday afternoon. I remember her calling me to let me know that she would take the job and she rushed off. I felt that something was amiss, so I said I would help take care of it. Once I arrived the gang war was still very much under wage and there were a lot of shots being fired," he says thoughtfully.
"What happened next?" I ask him.
"It becomes slightly blurry after that, but I remember watching her be shot... repeatedly... as she shielded a civilian. She shattered all of the guns after that, the bullets just stopped, it was the most unearthly calm I have ever experienced. I rushed over to her I could see that she had already almost bled out. I held her in my arms and watched as she just fell to particles that scattered," he says.
"There was never a body? There was never a way to confirm that she was indeed one hundred percent dead?" I ask, and Benjamin looks at me surprised.
"No, it was just assumed. She never reformed to our knowledge..."
I sit there contemplating everything and an eerie silence crosses the room. I think of the woman I saw in my apartment. How many years has she spent floating in broken particles? How many years did she not know if she would die or reform? Time almost seems stretched out when I dissolve my form. I can't imagine the infinite hell of not being able to pull yourself back together.
"Aviva, is everything alright?" Benjamin asks.
"Her mom has reformed," Alexander says in a quiet voice.
"What do you mean?" Benjamin asks.
"She went after my father; she probably would have killed him if I hadn't shown up. She's not the same woman, I don't even know if I could call her human anymore," I say quietly still processing.
"That's impossible!" Benjamin exclaims.
"There is nothing in this universe that is impossible, to think that it too merely limits your mind," I mumble.
"What is M4 going to do about this?" Benjamin asks.
"G and Metallica are going through battle strategies as we speak, but for right now she hasn't resurfaced which means we don't know where she is," Alexander says quietly.
Spacing out from their conversation, I think of the voice whispering to me in my sleep. A sense of urgency consumes me as I remember what she did to my dad's apartment with the flick of her wrist. I need to stop this; I need to stop her. She can and will hurt a lot of people if she runs around freely. The powers she gave to me are insanely destructive if left in the wrong hands. I need to join M4 so that I can have the resources to stop her.
"Aviva?" Two voices ask me, and my head whips up.
"Where is G?" I ask
"He doesn't have any surgeries today, so probably at the tower," Alexander says.
"Let him know that I am taking him up on his invitation," I say standing up. Alexander gives me a confused look.
"Thank you so much, Benjamin, I will forever be grateful for your time," I say shaking his hand. He gives me the same perplexed look his son has.
"I'll see you soon Xander," I say before dissolving into particles.
Once back home I take my glasses off and leave them on my dresser. I change my clothes and head to the gym. I needed to work out. I need to become stronger. I spend hours in the gym. I practice until my knees are physically shaking and I can't hold myself up anymore. The sweat pours down my body as I suck in ragged breaths. My muscles protest with each step and I take that as my cue to stop. I flop down onto the floor and attempt to stretch. Everything is tight and I regret not warming up better. I need an ice bath, but I don't have the strength to even get up.
"So, this is where you always disappear too," a familiar voice calls out from the doorway.
"How did you find me, Lena?" I ask confused. I had turned my phone off.
"I followed my instincts," she says, and she moves closer. She probably tracked me some other way.
"You're shaking," she says flatly.
"I've been working out for the last four hours," I say as she pulls me to my feet.
"That explains the smell," she says.
"Thanks," I say sarcastically.
We walk outside, and I duck into the small, empty alley. She wraps an arm around my waist, and we are swallowed by shadows. I feel as if I am floating until my feet smash into the floor. Lena holds me up as I regain my footing. I walk into my room and strip off my soaked tank top.
"Av-" she cuts off as my hands are on my bra clasp.
"Can I help you?" I ask.
"S-sorry," she stutters out before going back into the living room.
I take a freezing cold shower before turning the water to scalding. My stomach growling at me is the only thing that gets me to leave the bathroom. Throwing on an oversized t-shirt and some shorts I walk back into the living room and see Cathleen passed out on my couch.
I grab some snacks from the kitchen and put them in my room. I slip off her shoes and put the blanket on the back of the couch over her. She immediately curls up under it and I can't help but smile some. She can be really cute when she isn't being a persistent pain in my ass.
Waking up the next morning every muscle in my body aches. Forcing myself out of bed I take pain medicine and find Lena still asleep on my couch. I start making breakfast and I hear some movement from the living room. I feel Lena walk up beside me still wrapped in the blanket.
"I didn't mean to fall asleep last night," she says in a groggy voice.
"It was cute," I say flipping a pancake.
"Really?" She asks confused.
"Yeah, you're not sarcastic or formal when you're sleeping," I tease, and she chuckles.
"G told us that you are joining the team," Len says quietly.
"I need to stop her before anyone seriously gets hurt," I say.
"And what about after we stop her, then what?" Lena questions.
"Then I stay, and I continue to use the abilities I was given to help," I say calmly.
Cathleen relaxes behind me and rests her head on my shoulder for a moment. I keep making pancakes without trying to disturb her. As I finish up, I offer her a plate and she happily takes it. We eat in silence and she offers to clean up the dishes. I start my homework and power through as much of my readings as I could as she answers emails and makes phone calls. After a while, I get up and go get changed. Walking back into the living room her head whips up and her eyebrows scrunch together in confusion.
"You are not going to work out again, are you?" She questions.
"I need to get stronger," I say.
"You trained your body yesterday, you need to exercise your powers today," she says getting up.
"Fine," I say.
She disappears for a few minutes before reappearing in shorts and a t-shirt. How does she make workout clothes look that good? She grabs my hand and I hand her my glasses and we are swallowed whole by the darkness.
"This is our training field," she says before walking away from me. Are we starting already?
I can feel that this isn't just a field. There is a lot of metal underneath. The energy is shifting as the metal rises above the surface. I hear it and feel as something is shot at me at almost the speed of a bullet. I slow it down and catch it before another one before more are shot at me.
Rather than catching them, I start deflecting objects. I hear a huge boom and barely have enough time to get out of the way as something the size of a football is shot at me. Another one is fired, and I dissolve it into particles. I hear a double boom and stop the one, but I am knocked off of my feet by the second. I feel a massive bruise forming on my leg, but blood isn't drawn. I create a shield of oxygen particles around me and the projectiles are blocked. Dropping to my knees I feel the energy flowing under the ground and I remove all of the particles and let them explode in the air.
Everything goes deadly silent and the only thing I can hear is the sound of my own ragged breathing. The world is unnervingly calm, and the sound of my heartbeat slowly leaves my ears, I hear voices talking calmly over to my left. I let go of my shield and find my body trembling from exertion, but this sense of calm strikes me.
I don't feel as if I am buzzing with this inescapable energy. I don't feel the need to work out for hours on end. There is no urge to go for a long walk just to keep moving. I just feel at ease. A hand grasps my shoulder and I grab the hand and pull the person into an armbar easily. I crank on the hold.
"Aviva, what the hell!" Alexander yells and I immediately let go.
"Sorry," I say. I watch him shake out his arm and the molecules just dance around.
"Yeah, sure," he says sarcastically.
"Her brain was still in autopilot Xander, leave the girl alone," Lena says.
I put my hand out and Lena hands me my glasses. Sliding them back onto my face everything becomes crystal clear and I see that Metallica and G are here as well. They both have a neutral expression on their face that I can't decipher.
"How did I do?" I ask curiously.
"You got hit and you kept deflecting the projectiles rather than stopping them. If there were bystanders they would have been killed," G says, and I sigh.
"I'll work harder next time," I say, and I see a twinkle in his eyes.
"Then everyone clears the field," he says, and my eyes widen slightly.
"Right now?" I ask, and he smirks. He puts his hand out and hands him my glasses.
I watch their masses retreat back to the small booth at the other end of the field before the machines start humming again. I feel as if I am being shot out for hours. I slow and stop every projectile I can. Sweat pours down my face as I block everything coming at me. I feel myself starting to slow down and the first one hits me. I feel blood dripping down my leg as I another one hits me; this one scrapes my arm.
I need to stop; I need this to stop. I feel for the energy in the air and collect it as another one scrapes my face. I create a barrier around myself and the edges of the field. Everything is being stretched thin as I use the energy to make a small concussive force. Everything shakes for a moment and stars dance in front of my eyes. I release both barriers as I realize that I accidentally deprived myself of oxygen. Dropping to my knees I listen and feel for any more projectiles coming at me, but all is quiet.
I sit on the ground for a few moments trying to regain some composure. I angrily wipe the blood off of my cheek and I feel someone kneeling down next to me. Something is forced into my hand and guided to my lips. The flavor hits my tongue and I realize that it is a sports drink. I easily down the whole bottle and sit down properly on the ground.
"I saw that you contained the blast so that nothing else would be hurt. That was smart, but you can still do better, just not today," G says before walking away.
I know he is going to push my limits, that seems to be Greyson's favorite activity. The amount of energy I have expended today is more than I have ever used in my lifetime. I can't help the trepidation I feel towards where this training is going to go, but I remind myself why I am doing this. I have to stop her and soon, there is no other choice.