Chapter 7: A Frozen Tundra

Part 3 of 3: Rewritten

The process to get Rachel to the proper destination was not just laborious, but also quite tedious. First, it took nearly fifteen minutes for Rachel to slip into her thermodynamic suit, as she could barely figure out where all of the zippers and clasps were located. Eventually, Fiona found herself having to help out, which she found very embarrassing, as she needed to help one of the most physically stunning beings on Earth not just get into her suit, but out of her other clothes. Fiona had to force herself to look away as often as possible. Once that painful experience had ended, Fiona had dragged Rachel outside, and spent another ten minutes guiding Rachel into the car, and then making sure she had supplies. She briefly considered bringing a gun, but she doubted that it would be much use to them.

However, the most troublesome of all was simply driving through the storm. Fiona had never been a particularly good driver, as her foster family refused to get her professional lessons, and she was forced to teach herself. The mountainside provided great difficulty to navigate with its bumpy roads and slippery terrain. It was also a problem that Fiona didn't have any real idea of where AJ had actually found the signal. Everything looked roughly the same to her, and for a moment, she was quite certain that she would never find the others, and would have to turn back. However, sensing discontent, Rachel suddenly spoke up.

"We've traveled six and four tenths of a mile," Rachel stated very factually. Fiona, confused, turned to look at her.

"What?" Fiona asked.

"You've been driving exactly six and four tenths-… no, wait, six and one-half of a mile," Rachel stated once again.

"How do you know this?" Fiona wondered aloud. Rachel shrugged.

"I've been using the sound of the engine to indicate our current velocity," Rachel simply said, as if it were the most basic thing in the world. "It was a simple matter of calculating d=st. I recommend you pick up the pace if we're going to make it."

Fiona didn't have time to question how Rachel could judge such things in her head, and simply decided to travel faster. She remained cautious however, much to Rachel's annoyance.

"Come on, Fiona, move!" Rachel practically shouted at her.

"Rachel, you should know that it's really bad out here," Fiona said, trying not to get annoyed. Rachel simply groaned, and the two continued on. About twenty minutes later though, Rachel suddenly yelled.

"Okay, they should be right around here somewhere," she announced.

"Are you sure?" Fiona asked, continuing to drive. "Your math is totally righ- Hold on, I see their car!"

Fiona pulled to the side of the road, next to the blue vehicle. It was heavily covered in snow, but unmistakably belonged to their team. The two girls exited the car, and were instantly met with a blistering wind.

"Bloody fuck, it's cold out here," Rachel said. Fiona gazed up at the mountainside, but the snow often fell into her eyes, and she could barely see more than a few feet up. She thought she felt a rumbling beneath her, but her mind suddenly became troubled, and her attention was directed elsewhere.

"Oh man, I can't believe I forgot that!" Fiona suddenly said, bringing her hand to her forehead. "How did I do that!?"

"Um, Fiona, what's wrong?" asked Rachel. Suddenly, Fiona took her by the hand, and started quickly moving up the mountain, trying her best not to slip and fall.

"We need to move," Fiona spoke, clearly distressed. "I just remembered: AJ said there was a two mile radius to her readings. The other girls could be anywhere in this storm."

Fiona tried to look up the mountain again, but the wind continued to blow snow right in her face, and she could only make out a field of white. She was starting to get scared. It was already getting rather dark; the chances of finding the others were incredibly slim. What if they had already encountered the Korbalovs? What if they had been lost out on the icy tundra? On top of all of this, there was also the fact that Rachel, a blind person, was out with her in the storm. What were they going to do? Trying her best to hide her despair, Fiona turned back towards Rachel, who appeared very confused.

"Rachel, we're going to have to move fast," Fiona stated. "We need to find everyone before it gets too- OOF!"

Fiona, without any warning, suddenly felt something heavy slam into her legs. The result sent both Fiona and Rachel flying, and before they knew it, they had tumbled down several yards of snow, and landed with a heavy thud. There were many groans of pain, and Fiona slowly lifted her head out of the snow.

And, much to her immense delight, was immediately met with the very confused and very concerned gaze of one Tara Sullivan.

"TARA!" Fiona shouted at once, and before Tara had even risen to her feet, she was already in a tight hug.

"Fiona?" Tara said, completely baffled. "What are you doing here?"

"Tara?" Rachel suddenly spoke up. Tara took one look at her, and suddenly became very frustrated. She broke off the hug with Fiona, who seemed somewhat hurt by the action, and promptly proclaimed,

"You brought Rachel here!?" Tara shouted at her. "What the… why!?"

"Tara, I know you're upset, but-" Fiona couldn't explain fast enough, before Tara snapped again.

"Didn't you listen to anything I told you!?" Tara said. "We can't bring her on this mission!"

By this time, the other three girls, who had also tumbled down the mountain, rose out of the snow groggily, and took notice of the additional presences. Pinky felt like one of her legs had been wounded in the fall, and she took the leg in her arms tenderly.

"Tara, you didn't hear what I did," Fiona stated. "I couldn't just leave her behind."

"But you can't just-" Tara attempted to argue, but this time, Rachel joined with Fiona. She crossed her arms, and with an expression of aggravation, argued for her own sake.

"Tara, I appreciate your excessive attempts of righteousness," Rachel said. "But your belligerent ineptitude has done nothing here but dampen your efforts. You cannot expect me to surrender my conviction on this disability and concede from this faction as if I were suffering from the bubonic plague. I refuse to lay down and contribute absolutely nothing to this mission. I'm not leaving, and if you try to make me take respite, I will not halt until you can comprehend that my assistance and abilities are completely required to make this group function properly, as everyone else already has. Deal with it."

If Rachel could see, she would only see the most utterly confused, unknowing, unmistakable expressions of shock among her friends' faces, and five separate jaws gaping open.

"What… what the fuck did she just say?" Dash leaned over and asked AJ, who was standing next to her, and was equally as confused.

"She lost me at 'excessive'," AJ replied honestly.

"Rachel, what the fuck are you talking about?" Dash finally asked her.

"Long story short: I'm smart, I'm staying, and we're taking out the Korbalovs," Rachel said rather bluntly.

"So that's why you're here?" a deep voice suddenly said from above. The girls were instantly broken out of their shock, and with absolute horror, noticed that Kristov Korbalov was standing above them on the mountainside, staring at them with a tilted head. "You're here to kill us?"

"Kristov, wait," AJ begged him. "We're not here to kill you."

"That's what she just said," Kristov stated simply, nodding his head towards Rachel, who was seething with rage at the sound of his voice.

"She doesn't know what she's talking about," Tara claimed, sternly glaring at Rachel. Just at this moment, Tara noticed that Kristov seemed to be missing his other half. "Where's Yuri?" she asked. She had plenty of experience with the younger Russian, particularly how he shattered her ribcage and reopened her liver.

"He's out," Kristov said. He seemed to be just as bored as ever. "He always goes out for the day, and then comes back whenever he feels like it. I don't really care."

"Kristov, listen to us for a moment," AJ pleaded. She knew Kristov to be far more sensible than his brother, and had been thinking of a plan to, hopefully, get what they wanted. "We just came here to get back General Wilson. We don't want anyone to get harmed here."

Kristov groaned.

"Ugh," he said. "That's complicated. Yuri has been having a wonderful time making that man feel pain. Three months of nothing but screaming and moaning, and the whole place smells of blood; it's getting on my nerves."

"So he's here?" Dash confirmed. Kristov nodded.

"Where else would he be?" Kristov said. "Look, you girls aren't our contract right now, so I have no reason to kill you. That doesn't mean you can just break into our home and take what you want."

"Kristov, I know you're reasonable," AJ said. "Far more than your brother. You don't want Wilson to suffer anymore; you're not that kind of person. We just want our General back. We can make something work out here."

Kristov contemplated the suggestion. If he were to let the girls take away Wilson, then he wouldn't have to deal with the torturing anymore. They would simply take him away, everything would go back to normal, and they could resume taking contracts once again (which Yuri had suggested they stop because of "other worries"). However, Yuri would be incredibly furious. He supposed that he could make up some excuse, but there still seemed to be a lot of concerns. Still, the stench and blood was sickening, and that concerned him even more. After a few seconds though, he made up his mind on.

"Fine, take him," Kristov said bluntly. As the girls smiled at their incredible luck, Kristov started walking towards a random pile of rocks jutting out of the mountainside. Without warning, Kristov picked up the rocks, and chucked it away, watching it shattering into fragments. Despite the snow and the darkening sky, if AJ looked closely enough, she could make out what appeared to be a large, black door built into the mountain. Kristov beckoned them towards them, and the six girls walked towards the doorway, with Rachel holding onto Fiona's arm for guidance.

"When we started living here," Kristov explained. "We had a series of chambers built into the mountains around our house. I can't go with you down there, but trust me, you'll find what you are looking for. Take the General, and then get back to where ever you came from. But know this: if Yuri happens to come back, and he finds out what you did, I can't help you from whatever he decides to do. And, if he tries to kill you, and you try to fight back, I will side with him. He is my brother. So don't take too long."

With that ominous warning, Kristov sighed, and started to walk back to his house. With a shrug and a bit of bravery, the girls entered down into the mountain. Everything was dark and damp, and AJ needed to pull out a flashlight to see anything at all. The only thing they could see were black corridors that appeared to be endless, with the occasional door showing up on the left. With a great amount of caution, the P.O.N.Y's moved forward. They passed by the occasional room filled with random items, such as meat or machinery, but aside from that, everything looked the same. As the girls walked, Fiona, who was walking at the back of the group, started small talk with Rachel.

"Where did that come from?" Fiona asked in amazement. Rachel smirked.

"Well, in sixth grade," Rachel said. "One week, I felt incredibly bored. So, I decided to take a look through several alternate versions of dictionaries to see their many differences. Don't worry, I only resort to using an obscenely large vocabulary when I need to make a point."

"Yeah, about that," Dash suddenly said. "What the holy fuck happened to you? I thought you were a fashion designer. Isn't Tara supposed to be the obnoxiously smart one?"

"Hey, I'm right here," Tara said, offended. "But Rachel, you mean you've had the brain power of a savant this entire time, and you just pretended you didn't?"

"It wasn't that hard," Rachel said. "And I, by no means, meant to undermine your intelligence, Tara. You are really a bright person."

"Compliments aren't going to change the fact that you shouldn't be here," Tara said angrily.

"Hey girls, can we chat about this another time?" AJ said, straining her ears. "I think I hear something."

The girls quieted themselves, and, sure enough, they hear something. It was very faint, but it almost sounded like a groan. Their pace quickened, and they followed the sounds for what seemed like miles. They passed by three more rooms, each being completely useless to their goals. As they progressed, the noise grew louder and louder, until it was certainly the groans of someone in pain. At long last, they finally found the source of the noise, and arrived in front of a closed door to another room. The girls glanced nervously at each other, and with caution, Tara placed her hand on the door.

"Okay, we know what to do," Tara said. "Grab him and run. Are you ready?"

The girls nodded.

Then, taking a deep breath, Tara flung open the door, looked inside, and immediately recoiled in horror.

The room was lit enough so that the flashlight was not required, although AJ felt too sickened to put it away. The room smelled of all sorts of bodily fluids, and was stained with blood. However, the main attraction was dangling from several chains in the center of the room, like a gruesome piñata. It was undoubtedly Anthony Wilson, but that was only because the girls knew he would be present; the body barely resembled a person at all. All four limbs had been removed, and the wounds had become badly infected. Across his bare chest, there were multiple carvings, including two stick figures crudely murdering each other, and several swear words written in Russian text. Yet it was the face that was most terrible to look at. The eyes and mouth had been stitched shut, and the ears were chopped off and replaced with bandages. All that could be heard were the occasional pained, throaty groans, which made the girls feel worst of all, as they knew he was still alive. No one wanted to enter, yet they couldn't help themselves, as they gathered in the room around Wilson.

"Oh my god," was all Tara could say, feeling her eyes welling up. AJ, who had known the General for most of her life, couldn't bare the sight, and walked to the corner of the room, placing her head against the wall, and feeling nothing at all. Pinky kept her hands covering her mouth, and Dash started to poke Wilson with a disgusted look on her face, trying to see if she could get a response. Fiona had turned around, and was now hugging Rachel very tightly, so that her face was buried in her friend's hair. Rachel could only smell the putrid scents in the room, but this alone was enough to fill her full of hate, for the smell painfully reminded her of the torture room from three months earlier.

"What… what are we supposed to do with him?" Dash asked, backing away from the body. "I mean, we can't just drag him out of here. Man, can he even fucking hear us?"

"He probably doesn't even know we're here at all," AJ said, not looking away from the wall. "I…I don't think we can bring him."

"Then what was the point of coming here?" Rachel demanded to know. "We cannot just walk away with nothing."

"He's suffering," AJ said, rather pained. "We need to… put him out of his misery."

"AJ's right," Tara spoke up. She could feel tears running down her face; the situation was just too much for her. They had spent three months looking for this man, only to find that was within twenty miles the whole time, and now that they finally found him, he was nothing more than a bloody mass of flesh, which needed to die. It seemed as if fate had played a nasty trick on them all; to bring them up so high, only to crash the, back down. Still, what needed to be done had to get done, and with sorrow in her eyes, Tara turned to AJ.

"AJ, you knew him the longest," Tara stated. "Maybe you should do it."

"Nah," AJ said. "I… I don't think I'd be able to do it. You're the leader, Tara. It should probably be you." Yet Tara shook her head as well.

"I'm not sure," Tara said. However, at this moment, Dash pulled out her gun with a shrug.

"I'll do it," Dash stated, pointing the gun at Wilson's deformed head. "Best to just get it over with." However, before Dash pulled the trigger, Tara stopped her.

"That's not necessary, Dash," Tara said, reaching behind her. With one swift motion, she unsheathed the sword from her back. "He was a good man, and he needs to die with honor. I'll do it."

Dash shrugged once more, and stepped aside. Tara walked up to Wilson, and stared at him. She could only wonder if knew what was going on or not, and she wasn't sure which she preferred. However, wiping the tears from her eyes, she pulled back the blade, and prepared to strike it forward. She could feel her hands shaking; the room was entirely still. All Tara could do was repeat a mantra in her head, which she had learned long ago.

Beauty in death. Beauty in death. Beauty in death.

Tara closed her eyes, and, with only sadness in her heart, thrust the blade forward. She heard the sound of the sword penetrating through his chest, then a small gurgling sound, and then nothing. With a pained grunt, Tara ripped the sword out of the body, dropped it to the ground, sank to her knees, and immediately started to cry.

Fiona, who had previously clung to Rachel, forgot about the horrific environment around her, and rushed over to comfort her friend. She wrapped her arms around Tara's back, and held her tightly, whispering to her. Pinky soon joined in, and sat next to the crying girl. Rachel bowed her head to the ground in sadness. AJ felt herself starting to tear up, but stopped herself doing so. Dash groaned, and sadly shook her head at Tara's display. Eventually, though, Tara pulled her head up, and although her voice was heavy, it sounded surprisingly stable.

"Come on," she said plainly. "Let's go home."

"I severely doubt that."

Everyone froze. The voice was horribly familiar, and it was one that they all recognized in an instant. In sheer terror, their gazes slowly shifted towards the doorway, where there was now a large silhouette blocking the doorway. It was with a terrible realization that they saw Yuri Korbalov leaning against the door frame, a eerily calm look on his face, and tossing a ball up in the air before catching it in his large hands. He looked exactly the same as the last time they saw him, which is to say that he had not gotten any less rugged and gruff over the past three months. However, what was of interest was the object that he was tossing. It was spherical in shape, but was unlike any ball that any of the girls had ever seen. It was silver and metallic, and had a split right down its center. Along the split on either side were one-inch tall nodes, which were hollowed out, and black in the center. The object had several different buttons on it as well, and although the object was no larger than a basketball, it seemed to be very heavy.

"Now, imagine my surprise when I'm walking back home, and I see that one of our mountain chambers has been left wide open," Yuri said, not appearing to be the least bit mad. "When I get down here, I find out that not only has it been broken into, but it's by the same six bitches that had led us straight to our most prized possession. By the way, I never got to thank you for that; real helpful."

He motioned to Rachel, and she could barely hold herself back from launching herself directly at him. Yuri continued on.

"Now, if I'm not mistaken," Yuri stated. "Since Wilson is now dead, the contract placed on you has been, well, renewed, so to speak. And I think to myself, 'how am I going to make these bitches suffer for ruining everything? That is the arrangement, after all'. But then I remembered I had this little beauty."

Yuri gestured to the object in his hands.

"I always keep this close at hand," Yuri said fondly. "After all, it took so long to get it. If I remember correctly, they said that this could have the potential to cause massive suffering. I've yet to experience that for myself, but hey, what are you going to do about that?"

Suddenly, Yuri pressed several of the buttons on the object in rapid succession, and the machine suddenly whirred to life in his hands. The split now opened up, and it revealed an inner sphere, which started to glow. The nodes on the sides now started to glow a bright green, and Yuri quickly tossed the machine in the center of the room, and then slammed the door shut.

"THIS IS FOR SCREWING ME OVER, YOU ROTTEN AMERICAN MOTHERFUCKERS!"

The two halves on the machine now started to rotate in opposite directions, and the whirring became incredibly loud. In a panic, the girls tried to back away from the center of the room, but the chamber was too small to gain any actual distance. AJ ran to the door to try and get it open, but she found that it was suddenly locked. The whirring was terribly loud now, so much so that the girls couldn't hear themselves think. All they could hope to do was cling to the walls, and prey for the best. The lights from the machine filled up the room, casting everything in a brilliant green light.

Then with a long, loud, terrible drone, the machine went off with such tremendous force to push the girls back against the walls, and they were instantly met with the most intense pain any of them had ever experienced.

After that, everything just faded into white.

__________

AJ was viciously knocked to the ground; her hat skidded across the floor. She was panting heavily, and struggled to rise to her feet. She tasted blood, and wiped some of the substance from her lips. Mac shook his head.

"C'mon, AJ," he said for the fourth time that day. "What did I tell you about rushin' to the offensive?"

"It's a fool's way to die," AJ repeated, her voice strained. She walked over to her hat, and very slowly, picked it up.

"And what did I tell you about the hat?" Mac said with a groan.

"What about it?" she asked, annoyed.

"In the heat of battle, an enemy aint gonna wait for you to put ya hat back on before he puts a bullet in your skull," Mac stated plainly. AJ scoffed.

"But yer gonna wait," AJ said slyly. "You're all gentleman like, and you would wait for a lovely teenage girl like me."

"Yer not a teen!" Mac proclaimed.

"Yes, I am!"

"Thirteen aint a teenage year!"

"Yes it is! Thir-teen. It's in the goddamn title!"

"You aint mature, though."

"I'm plenty mature," AJ said, suddenly motioning to her body. "Look: tits and hips and everything. I'm blossoming like a cherry tree."

"Oh, you're mature now, aint ya?" Mac said, crossing his arms, a smile on his face. "Then how 'bout ya run over and get some of that cola Celestia keeps in the fridge?"

"Fuck you," AJ replied. However, she was awfully thirsty, and reluctantly walked out of the training room, and into the recreation area next-door. On her way out, she walked by a very stern Bridgette Celestia, and gave her a tip of her hat. Celestia mostly ignored her, however, and walked up to Mac, who had taken a seat on the floor.

"Clive, we need to talk," Celestia said.

"Can we wait until AJ gets back with the drinks?" Mac said with a smile. "I'm parched as hell."

"This is regarding her, but we don't need her input," Celestia stated. "Now tell me: why didn't you tell her about the Colorado assignment?"

"I'll tell her about that when the time comes," Mac said.

"You're leaving in six hours," Celestia said.

"Well…" Mac couldn't come up with a proper explanation. "I was enjoying the training."

"Yes, about that," Celestia said. "You still refuse to send her on any assignments."

"She's not grown yet," Mac claimed.

"She just told you to go fuck yourself," Celestia said bluntly.

"Those weren't her words," Mac said, annoyed. "Besides, she aint trained enough yet for any actual assignments."

"Clive, we both know what you agreed to when you brought her here," Celestia said. "Besides, she's yearning to go out there. You hear her every day. Just give her this one thing." Mac couldn't help but feel somber.

"Yeah, I know," he said reluctantly. "I… I just wish I got to spend more time with her. It's bad enough with me goin' out every few months, but if she goes out too, that'll really limit everything."

"Trust me, Clive," Celestia said. "I think she spends plenty of time with you."

"What makes you say that?" Mac asked. Celestia couldn't help but smile.

"Have you been listening to her at all for the past eight years?" Celestia asked. "She's from Illinois, and she has a southern drawl. If that's not proof enough, I don't know what is."

Mac thought about this for a moment, and then grinned to himself. And from the other side of the door, eavesdropping on the whole conversation, AJ grinned to herself as well.

__________

"AJ, WAKE UP! DEAR GOD, PLEASE WAKE UP!"

AJ's eyes shot open. Everything around her looked fuzzy. She could hardly remember anything except severe pain, and the color white. She couldn't see her surroundings very well, but she could feel herself being shaken, and recognized Tara's voice.

"Oh thank God, you're alright!" Tara shouted, immensely relieved. She could hear the groans and moans of everyone else in the room, but AJ had remained silent. But now her fears were quelled, as she tried to get AJ to focus on her. AJ blinked several times to try to get a clear image of her friend.

"Tara, stop shaking me," AJ ordered. Her vision was returning. "I'm alright. Just le- HOLY SHIT!"

AJ eye's finally adjusted, and she could clearly see Tara. However, her friend looked different. It was if it was both her and not her at the same time. The basics were still there; the same face, the same hair, the same lips. But her eyes were different; not in shape, but in color. Tara's simple brown eyes were now glowing a deep, vibrant color, that of which AJ had never seen in eyes before; they were violet, just a shade lighter than Rachel's hair. The cascading glow seemed to illuminate Tara's face, in a manner that eerily reminded AJ of The Beast. Tara had taken off her suit by this point, and she was now wearing almost nothing but shorts and a T-shirt. Now that AJ could see more of her, she could see that her skin was different. Tara appeared slightly paler than she was before, and, most terrifyingly, several of the veins on her arms, legs, and face were now glowing with the same deep violet that was in her eyes, and they seemed to stick out in tone from the rest of the skin.

"AJ, what's wrong?" Tara asked, seemingly unaware of her new appearance.

"Tara, ya might wanna take a look at yourself," AJ said. Tara looked incredibly confused, before her gaze traveled down to her arms, and her eyes went wide.

"Wha… I… what did…" Tara said, utterly speechless. She rose to her feet, and couldn't break her gaze from her arms. All around her, the others started to recover themselves.

"Holy fuck, that was painful," Dash stated bluntly. "What the hell was- Spark, what the fuck happened to you!?"

"Ugh, my head," Pinky said as she rose to her feet. She was clutching her head tightly, and was doubled over. "Man, this really hurts; even more than my leg right now."

"Pinky, take a look at Spark over here," Dash said, not showing any concern for how Tara might be feeling. In fact, she appeared rather amused with the whole thing. "Jesus Christ, you look kinda badass, actually."

"This isn't funny, Rebecca," Tara said, incredibly concerned. "What the hell happened to me?"

"I… I think I might have an idea," AJ said, now rising to her feet. With a great amount of caution, she walked over to the spherical device in the center of the room, which had now become silent. AJ took the object in her hands, and examined it. Then, with sudden realization, she stated.

"I think this is a MACER Device," AJ proclaimed.

"Really?" Tara said, now both amazed and concerned.

"What else could it be?" AJ stated. "I've been in this field for thirteen years, and I aint never seen a bomb do something like that."

"Wait… if that thing's a MACER Device," Dash said, slowly realizing what was going on. "Does that mean we all have superpowers now?"

"It doesn't give people superpowers," Tara said. "It alters DNA."

"And gives people superpowers," Dash said, not understanding Tara's point. "Don't you guys know what this means? We all got exposed to that thing."

Suddenly, Tara realized that Dash was half-right about something. They were all exposed to the device, yet only four of them seemed to be alright. Tara quickly looked towards the other side of the room, where Rachel and Fiona were unmoving.

Rachel appeared to be semi-conscious, having moved herself into the corner of the room, and now sitting upright. She was trying her best to focus her thoughts, but everything kept distracting her. She could hear the others talking, but she felt too weak to say anything. However, what were most distracting were the colors. Every few seconds, it seemed like small bursts of different colors would randomly appear in her vision, which was now, strangely, a sea of black. She noticed that the different colors seemed to be coming from the places in which the voices were coming from, but she was in such a daze that she made nothing of it.

Fiona was much worse. She was lying on the ground, facing the wall. She was awake, but she couldn't say anything; it all simply hurt too much. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her face was turning pale, as if she had contracted a grave illness. Her body kept shivering, yet she felt incredibly hot, and she could not explain why.

Tara, Dash and AJ quickly ran over to help their friends, while Pinky tried her best to settle out the pain in her head, and simultaneously fix the brace on her left leg, which, with the combined fall own the mountain and blast from the device, had broken. They managed to get the two girls standing, although Rachel needed to rest against the wall, and Fiona kept falling over.

"Damn, they're not looking too well," Tara said. She gestured to AJ to help her get Fiona back up. However, as she and AJ struggled to lift Fiona again, Dash suddenly noticed movement out of the corner of her eye.

"Uh, Spark," Dash said in astonishment. "Can you move your arm again?"

"What?" Tara asked, trying to keep Fiona on her feet.

"Just move your fucking arm again, will ya?" Dash said. Confused, Tara waved her right arm back and forth, which unfortunately meant that all of Fiona's weight fell down upon AJ.

"What's the point, Dash?" Tara asked. Dash simply pointed towards the door.

"I… uh…" Dash said. "I think I just figured out what your superpower is."

Tara glanced over, and saw something incredible. The door, which had previously been locked, was now floating in midair, and hovering in the same spot. Tara moved her arm to the right, and to her amazement, the door followed suit.

"Oh my god," Tara said in disbelief. "Oh… my… god… Am I doing that?"

"Sweet, Spark's got freaking telekinesis, or some crazy shit like that," Dash said happily. "I wonder what I got? I'm really fucking hoping for super speed…"

"Dash, now's not the time for-" Tara started to scold her, but suddenly, the door dropped to the ground with a loud clang, and startled everyone in the room. Tara waved her arm about, but nothing else moved. She also noticed that the violet glow had disappeared from her skin, and her eyes were brown once more.

"Tara, I think we should focus on getting out of here," AJ suddenly spoke up. Tara nodded. They had wasted far too much time as it was. Pinky could barely walk, Rachel was terribly dazed, and Fiona looked like she would drop dead at any moment. There was very little time to waste.

"Okay, let's move," Tara said. Pinky hobbled over on one leg, and picked up Fiona, so that they might support each other. Tara took Rachel's had, and together, the six girls had reentered the labyrinth of chambers beneath the mountains. Yuri had long since vanished, and the last thing they wanted was to see him again. However, finding their way out proved to be rather difficult. Everything looked the same, and it was a tiring process of carrying the wounded.

"Why is so hot in here?" Fiona suddenly asked. Pinky, who was suffering a horrific headache, was confused.

"I thought it was like, seven degrees out, or something," Pinky said.

"So hot, so hot," Fiona said. Without fully realizing what she was doing, Fiona had started to unzip her thermodynamic suit, and had begun to strip in the middle of the base.

"Fiona, what are you doing?" Tara looked at the back of the group, where Pinky and Fiona were falling behind. However, Fiona never got to answer that question, as without warning, she fell back to the ground. Pinky bent over to pick her up, but Fiona suddenly started to scream. Fiona's yells were bloodcurdling, and everyone stopped dead in their tracks to stare back at her in horror.

"Fiona, what's wrong?" Tara asked her.

"Oh god, help me!" Fiona started to shout. "It hurts! It hurts! Get it out of me!"

Fiona began to bleed from the nose, and everyone rushed around her. Any time physical contact was made, she would scream even more. She was on her hands and knees; her forehead pressed to the ground as her eyes welled up with tears.

"Someone get it out of me!" Fiona begged. "Please, just get it out!"

Suddenly, Fiona let out a pained gasp, and began to tremble erratically. She cried out again, and then the others began to notice something on Fiona's back. The thermodynamic suit was nearly skin-tight, and so it gave the others quite a scare when they saw something moving underneath the suit. Two thick objects appeared to slide down Fiona's back, and the girls realized that the objects were actually present underneath Fiona's skin. They watched as Fiona cried out again, and then suddenly, the two objects pushed outwards. Then they pushed again, this time harder.

On the third try, the objects had suddenly sprung forth from underneath the suit, and burst out of Fiona's back. It didn't take long for anyone to realize what the objects were: wings. Two large, light blue wings had ruptured from Fiona's back, breaking through her skin, and causing blood to splatter on the floor. They were unlike any wings that they had ever seen before; the wings did not appear to be feathery, like that of a bird, but rather made of light and energy itself. The wings glowed brightly, and did not drip with any of the blood coming out of Fiona. The wingspan was so large that it was, in fact, taller than the actual girl they were attached to. The wings, despite their stunning beauty, did not in any way seem magnificent. Fiona was heavily in tears, and the girls could see two wide, bloody slits across the length of Fiona's back where the wings emerged. Suddenly, Fiona coughed up a hefty dose of blood, and then passed out on the floor, leaving the girls to wonder at what had just happen before them.

"Uh…" was the only expression Dash could utter from her lips. She was less terrified than the rest of the girls, and thus thought slightly more clearly. "Did she just become, like, part bird or something?"

"You know what?" Tara said. "I don't know. I really don't know. We can think about this later. Right now, we still need to get out of here."

"Right," Pinky said. She tried to pick up Fiona, but found that she was completely unconscious. The wings had now wrapped tightly around Fiona to keep her warm, and Pinky could not get her up.

"Maybe you girls should go on ahead," Pinky suggested, taking a gun out of her suit. "I'll stay here and watch over her. We'll find our way out later."

Tara felt as if she should argue, but realized that the options she had couldn't have much help with what she had just witnessed.

"Okay, take care of her," Tara ordered, and started to walk down the hallway. Pinky nodded, and the others reluctantly followed Tara down the corridors.

Okay, maybe I don't want superpowers after all, Dash thought to herself as they made their way through the darkness.

However, within minutes, they saw light ahead. With increased speed, the four girls moved towards the light with hope. Unfortunately, once they got closer, their hopes diminished, and Tara quickly gave an order to slow down and stay quiet. The girls did so, and now quietly walked towards the light with caution.

The light, as it turned out, was of the Korbalovs' house. The entire house had a wooden frame, although the majority of walls were made out of glass, allowing people to view the mountains from almost any angle in the house. The house contained two main segments: the living room, and the balcony. The living room had very basic needs, such as two couches, a chair, and a flat screen television, complete with satellite hookup. The balcony was located a few feet above the living room, and there were short sets of stairs on either side for easy access. The balcony had a railing to look over unto the living room, and aside from that, there was very little for it to offer, except for a large opening in the wall, leading into the caverns beneath the mountain.

Sadly for the girls, the Korbalovs just happened to be standing on the balcony twenty feet away, looking over to the living room, and having a meaningful discussion.

"Why expose them to the machine?" Kristov asked, annoyed.

"Because I want them to suffer," Yuri said. "That machine can turn people into hideous monsters. I've seen it."

"But it can also turn them into people like us," Kristov claimed. "What if the machine gave them abilities?"

"Kristov, you forget about something," Yuri said with a smirk. "No one can kill us. If they get diseased, they die, and that's that. If they live, we might finally get to have a good fight on our hands. Besides, what harm could they really do?"

Meanwhile, Tara whispered orders to the others.

"We'll need to find another way around," Tara said. However, Rachel disagreed.

"No," she said. "This is our chance to fight back. We can kill them right now."

"Rachel, we can't-"

"Tara, we may never get another opportunity," Rachel said. "Now that Wilson's gone, they'll hunt us. We need to kill them now before they attack us again."

Tara wanted to argue, but deep down, she knew that Rachel was right. The Brothers of Chaos would eventually eliminate them one by one until they were all gone. She knew that she could deliver a quick kill on at least one of them now with her sword, and now, it was the time to finally strike back for everything they had done.

With a reluctant sigh, Tara took hold of her sword, and ordered the girls to stay put. Tara stayed close to the floor, and took slow, quiet steps towards the Korbalovs. She targeted Yuri first, and within seconds, she was less than ten feet away. She knew how dense the bone was, so she readied her sword to strike directly through Yuri's heart. She was now standing right behind him, and neither he nor his brother had noticed she was there. She gradually rose up to her feet, and drew back her sword.

Smack

Yuri quickly turned around and backhanded Tara across the face, sending her flying back towards the others. She recovered as fast as she could, and gave the orders to attack.

AJ leapt out first, and much to Yuri's surprise, tackled over the edge of the balcony, where they landed on the floor with a thud. They quickly rose to their feet, and started to fight. AJ ran over to the couch, and kept it between her and the Russian, hoping to gain distance. However, he sucked beneath the couch, picked it up, and threw it back at AJ. She rolled out of the way, but quickly found herself dodging a series of mad punches. She bobbed and weaved, but never sought to attack. Instead, she focused on gaining as much distance as possible, and once the opportunity presented itself, she ducked away, and ran to the other side of the room.

Dash and Tara were, instead, trying to overwhelm Kristov with great force. Tara slashed rapidly with her sword, while Dash tried to draw his attention away. Occasionally, this had an effect, as he had been too busy trying to hit Dash to guard himself from a swing of the sword. However, these only resulted in cuts and flesh wounds, which seemed to affect Kristov very little. He stayed defensive, and never let out a single punch, opting to take his time in the fight.

However, the most interesting development by far was happening with Rachel. She was experiencing a very strange sensation. She constantly saw flashes of different colors around her; reds danced about with blues, and the greens and yellows popped in and out of her sight. She was terribly nervous at the sound of her friends fighting, and the color only seemed to accentuate her fears. Here she was being useless once again; she felt ashamed. This was her final chance to prove her worth, and she was hiding in the corner like a coward. She wanted only to lunge out at the Korbalovs; make them finally pay for everything. Her breathing became eccentric, her heart rate increased, and the colors started to dance around more and more. But they weren't just flashes of colors anymore; they were starting to take on shape, and began to resemble the actual movements of people. And, was it just her, or did these colors now look almost like people?

Things had taken a turn for the worse for the girls on the balcony, however. Tara took a horizontal swipe with her sword, but Kristov decided that it was finally time to attack. He grabbed onto the sword, much to Tara's surprise, and used it to fling Tara down one of the flights of steps. Dash tried to charge at him, but he took hold of her arms, and flung her back into the dark hallway.

This was when Kristov noticed Rachel's presence.

He briefly stared at her, completely motionless. However, this time, he wasn't curious, and he knew what he had to do. It wasn't as if he could keep any of the girls alive now that they had come after him and his brother. So, with barely any regret, he ran straight at Rachel, and shot out a fist directly at her head.

She dodged.

Rachel didn't see the attack coming, and she didn't have enough time to react to his footsteps. But it was the strangest thing: she saw a bright red shape move at her quickly, and it looked like a person throwing a punch. Everything just seemed to slow down from there. She saw not just the fist in motion, but it was as if she could see where it was going to land. Rachel couldn't explain it, but she acted as if it were a reflex; rolling underneath Kristov's arm, and instantly hopping to her feet behind him.

Kristov seemed momentarily confused, but quickly charged at her again. He launched out another punch, but the colors not only told Rachel that something was trying to hit her, but she suddenly saw a bright green color flash on her collarbone, as if it were the specific target. She sidestepped the blow easily. Then another. And then another. Rachel was incredibly confused; the vast display of flashing colors, change in time, and her own movements were too much for her to comprehend, and she really didn't understand any of it.

"How are you doing this?' Kristov couldn't help but ask, throwing out another punch, which was ducked. "You can't see, and you're dodging everything. What did the machine do to-"

"Hey, leave the blind girl alone!" Dash suddenly shouted, rising to her feet. "Pick on someone who's sucked less than five hundred dicks in her life!"

Kristov, while confused by the expression, changed targets rather quickly. Rachel backed herself up against the wall to sort out her thoughts, while Dash was forced to dodge attacks. She did fairly well for herself, but unfortunately, she wasn't nearly as efficient as Rachel had been. Dash barely lasted a minute before she made the deadly mistake of trying to land a punch of her own. She briefly saw an opening when she dodged a kick, and took the chance to punch Kristov square in the jaw. The blow connected, and Dash immediately recoiled, clutching her fist in agony.

"Son of a bitch, that hurts!" Dash complained. Unfortunately, she was busy to notice that Kristov had thrown a punch right towards her head, and she barely registered the action before fist was mere centimeters from her face.

Whoosh

There was a blur, and suddenly, Dash found herself leaning back, narrowly avoiding the blow. She stared wide-eyed at the fist, which was dangerously close to her head. Kristov brought around his other fist, and barely registered it before it was about to strike her chest.

Whoosh

Now, Dash found herself behind Kristov. She was confused, but only for a moment, as it soon became replaced with excitement.

"Oh my god, is this really happening?" she asked herself, unable to contain her joy. Kristov tried attacking her several more times, but each time, his fist only connected with a blur, while Dash had already moved away. She dodged a kick, and gained several feet of distance.

"Superspeed! Alright!" Dash shouted gleefully to the sky. "There is a God after all! Sorry for the atheism, Big G! I'll have to-… WHOA!"

Dash did not celebrate long; Kristov had charged his fist, and slammed it into the floor. The resulting shockwave sent Dash flying over the railing, and crashing down onto AJ below.

While the others were fighting Kristov, AJ was having more of a dance with Yuri. She never got close enough for him to hit her, and he kept circling about, trying to get past the furniture that she kept in-between them. After a while, the stalemate had bored Yuri, and he actually started small talk in order to pass the time.

"So… how old are you exactly?" Yuri asked. "You don't look that old."

"Why would I ever talk to you about something like that?" AJ sneered. "We're trying to kill each other."

"By paid contract," Yuri said. "Using the machine was because you killed Wilson. Now, this is just because you reinstated the price on your head. I don't hate you; it's just business."

"You sure have a sick idea of 'just business'," AJ said.

"Whatever you say," Yuri said, glancing upwards. "Oh, and look out for your friend."

"Wha-"

Thud

Dash collided with AJ, knocking the two girls to the ground. They both groaned, as Yuri started to make his way towards them.

"Hey AJ," Dash said, not the least bit worried. "Look what I can do."

Whoosh

Suddenly, Dash was now sitting on one of the couches, her legs crossed, and her arms stretched out on the furniture.

"Holy shit, I think I can get used to this," Dash sad, watching AJ hop to her feet. "Hey, how come you're not using your superpower?"

"We don't have superpowers!" AJ shouted at her, trying to back away from Yuri. "Also, ya wanna help out here!?"

"Nah, I think you're good," Dash said with a smirk.

"This isn't a game, Dash!" AJ yelled. However, she soon noticed that Yuri was now through with any regards to humanity, and charged forward at her. She rolled out of one attack, but Yuri countered by grabbing onto her left leg. He lifted in the air, and prepared to bring his elbow down on it. However, AJ had prepared for such an occasion. She balanced herself on her other leg, and without warning, swung her body around, kicking Yuri in the face, and forcing him to release her leg from captivity,

On the balcony, Kristov was now fighting Tara, who had recovered. Rachel sat against the wall, watching a green swordsman fight off against a large red giant. Tara did not last long without assistance, unfortunately. She was recovering from dodging a kick when Kristov lunged forward and grabbed onto her throat. She suddenly found herself being choked. She was lifted in the air, and dangled several inches above the ground. Rachel could hear what was going on, but she was too busy trying to settle out the colors to do anything. Dash and AJ were too busy with Yuri to do anything.

And suddenly, Tara realized that she was about to die. She couldn't see clearly, as her eyes started to water. Her resistance became less and less effective, and she found everything slowly fading to darkness. Her arms were growing limp, and the lack of oxygen was causing severe burning in her chest. Going to sleep seemed like a great thing to do, but Tara forced herself to stay awake. Yet she could feel everything slipping away, as if she were losing herself.

"GET YOUR HAND OFF OF HER, YOU BASTARD!"

Kristov never knew what hit him. From out of the darkness, something large flew out, and for half of a second, hovered just above Kristov's head. Then, he was hit with a brutal hit to the head, and was knocked through the balcony, and fortunately, onto his brother below. Tara was released from his grasp, and fell to the floor, coughing like mad. When she looked up, she was utterly startled.

"Fiona?" Tara said. The shy girl quickly knelt down, apologizing.

"Tara, are you alright? I'm sorry about saying that back there. I was in the moment, and I was mad, and it was really mean to say," Fiona talked very fast and Tara didn't understand any of it. To be honest, she wasn't even trying to.

"Fiona, did you just fly?" Tara asked her, very confused. Fiona looked rather nervous.

"Um, I think so," she said, looking back at the massive wings protruding from her back. "These things aren't going to be permanent, right? Because I don't know how I'm supposed to explain this t-"

However, without any given warning, the wings retracted themselves back into Fiona's back, and back beneath her skin. The process was not so much painful as it was uncomfortable, and the force of the wings reentering her body sent Fiona tumbling forward onto the floor.

"Well, that answers that question," Tara said, helping Fiona to her feet. The blood had mostly clotted, and Fiona looked much more like herself, albeit paler. However, her backside was still caked with the substance, and she occasionally sniffed loose blood back into her nose. "How do you feel? Can you fight?"

Fiona nodded. Tara picked up her sword, and the two girls both jumped down to the living room. The Brothers of Chaos had become untangled, and were now back to back, each facing two girls. The fight restarted, and it was an all-out brawl among the six fighters.

However, back upstairs, Pinky hobbled her way out through the darkness, and took a seat next to Rachel. Rachel was not surprised by the sudden arrival; an appropriately pink person had been seen walking up to her, and if Rachel focused closely enough, she thought it looked a little like Pinky herself.

"Hiya, Rachel!" Pinky said happily, despite being in a lot of pain.

"Hello, Pinky," Rachel greeted simply.

"Where are the others?"

"Fighting."

"Should I go help?"

"You can't walk."

"Should I shoot them?"

"They're bulletproof."

"Oh. Well then, how are we supposed to win?"

"I…" Rachel said, unsure to answer. "I don't know. The Korbalovs are impervious to pain. The girls have been studying them and training for months, and it seems to at least be helping them stay alive, but we both know what can go wrong. Technically speaking, as long as the girls have the strength to go on, this fight may take a while."

"Darn," Pinky said, getting annoyed. "Those guys are really starting to get on my nerves,"

"Yeah," Rachel said with discontent. "Those bloody ingrates really need to be dea-"

Rachel suddenly paused.

"Wait, Pinky, what did you say?"

"They're getting on my nerves."

"Yes! That!" Rachel shouted. "That's it! That's how we can beat them!"

Rachel suddenly jumped to her feet, and ran over to the ruins of the balcony, extremely excited.

"Tara!" Rachel called out. Tara, not looking away from the Korbalovs, responded.

"What!?" she asked, trying to keep focus.

"Do you remember the advanced study of the human nervous system from our class on biomedical engineering!?"

"I never took that class!" Tara said, disgruntled. Rachel groaned.

"If you can trigger enough stimuli to the upper membrane of the spinal cord," Rachel explained. "And simultaneously provide enough pressure to both the base of the medulla oblongata and the nerves at the base of the waist, you might be able to trigger a complete relapse of sensation for the entire nervous system!"

"What!?" Tara said, too busy fighting Kristov to register whatever Rachel was talking about.

"Screw this," Rachel muttered to herself, and suddenly jumped down into the fray. She charged towards Kristov at a surprisingly quick pace, and kept low to the ground. Kristov finally noticed her, and swung at her. However, with the extra adrenaline, everything around her became crystal clear. The colors had now fully taken the shapes of the others in the room, and it wasn't for the fact that everything was bursting with assorted colors of the rainbow, she would have sworn that she could actually see again.

Rachel dodged the fist with relative ease, and then did something rather odd. She wrapped her arm around his, and quickly spun around underneath his arm in order to get behind him. She quickly jumped in the air, pressing her knee tightly to the base of his spine, and hr other hand pushed forcefully to the back of his neck. The sudden movement and excess force knocked Kristov to the floor, and struggled to get up.

"Tara, sword. Now!" Rachel ordered. Suddenly, Tara understood what Rachel was getting at. She brought up her sword, and quickly ran over to Kristov, drawing back her blade. She could see exactly where Rachel had in mind for a target: a small space on Kristov's back, which would be just between the tops of his shoulder blades. Tara quickly lunged the blade forward, and sunk the blade into his flesh. It did not travel far, but it did not need to. Suddenly, Kristov let out a pained yell.

"AGAIN!" Rachel ordered. Tara pulled out the sword, and then drove it once more into Kristov's back, right into the same wound. He let out another pained scream, this time loud enough to attract the attention of his brother.

"Kristov?" Yuri called out, confused. He had never heard his brother be in pain before, and it started to concern him. Rachel told Tara to strike one more time, just for good measure.

Tara attacked thrice more.

At the end of it all, Rachel quickly hopped off of Kristov, and backed away. He looked around angrily, as the pain was incredibly intense. He did not, however, seem to be any less set on his goals, and started to rise to his feet. This was when the real pain set in, as every movement he made sent spikes shooting up his spine. He couldn't move, for the agony stopped him from the lightest twitch. He still tried to rise, but just couldn't find the strength. Tara was amazed.

"Rachel, what did we just do?" Tara asked.

"I told you: we kick started his nervous system," Rachel explained. "We didn't cause him any pain; we just triggered him to feel what was already there. He's now suffering the excruciating pain of living with ten times the muscle and bone density of the average human male."

"Oh shit," Yuri muttered to himself, now focused on his brother. He suddenly realized that he was outnumbered, and had no desire to feel that kind of torment that his brother was going through. Yuri, without hesitation, bolted, trying to make it past the crippled Kristov. Unfortunately for him, Dash had followed on with Rachel's plan, and before he knew it, she had already appeared on his back, with one hand on his neck, and one knee in his spine.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going!?" Dash yelled at him, as the pressure forced him into the ground. Tara ran over to him, and delivered six separate blows to his spine. Yuri began to shout louder and louder with each thrust, and soon, he was writhing in agony next to his brother.

"You cunts," Yuri spat out. He tried to stand but the pain was overwhelming, and he was forced to lie down on his stomach.

"Well, what do we do now?" Fiona asked. "We can't just leave them here."

"Actually, that's exactly what we're going to do," Rachel said coldly. "The effect should wear off eventually. We can't kill them, so we'll just let them suffer through it. It only seems fair."

"That…sounded kind of harsh, Rachel," Fiona said. "You shouldn't hold a grudge against what they did."

Rachel didn't say anything else.

"Come one, let's find a way out of here," Tara ordered. They began to walk away from the Korbalovs, who, unbeknownst to them, were having a conversation of their own.

"Leave it be," Kristov said. "It's over."

"Over?" Yuri said, annoyed. "Brother, we've never let a contract go before. That goes against our code."

"We should just call it off while we still draw breath," Kristov stated. However, as the girls started to walk away, Yuri began to rise to his feet; his frustration and anger overriding his sensation of pain, and giving him the will to continue the fight.

"We never die, remember?" Yuri said. Then, he suddenly charged at the girls. None of them knew what was coming.

But then, Tara heard the sounds of footsteps behind her. Her veins suddenly started to glow, and her eyes turned a deep shade of violet. She quickly turned around, and shot out both her arms, barely even realizing what she was doing. Yuri and Kristov were suddenly flung through the air with incredible force, breaking through one of the many glass walls, and landing outside in the frozen tundra. The snow had lightened to a light shower, and the sky had turned black; the only lights either came from within the house, or the moonlight reflecting off of the snow. The Korbalovs landed with a thud in the snow, and lay next to each other, barely able to move.

"Okay, you win!" Yuri shouted to the girls as loud as he could. "The contract is off! Just… just get out of here! Ugh…"

Tara lowered her arms, her skin returning to normal. She ignored the stares of the other girls, and proceeded to walk out into the snow. Rachel's sense of color faded away, and soon, she only saw the occasional flash of blue. However, Pinky made her way down the steps, and she and Rachel huddled together for support. AJ and Fiona gathered on either side of Tara, who was no longer wearing her suit, in order to keep her warm. Dash simply placed her hands behind her head, and walked at the back group very comfortably.

"See," she stated. "I told you fucks we had superpowers."

__________

"So, what did you see?" Tara asked, wrapped tightly in a blanket and sipping hot chocolate.

The girls had returned to Olympus, and were spending their night in half-celebration. Part of the time, they were in mourning for the loss of General Wilson. However, the most of the time, they were enjoying the fact that the Brothers of Chaos were officially taken care of, and figuring out the exact extent of their mutations.

"I can't describe it," Rachel said. "It was like a million different colors dancing in synchronization. You would just need to witness it yourself."

"Well, Fiona turned into a bird," Dash said. "So really, it's not so bad whatever you got."

"I'm not a bird," Fiona said, although rather softly and unsure.

"By the way, can you get those out again, Fiona?" Tara wondered, taking another sip of her beverage.

"I don't know," Fiona said. "But I guess I could try to get some practice with them. To be honest, it's kind of a creepy feeling; almost like having an extra set of limbs."

"You're lucky you even got something," Pinky complained, still holding her head with one hand, and munching on jerky with the other. "All my life I wanted cool abilities, like laser eyes, or super strength, or the ability to magically summon candy whenever I want. But all I have is a headache."

"And I got nothin' at all," AJ said, not entirely interested.

"I'm sure the machine had some effect on you two," Rachel said. "Just give it some time. Who knows, maybe Pinky's headaches are a sign that she's about to shoot candy out of her eyes."

"That would so cool," Pinky said. "High five!"

Rachel raised her hand, and Pinky slapped it triumphantly. Suddenly, she gasped and fell back onto the couch.

"Pinky, what's wrong?" Tara asked, concerned. Pinky shook her head several times to clear out her thoughts.

"Man, that was weird," Pinky said. "I just saw a bunch of flashes."

"Flashes?"

"Like still images, moving really quickly in my mind," Pinky said, clutching her forehead. "Didn't really have time to look at them. But I think I saw Rachel in them."

"That must have been caused by skin-on-skin contact," Tara hypothesized. "Do you know what they mean?"

"Nope," Pinky said, now suddenly cheery. "Actually, I think I'm going to go to sleep now."

"Wait for me, girl,' AJ said, rising up. Dash yawned as well, and two seconds later, the bedroom door was open, and she was already lying down.

"Well, I think I'm going to sleep as well," Tara said, getting up to stretch her legs.

"Wait, Tara," Rachel said, desperately wanting to know something. "I've just been wondering: what am I going to do? I mean, I'm technically now a superhuman. When I leave, are they going to send me back home, or use me for government testing, or… what?"

Tara sighed.

"Rachel," Tara began. "You know, this has been a rough day for all of us. We had so much go down, and now I don't know what will happen to any of us. I don't know how Celestia will react, how Cadence will react, or even how my family will react. For all I know, they're going to shut P.O.N.Y. down because of this. But Rachel, today you did so much. If it wasn't for you, we'd never stop the Korbalovs. I honestly don't know what's going to happen, but I do know that it certainly won't be the same without you there."

"So Rachel stays?" Fiona asked, suddenly very happy.

"Well, yeah," Tara said with a shrug. "Did you see what she did today? I thought that was pretty much obvious."

"Why thank you, Tara," Rachel said with an honest smile. Tara yawned once more.

"You're welcome," Tara said, walking to the bathroom to brush her teeth. Once the door was closed, Rachel started to walk to her bedroom. It had been a very long day, and the one thing she desperately wanted was to get a good night's sleep. She hadn't slept well in months, but she had a very good feeling that she was going to be met with good dreams on this night. However, before she reached the door, Fiona intercepted her.

"Um, Rachel, can I talk to you for a second?" Fiona asked very timidly.

"Sure, what's going on?" Rachel asked in return.

"Well, remember how I said that it was good to be honest with people, and not to hold anything in?" Fiona said nervously.

"Yes…" Rachel said, crossing her arms.

"Well, I…um…" Fiona could barely speak. She knew that she had to be very careful with her words when saying this, for she had very bad experience with it in the past. "I, um, haven't been telling you everything. And I feel like since you said what was always bothering you, I should say what's been bothering me."

"Let me guess… you're gay, right?" Rachel said, with a slight smirk.

Fiona was absolutely dumbfounded.

"How…" Fiona said, unable to contain her shock. "How did you know?"

"Well, honestly, I had my suspicions," Rachel said truthfully. "Although I really became certain this morning, when you said you were bullied often. When I picked on kids, the easiest targets were always when they were fat, sluts, or queers. And to be quite honest, Fiona, you don't come off as fat or slutty."

"Oh," Fiona said, somewhat surprised by the honesty of the answer. But something still had her puzzled. "Wait… 'suspicions'? What was suspicious?"

Rachel actually started chuckling to herself, unsure if she really wanted to answer honestly. But in the end, she decided it was probably best for Fiona to hear what she wanted to hear.

"Fiona, I've been popular for a really long time," Rachel said with a rather large smile on her face. "And I'm not going to be the least bit humble when I say this: I'm very attractive. So, when you've been as popular for as long as I have, and you look as good as I do, you have a tendency to notice whenever someone takes a peek at your chest. Good night, Fiona."

Rachel strolled into her room, trying her best to stifle her laughter. She really wished she could still see, as she would have been able to witness an indescribable face of shock embarrassment that Fiona had, and some of the reddest cheeks that had ever graced a human being. Fiona tried her best to shake off her embarrassed complexion, and pressed her face to the door.

"But, you're not going to tell anyone, right?" Fiona asked, simply as reassurance.

"Don't worry about it," Rachel said from the other side of the door. "My lips are sealed. Good night, Fiona."

"Yeah, good night," Fiona said softly, still terribly embarrassed. She turned to walk to the couch, but noticed that Tara had poked her head out of the bathroom. Her toothbrush was in one hand, the toothpaste was in another, and she had a huge, foamy grin on her face.

"You actually took peeks at Rachel's boobs?" Tara asked in disbelief. Fiona groaned, as her face flushed once again. Tara giggled like mad as she closed the bathroom door, and went back to cleaning her teeth.

Fiona lied down on the floor, and, trying her best not to not think of how much Tara was laughing in the bathroom, drifted off into a gentle sleep.

End of Chapter 7