Elaina Hart spent far too much time cursing the stars.

She sat out on the roof of her cabin, wondering why they were so damn captivating. How could so many people find hope and inspiration in burning balls of gas that will incinerate anything that approaches them? So many people gaze with wonder and amazement at pinpricks of light, when in reality, those same dreamy stars could sear away a viewer's retinas.

Stars are destructive, merciless, and all-consuming. Yet, from a distance, they felt safe. They were whimsical, beautiful, and alluring. The source of countless songs, poems, and rhymes. A wonder to behold, a guiding light in the darkness, a symbol of hope.

Which is why she really fucking hated stars, just as she really fucking hated Gifted.

Elaina reclined against the slope of her roof, the shingles digging into her back despite the thick woolen blanket she laid across it. She crossed her arms behind her head, snagging several long, stray strands of her dark brown hair in the process. She tried to remind herself that, like with the stars, the Gifted were just as far out of reach. For six years she's lived alone in the heart of the forest and away from the city centers that attract superpowered humans like moths to the flame. Except unlike moths, the Gifted don't catch fire when they get too close. Instead, the whole damn city becomes a raging inferno while the Gifted dance upon their victims' corpses.

With her mind wandering, it became easier to ignore the stars and instead focus on the backdrop of endless black. Or it did until a shooting star crossed her field of vision. She swore at the instant appeal the overzealous meteorite held over her. She gave it a second's worth of instinctual wonder, then took a breath and shook away the passing fancy. However, when another shooting star caught her attention a second later, she couldn't stop herself from rising to a seated position and rubbing the scales from her eyes.

"Two shooting stars within a minute of each other. There aren't supposed to be showers for another..." A star rocketed by — closer, larger, and clearer. "Fuck, those aren't stars!"

Elaina rose to her feet as a figure lit up like a Christmas tree zoomed over the treetops with a thunderous roar. In her haste to escape the loud intrusion, she rolled her ankle upon the slanted surface of her roof. She hissed with pain, but maintained her stance. Though the slope was slight, her footing on a bad ankle was hazardous, especially when she took the supersonic whizzing above her head into account. Continuing on her hands and knees, she crawled over to her loft window and pulled herself through.

She slid down onto her bedroom floor, limped towards her ladder, and then stumbled down to the ground level of the cabin. Within the space of a few minutes, she was out on her porch before stepping onto the grassy lawn of the open meadow she made her home.

"Fucking Gifted." She drew away from the protective awning of her porch to gain a better view of the dueling bodies that floated a few hundred feet above her home. She found that one of them maintained their height using a bending of the elements, the air around them rippling with a force emanating from their hands and feet. With the other, an assortment of machinery encompassed their body and propelled them through the air. The purr of an engine and a collection of glowing panels spoke of this particular Gifted's lack of ability in the flying department, but that didn't mean they didn't have some other trick hiding up their spandex sleeves.

Elaina considered returning to her cabin to retrieve her satellite phone, intending to call the police. However, she wondered if that would just result in more Gifted showing up on her doorstep. Not that she had much time to contemplate her retaliation against this intrusion. As she pondered this dilemma, she fell to her knees, when the more aerial inclined Gifted launched a forceful punch at their enemy. The blow sent the metal figure hurtling towards a tree, though they retaliated with a few well-aimed rockets that lit up the night sky when they collided with the force shield of the opposing Gifted.

Birds scattered and cried out to the night as the metal Gifted smashed into a western hemlock, subsequently decapitating the ancient arbor. The other Gifted had recovered from the shock of the rockets and zoomed over to finish their handiwork, sending blast after blast at their rival, who had sunken out of view.

"Dammit," she cursed beneath her ragged breath, before charging towards the damaged tree. "They'll wake up the whole woods at this rate." Powered by her anger, she pushed past the pain in her ankle and made her way through the tangle of underbrush surrounding the thick trunks of the maples and hemlocks. She couldn't pinpoint exactly where their battle had moved to, but she knew it wouldn't take long to find them. She just needed to follow the screams.

"You had enough, Catalyst?"

"Not until either you or I are dead."

"That can be arranged."

Elaina arrived in a clearing that had, until recently, been populated by towering hemlocks. Instead, she found cracked trunks and littered branches that were quickly turning into an enormous pile of mulch given the repeated onslaught of force waves. She couldn't understand how the metal Gifted, Catalyst, could withstand the relentless barrage of pressure, but she imagined they wouldn't be holding out much longer with the way the lights on their suit flickered with each new blast.

"Enough!" said Elaina with a fearsome cry. Not waiting for a response, she moved deeper into the clearing, only to have the wind knocked out of her by the residual force of a rippling blast.

"Leave," said the Gifted, known as Catalyst, who Elaina noted had a masculine rumble in their voice. "He'll kill you, too."

"What's this?" The rival Gifted's voice grew clearer as the figure descended to the clearing. "Ah, a bystander, I didn't expect there to be anyone out this far."

Elaina regained her footing and found her breath as the man ceased his attack and landed lightly on the grass.

"Good evening, miss," said the unharmed Gifted as he strode into view. "Please don't be alarmed. I have the situation under control." He wore a wide smile, windswept blond hair, and a suit so tight she could see every fiber of his lean muscle.

"Do you?" asked Elaina, her voice straining behind her clenched teeth. "Because your controlled battle has decimated trees that were a few hundred years old."

His stride faltered, but his eerie grin remained firm.

"My apologies, but I assure you, it's for the greater good."

"Don't listen to him," spat the wounded man, that made vain efforts to pull himself out of the roots of the damaged tree. "His charisma is tainted with poison and his ego doesn't know the difference between wrong and right." A branch snapped as the metal man propped himself up on his elbow. At the sound, the spandex-clad superhuman whipped around and sent a concentrated beam of force straight into Catalyst's chest. Whatever words were on the injured man's tongue were lost in the gurgle of blood that spilled over his lips.

"You're going to kill him!" Elaina ran after the villainous Gifted that now rose back up into the air to renew his assault upon his defeated rival.

"Yes, that's the intention," replied the flying man with a triumphant laugh. "Not so strong with your batteries drained, are you? At the end of the day, you've always been a pathetic human playing dress up."

Human.

Elaina's breath hitched at the word and, without thinking, she sprinted forward, the pain in her ankle lost behind the noise of her determination. She approached the beam; the ground shaking beneath her with each blast. Her ears tingling from each bone-crushing scream.

"What are you doing?" called out the assailant. "You get any closer and you'll be killed." To Elaina's relief, the Gifted reduced the ferocity of his concentrated blows until they dissipated into nothing. She glanced beside her to find Catalyst unconscious and bleeding. It was hard to tell beneath the metal suit if he was also breathing, but a sputtering cough eventually notified her of his continued presence on earth.

"Leave," she commanded, turning her gaze back to the flying superhuman. "Not even Gifted are immune from murder charges."

He laughed in response and, for a moment, she wasn't sure he'd dignify her with a reply.

"The murderer lies beside you," he replied with that same sickeningly wide smile. "Don't you know who I am?"

"Don't know, don't care. Just leave."

"I am Shockwave, the lieutenant commander of Fortress."

"Don't be so fucking full of yourself," said Catalyst, his words broken up by ragged gasps. "You're only lieutenant commander of the Western USA Division."

"Better than a rogue like you with no credit to your name."

"I don't know, being the one that took down Stratosphere is a pretty high honor."

Elaina didn't know who Stratosphere was, but based on the snarl that curled Shockwave's full lips, the association was enough to sign Catalyst's death warrant.

"I will not let you kill him. Leave now!" Elaina held her ground, her skin vibrating with the animosity coursing through the air. Her breath quickened, her mind growing hazy with the surge of energy around her, her heart pounding as every nerve tingled with anticipation. She shut her eyes, awaiting the inevitable blow that would be enough to murder the metal man that lay only a few feet from where she stood.

Then the ground rumbled, the birds cried, and Elaina fell to her knees.

"It would be best," said Shockwave, his voice clear of any charm or sympathy, "that you forget this."

She peeled her eyes open and looked up to the stars where the spandex monster hovered above her.

"Just leave." She whispered the words, her whole body shaking with fatigue.

He had no response, only a sound like a distant explosion and a ripple in the air marked the Gifted's departure.

With apprehension weighing down her movements, she glanced out the corner of her eye to where Catalyst lay. A gasp gripped her lungs when she found no metal shrapnel surrounding a vicious smear of blood. There the man reclined against the trunk, unconscious and perfectly whole. Rising to her feet, she found a scar carved into the ground only a foot or two from Catalyst.

Shockwave missed.