Camilla

"She's not going anywhere, Wyatt," Senior ordered viciously.

"I may have let you call the shots before, but that ends now," Camilla responded sternly. "You don't get to change the plan at the last second to satisfy your own personal vendetta, not if it endangers everyone else."

"She already said this wasn't about revenge!" Chief Ali interjected defensively.

"And I've just about had it trying to play nice with your impudence," Senior sneered, ignoring her brother. "You think that because you're stronger than everyone else that your opinions actually matter? You think you deserve respect just because you think your life is rough? You're nothing. You're just a sad little girl who thinks if she tries hard enough, maybe mommy will finally love her. Yeah, I know all about you, Wyatt. And I'm not going to let some pathetic kid stand in my way."

Senior's words had no effect on Camilla, but that obviously wasn't the only weapon in her arsenal. Before Camilla could react, Senior had filled Hester with an abundance of energy, enough to overpower not only two of Hitomi's inhibitors but Camilla's hold on her as well.

Immediately, a shockwave rippled around Hester, knocking most of the closest people off their feet. Camilla had managed to maintain some control of the air around Hester, but it wasn't much, and she could feel herself gradually losing her advantage. Yet she wasn't going to give up that easily, and she mustered as much energy as she could to rival Hester's.

While Camilla's unusually high energy capacity gave her an advantage, Hester made up for it with experience. After all, Hester was nearly two decades senior to Camilla, and she knew better than most about how meta-abilities worked. She used this knowledge to her advantage, knowing exactly how to push against Camilla's energy to get her to fold. And even when the others tried to step in to help, Hester simply tossed them aside with a shockwave, just like she had done to the Gorilla when they first arrived.

Except Hester's energy wasn't limitless; it was just Senior's assistance that was making it seem like that was the case. Camilla had to do something to separate them, but she was struggling enough as it was. At one point, she tried to reach out towards Senior's wheelchair to push her away, but Hester merely laughed at her feeble attempt before pushing Camilla down to one knee.

Like Hester, Senior noticed exactly what Camilla had just tried to do. But unlike Hester, Senior wasn't willing to take any chances. Without missing a beat, she reached under her seat and pulled out a small, silver sphere, then tossed it into the middle of the Capture Team. And before anyone could react, the device let out a short, high-pitched beep before bursting into a thick yellow cloud.

For a split second, nothing happened, and Camilla wondered if the unfamiliar device was just a distraction. But then Camilla suddenly felt her energy rush out of her uncontrollably, and she couldn't help but crumple to the ground, exhausted and drained. She wasn't alone either, and everyone around her began to let out startled yelps and pained groans as they dropped like flies, leaving only Senior and Hester as the only ones unaffected.

After that, it didn't take long for Hester to completely overpower her, and she threw Camilla back with a mere flick of her wrist. The strong shockwave felt like a sharp slap to her entire body, and Camilla had to gritted her teeth to keep herself from grunting in pain when she fell flat on her back. Still, she couldn't just give up, and although she had hardly any strength left, Camilla needed to at least make sure everyone was okay.

Simply moving was difficult, but Camilla was eventually able to roll from her back to her side. Next to her, Elsie was crouched over on her hands and knees, her arms trembling just from holding herself upright. Camilla willed her own arms to move and reach out to Elsie, and she just barely managed to brush the tips of her fingers against the edge of Elsie's hand. And while Camilla couldn't really feel the touch—the nerves in her fingers still hadn't fully healed—Elsie had, and she moved just enough to link some of their fingers.

When she was assured Elsie was safe, Camilla did her best to assess the rest of their allies. Like her, everyone had collapsed on the ground, and each of them were struggling to get back on their feet. None of them were successful yet, but at least they were trying. At least they were still alive.

A soft chuckle drew Camilla's attention back to the center of the room, just in time to see Hester turn to Senior with a smug smile.

"I was wondering when you would finally show up," Hester said as she nonchalantly brushed some of the yellow dust from her white lab coat. "We always did make a good team. That trick of yours is new though. What's in it? Some kind of plant spores? It must be cell-based if you could expand your reach like that."

"It's time to finish what you started, Bridgette," Senior said stoically, ignoring Hester's questions. "I assume you're more knowledgeable than you were twenty years ago."

"Obviously," Hester replied immediately, looking slightly offended that Senior might have even thought otherwise. "Unfortunately, the Org had me redirect my area of focus in recent years, and I haven't been able to work on power enhancements as much as I'd like. Zachary, on the other hand, was very... should I say exposed to that subject?"

She chuckled at her joke, not at all minding that Senior remained as solemn as ever. "Unfortunately, it seems like he's been overwhelmed by it."

Even when Hester started laughing again, Senior remained unamused.

"Lucky for you then, I brought a souvenir with me." Senior reached into the front pocket of her uniform and pulled out a small glass vial filled with a red fluid. "A sample of Wyatt's blood from shortly after she left Farallon, containing traces of Stein's formula. Exodos was doing research on it, but I figured you'd have better luck with it."

"I could probably whip something up," Hester said with a wide grin. She took the sample and made her way to the side of the room where a variety of lab equipment awaited, then immediately got to work.

Camilla felt her eyes widen, and she desperately tried to use her abilities to take the vial from Hester's table. Except all of her energy was gone, and there was absolutely nothing she could do. But maybe...

She frantically began looking around the room, trying desperately to remember where she had seen the Telepathy Twin last. With any luck, the Twin would have at least been able to relay what they heard from before Senior had drained them of their energy, and Hitomi would be savvy enough to send them some backup.

Surprisingly Camilla got more than what she expected when she finally spotted the Twin hunched over alongside the doorway, and her condensed frame was shielded by a faint wall of wind. Under Camilla's scrutiny, the Twin raised her head slightly, met Camilla's gaze, and returned her unspoken question with a brief thumbs-up. Not only had she relayed everything Senior had said, but she was still doing so.

More movement from the center of the room caught Camilla's attention again, but this time it was from Chief Ali. He, at least, managed to push himself to his feet, albeit with a little difficulty; either Senior had held back her attack on him, or he was actually stronger than he looked.

"Yara, I know you're angry," Chief said, sounding clearly weakened and desperate, but also a little confused. "You have every right to be. But, please, think about what you're doing. Think about the consequences. You don't have to do this. Let's just get out of here so we can work through this together."

Senior shot a glare at him, annoyed. "That's the same thing you told me years ago, when I first got stuck in this thing." She slammed a fist against the armrest of her wheelchair, and it rattled under the impact.

"And we got through it together," Chief replied, the desperation in his voice becoming more apparent. "Just like we'll get through this."

Senior scoffed bitterly. "No, you'll get through it. And I'll still be stuck like this, pretending like I don't care that my entire career was ruined in the course of a day."

She sighed, as if to calm herself, before continuing. "I'm not like you, Omar. I have drive; ambition. I need more, and I'm willing to risk my life to get it. If you're too scared, then fine. I never expected your help anyway. Just don't stand in my way. Not again. Not after twenty years of making me feign contentment."

"But Yara—" Chief said, and he took a shaky step towards his sister.

Without hesitating, Senior immediately pulled out another small silver sphere and threw it directly at her brother. But as it flew through the air, it suddenly changed course and began heading straight for the one-way window Hester was standing in front of. Hester jumped a little as the ball crashed through the glass, but she almost immediately began focusing on her work again, ignoring the plume of yellow powder that was growing in the adjacent observation room. On the other hand, Senior wasn't as nonchalant, and her eyes furiously scanned over the Capture Team as if one of their collapsed figures were responsible for such insubordination.

As it turned out, none of them was the one responsible; it was Sydney.

Based on Senior's look of genuine shock, she clearly hadn't expected Sydney to be the one that had blatantly opposed her. And while Sydney looked a little unsteady on her feet as she planted herself between Senior and her brother, she also gave off an air of determination and resilience.

Her obvious show of allegiance made Senior even more furious, and Senior didn't bother questioning her in favor of reaching for another weapon. Except Sydney was faster to the draw, and before Senior could make a move, she was blasted by a violent shockwave. The attack sent her tumbling backwards and crashing noisily into Hester; at the same time, Sydney fell to the floor, exhausted, but Chief caught her just before she could hit the ground.

After patting Chief gratefully on the arm, Sydney turned to Senior with a feeble grin.

"Whoops," she said, panting, then gestured to her clouded eyes. "Didn't see you there."

Her comment only succeeded in making Senior angrier, judging by how twisted the woman's face became. She furiously began shoving Hester's limbs off of her, which had somehow become tangled with her own in the commotion.

"Goddamn it, Bridgette, move!" Senior snapped as she struggled.

But Hester merely groaned in reply. And when Senior shoved her again, Hester's head shifted, revealing a stream of blood pouring from her right temple.

No amount of cursing and shoving from Senior made Hester magically begin to cooperate again, and that only made Senior angrier and angrier. Until suddenly, she stopped, her eyes strangely transfixed on Hester. By the time Camilla realized what she was looking at, Senior had already gotten ahold of the syringe that had been in Hester's hand, and its red contents shone brightly through her clenched fingers.

Hester had already succeeded.

"Yara, don't!" Chief Ali pleaded, his eyes wide and desperate.

"One of us has to be willing to make the tough choices, Omar," Senior said firmly. "And it sure as hell was never going to be you."

Before Chief could stop her, Senior plunged the needle into her thigh and drained the contents into her body.

For several long seconds, nothing happened, and no one made a sound. Camilla wasn't sure who else had witnessed what she saw, but she couldn't bring herself to find out. All she could do was watch Senior's reaction with bated breath and hope for the best.

Suddenly, Senior's jaw clenched tightly, and her body began to shake furiously. Shortly after, she grabbed Hester's sleeve, then her hand; a second later, Hester's skin turned pale, then gray.

Senior was taking Hester's energy. She was taking in energy as if she couldn't stop herself.

At first, Camilla could only stare at the scene, dazed, as her body remembered the feeling of absorbing so much energy that she had felt like she was going to explode. But that was the past, and this was now. And now, Senior was the one that was about to explode.

"We need to clear out of here, now!" Camilla shouted as loudly as she could.

Adamantly, Camilla gathered enough strength and willpower to push herself to her feet. But as soon as she thought she was steady, she felt herself getting lightheaded, and she stumbled before she could stop herself. Thankfully, Elsie stopped her instead.

"You okay?" Elsie asked, guiding Camilla to an upright position once more.

"I will be," Camilla replied with a small smile, not willing to risk jostling her head to nod. "Thanks."

While she was now standing on her own, Camilla knew she was in no shape to lead their team just yet. She glanced around the room as quickly as her dizzy vision would let her, and she quickly saw Abby lifting their allies to their feet.

"Abby," Camilla called out to her, but a wave of nausea kept her from finishing her thought.

Thankfully, Abby seemed to understand her almost immediately. She gave Camilla a nod before rounding up everyone and taking charge of the situation. Camilla tried her best to pay attention to everything Abby said, but she was already struggling to stay upright as it was. So when Elsie wrapped an arm around Camilla to support some of her weight, Camilla gladly leaned on her. And at that moment, she knew she could trust them to get everyone out safely.

---

Thank you for reading, voting, and commenting!