Camilla

But Lee didn't seem the least bit bothered by Camilla's reminder.

"Really?" Lee asked, raising an eyebrow as she hummed thoughtfully. "But I heard you were dead. It's not like I could get in trouble for helping a dead person."

"Why would you help us anyway?" Camilla replied without missing a beat.

Lee shrugged. "Maybe not everyone in the Org is out to get you like you thought."

Camilla waited for more of an explanation, but Lee didn't seem like she was about to reveal anything else. That meant they were faced with metas with unknown intentions, who were possibly holding more of their friends, and the only upper hand they had was Hitomi and Nakia against Perez. Giving that up would mean they would entrust Lee with their lives.

But holding onto that leverage would make them seem aggressive, and Camilla was certain that they couldn't hold their ground against more than two other metas. While it would be more comforting to hold the slightest advantage, the wiser move would be to play along until they could get a better idea of the situation.

So Camilla angled her head slightly towards the center of the room, keeping Lee in her peripheral vision.

"Hitomi, Nakia," Camilla said. "That's enough."

Nakia obeyed immediately, releasing Perez and jumping to their feet in one fluid motion. Hitomi was a little more reluctant, and she even gave Perez's arm and neck one last squeeze in warning before carefully letting go and standing back up.

Perez grumbled to himself as he also stood, massaging his neck and shoulders. He sent a quick glare to Hitomi, who gladly returned it, then looked to Nakia.

"When did you get so good?" he asked, sounding more surprised than anything.

Nakia stared at him blankly for a second before looking at Camilla, ignoring Perez. With that settled, Camilla turned to Lee again.

"Is that how it's gonna be?" Perez muttered, but didn't press the matter anymore.

After verifying that Perez was released, Lee slowly lowered her hands, pulling her mask off in the process. She gave Camilla a small smile, as if she was happy to see her, but Camilla wasn't in the mood to play nice.

"So what are you really here for?" Camilla continued.

"Let's get those things off of you first," Lee said instead.

She looked back into the hallway where several others must have been waiting, and one person handed her something small and nearly completely concealed by their hand. Camilla didn't see what it was until Lee approached her, and she held out what looked like a small remote controller.

At the sight of it, Camilla immediately took a step back before she could stop herself, walking right into Elsie. Just as quickly, Elsie stepped between Camilla and Lee, mostly blocking Camilla from Lee's view. Even though Elsie would probably never stand a chance against Lee in a fight, Camilla still felt slightly comforted by the gesture.

"I can do it," Hitomi thankfully interjected, leaving her spot next to Perez.

With a shrug, Lee handed the device over.

"We'll be waiting outside then," Lee said, then nodded at Perez to follow.

Perez grumpily obeyed, and Lee let him go ahead first. She took the moment to let her gaze travel around the room before stopping at AJ, and a small smile appeared on her face.

"You know, I couldn't believe it at first," Lee began. "When your brother told us you were alive. In fact, I still find it hard to believe. But here you are, as if nothing ever happened."

AJ's expression was as stiff as her voice. "A lot has happened though."

Lee nodded glumly. "True. But... I'm just glad you're safe."

Once Lee eventually left, Hitomi got to work. After quickly examining the remote, she tested it on her own inhibitor first. Camilla tensed a little when the device let out a high-pitched beep, but she relaxed when the lights on it went dark, and the collar clicked open. Hitomi easily slid it off her neck, and after examining briefly, she hung it on her forearm and held the remote up to Camilla.

"Ready?" she asked.

Camilla nodded stiffly, flinching a little when the device beeped, and she didn't relax again until Hitomi had removed the inhibitor and draped it on her arm next to her own.

A couple of minutes later, Hitomi had collected the inhibitors from everyone, and Nakia and Finn were already busy testing out their abilities. Mack was content with letting Jordan massage his shoulders, having already briefly ensured his abilities worked, while AJ simply ran a hand over the back of her neck, as if she was making sure the device really wasn't there anymore.

When Camilla stared at her own hands expectantly, nothing happened.

"Camilla," Elsie's quiet voice interrupted Camilla's thoughts, and when Camilla eventually met her gaze, Elsie raised her eyebrows in a questioning look.

Camilla glanced at her briefly before dropping her hands to her sides with a faint sigh. As much as she wanted to use her abilities again, her mind obviously wasn't going to make things that simple for her.

"Let's go," she said softly and headed past Elsie for the door.

Lee and Perez were waiting in the hallway with four others that were similarly dressed in combat gear. After briefly glancing at all of their partially covered faces, Camilla didn't think she knew any of them, which made their whole operation even more suspicious.

If these people had no personal connection to a mission that involved rescuing Org traitors, then there had to be another reason they were there. And just because Lee said not everyone in the Org was against her, that didn't have to mean they were her allies either. Camilla knew there was more to this than just a simple rescue op.

"Where's Minyoung?" Elsie suddenly hissed, and Camilla turned back to her just in time to see Elsie trying to get Jordan's attention away from Mack. For Elsie's sake, Camilla hoped Jordan hadn't completely forgotten about his brother while being distracted by Mack's presence.

"Huh?" Jordan turned to Elsie after a slight delay, his expression all smiles.

"The angry Song is fine," Lee assured in Jordan's stead. "For now, we have to focus on regrouping with everyone else. How's everyone's abilities?"

Everyone nodded in assent except for Camilla, who immediately lowered her gaze from Lee. She felt Elsie's eyes on her as well, and then the gentle touch of her hand on Camilla's back.

"Well..." Hitomi began tentatively.

"Except for Miss Bates, of course," Lee added, probably misinterpreting Hitomi's hesitation.

"Not that..." Hitomi said, but she paused, waiting for Camilla to stop her. When Camilla did nothing, Hitomi continued. "Mita—Camilla cannot use her abilities right now."

Immediately, Camilla felt everyone's eyes turn to her, and Camilla tensed under their curious stares. Even when Elsie moved closer to Camilla protectively, it didn't calm Camilla's racing heart and her self-directed frustration.

"We can work with that," Lee said after too long of a pause.

"Why not?" Perez suddenly asked, and Camilla quickly remembered why she didn't like him very much. "What's wrong with you, Wyatt? I thought you were hotshit and all that."

But Camilla didn't have an answer for him. So she remained still and silent, and an air of awkwardness settled amongst the large group.

"Let's focus on getting out of here for now," Lee spoke up, drawing everyone's attention back to her.

Lee's team already had a plan for regrouping with the others, and she simply incorporated the newcomers into their strategy. Everyone went along with her willingly, but only because there weren't many other alternatives. And as useless as Camilla felt, she was also partially grateful her incompetence allowed her to stick close to Elsie in the middle of the group of metas where they would both be relatively safe.

For such a large group, they moved quickly and efficiently through the maze of tunnels, as if they had the entire layout perfectly memorized, and not once did they encounter anyone else. Camilla was mildly impressed until she remembered how Lee mentioned that it was AJ's brother who told them she was still alive. Had Quentin betrayed Exodos to guarantee the safety of his family? If he truly did join Exodos solely to protect his siblings, Camilla wouldn't be surprised if he betrayed Exodos to do the exact same thing.

Several minutes later, the distant sounds of fighting seemed to subside, and it was another few minutes before Camilla began to recognize the area around them. It wasn't long before they finally ran into another group of people dressed in combat gear, and thankfully they were friendlies.

"Captain Lee," one member of the other group stepped forward with a salute. "We've rounded up about ninety percent of their combative forces and have them separated, as ordered. All non-combative personnel have been gathered in the cafeteria. Team Three should have the rest of the metas gathered in about fifteen minutes."

"Good," Lee said, glancing over their group. "Any issues?"

"None that we didn't expect, ma'am," the other meta assured. "There were a few minor injuries on both sides, but everyone's been attended to."

"Where are my brothers?" AJ stepped towards Lee boldly, ignoring how Lee's subordinates balked at her blatant disrespect.

"In custody," Lee replied, unperturbed. "Ian's still unresponsive, but since we can't guarantee what his mental state will be like when he comes to, he's being guarded for now. As for Quentin... well, he's obviously betrayed us several times in the past. I'm sure you can understand how we can't simply trust him just because he's helped us out once."

"Then just give them to me, and I'll take them off your hands," AJ said as if it was the obvious solution. "We'll be fine out there on our own."

Lee didn't reply right away, and no one else dared to speak up in her stead. No one, except for Camilla.

"They're not trying to escape," Camilla said, her quiet voice slicing smoothly through the tension. And even though all eyes immediately turned to her, she pressed on, more suspicious than self-conscious. It now made sense why Lee was hesitant to reveal their actual goal, and there was no way Camilla was going to let her keep her secrets. "They've taken over Exodos. And they want our help to keep it that way."

After a shocked second of silence, Mack sighed heavily, and Hitomi muttered a sharp curse in Japanese.

"You mean we have to stay here?" Finn whispered to Nakia, but his voice was still loud enough for Camilla to hear his worry.

"I never said we were helping you escape," Lee said, looking over their group. "But I'm sorry if I gave that impression. We did come here to free all of you, but we had other goals as well."

"Are you really?" Camilla suddenly stepped towards Lee, positioning herself right at AJ's side. "Sorry, I mean."

At first, Lee seemed taken aback by Camilla's question, and it took her a moment to respond.

"I'm not trying to trick you, Camilla," Lee said, her voice drastically softer than it was before.

"Excuse me for not believing you right away," Camilla replied, her voice cold. "The last people that helped us had us imprisoned. And the last time I saw anyone claiming to be from the Org, they faked my death and tried to brainwash me to kill for them. So it's going to take a lot more than just your words for us to trust you."

"And what if I told you we're not with the Organization?" another voice said from behind them.

Camilla spun around, unable to hide the shock from her face at the familiarity of that voice. There was no way that woman would be here. There was no reason for her to be. But sure enough, when the crowd parted, there she was in plain sight, leading another small group steadily through the hallway.

It was Senior Chief Yara Ali, the head of the Sacramento Base. The leader of all guardians and their facilities throughout the west coast. And the one ultimately responsible for overseeing Farallon Prison.

A wave of uncontrollable anger suddenly swept through Camilla without warning, and she stormed towards the woman before she could stop herself. Thankfully, someone else did, and it must have been Hitomi with her super strength if they managed to hold back Camilla and all of her rage.

Someone on Senior's side stepped between them as well, and even though Camilla couldn't see them through her tunnel vision, she was a second away from cursing at them to move, regardless of who they were. Instead, Senior waved her hand slightly, and the person obediently returned to where they came from.

"You," Camilla spat, too angry to even properly convey her rage with her words. "Did you know?"

Senior's calm made Camilla even angrier. "You need to be a little more specific than that."

"Don't give me that shit," Camilla snapped back. "Did you know what they were doing at Farallon?"

Camilla was mad at herself for resorting to cursing, but she got some satisfaction at seeing Senior's calm facade twitch and her expression grew solemn.

"No," Senior said plainly. "I had no idea."

"And why not?" Camilla demanded. "It's in your jurisdiction, isn't it? What happens there is your responsibility."

"It is," Senior admitted seriously. "It is my responsibility. And I'm sorry. It's my fault that you and Officer Juneau and everyone else there got hurt—"

Camilla scoffed loudly, cutting Senior off before Camilla was forced to hear anymore of her superficial apology. Behind her, she heard AJ mutter something bitterly, and Camilla took some comfort in knowing she wasn't the only one who was angry.

"Got hurt?" Camilla repeated incredulously. "What, you think Hester just beat us up a little just for fun? You think that whatever she did to us could instantly be undone by a healer? You think that the healers and AJ haven't been working for months to bring Ian's mind back?"

Camilla let out a sarcastic laugh, and was pleased to see Senior's expression turn grim. "What did you think would happen when you left a sadist in charge of a prison? Not to mention some super secret black ops squad that can just barge into people's homes without any repercussions!"

"I thought keeping her secluded at Farallon would limit her reach," Senior insisted. "The black ops squad... I admit, that may not have been the best place for her."

Camilla raised her eyebrows. "You think?"

Senior's eyes drifted to the gray stone ground between them, and her hands clenched the armrests of her wheelchair. "The decision was out of my hands. I just knew I couldn't leave her at the Academy."

"And why's that?" Camilla asked, feigning curiosity. "Oh, was I not the first kid she had drugged out of their mind?" She scoffed scathingly. "If that's the case, you think that would've been a pretty obvious warning sign that she shouldn't have been allowed any authority at all."

"I swear, I didn't know what she had done to you then, honestly," Senior quickly said. "If I did, I never would have let her stay with the Org at all. I never would have let her hurt all of you."

Camilla rolled her eyes mockingly. "There you go with that word again. 'Hurt' implies that all you need is a bandage or some stitches. 'Hurt' suggests you can recover, and it makes me think that you still don't have any idea what Hester was doing over there."

"I can show her if you want," AJ volunteered, suddenly stepping beside Camilla. From the corner of her eye, Camilla saw sparks of electricity itching to jump from AJ's fingertips.

"Stand down, both of you," the person beside Senior said, and it wasn't until that moment that Camilla realized it was the senior chief's brother. "Aren't you listening? She's taking responsibility for what happened. What more do you want from her?"

"Omar," Senior warned quietly, and she waited until her brother reluctantly backed off before she continued. "You're right. I still don't know exactly what she's up to at Farallon. But that's why we need your help. You can help us understand." Senior took a deep breath. "Look, the higher-ups know what Hester is up to, and they're the ones that are allowing her to continue her work."

"Those fucking assholes," Elsie blurted out from behind Camilla, and Camilla tried to calm herself down by the mere sound of her voice. It didn't work.

"And that's why I'm here," Senior continued. "That's why we're all here. There is a cancer growing within the Org, and we are trying to cut it out. But we need your help. We need all of you; we may even need Exodos."

Senior sighed. "So please, even if you can't trust us, at least trust our goal. At least trust that our intentions are true."

Judging by the look on her face, she somehow knew Camilla should have been able to detect her emotions with her abilities. And even though Camilla didn't enjoy fishing for sympathy, she also found it satisfying to see Senior regret her choices. Camilla wondered if that made her a sadist like Hester, but at that moment, she was too angry to care.

"You said you wanted my help to understand?" Camilla whispered. She didn't bother to look at Senior for her reply, and instead looked down at her right hand.

No matter how hard Camilla tried to create a simple gust of wind, nothing happened. Instead, all she could see were tendrils of scars stretching out from beneath her long sleeves, signs of the fire that had literally coursed through her veins and burned into her skin. Since she regained consciousness, she had adamantly hid the markings with her clothes, ashamed of the weakness they showed.

But at that moment, she couldn't bring herself to care.

"I do," Senior confirmed.

"Then you should know that one of the first things she did was make us afraid of our own abilities," Camilla said, as if the memory alone didn't make her flinch.

She dropped her useless hand back to her side before looking at Senior directly in her eyes. "She trained us to expect pain every time we even thought about using our abilities, and she would laugh whenever she realized how much power she had over us."

When Senior didn't answer, and all she could do was return Camilla's stare with a tight expression, Camilla pressed on.

"You want to understand what happened there?" Camilla repeated softly, feeding off of the sudden calm that settled over her. "I'll tell you what happened. She tortured us. She would inflict pain until we couldn't tell the difference between reality and our imaginations. She would make us suffer until we couldn't remember our own names, or even the people we love."

As she spoke, Camilla could feel a river of emotions welling up inside her, pressing up against the dam of her calm facade that was slowly beginning to leak through its cracks. She couldn't help the memories that began to rush through her mind, of a freezing room, surrounded by white, and having her mind taken apart piece by piece. The pain that ran through her body was an old memory, but it suddenly ached like it was fresh.

And Camilla wanted Senior to feel the same pain she felt.

"You want to understand?" Camilla asked again, her voice now barely louder than a whisper. "Then I'll help you understand."

Camilla broke down the dam herself, and her flood of emotions were released in a giant tidal wave of energy. She felt that energy rush from her body and throughout the air around her, filling the hallway and seeping into the souls of every person there. In the background, she heard startled yelps and cries of agony, and the hands gripping her arms tightened. But all Camilla could focus on was Senior's face as it stared back, slowly draining of color.

The next several seconds seemed to pass like minutes, and with each fearful yelp, Camilla felt an ounce of calm return to her. Each breath she took felt lighter and deeper, and only when she no longer felt a weight pressing against her chest did she reign in the energy she released.

In the aftermath, the hallway looked as if a storm had ravaged through it, leaving nothing but devastation in its wake.

The next time she looked at Senior, the woman's face was pale and her eyes were wide. In contrast, Camilla felt better than she had been in months, and she narrowed her eyes at Senior defiantly.

"Now do you understand?"

---

NOTES

Did anyone predict the existence of Senior's little vigilante group? Let me know!

Thank you for reading, voting, and commenting!