Chương 108: Ability

No one ever really knows how to explain the dread lingering before a battle. Having to do every last little thing in your day-to-day recognizing that it could be your last. For May, that was all she could process. Fixing her hair, washing her face, going through all of her equipment for the battle to come. Leo had given her a jury-rigged earpiece meant to keep a closed network of just the team without Tancred or Richmond's knowledge or interference. He told her two important details to remember.

The first was that she would leave last, in ten minutes, so that if anything happened she'd be able to have the advantage of reacting. The second was to remember what he told her about her instincts. She just wished he knew it was easier said than done when people don't think like he does. Going through all of her equipment, she did one last audit of things she needed. She kept the duct tape rolls out of her belt.

That triboluminescence idea was cute when she thought maybe she'd need to help save kids stuck in a dark basement. When hunting down terrorists, cultists, whatever they were, it wasn't very useful. But she knew spare light sources would be useful. If those "churches" were growing up, out, and over, there would be less light. She'd need to provide her own. One thing she invested in were road flares. She bought an entire box of them at one point. Hadn't had a use yet, but this was a prime moment.

Due to their size, she couldn't take many since they wouldn't fit in her belt, and a bag would get in the way. So she simply stowed three of them. She went through some other items, just trying to see if anything else would work. Collapsible baton. A good weapon for a woman of her size compared to grown men, but these were two ranged attackers and she could beat people with hard light if she needed to. She left it behind. Snappers. Special ones that light up instead of just making noise.

They needed a hard impact to go off, would require wind-up. Competing against an ex-pitcher, she'd lose in the throwing contest. Maybe if they were heated up, she wouldn't need to worry about impact. She emptied a pack into one of the detachable pouches on her belt. Just had to hope no one would hit it. High power flashlight. Good source of significantly more light, but she'd have to hold onto it. Reward was worth the risk. Into the belt it went. Heading over to her mirror, she slipped her eyepatch off.

Her vision didn't change much without the obscuring, it was still struggling to focus. Sam told her it wasn't anything permanent but would take time to heal. The eyepatch would make her blind spot too obvious. As for sight… she was able to lens any light that made contact with a reflective part of her body. She always aimed it outwards. She'd aimed it inwards for trying to see electromagnetic frequencies the way Jairo could, but that was it. She never tried normal light before.

All those little sensations of feelers along the light near her body, she made push and guide any stray light directly into her pupil, past where any damage was. Slowly, color and light returned to that eye. Functioning vision. A little blurry, but this was a new method. It'd work. With that, her phone's alarm went off right on time. She was as ready as she'd ever be. She took the police station exit in the tunnels, trying her hardest to fend off the claustrophobia she'd suddenly developed.

All sorts of random little fears lingered around her as the pressure built up and up. Every other mission, she had someone there. Multiple. This one's going to genuinely be her on her own. But she knew she had to do this. Slipping out of the exit from the tunnels, she took to using her blasts to pinball herself up to the rooftops, before beginning to launch herself closer and closer to the wooden dome. In the distance, she saw the other churches.

She swore, off in the distance, she could see the dot-sized form of Hercules making his way to Jairo's. She wondered if he looked back in that direction, and saw the lights she made crossing the sky, and saw them as a shooting star to wish upon. The thought made her wish she could wish upon herself. But she knew that wasn't how it worked. Though, maybe. Just maybe, she could be Tyson's shooting star. Somewhere in her heart she knew he was wishing for his sister, and wishing to be saved.

For once, she could do both at the same time. Her sore body heaved with every launch. Whenever she was flying through the air, her body relaxed. The movement of her muscles into a relaxed state caused this dull burning every time, but that's what was keeping her awake more than anything else. More aware and alive. Finally, she landed in the canopy of the wooden church. Using the sunlight to focus a thick beam of ultraviolet, she was able to burn a hole through the roof, large enough for her to come through.

The burns cauterized, but with the amount she needed to effectively just saw through, she knew that taking the entire structure down was going to take a lot more. That was a task for after she finished. Climbing down through the hole, she was able to actually see how the "church" formed from the inside. It really did cover an entire city block. Many buildings sitting under the wooden canopy, numerous roots and vines shooting across almost like a series of spiderwebs. Some thick enough you could drive a car on them.

She used those for her initial descent, bounding down from root to root, rooftop to rooftop, until she finally reached the center. What was the roundabout, now fully overgrown. Assacu and Benghal seemed to be talking to each other, having not noticed her yet. The hostages were no longer piled up, instead dangling from a large vine crossing the area like decorations. Clearly alive, but limp. Unconscious. She didn't know if they were just knocked out or something worse was happening.

It would be better for her to hurry instead of risking finding out. Yanking out one of the road flares, she popped the cap and swung the striker against the igniter, producing a brilliant red light as she lunged down to the roundabout. The light and sound both prompted the Fathers to look up, Assacu grinning as he lifted the brim of his cap. Stolen novel; please report.

"Well, look what the scaredy-cat dragged in: Herself!" He called out with a laugh, swinging his leafy serape aside as he rested a hand on one of the seedpods.

"So what's got you here this time? Change of heart?" May tossed the flare off to the side, keeping mental track of the time. It would last her about fifteen minutes. She couldn't let any sort of showdown last for that long. But she needed to drag out the encounter. Slowly stepping off to the side, she replied.

"I'm offering you a chance at a change of heart. Ray, I understand why you were so willing to join the ADU," she started, keeping her gaze fixed. Spectroma wanted to set a rule for her to rely on for her instincts. She needed Assacu on her left, Benghal on her right, and off in her peripheral she wanted Tyson. Not just in her vision, but in general. She could keep a consistent track of their positions through her sweat.

By lensing infrared light through it and focused on them, she could keep gauged on the interruption. If it ever suddenly changed, she knew Assacu and Benghal would be moving. By keeping their positions consistent, she didn't even need to see them, and could use those specific invisible-to-the-eye beams as a way to convey any other lensing. And Tyson made for a great anchor, since he wasn't going anywhere.

This was a lot to maintain, but if she was going to trust her instincts, then actively keeping her higher thinking busy with this was the best move she could do.

"But you don't have to stay with them. If you turn yourself in, we have the resources to help you, let you live a normal life, maybe even get you back into pro sports!" Assacu scoffed.

"Baseball don't mean shit to me anymore, miss. They chewed me up and spat me out the second they realized I was winning without playing their little game. The ADU actually recognizes what I can do." Spectroma sighed, feeling light bending and coiling and steadying itself around every bead of sweat on her.

"I gave you a chance." VWAVWAVWAVWAVWAVWAM She didn't wait for him to throw. Using the light from the cast aside flare, she was able to funnel small bits of light along her like a machine gun, firing an unending volley towards both Assacu and Benghal. It was just the first thought in her head that if Assacu and Benghal's constant barrage of projectiles worked on her, then it'd probably work just as well on both of them.

They dove out to their respective sides while May kept moving back, not letting them break her positional rule. With all the light overwhelming her view, she couldn't get a clear visual on them. But the infrared lines she was tracing seemed consistent as she could hear portions of their grunts and shouts as they kept reorienting to find their footing, but before long they began a counter-barrage.

However, she didn't realize it wasn't going to be head-to-head, as suddenly right above her own head she heard a BAM As seeds and debris scattered against her forehead and into her hair, causing her to lunge back. That's when she realized Assacu was throwing pop-flies to drop on her instead. As frustrating as that was, it was exactly what she needed from him, as it gave Benghal his own opening.

As vines cast out at her, splayed and ready to catch her like a net, she ceased her volley and instead used the remaining light to form a shield on one side obscuring her face from his. A portion of the shield sat over her head, keeping Assacu's bombs from blasting her. Now with them unable to watch her gaze, she was able to focus ultraviolet light towards Tyson, aiming to slowly and surgically cut through the vines entangling his body.

If her theory was correct, he was entangled with one set of vines, and the vine holding him up was a different one that was only connected to his entanglement and not him. So freeing him from the tie-up should also free him from hanging in the same move. The process was slow, and required constant adjustments as the flare began to dull, faster than before. She didn't even fully grasp why she was doing it. It just felt right for May to try and cut him free.

Like her mind naturally filled out in such a way that letting him free was a necessary territory to breach. The only thing she could do was hope that was the right play. Foolishly, she forgot that light isn't infinite, and all the lensing she was doing was going to obviously dull other sources. Usually she just had enough abundance that it was never an issue. She had to stop her surgical cutting of Tyson's bonds to instead focus on procuring another flare.

She didn't even bother striking it this time, using a spare bit of ultraviolet light to instead ignite it immedia- BAM Assacu's accuracy was greater than she thought, as one of his bombs arced past her and her shield to instead blast her from behind. Loose debris embedded themselves into her arm and the back of her neck. She could tell by the pinpoint precision of the burning that if it was an inch to the left she would've been paralyzed for the rest of her life.

Stumbling over, her barrage of blasts stopped from the sudden interruption, though she was able to keep her shield up. She couldn't hear any further spewing of vines from Benghal, but she wasn't going to risk it yet. She had to get Assacu closer and get Tyson free. Then she could make the gamble. Letting out a grunt of pain, she barely pushed up to a kneel, intentionally leaving herself looking vulnerable.

She gave up on going light with her surgical severing of vines, instead opting for a harsher, more direct surge of heat. Given they were both focused on her, and the lack of sound from his fall, she could tell they weren't aware of his freedom. She wasn't even sure if that was the right move, but she had to try it. Like a moth to a flame, Assacu approached, hands on his hips with a swagger like the cat that caught the canary.

"Alright, Benghal, you can hold up for a moment. I think we've got her in a negotiatin' position," he stated with a laugh. Nothing was heard from Benghal, but May trusted in his words, lowering her shield. Her hand sat close to her pouch, ready to open it and- THWP Vines shot from Benghal's mouth like before, pulling her arms tightly against her sides in a deathly squeeze.

"Oh, sorry, Benghal ain't my lackey, he's my comrade. He knew better than to just completely lighten up," Assacu explained. May glared, spitting in his face, the saliva shimmering against his nose as he flinched. His demeanor contorted into a snarl for just a second before he composed himself.

"Oh, miss, miss, that just wasn't the right answer. You should know better than to piss me off."

"Funny," May commented.

"I was gonna tell you the same thing." Yanking the detachable pouch full of snappers from her belt, she flicked her wrist up, causing it to tumble through the air between both of their faces. She shut her eyes, focusing entirely on the little feelers of light coming from her spit on his nose. Focused them towards the pouch. Ultraviolet light. Hot enough to turn iron red.

To burn a hole through her pouch and ignite them all at once, sending all that hot pressure through to his face with a BAM And send him stumbling, howling back as he reached to try and rub the pain out of his eyes. Letting her eyes open afterwards, she shot her gaze towards Benghal, letting her sweat work to lens out more ultraviolet light to cut herself free. He slowly raised a second hand, pointing both fingers at her as a thick swelling formed in his throat.

The deformation of his neck was grotesque, but May readied herself for- WHAM There was no firing of any vines from his mouth. Instead, he took two steps forward, before falling on his face. Standing behind him was a panting Tyson, holding a piece of loose concrete, a bit of blood at one corner. Taking a deep breath, he looked over at Spectroma.

"So… does that make me a superhero now?"