Clank. Clank. Clank. She heard the footsteps coming up the stairs. Emily sat against the wall furthest from the staircase. She gripped her side painfully, blood welling between her fingers. Clank. Clank. Clank. Emily held her breath, knowing that the faintest sound would attract attention, and that was the last thing she needed. She was lucky to have escaped with only a wound. Luckily, the top of the staircase was enveloped in light, and the wall Emily was leaning against was enshrouded in darkness, so she knew she would see her pursuer first. Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank. At the top of the staircase stood the second-to-last person she wanted to see: Silver the Cyborg.

            Emily silently pleaded for Kiara, her teammate, to appear around the corner and save her life. Kiara had the elemental ability of electricity; Silver's only major weakness, as she was more machinery than flesh. There were just too many places for the seniors, the enemy, to hide in the shadows. There had been a run in with a couple of the other seniors, and after Silver had wounded Emily with her blades, everyone scattered. Now all five of Emily's team were scattered throughout this unfamiliar building. Emily grit her teeth as she watched Silver scan the room for her, her mechanical pupil glowing orange. Emily's blood turned ice cold when Silver's gaze rested where she was sitting. The cyborg began walking toward her. Damn it, she sees me! Emily panicked. She had forgotten about Silver's night vision, or perhaps it was heat. Either way, she was walking toward Emily, about to destroy her. “Stop! Or I'll shoot!” Emily shouted desperately. Silver stopped, confused. Of course Emily didn't have a gun. She was just trying to stay alive. At least, for a few more moments. “You don't have a gun.” Silver hissed, her once human voice laced with the rasp of technology. Silver raised her arm and prepared to shoot Emily. “But perhaps I can show you one of mine.” She heard the laser charging deep within the mechanical chronicles of her arm, and Emily closed her eyes. “You don't have to do this Silver! I know you're still in there. Fight it, Silver! You don't have to listen to her!” The high pitched squeal of the laser didn't stop rising. She closed her eyes. “She's just taking advantage of you! Please, Silver.” She could feel the heat of the laser's intense light on her face. “Please.”

            Suddenly the metal door that had sealed Emily into the simulation hissed open, the wires attached to her head released and were sucked back into their original sockets. “No!” She screamed. “Calm down, Emily! It's just training. It's only a simulation, remember? Your teammates can still win this.” A soft voice said. “Sorry Mrs. North.” “It's quite alright. Come here, sit with me. You can help me keep an eye on the others. I can't watch all the screens at once, you know.” Emily sat down beside her old band director. Her once beautiful, wood colored hair was laced with silver streaks and her glasses were scratched. Scars covered her arms and one stretched down to her chin from just above her lip. Around them were six screens; one was blacked out, and Emily figured that was hers. The other four showed the other members of her party. Her teammate Kiara was creeping along a wall in the shadows, probably searching for a control panel of some sort. I bet Alex, their leader, is near it. There's no way it'll be unguarded. As if Mrs. North could read her thoughts, she pointed to the sixth screen, which showed a black map with blue walls, much like a Pacman game. “I don't have screens for the enemies, but the little blue dots are them. The red dots are you guys.” Emily studied the map. The lowest point on the map was the bottom floor, and the highest was the tallest part of the tower. The rooms were labeled with small, white letters. She spotted “Control Room” on the second highest floor. A red dot was wandering around on that floor, luckily there wasn't a blue dot near it. “Who's that?” Emily asked. North studied the other screens for a moment, and then pointed at one of them. “I think it's Penny. That looks like the fifth floor I designed.” Emily let her eyes wonder back to the map. There was no way to tell who was who on the enemy team either. “I'm trying to update it so it at least shows initials or something. That map could be really useful if I knew who was who without guessing by looking at the screens.” Emily spotted a red dot standing right next to a blue dot. Her gaze darted to the character screens, and she saw that Amber, a blonde, pudgy girl, was standing face to face with Ginger, a fire elemental. She could barely see Ginger because of the angle of the screen, but the red hair was a dead giveaway.

            “Oh no!” Emily cried. North stared calmly at the screen. “Can't you help her?” “She has to learn on her own how to defend against them.” Amber was pressed against a wall. They were having a conversation which Emily couldn't hear. North had headphones on. Suddenly, Ginger put her hand on Amber's shoulder. Amber squirmed and tried to push the hand away, but Ginger's grip was like iron. Slowly, her fingers turned a glowing orange, and smoke began rising from Amber's shoulder. Emily wanted to look away, but couldn't. She imagined the sound of sizzling bacon and almost vomited. Ginger's eyes were glowing the color of hot metal straight from a blacksmith's forge. Fire erupted from her mouth, and for a moment, the entire screen was covered in smoke. North shook her head. “She's good when she practices in the arena, but when she's in a real situation, she doesn't even try to use her powers. She has so much potential.” She screen blacked out, and Emily heard the hiss of one of the doors opening. Amber stumbled out, clawing at her shoulders. “Hot, hot!” She looked around, and realized what had happened. “Are you kidding me!?” She wailed. “Go upstairs, Amber.” North commanded. Reluctantly, Amber went up the ladder into the rest of the bunker. Emily looked back at the screens. North's eyes widened and a smile was on her lips. “Kiara's killed Jasmine!” “What, really?” Emily looked at Kiara's screen. Sure enough, Kiara was leaning against a wall, gasping for breath. On the ground was Jasmine's inanimate body. Or at least, a pale, translucent imitation of her body. Jasmine was a ghost, and killing her wasn't an easy task. Outside of the simulations, nobody knew if it was even possible. “She did it!” She cried happily. North wasn't so enthusiastic. “The commotion made a lot of noise.” She pointed to the map screen. Two blue dots were closing in on what Emily assumed was Kiara. “Oh man, Kiara's the only one that can reactivate the power.” Emily said. North nodded grimly. “If Kiara goes next, the rest of the team's just going to have to figure out how to survive without it, and fight in the dark.” She sighed. “Which significantly lowers their chance for victory.” On the map screen, Kiara's dot moved as quickly as she could away from the other two dots. She had either spotted them or heard them coming. She ran upstairs, where she met another red dot. Emily looked at the screens and saw that Kiara had run into Penny. There was a frantic conversation, then Kiara bolted toward the control room and Penny stood at the top of the stairwell.

            “What are they doing?” Emily asked. “Penny told Kiara she's going to hold off the others while Kiara reactivates the power.” “What!?” Emily said in disbelief. Penny couldn't hold off two of them. She'd be obliterated, especially if either of them were Silver, or worse, Alex. Emily's eyes were glued to Penny's screen. She saw blinking lights at the bottom of the stairwell. She felt her heart sink as she realized it was Silver and Ariana. Penny lifted her arms into the air and opened her mouth in what Emily imagined was a battle cry. Above her head, a ball of green energy formed. She threw it at the enemy. Silver, probably having calculated exactly when and where she would throw the ball, dodged swiftly. Ariana on the other hand wasn't so lucky. She shot backwards and landed somewhere downstairs. “Did she kill her?” North shook her head. “It wasn't enough. She didn't have enough time to summon any more than maybe a light stun. Basically she hit Ariana with a heavy beach ball.” Emily watched Penny's screen in horror as Silver bolted up the stairs and grabbed Penny by the neck. She lifted her in the air and pinned her against the wall, effortlessly. That mechanical arm was one powerful piece of equipment. Suddenly, Silver jerked and dropped Penny virtually unharmed. What was that? Out of the corner of Penny's screen, she saw that Kiara had fired an electric shock at Silver. “Brilliant!” She said. Her happy mood disappeared when she saw Ariana coming up the stairs. “Penny, run!” Emily yelled, even though she knew that she wouldn't hear her. Either way, it was too late. Ariana's eyes and outstretched hand glowed a pale orange. Penny suddenly clenched in pain and was slowly lifted into the air by Ariana's invisible force. Blood trailed down Penny's lip as Ariana crushed her insides as she slowly closed her hand. Emily looked away, unable to watch, until she heard the hiss of one of the cell doors open. Penny sighed and went upstairs.

            Emily looked back at the map screen and saw that the two dots were advancing on Kiara again. Just as Emily glanced at Kiara's screen, the lighting seemed to get brighter. “Yes!” North shouted. “She's reactivated the power!” Emily couldn't feel the same joy. There were only two of them left in there, and they had only managed to kill one of the seniors. Ariana and Silver were charging at Kiara full steam. Kiara spun around and released a massive bolt of electricity, hitting Silver straight in the chest. The cyborg flew backwards, her mouth open with a horrific scream Emily was glad she couldn’t hear. Emily felt new hope as she fired at Ariana, whose body shot backwards into a wall from the force and slid down the wall, occasionally twitching from the electricity pulsing through her veins. Ariana was dead. Kiara raced past the malfunctioning cyborg as she twitched helplessly on the floor. “No, no what are you doing?” North growled. “Finish her off!” She brought her fist down onto the table. Emily was confused and a bit frightened. “Silver doesn't look like she's going to be able to get up.” Emily commented. “That's not the problem.” “Then what?” Emily suddenly remembered Silver's original power. Her power wasn't the growing of mechanical limbs-- that had been Alex's doing. Silver had the ability to heal herself. “Can she heal that fast?” Emily asked. North shook her head. “Silver can heal herself but healing the machine bits in that state is going to take a long time. Theoretically, anyway. There's no telling if she can actually heal metal outside the simulations, but it's always good to prepare. There's another reason why she should have finished her while she could have.” North growled. Kiara raced downstairs.

            For the first time, Emily looked onto Erica's screen. Erica had short, straight brown hair that was shoulder length, and a wild look in her blue eyes. Suddenly she cried out in pain, clutching her head and then her screen went dark. Emily was confused. “What happened? What happened to her?” Emily asked frantically. “Was it a glitch?” North slowly shook her head. She pointed at the map screen at two dots on Erica's floor. One was red briefly, and then it shifted to blue. “What the-?” Then Emily realized the cold truth. Alex. “Oh, no.”  The three animate dots moved toward the upper floor. Kiara's dot was stranded on the top floor with nowhere to go. She can't take all of them at once! Both Emily and North were quiet. Kiara was on the roof, looking for a way off. Of course, there wouldn't be. Kiara, running out of ideas, started back toward the staircase, but it was a lost cause. Erica stood at the top of it. At first, Kiara looked relieved to see her. She began talking to her, but Erica didn't react. She just stood there, glaring at her. Kiara stared at Erica in confusion, then Emily read her lips as she asked, “Are you alright?”

            Suddenly Erica charged at Kiara, her teeth growing sharp points and her fingers morphing into gnarled claws. Kiara sidestepped her at the last second, barely dodging the raging creature. Erica's ability was that she could shape-shift into a demon-like creature that somewhat resembled a werewolf which was significantly stronger and faster than original Erica. Kiara aimed her hand at the monster and unleashed a wave of sparking power. The possessed team mate began to spasm violently before she dropped to the ground, electricity sparking on her burnt skin. “How did you design this?” Emily asked North. North shrugged. “I designed it with realistic possibilities. The bodies just aren't going to disappear like in a video game. It's gonna get morbid when the actual battle comes, why spare it now?” When Erica's dot disappeared, the three other dots-- Silver's now mobile-- advanced up the stairs and onto the roof. On the screen, Silver was partially glowing blue. “Why-” “Because Alex has such powerful control over the mental body and telepathy that she has control over the physical body as well. Silver is particularly easy, unlike Ariana. Silver had taken care of healing her human parts for Alex already. She's mostly made of machinery. Machinery is easy to repair. Machinery that Alex designed, at that.” Emily watched Kiara back to the edge of the building until she couldn't go any further without falling. Alex stared coldly at Kiara. Kiara gripped her head and clenched her teeth, trying to resist Alex's powerful mind tricks. Emily dug her nails into her palm, willing that Kiara didn't fall off the edge. Kiara slowly managed to raise her hands at Alex and fired. There was a sudden flash of movement, but Alex was unharmed. Alex's eyes glowed brighter, and Kiara's head exploded.

            “How did Alex not get hit?” Emily asked, staring at the glowing blue letters of Senior Victory across the screens. “I'd like to figure that one out myself.” North said, the same baffled look on her face. “I was so close!” Kiara stormed into North's control room. “Hey Emily. Where were you?” “I was busy being a smear on the wall.” She grunted. Kiara patted her shoulder. “We're lucky these are just simulations. I'd like to know what happened at that last second too.” Kiara said. North rewound the tape and stopped just as Kiara was raising her hands. North put it in slow motion, and just as Kiara fired, Silver's mechanical arm shot out of the socket like a bullet and, in midair, shifted into a reflective, metal shield. The lightning bolt deflected off of the shield as it passed in front of Alex. “I didn't know she could do that!” Kiara whined. North shrugged. “In this program, they know their maximum potential when it comes to their powers. 100%. In reality, they're probably closer to 80%. Silver probably knows about the shield, but I bet she doesn't know how to eject her arm and then have it turn into the shield. Though with an enemy standing in front of her, she'd probably try to shoot bullets at them rather than ejecting pretty much all of her guns across the field to save Alex. Their intelligence is a bit limited in these simulations. Still working on that.” She winked at Emily. “I bet Alex knows.” Emily said. North yawned. “Probably.” “Yeah.” Kiara agreed. “She sort of built her.”

            Upstairs past the dorms, which were little more than cut out sections in the wall with flat mattresses, pillows, and a blanket, was the mess hall. Everyone except for Emily and Kiara were already down there. “Hey guys.” North said as she came in behind them. “You did better.” A massive groan followed. “Yeah bullshit.” Amber said. “I only got used as firewood. No biggie.” “Join the party.” Emily grunted. “Amber, you could have used your powers against Ginger. Why didn't you?” North pressed. Amber closed her eyes. “I don't know. I just... freeze up.” “If you only-” “But my powers aren't useful! I can't shoot electricity out of my fingertips! I can't summon energy balls or turn into a werewolf! I'm as useless as Emily!” “Amber!” North scolded. “I will not have you talking like that! Emily's excellent with a gun and her birthday's coming up soon. We'll start seeing some development in her powers once she's sixteen. We need all of us if we're to take down that evil that's out there right now, forcing us to hide in this underground bunker! You are just as useful as the others. Telepathy is a powerful thing.” “Yeah,” Penny agreed. “It's like Ariana's power. It's very strong once you master it.” She shuddered. “Trust me, I know.” “Alright.” North said. “Eat your rations, and go to bed. We'll do a little practicing in the arena, then we're going back into the simulation tomorrow.” “What!?” They all shouted in unison. “But we just did one today! We've never done two in a row!” “I know. And frankly, you failed miserably. The only one of you that did anything productive was Kiara.” North said. “I know I raised them to 100% instead of the normal 70%, but you need to be prepared to take them down at their absolute potential. That way, when you confront them in real life, you have the advantage.”

            After North's speech and choking down disgusting rations, Emily and the others crawled into bed. “I really don't want to do another simulation tomorrow.” Amber grunted. “It doesn't help our esteem if we get our asses kicked every single day.” “But it does help our practice.” Kiara said. “Even if they win the first couple of times.” She finished. Kiara raised her hand and the lights went out. “Night guys.” After a few minutes, the room was filled with the slow breathing of Emily's sleeping friends. She started going over the enemy's stats in her head to try to get to sleep. Alex. The Captain. The leader of them all. She can take control over your mind and your body. She's the one that started this mess. She's technically the youngest of the seniors, but once she discovered her powers, she mastered them quickly. She killed Jasmine in a fit of rage and rebuilt Silver. Silver, The Cyborg. Alex's right hand woman. The entire right side of her body is made of Alex's own handiwork. From the knee down, Silver's left leg is metal. Emily paused to remember Silver before her accident. She was tall, thin, and the only real threat to Alex's captain position and color guard skills in marching band. Or at least, she would have been a threat if they hadn't been great friends. Silver didn't seem to care that she wasn't captain. Then Alex started going AWOL. When people turn 16, supernatural powers begin to develop. Almost a week after her birthday, she discovered her powers and quickly mastered them. Alex's, though somewhat common, as all mental abilities were, was the greatest out of the seniors. She went mad with power and tried to destroy everyone that threatened her authority. Or at least, who she thought threatened her captain position. At first, Silver, along with all of the other seniors, were on Alex's side until she revealed that she wanted the underclassmen in the color guard not just off the team, but dead. Silver had saved them by taking Alex's attack full on. Silver's power had barely developed, but she could still heal quickly. Unfortunately, she couldn't grow limbs, organs, or bones back. She was alive after the blast, but horribly misshapen. Alex was furious that she had blocked the attack that required much of her energy, enough to allow the underclassmen to escape her wrath, but must have felt some guilt because she rebuilt her friend with carefully designed mechanic replacements. Part of having the powers she had was that she got to be a genius. After that, Silver displayed some of her original personality, but when it bore down to battles with the underclassmen, she always sided with Alex without hesitation or question. Still, Alex had never been able to, or simply refused to, summon the amount of power she had the day she almost killed Silver. Ariana. The Tank. She has telepathic abilities that she can use to lift just about any object or crush it. Emily remembered Ariana before her birthday, too. She was nice, funny, and basically the class clown. She always had a smile on her face. Now, she was hardened and emotionless, never smiling. Emily sighed. She wished everything would go back to how they were. Now their world had been thrown into chaos. Their region was dominated by the five of them, and they wanted their only real threat, the underclassmen of the color guard team, dead. Jasmine. The Ghost. After Alex killed her, Jasmine manifested as a very vivid ghost as soon as her 16^th birthday arrived. She can move through solid objects, change the temperature, establish irrational fear, transfer life forces to other individuals, and absorb the life from a living being if given enough time to do so. Jasmine is a difficult one to battle. You could only hit her if she let you hit her. Most of the time, she was as solid as mist. However, in order to physically harm you, she had to become solid. That's when you strike. Jasmine wasn't really a fighting being as much as she was support. Alex had killed Jasmine before the season started, but nobody knew she did it back then. When her birthday came around, Jasmine came back as a ghost, she told everyone everything that Alex did. Alex had done it because she didn't want Jasmine to be the captain. As it turned out, Jasmine had more experience than any of the other seniors and had been captain the previous year. Instead of revenge, Jasmine found a common enemy in the underclassmen and left the feud to die. Her reasoning was unknown, but Emily believed that Jasmine, along with the other seniors, had been prejudice against underclassmen, as was a senior tradition that just got out of hand. Ginger. The Pyromaniac. Ginger has mastered fire. She is fire. She can breathe fire, become fire, melt objects, and give you a really nasty sunburn. Ginger had the most comprehensible power. Her ability was an elemental. The ability to control fire was an actual, physical ability unlike Alex's or Ariana's. This ability you could actually see, and therefore was easier to counter. Water used to douse the problem, but as time progressed, so did Ginger's abilities. North upgraded the programs with what she estimated how strong their abilities had become over time. Water did nothing but create steam in the user's face, which Ginger could now use to her advantage. Emily's only way of countering any of them was with quick reaction and accuracy with a gun or knife. She clenched her jaw. I have to make it to my birthday. She thought. I hate being so useless all the time.

            There were a couple of different types of powers. Physical powers were like Erica and Silver's. Erica had to physically attack you to do anything, and since Silver wasn't exactly known for her healing powers, she had to smack you with her arm or shoot you. Then there were mental powers. Mental powers were like Alex, Ariana, Amber, and Penny. Those kinds of powers originated in the mind. There were elemental powers, like Ginger and Kiara. Powers that did not come from the mind but more from Earth itself. Finally, there were supportive or passive powers, like Jasmine and North. Jasmine didn't really have any abilities that could do damage, but her powers allowed assistance to the battlefield or her friend's powers. North had technological insight, which allowed her to create such a mechanical paradise a few feet under a manhole cover in the parking lot. 

“Good morning, ladies!” North called. She had her hands on her hips and was grinning from ear to ear. The underclassmen weren't so cheerful. The training arena room wasn’t the largest room, but it had the most technology. At first glance, it didn’t look like much. Just a bunch of enclosed cubicles and colored doors. Each of the rooms were mini-simulations that trained the underclassmen in basic hand to hand combat, reactions and reflexes, and a special room for each of the seniors for one on one. “Amber, I want you to go into Ariana's section today. She uses the same kind of abilities as you. I feel like you might be able to get some ideas for maybe countering Ariana and Alex's telekinetic attacks.” Amber nodded. “Good. Emily, you seemed to have the biggest problem with Silver yesterday. Go in that section at some point today, alright? You're both gunslingers. You need to be better than her.” Emily nodded. She figured she would go to the hand to hand combat areas to practice shooting first. “Erica, I hate to say it, but Alex totally had you down.” “I was just surprised! Alex's so stealthy, I didn't know she was behind me until-” “No excuses. This is where you can learn how to get better. I want you to go into Alex's section at least once today. Kiara, you seem to know what you’re doing against most of the seniors, but you didn't really encounter Ginger yesterday. Practice fighting her. Electricity isn't the best counter element for fire. You have to find some way around that.” Erica and Kiara nodded. “And Penny. You need to learn how to use your energy wisely. You exhaust yourself too quickly by using a lot of your energy at first, rendering you to do little more than throw weak energy balls at enemies on stairs. I want you to go into any of the sections that you see fit. Alright, we got it?” Everyone nodded and walked into the arena.

            Emily was walking to the combat section when Penny ran up beside her. “Hey, do you want to work on team fighting?” She asked. “North never seems to put emphasis on just how important it is.” “I think North separates us because in the actual thing, it's pretty likely we'll be on our own. Like yesterday.” “Still though, it's important to learn your allies' moves.” Emily couldn't deny that. Penny

smiled. “Cool. Come on, let's go.”

            They stepped into the platform and a moment later animated dummies came to life. Emily winced, as she always did when she came in this room. She didn't know why it still bothered her, but it did nevertheless. The enemies resembled the people in the marching band. Emily figured that North did it so that they wouldn't hesitate in attacking a foe even if they looked familiar. Even if they're friends. Emily still believed that the seniors she once knew were still alive, and Alex was just mind controlling them. The drumline charged. Instinctively, Emily threw her hands to her sides and drew, firing several shots into the chests of the dummies. Everything was instinct. “Hey Penny, since you can give people energy, did you ever think you could absorb it?” Emily asked. Penny looked at the ground. “I have, but I never get a good opportunity to do it.” “There isn't a better time than now.” Suddenly, the brass section appeared. Emily took a step back. The brass section was the biggest. She drew one of the bigger guns she carried, one that fired something like a laser ball, and aimed at the brass section. She panicked when she couldn't chose a target. They were all charging at her. Just behind her, however, she saw a green light that quickly shot out to the brass section. A few of the enemies dropped, but others were just dazed. Emily spun around to see Penny gasping for breath. The enemies screamed and scattered. Penny focused on one of the members that had avoided the blast and pointed her finger at him. She scrunched up her face. The brass member froze in his tracks, a mass of green energy leaving his chest. He slumped to the ground, and his lights deactivated. “Wow, Penny! That was awesome!” “I feel great!” She said, completely rejuvenated. She fired and absorbed most of the brass section, and Emily had to struggle to get a kill on her own. After the brass section was defeated, Emily wiped the sweat from her forehead. Penny, however, was giddy and almost hyper with energy. “Those energy transfers didn't even make me tired! I still have loads left!” Penny squealed happily. Emily kicked at the ground. Powers were so much more efficient, stronger, and just plain better than a gun. “I wish I was more useful.” Penny put her hand on her shoulder. “Silver only fights with guns, too.” “Yeah, but those guns are sort of attached to her. Firing a gun is probably as easy as blinking for her. I die first in almost all of the simulations. Maybe next time, I'll just hide in a corner and fire some bullets into Alex if I get lucky.” “Maybe you won't have to. If we fight as a team, we'll watch after you.” Emily reloaded her gun and waited for the next wave of enemies. The woodwind section ran at them, brandishing their blades in the air. Emily fired several well-aimed bullets into the heads of the enemies. She was most comfortable with the simple twin 9mm guns she kept in holsters on her hips. Penny threw around all different kinds of energy balls, spears, and jagged, lightning-bolt shaped attacks.

            After training with Penny, Emily went over to one of the resting areas and slurped precious water as she cleaned her various guns and swords. She had twin 9mm, her favorites, a sawed off shotgun in a holster around her calf, and another small pistol of North's making that fired what North called plasma bullets. Except for the shotgun, all of her guns were focused more on quickness rather than power. She stared at the door that led to Silver's field. Silver had all kinds of guns. One of Silver's favorites was the one that rested in her forearm when her hand was the main joint. It had six barrels and fired so many rounds of bullets per minute it was terrifying. She had lasers in both her arm and her eye, a flamethrower in her throat, and a cannon in her chest. Even Silver's pointer finger was a gun. There has to be some way to get her back. All of them. She thought that it just was irrational that they would all willingly follow Alex like they were. Emily looked at Alex's door. Maybe if we can destroy her first, the others will snap out of her spell and go back to normal. Right? Maybe. She gave herself a mental note to discuss her theory with the others. She stood up, stretched, and walked across the floor and opened Silver's door.

            As soon as she closed the door, the mini simulation whirred to life. The door behind her disappeared to be replaced by a metal wall. She took a moment to realize her surroundings. She appeared to be in an abandoned car manufacturing plant. Clank. Clank. Clank. Emily looked up. Silver was standing several feet away from her. “Well well, look who it is. The freshman, come to fight a senior?” She mocked. Emily bared her teeth. “I'm a sophomore now.” Silver chuckled. “You'll always be a freshman to me. Until you can fight like a junior with real powers, you're nothing but a worthless, pathetic freshman.” Emily tried to resist the anger. It was a feature of the simulation to try to make you mad or sad or frightened. Emily didn't feel like dignifying Silver with a response. Silver snorted. “You'll submit like all the others. That's all you've ever done. Submit. That's why you never made the A line in color guard. You were just too afraid to party with the big dogs.” Like all the others? Emily had briefly forgotten that the simulations create their own scenarios. “Big dogs? Are you going to bite me, Silver? Or are you just going to bark?” That seemed to make her angry. Emily continued. “You're nothing but a deformity. If it weren't for Alex, you wouldn't be alive. You needed her to survive. You couldn't have done it on your own.” Silver's shoulder sparked. “Shut up! Yes, she rebuilt me, but it was to make me stronger! She cares about her friends! You've seen Alex's tactics. You believe she's all in it for yourself!” “Then why do you follow her?” Emily asked. Silver chuckled darkly. “Did you not hear me? I said you believed that. Alex's in it for the same reason I am. We're a team. The A line has always worked as a team. Unlike you. All most of you did at practice was bicker.” She hissed. Emily had just about had enough of this. She reached for her shotgun. Silver's machine bits whirred to life. They shifted from an innocent arm to lethal weapons. Though she aimed only a simple double barreled shaft from her wrist, Emily could hear her charging her parts for more powerful attacks. The strap that kept the shotgun in place was jammed, but Emily was used to thinking quickly on her feet. Instead, she settled for a three foot sword that normally rested inside a long, black, leather sheath. Emily charged at Silver, brandishing the sword. She managed to jab the sword into Silver's mechanical arm, withdrawing it in a shower of sparks. Yes! Emily licked her lips in concentration and looked for anything that she might have damaged. “You think your little sword can stop me?” Silver's gears clicked and whirred with a little effort more than usual, but now a six barreled machine gun, Silver's favorite, was in Emily's face. She fired several rounds at her, but Emily was quick. She dodged the bullets swiftly and managed to hook her leg behind Silver's. The cyborg buckled and fell. Emily wasted no time in jabbing her sword into Silver's shoulder. She used it like a crowbar and dislocated the metal bone from the socket. “You pathetic girl!” The arm slid across the floor, away from both of them. Silver stood up before Emily had another chance to stab at her. Her shoulder sparked, and she stumbled backwards and hit the wall. Emily charged again, but Silver was ready. With her remaining arm, she reached down and pulled off a section of her leg. She raised the whirring buzz saw blade in the air just as the sword came crashing down. “No!” Emily shielded her face from the sparks and pieces of metal that flew through the air. She felt one piece cut her cheek. It's not fair that Silver's blades aren't made of regular steel! She felt a metal boot slam into her stomach, and Emily was on the floor. Silver reattached the saw to her thigh, and chuckled lightly. “Is that all?” She said as she advanced on Emily. “I may not have an arm, but I can still blow you away.” She grinned. Emily blinked. It appeared as if Silver's teeth were glowing orange. She gasped in horror as she realized that they weren't glowing, but were suppressing a flame. The flamethrower! Emily rolled and barely dodged as Silver belched a massive flame. “Hold still! I promise it won't hurt as much!” Emily desperately scrambled for her twins. Silver kicked one of them away and blew fire again. Again, she barely missed Emily, but she could smell her own hair burning. She had to recharge again in order to breathe fire. Emily aimed the other gun up and shot Silver several times in the chest and face. She collapsed onto the ground and didn't move. Emily breathed a sigh of relief, but it didn't last long. Suddenly, Silver jumped up, scars already healing all over her body. Curse that healing power of hers! Did I really miss all of the vitals!? Silver glared down at Emily furiously, but this time, there was a massive cannon where her rib cage separated. Silver grinned and charged the cannon, pointing it right at Emily.  “Give up Emily! You're finished!”

Indeed she was. She left the simulation room battered and bruised. She kept kicking herself that she was virtually powerless against Silver at 100%.  North stood at the entrance to the arena. “Come on, it's time for the simulation.”

            Emily strapped herself into the machine, and North walked by and shut the door. Emily closed her eyes. When she opened them, she was standing in a forest. She automatically realized that she felt lighter than usual, and threw her hands to her sides. She felt a lump of panic rise in her throat when she felt nothing but her pants. She quickly took her backpack off and dug through it. Emily stared at a tiny dagger, baffled. Did North do this on purpose? Now I'm completely useless! Even if she hadn't, she had to find the others. She threw the amplifier back into the bag and put a headset that was in the bag on. “Can you guys hear me?” She said into the little microphone. A moment passed, and nobody responded. Emily was just about to take the headset off when it buzzed again. “Hello? Who's this? Is anybody there?” The voice said. “It's Emily.” She said. “Who's this?” “Amber. Are you with anyone else?” Emily shook her head, and then remembering that Amber couldn't see her, she replied, “No. We need to find everyone now.” “Hey, are you near any landmarks?” Emily looked up. All that was around her was thick canopy. Everything looked the same around her. “Just a bunch of trees.” “Same here.” Amber said. Emily started to walk forward. Maybe I'll find something if I keep moving. The headset buzzed again. “I think we should stop talking. I feel like they'll hear us.” Emily didn't respond. Duh. She had already figured that out. She left the headset on though, just in case any of the others decided to buzz in.

            As she kept walking, she wondered why North had decided to put them in a jungle scenario. Was it likely that they would be fighting in one? The gentle singing of the birds and the slight breeze were very calming. Emily wanted to stop and rest, and maybe even read a book under a tree, but she knew she couldn't do that. She had to complete the objective: Destroy the seniors with as many survivors as possible.

            She walked on for what she thought were hours. All that were around her were trees and more trees. Occasionally a boulder if she was lucky. She heard rustling in the canopy above her, and she drew her dagger, waiting for an ambush, but a squirrel spiraled down the tree and ran off into the undergrowth. Emily relaxed, but she was still uneasy. Where are they? Where's anyone? She was tempted to use her headset again, but if any of the seniors were nearby, they would hear her. Silver could probably pick up the frequency. I bet if I can get above the tree line, I could see where I'm going. She stopped at a tree that looked very climbable. She put her dagger away and began to climb the tree swiftly. She jumped from branch to branch until the branches were too thin to support her weight. She fought her way past a bushel of leaves, and pushed her head through the top. She squinted her eyes at the sudden sunlight, but as soon as they adjusted, she could see everything around her. It was mostly trees, but a stack of tall rocks poked up into the sky a little ways from Emily's tree. A little further north however was what looked like ruins to a temple. How much you wanna bet that's where I need to go? She climbed back down the tree and pushed the button on her headset. “Hey, Amber? You still there?” Emily waited a minute, but there was no response. “Amber?” She tried again. She began to get nervous. She assumed the worst, but then more logical reasons began flowing into her mind. She probably just put it away in her backpack. She couldn't have been more wrong.

            “Amber's dead.” A voice said into her headset. Emily's heart rose to her throat. “Who is this? What's happened to Amber?” “Emily, don't you recognize my voice?” The voice replied. “Who is this!?” Emily demanded. “Alright, chill. It's just me, Penny.” Emily breathed a deep sigh of relief. “Woah, Penny. Don't ever do that again.” “Sorry. But seriously, Amber's dead. I don't know what happened to her, but I found her stuff in front of this temple in a puddle of blood. There's a trail leading inside the temple, but I don't know if I want to go in there alone...” “Penny, it's alright. I saw the temple a second ago, I'll be there in a few minutes. Lay low.” She said the last two words gravely. She moved swiftly toward the direction of the temple, all of her senses on high alert.

            Luckily, she made it to the temple with few problems. Another squirrel had startled her, but that was it. Penny stood up out of a bush as soon as she saw Emily approaching. “Thank goodness.” She said. “I figured out that the headsets only contact one other person. I was talking to Erica a moment ago.” Emily stopped, confused. “But there's an odd number of us. How can that work?” Penny held up a finger. “That's what I thought at first. Then I noticed that the dial on my headset was different than the dial on Amber's. We're on different frequencies. I was communicating with Erica on two, and you were talking to Amber on one.” “Go to three.” Emily said quickly. “I tried that.” Penny said, looking at the ground. “I've got nothing. Either Kiara's dead or she doesn't have the headset on.” “Let's hope for the latter.” Emily said. “Also, where's Erica? You said you were talking to her?” “I did. She's on her way still. She was really far away from the ruins.” Penny responded. Emily nodded. “Alright, that sounds good. We should get in the bushes before she shows up, just in case one of the seniors decide to walk by here before she does.”

            About five minutes passed, and Emily heard footsteps. Penny started to stand up. “That's probably-” “Shh!” She clasped her hand over Penny's mouth and pulled her back into the bush. These weren't normal footsteps. They were running. A second later, a figure broke through the undergrowth. Emily's eyes widened. She was staring at Alex herself. She was even more terrifying up close. Even though she was shorter than the other seniors, standing at 5'4”, her eyes could make your soul turn to ice with fear. Her heart beat faster as she stopped running. Alex was scanning the clearing, and her eyes stopped on Amber's backpack. She sneered and walked up to it. Both Emily and Penny were holding their breaths as Alex walked practically right up to them and leaned down to the book bag. She spilled the contents onto the ground, and shuffled through them. She lifted the headset to her ear and pressed the button. Emily had to stop herself from squeaking as the speaker buzzed on. “Hello? Anyone there?” She could hear Alex's voice both through the headset and her other ear. It was absolutely nerve racking. When Emily didn't respond, Alex dropped the device to the ground and started to walk toward the entrance of the ruins. She would have walked right in until she heard Erica's footsteps.

            Oh no. This can't happen. Emily thought to herself. Erica appeared around the side of the building. “Hey, Penny I'm-” She froze as she laid her eyes on Alex. Alex laughed. “Well, hello.” The blue glow from Alex's eyes were so strong you could see it in the mist around her face. She lifted Erica in the air and pinned her against the top of the entrance. “Penny, you say?” She snarled. “Where is she?” Alex pressed. Erica shook her head. “I don't know.” She said before she screamed in pain. “I know you know where she is. Is she here?” Alex started to look around. Emily felt a jab in her side and she turned her head to look at Penny. There was a new fire in her eyes. It's three against one. Emily realized. We might be able to win this.

            Emily and Penny jumped out of the bush, startling Alex. She released her grip on Erica as Emily tackled her to the ground. “Just what-!?” But Alex couldn't finish her sentence. Just then, an energy hammer smacked into her head, pushing it deep into the ground. She cried out in pain. Though it was pathetic in Emily's opinion, all she had was the dagger. She plunged it into the guard captain's body several times, getting blood all over her hand and splatters on her shirt and face. Somehow, Alex managed to survive longer than a normal person would have. Penny pushed past Emily and raised her hand. A sliver of green energy sucked up into her hand, and Alex stopped struggling. Emily felt adrenaline start to flow into her veins. “Woah!” Erica exclaimed. “You... you just killed Alex!” She breathed. “Are you alright? That was a pretty high fall.” Emily asked Erica. She shook her head. “Fine. I'll be fine. I'm doing great, now that I know Alex's dead!” She was grinning from ear to ear. “You two are quite the team!” Something caught Emily's eye about Alex's body. She bent down and rolled her over, discovering her guns wrapped around Alex's waist. “Oh thank God!” She cheered. “More like thank North.” Penny grinned.

            Hesitantly, the trio disappeared inside the ruins. It was dark at first, and they had to crawl along the walls to keep their footing, but then the thin hallway opened into a bigger room. Along with a few holes in the ceiling, there were torches and a fire pit in the center. Ginger. Emily backed into Penny. “What are you doing?” She hissed. “Ginger's in here somewhere.” She replied. “Look, fire. I'm not moving until I see her.” She heard Erica sigh behind them and she pushed past Emily. “What are you doing!?” Emily growled. “Moving on! Look. This room is obviously-” Suddenly the sound of an explosion rang through the room. Emily slapped her hands to her ears until the sound faded. Just on the opposite end of the room was a hole in the wall where there wasn't one just a moment ago. Boulders rolled around on the floor and dust was floating around in the air. “What was that all about?” Penny whimpered. “Well, I can tell you right now that it wasn't Kiara. Electricity has almost no effect on rocks and ground.” Emily whispered. “But maybe it's Amber?” I wonder if the seniors really are independent of Alex's spell. Slowly, she walked into the room and crept along the edges of the walls, trying to avoid the light of the fire. Each step she got closer to the hole, the more worried she became. There were only a few people that could put a hole in the wall like that, and it was not someone she wanted to see. With each step, she imagined who could have made the explosion. The most likely was Silver. She has a cannon in her chest. It couldn't have been Jasmine. Maybe Ginger if she found something explosive. Ariana could have thrown something heavy into the wall from the other side...

            By the time they got close enough to the hole, they realized that they wanted to be as far away from it as possible. The remaining seniors, all four of them, were standing on the other side of the wall. “...And you check around the entrance. I don't know what happened to Alex, but if you see her, tell her what we're doing. Alright, find those freshmen!” Ginger was barking orders. “Back up. Back up back up back up!” Emily hissed between her teeth. She slipped behind Penny behind a pile of boulders just as Silver and Jasmine flew by. Emily stared after them from around the boulder. Jasmine looked translucent, but her feet were almost solid compared to the rest of her body. She heard Ginger and Ariana shuffling around the front of the hole. “She's gotta still be in here.” Ariana said. “Alex would have caught her if she tried to leave.” “There's hundreds of caverns in here!” Ginger snapped. “Kiara could be in any of them!” Kiara! Emily automatically started looking at all of the caverns that she hadn't seen before. “She can't be very deep in any-” “Ginger! Ariana! Ginger!” Jasmine called. Emily shrunk back behind the boulder. She already knew what they had seen. “What is it? Did you spot them?” “No! It's Alex! She... She's...” “She's dead.” Silver finished. A short pause followed. “What do you mean, 'Alex's dead'?” “I mean exactly that.” Silver said, emotionless. Ginger growled angrily. “I'll kill those freshmen!” “Wait a minute.” Ariana stopped Ginger. “If they can take down Alex, maybe we should stay together. We don't know how many of them she was up against. If it were just one, I feel like she would have offed 'em easily.” “She has a point.” Jasmine agreed. “That means wherever they are, they're together.” “How much you wanna bet they're in here?” Ginger suggested. “Silver, close off the entrance.” Quickly Silver's arm shot out and she fired a laser just above the archway of the main entrance. Boulders and debris tumbled down, blocking the way. Just as soon as the dust settled, Silver spoke again. “They're in the caverns. I can hear them.” “Which one?” Ginger asked eagerly. “Hard to tell. Everything echoes in here, but I'm pretty sure it's one of those.” She pointed to a cluster of caverns on one end of the room. “That's a good start.” Ginger said, and the four of them shuffled past Emily and the others and disappeared into one of the caverns.

            “We've got to save Kiara.” Penny muttered. “I know. That's why her headset isn't working; the cave probably blocks the signal.” Erica added. “Should we follow the seniors down the tunnel they took or go into another one?” Nobody answered her. Emily grunted in frustration. “There's no way to tell. I vote we go down the one with the seniors.” “What!?” Erica and Penny said at the same time. “Think about it. If Kiara's really down there, she doesn't have a chance against all four of them alone. If she's not in there, they'll go to the very back of the cavern looking for her. We can trap them in there. We took down Alex. None of them are as strong as she was. We can take them down.” Emily bit her lip. She knew she was lying. All the others were just as powerful as Alex in their own ways. She was just the leader. Emily stood up to start walking toward the cavern, but Penny put her hand on her shoulder. “Emily, this is a bad-” “Kiara would do the same for us!” Emily growled. Suddenly there was a lot of shouting and the sound of guns being fired. Emily whipped her attention to a cave that was glowing with Ginger's flame.

            “She needs help. Now!” Emily jumped up and bolted toward the cavern. Penny and Erica ran after her. Looks like my theory was wrong. Emily thought to herself. Without Alex they're just as ferocious. If not more so. But hopefully, it's just this way in the simulations, and not where it really counts. She jumped past the fire pit and ran into the cavern. “Let's go.” Erica growled. Literally, she growled. When Emily turned to look at her, she was full out beast mode. Her snout was furred but it had nostrils like a lizard. Her eyes were blue chips of ice, her claws were jet black and curved like an eagle's talons, and her legs were furred like a yak, but they were built like a cheetah's. The trio ran into the tunnel, following the screams and shouts.

            “There's more of them!” Ginger shouted. Silver whirled around to face them, but Erica knocked her onto her side. “Ariana, destroy the mutt! I'll take them.” She said angrily. Erica glowed orange and began to whine like a sick dog, but her thirst for blood was powerful. She jumped off of Silver, and Ariana jerked with her. Silver, now on her feet, advanced on the three of them, her gears ticking and her lights glowing. “This will be the last time you mock us!” “We didn't mock you!” Penny protested, but Silver wasn't listening. The cannon on her chest opened up and a massive glowing ball formed in the center of it. Penny stuck out her hand and tried to absorb it, but to no avail. “Idiot! This isn't energy, it's plasma! It'll melt your bones!” She snarled. “Duck!” Emily screamed just as Silver fired. The ball of plasma flung just above her head. All sound and light seemed to bend around the ball, distorting the screams of everyone around her as if it were something out of the fourth dimension. The ball slammed into Penny, who was in mid-duck. “No!” Emily cried as Penny's body hurtled backwards and smacked into the wall, falling limply to the ground. Emily turned on Silver. “You monster!” Silver shrugged. “I got tired of trying to be the hero when no matter what I did, everyone saw me as the monster. I just gave you what you wanted!” Just then Erica backed into Silver, throwing her aim off. A laser blast from her eye cut a black grove into the wall, but it still hit Emily. She dropped her dagger and fell to the ground, suddenly exhausted. All of the seniors were having a bit of a struggle with Erica, who was spitting gross piles of foamy saliva everywhere. She felt her spirits rise when she watched the inanimate, mutilated body of Ginger sail over her head. “Kiara...” Emily mumbled. Help me!

            She felt relieved when Kiara jumped beside her. Or at least, she was relieved until she realized that it wasn't Kiara at all, but Silver. If Emily wasn't exhausted already, she couldn't do anything when Silver ripped Emily's dagger out of her hand and hurled it at Erica. Emily weakly looked up at her, defenseless. Silver glared down at her with all the hatred in the world through her multicolored eyes. One eye-- the human eye-- was a warm, burnt honey brown. The other eye, though it looked human enough, had an iris the color of steel and when she used her laser, a pupil of radiant red but otherwise black. Emily could see the fire in both of them. “I'll crush you and your friends like the bugs you are!” She brought her foot up and kicked Emily in the face with her metal boot. Emily spit blood and felt a horrible pain in her jaw. There's got to be something I can do! “Look at me, freshman! I want to see the hope leave your eyes, and your life after it!” She cackled darkly. Desperate, Emily wrapped her fingers around the barrel of the shotgun.

            She put all of her energy into the swing. The butt of the gun hit Silver right in the eye. When she got a good look at the damage, she saw that she completely shorted the eye out. While Silver was clutching her face in pain, Emily flipped the gun around in her hands, grateful it didn't fire at impact, and shot several rounds into Silver's chest. The shotgun blasts tore through Silver's seemingly impenetrable armor and opened the chest around her heart. Emily fired two more blasts into her chest, certain that she had killed the heart, before she took a second to breathe. Silver's eyes rolled into the back of her head. She fell backwards, flat on her back, and didn't move. The lights faded. Silver was dead. Emily wanted to cheer, but a scream erupted from deeper in the cavern where Jasmine and Ariana fought Kiara and Erica. This is no time for celebration!

            Kiara was firing streams of electricity in every direction. “Try aiming!” Emily managed to shout, barely sidestepping one of the lose bolts. “I am! It's Jasmine!” Emily had to squint in order to see it. Jasmine was trying to find a good opportunity to land a blow, but every time she was about to solidify, Kiara shot a bolt of lightning straight through her. Emily could see through Jasmine's plan though. She was trying to tire her out. “This isn't going to work!” Ariana said. “Jasmine! You'd better go, I can hold them off!” What are they talking about? Why is she telling Jasmine to leave? Jasmine nodded and disappeared through the wall. Emily saw Erica's beastly form lying dead against the wall near the feet of the senior. Emily wished she could be more help. Stop that. She told herself. You've helped plenty by killing that mechanical monster and her master. Just then, Kiara fired a bolt straight through Ariana, who had been trying to control Kiara's arm to point at herself. “Good shot!” Emily shouted as Ariana fell backwards. Emily stood up on shaky legs. Kiara steadied her. “Some battle, huh?” She breathed. “Yeah.” Emily agreed.

            The cavern was eerily silent. They had to find Jasmine in order to stop the simulation and win. The bodies of seniors and underclassmen alike littered the ground. Emily couldn't look anymore. “Let's get out of here.” She mumbled. “Though I don't know what help I'll be like this.” “Oh please, Emily.” Kiara said. “You've done plenty. I'm not going to leave you here to die. That's just wrong.” Suddenly a cold breeze blew from behind them. “I certainly would hope not.”

            Kiara and Emily turned around. Emily's jaw hit the floor. “No. That's not possible. You... you're dead!” She said. Alex laughed out loud. “A sacrifice is a powerful thing.” “Sacrifice? What sacrifice?” Kiara said shakily. Alex didn't even look alive. Her skin seemed to be drained of its color. The whites of her eyes had yellowed slightly, and there was a trail of dried blood down the side of her face from her ear. She took a very lively step forward. Emily suddenly flashed back to the weird conversation Ariana and Jasmine had just before Jasmine vanished through one of the walls. “Kiara,” Emily nudged her side. “It was Jasmine. She gave Alex her own life force.” She whispered. Alex glared at her. “Congratulations on figuring that one out. I underestimated you.” Emily grunted in response. Damn right you did. “I didn't know you had more than three functioning brain cells!” She threw her head back in a fit of laughter. “Oh, I am so done with you!” Emily screamed. Emily pulled out her twins with shaky hands. Alex's eyes and fingertips glowed blue, and the guns curled into pretzels in her hands. Emily felt Alex do something else to her mind, and Emily fell back into Kiara's arms, seeing spots in the corners of her vision. Alex breathed heavily, as if that took much of her effort. “You can never win against me. Silver!” Oh, damn it. Emily cursed herself for not ripping the cyborg to shreds when she had the chance. Clank. Drag. Clank. Drag. Clank. Drag. Silver rounded the corner of the cavern. She looked just as undead as Alex, except she was glowing with the blue mist Alex seemed to accumulate whenever she used her power on something. Her leg was twisted at a weird angle but somehow she was forcing it to use. Erica must have done it to her during the battle and Emily just didn't notice. Perhaps it had healed that way. There was also a haunting, gaping hole in her chest where she could physically see where Alex's mist was holding Silver's mechanical heart together and forcing it to pump blood...or maybe it was oil, Emily wasn't sure. “Yes?” “Dispose of Kiara. The freshman's mine.” “With pleasure.” She spat as she glared at Kiara. Silver's chest clicked and struggled open, and a plasma ball began to form. “I'll dispose of you first, Emily. You're no use to me in this state.” Alex lifted her hand in the air. Emily watched as her eyes and fingertips glowed blue, and she felt a tight compression in her chest. It was getting harder to breathe. Alex was dragging out her death. All of a sudden, Alex was hit with a wave of lightning. The pressure faded. “I'm still here, you idiot!” Kiara growled, then focused back on Silver, ready to jump and dodge whenever she fired the massive plasma ball. Alex picked herself off of the ground with great effort. She might have just come back from the dead, but she's still weak. “Not for very long!” Her fingers were gnarled in a claw-like position and were radiating blue... but only for a moment. She shuffled backwards into the wall weakly. “W-what...?” She seemed as confused as Emily and Kiara were. Silver collapsed to the ground as well as if gravity had suddenly increased on the two of them. The plasma ball forming in her chest dissipated. Alex looked at Silver, a wave of understanding crossed her face. “I'm... I'm sorry Silver.” She mumbled. Silver weakly looked up at her. “Do it.” “What are you two talking about?” Kiara demanded. Neither Emily nor Kiara did anything in fear of what the seniors were up to.

            The glowing blue mist around Silver faded, and the cyborg died again. Alex took a deep breath and rose to her feet, full of life. She looked at her dead partner sadly for a moment, then set her sights angrily on the underclassmen. Alex raised both of her hands in the air, taking Emily and Kiara with them. A moment later, the two of them were standing in North's control room.

            “What the hell was that? I don't understand. What happened to Silver? What happened to Jasmine?” Kiara demanded as she sipped at a cup of hot chocolate in the dining area. Emily shrugged. “Did you notice how when Alex used her power, both of them collapsed? Then did you see how Alex got stronger when she...” She didn't know quite how to put it. 'Let Silver die' seemed almost inappropriate. Luckily she didn't have to find the right words. North started to explain. “Emily's on the right track. Jasmine did give her life to Alex, as is one of her abilities. She can only give enough 'life force' to bring back one person, and just the same she can leave that person at any time. When Alex brings Silver back to life, she gives up a lot of energy to do so. Jasmine, who is technically already dead, doesn't have quite as much life force that would sustain the normal energy of a living being. Alex didn't realize that. Technically, there's no way she'd know. She's never died and had to be brought back. Lucky for you guys, the simulations don't have memory.”

            “That explained that.” Emily said as they walked into the sleeping room. It wasn't even really a room. It was a slightly wider hallway with slots in the walls and ladders climbing up like a bunk bed. Emily slept on the top. Just when she got comfortable, her mind started nagging at her. I wish they would all go back to how they used to be. “Hey guys,” Erica started. “Have you ever wondered what happened to Mr. Gray?” “Course.” Amber said quickly. “He's helping the seniors fight like how North's helping us.” “What!?” “No way!” “You really think so?” Everyone shouted. Emily shook her head. “I don't believe it. Mr. Gray loved all of us. He wouldn't side with the enemy.” She said confidently. She started to get worried when nobody responded. Mr. Gray was the color guard instructor for their school's marching band. “Well,” Kiara began, “Those seniors were Mr. Gray's babies. I mean, Jasmine was one of his first students right? Then he taught Silver, Alex, Ariana-- and a season later, Ginger-- everything they know. Like, literally everything.” She sighed. Emily shut her eyes angrily. No. I refuse to believe that. “He taught all of us everything we know too.” She said. “True, but just look at their guard skills. We're still new at this. They're tossing forty-fives and catching them behind their backs for Christ's sake Emily. And the rifle. You can't deny that Mr. Gray and the seniors bonded over learning the rifle at around the same time. Then look, both Alex and Silver had solo parts in the last marching show. Alex was the Pink Panther and was doing some mad dance and flag skills while Silver was Inspector Gadget with that rifle of hers.” She was right. Emily couldn't deny Mr. Gray's favoritism. It had always been there and to an extent had always been obvious, but Emily never wanted to believe that. Emily bit back an angry growl. Mr. Gray had meant the world to them.

            “Hey Emily, you said Mr. Gray wouldn't side with the enemy?” Penny asked. “Yeah?” “Well, who is the enemy?” She was met with scoffs and questioned expressions. “Uh, them. Obviously.” Amber said. “No, that's not what I mean. Look at this from the seniors' prospective. We look like the bad guys.” She protested. “They're tyrants.” Kiara said blandly. Penny shook her head. “No you aren't getting it! Look at it this way; we're two different teams going for the same goal: The destruction of the other team. Our team's point of view is that they're the bad guys, right?” Everyone nodded. “Well, would it make sense if we viewed them as the good guys, and we were the tyrants?” “Hell no!” Erica barked. “Are you insane?” Penny held up a finger patiently. “Why wouldn't they think the same thing?” “Well, let me field you on that one.” Amber stepped in. “First of all, they don't think. Only Alex thinks. Everyone else is under her mind control.” I'm not the only one that thinks so! Emily felt a glimmer of hope. She decided to chip into the conversation. “I feel like if we stop Alex, the others will break free of her grip and go back to normal!” She said. Amber glared at her angrily. “You interrupted me.” Emily rolled her eyes. “Anyway, Alex thinks like a monster. She wants us dead for no apparent reason. We don't want power. We just want peace.” “And the only way to obtain peace is for us to get power over them. Alex's no idiot. We’re fighting for the same thing.” Emily butted in, defending Penny’s point. She didn't let Amber argue. “If we can somehow break the mental connection Alex has with the other seniors, then they might turn on her, and this stupid war will be over! We won't have to hide underground anymore!” She finished. “I have to disagree with you.” Kiara said. “Why?” “Because... alright. Take Silver for example. She was friends with all of us, but mostly she was friends with the other seniors.” “Naturally.” “Exactly. When Silver stood up to Alex to defend us, it wasn't because she favored any of us over her, necessarily. It was that she was just doing what she thought was right. When Alex blasted her, she felt bad. Silver saw that Alex regretted blowing her in half when she fixed her. She showed she cared. It would only be natural for Silver to be even closer to Alex.” “But what about the others?” Emily asked. Silver was an obvious case. “Well, Alex and Ariana were friends since the dawn of time, practically. Ginger's her biological sister. Jasmine's a good friend... what do you want?” I don't know anymore. Emily had thought for sure her idea was flawless. Amber suddenly chuckled. “What's so funny?” Emily asked. “Nothing. Well, alright. So don't you think it was a little ironic that Silver was Inspector Gadget in the show? You know, the cyborg cop? What are the odds-” “Shush.” Kiara said. Amber's tone grew angrier. “I'm sorry, did I ruin something? Do you idiots not know what a jo-” “No, shush. I think I heard something.” Everyone fell dead silent.

            The only sound that was heard was their own breathing and the beeping of the machines in North's control room. “I don't hear anything.” Emily said after a minute or two. “I could have sworn I heard something. It sounded like... I don't know.” “Sounded like what?” Emily asked. “I think I'm just being paranoid.” “Sounded like what?” Emily asked again. Kiara pressed her hand to her forehead. “I thought I heard Silver's footsteps.” A few of the girls chuckled. “Yeah, you're paranoid.” Erica laughed. Clank. Clank. Clank! The laughter stopped immediately. “Oh my God...” Clank. Clank. Clank. Emily gripped her blanket tighter as if it could protect her from getting vaporized by Silver. Clank. Clank. Clank! A head popped up at the top of the ladder that led from the control room into the dorm room. Everyone screamed. “Silver!” Kiara shrieked. She shot a bolt of lightning at it, and the figure fell back down the ladder. There was a loud boom as it hit the floor at the bottom. It was quiet again. “Did you kill her?” Amber whispered. Kiara jumped out of her bunk and walked over to the ladder. She looked down, and slapped her hands over her mouth. “Oh my God I killed Ms. North!”

            “What!?” They all shouted. Emily jumped out of her bed, almost landing on Penny. She followed Kiara and Erica down the hole into North's control room. Penny tried to shove past her. “Let me through!” She yelled. She stood above Ms. North and formed a ball of intensely-glowing green energy the size of her fist. She slammed it down into North's chest. Suddenly North tensed and gasped for air. Kiara breathed a sigh of relief and fell back onto her heels. “Oh thank God!” North twitched a couple of times with the electricity flowing through her body. Kiara tried to absorb the shock, but it seemed to be fading out of North too quickly. The clanking noise had just been her coming up the ladder.

            Penny shooed everyone away and told them to go to bed while she stayed with North overnight just in case she needed another jump. When they offered to move her upstairs, she said it was unwise to move her at all, let alone up a narrow ladder. Reluctantly, everyone agreed and went to bed. Emily fell asleep quickly.