Amanda was screwing with me. I had known she would from the start, of course. What I hadn't known was just how effective it would be. I was supposed to be focusing on keeping an eye on her while she helped fix that machine, but my mind kept drifting back to what she had said about what Maki was really doing back in Detroit. And, more importantly, who that Abyssal my parents were trying to identify could be. I'd been up and down constantly through the theory that it was me, or even Simon. One second I believed it, and the next I let myself think it couldn't be us.

I had known coming into this that Amanda was going to say things to poke at me, to distract me, to try to get a reaction. I had known she would play games. Which made it even worse to realize that knowing didn't help that much. I should've been ready for her to say anything, ready to take her words and set them aside for the time being. No matter how true they were, no matter what sort of feelings they made me have, I should've been able to put them in a box and ignore them until this was over. So why couldn't I? Why couldn't I just put that away until later? Why did the damn thoughts and doubts keep coming up to take so much of my attention despite all of my efforts?

Worse, from the cheerful way Amanda was whistling to herself as she worked on the machine, it was obvious she knew just how effective her efforts to throw me off had been. She didn't seem to even care that much that I didn't give her any new information (well, not intentionally anyway) when it came to who Maki was and what they were doing. For the moment, the woman was satisfied with just reading my body language to confirm I did know who she was talking about, and that her words had totally rattled me. That was enough for her to go right back to work.

And I couldn't even complain about her not doing what she was supposed to, because she did. That was the thing, she might've intentionally gotten under my skin and distracted me, but she really did work hard on fixing and improving that teleportation shield. From what I and (far more importantly) Wren could tell, Amanda was setting that shield up to do exactly what we wanted. Hell, she was even extending the 'can't teleport anywhere else for awhile afterward' effect to better cover other movement powers like enhanced speed, or various ways of creating portals.

The point was, I couldn't just have them pull her out for not helping, because she was. And this whole thing was too important to let the fact that she was distracting me ruin the plan. We still needed her help, and she knew it. So, I gritted my teeth, tried not to give away absolutely every answer she could possibly have wanted through my body language, and kept working. Though in my case, working basically meant doing as much grunt labor and holding things as those two needed. All while Amanda occasionally asked more questions about the 'perfect Touched' person. Of course, I didn't have to actually tell her what I knew, but she still picked up enough just by reading my reactions to make me uncomfortable. Okay, more uncomfortable than I already was.

In any case, I did all that grunt labor and let Amanda pester me about Maki until it was time for me to head back to the stadium. Obviously, I wasn't about to leave Wren alone with her. Not only did none of us trust that bitch at all, but they still needed extra hands. So, Peyton took my place.

I couldn't actually hear a ticking clock in my head as I left that garage and started to head back to the arena. That wasn't part of my power set. Or maybe I just hadn't found the right color combo for it. But it sure as hell felt like I could. The sound of every second ticking by boomed so loudly in my mind it practically echoed. It almost made me wonder why it wasn't disturbing the people in the bus I'd landed on to ride part of the way back. Laying on the roof as other cars honked at me on their way past, I did my very best to look like I was just relaxing up there.

Going through another round of this tournament was basically the last thing I wanted to be doing while the others were all still working to set up this whole plan of ours. I just felt so stupid and helpless, relying on them to do so much. It had been bad enough at the garage dealing with Amanda. At least then I was contributing in some small way. I was there in the middle of things.

But then, I was still contributing to the plan this way, I kept telling myself through the entire bus ride. It wasn't just about keeping Casura from realizing we were up to something (or even that there was a we to begin with), but also about making sure I had enough points to get out on that field as close as possible to Safeguard during the ceremony. He was her main target, so he was the one I had to make absolutely certain never got anywhere close to putting one of those rings on.

It was while I was lost in thought about that whole mess that I got a very different sort of shock. The bus was just cruising down the busy street to the other side of the city when a billboard drew my attention. A billboard with my picture on it. Well, Paintball's picture. It had been taken from the first match, showing me in midleap. Next to that picture were several quotes from famous comic book artists and writers all supporting me in the games, and urging others to do the same. The billboard was one of those digital ones that could change images, so over a dozen quotes kept cycling through, along with a few different pictures from various matches.

"Wow, those guys really like you, kid," a familiar, and very unwelcome, voice put in beside me. Without any warning at all, Casura was just sitting there, crosslegged on top of the bus like she didn't have a care in the whole world. One second I thought I was alone, then she was there.

I'm not ashamed to say I jumped, a blurted curse escaping me as I twisted to look that way. Yes, that was obviously the reaction she was hoping for. Especially given the way the woman started to giggle while I was still busy trying to get my heart to get back out of my throat. She tilted her head at me, staring with that red-visored helmet, those two black dots and creepily wide black mouth shape serving as a face with no real expression. Worse, that giggle was almost childlike. It made me think of some innocent little girl, which was just… the worst right then. And, again, very obviously an intentional thing. Casura loved scaring people, and creeping them out. I wasn't sure if she liked that better than she enjoyed just killing people, but it seemed fairly close.

As soon as I actually processed the fact that she really was there, my head snapped back around to look at all the cars around the bus. Cars that were still full of people waving at me.

"Oh don't freak out so much, you'll scare all those people if you don't chill," Casura advised, as she leaned back with her hands resting casually behind her to prop herself up. "Especially since none of them can actually see me. No one can but you, at least for the moment. You keep that up and they're gonna start looking around trying to figure out what's got you so agitated, and that's how accidents happen." Her head shook. "You don't wanna be responsible for a fifty car pileup because you scared a bunch of drivers into not watching where they're going, do you?"

No one could see her but me? But that meant she could make it so I couldn't see her either. Did she know what I was up to, what my team was up to? Had she been watching and listening to us the whole time? Was this the part where she would teach me a lesson for trying to stop her?

Yeah, it wasn't exactly easy for me to calm down right then, to say the least. My heart was still stuck up in my throat, hammering its way through a wicked drum solo in a heavy metal song. I couldn't find my voice through that. I could barely swallow through it. But I did manage to force myself to raise a hand and wave back at the next set of cars going by. The helmet meant they couldn't see the blind panic and fear on my face, so all they had to go off of was body language. Fortunately, none of those people seemed to be as good at reading said body language as Amanda apparently was. They simply cheered and called out encouragement. Though a few made it clear they were actually rooting for others above me, they still wanted me to get a ring. That was really one of the best parts of the LEAT games. As long as you got enough points, you got a ring. Between that and the fact that they mixed up who the contestants faced through each round as the games went along, you could have a few favorites, but still root for plenty of others.

And just why in the fuck was I thinking about how the games worked while Casura was there?

Right, because my brain had seen the possibility that Casura was here to reveal that she knew what I was planning and that all of that was for nothing, and had just gone sprinting in the other direction as fast as it fucking could to avoid even considering that. I'd rather sit here and think about the games than consider what Casura wanted. Hell, I'd rather think about the weekend I'd had my wisdom teeth pulled (which itself had come up recently as proof that I wasn't one of those Abyssals, since I had been under observation during that attack) than focus on this bitch.

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"You really do need to chill," she informed me, voice as casual as ever. "Sit back, take a load off. Let's have a nice chat for a minute. You've got some extra time before your next match anyway."

Well, what was I supposed to say to that? For a fleeting second, the urge to tell her to fuck off and just leap away from the bus to go paint-sprinting as far from her as possible jumped into mind. And boy would that have been fun, for about half a second before she either used some power to yank me back, or made me pay for it by killing some of these people. Or one of her hostages. I let myself entertain the thought briefly, then swallowed as I leaned back and did my very best to look like I was calm. Not for her, of course. For all the people driving past. If they started to get any idea that something was wrong and tried to call for help or whatever, it wouldn't go well.

"Okay," I made myself say, ignoring the heavy strain in my own voice. "What do you want to talk about? You into baseball? I heard the Tigers are supposed to be doing pretty good this year."

Another giggle escaped that woman. "You know, one of me really was into that stuff, but I forget which one, to be honest. And that's probably for the best. After all, if I paid too much attention to it, I'd just be tempted to go slaughter everyone who ever beat any of my favorite teams. Which might be fun the first couple times, but after awhile it'd just become predictable and boring. Not to mention the fact that they'd just have to end the whole sport or something because everyone would refuse to compete against anyone I like. Being me is a responsibility I take seriously."

She held that in total silence for a few long seconds, before bursting out laughing. "Actually, it's fucking awesome. I love being me. If anyone else could pull it off, I'd highly recommend it. But speaking of responsibility, you've been taking care of yours, haven't you?" With that abrupt shift, her head tilted as she looked at me, her own expression as hidden as mine. "You've been running your little tail off out there, trying to figure out how to stop me from ruining these games."

I couldn't say anything. I didn't trust my voice, and even if I did, the words wouldn't come. The thoughts wouldn't come. If she knew what we were up to, if she knew what we were trying to do, and how much it would screw with her plans, what would she do? Would she threaten to kill my friends, my little sister, or would she just do it and then present me with the consequences of my actions? Did-- did she already do it? Was Casura sitting here with me after killing someone I cared about, or a lot of someones? Was… was Paige okay? Were Sierra and the others still alive? A sudden, crippling terror had just sprung into me, taking over my every thought. I had no idea what to do right then. If she hurt any of them, if she… if she did anything, I was going to--

"Dude." Casura had leaned a little closer, voice dropping into a conspiratorial tone. "Seriously, chill. I mean, I did tell you to try to stop me, remember? I distinctly remember ordering you to do your very best to do just that. I may have a lot of issues. A whole Readers Digest collection worth of them, really. But I don't say things I don't mean. Wait, back up, I do say things I don't mean, as jokes. Jokes are fun. But not something like this. I'm a supervillain, not an abusive parent. If I tell you I want you to try to stop me, I'm not going to get all bent out of shape when you do that. I know you're running around out there trying to figure out what I'm up to, and how to make sure it doesn't happen. That's the fun part of all this. I can't wait to see what you do."

She continued before I could say anything. "I could find out pretty easily, obviously. Hell, I bet I could order you to tell me absolutely everything you've been up to, or I'd… say, incinerate all the people in the bus under us. You're the type of person who would just give up right then, huh? If I said, 'give me all your secrets or every single person in this bus is going to burn to death,' you'd do it. You wouldn't let them die. You wouldn't sit and listen to them scream in absolute agony." Her voice made it sound like she was describing a succulent meal.

Helmet or no helmet, the terror coursing through my body must've been pretty obvious, because she laughed lightly again, head shaking. "Like I said, it'd be pretty easy for me to find out the truth. Even if I didn't want to threaten people, I could find you, follow you, track down just what you've been doing with a snap of my fingers." Her hand rose, teasingly pressing two fingers together while she glanced at me slyly. Then she lowered her hand and shrugged. "But that would be cheating. It's like playing a video game and having all the cheat codes on the whole time, you know? What's the point? I could start the game, type a code, and just win without even trying. But there's no game then. To make it fun, you need to actually play. So, I'm playing. And that means letting you do your very best to stop me before this is over. Good luck with that, kid."

I let that sit for a few seconds, mulling it over as the bus made a turn. Then I asked, "Is that all? Because I should probably get back to that whole stopping you thing if you're done terrifying me for a little while." There was still a voice inside me screaming at me to shut the fuck up and stop antagonizing her, but I couldn't help it. The words came before I even knew what I was saying.

For Casura's part, she simply laughed with delight. "Sure, that's all I wanted to do--wait, no, hold on. I totally forgot, I actually did have another reason for paying you a visit. I wanted to give you a present."

Well, now the voice in my head wasn't berating me about being sarcastic at the evil lady. It was too busy screaming hysterically about what sort of present she'd want to give me. And boy was my imagination working overtime. Seriously, I really needed to switch over to decaf or something, cuz hoo boy did I not need the mental images my paranoia was kicking in right then.

By the time I managed to collect myself at least enough to even think about asking what she meant, Casura was already standing up. "Come on then, I can't wait to show you. I just know you'll be super-surprised. I'd say something about seeing the look on your face, but, well…" Her hand gave a vague gesture toward my helmet before she snickered and held it out to me, like she was waiting for me to actually take the offered hand. "Hurry up now, I'm not gonna bite today."

That urge to run away was back, and equally useless now as it had been a few moments earlier. I forced it back, along with the urge to vomit right there in my helmet. But my stomach still felt queasy as I reluctantly accepted the offered hand. What else could I do? Running away (or just trying to) wasn't going to stop whatever it was she'd done for me as a 'present.' I needed to face this. Trying not to think about what the people in those other cars were seeing as she pulled me to my feet, I asked, "So is this the part where you tell me where to start running to, or are we--"

I stopped then, because we weren't on top of the bus anymore. Just like that, without any actual motion or warning from the woman herself, we were both standing in what looked like a hallway in some rundown, possibly condemned office building. It had definitely seen some better days.

Without even saying anything else to me, Casura strode away. She just started walking down the hall, like she expected me to follow. Which I did. I'd already told myself I didn't have any choice, so there was no sense in delaying the inevitable. Terrified as I was about what this present might be, I made myself walk after her. It was all I could do just to put one foot in front of the other and walk down that hall while visions of what I might be heading for played in my head.

As for Casura, she was cheerfully whistling. Hell, I was pretty sure she was skipping as she led me that way, until we came to a door labeled cafeteria. Not that it was easy to read, given all the dust over it and a few missing letters. But it was pretty clear what the place was supposed to be. My guide glanced back at me, gave a soft giggle, then pushed the door open with one hand and gestured for me to go ahead. Her voice was almost gentle. "Don't worry, you're totally safe now."

Now? I was totally safe now? What was that supposed to mea-- right, I wasn't going to get any answers just standing there staring at her. Steeling myself, I took a breath before taking a step through that doorway. And just like that, I saw exactly what Casura had brought me here for. I saw the present she'd prepared for me.

Bodies. Broken, torn, dismembered bodies.

There were dead bodies everywhere I looked. And blood, just…so much blood. More than I could possibly have imagined coming from even this many bodies. There were corpses nailed into walls, pulverized and scattered across the floor, torn apart with the pieces haphazardly tossed in small piles on the few remaining tables, and so much more. There had to be at least fifty people in here. At least fifty dead people. It was hard to even try to estimate any real figures, considering how many of them had been ripped apart. This single room dozens upon dozens of dead people. People who had clearly been tortured, ripped apart while they were still breathing, some put out of their misery in the midst of crawling toward one of the exits, while others were pinned to the wall and… and… played with. Pieces… pieces of the bodies were missing, like they had been taken while the people were still alive and.. and…oh… oh God.

Costumes. A lot of these people, these corpses, were wearing normal clothes. But there were some costumes mixed in there. Including one dead center, straight ahead of me. The figure had been crucified up against a pillar, eyes and fingers taken. And her… her torso was open, with what looked like various… umm… umm… bits inside taken out. It probably happened one by one while she was kept alive to experience it. Her throat had probably been slit last to end it, a mercy by that point. Most of her costume had been destroyed in the process, but at one time it had been a dark red bodysuit with black swirl patterns. A rather familiar dark red bodysuit with black swirl patterns. I'd just seen this girl the other night, when I was with Dani.

"Her name was Hyperkey," Casura informed me easily, hand coming down on my shoulder as I stood there in absolute shock. "She and the rest of these guys called themselves Vicearious. They were planning to ambush you when you got done with your matches tonight. Something about paying you back for some fight you had or whatever. Had a whole plan for ruining your day and everything. But don't you worry, Paints, I didn't want anything distracting you from our game, so I took care of it for you.

"You're welcome."

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