March 6th, 2018

Mercer Island

Tesla Academy

06:45 AM

 

Elissa was late! She arrived in the parking lot of the academy by car. The meditation she had done this morning and the elated feeling she had when she had taken in that new energy she felt around had made it impossible to tell how much time had passed. Tesla Academy covered the south end of the island, from Island Crest Park to South Point and was smack dab in the middle of that claimed territory; the entrance to the pocket dimension of the Daphne Snow was on  Island Crest Way near the installations connected to the Academy.

The young woman parked her car in the slot reserved for students with transportation. There were other vehicles already there, ranging from a beat-up Toyota to an old school Hyundai, in the shadow of the big pyramidal-like building of the academy. Elissa understood that it was mostly for show and that the installations of the school were underground a bit like for Daphne Snow. Elissa looked at her makeup in the mirror, slicked a rebellious wick of hair back out of her face and then finally exited her Camaro. She was in her school uniform and had a black gym bag with sport clothes inside and some pemmican bars for breakfast as she didn’t have enough time to eat in her dorm. The redhead pressed a button on her key and locked her car’s doors.

Elissa still had fifteen minutes to get to the hospital wing of the academy. The young woman walked through the car lot, noticing the obvious cameras and with her sharp hearing the hidden ones that still made sounds. Thanks to Elissa’s CLO, the little Communicator, Locator, and Organizer that was the single most important thing in the territory of Tesla Academy, she had everything on it, her bank, her phone’s contacts, a map, and even internet. It seemed that it also acted as some kind of security pass because when Elissa entered the school the parking barrier opened by itself.

Finally finding the elevator hall, Elissa quickly consulted her CLO to know which one she needed to take to get to the medical facility. The elevator’s doors opened and Elissa voiced where she wanted to go. Basement four, the holo map in the elevator control showed a big underground complex with three sub-levels. The redhead waited till she arrived, it took a good five minutes. When the door opened she was welcomed by a tall black woman in her mid-twenties with gorgeous African braids wearing a lab coat over a blue shirt and black skirt. Her brown eyes were kind and her expression showed that she was waiting for her and was excited, to put it mildly. Pinned on her lab coat there was a badge with her name and picture on it.

*Doctor Sandra Jordan.* Elissa read.

The woman gave a beautiful smile, and as she showed her teeth Elissa noticed how white and shiny they were. This doctor could have been a model for toothpaste ads.

"Um...hi there, I'm-" The redhead found herself a bit overwhelmed by the doctor's raw enthusiasm.

“Elissa Von Braun, I am so happy to meet you! I am Doctor Sandra Jordan, please follow me.” The woman said enthusiastically.

Elissa followed the peppy woman who almost skipped towards the end of the corridor and when they reached it she made movements with her hand signalling to the girl to enter. The young woman found she didn’t know how to handle people like this woman; she was reminded of her sister always making others go at her rhythm.

Elissa passed through the door and was stupefied by what she saw; the well-lit room looked like it was straight out of a sci-fi film like Cosmic Wars. She remembered a particular scene from that movie because Queen Zaboo had been making out with the star knight Alarkin. The room was at least one hundred meters across, and Elissa saw something that resembled a massive computer screen on the right wall, a lab chair with white cushions that looked too comfortable to be real. There were similar chairs in front of each of the other walls of the room. Chrome was everywhere: appliances, machines, and tools Elissa didn't even have names for were neatly organized on the tables in the room. The smell of disinfectant was everywhere, and the bright lights and LEDs glowing on every electronic tool sparked Elissa's curiosity.

Doctor Jordan invited Elissa to put her gym bag near the white chair.

“I watched the videos of your exam placement. We monitored everything, and you are the third superhuman we’ve discovered so far with multiple abilities.” Doctor Jordan began without preamble.

Elissa went still and began to think fast about what she must say; she decided to use the usual lie about just having sharpened senses, healing, and cryokinesis. Her face became neutral and her voice matter of fact.

“With my cryokinesis and heal-” Elissa began to say.

Doctor Jordan's demeanor completely changed, she looked at Elissa as if she had caught a particularly naughty child with her hand in the cookie jar. The doctor crossed her arms and said, “Don't take me for an idiot young lady, I know you have more of them.”

Elissa fought to not show her surprise and tried keeping her poker face. She put her hand before her, palm open and shrugged.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” She decided to keep lying.

Doctor Jordan rolled her eyes, put her hand on her CLO, causing the supercomputer’s screen on the wall to turn on. Videos of her exam and data on her vitals opened and for long minutes Elissa kept silent while watching what could be constituted of ‘damning evidence’. There was a video of her speaking with her ravens and them doing exactly what she wanted. Another video of Dawn and her speaking Japanese with the proficiency of natives. The blatant invasion of privacy aside, Elissa felt trapped.

“I know for certain that you can learn languages really fast and speak to animals.” Doctor Jordan said smugly. The smile on her face was telling Elissa to go ahead and try to lie to her face again.

The redhead shut her eyes, sweating nervously.“Wow, maybe I should avoid this physical thing after all.” She turned heel and went to get her gym bag.

Doctor Jordan caught Elissa’s hand and stopped her from fleeing.“Ah-ah, where are you going? Does having multiple abilities bother you?”

When Elissa turned and looked at the doctor to tell her to let go she found the black woman with a puzzled expression. To doctor Jordan she couldn’t understand this young woman, normally kids like her loved fame and recognition, so advertising that she is a holder of multiple abilities should have pleased her. Elissa stopped trying to make the woman unhand her and considered that maybe she needed to speak about it like a mature young adult.

“Doctor Jordan…” Elissa began.

The black woman made another beautiful smile, Elissa realized that this person was the kind that was difficult to hate and disarmed you with kindness.

“Please call me Sandra.” The black woman said as she flipped some braids.

Elissa sighed heavily and prepared to negotiate with the woman while complying to call her by her given name. “Sandra, can you keep my other abilities confidential?” The redhead said.

Sandra opened her eyes wide, calmed down to think about it and then nodded.“Certainly! I will make it only available to be seen by the-”

Elissa interrupted her, “You didn’t understand me, doctor, what I meant was could you keep it from any computers or records?”

The young woman made a pleading expression as she looked the black woman in the eyes. There was no need for deception now so Elissa tried to convey her needs to the woman. Sandra intended to make the girl's information only available to the school and the Superhuman League, but it seemed that the young woman didn’t trust either of those entities. The doctor was flabbergasted by this; the League had always seemed trustworthy to her.

Sandra invited Elissa to sit on the white lab chair, went to take one of the plastic chairs she reserved for accompanying people and sat on it.

“Can you explain to me why I shouldn't tell anyone else about this?” Sandra decided to let the girl before her try to convince her.

Elissa sat and put her hands on her thighs and looked torn, what she was about to say was personal. She didn’t even speak about it with Kelly or Dawn, only with her family. But maybe this was a chance? Sandra Jordan looked like someone you could trust even though she was a stranger. So Elissa began to talk about what happened when she was twelve years old in France; how she got kidnapped by a shadowy organization and experimented on by uncaring scientists for three days and how they forced the awakening of her superhuman state with the cosmic energy ray they had shot her with.

Elissa didn’t spare Sandra from the truth that she had killed her captors with her uncontrolled abilities. She remembered this feeling of power and extreme cold around her as if it were yesterday. Seeing all those men and women being turned into icy statues had traumatized her and awakened a dark part of herself she didn’t know existed at the time. When those bad people had hurt her, Elissa had wanted to fight back and make them stop. But killing everyone? She hadn’t wanted to. It was also one of the reasons she wanted to become a hero; she wanted to punish those that deserve it, either with the law or by putting them down permanently if she needed to. Some creatures, human or otherwise, didn't need to exist on Earth. Obviously, Elissa kept that last part to herself.

Sandra looked shocked. Elissa hoped that she hadn’t made the woman hate her. The doctor stood up and walked quickly towards the redhead and embraced her, stroking her hair as if she was a child to reassure her that everything would be ok. As for Sandra, she had seen Elissa’s pain with a past she clearly struggled with.

*No wonder she acts so mature for her age, she has been subjected to terrible things.* The doctor thought.

Elissa hugged the black woman, finding that it weird that she opened up like that to a woman she didn’t know. They stayed like this for another two minutes. When the two untangled, Elissa looked embarrassed and Sandra motherly. The doctor went back to her seat but still stayed alert for any signs of distress from the girl.

“That’s why my family doesn’t want to advertise that we all have multiple abilities,” Elissa said as she played with her hands.

Sandra nodded, she understood Elissa's misgivings; after that experience she also wouldn’t let anyone near her kids, government or not. Then the doctor began to think about the files she had read on the young redhead.

“You have a younger sister I heard.” She said it as a statement, not a question.

Elissa squinted her eyes dangerously; anyone wanting to harm Cassie wouldn’t get the benefit of a swift death.

“Yes, then you might understand what I mean. I would prefer dropping out of the academy than making my family a target.”

The sharp gaze and the resolute tone in Elissa’s voice convinced Sandra; she didn’t like it, but to assuage the fears of this young broken thing she had before her she would do what she asked. The doctor also knew that she was the daughter of a powerful couple of Omega ranked humans, so she would at least try not to antagonize them.

Sandra decided to reign in her enthusiasm and be more professional.

“You are right, I am sorry I was just… so excited to meet someone like you.” The black woman said.

Elissa saw the woman become more subdued and she felt guilty as if she had kicked a puppy. So it was her turn to stand up and put a hand on the doctor’s shoulder.

“I understand Sandra.”

The woman’s shiny teeth appeared when she grinned as if she was the Cheshire cat. "We will keep this as our little secret unless it endangers me. I'm not that worried though, you sound like you've taken the steps necessary to be able to protect your secrets." The woman said while taking Elissa’s hand and jumping a bit.

“Sandra, you are being too exuberant right now,” Elissa said, embarrassed by the grown woman.

Elissa didn't actually dislike it however, seeing someone so happy and enthusiastic about her hobbies was sort of refreshing. Elissa wished she could do the same thing, raiding tombs or temples to find artifacts, but it was too expensive to do regularly.

“Sorry. I have a doctorate in Superhuman science…” Sandra looked subdued, but quickly recovered as she asked Elissa, “So, you said you had the power of healing?”

"Oh, yes, I do." Elissa showed Sandra her hand which was glowing with golden and white light.

Sandra looked at the young woman, smiling like she had just found a long lost sister. "You're like me then."

Elissa looked at the black woman, her eyes wide open, “Like you?!”

Sandra’s hand began to shine white and gold, the same as when Elissa used her own biological manipulation.

“Indeed, like me.”

---

Elissa couldn’t believe it; meeting a healer like Sandra was a really rare thing. They had even begun to compare notes when the black woman reminded the redhead that they were here for her physical and power test. It was Elissa’s turn to be subdued, but Sandra took pity on her and shared her contact details with the girl. Thus, the two proceeded to the locker room behind the second door of the medical bay. Once Elissa was completely naked, Sandra looked at her appreciatively. By using a tool that looked like a tricorder from Space Trek the doctor noted that the young woman was well developed for her age; Elissa's body shape had an hourglass figure, with full breasts, wide hips, and shapely legs.

“Hmm, you are still growing up Elissa. You gained two centimeters making you 163 cm, or 5’4” as they say in the states. You are now 62 kg, your bone mass is heavier than expected and your bra size verges on  double D. Young lady, you’ll have problems finding this size in the stores.” Doctor Sandra joked. “I noticed that you put on some muscle since the last checkup made at the Amazon Complex. We need to have those results adjusted, and evaluate where you stand right now.”

“Sure.” Elissa didn’t want to say that she might have put those muscles on overnight. She felt hungry already and the pemmican bars didn’t last while she was driving as she had eaten them all. The girl wasn’t bothered that she was putting on more weight; she was confident in her body and as a superhuman she couldn’t even put on fat. However, she could gain muscle mass.

The black woman went to an electronically protected locker, typed in a code, opened the locker and took out a plastic white suitcase. When Sandra opened it a light blue body suit was revealed. The fabric looked like plastic or a second skin and Elissa fell in love with it when she saw it.

“Can I buy something like that?” The young girl asked as she inspected the suit.

It was made of stretchy and soft fabrics, it reminded her of the sensation of touching skin. The outside was blue and on the inside, Elissa could see some kind of silvery pathways running from the back to each limb. She passed her fingers over them and felt indents and guessed that they were electronic in nature.

Sandra looked at the young woman who wore a fascinated expression as she examined the M-suit; however, she didn’t understand why Elissa was interested in it.

“The medical suit? It’s an expensive piece of equipment, in which capacity would you want to use one? This one is used for the tests since there are built in captors that feed data about your body to the computers here.”

Elissa whistled, “Sounds really cutting edge, but I want one like this that would be used as armor or under armor.” The redhead had already made a sketch of what she wanted as a superhero costume, and she didn’t want to go full armor with it.

This stretchy fabric could be worked on with alchemy and made as tough as dragon scales. Of course, she will have to ask for scales from Gadhiss who wasn’t in a hurry to leave. Sandra gave Elissa a knowing smile, after seeing the video of her fights she understood that this young lady was no dainty flower.

“Ah, then you will find this kind of product in the town supporting the academy. Just use your CLO to search the internet by using the ‘under armor’ keywords and it will lead you to some of the accredited vendors that the Academy trusts.”

The redhead found the company of the black woman really relaxing, she exuded some sort of peaceful aura that put Elissa at ease and, sad to say, cooperative.

“Now put this suit on and let’s proceed to this physical test.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Elissa mock-saluted and then laughed.

Elissa had a blast with Sandra for an entire morning, first Sandra looked at everything. With a scanner, she inspected Elissa’s skin, face, and eyes; her neck veins, chest and abdomen; her legs, muscles, elbows and joints. Thanks to the suit Elissa has on, the doctor could look at the teen’s organs on the supercomputer’s screen. Then she proceeded to do a neurological examination; she did a cranial nerve and motor function assessment. The doctor was satisfied with how healthy the redhead was; it was when she tested Elisa's senses that she made a discovery.

The young woman’s senses were off the charts, she possessed a form of enhanced synesthesia. Sandra found it fascinating that with no effort Elissa could do things such as being able to "smell" colors, "see" odors or perceive sound-waves as colorful lights.

*This could lead to being able to sense the emotions of others, among other feats. But how is she able to switch it off and on?* The doctor knew that synesthesia is a neurological phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway.

As she thought, Elissa possessed a plethora of powers and abilities that she was or wasn’t conscious of and thought normal. When she asked the young woman, she shrugged and said that even before she triggered, she was able to do that. Doctor Jordan was seriously doubting that Elissa was human at this point.

To finish the physical exam, Sandra proceeded to the assessment of the girl’s reflexes. Sandra put Elissa before a baseball pitching machine, the test was simple she ought to either evade the balls or pluck them from the air. To the doctor’s dismay, the young woman laughed at her and proceeded to catch the balls that were flying at more than 150 mph, so she had to raise the speed. When the machine threw the balls at more than 400 mph, and Elissa could still catch them she concluded that the young woman had superior reaction speeds compared to the Alpha ranked superhumans she had the pleasure of testing before.

“How would you describe the moment when you catch the balls?” Sandra asked her.

Elissa took a minute to think about it and finally answered, “Hmm, I would say that time gets really slow and then I speed up to catch them?”

“Great, you enter bullet time. I know of another superhuman with the same ability she’s working for the B.S.A, it also shows that you have another sub-ability called Sensorimotor Synchrony, it’s like when your body matches your mental speed; when the mind thinks, the body can keep up with the mind and move at the same time a thought is formed without delay between actions. You are starting to scare me Elissa.” The black woman confessed, her hands began to shake.

But Elissa came to her, put a hand on her shoulder to soothe her and said, “Aww, don’t be scared Sandra, I wouldn’t do anything to you.” She didn’t want to tell her that she should be scared as there is another world full of people like her. All the sub-abilities she described were noted in her history of Phantasia book as Ancient Human traits.

She really liked this doctor and decided that she would keep her.

---

“Now that the physical assessment is complete we will examine your more potent abilities, like your cryokinesis.” The doctor said.

She had her tricorder-like tool in hand and Elissa was intrigued by how a tiny little computer like this could have so many functions crammed into it. The young woman found herself hesitating too, afraid that she would hurt Sandra. Malicia had sealed her ability to weave spells, so Elissa won’t be able to take control of the cold her aura generated, nor manipulate the ice as skillfully as she usually did.

“I don’t feel ready for this…” Elissa said.

Doctor Sandra looked at Elissa who was suddenly unsure, weirded out by the change in demeanor she asked the young lady, “Why, from what I saw on the videos you have excellent control.”

“It’s not that, Sandra. The way I controlled them isn’t viable anymore…”

The Doctor wondered if Elissa’s power had grown stronger than before and she wasn’t able to control them anymore. It wasn’t common, but Sandra had seen this problem happen to a lot of other superhumans whose ability became uncontrollable.

Sandra looked meaningfully at the teenager who gazed downwards. “Should I be worried, Elissa?”

“You might die, don’t you have rooms to test dangerous abilities?” The redhead answered.

“Sure we have them.” Sandra won’t dismiss the fear of someone who knew her own powers.

Elissa raised her gaze from her feet and looked at the black woman, she almost thought that Sandra wouldn’t believe her. Yet again, the redhead thought that the black woman was super accommodating.

“Is it rated for a temperature of absolute zero?”

Sandra nodded and said, “Put your shoes on, and follow me.”

Sandra led Elissa out of the testing room and into the corridor where they took an elevator. And down they went, two floors lower, they entered another corridor and at the end of it, there was a hall with three round doors that strangely looked like airlocks with symbols on them. Elissa recognized them as the Greek letters Beta, Alpha, and Omega.

“Those doors lead to the school's most sturdy testing facilities, I think you can let loose here.”

Sandra led Elissa to the Omega one, just to be sure… as for the teen, she entered the room with a bit of fear. She didn’t have the courage to test her abilities without using ice magic spells as a buffer to protect people from her terrible power. But now she had a room where she could stop holding back and maybe get a handle on her cold aura. The big airlock door closed behind her making her jump.

“Calm down, Elissa.” The doctor said in a soothing tone through the speakers in the room.

“I-I am calm.” The teenager stuttered nervously.

“You could have fooled me.” Sandra laughed.

The testing chamber was big, thirty square meters or so and as Elissa went into the middle of it she began to let go of her strenuous control on the power she had been afraid of since she triggered. Her ice aura began to generate cold air around her as it surrounded her body. Snowflakes began to appear and some seconds later the ground around Elissa began to freeze.

Sandra was in the control room of the testing chamber with diverse instruments that were already analyzing and calculating everything that was happening. In an instant, the temperature had lowered to −12 °C (10 °F) and didn’t seem to be stopping.

Around Elissa the ice on the ground became even thicker, beginning to emit cold and spread to the rest of the room, she was still holding back.

“Elissa, are you still holding back?”

“Yes, Sandra.”

“Don’t, let it go and embrace it, you must first experience the full extent of your power to be able to control it.”

“Ok, here goes,” Elissa said as she closed her eyes and let go for real.

The young woman relaxed and stopped worrying. Sandra was right, she couldn’t live in fear forever. As the author of Dune wrote, *I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.*

Elissa gave the cold aura around her free reign to do what it did best, snowflakes and cold air created a whiteout in the testing chamber. Sandra’s eyes began to pop from their sockets as she was seeing the temperature plummet like crazy.

*-50 °C (-58 °F) to –273.15 °C (−459.67 °F) in ten seconds.* Sandra couldn’t even see Elissa in the chamber anymore.

Only a white haze of air that swirled thanks to the ventilation in the testing room. The ground began to deform and crack around Elissa, the walls were having the same thing happen to them. Until finally the very air itself froze; the instruments detected that the atmosphere in the testing chamber had been converted to ice. Sandra had been wrong; the room couldn’t withstand such harsh conditions. The doctor tried to tell the teen to stop, but the computer detected that the comm system was down. Sandra couldn’t believe that Elissa was this powerful and now she understood why she was afraid; the young woman could reduce the kinetic energy of atoms to complete stillness.

Elissa was partially stuck until she finally took control of the situation, she finally knew her total limits. So it was easy to reign in her aura and control everything around her. Fortunately, she didn’t deoxygenize the bubble of air around her, something was telling her that it was her power protecting her subconsciously.

Sandra was about to call the emergency services when she saw the ice in the room crack and dissolve turning into snow. *Elissa was still alive in this!* The doctor left the control room and went to open the airlock.

It didn’t open…

The black woman heard someone knock on it until it vibrated as an impact hit it from the inside. Sandra surmised that Elissa was trying to get out. Yet again she was about to call the security and maintenance service to get the girl out. However, the thick metal airlock began to cringe and scream as terrible strength was deforming it until it opened with a BANG.

Elissa appeared, with no apparent harm.

“What's up Doc?” She quipped.

Sandra sighed heavily. “You had me worried.” She began to laugh lightly.

“I had me worried too!” Elissa put her hand before her, palm out and blue light surrounded it as a ball of white ice appeared in the air.

“Thank you, Sandra, you put me on the right track. I can now do that without having to rely on magic. Now I’ll be able to work on controlling my abilities without fear of killing everyone around me.”

Other balls of ice began to appear around the teenager and orbit her body. With a snap of her fingers one was turned into shards, the other became a half sphere and the last stayed a ball.

“I intended to turn all of them into shards, I see that I have a lot of work to do…”

“Nothing worthwhile is easy to get, Elissa,” Sandra said as she worried about the damage they had caused to the testing chamber.

*I will have to talk to Tesla directly…* The woman thought dejectedly.

---

11:05 AM

 

Once everything was done, Sandra told Elissa that she will call her to inform her of her results. She couldn’t assess her right away as her abilities needed to be gauged carefully, and Elissa had asked her to keep everything on the down low. After that the young woman put her uniform back on, happy to regain some form of control on her life; certainly, she wasn’t at one hundred percent with her cryokinesis, but now she could use it safely. It was a big weight off her shoulders.

Elissa left Sandra with a kiss on the cheek and a pep in her step, when she stopped in the parking lot, she realized that it was already 11:00 AM. The young woman didn’t want to go to school and get bored too quickly as their first Sorcery class with Miss Nerine was at 02:00 PM.

*Why not gather the gang for lunch? Oh! And why not invite all those girls from team three too? I have some apologies to give, after all.*

Elissa remembered the faces of Jamie and Emilia in team three, they were sad and beaten. The young woman broke out her smartphone, linked it to her CLO and through her Augmented Reality vision that the Tesla device offered her she began to chat with Danny while walking to her car.

Elissa: Heya Sparks!

DanSparks: Oh oh, girl you finally contacted me.

Elissa: Oops, sorry I had issues to tend to.

DanSparks: Right, you don’t call, you don’t text. If your girlfriend didn’t give me her contact details I would have thought you died.

Elissa: My GF?

DanSparks: Dawn.

Elissa: Ah, yeah.

DanSparks: How is that going, did you put the moves on her?

Elissa: I am lost… how do you know I like her?

DanSparks: O__O girl you’ve been throwing googly eyes at her the whole time, and Doni told me you really liked her.

Elissa: Doni?

Pushing the button controlling the centralized locking system on the key, Elissa unlocked her car. She then turned the stereo on and let some pop music play. The redhead focused back on the chat window in the air.

DanSparks: Donovan.

Elissa opened her eyes wide, and slowly, a sly grin appeared on her face.

Elissa: Oh it’s Doni, now? Something tells me you have put the moves on him.

DanSparks: Yeah, we are dating.

Elissa: …Already?

The young lady was stricken by Danny's frankness, she had hoped to tease her about hitching the Donovan train this fast. But it seemed that the blonde girl was shameless.

DanSparks: I know what you think, girl; I am not like you Von Braun when I want something, I take it, plain and simple.

Elissa: I just don’t know what to do? I have never dated anyone before.

Elissa looked stoic but inside she was a mess; how was it this easy to get with someone? She was hesitating because it was the first time she was attracted to a girl.

DanSparks: Elissa you are so strong and confident, but asking the girl you like out scares you?

Elissa: No! I’m not scared.

She lied, the redhead was nervous as all those new feelings seems to grow the more she spent time with Dawn. Her crush on Saladin wasn’t this intense.

DanSparks: Right, you better not let that sweet girl wait too long.

Elissa: I will try…

Elissa wrote, yes like earlier she will not let fear paralyze her and let her miss an opportunity at love.

DanSparks: So what did you text me for?

Finally a change of subject. Elissa grabbed onto it with gusto, intent on focusing Danny’s mind on something else.

Elissa: Want to grab something to eat with the gang? I mean Doni, your girls and those of team 3?

DanSparks: give me ten minutes, team 3 hates you.

Elissa: I want to mend fences, those girls were so strong!

DanSparks: Ok, don’t expect much.

Elissa: Lemme work my magic 

The redhead put her gym bag in the car’s trunk, closed it and boarded in the driver's seat, she had one hour to go buy this body armor that she wanted. Looking at the balance of credits she'd won in the exam, Elissa thought that she’s allowed to splurge.

*Let’s go shopping for a while.*

---

12:04 AM

Mercer Island Shopping Center

Toshi’s Teriyaki

 

Danny Sparks was waiting in the Japanese restaurant she had found after her first foray into the academy's city, it was a place offering great service and the prices were affordable. What’s more, she liked how super friendly everyone on the staff was. They even served Korean Barbecue as well. The smell of the chicken teriyaki was making the blonde girl salivate in anticipation. Danny tapped the lacquered marble table with her manicured nails. Elissa was late.

With her were Doni, Carolyn, and Erika. She was thrilled to spend time with her new boyfriend and two best girlfriends. They chatted about the history exam assessment they had this morning and all thought they had tanked it. As for Danny, she had changed her attitude towards studying after meeting Elissa. If knowledge made her smarter and able to control her powers better she would study like a madwoman.

At the other end of the table, Jamie Fox and Emilia Dor were waiting silently while surfing the internet on their smartphones.

“She’s late!” Danny shouted and slapping her hands onto the table.

“Yeah, she totes is,” Carolyn said.

“She’ll be here,” Erika assured them.

If the blonde precog said Elissa will come, they believed her. She had her eyes gazing towards the windows of the small restaurant that showed the outside and the parking lot. Suddenly a black sports car appeared and began to maneuver to park. Erika smiled and said, “There she is.”

“Wait, you mean this Camaro is hers?”

Donovan whistled, astonished by the stylish vehicle.

“How much do you think that cost?” Jamie asked.

“Thirty grand tops.” Emilia quipped.

Elissa exited the vehicle and Donovan whistled again to receive an elbow in his side. The redhead wasn’t wearing her tie and had undone two buttons of her shirt; with her heeled ankle boots and belt accessories, she looked rather gothy with her uniform and a tad provocative. Fortunately, it seemed that she had a sports bra on, but everyone began to understand why she was clothed like this when she began to fan herself. As for Elissa, the period she dreaded was coming upon her. Spring was in full swing as the air began to heat. She had problems before because of this, but her immunity to the cold gave her a glaring weakness; she couldn’t tolerate too much heat and she had to wear fewer clothes to ventilate.

The redhead locked the car and appraised the restaurant, it was part of this section of the mall, a flat building with white walls and a green tiled roof, a lot of windows giving a view of the parking area and the well cared for trees and bushes around it. Elissa walked into the Teriyaki place, not seeing Danny and the others at the outside tables; the sound of the bell when she opened the door announced her entry. Other students from the Academy and some normal civilians looked at her briefly. The redhead noticed her group facing the windows and really near the door; near the counter with a light brown and white paint job was the entire menu for all to see with a young woman taking orders, she was asian and all smiles.

Danny made a sign to Elissa to come and sit already, her face wasn’t welcoming. Elissa had the excellent idea of looking sheepish and embarrassed by her lateness.

“Hi everyone.” She said once at the table.

Danny pointed a finger at the empty chair at the end of the table near Jamie and Emilia.

“First there is something you must do, Von Braun.”

“Ah… yeah.” Elissa closed her eyes as she relaxed.

Reinatiel appeared behind her and began massaging her shoulders and undoing the knots in her back. Feni chose a spot to sit nearby and began her overwatch. Like always other people stayed blind to their presence thanks to the ‘don’t notice me’ field their aura generated.

“Jamie, Emi can I call you that, right?” The redhead began.

The girls looked at each other and then at Elissa and gave a slow nod; they wore their white and black uniforms like fashion models. Elissa particularly envied Emilia’s beauty, but people always thought the grass was greener on the other side.

“I wanted to apologize for my behavior in the exam, I was- I really wanted to win.” Elissa looked embarrassed, her green eyes became pools of sadness.

“Us too.” The two black girls nodded in unison, Jamie crossed her arms and Emilia waited for the redhead to continue her explanation.

“Sometimes I have this tunnel vision and this bad habit that I’ve been trying to get rid off. I thought about winning at whatever cost, and we attacked and hurt you ruthlessly. It wasn’t right; we could have won without having to fight. But I lost myself, and wanted to prove that I could take anyone on.”

Elissa opened her heart to the two girls. She had been made aware of her deficiencies by her father, that the ends didn’t always justify the means. She didn’t want to go along that road, she saw what happened to those kinds of people. They ended up losing everything: family, friends, lovers, and often their very freedom.

“I have been forced to change my position on a lot of things recently and I want to start fresh and try to not make enemies everywhere I go because of my actions.” She said making a sad little smile.

Donovan and the girls listened with rapt attention and thought that this girl was too eloquent as they wanted to give her a hug as they watched her bare her feelings and trying to apologize and win over two girls she had mistreated. Emilia and Jamie looked at each other again, one shaking her head and the other one smiling.

“Emi, the ice princess is trying to apologize to us.” Jamie put her hand on her friend’s shoulder.

Emilia nodded and looked at Elissa and said, “Damn. I wanted to continue hating you because we have a shitty dorm room…”

Jamie sighed heavily and smiled at her friend who seemed displeased. “Let’s forgive her, she looks sad.”

“Yeah, I don’t want to get a bad rep.” Emilia looked at Elissa who looked like a sad puppy.

She was still mad at her, but couldn’t get herself to refuse the hand held out in peace. Certainly, they were in high school and Elissa reminded her of those queen bees that surrounded themselves with sycophants, but she felt that this girl was fundamentally different. Like she didn’t care about cliques or even being popular. When Danny Sparks had invited them to lunch, she had felt as if this was a trap for a more sinister scheme. After all, she had heard bullying wasn’t stamped out in the Academy and that the upperclassmen and some particularly strong newcomers lorded over everyone forming cliques and field groups.

“Apologies accepted, let’s be friends?” Jamie said as she held her hand.

Elissa took the dainty and well-manicured hand, then released it. There was something that shocked her that she just couldn’t let go.

“The ice princess? Really?” She said, mortified, the redhead put herself in a swagger pose and looked tempestuous thanks to the nickname.

“It’s a fitting name,” Emilia said smiling.

Carolyn giggled. “Totes cool.”

“I like it,” Danny said.

Elissa rolled her eyes and sat at the head of the table at the two girls’ side. It was time to eat and Donovan chose to take a bit of paper and note what everyone wanted. Danny wanted chicken teriyaki, Carolyn beef steak and Erika chicken katsu, superhuman sized ones; meaning the equivalent of three servings. Jamie and Emilia chose to take the same thing, seafood salmon bento, superhuman sized too as they have PT in the afternoon.

The redhead ordered breast curry and chicken & beef combo, as well as fruit juice for everyone, she decided to treat everyone; she had enough credits for doing so. Everyone spoke about their classes and how they were harder than in civilian school. Emilia told Elissa about what was going on in the academy with all the high ranked legacy students bullying the beta ranked ones. The redhead’s gaze had hardened at that as it reminded her of her failure concerning the geeky black haired boy, Ernest Culver and how ugly a situation could turn if they didn’t stomp on those aggressors first. Elissa felt that she was through with the lawful methods, they didn’t work obviously.

“Emi, if you ever get in trouble with this group call me.” Elissa’s tone was cold and she connected to her contact list and sent her details to the two black girls.

Jamie thought that the redhead looked rather different suddenly, there was a hard edge in her voice that lowered an octave. When Elissa had come near her, the pixie-haired girl had felt a sharp rise in her powers compared to the last time she had seen her. She couldn’t understand how this happened, was Elissa nearing the other side of the ranking in the upper ranks? It seemed so.

“Or maybe we should all go to the Amazon Complex on the island, to get some training in,” Danny said, helpful.

She liked people who helped themselves, you couldn’t trust that others will help you every time, but you could trust your training and your abilities.

“Ah! I forgot that there is one here.” Elissa said, recovering some of her joviality.

“What grade did you reach, Eli?” Danny asked her friend.

“Journeywoman,” Elissa said nonchalantly as she sipped a bit of her fruit juice.

Wide-eyed, Danny interjected, “No way! I am still an adept.”

Elissa giggled and put more miso sauce on her chicken & beef teriyaki. Before digging into the food she looked at the blonde girl and said, “Let’s all go next time, I will show you some moves.”  

“I’m still a novice and Emi is an adept,” Jamie said, dejected by the high level of training of the people around her.

Carolyn and Erika were the same grade as their leader; the discussion continued well into the start of the afternoon. Reinatiel's and Fenirael's attention was glued on two young men who had entered the restaurant and begun to take photos of the group. They were taking on the glassy expression that Elissa had when she was texting with the Augmented Reality conferred by her CLO.

Rei felt that trouble was brewing, as she felt their malevolent intentions exuding from their aura.

---

“Ben we located the girl you wanted to find. She’s in the shopping center with some first years and damn, she’s hot like the sun.” A brown haired young man said into his phone.

He was watching the group near the window, he had been admiring the girls until the redhead joined them and he ‘appreciated’ her too until she looked rather familiar. He recognized her from the data Benjamin had passed around. The girl wasn’t on the academy’s grounds and a literal ghost, the team had been fed up by this. When he recognized her he quickly contacted Price.

“Great, you found her, Dale. Where was she hiding all this time? Damn she made me wait.” Benjamin was going crazy since he couldn’t find this Von Braun girl for days.

Dale chuckled.

“Heard that the magical school is invisible or some shit like that, man.” He said to Benjamin, the one he considered his leader.

“No shit?” Benjamin sounded astonished.

Dale took a swig from his water cup, he had just finished eating.

“Mhm, yeah I swear. I asked my teacher and he said that they were near the main academy though.” The young man explained.

It had sounded like a load of bullshit to him at first, but when he had looked for it at the address he was given, there was only the park along Island Crest Way. A frustrating search!

“Very well, we will try to ambush her in the parking lot, I will gather the boys!” Benjamin snickered on the line.

Dale didn’t like how the guy did business with the girls, he sounded more like a sex offender each day. Maybe he should quit this team while he was ahead… However he couldn’t get out, his parents worked with Benjamin’s. They covered all of their son's unpalatable actions with money and even had a hand in the police precinct nearest to them.

Hesitating, Dale decided to try to muddle the waters a bit. “Ben, there are some smoking hot girls with her and some strong looking guy, are you sure?”

There was silence on the line for some time until Benjamin asked, “Wait, is he muscular and black?”

Dale grinned when he heard this; there was indeed an attractive black guy with them who seemed rather chummy with the blonde girl next to him.

Dale coughed. “Without wanting to sound gay, the guy is tall and buff as fuck.”

Benjamin cursed and recalled the info he had read on Elissa’s team from the exam; she was friendly with a kinetic absorber and it was the worst matchup for him.

“Shit we can’t take her if she’s with others.” The young man lamented.

“Ah don’t worry boss, she came in her car it seems. They will separate at the parking lot if I guessed right.” Dale said.

“Continue to watch them, we are coming,” Benjamin ordered.

“Ok, later.”

Dale had a bad feeling, that girl sure looked hot but everyone at the table deferred to her as if she was their superior.

---

Fenirael had listened to the conversation and reported it to Elissa who didn’t understand what those boys wanted from her. She spoke with Danny and the others about it.

“Who is that Ben guy who wants to meet me? The guy over there kept saying that they want to ambush me?” Elissa showed them Dale who was looking at them not so subtly at all.

“That’s one of Benjamin Price’s goons. The worst bully in the academy, he has a really bad rep with the girls. He thinks he is Casanova or something.” Emilia huffed.

“There are rumors that he forced girls to have sex with him, but nothing was proven,” Jamie added.

The atmosphere suddenly became chillier, but as fast as it came the air became normal again. However, no one at this table was fooled; there was going to be blood here later.

“What’s the plan?” Danny asked.

She was ready for a fight, and it seemed trouble followed Elissa all the time. The blonde girl smiled wryly. Emilia and Jamie had pretty much wanted to flee when they heard the name of Benjamin Price but they thought about it and decided that joining Elissa’s team for a beat down of this sleaze bag was going to be sweet.

“Let’s finish eating, then you’ll go first and I will wait five minutes in the restaurant and then leave. You are going to come back after that Price guy comes here. You’ll flank them and we might get into a Mexican stand-off or something. If he wants a fight he will get a fight. But first I am going to have my familiar record the entire altercation to have proof that he started it.” The plan was simple and on point, Fenirael took Elissa's smartphone and unlocked it, preparing to record everything.

“Cool, I want him out of the school anyway,” Danny said cheerfully.

Donovan stayed silent, just not trusting himself to speak, his knuckles whitening betrayed the anger boiling in him. Did someone want to attack his friend? No, he won’t let that happen at all.

“That could be arranged, I have some… connections.” Elissa said confidently.

Her friends looked at her then at each other and smiled. Maybe they will be able to do something good today, even before the time for class.

---

Danny and company left the restaurant, and Elissa stayed in its confines chatting up the staff, everything was going as planned. Elissa ordered more food as take out for this evening to share with Dawn if she didn't get grounded for what she was about to do. The redhead looked at the pretty cashier girl and wrote ‘stay inside’ on a napkin and gave it to her before leaving.

Elissa wished she had a spatial ring to place the food in, they often came with a stasis enchantment to preserve the items stored inside. Once near her car, the young woman put her take out boxes in the back of the car but didn’t board it, pretending to consult her CLO’s map function. The redhead was patient, waiting like a black widow for her prey to come into her web with all her senses deployed. Elissa heard the jingle of the bell as the boy that spied on her group earlier exited the teriyaki place; he had brown hair, a lean build, and a troubled face. Reinatiel appeared at Elissa’s side, feeling protective towards her young mistress.

“He smells of doubt and remorse.” The demoness said.

“I guess he isn’t at ease with what he has been doing.” Elissa buttoned up her shirt, hiding her cleavage.

The girl was thankful that she was wearing her under-armor leggings under this knee-length skirt, she wasn’t keen on flashing anyone.

The noise of multiple footsteps echoed on the pavement, Elissa turned her head and saw a group of six guys coming towards the restaurant with purpose. The young girl pretended to enter her car when a brunet haired young man at least two years older than her, put his hand on the car door preventing her from opening it. He certainly looked attractive, his eyes were icy blue, he had a face with straight cheekbones and a greek nose. This young man dwarfed Elissa in size as he was tall and muscular, his shirt strained and showed off his muscles. Elissa could smell the young man’s interest in her.

“Where are you going beautiful?” The young man said in his baritone voice. He smiled at her with an expression that he must have thought was seductive, but come out as smarmy.

Elissa rolled her eyes in her mind and chose to emulate Malicia, she looked him in the eyes -too bad she couldn’t make her eyes glow- and said, “Who might you be?”

“Huh,” Benjamin didn’t expect the redhead to react this way, all the girls he had interacted with had either been attracted to his looks or intimidated by his crew behind him.

“Benjamin Price, third year.” The young man laughed a little, it was refreshing to speak like this with a new broad.

“Ah, it’s you,” Elissa said while play-acting.

Benjamin wasn’t listening as he leered at her from head to toe appreciating her curvy and athletic body, his gaze settled firmly onto her breasts.

“Hey, my eyes are up here, mister.” Elissa scowled, she crossed her arms over her breasts and chilled the air around her.

The cold brought the boy out of his fantasies, Benjamin stepped back from her and tried to remember what she was saying.

Benjamin passed a hand back in his hair and said, “Oh, did my reputation precede me?”

*He is a walking cliche!* Elissa couldn’t believe the guy was this cheesy.

“In a way, indeed it couldn’t have been more in the shitter.” The redhead mocked.

The brunet's smile froze on his face.

“What did you say?”

Elissa’s gaze became derisive, her silver jewelry gleamed in the sun as she uncrossed her arms; she advanced toward the young man who stepped back under the weight of her gaze. She stopped right in front of him.

“You have a terrible rep with the local girls and you are the worst bully this institution has ever known.”

Elissa’s gaze focused momentarily on the form of Donovan coming up behind Benjamin’s team it made the young woman smile. The redhead leaned on her car door and looked at each of the goons behind smarmy Ben. *Smarmy Ben, what a good nickname.*

Despite himself, Benjamin answered her with a “Bitch.”

“Oh, I am a bitch now. For saying the truth? You came to me with your goons, did you expect me to wilt under your intimidation?” Elissa giggled.

Benjamin was used to girls trying to defuse the situation or seduce him to get out of the kind of situation he was putting Von Braun through. This meeting wasn’t turning as he had expected, this girl was dangerous. Benjamin could see it in the way Elissa was standing, her pose and her movements. She clearly wasn’t intimidated; was she that confident that she could take them all? He couldn’t believe that.

The young man closed his eyes in frustration and said, “Fine, come with us if you don’t want to get hurt.” He opened his eyes and glared at the pretty redhead who still didn’t lose her grin.

“Oh seduction didn’t work and now you are showing your true face,” Elissa laughed mockingly, then she lowered the temperature around her a bit further. Her eyes became cold as well as her voice, “and if I don’t want to come with your loser squad, what are you going to do about it?”

“Guys?” Benjamin didn’t look behind him, choosing to not let Elissa out of his sight.

“You should stop while you're ahead, boy.” Elissa quipped.

“Ah yeah, and how are you going to stop us?”

“Well, first I have you surrounded.”

Donovan coughed sonorously and Benjamin turned to see who it was and his eyes widened.

“Second, don’t let your minions describe how you’ll ambush me with you on the phone around someone who has enhanced senses.” That was a lie of course, but Elissa wanted to assert her superiority in this situation.

Donovan smiled evilly, his muscles taut and coiled, bigger than even Smarmy Ben’s; He was ready to attack. As for Danny, her girls and her had fanned out around the guys while Jamie was in the back texting the power set of each of Benjamin’s goons. Emilia was floating in the sky on overwatch, she hoped that no one could see her panties from the ground.

“Gentlemen, now that we have ascertained that we are in a deadlock, I am going to ask you to desist from your current actions.”

“Fuck you, who do you think you are?” Elissa heard from one of Benjamin’s goons.

“Let’s smash these wankers, guys.”

“By Hekate, I had thought you surrounded yourself with morons before, but now I see I was still being too generous.” Elissa retorted, rolling her eyes.

Benjamin’s face became black. How could this broad insult him and his crew like this? She came with her big feet onto his turf and already thought she was the queen or something. He had just wanted to play with her and show her who was the boss, but now his priority had changed. He would destroy her before she did the same to his way of life. The brunet knew that with his parents behind him nothing too untoward would happen to him, so he could be as rough as he wanted. The young man made a movement with his hand, that Elissa noticed and as she entered bullet time she saw a short haired blond guy raising his hand. Red light gathered and he shot it at her, as fast as her mind could Elissa froze the air before her; it formed an ice wall that was pierced by a beam of light that still hit her in the side.

Elissa stepped back in pain and fell on her bottom. That beam burned her, and it angered her! If she had her magic that wouldn’t have happened. She looked at Price who had a smug smile on his face. The others were so shocked that they stayed in place until Donovan charged a guy and hit him in the kisser sending him flying. Danny sent a bolt of electricity toward another guy and the TK users Carolyn and Emilia bound two of the goons to the ground; but they resisted it and came after them, one guy began flying toward Emilia and the other charged Carolyn. The girls were prepared for it as Jamie had told them what their powers were and their intensity.

The redhead didn’t stay down and used her ice jet to propulse herself back as Benjamin walked toward her. She calmed herself and let her body relax as she circulated her mana in her body.

"So. You want to play, do you?" Elissa’s voice lowered an octave.

“Where is all the bravado from earlier, red?” Benjamin felt like laughing at the dejection he was seeing on this girl, she had come so strongly creating a situation where she was seemingly on top, however she wasn’t and he planned to dissuade her from this notion. He cracked his knuckles and charged at her intent on catching her.

Elissa decided that whatever happened, she would erase that smug smile from this boy’s face. Focusing her mana in her legs and upper body the redhead rushed at Benjamin who hadn’t anticipated it and delivered a shoulder tackle, seized him by his clothes and threw him onto the ground. To Benjamin, Elissa was so fast that the boy didn’t notice that she was before him in half a second and had shoulder thrown him onto the pavement. Elissa charged mana into her fist and used the first technique in the Inshek martial arts, the rockbreaker fist and slugged the boy in the face repeatedly.

The girl discovered that Benjamin’s skin and body were tough and he didn’t get damaged very easily, the boy caught her and threw her away from him with a kick, Elissa used the strength of the kick to spin in the air and reorient herself to land on her feet in a crouch. Benjamin stood up and leapt towards her intent on punching her in the face, Elissa evaded it; not finished with him, she caught his arm and bent it behind him with her mana enhanced strength, let herself fall on the ground with him and let him hit face first on the concrete and flipped their position to stand up before him.

“Here, have a brain buster.” Elissa quipped.

Donovan’s shirt burned as the guy who shot beams got him, but there was a silver lining, it was a beam of pure kinetic force and it made him stronger. So the black boy began to stomp on another guy who downed Erika with one punch. He was a speedster who was too busy gloating and got caught by the scruff of his neck. Donovan neutralized the threat by breaking his jaw and his leg. Danny formed an electric cage and began to electrocute the kinetic beam guy; she didn’t hold back and his skin began to show electric burns.

Emilia was dancing in the air while escaping the flying guy who went after her. As for Carolyn she finished the sound manipulator by choking him Darth Valder style in the air until he fell unconscious. She flew into the sky to go and help Emilia.

Elissa unleashed her cold aura as Benjamin who had been momentarily stunned came to. He kicked Elissa in the ribs where she was burned and her uniform was shredded. She cried in pain but tolerated it, rolled with the impact and stood up just to see the hulking boy rush her, in bullet time as everything slowed down she decided that it was him or her and applied what she had learned from Xara, Elissa jumped towards him, rotated her body and put all her strength and mana in as she extended her leg to make a wide sweep and kicked Benjamin in the waist. At the moment of impact, a noise of broken bones could be heard and he flew to the right thanks to the strength and the laws of physics. He ended up hitting a tree ten meters away from them and the impact broke it in two.

Benjamin cried out. He felt that if he moved the pain would get worse. Elissa Von Braun had just fractured his pelvis. The redhead focused on the fight with the goons and saw that Danny and Carolyn were in danger, she focused her power in her hand and launched a freezing beam where the flyer was going to be and she froze him entirely. The popsicle-looking guy fell from the sky and the ice shattered when he landed on the unconscious body of kinetic beam guy.

“Elissa be careful!” Jamie shouted.

Yet again in bullet time, Elissa saw Benjamin charge her, he had braved the pain to attack her from behind.

“Coward.” She said between her teeth.

She slightly leaned to the right, caught one of his arms and kneed him in the jaw with all her power, and as he fell on the ground she jumped elbow first on his back eliciting a grunt from him when she landed. Elissa caught herself, twisted Benjamin’s arms behind him and said coldly as she leaned on his body, “Submit.”

Benjamin couldn’t believe it. Him, manhandled by a girl? And she asked him to submit. The young man began to struggle, going berserk and not caring about the pain he was in.

“Is it that face that gives you the confidence that you can do whatever you want?” Elissa asked.

Elissa had felt the boy’s unwillingness; it was an ugly smell to her senses.

The boy stopped moving and looked at Elissa from the corner of his eye, he felt her take his hair tightly in her fist and with all her strength she began to bash his head onto the concrete repeatedly. Benjamin lost consciousness the third time but Elissa continued for another minute until the young man’s face was just mush. To be even crueler, she made sure that it wouldn't heal properly with her biological manipulation.

Satisfied, the young woman looked at her friends and they seemed to be mostly done with the stupid goons. Danny was waking Erika who missed most of the fight, Carolyn and Emilia assembled their assailants in a circle. Elissa stood up, and pulled on Benjamin’s hair held tight in her fist and walked like this towards her friends.

Jamie took pictures with her phone of the group and as she watched Elissa she began to take more shots as she came to them and dropped Price unceremoniously with his friends.

“I thought this fight would be legendary but… it was kind of a letdown.” Elissa said as her girlfriends giggled and Donovan stayed vigilant for them.

Elissa's smartphone appeared in the air hovering next to her, Jamie and the others looked at it and were mystified by the phenomenon. They knew that Elissa wasn’t a TK; Fenirael who was having fun eluding everyone’s senses loved fucking with their minds. Her young mistress looked at her with a smile, and the demoness placed the phone in her hand. She began to go through her contact list and called Malicia.

When the tone signaled that she has reached her mother Elissa said, “Hello mom. I have a slight issue.”