Oh, fuck. Oh no. She knew that feeling, that pressure that forced its way inside her skull, pressing her nerves against her eyes, her teeth. Everything in her skull felt like it wanted to escape by inflating until it broke free. She’d had her fair share of hangovers and migraines before Changing, but nothing like this.

And then it was gone. Her brain shrunk back to normal-sized and her eyes crawled back into their sockets. But the world was different in the wake of her agony. Everything was frozen around her. Nothing seemed to move. Dust hung in the air, like in a photograph.

Then she was blinded by a new sun forming in the center of the stage.

When the light receded, it was there. A fucking angel. Tall as the world and twice as broad. It was real. It was like the first time she’d seen one, only now she knew they were neither kind nor benevolent.

No one was doing anything, no one was giving orders. But her body was a live-wire. Her anxiety exploded through her limbs, followed by a surge of uncontrollable emotions and desires that nearly brought her to her knees.

A voice crackled over the com, but so slow and distorted, she barely recognized it. Weapon-fire erupted around the stadium, but she’d never seen anything like it. The fire rolled lazily out of the barrels and the bullets moved no faster than a runner might. She traced their glittering arc through the air and watched them crackles across the angel’s Logos Field.

Oh, shit, she was supposed to be doing something, not standing there with her mouth hanging open. Lifting her .50 cal, she was amazed by how light it felt, almost like nothing. A laugh bubbled up her throat as power like she’d never felt coursed through her. Holding the long machine gun like a rifle, she aimed at the angel and started firing rounds. The gun barked in a low, sonorous, tone, unlike anything she’d ever heard. Everything was distorted and the weapon wasn’t working the way she expected. Rounds were flying out of its barrel, but she could see them race towards the angel, even though they weren’t tracers.

Was the angel slowing the world down?

Bullets cracked into its Logos Field. A sphere of fire erupted around the angel as one of the 20mm rounds hit the field. The fire enveloped the field, washing around the glowing characters that circled the monster. Then, the claymores went off, spraying fire and smoke and millions of metal ball bearings that ripped up the stage and sparked across the field like brilliant bursting stars.

Then the angel was flying, leaping out of the cloud and into the balcony across from her. Watching it move, destroying the chairs as it flew towards its target, she saw the other soldiers unable to react to its movements.

It wasn’t slowing down time, she realized as she traced its flight with her gun, raining shells on it. She was going faster than even her normal supercharged speed allowed. She howled with laughter and ran towards the fight, dancing between the chairs.

What was she doing? Running towards an angel? Her fear was gone. In its place, she felt a mixture of joy and rage that pushed her beyond any sensible restraint.

Then half of a soldier’s body flew up in the air, spinning end over end, trailing blood in arcing ribbons that splashed and splatter across the angel’s Logos Field.

Fuck! The fear came back in a surging wave. What was she doing? Why did she think charging closer was a good idea? This was pointless, the gun wasn’t doing enough.

The angel was surging across the ground now, hunting new prey.

She pulled a grenade from her belt and let her .50 cal drop to hang around her shoulders by the strap. With her now free hand, she popped the pin and dropped it. She knew she shouldn’t let the grenade ‘cook’ and hold it while the timer ran down, but she also knew that her judgment of time was skewed. Counting to two, Kemi threw it towards where the angel was heading.

Too late she saw the angel was bearing down on someone and she could feel that it was one of the Changed.

“No,” she screamed, trying to call the grenade back to her hand.

As the grenade tumbled away from her, she knew that, sadly, it was not one of her powers.

***********************************************************************************************************

Thank you for reading my story! If you are enjoying it, please consider leaving a ranking, review, or even just a comment! They all mean the world to me.

I also have a Patreon with a lot of advance chapters on it if you'd like to help support me and the story! 
https://www.patreon.com/localforeigner