143: A Newfound Motivation

[Kaiser: Please come to my office as soon as you can.]

Nyssa furrowed her eyebrows as her phone buzzed and displayed Kaiser’s message. In the middle of the lecture, she looked at the still wheel-chair bound Angelica in the front of the room, then back to her phone. A sigh left her mouth. Her hand extended into the air.

“What’s up, Nyssa?” Angelica paused, motioning for her to speak. “Want me to go over the case’s context again?”

“That’d actually be really helpful-” Nyssa answered with a nod before snapping back to attention. “Wait! Oh, I meant to say that I just got a text from my Dad to go to his office as soon as possible so I’ll have to step out...”

As her words left her mouth, Conrad couldn’t help himself and started laughing. “Summoned to the principal’s office, Nyssa? OoOoo-”

“Don’t worry about it at all,” Angelica cut Conrad off. Waving her to leave, she pushed herself away from the door. “I was talking to Kaiser earlier so I have a general idea as to what the meeting is about. Just go with a light-heart, you’re not in trouble or anything.”

Leaving with a nod, Nyssa transformed into a cheetah the moment she left the room, sprinting down the hall. Halfway down the hall, she leapt up, then off the wall to turn leftward and fly through the open door leading to the balcony. After sprinting its length, she leapt off the edge.  Mid-air, she transformed into a bird and took off—beelining towards Kaiser’s office.

Normal path? Or window?

... Well, Roxanne is probably there too? Something important must be happening if Angelica’s here at school, so I guess I should be normal...

With that thought, she swooped downward towards the administrative building’s formal entrance. As the ground came hurtling up to her, she pulled out of her dive and transformed back into a human. Ignoring the couple gasps and whispers, she cracked her neck and slipped into the building with a half-jog.

To the right. Down the hall. Up the stairs. Down the hall again. Take a right... and Kaiser’s office.

Raising her hand, she paused for a second before knocking thrice. Fixing her posture, she cleared her throat as the door opened. Faced with Slade, she did a double take. Blinking a couple times, she tilted her head while stepping in. “You're here too?”

“Yeah, important business today,” Slade shrugged as he motioned for Nyssa to take the central seat by Kaiser’s desk. “Seat of honor saved just for you.”

“I don’t know how much I want this honor actually...” Nyssa looked around, nodding her head to the two unfamiliar people in the room. Once sat down, she turned and looked at Kaiser. “What’s up, Dad?”

“... You’ve really changed since starting school,” Kaiser reminisced for a second as he looked at Nyssa. Receiving a quizzical look from Nyssa, he just shook his head. “Treat it as the ramblings of an old man. What we want to talk about today is a potential other mission.”

“Another one?” Nyssa shook her head and blinked. “We’ve barely gotten back from the last one. It’s been like two weeks...”

“This one, if you agree to it, will be in one week,” Kaiser tapped his pen against the desk. “It’s a bit different from the rest though, so that’s why we’re asking for your opinion.”

---

“Just me?” Nyssa blinked as the two Association executives finished their explanation. “I... see though.”

“As a forewarning,” Kaiser put his hand onto the back of Nyssa’s. “Think over this carefully. You’re not even a legal adult yet. This mission isn’t like the others. With the others, we could at least guarantee your safety, somewhat. Whether it was a relatively low-level mission with Angelica, or a mission where the entirety of Roxanne’s guild could protect you and the others. This mission is one that, potentially, everyone could lose their lives from.”

“Y... Yeah...” Nyssa sighed, leaning back into her chair. Her toes curled as she felt five gazes directed at her, each person’s eyes seemed to bore holes into her skull. “But, I feel like I kind of have to, regardless. This mission kinda deals with... you know, the fate of a lot of people. ‘Whole society’ type of thing...”

“Well, there are replacements, and other people with transformation powers that can be used,” Kaiser reminded. “And it’s not like you not going will be the sole indicator of whether this mission goes successfully or not. Yes, it will be very helpful. No, it does not solely hinge on you. Plus, although we say the stakes are high, it’s not like if the mission fails, society immediately collapses and everyone dies.”

“Think of it more like a bug problem,” Roxanne pitched in. “Like, this is a good chance to nip it cleanly in the bud. If we fail here, it becomes a much bigger problem—like bugs getting everywhere in the house—but it’s not something we can’t solve still.”

“In the end, it’s up to you, do you want some time to think about it? Sleep on it for a night?” Kaiser offered. “I don’t know if we can give you more than a day or two, but I think we can do that much, and don’t forget, we can have the others come too.”

“I...” Nyssa trailed off after a second. Leaning back into her chair, she couldn’t help but cross her arms as she looked up at the ceiling.

It’s not like I did anything last mission.

Celeste’s tired face flashed across her eyes, after holding and carrying her for the entirety of the mission’s latter half. The words she, and the higher-ups, had repeated echoed in her mind.

Save your energy, you’ll need it?

Will I?

I need to get stronger and catch up... so I don’t lose those battles of attrition.

Her fingers twitched. She pursed her lips. The memories of Celeste laying against the wall with her eyes closed appeared. Celeste with a cold eye compress at night appeared.

Angelica too...

If I was better, would she still be so injured?

Would she and my sister be married by now?

Nyssa fixed her posture in her chair. Sitting upright, she couldn’t help but cringe once more as all the gazes settled on her again. She resisted the urge to transform into a cat. She reached up and ran her hand through her pure-white hair.

Are you sure, though?

I really have changed...

I thought I’d be content to just nap for the rest of my life.

And why don’t I want to do that?

Why do I even care?

And what if I fail again? Have to be saved by some other person...

A new wave of conflict flickered across her eyes, but before the self-doubt could creep back in, she forced herself to look at Kaiser, and opened her mouth.

“I’ll do it.”