149: Hesitation

“That person... looks just like Nyssa?” Conrad murmured aloud as he and the rest watched from outside the barrier. Blue rings swirled around his eyes as he activated his abilities. “My system is saying they have a near 60% resemblance. Is that... Nyssa’s mom?”

Then, as he watched the transformation, he couldn’t help but follow it up with. “Or is it her dad?”

“We... have no idea,” Roxanne spoke up from the side. “Our father just brought her home one day as a child. He said he found her in the ruins of a battlefield. Seems like only she’ll be able to tell us once the battle is over.”

---

“What do you mean by that,” Nyssa’s eyes hardened. As she spoke, she kept mustering the energy within her to move. Bit-by-bit, she managed to make it budge under whatever suppression technique the leader in front of her had. “What about the world needs reshaping?”

“You know how it is. It’s unequal. Only those with powers can be heroes, the rest are like sheep, ready to be slaughtered and at the mercy of the powerful. Don’t you want to truly move to a more modern society?” The woman gestured to the crowd outside of the barrier. “These people are only here because of what they were born with.”

Nyssa, sitting there, couldn’t help but furrow her eyebrows.

She has logic. But also we do have laws... and isn’t being a hero at this point just like playing in a basketball league? Though these people also all worked really hard, there are a lot of people with weaker powers who are here...

But still, she does have a logical argument...

“Together, we can make powers irrelevant. We can augment everyone, drain them of their powers, and then, after storing their powers in a communal storage, we have suits of armor that people can wear, the best, chosen out of a level playing field,” The woman continued, counting out her plan on her fingers. “We can take control of creatures, use them to provide order, and unleash them on other countries, other organizations who dare to stand against us.”

What in the villain monologue is this?

The hell?

Nyssa rolled her eyes. Now just a half-step away from unlocking her powers again, she showed her defiance. Crossing her arms and pulling her legs back, she glared at the woman who claimed to be her mother.

Her defiance didn’t go unnoticed. The woman in front of her, frowned. “It’s big for you, I know that. But I’m even willing to spare your friends and loved ones. I’ll let them keep their powers.”

“I don’t care about what you’re offering, I just don’t think that’s a way to a better society, and even if it is, this isn’t the way to do it,” Nyssa retorted. As the words left her mouth, she forced the energy in her body to move. Leaping backward, she transformed into a panther.

“Then you leave me no choice,” The woman’s face fell. The smile disappeared and the eyes turned cold. She reached into her pocket, pulled out a small device, and clenched her fist.

Nyssa felt her blood run cold. The energy in her body froze, and she transformed back into a human. As she felt the energy getting sapped out of her body, a tearing sensation spread, ripping at every fiber of her being.

“I’ll just have to take it for myself then,” The woman shook her head, taking slow steps forward. Her arms split, forming tens of limbs as her face morphed back into the silver mask. She reached up to her face and pressed her many hands against the mask. Then, as each hand left her mask, it held an identical duplicate. “I’m sorry it had to come to this. But I’ll just have to take your body then.”

Nyssa, after seeing her hands through her now-blurred vision, began scrambling backwards as pain dominated her consciousness. Through it though, one extraneous thought leaked through:

At least I know I’m human...

---

As for everyone outside the barrier, they could only watch the conversation, unable to hear any words from it. Several people cheered as they watched Nyssa leap back and transform into a panther. Yet, when Nyssa transformed back into a human, and the figure began drawing a white wisp out from her body, they all fell quiet.

A tense silence fell over the crowd. Celeste, Roxanne, Slade, and a number of others, panicked, began pounding on the barrier once more. Eager to break it, but their attacks, like before, just disappeared against the barrier.

---

The voice from the figure remained unchanged. In her blurred vision, Nyssa could almost delude herself into thinking the person in front of her was her mother—one who had no ill intent. The many arms? That was just her vision throbbing...

As the many silver masks neared her, the warm voice floated over. “It’ll all be over in a second once I press this against your face, okay?”

No.

No. No. NO.

Panic filled Nyssa’s body as she tried her best to move. She bit her lip, the pain, though, disappeared in the sea of pain already tearing through her body.

I don’t want to live in that society. I don’t want to live in a society where everyone has to go through cybernetic augmentations. I don’t want to be harvested. I don’t want to be siphoned and drained for the rest of my life. I don’t want to be chained up for the rest of my life.

As her mind began to scramble, Nyssa raised her arm, batting away the first few masks. She scrambled on the ground, trying to stand up, but the loose dirt betrayed her. The pain, with every second, intensified, and she let out a scream. Her mind began to fracture as the last vestiges of her logic grasped for straws.

I need to bring down the barrier.

I need to be able to transform.

She has devices in her pockets. Which means somehow when I laser’ed her they survived.

I have to destroy them somehow. Or take them.

I need to be able to transform.

I need to not get a mask stuck on my face.

As she tried to remind herself, images began flashing through her mind. The pain began taking its toll as blood began seeping out her eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. Her pupils began to unfocus.

Memories of a dark lab.

Memories of floating within a giant incubation tube.

Memories of watching a woman standing outside the tube jotting down notes.

The figure, having pulled its hood back up, now stood over Nyssa. Its many arms lowering towards the girl on the ground. As it neared though, it slowed. Under the hood, the silver mask transformed back into the woman’s face without anyone realizing.

A faint melancholic frown danced across the woman’s lips.

I never thought I’d have to take my own child’s life.

A flicker of hesitation flashed in her eyes, and in that momentary lapse in concentration, the girl below her transformed. Her body became smaller, and in her place now laid a duck. This duck though, instead of one, had a legion of heads, enough to outnumber the number of arms floating in the air above it.