For years, Emily was forced to be perfect. The perfect daughter. The perfect musician. The perfect girl.
And, for a long time, she was.
Until she wasn't.
She balanced an arrow between her fingers with her right eye closed as the other focused on the holographic target a few meters ahead. The targets in her backyard archery range her father forced her to practice on weren't nearly as sophisticated. They were made from cheap paper and rotting wood slabs.
But a target was a target.
Exhaling, she let the arrow go. It hit the still hologram in the shoulder. The sharp twang of the bowstring pierced her eardrums. She grimaced at the sound.
The mutations the others received were much more beneficial. Theo was fast. Chase was strong. Stella could bend and control light with her hands. And what did she get? Sensitive ears and the ability to shoot soundwaves from her vocal cords. The latter would've been a cool ability if it didn't make her throat feel like it was on fire every time she used it.
It reminded her of her intense singing lessons with her mother. She'd wake up every morning on the weekends to practice singing and the piano. For every note—every key—she messed up, she'd have to redo it ten times before moving on.
She scowled.
All her life, she had to be perfect.
If only her parents could see what their precious daughter had turned into now.
You're a freak. Always have been. Always will be.
Her scowl deepened as she adjusted the volume on the new hearing aids the Atlas scientists designed for her. Instead of making things louder, they regulated the frequencies of everything, allowing her to choose what to focus on. With enough practice and concentration, she'd be able to pick out the smallest sounds in the noisiest of rooms.
They didn't have a fix for her supersonic voice yet.
"Good shot," Stella commented from behind her.
She balanced a silver bō staff on her bronze shoulders. Not only was the girl a gifted gymnast, winning the state championship twice for their high school, but she was also a black belt in karate. The two girls trained at the same dojo as kids. Emily never took to martial arts. Archery and music were where her talents lay.
"My aim was off." Emily stepped to the side.
"Could've fooled me."
"Is that sarcasm?"
Stella rolled her hazel eyes. "No, it's not. Why do you always think someone's trying to attack you?"
Someone is always trying to attack me.
The bullying started in her first year of high school. Just thinking about her ignited the fiery ball of rage in her soul.
"You should know the answer to that," Emily shot back. "You and your friends tormented me for an entire school year. Or did you forget about that?"
"How many more times do I have to apologize for that?"
Instead of answering, she notched another arrow and stepped back up to the mark. Her face and mind went blank as she focused on the glowing hologram prancing around the open, white space of the range before her. She let the arrow go, watching it whistle through the air.
It hit the chest of the hologram—exploding it into tiny particles of light—before slamming into the wall. She could hear her father's shouts ringing through her head.
"That's how you should do it every time," he would say. If she didn't meet his standards, he wouldn't speak to her for days. Her mother wasn't any better. She did nothing to protect her from her husband's authoritarian wrath. And after Emily's big secret was exposed, the woman refused to look her in the eye.
She hated everyone after that.
She wanted to hate them, too.
But she only ended up hating herself.
Ethan—her sweet, little brother—was the only person she truly loved.
Her scowl shifted to a frown. The boy might've been extremely annoying, but he was the only good thing in her life. Had she been an only child, she would've never thought about going home after arriving at The Acropolis—the official name of Atlas' headquarters. Plus, the rooms Director Shaw had them staying in made it hard to think about returning.
Emily and Stella finished their training session. Director Shaw suggested they exercise regularly. She didn't mind it. Spending hours in the training and simulation rooms made passing the time easier.
"The others are hanging out in the entertainment room," Stella told her as they headed toward the elevators. Emily refused to acknowledge her. "Are you coming?"
She kept her face forward.
"Seriously? The silent treatment? Grow up, Emily."
"Look, I don't know what you're trying to do here, but we aren't friends. Not anymore. This…situation might've happened to both of us, but we're not sisters or whatever it is you think is going on here. I don't need your friendship—or your pity. Got it?"
"You can fool everyone else, but you can't fool me." Stella's expression softened as the elevator continued its ascent. "I know the real you."
"You don't know shit, Stella."
"That's not true, and you know it."
They stood just inches away from each other. Emily's heartbeat quickened. She mentally chastised herself for it. Fortunately, the other girl couldn't see that. All she could see was the anger burning in her dark eyes.
Emily hated everyone. But Stella was at the top of that list. Once upon a time, they'd been friends. Best friends. But that all changed after the summer leading into their freshman year of high school.
"Em… I really am sorry for what happened between us. I never intended for any of that to happen." Stella reached for her hand. She quickly snatched it away.
The elevator chime jolted her senses. The doors slid open, revealing another one of the million bright corridors within The Acropolis.
With her head throbbing from the noise and the emotions pounding on the walls of her skull, she hurried out of the elevator, letting her feet take her wherever. Eventually, she wandered into a humid greenhouse filled with plants of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Sunlight poured through the windows and skylight, which gave way to the blue sky above.
She stood amongst the flowers.
Then she screamed.
The glass cases around her shattered, the tiny shards raining onto the ground. With her chest heaving, she grumbled a curse and stormed out of the room.
###
Emily found herself staring in the mirror.
She'd retained most of her piercings after the crash that gave her and the others their powers. They decorated her face like Christmas ornaments. Each one of them was put into place to anger her parents. Even the most painful one didn't compare to the feeling of seeing her parents enraged. Her septum piercing was her favorite.
Shaking her head, she moved away from the mirror and sat down on the edge of her bed. She studied her dwellings. The room was almost bigger than her living room back home; it was stocked with fancy furniture, a bed that could fit five of her, and she even had her own bedroom.
Her eyes settled on the closed door.
She wanted to join the others down the hall.
But she couldn't bring herself to get up.
Truthfully, they all weren't so bad. Oscar and Andre made the days more tolerable, and Chase wasn't as annoying as she thought. It was Stella she couldn't stand. Still, she couldn't allow herself to get close to any of them. She'd seen what happened the last time she trusted someone.
She wouldn't let that happen again.
They weren't a family. They were six strangers who were brought together by sheer luck. Not fate. Not destiny, as Klaus told them in the quarry. It was pure luck and coincidence. The others might've deluded themselves into thinking they were friends, but they weren't. Besides, Emily knew she'd never truly fit in with them.
She didn't fit in anywhere. Not anymore. And especially not now.
But if there was anyone she could relate to, it was the other five people who'd gone through the exact thing she had. Sighing, she got up from her bed and left the room.
Within a few minutes of traveling through the halls, she arrived at the entertainment room, the common space for this floor of The Acropolis. Multiple couches surrounded a huge, impossibly thin television that usually hid inside the ground. A full kitchen took up the entire back wall. A pool table and a few ancient arcade games were tucked into the corner near the long window making up the far side wall. The room overlooked the mountain that the Acropolis was built into.
Emily found the others sitting on the sofas, their attention ensnared by a news report. Even a few Atlas agents stood around, their expressions a mixture of stoicism and concern as they watched the story unfolding before them.
She settled in behind them, her brow raised. "What's going on?"
"It's NEMESIS," Chase answered. He sat with his arms crossed over his broad chest. His ocean blue eyes seemed to glow with contempt. "They're back."
Goosebumps ran down the length of her arms.
She stared at the screen.
A news reporter spoke over grainy footage of masked figures in black tactical gear, weapons flashing under floodlights. Klaus, Apex, and most of their soldiers had slipped through the authorities' hands that night in the quarry. Weeks of silence followed. Now they were back. They had escalated to raiding factories belonging to Nexxus Industries and Arkangel Pharmaceuticals.
Emily stiffened. She knew Arkangel. Her brother took their overpriced ADHD medication.
Why is NEMESIS robbing a pharmaceutical company?
"The assailants reportedly escaped with proprietary technology," the news anchor continued. "Authorities believe it relates to Arkangel's pathogen research. Three months ago, the same group intercepted a Nexxus Industries convoy, seizing an experimental bio-engineering prototype."
The broadcast cut to a helicopter shot of Arkangel's factory. Broken glass, smoke curling into the night, red lights pulsing against the industrial sprawl. The photo that came next turned Emily's skin cold.
A young man in a black suit of armor with crimson plating. A metal mask obscuring half his face. His head turned just enough for the camera to catch his eyes. Emily knew those eyes.
Apex. The Prime who nearly killed them.
Prime. The word sank like an arrow in her chest.That's what he was.That's what they all were now.
Theo yelped at the sight of the NEMESIS commander. Oscar jolted so hard he toppled from his chair. A flicker of flame burst from his black curls; he frantically slapped them out, cursing in Spanish. Emily and a few Atlas agents smirked at the absurdity.
She was grateful for the distraction.
But her gaze drifted back to the screen. To Arkangel. To Nexxus. To the unspoken link between DNA and disease, between medicine and mutation.
She remembered Klaus' words that fateful night.
"After we complete our mission, everyone will see. The strong will survive and reclaim this planet. Natural selection on a global scale."
A global scale…
His mission sounded like a threat. Or perhaps a promise. A dangerous promise. But, for the first time, she wondered if NEMESIS's crusade wasn't about destruction at all—but creation.
Chase snatched the remote off the couch and killed the TV.
"I guess you didn't want the weather," Theo muttered.
Everyone glared at him. Everyone except Oscar, who burst out laughing—then immediately stopped when the looks turned on him. "What? I thought it was funny."
Emily rolled her eyes.
"This isn't a joke," Chase snapped. The remote creaked in his grip. Emily half-expected it to shatter in his hand. "Did you all forget these are the same people who tried to kidnap us? They're still out there—hurting people and getting away with it."
"I remember," Andre said, his voice deep and quiet. He might've been built like a titan, but he camouflaged like a chameleon.
Stella touched Chase's arm. "No one's laughing."
Director Shaw stepped into the room. Every Atlas agent stood at attention with their hands raised to their foreheads in salute. He nodded, permitting them to relax. "I assume you've all seen the report then."
"They can't keep getting away with this," Chase stressed. "They're planning something. Something big."
"We're well aware." Shaw's voice was flat, controlled. "I've got my surveillance and reconnaissance teams tracking them down as we speak. We know what their pattern is. There's another Arkangel facility that has what they might be looking for next. When they strike again, trust me. We'll be ready."
Emily found that hard to believe.
Apparently, so did Chase. "No offense, but your soldiers couldn't even capture them at the quarry. They've been at this for months."
"They've got a teleporting ninja on their team," Oscar added.
"Who knows what else they've got," Theo said.
Chase shook his head. "You're outmatched here."
Emily found herself nodding. "He's right."
She didn't agree with Chase on much. But he wasn't wrong about this. NEMESIS was dangerous, and Shaw's suave confidence felt paper-thin. Someone needed to stop them before it was too late.
"As I said, we're working on it." Shaw pushed his glasses up his nose. "These things take time—"
"We need to even the playing field," Chase interrupted.
Emily squinted at him.
"What do you suppose we do?" Director Shaw laughed, taken aback by the boy's boldness. "I hope you're not suggesting what I think you're suggesting."
"We have powers too." He stood up, chest puffed out. "Why not fight fire with fire?"
"That only makes more fire," Stella warned.
Shaw arched a brow at him. "You expect me to send untrained children into combat against professional murderers? None of you can even control your abilities. I'm not sure if any of you even know how to fight. Not to mention the number of laws this goes against." He swiped a hand through the air. "No. Absolutely not."
"Train us then. Teach us how to be Atlas agents so we can take the fight to them," Chase pressed.
Theo's head shook so fast his face blurred. "N-No way, dude. That's literal suicide."
"He's right," Stella added. "What can we possibly do against them? We're not superheroes. Some of us aren't even eighteen yet. We're not…we're not cut out for this."
Emily's glare ran hotter than a volcano. "Speak for yourself."
Director Shaw gave them all a stern shake of his head. "I said no. And that's final. I'm not Klaus. I won't risk children in battle. Do you know how bad that would look? On me? On Atlas? Do you understand how high the odds of you dying are?" His eyes swept across the six teenagers. "You're our responsibility now, and your safety is of the utmost importance. End of discussion."
Silence pressed on the room. The man turned to Chase, his gaze softer now. He placed his hands on his tense shoulders.
"I appreciate the offer," he continued. "But it's not your fight. Trust me. We have it under control."
Emily wasn't so sure.
Director Shaw clapped his hands together. "Alright, everyone. Showtime is over. Get back to your posts. We have terrorists to catch." His dress shoes clicked against the white tile as he left, the sound echoing long after he'd gone. The Atlas agents followed suit, clearing the common room until only Emily and the others remained.
No one spoke.
What was there to say?
Theo vanished in a blur and reappeared with a soda, his hair haloed by the whoosh of displaced air. He cracked the can open, took a long sip, and said, "All things considered, I think that went pretty well." He was the last person who needed caffeine.
Everyone rolled their eyes.
Theo blinked back at them, ferret-quick features scrunched in confusion. "What? What'd I do?"