As Elijah made his way into the boarding line, he heard shouting coming from ahead.
"Please, just let me through! I can't wait until next week!"
A girl in a brown, earthy hoodie pleaded with an officer who stood slightly taller than her. Elijah overheard two old men whispering nearby.
"Great, another refugee."
"Of course. There goes my appointment."
Chiming in, Elijah said, "That's the problem with people these days—always causing a commotion for no reason."
The two men looked at each other before turning back to him.
"Who are you?"
Elijah shrugged and leaned out of the line to get a better look. What he saw was a girl waving her arms in the air, raving at the orange-haired officer in front of her.
The officer, turning pink with rage, shouted, "I'm sorry, but you're too young! I can exchange your ticket, but I'll need a parent or an adult to authorise it!"
The girl pulled back her hoodie, her messy black hair falling free. Looking him up and down, she noted the extra hole punched into his belt, his oversized navy jacket, and his gloves.
"I'm pretty sure I'm as old—or older—than you—"
The vein on the officer's temple twitched. "I'm seventeen!" he shouted.
She continued, ignoring him. "Anyway, that's not possible. The only family I have left is in New Sentinel."
"Even so, I can't let you—" The officer stopped in his tracks. "Wait, what did you say?"
He immediately grabbed her ticket.
Name is Savannah... this says she's fourteen. If her parents really are gone…
The girl's brows furrowed. "Um, are you okay?"
Raising his voice, he hurriedly asked, "Do you have any type of proof you can show?"
"What? Like their skeletons?"
Another vein grew. "No—like a death certificate, medical records, anything."
"I have no idea what you're talking about. This ticket is the last thing they—"
Suddenly, a voice shouted from behind them.
"Enough about your dead parents! Why don't you save everyone time and get the hell out of line!"
The people in line immediately backed away. Elijah, now eating a candy bar with the two old men, told them, "Phil. George—"
"Those are not our names."
"—This isn't the time, George. It looks like things are about to get dangerous, I think you two should go."
"You're not from around here, are you? Don't let this nice airport fool you; this is Eisenhelm. It's always dangerous," Phil replied.
"Even so, let's not take any more risks than necessary. You guys hang back with the others. I'll stay here and hold our spots."
"And what will you do—?"
"It's fine, it's fine," he said as he hurried them to safety.
Meanwhile, the girl dropped her bag and turned to the man who had shouted at her.
"Don't talk about my parents!" she yelled as she stepped up to a huge, green, humanoid alligator.
Looking down at her, the man scoffed. "Are you serious?"
He approached her, scratching the scales on his neck, growing bigger and bigger. "You'd better watch that mouth of yours before you join them."
As his clothes began to rip, he opened his mouth wide, exposing rows of teeth.
Both Elijah and the orange-haired officer had the exact same thought.
That's a big boy.
The girl stood still, glaring at him, pressing her fingers into her palms, trying to make what would pass for a fist. The crocodile man raised what would be his brow.
Like a mouse against a lion, she squared up against the now twelve-foot-tall alligator man.
His eyes widened. "You don't actually think…? Little girl, you're nothing but a pebble to me."
He turned around, checking to see if anyone else saw what was happening, but having only heard large growls, most people had gone away.
Just then, the officer shouted, "Hey! Both of you, knock it off!" as he pointed his gun at him.
The man scoffed. "Oh, please. Everyone knows those guns can't kill Neos."
"You probably think this is the old model, but this one's new and has the power to take down some Level Twos. But you don't have to take my word for it. We can find out right now!"
The alligator man furrowed his brows. So did the officer.
Uneasiness hung in the air, neither budging, until finally the man exhaled, shrinking down to normal size.
"Sorry, but… we all got problems, okay? I've got family to get to, too. Please just let me go."
He raised his hands in surrender. The officer stood, surprised.
Thank God. The new guns are only issued to high-ranking soldiers. Given his size, all this gun would've done is tickle him before he grabbed me and used me as dental floss.
The officer replied, "It's fine. Just don't cause trouble again. With all that growling, I wasn't sure if you could hear me."
The alligator man shook his head. "What? No, I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to her."
"What?"
The officer turned—and before his eyes, he saw the girl hunched over, glaring at the alligator man. Her hands glowed a violent white-pink that flickered frantically.
Watching from a different spot, Elijah leaned on a nearby column, folding his arms.
Depending on her level, if she goes critical, this entire airport could get destroyed.
Through clenched teeth, the officer shouted, "Hey! Knock it off before the other officers see!"
She shook her head, snapping out of it. "Wha—what am I doing?"
She looked at her hands. "No, not here."
She closed her eyes and began rapidly breathing in and out. "Okay, calm down. Remember what they taught you. Think… peace. Fields. Water splashing…"
She opened her eyes. "YELP!" she shrieked.
As the light drew more attention, the officer, struggling to see, raised his hands, shouting, "What's going on? How can I help?"
Her breath was frantic. "I can't stop it—I'm trying! But it's not working like before! What am I supposed to do?"
She inhaled and exhaled, fighting for control.
She's completely lost control of her powers.
Just then, sirens began to blare as drones arrived.
"Please move to the barrack closest to you," the announcement echoed as the remaining people rushed to the barracks, protected by see-through F.F.H. barriers.
Four drones buzzed toward her.
"Use of powers is strictly prohibited. Please stop, or heavy force will be used."
The drones began blasting her with tranquilizing sound waves, forcing her to her knees. Screaming, she covered her ears, squirming in pain.
Elijah unfolded his arms.
Those drones are making things worse. I could potentially get her out of here, but given how little I know about her power, it's too dangerous to get close.
He clenched his jaw, looking around as all the officers ran towards the barracks.
"Typical. As if the F.F.H. would actually do their job—"
CRASH!
A drone dropped.
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
The rest fell, shot down by the young orange-haired officer.
Air escaping from his nose, Elijah smirked.
I stand corrected.
The officer ran over, tapping the girl's shoulder. "Okay, Savannah right? I've got a plan."
She opened her eyes. "You're still here? I mean—yeah, sure, anything."
But the glow from her hands flickered more violently.
"Hold onto that Neo scanner gate!" the officer said as he looked around for more drones. "That gate scans for rogue Neo criminals, and because of how it's connected to the—just get behind it! It's strong and built from a highly resistant metal!"
Confused but desperate, she grabbed the gate—but suddenly, the glow from her hands transferred onto it.
"Wait—I remember now!" she shouted.
The officer stood confused.
Okay, uh—that wasn't my plan, but I guess it worked?
"No, not yet!" she replied as she squatted down, digging her fingers into the base of the gate.
As the gate flickered faster, she shouted, "Get down!"
The officer dove to the floor as she ripped the gate from the ground. With a heavy grunt, she hurled it into the massive monitor hanging hundreds of metres above.
Diving down, she landed next to the officer, both bracing with their hands behind their heads, eyes fully closed.
A second passed. Then another.
The officer spoke. "Hmm? Are you sure we had to get down? Maybe—"
BOOM!
The monitor exploded.
Gasps erupted as the people watched. As flames dripped from the shattered mega-monitor, shrapnel shot out from the smoke, whistling through the air, tearing into anything it came into contact with.
Still standing by the column, Elijah easily and swiftly dodged the debris, each fragment barely whizzing by.
As the debris fell, the officer managed to get a glimpse of Elijah's movement.
"Woah."