I could hear his approach before I saw him, and his entry to the room was prefaced with a thrown wooden chair which cracked into two on the floor before my case .

"Who the hell does he think he is?" he raged. "I'm only trying to help. Only trying to help! And then he calls me out and embarrasses me in front of all of his putrid human friends. The looks they give me. Always the same. Why haven't they all died out already!"

"It sounds like you had a good day," I greeted him. He picked up a piece of the chair and smashed it into splinters against the plexiglass of my case.

"You shut up, moron!" he screamed at me. "This is your fault too, it is!"

"You're right, I should probably just leave."

"Shut up. Stupid, garbage Exhumans. You and Athan both. The worst of your lot. But still a million times better than those drooling fucking apes. I can't believe he slums with them. You should have seen their eyes, they just leered at me like I was crazy." His eyes suddenly snapped to me and I suspected I was looking at him in a similar manner. "You need to have an event. You need to show them that humanity is over."

"With my powers?" I mused. "No, you are delusional. There are billions of humans and hundreds of Exhumans, at best. We are not ending you anytime soon."

"No, you don't understand. How many sharks are there to how many fish? How many wolves to how many rabbits?"

"Are you insinuating I should eat you? If that is your fetish, I might oblige if it means my release."

He went for the other half of the chair and cracked it against my case. "STOP. MOCKING. ME."

"Just as soon as you stop being so mockable."

"You need to be disciplined," he said darkly, his hands twitching like he wanted to grab me then and there. "Time for your exercises."

I did not let my fear show on my face as he grabbed my neck with callous hands, and as soon as my mind was in his, he treated it with the same compassion.

There was no deception of love this time. No teaching that I was wrong and he was right, no fundamental rewrite of my conceptions to twist, just punishment. Anything in my own mind which might hurt me, he grabbed and twisted and gnawed on. He pulled and raked my brain as cruely as he could.

I felt my mind breaking. I felt myself becoming stupid and panicky and lost, determination and discipline worthless against the wall of indescribable pain. Every suffering, every indignity, every embarrassment I had ever suffered, a lifetime's worth balled up and rammed down my throat until I choked on it, taking it all at once, forever, until I was gasping and crying and clawing at the ground to try to be away from him.

But I could never escape. My powers didn't permit that. I felt as though he had taken a brick to each of my limbs until they were pulverized and useless, and then I was made to survive as he brought it down on my face again and again.

And that was when he hit me with his 'truths'. This was for my own good. This was for questioning him. I made him do this. He loved me.

I found myself back in my own body, the lights in the room playing circles in my eyes. He was sitting in a chair in front of me, the wreckage of the previous chair still on the ground under him. He was on his mobile, unaware of me watching. From the soreness in my muscles I realized I had been out for some time, and had been crying in my sleep. I moved my shackled hands to awkwardly wipe the tears from my eyes, but they would not stop flowing.

"Oh, you're up," he said, sounding almost pleased. "You forced me to go a little hard on you and you couldn't take it and blacked out."

I said nothing, just heard his words as though from a distance while my mind tried to grapple with what had happened to it, and the enormity of the panic attack which had made me physically black out, even as a specter.

"I have been thinking about what you said," he said, putting his mobile back in his pocket. "About there being not enough Exhumans."

"I never said that," I said, trying not to sniffle even as I wiped more tears.

"Well, that's what you meant. And I realized, you're right. Exhumans aren't like a virus, they can't multiply, they can't. Humans are the virus, and Exhumans are the body made sick by our presence. We're keeping you weak, unable to flourish and grow. I've been waiting for Exhumans to rise up and take their place, but they can't, not with humanity holding them down."

I blinked at him, biting back my anger. "Have you kept me caged here to draw that insipid conclusion? What, I wonder, do you consider the function of the XPCA, if not to 'hold down' Exhumans?"

"No," he scoffed. "Because it's a chicken-and-egg problem, you see. Exhumans cannot multiply because they are oppressed, and they will remain oppressed until they can grow in strength or numbers to overcome it."

"It is almost as though the system has been designed to retain the status quo, and has done so with success for hundreds of years."

He ignored me as he ignored my tears and distress. That which he did not wish to acknowledge, he did not. "Nothing will change unless someone with vision steps forward. A man like me."

"You are hardly a man. You are an idealistic college brat who lives in one of multiple houses owned by your parents."

"Shut up," he snapped, suddenly seeming aware of me again. "Unless you need to be punished again." He waited for a moment and I didn't respond. "Good. Your problem is you're just lacking in vision, you are. You're too fixated on what's in front of you, you're blind to how things can be, should be. Exhumans should be so much more than they are right now. I just don't understand what kind of idiot you have to be to not see that and want to change it."

"What kind of idiot does not wish the overthrow of the human race?"

"Yes. Humans had their chance and the planet is ruined. Exhumans with their powers could defy entropy and create a post-scarcity society easily."

"You realize this is our aim as well. To uplift Exhumans from oppression."

"See? You're exactly like me deep down. I knew it."

"--without reckless violence or loss of life. Thinking all humans good and all Exhumans bad is moronic. Each must be judged on their own merits. There exist contemptible Exhumans and meritorious humans."

I could hardly believe it, but he finally had me debating with him. Perhaps it was my unbalanced mental state, or the fear of another round of torture. But mostly, he was just wrong, and if I said the wrong things, I would be hurt or ignored again.

He sneered. "Even 'good' humans profit from the system as they sit around doing nothing. The only ones who don't deserve death are people like me, who are actively working for others' rights. We're the only 'good' out there."

I shook my head. "You are utterly insane. There is no 'we'."

He glowered at me but I hadn't earned a punishment yet. "You're right," he said, confusing me for a second before I realized he was just ignoring what he wished again. "The system has been in place for a hundred years. Everyone who has ever tried to bring it down has failed, from Exhuman rights lobbyists to every Exhuman who has ever tried to fight the XPCA. But I won't fail. I've got something they don't have."

"Nukes?"

"Love," he smirked. "I cannot be defeated by something so weak as guns and bombs, I cannot, not when my heart is as strong as iron."

"You are truly a moron. I apologize for ever fearing that you had a plan."

"Oh I've got a plan," he said ominously, rising to put his hands against the wall of my cell. "We've got a plan, we do. You and I. Remember what I said before?"

"Was that before or after the incoherent raving, reductionist philosophy, and petty prejudicial revenge?"

"Shut up. I meant about the chicken-and-egg problem. See, their logic is flawed because they assume if they're oppressing you, that means you can't grow in number or power. But that's just not true, see. There are other ways, there are, private ways they would never know."

He seemed to be building to a point and clearly wanting me to ask about it so I made a show of not doing so. I attempted to yawn convincingly, but the tears did little to sell my act.

"Don't act like this doesn't concern you," he snapped, slapping his palm on my case with a dull echoing thump. "I'm doing this for you! Don't you think if there were any other way I'd do that? But they have billions of dollars in defense spending. Millions of soldiers, brainwashed. Guns and bombs and tanks and VTOLS."

"I heard tell your heart was bulletproof and bombproof. Please, defy them and prove it to me."

"And how are we supposed to stand up to that? We're just one man and one woman."

"Just half of one man, really. Also, I am with them."

"Only until you come around, you will, my love. You'll see." He caressed the case lovingly.

"I really won't. I would sooner die."

"My love, you mustn't speak of such things," he said, his voice suddenly higher. "You are everything to me. It hurts me to think of you dying."

That pissed me off more than anything else. His garbage compassion, after all he'd done to me. I bit back my words for only a minute, before I decided they were well worth another round of torture.

"If I could kill myself to rid the world of you, I would do it without hesitation. You are sick and disgusting, and have perverted both the meaning of love and of reason. You are an awful person who deserves a brutal, short death, and an eternity in your hell-analogous afterlife of your faith of choice to consider how immature and short-sighted you were. You are at once more dangerous and more unhinged than most Exhumans I know, and far more worthy of the systematic oppression you so vehemently oppose."

"Just shut up," he said, strolling back to his chair with a flippant wave to let me know just how much he wasn't listening.

"I don't love you, I will never love you, and if anyone ever has, they were mistaken."

He stood up again, and I thought another outburst was coming, but instead his anger simmered dangerously, coldly. "I had wanted this to be a beautiful thing between us, but you insist on hurting me with your words, my love. I am beginning to run out of patience for your immature rebellious nature."

His eyes told me if I said a single thing now, my suffering would be greater than ever. I swallowed heavily and took a calming breath.

"Go. Fuck. Yourself," I informed him.

"No," he said, grinning suddenly in a way which scared me even more. "Fuck you." He turned his back to me so he could dramatically monologue and I realized we'd reached the conclusion of his magnum opus. "You and I, we're just one man and one woman against the world, we are. How can we ever hope to multiply the power of Exhumans, just the two of us?"

I started to respond, but before I could he spun and slapped the case and then pointed down at me. I blinked and looked down at the hem of the slinky dress I'd been put into. My...knees? My legs? My--

No. He couldn't be serious. But he was. He was insane. Oh no. Oh, no, no, no.

"You're going to make me come right out and say it, aren't you?" I shook my head violently, hoping somehow to put this topic away forever. "We multiply," he repeated with the same terrifying grin.

"No, we do not," I told him adamantly. "Absolutely not. No, and never."

"Oh yes, we will. I will be the father of a new generation of Exhumans. My blood will be of a new dynasty."

"It has been generally disproven of there being any genetic element in Exhumanity. Give up on you flawed plan now before you do something you regret."

"Nobody knows. Nobody's ever done it. I've looked and looked but never read of an Exhuman with child. Even if it is a longshot, don't you want to try?"

"No. I want nothing less than to try." It was taking all I had to keep still and speak evenly. My heart was pounding. My breathing felt restricted. He was insane beyond all measure.

He cupped his chin. "I had intended for this to be a beautiful union, I did. But if you don't wish to be in your body for it, your participation is not required."

"Don't ignored me. Listen to me. Listen to me!" I screamed at him, banging on the glass as mused, studying my body. "Don't you touch me, don't you dare touch me! You love me right? You want what's best for me? Well this is not it! If you do this, I will never forgive you!"

"You've already made it clear you don't love me and...what were your words? Never will? If anyone ever does, it was a mistake?"

I stared at him feeling my throat close up. I felt so hot and so cold all at once, my body flush with panic.

"Diallo. Please. Don't," I pleaded. "Anything but that."

He stared me in the eye, smiling. "You should have pleaded that a week ago when I still cared what you thought. Our daughters will be beautiful and obedient and powerful enough to shake the world. If I have them, I don't need your cooperation anymore, just your body." He sneered into the glass, blocking out vision of everything but him. "Now, you try to get warmed up in there. But if you aren't feeling it…" he took a few steps back and then turned to the door. "I'll go find some lube. Don't go anywhere, my love."

I trembled for a minute, unsure of...of everything. It couldn't end like this, could it? The girl who had never meant to be, disappearing without anyone knowing or caring? The product of a broken womb becoming a baby mill? The irony was thick and vile.

I had been quiet, observant, smart. I had lived selflessly, dedicated my life to the pursuit of good because I believed that good was worth pursuing. I was one of very few Exhumans in the world who had become pioneers in reshaping our system, and yes, our actions were often as flawed and misguided as the system was, but I had done nothing but try.

And now...a sex-slave for a delusional man-child to bear his foul young? I had never even wanted a child. Procreating was the most egotistical thing a person could do; to say they adored themselves so much that what the world needed most was more of them. The world did not need more of me. I wasn't even sure it needed one of me. No matter how many times he'd tried to overwrite this fact in my mind, it would not shake.

Every single part of it was so utterly fucked. I thought my heart would burst from adrenaline and fear...and anger. My hands twitched beyond my discipline. I trembled. I couldn't even think, which had never happened to me before. I was just...emotion...and rage and...and the more I tried to think, the hotty my chest burned until I thought the air in my lungs would catch fire. Panic and anxiety and hate just filled me up until I couldn't take any more.

And I was couldn't. Deep inside of me, the little bottle where I stoppered up all of my emotions shattered, and its contents bled into me.

I screamed as I had never screamed in my entire reserved life. I howled like a wild animal.

The glass splattered red as my forehead cracked against it. The chains on my bindings clinked and stretched as I tore at them, as I clawed at everything within reach. I felt a tooth crack as I put the bindings in my mouth and clamped down.

I smashed my head sideways with a satisfying crunch. Something gave a little, I wasn't sure if it was the case or my head, but if I had a few more of those left in me, he could have his fun breeding my corpse. The pain was blinding, but I didn't need to see to know where the wall was. I howled as I smashed into it again and again, blood seeping into my eyes and painting my entire world red.

I heard the wall crack this time, though sound seemed very quiet under the screaming of my blood, but I reached and felt wooden splinters. I ripped them off the wall and pushed against it. Still utterly solid, I had only fragmented off the veneer.

I had hoped to find a way out. But this was enough, I thought.

"Oh my GOD!" he screamed from the doorway. I could not see through the pain and swelling and blood, but the pain in his voice was like an angel's song to my ears.

I grabbed the largest splinter of the veneer and angled it as I could in the enclosed case as he screamed at me.

"This is for you, my love," I screeched at him, and then threw my entire weight forward against the wooden spear. It burned white-hot as it stabbed through my guts, and I could feel my grip on it loosening through the pain and the slickness of my blood.

I'd once been the final product of a damaged womb. It seemed fitting that I destroy my own to prevent another mistake like me from joining this disgusting world. I felt the wood splinter inside me and a warm trickle running down my legs.

Suddenly the air shifted and he gagged as the smell of my blood escaped through the open case. I reached out and found no wall before me. Instead, the chest of a man.

My hands went upwards until they found the throat, and then clenched it as tight as they could. They trembled with a tighter grip than ever before.

And then my hands were purple and translucent and of a body not my own, passing through his throat without effect. He fell backwards and coughed.

"What have you done, my love!" he choked out, ripping off his shirt and pressing it against the wounds on my body. "You're bleeding out! You're killing yourself, you realize that?"

As he spoke, his mind lashed at me. But I was done being the tame, caged lion. My mind pounced on him with all the mental strength I possessed, and his body jolted and the seized on the ground.

As he had done to me, I went into his mind with everything I had. I tore up his memories, I found every insecurity and self-hatred and colored his entire mind with them. I took all his thoughts he held dear and eradicated them with my own beliefs, rewriting and erasing his entirety until he was just a shadow of fragments of echoes of my thoughts.

"You want me to believe in myself?" I screamed at him. "You want me to stand up for myself? You want me to love who I am?"

I shoved myself into him and twisted and writhed until he burst, until we were indistinguishable, inseparable, no longer two minds in one but one.

He tried to fight back. Tried to push me out. Tried to hold on. But as it turned out, my mind was very disciplined, and his...well he always had issues facing things head-on. I shredded through his pathetic excuse for a brain in moments.

"Well this is me doing it! You win, you disgusting, pathetic kusoyarou! Smile and laugh as you die, chikushou! Daikirai! Shinu!"

"I was only trying to help!" he gasped.

And it was true. He had been in my mind enough that of all the things he said or thought, I knew this one to be true. The thought disgusted me, so I annihilated it.

"Nobody wakes up deciding to make the world a worse place," I growled at him, as the weight of my mind bore down on him. "Nobody chooses to be evil. They arrive there by neglect. They neglect the feelings of others. They neglect the value of others' suffering. They neglect that greater good still comes with harm."

With every word I crushed him further until his mind squirmed like a mass of worms trapped in my fingers.

"I-I can...I can change! I c-can listen, I can! I pr...promise!"

"No, you can't," I said staring him in the eyes as they rolled into his head. "Because you will be dead."

He flailed and shuddered, uncoordinated crawling away from me. But just as I'd been trapped with him before, now he was trapped with me. And while he may have thought the had my best interests at heart, thought he was acting out of love, I was under no such delusion. I hated him, I wanted to shred every piece of him to nothingness, erase him even to himself, and then kill him.

I had spent a long time hating and enduring. Today, Diallo and I both discovered what happened when there was something I could endure no longer.

He collapsed, his eyes blank, his mind gone, save for pained flickers of tortured unconsciousness. He was utterly no more. I should have stopped and planned my escape.

I didn't. I screamed as I continued pummelling his brain with my mind until he was past braindead, until his mind was more scar than thought. Until I was certain that he'd never, ever, ever have a vile thought about me, or any Exhuman, or any woman ever again. And then once more. And then again. And again.

There was nothing left of him, but every time I ravaged his broken mind, his body trembled and I just couldn't get enough of watching the fat kuzu shudder. How many times had he done whatever he wanted without consequence? How many had he hurt? No more. It was his turn to hurt.

I went until I was exhausted, which wasn't very long. I slowly floated down, looking around at the room, ravaged by his desperate flight, smashed cases, blood-smeared walls, bloody handprints on the ground from my body to his. His desperate attempts to crawl away like a dog.

My body looked awful. The thick wooden spear was still sticking out from under my navel and my face was a curtain of drying blood. A small red eddy trickled slowly down my leg into a growing pool. It had been extreme, but I didn't regret a moment of it. It was what I needed to break out of myself and to break out of that cage. Now I was free.

Just...just the moment I could reach my body. On the other end of the room. My phantom proved completely incapable of affecting its host as always.

I sighed and blinked back my anger at the final injustice of it all. There was a way to get back I knew. A means I had taken only once before. It was completely unpleasant but what wasn't, in this room? I tore the autographed picture of the P-Force off of the wall and ripped it in half down the middle, shredding the image of myself in half.

And then I wadded it up and crammed it down Diallo's unconscious throat until he choked on those Exhumans he loved so much.