Everything was blinding, Grusha sensed nothing as her sensory inputs became deprived. All she could see was just a white field, it was like she bathed in the whiteness that enveloped her. All she could taste was the nastiness of humanity, the tangy bitter flavor of weapons for mass destruction. The sound of high pitched hum rattled her cerebrum, making her slightly nauseous from the sensation. Smell became one and all, there was no distinction from herself, those around her and the beam that enveloped her.

Oddly, she felt a familiar sensation from the touch. It felt strange, like an itch that rubbed her entire body in an annoying irritation. She observed her neural patterns, closely attuned to her subconscious. From being deprived of all of her other sensations, she processed the information that she knew closer to light speed.

She could feel her cells burning from energy, resembling much closer to that of how Static’s abilities operated than traditional energy. There was another layer to it, she felt mass, but it was supercharged and travelling through her. Whatever the beam was, it penetrated her, but at the same time it did not. The weapon they used exerted forces in existence and not in existence.

So that is how it works. She thought to herself.

That was why her body responded the way it did before, it failed to comprehend what elements and factors that were at play here. Now that she had decoded the factors, her subconscious could now fully adapt and acclimate. Instead of diverting the energy to a portion of her body and letting that part explode, she formed a new organ that sponged the excess energy.

Time sped up as her senses slowly regained sensations, the light ebbed and unveiled like a curtain. Fear, shock, surprise, awe, hate, pain. So many odors flooded Grusha’s nostrils and tongue. Eyes flicked open, glowing a bright white light, an effect from the absorption of the entire. Everywhere she looked, shapes and forms were made out, color was completely void. She stared into the shells of creatures that surrounded her, clearly humans but it was as if she stared straight through them.

“Impossible.” A voice echoed in her head. The commando was shocked. It was as if a thousand voices repeated each word. “No alpha has ever survived a fully charged scope shot.”

Grusha gave a big devilish grin. She flipped over, forming vacuums of air in her wake. Everyone covered their eyes, to protect them from flying particles. In an instant, she latched hands onto the commando’s shoulders, she then twisted her body and flung him across the ice plain. He skipped across the plain like a stone over a calm lake, sent several fields away.

Remaining soldiers regained composure and shot at her, but she was no longer wary of their projectiles. Their own weapons were being used against them, she absorbed every shot into her newly formed organ.

Sprinting to her nearest target who stood over Lady Hammer, she surprised even herself her newfound capabilities. Adjusting to her sudden surge of speed, she drew some energy from her organ into her fist and punched the suit in the gut. A shockwave exploded from the impact, the armor hissed and shattered, the visor rippled and cracked.

“AGH!” The man screamed incoherently.

He flopped onto his back, dropping dead from the blow. Everyone watching jaws dropped, unable to comprehend such beastly power.

Drawing more energy to stimulate her muscles, she ripped apart the clamp that disabled Lady Hammer. Instantly, Lady Hammer jumped into action diving straight for her warhammer, it was settled a mere dozen meters away. Grusha pelted into the next nearest person that had their weapon trained on her, he was sent stumbling backwards but regained his footing by using his jetpack and taking the fight into the skies.

Grusha growled.

More energy was drawn into her legs, she felt a surge of power that her body could barely physically contain. Flying like a rocket through the air, crashed into him, ripping apart the armor piece by piece. The jetpack system failed and the pilot started to pummel to the earth with her, on the way down she continued her rampage of tearing his armor apart. They crash landed, the impact safety systems failed in his suit, killing him from the impact.

At the distance, Lady Hammer smashed the armored men around, destroying their jetpacks. Most of them were worse than sitting ducks, they effectively had been crippled from making any successful escape. The few that realized what was going on tried to get off the ground, but Grusha ripped off a long quill from her back and leapt at one after the other. She impaled every one of the jetpacks, aiming for the flow of energy that powered their system.

Enemies dropped like flies, their feeble attempt at an escape was disrupted. Back on the ground, Lady Hammer crushed every enemy one after the other. A single dazed moment and a miracle was all they needed to completely turn this completely around.

From the edge, a figure limped their way towards her. Clutching at his abdomen, drops of blood seeped through the armor, a bad sign for him. He ripped his helmet off, revealing a battered mess of an appearance. Having lost all grace in dignity, he still stubbornly marched forwards.

Lady Hammer and Grusha exchanged glances, they nodded at each other in silent understanding. Grusha advanced closer to the commando, he raised his fist charging a weak blast that smacked dead in the forehead. She fully absorbed it, unaffected by the feeble attempt. His weapon sputtered and died, he stopped in his tracks. There was nothing else he could do now that he was weaponless and powerless, defeat was certain.

Grusha pounced the defenseless man, pinning him to the ground. She growled at him, asserting her dominance upon him through sheer intimidation.

He sighed.

“Answer me this, Wildebeest. You could have escaped ages ago, travelled around the world twice on over, and yet you chose to stay. What possessed you to behave in such a bizarre way?”

“There was nowhere else to go.”

“And so you stayed where they fed you? No, there is more to it than just that. You’re only half human, but you’re not naive.”

To her surprise, she recognized a familiar voice. It was full of pain, but it brought her a surprising peace of mind. Aput was on his knees in the village, sharing in the lamentation of the village where everyone dragged out their dead loved-ones from the debris. In his arms was a young boy, she recognized him as his nephew. The same boy on the barge days ago, and in the forest earlier today.

She let out a relieved sigh.

The commando twisted his head to see what she was looking at, a devilish amusement glint shined in his eyes. A joke that only he seemed to understand, he laughed out loud.

“A man? Don’t tell me he offered his hand to you and that was all it took to make you feel remorse.” He taunted.

She directed her attention back at him.

“I will repay my debt.” She said.

“Bah!” He chuckled, coughing up blood at the same time. “Imagine that, a monster with a conscience. A debt to what? To your past sins? For your existence as a demi? Or is it that you regret killing your own kind? Something like you could never understand what you truly owe, because you don’t understand your own worth. You are trash!”

Grusha pressed onto his chest even tighter. “Even so, I pay back my debts in full.”

Eyeing back at the dead boy that rested in Aput’s arms, she felt an emotion she never experienced before. Pain ached in her heart, a certain sadness welled up. For reasons she could not explain to herself, she felt bad for the loss of the boy. It was not because she missed the boy, however. She somehow felt pained by the pain that Aput experienced.

“And you,” She started. “You too must pay back your debt in full.”

He chortled, his broken nose and cracked ribs made him laugh like a madman.

“I swear, I am having those techies heads on a platter.”

With a final push, she caved his chest in and killed him effectively instantaneously. His limbs went limp and the devilish glint in his eyes faded. Grusha felt no remorse, no hate. Lady Hammer stepped next to her.

“You seemed at peace and in turmoil, Wildebeest.” Hammer said. “I would dare and venture in saying that you seem relieved.”

Hammer eyed the grieving Aput. With all of the enemies properly taken care of, Grusha settled her hair, reverting back to her human appearances. All she could do was just squat over the dead man, staring blankly over him.

Hammer sighed.

Grusha was lifted from the arm, she growled in stubborn arrogance. Nobody ever touched her without her permission, it was beneath her to let someone to do so unless they earned the right.

“Stop it with your pride, your man is in need of your company.”

“Why me?”

“Indeed, an interesting question. One I wish to find out for myself as well. Perhaps you should ask him yourself for when the time is ripe.”

Grusha sighed. “Very well. Know this, I am not going because you convinced me. I am merely repaying my debt.”

“Then may it be just as so.”

They both approached Aput who was weeping over his nephew's body, everyone that came out from the burning huts all cried over their dead relatives. A tragedy this village had undergone, a tragedy that Grusha took part of.

Grusha whispered for Aput’s ears alone. “I’m sorry for the loss.”

He did not respond to her voice, so she rested a hand on his shoulder to try to comfort him. To her surprise, he shrugged her off. Lifting his head from the nephew’s remaining part of his chest, teary welled up eyes stared back at Grusha.

“Please, leave me be.” He sobbed. “I need this moment to myself.”

The words hurt her more than she could have imagined, but she did not know why. She felt anger, confused over the emotions that rocked her soul. Instead of forcing her presence into his life, she stepped back. Slowly sulking into the background of his existence. Perhaps it was too soon to be compassionate, so she bided her time as the village all wailed. Wolves lamented their howls in tangent with the villagers.