CHAPTER 8

Week 5

The common room was almost unrecognizable by now. The bookshelf had been raided and was halfway emptied— primarily because of Jasmine. A huge table had been added, and board games had been sent and played. There was even a mattress on the ground for that one time Agnes stayed up all night watching her favorite crime show. Needless to say, it was a mess.

However, it was still the room Biermann used to meet with the four metahumans. He stood in the center of the room, his back hunched. Jasmine felt terrible for him. He looked tired. The bags under his eyes were getting significantly larger every night, and she had caught him more than once dozing off while leaning on the walls of the elevator. The cheerful and excited doctor that she had met all those weeks ago was gone now, replaced by a tired and irritated man.

He still had to do his job, however. That is why he had called the group for a meeting here right after their training. Jasmine adjusted her seating position and waited. Even Agnes hadn’t been foolish enough to poke fun at the man.

“Six-Thirty exactly.” He said with a slight cough. His voice was dry and raspy. “Alright, let’s start then.” He said as he pointed to a movable whiteboard he had brought here.

He continued.

“We are officially halfway through your training. I would like to thank you again for cooperating. Let’s start off by giving it to you straight. The MSA has carried out multiple attacks up north in multiple provinces, but nothing as major as the first one. A suicide bomber on a military base… a mayor assassinated in the streets... I’ve been tasked with giving you a rundown on what we know about their leaders.”

Jasmine’s heart dropped at the mention of the MSA, but she had expected this.

“Sounds pretty major to me.” Agnes quickly replied.

“It is… but that’s not what’s important here. Plus, we’re making headway into finding out more about them. Here.”

He clicked a button on the television remote, opening a part of the ceiling to reveal a projector. He brought a projector screen at the center of the room, in front of the television. He turned it on.

“Alright. Is it working? Thank you.” He thanked Jasmine’s nod of confirmation. “Here, have a look.”

Jasmine squinted to look at the screen. The light being on made it hard to see.

“Can we turn off the lights?” She asked.

“Oh, right. Franz? You’re the closest to the door.” He replied.

“Yeah, it’s no problem.”

The projection revealed a brown-skinned man that Jasmine recognized to be the flier that was present during the terrorist attack at the National Assembly. It was a picture of him walking down a street with sunglasses on.

“Where was this taken?” Franz asked with a frown. “Or when?”

“This is one of the best images we have of him. It was taken in the streets of Marno fifteen years ago.”

“That’s a city in Saveria, I think, brown-skinned.” Franz added. “So we have nothing more recent?”

“I’m afraid he hasn’t shown himself since the previous attack on the National Assembly. The recent attacks were all carried out by humans.” Biermann replied. “But here’s what we know. He is originally from Saveria, but he hasn’t been there in years as far as we know, although he still speaks the language. Brown skin, around six feet two inches and very stocky.” He continued.

The image on the screen switched to the known video of the attack. Jasmine saw him in the skies, floating while ordering his men, and then he flew into the building, destroying a column and the outside wall on his way in.

“We know he’s a flier. We don’t know his method of flying, but that’s an extremely rare ability. I assume he’s got some kind of invincibility to boot, seeing as he can fly through marble without a care in the world. It might not be as strong as Veronica’s, which is a hunch we have since he fled from us as soon as we stormed the building. He might be vulnerable to bullets.”

The metahumans all nodded, waiting for more information.

“He appears to be a new recruit since he wasn’t there when Plana was destroyed eight years ago. It seems he’s already in a leadership position, though, which is why he’s on there. Next, we have a more well-known individual.”

The projection switched to an individual with a huge gas mask, hiding their entire face. It was unlike anything Jasmine had ever seen before. Even firefighters didn’t wear masks this prominent.

“This is the apparent leader of the organization, or at least she was during their time in Plana. She can seemingly create fire from thin air and control it, which is why she wears a respirator at all times when she’s in action. Her fire is tough to put out— water doesn’t work. You have to cut out the oxygen directly, which is why she’s so effective at burning things down.”

“Are we sure she’s still here? If she was the leader, I think she would have shown herself by now.” Agnes asked.

“Well, there’s been no sign of her so far, but we don’t know what she looks like. Better safe than sorry.” He replied. “Last but not least, we have… this guy. Harvey Palmer.”

The screen revealed a thin, white, weak-looking man. His picture was a mugshot, and it was the clearest one yet. He had a long beard that reached his chest.

“He went to jail?” Franz asked, tilting his head.

“He did. He’s actually from Escann, believe it or not.” Biermann replied with a small sigh.

The mention of Escann made Jasmine tense for a few seconds until she realized what she was doing. Years of propaganda had been instilled into her head and still hadn’t been undone.

Doctor Biermann continued. “Harvey Palmer’s the one we know the most about. We actually have a pretty good outline of his life. He was born in Alryne to a poor metahuman family… then the usual, dropped out of high school to get a job to pay his family’s bills… when it wasn’t enough, he turned to crime and spent years in and out of jail until he finally had enough and joined the MSA.” The man paused as he looked at Agnes. The girl was clearly frustrated.

“And his powers?” Jasmine asked as she shifted in her seat.

“It’s a bit vague here…” He said as he skimmed the page. “He can turn his body into sand, and he controls the density, I think. So he can be as thick as sandstone or as thin as beach sand.”

“Sounds like the weakest to me.” Franz added. “But these are all… impressive powers. They rolled the dice well. Sounds like only Veronica would have a chance against all of them.”

“I wouldn’t count you guys out quite yet. We’re only halfway done with your training,” he said. “And since the Terror Intelligence Agency has finally decided to grace us with this information, general Loeb will be able to see what you can do.”

“This sucks. I can transform into people, not fight people with amazing powers like this. Plus, it sounds like this Harvey guy was failed by society.” Agnes grumbled.

“Trust me, this is only the leaders. The other metahumans in the organizations won’t be as powerful. And you can be very useful for other things, like spying. But let’s stay on track. You are right Franz, Veronica is clearly the best equipped to deal with these threats, but keep in mind a metahuman still dies to one well-aimed bullet.” The doctor said while glancing at Jasmine. “Plus, you probably won’t see much fighting, Franz. I would think you’re too valuable.”

“So why don’t you just send Veronica to deal with them and call it a day? She can’t die.” Agnes snapped back.

“Incorrect.” Veronica replied. “I can perish, and I can be restrained.”

“And she can die to smoke inhalation if we’re caught by surprise, and you don’t have any respirators. As an example, here’s one theoretical scenario, my dear Agnes. The flier grabs her and carries her far enough to effectively render her useless. The drop won’t kill her, but it’ll take hours to walk back.”

Agnes quickly shut up after that.

“So what the TIA’s thinking is that they’ll be able to accurately predict the next few attacks through coercion of captured troops, but we need to speed up your training.”

“So it’s not ten weeks anymore?” Jasmine asked with a slight panic in her voice.

“It is still ten weeks, we’re just doing more. Direct orders from the top, can’t do anything about it. The government is breathing down my neck to lower the time, but I’m telling them that it’s imperative that you get through the entire training regiment.

“Well, what? Do you want a cookie? A thank you, perhaps?” Agnes replied snarkily. Biermann just shook his head and ignored her.

“We’re also seeing what we believe to be the remains of our metahumans joining the MSA en masse. People are suddenly going missing or not showing up to work.”

“How many of us are left?” Agnes asked quietly.

“What would be the point of you knowing?” He replied.

“Just be a good person. Tell us.” She said while looking directly into his eyes.

The doctor turned away to avoid eye contact.

“According to most recent census after the war… twenty thousand left. Somewhere around there.”

Jasmine had known that they were few. She had seen the senseless murder in the camps firsthand. But deep inside, she had hoped. Hoped that there were more.

“So you weren’t kidding when you said we were going extinct here.” Franz said.

“From millions to twenty thousand. Allfather…” The girl said, sounding defeated.

“We’ll make sure metahumans get to survive here. And if it makes you feel better, there were hundreds of thousands of refugees that fled across the strait to Escann… so not all of them were killed.”

A deafening silence overtook the room. No one knew what to see to improve the mood. A few seconds later, Biermann took the initiative.

“Any questions regarding the MSA’s leaders?”

“I… I have a question.” Jasmine said.

“You don’t have to raise your hand, but go ahead.” The doctor answered.

“What is the speed at which Harvey Palmer changes? Is it instant?”

“It isn’t instant, but let’s just say it would take around five seconds to go from the hardest sand to the softest one. It’s a gradual change, not an instantaneous one. Anyone else?” He paused. “Ok, up next, I have some directives on how to adjust your training…”

Agnes, Franz, and Jasmine all groaned.

“We would rather you do too much than not enough. Veronica, we’re going to need to test your vulnerability regarding fire and falling from great heights. I assume your invincibility will pull through, but again, better safe than sorry. Tomorrow after your regular training, go see General Loeb about that.”

“Of course.” She replied.

“Jasmine, we’re moving you up to infiltration training. You’ll also be learning how to use high-caliber firearms like sniper rifles.”

“What does infiltration training imply?” She asked.

“I don’t know, I’m just reading this out to you.” The doctor answered while tapping his file. “Ask general Loeb. Agnes, you’ve been doing a good job at improving your transformation speed and your tolerance to the pain it causes, but we’re going to have to improve your… how should I say this… acting skills. That and you’re learning Saverian. Ah, I forgot, you’re also learning it, Jasmine.”

“You cannot expect me to learn a whole ass language in five weeks. That is straight-up impossible.” Agnes said incredulously.

“No, not in five weeks. But we’re starting the process to not waste time. Think of it as being five weeks ahead.”

“Man, you suck.”

“I don’t care. Franz, you’re with me right after this. We’ll need to experiment with your power a little bit.”

“Nothing painful, I hope?”

“No, don’t worry. There’ll be no needles or anything of the sort, I know you hate them.”

“You didn’t have to say that right here, but I’ll take it.”

“If there are no questions, that’ll be it. Franz, come up to my examination room, please.” Biermann said.