636 knew what it felt like to be scared. But fearing for others was still new for her. She looked to the base not far from where she was standing. The other trucks had made it inside but she didn’t think Abrax’s base would be able to keep them safe for long. There were only five people outside defending them. Hopefully the rest of the people she had journeyed with would be able to send some reinforcements but 636 doubted it would do them any good.

Simone and Alex fought side by side out on the frontlines and 636 was surprised Alex wasn’t shaking or running away. He had given the impression that he wasn’t much of a fighter but he never left Simone’s side.

636 heard the Wolf-Spider before she saw it in her poriferal. The monster launched itself at her but she stopped it mid-air and tore the thing in half. Its golden blood gushed out and this time 636 had the insight to stop its blood from hitting her too.

She looked down to see Zaiden guarding Malcolm while he fiddled with the large weapon on his shoulder. A few Wolf-Spiders ran towards them and 636 threw her chakram over before the creatures could get too close. The chakram pierced through their bodies and splattered out their blood. Some of it landed on Malcolm but he was surprisingly unfazed.

636 finished off the Wolf-Spiders around her before running over to the others down the hill. Malcolm seemed to have finished tinkering with the large weapon and faced it in the direction where the most Wolf-Spiders were standing.

636 curiously watched him aim and right before he pulled the trigger Zaiden came behind her and pressed his hands over her ears. The next thing she knew a loud sonic sounding noise blew out in waves out of the gun. It was ringing in her ears and 636 felt like her head was going to explode. She staggered back, hitting Zaiden’s chest. His form right behind hers was the only thing keeping her standing. She put her hands over Zaiden’s on top of her ears and hoped for the noise to stop. It didn’t take long for her to collapse, briefly slipping out of Zaiden’s grasp. His hands quickly went back to her ears but by that time it was already too late. The few seconds of time between when she fell to the ground and before Zaiden covered her ears were enough to cause damage to her hearing.

She was instantly reminded of her last night in the labs. The loud alarms and strange weapons used to hinder her focus and ability. It was similar to what Malcolm was doing to the Wolf-Spiders. Overwhelming their senses until they couldn’t take it anymore.

Finally the sounds stopped and 636 looked to see many of the Wolf-Spiders on the grass, probably dead. Zaiden steadied her and removed something from his ears. He tried to say something to her but his voice sounded like an arrangement of rings that 636 couldn’t decipher.

“What?” she yelled, holding her aching head.

Zaiden looked at her, concerned, but then turned to Malcolm. She couldn’t hear their exchange of words but the frantic and worried movements Zaiden made told her it wasn’t anything good.

Her head felt light and when 636 brought her hands to her ears she felt a warm liquid against her fingers. She brought her hands down to get a better look at what it was, only to find her own discolored blood littering the palms of her hands. What a mess.

There was an echo of voices 636 couldn’t quite make out getting louder around her kneeling form. Zaiden’s face came into view in front of her and his yelling was slowly becoming more coherent.

“Emryn!” His voice was louder than it should have been and 636 once again raised her hands to her ears. The bleeding had stopped, her body already healing the damaged eardrums, but every noise still had a slight ring to it.

Malcolm had pulled something out of his pocket and quickly threw it at her. Seemingly in a hurry as he fiddled with the Echo Cannon again.

“Put those in to protect your hearing,” he instructed, “and hurry would you. Those things are circling back to us.”

636 looked down to find a pair of earplugs sitting on her lap, very similar to the ones Malcolm and Zaiden were wearing earlier. Alex and Simone had rejoined the group and were already putting in the small earpieces and 636 followed their lead. Careful not to hurt anything that hadn’t fully healed.

Malcolm charged the cannon up again and aimed at the horde of monsters running for them. This time when the cannon fired the sound wasn’t as loud and the pain it caused was so faint it almost wasn’t there at all. 636, however, kept her ears covered with her hands.

She may not have been able to hear but she could feel the vibrations from the gun radiating from the ground beneath them. Something about it was different than the last time the gun was fired but 636 put it off as her lack of attention the first time.

When she figured out why the vibrations felt different, yet familiar, it was too late. Two gigantic black tentacle-like arms shot out from the ground, sweeping them each off of their feet. The arms wrapped around Malcolm and the cannon, separating them. Malcolm’s waist was being squished and his face contorted, showing the amount of pain he was in.

Zaiden and Simone were quick to act once everyone removed their earplugs. He held his hand open and yelled out to her. Simone threw her axe into his open palm and Zaiden ran and jumped up to cut Malcolm free. He fell with a thud and Zaiden had to drag him out of the Wolf-Spider’s reach.

The Echo Cannon was completely crushed. 636 could see the quick expression of shock and disappointment on each of her comrades’ faces. The cannon was their trump card, the weapons they processed now paled in comparison to it and wouldn’t be enough to kill the rest of the Wolf-Spiders.

“Commander Amin!” a distant shout called out. All at once the group turned to look at the source of the yell. Three heavily armored trucks were driving straight towards them. Their reinforcements were here. Finally, soldiers from Abrax were on their way to help. Yet 636 felt unsettled. Would they be enough? There were countless Wolf-Spiders in front of them and she could feel even more crawling beneath them underground. 636’s eyes widened at the realization.

“They’re heading straight towards them. They’re underground, your soldiers will never evade them in time,” 636 inquired.

“Wait there!” Zaiden called back towards the trucks but his yells fell on deaf ears. They were still heading towards them.

“They’re not gonna make it,” Alex whispered in disbelief.

Malcolm was still clutching his stomach from the attack earlier and would most likely collapse at any moment. None of them were in any condition to fight and 636 knew it would all depend on her.

“Get behind me!” 636 ordered and none of her companions argued as they raced to stand behind her back.

Using her unnatural power she ripped open the ground where she heard the most commotion. The destruction she caused stopped just shy of the trucks. A few Wolf-Spiders ran out to attack the soldiers but 636 stopped them mid-air and pulled them towards herself. The ground tore apart and Malcolm fell onto his knees from the uneven footing 636’s ability caused. She didn’t spare him any concern as she ripped apart the dirt ground until she couldn’t hear any movement underneath them.

She held the monsters together behind her and focused her attention to the horde running towards them at full speed. They were fast but once 636 took away their sense of gravity, their speed didn’t matter. Their limbs swung in the air as they tried to fight an invisible foe but all their fighting couldn’t save them from the fate 636 had made for them.

She gathered every last one together in front of her and used the last bit of strength she had left to compact the creatures together. The screams and screeches hurt her ears, adding to previous pain, but she didn’t dare stop. She added as much pressure as she could before getting tired. Eventually, their blood soaked their corpses the same gold color 636 had under her own skin. She hated how similar she was to them.

Her steps staggered back and she finally let go of her hold on the gravity surrounding them. Simone grabbed her shoulders to steady 636 and she slightly fell into the touch, exhausted.

Her breathing was heavy and her scars ached from the usage of her powers. The soldiers from the trucks had all gotten out due to the destruction hindering their mobility and were now caught up with Zaiden and the others.

“Commander Amin-” Zaiden silenced the man speaking to him with the raise of his hand as he went to check on Malcolm.

After observing Malcolm’s injury he turned to Simone. “Is Emryn alright?” he called out, concerned.

636 didn’t move as Simone ran her eyes over her frozen form, assessing her. “She should be fine!” she yelled back.

With 636’s advanced hearing she could hear the murmuring of the soldiers that had come to help them.

“Who is that?”

“Did she do that?”

“Never mind who she is, the real question is what is she?”

The quiet conversations didn’t bother her until she heard the next remark.

“Monster.”

Her heart ached at the word. Being seen as a monster was one thing she couldn’t seem to escape. She would forever be the thing people feared, no matter how much she helped them. That was her fate. She was always meant to be someone else’s weapon but even weapons themselves weren’t the things people feared. It was the person controlling it that was revered 636 being in control of her own life meant she was the person behind the trigger. She was the one aiming the gun and no one trusted her enough to be in control. Before she could hear anything else, she passed out, falling into Simone’s arms.