"Erika, I thought I taught you better than that. If you're uncomfortable you need to use your words, not insults. Dialogue is the–"
Erika scoffed, stepping forward.
"Dialogue? You want to mention dialogue when you didn't talk to us about bringing rapists and killers into our school? Wow, your moniker really doesn't suit you at all anymore."
She jabbed a finger against his chest.
I narrowed my eyes.
And surprisingly, she made contact.
I could see the fibers of his clothes moving.
Which means that the barrier wasn't active.
Fascinating.
"Erika, there are no rapists in this collection of inmates. I made sure of that for the safety of–"
She laughed.
"Oh, so it's just killers then? Wonderful, really you're just something special today. Honestly, I never thought I'd see the day…"
The Gi man grabbed her hand.
"Use. Your. Words."
His tone dropped a level, causing Erika to stiffen.
She looked over her shoulder, swallowing hard before turning to face the Gi man.
"Fine," she snatched her hand away.
"I'm not comfortable with these people being here. Even if you're with them. They're an unknown variable."
Her mocking arrogance was gone.
The Gi man let out a sigh.
"Erika, I can't just turn them away, I'd be defying orders from the director."
Erika tightened her hand.
"What's the point of me using my words if you never listen? I'm telling you I don't want them in there, didn't you promise to always listen to us? To me?"
The Gi man hesitated, looking over his shoulder at us.
"I… I suppose I did promise that."
He turned back to Erika.
"But I can't turn them away either, do you have any suggestions for where they can lie their heads and eat?"
Erika raised her eyebrow, before smiling.
"I do, as a matter of fact, I'd like to join you as we take them to their new kennel."
The Gi man raised an eyebrow.
"O-okay."
— — —
You have to be shitting me.
An hour of walking in this heat.
And this is where she brings us?
The Gi man forced a smile as he slowly turned to look at Erika.
"This is the old hangar space for the gen-1's we used to keep. There's no way you expect them to stay in there, right?"
Erika's grin didn't falter.
"It has four walls and a roof, right? It's more than big enough to accommodate them, what's the problem?"
"The problem is that it's been neglected for decades. It doesn't have any amenities, like running water or power."
Her grin only grew.
"Then they'll just have to toughen up, won't they? I mean it's a better fate than their victims, right?"
The Gi man furrowed his brow, his frown deepening.
"If that's how you feel, then why are you comfortable leaving them out here with no surveillance? No power means no cameras."
Erika turned her cold blue eyes on us.
"I suppose you have a point."
The Gi man breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank you–"
"I'll just have my council take guard duties as well. I mean it'll only take one of us, and we can rotate through the week. Good catch, Master."
The man in the Gi stared at Erika for a long time. His features softened, and all that was left was disappointment. He turned his attention towards the hangar and approached it.
He stopped at the massive doors.
And place a hand on it.
A second passed, before the door began to shift in shape. It started to glow red as a smaller door was created where he stood.
The metal moved as if it was rapidly heated and cooled, over, and over again.
My jaw dropped as my eyes widened.
When he finished, there was a small set of double doors.
The Gi man turned his attention away from the door he just created. He stared up at the massive gap between the hangar doors.
He waved a hand up in a sweeping motion.
The metal groaned again, sounding like a dying beast. The massive, rusted gaps between the metal began to melt and stretch.
Then the gaps began to fuse until there was nothing left but a solid wall of steel.
With the only entrance being the human-sized door he created earlier.
I stared in disbelief.
Nothing, I mean nothing could've prepared me for what he was about to do next.
He dropped to one knee and placed a hand on the ground.
And I shit you not, he literally began to suck up the dirt as a mattress began to form beside him.
It was like the mattress was being printed in real time.
He did this nineteen times.
By the time he finished, a massive chunk of the dirt was gone. And in its place were several stacks of mattresses.
And he didn't stop there.
He went on to make blankets and pillows.
What the fuck kinda technology does that?
I was thinking about some kinda nanotechnology.
It could explain the shielding from earlier, but then it raises a new question.
Where is the heat?
Both from the initial action of activating those machines, and for the process of rearranging the material they interact with?
The surrounding air should be plasma by now.
I studied the Gi closely.
He stepped away from the hangar and raised a hand in the sky.
He placed his pointer and middle finger together, then pressed his thumb against them. He pointed his other two fingers toward an empty patch of sky.
A tiny ball of blinding light formed in the small space between his three fingers, before being fired into the sky as a continuous beam.
A beam of pure heat.
The beam pierced the clouds, like a lance of white fire that stretched into the heavens.
Well, I guess that's where the heat was… but how the hell did he originally store it?
He needed something short of a pocket dimension to both pull and store heat/energy in.
And if the Feds had that kinda tech, well we wouldn't be fighting anyone. We'd be erasing populations.
When it was over, the Gi man shook his hand.
"What the hell was that?!" Erika shouted, stopping her foot.
The Gi man raised an eyebrow.
"A beam of waste heat?"
He said this as if it were the most obvious thing ever.
Erika gritted her teeth.
"This ends now, Master. Return to the academy or I'm calling my sister."
The Gi man flinched.
"Erika… you wouldn't."
She pointed back towards the academy.
"I would and I will. Don't test me."
The Gi man hesitated, turning to us.
He looked genuinely remorseful before slumping his shoulders.
"Alright, Erika. I'm done."
He turned to leave.
I blinked, my jaw hanging.
This man just rearranged the atomic structure of dirt and turned it into a mattress.
Which means he could turn anything into anything.
And yet he still obeys her orders?
What the hell…
Erika turned her ire on us, her murmurous aura sending a shiver up my spine.
"You all are lucky that man has more heart than brains, if it were up to me I'd have you killed."
She pointed towards the mattress, "Kenji, burn them."
A man with fiery red hair and a wide grin stepped forward.
"Sure thing, prez, ya might wanna step back though."
The man took a wide stance with one foot in front of the other.
He aimed a hand toward the mattress and formed the same hand sign as the Gi man.
And then, the air got hot.
Unbelievably hot.
And near his right foot, the ground began to crumble and melt.
A small beam of heat formed in his palm.
Not nearly as bright as the Gi man's.
But still dangerous.
The beam erupted from Kenji's palm with a deafening roar.
A torrent of orange fire washed over the mattress.
I shielded my eyes from the heat, feeling my skin blister even from 20 feet away.
The smell of ozone and burnt cotton filled the air instantly.
When I opened my eyes, there was nothing left but a pile of black ash and glowing embers.
"Oops, guess I overdid it."
Kenji chuckled, shaking a flame from his hand.
When I looked down at his feet, there was a pool of lava right in front of him.
I blinked.
How is that possible?
Erika crossed her arms, "Welcome to your new home, dogs."
She laughed, glancing over at Kenji.
"You have first watch, if they try anything, burn them all."
She spun on her heel, her long coat flaring out like a cape. She marched back towards the academy, the other students following behind her.