Starlight never imagined that one day she would be strangled to death by her own reflection.
But clearly, the figure in the mirror was not her—it was a white-haired woman she didn't recognize at all.
The woman's entire body was wrapped in a tight suit patterned with white, scale-like armor. Even her lips and hair were a dull, lifeless white.
She looked like a walking corpse that had been dead for a long time. A pair of crimson eyes, brimming with murderous intent, were locked firmly onto Starlight.
With her throat being crushed, Starlight hurriedly activated her powers in an attempt to fight back—only to discover that all the electricity in the room had already been cut off. She couldn't draw even a trace of power from her surroundings!
With the last bit of strength she had left, Starlight kicked hard against the sink cabinet. The massive recoil forced her backward several steps and dragged half of her attacker's body out of the mirror along with her.
But it was already too late.
That sudden burst didn't throw the woman off balance. Instead, it completely drained Starlight of her remaining strength, leaving her unable to break free.
Starlight could feel the grip tightening. Long fingernails dug into her skin, and the pressure on both carotid arteries made her dizzy, her vision blurring as she hovered on the edge of unconsciousness...
Bang!
Just as Starlight was desperately waiting for the end of her life, a bullet came flying in from outside the window at an extremely tricky angle, shattering the mirror in front of her.
As the mirror exploded into fragments, the half of the mirror woman that had crossed into the real world was abruptly severed at the waist, as if cut off by an invisible blade. She didn't even have time to scream—blood sprayed everywhere as the remains dropped straight into the sink basin.
Panicking, Starlight slapped and clawed until she finally pried her hands off her throat. By then, the sink in front of her was already a chaotic mix of red, green, and yellow.
Starlight stared blankly at her blood-smeared reflection in the shattered mirror, utterly at a loss after what had just happened.
The sink, having suffered both the earlier impact and the current weight, finally gave out with a loud crash, collapsing onto the floor. The half corpse and its assorted contents spilled out, covering Starlight's body from the thighs down.
"Ugh—"
Starlight could only be thankful that she'd barely eaten or drunk anything properly over the past few days due to how busy she'd been. Otherwise, this wouldn't have been just dry heaving.
How Starlight was supposed to deal with a bathroom that looked like the scene of a gruesome dismemberment murder was not something the shooter on the distant rooftop needed to worry about.
After reporting the mission result to command, the elite sniper from Red River Security swiftly removed the suppressor from his rifle, disassembled the weapon, packed it into its case, stuffed it into his bag, and turned to leave.
Before going, he didn't forget to take out his phone and tap out a message to let his family know he was safe—just like the last time he sniped Superman.
Dealing with superhumans—especially with firearms—was never a safe job. Fortunately, the last guy he'd dealt with hadn't been particularly petty, or he would've died several times over by now.
The Wilson family had been mercenaries for generations, and their creed had always been 'money over life.'
But when it came to money, if you could earn it, it was best to stay alive afterwards too.
This target, at least, hadn't been difficult—just as the intel said. She was Mirror Girl from the G-Men, true to her name, with the ability to travel through mirrors.
It was a flashy power, but her appearance—looking like she suffered from albinism—and her lack of exposure meant she had very little notoriety within the G-Men.
Following the equipment department's suggested countermeasure, he destroyed the passage while she was crossing through a mirror, neatly splitting her in two and casually eliminating another supe.
After confirming his family's safety, Todd Wilson was already thinking about how to divide up the payment as he turned off his phone screen.
Then his scalp tingled, and his heart seemed to stop beating altogether—
Because reflected in the darkened screen wasn't his own face, but another pale one—belonging to someone who should have been cut in half moments ago.
Before Wilson could react, a hand reached out from the phone screen, moving at a speed no normal human could respond to, and pierced straight through his chest.
The hand tightened slightly.
Wilson's heart instantly burst apart and stopped beating completely.
The unlucky mercenary's blood spilled across the rooftop floor. As the morning sun slanted down, it mingled with the spreading pool of blood. As the blood gradually stilled and its surface coagulated, it formed a thin, mirror-like sheen.
Within this mirror of blood was reflected a warped, crimson world. A pure white figure crawled out of that twisted reflection, her tight white suit outlining a taut physique, her scarlet eyes fixed intently on the place where Starlight was hiding.
Just as a person can cast many shadows when there is enough light, how could there ever be only one mirror self when there are enough mirrors?
Even though she had severed her consciousness quickly enough, the pain of being cut in half had still reached her in an instant. A numb yet chilling ache lingered faintly in her lower abdomen.
But pain like this was nothing to Mirror Girl. If she failed the mission—if she couldn't eliminate this threat—Professor G would teach her what real pain truly was.
This time, however, the target information was clearly wrong. According to police records, the person investigating them was supposed to be an ordinary woman—yet the reality was obviously a superpowered individual.
---
Laurie was missing.
More precisely, she had taken advantage of Arthur being dead drunk, left behind a note, and run away from home.
Her telekinesis had been growing stronger by the day, and she was no longer content to stay on a Kansas farm as some country bumpkin.
Arthur, knowing exactly where these so-called superpowers came from—and how dangerous they were—naturally refused to support his daughter's ambitions.
And then she saw on television that someone who looked suspiciously like Joey had become a member of the Seven. What choice she would make after that was obvious.
In many ways, Laurie's father was an extremely unqualified parent—but in this matter, Joey really couldn't find a good angle to blame him.
Over the past two days, Joey had combed through every unencrypted document on Vought's internal network. Aside from the people on the top floor of Vought Tower, no one understood the company better than he did.
Superpowers could be used for justice—but at Vought, they were only ever used for circus tricks.
And besides, the very first thing Laurie did after gaining her powers wasn't exactly something commendable if examined closely.
"You haven't contacted her at all?"
That was Joey speaking to Arthur.
To his shame, despite Laurie sitting in the seat directly behind him on the school bus for years, Joey had never saved her number.
Maybe it had something to do with how she'd often pinch his hair while he was napping and repeatedly tried to pull one strand out.
"This isn't about whether she's answering the phone anymore!"
Arthur had forced himself to come to Joey—this superhuman who could burn hundreds of acres to ash if his powers went out of control—not just because his daughter had run away during a rebellious phase.
He unlocked his phone and handed it to Joey. On the message screen, under the contact labeled "My Precious Daughter," there were countless sent messages.
There was only one reply.
Sent last night.
"Help..."