[WP] One morning, you woke up with the ability to see true and false when written down. If it glows a golden color then it is true, but if it glows a dark color, then it is false. Out of curiosity, you go to the library and walk into the History section, and to your horror, all you see is darkness.
*****
By the time I woke, it was in the wee hours of the morning. I always thought that was a weird word to use – ‘wee’ – and it put a weird smile on my face. I must have been so tired, the shock, and what Flames the Arsonist, or Flames for short, explained to be the side effects of wearing the wristband for the first time. My brain activity was so greatly dampened to a level I had never experienced, that it was hard not to pass out.
She said it was better if I didn’t try to fight the reaction at this point since there was no telling if that would cause brain damage, and only after a day of wearing it could I begin trying to use my ability nonetheless, even if it was unlikely that I would so easily.
I sighed, sitting up in the bed. By this time yesterday, I was probably asleep after a day of thinking how boring and monotonous my life was and worrying whether my ex-girlfriend Sharon was cheating on me. Now, there was a group of people looking for me. To gain custody of me for life? For nasty human experiments? To kill me? According to the professor, nobody knew exactly what the SCP Foundation did with their captives.
“Night Owl much?” I heard a voice say in the darkness, and I turned, shocked. Apparently, the couch in the room was one of those types that could transform into a bed, and Flames was sleeping in it.
“Um, I’m not sure. Maybe? You scared me. How long have you been there?”
“Since you slept. Remember, 24/7? I can’t let you out of my sight for more than five seconds, because those guys are ruthless and cunning. Especially the ones we are dealing with here.”
I nodded, remembering our discussion in the car, those names were too strange to forget. “What was it…? Meek and Mill?”
She nodded. “Uh-huh. 10 years in this business. Over 72 anomalies were successfully captured. About 19 Justice Agents were killed. Those guys are up there when it comes to Foundation field agents, They’re Level 5.”
“Levels?” I asked.
“We assign levels according to the base damage or significance your ability can pose, as well as your mastery of that ability. The grades go from Level 1, which is basically something like being able to breathe underwater, to Level 5 – in this case, mine. I can control the fire element as my name suggests,” she said, snapping her fingers. A ball of fire erupted and illuminated the room before going off.”
“Flames the Arsonist?” I asked.
“Troubled childhood. I was a foster kid and had the terrible luck of entering abusive households. I entered six families in total and burned down every single one. I’m sure the Social Services department was so happy when they finally got rid of me as I turned 20”
“How did you even manage to avoid getting captured while doing that?” I asked.
“By burning the hell out of my abductors. I’ve killed 22 SCP Foundation Agents, including 7 Level Fives like myself -” she allowed me to gasp before continuing. “Meek and Mill were the only ones to facing me, although it came with a price.”
She lifted up her oversized shirt to show me a scar on her right side. “Mill’s attack pierced my liver. Mill’s body can absorb and produce a large amount of internal fluids, which he can then crystallize fluids – saliva, tears, blood, and urine - to a very high density and shoot it from his mouth at a high velocity. It’s essentially a bullet, and it’s a nasty thing to deal with when you’re also fending off his annoying partner, Meek. That one’s an extraordinarily good shot – he can curve bullets up to five seconds after they’ve been fired, making him a huge problem.”
I shivered subconsciously. If those were the guys I was supposed to be up against, then I was dead meat. “How did you handle them?”
“All out, of course. It happened out in the forest, so you guys saw it as a sudden forest fire,” she said.
I remembered that incident. The fires raged for three days, and almost 10 hectares of forest were lost. What kind of fire did she have to emit to do that?
“On that day, I created lava by melting the rocks around and manipulating them into whips, which I used to chase both of them around. They knew it was going to be hell if one of those whips dodged them, and they kept on dodging while shooting. The heat messed with the trajectory of their projectiles, and thus the accuracy. But when we were all down to our last attacks, Mill’s blood crystal hit me in the live, and my whips encircles their legs and burned all of the flesh and fascia off, revealing the muscles underneath. I barely managed to escape.”
“You couldn’t finish them off?”
“I couldn’t even create smoke for the next four weeks, not to talk of fire. It was a burnout like I had never experienced, and I collapsed just 400 yards away from the scene of that fight. Luckily, the Professor got me and nursed me back to health, and the rest is history.”
I was surprised. She was so strong, and she’d been through a lot. Even though it was definitely dangerous to be around her, she was certainly the best bodyguard I could have, given her power. And then there was the fact that she’d danced with these guys and survived.
“So what Level would you say I’m at?” I asked.
“That’s a Level 2 Ability at its base. I don’t know how you’re going to enhance it to unlock more uses, but for now, it’s Level 2. And it’s certainly not going to pose any danger, so don’t let yourself out of my sight before you end up as a lab rat.”
I smiled and nodded.
*****
TO BE CONTINUED.
Thanks for Reading!
