Get Low

Terra opened her eyes a little. She saw a very bright light in her eyes. She moved her hand in front of her eyes to block it. But she couldn't move her hand. In fact. She could barely move any of her limbs. She was locked down on a chair. What happened? Is she dead? Is she going to die? Wasn't she sick? Didn't she give some sort of disease to Ivan? And then herself? Her ears were ringing. A hand grabbed the light that was in her eyes and moved it out of her face.

Terra: Who's there?!

Jilaya: No need to yell.

Terra: Wait. Your Integer?

Jilaya: You still remember my voice? It's been two years since we first met. And you're still after me?

Terra: Why wouldn't I be? Everything you do-everything you stand for is horrible.

Jilaya: I love it when someone with guts decides to stand up to me. You truly do have guts. Don't you?

Terra: How do I feel fine?

Jilaya: Well you certainly aren't fine. Your body is still recovering.

Terra: From what?

Jilaya: You gave Ivan and yourself heatstroke. Lucky for you I need you alive. And Ivan's fine.

Terra: I did that…? I have that power?

Jilaya: Truly extraordinary isn't it?

Terra: Ugh, Where are my friends?

Jilaya: Don't worry. They're safe.

Terra: That's not answering my question.

Jilaya: So needy.

A screen appeared in front of Terra. It showed Amala, Millie and Leon all in different cages out in the open. They were surrounded by tall barbed wire fences that were electric. With a worn out mattress and a toilet in the cell.

Terra: Is that…?

Jilaya: One of my containment cells.

Terra: A slave camp?

Jilaya: Why the hell do you even call it a slave camp? They aren't slaves. Slavery's illegal in the U.S. Isn't it?

Terra: You lock them up like rabid animals!

Jilaya: Yes. Because they have to be contained. Your friend Amala almost killed my son. Millie has to be crazy deep down. Considering she was the closest with Amelia. And Leon trapped one of my soldiers in a mirror! If that isn't considered armed and dangerous then I don't know what is.

Terra: We're trying to stop you! Because this is wrong!

Jilaya: Why? There has to be a guiding hand to people who could be considered dangerous. Numbers don't lie, child. Since the MFI was made, crime rates by powered individuals dropped by 60%! That's a big number!

Terra: You put Donny and Amelia in there for nothing! Because there were "too many." Right? They had never done anything terrible in their lives!

Jilaya: Metas have to be monitored around here. You had a hand in the black coat's murder, you broke into my house and attacked us. You let my daughter die. You blew up one of my facilities and let them free! It's not like everyone is in there for nothing. Everyone has a place.

Terra: No they don't!

Jilaya: Don't worry. I have a leverage.

Terra: Empyrean. Right? Your dad.

Jilaya: How do you know that?!

Terra: Heard it through the grapevine. If you find this all right then that's fine. But he's a god of destruction! He'll destroy the planet!

Jilaya: No he won't.

Terra: Why then?! Tell me!

Jilaya: Do you remember the first time we met? It was at Beck's facility. You truly did me a favor. I finally got him out of my hair. Fourteen. Come in please.

Beck walked in the room and looked Terra dead in the eye. Terra felt her heart sink.

Beck: You...Terra. We can finally have a face to face chat.

Jilaya: Remember. No killing.

Terra: Beck. Just think about this. Jilaya is controlling you! You are her puppet. Just like before.

Beck screamed and punched Terra in the face.

Beck: I'm not a puppet. You remember what you did. You ruined my life. And I'd love to ruin yours. But Jilaya says I can't. Because you are and your friends need to stay alive.

Jilaya: I believe in fates worse than death. The media knowing you as a national terrorist is one of them. Plus you get to stay here.

Terra: Why do you even care about me?!

Jilaya: I have you to make a statement. You freed slaves. We can't have people getting all smart on me. Sadly for me, the rest of your friends are also terrorists. And my scapegoats for every bad thing that happened. Everybody knows if you control the media, you control what everybody knows.

Terra: You're sick.

Jilaya: Fourteen. Please show her who really is sick.

Beck punched Terra in the face again. Back and forth while he charged his other hand.

Terra: Listen! You don't need to do this!

Beck grabbed Terra by the head and punched her in the face over and over. Leaving her as a bloody mess. He walked away and then turned back around and punched her in the ribs with his charged hand. Terra felt a snap. And felt a loss of breath. She struggled to breathe for a couple minutes until her lungs opened up again. It was hard to breathe and everytime she breathed out she felt a stabbing pain inside of her. Beck broke her ribs.

Jilaya: That good enough for you, Fourteen?

Beck: Not until I can really kill her.

Beck walked out of the room.

Jilaya: You really pissed him off, didn't you?

Terra: Shut up. Just throw me in one of the camps.

Jilaya came over to Terra and started taking off her armor pieces.

Jilaya: wouldn't want this being an asset to you. I needed to keep it on you to make sure Beck didn't actually kill you.

Jilaya picked Terra up telekinetically and brought her into a slave camp cell.

Jilaya: Don't worry, The broken ribs will heal. It'll just take a while. I should go prepare.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Jilaya was getting interviewed on TV. Constantine was watching the TV.

Jilaya: I would like to tell everyone at their homes in fear of their families. Especially if they're related to me, that we have managed to catch and jail the terrorist organization known as the blue coats. What a relief. I'd like to schedule a press conference one day so I can show their acts of crime. The content is very disturbing. However. There is one more out there that we still haven't caught. Amelia Ashi. She was able to escape under our noses. So we'll start by increasing security everywhere. Courtesy of the MFI.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Terra sat in her cell laying down on her mattress. She could barely stand moving. And she couldn't shake that this was all her fault. Because she wanted to save people. And because she is a terrible plan maker. She took a deep breath. It hurt a little. She lifted up her head and looked around. She saw hundreds of caged up metas and mutants. Some were even children. She couldn't shake the feeling that this was a terrible place. She had to get out and find a way to keep Empyrean away. But she couldn't do that in her current state. So she had no choice. But to lay down and stay. She couldn't do anything. It started raining on her. There was no cover over the slave camp either. She turned to her side. The side with her good ribs. She closed her eyes and tried to get some sleep. But whenever she tried images of Ivan cutting her face, Beck breaking her ribs, Fleet stabbing her, Ivan stabbing her. She couldn't shake the terrible moments. Especially now. So she just laid there. In the cold rain.