CHAPTER 43

"Emily? Hey Emily? You ok?"

"Huh?" Emily snapped out of her daze and looked up to see Britta staring at her. "Oh sorry, I kind of zoned out there. What is it?"

"Uh, I was just going to say that we're almost out of time, so…" She gestured up to the clock and Emily followed, cursing when she saw they only had a few minutes left. She had zoned out so much that she had missed most of the practice. She barely remembered what anyone had done today. Some team captain she was.

"Alright, everyone form up," she called. A few seconds later, they were all standing in front of her. "Good job today," she said, trying to sound confident so they didn't realize she had no idea how well they did. "But keep practicing at home. Sectionals is coming up and we can't afford to slack off." She ignored Britta's not-so-subtly look, knowing full well that applied to her too. "So, I want everyone to meet at the park on Silven street this Saturday for some extra training." There were a few groans but no one really complained which she was grateful for. "Alright, I'll message you all the details later. You're free to go."

"So what was that?" Britta asked as the others left. "You were spaced out the whole time."

"Not the whole time," Emily protested. "Just…the majority of the time."

"Yeah, that doesn't make it better."

"It makes it marginally better."

"Emily!"

"Ok, I'm sorry," Emily said, rubbing her head. "There's just a lot going on, so…I've been a little distracted. I'll get my head in the game, don't worry."

"No, I'm going to worry," Britta replied. "Emily, you're not yourself. Normally I wouldn't miss the drill sergeant version of you that makes people want to go into witness protection from you, but strangely enough I'd prefer that right now then this because you're scaring me."

"It can't be that bad!"

"When Dalton messed up the scorpion pose earlier, you just said 'good job.'"

"He messed up the scorpion pose! Oh come on, that's basic stuff! I'm going to make him run 100 laps for that."

"Ok, well at least I know you can bring the sergeant back," Britta said dryly.

"What?"

"Never mind. Look, as someone who actually knows what's going on with you and probably why you're acting like this, you do realize you can talk to me about it. That is the point of being best friends, right?"

Emily stared at her before sighing and taking a seat on the bleachers. "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. Everything's weird now though. Like, even Decker's acting up."

"How so?"

"He hasn't asked me out once this week. Normally I'd be over the moon over something like that, and I still am a little, but it's also weird and not like him."

"No kidding."

"It's not just him. It's all of us. Gabriela, Sumin, Travis, the new kid Franklin. All of us who were part of that fight with Swarm. I mean, I know there's no way we could leave that fight without it affecting us some way, but…"

"But what?" Britta asked, concerned.

"But I think we all kind of know."

"Know what?"

"That he's coming back," Emily said softly. "Swarm. He's not gone, he's just…gone into hiding. But he's coming back. And…I don't know how we'll beat him a second time. We barely managed to the first time and it was a lot of luck there."

Britta stared at her with wide eyes. "D-don't you think we should…"

"Go to the police? And what would we say to make them believe us, huh? Remember what happened to you after the school attacked." She shook her head. "Whatever world Swarm's involved with, he's made it impossible to go to any authority, leaving it entirely up to us."

It terrified her to her bones. Her, the girl who was known to everyone in the school as the fearless one, the one who always threw herself at any challenge, who didn't back down from anyone. She hated feeling scared, feeling powerless. She had built up her entire identity from scratch to get to a point in her life where she would never feel scared again and yet here she was, trembling in the bleachers at the prospect of facing that man or monster again. She barely paid attention in classes, couldn't keep her focus for her cheerleading team who were counting on her. She tried distracting herself with modeling gigs but that barely helped at all.

So she started training, trying to master her new power so that she could beat Swarm easily. She knew she could stretch far but she needed to know if she could punch hard too so she began punching rocks and metal. She also trained with her legs, stretching them out before kicking to extend the impact. She practiced each day, as hard as she could. She could now enlarge different parts of her body which was actually pretty cool. She managed to cause a slight earthquake when she punched the ground with a giant fist. It had lasted maybe a second and was only in a few yards radius, but still felt really cool, especially when all those leaves and pinecones rained down.

But it wasn't enough. Not nearly enough for what was coming.

"So what are you gonna do?" Britta asked.

"I really wish I knew," Emily replied. "Maybe take a modeling gig out of town. One that lasts a couple days. I'm sure my mom has some in mind already."

Britta let out a deep breath next to her. "You know as well as I do that's short term. If this Swarm is really that dangerous, and I remember those things he created so I know he's dangerous, then hiding away won't work. Also, you have no idea when he'll attack and when he does, it'll be sudden, so if you do manage to escape him by modeling, it'll be by accident. You know that."

"Yep, I know," Emily nodded. There was no easy way out of this. Her only option it seemed was to fight. But then, she was probably going to die.

"Really makes worrying about cheerleading practice on Saturday seem stupid, huh?"

Emily snorted. "Yeah. Real stupid."

They both snorted again and then they were laughing. And the next thing they knew, they were crying, holding on to each other tightly. They didn't say another word, just held each other and let it out. Emily and Britta had been friends for so long that she didn't even know when they first met. All she knew was that when her dad left her and her mom became obsessed with her looks and image, Britta had been there for her. Through every struggle she'd faced, Britta had been along for the ride every step of the way, from taking on bullies to giant spiders to the Scream marathon. When she needed a break from her mom, when she'd taken up cheerleading, when she'd sprained her wrist climbing that tree, when she'd broken her leg after trying to climb the tree again with a sprained wrist. Britta had always been there for her.

But they both knew she couldn't be here for this.

Ten minutes later, Emily found herself walking through the park neighboring the school, wiping away her tears. She couldn't focus on all that right now. She needed to train, to get stronger for what was coming.

She had a place in the park. It was secluded, a small clearing with no real landmarks. No benches for sitting, no flowerbeds to look at, no playground equipment. No Wi-Fi or cell reception. Just a clearing in the trees. There weren't even any real paths to it so plenty of people didn't know it existed. Perfect for training.

She arrived there and saw that once again no one was there. She took off her backpack and cracked her knuckles. "Ok, time to try out that new move."

She cocked her fist. She had been experimenting with throwing it out normal sized and then growing it mid-thrust. So far, she hadn't quite gotten a handle on it but she was getting close. She aimed for one of the stronger trees, its bark already cracked from where she hit it before, and then flung her shoulder forward, launching her arm.

"EEP!" came the sudden cry and a shimmering blue wall suddenly appeared in front of her, knocking her fist aside. Emily stumbled before blinking in surprise as she brought her arm back to normal.

"Huh?" She looked closely at the wall, or dome to be more accurate.

"S-sorry." The wall disappeared as fast as it appeared and in its place was a girl her age with brown hair that obscured most of her face. She looked slightly familiar, but Emily couldn't place her "I-I didn't think anyone else would come here."

"Who are you?" Emily asked before she remembered. There had been seven of them in the battle. Gabriela, Sumin, Decker, Franklin, Travis, her, and this girl who she'd never seen before. "You were there too, with Swarm. Sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"Madison," the girl replied.

"Right. I'm Emily."

"Yeah, I know. I've seen you before at school."

Emily blinked again. That was funny, she'd never seen this girl before. And she was pretty good with faces. "Ok, cool. So, uh, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, um, I um, train here…sometimes," Madison replied hesitantly.

Emily frowned. "Really? Cause I train here all the time and I've never see you before."

"Well, um…" Madison paused before she suddenly disappeared. Emily gasped, stumbling back a little right before Madison reappeared, shrinking from Emily's gaze. "Yeah, that's kind of the reason. S-sorry."

"So, you can turn invisible?" Emily checked. "And have been coming here to train too? Even when I'm here?"

"No, not really," she said. "I only started the last few days. And whenever you came, I just left. I was going to do that now too but you sort of…surprised me there."

Emily nodded, understanding now. She usually started off with some stretches but she'd been so eager to get going that she had just fired off her fist. "Sorry about that."

"I'll go now." Madison turned and picked up her backpack which Emily only now just noticed before heading to the exit. But before she could make a few steps, Emily stopped her.

"You don't have to go," she said.

"Huh?" Madison blinked in confusion.

"There's plenty of room to train for both of us," Emily gestured around.

"I-I guess so," Madison said, looking around. She still appeared hesitant but she put her backpack down. "If you really don't mind."

"Nah, it's cool. I like training with other people around anyway. Helps see what kind of level they're at and can motivate me in my own workouts. So, you can turn invisible and create that…wall thingy, right?"

"Force field," Madison corrected. "It's, uh, a force field."

"Right, gotcha. Ok, well here's something we can do. I'm trying to strengthen my punches and kicks so why don't I try them out on your force fields? That way, we can both train our powers on each other."

Madison's eyes widened, looking terrified at that idea. "Um…I don't…"

"Oh come on, it'll be great!" Emily interrupted, pumping her fists in excitement. "I bet it's hard for you to find ways to strengthen those force fields of yours without a sparring partner. Well, now you've got one. So let's get to it."

Madison looked like she wanted to protest but Emily wasn't going to let her. She knew people like this, had worked with them before in all sorts of teams. She now remembered a little more about her in the fight with Swarm and Emily knew this girl did have guts when it counted. She was just a little too timid for her own good. But Emily excelled at bringing those guts right out the bodies and that's what she was going to do now.

Figuratively, of course.

"Maybe we shou-" Madison began but Emily didn't let her finish.

"Sneak attack!" she cried, throwing her fist forward again. It wasn't nearly as strong as her last one but should still pack a pretty big punch. Madison made another 'eep' sound and threw herself to the ground, the fist sailing over her head.

Emily sighed and recoiled her arm. "Is that what you're going to do when Swarm attacks again?" she asked seriously.

Madison slowly got to her feet. "Sorry," she said, looking down. "I've just never really done stuff like this before. Training, I mean."

"Really? So then what the hell have you been up to these last few days here? Looking for four-leafed clovers in those bushes over there," she jerked her head over. "Cause you're too late, I already found one."

"No, I…" Madison paused, processing that for a second before continuing. "I was just trying to see how big or small I can make them. See." The force field appeared, a large blue dome that surrounded them and most of the clearing as well, reaching to two-thirds of the trees' height.

"Not bad," Emily nodded.

"I can also make multiple ones but they're smaller." She demonstrated, two basketball sized force fields appearing. A third one came a second later but Emily noticed its blueish hue was fainter than the others.

"Ok, so not a bad start. But I don't think size will matter too much in a fight with Swarm. What you need is to build up their strength." Before Madison could think, Emily launched both her fists forward directly into the two stronger force fields. They didn't break, which was good, but Emily did notice cracks form around the impacts and that the fields were now trembling under her knuckles. On top of that, the third force field vanished.

Madison moaned slightly before dropping the two fields entirely. Emily recoiled her arms and looked at the other girl sternly. "That's exactly what I'm talking about. If I can do that, then it'll be no problem for Swarm to beat you."

"But I held up against him last time!" Madison protested.

"Yeah, I remember now. But it wasn't for that long. And the adrenaline rush of coming under attack like that probably helped. You can't rely on that for next time. You need to build up your stamina so that you'll be able to hold your force field against any attack for much longer."

"How much longer?"

"Let's say ten minutes is the goal for now and work from there on. Now, I'm going to throw another punch at you and you do your best to stop me. Ok?"

"Ok."

"Great." Without another word, Emily punched out with her fist. Madison let out another 'eep' sound but this time didn't duck as well, instead having a force field appear around her. It was smaller than the other one, only surrounding Madison's body, but it was effective as Emily's punch was deflected, bouncing off it and flying off into the bushes.

"Good," Emily said after retracting her arm. "That was better. But maintain your hold on it." After the punch, she had seen the field flicker slightly and Madison herself had winced. That wouldn't do it all after one blow. "Let's keep at it."

For the next few minutes, Emily never let up, firing off punches and kicks left and right to try and break through Madison's barrier. Several times, she did manage to break Madison's hold, causing the force field to fall. When that happened, Madison was forced to either duck or take a hit. When that happened the first time, she had complained but Emily had just told her that it would provide good motivation to not get hit again. It was what her old boxing instructor had said to her.

"Gah!" Madison said, dropping to her knees. Her field flickered again and for a second, Emily thought it would fall but it solidified.

"Nice hold on it," Emily said. "See, you're already getting stronger."

"Ughhh!"

"Yeah, I we should take a break too."

"Tha-thank…you," Madison managed. Emily walked over and helped to her feet before handing her a bottle of water which the girl took gratefully, already gulping it down.

Emily shook her head. She had to say, Madison had put a lot of effort into it. Her own knuckles were now bright red from the constant bombardment. While at times it looked like the girl had wanted to quit, she hadn't said it. She just got back up and tried harder, something Emily admired.

She rubbed her knuckles again. That force field stuff was strange. Not to say her power was more normal, but it was hard to figure out what the heck it was made of. When hitting it, it honestly felt like she was striking a harder version of those bouncy rubber balls. The sleek surface of the field made it hard to get a solid hit in. And yet, it was obviously composed of some sort of light energy. At least, that's what it looked like. All their powers were strange though.

"This force field of yours," she said. "How do you even, you know, create it?"

Madison shrugged. "How do you make your arms stretch like that?"

Emily nodded. "Good point. So…" She let that word stretch out, not sure how to continue. She wished Britta was here. She was always better at social interaction. Emily was never quite sure what to say to people. The most she did with kids her age was cheer practice, and none of those people were her friends, just her squad. But the silence was starting to become more apparent so she had to say something fast. "What do you like to do? You know, in your free time?"

"Um…computers," Madison replied.

"Computers? You mean like programming?"

Madison blinked, looking surprised. "Uh…yeah."

"Neat. I'm not really into that myself but my cousin is. She's an analyst in the NYPD so she talks a lot about the stuff they do up there."

"Wow," Madison murmured. "That is so cool."

"Thanks. I don't see her too much though cause she's usually pretty bust." Emily wondered how Christine was doing these days. She hadn't spoken much to any family member in a while, not since last Thanksgiving. She was surprised by how much she suddenly missed them. "What about you? Any other family members or an only child like me?"

"No, I have a younger brother and sister. Though sometimes I wish I was an only child."

Emily snorted. "Oh god, are they really that bad?"

Madison smiled. "Yeah. Well, I mean, Lisa's just very excitable. She likes to run around a lot from one activity to the next. Todd's a pain though. It's like it's his life's mission to annoy me."

"Jeez, that sounds rough. Still, being an only child's no picnic. That just means all my mom's attention is hyper focused on me."

Madison winced. "Yeah, I don't think I'd like that either. I just want to stay in my room and be left alone."

Emily gave her a look. "That sounds really lonely though."

Madison looked down. "Yeah…" she said, drawing it out a little.

Emily had always wanted siblings, especially after her dad left. With her mom acting the way she was, it would have been nice to have someone else there to lean on and comfort, to help make it all more bearable. But then of course that person would also have to go through the pain of being abandoned and that wasn't something Emily would wish on anyone. Not even Decker.

"So how'd you find this place?" she asked suddenly, anxious to change the subject.

"Oh, um…" Madison paused, obviously surprised by the sudden shift. "Well, my family and I were on an 'outing.'" Emily had to stifle a snort when Madison used air quotes. "And when we had a picnic, everyone was just being…themselves really so I walked away to get a break. I was looking for the most isolated place and stumbled into here."

"Huh. I found it cause I threw a ball too far into those bushes over there. That's actually also how I found the four-leafed clover."

"Does it actually bring you luck?"

"I have weird-ass superpowers and an honest-to-god supervillain trying to kill me. You tell me." They both froze, staring at each other at her words. For a split second, the air was tense and it felt like the moment had been ruined. Then, as one, they both grinned and started laughing.

"No I don't think it worked at all," Madison agreed.

"Yeah. Although that may be my fault. I accidentally stepped on it one day and broke off one of the leaves, so whatever luck it had must have vanished after that."

"Probably," Madison laughed.

Emily didn't know how long they stayed like that and she didn't care. It felt nice to just waste time like that. She was disappointed she'd never met Madison before now because she was actually really cool. It was a shame they met under such weird and terrifying circumstances, but Emily would take it anyway.

Still, that didn't mean the moment could last forever.

"Here," she said, pulling out her phone. "Let me give you my number."

Madison stared in surprise. "Uh, are you sure?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be? We have these powers so it's clear we're going to be in each other's lives from now on, so it just makes sense."

Madison seemed to gape a little before handing over her phone while taking Emily's the two of them exchanging their numbers.

"Alright," Emily said once that was done, getting back on her feet. "Let's get back to it."

Madison let out an audible groan. "Really? Can't we take five more minutes."

"Nope. We don't have time for that. We need to be in the best possible shape when Swarm finally arrives. Now come on. I want to see how your force field holds up against my giant fist."

Emily didn't think she'd seen anyone look quite so terrified.