Such a cruel women, Fate. Atticus's head was pressed against my stomach as he cried of the deep pain and cruelty that only a child who's about to die can possibly feel. Still the banging on the door persisted. Other block have probably already been cleaned out. Lena and Jessica sat cross-legged facing us. They were creating a mental field around us so the Russians couldn't take control of us and have these civilians do their bidding. Lena and Jessica are probably the only reason we're still alive.
I clench my fist, you know, it's hard knowing that you're worthless is such a situation. No matter what you might do, no matter how hard you might try, nothing you can do will ever help anything, forcing all of the burden onto the very few shoulders of those who can do something. The those that can do something are almost never those who choose to. The willing are the powerless, and the objectors are the ones with the power to save, no. Not save. Protect the men, women, and children who cannot protect themselves. The more I think about it the harder it is to choke back my own tears.
A report shook the ground, and suddenly the room was covered with smoke and dust. Russian psymen ran into the room under the smoke cover and started shooting at the ceiling in order to scare us. Indeed, it worked flawlessly. We were now in a state of pure fear and panic. One of the Russian Cossacks put down her heavy machine gun and pulled out a pistol. She aimed it right at Lena's head, and fired. Lena and Jessica were still meditating, they couldn't let the Russians into the people's head, or all was lost. The bullet was deflected, but left a long scratch along the side of Lena's helmet, yet still she persisted to protect us. Max had gotten up now, he ran forward to try and tackle one of the Russian soldiers. I yelled after him, calling him asinine names and telling him to come back.
I quickly threw myself forwards, sliding across the dusty floor, and pulled Lena's pistol from it's holster, firing two shots, one at the Cossack's hand, making the gun drop from her hand, and the other into Max's leg. I was trying to aim for right below the knee, but I ended up hitting his thigh. My marksmanship is rusty, but I can still fire a gun. Atticus ran out from behind me and raised both of his arms in an attempt to shield me from an approaching Russian soldier. The soldier's response was to lower her weapon and slowly walk right past Lena and Jessica. Like a whip, she sent Atticus flying with a single kick. Within half a second she kick my hand with her other leg, throwing Lena's pistol across the floor. She grabbed the top of my head, picking me up by my hair. It didn't matter. My body was aching all over, my muscles were on the brink of deterioration, there wasn't much of anything she could do to make me hurt any worse that I already did.
I was wrong. Her left hook was like a mortar shot. I felt my teeth rattle around in my mouth as my body flew gracefully to the floor. She took a few steps forward, then pushed my leg with hers to make me swing from being parallel to her to being at a 90 degree angle. I raised my head slightly, confused, only to have it slammed back into the floor by her leg. She apparently doesn't like to fight with her arms, but I couldn't imagine why. She could punch out an elephant.
She was obviously expecting me to try to get up again, or do something in order to push her away. Or maybe she wanted to try to get Lena and Jessica to come out of meditation so she could take control of the crowd. Or maybe she just liked to make people suffer. Whatever the reason, she wasn't getting what she wanted from me. I lay on the floor, each of my muscles burned with a white hot sharp pain. Max was on the floor about a dozen meters away, nursing his leg. Atticus was back in the crowd, crying loudly, a group of people were nursing his bruised and bloody head.
The Russian Soldier grew bored of watching me lay, limp, on the floor. She took a few steps back, picked up her pistol, and pointed it at my face. I simply closed my eyes, there was nothing else I could do. Even if my strength wasn't leaving me by the second, I still wouldn't have stood a chance against her, and even if I win there's probably more Russians in the base than in St. Petersberg. After a few moment, she decided not to fire at me. Atticus had escaped the members of the crowd pulling him back. He stood tall, just as he had a few moment prior, trying to shield me. The look on the Russian's face was not that of amusement. It was a look of disgust. She raised the gun again pointing it directly at Atticus's neck.
The noise of the pistol shot echoed throughout the room. Everyone's eyes were like discs, huge and white. The Russian soldiers body fell silently to the floor, her eyes were red, not a spec of white in them.
My pain was gone. The same feeling of euphoria that I've felt so many times before. Atticus stumbled backwards, and landed on the seat of his pants. I took him by the shoulders and stood him up, just as I stood up. I turned my head towards Lena and Jessica. Both were smiling. I guess they were right. The Russians didn't stand a chance.
Atticus understood. He ran to Max. Lena and Jessica had this room under control, I was needed elsewhere.
Once in the hallway, I raised my hands. The Russian troops stood, staring at me with bewildered expressions. The looks on their faces were immediately preserved as each of them dropped to the ground, paralyzed so forcefully that even their muscles stayed rigid above the waist. All of them lay on the ground with their arms and head in the exact same positions as they were when standing. I proceeded to make my way through the hallway to the outside of the bunker.
As soon as I exited there was a brief pause. A women stand next to me tried to punch me down, but her fist met my hand mid-air. Nevermind about what I said before, about how even at my strength I couldn't have taken on one of the Russian soldiers. It was like fighting an army full of accountants and real estate agents. Her jaw broke like cannonball being fired threw a thin sheet of glass.
I quickly dove behind the door to the barracks as every type of gun in the Russian arsenal began tearing the ground where I was standing to shreds. Maybe a hundred soldiers all camped out right outside our bunker.
I could see everything, as if they drew the map out right in front of my face. I slipped into a few of the soldiers to see exactly where the biggest guns were coming from, then I just so happened to slip into the commanding officer's mind. She was going over the battle strategy over and over again in her head, it was as if I was five again and in the middle of a candy store.
I also accidentally slipped into one of the U.S. psymen. She was in the block closest to the door. Apparently a small group of survivors were planning to make one last assault on the Russian flanks. They expected a suicide mission, but I decided to give them a second chance. Just as they broke cover to make their last stand against the Russian hordes, the commander gave the single to concentrate fire on the man hiding in the building.
Perfect. They wanted a fight, and that's just what I gave them. I came out swinging. Left and right Russian psymen starting dropping like flies to a fly swatter. I kept running, strait down the line of the flank, crushing all of the Russian mind blocks. I stopped momentarily, waving at the other psymen, grenades still in hand. They all sat down and started projecting hallucinations, making the Russians kill each other. I broke the pychic defense down so low, that even a child with psychic aptitude could make these soldiers think they were the Queen of England.
I jumped back as an older women tried to kick me down. She was obviously the commander here. Carnage and spurring fire still littered the ground around us, but she had no fear. She came at me again, but this time I was not to quick to block. I rolled left and right as she tried to take me out with her pistol, but apparently I had more strength than I knew. With a single push off of the ground, I was up in the air. Her eyes were wide, speculating on just how unrealistic such strength was. In her moment of confusion I took the chance and both of my feet came down swiftly upon her head. Just for a moment, this created a crack in her mental block, which I blew wide open. By the time I was done with her she had the mind of a child. She sat there on the ground, looking as if she was on the edge of tears.
***
"So that's how it all happened then?"
"Yep. That's how I got this little guy," I nodded to the restored Ensign Emblem sitting comfortably on my uniform. "They say I start training my first Esper squad tomorrow. It's going to be an elite unit of ensigns, especially at my command." I answered enthusiastically.
I promised Lena that I wouldn't let this go to my head, but I suppose it wasn't a good idea to make a promise that I knew I couldn't keep.
"Well isn't that something. I can't believe so much went on while I was out. I guess I really am getting old."
"You look as young as can be to me, dad."
