Noah could hardly believe it. The silhouette on that enormous screen was her—Noah. The image might have been blurred, but for the humans to display it so prominently, there had to be a reason.
What reason could it be? Noah wondered, subtly flexing her fingers.
Jenny's grip on her arm was tight, the only thing that felt real. Everything else appeared to be an illusion. Noah feared everything would disappear if she closed her eyes.
She had a name now! It felt infinitely more real than "Minor."
Loud sirens wailed, and people were shouting, running in every direction.
Noah's ears ached from the cacophony. Zongyu walked in front of them, shoving people out of their path. He remained quiet, but his expression was grave.
They didn't run, but they walked at a pace so fast that Noah had trouble keeping up. Her bare feet protested against the hard city ground, but she was far more worried about how frightened Jenny and Zongyu seemed.
She knew she had made another terrible mistake.
When she saw her own picture on the screen, she had felt a simple, almost naive flicker of happiness at the recognition. But her friends did not look happy. They looked utterly terrified.
They gazed at her as if she were a monster that had materialized out of thin air.
She finally understood the reason for their fear. The screen showed the place where her previous self had lived—it was now just a massive crater.
And the humans thought she had intentionally destroyed that building.
But no. That was a complete misunderstanding. That building had willingly come with her, even though she had pleaded with it to stay in place.
They finally reached Jenny's apartment, located on a very high floor of a towering building. The apartment was a quiet, safe refuge after the chaotic noise of the city. It was small and immaculately clean.
There were pictures on a shelf of Jenny smiling brightly with her friends.
The Jenny in the pictures looked profoundly happier than the Jenny who was now pacing back and forth in the room like a trapped animal.
Noah sat on the edge of a soft couch, her mouth sealed shut. She held her hands in tight fists and watched Jenny's relentless pacing.
As she sat there, awash in fear and confusion, she held onto her new name. I am Noah. It was the only thing she felt sure about.
Jenny finally stopped pacing. She stood in front of Noah with her arms crossed. Zongyu remained standing by the window.
Outside, the sky was darkening, and they could still see the smoke rising from the ruins of the library.
"Okay, Noah," Jenny said, her voice quiet and serious. "We need to talk about what you said in the plaza. We need you to tell us the truth."
Noah looked up at her and nodded. She felt very small. The happy, weightless feeling she had earlier was gone. All she felt now was a cold, heavy dread.
That figure in the light was her, and the destruction was her fault.
"That building… it's because of me," Noah said, biting her lip. "But I swear, I didn't mean it."
Jenny sighed. "How can you destroy an entire building if you don't mean to? What are you, really?"
This was it. This was the moment where her answer would change everything. Her mind, which was incredibly fast, raced through all the potential consequences.
She could tell the truth. I am a new being, forged from pure consciousness from the endless void. I watched humans and I wanted to be like them. I expended an immense amount of power to create this body, and that power shattered the building.
What would happen if she said that?
They would see her as an alien, a monster from somewhere else. They would be terrified of her. Their kindness would curdle into hate.
She wanted to be their friend and protect them, but she couldn't do that if they perceived her as a monster. The truth would destroy everything.
So, she had to lie.
She looked at Jenny's worried face. She let the genuine fear she was feeling show in her own eyes. She made her lip tremble. She was new to being human, but she had observed them for a very long time.
She knew how to act scared.
"I… I don't know," she whispered. Noah shook her head and willed tears to fill her eyes, blurring their faces.
"I don't remember anything. I just remember a feeling. It was so bright. It felt like I was everywhere at once. And then… I was in the forest. I was cold and alone. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
The tears that fell down her cheeks were real. She was crying because she was terrified of her secret, and because she was forced to lie to the first friends she had ever had.
Jenny and Zongyu looked at each other over her head. They were having a silent conversation with just their eyes. Noah watched them, her heart pounding.
She was waiting to see if they believed her.
They did not look like they thought she was lying. Instead, they looked as if her story was the answer to a difficult puzzle they had been trying to solve.
Zongyu was the first to speak. "A Transferred."
Jenny nodded slowly. "It fits," she said quietly. "It fits everything."
Noah wiped her eyes. "What is that?" she asked, relieved they were talking about something new.
Zongyu began to pace the room as he explained.
"It's something that almost never happens. Our powers resonate with a place called the Star Network. It's like a vast realm of Stars.
"Most Supers only draw a little bit of power from those stars. But sometimes, a new Super connects to it so strongly that the network itself pulls them in."
He pointed out the window at the sprawling city.
"They disappear from our world. They might be gone for a few minutes, or for a hundred years. When they come back, they appear in a random place. They don't have any memories of their old life. And when they return, they release a massive blast of energy."
He stopped and looked directly at Noah. "That blast of energy can be strong enough to destroy a building like the Central Library."
A new story was being woven for her. A story that was not true, but one they believed. They didn't think she was an alien.
They thought she was a human who had suffered a very rare and powerful accident. It was the perfect story to hide her secret.
"So you think that's me?" Noah asked. She let her voice fill with hope. "You think I'm a human Super who disappeared and then came back?"
"It's the only story that makes sense," Jenny said. "It explains your strong powers, why you can't remember anything, and the massive explosion. It all fits."
"It has happened before," Zongyu added.
"There is one famous case. A man disappeared eighty years ago and came back twenty years ago. He hadn't aged at all and had no memory, but he possessed incredible powers." Zongyu paused.
"That man is now General Ironhand. He's the leader of the Supers Incident Force, the SIF."
The leader of all the Supers was just like her—or like the person they thought she was. This made her story even more believable.
"What do we do now?" Noah asked.
"We follow the rules," Zongyu said, tapping on his wrist. A holographic screen appeared above it. Noah was taken aback.
Why does this screen look so similar to my own?
But before Zongyu could continue tapping on it, Jenny placed her hand over his wrist.
"Why?" Zongyu furrowed his brows. "Jenny, the longer she stays with us, the deeper we will be pulled down into this mess."
"But…"
"But WHAT?" Zongyu suddenly shouted. Noah flinched. Were they going to fight? Because of her?
"If they take her, then what? What do you think they're going to do to a Transferred?" Jenny asked, tears welling in her eyes.
"Is that our business? Someone like her appearing is a major event. She is a great danger, not only to us, but also to everyone in the city and beyond. No one can find her weakness, simply because even she herself can't analyze it. She is a ticking time bomb, Jenny. Her kind is a problem for the SIF to handle."
"If I tell you my weakness…"
Both Jenny and Zongyu froze.
"…will you not give me to that SIF?"
Noah was sure that if she were handed over to the SIF, there was a high chance her secret would be exposed. From Jenny's expression, Noah could decipher that the SIF was not a good place.
"My weakness is…."
* *
Zongyu was selfish, and he knew it.
He also knew that the moment Jenny decided to bring this girl to their apartment instead of reporting her to the SIF, their fates had already been intertwined.
The SIF would never believe their innocence, even if they swore they had nothing to do with her.
It was their way—better to punish the innocent than let a criminal slip through. The city guards had already seen them together, which meant abandoning the girl was no longer an option.
If she were caught, they would be dragged down with her.
So the better course of action was to take the girl with them and try their best to hide her until the SIF left the city. That's why he had refrained from stopping Jenny from taking this girl to their apartment.
His current outburst was driven by a single purpose: to uncover the weakness of this Transferred.
Knowledge meant control, and control meant safety. If they knew her limits, they could restrain her when needed.
Jenny's furious glare burned into the side of his face, but he refused to look her way. He was the leader of their team. And as a leader, he would not allow indecision to put any of them in danger.
"…my path skill will never work if you guys become scared of me."
"That's it?"
Zongyu hadn't expected someone's weakness to be so bizarre. Yet disbelief tangled in his thoughts, refusing to let him accept it.
"How can we be sure?" he asked, his tone cautious, almost doubtful.
"Don't you remember?" she said softly. "When I rescued you, I couldn't move afterward."
Zongyu's brow furrowed, but he gave a slow nod.
"That's because you were afraid of me," she continued. "When that happens, a part of my skill severs itself… and I become mortal."
* *
I am sorry, Jenny. I am sorry, Zongyu, Noah whispered within her mind. She had lied again.
Not out of malice, but out of fear—fear that they might see her as a harbinger of misfortune.
Her Path Skill could only awaken when someone nearby was in danger. Its weakness, however, was cruelly specific: the moment that danger passed without injury, her power would vanish.
If she told them the truth, it would only invite disgust.
What would anyone think of a person whose ability thrived on the peril of others and vanished when they were safe?
It's fine, she told herself softly. This lie is harmless. I won't lie again.
Zongyu and Jenny had stepped out, leaving Noah alone. She waited in an uneasy silence, her gaze fixed on the thin threads that shimmered back into view.
They came in only two colors now—green and yellow. None of them pulsed with urgency, which meant no life-threatening danger was near.
She remembered how the thread that once bound her to Zongyu had glowed a deep, violent red.
Red meant death was close.
Noah nodded faintly to herself.
After some time, Jenny and Zongyu returned. They appeared calm, yet Noah noticed faint bruises marring Zongyu's face.
Jenny's expression was cold and distant. Noah swallowed her words, afraid to stir the tension lingering between them.
"So, Noah," Jenny said quietly. "Let's make a contract."