Kara:
It's been exactly nine hours, thirty-two minutes, and eight seconds since my conversation with Parker and Bayani. I couldn't sleep. I've been on floor twenty-five in the training room, it's completely dark, and at this point, I think I've mutilated the punching bag I've been using for the past ten minutes.
I see the sand inside start spilling out all over the floor. I step back, only to step in more sand. I turn around and notice that the three punching bags behind me that I was using are also destroyed. Spinning further to get a full view of the room. I see that sand is covering the floor in here; it's practically a beach in here. I didn't even notice what I was doing; I just kept seeing that the punching bags weren't usable, so I just kept going to the next one over and over.
I see that there are no bags left for me to use. I've gone through all ninety-seven in here. Out of the corner of my eye, I see light creep into the room, jarring my eyes and throwing off my vision. I see the door open further, and Elementalist walks in. "Kara? Why are you awake at two-thirty-one AM?" She questions, walking over to me and putting a hand on my shoulder.
"Couldn't sleep. Thought I'd just exhaust myself so I could." I reply, stepping back a bit.
"Well, the hero patrolling this floor was scared that it was Elaine making all of the noise in here, and he was too scared to potentially confront her. So he woke me up." She explains as she yawns, looking quite tired herself. "You made quite the mess in here. I'm sure whoever is cleaning this place in the morning is gonna be thrilled to replace ninety-seven punching bags." She remarks rather dryly.
"Well, I'm sorry. I had to work through something." I retort.
"Ironhide related?" She asks.
"Yeah. Bayani made a remark about what Ironhide would have wanted. And honesty? I don't know what he would've wanted for me." I grimace.
"Would you like my opinion?" She asks, her face softening slightly.
"Go ahead," I tell her, waving my hand in a rather dismissive manner.
"He'd want the best life for you. And what is the best life for you? Being number one." She says.
"What are you talking about?" I ask, crossing my arms.
"Being the number one hero at the WWSHA." She confirms.
"And you think that's achievable?" I question.
"More than so. I would say that your intuition and instincts are better than anyone else's. You have more potential than anyone else in your generation." She tells me matter-of-factly. Her expression is still rather blank, less tense, but blank.
"What about Elaine, Elizabeth, Bayani, and Parker?" I ask her.
"My daughters will remain number three and four for life. I doubt Bayani will ever reach ranker status, and Parker? His ceiling is where Sonar is right now. He will reach the top ten, at best." She says with utmost confidence.
"Why are you buttering me up like this?" I question.
"I'm not. Just stating the truth. I see the doubt in your eyes, doubting Ironhide's ideals. They held him back, that shouldn't happen to you-" She says before I interrupt her, "Do not insinuate that he was weak-willed!" I snarl.
"You've been doubting his rehabilitation beliefs, though, have you not?" She asks, having zero reaction to my outburst. As if it didn't shock her whatsoever.
"So what?! That doesn't mean that I think less of him!" I shout.
"He was wrong. Admit it." She says, her face tensing up as she squeezes my shoulder with her hand, I feel my shoulder warming up slightly.
Her power?! She's gonna burn me over this?! What's gotten into her?!
"No! Ironhide was kind! Even if I think that villains can't be redeemed, that doesn't mean that I don't have any of his values!" I yell as I hold my hand out, and an iron needle slices Elementalist's shoulder. That causes her to let me go. I see her eyes widen, and a smile slowly creeps on her face.
"I try to show it every day! Even though Parker was terrible to me the first day we met, I tried to be friendly and welcoming, because Ironhide would've wanted me to be forgiving and understanding! And I was also happy I had an equal…" I say, my voice trailing off in that last part.
"And even though I'm grieving too, I try to be cheery so Bayani won't be so sad, and so your family won't get so caught up with me at this time of year when you all are grieving over that kid! And I try to be a friend to Parker, because I know he's probably overwhelmed living in a new place with people who already despise him!" I shout, my breath now heaving, as I realize my lungs are quite empty. That entire rant was one breath.
"You think that makes you strong? You just admitted that you were happy to have an equal, even if Parker was terrible to you the first day you met. You're fickle and out of touch with yourself. You can't be steadfast in anything. If Ironhide was weak, you're pathetic." She retorts.
"Shut up!" I shout as an iron needle goes straight for Elementalist's neck. But a swirling sphere of water appears next to her, and it catches it, she grabs it, and throws it back at me. I jump out of the way as it barely grazes me.
"Good instincts." She says. "See? I'm right."
"You're right about one thing. I will be number one, and I'll prove to you that Ironhide's ideals weren't weak by keeping them as I climb!" I scream.
Elementalist's faint smile grows, "Good. Keep that attitude. You seem a lot more determined and thoughtful now. That's all I wanted from you."
"You riled me up just to get that out of me?" I ask her, utterly bewildered.
"Well, I do believe everything I said, but I'm open to being proven wrong." She says, patting my head.
I slap her hand away, "Quit it."
"Well, maybe this also shows you not to bottle up your feelings." She says, trying to lightly scold me as a mother would.
"Don't do that either." I snarl.
"Fine. I'll leave you be, but before I go, a word of advice." She says, seemingly waiting for permission to continue.
"Say it, then go," I demand.
"The strongest person in the world. Not Paragon, but Wraith. Paragon and her are similar fighters in the sense of relying on instinct and intuition." She starts explaining, before continuing, "You are a similar case. I think your instincts and intuition surpass both of theirs, but do you want to know what makes Wraith stronger than Paragon?"
"What?"
"The Wraith, Claire Davis, had been fighting for her life in real combat situations since she was a child. That's what made the gap between them." She says.
"Are you telling me to go get real combat experience?" I ask.
"Do what you will with what I said." She replies, now leaving the training room, she shuts the doors behind her, now leaving me alone in the dark again.
I march out of the room and rush over to the elevator. I press the button to call the elevator. It takes quite a while to come down, at least five minutes. Probably because it was in use by Elementalist.
I make my way up to floor sixty-eight. And when I exit, rush over to Elaine's room door, knocking on it frantically.
Greeting me shortly is a very grouchy Elaine. "Kara. It's like 3:00 AM. What do you want?"
"Parker. My room." I tell her.
"Or, you can come in here and talk with him. I'll be asleep, so you'll have your privacy." She says, probably just not wanting to risk any form of punishment for letting Parker leave.
"Sure," I say, moving past her and entering the room. I spot Parker just waking up over on Elaine's couch. I approach him, and he immediately makes room for me. I sit next to him, and we both wait for Elaine to fall asleep.
After a few minutes, we hear some light snoring coming from the bed. She's asleep now.
"So what did you need from me this late? Or early. Whatever you wanna call it." Parker asks in a hushed whisper, tilting his head slightly.
"I'll do it," I tell him.
"You mean the-" Parker begins to exclaim excitedly before I cut him off. "Dude. Quiet, you wanted to keep this secret, so do you really want Elaine to hear?" I hiss quietly.
"Whoops, my bad." He whispers back.
"But I have three conditions," I tell him.
"And those are?..." He inquires.
"Firstly, I'm not taking on any fodder; give me one of the commanders or the leaders. Second, you and I spar every day. Bayani should be included in that, too, so all three of us have one-on-one matches in rotation until every match-up is done. And third…" I start explaining, before trailing off.
"Third?..." Parker questions.
"You help me hunt the Chameleon."