The two young women stepped into the streets through the revolving glass doors.
"Monday mornings are boring as hell. Can you feel the low energy?" Gwen asked, her eyes scanning the surroundings.
Seol Hwa faintly shook her head with a lazy smile.
"I don't feel anything. But it's true about Monday," Seol Hwa agreed.
'That applies to most of my days if you were a cultivator like me,' she thought idly.
They walked in silence down the streets, but Seol Hwa suddenly arched her brows.
There was truly a shift in the surrounding energies. Like a sudden spike of malevolence.
She had seen some unfamiliar faces lounging in the shadowy corners of the city.
Some had even parked their dark-tinted cars on the curbs.
They weren't even trying to be inconspicuous at all.
'I was wondering what that disgusting stench was. So it was from these rats?' Seol Hwa scoffed.
No matter how much they tried to act natural or seem normal, they were truly doing a terrible job.
"Seol Hwa, hey," Gwen said with a hushed tone, her eyes darting around.
"Act normal. There's no reason to lower your voice," Seol Hwa stated.
"Okay. Have you noticed something different on the streets? There are some weirdos lurking around," Gwen quietly said, glancing at Seol Hwa.
"I noticed them. They're weaklings. Don't worry about them," Seol Hwa said indifferently.
Gwen looked at Seol Hwa as if she was joking, but Seol Hwa's flawless expression suggested otherwise.
It was the usual Seol Hwa face.
"Where do you get the confidence from? Do you have a woman's mandatory weapon like me?" Gwen asked curiously.
Seol Hwa stared at her as if she was speaking nonsense.
"What's a woman's mandatory weapon? Isn't that simply her fists?" Seol Hwa replied, demonstrating with her tightly clenched fist in front of Gwen.
Gwen's lips twitched with amusement, a soft chuckle escaping her lips.
"Only you could say that. With that tiny hand of yours, do you think you can punch a grown-ass man?" Gwen asked in a humorous tone, pushing down Seol Hwa's hand.
Seol Hwa lightly laughed.
"Tiny hand? You're surely a funny one, aren't you?" Seol Hwa said with a mirthful expression.
To say she wasn't massively amused would be an understatement. And maybe she was also being severely underestimated.
'You should laugh often, you cheater,' Gwen thought, secretly exhilarated by Seol Hwa's sonorous laughter.
'I want that honor to remain mine alone. And girl… aren't your arms tiny like mine?'
"Funny? You think this is funny? Realistically speaking, what could you do against a man bigger and stronger than you? You'd only be overpowered. That's why it's a must to have this…" Gwen said, shaking her head as she began rummaging through her bag.
After a moment, she removed a small, unassuming bottle with some liquid.
"This is the mandatory weapon I was talking about. I call it 'fuck-around-and-find-out'," Gwen said proudly, showing the pepper spray to Seol Hwa.
Seol Hwa gazed down at it with unfiltered disdain.
The empress was unimpressed.
"You put your faith in that little thing?" she subtly scoffed, taking the bottle from Gwen's hand before she could react.
She then studied it with mild interest, rolling it around her palm.
Gwen was rendered speechless by Seol Hwa's words.
Was it bad for a girl to want to defend herself?
Only to Seol Hwa.
Or was she not… a girl, just like her?
"That little thing, miss, can make any human being cry their eyes out," Gwen said with slight annoyance before forcefully grabbing her pepper spray from Seol Hwa's hand.
"Only ordinary men, Gwen. That thing… won't always come to your rescue against some scum with experience," Seol Hwa said blandly.
"What's gotten into you?" Gwen asked with concern, returning the bottle to her bag before zipping it. "Isn't it better to have it than not having it?"
Seol Hwa remained silent for a few seconds.
"I just… don't like the fact that you would feel unsafe when you're my friend," Seol Hwa said.
"You don't need any weapon when you're with me. Anyone under my banner will have my protection. That includes you," she added with absoluteness.
That was the demonic will of the Bloodborne Devil Empress in effect.
Gwen paused, dead-eye staring at Seol Hwa, her mouth nearly hitting the ground.
Seol Hwa's words kept on replaying in her mind as she tried to make sense of what she meant.
Banner?
Don't need any weapon?
Was she slowly becoming delusional?
On closer look, Gwen realized Seol Hwa had no ounce of playfulness in her tone.
She had been dead serious. The most serious Gwen had seen her be so far.
'Then here's the question: what gives Seol Hwa such confidence?' Gwen deeply contemplated.
"It seems you don't believe me, right?" Seol Hwa said coolly, interrupting her thoughts.
"No… yes, yesss. I don't believe you!" Gwen remarked with an expression that said it all.
"It's understandable when you look at my exterior vessel. You don't need to try to make sense from my words," Seol Hwa faintly chuckled.
"I knew it. You were playing a big joke on me," Gwen said with a sigh of relief.
"Don't do that… ever. I'm the one who'd protect us, Seol Hwa," she then continued confidently, her chest slightly pushed up dramatically.
"Okay, Gwen. You're stronger than me," Seol Hwa said.
"That doesn't feel sincere. Like totally!"
"I'm sincere."
"I doubt it. You just looked down on the mighty Gwen, didn't you?"
"Mighty? That's a big word for a weakling."
"There it is. You just admitted to it. Just so you know I studied judo, I can beat your ass any time of the day."
"Maybe."
The rest of the journey was filled with these types of interactions as Gwen tried to prove her mightiness.
But what was mightiness in front of silent sovereignty?
~~<>~~
Midtown High.
Gwen opened her locker, her eyes wandering to Seol Hwa some distance away.
How she hated the fact that their lockers were far apart.
'Wait… that's not something to be mad about. Get a grip,' Gwen thought, looking back to her locker.
'Didn't I have a wonderful weekend that I always wished for? That's enough for me. Steady steps, Gwen. Steady steps.'
A genuine, warm smile appeared on her beaming face as the memories of that day were still fresh inside her mind.
If it were not for the locker blocking her face from view, everyone would have seen her foolish smile.
"I guess you had a great weekend. I'm truly jealous," a voice suddenly sounded beside her.
Gwen nearly knocked her head against the metallic locker as she nearly jumped out of surprise and being caught off guard.
"Fuck!" Gwen cursed before looking at the culprit only to find… him looking at her in amusement.
"Fuck you Parker. You suck ass!" Gwen cursed again, her hand placed on her rapidly beating heart.
"I guess that's good morning for me. Thank you very much, Ms. Stacy," Peter said with a slightly tired smile.
Gwen shot a middle finger at Peter though a smile curved her lips.
"And yes, I had a very great weekend. The same can't be said about you, right? What got you looking like the undead?" she said while closing her locker.
Peter briefly studied Gwen's vibrant face before sighing internally.
'I'm truly jealous,' he briefly thought.
"Wait. Is it one of those late night science experiments or what is it this time, Pete? God, I don't know how many times I've heard that from you," Gwen said, muttering at the end.
Peter smiled knowingly. "Science never sleeps."
"As if I'd believe that bullshit," Gwen replied, rolling her eyes.
"So what's the sitch? Didn't you clearly have something to tell me after scaring the hell out of me?"
"I just wanted to warn you: don't walk alone. Stick with Seol Hwa or MJ when walking home," Peter advised in a serious tone.
Gwen gave him a knowing glance, realization showing on her face.
"Are you talking about the not-so-secretive cretins hovering around the school and the streets like vultures?" Gwen asked.
Peter showed genuine surprise, the first expression he let out since he began the conversation.
"You know about… them? How?"
Gwen gently exhaled. "Puhlease… I have eyes that aren't blind. Seol Hwa easily noted down even their numbers. That girl might have a miniaturized supercomputer inside her head."
"That's amazing. She can cook, she can charm, she can… math? What else can't she do?" Peter responded before dragging his hands down his sleep-deprived face.
"I wonder all the time. She's super cool, right?" Gwen asked, her eyes trailing to Seol Hwa who seemed oblivious to the scrutiny of the two.
Or maybe pretended to be.
"Yes, she is," Peter replied absentmindedly as he also looked at the pretty, multitalented girl.
A genius could only recognize a genius.
And a genius that gave his spidey tingles mixed signals was something he was still trying to figure out.
Anyway, what mattered currently was how to handle the situation happening in Queens.
Peter realized that some of those men were not from around there.
After capturing one of them when he was coming to school, he had gotten some unexpected information.
A bounty had been set for any relevant information about an existence called Ash Devil.
Female. Shadowy. Long dark hair. Containment measures: Do not engage or risk being turned to ash.
With that information, it was easy to deduce who they were looking for.
It was the person who had executed two gangs at a large scale so far, leaving ash behind to send the message.
But with how big the city was… wasn't that just a fool's errand?
Honestly, that didn't matter to him. If those bad guys tried doing villainous activities in his neighborhood, which they definitely would, he didn't mind whooping their asses.
'At least… I now know a man named Wilson Fisk is behind this mess,' he thought, clenching his hand that was hidden inside his jumper.
~~<>~~
While the two were lost in their own thoughts, someone else was in the same situation.
It had been unintended. Always had been ever since she learned control.
Control over her mind, over the flood of thoughts from those around her.
Those noises… and her empathetic attributes had always made it worse.
She always knew before they even knew themselves.
That was just some of the perks of being an Omega-level telepath… and telekinetic.
The combo just couldn't get any more overpowered.
But anyway, all that didn't matter. What mattered were those unintended thoughts of a certain someone that just had to go through her filters.
It was a habit, an inevitability to let some in due to curiosity.
She wished she wouldn't have.
The images, the joy, the unmistakable budding feelings and… and HER.
The scenes had felt visceral, so surreal that she felt she had been right there with HER… through the lenses of another.
How could Gwen be the first to have that kind of pure, unadulterated joy?
Why did she have to be the first to shamelessly put her dirty paws on what was hers?
'She's ours,' the voice inside her angrily shouted.
'She's mine.'
'Only us.'
'Not her.'
'She's merely mortal. Weak.'
'Doesn't deserve what's ours.'
'Let's kill—'
'Don't!' Jean Grey screamed in her mind. The voice disappeared.
She hurriedly went to the ladies' washroom, her head lowered but still didn't bump into anyone.
Jean stood in front of the washroom mirror, controlling the rhythm of her breath to calm down the chaos, the fire rising from within.
The frenzied flames that always simmered deep beyond the reach of her psychic probes.
Jean turned on the tap and scooped some water to wash her face, to cool down the heat of jealousy.
Yes. She was green with envy.
She looked at herself in the mirror. A beautiful girl with red hair looked back at her.
But her eyes were… darker, terrifying. The mark of corruption.
'This isn't real,' she thought before sprinkling some more water on her face and blinked several times.
Her eyes were back to normal.
'What was that?'
It felt like that particular horror film Kitty had forced her to sit through.
"Must have been the wind. How absurd," she muttered before slowly wiping her face with a handkerchief.
'I'm close to perfecting my meditation. Soon…'
Jean couldn't wait to claim, no, to get to know Seol Hwa.
The girl who stirred her insides.
Stirred her fire.
~~<>~~
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