Regrouping

Raon was still evading the Society's security personnel when she got a call from Engineer Ye:

- Ma'am, we have a problem - he said worriedly.

- What now? I'm a little busy... - she replied.

- We detected new fluctuations within the portal; I'm afraid it is similar to last time's error.

- You assured me this time the machine shouldn't show that.

- I can't stand it either. You better come back soon.

- Don't try to rush me... - the director replied.

Anomalous capture teams were approaching their position while she got nearer to where she came from; it was just before reaching the insertion point someone spoke over the loudspeakers:

- Be clear about this, aberrant; I won't allow you to see the light of the sun for the rest of your days. 

Raon stopped on her tracks as a new line of armed guards blocked her path, at the same time she replied, smirking to a nearby cam:

- Good luck explaining your failure then.

The enemies shot their psych-cannons against her, but she shattered the weapons with her mind as she blasted their wielders away. All those unfortunate people screamed like pigs before their heads burst into pieces, which the director took advantage of to cross at impossible speed the stretch of nulifiers being activated, soon faltering and feeling herself weak all of a sudden. Fortunately for her, these were tore off by electromagnetic arcs, and when they stopped working, she was dragged and aided by S-1.

Raon gave a touched smile, nodding as her communicator came back to life. It was Engineer Ye:

- It's just what I feared. There's a red gap forming...

- Copied - S-1 replied - Let's go, or we'll end up somewhere else.

- You could even get lost in the wormhole forever - Ye replied gravely.

Three lines of guards in armored suits awaited them steady, with the increasingly unstable portal behind them, pointing their weapons directly at them; behind them was a strange man in a coat which made S-1 feel outrage, only by being in the same place as her. He had an extremely pale skin, equally pale green eyes, and Raon could notice his long, thin fingers and arms; he looked at the twins with an emotionless look, and the director could infer his only interest was completing his mission no matter the cost to himself or, especially those he worked under.

- So you are Kim Ra-on.

- I see you're used to pick on women like me. - she replied.

- They call me Heinz Altmann, and they pay me for this. So you better give up.

- You never saw what we did with your Einherjar?

- I did, and I am superior. That I will show you.

- Stop talking - S-1 replied - Let us go or we'll destroy you.

Altmann and his men laughed loudly at her, completely confident they were once again facing a routine neutralization mission against another small-time superhuman; seen this way, the Society already had a long history of dealing with such things, and there was no major concern, despite the spacetime anomaly behind them:

- That will never happen. And when you are down, I will go to your place and...well, you can guess.

- Let's see if you can handle it.

- I will use what I have at my disposal. -he said, looking at his men - Fire!

The central line fired power-blocking nets to disable both before proceeding with the arrest; these flew towards them, and the annoying buzz the sisters felt as they approached intensified with every tenth of a second that passed. S-1, without giving any signs of movement to his enemy, sent them with a high-power psychic pulse directly to those who fired while the other two lines were thrown to the ground; Altmann jumped upon sensing the attack beforehand, and launched a long needle straight at Raon's forehead. She came forward from one side, and he, who touched the ground again on tiptoe, began a telekinetic struggle in which the director felt the space around her become smaller, contorting to the level that, if it had had a life of its own, it would have screamed in pain before ripping off completely; the director got constricted, struggling to get free.

The complex shook, and S-1 rose a barrier around herself, darting and dodging a heavy fire round; two grenades were thrown, filled with flammable paralyzing oil, which she grabbed with both hands and threw back just before them exploding. She suffered collateral damage, however, as when these burst in the air, the oil melted her barrier and fell directly onto her left arm and part of her torso; the one who attacked her with the explosives shouted, shooting his weapon:

- How does it feel, aberrant scum? I'll finish you!

The twin didn't even flinch and ordered some of her nerves to shut down in the face of an unbearable pain; feeling as if hell burned her, one of her lungs bursting from breathing the oil's smoke, but decided to continue, imploding her foe and then focusing on others two enemies. She used them as a shield against more enemies firing microwave guns, looking for the right shot in her half-destroyed barrier to hit the heart or brain; in a matter of seconds, S-1 had finished them off for Altmann's amused surprise.

- You're tough…

He suddenly appeared in front of her, delivering a chop straight to her windpipe, shattering it, proceeding to punch her everywhere, surrounding and attacking faster than her eyes could keep up, failing miserably to block him with only one moving arm:

- But you still have a lot to learn!

The vice-director began to rapidly lose consciousness while her opponent prepared a spinning kick so powerful that, if it hit, it would break her skull. But less than an inch from her, he got stopped:

It was Raon, who, taking the heads of two of the still-standing guards, had spoken in three voices:

- No more.

Altmann realized he was unable to move, as if not only his body, but his own time had been paralyzed; he noted the others were in a state of catatonia, while some of his injured men were paralyzed the same way as him. He was not amazed, nor was he afraid, but this state caused him plenty of intrigue, since never had a target managed to give him that level of trouble; he smiled on the inside, waiting to see what his foes would do next.

The director started speaking:

- No matter how hard I tried, wasn't able to use my telepathy alone against you. So I came up with an idea; I took these dregs of yours, and channeled extra power through them getting into their minds. One led to the other, and the rest is history.

She got next to Altmann and tore out his heart, without him being able to react:

- You're not what you say you are...I saw it. My men already took your DNA, so I can finish you whenever I want - she half-lied - so tell your superiors to never come back, or I'll do the same to them as I did to you.

Suddenly, Raon felt a chill and could extrasensorily see Altmann break free of her invisible restraint, drawing and firing a nullifier at her body, making her falter ever so slightly; Altmann launched himself and drew a dagger to stab her head. He connected the point of his weapon, but only scratching the surface as S-1 crushed him to the ground with her mind and those that remained like insects against the walls and floor, leaving just stains behind. The twin was beside herself, tearing off her foe's ligaments one by one and breaking his innards, pulverizing his bones from the inside out; her greatest interest was to make him suffer for what he did, squeezing his chest:

- Nothing else matters. I will destroy you all.

A beam of light shot out from behind her, bursting her eye and knocking her off balance; she spat blood, falling prostrate and tired, feeling confused. Her powers were immediately deactivated by nullifyier shots; turning, she saw a suited man and two bodyguards at his side, lowering their guns:

- You're an incompetent, Altmann, and will be punished for it.

- Ah, you cretin overseer, always wanting credit...for others' actions. - he replied, almost suffocated.

S-1 spurted more blood from her mouth:

- Who...are you...?

- Irrelevant. I do not exist. Now come with me, a suitable prison module has been prepared for you.

Then he added, pointing his gun at Raon:

- By the way, you won't see each other again, it can't be risked.

- Bastard...don't...do it... - S-1 growled, crawling.

The man turned Raon's limp body, and pulled the trigger, which did not fire. Instead, the weapon began to vibrate so much that a static was felt throughout the room. The tip of the weapon glowed red and expanded, then shot a burst of what looked like white fire over the director's entire body:

- No…!

The twin collapsed to the ground, fainted.

Raon's body must have completely disintegrated with that shot, so, once the glow that filled the room dissipated, the man extended his arm to check the ashes left behind, and that was when, instead, his own body began to burn in the flames. He didn't scream, nor did he panic, but began to remove some of his clothes, which burned with a heat no normal human could have withstood; with anger, and humilliated, the man took a closer look at what really happened, as his bodyguards fled:

- Now wha...?!

In front of him, a terrible vision showed him a pair of long, sharp fangs; a 2 meter-tall beast with a long snout growled and gurgled diabolically, lying in wait on its four cloven hooves, its breath sulfur, its skin scorched as a burning bush, glowing in the purplish fire burning it. The being galloped towards the enemies who had just run away, at the same time that, like a blur, another similar creature rushed at him, not being long before screams and the crunching of flesh and bone could be heard echoing there and throughout the unseen hallways.

He punched the monster many timer in its snout and put it to the ground with a neck grapple, and then heard a voice as he struggled:

- Leave them.

The man looked up, and there was a third creature, protecting an unconscious but still alive Raon, gazing then at the unstable portal flickering and pulsating erratically with irregular contours as the air vibrated. He saw someone just in front, and he smiled at the view of what the reports described as "an exact double"; she breathed heavily, shoulders heavy by the strain of her own power:

- I see. Another aberrant, after all - the overseer said - those Einherjar weren't so stupid.

- Let them go - she replied - It was you monsters who killed all those people; you will pay for it.

- This is quite a gift for me, for the Society. With pleasure I'll cage you three and extract your potential off that foulish blood.

- You're all disgusting...

The actress just had to think about it, and in response the creature the man wanted to beat bit his arm, the other besides her doing so too with his other arm just in time to make him miss a shot and get disarmed. Both beasts pressed with immense, breaking force, refusing to release their prey:

- Thule will be eternal, no Ragnarok will thwart us... - he hatefully stated - Our fate is only godhood.

- People like you don't deserve to be called human - the actress sentenced - I will end this here.

Her monsters picked up the man and began to pull until both his arms got severed; one threw him into the air and the other took his leg, and when he fell again the first bit him repeatedly on the torso while the other took his head with its snout. He tried to kick one beast with until it brought out furious sparks of fire from the inside of its charred side, but the beasts did not let go, rather squeezing even harder, making him creak in agony:

- Soon...reinforcements will arrive - he mumbled - Nullifiers will... re-activate and then…

He didn't finish talking, for a regenerated Altmann stood tiredly and began to blast with his rifle, first at Mari, but the third creature returned and lunged at him, to which he responded by giving it an invisible push and emptying his rounds. Determining the level of conventional damage that could be inflicted, he saw it was ineffective and used his telekinesis again to stop the being while he pointed his other hand at the actress, however Hae Jun, Ah Ra, and Goo Joon jumped through the portal to cover her. The first kicked him on the side, and in response he had to face the doctor's cutting threads, which immediately split his legs into slices while the computer scientist threw a kind of little hoop which closed around his neck.

 The device turned on and released an electroshock so powerful it charred the man, who, still alive, started to crawl away with one hand, as he grumbled trying to free himself with the other:

- Am I getting old now? Damn it.

- You won't be using your powers too soon with that - the IT chief said.

Goo Joon took his communicator, as Altmann continued receiving electroshocks:

- Control? We fall back now – he said, taking S-1 in his arms – Director and vice-director are secure.

The rabid monsters, meanwhile, were all three focusing all their hungry attention on the man in the suit, tearing him to pieces with hatred, without Mari being able to stop them, no matter how much he shouted for them to stop; the director, half-opened her eyes to watch the scene, and a half-smile appeared on her lips:

- Kang Ma-ri…too much repressed ire I see?

The actress, realizing she'd heard such a subtle murmur, turned to see where it came from:

- Raon…you're awake.

Ah Ra ran towards her superior and applied a spray of what looked like carnival foam right on the crack that hadn't regenerated properly in her skull; next, she delicately listened to her chest, took a retractable folding collar, and, after listening to and perceiving her breathing and circulatory system, she lifted her boss off the ground, immediately carrying her and leaving while calling the medic area:

- Attention, emergency wing; get me a stretcher for D, we must stabilize her.

On the other side of the vortex, paramedics would arrive, lay her down on a stretcher and carry her away, with her following close behind. Goo Joon put S-1 in Ah Ra's hands too and immediately, giving some kind of excuse, hurriedly left the place; the doctor didn't try to stop him as she was focused on her own thing, telling the paramedics:

- Tell neurology to prepare a 4D tomography and MRI for a brain and spinal cord scan.

- Yes, ma'am, we're on our way. – said one of them, and began a call.

- Have an operating room ready – Ah Ra added.

At the Society base, back with Mari, Altmann still squirmed on the ground like a worm:

- Come back here...!

Before finishing, he stood up on his arms by sheer force of will, crawling to cross the vortex, but he received a kick from Hae Jun that knocked him off; he tried to jump back and strangle her, but without success, being violently thrown to the ground with a superhumanly strong punch. More security personnel was arriving through the entrance to contain the targets, most of them wounded and crippled or bruised from the previous battle, carrying leftover weapons, but no nullifiers.

Electromagnetic arcs were fired towards the actress and the beasts under her command; shots hit and they immediately disintegrated into ashes, Mari herself stumbling and sucked back directly into the vortex. Hae Jun threw Altmann and what was left of the overseer against these enemies at high speed, and they fell to the ground along with him; more guards desperately fired their ammunition, but the mind of the secgen stopped it as she was reaching her limit, and so decided to run towards the portal throwing several grenades she carried on a belt. Aided by telekinesis, Hae Jun spread them in trajectories otherwise impossible to collapse the chamber, all the while she passed through and fell over the platform on the other side.

Frantically, engineer Ye executes the emergency shutdown and deactivation procedure, uncovering the huge red button, and in 20 seconds, the rings spun, the vortex shrunk and, as it faded, they stopped and the hums of the entire mechanism fell silent as the man wiped his forehead in relief. In his mind, he thanked the heavens that, for whatever absurd reason, the enemies on the other side didn't cross to the their side.

Meanwhile, on the Society base, a ruined half-body burst violently from the rubble. The breaking of his hoop by the avalanche of concrete allowed him to save himself from being crushed to death. He crawled painfully towards the place the portal had been, flickering lights iluminating his mad rictus:

- Ghrg… Kim Ra-on…! – Altmann shouted, punching the floor – This will not be the last time, no… I will find you… and I swear... you will beg me death…!