The Five Evolution

『"I’m not trapped in here with you..."』

The mindscape.

She stood on obsidian ground under a purple sky, and in the distance, a throne made of screaming faces towered over everything.

"Well, well, well." Discord King’s voice echoed all across the infinite space. "A telepath. And a stupid one at that."

He materialized on his throne, the crown on his head pulsing with power that felt amplified a thousandfold in this space.

Here, in his own mind, he looked different. He was taller, more muscular, confident in a way he definitely wasn’t in reality.

"Big mistake, girl." He smiled.

"Hey, pizza face." Sophia folded her arms. "Watch who you call girl. I’ve seen what you really look like out there."

"But we’re not out there, are we?" He said with a frown. "In my mindscape, I’m a god. I can do anything. Manifest anything. Be anything."

"And you still chose to look like that?" Sophia asked with an eyebrow raised.

Veins bulged around his temple as he stood. "You willingly walked right in," he said, and a kingly cape formed behind him. "It will be the biggest mistake you ever made."

Sophia cracked her knuckles, her physical body’s exhaustion absent here. "I’ll have you know, I’ve always been great at bad decisions."

He raised his hand and the ground beneath her erupted. Spikes of obsidian shot upward, each one sharp enough to pierce through steel.

Sophia’s telekinesis responded on instinct, lifting her into the air just as the spikes closed where she’d been standing.

"Not bad," Discord King said. "But you can’t fly forever." He stretched out his hand toward her and pulled.

Sophia was suddenly yanked toward him.

However, she wasn’t the one being dragged, but space itself. The distance between them collapsed like paper folding.

"What the—" Sophia crossed both her hands in front of her face, bracing herself for the incoming punch.

His fist was already in position, drawn back. Once she got in range, he swung, slamming into her with enough force to generate a massive shockwave.

Her telekinesis wrapped around her forearm, creating a shield of compressed force. She blocked his punch and immediately felt the impact rattle through her bones.

She was sent flying backward anyway, because catching a god’s punch in his own domain was like trying to stop a train with a paper wall.

She crashed into a volcano that was suddenly there, the impact sending ash and debris exploding into the sky.

The heat was real. The pain was real. Everything in this mental space felt as tangible as the physical world. And somewhere in the back of her mind, she was counting.

In the real world, Sophia’s body jerked. Blood ran from her nose and her second bar on her temple, hidden by her hair began to flicker.

Hiro, meanwhile, was pacing, hands in his hair, watching her float there bleeding and shaking.

"Come on, Sophia. Come on. Whatever you’re doing, please work. Please—"

He stopped pacing and knelt beside her floating form, taking her hands in his. They were cold even while under the afternoon sun.

"I don’t know if you can hear me," he said quietly. "But I need you to fight, Soph." His grip on her hand tightened. "You gotta fight."

***

In the mindscape, Sophia pulled herself from the volcanic crater, ash covering her clothes with burns across her arms that would have been fatal in reality.

Discord King laughed. "Had enough? Want me to make this quick?"

"Not really." Sophia rolled her shoulders. "Just getting warmed up."

Above her, the purple sky darkened further. Storm clouds formed from nothing, gathering with supernatural speed, and then lightning began to rain down.

Bolt after bolt after bolt, each one massive in size, and hot enough to turn sand to glass.

Sophia moved, her telekinesis propelling her through the air like a missile with a guidance system, dodging strikes by inches.

She grabbed one of the obsidian spikes he’d created earlier, ripping it from the ground with telekinetic force, and using the same energy to augment her throw.

The throw sent the spike hurtling toward the Discord King like an armor piercing bullet fired from a high-grade sniper rifle.

He barely dodged it as the spike sliced across his cheek and left a gash that bled purple instead of red.

"Bitch!" He pressed a hand to his cheek. "I’ll fucking kill you here! And then I’ll find your body in the real world and kill that too!" He raised both hands and spikes erupted from every surface.

She dodged once again, weaving through them.

He pulled space itself, collapsing distance and yanking her toward him. She blocked his punch with her telekinetic shield, got sent flying anyway, until she slammed into the volcano again.

Ash everywhere. Lightning raining down. She avoided them, broke apart another spike, threw it back.

"Bitch! I’ll fucking kill you here! And then I’ll find your body in the—" Discord King stopped mid-sentence.

Something was wrong. The words felt... familiar. Too familiar.

He raised his hands. Spikes erupted. She dodged. He pulled space. She blocked. She flew backward. The volcano. The ash. The lightning.

The spikes. The throw. The dodge. The cut across his cheek.

"I’ll fucking kill you—"

Wait.

Wait, this had already happened.

He raised his hands again and the spikes erupted exactly as they had before. Every movement, every action, every word, all of it playing out in perfect repetition.

"No," he breathed. "No, what did you—"

The loop continued. He tried to break it, tried to manifest something different, tried to think his way out of the pattern. But the mindscape wasn’t responding to his commands anymore.

It was responding to hers.

***

In the real world, Sophia let out a long breath and opened her eyes.

Then her floating body slowly descended, still holding Hiro’s hands, and the second bar on her temple blazed to life fully.

All across Big-Little Havana, civilians stopped fighting. The crown’s influence shattered like glass, freeing minds that had been trapped in their own worst nightmares.

People collapsed, crying, confused, trying to understand what they’d just done to each other.

Meanwhile, Discord King stood motionless in the center of it all, his eyes vacant, drool running from his mouth.

His body was there, but his mind was somewhere else entirely—trapped in a loop of his own making, fighting a phantom Sophia who would never tire, never stop, never let him escape.

"Sophia!" Hiro grabbed her shoulders as she swayed. "Are you—what did you do?"

She looked at him, exhausted but satisfied. "Trapped him in a loop. His mind’s playing the same fight over and over, and every time he tries to change it, the loop just adjusts and keeps going."

"Remind me not to get on your bad side," Hiro said.

"He should at least be stuck in that psychic purgatory for the next twenty-four hours... " She shrugged. "Or forever. Not really my problem anymore."

She rubbed at her temple and closed her eyes for a moment. Then she noticed Hiro staring. Not at her face, but at the side of her head. "...what?"

Hiro didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he reached toward her.

Sophia immediately jerked back. "Woah. Woah. Woah." She raised a hand.

Hiro raised one hand quickly. "Chill." He carefully tucked a section of her sweat-damp hair behind her ears, revealing the bars more clearly.

Sophia frowned, clearing her throat. "What are you—"

Hiro grinned. "Guess who’s a Shaper?"

Sophia blinked. "What?"

He stepped back, gesturing vaguely toward her temple, and Sophia immediately grabbed more of her hair and pulled it away from her temple.

Her eyes crossed upward as she tried—and failed—to look at the side of her own head.

"That’s not how eyes work," Hiro informed her helpfully.

"Shut up." She ran her fingers across her temple instead. She could feel it. Two glowing bars.

For a second she just sat there. Then a grin slowly spread across her face. "Sweet."

Hiro chuckled softly. "We better go meet up with the team."

Sophia nodded and stood. Or rather, attempted to stand. The moment she got halfway upright, her knees started wobbling like badly assembled furniture.

She quickly grabbed Hiro’s shoulder before she could fall on her ass. "...okay. I don’t think I can stand."

Hiro gave her a classic deadpan look. "Yeah. No shit." He didn’t wait for a response. He simply stood, turned around, and squatted down in front of her, offering his back in an obvious gesture.

Sophia rolled her eyes but climbed on anyway, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and hooking her legs around his sides.

Hiro straightened up easily, adjusting his grip under her thighs to keep her secure. "Comfortable?"

"Two stars," she muttered.

He scoffed. "Hold on tight."

Sophia rested her chin against his shoulder and he took off, accelerating down the street as the city blurred around them.

With the exception of the roaring wind against their ears, it was really quiet. Sophia closed her eyes and let herself relax.

Then their comms suddenly crackled to life, Amara’s voice coming through. "Hiro, Sophia, Come in."

"Go for Hiro," he replied.

There was a pause. Then Amara sounded almost relieved. "Institute agents just put the cuffs on the Discord King."

"What?" Hiro slowed slightly, and Sophia lifted her head.

"The operation is over," Amara continued. "They’re transporting him to the Clam right now."

A small smile appeared on Sophia’s face, and Amara’s next words made it grow wider.

"Whatever happened out there..." She paused. "Whatever Sophia did..." There was another pause. "It worked."

For a moment neither Hiro nor Sophia spoke.

Then Hiro grinned. "Copy that." He adjusted Sophia slightly on his back. "We’re on our way." The comm clicked off.

Several streets away, Yelena lowered her own communicator. A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. Not enough for most people to notice. Then she turned and walked away.