The Five Evolution

『"You guys really went to Pop’s without me?"』

Officially, a gas leak had forced the evacuation of three city blocks.

Unofficially, a thirty-foot Gorgon was currently trying to turn five Awakeners into decorative stone ornaments.

The creature screamed as Angel’s Bane flashed through the air, chopping off one of the snake heads decorating the monster’s scalp as it hit the pavement.

Then it immediately started growing back.

"You guys really went to Pop’s Diner without me!?" Hiro yelled.

The accusation echoed across the quarantined street as he sprinted between abandoned vehicles carrying a metal rod over his shoulder.

The entire district had been sealed off by the Institute. Emergency vehicles lined the perimeter, and News helicopters controlled by the Institute circled overhead.

The public had been told there was a hazardous chemical leak. The public had been lied to.

The Gorgon swung its massive serpentine tail toward Hiro as he ran to the next position, and Raj intercepted it mid-swing.

His boots dug trenches through the asphalt and shattered the ground from the impact as he caught the tail with both hands. "You’re not gonna let that one go, are you?" Raj shouted.

"Maybe if you guys brought me a to-go bag!" Hiro shot back as he reached an intersection and slammed the rod into the pavement.

CLANG.

The device locked into place, and lights lit up along its side. He crouched and immediately began typing commands into a small console attached to the rod.

The Gorgon shrieked and lunged, sending six serpent heads toward him simultaneously.

Amara sprinted across the battlefield and brought her blade down. In a flash, three heads hit the ground. However, three more immediately grew from the stumps. "Can we focus, please!"

Meanwhile, Sophia focused on handling the other three by going after the Gorgon directly.

A golden glow surrounded a city bus as she ripped the front half of it out of the street with her telekinesis.

The entire vehicle floated above her head. "Catch." She gestured towards the monster, and the bus was launched forward like a missile.

BOOM.

The Gorgon crashed through a convenience store, causing glass to explode everywhere.

"Remind me again," Sophia said as the creature clawed its way back out of the wreckage, "why we got sent to handle Medusa over here?"

She pointed toward Ethan. "AND why she has to be captured alive?"

Ethan sat comfortably atop an overturned police cruiser. A paper coffee cup rested in one hand.

Blue forcefields covered every member of the team in a thin layer across their bodies. Every time the Gorgon’s gaze swept across the battlefield, the shields flashed and nobody got turned to stone.

Ethan took another sip. "Because her snake’s venom is needed by the Levi branch."

Sophia blinked. "What?"

"Their researchers are developing an antidote for Scylla bites," Ethan said. "And the Gorgon can’t produce venom if she’s dead."

"Is that it?" Sophia’s body glowed as she took flight, evading an incoming chunk of debris. "Why didn’t you say so?" she said dryly.

Ethan took another sip. "Therefore..." he gestured lazily toward the giant monster. "...don’t kill her."

Hiro planted another rod. "You know, it’s really not fair that you get to sit there doing nothing."

Ethan looked offended. "I’m sorry." He pointed toward the forcefields surrounding all of them. "Whose shields are preventing you from becoming statues?"

Hiro opened his mouth to say something, but he came up short.

Ethan smiled. "If you’d like to get petrified, I can accommodate that request."

"There’s something I would like to accommodate..." Hiro said under his breath.

The Gorgon suddenly swung, and Raj barely had time to react as a clawed hand caught him across the chest, launching him through the side of an abandoned pharmacy.

The building exploded inward and dust billowed everywhere. A second later, Raj emerged from the collapsed debris. "I’m okay!" he shouted from somewhere inside.

"Good!" Amara shouted back. Then she looked in Hiro’s direction. "So!" Angel’s Bane intercepted another snake head. "How’d it go with your parents?"

Hiro winced, immediately looking guilty.

"You couldn’t do it, could you?" Sophia groaned.

"What?" Hiro feigned ignorance.

"Hiro?" Amara called.

He sprinted across the street carrying another rod. "I haven’t worked up the nerve yet, okay!"

Amara stared at him. "You serious right now?"

A serpent slammed into her but she held up her blade vertically, blocking it. The resulting impact shattered nearby windows.

"We all agreed after what happened with Raj that we would come clean to our families."

"I know!" Hiro slammed another rod into the pavement.

CLANG.

"I’m a wuss!" He crouched and started typing to activate it. "A big wuss!" Once he was done, he straightened. "In short, I’m the world’s biggest wuss!"

"At least you’re self-aware," Sophia muttered.

The Gorgon lunged again. This time Sophia ripped a traffic light from the ground as it glowed gold, and hammered it into the creature’s skull with enough force to knock down a building.

"My mom didn’t take it well." Amara sighed. "She threatened to pull me out of the ’program’ entirely and move us across the country."

Everyone stopped. Even the Gorgon seemed confused.

Raj slowly stepped out of the wreckage. "...You’re twenty-two."

"Like that’s gonna stop her," Amara said, slicing through another attacking snake that hissed just before being severed, another already growing in its place.

Ethan nodded. "I’ve met your mother." He took a sip of coffee. "I’d prefer to stay on her good side."

"You should be more concerned about being on my good side." Amara grinned at him.

Sophia shrugged. "I couldn’t reach my mom..."

Everyone looked at her.

"So I had the Institute send her a letter," she finished.

"You can do that?" Raj asked, dusting himself off.

"It seems that’s the only way to reach her nowadays." Sophia’s eyes went distant for a second before returning to focus. "I know I’m gonna regret it, but we all made an agreement."

Hiro stopped moving. "Great. Now you made me feel even worse than I already did."

Before anyone could say anything else, the Gorgon made an escape attempt.

"We have to keep her inside the containment Hiro’s erecting!" Amara called out.

The creature was slithering toward the edge of the evacuation zone when Raj grabbed her massive tail, planting his foot down as he tried to anchor her. "I got it!"

For a second there, he actually had it. Right until the monster whipped her tail upward, taking Raj with it.

"Woah!" Raj yelled.

He looked down as it lifted him high into the air. "Okay, don’t got it!"

WHAM.

The Gorgon slammed him into the ground so hard it created a crater. Thankfully, Ethan’s shields absorbed most of the impact.

"Containment complete!" Hiro suddenly shouted.

Six rods now surrounded the battlefield. Upon activation, lights flashed and energy surged between them.

An electromagnetic lattice erupted upward, and the containment field snapped shut around the Gorgon like a cage, causing the creature to scream out.

Unexpectedly, its massive body began to shrink down. Scales receded. The tail split into two. The serpent heads retracted, one by one, until there was nothing left of the creature.

Within seconds, a young woman lay unconscious at the center of the containment field naked.

The battlefield went quiet.

Hiro stared. "Huh."

Raj tilted his head. "...she’s kinda cute."

Sophia smacked him.

"When she’s not a giant snake lady," Raj clarified.

Ethan sighed. Then he stood up for the first time all mission and wrapped the unconscious woman with a blanket-shaped forcefield.

Afterwards, he lifted her into the air inside a protective bubble. "That’s another reason we were supposed to contain."

"Huh?" Hiro said.

Ethan just stared at him.

"Oh." Realization hit. "Oh..."

***

Later that evening, the team crammed into their usual booth at Pop’s Diner. Ethan’s van was parked outside, and plates of burgers, fries, and milkshakes covered the table.

Raj was responsible for most of it.

"Okay," Sophia said. "Let’s talk about the creepy death cult."

"Which one?" Hiro asked.

Sophia paused mid-fry. "Y’know, that’s actually a valid question now."

Amara rested her chin on her hand. "The Apostles make the most sense."

Raj nodded. "They had motive."

"They had opportunity," Ethan added.

Sophia pointed a half-eaten fry at him. "That’s the part I don’t like."

"The timing?"

"The timing." She leaned back. "Bolivar gets captured. Bolivar dies. Zells also dies."

Hiro frowned. "But how did they know?"

Nobody answered. That was the problem.

Raj finally spoke. "What if they didn’t know?"

Everyone looked at him.

"What if Bolivar was marked somehow?"

Sophia raised an eyebrow. "Like a magical tracker?"

"Or a curse." Raj said with an ominous tone, then took a bite from his burger.

Amara’s expression darkened. "Yelena suggested something similar."

"The voodoo thing?" Ethan asked.

Amara nodded. "Yeah."

Ethan drummed his fingers against the table. "Either way, somebody had eyes on him."

"Or the Institute’s compromised," Sophia said casually, like she didn’t mean it.

Regardless, the table went quiet. Nobody liked that possibility. Especially not Ethan.

The thought lingered. Then the diner bell chimed, but nobody paid it any attention. The conversation continued.

Until Sophia froze completely. Mid-fry. Mid-bite.

The others noticed immediately.

"Soph?" Amara called. But there was no response.

Slowly, Sophia pointed toward the entrance and the others turned.

A woman stood in the doorway. She had blonde curly hair, tired eyes, and a small bag over one shoulder.

She was looking directly at their booth now, and Sophia’s face went pale. "...Mom?"