Chapter 69: Chapter 69 - Changes
When the figure disappeared from before and time had returned, Lily didn't have time to adjust before being noticed by May and Coulson, who had still been nearby.
"Are you OK?"
May turned to face her, a worried look on her mind; Lily was still adjusting after all the hivemind had suddenly returned, and she had been flooded with information all at once, something she would normally be used to, but with the cut and sudden return, it was overwhelming.
It was as if power to a machine had been cut off due to an outage but then suddenly returned with a great burst at once. Something like that could break a machine, but she just needed time to adjust.
"What do you mean?"
"You're dripping sweat."
'What.'
Lily felt her face, and she felt the sweat running down her body, cold sweat that she didn't even feel there. How could she not know she was sweating? Was the being truly that terrifying that it numbed all her senses?
Such great fear that even her body couldn't contain itself.
She hadn't felt something like this, ever.
Since she had come to this world, she had always been proud of her capabilities. She knew there were stronger beings in this world, but she wasn't disappointed in herself either because she knew that she could become that strong or even stronger.
She just needed time.
But this single encounter had changed that. Not only did it show her just how truly weak she was in the face of unknown power, but it also meant she was now on the radar of a powerful being, or maybe more.
Worse yet, she was too weak to even know what to do, know what the being was, or know how to become strong enough to face them if they tried to attack her.
She was disappointingly weak.
'No, self-pity isn't the way to grow.'
So far, she had been playing it very safe because she thought she had time, she was trying to use the timeline to benefit the most she could, but things are changing now.
She didn't know what unknown variables were at play, and she didn't want to risk it. From now on, if the timeline was going to be changing, she would be the one doing the changing.
"Enough."
Speaking out loud in a soft voice, she looked up and locked eyes with May.
"You are to send me in to deal with the criminals."
As she spoke, her eyes glowed with a faint red hue; this was one of the abilities she had gained from devouring the Vampire from before: Mesmerize.
It was the ability to influence the minds of people in the way she wanted them to act; of course, it had its limits. Currently, it was so weak that working on beings with powers would be mild or outright impossible, but it worked well on normal humans.
And May was a normal human.
The only reason she hadn't used it now was because she didn't want to risk any side effects from it, on the person it was used on, that is.
But she no longer had that care.
"Lily, what are you doing-"
Before Coulson could even finish speaking his sentence, she turned towards him and did the same thing.
"You will agree to send me in as well."
Her abilities mixed with their own emotions and thoughts, influencing them to do what she wanted. The ability worked by amplifying a feeling within them, a thought that they already had, and making it a reality; it couldn't work with nothing.
But thankfully, they already had the thought of using her.
"Lily, can you join the Calvary and attack the captures?"
Coulson spoke aloud as if the situation just now hadn't happened.
"Rescuing the hostages is the most important part, can you do it, Lily?"
May added since she was more worried about the little girl than she was about capturing the gunmen.
"Of course, I will try my best, but I don't know what might happen inside."
Lily agreed to enter; it was her plan, to begin with. So, after discussing the matter with the Calvary team, they made their way inside through entrances that were provided by their assistant from here.
Lily followed along behind the Calvary troops; that was their only compromise if they were to bring her inside here, not trusting that she was capable of dealing with this.
But in the end, it worked out for Lily because the second they got close to the hostages and tried to rescue them, they were also taken control of by the girl.
Scanning the room of hostages, Lily was the only one that remained untouched by the control of the girl, her eyes looking for the very cause of all this mess.
'There you are.'
She said, as her eyes locked onto the girl.
'I have around 5-10 minutes before May comes in after not getting a reply from the Calvary. I have to make this quick.'
"Why can't I feel you?"
Said the little girl as she looked over to Lily, her expression confused as to why she couldn't control the emotions of the girl. Her mother stood to her side, ready to protect her.
"Because there is nothing to feel."
Lily replied as she stepped forward, beginning her move towards the girl. She walked, each step slow but certain; it was a mental trick to get into the heads of the people that faced her.
It made them panic, especially the girl who was nothing but a child; she felt fear for her life, stumbling back; the idea of using her puppets didn't even cross her mind.
Her mother, on the other hand, tried to protect her by rushing at Lily, expecting her strength to be enough to deal with the situation.
However, she severely overestimated herself and underestimated Lily because as soon as she got within range of the girl, Lily simply grabbed her by the neck.
Which was odd since Lily was shorter than the lady, but by grabbing her neck and pulling her down to her height, she threw her off guard and made her fall onto her knees.
"Sor-No."
Lily was going to apologize before killing the woman, for she had always felt pity for those she had killed simply for her growth, killed because she needed to use them to grow.
But she stopped herself this time; from now on, she would no longer apologize when she killed someone.
She would do what she had to.
Without a second thought, she squeezed her hand; with the strength Lily currently had, it was leagues above what the lady could possibly wish to attain.
So, with that little squeeze, she snapped the lady's neck. It was so easy it didn't even feel real, but that was simply how life was.
The weak died easily to the strong.
Chapter 70: Chapter 70 - Killing The Child
The girl sat there in shock about what had just happened. In mere seconds, her mother, the only person in her life that she had cared about and someone who had been protecting her since she was born, had been snuffed out like she was nothing.
Her life ended in a matter of seconds by someone who looked only a few years older than she did and without a sign of emotion on her face at that.
She was cruel, beyond cruel, to the little girl who had just witnessed the death of her loved one.
She felt the fear that any weak being would feel in such a situation, the fear that came with loss, but above all, the feeling that overpowered that fear and made her move was something much more primal.
Rage.
She felt a deep sense of hatred and anger towards Lily, who had snuffed out the only person in this world that she had cared for; she felt a deep burning desire to kill her.
To make her disappear just like the feeling of her mother had disappeared from her mind.
"How dare you!"
She yelled out as rage leaked from her words, the armed soldiers around Lily acting on the girl's will and emotions, aiming their weapons towards the girl.
"Die!"
She yelled out once more as the soldiers started firing at the girl at once, without caring about the fact that they may end up hitting each other. After all, they weren't in control; a child lost with rage was.
Lily was littered with bullets, yet she remained unmoving; the bullets came at her body but seemingly made contact with a hard surface of flesh, somewhat like a bony exoskeleton that protected her body from being harmed by the bullets.
'So I can tank these bullets.'
This had been something she had been meaning to test, just how strong her durability was in the face of bullets. And so far, it seemed rather good, given the fact that she had multiple DNAs that aided in her defense.
Granted, these bullets weren't the powerful stuff; there existed a lot stronger ammunitions in this world, and she was certain that her current capabilities couldn't tank those.
But these merely felt like a weak hit to her hard body.
She stood completely still until they ran out of ammo; some of the bullets that had bounced off her body ended up hitting nearby mind-controlled hostages or even the shooters themselves.
It was unfortunate, but there was little that could be done in such a situation to prevent them from being harmed. They would survive either way, and this made it easier for what Lily did next.
With the bullets stopping, Lily resumed her way toward the girl; this time, she moved quick.
She stopped in front of the girl before she could even realize it, and while the girl was inhuman, she wasn't a physical type like her mother was, so she couldn't resist or even have time to react to Lily's approach.
Grabbing her by the neck, Lily was going to kill her right there, and then so she could eat her and gain her ability, but she stopped.
Killing her right now would only release all the hostages from her mind control, which would make it hard to explain what was going on to them. While she could try using her ability on all of them, it would drain more energy than it was worth.
Better yet, she had a better idea.
With a mere thought, a worm came drilling out from the ground nearby, large enough to swallow the girl whole if it so pleased.
She had created it the first chance she got, having it spawn under the ground so that it could move around and, scout the area and be used if she needed it.
Lily was the hive; she was never alone, not even when it seemed like it.
"What are you! Why are you doing this!"
The girl began to rant and fight with Lily's hand to try and break free, but it was nothing in front of Lily's strength.
For a split second, Lily felt bad for what she was going to do; after all she was still killing a young child, sure she may have been doing things that weren't good, but that was because of her growth.
But Lily had already changed from the past her.
"I can feel your fear; it's so strong even if your other emotions are hidden, it leaks out."
The girl spoke as if trying to get into the mind of Lily, but Lily didn't need to be told what she felt. She knew she felt fear; she feared many things currently.
But that fear wouldn't cloud her mind.
Before the girl had the chance to use her mind-controlled targets, she threw her toward the worm.
The worm already knew what to do, grabbed her in its mouth, and dug into the ground quickly.
Then, once it was out of sight and out of the way, it clamped down.
Lily didn't even need to be connected to the worm to tell that the girl had died because the people around her had all returned to their senses, with no knowledge or memories of what happened while under control.
As for Lily, she took the chance to slip to another part of the building as she felt a mental rush from the new ability gained.
It was so different from all the X-Gene abilities she had gotten so far, yet so similar in a way.
'What is this?'
Holding her head with her hand, she struggled to focus her mind as she was suddenly assaulted by the emotions of everyone around her at once. It was drowning; she felt as if she was in an ocean without the ability to breathe.
It was heavy, so many feelings: anger, sadness, distress, fear, confusion, worry, doubt. There were so many emotions; it was chaotic.
Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
12 Power
stone 
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