| abstract
| - Stephanie throws her necklace on her bed. The spirits that had haunted her before had come back. She grabs ahold of her hair and begins to cry. She lays her face into her pillow, and stretches across the bed. She is still wearing her Emerald outfit. She cries into the pillow, getting make-up all over it. She looks up from it. A face of a crying woman is imprinted into the pillow. With its eyes closed and a stream of tears coming down with red lips, it contrasts greatly from the white. Stephanie grabs her necklace and sticks it into her jewelry box. She shoves the lid closed and locks it tightly. She slides it under her bed. Stephanie looks at her mirror. Stephanie hears James calling her from downstairs. Quickly she takes off her costume and puts on her bathrobe, and heads down. It’s late. The cherry blossoms outside are finally turning scarlet. The ginger-haired woman sees Carolina and James sitting in the store. James’s eyes widen. James: You made it out of there fine? Stephanie: Yes. People died, didn’t they. Carolina: Too many. Not just from the illness, but the fire, as well. Stephanie collapses on the stairway. James goes to pick her up. Her arms are shaking. Carolina: What’s wrong with Stephanie?! James: She’s having an anxiety attack. This happens to her after situations like this. Carolina: She didn’t have this the other day. James: They’re infrequent. Carolina: Ah! Stephanie (shaken): James… Please… Don’t let go, at all. James wraps his muscular arms around his sister. He closes his eyes as Stephanie cries again. Carolina sits there, watching. She notices a strange ring on Stephanie’s hand, however. Carolina: James. Didn’t that ring she’s wearing belong to you? James: Oh that? I, uh, let her borrow it for the day. Carolina hums in amusement. ~~ Dwarn steps into his office at JTC. It’s closing hours, but he’s committed. He slaps his armor on the working table, the mask and all. He notices a crack. It’s right above the eye. Part of the mask also was cracked, making it look as if it had teeth. Dwarn: A termite she says? Termite… Dwarn gets inspiration. Throughout the night he builds. He redesigns structures of the costume. He replaces the extinguishing fluid with that of an acid. He adds an air-conditioning unit into it with vents. He snoops into a testing room and steals some of the heat ray guns that were being tested. Back in his office, he modifies them. He sticks them on the helmet, making a big-like antenna shape. He laughs. Dwarn: “Emerald-Proof” it? Oh, it will be Emerald proof alright. He tests the laser on a diamond. At enough heat, the diamond begins to shine bright and explodes. Dwarn’s eyes widen. He closes up shop at JTC and drives home, very late at night. He enters the door, puts up his lab coat, and walks quietly through his house. Cynthia is awake, looking at him fiercely through her quadrilateral glasses. Cynthia: You didn’t even wait for a test run. Dwarn sighs and walks upstairs. He’s rubbing his head out of embarrassment. Cynthia: Yeah, walk away. You know the authorities will be after you. Dwarn stops. Dwarn: This was a test run. It failed, Cynthia. I will try again. Cynthia’s mouth opens out of shock of her husband’s comment. Cynthia: Try AGAIN? The world isn’t some lab, Seth! Dwarn: Goodnight, honey. He slams the door to his room. ~~ The mayor released a statement the next day about the capture of Emerald for questioning after the terrorist attack on the capitol. Mayor: The police department will capture this dangerous individual to be brought into questioning, as well as whoever was her accomplice. The department is dealing with the other terroristic individual, who will be locked up in a federal prison. If you see the woman described earlier, please contact the police at once. Stephanie watches this in horror. She is in her blanket and grows even more terrified. James wraps his arm around his sister. James: It’s going to be alright, Stephanie. We’ll deal with this. Stephanie: James. Please. There is no dealing with this. I need to turn myself in. James: Don’t turn yourself in. The police doesn’t know the hero Stephanie is the same as the individual known as Emerald. It needs to stay that way. Stephanie: So what do you mean by that? James: Simple: You work as a vigilante. No matter what, it’s your actions that save others. It’s all in your hands. Stephanie: I’m not ready to go back. James: You don’t have to be. Let it come to you. Stephanie shivers more in her blanket. A customer comes into the shop, but James shushes him. James: We’re closed for today. Sorry. Customer: Oh, uh, okay. Apologies. The gentleman leaves. James gets up to flip the sign to “sorry we’re closed.” Then he comes back to deal with Stephanie. ~~ Dwarn hurries to work. He’s stopped by Johnson as he’s going to his office. Johnson: Just what in the world are you doing, Dwarn? Dwarn: Working. Johnson: Stealing your co-worker’s inventions to make some stupid concoction will NOT be tolerated. He holds up the Termite helmet, which Dwarn snatches. Johnson lowers his brow. Johnson: I think you need a day off. Maybe even be laid off. I have plenty of capable workers here. But you, Dwarn, are certainly NOT healthy right now. Dwarn: I don’t care. I’ll go back to my work. Johnson: That’s another thing. Does your “work” involve trying to stop a terrorist with some stupid outfit? I’ve had it up to here, Dwarn. Enough. Dwarn stares at the helmet. He nods. Dwarn: Understood. Colt: Look at me, Dwarn. Dwarn looks up at him. Dwarn: Understood. Dwarn scurries back to his lab. Johnson waits until Dwarn locks his lab door. Afterwords he decides to call Stephanie. ~~ That night, Stephanie is in her apartment. She plays a message Johnson gave to her earlier. Her eyes widen. Quickly, she puts on her Emerald suit and heads outside. Running toward JTC, she bypasses the gates. Reconstruction efforts have begun on the building. Johnson is waiting for her outside. Emerald slows herself down, skidding toward Johnson and comes to an eventual stop on the gravel. Emerald: What’s going on? Johnson: It’s Dwarn. We need to destroy his efforts. Quickly. Emerald: He’s building another one of those exo-suits? Johnson: Yes, it was part of the secret PROJECT BREAK. But I fear after yesterday’s events, he’s a bit shattered. We need to do this for his own good. ???: My own good would be for you to give me that super-powered criminal, Johnson. Johnson and Emerald turn around. It’s Dwarn, in a stylized version of his Exo-Suit. With antenna-lasers, added vents, and armor improvements, he is no longer wearing the old. Dwarn: I’m going to turn her in. Now. Johnson: Go to hell, Dwarn. You’re the problem here. Dwarn: Then she will go down there with me. He points a laser at Emerald, and decides to fire bullets. Emerald quickly crystallizes. Dwarn: Oh no you don’t. He charges up his antennae lasers and fires them at Emerald. Emerald tries to block them, but soon the skin underneath her crystals begins to burn. AUGH! The crystals explode on her arms. Her skin is a deep red color where the crystals were. Dwarn laughs out of excitement. Dwarn: I did it! I Emerald-proofed it. Emerald: Ugh. You took those words to heart, didn’t you? That explains the silly look. Dwarn: I’m the termite you described me to be. Now I shall bring your mighty fortress of power down to it’s foundation. Dwarn runs up to her and gives her a mighty uppercut. She is knocked into the air. Dwarn claps his armor together, sending a shockwave to send her flying into the building. Johnson is knocked off of his feet. Emerald groans out of pain. She gets up from the brick wall she fell into. Termite climbs the wall at a speedy pace. He jumps up the wall and grabs Emerald by the head. Then he flings her to the ground. Emerald breaks the concrete in the sidewalk nearby as she falls into it. Her costume is starting to tear. She notices part of the eyeglass for her goggle is missing. Termite jumps down from the building and leaps upon his adversary. He takes Emerald’s head and, with phenomenal speed, rapidly slams into the ground. Emerald groans. She can’t even get up. Termite laughs out of such satisfaction. Termite: Now to turn you in. Termite starts to get fired at. He turns around, seeing a fallen Johnson unloading his automatic at him. The bullets only fling off of his nearly-indestructible suit. He fires a laser at the ground near him, sending him flying a few meters back. The gun falls out of his hand. Termite unmasks the fallen Emerald, revealing the bruised face of Stephanie Barmms. She is having a hard time breathing. Termite: No more of you superpowered freaks. You will be in jail for what you did yesterday. And then I will be the one dealing with your kind. He rips of Emerald’s necklace swiftly. The beads fall to the ground. He steps on the crystal part of the necklace, driving it hard into the ground. Stephanie feels a wave of pain as she has returned to her normal state. She cries. Dwarn (with a mischievous smile): This is all I wanted. To see you, beaten. Now look who’s on the ground? Dwarn muses for a bit. Termite: How the mighty have fallen. Dwarn picks up Emerald and jumps several meters into the air for greater speed. He makes his way to the police station, to turn Emerald in.
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