A hand clasps right over my throat as I'm trying to sit myself up. The grip is firm, and the touch explodes feverish hot on my skin. As if being hit by a heat wave, my knees have buckled.

My mouth dries and my palms grow sweaty. Like a drum, my heartbeat rapidly in my ears and in my chest. My thoughts cloud over, faint echoes in my head.

"You," thunders the Sentinel, in a low growl. In a blink of an eye, the dizzy feeling vanishes as if it was never there. I'm left in cold sweat, with the Sentinel's hand wrapped around my airway.

Frozen, I stare at this almost god of a superhero, descending upon me with a fury beyond all else. I am a level 1 n00b versus a level 100+ boss. Every nerve in my body feels fried, every hair standing on end with this contact. Every survival instinct within me is telling me I won't make it out unharmed if I make the wrong move. Not to do anything.

The Sentinel's fingers flex slightly on my neck, testing.

"Identify yourself," they snarl. "How did you get into my programming?" They shake me. I am jerked forward by my throat, which is not as sexy as it sounds. "You've almost endangered everyone in this city, including yourself, for your arrogance. Who are you?"

Already, I can feel my breath quickening and my body tensing with deliriousness. "I'm--"

The Sentinel squeezes. I choke. Trying to claw at their hand, my nails scrape against the impossibly smooth shell of whatever metallic alloys were made to form the Sentinel's chassis. The plates are seamless around joints, and the Sentinel barely reacts to my kicking, or my attempts to get them off.

Their stiff fingers don't relax slightly until I go slack, faint-headed.

"What is your allegiance?" the Sentinel prompts.

"Su..." They've still got a grip wrapped around my neck. I try to swallow. "...vi..."

"Supervillain," the Sentinel repeats, tone flat, releasing the hand around my neck. Withdrawn.

I breathe, deeply, noisily, and my chest expands. I cough. My head falls a little. The only reason my body isn't broken yet is probably that injection the Alliance gives you at graduation. It amplifies your existence from breakable human ragdoll, to still-breakable but superhuman ragdoll.

I feel sick. I might throw up.

"Did the Doctor send you?" The Sentinel's put their hand on my shoulder. Panic fills me at the touch. "Tell me. I will be merciful."

My eyes stay lowered at the Sentinel's chest: the core isn't there, but even without opening my senses, something tells me I could try to access a mainframe chip or something similar from there. But will the Sentinel hurt me first before I can disable them? "I don't know--" I'll--

"You've made your decision?" they ask. The other hand presses against my chest. "Very well."

One moment, I'm sitting up. The next, I'm flat on my back, a large cry ripped from my lips. The Sentinel's hands are heavy, pressing down so hard I fear my ribs and shoulder might break.

"Sentinel. We don't do disciplinary on supervillains."

Electricity sizzles to null; it sparks in the air, causing the Sentinel to scowl, and the hairs on the back of my arms and neck to stand on end. I hadn't even realized the Guardian had arrived.

The Sentinel doesn't really pay attention to her words. Instead, they press harder down my chest. I grit out my teeth, but a hiss of pain escapes to a howl.

The ground itself under me gives away; cracks erupt from the concrete from the massive pressure. I reach out wildly to clasp onto something, and end up trying to push the Sentinel's face away.

"Sentinel, no," the Guardian barks. She doesn't touch the Sentinel but she does stand close enough that if she reached out an arm, she could. "We don't kill them." A chill falls down my spine, freezing. "That's not how we do things in a town that isn't ours, and you know it."

"I need information." The Sentinel's head tilts only slightly to observe my expression through my hands. Then, they bring their face closer, so I can see the perfect seamless slits of their face plate; the inky blackness of their optics bearing into mine. "You know I need to. This one can give it to me."

"Sentinel, lay off." The Guardian's voice is razor blade sharp. "Lay off the supervillain, or I will force shut you down--are you--are you listening to me?"

"This is not a supervillain." It's even worse that the Sentinel's not yelling anymore, just murmuring, because the lights of the inner black frame are glowing red now instead of blue. "Not even a villain. With these skills, it is laughable."

That hits me harder than it should. "F-first--" I rasp. "First day--"

"That's a newbie, Sentinel," the Guardian interrupts. She has a hand on their arm and has to pry hard to get them to let go. "We were all new once. This one will become someone's nemesis one day, Sentinel."

When the Sentinel pulls their hands away finally, I rasp in air. Tears sprout to my eyes. I cough, finding it painful to do so with each one.

"What's your name?" the Guardian asks me. She doesn't touch me, but makes sure to stand at a distance.

"River," I gasp, "Ng. Please--"

"River Ng." The Sentinel repeats my name between their teeth like a stain. Their optics are black as night before me, and I can see my reflection stare back at me. "Hear me now. I have never once picked a personal nemesis, and I certainly would never in you. There is no one in this city that could fit this criteria, and you, least of all."

"Thanks," I rasp, head spinning. Oh, god, can I even breathe? I reach back in my head for Wes's phone signal, and make an emergency call to get her attention, and switch it for a text. "I hate you."

The Sentinel doesn't bother to respond. They stand and turn on their heel, to where the Guardian joins them, but not before she looks back at me, uncertainly, and then follows.

I cough, the forgotten backpack straps digging into my shoulders, and pull out the shorted earpiece from my ear, blinking through tears.

I'm going to be fired, aren't I.