Getting home took a while, since Mom's house was fairly far from here. I wasn't ready to head back to my dorm yet either, considering that I'd be the center of attention there and my university had fairly lenient off-campus rules. So why not stomach the journey to Mom's house?

At least it didn't take as long compared to actually explaining what happened when I got there.

"What?" Mom exclaimed, almost jumping up from her seat. "A man choked another person to death? So close to you? Did you get hurt? Did anyone harm you?"

I'd just barely finished telling her what happened and she was already quick to react. Of course she would be; I saw someone get choked in front of me and another four people get sliced open. She already couldn't tolerate me not having a "quality social life," so this would make her flip out. 

Still, I was surprised why she wasn't used to these incidences sooner. She'd seen tons of murder in her life as well, right?

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Nothing happened to me at all, it's just shocking to see that happen."

"It is! And you're telling me a superhuman and a regular one were fighting?"

I nodded, swallowing. "It's… scary. Really scary. Not even three days have gone by and there's already chaos starting…"

Mom let out a watery sigh. "I know, I know. I'm scared. Talia, I know you've been cautious lately, but the thought of you heading outside and getting choked and mauled is… horrifying. Please, please don't get into that kind of situation. Please? Maybe you should head back to the dorms by now; there's better security there. Please, I don't want you to get hurt."

Man, I hated making people fret like this…

I placed a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "I'm heading back to the dorms tomorrow, and it'll be fine. I'll keep myself safe. I can use my ability to protect me, if worst comes to worst."

Did I actually believe what I was saying? I had no clue.

That got Mom to lean back on the couch, the tension in her muscles dissipating. "Okay. Okay, that's good. Things have gotten so dangerous lately, and, you know, of course I'm gonna get worried." She sighed again. "Anyway, I probably shouldn't be holding you up. Today's been an exhausting day for you, so I'll let you go. Freshen up, relax a bit. You really need a break, Talia."

"An assassination? On Arlox's mayor?" 

I stepped into the living room, freshly washed and dressed in a tee and shorts, to see Hazel sitting on the couch, eating a bowl of fruit while gazing at the TV with Mom.

With piqued curiosity, I sat down next to Hazel.

On the TV was footage of a masked woman holding up the bloody body of a man with short gray hair. His suit was splotched with crimson, and he hung by the lady's grasp as if he was nothing more than a flimsy dishrag. 

All I could do was stare in bedazzlement.

That was him. That was our mayor, Conna Gray. 

And he was... dead.

"Holy shit," I mumbled. "What in the world…?"

"The president has kept us down long enough!" shouted the lady on the screen, her long brown hair blowing in the wind. She stood — no, levitated. She levitated above a large ornate fountain, one that signaled where exactly this was taking place: the center of Weley Metropolis, the capital of our country.

"In Codex, we first had an anarchy. Then we had Jorra Tor, the first ruler. And from there, the control tightened." The woman clutched the collar of her victim as she spoke. "Our rulers' power grew, and we went from Jorra Tor to Kiano Mai — the man who decided to massacre and capture Exelonians right when we started living in harmony with them. He tore down our peace, shrunk our freedom, before Harley Rogers came along as the new president — and now we've been fighting tirelessly with her. The rebellion attempts of the past, the Lockdown punishments we've faced — we've been struggling for so long under the sole of Harley's boot. 

"We've all seen the executions on the streets. The careless, brutal methods only used just because people — bold people, bold citizens — opened their mouths and decided to speak up. Against the Exelonians being captured left and right. Against the poor management of our country. Against Harley Rogers, she who sits on her throne and cares about nothing except for keeping her power. Who doesn't care about the corrupt police. Who doesn't care about what we want. Who doesn't care about freedom. Who doesn't care, period. 

"Aren't you exhausted?" Her voice howled louder than the wind, louder than the rushing water that cascaded down the silver structure below her. The crowd near the fountain was rapt.

"Aren't you all tired of this? We need to rise up. We need to fight back. And with the new discovery of superhumans, we could be stronger than ever. We could start a new country, one where you don't see tens and billions of pointless executions on the street. One where you don't see an incompetent tyrant sitting above everyone. One where we could be happy. One where we could be protected. One where we could be free — where everyone could be free, including the Exelonians that we fought over.

"So, who stands with me? Who wants to rise up? Who wants to stop living on their knees?"

The ruckus of the crowd was impossibly loud. Shouts, cheers, hoots — this was a howl, and I knew exactly what kind: the howl of the revolt. A howl that I was oh-so-familiar with, one that brought me right back to when I was barely ten, hearing the hoots during another rebellion attempt. 

And that's what this was, wasn't it? Another launch for resistance, but this time, there was a new component: superhumans. That lady at the fountain was a superhuman, and she was rising heat again. 

For the tenth time in history, someone was rising heat again.

My stomach churned with waves of adrenaline. After the nine failed ones we had years ago, people still wanted to fight? Why? Couldn't they have seen we'd lost plenty of times already?

The video clip faded out along with its noise, and a hint of static started to flicker on screen.

Hazel cocked a brow. "So when someone posts a video or article speaking against the president, it gets taken down and the creator of it gets executed. But when this is plastered on the screen, it's perfectly fine?"

"Oh, no no no, this isn't supposed to be on TV," Mom explained. "We were watching the news before, but it suddenly cut off and showed us a video of this — you missed that part since you walked in late. So it's like the rebels, or whoever put this broadcast on, is doing it illegally and disrupting the system."

"Makes sense to me," I mumbled. "Although that means that, if the person who interrupted the news gets caught, they'll be murdered brutally."

Hazel shrugged and popped a grape in her mouth. "I mean, this is Codex. When does that not happen?"

I nodded, grabbing a strawberry slice and looking at the TV, where the news was starting to come back on. 

Hazel cocked a brow. "So when someone posts a video or article speaking against the president, it gets taken down and the creator of it gets executed. But when this is plastered on the screen, it's perfectly fine?"

"Oh, no no no, this isn't supposed to be on TV," Mom explained. "We were watching the news before, but it suddenly cut off and showed us a video of this — you missed that part since you walked in late. So it's like the rebels, or whoever put this broadcast on, is doing it illegally and disrupting the system."
"Makes sense to me," I mumbled. "Although that means that, if the person who interrupted the news gets caught, they'll be murdered brutally."

Hazel shrugged and popped a grape in her mouth. "I mean, this is Codex. When does that not happen?"

I nodded, grabbing a strawberry slice and looking at the TV, where the news was starting to come back on. 

"So superhumans are gonna be used in the rebellion," I mumbled. "That's… t-that's…"

"The Prez is gonna do whatever she can to make sure the rebellion gets taken down as soon as possible. Meaning that, um…" Hazel paused. "She might not allow superhumans to be around."

My gut dropped even further, opening up a heavy pit of dread. Anxious acid threatened to shoot up my throat, gurgling in the pit of my stomach. 

Hazel was right, wasn't she? This was it. This was going to be the trigger for Harley, wasn't it? She was going to stomp all of us out to end the revolt right when it started.

And then what? What would happen after that? All the change, the turning tables, the new ideas people were getting up to — there was no way anything would go back to anything normal, let alone good, after this.

Hazel must have noticed the worry on my face. "Dang it, I'm sorry! I didn't wanna make you worried! That just slipped out! It's just one possibility, and it might not happen at all —"

"No, no, it's okay," I said, popping the strawberry slice in my mouth. Its sweet flavor suddenly seemed duller and duller as I kept thinking, thinking, thinking about the situation.

I sighed deeply before getting to my feet. "Okay. I-I'm gonna go. I need to go."

Not waiting for a response, I headed out of the living room and upstairs. Instead of the bathroom, I went to my room — a small, blue-walled space that probably needed to be organized. Hazel complained of how cluttered my desk in the corner of the room was. And how I made my bed sloppily. To be fair, though, I hadn't been here in a long while. 

Speaking of my bed, I plopped down on it and stared up at the ceiling, trying to release my anxiety that came in the form of tensed muscles and running heartbeat by mumbling to myself.

"Everything's gonna be fine, everything's gonna be fine, everything's gonna be fine, everything's gonna be fine…"

Turning over on my side, I sighed. 

Never mind. Lying to myself only meant that the situation was getting worse.