Triple Point

Chapter 107: T-10

Camilla

05 OCT 34AE

10 days before Operation Cliffhanger

The days left before their plan was to go into effect were almost in the single digits, and Camilla was running out of time. She was so desperate, if fact, that she even reluctantly agreed to receive Hitomi's "help," if it could even be called that. Hitomi's assistance was closer to the merciless training sessions at the Academy, and even though Camilla knew it would only make her more frustrated, she had to try.

"This looks ridiculous," Camilla bitterly grumbled after her hundredth failed attempt to try and pop an inflated latex glove Bev had swiped for them from the infirmary. She threw the disfigured balloon to the side, only to get even more frustrated when the glove merely floated to the ground.

"You can go back to the ice cubes, if you prefer," Hitomi suggested in Japanese as she leaned against one of the walls to watch. "But we both know that's not going to work."

"You're not working," Camilla snapped back in English, lacking a better argument and the brainpower to respond in her non-native language.

Hitomi shrugged, then paused to think.

"Maybe I can't help you," she pondered aloud. "AJ came to help you out too, didn't she? What did she say?"

Hitomi's sudden change in topic caught Camilla off-guard, and she immediately averted her eyes from her cousin, looking to the pathetic balloon glove instead.

"She showed me some stuff," Camilla casually replied.

"You need to be a little more specific than that," Hitomi said unsympathetically.

"They were just... memories, okay?" Camilla insisted.

Hitomi simply stared at her, unimpressed.

"They were... memories I'd rather not remember," Camilla eventually admitted. But when Hitomi's expression didn't change, Camilla sighed. "There were just flashes. The attack on the Academy, the war, City Hall exploding. There was... Elsie screaming at one point, and... some stuff from Farallon."

Camilla still hadn't told her cousin the specifics of what happened at Farallon, and she worried Hitomi would take the opportunity to press Camilla for answers. Thankfully, Hitomi didn't begin interrogating Camilla as she had worried, and instead started thinking quietly to herself.

"Maybe you're scared," Hitomi suggested. "You said Fester had conditioned you to be scared of your abilities, right? And after what that Stain guy did to you, I wouldn't be surprised if you don't want to use your abilities again."

Camilla had heard Hitomi's nicknames for the two villainous doctors enough to not even bat an eye at them anymore.

"Let's say I am scared—but I'm not saying I am," Camilla proposed. "Wouldn't it make more sense for my abilities to stick around? Without them, I'm practically defenseless."

"But having abilities put you in those situations in the first place," Hitomi explained. "Maybe your subconscious just wants you to pretend to be normal so you can't put yourself in those situations anymore."

Hitomi's explanation made it sound simple, but thinking about it still made Camilla's head hurt.

"So... you're saying my subconscious doesn't want me to fight?" Camilla asked. "That's ridiculous. Even without my abilities, I'm still going to go with the rest of you. I just won't be able to protect myself anymore."

Hitomi shrugged. "Consider it a survival instinct. If you hold your breath for too long, your brain will eventually force you to pass out so it can make you breath. It won't care if you're underwater and you're just trying not to drown."