Winter's Burn

• XXXIV •

"You're dead... I killed you," She finally reached for her gun, placing it between the man's eyes as she backed him into the wall. "How the FUCK ARE YOU ALIVE?!" Her hands shook as he held up his hand in a gesture of surrender.

"I have to give credit where it's due, soldier. You were quite ruthless." He gestured toward his missing arm, wrapped in gauze across his chest. "You just couldn't bring yourself to get the job done."

Aeron clicked off the safety of her gun, steeling herself to shoot.

"Ah ah, not so fast, zolotse,"

"Give me one good reason not to kill you right now." Aeron was losing her patience and time.

"If you do," Ivan began, "You never know what happened to your mother." He smirked, knowing he had leverage.

Aeron's glare faltered with the grip on her weapon. "You killed her."

"Thats where you're wrong." His smirk only grew.

Aeron pushed against his mind with her own, "Where is she? What did you do to her?!"

Ivan scoffed as he felt her presence within his mind. "You're going to have to try harder than that. Reaching into the same bag of tricks gives your enemies an edge. They know what to expect." He grabbed the gun as she was distracted, holding her hand over his shoulder so she was unable to shoot him. "What else do you have?"

Aeron rose her hand to slap him, not taking notice that the pit in her stomach had grown more erratic, causing blue sparks to ignite from her fingers. As her hand made contact, he flew across the room into an old bookshelf, crumbling to the floor from the shock. "What did you do to her?" Aeron repeated, unphased by the sparks as she stood over him.

It was then that Ivan took notice of her eyes, practically glowing the same blue as the volts she shot into him. They stood in stark contrast to her dark demeanor and ginger hair, somehow making her seem even more threatening. Aeron compelled him to speak truthfully using her abilities, a trick she had learned to do with Senka months ago. "She was...relocated." Ivan finally spoke through his disoriented state. "We had to keep her from talking. She knew too much, but I..." He paused, taking a labored breath as Aeron pushed harder. "I couldn't bring myself to kill her. They sent her to Washington, in Leavenworth. To strip her of her abilities, we applied a method to slow down her cognition. They told me she can barely remember anything. I have no idea of her current status."

Aeron looked down at his trembling form, enjoying the feeling of making him vulnerable. She wiped the growing blood off of her nose. Aeron cocked her gun, aiming it between Ivan's eyes. "Go to hell." A shot rang out, Aerons bullet shooting clean through the man's skull. For good measure, Aeron shot him again in the chest. And the foot. And wherever she could think of. There was no way he was coming back now. Aeron momentarily leaned against the wall, a smile on her face as she breathlessly laughed. Relief coarsed through her body. She did it. He was gone.

A small beep from the explosive in the room reminded Aeron that this wasn't a time for celebration. She didn't have much time left. She exited the room, making sure to kick Ivan's body on the way out. She quickly hit the rest of the rooms on her side before meeting up with Senka at the tree where they had left Will.