"Hey Jer, if a zoo had a half-man, half-horse, do you think he'd be the centaur of attention?"

The young, elemental twins Jerry and Gerry, known by their team codenames as Burn and Blizzard, laughed to themselves, intentionally within earshot of me as our team hid in the shadows of the warehouse. They were at least mature enough to keep it off-coms, but childish enough to get their daily dose of half-jokes in. I had no idea what to expect being part of a superpower-filled outfit like Epsilon, and times like that made me wish I never found out. Humor staved off boredom and my rattled nerves as we all waited for the meeting brokered by our rival force, Hierguild, to arrive. Human and/or Hierarch trafficking we'd been told we were stopping, though with Hierarchs involved, there seemed to be a lot of legal grey area, enough to call it "Hierarch recruitment" if it ever reached a courtroom. It was a big enough deal that they'd probably be bringing in considerable firepower as protection, leaving me on edge. Even if the grade-school joke was a harmless distraction that cut some tension, it made me privately grind my teeth off to myself. "Fuck the B&B twins," I thought privately, "and fuck me for ever letting the codename 'Half' stick."  

It was just another bad day in the running for being the worst; competition was stiff ever since I got recruited, but the day of my first mission was exceptional.

Started with the perfect dream, the one where everything was right and good in the world; in my case, that meant I'd gotten enough sleep, a nice dream that didn't end abruptly, the sun was gently shining in my bedroom window - all the signs of a great day ahead. Then the alarm clock went off and I woke up for real, still tired, grumpy, sore, sunlight blocked by a brick building that's literally the only view I get from my window. To top it off, I realized what I used to call "normal" is out the window since I woke up to find myself still a known Hierarch, still drafted by my shitty Hierarch-weilding taskforce, and that the dream of an old life where things used to make sense was fantasy. 

"Fuck," I muttered sleepily, punching the wall and feeling my powers weren't there to make the significant dent I wanted in the wall. Rather, the wall left the nerves in my hand hurt and angry at me.

Then after a sub-par oatmeal breakfast that tasted like shitty porridge, it was the most painful round of tests the our resident Hierarch physician, Dr. Kasdien, wanted to run on me. More poking, prodding, and trying out new "benign" formulas meant to stimulate the Hierarch side of me to physically remain so the change could be artificially locked in. Didn't matter to them that the stuff burned like hell in my veins, they loved seeing that state rise on their monitors for a second, only to disappear right before their eyes. I wanted to chew him out hard for what he put me through, but I knew all the science and tests stuff was at his discretion, meaning he could keep me for more painful, "necessary" tests longer. I simply shot unseen daggers at his back as I left the his lab to a different part of the compound for physical regimen.

Instead of just a simple workout though, I got my first Hierarch training against the almost the whole team at once. It was put off longer than I thought it'd be, but I'm guessing management was tired of waiting for me to get control of my powers and toss me right into the tiger pit, with some peckish tigers that seemed to love toying and maiming me a little with their powers, since my Heirarch-half was a no-show for the whole thing. After patching up small bruises and light freezer and regular burns, I sulked all the way from that to the briefing room where they showed us some intel for the trafficking mission, and Hierguild's newest asset.

They called her Maelstrom. Goth as hell, decked out in full black leather, bodysuit and jacket, like stolen from a Matrix wardrobe, complete with black lipstick, eyeliner, hair and a disposition to match with the angry expression from the mugshot in her file. The hair was especially weird, spiky and short down to her neck, but with a long, thick, gravity-defying tress sticking out and falling low in a thick curl, almost lightning bolt-shaped. Hanging low in front of her hot-as-hell face made it seem more fashionable and less like insect antenna somehow. I kept the attraction to myself; everyone, including me, almost immediately started cracking goth jokes about her. 

No one was laughing when they showed us captured videos of her abilities being tested. One had her waving her fingers towards a pile of metal, energy from her hands made the pile compress into a ball when she made a fist, waving her hand over that fist set the huge metal ball on fire, and then a small throwing motion launched that fireball to a tank that exploded upon contact. She was crazy powerful, like matter-bending powerful, with a variety of them at her disposal. If that wasn't weird enough, each power she had was color-coded, visible from the glow of her eyes, hands, and at the end tip of the thick antenna tress, making that thing seem less weird. They knew the power behind a few colors, red being power, purple being some kind of pestilence effect, white being some kind of light manipulation, and blue as some sort of scanning. Wasn't sure if any number of unknown powers or possibilities scared us more or less than what we knew then; it certainly didn't help morale as they cleverly dubbed her "rainbow death." One of the twins suggested "cray-crayola." The other snickered, but no one else got levity from their stupid naming.

Most times against Hierguild's regular roster, we surprisingly won more than we lost. Maelstrom seemed the exceptional type, capable of taking all of us on by herself, Hierguild's solution to our bitter rivalry. I didn't envy my comrades that might have to face her down someday, less so after they told me I was going to start joining them in the field as of that briefing. Short of pissing my pants, I explained to them how much of a liability I was in the field, and how I was better off gathering and compiling intel for the team like usual; everyone brushed off my concerns, telling me I'd be fine. 

Thoughts of my increasingly messed-up day culminated a mix of anger and fear in my gut as a few black vans finally pulled in to the river-side warehouse. Being so close to the water, boats soon after pulled up to the docks, typically suspicious guards in suits and sunglasses walking towards each other, exchanging words I couldn't hear.

"Our targets are probably in one of the vans," Expender, our second in command spoke over the com. Her voice was measured, and gave me a bit of reassurance. "How are things outside, Copula?" It took a few moments for our psychic, Copula, to scan the area to report back. "No surprises waiting outside; looks like this might actually be a simple exchange."

"Good, everyone wait till they're released from the van, then we take down the suits and protect the Hierarchs." I could hear the faint hum of Expender's powers revving themselves up over the com. Using energy absorption, she'd be able to take expected gunfire and power herself up to rush the guards, and the twins could take care of anyone she missed. I felt relief as I saw figures covered up in black robes and hoods being made to exit the car. With no sign of any Hierguild powerhouses around, this looked to be easy.

"Too easy," my intuitive gut told me. 

From one of the robes, a faint blue flashed outwards across nearly the whole warehouse, and a cold shiver shot through my spine as the robes as taken off to reveal a nightmare come true: Maelstrom herself, and more suits with guns underneath. She looked intently at places we were all hiding, settling, almost staring hard at my location. Expender was saying something over the coms, but I was too distracted to hear her, watching Maelstrom's hair, eyes, and that tress cycle through different colors to end up at red. Creaking from somewhere nearby made me turn my head to see metal pipes moving like snakes to wrap themselves around me. My stronger half kicked in and I was able to slip away before any of them could grasp me. Sounds of gunfire and powers echoed throughout the whole warehouse as I moved silently, running up to a few suits with uzis who barely had time to turn their guns towards me before I locked my arms around the first guy's head and kicked the other guy into a crate ten feet away. I used the remaining momentum and gravity to slam the restrained guy down through the wooden flooring. Acute hearing alerted me to a guy somewhere above, and I grabbed another normally-heavy crate to throw at him; weighing as much as baseball with Hierarch strength, it hit him like a chair-sized fastball, and he satisfyingly fell from his sniping position into the water. I was about to look for other guards to hit, but the Hierarch strength faded, just in time for me to have to dive barely out of the way of gunfire from more suits. Before they could get to where I dove to, Expender slammed into them from behind, grabbing their heads to toss against the wall, knocking them out cold.

She was heaving as she looked at me, looking roughed up in a way I'd never seen, clothes ripped and out of breath. I'm guessing she barely escaped Maelstrom somehow. With my heartbeat pounding in my ears, I think I said "thanks," or I hope I did, before a wall of red energy slammed into her and through more wooden crates. I looked back from the downed Expender to find Maelstrom right in-front of me, hands raised, glowing a fierce red. Instinct and inner-strength took over as I grabbed her forearms, wide-eyed with shock as I found my Hierarch half struggling against her strength, trying not to be toppled, compressed, ripped apart, or whatever else she could do to me. Life on the line, keeping her hands as far away from me as I could, I panicked and flung us both through the window of a small office as hard and as far as I could. By the time I collided with anything inside, I was human-Half again, head throbbing from hitting something hard. I tried to move, to get away, thinking Maelstrom was unconscious, but I felt myself forced on my back, hands pinning wrists, hazy eyesight clearing to see an angered Maelstrom cycling through colors again, that tress colored orange and a flame ignited in her eyes. 

The part of my mind that reasoned told me it was all over, that the worst day of my life was about to come to cap off appropriately. Watching that flame dance in her eyes, apathy and acceptance began to wash over me, the pleasant calm before the storm of being sent straight to hell by a witch. Flames poured and burned into me, as I watched my life flash before my eyes. 

The beginning of my worst day, random moments I'd spent in Epsilon, being recruited by Epsilon, being nearly beaten to death in the street for being a Hierarch, the family that by now disowned me, darkness, experiments, shared pain....critical thinking came back a little as I wondered who I bothered to share pain with, wondering why that pleasant calm sensation never left, and the only burn I could feel was a heat like....arousal? Thinking about why I felt that way washed away in waves of pleasure that shook me, and Maelstrom. She pulled back from gazing into my eyes, and I could see this was having some kind of effect on her. She looked surprised, trying to focus back in on me, but shaking a bit, looking how I felt.

"Fuck, this feels..." thoughts in my head were faint, followed by more radical thoughts of fear, attraction and more. I felt hard under her, and her hips rolled against mine as if by accident, something she didn't stop. She bit her lip, and something told me it might've been the first time in a long time she'd had close contact of any kind like this, if ever. 

"Yeah," I either said that, or thought that, or maybe both of us did. Whichever it was, we were suddenly pressed against each other, grinding, humping, moaning, reacting. It was easy to tell neither of us were thinking straight, and just rolling with weird, spontaneous arousal that took the world away, leaving us too hot to even get our pants off. I felt us getting close, with that fire burning through me, practically wishing to be swallowed up in it for how...sweet it felt. Rumbling from somewhere interrupted us, enough for Maelstrom to be shaken from the sexual reverie, the orange gone, the strange connection severed, and the red back out in full force while I laid weak and stimulated. The rumbling got stronger as she fired her powers off with both hands extended in different directions; one of them launched me through the office and warehouse wall. The force behind it made my body skip across the water a few times before sinking. I passed out on the way down, too out of it to make my limbs move, failing conscious thoughts trying to figure out what the hell just happened.

***

Next time I woke, panic set in hard, still underwater, feeling the strength to swim back up, reaching the dock and holding on for as long as I could through labored breaths. People yelling in the distance barely registered, more concerned with being able to breathe again, until I realized I dealt with guns and superpowers earlier. I struggled against hands grabbing at me, stopping only when I recognized the rest of my team. They looked at me as I looked at them, breathing hard, silently surprised everyone made it out in one piece.

The ride back to the compound was complete silence. Most everyone looked confused, demoralized, and beat to hell. There was an air of unspoken annoyance at what happened, as if the whole team was embarrassed for what went down. I certainly contributed, keeping my eyes staring straight out the tinted car window, not daring to look anybody else in the eye. I sat as far away from our psychic as possible, and kept a stoic look the whole way back; it was closer to everyone else, but as scared as they would expect, not wanting to arouse suspicion of thoughts I wasn't entirely convinced actually happened. That orange from Maelstrom could've been hallucinations or something, that would explain...something. 

***

Walking into our main corridor, we could all hear Director Petersen yelling, chewing someone out; we all guessed at whoever ok'd the mission. I half-smiled to myself at the shit they were getting for sending us out to our near doom, but also feel bad for them as they typically were a part of our intel apparatus, with Radio, our recently-injured squad leader, being the key part. To say we were under-staffed was an understatement, something Hierguild knew and exploited, and made an easy mission the perfect trap.

Having been shot at, drowned, and "burned" all in one afternoon, I was looking forward to crashing in my room and sleeping off the rest of the day; but of course, Dr. Kasdien and another compound guard awaited us in the corridor to our rooms, welcoming us to a "light check-up and briefing" as he put it. How we looked or felt didn't never seemed to phase the man, always eager to assess and collect fresh data. I knew to stay away from the crew after missions because of their sunny dispositions, and now I got a glimpse at why they were so sunny. As I got the closest to "rainbow death," they kept and questioned me the longest.

"You say the blue wave from her spread across the warehouse?"

"I think so," I answered Kasdien, dealing with my second check-up of that day, my torso and head being checked for radiation levels from new Hierarch powers.

"How big was that structure?"

"That's a good question for the building owners."

"And after the wave and Maelstrom unveiled herself, she stared in your direction?"

"She looked around the warehouse after the blue wave, like she'd scanned and found us."

"But she stared at you."

"What?"

Kasdien didn't even look at me, but at statements from others, the tone of his voice so starch and calculating, I got the sense I was going to be caught in a lie.

"Another account says she looked around, but stared at your hidden position."

"Probably because she was trying to get me wrapped up in some nearby pipes," I gave an answer I didn't realize was so plausible, but thankfully got a nod from the nosy doctor.

"The next time you saw Maelstrom, you said she'd knocked Expender unconscious into some crates?"

"Yeah. And I thought Expender's power was supposed to absorb hits like that."

"In theory, yes, but the fact that she didn't see it coming, plus the nature of Maelstrom's power, meant her powers were weakened, or it absorbed it but not quick enough to shield from an unconscious blow."

Arguably the most powerful on our team, he'd never expected there to be a charging force or energy that she couldn't handle.

"And once she'd assaulted you up-close, you say even your activated Hierarch strength couldn't overpower her?" 

"Yeah, she was pretty strong too."

A sound of intrigue from him made me want to hit him in the gut, happy to hear about data that almost lead to my death.

"And you managed to throw yourselves into an office. Were you both rendered unconscious?"

"Yeah," is what I wanted to say, desperate to leave what happened off the record. But I knew me or the team was going to have to go up against her again, and didn't want to leave them vulnerable to information I withheld out of embarrassment. And I knew the doctor might get suspicious with a big gap of time an info left out, suspicious enough to keep digging, using any means necessary to get it, including psychic intrusion if he could get Copula to play along.

"I was, and I thought she was, until she grabbed me and tried to use one of her powers on me."

"Color?"

"Red," I spoke convincingly, sensing his disappointment in not hearing about a new color or property of an existing one. "Thought I was a goner with her so close, but something distracted her, and I was blown out of the warehouse and into the water."

"And I assume the force of that color means your powers activated to take the brunt of the blast?"

"I might not be awake, or alive, if I wasn't."

Kasdien and his assistant quietly talked amongst themselves and scribbled their notes, and I tried my damnedest not to look at the monitor with my vitals visible. It was hard to evade the thoughts of obvious delirium from earlier that day, and equally hard not to let what I wasn't thinking of cause a reaction in the medical machines that would prompt more questions and more prodding. 

"Ok, I think that's enough for now," Kasdien said, done checking the monitors and his notes. I gave him a blank look and not the smile I felt inside, sensing the examination left him empty-handed. Putting back on my Epsilon jumpsuit, I walked out of the lab, and walked toward my room. Along the way, it hit me that after all the shit I'd gone through today, a request wouldn't be unwarranted, so I detoured straight to Petersen's office. 

"Come in, Half," he told me, identified by the camera outside his office door.

"What can I do for you?" he told me, glancing up once to greet me before getting back to paperwork on his desk.

"I'd like a day off," giving him a straight-to-the-point answer like he likes, knowing he knew why I'd be asking.

His eyes quizzically looked at me. "You know the doctor typically has to sign off on things like that."

"Which is why I came to you," I told him honestly. He chuckled at that a little; he felt like everyone else in being glad that Kasdien didn't have final authority over Epsilon matters.

"Just a day to decompress, all I'm asking for."

He gave a nod and his usual "stay out of trouble" as I walked out. Resisting the urge to sprint, I casually walked to my room, happily started packing a bag and headed for the garage. A few other cars were gone out of the lot, and I guess I wasn't the only one to ask for time off. Didn't really care as I pulled out and exited the compound.

The long drive I took toward a nearby college town was an occasional luxury I lived up every minute of the two-and-a-half hour drive. I didn't bother asking for it every weekend, just times when things got really shitty. Letting the windows down, I let my head clear as warm air breezed through my car and the sun went down off in the distance. Few cars on the road thankfully, with the exception of the Epsilon escort trailing me from five or six cars back. I don't think they knew or cared if I knew they were there, and I never brought it up to Petersen or anyone. I would've freaked out my the first time I recognized the car always following me, if I didn't recognize one of the faces in the car. I tried to pretend they just weren't there the whole trip.

And for the first time since it happened, I let my thoughts about Maelstrom roam free in my head. All the crazy shit I'd seen with superpowers, I couldn't make up what happened between us. Ridiculous as it was to recall, I kept second-guessing that it actually happened, that it really was a hallucination, that she was maybe testing out a new power that was made to screw with an enemy's head. The hallucination angle was believable until I questioned, "then why that?" I kept coming up short of an explanation. With the sun setting on the driver's side, and fewer cars to notice, I let myself stare at the orange sun, remembering what it was like to be exposed to those eyes, to that color. There was something peaceful, serene about it, a beauty that refused to let anything else catch my attention; a solo trip out felt very good as I could let my body just react, stronger than I dared admit to. It was a hard drive most of the way, in the best of ways, until I reached the motel and diner I usually frequented. 

Checked in at the motel first, then went across the street to eat alone, or relatively, as I'm sure my escort entered the restaurant at some point. Didn't bother checking who was or wasn't there, just enjoyed some decent food alone; better than the standard cafeteria food, or whenever my teammates try their hands at recipes. After a good meal, I headed back across the street, happy to get a night alone, and the chance to sleep in. I passed by the car I was sure was my escort, but only one person was in it. Anger set in as I could guess where the other one was, which was timed nicely by feeling the Hier-Half in my muscles. I unlocked my door at a lazy speed, then rushed in to grab the guy's neck who'd been waiting in my pitch black room. I nearly choke-slammed him against the wall and lifted him off the ground. Somewhere in the struggling the light switch turned on to reveal I had Maelstrom in my grip.

"Oh shit."

My eyes went wide and I gasped out loud. Her hands gripped my arm, but couldn't do anything against my paralyzed hold. A million thoughts ran through my head, competing to be answered. "How did she find me?" "What's she doing here?" "Is she going to melt my arm off for holding her like this?" "Should I kill her now before she gets the chance to kill me?" "Why are you just standing there? Do something!" Any and everything was possible, and I was stuck in fear, waiting for something to happen.

"Truce."

I heard the word that struggled it's way out of her mouth, surprised she actually spoke. Something about her file said she doesn't talk and "assumed mute." The meaning of the word set in, the last thing I expected of this. Cautiously, I loosened my grip against her throat, and lowered her back to her feet slowly, not trying to anger the force of nature I grasped any further. We backed away from each other, her holding her throat, me holding my sphincter. 

"What..." escaped my lips in a panic, trying to ask everything at once. After a few deep breaths and staring at me the whole time, a spark in her eyes ignited again and the flame burned into my memory earlier rekindled. I saw the end of that outward tress glow the same color, saw the strangely calm expression she held compared to earlier, concentration with a lot less force in her expression, but the flame itself was no less potent. It felt easy to let go from the moment the flame shone in her and lit a fire in me. Compared to the panic I remember the first time, a slow burn of listlessness and peace, enveloped me in the flame, letting it slowly burn away concerns, awareness, the need to move or think. There was a slight drowsiness wafting in me, but not enough to separate my gaze from hers. 

She took a step further, and my eyes took more of the flame graciously. My muscles laxed, yet I felt a smile creep onto my face, and grow. Shadows of prior thoughts, what I thought was my life flashing before my eyes, seemed more the flame touching my memories, processing them. There were others I didn't recognize, but felt I felt the emotion behind them; I absently put it together that our thoughts were merging, being shared. It felt like a caress, the deeper she bore, the crevices of my brain filled with flames flowing like water. I felt firm hands on my arms, keeping me fixed where I stood; it was easy to internally sense surprise in me doing everything I could to have more.

"You....like this?" the question came from somewhere; it came from somewhere between my ears and my thoughts. It seemed to compliment features showing confusion across her face.

"Yeah..." I answered without pause.

Throughout my burning brain, I could feel an unsure part of me being pressed, exposed to more heat. The force was gentle, letting the fire burn its way forward.

"Does this scare you?" the posed question joined the sensation of a small sense of resistance to everything being melted down, a barrier between two fires removed until they slowly became one.

"Yeah..." I was shocked in how hot feeling it and answering breathlessly made me. There was a small amount of joy emanating from my combined fear and excitement; I was helpless to this process, afraid of where it was going to go, afraid of the woman controlling the process and me, and slightly more afraid of it ending. 

The hands at my arms moved up to my face, holding flushed cheeks firmly as glazed eyes still smiled into fiery ones; her touch made me grunt something.

"You want more?" a hint of fear was laced in the question, almost afraid of the answer.

"More," an affirmative, a plea, a weak command.

Throughout the strange inquiry, what felt like an agreement between our brains. Her fire, and the fire started in me from burning things down, met and came to an agreement, there was an understanding, a joining, a tied knot fused together; a dozen ways I tried processing it, accepting a deep liking of having it there. 

Then suddenly, she blinked her eyes back to normal, and her hands let go of my face. Weak in the knees, I fell back and collapsed on the bed. For a moment, we just looked at each other, each of us staring at the parts that we liked. The still burning in my brain easily traveled south to show what I thought of the intimidatingly-bewitching woman. Hands on her hips, looking at my larger, yet towered-over frame, hungry eyes inspecting me like cornered prey, yet appraising me like I'd be of some use. Her face was a sexy amount of pale and darkness, her expression stern in closed lips, yet alluring in mischievous eyes. I was probably blushing, mouth slightly opened, beads of sweat above my brows, my lips showing confusion, yet my eyes bedazzled. It felt like my nostrils flared at the same time I saw hers.

A soft voice I might've confused for my conscience discussed attraction.

"Not bad."

Joy reactively swelled deep inside from that, and I felt something smile and approve of my attraction and fear of her beauty and power. 

"Lift the shirt."

Someone's hands reached the hem of my shirt to obey the sudden suggestion. Figuring I felt obligated to give her a more thorough preview, I saw her take an involuntary breath at athletic six-pack abs, catching herself a second too late to hide her reaction.

"Take it off....take everything off."

The cool air touching naked skin nearly made me as hard as following the order given. I let myself pant and hope she would approve of the body burning for her.

Interest shaped reason in how often good chances comes along, to not waste the opportunity.

"Why not."

I was in agreement before her eyes sparked and flared momentarily, pushing the need forward as I reached forward for her. She pushed me back on the bed easily and fell on me as our lips hungrily took each other. The impossibility of our warehouse tussle became heavenly as it felt right instead of rushed, exposing her face, lips and neck to kisses as she dug into my skin with grasping nails. Her pants came off nearly as quickly as I sensed she wanted them off, and held her tight as we pumped into each other, at a speed I felt her needing and me needing to give. Her moans started to turn to screams the closer we got, and before the climax, I kissed her to muffle the scream I thought might deafen me being so close. Fortunately she kissed me back as we rode the wave all the way to the crescendo, the best either of us ever had, passion keeping us on cloud nine. 

I laid back on the bed to catch my breath when she let me go, too weak to want to move, too scared to try to move as parts of my brain rationalized that I just had sex with Maelstrom, with "rainbow death." The awkward "what now" after sex started setting in, battling the burn that kept me in a haze of pleasure. I gasped as I felt her head turn mine to her ignited gaze, and I was happy to learn she wasn't done with me yet.