There seemed to be a whistle. But at the same time, there clearly was not. There were footsteps, for sure– hundreds of them, even.
Katherine could see the lips of the person talking to her moving– she could even see her teeth and tongue. The IV bag was also dripping her with very minute amounts of sugar and saline.
The fan loosely attached below the ceiling of the tent wiggled and rotated; the little hints of the sun coming and going reflected in her eyes.
The apparatus and scanners attached to her also buzzed and beeped.
There were so many things happening inside the tent… but the only thing that was entering her ears was a whistle. A quiet, unending whistle that drowned everything else. Perhaps it was because of the heat and the humidity; perhaps her sweat was already gathered in her ears…
…but everything else was muffled.
Just the whistle– that was the only thing Katherine could hear. But finally, almost as if something popped–
"Ma'am, are you listening? Do you want me to repeat what I said?"
"...Huh?" All at once, all the sounds entered Katherine's mind. One would think the whistle would disappear… but it only got stronger.
"Is… my English not good? Sorry, ma'am," the female doctor sitting at the chair beside Katherine's bed immediately bowed her head several times.
"It… It's fine," Katherine then turned her eyes towards the doctor, "You said I'm 5 months in? Could it be that you made a mistake? I don't feel it. Isn't my stomach too small?"
5 months. That would mean it happened sometime before Riley was sent to prison.
"No," the female doctor quickly shook her head, "I know people that are 6 months in and have the same tummy as you, ma'am. You can have it checked with an ob-gyn once you return to America."
"Is… it possible to take–"
"I'm a doctor, ma'am," the female doctor did not let Katherine finish her words, "Whatever it is you're going to say, please don't. It is best if you rest here for now, at least until tonight."
"But–"
"Rest, ma'am," the female doctor could only sigh as she stood up, "I know you are eager to fight the aliens, but for now, you are a patient."
And with that, the female doctor left, leaving Katherine alone– No. She wasn't really alone now, was she?
What… was she even supposed to do now? There could really only be one father– but that was the problem.
The baby inside her is Riley's. But… how? They've always done it safe– she was even taking pills. She was also sure that Riley was doing something to prevent his sperm from even making contact inside her.
The chances of her getting pregnant was close to none. So… why?
There is so much happening all at once; the aliens, the downfall of the government and society itself… and the baby just had to add to her problems.
"..." Katherine stared at the ceiling in silence; her eyes, still reflecting the flickering sun behind the fan. Soon, however, her eyebrows began to lower.
Tears, slowly building their way around her eyes– and with a light gasp, the tears started to trail down her temples. She knew that she could cry a river, but nothing was going to remove the fact that all of this was her fault.
If she just killed herself before she descended into this darkness, then most of the problems she had now wouldn't have even been possible.
She was losing her mind completely from all the things that were weighing her right now– and the father of his child was out there playing with another woman.
Katherine gritted her teeth as the tears from her eyes wouldn't stop gushing out; her palms, almost bleeding from how hard she was pressing her hands.
But after a few seconds of wallowing and surrounding herself in her own regrets, Katherine took in a deep breath, closed her eyes, and then suddenly pulled the needle attached to her arm as she sat up.
Everything ends, she thought as she stood up– carefully walking towards the table on the side of the tent that had her outfit.
Everyone has an ending– and hers wouldn't be as a villain. It was easy to end it all here, but she wouldn't do that. Before this growing darkness explodes inside her even further. She... will die as a hero.
Katherine quickly wore her outfit, not even bothering to wipe herself off the sweat on her body. And without even any pause, she quickly stepped out of the tent– gathering the attention of everyone there.
There were several more tents set up… but even so, there were still people lying on sheets on the ground.
"M… Ma'am Silvermoon!" One of the nurses approached her, "Please stay!"
"Give my tent to the others."-- were Katherine's only words as she flew away; almost causing the nurse to take a step back due to the wind that suddenly rippled around her.
Katherine looked down at the settlement, only to see the actual number of the tents… probably more than a hundred. There were also helicopters and people going in… but even more trucks of people going out to be buried.
That's right. She shouldn't be just resting and wasting inside the tent just because she encountered a problem– she could move all of her limbs; and since she didn't really need to move that much due to the nature of her powers, the wound near her stomach wouldn't just open up.
And if it did, so what? She would at least try to save as many people as possible before she–
And before she could finish her thoughts, her eyes landed on the female doctor that was taking care of her. The only thing that Katherine could really do was nod to show her gratitude; to which the doctor just responded with a wave of goodbye and a smile on her face.
Katherine was about to wave back, but before she could do so… the image of Diana waving at her suddenly resurfaced in her mind.
"!!!"
And before any more thoughts could follow through, she felt her entire body suddenly being hit by something large– no. It was not that something hit her; rather, she hit something.
"Kh…" If she was flying any faster, then she would have surely broken a bone or two.
Katherine could only grit her teeth as the pain slowly registered in her mind. But even with blood trailing on her forehead and the stitch on her stomach slightly opening, both her palms were still touching the invisible wall that was suddenly blocking her path.
"...Telekinesis?" Katherine whispered as she looked beyond the invisible wall. But not even a second after, however, she found her conclusion to be false. False as the view she thought that was the horizon suddenly disappeared– replaced by a cold, hard, metal wall.
Katherine patted the white wall several times in confusion before finally deciding to look behind her… only to find that all the tents were gone; well, all except for one.
All of the people that she had seen also disappeared– her surroundings, now only the inside of what seemed like a metal box; a place she was very familiar with.
"This… is the Academy's training hall?"
No one was there; well, all except for one– the female doctor.
Katherine quickly flew straight towards the doctor, quickly grabbing her by the collars as soon as she landed in front of her.
"What's the meaning of this!?" Katherine screamed.
"Don't move too much, you might open your wounds."
"!!!"
And to her surprise, the doctor grabbed both her hands and easily pulled them away.
"Wha–"
And before Katherine could even say a word, the doctor lightly pushed her away… causing her to fall on her butt.
"Amazing, isn't it?" The female doctor took a few steps back as her eyes started darting all over the training hall, "For something to look so real that you could even hear every movement."
"Who…"
"You know who I am," the silhouette of the female doctor then started to… glitch. The white robes she was wearing slowly disappeared as if it was being erased from existence– the very same process that happens whenever Katherine reset the simulation.
"This technology has been here for hundreds of years and it still amazes even me…
…even though I helped in creating it back in Theran," the female doctor then turned around as the flickering lights that covered her face slowly faded away.
And the doctor was right, Katherine knew who she was. It was so obvious if she only listened– the heart of the woman in front of her did not fluctuate even once.
"...Diana?"
"Hello again, Ms. Reeds," Diana once again smiled; this time, however, her eyes suddenly lit up in red,
"Now…
…shall we talk?"
***
"Did you have fun, Megawoman?"
Back in the shower area of the Hope Guild, Riley was currently… washing Megawoman's body– the costume that he bought online for Megawoman, now also being washed in a separate tub.
"You don't have to worry," Riley shook his head as he started massaging Megawoman's hair with shampoo, "You don't have to be guilty about anything since I was the one who killed them. It was just unfortunate that they had to see you killing an alien."
Riley then grabbed the shower head on the wall with his hand, rinsing away all the soap on Megawoman's body.
"Don't be too sad, Megawoman. If the number of the aliens here starts decreasing, we could always just follow sister and the others, no?" Riley chuckled, "You don't have to worry…
…We're only getting started."