Graduation. Had someone told her a half year ago that she would be a Marine, she would have called them crazy. She was looking at the list of possible specialties. There wasn't anything non-combatant she could qualify for without formal education, but that wasn't a problem anymore. She had nothing against infantry. Besides it felt nice to be called Marine. Corporal Caulfield. Well, that had a nice ring to it. Max grinned.

Despite her initial difficulties she had managed to graduate as one of the platoon's best. There were only two other Marines from her platoon who had graduated with the rank of Corporal. Of course, she had cheated like a superpowered ninja, but the power was a part of her. Just like height was for other recruits. And the best part: no storm no matter how much she had used her powers.

Few of them would join her in the Infantry Training School in Rio, most of them would get less dangerous jobs. Her results in the ITS would decide her specialty and subsequently the duty station. It was important. Although she liked it so far, Max still wanted to quit the moment she could. An unfortunate duty station could hamper her chances of getting a degree. She would have to be good to avoid getting stationed on some shitty colony in the middle of nowhere.

"Hey Caulfield," Reyes called from behind.

"Reyes," Max said looking up from her omni-tool.

"Gonna visit family?"

"I don't have a family, dumbass."

"Seriously?" Taylor asked. "Well, fuck. That sucks. Friends?"

"Nah, got only you."

Somehow Taylor Reyes had become her friend soon after the day when Max had finally kicked her ass in hand-to-hand combat. Reyes could still be a megabitch, but she was dependable when it came to duty. She had been a street urchin, a member of some gang before enlistment and she had needed some time to grow out of her bad habits.

"Then it's just the two of us. Wanna hang out together? Ain't got any shit to do anyway."

"I plan to save my leave actually, but we can hang out today, I guess."

"Great, me too," she said with a grin. "So, Rio?"

"Unless you have some business in Macapa."

"No, let's get a shuttle."

Max was looking forward to shopping in Rio after four months of non-stop training. There were a few thousand creds in her account and she could afford a good omni-tool, not the best on market, but it would have an excelent sensor analysis pack and a fabrication module. Max really wanted to check if she could get some readings on her superpower.

"So, where you from?" Taylor asked as their shuttle sped towards Rio.

"Come to think of it, we haven't talked much about these things."

"Right," she said laughing. "No time to waste with DIs breathing down our necks."

"I've no idea where I'm from," Max said with a sigh. "Grew up isolated from the outside world. You?"

"I was running with the Reds in Atlanta, got fed up and left."

"The Reds?"

"The fuckers who control slums in Atlanta and pretty much everywhere in the UNAS. They're selling drugs and guns, running protection money racket and shit like this."

"Why did you leave them?" Max asked.

"They told me to kidnap a lil' girl. Told them to fuck off."

"Can't imagine they were okay with it."

"Yeah, killed the fuckers."

"Isn't that, well, a crime?"

"And kidnapping isn't? Cops ain't give a fuck about the Reds, and the Alliance accepts anyone as long as you pass their psychotest and have no serious criminal records."

"You led an interesting life."

"No shit," she said looking out of the window. "You're taking it better than I thought."

"Did you expect me to freak out?"

"No way! Although you strike me as a little goody-two-shoes bitch, you know?"

"Fuck you, Reyes."

"Love you too, Caulfield. It confuses hell outta me. I'd thought you'd been in the wrong place at boot camp, then you did your ninja shit beating the living crap outta everyone."

"Hope it taught you to not underestimate people."

"Whatever. I'll take a nap if you don't mind."

A minute later Taylor was already snoring. Max snorted as she looked at her fellow Marine. She couldn't help but notice that Reyes was anything but beautiful. A hideous scar on her left cheek most certainly didn't help. Max looked out the window and drifted off to sleep too.

Unlike Vancouver and Seattle, Rio didn't merge with São Paulo although there was no visible boundary between the cities. Over hundred million people lived in the cities. Rio was colorful and immense with endless holographic decorations and millions skycars flying over and between the skyscrapers. A few months ago, she had been stunned by Vancouver, but now it seemed small and bleak.

Taylor whistled as she came out of the skycar.

"Holy fuck! This city is insane," she said.

"Wasn't Atlanta quite big too?" Max asked.

"Not like this."

"I take it you didn't travel much."

"What? You're kidding me, right? I spent my whole life in a shithole on the edge of Atlanta."

Max activated her omni-tool and searched for a good store that was selling omni-tools.

"There's a shopping district a few blocks that way," Max said.

"You wanna buy a dress or something?" Taylor asked with a wide grin on her face.

Max poked her in the ribs. "What, you want to see me in a dress?"

"Wouldn't mind."

"Don't hold your breath," Max said. "Come on, we don't have much time to waste."

"Aye sir."

"Shut it, Reyes."

The shopping district was as big as Max had imagined. If she had more time and money, she wouldn't mind to spend more time in the shops. There was a wide range of omni-tools available in various electronic shops, but Max couldn't afford top of the line models. Having the authorization, she had bought a good military grade omni-tool from Sirta Foundation that had everything she needed.

"You're insane," Reyes said. "You spent almost four months' salary on this shit. The Alliance would provide you with one, you know?"

"Yes, but it would be a basic one. I need a good analysis pack and these things are expensive."

"I'm not paying for your pizza."

"Chow hall is fine."

"Well, to each his own, I guess." She shrugged. "Now, let's find a nice place to get drunk."

Max woke up early. Reyes was still sleeping in her bed and wouldn't wake up for a few hours judging by the number of shots of tequila she had drunk last night. Max had drunk too, so first thing first: she had to find some water. She found a bottle of soda in a small fridge and emptied it into her mouth. Much better…

They were granted two weeks of leave, but neither Max nor Reyes wanted to waste it. They had six hours to report to the school, otherwise one day of their leave would be lost, which was okay. The perfect time to see if the omni-tool would get any readings from her powers. She sat on the bed and switched on her omni-tool and selected the sensor analysis pack. Max had no idea how to use it properly. A short tutorial wouldn't make her a scientist and she wouldn't be able to draw any serious conclusion from the results, but at least she would get a vague idea about her powers… if she'd get anything at all.

Let's start with the broad scanning range, she decided.

The scanner was working. Max sighed and focused on her power, gradually slowing down the time until it completely froze. A second later Max let the time go and waited for another ten seconds and stopped the scan. A minute later she had the results. Or lack of them. She hadn't expected much from it, but it was still disappointing. She repeated the experiment with the omni-tool on the bed and using different modes, but to the same result.

At least nobody's going to learn about my powers. Probably.

She knew that there were many expert options and adjustments in the analysis pack and she would need to learn how to use it properly if she ever hoped to learn more about her powers. She wouldn't give up on studying her ability to control time.

Max let out a deep sigh and after a short bathroom visit walked out onto the balcony that had a direct view on a beautiful beach and the endless towers of Rio. It was a luxurious hotel and one of the best rooms, but they could afford it for one night. It was nice to relax for a bit.

Her omni-tool signaled her about a new message. David was congratulating her on the graduation from the boot camp. She had forgotten to message him about it, but he remembered the day of her graduation. Max wondered where he was stationed. As a Lieutenant Commander he was probably in charge of some frigate in the Navy. It felt awkward to ask. She sent him a thanks.

Her mind drifted to the past and Arcadia Bay. Where had the storm come from? And why? In the last two months she had been using her power, but nothing bad had happened. Absolutely nothing. She hadn't tried to rewind though. Maybe slowing down and freezing the time wasn't as bad as rewinding?

Max activated the scanner again and rewound a few seconds of time. Then she studied the readings on the omni-tool. Her eyes widened as she saw the result. Max let the omni-tool visualize the data and looked horrified at the visualized cracks of a space-time anomaly spreading and splintering in all direction.

Fuck! I hope I didn't start a cataclysm.

There was no doubt about it: changing past was dangerous. She wasn't good at physics, but space-time anomalies in the middle of a city couldn't be good. She had been rewinding time many dozen times back in Arcadia Bay. No wonder that she had caused the storm. Arcadia Bay must have been one big anomaly by the end. But the worst thing: she could have saved Chloe. Her death hadn't been destined. She had just had to stop rewinding time.

About a minute later, there was no sign of the anomaly. It had faded, but Max wasn't sure if it hadn't caused some shit somewhere. She would be forced to use the rewind very carefully.

Max the walking weapon of mass destruction.