The thunder of rotors above ground shook with a fury. It sent the scientists and orderlies into a panic, rounding together in the corners of laboratories and barracks. The military police stood their guard before the elevator doors, certain to at least expect something than nothing. Their diligence dimmed slightly to see the National Guard pooling into Wylen's Point, a secret military base outside D.C. The head scientist stood before the MPs with a lump in his throat. Words sizzling away as quickly as they were thought. They wanted more than anything to be relieved they had arrived. But they weren't here to protect them. The only purpose of their arrival was recruitment. Specifically for what the lab had been built and so diligently guarded for.

General Jeremy Webb, formerly a Captain, walked before his troops in an impatient urgency to the trembling scientists. A tall and broad man in his late fifties, skin like ebony and eyes just as dark. He spoke with a low growl.

"What do you know so far?"

The head scientist stuttered, "I… I know we're under attack. I know they're… not of this…"

"Right," said the General indifferently as he charged ahead into the compound. The head scientist struggled to keep up. The General added, "Wouldn't be a scientist if you weren't telling me half the story, would you? I know she's been telling you."

"She hasn't told me anything! She just claims she knows. I swear."

"Well, if she won't talk to you, she's going to talk to me."

The scientist implored, "What's happening out there? The lightning storms, earthquakes… they said there's things coming out of the ground. We haven't gotten anything here, but…"

"Yet." The General instilled, "You haven't yet. Which is why we need to do what we need to here and move on as quickly as possible. It's best you all stay down here."

"What are they doing here?"

"Beats me. All I know is they're levelling New York City as we speak and probably more cities across the globe. Washington is swarmed with those storms as of now. Only a matter of time before this country is left without a leader. When that happens, the hope in our survival will remain in our forces."

One of the guardsmen, Lieutenant Kenneth Riley, spoke up out of turn. "We would be if they didn't have damn shields."

General Webb slowed his pace to sneak a glare at Riley before the scientist asked, "Shield? What shield?"

The General returned his stoic glare. He let his eyes wander a bit. Letting any emotion that wasn't useful slowly fall away as if it was a practiced skill. "This threat is beyond humanity's weaponry. We want a fighting chance. We need Orlov and Amani." He turned to his subordinate then, "Lieutenant Riley, you can brief Amani on the situation."

"She is the nicer one…" Riley reluctantly agreed.

"Where is Orlov?"

"You sure wanna risk being in a room with her? She's been tamed, sure, doesn't stop her from snooping our heads."

"Just get me in a room with her." The General insisted. The scientist made a glance of apprehension. Unravelling fear one layer at a time. He nodded and made his way with his staff following.

General Webb entered the room with extreme cautiousness. Even opening the door with a subtle shake in his shoulders. But his glare kept steady and void. The only thing to fleck on his face the light flutter of his eyelids. Dido's Lament played quietly on a radio. He stood at the doorway for moments that grew thick in the air. Perilously gawking at the child across the cot from himself. A dim bulb flickering above the sheen of her bald head. It struck the auburn fuzz of her hair but shadowed her face. She looked up with the glint of her pupils staring back.

The General studied her for a while longer. Anticipating his body to hurdle at the wall at full force any moment. Would she at least utter a threat? An insult? A word? She remained as pensively quiet as he was. As if they were in a game of staring. Finally, he closed the door behind him, leaving behind a sharp echo.

"You going to tell me what you know, Orlov?" He croaked so silently he barely heard it himself. However, he knew she was aware of his intentions by now.

"Kennedy said I get to leave," her voice cooed so deceptively. If it wasn't for her record, he'd feel a weight of guilt.

"With our unit, yes. He filled you in."

"I'll go where I want, you can't tell me what to do."

"What makes you think you're anymore free out there than you are in here? You know what's happening out there, don't play dumb," said Webb as he took his seat.

Lilja's face was now clearer under the light. Her blue eyes almost distinctive. Her face curved a bit. Subtle from her usual blank scowl. Then she hissed, "You're scared."

"Let's not play games, Lilja. This is serious. You know that. The world and humanity's fabric as we know it. You want out of here; I can arrange that. Put some of that anger towards something meaningful. You should see those things out there. A lot of surface for you to destroy."

"I can't bring one down." Lilja's voice broke at the end of his words.

"I doubt that." Webb's shoulders pinched. Lilja wasn't oblivious to it.

She continued, "They're stronger than you are. Far smarter."

"You're going out there. Even if you can't lift a Campbell soup can, you're going out there. Least we can use is your knowledge. You're the only one on Earth who understands what they're saying. What they want. You're going to tell me now and then you're going out there. Do you understand me?"

Lilja went quiet and her eyes widened before she asked, "Shiva…"

"She's already agreed."

Lilja took a soft but long, troubling breath. Her eyes almost reformed to the fear a fifteen-year-old should have in this situation. Then the General asked, "What do they want?"

Lilja let her eyes drift to her fingers. Displaying the words in her head far faster than her mouth. Whispers, thoughts and intents coming back in a sudden ache. A confusing and terrifying knowing. The disturbance of their thoughts like a feverish, waking nightmare.

"They're like us." She whispered it. "They just want to survive."

"They want Earth and the resources."

"And us."

The General shook at the statement, "What?"

"You're right. They need resources. We are that resource. That was always the plan. They don't feed like us, but they do feed. So long ago, they prepared this. They put those machines here. When they lost their own food, they would come here."

"Are you saying we're food to them?"

"They want to keep our blood but not keep us. It's the next stage after we're all gone."

"What's this stage?"

"Vines…" Lilja said spacey, "Us. Like… farming. We're only needed to start it."

"Terraforming?"

"I don't know what that is."

"Doesn't matter," shuddered General Webb, "Just sounds like that's the plan. Dear God…" he pinched at his nose bridge in anguish. Lilja could sense the fear stronger now.

The General took a tidy minute to process. Bottle down his fear as he dreaded knowing Lilja could sense it. He buried it and remembered his training. Remembered to stay focused on the task at hand. "Right… Stupid question but… is there any chance of diplomacy with these things?"

"Might as well tell you to go make peace with the ants on the sidewalk."

"So, no."

"No. They're not here to make friends."

"All we can do is fight back… then."

Lilja took a moment to answer, "Yes. That's all."

The General said impatiently after, "Then we need you. I've seen what you can do. You might not think you're strong enough, but you're gonna have to be. For your life and all of ours. You're the only one who can understand what they're saying and what they're thinking." He paused and stuttered his words. "Do they know you're listening to them?"

"No… and I don't want them to know."

Lieutenant Riley entered Shiva's quarters with two scientists at his back. Oddly enough, The Offspring was playing on a small speaker inside her room. Or more accurately, a cell. "Wanna turn that off, Amani?"

A woman in her late twenties sat on the bed in the chromatic white room. Her brown hair shaven down to her scalp. Her warm, tawny skin of her cheek finally turned towards the doorway. She slapped her Stephen King novel on the bedside table before sitting up and slapping off the boom box.

Riley kept his wits about him. Certain reality was sure to bend in this room. "Hello, Shiva. It's been a minute."

"Tell the droobs to wait out in the hallway." She said aloofly.

Riley glanced to the others, "I got this."

When the scientists hesitantly left the Lieutenant with Amani, her displeasure eased. She beamed a grin, "Hi Kenny."

"Hello," he took a seat and said it so casually it would be alarming to anyone else. "World is ending."

However, this was one of the only ways to get on Shiva's good side. She hadn't a serious bone in her body. "What else is new? I swear, the world ends every decade. I'm still recovering from Y2K."

Riley entertained her amusement for a moment, but time was of the essence. "I'm serious, Shiva. There are literal alien machines walking around and slaughtering whole cities. Nothing we fire at it detonates in time because they have some kind of shield. It's invisible, but you can definitely see it when the missiles hit. They're a hundred feet high, shoot fucking laser beams, and they're multiplying. At this point we believe the pilots are being sent down in a capsule through lightning to operate the machine underground. The scientists told you this already, so I don't think I need to explain much else."

"Yeah," said Shiva, still underwhelmed at the information, "I'll also call bullshit with you, too. That all sounds super imaginative, though. You should hang up the camo-garb. Go write a book."

"You want to get out of here or not? That's the only way you will. If you agree to help us in taking them down. You don't believe me now, that's fine, let's wait till you're face to face with one."

"Okay." Shiva straightened up in her chair. "Let's humour this for a minute. So, even if these things are real. How am I supposed to help? You said these are aliens from the planet 'Glorb Glorb' – last I checked I've only used my abilities on people and maybe an animal like once or twice."

"I'm still fixed on what the hell 'Glorb Glorb' is."

"You're making shit up, I can do it, too."

Riley drew a sigh and leaned over his seat, "Look, Shiva. We've got history. Deep and twisted. Maybe you don't give a shit anymore about that, but I do. Why would I lie to you?"

"Because we have history," shrugged Shiva, letting her eyes wilt, "You didn't stop them from putting me in here. You never came… You let them take me here. The question is, why wouldn't you lie to me?"

"You know why I wouldn't."

The silence started to creep back more than what expected. Memories of something warm but better left to grow cold.

"I don't know you anymore. You're just the problem that put me in here."

"And now I want you out. We didn't just come here for you."

Shiva stalled at this, "You're here for Lil, too?"

"Of course. We're at our wits end, here. I'm not gonna sugar coat it, what's happening out there is bad. Like… something I don't know we can push back or just make go away. Worst of all, it doesn't plan on sharing. We need you. You and Orlov. If we have any hope of a chance against it."

Shiva lowered her eyes and said, "A counterattack."

"Yeah. Something like that."

"It's a gamble. There's no guarantee what I do will work here."

"Then at least it's a chance. By the looks of it, we're all going to die sooner or later. Might as well fight before that happens, right?"

An observation deck started to steadily fill inside the compound. Firstly, with Webb's platoon then needed scientist personnel, as well as those simply for academic curiosity. Riley stood beside Webb to the far back wall.

"What's the purpose of this?" He asked.

"Gotta make sure they're what we remember before we go flying into the arms of death."

"You told me yourself Orlov's abilities have been tamed."

"Then, this is a great time for her to practice." The General replied, "Now that they've seen some of the tapes of what's going on… maybe they'll be ready to bring it back tenfold."

The head scientist called over the intercom, "Bring out Amani."

The automatic door opened with two guards escorting Shiva into the large, chromatic room. A single chair for use in the centre of the arena. The spectators behind glass confused to see the guards take a small neck brace off her collar bone before they left her alone.

"What have you found with her?" Webb asked the lead scientist who nervously patted the sweat from his brow.

"Uh. Perception bending. I'm sure you know. We started use of the collar when near escapes became too frequent."

"The collar can distill it?"

The scientist turned to the General. "Yes. At least makes the perceptions more detectable. But… she's creative."

"Do you use the same for Orlov?" Webb asked right after.

The scientist dwindled at that. "No… we have yet to find a method to stall her abilities. Anything we've tried, she's surely surpassed it. I'm starting to think whatever we could do is still beyond our technology. Either way, it would be needless. Besides telepathy, she refrains from using them."

"Dr. Kaine!" One of his subordinates yelped.

The head scientist spooked, "What is it?"

"She's gone!"

All eyes shot to the polycarbonate glass to find an empty seat. Webb forced himself to blink, certain he just saw her half a second before. Dr. Kaine shuffled to the door.

"This could be a trick." Riley said with his eyes still glaring into the observation.

"Right, she's probably still there," added Webb.

Dr. Kaine managed a reply, "Not with the instances of escape, we can't take the chance. Radio in the guards, get them to scour the east hall, there's nowhere else she could have gone."

Then the dashboards began to flicker like Christmas lights. The white beams of light inside observation flashing with breaks of pitch black. Dr. Kaine struggled for the door, but it held shut. "Door won't open!"

When the floor began to rumble like a tepid earthquake, the General pushed through the panicking scientists to the doors. They refused to open against all resistance. Riley began to desperately plow into the metal of the door as the rumbling intensified. The stone beneath their feet crumbled, creating streaks of cracks like lightening. The ceiling panels lost their fitting and started to fall one by one. As the earthquake grew louder and far more aggressive, as did the unhinged fear in the few of observation. Soon they hoarded the door. Screams filling the room just as quick as panic. The worst possible thought relaying in their heads. That their fortunate peace had run dry. That the world's plight had finally found them.

Webb dared to look back to the glass to see three headlights, blindingly bright and haunting. Accompanied by the most powerful whir that not even in his military career he ever heard. The titan invader pierced the headlights inside the observation deck and the hysteria raged. Riley stubbornly plowed into the door, scientists swelled into corners of the room pleading to a God they didn't even believe in. All Webb could do was freeze to the tripod breaking through the observation room.

Then slowly, things started to not feel right. In a moment his dread drifted away. Anger followed. The physics of the type of calamity was not adding up. The behaviour of the adversary not portraying to knowledge. Then in a blink of an eye it was confirmed. The rumbling stopped like it never happened. The lights on and ceiling fixtures untouched. The floor stone flat and dense and still below their feet as it should be. Most of all, Shiva still in her chair staring back into the glass of the observation deck. She gently crossed her legs to see Webb staring back in a sweated gaunt.

The screams finally died down and the panic was traded for confusion. Dr. Kaine stumbled from the awe-struck crowd at the door and to the window view with Webb. Riley pried at his shoulder that had taken a beating from how many attempts he made at breaking down the door. He too gawked to Shiva's overall indifferent and unamused glare.

"Well?" She said through the intercom, "You wanted proof. When you change your drawers, I'm ready whenever you are, General."

The sudden realization that it was all an illusion manifested from Shiva's warping ability was perhaps just as shuddering to believe a tripod would emerge through their lab. An equal fourth kind. And an equal weapon to the invading machines.

"Hello, Lilja."

Dr. Kaine said through the intercom as she walked into the observation hall. Much larger than the one Shiva had, this hall was more like a hanger than a room. An observation deck two stories up to watch above. The sight of a young girl all alone in the chamber was unnerving to behold. Then her small voice echoed back, "Hello."

The room was almost empty if not for her and a battle tank across her way. A large vessel that had definitely seen its fair share in battle. Was no longer operable but still had one last use.

Dr. Kaine explained softly, as if he took extreme care in remembering she was only a child. "Now that big tank across from you. I want you to lift it. Do you think you can do that for us?"

"I can try."

Breathing nearly stopped in the observation deck as all eyes were captivated to the glass window. Lilja turned gingerly to the tank. She took a moment to stare and inspect. As if she was having a small juncture of doubt she could do what Kaine was asking.

Lilja raised her right arm. The lights started to flicker inside the deck and in the hanger, itself. The tank made a mechanic whine and started to jitter. Excitement rose to the windows. Nearly pushing Riley and Webb out of the way. Then Lilja stopped. The lights stabilized and she pinched at her forehead discreetly.

"I can't do it. It's too heavy."

A few confused and disappointed whispers started behind Kaine as he made his way to the intercom again.

"You don't need to hold back, Lilja. It's okay to feel it now. Just keep trying, there's no rush."

Riley said gruffly, "There actually is. That's the whole point."

Webb hushed him quiet as Lilja attempted to lift the tank once more. The tank continued to shake and cry, accompanied by blinking lights growing faster. Then the tank miraculously lifted. It was almost thought to be another trick as the lights blinked madly, even combusting a few bulbs in the hangar and deck. Under those lights was Lilja's face sunken pale. As if all the blood rushed somewhere else in an urgency. The whites of her eyes shot blood red. Her pupils grew to the size of her iris. The blue and bruising veins in her face and neck got thicker and more strained as the tank lifted 5 feet. Even kinetic, the weight was there. Pounding inside her head. The time gone without using her abilities left a soft muscle that forgot its prime. But the spectators in observation wouldn't have known it. They were starstruck to witness it. Utterly dumbfounded and without words. With the amazement came a small sliver of hope. With a few entertaining the idea of that tank being the adversary. Then one by one they piled their hopes on her.

The tank lifted into the air over 20 feet. Slow but steady. Accompanied by the chime of lights flashing and the tanks wailing metal. Then she started to control the machine back down. Much like a weight. Perhaps harder than lifting it in the first place. Blood dipped down Lilja's chin and into her lip, filling the bottom of her gums. Her nose couldn't collect air now, so she wheezed through her mouth. Her whole body began to shake as if the tank was sitting on her shoulders. Every moment then was sworn to dig deep and swallow the pain as she controlled the tank back to its sitting. As she reached four feet to the surface, she had reaped her threshold.

The tank dropped the rest of the way with a crash that filled the intercom mic. Lilja nearly fell to her knees to the rush of pain at the release. She stayed craned over for a moment. Giving her enough time to feel the blood rush back to her face. She wiped the blood from her nose and stood straight. The lights all flickered back to normal. Silence took over.

The faces in the deck window were still processing what had happened. Yet Kaine was a faint vision of pride. He stared to Webb hoping for the same, but Webb knew better.

"She's gotten weak." He said sternly.

Kaine replied, "She'll need to practice but she'll snap back. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing will be up for debate. There's a good reason she wasn't using her abilities here. We've made strides in resisting it."

"Success leading to other failures," said Webb grimly. "We need her able to meddle with those shields those things have. If she's not strong enough to do that, then there's really no point in any of this, is there?"

"Emotion drives her," explained Kaine. "Fear is a pretty powerful one. Once she's out there, she'll have no choice but to dig deep. If she wants to live."

Riley remarked, "That's a shit bargain."

"You said she was our only chance. Doesn't seem like we have much other choice," muttered Kaine, a strain in his voice as he too wrangled in doubt.

"No, we don't." Webb said and turned himself back to the door with Riley following. "Get her and Amani to weaponry and we'll suit them up. Then we'll assemble the unit for transport."

"Where to?" The scientist asked in his personal worry and curiosity for whatever was happening above ground.

Webb said as he opened the door, "D.C."