"Dada?"

Dr. Orlov came to Lilja's room in the middle of the night, waking the five-year-old from sleep. His face was sweated and pallor. The look in his eyes primal fear that passed on to Lilja.

"Remember what I told you, Lilja? That someday you'd be able to leave here?"

"Yes, dada."

He pulled off her blanket and picked her up, "That day is today, Lilja. It's come sooner than I thought."

"Where are we going, dada?"

"I… I'm not sure yet. We will know it when we find it. But we cannot stay here." Her white room was left to even paler hallways. Lit by 24 hour fluorescents and video surveillance. The Doctor had made sure to loop the surveillance before he came to her room, but a vigilant eye in the security room noticed the tampering. The time not paired on the screens. When this guard stopped the loop and went back to real-life footage, he curdled to see Dr. Orlov taking Lilja down the hallway.

Minutes later, the alarms started to blare. Sending Dr. Orlov into a panic as he raced for the doors. To his dismay, he didn't reach the door in time. The emergency lock doors clicked. The only way to dismantle them would be resetting the relay. Which fortunately enough, the panels were on his floor. He could see the cameras blink; he went down a hallway to a utility room he knew was out of camera view. Dr. Orlov ran with Lilja to the utility closet and set her back to her feet.

"Dada, stay!"

"I'll be right back, Lilja, I promise. You must stay here, understand?"

He fled back to the hallway, leaving Lilja in the utility room. He needed to get to electric before security personnel. Once inside, he found the panel almost immediately. He reset the relay, sending the lab into complete darkness for a few moments. Then the lights returned, and the security protocols were reset. Only the alarm crying. His heart rate was fit to burst from his chest, but his plan was clear. He would take Lilja to the boiler room below. Both of them escaping through tunnels to the woods. It was a risk and a gamble. But to safeguard Lilja, it was his only choice.

He couldn't have been a few feet out of the electric room when he turned a corner to General Petrov and a gaggle of soldiers to his back. All of their weapons at the ready, but Petrov was willing to reason first. "Vladimir. Think about what you're doing."

"I… I can't," trembled Dr. Orlov. "I can't lose my daughter, General. I won't."

"That's not your daughter, Vladimir." The General stepped a few feet forward, "That is a weapon. Your creation. Like many scientists, you will have successes, and you will have lessons. She is a lesson. Nothing more."

"Never." Orlov sneered lowly, "What if it was your child?"

"You're wasting your time, Vladimir. You're destroying your career and risking your life. If it is not an execution for your treason, it'll be that thing that kills you. This is your chance to avoid both. Don't do this. Let us euthanize her, and you will start over. With the knowledge to avoid this from ever happening again."

The mechanic and harrowing roar of the tripod engine screamed in Lieutenant Riley's ears. Every grind and hiss of the machine amplified now that he was just metres from the bottom of its head. Every step a tidy jolt in the basket. The wind was far more perilous and unforgiving 100 feet in the air. The world below was small and insignificant, giving Riley an idea of what the tripods saw. Maybe a grain of what drove their intentions. Far enough into the skies they could touch the clouds. The tiniest masses just underneath them – they were basically gods. Titans with a vendetta against humankind. Striking such intense fear into the masses of humanity that they were dehumanizing them. Keeping them in cages like cattle. He didn't know what the intentions for taking prisoners were, yet. He dreaded to know. And as did everyone else in the cage with him. Lieutenant Riley was certainly not alone. They were crowded together like live meat. Hardly enough room to move or breathe. Most of them clamouring at the bars of the cage, wailing to a higher power, trying to find a way out. All stricken with various and visceral forms of terror. His grandfather's ramblings of the Second World War came back. His stories of Auschwitz. Like they were herded into a gas chamber waiting for the inevitable. However, among the mewling refugees were a few soldiers. It was drilled into them to be cool under pressure. Even given the situation, these soldiers weren't begging or crying like many others. They were watching in stillness, waiting. The same look in their eye he had seen a hundred times. Preparing to leap into action. All Riley could ask himself was why? Why when there was no fight left?

To his side there was one refugee that wasn't wailing, wasn't clamouring to get out and wasn't praying. He was a few heads away, but close. Leaning against the bars staring down to his feet. Or staring down to the world below. Much like a soldier, he looked like he had accepted death. But the most alarming was that this refugee was just a boy. Looking to be in his late teens. He looked like he had seen the worst by his red rimmed eyes, dirty face and unkempt shaggy brown hair. His sage cargo jacket ripped at the shoulders and shredded at parts up his arms. His chest was rising fast, it was obvious he wasn't oblivious to what was happening. Too young to see so much horror. Likely left without a family. Riley had spent too much time observing the boy. His instinct to protect came back fast. If he was left in a hopeless situation, he would create hope of his own while he still could.

On the other side of the tripod's head was another cage much like the one they were in. Screams roared so loudly it carried to their own. Something terrible was happening over there he couldn't distinct. Too many heads in the way, too much of the ridge of the machine blocking it. But hearing it was more than jarring. Then the tripod stopped, sending a few standing civilians flying to the cage bars. Riley gripped the cage to his back and pushed up when a hatch slid open at the top. Leading from the tripod head, itself. Out came a fleshy red sphincter, pulsing out a tentacle limb like the one he was taken with. Then a chorus of terror reigned through the crowd. People rammed to the sides of the cage as the limb slowly leeched down, using a light on the tip to gaze around. Without even thinking about it, Riley snatched the collar of the boy's jacket. It made him jolt in surprise, but he released his grip on Riley's fist when he pushed him behind. Riley was using his own body to shield the boy. Not even knowing for certain that's what was happening, he didn't want to risk the boy being taken up into that ship. When the tentacle snatched the leg of an older woman and sucked her up in a split second, the fear was confirmed. A few soldiers tried to grab her arm back, but the speed surpassed. It created a suction of air as it took her, then the hatch automatically closed. The tripod continued in forward motion, and the prisoners wailed once more, falling into greater helplessness than before.

Riley released the boy and checked on his well-being. There were light green eyes staring but not staring back. They were mortified and lost in a trance. Riley gripped his shoulder, "Hey. Hey, kid. You with me?" Riley snapped his fingers before his nose, "Hey!"

The boy reanimated and shot his reddened eyes to him. "Huh?" He gasped in a daze.

"Making sure you're still with me." Riley said firm, "I know it might seem impossible right now, but you gotta stay alert. You can't lose your head. Not if you want to survive, alright?"

Even now, Riley was still hopeful of Lilja and Shiva. He was still hoping he'd strike with an idea to get them out. The boy looked at him like he wasn't serious. As if Riley had plainly lost his mind. In a way, he couldn't blame him. The most human reaction was doubt, and in this moment, there was no hope.

He was driven to keep him talking, "What's your name?" The boy climbed up the cage wall a little, trying to blank out the screams. He didn't realize Riley was trying to help him with that. "My names Kenneth. Kenneth Riley. I… uh. I'm a soldier. What about you?"

The boy finally glanced to him and said so quietly and shaky, Riley almost didn't hear it. "Robbie."

"Robbie. Nice to meet you. Wish it could be under better circumstances. A kid like you must have a decent head on his shoulders if you're alone and still alive. Let's keep that up, yeah?"

Robbie let his shaggy hair fall in front his eyes. Biting down his shaking lip before flatly saying back, "Okay."

Meanwhile, yards away on the ground was the pursuit of Lilja, Shiva and Stamos (who was beyond confused at this point).

"What the hell are you two doing?! What do you think you can do? I'm being real, here. Are you two insane?!"

Shiva snapped back, "Shut up, or they will hear us!" She caught up to Lilja to ask quietly, "What are we doing?"

"Getting him back."

"How?" Shiva defeatedly said, "We can't, you know that."

"I can." Lilja broke, "I just need a distraction from you."

Lilja stopped at the top of a hill. The tripod was moving east through a farmer's field. It wouldn't be long before it was too far away. She said to Shiva, "Now."

"What do you expect me to do here, Lil? This is pointless, you're gonna get us killed…"

Lilja interrupted in a sharp crack, "Now!"

The Russian military opened the door to the utility closet jarringly. Preparing for the unknown and unimaginable threat, but she was gone. They searched thoroughly the contents of the closet, and deemed she couldn't have been hiding.

The General was irate to learn of it. "Split into twos and find her! Every floor, every crevice a child could hide! Kill on sight! Now!"

When the hallway was empty as the soldiers all split up, small footsteps veered from the next room. Her bare feet slapped on the vinyl flooring, fast and energetic. She turned a corner and saw her father lying on the floor. Dr. Orlov.

Lilja didn't question it. She had no knowledge or reason to. In her mind, her father was laying on the floor sleeping. Maybe he was just being silly. She ran up happy, bouncing in a skip as she got closer. She whispered playfully, "Dada." He wouldn't answer, so she said a bit louder, "Dada!" She came to his side and didn't like that his eyes were open. As was his mouth. He looked scary, and she made a small whimper not wanting to get closer. She didn't notice the gunshot in his chest.

She sat down by his side and nudged his arm, her voice whinier, "Dada! Wake up." She continued to nudge him before finally accepting he wasn't going to wake up. It confused her. Frustrated her. She just wanted him to wake up. Lilja pouted first, still confused on why he was like this. What she could do to change it. There was nothing she could do. Tears bubbled in her blue eyes, before whimpering once more, "Dada?"

Her hair dangled to her face, hiding the slow rolling tears down her round cheeks. Behind her was General Petrov, aiming the gun and priming it to fire. His comfort in his perceived element of surprise was granting him the confidence, but Lilja knew he was there. Certain he came to help at first. But his thoughts said otherwise. His dire intentions froze her. She could sense his need to want to hurt her. Hurt her so bad she'd never wake up, just like dada. Because he was scared of her. Just like everyone in the lab. I'm not a bad girl. I don't want to be. I can't help it. Is that why he hurt dada? He hurt my dada.

Just as he applied pressure to the trigger, the gun flourished up, shooting nothing but a hole in the door ahead. Then it ripped from his hands, snapping a few fingers as it did so. General Petrov pried at his hand in agony, before wincing up to her black eyes staring up to him. The lights along the corridor flashed and bursted. That was the last thing he saw before his body was pulled off the floor. His neck snapping with such force it turned his head 180 degrees. Dislocating his jaw. Then she threw him into the wall – breaking through stone into the next room. His corpse was nothing but a bag of broken bones within moments. As Lilja saw the consequence of her anger, she remembered her father. That these men killed him. They wanted to kill her. That if they were scared of her, they would want to hurt her. The lights started to flash with intensity, and the floor rumbled in a tepid quake only growing stronger, cracking the bearings of the lower corridor. Her anger raged, as did the environment around her. The veins stressed deep across her small, childish face. Why would they hurt dada? Why would they hurt me? What would they do if I hurt them?

Shiva hesitated to conjure it at first. She was the adult, after all. Lilja was the child. But arguing with Lilja was never wise, and the chance Lilja's play would work was instilling hope. Shiva had said it, herself. The only one she trusted to protect her was Lilja. If there was anyone who could save Riley, maybe it was her, too. Shiva raised her stance and concentrated, letting the images flood in her mind. The crowd of horrified faces. The screams. She made it real. All just before the tripod's three legs. She had them running forward and it didn't take long for the tripod to slow its roll.

When the tripod was distracted with Shiva's screaming crowd, the baskets jolted forward. Riley gripped Robbie's shoulder again, pulling him to the cage bars from falling. Then the terrible whir of the ray beams started charging. When they blasted, it was so loud in the baskets it would burst an ear drum. Robbie and Riley had no choice but to shield their ears, sending them both sliding into the crowd. They wouldn't have known it was shooting at nothing but earth. The vault of the tripod movements and roaring sounds while engaged in human extermination was beyond the captives' comprehension. Another reminder of how small they were.

But Lilja was using it to her advantage. She was insignificant in size to the machine, but in ability, they were almost on the same length. Worthy adversaries. For once, she was done being scared. She was finally angry. She raised her arms, and a small pulse of energy fluttered from her – sweeping the grass. This time she had no use in targeting the shield. She saw for herself what she was aiming for.

Each basket on the tripod was held in place with strong rod bearings. But against Lilja's pull, they started to cry. The people in these cages could feel the vibration. It only intensified in strength, making the bodies inside jitter. Even so, the tripod was unaware. Still exterminating Shiva's crowd as far as it could perceive.

The people inside the cages started to scream as the bearings came undone, dropping the cage off one side, sending the people off their feet. Riley ordered to Robbie as he climbed up the bars, "Stay there!" Fearing someone would fall into him and break a limb. The cages continued to stress back. It was more obvious now, making the civilians and even the soldiers cry aloud on what was happening.

Stamos could see the pull of the cages from where he was, he could feel it. The air was so thick he could hardly breathe. Her powers would flourish causing a tepid ringing in their ears. Not that he could breathe, anyway. His mind was exploding to what he was seeing. Not even able to comprehend it. The intense disbelief, at first. Denial, then amazement. Reality had bent a long time ago when the alien invasion started. Believing in what he thought was happening came quickly. Because the possibility of believing in something that humanity could use to fight, to protect, was the only hope left.

Riley had only seen momentum warp like this by one thing, and one thing only. Her. It was all starting to make sense. Their strategy coming into play for his rescue. His and everyone else. As the tripod was distracted, Lilja would pull the cages. With any luck, the tripod wouldn't even know what happened until it was too late. Then the cages ripped off one by one, free falling at first until a jerk of force held them in the air. People ceased their screaming suddenly, a few weeping in disbelief when they realized there was absolutely nothing anchoring them in the air. Nothing they could see. Without a shadow of a doubt Riley knew it was Lilja.

Robbie's horrified eyes looked straight down the bars through his feet, seeing an almost hundred foot fall. They were no longer attached to the tripod, and steadily they started to drift backwards. Some thought their prayers were finally being answered, some were certain they were losing their mind. Most just watched in horror. Not knowing what it was or how to explain it. The same kind of fear resonated to their invaders.

"What is happening?!" Robbie squalled in terror, kicking his feet up the cage as they seemed to float closer to ground. Yards from the tripod, who miraculously was still unaware. Far too busy with what Shiva was illustrating. Lilja and Shiva were both quiet, concentrated. Every now and then Lilja would gasp or ache, carrying each weight of the baskets like the tank. Yet this time was far easier, the satisfaction of pulling a muscle that needed to be exercised. It was nowhere near her threshold of pain. In fact, it felt good.

Riley called back to Robbie sincerely, "You're fine. Hey." He grabbed his shoulder, "You're going to be fine, trust me."

Lilja made sure to land them as gently as she could, but even so the cages met solid ground with momentum. A man fell over Robbie's leg, not breaking it, but certainly injuring it to the point he cried out. Riley thumped his head good on the metal bars, but it didn't slow him down. He checked on Robbie first, helping the man off. The soldiers in the cage with them were immediately assisting people out. Riley called over, "The kid! Get the kid out first!" He helped up Robbie to the opening on top where a marine was waiting to grab his arm.

The cages were far away, but Shiva could see the people herding out of each. She released the mirage when she saw Riley. "Kenneth! Oh my God…" She started down the hill, catching up with Stamos who was running to the other basket to assist and help rescue. She was expecting Lilja to be at her back. She turned back to her still on that hill with a perilous glare – her abilities still flourishing. The veins in her neck and face getting bolder.

"Lilja…" Shiva whispered, fearing the worst. She said louder to get her attention, "Lilja, stop."

She didn't want to believe Lilja was doing it, but by the looks of her fury she had to. "Lilja! Stop it!" Shiva's voice clapped sternly. "Enough!"

Shiva wasn't certain. She had a hunch, and she knew Lilja for three years. The look was irate anger but concentrated. The same kind of concentration she had when she was reading into someone's mind. Speaking to them without words. The worst was confirmed when the tripod glared its ominous white headlights towards her. Not to the refugees or the cages broken off the machine. Not to Shiva or Stamos. To her. To Lilja and her only. Shiva gawked back to the tripod with her mouth slacked and eyes wide. In that moment she despaired, dreading all their work had been for nothing. She whipped her glare back to Lilja.

Inside her head she was speaking to whatever drove that machine. Not with words, with intentions. Getting its startling attention in the best way she knew how. She was taunting it, daring it. Telling it plainly what it should fear. Her memories taunted her just the same. The Russian soldiers and man who killed her father. How they killed without mercy, too. She conveyed it in a way only the creature inside the hood of the tripod would understand. All you do is hurt and cause fear. How would it feel if I hurt you? Would you be scared?

Riley leapt from the basket with more refugees and soldiers joining their party. He went to help Robbie stand straight – knowing they were gonna have to run. He puzzled at the tripod's sights into nothing. When he followed it, he stopped dead in terror. He saw Lilja and he saw Shiva. But the lights weren't directed to Shiva, at all. They were on Lilja for moments. But she wasn't budging.

He whispered to himself, "The hell is she doing?"

The tripod didn't react for the longest time. It stood ominously still as it stared across the field to her. It was indulging the communication. Intrigued to learn more and entertain her for academic purposes. Or perhaps it was genuinely unnerved. It knew of her and her ability, after all. Only Lilja knew the rage of the creature. That it took her communication with startling surprise. Almost horrified. The kind of fear when your food bites back. It slowly grew all of the refugee and soldier attention. Each population in their baskets sneaking glares of confused terror before running off for cover. All except Lilja and Shiva.

"Lilja, stop it! Don't do it! Please!"

Shiva might as well have been yelling at herself. Lilja's mind was drilled somewhere dark and carnivorous, and she was directing all of her hate and misery into it.

Suddenly the roar of its tumultuous and growling horn blared through the valley before it thrusted into a charge. Straight towards Lilja, who merely stepped closer in turn. Shiva lunged forward, "Lilja!"

A quick punch of energy flicked from Lilja's wrist, throwing Shiva back into the shrub. As if she was flicking an insect off her coat. It knocked the air from her lungs, unable to refill them as the tripod moved with such vengeance. The ground shook mightier than it ever had, and the people were herded away by soldiers to the nearest groves and buildings for cover. Riley pulled Robbie to the decline into an underbrush, but Robbie's curiosity was still driven to peer up and watch. As well as many of the civilians, and even the soldiers. Shiva clawed from the ground and ran for cover, as well. There was no reasoning to be had. Lilja had made up her mind, and whether she was ready to unleash it was a hopeless gamble.

The tripod glaring down and charging forward to strike was too harrowing to imagine for many. For Lilja, she had promptly egged it to. Instead of fear, she was rallying in anger. Remembering the walls of the laboratory home crumble into debris. The soldiers and scientists' screams of agony. Their bones snapping so vividly remembered, her small bare feet walking through cold blood. She was not only enraged at the tripods. She wouldn't have the power to conjure what she needed if her anger was only directed to their terror. She was angry with herself. Yearning for the moment to finally make up for the lives she took by saving the lives she could. Her father's voice broke inside her head one last time.

"When you get older, the rest will be up to you. I know you will do what's right."

Its rays charged as it got closer, and within a moment it shot at her spot.

Shiva wailed, "NOOO!"

Then a cosmic blast of energy thrusted warm air through the valley, like a nuclear blast. Every person in the valley trying to watch was pushed back a few feet. Blinded by a sheer white light. The crackle of the laser beams from the tripod still roared, except even louder and far more intense. Looking back, they amazed to see her still standing, forcing the energy of the beams back. Like she had the shield. Except this shield was pushing the force of the weapon towards the wielder. The tripod leaned forward, pushing more towards her – but it only throttled it back. Shiva, Riley, the soldiers and the refugees were without words. Without breath. Burning their retinas against the blinding light of Lilja's force meeting the beams. Bundling the energy into a piercingly bright orb that only travelled up to the otherworldly machine.

Every moment of despair, anger, trauma and hopelessness fuelled her ability now. Not determination or fear. Only emotion. Using that emotion, it built greater. Becoming ruthfully unstable such as when she was a child. Where every emotion felt was always the most powerful. It erupted like a volcano. The pain was excruciating the more it built, as if her body was only a weak vessel to contain such energy. Even so, she let it grow. The tripod became every fear she had, every irate moment of her life where she was controlled and outcasted. In that rage birthed power she had never conjured before.

Then it blasted like a punch, and all Lilja could do was scream in rage as her feet lifted off solid ground. It sent another wave of energy through the valley. The beams climbed back to the source in a screech of energy. The tripod was no longer in control of the weapon, she was. It travelled to the guns, creating molten, heating the tripod head to the same degree. All the machine could do now was rattle and submit to being slowly burned away. Anything that was within the tripod had been boiled alive. To such temperatures that would melt the skin off bone. Orange liquid bursted from its head, flurrying multiple explosions. The headlights exploded and went dark, the lights alongside its head flickered and ultimately exploded, as well.

Lilja finally released, returning the valley to darkness. She fell back to her feet and collapsed. Her face strained in so many vascular veins and blood from her eyes and nose. Even leeching from her ears. Her face pale as snow yet bruised around her eyes. As the tripod remains made its fall to earth, Shiva ran into the clearing for Lilja. It crashed into itself with a mighty shake of earth, undoubtedly alerting tripods that weren't already approaching. The refugees grouped together from each basket. Except Riley.

He called over a stunned soldier, "Hey!" He helped Robbie to stand. Who was trembling after what he had just seen. Another traumatic event he couldn't even begin to understand. "Take him!" Riley ordered, "He hurt his leg, help him and catch up with the others."

The soldier ran to Robbie's assistance. "What about you?"

"We'll catch up. Go! Go! Stay under the trees."

Robbie made a fearful gawk at Riley before leaving with the soldier. As if he was begging him not to run off from the party. Riley darted up the incline to Lilja and Shiva and saw two people over Lilja's body. A man. As he got closer, he surprised to see General Webb. Unkempt and riddled in filth from when he last saw him, but undoubtedly it was him.

"General?!"

Shiva picked up Lilja and handed her gently to Riley. He wilted to see her now. Her body far more ravaged than after D.C. To the point it was doubtful she'd wake up.

General Webb said it huskily, heaving breath, "Let's go, now! We need to get her and everyone else to safety before they catch up!"

The US military arrived at Orlov Laboratory in the midst of the Udina mountains of Russia. They were warned, and even then, they didn't know what to expect. Even so they were frosty and prepared for the worst. The most imperative was getting there before Russia's forces did. Captain Webb stepped from the helicopter first, he made a fast stride to the broken doors. Panel windows blown to grain shards. Smoke filling from inside. It was obvious something collateral had occurred, even telling from outside.

They prepped their rifles, going in single file to a lobby of the lab that looked like it survived a natural disaster. Wiring ripped off the walls still zapping with a current of electricity, fire smouldering in corners of the hall and corridors. Ceilings caved in blocking deeper access into the laboratories. So much debris and damage. Lights flickering and dim. Barely lighting the most glaring of all. The death toll was gruesomely displayed. Blood painted the walls, bodies with bones viscerally broken apart. Soldiers, scientists, doctors, and orderlies alike. No survivors. The only one to keep breath was the one they came for.

A child to the darker corner of the room huddled to herself. She sat on the floor slightly shaking, bowing her head between her knees. Her fingers pressed into the top of her scalp. Long red hair and a small pajama dress. For the other soldiers her appearance curdled them in fear, but for Webb he saw a terrified child. A baby who didn't understand more than they did. He came prepared, hoping his strategy would play out the way he needed it to. He approached Lilja first, ordering his squad to stay back. He lowered his weapon and secured it back to his holster. He held the stuffed animal of a deer in his right hand and knelt down a few feet from her. She hadn't changed at all to him getting closer. She was a statue, completely shut off from anyone and anything. He seen it with traumatized children of war ridden countries too often.

He quietly said "Hey." Knowing she didn't speak English, but he needed her attention.

Lilja's heavy breath stopped. She slowly curled straight and turned back to look up at Webb. He prepared for the worst but hoped for the best. He held the toy out for her to get a look. She glanced down to it and studied it for a moment. The same type of toy she got from her father, that she was sure she lost by now. Only to be slightly relieved to see it again. She reached for it, and Webb took that as his moment to pick her up. He was relieved she didn't fight from it. Nor use her abilities to harm them. She fell into his arms like any terrified child that finally met a kind protector. As if she was the one being rescued. Holding her shaking body now, he knew for certain she had no grasp of what happened. Like any child that screams and cries when they are upset, but with a far more brutal calamity. She was just a child.

She curled over his shoulder and wove her arms around his shoulders, staring blankly at the destruction she had caused. Not thinking, not speaking. Only absorbing it. Only to be revisited for the rest of her life when she was old enough to remember it. And come to the harrowing understanding of what she had done.