Is she gonna be okay by herself?
- Kayden on Seraphina's meeting
This is the 323rd episode of unORDINARY.
Synopsis[]
Royal Cafe is packed, and right at the center table are two prominent members of the Authorities. One is veteran Valerie, who calmly sips her coffee. The other is her nephew, a rookie and the celebrated hero of recent times: Arlo. He's nowhere near as relaxed. Valerie asks him if he's forgotten that he's not the one who's about to answer for any crimes. Arlo tells her that you never know what to expect when it comes to Seraphina. Valerie asks why their Spectre contact requested his presence. He answers that she needed the one member of the Authorities she actually trusted before she would feel comfortable meeting up. Valerie takes note of that.
Leilah and Kayden await across the street from the cafe. Kayden can't help but worry about Seraphina walking into the hands of the enemy. Leilah is confident that her sister will be fine, but remains wary all the same. The Bureau is well known to make things complicated.
Seraphina enters the establishment, and spots Arlo standing up from his table. They greet each other, in spite of the strenuous circumstances. Valerie also rises up and approaches Seraphina, introducing herself and extending a hand for her to shake. Seraphina stuffs her own hands into her pockets before returning any friendly greetings. Valerie chortles before showing her to their table.
In the noisy cafe, Valerie gets to the point. She says that Seraphina's tip-off was a boon to the Spectre case, and the Authorities would like to reward such assistance. But her deed didn't erase her crime. Her break-in at the NXGen lab was a serious felony. There was only so much room for leniency, but compromise was possible. Seraphina, with her skills and knowledge, would serve the Authorities on a permanent basis. Seraphina hopes to walk free after the Spectre problem is solved, but gets confirmation that she's looking at a life sentence one way or another. Valerie assures her that she could look forward to a comfortable life, and wealth and prestige was guaranteed even to one with a compromised ability. Seraphina is urged by Valerie (and Arlo, via a kick beneath the table) to make the obvious choice.
Seraphina reflects on the nature of the people she's up against. Sadists and killers, who run the world exactly as one would expect. The choice was obvious indeed. She calmly states that she's willing to partner up for the sake of nabbing Orrin, but won't affiliate with the Authorities beyond that point. Seraphina promises not to cross the government after that, but Valerie reminds her that they cannot look the other way on behalf of someone who handed their research over to terrorists. Seraphina counters that it was the Authorities' decision to ignore her predicament, leaving her with little choice but to find solutions elsewhere. Valerie absolves her organization of any guilt in the matter before asking if Seraphina was resolute in her refusal to submit to them. Seraphina's mind is set. As is Valerie's. Seraphina finds herself encased in a translucent prism. Arlo, who had until now been watching the events unfold in silent horror, stands up and implores his aunt to talk it out a bit longer. Valerie declares that the time for them to play along has come to an end.
The cafe falls deadly silent, save for the sounds of every patron standing up and surrounding the meeting. It dawns on Arlo that these people were stationed there in advance. The very woman he looked up to had set up the whole meeting under false pretenses, but her duplicity didn't end there. Valerie slaps Arlo on the back and loudly congratulates him on the success of his plan, and promises to generously compensate him for his efforts to draw Seraphina out into the open. His shock is nothing compared to Seraphina's outrage, who concludes that the one chink in this plan was trusting Arlo to have her back. She bangs on her prison's walls and calls him out on his double-cross. Arlo is about to defend himself, but Valerie orders him to be quiet. Then, in a hushed tone, she warns him that he'll keep his mouth shut if he wants to stay out of jail, and that helping Seraphina in any form will be the worst mistake of his life. Stripped of influence, Arlo begrudgingly stays put. Valerie tells the other officers that it's finally time to book their perp.
Seraphina takes a moment to express how she really should have expected such an outcome. There's always someone who wants to control her. Then, living up to Arlo's account, does something incredibly unexpected.
The squad is surprised when a great surge of aura flares up within Valerie's Barrier, which begins to crack before shattering completely. The breach causes great injury to Valerie, but she ignores the pain. She, along with Arlo, see that they aren't dealing with a powerless criminal. The extensive recoil injuries Seraphina took start to fade away, as though they were never there. Armed with the full might of her Time Manipulation ability, Seraphina proclaims that she won't be going anywhere.
Appearing Characters[]
Appearing Abilities
- Memory Recall (flashback)
- Flame Claw (flashback, converted)
- Lightning (flashback)
- Barrier
- Time Manipulation
Gallery[]
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