The mall was bustling with people as they milled about, doing their shopping and having fun with friends and family members. The sun shown brightly outside, making the day nearly perfect for anyone that was paying attention.

A mother and her young daughter walked through the food court on their way out of the mall, hand in hand, daughter giggling happily as her mother looked on smiling.

“Mommy, look at that lady, she’s flying!” the girl shouted with a smile as she pointed to the window, where a young woman could be seen hovering in the distance.

The mother smiled and looked at the woman and then to her daughter. “That’s a hero honey.” she told her awestruck daughter. “Wave to her.” she said.

The girl smiled and waved at the hovering woman with a bright smile on her face.

The hovering woman returned the smile and the wave, the only difference being that she was waving goodbye to the young girl, and her smile slowly turned from happy to menacing as she pointed her free hand toward the mall and charged it with energy.

The mother’s face turned from happy and carefree to concerned as she saw the woman’s demeanor change. She began to pull her daughter close to her and finally picked her up and started to run as the energy blast hit the mall.

“This is one of the worst attacks I’ve ever seen.” Antonio Nash said over the radio unit in his Hazmat suit.

Walking past the charred remains of a woman clutching her child to her to shelter her from the attack Antonio felt sick, he managed to maintain his composure but felt like he needed to get away from this devastation sooner rather than later.

The mayhem stretched the length of the mall, bodies all over the place. The monster that had attacked the mall showed no discrimination, men, women and children no matter what race or age, they all died equally brutally.

“What’s the reading?” Antonio asked one of the Hazmat team members.

“I haven’t seen radiation levels like this since the reactor in Terra Volta went critical a few years ago.” the man said as he studied his equipment.

Antonio Nash sighed, “It’s gonna be a long day.” he thought and left to make some phone calls.

“Open wide for mommy!” Sue said as she held a spoonful of oatmeal up in front of Jesseca’s mouth.

Jesseca complied and took the spoon into her waiting mouth with a smile.

“Good girl!” Sue praised her charge as she wiped some excess oatmeal from the girl’s face and then set to cleaning up the kitchen. “Ok, go play while mommy cleans up honey.” Sue said as she removed the tray from the highchair and helped Jesseca down to the floor.

It had been six months since the incident involving Babbage and Hannah. Jesseca had gone into a deep depression after the realization that her best friend was gone, she’d kind of shrunk into herself and regressed to a near infantile state. Sue had been there to take her in and help her through her tough time. Now, after six months, Sue was beginning to wonder if the real Jessica was coming back.

Jesseca had turned on the T.V. when she’d gotten to the living room, unfortunately cartoons weren’t on the menu this morning, instead the news reports about the mall attack ruled the airwaves. Sue had stopped what she was doing in the kitchen and took to watching the news. The pair sat in shock as they saw the devastation on the screen.

Jesseca studied the screen, a single tear rolled down her cheek as she saw tiny body bags being loaded into the ambulances. “Mommy?” she said to Sue without taking her eyes from the pictures before her.

“Yeah baby?” Sue asked, wiping her own tears away.