There was something surreal about fighting your best friend in an underground tunnel, body-jacked into being a supervillain, while they play some kind of superhero.

  Amelia tensed her hands as she watched Jason. With the helmet gone, she almost sobbed in relief. They can’t see what’s going on, so they can’t puppet her specifically. Just use the basic programs.

  Even if for a moment she was free.

  “Ja—” she cut off. She refused to blow his cover after all of this time because of a dumb slip-up. “You have to run!”

  The helmet stared back at her, the black visor boring into her. It was easy to imagine his face contorted in rage.

  Electricity arced through Amelia’s body, seizing the muscles and bringing them back under ?control. A pain pulsed through her arms, and ice energy began to pool outside of her skin.

  Amelia strained against the controls of the machine, unable to stop the power from coming out or even stop the movement.

  But it’s her motherfucking power even if they’re going to make it come out, she’d shape it as poorly as possible.

  “Miracle!” the disguised voice of Jason roared out. “What are my options for taking out the control collar and tech again? Regular limit is not a problem,” he snarled, reaching behind him and pulling something out of the bag behind him.

  Jason has phased a lot of stuff. Could he really phase the control tech out of her body? Amelia tried to stop the embers of hope from blazing.

  After all, what was he supposed to do? He’s bleeding from several stab wounds; she'd really thought he was going to phase out of. And he just spent the day doing who knows what in the lab?

  The helmet phased, turning dark.

  “I’m going to save you. Just give me a bit,” Jason said, his normal voice echoing through the hallway.

  Amelia couldn’t help but think of the familiar smile she rarely saw on that face but was always accompanied by a moment she adored.

  As her arms moved up, straining against the ice, she froze over her joints. She rebelled, trying to summon her power elsewhere.

  Ever since that explosion in the rain, she’s had more control to fight with, but it never seemed like it was enough.

  The helmet turned solid. “Miracle, I’ll be there in three minutes. Pull back and get to safety,” he said to whoever is on the other line of the communicator.

  It’s easier to not think about the hint of jealousy that burned in Amelia’s heart. She had super powers too. They could fight crime together. A team. Making this world a better place, always able to trust that the other had their back.

  But because she was too weak to resist, she’s a puppet in her own body, forced to fight her best friend and watch his clothes stain red from the blood she’s forced him to shed.

  Jason surged forward faster than before, his fist inches from her face before she could even react.

  Her body stumbled away, but it was too late. She was going to get hit.

  Until she wasn’t as he turned dark, passing through her in a rush, sending a tingle through her body.

  The idea of someone just walking through you was creepy.

  Another surge of power welled out of her foot as she kicked behind her, but Amelia rebelled again, causing the intended spear of ice to flatten and widen out into a plate meant to push him back.

  Not that it worked, how were you going to hit someone who’s more intangible than the air itself?

  That’s what everyone in the lab was trying to figure out, and what her controller had been doing.

  Amelia’s pretty sure she’s not the one in control right now. Just following some kind of automated training program to deal with threats.

  With the helmet destroyed, Andromeda would be controlling her blind, so she would be fighting even worse.

  Amelia, keeping some of her attention on the fight, gathered her power towards the nape of the neck.

  If she could generate enough cold energy without the system noticing and flash freeze the control chip, she could stop it from hurting people.

  It was going to hurt like a son of a gun, but that’s fine if it meant she stopped hurting others.

  However, her fury at the situation was not exactly helping her concentration when it came to not unleashing a storm of frost.

  The two problems being Jason and fighting Jason.

  Even when she was cheering him, fighting Jason was an effort in trying to remain calm because he had to be one of the most infuriating people ever to fight.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  You tried to punch him? He had it pass through his body.

  You tried to stab? He broke the ice with an enhanced fist.

  You tried to get around him, and it’s like the man had eyes in the back of his head, always aware of what’s going on.

  A blast of ice meant to stop him from going anywhere? He slipped into the wall for a few seconds, popping out later to strike you.

  Rising from the ground like some kind of demented ghoul, Jason wrapped his arms around her, pinning her arms to the side, the shards of ice beginning to dig into the thick coat she'd been wearing.

  Right there in that moment, Amelia almost lost control of the ice she’s trying to gather to free herself. The world was safe because Jason would make it better; he said so.

  The moment is quite distinctly ruined when her arms move to crush Jason without her permission.

  Being a fan of crushing hugs for half a second Amelia thought she had control of her limbs again.

  Her knee rising to his groin quickly abolished that idea quite nicely.

  Jason pulled away, dancing out of her grip, turning dark as he fell through the floor before darting up.

  It would feel a lot more like a fight if he ?actually fought back.

  With the helmet on, he hit her, which was what he’s supposed to do in this situation. But as soon as her identity became apparent, ?he was handling the whole thing with kid gloves because he’s terrified of hitting her.

  A blast of ice needles goes wide; Jason’s helmet never turned away from her.

  In a blur, he closed the distance, palm against her abdomen, and her whole world flickered dark. The only sensation was that she’s sinking? Or falling maybe?

  An arm grabbed and tossed her into the air, and everything returned to normal, her limbs fighting against her once again to move in a specific way.

  “Try one didn’t work, so I’m going to move onto test two.” Jason said to himself before diving back into the fight.

  Whatever this test was doing, Amelia did not like it nearly as much. Even if she can’t actually feel anything, having someone just stick their hand in your neck multiple times as they danced around you trying to hit them with slow ice fists is irritating.

  Her body was beginning to move faster, breaking through all the frost she had put together to slow herself down.

  They needed more time. Amelia relinquished her hold on some of the energy she had built up and let it pool out of her arms once more, icing everything over, adding another layer her body needs to break through if it wants to hurt her friend.

  “Amelia,” Jason said, pulling away, finally putting his hands up as if he’s going to fight her again. “I really don’t want to do this, but I’m beginning to run out of ideas, so I’m going to let you know now. I’m going to start attacking back. I need more time to study it all, and I need to be stabbed less.”

  It’s really polite of him to be explaining, but could he just start doing it already?

  They’re sort of on a time limit. They don’t have much time, and she really didn’t want to be someone’s brainwashed minion anymore!

  “Sorry about this,” Jason apologized before slamming his fist into her stomach hard enough to leave her gasping for breath.

  A second strike didn't come. Jason loomed over her like a dark avenger as he looked for something she couldn’t see.

  As soon as her body recovered enough to try to attack him with an ice blade, Jason swept her legs out from under her, sending her crashing to the ground.

  “You just need to keep holding on for a little longer, I promise.” He said not going to make a second attack.

  For a moment, Amelia wondered what exactly ?the point of such a combat strategy is, but it becomes obvious quickly.

  He said he needed to study something so that every time she moves he’ll hit her hard enough somewhere where she needs a moment for her puppet body to calibrate back into a usable state.

  And his plan is to just do that over and over again until he’d figured out whatever he needed to figure out.

  “I’m going to tear limb from limb the person that did this to you,” Jason said, knocking Amelia to the ground once more. “And sorry.”

  The river of power pulsed through Amelia’s body in large loops as ice filled her form, releasing in a white mist that quickly formed armor around her.

  Making the armor as rigid as possible is easy, and she could feel her movements slow down as her body was rapidly beginning to chill.

  The helmet also had a device that kept the area warm so that she couldn’t break any of it by freezing it shut.

  “Almost.” Amelia gritted out, forcing herself to speak.

  Jason pulled back, staring at Amelia as she got up again, the sound of ice shattering as she forced her limbs into the proper shapes to get ready to fight again.

  “When we’re done with this, you’re going to have to pick a way better name than Horrorfrost.” Jason said with a soft sigh.

  Her ice-covered body lunged forward, fingers outstretched in an attempt to skewer his eyes.

  Not even bothering to phase, he moved away from all the strikes before gently putting a hand on the helm of ice.

  Next thing he’s patting her head, all of her ice armor gone, having fallen through the floor.

  “Hold on for another minute for me, yeah? I’m close.” Jason said before catching a fist and going back on the offensive, beating Amelia back.

  Whoever designed the body-jacking system was a dick. Not only could she barely do anything while jacked besides mess with her powers slightly, every single attack Jason does hurts, and she’s constantly cold.

  How exactly was a girl supposed to fight off all of this and execute her master plan?

  Her back slammed into the concrete wall, and a gasp escaped her lungs as a puff of frozen energy blasted out, coating the very air itself in a layer of frost.

  It’s not much, but with Jason’s next blow she could track a lot better. Worse than that, her body reacted a lot better.

  He’s slowing down. Whatever he used to power himself up is starting to wane!

  What if it fully wears off before he’s able to save her?

  Nononono!

  Amelia tried to talk, but her throat was locked up, unable to make a sound. She had to try.

  A scream wrenched free from Amelia’s throat as she unleashed the blast of ice energy she had been storing up.

  All of it blasted out from her back in an attempt to flash freeze the tech, technology certainly not meant to face someone with her level of cryokinesis. “You won’t control me, bitch!” She roared, not sure if she’s saying it aloud or just in her thoughts.

  Pain tore through her as her body moved away from the ice, something tearing deep inside her.

  Amelia stumbled right into Jason’s arms. “I’ll take care of it.” He said before her entire world vanishes again as if she’s floating in the void.

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