Jin caught the phone, but said nothing for some time. She was still processing all that she had heard. Now that she knew just who her mother had been, she was trying to reconcile it with the woman she had known. Her mother and father had been gentle, kind people. For goodness sakes, her mother would let bugs out of the house rather than squash them! She had been happy! They had all been happy.

“...they killed my mother because… they didn’t want her to have a life. Am I getting that right?” She stared at her bare feet for a moment, gathering her thoughts. When she spoke again, her voice was different than usual. Quiet, but ice cold. She looked up, and her eyes did not belong to the child she’d been about 5 minutes prior.

“I still have dreams, you know. About that night. I didn’t see anyone’s faces. But I know their voices. I think I could recognize them anywhere.” She paused. Trying to word what she wanted to say. “Sometimes my dreams get weird. I think of myself going with my parents. Fighting these women. Hurting them.” Even softer. “Killing them. All of them. Every last one.” 

There was a strange, meditative stillness about her now. “I didn’t think about it when I was little, because… well… I don’t think I was smart enough then. But I am now. I’m never going to be normal, am I? Not because of my powers, but… because of this. All of this.” She gestured around her in a loose way. “My mother would play a game with me when I was small. Be as quiet as I could, and try to sneak candy from her pockets. Sometimes I actually won. I never wondered about that game. Now… do you think she was teaching me, even then, to be...” She shook her head then, letting the matter drop. She would never know, after all.

“You talk about not forcing me to live in your world. But I think I’m already in it, Uncle Slade.” 

Only then did she look at the information on the phone. “HIVE Academy for Extraordinary Young People?” It was a fancy looking private school from the looks of it. Spacious grounds, smiling children, crisp uniforms. But it was still a school. Then she looked at the other page. “...highly skilled, combat ready, power training…” Some of it sounded like what they were already doing at home. “Infiltration and Wetwork? What does that mean?”