“...whores and fornicators burn in the fires of God.” Emily listened to the voice feeling strangely numb. “Who says fires of god? Isn’t it supposed to be fires of hell?” She wondered to herself. She opened her eyes and found that she was laying on her stomach in the dirt. There was an object that was very important by her hand. She contemplated it for a while before she remembered that it was a gun. She reached out to pick it up noticing that her arm looked yellow, brown surround black patches of skin like someone had burned a chicken leg on the grill. She picked up the gun but it felt strange like she was wearing gloves or something.

She lifted her head and saw the angry guy on his knees his head bowed. It looked like he was praying. With no warning, he stood up turned towards her. She saw him frown at first but his expression quickly turned to surprise. There was a loud crack that surprised them both. Emily realized that she had fired the gun. She pulled the trigger several more time but she must have missed because he didn’t react. He was looking down at his chest where a small spot of blood had appeared on his shirt. He reached for his chest with both hands.

There was a rhythmic clicking noise that Emily realized was her pulling the trigger on her empty gun. She looked over at her hand in surprise. She dropped the gun and turned her face towards the angry man. He was on his knees again and there was a lot more blood on his shirt now. She watched him fall forward. His face turned away from her. Emily watched the angry man for a while then rested her head on the ground and closed her eyes.

“Jesus Never, Jesus.” Emily opened her eyes and turned her head toward the sound of her friend's voice.

“Hey, Jan.” Emily said. She tried to smile but her face felt funny.

Jan cursed. “Oh my god. Never, you're alive!”

“I got him, Jan. I got him.” Emily said closing her eyes. She felt really tired.

“I need a stretcher over here now! Someone call in a medivac Never is hurt real bad!”

“I’m ok Jan just a little tired.” Emily said.

“Open your eyes Never. You need to stay awake. Where’s my stretcher!” Jan yelled. Emily's eyelids felt like they weighed a ton. She gave up and the world drifted away.

Emily woke up again but this time in a hospital bed. It took her superpowers a little over eleven days to heal her body. By the time she woke up from a healer induced coma, she was completely healed. First Platoon’s final tally was nine dead and nineteen wounded. Of the wounded, only eight are expected to return to their unit. The rest were being sent back to the US to heal and be muster out of the Army. Ian, Jan’s boyfriend was one of the ones being sent back to the States to get discharged. He had third-degree burns on twenty percent of his body.

The Squad that Emily was in had two dead and six wounded. Sergeant Rodriguez and a corporal Emily only knew by name were dead. She was told the death toll would have been worse if not for the two uninjured soldiers in the squad who carried the injured to the FOB and Emily running at the coward like an idiot distracting him.

They missed finding Emily because she was so far away when she went down. For her injuries, the Doctor told her that she would be getting a purple heart. He explained that it was really rare for a super to get a purple heart. Most supers either shrugged off the damage or died. There was almost no middle ground when it came to getting hurt on the battlefield for supers.

The enemy super was some kind of Pyromancer who had some ability to avoid being injured by projectiles and explosions. He was classified as a class one Exotic. The theory of how Emily had killed him was that his invulnerability was limited in some way and he either turned it off or it had run out when Emily shot him. It would explain why he was only hit by Emily’s first bullet even though she had fired several rounds into him. He was the second enemy Exotic killed in the past three years and fourth since the war started in Afghanistan. Someone nicknamed him The Coward after what the old lady in Patsah Melah had called him. Two weeks after the incident Emily was released from the Hospital in Kabul.

“Hey, Hero.” A voice called out to Emily as she left the hospital. Looking around she spotted Wonder and Jan waiting beside an armored Humvee. They raced across the parking lot and buried Emily in a group hug.

“Hey, guys.” Emily said smiling.

“Wow, you’re looking better than the overcook marshmallow you were before.” Jan said laughing.

“Love the new hairdo you going for lesbian chic? Wonder asked.

Emily self consciously ran her and through her hair. Her hair had been completely burned off when she was set on fire. While it was growing back a lot faster than normal it was still very short. She had visited the barbershop in the hospital and the best that they could do was a boy's cut.

“Hey, you leave Emily alone. She belongs to me but I am willing to rent her out for a can of Taurus.” Jan said giving Wonder a mocking frown.

“Hey!” Emily said trying to sound outraged and failing. “I am so worth more than one can!”

“Come on you freaks it's a long ride back.” Wonder said shaking her head.

“Shotgun.” Jan yelled at the top of her voice.

The ride was long but Wonder had her MP3 player with her and she brought her speakers with her so they ended up listening to country music the whole way back Warner Airfield. Back on base Emily reported to her Platoon Sergeant and was given the weekend off. She had to stop by the armory to get a replacement M9. Her old rifle was lost somewhere on the top of the mountain. Her handgun was returned in surprisingly good condition to the armory with her tomahawk Righteous.

The first platoon was reinforced over the next couple of weeks while the Company waited on its next mission. They were a few ready alerts but each time they were told to stand down. Emily didn’t mind. She was not sure she wanted to go on another mission.

She was excited when she found some computers that had good enough graphics card to play Mastery Soul online. The internet connection was crappy at times but still, she was back with her guild playing in a PvP match when they went on ready alert again.

“Sorry guys real life intrudes once again and I have to go.” She told her party on the headset. She logged off and went upstairs to grab her stuff. She hoped that it was another false alarm but she knew that it wouldn't always be. She still had a long time left in-country.

She mustered up in the garage with the rest of the Company. They sat around for about twenty minutes before the Colonel walked in. Emily felt chills races across her back. All the other ready alerts that they stood down the Master Sergeant had run. The only time the Colonel had run a ready alert was when they were sent out after the pyromancer.

“This must be a real mission.” Emily thought to herself.