When the figure disappeared from before and time had returned, Lily didn't have time to adjust before being noticed by May and Coulson, who had still been nearby.
"Are you OK?"
May turned to face her, a worried look on her mind; Lily was still adjusting after all the hivemind had suddenly returned, and she had been flooded with information all at once, something she would normally be used to, but with the cut and sudden return, it was overwhelming.
It was as if power to a machine had been cut off due to an outage but then suddenly returned with a great burst at once. Something like that could break a machine, but she just needed time to adjust.
"What do you mean?"
"You're dripping sweat."
'What.'
Lily felt her face, and she felt the sweat running down her body, cold sweat that she didn't even feel there. How could she not know she was sweating? Was the being truly that terrifying that it numbed all her senses?
Such great fear that even her body couldn't contain itself.
She hadn't felt something like this, ever.
Since she had come to this world, she had always been proud of her capabilities. She knew there were stronger beings in this world, but she wasn't disappointed in herself either because she knew that she could become that strong or even stronger.
She just needed time.
But this single encounter had changed that. Not only did it show her just how truly weak she was in the face of unknown power, but it also meant she was now on the radar of a powerful being, or maybe more.
Worse yet, she was too weak to even know what to do, know what the being was, or know how to become strong enough to face them if they tried to attack her.
She was disappointingly weak.
'No, self-pity isn't the way to grow.'
So far, she had been playing it very safe because she thought she had time, she was trying to use the timeline to benefit the most she could, but things are changing now.
She didn't know what unknown variables were at play, and she didn't want to risk it. From now on, if the timeline was going to be changing, she would be the one doing the changing.
"Enough."
Speaking out loud in a soft voice, she looked up and locked eyes with May.
"You are to send me in to deal with the criminals."
As she spoke, her eyes glowed with a faint red hue; this was one of the abilities she had gained from devouring the Vampire from before: Mesmerize.
It was the ability to influence the minds of people in the way she wanted them to act; of course, it had its limits. Currently, it was so weak that working on beings with powers would be mild or outright impossible, but it worked well on normal humans.
And May was a normal human.
The only reason she hadn't used it now was because she didn't want to risk any side effects from it, on the person it was used on, that is.
But she no longer had that care.
"Lily, what are you doing-"
Before Coulson could even finish speaking his sentence, she turned towards him and did the same thing.
"You will agree to send me in as well."
Her abilities mixed with their own emotions and thoughts, influencing them to do what she wanted. The ability worked by amplifying a feeling within them, a thought that they already had, and making it a reality; it couldn't work with nothing.
But thankfully, they already had the thought of using her.
"Lily, can you join the Calvary and attack the captures?"
Coulson spoke aloud as if the situation just now hadn't happened.
"Rescuing the hostages is the most important part, can you do it, Lily?"
May added since she was more worried about the little girl than she was about capturing the gunmen.
"Of course, I will try my best, but I don't know what might happen inside."
Lily agreed to enter; it was her plan, to begin with. So, after discussing the matter with the Calvary team, they made their way inside through entrances that were provided by their assistant from here.
Lily followed along behind the Calvary troops; that was their only compromise if they were to bring her inside here, not trusting that she was capable of dealing with this.
But in the end, it worked out for Lily because the second they got close to the hostages and tried to rescue them, they were also taken control of by the girl.
Scanning the room of hostages, Lily was the only one that remained untouched by the control of the girl, her eyes looking for the very cause of all this mess.
'There you are.'
She said, as her eyes locked onto the girl.
'I have around 5-10 minutes before May comes in after not getting a reply from the Calvary. I have to make this quick.'
"Why can't I feel you?"
Said the little girl as she looked over to Lily, her expression confused as to why she couldn't control the emotions of the girl. Her mother stood to her side, ready to protect her.
"Because there is nothing to feel."
Lily replied as she stepped forward, beginning her move towards the girl. She walked, each step slow but certain; it was a mental trick to get into the heads of the people that faced her.
It made them panic, especially the girl who was nothing but a child; she felt fear for her life, stumbling back; the idea of using her puppets didn't even cross her mind.
Her mother, on the other hand, tried to protect her by rushing at Lily, expecting her strength to be enough to deal with the situation.
However, she severely overestimated herself and underestimated Lily because as soon as she got within range of the girl, Lily simply grabbed her by the neck.
Which was odd since Lily was shorter than the lady, but by grabbing her neck and pulling her down to her height, she threw her off guard and made her fall onto her knees.
"Sor-No."
Lily was going to apologize before killing the woman, for she had always felt pity for those she had killed simply for her growth, killed because she needed to use them to grow.
But she stopped herself this time; from now on, she would no longer apologize when she killed someone.
She would do what she had to.
Without a second thought, she squeezed her hand; with the strength Lily currently had, it was leagues above what the lady could possibly wish to attain.
So, with that little squeeze, she snapped the lady's neck. It was so easy it didn't even feel real, but that was simply how life was.
The weak died easily to the strong.