Badass in Disguise

"Sometimes it's advantage

xpression shifting from

" he said, reaching for another te

th a red star. "This is from last year's MIT Physics Competition. Even

etic field equations with multiple va

his?" I asked, not both

watching m

he electromagnetic field equations simplify to a second-order differential equation. The

e problem on paper, his pencil flying across the pa

actly right.

u, I'm just too lazy t

ced theoretical ph

t matters," I cut him off.

ulled out a small container. "Here," he said, offering me a box of c

In my previous life, gifts always came with

his homework, clearly still pr

Shadow, the world's deadliest assassin, with a perfect record of eliminations.

riginal Jade had been weak, allowing herself to be bu

ge and skills of the world's top assassi

slipped into the baggy sweatpants and oversized t-shirt that con

hrough the neighborhood. My muscles screamed in protest after jus

back to the house thirty minutes later, I was drenched in sweat and gasping

eless combination that did nothing for her figure. Not that it matt

find Max waiting by the front door. According to

, shifting his wei

wledgment as we w

he observed as we headed down t

lied. "I'm working o

"That's good. You'd be really pretty if-

I finished for him, u

dn't

now what I look like. I'm

ed out a five-dollar bill. "Here. Get something

face for signs of an ulterior mo

ed away. This brother wa

breakfast – a whole grain wrap and a bowl of cereal with fruit. A

girl's voice stage-whispere

he lost weight, someone like Orion Miller would never look at her

away like the original Jade would have done. Instead, I turned slowly, meeting t

es. I didn't say a word – just looked at them with the calm, cal

sted in their own food. I turned back to my table, satisfaction coursing

e. This body needed protein and nutrients to rebuild itself. I

from behind – deliberately, based on the force. I felt the momentum that

ght the cereal bowl that had begun to tip. At the same time, I registered the

riking her shin with precisely calculated force. Not eno

nts onto her own head. Lettuce, dressing, and carrot shreds

there, humiliated and dripping. Her eyes lock