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DATE:20th of May, the 70th year after the Coronation
LOCATION: Concord Metropolis
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It was strange to see Alice work through her actual job of graphic design, even if from home.
She even put a rule to "not cuddle" within these hours, something I didn't understand as I never initiated such an act.
In the meantime, I had Emily search about the Donn's family through whatever sources she could. Thinking about it, I'd never really known my contractor.
This was when my phone started getting some kind of alert and Alice came running to get me.
I asked why we would need to deploy, but I only got a "crime doesn't have a schedule."
We got in our costumes and arrived at some kind of factory. Alice told me they made important machinery for computers, but I didn't get the exact details.
There was a sudden protest forming in front of it. Were heroes the soldiers of robber barons?
We stood at a distance from the crowd, positioned along the street in building shadows. I pulled my collar up against the chill, watching the growing crowd of protesters as they gathered in front of the factory's gates. Chanting about wages, waving signs. The usual.
Alice stood next to me. "This protest feels... different," she said. "Like they organized fast. Too fast."
I nodded and kept my eyes on the crowd for anything out of the ordinary. Protests weren't uncommon here, but the intensity seemed strange. The crowd was growing. More bodies, more potential for chaos.
T's voice crackled over my earpiece. "Looks like a legitimate protest, but stay sharp. I don't trust the situation." A minute later: "Stay sharp, everyone. I don't like how fast this crowd is building."
Yeah, no shit. We were all thinking it.
Across the street, Prisma leaned against a lamppost, watching. Nimbus floated above on his cloud somewhere. Better vantage point than ground level, at least.
We stood around waiting. Someone would throw something eventually. They always did.
Hmmm…. That was a waste. All of us were required here? Who knows if some delinquents entered while the security is focused on the entrance.
Just before Alice grabbed me, I tapped my earpiece. If we were babysitting a protest, might as well make it useful. "T, listen. Emily says this place holds blueprints for high-value devices in the archives. If these protesters are cover for a heist, someone should check it out."
Silence on the other end. Then T came back on. "You're leaving? In the middle of this? Look, I get the idea, but we're here to control the crowd. We don't even know if there's any real threat beyond some rowdy protesters."
"This is bigger than crowd control," I said. "The others have the situation handled. Alice and I will be in and out fast."
He huffed. "You're making a call outside of orders."
This guy is an idiot.
If someone wanted to infiltrate this factory, a protest was the best way. It's how I would have done it myself.
"It is," I said.
Alice's hand was already extended. I took it and she lifted us off. The factory wasn't far—side entrance on the east side.
T's voice crackled back over the earpiece. "Are you kidding me right now? I'm the lead on this mission, and you're just gonna ignore my orders?"
"This isn't about your lead," I said. "It's about preventing something bigger."
"You're abandoning your team. This is insubordination, plain and simple. I'm making sure SuperiorWoman hears about it."
Yeah, good luck with that.
"Then let her know," I said, my tone clipped as I felt Alice pull us higher over the crowd.
I could practically hear his teeth grinding as he muttered, "Fine. But don't expect backup if you've bitten off more than you can chew."
The earpiece clicked as he cut the line, his silence somehow louder than his words. I glanced at Alice, and she gave me a quick nod, her eyes fixed on our target. We both knew we couldn't afford to hesitate now.
The archive was sprawling—a maze of shelves and rows filled with folders, each packed with blueprints and design papers. The dim lighting cast long shadows across the metal shelving, giving the whole place a quiet, almost eerie vibe. As Alice and I stepped inside, I caught sight of someone toward the back, moving between folders with a swift, practiced air. He was dressed like a civilian—jeans, a loose hoodie—but something about the way he moved felt off. Too precise. Too focused.
I cleared my throat and approached, keeping my tone firm but calm. "Sir, this area's off-limits to the public. I need you to leave, now."
The man didn't even flinch, his hand continuing to skim the folders as though he hadn't heard me. Alice took a step forward, her gaze narrowed. "Did you hear him? You need to get out of here."
Finally, he turned to look at us, and there was a glint in his eye—a sharpness that made my instincts flare. Without a word, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife, the blade glinting under the fluorescent lights. In a single fluid movement, he lunged forward.
The knife struck Alice before I could move, sinking into her side with the kind of precision that confirmed what I'd already suspected—this wasn't some random civilian. Alice staggered back, gripping her side as blood seeped between her fingers, dark and spreading fast across the silver material of her suit. Her face twisted in a mix of pain and fury, the kind of expression that said she hadn't expected to actually get hit.
Ignoring the impulse to slow time—no need to waste energy yet—I stepped forward and struck at the attacker. My fist connected with his shoulder and he stepped back, creating distance. Good. Distance between him and Alice meant she wouldn't be bleeding all over the combat zone while I dealt with this asshole.
His stance shifted when he reset, and I recognized the discipline immediately. Combat trained. The way his feet positioned themselves, the angle of his hands—this wasn't some factory worker out of his depth. This was a professional. Like me.
Alice steadied herself, breathing heavily but still upright. "Definitely not a civilian," she said.
Professional. Probably enhanced. This would be interesting.
I took a deep breath and let my power kick in, slowing everything around me to a crawl. The man's movements stretched out, like watching reality move through molasses. I shifted my stance, lifted my leg, and aimed a kick at the knife to disarm him.
The man twisted his arm. Unnatural angle—his wrist contorted backward, bending in a way human joints shouldn't allow as he redirected the knife toward me mid-kick. His expression stayed eerily calm through the whole movement, like this was perfectly normal for him.
The way he moved wasn't just agile—it defied what a human body should be able to do. Enhanced flexibility? Cybernetics? Some kind of mutation? I'd have to figure that out later.
I leaned back just in time. The blade skimmed inches from my chest, close enough I felt the air displacement.
I recovered quickly and kicked his chest to create distance. "Alice, watch his movements. He's enhanced."
She nodded and straightened, hand already raised toward the attacker.
Alice extended her hand, increasing his gravity to pin him down. He didn't slow. Didn't even flinch. Resistance to her power? That narrowed down the possibilities significantly.
Realizing her tactic wasn't working, Alice shifted strategy and charged in to subdue him directly. I was right behind her.
Just as she closed the distance, the man's blade flashed. In a swift, practiced motion, he slashed at her chest.
Alice gasped and stumbled back as the knife bit into her skin, a thin line of crimson appearing instantly across the silver material of her suit. She clutched the wound, shock written across her face.
That shouldn't be possible. She was supposed to be far stronger than any ordinary opponent, her durability practically superhuman. Yet the blade had pierced her defenses cleanly.
I glanced at the weapon. Its surface gleamed with cold steel luster. It didn't seem magical, but something about its composition suggested it was designed specifically for cutting through enhanced strength.
How could a weapon like that exist?
"Don't pass out," I said.
If Alice was down, I was next. That blade would go through my suit like tissue paper.
The man stood there, dressed in ordinary civilian clothes, yet his skills and that blade were anything but mundane. My Hao suit was designed for protection, and I'd gotten through this encounter without a scratch so far. But if Alice had been pierced, then maybe my suit wasn't enough to shield me from whatever was happening here.
I had to end this. Fast.
I spotted a knife on a nearby table. I grabbed it and lunged forward, driving the blade into his palm. Center mass. Should disarm him.
The blade plunged into his palm. Clean hit. But instead of recoiling, he simply twisted his hand. The knife scraped against his skin like I'd hit bone or metal underneath. A look of irritation crossed his face, nothing more.
Pain didn't register. Enhanced pain tolerance? Nerve damage? He couldn't have been like me. I am not this strong…
I took a step back. "What the hell are you?"
Traditional methods weren't working. Time to escalate. I reached into my holster and pulled the revolver—the one modified to fire shotgun shells. I aimed low, steadying my breath as I focused on the man's legs.
I pulled the trigger.
The gun roared, the explosive blast echoing in the confined space. The shells ripped through the air and struck the man's legs with devastating force. I watched as he collapsed, his legs obliterated, yet he remained eerily still, his expression unchanged. He was still undeterred. Just staring at me with that calm expression, as if I hadn't just blown his legs off.
What the hell was this thing?
"Get back!" I yelled, more so for Alice, but it was too late. Alice screamed—high-pitched and theatrical, like I'd just executed a puppy in front of her. "What are you doing?" she shrieked, stumbling backward with those wide, horrified eyes.
Great. Now I'm the monster.
I turned to her, annoyed more than guilty. Sure, I'd been brutal, but what did she expect? A polite negotiation? This man was a threat, and if I didn't deal with it now, we'd both be dead. Or worse.
"Stay behind me, Alice," I said flatly, eyes locked on my target. I wasn't asking.
I stood there catching my breath, processing the absurd resilience of whatever the hell I'd just fought. That's when a voice echoed behind us. "How disappointing, Alek-1, that you've failed so easily."
I whipped around. A woman stood there, looking like she owned the entire situation. With a casual twist of her wrist, my gun disassembled itself—pieces clattering to the ground like a cheap magic trick. I stared at the scattered parts on the pavement.
What the hell?
Before I could even process that nonsense, more figures emerged from the shadows. Guards, or at least dressed like guards. Military uniforms, stiff postures, synchronized movements. But their eyes were wrong—empty, mechanical. Like someone had hollowed them out and replaced the insides with machinery.
This was getting tedious fast.
I glanced back at the woman, trying to process what had just happened to my gun. "What is going on?" I demanded, though I already knew the answer wouldn't make any sense. Nothing about this situation did.
Alek-1—or whatever his actual name was—still lay on the ground where I'd shot him. Broken ankles, bullet wounds, and yet he watched us with that unsettling calm. Like this was all part of some script I hadn't been given.
The woman stepped closer, wearing that smug expression people get when they think they're clever. "What's the matter, Alek-1? Are you afraid of a little competition?"
Was she talking about the guy I'd just crippled? Competition? This was getting ridiculous.
I shot Alice a look. She stood beside me, eyes wide but ready for whatever came next. "We need to get out of here," I muttered, scanning for exits that didn't exist.
Alek-1 on the ground, guards closing in, my gun in pieces. The stakes were rising, and I was already out of my league. Actually, I'd been out of my league the moment Emily entered my life. This was just confirmation.
I was about to make a move—any move—when Alice's expression shifted. Her eyes flared with something I'd never seen before. Something dangerous.
"Actually, this changes things," she said, her voice colder than I'd ever heard it.
She raised her hand.
Before I could ask what she was doing, everyone dropped. Not stumbled—dropped. Knees slammed into the floor like invisible weights had been placed on their shoulders. Alek-1, the guards, the smug woman—all of them gasping, struggling against some crushing force I couldn't see.
I was the only one still standing.
What the hell?
Alice's gaze locked onto the woman, and when she spoke again, even I felt uncomfortable. That delicate, emotional Alice I'd been putting up with? Gone. Replaced by someone I didn't recognize.
"I didn't think I would find you here, Vierna."
Her tone was flat. Final. Like she'd just recognized an old enemy and already decided how this would end.
She tapped something on her suit, and the crushing weight vanished. The gravity just… stopped. How convenient. Some kind of nullification tech? I didn't know, and frankly, I didn't care to find out the specifics.
The guards pulled themselves up, freed from whatever Alice had been doing to them. Vierna glared at her, trying to look defiant despite the fear still clinging to her eyes. You could see it—the way her pupils dilated, the slight tremor in her jaw.
"So, you've come to play, have you?" she said, her voice dripping with false bravado. "You don't scare me!"
You're terrified, I thought. But liars gonna lie, I suppose.
The woman went in a room near us. Was she actually running away?
I glanced at Alice. She looked calm, focused. Of course she did. I was the one who had to worry about dying here. In the worst case, she could just fly away.
This wasn't just one opponent anymore. Five guards, one villain with tech that could counter Alice, and whatever information Vierna was after in the archive. I needed to think. We needed to move fast before this situation got even worse—if that was possible.
The gravity stabilized, and I caught Alice's eye. We couldn't let Vierna reach whatever she was looking for. But the five guards—who'd been standing there like statues—now turned their full attention on us.
This was going to be annoying.
They moved forward in formation, cutting off my path to Vierna. Intimidating, sure. Effective? We'd see.
"Stay behind me," Alice said, her tone flat and steady. No heroic declarations, no dramatic posturing. Just instructions.
She raised her hand, and I felt the air change. The guards started sinking, their knees buckling as gravity pressed down on them. But unlike the previous ones, these bastards didn't go down. They strained, muscles bulging, teeth clenched. Same resilience as that Alek-1 guy.
Of course they did. Nothing could be simple.
"Just hold them!" I said, moving toward Vierna. Not that I particularly wanted to confront her, but someone had to stop this mess.
One of the guards lunged at me. Fueled by determination, apparently. Or stupidity. Hard to tell the difference sometimes.
I ducked under his arm, stepping aside. Basic stuff.
The rest of them charged forward in silence. No battle cries, no threats. That was somehow more unusual than the usual villain monologues. Were they puppets? Not even I am so cold.
I took a breath and activated Bullet Time.
The world stretched. Everything slowed to a crawl—the guards' movements, their expressions frozen mid-snarl, even the dust particles in the air hung suspended. I had maybe three seconds. Four if I was lucky.
I sidestepped the next guard's grab, redirected his momentum, and sent him stumbling into the wall. He'd feel that later. I kept moving before the effect wore off and my skull started splitting.
"Go!" Alice shouted from behind, her voice strained. "I can hold them, but you have to stop her!"
Sure. No pressure.
I pushed forward toward the archive. The guards were still fighting her gravity manipulation—straining, muscles bulging, refusing to stay down. Annoying bastards.
I burst through the door.
Vierna was already rifling through folders, her eyes scanning pages like she was looking for something specific. Of course she was. Why else would she be here?
"Stop right there!" I called out, because apparently I'd become the kind of person who shouts dramatic one-liners now.
She glanced over her shoulder. That sly grin again. "Too late."
I realized my mistake immediately. I'd assumed she was just some scientist—smart, but weak. Physically useless.
Wrong.
She tapped something on her wrist, and suddenly she was moving. Fast. Insanely fast. Tech-assisted speed that I wasn't prepared for. But was it even from technology? All her veins turned violet.
Her fist connected with my stomach before I could even think about dodging.
The air left my lungs in one violent exhale. Everything went white for a second. Then I was airborne, flying backward through the archive like a goddamn ragdoll.
I crashed into the shelves. Hard. Books exploded around me, spines cracking, pages fluttering. The impact rattled my teeth, sent pain shooting through my ribs.
Thirty meters. She'd punched me thirty meters.
I lay there for a moment, staring at the ceiling, wheezing. My ribs screamed. My back felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to it.
Great. Just great.
Why did I keep getting into these situations?
My abdomen felt like someone had driven a spike through it. I gasped, struggling to pull air back into my lungs. Everything spun. I pushed myself up anyway, because lying there like an idiot wouldn't help.
Where was Vierna?
Gone. Of course. She'd slipped away while I was busy playing crash test dummy with the bookshelves.
"What just happened?" I muttered, though I knew exactly what happened. I'd underestimated someone who looked harmless and got my ass handed to me. Story of my life lately.
This was way out of my league. That much was clear.
I stumbled back toward Alice, still wheezing. She was holding her ground against the guards, her face tight with concentration. One of them was trying to break free from her gravity manipulation, straining against it.
Fine. I could help with this, at least.
I activated Bullet Time again. Bad idea. The headache hit immediately, sharp and vicious, but I pushed through it. The world slowed. I moved between the guards, landing strikes where they'd hurt most—throats, solar plexus, kidneys. Precise. Efficient.
Except they didn't go down. Even after I crushed one guy's trachea, he was still moving. Still trying to fight. What the hell were these things?
Not fully human, apparently. Or too augmented to count.
"Did you take her down?" Alice asked when I got close enough. There was an edge to her voice. Disappointment? Anger? Hard to tell with her sometimes.
I shook my head.
Her expression tightened, but she didn't say anything. We focused on the guards instead. Together we worked through them, methodical and brutal, until even Alek-1 and his identical bastards were sprawled unconscious on the floor.
If it were up to me, I would have just killed them, but Alice didn't wish so.
Finally.
Once everything settled, we headed back to where the team was waiting. T stood there with his arms crossed, looking like someone had pissed in his coffee.
"Where the hell have you two been?" he demanded, his tone sharp enough to cut. "We just got word that protesters were shot. You should have been here!"
Of course. Because nothing could be simple.
"It wasn't my fault," I said, irritation bleeding into my voice despite my best efforts. "We were dealing with a threat in the archive. Villains. Infiltration. The whole package."
Alice nodded, backing me up. "They were after sensitive information. We had to stop them."
T wasn't buying it. "You could have coordinated better! We could have used your help." Was this guy retarded? Did he even listen to me? Probably not.
Prisma and Nimbus stood beside him, both nodding along like loyal little sycophants.
Fuck you both, I thought. Not that I said it out loud. That would've made things worse.
But honestly? I didn't care about their frustrations. People got shot? That was terrible. Truly. But we'd been busy preventing something potentially worse, and I wasn't going to apologize for that.
Not when my ribs still felt like they'd been through a blender.
Sirens cut through the air outside. Within minutes, the Civil Militia flooded the building, taking control like they always did once the dangerous part was over. Convenient timing.
They moved toward the unconscious guards, radios crackling with static and official-sounding jargon.
"We'll take them in for questioning," one officer said, barely glancing at us as he surveyed the bodies on the ground.
Sure. Questioning. As if that would lead anywhere useful.
We stood back and watched them work. Standard procedure—secure the scene, cuff the suspects, call for transport. But something felt wrong. The Militia-men were moving strangely, their expressions shifting from professional detachment to something else.
"Wait," one of them called out, his voice sharp. "They're—they've killed themselves!"
I blinked. What?
The officers knelt beside the bodies, checking vitals, searching pockets. Cyanide pills. Of course. Classic spy movie bullshit, except this was real. Alek-1 and his identical bastards had all done it—chosen death over capture.
Fanatical. Or just well-trained.
"Damn it," I muttered, though I wasn't sure what I'd expected. People who fought through crushed tracheas weren't exactly the type to break under interrogation.
I glanced at Alice. She was staring at the bodies, but her expression wasn't shock or horror. It was something darker. Rage, maybe. Raw and barely contained.
Not anger at their deaths. Something else.
Something about Vierna.
I'd never seen her like this before. Her jaw was tight, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. Whatever that woman represented to Alice—whoever she was—this wasn't just about stopping villains or protecting information.
As the officers started bagging bodies, Alice turned to T. Her voice was steady, but something urgent pushed underneath it. "You need to understand—one of Secundo Manus's disciples was there. That's why we couldn't apprehend them. They were far more dangerous than we anticipated."
T's face twisted. "Great! So you couldn't even apprehend them? You let them slip right through your fingers!" He gestured at the corpses, his anger bleeding out in every word. "This is a serious mess, and we're the ones who have to clean it up!"
My blood started heating. I could feel it building in my chest, that familiar irritation that usually meant I was about to say something stupid.
"You think we didn't try?" I shot back, letting the edge sharpen my tone. "We had no idea what we were dealing with until it was too late. Alice and I were fighting for our lives! Don't act like you could have done any better."
Bold words from someone who'd just gotten punched thirty meters through a bookshelf. But I wasn't about to admit that part.
T stepped closer, his voice dropping to that intense, disappointed-teacher register. "We messed up badly. If we had coordinated, we might have stopped them before anyone got hurt. Instead, we're standing here watching them die." What is he on about? How close minded can one be?
I could feel Alice tense beside me. Her jaw clenched so tight I thought she might crack a tooth.
"T, we did our best under the circumstances," she said, her voice controlled. Too controlled. "It's easy to criticize from the sidelines. You weren't there with us."
T wasn't listening. He turned away, shaking his head like a disappointed parent. "We need to be better. This can't happen again."
The weight of his words hung there. Heavy. Accusatory.
Fuck this.
Frustration coiled in my gut. We'd faced actual danger—real, bone-breaking, potentially lethal danger—and instead of support, we got blame. Lectures about coordination and procedures from someone who'd been dealing with protesters while we were getting our asses kicked by augmented guards and speed-enhanced scientists.
I glanced at Alice. Her expression had shifted into something I'd never seen before. Disgust. Pure, undiluted disgust. Her fist clenched at her side, knuckles white. I'd wish that she would just kill this guy. I, for one, would if I could.
Even as an assassin—someone who'd killed more people than T had probably ever met—I stood by her on this one. Personal history aside, what we'd done was objectively more important than playing crowd control. Stopping information theft, preventing whatever Vierna was planning—that mattered. That was worth protesters getting shot, as cold as it sounded.
And I didn't care what T had to say about it. Didn't care about his speeches on "real hero work" or "how our world works."
None of that meant anything to me.
I didn't even want to be a hero in the first place. This whole charade was temporary—just something I had to endure until we arrested the Don and I could finally disappear. Playing dress-up in hero costumes, taking orders from self-righteous team leaders, pretending to care about civilian casualties...
All of it was just noise.
Still, for a veteran hero like T to act like this… Had he been paid off to not intervene? Or was it because he didn't want to take chances with more work? I could respect him if it were pure laziness because it was something that I would also do, but he certainly didn't give that impression.
After the militia finished their cleanup, T pulled out his phone. We returned to the meeting room back at the HQ, but it didn't take long for SuperiorWoman
Great. Just what we needed.
Her presence was supposed to be commanding or impressive or whatever. She walked in like she owned the place—which still surprised me after all the crime she couldn't stop.
"T," she said, her tone trying for authoritative. "What's going on?"
T launched right into his bullshit version of events, carefully framing everything to make us look incompetent. "We had them in our grasp, but they slipped away because of poor coordination. Alice and Aionis were distracted by a personal threat while we were out there trying to keep the peace."
Personal threat. Right. Because Secundo Manus's disciple was just us being dramatic.
Alice tensed beside me. I could see her preparing to argue, mouth opening—
SuperiorWoman raised one hand. Alice shut up.
Pathetic. Just like that, silenced by a hand gesture. She should have more courage. Was I supposed to take her fights?
"I see," SuperiorWoman said, already nodding like she understood everything. She didn't. "It's clear there were many factors at play. However, I need to emphasize the importance of teamwork. We can't afford these kinds of mistakes." Fuck off…
Teamwork. The universal excuse for incompetent leadership. When you don't know what actually happened, lecture people about cooperation and call it management.
T smirked, practically glowing with vindication. "Exactly. They need to understand that this isn't just about personal battles. It's about the team." You'd think that he was a sports coach by how he talked.
Alice tried again, desperation bleeding through. "But you don't understand what we were facing! It was a disciple of Secundo Manus—a real threat!"
SuperiorWoman's gaze shifted away from her. Didn't even acknowledge the words. Just turned back to T like Alice was furniture.
Typical. SuperiorWoman couldn't possibly be dumb enough to overlook a villain like Secundo Manus. He must be in the top of their rankings if Alice had that reaction at his disciple. Why did she cover for T? Because she was a veteran?
Wow, this was hilarious. She plays the strong figure type, but she has to accept so much bullshit just to keep the support of her lieutenants. Just because he is a petty liar? A joke of a leader.
"I'll handle this from here," SuperiorWoman announced. "You two can step outside for a moment."
"Wait, what?" The words slipped out before I could stop them.
"Now."
Not a request. An order. From someone who thought having power meant always being right.
Alice looked at me—hurt, disbelief, betrayal all mixed together. She actually believed in this woman. Respected her. Trusted her judgment.
Poor, naive Alice.
But I couldn't argue. Wasn't worth the risk of drawing attention to myself. So I swallowed the irritation and did what I had to do.
We stepped outside. The door clicked shut.
I stood in the hallway, ribs still screaming from Vierna's punch, listening to muffled voices through the wall. SuperiorWoman's self-assured tones. T's ass-kissing agreement.
Alice stood beside me, fists clenched white. She was actually angry. Seeing her like this was a bit funny.
This was what passed for hero leadership? This performative management theater where the person in charge made snap judgments based on whoever told the story first? Where actually stopping dangerous threats mattered less than following proper procedures?
No wonder this world was such a mess.
SuperiorWoman wasn't impressive. She was just another person playing a role, pretending authority equaled competence. And everyone bought into it because they were desperate.
Fucking heroes.
The door closed behind us. I stood there in the hallway, not sure what to do with my hands. Or my face. Or anything, really.
I should probably say something. Something comforting. That's what normal people did in situations like this, right?
"I didn't mean to let T get to us," I said, the words coming out stiff. Awkward. "We did everything we could."
Terrible. That was terrible. But it was what I had.
Alice shook her head, leaning against the wall. Her expression was complicated—frustration mixed with something deeper. "It's not just T. It's... everything. Seeing Vierna again, knowing what she's capable of—" She paused, jaw tightening. "SuperiorWoman knows me. She knows how much this affects me."
I didn't know what to do with that information. SuperiorWoman knew and didn't care? Or knew and dismissed it anyway? Both seemed equally plausible.
"What exactly is your deal with Vierna?" I asked, because apparently I was now also involved. Yaay…
Alice's expression shifted—anger bleeding into sadness. She took a moment, like she was trying to figure out how to explain something complicated to someone stupid.
Fair.
"I didn't know Vierna personally," she started. "But I know about her. She's a disciple of Secundo Manus."
I waited. There was clearly more to this story.
"He used to be close to Professor Mundi," Alice continued, her voice tight. "But when Secundo Manus turned to... twisted biological experiments, everything changed. They drifted apart." So he was his student or…
"I didn't know Vierna was involved with him," I said slowly, trying to sound like I cared. Mostly I was just filing away information for later.
Alice looked down at her hands. They were trembling slightly. "It means she was trained under someone who lost all sense of morality. Those men we fought?" She glanced up at me. "They're not just criminals. They're victims of his experiments."
Victims. Right.
I'd crushed one's trachea and he'd kept fighting. If that was what "victim" meant in this context, I wasn't sure I felt particularly sympathetic. They were more like monsters with human skin.
"They're a product of his madness," Alice said, and there was genuine pain in her voice now. "It's heartbreaking to think that Vierna is part of that legacy."
Heartbreaking. Sure.
What I didn't understand was why any of this mattered emotionally. They were enemies. We fought them. Some died. That was how this worked.
And she still didn't explain how she was involved with neither the professor nor this guy. I am supposed to trust her from these vague stories alone?
But Alice was looking at me like she expected... something. Comfort? Understanding?
I didn't have either. This whole situation felt a little dry.
"Alice, I—" I started, not knowing where the sentence would go.
She cut me off before I could embarrass myself further.
"I should have recognized who she was. If I'd connected the dots sooner, maybe I could have done something." Alice's voice cracked, enough to show some of the mess happening underneath.
"Alice, you couldn't have known," I said. Quiet. Forced. "You were fighting for your life. None of this is on you."
She didn't look convinced. There was more swirling around in her head, things she probably wanted to confess or explain. I waited for a real response, but she just stared down at her feet.
I put a hand on her shoulder. Tried for reassuring. "We'll get through this. We'll find a way to take down Secundo Manus, her, all of them. Together." Might as well pretend team spirit if it keeps people functional.
Alice nodded. She didn't snap out of it, though. Her eyes were still heavy.
The door opened and T let himself out, shooting us a look that was more irritating than any lecture could be. Then the click—always the click—like punctuation for these little moments of failure.
SuperiorWoman stepped closer, expression locked in that practiced balance between seriousness and fake understanding. "You both need to be more careful," she said, voice steady. Rehearsed. "I get the urgency. But situations like this escalate fast. We're not just fighting criminals—these are real threats."
Fuck you, I thought. That was her summary? Should've just let Vierna take her prize and be done with the drama. Would've made no difference for any of us.
I nodded. Suppressed the urge to speak. "We didn't know they were victims of those experiments. It wasn't a normal fight," I said, dropping the last mask of hero explanation I actually cared to wear.
SuperiorWoman's gaze went back and forth between us like she was deciding which of us had done worse. "Your actions have consequences. The lives you encounter aren't just case numbers—they're people, with stories and pain. Be mindful of that moving forward."
Now this is bullshit, I thought. If she actually believed half of what she said, she'd have fired T and called the press about Secundo Manus years ago. So much for ideals.
Alice wiped away her last tears, jaw set. "We will," she said, barely above a whisper. "We'll do better." Wow, thi was actually heartless. I almost felt bad for her.
Oh well.
SuperiorWoman nodded, a flicker of pride in her eyes. "Good. Because we need every one of you to be at your best. This isn't just about power; it's about strategy, empathy, and knowing when to fight and when to retreat."
We returned home and took a bath together, but there was no mood for anything. Gosh, I hate heroes.
That night I found myself back in the void.