Heart behind the mask bonus PART 2

Heart Behind the Mask

Bonus Chapter: Christmas Tensions Part 2

The 24th of December: 4am

I jump, shaken awake by Bai Hai as he tells me, “Wake, my friend! We need you to take us to a certain military base, quickly!” I’m trying to get my bearings after a few hours of nightmare-filled sleep, and I realize that they are both suited up: Hekate and Dongfang Long stand before me.

“I think we found the base where ‘Project Incubus’ took place,” Hekate tells me, “but we need to go immediately because they’ll probably start tearing the place apart when they realize they’ve been found.” I adjust my helmet as she continues, “The project was supposed to be cancelled. Someone’s kept it going behind a lot of people’s backs.”

I grumble and grab my satchel of energy bars, which felt a bit lighter. Hekate gives me a sheepish grin, and I figure she probably ate a few. I don’t really care since she’s going to be helping me out anyways. Once we’re all gathered outside, I say, “I’m going to contact the base to have them keep an eye on the location via satellite. From what I gathered,” I said, pointing to Hekate, “you’d better be there to pull rank as a member of the military so they can’t just shoot us on sight.”

I stretch, hearing my back crack as it loosens. “Can you still use your ice powers? Good,” I continue, seeing her nod. “Create the two of you some kind of a seat I can carry, even if it’s a damned sleigh. It might make for a couple of cold asses, but I’m going to have to fly at my top speed and I don’t want to shake you up too much.”

Dongfang Long laughs loud and hard when he realizes that Hekate is actually creating a sleigh of ice. Complete with some sort of a yoke over the top for me to slip under to carry it. When she finishes, he gives a toothy grin. “I am glad I do not feel the cold that much. I will try not to melt a hole in it…”

Once they are both settled in the sleigh, I fly under the yoke she made and lift the icy construction into the sky.

After a long wait I’ve finally got a signal to the base again. Just from the voices of Terra and Starshine, I knew Trent wasn’t doing any better. “I am sorry,” Tera says, “his vitals are falling and we can’t seem to stop it. Scott has him heavily sedated because of all the pain…” Her voice trails off and Starshine chimes in, “He tried to induce a coma, hoping to slow down the virus’ progression, but it seems like the virus is countering anything we throw at it. The induced coma didn’t work at all.” Worry churns in my stomach once again, and I try to get my emotions under control by biting the inside of my cheeks. The salty taste of blood filled my mouth by the time I had calmed a little. I heard Hekate telling them to keep an eye on the base as I, without so much as a warning, pushed my powers ever harder.

When we arrived within sight of the base, in record time from what Hekate tells me, I see the sun slowly peeking over the horizon. Any other time I would have enjoyed the majesty of the colors in front of me, but this was just another marker of Trent’s end coming closer. I could hear Hekate trying to contact the base, without success. “This can’t be good,” she says, just as we see the burst of surface-to-air missiles being fired in our direction.

Sleep deprived and violently angry, I’m way past nice. “The gloves are off,” I think to myself, creating a wind bubble around us as a shield. Lashing tongues of wind out to destroy every missile, I open all the channels of communication available to my helmet. “JUST TRY that again and I swear to God that I’ll destroy way more than your missiles!”

Either they didn’t believe me or didn’t react in time, because they kept firing. The only thing that did was make me even angrier. I snarled, unleashing a blast of wind that destroyed anything in its path: missiles, equipment and even a piece of the building we were approaching. Dongfang Long let out an impressed whistle while Hekate tells me, “Nice way to show them we mean business, Tempest, but that’s enough. Set us down on the marker I’ve set up on the map display, please.”

As we land, a group of soldiers confront us with guns pointed in our direction, and I snarl at them once again. Before I can do anything, Hekate freezes them in place and holds up a sheaf of papers. “THIS gives me authorization form the Canadian and American governments to shut down this operation!” She smacks the papers in the palm of her paw, emphasizing her words, “Your organization has conducted experiments, with state funds, that were completely unauthorized!”

We hear a laugh coming from the building’s entrance. As we all looked that direction, a lizard of some kind, maybe a chameleon, stepped through with a bone-chilling smile. “Oh, but we were authorized! Your friend here has just proven why,” he hissed through pointed teeth, motioning to me.

My rage was barely staying leashed at this point, and I could only growl at him. “You see,” he continued, ignoring my bared teeth, “we regular people don’t really have any way to fight against the level of power an omega-level meta like him has. Some of us regular people prefer to sleep more peacefully at night, with the knowledge that we have a weapon against your kind of problem.”

I wanted to punch his teeth into his face when Dongfang Long’s voice barely cut through my anger. “And just where in your grand scheme of things,” he asks, motioning to the base around him, “did creating panic and death in the innocent population fall?”

The lizard waves a hand negligently, “Merely collateral damage. They have done nothing to change our point of view,” he says with a bored tone.

Before I have the chance to really lose it, Hekate freezes his feet in place. “If you DARE,” she hisses, slowly working her ice up his boots, “tell me again that they are ‘merely collateral damage’ and of no importance to you,” her ice has reached his knees by this point, “then I will be your court martial. Do you have any idea of the number of people who have died in the last few days because of this?” It was her turn to snarl at him, “And I don’t even know how many test subjects you might’ve had here!”

I could see his pointed teeth starting to chatter from the cold as he stuttered, “W..we haaave the rii…right to de..fend … oursss…selves ag…gainst your kind!”

My control finally snapped. “OUR KIND? Our fucking KIND?” I spat in his direction, baring my teeth. “We are HUMANS, just like you, even if you have nothing of humanity in you! We didn’t plan that invasion, but we still fought it! And we all lost something in that battle, believe me!” I banged on my prosthetic leg, letting the clang resound. “I lost my leg to save this planet for humanity! Not for ‘your kind’ and ‘our kind’. Too bad there are always people like you, with an itchy trigger finger, willing to find any target as a reason to go to war, even when it is the people who give up everything they can to help!”

I pointed a finger, claw out, at his chest. “I am gay and a meta! On top of that, an ‘omega-level’, so that makes me a nice, juicy target for assholes like you, I bet.” He is about to speak up, but I couldn’t stand to hear his voice anymore, so I just punched him. Even with Hekate’s ice anchor, all my pent up rage broke it and sent him flying against a wall. He slid to the floor slumped over, unconscious. I turned my stare towards the rest of the soldiers, leveling a hate-fueled gaze at each of them. “Anyone else wanna get in my way, or can I save my husband now?”

To my surprise, Hekate and Dongfang Long both stepped to my sides, ready to fight. “By the authority vested in me by both the Canadian and American governments,” Hekate began calmly before getting angry, “I am SHUTTING THIS PLACE DOWN and everything will be confiscated! Anyone caught trying to counter our efforts or being uncooperative will be in DEEP SHIT.” Some of the soldiers seemed to hesitate so she added, “He IS an omega-level meta, I am a pissed off, and pregnant female and,” she points toward Dongfang Long “HE is the father. You DO NOT want to mess with us.” The remaining weapons clattered to the floor and Starshine was contacted to break into the computer system to find the information we needed quickly.

The 24th of December: 9:45am

When Starshine arrived, we found the first problem. Every room was sealed behind security barriers and reinforced doors. “Give me fifteen minutes and I can hack them,” he said in reaction. There was no way I was going to lose any more valuable time in Trent’s life.

Since my Nano-machine injections had changed my body, Scott had theorized that my already unusually heightened strength had probably increased further. We’d never really had the chance or a way to test it out, though. Like most people, I generally set myself a limitation on how much of my strength I use to accomplish a task. This wasn’t a time for limitations. I approached the first door and, holding a hand up to each side, forced my fingers swiftly in at the edges. The anger and worry of the last hours were feeding into my powers as I started breathing heavily then screaming in rage. I ripped the door out of the wall. Throwing a glance over my shoulder, I said, “Let me go in first in case of some more active security.” Still panting in rage, I stepped through the door.

Lasers shot at me from the walls straight to the entryway. I dispersed them with a quick slash of wind, not really paying much attention. The floor beneath my feet started to warm, and I sensed some kind of ignited gas coming up from another trap. Before it can even singe my fur, I block the gas and torch the trap with its own flame. After waiting for about a minute for any remaining gas to disperse, I gave the all clear for everyone else to enter. My three teammates were wary and clearly shocked, while the soldiers who had ‘volunteered’ to show us the way were in a panic. One had peed himself in fright, while another was pointing toward me and stammering, “Ho…how is that p-p-possible? Those were TITANIUM!”

I just humpfed in reaction while Dongfang Long replied, “You might say he is a very peaceful soul except in extraordinary circumstances, such as his family or the love of his life in danger.” He gave them a very malicious – and toothy – grin.

Each of us set up on a different computer to explore the files on them. That’s when another problem presented itself: ALL of the files were locked behind a master password that could take hours to decrypt. I was on the verge of losing it again, especially knowing that Trent could have probably hacked it in record time. Starshine was doing the best he could, and I was, once again, feeling useless. All I could do was cry my heart out while Dongfang Long was doing his best to comfort me.

Looking at him, I realized that I still needed to help him and Hekate. Steadying myself as much as I could, I called Dahlia on my communicator. She is Yolanda’s daughter, and my primary accountant. I asked her to contact several hybrid birth specialists, one in particular. While giving her instructions to offer whatever funds or action necessary to get his help, I saw Hekate swipe a tear from the corner of her eye. She must’ve heard me, because she was smiling. Dahlia let me know that everyone is sending hopes and prayers for Trent, and that she’d take care of contacting the specialists. I was about to cut communication when she stopped me. “Oh, I nearly forgot!” I heard the sound of ruffling papers on the other end before she went on, “I received an odd phone call for you from someone who refused to identify himself. He left a special message for you, asking it be relayed if you contacted me.” She must’ve found the paper she was looking for as the rustling sounds stopped. “Ah, here it is. He said to tell you: ‘Incubus Nightmare’, whatever that means.”

Once she’s given me the message, I think about what she’s said. She was supposed to tell me if I tried to call and help my friends. It reminded me of a conversation I’d had with the Seer just after my heart transplant. “Action setting up a reaction and a future,” his words echoed in the back of my mind. I thanked Dahlia, cut the communicator and started thinking. “Could it be… that he’s trying to set up the best future for me to save Trent?” Without a further thought, I jump to the main computer’s keyboard, shoving Starshine aside. I type “NIGHTMARE” and, hesitating a second, hoping I’m right, press ‘enter’. At first nothing happens. I’m praying and biting my cheeks, hoping beyond hope to be right. A small miracle appears on the screen: all the files unlocked! We all cheered in joy.

We set to work once again and divided the digital folders up between the four of us. Dongfang Long had found a file containing people’s names, and it seemed they all had the addendum “Deceased” attached. All, that is, except for one. Examining the file closer, he started reading some parts out loud. “It seems this poor soul was found in the debris from the big fight during the last attack in Washington DC, he said, passing us all the reference number so we could focus our search on the same person.

Starshine was the first to find out more about him. “It seems,” he began paraphrasing the report, “they found him quite promising because his quick metabolism let him heal faster than most people. They snatched him from the hospital since he had no possessions, no identity, and was still hovering in a coma.”

Hearing Starshine’s description, I couldn’t help but think back to the intonation and mannerisms of the voice that had been speaking to me from the cloud during the attack yesterday. Something about it was familiar, but I just couldn’t place it. “Guys,” Hekate’s voice interrupted my thoughts. “I found some videos of their experiments.”

A few minutes after opening a random video file, she snatched a trash can from under the desk and was violently sick. Rage was running through my body and my blood was boiling like lava after watching the horrors on the screen in front of us. I pressed a hand to my heart, trying to calm down its racing tempo as we watched and listened to the screams of so many people experiencing devastating pain. Some were so deformed by the experiments that they were vomiting their own entrails. Over the screams we could hear the stoic voice of the general we had met earlier: “Damn, another fail. No matter, keep working. Find a way to make it successful.”

Dongfang Long had managed to convince Hekate to go back to researching rather than continue with the videos. She wasn’t happy about being shuffled off to something else since, in a way, she was used to this kind of horror. “You are pregnant, my love,” Dongfang Long consoled her. “It is normal for you to be more sensitive than you would normally be.” He had then given her a sweet kiss on her belly that made her blush before she moved to another computer to continue the search for our survivor.

This lone survivor seemed to be our best shot so far, since that made him a likely suspect in the attack on Trent and the other people. Since there were no videos – at least in that folder – I started looking at blood tests run on him and the other experiment victims. I decided to do a video conference with Brandon and Scott to get their opinions since we couldn’t risk sending files to the base without having gone over them with a fine-toothed comb first. Brandon was the first to react to some of the data I relayed. “With some of those results you’ve read off to me, I’m not surprised most people can’t survive these experiments without some kind of help. I think,” he paused to gather his thoughts. “I think they used some of the research, and possibly some of the cells, from the aliens we had to deal with recently.”

That made sense. I sent him several scans I made with my helmet, hoping that they might be useful in saving Trent. “I FOUND IT!” Starshine’s shout caught my attention. “I found the entire file about the survivor!”

We all rushed to his terminal to see the video. There was a figure in a white coat, a doctor or lab tech of some kind, who was dictating a message. “This subject really is our best hope for this experiment. I am still not sure we aren’t playing God by performing these experiments, or even that we should be doing them. Seems to me that we’re more likely devils on Earth doing this.” His tone seemed almost dejected as he continued, “So many people have died already… but this subject’s accelerated metabolism allows him to survive the virus cells that we’ve injected into him so far.” A heavy sigh issues from the speakers. “They aren’t happy with just that. They,” he hissed, “want him to be the ultimate weapon. Today we are supposed to inject that poor subject with the pure form of this virus’ DNA.” His tone was colored with disgust. “I have no choice but to complete the experiment as they would probably kill my family,” he glanced sadly at a picture frame that was just in view of the camera. “But I will stay by his side through this. My death when this weapon wakes up will be my penance for what I made them all go through. It’s not much… but I can’t sleep… I can’t go on with all those people’s screams in my head…” The video blinked off.

We all held our breaths when Starshine found a video of the experiment mentioned. At first it seemed to be only shots of the General, preening and proud of himself, and the lab techs. The technicians performing the experiment were almost robots, moving jerkily, and the few glimpses we had of their faces were… haunted. Then the face of the test subject filled the frame, and I felt like the world crashed down on me.

Everything made sense now… but how was it possible?

I rushed for the exit with the rest of the team screaming my name behind me.

The 24th of December, 2:47pm

I was back in Washington D.C., standing on top of a skyscraper trying to catch my breath after flying back so fast. I chewed on one of my last energy bars as I considered my next move and the events that had already passed. Trent would probably die faster than “Ghost”, as I decided to call him, had guessed. On the other hand, Brandon and Scott had a theory that I wasn’t affected by his gas thanks to the Nano-machines already coursing through my body, but they couldn’t promise the same immunity to direct contact with Ghost.

The only reaction I had to the information was to make Scott and Tina promise to take care of our kids if something happened to me as well. Tina was openly crying over the communicator in reaction. “You JERK,” she snapped, sniffling, “Don’t you try to drop your obligations on us!” I knew she was acting like a bitch because she was frightened for us, but all I could do was give a dry chuckle in response.

The biggest problem was that I had not only Trent to save now. I wasn’t even thinking about my future… yes, I wanted to grow old with Trent and have the joy of watching our kids grow up and have a happy life… but now I had to save another person too.

I pulled the information for my destination from an old file in the base and took off, reflecting on what Ghost had said to me. It all made sense so perfectly now. How he had called me a “fake hero”, how he knew about Trent… why he was so angry at me… even why he called himself “a ghost from the past”. I know Trent would say what happened to Ghost wasn’t my fault, but I couldn’t help feeling responsible. I felt like I should have done things differently, and this wouldn’t have happened if I’d checked into details myself instead of relying on others.

As I land near an old house in the countryside, I realize that some plants are still growing normally. Others had withered and died, maybe because Ghost had tried to touch them. Testing the air with my powers, I feel like I’m in the right place. “Come out,” I say to the air, “I know you are mad at me. You believe it is my fault… all the experiments they made you go through because of how frightened they were of how much power I have… even if I never asked for it.” I feel his presence still swirling in the air around me so I continue, “I know you are here watching me, and I know who you are. We saw the files at the base. Please,” I take a deep breath before finishing, “Let’s talk this out, my old friend… Zipp.”

When I call his name, he appears next to the old house in front of me. He is in a dark costume, his blood-red eyes filled with hate, and dark smoke pours from his skin. “So you do remember me,” he snarls, curling his lips back from his teeth. “Old friend… please! Do you really think I’m such a FOOL? You treated me the same as those fools in the base… nothing but a PAWN to further your own goals!”

“NO!” I shouted, shaking my head. “You ARE a friend! A friend who’s loss I cried for after the invasion battles. A friend we all are having a monument built to honor!” I try to keep myself calm, arms at my sides as I continue. “Your friend, Dongfang Long, even had to leave the city because of all the painful memories here!”

He spits on the floor. “Right, that asshole and his slut are next on my list!” His body trembles in rage and he is nearly screaming at me, “You have NO IDEA what they made me go through! ALL THOSE PEOPLE DIED because of your powers! You all were happy to be rid of me… after all, I made your lives seem so much better when you compared them to mine! The thought of never having to deal with me again must’ve been great for you! Since I could barely contain my powers, I could never really be ‘part of the team’ unless we were on a call since it would give away our identities, isn’t that right?”

I make direct eye contact with him. “That is NOT FUCKING TRUE! I care for all of my teammates, even if Trent keeps reminding me that I am not God, and that I can’t save everyone!” I take a step closer to him as I add, “I bought this place so it wouldn’t be destroyed by developers! I come here … often… with Trent and our kids to take care of the garden FOR YOU, in your honor, because you said it kept you at peace to see your mother’s garden still blooming!”

I stopped a few steps away from him and finish, “I should have searched the hospitals more… used my influence more to check everywhere rather than believe what I’d been told. I should have also tried to do more than just help people in the aftermath of all the shit…” I pin him with a determined stare. “I WILL NOT make that mistake again! I will help you, in any way I can, to get that SHIT out of your body!” I’m panting now as I shout, “I might not be God, but I will do everything I can about the shit in this world that He is turning a blind eye to! I WILL SAVE YOU! I WILL SAVE MY HUSBAND OR DIE TRYING! I will keep doing my best for this FUCKING WORLD even if it is frightened by us!” I finish with a growl, “GOT IT?!?!”

I see the dark cloud swirling around him getting denser as he shakes in anger. It starts moving around him, curling like tendrils of dark smoke as he hisses at me. “You are just FULL OF SHIT!” He is screaming in rage now. “Quite the big talker, aren’t you? All you want is your happy ending, YOU SELFISH ASSHOLE!” As the last words leave his mouth, tendrils of his smoke come out of the floor around me and try to surround me, and I panic, trying to break free.

At first everything is black, the tendrils are enveloping and suffocating me, but then I realize it’s my own despair that makes it hard to breathe. I see a shape forming in front of me, and my mother’s form materializes. “I knew it,” she said, her lips curled in disgust, “I should never have even bothered to give birth to a degenerate like you.”

Her form disappears and my father’s takes her place. He stands, arms folded, after throwing my belongings onto the street when I was younger. He turns his back on me.

I start panting, finding it hard to cope with all the emotions flooding back to me. My father’s shape turns into Agua, snarling at me in disgust. “You couldn’t even be bothered to save a low class teammate like me? I knew you only cared about people powerful like you…”

Her shape dissolves into Volcania, giving me a thumbs down sign as he flares his nostrils. “Why did I even bother,” he sneers, “sacrificing myself for someone like you? I would have done so much more for this world than you! I’d have probably even raised ‘your’ kids in a more normal way – with a nice female role model!” He makes a lewd gesture, drawing his hands in the shape of a well-endowed female figure as he fades away.

The ultimate shock comes when I see my Grandma Jenna’s form take shape. My heart jumps, making me gasp, as a tear falls down my cheek. The shape disappears and a golden light comes towards me. “Don’t believe the hesitation in your heart, my little Joe,” the kindest voice I ever knew whispers. Tears stream down my cheeks as the shimmering light comes to rest in front of me. “What you saw is nothing but the worry and sadness inside your heart. It only proves that you are human, and those feelings are the origin of your good heart, my little one.”

I feel her warm hand on my cheek as her voice continues, “You can only do your best in life, my little Joe, and believe that my husband, your father and I are all so proud of everything you do! Don’t give up… we will always be by your side to help guide you through darkness and doubt.”

As if to agree, my heart starts beating loudly, but in a more calm rhythm. I curl myself into a ball around my heart then, with a roar, extend my limbs out around me without a hint of restraining my strength.

The darkness dissipates, letting me see the surprise on Zipp’s face. “I am NOT God,” I say once again, “but I will always do my fucking best! Deal with it!”

His face changes from shock to anger as he screams, “PROVE IT, ASSHOLE! Prove to me that you aren’t A FAKE!” He disappears in front of me as he calls on his speed. I barely have a chance to read the air around me and figure out where he is before he starts pummeling me at super-speed. He lands hits on my head and the rest of my body but… despite physical contact… the virus inside him doesn’t attack me.

My mind is more or less clear, despite the rain of blows to my head. I will save Trent… and I still want to save Zipp… but he is so quick and so full of anger, that I’m not sure how I can do it. I hear him screaming insults at me, calling me every name in the book and saying how I’m full of shit and I am worthless in the end. All I know… deep in my heart and soul… is that I have to save them both.

Trying desperately to block blow after blow is taking its toll, and I’m thinking about surrounding myself with a giant tornado, hoping to stop him. A message blinks in my helmet: “Portal Incoming.” I’m surprised to see Dongfang Long step through. He turns to face Zipp, saying, “I want… need… my best friend back. I want you to be the godfather to my children.” That seems to shock Zipp enough that he stops for a split second, revealing his position.  He disappears again, heading for Dongfang Long and screaming. Something seems to click inside my mind, and I drop a concentrated tornado on top of Zipp. His screams change from rage to pain and he passes out, becoming visible again. Dongfang Long takes the opportunity to pin him down with gloved hands, and injects him with something. “From the blood tests we saw,” he said to me, shakily, “we guessed that the Nano-machines were his best bet.” He wiped his brow anxiously. “But Trent… is not doing well right now,” he said, gazing at me sadly.

I didn’t ask any questions or say a word, but just hurled my exhausted body into the portal to base.

The 24th of December, 5:14pm

The moment I stepped out of the transporter room, I see Tera’s distressed face, along with the worried looks of Starshine and Brandon in the control room. I don’t even stop as I head for the med-bay to find Scott on this side of the containment glass, a syringe in his hand. On the other side, I see Trent on the bed, his body starting to emanate the same dark cloud as Zipp had during our fight. Scott gives me an apologetic look as he shifts the syringe in his hand. He doesn’t dare to walk into that cloud, and I don’t blame him. He has a family, and no chance to survive the cloud’s effects. But me… I can make it! At the least I have to try!

Terra opened the exterior door behind us, probably coming to offer her support in this situation. It made the perfect opportunity for me. I grab Scott’s arm, snatching the syringe from his hand, and shove him at Terra causing them to both fall outside. Bolting away from them, I set a ten-minute automatic time lock on the exterior door and take a deep breath.

Once the exterior door sealed, I open the confinement glass and walk toward Trent’s body. Laying myself on top of him, I cough from the massive amounts of smoke coming from his body. “There is NO WAY I am going to let you die on me like that.” I gasp, trying to get out the words in my heart. “You keep telling me that I am not God, but unfortunately for you, I am stubborn. Well… today I am stubborn and selfish! If you die, I die with you!” I lift the syringe, positioning it above his chest, and whisper, “But I am not letting you die without having tried every fucking thing possible on this earth, my wild dog.”

Tears are once again streaming down my cheeks as the syringe pierces his chest, straight to his heart. As I push the plunger home, exhausted, I give him one last sweet kiss on the lips.

Before I let the darkness completely engulf me, I hear banging against the med-bay’s outer door… probably my teammates…

The 25th of December: 6:11pm

I am totally exhausted. There was no other way to say it, I feel like I’ve been run over by a bus. The last days have been hell on my nerves and body.

We all finish an early dinner in the house in New Orleans, moving from the dining room to the living room. Gathering around the fireplace and Christmas tree, everyone is relaxing and chatting. Looking around, I see most of the kids gathered around the tree, playing. I see people congratulating Alexia and Bai Hai – they’d made their engagement official. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Alexia cry as much as I had when Dhalia told them that the most eminent specialist in the field of mixed-species births had agreed to help and guide them every step of the way.

He had said it would “be a challenge, and with the opportunity I have to help the two of you, I believe we could help so many more in the future.” The newly-engaged couple had made the decision to move back in the United States, and rejoin the team. A smiling Brandon brings me a warm, comforting drink. I sigh, smelling the aromas – and the twinge of alcohol – coming from the mug. Sipping the pleasantly spiced liquid, I see Trina and Alice showing off their muscles to Sean, trying to make him behave.

Starshine and his wife are chatting with Solaria and Fuse, while Gaia is talking quietly with Tombstone off to one side.

Scott and Tina come to see me, with their baby cradled in Tina’s arms. Scott pats my shoulder, “Yah are REALLY crazy, yah know that, buddy?” I chuckle with a tired smile, and continue to sip my drink as they move away from my comfortable chair.

From the corner of my eye, I see Tina’s disapproving look and Yolanda’s still worried expression, but I don’t pay much attention.

Nothing can faze me right now.

There is only room for one feeling in my heart.

He walks in through the kitchen doors, holding a tray of cookies. Trent, the love of my life, with his big smile beaming down to me. I know he feels responsible for making me worry and everything we’d been through in the las 24 hours, but it didn’t matter.

I know he wants to keep apologizing to me, but that doesn’t matter either.

The only things I care about are that he is alive and once again by my side.

Zipp was still in a stasis containment chamber while the Nano-machines continued to cleanse his body. We were all hoping that those little bugs would bring him back to himself and back to us. Trent, meanwhile, had ended up with powers! His identity of Technopath was much more fitting now. He could actually connect himself with technology and manipulate them as easily as his own arm. We weren’t sure how it happened – maybe because he still had his armband on when I injected his Nano-machines, maybe a latent power, or just one of those ‘jokes of destiny’ as we liked to call it.

He was completely ecstatic about having powers. He could help us even more than he’d ever dreamed now, even more than his childhood meta dreams could ever have wished for.

I was more worried about him having powers – I didn’t want him to risk his life ever again.

But in the end we are happy, even if being a family full of metas might bring its own unique problems. I felt happy… they were all gathered by my side once again. And I knew… tonight I would sleep with Trent in my arms.

He came toward me and settled himself on my lap, and I wrapped my arms around him. Ryan and Stan jumped into our embrace, surprising me. At the end of it all… I am happy.

I felt whole once again.

Ready to face another day… with my family.