“But you’re one of us now. We can’t lose another one.”
“I’m sorry, but you… you have to let me go. Thank you, for doing what was right. I’m sorry… I’m sorry I called you a monster.”
Lily’s gaze slid away for a second before focusing on Damos once more.
“Damos, you’re… you’re a good man,” she said. Then her head fell limp, and Damos knew she was gone. All of the feelings vanished, and Damos returned to his regular self. Without a word, he put his hands under Lily’s body and carefully pulled her off the spike, lifting her in his embrace. He turned and began to walk towards the jet.
“What about him?” Owen asked, nodding towards Nicholas. The wound from the spike was still bleeding, but due to its shallow penetration he was still very much alive.
“We kill him,” Victoria said, stepping over and forming her arm into a blade.
“Sounds good to me,” Owen agreed.
“No,” Damos said.
“No? After everything he’s done, you want to let him live?”
“Yes.”
“But… but that’s not fair. Why should she have to die while he lives?”
Damos paused as if to speak, glancing down at Lily.
“Because it’s the right thing to do,” he said, before continuing up the ramp and into the plane.
Epilogue
13:15, South District General Hospital, South District
“While the cause of the phenomenon is still under investigation, one cannot argue against the impact it has already had on society. Gifteds and non-Gifted have been coming together in communities all across the world, helping each other recover from the yesterday’s attacks.
“Although we still have a long way to go, the phenomenon experienced by us all has provided a huge first step along the road to equality for Gifteds. All I can say is, to whoever or whatever caused it, divine or otherwise, thank you.”
Damos reached up and turned the monitor off, the news woman disappearing. He lay back down and looked around, staring up out of the window at the midday sky. It was bright and clear, wisps of cloud tracing their way across the sea of blue.
“Divine or otherwise,” Owen scoffed. “When will people learn ManaNet is not a divine, all powerful entity?”
“After what happened yesterday, I think that opinion’s going to be even more prolific,” Victoria said. “How would you explain it?”
“A freak combination of the spike stabbing both Nicholas and Lily and it reacting badly to my algorithm, causing it to export Lily’s powers to the world’s population. It was her that caused ‘the phenomenon’, not some divine power.”
“Do you want to tell them that? While we’re at it, we could explain that we’re contract killers, who indirectly led to this whole mess by murdering the man who knew it was going to happen.”
“At least then they’d know.”
“Some people still know the truth.”
“True. Speaking of which, I’m still not happy about leaving Nicholas in the Colonies.”
“After what he did to Matt, Lily and Izzy… it’s a lot better than he deserves. It’s only temporary while he heals though. Besides, there’s no way he can control them anymore. Not after that Gifted buried the spike inside his chest.”
“Considering everything he did, I agree he got off lightly. Once he heals… well, he’d better hope I never see him again.”
Owen and Victoria’s nattering slowly faded into the background as Damos continued to watch the clouds float by. He remembered back to yesterday afternoon, when he, Owen and Victoria had taken Nicholas and Lily back to the Colonies. While Owen and Victoria had gone off to deal with Nicholas, Damos had carried Lily’s body from the plane and, trailed by grieving Gifteds, laid her to rest besides the grave of her childhood friend Ethan.
For a moment the feelings came back to him, echoes from the rooftop. A tear formed in his eye.
Thank you.
ManaNet Page 24