Legacy(104)

“I can still ... help you ...”

“Winter ... Erich ...” I said, not even turning around this time, as I walked off into the night, “... you can’t even help yourself.”





Chapter 44




Scott caught me just outside the outer wall of the science building, as the cool night air blew through gently. “You all right?” he asked, eyeing me cautiously.

“Fine,” I said, and he fell into step beside me. “You heard?”

“Everything,” he said. “You didn’t really go at Sovereign at all. You buying into this idea of his invincibility?”

“I tried to drain him,” I said, “that should count for something.”

“Was that what that was?” He started to register understanding. “It all makes sense now, the bit about ‘come inside.’ I thought maybe it was—” He flushed and then looked down. “Never mind. I followed your lead.”

“I figured as much,” I said, my strides chewing up the distance between me and the headquarters building. “Since I didn’t hear any sniper rifles bellow out in the night.” I tapped the earpiece buried in my right ear. “Ariadne, call my mother. Get them back here, Sovereign knows.”

“I heard,” she said, “and they’re already on their way. They’re about twenty minutes out; I guess they decided to stay at a motel nearby, just in case.”

“Well, that was stupid.” I halted as we reached the pavement next to HQ, the quiet, wet swish of the grass silenced as I stepped off of it. “Maybe I was wrong for not going at him full out, but when I tried to attack him, he didn’t even act like I was moving at him. When I fired my gun, he shrugged it off.” I held my hand up. “When he touched me, it was like Andromeda all over again. Nothing.” I looked up at the night sky above me, and saw a patch of lit clouds under the yellow lamp effect. “What the hell is he?”

“A lot of trouble,” Scott said. “He fried Winter?”

“Crisped him,” I said, and nodded my head back to the construction site. “He was still alive when I left. Barely.”

“I heard that, too,” he said. “You sure walking away was the best idea? I mean, if he had the answers and you could get them ...”

“It’s what he wanted,” I said then cursed. “He wanted me to absorb him, and I just ... ugh. I mean, I make decisions with my logical mind most of the time, don’t I?”

“More than most people I’ve met, yeah,” he agreed.

“I couldn’t, this time, though.” I put my hands on my hips and let myself sway. “Couldn’t do it. Couldn’t put aside my revulsion for him to let it happen.”

“You could have locked him in a box for all eternity,” Scott suggested. “Your own little version of imprisoning him for his crimes.”

“I don’t want to imprison him,” I said. “He wanted to be imprisoned because he was too chickenshit to die. I don’t want him in my head. Erich Winter is out of my life.” I looked back to the wreckage of the science building. “He’s out of life, period. Whatever answers he had were too toxic for me to want any part of.” I folded my arms. “I’ll find another way.”

Scott looked down for a minute, shuffling his feet, then back up at me. “You sure about that?”

“Yeah,” I said, staring up into the sky again. The stars were peeking out from behind the clouds, just faintly, now. “I have to.”





Chapter 45




We sat around my office, just waiting, Li, Ariadne, Scott and I. I still had the smell of Winter’s burnt flesh in my nostrils. I wondered if it would ever leave.

“Are we good now, Li?” I asked the question and caught the eye of the agent, who was sitting stone silent on the couch.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Li said, and I could tell he truly didn’t.

“Your killers are dead,” I said. “Security is scraping their scorched corpses off the lawn as we speak.”

“Congratulations on sitting back and letting them become human s’mores for a supervillain,” he said, giving me a dirty look. “I was after justice, not vengeance.”

“Awesome,” I shot back. “Tell me where in your system a meta gets justice. Please, point it out to me. Is it in the life sentences prescribed for all violent offenders?”

“I don’t think this is going to get us anywhere,” Scott said. There was a moment’s pause. “Did you tell Senator Foreman that they’re wrapped up?”

“I sent him an email,” Li said. “I’m sure his colleagues will be pleased.”