March 2013

"Here is all the information, Edward. I hope the generals find it useful." Thomas hands it over in Edward's office.

Edward carefully looks it over, ignoring Thomas' eyes glancing over.

"This is all about the Ariston community? What about the Five?"

"I couldn't find anything. This is some years of work already; it was extremely difficult to find the community. I'm sure that this'll be enough to end the war."

"Thank you, Thomas. How's Emily?" he asks while looking around the room.

"Doing great! She controls her ability beautifully, Edward. You should come by and see it yourself."

"Sure," he smiles. What a waste of time. Emily's levels stagnated. She'll be useful whenever she turns 18 for the war, but nothing more.

"Have a good one!" Thomas leaves with a victorious smile.

Edward takes the papers to the generals, and they all meet up with the president of the United States of America. A few days later, he schedules a get together with his colleagues. In an empty room, with some celling lights and a tiny table, Marianne Olsen, Edward Hall, Saif Ahktar, and one other gather.

"Thank you for your availability. The leader of the Ariston community has surrendered. He won't give us the location of the Five, but they will stop fighting in exchange for us leaving them be," Edward tells them.

Everyone's expressions change. Their eyes lit up and smiles show.

"The president only pretended to accept, naturally. He and the generals decided to attack the community instead. We have their location. Marianne, the specimen is to carry it. It's almost turning 16, it's time for the fatal flaw."

The hope their eyes held begins to crumble.

Not the fatal flaw... no. Marianne avoids meeting Edward's glance.

"Edward, I don't understand," the head of strategy and damage control says.

"Which part? The president wants the community to be wiped clean."

"They surrendered. There's no need to kill them. We're talking about children here!"

"Deviants aren't children, Peter!"

"Not to you! Not to the president! But children are children, innocent people are innocent people. One thing is shooting an enemy. One thing is doing the necessary scientific testing to ensure we win. Another is killing children only because they are in the wrong place. I will not participate in this and if you have any conscience, you won't as well! We have been friends for many years. Don't do this, Edward."

"It's already done, friend."

He prepares to leave, and Edward grabs a gun and shoots him, first on the chest and then on the head.

"Anyone else feeling moral all of the sudden?"

Saif hasn't closed his mouth yet and Marianne focuses on the body lying on the floor, bleeding out.

"It's a shame. I'll have to kill his family."

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"Don't," Marianne says calmly, "they have nothing to do with it. Let them mourn him in peace."

Saif holds his breath.

"No one will ever find his body. They'll have nothing to mourn."

"Don't kill them."

Edward raises the gun and points it to Marianne's forehead.

"Any change of heart now? What a tragedy that it'd be."

Marianne doesn't even blink, and he comes closer.

"Your beautiful daughter alone, with no one to fend for her. Not even her grandparents. I'd change her papers to get her into the system. She could find a nice family, sure... but the odds of that..." he laughs. "There're so many sick people out there."

Marianne takes a deep breath and looks at his eyes.

"Mmm, you kill me, and she won't go to any orphanage. Try to get near her. You, and the generals, and the president, and whoever is idiotic enough to try. You'll all see hell on Earth."

She pushes her forehead against the gun.

"The specimen would destroy you before letting you anywhere near her. You kill me, she'll be fine."

Saif holds his breath.

"You won't have any chance against the Ariston community, let alone the Five. It won't do as you want. I," raised her, "trained it far better than that. But, sure, go ahead and kill me."

Edward smiles, lowers his gun and leaves the room at once.

"Why would you put yourself in danger like that?!" Saif grabs Marianne's arm.

She looks at him and takes off his hand.

"You haven't taken any time out since Erik's funeral. You should go away for a bit. Go home!"

"We can't go anywhere. The specimen can't travel, it doesn't have any papers."

"So? Go with your daughter. The specimen can just stay here."

She won't be safe here.

"Thank you, Saif, you are right. This was reckless. Maybe after the Ariston attack, I can take a break."

"The specimen carries this attack; the war will probably be over. Who knows? There won't be any need for our work. Deviants won't have immediately the same rights, but one day. As soon as the war ends, things will get better. Just look at Eurasia."

The war in Eurasia ended over 100 years ago...

"It can only get better from here." He puts his hand on her shoulder, smiles, and begins to leave.

"Did you know? About Erik... Did you know that they'd kill him?"

"I only found out after they had you identify the body." He looks away, "I'm sorry."

***

They stand there on that day, seeing it all play out from a safe distance. The generals, Edward, Saif, Thomas, Marianne, and the newly appointed head of strategy and damage control, Laurence Pierce.

It's a quick operation. Edward wants Megan to will destroy whatever and whoever she can, and the army will sweep in and take care of the rest.

The damage she did exceeded their expectations. The bodies collapse on the floor and her bright blue hand creates flowers around her.

"What's that?" One of the generals asks.

"Her fatal flaw. Nature creation? Not very useful," Edward replies.

"Life," Marianne tells them. She's certain.

"Death and life. What a combination! Send our boys in," the general orders through a communicator.

A white light takes over, and when the dust settles, there's nothing there, Megan included. The generals hurry to meet their wounded soldiers. Edward, Laurence, and Thomas leave. Proud of their accomplishment and ready to release the footage.

Daughter, where are you? Please, don't be... please, be alive. Marianne bites her lips to stop her from crying.

"I'm sorry, Marianne." Saif puts his hands on her shoulders.

"It's a shame," she turns around and faces him, "it was such a powerful specimen. We won't have another like it to study," she says in the same unaltered tone.

Everyone in the organization celebrated, until the images were released. The public opinion swiftly manifested across social media. People were calling it a genocide and accusing the president of taking it too far. Such an atrocious act wouldn't achieve peace. Luckily for them, the outrage happened immediately, and there was never a speech by the president taking pride in it.

It was fairly simple to spin it. Laurence Pierce suggested blaming the Five, coining the term Angel of Death and claiming that it's Matthew Moore's daughter.

Easy enough for Matthew to deny, they all knew, but no one would trust the terrorists. And to their surprise, he didn't. Instead, took great pride in his daughter on national television, saying that she was alive and well despite everything that the news said. That the Ariston community betrayed their kind, that they stroke a deal with the government, and that the fight for deviants' rights was more alive than ever.

***

A few weeks later, Edwards greets Thomas on his office.

"Thomas, a new world is upon us!" Edward fills two glasses with champagne. "The president wants our testing department to keep existing, and he authorized the creation of an organization led by me. I appreciate loyalty. It will be the same team, joining some others who have been helpful. If there's anything that you want, this is the time to ask for. You did a great job with this attack."

Thomas asks for Emily to be the face of this new world.