{Earth}

“I killed her, though. I know I did. Look!” Lynn held up her hands, no longer soaked in red blood.

Pablo chafed her freezing fingers, unsure what to say. Yesterday, he scraped blood samples and tested the DNA. At first glance, his hands shook so badly that he dropped the results. Delivering the news to her destroyed him.

Her voice grew more shrill, “I killed her and there wasn’t a body! Killed me. She was me.”

Lynn, the strongest person he knew was reduced to hysterics. This woman faced an apocalyptic invasion with self-assured composure. Threw a bomb into a renegade vehicle with a broken ankle. Completely calm. But this…

“I’ll talk to Lucas. I’ll be right back.”

She nodded without seeing him. Maybe without hearing him. His wife stared out at the ocean and watched herself die at her own hands repeatedly.

Lucas contended with his own partner’s issues. Andrew slammed his head into a cement wall shortly after arriving the day before. Knocked himself out. Pablo pumped him full of experimental sedatives for nacre-bearers. The padded walls of his new room waited patiently for Conscience’s mixed accounts of non-lives.

Pablo knocked gently, straightening his lab coat. Then he straightened it again. Brushed the back of his hands. Four times.

Lucas finally came out. “Doctor, can I do anything to help you?”

“Up to an interrogation?”

The Icarus’ eyes shifted to teal. His voice layered in three pitches, “Absolutely.”

They walked to the lab together in silence. Their quarry waited in the farthest cell, apart from the Icarean residents.

From his old cell, Twenty-One called, “If you need any help, Dr. Suarez, I’m known for this.”

Pablo nodded to the surprising Icarus, genuinely considering his offer. He stepped into the private observation room and turned on the lights in the cell.

The plain-looking man sat with his back to the wall. Knees up, wrists resting on them. He stared straight ahead as if disinterested. His voice sounded hollow, “I wondered how long before you’d show up.”

Lucas leaned casually against a table and folded his arms. He sounded composed as usual after resurfacing from Atramentous, “You work for Imminent.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

The man nodded, staring straight ahead.

“They coordinated attacks against the Progeny in one night.”

Another nod.

“Why? Why attack them? What does Imminent gain?” Lucas sounded genuinely confounded.

“We’ve reached the limits of which I can participate in your investigation.” He looked at them with pale brown eyes.

They both recoiled.

Crazed and wild, his expression begged for something. “Time to persuade me.”

Pablo was a healer. The idea of torture typically disgusted him. But the thought of his Lynn upstairs, too frightened to leave the room, fractured him into a man with few limits. He accessed the comms device on the wall.

“What’s up, Doc?”

Ahh, that joke. “Kyle, I need your expertise. Med Lab 2.”

“With pleasure. Can Silence come?”

Pablo nodded before he remembered the Progeny couldn’t see him. “We may also require her expertise.”

“On our way.”

“Yes. Call your superheroes. They do your dirty work and clean up Enki’s mess.” The Imminent trash huffed and faced forward once more.

“You aren’t in league with Enki, at all?” Lucas stood and leaned against the glass.

No response.

Kyle knocked, and Pablo let them in. Silence found some clothes that fit her. A spare suit Lucas brought for the trip. Well, part of it anyway. His loose-fitting white pants with the suspenders stretched over a white lacy bra she borrowed from Lynn. The bright shade popped off her dark gray skin.

Catching sight of her through the glass divide, the Imminent trash stood. “Who is she?”

Lucas, Pablo, and Kyle exchanged a glance. They wanted to know if Silence shared any involvement with the organization. It was hard to say.

The Icarean female ignored him and peered at the room as if she considered the dimensions.

Kyle, sans joint, waved his hand. “Don’t you worry about her for now. You and I are about to get better acquainted.”

“I look forward to it, Story Taker.” The stranger returned to his favorite position on the floor. “Am I not to meet Conscience as well?”

They ignored his knowing smirk.

Pablo let Kyle into the cell with Lucas for backup. Silence watched from the glass, transfixed as Story Taker knelt beside the man. He closed his green eyes and took the stranger’s wrist. The connection began. The man jerked involuntarily, and Lucas gripped him from behind.

Silence crouched in an avian perch and cocked her head to the side. It caught Pablo off guard. He desperately wanted to start the research on her memory, but these attacks took priority. Until then, he kept one eye on her and one on the cell.

Kyle fell back on his ass. “Son of a bitch!”

The man grinned at him from Lucas’ grasp. “That’s right, Story Taker. Nothing here to take.”

Silence straightened her head as Kyle looked sharply at her.

“What is it?” Lucas pushed.

The man barked out a laugh. “Why’re you looking at her? Bitch can’t help you—”

Lucas gripped the bastard in a sleeper hold. Pablo rushed in with the sedatives.

Silence followed, measuring the Progeny. “Yes?”

“Fuck.” Kyle thrust his fingers through his hair, angry. “His memory. It’s full of holes.”

They all looked at the stranger flooded with tranquilizers. An ugly sneer on his lips and dark laughter in his pale eyes.

Through the hold on his throat, he croaked, “You’ll never know why if I don’t.”

Pablo cursed, “Memory encryption.”

“Son of a bitch.”

The outburst from Silence took them off guard.

Kyle stared up at her and shook his head. Great. He taught her to swear.

“You can say that again.”