Chimera was taken aback as she stared at her friend on the roof.

It was strange, especially due to the fact that Glow would come through the front door like she did before.

She didn’t even know about this entrance.

Chimera smiled sheepishly, “h-hey Glow, I didn’t know you were stopping by.”

Glow didn’t answer her, and Chimera coughed as she tried to understand what she was seeing.

Glow had her powers activated, and an iridescent sheen covered her with a vibrancy that reflected some of the night sky.

“Umm… Glow?”

Glow started walking towards her.

“Chimera… or is it Sarah Bockman?”

Chimera flinched, “well, yeah, that was my old name.”

“Sarah Bockman died. Are you telling me it’s just a coincidence that you have her name? That you’re acquainted with her last known confidant Meghan Schumann? That one Aden Bockman, somehow healed of his incurable cancer, just shows up all better?”

Chimera shook her head, “where is this coming from Glow? Are you upset with me?”

She tried to make a move towards Glow, but…

Glow launched a blast of light at her feet.

“Don’t. Move.”

Chimera held up her hands, “alright! No movements. Can you tell me what’s up?”

Glow snarled, and for a moment Chimera felt a shiver run up her spine.

“Don’t pretend anymore, I already know the truth.”

Chimera felt her power activate as another blast of light smacked into her.

She absorbed the energy and fed it into her perpetual generator.

Chimera sighed, “look, Glow, I don’t even know what you heard. How can I explain myself here?”

Glow pulled out a pair of cuffs and a canister.

“You can come with me to the League. Ms Magica can do a scan of your thoughts, a full scan. Once we do that, we can clear you of any doubts.”

Chimera’s face turned into a scowl.

“The only way you’ll accept my account is if someone sifts through my thoughts? Glow, I thought we were teammates. Aren’t we supposed to trust each other?”

Glow closed her eyes and looked to the side, “then why didn’t you tell me about your past? Why did I have to hear it from a note? From a fucking villain?!”

Chimera’s mind was working a mile a second as she thought about the implications.

The only one’s who know would be the death children and Dr. Pox. Is this a way to keep me at the League, where he can capture me? Is this something to do with the League members that are doing illegal experiments?

Too many possibilites, not enough data.

“A villain? You’re taking the word of a villain over me?”

Glow shouted, “Stop! Stop with the misdirection! I wanted to believe it, truly I did, but you’ve been harboring villains in your home. You destroyed a harbor that had evidence regarding villain activity, and the underground facilities had noticeable cargo and technology that was missing. Low and behold, the scan of your home shows that same tech here.”

How?! Did I screw up somehow? Did Pox rat me out to get me off of his scent?

“Glow, I know this looks bad, but I can explain it all.”

Glow nodded, “yes, you can, at the headquarters.”

Chimera shook her head, “I have reason to believe that certain members of the League are either compromised or working towards villanous goals. I won’t put myself at their mercy.”

Glow chuckled, but it was filled with degradation, “of course, its the Hero’s that are evil right? You are the only one doing good in a city of villains.”

Chimera scowled, “yeah, that’s about it. I also confirmed that there's a mind controller involved, so it's very possible from where I’m standing.”

Glow’s face was twisted in a pleading gesture, “please Chimera, even if you don’t trust the Hero’s, at least trust me. I’m not going to put you in a situation where they harm you.”

Chimera wanted to believe that.

She would rather trust her friend to know that she had her back, and that nothing was going to turn out bad as long as she was there with her.

However, she also knew the kind of monsters that were out there, and she couldn’t take the chance that possibly, her friend might be working for the one who is moving the Hero’s in the shadows.

Chimera turned to look in her friend’s eyes.

“What if you can’t? What if they have too many people for us to stop them? And what if the only way to stop them for good, makes you look like a villain?”

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Chimera closed her eyes, “could you save people knowing that they would hate you for it?”

Glow stopped staring angrily for a moment, “that’s not even the point here Chimera. I’m trying to stop my friend from making a choice she can’t come back from.”

Her hands glowed, “If you leave now, I will have to chase you and bring you to the League. Don’t make me do that Chimera.”

Chimera felt an ache in her heart at the statement her friend made.

‘So, you don’t trust me then.”

Glow’s hands shimmered for a moment, “it’s you who doesn’t trust me, trust that I’m trying to help you. If you had told me about your past, I would have accepted it.”

Chimera felt rage spill over, “you would?! What do you really know?!”

Glow flinched as Chimera screamed at her, “My mother was kidnapped by a psychopath, and my father was killed by his best friend! My best friend had to save me from her father, only for the Heroes she went to for help to experiment on her body!”

Chimera’s body shifted, from her younger self, to the older version of Sarah, and finally back to her new body.

“Sarah had tried to find a cure for her brother, from a mutated cancer NO one had a cure for, or treatment, or anything! I wasn’t going to let my brother just die in the hospital!”

“Don’t you see?! I had to take it, I had no other way to stop the leukemia! Sarah… died for that cure!”

Chimera gritted her teeth at Glow, “you want to know the truth?! I’m going to find Dr. Pox, and Monica Ferrous, and kill them before they can do what they did to my family, to everyone else.”

Glow stared at her dumbfoundedly, her eyes wide as saucers as Chimera screamed at her one last time.

“The Death Children? ChemTech? Dr. Pox?! They’re all in on it together. If no one stops them, He’s going to make his ‘cure’ for humanity, and soon. I have to stop him! I can’t let him get away with what he’s done!”

“You want to know what I really am, Glow? You want the answer?!”

Chimera shifted into her true form, the blobish form of Crimson R.

Her body was covered in small spikes that glowed with electrical light, her generator charging her with energy.

Her pinkish red sheen glowed in the night sky as she made an orifice.

“This is what I really am! A Monster! An experiment made by that bastard Dr. Pox and his fucked up daughter Monica!”

Glow started to back away as Chimera moved closer to her.

“Well? Come on! Say something! Judge me, oh great hero!”

All of Chimera’s voices rang as one, and even though Sarah was in the back of her mind watching all of this, she too was nodding in agreement.

“You wanted the truth! Now you got it. No stupid mind bullshit or probes necessary!”

Chimera launched herself off of the roof.

“W-Wait! Chimera!”

“No! Fuck you!”

Chimera raced off in the direction of the abandond harbor, the raw visceral feelings of her truth pushing her forward even while her heart felt like it was broken.

Why couldn’t she just trust me?

Chimera couldn’t cry in her blob form, but she shuddered in gasps and sobs as she made her way across the rooftops towards her destination.

…

I fucked up.

Glow was trying to chase after Chimera as the small blob bounced farther into the distance.

To think it was this deep? A freaking bioweapon… that she was a dead scientist.

Glow thought about what led her here.

She had intercepted the message from Meghan regarding a villain incident near their home, and arrived to find Chimera fighting Crysa.

Crysa, the most deadly of the Death Children, a being that the Hero’s lost track of after she had been captured.

And Chimera was fighting her with an army of clones and powers.

Powers she had never told them about, and powers that looked oddly familiar.

Especially the super speed that was characteristic of her teammate Chase.

Why didn’t she tell us? Why hide the fact that she was this powerful?

Glow had to know, and she had to have a good reason to find out.

So she told Ms. Magica, who informed Captain Asta about the situation.

As soon as she did, it was determined that she needed to be captured at once.

So Glow went because they figured she would have the best chance of talking her down.

That was when they got the message about Chimera, and how she had been keeping things from the Hero’s League.

Meghan Schumann.

Aden Bockman.

Aura aka Killer Whale.

The Death of Terralord.

None of it seemed to make sense before the letter exposing Chimera as Sarah Bockman came to the headquarters.

Dear Heroes,

I thought it right for you to know that one of your own is a bioweapon created by Dr. Pox.

Not only that, but this ‘Chimera’ has connections with the following individuals.

I suggest you hurry, before she kills another.

From an anonymous source.

Glow didn’t want to believe it, especially since the cute lovable creature was a part of her team.

Still, they had to be sure.

They couldn’t afford to be caught off guard if Chimera turned out to be a villain.

Glow cursed herself as she blasted from roof to roof to catch up.

Chimera was a vigilante… She was looking for Dr. Pox not for justice but for revenge.

Revenge on a man who took everything from her.

Glow felt for her.

While she never knew the pain of losing a loved one to a conflict with a villain, she knew many who had.

Being from a super family, it was rather easy to hear from the ones who lost loved ones.

This isn’t the way though, Pox needs to pay for his crimes, not die for them.

Chimera… you can’t do this!

Inside her heart, she hated that she was having to bring in her friend.

But duty was a sacred thing in Glow’s family.

For the people, for a brighter tomorrow, I have to protect them.

Even if I have to do this to protect Chimera from herself.

Glow resolved herself to help her friend, to find out who sent the letter and to give her friend peace.

Her energy ignited as she pushed herself further and further towards the direction of her friend.

Chimera…

,,,