Fortunately, Agwé was already in the air by the time she had been contacted by The Secretary, having been helping with the project to reintegrate marine life into Rio De Janiero's shoreline. The Secretary had been contacted by Zip with her concerns over what Terri was going to try and do by herself.

But Agwé wasn’t expecting to see from over head what she did. She thought she was just going to help out or encourage her to leave them.

“Kansas, Merlin-One is about to land,” Agwé said, Merlin-One being her jet.

“Copied, Merlin-One. Update us when you do.”

Agwé came into land, near to where Terri was lying on the ground. “Kansas, I have landed. I see Terri on the ground. She doesn't look in a good way and she is alone. I’m going to scoop and run.”

“Copied Merlin-One. We have medical on standby.”

Agwé ran to Terri. “Terri!” she called out. Terri was pale, shivering and clearly in a state of shock lying in damp, squelchy mud. “What on earth happened?”

“L-long st-story, K-ki-i-im. G-get m-me out o-of...”

“Say no more, you got it!” Agwé went to lift Terri from under her arms but she wouldn’t budge. She was still in her rock state and stuck firmly in the wet mud.

Terri noticed Agwé's failed first attempt and started crying again.

“Girl, don’t worry. I got this.” Agwé touched the wet mud and extracted the moisture from it to lift Terri out of it, almost suspending her a foot off the ground, and from there manipulated her towards the jet.

“Wo-woah...” she muttered.

“Just relax, I’m able to drag you the rest of the way,” Agwé assured. She placed her on the flooring of the jet with a heavy, clunky sound as she was still stuck in her rock state. “I’m going to have to leave you for a bit but let me know if you need anything.”

Terri could only nod in acknowledgement. Agwé sat back in her seat and engaged the engines. “Kansas, Merlin-One has lift off and we are heading your way. She is alive and still in her rock form. Make sure medical is ready.”

“Kansas received.”

***

“I can’t believe this has happened to Terri,” Dylan said. Since arriving back at The Facility, Terri was rushed through to the hospital facilities where there was a team standing by.

The other members of The Enhanced Beings Collective- Brad, the triplets, Do’Lânqwa and Dylan had got there already, whilst Ferris was on his way from Canada.

Whilst the doctors were tending to Terri, Kimona and Dylan had dispersed from the others and sat together in a corridor.

“I’ve never seen anything like it, she was holding onto a part of herself, Dyl. It’d completely broken off.”

“That’s mad. Do we know what happened to her?”

“She passed out after I’d got in her into my jet, but all I know is she’d been in Australia looking into something to do with some Weather Girls, and Zip was concerned that she was on her own and The Sec sent me to go back her up.”

“Terri’s a fighter, Kim. She’ll be fine. It’s a good job you were so close. How is it going in Rio?”

“Yeah, alright. They’re getting there after the meteor landed. It seems to be getting back to normal.”

“You’ve been there a lot lately, I’ve noticed,” Dylan said, recalling the fact that she has been difficult to get hold of lately.

She sighed. “Yes. I still carry a lot of guilt around what happened and…” she trailed off.”

“And what? You're surely can’t be still blaming yourself for what happened out there? What was the alternative?”

“I know,” she admitted quietly. “I know.”

“And...? Was there anything else?” pressed Dylan. Kimona sunk into her chair a little more, beginning to feel uncomfortable.

“No, forget I said anything. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“C’mon Kim. You can talk to me,” he said leaning forward.

“I know, but I…” she began, shifting again. She looked at Dylan. Into his eyes, her own welling up. She saw sincerity in his eyes. A genuine want to help. To be there. For her. She hadn’t felt this much of a connection to someone for a long time. She inhaled, and he waited patiently. “Did you ever see footage on the news of me when I resurfaced in Truumdale?”

Dylan nodded. “Yeah," he smiled, remembering back to where he was when he did see it. "I had gone away with this girl I was seeing to the Wine Country in California when we got in and I saw it on the news. She was h- But… anyway, go on.”

“Well, when I was trying to get away, because I was scared and didn’t know where I was, I ran into a main road.” Kimona paused so Dylan, showing his sensitive, compassionate side, continued to wait without saying anything. “...A car crashed into me and I didn’t move. It didn’t harm me, or leave a mark on me. And I didn’t give it a second thought. I wasn’t thinking straight Dylan, and I didn’t know where I was and I’d been shot at by the police... But the people in that car… They died. A father and his two children, going to school. I killed them Dylan.” Kimona started sobbing and Dylan moved in with a comforting arm around her, allowing her the time to cry.

He could try telling her to not blame herself, but that wasn’t going to solve anything. She already was and nothing he could say would change it.

“Kim, why has this come up all of a sudden? I know it was a terribly unfortunate thing to happen, but it was a while ago now. I thought you’d have come to terms with it by now.”

“The New York Times have been in touch with The Secretary saying that they are going to run an article about it. They've interviewed the mother and wife of the victims and they wanted to know if I’d comment on it. She’s also planning on taking legal action against me.” Kimona started crying again.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Man that’s rough, Dylan thought. He held her closer as they just sat.

Five minutes of a shared silence went by before The Secretary came through the swing doors into the corridor, surprised at coming across the pair holding each other.

“Oh, erm… Is this a bad time?” she asked awkwardly. The pair pulled away from each other, Kimona’s face red and patchy.

“No, it’s ok,” she said. “I just told Dyl about what is happening at the moment.”

“Right, ok. No worries. Are you happy for him to sit in on an update I have with that?” The Secretary asked, sitting in a seat across from them. She only waited a beat before continuing anyway. “Ok, so that article will be running. We’ve not been able to prevent that. But we have been able to manage the situation. We do get to have our say which they’ve said will be fairly presented.”

“Well, that’s good news isn’t it, Kim?” offered Dylan, trying to impress positivity upon his friend. She meekly smiled at him, and he didn’t buy it.

“What about the legal action, Ma’am?” asked Kimona.

“Well. Trouble is, that you weren’t part of The Enhanced Beings Collective at the time of the incident, so legally there is no exemption.” The Secretary stopped when she clocked Dylan’s look of protestation. “Dylan, don’t even go there. I know exactly what you’re going to say but that’s just the fact of the matter. Enhanceds with The Collective have a degree of legal exemption for causing harm or taking lives whilst in the line of duty and I know what Kimona has gone on to do for us but we can’t technically operate with a loop hole that allows Enhanced people to take a life and then register with us in the hope they will be protected.”

“So there’s nothing that anyone can do for me?”

“Kimona, sorry. I didn’t mean for it to sound like that. I was just reminding Dylan of the practicalities. I do agree with him. I agree with you. But whilst that all might be the case from a legal stand point, we are also dealing with human beings and there’s some degree of reaching out and reasoning we can do to prevent any legal complications from going ahead.”

“Is there something in the works then?”

“Yes, which is why I wanted to speak with you. How would you feel about meeting her?”

Kimona was stunned. “Meet her? Does she want to meet me? Why?”

“She wants an apology.”

“Well of course! I feel really awful about what happened, Ma’am.”

“I wouldn’t, if she’s going to go ahead and sue your ass anyway,” Dylan interjected.

“Well we’re actually hoping by doing this, that she won’t. Her lawyers have been receiving offers from The Purists to fund her legal case so if we can avoid that then I’d say it’s worth doing.”

“And that’s all she wants?” Dylan asked sceptically. "Just an apology?"

The Secretary drew in breath. “Well no... there is more. Which we are working on.”

“Go on…” said Kimona, beginning to worry.

“She wants your apology for what you've done on TV. Publicly.”

“Right, ok. Well I can do that right?”

“...She also wants you to leave America and return to England.”

“What? That’s crazy! She can’t do that!” Dylan protested, getting up.

Kimona reached out to Dylan to sit back down. “I am British, Dylan. I suppose it’s not beyond reasonable expectations that I should go back.”

“But she can’t insist it, right? You work for America now. What if we refuse, Ma’am?”

“We?” Kimona asked, confused.

“Yeah, we’re a team. You’re not going through this by yourself.”

“Well, if Kimona doesn’t then she could be taken to court where a private prosecution could be pushed and she could be at risk of losing so much more anyway.”

“What?” Kimona cried out.

“But let’s not panic. We’re not there yet and we’re working on the relocation and seeing if she would change her mind on that part of her demands. So far, we’re definitely looking at a public TV apology.” The Secretary sympathetically smiled, as Kimona slumped back in her seat. “Trust me Kimona, we’re doing everything we can to reduce the impact on you and solve this quickly.”

“Thanks Ma’am.”

“I’ll be in touch with the details soon. But please, try not to worry.” The Secretary got up and walked off, leaving Dylan and Kimona.

“Kimona, I… I don’t know what to say,” Dylan muttered.

“What is there to say? My future here is in The Secretary’s hands for now. I’m just going to have to do what I need to do.” She breathed out heavily. “I just want to get back to Miami.”

“I’ll come back with you,” Dylan offered, after a moment of consideration.

Kimona was surprised by what he was suggesting. “What? No, Dylan. There’s no need for that. I’ll be ok. You’ve got your own things going on.”

“No no, it’s the end of the academic year. I can spare some time. Just to support you. I insist. For a month or so. Besides, I could do with a holiday. What do you say?”

“Well if you’re sure. It’s a lot to ask.”

“Not at all.”

“What about Pan? You’ve been helping him out, right?”

“He’ll be fine. It’s cool, I’ll speak with him. As long as you’re ok with it.”

“Well, yeah. Ok then.”

***

“Are you kidding me Dylan?”

“It’s just for a month, Pan.”

“Yeah, but you promised to sort me and the boys out as we settle back in. You were going to get me orientated into The Collective. How are you going to do that in Miami?”

“I still will, bud. But Kimona needs me. She’s going through a lot at the moment.”

“And we’re not? My cousins, my brothers, fought The Purists in a very public fight. We lost our home. My aunt’s home.”

“You’re right man. I didn’t mean anything by it. I know it’s not a competition. Look, I’ll have a word with Brad.”

“Forget it Dylan. We don’t need anyone. We’ll look after ourselves. Like it used to be.”