Chapter 17.5: Full Steam Ahead!
“You okay?” Dashuan tried to not let the worry cloud his voice as he put out his hand simply to Arc. She hadn’t moved from where she had awoken after relenting to Mina’s beatings and only sat with a blank expression in her eye as she rested with her head between her knees. He wondered why she let Mina lash out when he had always known her to be so strong.
“Can you just leave me alone Dashuan?” Arc fired back without moving, a small spark flaring out warningly.
He wondered the same thing sometimes. “I just don’t get it…Ultress has everyone wrapped around her fingers–How long have you known each other?’
“For as long as I remember; What does it matter now? Derek is going to kill everybody…” She lifted her head, catching Dashuan with a teary eyed glare and fixing him in place. Arc’s eye was still bandaged, reminding Dashuan of when they first met and nearly killed each other as if it was only hours ago.
He smiled at the thought of how angry Derek probably was as he scrambled to search the globe for his ‘lost tools’ now conspiring to use him in the same manner. “Derek won’t do anything. He may be a psychopath but he's not insane…You notice how he didn't even try to chase us?”
Arc flinched at his words, pulling her hand off her knee and pointing to his forehead. “He never needed too…”
“What do you mean?” His heart began to beat quicker, not from the intense stare but from what Dashuan was afraid of for a long time after he had quelled the New Heaven incident and was told he had autonomy;
“He’s been tracking you since way back…all of us originals he’s been able to come in contact with, Ultress and me are the only ones who knew after Cassandra was compromised and stopped responding to communications–I was supposed to keep an eye on him and find out what he and the government knew; destroy anything I found that seemed too dangerous.” Arc began to look toward the glowing moon over the ocean’s low tide, Dashuan followed her watch to the tranquil never ending expanse of water as she kept speaking. “He somehow flipped Cassandra even after Ultress broke her head, something she made me watch…I had to kill her or she would have led him here using you. But then–” She paused, throwing her fist into the sand.
“Then why did she show up now?” Dashuan asked, pulling his eyebrows together in confusion.
Arc sighed. “Because she wants to make people watch what she does next…” She chuckled sarcastically while shaking her head. “It’s going to be big though, I would be sure you know what side you're on before this all goes to shit.”
Dashuan paused for a moment, listening to the subtle lapping waves before speaking in a playful tone. “Why does there have to be sides? What side are you on?”
Stolen novel; please report.
“Ultress’.” She stated plainly as another wave settled over the wet sand a few feet beyond their silhouettes in the bright moonlight.
“But why? Why not just leave…We can both just–” Dashuan smacked his hands together, pointing his finger to the moon just as a dark cloud passed over its brilliance. “We can go anywhere...”
“Between Mina and AirForce–That’s asking to be killed or worse…She can do things Dashuan, with her mind; break other peoples fucking heads until they’re just drool covered and can’t even shit without her say so. Most of the people here that are human are just extensions of her. I can see it in their eyes; theyre all just fucking puppets in her game Dashuan.” Arc snorted at the futility of it all. A telepath? Dashuan thought he had felt something wrong when he arrived; a pressure in the base of his spine that slowly spread until ceasing but ignored it as nerves–Had he already been taken over? Was he even himself any longer– “Don’t have an aneurysm, she can’t affect Aberrants; That’s why she has AirForce. Dude would kill anything just for the sake of it.”
Dashuan could feel his brain whiplashing at the information, not able to make much sense of it all and what his role in all this was. “So what do we do?” He asked in a low tone.
“Mr. TITAN!” A little girl's voice blared into their ears, causing Dashuan to turn and see a sight that almost made his jaw fall of his skeleton; A small red scale covered Aberrant being carried toward them by a very annoyed looking Mina along the beach; Her body was covered in scars and her left arm heavily set in a thick cast but overall she seemed overjoyed to see him. “You are alive!” She began to squirm in Mina’s arms until she jumped loose, beginning a run that ended with her standing excitedly to stare at him with large eyes. “Do you remember me?”
Dashuan had to hold back tears, trying to remain stoic though his heart was filled with happiness at not only her survival but her appearance here in the tumultuous paradise. “How did–”
“Same place they picked you up: Area 58. They turned it into some holding pen.” Mina said spitefully as she opened a small portal the size of her hand and grabbed a fruit from a nearby tree. Her shimmering eyes scanned it for a moment before she took a small bite that seemed to please her as she took a much larger one within seconds.
“I’m super strong though–Like you! Nothing they did hurt me!” The little girl said happily as she looked at him expectantly, Dashaun felt astonished that as much as she had pushed him to fight to save them that he had made a similar impact without even knowing.
He put his hand out and ruffled her hair, putting himself to her height as he still held back from tearing fully up. “You’re much stronger than me! It took me years to be as brave as you were…” Dashuan noticed that Arc had already stood up and began to leave, probably unable to handle the sight of someone she had almost killed at the hands of the same person who now ordered her to be saved…Ultress, Dashuan thought with a small hint of vexation taking his heart. “To be as brave as anyone here–What’s your name?”
The little girl seemed to stiffen, her body almost rejecting the memories surfacing from the question. “My name is Mary…my mama called me a monster. The scientists said the same thing–”
Dashuan couldn't stand to see her cry. “Well since you aren't a monster, I’ll just call you Mary; if that's okay with you?” He said as she began to smile slightly.
“I think I want a name like yours, Mary is boring and Titan is way cooler if I’m gonna be a hero like you when I grow up!” Mary said it with such certainty and genuine belief that it made Dashuan easily smile back, without feeling any longer that he wasted his time helping those in New Heaven.
“Well then I guess we better find something that works best for somebody with such awesome powers!” Dashuan felt happy, ignoring the stress of the future for even just a moment.