Location: W Safehouse

Time: 11:30 PM, 2/21/08

Okay. So things have gotten a little out of hand. Where exactly did things go wrong? I’m not sure.

Was it when a school field trip turned into a bloodbath? Or maybe when practically every member of W was wiped out in a matter of hours. Or how about when I was backstage at a concert and blew up a stage?

Let’s start with that one. The stage itself was too big. I shouldn’t have tried to use my augmentation on anything that large. I used so much energy that I was knocked out for days. I was worried about what happened to Olivia, but she gave an interview on the news and looked fine.

A member of the backstage staff saw my unconscious body and carried me out with the rest of the evacuating crew. They must have thought I passed out from shock or something. At some point someone took me to a hospital, because that’s where I woke up.

I was worried that someone from the ARA or BAA would bust in and take me out, but no one ever came.

Then I was released, simple as that.

Apparently I’m a loose end that’s not even worth tying up.

Olivia was right. Despite everything that happened, my life just continued on like normal.

Well, not exactly normal. Because of the, well, you know, incidents, school had been canceled for the past week. Not to mention, I don’t exactly have anywhere to live. For now, I’ve just been hiding out in various W safehouses, but I can’t keep that up forever.

I’d have to leave this city soon anyway.

A knock on the apartment door snapped me out of my internal monologue.

Looking back, I probably should have been more cautious. This was supposed to be a secret W safehouse. I should have thought more about who might be knocking on the door.

But I didn’t. I opened it without a thought in my head. Fortunately, it was someone I could trust.

“Jaxon! You’re alive!”

“I’ve become a rather difficult person to kill.”

I pulled Jaxon into the room and shut the door behind him. The coat he wore was fine, but I could see blood stains on his clothes.

“Are you ok? What happened?”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. They’re old wounds. They just haven't closed up fully yet.”

“Do you need a doctor? Oh, no, that’s probably not a good idea. Maybe I can help?”

Jaxon gave me a look halfway between pity and fear.

“No, that’s fine. I received medical training when I joined the force. I’ve stitched them all up properly.”

“Then what’s going on? I thought everyone from W was dead, that’s why I’ve been hiding here.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think there’s anyone left. I’ve checked everywhere I could think of, and you’re the first living person I’ve found.”

“Then who did it to you? Where have you been?”

“It was Lucy, the girl who showed up at W after I did. She was an Aberration, and she was working for the princess, who in turn was working with the government. They were already inside W, just waiting for the moment to take them out.”

One of the Sanguine Princess’s pets then. I shouldn’t be surprised.

“How did you manage to get away? Does your ability even work on aberrations?”

“It doesn’t, I just got lucky. An acquaintance showed up and distracted her long enough for me to escape.”

“An acquaintance? Did he come to save you?”

“No, not a chance. It was just a coincidence. He was there looking for someone else. A kid named Henry.”

Of course. Why was I not surprised to hear his name?

“Henry is another aberration that works for the princess. He doesn’t care about humans at all.”

“Well, no matter what his goals were, he ended up saving me. And as for where I’ve been, I’ve been checking every W location I could think of. I thought maybe someone was still alive.”

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“They’re too thorough for that. We’re probably the only ones left, and we’re not even full W members.”

“Huh? I know I never actually joined up, but I thought you were a member.”

“I might have thought that at one point, but I betrayed what W stood for, and I don’t regret it. I did what I had to. I’m sure if they were still around, I’d have been kicked out, at best.”

“I’m familiar with the feeling. What happened?”

“I helped save Karen Kaldsen. I know you have a bad history with the ARA, but I don’t regret it. I believe in saving everyone. It’s not my place to pick and choose who lives and dies.”

I was a little afraid of telling him the truth. I wouldn’t lie though. I made my choice.

“Exactly! You get it!”

Jaxon held out his real hand for a handshake, and I reciprocated.

“Justice.”

“Heroics.”

We both spoke at the same time.

“Close enough.”

“The idea is the same.”

Another knock on the door caused us to pull our hands apart.

“Oh? I’ll get it.”

“Wait.” Before I could grab the doorknob, Jaxon stopped me. “Shouldn’t you be more careful? Besides me, who would know about this place?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t think about that.”

“It could be someone coming for you, or probably me.”

“Good thinking. Now what?”

“Hey, I’m not an enemy, and the door isn’t as thick as the two of you seem to think it is.”

A familiar voice came from the other side of the door.

“Jaxon, I think we’ve been found out.”

“I agree.”

“Can you open the door already?”

“Oh, yeah. Sure.”

I attempted to open the door again, and this time no one stopped me.

Olivia was standing on the other side with a hand on her hip. I could still recognize her, but something wasn’t right. Or maybe it’s that nothing was right. Her hair, facial features, eyes, even her demeanor. None of them seemed quite right.

It was clearly Olivia, but it wasn’t Olivia at all. She wasn’t even wearing her headphones.

“I’m coming in.”

She pushed her way past Jaxon and me. I closed the door behind her and followed her into the living room.

“Olivia, what are you doing here? How did you even find me?”

“Because you never turned the GPS tracking on your phone off. Forget about hiding from the government, anyone with your phone number could find you.”

“Eheheh, woops.”

“Emily, who is this?”

“A friend.” I’m sure giving her name would only complicate things for Jaxon.

“Jaxon Charlotte, this is the first time we’re meeting, but not that long ago we were being held captive together.”

“Then you’re. . .”

“Yeah, Olivia Oldridge. I’m sure you’ve got plenty of things you’d like to say to me, but I didn’t come here for you. Honestly, you getting here before me is troublesome enough. So how about if I agree to not tell anyone you were here, you don’t try to get any information from me.”

“We don’t have to make a deal like that. I’m not sure what you think about me, but I have no interest in causing problems for someone I’ve never met. You two can talk, I’m going to check the perimeter and make sure no one followed me here.”

I’m certain that Jaxon already made sure of that before knocking on the door, but I didn’t stop him from leaving.

“Olivia, what’s happening? Why did you come here?” I wasn’t upset to see her, but coming here like this might have put her in danger.

“I’m sure the old me would have said something like, ‘an idol always pays her debts.’”

“That’s the other thing. I was trying to have some delicacy, but I’m just going to ask anyway. Olivia, what happened to you? Are you even Olivia?”

“For the first time in a long time, I feel like I’m actually me, but not the one you’re familiar with. I didn’t come here to talk about that though. Here.”

She tossed a piece of paper at me. There was an address and a five digit code written on it.

“That’s your new apartment. I figured you can’t keep staying in places like this forever.”

“Huh?”

“I’ve come to realize how powerless I am, in more ways than one. But this is something that I can do.”

“But, why would you? I’m nothing but trouble. And I’m not just talking about when I accidentally say explo-, say the boom word.”

“Because you helped me, no questions asked. The whole thing turned out to be a farce, but neither of us knew that. This city needs more people like you. Can’t say I’m a fan of any augmented, but at least I know you’re a good person underneath all that crazy.”

“It’s not just me! If anything, you’re more of a hero than I am. You saved me, and I saw it on the news. You saved people at your concert as well. I just helped.”

“Maybe that was the case then, but looking back, I can’t understand why I did any of that. And I can assure you, I’ll never do anything like that again.”

Olivia left without saying much else, putting me in a difficult position. I tried to offer her something to eat, but I guess she isn’t the type to eat a midnight snack.

Meals aside, I wasn’t exactly sure what to do.

No, sorry, that was a lie. I should have felt conflicted, but I’m too simple minded for that. I knew that once this city was officially part of the Empire, I’d have to leave. That was the one rule I was given years ago. I can’t use my fake identity in the Empire, seeing as it belonged to a dead woman. And since my real identity in the Empire labels me as nothing more than property, that’s not an option either.

But I wasn’t going to leave. I’d completely given up doing something as easy as that.

Olivia was thankful. She said this city needed more people like me. How was I supposed to leave after something like that? I had to stick this out until the end. Unsurprisingly, even at the end, this was still an epilogue on heroics.