My fight was over, but so was his.

The flood in the room evaporated as stray voices echoed throughout the building. It could’ve only been the cries of joy and independence from the escaped Dreamers who raced out of the laboratory.

“No,” Alvin panicked. “No, this can’t be happening.”

Alvin turned to the Shadow, bug-eyed. The demon backed away from him as if their blood contract had been tainted.

“Where are you going?” he questioned the beast. “What about our deal? Why won’t you assist me?”

The Mark of Sin on Alvin’s wrist disappeared. He continued to plead, but the demon walked away from him. He tried to speed toward the Shadow and beg for power, but his sprinting capabilities failed as he trudged across the room.

“Why isn’t it working? How could they have escaped already?”

He stood in defeat with the vanishing of the Shadow doing him no favors. “I should’ve drowned you when I had the chance.” He turned to me and plunged his arm forward in hopes of manifesting another torrent, but his hand remained dry and wrinkled.

“No. My power. I don’t understand. I should’ve won.”

“It’s over, Alvin.” I caught my breath and regained my composure, standing on my two feet. “You’re done. The Dreamers are free. You have no more power.”

With his plan terminated and the battle concluded, Alvin wailed from his loss. His irate pacing around the room was the complete opposite of the calm and stern demeanor he had always displayed.

“You have nothing left,” I sneered. “And it only gets worse for you. Before coming here, I sent the lab’s GPS coordinates to an agent who was immune to your mind controlling ability. I’m sure he’s on his way. You have no other choice but to turn yourself in.”

He stared with a crazed expression. “I do have something left: the destructive power of your friend. Burn in hell, Aliyah Dawn.”

A searing flame formed in his hand with enough heat to incinerate me in seconds. With the thrust of his arm, he launched the fire in my direction, only to have it negated by a shield of flames that protected me from the blast.

Though bruised and battered, Janet returned to action and hobbled toward him. “You’re not taking away another person I care about.”

“How naive of you,” Alvin retorted. “Have you not learned anything from our confrontation? Your fire cannot harm me because it cannot harm you. I have all of your abilities.”

To his surprise, she grinned. “Let’s see if that’s still true.”

She continued to limp forward as the two unleashed a barrage of fireballs at each other. Janet’s flames, however, were clearly more powerful, as they engulfed all of his attacks and pushed him back.

“This is pointless,” he yelled. He marched toward her and swung a punch, only for his arm to be covered in her flames.

“Why does it burn?” he screamed in a frenzy. “What is happening?”

Janet grabbed the collar of Alvin's tuxedo with her right hand and mashed her left palm against his face. He hollered in pain and fell to his knees.

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“What a joke,” she said, melting his skin away as he cried louder. “You can copy my ability, but without a strong desire for the element of fire, you’re nothing more than an inferior old man. Hell, inferior is all you’ve ever been, isn’t it? You were never respected as a scientist. A quick search online led me to all of your failed experiments and endeavors. You’re just a garbage human being who tried to use the dreams of others to make your aspiration for power come true.”

“How dare you?” he vociferated through his torture. “You haven’t lived half of my years. You don’t understand the torment of working hard to only achieve nothing. I saw an opportunity to become a god, and I took it. Who wouldn’t?”

“You know, maybe I don’t get it. But who cares, ‘cause you won’t be living for much longer.”

The fire in her palm intensified to the point of replacing her entire left hand. If she pressed any harder on Alvin’s face, he’d surely combust. I shouted for her to stop just as she was about to set him ablaze.

“Janet, don’t kill him. If you do this, the negativity inside of you is going to erupt. It’s gonna be out of control, believe me. You have to—”

“Shut up, Aliyah. You think I’m gonna let him live? This murderer needs to die, and I’m not letting you convince me otherwise. His death is something you can’t prevent.”

“Maybe you’re right, but look at what revenge is doing to you. Since we’ve entered this building, you’ve massacred everyone. Those people you burned alive had families. They had loved ones who were waiting for them to come home tonight. They didn’t do anything wrong to you.”

Tears of frustration rolled down her cheeks. Had it not been for the negative aura spiraling around her, I may have let her go through with it. But killing now would result in a powerful Shadow being born, and one controlling Janet would probably be the end of New York City entirely. She was just too powerful of a Dreamer.

“What about my family?” she questioned through her sniffling. “This man took them away from me. He doesn’t deserve to live, and if I don’t kill him now, he’ll repeat this stunt all over again and capture people for his slave collection.”

“He can’t. He has no power left.”

“She’s right,” Alvin admitted with downcast eyes. “Power is all I’ve ever desired, because it’s all she ever wanted.”

“Who are you talking about?” I asked.

“My ex-wife. I lost her to someone in a much higher position. Someone with more power and respect than I could ever hope to gain without the virus. Can’t you see, Miss Dawn? No one should understand me more than you. Without the power of the virus, you would never be able to carry out your desire to free the world of its sins. No, your best efforts would be a mundane occupation with little to no results. You cannot change the world with such minimal power.”

I approached him and replied, “Yes, I can. People don’t need this crazy power to achieve their dreams and make an impact in the world. We’ve done it before, haven’t we? And we’ll continue doing it once I get this city back to normal. You want more power, Alvin, but at what cost? Destroying the foundation and structure of humanity?”

“Then what about the handicapped, hm? There are people who can see, walk, and hear now because of the virus. If you were to somehow get rid of the power it grants us, how do you think that will affect those with disabilities? You would be doing the world a disservice.”

My lips sealed. I had no answer. Janet groaned and released her grip on Alvin before shutting her eyes and turning away. I would have rejoiced had the temperature in the room not increased.

“Janet, what are you doing?”

“Taking everything away from him,” she answered, opening her eyes to reveal the inferno that flared in her pupils. “This place is his home. His life. So I’m gonna burn it down just as he did mine.”

Her eyes flashed before the thunderous sound of explosions were heard throughout the building. The room flickered red as the conflagration muffled the alarms and fleeing workers who clamored in terror.

“My kingdom,” he cried, falling on his back. “My paradise. It is no more.”

“We need to go,” I insisted. “Alvin, get your ass up. Evil or not, you’re still a human being. Let’s go.”

After he got to his feet, the three of us bolted out of the room and navigated the burning laboratory. Janet struggled in her condition, but she pushed forward and walked through multiple fires to seek out the safest route. I looked around for Valeria and Tyler on my way to the exit, but the more dangerous the area became, the more I feared I wouldn’t find them.

“I’m sure they made it out,” Janet hollered over the booming reverberation. The blazing environment was becoming too much to handle. “C’mon, we need to keep moving.”

She was right. This place was coming down, and we were not about to fall with it.