The Phenomena of Fireflies and Star... - Chapter 22: Chapter 22

October 23, 2023
The Next Day
The Old Principado Settlement
Blackbird Peak
5:31 AM
Max sat on the bench, looking over the field below as the sun continued to spread its light across the landscape. It was such a breathtaking sight. He used to watch the view with his father, and for a long time since his transformation, he'd been coming back to the place alone. He could remember the first time he had returned to Principado after becoming a superhuman covert operative. It had been found out and raided, but his family had already been evacuated. They'd been made to believe that he had died. He could remember watching them from afar, witnessing their grief and their mourning. He remembered how long it had taken his parents to heal and move on. He hadn't been able to be there for them because of what he had become and what he had become part of.
The dark history of Arkanghel and its two settlements that had almost been left unspoken had eventually given birth to the Legend of Blackbird Peak: a forgotten place shrouded in mystery and misrepresented by superstitious accounts and evidences of the brutality of war.
In his periphery, he caught sight of Ames approaching the bench. Max looked toward Ames, who had decided to replace his baggy upper garments with a comfortable white tank top underneath a wide-necked scarlet sweater. Max tapped the space by his side. Ames comfortably took the spot, slipping into Max's arm without question.
Today would be the second time that Max shared this view with Ames. He held Ames tighter against himself as they watched the morning sweeping in. Last night would be forever etched in Max's memory, and the promise that the sunrise he was witnessing brought with it was something he wanted to hold on to for the rest of the journey that he was going to share with Ames. His sleep had been peaceful for the past couple of weeks, but last night's sleep had been energizing. Uplifting.
"You woke up late," Max commented, taking a sniff of Ames's hair. For someone who hadn't taken a bath, Ames's hair still smelled strawberry-sweet.
"I couldn't fall asleep immediately with your heavy-ass leg pinning mine," Ames complained. "Easy on the workout. You're not on active duty anymore."
"Speaking of," Max replied. "You ready for a hike back to the car? No levitating. No floating."
"Yep," Ames said. "Let's just take this view in for a few more minutes. It's the semester break already, anyway."
"Gladly."
On the Road
7:25 AM
The road curved ahead, and Max was already starting to see more cars. The highway ahead would be busier in a while. That wouldn't be a problem for Max, though.
Thoughts of last night continued to flash in Max's mind without permission, but gladly so. He welcomed each flashback of such an unforgettable night. He'd been so blessed, even after leaving behind his duty so abruptly. He hadn't completely forgotten his original plans to start over, but he knew that from this point onward, he was taking Ames with him.
He wanted it that way.
He'd never felt more truly alive than how he'd been feeling since last night.
For decades, he had functioned as an agent. A weapon. An instrument. Division had groomed and dolled him up better than it had ever treated him. Last night's personal victory was something he would never give up. There was no way that he was ever going to allow himself to slip back into the life he had left behind. If it had been any life at all.
"You know," he said, remembering his past. "Superhumans undergo psychological conditioning. That's a constant. They wanted to keep us in line, so they made sure that we knew how to keep ourselves in line."
Ames sat in the passenger seat, enjoying the sights outside.
"How bad was it?" Ames inquired.
"Pretty rough," Max admitted, wincing at the memory. "Main points were always: failure was never an option, the nation's fate rested on our shoulders and every consequence of our failures and mistakes was a red mark in our ledger, and lastly, being a hero always came first. Always. No matter what."
"For decades?"
"Yep."
"That's rough."
"It's a higher level of manipulation that I now find hard to forgive," Max said frankly, following the curve of the road. "When you're there in the sessions, you see their points and they win against your counterarguments. It's when you try to sleep that the real thoughts come in. Either you have nightmares or you can't sleep at all. It's a pain in the ass."
"Contract involved?"
"Unfortunately, yes. What I did was a breach."
"We'll deal with that together," Ames said firmly. Max glanced at him, giving him a grateful smile.
"It all sounds very clinical and very methodical," Max explained, focusing on the road again. "But the actual process was something else. We weren't forced into the contract. We were conditioned to sign it and conditioned to keep agreeing with it. And then for the years that followed, every failure was our fault. Even if the failures weren't ours. Because we were, um, more capable and should have known better. As they'd say."
"Why are you telling me this now, Max?" Ames asked.
"Because...," Max wanted to word what he was going to say the best he could. The way he meant it. "Because I've never been happier, more hopeful, than I am now. Because of you. The past decades feel like a long parody of what it means to be alive. A poor parody. Strictly measured. No real free will. Plagued with self-loathing. But today? Last night? The past month? I know I'm alive because of you."
"Don't worry," Ames replied. Max was pleasantly surprised when Ames suddenly reached out to touch his chest. "Feel me."
Max complied, using his empathy to feel Ames. The pulsations of trust and determination from Ames's hand came to Max like waves crashing onto the shoreline. They were quite empowering reads.
"We're both fighting for better destinies," Ames said. "You won't let them take that away. Neither will I."
With that, Ames retracted his arm.
Max had always found it interesting how Ames had learned to make an influence on his empathy so quickly, but he wasn't complaining anytime soon. Finally, somebody understood him the way he longed to be understood. That was Ames.
Whatever it was that bonded them together, and however far it would take them, Max wouldn't share that link with anybody else but Ames.
He had never felt this alive before.
He hadn't felt this vulnerable in a long time, but this time, it felt deeper and more promising.
He was experiencing the bliss of human experience, and it was a bliss strengthened by empathy, both the human and the superhuman kind. When the time would come that it would blossom into something stronger, he'd be willing to be forged by the warmth and the force of its fire again. The secret world he had created with Ames promised a path ahead.
And he would take it.
Fight for it, even. Without doubt and without question.
Andrade Residence
8:15 AM
Ames could see a familiar chrome pink sports car parked opposite his house. A woman dressed in a sharp all-black pantsuit rested her back against the side of it. It clicked eventually. The change of hair color to black had confused Ames initially.
"Eliza...," Ames whispered, recognizing his friend as she pushed off of her car and took off her pitch black shades. The outfit was quite a stunner, and Ames couldn't contain his amusement at how extra his friend could be. "This queen really knows how to leave an impression."
Max slowed the car down to a stop.
Ames pursed his lips to stifle his chuckles as he watched Eliza make her way to the front of their vehicle and pose like she was about to read someone. It was her putting a hand on one hip that topped it all off.
"What took you boys so long?" she demanded.
"Your friend is quite something, Ames...," Max commented through his snorts.
"She's like that when she's in the middle of something and needs a laugh," Ames whispered in response.
Eliza broke her act eventually, laughing at herself as she shoved her shades into the stylish black purse that hung on her right.
"Yeah, this all-black ensemble isn't killing it," she commented as she trotted in her heels toward Ames's window. Ames excitedly lowered his window, allowing Eliza to take a look inside.
"Please tell me you missed me, bestie," Eliza went off. "Or you're so fired."
"Missed you a bunch, you evil witch," Ames replied. "I would hug you, but I haven't bathed yet."
"You smell like strawberry and dry wood," Eliza commented, nodding in agreement. "It's distinct. Very niche."
"Oh, you haven't met," Ames remembered, leaning back to introduce Max. "Max, this is my best friend, Eliza. Chief Financial Officer of Wang Industries. Technological genius, too. Leader of her coven. I'm kidding, but not really."
Eliza reached in for a brief handshake with Max.
"Eliza, this is Max," Ames continued. "Co-teacher. We're, um..."
'This is the thing about not having labels,' Ames thought as he trailed off. 'What's the proper term for this one?'
"We're dating," Ames concluded. The look of surprise and excitement on Eliza's face didn't take a subtle transition. She had known about Harvey's passing, and she'd been a great support system for Ames's recovery, but she was still unaware of what had truly happened. Ames had decided not to share that with her, not because he didn't trust her, but because he knew that she would do anything in her power to hit back for him. He could definitely do with less people in his life putting themselves in the path of danger.
"That's great!" Eliza chirped. "I'm happy for you both. You must be quite somebody, Max, to get through my best friend's hide. He's a tough cookie and a bit of a puzzle. Loves the simple life, dreams big. Which is it, really? He's a firecracker, but you'll love him."
"Calm down, Elle," Ames whispered through gritted teeth, widening his eyes at her. "Some wingwoman, you are."
"He's more like fireflies, really," Max replied. "But yeah, I see the fire."
Ames actually felt his cheeks warm up with that statement. He tried to hide it, but Max's empathy had surely already picked that up.
"Similes," Eliza remarked, lifting a finger as she glanced at Ames. "Bestie, he has our wit. Good pick."
"I really hate you right now," Ames said helplessly, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Yeah, about that...," Eliza replied, laughing in a rather strange way. It almost sounded guilty. Ames scanned the look on his best friend's face. The grin was still there, but he knew her professional smile from her casual smile, and there had already been a glaring difference, at least to him, in just a few seconds. "Not yet, Ames. We'll get there."
"This is, like, really good coffee," Eliza commented yet again.
They had decided to have coffee in the dining area, and now Ames was patiently observing Eliza as she constantly tried to delay saying what she had to say. It was so painfully obvious.
"Thank you for reminding me for the nth time, Elle," Ames replied, trying to get Eliza to look at him. Eliza definitely noticed that.
"Yeah, here we go," Eliza remarked, taking a long sip before putting down her cup and lifting her chin. Ames knew her character very well. Something was bothering her. She was just trying to keep her muscles locked around whatever she was carrying. "Remember the big deal that I was working on? The one I mentioned over two weeks ago?"
"Yes, Miss Ma'am," Ames said, urging her to go on.
Eliza scanned his eyes for a while, as if trying to predict how he would react. With one last self-encouraging nod, she eventually spoke.
"This is kind of big," Eliza said in a low voice. She looked behind her for a while, as if trying to make sure nobody was around. "Where's Max? Is he close? I need this to be just between us. Off the record."
"Outside," Ames replied. "Washing the car."
"Okay, great," Eliza said, clasping her hands and putting them on the table. "You know about Division, right?"
It was as if something had dropped in Ames's chest. Eliza's mention of Division was as untimely as it was suspicious. It was also very surprising, and Ames hoped he hadn't paled at Eliza's mention of it.
"Yes, the corpo' running the superhero program...," Ames said, maintaining a straight face. "What about it?"
"They made the deal," Eliza said, looking sideward in thought. "With Wang Industries."
"What?" Ames blurted out in a whisper. "What for?"
Ames had a bad feeling about what Eliza was about to say. He had an idea in mind.
'Max, I know you can't hear my mind,' Ames thought, trying his best to allow his discomfort to translate in his emotions in a way that only Max could pick up. It might not be an accurate read on Max's end, but Ames needed the man around, regardless. 'But you can feel me. I'm feeling the need to have you here right now. You feel me? Secretly. Please detect this. I think you need to hear this.'
Ames maintained the feeling he was allowing himself to "pulsate", a term Max had used before to describe how he received other people's emotions.
"Division and Wang Industries made a deal," Eliza continued. "They're going to use one of our new buildings to store an important asset of theirs. Turn it into a testing lab in the future, too. It's related to the Creaton. You know about the Creaton?"
"Yeah," Ames replied. "Almost everybody does. They even have memes about it on the internet."
"Huh," Eliza said. "Yeah, Division... Um. It managed to derive this, um, thing. It's like a power source. Derived from the original Creaton..."
Ames noticed the front door opening very quietly, stopping at a suspiciously unusual angle. Eliza had her back turned to the door, but Ames had a good view of it. He decided to not look at it anymore.
"They discovered that if you take a shard from the Creaton and isolate it for at least ten years, the shard becomes a limited power source," Eliza continued.
Ames remembered Max telling him about Division trying to find a way to make the Creaton's effects controllable and temporary, but he wasn't sure if Eliza was headed there. He had a terrible feeling about it, though. He could feel the nervous acceleration of his heartbeat. He coughed it off, hoping not to look so obvious.
"Okay?" Ames urged.
"I mean every part of the Creaton is a power source," Eliza went on. "Unlimited power source. Unless, they discovered, you isolate the shard for ten years. Then it eventually has an expiry. I'm totally talking on layman's terms here, 'cause that's not my field of study..."
"Oh no. I get you. I get you."
"Right."
"They already tested it out?" Ames inquired. He felt a slightly queer feeling of not being alone, as if somebody was making one's presence known. Ames tried his hardest not to look around. He knew that Max had snuck in invisibly. He was definitely nearby, within earshot.
"On a cop," Eliza said. "An injured cop. He was injured last month during the citywide attack. He was tested on around that time, too."
'Reminds me of someone I know,' Ames thought of Max automatically. He cleared his throat again to distract himself from the tension that was translating in persistent percussion in his chest.
"With consent, yes?"
"Yeah. With contract, too."
"Oh. That's good, right?"
"I sure hope so," Eliza remarked, rolling her eyes. Both Ames and Eliza knew how tricky contracts could be. "This cop recovered from his injury. Like, very quickly. Plus other quirks. He, um, developed the ability to turn his tissue into metal."
"Oh. That's convenient."
"It was a measured exposure, I heard. His new talent lasted for only a week until he threw it up. Vomited his evolved cells, I heard. He was still healed, though. So yeah, that's convenient."
"Huh," Ames exhaled, shaking his head slightly. His hunch was right. Division had finally found a way to make a more controllable variant of the Creaton. He knew that, for some people, such a development would be good news. Max would definitely have a different opinion, and Ames was sure to agree with him. As it appeared, Eliza wasn't exactly ecstatic about it, too. "What a world this turned out to be."
"I know, right?" Eliza replied, scoffing. "You find out there are super-people flying about and insurance rates spike up. You never know what's going to land on your face the next second. Then there was COVID. Glad we're past that bitch. Makes you want to leave the planet or something."
"Eliza, this is top-secret info. You have a lot of top-secret info. Why share this one?"
"This is the part where I hope you don't kill me, Ames."
That remark had an immediate effect on Ames. His heartbeat was starting to sound like a galloping horse, and his throat was getting drier and drier. He persevered in concealing his unease. He needed to hear what Eliza was going to tell him at once.
Eliza stalled for a while, shutting her eyes in the stress she was also obviously trying to hold at bay.
"They found out," she finally said, blinking as she forced herself to continue. Her hand gestures were controlled, but they were telling. "They found out that you learned to control the Synapse."
It felt like Ames's heart had been sucked into a funnel.
"Do you mean..."
"They know about The Mastermind."
Ames couldn't speak for a while. He wasn't sure how to take it. He definitely had a lot of questions.
"How?!" he demanded in a harsh whisper. "How did they know?"
"I didn't tell them," Eliza said, holding up her hands. "But they said that they recognized the behavior of the Synapse when you put The Mastermind up on the internet."
"How did these people get a hold of that?" Ames pressed on. He could almost paint so precisely the apologetic look on Eliza's face. It wasn't that the Synapse was top-secret. It had simply been deemed unfit for the market for being too intelligent. It was almost a sentient being on its own.
"Well, we did make the Synapse," Eliza reminded him. "Wang Industries. We haven't ditched it completely. We don't just ditch tech we can't sell. We set them aside until we figure out what to do with them. You did. They caught it. We have cybersecurity in place. We have researchers going through every space just to see how else we can advance. Among others."
"I mean it's not like Synapse was top-secret, right?" Ames asked.
"No," Eliza replied. "But you made it work. You tamed a technological beast that wasn't your own and put a collar and a leash on it, and they want to know how."
"You," Ames said. "Wang Industries. You made this. How come you don't know how to control it?"
"It's not that we didn't have a basic understanding of how," Eliza said in defense. "But we didn't know where to direct it. We didn't know where to put it. We thought we did. Turns out, it was a little too scary to be in the market. It continued to outsmart us. Ames, they're coming for it. It's a complex ethical bullshit drama, and I..."
Eliza dunked her face into her palms for a while.
"Elle," Ames called out.
"I got us in here," Eliza said, sighing as she lifted her head.
"No," Ames replied, grabbing her wrist reassuringly. "It's my fault. I overstepped my bounds. Got a little too ambitious, and now here we goddamn are. But what did you mean by "they're coming for it"?"
"I came here to let you know," Eliza cleared her throat before proceeding. "They know about The Mastermind. They know about you. They're coming. In four days. I tried everything in my power to manipulate them the hell out of our way. I didn't have enough firepower."
"What do they want to do with it?"
"They want you to demonstrate how The Mastermind works. They're planning to use it on Creaton research, including research on the limited variant. Somehow. They've got a lot of variant shards. They've prepared documents for you. They've prepared money. They're not playing around."
That was chilling to Ames. This was what Dr. Masuda had warned him about. He hadn't even released the entire thing yet, only a small part of everything that it was. He immediately thought of informing her, but he held himself back.
It was getting too overwhelming, and Ames hated how he was feeling all the unpleasant sensations in his body more consciously in the silence that he'd been sucked into. He hated even more how he'd been so happy and so content just a few hours earlier. He hated how he'd had the best night last night, only to wake up to what had just turned out to be another disappointing day. It was as if he had to pay for his highs every single time.
He had to put his thoughts in line.
He had one, and he knew it would come off a little too strong.
"I made The Mastermind," he said, almost hissing. "For those who couldn't learn in school. I made it to bring the school to them. I made it because I wanted people to be their best selves, to learn how and where to stand in this screwed up world. I didn't make it to be used in Creaton research. I can't trust anybody with that kind of access to that level of power to keep ethics in mind."
"I know...," Eliza said, a sad sigh tailing her words. Ames was too ensnared by the thoughts plaguing his mind to care about Eliza standing from her seat and wrapping him in an empathetic hug, despite him not having taken a bath yet. "I really tried to fend them off. I can't believe I pulled that many strings. I just... Dammit."
"I even held off on thinking of profit when I made this," Ames allowed the words to escape his mouth. It helped ease the anger and the frustration that was building up inside of him. "This goddamn Mastermind is not just a PhD thing, Elle. It's a mission. I made this with the best of intentions! I spent years just milking whatever I could from my brain."
Eliza clung on, her expensive sleeves around Ames's shoulders.
"And now what?!" Ames wasn't even sure if he was still keeping it down. "Creaton research? They just pulled a damn New Age Initiative on us. We have an army of superhumans now. We have harder living conditions. We're going to have more. When I said I wanted to bring out the maximum potential of people, I didn't mean contributing to more superhuman projects."
He didn't care if Max heard. That was the truth of his mission, and Max had long been made aware of where Ames stood in the conversation about superhumans. Max was an exception, and he was the most important exception.
But he was exactly that: an exception.
Ames had gotten lucky with Max, and he could've been very unlucky that night. He couldn't tell about the others, and he frankly would rather not have to deal with them in any way.
"When are they coming again?" he demanded as Eliza slowly pulled away and sat back on her chair.
"Friday," Eliza answered, shaking her head. "Friday morning."
"You said they have documents and money?" Ames asked further.
"Yeah."
"They can't buy me."
"I know they can't, but I need you to promise me that you won't get hurt."
"I won't," Ames declared. "I'll think of something."
"I couldn't win on my ground," Eliza said. "But we might be able to win on yours. I've just run out ideas. I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry."
"I'm sorry, too," Ames replied, tapping his best friend's clasped hands. "When are they gonna' get started with your deal?"
"Monday next week," Eliza said. "They'll be transporting the shards on that day to the Diameter. That's our new building. The ETA is twelve noon."
Ames kept that in mind. He didn't know yet what he had to do. If he eventually did know what to do, he would have to evaluate how ready he would be to make that choice.
"Friday and Monday," he muttered to himself. He kept the days in mind like he sighted a bullseye. "Goddamn Friday and Monday."
The day had been ruined. Just like that.
"Ames, I cannot stay..."
"You should go, Elle. You have work to do."
"I wish I had more to give," Eliza said, her voice regretful. "I'm sorry."
"I got this," Ames replied, knowing fully well that he hadn't gotten to the answers he had somewhere in his mind just yet. "You did what you could. I'll do what I can."
Eliza nodded in response, her brows furrowed in worry and in contrast to her professional poise.
"This is probably at a very wrong timing," Eliza said. "I'm happy with how much you've healed. Nothing makes me happier than to see you strong. I'm sorry for adding to your troubles."
"You getting hurt, God forbid," Ames replied, placing a firm hand on Eliza's shoulder. This wasn't the kind of atmosphere that he normally shared with her. He would dread seeing her burdened, too. "That's you adding to my troubles. So don't you ever get hurt. Okay?"
"Okay," Eliza said, placing her hand over Ames's, matching his firmness. "I should go..."
"You take care, Elle," Ames said, noticing the front door slowly closing again. Max had probably gone back to cleaning the car.
"You too, Ames."
Ames leaned on his side against the porch column, watching as Eliza dropped by Max, who had gone back to cleaning the car.
"Gotta' go, Max," Eliza spoke in her professional voice again, offering a handshake.
"It was nice meeting you," Max replied, shaking her hand with matching professionalism.
"You're so lucky to have that guy right there on the porch," Eliza said, pointing at Ames. "Do keep him safe, yeah? He's not big on it, but we love him very much."
"Yes, Ma'am," Max said, keeping up with Eliza's lightness.
"Atta-man," Eliza remarked, giving Max a thumbs up before blowing Ames a kiss.
Ames managed a smile as he returned the gesture.
With that, Eliza walked out the gate. Ames caught a glimpse of Eliza's worried expression resurfacing as she turned to close the gate door. He heaved a sigh, placing a hand on his chest.
'This day started out so good,' Ames thought, his eyes darting toward Max, who looked back at him with worry. 'Now, we're here.'
A few seconds later, the sound of Eliza's car roaring on and driving away finally came up.
"You heard all that?" Ames asked Max, who quietly approached him and wrapped him in a hug. Ames returned the gesture, squeezing Max tighter and burying his face into the man's chest.
"Yeah, I did. We gotta' do something."
"Don't worry. I'll figure it out."
"We'll," Max corrected him. Ames felt Max's head rest on top of his. He knew it wouldn't be enough, but Ames could really use something unfailingly reassuring for now. "We'll figure it out."