The Phenomena of Fireflies and Star... - Chapter 28: Chapter 28

Training Room
Division
Alpha was at a safe distance away, levitating out of reach from Dragon's attacks as she strategically morphed parts of her body into dragon proportions to deal with the constructs attacking her.
Using his hands, Alpha created more semi-solid holograms of armed attackers, sending them off one after the other to engage Dragon in a variety of ways.
The shapeshifter's strikes were deliberate, strong, and masterfully sequenced. How she alternated between punching, kicking, and transforming parts of her body to perform otherwise improbable feats was indicative of her years of experience. Alpha increased the number of attackers, forcing the shapeshifter to unleash her massive wings and smack the holograms out of formation, reducing them to shattered cubes that fizzled out of shape before disappearing.
"Come on, kid!" Dragon roared, her voice a metallic mix of human and creature. She retracted her wings and completely reverted to her suited human form as she turned around to look up at Alpha. "Give me a challenge!"
"Roger that!" Alpha responded, stretching out his arms and filling the training room floor with holograms, controlling them to assume a ready stance and aim their melee weapons toward the powerful shapeshifter. "How's that?"
"Bring it!"
With a resounding clap of his hands, Alpha sent the holograms launching into attack.
"That's more like it," Dragon's voice transitioned from human to dragon as she spoke, followed by her quick transformation into her full red dragon form. Alpha recognized the moving red bioluminescence that glowed through the spaces between the dragon's scales, which varied in size all over its body. The bioluminescence was at its strongest on the dragon's back protrusions, which resembled dorsal crests like that of iguanas.
"HRAGGGGHHH!" the dragon roared, unleashing fiery red streams of radiation from its reptilian mouth onto the holograms that came upon it, disintegrating them. The whistle of the searing heat and the crackling noises of the streams were monstrous and intimidating, and Alpha watched in awe as the dragon began to flap its wings, hovering above the holographic army that tried to reach it. The creature began to move, circling the space and breathing red hot radiation onto the construct army, shattering the holograms, throwing them off, and reducing them to atoms until there were none left. It was a very scorching display of power, and Alpha couldn't help but fly farther upward to get to a more manageable breathing space. Although superhumans were naturally immune to the negative effects of radiation exposure on their health, they weren't impervious to the concussive forces and punishing heat of radiation blasts. They could still get knocked out and burned, but nothing they couldn't heal from. If they healed in time. Or unless they died from the damage before they could heal.
Finishing a circle, the dragon landed, its strong crocodilian tail following its movements gracefully. Slowly, the creature morphed back to Dragon form.
"Thanks," the shapeshifter hollered. "I needed that."
A silhouette of black energy began to manifest at the center of the large room, and soon enough the energy faded off and revealed Midnight Sambac. Instantly, Alpha could feel her queer pulsations. They were the same ones he had felt from the torture camp earlier.
With a graceful gesture of her hand, Midnight Sambac's dark energy pulsated from out of her like a dome. Alpha allowed the dome of dark energy to wash over him, and instantly, the strange heat that filled the room was gone. Atomic manipulation so masterful, it was almost like magic.
Midnight Sambac looked up at Alpha.
"I need to talk to the both of you," she spoke, her voice echoing throughout the room. "But not here."
Unknown Forest Area near the Edge of the City
They'd decided to take their conversation to a clearing in the woods, away from Division HQ.
"It's about time you both call me by my real name," Midnight Sambac said, leading the way to the center of the clearing with a ball of fire floating before her, reminding Alpha of St. Elmo's Fire. "Anastacia Maravilla. From now on, call me Ana."
"Mama Ana," Alpha suggested, clinging to her forearm like he normally did.
"That's good, too," Ana replied.
"You seem bothered by something, Ana," Dragon noticed, keeping up with her on her left. "I can't put a finger on it."
Alpha was about to point out the same thing, although being away from Division HQ had made quite a difference in Ana's pulsations. There was still something very troubling with Ana's behavior. It had a serenity, an acceptance, and a kindness to it, and it felt as if these three energies were persevering through struggle. Kindness was a constant from Ana's pulsations, but everything else mixed with struggle came off as a confusing read.
"Ma," Alpha nagged, tugging on Ana's arm a bit just as they stopped at the center. "What's going on?"
He let go of her arm as she turned to face them, the fireball moving to the space between them. There was a smile on Ana's face, but its serenity had a hint of sorrow.
"Was it about earlier?" Dragon asked, her voice considerately hushed.
"Yes," Ana admitted, sighing. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" Alpha reacted.
"For disappointing the both of you," Ana replied. It was suspiciously nonsensical. Alpha wasn't disappointed one bit. Judging from Dragon's confused pulsation, it was evident that neither was she. "I should've acted more appropriately. I got carried away."
"The torturers had it coming, to be honest," Dragon replied. "I heard about what happened. I am a professional, but it's about time for them. Times have changed, Ana. Division's close to being completely independent, even financially. We would've become standalone already, but we still have some people we can trust in political positions. They're vulnerable, though. We're running out of them fast. Not to mention, the people who are supposed to protect the public are now out there making false accusations, torturing, and executing innocents. Especially innocents who cried foul at all the injustice and all the bullshit. And Verdugo? His crew? They swore to the flag. The same one they dipped in blood. Innocent blood. The torturers who perished were slaughtered by their victims. Just like they deserved. As for Verdugo, I hope he and his surviving lackeys will never see the light of day again, wherever they're locked up now. I would've finished them off, but I guess a lifetime behind bars and rotting away slowly in guilt and oblivion should be more painful. I'd love to watch them suffer."
"Stella...," Ana said to her, gesturing for her to calm down and be careful with her words.
"What's the problem then?" Alpha pressed on.
Ana looked intently at each of them, visibly bearing unhappy news. She was in silence for a long time until a regretful sigh escaped her lips.
"I'm leaving for good," she finally confessed. "Informally, but yes. I have to."
Their reaction was immediate.
"What?" Dragon demanded. "Why is that?"
"What I did was horrible," Ana replied, placing a hand solidly on the shapeshifter's shoulder. "I turned people. Students. Into something else. Almost like us. No Code of Ethics and no law can defend what I did."
"You turned them back," Alpha brought up. "You reverted them."
"I shouldn't have done it in the first place," Ana insisted. There was a gloss of sadness in her eyes as she looked at each of them. "I could've just killed the torturers myself. And now, Division is planning to use me. For an important project."
'An important project?' Alpha wondered, putting his hands to his waist. 'Why does that sound so ominous?'
The serenity he had felt to have dominated Ana's pulsations was now obscured by the sadness that was evident in her eyes.
"What important project?" Dragon asked, stepping forward out of suspicion.
With that, Ana lifted her hands, turning the fireball into an orb of black energy and elevating it. She then cast her hands apart, forming a dome of energy around them as she lowered her hands. Darkness covered them, and it was a living darkness that sizzled as it moved to maintain the dome around them.
Alpha released a small light orb from his hand, illuminating the interior of the black force field.
"Super-soldiers," Ana clarified, her eyes like pools of infinite blackness. "They want to use me to make super-soldiers out of ordinary people. Temporary, contractual, and controllable agents. Perfect soldiers conveniently advanced and limited at the same time. Something they can turn on when they need to and off when the contract is over."
As Ana was speaking, Alpha could picture out the horrors that had dimmed the greatness that used to unfailingly emanate from the superhuman powerhouse. They'd been hiding for a reason. If the world found out about them, and if the witnesses ever spoke about them to anybody who believed and could testify, there would be disorder. Perhaps in one fell swoop. Perhaps a gradual descent. Either way, the world would change.
If that kind of power became that accessible, Alpha didn't even want to picture out what else could happen.
"That's unethical," Dragon blurted out. "Inhumane. That could demonize us."
"Which is why I can't let that happen...," Ana said, a teardrop down her cheek. "Before people looked at me as a black witch, I was a nurse. My life has since been dedicated to protecting and saving innocent lives. Not corrupting them."
She looked down at her clasped hands.
"I took one step into the shadows," she continued. "Now, I'm stuck."
As it dawned on Alpha more and more, his heartbeat gradually picked up its pace. There was a slight throb in his head, stubbornly accompanying the tightening constriction on his throat.
Out of the deep dismay that continued to boil inside of him, Alpha broke his silence.
"You can cause massive buildings to stop existing," Alpha reminded her. "Why not just destroy Division instead? Why don't we just do good on our own terms? No catch. No strings. Just good."
"There is still good," Ana looked up at him, a startling effect to her visage due to the darkness that stared from her eyes. "There is still good for Division to do."
"Good?" Dragon scoffed, stepping forward questioningly. "I hope you haven't forgotten how we got to this point, Ana. Why we are who we are and why we have all these abilities. Why we do what we do. Sometimes, I swear I can still feel the pain. Sometimes, I wonder how I survived. I'm sure you do, too. Someday, there'll be more Enforcers, and they'll be wondering, too. And yes. Division does good, and I'm proud to be doing good. But we all know exactly what Division really is all about, Ana. Division is power. The Creaton is power. The Creaton is the heart of Division. Power. Not good. Not evil. Ultimately, it is all about power. We are operating for an entity built around the greatest power source."
"She's right, Ma," Alpha took his turn, grabbing Ana by the shoulders. "And we can do more good on our own. More good than Division ever really can without thinking of taking over whatever is in reach."
"But there is still a chance," Ana replied firmly. "Like you said, Stella. The Creaton is amoral. It doesn't decide what is bad and what is good. It just is. People make the decisions. There are still good people, and there will be, even in Division."
"There's you," Alpha pointed out, but Ana's nodding response didn't feel like a full agreement.
"I want you both to remember me," Ana said after an uneasy moment of silence. "As me. The last bit of the person inside of me that I know for sure is good. Not the weapon I've become."
"You're more than a weapon to me, to us," Alpha protested. "You're a mother to me."
"Ana, you have become my sister," Dragon joined in. "Don't do this."
For a moment, Alpha was about to be grateful for the return of the serenity in Ana's pulsations to dominance, but he understood where it was coming from.
And he didn't like it.
He never could.
"Forgive me," Ana said, tendrils of dark energy seeping out of her pores, surfacing like worms and increasing in number by the second. "But if there is one last thing left for me to do, it will be the greater good. Thank you for bringing back my family."
The strands of black energy that slithered to the air from Ana's skin grew stronger, and as they took over her body, Alpha caught a glimpse of Ana's black eyes reverting to the way they normally were. He caught a glimpse of the nurse, the mother, and the good person behind the darkness for which she was known.
An unwelcome wave of darkness came upon them like a storm surge out of nowhere. Alpha was unable to glow through the wave, and it washed over him, forcing him to shut his eyes in defense.
The wall of blackness passed through him, and for a split-second, it was as if somebody was embracing him. There was warmth. There was acceptance.
After the acceptance came the longing.
Sorrow followed after like a faint whiff of a burning candle being blown out.
And then there was nothing.
When Alpha opened his eyes, they stung with salted moisture. Before him was nothing more than a clearing under the night sky. No fireball. No darkness.
Nothing.
Alpha hesitated for a while, not wanting to put his mind into what he was already feeling. Somewhere deep inside him, he already knew. He already knew.
That he felt nothing.
He felt around for a pulsation. For Ana's pulsation.
There was Dragon's. There was the suffocating energy of her realization. Of her painful descent into grief. Her sobs grew louder and louder, synchronized with the pulsations she was emitting.
There was no Ana. Not a hint.
"Ma--," Alpha faltered in his speech, stopping at an irreverent croak. His heart was pushing against his chest, fighting to break free. To no avail. He clutched his ribs hard as the emptiness became more and more present. His breaths were slow and long and hard, and the salty streams that veined down his face were as ceaseless as they were mute. He would've wanted to hold on to the emotions he had picked up in the wave, but there was nothing left. It was a cruel and irreversible emptiness.
He didn't want to speak. He couldn't.
If he did, he would break. He shouldn't break. Not now.
Not now.
He blocked off the pulsations. He pushed back. There was nothing to feel. There was no point.
He pushed back until he could feel the pulsations scrambling and distorting around him, quieting down wave by wave, until all that remained were Dragon's pained sobs and the cold stillness of the night.
No more than an empty clearing, the sounds of Dragon's grief, and the cold wind.
And nothing.
Three Days Later
The Astronomer's Rock
Blackbird Peak
There was no moonlight. No stars. Just a sea of rainy clouds itching to pour onto the earth, forewarning its next move through the cold wind breeze. Thunder had been calling out for a while now, and every once in a while, there would be a flash of lightning.
Alpha didn't care.
He couldn't feel anything, anyway.
The past few days had been so quiet, and the quiet had been unapologetic, isolating, and even stifling. It hurt to notice it, and yet nothing had been more necessary than the same quiet that blanketed him. He had a lot of things to do. He needed to be clear.
He stood at the edge of the rock, arms loose on his sides, eyes on the burgundy expanse of the sky.
He heard strong wings flapping from behind him. A moment later, the flapping stopped and the sound of something strong and heavy landing on the rock came up.
"It's going to rain soon," Dragon's voice. He could tell she was approaching. "Don't wanna' get sick, right, kid?"
"We can't get sick," Alpha replied, eyes locked onto the sky. In his periphery, he saw the shapeshifter stopping by his side. "Our immune systems are advanced."
"Every once in a while, it doesn't hurt to pretend that we're still people who ran away from rain," Dragon shared. "I like to pretend that I don't turn into a dragon when I can. That my breath doesn't burn."
"That you're not allowed to get drenched in the rain?" Alpha asked, looking at the shapeshifter, whose hair was now untied and free. She looked different because of it. It wasn't unkempt, but it was carefree.
"Which is ironic," Dragon continued, her tone introspective. "Because nothing's more humbling than being caught in the rain. It's unfortunate, untimely, and it leaves you vulnerable. It washes away all the pomp and the pretense and brings the human out to the surface."
That was actually spot-on. Getting caught in the rain could be very embarrassing and ill-timed. The way rain disrupted even the most sophisticated infrastructure, too, with the floods that formed from it and with its other effects, made it a force of nature to look out for. Not to mention, how plans of frolicking could lead to nowhere at the first sighting of a dark cloud. The inevitability of elemental phenomena, rain being the most frequent, washed away the extravagances of progress and forced whoever got caught in such situations to try and get by. Humbling. Humanizing.
There was a flash and then a crackle.
And then there was rain.
Cold, strong, relentless.
Dragon instinctively morphed out her wings, covering the both of them. Alpha turned to check on her. Due to the physiological limits of Dragon's draconic anatomy, particularly in the folding of her wings, she appeared to have less coverage from the rain than Alpha did. Alpha, however, gave her a serene and reassuring nod. She looked back at him with curiosity and knitting eyebrows.
"I think...," Alpha started, a faint smile on his face forming at the thought in his mind. "I think tonight's a good night to be humanized. Stella."
Dragon wasn't used to being called by her real name, but she got the message loud and clear. With an understanding smile on her face, she retracted her wings, allowing the full force of the rain to land on the both of them. It was a cold and energizing shock, and a surprised laugh burst out of Alpha's mouth. He hadn't laughed in days. In fact, he hadn't felt anything in days.
But tonight, rain was falling.
Stella was having fun, too, lifting her hands and face up to the sky. Her body suit glistened under the sheet of rainwater flowing on top of it. Alpha did the same, feeling the raindrops on his palms and on his face.
He let the rain fall. Tonight was a good night to pretend to be human. To go back to a time of simplicity.
Nothing grand. Just two people caught in the rain, embracing the uncontrollable.
"To be human," Stella said in a loud, almost sing-song voice. "To be a sister. A friend. A soldier. To be Stella. Again."
"To be human," Alpha added. "To be a son. A dreamer. A dreamer who dreamed of being a teacher. To be Gabriel."
"To be human."
"To be human."
October 30, 2023
'To be human,' the words replayed in his mind as he stared at the Diameter's white dome from where he hovered. He kept Ames secured to his side with a strong arm, the both of them concealed by an invisibility field. It was a clear Monday morning out, and the sun was shining bright at two hours away from the glory of noontime. They floated over the city, hearing the soft howl of the wind around them. Max noticed Ames using his free hand to lower the volume of his phone before shoving the device into a secure belt pouch.
They were dressed appropriately for the mission ahead. Max wore a gray tank top underneath a black military-style jacket, matched with fit black cargo pants. He also wore black hiking shoes. Ames was much more understated in his getup: black wide-necked sweater over a white racerback tank top, fit black jeans, black running shoes, and a black cloth face mask.
"Once we get there," Max said, his focus homing back on the Diameter's distant dome. "You follow my lead. You hear me? It's for the both of us."
"You're my Alpha," Ames replied, his voice decisive. "I'll follow you to the end of this line."
"Ready?"
"Can't wait."
Monday. Approximately 10:02 AM. Two hours till variant arrival.
"Okay...," Max said, ready for the mission ahead. "Let's go."