With the protection of some omega soldiers, me and Izuna went to my mother. She was stable now, and awake, but as soon as I stepped into the room I realised she only had hours left to live, if even that. You didn't have to be a doctor or a med student to realise.

"Tobirama, my dear child", she said warmly. I went and took her hand. She seemed so motherly, all of a sudden, not the strong speaker she'd been during her time here.

"Shhh, don't waste any energy on your pathetic excuse of a son", I teased, but my voice was trembling, and my mother noticed.

"Tobirama, you're the best son i could've asked for", she said, and I could hear Izuna sobbing next to me.

"I was a bully, mum. An omega-hater." I took Izuna's hand. "Look where that got me."

"You were good all along. I saw it within you from the moment your father started moulding you into his own shape. You kept breaking the form. Over and over. Finally, you're free." Tobirama was quiet. "Did you get the information?" mum asked.

I held up the laptop bag. "Izuna kept it safe. But we have a problem. We can't access the it. None of the hackers can. Even working together. I believe the only one who could've broken into it was Henry."

Mum smiled warmly. "Henry were smarter than you think."

Izuna snivelled. "We didn't underestimate him..."

"I know", mum answered. "But he quickly got a sense of the complexity of this whole situation that none of us got. He figured out he was in danger very early on." Izuna looked like he was about to break down. "So he taught me some things."

I stared at mum in disbelief as she reached her hand out, and I handed her the laptop. She opened it. "You don't know how to hack that, do you?" I asked, one eyebrow raised in protest.

"Oh, you'd be surprised at your frail old mother. If anything, I'm quick to learn."

It took her a good hour, but she managed. She actually, well and truly managed. She was coding frantically, but I saw her close to falling asleep. "It's here. All we need to destroy the water supplies. There are, at all times, three people in the world who know the chemical construction of the compound poisoning the water. We need to eliminate those three. However..." Mum looked at us sternly. "You know how sometimes, two people come up with the same invention at the same time? People thank Benjamin Franklin for electricity, yet if he hadn't been around, someone else probably would've come up with it around the same time. That's because when an invention is made, the conditions are absolutely right. You have enough knowledge about it to invent it, and enough technology to pull it through. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?" mum asked.

"Not really", I said. I was so tired. So, so tired.

"I do", Izuna said. "Even of we eliminate those three, someone else would come up with the exact same thing. Particularly now when you've published your research. It's only a matter of time."

"Exactly", Helen said. "That's why-"

"That's why we need political systems in place to prevent that from ever happening. Democracy. An equal number of alphas, betas and omegas in charge, until they all die out. Strong laws in place to forbid any contamination of the water, and there needing to be three people of different classes with a key to even gain access to the water system."

"Exactly", Helen said. "I didn't even think of the last part, but that's very clever. Izuna, Tobirama. I love you both. Go get this war done. I heard my speech helped, and we have enough people to stand a chance. Find the three men, because I'll bet my ass they're all men, and eliminate them. I'll just... I think I'll just..."

My mum fell asleep.

This was the last time I saw her.

I had grabbed Izuna's hand and pulled him out, running. When we were in a corridor that was far away from the treatment area, and completely empty, I pushed him into the wall.

"Tobes, now's not the time-"

"Izuna", I interrupted, making him realise I was not trying to fuck him. "What you will see me do now and the coming hours will change the way you see me forever. It will not be a pretty sight, and I won't hold back because you're watching. If you need to look away, look away. But whatever you do, do not leave my side. Do you understand me?" I grabbed his shoulders, staring into his eyes.

He looked at me, eyes glassy, then nodded sternly.

I took his hand and started running again, laptop in hand. We got closer to a corridor where we heard guns. I stood against the wall at the corner, then ran forwards, grabbed an enemy soldier, shot him in both arms and pulled him with me.

"Izuna, follow", I said, found an open door, pushed the soldier and Izuna in, followed and then closed the door. I immediately shot the soldier in both legs. He screamed and slumped down. Izuna was covering his mouth. I shut him out of my mind and my soul because I knew if I didn't, I would crumble into pieces, I loved him so much. I bent down and grabbed the soldiers hair, pulled it back and put my gun into his mouth. "Tell me. What do you know about three men that have been protected at all costs, all times?"

He stared at me. "I won't give in to you."

"We'll see about that", I said. I opened my bottle of water that was fastened to my belt, bent his head back, forced his mouth shut and forced the water into his nose, drowning him a little. He choked, spat and sputtered as he tried to draw air. I kept pulling his head back in an extremely uncomfortable position for his airways.

"Tobirama, is this really necessary?" Izuna whispered, horrified.

"Shut up", I said. In that situation, I had nothing against Izuna, nor the poor alpha I was torturing. I was just trying to get information as quickly as possible to end this was the best method for that. It was crucial that the person I tortured was in the illusion that I had complete control of the entire situation, including Izuna. I grabbed his useless, shot arms and broke his fingers, one by one. I heard Izuna kneel and dry-retch. My heart searched for his on its own, but J wouldn't allow it to find it.

"Three people who are heavily guarded in your government." I broke his last finger. Then, I took a knife, forced his eyelid up and put it against his eyeball. "I'll take one eye", I said and let the tip touch his cornea. He screamed. "TELL ME!!"

"In the... In the helicopter. Four-two-six."

I was taken aback. "And why the fuck would they bring them to war?"

The alpha didn't answer, so I pushed his head back again, and has only put the bottle to his nose again before he spoke.

"We wanted them where you were least likely to find them. We wouldn't take the risk of you going back to our base with all our soldiers here."

Clever.

"Thank you", I said.

Then, I grabbed his head and banged it into the wall, cracking his skull. He was instantly dead.

"Why did you do that for?!" Izuna screamed, tears streaming down his face. I grabbed his shoulder, but he backed away from me. I wouldn't let him; I grabbed his face. He still wouldn't look at me. Then, I put my finger underneath his chin and lifted it up. He still wouldn't look at me.

"Izuna, look at me." He finally did. There was something in his face I couldn't quite discern. Disgust? "Izuna, we can't do this now. We need to move."

"WHY DID YOU KILL HIM?!"

"BECAUSE OTHERWISE HE WOULD TELL WHAT HAD HAPPENED!" Izuna had been quite stingy towards me before, but this was my first time screaming at Izuna. "Do you think I enjoyed that?! Do you really think I would do that if I believed I had any other choice?! The slower we are, the more lives are lost! I fucking hate war, but what I was taught wasn't bullshit! I might not be as smart as Henry, but I know what I'm doing! You need to trust me!"

He looked at me, chock in his eyes. Then, he just nodded. We ran, him holding the laptop, me holding the machine gun. We were not holding hands. We ran up seven flights of stairs, out to the platform where the enemies helicopters and ours were intermingled. Helicopter four-two-six was at the far back, and I opened its door.

Facing three men in suits holding revolvers and three guards holding machine guns, all pointed at us. Fuck!

I quickly shot the three soldiers in the legs, seeing they were the greatest threat. Then, I shot them in the head, leaving the three men. They fired at us. I pulled Izuna behind my back on pure instinct, protecting him with my body. These three men... I shot one. I shot two.

Where is number three?

Izuna screamed.

No!

I turned round. The third man had grabbed Izuna by the throat with his arm, the gun pointed to his temple. I pointed drew a gun smaller than my machine gun and pointed it to his head.

"Drop your gun!" the man in suit screamed.

"Don't!" Izuna screamed.

"Shut up, freak!" the man screamed. He was large, with brown hair and looked like a young CEO of some sort. Not at all someone who knew the ingredient to the deepest secret of all of humanity. "I know who you are!"

I lowered my gun. No way... No way I'm having Izuna killed for this. He's worth all of humanity to me.

Izuna sighed, as if angry. "Shoot him! I don't care about my own life! I've lost Henry. I've lost my family. And you... I don't know how I feel about you anymore!" Ice-cold dread clenched my heart. "End me!! I want no part of this! I want no part of this anymore!"

I put my gun on the ground. Izuna... Whatever you're feeling, I've made a terrible mistake to make you feel this way. Please... Please give me time to mend us.

The man pointing his gun to Izuna looked wild, crazy, even, breathing heavily. He seemed to know exactly what was at stake.

Suddenly, Izuna did one quick movement, and took the gun out of the man's hand before he even had time to blink.

He grabbed it with both hands, standing wide-legged.

Time slowed down as he pointed.

And shot the man.

Straight through his heart.

And there went the final one.

Izuna slumped down on his knees, trembling. Blood was gushing out directly from the man's heart to the floor. The smell was nauseating, but I was used to it. Izuna, however, wasn't. He dry-retched again, tears streaming down his face.

"Izuna..."

"The computer", he said, taking no notice of me, his back turned to me. "Give it to me. Go get the hackers. I need to be broadcasted." I was taken aback by ow he bossed me around. "NOW!!" he screamed, still facing away from me.

I stood up and left. I told the hackers and brought three of them with me. I found Izuna over the laptop.

"It's done", he said. "All of it. I managed to destroy the poison."

"How?" I asked.

"Boiled it. Increased the temperature. Took only ten minutes. It's all evaporated, leaving a crystal that's impossible to dissolve again, judging by its chemical construction: I read about it. And that's what's left. We will collect it and destroy that, too. Send it into space or whatever the fuck." He seemed so depressed. I didn't recognise him. "I need to be broadcasted."

"Meeting room. Come there when you're ready", one of the hackers, a blonde young man with glasses who reminded me of Henry to a disturbing amount, said, and they all left, leaving us alone.

"Izuna..."

"Not now!" he said, holding up a hand. "Not now."