I couldn't see his face but I could hear his gasp and quickening breaths. After taking a moment to absorb the sight before him, he stepped forward and pulled the gun out of his jacket.

"What have you done?" he growled, resting the barrel of his gun against my short hair. He was using that deep voice he always employed when trying to hide his true emotions. It made him sound intimidating and on top of things when he was really ready to cry or tear someone to shreds. He'd used it a lot back when he'd worked for John Philips.

Derek didn't know I could see through him. He didn't know I was here.

I could see Odette, Ace, and Jala raise their weapons and look at me desperately, which made me realize that my husband probably wasn't alone. Shivering with rage, I allowed myself to turn slightly and see if I was right.

Twenty armed men were standing behind Dark, forming a shield of sorts around him. He was in the midst of them, staring at Polly's dead body with a greying face. If I wasn't so enraged I might have noticed that he wasn't even glancing at Zora's corpse.

As I stepped away, examining the battle field and trying to decide what I should say, Maddox took my place by Polly's side and started examining her body. After saying something none of us could hear, he released a small flap on his arm and began pulling small, metal instruments out from inside it.

I would have questioned his actions but was too distracted.

After my husband stepped out of the line of fire, the soldiers started shooting at us. I did my best to move some of the bullets out of the way but my mind could only handle so much. The others were forced to hide behind some of the panels I'd ripped out and return fire while I teleported to the other side of the rom

Meanwhile, Maddox stealthily returned to the glass case and yanked the stone from the final wire holding it in place. After examining it for less than a second, he returned to the Valdis' corpse and started attaching his metal parts to one of her arms.

Dark was finally looking at me as we defended ourselves but he saw me as the murderer of his child, not his wife. He couldn't recognize me. Maybe it was the makeup. Maybe it was the hatred he now felt for me and the people standing behind me.

"Kill them," he ordered before turning and walking away like a true coward of a villain. "If you fail, I'll see to it that your families burn."

The soldiers nodded and trained their weapons on us, their black helmets hiding any thoughts they might be having about us. I heard Odette gasp behind me but kept my eyes on their guns. As soon as they fired and the deafening sound stung my ears, I held both of my hands out and breathed in.

Every piece of metal was flung against the wall one by one. It felt like a minute passed in my mind but to the others it was a mere second. The second spray of bullets faced the same fate and one man who was brave enough to run toward me was sent to flying toward the other soldiers. His landing was softened by two other men who went down with him.

"Whoa," Ace whispered as he stared at the walls, now littered with bullets. He'd never seen me do that before.

As I collapsed on the floor, desperately sucking in air to compensate for my sudden exhaustion, I couldn't help but smirk when the soldiers looked at each other in confusion before staring at me with fear. They were scared of me now. Good, because I did not have the strength or concentration to do that a second time.

Taking deep breaths, I stepped away from my friends and teleported past the soldiers toward the exit. To ensure that they couldn't hurt my friends, I then used every last ounce of strength to yank their guns out of their hands and meld them into a wall that would lock them in long enough for the others to escape.

Jala looked pleased as she, Ace, and Odette exited. She also looked a little jealous of my powers. "You could just kill them, you know," she told me with an evil giggle.

I shook my head, watching Maddox pick up Polly's dead body and carry her toward us. "Derek was right. It isn't very heroic to kill them without mercy. Some of them could become heroes in the future."

Jala sneered but nodded. "Whatever. Just go stop Dark before I change my mind."

I nodded, locking the door behind us. "Thank you, Jala."

She smiled, then. An actual, genuine smile. "If..." She lowered her voice. "If Ace became evil I wouldn't want to kill him either," she whispered, casting a glance at her older boyfriend.

◑○★☆●◐

The screens were on but I wasn't looking at them. My eyes were focused on them them but my mind was elsewhere. As I tossed the tiny pistol from one hand to the other, I could feel beads of sweat dribbling down my forehead. I could hear the doors opening before me. That woman was getting in and I wouldn't be able to stop her.

I had basically lived in this office ever since Mary's death. There was even a bed pressed against the wall to prove it. Any days I didn't spend out raiding houses, looking for Jala and her crew, I spent here looking out the window and being generally useless.

Polly used to stay with me in here, trying to get me to talk and pay attention to her but, with each passing day of silence, she finally gave up. She demanded I give her the stone so she could become powerful and finally avenge her mother. She had thought it would make me happy. Truth is, it wouldn't have.

I had failed as a father.

It was my fault Polly had died. Sure, I may not have locked her up in a cage but I'd allowed her to go out and fight trained mercenaries on her own when she was barely a teen.

I sighed.

Everyone I had ever loved was dead.

Now it was my turn.

I pressed the gun to the side of my head, my heart pounding wildly, begging me not to pull the trigger.

"Wait!"

My eyes went wide at the sound of Mary's voice and, for a second, I wondered if I was already dead. My momentary excitement ended quickly, though, when I saw that short haired woman climb through the doors she'd been opening and run toward me, her hands outstretched to stop me from killing myself.

This woman annoyed me. I wasn't sure who she was but she looked so much like Mary that it bugged me. Seeing her only made me ache to pull the trigger even more.

"Stop this!" the woman yelled and, without even touching me, yanked the gun out of my hand. I could only stare in shock as she tossed it across the room and walked close enough for me to see every feature of her face.

Had she thought death was too little of a punishment? It was true. I deserved to be tortured for the things I'd done. "Just let me die in peace," I whispered, my voice dwindling slowly. How pitiful I was.

The blonde gritted her teeth, then suddenly punched me in the face, causing my neck to snap sideways and my head to throb. I pressed a hand to my burning cheek and backed away, my hatred for this person growing. "Just kill me!" I yelled.

"You promised me you'd protect her!" she yelled back, making me even more confused. "We agreed that she'd grow up a normal girl!"

She grabbed both of my shoulders, which sent chills down my spine, and stared into my eyes intently as though she was trying to speak to me with her mind.

I stared back. I still had some pride and wouldn't be defeated by a staring contest.

After doing that for an awkward second, my mind started picturing her with long hair and less makeup; picturing her three years younger and with a bit more meat on her bones and more color in her cheeks and...

Something clicked. It couldn't be.

"Mary?"

She nodded angrily, her shoulders slumping in relief or sorrow and her mouth opening to say something but I interrupted her.

Choking, I pulled her toward me and kissed her, trying to be gentle but unable to keep myself from crushing her against me. It couldn't be. I must have been dreaming or hallucinating. I was so desperate to see her, to touch her...

She didn't fight back and, after I'm sure she ran out of air, the back of my neck lost its strength and I leaned my head against her shoulder, breathing heavily. My wife was alive and standing before me.

...But Polly...

I couldn't help it. I'd put up a bold front for the last three years to make myself seem like the perfect president, the perfect villain. But, now that she was here, breaking away all my defenses with a single touch, I couldn't help myself. I started to cry. My sobs shoot my entire torso and I didn't stop even notice when she wrapped her arms around me and started running her hands through my hair. I think she was crying too.