Lady Aegis: Origins of Supers: Book Two by D. L. Harrison

Author:D. L. Harrison [Harrison, D. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-06-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

“I’ll be alright,” Janna said in a voice that told me she was anything but alright.

But then, neither was I. I wanted to go home, cry for my innocence at taking those four lives, and bury my head under my pillow. I wanted to curl up in my mother’s arms and weep. I couldn’t though, we were expected back at Liberty after lunch. I know that sounds cruel, but it really wasn’t. It was just another way to weed out those that weren’t ready for a superhero life and didn’t have what it took to be the guardians of the innocent. In the real world, as a superhero, I wouldn’t get days off just because a supervillain got away, or because they killed someone I couldn’t save.

That meant sucking it up and getting it done even when I really didn’t want to.

It took discipline and fortitude. I could fall apart later, when the work was done. It wasn’t easy, nothing worth doing was, and there was nothing more worthy than a life of service and sacrifice where I got to save others.

So, I knew where Janna was coming from, perhaps we’d both fall apart later that night, but for the moment we were holding on with everything we were. We tried to focus on the ones we had saved and that did help a little, but not nearly enough.

One thing was for sure, I was looking forward to the deadly threats of supervillains and their crimes, that’d be easy after today’s mess, if more dangerous. Today… war… was just stupid and pointless. It was a victory in the sense that we’d taken down his whole army and destroyed his weapons, but it felt like a loss. So many dead.

“Me too,” I lied, which of course she saw through.

That also meant we were avoiding any discussion of what we’d just been through, we’d both break down if we did that. Anything else seemed so… unimportant. So in short, we were mostly silent, which was unlike both of us, as we forced down our lunch.

Of course, we would be alright, eventually. But not for a long while.

The afternoon was hard, but bearable.

Later that night was quiet, save for the sound of my breathing. The bed was both warm and cold at the same time as I existed in the fetal position. I felt numb in both mind and body, when I’d finally let myself fall apart at some point, I wasn’t sure if it would ever stop. The tears, the ripping sobs, the overwhelming guilt I felt in the joy that no one I loved or cared about had died. Even Stacey had made it, and I didn’t like her at all. The anger, and the sorrow and empathy at all the lives lost over some insane man’s plan to save humanity from the great promise of its future.

I also felt guilt for mourning my own innocence, and the empty place in my soul for taking a precious life. Misguided life, evil men who had taken a twisted joy in their deadly cruelty, but it wasn’t about them.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.