Orion Zane walked quickly against the flood of mid-afternoon traffic. He shifted continually. Short and skinny to slip in between commuters with their heads down and their eyes on the screens of their phones. Broad and plump to push past confused tourists standing in the middle of the sidewalk blocking traffic. New York was a wonderful city. No one really wanted to pay attention to anyone else. There was far too much else to look at. He was practically invisible and that suited him just fine right now.

Zane was in a rush. He didn't want to leave Skye on her own for long. She was too resourceful and if she got a hold of her teammates before he did, he'd lose her. And, if there was one thing Zane knew, it was that he couldn't lose Skye.

Skye was proof positive that the world could make sense; that they made sense. Skye showed him there was good left in the world for people like him. She was the reward he'd get for all his suffering, all his pain.

He deserved Skye; he'd earned her.

He just needed to make sure she saw that too.

The problem with good people, and Skye in particular, was that they couldn't see the bigger picture. She'd miss the forest for the trees. Right now, she thought of him as a loveable friend, a fellow Attilanian, a mentor. If she knew he was involved in Evolutus, she wouldn't see all the good it was bringing into the world; she'd only see the bad. She wouldn't see the group that had saved a scarred and battered orphan from the hands of ignorant, abusive humans. She wouldn't see how brutal and twisted humanity was as a species. She'd just see the deaths and the pain instead of the artistry of it, the possibility of a better future. She was such a tender hearted girl, she'd want to stop the dead from dying, she'd want to set back the clock. He loved that about her and didn't want to change that compassion she had entirely. It would be what would make her into such a wonderful helpmate one day. She just needed to learn that such compassion was wasted on humans; she just had to see how bad the rest of the world was for people like her. People like them.

Zane almost laughed out loud at the scene that S.H.I.E.L.D. had, unintentionally, set up for them. Truly, it was another sign that his path was divinely guided. To Zane, it was clear that Skye's S.H.I.E.L.D. friends hadn't been the group so tangle up in the brutalization of the prisoners, Skye didn't see that. She was just one push, one betrayal away from understanding that humanity might have been earth's masters in the past but the present? The future? That was for Evolutus to decide.

Now, he just needed to give that push.

Turning, he enter the dirty, beige building that served as the neighborhood community center. It was just after 4PM on a school day. Some after-school program or craft activity or tutoring session had to be taking place. The timing couldn't get more perfect. It was too early for many of the parents to come collect their filthy, little offspring. Time was on his side.

Working for Evolutus had taught him the power of symbols, the power of fear. Killing children was essentially killing the future. It was a blunt message; there was no finesse there. It was not as artistic and intricate as some of his colleagues would have preferred. He, however, made up for its lack of artistry in other ways. For him, it felt right, these children. Children, after all, had been the ones that had tormented him the most for his differences. Before he knew how to handle his powers, before he could blend in and be invisible, he'd been their victim.

And, now, the tables had turned. Literally.

Zane stormed into the open room, flipping tables. Craft time at the community center was not quite over. But, he'd be the only one to finish this final project. To start, causing chaos was his primary goal. He reveled in the screams. The terror, truly, was music to his ears. And, then, they stopped as they always did. In the soft silence that followed his attack, he'd create his masterpiece. His arm could turn into a brush. His medium of choice was seeping from the broken bodies, coating the floor. The dirty, beige room was washed clean in such a beautiful red. Dark and rich and warm. Today, he wouldn't just paint. Today he'd construct something truly grand. It was the right sort of message to send to S.H.I.E.L.D. if they came looking. The phone, Skye's phone, buzzed again on his hip reminding him that they would come looking. And soon.

With his own limbs as knives, he sliced arms from the dead. Twenty in all. He used brute force to break each hand, and ease each pointer finger out. Twenty pointing fingers circled the beautiful, red pool. And, there, on a small island, just beyond the vibrant blood, he left Skye's ringing phone, a message flashing on the screen.

On the floor, with a paint brush, he wrote 'Tick Tock' in red block letters.

It was a push. He had no doubt, when S.H.I.E.L.D. got this message, they'd respond with a shove.

...so long as Skye was there to see them respond with all that nasty force? To see one last betrayal from those she was so far above in quality? She'd finally understand what Evolutus stood for. She'd see the future they could have. Together.

He had one more stop to make. One more meeting with those who understood what the future could be without the clutter of humanity mucking everything up. His Evolutus brethren would be needed to make this plot run smoothly to its inevitable conclusion.

And, then, he could go back to his Skye. Striding out the door and hurrying to the train, he smiled broadly at the people passing by but, again, he was just another person, invisible to the herd. It was too bad those walking past couldn't share in his joy. It had, after all, been such a rewarding day.

A/N: ExellentlyEllen had a big hand in helping craft just how to deliver the next set of chapters. Her betaing rules. (Many thanks are owed!)

Thank you, too, dear reader for reading, commenting, liking and following. It means so much.