Chapter 20: Options

"We should talk." Her tone was soft, uncommanding but insistant. "Privately."

The warm light from the oil lamp that sat amongst Niko and his friends glowed on the man's solemn face when he glanced up at her, smoothing out the hard lines there. Grim though he appeared, that glow still made him look a somewhat younger version of himself. But no glow could reverse the age in his eyes. They were old eyes that had seen too much, more than any eyes had a right to see in a single lifetime. Gen had no idea how old he really was, nor was he aware of her age; it was something they had never shared, but she was certain he was younger than he actually looked when not under softer light. Life experiences had a cruel way of aging a person, quicker than time could.

Niko knew what she intended to talk about, and he couldn't see the point. "We have said all that needs to be said."

"Maybe you have. I haven't. Please?"

He considered for a moment, then assented with a nod of his head. He knew what she would say, and they were words he didn't want to hear, but he would listen nonetheless, to put an end to it if nothing else.

Gen turned away and led him off, deeper into the sewer tunnel and away from the others. The flashlight in her hand guided them through the dank darkness. She stopped only when she was certain they were out of earshot and unseen. Gen wanted privacy for at least this considering there were some who took too much interest into their affairs, and she did not like such sensative affairs thrust into public light.

She turned to him, and Niko did not fail to note where her right hand rested, on the grip of the Glock tucked in her jeans. Prepared to use it. For an instant, he suffered a shot of cold dread, almost certain she had changed her mind and decided to avenge her fiancé's death after all, and with the very gun he had given her no less. Then he realized what he was seeing was a habit that cops - and most gangsters - had; a habit of preparedness he had seen her exhibit often. He was being stupid. It wasn't like she was going to kill him with people only a few yards away.

For a while, they stood there in silence. The woman stared at him, a profoundly searching stare as if she were trying to look beyond his flesh for a soul. Niko might have told her she needn't bother; people like him didn't have one, and even if he did, it wasn't much of one. He leaned back against the tunnel wall, folded his arms at his chest, and stared at the ground. It was all the defense he could manage against that look.

Then she spoke, three words he never expected to hear from anyone. Ever. "I forgive you."

His head jerked up, his eyes meeting hers. The words left Niko scatterbrained; he wasn't certain what to say, what to think, how to feel. He was torn; he wanted this, but then he knew he didn't deserve it. "No, Gen. You shouldn't-"

"Shut up," she cut him off fiercely. "It's my choice. You took it away from me before; you don't get to do it again. So you're going to stand there, keep your mouth shut, and listen. Now I know you and your accomplices had enough sense to keep your identies covered that day, and you know as well as I do that Noose wears tactical helmets that hide their own, so we'll never know what happened, we'll never know if you killed him or not. Maybe we're not meant to know. But I've looked at it from both ways; I've considered that you killed him and I can still forgive you. For that, and the past."

She left him speechless for a long time.

And His silence ate at her, made her uneasy. Usually she could tell what he was thinking by some expression on his face, but it was blank now. Only words would tell what was going on in his head. Gen was kind of wishing she hadn't told him to shut up now. "Say something."

And the only thing he could think to say was, "Why? Why should you?"

"Because of who you are. You told me before that you were forced into bad situations, that you were forced into doing the awful things you did in the past, for your family and yourself. I believe that, but I also believe you did have choices, and I know sometimes you made the wrong ones. But that doesn't mean you're a bad person."

Niko shook his head; he didn't have it in himself to believe that. "We are defined by what we do, Gen, whether they were a choice or we were forced to do them. And I did too many bad things; things I have never told you about, things you don't even want to know about."

"It doesn't matter. I know bad people. I've dealt with my fair share of them; rotten, evil people. We're defined by what we do, like you said. And what makes people truly evil is that they keep doing evil things. They don't change; they don't even bother to try. But you did, you moved on from that life. Who you are now is the only person that matters. He deserves a chance; he deserves to be forgiven for the past." She looked deeply mournful. "But Niko, you have to forgive yourself, too, or it won't matter who else does or for what."

"I don't know how to, Gen. I don't even know why I should."

That made her angry. He was being stubborn and stupid. The answer was right in front of his face, but he refused to see it. "Maybe if you'd get your head out of the past you'd know why. Were you even listening to anything I was saying? I gave you the answer. Hell, if you'd open your eyes, you'd see it standing right in front of you, all around you; it's in the people who love you, who see everything there is to love about you. Are we all blind? No! We see you, what's there, what matters, while you're dwelling on what doesn't."

"It matters to me!" he burst. "You don't know the guilt I have to live with!"

"You wouldn't have to live with it if you'd only forgive yourself. That's the damn point!"

"Let me ask you something, Gen. Have you forgiven yourself for believing you got your cop friends killed?"

She stiffened. "This isn't about me-"

"Answer the fucking question."

"Not yet."

"Then don't stand there and tell me to forgive myself when you can't do it either."

"I don't know that I can't, but at least I'm trying." She blinked at the tears welling in her eyes. All she saw was hopelessness in his. "Maybe I'll eventually get there, but you won't, because you're not even bothering to try."

"No," Niko admitted. "I'm not. I've taken a lot of lives, most of them I never knew. Maybe I can forgive myself for that in time, but not for taking the life of someone I care about."

Gen understood then, what all this was really about. One life, one woman whose death weighed on him more than any of the others. "Bernie told me about her, what happened to her." She stepped closer and reached out, her fingers stroking his face tenderly. "It wasn't your fault."

He caught her hand, took it away from his face. Her touch, her compassion for him, was torture. "It was. I made a decision, one that got her killed. I might as well have held the gun that ended her life."

"No, it's a huge leap between an inadvertent death and an intentional one. You made a decision you thought was right, according to Bernie. You can't blame yourself for someone else's actions."

"The decision I thought was right influenced that man's actions. I know you want me to forgive myself, but I can't. Not for this."

"How do you know you can't when you won't even bother to try?"

Niko looked at those sad grey-green eyes, knowing he was about to make them look a lot sadder. "There are some things you just know. I don't have it in me."

Stricken, Gen turned her back on him to hide a breaking heart. She needn't have bothered. Niko caught the look even before she turned away, even in the semi-darkness; it was in her eyes, like some light had gone out.

He put a hand on her shoulder, tried to draw her to him. "Gen."

She shrugged him away. "I thought we could start over. I wanted to start over with you."

"You can. Nothing has changed. I'm still-"

"No, it was stupid to think that," Gen said, shaking her head. She faced him again, grim as a graveyard. "One thing has to change. I could - and would - do everything in my power to try to make you happy, and I know you would do the same for me, but it would never be enough. If we can't forgive ourselves for the past, we'll never be happy. We won't let ourselves; we'll question it and reject it because we think we don't deserve it. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but it will happen. And it wouldn't be fair to put each other through that. I think I'll eventually forgive myself for what I did, but you've made it clear that you never will. Maybe we can start over, Niko, but only as-"

"God, don't say it." He should've expected it to come, but still, the last thing he wanted to hear from her was the F-word - friends. All the women who had ever meant a lot to him had kept him in that zone. Maybe it was where he was only ever meant to be.

"Would you rather we be nothing at all?"

There was an interruption before Niko could answer, the sound of a throat clearing. Gen shined her flashlight in the direction of the noise, the beam lighting up the blank, grey face of Thomas the freak.

"My apologies for intruding," he said. "But it is beginning. You both should return to your people now."

"There was no trouble from that Mother?" Gen asked.

"No. If she was coming to stop them, she would have made her move already. She must have another device."

"Then destroying this one is a waste of time," Niko pointed out.

"The inevitable destruction will likely bury the pool of energy at Meadows Park under a great mountain of debris. It will be unreachable for a time. She would eventually be able to uncover it, but a group of my people plan to keep it under guard. However, if the device's destruction is powerful enough, it may even destroy that pool."

"Connor claimed it couldn't be destroyed," Niko said.

"The energy itself cannot be destroyed, as you know, but the destruction of the device could free it from its pooled state. It would dissipate and change, thus making it useless to the Mother. However, this would also have adverse effects on the environment. The energy will likely leak into the atmosphere, making it unstable for a time and without it in the earth, the land would become barren here. Your people are short on food and will eventually have to rely on the land to provide it. If it becomes barren, you will have to leave this place, but as far as I know, you have no way to."

"We'll have to find one then, if it comes to that," Gen said. "There has to be boats somewhere."

"Getting to one won't be easy," said Niko. "Those walls. We have yet to find out how to get over them without a chopper."

"Then we go through them. They're pointless anyway. Alastair told us before that they aren't going to stop the Mother. Might as well break them down where we need to."

"How? With what?"

"Our alien friends could help. They're strong enough to move heavy rubble around, I'm sure they can tear down a wall. If not, maybe we'll find a bulldozer or a crane with a wrecking ball that hasn't been destroyed. It's not impossible."

Niko got an exasperated look. "You have got to be the most stubbornly and foolishly optimistic woman in the world."

Gen shrugged. "And you've got to be the most stubbornly and foolishly pessimistic man in the world. We're yin and yang, Niko; opposing forces that compliment each other." She smiled a little. "Balance."

The first tremor shook the ground on their way back, strong enough to throw off the trio's equilibrium. Gen's flashlight beam bounced around the tunnel walls as she stumbled about, catching herself and trying to ignore the feel of cold, slimey concrete under her hand. Dirt crammed inside old, tiny crevices above was shaken loose, raining harmlessly down upon the three of them. And there were the sounds of startled gasps and voices coming from further up the tunnel.

"Quickly," Thomas insisted, ushering the two humans along.

"These tunnels are as old as the city itself. I hope they're going to hold," Gen said.

"As long as we remain outside the radius of destruction, they will hold."

"And if we don't?" Niko asked.

Thomas shrugged, having no other answer to give but, "Some of your people believe in a higher being, a deity. Some believe in many deities. All I can suggest is you pray to them and hope they listen, whether you believe they exist or not."

"I was hoping for a useful response," the man said, making one of his faces.

"Ye of little faith," Gen remarked.

"I don't know if there's a God or not, Gen, but if he does exist, I know he doesn't listen."

"Have you ever prayed, Niko?"

"Only as a last resort, and none of those prayers were ever answered."

"Just because they weren't answered doesn't mean God isn't listening to you. Have you ever considered that those prayers weren't answered for a reason? I think sometimes God wants us to find our own way."

"I didn't think you were the religious type."

"I didn't used to be, but I've come to believe that anything is possible, so God must be possible, too. But I'm not a fan of organized religion. Too many are just cesspits of frauds, pedophiles, and extremists who use their faith to excuse the things they do. Don't even get me started."

"It seems it's too late for that," Niko remarked.

With a vague smile, she gave his arm a harmless whack. "Oh, shut up."

There was a sea of grim, frightened faces when the trio arrived. The freaks still stood guard under the manhole and at the tunnel the three had arrived from, vigilant eyes glowing red in the semi-darkness. Thomas joined the freaks guarding the tunnel as another tremor struck, stronger than the last. It was accompanied by startled sounds from the people, moans and muttered prayers.

Her footing regained, Gen made off to reassure everyone that they would be okay, but she got a whole two steps when a hand grabbed hers firmly to stop her.

"No," Niko said, knowing what she meant to do. "Let Jeremy handle it. You're staying with us." And he wasn't taking any of her objections, either. She was going to look out for herself for a change, even if he had to make that decision for her.

And not to his surprise, the woman did try to object. First with a grimace, and when that didn't work, with words, "Who died and made you the boss of me?"

"Someone must be when you're incapable of being your own boss. I will gladly take the role."

"I'm sure, just as I'm sure you'll gladly enjoy it too much."

Niko took her remark in stride. He was getting used to that smart mouth; sometimes he even found it amusing. He turned away and headed for his family and friends, dragging the protesting woman along with him.

Gen soon gave up, knowing it was useless to fight the man once he got obstinate about something. When they were among the others, she found her way over to the kids where they were huddled near Roman and Mallorie. She sat next to Eve on the cold concrete and the girl hugged her tight.

"Are we going to die?"

Gen looked startled by the question. "Don't be silly. Of course we're not going to die."

Eve pulled back to look up at her, her face creased with worry. "That's what a man said. He said we're all going to die down here with the rats. We're going to get crushed by falling buildings."

Gen shook her head. "There aren't any buildings in this area that are big enough to collapse the street over us. He's just scared like everyone else."

"But no one else said anything like that."

"Maybe he's more scared than them. People say and think bad things sometimes when they're really scared."

"I'm scared too. Really scared. I don't want to die."

"Do you remember what I told you about fear?" Niko asked the girl as he seated himself between her and Roman, his back against the sewer wall.

"It's stupid to not be scared of anything," she answered.

"Right. It's good to be afraid; it's a chance to show yourself that you can be brave."

Gen brushed a hand through Eve's unkempt, blonde hair. "And you can be. You already have been."

And that was when the earth gave a loud, deep groan as if it were a creature suffering some great agony. A man not far away from Niko and the others began to recite the 23rd Psalm, and others soon took it up as well. Then the earth was writhing in its pain. The world quaked and trembled so violently it threw a few of the vigilant freaks off their feet and knocked over a few lanterns. Above, the manhole cover rattled and bounced in its hole, and from somewhere on the surface came the sound of concrete banging together; perhaps the standing remnants of some building finally toppling.

"For thou art with me," the man nearby recited. "Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort..." He faltered, gulping, as everyone else went on with it, as the earth shuddered around them. "Oh, God have mercy. God have mercy, God have mercy."

But those noises and those voices were soon drowned out by another, immense sound. It started as a deep, loud, pulsing warble that drew out for some moments before ending in a thunderous whooompf that made every ear ring. Bright, greenish-white light shot through the rattling manhole cover, bending between its bouncing creases and cracks, appearing and disappearing. It seemed to fill the entire world above them, but merely had a sickening strobe effect in the tunnel which no eye could look upon for long. Then it was gone. What came in its wake was a strong feeling of electricity in the air, as if lightning were about to strike. Then it was the worst sounds anyone there in the tunnel had ever heard before; a violent cacophony of booms as loud as bombs, great crashes and rumbles, the roaring and smashing and screeching of concrete and steel that could only be Broker tumbling to the ground. And all around the people, the quaking went on. It sounded and felt like the end of the world.

Roman and Mallorie held each other, their crying daughter safe between them, though her cries could not be heard over the destruction. Nearby, Bernie, Jacob, and Brucie were doing much the same, huddled tight together. Eve clutched Gen, her face buried in the woman's shirt, trembling like the earth. Gen held her tight and shook with her own fear, covering the girl with herself as much as she could, and she prayed for the tunnel to hold, for every life there and beyond, for an end to the madness. And while she silently prayed, Niko embraced them both, keeping them safe, keeping his word. They were his family now, he knew it then. A part of his family as a whole and a little family of his own, as close as he was ever going to get to having one. It didn't matter that he and Gen would never be more than friends.

The feel and sound of destruction seemed to last a lifetime before there was some kind of ebb in the violence. It was the deep quaking in the ground below them that eased off first, until it was only a soft, persistant trembling. The shaking and sounds from above took longer to quiet down. It seemed a few hours had gone by before the world finally grew quiet and still, save for the crying of children and adults alike. But they were nothing compared to the sharp wailing close by.

Eve pulled away from Gen, looking around toward the noise. The woman saw no tears on the girl's face, and felt a surge of pride. Eve had been very brave.

The origin of the wails was Katie, wedged there between her protective, comforting parents, her face red and wet and scrunched up with terror. Eve ducked under Niko's arm and crawled over to her friend. She reached out to wipe the tears off the younger girl's face with the sleeve of her shirt. "It's over now," she assured Katie. "And we're all okay." She drew up to her knees and leaned over to hug the child, hoping to ease her. "Don't cry."

Mallorie moved over a bit to let Eve sit beside her daughter. The girls clung to each other, the younger still wailing like a siren. Others in the sewer were doing much the same as the girls, clinging to loved ones. Even those without family held on to someone for comfort. Not far away, Brucie, Bernie and Jacob untangled themselves from each other. The former looked uncomfortable, no doubt having his masculinity smarted by being forced to find safety and comfort in other men.

"That didn't happen," Brucie insisted, sitting tall and puffing up to make himself seem bigger than he really was. "So we ain't gonna say shit to anyone about it, right?"

"Nuttin' happen, nuttin' a speak of," Jacob assented.

"It's okay, Brucie," Bernie assured the man, patting him on the arm. "Everybody gets scared and there is nothing bad about finding comfort in friends."

Brucie frowned. "The pothead gets it. Why can't you?"

"Nah call insultin' ya bredda," Jacob protested.

"I meant that in a good way, homie. You're a genetically superior kind of pothead."

But Jacob did not look appeased by that.

Bernie sighed. "At least it is over now and we are all alive. I wonder how much of Broker was destroyed."

Brucie shrugged. "Probably ain't gonna be able to tell. It was destroyed before."

"It wasn't half as bad as Algonquin."

"Me tink it worse now," Jacob said. "Dem sounds we heard, dem booms and crashes..." He looked grim. "It sound like de end of de world."

Across the tunnel, a female freak climbed to the top of the sewer ladder and pushed against the manhole to no effect. "Debris must block it," she announced to the others below, Jeremy among them.

"Can you get it open?" he asked.

"Perhaps with aid."

She moved to one side of the ladder as another of her kind climbed up. Together, they worked on getting the manhole cover open. It must have been extremely weighty even for them, as they were both grunting with effort.

While they went about it, Jeremy checked on his people, moving about them for any who might have sustained injuries. Beth, their resident nurse, had brought along some of her medical supplies, but there was not much she would be able to do for anyone with life-threatening injuries, and without an open wound, not even the freaks' healing blood would do much good. Thankfully, there were none of those injuries. A few people had suffered a scratch or two, or a bruise, and a man had a small gash on his head from being struck by a bit of concrete that had shaken loose from the the top of the tunnel, but that was as serious as it got and Beth took care of it with simple disinfectant. The people were more shaken than anything else. Jeremy did what he could to soothe the frightened and assure the doubtful.

"It is of no use," Thomas told him later, after the two freaks had given up on the manhole. Fortunately, not many had noticed this, as most were still stricken from the event. Thomas had the good sense to keep his voice down to avoid being heard and causing panic. "It is too heavy for them to move. We must find another way to the surface. Are there more of these manholes close by?"

"I don't know, but I know someone who might."

The two headed across the crowded platform, Jeremy pardoning himself when he bumped or stepped on someone by mistake; he did not have the grace Thomas had. They came before Gen. The woman was huddled up against the wall beside Niko, knees drawn up to her chest. The man had an arm about her shoulders, hand caressing one in a soothing manner as he asked if she was okay. Though her face seemed pale even in the glow of a nearby oil lamp, she nodded to the question. Then she became aware of the two presences.

"Is something wrong?"

Jeremy bent down and spoke in low tones. "You found the manhole that got us into this sewer. Did you happen to find any others?"

Gen wondered why he was asking, then she knew. "Our way out is blocked, isn't it?"

He nodded. "They can't budge it, but there's no cause for alarm. We'll find a way out. I'm simply asking you so we can save the time a search of the tunnels would waste."

Gen pointed to the eastern tunnel. "That way. I think there's one that opens up near those houses on the east side of the beach."

Thomas nodded. "I will gather a few of my people together to locate it and see if it may be opened."

He took four with him, following the tunnel Gen indicated. They stayed gone for close to an hour, or what seemed like an hour. It was impossible to tell without a time-keeping device or the celestial bodies of the sky. There were wrist watches among them, but all had stopped working to the astonishment of their owners.

Gen dozed off and on during that time and Eve had helped quiet Katie finally by engaging the young girl in their favorite hand games. Brucie had lost all patience and began pacing the platform.

"What the fuck is taking so long?" he demanded, but did not wait for anyone to answer. "There's wet holes I like being inside, but this ain't one of them."

"Brucie," Roman scolded. "Don't speak like that in front of the children. Just sit down and relax. You are only getting yourself more worked up, and that is the last thing any of us want. You start acting crazier than usual."

"I'm an animal, Roman," the muscular man declared, flexing. "A wild beast. I need freedom and this fucking tunnel is a cage. The beast doesn't like to be caged!"

"Maybe the cage has been opened," Bernie said, pointing. "Look."

By the light offered by the many glows of flashlights, battery-operated lanterns, and oil lamps, they saw the freaks arriving from the eastern tunnel, meeting up Jeremy. They spoke for a bit, though they were too far away to hear. Jeremy nodded about something, frowning, then turned to face his people.

"Everyone listen up!" he called. "Our friends here have found our way out, but it looks like we're going to have to camp out down here for tonight."

Some groans and protests went up, Brucie the loudest among them. Jeremy rose his hands to settle them. "I know, I know. I don't like it, either, but our friends have seen what it's like out there and they believe the surface poses a health risk, especially to the young and elderly. The air out there is smothered with dust and dirt right now, but it should soon let up enough for us to handle it. Hopefully by morning, or a day at the most. So, just try to be patient and get some rest. We're all alive, and that's all that matters right now."

Morning hadn't been promising for travel, nor was the rest of the day. Thomas and his people checked time and again on the surface, giving their reports to Jeremy. The massive dust cloud that hung over all of Broker and some parts of Algonquin and Bohan had let up some, but still posed a risk. On a better note, the homes on the east side of Firefly Island had not suffered much damage and would offer shelter for everyone until they could get their bearings and decide what to do next. That decision came down to how much damage the device had caused when it had been destroyed, whether or not the pool had dissipated and would leave the land barren as a result.

"My people can travel," Thomas had told Jeremy. "Our lungs will filter out the dust and leave us unharmed. If you have no objections, I will take a group of them to Meadows Park to assess the damage."

Jeremy had wondered how he would be able to tell if that pool of energy had dissipated. In answer, Thomas the freak pulled some hand-held device from a pocket, a device no one but Gen and the Six had seen back when they stood against the Broker Mother. "This. The Mother dropped it during the fight. It is a device that reads the energies in your planet. It was also programmed to read the heat energies of living organisms. It will tell us if the pool is still there and it will tell us if there are any survivors."

Thomas, along with four of his own people, had set out that afternoon for Meadows Park, assuring Jeremy that he would communicate their findings through one of the remaining Six, a female freak whose host's name was Samantha.

The waiting was the hardest part. Time eroded what little patience the people had, and they became cross and quarrelsome with each other. Jeremy was forced to play peacekeeper often, and almost got a broken nose for his effort on one occasion. Fortunately, he had loyal people like Godzilla and Gus to protect his person. However, they were a naturally aggressive and intimidating duo who wouldn't do much good in keeping things peaceful. Jeremy on his own could not subdue a large group of angry people, so he enlisted help from Bernie, a man with a penchant for keeping things civil. He might have tried Gen, who, at times, could talk sense into some, but the woman had still been asleep and Niko had been running off anyone who dared interrupt her deserved rest.

Bernie turned out to be all that was needed. Having a friend like Niko had gotten him used to dealing with bursts of anger, and while Bernie had never gotten his friend to see things in a positive light, he had at least gotten enough practice on him to work some optimism on more pliable people. The fights ceased, but the tension was still there, as strong as the electricity that could still be felt in the air around them.

Later that night, Samantha finally brought word from Thomas.

"It is good and bad news," she told the humans' leaders once Jeremy had them all gathered together. "The pool of energy has dissipated. If the Mother has a second device as we believe, it is now useless to her."

"I think I can guess what the bad news is," Niko said, frowning.

"She will learn of this soon, and it will not sit well with her, nor with the other Mothers on this planet. We have taken away their chance for revenge on their enemies."

"So, she is going to get revenge on us."

"I'm not surprised," Gen said. "I mean, we had to know this was coming. Their purpose has only ever been revenge, now we've just given them a new target to aim it at."

"It couldn't be helped," said Bernie, trying to be helpful. "The device had to be destroyed."

"And we're fucked again," Niko said, roiled up. "Dealing with one of them was bad enough, but an army of them and each with their own army of freaks? God fucking help us. We're not going to be able to help ourselves."

"The others will do nothing," Samantha assured him. "The task of revenge will be left to the remaining Mother here. They know it is pointless for them all to come for only one small band of humans; why send many where only one is needed for the task? It is excessive and unnecessary, a waste of time and resources. But we can make this task impossible for the Mother here."

"How?" Niko asked with a dubious look.

"The Mother knows that there were humans staying at Meadows Park, because to her, only humans would have killed the other Mother whose death she felt. But she cannot know who you are or what any of you look like. The only way she can find out who was behind all this is through memory. That is, she will look for minds who have memory of the other Mother dying and the device being destroyed."

"But we came across others of your kind who knew we had a hand in it and knew what we looked like," Gen pointed out. "There's a good possibility that others know, too. She can just search their memories of us to know who she's looking for."

Samantha smiled. "If only they were alive."

"They're dead?" Jeremy asked. "All of them?"

"That is affirmative," Samantha answered. "Thomas informed me the device picked up only a single heat energy on this island other than our own, too small to be human or one of my kind. It was in this area. He believes it is some beast, likely one of your domesticated animals."

Gen smiled a little. "Maybe it's Fido."

"How could they have all died?" Niko asked. "I would think at least some would have survived."

"You must remember," said Samantha. "As we made our way to this part of your city, we did not come across many of my people. The rest were at the airport, where the dead Mother had gathered them. And this airport is near Meadows Park, in the most violent area of the destruction's radius. Nothing could have survived there."

"When the Broker Mother died, the other one felt it, as you said," said Bernie. "So, is it possible the other picked up on her dying memories? Couldn't she have seen that Gen and you Six were behind her death and would assume you all were behind the device's destruction as well?"

"No," Samantha said. "Those memories ceased to exist when the Broker Mother did. The other would have only felt her death, and by then, it would have been too late to access those memories."

"That still leaves us, though." Gen got a worried look. "There's some thirty people here, all with those memories inside their heads. She'll find us."

"There are three options to prevent this," Samantha told them. "Option one is to extract these memories from the minds of all who are here. It is...extreme, but this would ensure that she will never know of those who were involved. However-"

"Wait a tick," Jeremy said. "You're telling us you can extract memories?"

"That is correct," Samantha said. "You were not present when we first arrived at Meadows Park, when Alastair told Gen of us and of yourselves. There is no time for a history lesson, so I will keep this short as possible." She explained about the lesser race on their home world, of the power that remained dormant in their minds and of the Mothers implanting their soldiers into the minds of the lesser race to make use of that power against their enemy. "The lesser race is much like your own. You, too, have this power in your minds which remains unusable to you by your own slow evolution. Power my people can access."

Jeremy looked pale and shocked. "So, all you did during that fight with the Mother, slinging those energy waves at her, that's actually us? That power is inside us?"

"Yes, and much more. As we continue to advance, we continue to learn new things from your minds, new powers and skills."

"Well, fuck me sideways."

Samantha looked thoughtful. "If only we could find a way for your people to access that power, no Mother would stand a chance against you."

"Since you can access it," Gen said. "Maybe that answer lies with your people."

"Perhaps, but let us focus on the matter at hand. As I was saying, your first option is for us to extract those memories. However, some memories are like a spider's web. They are interwoven. Every memory connected with the death of the Mother and the destruction of this device would have to be extracted." She looked between Bernie, Niko and Gen. "For example, you three and the ones who were with you at the time would have to forget everything you knew from the point when Alastair approached you on the street to deliver our message to your people. Had he not come to you, you never would have known of us, the device, or the Mother's intentions for it. It is the starting point for all the memories you have of those two events."

"That is a lot to forget," Niko noted.

"It is," Gen agreed, frowning. "I don't like that option. I don't have a lot of good memories that are connected with those events, but the ones I do have I wouldn't give up for anything. What are the other two options?"

"Your second option is for my people to block the Mother from your minds."

"What's the catch for this one?" Niko asked. There was always a damn catch.

"It would take a lot out of us as a result. There are only three of my kind among you now who are advanced enough to do this. We could create a kind of mind shield amongst all of us that would be difficult for the Mother to penetrate, but we would have to keep it in effect all the time. While this mind shield is not a difficult thing for us to do, it would drain us a little more each day we keep it in effect, and eventually we would have to rest as your people do, which would leave our minds open to her."

"And the last option?" Jeremy asked.

"We leave this city. We would still have to shield yours and our own minds until we find a way out of this place. However, if we are able to get out and the Mother fails to notice, she would continue her search here, thinking we are still in the city. And when she does not turn up what she searches for, she will realize that we have either fled or died. Even if she does believe we have only fled, she would be hard-pressed to locate us when we could be anywhere on this planet. It would be a long time before she found us, perhaps years."

Jeremy cast a look at his grim-faced people. "This is a lot of people to move out of the city. Some are so old...they probably won't even make it through the journey."

"And yet it seems like the best option," Gen said. "If we can get out, we can find a place to live in peace now that the device is destroyed and the energy fizzled out. Or whatever."

"If we can get out," Niko said. "Maybe they can hide our minds from her, but they can't hide our presence. It will take a damn ship to get everyone out of here; a big, noticable ship. Our best option is to forget what we know."

"It's not the best option," Gen argued. "It's the easiest option. And what will it cost? We'll lose everything good that's happened."

"It's not the easiest option, either, but it is the safest. They are only memories, Gen."

She looked wounded. "So, they mean nothing to you?"

"If we forget, it's a second chance, a chance to start over. We can make new memories."

"Memories that won't be the same as the ones we already have."

"No, but maybe they will be better."

Gen couldn't believe him, that he would throw it all away. "Or maybe they'll be worse. I don't want better, Niko. I want what I have; I want to remember what I would have fought and died for, I want to remember that moment when you were dying because it was the moment I knew I was in love with you, and I want to remember the courage it gave me to face that Mother. I know you have memories like that, too. How can you want to forget them?"

"I don't want to, but I will give them up if it ensures that you, Roman, and Eve and the others live. All of you are all that matters to me."

She shook her head. "You won't forget why your family and friends matter, because they always have. Maybe you won't even forget why Eve matters, but you will forget why I do."

"No, I won't. I knew you mattered to me long before that freak came to us on the street. When you would have died for all of us, when I risked everything to save you."

"We'll be back in that same place we were, when you were keeping your distance and keeping your secrets." She looked angry, almost infuriated with him. "We'll never have moved on!"

"And who is to say we can't move on again? Who is to say I won't make the right decisions the next time?"

"Who is to say I will forgive you the next time?" she shot back.

"You found reasons to, Gen. You will find those reasons again. I'm the same man I was several days ago."

"And it's not a done deal," Jeremy added. "This is supposed to be a discussion, not a decision. The decision will come down to all of us, as a people. Everyone else has a right to decide for themselves what we should do. So, once we find some decent shelter, we're going to explain the options to everyone and put it to a vote."

Bernie, who had been mostly quiet through all of this, had thought of something. He looked at Samantha the freak. "If you can extract memories, could you create them inside another person's mind?"

"I am not certain, as it has never been attempted," she said. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, maybe we can throw the Mother off the scent, so to speak. If you could create memories in someone's mind where we have all died and if the Mother should come upon the person with these memories..."

"The Mother would have no choice but to give up her search, believing the ones responsible are dead," Samantha said, nodding.

"And since she doesn't know what we look like, all you have to do is make up a bunch of people and make them kill the other Mother and destroy the device. Maybe have them all die during its destruction or something."

"Bernie..." Jeremy started, but then words failed him, so astonished was he by the man's cleverness.

Gen, however, took up where he left off. "You're a genius, Bernie. You're a genius and I love you. You may have just saved all of our lives."

"Do not get your hopes up," Samantha cautioned. "While this is a brilliant idea in essence, we may not be capable of performing it. Also, its result will be what your people would call a 'crap shoot'. Only luck will determine whether the Mother first reaches the mind of the one carrying the false memories or one of us."

"She will be coming to assess the damage in Meadows Park?" Bernie asked.

"Yes."

"Then all we have to do is send the person with the fake memories there. I would assume that would be the first place she starts searching for minds, even if she doesn't think anyone would have survived in that area. She must be thorough."

"That is possible. It is likely," Samantha admitted.

"There's still the issue of whether or not they can actually do this," Niko said.

"And then there's the issues of who's going to be the 'experiment' for this whacky science project and who's going take the memories and likely die for all of us," Gen added. "That Mother's already going to be pissed when she finds that pool of energy gone. She's going to flip her damn lid when she realizes she can't get her revenge on us. She'll tear that unlucky person apart."

"Thomas is the strongest among my people," Samantha said. "If anyone can perform this task, it will be him, though he may have to rely on us for some help. I will communicate with him to let him know of this plan."

"Tell him to hurry the hell up," Niko insisted. "We can't know when that bitch is coming."

"We can," Samantha assured. "You recall the device Thomas took with him?"

"It'll read her heat energy," Gen said.

"Yes, and since we know there are no other life forms here but us and some beast, any heat energy the device picks up will likely be hers. We will know for certain if it picks up that heat around Meadows Park."

A/N:

Happy Halloween, dear readers! I know it took me forever to get this chapter up, so you have my sincerest apologies for that. It was actually one of the most difficult ones I've had to write, and it hasn't helped that I've also been swamped, trying to learn three languages at once(not going to bore you with why). Can anyone say 'time-consuming'?

Anyway, we're closing in on the end. Chap 21 will be the last in this part of the story, then I'll be beginning the second part. Personally, I do not like writing mass-chapter stories. I have one on another fandom that's almost 50 chapters long and I cringe everytime I look at it, never mind the obscene word count. So, I'm splitting this one up. I estimate the second part to arrive maybe two weeks after this one is finished. Already started writing some of it. Blah, blah, yadda, yadda. Okay, I'm done.