"It's okay. We'll show them. We will show them all," said Silco quietly, though the downpour and the crackling inferno consuming what used to be one of his warehouses threatened to drown out his voice.

His bitter remark seemed to resonate with the blue haired little girl embracing him. She had tackled him to the ground and they were still sitting there in the alley, silent and soaked from the rain, although neither shivered thanks to the fire and each other's body heat. The girl hugged him tighter and glared towards the dark tunnel her sister Vi had walked away into without so much as a goodbye.

Silco looked the other way, down coldly at the body of Vander, now a mutated and hulking corpse due to the overdose of shimmer the man had consumed in a desperate bid to save the pink haired girl. But his calm gaze was just a mask, under the surface rage and relief tore at him much like it did the night Vander tried to drown him. Relief that he had escaped death once again at the last moment when Vander prioritized rescuing the pink haired girl over ripping him apart. And rage, against the man he once thought of as a brother for denying their bond one last time with that final gesture.

Was this what you fought for? Silco wanted to shout at the corpse while clutching the abandoned girl, the sister left behind by the girl Vander had given his life to save. You gave up your dream, our dream! And what do you have to show for it but another traitor. Silco would've given his entire fortune then and there to bring the fool back, just to show him how his years of sentimentality had all been for naught. He snarled at a ghost that wasn't there. I won't make your mistake. I'll show you how to leave behind something to be proud of.

The heavily tattooed thug standing behind Silco finally spoke up, hesitant as he was to, just like the other two speechless goons. After all mere moments ago Silco had ordered the death of Vander and all the brats, yet here he was now, holding one of those kids and comforting her.

"Boss, Selvika needs-" The woman the thug was holding tried to object and interrupted the thug but no one could understand her faint muttering as she slipped in and out of consciousness.

"Get her to a doctor." snapped Silco.

Silco jumped to his feet immediately upon uttering the word "doctor", as the terrible realization dawned upon him that trapped in the base under the burning warehouse, was one such doctor. But not just any doctor, the genius called Singed was responsible for the development of shimmer, and Silco wasn't about to let such a key part of his plans die.

"What are you idiots standing around for? Bring men and put out the damn fire." shouted Silco, sending his henchmen running to obey.

In his rush Silco hadn't noticed he'd dragged the girl to her feet as well, and that she was still holding on to him. She was softly sniffling, and trying to hide it by keeping her head against his waist. He peeled her away from him and holding her cheeks gently with both hands, turned her face up to look at his.

"Why are you crying again?" he said with a hint of disappointment.

She looked into his interrogative eyes. The man's good eye was devoid of both kindness and cruelty, and the other was a haunting black orb surrounded by scar tissue. She hesitated, then said timidly, "Because it's all my fault." She tried to look away.

"... you did this?" said Silco in disbelief, glancing up at the warehouse turning to rubble before his eyes. He quickly put together the pieces, finally understanding what had distracted his thug at the vault door. This girl must've tossed some contraption in that caused the explosion, it had obviously had a greater effect than intended. Her value in his eyes skyrocketed yet again as her potential shined through and his mind plotted. He quickly knelt to her level to inspect her. But there was no need to check, he had already made up his mind that she was telling the truth.

The girl mistook his sudden movement and cowered away, slipping from his grasp. "I'm sorry!" she sobbed, quickly adding repeatedly, "It's all my fault - Mylo's right - I'm such a stupid jinx." She tore at her hair and hit her head with her small hands in what looked to be the start of a delirious fit.

Taken aback by the outburst, Silco quickly grabbed her wrists. "Stop it, stop it!" he commanded as he did his best to restrain her.

She cried and flailed about vainly for a second before noticing the look on Silco's face. Still replaying Vi's angry face in her own head, the girl was imagining the worst and had no reason to expect what she saw. His countenance was one of exasperation and astonishment without anger. She focused on his relieved face and the accusatory voices and visions faded, melding into the sound of rain and the dancing shadows of the fire. Slowly, her breathing calmed and she lowered her arms. Silco let go of her wrists. The two breathed in sync, taking a moments reprieve while looking at each other, one with new found admiration and the other pity.

After a pause, Silco broke the silence. "You're not a stupid jinx," he said in a steady and measured voice. "No, you're a wonderful jinx." He almost smiled.

In those words she finally found a measure of forgiveness, a temporary respite in the eye of her hurricane of emotions. An involuntary sob escaped from her mouth and she tried to fight back the tears. It was all in vain, and she lunged once more at the man but this time he was prepared and didn't fall over. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder but it was not enough to stifle her wailing.

The dam had burst, and all of the frustration and sadness poured out of the child in a great flood of tears and snot, threatening to ruin Silco's soaked clothes even further. But he didn't object, and instead held her silently with all the grace of a fallen angel.

Silco wiped his good eye and pondered the hand afterwards. Had it truly been a tear or was it just the rain? He didn't want to know. What he did know though, was that emotions he thought long dead had stirred within him once more. He slowly put the hand on the back of the girl's head, cradling it against his shoulder as he searched for reassuring words.

"Don't cry. You're perfect."