Crystal would return back to his home at Mossholm, at one of the more urban, middle class districts. It was a 2 bedroom apartment he was living in, but not on his own
"Hey Darling" said a woman who went to receive him as he arrived
"Ela! Hey" he answered with familiarity
"Just fine. Tough day at work?"
"Yeah. Ahh..." said Crystal, placing his hand on his only remaining eye
"Here, I will walk you"
Crystal let Ela walk him to the bathroom, where he would then take a sip of syrup right from a bottle
"Ah jesus"
"Just how long did you use your Semblance for?"
"Quite a while actually. Had to perform a full trip in and out of Beacon with it"
"Didn't you rest on the way?"
"I would have, but there were so many Vale patrol vessels I just couldn't"
"Ah. You're lucky that the train got here quickly"
"I didn't. Had to stop by Jormungandr to get a quick supplement just so I could make the ride here"
Crystal's semblance had a problematic downside. By reflecting light away from certain surfaces, he was redirecting that additional light to his eyes, which slowly damaged his eyesight. That's how he lost his left eye
"At this rate, I'm going to need to commission Nero some of those prosthetics"
"Well, for now, you maybe should just rest"
Crystal headed towards his bed next to a crib. He picked up his baby
He carefully opened one of the baby's eyes while trying to avoid waking him up
The sclera was black
"Ah..."
Ela walked in
"Dear...You know he won't change eyes from one day to the other"
"I know...its just that...He doesn't deserve this"
"I know. I know you don't want him to have your Semblance, but you already saw he has my eyes"
"But...that doesn't stop him from getting my Semblance..."
Crystal had to calm down for a minute, just so he could place his baby back on the crib
"All I want for him is to be able to see his life unfold before him as clearly as he can. To be able to grow up like a kid and not like a soldier..."
"Crystal..."
"To be able to see his friends, his mom, his couple, his own family...as clearly as he can get it. Unlike his father"
Ela places her arm on Crystal's shoulder
"I know. Which is why I'm always grateful for what you're doing. Everyone is. How did things go at work again?"
"Not great...More...unnecessary killing"
"Remember what the great leader says..."
"Yeah. Not unnecessary if it is for our cause but...those people didn't deserve to die. They were children"
"What do you mean?"
"I was put on routinely patrol since team GMBT is on standby until the situation at Sanus calms down. We were patroling around Jottunheim with Cipher and Gambit until we came across some kids grabbing one of the food crates from the Collective truck"
"Oh...So"
"Yeah, Gambit pulled the trigger on them"
"Oh dear...God of Light"
"And he didn't even fucking hesitate. He literally ripped the box off of one of the kids hand's without any gesture then called us to continue patrolling as if nothing happened"
"Okay. Want something to drink? Maybe we can just calm down for a bit and...maybe watch one of the movies that the Collective gave us for this week? One of them looks to be a good mystery movie"
"Ah. Fine. I'll take the cape off and wash my face first"
"Okay. I will wait for you in the couch"
Crystal got up and removed their cape. Then the webbing. Then the protective vest and the rest of the armor plates and protections
After that, he slowly removed his mask. After that, he let out a breath of relief until he saw one of those same kids that Gambit killed earlier on the corner of his right eye. He blinked and closed the closet door.
Crystal then put on his eye patch. It was black but had the logo of Juno printed on it in full white to contrast with the patch
It was a laurel wreath with 4 stars in it. Right on top of it, a cross of knives and a crown on top of it. And on top of it all, a label with the official motto of the government. Glória et impérium
"Ah...I think the trauma scars are going to hit me from that...experience"
"Should we ask the Collective people for some extra medicine?"
"I think so. And some more maternity supplies"
"Do you think they will grant them? My leave ends next month"
"They will. I will ensure it"
Crystal and Ela head for their couch and hit play on the movie
The "Atlas Entertainment Ltd." logo shows up then music begins rolling up but gets quickly replaced with the logo of the "Maelstrom Collective" in an obvious last minute edit
"Man, these editors really suck at their job"
"You missed the one from last week. They took 15 seconds to cut it out. They must have gotten somebody that actually knows what they are doing. This was 2 seconds, so that's record time"
"Sometimes I honestly wonder if I should get a mission on Atlas on purpose and get us one of those cool editing things they use there"
"Can't you get it anywhere else?"
"Nope. Atlas ones have some features that others don't...at least that is what Fortune told me"
"Fortune?"
"A Reaper from team FILM, they got assigned to the Collective"
"Oh okay"
The movie begins. Apparently it is about this guy who is going about his day, working at a company called SafeCons that does some digital services for the Schnee Dust Company, then one day meets this other guy who teaches him that the S.D.C is buying people in the council to get themselves some political favors and so he decides to hack the S.D.C in order to help the people. He always breaks the 4th wall apparently, since he opens the movie by saying "Hello Stranger" and continues talking in between important scenes. While in camera he does nothing, the monologue plays while they do something, speaking about how elections in Atlas are bad and always used to keep people in Mantle with little to no power in politics and how every person in both places just buys without restraint
"Daaamn...This is some real criticism. How did the Atlas Council not shoot it down?" says Crystal
"I'm guessing that it may be a perk we don't have. Not going to call it to question, not like we can do much"
"Eh. I guess. At least they can criticize their government"
"Well. You just did"
"Openly. Like that, like...making books and movies and stuff about it"
"It's not like we can't do that here"
"We could...but again, we also need food and stuff"
"Yeah"
The movie continues. The hacker eventually frames an SDC executive for his hack but attracts the attention of Stephan Wesker, a high executive that has a lot of power and offers the guy a place in the executive board,but the guy refuses. After that he joins a hacker group and meets some other cool people and discovers that the guy he met at the beginning is also a member. In fact, that guy is the leader of the group and everyone acts very familiar around him, like he was an old friend, which is a little weird
"Hmm. Strange. Didn't something similar happen before on that park?" said Ela
"Yeah. There must be something we are missing"
The guy and the group of hackers eventually come up with a plan to take down the SDC and mess up the economy badly enough that Atlas will be reformed...after suffering a lot that is. And after some shenanigans they pull it off. Stephan Wesker is arrested but, the hacker that originally recruited the guy at the start is revealed to have been an imagination from the guy himself and, all the time, he was the leader of the hacker group. And with that, the movie closes, promising a sequel
"Wow. 2 hours of movie for this?!" said Crystal
"Well. It was a cool plot twist. Hopefully the Collective brings the sequel next week, I really wouldn't want to miss it"
Crystal gets up and stretches a bit
"Don't worry. I know someone who can get us that movie"
Crystal heads for the changer and begins switching out his clothes. He sees the kid again, just looking at him from the same place he was standing at when he first saw him
