Nox turned on the hot water and stood motionless beneath the running water, the steam making her hair cling to her skin. She breathed deeply, clearing her mind of any troubles. Even though she knew she couldn't. Angel was still out there. Her memories were gone. Taken by the Superior. She shut her eyes, grounding her palms into her eyes until she saw purple. She blinked away the droplets lingering on her eyelashes.
A shadow swept beneath her bathroom door, but she didn't notice it. On the other end of the fogged up glass, she saw someone's silhouette, watching her.
Nox frowned. "Go away, Lloyd. Divorcees don't shower together."
The shadow didn't move.
Nox's brows creased together, and her voice sounded more alarmed than she intended. "Boomer?"
The shadow harshly drew open the shower door. The Superior stood on the other side.
Nox gasped and stumbled back, nearly slipping on the wet shower floor. Her bare back hit a wall. There was nowhere to run. From her angle, it looked like the Superior's body fit the entire doorway. He smiled, a sickening grin that made her stomach lurch.
"What are you doing?" She demanded, but her voice was trembling. She didn't want to show this monster she was afraid, but she couldn't even control her own fear. The Superior had her trapped. There was nothing to protect her, not even her own clothing or armor. How did he get inside the base? She recalled the words that Etrius told them when the Superior first attacked them and kidnapped Angel. He can slip past our defenses and find a way to get to you. There was no stopping him.
"There's nowhere to run." The Superior's smile widened as he stepped inside the running shower, shutting the door with his foot. He pressed Nox between the wall beneath the shower head and his own body. Nox tried to scream, but the Superior slammed his lips against hers. It wasn't a smoldering, needy kiss. It was sloppy, dominating, and his tongue felt like a dying fish in her mouth. Her throat burned from the scream she never made. His hands were traveling up and down her body, leaving behind a trail of acid and toxin. She struggled, but he was stronger, holding her in place. The hot water was scalding her face. Water dripped down her cheeks, or tears, she didn't know. He seemed unfazed by her tears and pain.
The Superior grabbed her hair, yanking her head up to face him. "You're mine." It wasn't an inquiry, or a demand. It was a statement, as if he were telling her that Angel's memories were gone. He buried his face in between her breasts. Nox was no longer ashamed of her own nudity. She hated the Superior. She hated that he'd taken everything from her, and the fact that he was willing to take so much more.
"Get off!" She forced the words out between choking sobs, beating down on his back. She also hated the fact that he was fully clothed.
Reading her mind, the Superior smirked. "I can fix that." Suddenly, his pants were at his feet, a wild look in his eyes. He pressed himself against her, and tears bled from Nox's eyes. He whispered harshly into her ears, and Nox shivered. He sounded almost like Creticus. "You're mine, you hear me? Mine." He placed a hand on her bare stomach, where Angel once was. Where another hybrid could be. "And so is this."
Nox awoke with a choking scream of anguish. She flew upright, her eyes darting around the dark room. Her breathing was heavily, and she wanted to throw up. Boomer was the first person to bust his way inside Nox's room, his shotgun drawn and aimed at the shadows around her. "Show yourself!" He demanded into the darkness.
Nox tried composing herself, but she just fell apart again. She scrunched her hair with her fists. "It was... a dream."
Boomer remained tense for a moment before he sighed in relief and lay his shotgun by the door. He shut the door behind him and made his way to Nox's bed. Nox practically fell into his embrace. It was warm. Comforting. She felt in control. Boomer snuck his arms around her waist and rocked her gently to calm her, whispering reassuring words, telling her everything would be okay. Soon, Nox's sobs silenced, and her breathing was slow and deep.
"It was him, wasn't it?" Boomer whispered, refusing to speak the Superior's name out of pure hatred.
Nox nodded, a bleeding sound escaping her throat. She couldn't even pretend to act strong anymore. There was no more hope. The Superior didn't just defeat the team. He destroyed them. Boomer stared down at Nox as she struggled to compose herself. He'd never seen her look so... broken. He held her closer, rocking her again. "Shh... It's okay. He's not here. You're safe. I'm here."
Nox's heart hung by a thread, an organ that would bleed and never stop. "He's coming for us..."
"It was just a dream," Boomer reminded her softly. "A nightmare. You're safe here."
After a while, Boomer comm'd in Romanov to check on Nox's vitals. Boomer left Nox's room to patrol the base and reassure her the Superior hadn't penetrated their defenses. Romanov hooked a heart monitor to Nox's chest just as Lloyd emerged into her room. "Are you alright?" He asked, the urgency ringing in his voice. He closed the distance between them, but Nox looked away. "I'm fine." She said coldly, even though Romanov told her she'd had a panic attack from weeks upon weeks of stress.
When Lloyd didn't move, Nox added, "Go away, Lloyd. I don't want to see your face." He hadn't been there for her. Neither in the dream when the Superior came for her. And neither when she woke up screaming.
Lloyd lifted her chin up to face him. "Nox, stop being stubborn."
Nox flinched. It was just like how the Superior yanked her head in the dream. He shoved Lloyd away. "Get back!" She shouted, fear in her voice.
Lloyd was genuinely confused. "What?"
"What? What?! Don't what me!"
"Nox-"
"And don't Nox me, either!"
Lloyd sighed. "Look. I'd still do anything for you, even though we're no longer together."
This infuriated Nox even further. "Get out!"
Romanov's gaze switched to the heart monitor, seeing her pulse rise with stress.
Lloyd clenched his hands into fists. "Fine!" He shouted back, and he stormed out of the room.
Nox was about to get up from bed and go after him, but Romanov held her back, shaking his head. "It's not worth it."
Nox ripped off the heart monitoring equipment. "No, Lloyd needs to understand that it's over!"
Romanov closed his eyes and sighed. "He does understand. He's just having a hard time accepting it."
Nox let Romanov's words sink in. "You know, don't you?" Romanov had known Lloyd longer than Nox. He'd seen the hardships he'd gone through without her. The pain he felt while she slept in frozen cryo liquid.
"He's strong, but he's stubborn as well," Romanov continued. "He's used to earning what he wants."
Nox opened her mouth to say something else, but the weeks upon weeks of not seeing Angel and Boomer being closer to her and Lloyd trying to earn her forgiveness all came crashing down on her. She stood up to get a drink of water-
And then crashed to her knees. She didn't know she was sobbing until she felt the tears catching against her wrists. Romanov knelt beside her, patting her shoulder. Then, he squeezed her into a hug. He wasn't used to doing it. Not even to Dan. But support was the treatment for panic attacks, and it was his job to support the team.
Romanov didn't have to kneel down far. His short height matched hers when she was kneeling. Nox sniffled, and said only two words. "Thank you."
It was 4 AM.
The rest of the team had gone to sleep, but Lloyd was still awake, blankly staring at the security feed. Not like there was much to look at anyways. Any spy cameras they left at the Superior's base were useless. The frequency was blocked by whatever technology he was using. Lloyd ran his hands through his hair, not even sure what to do anymore. Their plans failed. They lost Angel, The General, and almost lost Beecher. The Author nearly died. He ran his hands up his face and through his hair, which had become matted from days without showering. He'd grown a beard that Mullins would be jealous of.
"There's nothing left." He spoke in a hushed tone, over and over. "There's nothing left."
Blue jolted awake, sharp pain running through her arm. She stood upright in the infirmary bed, glancing at her bandaged arm, where the Evil bite wound was dressed. The open scars were fizzing like acid. She hissed and tore away the wrapped bandage. The wound was closing, muscles knitting together and the skin melting. It was healed. She gingerly touched the skin were a fatal wound had been only seconds ago. Then she closed her hand into a fist. Power coursed through her.
Not finding sleep again, Blue stood to her feet and walked the hallways of the base. She still wasn't used to how eerily similar this world was to the one she wrote about. The tile flooring, the steel walls, the titanium smell, the cool air conditioning... It was far more advanced than the Pandora park she'd been to.
When she entered the monitor room, Lloyd jolted, surprised to see her up at this time. "What are you doing?"
Blue shrugged. "I'm always up at this time. It's the best time to write." Upon saying these words, she wondered if the time zone was similar to the one back home. Approaching Lloyd, she shows her healed arm. When Lloyd didn't understand, Blue added, "The power I used to create this world is returning to me. They aren't lost."
Lloyd's mouth fell open. "We stand a chance against the Superior. You can change what he's done- change everything." After days of torturing himself, Lloyd had finally come to terms that Blue couldn't change what happened in this world.
Until now.
Blue nodded. "We can find the others. We can end this."
Before Blue could leave, Lloyd seized her arm, and beckoned her closer to whisper something. "It's best if the others don't know about this."
"What? Why?" Blue was genuinely confused. Hours ago, Lloyd wanted to bring an army to destroy the Superior. Now he wanted to go in alone?
"You heard what Beecher said to Etrius," Lloyd continued. "Nobody's going back there. It's over. If we told them this plan, they wouldn't agree to it. They'd only hinder us."
Blue actually thought about it. He wasn't wrong. And she knew the team better than Lloyd did. They wouldn't agree to it. She sighed, defeated. "Alright."
Lloyd looked her in the eyes with something she'd never seen before. It almost looked like deliverance. "This is probably the first and last time you'll hear this from me. I'm sorry about what I did before. When you were writing our lives. You truly didn't know you were doing something wrong. But you're here now. And maybe there's a reason for that. You can set things right again."
Blue took in Lloyd's words as if they were lifeblood. He was right. He'd never say that again. "Alright. So what's the plan?"