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Aberrant: Children of Quantum Fire - [Interlude]: Devil at the Crossroads [FIN]


Adrian Moss

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[May 7th 2027]

Zephyr

He took off before dark. He rarely needed more than two hours of sleep anymore, less now that he had twin worries. 'Kate' was a quandary and one that would have people form nova resources coming down to look him over again. Somewhere up that chain, someone was feeding that data to a Proteus agent. He had already discussed the situation over with three of his ex-students. He was going to expand the circle larger as he had more to do and more information to justify the risks to all their lives. They were good people and he was proud of them. They trusted him and they understood the higher calling. They also understood that for now, this mission was totally in house. The project was immense.

His second worry was his Son. He was fitting into the team well and had such power no one doubted his placement. On the rare occasions they had been able to chat safely, the boy had let out his anger, frustration, and fear. Proteus had killed his mother, and if it wasn't for a Father he'd never met, he would have been dead too. The one thing Arcstrike did know was that everyone around here in Teen2morrows HQ thought he walked on water. The young man had seen the tear marks on this man's eyes when the told his Son that his Mother had been murdered. The Boy wanted revenge. The Father council led patience with those cold, sad eyes.

"This can never be forgotten boy," the old man had said, "but now I know. Someday soon, I'll know were to start looking."

"And then?"

"I kill them. I bring them to justice, or I kill them. When I get the all, I'll still keep looking. There is no Peace while people think this way. I'll hunt them til the end of time."

"End of Time". Those were strong words and Zephyr was unsure if he could live up to them. He had a son now. He had thought he would have never had a family. Most novas didn't. He'd never ever tried to have a family. His son was in the palatial barracks, still asleep. Zephyr shook his head and that's when he spotted it - a bright shimmering asteroid bolting over the horizon, maybe two kilometers up and a thousand ahead ... and gaining. Zephyr cut himself onto full power and went rocketing after the heavenly danger (so right yet so wrong). He was burning faster and faster as he climbed, but the realization hit him that he couldn't catch the object.

He was about to get on his commlink and call out a warning to the eastern coast of Australia when the object ... adjusted itself. It dipped down and swung in an arch right above him. It was still to far away, and now clearly moving faster. Zephyr had to keep coming. He held no pride in being called the fastest man alive. I a world were people could warp to the Moon, Mars, and back, a few thousand Kph didn't count for much in the ego department. Curiosity was a different animal all together. If you loved working with children, a healthy does of curiosity was a must.

He could have reached out to grab the other flyer, but that was an attack and there was no call for that. He had no way of communicating with her either. Finally, he altered his flight from the standard "superman" position to a nearly standing pose. He watched her leave. He wondered if he would see her again. Next time, maybe he should try being higher up. He could keep an eye out to catch notice of her as he/she came up behind him.

Just as he was getting ready to dive back down to his regular height, the figure turned back and spun back for him. Maybe he/she knew who he was and had decided to 'test him out'. Who ever it was, they were someone new. That made it worth his while to glide up to meet the new ... girl. It was a girl.

When she got close enough to shout, he did so.

"GO - DOWN - BELOW " which he emphasized with an arm gesture repeatedly pointing down. The wind up here made any normal kind of communication difficult of not unlikely. He hoped she would follow if he led.

Soaring down
Zephyr will start going down, hesitating if Cora doesn't follow. If she hold to her position, he will reluctantly return. If they descend, it will be to 500m were winds are light enough to allow conversation.
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It hadn't been often often since her Apothesis that Coraline found someone nearly on her level in terms of raw speed, but the strange nova wasn't half bad. She had paused a little upon realizing he was a Utopian, not only that but one of the famous ones. Well. She had promised Uncle she would try to learn more about Baseline humanity, and while the intensified modeling was proving a very... interesting aproach to that problem, perhaps one of novas she had childishly regarded as the most blatant of 'slaves' might have something interesting to say.

So she decided to follow him down after their little game of one sided tag, grinning to herself at still being the fastest she knew without cheating. A few thousand kph *did* matter to her ego, small as she tried to keep it.

"Hello. Good flying. My name is Coraline Boehm," she offered from a mere arm's reach or three away, white-on-black eyes curious and openly measuring the man she still considered part of the problem afflicting her generation, "You work for Project Utopia, don't you? One of their famous trainer types who turn novas my age into future members of your group. Or something like that. I don't follow the news too closely."

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Zephyr

The older nova nods.

"I'm Zephyr. I'm the Cell Leader - that's chief trainer and coordinator - for Teen2morrow. It's nice to meet you Ms. Boehm. What brings an unknown but incredibly fast young nova like you over the Western Desert. I like it for the stillness. There are no people snooping around, getting pictures, and generally getting into trouble. I'm sure someone as stunning as you are must suffer through the same sort of difficulties."

He angles slightly toward her, though it soon becomes obvious he is moving along his old course.

"Care to fly along? I have to get back to my kids. They will be waking up soon and their exercises to go through. You really have to keep on eye on those teleporters. They'll sneak their way through a course if you don't stay on top of them."

"If you like, you can stay and watch. I'm allowed the occasional audience, and it does them good to see another nova taking an interest in them."

He moves on a little further,

"Is there something you wish to talk about? I don't tend to believe in coincidence, though I'm a fan of fate. Which one are you?"

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"The future is always ours to make, Mr. Zephyr, and 'fate' a product of hindsight and perhaps a few guesses at the shape of tommorow that prove right," Coraline rebutted a touch defensively before relaxing and answering his invite by following alongside him, keeping within speaking distance as she burned up excess speed with spiraling loops around the man, youthful delight at play in every spinning turn and graceful move even as she measured his responses.

"I'd love to watch for a bit. You actually caught me on my 'morning jog' around the world, something I do to stay sane on my own busy days," the young metamorph continued with an amused grin someone calling her 'unknown' and wondering how long there would be people as well-connected as this man left like that with the work she was planning to put in to resolving their debt towards Mrs. Devries. Probably shorter than she thought anyway.

She zipped ahead suddenly and pulled off a hair-pin loop-de-loop that had her drop right back next to the elder speedster, her chorus of voices frank and honest and uncomplicated, "I've spoken to a lot of people with strong opinions about what Utopia does and doesn't do, the whys behind it, the real results of all that influense you seem to throw around. I... My parents never thought... What does Project Utopia mean to you, as someone whose aparently worked very hard to help get it where it is today?"

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Zephyr

"Good question. I never answer it quite the same way each time I'm asked, still there are some basics: Self and Service."I apologize if I'm a bit long winded."

He looks at her intently for a moment, then continues,

"I apologize if I'm a bit long, but I would like to explain. Terrestrial-based sentient life is a struggle between the individual and the group. If you devote yourself totally to the self, whatever you create lives, breaths, and dies with you. If you devote yourself solely to the group, you fail to grow and thus fail the group you are trying to help. I seek a balance. I seek it in my small portion of the Project, and I seek to instill that sense of balance in my students."

"Some people think that the novas or Project Utopia are mindless drones slaving away toward some nebulous goal of World Peace and Prosperity. That's not the case. No one could do that for any length of time without snapping. I tell my students to think of themselves and their happiness as priorities. They can't devote themselves to Project Utopia without that strong sense of self. Once you find out your core, you can build great things. Once you figure out how that Self fits into the group, you can grow."

"I combine that Service. Not everyone is cut out for Service. There's nothing wrong with that. I would rather have ten devoted novas than fifty motivated solely by greed. For those who know that Service is for them, they've learned how to fit themselves into a group so that the group grows with them. As an example, I know several novas who can summon a rainstorm. How many know were to bring it so that it relieves drought, and feeds the most people?"

"One thing I often come across when dealing with other non-Utopian novas is the human control over the nova population of the Project. I an not the head of Teen2morrow. I am the Cell Leader, which roughly translates as head trainer/team lead. I take orders from my Director. I'm okay with that. Am I smarter than he is? Sure. No contest. Am I more powerful? Yep. Do I have more time in? Yes. How do I adjust to that?"

"Simply, Project Utopia is a human endeavor. Novas assist, but it is the humans who must advance themselves. That is the marriage of Self with Service. I live to serve the Utopian ideal, not any one person, nova or human. I try to teach that understanding and acceptance of the situation. At the end of the day, what matters is the good you accomplish, not the who the orders come from."

"I mentioned the Utopian Ideal, and that leads back to you question: What does Project Utopia mean to me? What it means to me is saving one person, be it philosophically, economically, or one's well-being. You save one life. Then you save another, and another. I've saved tens of thousands of lives, but I never forget that it all starts with a single individual. Project Utopia allows me to do this. I could do it on my own, but that would be without direction and involve much wasted effort. Therefore Project Utopia allows me to fulfill my desire for Service to all sentients, nova and human."

He looks to see if his response reveals any emotion before continuing.

"I have three questions in return: Are you happy with yourself? What are your goals, long term and short term? Do you think I can help? I do more than just help my own students. It is the duty for every teacher to give council to anyone willing to learn."

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Coraline listened, reading him for sincerity as they flew he was reading her, a complicated series of emotions flitting across her features. Large measures of mixed melancholy and relief at how close to Martial Virtue some of what Zephyr was expousing was. So much for her last few thoughts of blaming it's boots on the ground for being Mother Hunters waiting to happen and improving things by sweeping them all aside. Flickers of anger at Proteus and Aeon using men like this to hide their agenda of Nova sterlization and control. And finally, allowing herself a measure of trust in this Utopian to be what he said he was, a choice that showed in her eyes and the very real whisp of a smile. She could work with this. At least for a little while. Time to be stupid and dare to be better.

"I'm trying to find out how to be, as complicated as things are proving now that I'm out in the world and starting to make the choices I used to have the luxury of letting parents and teachers make for me," she opened, chorus simple and sure, articulating the central pillar of what she believed in, "Choices I'd like to have lead to a place and a future where no parents and children willl be hunted for the 'crime' of being a family outside of the designs of those seeking or possessing power. As for being able to help... I hope so. Those of us born with a node despite the best efforts of those seeking to maintain the baseline status quo have few enough willing to stand at our sides without an agenda in mind."

Coraline gave him a looong look, serious but trusting, question almost but not quite rhetorical, "Are you one of them?"

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Zephyr

Zephyr looks momentarily shocked, but only for the most fleeting of moments.

"No. No, I am not one of them."

He studies her anew.

"You would be about the right age, wouldn't you? Did someone send you?"

He becomes a bit defensive.

"Are you here to find out what I know? Who did send you?"

His aura flares to life and a transparent force encompasses him.

Force Field
[Adrian Moss] 6:55 pm: Force Field roll:

[

[envoy] 6:55 pm: force field? from zephyr?

[Adrian Moss] 6:56 pm: Yes, for Zephyr.

[Adrian Moss] 6:56 pm: Last three are megas

Adrian Moss *rolls* 19d10: 10+2+4+7+5+1+6+8+2+1+4+8+6+10+1+9+7+7+4: 102

7 + 2/success (10) = 27

"Because if you've come to shut me up, I am so going to kick your ass," he seethes.

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Coraline first looked surprised. And then she looked insulted. And finally, she just looked mad.

"Whaaat?!" her fracturing chorus exclaimed in a half-dozen out of synch voices, "I risk myself by revealing myself as a second generation nova and you think I'm here to stop you from talking about the issue as part of some Aeon trap!? Node damn it, no! I didn't even know you knew anything about us or even if you might be a far better liar than I could detect. You want me to go, I'll go. But, so help me, if I see you on security in the next Proteus enclave I help free..!"

She gives the universal 'you're first' gesture, quite literally scarlet as her chromatophores played her outrage up and down her skin and eufiber rippled as her eyes narrowed to angry, righteous slits.

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Zephyr

Zephyr goes from angry to confused.

"Wait ... Pro ... "

'In for a penny, ...'

"Proteus isn't recruiting second generation children?"

His confusing becomes surprise.

"Oh my God, they are killing you? That's what that attack was about? He was right?"

He looks at her through new eyes.

"I didn't know. I didn't know anything until around six months ago, and even then I thought it was isolated. Then ... someone came to me with a similar story. I didn't find out much, but I've been following down some leads."

Zephyr sighs.

"And that is why I thought you might have been sent to silence me."

A second later he continues,

"Someone I was close to was killed by them because ... because they had a second generation child. I know of another second gen who had one of their parents killed as well. I wasn't sure ... absolutely sure. A good friend told me that their purpose was to kill children, but he had no proof. I should have trusted his judgement."

He continues to study her.

"Well, were do we go from here? All I have is a name and a face from an assassination several months ago. I have ... people who are better trained at digging up clues working on finding out more."

Finally he seems to make the plunge.

"That and the death of my Lover and the life of my Son."

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Coraline simmered down at that bombshell, losing her brillant scarlet coloration.

"Then you're locked in Aeon's crosshairs just as sure as I am, Mr. Zephyr," Coraline exhaled, "And whatever you do, you do it carefully. They tried to kill my foster sister for nothing more ambitious than shopping and modeling clothing. You for trying to root them out from within Utopia and me if what I've done off the radar becomes known? We're already dead. But that doesn't scare me. Proteus' schemes have killed 99 out of every potential 100 members of my generation if not more. Part of their problem is that they're too stupid to see that the 1 in 100 who survived would be really, really angry about it."

She smiled, offering the man a hand as she matched vectors with him.

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Zephyr

He took the proffered hand and shook it twice. His grip was firm, but gentle.

"Know this. There is no quit in me. Even I didn't have a familial stake in this, I can't stop coming for these people. I think you feel the same way, but I'm just making sure. When it comes down to it, I'm going to take them down in the name of Project Utopia. This is the very kind of thing we were supposed to have stopped at its inception. We've let every dead and hunted child down. Our ideals mean nothing until we deal with this. I believe there are enough Utopians who feel the same way that when the time comes we will finally do what matters most."

"I've spent more than half my life training training you people to become dedicated Utopians. They are the ones I can count on, plus other friends I've made over the years. Even those who have chosen a life outside the Project are still good friends of mine ... save one, of course."

A Moment of History
One of Zephyr's students joined the Teragen and now goes by the name Crucifier. But that is a story for another time.

Those same, calm eyes return and regard Cora once more.

"I still don't have a name, and you still haven't answered my questions. If you and I are going to work together then I need to know. Consider it a teacher thing. In my case, yes, I am happy, I plan to save as many kids as I can, and I am going to deal a death blow to Proteus. I may be no Pax, and I'm thankful for that, but I also wield considerable personal power. I will move mountains if necessary, and as I've said, I am not alone in my reaction to what is happening to our young - our future."

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"I actually believe I gave you all four of those already," the young metamorph countered wryly at the turn this encounter had taken, but began counting points off on her fingers, "My name is Coraline Boehm. I'm not happy right now, but I working on how to be. I want to create a place and a future where where families can safe from attack if they offer no harm first, where what's happening to us now can never happen again. And, finally, you are helping. Just by being better than what I was afraid you'd be like."

She betrayed a streak of skittishness in that statement, a history of distrust and fear that she was fighting down in the hopes of making things better than they were, ending on a high note by trusting the man if not his employers, "But... Thank you. I have some information which could help you get a lead into this whole ugly mess, have it for you next time we meet, whenever and wherever that is. Trade you for whatever you find between now and then? Also, where are we going?"

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Zephyr

"I should have more next time too. I'm going to get more people involved now ... now that I'm sure. Two things before we break off: Don't spread it around that I'm involved yet. That time will come soon enough."

"Second, I would like you to get in touch with the other second generation I've met. They are ... in difficult situation. They could use someone in the same boat, someone who can relate to what's happened to their family. I can only help so much. At the end of the day, I am not going to be able to relate to them completely because I haven't had a node from birth. I've dealt with plenty of erupted teenagers, but I know that's not the same thing. Can you help them?"

"As for the the meeting, I think you have a handle on my range. I could do Jakarta, or Timor, or any city in Australian in about an hour, well within my morning 'jog', so no suspicion will be aroused. We could also operate an Opnet code, if that would be easier. I can wrangle up a code in the next few minutes. I've had to have done it before - recently in fact."

"As for the last, I'm headed to Nevertire, New South Wales. It's one of our training facilities and the one I favor the most. It has plenty of open room for mistakes and other lessons mishaps. The fact that it allows me these clear skies to fly through is another plus."

"Would you be interested in meeting the latest class? I could arrange something. They are dedicated, if young. I don't want them in the fight, but I may end up having no say in the matter. Best they have a clue what they are fighting for. They don't need to know the specifics, but getting first hand information from a second gen and what you and yours go through might be really enlightening."

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Coraline gave it some thought, expression serious as she stopped doing little aerial manuevers around him and coasted to match his speed. "I'll think about meeting your students after we get our heads together in a second meeting. I'd be glad to meet your other second gen though. Tell them to be at Ayer's Rock three days from now at... Yeah, nine am, and I'll find them. And you if you want to be involved to introduce us. Whatever help I can give, I'll give. I've been helped alot since my parents were killed protecting me and the best way to repay that debt is to pay it forward."

Her smile turned pensive for a heartbeat or three, thinking about her timetable to make the world a place where Uncle Shen wouldn't be another target. The quantum tick of the universe in her ear sounded in her ear, a reminder that time was passing. Node, let this be a positive step.

She recovered her good cheer, "As for a code about when we should meet again, if three days from now isn't good for you, name a time and place and I'll find you. We can decide where to go there then."

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Zephyr

"Three days at Ayer's Rock will work. I'll be there with them if possible. If we aren't there by nine-o-two, bolt. I'm not normally late."

"Paying it forward is a good idea, one I hope prospers. I would like to know one more thing. Two actually. How did you survive the attack and murder of your parents, and what do you remember about them? Anything like powers, techniques, mannerisms, anything that might help would be useful. Any of them could be hiding in plain sight. The more I can put together the sooner we can grind them out of existence."

He shakes his head and says softly,

"I wonder if this is how it must feel for other people; knowing that someone is holding back so that you can keep pace. Strange, but challenging at the same time."

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Coraline would have chuckled and did manage a teenager's smirk of superiority for a whisp of a second before the seriousness of the question at hand drove it away. She had had screaming nightmares about that morning for months after being rescued before she had the courage to ask for help dealing with it. Now it was more a driving pain than a burning one, something that had happened in the past and she would do anything in her power to help prevent in the future.

"It was almost eight years ago, so I apoligize if this is less than helpful. The last thing my Mother said to me was 'Run, Coraline. Run and hide.' And that's what I did, flying out the door and out of the clearing fast as I could even as bullets and quantum fire tore into the cabin we were living in. They were all around us by the pings on my sixth sense, but... My parents drew their attention enough for me to get away. I listened to their heartbeats as they fought. First him then her going down even as branches whipped my face and I stopped thinking about anything other than running and eventually hiding. My teacher found me a few hours later and introduced me to the people who would become my new family."

She swallowed the remembered terror down, features serious and resolved, "They'd nearly gotten us before, coming after some innocent hiker reported us to the local paper or posted it to a nova watcher site. They use everyone's eyes to find us and disposable killers to hunt us when they can't get other factions to do it for them. Cowards in a way."

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"That cuts both ways. These people are ciphers, but not totally invisible. We found one and I think I know one of their weaknesses: They erupted. At one time or another, there has to be a record of an eruption. If not in official records, then some on-line notation."

"Another weakness is one I'm more experienced in: Bureaucracy. Every organization of any size involves people who's job it is to record and store information. That breeds mistakes. It is not a matter of 'if', but 'when' and 'how bad.'"

"A third weakness is that these people are crazy. Murder is a failure of Reason. These people are acting in an irrational fashion. In essence, they are at best clever sociopaths, and at worst raging psychopaths. They need to kill. They murder children. They murder entire families. They can't stop, and now that we are on to them, we know what to look for. With the proper information, we can work up a profile on each team out there. When we figure out how they think, we can figure out how the operate, and then preempt them."

"My contact is a criminologist. He is treating this like a crime, because that is what this is. In the Nova Age, we solve crimes and our closure rate is very high. Commit enough crimes, as I now believe they have, and you catch them at it. We put enough brain power to it, do enough data-mining, and put the facts together, and we'll start peeling them like a grape."

He looks very stern, but his words sound like personal guilt, ending in determination.

"Me and mine are not going to win. We've lost too many families for that, but Proteus is definitely going to lose. The sad fact is that I can't save the next family that will get attacked. I don't know were they are. If I did know, how safe would they really be? I guess this is why I make a poor cop. Losing one is too many in my book."

He tilts his head,

"Are you working on a way to locate other families? Your Mentor saved you. If I come across another survivor, could you take charge of them? I doubt I can hide anyone for any length of time. When my Lover was murdered, some people from Security came and talked to me. They may have been looking for my Son. I checked them out. They are legitimate, but I'm going to look deeper into them and who sent them. I definitely believe that if another young nova shows up, my Director will start asking questions. I don't like my Director, but I don't feel he is a bad man, just an ass. He reports to someone else though, and that person reports to JJ."

Zephyr shakes his head.

"JJ has to know something. There is no conceivable way he can't. I've know him my entire nova life, and eaten with him on multiple occasions. Some time during this, I'm going to have to take him down too. Anyone in Utopia who knows has to go down for this. Only if we cut out this cancer can Utopia survive. I don't see any alternative."

"Believe in what you live for. Live for your beliefs."

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"Sounds like you know what you're doing," she answered with a nod, pleasantly reminded of Alex in one of her get things done moods and starting to feel the hope that she just might get her apoligy from Utopia someday, "And absolutely. We know safe people, safe places. Any nova family or child who needs a shelter is welcome. It's the finding them that's the problem. My parents certainly never accepted any help from anyone after being burned so many times."

She paused, "Oh. Now's as good a time as any to say it, but when we meet next time, I'm not going to look like this. I never quite know what I'm going to look like each day save for my eyes. Something I inherited from my Mother you deserve to be forewarned about."

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Zephyr

"Eyes are the windows to the soul. Besides, if I'm not sure, I'll just ask you to race. There can't be that many people as fast as you."

Zephyr looks off to the horizon.

"We should part ways here. I'll see what I can find out in the next three days. I hope it will be something useful."

He nods to himself.

"My Son will be glad that he won't be alone anymore. After his Mother died, he became very withdrawn. The thing is, a year ago I didn't know I had a child. She never told me. Maybe she was afraid to tell me. All I do know is that when she left him with me, he was afraid. His whole world was falling apart. When we learned that she had died ... there wasn't much I could do."

Zephyr looks to her,

"Now, maybe he can have something to live for."

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Coraline became light, a vaguely humanoid shape of pure energy that rippled with good feeling and amusement. "If you're putting your son through emotionally trying things, keep an eye on him. My generation goes through its own version of eruption when we come into our full power. He'll really get attention then. I know I have, and not just for the obvious."

She looked north, featureless 'head' studying something far away, "In three days then, Mr. Zephyr. I'm looking forward to meeting you again."

And with that, she was off at a speed the Utopian had no chance of readily matching, a silent blur of light on the edge of visibility if he squinted. A good morning's encounter the young metamorph thought. At least she hoped it would prove so. But now she had a modeling shoot to get to. Swimsuits, if she remembered correctly...

Bodymorph: Light

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Zephyr

'The past two weeks have really changed my life. There is no turning back now. My Son is out there, and so am I.'

He looks off to the horizon and the completely gone Coraline. His eyes tracked back to his own course. He knew he couldn't involve his students. In time he would have to leave them to the other instructors. That was life. What he could do was involve more of his ex-students, even the ones who had left the Project. Doing the right thing ... he had taught them all that, and for most of them, the lesson had stuck. Time for each of them to balance accounts.

'All that Evil needs to prosper is for Good men to do nothing.'

'Not while he had breath, anyway.'

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