Chapter Fifteen

Holy shit this chapter is very long, like over 5k words!!! Enjoy!

Chapter Fifteen

Walking out of school a few weeks later, my head is stuck in the clouds as I think about my strange interactions with Cathleen and Alexander. There is no doubt in my mind at this point that Alexander is Feedback, but would that make Cathleen Invi by default? The problem is that nobody knows if Invi is even male or female. They've always just been this shadowy mass; their figure or face has always been a secret.

"Zana!" A voice yells startling me.

"Greyson?" I ask confused as he darts over towards me.

"There you are," he says not winded.

"What are you doing here?" I ask him confused.

My school's library is closed today while they repair the ceiling tiles, so I need to go to the library about six blocks from here. I believe that the scholarship results should be up today, an email somewhere along the line mentioned today's date and I am itching to get online so that I can see the results.

"My dad insisted on seeing a doctor here in the city, so we made the trip out here. He wants to do dinner with you and Thalia tonight if you wouldn't mind. I tried texting you to ask but all of the texts bounced back for some reason," Greyson says, and I groan.

"I ran out of text's yesterday, I still have like an hour of calling time, so I haven't refilled my phone yet," I say pulling my phone out.

"Do you want to stop and get it refilled?" Greyson asks as we start walking off my school's property.

"It's more cost-effective to just do it all in one shot, could I borrow your phone really quick? I just need to check something, and I don't have internet access," I say.

"A teenager without a smartphone..." he mumbles handing me his phone.

The phone he has is quite large and he puts his thumb on the button and it opens to the home screen. Looking for the internet icon, I finally find it and slowly type in the information I need. Logging into my portal, I see that there is a notification that my financial aid package has been modified. Clicking into it, my heart flutters when I see that I have been awarded the scholarship, but I pull a poker face when I see that it is only for six thousand. I needed the whole scholarship to be able to afford the school. Clicking out of the app, I hand Greyson back his phone.

"Is everything alright?" He asks me and I notice the formality in his voice is gone. Glancing at him I smile and chuckle.

"Everything is fine, it was just an email from a teacher with my homework assignment because she forgot to tell us during class," I say, and he laughs.

"Are you willing to come to dinner?" Greyson asks me and his voice and posture are quite relaxed.

"I don't have any fancy clothes," I say bluntly, and he smiles.

"Neither does my sweatpants loving sister, that's why you and I are going to go shopping," he says with a smirk. He and T have the same smirk.

"That is so true," I reply thinking of how T lives in her sweats at home.

"I don't know anything about her style so I was hoping you could help with that and you can pick out something for yourself while we are at it," Greyson says, and I give him a skeptical look.

"I promise the food will be worth it," he says flashing me a charming smile.

"Fine," I agree reluctantly.

"Follow me," he says walking towards the center of the city.

"I regret this already," I grumble.

Greyson looks up the name of the store he wants to go to and recites the address in confusion and I laugh and take the lead. I walk past the store all the time when I do my long rounds. It always has pretty lights on the display, and it is nice to always see what they have. Walking into the store, I feel out of place.

"So, I know Thalia's favorite color is red," he says wandering away.

"Her favorite color is orange, preferably with a pink undertone," I say, and he pauses.

"You know what, I'm going to let you do the shopping," he says.

Wandering around all of the racks, I can't help but scrunch my nose and some of the egregious pieces hanging. I find a nice lavender blouse that T would like, and I check sizes on pants and find a boot cut pair that should fit. I grab myself a pair of pants like those, just in a skinny cut and in dark blue before handing it all to Greyson who is just smiling on his phone.

"What are you smiling at?" I ask him and he just shakes his head and puts away his phone.

"You need a top; and you both need shoes, but we can grab those at another store," he says, and I just shrug.

Walking over towards the blouses again, I start flicking through the racks and accidentally look at the price tags. Most of the shirts are around the hundred-dollar mark. Greyson gives me a confused look and I just continue to flick through the racks. My hand hits a soft shirt, pulling it off of the rack I see it is a very simple black blouse with lace details on the sleeves and a keyhole cut out. Holding it up to my body, it looks like it'll be slightly too big, but I don't mind.

"Do you think it'll fit you alright?" Greyson asks.

"Yeah, it's the only one I like anyway," I say as I hand him the blouse.

"Good enough for me, I order all my suits online from my favorite designer, so I don't have to deal with this," Greyson says, and I shake my head.

"Rich people problems," I mumble, and he bursts out laughing.

"I heard that," he says checking out. I look the other way not wanting to see the price.

"What is it that you do again?" I ask, I know he's a doctor of some accord.

"I'm a neurosurgeon," he says.

"Everything makes sense now," I say as we walk out of the store.

"Well, you do realize that my father was a trauma surgeon and my mother was a divorce attorney?" Greyson says.

"No, now everything makes sense," I say laughing.

"Thalia doesn't really talk much about home, does she?" Greyson asks.

"Your father hurt her, she coped by pretending that he didn't exist. Everyone copes with things differently," I say as we walk into the next store.

"Did you even know I existed until you walked into your apartment?" Greyson asks me as we start browsing shoes.

"At one point she did mention that she had a brother, and I knew her dad was still alive because she talked about her mother and how that went. But I didn't know anything more than that, so I didn't pry," I say seriously.

"Thalia hasn't mentioned anything more then you were homeless before," Greyson says, and I give him a look.

"I'm prying..." he mumbles before going back to looking at the annoying number of expensive shoes.

"I have memory loss; I don't know a whole lot of what happened before I became homeless. There isn't much to tell and even if there was, T is one of the only people I trust and she would never violate my trust," I say.

"I'm sorry for prying," he says.

"I can tell you have a habit of sticking your nose where it doesn't belong," I say with a slick grin as I try on a pair of nice boots.

"I'm going to ignore that and ask if you want to try on a pair of heels," Greyson says.

"No, these are fine," I say walking around in them.

The black boots were a soft suede material and had a bunch of buckles on them so I could tighten them. There is maybe a half-inch heel on them, I don't mind the little lift. I grab a pair for T in her size and hand them to Greyson who goes and pays for them. He hands me the bag of shoes and I notice a mysterious third box but don't say anything.

"I gave Thalia the address to the restaurant, she insisted that you wouldn't need a car to pick you both up," Greyson says.

"Walking will be just fine," I say amused at him.

"I can walk you home," he says turning the wrong way.

"Go back to wherever you are staying Greyson, give me that bag. I can walk myself home just fine. I will see you at dinner and thank you for everything," I say taking the bag from him and turning in the right direction to walk home.

Getting ready for dinner, I steal a little bit of T's mascara and do some smudgy black eyeliner, it's probably unhygienic but she doesn't care. I lay her outfit out on her bed with the shoes and grab the mystery third box. Opening it up, I see that it is a new pair of running sneakers. Checking the size, I see that they are in my size and not T's. I'm not sure when he picked those up, but as mad as I want to be, I need new sneakers.

Finishing getting ready I look in the mirror and notice that my hair has gotten longer. Grabbing the crystal, I made in my sleep, I tuck it into my pocket and attempt to brush my hair.

"I'm home Zana," T calls out.

"Wow," she says pausing in the doorway.

"What? Is my hair that bad?" I ask her as I notice that it has grown in slightly uneven.

"Your hair looks fine, you look beautiful Zana," T says hugging me.

"Oh...um, thanks," I say awkwardly before she darts into the bathroom to change.

Stepping out, I can instantly smell the fact that she has put on perfume and her makeup pretty much mirrors mine. Sitting on her bed, I toy with my phone and wait for her to finish getting ready.

"These shoes are super comfortable," T says glancing back at me.

"That's why we both have a pair," I say swinging my feet. T just smiles at me and I give her a perplexed look.

"What?"

"Nothing," she says happily.

"I can't believe you agreed to dinner with your father," I say surprised.

"We had dinner last time I was in New York and we've smoothed some things over. I think half the reason he is here is that he wants to meet you," T says.

"What?"

"He was very intrigued when I said I became a legal guardian," she says with a chuckle, handing me one of her nicer coats.

"So, this was all a big set up to meet me?" I ask her confused and she shrugs.

"That man will always be a mystery to me, I always got along better with my mom. But I'm still glad we were able to make some amends," she says as we start our journey to this fancy restaurant.

We chat about our days as we walk, and I need to go and work at the shelter tomorrow. I hadn't worked there at all this week because of homework due to midterms, but tonight they are all over and I can relax. T interlocks our arms and she is almost beaming.

"Are you going to go and do rounds tonight?" T asks me curiously.

"Yeah after dinner, I will change and head out," I say fidgeting with my mask in my pocket. The blood bath I could have prevented comes to my mind.

"Okay, will you be able to work at the shelter tomorrow?"

"Of course, and I will work extra hours over spring break, I know I have been slacking off," I say sheepishly as we walk into the restaurant.

"Reservation for Hayes," T says.

"You've been busy with school, I can't fault you for that Zana,"

"Thalia, Zana," Greyson says getting up and hugging his sister and I just laugh at him.

"Is it appropriate for me to hug you?" He asks and I shrug.

"I'd watch it, Grey, she can flip Alexander," T says with a wicked smile before hugging her father.

Glancing at the man, he has the same build as his son. He is a little under six feet tall, and a moderate weight. His eyes are a dark brown like his daughters, but his hair has gone gray. I can see he keeps it short just like the three of us do. He smiles at me and he looks me over, and I can see the smile that grows across his lips. Walking over, he pulls me into a hug.

"I'll take my chances," he says quietly to me and I chuckle.

"So, is she now the baby of you two, or do I have a granddaughter?" He asks smiling and I notice he's smiling at T.

"That's still up for debate," T says with tears in her eyes as we sit down.

"I mean being a legal guardian doesn't imply being a parental figure, especially because T is only nine years older than me. I don't care either way, but T will always be more of a sister then a mother to me," I say honestly.

"T?" Mr. Hayes asks confused.

"Oh sorry, I meant Thalia," I say sheepishly.

"Why T?" He asks directly his question to T.

"When I moved here all those years ago, I was looking for a fresh start. I didn't want to change my name, but I didn't want people to call me that so everyone I work with calls me T."

"Well you will always be my little Tali," he says smiling and T shakes her head.

Opening up the menu I am overwhelmed by the lack of English names, glancing through I start reading some of the descriptions which are in English and piece together what things are. We order and Greyson has this stupid grin on his face. I guess his family has been split up for so long, who wouldn't be happy to have everyone at the same table and speaking civilly.

"Tali, does the organization you work with accept donations?" Mr. Hayes asks after a while.

"Of course,"

"Well you know how everyone year I donate money in your mother's name, this year I want to donate to your shelter," he says and T shrugs.

"I can text you the information after dinner," she says.

Mr. Hayes grills me on everything from my favorite color to where I want to go to college and what for. I make sure to stick the culinary school in the middle of the conversation to distract from it. I answer all his questions as honestly as possible and I can almost feel Greyson taking notes in his head. A slick smirk slips onto his face and I give him a strange look.

"Why don't you tell Thalia and my dad about the scholarship you just got," Greyson says, and I nearly drop my fork to my plate.

"What are you talking about?" I ask trying to hide my tension. Did he look? How could he have, I closed the app.

"When I went to look up the address for the store, I noticed that you were still logged into your school's portal and you left the page on the amount you had been awarded," Greyson says.

"I'd rather not talk about it," I say curtly, and T gives me a strange look.

"Zana, what's wrong?" T asks me quietly.

"Zana you were awarded six thousand dollars towards one of the best culinary schools in the country, why would you want to hide that?" Greyson asks and my body tenses.

"Zana? Why didn't you tell me earlier?" T asks confused.

"It's still not enough, okay? I have full rides to other schools. I'm not stupid enough to turn those down," I grind out and I can feel Mr. Hayes gaze on me. I try to calm myself, but the anger is pulsing through me.

"Full ride to where?" Greyson asks.

"Every college but that one, I have a 3.92 GPA, I got a 30 on the one standardized test out of 32, all the work I do at the shelter I count as volunteer work and I have hundreds of hours. I also participated in a bunch of school volunteer projects. Any college I applied too I got into and they gave me a lot of scholarship along with the financial aid I got from the government and school. Only an idiot would turn down six chances at a full ride to put themselves twenty thousand in the hole," I say fighting to keep a hold of my temper.

"I didn't know," Greyson stutters.

"No, you didn't," I snap.

"Zana?" T questions but Mr. Hayes's gaze makes me look at him instead. His eyes are full of confusion.

"What?"

"You want to become a chef?" Mr. Hayes asks, and his tone seems different.

"I'm done with this conversation," I say standing up.

"It would be smart to go into law," Mr. Hayes says, and I feel T ready to snap.

"Sorry to ruin your dinner Greyson," I grumble.

Ducking under a waiter with food, I high tail it out of the restaurant. The blistering cold air hits me in the face and I am thankful for it. I can feel my phone vibrating in my pocket, but I ignore it as I duck down an alleyway. Running home, I change my shoes and pants easily before ducking out the kitchen window, not wanting to run into them coming home. Yanking the stone out of one pocket and the mask out of another, I pull the mask on and hold the stone in my hand.

"Now is not the time to do this," I whisper to myself as my hand closes around the stone.

"But if not now, when?" I muse as I focus on the sensation of the stone.

A strange sensation overtakes me and the next thing I know I am running. The street hitting the soles of my shoes is so rhythmic it just adds to my trance as I follow where the stone is telling me to go. I must run for a few miles before the stone burns in my hand. Looking around I see I am now down by the docks. Everything seems hazy for a moment, but I snap out of it.

Looking around I duck behind some wooden crates and wonder why the hell I am here. I peer through the slits and listen closely, focusing I hear it, footsteps. Tucking the stone into my pants, I watch carefully as the man I have been trying to sneak up on for months walks right past me. His head swivels and I can tell he senses me; he always knows when I am around. Thinking about T, determination scorches through me.

'I brought you into my home because I wanted to protect you, but you always seem to find a way to protect me,' T said

'I swore I would never let anyone be hurt the way I was a long time ago, and I certainly plan on keeping that promise,' I responded.

"Are you going to just sit there and hide or are you going to come out?" Viro asks and I pop up and wave at him.

"I hate you," he says annoyed.

"The feeling is mutual," I say smiling behind my mask.

"How did you find me?" He asks as I walk into plan sight.

"Magic," I say waving my hands. I can't him get away this time. Stilling my breathing, I shove my nerves away and focus on my plan. I can do this, I have to do this.

"You followed me here so I couldn't hurt anyone," he says.

"Yup," I say lying, I wish there was that much thought into this convoluted plan. I didn't even think about that, I only figured out what to do once I found him.

"I will kill you if you don't leave, now," he growls out walking closer to me.

"Bring it on," I say sweetly back, and he lunges for me.

His hand grabs my arm and I pull him closer and let him hit me. I need him to beat the daylights out of me. I throw a hit back and am greeted by rock hard skin. I rip my arm out his grasp and he lunges at me again and I dodge him and trip him up. Getting back to his feet, I stand there like a sitting duck. He nails me in the same spot in my stomach, the same spot he always hits. I smash my fist into his face before nailing him in the knee and rolling away.

He is quicker than I imagined, and he pins me to the ground, which I pull the judo flip on him that I did on Alexander before standing back up, waiting for him to hit me again. His response time is slower tonight, and the purple bags under his eyes almost look as if he has two black eyes. He pulls out his gun I step forward and kick it out of his hand, leaving me open to be knocked straight to the ground.

"I told you I would kill you," he says with hand pressing my skull into the ground and the other pinning my free hand.

"I'd like to see you try," I growl back, and he grabs me by the ear.

The sensation that courses through my veins as he smashes my head into the ground is familiar. Images start flashing before my eyes as I see a man who looks nothing like me. His face is sharp, his hair blonde, eyes blue. The sheer rage in his eyes strikes me as my head smashes into the ground.

"You are worthless! I should have never thought I could take care of you!" He screams at me.

"You will die just like your mother," he growls as my head hits the pavement again.

"You are a worthless, just like her!"

"You really are taking this lying down, aren't you?" A voice asks me, but it's not his.

"Does that seem like my style?" I slur out before thrashing violently and knocking him off of me.

Grabbing the stone out of my pocket, I chuck it at Viro, and he looks confused as this small, shiny, black stone is hurled at him. He catches it with and looks it over before cackling.

"Release," I growl out.

The energy blast that comes from the stone as it explodes sends us both back a few feet and I see a long piece of metal off to the side. It is disformed and almost melted looking. The rage in Viro's eyes turns murderous.

"I know why I'm a hero," I call out to him and he pauses in his approach.

"I can't wait to hear this," he growls out.

"Like I would actually tell you," I say smartly and he growls.  The adrenaline pumps through my veins and every inch of my skin crystalizes.

"You are the definition of a nuscance," he seethes.

Thinking back to the man in my memories, I know he broke me, he left me to feel like nothing. I almost let him destroy me and when he snapped, he did try to kill me. The pain. feels so fresh as I see the dingey alleyways through my blurred vision. I won't let anyone ever make me feel that way again. The rage and anguish I felt that day is why I have sworn to protect the innocent, so no one would ever suffer the way I have. But I won't give him the satisfaction of knowing what my motivation is when he refused to reveal his.

He uses the momentary hesitation on my part to pull a gun out and shoot me six times. Looking down at the crystallization on my body, I know I can't yet, he needs to hit me more. I run at him and he throws me into a stack of crates. Moving is starting to become more difficult as the crystals just continue to build.

"Is that the best you can do?" I spit out.

"Pathetic," he says before grabbing me by my shirt and punching me repeatedly.

The crystals cover my face and my abdomen are so hard that I can't even breathe. Looking at him through one eye I can see the blood-curdling rage pumping through him. Trying to open my mouth, something cracks. He hits me again, and again, and again. I can barely see anymore, and my body is so hard, I can't move. Now, now is the time. He grabs me again and a small laugh slips through my teeth as tears burn in my eyes.

"I told you I would stop you," I say grabbing onto him.

Every piece of crystal on my body releases at the same time and the explosion that occurs is so monumental that we fly back ten feet easily and I smash into a side of a truck. I bounce off it and smash into the ground a few feet away from him. My body is shaking so badly I can barely get up, but looking over at Viro, he is out cold.

Moving as quickly as I can, I kick the deformed metal away from his still body and grab the rope I noticed behind the crates earlier and I hogtie Viro. Placing my fingers on the crystals embedded into his neck, one by one they come off and stick to my fingers. I flick them into the ocean not needing them anymore. Looking down at his beaten body, a sense of calm consumes me, and I let out a breath I have been holding for months. Dialing 911, the operator picks up immediately.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"My name is Aegis and I have secured the villain named Viro, I need police unites down to the southside docks," I say.

"Kid you know it's a crime to prank call emergency services, right?" The man asks me, and I laugh.

"Send the cops, they can deal with me," I say, and the operator sends three units my way.

Sitting down on the ground, I wait for the cops to arrive and when three cars pull up, I am blinded by the lights, but happy they are finally here. Standing up, I put my hands in the air so that they can see I am not armed. Looking down at my clothes, I see they are completely torn and tattered.

"Aegis?" A vaguely familiar voice asks, and I smile behind my mask.

"Hey, I know you, you've questioned me before," I say to the cop.

"Is that really him?" The cops walk over, guns drawl.

"I mean there aren't many men walking around with silver hair and red eyes," I say.

They haul the man to his feet, and he hangs limply. I did check for a pulse; I know he isn't dead. His clothes are as tattered as mine. Looking closer I see something almost burned into the skin on his chest. Stepping closer I squint my eyes and see a set of numbers plus a word.

"Metac?" I mumble to myself and the police officers shake Viro awake.

They walk him over to the car and start reading him his rights as the cop I am familiar with comes over to take my statement. My knees give out before I can start to talk, and the kind man grabs me and helps hold me up.

"You look beat up," he says softly.

"I've certainly felt better," I admit.

"How about we give you a lift home and you can tell us what happened on the way?"

"Drop me off in the city square and I will try my best," I say as we walk over to the car.

Viro is starting to flip out in the back seat but the thick rope wrapping around his wrists, groin, neck make it difficult for him to move and I can't help but feel strange. Metac? What is that? What does that even mean? Why does that name make me so uncomfortable?

"So, what happened Aegis?" The officer asks me as his partner drives.

"I tracked him down to the docks, I had been tracking him for a while, but I wanted him away from the city," I lie.

"And?"

"He always knows when anyone is around, he's creepy like that. I'm surprised he didn't catch onto me following him sooner, but I tried to keep a distance. He realized I was there pretty quickly and well we fought," I say.

"How did you win this time? What was different?" He asks me and the curiosity is burning in his eyes.

"You know in one of our first fights, he told me I would be destroyed because I didn't have a real reason to be a hero. I found my reason tonight," I say softly.

That man I saw, his voice, his eyes, his face are all crystal clear in my memory and the harder I think the more, little things start to come back to me. I wasn't sure if I was ready to face these memories, especially alone, but life doesn't give you a choice now does it.

"Can I ask what that reason is?"

"You can ask but I won't tell you," I watch as five police cars go in the direction we just came from.

"They need to survey the scene and Viro is freaking out," the officer says checking his phone.

"Thanks for the lift," I say climbing out the car and stretching.

I chat with the officer for a few moments before they head back down towards the crime scene. A shiver goes down my body as the sheer exhaustion kicks in. Walking home I try to keep alert, but my mind keeps wandering. I'm glad I have a friend on the force who I can relay things back to without a hateful gaze. My goal is to help the police, not make them look bad or get in their way. In the end, we have the same goal, protect the people of this city.

Staring at the stairs up to my floor I can't help but groan as I drag my body up the stairs. I trip at least once every flight and I am thankful when I finally reach my floor. Searching for my keys, I realize I left them in my coat, in the restaurant and I climbed in through the window last timee. Walking over to my door, I knock hard knowing that it is probably locked. The door swings almost immediately and I see Greyson instead of T.

He looks me over shocked and his eyes narrow in on my mask crumbled around my neck, knocking into him, he moves out of the way and I search for T. She rushes off of the couch and pulls me into a bone-crushing hug, I relax in her arms.

"You smell terrible," T says practically in tears.

"Have you checked the news?" I say into her shirt.

The news is flicked on and there is a chopper hovering over the docks. Viro is sedated on the ground by this point and police are doing their jobs. T doesn't let go of me as she watches the news. She had no clue what I was doing, where I went.

"I can't believe Aegis finally took him down," Mr. Hayes says.

"She's a pretty strong hero," Greyson says giving me a look.

"Oh Zana, you never let me finish my sentence earlier," Mr. Hayes says, and I tense up.

"Dad," T warns.

"Going into law would be the smart thing to do, logical even, but you would hate every moment of it. Follow your passions dear, you have family now that will make sure you can get through school," he says casually.

"You aren't alone anymore Zana, and as my dad always says, we can't take us with us so we might as well help those who need and deserve it," Greyson says softly.

"Zana?" T asks.

My eyes had closed but I still heard every word of it. T helps me up and my body hits something soft and I curl up exhausted. Mr. Hayes and Greyson's words drift around my mind and a few tears leak from my eyes.

'You aren't alone anymore Zana,'

I've literally been editing this chapter for the last hour. I hope it was okay, I changed a few things on the fly 😂😂. So this was the big fight?! Aegis finally gets the upper hand on Viro, but what happens next?? We're only halfway through 👀

Don't forget to vote and comment!!