Chapter Twenty-One

THE BONUS UPLOAD OF THE NIGHT! Thanks for all the love everyone ❤️

Believe it or not, we only have about nine chapters left? But don't worry 👀 the series isn't over yet.

Chapter Twenty-One

"Thank you again for letting me sleep here for the night," I say to Julie as I pack my bag. She is always so gracious and welcoming whenever I visit, and I genuinely appreciate it.

"You are a lot quieter than any of Mason's other friends, so you are always welcome," Julie says with a wink. I try to smile at her joke, but I know it doesn't quite reach my eyes.

"Yeah his dojo buddies are loud," I say.

"You've met them?" Julie asks surprised.

"I horned in on one of their group sparring sessions one day when I wanted some more practice," I say with a laugh.

"Mason really cares about you Zana, it's been hard since we lost Mabel," Julie says as we strip the couch.

"I know, I see the look in his eyes whenever he talks about her..." It's the same look Thalia gets whenever she looks at the single photo she keeps of her mother, it's a pain I can't describe but I wish I could take away.

"Thank you, teaching you to spar it has helped him heal," Julie admits.

"He's helped me out a lot as well, and it's nice to have a friend," I admit.

"You are always welcome here dear," she says as I pick up my bag. I had changed out of my Aegis pants earlier before she woke up.

"Thank you," I say genuinely, and she hugs me before I leave.

Walking back down the street, I don't know where to go now. I don't exactly want to go down to the shelter right now and I have nowhere else to go except the library. I know there is a public library around here somewhere. Turning my phone back on it nearly explodes from the number of notifications that roll in. looking through it I have a missed call from Greyson and twelve from Thalia, I also have a few messages from Aviva and a few other calls from Cathleen.

Ignoring them all I look up the address for the local library and start walking there. I am halfway there when another call comes through, from Faith. I debate answering it but decide I should answer her.

"Hello?"

"There you are! Do you know what is like having two of the most powerful women in the city breathing down your neck all night?" Faith asks annoyed before she starts laughing. I would rather not have to deal with anyone from the team when they are angry or worried.

"I'm afraid I cannot relate to that, is everything alright?"

"Aviva and Cathleen have been trying to get a hold of you all night," Faith says.

"I turned my phone off and slept elsewhere, I needed some space," I say.

"I understand that, can you call one of them, so they leave me alone?" Faith asks and it almost sounds like a whine. I laugh at her for a moment and she joins in.

"I will do it now," I say, and we hang up.

"Hi Aviva, I am not dead, now please leave Faith alone," I say amused, but it feels halfhearted.

"I didn't think you were dead, halfway around the world maybe, but not dead," Aviva says.

"I wish," I say rolling my eyes.

"Are you alright?" Cathleen's voice cuts in.

"I'm not dead," I say not wanting to lie anymore.

"Thalia is going crazy and Greyson is MIA," Cathleen says.

"Well I am alive, she can relax," I say.

"Where are you?"

"The library?"

"You slept in the library?" Cathleen's distant voice asks.

"No, I slept at a friend's house," I say

"Okay, do you know where Greyson is?" Aviva asks annoyed.

"Not a clue," I say.

"Lovely,"

"I'm going to go, I will call you later," I say before hanging up and going into the library.

I spend the majority of the day in the library and grab a snack from the café next store for a late lunch. I spend most of the day researching crystals and reading some books I find on the shelves. When five o'clock rolls around I decide to finally head out and go play the role of Aegis before heading back to my apartment.

Slipping into the bathroom, I pull my jacket and pants on. I make sure that my padded shirt is in place before putting everything else back in the bag. Peering my head out of the stall, I slip out the emergency back door in the bathroom and pull my mask up. Slipping the com into my ear, I turn it on quickly, I don't necessarily want to talk to anyone, but I don't want to be out of the loop right now. Walking down the alley, my body stalls. I sense movement around me and realize I am surrounded.

Looking into a pair of sharp blue eyes, they remind me of the man who I keep seeing in my memories, but something is off. His hair falls in the wrong direction and his nose is too sharp, the facial structure is right though, the jawline and the shape of his cheeks are nearly identical.

"Zana?" The man says, hands outstretched in a nonthreatening manner.

"Who the hell is Zana?" I ask having to drop my voice. How do they know my real name? How did they even find me?

"You are, I know you are, I raised you and I was only able to find you because of this," the man says, and I see a deep black stone is in his hands. Looking at it closer, it looks like the one I made to track Viro, but I destroyed that months ago.

"You've got the wrong girl," I growl out and my com crackles, somebody knows I turned it on and is connecting.

"Zana, you don't need to pretend it's not you. I wouldn't have been able to find you if it wasn't you," he says, and he clutches the stone harder in his hands. Giving him a confused look, I hear the line ping that it's connected.

"How did you find me," I hiss angrily, and he gives me a sympathetic look.

"This is the stone your mom gave me when I was taking care of you," he says and my blood chills for a moment. He's lying, he's not the person from my memories and my mother would have never given him that stone.

"Don't you remember me Zaney?" He asks me and I cringe away from him. Staring at him closer, he does seem familiar but not for the same reason.

My head seers with pain and I can still see the bright lights above me as people in slightly stained coats mill around me. They seem perfectly at ease although there is a lot of screaming in the background. It's a distinctive female scream that fills me with horror. A blonde man steps forward and I place it as someone related to whoever is in front of me currently, he has a long needle in his hand a dark look in his eyes.

"I do," I say honestly, but he doesn't pick up on the double entendre.

"Zana, is everything alright?" I hear Cathleen ask confused and I clear my throat in response.

"We don't want to hurt you Zana, but that technology, the people you've been working with, they are dangerous and don't care about you. Give us the watch and we can finally take you back where you belong," the man says.

"Where do I belong?" I ask him in a soft voice, I force myself to seem meek and confused.

"You belong with us Zaney, you are a member of the Paradigm family. Just give me the watch and we can all go back home," he says softly, and I swallow hard. What do I do?

"Home?" I ask quietly and he nods eagerly, he thinks he has me in the palm of his hands, but little does he know I've already been fooled once.

"I know everything is probably blurry, but we are here to help you, Zana, you are a part of our family, our organization takes care of its own," he says.

"I-I... I don't know what to do," I stutter out forcing tears in my eyes. I deserve an award for this, I can't believe he's buying this for a second. Acting and lying have never been my strong suit, if he raised me, he would know that.

"Zana, can you hear me?" Aviva's voice asks in the com, but I ignore her. I can't answer her and blow this.

"Just give us the watch and we everything will calm down," he says.

"I want my stone back," I say forcing a cry and the man nods eagerly.

"I'll trade you for that dangerous watch, okay?" He says.

"Okay," I say.

"Zana, what the hell is happening?" Cathleen's panicked voice rings through my ear. I wish I could say something, but I can't blow this. That stone is my only priority right now.

Slowly stepping forward, I gently take the watch off my wrist and the man moves towards me. We meet in the middle and I outstretch my hand for the stone, and he reaches for the watch. I don't know where it came from or who made it, but I do know that I need to take it back right now.

"You aren't Soren, are you? You are blood of his, but you are not him," I ask softly. My fingers close around the stone tightly.

"I figured you would trust me more if I said I was him, he did take such good care of you," he says. The memories of my head being smashed into the pavement are painfully brought up, but I try to keep a poker face. His hands brush the watch and I grip the chain of the necklace and he latches onto the watch.

"Are you sure about that?" I ask him, barely above a whisper. The men start to close in on me, and I smile.

"Password, Aegis, SD mode, activate," I say loudly yanking the chain from him.

"Alpha!" I scream and my boots ignite under my feet as the watch explodes.

I am thrown back in the air but quickly try to regain my balance and steer myself away from the men. Smashing into a building before jetting away, the right side of my body crystalizes but I focus on weaving through buildings and getting away.

"Did you really just blow up my watch?" Aviva asks me unamused. I do feel bad about that, I am sure it was expensive and would be a pain for her to replace.

"I was surrounded Alpha, there had to be five in front of me and more in the surrounding allies and at least five behind. I wasn't sure how to get out of there without a diversion," I say apologetically.

"Do you know how to manually pilot the boots?"

"I'm starting to learn how to steer," I say.

"There is a power button the left shoe, left side," Aviva says.

"Oh good," I say.

"What is that noise?" Aviva asks and I notice it too. My stomach drops to my feet and I try not to cry.

Spinning around I try to locate the noise quickly, and I nearly run into a building as I see a big grey helicopter coming after me. Shock consumes me for a moment before I spin back around and try to make a plan. Gritting my teeth, I slip the stone around my neck and change my direction towards the waterfront.

"Aegis?"

"They have a helicopter!" I scream frustrated and bewildered. Who are these people?

"Thalia just sent up an emergency signal, I will handle it," Cathleen says.

"Zana, who are these people?" Aviva asks.

"I'm not sure who they are, I think they are called Paradigm, at least that's what I think he said earlier. He was masquerading as a man named Soren, I believe he was my caretaker, and the man I just was talking to is probably his brother if I had to guess. That's about all I have figured out right now. Everything is coming back to me in pieces Alpha," I say.

"Alright well, I don't think you can outrun a helicopter if I am being perfectly honest. Greyson is MIA still; Alexander is out saving the city and Cathleen just removed Thalia from her apartment and brought her here. She is going back to play bate for these guys. We need to get you out of harm's way right now, what do you want to do?" Aviva asks me.

"I don't want to just crash the helicopter, that will kill people," I say honestly.

"Then you need to get them lower, I see you are heading towards the waterfront?"

"Yes,"

"If you were to drop into the water, they would come to a lot lower and one small explosion would drop the helicopter and strand them. I already have the people who patrol those water on the other line," Aviva says.

"One small problem, I can't go into the water," I say wincing.

"I know that water is foul and disgusting, but it's the best choice," Aviva says.

"I can't swim Alpha," I say honestly. Embarrassment floods me, it's not like I was ever near a pool within the last few years.

"What?"

"I, can't swim," I repeat slower. I hear a few curse words on the other end.

"Do you have a better idea?" Aviva asks.

"The explosion, how would I create that?" I ask.

"Well, you have two walking bombs on your feet, if any water gets into those, then they will explode. The metal in there is so sensitive that it's inevitable. If you are strong enough to pry off the soul, it'll expose the mechanics of the boot and there is your explosive," Aviva says.

"I love being a walking bomb," I say sarcastically as we approach the waterfront.

"How am I going to get out of the water without being hit by the helicopter?" I ask with a sigh.

"That's a good question..." Aviva says.

"Is Orion busy?" I ask curiously.

"He is training here actually!" Aviva says before it is quiet.

"Alright what is going on?" Orion's chipper voice asks.

"How accurate is your teleporting?" I ask him.

"I can get within three feet of something if I have a good idea of the location, and if I can see it," he says.

"How do you feel about water?" I ask him, we are breaking the edge of the water.

"Oh boy," he says.

"Aviva, can you track me?" I ask her, knowing there is still some way for her to find me, even if I turned the tracking services off on my phone.

"I already am," she says.

"Alright here's the plan, I am going to drop into the water and pretend the boots ran out of energy or something. The helicopter should drop closer, I need Orion to teleport next to me, or near me in the water and save me from drowning. We will move towards the surface as I open the sole of the boot and toss it at the chopper, hopefully causing enough of a disturbance for the thing to be grounded, and then Orion will get us the hell of there," I say.

"Alright sounds good to me, I'm ready," he says.

"Hit the tail of the chopper, it will bring it down without serious casualties," Aviva chimes in.

"Got it," I say nervously.

"Hey, Zana?" Aviva asks.

"Yes?"

"You didn't become a member of this team just because Greyson wanted to expand, you are a part of us because you are a strong hero. Now show this Paradigm who they are messing with," Aviva growls out.

"Okay," I squeak nervously.

I flail around in the air for a few moments, trying to create the illusion that my boots are failing before quickly hitting the off button. The power cuts off instantly and the scream I let out as I plummet towards the water. Tears burn in my eyes and I smash into water full force. I sink deeper and force myself not to breathe in. Trying to open my eyes, I can barely see but I kick my legs frantically, trying to keep myself from drowning and sinking further down.

Grabbing the one boot off of my foot, I try to move towards the surface, but the chopper is hovering above me and disturbing the water. A hand wraps around my waist and I resist the urge to hit the person because I know it is Orion. There is nobody else in the universe who could be next to me right now. We break the surface and he helps keep me afloat as I rip the sole off of the shoe and fill it up with water before throwing it with all my strength left. I watch in awe as it gets caught in the tail rotor and explodes.

The hands around me grip tighter and the world goes black before a few moments before we hit something hard. The wind is knocked out of me and I am choking. Rolling onto the ground, I vomit up water and nearly collapse into it. My body is in shock and I can't process anything. There is a strange ringing in my ears, and everything is numb and wired at the same time.

"Zana?"

"Zana, can you hear me?" A soft voice asks.

"Yeah," I say after I finish coughing.

"Nobody died, they are arresting everyone right now," the same voice continues.

"I'm going to vomit again," I say, and I hear a shuffling before I vomit everything left in my stomach.

"Her body is in shock, just give her a few minutes and she should start to come to," another soft voice says.

"I am going to shower now," a male voice whispers.

"Don't touch her Thalia, just let her come to on her own, trust me,"

"Sorry,"

Slowly the ringing starts to go away, and I can hear properly, slowly shifting my weight, I reach up and touch the stone around my neck. A hazy image of me kneeling on the floor appears before my eyes. This stone is tracking me, and I never even noticed it. Where did it even come from?

"Zana?"

"They have a stone similar to my own to track me. I don't even know they got it; I just know I didn't make it. I need to do something about this, they might have some of the answers I am trying to piece together. I have to do something," I say desperately as I keep seeing the brothers in my head, their faces are so similar, but it was too easy to tell them apart.

"We will find them together, we are going to solve this, I promise," Aviva says to me and I lean back and close my eyes. Everything is still buzzing and blurry. I just want to rest.

Poor Zana's been through the ringer!! Please don't forget to vote and comment. I love reading your comments!!

XX Cc