Atomic Rebooted

50. Getaway

MIRA

Atomic Energy was behind this. They were lying about being the good guys, about who was wrong and who was right. They were the bad guys, and they were forcing us to kill to cover it up. They'd stolen us from our parents, they'd framed superheroes, pushed too many to the edge.

Verity hadn't been an accident to them.

She'd done exactly what she was supposed to do.

My stomach lurched. This was the secret she'd died trying to tell me. It all made sense now.

They're lying to you.

They were lying to all of us.

I'd discovered exactly how deep the rabbit hole went, and now I was in free fall.

I felt a damp warmth on my cheeks and tasted salt. I realized I was crying. I swiped at the tears, but they kept coming. My shoulders shook uncontrollably.

Everything I knew was a lie. My mission, my origin, and the reason my friend had died.

Even the woman who raised me, she'd just been doing her duty, and any affection she expressed was supposed to be some kind of cruel mercy towards her lab rats, who would die when the experiment was over.

"It's okay, it's going to be okay." Henry's hand hovered over my shoulder. But his tone was uncertain. Even the paragon of heroism didn't know what to say in the face of something like this. "It has to be. Somehow, we'll be okay."

I shook my head. "I don't think it can be."

Then I looked up to the face of my mother.

That was a thought with recoil, that somehow got me to stop crying. I tilted my head, trying to see myself in this woman's features.

My mother was Heretic. My enemy.

She wasn't my enemy after all.

There were so many questions building up in my head again. But a glance outside reminded me that the clock was ticking.

I couldn't go back. Not that I wanted to before, but it was out of the question now.

There was so much more I had to know. Where would I even begin?

"What happens now?" I asked.

Lora's dark green eyes, so much like mine, darted to the window. "I'd say we have to get you out of here. I have no idea why they think you're here, but I'm not letting those bastards take my daughter again."

I froze, my mind racing. Where would I even go? I'd put them all in danger, because Atomic Energy wouldn't stop looking for me. Even if it wasn't an active search, like with Verity, they'd be watching, so they could find me and complete their mission.

"Maybe I should give myself up," I said softly as I dried my face on the sleeves of my windbreaker.

"No!" Henry and Lora returned their eyes to me.

Henry grabbed my wrist. "I would never forgive myself if I let you go back to them now. We'll find another solution."

"Besides, it's rather overdramatic when you've got your best shot already on you." Lora gestured to me. "They're not looking for a girl with your description. You can walk out in plain sight."

"But my teammates might be there, they'd know what I look like without a mask."

"Then you'd better go now." Lora stood up. "We can talk more about the future elsewhere, but if we want to keep you out of those bastards' hands, you need to stay with the Reagans for now."

She picked up her purse and keys "When it's safer, we can talk about living arrangements."

"You want me?" I hated the vulnerability in my own voice, the betrayal of the longing I felt in the wake of Verity's grief. It had been more of a fantasy than a solution, then. I realized that now.

Still, now that fantasy was staring me directly in the face. . .

"Of course I do." Lora's gaze softened. "I've spent all this time looking for you. All I've ever wanted was my daughter back."

She then grew grim once more. "Come on, I'll take you out the back exit. I'll even drop you at the Silver Spires. It's a bit out of my way, but it's probably for the better if I'm not here, either."

Henry helped me to my feet, and did not let go of my hand, not for a second. We followed Lora out into the corridor. Several students and professors were huddled around the windows, peering out at the roaming Sentinels on campus.

"Keep your head down, and keep walking," Lora hissed as we headed for the stairwell.

Every step echoed, and no one was there. Still, I was tense the entire time, squeezing Henry's hand as we took each step towards my freedom.

"It's going to be okay," Henry whispered.

"You can't promise that." I felt as heavy, slow, and useless as I did the day Verity died. Fear froze my blood. "What if they try to go after your family?"

"They won't." A rather dark look came across his face. "I wouldn't let it happen."

"Be quiet, both of you—we're about to exit to the parking lot." Lora stopped before the door. "Keep your heads down and your mouth shut, and we should be able to ignore them."

"I hope so," I muttered. I closed my eyes, gathering my courage.

Like when I told Henry that I trusted him, this was a precipice, a turning point. I could never go back to the way things were before this. My friends were now my enemy, and vice-versa.

The only certainty was that Henry was my friend.

And so we walked out into the daylight, to the college's parking lot for faculty.

Like Orpheus, I wasn't supposed to look back. But I did, once—and I met the eyes of none other than Aleister.

For a moment, my heart clenched. He knew me. I couldn't even bring myself to look away.

But for some reason, he just nodded and turned away.

Then before I knew it, I was in the backseat of my mother's car, heading away from the campus and into the city.

I was finally free. Free of Atomic Energy, of the mission to Verity, and of everything I'd ever known.

The world was wide open to me, with all sorts of wonders I'd never been allowed to experience. The future was uncertain—but it was my own design.