The Gifted (ONC 2023)

Chapter 16 Liar Liar

Aleks watched as Tommy stabbed Pola as if in slow motion. She was so occupied with her own small victory that she failed to report the most important thing. Now, there was no doubt about it.

Tommy Palmer was a deviant and a traitor.

He was the one relying on all the information to the Rioters. That's why they knew everything about GSO's agents and their movements, while the agency missed many deviants. Tommy was always there monitoring the information going in and out of the agency. He was the mole all this time.

Many people reacted, but they've all been too slow. Regan raised a shield around Pola, but she had already fallen to the ground clutching her chest and coughing up blood. Toni threw a fireball, but Tommy disappeared, and the flames caught on the dark curtains.

Aleks was the first one who got to the stabbed gifted. She kneeled at her side and held her hand.

"Pola! Hang in there," she choked through the tears.

"I guess... I didn't see... that coming..." Pola rasped, blood painting her lips crimson.

"You'll be all right," Aleks cried, even though she knew it was a lie and the woman had moments left.

Pola tried to smile, but her mouth barely moved. "Get... them out... of here..." Her eyelids closed, and her hand went limp in Aleks' grip.

"No, no, no!"

Someone put a hand on her shoulder.

"She's gone," Stephen said, his eyes glassy too. "Come, we need to take the civils out of here before we have to say goodbye to more friends."

Aleks was numb as she watched Regan organising everyone to escort and protect the kidnapped gifted. She stared at her hand, now smeared with Pola's blood. How fitting. It was her fault. If she weren't so stupid and told everyone about her suspicions right away, Pola would live.

"Alright, everybody, we're moving out!" Regan ordered. "We don't know what lies ahead, so be on your guard and protect civilians!"

But as they started towards the exit, the archway disappeared, replaced by a solid stone wall. Aleks turned around, but the same thing happened to the other way out. They were trapped.

"Leaving so early?" asked a familiar voice from above. A balcony formed on the wall overlooking the whole chamber where Tommy and a woman unfamiliar to Aleks stood.

"If you have any ounce of decency left in you, Tommy, you will come down here and face me like a man!" Stephen roared, and his aura flared crimson. Aleks had never seen him so angry.

Tommy scoffed. "Please, I'm not a noble idiot like you lot. And Tommy Palmer is not even my real name. But you and your beloved GSO never bothered to check that because you were too excited to get a gifted with a useful talent."

"Who the hell are you then?"

"Does a name Griffiths ring a bell?"

Aleks' eyes widened. "As in Charles Griffiths?"

"Look at that. People still remember my father's name. Not thanks to the government, mind you. Let me tell you a story." He laced his hands behind his back and started pacing along the narrow balcony. "My father was a bioengineer. A pure genius, really. He worked on finding medicine for cancer, but by pure accident, he discovered something else. Something that could change humankind forever. He developed a substance that altered humans' DNA to enhance their natural abilities, making them stronger, faster, and more intelligent. Exciting, no?

"As a good citizen, he reported his finding to his boss, and they reported it to higher-ups, so very soon, the government showed interest in the project, providing funds for further research. My father was promoted to the head of the whole project and had several labs working under him. Things were going great until they weren't." He stopped at the balcony's edge with a faraway look at his face. "There was an explosion in his lab. Turned out, his drive to make discoveries and pressure from the government to get faster investment returns resulted in loosening safety protocols. BOOM!" his raised voice echoed through the walls making other people wince. "Many good people, including my father, lost their lives that day. All his life work ended up incinerated.