The Life of Jezebel Firetongue

47

"Jez!" he shouted, running to me. He wrapped his arms around me and I felt him trembling. "What's going on?"

"Are you alright?" I asked him, hugging him back. I saw Jumper and Oliver emerge from the other side of the arena, watching me with a mix of horror, acceptance and celebration for what had taken place. Builder came to and looked from Dr. Davis to me with astonishment. Everyone was there. Everyone saw. Everyone, but Jake. "How are you alive?"

"The extra power. I mixed it into your IV without thinking about it. It was supposed to be used for the next generation of mutant children. Healing, apparently. Good for you Jezebel. Good for you."

Jake turned at the sound of Dr. Davis' weak explanation. "Dad?" But then he stopped, seeing the burned hole and blood on Dr. Davis' chest. He was a dead man.

"Jake, I'm so sorry. You were dead, and-"

"Come with me," he whispered. Tears fell from him wide eyes and he reached for my hand. "Please."

I nodded and squeezed his hand. "Always."

We floated up together to see his dying father. Jake kneeled and touched the bloody toga before pulling his hand back. "Dad, you're dying."

"Yes I am, son." They exchanged the titles of Dad and Son awkwardly. I reached to him and pulled the toga away from the wound. It wasn't deep enough to go straight through the heart. But he didn't have much time left.

"Jacobus...I'm sorry I didn't give you your memories back. There just...wasn't enough time."

"That's alright. Maybe I'll see you and mom in heaven and you can tell me then."

Dr. Davis' eyes darkened. "She won't be where I'm going."

Jake looked at Dr. Davis suspiciously. "What killed her anyway? Can you tell me anything about her?"

Dr. Davis looked at Jake wearily and shook his head. "You don't want to know."

Jake sat up and narrowed his eyes. "What happened to my mother, Davis?"

Dr. Davis' eyes widened. "Please don't leave me," he begged.

"What happened to her?" Jake hissed as he stood. He looked down on Dr. Davis in rage, holding out his hand to me. I looked at him and realized what he wanted when he turned his outstretched hand into a finger gun. A gun. Jake wanted a gun.

Builder tossed one to me and I caught it, and then handed it to Jake. He held it nervously, unsure of himself. Dr. Davis saw it and started crying.

"Please Jake, please drop the gun!"

"Tell me what happened to my mother, or-or-damnit I'll shoot!"

Dr. Davis wiped away his tears and sobbed out the story. "We were in love. So in love. Then you came along a-a-and...she didn't love me anymore. She wanted to leave me! I could see it in her eyes!"

"What did you do?" Jake whispered.

"One night, she told me that she wanted to divorce me. She said she'd had it with the way I'd been so protective of her. She wanted a better life for you. But I couldn't let her leave me!" Dr. Davis half-heartedly smiled and weakly whispered the last part. "So I poisoned her. I poisoned her and let her die. It was terrible, watching her die. She screamed, she cried...I hated myself for letting this happen to her. So I decided to make this world better. I wanted to make it perfect. Fix all that had gone wrong, bring the Earth to its former glory just for her. She was a tree-hugger, your mother. But she wouldn't be able to experience it because of me. So I decided to execute everyone in the end." Dr. Davis sobbed. "That's all I wanted! Please Jake, don't kill me. I'm your father!"

Jake shook and whispered, "Your no father of mine."

Then he shot Dr. Davis, killing him once and for all.

The building was evacuated and a truck was secured by Jake. He pulled it out beside the giant group and climbed out to meet me. Argus, the mutant covered with eyes who had been in charge of the cameras along with a group of tech-savvy mutants, climbed into the driver's seat and waited to drive off. He was the only adult, and the only person who had a valid trucker license.

Jake held my hand and we exchanged no words. Terence had found a place in DC for us to introduce ourselves the government. They would help find homes for the mutants and return our lives to normal, things Jake and I couldn't do without somebody finding our former lives and realizing we had disappeared for a long time. It was almost over.

The mutants gathered around us and I held out my hand. This had been my original idea to destroy Dr. Davis' empire. Run in with a fireball the size of a bowling ball and explode the place quickly, taking my life with it. Simply thrown in, it would take out a part of the building, but mostly burn it instead.

I created the fireball and held it up like a bowling ball. The mutants smiled and laughed when I rolled it into the building like it was a lane. The ball exploded and took out the front of the building, then set the rest on fire. I came back to the rest and we held hands, joining them slowly, one by one. We watched the building burn, and got ready to face our future.

It must have been hard for the mutant kids, watching the only home they'd ever known burst into flames.

It must have been tough turning their backs on everything they'd ever known.

It must have been devastating, knowing the only parent they'd ever have was dead, and would never come back.

It must have been scary, facing an uncertain future.

Despite all of that, I never understood why a third of the mutants that surrounded me let go of our hands. I never quite understood when they marched into the burning building to die along with everything else that had died that day. Even when they were gone, I still whispered to myself, "I don't understand."

2