Metamorphosis

Chapter 26: The Vasili Gem

"At this time in the evening, we would like to invite anyone interested in our auction to please take a seat around the stage." The tall man in charge of the auction called out into the crowd from the stage. 

Mira's ears perked up. "Guys, we should head over there now," she whispered. "Get some good seats."

Nyle nodded. "Okay. Sounds good. You good to go, Adam?" He poked Adam's arm, which jolted him from whatever thoughts he was in.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm good."

Mira glanced over at Adam, concerned. She had noticed that though he said he was okay, he kept drifting off into his own thoughts, completely oblivious to everything that was happening. 

Externally, he looked just kind of out of it. Maybe people thought he'd had too much to drink (he hadn't had anything all night, not even water) or that he'd been dumped by his date (kinda close to the truth). 

Internally, however, he was probably replaying what happened in the garden over and over and over again, trying to make sense of what had happened. 

Mira felt so bad for him. She felt like she was useless, not able to do anything to help him. Nova had told me over her private line that she had to make sure Adam was still able to do his job and retrieve the Vasili Gem without letting Phoenix's betrayal get into his head. 

They took their seats in the front row, in the last three seats from the end. Waiting for another little while until other people took their seats, the agents used that time to scan the area  for threats of any kind.

The people sitting down were mostly older men and women, usually in pairs or groups of three or four, all dressed in fancy . Though there were a few younger adults, there were no other people the agents' age.

Some of the adults gave them curious, almost disdainful, looks and moved on when Nyle shot them a smirk. Mira would glare at him afterwards and look towards Adam like: Can you believe him?

Adam, of course, did not respond. 

Finally, after about ten minutes of waiting, the actual auction began.

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A woman dressed in a skimpy dress brought the last item for sale up onto the stage:a large... something wrapped in cloth. She held it gingerly, like it was actually a bomb instead of something they were selling at an auction.

"I think that there is it," Mira whispered. "It looks about the same size as the Usipi stone, right?"

Nyle nodded. "Yeah. I agree. Okay. Get your paddles ready."

The speaker grinned at the crowd. "And finally, the last item up for sale is a very powerful stone called the Vasili Gem. Now, don't leave thinking it's something from that ridiculous New Age belief. No, this is a stone that can actually alter your brain's chemistry and allow you to change your appearance to match that of anyone you've ever seen before."

A few of the remaining buyers perked up with interest. 

"The starting bid is $200,000."

An old man in a most likely custom made suit held up his paddle. "$250,000."

"$300,000," countered Nyle.

A woman in a fur coat and satin gloves held up her paddle. "$375,000."

"$400,000," the same man called. 

Mira panicked. "$600,000."

The man glared at her and put up his paddle, only to be cut off by the woman behind him. "$750,000."

Nyle frowned. He couldn't remember how much SHIELD had given them for the auction. Was it a million or a billion? Did SHIELD even have a billion to give? He whispered his question into his earpiece, while watching the man and the woman have a bidding war, the price rising quickly. 

"They gave us a billion. You should be good to go."

"Thanks, Brendan," he whispered.

"$900,000!" cried the woman.

"No problem." 

Nyle held up his paddle and called out, "One million."

The woman turned and stared at him with mild shock on her heavily Botoxed face. Mira only giggled.

It didn't take long for both the woman and the old man to give up and place their paddles on the ground in defeat; Nyle and Mira continued to raise the price in alarming increments.

Mira was a little bit surprised that this mission was going along so simply and smoothly, apart from the whole Phoenix thing. She had expected to have to fight some evil mastermind or something of the sorts. Not a peaceful auction without any problems of any kind. 

In no time at all, the speaker, slightly put off by the fact that two kids just bought an incredibly powerful, incredibly dangerous stone, called them up to claim their new property. 

Mira stood up and grinned at the man as he handed her the cloth-covered stone. 

However, her fingers never touched the stone, as she was shoved out of the way by someone who had run onstage at the very last second. Mira flew off of the stage and was only barely caught by Nyle, who rushed to stop her fall.

People all around the room screamed as soon as they saw what was happening, running for the exits in a mass flurry of dresses and suits. The whole room was in a panic, seeing the danger before even the agents.

Mira and Nyle both looked up at the stage and were shocked to see Phoenix standing at the podium holding a gun to the speaker's head, dried tears running down the length of her face. 

Her brown hair was still perfectly in place, but her dress and makeup was ruined. The dress was in rags, covered in dirt and tears, her makeup running down her face in unattractive lines of washed away foundation and running mascara.

Nyle glanced back at Adam, who was stiff as a board. His cheeks filled with an angry pink. "Phoenix, what are you doing?"

She laughed harshly. "If you won't accept me for who I am and who I choose to be, then I'll be who you want me to be. That's the villain, right? You want me to be the villain?"

Mira chuckled nervously. "No one wants you to be the villain, Phoenix. We want to help you--"

"Don't lie to me!" she screamed, shoving the gun closer to the man's forehead.

Nyle held out a hand cautiously. "Phoenix, calm down. What are you doing?"

"I'm only being who you want me to be." She giggled maniacally. "I'm just doing what you wanted. If you won't help me, then I'll help my mother. I'm sure she'll take me back if I bring her back this Vasili Gem, right? She'll take me in. She always did. But you? You don't want me. You never wanted me! It was all a ruse, wasn't it? You never truly trusted me or liked me. You all thought that I was just someone you should help and treat like a hurt puppy. Right? RIGHT?"

"Phoenix," Adam said in a freakishly calm voice. "Put the gun down."

"And why should I listen to you?" Phoenix asked in the same low tone. "You're the one who DID THIS TO ME!"

He stood up. "No. You did it to yourself. But don't do this. You're only dragging yourself in deeper."

She shook her head. "You don't get it, do you? I was always in as deep as can be. And there's nothing you can do to change that."

Mira screamed at the top of her lungs as Phoenix pulled the trigger.

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Dear readers,

Woah. Cliff hanger. Sorry for this chapter. I feel like it's crappy, but I feel like that about all of the chapters I write. *makes face*. But anyway...

Comment your feelings about all of this below!

-flygirl1

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