gaMe changer

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It didn't even take a day to find Rebecca; she only lasted for only a few hours. Thankfully, Jack, the two of the triplets, and Reeva were returned safely. Apparently, when on the drive away, they hit an area where mutant-haters were around, they manage to blend into the crowd and walk away.

When hearing about Rebecca's return, Sage and Esme were quick to ensure I and my brother wouldn't be able to use her abilities. I had to be sure of that, so I went down to the training room, where she was held, and Andy was there with Jack.

Screaming and shouting echoed when walking into the training room, I slowly made my way to see what they were looking for, I was confused to see a polygonal black box, with Rebecca inside. Seeing from the screen that was inside, the girl was trapped inside, moving constantly in a circle.
As my brother had a monotonous face, Andy was left to be horrified by her capture.

"What are you doing to her?" Andy asked.

"We're doing what we have to, to keep her restrained," Sage answers, "She's just upset."

"Upset? You're keeping her in a windowless box. She's trapped in that spinning thing."

Jack replies, "She needs to be in total darkness and motion, so she doesn't twist her way out."

"She doesn't deserve this, at all. She's not crazy. She helped us with the heist. Without her, the mission would be foiled!"

"And yet, she's the same person to kill 30 people, causing humans to have a riot against us," My brother sassed.

"Andy, I'm sorry. Reeva said we can't risk having her escape again. We can't risk her hurting anyone," Sage says, referencing to me.

The Strucker looked to me, pleading with his eyes to say something. I didn't respond to him, I only looked back at Rebecca's personal prison, knowing that this was the right way this has to go.

Seeing that everyone wasn't on his side, on Rebecca's side, he ran out of the training room, obviously frustrated. I sigh walk to the screen that showed Rebecca inside.

She was scared and cried, but she was saying how she didn't do anything wrong, still justifying her actions. I was still and stuck to know what to think. She had to be there, she can't escape, and she was too irrational to even reason with her. But I still sympathize with her.

"I know what you're thinking," Jack tells me, "and you need to stop."

"Stop what?"
"Stop feeling bad for her."

I look to my brother. "You know, you're never one to sympathize, at all."

"Hey, I sympathize! I do for people that really deserve it, she doesn't deserve it. Rebecca killed more people than anyone I've known, she's way too violent and dangerous to just be in a cell."

Hearing her screams, her constant crying, I had to leave. I knew trapping Rebecca was a precaution, but something in my stomach told me otherwise, that this wasn't going to be a happy ending.

❅ ❅ ❅

Walking back to my room, I look to see that Andy's room was closed. I couldn't help but come inside, seeing him draw on his pad. Coming in, he looked over to me, with his face still painted and upset for me not sticking up for Rebecca.

"What do you want?" He says, still pissed off with me.

"Are you going to act like this, or are you going to be mature for once?"

He faked a laugh. "If it's about Rebecca, you're not changing my mind. She's innocent."

"Did the conversation we had last night didn't come across to you? You know, the entire time we talked about——"

"She wouldn't hurt you. You're just paranoid and scared, and I get it, but I can't just let you say these things when I know they're not true."

I scoff, "I don't get it. How are you going to choose her, how could you defend her after everything she had done? Why can't you just admit that what she was doing was wrong?"

"Is it wrong for me to believe that it was an accident? A mistake? And she's now getting treated like some animal, and you can't even see that it's wrong."

"No, her leaving here and just a hazardous risk is wrong. She won't reason and won't admit what she did. She won't say that it we'd a mistake."

"It was her first mission! She was hurt and tortured by people like them. And you expect her to be calm, let them go?"

"You shouldn't use her mental illness as an excuse. She's old enough to know right from wrong."

"Okay, fine." He rolls his eyes. "But what if it was Jack in there?"

"Excuse me?"
"What if Jack killed those people? Not Rebecca. Would you still think the same?"

I stopped and actually thought about it. Would I act this way or would I be like Andy and defend him, despite his competence of knowing right from wrong?

"If my brother killed 30 people... he better have a damn good excuse because I would never look at him the same. At least I wouldn't be stupid enough to blindly defend someone because they're someone I love. If that were the case, I'd still be with Mia."

He didn't say anything afterward, he seemed quite shocked that I brought up my mother, a person who I hated yet loved at the same time.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, it opened to see Reeva. "Am I interrupting something?"

"No, nothing at all," I say, walking out of the room.

As I was in the hall, I saw my brother's room opened, so I came in. I wasn't surprised to see him, with small lighting in his hand, while watching some movie he liked.

"It's rude not to knock," Jack sassed.

"Well, I came to ask a question," I speak, "If... If I were to kill 30 people, like what Rebecca did, would hate me, how you hate Rebecca?"

The blonde man stares at the ceiling. "No, I wouldn't hate you. Besides, I don't 'hate' Rebecca, just a heavy, heavy dislike to her."

"But I killed people. I'm counted as a murdered."
"But we are talking about you. You would never kill people unless it was for good reason."

As I lean on the doorway, he tilted his head. "What's got your gears turning?"

"I was talking to Andy and he made me think that if you did what Rebecca did, I would be acting different and defending you, like how he is doing."

"And what's did you say?" He asked, curiosity peaking.

"Just what you said," I lied, "Besides, I thought you hate Rebecca."

"Well, I don't like her because you don't like her. I'm not gonna be friends around with someone who messes with you."

I smile at him, as he goes and continues to mess with the lightning from his hand. I closed the door to his room, balled up my hand, making an ice ball, mimicking my brother.

"Jack," I say, "do you still believe, what you said when we were at the bank? About power and stuff."

His breath shakes, hesitant to speak, "Is it wrong of me to believe that we are much greater than what Reeva puts us out to be?"

"But with fear, without emotion?"

"I just think better with my head and not my heart. And if I lead with my heart from a certain emotion, what if that feeling goes away, I'll be left with nothing."

"But wouldn't you be feeling nothing either way, if you use your mind and not care for your feelings?"

Jack stares at me. He looked jealous in a way, a pitiful jealousy.
"Tell me, Lux, how did you keep your heart?"

I didn't respond because I didn't know what to say. He gets up and leans more toward me. "You've suffered from Trask, Mia made you feel isolated, y-you been through a lot... How did you not let them take your heart away?"

I knew what he was jealous of.
It was a melancholy jealousy. From such an early age, he had been through experiments and trauma, he didn't think he was ever going to see me or the light of hope, ever. They ripped his heart away, made him believe that his heart would only fail him in the long run, and only power was the true beacon of a mutant's path.

"Because I always had someone who I love, right beside me," I answer.

He smiles, in memory, "I did have someone... Remember when I told you about Jose?"

I remembered the conversation, I remembered how he told me about his death.

"You could say he was that someone. I mean, I thought I would never see you again. After Jose died, I couldn't imagine living for this long, so I had to be the guy peopled feared; it was survival. So in a world like this, being the top dog, it's a priority. We can't show how people can hurt us."

"You still have a heart, Jack. You have me, now. You got Lorna and Esme."

He chuckled, "Lorna, I guess, but Esme?"

"What don't you two hang out together?"
"Yeah, yeah, but——"

My eyes shine as a light pops in my head. "Holy shit... do you like Esme?"

Automatically, his body tensed, which gave my question an answer he couldn't deny.
"Jack, you do like her!"

"I just... S-She is... You can't say anything, Lux."

I couldn't help but grin at him.
He talks about not having emotions, not having a person to lean onto, but he never realized that deep down, he grew a heart. A heart that liked someone.

A knock came to the door, and clearing his throat, he opens the door, and speak of the devil...

"Esme," He greets, a little shocked to see her at the door.

"Hi, um, Reeva wants a meeting for the next mission, in five minutes. We need you and Lux to be there," She explained, fixing herself presentable.

"Got it, Lux and I will be there."

The two smile at each other and they went their separate ways. I was holding back my laugh, from
how awkward the two were with each other.

As soon as Jack closed the door, I was quick to laugh out loud, making him roll his eyes and ignore me completely.

❅ ❅ ❅

Everyone stood around the table in the lobby. I noticed how Andy was the other person who wasn't there. I didn't say anything and let the meeting go, if he wanted to miss it, it was his choice.

Reeva and the triplets laid out a map of a big building, in front of all of us. Apparently, this building held control of all mutant restraint collars, every collar from the prisons, mental asylums,  every one of them.

"We will be approaching from this direction. Once everyone is in position, then we move in," Our boss announces.

Suddenly, the elevator door opens, everyone turns to see Rebecca out of her box and angry.
Before I could do anything, I see her hand claw in my direction.

I was met with Rebecca's pixels onto me, she tried to twist my face, morph it to make me have a slow, painful death. As she tried to twist, my boys reacted and crystallized my entire body, I was holding onto my power to try and fight it off. But the pulling of my skin, all of my atoms changing into a different directions, I screamed bloody murder and in pain. I felt as if knives were slowly cutting into my skin, over and over again.

Abruptly, the pixels of her abilities disappeared away from me, but it didn't stop it completely. My body dropped to the ground, I released what I had holding, my body became paralyzed to even react.
I could hear the people around me scream and shriek, I could feel my face stink and almost be melted to me. I felt like a corpse, awaiting death to just take me down.

I was losing blood, I felt the half of my face harden, like a shell. My heart beats so lowly, my lungs could barely expand. I just stare at the floor, with the light of my eyes fade away; all I could see before I shut my eyes was my blood leaking on the floor.

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side note : i've created a tiktok for wattpad where i'll be posting edits as good as i possibly be :)
it's   @marienanight
i hope to see y'all there