Inside my lab, I set to work on a specialized communication device. I didn't want a smartphone; instead, I chose to recreate the legendary Nokia 3310, the 'brick,' the grandfather of all durable phones. I've always loved its simple, rigid design. To power it, I engineered a miniature reactor to serve as the battery.
It isn't large, but it's efficient enough to last roughly fifty years. I didn't want to bother with chargers, so I built it to handle calls and messages via my private satellite network. The reactor's cooling system ensures the device stays perfectly chilled, no matter how long the conversation lasts.
I moved away from traditional hardware entirely. I didn't use a SIM card, instead, I integrated a custom chip capable of hosting its own internal server and managing its own cellular protocols. I engineered it this way to ensure total privacy, if anyone attempted to intercept the transmission or eavesdrop on a conversation, all they would hear is a wall of scrambled, indecipherable noise.
I handed the heavy lifting of this project over to my greatest collaborator: the Nanite Assembly Machine or as I like to call it, 'Mr. 3D Printer.' While the 3D printers of the future are limited to basic structures, my machine is a marvel of multi-layered engineering.
I built every internal component to be fully autonomous, allowing it to handle the entire production process from scratch. If anyone in the family wants a new phone, they don't need me to be there in person, they can simply walk up to the terminal and print whatever they desire.
They can engrave their names on the back, customize the casing colors, or tweak the design, I built this so they could be entirely self-sufficient without me needing to oversee every detail.
i give instruction to the R&D lab to build a customizable bulletproof glass that can withstand armor piercing round, put heavy R&D on insulation that can absorb impact, so when my family travel, they will be safe.
****
Two days later.
I sat down with Jason, one of the younger members of the inner circle. He's three years younger than Robin and serves as one of our key family heads, specifically overseeing logistics. His team is the reason goods from this town move safely and efficiently across the entire country. If anyone understands the importance of secure, reliable communication in a changing world, it's him.
I met with Jason today to handle two specific objectives. First, I wanted to design and build a custom jet for the family's exclusive use. While we already own several planes, those are commercial-grade vessels intended for standard business. I want our family to be able to travel anywhere in the world in total comfort, but more importantly, with the uncompromising safety that only our own proprietary technology can provide.
I stayed in the hangar with Jason for several days, working side-by-side. Even though he occasionally had to step away to take calls on his new 'Atomic Brick' phone, he spent most of his time watching and learning. I told him plainly: the future of transport isn't just about speed. It's about total reliability. We cannot afford to depend on outsiders for our survival, we have to be the masters of our own machines.
After six months of grueling work in the hangar, I finally unveiled the world's first fully carbon-weave aircraft. Before the plane even took shape, I had to build a custom pressure chamber, a dedicated engine testing room, and a full-scale flight simulation system. To outsiders, six months for a project of this scale might seem impossibly fast, but by my standards, it was far too slow. I deliberately took my time because I wanted Jason to witness every step. This wasn't just a plane; it was a treasure trove of knowledge for him to master.
He understood exactly why I insisted on doing this ourselves. If we allowed an outsider to build our aircraft, we could never be certain that it hadn't been tampered with or sabotaged. To ensure he had everything he needed, I provided him with the full schematics and high-definition video recordings of the entire construction process. I used a camera I had heavily modified myself, an upgrade over my previous models to capture every microscopic detail of the build.
He can watch the footage as many times as he needs to truly master the craft. Looking at him, I saw the expression of someone who had finally discovered their true passion. While Jason has always loved the transport business, he now understands the cold logic of progress: technology is constantly evolving, and if you are late to adapt, you have already been left behind.
The second mission wasn't for Jason, it was for his wife, Rebecca.
I met with Rebecca to deliver her mission. She wasn't originally from our town, Jason had met her during his travels. Initially, Jason's father, Jonathan, was adamantly against the marriage. He insisted on a grueling series of tests and a deep background check that nearly drove her away. She was ready to bolt, feeling that everyone here was impossibly rigid and uncompromising.
However, once Jonathan finally brought her into the inner family circle, the weight of our secrets revealed the truth: his harshness was a filter. While we don't forbid marrying outsiders, it's rare, Rebecca is one of only three people who ever managed to pass the tests regarding loyalty, background, and financial integrity. It sounds cold to the outside world, but our first family rule is absolute: We protect each other first.
In a strange turn of events, it's fair to say that Jonathan eventually grew to love Rebecca more than his own son, Jason.
Her entire worldview shifted even further when she first met me at the gathering three years ago. That was the moment the pieces finally clicked into place for her. She realized what this town actually signifies and why it was constructed with such deliberate, fortress-like precision. The entire social structure, the seventeen heads of the family wasn't just for tradition. It was built with a singular, absolute purpose: to protect one person. Me.
After she took the serum, the transformation was remarkable. The years seemed to melt away, leaving her looking younger and more vibrant than ever. Seeing the genuine happiness in her eyes was enough for me.
I sat her down and explained that I had a vision, a project that only she and Jason, with their combined mastery of social influence and logistics, could execute. I presented her with the concept and the blueprints for a revolutionary supermarket chain. This wasn't just a store, it was a highly optimized, technologically superior distribution hub. My mission for her was simple yet massive: take this blueprint and establish our presence across the entirety of America.
She was visibly energized by the scale of the plan. Rebecca immediately asked if she could recruit the other wives, those who didn't yet hold critical positions within our primary company to join her in this venture. She wanted to transform them into a unified force, giving them a shared purpose and a stake in our family's future. I agreed without hesitation. It was the perfect solution: it would strengthen the bonds between the seventeen families and turn what could have been a social circle into a professional, nationwide network of operatives.
My safety net for the family was now firmly in place, designed to hold for the next thirty years. I have never been a man to leave anything to chance not when I have the power to prevent failure.
The following day, I summoned Sarah from T.H.R.U.S.H. to my lab. I gave her clear instructions: if anything urgent arose during my absence, she was to contact me directly through the secure channel. I also took a moment to congratulate her, she had married into the family just a week prior. Even a seasoned operative like her couldn't help but blush at the mention of her new life.
I then blindsided her with a massive promotion: I appointed her as the Head of the Recycling Center which serves as our front for resource reclamation and granted her my seat as my official proxy. She was visibly stunned to realize I was giving her authority that technically placed her above her own husband in the hierarchy. She initially hesitated, but once I revealed the truth that I might disappear for twenty or thirty years she understood the gravity of the situation and accepted the mantle.
Sarah didn't need to ask why I was leaving or what I intended to do; she had been with T.H.R.U.S.H. long enough to understand my nature and the weight of my responsibilities. I handed her the blueprints for the new recycling plant, a facility designed for far more than mere waste management. It was an advanced resource reclamation hub, capable of stripping down obsolete technology and refining rare materials for my future projects.
And ask her to look after my lab.
By the following morning, the news of Sarah's appointment had rippled through every branch of the seventeen families. I had officially named her the head of my company and my personal proxy. The reaction was a mixture of awe and disbelief. Her husband was perhaps the most stunned of all, he found himself in the surreal position of seeing his wife ascend to the highest seat of power in our organization before he had even made his own mark.
And i said my goodbye, for now.
****
I've been away from home for a week now. My agent just informed me that the conflict between the Soviet Union and America has intensified. A new kind of war is being fought out here, a war of super-soldiers.
I know of four individuals destined to become super-soldiers: Alexei Shostakov (the Red Guardian), Isaiah Bradley, who was transformed through secret experiments, William Burnside and his student Jack Monroe, and finally, Bucky Barnes.
Alexei Shostakov was the Soviet response to Steve Rogers. Although the USSR struggled to perfect their super-soldier formula until the 1980s, Alexei was already a legend a decorated pilot and a hero of the korean war whose reputation made him the perfect candidate for the Red Guardian program.
The Soviet Union may not have won the Korean War outright, but maintaining control over half the peninsula was a strategic success. This was made possible largely because China intervened to provide crucial support.
Alexei Shostakov was recruited into the Soviet super-soldier program following a failed government mission. The Soviets had deployed a large number of soldiers to win the Cuban Missile War, but their lack of success forced them to look for a more powerful alternative.
Because of Isaiah Bradley and the X-Men, the Cuban Missile War was averted. However, this success only fueled the KGB's determination, the Soviet spy division intensified their super-soldier experiments until they finally produced one stable subject: Alexei Shostakov.
The other five subjects went insane after the experiment went wrong. Bucky was part of the program to ensure everything stayed under control, but the lab quickly turned into a massacre.
I know why they lost their minds: Hydra wanted to create another Bucky Barnes, a perfectly loyal super-soldier. What they didn't realize was that Bucky's mind was already fractured by Arnim Zola's 1944 experiments. That is why, even after becoming a super-soldier, they were able to wipe his memory and control him.
Following that incident, all super-soldier serum research was halted. Every high-ranking officer involved was eliminated to ensure silence, including the doctors who had experimented on the soldiers. As for the other five super-soldiers, they were frozen in cryogenic pods to preserve their DNA for future use.
For a person of color in 1950s America, surviving a single day was already a victory for the community. Isaiah Bradley was a decorated soldier, yet he was kidnapped and subjected to brutal experiments to recreate the super-soldier serum.
He endured days of torture as they tested every possible combination of the formula. Out of thirty subjects, he was the only survivor. Though Isaiah hoped to break out after his transformation, he discovered to his horror that they were holding his wife hostage. He was forced to serve in the Korean War, only to be imprisoned for thirty years afterward.
And the third one is William Burnside and his student Jack Monroe, william is a phd student, obsessed with the history of the original Captain America.
Jack Monroe was a student who followed his passions. While researching in Germany, Burnside discovered a hidden journal containing a version of the Super-Soldier Serum. However, he only possessed the chemical formula, he lacked the Vita-Rays necessary to stabilize the transformation, unlike the process used on Steve Rogers.
In a moment of desperation to stop a Red Skull impostor, Burnside and his student, Jack Monroe, who had become his Bucky, injected themselves with the untested, incomplete serum.
Burnside underwent extensive plastic surgery to become a physical duplicate of Steve Rogers. He went so far as to legally change his name to 'Steven Rogers' and even altered his voice to match the original hero's perfectly.
William Burnside is a dark reflection of Steve Rogers, a man whose obsession with an icon led him to undergo flawed surgery and a tragic, violent transformation.
And finally, there is James Buchanan Barnes, my old friend. I know I could save him now, but the time isn't right, he needs this experience, as brutal as it may be. I'll make my move when he's assigned the mission to kill Howard and Maria Stark.
I plan to create duplicates of their bodies to make their 'deaths' believable. While I can't clone a complete human being yet, creating a convincing physical shell should be doable.
One day, I'll explain my decision to him, even though I know he'll hate me for it. But the timeline requires him to be exactly where he is right now. If he isn't, everything changes. Howard and Maria's deaths are a pivotal moment in this timeline, one that cannot be avoided.
It's now 1956. While lost in my own thoughts, I arrive at the army recruitment center to enlist for the war in Korea. I know I'll run into Victor eventually. He's the type of man who can't live without conflict or killing, when he's in the field, he finally has the freedom to do whatever he wants.
I wasn't in Japan during World War II when the atomic bombs were dropped, but I find myself wondering if young Ichirō Yashida survived. If he is still alive, I want to see exactly how far he will go to extend his life.
As time passed, I eventually crossed paths with Victor, though we didn't actually meet until the war was nearly won. I heard that Isaiah Bradley arrived just as the front lines were being pushed harder, right when China decided to join their Soviet comrades to help them secure a victory.
As I drew closer to Isaiah, I saw that he was being kept in a tent, surrounded by soldiers standing guard over him. I activated my Light Reflection Codex to turn invisible, allowing me to slip past the guards and enter his tent undetected.
I finally met him, and it was devastating to see how much sadness he carried. He will lived with this burden for nearly thirty years, never once knowing a moment of peace.
I used my Sanguine Codex to create a bubble, isolating him and me from the rest of the world. I needed to talk to him first and offer him a way out. I knew he would be skeptical, until now, no one who looked like me had ever treated him with respect. He had been tortured until he nearly lost his mind. The only reason he remains sane is that he still has someone to protect: his wife and son.
'Isaiah Bradley,' I whispered, slowly appearing in front of him. He was shocked by my sudden arrival. Almost instinctively, he brought his knife up, the speed of a super-soldier is truly frightening.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" he asked, his voice sharp with suspicion. He was on high alert, he knew that someone who could turn invisible was dangerous, even to him. He only reacted because the man in front of him had called his name and revealed himself, but he still felt a sense of dread wash over his entire body.
Isaiah noticed that despite the loud commotion, the soldiers outside didn't enter the tent. He realized then that I had done something to the surroundings. He never left anything to chance, he had to survive because he still had people to protect.
"I came here to offer you freedom. In exchange, I want you to protect my family. Do you want that?" I was offering him something he would eventually get on his own, but right now, it was the only thing I could offer that would entice him to accept.
"Why would I believe someone like you?" Isaiah asked. He had been experimented on for so long by people like me that he couldn't bring himself to trust anyone.
"I know what they did to you. I know why you're here. The only reason I'm making this offer is that I need help, I need someone like you. Even after all those experiments, you are still a kind person. Right now, even though you could run away, I know you're staying to protect your wife and child. If you accept, I will save them both, too." I gave him the one thing he wanted most in the world.
Isaiah felt a chill run down his spine. This man was even more dangerous than the American government. The answer he gave today would determine his future and the future of his family. "Why should I trust you?" he asked, his voice trembling slightly. "For all I know, you're just like the rest of them." Isaiah couldn't leave anything to chance. If this was truly a chance for hope, he had to be 100% sure the offer was real.
"If you want the truth, I'm only doing this because I know exactly what the Super Soldier Serum does to the people who take it, the side effects and everything else. I know because I was there. I was in the room when Dr. Erskine experimented on Steve Rogers." I dropped a truth bomb on him, watching his reaction.
Isaiah looked terrified. This information wasn't supposed to be public knowledge, he only knew about it because he had overheard the scientists discussing Dr. Erskine's experiment to create the perfect super-soldier, Steve Rogers. "You've got to be kidding me," he spat. "You really think I'm going to believe that?"
"I'm giving you the truth and nothing but the truth. I'm telling you this because I need help from someone capable of protecting people, someone as strong as you. While I could make do with the defenses I've already prepared for my family, an extra layer of protection wouldn't hurt, right?"
"What's the catch?" Isaiah asked, his eyes narrowing. "You can't expect me to believe you're saving me just to protect your family. Who is this family that they need someone like me to watch over them?" Isaiah found the offer strange, after all, what kind of family would require a super-soldier for protection?
"Have you heard of the Houston Royalty of Seventeen?" I asked. I watched his face closely, waiting to see if the name carried any weight with him.
Isaiah replied, "Yeah, I've heard of them. I was actually planning on heading there to find work after the war. Don't tell me you want me to protect them?" To Isaiah, protecting a family at the top of the food chain sounded more like a fairy tale than reality. He was expected to just believe me? Of course, he was skeptical beyond belief.
"My seventeen brothers and sisters and I created that town from nothing fifty years ago. While everyone believes there are only seventeen people at the helm, I have always been in the shadows protecting them. That's why I came here to offer you a job. It's not really a secret if you look closely, I've been there the whole way. It's just that nobody bothers to dig deeper than they should."
Isaiah was in shock. He was in disbelief because my story sounded so made up that he couldn't tell if I was serious. But he also understood one thing: someone as powerful as me could easily make do with what I already had. It wasn't that the town lacked security, it was that I was offering more than just freedom. I was giving him the hope that he could finally live in peace with his family.
"If this deal doesn't involve killing innocents or experimenting on me, I'll take it," Isaiah said. "Someone as strong as you doesn't need to play games. My gut tells me you could do much more than this, you could easily control someone like me. Normal people couldn't even run from you." Isaiah accepted, not just for the freedom, but because he knew I had the power to make it happen.
He had heard the rumors: the seventeen family heads of Houston never treated people of color badly, they treated everyone with respect. But there were other stories, too. Stories of those who tried to incite a race war in that town, only to vanish by morning. It was cruel, but in lion territory, you don't lead the flock. If you tried, your head was gone so fast it was like you never existed.
Oooh it's eighteen now.
I offered my hand for a handshake, and he took it. "While I want to bring you home right now, the war still needs you, Isaiah. This might seem like a failure on my part, but you have one more pivotal role to play." I explained that the Soviets were making their move in the Cuban Crisis. It seemed like war might break out there, and I needed him to be patient and just go with the flow. I promised him that, eventually, I would bring both him and his family to my home.
Isaiah understood. Even if he was discriminated against, he still had a role to play in this war, the role of a savior. While he might never be known far and wide, the deal I offered was more than enough. He would bide his time. I knew they would continue to experiment on him, but soon, he would finally be free.
And i let him a small nanite on him, just a preventive measure to protect him.
****
1962
I was sitting in a bar today, nursing a drink and puffing on my cigar. I was waiting for someone, someone specific to show up. And then, there they were. They walked through the door.
A young Charles and Erik walked in. The future leaders of the world, two sides of the same coin who would never see eye to eye.
"Excuse me," Erik began, introducing himself, "I'm Erik Lehnsherr." "And I'm Charles Xavier," Charles added with a polite smile.
"How are you kids doing?" I gave them a slow smile, my eyes moving from Erik to Charles. I caught the brief flash of annoyance on Erik's face and the flicker of confusion in Charles's eyes.
This was the first time Erik had been called a "kid" by someone who looked to be his own age. Charles, meanwhile, was completely confused. He could feel that the person in front of him knew exactly who they both were, yet he couldn't grasp a single thought from my mind.
"Has the government become so desperate that they're asking mutants for help?" I smiled, letting the mystery hang in the air between us.
I watched the dread settle over them. I had just handed them a truth that didn't exist in any file. Even the CIA didn't realize the pattern yet: that the mutant "problem" had exploded the second the serum hit Steve Rogers' veins.
To them, I was no longer someone to be recruited. I felt a slight intrusion in my mind and smiled at Charles. Meanwhile, the entire bar began to vibrate, as if the whole structure were coming down. With a simple wave of my hand, everything went silent. I rejected Erik's control over the room and created a bubble, cocooning the three of us. I froze their bodies in place and calmed the minds of everyone else in the bar.
"Erase their memories and make them forget what happened here. And please... make them sleep for a moment," I said to Charles. Charles understood what I was asking and did exactly that. He was trembling with fear, afraid that he might actually die today.
Erik was struggling to break free of my binding. He pushed his power to the limit, but to no avail, nothing moved. For the first time, he felt true fear. While Sebastian Shaw was a menace, I was on a whole different level.
"While I know what you're trying to do, let's just say it isn't the time yet. In the future, the three of us will be friends. Until then..." I vanished, and everything instantly went back to normal.
"What... what was that?" Charles whispered, his voice shaking. He had spent his life feeling like the most powerful mind in any room, but today, he had finally met his match.
Erik had the expression of someone who had just been humiliated, and he hated being humiliated. In an angry voice, he snapped at Charles, "Charles, why didn't you freeze him?"
"I did. I tried so many times," Charles said, still trembling. "It felt like I kept punching a marshmallow. I could tell he knew exactly what I was trying to do, he felt me trying to enter his mind, and he just let me fail."
Both of them went quiet. They promised themselves that if they ever encountered another mutant who looked to be their age, they would perform a thorough background check first, lest something like today happen again. This cautious approach eventually saved their lives when En Sabah Nur was resurrected, they researched him extensively before attempting to stop him.
****
When the Cuban Missile Crisis broke out and Isaiah met the Soviet Union's own super soldier, he finally understood why I had told him he had a greater responsibility. Later, after Charles and Erik defeated Sebastian Shaw's underground team, the Hellfire Club, they came to offer their services to Robin. But Robin simply rejected them.
At first, Sebastian Shaw was certain that with Emma's help, they could control everyone in the Houston royal families. He believed they would become the most powerful club in the world. Using Azazel to bring Emma there, he planned for her to be the catalyst, controlling the town from behind the scenes. But that was their mistake: they thought they understood how the rich and powerful operate simply because they had the power to control them.
But that day, they met their match. I had already tattooed every family member with my Codex. I did more than just prevent DNA loss, I placed a protection spell on their minds as well. That is why Emma couldn't do anything to them.
When the protection detail pulled out Judge Dredd guns and fired an electromagnetic shock at Emma, Azazel ported out so fast he left her behind. He could feel that something had gone terribly wrong. He knew that if he didn't get out of there immediately, he wouldn't survive the day either.
To replace her role of when she give them the infromation, I dropped a tip for Charles while he was searching for the Hellfire Club. That is why they managed to defeat Shaw and save everyone. I also saved Darwin by healing him just enough to let him adapt to the energy he had absorbed. I brought him back to Houston, where he is now in the medical bay with me, Isaiah, and Isaiah's family.
Let's just say the entire American government was in a state of panic. Isaiah had simply disappeared, and there was no evidence of a break-out. Now, everyone knows about him, the Black Captain America. To me, that's a win in my book.
"I can give you a new identity," I told him. "A new face for you and your family, so you can walk the streets without fear." Isaiah accepted. Finally, they could live in the light. But I didn't just give him freedom, I gave him a purpose. He became the Director of THRUSH, the elite intelligence and tactical arm of the Eighteen.
I told everyone in my family who Isaiah really was, and they accepted him. After all, they'll be seeing much more of him in the future as he leads our operations.
The Hellions will never come to be because I removed Emma from the Hellfire Club equation. I'll figure out what to do about that later, but for now, the timeline has already shifted.
In the original timeline, they were the rivals to the New Mutants, and their story ended in a great tragedy. By taking Emma now, i've spared those future students from that fate.
I imprisoned her inside my lab, building a makeshift prison for now. She and I have things to talk about, and I need her exactly where I can see her
****
"So, you're the White Queen I've heard so much about. I knew those fools were being controlled by someone. For people as shrewd as them to make a mistake like starting World War III... that was a level of stupidity even they couldn't fathom." I brought over a chair and sat down directly in front of her.
"And you 'geniuses' were really going to start a world war? I'd say you're even stupider than I thought," I said, grinning at her. "When resources are finite, fighting becomes infinite. Don't you know that? Today's fight is tomorrow's suffering. That's why you came here, to control the resources when hell broke loose, so you could rule from behind the scenes. That's the thing, isn't it? You guys thought everything was under your control. You forgot that behind every powerful family, there is always someone more powerful protecting them."
In her thoughts, Emma originally believed she could control the man in front of her. Then she remembered that when she tried to control Robin, she couldn't. She realized that the man sitting there was the one who made that protection possible. She finally understood what I was saying: behind every powerful family, there is always someone even more powerful protecting them from behind the scenes.
She didn't speak for a long moment. She had been in her diamond form from the time we caught her. While she would drop the form when she was alone, the moment she started speaking to me, she put the diamond back on.
"You call it stupidity," she said, her voice like cracking ice, "but we called it 'clearing the brush.' Shaw believed that if the old world burned, a mutant world would rise from the ashes. We weren't looking to rule your oil fields. We were looking to inherit the Earth."
I leaned forward, the chair creaking in the silent lab.
"Inherit a graveyard?" I countered. "You're a telepath, Emma. You know better than anyone that power isn't just land or gold. It's the people. Without the infrastructure of the 'Rich people,' your mutant paradise would be a dark age of starvation and radiation. You weren't clearing brush, you were poisoning the soil."
Emma's diamond form flickered and faded, returning her to flesh and bone. It was a sign of surrender or at least, a sign that she was ready to listen.
"And who are you to lecture me on the 'Rich people'?" she snapped, though her voice lacked its usual bite. "I've peered into the minds of billionaires and kings. I never saw you. I never felt... this." She gestured vaguely at the air, referring to the mental silence I imposed on the room.
"That's because you were looking at the actors on the stage," I replied with a cold grin. "You forgot to look at the man who owns the theater."
That got her thinking. While she came from a wealthy family and understood the politics behind it, that didn't mean she understood the true power structure of the world. She realized that by following Shaw and doing his bidding, she would become an outcast if the world ever found out who she really was.
"I know your father is a piece of shit. You've seen what power does to a person. I know you're smarter than this, Emma. Your political game is, if I may say so the best in the world. You've seen both worlds firsthand and managed to navigate them safely until now. But that doesn't mean shit if you can't even secure a safe environment for yourself. Even the 'friend' you came with abandoned you the moment he saw the first sign of danger."
Emma felt a sinking feeling in her chest. She had thought they were her friends, allies who would rule the world together once Shaw's plan succeeded. Now she saw it was all a lie, she had been used, abandoned, and left to fend for herself, just as her family had done to her. The man in front of her seemed to know her family well. The question of how far his influence reached touched her deepest desires.
"Then why capture me? What do you want from me? I'm of no use to you. If you wanted power, you already seem stronger than I am. If you wanted my body, you wouldn't have locked me in a cell. So lay it on me, what do you want?" Emma's voice was steady and sure.
"See? That's why I like talking to smart people, they always understand the situation." I waved my hand, and her handcuffs fell away while her prison walls disappeared. She looked at me in disbelief, unable to comprehend why I had released her so easily. That was the thing, wasn't it? She always thought she was dangerous, but in front of me, she was just a child throwing a tantrum.
"Come, let me tell you a story," I began.
to be continued -