The choice hung in the air, a shimmering, perfect poison.
Leo stared at the device in the scientist's hand.
The cure.
It was everything he had ever wanted, a ghost he had chased through a lifetime of self-deprecating jokes and the quiet, gnawing fear that he would never be enough.
He could be whole.
He could be strong.
He could finally, finally stop being the broken toy.
"Oh, this is awkward," Miles thought, his mind a frantic, buzzing hive of activity.
He was still trying to break Gideon out of his trance, the old man's eyes a million miles away, lost in some private, burning hell.
"Okay, so, on the one hand, a cure," his internal monologue whispered, a dry, panicked commentary on the unfolding disaster.
"On the other hand, a betrayal of everyone you've ever cared about."
"This feels like a pretty classic 'deal with the devil' scenario."
"I really hope Leo hasn't been skipping the 'moral philosophy' part of his education."
