Act VII – Chapter 22 – "Gwen or Alicia?"
Commercial warehouse.
Gwen stared at the mobster who'd just blown his brains out in front of her eyes. Blood still dripped, gun still clutched in his hand.
"Is that your power? That's… terrifying," she whispered.
Lune, voice soft but slightly disappointed:
"I'm running on empty… I'm not strong enough yet."
"What do you mean?" Gwen asked, her head still spinning.
Gunfire between cops and the mob intensified. Explosions, screams, and automatic fire rained down.
"I need you to look over there," Lune murmured, pointing toward the battlefield.
Gwen obeyed. On the enemy side, a mobster suddenly turned on his own crew.
Ratatat. He emptied his clip into them.
"What the hell are you doing?!" a survivor screamed.
The man under Lune's control, eyes glassy, spat back:
"You really banged my wife, you cocksucker!"
"What the fuck are you talking about?! Snap out of it!"
He turned, gun smoking. "YOU did her too!"
Another burst. He dropped, riddled by his own crew.
Enzo, still in cover, watched it all.
"What the actual fuck was that?!"
On the other side, mobsters were killing each other. Some still fired at the cops.
Gwen was lost. "Are you doing this?"
Lune sounded frustrated, like she wasn't getting the clean control she wanted.
"There are too many of them… the chaos is building. I can't guarantee you'll survive…"
"We stay behind cover until it calms down," Gwen answered, knuckles white on her rifle.
Lune, visibly stressed:
"Being patient… I can't afford to lose you. Not now."
"Why do you care so much about whether I live or die? And why are you in my head, exactly? Do I even know you?"
A sniper, posted nearby, put his crosshairs on her. Lune felt it.
BANG. The sniper put a bullet through his own mouth. Gwen never noticed.
Lune stepped closer.
"The longer this drags on, the higher the odds I'll lose you. So… I'm sorry."
"For wha—stop being all mysterious and—"
Lune leaned in. Her green-brown eyes inches from Gwen's.
"You'll get your answers when the time's right. But right now I have to keep you alive. So… forgive me for this."
Gwen felt heat on her lips. Real, burning, even though nothing physical happened. The sensation was electric — soft lips, gentle breath — slamming her heart like a jackhammer pounding harder than the bullets flying around her.
Then silence crashed down.
Enzo and the cops were stunned. The mobsters were dropping their guns, one by one, hands in the air, faces blank. They surrendered like a switch had flipped.
Enzo, stumbling out of cover:
"What the actual fuck was that?!"
Lune pulled her face back. Gwen was red as a tomato, breath coming in short gasps, eyes wide.
"Why the hell did you do that?!" Gwen snapped, voice high.
Lune laughed, light and teasing, almost mischievous.
"You're all flustered! And technically… I didn't do anything. I'm not even here."
She tilted her head, mocking smile:
"You just imagined it all, you naughty girl."
Gwen sputtered, flustered, turning her gaze to the chaos that had just gone silent around them.
Lune turned serious, her eyes sharpening.
"Did you notice it, though?"
"Notice what?" Gwen whispered, still reeling.
"That you don't feel any pain anymore."
Gwen looked down at her blood-soaked leg, plastered arm, ribs wrapped under her torn shirt. She shifted slightly. Nothing. Not a shred of pain. Just calm.
"How…?"
"I cut it off," Lune replied simply. "You had to be 100%. No limitations from your body."
Gwen's head snapped up, disturbed.
"Why? What the hell do you want from me?"
Lune crossed her arms, smile vanishing.
"The price for the help I just gave you…"
She paused, green-brown eyes locked on Gwen's.
"…is my freedom."
"My freedom? Herero what?" Gwen said, confused.
"HARPER!"
Enzo pushed through, breathing hard, gun still smoking.
"What the HELL was that, Harper?! They all just surrendered! First they were killing each other, and now nobody knows what's going on! Was that you? Can you control minds with electricity?!"
"No. You can't."
Gwen turned to where Lune had been.
Gone.
"Let me see your leg, Harper."
Enzo dropped to his knee, grabbed her wounded leg, and tested it carefully.
"Well… looks like the bullet went clean through. But you're not walking anywhere for a while."
He looked up, spotting the dark circles under her eyes.
"Hey, you okay?"
"Uh… yeah. Why?"
"You're about to pass out, girl."
He checked her bandage, blood soaked through.
"Jesus, Harper!"
"Quit touching me, Alvarez!"
Gwen staggered to her feet.
"What the hell, why—" Enzo stared. "How are you even standing? Whatever, you need a doctor! Now!"
"Enzo—"
"I'm calling one right now!"
"ENZO!"
Gwen's voice cracked, eyes tearing.
"Stop playing the nice little cop with me! You don't even know me!"
"I'm just trying to—"
"SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME!"
Enzo went quiet. Gwen took a deep, shaking breath.
"I never asked you to care about me. You butted into my life when I didn't ask for it. Who the hell do you think you are?! You're there, you're digging into me, telling me my name's Alicia, that I vanished for thirteen years—"
"I'm sorry—"
"I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW, DAMN IT! And you just throw it in my face like it's nothing! Who do you think you are? Some goddamn hero?!"
Her voice broke.
"Because of you, I don't even know who I am anymore!"
"Your blood is tied to a mafia investigation—"
"I DON'T GIVE A SHIT, ENZO!"
She almost screamed.
"We've known each other two minutes and you wrecked my life! Am I Gwen… or am I Alicia? What would I have been if I'd never been Gwen? Just some girl I forgot existed, not this pathetic version of myself—"
She laughed, bitter and broken.
"—who's so pathetic she has to make a stuffed animal of the guy when he's not around!"
Enzo was stunned.
"I… I didn't know. I thought you were hiding your identity…"
(Gwen's laugh) "You think you're innocent, maybe? Your powers… they're my dead mother's. How'd you get her piece, huh? I doubt the cops just handed it to you."
"I had a contact in the government. He said he got something that'd help me take down the mob that wiped out my family…"
"Whatever, Alvarez."
Gwen staggered back, ready to collapse.
Lune appeared in the corner of her vision, whispering:
"Don't quit on me now."
A rush of adrenaline slammed into her. She steadied, still wobbling.
Enzo watched her walk away in silence. She stumbled, then dematerialized out of sight.
"Alvarez, we need your report!" a commander called.
"On my way," Enzo answered, eyes fixed on the spot where Gwen used to be.
He lowered his gaze, worried. In that condition, she needed medical help.
Gwen jumped into the web.
"Lune? Any idea where I should start?"
Silence.
"Lune?"
Nothing.
"She can't follow me here… Whatever. I'm on my own."
Despite the exhaustion, she dove into government logs. Nowhere City. Zero Program. A doctor blacked out on every file she knew was William Campbell.
Then she found it:
Subject #1000 – Mind Manipulation
Status: Located, secured
Facility #089
"Subject 1000… the last girl they added? Daughter of one of the program's co-founders," she realized.
Gwen carried #009. Out of a thousand kids, fifty survived evaluations. After the 2019 purge (saved by Noah), only thirteen were left, scattered worldwide by his power.
She locked onto the facility, hacked the network, and rematerialized inside.
The prison was massive. 500 meters in diameter. At the center, a pitch-black house-sized box, absorbing all light like a black hole.
"You found me!" Lune exclaimed.
"Uh… yeah. But how do I get in?"
"Hm… There should be a door around here somewhere."
Gwen staggered, pulled a pocket knife, dematerialized, threw the blade, repeated until she found a seam. She pressed her hand against it.
Short circuit. The alarm screamed like a banshee.
Inside the black box: a modest house, cartoonish cloud paintings on the walls. There, a 1m60 figure, arms in a straitjacket, blindfolded.
"Welcome to the prison," Lune smiled.
Gwen, horrified, rushed forward. With one good arm, she tried to undo the straitjacket.
"Why? This is inhumane! How did you survive like this?"
"I've only been here two months. They pipe in food. I cook… without my eyes."
"How?"
"I had a good teacher. A blind woman you know well."
"Zoë?"
"Exactly."
"You're linked to her too?"
"I'm linked to all of you."
"Why?"
"William erased your names using my father's God Stone fragment. He didn't know it'd open a door to all your minds."
The alarm wailed. A swarm of black-uniformed soldiers advanced.
"I got the jacket off. You do the blindfold—this one arm's a pain."
A soldier stormed in, gun raised. Lune ripped off the blindfold. Green-brown eyes.
The soldier locked eyes… then whirled around, spraying his own men.
"YOU DON'T LOOK DOWN ON ME ANYMORE, HEY?!" he screamed.
Gwen, mouth open, still stunned.
Lune took her hand, smiling.
"Let's move, heroine."
She beamed. Gwen, only half-aware of her injuries, staggered alongside her.
They walked through the battlefield, soldiers tearing each other apart, cursing, raving. A sniper took aim at Lune.
Right then, the sniper sobbed, overwhelmed:
"I never should've cheated on her… I'm sorry."
He put a bullet through his own head before firing at her.
Everything orbited around them like a tornado of madness.
Gwen yelled over it:
"If you're connected to all of us… why me? Why now?"
"Because you're the only one with the power to find me and set me free."
They reached the exit. Lune sucked in a deep breath.
"Finally free."
Gwen swayed, about to fall.
"Merge back into the world at the hospital!" Lune called. "The pain block wears off in fifteen minutes!"
"No! Not yet. I have to save him!"
"Who?!"
"The man I love."
Lune, softened by Gwen's exhaustion:
"I understand. I love someone too…"
A pause.
"Her name's Esmée."
Silence.
"The princess? The one missing since September third…"
Lune nodded.
"I lost her on the 3rd. She found the Original God Stone."
"The source of our powers…"
"Yes."
Sad look.
"You saw what happens when I share my power? It's nothing next to what she could do with it. She used it better than I ever did. Even though she was just a normal human, she shined with it."
"How'd your link break?"
"Right after she touched the stone… she talked about ruling the world, using me so nobody could hurt her again. Then it snapped. Brutal. I don't know where she is or what she did during that window with my power amped by the stone… but judging by what happened after the 3rd, I have a pretty good idea what she meant by 'nobody will ever hurt me again.'"
Gwen frowned, a cold suspicion creeping in.
"Lune… if your link broke like that, maybe it's because—"
Lune cut her off.
"I have a gift for you!"
Lune stepped in, kissed her forehead.
Flash. Erased memories exploded back: Spain. Her mother. Her name scrubbed clean.
"So… I really am Alicia…"
Lune smiled.
"Go save the one you love. I'm giving you one last adrenaline burst, but it doesn't fix the damage. In ten minutes, the pain comes back and you'll feel every second. I gave you back your memories, so… my link to your mind broke.
Good luck. Be happy together."
Lune walked into the desert, whistling a British tune under her breath.
Gwen rose. Shaky, but determined.
She merged into the world, headed to the one she loved.
To be continued.