Page 207 of Villainous Rise

Helios’s body convulsed, his hands trembling.

“She screamed for exactly eight seconds before her lungs collapsed. I counted. And poor David over there—” he pointed to another area of the floor “—third-degree burns over sixty percent of his body. He lived, though. At least for a while. Long enough to wish he’d died immediately.”

His face flickered between expressions, Halcyon’s cold detachment and Helios’s raw agony.

“And sweet little Jennifer. The blast threw her against that wall.” He gestured casually. “She lived for two months afterward before succumbing to her injuries.”

Silent tears started to fall down his face then, unacknowledged by Halcyon as he continued.

“Everyone else that survived testified against you, didn’t they? They all said you did it on purpose.” Halcyon’s voice turned contemplative. “They were so afraid of you after that. So willing to believe you were a monster.”

Another spasm wracked Helios’s body, stronger this time. His mouth opened in a silent scream before Halcyon regained control.

“They experimented on you to control your power, to find a new way to control Trueborn Supers. Then, when the test went awry, the Alliance covered it all up. Buried the records. And then they let you believe you were one of them.”

I couldn’t take it anymore. Watching Helios suffer, hearing Halcyon’s cruel words pouring from his mouth, it was too much. The memory of that night twenty years ago still clawed at me, but something else rose up alongside the fear.

Rage.

“Stop.”

Helios’s head snapped up, turning toward me with an unnatural, jerky motion that no human neck should make. The expression that spread across his face wasn’t Helios at all—it was a terrible parody of a smile, too wide, too knowing.

“Well, well. Little Annie Bishop thinks she can use what’s mine against me? Against this puppet I control?”

He cocked his head, like a bird of prey studying a mouse. The movement was so wrong, so inhuman, that I instinctively tried to back away, my palms scraping against the concrete floor.

“Do you know what I’d like to do to you right now?” He took a step toward me, that terrible smile never wavering. “I’d start with your fingers. Break each one, then peel the skin back. I’d keep you conscious, of course, I have ways to ensure you feel everything.”

He took another step.

“Then your eyes. Such pretty eyes. Havoc’s eyes,” he hissed. “I’d take my time with those. Make you watch in a mirror as I worked.” His voice had turned almost gentle. “After that, your tongue. Your ears. Piece by piece, until there’s nothing left but your beating heart.”

He gave a theatrical sigh. “But I can’t. Not yet. Not until I figure out how to take back what you stole from me.” He crouched down, bringing that twisted face close to mine. He brushed his fingers against my cheek, and I flinched away from the hatred burning in his eyes. “The truly sad part is that I need your mind intact to do my work.”

He stood back up, stretching Helios’s body as if trying on an ill-fitting suit. The movement was wrong. Too fluid in some places, too jerky in others.

“This one, on the other hand,” he said, gesturing to Helios’s body with a casual wave, “it will be so much simpler if his mind breaks.” He tapped Helios’s temple with his own finger. “He’s fighting me constantly. Such a nuisance. It will be harder to use him discreetly if he’s completely broken, of course, but we can’t have everything we want, I suppose.”

I watched as Halcyon went back to parading Helios’s body around the room, pointing to different spots where tragedies had occurred.

My arm throbbed with increasing intensity. I finally looked down and felt bile rise in my throat. Fragments of my crushed cuff protruded from my skin like metallic splinters, blood oozing around them. I felt dizzy and looked away quickly.

“And here,” Halcyon continued, moving Helios to another spot, “is where you fell to your knees, begging them to forgive you. But they didn’t believe you, did they? They thought you’d done it deliberately.”

“Helios,” I called out. “William. I know you’re in there.”

Halcyon paused, turning Helios’s head toward me with that unnatural, jerky movement.

“William Evans,” I continued. “This wasn’t your fault. The Alliance records prove it. Your powers destabilized, but it wasn’t deliberate. You were a victim too.”

Halcyon laughed. “How touching, you think you can reach him.”

“I know you’re fighting,” I pressed on, ignoring Halcyon. “I can see you in there.”

“This is amusing,” Halcyon said, walking Helios’s body closer to me. “Please continue. I enjoy watching hope die.”

“Remember who you are,” I said, meeting those conflicted eyes. “You’re Helios. You help people. You save them.”