The miniature sun vanished, its light collapsing in on itself until it disappeared with a final, muffled thump. For a moment, the only sound in the square was the sharp echo ringing in everyone's ears.
On the ground where Cain had been a second before, there was now nothing. No body, no ashes, not even a stain on the concrete. Simply a void. The parasite had been erased from existence.
The silence broke.
First came a collective gasp, the sound of hundreds of people taking their first breath in what felt like an hour. It was followed by a confused murmur.
"What happened? Is it gone?"
"It just… disappeared."
"My God, did you see that light?"
Then, a hesitant applause, started by someone in the crowd. It grew quickly, joined by shouts and cheers until it became a thunderous ovation, a roar of relief and adoration that swept across the square and crashed against the shattered buildings.
Jack remained motionless in the center of it all, his right arm still extended, his hand clenched into a fist. His chest rose and fell with deep, heavy breaths. The adrenaline that had sustained him was starting to fade, and the pain from his left arm, once background noise, was now a scream in his nervous system. Every beat of his heart sent a wave of agony from his shoulder to his dead fingers.
'It's over. The parasite is gone. The show was a success.'
Slowly, he lowered his good arm and turned to face his audience. The television cameras, which had recovered their image, focused on him. They saw his face covered in sweat and grime, his tattered prison jumpsuit. And they saw his left arm, a gray, mummified thing hanging uselessly at his side.
"It's over," he said, his voice hoarse but firm, projecting over the applause. He addressed the cameras, every person watching from their homes. "The threat has been neutralized. You can be safe."
That was when Apogee reached him.
She ran across the makeshift battlefield, stumbling over chunks of concrete and dodging twisted metal, her face pale with terror.
"Jack!" she cried, her voice broken.
She stopped in front of him, breathless, her wide eyes fixed on his wounded arm. Her gaze traveled over the gray, withered skin, the disintegrated fabric clinging to it. The horror left her speechless. She raised a trembling hand, not daring to touch the dead flesh.
"Your arm… Oh my God, Jack, your arm… what did it do to you?"
Jack looked at her, and his hard expression softened.
"Shhh," he said quietly, a sound meant only for her. He raised his good hand and, with surprising tenderness, caressed her cheek. "It's nothing. Just flesh."
"'It's nothing'!" she repeated, her voice rising with a mix of hysteria and fury. "Aren't you looking at it? You could have lost it! You could have died! You should have waited, I could have…"
"You could have what, Yuls?" he interrupted, his tone gentle but unyielding. "You did your part. You did it perfectly. You gave me the opening I needed." His thumb stroked her cheekbone. "What happened next was my job."
She shook her head, a tear of frustration and fear finally escaping. "You don't understand… I thought it was going to devour you. I saw it draining the life from you, Jack. I thought I'd lost you."
"I know," he said. And from the way he said it, she knew it was true. That he had felt her panic from across the square. "But I'm here. And you're here. And that's all that matters."
He leaned in and kissed her.
It was a short, firm kiss, in the middle of the chaos, surrounded by cheers and the approaching wail of sirens. An act of possession and of comfort. When he pulled away, he kept his hand on her cheek, forcing her to look into his eyes.
"Today, you stopped being just Yuls Sinclair," he whispered, his voice vibrating with a fierce pride. "Today, in front of the whole world, you became Apogee. You became my champion."
'My… champion.'
The terror in Yuls's chest didn't disappear, but it was overshadowed by a wave of something much more powerful. A warmth that spread from the point where his thumb touched her skin. The outside world faded away. The screams, the cameras, Jack's wounded arm… everything became secondary.
"I…" she began, not knowing what to say. "Jack, I didn't do anything."
"You did everything," he corrected her firmly. "You stood your ground when everyone else ran. Don't say anything else. Just breathe. We won."
Three blocks away, sitting in an unmarked sedan with the engine running, Captain Frank Miller and former agent Thorne watched the scene on a laptop screen. The quality was grainy, but the image was unmistakable. They saw Jack standing, imposing, they saw the girl run to him, they saw the kiss.
Miller let out a long, tired sigh. He rubbed his face with his hands.
"Well, it's over, Thorne," he said quietly. His voice sounded hollow. "It's over. They handed him the city on a silver platter."
Thorne didn't answer right away. His eyes were fixed on the screen, his face unreadable, but his knuckles were white where he gripped the edge of the laptop. He watched as the first National Guard units arrived at the perimeter, only to stop. He watched local politicians emerging from their hiding spots, approaching Jack.
"They didn't hand it to him," Thorne finally answered, his voice an icy whisper. "He took it. In front of everyone. And they thanked him for it."
"He destroyed the courthouse," Miller continued, almost to himself. "He defeated a threat that endangered civilians. He became the city's sole protector in less than an hour. And he did it all while he was technically an escaped state prisoner." He let out a bitter laugh. "The paperwork is going to be a nightmare. How do I justify this?"
"There won't be any paperwork," Thorne said, his tone sharp. He turned to look at Miller, and there was a new, terrifying clarity in his eyes. "Frank, do you really not get it? The rules are gone. You saw the girl. Apogee. He isn't controlling her by force. She believes in him. Blindly. And the rest of the city will follow her. He's not a criminal anymore, Miller. He's a one man religion."
Miller looked at the screen again. He saw the mayor of Metroville, a short, sweaty man, approaching Jack with his hand extended, an expression of servile gratitude on his face. "It can't be. People aren't that stupid."
"People are terrified," Thorne replied. "And he just sold them security. They won't ask him for a permit, Frank. They'll build him an altar."
"God help us," Miller muttered.
"God has no jurisdiction here," Thorne replied, slamming the laptop shut. "Not anymore."
Back in the square, paramedics tried to approach, pushing a stretcher. A woman pushed her way forward.
"Sir! We need to examine that arm!" she yelled to be heard. "You need immediate medical attention!"
Jack didn't even look at them. With a gesture of his good hand, he dismissed them. "I'm fine. Tend to the real wounded."
"But sir, the necrosis…" she insisted. "It could spread, you could go into septic shock. You don't understand the severity…"
He slowly turned his head and looked at her. That was all. The paramedic stopped mid sentence. The command was so absolute that the medics froze. They looked at each other, and after a second of confusion, they obeyed. They turned and went to help civilians with minor injuries.
The mayor finally reached him, flanked by the chief of police, whose face was pale and whose hand kept nervously drifting to the butt of his pistol.
"Gamma Jack…" the mayor stammered, his hand still extended. "The city… we owe you a debt of gratitude that words can't express. What you've done today… you've saved Metroville."
Jack cut him off with a look. It wasn't anger, but immense fatigue.
"Save your breath, mayor," Jack said, his voice making it clear it wasn't a request. "What you owe me is simple."
He paused.
"I want the penthouse of the Grand Metroville Hotel. The entire top floor."
The mayor blinked, confused. "The… the hotel? Of course, we can get you the best suite, free of charge, for as long as you need. It's the least we can do."
"Not a suite," Jack corrected him, his patience wearing thin. "The entire floor. Requisition it. Permanently. It will be my new base of operations." His gaze shifted to the police chief, who swallowed hard. "And tell your police to take the night off. Have them regroup. Have them control the damage. I'm on watch now."
The silence that followed was thick. The mayor and the police chief looked at each other. The police chief opened his mouth, as if to protest.
"But, sir… we can't just…" he started.
Jack didn't answer him. He kept looking at the mayor, completely ignoring the police chief. The message was clear: the chief's opinion didn't matter. Refusing was unthinkable.
"Consider it done," the mayor finally said, his voice trembling. "Whatever you need. Anything."
"Good," Jack said.
He turned, showing his back to the city's authorities. He placed his good hand on the small of Yuls's back, urging her to move with him.
"Come on, Apogee," he said quietly. "We have a lot of work to do."
Together, they began to walk, and the crowd parted before them, creating a path. They were walking away from the chaos and the remains of a system they had just made obsolete. He, the wounded king with his dead arm as a trophy, and she, his champion, walking by his side.
As they walked, Yuls leaned toward him, her voice a whisper. "A base of operations? Jack, what does all this mean?"
"It means no more courthouses and cells," he answered, not looking at her, his eyes fixed on the hotel rising in the distance. "From now on, we dictate the terms."
'The first step,' Jack thought, feeling the warmth of Yuls's body next to his. 'Now the real work begins. And she is here. By my side.'
He glanced at her face, the mix of exhaustion, fear, and unwavering devotion.
'Where she belongs.'