Chapter 229

Achilles still hadn't managed to bring himself to leave HQ two days after the incident. No one had come back, and he was terrified that the military would take him next. 

He hadn't done anything wrong. Why was he being punished like this? 

Heroes were sometimes persecuted, sure, but they always won in the end. They pressed on in the face of adversity, defeated their foes, saved the innocents, and someday the public would wake up and realize how wonderful they were. All the stories were like that. So why was real life so different? 

The door to HQ opened, sending Achilles diving behind the couch, praying that whoever it was wouldn't find him. He was too young to die, to be imprisoned for life, to face whatever inhumane punishment the military had devised for him. 

"Hello? Anyone here?" 

The voice made Achilles' anxiety subside, leaving only a vague unease instead of suffocating terror. 

"Knight?" He popped up from behind the couch and grinned when he saw his comrade home safe and sound. 

"What are you doing there?" Knight asked, a surprised look on his face. 

"I thought you might be the military or something. Barrier Maiden betrayed us, and I have no idea who I can trust anymore." 

"Oh." Knight looked away awkwardly. "How've you been?" 

"I've been fine!" Achilles said brightly, hiding the pathetic way he'd been acting up until thirty seconds ago. "How are you? Where have you been?" 

"I'm fine," Knight replied. "I was a bit nervous to come back here after everything that happened, so I laid low at my parents' place for a couple days. I just needed some time to process." He flopped down on a chair, glancing at Achilles nervously. 

"What is it?" Achilles asked, anxiety starting to swell inside him again. 

"I might leave the Legion. I've just been wondering if this is really what I should be doing. I mean, I almost died on Friday. That...really made me rethink things." 

No. Knight couldn't be leaving him. Not after Maiden had. 

"To be honest, I've been thinking about things for a while. Wondering if we're really in the right. I mean, Lightning had some good ideas. And I wonder if expelling her only made things worse. I think you and Light Master need someone to reign you in. Things are just getting out of control." 

Achilles couldn't take it anymore. 

"Out!" He pointed at the door, glaring at Knight. 

"Huh?" Knight looked at him stupidly. 

"You've obviously been corrupted! There is no place for you in this Legion. Not anymore. If you've been taken in by the Bad Miracle Giver's deceptions, I have no choice but to tell you to get out." 

"Achilles, that's not - " 

"I told you to get out!" 

Knight frowned, watching him for a moment or two, then sighed and left through the same door he'd come in a few minutes ago. 

As soon as he was gone, Achilles collapsed on the couch, fighting to keep his emotions under control. Everyone was turning against him. His only real allies were Light Master and Ben now, and he had no idea where either of them were. Why did he have to undergo such a stupid trial? Why him? What did he ever do to deserve this? 

He cried out in agony as the reality of his solitary journey settled upon him. 

Paris heaved a sigh as he huddled in a corner of a dingy cafe. He'd abandoned his costume and spend the last two days reading news headlines and reflecting on the past year. 

The dominant headlines on Saturday were the attack on Friday. Today, about two thirds of them were still about Friday, and a third were related to some sort of Angel victim fund. Apparently several people had randomly found money in their bank accounts and were trying to figure out where it came from. An official statement from city officials said that the money was for victims of fraud. 

There were also one or two reports on Miracles disappearing en masse among those in prison. Cause unknown. Did that mean that this whole thing was coming to an end like a dream? 

It certainly had felt like a dream. Achilles' appearance, Paris' blessing, their battles, the end of the Phalanx, the things he'd done with Team Chaos, the discovery that his fated superhero rival was in fact his best friend from high school. All culminating in Twin and Ferry disappearing with the others after they set the complete destruction of the city in motion. 

And now what? He had no resources, no allies, and even his Miracle might vanish soon. He'd had his fun, but it was probably time for him to reconcile with James and wake up. Leave the surreal dream they'd been living in and return to reality. He'd had his fun, and now it was time for it to come to an end. If continuing this path meant ever escalating acts of evil, he didn't want to walk it. Enough people had suffered, and he just hadn't been willing to see it, too caught up in the fantasy he and Achilles had concocted. 

But quitting being a villain was a lot easier said than done. Only now did the consequences fully settle in on him. No one would ever trust him again. Rather than be too discouraged by it, though, Dustin figured it was another challenge he'd have to overcome. 

And, after all, being an adult meant accepting the consequences of your actions. He'd start by trying to contact James. Once that was done, he'd probably turn himself in to the military. 

Whatever happened afterward would just be him reaping what he'd sown. 

Kylee retched once more, emptying her stomach contents into the dirt. Her body felt like it was on fire, no matter how much ice she conjured to keep herself cool. In fact, using her Miracle only made her feel worse. Shell, Twin, and Ferry were in similar situations. 

Two days. 

They'd left Arx Nubibus for the surface two days ago, believing that their Miracles would sustain them and the technology they possessed, which surpassed that of their ancestors, would take care of them. 

The last of the tech had died this morning. 

The water they'd crossed to get to land was disgusting, and none of them could stomach it, so they'd headed further inland, looking for a different water source. When they'd finally found one hours later, they drank their fill and started making the area more habitable. Making beds was their first task, then walls when they realized that the wind was cold. 

And then water started falling from the sky, soaking them all to the bone and making them feel colder than Kylee ever had. Twin tried searching the web for information, but the web wasn't accessible. They had only their wits and the built in functions of their phones and tablet. 

Unfortunately, they quickly deteriorated. The area they'd designated for bathroom functions could be smelled all the way at their main house. Their poop was completely liquid, and their stomach contents often came up the way they'd gone down. Half the food they tried made them feel horrible, and Kylee had never known such stomach pain in her life. 

On top of that, small creatures swarmed everywhere. At first they'd tried to keep them out of their safe area, but as the sun, wind, rain and poor conditions wore the humans down, the creatures infested everything. Four-legged ones the size of your hand, many-legged ones the size of your toenail, several sizes of small winged ones...

And then there was the really creepy-looking one that had hit Shell just a bit ago. It looked like it was covered in blackish armour, with a thick curving tail and thick front limbs. Like many of the others, it had more legs than necessary, and no obviously discernable face. 

Now she was lying on the ground, no longer breathing. Twin had no idea what to do about things, and he and Ferry spent whatever time they weren't groaning in agony or trying to scrounge up something to eat yelling at each other. 

The best part? Apparently Arx Nubibus was fine. Twin had said his double on the city was still intact, and that everything had been resolved. He'd insisted Ferry take them back home, but she'd said she couldn't do it. Getting them down had been hard enough, let alone getting them back to wherever the city had moved to since. 

Kylee threw up again, cursing her fate. She wanted so badly to survive, but the voice inside her insisted that she'd die just like Shell had. 

And no matter how much she wanted to, she didn't have the strength to fight that inevitability.