Luke glanced at her, his head wobbly, his cheeks hollow. "Lucy?" He groaned, and something sparked inside him, lighting up his eyes. The sphere shook in his grasp, as he pulled it off the ground and pushed it towards Lucy, muscles straining in his arms.
"Lucy, Lucy!" Tears flowed down his face and he caressed her cheek.
Warmth stole over Lucy and a bright light glowed in the distance. She knew that glow meant safety, love, peace. She wanted so badly to follow it, but Luke wouldn't let her. "Thanks for watching over me, Brother." She closed her eyes and followed the light, and let it wrap her in a perfect feeling of bliss.
But something pulled her out of that embrace, something cold and sharp against her skin. A foreign power invaded her, one she recognized.
"Hang in there, Sis." Luke held the sphere against her. "This thing healed you once. It can do it again."
Energy flowed into her, knitting her back together, but it pulled from Luke. She tried to move, to push him away, but she couldn't do more than beg through the blood in her mouth. "No. Don't."
Luke smiled through his tears. "I told you, Sis, I'd always look out for you."
She smiled back, but didn't want him to be hurt. Please, Luke, don't sacrifice yourself like this. Her words couldn't find their way out of her body, and she sobbed inside at the loss of his life.
Then another life force filled her, and she felt the pressure of someone else's hand. Hunter.
He stood over her, clutching the sphere with Luke. "We said after we got out of the valley, we'd be together. You can't leave me now."
Hunter. My Hunter. She didn't want to leave him, but it wouldn't be enough. Now she would kill them both. She was too close to the edge. It would take too much energy to bring her back from the brink—to heal her body.
Except, instead of draining them, more energy joined. Another hand held the sphere to her body. Agent Mark.
He smiled. "I should've stopped her sooner. You're a hero, and we don't let hero's die if we can help it."
Soon more hands joined together, forming a human ring around her—other agents, and her friends. The combined force of their life and energy filled her like a drug, healing the wounds that threatened to steal her from the world. Internal organs regrew, and a white light infused her in radiant love. She opened herself to it, like she had in the valley, and allowed herself to connect with them all, to become one with them in a way she never had before. She saw for the first time how interconnected everyone was, how joined they were to each other. The warmth in her grew and she closed her eyes. The other light still called to her, and it would have been easy to go to it, but this new light surrounded her now.
A soft breeze filled the air with the scent of star flowers. An echo of Mr. K's voice rippled on the wind. "You have more to do in this world, more lessons to complete. Choose the harder path for the greater reward."
A tear fell down her cheek as she considered all the people who had given of themselves to save her.
Two roads. The easy one or the hard one? To sleep, or to wake up to more?
Lucy opened her eyes and gasped.
Chapter 119 - Steele
Steele examined himself in the full-length mirror and adjusted his silk tie. The Italian pinstripe suit fit him like a glove, and his polished leather shoes shined, but his eyes still looked tired with dark circles framing them. Last night he'd worked non-stop to complete the last critical piece of his project: altering Sam's mind.
The simple alterations he'd made to keep her from contacting her friends had proven effective, though she fought constantly. He'd never met a more stubborn specimen, pushing at every turn, weakening his control on her. A few times she nearly managed to connect mentally with someone else. He'd had to maintain non-stop vigilance to keep her under his control, and he paid for that today, but nothing could ruin what he had planned.
The eyes were a problem, a show of weakness. He grabbed his makeup bag and lightly powdered the dark rings. The cameras would pick up any flaw, and he couldn't allow that.
Someone knocked on the door.
Another dab on the left eye. "Enter."
Beleth walked in, with a presence that controlled a room. Steele hated that presence.
He faced the man, who also looked tired. "Were you successful?"
"No. They escaped back to the IPI base."
"How unfortunate. You would have had a particular interest in one of them."
Beleth raised an eyebrow at that. A rare site: getting him to show any curiosity or interest.
Steele said nothing more. There had been a time when they would have shared truths and secrets. That time was long past. Now, information was a weapon, and Steele used it better than anyone. "Is everything prepared?"
"The conference room is ready. Grunt is in position." Beleth paused, his voice strained as he continued. "You have yet to give the order to start Operation Harvest. Would you like me to begin?"
Beleth had never agreed with experimenting on children, but he wasn't in charge. Still, sometimes he would push, sometimes he was a problem, so Steele had been cautious.
"No need. I've handled it."