Page 122 of Sin

Blade slid her tablet from her pocket and pulled up her Super suit designs. “But first, what do you think of the color green?”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Eye, eye, captain

With the help of Jinx’s clones, we managed to create a semi-decent workstation for the team in the living room. London slipped out for a little bit and returned with several pepperoni pizzas and a few 2-liter sodas. He'd made sure to keep his face lowered and away from the pizza place’s video cameras since we didn't know if President Osborne had learned of our betrayal yet and was looking for us. Jinx grabbed two entire pizzas for himself, making London roll his eyes and Lucas stare in fascination. I couldn’t blame him. Jinx was an endless pit.

Lucas and Mare shared the couch, while the rest of us made do with the lack of furnishings and sat on the floor while we ate or worked. We didn’t have plates or cups, so Lewis fashioned some using his nanobots.

While London had been gone, Blade and Lewis had some things they wanted to add to the Super suits, and had worked in the corner, going over designs. Mare and Lucas spoke in soft tones together, and Jinx looked to be taking a quick power nap. Blade and Lewis seemed to have finished up with their designs when London had returned, and as we all ate, they worked on altering the suits.

Which left Lucas to tell us the story while Blade took a few scans of his body with her tablet.

We knew most of the beginning, how he’d been struggling financially and wanted to make some extra money to feed Mare and her sister. Their mom had left by this point, and he was the sole provider for their family. He’d seen an ad on a billboard about the drug trials and had submitted his application.

Blade blinked up from her tablet, her eye trained on Lucas. She hadn’t let any of us see the designs she’d been working on and tilted the screen to keep it from view as she handed Lewis her final design. “How did you end up almost being the UAS’s weapon?”

He finished his bite of pizza before he answered. “Former Senator Hiku and a few others came to me once the drug trial ended. Offered me and my girls enough money that I'd never have to work another day if I let them study my powers. They phrased it like they wanted to learn more about my mental control, and I was naive and desperate enough back then to believe them. If I’d been more careful, more suspicious, maybe I wouldn’t have ended up here.”

“They probs would have taken you whether you’d given consent or not.” Lewis flicked a welding mask down over his face, muffling his next words. “We’ve all done things in desperation.”

Without warning to the rest of us, he started welding. We all quickly looked away, but then one of the sparks from whatever he was doing caught an old newspaper on fire. Blade quickly stomped it out.

“How did you end up working with Keith?” I prodded, getting Lucas’s attention back.

He picked at his piece of pizza, almost seeming shy having our full attention on him. “When the wards crashed in the labs, I managed to break free of my restraints. But when I made it out, I didn’t know where to go. I didn’t know where I was, who anyone was. I was so scared that if someone spotted me, they’d capture me and send me back to the labs. But I remembered Keith, and I figured I needed to at least see if he'd help.

“Keith was easy enough to track down back then. For years, any time it was just the two of us, he would come and sit beside me, telling me everything and anything. It was a kindness back then. I was so lonely and confused that having someone to talk to meant everything. I came to learn a lot about him during those times. I knew everything from his favorite song to his favorite grocery store because they were the only ones who sold his favorite brand of chocolate milk.” Lucas popped a pepperoni in his mouth. “He even snuck that very same milk into the labs once so I could try it.”

“Sounds like he liked you,” I said, and Lucas shrugged.

“I think he liked to have someone to listen to him. To have someone be nice to him for a change.” Lucas set his pizza back in the box, having only managed to eat a few bites. Jinx pounced on it, already finished with both of his own pizzas, and Lucas eyed him in amused awe as Jinx ate half the slice in one bite. “Keith was estranged from his family, didn’t have any friends, and was an outcast at work. The other lab workers weren’t nice to him. Used to talk behind his back and blame him when anything went wrong. They called him weird and creepy and always treated him like an errand boy. Sometimes, they even went as far as pulling pranks on him. Lock him in the supply closet. Put diuretics in his drink. Stuff like that. They thought they were so funny.”

“Bet Keith didn’t,” Lewis muttered, switching out his welding mask for large safety goggles.

I stared, pizza halfway to my mouth, when he pulled out a fucking circular saw and started slicing through the large sheet of iron. It was loud and set my teeth on edge.

How did he fit all those tools in his bag?

Even Lucas stared, puzzled. But then he shook head, returning back to the conversation. “No,” he said loudly to be heard over the saw, “he didn’t.”

Lewis finished with the saw and set it aside before holding up the piece of iron he’d cut. He and Blade studied it, whispering to each other as they pointed to a few areas of the metal.

“So that’s why he agreed to help you?” Jinx asked, leaning forward to rest his arms on his knees as he licked pizza grease from his fingers. Mare chucked some napkins at him, smacking him in the head. He scowled at her, but used a few to clean his hands and face before cocking his head at Lucas. “Also, how did he know where everyone was?”

“It was actually Keith who proposed ending them. I was still recovering from the trauma done to me and was just happy to be out of the labs.” He cleared his throat. “I’m not saying this was all Keith’s fault though. I was more than willing to plot out their deaths.” Bringing a knee up to his chest, he watched Lewis work. “So for a year and a half, we planned. We plotted. Dr. Kelley had contacted Keith after my escape and asked him to set up wards around his home which led to the others doing the same. It was how Keith knew where to find everyone,” he said, finally answering one of the questions we’d been wondering about.

“It gave them false security,” Blade guessed.

“Yes.”

“Because Keith could disable the wards whenever he wanted. Then you could show up and do your mind magic on them,” Lewis said.

Lucas released a choked laugh and mouthed the words mind magic before shaking his head. “I mean, yeah, that was the plan. One I was all for. I wanted answers. I wanted them to feel as much pain as they’d inflicted on me. I wanted them to die.”

He stared at the wall. “We decided to start with the worst offender. Dr. Kelley. It was effortless to take control over Dr. Kelley. But when I invaded his mind, I only saw wickedness. He wasn’t sorry for the pain he’d caused me and hundreds of others. He wasn’t sorry for torturing, dismembering, and killing countless people.” Lucas shook his head. “No, he was only upset that he’d been caught. He lacked empathy and compassion, which made him efficient at his job, but it allowed him to be an unleashed monster in charge of other monsters.

“I tried to look into his mind for information about myself, but it was so dark. So full of horrendous things that I just couldn’t stomach it. It felt like I would lose what little of myself I’d managed to preserve if I delved any deeper into his memories.” Lucas’s gaze flicked to mine, then to London’s, and then the other’s. “I made him suffer. For days. Then, when I’d finally had enough, I kept him conscious as I stuck a collar around his neck and turned it on.” His hands came up to his own neck, almost absently. “I didn’t turn it off.

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