“Greg? You’re… you're…” I stuttered.

Greg laughed, which then turned into a coughing fit. “I’m alive, you fucking bitch,” he said once he recovered.

“That wasn’t my fault!” I screamed at him. In responsible, he snapped his fingers and Cara punched Lacey in the face, knocking her over. Lacey couldn’t hold back her tears and started sobbing, but was so dizzy that she couldn’t seem to get back up on her knees. What was causing Lacey to be sick like this? Was it the rock? And why did Cara punch Lacey? I thought I was the target, not her.

Greg walked slowly over to Kelsey and kissed her, flinching as he did, before turning his attention back to me, “You see, Bug, the Destructors never let anybody get away with anything. Since you injured me, we have to do the same to you. And they did, or at least, they tried. Except you had more power than I realized you had.”

“A level 4, who would believe it?” Kelsey said.

Greg flashed her a look. “Yes, another level 4, bringing the grand worldwide total up to seven. Unfortunately for me, that means I can’t hurt you. Your simply too powerful for me or any of the other Destructors to do any harm to. But you did put me in the hospital, so for that, you had to pay… dearly. Cara here recommended we hurt Lacey with you watching.”

I looked over at Lacey, and I’d never seen her hurt. Cara must’ve been her friend for a long time and just to have it crumble like that must’ve been heartbreaking. “Cara, why?” she managed to wheeze out. “Why did you join them?”

Cara smirked, her eyes full of anger, “Oh, Lacey, I’ve always been a member of Destructors and I’ve always thought of you as a mere tool for this gang’s use.” Lacey collapsed again, but it was clear she was sick and heartbroken.

“I’m so sorry, Lacey,” I whispered. I didn’t want Lacey to get hurt, but now it was too late. Lacey looked at me, right in the eyes. I expected hatred to appear towards me, but no, her eyes were full of sorrow. Then she puked again. “Please, stop doing this to her.”

Greg simply smiled. “I was wondering when you going to ask that. In truth, we aren’t doing anything to her.” He pointed to the rock on the wagon. “That is.”

I looked it, watching a small spark creep up off of it. I had no idea what it was, but something about it, though... “What is that, and how is it making Lacey sick?”

“Well,” Greg started, “Had you been a good little girl and not caused the school to be shut down for the remainder of the year, you would’ve learned about it the next day.” Another coughing fit overtook Greg. It took a bit longer for him to recover this time. “As I was saying, this is a Byzantine Zunuoise. An extremely rare crystal-like rock that emits a certain type of non-lethal radiation that does two things. It completely nullifies the powers of a superhuman and it makes you feel like you want to die. The larger it is, the worse the sickness is.”

That didn’t make sense. “Well, how are you not sick?”

“Simple, we stole that rock from a government transport, and spent every day in its presence, building up tolerance for it,” one kid said.

“We are still affected by it, with the loss of our abilities, but unlike Lacey, we don’t get nearly as sick,” another continued.

Greg started coughing yet again, and I swore he coughed up some blood. “It seems that you being a level 4 has given you some resistance to the sickness, but you will fall soon enough. However, your abilities are gone while you’re in the presence of the Zunuoise, meaning you are at my mercy.”

However, there was a problem with what Greg said. I didn't have some resistance, because I didn’t feel anything. Unlike Lacey, who must’ve felt like she was going to die, I felt fine. No sickness and perhaps, regardless of what Greg said, I even still had use of my abilities. The reason why, though, I didn’t know. Just like I didn’t know my past, or why being a level 4 felt wrong to me, I couldn’t understand why. I looked over at the crystal itself; maybe it held the answers. It was huge, covering nearly the entire bed of the wagon. However, other than a larger spark that no one noticed, it yielded no answers for me.

“Now, what should we do with them?” Cara asked her sister.

“Leave Bug to Greg, but you and the rest can have Lacey,” Kelsey responded. Cara smiled, her mind made up. I needed to do something fast, otherwise they would hurt Lacey. Maybe I should’ve been worried about myself, but I wasn’t. I was terrified, not for me, but for Lacey. She was my friend; she cared for me when no one else did and I needed to help her. I wasn’t sure if my abilities still worked, but I needed to move NOW!

But Greg, Cara, and the rest picked up on my intentions, because before I could even move, Cara kicked Lacey in the ribs, knocking her over again, with Kelsey pointing a gun at her legs. “If you move, I’ll put a round in her knee.” I silently nodded, now understanding what they would do. If I did anything against them, they would punish Lacey. “Good. Now we understand each other.” Kelsey put her gun away, but Lacey didn’t move. She just laid there, the effects of the crystal too much for her to move.

Greg once again starting coughing, this time obviously coughing up blood, and nearly fell on his knees. Kelsey and another gang member moved to support him, “Sir, you can’t stay here much longer. Even under the drugs and the tolerance, the injuries you suffered are severally limiting your body’s ability to resist the sickness of the crystal,” the gang member warned.

Greg nodded agreement. “I know. But I must have revenge first. Bug must pay before I leave!” Looking at me, he pulled out a gun of his own. “Since you destroyed my face, I will destroy a part of you. Now, get her up on her feet.” Cara moved towards me, but Greg stopped her, “Actually, Eddie, you do it.” He motioned to the guy holding the handle to the wagon containing the crystal, the same guy that tried to punch me in the hallway at the school after I had kicked Greg in the groin.

But Eddie didn’t move. He just stared at me, shaking in what appeared to be fear, acting the same way he had back at the school. Was he that afraid of me? “N-no... no, Greg.” He quivered.

Greg walked over to Eddie and smacked him in the face. “I gave you an order, Eddie. Do it. She’s harmless while in the presence of --”

Eddie remained defiant and never broke eye contain with me. “I will not touch her. Not again.”

I watched as Greg simply raised his gun at Eddie, “I have more than enough ammo. You do this, Eddie, and you will be redeemed from your past refusal to help. If you don’t do what I say, well, you have an imagination…”

Eddie finally broke eye contact with me, his face stricken with fear at me and at his former friend. He seemed to be panicking. What did he see in me? But it didn’t matter, because he gave in. He walked over to me, pulling the wagon with him. I stole a glance at Lacey, but all she could do was watch, too ill from the crystal to move. I turned back to Eddie,;he took his hand and placed it on the crystal, gaining the laugher of the gang.

“Look at that, Eddie is afraid of a powerless bug,” a few of the gang members mocked.

But Eddie apparently had a good reason to fear me, as even after he put his hand on the crystal, his hand was still shaking uncontrollably. Maybe… he saw the Dark Place? I thought. It was a good enough explanation for the fear. Anybody would cower at the sight of those flowing mud creatures. Eddie reached to grab my shoulder and when he did, suddenly, everything changed. I felt a connection between Eddie and the crystal itself, a reality forming, indescribable by words and then… everything froze.

Everybody suddenly froze. Nothing moved, until the room and everybody in it collapsed and vanished, including the crystal. All that remained was me and Eddie, in some place. “Where are we?” He panicked. Looking around, there was nothing but darkness in all directions.

“The Dark Place,” I said. I was back in the same place as my dreams.

But Eddie panicked. He tried to let go my shoulder, but he found that he couldn't. For some reason, we were bonded. “I need to get out, I need to get out of here!” he freaked out.

I went to calm him down, but suddenly, a voice, one that I immediately recognized, called out, screaming, “Why did you leave us, JAMIE!” Turning, I was met by the rushing geyser of blackness, the same thing that I saw the other night. Eddie tried to run, but found it hopeless. I reached up with my hand, in an effort to defend myself from the attack. When my hand and the geyser made contact, the geyser exploded, and the blackness dissolved into land.

Now, no longer in the Dark Place, I found that we were in a large plain, with flowing grass and not a man or building in sight. It was silent until a plane flew over our heads, nearly taking them off, crashing into the hill near a large tree, exploding, knocking us back into a desert. Mere seconds later, another explosion rocked us. Looking back, we saw a stream of light shoot into the sky, the clouds blown away from the shock wave.

“What… what… what is that?” Eddie screamed, when suddenly, the beam of light collapsed in on itself and once again exploded, blinding us. While blinded briefly, I heard some voices talking. I couldn’t make it out, but when I was able to open my eyes, I was saw five figures, standing with their backs to me, bathed in white light. But then, when Eddie gasped, one of them turned their head towards us, revealing themselves to be an older female. “Judith,” I heard Eddie whisper.

“The war is young, and we are oblivious to what is to come,” a sudden, forceful voice rang out, saying the same thing that the old lady said to me the other day, and a burning tree fell in front of us. Me and Eddie jumped away, finding ourselves in a city. A city that was on fire. The huge building up on the hill in front of us was burning and gunfire could be heard from all around. We took step away, only to trip over a… body! Horrified, we looked around and found the street littered with them, all cut down by bullets. There were hundreds of thousands of them, all slaughtered without a second thought. In the distance, we could make out soldiers just mowing down people, without a care. Anger and fear weighed heavy in the air.

“No, no, no!” someone screamed. I searched for the source of the voice, then spotted it; among the thousands of bodies that laid in the street sat one boy cradling a woman. “Please, don’t die. Please, mommy. Please!!!” he begged her. Then, with a sudden explosion behind us, he glanced up at us, and me and Eddie realized who this boy was. It was Gare. I made eye contact with him and although he truly didn’t see me, I felt his eyes piercing through me. I immediately realized what this place was and what was going on. This was the Fall of Lhasa.

“A war will come,” a heavy voice pierced the air, and we found ourselves standing in yet a different city, but still on fire. Bombs rained down, the large structure in front of us burning, a cross on top burning. “Unstoppable it will be,” the Voice continued to say,

“Where are we?” I asked Eddie, but he was too terrified to even speak. It didn’t matter, as the people running away screamed ‘Oh, St. Peter,’ and ‘God, forgive us.’

Then, with a snap of stone, the building collapsed, the dust invelping everybody, including me and Eddie. “The past and present will die,” the Voice said as I tried to get out of the dust.

More and more scenes of cities and destruction continued to flash through the dust as the voice continued to speak in distance: “And all that will be left on this world is the Forgotten.” With that, the dust settled and we found ourselves in a dark room, filled with statues, four in a circle, surrounding the fifth statue in the middle. Again, more voices spoke, but not like the last two voices. ‘The last,’ and ‘it is her’ were spoken by these… spirits, ones that sounded exactly like those who tried to talk to me while I was blinded.

I quickly studied the statues, only recognizing one. The middle. It was a female and looked exactly like the one of the five figures who had looked back at us. Eddie had called her Judith. For some reason, I reached out and put my hand on the statue of Judith and I immediately heard a female voice say, ‘You are the last, our inheritor;’ I pondered over what that meant when something rose up, a voice that stabbed at me.

“Did you think you could get away from us?” A malevolent tone rose up from the shadows. Eddie and I glanced back to see where the source of the tone came from, only to find that we were no longer in that dark room, but rather, back in the school. “Come on, Jamie, did you really think you could escape?” it said again. Shadows moved along the walls to us, but I couldn’t move to defend myself. “We know you’re alive.” The shadows gathered in one area, just like the creatures of the dark place when they went to attack me. “We’re coming for you, Jamie. WE ARE COMING!” they yelled, and all emerged from the ground as people dressed in cloaks.

My fear was overtaking me, and in a last-ditch attempt to save myself and the useless Eddie, I screamed, “Stop!” In a blast of light, me and Eddie suddenly found ourselves back in the room with the Destructors. He immediately let go of both me and the crystal and collapsed to the ground, sobbing and hyperventilating. I fell back down next to Lacey, suddenly dizzy and in tears.

“What the fuck just happened?” Greg yelled. No one knew. And while everybody was focused on me and Eddie, I watched the crystal suddenly start to glow. But no one noticed the consistent rise of sparks. They were all focused Eddie. “Eddie, get up right now!” Greg demanded.

I watched Eddie get up through teary eyes, but he punched Greg in the face, causing him to fall back, clutching his face. Immediately, all the guns and weapons trained on me targeted Eddie, but he didn’t seem to notice. “I TOLD YOU TO STAY AWAY FROM HER! I FUCKING TOLD YOU!!!” Eddie screamed and raged.

Helped up by Cara and Kelsey, Greg seemed puzzled. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

Eddie grabbed Greg’s shirt. “You don’t understand. That girl. She’s not what we thought. You have doomed us, Greg. YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!” Eddied babbled, but with all the attention on him, I moved over to Lacey, seeing if there was anything I could do help her escape. In fact, there was little. Lacey was looking even worse and she barely had the strength to look up at me.

“Eddie, you're not making sense.” Greg sighed, having somewhat recovered. “Cara, you do it. Get her up. My patience has run its course.” They didn’t even notice the sparking, slightly smoking, glowing crystal at this point, but they were so focused on getting me that they didn’t even notice.

“Yes, sir.” Cara went to grab me, but Eddie immediately grabbed her and threw her against the wall, knocking her out. Kelsey punched Eddie in response, but he shook off her punch and threw her back.

“Stay away from her! She’s not what you think she is. She’s… how is this possible? How is this possible? How is this possible…?” Eddie started to repeat over and over again, his eyes unfocused. What in that vision caused him to act like this?

But by now, the crystal’s sparking had finally gotten the attention of the gang. They looked confused and uneasy. “It doesn’t matter, Eddie. Your opinion or fear or whatever the hell is going on means nothing to me. I will do what I intended to do from the start. Kill Bug.” Greg stated his intentions. He was going to kill me?

He turned around to face down at me and raised his gun. Eddie saw this and suddenly stopped rambling. “NOO!!!!” he screamed. But Greg ignored him and I watched him pull the trigger. Closing my eyes, I waited. There wasn’t anything I could do, but strangely, I wasn’t afraid. The sound of gunfire rang out and I waited for the impact… that never came. Opening my eyes, I looked at the shocked and very fearful gang, who seemed frozen in place. I know he pulled the trigger, but when I felt myself, there was no wounds, no blood, nothing. Instead, there was a bullet sized hole in the ceiling above me.

“I… I reflected the bullet?” I muttered. It seemed impossible, considering what the crystal was and what it did. But the bullet hole in the ceiling proved it. I still had my abilities. I was still stronger than all of them. I stood up and looking up at Greg, who was too frightened to move; it was my turn. “I reflected the bullet, asshole.” Now, I held the power. I immediately swiped the gun from Greg and in one swift motion, I crushed it with one hand, letting the pieces slowly drop to the floor.

“That’s impossible! You shouldn't have your powers. They should be gone!” Greg screamed at me, but his bravado was gone.

“Well, too bad for you, I still have them,” I remarked, and like I did in the hallway at school, I kicked Greg in the groin, then punched him in the head. As he fell over, I looked over the Destructors; they still had their weapons trained on me, but they were shaking, just as Eddie did. “Drop your weapons,” I ordered, and they immediately did. They raised their hands, fearful of me. With them disarmed, I could focus on getting Lacey out of there and getting her help. However, Kelsey took her gun and pointed it at Lacey.

“We may not be able to hurt you, but we can still hurt your friend here.” Kelsey seethed.

No, no, no. I was this close to saving her. Suddenly, the crystal took care of the problem. A massive stream of lighting shot out from the crystal, striking Kelsey’s hand, causing the gun to explode. Another stream shot up at the lights, and a third blew out two of the windows. The crystal started to become more unstable. I was running out of time, as it seemed it would only be a matter of minutes before the crystal did something… worse. The Destructors were already ahead of me, some trying to get out, others trying to come up with a plan, and others just plain crying, but regardless, order was breaking down.

I moved to help Lacey, but was suddenly blocked by Greg. Man, this asshole doesn’t know when to quit. I moved to punch him again, but Eddie beat me to the punch, literally. He tackled him to the ground and started to punch him. “I didn’t sign up for this! I told all of you to stay away from her, that something wasn’t right with her, but you didn’t listen. YOU DIDN’T LISTEN. And now you will pay for it,” he yelled before joining several others running out the door, away from the crystal, leaving Greg sprawled on the ground and leaving my path clear to Lacey.

Reaching her, I tried helping Lacey up so we could leave, but she immediately fell. “Bug, the crystal has made me too weak.” She struggled to say, “Go. Leave me.” By now, I felt a strange feeling, one that I had not felt since the library. I immediately knew what it was and I knew that I was running out of time.

I quickly glanced at the crystal, which had become more unstable. The trails of energy were shooting out everywhere, and it started to violently shake. Whatever was going to happen, it was going to happen extremely soon. I knew I didn’t have the strength to carry her out in time, but I had to do something. “Bullshit. I’m not leaving you, Lacey. You’re my friend and I’m not abandoning you.” I started to drag her away from the crystal. The Destructors were already trying to escape, Kelsey helping her sister out with her good hand, others just jumping out windows, none of them offering to help me.

Abruptly, a calm came over me. Time slowed down, and I turned back the crystal. There was something about it that seemed familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. However, what I now knew was that it was going to explode in mere seconds. If I had to guess, this explosion was going to be big. The lightning from it was engulfing the living room, the light emitted from it nearly blinding, and it started to crack. I looked at Greg, now being helped into another room by another Destructor. Lacey herself was too weak from the crystal’s effects to flee, and I knew that while there was a high chance that my abilities could protect me from the explosion, Lacey would be caught in the blast and be killed. So, I did the first thing I could think of. Just as the crystal finally snapped and released the energy it had been building up, I jumped on top of Lacey, praying that my ability could shield us both from the blast.

----------

Officers Crawford and Doone had been dispatched to a home on Mosby Road. Someone had called in asking them to shut down a very loud party. In fact, this was the fourth time they had been called to this particular address this month alone. So, to them, it was just another annoying day. Arriving at the house, they found multiple cars parked in front of it, but a silent party.

“Curious. No sounds of a party?” Officer Crawford noted.

“Yeah, it’s quiet,” Doone added, looking at his partner. “Too quiet.” Getting out of their car, they readied themselves. They were not going in unprepared, as something didn’t seem right. Then again, nothing seemed right anymore.

“Unit 54 to Dispatch, we are going to approach the house. Stand by for backup,” Crawford radioed. “Alright, let's move.” They didn’t get far when they heard a gunshot from the house. Coming into view of the window, they saw a large group of kids holding a girl hostage. “Dispatch, 10-31b. Repeat, 10-31b.”

As Crawford radioed for back up, Doone caught sight of something on the side of one of the cars. A symbol that he recognized immediately. “Mike, look at this!”

Mike Crawford flashed his light to get a better look in the darkness, and he immediately felt his stomach drop. Painted on the side of the car was a sword breaking a shield, the symbol of the Destructors. This meant that the kids in the house were the Destructors. “Oh fuck!” Crawford yelled, “Fall back to the car!” he ordered his partner. “All units, we have a 10-220. Repeat, we have armed Destructors. Requesting all available units!” This was bad, this was very bad. Both Crawford and Doone knew that they were very much outgunned.

Suddenly, bolts of electricity shattered the windows and began to overtake the front part of the house. Both Crawford and Doone readied their weapons, preparing for the unknown. Immediately, gang members started bolting out the door, throwing their weapons away, running as fast as they could. They didn’t bother jumping in cars, they just ran, away from the house. They spied a girl helping what appeared to be her sister out of the house, both injured in some way. Rushing towards them, the gang offering no resistance; they grabbed them and pulled them back to the car. “What happened?” Doone demanded.

The one girl, whose hand was severely injured, spoke with barely a whisper. “I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know,” this girl ramabled. Doone looked over at his partner, who shrugged, then back to the girl. A loud noise emerged and the officers only had moments to take cover, as well as protect the two girls, as whatever was in that house finally exploded, creating a bluish energy wave that ripped the house to shreds. The explosion’s shockwave hit them first, knocking kids over who hadn’t yet taken cover, passing over them, followed by the main wave of energy passing over them. Having taken cover behind the cop car, the two officers and anybody else who dove with them were semi-protected. But this explosion was massive and the energy wave knew no bounds. It overran them, throwing debris everywhere, threatening to throw the car on top of them.

What seemed like an eternity passed, and Crawford and Doone slowly got to their feet and surveyed the damage. Where there was once a house was now only a crater filled with debris. Several cars that were near the house were now piles of twisted steel. Crawford attempted to radio dispatch, but the radios weren't working. Looking at the car, he discovered that the engine was smoking. Whatever this explosion was, it had fried both his radio equipment and the car’s electronics. Now though, they had to worry about something else. There were less fortunate people that were unable to take cover and got caught in the blast. With the all electronics fried, Crawford and Doone had no choice but to provide what care they could until the backup they had originally called for arrived.

--------

Nancy had decided that this was as good time as any to tell Eugene about her impending death. She had asked for him, his wife, and their children, Sean, Theodora, David, and Lacey, to make the trip down. They had agreed, but something prevented everybody but Lacey from leaving on time. Nancy wasn’t sure about that was, but taking advantage of the delay, she had Lacey take Bug to the movies. Lacey happened to bring along her friend Cara, who went to the same school that Bug was at for those two days. Forunatelly, Nancy had checked the school’s records and learned that Cara was sick during those few days that Bug was attending.

It was a few hours later that Eugene and his family finally arrived. Timing had put all the family members in the same town for a few weeks, giving Nancy the opportunity to tell them what would happen to her. However, she had to wait to until Lacey returned to tell them. How she was going to tell them with Bug present was a different matter, one that she would have solved when that time came.

But instead, a phone call from Galen, who had remained in Harrisonburg to investigate the corruption at the school, sent everybody to the hospital. There had been an explosion at a house affiliated with the Destructors gang, and there were a lot of people caught in that explosion, including Lacey and Bug. Galen did not provide information as whether or not they had survived; Nancy’s gut feeling was that Bug had survived it, but she was deeply worried about Lacey, who lacked the sheer power that Bug possessed.

Once at the hospital, they were greeted by a full but organized emergency room, full of members of the Destructors unlucky enough to get caught in the explosion. But at least they had survived. Galen was already there, and so was Dr. Silas.

“Doctor, where’s Lacey?” Margaret demanded. Eugene urged her to calm down, but she refused. “Calm down!?!? How the hell am I going to calm down? My daughter may be dead and you want me to calm down?”

“Ma’am!” Dr. Silas called from a room on the far side of the emergency room. The entire family rushed to the room, finding Lacey lying on the bed, barely conscious, with the only visible injury a bandaged foot. Margaret, Eugene, and Lacey’s siblings raced to her side, overjoyed to find her alive. They looked to Dr. Silas for answers. “It’s Byzantine Zunuoise poisoning.”

“Zunuoise? How… why?” Margaret asked.

“Apparently, the Destructors got ahold of a rather large quantity of Zunuoise and used it in a trap for Bug. Unfortunately, while the Destructors were using the drug Biotracin to negate the sickness it causes, Lacey did not and experienced the full effects of the crystal. The blast from the explosion also caused some injury to her foot. She will be unable to put much weight on it for the next week. While it will take some time, I’m absolutely certain that she will recover,” Dr. Silas answered.

Nancy watched as the entire family took in the news. But it was the fact that the entire thing was a trap for Bug and Lacey had gotten caught in the middle of it that enraged all but Eugene. “That bitch. I KNEW SHE WAS BAD NEWS. This is all your fault, Nancy!” Margaret got up and prepared to slap Nancy, but Dr. Silas intervened.

“Before you do anything rash, do know that it was Bug who saved her.”

Margaret instantly relaxed, her face instantly transforming from rage-filled to calm and sorrowful. “She… she saved her?”

Dr. Silas nodded. “Yes. Before Lacey lost consciousness, she told me that Bug had continuously tried to get her away from them, and when the explosion happened, Bug jumped on top of her and shielded her from the blast, saving her life. I have no doubt that Bug could have survived that explosion on her own, but she choose to save Lacey as well. Margaret, your daughter is alive because of Bug.”

Nancy watched as Margaret struggled to take this all in. In fact, the entire family tried to figure this out. The girl that Margaret despised had saved Lacey’s life. “Is… is… the girl okay?” Margaret struggled to say.

“Saving Lacey caused Bug to have an oversleep, but otherwise, she’s fine. She’s resting in another room.” Dr. Silas eyed Nancy, silently telling her that there was far more to this story than she was letting on.

“Thank you, Doctor. I’ll check on her,” Nancy said. She knew that something was wrong. If there really was a Zunuoise, then Bug’s powers wouldn’t have worked either. If Bug had managed to shield Lacey from an explosion, then something was up. “Uh, I need to talk with the doctor for a moment,” she informed her family. As much as she wanted to hug Bug to thank her, something else needed to be solved. Following Dr. Silas out of the room, they joined Galen in a quiet part of the emergency room. “What was the cause of the explosion?” she asked Galen.

Galen looked over the notes that he taken., “I don’t know the cause, but the source of the explosion was the Zunuoise. Somehow, it exploded, and now we have two people missing. Frank’s son Greg and a college student named Paige.”

Nancy was deeply shocked at this. “But that’s impossible.”

“I concur. That’s impossible. Sure, Zunuoise is unique, but it's not all that different from other rocks, and rocks don’t just explode on their own,” Dr. Silas claimed.

Galen shook his head. “I know it sounds impossible, but everyone here confirms it. Somehow, it destabilized and exploded. I’m having the samples that were recovered sent to Washington for study.” He looked around, making sure no one could hear what he was about to say. “But that’s not the strangest part. Before the crystal exploded, Greg attempted to shoot Bug and according to every Destructor here, it bounced off her just like that kickball. She still had her abilities, even in the presence of the crystal.”

Nancy was taken aback by the revelation, but Dr. Silas simply took it in, puzzling over some thoughts. “Galen, we all know that it doesn’t matter if you are a level 1 or a level 4, you are rendered powerless by the crystal’s radiation.”

Galen simply shrugged. “And yet, she still had them. That’s how she was able to save herself from the bullet and how she saved Lacey from the explosion.”

“Well, then. It seems that my suspicions are confirmed,” Dr. Silas admitted, “You know, never in my life have I seen this. I have had over 10,000 patients over my lifetime, and Bug’s case is the first one where I’m pretty much clueless. Her past, who she is… but I am certain about one thing. Bug isn’t a level 4, or any other of the levels.”

Nancy was confused, but sudden thought emerged. “If she isn’t those, is it possible that she is…”

Dr. Silas quickly realized what Nancy was asking and interjected, “No. Even superhumans must follow the laws of nature. Once something is extinct, that’s it. There is no coming back.” Looking at Galen, he said: “Even you know that. However, I can say that Bug is a mystery. What she is, I don’t know. Hell, I’m willing to bet she isn’t even a superhuman. She’s something we have never seen before. I’m afraid that the Agency has ultimately failed to figure out the mystery.”

Galen sighed. “I didn’t really want to say this, but now it seems obvious. There is something going on, something that we aren’t seeing. The Falling Star, Bug showing up, all the random powers, and now this. The mystery behind Bug is growing larger, and we are left with far more questions than answers. Whatever she is, she’s right in the middle of something that we can’t see.” As much as Nancy wanted to disagree, she knew that Galen was right and was certain Dr. Silas knew it as well. Something was going on and Bug was playing a role in it, even if she wasn’t aware of it. “Anyways, I have been recalled to Washington. Don’t get your hopes up, Nancy. This may well have been the final straw.”

“Alright,” Nancy said, and to her surprise, Galen gave her a quick peck on the cheek, something he hadn’t done in so many years. After Galen left, Dr. Silas also left to deal with her patients, leaving Nancy to check on Bug. Walking into the room, she discovered that Bug was awake and sitting upright on the bed.

“Is Lacey alright?” she asked, concerned for her friend. Instead of immediately telling Bug that her actions had saved Lacey’s life, Nancy grabbed Bug, lifting her off the bed and hugging her. Bug let out a small eep, but otherwise didn’t react. After setting her down, Nancy did the same thing Galen had done, gave Bug a small peck on the forehead.

“She’ll be fine, Bug. You saved her. You saved my granddaughter.” Grabbing a chair and pulling it up, she said, “Bug, you have continued to surprise me. Everything that we thought you were, you have proved us wrong.” Bug slightly frowned at that, but her face had softened a bit. “Bug, I really don’t know how to thank you. Heck, the woman that hated you suddenly doesn’t know how to thank you. In my mind, you have a family now. My family. Lacey’s family. You’re one of us.”

Bug raised her hands to her mouth in shock. Her eyes started to form tears. Not tears of sadness, but tears of joy. Nancy smiled, knowing that Bug may have found a bit of happiness. But Nancy knew. Underneath Bug lay a mystery that was only getting deeper. Everyday, she, and those who knew about Bug were getting further from the question. Who or what was Bug?