Yeah, Xavier was bad. He had defied Axion. 

He moved fast; he didn't have much time. Zara lay on her side at his feet. He did his best to make her comfortable while he covered her up with some of the junk, making sure she was hidden. Then he jumped on his jet.

He was pretending to scour the ground, flying low over the area where she would have fallen, when they arrived. It took them barely moments to come. There was an army of teachers flying through the air with their stinky plasma jets embedded in their feet. 

"I saw the flash," he said. They forced him to land and questioned him, the teachers gathering all around him, their red lights for eyes probing into him. "She fell. I went after her, but I couldn't find her. Spinnin junky killed a teacher. I wanted to find her." He slammed a fist into an open hand. "I wanted to execute her myself."

Then he held his breath. 

"Xavier Mayor, you have done well. You have shown you are zealous for Axion. We are not able to sense her electric field signature. She is dead as is her unborn child. She has received the proper justice for her crimes. Axion has expunged her from its records. She no longer exists."

He breathed out as they flew away. 

When he was sure they were sufficiently out of their visual range, he rushed back to where he had hidden Zara. He worried if he had used the appropriate amount of the Higgs. He hadn't taken much time to set the level. Too little, and the teachers might have sensed her field. That didn't happen. But too much, and she wouldn't ever wake again. Nervously, he shot her again with his Higgs pistol set in the anti-Higgs mode, hoping he did it correctly.

He held his breath again. 

She stirred, rose carefully to her feet, and then tried to kill him. He breathed out in relief. It was spinning great. In her weakened state she couldn't do too much, but she tried. She flailed at him with her fists, pounding them into his chest. He expected it. He liked it. What? No, he didn't like it at all. He was glad she was okay, but it made him mad. 

"Why did you do- Aaarrrgggg." She bent over from another contraction. 

"I'm taking you to the hospital."

She didn't argue. 

Once he carried her to his jet, carefully set her in his seat, and jumped on in front of her, he lifted softly into the air. He carried precious cargo, and he didn't want to spill her. He flew towards the Atraville hospital complex gleaming white in the afternoon sun, its supernatant spires reaching up into the sky. It featured a maze of forms and towers all connected together in a complex network of walkways. He imagined doctors and nurses rushing back and forth through those walkways between patients and practices, performing operations and diagnostics. They would know how to help her.

The butterflies were back, fluttering around in his chest. It wasn't about the amazing girl on the back of his jet. No, not at all. He had saved two lives, Zara and her unborn child. He was a hero. He was proud of himself. That was it. Nothing more.

"Faster." She groaned again. "Go faster."

Her voice in his ear did something to him. The chills raced up and down his spine. No, that wasn't true either. She didn't do anything to him. Not her arms wrapped around his chest, not her heart beating against his back, and not that mark on her cheek.

Especially not that mark on her cheek. He hated it. No, it was real cute. He loved it.

He pushed his jet faster.

She continued to groan in his ear. Her arms squeezed him tighter, and every movement sent more chills through his body. These feelings were driving him batty.

"There's something about you."

There, he said it. He wasn't spun up on her or anything. No. And he was confessing nothing. That wasn't him. He didn't admit anything. But it was him. He was spun up about her. He didn't want to deny it any longer.

"There's something about you," he said when she didn't respond. "You know that? I didn't hate you. I couldn't. After you won the game, I had such strong feelings for you. I didn't know what to do with them, and then the teacher messed with me. Axion got into my brain. Trust in Axion, you know, and all that spinning garbage. I believed what it told me. It made me hate junkys. Shame on me, but that wasn't me."

The disordered rubble of the old world gave way to the warehouse district, with its sea of flat roofs and trucks. Beyond was downtown Atraville and its supernatant structures like fingers touching the clouds.

"No, that wasn't the real Xavier. I always liked you, you know, even when I thought I hated you because I didn't hate you, not really." He laughed, "Heh, heh. I think you're awesome. I think you're going to do great things. I think you're going to change the world."

She groaned in response. What was he saying? He felt like somebody else was talking with his mouth.

"I admit I tried," he said, "but I couldn't stop thinking about you. I kept spinning about you and that's what got me really mad. That made me hate you more. I'm sorry about that. I'm on your side now. We need to stick together."

She groaned, "Go faster."

"I'm sorry about all the things we did to you. I admired your spirit when you won the game, the way you wouldn't give up, the way you would keep going despite the odds. I think you're amazing. I respect you for standing up to me."

She cried out in response. She wanted him, he knew it. That's why she kept groaning in his ear.

He dropped her off at the mostly unused street entrance instead of one of the ports. She was illegal, a junky, after all. They couldn't just barge in the main ports.

He helped her up to the door. She straightened, grimacing, "Thank you, Xavier."

She reached out and hugged him. It was nice. Real nice. Those chills were back in force. It felt like electricity flowing through him. He didn't argue anymore. He didn't want to let go of her. He didn't want it to end. She was the most amazing girl in the world.

Then, once she let him go, she unsnapped the thick black bracelet from her left wrist and held it out for him. "Make sure you wear this."

"What's the protons?"

"Axion couldn't see my dark energy while I wore this. That's why the teachers watched me. It doesn't do me any good, not anymore. I don't exist. I'm dead to them. You take it. Do the energy."

He stood there holding the strange black device.

"Dark energy makes us stronger, faster, and smarter," she said. "If we get enough people together and we have the energy, we can beat it. That's what it's afraid of. That's why dark energy is illegal. It knows we can beat it and I'm going to do it. You're going to help me. I'm going to get people together and we're going to do it."

Those chills raced up and down his spine stirring up fluttery feelings everywhere.

"Will you join me? After I have this baby, I'm going to start a rebellion. I won't bow down to the teachers anymore. We're going to overthrow Axion."

He liked what he was hearing.

"What do you think about you and me?" he said. It was worth a shot. "After we do our rebellion thing, I mean. You know. Now that Finn's gone. What do you think? Could we spin up together? You and me?"

She groaned louder, holding her abdomen, motioning him away with her hand. She turned to the pedestrian door of the hospital entrance. As she lumbered through the entrance, he jumped back on his jet, a lightness in his movements. Sirens sounded behind him, but he thought they were bells celebrating their new spinning. He snapped the bracelet on his wrist, fired his thrusters, and took off from the ground. She wanted him; he knew it. Of course, she did. That's why she asked him to join her. She wanted him bad.

"What's gonna happen to Zara?" Sam said after Xavier reunited with his groupies.

"Whaddaya mean 'what's gonna happen to Zara?' We're going to start a rebellion like I told ya. Zara's going to have her baby and then she's coming back. Once she's back, we're going to overthrow Axion."

"No, I mean what happens when you give birth as a junky? What happens to the baby? What's it going to be like? Is it going to have superpowers or maybe some kind of crazy monster?"

He shrugged his shoulders. It was a massless question. "How should I know?"

Thank you for following Zara on her journey so far! You're welcome to read more about Zara and her friends in the full book "Don't Fear the Strangelets" available on Amazon. This extended story starts out the same but adds additional characters and events, exploring the old world further including the dark lady and her hidden village. It also ends quite differently. 

If you're interested in finding out more about Axion, you can read about how it first infiltrated the earth and overthrew the world's imperial government with "Trust in Axion," also available on Amazon.