CHAPTER 34

       I sit in the shadows of the quinjet, pure light is too bright for me now. I prefer the comfort of darkness. I think, thinking about the transformation between me leaving the Avengers and now. I remember the immense pain and sense of betrayal I felt. I was so lonely. I'd been shunned by all, so I took the only path that had been offered to me.

      I'd been accused of poisoning the Avengers. As if I'd do that. I only used to kill for reason. Their hatred now makes me kill for rhyme. I know they must see it like I've gone off the deep end. Assassinating all those SHIELD agents. I wonder if they've figured it out yet, realised a program like TAHITI or REBIRTH can affect the way the world moves. Corruption would become immortal. Humanity would indefinitely destroy one another.

      I'm still lonely, hurt and the cut of betrayal still aches within me. It's no secret that I tried to kill myself many times whilst in their care, however, eventually, they taught me a lust for revenge, a thirst for blood and how to extract balance in its most painful ways.

       The battle outside has begun. Well, I wouldn't call it a battle, I'd call it a minor skirmish. There are no real stakes for either side, well, perhaps the Becky and the scales. I realise the numbers on my side clock faster than the others, but death makes me stronger and I invite it.

       The death numbers slow, as do the sounds of battle outside. I decide it's time to make my appearance.

       I appear in the sky, nothing like a dramatic entrance. My cowl covers my face, they wouldn't be able to tell its me even if I were right in front of them. I drift slowly to the Earth, Magneto-style and drop the last few, unsheathing my scythe. Mist-metal.

       There's something dangerous and something terribly beautiful about the scythe. It feels right kind of like the arc reactor when I used to have it. It feels like another part of me has been completed with it. Sounds cheesy and overused but the scythe extends my abilities in such a way that I become unstoppable.

       I look to the others, to Gale, to the now unconscious Becky, all in the space of a heartbeat. They're frozen, they recognise me and it's hitting them hard. To Gale, the most.

       With a wave of my hand, Becky, Magneto, Doom, Crossbones and the surviving men are shadow transported back to the quinjet. They make their way around it, preparing for a departure. They know what they need to do and don't question it.

       "La-." Gale moves forward urgently. To me. Before he's said another syllable, moved another limb, he's frozen. He's aware of his surroundings, what's happening around him, he can see things, he just, can't, move. This happens to everyone else, frozen, unable to speak out a word. A thin sheet of Mist covers them, in such a way that they're not instantly killed. I almost smile to myself, under my mother's guidance, I've tamed it, tamed the Mist.

       I move to the bodies, tapping them each with my scythe, giving them a speedy journey into the Afterworld. The leftover body dissipates into nothing. Blown away by the wind.

       By the time I'm finished, the quinjet is starting up. I begins to hover, the open ramp facing me. I walk towards it, jumping onto the ramp as it closes, freeing the others from their positions. I don't look back, it takes every inch off willpower not to look back.

       I can't help but wince as I hear Gale's emotional scream as we jet away. "Lana!" It echoes into the air.

       I look to Becky's unconscious form, making my way over to her. I mentally apologise. "My wrath isn't upon you, Becky, it was bought upon by circumstance." I kneel next to her figure and whisper, low enough for only the two of us. "I used to think that I could write my own story. That I had control. Then I woke up and realised that my world wasn't going to end okay, that, that wasn't how my story was going to end."