Accomplices

"Because being powerful in this place is a curse."

Lucian leaned against the shattered wall.

"If Vought International discovered some nobody who could wipe the floor with Golden Boy, do you think they'd give him a medal, or strap him straight onto an operating table and slice him up?"

Cate froze.

"They only want obedient products."

"Products that can make movies, sell merchandise, and flash a perfect smile for the camera."

Lucian's voice grew heavy.

"I'm not interested in being a product. I just want to stay alive."

The fear in Cate's eyes gradually faded.

A complicated sense of connection took its place.

She looked down at her leather-gloved hands.

"So you're a freak too."

"In this school, anyone who doesn't show off is a freak."

Lucian smiled.

He settled onto a step in the stands and patted the empty spot beside him.

"Sit down. He won't wake up anytime soon."

Cate hesitated for two seconds, then walked over.

She didn't sit too close, leaving half a person's width between them.

But for someone with such a profound lack of security, this was already an enormous concession.

Her tense shoulders finally slumped.

She had seen his greatest secret, and he knew about her immensely destructive ability.

That dangerous balance actually put her at ease.

Silence settled over the dim gym.

Only Luke's faint breathing drifted up from the bottom of the crater.

"I'm actually pretty envious of him," Cate suddenly said, her gaze falling on the unconscious Luke.

"He has everything. Power, popularity, a bright future."

"He doesn't even have to think about controlling himself. He just has to burn as fiercely as he wants."

"Burning comes at a price." Lucian glanced at Luke's temple.

"Yeah, but I don't even get to burn."

Cate withdrew her hands into her sleeves, her voice trembling.

"When I was nine, I just told my little brother to 'go away' and never come back."

"And he really did go away."

"He walked into the woods and never came back."

Lucian turned his head to look at her.

The person beside him carried ten years of repression and suffocation, far more real than the cold, lifeless plot in his memory.

"My parents looked at me like I was a monster."

"They locked me in my room. They wouldn't even touch me when they brought me food."

Cate's eyes reddened.

"If Dean Shetty hadn't brought me out, told me my ability wasn't a curse, given me medication..."

"I probably would've gone crazy long ago."

Lucian lowered his eyes.

Shetty was merely honing an obedient blade.

"She sounds like a good person," Lucian said, going along with her.

"She's the only person who isn't afraid of me." Cate kept her head down.

"I've never been afraid of you either."

Cate turned to look at him.

Lucian met her gaze without looking away.

"I grew up in an orphanage."

"It belonged to Vought. It specifically took in abandoned test subjects."

"I've seen too many lunatics who tore themselves into bloody messes because they couldn't control their powers."

"I've also seen those high-and-mighty Supes crush ordinary people's bones inch by inch for fun."

He leaned forward slightly.

"Cate, powers themselves aren't right or wrong. It's the people wielding them who are wrong."

"You've spent all these years suffering because you hurt your brother."

"That proves you're more human than those spandex-wearing freaks out there."

Cate stared blankly at Lucian.

For ten years, everyone had told her to be careful, to stay in control, to keep her gloves on.

No one had ever told her that her pain proved her humanity.

Her breathing quickened.

Tears welled in her eyes, but stubbornly refused to fall.

Lucian said nothing more.

He slowly closed the distance between them.

Cate didn't pull away.

Her gaze slowly drifted from Lucian's eyes to his lips, then darted back up in a fluster.

Lucian raised a hand and touched her cheek.

Cate stiffened but didn't move away.

He lowered his head and kissed her.

Cate's lips were a little cold and trembling.

She seemed utterly panicked, her hands clutching Lucian's shoulders helplessly, as though she wanted to push him away.

But soon, her resistance became a clumsy response.

She closed her eyes, her fingers slowly tightening on his shoulders.

She drowned herself in this sudden warmth.

Lucian was very gentle.

He tore an opening in Cate's closed-off heart.

A small part of Shetty's place was quietly edged out.

After a long while, their lips parted.

Cate shrank back a little, her cheeks flushed scarlet.

Like a startled deer, her eyes darted everywhere, not daring to look at Lucian at all.

"I... um..."

She incoherently grabbed the book beside her, trying to conceal her panic.

Lucian watched her quietly.

Cate's gaze happened to sweep over Luke at the bottom of the crater, and her face instantly went pale.

Reality shattered the intimate atmosphere.

"What about Luke?"

That familiar fear crept back into her voice.

"He could wake up any second."

"Once he tells Professor Brink what happened today, Vought's people will come looking for you right away."

"They'll take you away!"

Lucian looked at Luke.

"I was originally planning to deal with him myself."

He turned to Cate, his gaze direct.

"Cate, can you help me?"

Cate hurriedly hid her gloved hands behind her back.

"Help... how?"

"Use your ability." Lucian pointed at Luke.

"Make him forget everything that happened today."

"Forget fighting me, forget my powers."

"Make him think he just accidentally knocked himself unconscious during training."

Cate's breathing stopped.

"No... I can't!"

She shook her head desperately, her voice trembling.

"Dean Shetty said I can't just use my ability on other students."

"What if I lose control?"

"What if I damage his brain?"

"You won't lose control. I believe in you," Lucian said evenly.

"You don't understand!" Cate was so frantic she nearly cried. "I could even get my own brother killed. I can't control it at all!"

"Then forget it."

Lucian stood up and brushed the dust off his pants.

"I'll do it myself."

He turned and walked toward the bottom of the crater.

A cold metallic sheen rapidly covered his right arm, his fingers pressing together.

His target was Luke's throat.

"Wait!"

Cate stood up.

Lucian stopped without turning around.

He was gambling.

Gambling on how much that heart-to-heart and that kiss had meant to Cate.

The breathing behind him grew heavy and rapid.

It was a sign of an intense inner struggle.

A full minute passed.

The faint sound of leather rubbing rang through the silent gym.

Lucian turned around.

Cate stood where she was.

She had taken off her right glove and dropped it at her feet.

Her pale hand trembled slightly as she looked at Lucian with reddened eyes.

"I'll do it."

Her voice held an all-or-nothing resolve.

Lucian walked over to Luke and rolled him onto his back.

Cate slowly crouched down.

Her ungloved hand hovered for a moment, then pressed against Luke's forehead.

"Look at me, Luke."

Cate's voice grew low and ethereal, carrying an irresistible magic.

Luke's tightly shut eyes suddenly opened, his pupils unfocused and vacant.

"You didn't come to the South Campus today."

"You didn't see Lucian."

"You were practicing Thermonuclear Manipulation in the training room and accidentally caused an explosion that knocked you unconscious."

"That's the whole truth."

Luke's heavy eyelids blinked once.

Then they closed again, and he began to snore steadily.

Cate snatched her hand back as though shocked and collapsed onto the floor, gasping for breath.

Her forehead was covered in cold sweat.

Those few seconds had drained all her strength.

She turned her head and looked at Lucian.

Her eyes held fear and panic, but more than anything, an indescribable dependence.

For him, she had broken a taboo she had kept for ten years.

Lucian walked over and crouched in front of Cate.

He picked up the glove from the floor and gently helped her put it back on.

"Well done," Lucian said softly.

Cate looked at him, and the tears in her eyes finally slipped down.

She didn't know whether what she'd done was right.

She only knew she didn't want Vought to take the person in front of her away.

Lucian reached out and wiped away her tears.

The faintest curve lifted the corner of his mouth.

"Now we're accomplices."