“So, everything,everythingI’ve suffered, fought, and mourned all this time wasn’t real?” If Zeph wasn’t real, thenhewasn’t real.Zeph’s my brother...how did I forget that?A sickness he’d never felt before filled his gut, and the need to purge grew.
“We had no way of knowing what your chameleon instincts would do.”
“You piece of cybernetic shit, you should’ve let me die!” Thoughts of Zeph, of himself, made his mind spin, made his nanocells spitfire through his wires. He didn’t know who he really was anymore. Hector wrenched his eyes shut, unable to look down at his body. “You should’ve let me die,” he rasped. Real death would be better than this pain of loss and confusion he currently felt.
“You’re having an identity crisis.”
How could an entire part of him not be real? He’d taken on Zeph’s persona because… Did he really know?Because that’s who I’d become after the attack.Zeph had to be real because he’dmadehim real. Would he look at himself in the mirror and see black or amber hair? What color would his eyes be?
Janet would know.
Rage rushed through him. Janet would know who he really was.
“You’re a chameleon, Hector.”
“I’m more than that,” he snapped. “I know that now.”
“Do you still want to die?” Nightheart asked, nonplussed.
Hector snarled and jerked against the metal holding him. “Do I have a choice? Does anyone know I’m even still alive? Does Janet?”
“They know that Zephis dead.”
Suddenly, the bonds holding him opened and Hector fell forward. He caught himself with his hands on the cold, metal floor. His nails scrapped against it as he moved onto his knees and slowly pushed himself up to stand. His joints cracked as if they hadn’t been used in ages, but his body, for the first time, felt right, felt like it washis.
He finally looked down at himself and saw what he needed to know. That nothing had changed. Hector tugged a lock of his hair forward and found it as black as the abyss.
He still couldn’t grasp that Zeph was an illusion his chameleon had manifested. Even now, he could still feel the crocodilian instincts course through him. It only served as a reminder of his imminent insanity. He pressed a hand to his chest, feeling the metal beneath only able to shift into that specific form. If he wasn’t so angry, he’d have laughed.A chameleon trapped in one persona.
Forever.
Hector turned to the nearest wall and rammed his fist into it over and over and over again, and continued to do so until the skin of his hand was gone. Panting, Hector pressed his forehead against the wall and closed his eyes. Footsteps signaled Nighthearts approach.
“There is one condition if you want to walk out of here a free Cyborg,” Nightheart said from behind him.
Hector opened his eyes and turned to face his old boss. “What?”
“Zeph remains dead.”
“And my contract with you?”
“Dissolved as long as we never encounter each other again.”
“Deal.” He briefly closed his eyes again to let the emotional assault settle over him. Without another word, he stormed to the door, only stopping to grab a pair of scrubs to cover himself and his now very flaccid dick.
“Hector,” Nightheart called, stopping him. “If Zeph ever returns, you know I’ll stop at nothing to destroy you, regardless ofHector. You set our kind back years. We don’t have the numbers to rage war against our creators even if we wanted too.”
Hector nodded. “I’d expect no less from you.” He cared little for Nightheart and his political schemes. “And if you ever come after me or my own ever again, I’ll stop at nothing to destroyyou.”
All he cared about was getting back to Janet.
He needed her now more than ever.
26
The ship touched down far too slowly for Janet’s liking. Lily jumped up and down in the seat beside her. The EPED and Nightheart released them immediately after she’d signed her silence away and promised that if she ever spoke to the media, she’d tell their version of the story and not her own.
Hector had been made out to be a villain, and for Lily’s safety, she had to corroborate that. However, she had no intention of ever speaking to a journalist or the paparazzi beyond her initial statement. She just wanted to put it all behind her.
