The orphanage was still standing. Though it had admittedly seen better days.
Yes, the shingles on the roof were still falling off and yes, the windows had all been cracked and replaced with wooden boards and yes, the steps leading up to the building were broken and shattered into halves or thirds of what they had once been. Weeds now growing in between the spaces and greedily reaching for the few rays of sunlight that got down to them.
However, it could have been worse.
A lot worse.
For one, the roof was still there and some of the holes had been covered up with a few patchwork repairs. Not all of them were covered up of course, but it was something.
Not only that, but the boards on the windows were not the same boards I was used to. In fact, they looked remarkably clean and free of rot for this part of town.
Finally, a fair few of the weeds along the steps had been ripped out. Enough so that the front of the building looked remarkably decent. Again, for this part of town.
“Holy cow!” Luigi called out from the side. “I’m sensing so many minds inside this place. How are so many kids living here?”
I shrugged. Feeling a wave of relief washing over me.
If these guys could sense them, then that meant they were alive. And if Sully wasn’t rushing over to break down the doors and force his way inside, then they were at least somewhat healthy.
Honestly, good news all around.
I felt my shoulders sagging and a tension I hadn’t known was there began to dissipate. A tough lump in my neck turning into a loose, painful soreness that spread down my back.
But that was perhaps the best thing that had happened today.
I rushed forwards. Running to the door and knocki…
CRACK!!
I stood back. Stunned. As the flimsy wooden door gave way. The center collapsing inwards as if some goon had battered it down with a hammer.
I stared. Then I saw that Henry and Luigi were looking too. One on either side.
Their eyes still and their stares piercing. Sharp as knives.
“Well don’t worry too much about it.” Sully said from behind me. “The whole place was gonna collapse in six months anyway. Not like you did anything too bad in the grand scheme of things.”
I turned to see that he was nodding enthusiastically. His Symbiote rippling in the cold as it absorbed the bloody stains on it. Turning back to the semblance of a white, pristine suit.
“In fact, given how many things I saw in my visions, it might be best to just go on and demolish the place while we’re at it.”
Henry blinked. A lot of times.
“You, you want to demolish the orphanage!?”
“Well duh.” He said. As if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“Didn’t you hear me? I foresaw the thing crumbling to bits in a very short period of time. That and Charlie’s old friend Mr. Whitmer has an empty mansion just up the hill over there. One that happens to be much bigger than the current building. So, let’s just move the kids there until the Tutorial ends. They’ll be more comfortable at least.”
I whirled.
“And what happens when some of the gangsters I keep killing come over to take the place and find me gone?”
Sully smiled. In a way that would have looked condescending on anyone else’s face.
“Funny you should say that. I do wonder what would happen if, say, that happened and the sisters who raised you drenched them in fire. Or if, say, the kids stood back and degraded the veil enough for some of my little friends to come into the picture. So many possibilities.”
Henry paled and stood back. Gagging.
Luigi looked even more startled.
“Now now.” He said, stepping back and putting his hands in front of his chest in a placating manner.
“I’m not saying that’s what I want. Quite the opposite. In fact. Just think about it for a moment.”
He smiled a dashing, handsome smile. His new perfect face seeming to shine with what little light made it past the thick clouds above our heads.
“The children being more or less alone to fend for themselves isn’t the cause of our problem. It’s a symptom. Just like the gangsters are a symptom. And the corrupt guards and the exploitative factories and the drug peddlers on the streets. None of them are actively wishing us or the children harm at this point. It is only by us trying to help in a reasonable way that the children come into danger, once the criminals who rush back in start tearing down all of Whitmer’s things.”
His smile deepened. Somehow contriving to look more sincere.
“But wouldn’t it be nice if the people that got exploited had the power to fight back? Or better yet, wouldn’t it be nice if the people that were doing the exploiting suddenly stopped and saw the error of their ways?”
He stepped forward and put an arm around both of his friends.
“Tell me Henry. Do you remember Doug?”
“Derpy D? Yeah?” Henry answered hesitantly. “He… uh… tried to do that skydiving thing after high-school. I dunno. I haven’t heard from him in years.”
Sully nodded.
“He got cancer a while back Henry. It was bad. His doctor didn’t catch it until it got to his bone marrow. By that time, it had spread everywhere. In fact, it was so bad that the Shifter the hospital had on staff couldn’t get rid of it entirely and it slowly got worse and worse. Doug was forced to stop being a sky-diving instructor and close up his business that he had worked so hard for. Then his girlfriend left him because she couldn’t take the stress of knowing he was going to die. Then his other friends stopped showing up to visit. Soon, the only ones taking care of Doug were his parents. Not only that, but they had to take second jobs to help keep the house afloat and save money. Hoping to one day hire a more powerful Shifter who would, hopefully, not lose his cool and eat Doug alive before or after treatment.”
Henry blanched.
“I… I had no idea.”
“Neither did I.” Sully admitted. “But I saw him once I fully awoke. Back there in Hong Kong. I saw him laying in bed and I saw his memories and the memories of his parents. I saw his father’s mind as he recalled the times him and Doug would go fishing in the local pond, back before a Rift-Spawn died there and poisoned the water. I saw his mother’s mind as she recalled helping him learn how to read. Her holding him in her lap as she watched him struggle to work through his first books. I saw the trips they took to water parks and to the beach. The car rides to see grandpa and grandma and to see the old family farm out in the country. I saw the mind of his dog. Scamper. An old pooch who would sit on Doug’s lap all day and all night in order to comfort him. In order to keep him safe. Even half-blind as he was, that dog still loved Doug more than anything in the world. Doug wasn’t just his master. He was his best friend. His life.”
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Henry looked slightly upset. Cringing away.
“Why are you telling me this Sully?”
“For context my good friend. For context. See, Doug wasn’t special Henry. He was just someone you and I happened to know. But a lot of people died every day in our world. Some good. Some bad. But they died nonetheless. Leaving behind families and friends and pets that missed them. It’s a terrible thing to see someone die Henry. You know it intrinsically, but I don’t think you’ve thought about all the implications like I have. Because you haven’t seen them play out like I have. Every person you pass on the street is their own little world. Filled with their own hopes and dreams. Their own history and their own futures. Their own families and their own lovers. Their potential and the summary of their actions. Every time one of them dies, whether they be a toddler or an aged World War 2 vet. A lot more dies than just the one person. You see everything they were, vanish. You see the people who loved them, who will miss them, being torn apart. You see the used clothes or the clothes that will never be used. You see the empty cradle and the empty bedspace. You see the conversations that were not had and the memories that were not made. You see all the love and joy that was ripped out. Not just from their life, but from the lives of those around them.”
Sully’s smile died on his face.
“It’s a hard thing. To see a man die. Henry. You see everything get taken away from him. All he was. All he loved. All he would be. Everything goes away and even the memories fade with time. Sometimes they are lucky enough to leave people who will at least remember them, but those memories can hurt all the more. I have seen people die, Henry. I have tasted their minds as they left and I have tasted the minds of those they left behind. Doug was spared that, as were his parents and his pooch. But make no mistake. People died all the time throughout history and even in our world, people will keep dying. Far less than before, thanks to everyone having powers; but death is as natural as life.”
Luigi nodded slowly in the corner. Sully’s arm still massaging his shoulder.
“When I gave humanity powers back home, I didn’t just save a bunch of people from monsters. I helped them see each other the way I was them. I helped them realize how precious their neighbors were and how much joy they were missing out by isolating themselves and being so selfish all the time. When everyone became Shifters, then everyone was able to fight off diseases a lot better and have a lot more time to spend with those they loved. When everyone became Telepaths, they could see how much they had in common with everyone around them. It isn’t just that I slowed down death, but that I made life that much more vibrant and happier for those I left behind.”
He now looked at me.
“You’re thinking of these siblings of yours Charlie. As well you should. But you’re smart enough to know they aren’t the only orphans in this country of yours. Or this world for that matter. There are children starving to death or dying from disease across the sea and over the Frostfang mountains you talked so much about. There are children working in mines and children picking cash crops on plantations as we speak. And I haven’t even seen them Charlie. I’m just going off the stories you told me. All of them could be set free. All of them could be saved. All of them could find loving families who truly felt their plight and decided to take them in. Just like the gangsters you’re so worried about would suddenly start seeing their fellow humans as people again, with emotions that could not be denied.”
Sully pressed us all more tightly against each other. Despite Henry and Luigi and even me having levels in Enhancer and thus technically being stronger.
The thought of stopping him or pushing his arm away didn’t even occur to me.
“You see, my friends. Criminals often have a certain degree of dissociation. And the same goes for people doing legal, but morally dubious things. A rich CEO exploiting the public and dumping toxic waste in a river doesn’t think about the people they’re harming as real people with real families. Not truly. In the same manner, a robber or a serial killer or whatever else wouldn’t truly appreciate the trauma and the harm they inflict. Not truly. They may understand that what they’re doing is wrong at some level, but they will justify it to themselves in any number of ways.”
Sully’s eye stared daggers into my soul then.
“But all of that could end. All the people being sent off to fight some meaningless war for fat pieces of (Gnome) who don’t even know their names could return. All the people the gangsters bully and get addicted to drugs could become better. All the wrongdoers could see the error of their ways.”
His next words didn’t need to be said out loud. I heard them all the same.
‘And the only thing stopping that change is you, Charlie.’
“Oh, and let us not forget the people we see here in this town. Actively dying off like flies. Tell me Charlie, how much are their lives worth to you? Compared to your siblings I mean. Are the townsfolk worth half as much as your siblings? A third? A tenth? How many of them have to die before you start to feel bad?”
I felt blood rushing to my face. My anger rising. But then, my mind went blank again and the thought of hurting him didn’t even manifest properly.
“I’m not trying to bully you.” Sully spoke again. “Any of you. I’m just pointing out that, out of all my current friends, you’re the only ones who still don’t really see eye to eye with me.”
“What do you mean?” Henry asked.
“Well, it’s like this. Dusty and Slab knew that the greater good sometimes had a price. They knew that better than me in fact. Boris learned that same lesson after he got his sisters back from the warlord who’d made them into playthings. Monique learned that more recently when her kids were now completely safe and her own [Precognition] showed her their reunion. Vince and Thunder Fist both learned their lessons when they first came to the Labyrinth all those months ago and Mittens is… well… Mittens. We see eye to eye on most things, despite his preferred brutality.”
He paused to look a bit abashed.
“Grandpa knew. He knew this for far longer than me or Dusty or Slab. He’s known for a long time. And even though she currently denies it, Puffin knows it too. She’s seen too much. Suffered too much at the hands of slavers and craven torturers abusing their power over her to not know I’m right at some level. She’ll come around.”
He leaned back and let go of us. Looking self-satisfied.
“Only you guys still think I’m some kind of deranged loon. Only you. So, I will give you the opportunity to prove me wrong. Handle this.”
He waved about the other buildings next to the orphanage. To those that had been condemned and abandoned weeks ago.
“You have enough power. So show me your convictions. Show me how I’m wrong and you can do better with conventional means. I’m not some Tyrant. Despite what the System says. I will happily admit that I’m wrong if you guys manage to prove it.”
He paused, as if waiting for a cheer from some unseen audience.
“You might want to check the Instance screen though. Time is ticking.”
I did check and my stomach dropped even further.
- 21 more people had died.
‘I could have stopped it.’ I thought suddenly. ‘He’s right. I could have stopped it. None of those people did anything wrong. None of them deserved this.’
I shook my head then. Dispelling the thoughts.
‘No. That’s a load of nonsense.’ I told myself. ‘No one could be expected to think about that. Not even Saturn has enough time to care about every person out there. Each person has to watch out for themselves. Each person is responsible for their own actions.’
Yeah. That was right. I had enough to worry about. Thinking about those kinds of things was a great way to lose your mind.
I turned back to the broken door and the space inside.
I had expected sister Nina to come out with a broom in her hands. Ready to beat me over the head for breaking down the door.
But no one came. Not just that, but the space was oddly quiet. My enhanced senses barely picking up shallow breathing in the adjacent rooms.
“Sister Nina?” I called out. “Arnold? Jerry? Nora? Hello?”
I heard a slight shuffle, but no one came to greet me.
I frowned and moved deeper into the building.
“Hello? Everyone?”
“…rlie?” A small whisper came from the second floor. Followed quickly by a sharp shushing sound.
“Oh no.” Henry sighed.
“Man, why can’t people just be normal?” Luigi groaned after him.
I whirled turning on them with wide eyes. And then to Sully.
“Don’t look at me man. I’m not reading anyone’s mind. I don’t even know if I could have stopped this from hap… okay that’s not true. I could definitely have stopped it from happening. But you made me promise that…”
I rushed up the stairs. Heedless of the way the floorboards cracked and splintered with the force I put on them.
I was up there in half a heartbeat. Looking around with wide eyes and suddenly noticing what was wrong.
“Charlie.” Ned choked out a sob. “It really is you!”
Hedra hugged him and drew him back. A suspicious look on her face.
“Where have you been!?” She demanded. “Are you working with them too!?”
My mind felt as though it was filled with fog. Some specter that choked the thoughts out of my head.
“What? What happened? Where’s the rest? Where’s Nina!?”
‘Who is them?’ I was too afraid to ask.
“They took her.” Ned wept. Breaking out of the hold and rushing over to hug me. “They took all the older kids. To work in the mines. They said… they said all the men died in a collapse.”
I sputtered. My mouth unable to find the words.
But I hugged him back after a few seconds. Clutching him tightly to my chest.
As Sully’s stare pierced my back.