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I slam the man back down on the ground as August continues to scream for my help. I know it’s an illusion, I trust Ellison, but my entire body squeezes at the sound of August’s panicked voice.
“Landon, it’s an illusion, look through it.”
I grit my teeth as I try my absolute hardest to ignore it… but what if Ellison’s the illusion? What if the illusion of Ellison is the one tricking me? What if August really is being hurt and I’m doing absolutely nothing to help him?
“Landon, help me! Landon, what are you doing?” August begs, his voice so desperate. I never want to hear that sound come out of him.
“Ignore it,” Ellison says as he squeezes my face harder. “I’m the real one. You want to see one of my tattoos? No one else knows I have them besides you idiots.”
“I sure do,” I say, the idea of doing so making the illusion of August seem less real all of a sudden.
“Well, you can’t. So pay attention,” he growls.
“Okay, that was just mean,” I complain.
Deus comes barging in through the back door, dragging a squirming man after him who is doing his absolute best to fight against Deus, but Deus doesn’t even seem to notice it.
The look on Deus’s face tells me that something truly awful has happened, though. “You showed him your tattoos?” Deus asks, looking heartbroken and not even noticing the struggle going on beneath his foot as he presses the man to the ground, held down by the shoe on his throat. “B-But I wanted to see them.”
Ellison looks exasperated as he pushes up his glasses. “Pay attention, Asmodeus.”
“Please, please, don’t hurt us,” the woman who I realize is Dave’s wife, Sue, says. “Please, I know what we’ve done is wrong. Please—”
But my eyes are fixated on what Deus has brought me. I cock my head then walk closer before my eyes get wide.
“What thefuck, RiverGuy?” I ask. “Dave, I thought you weredead. You were shot through the head… I fucking… I thought you got killed because of me… and… you’re the illusionist, aren’t you? You made us think you were dead. Then blew up the damn building to hide the evidence.” Is it weird I feel hurt about this?
Dave stares at me from his spot on the ground where Deus is keeping him still. He throws another illusion at me but Deus steps down on his throat, cutting off his airway, and the illusion drops.
“I’m sorry,” August says as he steps forward, apparently having decided to join us after all. Everyone in the room seems to be surprised by this as he drops to his knees before them. “I’m so sorry that I couldn’t save your daughter”—he turns to the man—“and I couldn’t save your brother. I’m so sorry that they died because I was incapable of doing more.”
“You weren’t incapable,” I growl, absolutely tired of people shitting on August and August giving in to them or blaming himself. “Don’t let them get in your head. You’ve sacrificed your whole damn life to save people. You areoneperson, August. You are one damn person. I realize they’ve gone through horrible losses. I understand that I don’t know what they’re feeling but I also understand that you’re not capable of fixing the world for every person you cross paths with. They should be dedicating their lives to killing this… Alloy asshole instead of you.”
“If you gave them a knife right now, they couldn’t do it,” Deus says. “They want others to do it for them. This is why no one in this room has come up and killed any of you. Isn’t that right? Dave, you’ve had Landon alone and could have had the two of them alone if you simply asked for an interview, but you couldn’t do it.”
Dave is still struggling on the floor. “Fuck you… you don’t know the pain we’ve gone through!” he yells. “And still, you just waltz out there and the whole damn city falls to their knees before you. I needed to show them that you aren’t who they thought you were. It’s like they believe you’re some god to worship!”
“No, I’m not. I am a human. I am just like you,” August says. “Maybe if I hadn’t gone to that robbery that day, I could have saved your daughter. Maybe if I’d not been slowed down by the traffic around the scene, I’d have made it in time. You don’t understand how many times a goddamn day these thoughts run through my head. Every single time a person dies… or gets hurt… I’m plagued by thoughts of what I could have done differently. It’s never ending. And I’m tired of it. I’m also tired of everyone only caring about themselves. I’m so sorry for what’s happened, but those medical personnel who ran into the building you had blown up… what about their families? They’re someone’s children, someone’s brother, sister, father, mother… They finally change, they finally run into a building to help, and your response is to kill them?”
“I didn’t plan for them to die. I didn’t think they’d go into the building,” Dave growls. “They didn’t go into the building to save our daughter, but they’ll run in for a man they believe is dead?”
“Why do you think everyone is the same?” I ask. “Maybe the people that day were too scared to run in and face a man who had torn supers into shreds. My power has made me lax, but when it was torn from me, I realized how very weak we humans really are. I realized that when you can’t lift entire buildings and throw them, life is precious and so easily taken away. I also learned that you have to watch out for who might stab you along the way.”
“I didn’t want it to become like this,” Sue says. “Yes, I wanted Alloy to pay. Yes, I was… livid that no one ever looked for him or even acknowledged our daughter’s death. It was like no onecaredto search for him. No one cared that he was the reason my daughter is dead… but I didn’t want it to become like this.” She looks toward her husband who refuses to catch her eyes.
“I knew… if I rocked the supers enough… Alloy would come out when he saw a weakness in everyone. He would come out, and finally… I’d finally get my revenge for what happened,” Dave says.
“Instead, you’ve just left more death and injustice in your wake,” August says.
“I know where he is,” Sue says.
The group of us look over at her in surprise.
“Alloy?” August asks.
She nods. “Yes. I don’t have much of a power, but since my daughter’s death, I’ve seen glimpses of where he’s at. Dave has begged me to tell him, but I refuse, knowing he’ll run out to try to avenge her. I think… I think knowing that Alloy is out there and we can’t reach him has… driven us crazy and left us doing things we all regret.”
“Why didn’t you come to us?” August asks.
