Triple Point

Chapter 115: The Truth

Content Warning (see in-line comments for details)

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Camilla

Before she realized what she was doing, Camilla had sent the cluster of surgical tools flying towards Hester. Without moving a muscle, Hester deflected the attack effortlessly with a brisk shockwave, easily cutting off Camilla's control of them and sending them harmlessly clattering to the floor.

Her snide grin that followed only enraged Camilla even more, and all Camilla could think about was sucking all the air out of Hester's lungs until she was gasping for a breath, or absorbing all of her energy until she shriveled up like all of Stein's subjects had done. She wanted, needed, to see Hester suffer.

But, for some unfathomable reason, Camilla hesitated. Before she could force herself to act, Abby had stepped between them. The look she gave Camilla was some mixture of sympathy and warning, but before Camilla could interpret it, Abby turned to face Hester. While Abby had mostly blocked Hester from Camilla's view, Camilla was still filled with an agonizing pain that she couldn't escape. She needed to do something, anything, to relieve her uncontrollable emotions before she exploded from them.

The feeling of something brushing against the back of her hand snapped Camilla from her runaway thoughts. Immediately, she grabbed onto it for dear life, only belatedly realizing that it was Elsie's hand. Without a word, Elsie held Camilla's hand tightly, and Camilla squeezed hers back in return. The jumble of emotions she felt wasn't going to disappear instantaneously, but at least Elsie could help her think clearly through them all.

Hester's sharp cackling pierced the air like a knife. "God, you're so predictable. Okay, maybe I deserved that a little, but really, you can't be that mad at me. I mean, without me, without the Org, you never would've realized your true potential."

She glanced around the room, squinting. "Where are you recording from? The security cameras, right?"

Her gaze stopped at one of the security cameras, then moved to the operating table behind her. After a moment of thought, she unceremoniously shoved the body a little to the side, then sat on the space she just cleared, posing as if she was modeling for a photoshoot. After trying out a few facial expressions, she grinned, then waved seductively at the camera.

"Can you hear me?" she asked, raising her voice slightly. "Make sure you get my good side."

After winking provocatively, she looked towards Camilla.

"How do you think you got to where you are in the first place?" she asked smugly. "It sure wasn't luck, and it definitely wasn't thanks to your half-assed ambition. It was all because of us: me, and a few people in the Org that had a vision of the future that involved more than just superhumans rescuing cats from trees. But society wasn't ready for what we had in mind; they needed a push, and we had to give it to them."

Hester got back to her feet and began to slowly walk around the operating table. As she did so, one of her hands hovered over the pale corpse, her fingers dancing as if she was a puppeteer. She stopped when she reached the other side of the table, and she lowered her hand to the base of the corpse's skull. The skin had been sliced and clamped open, and Hester gently ran a finger over the incision. After admiring her work for a few seconds, she raised her gaze again and smiled.

"We were the ones that started Exodos," Hester announced, her firm tone not leaving any room for doubt. "It wasn't difficult; as soon as the Org was formed, there were already people lining up to oppose it. We just had to give them a loud enough voice, and a target."