Gods and Monsters

XII

Yates's office - Scotland Yard, London

Back in the city, the team all sat around Yates's office in silence. Both the Purple Vice child and Ella sat just outside, playing with some blocks that Rachel had picked up on her way over. Peggy had informed the others about what had happened at the Harkness house, slightly altering her encounter with Yates to him shooting himself. Ballistics would be all over it for the next few weeks but the bullet had come from his gun, no matter how it ended up back in his head. Peggy still had so many questions she wanted answers to, but their primary concern was what was going to happen to the kids.

Charlie finished his phone call and turned towards the others, "That was Mr Smith. She's managed to track down the Purple Vice kid's family. Turns out his real name is Emmanuel and he's from Israel. His family are still living over there so Mr Smith is going to arrange for someone to take him back to them next week."

"That's great news," Rachel said, "What about Ella?"

"Unfortunately no ones been able to track down any other family of hers," Peggy answered, her eyes fixed on the floor, "They're talking about putting her into care and finding a foster family for her."

Hearing this, Scarlett felt forced to interject, "You've got to be joking. The poor kid could potentially tear the universe apart. How are some ordinary family supposed to deal with that?"

"That's purely speculation at this point," Rachel said, "The child's shown no signs of any abilities that link her to being a posthuman. You can't exclude her because of something she may do in the future. Besides which, where's she going to go otherwise?"

Charlie slid off the desk and paced over to the window, watching the kids as they laughed and smiled with each other, "Scarlett's got a point. She may not have shown signs yet but most posthumans don't develop their abilities until puberty. Sometimes even later. It's a big risk to put her with your average Joe's."

The room erupted in heated discussion as each person threw forward their own ideas about what would be best for the child. However, in the corner of the room was Mike. Mike had remained silent throughout the discussion thus far, letting the others bicker and squabble while they didn't really have any clue what would be right for the kid.

Then, it hit him. He suddenly had an idea for what could happen to the child. He attempted to voice his idea but the others didn't listen, still intent on verbally battling one another. Again, he tried to let them know his idea, raising his voice as he did so, but still nothing. One final attempt, Mike finally shouted loud enough to be heard above everyone in the room.

"I'll take Ella in!"

Slowly, the others stopped their sparring, turning to face Mike, their faces full of shock. "What did you say, Mike?" Peggy asked.

"I said I'll take Ella in. I'll adopt her."

"Are you sure about that, mate?" Charlie stuttered, "That's a pretty big deal."

Mike nodded, looking towards the young blonde girl outside, "Yes, I'm sure. I'll need to speak with her some more so we can get to know each other of course, but she seems a good kid. Scarlett's right about it being too much of a risk her being with a normal family. Rachel's right that we can't exclude her because she may or may not have powers. Although I'm not on the same level as Charlie or Scarlett, I've picked up a fair amount of information on posthumans over the last few months and feel confident I can deal with it."

Rachel rested a reassuring hand on Mike's shoulder, "You'll do great. Besides, you've got all of us for support too."

The previously tense atmosphere died down and laughter began to fill the office as they began to discuss their next steps. First up, a night out to celebrate. 

Continued in Part 13...

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