Endgame (Book 3)

Chapter 31

My eyes flicked from side to side, watching throngs of people escaping from the wreckage of the facility, while my mind was far, far away.

I was in a heated debate with the other Jay about whether or not Zero was dead. If he ever existed.

I thought the evidence around us was enough to say he had been put to rest when I absorbed Jay #1 back into the right body, and all that was left was Di-Men himself. And he blew himself up with the facility.

But what my mental partner was arguing was that Di-Men's plan was still chugging along full steam ahead. That he had coordinated all of this, with the only thing unaccounted for being the timetable, which had sped up considerably. He said he knew because he was Zero, and bonded with Di-Men, and so had access to all of his thoughts- the only advantage we had.

He would need another host. The creation of Zero was perfect, but also restricted. They bonded seamlessly, but Jay #1 had the ability to hold Di-Men back in certain ways due to the nature of our energy-manipulating powers. That was why Zero appeared to be sick and flared green. It was the visible representation of the battle inside. With a new, more powerful metahuman partner, preferably one with a weak will, Di-Men could complete his plans.

Everything else I believed to be true was. He wanted to tempt me to fight him. Why, even the other Jay couldn't understand.

If Di-Men made it out of there, there wouldn't even be much in the way of preventing him from getting a new host. Jay #1 enlightened me on how the body thing worked, although I couldn't understand how two souls, spirits, whatever, made a body, especially if it didn't remain after they split.

So this black fire...this is Di-Men? I asked him to clarify.

In a sense, yes, he replied.

Then why don't we know if he's alive?

He didn't have an answer to that.

Eventually, Ben emerged from the wreckage, but in the form of Metagor. He changed back into his human persona so we could talk normally and spoke when he was within earshot. He had a huge bag slung over his shoulder that looked Metagor-sized.

"I take it you had something to do with this." He didn't seem angry when he saw Ashley's body next to Jeremiah's, unconscious. He just knelt next to her and pushed some hair away from her face. He glanced up to look at me.

"You're not angry?"

"Jay, I've spoken with Ashley. She reminded me of a few things..." He strained to finish what he wanted to say. "Like, ah, not letting Metagor's hate take over. And...I get it. The guy who attacked me wasn't you. I'm sorry I treated you as such." He hung his head low, embarrassed.

Now wasn't the time to tell him the real Jay was in my head, then.

"Let's keep things where they belong: in the past," I urged him.

He gave me a light laugh, shaking his head. "You sound just like him."

The conversation ended there. Well, the verbal one did.

He just reminded me. I directed my thoughts inside my own mind. I'm all for believing you're the good guy here, but you were in control for sixteen years, and you did some pretty bad stuff. What's up with that? I've been getting the backlash from it for weeks.