Cybil (2018) #projectsuper

Chapter 94: Lessons From A Woman In Mourning

Comfortably watching the action from his boss's office, Fuller felt it was finally time to make his grand entrance. It was really a shame about the boy, but he would certainly get over it, and so would they.

He did, after all...

A flood of memories threatened to burst forth from a particular mental dam he had made, but he was never going to let them resurface. Not if he had anything to say about it.

He calmly took the elevator down, taking in all the surrounding chaos pensively.

Whenever one little snag arises in their plans, men are always reduced to running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

He doubted he would ever understand them.

He made his way to the underground hangar. Apparently, the giant robot was out.

Wester Prime is what he called it.

Egomaniac.

He stopped when he heard sobbing in a corner right next to the elevator.

"You really shouldn't be standing out here like this, Williams."

The woman glared at him through tear-filled eyes. "I now have to remember every day that my only son DIED trying to protect me!"

Against his will, some form of sympathy began to bubble up in him.

"Move on. You'll learn to live with it."

Something seemed to snap in the tiny woman. Apparently, that was the wrong choice of words.

"You must not be human," she hissed in a pained tone. "if you can say that."

"News flash. You, Wester, and James are probably the only humans here--"

"Not the way I see it!" She sniffed and wiped her face. "You see them over there?"

She gestured shakily towards all the fighters.

"Each of them over there is more human than you will ever be." If anyone else had put their finger in his face like that (especially Wester), they would be searching for a new hand.

He shook his head. "This is ridiculous..."

"Don't you dare walk away from me, Fuller." The woman's voice turned him around on the spot, freezing him in place like a jet of ice.

"I have had to deal with you manipulating us--and particularly Cybil--like chess pieces for what feels like an eternity. I may not have liked her at the start of all of this, but I've got nothing but respect for her now. You know why? Because now I have some idea of what she had to deal with before she literally broke into my life. Namely, someone like you.

"You know what's sad? I started this whole odyssey with only Tyrone. He was my world after Martin died. Now I have others in my life. Whether that's that wonderful little 'robot' and her brother, that Hispanic kid who's actually pretty street smart, or that woman that, while she could crush us all with her bare hands, has been nothing but a big batch of Southern Fried sweet to us. Let's not forget the very woman you've been tormenting all this time, who's out there fighting that giant monstrosity with her half-dead mother!"

"I don't need a lecture from you." He turned to walk away.

"Fuller."

He stopped. Why was that voice of hers so persuasive? Unless... No, it couldn't be.

"If I live through this, I'm going to mourn my son's passing for the rest of my life, but I can at least remember that he sacrificed himself for the people he loved. That he went out as a man!"

Fuller gritted his teeth. "I don't need to learn anything from an over-clocked 8 year old test tube baby!"

"Maybe you do," she said, shaking her head.

He found himself lifting the woman up by the throat. This woman needed to shut up. He then dropped her when she passed out.

Her words never left his mind, however. He found he couldn't take the perch he'd planned to at the walkway.

His legs carried him towards the fight instead. He looked back at the unconscious woman.

"Be grateful that you're such a good speaker, woman!"