Daughter of Zeus ✔

15

Unfortunately, Moretz was the first thing Ada thought about when she woke up the day after the purge ritual.

She tried to dispell him from her mind as she wolfed down three plates of eggs, waffles, and bacon. Mid-chew, she reminded herself: Remember what you came to Atlanta to do.

Those kids had been an echo of her former path. Their anger, their conviction were familiar. Ada wanted it back.

Later, the kids would return. Running low on power after the purge, she had manipulated them on a surface level. After a few weeks or months, they might shake off the spell and continue on as before.

Given the power, she wouldn't have fully re-wired them anyway. They were doing good work in her opinion—who was she to deny them their idea of justice? As long as they didn't interfere the same way again. If anyone was going to ruin Moretz, it would be her.

Except, she didn't know if she could anymore. Three enemies had been laying, waiting to be hurt, and Moretz resisted the bait. Instead, he let her take care of things in her way. He had trusted her.

She tried to get back her old feelings of hate, but they were waning. They needed to be tested; they needed to be strengthened.

He would slip up sometimes soon, show his true face, then she would know what she had to do.

~ * ~

Shana was nearly useless to Shylar now. Her adaptive nature and knowledge of the city had been useful. He was aware she had other agendas, but as long as she kept under the radar, that was fine with him. Until she revealed her agenda to be against his.

She remembered little about Moretz and even less about why she hated him. The two guys who had gone with her, Jasper and Crud, were the same. Everyone else in their group was tripping balls, anxious to know why their leader and two of their colleagues were no longer on the same page when it came to destroying a central target.

"Who is Moretz?" They kept asking.

"What happened to you?" Was everyone else's question, but the trio lacked an answer.

Take care of us, and we'll take care of you.

The slogan on the building was a password of sorts, and a joke around the compound. Sometimes people in the group asked one another about taking care, and if they answered with the slogan, things were all right.

Shylar told Shana to take care, and he expected her usual response of, Take care of me, and I'll take care of you, bub!, but she responded with a lift of her brow. Kressick had warned him about the re-wire and how extensive it could be, but Shylar hadn't wanted to believe it.

He alerted Kressick to the changes, and the consequences:

I can't use her anymore, not for a while anyway. I need to continue on my own.