Dad sat across from me as we had dinner in the safehouse, looking less like a fugitive in his casual sweater and more like… well, like Dad.
I twirled some pasta around my fork, the silence punctuated only by the clinking of cutlery. It felt surreal, eating a normal meal with my father in a secret location, after believing him to be dead for three years.
Finally, I broke the silence. "So… Aurelia's backstory," I prompted, setting down my fork. "You said it was messy."
Dad sighed, running a hand through his still slightly odd-looking brown wig. "Messy is an understatement, kid. It starts… well, even before we met her, in a way. Her childhood… it wasn't exactly normal."
He leaned back in his chair, his gaze distant. "It was no secret that Aurelia had a very… sheltered upbringing. Her parents meant well, but she was an only child, and they were… overprotective. I know they meant well, because her dad was the college professor whom I could go to with any problems with my elements.
He was a brilliant professor, and a great friend or family member to have, but he made a fatal error.
His daughter had zero exposure to the real world, to the normal ups and downs of life. Everything was given to her. Anything she wanted, she got."
I frowned. "Spoiled much?"
"Maybe a bit," Dad conceded. "But it went deeper than that. It was like she existed in a bubble. But there's no denying, she was brilliant too, Aura. Naturally, effortlessly smart. With her powers manifesting early… well, she was set for life, in her parents' eyes. No challenges, no real need to struggle for anything."
He took a sip of water. "College was… an adjustment for her, I think. For the first time, she was surrounded by new people. And that's where she started to… adapt. She took that natural intelligence and learned to weaponize it. Turned smartness into cunning. She figured out how to get what she wanted, not just by being the smartest person in the room, but by manipulating the room itself."
"So she was always… like that?" I asked, trying to reconcile this image with the cold, calculating woman I'd encountered in the lab.
"Not overtly," Dad said thoughtfully. "It was subtle at first. A knack for getting her way, a way of framing things… but the ambition was always there, simmering beneath the surface. I… was focused on the science, the potential of powers. Aurelia… she was always more interested in the control of that potential."
He paused, a shadow crossing his face. "When the power ban happened… that was a turning point. You have to understand, Aura, for someone like Aurelia, who had always been exceptional because of her abilities, the idea of those abilities being suppressed… it was kind of offensive, I think. Not because she loved the powers themselves, not in the way some powered individuals did. But because she believed she could fix it. She could be the one to control them, to make them safe."
"So she agreed with the ban?"
"Partially," Dad said. "She saw the danger, the chaos. But her solution was never to eliminate powers, like the council wanted. Her solution was… optimization. Perfecting the powered individual. And that's where she and I… we found common ground, initially. We were both ambitious, both driven to understand powers."
He hesitated, choosing his words carefully. "She was… more driven. More willing to push boundaries. She rose quickly in the lab. I became her… right-hand man, in a way. Her second-in-command. But even then, there were things she kept to herself. She wasn't a team player in the truest sense. She didn't believe in relying on others. And besides, I handled most of the office while she worked alone."
"So it was all about power for her?"
"In a way, yes," Dad said. "But it was a specific kind of power. The power to control, to optimize, to be the one in charge. She was working her way up, planning to convince the government to reinstate powers, but on her terms, under her control. Her position in the lab was her leverage."
He looked down at his hands, a hint of bitterness in his voice. "And she knew that position wasn't entirely secure. I've heard her talking to herself while she worked... she said I… I was popular. People trusted me. There was talk, even then, that I could be the next head if anything happened to her. A mutiny… altbough I never once actually considered it. But she might have seen me as a threat."
He shook his head, a weary sigh escaping his lips. "That's the Aurelia I knew, kid. Ambitious, brilliant, controlling. Driven by a need to be the one in charge, the one with the answers. The rest… the cloning, the specifics of her long-term plans… those are pieces I'm still trying to figure out myself."
I just blinked. "What's next for us?"
"You're safe here. I don't know what she plans to do with you, but it's not gonna be pretty."
"How will you explain my disappearance?"
"I've planned that one for three years now." He said with a smirk, pulling out a small remote.
There was a big television in the room, which turned on to reveal some news footage. I didn't expect to be seeing my house there though, and I certainly didn't expect the headline, "Lead Carbon's daughter passes away after controversial workshop in lab, sources indicate exposure to radioactivity.
"Aura had gone out for a week-long workshop," my mom explained in between sniffs. "Each day I spoke to her on the phone, her voice sounded worse and worse... she tried to seem fine, but I should have done something!"
My sister was comforting her, saying "It's not your fault, mom. I was there chaperoning her. I didn't know about any of this. She and her teammate both seemed fine... but on the last day she broke. She... she told me everything, how she felt all weird every night. She called a taxi and came home, in tears and in pain, without any of her things. I had to pack up and come home in my car as fast as possible."
The reporter looked increasingly concerned. "What did the staff do to help?"
Dad watched the news footage with a grim satisfaction. "See? All planned out. A tragic accident, a grieving mother, a distraught sister. No one will suspect you've been… relocated."
I stared at the screen, a strange mix of emotions swirling within me. My own "death" being broadcast on national television. It was bizarre, unsettling, and yet… effective.
"But… the workshop with radioactivity?" I asked, turning to Dad. "That didn't happen."
He nodded slowly. "A cover story, mostly. There was a workshop, yes. And you were there. But the… 'controversial' part? That's a bit of embellishment, courtesy of some well-placed sources." A wry smile touched his lips. "Let's just say some people aren't too fond of Aurelia's methods."
The reporter on the screen was now interviewing a visibly shaken Zinnia. "She was probably in so much pain," my sister choked out, tears streaming down her face. "She kept saying she felt like she was burning from the inside out. I… I should have taken her more seriously. I just chalked it down to her usual sarcasm."
"They're good," I murmured, a grudging admiration for their performance creeping in.
"They love you, Aura," Dad said softly. "And they're smart. They understood the gravity of the situation without me having to spell it out completely. Plus, your mom has a ton of experience acting in plays."
The reporter then turned his attention back to the camera, his expression serious. "This tragic incident raises serious questions about the safety protocols at these privately run workshops, especially those dealing with potentially hazardous materials. While this incident took place at the respectable laboratory of the esteemed scientist, Dr. Aurelia Oxide, we must wonder what happened at that workshop."
Dad nodded curtly. "See? A little seed of doubt planted. Nothing concrete, nothing that can be directly traced back to us, but enough to make people wonder."
"But won't Aurelia deny any involvement?" I asked. "It's not gonna work."
"Of course she'll deny," Dad said. "Publicly, she'll express her condolences. She'll likely even offer her 'expertise' to help investigate. But behind closed doors… this will sting. It puts her under scrutiny, even if it's just a flicker of suspicion. Her carefully crafted image of the beloved scientist takes a tiny hit."
He turned off the television, the sudden silence amplifying the weight of the situation. "For now, we're both dead, Aura. You have the nepotism advantage there. As the daughter of a recently deceased public figure, police will investigate on het more. It buys us time. Time to figure out what Aurelia's really planning, and how to stop her."
He stood up, his gaze resolute. "All right, it's past your bedtime."
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