CHAPTER 84: T-THEY’RE ALIVE

A loud explosion was heard just behind them. Luckily, they had driven far enough to avoid getting caught in any stray debris.

"W-what the hell just happened?" Silk asked, shocked.

Slowly, Tag lowered the phone before answering, "I-I think that’s our base."

"What do you mean?" Nico asked.

"Dmitri blew up our base in hopes of burying the stain of failure," Tag explained, slowly raising his head to meet Nico’s eyes.

There was a moment of silence between them before Silk spoke up—this time directly to OmniTech.

"If you knew the place was going to blow up, why did you allow us to leave all those people in there?" She sounded more than a little angry.

{Calm down, Panda lady,} OmniTech said with a small chuckle, {in order to keep you all safe, Dmitri and the world should believe that you’re dead and it’d be harder for that to be convincing with no bodies.}

The team’s face paled at his words.

T-this man was a monster in human flesh. How could he remain so nonchalant at the death of people? Deaths that he could’ve prevented.

"Y-you’re I-insane," Silk stuttered out.

{For members of the underworld, you six really are big hypocrites.} OmniTech responded, {painting most of your hacks as an act of good deed even though you know that you were just doing it for the thrill... And the money.}

They were silent after those words but OmniTech wasn’t done yet, { Where was this hesitation when you tore down firewalls that protected hospitals or schools—just because a client waved money in your faces?} His tone was no longer playful. {So don’t lecture me about morality when you’ve never had any.}

{One last thing,} he added, {as long as it aids my goal, I’m willing to do anything so don’t mistake me for some kind of saint just because I helped you. You will serve your purposes when the time comes.}

The back of the van was silent after that, with the only sound being from the engine, the passing cars and the occasional siren from police, ambulances and firetrucks headed to the explosion site.

"He’s right," after a couple of silent minutes, Nico suddenly spoke up.

The others turned toward her, eyes wide.

"You can’t be serious," Silk whispered, clutching her panda plushie tight against her chest.

But Nico’s calm expression didn’t change. "We’ve all done things worse than this. Things we don’t talk about because we don’t want to admit it."

"That doesn’t excuse him!" Silk shot back. "He knew what was going to happen! He let all those people die just because of some stupid plan!"

"And yet we’re alive because of it," Juno finally muttered, voice low, almost groggy. He hadn’t spoken much since they got in the van, because he preferred his sleep. "He saved us. That’s more than anyone we could ask for."

Silk looked around, desperate for support, but found none.

Even Zero, usually the loudest, was staring quietly at his hands, his hoodie sleeves pulled low and his lips pressed shut.

Tag leaned back against the seat, closing his eyes. "Like it or not, OmniTech holds all the cards now. Dmitri wanted us dead, and we’d be dead if it weren’t for him. That means..." He trailed off, hesitating before finally sighing. "That means we’re tied to him now."

Silk gritted her teeth but said nothing else again.

The van went quiet again.

OmniTech’s voice was heard again through the phone, almost amused at their internal debate. {You’re all smarter than you look. Good. That makes things easier.}

The six exchanged uneasy glances.

{Get some rest, the journey to your new base will last a while,} OmniTech continued, {your old lives are gone. From this point on, you belong to me, though, as I said, you all will be my well paid contractors.}

With that, the line went dead.

"Let’s just hope the pay is good," Silk resigned and muttered under his breath before putting her panda plushie on the seat and laying her head on it.

________

Meanwhile, Ethan put his phone down and leaned back on his car’s seat.

He was currently waiting outside Lillian’s apartment for Aria to return and take care of her drunk friend.

One so dangerous that he had to run out before doing something that he couldn’t take back.

Luckily, his plans falling in place had helped calm him down.

"Athena?" He called out, "I want you to hack into the Crime lab and match the DNA of the victims with those of the six."

{Understood,} she answered and immediately got to work.

Ethan’s fingers drummed on the steering wheel as he waited for her to complete the task.

Her entry way? She used Sentinel just as Ethan had previously done to identify threats in Google’s systems.

{Match complete.} Athena said a few minutes later. {Results: all six are officially deceased.}

"Good job," he said with a smile.

{Do you wish me to erase the original DNA records as well?} Athena asked.

This would prevent anyone else from finding out the results had been tampered with and thereby finding out that the Vigilants were still alive.

"Yes. Rewrite them as confirmed casualties." Ethan nodded.

{Done,} Athena said.

He had just gained unexpected pawns on his board, and they were very much welcome.

Ethan raised his head to see Aria walking into the apartment building before he turned his car on and drove back to his.

-------------Present Day-------------

In Isabela’s hand was a paper containing a very familiar logo, after all, this was the same logo found in Sentinel’s code after the hacking attempt during its launch.

"What’s this?" she asked and although she had a frown on her face, she held a little bit of hope.

The team Ethan had assigned her to work with, had a familiar pattern for each of Nathaniel’s pawns they took off the board.

So out of curiosity, she hacked into their systems, only to stumble upon an extremely familiar logo.

But she couldn’t come to any conclusions, not until Ethan confirmed, since he clearly knew what was going on.

With a sigh, Ethan walked a bit forward, past her and into the kitchen before picking up a bottle of water and pouring it into a glass for himself.

Isabela silently watched his movements and calmly waited.

Taking a sip, Ethan finally turned to her before saying, "they’re alive."

It was a simple statement but they made her legs immediately weak and she almost fell but she luckily caught herself.

"The deal that night was for them to work for me while I provide them safety," He explained, but he was sure that she hadn’t heard that part as she was probably lost in her head.

They’re alive.

Relief washed over her and tears finally streamed down her face. For multiple nights, she had blamed herself for abandoning them, for letting them deal with the consequences all alone.

She should’ve been there with them that night but she wasn’t.

And now, finding out that they were still alive caused a wave of relief to wash over her and before she knew it, her legs were already moving forward.

Before Ethan could react, she lunged towards him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck as she sobbed against it.

Ethan stiffened as her arms wrapped around him, the sudden warmth of her embrace catching him a bit off guard.

For a moment, his hand hovered awkwardly in the air, unsure if he should return the gesture. Then, slowly, he lowered his glass and started patting her back with his free hand.

"They’re alive..... they’re really alive." She sobbed, her words coming out in stutters.

She was like that for a couple of minutes before releasing him and awkwardly moving backwards, wiping her tears in the process.

"I-i’m sorry about that," Isabela apologized, her eyes on the tear stain on his shirt.

"It’s fine," he said, before taking a seat at the dining table, pouring another glass of water before passing this one to her.

They were silent for a while before Isabela asked, "if they’re alive, why didn’t you tell me?"

"Because that’d just put you and then in danger." Ethan answered without missing a beat, "Dmitri doesn’t know you’re part of the Vigilants, so I had to be careful about any interaction between you and them."

She nodded in understanding, before asking again, "then where are they?"

"They’re safe," Ethan simply said, "when the time’s right, you guys will meet again but right now, you’ll only be allowed to communicate with them during your hacking sessions."

"I understand," Isabela said.

She didn’t mind that she couldn’t see them just yet, as long as she knew they were alive and well, she wouldn’t ask for anything more.

With that, Ethan walked back to his room, explaining that he was tired from his trip. The moment the door closed behind him, he broke out in a huge grin.

From Isabela thinking that the Vigilants were dead to her finding out that they were alive was all part of his plan.

His plan to get her to fully trust him and he must say, it worked better than he had hoped.

"Now then," He muttered as he slowly took off his shirt, "let’s try and even out Lillian’s playing field shall we."