Chapter 95: Unexpected Allies

MIRA

Three days had passed since the rescue. Three days of waiting for The Collective to make their move.

Nothing happened.

The silence was worse than any attack.

I found Delilah in the guest house. She was packing her things.

“You’re leaving?”

She looked up. “Danny’s treatment is done. We should go home.”

“Is that what you want? Or what you think you should do?”

She sat on the bed. “I don’t know what I want anymore. Being here, with Kade, it feels right. But I don’t deserve it.”

“Stop punishing yourself. You’ve proven you’ve changed.”

“Have I? Or did I just do the bare minimum to not be completely terrible?”

Before I could answer, Kade appeared in the doorway. He’d been doing that a lot. Showing up wherever Delilah was.

“Can we talk?” he asked her. “Alone?”

I left them. Went back to the palace.

An hour later, Kade found me in the library.

“I asked her to stay.”

“What did she say?”

“She said yes. If you’re okay with it.”

“Why does my opinion matter?”

“Because you’re the one she hurt most. If you can’t forgive her, then we can’t move forward.”

I thought about everything that happened. The betrayal. The lies. But also the rescue. The sacrifice. The change.

“I can’t forget what she did. But I can see she’s trying to be better. That’s enough for now.”

He smiled. “Thank you. Really.”

“Don’t thank me yet. If she hurts you again, I’ll end her myself.”

“Fair enough.”

That afternoon, a car pulled up. Unexpected visitor.

A woman got out. Mid-forties. Professional suit. Cold eyes.

“I’m looking for Mira Darkmore.”

“That’s me.”

“My name is Victoria Cross. I’m with an organization called The Phoenix Initiative.”

“Never heard of it.”

“That’s intentional. We operate in the shadows. Fighting groups like The Collective.”

“Why should I trust you?”

“Because we have information you need. About Dr. Chen. About the serum. About how to stop all of this.”

Zane appeared beside me. “We’re listening.”

Victoria pulled out a tablet. Showed us files. Documents. Photos.

“The Collective isn’t one organization. It’s three separate branches working together. Dr. Chen runs the science division. But there are two others. Military and intelligence. We’ve been tracking them for fifteen years.”

“Why come to us now?”

“Because the serum changes everything. If it’s fully deployed, they’ll have access to every powered child globally. We can’t let that happen.”

“What do you want from us?”

“Alliance. Your resources combined with our intelligence. Together we can take them down.”

“And if we refuse?”

“Then you fight alone. Against three branches with unlimited funding and decades of experience. How long do you think you’ll last?”

She had a point.

“What’s your plan?” Zane asked.

“We hit all three branches simultaneously. Destroy their infrastructure. Make them vulnerable. Then we expose them publicly. Bring them into the light where they can’t operate.”

“That would take months of planning.”

“We’ve been planning for years. We just needed the right moment. The right catalyst.” She looked at me. “You’re that catalyst. The Collective wants your children badly enough that they’ll make mistakes. Get sloppy. That’s when we strike.”

“You want to use my children as bait.”

“I want to use their desperation as weakness. There’s a difference.”

I didn’t like it. But I also didn’t see another choice.

“We’ll consider it,” Zane said. “Give us twenty-four hours.”

Victoria nodded. “You have my number. But don’t take too long. Every day that serum is active, more children are at risk.”

She left.

“What do you think?” I asked Zane.

“I think we’re out of options. And desperate people make strange allies.”

That night, I found Delilah and Kade in the garden. They were sitting close. Talking quietly. His arm around her shoulders.

“Sorry to interrupt.”

“You’re not interrupting,” Delilah said. “What’s wrong?”

I told them about Victoria. About The Phoenix Initiative. About the plan.

“Using the children as bait is dangerous,” Kade said.

“Everything is dangerous right now. At least this gives us a chance to fight back.”

Delilah spoke up. “I might be able to help.”

“How?”

“Marcus kept files. Backup files of everything The Collective was doing. He didn’t trust them completely. Wanted insurance if things went wrong.”

“Where are these files?”

“Hidden. In a safety deposit box in Seattle. I have the key.”

“Why didn’t you mention this before?”

“Because I thought Marcus was dead. Thought the information died with him. But if there are three branches, those files might have intel on all of them.”

“Can you get them?”

“If you let me go to Seattle. With Kade.”

I looked at Kade. He nodded.

“Fine. But take backup. Security. Don’t take chances.”

“We won’t.”

They left the next morning. Delilah looked nervous but determined. Kade stayed close to her side.

“Think she’ll run?” Zane asked, watching them drive away.

“No. I think she wants to prove herself. This is her chance.”

Two days passed. No word from Kade or Delilah.

Then, on the third day, my phone rang. Kade’s number.

“Hello?”

“We have the files. But Mira, there’s something you need to know.”

“What?”

“The Collective. The three branches. They weren’t working independently. They had a fourth partner. Someone funding everything. Calling the shots.”

“Who?”

“Your father.”

The world stopped.

“That’s impossible. My father died when I was ten.”

“Did he? Because these files say otherwise. They show payments from a shell corporation he owns. Communications. Orders. He’s been alive this whole time.”

I couldn’t breathe. “You’re wrong. You have to be wrong.”

“I’m looking at his signature right now. On documents dated last month.”

I hung up. Sat down hard.

Zane was there immediately. “What happened?”

“My father. He’s alive. And he’s been funding The Collective.”

“Mira, that’s not possible.”

“Kade has proof. Documents. Signatures.”

“Then we verify. Carefully. This could be misinformation.”

But I knew it wasn’t. Deep down, I knew.

My father was alive. Had been alive all these years. Watching me. Manipulating me.

Using me to breed powerful children for his organization.

I felt sick.

That night, Kade and Delilah returned with the files. Boxes of them. Years of documents.

We went through them methodically. Payments. Communications. Plans.

And there, in black and white, was my father’s name. Over and over.

“Why?” I whispered. “Why would he do this?”

“Power,” Victoria said. She’d arrived an hour ago to review the files. “Your father believed powered individuals were the future. Wanted to control that future.”

“By hunting children?”

“By cataloging them. Creating a database. Knowing who had power and where they were. Control through information.”

“That’s monstrous.”

“That’s your father.”

I looked at the photo in the file. Taken six months ago. He looked exactly like I remembered. Maybe grayer. But the same cold eyes.

“Where is he now?”

“Unknown. He moves constantly. Never stays in one place more than a week.”

“But you can find him.”

“Given time, yes.”

“How much time?”

“A week. Maybe two.”

“We don’t have two weeks. The serum is already active.”

“Then we work faster.”

Over the next three days, we became an army. Victoria’s people combined with our resources. Following leads. Tracking movements. Building a case.

And then we found him.

My father was in Montana. Two hundred miles away. In a secure compound.

“We can hit it,” Victoria said. “But it needs to be precise. Quick. He’ll run if he knows we’re coming.”

“Then we don’t give him warning.”

We planned the raid for the next night. Fifty people. Three teams. Hit fast and hard.

I insisted on going.

“Absolutely not,” Zane said. “It’s too dangerous.”

“He’s my father. I need to face him.”

“Mira…”

“No. Don’t argue. I’m going.”

The night of the raid, we drove in darkness. Silent. Focused.

The compound was small. Unassuming. Perfect cover.

We surrounded it. Waited for Victoria’s signal.

Then we moved.

Guards tried to stop us. Failed. We were too many. Too prepared.

I found my father in his office. Calmly burning documents. Like he’d expected this.

“Hello, Mira.”

“Don’t. Don’t act like we’re family.”

“But we are. No matter what I’ve done, I’m still your father.”

“You’re a monster.”

“I’m a visionary. There’s a difference.” He smiled. “You think I wanted to hunt children? I wanted to protect them. To gather them. To create a world where they could be safe.”

“By tracking them? By making them vulnerable?”

“By knowing where they were so threats could be eliminated. The Collective was never about control. It was about protection.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“You don’t have to. But ask yourself, why would I spend twenty years building this if not to help?”

“Because you’re insane.”

“Or because I lost you. Lost your mother. And couldn’t stand the thought of losing anyone else to the chaos of this world.”

He was manipulating me. I knew it. But part of me wanted to believe him.

“Come with me,” he said. “Let me show you what we’ve really been building. Then decide if I’m a monster.”

Against every instinct, I followed him.

Down a hallway. Through a secured door. Into a massive room.

Inside were files. Thousands of them. Children’s faces. Names. Locations.

“This is everyone we’ve tracked. Every powered child in North America.”

“This proves my point. You’ve been hunting them.”

“No. We’ve been protecting them. Look closer.”

I looked at a file. A girl. Age seven. Phoenix, Arizona.

Next to her photo were notes. “Protected from trafficking attempt June 2023. Family relocated to safe house. Still monitoring.”

Another file. A boy. Age twelve. New York.

“Prevented kidnapping by rival group March 2024. Extra security assigned to school. Parents notified of threats.”

File after file. Not hunting. Protecting.

“I don’t understand.”

“The Collective was never your enemy. We were your shield. Stopping others from taking these children. Dr. Chen went rogue. Started her own agenda. Used our resources for her goals.”

“If that’s true, why not tell me?”

“Because you needed to believe you were fighting evil. Needed that fire to protect your own children.” He touched my face. “I’ve been watching you. Proud of you. You became exactly what I hoped you’d be.”

“A weapon?”

“A protector. Like me.”

I didn’t know what to believe. What was real.

Then Victoria burst in. “Mira, get away from him. Now.”

“Victoria, he says The Collective was protecting children.”

“And you believe him? After everything?”

My father smiled. “Victoria Cross. Or should I say, Victoria Chen. Dr. Chen’s sister.”

Victoria went pale.

“That’s right,” my father continued. “The woman you’ve been trusting is family to your greatest enemy. She’s been playing both sides. Using you to eliminate me so her sister can take over everything.”

Victoria raised her gun. “He’s lying.”

“Am I? Then explain the wire transfers from your account to your sister’s facility. Explain the communications. The coordination.”

“Mira, don’t listen to him.”

But I saw the truth in her eyes. The guilt.

“You’ve been working with Dr. Chen this whole time.”

“Not working with. Working against. My sister is insane. I’ve been trying to stop her. But I needed resources. Information. Your father had both.”

“So you used me.”

“I used everyone. That’s how you survive in this world.”

My father laughed. “See? Everyone lies. Everyone manipulates. At least I’m honest about it.”

Victoria’s gun trembled. Pointed at my father.

Then at me.

“I’m sorry, Mira. But I can’t let you leave here knowing what you know. You’ll ruin everything.”

She pulled the trigger.

My father pushed me aside. The bullet hit him instead.

He went down hard.

“No!” I dropped beside him. “Why?”

“Because you’re my daughter. And I’m still your father. No matter what.” Blood poured from his chest. “The files. Everything you need is in the files. Stop Chen. Stop Victoria. Protect the children.”

“You can’t die. I just found you.”

“You’ll be fine. You’re stronger than I ever was.” His hand found mine. “I love you. I always have.”

His eyes closed. His hand went slack.

My father was dead.

And Victoria was pointing a gun at my head.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​