.vale

“You’re broken.” Angeline stated plainly. She didn’t even need to read Christine’s mind to know that the human part of her was currently unavailable. “I can see that we’re both in a difficult situation right now.” She brought her hand up to show her ring finger. Around where a band should have been was a circle of blackened flesh. “If you can figure out how to take the ring off of me then I can help you find your human. I can’t seem to feel any pain and it isn’t by choice.” She took a seat next to Greed. “Bet on that fighter. I’ll make sure he wins, for your time.”

“I adore you Angie, but not to the point where I’d console you.” That was only for her grandchildren and even then her method of consoling wasn’t conventional to say the least. “IAAC won’t ever exceed what it is now.” This was fact seeing as powered beings still existed to the point where they still stood strong against those who wanted them gone. “I concur, we start anew. Ava and I visited Hyrian’s Home…There is potential there, but…” It wasn’t enough. To take the Society on a grandeur scale, they needed to outsource more powered beings of all walks of life. “…Now that I think about it. They say children are the future.” A twisted smile graced her lips as the hybrid took a step closer to Angeline, “How are your children by the way? And your niece and nephew?” She knew she’ll be striking a nerve with this new Famine, but ideas should be welcomed. “Reap what you sow. What if the Society provides opportunity through growth? What I’m getting at is that no one suspects children. They’d be the perfect hosts.” 

“No you’re not like your niece…She’s a special one.” replied Amara as she made her way to the outdoors. Taking in the fresh air, the hybrid whipped out her brand name sunglasses and slipped them on as she carried out the conversation. “Anyways, cheer up child. Your sister was a fighter until the end.” On the topic of the Society, the Director smiled as she allowed Angeline to plea her case. Once it was done, she chuckled and held an amused expression as she liked the direction this was going in. “Well put.” she complimented at first. “This means we’re on the same page. I want the Society to excel. To become a force that no one knows about, but everyone to experience. Now, is there a plan in motion that you are bringing to life or do we need to start anew?”

Seeing Angie freeze everyone in place, the hybrid held an intrigued look, before glancing down at the prisoner. “I didn’t come here for him.” With a flick of her wrist, the prisoner’s neck snapped on its own as his body went limp. “It’s you that I’m looking for. Congratulations on the upgrade darling. Ava certainly did one on you.” Amara chuckled softly, the eldest Vale was no longer emotional as she was before. “Yeah, but the loss of family isn’t that easy to get over now is it? I wonder how Aurelia is doing…Where ever her soul is.” She then urges Angeline to follow her out as she no longer found use in being here. “Anyways, let’s discuss: The Society. Where do you see our organization 10 years from now?”

“Now that isn’t fair. I was all about your husband and we can agree that there was lots to like there.” She briefly raised her brows suggestively. She knew that she was bothering the mutant even more, but all of this was good content for what she was willing to pass on for a moment. She just needed a little bit of heat off of her so Lilith would stop looking to hunt her down. Ava let the lights turn back on. “Don’t worry, you’re greater than a god. You’re a godkiller, sugar.”

She smirked. “No plan if you don’t want your powers back. I’m not asking you to fight anyone, honey. I just want you to get back what’s yours and more. I genuinely want you to feel better after everything that’s happened to you.” She chuckled and leaned back before resting her hands on the desk behind her.  “I’m giving you some of my power, except I’m not blocking out anything of yours. Arabella must have done something to you and I’m not like that. I want you to feel or not feel whatever you want.”

The first time she saw red was in her father’s face when she scolded her for leaving such a mess after she murdered her mother, but today, her own vision was clouded with it. After speaking with Arabella and having her sister’s well preserved corpse in her home, she wasn’t in the mood to be teased about the people she lost. So without another thought, she put on the ring. It vibrated aggressively and turned around on her finger until it started to crack and break, overloaded with psionic energy. 

“Yeah, why else would I be here?” Arabella thought it was pretty obvious that the notion to taunt Angeline was the consequence of her actions. “Brava bitch, thanks for pointing out the obvious. I see Famine molded you to become dumb after you gave away your abilities. Such disappointment, I didn’t peg you to be the overly generous type.” She shook her head and sighed, “Your abilities are no longer of worth to me. You gave it to Ava out of all people? It doesn’t make her special to be frank. She’s still trash.” Getting up from her seat, she cupped the side of Angeline’s face with her hand and gave a fake look of adoration. “Since you’re impatient darling…” She then proceeded to caress her cheek in the process as her eyes glowed and the sound of glass breaking from her household’s window showed a large item wrapped in greenery float over to them. “I’ve come bearing a gift…” Maria’s infamous smile graced her lips as she lifted the large leaf to show the face of a dead, yet preserved Aurelia Vale. “For the record, she still looks good for someone who got murdered by their own family don’t you think?” Waving at the children and nanny, her smile widened as she inappropriately asked, “Want to see Auntie? Look what your Mommy and Grandpa did…Such a shame no?”

He thought that his Aunt was powerless, but he could feel her presence much stronger than before. Jeremiah didn’t seem that it felt right so he rushed over to meet her. He didn’t expect her to be in the middle of a bad situation. The police had their weapons aimed and there was a man on his knees right next to his aunt. “Auntie Angie?” He called out, not daring to cross the police line. “Are you alright?” His shadow broke away from him and moved across the ground over to Angeline. He needed a better look so he sent his shadow out as a scout. “Please, let me through!” He asked the nearest officer. “That’s my aunt!”

Amara knew of Ava’s plans, but she hadn’t seen it come to life in its full effect. Upon arriving at the scene of…well the show, the hybrid smirked at her ex-employee and nodded. “I could hear the screams even before I set foot into the vicinity. It was in that moment where I knew I was too late.” Walking up to Angeline, the Director stood tall as she observed the slumped man. “Interesting and you didn’t even make a mess.” Now her attention was on Angeline, she asked, “How is it going so far? I haven’t seen you in like ages. This is super late, but I’m truly sorry for your loss by the way.” 

What was interesting about the boost Famine gave her is that its abilities didn’t present itself in a traditional way. Famine could spoil lands and keep food from people. She remembered Ava preyed upon the desires of people, amplifying their need for things, but she wasn’t like that. Angeline got up from her seat to place her hand on an escaped convict’s head. She sifted through his memories and then destroyed what she deemed was the most important one. Altering the amount of desire was one way to go, but maybe what she needed to do, in order to control troublemakers, was to carve away their darkness. She couldn’t bring light into their lives, but she could tear away the darkness. 

The man started to scream. 

“I’ve always liked that about you. Even when you don’t have your powers, you cut to the chase.” She chuckled and stood up slowly from her desk. Ava placed her hands down and leaned over. “I’ll do the same for you. I know that Arabella visited you and she did something pretty fucked up. And that’s fucked up if I’m saying it is.” She started to laugh. Her divinity was breaking through her human form. The room seemed to become darker as she absorbed the energy from the lights. 

“Oh, baby, I don’t care about drugs or your prison. I want to make it so you don’t have to worry about Arabella.” Ava dug into her pocket before slamming down her ring. The object hummed with power and vibrated as it ate away at the wood of her desk. “Your powers are in here and all you have to do is take it. For all the trouble, I even gave you a boost. Something good for the woman who has lost almost everything.” She walked around and jumped up onto her desk, sitting down and crossing her legs. 

"I’ve never liked anything about you.” Angeline replied easily. She didn’t like the other woman because she once had eyes for her husband. Ava’s attention on her after her husband passed away didn’t make things any better. In fact, Ava made things worse and just managed to piss her off even more. “All Gods are terrible.” She glanced at the dimming lights. Absorption was such a nasty ability; it wasn’t pleasant when Ava took more than she would have liked from her. 

She took a few steps into the horseman’s office and stopped half way. She didn’t bother to take a seat and had no intentions of making herself comfortable here. Ava was a pain in her ass and she just wanted to leave even though she had just arrived. “What do you want?” Angeline decided not to waste any more time; she was already taking some time off of work to deal with this inconvenience. 

“I don’t want to talk about your drug or letting it circulate in my prison. I don’t even want to talk about the fact that you’re sleeping with my former boss.” She had heard about it from her son. He was lucky enough to receive the Vale genes, and the little boy, even though he was young, was able to figure out that Ava and Amara were ‘sharing a bed.’

”And there you have it. The real killer is you. I wonder how your children, niece and nephew would feel about that.” She glanced over at Nate and Aubrey and smiled as she waved at them. No response of course seeing as their mother was here, but Arabella didn’t mind. They’ll be seeing a lot of her, that’s for sure. Once Angeline invaded her thoughts and placed the blame on her, the diwata laughed as if the eldest Vale told a hilarious joke. ’Now…Now…I gave you a blessing. Don’t pin this on me Angie, I wasn’t the one that was there.’ She then went back to her seat and flopped down onto it as she made herself comfortable. “You had no faith in yourself babe. You couldn’t handle it. To think you would adapt to what was given to you? And failed at it? That, I’m willing to accept the blame for. I chose a weak follower and my consequence is that I lost one. Perhaps it’s for the better.”

Rolling her eyes, Arabella disregarded her statement. Well now the bitch wasn’t empty at all thanks to her, but there was no point in doing the blame game as of now. “Comforting. Mhm, well that goes to show that you didn’t quite handle your abilities to your full potential. I was clearly conned.” Running a hand through her hair, the diwata scoffed at the grieving Vale, “She wasn’t, but what went wrong Angeline? Was it her incompetence or was it yours?” Getting up from her seat, the supermodel strutted over and tucked a strand of Angeline’s hair behind her ear. “From my understanding, you were supposed to have her back. Unfortunately, she got stabbed through the front. What a shame…”

Seeing the children scurry away, Arabella frowned before sighing and leaning back into her seat with her legs crossed. “Your mother’s a total mood kill!” she exclaimed. Now faking a hurtful look, she remained unamused after being told to released the nanny. Talk about being a total Debbie Downer. “Fine. Only cause I’m doing this for the children.” With a quiet whisper, their nanny snapped out of whatever warped reality Arabella placed her in and immediately went to the children as if nothing had happened. “Anyways, I wanted to see how you’re holding up. I heard a hungry bitch took your abilities. I’m also very disappointed in you. Why the fuck would you stoop that low?”

She didn’t need a lot of things, but if she was going to play the table against Hades, having Angeline’s abilities would be useful. She stopped at the door and began to absorb Angeline’s power. “You were much more interesting when Maria didn’t break you.” The extraction wasn’t difficult on her end, but she couldn’t speak for the mutant. Ava turned to look at her. “Angeline, there was a time when I feared you because nothing scared you enough to stop you, but now look at you… Your love is a mark for Death.” She walked over to the newly powerless woman and then pulled her into a tight embrace. She pushed her head against her chest. “I can’t wait to see your face when I’m done with all of this.” Ava released her, took a few steps back to the door, and waved. 

Angeline never knew that the silence could be so exhausting or what her thoughts sounded like without everyone else’s flooding them out. It wasn’t a painful loss, but it was sudden. Ava’s voice seemed so much softer without her thoughts rattling so loudly and she seemed less overwhelming when she couldn’t hear her thinking. “I have nothing to say about that...Knowing her, she’ll punish us both for this.” She spoke slowly. Her voice sounded so strange now that everything else seemed quiet. “Please, just leave.” She said and then silently watch Ava until she disappeared around the corner. Then as if on cue, she saw her son, Nathaniel poke his head out from the doorway with a worried expression. He was gifted with the Vale gene and she knew that he knew what just happened. His older sister followed and Angeline extended her arms to embrace them both. “It’ll be ok...”