[Lael]

I should be dead.

Damon laid motionless on his side within a drying pool of his own blood, open lifeless eyes staring eerily at me. I shuddered. Turning to my side, I reached toward his face, and with two fingers, closed his eyes.

Rage should have been my epitaph to the man who killed me — or rather it seems, tried to — but only dull sadness filled me. Once, he was a dear friend, then a gentle lover, before the madness took him. The Aberrant purge and the injustices of humanity became too much. Idealism turned to rage, and vengeance consumed his soul. To the end, he believed his cause true and harsh methods justified, even towards me.

I went along at first, feeling the same outrage against the government who betrayed us. But revenge never set right with me, and I urged him to reconsider. Why couldn't we simply run away some place safe and far away to live out our lives in peace? Ultimately, I actively sabotaged his dark scheme, and in an angry fit, he infected me with the nano-bots. I never, ever, wanted to relive that desolating hell.

Avia was the best of us, and I couldn't let her die. In a moment of unexplained lucid awareness, I again turned against the man I once loved. A brief twinge of guilt lodged in my throat, but I quickly discarded it. Damon alone chose this path.

But seriously, why hadn't I kicked the bucket? The deep stabs should have sent me to the afterlife, whatever that was.

Struggling to stand, using the table for support, I plopped down in a chair as dizziness overtook me. I drew deep breaths while tiny sparkles swirled before my eyes — well, I had lost a lot of blood, much of it soaking my t-shirt and leggings.

I lifted my sticky knife-slashed shirt to examine my belly and sucked in a breath, eyes widening. What should have been four ugly gaping wounds were closed and nearly healed as if by a skilled surgeon. And there was no pain when I poked at the reddish scars. How was that possible?

Nano-bots...

The same micro-machines that once stole my free will, saved my life.

Using my cybernetics, I probed the bot network on a low-frequency com-band. It still functioned, but with Damon gone, the network sought another master. Namely, me.

Certainly, I was no longer the woman enslaved by Damon, but neither was I the original bubbly, scatterbrained woman of years past. I am... I don't know. Perhaps it was the nano-bots, a part of me now as much as my cybernetic implants? Or maybe residual effects from my mental enslavement? But whatever, I found new freedom and reveled in it.

The asteroid station was a complete mess — at least those parts with working monitors I could access with my cybernetics. Other parts I viewed through the eyes of androids. Without Damon, I had full station AI override capability. Internal damage extended everywhere, and several places suffered rocky cave-ins, but fortunately, I wasn't completely sealed in and the fusion power plant still functioned properly.

What caused all this damage? The external sensors revealed the answer: a huge Sol Federation cruiser hovered like a vulture above the asteroid. Four rectangular-shaped landing shuttles emerged from its belly, heading my way.

I had just enough time to clean up, change clothes, and pack a bag. I grinned upon coming across my secret stash of Goober Gummies in a clothing drawer. Avia hooked me on the tart-sweet candies years ago. A small starship waiting at a secret hidden dock was my ticket outa Dodge.

There were still plenty of injustices to fix and villains to expose out there in the Sol Federation, especially whatever fiend restarted the cybernetics program that targeted innocent children like Nyx. The thought of living without that precious little girl cast shadows across my heart, but she was better off with Avia.

Being not-dead opened up new opportunities and a new life. 'Bout time I followed Avia's lead and made a difference in this galaxy the right way.

Gotta think up a catchy superhero name, though.

THE END

Author's final note:

That's it for this story. Thanks much for all who read through and all the wonderful comments!

I do have one question, though. Any ideas Lael's superhero name? Not promising a sequel, but if I do, it might feature Lael and the Geezer Squad.

Bill