Chapter 12

Toni stares at him, shocked. He just saved her, the guy that tried to kill her before. Or...the one guy did, he more, watched.

Still, he starts over, she quickly stumbles to her feet and throws out a warning hand.

"B-back off!"

He holds his hands up, "Easy Toni. I'm on your side. I'm Syndicate. Or...I've been routing for you guys at least."

She narrows her eyes and grabs her stomach with her free hand. "Come on, I can heal you."

"What? You...have abilities?"

"Well I say I can heal you, not actually me, a serum. Just in case the worst happened, in this case, the worst happened."

She mirrors him and steps further back when he tries to step closer.

"Easy Toni."

"You attacked us before, you shoe up and expect me to believe you like that?"

"Move away from the edge of the stage and I'll explain."

She looks back, her foot is a few centimeters from the edge. She looks back, Atlas holds up a surrendering hand. With his other, he takes his pistol out and sets it on the ground, he kicks it over to her.

"Go on, if I do anything you don't like you get to shoot."

She slowly couches down and quickly picks up the pistol and stands. She aims it at his chest.

"She won't be out forever, Toni I promise I'm a friend, you're hurt, bad. Come on, please trust me."

She doesn't move, he sighs, "Fine, I'll prove it, don't shoot."

He take out a cylinder glass container, filled with reddish orange liquid inside, a teenie tube in the center of the cylinder. He walks over to May and pushes a button, the tube shoots out and turns into a skinny needle and the plunger pops out as well.

He sticks it into May's thigh and injects a small amount. He sets the syringe down and grabs the hole of May's shirt where he shot her and tears it a bit bigger.

He shows the healing wound to Toni, her eyes widen, she's healing! She kinda expected it to be poison.

"Ugh...mmm."

Atlas looks at May, she scrunches her face, he decks her in the cheek hard and she's out again.

Atlas looks at Toni, "Convinced?"

"...fine. Slide it over."

"Okay, do half of it, a bit closes the wound and stops bleeding, half of it will regenerate lost blood and energy as well."

He pushes it, she crouches and grabs it with her free hand. She stabs it in the side of her thigh and injects everything.

She gasps, she drops the pistol and whines, she yanks out the syringe and falls back to the ground.

Atlas jumps up and runs to her side. He drops to his knees and picks her up, she whines and grabs her chest.

"Ugh! Whoa!" She says clutching her chest,

She huffs out and whines, "I said half! Idiot, all of it is overwhelming! Which you've figured out now, it'll pass in a second."

About a minute goes by and she sits up and moans. "Ugh, holy crap..."

He chuckles and shakes his head, "You okay?"

She needs, "Yeah, sorry I used it all."

"Don't worry, you were skeptical, come on, let's get out of here."

He grabs his pistol off the floor and holsters it. She gets to her feet and looks at him, wondering if he really is on their side.

Atlas starts over to May, she thinks about insisting on picking up May and binding her exremitites but she isn't sure this guy Atlas isn't tricking her.

He binds May's arms and ankles and picks her up. He turns to look at Toni, she holds her hand out.

"You might have just saved me, but that doesn't mean I trust you just yet, give me the pistol."

"Fair enough. Take it."

She narrows her eyes, "Just so you know, my leg and arm's max force is that of the weight of a railroad tie and a half."

His eyes widen, "....good thing you're on our side."

She hesitantly moves closer and quickly draws his pistol out of the holster and backs away.

She aims it up at him, "Let's go."

"Sure thing, just tell me where I'm going." he says as he starts for the way he came in.

She follows, but not too close, he stops and looks back with narrowed eyes.

"Can you really hit with the with the strength of a hundred and forty pounds?"

"You've never lifted one have you? More like three hundred pounds, that's not including the speed I have."

He keeps his eyes narrowed, she doesn't flinch or lower the gun at all. She raises her robotic arm and slams her fist through a thick stone pillar next to her, it practically explodes. Atlas jumps and drops May. He hits the floor with a silent thump.

He looks at Toni, "Holy crap...Toni, that was freaking awesome!"

She looks at May and back. He looks down at her, "S-sorry, she'll be fine."

He picks up May again, "Sorry I just, really wasn't expecting that, you're pretty cool Toni."

She frowns, "You...arent going to ask about it?"

"What the arm and leg? Why would I?" he asks as he walks outside,

"Well, it's usually the first thing people question. Why I look like a monster."

"It's personal first off, I understand boundaries, don't get me wrong if it helps talking about it, I'm all ears, but I'm not about to innapropriately pry into your business. Being a Syndicate member means risk."

"No, this is from the Civtia War. It's where we first learned about the Agency. I was nine when the morter hit. Now I'm...some monster."

Atlas grunts angrily and this time purposefully let's May drop, almost throws her to the ground. He turns to Toni, who steps back in surprise and grips the pistol tighter.

"They are nothing Toni! They are wrong and evil, if they aren't they refuse to understand why we are the good guys! You are no monster, I've seen plenty, trust me!...This stays between us."

He deactivates his suit, pulls his shirt off and turns so she can see his back.

The pistol she holds lowers slightly as she stares in shock at the massive mark on his back.

"The agency branded me when I was eleven, I tried to fight back because they killed my family. I hate them. You aren't a monster Toni. How they treat us, they could leave us alone but no, they need to rule over us."

Toni lowers the pistol. "I'm sorry Atlas. Why did you never say anything to us?"

"The less you knew the better, now of course it doesnt matter."

"Atlas, if you were with us, why be hidden for so incredibly long?"

"I wanted to understand their logic, I'd never change sides, I hated them, I didn't want to risk blowing my cover by revealing myself. But...I didn't understand why they fought. I never could find secrets and all I received were lies."

"Not anymore, you're not alone."

He pulls his shirt on again and activates his suit. "This is going to end Toni. No more hiding, no more fighting or being controlled."

He picks up May, "For now, let's go home."

She smiles, she walks over and puts his pistol in his holster that has appeared with the suit.

They start to the outskirts of the state, about 15 miles out they find an underground tunnel in an old house that's overgrown with ivy and make their way to the underground city, The Syndicate.