Letting It Out

They stood facing each other in the living room, the weight of Natasha's revelation still hanging in the air between them. Anna's hands were clasped in front of her, fingers intertwined in a way that betrayed her nervousness despite her composed expression.

"What is it, Anna?" Lucien asked, noting the careful distance she was maintaining between them. There was something different about her posture, a tension that was there even before Natasha's visit.

Anna took a deep breath, as if gathering courage for something she'd been thinking about for a long time. Her eyes met his briefly, then darted away before returning with renewed determination.

"From the prison to here, you've been taking care of everything. I'm grateful for that... truly." Her voice was steady, but he could hear the underlying current of something deeper. "Every decision, every plan, every risk—it's all been on your shoulders."

She looked out the window briefly, watching the people far below going about their normal lives, then back at him.

"You protected me during the times when I had no hope of being saved anymore. I thought we were gonna die in that lab, Lucien. I really did."

"Every day, every experiment, every time they strapped us to those tables and drew our blood like we were nothing more than research subjects—I thought that was it."

Her voice grew stronger as she continued, the words coming faster as if she'd been rehearsing this conversation in her head.

"Those nights when I could hear you in the next cell, when they'd bring you back from their tests and you could barely stand—you still found ways to reassure me. To make me believe we might actually survive."

Anna's hands unclenched, and she gestured slightly, her movements more animated now. "And then you broke us free of those shackles. You fought through those guards, those Sentinels, people with guns and weapons designed to kill us. You were like a hero... my hero."

Lucien started to speak, wanting to tell her that he'd been terrified too, that her presence had been what kept him from giving up entirely, but Anna held up a hand.

"But at this point," she continued, her voice dropping to something quieter but more intense, "I feel like I'm a burden on you. Some soft toy you have to protect from harm, some delicate thing that needs to be shielded from the real world."

"Anna, it's not like that—" he began, but she cut him off with a look.

"Please," she said firmly, "let me say this. I need to get this out, and if I don't do it now, I might lose my nerve."

He nodded, though every instinct told him to interrupt, to reassure her that she was wrong about being a burden. But something in her expression told him this was important, that she needed to work through this herself.

Anna's voice wavered slightly, but she pressed on. "I feel weak. I know I am, but it stings more than I can explain. You're doing all the hard work, making all the decisions, taking all the risks. You're the one who fought our way out, who negotiated with SHIELD, who handled that situation with Spider-Man."

She laughed a bit, but there was no humor in it—just a bitter edge that he'd never heard from her before. "And what am I doing? Being the pretty little princess who gets rescued? The damsel in distress who needs to be carried to safety?"

Anna began pacing slightly, her energy building as she spoke. "I watch you planning, strategizing, preparing for whatever comes next, and I just... sit there. I contribute nothing meaningful to our survival or our future. I'm like baggage you feel obligated to carry."

"I don't want that, Lucien," she said, stopping abruptly and facing him directly. "I can't stand it anymore. This feeling of uselessness, of being dead weight in your life. I also want to be of use to you, to contribute something meaningful to what you're doing. So please... help me get stronger. I want to be stronger."

Lucien was quiet for a moment, processing her words and the pain behind them. When he spoke, his voice was careful, measured. "Anna... the only reason I wasn't asking anything of you is because almost everything I do, and everything I'm gonna do, is going to need me to kill someone."

He paused, letting that sink in before continuing. "Those researchers in the facility, the guards who kept us locked up, the people who ran that place—I didn't just fight them. I killed them. Deliberately. And when Natasha comes back with the mission details about those other facilities, I'm going to do it again."

"Last time, I doubted myself and let a few of them live, but this time, I will kill them all."

He held her gaze steadily, his voice growing quieter but more intense.

"There's blood on my hands, and I have no regrets about it. I know that they deserved what they got. But I didn't want to drag you into that darkness."

Anna's expression shifted, surprise replacing the resolve she'd been building. Her eyebrows drew together as she processed what he'd said.

"Why did you assume I was going to back out from that?" she asked, her voice carrying a challenge that surprised him.

The question hung between them, direct and unflinching.

"If I had a useful power," she continued, her voice gaining strength and conviction, "and in that lab, instead of you, if I was capable of taking us out of that prison... I would have done the same for you."

"I would have killed every single one of those bastards who kept milking our blood as if we were cattle."

She stepped closer, her eyes blazing with an intensity he'd rarely seen from her. "Those people who called us subjects instead of using our names, who discussed our 'potential applications' like we were products to be developed—I would have made them pay for every single day they kept us locked up."

Lucien was startled by the vehemence in her voice.

Anna had always seemed so gentle, so careful with her words and actions, always worried about accidentally hurting someone with her touch. But the anger radiating from her now was raw and real, and completely justified.

"You know, Lucien," Anna said, her tone growing quieter but more intense, "it might be the first time for you to kill... but not for me."

That stopped him cold. "What?"

Anna's hands clenched into fists at her sides, and for a moment, she looked younger than her years—like the frightened girl she'd been when her powers first manifested.

"When I was fourteen, four thieves broke into our house and I was alone. Mama was working late at the diner, and Papa had been dead for two years already." Her voice was steady despite the pain in her eyes. "You can imagine what those lowlifes would try to do to a girl alone in the house, can't you?"

Lucien felt something cold settle in his stomach as he understood what she was telling him. His hands clenched unconsciously, anger building up inside him.

"They thought I was helpless," Anna continued, her voice taking on a distant quality as she remembered. "Just some small-town girl who couldn't fight back. They were laughing about what they were going to do to me, making jokes about how long they'd take their time."

She met his eyes directly, unflinching. "Just when they were trying to push me down, when one of them grabbed my wrist to hold me still, they all died. One touch, and they just... collapsed. Drained completely. All four of them, in seconds."

Anna's voice grew stronger as she continued. "And I cried afterward, but then I laughed too. I was saved by the same powers that feel like a curse today. For the first time in my life, my abilities protected me instead of isolating me."

She looked directly at him, her gaze unwavering. "I have no trauma or regret about that day. In fact, I feel I was right. I know I was right. They would have destroyed me, violated me, probably killed me when they were done, and instead, they got exactly what they deserved."

The silence stretched between them as Lucien absorbed this revelation.

Anna had killed before, had faced that choice and made it without hesitation when her life and dignity were on the line. She understood the weight of taking a life and had chosen to carry it.

"So don't think blood is gonna stop me," Anna said with quiet resolve, "because I know that with you, that blood won't be of any innocents, but of those who deserve it."

"So please, sugar," she said, her voice dropping to almost a whisper, "help me get stronger so I can be of use to you. So I can stand beside you instead of behind you."

Lucien had a dozen things he wanted to say—that she was already useful, that protecting her wasn't a burden but a privilege, that her presence had been the only thing keeping him anchored to his humanity during those dark months.

But looking at her now, seeing the determination in her eyes and the steel in her voice, he realized that what she needed wasn't reassurance.

She needed respect for her choice.

Without another word, he stepped forward and pulled her into a hug.

Anna melted against him, her arms wrapping around his back as if she'd been holding herself together by sheer will and could finally let go.

"Alright, Anna," he whispered into her ear, his voice rough with emotion. "I'll help you become stronger. And just know that you never were, are, or ever will be a burden to me."

He pulled back slightly so he could see her face, noting the tears that had gathered at the corners of her eyes. "You were the only thing that kept me sane in that place. When they'd drag me back from their tests and I could barely think straight, hearing your voice through that wall reminded me who I was fighting for."

Anna's breath hitched slightly as she listened.

"But I respect your resolve," he continued, "so I'll help you become stronger. Give me some time to figure things out—how to train your powers, how to help you develop better control, how to make sure you can protect yourself when I'm not around."

Anna nodded against his shoulder, and he could feel moisture seeping through his shirt as she finally let herself cry.

Not from sadness or fear, but from relief—relief that she'd finally said what needed to be said, that he'd heard her, that they could move forward together instead of him carrying everything alone.

"Thank you," she whispered, her voice muffled against his shirt. "Thank you for listening. Thank you for understanding."

They stayed like that for a long time, but only after a few minutes did they separate.

"So what do we do first?" she asked, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand.

"First, I deal with the facilities Natasha told us about—there are kids in there right now going through what we went through. Kids who are probably praying for someone to save them."

"And after that, I will figure out how to make you stronger."

She nodded, and after a bit, she started to prepare breakfast, as Lucien went to call Galacta for breakfast.

As soon as Galacta heard about food, she immediately joined, and around a hour later, he got a call, as his face turned serious.

The call was from Natasha, the team was ready and now, it was time for some action.

.....

POWER STONE GOAL: 700 ( 1 Extra Chapter)

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