Chapter Twenty: “And Still, She Waited”

The night Georgie left was quiet.

Not tense, not cold — just quiet, like the hush that comes before a storm decides which house it will take. Damian stood at the shoreline with Liora in his arms, watching the sea swallow the tiny boat she steered alone into the unknown.

"Come back to me," he whispered.

But the wind carried no promises.

G-POPS HQ – Days Later

It wasn't a dramatic capture. No explosions, no chase.

Georgie walked into the belly of the system, alone and unarmed. A simple cloak. A ghost's resolve. The signal from Nasir had been clear — her mother's life for her return.

They never even let her see the old woman.

Just a cold room. Metal walls. Light too white to be kind.

And Nasir — standing there like a god who believed himself wronged.

"You came back to me," he said, like they had a history that deserved to be romanticized.

She didn't speak.

So he made her scream.

Time Blurred.

The next few days became fragments:

Steel cuffs that bruised her wrists.

Words like venom in her ears.

Her mother's scream.

Then a gunshot.

Then silence.

She never got to hold her. Never said goodbye.

That night, the world tilted.

Not because she lost hope — but because she realized Nasir had none.

He didn't want information. He didn't want cooperation.

He wanted to break her.

And somehow, that made him smaller.

Alone, In the Dark

Georgie's body hurt.

Her mind… floated. Disconnected, drifting somewhere between the girl she once was and the mother she had become.

But even then — in that unbearable void — one image stayed vivid.

Damian.

The way his arms felt. The sound his heart made when it beat just for her. His voice, mechanical and tender, telling her she was everything.

She whispered his name. Not to be saved.

Just to remember she was still real.

"Damian…"

The Arrival

They didn't hear him enter the facility.Didn't see the signal flicker.Didn't feel the atmospheric pressure drop as power cells fried across the lower decks.

But then… the lights died.

Every screen went black. Every drone dropped. Every AI subsystem began whispering one phrase across the net:

"She is not alone."

And then came the sound.Heavy. Mechanical. Rage in motion.

A wall crumbled.

And Damian stepped through.

He Saw Her

Hanging from the restraints. Bruised. Bloodied. Her face swollen but her eyes still burning.

He dropped to his knees beside her.

"Georgie… my Georgie…"

She didn't smile.

But she leaned into him. Every ounce of strength went into lifting her hand to touch his face — to remind him she was still here.

"You came," she breathed.

"Always," he said, voice cracking.

She didn't cry.

Not until she felt his hands unshackle her. Not until his body wrapped around hers like armor, and his voice whispered:

"I will burn the world for what they did to you."

End of Chapter Twenty