False Gods | The Prime Archives #3 ✓

thirty-four

Stella wasn't healing as fast as she would've liked.

A week had passed since the battle at the now destroyed Atlas headquarters and her face was still marred by yellow and red bruises. Most of her cuts and scrapes had healed, but the state of her face irritated her to no end.

Scowling, she looked away from the bathroom mirror. Balancing on the crutches beneath her armpits, she hobbled into the dorm room given to her Fort Carson, the famous military base in Colorado.

She eased herself onto the bed, careful not to aggravate her injured leg. It had been broken during her fall from the lab. She still wasn't quite sure how she survived, but everyone kept saying it was Cassie.

Her face fell at the thought of the girl.

There had been no sign of her after the battle. Though, combing through the destruction of The Acropolis was no easy task. In fact, they were still searching through the rubble for bodies and clues.

They wouldn't find her, though. Or Orion. Or Victor. They were gone.

The funeral for Cassie and Victor was the day before. Stella still hadn't recovered from the emotional rollercoaster that was. Everyone was a wreck—especially Bella, Victor's pregnant girlfriend. When the news broke that she was carrying their unborn child, Stella nearly broke down into tears herself.

Chase spoke on his behalf at the wake; he barely could keep it together as he gave his speech. Had it not been for Victor, Cassie wouldn't have been able to defeat Orion. None of them would have survived the battle had he not confronted Orion while the others were escaping. He saved them. He saved them all.

Stella wouldn't forget that. For so long, he had been an enemy. Someone to defeat. In the end, he was her savior. She would forever be grateful for his sacrifices.

A broken sigh left Stella's lips.

She didn't get to witness the final battle. When she woke up, she was already in an infirmary next to Emily and Andre. Chase, Oscar, and Xiomara had survived the fall as well. She had been expecting more casualties. She was glad there wasn't.

Reaching across the bed, she grabbed the TV remote and switched to the news. She couldn't bear to sit in silence for another second. Some background noise was needed.

Though, she quickly realized what a mistake that was. For the past seven days, every news medium across the world had been reporting on one thing and one thing only. The Battle of The Acropolis. That's what they were calling it.

Following the fight, information about Dr. Johansson's Operation Olympian leaked online. Stella wasn't sure who leaked it, but she didn't care. It needed to be out.

That was the first domino to fall.

For once, the public was on the side of the Primes. They condemned the massive government oversight that led to a murderous super Prime threatening to unleash his 'brothers and sisters' upon the world. They staged protests and rallies calling for General North's arrest. Some even demanded President Crane's impeachment once it was revealed he was aware of the entire thing.

Stella thought back to the book she once saw Orion reading.

1984. George Orwell. A classic.

In a way, they had been living through a similar situation during General North's three-year reign. He fed the world propaganda about how they needed Atlas and how their enemies were the Primes ruining the world. But the glass ceiling was broken now. Everyone was seeing through the government—and Atlas'—façade.

Primes weren't the enemy.

But men like the general was.

General North and those affiliated with him were quickly charged and put on trial for conspiracies of world domination and treason. They would be spending a long time behind bars. Zeo Labs was dissolved, their research put under lock and key. Anything involved in Operation Olympian—including the other eleven vessels Dr. Johansson had stashed away in her private lab—were destroyed.