Darn Stupid Brother You Are by Mairee

Chapter 117

(Angel's POV)

The room was suffocating. I sucked in air as the reality of the situation sank in. Dr. Nixon-Aurora-stood before us with her face no longer covered by a mask. She still looked unaffected and cold. The mastermind behind all of this horror had been right in front of us the entire time.

I turned to my mom as my voice trembled. What is she even doing here? "Is it true, Mom? All Hendrix told me about you conspiring with Joe?"

She flinched and her gaze darted to the floor. Her hands clenched and unclenched at her sides as if she wanted to grab the words back before they could even escape her lips. "Angel..."

"Tell me!" I shouted; the betrayal stung deeper than any wound.

She didn't answer, but her silence spoke volumes. My knees nearly buckled. The woman I'd looked up to, the one I'd wanted to believe had my best interests at heart, had been a part of this nightmare.

I turned back to Nixon. "You pretended to be our ally. You fed us lies, acted like you were helping us. And now we find out you've been running this hellhole all along? How could you?"

Her lips curled into a bitter smile. "How could I? That's a question I've been asked my entire life, Angel. How could I survive when no one else did? How could I rise above the filth that tried to swallow me whole? You wouldn't understand." Before I could reply, the door burst open, and Dr. Joe stormed in with a gun in hand.

"Aurora!" he barked, his eyes wild. "You're running out of time. We need to leave" His words trailed off when his gaze landed on us. His confusion quickly morphed into anger. "What the hell is this?"

Aurora didn't flinch. "Relax, Joe. I've got it under control."

But Joe's expression twisted further when he truly saw her-wigless, maskless, exposed. "You?" he stammered in equal disbelief. "It was you all along?"

Aurora's smirk didn't waver. "Surprise."

Joe raised the gun, but Aurora moved faster. With a flash of a move, she grabbed his wrist, twisted it, and sent the weapon clattering to the ground. She shoved him aside, and before I could react, she bolted toward the hallway. "Go after her!" Hendrix shouted, already moving.

We chased Aurora through the center, past blinking monitors and walls smeared with the remnants of the rebellion. My legs burned as I pushed myself to keep up, my lungs screaming for air.

We burst through a set of double doors and onto a balcony overlooking the facility grounds. Aurora was cornered, her back to the edge. The chaos below was a fitting backdrop for the monster she truly was.

She held the gun she'd retrieved from the ground and aimed it at us with a steady hand. "Stay back," she warned, sounding eerily calm.

ends well for you?" Hendrix

out a hollow laugh. "You're all so naïve. Do you know how much this operation is worth? How many lives

"You've butchered innocent people, destroyed families. For what?

just like you once, Angel. A scared little girl with no one to protect her. Do you know what men did to me? How they laughed as they ripped

eyes didn't burn out. "I decided to take control. To make them pay. Every bastard who thought they could use me, own me I made them pay. And then I realized... why stop there? The world is full of monsters. Why

disgust. "You're not a savior. You're just another monster. You justify your greed and your crimes with some twisted idea of justice, but you're no better than the people you claim

how many had to die

she tightened her grip on the gun. "You think I wanted this? You think I dreamed of running a place like this? No, Angel. I wanted to disappear, to erase every single scar those bastards left on me. But the world doesn't let you heal-not if you're weak. Not if

no different from them. He looks at me and sees what he thinks he can control. A junior doctor, a

I realized something. The world is full of men like them. Men who think they own the world. So I started taking from them, one by one. Their money, their power, their lives. They deserved it, every last one. And then I found a way to turn their destruction into profit. Why

You're justifying mass

cut. "Better? I'm not better, Angel. I'm worse. Because I know exactly what I've done. But don't stand there and act like you wouldn't do the same if the tables were turned. You think you're different, that you wouldn't break if the world ripped you apart like it did to me?" She took a step forward as her eyes continued burning with a terrifying intensity. "You're

justice it's greed. It's selfishness. You stopped fighting for survival a long time ago, and

spine. "You don't understand the scale of what I've built, Angel. Do you think this center is the only one? Oh no. This is just one cog in the machine. The demand grew. The market for fresh organs, especially from young, healthy bodies... it's insatiable. Do you know what the elite are willing to pay for youth, for vitality? They don't care where it comes from. They just want to live longer, look

That's who." Aurora's voice dropped into an unnatural tone. "This isn't just my revenge, Angel. This is a system. A perfectly oiled, profitable machine that exploits the cruelty of this

to scream, to lunge at her and make her stop talking. But her words pinned me in place. Each one was a revelation that felt like a dagger in

pay. It doesn't keep the lights on. It doesn't fund the operation. But harvesting... that's the future. That's the world we live in." Her voice softened, almost wistful. "At first, I thought I was helping. I targeted the worst of the worst-men who deserved to lose everything. But then, the demand grew, and I had to adapt. I

profit, suffering into a business. And you think that makes you powerful? All it makes

crack in her confidence. But her voice remained steady and her grip on the gun

my mouth to reply, Hendrix, who we both forgot about at

from the hallway and knocked the gun from her hand. It clattered to the floor as he lunged at her. The two of them struggled near the

into Hendrix's thigh. He groaned in pain but didn't let go,

gun and threw it over the edge, ensuring it

but I met her head-on and slammed into her with

she dangled above the chaos below. For a moment, I thought

froze. Authorities had flooded the grounds. Their presence was an

and I could see the rage and resignation in them. Would she finally give up? "You think you've won?" she hissed. Before I could

plummet to her death, but a net

behind us burst open, and the rest of the group ran onto the balcony. Cylan