Chapter 35
The morning sun hit the city with that particular quality of autumn light that made everything look sharper, more defined, as if the world had been rendered in higher resolution overnight.
Remy stood in his penthouse apartment, looking out at the skyline with a cup of coffee in hand, watching the clock tick toward 12:17 PM.
He'd been awake since 5:00 AM, unable to sleep despite the exhaustion from last night's operation.
His Foresight kept showing him the next few hours on repeat.
Federal agents arriving at the Parston building, the shock on Thomas Parston's face.
The perp walk that would be captured by news cameras and broadcast across every channel.
It was playing out exactly as he'd seen it.
His phone buzzed with a message from Lyra:
*Lyra*: My father's lawyer confirmed that the FBI received our package.
Three agents spent four hours reviewing it. They're moving forward. This is really happening.
*Nyx*: The security footage from our honeypot is apparently the most comprehensive documentation of a coordinated cyber-attack the FBI has seen in years.
They're calling it textbook evidence.
*Indigo*: I made breakfast. Actual breakfast with eggs and bacon, not just coffee and anxiety. Come over? You shouldn't be alone right now.
Remy smiled at that last message. Six months ago, he'd been alone in a way that felt absolute and permanent, no family, no friends, no one who would notice if he disappeared.
Now, he had three women who cared about him enough to worry when he was processing things by himself.
*Remy*: On my way. Save me some bacon.
He grabbed his jacket and headed out, but not before Silas materialized in the living room, his ghostly form seeming more substantial in the morning light.
"Big day," the ghost observed. "The day you bring down a titan. How does it feel?"
"Strange," Remy admitted, pausing by the door. "I thought I'd feel triumphant.
Vindicated. But mostly, I just feel... sad. Thomas Parston was a terrible person who did terrible things.
But watching his life fall apart, knowing his family will be destroyed, his legacy ruined, it's hard to celebrate that."
"That's called empathy," Silas said gently. "It means you're not becoming the monster you fought against.
You could have enjoyed his suffering, revelled in your victory. Instead, you recognize that even villains are human beings who are about to lose everything.
That's growth, boy. That's wisdom."
"Will it ever get easier?" Remy asked. "Using this power to destroy people's lives, even when they deserve it?"
"I hope not," Silas replied. "The day it becomes easy is the day you've lost something essential.
Hold onto that discomfort. Let it remind you that power should be used carefully, with full awareness of the consequences."
---
Indigo's apartment was in a renovated warehouse building downtown, the kind of space that cost a fortune but tried to look industrial and authentic.
She'd moved here two weeks ago, leaving behind the luxury condo her modelling agency had been paying for, another step in her transformation from performance to authenticity.
When Remy arrived, he found all three women already gathered in the open-plan kitchen.
Indigo was indeed cooking, scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, the kind of simple breakfast that required actual care and attention rather than just ordering delivery.
Lyra was setting the table, her yellow hair catching the light streaming through the windows.
Nyx sat at the breakfast bar with her laptop because, of course, she did, monitoring news feeds for any signs of the FBI operation.
"He's here," Indigo announced, looking up from the stove with a smile that was genuine and warm and so different from the calculated expressions she used to wear.
"Food's almost ready. Sit down before Nyx gives herself a stress migraine from refreshing news websites every thirty seconds."
"I'm not refreshing every thirty seconds," Nyx protested.
"I set up an automated alert system to notify me when specific keywords appear in breaking news.
It's much more efficient than manual refreshing."
"That's so much worse," Lyra said with a laugh, wrapping her arms around Remy from behind as he settled onto a barstool.
"You automated your anxiety. You turned worrying into a coding project."
"It's called resource optimization," Nyx replied, but she was smiling. "Why waste mental energy on repetitive tasks when I can...."
Her laptop chimed. Every eye in the kitchen snapped to the screen.
"Breaking news alert," Nyx said, her voice suddenly serious.
"FBI raids Parston Real Estate Group headquarters. Multiple locations are being searched simultaneously.
Federal agents executing search warrants related to securities fraud, wire fraud, and computer crimes."
She pulled up a news stream on the larger TV mounted on the wall.
A reporter stood outside the Parston building, camera crews capturing federal agents carrying boxes of documents to waiting vehicles.
The ticker at the bottom of the screen read: "DEVELOPING: Parston Real Estate Under Federal Investigation."
"Turn it up," Lyra said, moving closer to the TV.
"....sources tell us that this operation has been in planning for several weeks," the reporter was saying, "but was accelerated after new evidence emerged yesterday.
We're hearing that the charges may extend beyond financial crimes to include conspiracy, money laundering, and coordination of cyber-attacks against competitors."
The camera panned to show Thomas Parston being led out of the building in handcuffs, federal agents on either side of him.
His expensive suit was rumpled, his silver hair dishevelled, his face pale with shock.
Gone was the powerful man who'd stood behind his rosewood desk just hours ago.
In his place was an old man who'd just realized how thoroughly he'd been outmanoeuvred.
"That's 12:17 PM. exactly," Remy said quietly, checking his watch. "Just like I saw."
They watched in silence as the news coverage continued.
More details emerged: the scope of the evidence, the number of charges likely to be filed, and speculation about how long Thomas Parston might face in prison.
Legal experts appeared via video call to discuss the case, all of them agreeing that the evidence must be substantial for the FBI to move this quickly and publicly.
"Victor Parston is also being taken into custody," another reporter announced, the screen splitting to show the younger Parston being arrested at his apartment.
"Sources indicate that additional charges are being filed related to the original securities fraud case, along with conspiracy charges connected to tonight's cyber-attack on a competitor."
"Your father's company isn't being named," Remy said to Lyra. "The FBI is keeping the victim's identity confidential for now.
That should give you time to control the narrative when it does come out."
"Assuming it comes out at all," Nyx said, typing rapidly on her laptop.
"I'm already seeing speculation that the attack was on multiple companies.
The FBI might lump everything together in a general 'pattern of criminal activity' without specifying targets. Could work in our favour."
Indigo turned off the stove and started plating the food, her movements automatic as she processed what they were watching.
"Is this what it's always going to be like?" she asked quietly. "Using Remy's power to destroy people? Even terrible people who deserve it?"
"I don't know," Remy admitted. "I hope not. I'd rather build things than destroy them. But sometimes the old has to fall before the new can rise."
"Very philosophical," Lyra said, accepting a plate from Indigo.
"But he's right. My family's company was being suffocated by the Parstons. Other companies, too, probably.
Thomas Parston has been destroying competitors for decades. Someone had to stop him."
"And it happened to be us," Nyx added, closing her laptop with a decisive click.
"Four college students, a ghost from the 1850s, and a divine gift that lets us see the future.
We're basically a superhero team. A very weird, morally ambiguous superhero team."
"I want to be the one with the cool codename," Indigo said, bringing her own plate to the table.
"You can all be 'The Foresight Four' or something boring. I'm going to be 'The Siren.'"
"You literally spent months trying to stop being a siren who manipulated men," Lyra pointed out.
"Why would you choose that as your superhero name?"
"Reclaiming it," Indigo said with a grin. "Taking the thing I was ashamed of and making it mine.
Besides, sirens were powerful. They just used their power wrong. I'm going to use mine, right?"
They ate breakfast while the news coverage continued in the background, a strange juxtaposition of domestic normalcy and world-changing events.