Endless Evolution: Last Star

Magnus nodded silently.

He told everything that had happened nine years ago, in detail. He was not going to hide anything, for until now, that day had been the best day of his life, because he created his masterpiece that now stood faithfully in front of him.

"Wait... but I can\'t understand something..." Adam whispered puzzled, "Obviously the scars should have remained after the treatment, but it\'s been nine years since then. I\'m sure your skills are more than enough to make sure there\'s no trace of Nessa\'s scars."

Magnus narrowed his eyes, staring intently at Adam. He was about to say something, but Nessa interrupted him by taking a step to the side.

"Father, let me tell them." Nessa waved her hand.

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Magnus\'s eyes went wide with surprise as he looked confusedly at Adam and Silvana. It had been a long time since Nessa had last called him that in public. It was unfamiliar to him.

"Fine, do what you want. We\'ve already told too much anyway, at least I didn\'t expect it to go this far." Magnus touched his forehead with his fingertips, shaking his head.

Nessa looked intently at Adam, for the first time causing his gaze to shift from her body to her eyes. He could sense the seriousness from her and could no longer continue to be disrespectful.

Now she was no longer the mad scientist\'s assistant, but the only hybrid who could fuse with the monster\'s cells.

"You\'re right. The scars I got when I was wounded have long since healed. Within the first three months of recovery, to be exact. Those scars I have on me now were given to me by my father." Nessa said confidently.

Adam\'s eyes went wide, Silvana flinched as her mind filled with various thoughts.

If Magnus was the father and Nessa was his daughter, though not biologically, then that meant he was seriously beating her... wasn\'t it?

"Yes, everything you might think is true. My father treated me like a wild beast. Those wounds were not some mistake or failed experiment." Nessa pointed to her back, "It was a long, painful, and persistent process."

Adam gulped.

He may not have had the best life before he became a Phantom, growing up in the slums, the worst place in the Citadel, but even there he always had a safe, warm spot - his family.

The monsters, the murders, the pain, the moral anguish, the dilemmas, seeing your fellows die, it was all hard, but Adam didn\'t even want to imagine how horrible it was to be beaten by your own father or mother, to the point of leaving scars.

Well, Adam was right and wrong at the same time. Domestic violence was a terrible thing, but Adam shouldn\'t forget that if he had a good family, not everyone was as lucky as he was.

In this world, there were many whose parents were not protectors and main supportive pillars, but devils in the flesh constantly ruining the child\'s life.

Adam glanced at Magnus, then at Nessa, and then back at Magnus. His gaze ran back and forth, as if trying to determine who he should start with.

"Before you begin to jump to conclusions, there\'s something you need to understand. There is no anger or resentment in me towards my father, I don\'t want to get back at him or anything like that. On the contrary, I\'m grateful to him, for many things including these scars I\'ve decided to keep." Nessa said seriously showing that she wasn\'t joking.

Adam\'s fingertips trembled as well as his lips, and his gaze filled with incomprehension.

"You\'re delusional... What the hell are you talking about..." Adam muttered.

Nessa slowly turned to Magnus.

"I said that my father treated me like a beast because he had his reasons. The most basic one is that I treated my father like my prey." Nessa took a deep breath, clearly worried, "Father... please show him..."

Magnus nodded, partially lifting his clothes and bare all the way down to his chest. He turned slightly showing the numerous scars that seemed to be left by the claws and fangs of some beast or even monster... It seemed that Magnus had even more scars than Nessa.

"What does all this mean...? What happened between you two?" Silvana couldn\'t stand it and asked. This whole situation was getting weirder by every minute.

She wanted an answer, but each time there were new details that made her doubt her conclusions.

Nessa nodded.

"I\'m sure we\'ve made many mistakes as father and daughter, but given our unique situation, we\'ve handled it more than admirably. It\'s all about puberty, or rather it\'s the timing of that event that fits our situation perfectly." Nessa proceeded to explain.

"About a year after my father took me from the slums and made me a hybrid, when I started to withdraw from treatment and enjoy a simple life, a critical moment came...

I mean, I lived in the lab, not as a lab rat but as a human being, I went to cafes, movies, stores, and museums. I played sports, took the necessary tests in my case, and was interested in various hobbies..." Nessa bit her lip, clutching her forearm, it was hard for her to talk about it.

Nevertheless, she continued because it was already too late to back out.

"One day, we went to a cafe that I liked, it had my favorite strawberry milkshake. I was happy and ready to take my first sip, but... some boy accidentally bumped into me, we both fell to the ground as well as my milkshake..."

"The situation is the most usual, kids are clumsy and hyperactive, moreover that guy immediately apologized and gave me a hand to help me up. But... what did I do?" Nessa gulped as tears were ready to rush from her eyes.

"I only looked at my spilled milkshake and I got angry... With a sharp movement, I grabbed his arm and ripped it away from his body. Before he could realize anything, my nails pierced his throat, taking his life."

Adam and Silvana looked at each other, they hadn\'t expected this at all. The boy\'s fate was horrible, but what surprised them more was the fact that Nessa was already strong enough to do something like that as a kid.

"It took my father a while to take action, in that time I killed seven people." Nessa took a deep breath.

"Sure, father took care of everything, and the case was closed to both the police and the military with the government. However... the problem remained, and many times I literally went crazy and attacked my father. No medication, sleeping pills, or even drugs had any effect on me, only pain and primal fear proved to be the least bit effective." Nessa said, pointing to her scars.

"Over the years, as I grew older, I gradually calmed down and became more aware. I haven\'t had any outbursts of anger in years and it looks like I won\'t since puberty is long gone." Nessa sighed, finishing her explanation.

Adam looked up, then directed his gaze to his hands covered in small scars.

"So... despite your capabilities, you chose to keep the scars, didn\'t you?" Adam looked up.

Nessa and Magnus nodded at the same time.

For the first time in a long period, Magnus spoke up:

"We\'re doing well now, but we mustn\'t forget the hard times, because making it through hardships, no matter how brutal, that how we forge a future in which those scars will be proud memories rather than a difficult present." Magnus said with a slight wave of his hand.

Obviously, in those nine years, Magnus had had new and unexpected experiences being a father and had himself grown as a man and a person.

Sure, he was a genius at everything science-related, but that was only part of life, not all of it, so... like most he had to face problems, solve them, and become a better person.

Well... considering Nessa was a hybrid, they both had a hard time.

"So..." Adam muttered, looking around at the girls in the pods, "You\'re trying to replicate your success with Nessa?"

Magnus nodded.

"Something like that, but... it\'s not that simple. After all, as you realize, in nine years I\'m not even close to my goal. Or rather, one of many..." Magnus said thoughtfully.