Ethan stared at her without blinking. He saw how perfectly she held herself, the ideal face of the city. But within a few seconds, he noticed something was wrong.
Anna continued her speech, talking about the new "Prime-Blood" program, a revolutionary means of protecting citizens from threats. She spoke of a new era of security and a strong hand that would protect everyone.
Then a crisis began inside her.
Her gaze lost focus for a second. She saw a flashback. Blood on the streets. People screaming. Vampires tearing through the crowd. Bodies on the asphalt.
She herself, standing next to Gerard, giving orders. She saw people burning in flames, being turned into test subjects, their lives reduced to nothing more than expendable material.
Anna's voice faltered slightly.
"We… we must protect…" She stumbled for a fraction of a second but quickly regained control.
"We must protect those who cannot protect themselves."
Ethan noticed it. He quickly took out his phone and typed a short message:
«Guys, I think we're in trouble.»
Then he made a quiet hand gesture, raising his palm to chest level, clenching his fist and slowly opening it, as if saying: "Oh God, thank you, you understood my hint."
It seemed that Gerard's vampires were also present at the event, though no one knew if Gerard himself was there.
Anna noticed. Her gaze stopped on Ethan in the crowd for a moment. For a second, her eyes warmed.
"We will do this together," she continued, now more confidently.
"For the future of our city and the future of all of us."
The speech ended with applause. Anna smiled, nodded, and stepped down from the stage.
But as soon as she went backstage, she began to shake.
She leaned against the wall, closed her eyes, and breathed heavily, trying to catch her breath. The flashbacks continued spinning in her head, her own reflection as an accomplice.
"I can't do this anymore…" she whispered to herself.
"I can't play both sides. I can't…"
She understood that she had just helped Gerard again. She had promoted his lies and covered up his crimes.
Flash's team moved silently through the maze of abandoned corridors in the restricted zone. Richard. That was who they were looking for.
"Richard!" Flash called out, stopping a few meters away. His voice echoed off the concrete walls.
"It's over. Come out. We know you're here."
The figure slowly turned around. A familiar smile glinted from under the hood, but something about it was wrong.
The man raised his hands and in one smooth motion shrugged off the cloak. The fabric fell to the floor like shed snakeskin, revealing a tall, athletic figure,Gerard. His face, usually hidden behind a mask of politeness, now radiated cold, almost divine triumph.
"Richard?" Gerard laughed softly, and the laughter was velvet-smooth.
"Poor, naive Richard. He was nothing more than bait. You're all starting to bore me."
Susie, standing behind Flash, instinctively reached for her weapon. The rest of the team froze.
Gerard took a step forward, spreading his arms in a theatrical gesture. His eyes burned with manic inspiration.
"You still don't understand, do you? You're all blind. He drowns in his own weakness, in pathetic rules and moral chains. But today… today he will witness a new weapon."
"A weapon that will rewrite the laws. I will give him chaos, purification through fire and blood. And you, my dears, will be the first witnesses of this miracle. Or its first victims, whichever comes first."
Flash didn't wait for him to finish speaking. In an instant, he lunged forward, turning into a blurred red whirlwind. His fist, enhanced by some kind of magic, flew toward Gerard's jaw.
Gerard was ready.
He dodged with inhuman grace while simultaneously drawing two pistols. Shots rang out almost simultaneously. Bullets whistled through the air, but Flash had already changed trajectory, circling the opponent in an arc.
He returned fire with his own pistols, two precise shots that forced Gerard to leap backward.
"Not bad," Gerard hissed, landing on his feet.
"But it's not enough."
The battle erupted with the fury of a hurricane. Gerard moved like a shadow, shooting on the move and using the walls as support for acrobatic jumps.
"I'm curious, what exactly did I do to piss you off so much? And who the hell are you anyway?"
Flash answered with speed. He vanished and reappeared at different points in the hall, creating the illusion of multiple opponents at once. Bullets ricocheted off the walls, sending sparks flying everywhere.
"Shut your mouth," Flash snarled.
At one point, Flash dodged a point-blank shot, ducked under Gerard's arm, and unleashed a series of strikes. Fist to the solar plexus, elbow to the jaw, knee to the ribs.
Each blow was perfect. These were not just reflexes of speed. This was the art of combat elevated to a level of mastery no one had expected from him.
Gerard was thrown back but managed to twist in the air and land on his feet. Blood appeared on his lips, yet genuine surprise flashed in his eyes.
Among the team pressed against the wall stood a vampire who could not intervene. His eyes, usually indifferent to everything, were now wide open.
"Impossible…" he whispered, unable to tear his gaze away from Flash.
"He… he wields it at a perfect level. Even I have never seen such a combination of speed and technique."