Now fully awakened from its stupor, the lion growled at the man it had trapped. Nemesis went to stand, but it couldn’t move. Frustrated, the client let out a deep rumble. Ernest had tied its back legs up with thick titanium rope. Along with that, the effects of the paralysis net were still in place. He was going to be prone for another ten minutes, at least.

Lying on its stomach, the client had its entire focus on the man. It bared its teeth and a furious growl burst forth. The man let out a panicked scream.

“Nemesis-“

Before I could say another word, Mateo soared over. He held his machine gun out and pointed it towards the lion’s head. The fiery mane prevented him from getting too close. The lion didn’t lift its focus from the sobbing man it had pinned down.

I wished Mateo could see the death glare I was sending him.

“Mateo,” I spoke firmly to him through our private intercom, not taking my eyes off the client. “Put your gun down. Don’t antagonise the client.”

Mateo scoffed. “You’re about to let an innocent person die. Their blood will be on your hands.”

“The client’s blood will be on your hands then too, just like all the others you killed.”

The protector went silent and I bit my tongue. I hadn’t meant to say that. I quickly switched to the speakers on my exoskeleton. I didn’t have time to deal with that slip right now.

“Nemesis, what are you doing?”

“An eye for an eye.”

That was not the response I was expecting.

“Uh, Maggie?”

I heard Ernest communicate with me through my headset.

“Yeah?”

“It’s about the client’s pseudonym. Nemesis is a Greek goddess of divine retribution, or revenge.”

The moment he explained it to me, everything made sense. The pseudonym, the animal, an eye for an eye…

“What’s your name?”

I faced the man trapped under the lion’s paw. He looked bewildered.

“Terry. Terry Gardner.”

I was right. The lion pressed its paw down harder. The man under Nemesis’s paw started gasping for air. I could see Mateo was preparing to shoot. I had to act quickly.

“Nemesis, I am so sorry for your loss. I can’t imagine the pain you must be in, but Terry didn’t purposely crash the bus.”

The lion’s eyes widened, and it glanced up at me.

“What did you say?”

“Terry didn’t crash the bus on purpose. He had a seizure and lost control of the bus.”

Terry began nodding his head frantically.

“I’m…I’m sorry…” He wheezed, tears of pain and despair welling up in his eyes.

“Liars, the news said he was drunk.”

“Nemesis, I have all the information here. It was sent to us today.”

I projected the police report in front of him. The client read the information and very slowly lifted his paw from Terry. The bus driver spluttered and gasped as he began to breathe again.

Without any prompting, Mateo pulled Terry away and flew him to the other side of the carpark. The lion didn’t react. It just stared at the names written in the deceased section of the report. I heard a strained whimper come from the client.

“She was only six.”

Nemesis turned and stared at me with wide yellow eyes. Even in this transformed state, I could see the pain in them.

“I should have been there to save her. I’m a terrible parent. I deserve to die.”

The fire surrounding the client’s head began to die down to a flicker. Gently, I reached my hand forward and placed it on the lion’s shoulder.

“You’re grieving, Nemesis. These feelings you’re experiencing are normal. As part of your grieving, you need to forgive yourself.”

The client let out a small growl.

“How can I possibly forgive myself?”

“Grieving takes time, and so does forgiveness. I can help you Nemesis, will you let me help you?”

The client went quiet. In one slow movement, it closed its eyes. A glowing warmth crept over Nemesis and I watched as the lion ignited into flames. Pulling my hand back quickly, I hovered away and observed from a distance.

The client’s body went from pale white to a charred black. Its body began to crumble like a statue in an earthquake. Soon, the lion was nothing but a huge pile of ashes.

In the distance, I could hear sirens wailing. They were on their way.

From within the centre of the giant ash mounds, something began to stir. A man stood slowly on shaking legs. He looked at his body and then at the ash he was standing in.

“Oh…oh God…”

He stared at me, a panicked look on his smudged face as the vans pulled up behind him.

“I didn’t hurt anyone, did I?”

Several people in tactical vests ran out and grabbed the man by his arms. He let out a surprised shout but didn’t resist. As they shuffled him into the van, he glanced over his shoulder again at me. There were tears in his eyes.

“Counsellor! Please! I didn’t hurt anyone, please tell me I didn’t!”

Once they were all packed inside, the van sped off down the road. Ernest followed them from the sky.

I stood for a while, not really doing anything before slowly wandering behind the giant pile of ash. I needed some time alone.

After what felt like hours, Mateo landed beside me. I didn’t move away from him. He exited the giant robot and stood beside me. He was looking at his feet as he spoke in a low hush to me.

“How did you-“

“I saw you on the news. Your skin was glowing.”

“Do you think they-“

“I don’t know. I mean, you’re still here, aren’t you?”

My fists were clenched tightly at my sides. I wished I was in his automaton so I could punch him hard enough to send him plummeting into the ground.

“Maggie, I can explain-“

He was putting on that fake calm voice again and I couldn’t take it anymore.

“What is there to explain? Mateo, you kill people. They’re not monsters, they’re people. You can try to spin it any way you want to, but at the end of the day, you’re a murderer.”

The protector glared at me, his dark eyes piercing through me like a knife.

“No, they’re the murderers.”

He pointed in the direction of the city’s centre.

“How many innocent civilians in Adour have died because of reckless clients? Thousands. So many more than what has been recorded – the homeless, the poor. If the city isn’t going to look after their most vulnerable, who will?!”

Mateo was acting aggressive, but I could hear him choking on his words. I got out of my exoskeleton and approached him, my hands out in a symbol of openness.

“Mateo, you sound-“

He backed away from me with an expression of disgust on his face.

“Oh no, don’t you start that with me. I don’t owe you an explanation for anything.”

Sighing, I folded my arms. What I was about to do was incredibly manipulative, but I needed to know.

“You know, it only takes one call to the DOPD to end all of this.”

I lifted my hand to the headset I was wearing. At the same time, Mateo pulled out a small pistol with a silencer on it from his jacket.

“Funny,” he replied, pushing the gun’s muzzle into my waist. “It only takes one bullet to end all of this too.”