[attr="class","skullimg"]

[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]And just like that, he was gone.[break][break]

Perhaps Isaac shouldn't have been so surprised. This wasn't the old days, where Zev was tucked away in the shadows and Isaac was a convenient patsy he had leverage over. Now Zev was a Beast. When he said jump, Rockets asked how high. He had an entire organization's worth of tools, minions, and colleagues to round up whenever he saw fit. He'd had Ashley Shepard as an heir apparent now, and for better or worse he was ten times the Rocket Isaac was.[break][break]

Normally, an encounter like this would end in equal parts an order and an invitation. He'd be told to get up early tomorrow because they'd be riding off to the Megalopolis before the League woke up. In return, he'd share a crumb of information, another fragment of his twisted mind for Isaac to be both horrified and fascinated by.[break][break]

Today, there was none of that. Isaac had made another mistake. He'd shown Zev a fragment of what lay beneath the surface. In its light, what Isaac normally lacked stood out all the more starkly. It was one thing if Isaac could never be what Zev wanted him to be. It was another when he could, but fought the possibility at each and every turn.[break][break]

Fear and loyalty prevented him from leaving Rocket. Love and willpower stopped him from embracing its new direction. He'd hoped that, if he kept walking the line, he could blend in until some mythical perfect opportunity presented itself. The war would end, or some big wave of pardons would go out, or Rocket would decide all this open war and regional conquest stuff was a bad idea anyhow.[break][break]

He'd be rewarded for his conviction.[break][break]

He'd be protected from his cowardice.[break][break]

But now, the message was loud and clear. Isaac's star in Rocket was fading. The longer he stayed, hoping for a perfect moment that would never come, the worse things became. His friends sank deeper and deeper into the abyss, some even gleefully embracing its depths. Each traitor with more power, more resources, and more courage than him made Rocket more on guard for potential treason. The favor and protection he'd been shown lost its shine as it became clear all the potential in the world couldn't change a nature incompatible with Rocket's true face.[break][break]

Isaac looked down at where the broken knife once sat, only some tiny remnants of useless, forgotten shards remaining. He wondered if he would share its fate.

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