With a single blink, the scene of the destroyed and fiery city vanished. Reze found herself in a completely different place. A moonlit private beach, with white sand that felt cool and soft beneath her tired body, and waves that crashed with a calm, hypnotic rhythm. In the distance, there was no city, no buildings, only an endless ocean and a sky filled with stars that seemed brighter than any she had ever seen.
Reze lay on the sand, her body still feeling weak after her powers were temporarily "suppressed." She stared warily at the man who now stood before her, ready for the final fight.
But Tom didn't attack. He just looked at her with an unreadable expression. "A village girl from the Soviet Union. Raised as a weapon. All you ever wanted was a normal life," Tom said, his voice calm. "A tragic story."
Reze's breath hitched. "How do you...?"
"I see you, Reze," Tom continued, ignoring her question. "Not the Bomb Devil. But the girl who never had a choice." He waved his hand, and the scene around them shifted. The beach disappeared, replaced by a cozy little café, exactly like one that might exist in the small town of her dreams.
"Don't... don't talk like you understand!" Reze hissed, her voice trembling with a flood of emotions, no longer just anger, but something more fragile.
Tom sat across from her, an illusion of a steaming cup of tea between them. "I don't pretend to understand completely," he admitted. "But I know what it's like to be something more than human, to be a tool, and at the same time to long for something you can't have."
Silence enveloped them. For the first time, someone wasn't looking at her as a bomb to be defused or detonated, but as... Reze. The defenses she had built her entire life began to crack, not from an attack, but from an unexpected touch of understanding. A tear betrayed her, flowing without permission.
Tom stood up, and the illusion of the café faded back into the silent beach. He approached and gently touched her cheek, his thumb wiping away her tear. It was an undemanding touch, just an acknowledgment. Reze didn't flinch. Instead, unconsciously, she leaned slightly into the touch, a surrender to a rare warmth.
Their kiss was the beginning of a duel of passion and will. It started softly, a question, then quickly turned into something deeper and more demanding as Reze responded with surprising intensity. This wasn't about love, but about two isolated souls who had finally found an echo in each other. With a powerful shove, Reze tried to turn the tables, pushing Tom back in a final attempt to take control.
Tom just smiled. With a fluid movement that made her gasp, he lifted her with ease, her legs automatically wrapping around his waist as her back met a cold, imaginary pillar. "That's not how you do it," Tom whispered, his hot breath sending a shiver through her entire body.
Without further ceremony, with a powerful yet not brutal thrust, he entered her. Reze cried out, but this time it wasn't from pain, but a mixture of shock and an overwhelming pleasure that crashed over her. The sudden feeling of being filled made her arch her back, every muscle in her body tensing. Tom's rhythm was fast and passionate, every push an assertion, and every one of Reze's gasps was an acknowledgment of it. Their sweat-slicked skin slid against each other, creating a burning friction in the cool night air.
"Ah... yes... like that..." Reze panted, her head thrown back in surrender to the sensation. "Faster... harder... oh, it feels... so..."
Tom granted her request, his movements becoming deeper, more satisfying. He changed their position, laying Reze down on the soft stretch of sand. He wasn't rushed; every touch was an exploration, every kiss on her neck and breasts was a claim on new territory that was met with a soft moan. He turned Reze over, letting her kneel on the sand, and took her from behind, each thrust causing their sweaty bodies to collide with a wet, satisfying sound.
"Don't stop," Reze begged, her voice hoarse with passion. "Keep going... I want to feel it..."
Tom turned Reze over again, lifting her legs onto his shoulders, driving himself to the hilt, forcing the deepest groans from her lips. The sight of the countless stars became their silent witness to their shared conquest. The climax came like a reactor explosion, a shockwave that sent tremors through both their bodies. Tom roared as he released himself inside her, while Reze's body arched and trembled violently, surrendering to an orgasm so powerful it made her forget where she was.
As the illusionary dawn began to break, painting the sky in shades of orange and violet, they lay in a comfortable silence. This was not a conquest, but an intimate truce.
"This isn't the end, Reze," Tom whispered, his voice calm. "This is just an intermission."
He snapped his fingers.
Makima, sitting in her office, received a notification on her monitor: "New detainee has arrived in Cell Block-Z. Subject: Bomb Devil." A faint smile touched her lips.
On the roof of a tall building, Tom Jacker looked at his hand. A small, controlled explosion, as small as a firework, appeared at his fingertip. He had obtained her power, but for the first time, there was something else, a memory of an unexpected connection under a sky full of stars. The show had turned out to be more interesting than he had anticipated.