Hope

The Creator smiled slightly, and nodded. "Very well, then," and snapped his fingers.

I could move again, suddenly! I almost fell over, having become accustomed to the Creator's powers holding me upright. Deanna's knees buckled... she must have been released too! Wait, she's slumping! No! I will NOT hear that sound again!
I rushed forward, far faster than I would have thought possible, and caught Deanna before she made it halfway to the ground. The two women at the table, along with Rocco and Snakes, were locked in the same position they had been in; unmoving, but they were unimportant compared to keeping Deanna from ending up on that stone floor again.

She reflexively wrapped her arms around me for support, but she recovered quickly, to stand on her own again, but she didn't let go of me. She looked at me, a mixture of hope and fear fighting for control of her face.

"Can you, Brian?" she asked, seemingly oblivious to the presence of the others. "Can you protect me from.. your associates?"
I smiled and kissed her reassuringly. "I can, my love. I am Leader. I am the Don now. Don Simprano himself endorsed my taking over. I performed the rituals, and I have passed the tests. None challenge me. If I tell my people to lift a contract it *will* be lifted. I promise you, my love, that you will be safe from them. You will not live in fear any more."

She smiled again, and broke out into a grin. "I believe you. I trust you. I love you," and kissed me back. I pulled her closer even as she did the same to me. We kissed long and hard, and when we finally broke, she threw her head back and laughed, with love and joy in her voice, combined with relief.
She rested her head against my chest as we turned to face the Creator, who was smiling. "So, what now?" I asked.

"There are decisions to be made," the Creator said. "All simple matters, yet not so simple. First of all, Deanna, do you wish to recover your previous name, even if not even I can recover your memory?"

In response, Deanna took the file from the Creator's hand, and opened it. Silently, she read the same FBI data sheet I had looked at, and flipped through the file without a word. She then snapped it shut, and handed it back to the Creator. "I don't know this woman," she said simply. "All I know is Deanna, and it's the name I survived this... trial with. I will keep it."

"Very well, then," the Creator said. He waved his hand, and suddenly a large bottle of green liquid appeared. It looked like a fancy water cooler, but the liquid inside was most certainly not water. He took a cup from the machine, and filled it. He then held it out to Deanna. "Drink this, and it will remove all effects of the medication you've been on, permanently. You'll get your strength and stamina back. You'll need it, when you leave here with Brian."
Deanna looked at the green liquid suspiciously for about two seconds, then smiled and drank it down in one gulp. The effect was immediate, and startling. When she came down (literally), she rushed over to me and gave me a strong squeeze... much stronger than she'd even been able to before. All I could do was laugh as she put her head on my shoulder.
Between laughs, I asked the Creator, "You'll let me take her out of here after all? Why did you say I could not have her?"

The Creator shook his head with a smile. "I said you could not arbitrarily 'take' her. She, however, now that she is fit and ready to leave, may choose to do as she wishes. She has chosen to be with you."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Carrie, and Leslie sitting motionless at the table. "Wait, I hope you've got enough of this stuff for the others.... I promised I'd save them too!"

The Creator looked at them and shook his head, slightly sadly. He snapped his fingers, and the three women came alive again, and they all turned to us. Anne actually walked out of the rec room... apparently she'd been just out of sight. "I know this, but they really aren't ready to leave yet. Carrie hasn't recovered fully from the shock of being swindled out of her inheritance. Leslie needs to stay until she is functional enough to recover her children, and Anne...."

At the sound of her name, Anne perked up. "What's the frequency, Kenneth?"
The Creator sighed. "....and Anne needs to stay here until she has both oars in the water."

"What happened to Tammy, Jen and Sandy?" Deanna asked. "They were here literally a minute before Brian showed up."

The Creator turned to face her. "You already know Jen's story. I assume, Brian, you'll be using your connections to take over the running of this facility?"

I nodded. "Yes. I want them all to get better.... I'll tear this place to the ground and have it built new if it comes to that. But, what happened to Jen?"

"Jen has been removed to another location, until your organization can consolidate its control over here. I trust you'll be trying to come to an agreement with Lord Thomas' cult, to get her off their radar?"

"Oh, certainly," I responded. "Where are Tammy and Sandy?"

The Creator smiled somewhat enigmatically. "They have served their purpose, and are awaiting their next.. assignments."

"Assignments?" Deanna asked. "Do you mean they were working for... You?"

He turned to her and nodded. "That's one way of putting it. Even though here I am the Creator, when it comes to various challenges, I am merely One among Many. Part of the rules for this challenge is that there are to be eight inmates, no less."

"You mean," she said with a gasp, "they weren't actually patients?"

"Oh yes," He answered. "They were as loopy as the lot of you. They helped make the challenge, challenging for our hero here. Now that their work is done, they wait... somewhere safe, until they are needed again."

"They were here just to make my job more difficult?" I asked, not believing it completely.

"One does not get dirty laundry clean without agitation," He replied with a smile.

I turned to the three women. "But... I don't want to leave Carrie, Anne, and Leslie here. This place is still a dump even after what I've been able to do so far. It's going to take more than a few hours to rebuild this place."

Leslie, at the table, spoke up for the first time. "It's okay, Brian. We've managed this long, even during the times you were at work. We can handle ourselves for a time while you get things settled."

Carrie nodded in agreement. "Right... it's not like you won't be keeping watch over us, right? So we get the doctors and help we need?"

Deanna smiled and walked over to the table. I lifted an eyebrow, purely by reflex... Carrie had indirectly almost caused Deanna's death once... She reached to her and put her hands on Carrie's shoulders.

"Even if he doesn't, I will. You are all my friends, too, despite all that's happened. " She pulled Carrie to her for a friendly hug. "We'll both make sure you're taken care of."
She then said to her, "I don't think I'll be needing the doctor that Brian brought... maybe he could stay here for the time being? I'll assume he's a competent doctor," she asked, looking back at me. I nodded, and caught Snake's eye. He nodded, then headed out the door to the limo.

"It's settled then," Deanna said with a smile as the doctor walked in. She then turned to me, a wordless question on her face.

I glanced to the Creator, who smiled and waved his arm towards Deanna in a theatrical manner.

"Come on, my love," I said with a smile. In an instant she was back in my arms. I kissed her and pointed to the door. Rocco reached over and opened the door. I turned one more time to Carrie, Leslie, Anne and the others. "Rocco, you and Snakes will stay here with the Doc to handle things for the time being. You will be in charge of their welfare, understood?"

"Yes, Leader," Rocco replied.

Turning to the side, I slipped my arm around Deanna's waist, and headed towards the open door. She wrapped her arm around me and was walking fast enough to drag me forward slightly with her.

"Now we're leaving."

As we stood in the afternoon sun, Deanna looked over the stretch limo that was waiting for us, the back door being held open by Snakes. "I hope you brought a driver," she murmured to me.
"Why?" I asked, somewhat puzzled. She whispered in my ear and told me, then asked a question. I grinned and ran my hand over my Mastermind outfit.
"Yes, it comes off."