Difference between revisions of "Megan Tarash"

After the events of ''Steelheart'', Megan travels to Babylon Restored and allies herself with [[Regalia]]. The Babilar Reckoner cell attempts to observe and track her. At some point in the intervening ten months, their point man, Sam, attempts to confront and kill her despite orders to the contrary. Megan shoots and kills him in self-defense. This causes the surviving members of Sam's team, particularly [[Mizzy]], to develop a deep personal hatred for her. When David, Prof, and Tia arrive in Babilar at the beginning of ''Firefight'', Megan observes their movements in the city and covertly helps David several times. When David almost drowns during his encounter with [[Obliteration]], Megan rescues him. Later, she uses her illusions to prevent [[Newton]] and Obliteration from spotting and capturing him while he is doing reconnaissance in the city. David realizes Megan is around and asks her to show herself. The two have a tense conversation, but Megan agrees to stay in communication as long as David keeps their contact secret from the other Reckoners. The two have several more encounters over the course of the book. David tries to persuade Megan to reveal herself to the Reckoners, believing that he can reason with Prof and Tia, but Megan refuses. As the two grow closer, Megan makes several revelations about her powers and her current status. She reveals that her illusions are created by temporarily projecting pieces of parallel universes into this one. She also shares her fear that when she reincarnates, she is simply being replaced by an alternate version of herself with similar memories. Megan also reveals that she came to Babilar in hopes that Regalia would somehow be able to remove her powers in the same way that she claims that she can gift and augment Epic powers. After recognizing the effects of her powers on her mental state, she no longer wishes to be an Epic. David explains to her that he is trying to uncover a pattern in the weaknesses of Epics and shares some of his research with her. Eventually, she admits that she reciprocates David's romantic interest in her, and the two of them kiss for the first time. Later that same day, she reveals her weakness to David: fire cancels her illusions, and she believes that she would not reincarnate if burned to death. She helps David capture the Epic Knoxx, to whom Regalia claims to have recently granted powers, so that David can interrogate him and find out more about Regalia's capabilities and intentions. At this point, the Reckoners intervene. They believe that David has betrayed them by working with Megan behind their backs and that Megan is only using him to undermine their efforts. David is put on probation and imprisoned in the Reckoners' base, and Knoxx is killed. Prof confiscates David's mobile and uses it to lure Megan into a trap by sending messages claiming that David is trapped in a burning building and needs her help. Megan, suspecting foul play, sets up David's rifle, which he accidentally left in her possession, in the window of a neighboring building before heading into the burning building to investigate. When Prof traps her inside the building, she is able to use the remote fire function on David's rifle to shoot herself, thus evading death by fire and escaping the trap.