((Sunday's post is up! I missed last Wednesday, but as soon as I get done with some homework here in a bit, I'm going to go ahead and write the next few chapters ahead of time, so that I won't have to miss an update just because I'm busy. If I can get it done, you can all expect pretty even Sunday/Wednesday updates for a while now.
Still, just because I'm writing ahead doesn't mean that things can't be tweaked or rewritten to be better! If you've got suggestions for the story or characters, or any comments at all, be sure to leave them down in the comments!
See y'all on Wednesday. ^_^ ))
Null frowned, standing in front of the small clearing, taking in the rain-soaked grass, the dripping, sodden trees, the gloomy dark gray skies. “Well… I guess this is it for now.”
“Here?” Elora asked, peeking over her shoulder. Her pretty, flawless face looked absolutely dismayed. “But there’s nothing here! You said we were going to get to sleep and eat soon!”
“I’m guessing we will,” Konki said with an indifferent shrug. “She had us walking through the trees for hours. What did you expect, a hotel?”
“It would have been nice,” Elora sniffed sadly.
Null sighed and shook her head. “We’re out of money. Besides, we need to avoid most cities for now, when we can. It’ll be harder for the Agents to track us in the woods than in the city- they have to leave all their big, fancy vehicles behind, and we have rougher terrain and easier camouflage to take advantage of.”
“It’ll be fine,” Tori said, smiling at Elora. The blonde teenager looked several years older than she did, but for some reason, it felt to Tori like she was reassuring a small child. “My sensei and the other students used to rough it in the woods all the time- I can get us a shelter built pretty quickly. She reached into her pocket, where the spear head waited to be attached to her staff. Not completely a machete, but it could work. Come to think of it, with Akaru’s claws and Konki’s swords… They might all dull up their weapons pretty quickly, but maybe-
“No need,” Null said, cutting off her temporary moment of leadership. “I borrowed a tent from Tau’s people before we left. I think it’s in Shan’s pack.”
Shan looked up from his watch, apparently drifting back into the conversation at the mention of his name. “Huh?”
“We don’t need to draw more attention by scarring the surrounding area through hacking at the trees and plants,” Null said, relaxing on to a tree stump. “You guys set up the tent, and I’ll work on making sure that the area is secured.”
Tori shook her head. “That doesn’t make sense. We could at least help save our food rations by foraging.”
“No touching the plants!”
Elora looked up as a wave of sudden bad feeling rushed towards Null. The funny thing was, it wasn’t just coming from Tori, like it had been earlier. Practically everyone around her was glaring at the tall, thin, pale woman as she strode away, obliviously scanning over the area with her eyes. Such strong emotions…
…This could be very useful indeed.
~~~
Leon hissed in silent frustration as he scanned the area near the edge of the city once again. There was no mistaking it. His former watch was still transmitting code to his new watch- it had definitely gone this way. The two Gifted trackers he had picked up, too, along with a whole lot of Gifted energy traces. He would have bet anything that they had been headed in this direction, and only an hour ago he had been able to follow a tracker proving the same thing.
So why had the signal disappeared now?
“They must be very good at jamming signals,” Dextera said, staring longingly at an ice cream shop half a block behind them. “Getting rid of just one signal is good, but all three? Someone in their group really knows what he’s doing.”
“Apparently,” Leon said quietly. He sighed, picking a medium-sized backpack out of the trunk of his car, and slamming it closed. “Leave it to Gifteds to make this as irritating and time-wasting as possible.”
Dextera turned reluctantly away from the ice cream shop as he stepped out onto the grass. “You’re not moving forward, are you? We haven’t locked on to a new signal yet- we have no way of knowing that they’re still even in the same direction!”
Leon smirked. “More like the computer doesn’t know.” He bent down, hand reaching forward to touch a long stalk of grass, bent from where something heavy had stepped on it. Brush it aside, and half of a human footprint could be seen, still pressed into the mud, not yet washed away by the rain.
“That’s the thing about Agents these days,” he scoffed. “They’re so powerful, with their computers and trackers and machines and subjugated Gifteds. They think they’ll always have them, so they don’t bother to learn the basics really well. Without a tracker, half of them couldn’t find the back of their neck.”
He looked up at Dextera, grinning. “And that’s why, if the Munia Gifteds are really blocking their signals, we’ll be sure to find them before anyone else does.”
~~~
Several hours later, a tent was more or less set up. It was sagging slightly to the side, but it would keep them dry if it rained again. The sun was preparing to set over the line of trees, and the make-shift campsite looked almost peaceful.
Except for the group of Gifteds gathered around the unlit campfire, that is.
“We can’t trust her,” Konki said, voice low as she leaned forward. “You heard what she said in Buma! She used to work for the Agents.”
“So did you, once,” Shan said, shrugging as he ripped out another completed crossword puzzle from his book, wadding it up and throwing it into the circle of vaguely flammable materials. If Null would only let them go gather some logs and branches…
“That was different!” Konki hissed. “I was being controlled. Null has no excuse! She said herself that they didn’t force her to do anything, that she didn’t even regret it!”
“I will admit that it’s suspicious,” Akaru said, panting quietly in dog form. “But think about it. Why would she admit that so openly, without even arguing? And she’s still with us, still leading and helping us survive. Maybe if she were hiding things, I’d be more concerned. But so far, she hasn’t tried to hide really anything that we’ve asked about.”
“Then why is she still with us?” Konki said, turning on him. “No one’s even asked yet, what she expects to do with us. She’s using us, for her own ends!”
Silence for a long moment.
She took a breath. “…I’m not the only one who feels this way. You all keep arguing and making me defend it, but you feel the same way, don’t you?”
By the way they were averting their eyes, she could tell that they were.
She waited a moment, then looked to her right. “Tori? You used to be the leader, right?” She didn’t know Tori very well, but… “What’s your opinion?”
Tori looked at the ground, biting her lip. “I… I’m not…”
“It’s so cute!”
They turned to look at Elora’s sudden exclamation. She had walked up to them while they weren’t paying attention, and was now standing, hands clasped, staring at Tori with shiny eyes. “This uncertainty and guilt- you’re really adorable, you know that?”
Tori blinked. “Um… I guess?”
“Everyone hold on for a moment!” Null’s voice made all of them jump, even yelled from the other end of the camp. They looked in her direction, uncertain-
Tori paled suddenly and wavered, gripping onto the rock she was sitting on. “Ungh… Wha?”
They all felt it, for a moment. Calmly, Shan lifted his pen, pressing it hard into his thumb. “Her nullification powers,” he said unworriedly, watching as a single bead of red dribbled up from the small wound. “She’s projecting it over us somehow.”
Konki started up. “Why? What is she trying to-“
Then, just like that, it was cleared. “All good!” Null’s voice yelled.
Akaru shook with displeasure, looking down at his human hands in distaste. “Well, that was… unnecessary.” He began to shift back into a more comfortable form. “But no harm done, right, Tori?”
Tori nodded to show that she was okay. It was Elora who was currently throwing a fit.
“Ugh,” she said, hands over her eyes, stumbling a little. “I do not like that! Why would she do that? So mean!”
Shan frowned, looking at her, noticing her for the first time in a while. He could have sworn that, when she had first found them, she had been a little thing, barely six. Now… Seventeen? Eighteen? And ridiculously beautiful. Why? “Elora,” he said quietly. “You’ve been getting a little older, haven’t you? Why is that?”
She stopped for a minute, staring at him. For a moment, he almost felt something. Like… Sadness? She frowned, as though he had displeased her somehow. “You’re weird,” she said, wrinkling up her nose. She shook her head, then perked up, beaming again. “Null said she wanted to ask you something! She wants you to go over there, right away!”
“Null?” Shan looked in the direction of the tent, then sighed. “Alright,” he said, getting up. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
Elora watched him go, then slowly turned back to the rest of the group, smile widening. “Can I ask you all something? I kind of wanted to play a game!”
~~~
“They’ve covered all quarters within the city and the outlying area,” Marq said, sipping broodingly at his glass of wine. “It’s safe to say that they’re not within the limits of our territory anymore. We’re going to have to go out, send people after them. Which just means hundreds more Agents lost in the end.”
Kate looked down, smoothing her black silk dress, not touching the small, gourmet cuisine that had been placed on the plate in front of her. “Maybe ‘safe’ isn’t the right word,” she said quietly. “They nearly destroyed the world the last time they were free. If they’ve really broken loose this time…”
“Now, now, let’s not be hasty,” Marq replied, laughing roughly as he drained the wine glass and placed it back on the table. “The last time they were free was over three hundred years ago. Well, fully free, anyways. We’ve come a long way in terms of technology since then. We’ll have them by the end of the week, you’ll see.”
Kate said nothing, still looking down.
He watched her for a minute, then smirked, leaning forward and pouring more wine into her untouched glass. “You should relax. Leave the thinking to me and the other men. It’s not something for you to concern yourself with.”
“Concern myself?” Kate’s head jerked up. “I’m an Agent, one of those hundreds of lives you’re about to throw at that… that monster. I have friends who aren’t going to survive this! Close friends! Of course I should be concerning myself.”
He smirked, taking her hand without her permission, tracing the lines of her fingers. “Not as much as you think. It’s not like before, Kate. I’m in a position to… help you, if you’ll accept it. You know…” He chuckled. “I’ve actually been looking for a new secretary.”
“Secretary?” she watched him, then shook her head. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do…” Get her out of danger. Keep her by his side, in a safe job, that paid more than triple what she was getting now. “…but… I can’t. Being an Agent is everything to me.”
He frowned. “Really? Why?”
“It’s what I want!” she said, free hand clenching in her lap. “It’s dangerous and hard, but I love everything about it. I couldn’t trade that. I couldn’t.”
“Oh? And just what about it is so special? More special than being with me?”
“That’s not what I’m trying to say!” She took a breath. “I’m… This is what I wanted, all through childhood. To be good at something, something important. Protecting the world like this, even if it’s a small part, being a part of something, being close to other Agents like Raleigh and you and Leon-“
“Leon?”
She bit her lip. The words had just… slipped out. “No. No! Of course not Leon. I… I don’t care what happens to him.” She looked away, that feeling flashing up inside of her. Two feelings, twisting and warring and shoving against each other. One of utter disgust for Leon, utter love for Marq. Another, that something… Something is wrong. “He’s a traitor,” she said, trying to keep her voice disdainful, but feeling the tremor in it even as she spoke. “He’s… he’s dead to me.”
“Really.”
She didn’t have to look at him to sense the disbelief in his voice.
His hand withdrew from hers, picking up the dinner knife. Beginning to saw and cut and slice mercilessly at his steak. “Perhaps it’s better if you don’t become my secretary for now, then. After all, you were rather… close to that traitor, weren’t you?” Scrape. “It might look bad, is all I’m saying. Perhaps if you proved your loyalty first, beyond a shadow of a doubt, then maybe then…”
Kate winced as the knife slashed again, cutting the steak into dozens of small, uniform pieces. Skritch! Skrr! Sclhh! “Just… what are you saying?”
“That as new captain of the Northeastern North American Agency, I hereby give you official orders.” She didn’t meet his eyes. She didn’t have to. His smirk was gone, a look of suspicion and displeasure on his face as he watched her, evaluated her, tried to figure out just how much on his side she really was.
“You are hereby ordered to find and apprehend the traitor Leon, and kill him with your own hand. For this, you may call upon all the resources of the Agency, to put at your disposal. If you return without accomplishing this task…”
Skkkrrrrrrreeeeeecch!
“Then you may consider your life revoked.”
~~~
Aden watched Elora hesitantly, and glanced at Tori for help. He didn’t really want to play a game. They were in such a big, wide-open space… Just sitting quietly with the others was enough for him.
But Tori was watching Elora with a strange, blank look on her face, frowning, as though confused. As he looked around, he noticed the others growing similar looks. He was about to give in, to open his mouth and ask what was going on… When he felt it himself. A rush of simple, relaxing contentment, washing over him, pushing all doubts and fear out of reach. Maybe it was strange, but at the moment, he was too happy, too comfortable and warm with the feeling of it, to question or fight it. Filled with bliss, he sat back against Tori’s rock, staring at Elora with a small smile on his face and waiting for her to speak.
Elora giggled in excitement. “Good! Then we’re all ready to play. I really miss Clara- she was such a good friend, you know? She wanted to protect me, but now that she’s gone, I need someone else. So…” She looked around for a moment, considering. “Konki! You’re strong, right? And you have such strong emotions now! You’re perfect!”
Konki frowned, putting a hand to her head, disoriented. “I don’t know. I don’t really-“
“We’re going to be the best of friends,” Elora chirped, walking over and plunking herself down next to the assassin. She beamed around at them, going from face to face. “Akaru!”
He stirred. Funny, how he hadn’t been paying attention, distracted, up until now, but at the mention of his name suddenly he couldn’t look at anyone but Elora. “Hah?”
“You’re much cuter as a bunny,” she said, smiling widely as Konki put an arm around her with a look of confusion. “Turn into one.”
Akaru shook his head. “Well, technically I’m not an infant anymore, so I can only turn into a rabbit, not a bunny. And it’s not really an advantageous-“
“Turn into a bunny!”
A look of fear flickered through his eyes for a moment, and he startled into the rabbit form, then immediately curled up, shivering with fear.
She laughed. “Perfect! Now, who’s left?” She turned to Tori and Aden, considering, and a small frown graced her features. “Aden… You’re kind of useless, aren’t you? Okay, you can just sit there!”
Somewhere inside of him, Aden reacted negatively to that, but he couldn’t reach the feelings. He was too happy, too relaxed. Tori wasn’t quite as deep into the feelings, apparently, because she stiffened. “He’s not useless! How could you even say something like-“
“I don’t really want to eat stale food out of a can again tonight,” Elora said, wrinkling her nose in a charming way. “You said that you can hunt, right? And gather food, and firewood. Why don’t you go get something for us?” When Tori hesitated, her smile darkened, for the briefest moment. “I’m sure it’ll make both of us very, very happy if you go get those things. You don’t want to be unhappy, do you?”
A blank look crossed over Tori’s face, the black surrounding her irises flaring for a brief moment. Slowly, she shook her head.
“Good!” Elora said, laughing merrily. It was really interesting. For some reason, Tori was easiest to reach of all. Normally, she had to break down walls, sneak into a person’s subconscious, before they would let her at their feelings completely. With Tori, it was as though all of those walls had already been broken down beforehand, by something.
Her laughter trickled from the camp, as she reached for the emotions swirling around her, beginning to feed.
~~~
Shan pushed the tent flap aside, stepping in. “You called for me?”
Null looked up, staring at him blankly. In her hands, a machine of some sort and a small velvet box were pressed together. She dropped them onto the ground, frowning. “I didn’t call for you.”
“Really? Then what…” He glanced behind him, then shrugged. “Ah… What are those?”
“Hm?” Null looked down, tracing her hand over the velvet box. “I can project my nullification a short ways if I try really hard, but even then it’s only a yard at the most. This machine helps me boost that, stretching it for a pretty good radius. It’s a safety measure- if there are any traps in this area based on Gifted energy, they’re deactivated now.”
“Oh?” Shan considered that, then nodded. “That’s good, I guess. But… Agents don’t base all of their traps on Gifted energy alone, do they?”
Null sighed. “That’s what I’m afraid of…”
~~~
Tori’s hands moved quickly, reaching into the bush and dropping the small edible berries into her sack of foraged supplies. It had only been five minutes, but it had barely taken that to gather almost everything she needed. Her eyes were unfocused as she moved, her movements a little clumsier than usual. So she didn’t realize when her hand brushed against a wire hidden deep within the bush, wrapped around one of the stems, and didn’t hear the small, almost imperceptible bell that went off as the wire snapped.
~~~
Shan sat down, cross-legged, watching her. It was… absolutely ridiculous. But Konki had a point. What Null had said, in Buma, in front of everyone…
Warning- you are in more danger than you realize. You have a murderer in your midst…
“Why are you with us?” he asked suddenly.
She paused mid-yawn, looking at him. “…You guys are the ones that rescued me in the Munia base, and you’re really asking me that?”
He shook his head calmly. “I know how you got here. Now why are you staying? Everyone else seems to have their reasons. Tori wants to take down the Agents, Aden wants to help Tori, Akaru and I seem to be along for the ride. Konki’s here because we freed her and… I think she feels like she owes us or something. Elora…” He paused for a moment, thinking. “I guess she wants to feel safe.”
He cocked his head very slightly to the side. “What about you, though? You said yourself that you think that we’re ridiculous, that we can’t take down the Agents. And I don’t think you owe us anything. It’s not like we’re protecting you- if anything, you know more about staying safe from the Agents than any of us seem to. So…”
“So what do I think I can get out of you, huh?” Null watched him, an amused smile on her lips, then promptly shook her head. “You don’t have to worry about my motives. For now, it’s enough that I’m on your side.”
“Is it, though?” he asked quietly, voice still emotionless. “What did you mean, when you said that you used to help the Agents capture Gifteds?”
“It’s not important.”
“On the contrary, that seems like kinda an important thing.”
They met each other’s eyes for a long moment, challenging, testing, fighting without words.
“…Why won’t you talk about it?” Shan asked calmly. “You didn’t have a problem not denying it in Buma. What exactly are you trying to hide now?”
“We’ve all got our skeletons, kid,” she said, shrugging as she stood. “Look, you don’t want to trust me, that’s fine. You can just walk away, and take as many of your friends with you as you want. But believe this. You’re not going to survive another encounter with the Agents without me.” Something like a smirk crossed her face as she turned away. “So your choice. Trust me, and survive. Or get all nervous because I don’t want to talk about my past, and get flattened the next time they find you. See how long it takes before you all become like Tori.”
Something about that smirk… Shan sat in the tent for a moment, staring after her for several long minutes after the flap had fallen behind her, leaving him in the dark. He had seen it somewhere before. Where…?
The watch around his wrist seemed to grow heavier as he suddenly placed it, and his hand moved on its own, clenching the diamond dagger through the fabric of his jeans. Leon. For a moment there… She had almost looked like Leon.
He sat alone in the darkness, thinking hard. He didn’t come out to see Null join the others (and inadvertently bring Elora’s little game to a close just by being there). He didn’t see the looks of confusion on their faces as they realized that they couldn’t remember anything from the last twenty minutes. He missed the smug, patient, waiting look on Elora’s beautiful face as she watched them get up and make dinner, a combination of canned food and the stuff Tori had scrounged from the wild. He missed all of it.
Instead, he knelt there as the sun set and the moon rose, the message from the watch playing in his head, trying to make sense of it, somehow.
Warning- you are in more danger than you realize. You have a murderer in your midst. Please agree to a temporary cease-fire, and allow me to contact you. Do not ignore this- this is important!
Kate, setting out that night to kill the person who had once been her partner, wasn’t the only one struck by the feeling that something was horribly, horribly wrong.
