Unity

by Carl Stubblefield

  “That’s not super reassuring. It’s basically saying, ‘figure it out yourself.’”

  “There will be lots of voices telling you what to do. I’m sure you’re probably afraid that you’ll listen to the wrong one. Or you could be afraid that if you listen to what your gut tells you and you’re wrong, you are in the same place of failure; especially if you’ve made big mistakes before.

  “When I was younger, I thought I would eventually stop making dumb mistakes. But here I am, still making them on a regular basis. I think that’s why I keep to myself. I’ve been burned too many times. Listened to others more than myself. Usually, my gut is right and the more I’ve trusted it—the less complications life seems to have.

  “The problem with relying on the advice of others is that you can become dependent on it and avoid making those choices yourself. Either that or their advice does not fit your circumstances and you will blame them for the consequences. Neither are positions of power. You have to find your own way. I know that’s not what you want to hear, but it’s true. There are no shortcuts to figuring out this super business.”

  “How do you keep going, though? How can you stay strong through the challenges and trials when everything appears to be beating you down? I feel like I’m losing a war of attrition and eventually I won’t have anything left to give.” Gus was careful choosing his words; he didn’t want to reveal anything that would clue Prime that he had been digging around in her thoughts.

  “Sounds like you gotta find your ‘why.’ There’s different reasons why some of the Crew do what they do. I think everyone does the best with the cards they’ve been dealt, and try with all their might to make everyone think they’re sitting on a royal flush when they only have a pair. There is some truth in ‘faking it ‘til you make it,’ though. Which is why it’s a standard for Academy training.”

  “I feel like a fake.” Gus tossed the bits of grass he had been meticulously shredding into tiny bits onto the ground.

  “When I was first learning how to use my powers, they made you do these drills in the Academy. They never really worked for me, because I process things differently and access my powers in a relatively uncommon way. Ways to visualize connecting to your abilities or how to power them with MP. I can’t tell you how frustrated I was in the beginning, with how easily the others progressed and improved. I struggled just to keep up. It wasn’t until I let go and relaxed that things began to flow.”

  “Do you remember any of those? Maybe they could work for me?”

  “Whoo. That was such a long time ago. Since none of them worked for me, I’m probably the wrong person to ask. The other cadets would get mad at me as they tried to help me and their suggestions didn’t work. As if I wasn’t listening or giving their technique an honest try. I eventually figured it out, but I think that’s where I started keeping to myself. My suit and helmet already made it harder to connect with people, and that just complicated things. I couldn’t reveal I was a hybrid, so it was what it was.

  “I have always been an outcast, hiding what I am from everyone. My parents gave me no choice in whether I wanted to be a hybrid. Who knows what damage has been done with all the tampering they’ve done with my DNA? I’d be lucky if I didn’t get cancer from the hodgepodge of genes they’ve inserted, deleted, and spliced.

  “From somewhere in that tangled mess though, I must have gained some affinity that led to my powers. But if I could do it all over, I think I would still choose a normal life. No powers, just plain vanilla reg. And that would be enough.”

  “You would give up your powers?”

  “In a heartbeat. I’ve chased the lure of acceptance almost my whole life. By revealing that I am a hybrid, things will change for me in the Faction if I choose to go back. I would see less and less active missions and be given more administrative duties, until things become so miserable or boring that I get forced out or quit. A lot of people resent hybrids after the Rockland conflict.

  “A few supers died, but regs don’t know how many hybrids were killed or hurt in the protests, but it was much more than any supers that were hurt. Still, I can’t blame the supers for trying to stop the abuses that were taking place. Experimentation had run amok, people harming themselves and others with no regulation or safeguards. It was a mess. It still is in sanctuary cities, it’s just gone underground.”

  “Is that what Harmony was talking about, when she was talking about ‘down there?’”

  “You don’t even want to know what has happened to those failed experiments with hybridization. People that were more beast than man, stripped of enough humanity and then abandoned to the lower levels of Hinansho. Confused and feral, fighting to survive. It’s horrible.”

  “Yikes…” Gus shuddered.

  “All most people wanted was a place to live their lives without excessive regulation. There was fault on both sides but no one hears the hybrids’ side of the story.”

  “Then tell me. We’re going to probably be here for a while.”

  “You asked for it, Gus…”

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Kitty

  “I grew up in the Outskirts. Kind of the suburbs of the suburbs, where Faction influence is less intense. This was about ten years before the Rockland conflict came to a head. There were some hybrids in my hometown, but we were still a fringe group. Some people looked down on us, but it was nothing like it is now.

  “I was painfully shy and when someone noticed me at school, it was a whole new experience for me. I always felt awkward with my ears and tail. Girls can be pretty cruel in high school. Hell, my track record has been abysmal regardless of age. I was always an easy target, but when one of the jocks noticed me, that’s when things really became better and worse. The pranks and mean-spirited comments and bullying escalated from there. But it was worth it.

  “Harlan was amazing. I couldn’t wait to get a message from him or the brief time we had together. He was a year older, so we shared none of the same classes, and even our lunch periods were different. My parents didn’t like him because he wasn’t a hybrid, and I could tell his mother was hoping it was just a passing phase. A curiosity in Harlan’s life that he just needed to get out of his system. Her disdain emanated from her despite her phony smiles and polite conversation.

  “Long story short, I got pregnant right after graduation and we got married soon afterwards. From there, my mother-in-law’s facade fell away. Shannon’s criticisms escalated, and there was always some advice I needed to know in order to take care of her precious son as he deserved. If we weren’t so damn poor that we had to live with his parents, we might have been better off, but that’s just how things worked out.

  “But I loved him, so I put up with the insults and demeaning questions. Have you ever had anyone ask if you knew how to do something as menial as washing clothes, or making a simple meal? It was degrading, but I had been demure my whole life. So I accepted it as my fate. I was lucky to have Harlan, and that was just the price I was required to pay.

  “When Madeleine came, I can’t tell you how glad I was to see she had no obvious hybrid tendencies. I didn’t want her to have to deal with any of those challenges. It was also a benefit that Shannon took to her so well. While I was still unredeemable in her eyes, this was her granddaughter and they showered her with all the praise and love they could. It was enough for me.

  “I was happy for a time, until Harlan began to cool towards me. Either Shannon finally got to him, or the dynamic changed when Maddy came, but he became crueler and more dismissive. Eventually he asked for a divorce, and I relented as Shannon’s influence became more and more intolerable, and there was no reason to try to make things work if the relationship was over.

  “At first things were equitable and we shared time equally with Maddy. Things were civil between us for a couple of years, then life took another turn, as it always seems to do. Harlan met another woman, a reg named Elaine.

  “I was happy that he found someone else to be happy with, but
I was as naive as ever. If I ever thought Shannon was horrible to me, then Elaine was on another level. She hated me instantly. I didn’t even recognize her, but she was among the group of girls that had picked on me mercilessly. She was a cheerleader but wasn’t that cute, in my opinion. Some people don’t age well. She obviously didn’t let that affect her over-inflated sense of her own importance though.

  “The hell that woman has put me through the last six years has been almost intolerable. I think if Harlan was left to his own devices, he would share custody of Maddy, and I would be much more a part of her life. I know she hates hybrids, and she is always threatening to take away custody of Maddy for some trumped-up reason or another. I try to stay out of her life but she keeps finding ways to drag me into her drama.”

  Prime’s knuckles cracked her fists clenched as the feelings became more intense. She then spread out her fingers, forcing herself to continue with calm.

  “She should be happy. Elaine’s family is rich, and owns numerous businesses. Harlan managed to get an easy job with one of them, and they make a lot of money and live in a nice house. Still, she has the gall to press me for child support. When I was accepted into Purple Faction, she pressed me to revise my contributions so they could get more out of me.

  “I think she suspects that she can reveal that I’m a hybrid and she uses that to threaten me with all types of things she will reveal to the Faction. Nothing direct, but her tactless insinuations leave no doubt. The problem is I’m not entirely sure she’s not right. If it wasn’t for her greed, I doubt she would have kept it under wraps for so long.

  “As it is now, I only get to see my daughter sporadically throughout the year. The itinerant nature of missions for the Faction is another factor that she uses to manipulate me and to try to limit any claim for custody. So I’m torn. But now that may not be an issue. Perhaps my reveal was long overdue. I just don’t know where I fit in anymore, though. The Faction is the only true home I’ve ever felt at least partially accepted. It still is cold comfort that Elaine can’t lord that over me anymore.

  “I just don’t get why she is so spiteful and vindictive. I have never done anything to her, but there must be something inside of her that makes her that way. If Maddy wasn’t involved, this would be so much easier, but the thought of that woman poisoning her with her vitriol and all the things she must say about me, it makes me almost physically ill. Maddy is young and I don’t think it is as damaging now, but it kills me that one day my own daughter will despise me because of her influence.”

  “Doesn’t Harlan step in?”

  “That gutless wonder? No. He kowtows to anything that shrew says to him. She has a way of flying into a screaming rage and is used to getting what she wants. I secretly think that she’s a lot like Shannon and Harlan responds to that. Subconsciously or not, I think he responds to it like she’s his surrogate mother, running his life for him.”

  “I think I would have found it very hard not to arrange some convenient accidents to make her life miserable for a change!” Gus said shaking his head. “Doesn’t she know who she’s messing with? That’s kind of ballsy to get on a super’s bad side.”

  “Oh, believe me. The dark things I’ve imagined. Sometimes I even worry about how far I’ll go. I think secretly she wants me to try something. That way she can point to that act of retribution and show Maddy I’m really as horrible as Elaine says that I am. That little girl is going to have a hard time growing up with that woman, and sometimes being a beacon to her is all that gets me through the tough days.”

  “Wow,” Gus said, not knowing how to respond.

  “I did warn you,” Prime said, laughing. “That actually feels good getting that all out. Probably not what you were expecting. Did you get some of your mother’s empath skills and draw that out of me?”

  “Hmm? No. I don’t think I got any powers that my family has. At least not yet. I don’t know how it all works genetics-wise.”

  “You mean you aren’t a legacy?” Sanura arched an eyebrow.

  “You mean getting powers from my parents? Not that I know of, but I got sick in my tweens and there’s been a lot of memory loss. Some of it has come back, but still there are some blank stretches. So I guess it’s a possibility, but I haven’t seen anything specific in my abilities.”

  “I never talk about my past. Too much darkness and pain there. Thanks for listening, that was actually very cathartic. I probably should have done that a long time ago. Sorry for making you my emotional dumping ground.”

  “No, no. Actually, that’s kind of reassuring in a weird way. I feel more comfortable just knowing that I’m not the only one struggling. I have felt incapable for so long. I know things haven’t been ideal here for you in Hinansho. But if you aren’t going back to the Faction, you can spend some more time with Maddy. I think you’ll like that,” Gus encouraged.

  “You’re right. I imagine after this mission I’ll have a lot of time on my hands. I’ll make plans to pay Maddy a visit. It’s been so long since I’ve seen her in person. Even longer that I’ve seen her without the helmet, I wonder if she even remembers what I look like. That’s something I have to fix. Plus seeing the look on Elaine’s face will be priceless.”

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Let’s Dance, Boys!

  “Are you good to go, Yuki?” Tempest asked.

  “I think so. Hospitals have pretty heavy encryption, so make sure I don’t get interrupted. That snapback disconnection is super bad, maybe not kill me outright, but I’d be a veg for sure.”

  “You can count on us,” Aurora said, giving her arm a firm squeeze before they headed out of the small communications room, closing the door behind them.

  Yuki was surprised they had found the equipment shed on the outside of the hospital, but when she saw the signal amplifier, the reason was clear. They needed some way to punch through the constant cover the weather provided and something this powerful would have disturbed the sensitive medical equipment inside.

  She folded her arms and looked up at the wall of switches, ports, and modules. She had a couple of false starts before she finally cracked her knuckles in frustration.

  You wanted to be a field agent, so buck up! And with that she threw her hands forward and activated Slice.

  A bitter cold wind slapped Yuki in the face. She coughed as she took in a surprised intake of the freezing air, her lungs tightening in protest. She quickly swapped her outfit, and a warm white parka formed around her and blocked the wind like a wall of warmth. Occasionally, bosses would have accompanying suits that offered protection in their native environments, and Yuki was lucky she had obtained this Arctic Fox set years ago. She adjusted her goggles and with a start, began to turn in a complete circle as deja vu set in.

  She had been here before. Or at least in the same AI construct. She squinted at the horizon and found a city there, standing as a bastion against the cold and the wind. Chuckling to herself, she knew that the city was a decoy. Anyone who attempted to reach it would find that it always stayed out of reach, like a mirage in the desert. Wasting the hacker’s energy fighting the elements until they had to drop out of the slice.

  She swept her thigh-high boots back and forth, pushing aside snow drifts that shouldn’t be there in the wild windstorm that blew constantly across the ice field. As expected, a hairline seam was visible. She removed a glove, and with a lacquered fingernail lifted the handle from the smooth ice beneath her.

  Bracing herself, she heaved on the handle and a large block lifted out, as if it were oiled on the edges. She swung to the side and dropped it, making a hollow *thunk* as it hit and scraped along the ice like a curling stone. Yuki stared into the depths below and could see dark cobalt water rushing by quickly. Its urgent *shush* as the underground river sped by in the depths.

  This could be a trap. When things are too easy… What if I get trapped down there underwater?

  No, she had to trust herself. Before she could overthink, she pinched her nose and pencil dove
into the cerulean waters below.

  There was a brief sensation of falling, then her boots crunched on some dry leaves in darkness.

  Ha! I knew it.

  Crickets chirped and a chorus of frogs sang in the darkness. Yuki could see an enormous moon hanging overhead, much too big to be natural, illuminating a nondescript forest. Reverting her suit to her default, she climbed a nearby tree to see where she was.

  About a mile away, she could see a large compound complete with numerous watchtowers and spotlights scanning the empty space surrounding it, occasionally illuminating the treetops of the forest. A large wall topped with razor-wire encircled the compound, and she could see figures moving about atop the watchtowers, backlit by the moonlight as they occasionally changed positions on their rounds.

  She tried using Data-mine, but the distance was just too far. Marking the nearest tower on her minimap, she opened up her bestiary. This job would take some infiltration skills, and she needed to be a ghost instead of rampaging in. There were at least twelve towers that she could see, and they were fairly close together. That could get dicey if she went in guns blazing. She climbed down into the canopy after she had narrowed down the possibilities to three and then made her final choice. Summon!

  Gia “Cerise” Valleta

  Raised by V’omarr monks since childhood, she is skilled in over twenty-one disciplines of death. Over a thousand kills are accredited to her, although no trace has been found of her presence in the vast majority. Some suppose that the number is actually much higher. The fact remains that no one is safe from her when she has been tasked to eliminate them.

  Silk Stalkings: Sentient silk ribbons that respond to the user’s will. Have a reach of over one hundred feet and can be utilized as a weapon as well.