by Huth, Jacob
“I don’t think that it will go down smoothly that we all have gene spikes and are the leaders of the Insurgency,” Flare said, “She and I have been friends for a long time. I can ease her into it.”
“Alright. Whatever is safest,” I said. They exited the room and I stood up from the table. I walked over to the footlockers and began reading where we had left off the day before. I was back into the section that was describing the gauntlets.
“We have tried many different calculations in order to perfect the spike amplifiers. I am at a loss. I cannot understand what we are missing. The math says that it should work but I don’t know why our test subjects have all failed. We have locked our test pair of gauntlets in a strong box in the laboratory. I hope that we can find a way to fix this problem. The amplifiers could be the key to overthrowing Kraken.”
There was a pair in the lab? I had to find it. I frantically looked around the lab to find the strong box. I was tossing things out of the way looking for the precious box. I heard Frost enter the room and say, “What are you doing? This place was organized.”
“I was reading through the papers we were looking at yesterday and I found a journal entry from my father saying that they left a pair of the gauntlets here somewhere in a strong box. We need to find them. The note says that these gauntlets could help us bring down Kraken,” I said. He immediately began tearing the room apart as well. We looked for nearly an hour and found nothing. I sat down on the floor and assessed the mess we had made. I looked over at Frost who was leaning against a stack of boxes near a wall. I noticed something on the wall behind him. It looked like a fake panel camouflaged into the wall. I silently walked over and put my hand on the panel. It had been made to feel like the same material as the wall. I pushed in the panel and it receded to the side. A small compartment was revealed and inside was a metal box. I felt a feeling of excitement welling up inside me. I reached in and removed the box. I just stared at it in my hands. I couldn’t believe that there was finally a way to defeat Kraken, or at least challenge them. The thing that worried me was the issues that they had with the gauntlets. They were scientific geniuses and we were just normal people. I opened the box and inside was the pair of gauntlets. I turned to Frost and a big smile grew across his face.
“We have them,” he said with hope in his voice.
“We have them, but we have no idea how to fix the whole ‘killing the user’ thing,” I replied.
“That could be an issue. We should keep reading to see if there are any notes on progress that they had made towards fixing it,” Frost said.
“That’s probably the best course of action,” I said. We sat down at the table and started reading through the papers again. I read for another few hours but to no avail. My eyes were starting to hurt from staring at the papers for so long. I set the packet that I was reading on the table and rubbed my face with my hands. The papers were full of equations that I couldn’t understand. I looked over at Frost and he was asleep with his head down on the table. I had to get something to keep me awake. I hoped that there was some coffee left. I walked into the small kitchen area and opened the cabinet. I found the can of coffee but discovered that it was empty. I was exasperated. I just needed something to keep me awake. I decided to walk outside for some fresh air. I put on my cloak and mask just in case there was someone this far out and they recognized me from the wanted posters that I assumed were posted all over the city. I made my way through the tunnel out to the wasteland. I looked around and really took in the scenery around Sanctum. It was dismal outside. Most of the land was still scorched from the original attack that ruined the landscape. I sat on a large boulder by a small hill. The warm sun washed over my skin and I dozed off leaning back against the rock.
I was awoken by rain drops falling on my face. I opened my eyes and saw that it was considerably darker outside. I couldn’t fathom going back to read those papers anymore. I needed something else to do.
“Maybe I can go see Jet,” I thought to myself. I stood up off the rock and started off towards town. As I was walking towards town I began thinking about the gauntlets. I couldn’t figure out what could possibly be wrong with them. I had no idea how we would go about fixing them. I would have to find a scientist willing to join the rebellion. I was nervous to go back into the city. That man we saved could have just kept to himself and tried to hide the fact that he was saved by people with gene spikes. On the other hand, if he had told people, we could be starting to gain some traction in our efforts to stop Kraken. I reached the city wall and was stopped in my tracks. There was a large floodlight every ten feet along the top of the wall. Apparently our antics had made some impression on Hades. I guess he wasn’t happy that we assaulted and hid his guards in the bushes. I picked up a handful of rocks and shot them with my power at each of the lights to break them and make it look like a short circuit. The lights exploded and I ran towards the wall. I slid along the it until I reached the gate. The guards had abandoned their posts to go help with the light “malfunction”. I slipped into the city with ease and made my way towards Jet’s house. The streets were empty, emptier than usual. I was stopped by a bit of graffiti. It was a large “I” on the wall in red paint. What was under it was the surprising part. Underneath the “I” was written, “Down with Kraken! The Insurgency lives!”
I was elated. It had worked. One act of kindness had gained us some support. I smiled under my mask and continued on to Jet’s house. I arrived at her house around midnight. I knocked on the door and waited. A minute passed before she finally answered. She opened the door and it was obvious she had been asleep. I pulled my mask down and asked, “Can I come in?”
She perked up when I spoke and said, “Of course.”
I entered the house and said, “How are you?”
“Good. A little hurt,” she replied.
“Hurt?” I asked.
“I am hurt that you didn’t think you could tell me about your gene spike. You know me well enough right?” she asked.
“I didn’t tell anyone. Only Frost knew about mine and I knew about his,” I replied.
“Why didn’t you tell me though? I have no problem with gene spikes. You know that,” said Jet.
“We have been so careful to conceal our spikes. Especially after Kraken started rounding up people with spikes and executing them in public,” I replied.
“I still would have liked to have known. I could have kept your secret. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you,” she said. I felt my face getting red.
“I know. I didn’t want you to get in trouble with Kraken agents because you knew some people with gene spikes and didn’t turn us in,” I replied.
“Well that’s very considerate of you,” Jet said sarcastically, “I care enough about you to protect your secrets and I hope in the future, you feel that you can come to me with information.”
“I’m sorry. I will keep you informed from now on. Well, I am sure you know that we started the Insurgency again,” I said sitting down on her couch.
“I did hear. Flare stopped by earlier and filled me in about Sanctum and what happened with the man who was being robbed. She also told me that you thought of me and asked her to bring me to Sanctum,” she said slyly.
“I…uh,” I stuttered, “I wanted you to be safe and Sanctum seemed like the best place. We have rations and a hot shower there.”
“You have a shower?!” she said excitedly, “I am coming to Sanctum now. When can we leave?”
“You want to come now?” I asked.
“Yes. Flare said that Frost thinks I should be a contact in the city but the amount of people you already have on your side is amazing. Thread, the woman who owns the tailor shop, is going to help us. She said she can be our contact inside the city,” Jet said walking around the room gathering her things.
“”We can go as soon as you are ready. We will just have to move quickly. They are on the lookout for me,” I said to her peeking out the window.
“I could go
separately and we could meet outside the city,” she said slipping on her shoes.
I pulled my hood down and rubbed my head. “I guess that could work,” I said.
She turned around and looked surprised when she saw me. “Your hair. It’s gone,” she said.
“I had to cut it off. I am trying to look different since all of Kraken is after me,” I said.
“It looks nice,” she said walking over to the door.
“I’ll go first and once I make sure the coast is clear, you come through the gate,” I said. She nodded and we set off. The city was eerie when it was quiet. I took extra care when moving through the alleys. If anything happened to Jet, I would feel terrible, especially if I was the cause of it. We ran across a couple of Kraken patrols throughout the city. They really had beefed up security since my little outburst at the square. We reached the gate and saw that there were still no guards due to the broken floodlights. We quickly moved through the gate and into the wasteland. It was a quick trip to Sanctum’s entrance.
“What is this?” asked Jet as we entered the tunnel.
“The way in,” I said. We crossed into Sanctum’s main chamber after a few minutes of walking. Jet was speechless. She just looked around in awe at the large chamber. Frost entered the room from the bathroom area and looked over to where we were standing.
“Zero, I thought we were going to keep her in the city as our contact,” he said.
“Flare had already told her everything before I got there,” I said.
“Besides, Thread is going to be our contact. You have a lot of allies already,” she said walking over to him, “And I don’t need your permission.” She pressed her finger on his chest and pushed him back.
“I couldn’t stop her,” I said.
He shook his head and sat down at the table. “I kept reading and found something about the gauntlets,” he said.
“What did you find?” I asked.
“It was a paper from the day that the rebellion fell. It said that they believed that it could be some wiring issue within the circuits but I’m guessing that they never had a chance to fix it,” he said.
“I don’t know anything about circuitry,” I said.
“Neither do I,” said Frost.
“I know something about it,” said Jet.
“What do you know about it?” asked Frost skeptically.
“My dad used to be an engineer before Kraken outlawed the profession 8 years ago. I learned a lot from him and I still know a good deal about it,” she said leafing through a research packet.
“Could you take a look at the gauntlets?” I asked.
“Sure. I don’t have anything else to do now,” she said. I brought the box over to the workbench and opened it up.
“Here they are,” I said.
“What are they and what’s wrong with them?” she asked.
“They’re spike amplifiers. They are supposed enhance the power of gene spikes. The papers said that the experiments all failed though. The test subjects either lost their powers or were killed by the strain on their bodies,” I said.
She nodded and sat silently for a minute. “I’ll see what I can do. Gather up all the paperwork you have on it and I’ll get started,” she said. I began collecting all the reports I could find about the gauntlets and I brought them over to her. She looked at the size of the stack and sighed. I set them down and mouthed “sorry” to her. She started reading the papers and I walked over to the table and sat down across from Frost. He looked over at me with an annoyed look on his face.
“What’s your problem?” I asked.
“I thought we weren’t going to bring her here yet,” he said.
“I wanted to bring her here. You didn’t for some reason. She can help us,” I said getting mildly annoyed myself. I could see Frost getting angrier as the conversation progressed.
“Can we talk outside?” he said almost yelling.
“Yeah let’s get out of here,” I yelled back.
We walked out to the wasteland and I turned to Frost. “What is your deal?!” I yelled.
“You want to know what my deal is? How about that Jet’s dad works for Kraken? Is that good enough?!” he said.
“What are you even talking about? Her dad doesn’t work for Kraken,” I said.
“Yes he does. He has been seen with Kraken agents all over Marsh City. He is in their inner circle!” he said.
“You are so clueless! You never even thought to ask one of us about it? Her dad is in Kraken so he can get top grade medical supplies for Jet’s mom,” I yelled.
“Medical supplies? For what?” he asked.
“She has radiation poisoning. She was in a building that was next to a Kraken lab that had a radiation leak and now she needs the best medicine available to keep it under control. He could only get it by working for Kraken. They have no other attachment to them,” I said.
“How was I supposed to know that?” he asked.
“You could have asked me or her even. Instead, you are cold and rude to one of our friends based on an assumption,” I said angrily.
His face turned red and he said, “I’m embarrassed. I’m really sorry.”
“Don’t apologize to me. It’s Jet that you need to apologize to,” I said. He walked back into the tunnel and I stayed outside to give them a minute. I leaned against the tunnel and looked off in the direction of the city. I found myself hoping that Jet would have luck with the gauntlets. I was deep in thought when Flare walked up and tapped me on the shoulder.
“Anyone home?” she asked.
“Yeah sorry. I was thinking,” I said.
“What about?” she asked.
“Your moron boyfriend,” I said.
She let out a heavy sigh and pulled out a small box of cigarettes. She removed one and stuck it in her mouth. She flicked her fingers and a small flame emerged and lit it. “What did he do?” she asked.
“He was being extremely rude to Jet and when I confronted him, he started spewing some misinformed garbage about how Jet is affiliated with Kraken,” I said.
“I told him to drop it. I guess he didn’t though,” she said.
“No. I made him go in there and apologize,” I said.
“Is she here now?” she asked.
“She insisted that she come tonight. She wanted to use the shower,” I said.
“Ah. She really likes you, you know,” she said.
“Does she?” I said slightly embarrassed.
“Come on. Don’t pretend to be so clueless,” she said flicking some ash away.
“It doesn’t matter. We couldn’t be together. I wouldn’t want to put her in jeopardy. If Kraken found out where I was or that we were connected, they would kidnap and torture her,” I said.
“You say it like she is a helpless child. Maybe you should think long and hard about it. You may find that some things are more important than others. Things could go south pretty quickly once we get things rolling in the Insurgency,” she said putting her cigarette out with her foot.
“You understand where I’m coming from right?” I asked.
“I get why you would be concerned but you can’t protect everybody. You may as well enjoy your time with people while you have it,” she said.
“That’s really profound,” I said jokingly. She laughed and we started in towards Sanctum. As we got in, Frost was pulling a small generator over to Jet’s workbench.
“Where is Jet?” I asked.
“She is taking a shower,” he said.
“Well that was quick. Did you talk to her?” I asked.
“I apologized and we are fine now,” he said.
“Good. We can’t have you being a jerk to her throughout this whole thing,” Flare said.
“That’s very funny. Did you bring some real food for us?” he asked.
“Yeah. I was able to scare up some potatoes and chicken,” she said. She handed me the bag full of food and I proceeded to go into the kitchen area to cook the items. After we all ate a sma
ll dinner of roasted chicken and potatoes, I decided to see if Jet had made any progress on the gauntlets.
I approached the bench and before I could say anything, Jet said, “These reports are amazing. The technology is so intricate and advanced.”
“Have you made any progress in learning about them?” I asked.
“All I have learned is that they run on a certain type of fusion cell that is now nearly impossible to acquire. Kraken has done a stellar job at sweeping the city and confiscating technology,” she said.
“How would we go about getting some of them?” I asked sitting down across from her.
“I don’t know. Maybe Thread could ask around for us. Until then I can only learn about the circuitry and make sure that it is in the correct position,” she replied.
“Alright. Next time we are in the city we can stop by Thread’s shop and talk to her about it,” I said.
“Okay. Oh one more thing. Where am I going to sleep?” she asked.
“I hadn’t thought about it. You can have my bed. I can sleep out here,” I said.
“We could share a room. There is no need for you to sleep out here with no bed,” she said.
“Are you sure? I don’t want to put you out,” I said nervously.
“It will be fine,” she said.
“There is only one bed,” I said back.
“We can share one,” she said.
“I can sleep on the floor in there,” I said.
“Come on. You don’t need to do that,” she said.
“I can, it’s no problem,” I said with my face getting gradually redder.
“I won’t let you. The bed is big enough for both of us to share,” she said, “I’m putting my foot down.”
“Alright,” I said, “I’m going to stay up a little bit later and read through some papers.”
“Don’t stay up too late. You have a rebellion to run,” she said going into the bedroom.
I guess it still hadn’t hit me yet. The Insurgency was alive and I was running the operation. I was going to have my chance to take down Kraken, to avenge the deaths of my parents, Frost’s parents, Pipes and everybody else who had died and suffered at the hands of Hades. I started reading through the papers seeing if there was another project I could start while Jet was working on the gauntlets. I read for hours and just became progressively more confused as the night wore on. I decided that it was time to get some sleep, but I didn’t want to intrude on Jet while she was already asleep. I looked around the room for extra blankets and pillows. I found some and made a small makeshift bed under the workbench. I laid down and stared at the underside of the bench and gradually drifted to sleep.