'And we need to be ready to meet him when he's here,' Kit said. 'Kingsley's brought him here for a reason, he wouldn't risk us for nothing.'
'Do you know what happened in Alto?' Lil asked her.
Kit shook her head. 'He didn't send postcards,' she said. 'But he had a mission to do and so do we.'
'Rally the troops?' Lil asked.
'Rook, Canaan and Shep,' Kit said. 'I want this to be kept tight to start with, if too many people know then too much can go wrong.'
'What if we need backup?' Lil asked her.
'Then we call the rest of the army,' Kit said. 'Tell 'em now and they'll go ape that one of Hawk's men is in our territory.'
Lil had pulled out her tablet and was bringing up the profiles of their three comrades. She pushed the 'Call all' button and three holographs filtered up above the coffee table. A few moments later, the three of them had answered and their faces were flickering in Lil's kitchen.
'Boss?' Rook asked, her eyes were half open, her auburn hair frizzy and unbrushed. One of the sleeves of her tank top was hanging off her shoulder and Canaan laughed at the sight.
'Who was brave enough to wake Rook up?' He asked.
'You're not a morning person either ass,' Rook said as she wiped her eye with the back of her hand.
Shep was the quiet one of the group and looked at Kit. His dark skin was weathered with age and perhaps one too many battles since the invasion, his hair was slowly turning white but he still looked at Kit with the eyes of a warrior ready to do battle. All while wearing his Shepherd's collar. 'Katarina?' He asked. 'What do we owe the pleasure?'
Kit filled them in on the situation and waited for the range of reactions to settle. 'King's alive?' Rook asked. 'I heard broadcasts from their news station that there had been an attack in the Spire, they made it sound like everyone was dead.'
'I saw him with my own eyes,' Kit told her. 'And he's going to be coming home, but we need to bring him back, and do it as safely as we can. There's multiple lives involved, some are our enemy, and we are not going in for a kill and retrieve option,' she told them sternly.
'If this guard has wandered freely into our territory then we have every right to kill 'im,' Canaan said. 'And if he's hurt one of ours then it's only right that we get a little payback.'
'We don't work that way,' Kit said. 'We don't hurt or kill if we don't have to,' she said. 'But we are heading out first thing in the morning, covert and top secret. Don't go telling any of your buddies about this mission.'
'Do you think we'll be able to get him out alive?' Shep asked.
'I think we have every hope,' Kit said. 'Get some rest, we'll be seeing each other in a few hours.'
They signed off and Kit finished her tea. 'We've got to watch Canaan,' she said to Lil. 'He's going to want revenge just because the opportunity has presented itself.'
'I'll keep an eye on him,' Lil said. 'You should get some sleep before we head out, you can use the couch if you want.'
'You don't want to try and call your friend back?' Kit asked her.
Lil was quiet for a moment as memories of her night shifted pleasantly through her consciousness. 'I have a feeling that we might be tied up with Kingsley for a few days,' she said and got up from the table. 'And you know us boss,' she said. 'We're all about work.'
Kit watched as Lil walked over to her bedroom. 'Lil?' Kit said and she turned back round to her. 'One day we won't be,' she said. 'One day we'll be normal.'
Lil gave her a weak smile. 'I'm glad you still have some optimism about the future,' she said. 'I'll see you in the morning.'
There was something about living in this world that had changed them in a way that made Kit wonder if she'd be able to ever comprehend it. Lil should be young and vibrant, full of energy, instead she had been changed by a government who would never support them. Kit got up from the table and as she left she began planning how they could use Jack to their advantage.
Chapter Seven
SLEEP WAS IMPOSSIBLE THAT night and Jack was grateful he could endure long hours of being awake. His men were watching Kingsley and he loaded his gun and headed out of the base. He had been ten years old when they had to leave the Spire. He remembered seeing the army helicopters over downtown when he was biking home with his friends. As if on instinct he had picked up the old route that he had taken so many times as a child and was soon on the old West 124th Street. The homes were long abandoned, his old neighborhood barely recognizable and when he saw the graffiti on the doors, his heart saddened at the realization that many would have died during the civil war. The red X's on their doors were faded, but were marked as out of bounds to civilians. Jack held onto his rifle, certain there was going to an attack coming out of the shadows. He counted the door numbers, hoping he could remember the one that used to belong to his parents. He came to number 224 and looked up at the large apartment building. It looked as abandoned as the other buildings, the windows on the lower apartments had been smashed and graffiti had been tagged across the brick walls. Jack walked up the main steps and memories of his childhood came back stronger than they ever had before. All the years he had spent suppressing what he could he suddenly could see his mother playing with Evie, their father arriving home from work, looking weary and his tie disheveled.
Jack walked into the building, certain he should turn around, and that he was needed back at their hideout. He needed to be guarding Kingsley, not wandering down memory lane. Yet something was compelling him forward and he decided to go against his trained instincts. He walked up the stairs to his family's old apartment and he thought about the neighbors who used to live here. He walked past his old friend's apartment and when he saw the red X marked on John's door he felt a lump rise in his throat. They hadn't made it out in time.
When Jack got to his family's apartment he waited outside the door for a moment before pushing it open with his gun. The apartment was shrouded in darkness, it had never had its electric restored after the Blast erupted round the world. The candles his mother had burned were still on the mantelpiece in the living room. Everything else had been turned over by looters and there was nothing worth salvaging. Jack went to his parents’ bedroom, it still felt like a room that was out of bounds, even now as an adult. The room was bare, the bed was long gone and the dressing table was now an empty shell. Jack looked round the room, wondering where his father would likely hide anything that needed to be kept secret from the State. He went to the closet and opened the one door that was left on its hinges. He scanned the light from his gun over the floor and almost turned away when a loose floorboard caught his eye.
He knelt down and moved it loose. At first, he couldn't see anything but dust and dirt, but there was something gray at the back of the nook. Jack reached back and felt the piece of metal and when it came free and when he saw it was a metal box. There was a padlock, clasping it shut and Jack was about to try and open it when he heard a noise down the hall. He packed the box in his pack and armed himself as he went out to the hallway. He kept to the wall, using the shadows to protect him from view. At the end of the corridor he saw a hybrid. A creature that was once human, transformed so severely by the virus that they were unrecognizable. They had become a gray exoskeleton, their features elongated, their fingers were now clawed and their mouth was filled with razor sharp teeth that could tear flesh apart with a single bite. They also traveled in packs.
Jack aimed his gun, he took a step forward and wen the hybrid saw him it launched a quick and ferocious attack. Jack fired his gun, multiple rounds of bullets flew out and hit the creature, black blood spewed out from it and it curled to a stop on the floor, it spasmed in pain as it died. Jack quickly moved down the stairs and saw a pack of hybrids on the ground floor. He looked down at his gun's register and saw that he only had half the number of bullets that he needed to get out of the building alive. He had to move quietly, if they were alerted to his presence he wouldn't be able to shoot quick enough. He was on the second floor and when he looked out the sta
irwell window he saw it would be easy enough to jump down and run like hell away from the building back to his men and more weapons. He opened the window as carefully as he could, the wood was rotten and stiff to move. As Jack struggled to move it, it scraped against its frame and the hybrids knew he was there. They quickly turned for him and Jack began to fire shots. He kicked at the window and tried to climb out to the ledge as one of the hybrids grabbed him. He fired his gun and pulled himself free and fell from the second story ledge to the ground below. The hybrids followed him, moving with much more ease and grace than a human ever could, the mutant gene in their DNA gave them at least one advantage.
Jack saw the deep gashes in his leg but he picked himself up and ran as quick as he could away from his childhood home that had been forever broken by the ravages of a plague that no government could ever hope or want to control.
Jack arrived back at the base, limping and exhausted. He had managed to lose the hybrids as he turned towards the edge of Marcus Gavey Park. Kellburn and Ruben hurried to him when he came through the door.
'Commander?' Ruben asked. 'You were attacked.'
'Well noted Ruben,' Jack replied. 'I need to bandage this up but otherwise I'm good.'
The men didn't look convinced. 'You broke command again didn't you?' Kellburn asked. 'Found yourself some hybrids?'
'This is the Spire, hybrids are like rats, and we’re never far from any of them.'
'Doesn't mean you should go looking for trouble,' Kellburn said.
'I was securing the perimeter,' Jack told him quickly. 'We're moving out in a few hours and I wanted to make sure our path was clear.'
He studied the men's faces for a moment to see if they believed him. If they didn't, they didn't show they were questioning him. 'Is it?' Ruben asked.
'Like I said, hybrids are all over this place,' Jack said as Kellburn handed him the medical kit. He pulled up his pant leg and saw a deep gash in his right thigh. It would need stitches and ointment.
'We're going to need to get you to a hospital,' Kellburn said.
'There's one not far from here, but it's probably abandoned,' Jack said.
'It's worth a shot,' Kellburn said.
'But not worth diverting from our plan,' Jack said as he got out a needle and thread.
'Let me,' Ruben said as he went to him. Jack looked at the young soldier before he handed over the supplies. Ruben worked with gentle precision as Kingsley woke.
'Look who's awake from their nap,' Kellburn said as he went over to him. 'Did you have sweet dreams?' He asked.
'Kellburn,' Jack said. 'Don't play with the prisoner.'
Kellburn scowled, whether it was at Kingsley or him, Jack couldn't tell.
'What happened to you?' Kingsley asked when he saw Ruben wrapping Jack's leg up.
'Felt like an extra challenge,' Jack said. As soon as Ruben had tied up the bandage Jack pulled down his pant leg and lifted himself upright. 'I need you to get in touch with Valletta, let her know that you're here and get her to meet you.'
'Are you going to kill her?' Kingsley asked.
Jack looked at Kellburn and Ruben. 'No,' he said finally. 'She's to be brought in alive, more valuable to the Empire that way.'
Kingsley's eyes darkened. 'I've worked with Kit for years,' he said, knowing the game Jack was playing in front of his men. 'You're asking me to turn in one of my friends, one of my family.'
Kellburn aimed the gun at his temple. 'We're asking you to turn in a wanted criminal, one of the most notorious in the Empire,' he said. 'You will either cooperate, or you'll lose your life for no reason and we'll capture her anyway.'
Kingsley looked up at Kellburn, unnerved by the barrel of a gun being pointed between his eyes. 'I'll need your tablet,' he said.
Kellburn smiled at him. 'Friendship threads are thin when your lifes on the line aren't they?' He asked, he pulled out the tablet from his back pocket and threw it to Kingsley, who dialed Kit's number.
Kit arrived at the barracks just as first light was beginning to break through the clouds. She sat on her motorbike for a moment as she watched the yellow streaks of sun filter across the soft blue sky. A gentle breeze brushed its way past her hair and for a moment she closed her eyes. This is what freedom to her felt like, being in a community surrounded by those like her, being able to fight for a cause and against a regime that was trying to tell them how they should live.
Kit walked into the hanger where she saw Rook was already up and setting up the computers.
'Morning Chief,' she said, a cheery tone in her voice like always. Kit smiled, Rook had joined them a little under a year ago, and Kit had first met her when Gia had brought her to her.
'I don't know what to do with this one,' Gia had told her. 'But she's smart, and she survived the mountain crossing, she could be the computer whiz you've been looking for.'
Kit hadn't known what to do with her at first but it had only taken a few weeks for the young teenager to work her way into Kit's heart.
'I've got the computers setup ready to scan the Spire for Kingsley,' she said. 'The sensors can pick up human DNA threads so it should be able to scan the streets and find him.'
'It's really that smart?' Kit asked as she looked at the screens in front of her. She saw a black and blue outline of a street map on one screen and variations of genetic code on the other. Small blue dots of light glowed on the map indicating human activity.
'There's pockets of human activity in well-known areas but I can triangulate Kingsley's location based on where you found him last night,' Rook said.
'You're doing good work, let me know when you think you've pinpointed King,' Kit said. 'I should have stayed with them last night.'
'They would have sensed you and you would have been outnumbered,' Rook told her. 'We prefer keeping you alive,' she said.
'And that's what I intend to be,' Kit said. 'Keep looking,' she then told her.
Rook gave a mock salute as Lil arrived with Shep and Canaan. 'Ready to bring our boy home?' Canaan asked as he slung his gun up on his shoulder. Canaan was still young, mid-twenties and overly proud that he had managed to escape the Shard and across the mountains unescorted. Shep thankfully was the mature one who could reign him in when it was needed.
'Rook's locating him and the trucks loaded and ready to go,' Kit said. 'We've not been into the city in a year,' she reminded them. 'It's likely changed since our last visit, more things out there that can kill us.'
'We can beat anything out there,' Canaan said and held out his hand and produced a small orange electric ball of light as if to prove his point.
'You are not to use that type of weaponry unless absolutely necessary,' Kit told him.
'You don't want us to defend ourselves in the most natural way we know how?' Canaan asked.
Chapter Eight
GOING BACK TO WORK like nothing was different was a huge challenge the next day. As Evie walked into the lab the expansive room felt like it had changed, like it was somewhere foreign than the place where she had spent the last five years of her life. On the platform in the center of the room, another body had already been brought in for them and she could see Cara conducting the exam. She walked up the steps and saw a young man on the gurney. Evie looked at him curiously. He had tattoo marks down his arms, tribal swirls that were intricate in their design. He had been muscular; his blue eyes were still open but the color had faded to a dim gray. He still had a silver ring on his middle finger on his right hand.
'You've left this on,' Evie said, pointing it out to Cara.
'It's welded on,' Cara told her. 'He's part of a tribe from Alto, the ring indicates he has a high rank which gave him a lot of power. His tattoos show that he had abilities far greater than most who come to Volt.'
'Was he killed during the attack on the Institute?' Evie asked apprehensively.
'Yes,' Cara said and looked at her cautiously. 'We've known your powers have been growing, if what you did in the basement caused this man's death then it only proves
that you're getting stronger.'
Evie felt discomfort at the thought that she could be responsible and she quickly tried to hide the sudden rise of panic. 'Jack's made it to the outskirts of the Stacks,' she told Cara. 'I'm going to try and track his dash cam while I write up our last report for a few hours.'
'Okay,' Cara said, she was focused on the man on the table more than Evie at that moment, but Evie found herself grateful that there was a distraction.
Evie walked down from the platform and headed towards her office, she shut the glass doors behind her and turned on the monitors on her wall. She scanned through the feeds until she was able to pick up drone footage from the machines that were following Jack and his crew. She settled down at her desk and used the tablet she was using to control the monitors to bring up Jack's profile. His tracker showed that he was still alive at least, although the last twelve hours of data showed an irregularity in his heart rate, a few hours ago it had spiked, and his blood count had dropped.
'He's been injured,' Evie said to herself as she read the data. She then navigated to the call button on Jack's profile and tried to dial his number. The phone rang for an eternity and cancelled when there was no response. She watched the monitors for a moment longer until she went back to her bookshelf and scoured the titles. She was looking for specific information that she hadn't thought of looking for before. If the mutants were really trying to rally and fight for peace there had to be something within the books that she could use to prove their cause to whoever would listen. If she could prove it then she could get Jack to come home and they might finally be able to be free.
Evie didn't try to think about life outside Volt too much. She had been told growing up that her family had chosen to enter the facility for sanctuary, they had to embrace everything about the life Galen's government provided, even if it they couldn't always understand it. Evie knew her stronghold had spread across the Empire, and even if they could break free from Galen's rule getting to the free zone seemed like an impossible mission.
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