She flipped through the pages until she came to the part that told her how Galen came into power. She had heard the story during her schooling but she had begun to wonder years ago how much of it had been true. There was a hologram button available and a small projector lit up when she pressed the play button.
There was a different presenter this time, the person who had Jenks' job before her. She was a black lady, who spoke with a heavy formal accent that sounded like it was from Britain. Evie was skeptical, no one from another country was usually allowed to enter the Empire, let alone Volt.
'Today's inauguration symbolizes the continuation of a new era for the Empire of America,' the newsreader read from behind her desk. 'After the tragic assassination of her father, Madelina Galen is assuming the role of the next President of the new world.' The camera switched to a view of Galen walking up the steps of her grand mansion and step behind the lectern.
'It is with a heavy heart that we have to hold today's ceremony,' she said. She was dressed in black and wore a hat that had lace covering her eyes. When Evie looked at her she thought it was the most mournful she had ever seen Hawk, and she was surprised by how human she appeared to be. 'But I will not deter from my father’s work, he has been able to create a safe society, free from the struggles that are faced by many who live outside these walls. We are making incredible advances in genetics that are helping us fight the virus every day and one day I am sure my team of scientists will be able to find a cure, so that we can reclaim the rest of our land. Until then, work is continuing on building a strong army of soldiers who are prepared for war. Even within our walls we have learnt we're not safe,' she said, her voice breaking slightly and she raised a hand to her eye to wipe away a tear. 'And we will continue to grow our own abilities as humans as we tackle those who are evolving to harm us.'
There was a round of clicks from photographers and a young journalist raised his hand. Evie looked closer and saw it was Jenks, likely on her very first assignment. 'What about the human engineering program?' She asked.
'This program is well established as part of our new culture,' Galen answered. 'My father was killed by those who oppose it, but we have discovered genome that can help us evolve to fight the mutants who want to infect our people. This genome can help us fight against the virus and give us extraordinary abilities that will make our army far superior than anything we've had before. People are able to freely sign up and won't be at any personal risk.' There was a garage of other questions from other reports but Galen held up her hands. 'If you'll excuse me, I need to retire to my office and finalize my father's affairs.'
She walked away to the mansion and the screen returned to the presenter. 'President Galen there, confirming that human experimentation will continue under her rule for the benefit of the new Empire, only time will tell if it has the benefits she truly envisions,' the presenter said and the screen then cut out.
Evie sat and contemplated what she had learnt for a moment while she watched the old streets of New York play out on the monitor in front of her. The virus ravaged the earth after the Alliance allowed the Others to attack for the third time, the first two had aimed to destroy the globe through natural disasters and cyber warfare. They had taken out the electric and the communication channels before the third ships came and infected humans with a plague that had no known earthly cure. Galen's father had proposed that those who had died had mutant properties, potentially alien, in them that might prosper in the host of another human. However, when the DNA was transferred, mutants evolved. Only they weren't mutants, they were human's capable of extraordinary things. Evie looked down at her hands that were rested on her lap and through focused thought was able to create the swirls of blue and purple energy. She didn't know if the scientists had changed her. All she knew was that she had been born with this energy that made her different, different enough for her to be killed by the government if they discovered her secret.
Because I could use it against them.
A rush of ideas suddenly came to her and she hurried over to her doors. 'Cara?' She called. Cara looked up from the body and was curious by Evie's look of excitement as she came down the stairs.
'What's wrong?' She asked.
Evie tried to sort through her thoughts before she tried to explain. 'This man,' she said. 'Was he part of our experiments?' She asked.
'No,' Cara said. 'He doesn't have the markings that we give our soldiers.'
'Which means he naturally evolved his powers, that's why he has the tattoo markings and the ring welded into his skin,' Cara said.
'Correct,' Cara said. 'Some who were infected with the virus found a way to obtain mutated infusions on the black market, when they had kids they were naturally born with the DNA already in their system.'
'So they can control how they use it and are effectively human, they're weren't attacked by other mutants?' Evie asked.
Cara thought about the answer for a moment. 'In theory,' she said cautiously. 'What are you thinking?' She asked.
'What we've known all along,' Evie said. 'That there's a new race of human out there who is strong enough to over throw Galen and her government. Humans who have evolved enough so that they can take on the army that she's created. We've been calling them mutants because we think they've been infected by mutated genome and are a threat, but what if they're the people who can save us? Galen's been telling us for years that the virus has created mutants and hybrids whose only intent is to kill those of us who escaped the plague, but what if they don't really want to kill us? What if they're trying to kill someone the person who's been trying to extinguish them for all these years without realizing that there's no longer a threat?'
Cara looked at her stunned at the idea and then back down at the man who she had been examining. He hadn't come here to kill them, he had come here to free them.
Jack and his men packed up and moved Kingsley out of the base. Jack could feel the energy in his hands just under the surface and was doing all he could to stop it from exposing him.
'What are the coordinates for our destination?' Jack asked Kingsley.
'I'm not telling you where the Stacks are,' Kingsley said. 'Those of us who manage to live freely have created a safe place to call home, I'm not going to take a group of guards into the heartland and ruin that.'
Jack thought for a beat and agreed. 'Fine,' he said. 'We'll meet outside the designated perimeter.'
Kingsley took the tablet from Jack and opened the map survey app. Black and blue topography filtered through to the screen and Kingsley keyed in the coordinates. 'We'll need to head on foot,' he said. 'It's at least twenty blocks away.'
'And how are we to know that Valletta is going to meet us there?' Kellburn asked.
Kingsley frowned at him and opened the contact app that contained everyone's details in the Empire.
'She's listed in the Cable Book?' Jack asked.
Kingsley rolled his eyes. 'Sure she is, has her address and everything,' he said. 'No dumb wit, like everything in this world there's a hack round everything,' he told him. Jack watched as he opened a number of different menus, typed in code and pulled up Valletta's profile. Jack looked at her picture, it was different to the one that was on the wanted posters, she looked almost normal and reminded her a little of Evie. Kingsley double tapped her photo and a hologram filtered up and as the screen flickered Kit came into view.
'Chief,' he said.
'Kingsley!' Kit said. 'You're back in the City?' She asked.
'I am, and I'm not alone,' Kingsley said. 'There's some people here who are wanting to meet you.'
'I'm heading to the safe house,' Kit said. 'Take care traveling through the city, there's a number of detonators around the place. Although I imagine your friends know about that already.'
'They've got enough ammo to work their own stall,' Kingsley said.
'Okay that's enough chit chat,' Jack said and hung up the call.
'Happy?' Kingsley asked.
'Start walking,'
Jack ordered.
The city was eerily quiet. Jack was wary as they walked the route to the safe house, pain throbbed in his leg and he was certain that they would be met by hybrids at any turn they came across. They drove in silence for the first few blocks as Jack tracked their route on the tablet.
'She looked different than how I thought she was,' Ruben said. 'She looked normal, pretty even.'
'I wouldn't go there buddy,' Kingsley said. 'She's into girls. Trust me, I speak from experience.'
'Huh,' Kellburn said. 'Never thought mutants had romantic lives, let alone gender preferences.'
'Mutants are humans too,' Kingsley told him. 'We just have a few extra quirks.'
'Quirks?' Kellburn asked. 'Your powers are used to kill us,' he said.
'Is that what you think?' Kingsley asked. 'That we're the enemy?'
'You're the one who came into our territory and tried to kill us, did kill some of us,' Kellburn said.
'What if it wasn't you we were trying to kill?' Kingsley asked him.
'What do you mean?' Jack asked.
'Never mind,' Kingsley said. 'You're a loyalist, you wouldn't get it, and I don't want to give you an excuse to shoot me.'
'If you don't tell me I can shoot you,' Jack told him.
'Fair point,' Kingsley remarked. 'There's been a number of rebel uprisings that have been blamed on mutants, hybrids, those of us who have different DNA to the rest of you normals, you're all being told it's because we're uncivilized, that we're a danger to the way that y'all want to live your lives now. Like the invasions never happened. Many of you are dumb enough to think we're still being controlled by the Others when really there's hardly any of them left anymore. They couldn't survive here, that's why there's not been another invasion in decades. We were left as a result of what happened, and we weren't created by aliens, even you must know that.'
'So what are you saying?' Jack asked.
'That we're not your enemy,' Kingsley said.
'Bull,' Kellburn said. 'You freaks kill people, good people, I've seen it with my own eyes, you didn't even stop to think about the life you were ending before you incinerated them.'
'We attack when threatened,' Kingsley told him. 'Just like you do and if anyone's been killed it's because they were working for Galen. She's behind all this, her grandfather started it and she's been continuing it.'
'Continuing what?' Jack asked.
'The war that's keeping her family in power, if the war ends, then they have to hold an election and fully reinstate a democracy, but because we're too unstable to vote and rebuild our country it's keeping her in power longer,' Kingsley said. 'So she's doing what she can to keep the war going by creating more mutants, more hybrids and refusing to find a cure for the virus.'
'They are trying to find a cure,' Jack told him. 'It's what Evie's been working on.'
'Is she?' Kingsley asked. 'Or what if she's the one making the virus, infecting new victims with it and part of the system that's making it so that a cure can never be found? Because when it is, that's when peace can be restored, and power only comes from chaos for Galen and Hawk.'
Jack's mind raced as Kingsley had confirmed nearly all the suspicions he'd had about Galen's administration but had never dared to utter them aloud. 'How do you prove it?' He asked.
'We unite and go after them together,' Kingsley said.
'You're insane,' Kellburn said. 'And should be shot right now for inciting an assassination plan against our leader.'
Kingsley raised an eyebrow. 'See?' He said. 'Brainwashing is just as powerful as manipulating human genome.'
'Believing in a cause if different to being brainwashed,' Kellburn said.
'Potato, potato,' Kingsley said with different pronunciations. 'I'm just saying, you shouldn't be ruling out the idea that we're not really all that different.'
They were interrupted when they saw a jet fly over them.
'Is that one of ours?' Ruben asked.
Jack's eyes widened as he zoomed into see the plane clearer. 'It's the rebels,' he said.
'I didn't know they had planes,' Kellburn said.
'There's an awful lot you don't know about your enemy,' Kingsley said and in the brief moment of distraction he wrestled the gun out of Kellburn and shot both Kellburn and Ruben in the legs so they went down. Jack flew his gun up to his eye and aimed his gun at Kingsley.
'Drop it!' He demanded.
'You drop yours,' Kingsley said. 'You know I can do more than fire a bullet into your brain so you're going to want to drop your weapon.'
'I'm not going to do that,' Jack said.
'You honestly thought I was going to take you to Katarina? You're stupider than you look,' Kingsley said.
'What if I said I believed you?' Jack asked.
'Are you crazy?' Kellburn asked as he grasped onto his arm in pain. 'Shoot the bastard!'
Jack turned around and slug two bullets into his men, one into Kellburn and the other into Ruben, killing them instantly.
'What did you just do?' Kingsley asked. 'You shot your own men!'
'They're not my men, they work for Hawk's army' Jack said, blood pounding through his veins as he struggled to comprehend what he had just done.
'So do you!' Kingsley said.
'I'm like you,' Jack said. 'I'm like my sister.'
'No you ain't, you a crazy fool, I ain't crazy,' Kingsley said, not lowering his guard and still wielding his gun at Jack.
'Lower your gun and I'll show you,' Jack said.
'You lower yours,' Kingsley said. 'You just killed two of your own men, I ain't stupid enough to disarm myself in front of a crazy jackass.'
Jack took a moment and threw his gun down. 'Fine,' he said. He held out his arms, Kingsley was still looking at him through the viewfinder of Kellburn's gun and watched as he saw blue electric lights spiral down his arms and form into a sphere in Jack's hand. Jack took the ball of electric and threw it against a wall, obliterating it.
Jack took a moment to steady his breath. 'If either of them knew, they would have killed me and most certainly would have tried to kill Valletta. You know I want to keep her alive.'
Kingsley was stunned by what he saw and couldn't explain it. 'What do you want with her?' He asked. 'Really?'
'To try and find a cure,' Jack said. 'So Evie won't be killed.'
'She's one of the people working against us,' Kingsley said. 'We don't owe her, or you any help.'
'I think I might have something that could be of interest to Valletta,' Jack said. 'I recovered something from my old home yesterday that could be a clue, I need you to lower your weapon and take us to her.'
Kingsley was quiet for a moment as he considered his options. 'I'll take you to her,' he said. 'But I'm keeping hold of the weapons.'
'Fine,' Jack said. 'But I've just shown you I don't need a gun to put a bullet in your brain.'
'Touché brother,' Kingsley said. 'Touché.'
Chapter Nine
CARA HAD WRAPPED THE body she was working on and moved it to storage. The morgue was cold and full of lives that were long gone. Evie had gone with her and looked at all of the containers and read the numbers and thought of the lives attached to the details that the administration had given to them.
'These were all people,' she said. 'People like you and me who ended up here because they were seen as nothing more than science experiments.'
'They were all mutants and just because your empathizing with them shouldn't mean that you should forget how many people they've killed,' Cara told her as she closed the heavy door for the unit that stored her latest victim. She wrote out a number sequence and slotted it into the empty spot available. 'You have a good theory, but it's just a theory,' she said. 'And one you shouldn't go shouting about.'
'So you think that everyone who's in these containers are working against the Empire and set on destroying everything that the governments created since the last invasion?' Evie asked.
'I don't think they all are, some got caught up in th
e cross fire, some were prisoners who we experimented on and didn't make it and some were rebels,' she said. 'Either way, it shows that if you go against Galen and her government, then it doesn't end well.'
'Who decided that Galen and Hawk should have all the power?' She asked. 'Galen's not been elected, and she's not creating a free nation, she's creating one built on fear and solitary rule.'
Cara sighed. 'After everything that's happened today I'm too tired to go through a history lesson,' she said.
'And I'm tired of living like this,' Evie said as she leant against one of the containers. 'I don't want to work for Galen and experiment on prisoners, or be worried about my brother out in the field,' she said.
'I know,' Cara said as she went over to her and rested a hand on her shoulder. 'But we got it better than most,' she said. 'And I'd rather be safe and have a job, than be out on my own and fearing for my life. You know what happens to people when they try and escape for something better, I don't want that to be me.'
'I know,' Evie said. Cara sensed something wasn't right and knew she should keep Evie talking and try and talk her down but exhaustion was creeping in and she didn't have the energy.
A soldier swiped into the morgue and stood in front of them and saluted. 'Ms Fox, President Galen has requested your attendance in the situation room,' she said. 'We've got a jet ready to take you.'
'We've just come from there, what's happened to Jack?' Evie asked.
'Come with me,' the soldier said.
Evie and Cara had climbed into the jet and had flown back to Volt's Capitol. Evie felt like she could never truly escape the Capitol city and felt a knot tighten in her stomach as she and Cara followed the soldier to Galen's rooms. They were led to one of the bunker rooms where a group of soldiers were stood around a large desk which had Galen and Hawk sitting at the head of the table. There was a large screen in front them that was showing drone footage from the outskirts of the Spire.
'What's wrong?' Evie asked.
'We thought you might be able to tell us,' Hawk said. 'Show her the footage.'
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