Rebel

by L. C. Mawson

  Alex nodded as she moved to sit up properly, creating a space next to her for Jan to sit.

  There wasn’t anywhere else for her.

  Jan hesitated for a moment, before sitting down next to Alex.

  “I’m sorry for being such a bother,” she said, staring at her hands in her lap.

  Alex just shrugged. “It’s fine. You’re not the only one having trouble sleeping.”

  Jan glanced up, seemingly surprised by Alex’s admission, though her startled look was quickly replaced by a weak smile.

  “Thanks,” Jan said softly. “It’s difficult not to forget... Back when I was at the Enhanced base... After everything that had happened... It was just business as usual for everyone else. It was like they didn’t even register what had been done to me as anything out of the ordinary. It’s difficult now, being here with you and the others, remembering that some people do understand.”

  Alex nodded. “I know, I feel the same... Gus kept telling me that the others would see the truth on their own – that he managed to – but it was just so difficult to believe that they could without actually understanding the things that the other Enhanced were capable of.”

  Jan nodded in agreement. “Even if they feel that they have been affected by proxy... They don’t truly understand. And in all honesty, I can’t help but envy them for that. I bet they have no trouble sleeping...”

  “Yeah, I bet they don’t. But that doesn’t mean that they didn’t have just as much taken away from them. I mean, after all, you’ve seen what it’s like out here. The lives the regular humans get to lead... That was taken away from us. From all of us. The others might not yet grasp what that means, but give them enough time in the outside world, and I think they will.”

  Jan sighed. “I know. I know that they’ve all had things taken from them, too, I just meant that I envied their ignorance of that fact. I mean, I used to be that way. I used to not understand what it was that had been taken from me. I slept better then.”

  Alex responded by leaning in close, allowing Jan to rest against her as she wrapped her arm around her, hoping to give her some measure of comfort.

  “We both did,” she said simply, knowing that her words wouldn’t mean much, but hoping that her hug could bring them both some peace.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Gus

  Gus tried not to sigh in frustration as they neared their destination and he once again found Alex sitting with Jan.

  Not that he had a problem with Jan or anything, but he didn’t want anyone else there when he asked Alex about her pendant. He didn’t want anyone else able to figure out the truth about his curiosity.

  Thankfully, however, just as he was about to turn around and leave, Jan got up and made her way to the opposite end of the train car.

  Gus made his way over to Alex. “I was beginning to think you two were joined at the hip.”

  Alex rolled her eyes as her brother went to sit down next to her. “Weren’t you the one who wanted me to make friends with the others?”

  “I am indeed,” Gus agreed. “You two just seem... close, is all.”

  Alex glared at him. “Gus, stop. She’s a friend. That’s it.” Her hand went to Freya’s pendant, and Gus immediately felt guilty. He had meant it as just a light jab, but he could understand how she wouldn’t take it that way.

  As guilty as he was, though, her hand on the pendant was the perfect segue.

  “So, what is that thing?” Gus asked. “I mean, I know it’s Freya’s, but...”

  Alex sighed. “It was her mother’s. When Freya first came into her powers, she used it as a way to focus her Elemental abilities. After she came into her full powers, however, it became useless to her. Just a reminder.”

  “So that’s really all it does? Just focuses abilities that are already there?”

  Alex nodded. “That’s how Freya explained it. Like magical training wheels, she said. Why?”

  Gus shrugged, doing his best to look nonchalant. “No reason. Just wondering if it could be useful to you. Like if it would let you use magic or something. But if it only focuses what’s already there, I guess it would be useless.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure if it was useful, Freya would have mentioned it when she gave it to me.”

  Gus nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I suppose so.”

  “So,” Alex said, tucking the charm back under her shirt. “How are things going with Ty? Do you think he’s feeling better, or is he just getting worse?”

  Gus sighed. “It’s only been a few days,” he told Alex. “He isn’t just going to magically process all this overnight. And he’s especially not going to do it if he thinks that we’re all talking about him behind his back,” he added pointedly.

  Alex gave a reluctant nod, folding her arms. “I know, you’re right, I just... I’m worried. Not just about him, but about all of us.”

  “I know,” Gus said softly. “Ty will be fine,” he assured her. “It’s going to take him a while to get used to things, but he will adjust in time.”

  “I hope that we can give him that time,” Alex said. “If we can get this base, all of us will have some time. We’ll have somewhere safe, where we won’t always have to be looking over our shoulders. I just hope that we can get there...”

  Gus responded with a teasing smile. “If we do, you won’t know what to do with that kind of free time.”

  Alex just rolled her eyes at him as she folded her arms. “Trust me, if that’s all I will have to worry about, I will be a happy woman. Now, come on. I think this next stop is us.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Alex

  The trip to Effie and Jay’s hotel wasn’t a particularly long one, though every moment seemed to stretch for an eternity as a potent mix of anticipation and anxiety coursed through Alex like electricity.

  If this worked, it would truly be the start of their new lives.

  Of their finally being able to stand against the other Enhanced with more than just wishful thinking.

  She and the others got into place as Gus and Ty went to trip the fire alarm.

  Alex was incredibly glad in that moment for Gus being the only one that Ty seemed to want to spend time around. It meant that Ty went with him, willingly, to where there was no real danger, without Alex having to once again explain to him why going into the fight with the others was too dangerous. She doubted he would listen to her reasoning a second time.

  Alex crouched, perched up on a fire escape, as she waited for Gus to pull the alarm.

  Jan was next to her, and the others were all in similar spots, with eyes all across the street. Ready to pounce on the older Enhanced, as soon as they made an appearance.

  The alarm rang, and Alex and Jan watched the street below like hawks, waiting for the moment when the older Enhanced would make an appearance.

  Jan shook her head.

  People started to file out, and they watched carefully for their targets. As more and more people exited the building, however, Alex’s nerves began to manifest as a slight twitching.

  Where were Effie and Jay?

  They should have been there. After all, they had no way of knowing that the younger Enhanced were behind this. That this was anything more than a genuine fire.

  “Do you think they spotted us?” Jan asked after a while, her voice wavering a little. “Do you think they knew that we were coming?”

  Alex frowned, not wanting to confirm Jan’s fears, but not wanting to lie about her suspicions either

  “I don’t think this is good,” Alex settled for saying. “There are a dozen reasons why they might not be here, but none of them are good news for us.”

  “Yes, but them knowing that we are here and planning to ambush us before we can ambush them, is slightly worse for us than them not being here because they went out for a midnight snack. And then, of course, the middle ground is that they already found the base and are there instead.”

  Alex nodded, agreeing with Jan’s assessment of the situation. Eff
ie and Jay attacking them now would definitely be the worst case scenario, but them having already found the base wasn’t exactly an idea that put Alex’s mind at ease. After all, the reason Alex had wanted the base so bad was for its defensibility. If Effie and Jay were already there, they would be practically untouchable.

  “I’ll go and check in with the others,” Jan said, and Alex nodded as she continued to watch the street below, still looking for any sign of the other Enhanced.

  Jan returned shortly with a resigned frown.

  “No luck, I take it?” Alex asked, trying to keep her voice neutral, not wanting Jan to see her worry or disappointment.

  Jan shook her head. “They’re not here. Gus is going through the security tapes now, to try and figure out when they left.”

  Alex sighed. “Well, if they’re definitely not here, I guess there’s no reason for us to be doing our best Batman impression.”

  “Our what?”

  Alex shook her head. “Remind me to catch the rest of you all up on outside world pop culture. I still have no idea how anyone thought we would manage to be effective spies without it...”

  Jan looked away. “Unless they thought we wouldn’t need to be spies for long,” Jan figured. “Like, say, if they thought we would be fighting the war with magical beings again before we would really have much use for espionage skills.”

  Alex tried not to shudder as Jan voiced her own worries on the matter.

  “Come on,” Alex said. “Let’s go and find the others...”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Gus

  “Are they really gone?” Alex asked Gus as she and the others approached where he and Ty were standing, across the street.

  Gus sighed, his gaze glued to his laptop screen. “I’ve gone through the past twenty-four hours of footage so far, and it looks like they really are gone.”

  Alex groaned, shaking her head. “What are the odds that they left after we found them?” she eventually asked. “I mean, if they were smart – and let’s all not forget that we Enhanced weren’t just built for our brawn – they probably would have left immediately after realising that we had been tailing them. After all, why wouldn’t we just attack them when they were sleeping and vulnerable?” Alex let out another frustrated groan. “I’m so stupid... Of course, they wouldn’t just wait around in the same place for us to come and find them again... How did I not realise?”

  Gus shook his head, though he didn’t lift his gaze from the screen, as he continued to look through the security footage. “Don’t be too hard on yourself, Alex,” he told her. “None of the rest of us saw it, either, probably because none of us have stopped since this whole thing began. I know you haven’t been sleeping, and even with your Enhanced healing, I am not happy with how many blows you’ve taken to the head recently.”

  Alex folded her arms. “You say that as if stopping is something we can simply choose to do right now. As if we aren’t on a time limit...”

  “I’m not saying that stopping would be easy, or even possible,” Gus reasoned. “I’m only saying that you cannot hold yourself to impossible standards.”

  Tina nodded in agreement. “Plus, I actually don’t think it’s likely that they would have moved. I mean, it’s not as if they could have known that you would be able to get help. And if you two had gone up against them alone again, they probably would have thought they could win that fight. I mean, you didn’t exactly win the fight with them last time, you just barely got away alive.”

  Gus looked up for a brief moment and noticed Alex folding her arms tight over her chest at Tina’s assessment, though she remained silent. After all, she couldn’t exactly say that it was wrong.

  He turned back to his laptop, deciding not to draw attention to it.

  “And if they got worried that you weren’t coming back after a while, that probably would have been when they learned from the other Enhanced about the plan to capture you. So they would have no reason to try and avoid you after that.”

  “It looks like Tina is right,” Gus said, finally lifting his head from the security footage for good. “Effie and Jay only left yesterday. Right around the time the rest of the Enhanced had us in shackles. We would have been the last reason they went anywhere.”

  “Unless they were waiting for you to make an appearance, hoping to capture you,” Jan speculated.

  “Perhaps,” Mia said in agreement. “But why would they leave if they didn’t have anywhere to go? If they’re no longer here, it stands to reason that they found the base they were looking for. The base that we were attempting to take out from under them.”

  Gus sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “As unpleasant as that thought is, I have to agree with you, Mia. If we want to take the base from them, it looks like we will have to fight them there.”

  Everyone exchanged uneasy glances at that.

  “The base is a fortress,” Tina said with a nervous look. “I mean, that’s why we want it, right? If they’re already in there, will we really be able to get in and take it from them?”

  Gus turned to Alex. He didn’t have an answer for them, but his sister had spent months at the base in England, restoring it.

  “Our base back home wasn’t built for the purposes of the war,” Alex eventually reasoned. “It was just an expansion of the labs where the genetic research that resulted in us had originally taken place. The bases built afterwards were very different in their construction. The base in England was pretty much built from scratch, in the style of the newer bases that we built elsewhere. I had months to familiarise myself with that base, whereas Effie and Jay have only had days with this one. I think if we can find the base, I should be able to get into the systems and lock them out.”

  Gus smiled, though it was short lived. “Of course, that relies on us being able to find this base first,” he reasoned.

  Alex nodded. “Indeed,” she agreed. “You, Mia, and Ty should stay here and check the hotel room for any clues they might have left behind as to the base’s location. I will go with Jan and Tina to the local records office and see if I can find the specific records they were looking at.” Alex turned to everyone else, “Everyone in agreement with that plan?”

  Everyone nodded.

  “Then let’s get to work.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Alex

  Breaking into the records office was far easier than Alex thought it would be, but after the night they had had so far, she would take any luck she could get.

  Jan and Tina followed close behind as Alex found her way into the computer system, looking up any record enquiries that had been made just before Effie and Jay had disappeared.

  Thankfully, it seemed as if not too many other people had been attempting to get into the records.

  “I’m glad Alex and Gus managed to recruit you as well,” Tina said to Jan as Alex worked.

  Alex could practically hear Jan raise an eyebrow as she asked, “Really? Why me specifically?”

  Alex could hear Tina’s clothes rustle, and she assumed that she was shrugging. “Well,” Tina said, “it’s just... Well, after what happened to you, I’m glad that you managed to get out. I mean, hearing about what they did... If my friendship with Ty hadn’t already made me want to leave, that definitely would have.”

  Alex could practically feel the air chill behind her as Jan replied, “Well, I’m glad that you found my suffering useful. It sure as hell hasn’t been doing me any good...”

  “I- No- That- I didn’t mean it that way.”

  Alex couldn’t help but wince in embarrassment for Tina as her voice came out as whiny. That wasn’t going to help the situation...

  Alex found the record number she was looking for – or at least, she hoped it was the one they were looking for – and quickly memorised it, then turned back to the other two women before the situation could get any worse.

  As she turned to face them, she saw that Jan was fixing Tina with a venomous glare.

  Alex moved over, put
ting a calming hand on Jan’s shoulder as she said, “Come on, I know that she didn’t phrase that in the best possible way, but we don’t have time for infighting. You can claw her throat out after we’ve got the base back.”

  She felt a little bad at the way Tina’s eyes widened at that comment, but she knew that she couldn’t put Tina’s feelings above Jan’s here. Not when everyone had been telling Jan to simply brush what happened to her aside for months now. Any attempt to tell her to lay off Tina would probably only sound like someone doing that again.

  “They’ve all had things taken from them too,” she reminded Jan quietly.

  Jan’s glare finally softened a little at that as Tina stepped forward.

  “I’m really sorry,” Tina said. “I really didn’t mean it to sound like I was making what happened to you about me. And I am really sorry about what happened to you.”

  Jan’s glare returned as she hissed, “Not sorry enough to stop it. None of you were...”

  She stormed off, and Alex chased after her.

  Thankfully, she was going in the direction of the records they needed.

  Alex managed to bring Jan to a stop, right by the files in question.

  “Hey, are you okay?” Alex asked her.

  Jan shook her head, and in what little light from the outside street lamps shone through the small windows, Alex could see the glimmer of tears in her eyes.

  “How can she possibly stand there and tell me that she’s sorry?” Jan asked, her voice little more than a hoarse whisper. “After everything that happened... I can’t trust them. I can’t trust any of them.”

  “You trust me,” Alex said, hoping that her words were correct as she said them.

  Jan shook her head. “You weren’t there. You were the only one who wasn’t there. Everyone else knew what had happened to me, and they all just turned their backs. But you? You were already out there, fighting them. You were the only other one strong enough to see...”