The Rogue Agent

by Shiloh White

  “Meet me in your final zone alone...if you want to see Chloe.” I wanted to believe he couldn’t be serious. Lucas wouldn’t do those things. And if that was the case, then maybe he could still come around…

  I wasn’t sure who I’d be kidding. Not after the things he did. Kidnapping his sister? There was something wrong with him.

  “In any case, we need to hurry.” said Halsey. “I might not be right about what Dart's feeling, but I have a pretty close idea of what Scott went through.”

  “Okay,” I agreed.

  ✽✽✽

  When we made it to the infirmary room, Lieutenant Hollister was sitting on a stool at Scott's bed. Dr. Yabata was leaning against the wall by his bed, looking at a clipboard while she appeared to be trying not to pull out her hair.

  I walked into the room, Halsey right behind me, and I noticed there was also an Officer by the inside of the door. Probably there in case Scott lost it. Right now, Scott was lying unconscious on the hospital bed, sweating up buckets. Lieutenant Hollister turned around when she heard us walk in. “You're back.” she pointed out. She stood up and walked over to us. “Did you get the cure?” I'm not sure what I expected her to say instead of that, but it rubbed me the wrong way. I tried to set aside that feeling for Scott's sake, as Halsey pulled the small blue vial out of her pocket.

  “Here it is.” Halsey said. Dr. Yabata set down her clipboard on the end of Scott's bed and came over to take it from her. Halsey took a step back, hesitating to give it to her.

  “We went through a lot to get this,” she said. “Yeah,” I added, “A lot of crazy.” Dr. Yabata nodded. “I understand the need to be careful,” she said, “but we need to hurry. He doesn't have more than a few minutes at best.” I looked over at Scott. His unconscious face started to change colors like a lava lamp; red, to purple, to a sickly shade of green. All those colors; Waspish Syndrome was definitely not something to mess around with. Halsey reluctantly gave her the vial and walked over to Scott's bed, keeping her eyes on Dr. Yabata the whole time while she prepped the liquid in a syringe.

  “What did you mean by a lot of crazy?” Lieutenant Hollister asked. I explained as much as I could, from what happened when we got there, to the gang members Takao and Chug and Dart and Halsey losing consciousness as we escaped

  “Besides the part where we played Russian roulette, however,” I said, catching my breath, “the worst part was barely escaping Damian's crazy club a second time after we got kidnapped by his goons.” Lieutenant Hollister's eyes widened. “You went back in Damian's territory despite my warning?”

  I nodded. “I didn't plan to, but he kidnapped everyone,” I said, throwing my hands up in the air. “Also,” I continued, “it would have helped to know he was the Depression Agent of the entire Anchor Zone before I irrationally jumped in to save them.”

  “I didn't mention that on purpose,” Lieutenant Hollister said, “to keep all the focus on getting Scott's cure and away from panicking.”

  “Well, that backfired a lot,” I told the Lieutenant, anger rising in my voice, “because it wasn't just Damian. The rogue Agent was there too—and I found out who he was.”

  “The rogue Agent?” Lieutenant Hollister echoed. “What did he try to do with you?” she asked. But she didn't look surprised at all at what I said. I knew who he was, and she didn't want to know? I stared at The Lieutenant and realized something I felt stupid for not seeing it earlier.

  “You already knew who he was.” I said, Halsey gasped. She must have still been pretty deep under the insanity when we were in the club if she didn't pick up on that until now.

  “That's not important right now,” Lieutenant Hollister said, raising her voice. “Did he try to do anything to you?” she asked again. I ignored her question

  “Not important?!” I shouted. “I could've tried to stop him way back in my second Zone—” I gasped. “Or is that the real reason you didn't even tell me he was there?” I asked. “Did you have bigger plans? Just long have you known it was him?”

  “Lucy, we'll come back to that,” Lieutenant Hollister said, gesturing calmly with her hand. “Right now, I need to know if you found out his plan after he kidnapped you all—”

  “Lieutenant,” Halsey interrupted, “she just found out her brother is alive. Can we give her a minute?”

  “She needs to get past that so we can act on it.” Lieutenant Hollister said. “Lives are hanging in the balance. Including Chloe's.” she said, looking at me with her cold blue eyes. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

  “You don't even care about me or Chloe at all, do you?” I asked, yelling now. “You're just obsessed with the rogue Agent, and afraid I'd mess up your plan to capture him!”

  “Lucy, that isn't true,” Lieutenant Hollister said slowly. “We've put a lot of work into helping you save your sister.” She tried to speak calmly, to convince me of her truths. But I wasn't having it. The way she kept her voice calm just added to how angry I was becoming. The anger fueled my movement as I ran at the Lieutenant. I had no plan, and at the moment I didn't care. My hand instinctively went for my paintbrush and—

  “STOP!” Dr. Yabata commanded, her voice filling the whole room.

  For the second time in the past couple days, I stopped fighting in a hospital.

  I stood still, halfway to where the Lieutenant waited. Her electric blue eyes stared me down with such intensity, I had to look away. I gazed over at Dr. Yabata, and I instantly regretted it. She was holding a needle halfway to Scott's neck.

  “I see no problem in working out problems, but I will have no fighting in the infirmary.” she said, waving the syringe at me. I felt like an idiot. Here Scott was on the verge of death, and I'd chosen this moment to blow my top.

  “I agree,” Lieutenant Hollister said. She gestured to the man behind me, “Officer, take Lucy to the holding cell to cool down.”

  “We don't have time for that,” I tried to explain, but Lieutenant Hollister didn't budge.

  “You're not helpful without a level head.” she said.

  “Wait!” I said as the officer grabbed my arm. “Lucas is working with Damian,” I said. “They're the ones who took Chloe.”

  “Of course they're working together...” Lieutenant Hollister muttered. “But we already know Lucas has your sister. We need to figure out why, and how to get her back in time—”

  “I have the answer to both!” I shouted, fighting the Officer as he started dragging me out of the room.

  “Officer, wait!” Lieutenant Hollister said, holding out her hand to him. The officer stopped trying to pull me out of the room, but kept a firm grip on my arm. Lieutenant Hollister waved her hand at me. “What do you know?”

  To be completely honest, I didn't want to tell her. I didn't want her to know I had any info about that. I knew she would be against what Lucas told me; I'd panicked. I was afraid I'd have no control in getting my sister back. The plan was to take control of the TransPort the first chance I got. To find my third Zone, and Lucas, as quickly as possible. I glanced up at the Officer, who looked down at me with a straight face, patiently waiting to throw me in a cell at Lieutenant Hollister's request.

  At this point, I couldn't afford to withhold information—even if it meant being unable to go after Lucas. The most important part was going to save Chloe myself.

  “They're holding her hostage,” I said, “unless I go to my third Zone alone.”

  “Why would they want you there alone?” Lieutenant Hollister asked. I couldn't think of an answer.

  Luckily, I didn't have to. Before I had the chance to blurt out I didn’t know, Dart burst into the room, his hair sweaty and matted to his forehead.

  “You guys...” he panted. He held up a finger, trying to catch his breath.

  “You need to come with me to the observation room now.”

  ✽✽✽

  “Is it Chloe?” I asked, trying to turn around with the Officer still holding on to my arm. “Is she back in her hospital room?” I knew it
was a long shot. I never even actually told Lucas I'd go to the zone. There was no reason for them to bring her back. But still...I wanted to hope that she was alright now.

  “She's not back,” Dart said, “but it does involve Chloe.”

  My heart skipped a beat. I ran for the door, but the Officer pulled me back. I looked up at him, following his eyes to Lieutenant Hollister. He was probably waiting for approval to let me go, or—much more likely—take me to the holding cell. Either way, I about ready to knock him square in the jaw. Judging by the size of him, I knew it would make no difference. He would've taken the hit and knocked me out with one of his own. But hitting someone was bound to make me feel a little better.

  I watched the Lieutenant as she processed everything in what felt like slow motion. She looked at Dart first, and then the Officer holding me down. Her gaze rested on Dr. Yabata, who took the second of quiet in the room and emptied the needle into Scott's neck.

  She pulled it out and gave Lieutenant Hollister a nod. Then she went over to the sink to wash off her equipment. I looked at Dart, and back at Lieutenant Hollister. Stuck in the Officer's grip, all I could do was hold my breath as everyone's eyes were on Scott for what felt like too long. “Halsey.” Lieutenant Hollister said. “Yes?” Halsey answered shakily, turning around to face the Lieutenant.

  “I want you to stay here and watch Scott.” she said. Halsey said nothing and nodded. “The rest of us will go with Dart.”

  “Yeah, sure, that's fine,” Dart said, shifting from foot to foot. “Just hurry!” he took off, back down the hallway without waiting to see if anyone was following. I looked at Lieutenant Hollister, gesturing to the Officer behind me.

  “I need to know you can follow orders right now.” she said to me. I nodded.

  “I can do that.” I said calmly, but I was probably trying to convince myself more than her. As angry as I was with the Lieutenant right now for keeping life-altering information from me, I couldn't do anything without cooperating with her. And I had to know what was going on with Chloe. Lieutenant Hollister waved her hand and the Officer let go of my arm. “Follow me.” Lieutenant Hollister said. We left the infirmary and ran after Dart to the Observation Deck. With each step, my heart thumped in anticipation of the state of my sister.

  40. To Make Matters Even More Worse

  When Lieutenant Hollister and I got to the Observation Deck, Dart was inside running around the room like a madman. He went from one machine to the next, clicking buttons at each one. He paused when he saw us come in. “Finally.” he said, running up the front of the room where we stood.

  “What's going on with Chloe?” I asked.

  “Well, you see,” he started, urging us to walk all the way into the room, “I was going to run some tests to make sure the insanity bullet was out of my system when I got a transmission from the monitor viewing Chloe's location.” he pointed to said monitor, which was currently black.

  “What did the transmission say?” Lieutenant Hollister asked. Dart pushed a few buttons on the keyboard in front of the monitor and the big screen at the back of the room turned on, revealing the same black screen. Dart moved the mouse and clicked the play button in the middle of the screen.

  “See for yourself.”

  Up on the screen, the blackness started to move. It shook around and split into smaller pieces, like it was dividing or something. It took me a moment to realize what was actually happening. It was a Depression Agent's smoke—most likely Lucas'. And they weren't dividing. It was a message; each of the pieces spelling out a smoky letter. (So did the Dust not have e-mail?)

  After a moment or two, the entire message filled the screen:

  “ONE HOUR BEFORE THE PROCESS IS IRREVERSIBLE.”

  Suddenly, the smoke evaporated, revealing Chloe back in the hospital room. She'd made a wall around the mattress with the blankets and sheets and pillows; her back to the metal board at the back of the bed.

  She was hugging her knees and shivering. Her eyes were closed, and she was mouthing something over and over. Help me? Stop this? I couldn't tell. But it didn't stop me from wanting to get in there and help her.

  Around the room, the walls weren't walls anymore. Dark smoke drifted around the outline of the room like a whirlpool in slow motion. But I didn't see any sign of Lucas in the smoke. I traced the trail of smoke to see where it was hiding, but it—

  “What's...going on?' I said, unable to move my eyes from the screen. I hadn't noticed it earlier, but the trail of smoke slithered up the mattress and the wall she built. It went all the way to her arm, where skin was chipping off and morphing into smoke, just like Tyrese and Jimmy Boy transformed back at the club.

  It couldn't be.

  “What's happening to her?” I demanded, my voice wavering. I was afraid of what the answer might be, but the only thing worse standing here not knowing.

  “Lucy, your—” Dart choked.

  “Your sister,” Lieutenant Hollister continued for him, “she's turning into a Depression Agent.”

  41. Dart Has A Positively Bad Idea

  After seeing that, I would've much rather gotten an e-mail. It could've even been somewhat ominous, like, Hey, Lucy, I've got Chloe. She's fine, but you'd better get here soon, or she won't be. Anything would have been better than what I just saw.

  “You have to let me in.” I said, finally bringing myself to words. “I have to stop my brother and save Chloe from transforming into one of those things.”

  “Lucy, hold on,” Dart said, “I'm all up for cracking down on him, but he wants you in there alone.”

  “And in case it's slipped your mind,” Lieutenant Hollister added, “your brother is the rogue Agent. He can rip apart your Depression Zone from the inside. We can't send you in there without backup. If he beats you in there, he could take you and Chloe. Or even stroll right up to the Depression Force HQ. “

  I felt my face scrunching into a scowl the more she talked. “I can't go in with backup,” I argued impatiently. “I'm supposed to go alone. We have no idea what will happen to Chloe if I don't—and I don't want to find out.”

  “What makes you so sure?” Lieutenant Hollister retorted. “You barely got away the last time you ran into him, and that was just because he ran away. And from your recounting of Scott's antidote fiasco, you didn't do much better against him in the club.”

  I shook my head and threw my hands up in disbelief. She was really arguing against this when my sister's life was on the line, with less than an hour! I looked over at Dart for some backup. (Backup. I know, I know. Ironic. I get it.) He shrugged and winced like he wanted to help, but had nothing to offer. “Uhh,” he stammered, “I think that printer just uh...printed something over there. That's where you can find me.” Dart exited the conversation and went over to examine the printer. I gave him a death stare as he walked off, but he didn't turn around. I was pretty sure the dumb printer didn't even make a sound. Whatever.

  I turned back to Lieutenant Hollister. “Lucas—I mean, the rogue Agent, got the drop on me then.” I offered as bravely as I could manage to say. Between the mess of emotions concerning The Lieutenant and Chloe, it didn't come out as brave as I would've liked. “This time, I'll be ready.” I continued. “I have my Handle.” I reached into my jacket pocket and wrapped my hand around my paintbrushes, just to see if they were still there.

  “So what are you going to do when he gets the drop on you again and your Handle fails because you're by yourself?” Lieutenant Hollister asked. I must have contracted some disease or something from De Mentoria, because she sounded genuinely concerned. That couldn't be right, since she'd spent half the time I'd been here practically lying to me about my not-dead brother. Thinking about that again upset me. And it didn't help that I didn't have an answer for her.

  “My sister's in there, okay?” I yelled, pointing up to the big screen in the back of the room.

  “I've spent all this time fighting Depression Agents to save her, and now all of a sudden she's turning into one!”
I stopped to catch my breath. Lieutenant Hollister just stared at me; her cold blue eyes not feeling so intimidating at that moment.

  “I can't just sit here and do nothing. Even if it means failure, I have to try to save her, Lieutenant.”

  That was all I had at this point. Trying. The Lieutenant was right that my Handle could fail. I'd gotten lucky every time I used it. Even the first Depression Agent in the park. I would've been toast then and there if Scott didn't tell me about it.

  AGH! I'd forgotten about them. Scott, Dart and Halsey. Lieutenant Hollister was right again. All of them helped me along in this fight. Could I really fight the rogue Agent—my once-dead brother—on my own?

  “Lucy,” Lieutenant Hollister walked over and put her hand on my shoulder, “I understand how important it is to save your sister, but dropping you into the TransPort and launching you into your third Zone alone is not the way to do that.”

  “Actually,” Dart said from across the room at the printer, “it might be the perfect way to do it.”

  ✽✽✽

  “Dart, are you positive this is going to work?” Lieutenant Hollister asked.

  She must have asked it at least six times on the way to the TransPort room. Granted, after explaining the plan the first time, Dart would not answer her. As she paced the room, I guess she figured the seventh time better be the charm.

  “Of course I'm not positive!” Dart yelled at Lieutenant Hollister as if she'd lost her marbles. He turned to face me again, strapping my left wrist into the TransPort chair. It felt like so long ago since I'd been sitting in this thing, but much to my discomfort, my stomach hadn't forgotten how to do flips. It wasted no time making me nauseous with anxiety now.

  “What do you mean you're not positive about this?” I asked Dart as he strapped in my right wrist. He stopped and looked up. “Are you still willing to go through with this?” he asked. What choice did I have? We had no idea where Chloe was being held, and no time to come up with any other plan. In addition, any other plan could just put Chloe in more danger. “I'm fine,” I said, shaking the other thoughts out of my head, “just—walk me through this again.”