The Rogue Agent

by Shiloh White

“Wait,” I said, holding up a finger. “How did you guys get in the Zone if it was closed off?” Halsey shrugged. Scott looked over at Dart, probably hoping for an explanation just like I was.

  “At some point, there was a ripple in the control of the Zone,” Dart said. A ripple. Could that have been caused by Damian when he got inside the Zone?

  “It was barely for a minute, but it was enough to see there were two more signatures than just you and…the rogue Agent. From there, Lieutenant Hollister gave the okay to get in there and help.” he explained.

  “So what could have caused the ripple?” I asked skittishly.

  Lieutenant Hollister cleared her throat as Dart mentioned her name. I looked at her, still half-deep in thought about this ripple thingy. “I think I can answer that with a question of my own,” she said. “Dart said there were two other signatures besides you and the Rogue Agent. One was Damian and the other was your sister, correct?”

  I nodded.

  “Now,” she continued, “When we arrived in the Zone, only those two were present, so—”

  I tugged on the hem of my—Halsey's—jacket, and bit my lip. I could see what she was getting at.

  “You want to know if that ripple had something to do with my brother,” I answered for her.

  “That's right. So, did it?” The Lieutenant asked. My body tensed up. Halsey must have noticed, because she nudged my arm.

  “Hey,” she whispered, “if you don't want to—”

  “No, its fine,” I said aloud. I looked at Lieutenant Hollister and set my chin so tears wouldn't fall.

  “Lucas...wasn't who I thought he was.” I said. I explained to them how Lucas had control of my Zone, and how he wanted to save me and Chloe from Depression and the Voice. Then I told them about Damian coming in and...taking control.

  “So Damian caused the ripple in your Zone,” Dart deduced. I nodded.

  “And he's also the reason the Rogue Agent was...gone when we got there?” Halsey asked. “Yeah,” I said, trying to keep my voice from cracking. Lieutenant Hollister put her hand on my shoulder. It startled me at first, but I didn't mind after a moment. “I'm sorry about you and your brother; it's unfair that the two of you had to get mixed up in this,” she said solemnly. “Its fine,” I lied. But it was all I could think of to even say. “At least it's all over now.”

  “Weeeeeell,” Dart said skittishly, putting his hands together, “there's actually one part weirder than all this.”

  50. Something Weirder? Not Interested

  Of course there was something weirder than all this.

  Because things Depression Zones, my dead brother dying again, and the deranged man who tried to kill me more than once were all pretty much normal now. What was I thinking? (My patience was pretty much gone from speaking about Lucas, so I had to bite my tongue to avoid letting these or any other comments out at Dart.)

  Dart brought his laptop to a table in front of us, where Chloe's hospital room was shown on his screen. Then he knelt down in front of it and clicked a few buttons, and the screen changed. It also changed the big screen at the back of the Observation Deck.

  Instead of my sister, I looked up at a big mass of gray blobbed together, moving around and folding in on itself. And I recognized it as the shape I saw before when I was being carried to the infirmary. For a split second as I looked at it, I saw something appear inside of it. It was the swing set that I sat on with my brother years back. Then just as quickly, it sank back into the gray blob and disappeared.

  “What in the world is that?” I pointed to the screen.

  “It's your third Zone.” Dart answered.

  “How?” I asked. “I was in there when Damian flipped it on its head and said it would collapse.” Dart stood up from his laptop, and shrugged. “It's just a theory, but I think that between all of the activity Damian put it through, and you going crazy with your Handle, you helped to give it a kind of jump-start.” he said.

  “So it's awake again?” I asked?

  “And why does it like someone's molding clay?” Halsey asked right behind me. Dart pointed at me and answered, “Strangely, yes it is.” Then he pointed over at Halsey and explained, “That's because it's terraforming.” Terraforming? I'd learned that at some point. I knit my eyebrows, racking my brain for what it meant. Unluckily, I couldn't remember.

  “What is terraforming?” I asked.

  “It means your Zone is changing from being Dormant to a normal Depression Zone,” Dart said.

  “Well, why is that strange? Didn't my other two Zones have to do that before I could go inside those?”

  “That's not quite how it worked, since your other Zones were only partially Dormant,” Dart noted. “Your partially Dormant Zones, we were able to recover enough for you to enter. However, when a Zone becomes fully Dormant, it's permanent. Or at least, it used to be. Like I said, besides my theory, we don't know how it happened.”

  I shrugged. I wasn't sure what info would help them, but since my sister was back, I decided it wasn't fair to withhold any info.

  “Well, while I was in there, Damian said some friend of his was trying to feed off the Zone. Do you think that has anything to do with it?” I asked. Lieutenant Hollister looked over at Dart. Dart gasped loud enough for everyone to hear. “What?” I asked. “Is that important after all?” After a moment, I started to get upset that they hadn't said anything. I tried to contain myself, but my patience wore out.

  “Both Damian and Lucas said this old friend was the same one that messed up Lucas' head and turned him into a Depression Agent,” I added. “Whatever it is, I deserve to know something.” Everyone was quiet for another minute. Then Lieutenant Hollister spoke.

  “It's called Disorder.” she said. “For as long as our records go back, it's been the reason behind mental illness. It used to feed off the general chaos from every place within the Dust, all from the comfort of its hiding place.”

  “Used to?” I pointed out.

  “A long time ago, my grandfather found a way to get to the Dust from our layer of Earth,” Lieutenant Hollister explained. “He'd been studying the theory of Disorder all his life. When he finally got in, he brought a few people to help him figure out how to stop it.”

  “They used Handles to fight it?” I asked. Lieutenant Hollister nodded solemnly.

  “All a part of his research,” she said. “They were able to weaken it into restraints, but it cost them a lot; they were trapped here in the Dust. And worse than that, Disorder gained back strength quicker than they imagined. So in their last days, they built the Depression Force to keep the fight here; to keep Disorder at bay.”

  Dart ran his hand through his hair.

  “If Disorder had enough energy to steer Lucas wrong three years ago...” he said, shaking his head. “It can't be good now.”

  “Damian said Disorder was really close to waking up.” I told them, trying to keep my voice steady.

  “Well, it's not as close anymore,” Dart said. “Your Zone waking up has freed it from Disorder's grasp. It won't be able to take the Depression from your Zone and wake up now.” I let out a short sigh of relief. That was excellent news.

  “Yes, it is a setback for them,” Lieutenant Hollister said, “But Damian will look for another way to wake up Disorder—and Disorder will assist in any way he can.” Dart pointed a finger at me and said, “Because of this, you'll need to be careful. You not dying in your Zone is definitely going to upset the two of them.”

  “So we'll just have to keep them from her.” Scott said, folding his arms. “Simple enough.”

  “Uhm—” Dart started to argue, but his laptop started making an alarm sound. “Oh, perfect timing.” Halsey stood on the tips of her toes to try to see his laptop screen.

  “What's perfect timing?” she asked. Then the big screen at the back of the room went black.

  “Lucy's Zone just finished changing back to normal.”

  “And why exactly is that perfect?” I asked, a feeling of uneasiness cree
ping in.

  “If you conquer it before you go back home, then Damian won't be able to track you from The Dust.” Dart explained, an enthusiastic look upon his face.

  “Wait, you want me do this right now?” I asked. There's no way he was serious. “Lucy's been through enough for one trip to The Dust. She can barely stand right now,” he said, gesturing to me. I tried to stand up even straighter just to spite him, but I could feel myself getting dizzy. “We need to take her home.”

  “There's no point in taking her home if she'll just be in danger again,” Dart argued. “We can't risk Disorder coming after them again.”

  “They'll be okay for now,” Scott tried to assure him. “Right now, our focus should be—”

  “Officers, drop it.” Lieutenant Hollister said in her strong lieutenant lady voice. “Even if Lucy were to conquer her Zone right now, Disorder could always make another Depression Agent to come after her if she's that important. As far as we are concerned, the choice is up to Lucy.” I felt like a spotlight was being shined down on me, and felt a bead of sweat trickle down the side of my head. Although, it could've been from too much standing. I pulled on the sleeves of my jacket, and cleared my throat.

  “I want to see my sister,” I decided. “That's where I should be right now.” Lieutenant Hollister nodded at me. “Good answer.” she said to me. “Dart,” she continued, looking over at him, “please ready a TransPort 2.0 to take Lucy home.”

  Dart walked out of the room, shaking his head as he went.

  “I'll go help him,” Scott said, making his way towards the door. “He doesn't think straight when he's flustered.” he explained. Then he disappeared around the corner as well. Lieutenant Hollister gave him a nod, and he promptly ducked out of the room.

  “Is Dart gonna be...” I struggled to find the right word.

  “Don't worry about him,” Lieutenant Hollister said. “As my top technical worker, he weighs out all the variables going into a decision. Only, he usually lets me do the decision part. So when he has his own opinions, he believes heavily that they are always the right choice. Even when they are not the best decisions.” she explained.

  “I see.”

  “Hey, it won't take long for them to prep your TransPort,” Halsey pointed out. “If we catch up with them now, they'll probably be done as we get there.” I looked over at Lieutenant Hollister out of habit, seeing if she would let us leave.

  “Until next time then, Lucy.” she said, holding out her hand. I shook it, and started walking off with Halsey. As we walked up the steps to the doorway, she gave me a strange look. “Are you alright?” she asked.

  “One last thing's still bugging me,” I admitted. “About Damian.” I said, loud enough for Lieutenant Hollister to hear me. I turned around to face her. “Why did he call you Ally?” I asked. A second of silence passed. Then another. Part of me wished I never asked the question.

  “I—” Lieutenant Hollister started, then a static-y sound filled the room; the intercom.

  “ATTENTION, THIS IS OFFICER PASCAL DART. WILL LUCY HALE AND OFFICER HALSEY TURNLEAF PLEASE REPORT TO THE TRANSPORT ROOM? THAT IS ALL.”

  Lieutenant Hollister shook her head. The look on her face was halfway between being annoyed and regret.

  “Just remember to be careful, Lucy,” she said. “Whether the next time you fight is on your turf or in the Dust, Damian won't give up so easily. He'll be more difficult to beat next time.”

  “Why is that?” I asked.

  “That's just how he is when it comes to something he wants,” Lieutenant Hollister explained, “and judging by how he didn't simply crush you in the Depression Zone, he still wants something with you.”

  On that happy note, Halsey and I left the Observation Deck.

  51. I Take Home An Apology…And A New Jacket

  “Okay, the designers of the Depression Force HQ and I definitely needed to have a chat,” I said, trying to clear the air. Lieutenant Hollister's words didn't leave me feeling too positive.

  “How come?” Halsey asked. I gestured to the hallway around us. It was the fourth one we'd walked down since the Observation Deck. “It makes sense for the TransPort to be near the Observation Deck,” I explained. “Makes it easier to visualize where you need to go right after seeing it. I get that. But building an upgraded version and sticking a bunch of them in a room on the other side of the building? Why?”

  Halsey shrugged. “You got me there. But look on the bright side: we're almost there. You're almost home.”

  Home. That word filled me with something warm and strong; different from everything I'd dealt with these past few days. I was definitely ready to go back.

  Now, I'd like to say the word home also filled me with energy, but I could only manage to walk a little longer on my own two feet. I tried my hardest to push through, but Halsey saw through my ruse. She stopped and let me put my arm over her shoulder and lean on her the rest of the way.

  “I'm definitely going to miss having you here, though.” Halsey said after a few more steps. I looked at her, confused. “Are you sure?” I asked. “From what I've seen, it looks like it's been nothing but crazy since the moment I got here.”

  Halsey snapped and pointed at me with her free hand. “That's exactly what I'm saying!” she exclaimed. “One girl shows up here for three days, and just about all heck breaks loose. Or enough for me to go on my first two field missions.” I bit my lip.

  “One of which you got shot at,” I said regretfully. “And honestly,” I continued, “the second one didn't go so much better.”

  Halsey shrugged. “Ehh, you live and learn.” she said. “Besides, we managed to save Scott and your sister, so I think both missions were a success.” I couldn't help but chuckle at that. There was probably no argument to change Halsey's mind, either. No point in messing with her happiness. I quietly walked alongside her until we reached the TransPort room, thinking to myself of the nice feeling of being missed. I knew for sure that I would miss Halsey, too.

  ✽✽✽

  As we entered the room, I recognized it as the one I peeked into last night—which felt like a forever ago—filled with what I thought were life-size eggs

  “Finally, you're here!” Dart said somewhere to my left. I looked over and saw a desk like the one in the TransPort room, except it was about twenty times longer with—at least—twenty more computer screens on it. Sitting at the one closest to us were Scott and Dart. Scott had his chin rested in his hand, glancing over at the computer screen in front of him every few seconds. Dart pushed his chair out and stood, facing us with his arms crossed.

  “Yeah, yeah. It was Lucy's fatigue that slowed us down.” Halsey said jokingly. I rolled my eyes and took my arm off from around her.

  “I'm fine for the most part,” I protested, “but Halsey insisted on helping.”

  Halsey nodded and shrugged.

  “Well, we're sending her back to the hospital,” Dart grumbled, “so if there are any problems, they'll be able to handle them over there.” Halsey chuckled at his comment. I fake-laughed a little with her, envying her lighthearted attitude. I didn't quite get the same joking vibe from Dart that she did. Although, I didn't expect it to bug him that much that I wasn't going back into my third Zone. Was he upset because he put a lot of work in to monitor it or something?

  “Quit being sour, Dart.” Scott told him. Dart sat down, the expression on his face perfectly fine with being sour.

  “Besides,” Scott continued, “those doctors aren't going to know how to handle Depression Zone-induced trauma anyway.” I gave Scot a sideways glance.

  “I have Depression Zone-induced trauma now?”

  “Let's stay focused here.” Dart said, waving away the conversation. Knowing whether or not I had some new form of trauma seemed like a great thing to focus on, but I didn't feel like arguing with Dart. I turned from the two of them to all of the white egg-shaped pods that covered the vast room.

  “Are these all TransPorts?” I asked.

 
“Yep,” Scott answered. “We call this model the TransPort 2.0, and we use them regularly around here.”

  “They're way easier to navigate,” Dart added. “No emotional stress involved.”

  “What? How?” I asked.

  “Well, they can't track Dormant Zones, which is why you used the prototype before. Instead, they can lock on to high areas of Depression in the Dust and back on Topside; like the hospital Scott pulled you from.” I gave him a strange look, trying to remember where I'd heard that name before. Topside was—

  “Earth, sorry,” Dart said. “I've been awake awhile.” I couldn't argue with him there. He probably hadn't slept much in the past two days, what with all of the chaos.

  “Although,” Scott said, “Be prepared that getting you home's gonna require an extra step.”

  “What kind of an extra step?” I asked, suddenly feeling as tired as Dart. I couldn't believe it was even going to be a challenge to get home.

  “It's not that hard,” Scott assured me. “Here in the Dust, transportation to a Depression Zone is near-instant. However, to get back to Earth, you're going to need to close your eyes and imagine a path to the hospital.”

  “A path?”

  “Something to walk on. Sidewalk, carpet, yellow brick road. It doesn't matter. The machine will do the rest to get you there.” he explained.

  “I don't fully get it, but I think I can manage a path.” I said. Compared to everything else in the last few days, I figured a path was definitely on the easier side.

  “Then let's get this show on the road,” Dart said.

  I started to walk over to Halsey and say goodbye, but before I even got there, her arms were wide open. I smiled and hugged her. “Thanks for all your help, and you know, taking a bullet for me.”

  “Yep, you're welcome.” Halsey said, hugging me back. Then she took a step back and her expression got super serious. “But if you're here again and our roles are reversed, I totally expect you to do the same thing.” she said. And I definitely didn't almost trip backwards, or freak out on the inside. Not even a little. Nope.