Redemption Chapter 6

Light blinded me for a moment. Heat radiated from the dark red bricks. Sunlight blazed from between the silhouettes of the towers, rays stabbing the ground like shards of frosted glass.

People were gathered in the hexagon, several kneeling next to a few lying on the ground. With a jolt I realized they were the ones shot down, or the ones tortured. My heart thudding hard in my chest, I maneuvered around them, careful not to make a sound. The people on the ground moaned in pain, and the others murmured to them as they bound up their wounds.

I managed to make it past them, but then my foot slipped. I gasped and planted my other foot hard on the ground. A man looked up, looking around suspiciously, then went back to caring for the woman in front of him. I took a deep breath and stepped forward, over the dark splotched bricks-

It hit me that the bricks were stained even darker than their normal color.

Blood.

The blood hadn’t yet been cleaned. I’d slipped on it.

I could smell it on the bricks, baking into it with the sun. I nearly gagged.

Somehow, I managed to step off of the blood without getting sick, and then a cool breeze swept past me, cleansing the air of the smell. I still felt somewhat queasy…..

I neared the outer edges of the crowd. Clusters of people, some of them silent, some of them speaking in hushed tones. Some looked fearful, some looked enraged. Standing at the center of the hexagon, I thought I could make out the words “Tune” and “the Powers.”

A shiver lanced through me. I might be a random, but I was still one of the Powers. Even Ms seemed not quite as invulnerable as they usually did in the face of such hate. I couldn’t say I blamed them.

Several people stepped forward, and the crowd began to follow.

I backed away. I didn’t want to be crushed without them even knowing I was there. I didn’t have wings, and no Ms in sight. But Vy wouldn’t leave me out here without protection….

Boom!

I slammed to the bricks, covering my head.

But it was only thunder, and I climbed to my knees, feeling sheepish even though they couldn’t see me, my elbows and knees scraped. Dark clouds had rolled in and sunlight warred with shadow at the center of the hexagon.

Dad could be very dramatic when he wanted to be.

Lightning blazed into the ground. Terror stabbed through me almost as powerfully as if I’d been hit. I had to fight to keep from throwing myself to the ground again, and told myself, Dad doesn’t want to hurt me, there’s no reason for it this time-right? And anyway, last time was an accident, he hadn’t even known where I was…. I don’t have a sensor block, not for real at least. He knows where I am now. It’s all for the benefit of the people.

The surge of the crowd had quelled, and they were cowering, backing away, some running from the hexagon completely. Thunder rumbled, and the air tanged like electricity. Lightning danced across the dark undersides of the clouds.

Against the backdrop of the storm, a figure flew. With a jolt I realized it was me. A replica of me. It let out a yell of exultation and twirled up toward the clouds into a corkscrew.

“It’s Jet!”

“Amazing!”

“What’s he doing here?”

Another figure zoomed through the sky. This time, it was Violet. She hovered for a moment, her black hair flying like a banner. One of the last rays of sunlight hit her, displaying her majestic form. Then she shot upward and slashed a stream of white-hot fire from her arm, and it caught “Jet” as he flew. He faltered and dropped like a stone. Then, just before he hit the ground, he regained control of his wings and arrested his fall. He hovered just above the hexagon, his artfully messy hair swirling stiffly against the wind, his very posture exuding defiance.

Is that really how I look? I wondered.

“You will stop this folly,” yelled Vy. “Q is no place for a random.”

“You can’t stop me!”

“I can try.” She flew toward him on a collision course. Before she could slam into him, he dodged sideways, but she flung another barrage of lightning into him. He flew away, reeling drastically like a wayward firework, and then plummeted toward the top of a building opposite the HQ. There was an audible thud. The crowd cried out in what seemed like mostly alarm for the fake me. This elaborate pageantry was all so jarring already that, for an infinitesimal second, I wished I was safe and secure back in my room in the Spire.

No. Anything was better than slowly suffocating.

Well…not anything. Now that I was down in Q, in the dark tense reality of it, I could think of a lot of things worse than being stuck in my comfortable room with Sabra. One of them was something I hardly dared think about, only consider obliquely. What Dazzle had threatened…. What she’d begun to do to me….

She was in here somewhere. She’d evaded the best of us. What if she whipped down out of the sky….

I shuddered. No-snap out of it. Get your head in the game. Show’s over, now it’s time to get to the mission.

I walked to the left side of the hexagon where the crowd thinned and slipped into an alley. It was in deep shadow, and it took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the dark. Even my ability to see in the dark took longer to adjust than other Royalty, as they’d told me after annual assessment physicals. There was no way to fix it, either. Marches couldn’t be genetically modified after we were born, only parts of us (like limbs) replicated and attached if we ever lost them. We had to live with what we were born with-because we were perfect as we were. Apparently, that even applied to randoms, who weren’t perfect-it would be a mockery of the others’ perfection to improve us, elevate us to a level we didn’t deserve.

At least, I could pretend to be someone else…. Sometimes I thought it would’ve been better to be born a reg than to be in this sort of limbo between reg and Royalty. Even Nobility were genetically engineered for a purpose, although that purpose was often unclear, at least to me.

I took the com out of my pocket and looked around to make sure no one was close enough to see me when I appeared. Then I brought up the holoflage program and selected my holomask. It spread over me in a flash, a thin film of brown glimmering over my eyes, and my limbs reappeared, but instead of the normal deep golden-brown, my skin was a light tan. Just at the edge of my vision, I could make out vestiges of shaggy brown hair.

Vy had told me not to get too attached to this persona; when people saw me “turn into” Jet, it would blow my cover, and I’d have to pick a new mask. So I’d just have a similar personality and background so I wouldn’t have to make it up each time, unless I wanted to “get adventurous”. “You could try being Nobility,” she’d said. “You do have about as much lightning as some Nobility. Or-to really mix it up, you could try being a woman.” Her eyes twinkled with mischief.

I’d told her I wanted to keep things basic this time around, and she said that was probably a wise idea. “Don’t unnecessarily complicate things, that’s one of our mantras,” she’d said. “Still…if it were me…. I’d be tempted to spice things up a bit. But-you’re right-you need to keep it simple, since you barely have any training.” And since you’re a random, I wasn’t sure if she’d implied.

I’d have the holomask to interact with people but wouldn’t get too close. It would be too hard for me to keep my cover straight, especially since people would get suspicious when I didn’t know anyone in Q. The sectors of Q could be like small towns, where everyone knew everyone else, so it would be hard to always pose as a stranger. Hopefully, we’d find Dazzle before I explored every sector, and before I appeared as myself in each one.

Part of me hoped that someone would find Dazzle today, so I wouldn’t have to risk her coming after me. Though I wouldn’t be able to redeem myself that way…. Maybe just being willing and getting this far without failing would be enough? Somehow, I doubted it. I’d have to have some sort of active success as a spy… find some valuable information, even if it didn’t directly lead to finding Dazzle….

I ventured out of the alley, not exactly sure what my first step should be. I’d be going to the Savannahs by evening, and it was already sunset beyond the dark clouds. I had maybe an hour to look for…some sort of clue. My basic role was a watcher. Since I had a holomask on, I should use it to go interact with people. Though maybe I should’ve just stayed invisible, since I didn’t have much time…. Well, it wasn’t likely that my holomask would go off in that short of time, so I might as well get used to my basic persona, no matter how its avatar changed. Vy had said to just treat this as a game. It was sort of like a spy hologame-except I could never totally avoid the severity of the stakes, both for me and for Mag City. And… what if, when my holomask decided to go off, Dazzle was around? What if she saw me? Weren’t there supposed to be Ms and agents with me? Why was I alone?

There were hardly even any people in the hexagon any more. The whole place was deserted. It had that empty, eerie feel. Like a dream you were in a lonely place, and you felt someone creep up behind you, and-

A hand grabbed my arm.

Terror blazed through me. I couldn’t move. Just stood there, shaking, waiting for her to shock me and carry me off where no one could find me….

“It’s just me.” Aura came into view. I felt a strange mixture of relief and annoyance.

I couldn’t find the voice to answer.

She laughed. “You shoulda seen your face! What’s got you so spooked?”

“N-nothing.”

“Scared to death of Dazzle? That’s a good start to the mission.”

Anger sparked into me, driving away enough of the fear so I could reply. “I was just wondering where all the agents were. You weren’t exactly what I had in mind.”

“I was with you the whole time. You didn’t think the agents around you would always be visible, did you?”

“I thought you were on probation.”

“I’m still a watcher. You’re the one I want to watch.”

“Why?”

“Because I figure you’re where the action is.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re a March, aren’t you? I’m not exactly keen on being around Vy right now. And Blade-he’s even worse, going on about the rules. He’s even more angry at you than at me and Ray.” She looked me up and down. “I should’ve stayed invisible and messed with you some more. Or even better-” She stopped short, looked a little downcast. Then her eyes sharpened into that expression I knew all too well, of targeting me. “It is strange you’d be so jumpy just because of Dazzle. Yeah, she captured you, and that’s why all this happened. But you escaped. Though I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised you can’t even perform such a simple mission.”

“Neither can you.” The last thing I wanted was for her to somehow guess what Dazzle’s intent had been. “You made the situation even worse.”

She smirked. “As if that could happen. Who cares about what a few inmates feel. I did my job-and I’m not going to apologize for it, especially not to you. So what if things get a little volatile. Maybe it’ll shake Dazzle out of her hiding place.”

“So you don’t have any remorse.”

She frowned. “I shouldn’t have gone against protocol-I’m not supposed to defy my superiors. But I did act in the moment, with the information I had, and did what I thought was necessary.”

“By torturing people.”

“So you care about these-things that don’t even deserve to be called human.”

“The little girl-”

“That was Ray and his Ms. Besides, she had traitor blood. We aren’t going to rehash this, are we? So I tortured people. Sometimes, that’s necessary. You’d know that if you were around spies for any length of time.”

“I’m around Vy a lot. She doesn’t torture people.”

“I should amend my statement. You’re not around spies when they’re doing their job. Sometimes, our job is messy. And Vy, her reprimand of me notwithstanding, understands that. And yes, my dear-she even has been known to do her share of torturing on occasion.”

She was lying. She was Aura, after all-and I should know better than to argue with her. “She wouldn’t do that. She’s sworn to protect the people.”

“Q inmates aren’t people. Vy understands that-she just sees this softer way as more expedient, for some unfathomable reason. And then there are the Cons, who are worse than subhuman. They would take over our worlds and say they had the right. You have no idea-” She caught herself, then looked off into the distance and shook her head. “I hate to crush your misguided idea of a hero, but Vy has tortured both Q residents and Cons, when the situation required it.”

“No…that’s not…” I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Couldn’t picture it. My Violet…hurting people with her lightning….

“Get over it. Time to get on with your mission.” She punched me on the arm, a little too hard. Then she instructed her com to give her a holomask, and the image of a Noble spread over her-about the only thing she could pretend to be (besides a Royal) if she wanted to be the same height. She had masses of golden curls raked back into a ponytail, and bright blue-green eyes, and a green shirt and iridescent skirt. She linked her arm in mine and said, “C’mon. I’ll be part of your cover.”

She practically dragged me forward, and I followed, not sure what to do. I didn’t want to struggle, make a scene…. There were people gathering in the hexagon again….

I was tired, even though I hadn’t done much yet. Maybe just from the adjustment of emerging back into the outside world. In any case, I wanted to start fresh tomorrow when I could think clearly. And besides, I wanted desperately to see Sym and find out if she’d rescued Sol and his mom. Knowing Sym, she had, but…what if something had gone wrong? What if they needed my help? How much could I really do tonight, anyway?

“Maybe…I’ll just go to Sym’s house for the night.”

“You don’t want to get a head start?”

“I’m just…tired.”

“Why don’t we just go mingle with the crowd a bit, so you can get a feel for your mission. You don’t have to do anything yet-not that you’ll ever really need to do much.”

She did have a point, despite her jabbing words. I followed her with less reluctance, though weariness dragged at me, and my energy seemed to drain out by the second.

She smiled wickedly then strode forward, her ponytail jouncing against her back. Before she reached the crowd, she pivoted and pointed at me. “Look! It’s Jet!”

Horror struck through me. Sure enough, my holomask shimmered and vanished. I fumbled for my com, pulled up the invisibility program-but couldn’t get that either.

Then it hit me. It was all part of the game. I didn’t have to panic. The holomask was supposed to go off at random times. Aura was just playing her part; I had to play mine. Which was, basically, panicking. That’s probably why they weren’t giving me any warnings-so it’d look authentic-

I ran. Footsteps pounded after me. Any time now, I silently pleaded my com. The whole point was that they wouldn’t catch me-

“Jet! Come back!” screamed a girl’s fanatic voice.

My heart fluttered like a trapped butterfly, its razor wings scraping against my chest. All I wanted to do was fly. I needed my wings. Now. I couldn’t let them catch me-they’d tear me apart-

A lone figure appeared in front of me. At first, I thought it was another agent. Then, I got close enough to see it clearly.

Dazzle.

Originally published at https://amerakandreams.com.