Indigo (NaNoWriMo13)

Chapter 2 - Go Team Indigo

Dedicated to xxmajaine

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Chapter 2 - Go Team Indigo!

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Shift pushed open the doors of Starpoint tower, stepping through the threshold with caution.

He let go of the door as Raphael and Talia followed suit behind him. Rusted metal flakes came away with his fingers as the door creaked back into place. He brushed it off on his suit. “These doors look like they’re just about to fall off,” he said.

“Wouldn’t surprise me,” said Raph. He flexed his hand experimentally, red flecks of colour that matched his suit dancing around his fingers and vanishing once he didn’t mould them. “The explosion left it more than a little devastated.”

“The hell does Reader want with this place anyway?” said Talia. She adjusted the satchel that hung from her belt containing all her pre-made runespells. “It’s been abandoned for years. Why even bother?”

“If I had to take a guess, I’d say it’s related to his obsession with runes lately, either way” said Raph, his voice taking on what he considered a more authorative tone. “You two have your gear ready? Trackers, scanners, communicators?”

Shift and Talia nodded in unison, grinning. “Just like the first six times you asked us, boss.”

Raph nodded. He touched his ear. “Good. Kione, you have a signal?”

Kione’s voice came through the piece in Shift’s left ear, just as it did in Raph’s and Talia’s. “Yep. Nice strong one. We’re good to go.”

Raph started down the hallway, pulling up the holographic map Kione had put together earlier in the week. “Right. Let’s go, Indigos.”

Shift nudged Talia as they followed after Raph, lowering his voice. “I still think that sounds like a really bad cheer,” he said.

Talia smirked and blew a strand of blonde hair from her eyes but didn’t reply. 

The trio moved down the rest of the hallway in silence. Only the faint light coming from Raph’s map gave them any idea where they were going. As far as Shift was concerned, they were travelling through a dark void in a fragile pool of light. The strips of colour on their uniform suits, Talia’s blue and Raph’s red, looked insignificant against their surroundings.

Raph came to a stop where the hall split off into three directions. He tapped the map, zooming in on areas before muttering to himself. Eventually, he gave up and looked to the ceiling. “Kione, you have any idea where Reader might be? I’m not getting any signals.”

“Working on it,” said Kione. The faint sound of tapping keys came between his words. “Being a Colour tower that got Elite funding, there’s several areas designed to contain any mishaps that might’ve occurred. I’d say your best bet would be checking those out first since they’d hide the signal until the room is breached. I’ll keep working on it.”

Raph clucked his tongue softly. “I really wish we had Zoe right now. We could use her light.”

Shift remained silent, but he agreed. With only the three of them, their team seemed incomplete. It didn’t make sense as to why the Elites would call Zoe to their headquarters the same day they sent the rest of the team to track down Reader. The man was known for taking out an entire Colour team by himself once he got going.

“We’ll head to the nearest closed section first,” said Raph. He closed the map and locked in the bracer around his wrist, the red light in its centre flickering to life. “We’re sticking together though, I’m not risking--“