Hydra Heart

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter 27: What's Mine is Mine

Shay woke up to a tapping at the door. "Come back later!" She insisted. It continued.

"If you don't stop knocking, I'm going to put you in a bag and shake you up and down."

Knock, knock, knock.

"Blegh!" She rolled out of bed, groggy, and answered the door. An official-looking person was behind the door.

"Are you Shay Solis?"

"Never heard of her," she said, ready to go back to bed. When she tried to slam the door, the gloved hand of the uniform in front of her stopped her push. "You and your cohorts are asked by the Prime Minister to join me."

Vesta and Priscilla were returning at this time, joining the other two in the doorframe. "Oh sweet," Priscilla commented. "Field trip, where we going?"

Shay ducked out to go freshen up for the day, leaving everyone else to iron out the details. When she hopped in the car, she had no idea what she was getting into. They drove east, to a point on the island far from the dense inner city.

They saw little at first, but, gradually, everything came into view. A great mine was beneath them, with an incredible density of people descending via dozens of elevators, going deep into the earth. The miners entered blasted caverns to inspect for... what?

"This," said the uniform, "is a Lindium mine."

"And I thought the trees were big!" Priscilla commented.

"How is this kept secret?" Vesta asked.

In a sorrowful voice, the uniform replied, "An ungodly amount of paperwork. Plus, smuggling."

"The Prime Minister is offering you limited access to these resources as a show of good will, and you are encouraged to continue covert joint military operations with Redwood intelligence services."

Priscilla and Vesta shared a look.

"While you think about that, we have prepared your escort to Hirudinea."

--

"I don't know what I expected," Shay commented. They were dropped off on the shore of their great looming enemy, and then their escort boat left. They were in the middle of nowhere. "Should we just... walk?"

"I guess so," Vesta replied. They did. It was seven kilometers to the nearest building, part of a small town. The stores and housing looked fairly clean and safe, but the roads were littered, and not much vegetation was growing there. In fact, the general area seemed pretty dry, despite its proximity to the ocean.

"So, what's our cover story?" Priscilla asked. "Remember, there's no way Vesta's face isn't going to be recognized."

They thought about it for some time, and made full use of the supplies they were given by the Redwoods. Shay covered Vesta's face in bandages. Priscilla picked up another fake face at some point, somehow. Shay could only cross her fingers. They knocked on a door.

"Hello," Shay said. Being the youngest among them, she was using her best "broken child" voice, which wasn't that hard to tap into. A husband and wife answered the door "We're on the run. I'll be upfront: can you take us in for the night?" She used Curtains to make the couple hear one other say "yes" to the idea.

They joked about how this would be a trial run for when they were ready to have kids, which was odd, considering they seemed well into their forties. Shay, Vesta, and Priscilla sat down at their dinner table, happy to have the hospitality after such a long walk. They certainly looked the part of stranded, tired strangers.