Alias Alliance

Chapter 1

A body.
That's what it was.
A body, caught in the branches of the withered willow tree like a dead leaf, waiting to be carried away by the wind. I sat, admiring its limp form and its glazed over eyes. I secured my white bandana over my nose and mouth, and following my usual procedure, I began to climb the tree. I clamped my hands on the trunk, snaking my way up the slick surface. The segments of bark got caught under my fingernails as I reached the body, getting into a comfortable squat on the branch next to it. The tree wasn't real, of course. Organic matter other than humans was very hard to find these days. That was a change made long ago in the year 2020, when the government had decided to take all natural resources for itself. I hadn't expected to find something so spectacular as a fully intact body lounging around in a treetop. I took out my dagger, prying the dry, cracked, flaking lips apart as I began to work the teeth out of their places one by one. I smiled. This process was very fun for me. Dissecting a sample to take the parts back to HQ for further inspection thrilled me. I loved the teeth, in particular. Such fascinating parts, really. Cleaning them was fun, too. As a child I would take my lost teeth home and use a tooth pick to scrape all the plaque off. I still had the jar, somewhere in my quarters. Finally I was done, carefully fastening the plastic bag filled with teeth to my belt and sliding down the tree. Throwing my hood over my head with my bug-eyed goggles over my eyes, I began to sprint back to the secret entrance to HQ.
The cave was a spacious place, its solid artificial stone walls reaching a height of 20 feet. Acid dripped from warped formations in the ceiling, making the floor sizzle every now and then. I walked a good 45 meters before reaching an end in the wall. Any government official would render their journey to the end of the cave futile and turn back. But I knew what lay beyond. I climbed up the side of the cave and started searching with my fingers near the corner of the ceiling, finding a small hidden keypad imbedded in the stone. I ran my fingers across the buttons, entering a series of foreign symbols and numbers thought up by the head AA officials. Fog hid the cavern floor as it spilled from an opening in the slowly parting wall. I walked through it and, once safely on the other side, pulled a lever on the wall that closed the heavy stone once more. Guards lined a walkway to another door, each one wearing heavy duty gear with a gun in their hands. I entered another code and pulled another lever, repeating this once more until reaching the main gate. I was scanned by a guard with a sort of whirring contraption and pushed through the main gate. I flashed my official badge that hung on my belt to yet another security guard and was finally released into the Main Street. HQ was a series of streets and paths and floor levels that was held in an enormous underground cavern. Smoke clouded my goggles which I removed from my face, letting them rest atop my head. With my hands in my pockets I followed the Main Street through a maze of winding walkways, meeting several workers I was acquainted with on the way. I adjusted my ripped lab coat, tightened my ponytail and stepped over the threshold of the armoury. I gave a friendly nod to Mr. Harpeworn and stepped into the back room behind the front counter. There I found not only my best friend but work partner, sitting on a stool and crafting a particularly lethal looking sword.
"Aspen!" I said, causing her to look up from her work. She set her tools down and stood, towering over me once she reached my side. Aspen was a tall, firmly built girl, the complete opposite of my scrawny short little figure. She had long curly red hair that reached her tailbone, and no shoes covered her feet. She wore a messy apron covered in marks from coal, and a curled up mace rested in a hook on her belt. She smiled faintly down at me, her hands on her hips. She never smiled like that around anyone else. Just me, and-
"Hey guys."
We both turned to see Sage standing in the doorway, her arms wrapped around a thick book that she held close to her chest. I curtly waved at her with my usual snarky grin plastered across my face. Aspen turned around and sat back on her stool, assuming a hunched position over her sword. I simply plopped down on the floor, sitting with my elbows on my crossed legs, supporting my head. Sage sat in a chair by the railing and looked over it, her book in her lap. The rail was covered by drapes that were held back by rope, giving way to a gorgeous look into the far below streets of HQ. A drop of almost 60 feet.
"Is everything good in the Archive?" I asked, drawing her gaze away from the view. She nodded. "What about the Lab? Stuff good there?"
My face lit up. "You guys aren't going to believe what I found!" I reached for the bag still dangling from my belt, holding it up for them to see. "You're really weird Rex, you know that?" Aspen said, her eyes still trained on her work. I just laughed, reattaching the teeth to my side. "How'd you get them?" Sage asked, looking up from her now opened book. "This is going to sound insane, but I found a body in a tree."
This time Aspen turned around to face me. "What? In a tree?" I nodded. "Just some native who got shot, I guess. Can't imagine why they were in a tree, though." They both just shrugged and returned to their activities. I grinned in spite of myself, one of three peculiar girls with things to do. Sage to run the Archives, Aspen to take care of things here in the Armoury, and me, with my Lab to oversee research and tests for the higher-ups. I clicked my teeth and tilted my head back. But now that I thought about it...

How did that body end up in the tree?