Project 13 Book One: From The Shadows

Chapter 7: About the Mutant

The 4th city leader raised his hand to speak so I acknowledged him "Have you heard of the search for the mutant? One of our associates had been working at the facility and had been let go after a budget cut. Most of the other workers had been gassed with memory-remover but the jets didn't fire properly on him so he was able to walk free."

"Yes... a representative had come to the Leaky Keg where I go to work and mentioned the possibility." I shrugged as though it was a normal occurrence to have random people walk in and ask about such things.

The leader continued with another question, "Do you think that it is a valid resource?"

"What? The slim chance that there may be a mutant that the government made that survived, escaped, and might possibly be able to help us?" I scoffed, trying to maintain separation but also elicit a response from the 4th city leader.

"The source is verified and we have a picture of the facility and mutant children." he responded "sending them over now"

"And you might also have government copies certifying the deaths of the other 12 as the lady said?" I pressed attempting to check the validity of the intel, because chances were they didn't actually die.

"Yes... that is being sent over as well." He responded slightly annoyed at my disbelief.

Upon receiving the documents I pulled them up on my holoprojector and shared it with the other 6 cities so they could each look at the copies.

"I have shared the copies out so all 7 cities can decide if they are valid documents. I will now give you a moment to mute up and check the documents. Unmute when you are ready."

All 7 cities muted, but left their projections up so we could see that they were all discussing the documents. Xu Bing called me over but I waved it off stating that I had to verify them separately. Which was true... but I also wanted to check the government database to find the matching documents. Using keywords from each of the documents I was able to find exact copies of all of them except one... the picture of Blaze with his attached death note... even the date stamp was not in the correct format that was identical for the other 11. Scrolling down on the documents I found the pictures of death... each of the muntants was immaculate with no signs of struggle, just sprawled out on the ground with no pulse signature. They had escaped.

Wrapped up in the images I had forgotten to watch my surroundings and spun startled at a tap on my shoulder... I spun around my hand reaching to my hip where my short range laser gun was holstered. To my relief it was merely Xu Bing.

"Lightning... what have you pulled up here? These images match those you sent us, but you already have those pulled up over here." He pointed to the images I had shared "Where did these images come from and how did you find them?" His tone was concerned and I understood why... but how to phrase that I have known how to access the government files for years and never said, how do I explain how I know, and most of all, how do I explain that I knew how to search up the exact files I wanted?

"Lightning, I need an answer. I am not mad at you it is just that I need you to tell me what you know about these files." I turned my head slightly to see that the other members of the council and the guards in the room were all staring at us, those in the room with their weapons at the ready. Pointed at me no less. I needed to start talking... NOW!

"I figured out how to get into the government system yesterday for my assignment. I didn't tell you this morning because I was flustered by the news of the 7th city and had pushed it to the side of my mind. As for how I found the files, I searched them by this number in the bottom corner... I figured it probably meant something, but it was not the date or time of the article, and the author of the articles was stated here." I stared back defiantly, leveling the tone of my voice to hide both my fear and anger.