The Elite

Thirty-Seven

Julian

Thankfully, the Launching Area was nearby, so our quick dash got us out of there without opposition, hurrying into our jet. Several Elite gave us strange looks as we tore past, but none of them made any move to stop us. We managed to successfully get to the jet unimpeded.

"What's going on?" Aza asked over the intercom as we scurried into the jet.

"Let's go, now," Leon said rather than reply with an explanation. "As quickly as possible, please."

Thankfully, Aza just started up the jet, doing so in record time — probably having skipped the preflight checks. She had us flying out of there before anyone could stop us. It made her seem truly amazing in my eyes, like the great friend she was.

"What's going on?" Aza repeated once we were in flight.

"I'm going up there," I announced.

When no one objected, I went up to the cockpit, opening it and squeezing into the space, sitting down in the mostly redundant co-pilot's chair. Rather than smile at me like I hoped, Aza frowned.

"Julian, what's going on?" she asked.

"Khadija said something about wanting to resurrect Black Queen and Nefarious and, like a fool, I told the Council they were my parents," I explained. "We all ran. Can you take us to the Elite catacombs in the Andes? They'll have buried my parents in the Offender vaults there. I have to go save them."

I felt really bad for causing the mess I made by accidentally saying that. It was a major screw-up that led to our quick, sudden exit, and it was all my fault. Just like killing Shifter, I screwed up big-time, only this time it left the lives of my squad at risk. It was possible my mistake could end up getting them killed too.

Aza was quiet for a long moment, confusing me. There was no reason for her to refuse, and yet it seemed like she was considering it. I didn't understand. She was my friend. She'd known my parents. She should have instantly wanted to help me and them.

Yet, she didn't.

"Hakim, maybe you should do something else."

"Why?"

I was baffled. She should have been allowing me to go to the Andes Catacombs. She should have been encouraging me to do so. I didn't understand why she wasn't. That was what supportive friends just did.

"Because you are innocent," Aza explained. "You don't know about the things going on. I fear if you do, you'll get caught up in things that are far beyond your comprehension."

"I can comprehend a whole lot."

I was beginning to get wary. Clearly, there was something big going on, and the fact that Aza wasn't telling me about it meant that it was serious. She was my best friend, and we shared everything with each other. Well, we used to. Six years of no contact was hard to justify in friendship, especially best friendship. I had to let myself realize that Aza was no longer my best friend, because she probably already moved on, just like I was trying to move on to Tass. I was beginning to realize that maybe Tass was right, and blindly trusting Aza was a bad idea. She wasn't being as helpful and supportive as a friend would. Instead, she was trying to dissuade me.

"Look, Hakim, I am physically incapable of telling you because of a Talbot power," Aza explained.

"Would you tell me if you could?" I asked.

Aza looked slightly guilty, confirming my suspicion. Things really had changed between us, if they'd ever really been built on anything more than our parents' friendships.

"I don't know, Hakim," Aza said. "It's... it's big, this thing — life-changing. You would be better off in life not knowing it. The part of me that doesn't want me to tell you wants such because I wish I never knew it, not because you're no longer my friend."

"I'm not your friend, though, are I?"

"Not really," Aza admitted. "Not anymore."

"Did whatever this big thing is break us all apart? Is it why my parents left?"

Although I was stung by Aza's betrayal, it wasn't my focus. I needed to understand what this 'big thing' was, and how it related to my life. If I knew, I could fix everything.

"Something like that," Aza replied. "It's a big part of it. Our parents were supposed to do certain things. Up until six years ago, your parents followed, if a bit reluctantly, but they were starting to lean away from it. They left for Saint Louis, hoping they could do what they needed to do. That was wrong, though, so the Elite were anonymously tipped off and sent to kill your parents."

I thought finding out the secret of my parent's departure from Zaratha would make me feel better, but it didn't. Maybe it was that Aza explained it in the vaguest, simplest terms, but I wasn't satisfied. I needed to know more. I wasn't ready to accept it.

"Were they controlled by some Offender version of the Elite Council?" I asked, hoping to clear some stuff up.

At first, I thought it ludicrous to assume my parents were with the Offenders when they'd so readily opposed the Offenders — my parents were adamant about not fighting, but resolving the age-old conflict in another way. But, then, it actually made a sort of sense. My parents would want to break away from the Offenders if they were connected. They would be reluctant to follow, and then they'd leave for Saint Louis when things got bad. It just mad perfect sense.

"Well, yes, in-"

Aza cut off answering my question as several red lights blinked on in front of her. I didn't know much of anything about jets, so I had no idea what anything meant, but I knew none of it was good.

"We've got several jets incoming," Aza said. "They're definitely faster than us. We're not going to make it out of here."

"Of course we are," I argued. "You can teleport, Aza. Just teleport us to safety."

Aza looked at me, and I saw the decision crystallize in her eyes. I might not have actually have been her friend, but she was mine. I knew exactly what she was thinking, and I wasn't going to let her get away with it.

I tackled her just as she began to fade in a flare of golden light. Even though I didn't know where she was teleporting, I knew I had to follow. I couldn't let her just get away and leave me and my friends to face off against the Elite.

My only hope was that her destination was the Catacombs. That would have been the best place for me.

As I grabbed her, the world around me turned gold as we travelled through space before snapping back into color — although the dark cave walls around us didn't display much color. The whole thing only lasted a millisecond.

"Hakim!" Aza yelped.

"You can't leave them, Aza," I begged. "You have to save my squad. You can't let them die."

A long pause stretched between us in which I became aware of the time slipping away for my squadmates. They didn't even have a pilot.

"You're lucky I still care about you," Aza finally said.

Then she was gone, leaving me confused. I wasn't sure what that meant, but I hoped it meant she was going to save my squad for me.