A/N: Hey...so I haven't been able to update as much as I wanted to...something happened in my personal life that's just made me feel really lousy and it's made want to just sit in a corner and cry out of frustration and hurt and anxiety...it's just overwhelming. But I didn't want it to affect me so much that I just shut down completely so I hope to have at least one or two more chapters up before I'm forced onto a 10 day family trip to see relatives in a few days. I'd rather not, but I have to :/
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Chapter Twenty-Five: First Job
My eyes snap open from a shallow sleep as the doors automatically open (and I checked, I was locked in here without a key and the touchpad goes 'access denied' so I gave up, sat on the floor and fell asleep) to see a dark blob in the doorway and painful bright light as the backdrop. At first I thought that someone was going to kill me but my body was slow from exhaustion and the battering and the bruising, so moving wasn't a liable option. Plus Lady is using me as her pillow again with her head on my stomach as she continued to sleep.
As the shadow came closer, their features became a bit clearer. "Chief wants you." It's that brat Mike. "Get up already."
I wanted to say something sarcastic but he had a big shiny gun in his hands and it looked like he was twitching to point it at me and blow my brains out. Instead, I push on Lady's head and she immediately awoke. Confusion smacked my brain first as she looked around, obviously forgetting where we were. As she tries to find herself, I painfully get up, my bones even crack as I make the ascent.
I stumble after Mike as he glares over his shoulder at me when we come to the lift.
"Am I going to be told what's happening or are we keeping it a surprise?" I try to ask anyway.
Mike chose to ignore me. Yep. Surprise. I just love those!
We hope onto the lift in silence. My eyes feel scratchy as I try to rouse myself from this bone-weary exhaustion that I don't remember having. Maybe I was on pain-meds and I didn't even realise it and now they've worn off cos I can so feel every freaking muscle burning and the shoulder ached with a vengeance. I could go back to sleep just standing here, despite this. I am that tired.
"You were sleeping on the floor." Mike murmurs and I almost lost the words.
"...I didn't even realise I went to sleep." That much was true. After looking around the room and trying to get Lady out of the shower and found that like her regular cousins; she really loves water. I sat on the fluffy rug and the next thing I knew it, I was out.
"Outsiders..."he mutters under-breath.
My eyes slide over to him, "You have a problem with me being from the outside?"
He went back to ignoring me. I felt my anger bristle at this hostile welcome I've been getting since I first met Fenir. I shut my eyes and exhale, there isn't any point in getting upset. Like with Fenir and Rain, I was just going to have to get over this. My memory flashes back to the last fight I had with Cody. It felt like a lifetime ago. Calling me what these people are, 'Civs'. I look to the side, suppressing the mix of dejection and futility that's bubbling up my throat again. All I wanted to do was break down and howl out my lungs.
The painful silence broke when the doors finally opened to the floor I was sort of familiar with. There were way more people clustering together in the halls this time around. The air was much colder and still then I remembered. It's night. I don't know how I knew that but I just did. The air felt too quiet. I frown at the feeling of how different the air felt between my fingers.
"Get moving," Mike prompts with the jut of his chin.
I frown as I get off, Lady not far behind me as I try my best to look like I was ignoring the billions of eyes now turned in my direction as I head for Siem's room.
The door slides open without anyone needing to open it.
I see Siem hunched over his desk, staring down at the screen.
Before I could even open my mouth to ask just what was going on he spoke, "I would like your help."
I frown, "With what?" Last time I checked, I'm probably the most useless person here.
"We're low on people at the moment. That last operation was not...as successful as I had hoped. It's left us in a spot but I can't call this off either."
"And that is...?"
"There has been reports of a Keystone spotted in the city-"
"And because I've come back not wanting to gnaw on your bones, you thought of me." How sweet.
He gives me a grim smile, "Exactly. I simply need you to confirm whether or not it does exist and what developmental stage it may be at."
Then Hanna decides to grace me with a jump scare as she starts talking from behind my ear, "Any saturation in a surrounding area of a Queen above 36 percent will start causing 'infestation zones'. But because no one is overtly turning into zombies, the nest, if there is one, is still young. The Queen may still be in its juvenile state, depending on what strain of Hexer it may be. And you're the only one so far who hasn't come back crazy. Even X can't handle anything above 40 percent. Everyone else starts feeling the effects at about 20 percent satuaration." ...There are strains...? What nightmare did I walk into?
"Just what are Queens?" I glare at them. They're referring to these unwilling victims as 'it'.
Hanna looks away from me bitterly, "It's a bioweapon-type infectious disease that is produced by a host that someone started developing about thirty years ago. It's only become a 'popular' way to cripple a city recently when someone found a way to accelerate the process."
"Why?" Why do this to anyone?
"If there was a way to take down your enemy from the inside by one single tiny seed with no consequence, what would you do?" Hanna proposes to me.
"But these are people!" The image of the kid that I had destroyed painfully flashed through me.
She shows me a sad smile, her voice only a whisper, "...I know."
Siem comes over to me, "Can I ask this of you? If what I've been told is true, you may be able to decrease the risks that we face."
Why was he asking? It's not like I have an option. "I'm 'yours', right?"
He let out a breath, ignoring my comment. "X, Rain and Seth will be accompanying you."
Say what? "...You do realise that Rain hasn't exactly put me on his 'favourite person's' list, right?" In fact I think I'm so far away from that list that it's a spec on the horizon at this point.
"Not many of us are," Siem chuckles. Well that's given me hope. "Give him time. Seth is another matter."
"And Seth is...?" I do not need any more people hating my guts. But then again ninety-nine percent of people in this establishment have so far hated me, so he's probably in that area.
"Interesting. Hopefully you'll find him helpful –depending on his mood. He will be my direct communicator. All you need to do is look around and see if you can find anything. And I expect all four of you back at dawn. Don't attract attention. You aren't registered and if they find that you're an Outsider, that arm of yours is the least of your problems."
Not like it isn't much of one now. "Won't it be more obvious with a glow-in-the-dark tiger?" I motion towards Lady.
"You will have to leave Lady here."
Say what? "I can't."
"I promise that Hanna-"
"Hey!' Hanna glares over at him.
"-won't touch her. But you need to look at this from my perspective. She is a Miasmic Beast. If she's seen around the streets, it'll cause a panic. Miasma Storms are fairly uncommon in Bolin but they are intense when they occur. I don't need to add 'panicked crowd control' to my list. She will be fine here. I promise."
I look between him and Lady. The Viking all serious and Lady staring at me with her big innocent eyes.
'Why does Dreamer look upset?' She blinks.
'I need to go somewhere...and you can't come along...apparently.'
The look in her eyes and body language drops into distress, 'Why?'
'...To keep you safe.'
'What about Dreamer? Dreamer safe?'
'...I-" I can't promise that I would be safe. How would I know? I don't even know what I'm about to get myself into. She also has a direct link to my thoughts, so she can read my hesitation and doubt quite easily. This is as annoying as Anne in my head.
Anne...
I harden my heart. I need to do this. I need to play along. 'I need to go. I need you to be safe.' If brining Lady along increases the chance of her being killed because of what she is...and what I am. I'd rather fall alone. She doesn't deserve this.
'Don't want to.' Lady replies feebly. She could gather from what I was thinking that she couldn't come. That it would put her in danger...and in turn puts us both at a higher risk of exposure.
'Neither do I...but I need to do this...'
She stares at me for a moment before one solid thought forms, 'Understood.'
"I'm guessing you've reached an agreement." Hanna's voice pulls me from the lurid, calm colours, tinged with worry; of Lady's mind.
"Yes. What do I need to do?"
Siem watches me for a moment before he continues, "Hanna will need to do a check-up on your condition. From there, grab something to eat and X will collect you." ...I feel like I'm going to be continually 'baby-sat' for the rest of my life.
"So, let's get this over with!' Hanna practically drags me by the arm, out of Siem's office without so much as a second glance at her brother. Lady quickly pads after me, towards the lift again. This time, Hanna pushed for a floor down.
"I'm guessing Mist wasn't able to take you here yesterday," she states as the lift opens onto a bright white clinical hallway that smelt strongly of metal and bleach.
My hand almost twitches to cover my nose. The chemical smell is almost burning me. That metal was tinged with the rust of blood and death. Sick and dying.
"This floor and the one below is our 'hospital'," Hanna reaches for the closest door and opens it with a finger to the touchpad. "Lay down on the Station." She motions for me to walk in and I saw one of those stupid table-things. This time with a desk and chair near it with a computer screen and a plant on the desk, bring some colour into the bright bleached white.
"How's the pain?" She asks just as I hop up onto the damned thing.
I give her a look.
"That bad, huh?"
Lady sneezes.
"I'm guessing she's not liking the smells in here. Ok, lie down on your back."
"I can barely manage either," I mutter as I do as I'm told.
I stare up at the ceiling, a circular light blinding my eyes as I wait for whatever she was doing.
She sits down and a holographic screen appears in front of her. "Ok, nothing abnormal is coming up. Your temperature is slightly feverish but that's to be expected...other than that...you're good to go. I'll just give you another dose of the pain-meds –non-drowsy- of course with something to help the fever that may build in a couple of hours."
"What time is it anyway?" I had to wonder. The window in Siem's office was pitch-black now that I thought about it.
"Three 'o' nine." She saw the disgusted look on my face, "Sorry, Siem likes to start early when it comes to these sorts of cases, when the city is practically asleep so we can move about a bit faster without running into so many casualties. Normally I'd tell him to hold off for a few days...but he can't afford to wait if there is so much as a hint of a rumour of a Hexer population in the city...especially for one as large as Bolin." She then moves to take a closer look at me, "I'm going to give you something light and you're going to eat at least half of it, ok."
She only took a couple of minutes before returning with a bowl of cooked apple and I shovel it down my throat without tasting it. It went down easier than that orange sludge she fed me last time. With that, she handed me a few pills that I looked suspiciously at, but my sore muscles and bones won the argument in the end.
Just as I was downing the last gulp of water, X appears in the doorway.