Spunky heroine round of LayethTheSmackDown's contest. For this round we had to choose our heroine and interweave the feel and lyrics of the music paired with it as a base for the story.
Word count on completion: 2233
The Pieces Fit
How can two men, birthed from the same womb, who look the same, act the same, and love the same, expect me to choose between them?
And how can these same two men expect me to keep a secret when my mind is connected with thousands of others? Others who only have to look beyond a thin veil to see my deepest, darkest desires and fears?
Dissonance against the collective is brewing, our connective web mildewed and smouldering with accusation and contempt. I can feel the Guardian drawing closer, searching every nearby tendril for culprits responsible for the temple bombing and the death of numerous of their kin. They can sense my fear, I know it.
If I'm to protect the men I love, I have no other choice than to embrace the cold silence.
"Rose?" Steve yelled, jerking awake the instant Rose dropped out of the Web.
"She's already gone, Steve," Micah said through the open doorway. "I told you we should have taught her how to shield."
"You heard it too?" Steve asked, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Although phrased like a question, it sounded more like an accusation.
"Of course I did. Everyone with a connection to her would have heard it. She knew enough about the Web to know that severing her own tether would destroy any tendrils to us, and through us, the Resistance. We're safe. She's safe."
Steve threw the blanket off and stood to face his brother, snorting in disgust. "How the hell can you be sure of that? She could be dead for all we know." He yanked the day before's jeans on and pulled a sweater over his head. He then dropped to one knee to search under the bed for his shoes. "There's nothing but a dark space where her light should be. We need to find her," he said from the depths, his agitated tone muffled by a plethora of discarded food wrappers and clothing.
"And do what? The Guardian won't notice it's her missing, they'll assume whoever occupied the chord has died. If we start a hunt for Rose, they'll know something's up and start digging deeper. It'll put the entire operation in jeopardy."
"I know you're only involved with her because of it, but is that all you care about? Your precious operation?"
"Steve," Micah warned as Steve pushed by him, grabbing his jacket from the hook by the door. "Rose will be fine."
"Whatever. I need to see it for myself."
Flinching as the door slammed behind Steve, Micah focused on making a secure connection with Kaspar.
His commander answered immediately, What is it?
We have a problem, Sir. Our contact in the Tower dropped out of the Web just moments before a Guardian scanned her. She severed all ties, including the one that let me access Tower security systems.
Kasper, having given quick consideration for their options, demanded, Bring her to the compound tonight. She may have information we can download from her memory.
But isn't that dangerous?
The commander's laugh sent chills coursing through Micah's mind. She is no longer useful to the mission. Bring her in and we'll see what we can salvage.
~☆~
Noise from the crowd helped lessen the frigid quiet, filling a void in her mind with the inane chatter of bustling holiday shoppers. Rose smiled on seeing Steve, more dishevelled than usual, searching through the crowds wandering around the Mezzanine. Worry etched on his expression warmed her heart. She stood, arm waving to get his attention.
A masculine arm circled her waist from behind, lifting her off her feet, while his other hand covered her mouth to stifle her scream. Rose made a grab for a bench, knowing it was bolted to the floor, and managed to stop her backward momentum enough to jar her assailant and he let her feet touch the floor. The instant she felt solid ground beneath her, she bounced up and threw her head back, smashing the metal claw-grip holding her hair in place into his face. He let go.
Rose took off into the crowd, heading for the most populated area in the food court. Her slight frame and agility allowed her easier passage than her pursuer. Upon seeing the exit sign she was looking for, she rounded the corner and ducked into the ladies toilets instead of taking the exit to the street. She locked the cubicle door and stood on top of the toilet bowl to peer outside through a small, open window.
A Guardian barrelled out the exit door moments later, paused to search up and down the street, then took off towards the city centre. Steve appeared a second later.
"Steve!" Rose called. "Wait there."
He didn't hear her call above the din of city traffic. He ran after the Guardian.
Having rearranged her hair in an attempt to hide the streaks of blood, vibrant against her natural blonde tones, Rose hesitated at the door for the Ladies Room and peeked out through a crack to make sure no other Guardians were near. She spotted Micah heading straight for her.
"There you are!" he said by way of greeting. "I've been looking everywhere for you."
Rose took Micah's hand and pulled him behind a nearby stanchion. "You and half the city's Guardians by the look of it." She hugged him. "What's going on? I thought we'd be safer if I left the Web."
"I don't know. Your sudden disappearance must have raised alarms. You can't stay here." Resting an arm across her shoulder, he gently steered her toward the exit, checking the coast was clear before ushering her along the street in the opposite direction to that of Steve and the Guardian. "Come on, I'll take you to a safehouse while we figure out how they found you so quickly."
"I need to get my purse and few other bits from the apartment..."
"It's too dangerous, Rose," Micah interrupted. "The apartment will be the first place they look. They'll be there waiting for you to show up, and it won't be just one of them because of your tussle earlier."
"You were there? You saw that?"
He shook his head. "Steve told me what happened and where he last saw you."
Her shoulders sagged with the disappointment of realising he hadn't been on his way to their usual meeting spot. A hope that there was more to their relationship than just being a source of information, died with his words. But, she had a part to play. "I don't get why they're looking for me. I mean, I'd understand if I was someone important."
"There is one way to find out. My commander wants to scan your mind for something you may not be aware of having seen, or may think insignificant to the operation." He gave her a moment to process the request. "After what happened in there, I'm inclined to think Kasper's right. There's something more going on."
Rose agreed.
The temptation to ask questions about Micah's commander sat unspoken on the tip of her tongue. Guardians had been searching for him and his base of operations for years. Jeopardising her mission to settle personal curiosity would not only bring down the wrath of her superiors for wasting the months it took set up the rouse, but could tip off the faction leader and they'd lose him again. She let her head fall back against the headrest of Micah's craft, flinching at the contact with numerous tender spots.
Once the craft left the city limits, Micah flicked the autopilot switch and swiveled his seat to look at her. "What's it like? Not being connected with everyone?"
Startled by the question, Rose took her time to consider how she would respond and decided that honesty would avoid tripping up if she were cross-questioned. "Too quiet. As a child I suffered terrible nightmares and used to lie awake at night, stalking the web and following threads of strangers conversations to avoid the dream monsters. When most were learning how to shield from the background noise, I welcomed it. As an adult, I miss the convenience of connecting with anyone, anywhere, anytime, but kind of like the idea that my thoughts are completely private. That no one knows what I'm thinking or feeling unless I tell them."
"You could have learned how to shield your thoughts, you know," Micah said, a note of pity to his tone. "I could have taught you. You didn't have to leave the web to have privacy."
With what she hoped was a rueful smile, Rose shrugged. Her ability to ghost across the web and pass any shield is what attracted the Guardian to recruit her, the only female in their ranks. No shield proved impenetrable. Except Kasper's.
~☆~
Micah took control of the craft in readiness for landing. Rose smoothed a hand across her stomach, pausing momentarily to activate a small device in her naval piercing that emitted a primitive radio signal, alerting Guardians to her whereabouts.
Fifty kilometers away, her team scrambled into several crafts equipped with enough combined firepower to annihilate an island the size of Ireland.
Kasper's security also noted the signal. Several armed men appeared from the side door of a building, checking their weapons while they ran to the landing pad. Rose cursed Intel for their assurances that the technology had been unused by anyone for decades. Turning her back to Micah, she fiddled frantically with her piercing to deactivate it and prayed her team got a lock on the signal during the brief time it was operational. As soon as they left the craft, another man appeared from the building and performed a sweep with an RF detector and did a body search, lingering a little too long in the area of Rose's groin.
Rose released a sigh of relief when he indicted they could proceed.
Her relief was short lived.
Micah paused after a couple of steps, a frown creasing his brow. He grabbed her arm and pulled her closer so he could whisper, "Steve says they've taken him into protective custody. He's locked in the back of a transport with a couple of Guardians who are quizzing him about Kasper and something called The Luminae Project. Your name came up. Want to tell me what's really going on here? And why he's telling me to trust you and not Kasper?"
One of the security men behind them pointed at the horizon and yelled, "Incoming!"
Another shoved both Rose and Micah forward. "Keep moving," he ordered, pushing them toward the building.
A light show of laser blasts erupted from the top of the building, aiming for the craft streaking overhead.
Rose staggered. "I suspect you're about to find out. If you want to make it out of here alive, stick to me like glue." She turned and hit the man behind her on the nose with the heel of her hand, catching him off guard. With his attention diverted, she easily took his weapon and pointed it at him. He ran off. She grabbed Micah's shirt sleeve, dragging him around the nearest corner.
Huge pupils stared at her in disbelief. "You? Delicate little Rose who's afraid to chip a fingernail are some sort of undercover agent?"
"Something like that," she replied. "We need to salvage the data from his experiments." At his confused expression, she elaborated. "Kasper is not who you think he is. He is using your desire for the abolition of mandatory inclusion of GE ingredients in food to take down communications. The Temple bombing was nothing more than a cover for him to release a virus that prevents connection to the Web. He called it The Luminae Project. Only the virus mutated. People are dying. The virus origins were traced back to an abandoned lab in a building he leased several blocks away from the Temple. We were able to retrieve data from the hard drives, but it was incomplete. We need the complete data to create an antivirus.
"In less than five minutes, a squadron of fighters will replace the decoy craft circling overhead and annihilate this compound and everything in it. Including us."
Micah glanced overhead and then to his craft docked less than twenty metres away. "What do you need me to do?"
"Do you know where the computer servers are?"
He nodded. "Down two flights of stairs, third door on the left. But I don't know the door code."
Rose stood from her crouched position. "We don't need it."
She ran toward the main entrance, but before she reached it, Micah overtook her and kept on going past it. At first Rose thought he was headed for his craft, but he veered left and into the door marked Security.
He waved her over. "Down here."
They met Kasper one flight down. He carried a briefcase-sized metal box tucked under the arm that wasn't pointing a weapon at them. "I'm disappointed, Micah. I had great plans for you."
Without further warning, Kasper pulled the trigger, aiming for Micah's chest. Rose mirrored the action, shooting Kasper in the head.
The roar of fighter craft overhead jerked Rose into action. She opened the box to check the contents, and on discovering the drives she needed, fled the building.
Her craft rocked despite being half a kilometer away when the explosion happened. She didn't look back.