[ 08 ]
ALL OF NARCISSA'S ASSOCIATES were terrifying. Finn sensed a recurring theme - grumpy girls, hidden weapons and even more hidden locations. He also couldn't at all tell whether they despised him or it was just their faces. They hadn't killed him yet, so that was a plus, wasn't it?
Barely, he thought, looking around the room that dwarfed him in comparison. In most rooms, he had to stoop; but here, in this vast drawing room, a crane could've fit. Finn had no idea how Ayana had gotten her hands on such a place, but his primary guess was that the owner died, either from natural causes or she'd killed them herself.
For some reason, he didn't think it out of the realm of possibility.
It was only him and Narcissa in the room, her eyes flashing in his direction every so often as she looked up from the knife she was sharpening. Finn felt a sudden burst of guilt, rubbing his fingertips together as a faint wash of gold came over them. Sweating nervously, he placed his hands on a spoon dangling halfway-out of the sugar bowl, the gold tickling as it pounded through his flesh and into the metal.
A moment later, the spoon was a pristine gold.
That was what made Narcissa finally look up, and when she did, Finn couldn't help the strange feeling in his stomach. It felt as if it were being knotted in every which way, making him want to smile and cry at the same time.
Golden light filtering through the velvet drapes made her eyes a bright umber, no longer cold and stern, illuminating her inky black hair enough to make Finn notice the streaks of lighter browns in it. She was pretty, undeniably so, in a way that stole his breath and made his heart race a thousand beats a minute.
Scoffing at himself, he stood up abruptly, the golden spoon still clutched in his palm. Long fingers with neatly cut nails curved around the handle, the gold-threaded cuff of the shirt he'd found in the wardrobe in his room matching the metal perfectly.
Across the table, Narcissa snorted. "You gonna stop eyeing up the goddamn spoon soon?"
"Could say we're spooning," Finn said, so quickly that he didn't even think about it.
She smacked her forehead with her palm, watching him through thick, dark lashes as her hand slowly went down to rest on the table. "You're hopeless," she murmured, but there was a trace of a smile on her red lips.
Finn laughed under his breath, watching as Narcissa reached out hesitantly to take the spoon, weighing it in her hand.
"Feels like real gold, don't it? Maybe you ain't a scammer, after all, huh?" A slight satisfied smirk reluctantly came over her face, and she combed through her hair with her fingers, feigning nonchalance.
"I never was a scammer, Narcissa. You know that, don't you?" Finn couldn't keep the doubt out of his voice, but hoped that she didn't hear it as clearly as he did.
She shrugged, stirring a heaped spoonful of sugar into her coffee. As she took a sip, she made a face. "I hate this. Tastes like shit."
"You drink it for energy, don't you?" he found himself asking, face flushing as their fingers brushed against each other, trying to pick up the cup.
"Sorry," Finn added, wiping his hand on his brown sweater. "You need some milk, that's all. Makes it better, promise."
"Mhm," she made a noncommittal grunt, but got up in the direction of the kitchen, returning a moment later with a carton in her hand. "Let's hope you're right. Don't wanna waste it, not when some street rat could drink it to save their life."
Finn tensed at the flicker of pity in her voice. It almost sounded like compassion; but that couldn't be true, not with Narcissa Corvus. He must've not been paying enough attention, or just imagined it.
"You know, when I first escaped, I wanted to go back and kill all of Crux."
"Do you still want to?"
Narcissa shook her head, pursing her lips. "Nah. Kids do revenge. Sometimes, I'm still a kid, really. But Crux - it's not child's play, is it?"
"I'm getting a feeling you still did kill a few, though." Finn sat back in his seat, the springs sagging beneath his weight. No surprise, given a boy well over six feet tall and also one that had trained every day of his life for hours, was sitting on it.
"Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't. They're dead either way, all of them." She put her legs up onto the table, causing the cup of coffee to crash to the floor, light brown liquid splashing everywhere.
"Even those who are alive?"
Her eyes flashed. "Especially the ones that are alive." Narcissa raised an empty glass into the air. "To Crux."
Then she threw it onto the ground with so much force that Finn flinched, tiny particles of glass grazing his skin. Standing up, Narcissa gave him half a smile as the shards cut into her skin, enough to draw blood from a normal person.
But, of course, she was anything but normal - he had learnt that years ago.
[~]
FINN COULD STILL remember his first time.
Everyone remembered their first time.
But where most people would be thinking about sex, he could only recall the sharp sting of the needle digging itself into his flesh, the liquid within it leaving a burning trail in his bloodstream. He could only recall the bursts of agony, blurring his vision as he sobbed with pain.
Worst of all, he could only recall his thoughts of his Mommy and Daddy. His mom's body, in so many pieces that it was pointless to bury it. His dad, just a burnt, shrivelled skull found in the ashes. Finn had missed them so much in those first years, for even longer that he had actually known them. It seemed so pointless now - he should've known that they weren't going to come back.
Crying made Crux think he was weak, and he had cried so much that his body gave up on him, leaving Finn trembling in the corner of his stiff, unfamiliar bed, gulping down air as he tried to sit up. That first time, when they'd let him out of that tank, stopped pumping things he didn't know about into his blood, he'd cut his finger.
Even after more than a decade, he remembered that sight clear as day.
It was a cup of water, and he'd knocked it over with his hand. Desperate to please the strange people, make them not hate him as much as they already did, he picked up the shards with his bare hands. A jagged piece embedded itself in his middle finger, where it bent, and a trickle of blood went down his skin - but it wasn't red. At first, he hadn't paid it much attention, but when he caught the glimpse of gold, he knew there was something horribly, terrifyingly, wrong.
He didn't tell anyone, didn't want to alert them, but when he saw in the mirror that his hot, feverish cheeks were tinged with that same gold rather than red, Finn told himself one thing: be brave. His world had been torn apart, but there was only one thing left for him to do: be brave.
So he was brave.
[~]
"MIDAS. Tell us about why you're here," Ayana said, her voice calm and quiet in a way that radiated authority. Her violin case was still next to her, but remained unopened.
Finn trailed his fingertips along the silky tablecloth, biting his lip. "Long story short, Crux has gone rogue. None of us really know, but the Grandmaster is no more. The Director suddenly disappeared, but PR is keeping it under wraps. It started a few months ago, when they started trying to introduce new campaigns.
Make us do what they wanted, and let the public think it's what we want."
"Like what?" the long-haired girl sat perfectly still, back straight and eyes boring into his in a way that sent a shiver down his spine.
In response, Finn turned on the TV, where a newsreader was looking at the camera with an earnest expression. Shuffling her cards, she began to speak, her eyes red and tired despite her full face of makeup.
"A new announcement from Crux has brought to light a startling matter." A video filled up the screen, of Finn, Wildfire, and Sash, stern-faced next to the Mayor of Semper, Roswell Roth. Roth's grey moustached lip moved silently, and the three of them stepped forward, diamond medals gleaming around their necks.
"Citizens of Semper," Sash began in her gentle voice. Though he knew that she doubted her herself non-stop, Finn also knew how much the public liked her, young girls mostly. It reassured them that girls like them could be heroes, too. They trusted her, which only made her words more damning.
"Following years of testing and attempts, Crux is proud to be introducing a new project. Project GOLDEN AGE is what, hopefully, create a new future."
Finn watched a smaller, pixelated version of himself move onto a podium. His own voice, smooth and bright, rang out. He could still remember that day, standing before the US President, the Mayor and nearly all of Crux, along with representatives from other states and boroughs of Semper. The process had been nerve wracking, but he'd known that it would all pay off.
After all, the idea seemed perfect.
"GOLDEN AGE is exactly what it sounds like. With this project, Semper will be able to enter into an age that will make history. A flawless system, where the people create the the future."
He flashed a small smile at the camera, and he could almost hear the girls swooning. The thought of it made him want to laugh, but that was what came with being Crux's golden boy.
"We're asking for the best of the best. Prodigies in all fields: intellectual, physical, creative, social, we are asking for you. This is open exclusively to the generation of Semper City's future, young people between the ages of fourteen and twenty-two," Wildfire ran a hand through his already messy hair, and Finn remembered the team of stylists that had tried, to no avail, to make his friend look more formal.
"Following the events of nearly twenty years ago, when the heroes that had restored order to the anarchy of Semper City, went rogue-"
The video cut off, returning the camera to the newsreader. "Breaking news has been reported mere minutes ago. These same heroes - known as Midas, the Siren and Wildfire, have turned against Crux, according to a reliable source within the vigilante organisation.
Crux has not yet issued a statement regarding this, but the public is advised to stay away from trouble in the wake of this, as criminals may believe this to be the call for anarchy as it was in the Dark Days. "
She gave the camera a slight nod.
"Now, to another story- a man has-"
Ayana switched off the TV, brows furrowed. "So you're telling me that Crux is under the control of a maniac that is going to remove Semper City of its most valued assets."
Finn nodded. "You're probably on their list. The non-volunteer one."
She scoffed. "Barely." In that moment, he realised that she wasn't much of a girl - she looked more to be in her twenties, making her about five years older than him.
Next to her, Narcissa looked like a child, and Finn certainly felt like one, small and naïve. He couldn't help the creeping feeling being in the dark, and as he looked around the table, he realised he was not the only one. Both Lysandra and Narcissa looked equally fazed, looking down at the floor or their nails.
"All of you are, though, if the leftovers of ORDER aren't already dead." She flashed him a cold look. "Sasha Sperova and Jasper Lee have not been as careful as they should be. They're currently at her sister, Petra's, rented room in East Semper."
"Are you going to get them? They must be looking, aren't they? We separated so that I could make contact with Nar-Viper."
Across the table, Narcissa's lips twitched, but she didn't say anything, gaze fixated on a painting on the wall behind him.
"Of course you did. They're fine. But a little birdie told me that Crux hasn't been very nice to them," Ayana stated, opening her violin case. "I'm going to get them."
"Alone?"
"No. With her," she jabbed her elbow in Lysandra's side, who looked up immediately. She evidently had been ignoring the whole conversation, instead focusing on a piece of hair that had escaped her ponytail.
"They don't need familiar faces right now. They need to stay on alert, and your presence will only trick them into feeling safe," Ayana added, swinging her violin case over one shoulder.
Lysandra ambled after her, gripping two monstrous daggers in her bare hands.
"Bye!" she waved as her hand gripped the door frame.
"Yeah. Bye," Narcissa muttered. She looked exhausted.
[end]