Leon
"I told you she wasn't on our side," Tass hissed.
I didn't respond, too busy dealing with the sucker punch of having severely misjudged Aubrey. Needing a friend and filled with grief, I'd convinced myself that Aubrey was the person I once knew. It was wrong and I should have known that. Aubrey was an alien — an Offender who'd infiltrated the Elite to cause chaos. She was going to take over the world, and I'd been stupid enough to think she was my friend.
It was then my eyes caught sight of a golden glimmer on her waist. It was what appeared to be a reflection of light from a small glass vial. If not for the bright color of that light, I never would have noticed it. Most people would just think it was a normal vial, but I recognized it. The label and the stopper matched the bioweapon were supposed to have stolen back in Kano.
"Aubrey," I said slowly, "how did you get that?"
I pointed at the vial on Aubrey's waist. She turned to look at me, and then at the vial at her waist.
"It's medicine," she replied. "I have a Gutierrez shield, so don't think you're swaying me."
That would have been a smarter thing to do, but I was fixated on the vial at Aubrey's waist. If the Elite Council painted the picture right, it was very bad to have it.
"You need a bioweapon to kill Talbots as medicine?" I asked skeptically.
"Of course!" Lelise said suddenly, realization in her voice. "You're a yeuven. My mom told me about you. You dislike Talbots because they have powers, and you don't. You're jealous."
So she was going to kill us all because of that jealously? It turned my stomach just thinking about it, knowing I'd chosen that sort of my person as my friend.
"Yes," Aubrey said. "Only we have powers now. We've evolved, and it's time for our enemies to truly die!"
"How can you want that?" I asked Aubrey desperately. "You were our friend. I never felt cruel emotions from you before."
Desperately, I wanted Aubrey to reveal she was being controlled. It was hard to think I'd really been friends with and saved the life countless times of someone so evil. It made me feel wrong, like maybe I was part evil alien myself.
"I'm a spy, Leon," Aubrey said with a laugh. "I have the power to misrepresent myself when a Talbot reads me in some way. That's why I was sent on this mission."
My old best friend was evil. She'd been evil all along, and I'd never seen it. I was friends with an evil alien for half my life, and I never saw it. I felt like a supreme idiot.
"Oh, Leon," said Aubrey. "Don't look so defeated. You've got the son of Black Queen and Nefarious on your squad. Surely that will help you."
She smiled as Mi-Suk, Lelise, and Haruki turned an accusing glare at me. Even normally kind Ramiro looked skeptically at me like he couldn't believe it.
"I know," I said quietly.
"Yeah, I'd actually like to get to my parents-"
"Did you know his father developed this bioweapon for me?" Aubrey asked, cutting off Julian.
This time, everybody turned with an accusing glare, this time pointed at Julian. He must have truly gone through a lot recently, for he wasn't as composed as I expected him to be. Instead, he was panicky.
"My father stopped when he realized it was bad," Julian defended. "Other people finalized it and made it work to kill. He just wanted to stop Talbots from having powers!"
He said it like it was less to deprive someone of something essential to them than just kill him. A Talbot valued their powers, and it wasn't anything someone should take away, no matter how much they hated Talbots.
"Yes, when I came to your father about getting rid of Talbots, my original plan was simply to strip them of their powers," agreed Aubrey, "but that doesn't change the fact that your father went along with it. He hated the Elite so much he'd do anything for an Offender to get rid of them."
"My blue blood doesn't signify my parents were yeuven, right?" Julian asked. "I mean, it must be a recent development, because it was red in Kano, but what you just said makes me think."
"No, yeuven blood is green," Aubrey said, frowning. "Are you really not focused on my accusation?"
I was with Aubrey. Julian's father was evil. That was the thing we should have been focusing on, not the color of Julian's blood.
"Why should I be?" Julian replied. "Yes, my father used to be bad, but he's changed. Besides, you can't really expect people to think just because my father used to be mean that means I'm mean and evil."
Julian was right. I'd already come to accept Julian despite his parentage, and I'd even come to accept Julian's parents probably were okay people. Aubrey's accusations shouldn't have changed that.
"Of course that means you're untrustworthy."
I was honestly surprised that it was Haruki objecting, and not untrustworthy Tass. Haruki could often have strong feelings, but I didn't think they'd lend him to hate Julian so easily.
"Haruki, Julian is-"
The words died in my mouth as all of sudden, two jets on either side of us decloaked and people streamed out so quickly I had no time to react. The jet to my right brought what was clearly Squad 2, while the jet on my left brought the Elite Council.
"Hello, Lagos-16," Okeke said. "I didn't realize you were so big these days."
"Sir," Haruki said, "what's going on?"
"Leon and his new squad are fugitives," Okeke replied. "They have intentions to harm the Elite. They ran away, and now we're here to end them."
End us? We hadn't even done anything yet but run away. It was premature to kill us now.
It wasn't really me I was worrying about, but my squad. My squad that was a mix of old and new. I cared about everybody in it — except for Aubrey — and I didn't want any of them to die.
"I object to be included with them," Haruki said distastefully. "I'm an Elite through-and-through."
I stared at Haruki, hardly understanding what I was hearing. First he prematurely judged Julian, and now he was picking the Elite over me. It was unthinkable, and so unlike how I remembered him.
"I'm with Haruki," Mi-Suk announced.
"Why?" I blurted out. "Haruki, Mi-Suk, we're friends. Why would you abandon me?"
"You abandoned us," Haruki replied. "We're loyal to the Elite, Leon. If you're not, then I'm sorry, but we're not going to leave the Elite for you."
Stunned, I just stood there as Haruki and Mi-Suk walked over to Squad 2, signaling their betrayal. It hurt to see then leave me. I thought we were the closest of friends, but apparently that wasn't the case if they'd leave me for the Elite.
"You know, they're right," Lelise said with a sigh. "I'm sorry, Leon, but I want to live to fight for justice. That isn't going to happen if I stay with you."
She too started walking over to Squad 2, but I wasn't going to let her go so easily. Surely if she understood she would pick me over the Elite.
"They're evil, Leslise," I insisted.
"Evil? How? I thought you said you realized they were stopping aliens like Aubrey from destroying the world. How is that evil?"
I opened my mouth to state all my issues, only to realize she was right. None of my issues could compare to the good the Elite was doing. Most of it was just emotion, and that didn't build a solid case. I'd left because of fear of what they'd do to Julian, and how I felt about a few of their policies. It wasn't really enough to paint them as evil.
When I didn't say anything, Lelise huffed and turned around to continue walking to Squad 2. I didn't bother to stop her, knowing how right she was.
"Leon, I really care about you, but if you don't have a good reason..." Roland trailed off. "I'm sorry."
I wasn't surprised when he followed Lelise. For him, it was the smartest thing to do. I was the misguided one in the wrong, and no matter his friendship for me, he shouldn't stay with someone who had such confused ideals.
"Good," Vili said. "It's better not to have to kill valuable Elites."
"Kill?" Roland asked. "Couldn't we at least spare Leon's life?"
I was filled with gratitude at his statement, but it quickly faded away. There was no way I deserved to live and the rest of my squad die. I had led them wrong, and that was worthy of my death, not theirs.
"We haven't even done anything!" Gabriel objected.
"Not yet, but you will," Vili replied. "I cannot let that stand, so you all must be killed."
He pulled a device out of his pocket, and flicked in on. Instantly, I felt the tight, restricting force of a power disruptor, letting me know that there was nothing I could do to save me or my squad. Even Julian wouldn't be able to stop us.
Annoyingly, though, it was one of those power disruptors that could still let me using my sensing powers. I could still feel how disappointed they were in me. All around me, my despairing feelings were echoed, although Aubrey was more frustrated, annoyed, and angry. And Tass.... well, wouldn't you know it, our resident pessimist had a bright flare of hope.
Wondering what that was about, I turned towards Tass just in time to see her kick a stone in a perfect arc -- just as Julian had done to stop Disrupt -- so it smashed into the power-restrainer in Vili's hand, effectively destroying it.
As soon as it was destroyed, Tass let rip a concussive explosion — the power she had absorbed back in the Catacombs — knocking over our attackers.
"Run!" she screamed and dashed off to the safety of the nearby woods.
None of us objected, all of us tearing after her, running for our lives.