String - Identity 12.5

“So we’re heading out of town when things are about to get a whole lot worse, to find Lucy, who may or may not be out of her mind after getting dusted by her dad—and we’re somehow supposed to convince her to come back with us after what just happened?” Liam asked, looking between me and Sam from his position in the backseat. When we didn’t give him an immediate answer, he puffed up his cheeks and slowly exhaled like he was doing his best impression of a deflating balloon. “This might be the dumbest thing we’ve ever done.”

“It would be dumb to expect her to side with us,” I corrected him. “We’re not expecting anything.”

“This is a terrible time to try and gain her loyalty.” Sam retorted tiredly. “It would be incredibly tone deaf at best, extremely insulting at worst.”

“This isn’t about playing games. She’s one of my best friends and I haven’t treated her well,” I muttered, making sure to keep my eyes on the road. “This is about doing what’s right. We approach with caution and we do not attack her under any circumstance.”

Mia audibly sighed, and I saw her rub the bridge of her nose as she stared out the window through the rearview mirror.

“Is something going on?” I asked.

Mia turned slowly; her eyes were baggy, hollow, and slightly bloodshot. None of us had gotten much sleep since yesterday, but she hadn’t taken a moment to rest. She was constantly on the lookout for danger. Even with mine and Cyberspace’s surveillance, she was able to get in much closer to the fights breaking out around the city.

“Maybe. No—I don’t know if it really matters at this point. Just, if you had asked me that before all of this, I would have said that a good person with powers would’ve joined the ECU,” her lips thinned as a dark look overcame her features. “It’s starting again. I can see it. People are being dragged into the streets. If they’re discovered to be Pandora sympathisers, they… don’t get treated very well.”

“That’s what the ECU does when people's backs are turned. The powerless get stepped on.” I muttered

“They’re using this as an excuse to root out the cult’s support base, and they don’t care who they hurt to make that happen,” Mia scowled. “It’s not completely random, they seem to have a good idea of who supports them. But sympathisers or not, they don’t even have powers, where’s the justice in beating on people without a means to fight back? Pandora could have easily threatened those people into compliance.”

“The ECU is pressed for time. They know the fighting will escalate and they’re using overwhelming force to solve smaller issues so they don’t become bigger ones later,” Sam explained. “It’s not ethical, but it produces results.”

“So what Ajax said about being here to keep order was just a bunch of shit?” Liam said.

“Looks like it,” Mia sounded as hollow as she looked. “Doesn’t look like he’s dissuaded them. If anything, he’s enabled them to be even worse. I want to do something but… what am I supposed to do? If the ECU sees their squads stop responding, they’ll only get more brutal.”

“Ajax has announced that compliance with the ECU is mandatory, and disciplinary measures would be taken if people refused.” Sam explained. “Pandora sympathisers will obviously back the cult, and that means they’ll refuse lawful orders. The ECU will use that as justification.”

I remembered that warning. I had been standing with Abby on top of the science block building at school when the announcement came only moments after Ajax’s arrival.

“Is that supposed to mean ‘beat the shit out of anyone that says no’?” Liam questioned, his brow furrowing. 

“I watched them break a man’s jaw this morning, not long after we left,” Mia mused quietly. “One of my statues saw it from across a street. They dragged him out of his home while his wife and children screamed. He resisted, and they hit him around the head. One of the children… they had powers and used them. Things got messy. Two ECU soldiers died, along with the mom and dad. One of Ajax’s Walkers collected the boy not long after.”

I could easily imagine the lies they would spin to justify the brutal force.

“What? How is this shit not everywhere online?” Liam raged under his breath. “It’s insane—like the stuff that happened during the world wars.”

“C’mon on, Liam. You really think the ECU would let any of this stay up for long? They’re suppressing it to maintain their image as peacekeepers,” Sam said. “If people actually knew about the things they did, they’d lose support everywhere. Heroes and Rookies alike would leave, and that would be the beginning of the end. The whole world would start to fall to pieces.”

Liam crossed his arms and sulked.

“Maybe that’s what we need.”

“That’s what Cyberspace wants,” I interjected before Sam or Mia could get a word in. “Chaos. That’s how we all lose.”

As much as I disliked the ECU, I didn’t wish for their downfall. There were some benefits to their presence.

“And we’re just helping them,” Mia grumbled. “If I had known better, I would’ve opposed working with them from the start.”

“We won’t be helping them for much longer, and hindsight is twenty-twenty. No point stressing about it now,” I said, fully aware that I needed to follow my own advice.

I watched with idle fascination as a group of Sweepers flew by us on the highway. They scanned each car as they passed, and it wasn’t long before a Walker scampered by. I had installed a scrambler into the car so we didn’t have anything to worry about, but I was still nervous when they got close. Not only did it block Ajax’s war machines, but it stopped Cyberspace from listening in on us, though they were still able to send messages through to the digital display on the dashboard.

“Gold made the best decision for us given our position and the information we had at the time. Mirage had compromised our hideout and we had no way to relocate quickly without being attacked,” Sam said, crossing her arms. “I was just trying to make the best of a bad situation.”

“I don’t blame you,” Mia said absently. “I don’t blame anyone other than Cyberspace. I trust you guys and I’m going to need people I can trust if I want to keep my family safe. With everything that’s going on, I don’t want to be fighting by myself.”

“You’re not going to be alone,” Liam said with unusual conviction. “We’ll help.”

Mia gave him a weak smile and a thankful nod before turning to look at the back of Sam’s head.

“How much did you actually know—when you still had Gold?” Mia asked.

Sam chuckled bitterly.

“You’re going to have to be a bit more specific. I’m not sure what you’re referring to.”

“About the ECU,” Mia clarified. “What they’re like and what they let slide when it suits them. What the public doesn’t see and isn’t allowed to know. You said to us before there were bad actors, but you never said just how bad they are.”

“That’s… a complicated question.” Sam clicked her tongue and stared longingly out the window. She took her time to think before she opened her mouth again to answer. “I knew a lot—some places are worse off than others, but let me ask you this: would you have believed me if I told you?”

“No, but you didn’t even try.”

“I told you what was necessary to make you investigate on your own. Now you’ve seen and made your own conclusions,” Sam replied easily, turning to meet her eyes. “I’m sorry if you think that’s manipulative. Maybe it was, but for what it’s worth, what you saw, and the conclusions you came to? I had no hand in it, your opinion is your own. Gold wanted me to speed it along, show you some things and say the right words. But I didn’t, she had her reasons, but there had to be a line.”

“I know it’s screwed us over, but I’m kinda glad she’s gone,” Liam said off-handedly. “You actually seem like… I don’t know—a person now, not a robot that knows exactly what you’re thinking.”

I saw Sam go rigid as she slowly turned away and pushed herself into her seat. Her hands balled on her knees as an uncomfortable silence fell over the car. It was enough to clue Liam in on his completely tasteless comment.

“Uh… fuck,” he stammered awkwardly. “I um, didn’t mean it like that.”

“No,” Sam said coldly. “I get it. Gold was callous, cruel, and didn’t care for boundaries. You had a problem with her from the start. I get it.” I watched Sam draw in a shaky breath as she tried to turn and face him, but she failed. “But she was a part of me. She’s kept me alive more times than I could count. You also owe her. Without her, I would be dead. Max would be working for the Cains, and Mia would be a brainwashed Super slave to either Grim, or The Iron Maiden.”

“I’m—I’m sorry.”

“There’s a piece of me missing—one I don’t know I’ll ever get back.” Sam continued softly. “You should know what that feels like, right?”

I saw Liam’s shoulders sag as he slumped in his seat. He turned away and stared distantly out the window.

His silence was enough of an answer.

We continued to cruise down the highway with a tense quiet hanging over the car. 

Occasionally, I would see Liam anxiously pick at his wrists where his new suit reached beneath his clothes. Mia idly pulled at hers around her neck while fiddling with her mask. Sam was motionless, staring out her window toward the part of the city still in chaos. 

Walkers were everywhere, and the Sweepers looked like a swarm of giant locusts. Even on this short trip up the highway leading out of the city, we could hear explosions in the distance. Honestly, I was surprised how that part of Bayside was still standing.

Grim’s rampage hadn’t lasted nearly this long, and the ECU considered condemning the city because of him. Ajax’s presence must have made the difference.

A glint on my side window caught my eye, and I spared a quick glance away from the road. Something exited the Citadel, and I clenched the staring wheel tightly when I recognized it.

“Shit.”

Sam whipped her head around.

“What is it?”

“We have a big, sparkling problem,” I said, gesturing at the sky. It was impossible for them to miss it. Comet had flown out of the Citadel, and she was slowly heading in the same direction as us. “I should have known she wouldn’t sulk for long.”

“How does she know where to go?” Sam murmured, showing blatant annoyance that she could no longer make impossible leaps in logic with ease. “The ECU isn’t going to give a Rookie that kind of information.”

I thought for a moment as I fixed my attention back to the road. I pressed down on the accelerator and felt the car speed up. 

“Maybe she has help,” Liam said, squinting to try and spot anyone else in her bubble. However, it was too far away, and unless I wanted to crash the car, I couldn’t use my suit to zoom in to see. “The others could be with her.”

“Others?” Mia questioned.

“The Rookies,” Sam clarified. “There’s only Seer, Tricky, Copycat, and Prosperity left. The only one that could tell them where she is, is Seer.”

“Copycat could help too if he doubles up with Seer’s power. It depends what information they’re working off of, and I don’t know the specifics on how Seer’s power works.” I said, stealing glances at Comet. She wasn’t moving very quickly, and I knew she could travel faster than that. “Maybe it’s a coincidence.”

If I didn’t sound convinced, it was because I wasn’t.

“I doubt it,” Sam muttered. “With everything that happened, and she just so happens to be going the same direction we are?”

“Sam, hold the wheel steady for a second.” I said. She reached over with a hand and gently kept us on track as I turned and activated my helmet. I zoomed in on the skyward bubble, spotting multiple figures inside. With a sigh, I retracted my helmet. “She’s got the other Rookies with her.”

“All of them?” Sam muttered, pulling her hand back. Her expression morphed into a scowl. “Damnit. Why can’t anything ever be easy?”

Another silence descended over us until Liam decided to break it.

“So uh… are we still sticking with the plan? What’re we supposed to do about the Rookies?” He asked.

I shared a glance with Sam as we both silently agreed on the smartest approach.

“If we come into contact with them, we do not instigate. We’re not looking for a fight, and the last thing I want to do is start one with the Rookies. If Comet attacks me—which she probably will—let me handle her.”

“Dude, she’s going to turn you into a pretzel.” Liam said. “Are you sure you can handle her all by yourself? As soon as she gets you with her power there’s not much you can do.”

“We don’t have a choice,” Mia chimed in. “We can’t afford to start a fight with them. If they attack us, we’ll have to play defence. It’s not going to be just Comet there,” she looked between me and Sam with a hopeful expression. “We could negotiate. What are the other Rookies like?”

When Mia’s question was met with silence, we all shared a tentative look with each other. Liam could only offer a helpless shrug while Sam was left scratching her head. It became quickly apparent that I was the only one who had any sort of experience dealing with the other Rookies.

“Prosperity doesn’t strike me as someone that’s particularly keen to jump into a fight. She’s powerful, but hesitant,” Sam offered. “Other than that, I don’t know. Seraphim was the only one I have any experience dealing with, and we all know how that ended.”

“I only know Comet, but that’s because she’s Max’s friend at school.” Liam said. “I wish I could be more helpful, but I haven’t really come across the others.”

A sigh escaped my lips.

“Tricky is a hothead with very little self-restraint. He can teleport short distances like Purple, but he has no patience or tact about how he fights. On his own, he’s relatively easy to deal with. Hit him hard enough to make his head spin or knock him out. He’ll probably jump into the fight the moment Comet does.”

“And the others?” Mia pressed.

“Hard to say,” I said honestly. “Copycat might instigate, given how my last interaction with him went, and like Sam said, Prosperity didn’t really want to fight the last time we ran into her. I’d like to think not much has changed on that end, but it was her first patrol then, so there’s no way to be certain. Seer…” I trailed off, frowning. “Can’t say I’ve ever met him. I’ve only heard about him from Abby. He’s quiet, reserved, and observant. He would be the best person to try and negotiate with.”

“What would we even be negotiating for anyway?” Liam asked, perplexed. “We’re just trying to get to Lucy to see if she’s okay.”

“We’re negotiating not trying to kill each other.” Mia grumbled.

“Yeah, I don’t see that going down very well,” Liam admitted. “With Comet there, we’d probably have better luck getting Grim to donate to charity.”

“We still have to try,” Sam said. “As unlikely as it might seem, if we can establish some kind of amnesty with them, it’ll make things easier for us in the long term,” she heaved a sigh. “Seperating from Cyberspace is not going to be easy, and having allies regardless of their allegiance will be helpful.”

“Allies,” Liam couldn’t help but snort. “Now that’s some wishful thinking.”

“I’d like to believe some wishes can come true.” Sam replied earnestly.

“You miss every shot you don’t take,” I murmured quietly. “Abby’s not going to forgive me easil—at all probabl, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t deserve an apology.”

“She doesn’t strike me as the kind of person to accept one, dude.”

“No,” I agreed. “She’s going to lash out. I imagine she’ll throw me around a bit. I’m prepared for that.”

If I could survive a direct hit from one of Ajax’s particle cannons, then I could endure Abby’s rage. I wasn’t looking forward to it, but if it meant there was even a sliver of hope that I could mend our broken relationship, then I would take it without hesitation.

“She’s going to beat us there at this rate,” Mia said, pointing at the streaming ball of color moving through the sky. It hadn’t sped up at all, but she was able to cover a lot more distance in the air than we could on the ground. At the speed we were going, she had already overtaken us. “Don’t suppose you have a trick up your sleeve to get us there faster?”

I grimaced and looked at the dashboard. 

I had neglected my car quite a lot. Using my suit to traverse Bayside had become the easier, safer option quite a while ago. The car was confined to the streets, and my powers didn’t give me the ability to pull sick drifts. As cool as I imagined it would be, the reality likely ended with me kissing a tree.

That wasn’t to say I completely forgot about the vehicle. I still occasionally dropped a charge or two into it, and conveniently, I had integrated some of my modules into it, namely the camouflage and kinetic dampening ones. There was no such thing as too much defense or too many precautions. 

Unfortunately, they were older versions. 

My suit’s modules were more advanced and consumed less power. Thankfully, I did have the foresight to transition my car to run off a Jericho core. Unfortunately, it wasn’t at all up to date. Activating camouflage had the potential to rapidly drain power from the car, but if we wanted to get to Lucy before Abby did, it was a risk I had to take.

“I do, but Orange will need to drive.” I said, glancing at Sam.

I saw a piece of the old Sam return as a grin flashed across her lips.

“Alrighty then. Buckle in kiddos,” she unbuckled her seatbelt before scooting over top of me. I awkwardly slipped out from under her, exchanging places. “Hope you guys had a light breakfast because things are about to get wild.”

“Turn off there,” I said, pointing toward an upcoming tunnel. “It’ll give us some cover.”

We turned and glided into the tunnel. I looked around us and did a quick scan with my suit to make sure there weren’t any Sweepers nearby. Once we were in the clear, I leaned forward and flicked a switch on the dashboard.

There was a slow, high-pitched whine as the car shuddered. The windows and exterior of the car glimmered before disappearing.

“Follow the new route,” I gestured to the GPS display. “Don’t hold back. We don’t want to get there late.”

“Gotcha.”

Sam twitched, and Orange took over. She hit the accelerator and we slammed back into our seats. 

“I’d like to actually get there in one piece,” Mia strained, holding on to whatever she could for dear life while Liam had fully shifted back into his Morpher state. His hunched form took up most of the back seat. “Oh, that’s a neat idea. Maybe I should follow his example.”

“That’s not necessary,” I said, trying to put their fears at ease. “Even if Orange somehow crashed, the car has similar tech to what let me tank a Walker’s attack. There’s nothing to worry about—” Orange swerved into oncoming traffic to overtake a truck. “—we’re perfectly safe.”

We zoomed out of the tunnel and took the next off-ramp. Orange perfectly drifted the car onto a highway that continued north.

We were all left rather rattled by the stomach-churning turns, but we were well on track. Slowly, we were catching up with Comet.

I checked the power consumption of the car. Camouflage chewed through power, and from my calculations, we could only continue like this for another seventeen minutes. Fortunately for us, we would be clear of the city in the next five if we kept our current pace.

We blitzed through any checkpoints, only leaving stunning confusion in our wake. We saw nearby Sweepers and Walkers redirected to the invisible disturbances we were leaving, but we were long gone by the time they got anywhere near the source of the reports.

Before long, we were speeding down the expressway.

Our destination was a rural area that had been carefully cultivated into farmland. I had learned in school that Gaea had spent months making all of New Elpis habitable, and that meant for wildlife as well.

“Here,” I pointed to a nicely concealed spot off the dirt road. Sam turned, and we slowly came to a stop that was shaded by trees and other foliage. 

We all got out just in time to see the Comet descend to the ground somewhere in the distance.

“Didn’t quite beat them here, but I’ll take a tie over a loss,” Sam mused. “Well, let's get a move on, shall we?”

We barely made it past the first few steps before a flaming vulpine the size of a horse landed with a thud in front of us. The beast growled as it eyed each of us with a hungry glare.

“That was quick,” Liam grumbled, shooting a quick glance toward me. “Just checking, we’re still playing the non-aggression card?”

Prosperity let out a howl to signal to her team.

I raised a hand for everyone to stand their ground.

“We’re not here to fight,” I said with caution in my words. 

Surprisingly, Prosperity shrank as she shifted into her human form. The last time I had seen her, Copycat had been pretending to be her.

“I know,” Prosperity said with an edge to her voice. “Seer said you would say that.”

At her words, we were all immediately on guard.

They had been expecting us.