“So you can fly?” Aaron Andrews asked me as I approached the literal whole in the ground that was Requiem.
“No.” I replied as I dusted myself off.
“But you fell out of th…” Aaron tried.
“No.” I said again as I stood up and walked further into the hideout. This was one of many underground Specter camps. Not that the Attix foundation didn’t know where most of the camps were located. They just weren’t brave enough to storm in one. Especially not knowing what most of these kids could do. So they made loose peace treaties to make themselves look good on the news. That’s publicity for you.
The wall in front of me is marked with and eagle. I seemed to just be painted on in a semi-professional manner. I was not sure what it stood for, but I could surly take a stab at it. Freedom, it’s what all the Specter camps wanted.
As I make my way to the sealed entrance, a familiar voice calls out to me. “I thought you were never going to come back.” Tina called out. Her head was sticking out through the middle of the door.
“That never gets any less creepy.” I said with a smile. I needed to win her over. The last time I was here I ended up being thrown through the roof. She literally phased me through three miles of dirt and concrete. She almost got me hit by a car.
“What do you want Leon?”
“I need to speak to Austin.”
“Austin doesn’t want to see you.” She said with a plain face.
“He doesn’t have a choice.” I responded with a firm tone.
By this time her whole body had phased out of the door and she stood in front of me.
“We don’t need any more trouble from the Attix Foundation. They allow us to live down here and they don’t bother us as long as we don’t make a scene. We don’t need you making a scene Leon.” Her voice simultaneously grew sterner and louder.
As she turned to walk away I blurted it out, “They took mother!” My voice cracked as I said mother. I fought the need to cry. I held it all back. I wouldn’t even let my eyes water. It burned but I had to keep going.
Tina stopped dead in her tracks. My mother had done so much for her and Austin in the beginning. Getting food for them when they weren’t able to go to the store, looking out for guards so they could sneak in and out her house, her action’s held Requiem together. She was simply amazing.
“I’m sorry.” Tina said after a short pause, “But there is nothing we can do.”
“Bull!” I screamed at her. “They have her and they are going to kill her if I don’t show up soon!” My eyes burned and the salty water began to force its’ way out. My breathing had become shallow. “You, of all people, have to help.” My voice had relaxed.
“But your father…” her eyes had widened as she watched me come apart. She calmed her voice as she worked through her denial about the situation.
“He doesn’t know, they probably won’t tell him until it’s all said and done. Maybe they will find a way to make it look like an accident.” My words became shrill. I had to stop speaking and breathe in deeply to collect myself.
“But what do you want us to do?”
“They probably have an army waiting for me to walk through the front door. I need you to sneak us through the back, and I need Austin and Aaron to cause a diversion while I grab mother.” Desperation was all I had to offer here. I just hoped.
Tina looked hard at the ground.
“This isn’t going to work.” She finally said.
“It has to work” Came out louder than I had intended.
“But what if it doesn’t? What if they capture all of us and send us on a one way trip to the Prep. Do you know what happens there? You lose who you really are. They turn you into who they want you to be.” Her shoulders and arms shook. Her eyes wavered. After she had finished speaking, she regained her composure.
The words hit me harder than I thought they would. I hadn’t thought about what would happen if we failed. I would never forgive myself if they all went down because I was selfish enough to involve them. But it wasn’t going to go down that way. I wouldn’t allow it.
“We are going to get her back, we have to.” I knew if I gave her any wiggle room she wouldn’t help me. I had to be absolute.
“Well I’ll let Austin be the deciding factor on that.” She said as she pulled me through the door.
As I entered the inner core of the hideout, the first thing I noticed was two guards. They were twins, about 14, and had a cold stare in their eyes. I’m guessing that they weren’t used to visitors. Either that or they were tired of keeping watch. Making my way past a group of restless kids, I noticed Angel in an office typing on her typewriter, of course. Angel was a former Attix officer, but when she noticed just how cruel the company actually was, she decided to stick up for the kids she had be hunting all her of her career. It wasn’t easy making amends, and a lot of the older kids still held grudges for their friends who lost their lives to Angel’s blade, but at least she was trying. That was more then what I could say for a lot of the rest of the agents.
“Leon!” Angel screamed when she noticed me standing in her doorway. We used to be really close back in the day. Partners even. “What are you doing in my neck of the woods?” Her smile made me forget about what was going on for a brief second.
“I need to talk to Austin about helping me with an Attix problem.”
“But you already know his answer.” She replied.
“They took mother, this situation is different.”
“Oh.” Her eyes dropped down like they did when she didn’t know what to say.
“Look.” I started. For the way I treated her the last time I saw her, an apology was way over do.
“Don’t.” She cut in.
“No really, I’m sorry for everything.” That felt nice to get out. It had been weighing on me.
I stood there in the doorway. A small light that hung over her head started to flicker. This was Angel’s way of telling me that she felt something. Whether it is anger, rage, sadness, or joy was solely up to her but she did feel something.
“It was my fault.” She finally said. A small smile managed to fight its way onto her face. “I should have made some better choices back then. But I was so scared. We all were.” Her voice quivered so much her head shook a little.
“Yeah and now we’re older, stronger, wiser, and still running scared. Attix still manages to keep us in the dark about everything, what else is new.” I smiled pessimistically and didn’t mean for it to sound so mean, but that’s just how it came out. This was all a whole lot easier when we had the time to figure everything out.
Before Angel could respond, a hand appeared on my shoulder. “Austin wants to see you.” Tina said as she glanced over to Angel “Both of you.”