James stepped forward, meeting Oliver’s gaze,

“Let’s not lie to ourselves. The Pact was shattered the moment the Domini seized control of the Organization. We all hoped the situation was salvageable, but that obviously isn’t the case. Unless you think Jessica’s information is unreliable?”

Oliver pinched the bridge of his nose, pained,

“No, in fact it fits with some of the purchases and preparations I know they have been making,” he sighed deeply. “But still, to expose the ubarae completely… you know what that would mean for us.”

“Of course, we know,” James snapped. “Why do you think we delayed this? At great personal risk, I might add. None of us here want to see innocent ubarae hurt.”

Oliver cleared his throat uncomfortably, I suspected he was thinking about Wallace. If so, he wasn’t exactly wrong. Still, Wallace hadn’t proposed this. I had.

“What choice do we have, Oliver?” I said softly. “We can’t let this happen, and I don’t think we can stop them any other way. The risk of trying, and failing, is too high.”

“You don’t think I know that!?” Oliver shouted, pinching his nose, he took a deep breath.

Liz cleared her throat,

“Why even tell us? You could have simply done it.”

“For one, it is only fair,” I began.

“And for another, you want my help,” Oliver finished.

“Yes,” James broke in. “We need your help to defend key officials, until they can make a public statement, confirming the existence of the ubarae and the Domini.”

“You have some nerve,” Oliver snorted. “Requesting that of me. You know that this could get every one of my people killed. Hunted down by angry mobs. And you want not only my blessing on behalf of the Council, but my help?”

“Don’t you want to stop the Domini?” I asked.

“Of course! But I am not willing to destroy my people to do it.”

“That’s a false choice, Oliver,” everyone turned to Simon, who had been silent until this moment. “You think you have any place in the world the Domini plan to create? That anyone who isn’t like them has a place? They have already killed other ubarae, to keep their plans secret, and they will kill any that they fear might collude with the humans or expose them. Those that refuse to tow the line are in as much danger from the Domini as they would be from the humans. Probably more. I think you know it, too. No one is safe if they accomplish their goal.”

Oliver frowned, staring at his hands,

“So, that’s it, then? We are doomed either way?”

“Not necessarily,” I interjected. “Just because we go public, doesn’t mean this has to be a disaster. In fact, maybe this is the opportunity you have been looking for. Maybe this is your chance negotiate a new Pact, with full transparency. Make the changes you were talking about.”

“I somehow think the general public being introduced to us this way might hurt us at the bargaining table,” he replied, sardonically.

“I’m not saying it will be easy. And I am also not suggesting throwing you all to the wolves. We will do everything we can to protect you. We won’t give away your locations or names. With any luck, people will focus on the Domini as the threat. You can stay under the radar, and eventually, when things have died down and the crisis has passed, negotiate a new agreement, with all of humanity.”

Oliver considered it for a moment,

“And the hidden Domini sympathizers?”

“Well, I was rather hoping that your people might ferret them out for us. Either way, once the assassinations are thwarted, we will have more time to hunt down the rest,” James reasoned.

Oliver chewed his lip,

“It might work, if we are careful. But even then, things are going to be a mess for a long time, if we do this.”

“Obviously. But I think you might be forgetting that things are a mess, already,” I glanced pointedly around the warehouse. “We just need to decide what flavor of mess we want to deal with.”

The three ubarae turned to each other, something unspoken passing between them.

“You are right,” Oliver said at last. “We can’t allow Omega to take control. So, whatever needs to be done, we will help you put a stop to it.”

“Thank you, Oliver,” I knew how big of an ask this was.

“I only need one thing, time to warn the rest of the Council, so they can start getting people into hiding, make preparations.”

“You can’t, Olly,” it was Liz who spoke up first.

“What?”

“We still don’t know who on the Council is compromised. If we tell anyone and it gets back to the Domini before we make our move…”

Oliver swallowed hard,

“You are right, I didn’t think.”

“I understand,” James put a hand on his arm. “Look, make preparations to spread the word, but hold off for now. When the announcements are being made, when it is too late for the Domini to stop it, send out your own messages, and get as many to safety as you can.”

“That won’t give them much time.”

“No, but it is better than no time at all.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

A heavy silence fell over the small group. After a moment, James cleared his throat.

“Well, if that is decided, we should get started. We have little time to complete our preparations. Rayna, I want you to handle getting the data on the ubarae out there. In news media and online. Everywhere, so it can’t be erased or blocked easily. Take the hard drives and go talk to Jason, see what he can do.”

I nodded my understanding.

“I will brief the rest, here and in the other enclaves, and have them sent out to protect the targets. Then, I will contact our have our people in the government and have them prepare to send the messages out on their end,” James turned and searched each of us in turn. “If, we are all ready to do this?”

“I don’t see that we have a choice,” I took a deep breath. “They out number and outgun us. They are about to assassinate 10 world leaders and we can’t stop all of them. We do this and we at least give the rest of humanity a fighting chance. It’s all we have left.”

James nodded,

“Yeah. Though I can’t say I am eager to see what this will do to the world.”

“Me neither,” Oliver agreed.

“Well, look on the bright side,” I smirked. “There is a very real chance that none of us live to see it.”

James shot me a disapproving look.

“What? It’s true.”

“Go talk to Jason, Rayna. See where his is with Suzette’s phone, and if he can help us with our new project.”

“Right boss.”

He turned and headed back to the rest of the group, to break the news.

“We have our own plans to make, if we are to participate,” Oliver noted. “Liz, come with me, I will need your help to arrange things with my people.”

“Alight, Olly. Want to join us, Simon?”

“I, uh, I think I will help Ray, if you don’t need me.”

“Fine by me. Come on, Liz,” Oliver waved a hand, signalling for Liz to follow him to a quieter section of the building.

I turned to Simon,

“You don’t need to keep an eye on me, you know. I’ve already told you the worst of what I have planned. I don’t have any more surprises in store.”

“That isn’t it,” he searched for the words.

“Then why not go with Liz and Oliver?”

“They don’t need my help.”

“And I do?”

He met my eyes,

“Yeah, I think you do.”

I laughed softly,

“What makes you say that?”

“Look, you said all the right things, explained why all this was necessary, but…”

“You don’t agree?”

“No, I already said, I do agree. The problem is, I don’t think you do.”

“I don’t agree with myself?”

“Not really, not deep down. I can tell you blame yourself, for even raising this as an option. That you need to hear that it isn’t your fault that it came to this,” he put a hand on my shoulder. “It isn’t your fault.”

I shook his hand off,

“Look, I appreciate that, really. But please don’t analyze me, Simon. I’m fine.”

“Alright, if that is how you want it.”

“It is.”

Simon shrugged but said nothing further.

“Now, let me ask you something, if we are going to be getting personal here,” I pinned him with a searching gaze.

“Anything.”

“Why are you still hanging around me?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, in the beginning I was the only one sympathetic to you, so it made sense at the time. But now you have your own people here, why stick with me? Especially now, when, even if my plan is necessary, there should be some tension.”

“Ah, so you are worried I might have some ulterior motives, here?” he laughed. “I can’t blame you for being suspicious. But it isn’t like that.”

“What is it like, then?”

Simon hesitated for a moment,

“Can you keep a secret?”

“That depends on what it is.”

“There are things about ubarae that we don’t really like to spread around. It could be dangerous, if many people knew. But, it is kind of the only way to explain.”

“I don’t know if I can make any promises, Simon.”

He considered for a moment,

“I’ll take the chance. Here’s the thing, there are several ways in which ubarae differ from humans. One that we keep pretty quiet is that our personalities are a bit more… malleable than yours. We are adaptable, by nature, and this is just another part of that. We tend to adjust ourselves to the people around us, mold ourselves to fit their thoughts and views.”

“I hate to break it to you, but humans do that, too.”

“I know that, but in our people, it is more… pronounced. It happens more quickly and affects us more deeply. Though, that isn’t to say we are all blank ciphers with no thoughts of our own. It just means they tend to be submerged more easily when we are around others that conflict. Like, when I was with the Domini all the time, it was easy to just agree with their plans, to not think much about it, even when I didn’t really agree. Part of me didn’t like it, but it was easy to ignore. You understand?” “Yeah, I get it. Is there a point to this, Simon?”

“I’m getting to that. Anyway, because we know this is how we are, ubarae try to be very careful who we spend time with. We choose our lovers and partners and friends based on who complements who we are or want to be, so we don’t lose ourselves. All of that is to say…” he looked at the floor, suddenly bashful. “I like who I am around you. And I haven’t felt like that in a long time.”

I watched him for a moment, unsure of how to respond to a confession of that sort.

“I’d be careful about that, if I were you,” I replied at last. “I’m not really a healthy person; if you feel you have too much in common with me, maybe you should talk to someone about that.”

Simon laughed,

“That’s a fair point. But for now, I think I’m ok with it.”

“Your funeral,” I shrugged. “Alright, we’ve wasted enough time, I have to go talk to this Jason Cain.”

I turned and headed off across the room, then paused,

“Well, are you coming?”

Simon smiled and hurried after me.

It didn’t take us long to retrieve the hard drives and find Jason Cain, who was in a quiet back corner, tapping away at his laptop. As we approached, he looked up and his eyes narrowed.

“What do you want? I told you; the phone isn’t ready yet.”

I saw the cell phone I had retrieved from Suzette in his hand, he ran a thumb across the surface, absently, as he spoke.

“Well, James thought…”

“I don’t care what James thinks; the process takes as long as it takes. Understand?”

“Perhaps we got off on the wrong foot here. You’re Jason Cain, right?”

“And you are Rayna Clay. None of that changes the fact that I need more time. So, get out. I will let you know when I have something.”

Well, Mark had said Jason was… prickly. I figured I had better just press on with my other request.

“Look, Jason, there is something else I wanted to discuss with you…”

Simon’s hand on my arm made me pause. I looked over to see him shake his head quickly. I raised an eyebrow and he jerked his head away from Jason.

“Well, spit it out,” Jason didn’t even look up from his computer. “But any other requests will only delay this one.”

“I… you know, that is a good point,” I forced a chuckle. “I would hate to distract you from our top priority. I’ll just get out of your way, let you work.”

“About time.”

Once Simon and I were back out of earshot, the incubus turned to me.

“Something isn’t right.”

“What do you mean, Simon?”

“Something about that guy, Jason, it isn’t right.”

“Mark did say that Jason is a bit of a pill, this is probably just how he acts,” I shrugged.

“You don’t know him, from the Organization?”

I shook my head,

“A lot of people work there; I don’t know them all.”

“Well, if you don’t know him, why does he hate you?”

“What?”

“The way he looked at you when we arrived…”

“I thought that was aimed at you. No offense.”

“No,” Simon shook his head. “It was aimed at you. Hatred, and disgust. He didn’t want you there. Didn’t want to interact with you. Any reason you can think of for that?”

“No. We’ve never met before this moment,” I furrowed my brow, confused.

“Yet, he knew immediately who you were.”

“Not that odd, someone probably mentioned I would stop by.”

“Maybe. Still doesn’t explain the hatred. But I think I know what would.”

“What?”

“You saw him holding Suzette’s phone, right?”

“Yeah. He’s trying to unlock it.”

“Maybe, but he was also stroking it, with his thumb. It was… tender, affectionate. I think…” Simon hesitated, seeming to debate with himself for a moment before he finally blurted: “I think he cared for her. Suzette, I mean. I think he blames you for her death.”

I swallowed hard against the bile rising in my throat.

“Simon… do you know what you are suggesting?”

He nodded gravely.

“How sure are you?”

He bit his lip, and glanced back in the direction of the technician,

“I’m sure.”

Fuck.

“We need to warn the others. Right now.”