Sweat rolled off Terra’s body in waves and she struggled to keep wiping it off her face before it fell into her eyes. Her body was burning from exertion and had to keep muttering to herself to keep moving forward. There was no way she would return to the Rebellion headquarters empty-handed because she was too tired from crawling through the duct system. She felt as if she had been inching forward in the cramped systems for hours and claustrophobia had kicked in within a few minutes of sneaking into the vents.
Trying to distract her mind from the space that squeezed at her shoulders, she released a folded paper from her wrist and observed the blueprint of the building. According to this, she had fifty meters left until she reached the surveillance room. She wished she had someone to keep her company, but would both distract her and possibly alert anyone below of her presence. The Captain and generals were depending on her installing the software on the Capitol’s main surveillance monitors so they could sneak in unnoticed.
Putting the blueprints back in the socket in her wrist she gritted her teeth and crawled forward through the dark and hot ducts. Sweet relief cooled her body when she saw a glimpse of light ahead of her. Pushing forward, she came to a grate on the side of the surveillance room, eight feet up on the side of the wall. Terra frowned. If she made the drop and loaded the software, there was no way she’d be able to make the jump back up to escape via the same vents. Plus, if there was even a suspicion of her interfering with the monitors then the Capitol could simply reset the computer system and all her hard work would have been for naught. Pulling out the blueprints, she noticed another selection of grates on the map and mentally marked them, hoping that at least one of them was within her height range.
Steeling herself, she pushed the grate out and caught it before it fell. To her surprise, no one was in the room so she hopped down, landing lightly on the balls of her feet. She quickly snuck forward and plugged in the device she had been handed into a slot. The screen quickly downloaded the program and she saw a slight glitch pass through all the screens before it said it had been successfully installed. Removing the device, she crouched-walked to a potential opening into the duct system and cursed when it, too, was too high up to reach.
She heard the far door open and dived under a desk, hoping that all the stealth training she’d undergone at the Rebel’s base would pay off. Terra silently thanked the Captain under her breath for not letting her rush into this mission without first being subject to ridiculous trails like stealing a general’s sword without him noticing or jumping on the nearest riding horse from behind without it kicking her in the face.
“I can’t believe the Rebels are going to launch a full-frontal soon. I wonder what changed?” A male voice stated humorously.
Terra clasped her hand over her mouth to keep from crying out. How did they know that? Hell, only she knew a few days ago, so how could the Capitol know already?
“Well it’s no surprise, they’ve been building up their troops for some time now. First time I’ve seen them gather this many at once though.” A female voice responded.
Terra relaxed; these people were simply drawing conclusions from what they had been observing. Shame filled her system when she realized she had contemplated the thought of a Rebel defecting to the Capitol, but it was ground in the fact it had happened before.
“Too bad they don’t know our real purpose.” The female said, exasperated. Terra could hear the conflict in her words. “One of these days I hope they will come to understand what we’re trying to achieve.”
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“The whole reason we’re doing this is to prevent our real intention from being found out. The war will happen, I promise. Everything will go as planned.” The male’s voice softened, trying to soothe the female. “Come on, the meeting is still going on and the Council is waiting. Follow me?”
The door opened and closed again, the footsteps and voices fading off into the hallway. When she deemed it safe, Terra lifted herself from under the desk. The meeting explained why the surveillance room was so deserted. If she snuck into the ducts and listened in on the meeting…
Resolve set, she carefully moved into the hallway to find another potential duct opening. This one was right on floor level and she made quick work of it, squeezing into the tight space again. Following the map, she spent the next half-an-hour trying to navigate her way through the vents as quickly as she could so she could catch as much information as possible.
Terra saw a hint of light ahead of her and saw that she could make out a sort of throne room laid out. At the head of the room was a large black chair that held a female with long white hair. To her right and left were a crew of four people armed to the teeth. She recognized Nighet immediately, but couldn’t make out who the other three standing at the Queen’s sides were. The room was completely packed with people though, all sitting uncomfortably in their chairs. She suspected they were the people that manned the things deemed unimportant by those higher up than them.
“They’re amassing their forces, Your Majesty. If we don’t act now--” A stern male voice said. Terra saw a man standing in front of the Queen decked in red and gold robes.
“Then the Groatian Army will come to their aid if we attack. We will suffer more losses then they. Is that what you were implying General Joersie?” A Queen’s voice rang out.
“I do not deny the fact the Rebellion is growing in strength and numbers, but it would be premature to act now. I have already informed you of our plan here and we will follow through to the end. If you wish to forfeit now, leave, but keep in mind the cause we are aiming towards. Are your lives really worth millions? You all chose to join our cause for a reason and I hope that reason still drives you. Please trust in the plan and know that you will all live a much happier life afterward.” The Queen’s eyes seemed to flicker to the duct Terra was peaking out of. The Rebellion has just made their starting move, and it is our turn to counter.”
With the wave of her hand, the Council was dispersed and the Queen sank into her chair when everyone had left.
“Was that really the right move?” A male voice rang out. Terra recognized it from the surveillance room. “General Joersie provided the most aid out of everyone when we were rising and you’ve just pissed him off.”
“Please stop questioning my plan, I know what I’m doing.” The Queen said in a huff. “Plus, there’s a mouse in our walls that we need to get rid of, or can’t you tell?”
The male went silent, sniffing at the air, then sighed and ran his hand through his air.
“Is that who I think it is?” He asked and the Queen responded with a devious smile and a shrug. “So what should we do?”
“Nothing. The little mouse is simply confused and scared, so we should just let it run back home of its own accord.”
The Queen stood up and walked past the grate Terra lay hidden in, followed by her entourage. Terra tried to shuffle backward, but the space was too cramped for backward movement. The Queen's eyes flickered to Terra's but continued walking. It wasn’t until the throne doors shut closed that Terra could breathe again.
With a shiver, she suddenly recognized the Queen's face; it was the same as the person's on the rooftop back in Detroit. The Queen's hair was longer, but Terra would never be able to forget those red eyes in a million years. Terra put all the context clues together and almost kicked herself for not realizing it earlier; the person with red eyes was the notorious Red Roger had kept mentioning, and somehow Red had followed her into this universe. For what, Terra didn't know, but she prayed there wouldn't be any corrupt crystals involved.