The room the girl found herself in was cold, with temperatures below zero and little smokes of mists floating around. But she didn't feel it. She tried to stand up but something didn’t feel in or out of place, there was just nothing. She couldn't feel the pressure of the push on the bed... Her hand was silver and metallic. Was it her arm though? Angie then stared at the left one and slowly gazed down upon her body. Little by little, she remembered what happened to her.
Dreadfully, the memories slowly flooded in, the moment when the boulder crushed her body...when Ingress connected to her mind. That one-second jolt of pain still lingered as well, but she wanted to keep on to it. It was a memory from her real body.
A figure then entered the room, a doctor of sorts. Or an engineer? She could not tell, but whatever they were, it was their job to check on her. She gradually understood all they said, but kept quiet, slowly lifting her knees tight to her chest, and diving her new head into them. The girl couldn’t feel them: - “This is my life now?”, she wanted to whisper, but it came out very loud. The caretaker didn’t pay any attention, though.
A second figure entered right after and took a seat next to her.
-” Hello, Angie”, said the feminine voice, regretfully.
Angie quickly turned around and came face to face with Priya, who couldn’t even watch her in her blacked sclera and green eyes. The miner wanted to do something to her, but her emotions were so jumbled that she couldn’t decide if it would be benevolent, malevolent, violent, or just…a thing.
-” If you are here, does that mean that I’m back in the city?”, finally she decided to ask, still unable to control her volume.
-” No, no. You are still in the Playground, in the fourth clinic. I just got here.”
-” Yeah?! Why exactly?”
-” Well, because we are not out just yet." Before her next sentence, she heavily "drank" the chilled air around her -" C.T.D Angie, Ingress was technically renamed in your departed memory. Also, I’m your new patient, Priya.”
The girl was left speechless, and if she could control her mouth, it would have been left hanging.
-” And for other good news, little Savan and her "dad" succeeded in their hunt, Serviceman…Billy…is free from Samuel’s command. This means my plan worked, and of course, it did. But more importantly, Savan has gained some experience in using the counter-measure, and they could probably do it for another C.T.D soon enough.”
-” Like me?”
-” No, you, me, Savan, and Vivar, we are scratched from the list. In your case, I ordered for your moulding device to be deactivated, but I never got one installed, Savan was already immune and Vivar’s "flaw" removed his. So…you ready to see the others and introduce me to them?”, she sweetly asked, like a parent who was demanding their little child to introduce them to their friends.
-” You’re going to be a pain in my side for a long time, won’t you? I could just squash you after all is done.”
-” True, and probably I wouldn’t mind, but I already put my trust in you a long time ago, and I still believe in that bet. In all of you…”
Angie then felt something. Physical. She regained some feeling of touch, at least the temple of her head felt the knee touching it. The medic turned around and smiled at Priya, who returned it in thanks.
-----
The group waited patiently next to the extinguished campfire for a message, sign, or anything from their friends, with Marc becoming more and more agitated by the second. He moved back and forth, complaining how it was a mistake to let them go by themselves, until two transport cubes approached their location, while a third landed somewhere close by. “Three?”, they noticed with bafflement, until realization struck them like a heavy bat.
A tired Savan trudged out of the first cube, barely able to stay on their feet, followed by Vivar, who was dragging on the ground behind him the barely attached left arm. Both were tired, physically and mentally, but appeared weirdly content with themselves- “ We won”, murmured Savan with a wide smile.
The second cube was more fastidious than the first; before it even opened its doors, colored smoke came pouring out of it, with a bit of light show and holographic dancing creatures prancing around it. Then a theme song, followed by a virtual red carpet, and everyone, except Syna, found it weird and was unsure how to react to it. The hacker understood the meaning behind the grandstanding and hid her face inside her palms- “ Oh, no. Don’t tell…” she muttered, but her voice came out muffled.
A few moments later, Priya exited with a confident stride, doing poses from time to time, looking into spots where she knew a camera would be set up, but soon found out she didn't have to do it, as all of them swarmed her immediately. Questions after questions came from the public, the majority being cheers and wishes of good luck, while a minority tried to imply that it was just a publicity stunt and she wouldn’t be in any real danger.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Priya, in previous instances, would have used her years of media training to pick a target out of the crowd and counter it back by over-talking and overwhelming them. But she no longer cared about keeping the facade anyway, so she ignored the comments and shifted the attention towards her C.T.D.
Towering over her, Angie exited as soon as the CEO announced her, and the team was left speechless when they saw her new form. While larger than Ingress, with a head over Priya, she was still the shortest C.T.D around, but also the closest one akin to a human in shape. Her legs and arms, while still lean-looking, had a few jagged edges at the joints and knees, but otherwise had some organic sense to them. The body had a similar motif, but there were small brims that appeared to split the stomach into three sections. Even the head was peculiar, as Priya felt it was important to give it an artificial long mohawk, and the face was the same as Ingress, disappointing Savan and the rest.
-” Is that a tail?” pointed out Chirani who was the first to notice Angie’s list of peculiarities.
-” Forget that, is she wearing a jumpsuit?”, intervened Syna, who was now starting to wipe her eyes and nose with her elbow.
After the parade was done, the two were facing their greatest challenge yet, saying hello to their allies. Angie, while a bit unsure, was pleasantly pleased when Savan and Syna embraced her right away, one ugly crying, while the other tried to contain their tears, but you could feel the joy emanating from both.
Marc and Vivar, on the other hand, had their eyes set on Priya, who became a bit unsure about how to deal with them. They were clearly standoffish towards her and most likely ready to interrogate rather than ask her questions. Angie caught on to their ambitions, and moved between them, trying to calm the situation. Her face, all of a sudden, started to dissolve, showing that the Ingress face was only a mask, while underneath it was a human one, which had Angie’s green eyes. But it also had a visible nose and mouth, which made her look like an entirely new person. Which yelled with her rowdy tone.
-” Guys, wait. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but let her be. She is, after all, a patient for now. And, hopefully, one of us.”
Surprisingly, Savan was the first to air the group’s concern- “ Angie, does she have any control, or something similar…”
-” No, they deactivated the device for me.”
-” Do you mind if I check? I think I’m able to tell the difference now”, insisted Savan.
After trying to connect, their signal wasn’t reacting to anything from Angie and confirmed that she was telling the truth. Based on that, the group allowed Priya to come closer and the parties spent some time talking. Enough time for Billy to join in the fray as well, and Savan vouched for him immediately.
-" Is everything settled now?", the clopy asked them with concern.
-" Yes...I buried whomever I was using as my patient. It's not enough, but it's the least I could do for them."
-----
-” Another city?”, asked Priya in disbelief. “Are you sure about this?”. Nobody was more surprised by her reaction than her, who up until now, also believed that the County was the only stronghold of humanity left in the world. “What if it is?”. Priya’s thoughts were racing and crashing into one another, even the history erasure was a surprise for her. However high you thought the peak of the conspiracy was, it was probably a lie to hide the actual top.
-” That’s it”, she proclaimed while lifting herself up. “Savan, how soon can you perform…”
-” I call it guiding.”
-” Nice name. Guiding, yes, when can you perform the next one?”
-” I can do it now”, but then Billy tried to intervene, concerned for the clopy:
-” I remember parts of it, as well. The field of the mind is hurting you, right? Please, I don’t think you are ready”. It weirded some of them how fast the two formed a bond, but they never really comprehended that 20 years of coexistence, even if they were false and erased, existed between them.
-” It’s ok Billy, but the truth is we don’t have much time, right Priya?”
-” Correct. They will soon find that I spent most of my personal wealth on various projects, like Angie’s new body for example- then bribes, etc until my full plan will probably be discovered. And I know that the head of security is here as well, probably guarding the central station.”
Angie wanted to ask what was special about him, thinking they should be able to handle a single man, but each gave her a few reasons. Chirani saw footage of him solo hunting groups of fired and unemployed gangs. Syna worked for him in a few jobs, so she was aware of his cunning personality, while Savan saw what type of augments were sent by his household for repairs and checks.
-” Papa is dangerous, yes, so I’m on the side of not confronting him directly. Let’s talk with him, I know he will listen to me”, tried Marc to make them understand, but they knew that his ties with him influenced his decision making in this case. Savan tried to change his mind, pointing out how if the owner could stop the moulding device on the C.T.Ds, why didn’t his father do it for Azin, but Marc dismissed it entirely.
-” What do you know, Savan, our family still works for the city. It’s not that simple, alright? If father didn’t manage to do it, then he probably was forced by circumstances or had to keep it ...for appearances.”
-” And you think that if we did it, he would be absolved of any consequences? Do you honestly believe that he covertly might help us?”
-” Yes! Father loves the County, us, and only wants to keep the city safe, but he had to make tough choices over the years. I know him! So trust me, he will come around”, added the boy but nobody was convinced.
-” Well, ok then, let's leave that be for now. Until we get to that problem, let’s focus on the present. We will use the fourth clinic as our base, the chief there works for me, even now. There, Savan can safely and under supervision do their guiding for all of you, ok?”
Most of them agreed, but Marc once again raised his voice in defiance- “ No. The deal was that after Serviceman, Azin would be next. And we won’t move until that happens.”
Priya, annoyed now, looked for some help from Savan, who signalled that they were ok with it. So, not to waste any more time, she called for two cubes to transport them quickly. On the way there, the clopy could perform the action, conditions which satisfied both parties.
Chirani and Syna went with Finer, as both means of transport were filled up. One with the two damaged C.T.Ds, Sovereign and Priya, and the other with Angie and Marc as witnesses and protection in case something went wrong during the process.
After they lifted, Savan connected to Azin.