So the hostages were gone, as were the bad guys, Biolem and human alike. Everyone was gone. The Ministry had managed to quickly and silently remove every sign that anything had happened in this place before we even knew anyone besides that Plan Z chick was here. That was… that was almost scary, honestly. They were able to clean things up that effectively, probably because they had a fair amount of practice with it.
Well, okay, maybe not every sign. I wasn’t sure how they would explain the holes I had made in those classroom walls. Vandalism? Obviously they would be taking all the camera footage, which… yeah, that was gonna be interesting.
In the few seconds that had passed since Peyton and I both saw that note, I froze. We were both processing what that meant and just how much the Ministry had cleaned up. Then my eyes widened and I immediately yanked my phone back before turning to run. “Come on, we gotta get out of here, I have to check on--I’ve gotta check!”
Peyton was clearly confused, but followed me. I wanted to check right then, but the paranoid part of me wouldn’t let me do it inside the school where all the cameras were. Well, technically it was another paranoid part of me that was panicking over something else right then. Two paranoid parts were at war with one another, but the one that was afraid of the Ministry eavesdropping through those cameras won that particular round.
The second we were off the school grounds and reached the alley across the street, Paige and Sierra joined us. But I barely acknowledged them before grabbing my phone and hitting the button to call Eits. My heart had leapt up into my throat while my stomach flipped over and over several times and twisted itself into knots as the sound of the phone ringing came through the bluetooth in my ear. The fear was enough to choke me. “Pick up, pick up, pick up!” On that last repeated bit, my fist abruptly lashed out to punch the nearby wall hard enough to hurt my knuckles. Which made all three of the others blurt their own assortment of questions. But I didn’t care in that moment. I would’ve broken my fucking hand if it meant Eits would answer the fucking phone!
“Uh, yo, everything okay?” The boy’s voice came a moment later, cutting through my mounting blind panic. “You said it was all taken care of so I figured you were gonna be busy for awhile. Don’t tell me they had reinforcements or something. Wait, did they--”
“Eits!” I blurted, interrupting him while my hand lashed out to the wall, this time to brace myself against it as my knees threatened to buckle out from under me. “Are you okay? You didn’t get picked up by anyone, or taken across any amber bridges by girls made out of shadow? Is there a talking bear or raccoon anywhere near you?”
There was an extended pause, during which I could hear the others whisper something about me getting a hold of myself before I freaked him out even more. Then Ryder’s voice came back, slow and confused. “Umm… noooo….? I can’t say as I’ve experienced anything like that, Paintball. Are you okay over there? Cuz I can come back, you know, try to check you out for anything, um, you know, anything.”
“No, I’m okay,” I quickly insisted. “I mean, as long as you’re--the Ministry’s been cleaning up in here. They took everyone, all the bad guys, all the hostages, and all the bodies. And they’re gonna--” My voice caught a little as I had to take a breath and force the words out. “They’re gonna erase their memories so they don’t remember what happened here. I just didn’t--I wanted to make sure they didn’t know you--that you weren’t…”
“They didn’t take me in,” the boy assured me, his own voice sounding like he was reeling from the revelation of that possibility. “I swear, I’m still me, I remember everything, I haven’t seen anyone like that. Maybe I left before they could come find me, or they didn’t know I was in the building. I mean if they were relying on the security system, I had that under control. Or maybe they knew I was working with you and didn’t want to risk pissing you guys off after everything you did to help with that.”
“Everything we did,” I corrected, feeling a rush of relief wash over me. He was okay. They weren’t erasing his memory, or changing… anything about him. He was fine. He was still him, still Eits. Still Ryder.
Well now I kind of felt embarrassed about panicking like that. But seriously, Eits had been in the school, of course I thought the Ministry might see him as a loose end who knew too much. Feeling a heated blush rise under my mask and helmet, I cleared my throat. “I mean, well, good. I… thanks, Eits. You know, for letting us know what was going on, and for sticking around long enough to help. That’s--um, you’re the only reason this whole situation didn’t end up being a hell of a lot worse. If you hadn’t been in there, if you hadn’t--” My voice caught again and I winced. “If the plan went the way those fucks wanted it to, we would’ve been caught completely flatfooted. They would’ve had hostages and we would’ve had to…” We would’ve had to give them Pittman, because there was no way we could’ve let those people die. Unless… fuck. I couldn’t think about that, about what would’ve happened if we had to make that choice. I didn’t say anything about that though. All I managed was a weak, “I’ll talk to you later. I promise, I’ll explain more.”
Again, Ryder hesitated before replying, “Thanks, uh, for that and for checking on me. Even if you did just about give me a heart attack.” He lightly teased me with that before sobering as he added, “But seriously, a um, an explanation for what the hell all that was about sounds good. You know, when you get a chance. Just… just be careful.”
I promised to do so, then disconnected before fully slumping against the alley wall with a heavy sigh. “He’s okay, they didn’t take him. They’re not trying to… trying to…”
“Erase his memory?” That was Paige, annoyance in her voice. Yeah, she probably had her own issues with that concept after her father had reprogrammed her. And, well, after my memory had been adjusted to remove her from it. “That’s what they’re doing with all the people who were in there, erasing their memories like nothing happened.”
“Is it really that surprising?” Sierra pointed out with a visible shrug. “They want to keep things under control, especially in that place. That’s Cassidy’s school. There’s no way they’d risk letting it look like someone could just walk in there and take prisoners. They’ll do whatever it takes to maintain even an illusion of perfect security. Which means making sure the people who were in there can’t talk or even think about how they were held hostage like that. And they sure as hell aren’t going to let the regular cops take the Biolems to be examined. Do you have any idea what sort of absurd panic that might start if word about those got out for regular people to find out about? I mean, word about us.”
She was right, I realized with a heavy sigh. Of course she was. The Ministry couldn’t risk allowing any of that to get out. They had to keep it quiet, especially right now, with everything as on edge as it was. They didn’t even have my parents to help out, so of course they weren’t going to risk allowing that sort of information to become public. It really would create a panic about who could possibly have been replaced as a Biolem. And considering just how much the city was teetering already, a general panic like that probably would’ve tipped it over into complete chaos the likes of which no one would’ve been able to control. Naturally they would’ve wanted to stop that.
But to be honest, none of that realization made me feel better about the idea that they were erasing peoples’ memories. No. Not at all. They could’ve done other things to convince them to be quiet about it. They could’ve talked to them, paid them, whatever they needed to do to tell the people that revealing the whole hostage situation would hurt the city. They could’ve done other things besides violate their memories. I wasn’t okay with that. I couldn’t be okay with that. Not after everything that had happened to my own mind. It was wrong. They were wrong, no matter their reasoning.
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Unfortunately, we also couldn’t do anything about it right now. Some part of me was tempted to call the Ministry up and threaten them into releasing those people with their memories intact. But what could we threaten them with, exactly? It wasn’t as though we could say we wouldn’t send them that proof about Amanda. We all needed her to be dealt with so all the Sleeptalk victims could be cured before things got even worse, and they knew it. Which was a thought that made me realize something else.
“Oh fuck me,” I abruptly blurted. “They have the Biolems and the people working with them. Which means they’re gonna find out we have Pittman. It’s only a matter of time before they get that much out of those guys. They have to know something is going on with that, so they’ll probably believe it as soon as the subject comes up.”
The others took a moment to process that realization, that the Ministry was definitely going to find out what we had been up to and where our information came from. Peyton muttered a few curse words under her breath before looking over at me. “You know as soon as they find out, they'll want us to hand him over. He's too dangerous to them. They won't want to risk anyone else having the bastard.”
Paige nodded. “They'll probably be firm but somewhat polite at first. Maybe even complementary about how we managed to get him. But if we don't give him to them, they won't take it very well. The kid is good, but I really don't think even she can set that place up well enough to stop a determined incursion by the Ministry.”
Grimacing at the thought, I replied, “Yeah, we don't want to go to war with them. Especially not right now. We can't risk something like that. So, when they ask about it, I don't think we have any choice. We probably have to hand him over.” Even as I said that, my gaze moved to Paige. “But you know when they get their hands on him, they're going to get information. Whether he gives it to them willingly just to try to screw us over, or they have to play rough, they'll get it.”
Sierra was the one who put voice to what I left unsaid. “Yeah, and that means they’ll find out about us. They’ll find out Paige is a Biolem and that I… Fuck, he might just tell them what I look like under here. After all, he's figured out which body I'm using. I'm pretty sure they won't take that very well.” She added that last part in a dry tone.
Paige, however, shook her head while I was busy panicking over that possibility. “He won't tell them about the last part, about what Sierra looks like.” When we all looked at her, she continued. “He always thinks he's going to come out ahead. There's no way he would risk losing the chance to trick your parents with a fake version of you. If he tells the Ministry what she looks like, he won't be able to use that later. I mean, your parents are too out of it right now to even be affected, so he definitely won’t waste the chance he has to gloat about it if nothing else. He's too arrogant to believe he won't find a way out of this. He'll want to keep that back so he can still replace you with her as soon as he's back in control.”
Okay… okay, she had a point. For the second time in the past few minutes, I had to calm down my panicking heart. Eits was okay, and Pittman probably wouldn't risk exposing what body Sierra was using. Taking in a few long, deep breaths, I exhaled slowly before painting a smile on my helmet. “Right, so this whole situation could be a hell of a lot worse. At least we can count on his arrogance to save us from the worst case scenario.”
Peyton offered a simple, “I mean, besides, from what you said, that guy hates the Ministry even more than us. He doesn't know who you are, remember? So as far as he's concerned, all his hatred is pointed straight at those guys. He's not going to want to give them any extra information just to hurt us.”
Yeah, that was another fair point. He hated my family more than anything else, and since he didn't know who I was under this mask, he would have no idea that exposing our secrets would be hurting my family as well. He'd want to keep that particular nugget for a better time.
I was still processing when Sierra pointed out, “You know, there's always a more permanent way we can make sure he doesn't say anything. And, well, stop him from ever doing anything else to hurt anyone at all.”
I knew exactly what she was getting at, but shook my head. “We can't-- I mean I don't want to be that sort of group. I know he deserves it. I know it would make everything easier. I know all of that. But I just can't… I just can't let us be like that. And yes, I know that sounds dumb. It's just… I have to hold onto something right now. And that something is that we aren't executing prisoners. No matter how much easier that would make everything.”
We were all silent after that for a minute, lost in our own thoughts. I was pretty sure the discussion over what to do with Pittman wasn’t actually over yet. Finally, Paige cleared her throat. “We should get back. We already let them know that the situation was handled, but they'd probably like to hear it in person.”
That made me do a double take from realization. “Oh, shit, what about those guys who were watching the place?”
Sierra was the one who replied, “They booked it as soon as things went down over here. I guess when they lost contact with the others, they knew the situation was fucked. So they disappeared. Which means there's still guys there who could cause problems.”
“Still,” Paige pointed out, “we should probably get back there and check out the areas they were in just in case they might've left something we could use. I mean, it's not very likely, but you never know.”
So, we made our way back to Wren’s place and checked in with the others on the way. Sure enough, they had already gone out to look around after the watchers left, but found nothing important. Still, Paige and Sierra went to do their own more in-depth investigation once we were back, while Peyton and I went into the shop to give the others the full story.
Needless to say, they were more than a little freaked out about what Z had been able to do. And who could blame them? I still wasn't sure how that had worked. She killed all those people just like that. They hadn’t even known anything was about to happen before it was over. It wasn’t a fight, it was a slaughter. If she was that dangerous, no wonder the Ministry used her as a final solution for their problems. If she was sent after us, was there even anything we could do about it? That was a sobering thought, and one none of us liked having. But it also made it even more clear that we couldn't risk having an open conflict with the Ministry. When they demanded we hand over Pittman, we were probably going to have to do that. It didn’t seem like there was any other choice. At least, not one that would end well.
But at least we had fulfilled our promise to send the proof about Amanda Sanvers being behind Sleeptalk. I trusted the Ministry to be able to do something with that. After all, they were pretty motivated to want to get that cure. In that case, we all wanted the same thing.
Once Paige and Sierra got back (they hadn't found anything we could use), Fred spoke up. “You know, I really don't like the idea of that piece of garbage staying in the workshop any longer than he has to. And I especially don't like the idea that he's still got people out there who might try to take a run at this place. Sure, they backed off for now, but what if they decide to try again?”
Wren piped up. “Don't worry Uncle Fred, we've got protection.”
I nodded. “That's right, and that protection includes me. I’m not leaving you guys alone while he's here. I'll just leave a message at home that I’m staying over with a friend. Simon’s so busy right now I doubt he'll care.” And, of course, Izzy would be able to cover for me.
That, of course, reminded me that I needed to check in with her. So I took my phone and walked outside into the alley for a minute to catch her up on everything. Needless to say, she freaked out a bit. But I convinced her I would get into all of it later in person, and that things were basically okay. She promised to talk to Amber, and made a deal for all three of us to meet up. In the meantime, she would help make sure things were calm back home.
With that done, I walked back into the shop just in time for Paige to announce, “Okay, so now everyone important has the proof about Amanda, which means dealing with her is up to them.” She looked over at me. “So, what now?”
Honestly, what I really wanted to do was fall over right where I was and sleep for about a week. It had been a very long day. I wasn't even sure I was thinking straight in that moment.
But instead of crashing, I replied, “We make sure this place is ready just in case those guys decide to make a run at us tonight. I know we're all exhausted, but we can't risk letting our guard down. No more surprises. We can't let anyone sneak in here. We need… we need something they won’t expect, something they won’t be able to easily bypass or sneak around.”
“Um, excuse me?” The stuffed rabbit sitting on the nearby shelf raised a paw.
“I think we have a solution for that.”