10. Watchtower 2_Tales From Industry City: DarkFire

It had only been a few hours that I’d been home but it felt like so much longer. I hadn’t been home in months and that was just what I remembered. It could have been longer. My room looked just like I’d left it. The sun had barely begun to peek through the cloudy morning. I could see the orange tint coloring my trans flag rug on the wooden floor of the room. I pushed the computer chair in after seeing the message “There are Survivors” and took a few steps back. The closet door was ajar, revealing my wardrobe within it. I really needed to upgrade this at some point in time. It was all hoodies and band t’s, which is fine, but maybe I should look into thrifting some new ones. Some of them I’d had since I was younger. I fingered through the collection of bands and picked a newer hoodie, sliding it over my bra and threw on some baggy torn jeans. DarkFire had a particular look to uphold and so did AJ Green, I supposed.

I fastened my belt around my jeans and slipped on the shoes I’d kept under the bed. One last look around the room sufficed as I opened the door and slid through the crack. I slipped into the darkened hallway, an ominous single light broke through the window on the far wall. I yawned, realized it had been as long as it had since I’d been properly home, headed back into my bedroom and flattened onto my bed. It felt amazing. The bed in the bunker was comfortable enough but it definitely wasn’t as good as my personal one. I debated on going downstairs to say hi to everyone, but the bed won my favor as I drifted away into the best sleep I’d had in a long time. No nightmares, no traveling through the Graveyard. Just slumber. Hefty slumber and I wasn’t sure how I’d managed it, but when I next opened my eyes–the sunlight had vanished once again. I checked the clock and it had just turned 10:00 at night. I slept the entire day. Had I been that tired? I must have been. A thought had crossed my mind. Has the bunker been compromised? I had only just discovered that there were powers out there that could allow someone to tamper with memories and visuals. The twins, two more members of the Brigade, had sight and sound manipulation but on much smaller scales than that of Mask, clearly. They were strong in their own rights, surely, but this was something on an entirely different level I’d never even imagined possible. Mask had tampered with my emotions, clearly. They’d also managed to remove and alter entire memories including shifting weight of nightmares and trauma dreams too. Was this somehow tied into a blood ability? Like Jefferson had mentioned, blood powers were not yet even recorded in the Institutes database, let alone been something that was just walking around in the streets right? Electricity, water, molecules and cell manipulation. Gasses, fire and ice–sound and sight, speed through wind and even cement and steel were all in the realm of possibilities, I knew these ones had all been recorded at some time or another in the history of Industry, Hell, I had known just about each one of these. Darkness and Fear. Fear– was it possible that blood was a sub-sect of some kind of unhinged fear abilities? I wouldn’t think there’d be a link to mental ability and a physical one such as blood, but anything was possible I supposed. I slipped through a non-existent teleportation device called a Graveyard–so anything was possible really. Possible didn’t necessarily mean probable.

I slithered out of bed with a yawn, followed by a stretch that someone could mistake for that of a cat’s. My hoody had wrapped itself around me in an uncomfortable way. I fixed myself and opened the bedroom door again. I would need to head back to the bunker sometime soon and make sure that there were no leaks in my defenses. I’d need to figure out how to ward the place from this newfound power, if I was right and that’s what was going on. I could have been way off but from the looks of the last few months, it would seem fitting that there had been brain tampering afoot. I stumbled into the hallway. It no longer felt warm with the light from the sun breaking through the window, but now felt its usual coldness. The street light outside the house being the only light present, say for the little bathroom light that flickers under the doorway. Ah, which of my siblings had been in there? I debated messing with them but shook my head and headed down the hall towards the stairs. I passed by the many captured moments of mom and dad that hung on the walls. Our brother smiled at me from one of these captured memories. I smiled back and fought back a tear. I missed him, I missed him every day, maybe even more than mom and dad and I wasn’t sure if that made me a bad kid. But again–maybe killing your parents was a sign of being a bad kid too. I nodded to the memories as I headed down the stairs. I was instantly greeted with what smelled like an amazing dinner being made. Music blared from the kitchen as it muffled the laughter and chatter. I moved through the living room, which had been moved around from the last time I was here.

The cough had been moved into the corner, blocking off a few chairs and a coffee table. They’d made a conversation pit, which was the perfect place to be honest because that section of the living room dipped down slightly. Ah, they used the dip for a purpose finally. I’d always wondered why it was there, this just seemed to make sense to me. The TV had been hung up on the wall and the entertainment stand that had once held it was gone. The systems and players sat stacked neatly on a new display shelf with several figurines thrown around it. Movies filled the other shelves along the walls which were covered in more memories. I rifled through the movies, seeing a few new ones. Someone had been busy lately. The rest of the living room seemed to be unaltered. It wasn’t your typical sized living room either and it more resembled a studio apartment of some sort, more than a living room. I finally found myself at the entrance of what I called the grand kitchen. Living in Industry hadn’t been easy for a lot of people and as DarkFire, I tried to fight regularly to fix that. I wasn’t going to pretend we weren’t lucky to have what we had. Mom and dad had served the IPD for enough years that their deaths had been huge blows not only to us, obviously but to the governor. Mom and dad were both high ranking officials in their own respects. The handling of their deaths was a big deal with the Governor, who had tried his damnedest to rally the rest of the PD against whatever criminal was on the board at the time. I don’t even remember. I was something like 8 years old. It was my brother's death that never sat right with me. That one struck me more than theirs. His had been swept under the rug. Governor Hart had held almost no ceremony and even went as far to blame him for it. Sure, he died with valor and honor, as all the folks who serve under industry’s finest seem to do, but that hadn’t stopped the Governor from spreading any kind of rumors regarding the circumstances. Something never sat right with me on the official story. Something involving a betrayal of his own squad? My brother was a lot of things but treasonous was not one of them. I mean, fuck them. IPD can shove it where the sun doesn't shine, but my brother would never have betrayed his duty. I know this because I know how badly he wanted to follow in mom and dad’s footsteps. How badly he’d wanted to be the next important Green. Of course, my sisters all held some kind of office too, which had always lingered over him. I shook my head, letting the feelings of rage over him falter. There was no point in getting angry over things I couldn’t fix. One day I would but here in the dark of our living room, was not where or how I would. I felt around in my back pocket for my mask, which I’d managed to slip back there without even realizing it. No, that was how I was going to eventually resolve his death. I’d make the Governor pay for his crimes, not only against my family but against this city too. The Governor’s paper trail was so clean you could eat off it, but those of us in the Brigade, hell those of us that had any footing in the underworld knew the truth. He was scum.

I broke through the threshold of the kitchen. Stacy, Nicole and even Michelle had been hanging around. Music blared as dinner was prepped. Smelled like wings and fries, maybe a few more things thrown in there. I smelled frying onions and some other distinct seasonings. Was that taco meat maybe? Browning beef always had a distinct smell and gods, I had missed it. I could cook, I wasn’t as good as Stacy or Nicole but growing up with mostly all sisters, I learned to cook at a younger age. These days I just barely had the time or the fortitude for it.

“Well-well-well. Look who decided to grace us with her presence!” Stacy piped up, sliding some more fries from the oven into another bowl. Nicole smiled at me as Michelle had slinked away to the other side of the kitchen, grabbing a cup for her drink.

“I figured I’d come down and see what you lot were up to and see if you maybe needed saving of some kind.” I laughed as the others did too. Say for Michelle. She and I never got along. She always seemed to side with Janette on this one. Since I was younger, right after mom and dad had passed away, Janette had started her life long mission of making me afraid of her. She was one of the few of us that seemed to get mom’s fear ability. I'm not too sure how genetics works with these powers. I don’t know if it’s like eye color or hair colors but she managed to get the fear power. Her and Michelle both. Where Stacy, Nicole and myself all managed to have the fire from dad. The darkness, however, was something else entirely. My second ability, the one that had thrown me into The Governor’s watchlist right away–had been a mystery even to myself. I was born with pyro. I was a registered pyro under the Institute’s guidelines of safety protocols for powered people. Janette and Michelle had both managed to use their talents for the powers of evil, I would say, as they managed to keep me an arms length away from them with their Fear abilities. I always thought it would be cool to have fear but I was never graced with mom’s gifts. Got dad’s destructive pyro instead, which don’t get me wrong. Pyro is always an underrated ability. I can do a lot more than throwing some burning piles of ember around, I promise you that much. I have gone against some powerful pyro users in my days. I have seen some abilities that even I can’t manage yet and I am still at the beginning stages of learning my powers. I’d like to think so anyway.

“Well rest assured dear savior, we are fine.” Nicole laughed as she hugged me. It had been a while since we’d all seen each other. Michelle grabbed her drink and quietly left and headed downstairs.

“I’ll be down here when it’s ready.” She whispered.

“No problem kiddo.” Stacy said, smiling at her as she left. She was wearing her usual baggy sweat pants and crop top. Stacy, had been wearing a hoody with rolled up sleeves and Nicole wore something that looked like it came from my wardrobe. An alt-band of some kind that was only popular in the underground scene.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt anything.” I said sheepishly.

“Oh her? Don’t worry about her. She’s been moody all week.” Nicole tried to reassure me. I wasn’t buying it, but I played along anyway.

“Oh, if you’re sure it wasn’t me. I can head back upstairs?” I asked.

‘Nonsense, we haven’t seen you in ages dude, you’re staying right here. I’m not letting you leave this house tonight. I wanna catch up!” Stacy said happily as she pulled more fries out of the oven. She was cooking for what felt like an army. I nodded to them and leaned against the island in the center of the kitchen, grabbing a fry from one of the other bowls and took a hefty bite. I hadn’t realized just how hungry I was until my stomach crumbled under the weight of the fry. Both Nicole and Stacy heard my stomach and laughed.

“When was the last time you ate something, my guy?” Nicole asked.

“I don’t even remember. The other day maybe? I’ve been living pretty solidly off energy drinks though, so I should be pretty good right?” I laughed nervously. They both glared at me.

“You. Are staying the night and eating as much food as we can stuff into you.” Stacy said, coming over and wrapping me into a hug. “How have you been though, we’ve been worried. You seem to disappear a lot more frequently these days, for months on end sometimes.” Stacy asked, explaining herself. She wasn’t wrong. Each time I disappeared into the bunker it was getting longer and longer. It wasn’t because I hated being around my siblings, but I feel like a part of me resented being home. It's kind of hard to constantly live in the place that was built by the people you killed, or got killed. It’s still unclear to me exactly how it went down in Harmony. My throat buckled a little before I could answer.

“Things are tough right now. There’s some things going on. Working on something.” I admitted. Stacy nodded. She knew me and how I worked. I’d talk when I was ready and she respected that. If there was something pressing she would push the issue but usually she let me have my privacy in my vigilante work. For her and Nicole, the less they knew about me the better off they were at the office if they were asked. Of course, no one except for Jessica knew who I was truly and I had her word she wasn’t going to Narc on me, though her word is as good as a broken jar holding water. I could only partially expect her to uphold it. I hadn’t even heard from Jennifer, Jess’s sister either. I had no idea if she agreed with her sister or if she was going to come after me sometime. It had only been a few months since the break up and while it was entirely Jess’s decision, I admit Jenn would not see it that way if she truly wanted to blame me for it. My head was clearer than it had been in what felt like ages though. Suddenly I remembered a lot more than I previously had and it felt good. It felt good to be normal here too, hanging out with my sisters.

“What kind of tough, need some help?” Nicole asked, genuinely smiling as she pulled some wings out of the oven. Damn, they smelled amazing. My stomach sparked an uprising revolt against me at the smell alone. It was here that I had really noticed the shirt Nicole was wearing. An underground band. I was impressed.

“Does the office know you’re into some criminal activity?” I asked, pointing to the shirt, grinning. She looked confused.

“What do you mean?” She asked, realizing herself what shirt she had on. “Oh this? It’s just a band my dude.” She defended.

“You know the front-runner of it is one of mine right? I met him a couple times.” I laughed.

“Wait really?” She asked, more intrigued than upset.

“Yeah, I’ve met him a couple times.” I nodded.

“You haven’t introduced me yet?” She fell to her knees dramatically, ‘betrayed’ “The betrayal!” She yelled. I shook my head.

“I hadn’t realized it was that dire of importance to my dear sister.” I said, helping her off the floor. She laughed.

“It is always of great importance if you know the lead singer of one of my favorite bands.” She admitted. Stacy laughed as the rest of the wings found themselves in the last bowl. Smelled like honey-BBQ. I was starving.

“Honestly though, no. I have this covered more or less. There’s a few pieces I’m still missing from before my memory gaps, but otherwise I think I’ve got this handled.” I admitted.

“OKi DOki.” She said, “If you insist.”

“I do.” I reassured her, helping Stacy prep all the bowls and dishes and everything on the island in a buffet style. Everything was ready and Stacy flipped off the oven. I sure had picked a great night to come home. I grabbed a bowl out from one of the colored cabinets above us and stood in line behind my sisters. Stacy called for everyone. Michelle came back upstairs and following behind her was Janette. She glared at me as soon as she’d entered the room. She wore her usual Gothic attire as she grabbed a plate and cut in front of me, nudging me to the side.

“Well. Glad our baby sister could join us for the first time in a few weeks.” She said, a snarl of absolute disgust in her voice.

“Easy there Jan, she’s been busy. Leave her be.” Stacy said, trying hard to keep the peace between us. She had always done so. Anytime Jan got on her high horse or got into one of her moods with me, Stacy usually threw herself in the mix. Stacy was just slightly younger than Jan, who was the eldest of us all. She bore a lot of responsibility and took favor to Nicole and Michelle. Even though Nicole was usually on my side of things, she seemed to have a soft spot for her. Jan and Stacy had always gotten into fights, even outside of my involvement. Anything that could, would–set the two of them off and I reminded myself of that, trying myself to keep the peace too.

“I'll take it easy when I want to. It's just like her to show up when there’s food and that's it. No check ins, no nothing, for months on end sometimes.” She now turned to face me, towering.

“I–I mean you’re right.” I admitted. There was no arguing the logic. I had learned over the years of living here that it was better in the long run to at least agree with her, she’d dish a less harsh punishment that way.

“I know I am. Why are you even here now? Why don’t you just move into that bunker you call a home, you spend more time there anyway and besides. You’d make things a lot cheaper around here, not having to take care of you.” She dug in like claws with that last one. I felt the sting. Her words cut deep like the time I was impaled.

“I–” I started, I wasn’t sure exactly what to say here. I could feel myself physically getting smaller. She always managed to do that. No matter how clearly my mind was thinking, whenever it came to her, I always managed to shrink and cower, literally cower. I could feel myself closer to the floor now as Jan approached me.

“Come off it dude, not like this, not right now.” Stacy demanded. I watched as Janette elongated her nails. Or at least to me they seemed to be longer. I wasn’t sure if they actually were or if it was always just a side effect of the fear itself. I looked up at her.

‘What'd I ever do to you?” I asked, genuinely upset. I could feel the tears in my eyes, which wasn’t something that happened too often. She tensed.

“What did you do? It’s because of you–my dear baby sister, that I am responsible for this fucking family now.” She moved closer, her nails almost pressing into my skin. I cowered closer into the corner as I tried my damnedest to get away from her.

“Do you always have to throw that in my face?” I screamed back. She knelt down to my level, grinning.

“Of course. You might forget otherwise.” She stood, smirking as she grabbed her plate and got back in line. She and Michelle got their food and headed back downstairs, shouldering Stacy as she walked by. “Next time, little sis, don’t get involved. Might not be good for your health one of these days.” She added before disappearing down the stairs. I watched Nicole conjure a palm full of fire in her hand as Stacy stopped her.

“Not worth it.” She whispered. Nicole grabbed her bowl and got some food, the fire finally dying away. Stacy also scooped herself a bowl, her red hair tucked back in the hood of her hoody. She had also managed to scoop me a bowl, adding extra sauce for the wings and some hot sauce, since she knows me so well.

“Come on dude.” Nicole said, holding a hand out to help me up.

“I don’t know why she’s got that effect on me.” I said in a low whisper that was quiet enough I barely heard it. I got to my knees, which I could feel wobbling out of control.

“It’s most likely the fear. She's been pumping you with it since you were little.” Stacy admitted. I nodded.

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right.” I took Nicole’s arm and stood up. “Thanks.” I said to her, grabbing the bowl from Stacy. I set the bowl down on the couch in the living room and headed back into the kitchen to grab a drink for myself. The crushed ice flew from the crevice in the fridge, clanging into my cup with a harmonious clank. Through the ice I could hear her voice still ringing in the back of my head.

IT'S YOUR FAULT I'M IN CHARGE OF THIS FAMILY NOW. IT'S YOUR FAULT. IT'S YOUR FAULT. YOUR FAULT. YOUR FAULT.

I poured myself something to drink, got a big glass of cola and moved into the living room. After a while-and a butt load, actual unit of measurement here- of food, I managed to calm myself down and regulated. I had been laying back on the couch, my glass on its 3rd or 4th refill as I nibbled away at the remainder of my fries. Stacy sat across from me on the chair, sideways as she always did and Nicole sat on the couch next to me. It felt really good to be hanging out with these guys. Really good. I’d also been texting back and forth with Slipstream, letting them know I was safe. I’d invited them over for food but they were cool hanging in the bunker. They were, in fact, one of the few people I trusted to be alone in the bunker. Besides, Jefferson was rigged to alert me whenever something outside of the general public access functions got touched. So – I’d know the second they tried accessing any “redacted” or off limits files. Our bowls all sat around the table in front of us in a conglomerate mess of coexistence. We couldn’t even tell who's was who's anymore if it hadn’t been for the different sauce colors staining the sides of them. I leaned back, crossing my legs and curling into the corner of the couch. I had forgotten just how comfortable “actual” home was. My phone sat next to me on the arm. I watched as the Brigade chat exploded with activity, but I’d been having too much fun to bother checking everything. I gave it a quick glance to make sure there wasn’t anything major going on, like a Fear Patrol raid or something – saw we were good and set it back down, turning my attention back to my sisters.

“So I was meaning to ask you next time we’d seen ya, but we found a binder of a bunch of old pictures of you when we were younger!” Stacy said in a cheerful tone.

“Oh yeah! It’s pretty much just a bunch of pictures of you!” Nicole happily added.

“Really? I didn’t even know mom and dad kept that kind of thing.” I admitted.

“They hadn’t. That was actually Jason.” Stacy said. My brother had kept picture binders of us all? I had never known that.

“Jason, kept photo albums of us?” I asked.

“Yeah. Well not specifically. He kept them all in places, he’d find good pictures of us all and keep them in little piles. Either Michelle or Janette must have put them together properly.” Nicole explained. I took the binder from Stacy after she fished it out from under the couch. I flipped through it. There weren't a ton of pictures, but there were definitely a handful of ones I hadn’t even seen before. There was a picture on the 3rd or 4th page of them, almost to the end that I’d absolutely never seen before. It was a picture of the old gang. We were standing in front of the Watchtower, the school we attended in Harmony. It was the six of us. There was Josh. I’d recognized the scar above his left eye from the vision I had the other night. As soon as I was back to one hundred percent and ready, I’d be planning a trip back there to see if any of these visions were true, or if they were just Mask somehow fucking with me. I stared at it for what must have been ages. The other two gleefully watched. I turned it over and saw in sharpie written on the back “WatchTower.” Jason must have called us this at some point? Maybe that’s where I got the name from but, I teared up a little, not going to lie, at seeing my old friends again. I flipped it back around to look again and noticed something. The girl standing next to me, between me and Josh. She looked very familiar. Familiar enough but I couldn’t quite place her. It was then I noticed the pencil marks on the picture. I squinted. They were names. Someone had named everybody for me. Josh I remembered of course and Luke. He was on the far end. The name of the girl next to me though, Meg. That couldn’t possibly be the same Meg could it? The same Meg that currently sat in The Basement right now when IPD came and took her away? There was no way she was the same person from Harmony right? Right? I set the picture down.

“You doing ok there?” Stacy asked.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost or something.” Nicole said.

“I–Think I might have.” I admitted. “Do either of you remember my friends from Harmony, I know we were all younger, you especially were Nicole, but Stace, do you remember anything about them? Like is there absolute confirmation that they all died that day?” I asked. They shared a glance.

“I don’t know. Honest.” Stacy reassured me. Nicole nodded, agreeing with Stacy.

“Why? What’s going on dude?” Nicole asked, looking at the picture with me.

“Well you guys remember my friend Megan?” I started to ask.

“The one that's–in?” Stacy started.

“Yeah, the one that ended up being arrested for some bullshit charges, Yeah. Well this looks a lot like her if I’m being honest and the name Jason labeled on it is Meg. She only went by Meg.” I said, shifting in my seat now. Stacy and Nicole shared another look.

“I don’t know dude. I mean, there’s not a way you can ask her now is there?” Nicole asked. A light flicked on inside my brain. It was a stupid idea, oh it was an incredibly stupid idea, but there was definitely ONE way of finding out.

“AJ, talk to us. I don’t like when you get that look. You’re thinking of doing something stupid, aren’t you?” Stacy asked. I nodded confidently.

“Absolutely, you know me so well.” I chuckled and tucked the picture into my jeans pocket. “It’s cool if I keep this one right?” I asked hopefully.

“Yeah, I mean it’s yours.” Stacy said. “But–I don’t like whatever this idea of yours is dude. What are you thinking in that thick skull?” She asked.

“Nothing terrible or illegal or anything. Just remember that not everything I do has to be done as DarkFire.” I nodded.

“I’m not sure I follow.” Nicole said.

“AJ you’re not seriously considering it?” Stacy interrupted Nicole.

“I’m just gonna take a stroll. Nothing criminal. AJ Green has some authority over in the Fear Patrol base anyway, considering Jason was one. I’m sure security will at least let me in. Once I’m in I can figure out a way to access the files and see if it's the same person. That’s all. I still feel like it’s my fault she’s there and I don’t know, maybe–” I trailed off.

“You’re not gonna break someone out of the fucking Basement, AJ Green.” Stacy whispered so that the bot technology around the house didn’t pick anything up.

“I didn’t say I was going to. I’m just going to confirm if it’s her ok? I need this Stacy. I need to know. She’s one of my oldest friends, even outside of Harmony and if she IS the same Megan from Harmony, that makes this even that much more important to me ok?” My mind was made up and as the two of them knew from past experience, when my mind was made up there was not much they could say to change it.

“Fine. But, don’t do anything fucking stupid ok? I don’t want you getting yourself hurt or killed.” Stacy agreed.

“You’d be no good to her dead.” Nicole said. My sisters were right. I wouldn’t be good to Meg dead, if this was her. Could it be? Could there be survivors after all? I was always told by The Governor, the therapists, the Institute and all those shrinks I saw that I was responsible for the deaths of everyone. Had they not known about any survivors, or were they simply covering it up? If that was the case, to what end? Why? Had I been working on something related to this when I first ran into Mask way back all those months ago? This was the first solid lead I had this entire time investigating this bizarre situation and let me tell you, I needed to do this. If there was a way I could get Megan out of there, if she was still alive. I’d take it. I had been too stupid to wait this long. I owed her this much. I stood by and watched that night, when they took her. I’d never even been given a reason. IPD isn’t known for their polite hospitable nature. They don’t just tell you why someone is being carted off to The Basement. There were typically only a number of reasons one got arrested and put away that deeply. I’d always assumed it was her powers, but–I could be wrong.

I found myself standing now, fixing myself and sliding my phone into my pocket.

“Thank you guys, for tonight. This was awesome and I really needed this break. I’m gonna crash here for the night I think and in the morning I am gonna head on over to the FP offices for a visit. I’ve been meaning to say some things to those assholes too.” I grinned.

“Of course. You’re always welcome here, regardless of what that bitch tells you ok?” Stacy said reassuringly. I smiled at her and embraced the two of them in a hug. We spent the rest of the night hanging out, playing some trivia games we had on our gaming system and just having a good time. The household Jefferson unit, which Stacy and Janette both managed to jailbreak with outfits, since they knew some of the basic coding from government files, displayed the games on the holodeck in the gaming room. I must have drank my weight in energy drinks because I could feel myself literally bouncing off the walls later that night. The night had gotten late and the morning crept around the corner. The clock struck an early cord as we’d finally managed to get everything cleaned up and I found myself experiencing the crash and burn of the energy I’d pumped myself with. I stumbled around upstairs heading towards my room as I noticed a light breaking from under the door crack of Janette's door. I started heading into my room when a thought hit me.

WE’D NEED AN EXCUSE TO BE THERE. THEY WON'T JUST LET YOU IN.

I was right of course. Fear Patrol wouldn’t just let me into their headquarters. Not properly. As a Green, I had a few friends there that I could manage to get a tour of the public quarters, the various places that someone with even basic access could manage to get into. No that wouldn’t do. I’d need something that could get me even deeper into their system if I was going to find any information worth sneaking in for.

ASK HER. SHE’LL KNOW HOW TO GET IN.

I again had a good point. I hated when I was right, there wasn’t much of a point in arguing with myself. Is this what the others felt like when I’d made up my mind on something? Damn. I breathed in, gathered up all the courage I could manage and once I’d opened my eyes, my fist was lightly tapping on her door. I sighed, knowing that disturbing her this early was going to mean some sort of psychological pain for me, but if it helped me get that much closer to getting inside Fear Patrol? I’d take every chance I could get.

The door opened as I saw her standing, leaning against the door frame in her Gothic pajamas. Little black Jeffersons looked up at me from her pajama pants. They were cute honestly and I almost asked where she got them. I cleared my throat.

“What?” She asked, looking down at me, holding a book in her hand. I hadn’t taken her for much of the reading type, but then again, I hadn’t known anything about my oldest sister. She’d made it very apparent since I was a kid that she wanted nothing to do with me and that was about as far as any potential relationship I’d have with her would go. I accepted this. Though–I wished things were different between us at times.

“Hey, I’m sorry to–what are you reading?” I asked, noticing the book looked like an urban fantasy romance novel. She glanced up slightly over the top of the book, her eyes piercing at me like daggers.

“None of your business.” She said, I nodded, expecting no less.

“Fair enough I guess.” I sighed.

“What do you want dude, you got like 20 seconds before I close this door.” She snapped, a little annoyance in her voice broke through a yawn.

“Wait okay okay. Sorry, I’m getting tired myself here. I was wondering, do you have any Fear Patrol applications?” I asked, she set her book against her chest, curious.

“Ah, finally deciding to do something worthwhile, baby sister?” She asked. Of course, all my siblings knew my secrets, but Jan couldn’t be bothered to turn me in. She had told me point blank once that she wouldn’t lift a finger to help me though if I’d managed to get myself caught or killed and honestly, I respected it.

“Yeah, I suppose so.” I agreed. There was no point in fighting her when I was this close to having my way in.

“Yeah, come in.” She opened the door for me, pointed to where she wanted me to wait and bookmarked her page. I glanced around as I swayed back and forth on my feet. I’d never been in her room before, at least not without being tortured in some way or another. Her room was much different from what I expected. Books lined the walls shelves, stacked double and triple rows high. I noticed that her favored genre seemed to be romantic urban fantasy. I nodded at nothing in particular. She had a ring-light and camera rig setup in the corner against the back wall where a gamer’s chair, much nicer than even the one I had in the bunker, sat–damn. She streamed? A writing desk sat in the far corner adjacent to her bed, which looked amazing too. I was taken back. She made online content and I hadn’t the slightest idea–some detective I was.

“Hey, Jan, I didn’t realize you streamed.” I said nonchalantly.

“--and you’ll continue not to realize it, got it?” She said, handing me a thick stapled sheet of paper. She pressed it hard against my chest.

“Got it.” I grunted. “I figured they’d use a digital based application.” I admitted.

“Yeah, one would think. But The Governor prefers the physical copies. Something about proving that people who are willing to physically fill these out are already more qualified than an online auto-fill?” She said, for the first time ever, a hint of agreement in her voice.

“Ah, I guess that makes sense.” I said, looking over the app.

“Fill that out and take it in the morning. Otherwise, I’m coming to your room and taking it back. We don’t just hand these out to anyone and if I find out you’re wasting my time, I will fucking murder you. Got it? If I stick my neck out for you and you drop the ball, I will be absolutely pissed.” She shouldered me as she walked by, reopening the door. I took the hint.

“You got it Jan, thanks.” I said as I walked out of her room. I turned to say something else but found her door staring back at me already. Well, that went better than I’d expected. I took the application to the desk in my room and started filling it out. I’d need to focus, tomorrow was going to be–interesting.

_______________

The morning came quicker than I’d have liked. I had spent most of the night filling out the 4 page application. Damn these guys are way more qualified than I think I’d ever given them credit for. I tucked the application into my little backpack, threw on one of my nicer band hoodies and jeans, slipped my mask into the hoody and headed out. I had to be extremely careful not to be even remotely recognized by any of them today as DarkFire otherwise this was going to go very south, very fast. I strolled down the street. I could just as easily manage to shadowslip my way around town but I didn’t want to risk it. I hailed for a taxi and hopped in. We maneuvered the early morning, cold crisp Industry traffic as we pulled up to the large, quad-leveled skyscrapers that housed the Fear Patrol headquarters. The buildings shot almost a hundred stories upwards. These government buildings could be seen by just about every level of this damned city. The Governor had to make sure we all knew which buildings were his properties. I hated this fucking government. I swiped my watch against the taxi’s pay-pad and approved the tip. He drove off, lifting himself back into traffic as the hoover thrusters kicked on. It was always cool to watch thrusters work. I looked up at the fanciest looking building in the Industry. Was I actually going to do this? If I put my app in, there was no going back now. I would, potentially, actually be hired by these fucking cop bastards and I don’t know if I wanted that. I couldn’t just–ya know–throw this aside when I was done. It would blow my whole cover and honestly, if I did manage to escape without them knowing, my identity as AJ Green would lose all credibility if I were to bail on Fear Patrol, which is considered one of the most sought after jobs in the business. Outside of splicerunning or black-market sales for stuff like conducting materials. But that's a whole different ball game.

I took a breath, sighed and headed in towards the building. I walked through the sliding automatic doors of the 3rd building in the back, which had labeled itself HR offices and headed in. My orange hair was pulled back into a ponytail, as best I could get this curly mess of hair in one and I made sure that I looked somewhat presentable.

The inside of these buildings is insane. If you ever wanted a good glimpse at what modern technology had to offer, come to the government buildings because I swear it was like looking at I-Tech magazine, which I’m unironically subscribed to too. Automaton bots walked in security uniforms, armed as they traversed their patrols. Synthetic wall screens and holo projectors displayed tons of different information in various places of the lobby. I looked in amazement. I’d been in here before, not exactly this building but one of the other ones. I’d been in a couple of them multiple times but it was like I was a kid every time I came in here. I loved seeing the technology at work. In the center of the lobby stood a holo projection for the newest hooverboke model. I tucked my face away as soon as I realized it was the same model as the one Stormcaller stole for me. I shook my head, remembering why I was there and found the nearest desk operator. I approached.

“Good Morning, can I help you?” The woman wearing a work blouse, had her hair pulled back and slicked, smiled at me.

“Hi there, I have an application for Fear Patrol?” I had said, I sounded more confused than determined. She chuckled.

“Name please?” She asked, holding a hand out to accept my application. I shuffled through my bag and pulled the pages out.

“AJ Green.” I admitted, handing the application over. The look on her face dropped. I guess I’d been somewhat of a public figure here. I smiled back, trying to break any tension there might be.

“Yes miss. I can get this turned in for you right away. Could you hold here please?” She asked. I nodded.

“Of course.” I said. I leaned against the counter as she disappeared behind one of the doors to the right behind the desk. I assumed it was an office of some sort. She was gone for a time and re-emerged holding another stack of papers.

“Here you go Miss Green. If you could fill these few forms out, it so happens we have a couple of our lead specialist Fear Agents in today, one of them is our recruitment officer and they’d love a chance to talk face to face.” She explained. Here and now? I”d expected this to take some time, I barely had a plan for that, let alone having to act now? I panicked but tried to cover the surprised look on my face.

“Oh really?” I asked, looking at the small stack of papers I was handed.

“Yeah, if you’ll come with me, I can have you situated in a cubicle and we can set up a meeting time for you.” She smiled again, gesturing to the security door next to me. I nodded. Well, I may not have had a plan for this but if I was going to do anything, now was as good a time as any and I didn’t want to fuck this up by acting suspicious. So, I threw on my best over joyed smiles I could and waited for her to buzz me in. I walked through the scanners as a security bot waved my in. The bots, which I guessed was the point, looked almost entirely identical to humans. I was getting to the point where I couldn’t even tell anymore on some of the newer models.

She ushered me down the hall, which looked more like something out of a horror movie once you got behind the desk. The halls spread out into different directions. They were open with a lot of room and space. Industrial fans kicked on in a slow rotation from under us. She marched me down the hallways and into a standard office room, there was a table in the middle of the room as a bunch of chairs lined the back walls. A holo projection of a Jefferson unit smiled at me as I walked in.

“If you’ll wait here please, we’ll set up your meeting. There are some people that would be very happy to see you.” She said, turning and walking out. My stomach turned a little bit. I sat in a chair closest to the corner as I could manage. I hadn’t expected someone to already want to speak with me, this made me nervous. Which agent was it going to be? Someone I’d already met a few times, or someone that I’d shared gunfire with on the streets? Time seized as I waited. I barely even filled out a few bubbles on the post application/application before I heard footsteps coming down the halls. They stopped momentarily, but continued with a second set following behind them. I looked up in time to see the one person in all of Industry that I never wanted to see again, followed closely by someone that, quite frankly, has shot me more times than I’d like to admit. Of course, hopefully, she didn’t realize who I was here but I digress.

Jess and Melony turned the corner. My throat buckled as I almost threw a blast of fire directly at both of them, but thought against it, calming myself. Jess wore her usual business attire, Melony, however wore a wetwork uniform. The kind of uniform a special ops agent would wear. All black out-pitch perfect tech suit of some kind or another, a guitar case hung on her back, which I knew the contents that were in it all too well, considering it had shot me several times before.

“Ah, Miss Green, so lovely to see you, I hear you’re applying for a spot within our agency?” Jess asked, in the most professional of manners. I nodded, trying to remain calm.

“I am, yes, thank you.” I responded through gritted teeth. I’d noticed the cameras in the corners of the room and nodded to the two of them, realizing this was just a show. Someone else was watching. That much I was sure of.

“I see you have filled out one of our more advanced applications.” Jess said. I hadn’t even realized there were more than one type of application. Go figure, Jan was always throwing a hatchet into my plans and this was probably on purpose. I tilted my head genuinely confused.

“I didn’t know there were multiple levels of application.” I had admitted. Jess regarded the genuine tone of my voice and nodded.

“Most don’t. That’s kind of the point, Miss Green. I’m sure you’re aware that there are multiple levels of Fear Patrol?” She asked, looking over at Melony who, for all I could tell, was already scanning me for any discrepancy in my body language. I shook my head.

“I did not know that, honestly I kind of figured you guys worked like the Army, really. Different ranks and such, but I had no clue about any kind of level.” I explained. Jess nodded again at me.

“I suspected. Where exactly did you get this application you handed in?” Jess asked in a whisper now, with Melony standing in front of us blocking most cameras.

“Where do you think?” I hissed through gritted teeth, but maintained a whisper myself.

“I’d guess your sister, if I had to pick someone.” She said, Melony stepped around, once again revealing us to the camera's line of sight.

“Yeah. I asked her if she had any applications and this is what she gave me. It hadn't crossed my mind until just now that it was an application for your special-ops division.” I explained. I hadn’t been lying either, I had no idea there were different divisions within Fear. I had suspected certain agents were privy to more or less than others, but hadn’t suspected anything as far as departments. I guess it makes sense, since Fear Patrol acts like just another branch of armed forces within Industry.

“-She telling the truth?” Jess asked, turning to Melony.

“Far as I can tell.” She answered. I had to admit, there was something eerie in hearing her cold, monotone voice. There was a precise calculation in it. It was as if she was trying her hardest to sound like this was her casual voice. I winced slightly, remembering the bullet wounds I’d gotten over the years from the voice now judging me.

“Why would I lie? Hell Jess, why would I come down here and even be here right now, if I weren’t serious about this?” I asked.

“Yes indeed, why would you? I know you, AJ. You’ve detested this organization for years. Why suddenly join now?” She asked the quiet part out loud now. This wasn’t as much of an interview, as it was an interrogation. I realized that now and leaned back in the chair.

‘If you were going to interrogate me, why do it here on camera? I’m sure you’ve got plenty of places you could have taken me to. Why even bring the assassin?” I asked.

“Melony. I have a name, you brat.” She said, I shivered again.

‘What did I ever do to you?” I asked, being reminded yet again of my eldest sister. Before she could answer, the door opened again and a squad of standard special-ops soldiers walked in. There was a man between them. I recognized him instantly.

“Miss Green, I had wondered when we’d be expecting to see you here. I had hoped it would be a lot sooner, but better late than never I suppose.” Governor Hart addressed me with a kindness, yet– there was a sinister undertone to his words. Damn. Why did everyone in this fucking company sound like a B -rate spy movie villain? The soldiers lowered their weapons, though they remained at the ready. Melony and Jess both stood at attention as The Governor Saluted them. They returned to an “at ease’ stance.

I stood and held my hand to shake his. I figured there was no reason to try anything now. The man himself, the man that owned all of Industry, or most of it anyway, was standing before me, personally overseeing this interview. Either there was something huge about to happen, or I hadn’t realized the weight my name carried around here because of mom and dad and Jason. He held out his hand, firmly returning the shake. I glanced around as one of the soldiers closed the door behind them. It was here I noticed the other two standing guard outside. Eight. There were eight soldiers in total, fully armed–might I add. Plus, Fear Patrols own grim reaper and my ex, who held a position of incredible stature in the company. She must have been the hiring agent the lady at the desk meant. Jess oversaw quite a bit here to my understanding. We’d never gone into much detail about her specific day to day job–in case I was ever found out and she was captured she wanted to have plausible deniability and I’d agreed. I never imagined though that she worked so closely with the man that quite frankly, traumatized me the most of anyone or anything else in this city. The man that I blame for the death of my parents, my friends and my brother.

“Well sir. I’ve had a poster of this organization on my bedroom door since my brother was an agent. It kind of just built up and the urge to join hit a pique.” I played innocent. I knew how to play helpless little girl when I needed to.

“Excellent. Excellent. I hope you don’t mind these two, I had asked them to oversee this interview specifically. Having an application for our special ops headhunter division is quite impressive and we had to make sure it was a genuine thing, mind you. Can’t be too sure these days. With those damned vigilantes and masks running the city. You understand, I am sure.” He glared at me from behind those glasses.

“Oh absolutely sir. I understand entirely. These two were a welcomed surprise to see.” I glared at them with a smile.

“Wonderful. I assure you Miss Green, if you are serious about joining us. You have a spot almost guaranteed. We have seen your work in action before.” He said. My heart sank a beat but I had almost forgotten that I attended Industry High and they monitor all potential new hires there as well. I gulped down the heart attack I almost had and nodded.

“I appreciate it sir, truly. It would –” I paused. “It would be an honor to join your ranks.” I finished. That one killed me.

“Wonderful!” He bellowed with the clap of his hands. “I will see to your immediate employment with us. Of course, if you continue to persist at this level of advancement right away, training is going to be required. We’d also need a physical examination and several other tests are involved.” He explained. I nodded.

“Of course sir, I wouldn’t imagine having any kind of special treatment. It's as I was explaining to Jess and Melony here, that I wasn’t even aware I’d been applying for the special ops.” I said, speaking the truth. The Governor regarded that for a minute longer than I’d have liked, considering it was absolutely the truth. He eyed me with those brim glasses of his. Something about it felt predatory, I felt like a deer in the headlights as he circled me.

“Of course Miss Green. I have no reasons to doubt you. I’d like you here, in building 4, which is our training facility, Monday morning, same time.” He said, handing me an orange piece of paper with a time approval and a signature of his.

“Absolutely sir. I will make sure to be here. Should I wear anything specific?” I asked, looking at Jess and Melony and around at the other soldiers. I didn’t feel like I was particularly in danger here and this wasn’t a trap. Too many people were around for that. Was I really going to join the Fear Patrol? I nodded to no one particular.

“What you’re wearing is fine. Shifts are 10 hour shifts and once you’re clocked in, you’ll be given a Fear uniform. Nothing fancy to start, basic training” He said, once again shaking my hand. I nodded and thanked him as he and his guard started to leave the room. Before he exited, he turned though. “Miss Green. We won’t be going easy on you.” He said before finally departing, leaving me, my ex and my assassin in the room. The door closed as the final soldier left.

“What?” I asked Jess, who had been glaring at me the whole time.

“Are you serious?” She asked, relaxing more.

“Yes. I am absolutely serious. Why wouldn’t I be?” I asked, admittedly a bit defensive.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“You, of all people, are joining Fear Patrol? Really? There’s no other alternative motive here? You just had a change of heart all of a sudden?” She asked, rolling her eyes.

“What can I say? Y'all do such an amazing job. I saw how you handled the vigilante in the news the other day. It inspired me.” I grinned with a snicker. Easy AJ, Melony didn’t know yet, or maybe she did. I don’t know but now’s not the time to get too cocky. Though I desperately wanted to stick it to my ex. I wanted to show her that she wasn’t right, even if she kind of was. I was only joining to get Meg out of The Basement–but–I figured now that if I could gain as much information as I could from the inside, this could become a huge advantage to Watchtower. Jess glared again.

“Tell me right now. AJ Green. That you’re on the level.” She said, drawing a sidearm from her holster. My stomach sank but I tried not to flinch. It was the ego of it all for me. Melony grabbed her arm.

“Jess, not like this. The Governor is literally right outside that door. You know he’s still listening. I promise.” Melony whispered. Jess groaned, a guttural annoyance I hadn’t heard from her in ages.

“No. It’s cool. Let her shoot me. Go ahead Jess. Shoot me for absolutely no reason. I know you’ve been wanting to. Hell, what was the last thing you said to me when we broke up? That I should just, become a prisoner?” I asked through gritted teeth. I could feel the palm of my hand getting warm through my glove. I breathed in. Control yourself Green. Orange flames. Orange flames only. Orange flames only. A small orange flame built in the palm of my hand.

“You really, really are a stupid girl, you know that?” Jess asked, holstering her gun. I am not going to stoop to your level.” She said, turning.

“You were literally just going to fucking shoot me.” I said. Melony bobbed her head slightly in agreement.

“I have to give this one to the Green girl, you did draw first.” She admitted. Jess growled under her breath again and stormed out, shouldering me as hard as she could as she did. As she headed for the door, it opened again and the platinum blonde cryo girl walked through.

“Uhm, Jess, Melony, you’re both needed as soon as possible. Gather the team too.” She said, eyeing me. “Oh, Miss Green. What are you doing here?” She asked.

“She was just leaving.” Jess snarled. “What's going on?” She asked Echo. Melony had already gotten on her walkie talkie and started calling some names. Some I’d recognized from previous encounters with them.

“We have a situation developing in one of the local park districts right outside the rural districts, 13, specifically I believe.” She started explaining. Jess eyed me as she did, because we both had the same thought. That was my neighborhood. Jess mouthed (Don’t you dare) to me. I glared back. Mature, I know.

“What kind of situation Echo? We’re kind of busy.” Jess responded.

“We have a B Class shadow reported in the area. A new figure we’d never seen before. A small gathering of masked psychos seem to be with them too.” She explained. My eyes widened.

“B class shadow?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah. Everything is categorized here.” Echo started explaining before Jess cut her off.

“She’ll learn this shit when she reports for training. You can go now, Miss Green.” She commanded. The thing about me is, I don’t do well with commands like that.

“Right. We need some ground patrols out there as soon as we can. There have been reports of a hostage.” Echo added. At that, I checked my bag, made sure my mask was there and started heading out.

“Why didn’t you start with that? AJ, where do you think you’re going?” Jess asked. I flipped her off and headed out the door anyway.

“You said I was leaving. Just following your orders, boss.” I yelled back. The last thing I heard was her cursing my name and chatter coming over several walkie talkie radios at once. I headed out back down the hall, passing by a few of the soldiers that guarded The Governor as they nodded at me. I nodded back and headed back through the security checkpoint. At this point I saw Jess following. I nodded and thanked the girl at the desk and gave a fist bump to the robot security officer as I headed out towards home.

____

Son of a fucking bitch. It wasn’t just a park. It was the same damned park. The park I’d met Mask in before. I am really starting to hate this park. Its already creepy enough–it’s also the same fucking park that Meg got taken from. Someone had a twisted sense of humor because everything in this case kept bringing me back here. I flung myself out of the shadowslip in an alleyway a bit a ways from the park. I had a full visual of the park. The woods it backed up to went for what seemed like miles from here. The playgrounds sat in their little boxes of sand. I’d spent so much time at this park as a teenager. I’d hang out here with RJ and the others almost daily. It meant a lot to me, before she was taken. Before those fuckers took my best friend and here I was, about to work for them. I shook my head.

ENOUGH OF THIS NOW. GAME TIME.

I had a good point. I slipped my mask over my ponytail and made sure it fit right. The voice changer was already set up under my shirt. I fixed my gloves and shook my head. I’d get her out, I promised. But for right now here in this very moment, I had a job to do. Fear was most likely right behind me. Shadowslipping is fast but their

This is a direct response to the board committee. You sons of bitches have no right to judge me. You haven’t even the slightest damned idea what I do for this city nor the sacrifices I personally made for its endeavors. You really think that Harmony is the only incident the world has seen since the Cataclysm? Are you really as naive as to assume that Industry is the only place in the world experiencing an increase in these masked insurgents? Our own Watchtower Brigade–as they’re called, is not the only group out there getting in the way. The Undercity? You really think Stormcaller and company is an issue? Remind me to show you letters from Governor Brakken sometime. She has had more than enough problems with a similar “fire” problem with their own Harmony. I should know. You don’t know the first thing about sacrifice until you’ve lost a child to one of these bastards. Which brings me to another point you’d brought up in your excruciatingly long interviews.

The XFire Legacy isn't a myth. With the amount of evidence we’ve gathered from reports of the 7 Devils of Industry, we have more than enough proof that the XFire mythology is real and that these individuals are all connected in some way or another. I can’t quite get into the full details with you, there are breaches within our own government and if this information were to be leaked, well I shouldn’t need to remind you all of the consequences of that. Or of the risks. So please, tell me again exactly what by-laws I have broken here? Our product hasn’t even made the street circuit yet–we’re fine. You have no proof that our products can do anything in your interrogations and you have no actual evidence to produce that could suffice in court regarding your allegations of our so-called partnerships with criminals or the existence of this “Basement” facility. Do you really think we have the time, money or resources to maintain a secret prison facility under the undercity, that would require such major and constant oversight? If your security teams have further inquiries regarding this, however– I would be more than happy to schedule a tour of our buildings and allow you to see that everything is above table, as it were.

Governor Hart.

____________________

I fastened my belt around my jeans and slipped on the shoes I’d kept under the bed. One last look around the room sufficed as I opened the door and slid through the crack. I slipped into the darkened hallway, an ominous single light broke through the window on the far wall. I yawned, realized it had been as long as it had since I’d been properly home, headed back into my bedroom and flattened onto my bed. It felt amazing. The bed in the bunker was comfortable enough but it definitely wasn’t as good as my personal one. I debated on going downstairs to say hi to everyone, but the bed won my favor as I drifted away into the best sleep I’d had in a long time. No nightmares, no traveling through the Graveyard. Just slumber. Hefty slumber and I wasn’t sure how I’d managed it, but when I next opened my eyes–the sunlight had vanished once again. I checked the clock and it had just turned 10:00 at night. I slept the entire day. Had I been that tired? I must have been. A thought had crossed my mind. Has the bunker been compromised? I had only just discovered that there were powers out there that could allow someone to tamper with memories and visuals. The twins, two more members of the Brigade, had sight and sound manipulation but on much smaller scales than that of Mask, clearly. They were strong in their own rights, surely, but this was something on an entirely different level I’d never even imagined possible. Mask had tampered with my emotions, clearly. They’d also managed to remove and alter entire memories including shifting weight of nightmares and trauma dreams too. Was this somehow tied into a blood ability? Like Jefferson had mentioned, blood powers were not yet even recorded in the Institutes database, let alone been something that was just walking around in the streets right? Electricity, water, molecules and cell manipulation. Gasses, fire and ice–sound and sight, speed through wind and even cement and steel were all in the realm of possibilities, I knew these ones had all been recorded at some time or another in the history of Industry, Hell, I had known just about each one of these. Darkness and Fear. Fear– was it possible that blood was a seb-sect of some kind of unhinged fear abilities? I wouldn’t think there’d be a link to mental ability and a physical one such as blood, but anything was possible I supposed. I slipped through a non-existent teleportation device called a Graveyard–so anything was possible really. Possible didn’t necessarily mean probable.

The cough had been moved into the corner, blocking off a few chairs and a coffee table. They’d made a conversation pit, which was the perfect place to be honest because that section of the living room dipped down slightly. Ah, they used the dip for a purpose finally. I’d always wondered why it was there, this just seemed to make sense to me. The TV had been hung up on the wall and the entertainment stand that had once held it was gone. The systems and players sat stacked neatly on a new display shelf with several figurines thrown around it. Movies filled the other shelves along the walls which were covered in more memories. I rifled through the movies, seeing a few new ones. Someone had been busy lately. The rest of the living room seemed to be unaltered. It wasn’t your typical sized living room either and it more resembled a studio apartment of some sort, more than a living room. I finally found myself at the entrance of what I called the grand kitchen. Living in Industry hadn’t been easy for a lot of people and as DarkFire, I tried to fight regularly to fix that. I wasn’t going to pretend we weren’t lucky to have what we had. Mom and dad had served the IPD for enough years that their deaths had been huge blows not only to us, obviously but to the governor. Mom and dad were both high ranking officials in their own respects. The handling of their deaths was a big deal with the Governor, who had tried his damndest to rally the rest of the PD against whatever criminal was on the board at the time. I don’t even remember. I was something like 8 years old. It was my brother's death that never sat right with me. That one struck me more than theirs. His had been swept under the rug. Governor Hart had held almost no ceremony and even went as far to blame him for it. Sure, he died with valor and honor, as all the folks who serve under industry’s finest seem to do, but that hadn’t stopped the Governor from spreading any kind of rumors regarding the circumstances. Something never sat right with me on the official story. Something involving a betrayal of his own squad? My brother was a lot of things but treasonous was not one of them. I mean, fuck them. IPD can shove it where the sun doesn't shine, but my brother would never have betrayed his duty. I know this because I know how badly he wanted to follow in mom and dad’s footsteps. How badly he’d wanted to be the next important Green. Of course, my sisters all held some kind of office too, which had always lingered over him. I shook my head, letting the feelings of rage over him falter. There was no point in getting angry over things I couldn’t fix. One day I would but here in the dark of our living room, was not where or how I would. I felt around in my back pocket for my mask, which I’d managed to slip back there without even realizing it. No, that was how I was going to eventually resolve his death. I’d make the Governor pay for his crimes, not only against my family but against this city too. The Governor’s paper trail was so clean you could eat off it, but those of us in the Brigade, hell those of us that had any footing in the underworld knew the truth. He was scum.

“I’ll be down here when it’s ready.” She whispered.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt anything.” I said sheepishly.

“Oh her? Don’t worry about her. She’s been moody all week.” Nicole tried to reassure me. I wasn’t buying it, but I played along anyway.

“Oh, if you’re sure it wasn’t me. I can head back upstairs?” I asked.

“When was the last time you ate something, my guy?” Nicole asked.

“I don’t even remember. The other day maybe? I’ve been living pretty solidly off energy drinks though, so I should be pretty good right?” I laughed nervously. They both glared at me.

“Does the office know you’re into some criminal activity?” I asked, pointing to the shirt, grinning. She looked confused.

“What do you mean?” She asked, realizing herself what shirt she had on. “Oh this? It’s just a band my dude.” She defended.

“You know the frontrunner of it is one of mine right? I met him a couple times.” I laughed.

“Wait really?” She asked, more intrigued than upset.

“Yeah, I’ve met him a couple times.” I nodded.

“You haven’t introduced me yet?” She fell to her knees dramatically, ‘betrayed’ “The betrayal!” She yelled. I shook my head.

“I hadn’t realized it was that dire of importance to my dear sister.” I said, helping her off the floor. She laughed.

“Honestly though, no. I have this covered more or less. There’s a few pieces I’m still missing from before my memory gaps, but otherwise I think I’ve got this handled.” I admitted.

“OKi DOki.” She said, “If you insist.”

“I do.” I reassured her, helping Stacy prep all the bowls and dishes and everything on the island in a buffet style. Everything was ready and Stacy flipped off the oven. I sure had picked a great night to come home. I grabbed a bowl out from one of the colored cabinets above us and stood in line behind my sisters. Stacy called for everyone. Michelle came back upstairs and following behind her was Janette. She glared at me as soon as she’d entered the room. She wore her usual gothic attire as she grabbed a plate and cut in front of me, nudging me to the side.