Axel
Monday, 25th of January, 198 A.C, 15:26
“Studies on captured Psychons show a high variance in long term survivability. Some Psychons, such as Shades and Feles, fade away on their own after a period of time, a designation we have termed ‘transient.’ Others are able to sustain their forms when kept in proximity with individuals exhibiting particular emotional states. Further research into the nature of this sustenance is required.” - Leaked VA research report
Octo’s gaze remained tied to the toy as I dangled it in front of him. He was slightly tensed up, but trying to play it cool in the way only a cat does. I let the toy stray closer and closer until a flip switched in his mind and he pounced on it. Or he would have, had I not yanked back on the string at the last moment. He looked at his empty paws in bewilderment, just like the last two dozen times I had pulled off the maneuver.
Yumi took the opportunity to ambush Octo, grabbing him and rubbing his back.
“When did you get him, anyway?” she asked.
I was more than happy to recount the story. I was coming home from a run to the convenience store sometime in December when I heard a yowling coming from a condemned building. I’d always been a bit of a cat person, so I went inside and saw this haggard stray cat with a tortoiseshell coat. As soon as he saw me he stopped screaming and chomped me on the thigh. As it turned out he had smelled the tuna I bought and couldn’t help himself. He got much friendlier once I gave up the fish, so I took him to the vet, got him tested (no rabies or anything, thankfully), and bam! Official cat owner.
Octo leaned into my hand while I scritched his ears. “Apparently he’s something of an oddity. Torties are almost always female.”
“A bit like Impulse, huh?” Trevor was lounging on the couch, pretending that he wasn’t dying to join in on pampering Octo. “At least, like some of us. We should be impostors at best, but no. We’re the real deal.”
“Every Veiled is an impostor though, aren’t they?” I said. “Running around, doing things they never would without those masks. Heck, we take on different *names* when the Veils go on. We’re not any different just because we’re poor. On the right side of the class struggle maybe, but our drive is the same. We’re just not usually given the chance to act on it.”
An alert went off on each of our Chippers. It was a short text from Casey, letting us know she was entering the safehouse.
The sounds of notably still booted feet made their way up the stairs until Casey burst into the room, her grin wider and her movements more full than usual.
“What’s doing, Impulse? Anything good?” She took one look at Octo and swept him up into her arms. “Oh, cat! Yours, Axel? I love him already.”
Trevor, Yumi, and I shared a look, each of us silently urging one of the other two to broach the subject first.
Yumi’s nerves broke first. She cleared her throat for longer than was necessary, then said, “Hey, Casey… um.”
“Yeah?”
“Where… Well, where have you been?”
Casey set Octo down on my lap. “What do you mean? I’ve just been hanging around, you know? Not like Impulse has been up to much since that gem scuffle.”
Yumi’s jaw did a convincing impression of a snake trying to get something down that it had no business eating. “Casey, Sarie was *hospitalized*! Or did you miss that while you were busy ghosting us for weeks?”
The joke that Casey was forming died somewhere between her vocal chords and her throat. “I– Oh. Shit, that sucks for her. Is she doing alright?”
“She’ll be out in a few days,” said Trevor, “But it was pretty bad. Psychon attack while she didn’t have her Veil, apparently. She won’t say much beyond that though.”
“I see.” Casey’s usual expression returned quickly. “Well, fuck me that I missed it, but now I’m back nobody else is gonna get mauled, right?”
Anger is a funny thing. You can be the chillest of people, nothing gets you riled up. But one poorly timed comment can hit you right in the wrong way and send you off. That’s what Casey’s comment did to me.
I gently handed Octo off to Yumi, got up, and shoved Casey back towards the door.
“Woah, what the fuck, man?”
I had to look up just a bit in order to lock eyes with her.
“Casey, fuck off with that ‘I’m back now’ bullshit,” I growled. “Your own teammate got hurt and you didn’t care enough, not just to visit her, but to even acknowledge it happened at all. We’ve got hits on us, did you know that? Or did you miss that memo too? Sarie overheard some Veiled talking about it shortly before the Psychon attack, and Sable showed us an anonymous letter he had received to a similar effect. And it’s not like this is the first time you’ve dropped off the face of the planet without telling us. So until you’re ready to actually fucking stick around and get us through this mess, you don’t get to come in here like you’re this buddy buddy god gracing us with your presence.”
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
I knew as the words were coming out that I was going too far, but I couldn’t stop until I had let it all out. The room was quiet after, my words echoing in our heads.
“Fine,” Casey finally said. “I can have plenty of fun myself, without you all dragging me around.” She seemed for a second to be listening to someone, then said, “Yeah, you guys aren’t my only circle, you know? Have fun with that hit, assholes.”
She left without ceremony. It wasn’t until we heard the door close behind her that Trevor spoke up.
“You’re gonna go apologize, right?”
Yumi was tapping her side. “Yeah, I. Might head out if I were you.”
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Yeah, you’re right. See you two later.” I picked up Octo and put him in my bag, then headed out after her.
***
I caught up to the Heister a few blocks out at an intersection only slightly more upscale than the one by our safehouse. She had stopped, her back to me, and was bouncing her bat off her foot while she looked at something past the corner.
I started speaking as I reached her, reciting what I had been repeating to myself in the minutes since she left. “Hey Casey, look, I’m sorry about earlier, I just–”
The Heister held up a hand to quiet me, then tilted her head to indicate I should peek around the corner. A short way down the road, a group of Psychons, lupi and a taurus, had formed a semi-circle around about a dozen people, trapping them against the wall of a shuttered convenience store. A few of the civilians held broken protest signs as weapons. A few others were dragging bitten and clawed friends to the back.
We weren’t the first ones to arrive. A half dozen Veiled, all dressed like they were ready to attend a ball, were approaching the Psychons from the far end of the road. There were a few I recognized – the Attendant and the Fencer – but the rest must have been new blood for the Magnolia Coalition cutting their teeth. As far as squads went, you didn’t get much more *opulent* than them.
The MC members caught the Psychons off guard. This was not the sort of scrappy fight I was accustomed to in Impulse. It was ruthless, precise, and indiscriminate. The Magnolia Coalition was here to take out Psychons, not protect civilians.
The Heister, eyes never leaving the scuffle, said to me, “I don’t suppose there’s any chance you brought your Veil with you?”
Octo squirmed as I fished around for a piece of cloth I knew wasn’t going to be there. “Unfortunately not.”
“Figures.” The Heister peaked out further to get a better look at the civilians. Many of the Psychons, thankfully including the taurus, had broken off to engage the bigger threat, but enough stayed to keep their prey trapped.
“Wait here while I create an opening,” she said. “Don’t want people thinking we’re associated without your Veil on. Once I’ve busted a hole through their line, get those people inside and take care of the boring stuff.”
Not waiting for a response, she dashed off, sticking close to the wall. The Psychons’ attentions were already split between the Magnolia Coalition and civilians, so getting the drop was simple for her. The lupus closest to her went down before it could turn around.
Four or five of its neighbors detached from the semi-circle to attack the new threat. The Heister drew back and away from the wall, dragging out the close end of the formation. The maneuver created a gap just big enough for me to slip through.
I wasn’t going to get much of a better opportunity than that. I drew my knife and charged towards the gap, hands up to protect my face. A straggler noticed my approach and leapt at me. I dove to the left, but was just too slow. The lupus’ jaws snapped shut on my arm, its corrosive saliva sizzling as it melted my sleeve and began to eat away at the skin underneath.
I fell to the ground, cradling my bag to protect Octo. The pain from the bite loosened my grip until my knife slipped out and clattered against the pavement. I kicked at the monster, but its teeth were in too deep for me to force it off.
A sharp piece of wood shot over my head and buried itself into the Psychon’s skull. The person responsible for the thrust, a heavyset man with an untrimmed beard, planted a booted foot on the Psychon’s back and yanked it out. Even as it dissipated into mist, the lupus stubbornly bit down until all that was left of it was a few teeth embedded into my arm.
The man spoke as he helped me to my feet. “Respectfully, what the *hell* are you doing, sir?” He had a smooth tenor voice, with an accent that wasn’t quite the same as Kai’s.
I picked my knife up and scanned the store behind us. There was an alleyway to the right, past the gap. That would do.
“Trying to help, if you can imagine. Think we can get into that alley?”
The man jabbed at a Psychon that had strayed too close. “Maybe. We’ll have to push them back, get the injured through first.”
As if on queue, the Heister began an attack from the lupi’s flank. Seeing this, the man with the sign rallied the others to action, applying more pressure on the right side of the line. Pinched, the Psychons on the right began to buckle back.
The bearded man signaled for those carrying the injured to head to the alley. I stood in front of them as they went, waving my knife to ward off any overly opportunistic lupi.
As soon as the unarmed protestors made it into the alley, those with makeshift weapons shuffled in behind, careful not to let their guard down. After ducking into the alley myself, I quickly caught up to the group. They had stopped in front of a back entrance to the convenience store.
I inspected the lock. We were lucky. It was the one variety I knew how to pick. Well, ‘pick.’ I dug around in my bag, stopping for a second to pet Octo (he was remarkably well behaved through the whole ordeal), and brought out my Bit card. I slid the card into the crack between the side of the door and the frame and fiddled around until it wedged itself under the bolt. A bit of lever action and the door was open.
“If anyone asks,” I said, “This thing was already unlocked.” Nods from the protestors in response.
I ushered them inside, looking the injured ones over in order to establish a quick triage. The stinging in my arm intensified, a reminder to take care of myself first. I waited for everyone to get inside, then shut the door behind me. Someone found the light switch. It was time for, as the Heister would say, the boring stuff.