At first, she seemed startled by the question, but warmed into a smile. “It’s so weird how she knew you before you even met her. She talked about you all the time at the training center.”
“What? She knew me before…” his voice trailed off.
“Yup. She knew you as a terrorist, though,” Ashlee admitted. “She said she had escaped the CGG once before with Enver Fakaj and had seen you there.” Ashlee laughed. “She wouldn’t stop talking about how cute the ‘captor’s son’ had been. I can only imagine she meant you.”
Zamyr stared back at Ashlee, trying to comprehend what this all meant. “It wasn’t me,” he said detachedly, his eyes distant.
“I believe it was,” Ashlee retaliated. “Laura said she knew Jace wasn’t your real name, but she couldn’t figure out what it really was.”
“I did go by Jace back then…” Zamyr mumbled in a reverie.
Ashlee laughed again. “It bothered her so bad.” She looked at Zamyr and realized he was still trying to comprehend what she was telling him. She waited a while, then said, “So when did you guys actually meet?”
“A while ago,” Zamyr said abruptly, then stood, pulling the disk out of his pocket. He walked over to Malorie and brushed her shoulder with the back of his hand. She looked up, and he held out the disk for her to see. “I was told you could help me use this?”
“Ah, yes,” Malorie consented, taking the disk from his hand. She rubbed the surface, pushed a couple places, and held it up to his face. There was a small clicking sound, and she lowered it again. She held the disk atop her fingers on one hand and placed the fingers of the other hand on top. She twisted the upper hand then grabbed the edges of the disk and pulled upward. It had split onto two thinner disks and an image was portrayed in blue between them.
“Whoa,” Zamyr said, amazed at the technology.
“This is the future,” Malorie said, her voice holding a laugh yet also peculiarly sinister. Zamyr stared at her. How did she do that? How did he make her feel two completely separate emotions at the same time? He shuddered again, then watched as she finished up changing the image by passing her fingers through the image and tapping the disk. She closed the disk again and stood. “Turn around,” she commanded.
As he did so, he felt her hand press at the back if his neck. There was a small, short static sound before Malorie returned to her seat. Without a word, Zamyr walked back to his seat and sat back down next to Ashlee.
“Whoa,” she said, then bent down and reached for something under the seat. It was a small bag colored slightly maroon and made of velvet. She opened the drawstrings, took out a small hand mirror, and handed it to him. Looking into it, he felt a jolt of shock and horror in his stomach, then realized what had just happened, although he wasn’t quite sure what had just happened.
Somehow the disk had changed his facial features, and he found a handsome face that was hardly his own staring back at him through the mirror.
Ashlee laughed as he handed her the mirror, then she put it back in her bag. “What can you tell me about the people here?” Zamyr questioned as she straightened in her seat.
Ashlee glanced at him, then looked around the plane. “Well, I don’t know much personally, since I’ve pretty much just met them. Ren, Vance, Nik, and Petra were all there before me. Rian had been there, but he left a while ago. Do you know Rian?”
Zamyr thought for a moment, trying to trace the name into his memories. Unable to think of anything, he answered with a shake of his head and asked, “How long have you been with this group?”
Ashlee looked up, thinking. “About…about two weeks.” She looked back at him. “I can tell you as much as I’ve figured from then, though.”
“Good. Start with Malorie.”
“Malorie?” Ashlee questioned, confused. “Why start with her?”
Zamyr glanced at the blonde head on the opposite end of the plane. “She scares me,” he answered truthfully.
Ashlee laughed again, and Zamyr wondered if she was feeling alright. “Malorie, from what I understand,” Ashlee began, “is the Swedish version of the KGB taskforce. Sweden always seemed like a semi-peaceful country to me, but I understand now that this is partially due to the European Embassy of Teenage Legacy, a junction to the People’s Administration of Soviet Service. Both these agencies serve to keep smaller European countries in check. Malorie is probably so scary because she’s been hanging out with the Russians all this time.” Malorie laughed, and Zamyr winced instinctively, wondering if Malorie was really the one he should be concerned about.
“What about Soul?” Zamyr inquired.
“The South Asian Children of Light Agency is a pretty big deal in the sub-Himilayan countries in southern Asia. Kids from all places, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan…they go through a ‘choosing’ process when first starting school that they hardly know about. Those who are chosen as ‘children of light’ move to central facilities in Nepal to begin training at a very young age. Some dedicate their whole life to the service, but most move away at a later age to start families, although they are never quite separated from the agency. Once a child of light, always a child of light, and sometimes you may be called on for a favor. From what I’ve seen, I believe Agnihamsa is a true believer and hasn’t left the service quite yet, although things are starting to get suspicious with Jasmín around.”
“Jasmín,” Zamyr insisted. “What about her.”
Ashlee sat back and stared up at the ceiling. “The Guerrilla Band Army Agency is hardly an agency at all. It’s more like a group of people that didn’t like how the SIASS was managing things and revolted. I thought they were only attacking the SIASS in order to foil their plans, but I don’t know what happened to them after the SIASS was officially destroyed. I can only guess that they worked like the DANE, attacking random enemies whenever possible. Jasmín joined with the SAVE, but I don’t know much about that, so it must be a newer agency.”
“What can you tell me about the SAVE?” Zamyr questioned.
Ashlee looked at him. “The Secret Association of Viktor Executives…it would probably be best for you to ask her about that yourself. Or Vance, since I’m pretty sure he knows more about it. I’m not really sure anyone knows who truly runs the agency, for everyone talks about this head administrator that none of them have even met. Everyone just calls him Viktor. You know, it’s interesting how many agencies include ‘secret’ in their titles, but most of the other agencies know about them. The SAVE isn’t like that. Most agencies don’t know about it, and it may be because it was newly created. Or I may have a completely wrong idea about this, and it just seems new to me because I haven’t heard it until now.” She shrugged, then looked down into her hands. “I feel like most of the people in the SAVE are super good agents, and since the door is concealed, entrance is by invitation only.”
“The person who gathered this group together is Viktor, right?”
“Well, I can’t say for certain, but I think so.”
“Because I was just thinking, if he put this group together and sent us on a mission,” Zamyr mused, “wouldn’t that kind of mean we’re part of the SAVE, too?”
Ashlee grinned back at him. “You know, I think you’re right.”
“Landing,” Nik shouted from the cockpit.
“All right, agents,” Warren commanded, “suit up.”
“Suit up?” Zamyr questioned. “In what?”
Malorie touched his shoulder as she walked by his seat. “In those,” she answered. He looked up at her, saw that she was pointing to something, and followed the direction of her finger with his eyes until he saw thick, black suits hanging up in a small closet in the back.
“Property of the GB double A,” Jasmín stated proudly as she reached the back. “So take good care of them.”
Zamyr stood and moved towards the back. He caught his reflection in a mirror on the door of the closet and stared. He touched his face with his hands, but it didn’t feel different.
“Come on, pretty boy,” Vance said, smacking Zamyr hard on the back as he passed him. Zamyr shook his head and followed the other agents to the back of the plane.
**************
When Ashlynn arrived there, the battle had already started. She didn’t really understand what was going on. She thought they had come here to save Jorgia’s group from Galath, but for some reason Cyan, Mors, and now Jude were fighting them instead. Galath was nowhere to be seen. Instinctively, Ashlynn counted the number of enemy figures and found it to be four. That didn’t seem right. There should have been five people in each group. Ashlynn didn’t know anyone in the other group, so she couldn’t tell who was missing.
Suddenly, she was shoved to the side and fell hard on the ground. “Move it!” came a voice. She looked up to see Mors standing over her for a second before she ran off back into the fight.
As Ashlynn lifted herself to her feet and grabbed the hatchet she had dropped, a blue flash came from one corner and hit one of the enemy agents in the chest. Ashlynn looked towards the source of the light, and caught a glimpse of Cyan before she disappeared behind the corner. Ashlynn ran over to her and hid behind the corner with her. “What’s going on? I thought the other group was friendlies,” Ashlynn said confusedly.
“Something’s not right,” Cyan said, louder than she needed to. She lifted the gun she was holding, pushed it around the corner, and shot down the hallway again before turning back. “Jorgia’s missing.”
“We need to stop fighting and talk to each other,” Ashlynn insisted, stepping out from the corner.
Cyan yanked her back and an arrow whizzed by Ashlynn’s face. “Are you crazy?!” Cyan shouted. “You’re going to get yourself killed!”
“Those agents are not the enemy!” Ashlynn shouted back, surprising herself by the harshness in her voice. “They are our own!” She took a step forward again, but Cyan pulled her back a second time.
“I’m telling you, something’s not right!”
“Let go of me!” Ashlynn yanked her arm away and rounded the corner. “Stop!” she shouted. An agent stepped out and aimed a gun at her. Ashlynn stepped into a doorway as quickly as possible and heard gunshots ring through the metal hall. “Stop fighting!” she screamed, and stepped out again. The agent was still there, but in a flash Ashlynn dropped the hatchet, pulled a knife out of her belt, and threw it at the agent. The knife cut through the fabric of the agent’s shirt, right at the wrist, and bounced off of the gun. The agent dropped the gun and grabbed her wrist, then turned back around the corner she had stepped out of. “We don’t want to fight you!” Ashlynn yelled desperately.
There was a sudden calm as the crack of guns, twangs of bows, and whizzing of bullets and arrows ceased. “What do you mean?” someone with a voice Ashlynn couldn’t recognize shouted.
“We didn’t come here to fight you, we came here to save you,” Ashlynn replied, stepping out from the doorway. A girl with shoulder-length, curly black hair stepped out from the hallway, too.
“What are you talking about? Jorgia said you were coming here to kill us,” the girl challenged.
“Where is Jorgia?” Jude questioned, stepping into plain view.
The girl looked around, then answered, “I don’t know.”
“She left as soon as the battle started,” someone said from the hallway behind the girl with curly hair.
“What did she tell you?” Mors demanded, joining them.
The voice that had answered before said, “She told us you were red agents.” A girl with pixie-cut blonde hair stepped forward to join the girl with curly hair. “She said you were working against the SSAWPS, that F had just found out about it and wanted you terminated. Jorgia told us you knew about those orders and were coming to kill us instead.”
“Is it true?” a girl with natural red-orange hair asked, poking her head around the corner.
Ashlynn saw Cyan pass her and walk towards the girl with curly hair. She hadn’t even realized that Cyan had stepped out from the corner as well. Cyan stopped, her eyes dangerous. “How do we know you’re not lying?” she demanded.
“Cyan,” Jude started.
Cyan held up her hand to Jude, but continued to stare into the eyes of the black-haired girl. “Galath told Jude that if we reached the special arsenal first, then all of you would have to be terminated.”
“What? Why?” The girl with curly hair turned and stared at Jude.
Jude stared back, her eyes wary but patient. “It is up to you whether or not you believe me, because I didn’t even have the courage to tell my group what Galath told me. She said that F had found all of you agents to be weaklings and that this was a test to see if you were good enough to stay in the SSAWPS. If not, you would be terminated.”
In a flash, Mors was next to Jude. She grabbed her throat and pushed her up against the wall, pointing her spear at her throat with the other hand. “That’s stupid. Why didn’t you stop her?”
Cyan lifted her gun, ready to shoot either of them if something happened. “Mors, she already told us this. You can’t blame her.”
“I was too busy trying to save my fellow agents that I never thought to ask why,” Mors answered, her eyes narrowing. She gave a jolt with her arm, and Jude coughed. Her breath came irregular, like short, half-breaths. “Why didn’t you stop her,” Mors demanded again.
“Mors, stop,” Ashlynn commanded. “She can’t tell you if she can’t breathe.”
Mors let go of Jude with her hand, but kept the spear pointed at her throat. Jude pressed herself against the wall and breathed in with hard, raspy breaths, but her eyes were preternaturally calm. “She told me she would kill us all if we didn’t follow orders,” Jude responded.
Mors lowered her spear, her eyes distant.
“If you told us, we could have stopped her long before,” Cyan admonished.
Jude looked at her. “Galath told me she was ordered to come with us to make sure we followed orders, and she had a close eye on me the entire time. I couldn’t risk it.”
“I’d like to give F a piece of my mind,” the girl with short blonde hair said angrily.
“I don’t think F had anything to do with this,” Cyan said thoughtfully.
“Why’s that?” the blonde girl challenged.
“Well, Galath’s and Jorgia’s statements don’t line up, and I don’t believe Fee would give any contradicting orders like that,” Cyan replied.
“Fee?” the girl with red-orange hair questioned. “Is that F?”
Cyan’s mouth opened and her eyes lit with surprise, then she closed it again, and her expression hardened.
“Cyan?” Ashlynn asked, turning to her.
Cyan folded her arms. “Honestly, I don’t know how you all didn’t know. It’s not like it’s some big secret. This ‘F’ that you all keep talking about? Her name is Firoxa. She’s in charge of the SSAWPS now.”
“What happened to Ignea?” the girl with curly hair asked.
“I’m more concerned with how Cyan knows all this,” Mors said, raising her spear.
Jude put her hand on Mors’ arm. “This isn’t anything to get worked up about. You need to stop accusing people of wrong-doing before they are even able to explain themselves.” Mors gave Jude a dirty look, but she lowered her spear and stepped back a bit. Jude turned towards Cyan. “Go on,” she insisted.
Cyan let out a breath. “Fee and I used to train together, which is how I know her so well. She was kind of like an older sister to me. But anyway, Gideon Mather, who we all know started the SAGUB, wasn’t exactly satisfied with Ignea’s work, so he sent her on a false mission and appointed Firoxa, or ‘F’, as you all know her, to fill that position.”
“She told me about the SAGUB,” Ashlynn blurted. Everyone turned to stare at her.
“Who did?” Cyan asked.
Ashlynn looked at everyone around her in turn with a confused expression. “Firoxa did.”
“What? You’ve met her?” the red-orange haired girl asked, her eyes wide with surprise and awe.
“Is it really that big of a deal?” Ashlynn inquired.
“No,” Mors scoffed.
“Yes,” Jude corrected. “I’ve never met her, and I’ve been here for years.”
“How long have you been here?” the blonde girl questioned, looking at Ashlynn.
Ashlynn blushed. “I just got here.” She almost started laughing at the sight of all the agent’s jaws dropping at the same time. All except for Jude.
“It’s true,” Jude confirmed.
The agents kept staring at Ashlynn. She tried to laugh off the awkwardness and held up the hand with the cast on it. “I probably wouldn’t have this if I were more experienced.”
A girl with long brown hair who Ashlynn recognized as the agent that Cyan had shot turned the corner. “Did you guys forget about me?” she asked, an angry tone to her voice.
“Hardly,” the blonde girl said, and it was then that Ashlynn realized there had only been three agents standing before them. Then she saw the blonde girl’s bandage wrist and realized something else.
“Did I do that?” Ashlynn asked, pointing to the injury.
The blonde girl looked down at her wrist, then up at Ashlynn. “You threw that knife?” Ashlynn nodded, and the girl smiled. “Hey, it looks like you’re not as bad as you think you are. Are you left-handed, then?”
“No,” Ashlynn answered, wondering why she had asked. Then she looked down at the cast on her wrist. “Oh. Well, not usually.”
The blonde girl looked at her for a moment, then walked towards her and extended her hand. “The name’s Ryder. I’m glad I didn’t shoot you.”
“Me too,” Ashlynn agreed.
“I don’t think you’ve met anyone else in this group,” Ryder guessed.
“Nope,” Ashlynn acknowledged.
Ryder pointed to the girl with black, curly hair. “That’s Gayle.” She pointed to the red-orange haired girl. “Lyssa.” Then she pointed to the brown-haired girl. “And Venatora.”
Ashlynn waved at them just as Mors’ voice came from behind her, quiet and dangerous, “Someone’s coming.”
*****************