Predestiny

by Phipps, C. T.

  “Ahh. A lovely institution. Well, how would you like a full scholarship and an executive internship at Butterfly while you’re there.”

  I blinked. “Err, thank you?”

  I wasn’t even sure I still wanted to go to college, given it was possible more time-travelling assassins of the future might show up to try and kill me, but I especially didn’t want to internship at Butterfly. It was the very place I was actively trying to destroy. My father would have been ecstatic, but that was just another reason it was ridiculous.

  On the other hand, it might actually be a benefit. While I’m sure Jane was still against the idea, especially after today’s debacle, I hadn’t given up my desire to try and bring down Monarch. It was clear we weren’t going to get another chance to break into their servers, considering that at the start of the press conference Colin Reilly announced he’d be moving them to three heavily guarded mountain storage facilities in China, Russia, and Korea. Overkill was not in Monarch’s vocabulary.

  On a positive note, I was pretty certain the Scorpion was dead and wasn’t coming back. I mean, there was no way I was going to use H.O.P.E. to start a war against the corporations at this point. Not after everything that happened here today. Still, something about the assassins mentioning all those other leaders of H.O.P.E. made me wonder if the movement didn’t really need me to get started. What if, by not becoming the Scorpion, someone else just rose and took my place? I remembered Mr. Welles telling us about something called the “One Great Man” theory of history that argued individuals were the guiding force in events.

  But was that really true?

  Another view of history I’d been looking up in my mania to explain all this was the argument individuals didn’t actually matter in the long run—that people were really just products of their environment. The world economy was tanking and there were more protests against Butterfly every day. I wouldn’t be surprised if the reaction to today’s “terrorist” attack was ambivalence or even approval in some places. The beatings many H.O.P.E. members had received at the march in Chicago also meant others were being radicalized all the time. It meant others might try to do what I’d done in their place.

  That was when Colin Reilly broke me out of my fugue. “The same goes for your girlfriend, too.”

  I looked back at Jane, who masterfully hid her disgust behind a rather pleasant grin.

  Colin drew my focus back to him by forcibly shaking my hand and smiling for the cameras. That got the crowd’s attention and there were a lot of pictures taken in that moment. I reflexively smiled back, unsure of how to react. That was a great opportunity to sabotage Butterfly, right?

  Colin then leaned over and whispered. “I know who you are.”

  I froze for a moment. “Who am I?”

  I didn’t get an answer and Colin pulled me back to the spot I was standing in before. He then proceeded to ramble on some more about how today was a win for Monarch and how his vision for the future was unrelenting and blah, blah, blah. It was nothing but a publicity stunt for Butterfly, one which worked well. The company’s popularity was at an all-time low after the riot and wasn’t about to get any better on its own. Making themselves look like the victims of hardened killers while a bunch of teens acted as heroes was just the sort of narrative to turn it around.

  It made me sick.

  I had a lot of time to think about the problem because the ceremony lasted another hour before it ended. Mr. Welles was eager to get out of the city and away from the Butterfly building as quickly as possible. I didn’t blame him, either. His field trip had been a disaster and I’m pretty sure he was afraid of getting fired. I wanted to join everyone on the bus ride back home, but Butterfly still had other plans for Jane and me. We were forced to speak with more reporters and answer even more of Monarch’s questions.

  By the time they allowed us to leave, the bus was long gone. The company did order a limo to drive us back to the school, which was a pleasant surprise, however I assumed it was more to show off for the cameras than an actual show of kindness. Butterfly wasn’t known for its philanthropy.

  The limo was pretty cool, to be honest. I’d never been in one before, and Jane and I had it all to ourselves. She was wearing a long, blue dress which had been provided for her by the staff at the company, just like I’d been given a clean, button-down shirt. Our faces still looked like hell from the fight, but at least now we appeared presentable. I guessed they didn’t want two kids in front of reporters that were covered in boiler room grease and blood. It made the whole thing feel even more bizarre than it already was.

  “You look nice,” I said, trying not to laugh. In fact, she looked like the world’s angriest Alice in Wonderland.

  “This outfit is completely impractical for combat,” Jane said, growling.

  “I don’t think that’s its intended function,” I said, looking around at the limo’s interior. “This was not how I expected today to end up.”

  “No,” Jane replied. “However, you’re safe and those ‘assassins’ are on the run. I’ll take that as a win.”

  I glanced at the front seat to make sure the driver wasn’t here yet, then looking over at Jane. “You kept it from me. The fact the Scorpion was the person who ordered the assassination, I mean.”

  “I’m sorry,” Jane said, looking down. “I didn’t know how you’d react.”

  I wasn’t sure how I felt about it myself. “It changes things. At least a little.”

  “It does?” Jane asked. “How so?”

  “It means the Scorpion did have some good in him.”

  “Like Darth Vader.”

  I blinked. “You made a pop culture reference?”

  “Yes,” Jane nodded. “In the bunkers, the teachers would often tell us the epic legends of Old Earth’s myths where Luke fought against his own father.”

  I stared at her.

  “We also had a DVD player,” Jane said.

  I laughed before realizing Jane was deflecting. “How do you feel? I mean, these were your friends.”

  Jane shook her head. “They were never my friends, Robbie. I’m starting to realize I never had friends before I came to the past. The people who raised me either treated me as royalty or as just another soldier. Some of them resented me. Others hated me.”

  “Royalty?” I asked, confused.

  Jane sucked in her breath before exhaling. “It doesn’t matter now. My mission is accomplished. You’re safe and I don’t think you’re going to become the Scorpion.”

  “Don’t think?” I asked, more than a little annoyed with the tone of her voice.

  “Anything could happen,” Jane said, pausing. “Provided you don’t do anything stupid like trying to go after Butterfly again.”

  I didn’t respond.

  “Robbie,” Jane said, exasperated. “Seriously?”

  “Nothing’s changed,” I said, trying to figure out how to make her see my point of view. “Butterfly is still the same danger it always was.”

  “Everything has changed,” Jane said, looking at me. “You took your shot at them and you failed. We failed.”

  I closed my eyes. “I’m not sure this is the best place to be talking about this.”

  In my paranoid imagination, Butterfly had our clothes and this car fitted with hidden microphones to find out if we were plotting against him. The fact Colin Reilly had said he knew who I was still bugged me. I didn’t actually know what that meant or what it might refer to. Did he mean a member of H.O.P.E? The son of the police officer killed recently? The Scorpion? I didn’t think it was possible for Colin to know, but the thing about paranoia was it didn’t need evidence that made sense.

  “Don’t worry,” Jane replied, seemingly reading my thoughts. “I checked the clothes before we put them on and the car before you got in it. We’re fine.”

  “Never mind,” I said, feeling a bit more comfortable about talking freely. “Do we know what happened to the rest of the team?”

  “You saw the texts,” Jane
said, pausing. “If the assassins said they were dead then they’re dead.”

  “How can you be sure?” I asked, disheartened.

  Jane just stared at me, as if the question wasn’t even worthy of a response. I got the message and looked away. “What about Christine? Those texts didn’t mention her.”

  “They didn’t,” Jane said, surprising me with her forcefulness. “Which either means she escaped the building after providing the distraction or Monarch already had her in their custody when the assassins attacked.”

  “Then that’s another reason to go after them,” I said, feeling desperate and alone.

  Jane crossed her arms. “Then you can’t accept that scholarship they’re trying to bribe us into silence with.”

  “Uh,” I started to say. “Why not? I can’t afford college on my own.”

  “Because you can’t have it both ways,” Jane said, shaking her head. “You’ll be playing a dangerous game, Robbie. One I don’t think you’re ready to handle.”

  Man, I thought Anna could be controlling. “Whether you’d like to admit it or not, Butterfly is still a threat and this is the best opportunity to find out what they’re up to.”

  She honestly looked worried by my response. “So what? You think you’re going to become some kind of double agent now?”

  “I’m going to at least consider it,” I said innocently shrugging my shoulders. “How else could we see how Butterfly works from the inside?”

  She was about ready to raise her voice when the sound of the driver’s-side door opening forced her into a whisper. “Look, we dealt with the assassins today. That’s enough for now. I just don’t want to see you take one step forward and two steps back.”

  “That’s not—”

  The driver interrupted me as he yelled back to us. “You two ready to go?”

  Jane and I both put on fake smiles and nodded.

  “All right,” said the driver while starting the engine. “Let’s hit the road.”

  The limo pulled away from the building and that was that. Jane and I both went silent as we started on the long ride home.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  It was starting to get dark by the time we got back to our neighborhood. To be honest, I was surprised it wasn’t morning. The ride seemed painfully long, especially since neither of us said a single word to each other. My eyes had been glued out the window, watching the downtown cityscape transform into the depressed suburb I called home.

  The school parking lot was empty except for the car Jane had “liberated” when we first met all those months ago. That meant the bus had already dropped everyone off, including Anna.

  I wasn’t surprised she didn’t wait for us, though. We had established Reverend Tully’s church as a rendezvous for the group to meet up after the heist. There was no point in going back there now since nearly everyone was dead, but Anna didn’t know that. She was probably there waiting for us with the reverend right now.

  I would’ve called her except for the fact that Jane destroyed my phone back at the Butterfly building, which I was actually kind of grateful for. Anna obviously had a storm of an argument waiting for me, and it would’ve been much better to deal with it in person.

  As much as I wasn’t looking forward to being yelled at, there was no point delaying the inevitable. It was best to head right to the church and deal with my angry girlfriend as quickly as possible.

  I was actually surprised Jane agreed with me, too. She wasn’t Anna’s biggest fan, but that didn’t mean it was right to leave her hanging. For a cold-blooded assassin from a dystopian future, Jane still had a shockingly strong moral conscience at times.

  The future must’ve been a weird place.

  There was no trace of sunlight left in the sky by the time we arrived at the church. It was pitch black except for the small light by the cellar door leading into the church’s basement. Jane parked across the street and we both got out of the car and started heading to the light like a beacon.

  Continuing our trend, we took several steps in silence until I realized the two of us had better be on the same page for this. “What are we going to tell Anna about the others?”

  Jane’s sunken expression showed less confidence than I was used to seeing from her. “I don’t know.”

  Her answer, or lack of one, shocked me more than it should have. “What do you mean you don’t know? You always know. If there’s one thing I could always count on you for it was knowing what to do next.”

  “Not this time,” she said, shaking her head.

  A slight panic caused me to spit out the first idea that came to mind. “Can’t we just tell her they got spooked and ran off?”

  Again, Jane shook her head. “Someone’s going to find their bodies if they haven’t already. Or their families will start searching for them when they realize they’re missing. Either way, their deaths are going to be linked to H.O.P.E. and Anna’s going to find out.”

  We reached the cellar steps and I started whispering as we began our descent. “Fine. We’ll just have to be careful about what we—”

  I pushed the door open and my voice abruptly vanished as I caught sight of what was waiting for us inside the church’s basement. The tables and chairs we had been using for our H.O.P.E. meetings were all haphazardly tossed to the sides of the room, messily stacked on top of one another like a junkyard. The only chair still standing upright was in the center and Reverend Tully’s dead body was tied to it with duct tape. His head was slumped to the side, lifeless, and his face was badly beaten and bloodied. Although the injuries looked terrible, none appeared life threatening. They were meant to hurt and not kill him, but the red rope mark around his neck was another story.

  This death, like so many others, fell on my shoulders. Reverend Tully and I hadn’t known each other well but he’d been a good man and a supporter of H.O.P.E. Knowing I was responsible for his murder made me sick to my stomach, but the thing that hurt even more was what it would do to my relationship with Anna.

  Behind Tully’s corpse, I could see her sitting on the floor against the basement’s back wall. Her knees were pulled into her chest and her face was buried between them. She didn’t look up at us as we entered the room, but I didn’t have to see her eyes to know they were filled with tears. The strain in her voice was enough to tell she’d been crying. “Did you know?”

  “What?” I said reflexively, mainly as a stall tactic to allow my brain more time to process what I just walked in on.

  She shot her head up, revealing the heartbreak etched into her face. “Did you know he was dead?!”

  While I was preparing to face some tough questions from her, this one was easy and I had no problem telling her the truth. “No, Anna. Of course not. I had no idea. How could I possibly—”

  Unconvinced by my answer, she stood up and pushed off the wall to stomp towards us. “Don’t lie to me.”

  “I’m not,” I pleaded with her. “I’m telling the truth.”

  Anna dramatically rolled her eyes. “Please. You haven’t told me the truth in weeks. Not since she showed up. Your ‘cousin.’”

  Jane was surprisingly reserved after Anna’s attack, yet that didn’t stop me from coming to her defense. “Don’t blame Jane for this. I haven’t been the same after the riots. You know that. I was beaten, Anna. They put me in the hospital for—”

  Anna cut me off, unsympathetic to my answer. “Yeah. I’ve heard that excuse before. I think it’s time you tried something new.”

  Chicago had been my go-to for explaining any questionable behavior. It worked in the past, but there was only so much mileage I could get out of it. Anna had had enough and needed something more concrete, so I let her have free rein of the conversation. “Then what do you want to know?”

  She shot out the first question as if she’d been holding it in this entire time. “How about you start with what really happened in that basement.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said with my best fake
confused face.

  It didn’t work, and Anna only grew angrier. “Don’t play dumb. Monarch caught you guys and not only did you somehow convince them you weren’t responsible for the break-in, but you had them believing you stopped the ‘terrorists’ in the process. How is that possible?”

  I shrugged my shoulders, trying to downplay her suspicions. “Good acting?”

  She ignored my weak reasoning and pointed to my and Jane’s faces. “Look at you two. It’s like you were both in a brawl. You honestly expect me to believe you did that to each other?”

  Jane was still quiet, which had me concerned. She always had an opinion, especially when it came to Anna. Her silence meant there was nothing left to say.

  “I’m not stupid,” said Anna, still begging for answers. “I deserve an explanation about what really happened in there.”

  I wanted to give her something and struggled to find the right way to defend the secrecy. “It’s … complicated.”

  The word only infuriated her further. “Complicated? Complicated?! Reverend Tully was tortured and executed! You’re damn right this is complicated!”

  I scapegoated our usual suspect, a foe Anna was always quick to pounce on in the past. “Monarch must’ve done that to him.”

  She didn’t take the bait, though. “Oh, please. Those media whores would’ve never passed up the opportunity to arrest a local religious leader in league with H.O.P.E. Whoever did this wanted to remain anonymous, and I think you know exactly who they are.”

  And she was right. I knew the assassins probably tracked Sabrina to this church and used the reverend to find me during the heist. I couldn’t say that, so I swallowed rather than lie to her.

  That didn’t stop Anna from asking the question directly. “They’re the ones who attacked you at the Butterfly building today, weren’t they?”

  When she didn’t get an answer, Anna moved on to the next topic in her queue. “What about Carlyle and the others? Did they get to them, too?”

  I bit my lip, wishing I could tell her the truth, but my silence only prompted Anna to continue her questioning. “Did they have anything to do with your dad dying?”