And They'll Come Home

by K. M. Robinson

  “Bo, you have to be careful with that hair,” her uncle used to say when she was little. “One day you’re going to get tangled up in it and never be able to get out.”

  Peep had cut it the next day. The longer pieces still fell in her face when not styled properly.

  She slammed her eyes shut, listening intently as the men walked to their cells. They paused outside her door, kicking the bars.

  “Wake up, Peep,” they taunted.

  “I can’t believe she’s still out.”

  “She’s tiny,” Arach piped up, “You probably gave her too much and her body isn’t handling it well.”

  “And what are you, traitor—her protector?”

  Silence filled the cells. Peep’s mind raced to try to fill the gaps, desperately wanting to know what was happening.

  “You could have had it so easy, Arach,” one man finally commented. “Your brother could have carried you through life here. All you had to do was play nice.”

  “And yet, he chose this,” the second man tapped the bars casually. “That was a stupid mistake.”

  “My only mistake was getting caught,” Arach replied smugly.

  “At least your brother is smarter than you,” the first guard laughed.

  “He’s smarter than all of you,” Arach challenged. “And just in case you forgot, boys, some of us were at least skilled enough to not have to be guards.”

  There was a chuckle in his voice. Peep found herself rooting for the man, even though she still didn’t trust him.

  The angrier of the guards slammed against the bars, mumbling threats under his breath. The two men argued quietly, making Peep strain to hear.

  “Careful, Rowley,” Arach warned, “you don’t want Piper to think you’re colluding with the enemy. You might end up in here with me.”

  “We’re not that dumb,” the man responded.

  “Sure you’re not,” Arach chuckled. “At least I was running missions before I ended up in here. What are you doing? Babysitting? Have you even been out of the compound since you started working for Piper?”

  “Come on, George,” the second man said. It sounded like a struggle.

  “Come again, boys,” Arach called as the man was dragged away.

  There was a terribly long pause as Peep held perfectly still.

  “You shouldn’t taunt him like that,” the calmer of the guards returned, speaking to Arach.

  “He was going to wake the poor girl up. Don’t you think she’s been through enough?” Arach asked.

  “She’s probably about to go through a lot worse,” the man answered. “Piper has plans for her. He needs her, but that’s the only reason she’s still here at all.”

  “What does he want?” Arach asked.

  “You know I can’t tell you that.” He almost sounded sorry.

  “Hey, Mac,” Arach got quiet. “Have you heard from him?”

  “Your brother? No, but I couldn’t even tell you if I had.”

  Peep held her breath as Mac walked away. His steps grew faint as she tuned in to the sound of Arach breathing. After a long time, he spoke.

  “It’s clear.”

  She glanced up just in time to see him bringing his hand back from where he had activated the button tucked away in his collar again.

  “Peep,” he corrected himself from earlier. “Sorry about that.”

  “Sure,” she rolled her eyes. “Who were your friends?”

  “Does it matter?” he asked.

  “The one sure seems to hate you,” she motioned with her hand to where the men had been standing.

  “Rowley? Yeah, he’s not my biggest fan. Mac’s okay, though.”

  “What exactly did you do to end up in here?” Peep asked, brushing her hair back.

  “Piper caught me. I wasn’t exactly holding up my end of the deal.”

  “What were you supposed to be doing?” Peep examined her nails like she didn’t really care.

  Arach laughed.

  “Not be a double agent, that’s what.”

  Peep’s head whipped up.

  “Speaking of,” Arach smiled sadly, “that brings us to our earlier conversation. We have a mutual friend. I know her as Ladybird.”

  Anne.

  Peep turned away, hoping her hair covered the color creeping into her cheeks. Anne had been one of her top operatives until she had disappeared. Peep assumed she had gone dark but hadn’t been able to track her down yet.

  “I was one of her contacts, Peep. I haven’t heard from her in months though.” Arach looked away. “Do you know where she is?”

  “Ladybird is dark,” Peep said, shrugging. She wasn’t about to let anyone know that she didn’t know where Anne was. The last thing she needed was to get her friend captured. It was bad enough that Fet was out searching for Peep on her own.

  “For the record, she was very helpful to me,” Arach rubbed his chin. “Sorry to see she went dark. I hope she has a plan.”

  Me too.

  “Let me see that,” Peep nodded toward Arach. He responded with a questioning look. “The button.”

  Arach subtly took a controlled breath, reaching for the device hidden in the back of his shirt neckline. He pulled the tiny rectangle out and moved toward Peep, passing it through the bars. She took it from him, brushing his hand as she pulled back.

  A single button rose up in the center of the small rectangle. Peep rolled her finger over it, noting the tiny indentation on one side. She gently popped it apart, looking at the intricate circuitry inside. It was a masterpiece. She could only imagine the system it connected to.

  “My brother made it,” Arach admitted.

  “I thought he worked for Piper.” Peep raised an eyebrow at him as her finger twitched.

  “He does,” Arach replied, “but he’s also protecting me.”

  Even if Fet had done something stupid and betrayed their work, Peep would always try to protect her, so she understood the situation.

  “How did you get caught?”

  “Piper found my brother, Spider, awhile back. He’s a hacker. Actually, he’s one of the best hackers. He freelanced for a while but started taking jobs with Piper pretty early on. Eventually, our circumstances changed and Spider had Piper bring me on.

  “Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m a pretty good hacker myself, but Piper had me running other missions for him. What Piper didn’t know was that I was also taking some side meetings and working with people like Ladybird. I kept my head down for a while, but Piper must have suspected something, or someone sold me out, because he had proof I had met with Ladybird. She works for you, so obviously it didn’t go well for me.

  “Spider designed this little contraption and snuck it in after Piper locked me up.”

  “Your brother’s name is Spider?” Peep asked incredulously.

  “That’s what you took away from that? Seriously?”

  Peep knew there had to have been a reason for Anne going dark. She assumed this was why. As long as Piper hadn’t caught her too, Peep wasn’t going to press her luck discussing it. If Piper had Anne, she would likely be down here in these cells with her.

  “So he caught you,” Peep mused, “but your brother is still allowed to work for him?”

  “He’s the best hacker out there, Peep, and certainly Piper’s best. Can you really imagine Piper doing his own work these days?”

  “You mean dirty work?” Peep rolled her eyes.

  “Spider’s not bad, Peep.” Arach shoulders inched up into a defensive position.

  “What exactly were you and Ladybird talking about?”

  “Nothing, actually. We had only just met.”

  “Met how?” Peep tried to be gentle with her interrogation. She failed.

  “We really don’t have time for this right now,” Arach abruptly changed the conversation. “You’ve got two choices here—ride this out and likely die, or try to get out and also likely die. Which angle do you want to play?”

  “Hmm, death or physical exertion and death? C
hoices, choices.” Peep tapped a finger against her chin as if she were contemplating her decision.

  Arach smirked.

  “I think I’ll take door number three,” Peep finally announced.

  “Oh? And what is door number three?”

  “I’m breaking out.”

  “You think I didn’t try that already?”

  “No,” Peep cast him a look over her shoulder as she moved toward the bars. “I think you’re sticking around here for whatever reason to help your misguided brother.”

  “You still don’t know whose side I’m on,” he reminded her thoughtfully.

  “I don’t really care.” Peep shrugged.

  The bars were cool against the skin on her wrists as she cautiously reached through, hoping she wouldn’t get zapped with an electrical pulse. When she was satisfied, she ran her hand the length of the bars, inspecting everything.

  Peep could reach the keyboard on the outside of her holding cell. Her fingers grazed over the plastic buttons. Below it was a second keypad.

  “Which one is mine?”

  Arach shrugged.

  “I honestly don’t know. I’m never at an angle where I can tell.”

  Peep huffed.

  “Fine, I’ll figure it out,” she muttered.

  Peep reached into her hair, pulling out what looked like a hairpin. She twirled it in her fingers as she bent down to retrieve the pieces she hid in the bottom of each shoe. She snapped them together, creating a device that would scan the keypad, read the codes, and unlock her door. Had Piper discovered any one of these pieces alone, they wouldn’t have amounted to anything. Together, they made her nearly unstoppable.

  Arach watched with curiosity as she pieced her techy puzzle together. Peep leaned out of the cell and stretched back toward the keypads. If she were standing outside the cells, hers would be on the left, so logically the top keypad should be hers.

  The leader of the Legends placed her toy, a mere science fair project from a few years back, on the keyboard and waited for it to scan. The device hummed beneath her fingers, clicking to indicate that it was working. Had she not placed it correctly, it would be still until she adjusted it.

  The device let out the slightest beep to indicate it was ready. It was so soft that she had to strain to hear it. Peep had designed it to keep the user safe, assuming they were doing something they shouldn’t be doing, like breaking in and out of locations.

  She pulled the device away, snaking her arm inside to avoid being caught in the moving bars. A loud click sounded, followed by a mechanical swish, but her door remained still.

  Peep’s eyes darted back and forth.

  “No,” she breathed. “No, no, no.”

  Movement to her left caught her eye. Arach’s door.

  She whipped around to face him, his face white.

  He looked at her, head bobbing back and forth between Peep and his open door.

  “What did you do?” he demanded.

  “It should have been mine,” Peep muttered.

  She threw herself against the bars, arm darting out to the lower keyboard. The device hummed again, clicking silently in her fingers as it worked. The beep sounded, prompting her to pull back.

  The whirring noise started again as Peep waited to make her escape. Instead of her door clicking open, an alarm sounded. Her eyes grew wide as terror washed over her.

  “No!” She accidentally shouted out loud.

  It had been a trap; the second panel was a decoy. The top controlled them both and her device had found Arach’s open code first.

  Arach was on his feet, rushing to his door. He darted outside and angled himself back to face Peep.

  “Give it,” he demanded, thrusting his hand through the bars. “Hurry up.”

  Confused, Peep handed her device to him. She would lose it one way or the other once Piper’s men arrived.

  “We have to get you out of here,” he slammed the tiny device against the top keypad. “You just blew any chance you had at a quiet escape.”

  He attacked the bottom keyboard with his free hand, typing in numbers as the device worked its magic. Peep didn’t think it would work, but at this point, it didn’t matter.

  “Come on,” he mumbled.

  Peep attached herself to the bars, trying to see what Arach was doing.

  “Hold this,” he finally gave up. Moving a few feet back, he gathered himself before crashing into the bars.

  He bounced back, preparing for another run. This time he kicked out, hitting the bars at the correct angle. The bars bent in, creating a wide gap.

  “Once more,” Peep directed, hoping she didn’t sound like she was begging for her freedom.

  Arach directed enough force at the bent bars to create a gap wide enough for Peep to wriggle out . He steadied her as her foot caught.

  “We need to run,” he said, still holding her wrist.

  Arach dragged Peep behind him, rushing down the hall as Peep stumbled with every step. He kept her upright.

  “Where are we going?” she gasped.

  “I don’t know,” Arach answered, not even breathing heavily from the run, “Out.”

  Peep didn’t have time to figure out if he was playing her. All she knew was that Arach knew the compound. He knew how to get her out, and right now, he was her best chance.

  She hurried to try to keep up, but Arach didn’t slow. He darted around corners, took silent hallways, and kept them to the shadows. Peep allowed him to drag her, focusing her attention on finding a screen she could use to hack Piper’s system. If she could find a device, she could find a way to protect herself.

  Peep slammed into Arach’s back as he came to an abrupt stop. It was jarring; as if she were running into an actual wall. He dropped his hold on her wrist, which she assumed would bruise later, and wrapped his arm around her, holding Peep against his back.

  He slowly stepped backward, moving Peep back.

  “Run,” he instructed, turning quickly enough to throw Peep off balance again.

  He collided with her, nearly knocking her over as he maneuvered her into the direction he needed her to move in. Once again, they ran, ducking through side halls and up a flight of stairs, this time with men following them.

  “You okay?” Arach asked, still not breathing heavily from the run. Peep gasped for air.

  “Yeah,” she managed to huff between coveted breaths.

  “We’re about to get caught, Peep. Just do what they say. I’ll try to help you.” Arach said, slowing slightly.

  “Stop,” the red-headed guard commanded, weapon raised at them.

  Arach stopped them, nearly toppling Peep. She had never seen anyone so agile. No wonder his brother was the better hacker—he must have spent all his time training to be a human shield.

  “You really thought you could escape?” the man taunted, walking closer.

  “She wanted out.” Arach shrugged, still holding her wrist.

  Peep panted, nearly doubling over from the run. A metallic taste flooded her mouth as if she had bit down on a metal hanger. It tasted harsh and bitter, but she couldn’t summon any spit to her mouth, let alone enough to wash the taste away. She cringed as her body shook for more air.

  Arach transferred her wrist to his other hand, placing the one between them on her back to steady her as she leaned forward.

  “Controlled,” he whispered, possibly giving her advice on how to regain the ability to breathe.

  “You keep making stupid mistakes,” the guard from earlier said.

  “You keep saying that, Rowley.”

  The man standing next to him looking uncomfortable was likely the second guard, Mac. Peep eyed him, taking note of his posture as she looked up, still hunched over, attempting to catch her breath. He seemed familiar but she didn’t think they had ever met before. He might be her ticket to freedom later if she could catch him without his partner.

  “Let the lady go,” the guard with the red hair and giant muscles said. He looked like he could easily matc
h Arach’s strength, only he had a weapon.

  Arach slowly removed his hands from her, leaving her skin cold. She collected herself and straightened. She would put up a fight.

  “Do what they say,” Arach reminded her.

  The men warily approached them as Arach raised his hands in surrender. Rowley wrenched Arach’s arms behind his back as the other man held his weapon to him. Arach complied, but Rowley still took the opportunity to kick the back of Arach’s knees, forcing him to the ground with a grunt.

  “Sorry,” Mac said, giving Peep a look that begged her not to try to hit him. He added in a whisper, “Just cooperate.”

  Arach’s eyes latched onto her, willing her to go quietly.

  Peep relented, allowing the man to bind her hands once again. Her breathing returned to normal as they were escorted back to the main room where she had woken up. She was surprised they hadn’t been sent back to the cells, though given the damage they had caused, she probably shouldn’t have been.

  “I JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND why the two of you insist on making it so difficult on yourselves,” Piper mused.

  Arach sat in silence, leaning back against the chair. He slouched to accommodate his arms still bound behind his back. Peep perched gracefully on her chair, crossing her legs defiantly. Her fingers stretched down toward her knees as far as they would go. She tapped them against her poofy royal purple petticoat, messing up the rhythm intentionally, making Piper cringe each time he noticed. She reveled in annoying him.

  After an hour of sitting with Arach in silence, Piper had finally made an entrance, glaring at them. Peep assumed they were being monitored before his appearance and Arach refused to talk the three times she had tried to whisper to get his attention. Each aggravated sigh earned her a snort that confirmed he was aware of what she wanted and wasn’t about to give in.

  Peep tapped her fingers from thumb to ring finger, pausing before lifting her ring finger and tapping it again. She repeated the process, ignoring her little finger. Piper sneered, looking away to Arach as Peep laughed to herself. Each time Piper turned to her, she repeated a similar pattern of imperfection.