The Girl Who Dared to Stand

by Bella Forrest

  “What about now, with the virus?” I prompted.

  If the net loses power with me inside, a transfer into the terminal would result in an automatic system reset, so that my… consciousness could be fully recovered and scanned for any malfunctions. If that happens, then the virus will finally win, and I will be, effectively, dead.

  I held my breath and let Leo’s words fade into silence while I thought, trying to decide whether I should reconsider his company. A part of me felt I should, knowing that his life was literally on the line if I got captured or killed. If no one recovered his net or got him back into the terminal before the power went out, we’d lose him, and any chance of even entertaining a plan to use him to replace 2.0.

  But I’d made an agreement with him, one that was mutually beneficial, and I couldn’t back out of it now. It’d betray his trust in me, and I didn’t want that to happen.

  “Listen,” I said, wanting to forestall any argument before I had a chance to have my say. “I’m a little miffed that this didn’t occur to me before, but it doesn’t matter. Leo asked me for my help, and I told him I would give it. He clearly knows the risks involved, and… it’s not fair that we have the use of working bodies while he doesn’t. If he did, we’d have no say in stopping him, and I don’t think we should let the fact that he’s about the size of my pinky nail right now stand in the way of his right to choose. He knows the risks, and now so do we. He still wants to come, so I want to help him.”

  They absorbed that with a nod, and I exhaled. I probably should’ve let Leo have his say, instead of speaking up, but we’d gotten off track, and we still needed to make sure we were ready to rescue Maddox.

  “Quess, what time is it?” I asked him, changing the subject. “And where are we on the weapon and the plan?”

  He blinked, and then turned around and began rummaging through some odds and ends on the workbench, eventually pulling out a round clock that I suspected he’d designed.

  “Ten minutes until noon,” he said. “And good. The weapon is ready, and I tested it with Grey not too long ago. It’ll definitely fracture a bone, especially with the ammunition we’re using.”

  “Which is?” I asked. This had been one of the more complicated aspects of the plan we had brewed: finding a common object in the Tower that also happened to occasionally cause injuries. The goal was to injure her without making it look like it had been purposefully done to force them to the Medica. If the item that injured her were too out of place, then someone would become suspicious. I hadn’t been able to brainstorm it with them, so I was very interested in what they had come up with.

  Grey smiled broadly and pulled a small metallic item out of his pocket, cupping it in his palm and holding it out to me. As I leaned closer to inspect it, I grinned. It was a lash end, detached from the cable.

  Which was genius, now that I thought about it. Lash ends did break off from lashes from time to time—not often enough to be concerned, but just frequently enough for it not to be too surprising.

  “You’re brilliant,” I told him with a grin, and he nodded.

  “I know,” Grey replied with a proud smirk, tossing the bead over to Quess, who began speaking, filling out the rest of the plan.

  “Zoe and Eric are going to set up on the Bridge of Heroes and launch this at Maddox—preferably at an arm or a leg. It will hit with enough impact to cause a fracture, so be nice about where you hit her, and avoid the stomach. We don’t want any internal bleeding.”

  Zoe looked at the design of the weapon, her eyes already tracing it. “Should be easy enough,” she said with a surprising amount of confidence.

  “Good,” Grey said. “Once you net that she’s been hit, the three of us—”

  Four of us, Leo interrupted.

  Grey paused, a sardonic look on his face. “The four of us will sneak up into the Medica,” he continued, indicating Quess and myself. “Since we need to be in the same room for this to work, I think we should get in using the discretion law, as it will avoid any messy or complicated lie to explain why we need to remain together. Once in, we ask Jasper, or Leo, to bust us out and guide us to Maddox. From there, we eliminate any guards and get her out as soon as possible, using the elevator to take us to the top, and then the plunge to get us back home.”

  I ran a hand over my hair, and then nodded. “It’s a good plan,” I said. “But things can and will go wrong, so everyone please be on guard. We also need to avoid killing any Knights—if a Knight is killed, every Knight in the area is alerted.” I let everyone absorb that piece of information, and then turned to Quess. “How long until the meet?”

  He swiveled around and peered at a clock on his workbench. “Two hours,” he replied. “We need to start getting ready.”

  That meant there was one more thing to do, and it was one I wasn’t looking forward to. “Well, while the rest of you do that, I will be with Tian, explaining to her why she can’t come.”

  “You shouldn’t have to do that alone,” Quess replied.

  “We should do it together,” Zoe said. “She needs to know this was from all of us.”

  With a heavy and forlorn heart, I sighed wearily, and then moved over to Tian, intent on waking her up. We didn’t have a lot of time, and there was no sense in dragging it out. I just hoped she took it well, and that we weren’t forced to lock her in a room.

  27

  My arms and shoulders burned, a phantom sensation caused by the thought of hundreds of eyes on me, drilling holes between my shoulders in a cumulative effort to peer through my disguise and find the very heart of me. I managed to ignore it as the three of us walked up toward the Medica. It was busy, but why wouldn’t it be at one thirty in the afternoon? Surely it didn’t have anything to do with us, or what we were doing.

  It felt surreal being there again. Surreal and vaguely horrifying. We were entering yet another place that would be on high alert, especially for us. It had only been a day since our excursion to the Core to get the nets, and now was when our names and faces would be freshest on everyone’s lips and minds. Their eyes would undoubtedly be drawn to strangers with black hair and hidden eyes, or blond locks with warm brown eyes, searching for any sign or hint of recognition.

  Which was why we were all wearing disguises yet again—even Quess—and my hair color had once again been changed to a dull blond. It looked mousier and limper than my natural color made my hair appear. Grey was sporting black hair, which, I had to say, I didn’t hate, while Quess had a rich auburn color.

  The lenses were back in my eyes and itching away, but wearing them was a small price to pay compared to the risk of coming back here and getting recognized.

  Scipio help me, I hoped we weren’t recognized.

  I scanned the crowd of people as I moved through them, immediately spotting and noting the crimson colors of the Knights among the throngs of people moving in, out, and around the main reception area. There didn’t seem to be an inordinate number of Knights in the crowd, and none of them seemed like they were paying any attention to us—but I wasn’t convinced. There could be more hidden inside the Medica’s internal security offices, waiting for any breath of trouble. We needed to be cautious.

  We arrived in the reception area through the large arch and entered the wide, curved seating area. Several desks with Medics behind them sat along the wall, with two large double doors standing opposite us, leading deeper into the Medica.

  I never imagined it would be anything like this, Leo said through the net, and I looked around at the bright white, pristine walls.

  “What did you think it would be like?” I asked, and when neither of my two male counterparts looked surprised, I realized Leo was still transmitting to them as well.

  Not so… bright.

  Grey was walking beside me, and I heard him give a snort. I smiled as well; we both felt the same way. We had even shared a laugh over it once. The brightness had always bothered me, mostly because it was a waste of resources. The Medica claimed it was a byproduct
of a beam meant to eliminate airborne bacteria, but Cogs grumbled under their breath that if they were given five minutes alone with their design, they could reduce it. The Medics didn’t care—they liked their walls, which were functional as well.

  We got in a very short line and stood awkwardly together in silence, waiting for one of the clerks to be ready for us. A minute later, we were all standing around a white desk, staring down at a young man with spectacles and a light brown beard.

  He looked up at us, one eyebrow arched. “You’re all here together?” he asked dubiously.

  I nodded, not quite meeting his gaze. “It’s private,” I said quietly, my lie carefully chosen in advance. “I’d prefer not to discuss it with anyone but the doctor.”

  “I see.” The young man turned to his screen, and I immediately felt a violent buzz as the scanner read my credentials in preparation of putting us through. I was glad—using the discretion law had been a gambit, especially with a nosier clerk, but he seemed uninterested in whatever story would send the three of us to a Medic together.

  Dear God, that is rough, Leo declared. I kept my teeth clamped tightly together while the scan continued to run, making the entire net feel like a hive of angry bees was trying to escape. I hadn’t forgotten the feeling, but Leo’s gentle transmissions had been so nice that moving back to the old way felt distinctly uncomfortable.

  The scan ended, and I waited, my heart thudding heavily against my breastbone. The last time I had been here, I had snuck in under similar circumstances, using a false ID—that time my mother’s. This time, however, I was sporting a new and quite illegal one, with an AI attached to it, and I was terrified that they would catch me in two seconds flat.

  “Follow the green indicator,” the clerk said, his hand making a dismissive gesture.

  I managed to contain my relief so that it didn’t show. I looked down at the floor to see the line of green dots leading toward the massive doorway, and began following them.

  “I’m glad that worked,” Grey murmured as he and Quess kept pace with me. “Did you have a backup plan?”

  I shook my head. “Planning doesn’t seem to be my particular forte, if you’ll recall,” I replied dryly, and we both shared a grin.

  “Fine. Did you have a backup concept?”

  I laughed, remembering the last time he and I had been on our way to the Medica.

  “It doesn’t matter,” I said, the moment of humor quickly fading behind the danger we were heading into. “We’ll be out of the room in no time, with Jasper’s help.”

  “Yeah, about that. Do you really think he’ll really help us? I mean, at this point, you’ve asked a lot from him. What if this time he calls the Knights?” Quess asked his questions softly, but I immediately looked around anyway, hoping no one was close enough to listen in.

  Patients and Medics were walking around the floors, all of them following their own indicators. No one was close by, but that didn’t mean they were deaf. I turned back to Quess and gave a shake of my head before continuing forward. Quess’s questions were reasonable, especially since he had never met Jasper.

  We walked in silence, following the wide hall past several side halls leading to patient rooms. As we came toward what would be the center of the Medica, the indicator led us to a short line of people waiting for white elevators that clung to a massive central support beam. We climbed inside the first available one, endured a second scan performed the moment we were in, and then shot up seventeen floors. The indicators led us through the halls, and eventually into a room.

  I stepped inside, instantly relieved to be off the main floor, and then froze when a woman’s voice filled the space.

  “Welcome to the Medica’s general procedure and consultation floor. Stand by for scans.”

  My net buzzed, and my false identity floated up onto the wall screen opposite us, followed by Grey’s and Quess’s. Quess had taken his own picture, which was apparent in the line of his shoulders at the bottom of the image. He was also smiling, which wasn’t exactly against the rules, but his smile was just like him—too much, especially right then. Luckily, the computer wouldn’t pick it up, but a human looking at it would definitely take a closer look. Especially with the seven on his indicator. The two paired together were going to scream “fake ID” to anyone looking close enough.

  Grey’s wasn’t much better, with his lazy, cocky grin. He’d pushed a swath of his altered hair to one side, and the ends were getting long enough to cover his eyebrow. His was… tamer than Quess’s, at the very least.

  “Patient identities confirmed,” the automated voice continued. There was a click behind us, and I was mid turn when she announced, “Room has been secured. None may leave or enter until you have been seen by a member of the Medica. Enjoy your time in the Medica, and may you feel better soon.”

  Grey and I exchanged worried looks. We had anticipated that the Medica had stepped up security, but we hadn’t anticipated being locked in. Which wouldn’t be a problem, as long as Jasper was willing to help us. I moved farther into the small room.

  “Jasper?” I called out. “Are you there?”

  There was a long, expectant pause as we all waited for him to reply. I kept waiting for probably longer than I should have, half hoping that if I gave him just one more moment, he would be there.

  “Jasper,” I said again, when it became clear he wasn’t going to answer. My heart had already begun to sink when the first voice we heard was female, but now that he wasn’t responding, I was growing more and more concerned that something had happened to him. If it had, then there was a very good chance it was because he had helped us. I knew that I shouldn’t feel responsible—after all, he had told us that he could take care of himself—but that had been before he had falsely reported our location to Devon’s backup to try to buy us time to escape. He didn’t have to do that, but he did, and for that alone, I felt an obligation to make sure that he was all right. And if he wasn’t, I wanted to know what had happened to him. “Jasper!”

  “Liana, I think they must’ve found out what he did to help us,” Grey said quietly.

  I looked over at him, and then back at the walls. They hadn’t flickered or twitched once since I’d started calling his name. In my heart, I knew Grey was right, and I felt my spirits sink.

  We had been counting on Jasper to get us out of there. And while, yes, I had justified bringing Leo as a backup in case something had happened to Jasper, I hadn’t actually believed we would get here to find it was true. I was scared that they had deleted him, not only because he had helped us, or because he had the formula for Paragon—but because if Leo was right and Jasper was what I had begun to believe he was, then that meant there wouldn’t be a need to discuss a plan to replace 2.0 with Leo. It would no longer be an option.

  I banished the dark thoughts, reminding myself that we knew nothing for sure. And we wouldn’t find any answers sitting on our backsides thinking. Especially considering that at any moment, my doctor would be showing up wondering what was wrong with her patient. Imagine her surprise to find me perfectly healthy.

  “Leo, do you think you could—”

  Go into the system to help you and your friends? I can try—but I need a transfer pad to get uploaded.

  “I can help with that,” Quess said. I watched as he moved over to a section of the wall that was flat and white. He pushed something down, causing it to spring out from the wall, and as he stepped aside, I saw a little data pad. Bringing him along had been a wise decision. Being Medic-bred meant that he knew a lot more about the inner workings of the Medica than we did.

  “I’m going to disconnect you,” I told Leo.

  Go ahead. I’ll be all right.

  My fingers felt around my neck for the little white box, but a moment later they were brushed aside and replaced by Grey’s.

  “Let me,” he said. I felt his fingers press on the back of my neck and then retreat. I let him, enjoying the brief moment of contact as he helped pull the net off. I
shivered, my neck tingling as he drew away, and then held up my hand.

  Grey placed the net into my palm, and I moved over to Quess to drop it onto the dark pad.

  The edges of it lit up, and an image appeared on the wall, rapidly flipping through screen after screen of numbers and commands, too fast for my eyes to fully track. It went dark almost a second after it had clicked on, and the next thing I knew, the wall behind me began to glow more brightly, and then was replaced by Leo’s features, now enlarged to encompass the entire room.

  His eyes were like twin blue flames as his two-dimensional head appeared to swivel back and forth across the flat surface, seemingly peering at something we couldn’t make out.

  “There’s so much space in here,” he said, his voice almost sounding relaxed and happy. “I can totally stretch out—although the lack of a holographic display is mildly annoying.”

  “This isn’t exactly a time to get comfortable,” I said. “Can you figure out a way to stall the Medics?”

  “Good question. Let me check.”

  He stared off to one side, his eyes squinted slightly, and took on an expression of deep concentration. “Wow, there’s a lot of different systems here,” he said. “I’m still trying to establish a connection with… Oh wait, I just unlocked the patient directory. What’s your net name and ID?”

  “Clara Euan,” I informed him. “F11-344.”

  I waited, nervously shifting my weight, until he finally relaxed his facial features.

  “Okay, I’ve got good news and bad news,” he said. “The good news is that I am very compatible with the coding. It’s all based on mine. It’ll only be a matter of time before I’m fully in, at which point I can locate Jasper.”

  “I told you he could do it,” Quess exclaimed, his fists up in victory. I felt a flash of annoyance at his premature jubilation, because Leo had clearly said that not all of the news was good.