The Girl Who Dared to Stand

by Bella Forrest

  Quess leaned back, considering my words. “I, uh… I didn’t think about it like that. You have a point, I guess. I mean, I wouldn’t even know—” He paused as a beeping sound began chirping from the wall terminal. “Well, there’s Mercury.”

  I turned toward the sound, squaring my shoulders. It was my first act as a “leader,” so… I could only hope I didn’t screw up too badly.

  8

  We both stood, but I held back as Quess moved over to the terminal. I knew from Mercury himself and from Cali’s comments that Mercury didn’t like surprises, so this wasn’t going to be a good call.

  “Cali, are you safe?”

  The digital alteration didn’t hide the concern in his voice, and I sighed as Quess looked back at me, his eyes suddenly round and helpless.

  “Cali’s dead,” I said, choking the words out. “So is Roark.”

  “You,” Mercury growled through the speakers. “You did this. You went to the Medica to find your friend. How did you know?”

  “About her? That’s my secret,” I said, unwilling to give up my brother’s role in tipping me off. Alex was the ace up my sleeve, and I was already sure he was worried about me. Our last conversation had been held while I was doing my best to escape from Devon—while leading him away from my friends. He didn’t need Mercury, whoever he was, on his case as well. “Everyone else is safe: Maddox, Tian, Quess, myself, Grey, and Zoe… and Eric.”

  “Eric? MacGillus? He’s listed as a potential hostage—or a conspirator. As is your friend Zoe Elphesian. Obviously everyone knows you are alive, and now your picture has been circulated to every department head. Sensor sweeps are being conducted all over the Tower. For you and Grey Farmless. I trust you’re taking the necessary precautions?”

  “Yes,” I said, just as Quess finally found his voice.

  “I hooked her up to a neural scrambler.”

  “She can’t use those forever,” Mercury replied. “We’re going to have to see about getting her a replacement net.”

  “You are?” I said. “A second ago, you seemed pretty angry with me.”

  “Yes, well… Cali was a good friend of mine. As was Roark. And they both saw something in you, so…” He trailed off, and while the sentiment was nice, I still wasn’t certain that I could trust him. Not now that I was a leader and had several other people depending on me to guide them. But I had to be careful—I didn’t want to lose a potential friend here either. “How is everyone holding up? You’re not fighting with each other, are you?”

  “No injuries, if that’s what you’re asking, but… Cali’s death hit us all pretty hard,” Quess said. “Roark’s too,” he added when I gave him a sharp look. “We’ve appointed Liana as a leader.”

  “There are worse choices, I suppose,” Mercury replied. “She did score very well in leadership roles, although her impulsiveness caused her instructors some concern when—”

  “The details of my personnel file are not up for discussion,” I stated flatly. “And definitely not right now. We don’t exactly have a lot of time, and this scrambler is beginning to get really painful.” It was true—the underside of my skull felt like throbbing hot magma was winding through my neocortex, causing it to ache fiercely. I’d been ignoring it, but that was getting harder. I checked my indicator, and saw that an hour had passed since we had left. Time was definitely running short.

  “Mercury, everyone is fine,” I said, “but we’re trapped under the greenery until we get new nets. Can you get us any?”

  “I’m already working on it; I figured you’d need some. I’m planning to send an emissary down sometime in the next few days with information and hopefully some new nets for you.”

  “Not going to come yourself?” I asked, already knowing his answer.

  “Decidedly not.” Mercury bristled. “I’ve taken great pains to secure my identity, and I’m going to keep it that way for as long as possible. It’s for my safety and yours.”

  “Yeah, but we only have your word to go on,” I said, sensing my moment to strike. “I mean, no offense, Mercury, but how do we know we can trust you? For all I know, you could just sell us out to Devon at any time. You certainly don’t need the hassle. Why put yourself at risk for us?”

  Quess gave me a sharp look of warning, which roughly read, Don’t upset our only ally, and I nodded. I didn’t want to anger him either—but I wanted to know what he gained from all this.

  Mercury was quiet for a long moment. “I can see why they made you the leader. That took some guts, considering I’m the only friend you’ve got.”

  “Can you really blame me for asking?”

  “I suppose not, but I don’t owe you any sort of explanation. I’m helping you. You can either accept it or refuse it, end of discussion.”

  “That’s not good enough.” My heart pounded in my chest, and I was worried I might be pressing too hard, but if I could understand why he was helping us, then it would go a long way toward helping me to trust him. “You say we have to trust you, but we really don’t have any guarantees that you aren’t working against us.”

  “No, you don’t. But let me answer you like this: when my emissary comes to you, I’d very much like it if you sent some Paragon back. Rank 10, if you want me to be of any use to you in the future.”

  I paused, absorbing that information. I had assumed that Mercury didn’t need Paragon, that he was like Eric and was naturally happy enough to fool the net, but it seemed I was wrong. Mercury did need Paragon, which we had. That put us on equal footing. For now.

  “I didn’t think you were using it,” I said, voicing my confusion out loud. “I thought you helped Roark find the flaw to exploit.”

  “I did do that, but the two are not mutually exclusive. I helped him so he would help me. May I ask about the Paragon? How much is left? Did the formula survive?”

  “The formula was lost with Roark,” I said hesitantly. Well, not entirely lost—there was still the chance we could get a sample from Jasper. But I wasn’t about to bring that up. “We have all of his stock though.”

  “Well, that stash you’re sitting on is all that remains. And I know that Roark didn’t have enough to last twenty-nine people a month. We’re going to have to figure out a way to get it replicated, and fast.”

  I looked at Quess, who was frowning. “We’re still on the net thing, Mercury,” I said. “We haven’t even discussed what we’re going to do about the Paragon and the—”

  “Don’t you want to make it?” Mercury asked, sounding surprised. “Isn’t that the next part of your plan?”

  “Plan?” I looked at Quess. “We haven’t really talked about that yet.” I felt stupid for admitting that, but we hadn’t. So much had happened in the twenty-four hours since Sanctum fell. We didn’t really have a goal past survival, and I wasn’t even sure how everyone felt about the original plan to leave the Tower, especially now that we were aware of the first Scipio. I was sure the others had wondered at the possibility of using him to replace the one in the Core, just as I had, in spite of his insistence that he wasn’t able to.

  So those were our choices—ones I would have to make clear to the group. Try to leave, or stay to fix Scipio. Both plans would require new nets; both would require more Paragon.

  “You don’t have a plan?” Mercury asked, the synthesizer managing to capture the appalled tone in his voice.

  “We honestly haven’t had the time to discuss it,” I said, still deep in thought. “But no matter what we decide, we know that Paragon will play a part. I’ll talk to the others and see if we can start making it long term. Quess has medical experience and Grey worked with Roark, so maybe we can come up with a way of recovering the formula. If worse comes to worst, we’ll sneak into the Medica and see if we can’t run an analysis on one of the pills. But I’m not going to turn my back on the people Roark recruited, no matter what we decide, so if you know who they are, I’ll need a list. Grey might have one, but I can’t be sure and he’s not here, so…”

  �
��I’ll send you a list with the names, locations, and details of the people Roark and I recruited,” he replied. “But, Liana, I want to know what you and everyone have to decide about? Even with Paragon to hide you, Roark said the body builds up a defense after enough time. So what other options have you discovered?”

  I blinked, realizing I had almost screwed up. Mercury didn’t know about the other Scipio, or a chance at restoring some semblance of sanity to the Tower itself. In his mind, there was only one option for survival, and that was to leave.

  My mind fumbled fast, and found what I hoped would be a believable answer. “Roark. None of us down here ever knew the details of Roark’s plan. In fact, Cali wanted to fight the system, if you’ll recall. Now that there’s a bunch of us, we have to decide whose path to follow, and we just haven’t had time to think about any of that. But thank you for reminding me about the Paragon—it had slipped my mind.”

  “Glad to be of service. And for the record, I do want to leave, so put my vote there.”

  I stared at the terminal. “If you want a vote, you should show up.”

  There was a long pause, in which Quess gave me another hard look, reminding me not to push too hard.

  “On that note,” Mercury said, clearly and pointedly changing the subject and not addressing my comment. “While Grey’s and your faces might be the most famous inside the Tower currently, something… ah… interesting has been brought to my attention. Liana, there’s some… rather important people who want to meet you.”

  “A meeting?” I stammered, meeting Quess’s eyes. “With me? Why me?”

  It was hard keeping a lid on the sudden anxiety his words had caused. Mysterious people who wanted to speak with me? Why? Who were they, and what did they want? And most importantly, what did they want with me specifically? I was a criminal. Which made this feel suspicious—like a noose being tightened around my throat.

  “Because of your unique status,” he replied cryptically, and I barely refrained from snapping at him.

  “Unique status as what?” I grated out. “Who are these people, and what do they want?”

  “I honestly don’t know,” he replied after a pause. “I’m trying to figure it out myself, but they are running some security protocols that I haven’t even seen before.”

  “Security protocols?” I repeated, looking at Quess.

  “Coding,” Quess said. “I’m guessing in this case it was to hide their net ID information and whatnot.”

  “Very good, Quessian. And correct. I tried to run a hack, but they talked for only long enough to give me the message. They said they’d contact me again in a day or two.”

  “That’s really suspicious, Mercury,” I informed him.

  “I am aware. But…” He hesitated, and Quess and I leaned forward together in anticipation. “Look, they insisted that they wanted to talk. They reached out to me using a secure connection that I’m fairly convinced can never be traced.”

  “That means they’re IT, Mercury,” Quess said. “And you and I are probably the only ones anyone could possibly be referring to if they said, ‘Hey, come on, IT is not that bad.’ Cause it is that bad, and people like you and I are rare.”

  Quess’s rant was slightly humorous, but nobody laughed. The situation was too serious for that. We were both afraid of what this mysterious group could mean. My mind had already started to wonder who it could be; first it settled on Devon—maybe this was him trying to lure me out of hiding. But that didn’t seem like his style, so I quickly dismissed it. And it could be a Knight who was raised in IT, but that seemed unlikely.

  “Quess, what do you take me for? The script wasn’t like anything we’ve ever created in IT. It’s different. No one in IT could’ve written it—it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Do you really think I’m an idiot?”

  The last words rose in volume, and I winced; apparently Mercury didn’t like it when we questioned him or his methods. Which was unfair. We hadn’t seen anything he was talking about; we only had his word to go on. We had every right to ask questions, seeing as it affected us directly.

  “No, but we are the people who are going to be putting ourselves in danger for it,” I said gently. “So it’s important we understand exactly what we’re getting.”

  Mercury sighed, the synthesizer making a melodic sequence of sounds. “You’re right, and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”

  “Tell us why you think I should meet with these people,” I said flatly.

  Mercury cleared his throat. “Well, to be perfectly honest, I’m not entirely convinced you should, but I wanted to pass the message on. All they said was that they could help, and you’d have to meet with them if you wanted to know more. I’m convinced that they aren’t part of IT or the Knights… I actually think they might be black market dealers, but who knows?”

  “And you think she should meet with them?” Quess asked.

  “I do—mainly because they seem well connected, and you could use an ally down there. For all I know they’re another undoc group that has been around for a while, and they want to offer you harbor in exchange for Liana’s fighting skills—not a lot of people know how to fight. Whatever it is that they want to meet for, I think it’s safe to say that it’s not exactly legal, which in its own, weird way, makes for a potential ally.”

  Mercury made a good point, and when he put it like that, I didn’t see the harm in just meeting and talking with them. I was curious to see what they wanted, and definitely interested in meeting another fringe group from the Tower.

  But this wasn’t a decision I could make unilaterally.

  “We’ll have to talk about it—I need to consult the others,” I said.

  “Understandable, but we don’t have too long. I’ll tell them you’re interested in a meeting, and we’ll see where and when they recommend. We can take it from there. Remember, if anything smells fishy, then you don’t have to show up.”

  I smiled. “I already considered that.” I paused, letting the subject fall flat, and then changed the topic. The revelation of this group that wanted to meet with us was interesting, but there was still something else we needed, and we were on a timetable. I’d bring it up to the group and let them decide. “Listen, we’re also going to need—”

  I broke off as a stabbing pain in my skull intensified, becoming almost blinding. The pain grew hotter and tighter, making it difficult to think past its sharp ache. I reached up with one hand and began massaging my temple, trying to relieve the stress, and Quess seemed to notice what was going on.

  “Mercury, we gotta go. Liana’s neural scrambler is burning way too hot. She’s already getting a headache.”

  “Is there anything else you need?”

  “Ration cards,” I managed. “We didn’t pack a lot of food.”

  “Okay. Quess, I assume you’re at the secondary location you and Cali scoped out?”

  “Yes,” Quess answered for me.

  “Have Maddox go out, and I’ll leave her a few ration cards in the secret compartment in Water Treatment, level 15. Will Maddox remember the spot?”

  “If she doesn’t, I do, and I’ll go with her.”

  “Good. That should get you through a couple days if you’re smart and don’t shop at the same market. Make sure you get stuff that lasts, and not just junk food.”

  “Yes, Dad,” Quess said, sarcasm dripping from each word, and I gave him a look. Their exchange was so easy and natural, it was clear they had spoken on more than one occasion. I hadn’t thought they had, but now I wasn’t so sure. I made a mental note to ask Quess about it—and to get him to tell me all he knew about Mercury.

  “Take care of yourselves, and no unnecessary risks. I’ll send my emissary in a day or two.”

  “How will we know this person is from you?” I asked.

  “They’ll have a password. How about…” He trailed off, and I realized he had blanked.

  I let my mind spin out for a moment, past the pain, and it immediately flashed t
o Tian. “Hummingbird,” I said with a soft smile.

  “Done. Unless there was anything else?”

  “Nope. Signing off now. Thank you, Mercury.” My reply was automatic—half due to pain, and half due to making sure we didn’t say anything more.

  Then I hit the kill button, ending the transmission.

  9

  I squinted through one eye as Quess helped pull me through the hatch that led to our new home, the buzzing in my skull now reaching violent levels of agony. He set me down, and I kept my eyes closed, trying to fight the feeling.

  “Tian painted in here,” Quess said, and a moment later, I felt his fingers on the back of my neck. He pulled, and the adhesive bond came free. It was as if he had flipped a switch: the pain suddenly stopped. I immediately sagged back, the tension bleeding from me, and sighed in relief.

  “Those things suck,” I said tiredly.

  “They are not pleasant,” he replied. “But this one seemed a little rougher than usual. I’ll have to examine it to make sure it isn’t running hot.”

  I cracked open an eye and looked at him. “Is that a thing?”

  He nodded solemnly as he dropped the scrambler into his pocket. “Unfortunately, yes. But don’t worry, huh? We got back okay.”

  I ran a hand over my face, still trying to grapple with what we had just learned, and then nodded. “Sure. Now we just need to figure out how to replicate Paragon, and decide if we’re going to stay and fight or run away.”

  “Yeah, about that—why didn’t you tell Mercury?”

  I frowned. “We went over this, Quess. Telling anyone about Scipio would be—”

  “No, why didn’t you tell him about Scipio after you realized he needs us as much as we need him?”

  Quess’s question hung in the air as I considered it. It was a fair point, I supposed. “Because I still don’t know that I can trust him, even knowing that.”