Rise

by K. T. Hanna

  Sandstone buildings cast different shadows in the evening. Even so, the smooth surface lent an oddly serene sensation to an otherwise nerve racking experience. I made my way along the street with its endless construction. Steel scaffolding obscured the usually attractive area, hiding the potential within.

  Entering the terminal, the sheer majesty tried to overwhelm me as usual. Ceilings so high it made me feel short. Sunset had begun, casting a different mood through the building. Reflections cascaded through the windows as I walked, leaving an orange hue behind it. Lights dangled down from the ceiling like thinly attached stalagtites making me wonder if any of them had ever fallen and smashed on the marble floors below.

  What if one fell, could I outrun it? Electricity coarsed through my body with an eagerness that threatened to overwhelm me for a moment. Like it was asking me if we could, just once, run without giving appearance a second thought.

  No pressure, though.

  And no paying attention to the whisperings in the back of my head that told me to go on: try it.

  I had to calm myself, so I squeezed the balls in my pockets and hoped for the best. Acting as normal as I could, I bought a ticket from one of the shiny machines. So much was mechanized these days, and I had to willfully hold back the power that wanted to short out the machine. Maybe I wanted to short it out, but I’d blame my ability for now. I was so proud of the fact that I didn’t short-circuit the ticket machine that I almost forgot my existential dread about riding in the train.

  Ticket in hand, I stood at the top of the stairs wondering what would really happen if I didn’t go. But if I didn’t force myself to go down those stairs, I’d have to take the escalator, which ran on electricity. Without even trying, I knew doing that right now was a bad idea.

  Steadying myself, I took the first step. Nothing exploded. Everything as normal, I continued down, and waited all of five minutes for the next train to come along and take me to my destination.

  Plastic seats were my savior. As long as I made sure none of my body came into contact with the metal parts of the train, I should be fine. By now my power was running rampant inside, begging to be let out. I fueled as much of it back into my body as I could, replenishing reserves. I hadn’t yet experimented much with the brain. Considering its complexity and my lack of neurological knowledge, I’d been waiting. But it was tempting. Maybe I could free up more of my mind, or improve its function.

  Or fry it.

  Hi there overthinking my old friend. I liked the beat of a train car and the way it ran over the joins. It was enough to lull me into a relaxed state and forget, even momentarily, about how badly I could sizzle everything in here if I wasn’t careful.

  The tin can hurtled through toward the impending twilight with all the trappings of doom. I massaged my temples in an effort to distract myself more, keeping up a smooth rhythm to replace what I couldn’t get from running at the moment. It’d all be fine, I just had to sit on this plastic seat until we came to my stop. That’s all. Sitting wasn’t difficult. The mantra helped me.

  It took thirty minutes to get to my stop. I’d be a few minutes early, but that was better than being late. It wasn’t dark yet, but the sun was setting, bathing the entire city in blood red rays. I really hoped that wasn’t an omen.

  Shrugging my hoodie up over my head, I shoved my hands into my pockets as I began the jog to the compound. I loved the soft material of this hoodie and how none of the cuts were even. Its stitching appeared haphazard and careless, but the inside was warm and right now I was grateful for that. It felt like a representation of myself, all different angles that came together nicely.

  Treknor compound was owned by one of the richest men in the world. A tech genius with so much money he probably bathed in it and used it as kindling for his fireplace. Maybe if he put that blasted money toward, I don’t know, curing cancer, Orion would be less grumpy. This was one of his lesser known holdings, if I had my facts correct. From where I was headed through the city, it seemed rather sketchy if indeed it was his.

  Breaking into one of Treknor’s compounds didn’t seem like the wisest of decisions to me. But I was just the messenger.

  Finally, I arrived at the spot my GPS indicated.

  Wait here.

  I was going to. I shot back at it. I’d already stopped, so I had no idea why it thought I should be told to do something I was already doing.

  Your contacts will arrive shortly. They are en route. Make sure your clothing disguises as much of you as possible.

  I grunted in response, pulling the strings of my hoodie tighter so that only my eyes and nose peered out. Leaning up against the brick fence I could see why this was the meeting point. The trees hung over the top of the wall, obscuring the area below in shadows and fresh spring leaves. My black clothing allowed me to blend in and hid me from view. Waiting wasn’t my strong point, but I went over the information from the week’s lectures in my mind getting ready for the midterms that were coming up. It was lucky I’d learned tricks to retain knowledge well, or I’d be screwed.

  Maybe, when I had some actual free time, I could go back to the bakery. Why couldn’t one of my abilities have been invisibility?

  Invisibility as you imagine it, doesn’t exist.

  Thanks for bursting that bubble.

  SC went silent again. The time drew out longer than I expected, so I activated the frequently asked questions section of my interface and tried to look up Cleaner and Blocker. The former was related to cleaning up mess left by the execution of tasks. It involved the use of fire, air, and water affinities. And a Blocker could basically protect the team, using earth skills as a basis.

  I raised my fingers examining them. Tiny sparks of electricity ran down them jumping around like a bean. Guess it was good to have someone who could disrupt electronics when working on breaking into a compound such as this.

  Sighing, I leaned against the brick wall and looked up through the tree leaves, trying to see if I could see the stars in the almost black sky.

  “Dare?” Orion’s voice pulled me out of my astrological search and I started, focusing on the person next to me dressed in a black hoodie and running pants. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

  My brain wasn’t doing the best job at comprehending. My electricity on the other hand, sped along my veins, just under my skin, screaming at me to let it out. Orion stood there, hands on hips in front of me, his face partially obscured by a mask that covered his nose and mouth. I think he had those for cleaning at home. Black, charcoal, to filter the dust or something. I shook my head trying to clear the weird thoughts.

  I swear there was no one else who could look that thoroughly disappointed and annoyed with me at the same time. The shadows around us leaked in and out of sync with the wall, giving me an odd sense of headiness as I opened my mouth to speak.

  “Did you follow me?” I asked, oddly enough, at the exact same time he did and I frowned, barreling on before he could tell me to be quiet. “No, I’m meant to be here. Are you?”

  How much was too much to say without getting myself killed? Or his mind wiped?

  Orion is a part of the SC program. You are within rights to speak to him about anything. I thought you knew that.

  No, I didn’t fucking know that! I mentally yelled at the stupid thing in my head. You never told me.

  Orion pulled his mask down so that his lips and nose were visible. Something in his eyes told me he’d been expecting this but had been hoping it wasn’t true. “I’m the Cleaner. And I assume you’re the Runner.”

  Several dots connected themselves in my brain. Times when Orion had seemed preoccupied, but I put it down to his furious brain working overtime. There were times when he suddenly had to go, but I just assumed it either had something to do with his family, or else with his part-time job.

  “They were never family emergencies, were they?” I asked, my voice tremb
ling slightly as I realized how long this had been going on. Little images fit together in my mind faster and faster. Clicking into place, beginning to make sense. “When did you—”

  But he cut me off. “Not now. We have a job to do, and getting sidetracked with questions like this is only going to put us in danger. Focus on what it is you’ll be doing. We can talk later. At home.”

  The twinkle in his eyes was back, and I couldn’t deny the relief I felt at seeing it. He’d been so angry with me last week, and so distant with me in the conference room. Today started to feel normal, except now I knew he must have died, and I felt like total shit for not knowing how. What sort of friend didn’t even notice when their best friend had a rough patch that could be indicative of trauma or death?

  “The Blocker will be here shortly. Don’t ask too many questions. Just do what he tells you to do. If I’m right, we won’t have a big window to do this in.” He pulled his mask back up and reached into a pocket to grab me one of them. He handed it to me without making eye contact. “I didn’t think they’d send you on this. You’re too fresh.”

  “Fresh?” I asked, knowing he didn’t mean anything by it, but taking the mask anyway. It was a struggle to hold down the bubbling power at my fingertips. It seemed to want to pick a fight. “Wait. How did you even know?”

  Orion shook his head. “I didn’t. Not really. I surmised. But I can’t talk to you about your incident unless you approach me because you’ve been informed that you can. I’m guessing you weren’t informed.”

  “Got it in one.” I tried to glare inwardly at the visitor in my head and only managed to end up looking cross eyed.

  I think Orion was about to say something else, but footsteps approached. Soft, barely audible underneath the rustling of fresh leaves above us, but definitely there. I paused, watching as Orion did the same. It felt like we were blending with the shadows against the red brick wall. The moon was partially obscured by clouds lending us little light to see by.

  “Introduce me to the newbie, Cleaner.” The voice held boredom as our Blocker ducked under the leaves. He actually wore a ski mask, so all I could tell was that he had pale skin and eyes that were so dark I couldn’t identify the color.

  “This is the Runner.” Orion shrugged, as if my existence meant nothing to him. Perhaps it was best, but surely the system already knew we were best friends. It had to. It had been everywhere with both myself and apparently him. I didn’t quite understand, but I got the feeling operatives, agents, or whatever we were, weren’t supposed to be on friendly or personable terms?

  There is no written rule against the fraternization of agents. However, sometimes the tasks can be difficult, and having to sacrifice a friend is far more difficult than having to sacrifice someone you barely know.

  Thanks, I internally muttered. So much to go over, so much to consider. I tried not to let the potential of death SC hinted at bother me.

  “Good to meet you, Runner. I’ll do my best to explain this so it’s easy to follow. It’s sort of difficult considering it’s your first big assignment, if I’ve got it correctly. You’re only a Novice. They’re throwing you in the deep end.” His smile was slightly disarming, but I wasn’t about to let that distract me from those words.

  “Why?” I blurted out. Getting thrown in the deep end didn’t sound like something I, or anyone else, wanted to do.

  “Runners are hard to keep.” He took a breath and looked at something on his phone, like an app or something.

  “To keep?” Did he mean keep alive? Or else, we were like expensive or something. The exotic pet of SC. Excellent.

  The Blocker shrugged, and I thought I’d made him uncomfortable because he cracked his neck from side to side looking anywhere but at me. “Runners are often purely electricity-based, while most other designations have alternate elements that can be used. For some reason, our Runners don’t seem to last long.”

  Okay, I could appreciate that. Or not. It felt difficult to breathe. I tried to turn my attention fully to the task at hand, but even my nod of understanding felt half-hearted. The Blocker didn’t seem to notice. The parking lot beyond this tree line suddenly seemed vast, and I no longer had the confidence that suffused me when I’d realized Orion would be by my side.

  “This is the best place for us to cross over and onto the grounds. Once we’re on the other side, we need to stay in those shadows and disable the security. We will have four minutes to make it to and into the house before the backup generator boots up and switches over. We set out in T minus seven minutes. Any questions?” His voice was full of business, confident and sure about how this would go down.

  “Am I the one who disables the security?” I asked, hoping my voice didn’t betray my annoyance. Apparently it had taken all of sixty seconds for him to forget I’d never done this before.

  “Affirmative. Just a light discharge of power at the box as we approach it, and then get ready to run. We’ll need you for the second step of the plan inside as well.” He smiled, and the balaclava stretched in an odd way that gave him a macabre look.

  This wasn’t as scary as I thought it’d be. I’d keep trying to tell myself that. The fact that my power seemed to agree, lent me confidence. Running was one thing I could do. That would be the easy part.

  A small countdown flickered at the edge of my vision on my left side. Just under five minutes left.

  “Do we have anything to climb over with, or do we vault it?” I asked nervously, not wanting to fall over the other side and damage any of my running muscles. I wasn’t even warmed up for this. I started stretching while I waited for an answer.

  “Jump up and pull yourself over. It shouldn’t take too much. You look pretty fit.” He eyed me thoughtfully. “You’ll be faster than us on the run to the house, but try not to outpace us too badly. We don’t want to be split up. It could be the difference between success and failure.”

  “We can fail tasks?” I asked quite surprised by the fact.

  The grin on the Blocker’s face seemed strained. “Well, you can fail tasks. As to whether or not that’s a good idea? I’ll let you decide that.”

  “No.” Orion offered. “It’s best not to decide that at all. Just get the job done and reap the rewards. Aiming for anything less is foolish.”

  The Blocker shrugged. “That’s why you’re the Cleaner and I’m not. Once we’re in there, we’ll go over the next step of the plan. You should have all the info about the layout and the staffing the compound has.”

  “Where?” I asked, starting to feel the panic rising in my gut. I put all my effort into containing my nervous energy. This was nothing like the other tasks I’d performed. Filching files and accidentally opening underground laboratories where I had to escape robotic monsters, grabbing planners… This was absolutely nothing compared to breaking into a heavily-secured compound and obtaining god knows what we were here to obtain.

  “System, show relevant information for GQXFminor.” He smiled again. “Forgot you’re just a Novice. You won’t have access to this yet.”

  Information flooded in front of my eyes, overwhelming me momentarily. I only had enough time to make sure I memorized a safe path across the compound before Blocker was speaking. “Go in three, two, one...now!”

  And then I didn’t have time to think anymore—it was all I could do to keep up.

  We made it over the wall with less fuss than I’d anticipated. I didn’t remember Orion being so agile, and it took me by surprise. That was where the easy part ended.

  About twenty feet from where we landed was a small power station. Its hum reached my ears easily, like a soothing melody resonating with the electricity that flowed inside me. I could feel my own power gravitating toward it, tugging me with it, giving me no option to go another way. If I listened to it for too long, I didn’t think I’d be able to contain things.

  My power itched to escape my fingers. Keepi
ng in line with the wall wasn’t difficult. It was dark here, shadows abundant, lending us their camouflage. I belatedly realized that the station was covered in plastic housing. Most of it might have consisted of metal sections, but with the plastic covering positioned the way it was, I wasn’t confident I wouldn’t start a smoldering stinky fire. Not with the way my own electricity writhed against my skin, cursing its confines.

  I’d thought all I’d have to do was touch one spot and let a surge escape me, thus shorting out the system until the backup could ignite. But this? It was beyond me. I wasn’t entirely sure how I was going to go about this.

  “Um. I can’t focus it through plastic.” There, I’d spoken up and not kept it to myself. As absurd as speaking the process out loud sounded, it ushered in a wave of relief.

  Blocker turned to me with a frown. “Then open the door. Open it, short circuit it, and let’s go.”

  When I got home—hell, if I got home at this rate—I was going to take the time to research and figure out all the different types of electrical stations. The plastic door to the main fuses for the fence and outer security was locked. I struggled trying to open it so much that I slipped, flew onto my back, and landed with a rather loud uff on the ground. Orion rolled his eyes and stepped over me, igniting a frozen shard from his finger as he aimed it directly at the lock. It extended into the lock and a sharp click sounded, opening the door. He bowed theatrically, mocking my ineptitude. After all these years, you’d think I’d be used to it by now.

  I breathed a sigh of relief as I reached forward with my left hand. But just as I exerted that tiny bit of effort to allow a trickle of my power to run through the system—thus shorting it out and plummeting us all into total darkness because the lights in the compound also lost their power—I heard what I’d never wanted to hear in my entire life.

  “Don’t move or I’ll shoot.”