by Riker Kane
“Tim isn’t… I mean, you and him…”
She shook her head. “It was never like that. Tim is old. He gets lonely, living the life he lives. You don’t make too many friends in his line of work. He was mad when I left for the Legion. Now he’s mad I’m staying out late.”
“It’s for a good cause.”
“You don’t have to tell me that. But Tim is Tim.”
“You know you can’t keep this up. Look in a mirror, Jade. You’re miserable. That life is over. You’re gonna have to leave him eventually.”
“I know. I just don’t want to leave him high and dry. No one else was there for me except for him. Now I’ve gotta be there for him. At least, for a little bit longer.”
I couldn’t tell her what to do. And honestly, I had no idea what to do in her shoes. All I could do was sigh. “Thanks for telling me at least. Sorry about slugging him.”
“Tim’s been through worse.”
“You sure you’ll be all right?”
“Tim’s never laid a finger on me before. He wouldn’t dare do it now that I’ve got some Red Mana in me. I’ll be fine, Enzo.”
“Okay. You take care of yourself, Jade.”
She smiled and bowed her head. I turned around to leave and she grabbed my fingers to pull me toward her.
Suddenly, her lips were on mine. She closed the distance so fast I didn’t even realize her face was right in front of mine. Our noses pressed together. I let our kiss linger, savoring the taste of her soft lips before she gently pulled away.
She smiled softly. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I gave her a nod. The smile slowly left her lips as she headed back into the apartment building.
I stood there for a moment then felt my communicator vibrate against my wrist.
SYNERGY with ENZO DRAKE
Jade Conrad - Level 3: +5 to Control
Alisa Bosworth - Level 1
“Hmm…”
So many thoughts were running around in my head. But I knew it was best to ignore all of them and focus on relaxing for the rest of the night.
23: Bob & Weave
Alisa moved her head back and forth, popping the heavy bag with crosses and jabs. She didn’t hit as hard as some of the other people in the gym but she made up for it with her quickness.
“The new girl. She’s pretty good.” Bruce stood next to me, his eyes focused on her in the distance. In nothing but a sports bra and some shorts that barely covered her ass, Alisa’s glistening tan body was on full display. And Bruce wasn’t shy about staring.
“She’s not bad for a beginner,” I said.
“She’s cute, too. What do you think?”
I looked at him, seeing just how mesmerized he was. “I think getting distracted is the worst way to lose focus. The punch that knocks you out is the one you never see. Keep your eyes where they’re supposed to be.”
Bruce turned to me. The kid with the scruffy hair shrugged and let out a chuckle. “I’m just messing around. Won’t really have much time for that anyway. I was thinking… Gave it some real thought. I think my best option would be to apply to the Legion. Make some cash while I try to figure out what I’m gonna do with the rest of my life.”
“If that’s what you wanna do.”
“I figure it’ll be fun, too. Pick a class. Choose a weapon. Level up. All that good stuff. Can’t get that anywhere else.”
Bruce moved to the heavy bag next to Alisa and thudded his fists against it.
The Bloody Guts Gym was as busy as it always was in the morning. Everybody showed up to get their day started with a hard workout.
Alisa was in her groove. It was hard to tell how much food she scarfed down the night before.
Jade was on a treadmill, jogging calmly with her eyes focused on the television screen in front of her. The incident with Tim last night was on the back of my mind but I figured now wasn’t the time to bring it up.
The grunts and groans around me were joined by the familiar stench of sweat. I was more tired than I usually was for a reason I couldn’t figure out. With no training sessions scheduled, I decided to take some time to relax.
I headed to the front of the gym and took a seat next to the window. The scene of Newmire outside was peaceful. Sure, the buildings were broken down and the streets were crumbling. But the sun was out and everybody walking along the roads seemed to be in a good mood.
My head dropped down and my eyes started to close. My thoughts started to wander.
“Mr. Drake.”
I jerked my head up to see a bald man staring down at me. Agent Castleberry’s focused gaze on me was the last thing I wanted to see. I wanted to close my eyes and fall back asleep.
“Agent Castleberry. What brings you in here today?” I gave him a big smile.
He straightened out his seat and looked around the gym. “Just wanted to see how you were doing.”
“I’m… doing fine. Is there a reason I wouldn’t be?”
“I’m only making sure the incident with the Omegas the other night was a one-time occurrence.”
“That seems to be the case. Haven’t seen ‘em since.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
Everything Castleberry said came out as blunt as possible. The guy could’ve sung happy birthday and made it sound like it was a eulogy. I didn’t let it bother me though as I waited for him to get to what he really wanted to say to me.
“Do you mind if I ask you something else?” he said.
“You can ask but I can’t promise I’ll have the answer for you.”
“I’m only curious about the gym. You’re a trainer here.”
“That’s right. I teach some classes and give some one-on-one instruction.”
“A fighter?”
“Retired. It just wasn’t for me. But you can find everything on the Internet these days if you wanna see what I did. Interested in a lesson?” I smirked but he wasn’t even looking at me, shifting his eyes left and right like he was trying to find some hidden camera in the gym.
“Is instructing at the gym the only thing you do?”
He moved his eyes back to me. He was up to something. I had to keep playing along but stay on my toes to make sure I didn’t slip.
“I do other things,” I said. “But if you’re talking about making a living, yeah, this is all I do. It ain’t glamorous but nothing in Newmire is.”
“The reason I’m asking is because of your involvement with the Omegas. It turns out, there may be some unauthorized activity in Newmire. More specifically, the docks.”
“Is that right?” I held back my surprise.
“It seems one of the storage warehouses is housing stolen LOD technology.”
“Wow… That’s… interesting.”
“I’m only telling you because of your involvement with those Omegas the other night. There’s a possibility they might be involved. Do you recall overhearing any of them mentioning anything?”
I shook my head softly. He was trying to get something out of me but he wasn’t gonna get it. “Can’t say that I do.”
“This is important. Not to sound dramatic but unauthorized Omega activity could affect the safety of the entire planet. Billions of lives could be at risk.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t hear anything and I’m just a trainer at the local gym.”
Castleberry was lying. I smiled as big as I could, knowing he would just give me that blank stare of his. It was hard to tell if he was even capable of smiling, which made me wonder how he had creases and wrinkles around his mouth in the first place.
“That’s good to hear,” he said. “Just thought you should know LOD agents are moving in on the docks. It’s only a matter of time until we catch the unauthorized activity.”
“I hope you catch them quick.”
“I’ll be doing it later today.”
Shit.
“Well, good luck with that, Agent Castleberry.”
“Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Drake. I’m certain this w
ill be the last time you’ll have to deal with me.”
He bowed his head curtly then turned around to leave. I stared out the window, watching him getting into his black sedan and disappear down the road.
I headed back into the gym and gathered Alisa and Jade together. I gave them all the details. Neither of them seemed worried but they didn’t look very comfortable either.
“What do you think?” I asked.
“If he said he’s going to the docks now, we have to tell Redgrave,” Alisa said.
“There’s no way he knows where he is,” Jade said. “There are hundreds of storage facilities on the docks. We wander through it on purpose to make sure nobody’s following us.”
“Castleberry’s an agent with the Legion,” I said. “I would think he’s capable of following someone unnoticed… We have to warn Redgrave.”
“We don’t,” Jade said.
“What?”
She sighed a hard breath through her nose. Her jaw clenched like she didn’t wanna say whatever was on her mind.
“The warehouse we’re using isn’t the only access we have to Pandora,” she said.
“What?”
“Redgrave knew this was a possibility. If Castleberry finds him, they’ll scoop him up and confiscate everything. But we’d be able to make it to Pandora. There’s another set of everything we have. Gates. Workstations. Maps to find our path to Anarchy. It wouldn’t be as accurate with Dr. Redgrave constantly monitoring our path but we’d know the right direction at least. We’d just have to rely on ourselves.”
“What about the Slayer Gauntlets?”
“Dr. Redgrave had a contingency for everything. I’m sure he has one for your weapons, too.”
“Damn… He’s already thinking three steps ahead.”
“He knew this was a possibility. There’s no way the Legion would let unauthorized travel to Pandora go unnoticed. But that’s the risk he’s willing to take. We have to get to Anarchy, no matter what. Wouldn’t you let yourself get caught if it meant the rest of us could get there and save your father?”
The answer was obvious. But it didn’t sit well with me.
“If they arrest Redgrave, what will they do to him?” Alisa asked.
“He’s old,” Jade said. “They’ll know he wasn’t working alone. They’ll interrogate him until they get answers. Redgrave won’t talk. Not before giving us enough time to get to Anarchy.”
I took a step back. My hands on my hips, I stared at the ground. Redgrave sacrificing himself so that we could make it to Anarchy… That shit bothered me no matter how much sense it made.
There was only one way to shake the feeling.
“You up to something, Champ?”
“I’m going after Redgrave.”
~ ~ ~
The horns bellowed in the distance from the ships near the dock. The noise from the amount of heavy machinery being worked by the longshoremen didn’t seem to have an end. Newmire employed hundreds of dockworkers and they were all out that afternoon. That crowd was only gonna help me get to Redgrave before Castleberry could.
I notified Redgrave of Castleberry’s potential arrival. Getting Redgrave out of the storage warehouse wasn’t a problem as much as moving all of the equipment he had stored. Even with a tarp on it, it wasn’t exactly easy to hide a Junction Gate. Redgrave insisted on staying behind with all of the equipment, even though Jade said he had a contingency.
So there I was. The middle of the afternoon. Walking between the rows of storage facilities, sneaking around like some secret agent trying to get to the warehouse undetected.
The farther I got from the docks, the more distant all the noise got. There were a few workers walking between the buildings but none of them paid any attention to me. I constantly checked behind my back, looking over my shoulder for any sign of Castleberry.
I managed to get to the warehouse and get inside before anybody noticed I was there. Redgrave stood calmly next to his workstation with the rest of the equipment and machinery in the warehouse covered up.
“Castleberry’s coming,” I said.
“Yes, I received your message. I’m old but I’m not that forgetful.”
Redgrave remained calm. There was something in his hand. A small device that had the same touchscreen as a smartphone.
“I can sense your anxiety,” he said.
“No shit I’m anxious. Castleberry’s intent on taking you in. This whole operation—”
“Would continue even if I was apprehended. You’re capable of mapping your own path to Anarchy. Though you wouldn’t have any details on the zones, I trust you would succeed regardless.”
“If having you around improves our chances of getting to Anarchy, I’d rather have you around.”
Redgrave looked up at me. The old man’s face wrinkled with a smile. His eyes scrunched together so much it was hard to tell he was even looking at me.
“I’ll enjoy being there when you make it to Anarchy.”
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
My head jerked toward the entrance. I waited for a moment, hoping to hear Jade or Alisa’s voice. But it never came.
KNOCK KNOCK
“I suggest you open it,” Redgrave said.
“It’s him. It’s Castleberry.” Apparently, I did a shit job of being a secret agent.
“If you don’t open it, I believe he has the means to force the door open.”
“He comes in here, we’ll both be busted.”
“Go outside. Speak to him. Give him an excuse.”
“No excuse will be good enough for him not to wanna come in here.”
“I only need a minute. After a minute, you can open the door.”
I blinked my eyes, unsure I’d heard him right. “What?”
Redgrave put a hand on my arm, that same friendly, tight-lipped smile not going away. He was up to something. At least, I hoped he was.
KNOCK KNOCK
Against my better judgment, I headed to the door and pushed it open to see Castleberry. I shut the door quickly to make sure he couldn’t get a peek inside.
The LOD Agent stood with his hands at his side but he was all alone. He was stone-faced, staring at me like he wasn’t about to listen to whatever bullshit I was about to give him. All that did was made me wanna say it even more.
“Agent Castleberry. What a coincidence running into you here.”
“I would say it’s more than a coincidence. What are you doing here, Drake?”
“Oh… You mean this storage warehouse? The thing is…” I turned around and looked at the small iron building. “We’ve got a lot of equipment back at the gym. Figured I needed to put it in storage for a bit so we can bring the new equipment in. Better to keep it around in here before we get a chance to sell it.”
He wasn’t buying it for a second, obviously. But Redgrave said he needed a minute. So I gave it to him.
Castleberry took a step forward. “You know why I’m here. Unauthorized Omega activity is punishable by federal law.”
“And I told you before, I never saw those Omegas you were looking for since the incident.”
“What’s in that room?”
I smirked. “I know you’re with the Legion but even you don’t have the authority to perform a search and seizure without proper authorization.” I mockingly looked over his shoulder. “You’re by yourself. I’ve got no reason to show you anything.”
“I can get a warrant with a snap of my fingers and bust that door down. Or you can show me what I’m looking for and save us both the trouble.”
A minute had gone by. I should’ve just told Castleberry to go on his way. But he’d just come back. I had to trust Redgrave, even if it didn’t make any sense to.
“I’ll show you what’s inside. But if you don’t find whatever it is you’re looking for, you gotta stop bothering me. I’ve had enough problems with Omegas.”
“…We’ll see about that.”
I turned around and pushed the door open as slowly as I could. But a sense of re
lief quickly washed over me. I saw it. More accurately, I didn’t see anything. The entire warehouse was empty except for the dull lights above. Some sort of optical illusion where everything, including Redgrave, had disappeared. I walked over to the side but there was nothing invisible to run into.
Castleberry stood at the entrance, his eyes shifting left and right, searching for any sign.
“There you go,” I said. “It’s a storage warehouse. I think I can fit a lot of the old treadmills and heavy bags in here.”
Castleberry ignored me. He sniffed the air and looked up. “Thank you for your time, Mr. Drake. If anything comes up—”
“I’m sure you’ll let me know.”
His expression didn’t change but I know his frustration was boiling inside of him. He slicked a hand back over his smooth head to maintain his composure and straightened his tie. I walked out of the storage facility and watched him until he disappeared around the corner.
When I got back inside of the small warehouse, I looked around. “All right. It’s just me.”
I expected Redgrave to answer. Instead, my communicator rumbled against my wrist. There was a message from Redgrave.
“See you tomorrow night.”
I wouldn’t get the answers I was looking for. Judging from what just happened, I needed a lot of them.
24: Ride The Landslide
We all agreed to take the night off to let some of the heat from Castleberry die down. It was a bit of a relief to not have to run through Pandora and just sleep in for the night. But the next day went by quickly and the anticipation of getting some answers had me heading back to the warehouse. And just like I saw it last time, it was completely empty.
I stood underneath the lights, doing my best not to breathe in the dust. After sending a message to Redgrave, I received a quick reply.
“Just walk through.”
“Walk through—”
Before I could finish, something flashed right next to me. A bright blue circle of light. It was small at first but quickly grew as large as a Junction Gate. The energy flowed and rippled like the surface of water.
“Hmm…”
I should’ve been hesitant. But at this point, I accepted everything, no matter how weird it was. Even the shit I didn’t understand.
