The Rogue Agent

by Shiloh White

  I opened my eyes again to check...or at least, I thought I did. All I saw around me was black. Before I could process what was happening, I felt a force slam into me that knocked the wind out of me. Then I lost consciousness.

  29. What’s a Little Choking Between Friends?

  I woke up gasping for air.

  I was back in the TransPort chair, which was now reclining completely flat like a bed and tilted to the left at the door. I couldn't understand what happened to make the chair do that. Then I heard someone yelling over by the door: “You can't!” That was Scott's voice!

  I had to stretch my head as high as I could, because Dart's desk was right in the way of the noise. When I could finally see what was going on, my heart skipped a beat. Scott was sitting on top of Dart, holding him on the ground with his hands around Dart's neck.

  “Scott, stop!” I yelled. He wasn't fazed at all.

  I tore at the straps that held me in place, but they did way too good of a job keeping me tethered to the seat. Still, I struggled against them as I looked for a new plan. Past their fighting, I could see that the door was cracked open.

  “Help! Anybody; we need help in here!” I shouted as loud as I could, hoping the sound would carry out into the hallway. I looked back at Scott and Dart, neither of which paid much attention to me. Now Dart's face was turning blue.

  “You can't send her back,” Scott said in a crazed tone I'd never heard before. “She can't go back in.” I was about to shout for help again, when Scott took his eyes off Dart and looked up at me. I froze, getting a clear look at how much worse he was. Beads of sweat trickled down his face like he was in a humid rainforest. His whole demeanor looked like Christmas was about to throw up; a sickly mix of red and green covered his face. In his eyes was something that sent a chill down my spine. He looked like a wild animal, backed into a corner; angry and afraid.

  “Now!” Someone shouted outside the door. Lieutenant Hollister burst into the room. Officer Halsey and two other guards followed her in, just in time. The two guards went for Scott. I didn't quite recognize their faces, but they had to be the same two. Last time there was a struggle, but this time, these guys were wary. They each grabbed one of his arms, and bent them back until he let go of Dart's neck.

  Dart gasped for air so much, I thought was going to choke on it all. He sat up and scooted back from Scott, looking confused and freaked out.

  “Take him to the containment cell in the infirmary,” Lieutenant Hollister said to the guards. Scott fought against them, growling and yelling, but the guards held tight as they pulled him out of the room. As he went down the hallway, I heard him yelling, “Don't let her go back!”

  After he was gone, I met eyes with Halsey. As she walked over to help me out of the chair, I saw the expression on her face. I hoped the pity I felt for Scott didn't look as obvious as hers.

  “Are you okay?” Lieutenant Hollister asked Dart. “What happened in here?” Dart rose to his feet slowly, using his desk as support. “He burst into the room right before you guys tried to contact me, and when he saw Lucy, he went crazy on me.” Dart said.

  “Why?” Halsey asked after she'd taken off the harnesses from my wrists and ankles. I sat up and waited for Dart's answer as well. “He...” Dart looked down for a moment. “He talked about not sending her in there again.”

  “Why would he go crazy over that?” I asked. “He was right there in the first Zone with me.”

  “I'm not sure,” Dart said humbly. He must not have been used to those words. “In fact,” he continued, “I don't even know where he found the strength to leave the infirmary—” A knock at the door cut his words short. In the doorway stood a short female doctor, holding a clipboard in one hand.

  “He found it from his illness,” the doctor spoke in a Chinese accent that turned her R's and L's to W's.

  “Dr. Yabata,” Lieutenant Hollister addressed the woman, “what illness?”

  “It's known as Waspish Syndrome, and drives the carrier insane with rage until they can't control anything anymore. It's linked to most areas in De Mentoria. To the locals, it's known as a normal happening that they simply call Going Mad.” I looked at Dart when she spoke about that Anchor Zone. He kept his eyes fixed on the doctor. “He has a little over four hours right now.” she said in a no-nonsense tone.

  “Four hours until what?” Halsey demanded. Urgency filled her voice. “Best-case scenario,” Dr. Yabata continued, “you get him to De Mentoria and the Waspish Syndrome takes over until he becomes just like unidentifiable to anyone else in that Anchor Zone.” That didn't sound like any best-case scenario I wanted to be a part of. We couldn't leave Scott to go insane.

  “Are there any other options?” Lieutenant Hollister asked.

  “Well,” Dr. Yabata thought for a moment, “the only other real option is the worst-case: you leave him here, and his brain overheats from the anger. And you all got to see firsthand what that will look like.” I tried to shrink back into the TransPort chair. I felt sheepish. Scott did get sick in De Mentoria.

  I tried to convince myself that, after all, he chose to go. But I knew the truth. He only went to get back something that belonged to me. The guilt overran me.

  “Do you have a cure yet, Dr. Yabata?” Lieutenant Hollister asked hopefully. But I could hear a twinge of doubt in her.

  “We're working on one,” Dr. Yabata answered. “No samples are ready for testing yet.” My gaze fell to the floor, unable to hold my head up.

  “Erhm—Actually,” Dart coughed, “I know someone who might be able to help with that.”

  “That’s excellent.” Lieutenant Hollister said, “We'll start there. Dr. Yabata, you can go back to work on that cure.” At that, the short woman nodded and left the room quickly. Lieutenant Hollister walked over to the door.

  “As for everyone else,” she said, turning to face the three of us, “meet in my office in five minutes.”

  ✽✽✽

  After Lieutenant Hollister left the room, Dart had Halsey and I help set the TransPort chair back up. He fiddled with the computer for a moment, and then we left to catch up to the Lieutenant.

  We reached her office just as she sat down at her desk, resting her head in the crook of her right hand. I followed Dart and Halsey in and stood at the back of the room. On my way in, I noticed a picture sitting on a bookshelf to the right of the Lieutenant's desk.

  I could see a little blonde girl that definitely had Hollister's cold blue eyes. Standing next to her was a boy a few inches shorter with dark brown hair. Above them stood a large man, growing gray streaks in the same dark brown hair as the boy. He had an arm around both of them, and wore a big smile. He was the only one who smiled, though. The girl looked annoyed standing there as if she were saying, “let's get this over with already.” The boy on the other hand, looked skittish. Almost afraid. Like what stared back at him wasn't a camera, but something like a death ray. I guessed it was an old photo of the Lieutenant with her father, the Chief, and who must have been her brother.

  Lieutenant Hollister sat up, removing her hand from her head. “What happened in De Mentoria?” she asked, looking directly at me. I knew there was no room for leaving details out. I told her the whole thing, including the parts where were drugged and kidnapped by Mr. Reggie, Scott getting angry and running out to Club Insanis where I met Damian and got the paintbrush, and Scott's meltdown on the way back.

  After I finished, no one said anything. Lieutenant Hollister took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I figured she was deciding what to say. Probably something like, “Lucy Hale, you committed treason against me by lying. Goodbye and good luck with your sister.”

  “I have to appreciate the use of your Handle, Lucy, because it saved my life.” she said, speaking in a slow and clear tone. Okay, so I was a little off. “But as I warned previously,” she continued, no anger in her voice, “now one of my Officers are in danger because of it.” Yep, there it was.

  “How was I supposed to know Scott would p
ick up a disease, of all things, from De Mentoria?” I lashed out, feeling anger rise up in my chest. I couldn't help but get upset the Lieutenant. Her assumption was correct. Her warning came true. Even how calm she was being right now made me angry. “So what if you were right?” I continued. “Your words mean nothing after what you did to me in my Depression Zone. You knew that the rogue Agent would be there! You used me.” I stopped talking before my voice could crack.

  “Once the Agent left, Dart lost the trail again, so we couldn't even get a lead on why he was there. He didn't affect your Zone in any way, either.” Lieutenant Hollister offered. I glared at her, still unconvinced. “Would you have performed any better with the knowledge that the Agent would show up?” I had no answer. I wanted to tell her he knew about Chloe. That could have helped me. But the words didn't come out. Lieutenant Hollister nodded slightly, as if my silence proved her point.

  “At this point, we'll have to leave apologies until later.” she said. “For now, one of our own needs immediate help. Dart, who do you know that can help?”

  “He's an old friend who specializes in subjects of anger and insanity.” Dart explained.

  “What does that mean? How is he going to help us?” Halsey shot both questions back to back. “He used to be an herbal doctor out in De Mentoria.” Dart said. I winced when he told us where. We had to go back there? “He might be able to make something that could cure Scott in time.” Dart finished.

  “We have no other options,” Lieutenant Hollister said, and pointed to Dart. “You'll go, and Halsey and Lucy will go with you. We only have a few hours, so you need to hurry.” “Understood.” Dart nodded, and started to leave the room.

  “One more warning, Lucy,” The Lieutenant called as I was almost out of the door. Uh-oh, I thought. Here it comes.

  “Stay away from Damian.” she said. That was it? I thought to myself. I wanted to say she didn't have to tell me twice. He freaked me out enough.

  “Who is he?” I asked with wariness in my voice, part of me unsure if I really wanted to know.

  “He's just a dirty big-shot in De Mentoria with a lot of resource,” Lieutenant Hollister explained. “A dangerous person to butt heads with. It's just better to stay away, especially if he already warned you.”

  I decided that was one warning I'd take to heart. I realized though, as she spoke, her eyes weren't on me. They were on her picture.

  On that note, I decided to ease out of the room and meet Dart and Halsey out in the hall.

  Halsey looked particularly excited about this mission. “It's my first in the field,” she said for the fifth time before Dart cut in. “It's great to be excited, but we don't have much time. We're going to have to stay focused on saving Scott. He's a good alive friend of mine, and I intend to keep it that way.”

  “Right, uhh, I mean, understood.” Halsey said, and continued to follow Dart as we found our way to the subway. “Who's this friend of yours?” I asked Dart. He turned around and grinned at me. “You've already gotten to know him. Although, this time, you won't have to get kidnapped to see him,” he laughed. “Are you serious?” I demanded, hoping there was no way he was serious.

  Dart nodded.

  “We're going to meet with my old friend, Mr. Reggie.”

  30. We Take The Train Back To Crazytown

  The only thought in my mind as we boarded the subway train was why the rogue Agent was in my Zone.

  Why did he want me to give up? More than that, how did he know who my sister was? I wished I could be back at the Depression Force, figuring out where she was. But I couldn't do that alone. Especially not if that rogue Agent was involved, the way everyone made him sound.

  I must have been wearing my thoughts on my face, however. As we sat down, I caught a glimpse of Dart, frowning at me.

  “We'll find your sister as soon as we get back, Lucy,” Dart assured me. “She's not going anywhere—I mean...sorry. Poor choice of words.” he said.

  “It's fine. I know we'll save her.” I muttered. I was pretty much on autopilot for now, still having jitters from facing Anti Lucy. I didn't say anything else as the subway train took off. Instead, I just looked out the window at The Dust. She was somewhere out there, Chloe. At least I'd beaten the second Zone. That made me one step closer to her, right? But even after I beat all the Zones, where would Chloe be? What would happen to her? A speck on the window caught my eyes, distracting me from finding an answer. Until I realized, it wasn't a speck—it stayed put as the subway train moved. There was something out there. I sat up straight to get a better look, and—wait. There wasn't just one thing. There were four. They were darker than the Dust, and looked like shadowy cloud blobs. They were all connected together by lines inn every combination possible, like a spider web. They all had a line going into a fifth blob that was between them all.

  I looked up at Dart. He lounged across from me in his seat, his eyes shut. Darn. I guess I couldn't blame him. He did almost get choked out, on top of working non-stop since last night from what I'd seen. I nudged Halsey, who sat next to me when we got on the train.

  “What are all those shadows out there?” I asked, hoping she could help.

  “Oh, those?” she pointed out the window. “Those are all the Anchor Zones.” she answered with eagerness in her voice. It must have made her feel good getting to help before we even got to our destination. “The one in the middle is the Square,” she continued, “The four others represent different mental illnesses and areas of Depression. The one we're going to is De Mentoria.”

  “I understand that De Mentoria represents lunacy and dementia, right?”

  “That's correct!” Halsey said happily, putting her hands together. She looked like a schoolteacher proud of her student getting the answer right. Way too excited for this mission, I thought.

  I, on the other hand, was in no rush to see Mr. Reggie again. The first time, I almost lost my eyes to lemon juice. (Don't tell the scary chef, but I hope he got fired for that.) The second time around, I was kidnapped and almost boiled alive. I could only imagine the trouble in store this time around. But Scott needed our help, so here we were. End of discussion.

  “I wish I could tell you what the other ones are,” Halsey continued, “but apparently, that knowledge doesn't get around the Depression Force HQ easily—”

  “That's because that kind of information could be dangerous to certain people, considering only certain people have clearance into different Anchor Zones,” Dart interrupted abruptly from his seat, his eyes still shut.

  “Clearance?” I asked, taken back by the harshness in his voice. “For what?”

  “The moment you step on the subway, your identity is scanned. From there, the info is sent to the Depression Force HQ. We're in charge of the subway stations, and decide who's cleared for where.” Dart explained. I habitually nodded to show I understood, before I realized Dart's eyes were still closed.

  “R-right.” Halsey said in awkward agreement. “Anyway, besides De Mentoria, the only one I can remember is the Anchor Zone grown from suicide. That's the biggest Zone out there, although there's not much news about Depression Force Officers going out there.”

  I quit looking out the window. That one word stung cold and deep like an icicle. It made me want to shut down and stop moving, sitting like a pit in my stomach. All I could see with that word in my head were Lucas' car's headlights pulling away from the house. A whole Zone grown from the ground up with every hopeless feeling couldn't have been anything less than hell to be around.

  “Uhh...” Halsey stuttered for a minute. She looked from Dart to me, and back to Dart. “So, uh, Dart,” she finally said, sounding determined to keep her positivity going, “how do you know Mr. Reggie?” There was a pause for a moment. Then Dart answered, saying, “He helped me out a long time ago,”

  “Really?” Halsey sounded fascinated. “How long ago was that?” she asked. Dart waved his hand in dismissal. “That's really not important...”

  Halsey spent the next few
moments looking for something to say to keep the conversation going, but before I knew it, I filled the silence between us:

  “How are Depression Agents made?” I blurted out.

  Both Dart and Halsey turned to me, looking a little confused. Whoops, I thought. I was still in thought on the suicide Zone comment. But there was something I didn't quite get; no matter how much I tried to wrap my brain around it. I didn't even realize they were still having a conversation when I interrupted.

  “What do you mean by that?” Dart inquired.

  “I mean, do they only come out of Depression Zones?”

  “That's not entirely the case,” he answered hesitantly; choosing each word slowly. My question was probably more important than I thought. “There's multiple ways a Depression Agent can come about,” Dart continued. “Why do you ask?”

  I bit my lip. I didn't really want to explain the whole thing. I looked around the train for an excuse to avoid the question; too many people, maybe?

  Not a chance. The subway train was going straight from Depression Force HQ. There were only a couple other Officers on board. Dart's eyes were still on me, waiting for my answer. I sighed inwardly, in defeat. As much as I didn't want to, I wasn't going to get anywhere without asking.

  “Does suicide have a connection to Depression Agents?” I asked, as nonchalantly as I could. Halsey raised her eyebrow. “Why would you want to know that?” she asked. Dart just looked me straight in the eyes. “Old rumors have gone around,” he said grimly. “A deep life force inside the Dust, separate from Depression Agents. It latches onto depressed youths.”

  A deep life force? Some part of me wanted to look out the window and see if it was out there right now.

  “When the youths would...pass,” Dart decided, “it drew them in. It took over their remains, using them to cause other's Depression.”