Redux

by S. A. Stephenson

  Fitz sat down at the couch and pulled out a metallic tube and pressed either end of it. A holographic image shimmered into view as Arlo led Kit away. ‘What was that?’ She asked him.

  ‘A communications device,’ Arlo said. ‘It’s how we talk to people around the building and in the district.’

  ‘District?’

  ‘London district,’ he told her as he led her into a smaller room that was lined with clothes. ‘You see England is made up of many districts, there used to be cities all over the place, but the government changed the districts after the attacks. London district covers much of the south of England, the Rose district covers the mid-section, which is based on the roses that used to represent the old region, then up north there’s the Stonegate District.’

  ‘So there’s only three zone’s?’ Kit asked.

  ‘There’s more within the districts but it’s easier not to go into detail,’ Arlo answered as he fingered through some of the outfits in his collection. ‘Now, this should fit what we’re looking for,’ he said and pulled out a dark leather jacket, black pants, ankle high boots and a long sleeve dark top.

  ‘Looks like what I normally go for, so I’ll try it,’ Kit said.

  ‘You’ll notice there are some differences to what you’re used to,’ Arlo said and opened a door for her. ‘You can change in here.’

  Kit stepped into the room and saw it was a bathroom, it had been decorated in marble, everything looked freshly cleaned and the porcelain almost sparkled.

  ‘Feel free to use what you need, I’m in no rush,’ Arlo told her and smiled as he shut the door behind her.

  Kit wasn’t sure why he was being so nice to her but decided to take it at face value. She needed to be with people who were working with her, and Arlo seemed to be on her side. Suspecting everyone was out to get her was exhausting and she wanted to believe that she could trust people she was meeting. It was only since meeting Fitz and Arlo that she was starting to realise how different the world outside of America was to what she was used to. She opened the shower door and turned on the water and let it run warm. She pulled off her hospital gown and stepped in, allowing herself to disappear in the steam. The hot water hit her skin and as it began to warm from the heat Kit allowed herself to relax into her surroundings for the first time. Her memories took her back to the cabin in the mountains, Evie’s body lacing with hers, fingers dancing over skin as their bodies entwined. As she smiled at the memory she realised that she longed for that intimacy, that she felt empowered by it and reinvigorated by Evie’s presence. They were so different in so many ways but together they made sense. A familiar feeling of warmth nestled itself in Kit’s stomach and when she turned off the water she leant against the marble tiles for a moment as she thought of Evie, not knowing where she was or what was happening to her made her stomach churn and tears etched at the corner of her eyes. She stepped out of the shower, dried herself and picked up the clothes Arlo had picked for her. She pulled on the items and it was as though they moulded to her body perfectly, almost as though the clothing knew who she was and was ready to fit her. As if by reaction she sensed her powers changing inside her, they were growing stronger, and she was suddenly aware of a raw energy that was returning to her.

  What was happening? She asked herself. Her powers didn’t work this way, they relied on other Genic energy to be fuelled. She quickly told herself it must be due to being in a different environment, and being around new people. She didn’t know them enough yet to understand how she would react to them.

  She quickly thought about how to stop the energy and the light died away from her fingers. That’s new. She opened the bathroom and walked back out to the living room where she saw Arlo preparing a couple of drinks and sandwiches in the kitchen.

  ‘You look incredible,’ he gasped, making Kit squirm a little, she never liked people looking at her in the way Arlo was, it always put her on edge.

  ‘A total babe,’ Fitz said going over to her.

  ‘It’s strange, I feel like I’m me, but I’m not? I don’t think I’m making sense,’ Kit was a little light headed and held onto the side of the kitchen counter.

  Arlo led her over to the couch as Fitz carried the drinks. ‘You’re a Genic aren’t you?’ He asked. ‘Well according to your record, which I obtained by hacking into the government mainframe, I read that your powers only react when you’re in contact with other Genics,’ he said.

  Kit nodded slowly, feeling a little violated that he knew so much. ‘Are you a Genic?’ She asked him.

  Arlo gave her a sympathetic smile. ‘No dear, just a very good fashion designer,’ he said and gestured for her to sit down. ‘For the last several years I’ve been studying Genic energy, how it works, how it differs in people and when I heard about you…I became intrigued. I read about the experiments they did by reading whatever I could get my hands on. I read about how your powers work and felt that someone with your stature should be able to generate their own powers without needing anyone else to feed off. So I began to see how I could recreate Genic power using nano-technology and a few other bits of tech thrown in, I’ve woven some of this throughout the fabric you’re wearing as a test to see how it reacted.’

  Kit looked at the fabric, it seemed so ordinary, like something that could be bought on a market stall. ‘When we first arrived we saw that several people had metallic adaptations on them, is this something like that?’ She asked.

  ‘It’s similar, people who have bio-hacked themselves have done so for a while now, this is just the next evolution. I created technological fabric that could manipulate a Genics DNA and I wasn’t quite sure what I had created until you tried it on,’ he said.

  ‘It’s incredible,’ Kit looked down at her arms as the energy coursed through her veins.

  There was a buzzing sound and Fitz picked up the metallic tube that was next to her but didn’t answer it. ‘We’ve been missing for a while,’ she said. ‘I need to get you back.’

  Kit got to her feet and gave Arlo a hug, surprising them both. ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘Are you going to come with us? You can meet the rest of my team.’

  ‘I have some work to finish,’ Arlo said. ‘But I’m sure I’ll see you again before long, and you and your partner are welcome to stay here if you prefer over the room they give you.’

  Kit gave an awkward smile. ‘We’ve not got a room yet,’ she said. ‘I need to get Evie out of whatever cell she’s been put in but I’m sure she’d love to meet you.’

  ‘I’ll look forward to it,’ Arlo said and walked them over to the elevator. ‘Stay safe, and don’t reveal what the jacket can do until you need to.’

  Kit looked at him curiously but didn’t question his warning. ‘I will,’ she said as she stepped inside the elevator and raised her hand to give a small wave goodbye as the doors shut and she was taken back to the world below. She couldn’t help but want to know more about him and her instinct was telling her that there was something about him that she could trust.

  When the elevator came to a stop she almost didn’t want to go back to what was waiting for them. ‘I can take you to your people and mine,’ Fitz offered. ‘I’ll tell them it was my idea to see Arlo.’

  ‘Why wouldn’t they want me seeing him?’ Kit asked.

  ‘He’s not the most popular amongst certain crowds,’ Fitz admitted. ‘But popular enough.’

  Kit wasn’t sure what she meant but had a feeling she shouldn’t ask. ‘Do you think they’ll let me see Evie?’ Kit asked.

  Fitz turned to her. ‘They won’t let you do anything,’ she said and Kit frowned. ‘You’ll demand to see Evie and they’ll oblige,’ she said. ‘Just because you’re in a different place, doesn’t mean you have to lose who you are. You’re the leader of your people and you need to show them that. Don’t hide away just because you’re somewhere new.’

  Kit was surprised by what Fitz said but smiled and once more became settled into who she was and what she needed to do.

  Chapter Sev
en

  As Evie was pulled into the motorcade she tried to remain calm. The flesh under her skin roared in protest and was begging for release. Evie struggled to suppress the powers and as her heart pounded against her chest it was as though her insides were about to be torn to pieces. She was sat in the back of the long black car, wrists handcuffed in front of her and sat behind a metal wall that separated her from her driver. The man looked up at the rear-view mirror and whispered something to Sinclair. She looked behind her and whispered back bringing the car to a stop. The woman climbed out of the front seat and came round to the back with Evie.

  ‘What’s wrong with you?’ Evie only just heard her as a wave of nausea hit her.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Evie said. She didn’t know how much about her powers she should reveal, particularly when forming words seemed to be more of a challenge than normal. If she had been back in the lab she would have been able to tell them proficiently how Genic powers worked, how they were linked to human emotion and often acted at will, but of late, things were changing and Evie hadn’t had the time to sit down and work out why. Sinclair opened a hatch in the floor and pulled out a bottle of water.

  ‘Here,’ she said. ‘This may help and we won’t be travelling for much longer.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Evie said as she took the bottle and tried to open it with her wrists tied together. Sinclair helped her and as her hands began to shake she gave the bottle back to Sinclair. ‘Where are we going?’

  ‘Not to a prison, if that’s what has you spooked,’ Sinclair said. ‘We’re just aware of the press surrounding this trip and we don’t want them to think that we’re supporting acts of terror without knowing the full story.’

  ‘You have more than one news reporter?’ Evie asked. ‘Back home we only have Jenks, I’m not too sure what’s happened to her so I don’t know if Hawk is letting any news be shown across the States at the moment,’ she was aware she was rambling.

  ‘We’ve not heard of anything being reported,’ Sinclair said. ‘But we’ve been in the dark for nearly a century so we’re pretty used to it. One reporter though?’ She asked. ‘Seems like they would have their work cut out for them.’

  ‘I think Jenks liked it,’ Evie said and sat back in the seat as the rush of energy began to subside. ‘I feel better now,’ she told her just as the car jolted to a stop.

  ‘What’s happening?’ Sinclair asked the driver.

  ‘There seems to be a blockade ahead ma’am,’ the driver replied. ‘People it looks like.’

  ‘Can you drive through them?’ Sinclair asked. Knots twisted themselves in Evie’s stomach as she could see a crowd of people ahead, and what looked like flickers of flames.

  ‘Were you expecting this?’ Evie asked. ‘Who are they?’

  Sinclair turned a shade of grey. ‘Protestors,’ she said. ‘People have had mixed reactions to your arrival and America becoming an open country again. They don’t know who you are or what threat you may bring.’

  ‘So not a welcoming party then,’ Evie quipped dryly as the protestors stormed forward and began to hit, kick and shake the car. Evie tried to shift away from the windows and the energy under her skin began to boil again and white wisps of light began to emanate down her arms. She saw Sinclair sit back away from her, her eyes wide in surprise and as much as Evie wanted it to stop and to be normal, she decided it was time to embrace it. ‘You might want to shield your eyes,’ she said to Sinclair. ‘And you’re going to want to drive,’ she told the driver and as the energy in her arms expanded around them she saw the protestors fall away and the driver sped forward. As he cleared the crowd and sped through the streets of London, Evie let her powers dim and they settled back under her skin and she leant back against the seat trying to catch her breath as sweat poured down her brow.

  ‘Sure you’re ready to experience what Genics can do?’ Evie asked Sinclair who looked like she was trying to catch her breath.

  ‘I’d say,’ Sinclair said. ‘Welcome to London.’

  The rest of the journey had been in silence until the driver had pulled up outside a tall glass building that towered into the clouds. Evie looked up and saw the blackened wall of windows, it was the middle of the night and as a light rain began to fall Evie wanted to shut the world away and sleep. There was no such luck. Her door was opened by a guard and she was ushered out of the car. Sinclair came to her side, despite her woollen coat and hat and gloves she still breathed out cold air as she shivered in the night sky. Evie was unable to stop shaking as the cold raced through her, the icy wind prickled through her and the energy beneath her skin tingled in reaction. ‘So what’s going to happen is you’re going to go in, sign your name, and you’ll be taken to a cell for the night. We’ll begin interviewing you in the morning.’

  ‘Can I see Kit or Evans?’ Evie shivered as Sinclair waved over to one of the men asking for a coat. Sinclair wrapped a long trenchcoat round Evie’s shoulders that took away some of the chill. Evie looked at her curiously for a moment, unable to work out where the sense of care was coming from but she didn’t say anything.

  ‘They are in the building,’ Sinclair seemed not to notice the moment between them and the guard opened the main door to the building and ushered Evie through. They entered a foyer that made Evie think of the University and her thoughts drifted to Mr Adams, the security guard whom she had seen every day for years, and then there was Cara. Her stomach still did a sharp intake of breath at the thought of her best friend who had been shot dead by Galen. The memory of bullets tearing through her friend's body was enough to make Evie buckle but she decided to use the pain to harden herself against her guilt in killing Galen. The woman had taken so many lives and if Evie’s actions helped save people then she would do it again.

  The room expanded upwards and as Evie looked up she wondered how many floors the business operated on and what they did. Evie heard a door open to the left of her and saw Kit and Evans come through. Evie almost cried in relief when she saw them and looked at Kit with surprise when she saw her new outfit. It was different from how she’d seen her in recent months, she looked powerful again, ready to take on whatever was thrown at them. Kit headed over to her but was held back by two guards.

  ‘No personal contact with the prisoner,’ Evie heard one of them say and reluctantly let Kit go.

  Evie saw Cerkis come out of another room with Lawson, and Cerkis almost flew over to the guards with rage burning on her face. ‘Enough of this facade,’ she demanded. ‘Release Ms Fox this instant.’

  ‘Under whose orders?’ Sinclair asked.

  ‘The Council,’ Lawson replied. ‘They’re on their way here and have summoned a meeting to discuss the matter, but they’ve instructed she’s not to be treated like a prisoner.’ Evie’s heart skipped a little at the news. The thought of being in a prison cell had been enough to turn her stomach, she had heard the horror stories of what prison had been like in America, had seen pictures of people who had been beaten, the bodies of those who hadn’t survived. She was being given some mercy and then she couldn’t help but wonder why.

  ‘Which means you can take these off me,’ Evie lifted up her cuffed hands. The guard looked at her and then over her shoulder at Sinclair before unlocking the cuffs. As Evie rubbed her wrists, she saw Kit pushed past the officials who were holding her back and threw her arms round Evie again.

  ‘We have an audience,’ Evie reminded her and as Kit pulled away, Evie saw her blushing slightly.

  ‘Let's get you checked in and settled,’ Sinclair said.

  The guards stepped to one side and Sinclair led them down a corridor and into a glass-walled meeting room. Evie walked in behind Sinclair and saw what she thought was a comms floor through the wall. Empty workstations and computers were clustered together and Evie imagined the floor filled with people and was curious about what they did.

  ‘We normally have staff on site,’ Sinclair explained. ‘But as this is unusual circumstances they’ve been temporarily relocated while we deal wit
h this matter.’

  ‘Quite,’ Lawson agreed as he took a seat in the middle of the table. ‘We’re all dealing with this rather blindly, we’re used to handling genetically altered humans on our own turf, but we’ve yet to encounter…Genics…as you call yourselves.’

  ‘Which is why we want to meet you as equals in this matter,’ Evie noted Kit spoke before Cerkis could say anything, which made her think it was deliberate. She was trying to gain power in the relationship. ‘As Genics, we’ve already lived through decades of oppression and we’re ready to show that we are valuable in this war and in society.’

  Evie watched as Cerkis found her moment to interrupt. ‘What Ms Valletta is saying, is she has experience with leadership amongst the Genics and is willing to bring that to the table.’

  Evie noted Kit frowning and could feel the tension rising. ‘When we were living with the Galen regime in power, we were under a lot of pressure,’ she said. ‘I was a scientist, working in a lab on other Genics, trying to find answers to how our DNA changed and how it could be manipulated. But it was under Galen’s orders, everything was. Even though I lived as a human, they still weren’t free. Now that Galen is out of the picture, her second in command, Juana Hawk, will be vying for power and she’s way more gnarly, and wants total control. But we have a chance to stop that from happening, except we’re here around a table instead of out there, trying to stop her,’ Evie stopped and caught her breath. Kit gave her a small smile of reassurance, they were at least back on the same page.

  There was a moment of silence as the room digested what Evie said. ‘What we are trying to achieve here tonight is a cohesive working relationship with a nation who has been deemed as rogue for decades,’ Lawson said.

  ‘So to be clear,’ Evans said, Evie sensed he was trying to regain some order. ‘Are you prosecuting Evelyn for killing President Galen?’

  Sinclair and Lawson exchanged a look. ‘That is for discussion with the Council,’ Lawson said as the table illuminated in blue. ‘Which looks like it’s ready to begin.’