The Federation

Once the elevator doors slid shut and the elevator slid smoothly into motion, Carter released my neck with his arm. I instantly withdrew from his body, feeling hatred join the rage bubbling away in my chest. The engagement ring burned on my finger. I wished nothing more than to wrench it from my body and throw it down the side of the mountain. Maybe some bear would eat it.

“Why do you shrink away?” Carter asked, turning towards me. He took one long stride towards me, and I slid sideways towards the corner of the elevator. The corner wasn’t the best place for me to head to, but I’m in an elevator. I have nowhere else I could possibly go. Cut me some slack. My fingers clenched the metal railing pressing coolly against the base of my spine.

“Because I ha—” I began, but Carter stepped smoothly forward and pressed his index finger hard against my lips. I fell silent, glaring up at Carter. I’d feel better if he wasn’t so damn tall. He towered over me. It was very much unnerving. I hated feeling powerless, and I felt powerless then. This atrocity must end.

“No, no, let’s not go dropping the ‘hate’ word,” Carter said, shifting minutely closer. I shrunk further away, the railing digging painfully into my back now. “I haven’t changed, Asher. I was always this man on the inside. You fell in love with me before. You have to still love me now.”

“You have changed,” I growled. Carter snaked his hands behind my back. He pried my fingers away from the metal railing and his hands closed down over mine. I grimaced; his grip was much tighter than it needed to be. It felt like all the bones in my hand were being crushed together. When Carter released me, surely my hand would be bunched up, all the bones molded together by his death grip. He pulled my hands out in front of me and dragged me out of the elevator. He released one of my hands but his grip on my other hand tightened past death grip to annihilation grip.

“Tell me how I am different, pumpkin,” Carter asked sweetly. I scowled at him, attempting to flex my fingers that he had an annihilation grip on. I found that I couldn’t move my fingers at all. We walked down the recreation hallway towards the elevator going up to the directors’ offices.

“You’ve become a monster! A greedy, arrogant, insane monster! You used to be sweet and charming and nice. You used to be sympathetic and smiley. Now all you fucking do is break my fucking hand and disrupt my home!” I snapped, not sugar-coating it at all. If anything, I coated it in a nice marinate of Tabasco sauce, extra harsh.

“But I’m not any of those things! I’m a visionary...and apparently a great actor. If you could fall in love with the bassist Carter, you can fall in love with the real Carter. I still love you. You can return the favor,” Carter answered. We stepped into the elevator. I saw no reason to resist until I had a definite plan in my head.

“But I haven’t changed!” I exclaimed. “The old Carter wasn’t this stupid, either.”

“I am the old Carter!” Carter insisted. “Jimmy was suspicious of me, and I guess rightly so since I’ve done this. But I know Jimmy sees no difference between the present Carter and the past one. You shouldn’t either.”

“You’re a dumbass,” I snarled. “You obviously don’t get a word of what I’m saying.”

“Shush now,” Carter said. “You know naught of what you speak.”

Carter pulled me towards a door off the lobby that I’d never been through. It turned out to be a hallway, about fifteen feet long, with two doors leading off of it. Carter pushed open the door on the right and we stepped into a very nice little apartment. If I stayed true to its form, I might even go so far as call it a penthouse. Just the living room was bigger than my entire living area here at the Legion.

“This is Joan’s apartment,” Carter explained. “Since she’s recently vacated it, however, I decided it would be absolutely perfect for the two of us.”

“I’d rather sleep outside in Alaska in the dead of winter,” I growled.

“You better get used to this room, sweetheart,” Carter said. “It’s where we’ll live for a very long time. We’re still getting married as planned. Together, we will expand The Federation until it’s bigger than anything else.”

“In my nightmares,” I muttered. Carter released my hand. I flexed my fingers once, shocked at how red they were, and since I was focusing on my fingers, I didn’t even see what Carter was doing until he’d grabbed me roughly by the tops of my arms and slammed me hard against the nearest wall. My back popped with the force of which he shoved me back into the wall.

“Soon enough, Asher, you’ll realize how outnumbered you truly are. To save your own ass, you’ll join me sooner or later,” Carter hissed, lowering his head to meet my eyes. His eyes looked like thunderclouds; they’d changed from blue to a stormy gray. I considered spitting in his face for several moments, and then decided that I liked my face the way it was.

“There are only twenty-odd guards out there,” I said calmly and fearlessly. Honestly, I’d pretended to be a pop clone for quite a time. Nothing scared me anymore.

“You’re cocky now, but you won’t be soon. In several days, all the recruits will have arrived here. Once they all get here, there will be three Federation agents to every one Legion agent,” Carter answered.

“We’ve faced worse odds.”

Carter just scowled. He turned, dragging me away from the wall, and threw me violently in the direction of the ground. My elbow caught on an end table holding a vase of flowers as I dropped, shooting sparks of unpleasant numbness up and down my arm. I landed on the carpet and glared up at Carter, rubbing my elbow.

“So, every villain has a reason for his madness. What’s yours?” I asked conversationally. Carter had begun to pace upon throwing me to the ground, and he didn’t stop to explain.

“I’ve been good friends with Joe Jonas for a while now,” Carter began. I groaned. Of course, it would come back to those Jonas Brothers. Here, I thought I’d be rid of them for a while. “You can understand my anger when I’d heard that the Jonas Brothers had been put on probation by the Legion. They’re such nice kids, really. They didn’t deserve that sort of treatment.” I snorted incredulously. Carter paused slightly but responded no further. “So, I decided I would take this Legion down, as a favor for the brothers. They’ll probably be joining me here soon, since the Legion won’t exist for very much longer. No Legion—no probation.”

“Why me, then?” I asked, genuinely curious about this one. “You could’ve targeted any female in this Legion.”

“Yes, I could have,” Carter agreed. “But you made an easy target. You had a recent break-up. You’d be emotionally vulnerable. I never realized how easy it was to convince you that I was the real deal. It was even better upon realizing that you would turn against your best friend Jimmy for me.” I had to admit, that made me feel really guilty. I would find a way to stop this, and I would make it up to Jimmy somehow. “It was easier once I actually began to fall in love with you—and even better when you returned that love.”

“I don’t love you,” I snarled. Carter didn’t even pause. He just kept pacing. Feeling vulnerable on the floor, I slapped my hand down on top of the end table to use as a brace to pull myself up. My fingers slipped against the glass vase, and an idea popped into my head. All I needed was a moment of distraction—that would be enough.

“You will,” Carter said calmly. “You’re just in shock now. But you will begin to love me again. And you know, I think the addition of this headquarters will be nice. The Federation doesn’t have an official headquarters yet.”

I picked up the vase and began to judge. I braced a palm on the bottom of the vase; that way, I could just throw the vase at Carter on its side, parallel to the floor. As I saw Carter begin to turn towards me, I took a step forward to increase my accuracy. He came to face me, and I threw the vase at him with all the force I could muster.

I didn’t even wait for impact before turning and bolting towards the door. I heard it crash against him, splintering into many sparkling shards of crystal, and heard his string of profanities, and then I had the door open and had sprinted out into the hallway. Before I could make it out into the lobby, Carter’s arms closed around my torso, pinning my arms against my sides. He lifted me clear off my feet, crushing me back against his chest. I groaned as my torso squished together in ways it wasn’t meant to. Carter turned and leaned over, dropping me face first into the carpeted hallway.

I instantly scrambled to my hands and knees, crawling several feet away from Carter—in the wrong direction, mind you, but I was quickly running out of options. I rolled over and looked up at him, towering above me.

His shirt was wet with the water from the vase. It looked like it had broken against his shoulder; one lone flower petal rested on his shoulder. He looked mad, but I’d been expecting blinding rage. He was still simmering.

Tears rose up in my eyes. It wasn’t fearful tears, or sad tears, but merely the angry tears of a hopelessly helpless person who knows she’s cornered with no other options. My helpless rage seeped into my vocal cords and spilled from my lips.

“Fuck you!” I sobbed. I couldn’t stand that I was crying. I never viewed tears as a weakness—as a woman, you have to face that tears are part of life, and if you don’t cry occasionally, you’re a robot—but I wanted to appear tough and a foreboding challenge to keep reigned in. But no, I was sobbing my eyes out. Not too menacing, is it?

“Fuck you!” I screamed. “Fuck you and your Federation and your con and...and...fuck you and your engagement ring, too!” I reached over to tear the ring from my finger.

Carter sprang to life. He strode forward and swiftly kneeled down in front of me. He grabbed the wrist of my right hand tightly in his fist and then grabbed my jaw with his other hand, squeezing my cheeks between his fingers until my lips pushed together into a fish face.

“Never, ever take the ring off,” Carter said, his voice low and dangerous. It seemed I’d pushed one too many buttons with him this morning. “If I find it off of your finger at all, I will super glue it to your finger and you...will...pay. Is that clear?”

“Crystal,” I answered, my voice distorted coming from my pursed lips. Carter released me and straightened to his feet.

“You’ll find all your clothes in the bedroom. Go change. I’ll put on something dry, and then I have things to oversee. And you’re going to accompany me. Understand?”

“Yo comprendo,” I answered, climbing to my feet and walking into the penthouse, flexing my fingers again.