Faith Is Unavailable

“Bring Suspect 12 to me. I think she is what we need.” Mused the head exterminator.
The ever faithful and never questioning Draculoids nodded and left the room. Not much for conversation, but they did what was asked of them.
Down the long halls and into the elevator the Dracs went. It was simple enough for them to fetch a captive and bring her back to Korse. It sure was better than going out into that desert wasteland and searching for the wretched Killjoys not knowing which thought would be their last before the end of them, come from a Killjoy or the heat.
Suspect 12 was doing what any other captive would be doing, going about her semi-normal life of running on a treadmill while the walls changed scenes to make her feel like she was running through a park. When she saw the Dracs in the open doorway she had mixed feelings. This was a good thing because she could go out of her room but it was bad because this wasn’t a normal time for her to leave meaning she was wanted alone for something.
She stepped off the treadmill and walls dimmed and then turned back to regular walls of white paint. White just like everything else in Battery City, clean and sterile.
The Captive Ward wasn’t too far of a walk from the Scarecrow Unit tower. They left the Captive Ward, a meek two story complex gridded out with rows upon rows of windows. It was evening and then sky was changing to light blue as the sun rose on the Eastern Simulation Screen.
Down the street they walked with their guns at her back. She didn’t care like she used to. Captive life had resigned her into submission for the sheer fact that she couldn’t remember anything before it. She only knew what they had told her when she first woke.
She had been part of a terrifying revolt in Sector F where she lived. There was a gang known as the Killjoy’s that invaded her home and began destroying everything she had ever loved. She was told she was only part of a colony outside of Battery City’s walls. An experimental and voluntary community that wanted to help expand the City or maybe even be the founders of a sister city.
All she knew now was this technologically advanced super city that she lived in. Nothing existed beyond training. Training for what she didn’t know, but there was something in her mind telling her if she didn’t train hard she would die.
The tower loomed over them now. She looked up at it wondering if they had to go to the top of the building. It seemed the logical place to go for such an impromptu meeting. Her stomach sank. Maybe this was the end of the line. The elevator ride was a long one.
When they entered the room Korse had his back to them. It was as if he had forgotten he had called for her. It made Suspect 12 feel like this wasn’t that important and she relaxed a little.
Korse was sitting in his chair looking out the window over his city. He looked at the little pill in his palm. It was one of the few things keeping him alive. He had skipped out on taking the pills for the last few days but he knew he had to take one today and for the next few days if he wanted to make it through this mission. He swallowed the pill and took a deep breath.
“Suspect 12.” Korse said spinning in his chair to face her. He waved the Draculoids out of the room. “I think we have a mission for you. You’ve certainly proved your worth to us in the past three years since the Sector F revolt.”
“What kind of mission, Sir?”
“Korse is fine now. You could be very important to me and your not a Draculoid or a Scarecrow. You do not have to call me Sir.” Korse got up from his chair to walk towards Suspect 12. He was eyeing her to make sure that he had picked the right captive. There had been no doubt in his mind since the day Suspect 12 was captured that he wanted her. She seemed to him to be everything he had ever looked for in a captive... and in a woman.
“You have a chance to leave Battery City, you will have to come back of course. I need someone on the inside. Someone who I can trust to bring me information on the Killjoys. Of course there will be...” He was now standing in front of Twelve still eyeing her, “compensation.”
“I can do that.”
“I know you can do that part of the mission. The only way you are going to get the mission is to actually escape Battery City. This will prove to me that you are the right captive for this job. If the Dracs bring you back to me you can assume you will not be living here anymore.” He said with a threat underlining the part about living in the City. “I would be very disappointed if you did not make it back.”
“I think I can handle escaping.” Suspect 12 said still looking straight ahead like a well trained captive.
“You have no faith in our protection? You sound like a Killjoy already.” Korse laughed.
“When do I escape?” She ignored the response the word Killjoy triggered in mind, the grimace she wanted to make.
“Why would you want me to designate the time. Then I would know and would be able to set the Dracs loose on you. Believe me, you do not want that. They will be armed.”
Suspect 12 nodded. From all of her training in Battery City she started to formulate a plan before Korse had finished explaining the logistics of the mission to her and showing her pictures of the Killjoys so she knew who to target. She knew what she had to do to get out and she knew when. Everything was in place in her mind, now she just had to wait.
“Do you understand what you have to do?”
“Do you have no faith in my competence?” Suspect 12 asked with a wry smile.
“A Killjoy already.” Korse smiled back leading the way out of the room. “Now go with the Dracs back to your sleeper cell and escape.”
“Not yet.” She said as she went back down the hall with two different Draculoids.
Of course she was lying. This was just the type of moment she was waiting for. The Dracs by her side were unarmed. It wouldn’t be hard to take the two Dracs out as soon as they were near the third floor riding in the elevator and then make a break for the back doors that would lead her into the outside city.
At least that part of her plan went easily. She ran out the back of the building as fast as she could knowing that by now the officials of Battery City had seen her flee. Now it was do or die. She was out of the building and if she was brought back into it, she was dead. It was time to prove her worth to Korse.
It just so happened that Korse was standing at the window watching Suspect 12 flee down the street with surprising speed. He had Dracs at the ready before he had even called her to his office but he wasn’t sending the command to them just yet. He wanted to give he a fighting chance. He laughed when he saw her kick her shoes off because he thought she was going to be an easy catch that way, but to his surprise she picked up even more speed and then she was around the corner and out of his view.
Korse waited until he got the call from the front gates of Battery City that someone had just ran through with no pass and no shoes on. He waited one more minute and then sent the command to his Draculoids lying in wait with Sleeping Death dart guns.
Suspect 12 didn’t hear anything for a long time. Then there were faint pinging sounds she didn’t understand until something sharp stung her back. She reached behind herself to pull it out of her back as she ran.
When she brought it to her front and glanced at it she knew what it was immediately. A level one sleeping dart. Korse was playing easy with her. She tossed it to the side and waited for more. But nothing happened. Then suddenly something grabbed her shirt and yanked her back. She lost her footing and fell.
As quickly as she could manage she was back on her feet and her fist dealt a blow to the Draculoid’s face that had grabbed her. He fell to the ground and then she started running because the second one was catching up to her. It was a battle for a little while she was getting her pace back. The Dracs could keep up with her and more than a few times grabbed hold of her shirt and yanked but she got away every time with her superior fighting skills.
After forty-five minutes of careful pacing and careful aiming the Dracs were starting to fall back. She didn’t know if they were exhausted or if they were letting her go. She was still in range of those little biters though and she resented them more and more with each sting.
Before long she had come up with a plan to knock them off her tail and carried it out when they weren’t in sight behind her. Sure enough they were not as smart as she and followed her trail of darts. In the thirty minutes it took them to come to the end of the trail, because they were in fact exhausted by the heat and the pace, Suspect 12 was far in the opposite direction.
Her thrill burned off quick and soon she felt a wobble in her stride. She was losing it and she hoped the Dracs had given up. On her last step she knew what was going to happen. He knee gave out underneath her and she fell to the ground already passed out and skidded to a stop without even the theatrics of a cloud of dust to clue in the Draculoids.

The bag was pulled off her head and the light flooded in. She couldn't see anything. There were footsteps that she attributed to the Draculoids. Then an entirely different set of footsteps rang out in the bright tunnel. Suspect 12 was slowly regaining her eyesight.
“So we have you back. I guess one revolt was not enough for you.” The voice said with a hint of a joke and a rolling Scottish accent.
She knew that voice. In the six months she’d been away from Battery City she hadn’t forgotten that voice. Korse. Right behind him was his daughter, Viktoria, staring at Suspect 12 with a glare so cold she looked like an ice queen. Viktoria had never liked Suspect 12 because her father had taken a special liking to Twelve.
“How is my favorite insanely genius post Helium War leader?” Suspect 12 smiled relaxing -knees apart in a very unlady-like fashion- into the chair she had been forced to sit down in.
“Why have you been gone so long? The Draculoids did like chasing you but they did not like coming home without you even more, and I missed you terribly.” Korse said tracing her jaw line with his hand.
“Please tell me you didn’t kill them. We were just having a game of tag.” Suspect 12 smiled as she gently pulled her cheek away from his palm. She didn’t mind his touch, but she didn’t want to be distracted at that moment. Least of all she didn’t want Viktoria to witness it.
“I’m sure, but they lost. You know the rules. You never did mention why you have been gone so long without a report.” Korse said letting his hand drop.
“Just getting a better grasp on our targets.”
“Well at least you came back unlike another Rebel I am thinking of. How is Sandra?”
“Dancing around being in love with Party Poison.”
“Disgusting.” Korse said as he motioned to a Drac to untie Twelve.
“I know.” She said standing up and rolling her shoulders to get the feeling back in them.
Suspect 12 didn’t feel the need to tell Korse that she had fallen in love with Jet-Star despite remaining loyal to Battery City. She’d kept up her cover for six months now and it wasn’t too hard especially when everyone saw that Jet-Star and she were in love. He would never be fooled by the enemy.
“At least you are back. You gave the Draculoids quite a scare when you came down the tunnel dressed like that. What is this, a leather jacket? Turn around so I can see how you are branded.” Korse said. Suspect 12 spun. “Does the hypodermic needle have to do with anything?”
“They gave me a Killjoy name, Sleeping Death but they still just call me Suspect 12. You know, because I was being shot by the Dracs with low dose Sleeping Death when they found me. It’s only fitting.”
“And I suppose the plunger being pulled back to 12 milliliters is a throwback to your ‘old’ name?”
“You’re smart.” She smirked with sarcasm.
“Now, down to business. You have been gone six months. Why have I not received a report sooner?”
“I had to build trust in order to be able to go far distances on my own you know. I couldn’t just show up and then disappear.” Twelve said like it was common sense and began adjusting her jacket and shirt.
“I excuse you for that.” Korse said not failing to catch the sight of Twelve’s bare stomach. He would never admit it, but he actually liked the way the Killjoys dressed. The harsh white uniforms hadn’t been his idea. Viktoria was more involved in that.
“Next time tell your minions to be less rough when snatching me in the tunnels. You could just send me a letter.” She smiled knowing the postal system had died a long time ago.
“We will set up a schedule. Come, we have much to discuss, Sleeping Death.” Korse said slightly mocking Suspect 12 and putting his arm around her.
“I can’t stay all night you know. The Killjoys will get suspicious.” She smiled throwing her arm around his back and glancing at Viktoria as icyly as she could manage.
“Relax, we will get it under control. You will be able to stay here for the night. I have sent out extra Dracs tonight on the road into Zone 1 from the City. All you have to do is call up your little friends and let them know you can not make it home tonight for fear of leading the scumbags home.” He smiled thinking he would be able to figure out where the diner was by tracing the radio waves.
“Nice try.” Suspect 12 said seeing right through him. “I’ll just radio Dr. Death Defying and let him broadcast it. You are not getting their location yet. I haven’t seen enough on your end of the bargain.”
Trying not to look too angry, Korse led Suspect 12 to a radio and she called up Dr. D to give him the news so he could let the other Killjoys know and also so she could warn any other listener about the extra Draculoid patrol on the way out of the City. His only thought was that perhaps they were training the captive too well. She was still able to outsmart him in matters that he should have been dominant in.

There was something weighing on Twelve’s mind and she felt like she needed to let some of it out. She had gone up to the roof to kick Party Poison off for a moment. She wanted to have somewhere to think with no one around to watch her. He understood that feeling and let her have the roof for a while until she could clear her head.
There was no one that deserved to hear what she was feeling guilty about more than Jet-Star. If he knew the full of it he would be the one most hurt by it, Girl right after him. Suspect 12 knew damn well she couldn’t tell Jet-Star everything or it would put everyone in danger, including herself, but maybe if she gave him enough clues...
After a while of building things up in her head and thinking about what could -or more likely would- happen to her and the Killjoys if she told them everything about her, Jet-Star started to climb the ladder. Suspect 12 waited for his head to come up over the wall as she leaned against the old a/c unit.
“Party Poison said to come up here.” Jet-Star said a little confused. “He said you were lookin’ stressed.”
“More like I want to get a bit of something out there. I just...”
“There you go trailing off at words.” He said grabbing her hands and pulling them back around his waist like before. “What’s up?”
“I don’t really know how to explain this without hurting everyone I guess. It’s hard.”
“Are you leaving?” Jet-Star asked jumping to conclusions.
“I have no plans to leave.” Suspect 12 said sidestepping the question with out a solid answer.
“You’re scaring me you know.” He said stroking her cheek.
“I have this hole in my heart and it harbors a question.” Suspect 12 began not looking at Jet-Star. She didn’t know what to do other than give a metaphor for what she was feeling. “Sometimes I wonder if everything I know belongs to me. And this question is eating away at me. It’s my biggest fear that my memories don’t belong to me. That someone else put them there when I was asleep and erased all my real memories. Some of the things I’ve done don’t feel like me, some of the things I’m doing now don’t feel like me, and I know what I will do is not going to be me at all.”
“Are you trying to say that BLI did something to you? Do you think they changed your memories or something?”
“Something like that. I’m not sure though. I can’t remember. There’s like this wall that slams down every time I try to remember things like my own name. The only name I know is Suspect 12. I don’t have a real name anymore.”
“If this is about not knowing your name then you shouldn’t be so worried about it. Just because BLI brainwashed you doesn’t mean you’re any less human to me.” He said kissing her forehead. “All the memories you have with us... with me are real.”
“It’s not about the name. It’s about my life. How do I even know that what I remember of home is home? What if everything I ‘know’ is a lie. The only way I could find out is by going back to the City and somehow talking to the other captives. But I can’t get back there without putting you all in danger. I never had these questions when I was in there.”
At this point Suspect 12 was just spinning her wheels. She knew she shouldn’t have even brought this up because now Jet-Star was going to be confused and worried about her. That wasn’t what she needed at all. She needed to figure out her real name. She knew that was the key. There was something that had been said to her that she knew meant if she ever heard her name then she would get her memories back.
In a world where real names were hidden and left unused even by family it was only logical that her name was the skeleton key to her mind. The access code to unleashing her memories.
“I just can’t help that think I’m a bad person and you wouldn’t like me if you knew all the things I’ve done. In fact I know you wouldn’t.” Suspect 12 sighed.
Jet-Star turned Suspect 12’s face up to his and took his sunglasses off. He could see that she was torn up inside about something but she wasn’t telling him exactly what it is. He knew that she was hiding something but he didn’t know why she felt like she should hide it.
“You are not a bad person, Twelve. I wouldn’t be around you so much if you were a bad person.”
“But Jet...” She started and then he put his fingers on her lips.
“Shh.” He said staring into her eyes trying to see what she was thinking. “I don’t know what it is that is eating at that hole in your heart but Babe, it’s not worth it.”
When he pressed his lips to hers she started to cry. Hearing him say those things just made her see that she was worse than she had thought. After everything she had done she was such a good actress he didn’t even suspect that she was up to no good.
“What? Stop this.” He said wiping at her cheeks.
“I’m awful.”
“No, but you are all torn up something awful.” He said holding her head in his palms.
She smiled at that. “I guess so.”
“You won’t tell me will you?”
“I can’t. We can all be monsters at the after party.”
“Well as long as your not hiding something like you’re an android girl and all this time I’ve been in love with a robot. They have faulty wiring you know. I would be devastated if you shorted out and needed a new circuit board or something.” Jet-Star smiled squeezing Suspect 12’s sides playfully.
Suspect 12 laughed at Jet-Star’s squeezing and grabbed his hands to stop him.. She wanted to avoid the one word he had said, the four letter L word. There was no way she was ready to say that one, not with the turmoil inside her mind.
“Come on, we have to let Party Poison resume his day watch. We can’t let him get out of this.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Jet-Star said a bit sadly.
He was wondering if she had even heard what he had said or if she was too busy with her own mind to notice. He was hoping it was the second one rather than her having heard it and ignoring it.