XY Revolution

Up one floor, there’s a simple corridor with wooden floors and no paintings on the walls. It’d be far too difficult to hang artwork in a room such as this. The corridor is completely lined with glass. To the right, you can see the lights of the city. To the left, is a garden, filled with lush green plants and tropical flowers of colours I never could’ve dreamed of. I can actually hear water trickling, and birds cheeping.

“This is amazing,” I breathe and Michaels chuckles yet again.

“Yes, the gardens are rather beautiful. Would you like to go inside?”

“I would love to.”

At the end of the corridor, he pushes a pane of glass slightly and it slides away. There’s a slight heat in the air, a humidity, which no doubt keeps this magical place as vibrant as it is. My arm on his, we slowly stroll through the maze of green.

“My wife, Alexander’s mother, was very beautiful, like yourself. Her eyes were hazel, and her hair was red like fire. She was everything I ever wanted, and I had to have her.”

“It would’ve been hard to stay away from you, for sure.”

“Well, it was, considering she was dating my brother.”

“Your brother?” I exclaim with shock.

“It did complicate things, of course, but she was mine. It was just a matter of time before she understood that too.”

“So what did you do?”

“I became her best friend. I wormed my way into her life to the point where she couldn’t bear to lose me. She told me everything. I knew all my brother’s failings as far as their relationship was concerned, I knew what she wanted, and I knew I could give it to her. I told her so one day and she told me to leave. But I waited.”

“You knew she’d come to you,” I say breathily and he smirks at me.

“When my brother died, of course she did.”

Those blue eyes run ice through my veins. That smirk puts a cold fire in my belly like nothing else ever has.

“You’re a dangerous man,” I state.

“I knew you were a smart girl, my dear. Now are you going to tell me your real name or will I have to do a little bit of homework?”

It’s my turn to smirk.

“I think you’ll like the challenge.”

“As will you.”

“What’s mine exactly?”

“Trying to outsmart me with whatever you have planned. I’m the head of security for the UN, girl, you will not find this easy.”

“Where would be the fun in that?”

“Shall we take this upstairs?” he proposes, and offers his arm again.

I take it, smirk fixed onto my face as surely as the one on his face.



It’s 2300 hours when we arrive at floor 41. The guard from earlier today is still there, and I frown for a fraction of a second, before firmly fixing my game-face back on. Travis and Derek should’ve dealt with him – this guard should be dead in a ditch somewhere and not smiling at us.

Ah.

“Good evening, sir.”

Michaels nods and the gate slides open immediately. I look up at the camera fixed in the corner of the room, but there’s no physical sign of the Resistance’s tampering. When I turn to look back at the guard, there’s a black dot on the back of his neck. The Resistance has more tech than I thought, but I’m not surprised.

We go straight through to the apartment, rather than the office, which was what I had anticipated.

“Scotch?” he asks me as he removes his jacket.

The lights flicker on and I make myself comfortable on one of the white sofas, opposite a large screen. There’s a rug on the floor, no doubt a skin of some once majestic animal that is either endangered or extinct.

“Yes please,” I respond and I hear the clinking of glass and ice.

“Aren’t you scared I’ll poison you?”

“No.”

“You’re not very suspicious.”

“If you wanted to kill me, you would’ve done it a long time ago. The poison could’ve been in anything at dinner. I’m sure you’d have access to a poison which wouldn’t kill me right in the middle of dinner, but seeing as I feel fine and my bloods are normal,” there’s a small needle sticking into my back, feeding information about my blood back to Intelligence. If I was poisoned, I’d know about it, “I don’t think I have anything to worry about.”

“Like I said, smart girl.”

Michaels walks over and passes me my drink. He reclines back on another seat, but watches me closely. As far as entertainment goes, the look in his eyes tells me that I’m living up to expectations. The Resistance wants me to entertain, and I’ll do so, just not in the way they will have anticipated.

“So, what gave me away?” I ask him.

“Well, my dear, you did do an excellent job. You should be proud of your acting abilities. Your intelligence was all wrong though. I know my son better than he does. I know the girls he uses, and I know the girls who use him. You fall into the latter as clear as day.”

“Was I too articulate?” I joke.

“No, that wasn’t the problem at all. You just don’t get to be head of security for the most important organisation in the world if you can’t read people on a deeper level. And like I said, I know my son. He’s a smart boy, smarter than he lets on but you are too good for him. There’s more complexity beneath this,” he gestures in my general direction, “Than what there is with my son. That’s just how it is.”

“Sir, you are by far the most interesting character I’ve met in this place,” I inform him and raise my glass.

“Likewise, and I’ve worked here since before the Revolution.”

I drain my drink and place it on the floor by my feet.

“I have a big day ahead tomorrow, I should go,” I say.

“Just one question, my dear.”

I stand up and nod, giving him the go-ahead.

“How old are you really?”

“Fifteen.”

He grins.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how this all turns out, Chastity.”

“Likewise.”



I almost forget about the trip wire when I enter the apartment, but remember at the last second. I jump it, and close the door quietly. The boys are all sitting on the couches, eyes glued to their laptop screens, frowns of concentration on each of their faces.

“Well, this is cosy,” I state before pulling off my high heels.

Travis replies without even lifting his gaze, “You were gone longer than we expected.”

“Mr Michaels is a very demanding man,” I retort.

That catches his attention.

“Are you okay?” he asks and I laugh.

“I’m fine. We just talked.”

“About what?” Xander asks, frown deepening.

“Your mum actually.”

“He doesn’t like talking about her. He must really like you.”

“I get the feeling that he does,” I muse. “Anyway, how did you guys do? And what the hell did you do to that guard?”

“We got a total rundown of the security on the office itself, and I’m currently sending the code from his computer for decryption now,” Derek says. “Normally we’d just be able to get the hackers to wirelessly get into the system, but this is UN headquarters. We’re not going to be able to do that.”

“As for the guard, we just told him we wanted to look at the cameras,” Travis says simply.

“And he said that was fine?”

“We got him to explain it. While it was down, we stuck the jammer on the wire and injected him with our Robot Serum,” he elaborates.

“What’s Robot Serum?” I ask, getting the mental image of the guard suddenly transforming into a robot, much to my amusement.

“It’s basically a mind-control serum. Once it’s injected, Home Base gains control of the victim until they decide they’re no longer of use. They’re what you’ll be shooting into the guards tomorrow.”

“Excuse me?”

“Did you honestly think we were going to have you single-handedly kill two-hundred guards?”

“Well, I thought it’d be a problem.”

“We can’t have that many people just dropping dead. It’ll cause chaos and bring so much unwanted attention.”

I raise my hands up in defence and say, “Okay, okay, I get it. Robot Serum it is. I was just going off what they were saying the meeting at Home Base.”

“Freya, there’s always going to be a mole. We have them in the UN, and they will have them within the Resistance. If we tell them we’re going to kill a bunch of guards and replace them with Resistance agents then that’s what they’re going to be looking for. They’re not going to be looking for a black dot on the back of guards’ necks, are they?”

I smirk for what seems like the fiftieth time tonight and my muscles are actually aching.

“That’s very clever.”

“Thank you. Now, we need to get this over and done with as soon as possible. My scar is starting to itch.”

“Huh?”

“The longer we’re in enemy territory, the more dangerous it is,” Derek translates. “Travis gets antsy if he has to hold off on killing people for too long.”

“Freya, at 0500 hours you will start on the wing you can see from that window over there,” Travis points to the one closest to the wall shared with one of the bedrooms, “You’ll have to get the runner the moment he steps out onto the deck, so you have fifteen minutes to get to all the guards currently on that roof. Then you’ll have to go into the room across the hall, because that’s where they’ll keep sending runners from to the first one. By this point, the other rooftops will realise that the runners aren’t moving the way they should and send alarms. Don’t worry about it, just keep shooting. Xander will stay with you and direct you through the rest.”

“What’ll you be doing?” I ask with a frown.

“Derek and I will be waiting for Michaels to leave his room – he’s head of security, and he’ll be one of the first points of call when the alarm is raised. Once he’s done that, we’ll be disabling the security in his office, and decrypting the hard drive with the coding sent from Home Base.

“Once you’re done with the serum, you’ll have to dismantle the rifle and destroy it. Xander will help you with disposing of it. Then you will go down to breakfast. Michaels should show up at around 0700 hours, after he’s established that everything is fine with the rooftop guards.”

“And I’ll work my magic again?”

“Yes. Once we have what we need, we’ll try and assassinate as many Chess Pieces as possible.”

“Do you need me to take care of Michaels?” I ask with a frown. “He won’t be easy to kill.”

“We don’t want you to kill him. You will stay with him and act like nothing is wrong, so you aren’t implicated, and so you can distract him. When the time comes, you will have to kill anyone who stops you from leaving. Hopefully you’ll get a few high profile UN officials at least.”

“But avoid killing my father,” Xander orders, “We need him.”

I nod and promise, “Out of all these bastards, he’s the one I want dead the least.”

“Alright, Freya, I’m going to show you the gun you’ll be working with,” Travis states, placing his laptop on the coffee table and getting to his feet.

I follow him into the bedroom, where pieces of a rather large gun are laid out.

“I’ve never used something this hi-tech,” I inform him.

“Don’t worry about it. There’s actually more skill in what you were doing with Pierre the other day. This will be a walk in the park for you.”

“Show me.”

Travis sits down and names the different components. He then gets me to place them in order, on the bed, where I think they should go. There are only a couple of corrections he needs to make before he’s satisfied.

“Very good,” he praises. “This will save time. Every time you switch apartments, you’ll have to dismantle it, place it in the case underneath the bed,” I hear his boot make contact with something hard, “And put it back together again. We’ve got the jammers on the cameras, but if anyone does happen to walk through the hall, the last thing we want them to see is a weapon like this.”

He then starts piecing it all together. He could obviously do it a lot faster but this way, I get to hear the clicks of every part sliding into their proper place, see the way they fit perfectly together, and watch how it steadily grows.

When it’s done, Travis sets it on the stand on the floor, which is the way I’ll have to use it when the time comes. He gestures for me to take a look, so I get down, onto my belly and try to wrap my hands around the monster.

“Freya, this is a lot bigger than what you’re used to. You can’t have your hands like that, they’re awkward,” Travis says then gets down next to me, guiding my hands into place.

Immediately I’m in a much more comfortable position.

“Press this button here,” his finger touches a black button, buried amongst the rest of the jagged parts. “And it’ll turn the telescope on. Its accuracy is approximately 99.9% so if you have a locked target, there’s virtually no way you’ll miss.”

I press the button and take a look through the telescope, amazed when I can actually see individual dust mites in the air.

“Wow,” I breathe.

“It’s pretty cool, right?”

“Cool is an understatement. This is brilliant.”

“I’m glad you like it. Now, take it apart.”

I’m definitely reluctant to do so, but I just sigh and turn off the telescope, placing the rifle onto the bed. It’s quite heavy, sturdy, but the perfect weight for a beautiful weapon like this.

“Remember, you take it apart from the barrel down.”

“Also a very logical weapon,” I add. “Yeah, I got it.”

Dismantling it is difficult, and also very simple. It’s like I’m watching my first born child crumbling into dust between my own hands, and my mother would probably slap me for such a comparison. But the pieces just slide out perfectly and I lay them out in order.

“You’ll need to get that up to speed, Freya. That took you four minutes.”

I glare at Travis.

“Fine. Watch.”

I then start to put it back together, as fast and determined as ever. The gun complies with my touch, almost totally attuned to what my mind wants of it. The feel of it underneath my fingers is like touching the finest silk to me. I do think I might be in love.

“How long was that?” I ask.

“Two minutes,” Travis says, surprised.

“Let’s keep going then.”