XY Revolution

I finally get my laser treatment for my eyes whilst Dr Walsh berates Julia for not ensuring I had auditory protection seeing as she was going to be setting off a bomb in such close proximity. I stifle giggles as the young woman looks so sheepish. When he's done lecturing her, she then throws her arms around him and kisses him. I don't even know where to look.

"Go get changed! I can smell the smoke on you," he tells her stiffly, and she salutes him mockingly before winking at me and sauntering off.

Dr Walsh sighs and then turns back to me asking, "Is everything settling?"

"My ears feel like they've got water in them, but my hearing's fine. The eyes are fantastic."

No glasses, no contacts...it's a relief.

"Then you are free to go. You'll be fine for training tomorrow."

I nod and swing my legs over the side of the bed, "Awesome. Pierre's going to run the tests on the guns we found in twenty minutes."

"Please wear earmuffs."

"Do you really think Travis is going to let that slip?"

He cracks a smile and I walk out the door to the hospital, adding cheekily as I go, "Julia seems to like you telling her off."

I skip off before he can respond.



Travis and I are animatedly discussing the new weapons at supper - the food raiders managed to snag some decent quality ice-cream that was on its way to the San Francisco Council, and it tastes wonderful. We watched Pierre's testing earlier with a bunch of agents and Phil who kept yelling "Boom!" at inappropriate intervals. Apparently he gets like this after a mission where he's been allowed to run wild with the explosives.

The guns fire normally, then halfway to a locked target, the shell splits into three. The target is shot and the rest of the shell attaches to whatever it can. After two seconds, they all explode rather spectacularly. When I watched a training dummy rain down, I realised how important our mission had been. These guns would've been catastrophic to the Resistance. If their soldiers saw us coming, they could take out several people at one with just one sniper. Losing people is something the Resistance tries to avoid. We may be replaceable, but every casualty can have an unprecedented outcome. At least that's what Henriette told me after the tests, in her office over a cup of tea like we weren't discussing war and death.

I shake my head at Travis and maintain, "It'd be much better as a pure sniper weapon. Wars aren't fought in lines at close range. You'd risk killing your own people."

He frowns and thinks for a moment.

"What about adding a feature to an existing weapon where you can toggle options? It'd save carrying around a whole bunch of equipment and then it just comes down to judgement."

I consider his proposal and say, "I'd agree, but it all depends on how much you trust your soldiers' judgement then. I wouldn't want to give that kind of power to just anybody, and definitely not in a full-out combat situation."

He then grins, scars on his lips stretching. He leans in and whispers, "You're learning."

Henriette gave me books on war strategy at our meeting. I spent the rest of the afternoon poring over them.

"I never thought it would peak my interest so much, but here we are," I tell him.

"Then we chose well with you."

"Hey!" a cheery voice says and Rebecca takes a seat next to Travis with her bowl of ice-cream.

"Did you two hear the news yet? I was with Connie when Verity came rushing in," she blurts, blue eyes dancing under thick black lashes.

Travis shakes his head and eats another spoonful of his dessert.

"Six dead councillors in Australia, nine in Germany, three in England, fourteen in Russia, and two in Japan."

I drop my spoon and Travis looks up with wide eyes.

"That wasn't even us, was it?" he asks.

"Exactly," she responds. "The people are listening."

She then turns to me and says, "You're doing well for us, Freya. This is massive. Hopefully we got some good footage from the raid."

I frown.

"What footage?" I inquire.

Travis looks sheepish and avoids my gaze. Rebecca notices and elbows him.

"Why didn't you tell her we all had cameras built into our glasses?"

"You were filming me," I enunciate slowly and Travis sighs.

"You wouldn't have focused on the mission if you had known, Frey. You look better when you're not trying to impress anyway."

I don't miss the raised eyebrow Rebecca shoots him.

"I heard another piece of news, though I suppose it's more gossip..." Travis starts, staring into his rapidly decreasing amount of ice-cream.

"Trav, I love gossip. We hardly ever have any round here," Rebecca says with an exasperated sigh.

He then chuckles and says, "That's because most of the gossip is about you."

She narrows her eyes but doesn't respond. I know I'm missing out on something and it's uncomfortable.

"Anyway," he continues, "The go-ahead has been given for Derek and Kevin's wedding."

"Wasn't Kevin under sanctions?" I ask quietly.

"Yeah, but Henriette pulled some strings. They had him tested with truth serum and he was clean. He's got some pretty shitty chores to do around the base, but he's back with Derek again."

I can't name the feeling in my gut. I know it's made up of relief that Kevin is okay; happiness because I like Kevin and Derek, and a wedding would be wonderful, but doubt and apprehension is twisting it all up. It was one slip-up that could've cost me my life - that still could. It's not something I can shake lightly.

I don't say anything further, and Travis and Rebecca find other things to talk about. I'm relieved when Phil arrives though, because I have no idea what the other two are on about. However, I can't help but notice how overly full Phil's bowl is. He is the kitchen favourite and I don't get it - he's an absolute menace!

"Try out the new toys, Frey?" he asks.

I grab my spoon and steal some of his ice-cream. He screws up his nose at me and I stick my tongue out.

"Nah, I spent as much time there as you did. I think Pierre would've let me, but with everyone watching and Henriette wanting to see me, I didn't have time to ask."

"At least Walsh got you all patched up. Trav told me he got worried when you couldn't shoot."

The blue-haired guy doesn't even turn his head at the sound of his name.

"That explosion was nasty," I say simply and take another spoonful.

The others then stand up and Travis tells us, "We're going to go lend a hand with bringing in the medical equipment for Walsh. See you guys later."

"Bye," Phil says and I nod.

I wait till they're out of the room before I casually note to Phil, "They're quite friendly."

Phil looks at me for one moment and then bursts into a fit of laughter, spraying the table with saliva and ice-cream.

"What did I say?" I ask, feeling my face turn into a tomato.

He wipes his mouth with his sleeve then says, "Sorry, I forget you're still new. I mean it's the worst kept secret at Home Base."

My chest starts to tighten and my throat constricts. God damn it, Freya! Get a grip!

"Oh, I didn't know."

He waves me off, "No, not them! Rebecca and Natasha have been sneaking into each other's rooms for months now."

"Rebecca...and Natasha?"

"Hey, I was shocked too! I mean with this fine thing," he gestures to himself, "Sitting right here? Crazy. But you know, they're two good looking girls and why the hell shouldn't they appreciate that too?"

He's grinning broadly and I box his ear.

"You pervert!" I accuse.

"I'm just a happy supporter!"

"Yeah, happy alright."

He doesn't deny it, and I shake my head. My brother's the same.



I stand at the back for the wedding, among some of the people I remember as putting their hands up in favour of Kevin's execution. I don't necessarily agree with them, but that feeling of overall newness to the Resistance hits home when everyone's gathered together. They all act like family, and I know that they pretty much are. Most of the people in this room come from broken families, destroyed by the XY Regime or another product of this hazardous world we're trying to live in.

I can't deny that I'm happy for Derek and Kevin, because the ceremony is very sweet. Even from the back I could feel the love in the room, and hear it in their voices during the vows. It makes me feel a bit ashamed I'm standing with the condemners, but I can't ignore such conflicting feelings and just put on a happy face. I think I'm turning into my dad.

Finally, Henriette pronounces the couple married and they kiss. Everyone stands up and applauds, but I feel a tugging on my shirt sleeve. Travis.

"Come on," he says and I slip out the door behind him.

"What's going on?" I ask the moment we're in the hall, moving towards the elevator.

He shrugs and responds, "I didn't want to stick around longer than I had to. Figured you wouldn't either, otherwise you would've sat with Phil."

Phil was seated in the second row and was overly emotional the whole time. He's a strange one for sure, but the more I get to know him, the more I like him.

I frown, "You know me too well already."

He laughs as we step into the elevator. He presses the button to go to level one and I raise my eyebrows. I haven't been to the reception since my first day. Or if I have, I was unconscious at the time.

"You'll like this, trust me," he says with a toothy-smile.

"Okay sir."



Out through the Civilian Entrance, past Gwen on the porch and into the desert, the sun is starting to dip into the horizon. The air is already starting to cool and there's the slightest breeze. Travis starts walking and I have to run to catch up to him; his legs so much longer than mine.

"So?" he asks, the light hitting his hair and giving it a purple hue.

"You were right. I do like this."

"Good. You were going absolutely stir-crazy in there."

I scowl at him, "I am much better since the mission!"

He shakes his head and tells me, "That's different. You come from a place where you're outside all the time, and not just because you have a job to do. It's part of the lifestyle. You need this."

There's nothing I can think of as a response so I just smile to myself.

The walk quickly turns into a hike, climbing up rock faces, running and jumping to the next mass. Travis always jumps first, arms ready to catch me just in case I do slip. The balancing exercises are coming in handy though. My hearing is so much better now too, since Walsh fixed my ears, and apparently that's supposed to help as well.

Travis soon finds a suitable place to sit down, legs dangling over the cliff-side. I join him and look down. We're up a hell of a lot higher than I thought and vertigo suddenly hits me. I shift my gaze to the sky and take deep breaths to calm myself. Once I've recovered, I look round and can't even see Gwen's place. Fortunately, Travis doesn't seem to be worried about that. He knows this land.

"How come you didn't want to stay for the reception?" I ask him after a while.

He shrugs and counters, "Why didn't you?"

"Because it was weird."

"There you go."

"But you were in favour of sanctions for Kevin. Why the attitude change?" I quiz him with a frown.

He gives me a knowing look and says, "I'm still in favour of sanctions. Letting him off the hook isn't something I agree with. Especially giving him a wedding. People here have to work for their day in the Resistance."

"It's not a signing of a marriage license," I muse.

"Exactly. I mean I understand that Derek is deserving. He's one of our best double-agents, but marriage is a partnership." He shakes his head. "Whatever. I don't know what the point of that was, but it doesn't sit right with me. That's all."

"Do you know who gave the go-ahead for it?"

"No, but I'd bet it wasn't Henriette. She's not that stupid."

"It was a dangerous move though. There were a lot of people standing at the back of the room," I point out and he sighs.

"I know, and if they blame Henriette, things are going to get messy around here."

The thought of the Resistance being thrown into chaos is a terrifying thought.

I ask him, "Do you know who else could've ordered it?"

"It'll be the Home Base Advisors - possibly the American Advisors. Whenever there's a chance to undermine Henriette, people will take it. And she can't just ignore Advisors. It undermines the democratic nature of the Resistance, and she was voted in."

"Who are the Advisors here?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure we know several of them. I'm only allowed in meetings regarding combat."

That surprises me. The way everyone carries on around Travis, you'd think he was one of Henriette's right hand men. In fact, I know he is, but I thought that would be synonymous with Advisor.

"Why aren't you one?"

"They tell me I'm too young," he says with a snort. "I'm good enough to teach anyone, organise missions, but not enough to be given actual respect."

I think about that for a moment before saying, "You'd be dangerous if you had Advisor powers though. They'd see you as a threat, because you'd be able to support Henriette where it really matters."

He smiles at me and ruffles my hair again.

"You really are picking up on this stuff, Belmont."