Renegade

I hear the sounds of glass shattering and metal crunching echoing out into the world but is amplified within the confined space I'm in. I force my eyes open and I'm in my old car, the one I crashed in. I slowly move my head and notice I'm not alone in the car this time. I reach over and shake Logan, but he remains unresponsive. My vision is hazy, but I see the silhouette of a person walking toward us. I fuss with my seatbelt, but it's stuck. I glance back out my window where I'm greeted by Mayor Fierce with a marionette face and strings attached to his wrists. He holds my lighter in his hand and tosses it at the car. It ignites in flames and begins to surround us inside. I shake Logan one last time, but when he slumps over and I realize he's gone. I let out a scream which allows smoke to enter my lungs.

I'm startled awake by Logan's phone going off in his pocket. The ice pack which Mae gave me for my wrist is thawed out and has lost all its coldness. Logan stirs in the seat next to me and slowly lifts his head off of mine giving his stiff neck a rub. He reaches into his pocket and grabs onto his ringing phone. He sighs answering it tiredly. I raise my head from his shoulder feeling my neck pop from keeping it in the same position all night. I squint my eyes trying not to expose them to the sunlight streaming in from the window next to us. I scan the area seeing if Mae is around, but I don't see her. Aaron is passed out on the chair across from us. I glance up at the clock above him which reads a little after seven in the morning.

I stretch my arms forward and hang my body over my knees. I feel Logan's hand rest on my back and he slowly starts to rub it. I can tell he's on the phone with Gabe by the way he's responding. I sit up when he hangs up his phone. He rolls his eyes stating we have to be at The Tunnel immediately and that we're going out in the field. I let out a groan wishing we didn't have to do anything today. Logan gets up from his chair and wakes Aaron up to inform him we're leaving and that he should think about doing the same. I slowly stand up and feel my spine realign itself with a loud crack. We say goodbye to Aaron and he apologizes about the incident yesterday on his father's behalf.

We marinated in the silence of the room for a few minutes before Mae ran out to grab me an ice pack since my arm was hot and throbbing. I've been too scared to ask Logan how he's doing and what his father meant by the video he saw. For all we know, he could've just been having an episode and it didn't mean anything, but judging by Logan's reaction I don't think it was nothing. On the contrary, I did ask who Eleanor was. Mayor Fierce's children exchanged a look before Aaron answered that Eleanor was their mother's name. As to why he called me that was unclear to everyone.

The drive back to The Tunnel was quiet and heavy. From the look on Logan's face, I could tell he regretted going in the first place. I sit with my head against the window most of the ride until Logan clears his throat insinuating he's ready to talk.

"What happened yesterday?" Logan asks shifting uncomfortably.

"With your dad? You know what hap --"

"Not with my dad." He interrupts me. "With Drax." I raise an eyebrow at him and he glances over at me. "I'm not an idiot, Phoenix." I swallow hard. He only uses my full name when he's serious and means business. "I know he says some pretty rude shit about me and when I walked in yesterday it looked like he --" he trails off.

"He didn't." The words fall out of my mouth. "We didn't."

"I know you wouldn't." He sighs. "Look, babe, I trust you completely. It's him I don't trust. I wouldn't even go on an assignment with him." I reach over and place my hand on his thigh.

"You don't need to worry." I reassure him. "I'd rip off his hands before he'd even touch me." Logan smirks with a short breathy laugh connected to it.

It's slightly colder this morning, but also damp from all the rain yesterday. I fold my arms across my chest wishing I had my sweatshirt. I at least have one stashed in my locker inside The Tunnel. I yank the back door open and step inside. Logan closes the door behind us when we hear shouting coming from the plant.

"Are you fucking serious?" Logan and I make the same face when we discover it's Quela. I leave him in the dust as I rush to the plant to see what has her upset. I stop when I enter the plant and see she's yelling at Gabe. "You must be out of your fucking mind." Everyone in the room is frozen, afraid to do or say anything.

"I know you're upset, but --"

"Upset?" Quela shouts. "No I'm pissed off, Gabriel!" Logan comes running in and starts to walk over to them, but I grab a hold of his shirt to stop him. He looks at me confused and I shake my head letting him know not to engage.

"Quela," Hunter whispers putting his hand on her shoulder. "It's just one day."

"A lot can happen in a day." She barks at him. "I don't trust the little minx. She's sloppy and doesn't have decent training. If this assignment is as dangerous as you say it is, why is he going with someone who has little to no experience with this type of thing. She's going to get him killed!" I see her motion to Lia who is standing behind Gabe.

"Shit." I huff under my breath knowing I'm going to intervene. I push passed Logan and rush over to try and calm Quela down before Lia starts to get worked up.

"Out of everyone here, you pick her to be his partner today? Why not me?" I grab onto Quela's arm. She looks at me and points. "Why not Phoenix? She's fit for something like this."

"Detope is going with Fierce to a different area than them." Gabe explains.

"Oh sure! Of course you would partner those two up. Remember when you hated the idea of putting them together because you knew they'd get themselves killed? Where did that go, huh?" I look at Hunter and tilt my head to the exit. He understands what I mean and picks Quela up from behind and starts to drag her out of the room. "Put me down! I'm not finished with him yet!" She shouts. "Your parents incorrectly named you, Gabriel! They should've named you Lucifer because you're the fucking devil!"

They disappear down the hall, but we can all still faintly hear her yelling. Gabe sighs rubbing his temples and when he glances up, everyone in the plant resumes whatever they were doing before Quela's outburst. Lia holds her head down looking slightly embarrassed and upset about what just happened. I go to comfort her, but Gabe stops me. He shoves me toward his old office and motions to Logan to meet us in there. He nods and follows in behind us.

Gabe slumps down into a seat looking exhausted and ready to give up. Logan stands alert with his arms folded across his chest while I rub my sleepy eyes understanding exactly how Gabe feels right now. He looks at the two of us and shakes his head with a sigh.

"I still think that, you know. She wasn't lying." He shuts his eyes. "Pairing you two up is trouble, but I know if I separated you and something happened to one, the other would kick my ass." He laughs which seems like it's taking a lot of effort to do so. "You two will be heading toward Grandea which is almost two hours away. According to the man in charge there, he's lost at least 89 of his people in this morning's uproar." He pinches the bridge of his nose. "Watch yourselves out there. Who knows what you'll see out there. You know the drill from here." He shoos us from the office.

We head over to the training room to get our equipment all set and squared away. I twist my hair around and secure it in place with the clip Logan got me for Christmas. One of the few items which actually survived the fire. I see a smile on his face when he sees it. I reach into my locker and grab a change of clothes. I grin at the sight of the black jeans I always wore for my arson assignments. I snag my black holster off the hook and my hoodie which I know I'll probably ditch when we get there. I wrap my holster around my waist and thigh buckling it shut. I adjust it so it's secured tightly and unlikely for it to move.

Logan hands me an assortment of throwing knives while he does the same, but adding a pistol and ammunition to his collection. I shake my head, but Logan ignores my reaction. Once Dranca took over she restored the second amendment and Gabe got official pistols for the rebellion to use in case of emergencies. I refused that training since I know I would never use one. I already know what it's like to get shot and I wouldn't want to inflict that type of pain on anyone. I'm good with knives and combat so I can only hope that it'll be good enough.

Logan's hand hovers over the pack of cigarettes sitting on the shelf of his locker. It's been over twenty four hours since he's had one and I'm surprised he hasn't smoked the rest of that pack. He clutches his fist shut and slams his locker door closed. I turn my head away as he looks toward me. I try and act like I wasn't watching what happened. He crosses the room to grab his black fingerless gloves. Drax walks in the room and heads right for me. I sigh softly, closing my locker door quietly. Logan keeps his eyes locked on him watching from a distance.

"Can we talk?" He whispers to me, hoping Logan can't hear.

"No," I announce, "I can't right now." I brush passed him and over to Logan. "You ready to go?" I ask folding my arms. He turns around and nods. I grab his hand and walk out of the room ignoring Drax.

Logan separates from me to grabs the keys to an old storage van which we updated to transport large amounts of people to The Tunnel. We have three vans total, but we never have more than two vans out at a time. I lean against the wall and wait for Logan to return. I watch as Hunter exits Quela's room looking drained from trying to calm her down. He closes her door gently running his fingers through his long hair. A loud bang comes from inside the room and something hits the door. Hunter looks up at the ceiling gnawing on his lip rings.

Lia and Logan appear in the hall with keys to the vans. She flashes a quick smile at me as she walks by. She hands the keys to Hunter and he accepts them trying to ignore the rampage occurring in Quela's room. I head for the backdoor not wanting to get involved in that drama. Logan follows closely behind me as we walk across the street to the parking garage.

We scale the ramp to where the vans are parked and prepare for our one hour car ride, but with Logan driving it's more like forty minutes. The van is more spacious than what I'm used to being in. I extend my legs forward giving them a good stretch, enjoying the leg room while I can until I'm back in Logan's car. We drive in comfortable silence for awhile until about thirty minutes in when I can't hold in my curiosity anymore.

"What were the videos your dad talking about yesterday?" I ask pulling my foot up onto the seat.

"What?" Logan quickly glances over at me.

"Your dad mentioned some videos he saw. What was he talking about?"

"I--I don't know." He stutters. "I really don't." He says trying to convince me.

"Was he," I pause debating whether or not I should say it or not, "talking about Casandra?" Logan swerves the van, but steadies it quickly.

"You know about her?" I nod slowly and he bangs his hand on the steering wheel. "Fucking Quela told you, didn't she? Motherfucker!" He accelerates the van. "Forget everything she told you. This is all you need to know; Casandra was insane, a real lunatic. She used us to do all her dirty work for her and when we were fed up with it, she lost her fucking mind. She went too far and," he hesitates, "pushed us passed our breaking points." He shakes his head. "That's it. That's all you need to know." I notice his knuckles turning white from how hard he's gripping the wheel.

"So she had videos of --"

"She was sadistic, Phoe. It doesn't seem weird that she'd record it." He chokes on the words of his last sentence. "That's in the past. We don't need to worry about her anymore."

"Why?" I ask shifting in my seat.

"Because she's dead."