-1-

The younger man’s eyes shift to the older man for some kind of confirmation and with a slight head nod the older man starts sinking to the floor. Without so much as a word from me they both get to their knees and put their hands behind their back like I’m about to execute them.

Which I know, no matter what, I’m not going to do. I wouldn’t be able to clean it up and everyone in the hotel would hear the bullets going off. I need a Plan B. Hell, I need a Plan A.

The computer beeps. The hack has finished.

I could just take it and make a run for it, but then these men will report they saw me and that could ruin Sara’s plan and put me on the chopping block.

I give the two men a second look. They’re both in suits so they aren’t military, that’s something. They won’t recognize my uniform as a fake or that I’m not acting like a trained and capable Eastern Guardsmen. The older man’s name badge is lying on the ground upright. His name is Vincent Bryson and his title is the  Assistant Deputy Attorney of the Republican Public Safety Sector.

They’re  from the Republic. Which means there’s a chance they don’t know that I don’t belong.

I can recover from this.

“ Stand.” I say.

“Don’t shoot, sir.” the younger man says, his voice shaking. “Please.”

“I’m won’t.” I say and start improvising. “Please stand up, I’m sorry. It’s just no one is supposed to be in here and you can’t be too careful. Is the Attorney General expecting you ?”

They both stand, looking both relived and very confused. The younger man puts his hand on  Vincent Bryson’s back as if to make sure he is okay.

“I’m ADA Vincent Bryson from the Republic Sector of Public Safety, I work under Mr. Julian Walker.” Bryson introduces himself and takes my hand. “This is Kenneth, my assistant.”

Kenneth reaches over to shake my hand, while he’s younger than Vincent he is clearly older than me. Now that I don’t have a gun trained on him I notice how he stands a few inches above everything in the room.

I need to get out of here.

“We were hoping to set up a  visit with the Attorney General or one of her deputies either during the Summit or after for professional development purposes about international legal regulations. Can we set that up with you ?,” he asks

I start to breath. Even I can lie my way out of this one.

“You’ll have to come back later. I need to lock up this office,” I say in the most authoritative voice possible. I casually take the mini usb out of the computer and head for the door.

“Well, maybe we can wait out--,”  Vincent says.

“You can’t,” I say.

Time is ticking and I have to be an arrogant asshole. I think about how Jean convinces people to do things, with just a few touches.

I put my hand on the older man’s back and push him lightly in the direction of the door.

“Am I not making myself clear ?  Leave and come back at a more appropriate time. Our Attorney General is very busy and doesn’t have time to just listen to your requests. You’re wasting everyone’s time and you need to leave right now.”

As I talk they follow me out the door.

“You can’t talk to him like that--,” Kenneth speaks up.

“No, it’s alright. We shouldn’t have dropped in without sending out a communication,” Bryson reasons. “We’ll do that and come back.”

“Good,” I breath as we clear the Authorized Personnel Area.

When we reach the lobby I rush to get as far away from them as possible. I  make out Kenneth asking why all Eastern Guards are fucking assholes.

 

****

When I get back to our hotel suite, Sara and Jean are leaning over a series of screens, they don’t even acknowledge I’ve come into the room until the door slams. Then they both turn and rush towards me.

Jean hugs me, but Sara has her hands on her hips.

“Where the hell have you been ?,” she snaps. “What took you so long ?”

“You don’t know ?,” I say taking off the uniform jacket.

“What ?,” they say in unison.

I assume it’s not a secret, so I tell them about meeting my mom. Halfway through Sara tunes me out and starts tapping out programming code on her computer. I leave out the part about running into the two Republican officials and nearly fucking up.

“Are we good ?,” I say.

Jean nods.

“Everything according to plan.” He says.

“What about Minnow ?,” I ask.

“She’s with dear old granddad and has already hacked his computer,” Jeans informs me.

“And she’s staying with him ? She’s going home ?,” I clarify.

He shrugs.

“Looks like it. Let’s hopes so.”

I was sad to see her go, but also happy she didn’t come back. . Even I knew Rayne was never going to let her join the Cartel, she was waiting around for nothing.  Minnie has the option I may never have, the option to go home. She should take it.

With that thought, the little places I’ve put all my emotions are coming undone.  The memory of seeing my mother and having her tell me I can’t comes home floods back over me. I can’t breath and start swallowing rapidly before I get off the couch.

I sprint  to the bathroom and putting my hands on each side of the marble sink I place my sweaty forehead on the faucet. I can’t swallow anymore, I feel like I’m drowning. 

Bending over the sink I open my mouth to let the tears flow past my lips and out into the sink drain.  I stay like that for a minute, coughing and gasping, letting it all drain out before I rinse the salty taste out of my mouth.

I look up into the mirror to see a pair of green eyes that don’t belong to me.

“What the--,” Luce starts

I turn to him sharply and  shove him into the wall.

 “What the hell is your problem ?,” I say. I'm angry. I push him so hard his head bounces off the wall with a crack.

His eyes grow big and flicker ,  like a malfunctioning computer LED and I remember he’s a kid. A cyborg kid. A dying cyborg kid.

“Sorry,” I mumble letting him go.

“Don’t apologize,” he says in a condescending tone.  “I came to tell you I saw what happened in the Attorney General’s office on the cameras. You should have shot those idiots but you didn’t.”

“So ?,” I ask.

“So,” he says. “Punch me in the face. I’ll let you. I know you want to. You must hate me, after all I beat the shit out of you when you first got here.  I want to see how soft you are.”

He stands right up next to me and even though I’ve never been in a fight, I’m sure I could knock a few of his arrogant teeth out. But, I’m not going to hit a child.

I wonder what would happen if I tell him the truth about his dad ? How his precious father is the one who did that to him. It would make him shut the hell up for once. Hell, the truth would probably hurt more than me punching his face.

 “Get out,” I say.

“No. C’mon hit me.”

 I reach around him and push the door open.

“You’re such a little bitch,” he taunts me.

 I’m sure things like that get him into plenty of fights at school but I’m not a preteen boy.

“Why won’t you hit me ?,” he asks.

I walk out past him.

“I kind of have this new theory that superhumans should stick together,” I say.

And I hear a small laugh.

 

***

-2-

The truth hurts.

That’s the big plan. It’s simple.

Now that we’ve sorted and hacked through high level computers from both sides of the war we know all their dirty little secrets.  And before Julian Walker or Cyril Porter can sign any Peace Treaty, Sara’s going to display the evidence of their lies for the whole world to see.

 As we walk with the crowd towards Memorial Stadium, Sara is off her usual game. She’d been up all night coding and programing and snuck out at dawn  to set up the hook up that would allow her to take control of the broadcast. She’d refuse to let anyone help her.

Despite the people on all sides of us, I can easily keep up with Sara because of the bright color of her wig.

  She’s taking the tiniest sips of her morning coffee and has on the darkest pair of shades Ivy could lend her. I’d been holding off, but  I figure asking her when she is vulnerable and on edge is the best time so I can at least get a straight answer.

 As soon as I walk up next to her she senses I want something.

“What ?,” she snaps.

“I know you don’t want me, but you have me. I will be yours forever for whatever you want me to do… I just need.. to be able to talk to my mother. Can we work  something out ?”

“Are you fucking kidding me ?,” Sara says as we are jostled along by the crowd and into the stadium. “I can’t believe you are asking me that now of all times.  I told you weeks ago. I can’t set up communication to the East. Maybe mail access. Maybe.”

The red hairs of her wig hair blow in her face and she sloppily untangles it from her lips

“What if my mom helps ?” I suggest. “She’s apparently really smart.”

“God, Alan. Can we just get through this first ?,” Sara asks exasperated.

We are corralled with the crowd towards the Memorial Stadium security entrance, people are being pulled and lightly pushed through three different scanners and censors like at an airfield.  Police from both countries line the perimeters beyond the check point. Some of the cops are even in riot gear, they aren’t letting any shit hit the fan during the signing of this peace treaty.

If they only knew.

Jean goes through first and them me, nothing sets me off, which I expect because I’m not carrying a weapon. None of us are.

 Sara goes through next without an issue, but the alarms start blaring once Luce steps through.

The guard grabs him and pushes him against the wall and he starts cursing them out.

“Hey!,” Sara shouts, wrenching the man’s arms off her son. “He’s got a cybernetic leg.”

The man tells Luce to step back through and he sets off more alarms. It’s only after three scans and a pat down do they let him go.

The inside of the stadium is massive, it’s bigger than the standard professional ones and much cleaner. The rows are filling with civilians who could buy tickets and people in military uniform.  We have assigned seats in the reserved  front row  where the 50 yard line would be. They were arranged by Rayne, who is sitting on the heavily lit stage in the middle of the field with the other CEOs and dignitaries.

Surrounding the stage are four large jumbotrons displaying national flags and hundreds of camera drones When Sara starts her takeover, all of the screens and drones will be at her command.

Sara walks past the bleachers and  to the very perimeter of the where the field starts and pours  her coffee into the turf grass. A guard walks over  to chastise her and I see her go into a fake apology, she clutches her hand to her chest, which just draws attention to how the black sundress she is wearing exposed her cleavage.

“Hey look , there’s Minnie,” Luce says and I follow him as he jogs over to where Minnie is standing alone by the entrance.  Her purple hair is hidden in a neat bun and she’s wearing a sweater set and flat heels..

I notice Jean stays behind and takes a seat, starting up a conversation with the person next to him.

“So, whose ready to ruin world peace ?,” Minnie laughs as we approach. She’s holding the old-fashioned pistol and spinning the empty barrel.

“What the hell ?,” Luce says taking the gun from her. “I practically get molested coming in here, but they let you bring a gun.”

“What are you doing with that ?,” I ask, alarmed.

She’s not supposed to have a weapon. None of us are.

“Oh, relax, it doesn’t fire,” she says dramatically, taking the gun back. “Gramps and I went through the VIP entrance, no security check point.”

 “Wait, is your grandfather watching us now ?,” I ask.

She shakes her head.

“He’s taking a business call. Probably arranging my new bedroom too,”

“So, you’re really going back to living in that bubble ?,” Luce asks

Minnie just kind of looks down and messes with Luce’s hair.

“You all don’t get rid of me that easily….After this is over I think I’m coming back to The Sprawl. I’ll probably have to wait and stay home a few days before I just runaway again.”

“Jean will be pissed,” I tell her. “You should just stay home. You might like it.”

She rolls her eyes.

“If I went back, I’d just be lying to myself and pretending to be someone I’m just not anymore. I mean don’t get me wrong, I’ll go back home one day, but not now. Besides, Jean needs me.”

She catches Jean’s eye across the crowd and winks at him. He laughs like he’s heard the greatest joke in the world.

Minnow reaches over and turns on the com in my Syndicate. I bristle at her touch.

“…And since I can’t be with you guys physically, I at least want to hear you,” she says and turns on her own.

A buzzer sounds throughout the stadium warning people to get to their seats and we separate. Minnow goes to the VIP section, that consists of leather bound fold out chairs on the turf in front of the stage while Luce and I head over to where Sara has seats saved for us on the second row of the bleachers.

As we take a seat all of my years in standard education make me want to sit and listen, but Sara has other plans. She puts her fingers in her coffee cup and pulls out a handful of damp coffee stained plastic cubes. She puts some in my lap and some in Luce’s.

“Start opening them,” she whispers.

“What are these ?,” I ask.

But she doesn’t answer. I watch as she pulls open the cubes and takes out a small metal object. It’s not until she opens two more do I realize there parts of a small gun. She used the plastic cubes and her coffee to mask them at the scanners.

I start to work open the cubes I have.

“I though you said no guns ?,” I whispered.

“Always have a back up plan.” Sara says.

Her fingers work quickly as she puts the gun together in her lap. She doesn’t even look up when she does it. To anyone observing it looks like she is just listening intently as they play both countries national anthems. After short speeches by two noticeably young and smiling soldiers about how much integrity their military experiences have taught them, Sara’s gun is put together and in her pocket.

The final two speeches are from Julian Walker himself and Gen.Cyril Porter,  the two men who started this all.

Sara now has her screen in her lap and with her eyes on the jumbotrons she starts typing in code.

“I have had to address my people many times with concerns over safety.” Walker begins. “ There have been many tough choices for me, but I know I and my staff have faced them with integrity and conviction…”

“Shit,” Sara whispers.

“More like bullshit,” Jean says out the side of his mouth.

“No something’s not right,” she whispers. “One of my DHI connections is down or put in wrong, the backdoor won’t open and the wireless code can’t transmit--”

“English,” Jean hisses

“Shit, I need to do a manual override. I need to get my screen to the fucking circuit box.”

“I’ll do it,” Jean volunteers. “Just tell me where.”

She nods discreetly to a metal box sitting on the edge of the field, only a few feet away from us. It was perfectly in walking distance except that standing right in front of it is a row of cops in riot gear.

“Well, shit.” Jean half-laughs.

“I can slip through--,” Luce quickly volunteers.

“No,” Sara cuts him off. “No, if they think anything is suspicious this plan won’t work.”

“Time for the backup plan ?,” I ask.

“Does this pistol  look like a long range rifle, asshole ?,” she spits at me.

I think the old me would have been more offended, but I just let it slide off me. Julian Walker is done talking and Cyril Porter is starting his speech. It’s as amiable and meaningless as Walker’s.

“What then ?,” Jean asks. His tone is annoyed. “We did not come all the way out here to not take these assholes down over a communication problem.”

Sara takes off her sunglasses, her eyes look a mess. She scans the entire stadium and her eyes lock on to where the circuit box sits behind the cops.

“We just need a distraction,” she finally says. “To get the blueboys to move.”

“We have less than a minute until they sign that treaty. Please tell me you have a brilliant idea,” Jean whispers.

“I can stand near the scanner,” Luce chimes in. “Make it go off, that will freak them out--,”

“Not enough, little brother.” Jean sighs. “They have security for that. Those blueboys want to be heroes, to leave their post it has to be something threatening, but not so threatening they evacuate us. Fuck."

Sara makes a suggestion, but it is drowned out by the sound of applause and the two smiling soldiers from the earlier speeches bringing over the Peace Treaty to be signed.  Porter and Walker make a show of using stylized gold pens that have some kind of history from the Serial War.

It’s now or never for us.

Sara puts her head in her hands.

-3-

“I’m going to try--,” Luce starts, but is interrupted by a wave of murmurs through the crowd and  the thundering sound of a dozen police in riot gear storming towards the stage.

“What the fuck…,” Jean asks, puzzled.

Sara looks up to see the cops gone and without a second thought she dashes from her seat and to the circuit box. She concentrates on hooking her screen into it  without incident  because no one is watching her.

They are all watching the dozens and dozens of soldiers, police and security storm down the field and right to the center row of the VIP section where a gun is pointed at Julian Walker’s head.

Minnow stands, her legs spread and little white heels planted firmly on the ground as she holds the dummy trigger. She clicks it four times before one of the officers gets to her and tackles her to the ground, knocking her into a row of chairs. She crumples like paper and screams. The gun flies out of her hand and on to the stage.

 Jean stands and looks like he is going to make a run for her, so I grip his shoulders. We don’t need any more drama.

Three more officers provide back up as they drag her body up and handcuff her. Her face is covered in dirt and the impact from the guard is already causing bruising. She is crying and looking around confused as they take her out of the stadium. I see the man who must be her grandfather following behind making pleading gestures.

Before she is taken completely out of the stadium I sweat she looks up and winks.

From the stage Rayne cuts his eyes in our directions, he may not know our plan, but he knows that wasn't ever part of it.

Once they are gone, Julian Walker walks over to the abandoned gun. He easily picks it up and inspects it. This quiets the crowd.

“It’s fake,” Walker tells the crowd congenially. “I hope these are the only guns my friend Cyril and I will be seeing for a while.”

Porter laughs at this and just like they have the crowd back.

“Let’s get to the main event, shall we ?,” Walker says.

“Let’s,” Sara agrees, sitting back next to me and putting a Syndicate in her ear.

Both men walk over to the podium where the treaty sits, but before they can get to it the lights on stage go out. They keep the good natured attitudes, but then jumbotron screens all go black and are replaced with a white screen with one word on it.

LIAR

Porter and Walker stop what they are doing and eye the screens and each other with suspicion.

“What is the meaning of this ?,” Porter demands.

Some of the men in suits start checking all the power and tech set up, but it won’t matter. Sara has overwritten the entire system. It belongs to her.

The screen flickers to a shot of Cyril Porter sitting in a board room surrounded by his advisors in decorated uniforms. The date on the bottom is a few weeks before the attack on the border.

“General Porter, the Western Republic Government has set up a  patrol on their border.” A woman says. “If we send in the nuclear droids, we will obliterate  thousands in a second and maybe tens of thousands over time from radiation poisoning.”

The Porter in the video simply crosses his arms on the table.

“That has been made apparent to me multiple times. However, the Western Republic people must learn they are still an annex of our country.  Those men and women on that border willingly sacrificed themselves to be symbols for a corrupt government and will most likely proudly pay the price for peace. Any in this room who do not see this point can escort themselves to the nearest  federal detention center”

The screen switches to shots from the night of the attack. Of people burning to death where they stood before fading to black.

THIS IS NOT WHAT PEACE LOOKS LIKE

The screen flashes again to one of the media shows of Julian Walker shaking hands with RLA soldiers. Only once the producer says cut, Walker’s smile fades and he begins to walk away.

“Can’t we have peace ?,” One of the soldiers in the video shouts out to him.

He turns to her and smiling says,” There is no such thing as peace, just power.”

LIAR

The final scene shows footage of a group of businessmen sitting in a room with General Porter and I recognize one of them as Mr. Kyto—Allison’s father. Each man has an identifier over him for what company he is from, they are all the Top 20 EUS tech businesses.

“We have come together and are willing to offer 500 million for you to end this conflict,” the Omni Consumer Products CEO says. “To continue our growth we need our labor and human testing resources from the West. The continuation of this conflict is detrimental to our business

 “This is treason, gentlemen.” General Porter states. “I will have to make arrangements with the Republican leaders that could be costly. It must be 700 million or no guarantees.”

The screen fades to a shot of Porter and Walker’s bank accounts and zooms in on large deposits from Silicon Valley Engineering, AmerTek, Omni Consumer Products, Anim-X and Tempus.

The video fades and the shouting starts, the cops have surrounded the bleachers and turned their guns on the people.  They aren't trying to protect us, but control us.They shout at everyone not to move until they discover who is behind all of this.

“Time to exit,” Sara says. “Follow my lead. We may get separated, so remember to meet at the gray bus outside the hotel.”

Keeping the gun out of sight she fires two shots and without hesitation the cops lift their weapons. The cop closest to the sound shoots back and the riot gear closes over his body. The single shot is all  all we need though, and the crowds start spilling out of the bleachers and stampeding out of the stadium. There are so many the cops can’t make them stop.

As predicted, we get separated by the moving mass. As the crowds moves towards the exits where they came in, I can barely squeeze through. I've lost sight of everyone and keep getting shoved. It doesn't feel like anyone is moving.

I jump up and see the security checkpoints are  knocked over and  causing a blockage. I take a chance  and run from the crowd and toward the abandoned VIP entrance I'd seen Minnow at.  There is a smaller crowd and  when I step through and out of the stadium there are six dead security guards on the other side.

I don’t stop to see how they died or to examine them, I just keep running until I get to the bus. It had been been driven in last night as our getaway car, it’s a pearly gray and has a skyline of  Shinjuku on the side. The bus doors are open  and I step in to see Sara and Luce standing in the aisle and Saint sitting in driver’s seat.

I move past them  to get to a seat in the back when I see Jean curled up in the third row with a strand of purple hair visible through his arms.

“Minnow,” I say, getting in the seat across from them. “Is she okay ?,”

Jean moves a little and I think I see her shaking, which means she is alive.

“Those brutal bastards,” Jean growls. “They could have crushed her to death.”

I want to ask how she got here, but then I remember the six dead police men.

I guess he really is a saint.

“You’re so stupid, so stupid.” Jean whispers , rocking her. “No one told you to do that. Why did you do that ? They could have—could have shot you.”

“You needed a distraction...” she croaks, but it sounds muffled beneath his embrace.

The bus doors squeak close as Rayne’s guards followed by Rayne himself and Ivy stomp on to the bus in their nearly identical navy pinstripe suits. They both look pissed off. Rayne closes in on Sara and his face softens to a defeated laugh.

“Sara Grace has gone soft,” he sighs. “I thought I told you very clearly to assassinate him.”

“And I told you, I’m not an assassin,” she says.

“Your track record begs to differ,” he counters

“I've killed. But that’s not why you hired me all those years ago. I don’t need to kill Julian Walker to kill his people’s faith in him.”

Rayne stares at her for a cold hard second and them motions to Saint.

“Start the bus, we need to get the fuck out of here before they blockade the exits.” 

Ivy sits in the seat next to Sara and putting her feet up looks out the window.

“Was all of that true ?,” Ivy asks. “Porter killed all those people on purpose, Walker was willing to forget about it for a payout ?”

Sara nods her head.

“You have idea,” she sighs. “There is even more where that came from and it’s all being transmitted to the computers of  Porter and Walker’s stakeholders. This war isn’t going anywhere. No one in the Republic is going to stand being under the EUS control after this.”

“Fucking liars,” Ivy says. “Good to know we’re all worth 900 million dollars.”

Still standing, Rayne grabs the handrails as the bus  bumps over a rocky pathway. He walks slowly over to the Dorys and patiently waits with a venomous look as Jean untangles himself from his sister.

I glance over from my seat and see Minnow’s face looks.  Violent splotches of red and black blot over her swollen features. She looks up at Rayne defeated.

“Please don’t hurt her,” Jean says softly looking down.

Rayne reaches into his  suit pocket, takes out her pistol and holds it out  to her. She takes it silently with shaking hands and he contiunes his walk to the back of the bus.

***

The trip back to the Sprawl is 24 hours long, which is the exact amount of time it takes for Julian Walker's entire administration to be imprisoned for treason and for the emergency election of  Gen. Meredith Barrister-Finch as the Western Republic Head of State  and Commander in Chief of the Republican Liberation Army. Her first act of business it to reinstate the weekly draft and lower the conscription age.

They don’t use the word conflict anymore, they use the word war.

When I can finally make out the skyline of the Sprawl from the bus window I remind myself of the life I’m going back to. My heart is in shambles for the boy I used to be. 

I’ve lost the privilege of being naïve, I know too much, I know too many lies, and yet somehow I feel like I can trust all the people in this bus with my life.

Before we cross the border I  make a decision to myself to make Alan Gray my new truth. I don't want to live my entire life under Rayne's thumb, but there's a fucking war going on.

--

A/N

Awkward chapter ending is awkward.