Chapter 1
—
“Good run Viper! We gotta do it again sometimes.” Skye stood with her hands on her hips.
“Yes.” Viper pants, wiping the sweat from her brow. “Thank you.”
“Make sure to shower!” Viper grumbles and drags herself to her room to shower. She’s felt off all morning. Usually she wakes up before her alarm at 6, but she slept in. And now she’s out of breath for a normally easy run and feels exhausted.
She enters her bathroom and turns on the shower. She strips off her sweaty workout clothes and into the warm stream of water.
Viper hates how this month has developed.
The ‘school’ had started just last month, in August. They had a peaceful August, with introductions and bonding.
But the suspicions arose in early September, after Viper was brought in to test radianite. Kingdom seemed to discover something, and became stricter. More cameras, more calls to Brimstone, more weapons for Killjoy to make, and less communication to everyone on what was going on.
She finishes up and gets dressed. Viper grabs a pair of jeans and a black shirt from her drawer. She reaches out to grab her phone and finds a message from Sage.
Shit, did Brimstone talk to her without me?
And indeed he did, as Viper found an earlier message from Brimstone. She wishes he would’ve waited, and she angrily responds to Brimstone.
She rushes over to her lab and quickly goes in. She sees Sage standing over by her drawers, looking over what seemed to be old paperwork. Viper looks over to her desk to see last nights experiments splayed out. Sage looks over from the noise.
“Oh hello, Viper.” Sage says. “I assume Brimstone has told you about…” She makes various gestures with her hands, not knowing what quite to say.
“Yes, he told me. Though I wish he would’ve made sure I was there for it.” Viper grumbles.
“He portrayed it as urgent, so it seems he wanted to tell me as soon as he could.” Sage thumbs the papers in her hands.
“I suppose so.” Viper sighs in defeat. “I just made some discoveries that I would like to share with him.”
“Well, I’m here now.” Sage gives an assured smile, looking right into Viper’s eyes. Her warm brown eyes accentuated the comfort she already portrayed in her words. Viper can’t help but give a small smile.
“Well, I guess you saw my desk.” Sage nods in response.
“It’s a small sample of radianite that I got from Kingdom. I was sent in to do some experiments in headquarters but was quickly sent back here. I was able to get a small sample.” Viper pauses and looks over at the glowing light. “It gives a high level of energy, radiant energy, hence the name. I attempted to test it on different materials, but there wasn’t much of an effect. It doesn’t emanate heat like I expected. I assumed it would produce some sort of heat, like a star would. But it seems much more complicated.”
“So Kingdom asked you to come in to experiment on Radianite,” The word feels unfamiliar on Sage’s tongue. “And then hasn’t asked you to come in since learning about the strange energy properties?” Sage questions.
Viper sits down and crosses her arms. “Yes, and combined with all the other scenarios of secrecy that happened with Kingdom; Brimstone and I are suspicious.”
“Well, what could they use it for? If you are stuck on this, I’d imagine the Kingdom scientists are too.”
“Energy.” Viper says plainly. “If they can provide people with a more efficient energy source compared to competitors, it gives Kingdom an influx of power over the world. I’m not sure how they’re going to harness the energy, but I’d imagine they’re going to figure it out soon.”
“I see.” Sage looks to the radianite. “Is there anything else you know?”
Viper looks down in thought. Her eyes widen.
“Yes actually.” She quickly rolls her chair over to her computer and boots it up. Sage walks to go up behind her. She sees Viper plug in a flash drive.
“And what might it be?” Sage asks.
“Here.” Viper pulls up an article from her desktop. “Read through it.”
“‘Kingdom is Working on Questionable Projects’ Former Kingdom Employer States.”
Sage reads the article, and furrows her brows at the end.
“While it could be a hoax, it’s likely true with Kingdom’s actions recently.” Viper leans back in her black office chair.
“I’d assume the danger is to people. The employee seems terrified of whatever he is talking about.”
“Yes, and I believe he is talking about radianite. I don’t think he could be talking about anything else.” Viper replies.
“We need to find this employee.” Sage says. “And we need to be quick if this radianite is dangerous.”
“I want to also test the element on an organism. To see if it shows any harmful effects on basic life.” Viper looks at Sage. “I’ll start on that, and you can use my computer to see if you can find any more information on that ex-employee. If not, I can bring Killjoy in to help.”
Sage breaths a sigh of relief. They have a starting point now. She can help.
“Yes, I’ll start now.”
..
The two began to work, the only sounds being the clink of metal tools against glass petri-dishes and the click of the keys on a computer.
Viper would hate to say it out loud, but she likes Sage’s company. She worked dutifully, and had a deep care for people.
The room was quiet. But every so often, Sage would hum an unfamiliar tune as she worked, and Viper would look over to her for a second and examine Sage’s expression.
Black whispy bangs framed her focused face. A slight puckered frown and furrowed brows. Brown eyes illuminated by the screen. Determination glittered in them.
Viper looked back down at her work. The white light hurts her eyes.
—
“Aren’t they going to get suspicious sometime about the repeating camera footage?” Raze asks, looking up at the inactive camera in the corner.
“Yes, probably. But I asked Brimstone about it and he said it was ok.” Killjoy responds. “And you’re a lot of help, even with your…chaotic behavior.”
The robot is lying on a table, separated into different body parts. A half finished skeleton. The head is separated from the body, plugged into a computer where Killjoy was currently working. The whir of a 3D printer is in the background.
Raze laughs.
“Just you and me Killjoy, to the end!” Raze throws a fist into the air.
Killjoy grins and throws her first up too before turning back to the laptop.
She’s coding the AI for the robot while Raze works on putting the body together. They work on their own parts, both nodding their head to the music that plays through the speaker.
The heads screen lights up.
“Yes!” Killjoy celebrates. The screen has a loading screen, meaning it’s finally able to boot up.
“Is it working?” Raze jumps up and looks at the head.
“I’m not sure if it’s any good, but it at least turns on.” A loud beep sounds in the lab, and various symbols glitch in and out of the screen.
Raze and Killjoy stay still for a moment. Sounds start coming out of the speaker until it finally speaks.
“Hello.” The robot voice says.
Raze and Killjoy give each other a high five and a hug.
“We did it amigo!” Raze takes Killjoy into a tight hug.
“Well we still have a lot more work to do.” Killjoy manages to squeeze out as she flusters.
“Hey robot guy, what’s the weather?” Raze lets go of Killjoy and brings her face close to the detached head.
“It is 73º Fahrenheit outside.”
“See, it works! We just gotta finish the rest of him.” Raze points a thumb behind her, to the mangled body of parts.
Killjoy’s stomach grumbles. “What time is it, robot?”
“It is 12:03 pm.”
“First we should get lunch.” Killjoy says.
“Sounds good, I was getting hungry too.” Raze rubs her stomach and stuffs her tools into her cargo pants.
“I’ll meet you there, I’ll turn back on the camera for now.” Raze bounds off and Killjoy uses her laptop to turn the active recording back on. She follows after Raze, happy that the coding was effectively done.
—
“Man, I’m beat.” Jett complains to Phoenix.
“I thought you liked running!” Phoenix laughs and Jett shoves him to the side.
“Neon really pushed me today. She almost beat my record!” She sulks with arms crossed. They walk into the kitchen, seeing Raze and Killjoy picking what to eat.
“Hey guys!” Jett runs up to them.
“Hey Jett.” Raze gives her a fist bump. “Has Neon been able to beat you yet?”
Jett gives an exaggerated frown. “Almost! But I’m still victorious!” She grins.
“Ay, I’m gonna to beat you someday.” Neon walks in, leaning on the doorframe.
“Oh you’re not better than me.” Jett responds. She walks up to Neon.
“No need to get so butthurt about it.” Neon gives an annoyed look. “I’ll fight til I win.”
Jett inches closer to her face.
“You won’t be able to beat me, got it?”
Phoenix frowns at the interaction. Raze pulls Jett away. Yoru walks in and quirks a brow.
“What’s going on here?” Killjoy gives him a shush.
“Got it.” He grabs leftovers and leaves.
“C’mon Jett, let’s get food and go.” Phoenix grabs something from the pantry and leads an angry Jett away.
Phoenix sits Jett down on a coach a couple rooms away.
“Hey Jett, what happened mate?” Phoenix looks at her, and Jett looks down. “You’re usually up for some friendly competition.”
Jett stays silent. Phoenix sighs gives her an awkward hug.
After a few minutes. Jett speaks up.
“I’m gonna go to my room.” She mumbles and gives Phoenix a forced smile.
“Yeah of course, let me know if you need anything.” Phoenix waves her off and wrings his hands together, cursing under his breath.
“What happened there?” Yoru sits next to Phoenix, bowl in hand. He leans back and looks at Phoenix with an eyebrow raised.
“I dunno. Jett seems to be insecure that Neon’s gunna beat her someday.”
“It seems like Jett is the insecure type. I’m not surprised.”
“Rude man.” He glares at Yoru.
“What?” Yoru asks. “It’s the truth.”
Phoenix grits his teeth. The man had a way of getting under your skin. Cocky, arrogant, and rude. Phoenix wants to punch him.
“If you don’t have anything helpful to say, I’m leaving.” He stands up.
“Well if she’s not going to talk to you, ask Sage. She’ll probably help.” Yoru says.
“Wow this is the first time you’ve said something actually helpful.” Phoenix responds.
“You’re welcome.”
Phoenix texts Sage about Jett and pockets his phone. He sits back down.
“Want to box another match later?” Yoru asks and Phoenix grins.
“Oh you’re on bruv. I’m gonna beat you this time.”
—
Cypher is tired. And bored.
He has to watch cameras all day, just showing people going about their daily routine.
How dull. He chuckles while fiddling with his tripwire, rotating it over his knuckles in a familiar gesture.
He wishes he could keep working in his lab, he has ideas for how to integrate audio listening into his tripwires. Or do data extraction, he is an information broker after all.
But alas, he is stuck in the crammed office with countless monitors just playing the same old footage. The boss has nothing else for him to do implementation wise, so Cypher is stuck.
He hears a knock on the door.
“Come in.” Cypher answers, not even looking back.
“Bonsoir, Cypher, I hope you’re having a good evening.” Cypher turns around to see Chamber walking in.
Cypher adjusts his hat. “Hello Chamber, just doing what I was ordered too. It is quite dull, nothing interesting has happened.”
“Well, I was told you were allowed to go home early, so I came to deliver the message mon ami.” Chamber answers with a polite smile.
“Deliver my thanks to the boss.” Cypher stands up. “I’ll be going now.” He grins under the mask.
Nora. Cypher wants nothing more to just hold her in his arms, to hold their baby in a few months.
“I was going to ask if you wanted to get a drink, but you seem eager to get home.”
“I have a wife Chamber. Maybe your flirting will work on somebody else.”
“You misunderstand my intentions. I am just trying to get to know you.” Chamber replies. “You are quite the mysterious man, Cypher.”
“Maybe it’s a French thing to be flirty.” Cypher jokes. “Goodnight Chamber.”
Cypher leaves the office, thoroughly amused by Chamber.
He gets in his car and removed the sweaty mask. He combs a hand through his hair and puts on his glasses, glad to be able to drive home. A quiet neighborhood, safe.
He arrives home and unlocks the door.
“Amir.” Nora smiles and runs up to him. Cypher hugs her tight, tucking his face into the crook of her neck, one hand stroking her back and one running a hand through her thick hair.
She smells of home; sweet honey and sandalwood. Warm and familiar. He breaths her in.
“It’s nice to be home.” Cypher pulls away and holds her hand. “How are you doing, love.”
“I just have a bit of morning sickness, but I’m otherwise ok. I’m working on a new painting, I’ll show you when it’s done.”
“Yes, of course. I’ll cook dinner tonight.” He tucks a brown strand behind her ear. “Just let me get changed.”
—
Reyna sits at the bar, tapping her manicured fingers on the smooth wood, waiting for her drink. The place is busy, with people ordering drinks and a band playing in the back.
“Here’s your martini ma’am.” The bartender gives her a smile.
“Thank you.”
“You come around here often?” The man asks, giving a charming smile with his thick beard framing his face.
“I feel like you would know if you work here.” Reyna takes a sip. She stares at the man. She traces her finger around the rim of the glass.
“Oh no, I just started working here. The names Harbor.” He holds out a hand. She shakes it. Tan skin highlighted his bulky muscles.
He’s very muscular for a bartender. Reyna eyes him up and down.
Harbor smiles again. “Like what you see?”
“You’re rather full of yourself.” Reyna leans on the table. “You haven’t even asked what my name is.”
“Well miss, what is your name?” He leans over onto the table, meeting her gaze.
“Reyna.”
“Well Reyna, would you like to hang out with me after my shift?”
“Very forward.” Reyna raises an eyebrow and she smirks. “But maybe. I expect you to pay if we go anywhere.”
Harbor chuckles.
“Sounds good.” He stands back up as another man sits in the barstool next to Reyna.
While Harbor had an air or rugged handsome to him, the other man was the opposite. Brown hair combed back, a tailored suit that fit him well, and sharp features. He oozed wealth and prestige.
“An old fashioned, please.” The man says in a vaguely French accent.
“Coming right up.” Harbor turns around.
“Well, what is a beautiful woman like you doing here?” The French man asks. Reyna scoffs.
“Another forward man. Are you here to hit up every pretty woman you see?” She mocks.
“Oh no. It is a Friday, so I came to get a drink. But you caught my eye.”
Harbor slides the mans drink to him.
“And what’s your name?” Harbor asks the man.
“Call me Chamber.” Chamber smiles.
“Are you from France? You have an accent.” Harbor asks Chamber.
“Yes, and I assume you’re the bartender, so I believe you should be serving drinks, correct?” Harbor furrows his brows and he walks away.
“Are you always so rude to people you deem under you?” Reyna asks.
“I wanted to talk to you. I would also like to know your name.”
“It’s Reyna.” She answers and takes another sip of her drink. Chamber nods.
“The name suits you.” His eyes dart around her body. “Could I take you out someday? Dinner perhaps.” Chamber asks, leaning in. Expensive cologne wafts into her nose.
“Sure.”
Chamber slides her his phone.
“If you give me your number, we can organize a date. I want something more formal than this.”
“Not one for one night stands then?” Reyna smirks. She takes his phone.
“I am a gentleman.”
Harbor returns back. He lets his hair down from his bun and shakes it out.
“I have five minutes until my shift ends. Do you want another drink before then?”
“No.” Reyna answers. Chamber looks at Harbor, amused.
Reyna gives back Chamber’s phone. His phone buzzes. He answers it, standing up. She watches Chamber as his face slowly gets more annoyed. She almost laughs.
“Really? I’ll be there right now.” He hangs up, putting his phone in his pocket.
“Apologies, Reyna. I have to get going. I’ll contact you later.” He glides a hand along her back as he walks away.
“He seems pretentious.” Harbor chuckles.
“And wealthy.” Reyna says.
“Oh you’re that type of woman? I’m hurt.” Harbor feigns hurt. Reyna laughs.
“I never said I didn’t want to go with you.”
“That’s true.” He looks at the clock and grins.
“I’ll be outside.” Reyna slides her glass over and picks up her purse.
“Yeah.”
Reyna walks out. She smiles again, feeling satisfied with her work so far. Two men in the palm of her hand. And ones even rich. She takes out her phone and texts Fade.
Night successful so far.
Fade responds immediately.
Nice. Lmk when you’re heading home. Your sister isn’t feeling too well.
Reyna curses under her breath. She weighs her options. She could go home and take care of her, or stay and keep wooing the man.
“Everything ok?” Harbor walks out with a helmet in hand.
“Yes.”
While the man didn’t have money, she needed a refresher. Someone she was interested in. She already had Chamber, now she wants some fun.
He leads her to a black motorcycle. He hands her the extra helmet.
“Where are we going?” Reyna teases.
“I’ll show you. He jumps on and invites her to sit. She puts on the helmet and grabs his waist.
“Make sure to hold on.” Harbor yells.
--