Luc awoke with a gasp, short on breath, begging for air. After a moment, a breath of life passes through him. The dark dingy house blocks out the rays of light. His unset alarm read it to be nearly ten. Groggily, Luc stumbles out to the main hall, hoping to fill his long lost appetite.
A blinking light, small but noticeable, brings him over to the unread message left on the phone. No longer worried about the clinic, he replays the message, a masculine voice, belonging to a friend of his, talks to him directly.
"Luc?...You there? Well listen, we are all at the diner, can you get here like, now? Wanna catch up with ya. I'll see you there, hopefully. Bye." A final beep signals the end, and the red light goes still.
Wondering when exactly 'now' is. The phone reads the message was left almost a half hour ago, hoping not to be too late, a quick clean up and a change of attire, was in order. Before he left, a quick scan of the daily paper was in order, the paper headlines read out to him, no mention of yesterdays attack, probably for the best, the last thing he needs is unwanted attention. Not wanting to waste anymore time, he sets off back down towards the clinics direction, leaving townside behind him.
Throwing caution to the wind, he backtracks to the scene of attack, not a speck of blood was seen, the dark alley had the look of innocence, as if yesterday was just a dream. But he knew it couldn't be, he felt terrible, and the bruises had been all too real. Not wanting to linger, he moves on, down to the diner, passing unusual amounts of troopers, perhaps as precaution from the attack, or a way of keeping the public in check, or both.
Not a few minutes later, he arrives outside the diner, the only one he and his friends ever go to, it had pink and blue neon lights, blinding his eyes. It's name, scribbled in the ADVENT language of Brakaz. He can make out the word 'diner' but he hadn't been able to read Brakaz properly, but could hold a sentence if he tried. Unlike his friend on the phone, who hadn't bothered with such trifles.
Heading inside, on the far end of the not so busy room, a group of familiar people were huddled at a table. They didn't spy him until he was halfway over, he was greeted with a warm welcome, not so common in here anymore.
"Glad you could make it, bed badger." The one who left him the message retorts, scratching his short dark curly hair, with a smug look on his face.
Luc snorts, not angry at Kurt's constant amusing attitude towards everything. "How are we?" Luc says, taking a seat next to Kurt.
Across from him is James and Indira, both sharing European accents, James' tanned skin matches his amber eyes. And Indira brushes her thick as wax hair away, giving him a small smile. They all knew each other from long ago, back just after the war had ended.
"Fine." James blandly replies, whilst Indira nods instead. "How goes the job Luc?" Kurt questions.
"Not for me anymore, ADVENT closed the place down, health and safety reasons." Luc clarifies, to which Kurt nods respectfully. "Thought that would've been the one for you man." Kurt solemnly says.
"Yeah, thanks for the good word in anyway, seems ADVENT can ruin just about anything nowadays." Luc, with a slight drop in his tone says.
Indira peaks up at this. "You got that right, not like back in the day, not as heavily monitored as now, can get away with anything." The disgust in her voice is evident.
"Bad enough a new language takes over, now troopers patrol everywhere." James comments, clearly not bothering to learn the new language.
"Not to mention our homes are now next to aliens, living in our city, breathing our air, a waste, all of them." Indira spits.
'Maybe not all' Luc thinks, but wisely does not voice it. "Couldn't have put it better myself." Luc replies, trying to fit in with the hateful theme of the table.
Since he arrived a bit late, Luc orders some food, the juicy ADVENT brekkie burger, melts in his mouth. "They do make good food though" He says in between bites, the taste of the food, drawing him in.
After some small talk about how Kurt could never be the man his mother was, Kurt and James abruptly leave, until only Indira and Luc remain.
"…And then he kills himself, and the painting changes to his old self. Because he was a youth for so long, get it?" Says Luc for the umpteenth time, trying to explain a book they had read long ago.
"Nope, still can't figure it out." She replies with a sly smile and they share a laugh. A moment passes when Luc decides he "Better hit the road." But Indira catches his arm as he stands.
"Wait, I have a…proposition for you." She almost whispers, only for him to hear. Even though the diner is empty.
"I didn't know you felt this way." Luc boldly states. Indira responds with a stone cold glare. "Okay, okay, what is it?" He sits back down.
"A new umm…'occupation' I think would suit you." She stands as soon as he sits back down, he quickly follows her outside. Out behind the diner, a more dense part of town, with twirling ten story buildings all packed together like vultures on a corpse.
She lead him slightly deeper into the twisting alleys nearby, almost hard to keep track of which way is which, first left, then right, than back again and forward. "Where are we…" He begins, but she hushes him quickly as she scans the area, before proceeding down to the left.
"Why are you…" But again, a quick glare silences him. "Well can you tell me if it pays well cause…" But a quick slap to the face shuts him up. "Shut. Up." She says, pausing her words for emphasis. Luc rubs his sore face and nods. After a few moments they end up in a dead end.
A dark door conceals itself into the corner of the dead end, which he had not noticed before. Indira walks up to it, with Luc in tow. She knocks a series of knocks, almost in code, and an eye slot opens, revealing two beady eyes. She whispers something he couldn't quite catch, something like "..gilo, Confido" and the door clicks its locks and opens to a dark hallway, with only the end being lit by torches.
"Inside." Indira waves him in. They pass the door man, and he blends into the stone walls behind him, deciding not to stare, Luc follows onwards. The twisted dark caverns of the sewers is all he sees for minutes. He had just about enough before Indira breaks the everlasting silence. "We are here."
As she turns a corner, she walks to a few dozen figures wearing large coats, with pistols donning their chests, hoods and beanies atop their heads. As she talks to them, Luc scans around, men and women with pistols shoot dummies, the source of the cracking, from the silenced weapons, training for a fight. Deciding not wanting to linger he speaks up to Indira.
"I'm sorry to interrupt but could you please explain to me what the hell is going on here? Pretty please?" Luc says, slightly annoyed at what he's gotten himself into. Or what Indira has gotten him into.
Turning from the group, Indira smiles a rare smile, so rare its almost creepy. "Luc, welcome to the resistance." Gesturing behind her. "These people have lost all they ever had to the aliens, we fight for all humans, and will restore Earth back into its rightful place as the home world of humanity." Some people behind her cheer in support.
"So you want me to join I gather?" He asks. She replies with a nod. "Ok, I gotta ask, why me?" Luc asks, though he didn't have the best opinion about himself, he knew he was not a resistance fighter.
"We need more people like you, all of us here are dead men walking, cant show our faces in public, and we need people accepted in ADVENT, so as to infiltrate and gather information." Indira's eyes bore into his own. A spy? How dare she assume he'd do this willingly?
"No. No what are you thinking?" She goes wide eyed at this. "I'm not doing anything of the sort! I'd be killed, and I'm not some guerrilla fighter, nor a spy! Besides I wouldn't be fit for it anyway." He pauses to think of some excuses, but Indira interrupts him.
"And why not, you have ADVENT ID, no criminal record and you can speak and read what they write and say."
"You know it's not that hard to read Brakaz, you just have to…" but that only helps Indira's point.
"See? You're a natural at it, and even if that doesn't convince you, what about you being a goody two shoes ADVENT citizen?" She says, slightly annoyed, as are the other rebels around her.
"What about, Kurt and James? They are better off than me." But as Luc states it, both of them appear behind her, right on cue, arms folded, with Kurt holding in a laugh.
"What about your father? What would he say to your cowardice?" Indira says, and this makes Luc freeze. His father? "What about him?" He asks. This causes most of the room to go quiet at this, Indira grabs a data pad from another rebel, and taps away for a few minutes, then hands it to him.
A paused video of a bald man stares back at him, he recognises him, his father, with no hair, but with a giant body made of steel, only his head remains of his flesh, giant holes tore his robotic body in half, he stands in a large cargo room, with dead humans and alien figures behind him, he hits play.
"My son, I won't be coming home, I know I promised you this but…" The video goes static for a moment before resuming back again. "…I know I'm asking a lot of you from this…" Static once again as his father's body changes position and to a look from determination to sadness. "…Continue the fight…for me….I know they won't find you…..You've got fight in you…just like your m…won't let the aliens….Good bye." The ending of the message corrupts, and the video goes blank.
His father, fighting aliens? No. He wasn't. Luc couldn't comprehend that his innocent farther, was a machine. Behind him shows dead alien figures, and a giant rifle. He had been fighting this whole time, never to come home.
"Your father was part of XCOM, the aliens murdered him, they never told you that didn't they? He died defending humanity so we can fight another day, and he wanted you to help." She tells him, taking the pad from him.
"We need you Luc, XCOM needs you." She waits for his response.
"Where, did you get this." He asks, curiously. She answers. "We hacked the ADVENT archives here years ago, this was a part of what they had on the old XCOM. Apparently they never found this man's son, but he is your father no?" She inquires. True, plain as day it was his father, his voice and face, but how could he be a giant machine?
After a minute of thinking, Luc's mind is made up.
"What do you need me to do?" He finally asks
"First, some training is in order. Follow me," And as he does so, she gives one final remark.
"Luc, welcome to the resistance." Followed by a chant from everyone "Vigilo Confido!"
-XXX-
A2 had her head on her desk, a stack of paper towered over her. The human in charge, Samuel, had last night's scene covered up so much to keep the peace, and she was ordered to question anyone and everyone about the group of attackers, only to have dead answers and no leads. The one who lived, had been taken away, somewhere, and she had poured over anything she could find, only to come to terms with a failed case. But failure was not an option.
There was only one lead left, and that was the victim, he had acted oddly to the hooded man, perhaps he knows his family or where he lived. Wanting to get some information, she takes the path back down to his home.
She hisses in disgust, she had been waiting most afternoon for his arrival, and the burning sun didn't help either, but later on he finally turns down the corner, coming towards her. Appearing exhausted, perhaps he had been attacked again.
Luc notices the alien waiting up near his house. Must have been quick to find out about his little 'meeting' with the local rebels, Well, at least he tried, he tells himself, not a day in and you've been caught already. He stops in front of her, out of breath from the running in the boiling sewers, he thought being a spy didn't involve that much running, but he went with it though. Not to mention at least some gunplay.
"Luc." A2 says. Luc tries to keep his cool.
"Uh, hey again, A2, how's it going?" Keeping his voice level.
"Need to talk to you." Not even bothering with his slightly worried voice.
"Well sure, not about the attack is it?" A sound of hope in his voice
"Yes. You know one of them." She states, knowing full well if his next words are lies.
"Well… yeah, yes I did. Can we sit down first?" he asks, motioning to the steps, she nods in answer and he sits down, catching his breath.
She matches is seat as best she can, coiling her tail more, to meet his level.
"He, told me to go to the clinic." He says sadly. "Was my friend , but I swear I don't know why he'd send me and attack me afterwards." He says in a troubled voice, looking down at the pavement.
"Name?" She asks.
"Kenny, used to be quite friendly to me." He says, confusing her even more.
"Do humans often betray their friends this way." She bitterly asks, not knowing a single friendly human she has encountered.
"Only guy I know that's done this. Not a human fan?" He asks, noting her sour tone at the mention of humans.
She shakes her head. "Yeah, we can be like that, it's in our nature, mostly. Though you can't always judge the many on the basis of a few." He states. She knows this to be true.
"Yes, it's hard when all races judge you." She says, noting the amount of hatred her kind gets from not just humans.
"Your kind too?" He asks, with a questioning look. Always believing humans are the lowest, and the rest of the aliens accepting each other.
She nods once again. "But we are getting off topic, you know this 'Kenny', where does he live?" Needing to get this solved as soon as possible.
"I couldn't tell you that, never told me, I can ask around for you, I know a few people who might have something for you." He says.
"I appreciate your help, Luc." She nods again, perhaps a human asking questions would get more answers than her (Being an alien) doing it instead.
"No problem A2, how will I get back to you if I have something?" Noting that his new found friends would likely know if an alien comes to his home every so often. Someplace discreet…
She thinks about a suitable place, but can't think of one. Until Luc speaks up. "There's an alien friendly pub, behind the clinic, the 'Murky Muton'. You know it?"
She dint know what a 'pub' was, but she has seen 'Murky Muton' before, she nods.
"Meet me there, around seven if you have anything for me, please." She asks, and he agrees with a smile. She thanks him and heads back to the HQ. Leaving Luc behind. Not believing a human could be so helpful.
'Oh god' Luc thinks to himself 'I'm digging my own grave here' before heading inside for some well needed rest.
-XXX-
A small buzzing startled his deep slumber, an opportunity was ringing his phone. "Your late, get back here." The all too familiar voice called to him.
"You kidding me? It's not even six!" Half yelling as he sits up slightly, staring at the early morning rays of light, peeking in through the windows.
"You chose to help us out." She replies, matter of factly.
"Not like I had a choice…" He mumbles back without thinking.
"What was that?" She asks. "Nothing!" he gets into a more excited tone, and soon leaves to the winding alleys she had led him through before.
The winding path twists and turns, until he once again found himself at the hidden rebel door. He knocks four times, then three more, and the beady man spies him yet again.
"Vigilo Confido." He gives the password. "Your late." It replies in a croaky voice, opening the door, then vanishing into the shadows once more. Luc makes his way back to the hideout. And to the war room.
Luc finds himself around a large table, which has a number of figures around it, one such figure is Indira, as well as Kurt and James nearby. He stands near them.
Indira nods to Luc. "Glad you can make it, now we can begin." She unfolds a map, revealing the ground layout of the clinic.
"So, our goal is simple, we need this." She gestures to the clinic. "Gone." She simply states, getting Luc wide eyed at that. "We will do this in stages, we need all patrols inside and out monitored and recorded, as well as information in the deeper parts of the building, as well as the 'removal' of the whoever is in charge, then finally we strike whilst they are licking their wounds."
She looks towards Luc, as well as Kurt."You two will infiltrate the clinic, grab any evidence of what they really are doing in there, take photos and videos of the inner layout, so we can find any weaknesses, as well as knowing what we are getting into." She turns to James and a few others. "Monitor the outer patrols, and we will mark them down, and warn these two of any trouble." They nod in agreement. "We will commence in a few hours, get whatever you need and get to your positions, Kurt, Luc, follow me." She walks off to the back of the room, where the weapons and armour are stashed.
A whole arsenal, from snipers to pistols, line the walls, a truly menacing force. Indira goes for a rifle, but moves and grabs a blade instead and hands it to Luc. He examines the blade for a moment, as sharp as a tigers tooth, and as deadly as snakes venom. "And if someone pulls a gun on me?" he bitterly replies, not at all liking this idea of having a knife in a potential gunfight.
"You showed some skill yesterday, use your wits, don't get caught." She snaps back at him. "They fold, pistols are too big." She demonstrates by folding the almost meter long blade into a smaller than a quarter of its original size, then places it in a large overcoat, and gives it to Luc. "Easy to conceal eh? Now, I need to get back, don't be in there for longer than you have to, ask Kurt if you have any questions." She begins to walk off, but he catches her arm this time.
"Why are we doing this?" He asks her, she cryptically responds "For humanity." And turns to leave.
"Man, don't you listen Luc, were gonna find out what they're doing in there, then blow it up." Kurt slyly says behind him.
"That's not the only reason" Luc says, knowing full well she is clearly hiding something.
With that, he turns back to Kurt, who wears an almost similar coat, but with a pair of sunglasses to boot. Luc scowls at him with a hint of amusement. "Must I ask?" He says.
He hands him some slightly brighter sunglasses. "These are how we record and shoot photos, anything important, we film." He says while showing him two hidden buttons that activate the cameras. "Come on, let's get into position." And without delay, he heads out. 'No going back after this' is Luc's last thoughts, before turning to follow.
Both Luc and Kurt await outside the clinics main entrance, trying to act inconspicuous, as much as over coated people could. Currently passing the time for the go ahead.
"I think us both wearing glasses is the most stupidest disguise. Not to mention these massive coats." Luc says slightly annoyed. The fact that Kurt had a fake arm sling and a had himself bruised so his face would puff up, didn't look convincing enough for Luc, despite protesting against it.
"You need to lighten up man." Kurt responds adjusting his earpiece.
"Lighten up? Don't tell me to lighten up, I don't do this for a living like you." Luc says, fully aware Kurt has been at this for some time.
"Not for a living…" But Kurt was interrupted by a voice on the comms.
"Ok L and K, your all clear, make it count." A quick voice states before leaving as fast as it came.
"Alright, 'Claus' let's get this over with." Using Kurt's fake name, they make for the main lobby. The all too familiar clinic welcomed Luc with open arms. They pass to the counter, which had only two others waiting, the receptionist, not familiar to Luc, waves them over.
"What can I do for you?" He dully asks.
"Hi, I'm Luc, this is my friend Claus." He waves to Kurt, who looks like he's about to throw up. He hands him his ID. "He's incredibly sick, he got stung by a hornet, just look at him!" Kurt pretends to feel pain at the mention of the hornet.
"Oh my…Ok I'll get you a room." He quickly takes out a microphone and calls for nurses. Hopefully not the one Luc has seen before.
He eventually is escorted into the deeper parts of the building, with Luc recording as they go. When Luc asked where they would take him, they replied with 'Gene Therapy' the only way of safely removing the venom, pure lies, no one ever dies from it, no need for alien manipulation from a bug bite.
The clear white corridors are filled with small beds, some with patients undergoing chip placements, as Luc has seen in the photos. But never leaving Kurt's side, being sure his friend doesn't end up with one in him.
But as they get further in, the walls become more grey then the usual pristine colour of white, and the walls look armoured in some places, not to mention the presence of blue uniformed guards along the way. They stop outside a particular room. As Kurt is taken inside the room, Luc can see a similar looking gene bed from before, with a chip ready to go. But the guard outside stops him.
"Only patients and doctors sir, wait out here." Despite Luc's protests, he would not be let in.
Steeling his courage, he reaches in his coat, and runs the guard through with his hidden blade, the guard coughs, unable to comprehend what has occurred, and falls limp onto Luc's shoulder. Luc holds the guard, and carries him into the room, where Kurt is currently strangling the doctor while the nurse tries to pry him off with a series of clipboard whacks.
A connection between his sword hilt and the nurses heads, is all it took for the silence to return.
"Wow, you really ran him through." Kurt says, not in his usual happy tone.
"Let's…just get to it ok? Luc says, and which Kurt doesn't comment any further.
They had now dressed like doctors using the knocked out staff, though they were tight fits, they should hold up their disguise for a while.
As they leave, with their newly acquired ID's, they lock the three staff in the room. As well as the coats so they can come back for them later.
"Now, let's get scouting" Kurt says, making sure his glasses are on record.
They had wandered the halls freely, not so much as a second glance at the two doctors looking at everything they can. The buildings layout had been recorded on a map on a wall, but they had come across a heavily armoured door with matching black walls that could probably block explosives. The door accepted one of the doctors ID's and allowed them in.
On the inside, pods had outlined the outer walls. Filled with green water, the pods were around gene therapy beds. And on these beds, where people, with biochips being slowly inserted into their heads. On closer inspection, they are indeed the same chips as the one that Luc was offered. The people inside the pods and beds are all asleep, unknown to the horrible state they are in.
A curse escapes Kurt's mouth. "They're, alive." He says, looking at the vitals shown nearby the beds.
Luc had taken a closer look at the pods, some were missing limbs, others parts of their torso's, none of them were normal, but they all had the same message written in the pods surface.
"Biochip installed: Awaiting Transportation"
Luc's heart skipped a beat, he was close to being like this, because of his sickness, this fate is probably worse than death. He turns back to Kurt, not wanting to linger any longer.
"Let's go." He quickly says, heading to the door.
"Wait up." Kurt interjects. "Maybe we can find out where it is they are going." He says, scanning the pods.
"Kurt!" Luc points behind him, two ADVENT troopers had been coming up to them from down the hall. Kurt didn't need anymore convincing, as he and Luc bolted out the door and made a run back to the entrance.
They could hear the gibbering language of the yelling troopers. They made haste back to the room with the unconscious staff, and the dead guard, locking as many doors on the way there as possible.
"Get changed." Luc whispers, closing the door.
"What about…" But Luc had already slammed the door locked again, removed his glasses and awaited outside the door, clipboard out front, as if he'd been waiting. Not a moment later, the troopers came running towards him. He stayed content, not paying much mind. They stopped in front of him, guns at the ready.
"Hel bati botal?" One trooper slurs at him. Awaiting a response. Luc lets out a breath.
"Mora tel zanran." He replies, motioning down the hall.
"Tor laba…Hendalro." The trooper then leads the other down the whole Luc motioned. After they are out of eyesight, he lets out a held in breath.
Luc enters back into the room. "What did you say to em?" Kurt asks, tossing him his coat.
"They ran that way. And they bought it." Luc sighs, thanking ADVENTS stupidity.
"You see? We need you, and you proved that to me, and to all of us." Clapping him on the back. Luc doesn't respond, instead he quickly dons his coat, and quickly leaves the clinic for good, not daring ever to go back as a patient ever again.
From that point on, Luc would never again be blinded by ADVENT's rays of lies.
