Chapter 10: Crossroads

Kay didn't sleep much that night either, after the alcohol had worn off, she could feel the pulsing in her hand again. One again reminding her to go see Zander today, as soon as she could. She looked at the clock, 6:13 am, Kay groaned, trying to pry herself from her bed.

"Why…."She whined looking up at the ceiling, her hand hurt to put pressure on, and she was in no mood to do anything today, but for the life of her she could not fall back asleep. She heard her communicator buzz, she reached her left hand out to grab it, still half asleep she answered it; "Yes?"

"I'm surprised you're awake." A gruff voice said from the other end.

"I'm not surprised you are Torn…What do you want? Kay rolled onto her stomach hanging half off her bed.

"We received a distress signal from one of our safe houses, I need you to go and check it out, then radio in the situation. DO NOT ENGAGE." She could hear the harshness in man's voice.

"Alright I'll head out now…"Kay groaned, she shut the communicator and got up from her bed, she shuffled around gathering her things and walked out the door.

As Kay passed her doorway she remembered what happened last night, her face turned slightly red and she smack herself in the head to get rid of the thoughts. "Ouch…" She rubbed the spot where she had smacked. Kay received a few weird stares from the early havenites.

Mornings were usually when Kay had to be the most careful, she had grabbed her book bag, before she left, reaching into it for her goggles and a hooded cape to keep her more concealed during this mission. All geared up, Kay proceeded to the safe house, making sure to keep her head down.

When she arrive about a block or so away, Kay grabbed onto a zoomer, she raised it up to the highest level and jumped onto the roof of the building, luckily for her the safe house was in the slum area of Haven so she was able to place herself discreetly on top, considering the slums is one of the darkest places in Haven.

Kay knelt down, pulling out her sniper rifle, she got on her stomach laying low to the roof.

"Torn I have a visual of the safe house, nothing looks out of ordinary." Kay raised an eyebrow looking through her lens.

"Really? That's strange we received a couple distress signals from our civilian agents, including Zander."

Kay blinked, "Zander…Zander is in there?"

"I don't know for sure but that is where the signal is from."

"Torn, why didn't you mention that before, if Zander is in there I need to infiltrate!" Kay replied a little louder than she intended.

"You will not! I said observe and report…Not observe and take action, that's what your brother is for!"

Kay chewed on her lip, she sat there for a bit contemplating her decision, certainly she wasn't the best at hand to and combat, or close combat in general, but Zander was the key to curing her, and maybe if she had been with him yesterday he wouldn't have been in this mess.

Plus, he had grown on her, if only just a little. "Send back up."

"Dammit Kay don't be stupid!" Kay silenced her communicator and ran to the edge of the roof, if she was able to get to the roof of the safe house, she would have a better chance at sneaking in.

Here's the hard part; how is she going to do that?

Kay stood up, taking note of her surroundings; the length between the roofs she was standing on and the safe house roof was too great for her to jump on her own, even if she would get a running start. She looked down, the early morning traffic was just beginning, however it wasn't nearly as busy as Haven usually is.

That peaked her interest. If she timed it right, Kay could bounce herself off a zoomer and grab the wall of the building. She pursed her lips, if Kay was off by and second she would land on the ground, probably break both her legs and her back, and she would be captured by the KG. But she would have to do it soon, if she risked letting the traffic become busier she was at more risk of being seen and her risk of landing on a KG car would increase as well.

Kay groaned, "Do I really have to do that…Is that seriously my only option here?" Indeed it was, and it was the only way to infiltrate without running in there, guns blazing. Even if Kay wanted to do that, she would be unable, she was only down to one hand to wield her weapon, leaving her right hand almost useless for combat.

Torn was right, this is something more suited to her brother's skills. Kay was the one to stay back and cover while, Ashter and a few others usually took to the front lines, fighting off the brunt of the attack. This whole situation was clearly out of her comfort zone. But, for some odd reason Kay felt an uneasiness waiting any longer, she had to get into this safe house, and soon.

Kay walked a few feet back, she jumping in the air a few times to loosen up her legs. She took a few deep breaths and got into a starting position, if this was to work she would need to be at full concentration. She locked her eyes onto the oncoming zoomers, slowly she counted. Time felt like it was slowing down.

"One…Two…Three..." She whispered under her breath. "One…Two. Three…" Three seconds in between each of the zoomers. Three seconds was all she needed, that was all that stood between success and failure.

Kay took one last deep breath to calm herself. She breathed out and pushed off the roof with her right foot. She ran as fast as her legs could. She jumped off, it felt like she was floating. With her eyes trained on the nearest zoomer, she landed both feet. Her left foot slipped a bit. She bent her knees and pushed off the front of the random zoomer. Her hands scraped the side of the building, trying to latch on to a foothold. She began to slide unable to keep her grip.

"Fuck…Fuck...Fuck!" Kay whispered underneath her breath, as she slid even more, she didn't expect there to not be anything for her to hold onto. "Okay…I should have calculated this more, at least if I slide slowly enough I won't die…" But if she was unsuccessful trying this stunt again would be unlikely. She was sure people were already becoming suspicious, it was already becoming too busy for her to hide to stay inconspicuous.

Finally she found a foot hold, sinking the tip of her boot into the crevice, the spike pressing into the building. She pressed her body as close to the building as she could. Kay began to climb, feeling for places she could grab in order to make her way up to the nearest window.

She made it to a window, as fast as she could. However, when Kay reached her hand up to ledge of the windowsill, she felt that familiar numbness growing from her palm, it reached to her elbow again making her hand go limp. Kay cursed, she had only her left hand hanging on. The dark haired woman slammed her bad hand against the wall, trying to bring back some feeling into it. She winced as blood started soaking through the bandages she wore under her glove. After a while it did work, bringing back enough feeling and control that Kay was able to grip onto the windowsill and hoist herself up, crashing through the glass, feet first.

Kay took out her pistol, observing her surroundings, she could hear some noises coming from downstairs, but it didn't seem she alerted them of her presence. She was in an upstairs, bedroom there wasn't much there except a couple cots and a chest for storage. It was vacant as if the people who lived there were ready to pack up and move out at any time.

Kay had been in plenty of safe houses before, but none of them looked this bare, or this clean…If they had been raided she was sure the place would at least have something out of place, the Krimson guard wasn't known for cleaning up their messes.

Kay walked towards the door, pressing her ear against the door, she didn't hear any noise on the other side, so she began to carefully open it. Kay looked through the opening, it seemed there was only one other door in the hallway, which was open to reveal a bathroom. After checking to make sure no one else was there Kay stepped out into the hallway. She crouched low when she got near the stairs, she could faintly her voices.

"Fuck you!" Kay heard a gunshot that made her stop in her tracks. She held onto the railing, peaking over. She saw a blue and yellow jumpsuit walk out the door, and she could faintly see orange slicked back, spikey hair. She looked to see a figure lying on the ground, they had been shot in the stomach. Upon further inspection she noticed a familiar face.

"Zander!" She whispered, there was nothing she could do, there were way too many Krimson guards for her to handle on her own, and if she were to radio in backup it would be too late, Zander would die. This safe house was already exposed she couldn't risk bringing more underground agents to the vicinity.

Kay racked her brain, even if she did wait for reinforcements, they would be too late; Zander was already bleeding out. She could always charge in gun a blazin', but that would surely get her killed in the process. No…she needed a plan, something quick and simple, and she needed it now.

Kay sat there on the step, shaking, she had run out of ideas.