Chapter. 11

"The new weapons will be ready in the morning."

"Alright, just don't rush it. Call you later." Connar ended the call to his weapon facility and went to bed.

"Would like to-"

"Shut up!" The thief yelled at his accessory and tried to get to sleep. After what felt like a few minutes Connar woke up in the immaterial plain.

Connar sat up on his metal slab of a bed as Aries appeared from the wall. "I'm disappointed in you Connar, you're supposed to find her but it was your friends that did the work."

"If you gave me some information on WHO I'm looking for, maybe I'd make an effort to do as you asked."

Aries pulled her hat over her face. "You have so much potential if you'd just open your eyes-!"

"And become paranoid, jumping at things that aren't there. I'm a realist, if you want ghost chasers go see Alice and Mattis."

"And yet here you are, in a place that can't be explained."

"That's because this isn't real." Connar placed his hands behind his head and rest on the back wall. "I see this place when I'm sleeping, logic says it's a dream. I only humor you to pass the time till I wake up."

Aries gave a menacing smile. "Okay then, if you want proof talk to your friends. Ask them about the girl."

"Fine, fine. I'll humor you a little in the real world, and when they ask what I'm talking about you'll see that your whole 'great transformation' and 'true freedom' is just garbage."

Aries let out a frustrated sigh and left.

Connar awoke and sat up, rubbing his eyes to keep them open. "Good morning."

"Shut up, you stupid machine. And get out of the way, I'm going out."

...

Connar got down to the warren and immediately went to the fueling station, inside he found Alice and Mattis talking quietly. "Hey you two, how's the ghost hunt?"

Alice practically jumped at Connar. "You need to help us! We we're chasing the ghost rumor and found a girl locked up in the cell garden. She looks like she's been through, we have to save her!"

Connar was surprised and horrified, he swallowed it down for later and need to think clearly. "Okay calm down and start over. Leave no details out."

Connar sat with them and listened, growing more concerned with what Aries was telling him. When it was over Mattis was the first to speak. "My old man always told me that if a chick looks like trouble, she probably is. And that chick has trouble written all over her."

"I hope you father didn't say that word for word. Otherwise I sincerely hope you never breed."

"Stop acting like your so much better than me, you shaz!"

"Who said I'm acting?"

"Stop it! Both of you!" Alice stood up, glaring at the two. Mattis looked away while Connar just lazily stared back. "That girl is in trouble and needs help. Our help."

"I hate to ditch a damsel in distress, but I think we gotta leave this one be." Said Mattis.

"Well aren't you just the bravest of the bunch. Jump at the first sigh of adventure, fold at the first sign of trouble."

Mattis jumped up from his sofa. "Who do you think you are!? You act like you're above us when we're looking for the ghost, now you come in and act like you care when a girl is involved? Stop saying your better than me when you want the same as me, you shaz!"

Connar started clapping his hands. "Whoo! Bravo! Great performance, but you're missing something. Ghost are not real, person locked in a dark room for reasons unknown? That's real. I can deal with real."

"Both of you stop it!" Alice slapped the two boys on the back of their heads.

"So, any luck on the wild ghost chase, losers?" The three teens look to find Carlos standing by them.

"And you are?"

Alice got up and stood beside the new comer. "Connar this is Carlos, he helped us get in the garden."

Carlos looked Connar up and down then grinned. "Yeah! You're the one who took my glasses."

"Why would I do that? I don't even know you."

"Don't act like you're innocent, I know it was you and I know a guy who will put you back in code 1."

Connar stared back a Carlos with a blank expiration. "I almost care... wait... nope, false alarm."

"Huh? You three know Carlos?" The group looked to find Uwe had joined.

Connar put his arms back on the sofa. "Well now it's a party."

Carlos gives a creepy chuckle. "Hey, you know me well enough for me to have let you in on my... zippy little secret."

Uwe folded his arms. "Heh. Is that supposed to be you being subtle? I already know it was you who told these clowns about scrubbing, Carlos."

"Oh, don't be like that. I was just teaching these poor, innocent sinners something that will help them survive in this cruel world."

"Don't pull that high and mighty crap with me! Why'd you tell them about that stuff? What if they'd gotten hurt?"

"But they didn't, did they? And they came back with a pretty interesting story too..."

"What is he talking about?" Uwe looks at Alice.

"Natalie said not to talk about it, but there's a girl locked up in the cell garden. We have to save her!"

"You saw the chick, right?" Asked Mattis. "You clocked her threads? Shazheads from On High dress like that. And I ain't in the habit of rescuing those guys."

"So not only are you ill-educated, your also bigoted." Said Connar.

"You think they had her tied up like that because she's a sweet kid with a happy go lucky attitude? Think again genius."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Anyway!" Alice tried to get the attention back. "No deserves to be treated like how she is, I'm going back to Julien and asking for his help again." Alice stormed out of the fueling station.

Connar kicked his feet out as he got up and fallowed her.

...

At zakka Alice just greeted Julien when Connar showed up. "Oh, hello Connar. Thank you again for saving me."

"You can thank me by doing me a favor. There's a girl locked up in the cell garden, I want to get her out but Alice here said they've got some good security protection in there. Alice?"

The girl explained what she saw to Julien, who shrugged when she was finished. "From what you've told me, it sounds like the sector was under much tighter security than usual. I'm sorry but I'm afraid it's just too risky for me to get involved."

"Well I guess that's that then." Connar stepped back, dusting off his hands.

"I'm really sorry though."

"But we have to help her!"

"If Julien won't do it, he won't do it." Connar waved his hands forward. "It's cool, I mean it's not we can... I don't know, blackmail him to do it."

"What!?" The other two shouted.

"I mean Julien must be a really good engineer to remember to remove his fingerprints from you and Mattis' accessories, right?"

"You can't! We'll all get in trouble."

"Not me Alice. I go to the authorities, you and Mattis get more years. And Julien, oh ho they're gonna have fun with you."

Julien was starting to panic. "You monster! I have a family to take care of!"

"You're, looking at it rationally. You have people who depend on you, that need you to provide for them. Which you can't do as a sinner. Me? I'm not rational, I feel like ratting you all out if I don't get what I want."

Alice tried to punch Connar but he stepped out of the way, letting her hit the ground. "You're evil Connar!"

Connar just put up his hands and smiled at her. "I try not to be, but sometimes when you want something, you gotta throw someone under a bus." Connar turned back to Julien. "So, what'll it be?"

"Okay! Okay I surrender. I'll do it, but I need some rare resources-"

"Just give me a list and where to find them." Julien wrote the names of a few items and handed it to Connar, who stuffed it in has jacket and walked out of zakka.

...

Once outside Alice chased after the thief. "I can't believe you, how could you do that to him!"

"Oh, don't even start, okay? You wanted my help, you're getting it. You'd have do the same thing."

"No I wouldn't have, I'd have talked and convened him to help. That's what normal people do, that's what a friend would do."

"I told you, I'm not here to make friends, I have sentence to work off. Nothing more, nothing less."

"You said you'd make friends!"

"No I said I'd try. How hard was never determined."

Alice stood still, watching Connar leave till he was halfway up the stairs. "How do you live with yourself?"

Connar stopped and turned back to her. "Easy! I don't, I have a fake human robot that won't stop staring at me." He pointed to his accessory with his thumb.

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