Rook awoke with the rise of the sun, it had quickly become the norm for him, even with the looming threat of Jacob Seed and his perverse plans of snuffing out the resistance was defused and settled for good, his mind and body still acted as if the hazard was still ongoing and twice as dangerous, it was something he didn't think he would ever part with, but then again, he didn't want to depart, it was one of his greatest weapons, it was what pushed him forward with incredible strength. But all the strength and wrath felt fleeting, useless.
As close as he was to stopping Joseph entirely, there was a single, tantalizing, blonde roadblock stopping him, he wasn't sure how he was going to deal with Faith, he had no desire of hurting her and she had no desire of standing down and letting everything she built be torn down, it left them at an impasse. Unsure of what to do, he rolled over in his bed, trying to reassert some level of comfort back into his morning, and when he did, his face was inches from Jess, she lay next to him, still asleep, the only thing that clothed them was the blankets the two were wrapped up in, it was heavenly to enjoy the warmth of a good bed and each other. Things had become marginally better, he was enjoyed the relative home life they had built up.
It had been three days since they had killed Jacob, the remain time was used to pull the mountain region back together, Mary and Jerome had volunteered themselves and many others to stay behind and help with the liberation, even all his friends stayed behind for a bit, Sharky and Hurk putzed around, unsure what to do now that the fight was over, there were no spoils to be shared or victories to sing, as soon as the Resistance won and the peggies fell back, Mary and Jerome switched gears to working hard on rebuilding everything, and it was that what made the cousins shy away from doing anything, instead resigned to just looking busy until Rook declared he was moving on to the Henbane, but Addie on the other hand hung around more openly for the same reason, more specifically she hung around Rook, but Rook felt it was for more intimate reasons, Nick on the other had was a lot more awkward than he'd like, it was clear he still had on to their last interaction; their disagreement on how information was obtained. Rook tried to make amends with him while subtly stating he wouldn't hesitate to do it again, and of course Nick made it clear he wasn't cool with it, but then again, he remembered it was Rook who did all the leg work stopping Jacob and John, it was enough to make him want to give Rook the benefit of their friendship and even warily promised to follow him over to the Henbane to assist with Faith.
With his friends out of the way, Rook quickly approached Jerome and handed over the key to Jacob's bunker just as he did with John's, this time preaching fervent warnings of the large missile that was stored deep below, and with the exchanging of the key, Rook refused to assist in the siege, he had been through the wringer one to many times in quick succession to prove useful, and the missile scared the fuck out of him, he didn't go anywhere near it.
And that was something Jerome understood and respected, he was a hero twice over now, to expect him to be on a constant grind was impossible, instead Mary essential forced him to take some time off, which Rook reluctantly agreed to, even going out of his was to declare three days was all he would take to give very light assistance putting the mountains pack together as there was no way he could just sit there for three days.
It was carried out with a much greater severity then John's expecting a second wave of warfare to shot out of Jacob's snake pit, but when they pulled the doors open they took over the bunker with little fanfare, not too many peggies had returned to the base for whatever reason, most likely to flee to the Henbane as Jerome deduced before he was lost in awe over the resting missile, even being informed on it, didn't prepare him enough for it, just as Rook said, it was an honest to God missile, and now that it was safely in the Resistance's hands, this would no longer be a threat. And as night fell over the county so to did Joseph's word, the death of his last biological family member had finally reached his ear, again, his voice and visage stretched across ever working tv and radio to address the issue, but this time Rook didn't care for what the cult leader had to say, it was just more moping and martyring, he'd grab the cliff notes another time, besides, Jess had other ideas how the two spent their next few night, and Rook offered no resistance.
And now three days later, Rook stood, cleanly dressed outside, staring at the sunrise, he intended to wait for Jess to wake before informing everyone he was soon to march for the Henbane, but that was something that just wouldn't go smoothly, when he joined Faith, she had spoken of a man replacing her in secret when Jacob unseated her, he controlled the Henbane region in her stead, and that scared him, when everyone rallied to the mountains, he didn't see a single person from the Henbane River arrive, not even Grace Armstrong, it made him worry to what have possible kept them all up, had this newly crowned soldier done so much damage that none could make it, or even there was no one to come?
Nonetheless it had to be addressed sooner then later, before anything got to out of hand, so when he finally announced he was going to the Henbane, he got a series of responses, everyone of note outside of Jerome and Mary was willing to come with him; Nick and Addie would fly on ahead and wait for him, and Shark and Hurk opted to traveling with the Junior Deputy to make up for the missed time, which would be later regretted as much to Jess's patience, neither cousin would be quiet for more then five minutes, the Pastor and Barkeep merely wished him good luck and best wishes before offering his selection of firearms, but Rook partly turned down the offer, only taking a single rifle and bow, plus many arrow tucked neatly into a quiver.
And with that, they left, with plane and helicopter leading the way, Jess and Rook marched across the region, towards the Henbane River with the two jabbering cousins, the hot sun bleating down on the four of them, it was a rather uneventful journey, the threats had bigger things to worry about rather than four people walking down the road, it gave Rook ample time to think, to think about the same things he had been the last three days, Faith, Clark, Pratt, and just about everyone he lost, it left a hollow feeling within him, the losses hurt him, and all he could do was keep marching forward, and the impending regrouping at the prison left him besides himself, he hadn't heard from the prison in such a long time, he feared the worst, anything could have happened, all he could do was wait and see. And after a few agonizing hours of walking, worrying and a lot of complaining, they finally made it to prison, walking up the main road, the prison came into view.
"Man, I can't wait to get inside... Holy shit I never been so happy to get inside a prison before" Sharky chuckled to himself as he adjusted the flamethrower in his grip.
"Aw man, my dogs are barkin' I can't wait to sit down and eat like a pizza or something" Hurk whined in relief.
Understandably Jess didn't make any comment one way or another, and Rook was silent for another reason, for him, the anticipation of entering the main building was palpable, it felt like years since he had seen his superior, Earle Whitehorse, he was a very strait-laced man, he couldn't imagine what he'd say after so much time apart, a lot of talking would go on between the two men.
As they drew closer to the massive prison, he could see two guards stationed upon the prison walls, they looked like death warmed over, he couldn't blame them, they must have been sitting out here in the hot sun all day, they didn't so much as blink as they walked through the main entrance, like two dead tired statues, unmoving and silent.
And then the second they stepped into the complex there was this sudden shift, like they were entering another dimension, there was a major temperature spike, the place was much warmer than it was outside, what was worse, the entire place smelt of disinfectant and unwashed skin, like an eighteenth-century hospital; not a lot of healing went on here. Even the floor was unkempt papers and empty cans lay sporadically all around.
"Jeez they couldn't break out the push brooms or whatever, Auntie Addie shoulda got the red carpet ready" Sharky sighed disappointedly, expecting a hero's, but not a single person was waiting for them.
"Something's wrong" Jess said quietly, tightening her grip on her bow.
"You think so?" Rook muttered back, he wasn't sure what to believe, something was off, but was it due to the war time life, or something else.
"Charlemagne is right, no one is here, Rye and Drubman got here hours before us, where's your buddies?" Jess explained.
Jess's response made Rook really think, Whitehorse was most certainly the type to have a warm welcome ready for his Junior Deputies.
"Your right, alright everyone, let's split up and find out what's going on, yeah?" Rook ordered to his friends.
His order was met with a chorus of agreements before everyone broke apart, Hurk and Sharky lackadaisically wandered off down some side corridor with not a care in the world, with each passing day they reminded Rook of Scooby Doo and Shaggy Rogers more and more, where else Jess took more initiative, moving faster down another hall, bow in hand, she scouted ahead for whatever was going on, leaving Rook to head on forward, towards the main cell block, he moved with quiet deftness and entered a bigger room, finding exactly what he looked for, a handful of people littered the room like abandoned puppies, sitting aimlessly, waiting for something, anything, they looked like they had walked out of some apocalyptic dystopia, their clothes were in tatters, and reeked like nothing else, stained with who knows what with various holes and openings here and there, and their wearers were just as disheveled, they looked like they were homeless, any hair cutting was long overdue, all hastily tied back with insufficient ties, the bulk of their hair hid their true features, if they could be called that, regardless of the true ages, they looked much older then they really were, whatever they had gone through have them so much stress and anguish they looked almost prematurely again, all sorts of stress marks and creases lined their faces among the countless bandages and the like, in the time Rook was gone, they had must of seen conflict after conflict, they were marked up with bandages and gauze, be it actual medical supplies to rags duct tapped over wounds, by the way the clothes draped around them, all of them had lost a lot of weight, probably due to a lack of food. Each and every one of them looked like the epitome of tiredness and defeated, like death warmed over, just like the duo up on the walls, no one reacted when Rook stepped into the room.
"What the fuck?" Rook muttered to himself as he took in everyone's forms and dispassion.
Then an odd sounding scraping could be heard, curious, Rook turned to look down another hallway to see a man sauntering down the hall, his feet dragging against the tiled floors. The man walked funny, as if his leg was recently busted, he seemed livelier then everyone else who sat around, Rook waited for the man to shuffle into the room before speaking to him.
"What happened here?" Rook asked the man.
But the man merely scoffed with a look of disgust upon his face before he continued his trot down another hall.
"Well fine, fuck you too" Rook sighed as he watched the man leave before continuing down the hall, going deeper into the prison.
As he moved down the hall, heading towards the main cell block, he passed by more and more people, asked many questions aloud to all of them as he hurried along, but no one graced him with a response which was both infuriating and worrying to him, what had broken their spirits so?
His questions would soon be answered as he pushed opened the doors to the main cell block and beheld the bulk of the Henbane River Resistance, and he didn't like what he saw, it was just more of the same, dozens of enervated people, just as unkempt as everyone else, idled around the many levels of cell room walkways and ground floor, like languid mannequins, if anything it smelled even worse in this room then anywhere else.
But thankfully his only salvation resided dead center of the room, Earle Whitehorse, stood with his back to Rook as he was hunched over a table, probably planning his next move.
"Sheriff?!" Rook called out as he hurried over to the man.
The Sheriff turned to face who had called for him, as he did, he moved with an awkward gait, as if something were restricting the movement of his entire left leg, as he came into Rook's line of sight Rook could clearly see what ailed the Sheriff, it made him stop in his tracks, every feature on the left side of Whitehorse's face sagged downwards a few degrees, while his right arm swung with his stride, his left arm was stationary.
Rook was familiar enough with the Sheriff to understand what had deformed him so, the Sheriff was victim to another heart attack, this time it took a much bigger toll, the stress was overwhelming.
"Well I'll be, Benjamin Rook" Whitehorse slurred in awe, his drooping face made it slightly difficult to speak.
"Holy shit! Boss!" Rook gasped, taking in his disfigured from.
"Don't worry about me Kid, we got bigger fish to fry" Whitehorse tried to laugh but couldn't.
"What are you talking about?! You had a heart attack!" Rook exclaimed.
"Yeah well… it's not to bad compared to what else is going on are here" Whitehorse said, trying to downplay the situation.
"What could possibly be going on around here!?" Rook exclaimed again.
But his question made Whitehorse's already deflated face somehow deflated even more.
"That's a long story, Kiddo" Whitehorse sighed before turning back to the table, he stared at its contents before looking over to an open doorway, a wall of darkness looming on the other side.
"Virgil! Get out here a moment!" Whitehorse yelled the best he could.
An odd shuffling sound could be heard from with before Vergil shambled through the door on apprehensive legs, as if unsure if he should reveal himself, but when he did, everyone could see that among the standard dishevelment everyone carried, tucked messily behind his cracked, glasses were a mess of bandages and gauze over his right eye and surrounding area, a faint dark red splotch stained directly over where his eye should be, the man had lost an eye.
"I-is everything ok, Sheriff?" he stuttered nervously before his single, tired eye rolled over to Rook.
"Bless my stars, is that Mister Rook!?" he stammered as he hobbled forward a few steps.
"Yes! Hey! What's up?! What's going on around here?!" Rook asked loudly.
"Ah yes, this, well… we've all seen our fair share of violence these days" Virgil said, as he brought a shaking hand to the edge of the wrap job that clung to his skull.
"As you can see Kid, things aren't going do great" Whitehorse sighed.
"Yeah, I know already, what the shit is going on?!" Rook deadpanned, getting frustrated at the runaround.
"It's well, it's been quite grim, we've been trying our best to keep our spirits up but well it's not looking well" Virgil stumbled over his words as if he were afraid of Rook.
"Yes! Yes! I know! Jump to the fucking chase already, what has happened since I left!?" Rook exclaimed, getting sick and tired of everything.
"The hell's all the racket for?" A flat voice came from behind Rook.
With a groan, Rook quickly turned around to greet the new voice and get on with business, and when he did this time he was met with Tracey Lader, she looked dead inside, hollowed out, somehow more so then everyone else, but yet animated, she stared down at him with the classic thousand-yard stare he saw so many times, she wore a jacket much like Jess, she hid herself within it, but it could not hide the undying violence she was exposed to, her sleeve was empty past the elbow, it didn't hand at her side like a broken pendulum, it was pulled upward and pinned to her shoulder, her left arm, was gone.
"Oh, Deputy is back" she shrugged before she uncharacteristically slunk over to Virgil's side at the table.
"Well now that Tracey is here I suppose I can get right to the thick of it, they can fill in any holes I missed" Whitehorse said as he adjusted his aviators on his crooked face.
"After you left, the peggies kept trying to get us every down and again, yeah we kept 'em back and we lost a few guys now and again, things looked alright, we were even able to sneak a few guys out to grab some supplies for the surrounding areas, but well… these past few weeks went from the usual bad to outright dire, we don't know what happened but Faith seemed to switch up her game and she's showing no remorse, at times it's like fish in a barrel for her, we can't even get out the front door without getting taken out, I don't know how the hell you got in here but you did, but regardless, we have next to no food, medicine and ammo, tensions are running real high and people here are ready to die or start a fight given the opportunity, we are all very stressed and scared, it's only a matter of time until they figure out how bad off we are and kick down our doors to finish us off… hell they just about have already, as you can see, peggies have breached our walls a few times and hit us harder than we hit them, we barely got them taken care of, without taking… serious injuries, I won't lie to you Kid, we're on our last legs here, we won't hold out for another week" he explained.
"We have completely given up on taking the offensive, we're just focusing on our own longevity at this point, we can't spare a single resource, we've ben cut off from any kind of communication to the outside world, a bit of under the table stealing and hoarding has been going on so hold on to anything you deem valuable" Virgil added apprehensively.
Rook took in the information as he stared at his allies while his mind turned, processing it all, a plan formulating within his head, they looked so tired, beaten down, Whitehorse was right, something was going to snap soon.
"Ok here's what we're going to do" Rook said in an authoritative tone, his mind shifting from investigative to tactical.
"No one knows I'm here, so me and Jess will head on out, see what we can find and pick off as many guys we come across, maybe start some shit up elsewhere and draw attention so others can slip out and loot as well, if they're all focused on this place then I doubt other important places are heavily guarded so they should be ripe for the picking, and we got a helicopter and plane parked out front, we got air support so we'll know if they're planning to make another move on us, it sure as hell will dissuade them, so let's get some guys together and get a move on" he ordered confidently
"You can drop the act" Tracey said, her words as hollow as her expression.
"What?" Rook scoffed, unsure of what she could possibly mean.
"Your act, you can stop acting like you give a shit about what happens to us" she opened up.
"Tracy!" Whitehorse snapped angrily at the woman.
"What, it's true, we've all though it one time or another, he just up and left us to be torn apart, it was like he knew what was going to happen" Tracey continued all the while Virgil trying to shush her anxiously but failed.
"And what makes you think that?" Rook asked carefully, narrowing his eyes on her, not liking her tone.
"You just fucking bailed on us with no word, hell we though you were dead, but it's clear you just fucked off, do you have any idea how many people died while you were gone?" Tracey said, her voice not swaying at all.
"You aren't the only place where shit is going bad, do you have any idea how insanely bad the Mountains are? Do you know what Jacob is capable of?" Rook argued back in frustration, he wasn't going to sit here and take her shit, he had done so much and deserved better.
"And that justifies going dark on us? we thought you were dead, we we're going to scratch your name on the wall with all the other dead, but the Sheriff wouldn't allow it Dickshit, what the fuck? I thought you we were a team, what you with the enemy now" Tracey said still vacantly but it was clear rage existed within her.
"Watch yourself Lader, he has taken care of John and Jacob for us, let's try to be respectful" A fifth voice snapped stoically.
Hearing the voice everyone unanimously turned to see the one and only Grace Armstrong standing among them with rifle on her shoulder, she looked just as sunken as the rest of them, her arms and hands were heavily bandaged up to who knows how high, her fatigues covered it all, but her fingers were another story, her fingers were free from any wrappings, most likely to keep using her sniper rifle, and it was that which Rook used to understand what happened to her, her fingers were tarnished in a cavalcade of burns, first degree and less, her normal skin pigmentation cooked away, she had endured a great fire and miraculously her fingers were in working order.
"Holy shit, Grace" Rook gapped, he couldn't remember the last time he interacted with her.
"Hey there, Deputy" she nodded to him before looking back at Tracey.
"If you do something other than stare at a wall all day you would have found out a few of the Deputy's friends have arrived few hours ago, they had a lot to say about how he has killed both John and Jacob" she continued, earning a surprised gasp and few words from the Sheriff and Virgil, but Tracey didn't even blink.
As Grace continued to chew out the one-armed woman, Rook finally noticed that behind the sniper stood Nick and Addie, they looked very uncomfortable and just as spooked, who could blame them, it felt like a graveyard for the living in here. When she finally finished, Tracey merely walked away, to the other side of the room, Virgil gave chase, begging her to come back so they could talk everything out, but she was unsurprisingly unresponsive, leaving Rook and his friends alone with the Sheriff and Grace.
"Sorry about that, as you can see, things haven't been easy on anyone" Grace sighed.
"Especially for her, with the one arm, she can't do much around here and that's really eating her up" Whitehorse added.
"I get it I guess" Rook shrugged, Tracey still rubbed him the wrong way, despite her injuries, she still had it easy, Jacob would have chewed her up just like he did to all his allies, she was lucky she was never in the Mountains.
"Try to not let her get to you, she's been pretty jaded since she lost her arm, she may not show it, we I speak for everyone when I say you have our eternal gratitude for stop John and Jacob" Whitehorse said somberly, practically praising Rook.
"But well om that note… We would all greatly, greatly appreciate it if you are to inform us if you are going out for an extended period of time" The Sheriff said, despite being happy Rook was back, he still could help but come off as a little pissed, and Rook couldn't blame him for it.
"Of course, won't happen again, scout's honor" Rook replied.
But Whitehorse merely stared at him, single brow raised in casual doubt. And in that silence, Grace spoke up, feeling the conversation was sliding back into conflict.
"Hey, you haven't been directly exposed to any lake or river water, like at all, swimming, drinking, anything like that?" Grace asked.
"No, I don't think so" Rook winced, his mind drifting over to his experience with Faith in the lake.
"Good, keep it that way, just about all naturally found water in the county is heavily polluted with Bliss, just getting into the water could mess you us, we found that out the hard way" she spoke somberly.
"Oh, uh, thanks for the info" Rook replied, trying his best to feign surprise, he wanted to hide any subconscious nervous that was manifesting.
Then Addie finally spoke up, she had looked rathe uneasy and uncomfortable, now she looked like she didn't have a care in the world and sounded overly happy.
"Well as much as I enjoy speaking to a such a strapping older man in uniform such as yourself, I don't suppose we can steal away our sweet Junior Deputy for a few minutes? Kay?" she said to Whitehorse with a smile and wink.
"Er, yeah, sure, just don't go to far, we still need him" Whitehorse nodded, her charms not working on him at all.
And with that, Addie wordlessly grabbed Rook by the sleeve and pulled him a few feet away from everyone, Nick just as quietly followed close behind, the three pulled together in a small circle, leaving Whitehorse and Grace to watch in confused curiosity.
"Guys, what's going on, is everything ok?" Rook asked, only to have Nick lean in lightly so Rook could hear his hush words.
"Holy fucking shit Dude, it's so fucking bad here" he muttered quickly, but the concern in his voice spoke volumes.
"Yeah, no shit, I got a lot work to do" Rook replied.
"That's not what he means Sug, maybe it might be best to get out of here, we're all bound to catch something unsavory if we stay" Addie said, joining in by stepping close to the men, pulling her arms over her chest.
"What? no, fuck that, I got to stop the peggies here" Rook scoffed.
"Yeah, we get that Partner, but maybe you should set up shop somewhere else, it just feels like a bunch of people are about to snap and shoot up the place" Nick proposed.
"And the best thing to do is bail? To let them go off the deep end and let them all die, no thank you" Rook argued.
"Well, I'm not saying we leave 'em all for dead, I'm thinking we get some people from the mountains and valley to come in, see what we can see, take what we can take, help who can help, and once it's safe to move a lot of people out, we go establish a place somewhere else where the peggies don't know and we do our thang" Nick offered warily, fearing Rook would get angry.
And as predicted, Rook sighed in frustration as he looked over Nick and Addie's shoulders, at all the people that milled about lifelessly, it reminded him of the people in Hurk's home, those who went on to be Rookists, and Virgil, who cowardly scolding the impassive looking Tracey, he took in how meek and unsure he was of himself, it was almost disgusting, it reminded him of Pratt, a spineless coward. Then the Sheriff impatiently cleared his throat, reminding everyone in their little whispering circle that they could still be heard, causing all three to nervously look at him for a few seconds then looking back to each other before breaking apart and readdressing Whitehorse and Armstrong.
"Ok like I said, I have a plan, allow me to elaborate further" Rook said as we walked back to the Sheriff and the table.
"Hell yeah! Told ya Deputy Destruction had a plan!" Hurk's enthusiastic voice came from behind him and everyone else.
As Rook walked around the table, he spied that obviously Hurk and Sharky had returned, next to the was Jess, as silent and menacing as ever, he found it kind of hot.
The three understood that some hardcore long-term planning going to happen so the cousins had the good sense to keep their mouth's shut as everyone explained the situation.
Before Rook began, he looked over at his friends, he formulated a few ideas before planting both hands upon the table, looking at everyone gathered around it.
"Ok, here's what we're going to do" he said.
Faith moved on shaking legs, she was so tired, her hair was knotted and messed, knees stained with dirt, numerous callouses building upon her palms, if anyone didn't know better, they'd think she was feral, they wouldn't be to far off, she had spent the last three days out in the wilderness, it was terrifying for her, it was just like a horror movie, it felt as if she was the last woman alive, wandering from town to town trying to survive off what she could scavenge, but she wasn't aimlessly wandering the Henbane River, she had a plan, she conspired to sneak across the entire region, avoiding the patrolling peggies she had yet to see, most likely waiting in the shadows for something, or so she believed, and eventually she would work her way up to her bunker and calmly explain to everyone what had truly happened, to expose Jacob's treason to Joseph, it wasn't like they couldn't keep her out, Jacob was so intent on removing Faith and replacing her, he had forgotten to remove her key to the bunker door, unless they changed the locks, she'd walk right on in. And now her unwavering determination to protect the Father's Project and herself had bore fruit on the brink of extinguishment, right as her body and mind were about to give up, she finally made it back to her Gate, the walk up the hill to the Gate's door was taxing but she preserved, she shambled right up to console next to the door and with shaking hands she inserted her little brass key into the slot and twisted, she waited a few seconds but nothing happened, no door movement, no warning alarms, no nothing, hoping it was just a fault in the system, she turned the key again, two time, three time, four, five, six times in quick succession, she even waited to minutes just to make sure the door was just taking its time, but sure enough, the door refused to budge.
It was clear it wasn't going to open.
And that broken her little heart, she had used up all her strength and courage just crossing from the Mountains and the Henbane, hiding from those who worshipped her and feasting on scraps, now what was she to do? Go back to Ben, whimpering like a puppy left out in the rain, for all intents and purposes, this was the end of the road for her, at the foot of her safe haven, unable to enter.
She didn't know what to do anymore, all she thought about was everything going right, she didn't plan for any hiccups, and now she couldn't keep it all in anymore, sniveling and pouting gave way to a few upset tears that quickly became unchecked faucets, she cried her little heart out in defeat. In her anguish she weakly through her punitive fists at the door. Her tired legs finally gave way as they fell out beneath her, causing her to fall to her knees, but still she smacked the door.
"Please, please, please, please" Faith sobbed as she pitifully slammed her weak fists upon the expansive metal covering.
Then as if the door answered her cries, it's locks began to cycle before opening followed by the loud scraping of metal across concrete as the door slowly opened, the sound had always been jarring to her, but this time, it sounded like a symphony, she was so happy to hear that she was gaining entry to her haven. She muttered some choked prayers to God as she pulled herself back up on wobbling legs, she dapped at her eyes, hoping they were dry enough before facing her flock, she couldn't let them see her so weak.
As soon as the door opened just enough for her to slip through, she did, practically shoving her small frame through the slowly opening doorway and pressed the emergency close before descending deep below the earth's surface, failing to notice that a CCTV security camera was pointed right at her with a small blinking red LED next to the lens, signifying it was capturing a live feed. As Faith descended, not once did her hand leave the stairwell railing, fearing if she did, she would tumble to the bottom. A subtle anxiety built within her as she went down, many alarms go off if the door was open for any reason, so countless must be preparing some sort of defense at the bottom of the stairs, probably thinking the Junior Deputy or his friends had breached their walls.
And sure enough once she touched down on the endless feeling stairwell, there was a dozen or so of her flock in a defensive position, ready to kill anyone who came down the concrete stairs, but their steely resolve faltered when they saw who timidly entered their line of sight, they understand the orders from top brass that she had betrayed them, but none of them could follow through with the act of terminating her, only her most devoted were allowed to regularly work within her gate, they couldn't heartlessly gun down the woman they cared for so much, but their stricture demanded otherwise, still they lowered their guns slightly and stared at her in disbelief.
"Lady Faith? You can't be here, you need to leave" a Peggie said warily, he wasn't comfortable with this, no one was.
"I apologize for frightening you all so much, but please, stand aside, there is dissenter among us" She proclaimed, raising a hand to them.
"W-What do you mean, there is a snake among us?" The Peggie asked again.
"Step aside and I will show you the truth" Faith ordered again, trying to establish some sort of confidence in her voice.
"We can't do that, we have orders to shoot to kill, orders from Commander Jacob himself" the man said.
"And when did he have more power than I? I thought we were equals, brother and sister" Faith questioned, trying to steel herself, one misstep and she was done for.
No one responded to her claims, she had a point, but the man left in her stead was furvert on making them understand the depths of her treachery, why would he and by proxy Jacob tell such false tales? Instead, everyone who laid eyes on her, didn't do anything, to stunned to do anything, for weeks they had been told nothing but stories of her treason among other crimes and had been taken somewhere for correction, instead, they muttered to each other in apprehension, commenting on her off appearance and attire, she had clearly gone through something that wasn't the aforementioned correction, perhaps some was afoot. But from her point of view their treatment made her feel like she was in high school again, it was something she had to ignore until she had reclaimed control over her home, but she had lots of experience in that regard. There was one person who could corroborate her story, if she was still alive; her second in command, her High Priestess, Amanda, she was there when Jacob kicked her out, she could back her up, she only hoped Jacob himself wasn't still down here.
With legs threatening to give out, and a stomach that was about to empty itself, she began walking forward, despite what her flock said, if she turned around now, she would surely die.
The peggies shouted a few times, ordering her to relent and go back the way she came at risk of being shot, but she simply ignored their words and continued to walk.
Right before she walked right into the barrels of the many guns pointed at her, the defensive team parted, splitting down the middle and pushed themselves against the walls, allow Faith to walk right on by, they were powered by guilt and curiosity, their Lady Faith had never lied to them, always so earnest and forthcoming in the name of the Project, even though the foul news came from Jacob himself, seeds of doubt were buried within all of them, they wanted to know what was really going on.
They followed her, be it to find out the truth or to silently escort her to the higher ups that ruled the Gate. Even as they moved all those who saw here pass by froze and gasped as if they saw a ghost. Some even abandoned their posts to follow the group to see how things would play out, unlike John, Jacob or even Joseph, she was the kindest of the Seeds by a large margin, so they all cared for her.
They escorted her towards what was deemed the command center; Faith's office but they never made it there, they instead stopped just outside, waiting for them in the doorframe was a single man who waited for Faith herself, it was the confrontation everyone prepared for, nothing like this has ever happened before and they needed to know who would remain in charge over them and the Project, he was one of Jacob's most trusted me, she only knew him as Gordon. He looked so much more exhausted than she remembered, she believed it was due to his incompetence, he couldn't compare to her in terms of Bliss production, he was a soldier, not botanist and pharmacist, he stood there, waiting, arms crossed and a take no shits look plastered across his face, he knew Faith was here and wasn't going to take it lightly, and the peggies escorting her knew that, not wanting to be snapped at, they did just as they were painfully instructed to do when a P.O.I. was brought in.
"Sir, Lady Faith had somehow breached our Gate" a Peggie tried to say as curtly as possible, such a breach in security was inexcusable.
"Of course, I know that who do you think let her in?" Gordon scoffed.
The response earned a wave of mutters from the group, why would someone so adamant on following Jacob's protocol's let in the traitor she was?
"I let her in for questioning, she escaped during transportation to where she was to be interrogated, that was many, any days now, who knows what she has said to the enemy, I must find out" Gordon spoke, as strict as ever.
The answer was sufficient for everyone, causing them to all go quiet again as the room suddenly feel colder, it meant Faith wasn't going to see any mercy.
"Thank you for letting me in, I was actually coming to speak to you if you can believe it" Faith responded, understanding what was potentially in store for her.
"Then let's begin" Gordon said, stepping to the side and holding a arm out to the open doorframe that led to his, her office.
But before Faith responded, someone interrupted them, causing Faith to jump.
"Lady Faith?! It really is true!" a voice cried pitifully.
All eyes turned to see the newest member to join the amassing crowd, it was the second in command High Priestess; Amanda, she pushed through everyone so she may stand before Faith, she looked like she wanted to profusely apologize for what had happened, or cry, or perhaps both. Faith felt no scorn or blame needed to be laid at her High Priestess's feet, she did what she could.
"I'm sorry! I tried my best to quell that man's lies but it was not enough, all of the Henbane and Mountains believe you committed treachery" Amanda almost cried.
"It's quite alright, I don't see you responsible for what happened, perhaps if I was more assertive, I could have stopped this before it grew dire, forgive me for failing you, all of you" Faith replied, placing her hands on Amanda's shoulders, giving her a gentle smile.
"Bless the Father for your sweet, gentle heart" Amanda breathed, her voice quavered, and legs wobbled, she truly feared Faith's derision.
"But if you to allow me one more selfish request of you, I need you to be brave for me, I need you to be the High Priestess I know you are" Faith asked.
Amanda wasted no time taking on the request, happily agreeing to the charge, becoming tough and full hearty, a take no shits attitude, brow furrowing in steely determination to complete what was asked of her.
"Now if your done, I do believe we need to address the elephant in the room" Gordon scoffed rudely, rolling his wrist.
"We can not break rank and do what we please, especially in these dark days" he proclaimed to all of them.
"What do you mean?" Faith asked, picking up on something within his words.
Gordon merely sighed before looking downcast for only a moment before reasserting his influential demeanor.
"It breaks my heart to inform all of you of such an unforgivable turn of events but, three days ago, Operation New Dawn went in effect, and against all odd, not only was it a complete failure, but… Commander Seed was confirmed dead at the hands of the Junior Deputy" he sighed.
The news caused a wave of emotion shoot through the crowd like a lightning bolt, one that even hit Faith, she could feel morale drop like a rock, some people even began to weep, she couldn't blame them, he was important to a lot of people, including Faith, despite her feelings towards the man, she still mourned her foster brother, he had done so much for the Project as surely the Father would not let this go quietly, not only that, but she didn't know how to feel about Rook now, that fact alone was going to make it so much harder to make everyone comfortable with Benjamin joining their ranks in the future.
"You are Sir Jacob's highest, should you not return to your post!?" Amanda cried quickly, realization dawning on her.
"Unfortunately, not" Gordon replied in short order.
"The bulk of our forces were present at the area of operation and the bulk of those numbers had been K.I.A. or M.I.A. not only that but the following day Jacob's Gate was compromised, there is nothing for me to return too, so for the foreseeable future I will remain here" he said with a heavy heart.
"All the more reason to salvage what remains, Jacob's troops still live, there is a chance to recuperate something, we can't let Jacob's death be in vain, we must do something, you must do something!" Faith argued, fearing for the lives of the brave men and woman still alive on the run from the Resistance's wrath.
Even all the peggies watching and listening seemed to agree, nodded and muttering to their Lady's words, anything to dispel the needlessly cruel man, they much preferred Faith, despite maybe being a traitor. And a Gordon offered in response was the narrowing of his eyes, he doesn't like her or what she had to say, he didn't like all the eyes on them, there were to many witnesses, he couldn't silence them all.
"Leave us, everyone back to your posts" Gordon ordered as he stepped backwards into what was once Faith's office, signaling the crowd to disperse and beckoning Faith to follow.
Not a single person argued or even hesitated at the command, like scolded children, everyone save Faith and Amanda hurried away and returned to what they were doing.
"Is it wise to follow that snake?" Amanda said gently as she just as gently grasped Faith's wrist.
"Please Amanda, believe in me" Faith replied softly, pulling her hand free and followed Gordon into the room.
If she turned around, she would have seen Amanda's demeanor break again, this time into a concerned worried look, she feared for Faith's life, she barely slept since Faith was taken away and Gordon took charge, and now she returned to take back her place, but now she willingly walked right into the lion's den, and yet again, she was powerless to even help her Lady Faith.
And then the office door slammed shut, leaving Amanda yet again in isolation.
Gordon shut the door the second Faith stepped through, he wasted no time and ordered her to sit in the chair that was set in the middle of the room, he had prepared for this. She offered no resistance and sat down, allowing the man to begin pacing in front of her.
"Miss Seed, I'll level with you" Gordon said, folding his hands professional behind his back.
"As your painfully aware I was left in charge of your post due to your... Misconduct, and regardless of what happened to the Commander I will not relinquish authority back to you, you possess no leadership skills or anything marketable outside of the production of Bliss, even so, you possess the crowds appeal, everyone in here with us will much rather follow you then I, as would all who've been coddled far to much, so I propose we work together of sorts, I will continue to dismantle the resistance and kill the Junior Deputy, and in turn I will allow you to continue Bliss production and keep morale up, perhaps you can work off some of your crimes so by the time the Father hears of your transgressions he might lessen your punishment, but don't misunderstand, we are not allies, we are not friends, if I catch you stepping even one toe out of line I will not hesitate to kill you" Gordon monologued before stopping to stare dangerously at her.
It left Faith to sit in silence for a moment, dumbfounded and looking up at the man, for some reason the threat didn't sink in as much as it should have, usually she would bow to such demands to escape and persecution, but time she didn't, maybe she had changed, unknowingly evolved to face her new ecosystem, maybe it was three days of living in constant fear, always expecting for her former flock to bust in whatever shack she hid in and kill her if starvation or carnivores didn't first. The thoughts of being captured by Benjamin's allies and tortured for information. Maybe it was prolonged exposure to Benjamin and his vapid desires to fight against what he perceived to be his enemy, but hearing Gordon's speech something ignited within her, it was so small it would have been missed if one blinked, it was a spark of defiance.
"I don't believe you" Faith said, the words left her mouth before she even knew what she said.
"Excuse me" Gordon snarled coldly, narrowing his eyes at her.
Such a gaze would have made her shrink on any other day, but today was not that day, instead she rose from her seat and face the man head on.
"I think I have more power than you let on, I think there's more at play here" she said trying to put on a brave face.
"How so?" Gordon asked, sussing out her line of thought.
"From what it appears my flock are more willing to follow me then you, albeit they are conflict, when push comes to shove they will follow the hand that caresses them over the one that smacks them, and seeing as I am the Father's last remaining sibling, imagine what would happen if he found out you had a had in my demise, you were Jacob's right hand after all, you shown your not stupid nor incompetent, so like it or not, be it to complete or goals or merely survive these trying times, you need me, as I need you" Faith countered.
She felt almost proud of herself for standing up to the man, a part of her wish she could have done so while she still attached school.
A threatening hum came from him as he thought everything over, she could tell he was at least considering what she said.
"Has the Father tried to contact you, thinking you are I?" Faith asked, not taking her foot of the pedal.
"Ever since Commander Seed passed, the Father has been trying to hold a mourning for him with your attendance, I have stalled him thus far" Gordon admitted.
"I can be there for him, quell his grief while you do what you must, this Gate is the last bastion of hope for our cause, if we fail now all our losses will be on vain, I know you won't back down, you will follow Jacob's order until your dying breath, and so will I the Father ordered me to protect my flock, to protect this Project, to protect the Father, but I can't do that with you in my way, nor can I do that with the lies you permeated my Gate with, as I do my work you must undo it all, rescind all that you have placed upon me while I tend to the Father, as I hate to admit it, you need me, and I need you" Faith ordained trying to speak as Benjamin had so many times, she wasn't sure if she was selling him on it, but she still had to try.
Again Gordon was quiet for a few moments, eyes narrowed at her before he slowly wandered over to her old desk and moved some things around its top, before signalling her over, unsure of what he was doing, she reluctantly followed to see upon her desk was the telephone used to call the Father and siblings, next to it was a map of the region, it was all marked up, highlighting the prison along with other many P.O.I.s. it was all the hard work Gordon had done thus far, a strategic push to stomp out the resistance in the Henbane, and it looked like it was working.
"Outside of Bliss production and speaking with the Father, what do you plan to do?" He asked.
Before she spoke, her hands slowly crept forward, grasping the frayed edges of the map, feeling the old wrinkled parchment, she thought of what needed to be done, she knew what was to come in the future, after Jacob's mourning was done, the Father would be breathing down her neck as the last Seed, the Junior Deputy needed to be dealt with in one way or another, he did task her to convert the Deputy after, perhaps that still could be achieved, but regardless, if she could prove her worth and continued to work towards humanity's preservation, a few minor losses to said species to get into the Father's good graces was acceptable, and she knew just how to do it, she had learned a lot from Benjamin, be it him speaking it or from context clues, she knew where people were based, and so did he, they'd make the perfect bait for the time being.
"Ok, here's what we're going to do" she said.
Thank you Hyperlightflux for the help!
