3 Weathered
"Weathered by The Hotelier"
"Hey! Keller, Gorn, we're clear!" I shout when the woman and I make it to the first floor.
"What can we call you?" I turn to her.
"Medic."
"Come on, give me an alias or something. Tr- they won't take you seriously otherwise," I groan almost slipping out Tron's name. It's clear she noticed as her helmet is tipped in my direction.
"Captain?" She shrugs at me.
"You don't have a cover?! Have you never been caught?" I hiss urgently as I hear steps coming from down the corridor that leads to the back.
"No! Generally, I make it a point to not do that. Clearly, I need to teach you," she hisses back.
Users! Why is she so-
"And I'll have to teach you how to aim your throws," I wince when she stomps on my foot.
And some damn manners! I glare at her through my visor and I can tell she's doing the same to me.
"Renegade," Tron's distorted voice calls. He's in front of the group walking towards us. Gorn is to his right and a massive Program wearing a white lab coat and no hair to his left. Behind him directly is Keller who appears as unfazed as the rest.
Shit, still need to come up with a code name.
"Able," He'll get the idea. I think smugly.
"Who's our uninvited guest?" Gorn steps up and now looks put as her eyes land on…
"Hawk," I say and feel giddy at my own impromptu skills. It's the name of the twin apartment skyscrapers I live in.
Hawk nods her head and turns to me expectantly.
I can practically hear her saying "Well, don't keep me in waiting, Fraud."
"Hawk is after the same information as we are," I state while looking at Tron, "I believe our causes align at this moment. She's willing to help us escort Keller."
"What!" Hawk squawks and turns towards me.
"That's the deal. Take it or leave it," I shoot back at her.
"Hold on. We don't even know her," Tron cuts in.
"And it's my call, I agreed to the Renegade's protection," Keller inputs.
"I'm a medic in General Tesler's army," at that everyone in the room tenses and reaches for their disc.
"You had to start off that way," I mutter so only she can hear and step in front of her with my hands towards the group.
"Let me explain. She's working against Tesler."
"I can give you access to high-level information," Hawk puts in.
"How can we believe her? What makes you so certain?" Tron asks. Clearly he's not impressed.
I turn to Hawk and stare at her helmet. She's looking back, and I can't help but wonder if she's feeling anything of what I am. All this instinct she's the same as me: inexperienced, young, and only just hanging on as this crazy vortex of life spins harder and harder.
And maybe part of her wants to trust me as much as I do her.
"I think she's shown promise with her attack at Argon Square. Having her work with us will prove we're all on the same side."
Tron crosses his arms and appears to mull this over, as does everyone else.
"Fine. I'll trust your instinct on this one Renegade. Keller?" Tron reluctantly accepts.
"As long as you get me to safety," she nods in our direction.
"We'll get you out of here," I confirm, "For now, we'll take Keller to our safe house and prepare for our departure next cycle."
"How do we reach you?" I ask Hawk.
"Here," a small communicator slips into my hand, "We can work out a meetup place," Hawk softly states.
I nod and turn towards Keller and others.
"Alright, let's get you to the safe house."
The safe house is an apartment across and down the hall from mine. It's also just as sparsely furnished as my own. This one is facing the mountains of the Outlands so at least the view isn't too bad and less of a chance of being spotted.
Hawk left at Purgos and said she'd contact me when she was ready. Hopefully, I'm not busy with work or with Mara and Zed.
"So how long am I staying here for?" Keller says as she looks at the apartment with apathetic eyes.
"For the next few cycles," I answer looking out at the mountains one last time before closing the blinds.
"We need to prepare the train passage and route we'll be taking. Now that you're missing, Tesler will have put extra security on anything that leaves Argon," Tron inputs, his helmet still up but without voice distortion.
"Fun. What do I get to do?" the scientist asks as she looks through cupboards and the refrigerator, "Shopping apparently."
"You'll stay here until we're ready to move," Tron orders brusquely.
"Wonderful…" Keller groans as she plops herself onto the sofa.
"Renegade, I'll stay with Keller. I have some things I'd like to discuss with her. Why don't you rest up? We start early next cycle," Tron dismisses before turning to Keller.
I don't acknowledge either of them, instead I leave without a word. His words have brought out my weariness and I realize how late it truly is. My bed is sounding very comfortable right now.
I blink and find that I've traveled to my room without being aware of doing so. I look back to make sure I closed the door and turn back to the spartan living room. I separate Tron's overlay from my disc and toss it to the sofa. I open the patio door and walk out without checking to make sure the Renegade suit is fully gone. No one will see me.
I feel the wind on my face and hair when I take my helmet off. It feels like I'm breathing for the first time since morning. The skyline is dark and Argon seems to be brighter by comparison. It's beautiful and I love it even more than I do in the mornings. The night always seems so calm. A time for rest, when you're not responsible for anything you were in the day.
Or in the case of myself; responsible for so much more. But not tonight. Tron's ordered me to rest. I smirk. I guess I can't even do that right.
A noise comes from my belt and I turn to see the communicator Hawk gave me is beeping incessantly at me. I pick it up and thumb it on. And freeze. I don't have my helmet on, she'll hear my real voice!
"Renegade? You there?" Hawk's voice comes from the small circular device.
I pause. I could easily put my helmet back on. Hide from another Program. Just like Mara and Zed. Like everyone else from the garage. Maybe it's the fatigue. I can't remember when I felt like Beck the Mechanic. All I know is the Renegade now. And it's so lonely.
"I'm here," I finally say.
There's a brief pause on her end.
"You sound tired," she states, and even with her voice distorted I can tell she says it gently.
"Exhausted. Being the Renegade takes everything I have," I open up.
There's another pause.
"You're not now."
My eyes shoot open and dart to the communicator. She removed her distortion! It takes me a moment to fully register her sound. I rest my head against my arms that are on the railing and listen to the echo of her in my head.
It's not clear. There's a natural distortion in the comm link so she could be anyone. I only recognize Tron's voice when he disciplines me, or Able when he demands I come in for part of my shift, or Mara when she's screeching at me to come out to the club, or Zed when he's ranting about a new design he has for his light cycle.
I softly chuckle.
"Sounds like you're not Hawk right now either," I note softly.
"Living a double life is tiring," she admits after a moment. There's a rustling on her end of the communication and I imagine she's in bed. I laugh it off as a delirious dream. Why would she call me then?
"Yeah, it is," I agree wholeheartedly.
"So you know what I do, what are you programmed for?" She inquires.
"I don't know anymore," I think out loud. Her sudden laughter stops me from any recovery of my slip.
"I have the same sentiments," she says with lightness in her tone.
There's another pause as I feel my reluctance to tell her my occupation.
"I know you're not Tron," she says without preamble.
"Yeah? You can tell from my voice?" I suggest in jest.
"Of course!" She replies with all the confidence in the Grid, "At least you're smart," she compliments. I laugh gently.
"I was joking actually,"
"I know. But it's…" she trails off.
"It's what?" I encourage.
"It's nice to talk to someone like this," she whispers, again I hear fabric being shuffled in the background.
"Do you have any friends in the Occupation?"
"... not ones I can talk to,"
"Right…" I should have realized she wouldn't be able to talk to anyone in the Occupation. Maybe she's more alone than I am. At least I have Able to talk to if anything got really hard on me.
"So… you never answered my question," she teases.
"About?" I ask before I recall, "Oh right! My job. I'm a… an architect!"
"An architect?" She sounds very skeptical. It makes me rethink my decision to lie but I'm not going to back down.
"Yes! It's very rewarding, just lonely. You understand. Not many of us architects around."
"Mmmm," she hums and I can tell she's humoring me, "Tell me, what buildings did you design?"
"Buildings? Oh no, I designed the industrial section, planned out the roads and grid work," I'm starting to heat up and I'm grateful for the steady wind keeping me cool.
"Ohhh! I see," She's most definitely holding back laughter now, "Very impressive," she teases again and I bang my head softly against the cool railing. She must have heard it's ringing sound.
"What was that?"
"Me ringing the bell and admitting defeat," I joke, "I'm not an architect."
"Why'd you lie?" She's not mad, merely curious and I'm relieved I haven't upset her.
I let out a nervous chuckle, "I wanted to impress you."
"Oh?" I can hear the smirk she wears. "So what are you really?" She asks after my embarrassed silence.
The way she words it gives me pause. What am I really? I'm a mechanic. A mercenary for justice. A rebel against the system. An upstart. Behaved but uncontrolled.
"Let's just say I do my best to fix things," I answer softly.
"Then we have something in common," she joins sweetly.
"Yeah…" a lot in common.
"So what did you want to talk about?" I change the subject when I feel the butterflies in my stomach beginning to overwhelm me.
"About our escort? I need a time frame, I have to make arrangements with my soldiers to cover for my possible absence," she answers matter of factly.
"What would you tell them?"
"That Tesler sent me on assignment."
"They won't double-check?"
"I answer to Tesler only, they won't doubt it."
"Whenever I use someone in my excuse from work my lie gets found out. Loose ends," I explain.
"Well, that's the difference between us… engineer. I'm in the army. We do things different from civilians."
"Engineer?" I laugh.
"It's my guess at what your job is!" She announces brightly.
We share a laugh.
"Close," I lean into the railing a little more. I'd forgotten how late it was.
"Mmm, it's not too hard to guess," she says quietly, almost muffled. There's more rustling from her end. "Do you have a timeframe tonight?"
"No, I don't. I think we'll have one tomorrow,"
"You, our client, and tall, dark, and menacing?" She makes a loud and exhausted sounding yawn.
"Yeah," I sober at the referral to Tron.
"I'll call you around the same time tomorrow… or later this cycle apparently. Can't believe we stayed up so late," she yawns again.
"It was nice talking to you," I say thoughtlessly. The moment my sleep-addled brain catches up with my words, I feel heat rush to my cheeks.
"I'm glad. I enjoyed talking to you too," she seems meek now, maybe half asleep. I might be reading her incorrectly though.
"Rest well."
"You too, Engineer."