Mirror's Eye

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."

-Abraham Lincoln

CHAPTER II

Faith crawled on and on through the air duct, trying to make sense of what had just happened. It seemed like an ordinary run, then… what? As the adrenaline, panic, and confusion slowly waned, Faith began to question what she was delivering this run more than she had ever questioned any other. She considered stopping and opening it up for a moment before she passed over a young man in a suit in a rather cluttered cubicle, listening to his radio blaring announcements about the city. New laws, warnings about the "evil runner crime syndicate", news, and other crap like that. As she crawled on, Faith briefly remembered the days when music was played over the radio stations. As memories of better days flooded her, the radio suddenly muted itself. "Huh?" Faith and the cubicle prisoner both muttered simultaneously, one annoyed, one worried. Faith slid back towards the vent that gave her a clear view of the cubicle.

"Piece of shit" the young man hissed under his breath as he gave the radio a few smacks. Some loud static and a few long beeps were his reward. Then there came the voice, sending a small chill down Faith's spine.

"…Faith. Three vents ahead, you are to exit and head for the elevator down the left hallway. Take it to the ground level. Move quickly, you do not have much time."

"What the hell?"

Again, Faith and the young man spoke at the same time. Some juvenile part of her chuckled and was tempted to whisper "jinx" as she moved on to as the strange voice told her to. It seemed her crappy sense of humor would be her coping mechanism for being bossed around by an omnipresent hacker. It felt odd. She was normally quite dry, yet here she was in an air duct, chuckling deep down inside about a prank she only heard of in elementary school.

"Here we are… third vent." Faith whispered to herself. She was only just beginning to feel a sense of loneliness creep into her chest. As she kicked out the vent and hopped down, Faith looked out at the night sky from a nearby window, realizing just how alone she was starting to feel without Merc looking out for her from home. Faith sprinted down a hallway and made her way to the elevator. She pressed the call button and the doors opened surprisingly fast. As Faith stepped in and listened to the cheesy elevator music, she began to worry again. Despite trying to stem the flow of thoughts, her mental dam broke as worry flooded her mind.

"What if this is a trap… for everyone?"

Faith pondered the thought of the hacker forcing her to reveal the hideouts of every runner she'd ever met. She'd die before she'd betray her cause; her mind had been resolved to that ever since she learned of Jack Knife's switch to the blue side.

The elevator doors opened. Speaking of blues…

A police officer stood directly in front of Faith as the doors opened. Faith's hands moved before she thought, and faster than he could draw a breath, the cop was immediately on the floor, his gun removed from its holster and slid across the empty lobby's floor. Faith held the man's arm, prepared to break it.

"Wait! I know you're a runner, but just listen. This… this is gonna sound completely insane, but some lady called me on my cell phone. I was told to escort the woman who emerged from this elevator at this exact time to a certain location or my family would be killed. Please… let me go." The straining cop's voice sounded absolutely desperate.

As Faith slowly loosened her grip, a disgusted look on her face, a rather upbeat ringtone jingled from the cop's pocket.

Utilizing the distraction, the cop swept her legs and reached for his baton. Faith skillfully landed with her hands on the floor, one foot extended, the other bent, her body just above the ground. As the man prepared to subdue Faith, her left leg quickly swooped to his midsection as her right leg swung behind his knees, forcing him to the ground with an aggressive scissor takedown. The cop's baton left his hand as he fell, completely surprised. He scrambled towards it but Faith had already won. She stepped on his back and jerked her head in the direction of the cop's phone, which had tumbled out of his pocket during the scuffle, just next to his hand.

"Answer it," she said with more than enough contempt in her voice. The cop got to his knees and pulled his phone from his pocket. He pressed it briefly to his ear before holding it out towards Faith, his other hand up in surrender.

"It's the woman. …she wants to talk to you. You must be a part of this. If anything happens to my kids, I swear I'll-"

"Give me the phone."

Faith snatched the phone from his already offering hand. "Hello?"

"Do not attack the officer again Faith. You are to head to the New City Mall. You will acquire a new radio and go straight to the subw-"

Faith couldn't contain herself and cut off the voice. "Wait, how in the hell did you know that I hurt the blue?"

"We are everywhere Faith. Do not ask questions. You will proceed from the mall to the subway and catch the next train to city hall. Once there, you are to await further instruction. Is that understood?"

Faith gritted her teeth and considered her options. When she decided her next course of action, she flatly replied. "Understood," The woman immediately hung up.

"Ready to get going?" The cop smirked in Faith's direction. Faith glared back. She picked up the gun she liberated from him and prodded him in the chest with it as he grimaced and quietly hissed a swear under his breath Faith didn't care to hear.

"You bet I am," She grinned as she escorted the cop to his own cruiser, delighting at how the tables turned in this situation.