Launch Complete
Day 379
"L.O.S.T, or League Of Stranded Trustees, was created for people like you. The ones who've gone rogue for a good cause, or just got kicked to the curb because they've been used for their purpose. Obviously, there's still someone in charge here, but our mission is to give those agents a second chance, or the opportunity to right a wrong with our assistance. Everyone here has code names, like; Angie's is Angler, Delphi's Dusky-dolphin, Shay's Shrimp, Eli's Eel-tail, and I'm Luminous. It was decided that the one in charge could pick, just to have some fun with it. As you can tell, Shay was the one who got picked on."
"Are… you the one in charge?" Kat intervenes during Lucky's explanation.
There's a moment of silence before the room bursts into laughter, even Lucky seemed to let out a chuckle.
Kat's ears drop, with a flush face. Why was everyone laughing? Was it something she said? She asked a legitimate question, did she not?
"You see how soft this fool is?" Angie interjects.
"On cod!" Shay exclaims, out of breath.
"He's a great shot with a Scope Charger, but he's more of a lover, Kat." Eli snickers.
Delphi's laughing ceases when she realizes how attacked Kat seems to feel. "Alright, alright. Come on, ya' losers, let's go!" Delphi exclaims pushing the boys out of the room, and yanking Angie by the jacket once past the doorway. As Angie's dragged away, she points her index and middle fingers at herself then Kat, eyes narrowed. Kat watches them leave, stunned by Angie's glare until she's completely out of sight with the others.
"I'm so sorry about that." Lucky begins, with a nervous snicker.
Kat returns her attention back to his eyes.
"Everyone likes to mess around here, and Angie… she's the protective type, she just needs time. But, to answer your question…" Lucas says with a pause. "No, I'm not the boss here. I guess you could say I'm co-owner. My friend is the one in charge, the one who found you a couple weeks ago or so."
Kat's ears perk at his words. Weeks?! She was barely living for weeks?! How is that even possible?! She'd taken on full teams single handedly, there's no way that was correct! Eyes wide, Kat listens closely, utterly baffled.
"When we…" Lucky stops. "Well, more like, when he found you, you were in pretty bad shape. He told us you had just gotten into a fight with the commander of the Octarian gang, the Sheridans."
The name ripples in Kat's mind as it triggers a faint sensation of familiarity and fear.
Lucky places a hand under his chin, with the other arm supporting its weight. "I've never seen him, but the head of L.O.S.T claimed there's something about him that's rather… off putting. I've never been able to find his official name in any researches I've done, but I've heard he goes by—"
"Deadeye." Kat finishes, a chill creeping down her spine.
"Yes. L-Man—" Lucky laughs, before correcting himself. "I mean, my boss only said his real name once before, it was something with an F… Man, what was it? Ford? Floid? Fredrick? Felipe? No… Fernando? Nope, I know that's wrong… Francisco?!" Names run wild in Lucky's brain, until his face lights up. "Farris! It was Farris!"
Kat goes pale as the name washes over her, rounded ears dropping swiftly.
"Farris!"
"Oh, Farris?"
"Us… or you, Farris?"
"I'm done playing servant, Farris."
She'd said the name only a million times over at this point. Yet, the name completely blanked her mind. The ignorance was bliss, because the memories that came with the name stung. They lock onto her heart and weigh it down, straining it tight in her chest. When did everything fall apart in front of her? When did she lose her standards, her right mind? Falling in love with a psychopath, it was only something another psychopath would do.
"Woah, you all right?" Lucky questions, snapping her out of her own head.
"Y-yeah, sorry." She replies, her expression seemed disheartened, but her ears appeared attentive.
Lucky's hesitant, but continues. "Bottom line, my boss went undercover, playing as one of Deadeye's pawns," He pauses. "Uhm, no offense." He cringes.
"None taken." Kat states, waving him off.
"Well, Boss-man, he mentioned…" Lucky hesitates before finishing his sentence. "You were second in command, you called the shots for; recruiting, training, assassinations, and truces, mercies even. It was all you, correct?"
Kat's eyes narrow upon Lucky for a moment, what was all this? Interrogation? Kat's eyes soften as her gaze drifts off to the side. She was ashamed, it was clear as day.
Lucky frowns, he realized he probably should have asked a little less straightforwardly. "Hey," He states, regaining Kat's eyes as she finches at his hand on her shoulder. "I get it, I was an agent who worked for a team of Inkling defending the surface land from Octarains, but I eventually realized most of them were doing nothing wrong. I hadn't noticed I was really just an anti-Octoling group to be honest…" He trails off for a moment. "Until I met my best friend that is, and now we have L.O.S.T! So, trust me, no one's holding anything against you, we've all been there."
Kat mustered a smile in reply, his ability to shift from serious to concerned perplexed her, but she appreciated the empathy.
Lucky smiles back and slides his hand off her shoulder to proceed with his explanation. "Anyways, my point was, Agent Lemon, he was very interested in you—"
Agent Lemon? What kinda code name is that? And, why would he be interested in her anyway? Kat ponders aimlessly, keeping her ears open to what Lucky had to say.
"Your position I mean!" He clears up. "His mission was to gather data about your group at first, and he came to realize you were the one who really called the shots, while Deadeye… kinda just took the credit from the shadows."
Looking away momentarily while Lucky's words marinate within her, she thinks about it for a moment. She'd never really thought about it in that way before, maybe this "Agent Lemon" was onto something. Shaking off the thought, she then turns her attention back on the speaker.
"He told us that you were one of the strongest recruits, so he couldn't understand why you weren't the one above Deadeye. That was… until he understood your relationship. You were in love with him, were you not?"
Her, in love? Looking down, Kat hugs herself tight, she can feel her eyes building up with tears. It probably shouldn't be considered that anymore. Maybe at first, but it slowly morphed into something toxic, infectious even. If it was real love, it had to of only been one sided because, somehow, every little sweet moment in her eyes out shined the millions of things that pierced her heart. Kat bats her eyes, getting rid of the warm tears prepared to spill. She couldn't cry, crying was weak, especially when it was over someone like Farris.
Kat finally gazes up at Lucky, her eyes glossy, as she mumbled a response. "I guess, I was."
Lucky scans her face, while worry was written all over his own, he brushes it off before continuing. "Well, it concerned our boss, because to him…" Lucky hesitates before his next words. "You seemed trapped."
"You know, if this is because you really do feel trapped, no one's keeping you here, you can leave. Matter of fact, I'll do it for you…"
"N-no, I'm sorry… Don't leave, please… I don't feel that way, I promise… You have to believe me…"
Kat sighs, as the faded voices ring from the back of her fractured memory, while Lucky presses forward.
"After you blew up on Deadeye one day, you seemed completely fed up with his antics, and the boss knew things were about to go south when he called you for a meeting. He watched you storm into his office, and heard the Chargers' shot when it was fired. That's when he picked you up and brought you here. He put me in charge of taking care of you every now and then, maybe it was because I'm the one he's closest to, or because I'm pretty decent at fixing things with science. But, it was my duty to watch over you, day in and day out whenever he wasn't. Although that was rare, he was with you the most, it was almost always. I had to kick him out at times, if I'm completely honest. I was on watch duty before you woke up, and I just walked out for a few minutes, then you were gone. I'm glad you're alright, but how did you even get into headquarters?"
"Shay and Eli brought me here, I was told, they were supposedly doing Delphi's job of tending to my injuries and figured I was better enough to wake up."
"So, Delphi didn't do it when I asked her to, and those two troublemakers almost risked your life on a hunch? Sadly, that sounds accurate." Lucky sighs. "I'm so sorry about everyone. We hadn't ever had a situation like this before, an agent on the brink of death, but Boss was sure you were worth saving. Even though Angie wouldn't quit trying to convince him you were dangerous." Lucky laughs nervously. "He wasn't hearing it though. The boss is rather stubborn when his heart is set on something. Five years with him of my eighteen years on this planet, I should know. He has a lot of faith in you, Kat."
Alarmed, Kat watches him bewildered. "How'd you know my name?"
"Boss-man, he told me."
"What's his name? Your boss?"
"Leonardo. He goes by Leo though."
Kat's expression melts into astonishment. She silently regretted her previous assumptions about the head of L.O.S.T.
"Kat, I'm gonna help you, I promise."
"…I hope you know, it's my motive to become your friend…"
It suddenly all made sense. His little comments, his vagueness, his determination, it was all coming together now. Kat stares at Lucky in shock as the memories come crashing back in like the tide.
"Why didn't you say so earlier?! Where is he!?" Kat exclaims, almost irritated, as she jumps out of the chair — leaving it spinning behind her.
Lucky throws his hands defensively. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Calm down! You're still hurt, remember?! Don't over stimulate yourself!"
She takes a deep breath with closed eyes, relaxing slightly. "Okay," She began, her eyes fluttering open. "All right, I'm calm." She brings her gaze back onto Lucky. "Can you please tell me where he's at? I need to see him."
Lucky smirks as he walks over to the extended desk, grabbing a yellow sticky note pad and a pen, he scribbles something down as he speaks, his hunched over back to Kat. "You know, you two are a lot alike in some ways. Very stubborn, and painfully persistent." He scoffs. "I know he'll be thrilled to see you, he's been worried like crazy. I had him go to the pool room, because my man has zero chill right now, but it's understandable. I was even on edge, but ever since he met you it's like you've been here this entire time — you're all he ever talks about."
"Really?" Kat asks, slightly awestruck.
Lucky freezes, closing the pen with a click, as if he had to process what he just said for a moment. "Crap, um, never mind that!" He yanks the written on paper from its stack, turning around to offer it to Kat.
She smiles slyly as she takes the tiny sheet from his hand, drawing her attention to it to find it's a quick map of directions.
"Don't tell him I said that! He'll have a cow about it!" Lucky exclaims, pushing up his glasses.
"Leo? Really? He's a sweetheart, what do you mean?" She scoffs, looking back up at Lucky.
"To you, maybe." He playfully scowls, then shakes his head before gesturing his next words with his hands. "But all you have to get to him is go through this door, down that hallway to the right, and it'll lead you to an elevator. Take that down to the first floor, then take a left, you'll find the pool room there."
She swiftly glances down at the small paper, then back at Lucky. "Thank you, Lucky, seriously." She smiles.
"No problem," He tells her sincerely, turning back to the desk, he begins to type away on a keyboard. "This place is kind of big, and I'd rather not be the reason you got lost." Lucky pulls up Kat's previous chair as data files cover several of the many screens in the room. "I'd join you on your little excursion, but L-Man asked me for a favor not too long ago, so I need to get back to work. I truly am happy you're okay though, Kat."
Her smile sweetens as she heads for the doorway. "I see why Leo picked you to watch over me."
He chuckles in gratitude, his face already in a stack of papers on the desk.
Then, with that, Kat heads out the doorway, turning right. Her head running wild with vague memories of Leo's face, while her feet match her mind's speed subconsciously.
Lucky takes a quick glance over his shoulder before she disappears, then he smiles once she's out of sight. "She definitely sees him the same way he sees her, seems they might both be in denial over the same thing."