Lyrics to More Than Worthless by Drowning Pool
I'm down to one last cigarette
And perhaps two steps left
Please God, don't make me feel anymore
What did you save for me?
What did you pay for?
I can't understand this mess
I am more than this
I am more than worthless
I want more
I need more
I'm worth more
More than worthless
Well, I want you to know
Well, I need you to know
That I'll be right here, right here
Well, I want you to feel everything is real
What I feel is still real
I'm down to one last cigarette
And perhaps no time left
August 7th, 2030
"Did- Did this dude just declare war on us? Us?!" Luna had LK replay the radio broadcast again, displaying Dylan Blood's aggressive declaration. "Who the hell is that?!"
"Not someone we know, is it?" Sam looked to the twins and then Leven's group. "Is that voice familiar?"
"Nope," Carly replied as Caroline and Leven simply shook their heads. "Sounds like someone has a hate-boner for all of you."
"I'd very much like to know what it is we did to this guy," Luna shared, cracking her neck from side to side. "Unless this is just a guy who doesn't agree with us having our powers."
"Sure, it might be a cover," Leven reasoned. "But he knows what to say and how to rattle the cages. This guy here isn't an amateur by the sound of it." He looked at the side mirror on his end, seeing no passing cars or armed folks crouching their way. Just the way he wanted it, peaceful. "He's totally wanting some war."
"Bad news, he's already got it," Caroline bluntly stated. "Hey, artificial thing, what's the number for dead phenos today?"
"Fourteen reported across the nation yet, but more dead regulars than that."
"See that? We're able to kill more of them than they can us!"
"Them?" Luna crossed her arms and spat at the concept Caroline was getting at. "What, did we turn into aliens? Dude, I'm still me... I'm still..." She sighed. "It was bad enough when some of my friends disowned me for my sexuality, but this?"
"Luna-" Sam was there to support, but Luna's pain spiked over her capability today.
"I'm not a monster! I never was, why can't they understand that we're the victims?! We're all victims, too! They can't-"
"Luna, it's okay," Sam reached out, wrapping her arms around Luna and the seat. "We know you're not like that, Lunes. We know."
"When I get my hands on those anti-nuts..." Caroline shared Luna's thoughts and feelings on the matter, heavily despising the idea of their kind being murdered in cold blood. "They're all insane and paranoid."
"Word!"
"Best to remember we can't get involved in public affairs yet," Leven reminded them woefully. "Good to have LK watching over us, disabling surveillance cameras and disrupting signals around."
"Yeah because we sooooo needed LK to help us now," Caroline sarcastically shared. "Funny how we've only encountered anti-pheno forces just once so far. No FBI, no SWAT, just them that one time."
"It had to be a test," Leven reasoned. "I mean, we're going only by theories right now but that feels to make the most sense right now. We know they're established, we know they're only interested in everyone involved with that Patriot agency, that means you guys more than me-"
Luna rolled her eyes.
"-but they were there to test our strength, I'm sure of it. Of course, they weren't expecting Link-D to make an entrance with a garbage truck. Heck, I think nobody at all was."
"Can we... Not talk about that?" Carly requested, still expressing guilt on the side she had taken, even as brief as that was. "I wish that didn't happen."
"I'm sure we all wish we didn't face any of these hardships." Leven let his hand move on its own, which locked right into Carly's. They gave each other blushing faces for a moment before they retracted their intertwined hands in silent. Caroline giggled and nudged Leven with her shoulder, giving him a suggestive wink. "As I was saying, we're still being assessed. My idea is that we are still being watched- or, not anymore thanks to LK, because they want to know more about us and our powers. Sure, the government or whoever had us under their jurisdiction might have been reading on all leaked files, but seeing us in action tells them more about us. Of course they would have been monitoring us-" He slammed his hands on the steering wheel when he made a disadvantaged realization. "And now they're gonna make closer moves now that LK is around."
"Not unless I keep them on you, but this would not benefit you strategically. I can find out which parties are chasing after you. Please assume that Link-N here has a very special APB on him for his status as the Ultimate Human."
"Yeah, yeah, the first perfection constructed in a chamber by a child prodigy who didn't even reach the double digits. Still doesn't make me feel right. Sure, good qualities but what's that mean when-?" He idly blinked. "Hundreds of people died just for the pheno applications to be set onto me, the last clone of the batch."
"Oh, please, don't be so dramatic," Caroline groaned. "And here I am thinking high school theatre plays went overboard."
Luna, Leven and Carly coughed or looked away.
"Oh, right..." Caroline smirked out of humor. "Sam and I were the ones out of this bunch who finished through high school."
"I never liked theatre class," Sam shared.
"Um, hey, I did..." Luna corrected. "I mean, I attended-"
"Sorry, we're the veterans."
"That's gotta count for something!" Luna protested.
"It does to me," Sam assuredly told her, kissing her upon her head.
"So, clone, are you wallowing in your own pity?" Caroline slapped Leven lightly on the face. "All of them didn't die for you to be a little bitch, they died because a sociopath with a big brain had enough of the fatsos and the terminally sick. And she couldn't be bothered with computer simulations instead, which I'm sure was an option, so why was there need to kill-?"
Leven snapped his fingers. "Unless that was her idea until someone said otherwise. Someone being a little concerned with overpopulation-"
Caroline let out a snicker. "Those guys truly are evil after all. They've got their wish, reduced the gen pop for those four years as much as they could underneath everyone's noses. We haven't even considered the investigators whom might've gotten too close to the truth."
"Don't even do that to us," Luna chimed in. "I hate all of this."
"Of course you do, we all do, right?" Caroline stuck her head out the window.
"Let me guess, your assumptions here are based on knowledge from your parents?"
"Told you before," Caroline lectured again. "Politicians for parents that means hearing cold, hard facts and tactics on how stuff like that works. They think of all issues and solutions that are... Morally questionable."
"At no doubt."
"Isn't so far-fetched to say that maybe folks were paid off to turn a blind eye. Considering now, I think that might just be obvious. Anyways, damage has already been done, but it isn't too late to set things right."
"The message by this Tacitus Kid makes it clear he desires a civil war right up Kapacity Korp's posterior. I've been monitoring all four-hundred facilities across the nation. As of yet, fifty have come under siege by angered protesters who now know of the hidden link they share with Vial Corp."
"Looks like this guy wants to end this little secret war himself." Caroline returned her head inside the SUV. "Calling the locals to take matters into their own hands, that's interesting."
"You mean in the sense you wonder why this person chose to come out with it instead of making sneaky moves?" Leven rubbed his chin, thinking carefully. "This Tacitus Kid perhaps wanted trust to be established. Hey, LK, you can access those videos, but can you run print of his face into the general databases? We've gotta learn about this guy and what we might be up against." He shook his head, sulking a bit. "I don't like this, how we're getting new enemies by the second. Lincoln wiped McMahon off the board, now we've got someone entirely new, and he isn't afraid of being vocal."
"Were it possible to send an image through radio transmission, I'd have shown you the face. This man calls himself Dylan Blood, and I've just ran his face across all police precinct departments and all general hospitals. There are no qualifying matches at all."
"None?"
"Maybe he's just using an alias..." Leven concluded. "So, Dylan Blood, was it?"
"That is the name of the Google Plus account linked to the YouTube channel where the video was uploaded from."
"There an IP address you can find? Maybe the places where these accounts were made?"
"I can, but the time and place stamps might not be so useful. Accessing... Standby."
"So now we're seriously going to have another enemy?" Luna clenched a fist. "We've been going around trying to avoid all threats! Why-?"
"This guy isn't some spook based on his actions," Leven pointed out. "Just some guy we can stop before the anti-pheno group see him as a Messiah."
"Are we suddenly interested in people who are trying to bring antis together? That's not what we do, dudes! There'd be too many-"
"There is just one right now, Luna. One with some undeniably brass balls and clear goal to speed up the casualties on our side."
"What about the others?!" Luna jerked herself to her left, infuriated enough to let the Lincoln clone have it. "Sure, let's pay this fucker all the attention and ignore the other antis that are killing our own kind! Yeah, let's do that because he posted a video while those other guys have gone out, shooting, stabbing and running over those phenos who can't help themselves. Why you-" Her eyes went cold yellow, her mouth going wide to show her pair of sharp jaws, roaring right into Leven's face in rage.
"Lunes!" Sam worked on containing Luna's anger. "Please calm down, we understand your concern, and I agree with you."
"Why' Why is this even h-happening?!"
"Hey-"
"Oh, my God- I didn't even g-get that ruh-ruh-ruh-" Distraught came over her like a shadow, and almost instantly, Luna threw up over herself, spamming the barf all over her lap, the seat and floor, some few chunks slapping on the glove compartment.
"Good Lord!"
Carly let herself out of the vehicle, cupping her nose eagerly. "Yuck!"
"Fuck this, you're all unbearable," Caroline decided, following Carly. "Good think we're only parked."
"Luna..." Sam stroked her fair lover's shoulders tenderly. "Are you-?"
"Fuck you, clone, you f-fucking p-piece of-"
"Luna, we're on the same boat," Leven argued. "We want the same thing, but to focus on this Blood person is to prevent another fiasco. Hey, LK, we need that video gone yesterday. That one and any copy uploads done by other accounts."
"I've got two pings made with the email used, apart from the email itself, but Dylan Blood- or whatever his name is- either had some serious cash for plane tickets, or he made friends in other countries."
"What?"
"YouTube channel, created in the heart of Mexico, and a Facebook in-"
"Wait, what?"
"However, the email account was set up in New York. All three, five years ago. That's when he created his Dylan Blood persona."
"New York, is that right?"
"Any specific pinpoints?" Sam asked.
"Actually, the email account's creation leads back to a neighborhood in New Rochelle, but for the other two locations, I don't think our friend was ever there. Ran the clear photo through all surveillance cameras of all airports, he's never been in any around that year."
"So, Blood had help, huh?"
"Finding out more about him will be critically essential... Add that to the list of issues we've got so far..." Leven crossed his arms. We're supposed to also be trying to find a way to extract the SCX chip from her... We didn't need this shit.
"Wait, what was the name of the channel again?"
"Tacitus Kid, but with a name like that-"
"That'll tell us more. Might wanna search those keywords."
"Scanning for cross-references."
"We're seriously going on a hunt for him, aren't we?"
"The message mentions the Louds that were involved with Elmont, in quite the antagonistic way. Luna, you and the rest of the six- with the exception being Luan- are phenos, that's more than qualifying to meet the eligibility on his list."
"The video has now been wiped from the channel, but I've done a rummaging through the others. This person... Is surely interesting to say the least. He expresses a deep resentment for the rich and powerful. Anti-elitist propaganda, and not too fond of the average police force, either."
"What, lower class? Hey, this guy is white, correct?"
"Appears to be."
"An American but lower class... With nothing to lose if he's taking big shots..."
"Don't scare me," Sam begged. "The way you make it sound, Lev."
"Tacitus Kid frequents online boards for massive rants and tirades, speaking out against many forms of injustice and controversial issues. He's been fixated on most things but now he's set his sights on everything that's been happening. You, Vial Corp and Kapacity Korp, and the Black Network, possibly."
"Possibly?" Leven looked over at Carly and Caroline from his view. "More likely than possibly."
"Tacitus Kid... That name..." Right on the tip of her tongue, Sam felt she was familiar with it. "Tacitus- Hey, Tacitus Man-" She snapped her fingers and then called Caroline over with a wave.
"Tacitus Man?" Leven repeated.
"I'm not going back in there until you clean up!" Caroline raved.
"Hey, does Tacitus Man sound familiar to you?"
"Ta-" Caroline poked and scratched her cheek. "Oh yeah, the nut with a bone to pick against the millionaires. Heard of them but I always thought they weren't actually real. Just a group of trolls or disgruntled ex-millionaire."
"He's real," Leven confirmed. "This is the guy we're up against."
"Wait, what conversation did I miss?"
"Dylan Blood is your Tacitus Man or Kid or whatever it is."
"Is this confirmed or mere speculation?" Caroline leaned her head through Luna's window and sniffed. "Can we please clean that up?"
"Luna, let's step out and get you cleaned up, love," Sam implored, exiting.
"I believe this to be legitimate, although I'm unsure how one goes from one thing to another. There is no correlation between a rich man and a pheno. Unless... He didn't. Hey, LK, when was the last rant about the wealthy Blood has written?"
"February seventh of this year."
"Caroline, you've heard talk of him, is there more to it than what you're aware of?"
"Well, right off the bat, I'm able to remember my folks' mentioning of that name with close friends and affiliates. The way they did so implied they didn't like him or... Well, them. No one knew who this guy was. They tried to snoop only after... After he began to send demands. Very aggressive ones, too."
"I've dug up articles of a massacre at Johannes Theatre. All of the victims the same; elder elitists, reports of one female witness, young Lacey St. Claire, who made it out unscathed but in shock. All this on the same day the video was uploaded, but hours later."
"Sounds like our guy..."
"A massacre..." Sam cupped a hand over her mouth, staying close to the vehicle to hear Leven and LK's ongoing convo. "He actually massacred a bunch of-"
"He's a mass murderer, now we know... Now we know that we have to catch and stop him ourselves."
"Wait, the police are aware about him," Caroline deduced. "This isn't our headache."
"They don't know what we know, but for all we do know, all cops might be antis. Can we really rely on the police to stop a madman interested in taking out every pheno? It's a wonderful gift for the forces on the anti side, I do believe that."
"Nothing is ever easy, is it?" Caroline kicked at the rear wheel in anger. "It's too much, why are we bothering?"
"Why, indeed?" Leven also expressed disdain all around. "You're right, it has become too much, but we can make it out. I think I have a counter-solution to this issue. Actually, we've held this off for the longest amount of time, but we could make a public move the way he did. You know, reach out to every pheno the way he's trying to plant his ideology."
"Finally catching up and taking course of action," Caroline laughed, mocking Leven. "Where was this clone a few days ago?"
"Listening to your crap. But you're right, we've been focused on staying out of the shadows and avoiding the chasers. I did suggest this awhile back, but-"
"Yeah, you suggested we use the zoomer twins, they have that status that can't be wasted. When they come back-"
"We'll have to get them to some podium, better hope they still have fans and supporters."
Act VII: Revolution, Chapter I: Pheno Wars
Central Park, New York
Leia happened upon the massive crowd formed around The Great Lawn area, keeping her distance from them, circling them and taking nothing but photographs around. As she had been instructed and told, Leia was assured that this was for the history, one point in time where the world shed its skin for the new form. It wasn't just an average protest the way it happened, the way she saw it. The size, had to be over half a thousand through her eyes. School wasn't this cramped, last she recalled.
History... But not just yet.
"I've taken over thirty now, is this enough for an album?" Her right ear housed an earpiece that connected her with her new master Dylan Blood at long distance. She didn't know where he was but she didn't question his current goal right now, all she knew was that he had been close by. Hopefully not kidnapping other teenage girls- whatever that thing with Lily was about, Leia didn't stop wondering about the beneath-the-surface story that laid buried. He told her she'd find out, but through what means? When was now? Who was she and what did she possibly do-?
Then, Leia remembered that Dylan Blood had a fixation with the beings phenos, wondering if Lily might have been one. But for one thing, it didn't seem that Lily had been through torture scenarios. At least, not yet if she were one. It surely have Leia the chills. Oh, dear God, help me never to cross him...
Her mind raced back to Gwen and Marsha, the duo reduced from a trio, both wandering around without her now. Surely they were still in the game of taking their pickings as they had been since they left Greenwood. But Leia, who had considered herself the most sexually appealing (sorry, Gwen), deemed them less than successful the rest of the path from here on out. She had a nervous bray of a laugh, sounding a little crazy when she considered that they'd get nowhere without her. Then again, it was them who had all their belongings, and Leia had none of her scores.
"What is so funny, Leia?"
"Oh nothing," Leia kept to herself. "So, when is it gonna get fun? You said you'd have tasks for me, but I didn't sign up for photography. This... This is real boring."
"Did you prefer to come help me over here at my end?"
"Well, you haven't told me what you're up to."
"It would be best if I didn't. Trust me, you'll be getting better tasks down the line. Premium rewards."
"You said trust, that's quite the joke you tell."
"We'll establish a bond should you continue to aid-"
"Aid? I'm certain you used the word 'serve' back then. You know, when you were more threatening, putting a knife on us. Promise me that's not the person I'll happily work for."
"We're way past that now, Leia. You've willingly complied and this gives me no reason to forcibly coerce you now. And while I'm humbled that I have gained your loyalty-"
"I'm not your slave here, this is... A weird partnership. That's how it has been with my girls, we all trusted, relied and supported each other-" It struck her heart; Leia dare not follow them in the end, after all that they had gone through. "I'm sorry, I thought they'd stay... I mean, you did solve our biggest issue in a matter of hours. That heartless mayor is now dead, and I feel... I don't know, a lot safer I guess? But even still... It won't bring back-"
"Your parents?"
Leia didn't respond.
"Are you really Leah Reed?"
She didn't reply to that either.
"It all points to that, girl. Your name, you've told me it was Leia Amanda Prescott, and I believed it until I realized something. It's the name, it belonged to the child actress of some Nickelodeon sitcoms. Yes, the very same actress dressed and looked the way you do now. At no doubt do I believe that you're merely imitating her from her breakout show."
"Actually...-" Leia smirked and laughed. "Not a bad theory, but why should you get all the answers? Let's keep it a mystery."
"That can go both ways, Leia."
"Oh, it can, but that wouldn't be the best thing. Anyways... What's next after this? Can I leave? Afraid people will think I'm talking to myself."
"Did you circle the entire-?"
Leia squealed away when a flying water bottle flung at her. "Crap!" She dodged it at the last second. "This mob is getting angry now."
"Alright, fall back to the rendezvous point-"
Leia turned around one second too late. Had she been quicker, she surely would have missed Lola and Lana Loud come running right into the rampaging crowd. "Wait- Fancy company has just shown up."
"Company?"
"Moment and uhhh... Velo-something-"
"The zoomer girls...!"
"Did you want me to-?"
"Relay my order, get closer to the action if possible!"
"More photographs? Alright then..." Leia sighed.
Approximately five blocks away from Leia's location, Dylan dragged back the cop's head back from the toilet. "Would you care to be smart or will you take another underwater lesson, piggie?"
"Fuck you-" the tough-cookie officer let Dylan have it.
"Not the oink I want to hear, Stewart!" Again, Dylan dunked the veteran officer's head back into the toilet. "You're weak and you're fading from your life essence, Stewart. Is this where you wanna die? How you wanna be remembered? You're a literal shit..."
"Mmmmmfff- bbbbbuuhhhhhhh-"
Damn it! The twins finally showed up on radar but now?! Where the fuck were they when I counted on them to show up at the bank job?! If anything, it angered him, gave him something- Someone, a pair of twins- To channel his fuel tank of anger at. The twins were close, and he could finally subdue them. "You know what? You are extremely lucky-"
Dylan grabbed the officer's handgun and fired at the back of his head, letting him die in this filth dump before searching for his keys. He didn't have the time anymore to obtain the files on the suspects still connected to Kapacity Korp.
Okay, zoomers. Here I come, here I come.
Leia moved into the protest as it began to die down, with her believing had to do with the twins' surprise appearance. If it was really them, it would truly be history for her. She'd seen the twins on the news from time to time, but up close and personal would be a whole other story. You see, Leia, Gwen and Marsha were too young of girls that they gradually became frightened of the duo. Naturally, they avoided those areas they knew the Loud twins kept watch over. Leia, the one most spooked of a super who had probably never heard of her. Even now, she hadn't known it. So when Leia grew closer and spotted them both surrounded by the silent protesters formed around them in a circle, she knew a fair amount of peace and tranquility and shot one single photograph of the two women.
For the first time, she had seen what they looked like, no blurry photos that looked like a bad edit either. No footage taken of them that you'd have to zoom in to see their faces- which even then, could usually not be made out. But here... Leia had seen that these two were just normal. They looked normal and they... They looked scared themselves, nervous around this particular crowd. Leia lowered the camera and let it hang around her neck. Are you possibly like me? Are you pretenders? Are you... Running from your pasts? Who are... We?
"E-everyone-" Lola began, voice trembling to betray her. "H-hello-"
"It's them-"
"Holy shit, the heroines of-!"
"They've come! They've heard us, they've answered our cries!"
Lana put her hand up, saluting the civilians. "You all know us, I'm sure of that, but we're not here for a meet-and-greet. We, uh- We haven't been appearing around these past few weeks-"
"V, M, what are you two doing about the spike in violent crimes?! You're aware of the crimes against the victims of the evil Vial Corp, but you haven't been-"
"Hey," another protester addressed that one, "Don't be stupid, you ought to know that this isn't easy for them! Put two and two together!"
"Yeah, it should already be known as fact that these two were experimented by them! They've helped us long enough! It's time that we returned the favor! Who's been helping us?! Not this Tacitus Kid, that's for sure!"
"The Tacitus Kid has all the reason, man! Do you hear yourself?!" A burly man with scruffy facial hair brought out a handgun and took aim at the twins. "These are just girls who can run fast! Nothing amazing! I'll tell you who you can rely on! The cops, the soldiers who give their lives up for this nation! Not these inexperienced freaks! Can these two... College girls even fight?! I know you can dodge these rounds, but you won't dare take a bullet, because you're cowards!"
Leia flinched, taking a step back.
"Cops and soldiers are still aplenty mortal, but not these guys!" a woman yelled. "Our precious government was wrong to pull the plug on the Patriot Agency! A first task force that can afford to jump into the fatally dangerous of situations!"
"Yeah because our bomb squads surely don't do that on a mission to stop FIVE or Scythe terrorists! You're a dumbfuck!"
"I thought this was an anti gathering! Why are those idiotic pro faggots here?! Get them outta here!"
"PUT DOWN THAT GUN, ASSHOLE!"
"Leia, what's happening?! I'm hearing some serious commotion!"
"S-some meathead pulled out a gun-" Leia pressed herself back into the dispersing crowd. "He- He's aiming at the twins!"
"THESE WHORES ARE NOTHING BUT USELESS IN COMPARISON TO THE REAL PROFESSIONALS! GIVE UP THE HERO MANTLES OR TURN YOURSELVES IN!"
"But they are not outlaws!"
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! THESE YOUNG PHENOS HAVE BEEN PROVIDING A PUBLIC SERVICE!"
"ONLY THESE TWO! WHO'S TO SAY THE REST OF THEM ARE GOING TO FALL IN BEHIND THEM?! I MEAN-"
"He's right, there's been no other freak stepping into the vigilante occupation."
"So suddenly because they have powers they're supposed to be superheroes?! You're not entitled to have a public bodyguard with that mindset, so stop watching those dumb comic book movies! You're basing this on Marvel and fucking DC bullshit! Get real, all of these phenos were involuntarily turned into who they are today! Of course they'd be afraid of scum who go around killing them!"
"PREACH IT!"
"See? This guy has reason!"
"And look at this man pulling out his gun at the very people who stopped bank robbers every often! Is this how we're repaying them?!"
"THIS IS HOW THEY PLAN IT! THEY'LL WIN YOUR FAVOR AND CRY VICTIM AND THEY'LL TAKE OVER THE COUNTRY IF WE DON'T DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! FUCK THIS, I'M PUTTING THESE WHORES DOWN!"
"HE'S GONNA SHOOT!"
"GET DOWN!"
"LEIA, GET BACK!"
Leia hit the ground for cover, hearing two shots ring out as she landed on her side. The photograph camera swung about once before it fell with her. The sudden fluttering of pigeons followed thereafter, the birds that flew out of the trees. The two sides of the intertwined mob had been rendered silent, the multiple protesters ducking and covering their ears while focused on the aggressor and the twins. Leia expected to see and hear the thud of two bodies falling down, but the way it happened wasn't how she anticipated.
Lola caught the pair of bullets she figured was meant for each of them, tossing them in the air and taking the gun out of the aggressor's hands before the third shot dispensed. "Ohmygod."
"Leia?! What's happening, Leia!? I'm heading over there!"
"Did you seriously try to... Hurt us?" Lola disassembled the piece, tossing the gun parts down on the grass. "How dare you?"
"G-give me back-"
"GET THAT MAN BEHIND BARS, HEROES!"
Lola shook her head, disgruntled and angered, face going from her regular orange to a brighter red. "HOW DARE-"
The third zoomer no one anticipated made his entrance from behind Lola, sprinting on her side and performing a roundhouse punch, knocking her out cold. Her unconscious body was spared from the drop, Benny Harrington made sure of it, carrying her with both arms. Lana advanced but then stopped moving after a simple step; her legs were entrapped in a cocoon of ice. The pheno who stopped Lana dead in her tracks made himself known, taking his place next to Benny. "We've got the rushers," Leland Callaghan informed an unknown party into his earpiece. "Move in."
"Uh- A new zoomer and a pheno with ice powers j-just stopped V and M," Leia cautiously whispered into her comms. She thought to take record of it, snapping photos of the two new phenos- but Meil Ramos yanked the strap off and took the camera from Leia's hands. "HEY!"
Dylan was only one block away from Leia's location when sirens broke out. He kept in place, sticking right in the closest intersection, observing a convoy of four armored trucks speed to Central Park, stopping right into the curb. "Hey, get out of there, you've got armed company."
"What are cops doing here?!"
"These aren't cops..."
"S-so the camera just came out of my hands- It's, uh, just floating up-"
"Floating-?" Dylan, along with the civilians around him, watched armed forces drop out from the back of the tough-steel vehicles, tactically moving into the park. Looking closely, he noticed that the uniforms on the enforcement units. "These aren't SWAT guys, but their vehicles-" Didn't take him long to realize the uniforms were really the anti-pheno forces at work. "They're here for the twins!"
The earpiece came displaced from Leia, floating off to her right, where she was met by Meli Ramos for the first time. Meli, a young girl right around her teens but older than Leia, sporting a pink jacket, black shorts and a moody gray cap that concealed her face when she bobbed her head down. Leia didn't need to see her face to know the teen was of Mexican descent based on her voice. "Who were you talking to? What are you doing here, Goldilocks?"
"I- I'm d-doing a blog-" Leia made a grab for the comms. "Give it back!"
"You see, this isn't standard school-budget tech," Meli carefully observed. "No, this is high-grade, but..."
"I'm- I'm not-" Leia zipped up when Meli took out her own earpiece, replacing it with this confiscated one. Into it, directly establishing contact with the unknown party, she spoke, "I've got your little friend being shady here. She says she's doing a scoop for school, but that can't be right-"
"I'll tell you what's right and not right, you little bitch."
Meli winced. It's the Tacitus guy!
"Let her go, or I'll come bothering you."
Meli flicked off the earpiece and stepped on it, destroying it. Leia cried out with a hard gasp. "Hey!"
"Be on guard, the so-called Tacitus Kid is around, I've just got an ally of his," Meli notified through her earpiece. "Benny, fan out and do a perimeter sweep. The anti-pheno team's got the twins."
"Roger that, it'll be a great achievement to stop this calculated war before it begins."
"As for you," Meli had plans forming for Leia. "We'd all be interested in what you can tell us about him. You will, won't ya?"
Leia broke into a run, scurrying like a mouse trying to elude the maze- or a skunk trying to move out of the range of my headlights. Slippery bastards. She was frantic and eager to outrun- OH, GOD, THAT'S A PHENO! C-CAN I ESCAPE HER?! For one thing, she gave it her all and never looked back. Suppose Meli was hot on her trail, but Leia didn't want to get that heart attack when she'd look back and see that telekinetic fly after her like a leaf attached to a string she didn't know she was holding onto. She ran further down, heading south, the opposite of where Dylan currently was.
But Meli had laughed to herself and wrapped the camera strap around her hands. "How cute."
It was at that second when the anti-pheno armored forces all boxed Meli and her ice friend and the captured twins. They took their weapons high and proud and gladly took aim, also telling the protesters to disperse back. In seconds, the two phenos had seemingly given themselves up, allowing two of the special authorities to lay their cuffs onto them so that they were escorted off back to the armored trucks. A third carried an unconscious Lola, and Lana, knowing what a loss looked like, had no choice but to accept it as well. They had even placed a dampener on her to ensure that she would not try anything funny- and she went out cold with a nasty strike of a rifle, as if her brain could take that kind of damage.
"South, there was a girl we can link to the Tacitus Kid," she lowly whispered to her handler. "She ran southside of the park. I hope you have kids, cause that girl looks identical like that sitcom actress who dropped out of Nickelodeon eight years ago."
"Tacitus Kid...?" The arresting personnel had thrown her in the truck for good measure, a convincing act. "Debrief me."
"Benny's doing a five-block sweep all sides," Meli explained. "Girl was talking to a secure network, and his voice answered to me. We... Dropped the ball by being radio silent with the guns up to here."
"Obtaining this wannabe big-shot will get us a promotion with the big boys," Leland grinned, rubbing his hands like a child confident on a planned raid of the cookie jar. "Prime Federation might just give us medals for this."
"Oh, you think you four youngsters are gonna take all the credit for bringing the Kid in?" The anti-pheno personnel jumped into the back, unmasking themselves free of the ski mask. "Phew, that thing gets my face sweaty."
"I'd kill to get myself under that uniform and those badass rifles."
"You can turn people into ice sculptures but you'd rather have guns?"
"Well, yeah! They're cool!"
The anti-pheno agent, revealed to be a tall blonde woman in her early thirties, leaned to the cab and banged five times in a pattern. Then, she gave out the next orders through her radio. "Alpha Team, return to Revamp One. Bravo, Revamp Two, we're leaving with the zoomers. Charlie, Delta, we've got an HVT heading southbound of Central Park, time sensitive. Description of blonde, a minor. JT-2 is currently in pursuit of a greater HVT, please standby."
"If your friends fuck up, it's on all of us," Meli warned. "Those two came out after awhile being in the shadows, there is no way we can afford to give them a way out."
"And we won't, we can be sure of that. The Federation will have all six Louds under a Christmas tree. But..." Phoebe Ward sat down, leaning and resting with ease. "I'll finally have some words with that Lynn Loud."
"Unlike you, I don't see why an FBI agent would kill her own unit and go off-grid. You can rule this as that Loud's doing but there might be more."
"Whatever," Phoebe waved off. "As far as I'm concerned, Lynn Loud killed my older sister Paula."
"We've basically won here, the twins ought to know their locations. And I mean everyone's."
"What's the status on JT-2?"
"His name is Benny."
"Shut up, JV-3."
"I'm not filling the paperwork, by the way."
"Benny, how are we looking?" Meli asked through the comms network. "Benny?"
Dylan scaled a building on the west side of Central Park, scoping the area from the roofside. No sign of Leia, but he knew his eyesight wasn't that of a hawk's, could not see at long distances. Wherever Leia had now been running to, she had been stripped of his help, putting her on her own. On her own, being chased close behind by the interested parties.
And he had put her in that situation. "Fuck..."
And Leia had been running yet, not stopping for any reason. She made her way to the East Drive road, beginning to grow tired. At one point, she nearly fell, and looked over- a fatal mistake when she saw a pair of armored vehicles speed down her way. She screamed and panicked, running off the road back into the green fields, running right into the Ramble Forest, reduced to heavy panting.
Loanne Wardell and Darceline Holmandollar just happened to be in the Ramble Forest in that very moment, walking the multiple paths laid out around. They talked and walked, chattering about personals, and tossing jokes every now and again, proving that they were still human capable of human traits and sincere empathy, when, just days ago, surrounding events in their own lives had suggested otherwise. Oh yes, there was an exit out of the pit, and they felt they were out of it... Out of it for the meantime. They found slight comfort in each other's company.
Loanne had her hood over her head to conceal her identity from fans and the persistent paparazzi always hot on her trail. "You know what? I'm ecstatic to meet someone who doesn't grovel at my feet or kiss my ass like I'm some goddess. Like, cool, I'm popular and all but I'm still a person with some flaws and whatever, you know?"
"I may never know the merits of being a Hollywood star such as yourself but I get it. The life in the spotlight is all there is, I figure."
"Thank you for understanding, now... I'd invite you to a drink but I don't want to be found. My credit cards will ping and send out a location, I'm sure. Plus, it's public."
"Wow, you really don't want to be found, do you?" Darcy completely sympathized with Loanne, for she was a somebody who wished to lay low, and not voluntarily. But Loanne here had one of two options yet. "I can't imagine myself being... In that situation."
"The media board have only postponed that new movie, but I wish they'd cancel it. I don't know, I guess I'm just under the radar to force them to make that decision. They have no respect, they're just greedy and eager to cash in on what they've started. I wish... I do wish they never noticed me."
"Well, in any case, I'm sorry-"
"You said that, and I don't need it," Loanne refunded Darcy's pity. "Perp's dead, so I know he won't ever hurt anyone again."
"True..." Darcy nodded in agreement, mentally choosing her words. "One less bad man in the world, but that's never enough, is it?"
"Huh?"
"Statistically-"
"Sorry, what is it that you're implying here?" Loanne eyed Darcy with a strict curiosity. "That Chester Flanagan's death means nothing because that crap is just going to happen to someone else?!"
"Uh... No, I mean-" Darcy had thrown herself under the bus inadvertently. For a blonde, Loanne sure was bright enough. Too bright for Darcy, it seemed. "I'm sorry, that's not what I meant to say."
Loanne pulled her anger away, taking a deep breath, sighing. "Sorry, didn't mean to raise my voice. It's just been hard these past few days."
"That's mutual, my own friends are playing ghost with me. They're acting like they don't know who I am, and it's not just them. It... It feels like everyone I ever knew just tossed me aside and I still don't know why so... I just... I just left town and came here."
"So, you did try to commit suicide!" Loanne concluded.
"Uh- Well yes, but actually no-" Darcy contemplated on sharing her one big secret.
"Not even I have resorted to that." Loanne coughed. "So, you wanna tell me how you survived that fall with nothing beyond an injured back?"
"I guess an angel is watching over me," Darcy answered with a smug look. "Anyways-"
Leia pushed through the pair, falling over hard on her stomach. Darcy was quick to help her up while the creature concealed out Loanne's reach laughed deviously. Loanne glocked the side of her head to silence the demon briefly. "What, you couldn't see us?"
Leia tried to budge her shoulders free from Darcy, but the strong pheno kept her in place. "LET ME GO! THEY'RE CHASING ME!"
"What, who?"
Loanne looked over her shoulder. "What's going on? Who are those guys?"
The anti-pheno forces came running after Leia and stopped roughly eight feet from Loanne. "You there, stop that girl! Men, fan out and secure!"
"What do they want with Little Miss Sunshine here?" Loanne stepped out of the path, not feeling obligated to jump in.
"LET GO, THEY'RE GOING TO GET ME!"
"Darcy, just hand her off to those feds-"
Darcy would have, if she thought they were feds, but instantly she knew these guys wore the anti-pheno regiment uniforms, for she had seen them before when she had been conducting her involuntary business with Cornelius Dietrich and his friends. "They're not feds!"
Darcy threw Leia from the pathway, suddenly pouncing forward, engaging the uniforms with immeasurable punches and kicks. In her current state, she was greatly overpowered, easily taking down the bunch like nothing, blocking their strikes, dodging their shots- and Loanne, flabbergasted, only stood there standing like a fool, mouth agape stupidly. Th- There's no way!
Darcy flipped the final uniform into a tree, proving that she had earned her keep around.
"What- How?! How did-?" Loanne waved a finger all over the place. "You just beat a whole- Who are you?!"
"Just your average American," Darcy replied casually, turning her attention to Leia. "How'd you get involved with the anti-pheno movement?"
"Anti-pheno?" Loanne listened for answers.
Leia picked herself up. "How about next time you don't throw me?"
"Show me some gratitude, I saved you from these guys," Darcy bartered. "Who are you and why are you relevant to these guys?"
"I'll talk if you keep me safe!" Leia countered, trying to acquire protection. "Y-you're a pheno, aren't you? There's no way you could do what you did unless-"
Loanne slapped her hands on Darcy, spinning her around. "Are you really one of them?"
"You say that like we're some evil cult... Why, Loanne, I'm deeply offended."
"If you two are gonna fight, may I remind you that my life is- Oof!" Darcy picked Leia up, carrying the young minor over her left shoulder. "THIS IS NOT WHAT I HAD IN MIND!"
"Loanne, it's been a grand honor to have met a celebrity, but a higher calling beckons me to butt in! I hope you solve your issues!" Darcy ran down the path, taking off with the blonde. "Get better!"
"Wait a minute, you can't just-"
"WAIT, IS THAT LOANNE WARDELL?!" Leia jerked her arms around, astonished and giddy. OHMYGODIAMAHUGEFAN-"
"Fuck it!" Loanne followed them, her mind running a mental simulation of the outcome should she choose to stick around. Give a statement and out her 'friend' like that. Pffft, if trust ever went a long way, it would come from some other path unseen yet. Give a statement and raise attention and awareness right back on her. "I'm not sitting this out!"
"There's been an interesting change in development..." LK's warbled Link-A voice was almost like the real thing, minus the feedback that made it unclean. "The twins have walked into a trap and they've just gotten captured by the anti-pheno forces. I'm going through the footage, and it seems they weren't the only phenos around. One camera captured the entire ordeal, currently tracking the convoy now."
Leven was in great disbelief, despising how their plans have gone too south. So said the broken window on his side. "Have they agents in all places?!"
"They have tech that enables them to teleport anyplace anytime," Caroline assessed. "Just... They're closer than we anticipated, which means they could be right on our tail and we won't see them coming!"
"Losing Lola and Lana means losing the room-sweep cheat code, damn it."
"We've been halved again..." Luna tapped her fingers impatiently. "We can't afford to separate now."
"Or... Can we?" Leven pondered the idea. "What if we were to do that?"
"You're kidding, right?" Luna objected to his suggestion. "That's just how they'll get us faster! We'll be making it easy on them all!"
"I'm not saying we run around solo, I'm suggesting we go in hiding, plain and simple. LK can cover our trails until there are no trails to follow."
"I'm not leaving my Sam's side."
"What are the benefits of this?" Sam wasn't quick to deny this suggestion just yet. "It's like Luna says, we'd be vulnerable when split up. Unlesss there's something I can't see, I'm going to say I'm against this. So... Two objections here."
"Carly, Caroline, do I hear a yay or nay?"
"For a clone of a brainiac, this is the stupidest thing you've suggested, and Linka is the dumb one," Carly voiced. "But... I want to know what your thought process is. You've got a reason for that, so tell us."
"We'll make it harder for them if we're not a group, guys."
"No..." Caroline delved deeper. "No, you have an idea... And you're holding out on us. You want us all split up- Might as well tell us."
"No, I'm not obliged to say, but you're right, I do have something in mind."
"That requires us going solo?" Carly crossed her arms. "You? Hey, you're the one they're really-"
Caroline swung a punch at Leven once she put it together. "Oh, you asshole! I see now!"
"You.. You're planning a trap of your own..." Carly faintly uttered. "Leven, you want to lead them away from us-"
"I'm always underestimating your intelligence, I guess I should know better by now."
Luna sensed Lisa's presence, feeling hostile in secret. If she were to be truthful, she harbored a hatred for Leven for who he was modeled after- and not just for being the original albino of the Loud family. Matter of the fact, Leven had a sizeable portion of the brain Lisa Loud kept in that average-sized skull. Could have been half or a fraction, but a part of her was there and Leven had been proving- reminding- them again that he was Lisa. Him, the perfected brainchild she brought out, died for. And that was just burrowing into that particular surface. On the other hand... This was Lincoln. "What, is that fancy talk for calling us incapable? Is that what we are, stupid and inferior to you?"
Leven had wiped at his bloody nose, recovering from Caroline's punch. "That's not what I said, Luna."
"No, no, no, heh..." Luna extended her thumb claw and didn't hesitate to maim Leven's chest. "You know what?"
"Luna!" Leven grabbed and twisted her arm, keeping Luna at distance.
"You're too much like them!" Luna kicked herself up on her seat, giving her all to attack Leven in a hysterical episode, forcing and swinging her clawed hands at him. At the heat of the moment, Sam jumped forward in between the seats, pulling hard at Luna, yelling at her to immediately cease, but Luna had tapped into the zone of some inevitable breaking point. Today, for some reason. Maybe it was the stress. Maybe it was the losses they were taking from all angles. Luan, wandering alone. Lynn, standing against them. And now the twins, captured.
"LUNA, STOP!"
"WE'VE GOTTA KILL HIM, SAM!" Luna screamed, distracting Leven from manning the wheel. He lost control of the SUV, being blindsided by the attacking Luna. "THEY'RE ONLY CHASING US BECAUSE THEY WANT HIM!"
"LUNA!"
Then, Caroline started laughing crazily, starting out lowly and to herself, then graduating to loud laughter, head bobbed back. Now, tears of her uncontrollable laughter came running down. Luna had halted mid-fight, turning her attention to the blonde. Leven gained control of the vehicle, keeping it from swerving about. His own eyes locked onto Caroline's face, alerted for some odd reason.
"Uh, I didn't see how funny this is to you," Carly puffed, breath shaking. "Anyways, if you two are done trying to hurt each other-" Next second, Caroline wiggled out a sedative, applying it to Carly's neck. "Yip!"
"Carol, what- What are you-?" Sam was met with the barrel of a handgun aimed directly. "WHOA!"
"Pheno-killing rounds in the clip, courtesy of my... New allies."
"What the hell, new allies?" Leven decreased acceleration. "What's the meaning of-?"
Caroline shot once at the radio, breaking their contact from LK. "First off, you're gonna pull over and wait for my contact. Second, you'll do so peacefully."
"I don't understand-"
Carly zoned out, head smacking against the window. Caroline laughed with dark pleasure, nodding. "And don't worry, that's a dose of ketamine that isn't fatal in the amount that entered little Carly here."
"Wh-when did you...?" Sam raised her hands up halfway.
Caroline Pingrey fled alongside Lyle and Lindsey, all three of them fleeing from the Patriot Division base the day it fell, thanks to the clones Link-A and Link-N, when they had flooded the internet with files from all three parties. The world to know of the classified documents with encrypted coding. Lyle and Lindsey made it out, but not Caroline.
Not when an unknown party had gotten to her and pulled her aside as everyone evacuated to hide. It was Meli Ramos, Chad McCann, Leland Callaghan, Benny Harrington and a fifth individual with face being concealed, but Caroline spotted the female body features. "What- Who are you?"
"At the most inconvenient of times!" Caroline set her finger on the trigger. "They needed someone to keep tabs on the runners here, but they could not afford an outsider to slither into the circle, so of course they wanted me."
"They... Got to you before we all-?"
"Don't be so hard on yourself, this isn't a betrayal... I was never with you guys at all."
"Carol... Why?" Sam was struck with disappointment and hurt. All of this coming from a friend she walked to class with. "Why you?"
"Why me?" Caroline tilted her head diagonally. "Good question to ask me, and since you helped me out in Dadetown College, sure!"
Leven pulled over and set the brakes, then raised his hands up slowly. Never mind the wound on him from Luna; the mark had healed itself in seconds.
"I believed in them when they explained it their way."
Caroline received the tour of the facility- No, it was more than that, it was a humongous base a hundred times over the size of the Patriot Division. It was a concealed underground fortress in a location where she wasn't trusted to know just yet. She arrived there with a blindfold so not as to let her know the how-to of directions. Her tour guide was none other than Peter McMahon. "How do you think to let me see here? You know Elmont took me in to get to you, and you know that-"
"You let me worry about that mess, young lady. As for this decision to bring you here... I've learned about the second batch of recruits, these... Junior Patriots, as he called them. You, the younger pair and... Two of the Project Link clones."
"They're you guys' creations, too."
"But it's you who is the closest one who could understand what this is all about. You come from a family of politicians, three generations before you. These folks here, they're the hopeless, they're the ones who don't understand that change must come. A grand new step in humanity has started and there is no going back, not while Link-N continues to exist."
"Change... Through genocide?" She challenged him, questioning the entire agenda. "You're trying to replace the world with superior copies of everyone using him! And you're saying that we might share the same viewpoints?! Are you seriously saying that?!"
"I'm saying that everything can change. Every little issue and big conflict lying in the face of the earth, to ever exist up to now, can be eradicated. And do you know what can be erased? This clear wedge you have between you and your parents."
"...What- How do you know-?"
"You can say... We're close friends."
She blinked. "So I'm supposed to trust you by this fact? Even if you know this much about me..." Caroline shifted her hands into narrow pipe-like limbs. "I think- I think I'm better than who I was before. I can do this with my hands-"
"And you can do so much more with us. You see, we're only doing away with the norm population. The phenos of this world- Well, those who share our beliefs, they will have a place among us. We'll be the order now, the new forerunners of America, and then the world. A new world and a new government, Caroline. Where do you want to be? With us... Or against us?"
"I-"
"A perfect world with no conflict, this is what we're offering. And when it comes to pass-"
Caroline reformed her hands back to base form. "I can live... I can live and not know fear of being-" Her first thought was having an accepting place in this world, where her parents would no longer groom her for the life they aimed to put her in. No control, and no worry about them disowning her for her sexuality. Wait, but that meant that they'd be killed and replaced by superior fakes. Would this be the same thing? "I- I do want-"
"We can and will supply a dream... Together." He led her away from the hangar when they'd stopped there. She saw a fleet of war vehicles of all shapes and sizes, being in shock and awe. "We have the means."
"We-?" Caroline followed his finger when he pointed to her new friends. Meli, Chad, Leland, Benny... And Allison Valeria Taggart. "And these are...?"
"New world order calls for a new generation, and you have a spot here. Hell, you're the oldest one, maybe you can ascend to being the leader of this lot."
"Leader? Aren't you-?"
"With all that I do, I can use aid. These kids are good but even the best need to be supervised. Isn't that right, Allie?"
"Shut up, uncle, you placed me on that Porter assignment, Meli here is the one that qualifies where I should be."
"Well, Caroline?" McMahon formed a smile, nearly hidden with his mustache. "Would you like a better place in the world?"
"They just want the clone," Caroline explained. "I mean, obviously, but they have bigger numbers. They have more tech. They can afford to die, and there'll never be a shortage. You can't say that about you. All of you don't have a choice, but the hard part comes after. Join the Prime Federation to live, or take your chances in life underground, running and evading us. Because let me tell you know, the Prime Federation will shape the future, will be the future."
"Carol, I can't be hearing this from you!" Sam screeched. "These guys turned you! They kidnapped you! You're- You're supposed to-"
"They took years from me, I know that and I haven't forgotten, but what's that mean when they can compensate it with a future? I won't be killed in the fight against them, Sam! Not if I became one with them! All of you, you can't run forever! You can't with the numbers they've got! They'll kill you, but I don't want that! I'm trying to save you!"
"By pointing a gun at us?!"
"I'm sorry, did you want the alternative? If it wasn't me, it would have be them."
"You... You're the reason they never attacked us..." Luna finally realized. "You were gathering the information on us for them."
"Gathering and slipping..." Caroline tapped on her left ear. "Implant on the earlobe, push it to turn it on, which it is right now. Self-charging, meaning everlasting."
"You bitch... I'll eat you myself," Luna vowed.
"Take it easy, I'm not doing this out of malice. Guys, it's the real world! Things are on the verge of changing! It's all a bubble waiting to burst, and the Prime Federation will pop it."
"Prime Federation... That's the network, right?"
"Yeah, the real behemoth ever to exist. Lisa Loud created technological weaponry and sold it through the Black Network, as you know it. All that funding was put toward the construction of the Prime Federation. It's an underground base but I don't know where it is, a failsafe should I have gotten caught or revealed my true status to you all. That is where the many of the missing Vial Corp staff have relocated to, if they weren't transferred to Kapacity Korp. Only the ones who don't break so easily work in the managing systems for those."
"Oh... So that solves it," Leven pleasantly let out.
"So you've got us, what now?" Luna asked.
"Not gonna kill you but under the circumstances, you made it complicated for the big guys. Hell, two overlords are dead right now, leaving the Federation in the hands of-" She paused, hesitating. "Actually I think you'll find out on your own."
"So you're taking us back?"
"Yes, but that's what I want of you. You guys aren't so bad, you can live to see the promised tomorrow."
"Why now? Why are-?"
"Luna, if you're asking why I make my move now, it's because you went berserk and tried a go for the clone. That would compromise my mission here. So... This is on you."
"Don't you dare say she made you do this!" Sam bellowed. "This wasn't her choice, this was yours!"
"I get it now..." Leven connected it further. "They attacked the group once before our two groups became one. After that-"
"Told them to back off," Caroline confirmed. "They planned to take out the main Louds and allow me to keep sticking around you, Link-A and Carly. That was the plan, but you all grew more cautious, paranoid even, but I guess I don't blame you."
"Wait..." Leven offered a compromise of a deal. "Turn it off."
Caroline's trigger finger twitched in place, her other hand taking to her left ear to click on her earlobe. "Off the record? Alright, I'm open to it."
"You can have me, but the girls here are free- Make them free."
"I can't do that..." Caroline rejected. "All or nothing, that's how it works. But you girls, you can choose life over death. McMahon said once that if there's a chance to turn you into valuable assets, pardons would be handed out. A pass, that's what he offered me, and that's what they can offer you!"
"We're not going," Luna decided. "I'm not siding with these mass murderers, these kidnappers!"
"This isn't about that anymore!" Caroline continued to fight. "They're well past that now! A great filter needs to happen! The global cloning process-"
"Global genocide!"
"It's more than genocide!" Caroline barked. "All the clones will be better! They'll come out stripped of all abnormalities and flaws of their original! You two, you love each other, right? Think about homophobia for a second. It exists, but not when the filter occurs! It'll cease to exist! You two will be able to hold hands in public with no controversy! Racism can end! Sexism can end! Diseases and illnesses of the human body can be destroyed! We could even-"
"Who's this 'we' bullshit?" Sam debated. "You'll still be the same, just as the other phenos in the Prime Federation. But as you said it before, you just might wind up dead like the general population! Are phenos really the future of humanity?! No, they're all the failures of a long-running campaign to establish and create the Ultimate Human, the very same one who is sitting right there in the driver's seat!"
Caroline trembled.
"She's right, you know."
"What guarantee do you really have in being a genuine part of them in the end?"
"You're right, I don't..." Caroline actually agreed. "But it certainly proves to be better than this. They'll kill you now, or all of us later if you come willingly."
"Y-you rationalize it this way...?"
"Let's be real, we're all gonna die at some point-"
"I DON'T WANNA DIE TODAY!"
"Then let's all go together to make our future with the Prime Federation."
"Sorry, Luna..." Leven apologized. "Sorry to you all, this shouldn't be happening..."
"Shut the fuck up, you piece of shit," Luna seethed like her name was Vale. "Why did you have to exist?"
"Didn't ask to be created."
"You two had better not try to kill each other again," the gunholder warned. "They want you alive, Leven."
"Tell me... After they're done with me-"
"I hope you're as smart as they suggest you are."
"The odds, they truly are against us, aren't they?"
"Get out of the car, all of you. Sam, carry Carly here out, would you?" Caroline clicked on her comms piece again. "Charade is over, I need that pick-up now."
"All this time, you were..."
"Don't be this much of a drama queen, Sam. I know you'll understand it down the line, so I won't try to persuade you that this is good now."
"It isn't..." Sam made an advance for Caroline's gun, in a blind, quick effort to disarm her. They struggled fast- and the physical tussle had ended when Carol rotated the barrel towards Sam's face, pulling the trigger quickly at the alignment. Luna screamed when Sam jerked backwards, slumping over the curb and sidewalk, the special bullet having entered through the latter's neck, burrowed in pieces inside.
"I SAID NOT TO PULL A FAST ONE!" Sam blared intensively.
"Caroline! Stop this, stop this now!"
Luna jumped and picked her dear lover by her shoulders as Sam clampened her shaking hands on her neck, trying to stop the flowing blood from escaping her body. "S-Sam... Hang on, Sam- Hang-"
"You're crazy, you're all crazy!" Caroline hopelessly shouted. "We need to move forward!"
"Says you, the one who just shot her old college classmate!"
"That wasn't- I didn't... I didn't mean to-"
"THIS IS WHAT YOU'RE SIGNING UP FOR! THEY'RE MURDERERS, THEY TIE UP LOOSE ENDS WITH SEVERITY AND BRUTALITY!" Leven walked past Luna and Sam, bringing about a fright-driven reaction from Caroline; she redirected her gun at him. "You don't have the clearance to shoot me, I suspect!"
He came to her, right up close for her to connect the gun to his forehead. "S-stay back, I- I don't want to-"
"You can't-" Leven gripped the gun, slowly extracting it from the double agent's hands. "You won't hurt us willingly, will you?"
"Don't turn this away, Leven! They'll send the worse ones if I come back empty-handed! You can't-" He turned away from her. "No...!"
"Then they can take it up with us all. We'll be ready for them now."
Luna helped Sam back in the SUV, moving her with calculated steadiness as they entered the back. "Leven... Link-N... We have to go."
"Wait, you can't just-" Caroline pleaded, but she lost her position the second she had fired on Sam.
"You're on your own, good luck explaining this to your superiors," Leven hissed, entering back into the driver's seat.
"Sam, stay with me..." Luna begged of her lover. By then, just as they had pulled out, Sam gave up trying to halt the bleeding, locked a red-moist hand with one of Luna's but Luna followed through and gave it both hands. "Sam-"
"L-L-Lunes-" Sam managed to form through gags and sputtering of her bloodied lips.
"You'll be okay, you'll be fine-" Luna blinked rapidly at Sam's gushing wound. The bullet had done its job, the lace coating of the counteractive chemical cancelling out the blonde's specialties. It was killing her as it stood, and Luna didn't need to be certified in rocket science to know this. Luna made sure to be there- here, in these last moments of Samantha Sharp's life. Her, along with the driving Leven and the unconscious Carly. It had gone from five to three in the shortest time possible now. "S-Sam-"
"T-tell me anything-" Sam peeped, struggling with her words. "Ex- experience-"
Leven couldn't help but listen in.
"Experience..." Luna looked through her mind, the past memories, trying to get something- anything to tell Sam while this slow demise went underway. Another look upon Sam and she drew back on a time long ago. "I once asked a question to someone..."
Sam's breathing decreased.
Luna had been playing with her dolls, in a time that predated the British fangirl, the rock enthusiast, rhe punk rocker who would identify as bisexual, in the quiet living room of the old place on 1216 Franklin Avenue. She was there that evening with her father. Currently, Leni and Lori were babysitting Luan and Lynn, which really meant Lori was in charge of them all, having a tough job at the moment. Eldest girl was sure she didn't need Luna's help. She said so.
Luna played on the carpet of the living room, sitting in front of the flatscreen while dearest father, spread on the couch, watched the current news coverage. It was a reaction from him that had snapped Luna's attention away from her dollies. She looked up at him and pursued his face to the television, naturally drawn in with the innocent curiosity. It was there that she saw the breaking news of a tragic mass shooting right in the very mall they'd often go.
She saw the word "deaths" for the first time, trying to pronounce it as "day-authis" and giggled. It was a funny-sounding word, and she gave Lynn Loud Sr her attention again. "Daddy, what is day-authis?"
"I asked him what death was," Luna narrated. "I was too young, I could not have known, and I shouldn't have known until years later, when I was mature enough to-" Luna shook her head. "But he told me, he said what it was and... Even when he tried to sugarcoat it, I-"
Sam loosened her hand grip, not by choice.
"He said it happens, that it's part of life. That sometimes... They do it to each other, and then I asked why it had to be that way. It just is, he said to me. It just happens, sometimes there's reason, sometimes it's random, and that there's never going to be warning-" Her breath shook. "And it terrified me to... Hear those words. To know that it happened, and still happens. That... It really does come with no warning."
A single tear fell from Luna's face, dripping on Sam's forehead. "Did it change me? Did it make me too passionate about all the things that... My own dad liked? Was there a deeper correlation behind me taking much after him? Before that... Before that... I was my own person-"
Leven's lips had tugged from each other.
"Who the hell was I pretending to be?" Luna weeped. "What was I trying to pull by being... Being a fake? I'm- I'm a fake, Sam! That's my biggest confession! I'm a fake and I'm in pain by that profoundly dark realization that we're- We're damned to die since day one and I have nothing to show for my accomplishments!"
Luna let go of one hand, bringing it to her face and in doing so, smearing her face with Sam's blood. "It made me so afraid. It broke me so hard when he and my mom died. When Lucy died. It was coming, it was inevitable, it had been chugging poison for nothing. All I did was scream and drink and... I hurt my own sister that way. Got drunk... I lost it, and I can't fully recover those memories. Lynn had to remind me... I know, I f-fucked up but in the end..."
Sam's arm finally hit the seat, lifelessly limp.
"I am fucked up."
Sam's dead eyes had closed.
"I'm so sorry..." Luna leaned in and kissed the deceased's forehead. "You didn't deserve this, Sam. You should have lived."
"Luna..." Leven had pity for the both of them. "We'll bury her-"
"No..." Luna shot down. "Not another funeral..."
"Firm? You two were real close-"
"I can't," Luna repeated. "We'll leave her here, someone will find her."
"Ditching this?" Leven shot his eyes at the mirror. "Right, Caroline has a description. But... Her body-"
"She's out of it, now and forever."
"I can't tell if you're strong or just..." Leven snapped out of it. "I gotta find a parking garage-"
"IDIOT, EYES ON THE-" Leven braked hard to avoid hitting a motorcyclist who had appeared out of nowhere. He honked twice, receiving the middle finger in return. "DID LINCOLN EVER GET A PERMIT?!"
"This guy cut me off!"
The motorcyclist hopped off the dark red ZX-10R, withdrew a Thumper grenade launcher from the duffel bag strapped around their shoulder. The cyclist took low aim, firing a tear gas grenade right through the windshield, forcing Leven and Luna- carrying Carly- out of the SUV. "AGH, IT STINGS!"
"ON YOUR GUARD!" Leven prompted, running along the side, shooting at the assailant. "NEED YOU-"
A second shooter dropped him with a special round penetrating through his left kneecap, disabling him. He fell, handgun sliding forward out of reach. "LUNA!"
The perched sniper fired another shot, this time at Luna, striking the same region as they did Leven. Luna fell on her stomach, losing Carly hard for the unconscious girl to roll twice on the hard pavement. "No! No, no! Please!"
Leven reached his hand out to the motorcyclist, desperately trying to get them- and his arm, right down to the elbow, split open severely and gruesomely, as if a chainsaw had run right through it, only it wasn't so line-clean. He saw flesh and bone when he looked, shrieking out in great pain, too immense to let out a simple curse word. Blood squirted and flowed to the ground before he grew too lightheaded, body reacting from the shock, then mind. "HYAGHHHHH! LUNA!"
"MY LEG, THEY'VE SHOT MY LEG! I CAN'T TRANSFORM!"
"DON'T MOVE-!" The offending motorcyclist warned Leven and Luna a single time, exchanging their launcher for a compact submachine gun. "HANDS UP, CLONE!"
"Easy!" Leven raised his only good arm. "I'm-"
"Command Prime, I've acquired the package, lock down my coordinates and deploy exfil!" Leven picked up on their voice being that of a man's, linked to this Prime Federation. "That's good, stay down and you'll not be harmed fatally."
"My arm- My arm, p-please-!"
"Hang tight, you're going for a ride." The agent took to the duffel bag, taking out a black sack. "You're gonna travel blind."
Leven rested his head down, going lifeless. "Wait, where- Where is my- Sister- Linka-?"
The assailant fired off his submachine at Luna twice, hitting her in the head to knock her out. His own magazine only carried regular rounds, precautionary as to not jeopardize the safety and well-being of the Ultimate Human. "You know, sometimes you tend to go overboard with that. You can shut it down, she's out cold."
Leven shut his trap and raised his devastated arm, which then aligned itself back into one, no longer split and dangling. "Are you radio silent? We've got a new problem in the form of an A.I. Link-A's consciousness somehow replicated itself using the SCX implant. Fortunately, I know how it works. An A.I. does not exist drifting the internet. Its uploaded itself into an electrical grid, if that makes any sense."
"Meaning?"
"We have to EMP wherever its holed up, but it could be anywhere. The damned thing does not know what it's looking for yet, so we have a window. And uh..." Leven pressed on his left earlobe. "Very well, I underestimated your marksmanship."
"You're too cocky and arrogant, you know?"
"Perhaps I am, but I admit to being wrong..."
"What of them?" The agent had pointed to Luna and Carly.
"Leave them, they're not big game. What's the word on Caroline?"
"She's on her way back, and in disgrace, too. She tried her best, right?"
"It's all death-wish talk for them, there is no saving them, but we'll do it for them, won't we, agent Lindemann?"
Troy Lindemann flashed his thumbs-up at Leven. "As long as the zoomers are taken out of the equation, we've got better footing."
"An advantage," Leven corrected. "Benny Harrington will be more valuable as long as the twins are locked away. If there are no more zoomers out there..." Leven's mind wandered to Lyra and Lynnette, those two whom he had seen very briefly. I still need to know... "Always remember, we'll face new and strange enemies we'll never see coming."
"Yes, sir. Oh, I need-" Leven put on the sack over his head. "Yeah, you know."
"Stage one is complete, Troy. Next course of action is here, I can almost taste it."
"Closer than you say," Chad McCann added. "Welcome aboard the Justice Shits, snowflake."
Meli, Chad, Leland and Benny make up the four phenos in the Prime Federation as of yet. Undoubtedly, the number just might double, Leven assessed, and then there's Troy Lindemann, the free-thinker, who made this possible ever since he slipped that 'little' message back in Royal Woods during the clone fiasco- and right before Link-D crashed the party... We are six, just like the Louds on the Patriot Division payroll. We are-
"Primers, on me."
AN: Revolution is upon us, and so is the end. Few less mysteries left in the list I built up since the start, but even so. Oh, I haven't forgotten about Lulu yet, but of course I'll reread, some things do manage to elude me, I'm not a machine.
Okay, so Sam had to go, that was scripted, but how it went... Errrr... I'll get back to you on that at the end chapter of this act. Speaking of...
1. Pheno Wars (1 of 3)
2. Insatiable
3. The Black Belles
4. Pheno Wars (2 of 3)
5. (Locked for Spoiler)
6. Pheno Wars (3 of 3)
7. Blood Assault
8. (Locked for Spoiler)
9. The Seven Deadly Medi-Sin Kids
10. Fallen
11. Act VII Special: The Race
Sam was the first, will not be the last. Note; Phoebe (AKA Loli) and Troy Lindemann are alternate variations of Vale's OCs. Putting them to good use. I think it was an interesting choice to give Paula a sister like this. I mean, did you even see it coming? I've still got it.