After a day of apprehension and preparation, the group was finally ready to leave. There were not many smiles, as both those leaving for the mission and those returning did not know if they would ever see each other again.
All of the team members, including Zoe, gathered in the living room of the apartment to give those who were leaving a final goodbye, a smile, some words of encouragement. Yutani, on the other hand, whispered something to Tricky before quietly leaving the room without anyone but her friend noticing.
Zoe stood slightly apart from the others, her back to the wall. Her glassy eyes moved slowly, focusing on each member of the group in turn. She made an effort to raise her broken arm slightly, slowly lifting her stiffened thumb. The movement caused a slight pop in her decaying joints, bringing out an expression of disgust on Tasha's face, which she took care to hide as soon as Zoe looked in her direction. "Good... luck...to ... everyone..."
Bruno did his best to show others his support by shyly offering words of comfort while avoiding handshakes and hugs. He felt self-conscious in those social situations. He was always afraid of saying the wrong thing or expressing his feelings, however sincere, in a way that could easily be misunderstood by others. He would have liked to tell them sincerely that he wished his companions who were going on the mission well, but that any words would not change the course of events or their chances of survival, and that accepting the mission also meant accepting the risks. But he didn't. He was often unfairly accused of being snobbish, cold, or rude, even though it was the least of his intentions to convey this message. For this reason, he tended to plan everything he would say and do in advance of such situations, so that he would have an idea of how to behave in order to avoid unpleasant situations. He always felt like he was playing a role, and that made him sad, but it was the price he had to pay to be in a group without being hated by all the members. Bruno sighed deeply and mentally hyped himself, trying not to run I ever of all his mental energy to keep this act alive.
There were a lot of words, tears and hugs especially among the newcomers. The kids huddled around Jake with serious expressions and a weight in their hearts.
"Make sure you come back alive, you idiot. If you die, I'll kill you," Fresh mumbled, giving his friend a friendly pat on the shoulder.
"Be careful Jake, be very careful." Tricky whispered, clasping her hands together in a gesture of prayer. "Always listen to Miss Maia, okay? Don't always do everything on your own like you do every time. She got more experience than you. Don't screw up."
"Please, Jake, stay safe." King hugged him tightly, hiding his face in his friend's sweatshirt. "I don't want anything bad to happen to you."
"Guys, don't worry, nothing will happen. I'll be careful." Jake smiled at his friends before looking around in surprise. "Wait, but where is Yutani? Doesn't she even greet me?" He could not hide the disappointment in his voice. Had their relationship really soured to the point where she would rather be elsewhere than greet him as he was about to leave on an uncertain mission?
Tricky leaned close to Jake's ear and whispered. "She wants to see you in the dining room. Go before Miss Maia starts complaining and saying she wants to leave."
Jake nodded in surprise before hurrying to the room. As soon as he opened the door, he saw Yutani sitting on the table, staring melancholically at the floor. When the girl saw him enter, she gave him a sad smile.
"Hey, Jake. So you're leaving." Her eyes were glazed over, as if she were about to burst into tears.
"Yeah, but don't worry. Everything's going to be fine, you'll see."
"How do you know?!" The girl suddenly blurted out, tears streaming down her face. "You don't know, Jake! Maybe this will be the last time we talk to each other!" She stood up and approached him angrily. "Damn it Jake! Why do you have to hurt me like this?"
"Hey! What the fuck? What do you mean!?" Jake could not believe his ears. Seeing her crying like that tore him apart inside, but those accusations did not seem fair to him.
"Look. You're making eyes cry that always wanted to see yours laugh." Yutani replied with a sarcastic laugh as he angrily wiped away his tears. "You're really cruel."
"What are you talking about? What is this cringy catchphrase all of a sudden? I thought Bruno was the only thing on your mind, the way you worshipped him!" Jake could not contain himself, suddenly releasing all the frustration he had been feeling for the past few days. "You have no right to lecture me and talk to me about cruelty! You've been acting like a bitch to me lately!"
"Ah, so you've noticed." Yutani smiled and shook her head, her body shaking with nervousness. She seemed completely at the mercy of her own emotions, and that frightened Jake since had never seen her in such a state.
"And why haven't you ever done anything? You're an idiot! I thought you didn't give a damn about me and were just messing with me!"
"And what was I supposed to do? I thought the same about you!"
"You were supposed to do THIS!" Yutani suddenly grabbed Jake by the collar of his sweatshirt and pulled him toward him, bringing their lips together without thinking.
Jake was breathless for a second, his brain unable to fully register the shock of the situation. It was as if he had been completely shorted out. He remained wide-eyed for a while before relaxing, closing his eyes and gently placing his hands on Yutani's cheeks, melting into the kiss.
He felt both panicked and extremely happy, caught between the fear of being a bad kisser and the exhilaration of suddenly experiencing a scenario that had only populated his fantasies until the day before. He has never kissed a girl in his life so he wasn't sure what he was really supposed to do. Should he have opened his mouth more? Should he have pressed his lips against hers more or less? Should he keep his eyes closed or open? So many questions crowded his mind until he decided to trust his instincts and let the moment carry him.
Yutani was no different. She kept her eyes closed and focused all her energy on the kiss. She wanted to taste Jake's elusive, rebellious essence, to feel his warmth. She hugged him tighter, wrapping her arms around his neck. She felt their hearts beating in unison and prayed that this wonderful moment would last forever. That fate would not take her beloved from her arms. That they could be together like this forever. It did not matter that she had a stuffy nose and was practically kissing Jake while holding her breath, she would almost rather suffocate in his arms than be separated from him.
But all things must come to an end. When they broke the kiss, they looked into each other's eyes for a few seconds, breathing heavily. Jake couldn't believe his mind right now. He had never seen that passionate side of Yutani before.
"Yutani, I think I love y-..."
"Shh." She put a finger to his lips to stop him from finishing the sentence. "Say that again when you come back from the mission. At least I'll know it's sincere and not some kind of farewell madness."She smiled sweetly at him, her heart pounding in her chest. She giggled at the sight of Jake's beautiful red, warm face.
"All right." Jake smiled awkwardly before taking off his hat. "Here. You can keep it."
"But - Jake! You never part with it!"
"It's okay. You can give it to your little robot. What's his name? Tagbot? Bruno told me when he caught me snooping in your lab."
"Oh, Jake." Yutani chuckled amusedly as she stroked the cap affectionately.
"I have to go now." He slowly stroked her cheek with an affectionate look on his face.
"Be careful." She only managed to say Yutani as she rested her cheek against Jake's hand.
"Sure." Jake nodded before turning and leaving the room, slowly closing the door behind him. Yutani did not follow him, unable to bear the sight of watching him leave.
She clutched his hat in her arms and let out a silent, liberating cry as he fell to his own knees. Her hands were still shaking as her mind tried to process what had just happened.
"Poor me." She smiled sadly to herself. "I just had to fall in love with a reckless dumbass like him," the girl chuckled before wiping away her tears one last time and returning to the lab.
She felt that he needed silence and the company of his inventions, and perhaps the company of a dear friend like Bruno.
~
The group flew silently over the city, which pulsed with energy below. Jake stared at the horizon with a blank expression on his face. He felt completely detached from reality, as if his body was actually being commanded by another person in a strange dream and he was just watching the scene from behind the scenes. Too many emotions in a single day: the mission, the risk, the kiss, the feeling of warmth inside him as he watched Yutani's eyes... No one on board spoke, and that made him nervous. He hated waiting in silence for the situation to change, so he turned to the person he knew best in that strange group.
"Frank, I have a question. If you're the group's IT guy and you're going to be controlling the city's cameras, drones and such... how come you came with us, too? I mean, in the movies you always see the hacker on duty controlling the whole situation from his room."
"Since the city's cameras and drones have limited vision, I actually planned this route deliberately to take advantage of all their blind spots. I will be observing the situation with both the computer and my own eyes, standing on top of a skyscraper not far from you, in order to detect even what might escape the radar. I also have to check that Bruno's drones are not destroyed by government drones." Frank replied distractedly, obviously more focused on his laptop screen.
"Oh." Jake replied and fell silent, not knowing what else to say, this kind of calm before the storm was crushing him. He wanted to get up, to move, to say something, but for now he was stuck in this motionless waiting aboard the ship.
~
After dropping Frank off at the designated spot, Miss Maia landed the craft in a hidden area of the city near some garbage dumps. "Good. Now we have to divide into teams. Listen carefully, Jake. You go straight down this street. According to Frank's information, a police squadron should be arriving shortly to patrol this area. When you see your friend, say the password. If you don't see him, stay out of sight and don't get caught. Understood?" Maia's eyes darted quickly around them as they walked down an alley, always vigilant.
"Piece of cake!" Jake replied, falsely boasting, trying to sound as strong and reliable as he could. "I'm an expert at hiding from guards."
"Good. Ninja, you..." Miss Maia looked around, but saw no sign of the masked man. She sighed heavily and shook her head. "...Gone. As usual. He always disappears before I tell him what to do."
"Well, he's a ninja, I guess he has to disappear before reappearing at the right time?"
"Maybe, Jake. He has the flaw to either disappear or reappear at inopportune times. Yes, sometimes he reappears at the right time, but he is a loose cannon. He could do anything." She sighed again. "All right. So, Rain, you come with me and hope that no one needs your help tonight."
Rain nodded without smiling. They had fallen into a strange state of muteness and utter seriousness, in complete contrast to the cheerful and friendly attitude he had displayed at their base. It was probably their way of dealing with stress and focusing on the mission, but it made Jake slightly uncomfortable. It seemed to observe a completely different person.
"Okay. Well, good luck to you all. Hopefully we'll meet again at this squatter's dump to catch the ship and go home." Miss Maia gave a brief nod, imitating classic military salutes, before walking down a side street, followed by Rain. Miss Maia moved quickly, quietly, and elegantly, almost like a panther as she disappeared into the darkness.
Jake took a deep breath before gathering his courage and running as silently as possible towards the alley in front of him. After about five minutes, he caught a glimpse of flashlights illuminating the dark, smelly street. Jake moved in unison with some rats that were in the alley to feed on street trash and ran behind a pile of stinking garbage.
The stench was nauseating enough to make him gag, but he covered his mouth with his hands and tried to endure it. Although he could have tried to breathe only through his mouth, he refused to do so: he would feel as if he was "eating" that pestilential smell of decay, garbage, and rotting flesh and the thought repulsed him to the bone. At least this disgusting pile of garbage would probably keep prying eyes away.
The boy leaned out from behind the pile to watch the people marching down the decaying street. The sound of their military boots punctuated a certain rhythm, clearly demonstrating the discipline and the impeccable training of the soldiers.
When Jake did not see Ted anywhere, at first he thought it was because of his uncomfortable position. In fact, every time someone tried to point a flashlight in his direction, he had to hide again behind the garbage, and each time he had to do so by crawling deeper into the rotting sacks. So his view was pretty limited.
Frank's distorted voice, heavily modified by special software, almost reached Jake's ear as if to comfort him. Even though Frank had used Lucy's code, Jake understood what he meant.
Lucy always advised them to modify their names slightly, to keep their initials for example, so as not to confuse the group, but to speak as if it were a normal conversation, to divert any suspicion from the real content of the message.
Jake understood that Frank knew where he was and approved of his hiding place, but that even he was unable to see the inspector and advised patience. Despite the situation, Jake could not help but smile to himself. How much things had changed in such a short time. Some time ago, the thought of Frank controlling him from a distance had been incredibly frightening to him. Now he was his guardian angel. The irony of fate.
He whispered into the microphone, trying not to be caught by the police, but at the same time trying to give this fake conversation some semblance of truth. If anyone were to overhear them, they would be suspicious to hear one person monologuing while the other remained silent.
After a while, however, the wait became too long for Jake. He waited, he looked, he waited for directions from Frank, but nothing happened. Several military personnel were patrolling the street, but none of them looked vaguely like Ted. Had Frank been wrong? What if the police had changed their minds and decided to kill the old guard? What if the location was wrong?
Jake felt the fear grow inside him, more and more. The earpiece fell silent, and Jake wondered if it would have been wiser to move away from this precarious hiding place or try to stay put.
Suddenly another voice reached him in the earpiece.
That message was extremely alarming, if Jake understood what Rain was trying to tell him. With his heart beating wildly, at the first opportunity to be protected from the shadows of the night, Jake left his rotten shelter and ran down a side street hoping to remember where Rain had gone before. The streets of that eerie city all looked the same at night, a bit like getting lost in a chessboard.
At one point, Jake saw a figure running toward him. The boy slowed down in fear, unsure if he was actually seeing Rain or a stranger.
But fear immediately gave way to relief as a sliver of light from a streetlamp highlighted his companion's teal hair.
"Rain! I finally found you. I was so worried. What's going on... hey!"
Rain wasted no time in stopping, grabbing Jake's right wrist and dragging him along as he continued to run, gasping for a response as he tried in vain to catch his breath. "There is no time, Jake. The situation is serious. Frank has sent an emergency signal to Miss Maia and is no longer responding to calls... Something must have happened. Miss Maia will see what happened... but it will take a while. We have to go..."
"Wait Rain! Frank is on a skyscraper, it will take time to get up there! Did Miss Maia take the ship or did she walk?"
Suddenly Rain stopped running and began to pant heavily. She leaned forward and put her hands on her knees, staring at Jake with a shocked expression visible even in the dim light. "No. She didn't take the ship. Good idea. Let's take it ourselves."
"Can you drive it?"
"A little. Let's go. There is no time to lose." The two kids headed for the old landfill at breakneck speed.
Soon, the ship was flying high and heading full speed toward the top of a large skyscraper that towered like a stern titan over the dingy suburban streets.
