Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Drifter Log #1: Ocean

I'm not ready for this.

I was barely a field agent, but apparently Brutus saw some sort of potential in me. So here I am, now, left to rebuild GHOST… I love all the water, which is the best thing about Doomsday’s failure, but I think I’m the only one who thinks so. Maybe everyone else is just scared of the sharks? Anyway, I just kinda wish it didn’t happen so fast. Being leader can be scarier than the first time I rode a ten foot wave. The difference though is that that wave was absolutely rad.

Why does Brutus think I’m capable of this? Maybe I’m just making a big deal out of it, but he could’ve made any of the top agents in charge. TNTina, Skye, Meowscles? Himself? To be fair, he technically is helping out, but that’s really just when I’ve apparently done something wrong.

Maybe it's just because I like... scratch that, love the water. This situation, though? Kinda wack.

Oh well. I guess I better go. Got to get to work or whatever. First, I’m gonna ride another shark—seriously, have you seen those things? Riding those things is like being in paradise, hell, even better than surfing.

Signing off,

Ocean

~*~

For as long as she could remember, Ocean's name had always been her destiny.

The waters called to her since her earliest days alive, with her fondest memories being of all the times she found herself skiing and surfing across rowdy waves or speeding down rapid rivers in motorboats. Joining GHOST and being transported to the island was a rewarding experience thus far; she could rarely be found anywhere else but the shores of Craggy Cliffs or Sweaty Sands, contrary to the mostly landlocked terrains of her home world. Her name was indeed her purpose in life, so who else would be more qualified to lead a revolution on the water than her?

Brutus had tracked her down by the earpiece she never actually wore in her ear. The Shark—GHOST’s last surviving base—had been destroyed, she learned. Together, they drew up a plan, and The Fortilla rose in the corner of the island where The Rig once stood. She was not quite an engineer like the one she learned betrayed them, but she sure did have a vision. As the weeks went by and its finished structure swayed among the waves, Brutus tasked her with one thing: to take charge of GHOST and serve as their leader.

To her, the predicament at hand was a paradise. Being a ruler in a high-risk environment, the middle of a flood nonetheless, gave her more room to swim and greater thrills and threats to her once boring life. New opportunities, new species… in particular, sharks.

One lurked near The Fortilla. She ecstatically threw on her life jacket, slipped on her skis, and grabbed a fishing rod from one of the dozens of barrels sitting around the docks. Meowscles would help her cast it near the target, and the results were killer, as she liked to say. Together, they raced circles through the command buildings and around the apartments. If it were not for the limits of their circumstances, she would have taken it across the island.

Then, the shark leapt into the air and destroyed a chunk of the shopping mall.

Only then did Ocean realize being a leader did not mean doing whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted. As she watched henchmen try to salvage building parts and muttered under her breath while Brutus reprimanded her, she knew the time was ticking for her to figure out what more to the job there was than being carefree.

A squad cornered and put down the shark afterward, but it did not die without leaving something in remembrance: a burst assault rifle, her favorite. A few upgrades later, she always patrolled her routes with it. In the end, however, she now walked the docks with a little less bounce in her step. With SHADOW’s newfound reign over the island, GHOST had to lay low. They remained confined to their little corner of the island, now tasting what their enemies must have felt before everything flipped. Ocean knew that as the leader, she was the highest target of all her enemies if she stepped even one foot out of bounds. Confinement was anything but fun, and suddenly, she hated the flood alongside her peers. Swimming in the same waters over and over became tiresome, as were the new responsibilities thrown at her that she could barely keep track of.

With an exasperated sigh, Ocean kicked an empty bottle into the water and watched it float for a moment. Upon hearing the chunk of plastic fly into the sea, Turk turned around to look at her. As always, he sat on the docks participating in his one true hobby: fishing. Noticing her frustration, however, he reeled in his fishing line and set the rod down. “Everything alright, ma’am?”

Ma’am. Everyone addressed her with the formality, as it had been normalized when Midas was in charge. It made her cringe every time, but she knew it was something she had to get used to. She sighed and shook her head. “I want to do something. No more sharks are coming around and we have to kill ‘em the second they do anyway, sitting around here is wack and there’s nothing to do. ”

Turk snorted. “You’re sure different from Midas.” His smile sank a little at the mention of their former boss, but he masked his disappointment quickly. “He was impatient, sure, but not restless like this. ”

A harpoon gun laid at his side. He offered it to her. “Catch a few fish, maybe? It’s a good mind-clearer.”

Ocean stared at its pointed tip and hastily shook her head. Cameo warned her about this some weeks ago: you could rarely go a few sentences with him without something coming up about fish or fishing. “No, thanks. Fishing… isn’t my calling.”

He set the harpoon gun by her feet anyway and smirked. “Cameo got to you already, huh? You can say it’s boring. I’ve had to hear that from her since she joined, she’s very vocal about it.”

“Fine, it is boring.” Yet she silently eyed it, slowly reaching for it and picking it up. It was more so that the hobby itself required patience, which was something she did not have. At this point, however, she was desperate for new ideas. “So… you just shoot it in and hope you catch something?”

“Well, more or less. It takes a little more skill than that, it’s all about timing and patience.” Which she knew. “I do it for fun, but knowing how to fish is a key thing for survival if you end up on your own. Harpoon guns are good for starting out, since they’re easier to use. Functioning like a gun and all.”

He pointed to a circular spot a few feet away from the dock, where a different fish periodically leapt into the air. “Lucky for us, the waters here are always clear enough to see into. Try there, you’ll probably have a better chance of catching something. Try anywhere else, you might just pull up a rusty can.”

Ocean peered into the little bubble of water. A variety of fish swam about in circles, creating ripples at the surface. She aimed carefully at a moving slurpfish, following its movements with the spear. Truthfully, she had used a harpoon gun once when building The Fortilla. Then, it was against a much bigger target: a SHADOW henchman who bothered her while salvaging for building parts. But to get this fish, she had to be precise.

She pulled the trigger and watched with a smile of anticipation as the spear clipped the tail of her target. As soon as it reeled itself in, the fish flew off the point and into the air behind her. Turk reached out to catch it, but it fell short and landed at his side. Ocean burst out laughing and handed him the harpoon gun. “Yeah, I’m not cut out for that. We’ll leave the fishing all up to you.”

She nudged the fish back into the water with her foot and looked into the distance, shielding her eyes with her hand. The hotel at Sweaty Sands stood tall as always. With the high floodwaters, a lot of space lingered between it and The Shark… a perfect place for the animal itself to be swimming about. Her eyes drifted to a nearby motorboat. “I bet plenty of sharks like to hang out by Sweaty Sands and… you know, The Shark. What’s left, I mean.” Turk visibly flinched. “There’s a lotta water out there, so it’s perfect.”

Turk raised an eyebrow and cast out his line. “I’m not sure I follow… or that I want to follow.”

With a mischievous smile, Ocean rested her gloved hand atop the fishing rod. “Hey, I might be a high target for SHADOW, but if I left and someone went with me, it wouldn’t be so bad, right? Like a chaperone.”

“It would still be fairly risky, and if you’re thinking about taking me, then you’re out of luck,” he said, shaking his head.

“Please? I’m not the only one who wants to get out of here for at least five minutes! Look, I just want to find another shark, take it for a quick ride, and we’ll be right back. No one will know.”

“I don’t know, ma’am. I still don’t think it’s a good idea.”

She scowled at the formality, however she could see the glint of temptation in his eyes. A little more persuasion would get him on board, so she looked him straight in the eyes with fierceness in her own. “Turk, SHADOW isn’t going away for a while. Do you really want to be stuck fishing here for the rest of your life when we’re literally on an island?”

Turk tore his eyes away from her convincing gaze, but he was already in. “Alright,” he sighed. “This is a one time thing, got it?”

Ocean beamed and immediately ran off. “Totally, be right back!”

Her legs went on autopilot as she raced around The Fortilla, gathering all of what she considered to be useful gear: her pink life jacket, water skis, and Brutus’s former GHOST helmet, which she had won from him in a friendly spar. Dissatisfied with its plain, shining white form, she had painted around it, adorning it with flowery pink and yellow designs.

With her burst assault rifle firmly strapped to her holster, she made one final stop to the mall, taking a quick browse for some healing supplies in case things were to go wrong. A case of chug splash called her name, then a second one, just in case.

“Hey.” TNTina came up from behind her. Her almost-scowling expression told her everything: she was bored out of her mind. She grabbed a snack off a nearby shelf and eyed the chug splashes. “Found something to do?”

Ocean glanced between her and the cases in her hands. “Yeah. Going out to look for some sharks.”

“Out of base?” Tina’s eyes immediately lit up. She glanced around the aisle, leaned in and whispered, though her form of whispering was almost nonexistent, “does Brutus know?”

“Nope!” Ocean took a step back, then sped away. When she returned to the boat, Turk was ready. She carefully set down the cases of chug splash. “All set!”

The boat engine revved into life; they began to pick up speed as they reached the edge of the floating fortress. Ocean stood up and threw off her helmet, holding it up in the air as the wind blew through her face and her hair. “Oh hell yeah,” she screamed to the air, feeling the sea’s mist splash against her face. She could not see his, but she could tell by the way he swayed in his seat that Turk was thrilled to be out and about, too.

Alas, the journey itself was not a very long one. The adrenaline was short-lived and they quickly found themselves at the dock where the hot pink walls of the ice cream parlor were submerged underwater. Regardless, Ocean hopped off the boat before it could stop with as much excitement as she possessed through their short expedition. More of The Shark had resurfaced since the last time she swung by, but still, the only part above water remained the tip of the sea animal-shaped rock.

As Turk unpacked his supplies, his solemn gaze fixated on the destroyed base. Whatever excitement he held before wore off completely. “Been a minute since I’ve been over here,” he muttered. “I didn’t think I’d be able to look at it.”

“Yeah, sucks that you guys got forced out,” Ocean said, surveying the water. “I mean, you guys would’ve gotten drowned out anyway, right?”

He stared mournfully at the distant rocks. “You weren’t there,” he finally said, voice raspy.

Ocean shook her head. Before the flood, she never paid attention to what went on around GHOST unless her services were needed. She was not around for Storm The Agency, nor was she around for The Device. It was only when Brutus found her that he caught her up on the basics of everything that had transpired…

Of course. The Shark’s devastating final blow before the flood took over… but she did not have to live with its trauma. How could she have forgotten?

Turk sighed. “A lot of people got hurt, died, almost died… the henchmen did what they could to get priority agents out before the worst of it happened. They didn’t, uh… get Liv, though.”

She was only familiar with the current active duty higher ranks. “Liv?”

“Outcast.” He sighed again and cast his line into the water. “She’s, uh… was my sister. She and Cameo were at the bottom where the initial explosions happened. She didn’t make it out. Fishing was our favorite thing to do together. That’s part of why this is all you see me do.”

Ocean frowned. She should have known. “Sorry… hey, we can go somewhere else if-”

“I’ll be alright,” he said with a light, strained smile. She could tell it was mostly forced. “Go ahead, do whatever you needed to do.”

She shielded her eyes from the sun and scanned the water again. At first glance, there were no sharks in sight. Rather, suspicious movements foamed in the center between them and The Shark’s remains. There was some sort of… disruption in its flow, which she had a strange urge to investigate. “Hang on,’ she said, hopping in.

Turk’s gaze followed as she swam off; it did not take a genius to realize what was far from normal. “Ma’am,” he called, “I don’t think that’s a good idea!”

Ocean paid no attention to his concern. It was not until the currents picked up and sent her swaying that she realized it was too late: a giant whirlpool began to pull her into its eye.

She cursed under her breath and tried not to flail—panicking would only make her predicament worse. Though she had been in a situation like this once before the island, it was not a vortex to this extent. She calmly pushed herself away parallel to the currents as she drew closer and closer to the middle, but it was almost to no avail when her head finally submerged underwater… until it was not.

She was flying. The blue grew farther and farther away beneath her flailing feet. The adrenaline pumped through her veins as she came to a stop high in the air. This was the exhilaration she had been looking for! She had only a second to survey the world around her before gravity came back into play and pulled her downwards. Ocean pulled out her glider just in time for her to float and land safely on the dock next to the boat.

Turk looked at her in astonishment as she stood on her feet with ease, as if her life had not been on the line moments ago. A wide grin spread across her face. “Now that was rad.”

The string of his rod bobbed, shaking him back to life as he wrestled and reeled it in. “You really are something, boss,” he chuckled.

But that was not all she was here to do. In fact, just before her way down, she had spotted a shark. Sure enough, she could see its fin sticking out of the water a distance away, closer than it was before. Ocean immediately rushed to the boat and pulled out her water skis, then grabbed an extra fishing rod from a nearby barrel. “Can you help me out?” She handed Turk the rod; he raised an eyebrow. “Last time I tried to use one myself it went behind and caught Meowscles on the tail.”

He chuckled again and led her through the motions on how to properly use it. Ocean whistled out once the line had been cast, hoping to catch the attention of Noah, the shark she had already named. Within seconds, it swam over and took the bait. She laughed heartily as it yanked her into the water, finally giving her a chance to ski the waves again. She led Noah in a few circles around the whirlpool to get a feel for the ride, but that would not be all the fun schemed up from her gliding. The grin on her face grew even wider as she led the shark to the center of the whirlpool. They were launched into the air. The breeze picked up from the high altitude. She could barely hang on to the handle of her rod, and Ocean felt the most alive she had ever felt, both from before and during her time on the island. She struck a pose mid-air, cheering along the way as they dove back into the water.

Ocean swam back to the dock, waving Noah goodbye. As she went to slip off her skis, the ground shook.

As if she knew exactly what to expect, she looked to the sky. Not far away, a rift tore open the sky. A flaming dot fell out of it, soaring towards Pleasant Park like an asteroid. She watched with Turk as the comet-like pod hit the ground with a medium-sized explosion. Neither of them had to say anything. By now, everyone on the island was well-versed with these occurrences.

“Should we see?” Turk asked.

Ocean bit the inside of her cheek. She did not anticipate having to take charge so soon after the round of excitement. “Uh… maybe we should, to see what we’re up against. Then call for backup if we need it.”

Turk nodded and started up the boat. “We oughta watch from that island over there, just to be safe. Keep our distance.”

Ocean slipped her helmet on for an extra layer of protection. Once dodging the whirlpool on the short ride over, Turk pulled out a sniper, using its scope to find the exact crash site of the pod. It was not needed, however; the hums and laughter of the space intruders could be heard and tracked from miles away.

Marauders, they were named, from an unknown world. For weeks, groups of them passed through rifts and crashed in a new location each time, wreaking havoc all over the island. They had no problem living loudly, shooting at whoever was near and damaging structures everywhere as if they owned them. GHOST could only get involved if they landed too close to base, which had only happened once.

Turk surveyed the group. “Looks like two snipers and two assaults again. The big one has a rocket launcher this time.”

“So we have to worry about stink bombs and blast damage,” Ocean said with a nod. She drew her burst assault rifle and thought back to her encounter at the mall. “We should bring over Tina. She’ll know how to take down the big guy easiest.”

Turk ducked down and pulled Ocean with him. “Careful, they’re looking this way. And it’s your call, but we have to act quick if we’re gonna take them on.”

“I… don’t have my earpiece.” She dug through her pouch just in case. There lay a few seaside trinkets inside she had collected over the years, but sure enough, no earpiece. She still had not gotten used to carrying it around.

Turk sighed and pulled a radio from his own tactical bag. “Turk to command,” he said quietly, handing the radio to her. “Requesting backup, west of Pleasant Park. I’m here with Ocean.”

“Hey,” she greeted. “Got a group of marauders over here. They have a rocket launcher, so if she’s available… send in TNTina.”

Chapter Text

“I knew she’d get me out of there at some point.”

TNTina stretched out her arms and kicked her legs up atop the motorboat’s starboard. Her eyes shifted to the missile launch button in a moment of temptation. “Can’t believe Ocean didn’t actually invite me. She knows how boring it is over there.”

She did not know if it was the way 8-Ball shook his head, heaving an irritated sigh, or the general aura of annoyance radiating from him, but she immediately retracted her legs and sat up straight. He always took things seriously, and his mannerisms were reminiscent of… no, that was long enough now. He was nothing of relevance anymore, whether it be to her or the hearts of GHOST.

She pushed the thoughts of the golden master to the back of her head and scooted a little closer to the front. 8-Ball knew he would have to constantly shift his position to block her view of the missile button; he could feel the slight rush of air from her arm each time she tried—or at least pretended to try—to reach for it. His attempts to stop her only further tested her stubbornness and encouraged her to try harders. “ Death will be boring if SHADOW discovers us outside of base,” he finally snapped. “We are here as backup, not to be taken hostage because we brought too much attention to ourselves shooting missiles. I’d assume you wouldn’t want that happening either.”

Tina shrugged. “Hey, just us being on this boat brings that attention to us. So, west of Pleasant, one of those trash islands?”

“Correct.” They sharply turned a corner. “Are you properly supplied?”

Tina pulled a grenade from the case she had packed and threw it into the air, watching it explode behind them. “You kidding? I’m always prepared.”

“I question that statement. Heavily.”

“Gee, thanks.” In one swift motion, she threw her arm forward and smashed her hand on the button. A missile flew into the air, exploding on a nearby patch of grass. “Ha.”

Pleasant Park stood just ahead, where a boat was parked along the shore. Ocean and Turk were not there, but a little farther away, having moved to a resurfaced patch of land, complete with a wooden shed. They could hear the distant singing and laughter of the marauders, and as one duo made their way to the other, they could see their strange wooden structures built atop another hill. A typical group of them danced away by their temporary base (if they could even call it that), with their strange animal masks and protective armor glistening under the sun. They were performing some strange, wordless incantation: a healing ritual. The agents had to act fast, or they would be dealing with stronger enemies.

Ocean and Turk held their weapons out, observing their movements. “About time,” Turk said as 8-Ball and TNTina approached, still looking through his scope. His sarcastic remark was more directed towards 8-Ball than anyone else. “Looks like the swords won’t work on this one.”

“Slow your roll, angler,” 8-Ball retorted. He held a tactical shotgun at a ready position. “How long have they been here?”

“They’ve been doing their little ritual thing over there for like, ten minutes,” Ocean said, lowering her rifle. “Kinda surprised they haven’t started completely wrecking Pleasant. They’ll probably be on the move any second, though, right?”

Tina pulled out another grenade, this time from her belt. “Then we better get fighting, dont’cha think?”

She said so as loudly as always and immediately charged towards the group, leaving no room for protests. She climbed atop the wooden shed; the marauders were just a few swims away. Tina pulled the pin from her grenade and aimed for the leader in the center of the group. “Hey, big guy!” She yelled. The assault marauders were faster than her impulsivity had accounted for. Within seconds, stink bombs flew towards her. The grenade slipped from her grasp in a clumsy throw. It fell short somewhere and exploded in the water.

Tina jumped away from the roof and the foul fumes; bullets started flying through the cloud of stench. The GHOST agents returned fire, only for their vision to be disrupted by another line of greenish-brown clouds. “Take cover!” Ocean ordered, coughing from the putrid scent. As they collectively ran for their boats, she found herself falling when something tore through and burned the side of her leg. “I’m down!”

Hissing at the stinging pain, she tried to pick herself up and limp away. 8-Ball shielded the way as Turk hurried over to help her out. Ocean felt her breaths pick up as her vision blurred. She could feel warmth dripping down from her injury, yet she kept her head firmly up and even reached behind her to continue her fire, encouraging the others to continue the fight.

One more line of stink bombs exploded, giving them time to duck behind their respective boats. THe fire ceased completely when they disappeared from the marauders’ line of sight. 8-Ball examined where a bullet had struck her leg and torn her leggings. “Sniper bullet,” he told her, pressing his arm against the exposed cut to stop the bleeding. He pulled a bandage roll from inside the boat and wrapped it around the wound.

Tina peered over the edge of the boat; the marauders retreated back to their makeshift base. It seemed this particular group was territorial and preferred not to wander, sticking to their landing spot. She reached inside the boat, feeling around for her boom bow. “Not yet,” Turk whispered sharply.

“This mission blows,” she huffed. “The one guy still has the rocket launcher, he just hasn’t used it yet. We try to leave, they’ll blow up the boats. We’re gonna have to get ‘em out of here, any ideas?”

“We can just ambush them and shoot,” Ocean said matter-of-factly.

“It’s three against five. Our top priority is keeping you protected as our leader,” 8-Ball said, finishing up. “We need you to stay here until the thread is cleared.

Ocean scowled at his words. “I can protect myself.”

“I’m sure you can, but not while you’re injured,” Turk said.

Her glare hardened. She had just ridden a shark twenty feet in the air, and now she could not fight because of a small injury?

“You know who’s not injured? Me,” Tina declared. She pushed the unoccupied boat away as far as possible before hopping in and starting it up. The loud engine recaught the attention of the marauders; just as she predicted, a rocket came flying towards her. With inches to spare, she drove the boat away, listening as the rocket whistled past and exploded somewhere in the air behind. She took the boat over to the group of marauders and fired the missile button, smirking as it twirled once in the air and rained down, leaving some of them in a daze. “Now this is more like it!”

Turk and 8-Ball nodded to each other before charging. A quick exchange of fire ensued while they were distracted, leaving only two marauders remaining. The final assault marauder, one of the two, reached for her belt in an attempt to throw another stink bomb. 8-Ball struck her with his shotgun as soon as he caught her.

What they were not ready for was the blast of a rocket, leaving the two E.G.O soldiers knocked to the ground from the heavy marauder’s shot.

It was now a one-on-one battle.

Tina, now at the shed again, examined him and his rocket launcher. An idea struck her, one she had only attempted twice before. But with half of the battleground being a body of water, she knew the risk would be less and worth it in the end. She stuck her hand in her mouth and whistled, her voice loud and taunted as she baited the marauder. “Shoot your rocket, big guy! You won’t!”

He shot a rocket straight for her face. Tina watched as it soared towards her, calculating its speed. She jumped into the air and landed perfectly on top. Finally, she drew her boom bow as she balanced on top, pulled back the arrow, and aimed carefully. “Now you’re mine. ”

She released, watching with anticipation as the explosive flew through the air to its bullseye. Adrenaline rushed through her veins. Tina leapt off and dove into the water just as the rocket exploded behind her. She cheered from the adrenaline, getting to see the result of her boom bow just before breaking the surface.

Turk and 8-Ball greeted her as she swam back to shore, all three breathless from their victory and the excitement that came with it, which they all had been dying to experience for months. “That’s how you get it done,” Ocean called over, just as breathless from only watching. She pulled herself up and hung onto the other boat.

A distant rumbling of helicopter blades snapped them back to the present. Turk and TNTina raised their weapons towards the sound and backed a little ways away; 8-Ball took the sniper from Turk’s hands and used the scope to look. It was a choppa from the southwest. The unmistakable white suit of a GHOST henchman sat in the pilot’s seat. “From The Fortilla,” he assured.

“Yeah, I called for more help with your radio,” Ocean said to Turk. Tina helped her over as the GHOST-issued choppa descended to the grass. Another henchman sat on one of the skids with a med kit.

“Wait ‘til they hear about this one,” Tina raved. “Skye missed out.”

8-Ball shook his head at Ocean and Turk. “Brutus wasn’t very happy with your decision to leave. You shouldn’t have done so without telling anyone.”

Tina’s smile faded. “Oh, yeah. Forgot about that part.”

Turk simply nodded. Ocean, however, let out a frustrated sigh and sat down on a helicopter skid. The medical henchman unwrapped the bandage and examined the wound. “I’m in charge, aren’t I? I should be able to leave without telling him everything.”

Tina sat next to her and lightly punched her shoulder. “Hey, it was still a good time. He’ll get over it.”

8-Ball shook his head again. “You’re our leader. You cannot just run off wherever you’d like for your own desires. It risks our lives at GHOST, and it risks your own.”

Ocean opened her mouth to retaliate, but found nothing to say. No matter how much his words irritated her… she knew there was a truth to them. Defeated, she looked to the sea as the helicopter took to the air, hoping the waves would calm her as they accelerated away.

~*~

“A week? ” Ocean groaned and sat up. Her leg had been propped up as she laid in an infirmary bed; Remedy had just finished properly examining and patching up her wound. Sniper bullets were never a joke, and she would have to wear stitches for that long.

“I heard those marauders have real nasty aim,” Remedy said. “It’s a good thing physics here are… different. It was a direct hit, and if there was any internal damage, we would be talking about a way longer healing process.”

Aside from small bruises and scratches, the squad had mostly been cleared of injuries. Still, Remedy went around one more time just in case. “I’m all good, thanks,” was Tina’s response, before the medic could reach her. She offered a fist bump to Ocean, who returned the gesture with a small smile. “Hey, next time invite me to the start of the party. We gotta get Skye in next time, too.”

She delivered another quick punch to her shoulder and left with 8-Ball.

Ocean leaned back, resting her cheek against her hand. You’re our leader. You cannot just run off wherever you’d like for your own desires.

8-Ball’s words were the only things running through her head ever since boarding the helicopter. It was not him specifically saying that which bothered her; varying agents, especially of the higher ranks, loved to tell her the same thing. It surprised her that Brutus was not already here, waiting in the infirmary to rip her a new one. He had appointed her as GHOST’s leader, had he not? Yet he never trusted her judgment enough to let her make decisions on her own.

“ What does being a leader mean to you? ” He asked her that on the day the shark destroyed the mall. The truth was, she still had no clue. That was why every single decision of hers was questioned, that much she did know, but she hated. She wanted to continue believing it meant simply telling everyone what to do and getting to do whatever her mind wanted as long as she did not die. That way of thinking so far, however, did her no good.

She realized Turk was still there when he placed a hand on her shoulder, as if hearing her inner turmoil. Or, maybe he noticed the scowl she only now realized had taken over her face. “Hey. I know things got cut short with the marauders, but thanks for getting me out on the water again… especially up where we were,” he said. “Truth is, we’ve all been a little scared to leave The Fortilla lately, but thanks for that extra push.”

She looked up at him, and it was when she saw the subtle, genuine look of joy on his face that she realized something.

Facing dangers were her desires. To an extent, however, it was also a universal norm among the agents of their troubled organization, and even those who frolicked the island with no affiliations to the faction war at all. Risks were a part of the job and always had been. Nobody could get used to sitting around, being cautious, and acting scared.

Turk’s face shifted from hesitance to temptation in a heartbeat earlier when she reminded him of his passions. Tina was always looking for something to do, and had been so ecstatic both when arriving on scene and just from hearing of her forbidden expedition. 8-Ball, who always carried himself solemnly and seriously, seemed just a beat happier when they had finally claimed their breathless victory. For the short time they had, they were full of nothing but satisfaction, and that feeling meant something to her.

She was a leader. She had to inspire them. Help them overcome their fears. Motivate them to keep going, as Brutus had done for her when he found her. If that was all it really took, then maybe she understood just a little. Maybe, if those were the stances she focused on, the job would not be so bad.

Ocean smiled up at him. “Yeah, no problem, dude.”

He went on his way, passing Remedy as he left, who had stepped out without her realizing. Her smile dropped when she saw the concern written on the medic’s face.

“Thanks, sir,” Remedy said quietly into her earpiece. She placed a hand on her hip and turned to Ocean. “Brutus said he’s on his way. He wants to talk to you.”

Ocean sighed and crossed her arms, resting them atop her stomach. When all was said and done, the one thing she still was not ready for was the barrage of reprimands she knew would serve her in a few minutes. When they were done, there was no guarantee a hole would not be left behind in the metal walls.

Chapter Text

Drifter Log #2: Jules

Midas trusted me. He came to me with ideas about this “loop” that we’ve been stuck in, keeping us trapped on the island. The storm is the root of it all. He told me to fight it, to figure out some way to break this force I still barely understand. The storm. Break it. Set everyone free.

It failed. Why did it fail? I checked my plans. I rechecked my plans. I skimmed every last bit of our plans. I looked at every little detail in between and it still failed. The plans failed. I failed. I failed everyone.

…

The storm came back, but not as a typical storm. It was a big wall of water, but still deadly. Why did it come back? I can’t figure it out. I can’t.

SHADOW came. They swarmed The Agency right after, as if they knew it would fail. They held us captive and told us if we didn’t join them for good, everyone in GHOST would suffer. We couldn’t let that happen.

Chaos Agent told me, when I was his little pawn, “The Chaos Agent sees and hears everything. He wasn’t lying. He knew it would fail, he had everyone ready, it did fail, and they struck. They took us and Midas and I are the scapegoats.

…Midas is gone. He left, he left me here. When we were captured, the very first thing they threatened was that if anything happened against SHADOW’s better wishes, we would pay the price. If he plotted something against them, I would die. If I plotted something against him, he would die. Not even a week later, he was gone. I’m supposed to be dead. It’s a month later and they’ve kept me alive. They could… they could kill me at any time. Just because they want to.

It should have been different. Everything should be different right now—no more storm sitting on the edge of the island, no more supposed “loopers” running around and destroying the island when we can’t see it, only for everything to be reset again. I wouldn’t be stuck here, alone, with The Device’s failure keeping a burden on me that I can’t share with anyone because everyone here hates me.

I miss him… but what would I tell him if… if he ever returns? He told me in his stupid little parting letter that everything would be alright, that he’ll fix everything, but I could see it. I could see the disappointment in his eyes, even his bad one, every time he looked at me after The Device. Every time he looked at the SHADOW logo on my shirt.

I screwed up his plan. I messed up everything. I’m supposed to be ‘The Engineer,” and my invention failed. I’m nothing but a failure.

I’m so sorry. GHOST, and everyone there…. I miss you… I hope you’re okay.

Please forgive me.

Signed,

Jules

~*~

SHADOW’s first true success in their history of being in the island had finally been marked in the center of the island.

The Authority stood tall where The Agency one reigned, giving SHADOW the last laugh and a final, true claim of power after years of being stuck in the island’s northeast corner. Everyone, it seemed, could not be more thrilled with their new status.

Everyone but Jules.

It was her who drafted together the blueprints: a grand, imposing structure made of black bricks, and a sea wall which blocked out both the high flood waters, and anyone deemed unworthy of SHADOW’s control. If it were under any other circumstances, The Engineer would have loved every second of its building process. The building, however, was not another one of her prideful creations, but one of regret. Alas, if she wanted to keep her life, she had to abide by their wishes.

Seeing their symbol painted and plastered at every corner left a dull ache in her stomach. They tried to kill her months ago, for damn’s sake…! She could not and would never be happy about this. It filled SHADOW’s ego and only did harm to those she truly considered a family. Harm had now become the recurring theme of her works, with no clear positive end in sight.

Though her association with the organization kept herself alive, GHOST paid the price. She could not help but feel selfish; here she was, choosing one life, her life, over the dozens of agents and henchmen trapped in a corner of the island. SHADOW loved to flaunt off any and all superiority they gained, allowing them to walk all over her family. She longed to return to the organization that was once home to her, but she had already made her choice.

If only she could visit The Fortilla for even a day to repair some of the damage done. She never should have done it. She never should have built The Device. She never should have played into her brother’s conspiracies. It was times of utter hopelessness like this she would confide in him and seek his comfort, but she could no longer even do that. Midas and her freedom were gone.

It had been just over a month since Midas fled and a little longer since The Device changed the course of the war forever. He left behind nothing but his drum gun and a letter swearing to set things right, telling her to hold tight. Her patience was wearing thin. How could she hold tight when the possibility of death threatened her every day? Had he thought at all about consequences when leaving her to fend for herself?

Had he forgotten SHADOW’s first threats, or did he completely ignore them, on accident or on purpose? Perhaps it was pride convincing him he was immune to such coercion, so either was a viable option. But not everyone was as immune as he liked to think. He was the one who could turn his entire body to gold, after all.

Or… Do I really mean that little to him now? She asked herself this constantly. Does he care so little about me that he’d leave me to die…?

Jules held on to the tiniest sparks of hope, with the main being that he learned a lesson from this war: always be several steps ahead of the enemy. She wanted to hope that while she remained wandering the building in fear, he carefully plotted a way to reclaim control elsewhere. Maybe he was already at The Fortilla, rallying GHOST up for a fight. Maybe he was already on his way to pull her out of the deep end…!

She also knew if any of that were actually true, SHADOW would already be well aware of the fact. But she had to hold onto those hopes, or she would finally go mad.

Midas, the golden ghost, was such a master in the art of the shadows that even Chaos Agent, who claimed to see all and know all, could not find him. Even in the former days of espionage, Midas would leave behind a golden trail for those whom he really wanted to find him. Now, he had seemingly disappeared without a trace, and that was where the last of Jules’s sparks began to die. He could be dead. No one would ever find out. The thought terrified her, but… but if he doesn’t care enough about me, why should I worry about him?

Clutching his drum gun tightly, Jules ran her hands over its smooth gold and sighed. Her reflection gleamed against its shining surface. It was his most prized possession, left specifically in her care instead of taken with him. The least she could do until he returned— if he returned—was watch over it.

“Ya know, we could really use some weapons like that around here, you think so?”

Jules startled at the voice and whipped around to be met with the olive green eyes of Hazard. She sat atop a nearby railing, letting her legs dangle into the abyss of the lobby. Hazard watched her curiously, then snickered at her initial reaction. “I mean, it’s Midas’s, right?”

Jules looked between her and the drum gun, promptly hiding it behind her back. “No.” She shook her head, careful not to do so too quickly at risk of seeming scared. “It’s… um, it’s not.”

Hazard laughed and stood up. “Yeah, nice try. Everyone knows you have it. I’m just saying, if you want us to really trust you, all you have to do is hand it over and there you go.” She walked a little too close for Jules’s taste and threw her arm around her. Jules tensed at the contact. “I hear we’re getting another weapon load headed in at the docks within the week. Usually I’m excited but the same heavy supply is getting kinda old, ya know?”

It was strange; though everyone else treated her with bitterness or aggression, Hazard always attempted small talk with her, even since her very first days as a double agent between GHOST and SHADOW. Despite that, her friendliness (or pity, whatever it was) drained her more than everything else. It meant she had to pretend to be interested in what she had to say. With how it started, Jules knew she wanted to get away from this particular conversation as quickly as possible. She cleared her throat, ducked out of Hazard’s arm, and stepped back towards the stairs. “Um, listen-”

“Say, if we gave that thing a few little upgrades, we could start building replicas and have our own little arsenal of them,” Hazard interrupted, gesturing again towards the drum gun. Jules cringed at the thought. “We study the specs on that thing and then we’d really be unstoppable, ya think?”

“I’d really like to carry around my own personal drum gun,” said a huskier, sarcastic voice. Jules recognized it immediately and froze.

Sorana stepped around her and into view. Here she was, the perpetrator of Jules’s almost death sentence just months ago, the first agent aside from Chaos Agent to discover the truth of Jules’s double agent work. She had switched so fast from friend to foe as soon as she learned; it was hard to believe they were ever semi-close.

After everything and especially after being forced back into SHADOW’s ranks for good, Jules made her best effort to avoid her, yet somehow she could never escape. Every time she ended up near her, Sorana glared at her with such venom in her eyes that she could swear that after catching her gaze for too long, she would be sent straight to the afterlife. Even now, though Sorana kept her expression neutral in front of Hazard, something about it made her shiver.

She smiled a little as she continued to stare directly at Jules. She knew she was afraid of her and even made her own effort to be nearly everywhere she went. “It’s a powerful gun, sure. Our gunsmiths could do something way better with it, though,” she taunted, leaning against the wall between the stairwells. “Oh yeah, and for the record, Hazard, we’re uh, getting some new weapons to test out.”

Hazard squealed with delight. “Finally! Any idea what we’re getting?”

Sorana shrugged. “More rapid fires and something they just call a hunting rifle.”

Hazard immediately rolled her eyes. “More rapid fires? They suck. We can’t manage the morons at GHOST with crappy weapons. Who’s making charge of these deals?”

“Always Riptide. But clearly you already-”

“Actually, they made some upgrades to the rapid fires,” Jules said meekly. She caught Sorana’s eyes again, who was glaring now, and snapped her own back to the floor. “And they went to Big Mouth for the hunting rifles. They had them on Athena.”

“Oh, look who did her research,” Sorana muttered.

“Good, about time they made those things less useless,” Hazard sneered. She stared at Jules for a moment, glanced once between her and Sorana, and shrugged to herself. “Speaking of weapons, I got some meeting with someone about some, so…”

“Of course you do. Always disappearing.”

She stared at Jules for a moment, grabbed her by the wrist, and stepped towards the staircase. “Hey, come with and we can talk more about, ya know, the drum gun situation.” She winked.

“Actually, I wanted to talk to her.” Sorana shifted her weight, leaning against the wall.

“Yeah, but it could wait, couldn’t it?”

“Second-in-Command takes precedence.”

“Mm, actually, you’re third,” Hazard teased. Without another word, she disappeared around the stairwell.

If it had been up to her, Jules would have followed in a heartbeat. Instead, Sorana broke the silence, her tone not-so-discreetly mocking. “So how’s The Authority treating you now, Julia?”

Jules scowled. She hated the nickname, especially knowing now it would only be used as a taunt. “It’s just Jules. It’s always just been Jules.”

“I didn’t ask for your input. I think I’ll call you whatever I want,” Sorana spat, her expression turning even more sour. She inched forward, cornering Jules against the wall and closing the distance between their faces. Her expression darkened. “You know what? ‘Little Miss Traitor’ has a better ring to it. Maybe I should call you that instead.”

Jules could only exhale a sharp breath, eyes wide and petrified. Sorana headed for the stairs. “No wonder Midas dipped on you. He couldn’t stand being around you either. Good luck in the office.”

Her last words did not register; only the first two sentences began to vaguely echo through Jules’s head. She stood frozen in place, tears pricking the corners of her eyes as suddenly, she was back to being SHADOW’s hostage, tied up in The Grotto after it had been seized. Her shoulder. Bruised and dislocated as she sat there, starving and suffocating and silenced, unable to move and unaware if she could even breathe-

Her arms wrapped themselves tightly around her, cutting off her present ability to breathe. Her nails dug into her arms. She could barely feel the pinch as her body numbed to the world around her.

“Jules.”

Her head snapped up. She thought she heard her brother’s voice. But he is not here, she knows. He made that choice already.

“Jules?”

A hand touched her shoulder. Finally, she jerked back into reality. Now aware of her body, she relaxed her own hand which dug into her arm, and loosened her white-knuckled grip on the railing before her, which she did not remember grasping.

She looked up and around; Rue stood behind her with a bright smile, which faded slightly as soon as she turned her face. “What happened to you? Did Sorana give you a hard time?” She scoffed. “I told her to be… less. ”

Though serving as SHADOW and A.L.T.E.R’s long-time second-in-command, there was a certain softness, a certain kindness in the way she carried herself not often seen alongside some of the organization’s other veterans. Her peppiness often clashed with Jules and her tendencies to keep to herself, but at the very least, her presence now allowed her to relax, if only partially. Still, she could not maintain eye contact very long. “Did… you need me?”

She turned her face and covered her mouth in an attempt to study her composure and keep the tears from falling. Rue stepped closer, her hands clasped behind her back as she leaned forward. “I should remind you to keep yourself in check. To avoid any complications,” she whispered, her exaggerated accent gone. Her smile returned, gentler this time. “But, yes! We have a small assignment for you and you must see Chaos Agent, immediately.”

As if the day could not get any worse, she would now have to face her true leader.

Rue guided her to the top floor, offering a one-sided conversation which Jules could not focus on or bother to pay attention to. They reached the door to the final set of stairs. Rue held it open and beckoned her inside. Jules could only stare. “Come now, no need to be afraid! I’ll be waiting here to, well, see you off on your business. You wouldn’t want to keep him waiting, now, would you?”

Jules almost wanted to scoff. If she recalled any of the threats SHADOW had given her in the past months, they both knew she had every reason to be afraid. The door closed behind her as Jules stepped inside. The thought of taking a single step towards her final boss nauseated her; only when the henchman guard nudged her with the butt of his rifle did she begin. She wished she could return to the days where she could actually look the dreaded figure in the eye, but those were the days her hatred for SHADOW overpowered her timousness. The days before anyone knew she was with GHOST all along… or, at least, the days he pretended not to know.

It was strange to know he was always up here. In the days SHADOW claimed Steamy Stacks, he would never call anyone to his official office because he was never there. He had a tendency to wander, but now at The Authority, he never seemed to leave it. Disorganized piles of paper sat against his desk against the wall. She could not fathom the thought of him sitting at it all day doing paperwork of all things; the opposite was what SHADOW ran on, was it not? Impulsivity. Chaos. Destruction. Only one word could summarize being cooped up in an office all day: boring.

Jules swallowed down the bile in her throat as she approached the desk. “You wanted to see me, sir?” No matter how hard she tried to control it, her voice trembled.

Chaos Agent, who she knew was watching the moment she came into his view, sat back and folded his three-fingered hands together. “Jules.” His cold, grainy voice sent shivers through her body. “It seems some business has come up, and I’ve decided to let you take care of it this time around.”

He stood and strolled about the room. “The matter is that we’ve discovered a power anomaly overnight from our teams at the remnants of Safehouse Charlie. We’ve determined that this particular entity has powers that interest us. They’ve described a purple figure with a mask, and their attire similar to that ‘Drift’ friend of yours who I understand is associated with GHOST. ”

The name of his rivals rolled off the tongue with venom, yet he chuckled at the mention of them. Chaos Agent stopped his pace in front of her; she could not help but gulp as he towered several feet over her. “It is high time you are made useful again. You are to locate them and bring them here, where we will analyze and figure out what to do with them.”

Confusion mixed with her nervous face. She had only recently been given freedom to wander the base. He leaned down a bit, though it virtually made no different in closing the gap. “I understand this is an odd request, considering the circumstances… but I know you, Jules. I trust that you are less likely to disobey me, as opposed to your brother. Am I correct?”

Her blood ran cold as his tone darkened into the condescending, manipulative nature she had grown most familiar with. What seemed like a nice offer of quick freedom instantly turned into something she wanted no part of, but if she did not comply… Well, he would not like that. Her life already grazed the line. She could not risk it any further.

So, she nodded, sealing her fate. “Yes, sir.”

“Good.” She swore the eyes of his gas mask were glowing. “It should go without saying that I don’t trust you with any of our tech, so you will have to make your way to and back on foot. We have other ways of tracking your every move if you never return. And, if by any chance this entity does not kill you, yet you return empty-handed… I will do the favor myself. Are we clear?”

Refusal or failure would both lead to her demise. There was no way to win. She took a deep, shaky breath. “Yes, sir.”

“Then it is settled.” Chaos Agent walked back to his desk. “Oh, and by extension… you’ve known the rules around here ever since you stepped into our ranks. In the event that you fail, not only will it not be a pleasant time for you… but your little friends at The Fortilla are very easy targets. I hope you understand. Rue will see you off.”

She could only take a step away when she froze, both as she considered Chaos Agent’s words, and due to the fact that Sorana watched her from the stairwell railing.

It was not only a threat. It was a promise. She knew it was, and she knew failure or not, SHADOW no doubt had plans to attack GHOST one day on their own accord, simply because they could.

She could not fail. She wouldn’t again. She at least had to delay the inevitable.

As the door closed behind her, Sorana went to lean against Chaos Agent’s desk. “You don’t really trust her to do this alone. Right? Why didn’t you send some sort of escort? I can make sure she gets the job done.”

Chaos Agent chuckled darkly and got lost back in his paperwork. “I’ve sent Scratch to follow her and keep tabs on her whereabouts, of course. Simply a precaution should she disable her earpiece, which Terra is monitoring. All preparations were made accordingly.”

“Or you coulda just made things easier, like I said. A proper chaperone.”

“Ah, but where’s the fun in that, my dear?” She scowled at the pet name and stepped away, only leading him to laugh again. “Jules may think she knows better, but we know her better than she thinks. In all the outcomes, do you believe she will successfully retrieve this anomaly and actually return with it?”

Sorana scoffed. Obviously not. That’s my whole point.”

“Mine as well. We have every reason to believe she will try to sneak back to GHOST, and whether she does so or fails to bring back the subject… it will be of her own fault when I finally enforce my word.”

“Uh-huh. And your word is?”

She could see the smirk he wore even with his lack of a face.

“To put it simply… it is finally time to bring GHOST to an end.”

Chapter Text

It had only been ten or so minutes, yet the conditions of this expedition already soured her mood.

It was not the conditions SHADOW had given her alone; in fact, she had already come to terms with what they had forced her into. It was more so the fact she found herself knee-deep in water and mud most of the way, serving as the reminder she caused all of this. Sure, it was relieving to get a breath of fresh air away from The Authority’s suffocating walls. In the end, however, this was Chaos Agent’s dirty work, and her mistakes meant it had to be her who did it for him.

A purple, masked figure with powers of interest? How could she capture that? Was she expected to negotiate, or was this mission simply the signature to her death certificate? Any form of powers, especially which interested SHADOW, were a one-way ticket to finalizing her sentence.

Jules adjusted the drum gun in her holster, ensuring one quick tug allowed her to be battle ready should the entity attack. Her soaked boots squeaked with every step in the misty grass, distancing her further from any notion she was part spy. Unease pitted in her stomach the further she trudged towards Pleasant Park. Strangely enough, the location never fit its name. Some form of drama always went down in the area. She could not place exactly what put her so on edge besides the place itself, but she did not like it at all.

Being silent and able to slip from place to place or through crowds had always been her best trait, learned from years of whisking through E.G.O headquarters and picked up from too many lessons to count from her brother. But at this rate, she guaranteed the person she desperately tracked would be scared off as she slipped up the damp hills. The worst case scenario, she supposed, was where the entity, no doubt with malicious intent, would skip the fight in favor of turning her straight to scrap metal. Maybe her death then would be quick and painless.

The Authority stood behind her in the distance, and if she looked hard enough, so did The Fortilla. She could not think of that now. She had to succeed, for the sake of them. But was she brave for risking her life, working for SHADOW to keep GHOST from being brutally dismantled? Or, was she selfish for keeping her own life off the line by not actively being there to help out? Perhaps Chaos Agent’s words from weeks ago were right. She was a coward. She hid behind the black brick walls of destruction she had built.

Jules cursed herself and the flood. She was stuck. There was nobody to fall back on, nobody to confide in… she was all alone.

A purple glow caught her eye, shining a short ways away and yanking her from her thoughts. Some yards ahead of her stood a figure draped in a long, black cloak. Their hood covered their head and their back was turned, blocking their face. The only thing more unsettling than the awkward stance they took on was the purple energy which sifted between the threads of their cloak.

With her hand hovering over her holster, she inched closer. Though there was no telling how a firearm would fare against their dark magic, she was ready.

The figure turned abruptly. Jules stumbled back with a gasp as she came face to masked face. Typical. Its design resembled that of a demon, crafted to terrify her more than any thoughts of dark magic could. That, and their cloak, were really the only threatening things about them, had she not known about their properties. The rest of their attire remained casual: sweatpants, a jacket, and high-top sneakers. Just like Drift. She understood Chaos Agent’s comparison.

They seemed just as startled by Jules’s reaction; she could feel their wary gaze eyeing the drum gun at her side. “Who are you?” His deep voice rumbled with uncertainty, to which Jules responded with the same question:

“Who are you? ”

His tone turned cold and defiant. “I asked you first.”

Jules, however, would not take any games. She drew her gun and aimed it at his face in one quick motion. He immediately surrendered his hands in the air. “Fade,” he said quickly, his voice quivering. “My name is Fade.”

She raised an eyebrow and lowered her gun little by little. “Fade?”

He nodded. It was not the most outrageous name; the people of Athena were prone to stranger ones. Jules kept the weapon pointed towards the ground for an extra few seconds before settling it back into her holster. “SHADOW caught you trespassing at the radio tower last night.” She gestured for him to follow, wincing at the premise with every next word she spoke. “They’ve sent me to take you to their headquarters. They know about your dark magic and we’re going to hold you in a cell until we figure out what to do with it, and you.”

“Dark- cell-” He stopped following in a panic. “Okay, listen. I don’t know what’s going on with the whole magic thing, and I don’t know where I am or how I got here but-”

“I’m not here to talk,” Jules snapped, mainly so she herself would not have to do so. Despite that, she frowned at the way he dejectedly shoved his hands into his pockets. She almost could not continue. Just like in Drift’s story, he seemed so clueless… A lost soul thrust into an unknown world with strange abilities.

But there was no turning back now. Her life depended on this.

They walked in silence through Pleasant Park. He showed no signs of resistance or even thoughts about fleeing. Or, maybe he was simply plotting. Members of SHADOW could be like this. Hush had been like this, silently planning any and every way she could get to Skye and her eagerness to trust…. She had to stay weary.

As they neared the red steel bridge, he broke their silent walk. “So… what’s SHADOW headquarters? Is it the big building right over there…?”

Jules sighed heavily, hoping he would take the hint to drop the small talk. Unfortunately for her, he seemed to see past her facade; he could sense something was up besides her hostility towards his mere presence. “You don’t… sound very excited about taking me there.”

She turned her gaze to the ground. “I’m not. But I don’t have a choice.” She tried to change the topic. “When we get there, you’re going to answer their questions and tell them everything they need to know about you, or… they’ll kill you. They’ll kill both of us.”

She whispered the last part to herself. His eyes flickered back to the drum gun. “You seemed pretty excited to try and kill me earlier.”

Her frown deepened. Only in dire circumstances would she have really considered it. With another sigh, she stopped walking. “Listen… I’m just really not in the mood. The island’s underwater, and everything’s going wrong, and…”

Fade nodded and glanced around. “Yeah, pretty noticeable the second you get here… what’s with the flood?”

She cursed herself for bringing it up. “I don’t want to talk about that.”

Thankfully, he left it at that. Strangely, though… She wanted to vent. She wanted to tell him everything, from her current circumstances and how this mission put her straight on that line between life and death, to her problems between SHADOW and GHOST and how she wished things were simpler. It had been so long since someone had talked to her like she was normal. Not a liability to SHADOW, a commodity to GHOST and her brother, or a criminal to both organizations.

Truthfully, she preferred keeping to herself and always went out of her way to avoid those she could not find herself fully comfortable with. Yet, in only ten minutes… she felt as though she could tell him anything.

“I don’t want to talk to… even more people with guns, if that's what’s going to happen,” he said. “I already tried that yesterday, so… it’s pretty much a lost cause.”

She wished she could control what happened afterwards, but once he reached SHADOW’s grasp, it would no longer be a possibility. “…I’m sorry.”

He loosely crossed his arms. “It’s taking every bit of me to talk to you. I figured it would make this seem less bad. I’m more of a loner.”

For the first time since Doomsday, a faint, genuine smile flickered on Jules’s face. “I get it. I’m also not… a people person, I guess.”

She could not see it, but Fade wore his own smile under the mask. “Word.”

Another silence settled, more comfortable than the last. Jules began walking again, but Fade remained in his spot. “How… fast do we need to get there?”

Maybe she should not have obliged, but for the next few minutes, she sat against the bridge and quietly listened as Fade carried a conversation full of stories and short tales about his family and the adventures he had taken around a world that seemed so different from her own. A world larger and not locked by a storm or a vast, infinite ocean… a world less hostile, as every version of hers had been, both on and before the island.

She could not take him to SHADOW. They would break him and convince him to abuse his abilities before he could learn what they were and where they came from. There had to be another option.

Through the bars of the bridge, the faint outline of The Fortilla poked through. Sometimes, she wondered how everyone fit there, all in one base… she wondered how her friends slept and adjusted, considering they formerly lived in the luxury of their bases or The Agency. She wondered what they did cooped up there all day, forced to make every move with caution in fear of SHADOW’s reign.

…I’m getting off track.

GHOST, when it was simply E.G.O, had known her since birth. Surely they would understand her situation. Brutus or Meowscles or Skye. Somebody. It would be wishful thinking to waltz onto GHOST’s headquarters unannounced and have the audacity to ask for their help, but she had to do something. She had to strategize, because there was also Chaos Agent and his plans if she failed him.

She could drop Fade off, warn them of Chaos Agent’s threat so they could prepare for battle, perhaps reconcile quickly with her family… and in the end, she would decide her own fate in regards to SHADOW.

It was worth a try.

“Hey.” Fade waved a hand in front of her face, bringing her back to the present. “So, uh… I never caught your name.”

Jules looked at him, then at The Authority just across the river, then back to The Fortilla in the south… and promptly made her first decision.

She took out her earpiece and disabled it. “I can’t take you to SHADOW. I can’t. Listen, there’s someone I think might be able to understand your… magic. And your situation. But you have to trust me, because they might also pull guns on us for my… mistakes. If I explain the situation, though, maybe we can get help.”

“‘They?’”

“GHOST. They’re… it’s safer at their base for you, I promise. They won’t try and experiment on you, like SHADOW would. We’ll have to change paths, but we should be able to take a boat from Sweaty Sands.”

As far as Fade knew, either method was kidnapping… but Jules seemed genuine, and he trusted his judgment. It did nothing to suppress the millions of questions swarming his brain, but she seemed overwhelmed enough. He would keep them to himself for now, so his only response was a nod.

They swiftly turned and crossed the bridge back the way they came from. Hopefully, SHADOW did not expect her to return right away, especially knowing of Fade’s powers.

“Are you sure about this?”

Second thoughts plagued and tried to convince her to turn back and avoid the risk, but this time, she would not let her fears overpower her. It was time to stop playing coward.

—

A figure silently sat atop the bridge, his fingers hovering over his earpiece. As the duo walked in the opposite direction of The Authority, he desperately wished to jump down and end their efforts himself, but he knew better than to go against his boss’s orders. Chaos Agent would want to finish the job, after all.

The corrupted ninja pressed his fingers against his earpiece. “Target has switched paths towards Sweaty Sands with mentions of taking a boat. Should I pursue?”

Chaos Agent’s smooth voice responded in no time. “Good work, Sctatch—no need, I know exactly where she is going.”

Chapter Text

“Just another day in The Fortilla,” Maya sang to herself, straddling ammo boxes under each arm. “Aren’t the henchmen usually assigned to do this? Not that I mind helping out.”

Ocean juggled three boxes of her own as they walked to the vault room, trying to hide her slight limp. Roughly a week had passed since the face off against the marauders, and throughout, she remained determined not to let her stitched up leg injury get in the way. “Yeah, but I wanted to do it myself,” she huffed. Though she mostly prevented anyone from helping with anything physical, Maya had managed her way into doing so with their latest ammo shipment around The Fortilla. “You didn’t have to be here, I was doing fine on my own.”

Maya frowned. “Yeah, heard that a lot before the flood,” she muttered.

A twang of guilt hit Ocean’s chest at how quickly Maya’s tone darkened. GHOST’s self-titled gear specialist, she learned, did her best to help out whenever and wherever she could, and she had heard of Midas’s resistance to letting others do so. As a general field agent, there were only three occasions where she formally spoke to him, all on important matters when first arriving on the island. Afterwards, her orders were always taken from Brutus, and that was all the experience she had in the subject of his supposed indifference.

Maya glanced at the bandages wrapped around Ocean’s right leg, peaking through the hole in her leggings she had not gotten stitched up. “You’re not supposed to be putting strain on your leg while the stitches are in.”

“What, you’re a medical expert?”

“I know a bit. My mom was. I cut my arm bad enough once and she lectured me every day about it.”

Ocean chuckled. “I can’t wait to get these out. I thought swimming around here over and over again was getting boring… turns out not getting to swim at all is even worse.”

“When are you getting them out?”

“Tomorrow.” They found themselves in the vault room. “Or, whenever Rem says. She said if tomorrow ends up being too soon, I should be fine in two.”

Ocean carefully set down her load of ammo. She smiled, letting Maya know she was appreciated despite her prior stubbornness. “Hey, there’s a lot more of these anyway. It’ll probably take a while if I move them all myself… thanks.”

Maya beamed. “Yeah, no problem-”

The sound of distant henchmen shouts cut them off. Ocean and Maya glanced at each other, drew their weapons, and rushed outside to find a group of henchmen forming a circle near the power plant. “Go see if Brutus is back from his weapons meeting or whatever,” Ocean ordered. “I’ll go see what’s up.”

Maya nodded and headed off, speaking into her earpiece.

With her burst assault rifle in hand, Ocean activated one of the bridges and made her way across to the commotion. As she got closer, she realized two figures were surrounded by the henchmen, the supposed cause of the distress. They had their arms up in compliance; she could not tell what the big deal could possibly be as the swarm grew closer. Upon catching the fear of the maskless girl’s face, she called out to the henchmen. “Hey, ease up, guys.” Her request went unheard; none of them were willing to lower their weapons. She pushed through to the front. “What’s the problem…?”

As soon as she got a closer look, she finally understood: SHADOW’s symbol was plastered clear in the middle of the girl’s shirt. Ocean aimed her gun at the intruders immediately. “Alright, trespassers! State your business, what do you want here?”

The two people glanced at each other. Fiddling with the braids running over her shoulder, the girl took a small step forward. “I need to talk to someone here.”

When she would not elaborate, Ocean narrowed her eyes. A henchman gestured her closer, and in her ear, he whispered, “this is Jules, ma’am.”

Her eyes widened. Everyone at GHOST, old and new recruits alike, were familiar with the name: Midas’s sister, who now posed as nothing more than a traitor to all. “And I’m guessing this is one of your little SHADOW friends, so why should we believe you?”

Jules bit the inside of her cheek. “No, I… I’m not here on SHADOW business. Officially. I just need… he needs to talk to someone.” She gestured to the cloaked person beside her. “You don’t have to trust me, but he’s innocent, he just needs to talk to Drift.”

Ocean’s curiosity piqued at the mention of their occasional ally. She continued to eye them, especially Jules and her uncovered face. Though hers kept firm and fierce, Jules could not return such a look or anything close to it. She remained frozen, a deer in the headlights which were Ocean’s gaze, and Ocean could not be so sure anymore that she truly meant any harm. Relief finally settled them both upon hearing a gruff voice. “I’ll handle this from here.”

Maya made her way back to the ruckus with Brutus in close pursuit. He pushed past her and through the henchmen to look over the situation. As soon as his eyes fell upon Jules, he stopped. Maya audibly gasped and tried to move forward, only to be stopped by Brutus. “Jules,” he said, a hint of shock hidden in his voice, “what are you doing here?”

Though she still shook, Jules eased up more. “Arms down.” Brutus signaled for the henchmen to lower their weapons, and this time, they complied.

His face turned stern. He took off his sunglasses and crossed his arms, standing in his signature, formidable pose. “Let’s take this inside.”

~*~

Jules kept her head down as she solemnly followed behind GHOST’s leaders. Agents and henchmen littered every corner of The Fortilla, and she could not bear to look anyone in the eye, whether on accident or on purpose, after everything. After every passing, she would hear a whisper. She hated those whispers, especially knowing now they were all about her.

I’m not a coward, she continuously told herself. I’m not. So long as she focused on those words, she knew she would keep her will to flee in check.

They soon found themselves in a vault room. The eyes of henchmen looked over from the railings above, and the sharp air chilled as each important agent wandering the building stopped to watch, their distrusting gazes all targeting Jules.

Ocean and Maya stopped to guard and watch from the doorway. Fade could feel their eyes as they examined his attire, both wary of the purple smoke drifting between the threads of his imposed cloak. He could not blame them—it scared even him.

He glanced at Jules, silently pleading some good would come out of being here. For all he knew, they were brought to this place only to be executed…

Still, he did not want to question her judgment. To an extent, he even trusted it.

“Why are you here?” Brutus stared the two of them down, expressionless behind his sunglasses. Jules opened her mouth to speak, but the prying eyes of the others in the room shied her away from doing so. A scowl replaced Brutus’s neutral expression at her silence. “I’ll ask again, Jules. Why are you here? We have no interest dealing with SHADOW’s affairs right now. If you have no business, leave. ”

Jules took a deep breath. “I… I know you… you have no reason to trust me, but-“

“Damn right, we don’t!”

TNTina strode in from the other side like a stick of dynamite, her face ignited with fury. Meowscles followed behind her, and some of the E.G.O soldiers shuffled in afterwards.

Jules thought finally seeing her allies around her would put her mind at ease… but they were no longer that, and as their distrusting eyes surveyed her, she knew she would soon reach her breaking point. One last person had yet to show up, but of all her bonds… She knew that one was hopeless.

GHOST only saw a traitor in her. All because she built that stupid device.

“So why are you here, huh?” Tina’s rage-filled voice boomed through the entire building. “Midas thought it’d be funny sending you in to do his dirty work again?”

Jules’s words caught in her throat. She took a step back, searching for her comfort words again. I’m not a coward. I’m not.

“Wait.” Thankfully, Fade spoke up. He cowered under the sudden surge of attention and icy glares, but if it would help his own newfound ally, he would push aside those fears. “She’s here because of me.”

Brutus placed a hand on Tina’s shoulder, prompting her to back off. He stepped forward. “You, or her, it doesn’t matter. SHADOW isn’t welcome here.”

“I’m not SHADOW, I’m new around here,” Fade tried. “That’s why she brought me here. She didn’t want to take me to… The Authority, or whatever it was.”

He caught Jules’s eyes when she silently mouthed her gratitude, trying to control her heavy breaths. Fade nodded to her, allowing her to try one last time. “Listen, please, you don’t have to trust me, but Fade is innocent, and I wanted him to be safe here instead of… I know it’ll make you all happy, so as soon as we’re done I’ll just go back to The Authority and ever-”

“Jules…?”

Her breath hitched. She heard a voice she knew all too well, one that was enthusiastic and bright… only, this time, it was nothing of the sort. It was timid, desperate… almost as desperate as Jules had been to hear it at all throughout her captivity. She spun around, nearly losing her fitting, and there she was, the person she saw like a sister. Skye, with her endless forgiveness, but how could she so easily forgive someone who had gathered up all of her trust, only to betray it in the blink of an eye?

She was not aware Skye herself was just as scared. Scared that she, that they, all of GHOST, truly meant nothing to Jules and Midas. Scared that they had completely abandoned them and the hidden news of Jules’s return thrown around only to spite her, to mock her and boast. Yet, she could see the pleading gleam in Jules’s eyes, and she knew that could not be the case. It never had been.

They could only stare at each other. After what could have been minutes of silence, Skye swiftly closed the distance and threw her arms around Jules, refusing to acknowledge even the thought of the past. Jules stiffened at the contact, the true, genuine, comforting contact she lacked since Doomsday. Slowly, but surely, she fell into the embrace, clinging on for dear life. Skye could feel the dampness of her tears staining her shoulder, but she did not mind. Not at all.

“I’m sorry,” Jules choked out in a whisper. “ I’m so sorry. ”

They held each other until Jules knew they no longer could, because the clock was ticking and she could not stay for too long to reminisce, no matter how much she longed to. She wiped her face, but the tears took a moment to relent.

“I missed you,” Skye said with a sniffle. As she asked her next question, something new gleamed in her teary eyes, something mixed between hope and urgency that Jules would have a viable explanation. “Why did you do it…?”

Jules recalled the fateful day everything ended in disaster. SHADOW had long since taken over when a helicopter sent from The Shark flew over The Agency. She could see Brutus and Maya, clear as day, surveying the wreckage from above for answers. Calmly, Chaos Agent ordered Midas to shoot, and he obliged, knowing they would otherwise perish. He hid it well, but the molten scientist’s reign of terror affected even him more than most, the one who claimed to be immune to the world around him. But she understood what it must have looked like from the eyes of GHOST: she and Midas dressed in SHADOW’s dark colors and attacking their former allies for no apparent reason other than they now served Chaos Agent, the same being they claimed to despise.

Well, she did despise him, and it was time to let everyone know. “We didn’t want to,” she declared to the room with a new confidence. “They forced us to turn, they said if we didn’t listen, they’d… kill us. Or they’d kill one of us if the other didn’t listen or tried to escape or tried to do anything against them.”

Hostility transformed into shock or surprise or sympathy or even remained as anger, whether it was directed still at her or the cursed organization which set them back. The only face bearing none of the above, Jules noted, was Brutus’s, who looked more… relieved, than anything. It was a break away from his stoic exterior, as if it were a piece of information he had been waiting to hear personally from her or Midas. As if… he already knew something about her circumstances. He noticed her prying eyes and reverted back to his neutral expression.

At last, Skye asked the question ringing through everyone’s thoughts: “Where’s Midas…?”

Jules glanced away. “I don’t know. He managed to escape a few days after and I don’t know where.”

“Without you?” Maya questioned from the door.

Tina’s death glare would not relent. “So if he’s gone, why are you still here?” Meowscles promptly elbowed her. “What? It’s just a question.”

Jules, however, realized the implications behind it. She stood here, still alive, and for what? But for Tina to ask so bitterly, as if she wished she were gone… Jules blinked away the tears that welled up again in her eyes. “I, um… I don’t know why they’re keeping me alive. They just keep making up plans and tasks for me around The Authority, so as long as I’m useful, I guess…”

She trailed off. The Authority. By now, well over an hour had passed since leaving. Her earpiece was still disabled in her pocket, and SHADOW no doubt began questioning her whereabouts. She needed to make her final decision. Either way, the odds did not favor her. She looked at Fade. As long as he remained here and away from SHADOW’s control, he would be protected. Meanwhile, GHOST could hold their own so long as they had the time to prepare. “I have to go back.”

“Already?” Skye’s grip around her hand tightened.

Jules hesitated a moment before continuing, her face solemn. “Listen. I wasn’t supposed to bring Fade here. They wanted him at The Authority so they could experiment, I guess, they said if I didn’t they’ll… attack.

A mix of panicked and angered chatter erupted through the room. “The hell you mean they’ll attack?!” Tina shouted. Meowscles held her back before she could attempt to stomp towards Jules. “You’re just here to screw us over, aren’t you?”

“No! I just- I just didn’t want…” Again, Jules glanced towards Fade, locking eyes with him for a moment. She stepped back further, then falling into Maya, who had begun to approach her. “I’m sorry, I’ll try and reason with them, I swear-”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Maya asked, helping her regain her balance. “I don’t think they’re just going to negotiate-”

“I can try. I have to.”

With a reassuring smile and another tight squeeze to her hand, Skye uttered three words which finally managed to settle her since before Doomsday: “I trust you.”

Chapter Text

Preparations began both for getting Jules back safely, and for defending The Fortilla in case SHADOW went through with their word. Jules stood by as Maya prepared a boat, her mind racing as she considered the unpredictable outcomes. They would have to be quick; Maya and Skye would accompany her to The Authority, or at least Salty Springs, which was as close as they could get without risking detection.

“We can cut through Weeping… err, what’s still left of Weeping Woods,” Maya said.

Jules nodded. “Thanks. I… I owe all of you. So much.”

Brutus placed a hand on her shoulder. “Thanks for the warning. If anything happens, we’re prepared. If there’s anything we can do to help you out, we’ll try.”

Right… if I’m alive to do that. Her eyes wandered towards Skye, who cheerily helped Maya finish setting up. After all this time, she still trusted her… but Jules could not bring herself to reveal the full truth to her. She would be devastated. “He’ll kill me,” she whispered to Brutus. “Chaos Agent said if I didn’t bring Fade… he’ll kill me.”

His stoic expression twitched behind his sunglasses. “Then why are you going back?”

“I don’t want it to escalate. Maybe they’ll go easy on you if he deals with me first.”

For once, Brutus was at a complete loss for words. “Be careful,” was all he managed to say.

Tina trudged over. “Hey.’ She had calmed down a bit. “Uh, if you need help blowing up The Authority or something, I’ll ready the stock.”

Jules had to laugh, though it was small. “I wish you could. I wish I could see the GHOST symbol hanging up over there instead of…”

She walked towards the boat with a huff and set her hand on the side a little harsher than intended. It shook. “They took our home, they took everything from GHOST and mock everything we’ve ever done and I can’t do anything about it. I’m just… powerless.”

Skye firmly grasped her hand. “Hey, we’ll get ‘em back one day! Just not today, I guess.”

“Someday.”

Maya started the boat. At the sound of its roaring motor, Fade looked up from the small talk Ocean started with him. It did not feel right to be left without a proper goodbye or word of gratitude who had practically saved his life. “Hey, wait,” he called, but he could not be heard over the engine. He thought for a moment and recalled the name they used for her. “Jules!”

Jules finally turned towards him. He sighed in relief, felt around his face for the edges of his mask, and slipped it off. The cool sea ear rushed his face as he looked to her in silent gratitude. “Thank you,” he mouthed.

Jules smiled back at him. She sent him a firm nod as the boat sped away.

~*~

The walk of shame to Chaos Agent’s office was a drag as she climbed up the many flights of stairs holding up The Authority. Frankly, she wished she could make it even slower, but the henchmen duo pushing her upwards would not allow it.

Jules did not have a plan, really. What would she say to tame Chaos Agent’s soon wrath? What could she say? Who could say he was not standing before his door with a gun, ready to fire the second she stepped into his view?

The mention of GHOST was not needed. She could go with, ‘he attacked me and escaped,’ and he would understand it really was not her fault. He would forget about the threats and see this whole mission was out of line. No one would suspect a thing, and after all, she remained alive for a reason, did she not?

Alas, this was Chaos Agent. He knew all and saw all. Who was she kidding?

Her pace quickened. It was time to get her punishment done once and for all.

The henchmen waited behind her as she knocked on his office door. No response. She knocked again, trying not to pound too hard.

“ Come in, Jules. ” His voice was closer than usual. She turned the knob and there he was, brooding atop the landing where the stairs changed direction. His maskless, molten, oozing face sent shivers down her spine no matter how many times she had seen it, even back when she was not necessarily afraid of him. Another henchman stood against the wall to her right. They walked out alongside the others, but only one set of footsteps receded down the hall. The other two were guarding. Waiting for a spectacle.

Chaos Agent held up a hand and beckoned her up. “ Come, ” he rumbled.

She knew she could not escape past this point. She obliged, hanging her head along the way. At the top step, he stepped back, allowing her just enough space where only the front halves of her feet could balance her before him. He gripped her shoulder. “You must think I am a fool, Jules,” he spat.

Jules gulped. “No, sir…”

He placed his other hand on her other shoulder. His grasp tightened on both. “Then, perhaps I will give you a chance to redeem yourself,” he said with a dark chuckle. “A chance for a viable explanation. If you can give one for returning without the entity, then I may just spare you… or, you would not mind if I threw you down these stairs?”

Her heart pounded in her ear. Her breaths became rapid and heavy. She averted her gaze, hoping to strip away the power of his, but she could feel it just as strongly. She regretted ever taking the offer. She regretted ever stepping foot near that hill by Pleasant Park, where she found…

… Fade. She had done everything for his safety and sanity. Whether or not SHADOW struck, he would be under their protection. He would not be experimented on or broken into an empty, evil shell. And even when she finally paid the price for everything she had caused… she did not regret her trip to The Fortilla, where GHOST had been warned and, hopefully, now completely prepared. In the end… maybe her good deeds, finally done for the sake of others, would outweigh the negatives.

“He got away,” she said, just above a whisper. “He attacked me and I couldn’t fight back, his… his powers were too much.”

Silence.

“Strike one.” Chaos Agent picked her up by the front of her shirt and dragged her up the remaining stairs, then shoving her against the nearest wall. “You are a pathetic actor and an even worse liar. I know you purposely did not bring him here, and I have an eyewitness.”

Jules breathed out sharply. “I-I couldn’t bring him here,” she blurted out. “Fade, he’s- he’s not just an entity, he-”

“Fade!” He let go, dropping her to the floor and laughing maniacally. “There you go, naming the test subject.”

“ Please, he’s not from the island, he- he doesn’t even know what his powers are-”

“Precisely why this is a perfect opportunity! We will figure out his powers for him. It’s been long enough since our last experiment on live islanders.”

“But-”

He grabbed her shoulders again, dragged her to the center of the office, and threw her to the ground. She looked up just in time to watch him pull a pistol from his pocket.

Jules knew where this would lead. It was finally time for her execution. She knew it had been coming ever since Midas’s departure, but now that it was in her face, it hit her. She was going to die . She was not ready. She never would be ready. Yet she could do nothing but plead, as if it would make a difference in the nonexistent heart of this cruel being. “ Please. ” He pointed the pistol to her head. She could not move.  A tear trickled down her face. “Please, please just- leave GHOST alone.”

“I am a man of my word,” he said coolly. She could tell by the sickening tone laced in his voice that he enjoyed her pleas. He pressed the pistol against her head. “You failed me, Jules. You and they will be dealt with accordingly.”

“ No, ” she shouted even louder. A sob tore through her throat. “ Please, just leave- leave them alone, I’m s-sorry! It was all my fault, don’t h-urt them…!”

The gun remained pressed against her head. Chaos Agent remained strangely still and as silent as a shadow. Jules turned her gaze back to the ground. Tears streamed down her face. Her throat burned. “ Please, ” she shakily whispered.

Neither of them moved. She could feel his menacing gaze still set upon her. Finally, there was shuffling. She peeked up. Chaos Agent straightened his suit. His pistol lowered, but the grasp was still tight. He ordered her to stand. Her breaths had escalated to the point of hyperventilation; she thought she was suffocating. “Thank you for your time, Jules.” His voice returned to its nonchalant, mellow leader voice. “You may leave.”

She did not have to be told twice. With a hasty nod, Jules darted for the stairs and almost stumbled down them. She did not bother closing the door as she ran, hoping to make it down to her safe haven in the basement.

Chaos Agent had yet to move from his spot in the office. His vision remained locked on the spot where Jules once laid, with both of them in a position he remembered clearly. A position he had been in with someone different, many years beforehand, same pistol and all. Only, it was then on the stone hard floor of an underground bunker. Then, there were the same words from a different day, one in a cold, underground lab, which was now flooded in the corner of the island. A lab where any remnants of his best scientist’s work had been washed away and forever lost.

Don’t hurt them. I’m sorry. It was my fault, leave them alone. She had pleaded those same words as he destroyed her most beloved experiments, but there were always consequences for failure. She knew so.

They were both days he never apologized for. How could he have? He was Chaos Agent. Apologies were a sign of weakness, and he had no heart to give a proper one. Any traces of humanity left in him were wiped out years before stepping foot onto the island.

Why now did he suddenly remember these things in such sorrow?

He shook himself out of it and raised his hand to his earpiece. “Rue, send out our plans of attack against The Fortilla and begin preparations. Tell Sorana not to bother with Jules just yet… we’ll deal with her after she watches as we destroy everything she loves.”

He pointed his pistol at the floor once more and shot the ground Jules once laid upon.

Toxin.

—

Chaos Agent’s voice had shaken.

Perhaps Jules herself had been too shaken to dwell on it then, but Chaos Agent’s mannerisms in the end were… different. He had not killed her in cold blood. He let her go, and as the scene replayed over and over in her brain, his voice shook in the process. Had it simply been hesitation, or was the threat of her death only bait to relish in the sounds of her pleas? Why had he let her go…?

It did not matter now, did it? She was alive. That was all that mattered.

Jules fiddled with a spare wrench grabbed from atop the weapon upgrade bench. The basement of The Authority was the closest place to a makeshift workshop she could get, and had been made her safe haven as soon as she became trusted enough to wander. Her tasks throughout the month had been nothing special, more so on the side of assistant work; she craved for something else to do, anything for her creativity to work on to take her mind off things. Alas, they would not give her any additional resources, and helping with machinery was always out of the question, for the organization feared they would be tampered with.

The door opened suddenly, causing Jules to jump. “ Moron, ” muttered a voice. It was none other than Hazard, whose eyes lit up at the sight of her. “So this is your secret hideout after all?”

Jules caught her breath after the initial startle. Why was she here? “Um… I guess. I can’t do anything else, so I come down here to think.”

“I like it. No one will ever suspect a thing,” Hazard said with a smirk; Jules could not tell if she was being sarcastic or not. Her eyes softened a moment later, and she slid down against the wall next to Jules. “Sooo… is everything okay? A certain someone didn’t like that our next test subject got away.”

The question brought a new set of tears to Jules’s eyes. She could not hold back the sob that escaped her throat as she broke down in front of Hazard right there. After the idea of death had been so indifferent to her, it was not the same once it stared her straight in the eye. She did not want to die. She never did. Somehow, the odds aligned against her favor and still worked for it in the end. Now, time would question if her chance of free will fixed anything, or would doom and kill those around her for good.

“I’m sorry,” she gasped. She did not know if it was to Hazard for seeing like this, to GHOST for all of their troubles, or to herself for getting into this mess. Perhaps it was a mix of all. “I’m sorry…”

Awkwardly, Hazard patted her shoulder and sat with her until she managed to calm herself. “Maybe I should hide out with you here so Riptide finds someone else to bully,” she said, trying to lighten the mood.

Jules nodded. “No one bothers me unless they want me to do things for them. This is the only place I feel safe,” she admitted.

“Ha. Everyone always wants something from you, don’t they? Riptide wants ‘the truth’ out of me but I have nothing to hide, do I?”

Jules glanced at her, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. Everyone knew that was a lie. Hazard was the most secretive person of the entire organization, and miraculously the only one who could get away with it. Even so… something about her, in spite of her pushy, sometimes overbearing nature, made Jules feel safe further. Sure, she got into everyone’s business, but she was the only one to be consistently friendly with her, especially now.

Hazard nudged her arm and pointed to Jules’s holster. “My offer still stands on the drum gun, ya know?”

And there went that nice feeling.

“I don’t need to upgrade it. It’s fine. And if I did, I don’t want to give it to you.”

“Fine,” Hazard huffed. She made an abrupt beeline towards the door, but stopped to lean against the doorway before she left. “Okay, yeah, I get it. Don’t do it for me. But if you do want to do it, you know, maybe as a little gift? It’s all yours, he can’t do anything about it, right?”

The more the idea was put into her head, Jules only wondered what would happen if she did mess with it. Weapon engineering had never been her specialty; the thought of building weapons or purposely creating anything meant for harm never sat right with her, so she never bothered to learn or inquire about the trade. Surely, it was no different from her regular work, was it? She wished she could ask Brutus, who in fact was an experienced weapon craftsman.

After making sure the gun was clicked into safety, she began disassembling it in the order Midas had shown her once. From the parts spread in front of her, she knew a handful of their names, but not necessarily what most of them did besides the basics. She would have to study each component before attempting anything worthwhile.

~*~

“What do you think about all this?”

Tina looked up from the cot she laid in, where she played catch to herself with a grenade. “Huh?”

Maya leaned against the wall next to her. “About Jules.” Tina scowled in response. “You seemed pretty mad earlier.”

Tina caught the explosive one last time and sat up with a huff. Mad’s an understatement, she wanted to say. But Maya was closer to Jules than she had ever been. They would not understand each other. Rather, she asked, “Do you trust her?”

“I think so. Her story made sense. I don’t think she would really betray us like we thought she did. Skye was really happy to see her, they talked a lot while we were on the boat.”

“You mean the same Skye we couldn’t get out of that room for the entire month?” Tina lied back down, her scowl softening to a frown as she reflected over the month of May. When the news spread of Jules’s and Midas’s conversions to SHADOW, Skye had been hit the hardest. Her enthusiasm was always contagious, and as GHOST’s youngest member, the entire organization held a soft spot for her. But throughout that first month and especially after the loss of The Shark, she would rarely utter a word, when beforehand, she would be the first to say, “everything will be okay!”

Between the base’s damage and the finishing of The Fortilla, Journey took her in again as she did before the young agent’s activation. Despite their best efforts, she trapped herself in her room, never allowing herself to leave the house until The Fortilla would become their new home. In that month of reconstruction, GHOST had never seemed so down. TNTina prided herself in keeping up hope the best she could, but when Skye broke… it seemed to break everyone.

Seeing her gain even a fraction of that hope after Jules forced her way back… Tina sighed. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I just don’t want her to get her hopes up, okay?”

Maya sat next to her. “Tina…”

“But you’re right, right?” Tina scooted a bit away. “Look, if Skye’s happy now, it’s fine. Doesn’t mean I’m not gonna keep an eye on her, though. Last time she trusted someone…”

Maya flinched. The double agent incident. “We know Jules. We didn’t know Hush.”

Tina shrugged. She could not shake the memories away. Her and Maya, told to sit back, wait, and listen through comms at The Agency as in the enemy’s final moments, she tried to take Skye with her… “Better safe than sorry, right?”

“You say while juggling a grenade.”

“Hey, my controlled explosions are different.”

“Yeah, ‘controlled,” Maya air-quoted. Tina swatted at her shoulder and they shared a laugh, grateful for the lifted mood.

Someone knocked at the entrance. Journey swung around the corner. “Hey,” Maya greeted. “Everything okay?”

“Hey,” Journey greeted back. Her smile lasted no longer than a second. “Have either of you seen Skye? She wanted me to help her get back in practice with her grappler after she got back, but now I can’t find her. I checked all of her favorite spots.”

Maya and Tina glanced at each other. “ Seriously? ” The latter mouthed—it was as if they jinxed something happening to her.

“Last time I saw her was when we got back,” Maya said. “I haven’t seen her since.”

Tina stood. “Hey, we’ll help look. She can’t be far.”

Journey’s smile returned, albeit nervously. “Thanks. I hope she’s not getting into any trouble.”

Chapter Text

Drifter GHOST Log #3: Skye

I should’ve known they would never turn on us! Jules came by The Fortilla and explained everything. I trust her, but… I might be one of the only ones. Jules is the sister I never had, so it’s easier for me to believe her, but… I just hope it’s not messing up my judgment.

Midas, wherever you went, I hope I’m right in trusting you’re still on the good side. I know you haven’t shown the best side of you ever since we started getting so close to The Device’s launch, and I know I can be too much sometimes but I still believe you’re a good person. Jules said you disappeared not long after they captured you, and I really hope you’re okay.

We won’t let you down! Ocean’s doing really great with what we still have and we’ll take SHADOW down once and for all! I know it.

Believe me. Those stupid guys will pay! I’ll make sure of it.

Signing off,

Skye

~*~

Feedback of intercoms and radios crackled at the top of the hill, followed every so often by shouts of gruff voices announcing orders and bouts of information. A SHADOW symbol hung high atop an exterior wall, leaving a glare in Skye’s eyes—how dare they!

She hid among the brush at the recently uncovered edge of Weeping Woods, surveying the movements of the henchmen patrolling what was formerly GHOST’s training grounds. She and the others were warned about seeking out SHADOW for personal vengeance; there was not much to fall back on if someone agitated them over a quick, petty pursuit. Skye vowed to heed that threat until learning of the current predicament: taking everything away from her family and forcing them to betray her? That was well worth taking the risk. The enemy may have had the upper hand with their fancy gadgets and fancy headquarters, but she had something they did not: heart.

After months of feeling lost and losing her adventuring passion, seeing Jules again had reignited her bright spirit. She loomed among the bushes, silently waiting for an opportunity to strike. Hurting anyone was not an intention, of course—she only wanted to cause enough chaos to throw off their work and maybe ruin their day. Any intel gathered along the way would be a bonus. Since The Fortilla finished construction, SHADOW never seemed to bother them so long as they stayed in their territory. But for them to be so quiet… something was amiss. She could feel it.

“Did you hear about that magic entity guy we were supposed to get? Everyone’s saying he got shipped over to GHOST.”

Two henchmen conversed at the edge of the hill, loudly enough to where she could hear every word from below. Skye leaned forward.

“Yeah, apparently Jules was s’posed to bring him to us, but he ‘escaped.’ What are the chances that’s what actually happened?”

The first one laughed. “I bet the boss had her head.”

Skye balled her fists at the mention of Jules, and unable to wait any longer, she shot her assault rifle once into the air. The outside guards instantly went on alert, their heads turning side to side as they searched for the source of the shot. Skye pointed her grappler up the hill. “Hey, you jerks! No one takes away my family and gets away with it!”

Before any of them could react, she grappled to the top of the safehouse, making sure to kick the SHADOW sign in the process as she hit the wall and landed on the upper floor balcony. She yanked the door open and ducked inside, dodging bullet sprays as it closed behind her.

Skye stopped to catch her breath. The pacing steps of the henchmen marched closer; their numbers were larger than she imagined. She looked up to Ollie, and as if in sync, he transformed into his fluffy animal-like form as soon as Skye threw him off her head. Ollie bounced down the hall and down the stairs. The henchmen shouted and chased him, giving her time to slide down the railing of the stairs and sneak around the corner.

The front desk remained mostly unchanged; the GHOST symbol at the front of it had been poorly plastered over with SHADOW’s. Messy stacks of files littered the top. As Skye searched them for something noteworthy, one in particular, buried under most of the clutter, caught her eye. All she could make out was “tack plan” in neat cursive, a contrast from the messier handwriting of all the other files. A few of the letters were still wet and stained with ink blotches. Skye glanced around, shoved it into her backpack, and attempted to flee through the door in front of her. It opened suddenly; a henchman stood in the doorway. She stumbled into him. They both fell to the ground.

As soon as the henchman could lift his head, he reached for his gun, which had fallen with them. Skye grabbed and pushed away his face, scrambling for the pistol. Once in her hands, she jumped to her feet and pointed it at him. “Don’t make me do it,” she warned.

The henchmen did not listen, instead yelling out for the others. Skye delivered two swift shots to his stomach, flinching at both sounds of contact. She threw the gun to the ground next to him and darted for a flight of stairs before she could see the damage. The stairs led to a lower level; they must have done some renovations to the building, for she knew it was not like this before.

She pulled out a vent opening and crawled inside, quickly but quietly closing the hatch behind her. “Maybe this was a bad idea,” she whispered to herself. She could hear the henchmen still running around above. Why were there so many at such a small base! GHOST never would have bothered like this.

She dug the folder out of her backpack. Her heart skipped a beat when she read the full title: “Attack Plans.”

Her eyes widened with each word she read of only the first page of the document. It was a highly detailed attack operation against The Fortilla which would take effect in roughly forty hours. There was talk of explosions, bringing down the entire base, capturing all of GHOST’s top agents and soldiers… which she knew included her and her friends. The second page listed names. Under each, it went into detail on how they would dispose of each individual. Her eyes widened. Though his whereabouts remained unknown, Midas sat at the top of the list; they would invest all possible resources into finding him and making his so-called execution as public and painful as possible. Skye’s stomach churned.

The list continued. Brutus was their second-highest target, followed by Meowscles, TinaMaya, and finally her, the lowest priority of the main agents. Then there was E.G.O and other less important roles in ABC order, then finally ending with Jules, in an underlined passage about how she would watch as everyone perished before her own demise.

Forty hours. That was all the time they had to prepare. “We need to get out of here,” she said, speaking as if Ollie were still atop her head. “We have to warn everyone, Ollie…!”

Skye peeked out of the vent opening and crawled out once deeming the coast to be clear. She crawled up the stairs and cautiously glanced around the hall, keeping as low to the ground as possible. Henchmen patrolled both ways. A small group of them clustered around where she had wounded one. “He’s not breathing,” said another one. She squeezed her eyes shut. She still hated having to kill, but she could not think about that now. It was out of her control.

Her friend was nowhere in sight. She sucked in a silent breath. A faint squeak came from the wall across from her; Ollie sat there, back in his hat form. Skye gestured around the corner and he transformed back into a creature. He bounced loudly down the hall, taunting the henchmen as several began to chase him again. She took the opportunity to spring through the building, keeping her eyes forward as another group chased her out. She slammed the door shut behind her before they could reach her, and slithered against the wall to avoid detection of the turrets. Ollie bounced off the balcony above and returned to his hat form atop her head. Skye made a break for it and reached for her grappler, hoping to escape through the trees.

A thick blanket of smoke clouded her vision. She had already pulled the trigger. Her grappler clipped the edge of a tree branch, sending her flying into it with no time to analyze her surroundings. She crashed into the grass at the bottom of the hill, coughing from the leftover fumes clouding her throat. A searing pain spread through her legs and she could not stand. Within a minute, every henchman from the building surrounded her, pointing their weapons as they closed in. Two henchmen stood above at the balcony, with one holding an extra smoke grenade.

Defeated, she surrendered her hands into the air, hanging her head as she blinked away tears of shame and from the pain of her failed landing.

A helicopter flew in from the north and descended into the grass by the building. A figure in red emerged and followed as the two henchmen from the building led her down. Rue loomed over her, face full of snark. “How rude of you to bring me all the way back here when I had just landed.”

Two henchmen held her up, holding her arms hostage. Skye tried to make herself as small as possible as Rue stepped closer, right in her face. “Aw, don’t worry. We’ll take good care of you in our cells.”

~*~

“Jules! Come in, Jules?”

The overly chipper voice made Jules jump. As soon as the startle was over, she rolled her eyes; she knew exactly who that voice was. Reluctantly, she raised her hand to her earpiece. “Hello? I’m here.”

Static, then Rue spoke again. “Yes, I need you to come see me, if you can meet me in the lobby, please? Thank you!”

Jules looked down at the disassembled weapon before her; she had spent the past hour or so studying its pieces. Maybe if I take my time, she won’t actually need me.

“Oh, and I need you stat, you’re not getting out of this!”

So much for that.

Jules scrambled to put the gun back together, secured it in her holster, and went on her way. Rue leaned against the front desk. “Ah, Jules! Just the engineer I wanted to see.” Upon perking up and walking closer, she must have noticed the red on her face from earlier. “What happened to you?”

Jules could not be bothered to respond. Rue smiled again. “Nevermind that. I need you for a small assignment, it won’t take up too much of your time. Unless you decide you want to spend more time with me afterward?”

Still nothing. Jules raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to get on with whatever she wanted. Rue’s smile twitched. “Well, it was worth a shot,” she muttered, her accent disappearing. She put it on back afterwards. “Anyway, follow me!”

She guided her down the old meeting room corridor, now converted into a prison hall, which had been converted into a new purpose: a prison. A feeling of dread settled in Jules’s stomach. “What’s the assignment…?”

“Aw, trust me.” Rue turned to her as she opened the door. Her enthusiastic smile darkened into something else. “You won’t like this at all.”

A henchman gestured her to the middle cell, and nothing could have prepared Jules for who she saw.

“ Skye?! ” She cried, watching helplessly as the adventurer struggled against two henchmen. A gag was placed in her mouth, preventing her ability to speak or scream.

Rue rested her hands upon Jules’s shoulders. “Chaos Agent wasn’t too pleased with your failure to bring in the subject now, was he?” She whispered in her ear. “Now… perhaps we can give you another chance to redeem yourself-”

Jules tore away from her grasp. As she stepped towards Skye, she felt the drum gun rip out of her holster. She whipped around as Rue shoved the gun towards her face. Then, Rue turned around and pointed it at Skye’s forehead. Skye stopped struggling and frantically shook her head, her eyes widening. “Take another step forward, dear, and I may just pull the trigger,” Rue said, her fake accent slipping away again. “It is painfully obvious that you don’t know where your loyalties lie. You work for us, no?”

“Please,” Jules pleaded, “don’t hurt her! What do you want from me?!”

Rue reached into her pocket and pulled out some sort of device. She handed the gun back to Jules, who sighed in relief. Rue grabbed her arm before she could put it away. “We’re not finished here yet.”

~*~

It was a seemingly perfect night: a cloudless sunset in a beautiful canvas over the distant mountains. The Fortilla, however, was anything but content.

Skye was known to disappear every once in a while in search of new adventures around the island. The problem this time was she always made sure to say something beforehand, and it had been a while since her last escapade. She had gone completely off the radar, and any attempt to reach her only resulted in static from her end of the earpiece.

“Skye? Come in, Agent Skye,” Ocean tried over comms again. Still no result. “Nothing, still nothing for hours. If she’s playing a game with us, she’s got a killer hiding spot.”

“I shouldn’t have left her by herself when we got back.” Maya sat down on the dock with a sigh. “This is all my fault.”

Tina sat next to her. “Hey, we’ll find her,” she reassured, but even she saw past her own brave facade. She ran a hand through her short hair and huffed. “How the hell does she just sneak off without anyone seeing? She’s always around us, for damn sake!”

“We’ll have to branch out, guys,” Maya said. “We checked this entire place at least three times. I don’t think she’s even here.”

“If she really left, then where’d she go?” Ocean asked. “You guys know her better than me.”

Maya thought for a moment. “If I had to guess, there’s what’s left of The Shark since I heard it’s starting to resurface. Or maybe she decided to go camping in the mountains?”

Ocean pressed a finger to her earpiece. “Hey, we might have to get a few search parties going. Can we get a group to go out to The Shark, first-”

“That won’t be necessary,” Brutus interrupted, poking his head around the corner from inside. Ocean sighed and canceled the order.

“What’s the big idea?” Tina demanded. “Skye’s gone, and you’re not-”

“Tek’s at work tracking her earpiece location. Someone didn’t want us to find her,” he said. “We finally have results.”

An unreadable expression crossed his face; the agents looked at him expectantly. “Well? Where is she?” Maya finally asked for the group.

Brutus scowled and lowered his sunglasses. “Her last known location was our former GHOST House before losing connection. Whoever has her disabled the GPS while offline. Now there’s no sign of her.”

A dreadful silence froze the air, not even the sound of a breath as the agents collectively assumed the worst. Tek emerged from the building then. “Hey, boss? Bosses?”

With wide, fearful eyes, he gestured for the group to follow. “So we found her at a SHADOW base, right?” They made their way to the control room. “That’s not all—we just received a video transmission from SHADOW while you were out there. You guys aren’t going to like what you see.”

He typed at a computer until a holographic screen popped up for everyone to see. Any extra chatter died as soon as the image projected none other than Jules, pointing Midas’s drum gun at Skye in front of a series of prison cells.

“I damn knew it,” Tina snarled, throwing her hands in the air. “I knew she was lying and now look where we are!”

“Hey, we can’t assume anything yet, can we?” Ocean set a hand on her shoulder, which TIna shrugged off. “Let it play out first-”

“ She’s about to shoot her!”

Brutus shot her a warning glare and turned back to the screen. “Play it.”

Jules began to speak. “Hello, GHOST. I know you weren’t expecting this, probably. Someone decided to mess with us all by herself, and it looks like that led nowhere, so now I have to get rid of her.”

“I should’ve known,” Brutus spat, glaring at the screen. “Can’t trust nobody ever associated with SHADOW.”

Ocean stood quietly in the back, narrowing her eyes at the screen suspiciously. Something in Jules’s expression shifted. Aside from her deadpan delivery, she seemed distracted, looking past the camera, but it was masked quickly enough that no one else caught it.

“Your little agent here did quite the damage,” said a different voice from behind the camera. It inched just a bit closer to Skye. “But we don’t take lightly to you killing our henchmen, now, do we?”

“What…?” Skye’s eyes widened; she quickly looked away. “I- I didn’t… I panicked, I didn’t mean to, he was- I’m sorry…!”

“We can strike a deal, now,” Jules spoke again. Her voice wavered ever so slightly. “You will surrender, hand over all your leaders, and join us as members of SHADOW. Or, you can refuse, you can fight our authority…”

She shoved the gun closer to Skye. “And we’ll tear you all apart, starting with her. You have twenty four hours to make a decision.”

“Surrender and save your friend or die; what will it be, GHOST?” The camera turned around to reveal Rue. “Choose wisely, or suffer the consequences.”

With that, the transmission disappeared, leaving GHOST at a loss as they were left to process their circumstances.

~*~

Jules stood by helplessly as the henchmen shoved Skye into the end cell and locked her in. She could do nothing but sadly watch as Skye stayed on the ground, her palms planted against the concrete and her hair falling into her downturned face. As soon as Rue stepped away to chat with the guards, Jules crouched in front of the bars. “Skye?”

Skye looked up with a quiet sniffle. “I’m sorry… I should’ve stayed at The Fortilla, and the henchman, he caught me off guard I had to- to escape-”

“It’s okay,” Jules reassured. “Don’t worry about it. What were you doing out there?”

“I just wanted to make them mad,” Skye said. “I… they did so much to you and I just wanted to make them mad…”

Her gaze fixed back to the floor for a second. She then attempted to crawl closer, however stopped short with a wince. “They were planning the attack for tomorrow either way,” she whispered. “They had a document and everything, they put us all on a list in order on who they were going to and Midas was at the top-”

“They were what?” Jules’s eyes widened. Chaos Agent had still planned to go through with The Fortilla—of course he was. It was too good to be true he had let her go with no consequences. And her brother… “Do they know where he is?”

Skye shook her head. “I don’t think so, it said they were going to look for him.” She made one more attempt to scoot closer, now able to rest her hands on the cell bars. “What are we going to do?”

Jules fidgeted with her braids and looked around the room, searching for something, anything to secure her an idea of putting a stop to these plans. Her eyes trailed to a desk against the wall, where Skye’s confiscated belongings sat scattered on top. “I have an idea, but I can’t do it here… I promise I’ll be back, I will get you out. Just… hold tight, okay?”

Skye nodded and glanced past her. She instantly fell backwards, catching herself with her hands. Jules followed her eyes to find Rue standing over them, her disdainful frown directed towards her. “Fraternizing with the prisoner, are we?” She scolded.

Jules jumped back to her feet. “No, ma’am.”

“Sheesh, always so formal,” Rue laughed, putting her accent back on. “Now, if we are done here, I believe you must be going. We must little Agent, what’s her name, Skye, rest, no?”

Jules glanced at Skye one last time, whose fearful eyes had locked onto Rue as she pushed herself back against the wall. With a sigh, she nodded and headed for the door. It hurt to leave Skye alone in a room like this with people who wanted nothing more than to eliminate her, but there was nothing she could do otherwise…

…for now, at least, as she dug through her pocket and felt for the small device she had slipped in on the way out.

~*~

Underneath The Authority, Skye stared at Skye’s earpiece as she fiddled with it between her hands. She knew what she had to do, and the plan was set in her head… but she found herself letting her anxieties get the best of her. All she had to do was send a message to The Fortilla and strategize with them on how to rescue Skye, but… could she really execute this? As she thought of the raging voices of her friends at The Fortilla when she first arrived, from Brutus’s disappointment to Tina’s temper… it only fueled her uncertainty. Their reactions this time would no doubt be worse. Then, she switched her thoughts to Skye, the only person who had instantly believed her… now, the person who sat imprisoned above, once again at Jules’s own fault.

“For Skye,” she whispered to herself. She secured the device in her ear and pressed her fingers to it. “Brutus? Are you there? This is Jules.”

She waited uncomfortably in the silence that followed. A minute went by with no response. She called again. “Hello…?”

A voice finally rang through. It was not Brutus; rather, it was Tek. “We hear you loud and clear! You’re being broadcasted in the command room.”

Jules heaved a sigh of relief and spoke in a hushed tone. “It’s me, Jules, I-”

“You have a lot of explaining to do,” Brutus said lowly.

“I know, I’m so sorry about all of this, coming in peace and then- and then Skye.” She fumbled over her words. “I was- I was forced, and I know it sounds like an excuse at this point but I swear I had to do that or they would’ve killed Skye right there.”

Another round of silence. She already regretted this plan, and after everything, she knew the possibility they were still willing to help was lost.

A different voice spoke up, one she did not expect. “Hey, Jules? Um, this is Ocean. If we’re going to Skye, we need to work fast. I believe you, what can we do over here?”

For a moment, Jules tried to smile. There they were, those words again: “ I believe you. ” A set of words which instilled in her a new confidence every time they were spoken to her. “They’re holding her in a cell. The prison is where the lounge was next to the former meeting room. They confiscated her stuff but I was able to grab her earpiece when I left. I can’t go back and check on her because it’s always guarded. I’m underground, and I’m alone for now, but… I don’t know how much time I have.”

Maya’s voice came through. “What would SHADOW even want with Skye?”

“It's what we said in the transmission. She snuck off to GHOST House apparently and caused some trouble, and they caught her.”

As she recalled what Skye had told her about the documents and the attack plan, her confidence quickly became replaced with dread. She bit the inside of her cheek. “Skye caught a glimpse of some papers there… they were planning on attacking tomorrow, they were going to pick you off one by one.” Just the thought made her sick to her stomach. “Um… when they captured her, they saw the opportunity and here we are, but I don’t know if they’ll wait a full day before killing her or attacking you and we need to think of something quick or else…”

She trailed off, her voice rising in pitch and tapering off in volume until she knew she could no longer go on. Her hand dropped into her lap. She could not bear the thought of losing Skye or GHOST for good, nor could she bear the thought that if anyone else perished in this war, it would be under her hands. Her mistakes.

The one person who believed in her most was about to pay the price for it all. GHOST’s trust in her was on the edge. The assurance of their safety was all she had left: her last source of hope. She could not lose any more.

Ocean spoke again. “Hey, are you there? Jules?”

Jules sniffled and pressed her fingers back to the earpiece. “Sorry, I’m sorry, just… please, please think of something because I don’t know what I can do on my own, I don’t think I can be much help, we… we can’t lose everything, I-I… we can’t let Skye… I have to go.”

Despite several shouts of protest, Jules shakily set the earpiece down and powered it off. She buried her face in her arms atop the upgrade bench.

The Fortilla’s command room remained silent, save for the steady beeping of Skye’s earpiece on the GPS before it faded into nothing.

Ocean broke the silence. “Now what?”

Brutus urgently headed for the door, gesturing her along. “We have a lot of work to do.”

Chapter Text

“So, we got something from Jules, you said?”

Tek pressed a few buttons on a control panel and leaned back in his chair. The entirety of The Fortilla had joined together, plotting throughout the night, but nothing had been decided or finalized. Tek yawned; while everyone else was running around, he never once left his station.

How does he do it? Ocean pondered. How does he do the same thing every day and not get bored?

For days and nights on end, their tech lead was known to willingly take little to no breaks as he slipped between control rooms and managed every aspect of GHOST’s tech. He tirelessly trucked on, never once asking for any credit or complaining about anything; it was hard not to admire his dedication. He deserved a week off at the least when the situation blew over.

“We got a transmission from Skye’s earpiece about an hour ago, but that’s it.” He leaned forward and typed away at a computer.

“Still have it?”

“Already on it.” He swiveled his chair over to another control panel, where a series of soundwaves projected off of it. A few buttons pressed later, the staticky feedback of the communication line echoed through command.

“Hey, it’s Jules again,” she said in a clearly nervous tone. “Sorry for leaving you all on the note I did last night…um… I’m usually supposed to run tasks from now to around noon, so I won’t be able to get in touch until then. I’ll try to keep an eye on the prison whenever I can, and I’ll send any updates afterwards. All I can say now is I kept all of the corridors and the ventilation system as close to The Agency’s layout as I could when I drafted The Authority, so anyone who knows the place by heart shouldn’t have a hard time navigating through. Just more floors. The prison is where the lounge was by the meeting room. Which I said last night. All the top floors-”

A door creaked open in the background, which seemed to have cut her off. There was a second of muffled conversation between Jules and another voice. “I’ll, um, get back to you later, Rue,” she said quickly, masking who exactly she was speaking to. The recording ended.

“Brutus was here when that came in, he said he had something to take care of and left,” Tek said. “Like she said, I haven’t been able to reach her since the recording, so we’ll have to wait a few hours… we should start figuring out our plan before then. Any ideas, yet?”

Ocean waved her hand in a so-so gesture. “I got something going in my head. Just wanted to make sure there’s not already something going on, wanted to get the okay from Brutus, too.”

“Well, you’re our leader, right?” Tek tilted his head. “If you have something, we should probably get a move on.”

Ocean shrugged. “I’m kinda just used to needing his approval. If I mess something up because I go by my gut, he’s just gonna get on to me later, and I can’t stand having to deal with that.” She sighed. “Maybe I’m just not cut out for this stuff. Like—I’m just some field agent slash water surfer who Brutus said, ‘hey, you like the water and the island just flooded, wanna be in charge?’ I still haven’t even been in E.G.O for a year, then I get here and suddenly it’s called GHOST and nobody tells me anything. I thought being in charge was going to be fun, but…”

Tek glanced over as she stood behind another chair, grasping the back of it tightly. “Things didn’t turn out how you thought, and now you don’t know what you want or what to do,” he concluded.

Ocean spat out a bitter laugh. “You know that shark we had to kill, wrecked the mall? After that, I just… I don’t know if this is for me. I can tell people what to do, yeah, so can anyone else. Anything I’ve been doing as a leader is literally what anyone else could be doing right now. I was better off as a field agent doing my own thing.” She looked to Tek, almost in desperation. “How do you do it? You’re like the leader of the tech team, I mean how can you sit in this place all the time and not get… I don’t know, restless?”

Tek smiled softly. “Do you know who Terra was?” Ocean shook her head. “She’s a longtime friend who worked tech with me. Well, she was, like I said. Y’see, she turned SHADOW way before Doomsday, didn’t find out ‘til a few months before. Anyway… she was the one who encouraged me to join GHOST as a tech specialist, even got me into the stuff when we were kids. When we left, I just… felt like I lost my purpose. Felt useless without her. I got restless, wanted to quit… and I guess I did. Just stopped showin’ to work for a few weeks.

He knew himself to be a rambler, yet Ocean still followed along. “She started a while ago, back when the Alter Egos were still kinda new. So, when I first joined GHOST after it turned into that, I thought, ‘wow! All I have to do is impress everyone with my technological know-how and we get to spend quality time together again!’ But when she left, I started really thinking if I was right for this job. I didn’t take it all too seriously until then. I realized soon after that I didn’t just do it because of her. It was because, all this?” He gestured around the room. “It’s my passion. If you don’t think the job is right for you, then that’s fine, but… like all things, you oughta really think about why you took the offer in the first place. Was it really because you wanted to have fun and whatnot, or was there something else?”

Standing still in thought, Ocean only felt more conflicted than before. Why did I agree in the first place? Her eyes trailed back to the computer screen, where Jules’s recording still sat. I need some time to think about that, she told herself. There were more pressing issues at hand.

“And, uh, if it’s any help… I think you’re doing great,” Tek added, shyly rubbing the back of his neck. “I mean, really, maybe even better than Midas. He was good at keeping control and whatnot, but nobody knew anything at all about him or even his plans. He wasn’t someone you could talk to like this unless you were up there in the ranks. You’re better at keeping people motivated, too.”

The corner of Ocean’s lips rose in a smirk. She nudged his shoulder with her gloved hand. “If I knew you were good at pep talks, maybe I would’ve come to you a long time ago,” she laughed. “Anyway, I was thinking we attack in waves, if you catch my drift?”

Tek hummed, pointing a finger gun at her with his robotic arm. “Like zombies, right? Video game style?”

“I was thinking more like, how the water moves, but the metaphor works either way,” she laughed again. “See, split our forces into groups and gradually keep sending them in to attack at full force, getting even more aggressive with each one. Somewhere in the middle we’ll send a small rescue team to get to Skye and get her out while everyone is distracted. Maybe we’ll throw in some extra blows in the end, then draw back once everyone’s safe.”

“You know, I kinda like that idea. “Show ‘em we’re not goin’ down without a fight, but strategically. With enough of that tactical power… we might stand a chance.”

“So it’s exactly like video games, right?”

At the new voice coming from the doorway, the pair turned to find Drift leaning against it. He slipped off his kitsune mask and pulled down his hood, allowing his blonde hair to fly up as he walked further in. “Hey. Didn’t mean to intrude. Someone called me over and said someone needs to talk to me… uh, not very specific, but I’m free.”

Ocean offered her hand up for a high five. “Hey man, no worries,” she greeted as he accepted the gesture. Though not an official agent of GHOST, he liked to make his presence known every so often and help out on side missions. It just so happened Ocean had been called in for one of those missions, the very one where she found she was not so handy with a fishing rod. “Jules found this dude with powers and thought you could help him out. His name’s Fade, and it’s like a ‘not from this world’ situation.”

“I thought I heard something about she and Midas turning SHADOW,” Drift noted. He took a glance outside. “I noticed everyone’s kinda on edge, too. Something going on?”

Ocean shrugged. “Nobody knows where Midas is, and it’s kinda complicated with Jules. But yeah, we have to plan an infiltration slash rescue and we really only have until afternoon at most to do so.”

“SHADOW got ahold of Agent Skye,” Tek added, pulling up the previous night’s video transmission. “We’re trying to work with Jules to come up with a plan, but she’s caught up at The Authority and we won’t be able to get in touch until noon. Ocean’s got a pretty good one right now.”

Drift leaned against the wall. “Hey, if you need help with that I’m not gonna be busy. Rex and the crew can handle themselves… eh, kinda. Usually. Just tell me what the plan is and I’ll do what I can.”

“You sure?” Ocean asked, and Drift nodded.

“There’s more downtime than you think with the flood around.”

“Not for us,” Tek sighed. “I guess it can get kinda boring around here, since most of us are stuck here.”

“Especially being in charge,” Ocean muttered. “So here’s what I got so far.”

She sat down and explained her plan once more. She then shifted forward, resting her chin on her hand. “If this is how we’re gonna do it, though, we really need to get to Jules. Like she said, they could pull the trigger at any time. If we keep trying to contact her, they’ve gotta pick up on it. SHADOW’s not stupid, right? We need to be sneaky.”

“Yeah, as much as we want to think they’re a buncha good-for-nothing nitwits, they’ve still got a pretty good tech team and they still have their science-y stuff going on,” Tek said. “We gotta be careful, but how?”

“We won’t tell her.”

Brutus now stood in the doorway, his arms crossed in his signature pose. “Jules won’t know how it’ll play out. We don’t want anyone linking her to us, but I have ties that will inform her we will attack before the sun sets. Before you ask, it’s classified, so no one goes runnin’ their mouths. Tek. ”

Tek chuckled nervously, withering under his glare. “Guilty as charged.”

“Ocean, Tek, call meetings and get the word out about the plan,” Brutus ordered, exiting the room. “It just might work.”

Ocean knew she could not conceal the wide smile which spread across her face as a newfound confidence bubbled in her chest. “Let’s get to work, then!”

~*~

With a box of tools in hand, Jules walked down the prison corridor for her last assignment: to deliver them to Stingray. Part of her wished to be more hands-on with whatever it was he was working on, but truthfully, SHADOW’s suspicions were correct. If they were to have her work on something tech related, she would do something to tamper with it. The gears and utensils in her hands only taunted her, reminding her of her hindered ability to craft anything in weeks. With The Authority finished and the other engineers having everything covered, the only things left for her to do were menial office and assistant type tasks. ‘The Engineer’ was always her title, and she could not fulfill it.

The last thing she heard from GHOST was a quick confirmation from Tek before she had gotten to work. Her thoughts now, hours later, only continued to wander to Skye every minute. It was a wonder they were keeping their end of the bargain, and she had not heard of any new developments about their plans… not that they would inform her in the first place.

Also true to his word, as the henchmen calling her up told her, Chaos Agent seemed to have someone watching her every move. If she took so much as one unwarranted step towards the prison corridor or otherwise out of line, someone would immediately be on her back. Finally, she had a real reason to be there. She pressed her ear against the wall and listened for a moment; she heard the slow pacings of the guards inside. If there were no prisoner, there would be silence, so there was at least an indicator Skye was alive. Hopefully, they had not done any harm to her since the night.

Jules shifted her box to rest under one arm so she could open the office door across the hall. It was locked; a minute passed with no response after knocking. When she decided to try the handle again, it unlocked and swung open, luckily going inwards and sparing her a concussion. “Those’re the things I wanted from Terra, right?” Stingray poked his head out.

“What did you need them for…? I can help if-”

As soon as the box was out of her grasp, the door slammed closed in her face. Jules turned around with a huff, but to her otherwise satisfaction, her day was finished. She reached into her pocket, ensuring Skye’s earpiece was still there, and walked through the lobby as casually as she could.

The sun stood straight over The Authority, and Jules could no longer fight the unease pitting in her stomach as it reminded her the day was half gone. She picked up her pace, practically running down the stairs until she reached her little underground hideout. She dug the earpiece out of her pocket, only to pause when she noticed a piece of paper folded neatly on a crate next to her.

She glanced around and hesitantly unfolded. The handwriting was fairly neat, however, the only people’s penmanships she knew by heart were Sorana’s, Rue’s, and Chaos Agent’s. Hi, Jules, was as far as she got before the door leading further into the basement opened.

Hazard stumbled through and caught herself on the doorway. “You’re here,” she said. Something about the way she said it was off—breathless, almost panicked. She laughed, and Jules could have sworn it was a nervous one. “You oughta work on being subtle about your plans. Wasn’t hard for anyone to figure out, ya know?”

Jules felt her heart stop. “What do you mean…?”

“Oh, nothing, nevermind.” Hazard smirked—whatever nerves she had were already gone, and she behaved as she normally did. She was not finished with her threat, though. “Just that I heard something about you being really friendly with GHOST. Plotting against us. Maybe just rumors, unless?”

“Yeah, must be rumors,” Jules said coolly. “I don’t have any way to talk to them, so…”

“I bet Sorana had something to do with it,” Hazard whispered, making her way to the exit. “She always has it out for you. But ya never know who’s listening. Because the more we hear, the better the trigger looks on the prisoner.”

She shot a finger gun at Jules, who felt her stomach drop. Jules covered the pocket containing Skye’s earpiece; she could not tell if Hazard was bluffing, trying to scare her… or if her plans were genuinely in danger. Her hand felt around for her holster, and she knew how to change the subject. “Hazard?”

Hazard had already been halfway through the door. She paused and leaned against the frame with a questioning hum. “I know I keep telling you no and I don’t know if you’d even want me, but… is there anything you can tell me about drum gun parts?”

A strange smile met Hazard’s face. “No, we don’t have any spare ones to study the specs on and that one’s probs a unique model. I figured you’d know, buuut… if you handed it over, I could make myself familiar with it.”

Their conversation from yesterday immediately resurfaced in Jules’s mind. Nope. Not doing that. “I think I’ll pass, but um, thanks.”

With a single nod, Hazard disappeared around the corner. Jules rested her elbow on the surface in front of her, sighing deeply as she set the drum gun atop. Her eyes then trailed to the crate next to her, where the piece of paper still sat with her name on it. Holding her breath, she began to read it.

Hi, Jules.

Consider this a note from a friend, I guess. I have a message to you from GHOST: they’’ be launching an attack of their own any time now, I’d say at least before 3pm. At the time of writing this, I don’t know their exact plan and neither do they (sounds like a lost cause to me but oh well). They don’t want to tell you directly in case the tech team is spying on the messages (probably are). I told them where they could find you—yeah, everyone knows about your little spot underground but you probably knew that too. When you hear the fight going on, stay there. They’ll find you. That’s all I know.

Obviously I’m not supposed to be telling you any of this, not that I’d think you’d tell, but I’d still kinda like to live, right? So, we’ll pretend someone at GHOST snuck in and got this to you or whatever.

Not all of us are completely heartless like you GHOST people think, by the way. Skye, right? She’s what, not even an adult yet? I’d rather not see a kid die tonight, so, good luck with the rescue thing. I know you know your way around the vents and stuff (hint hint) so it should be a piece of cake. Stingray’s gonna have the prison keys, by the way. He’ll probably be in the office across doing whatever the hell he does, so that’s probably your first stop.

For the record, tell your little friend that she didn’t actually kill anybody. Rue was bluffing. I heard the henchman she got is still unconscious but recovering. Found that out and thought I’d let you know ;)

Jules found herself rereading every single line long after her initial read through. Someone was playing both sides… someone from SHADOW is helping me. “This is a joke,” she whispered to herself. Yet, she had no time to wait and find out. As she skimmed the letter one more time, she knew there was only one way to find out the truth. She pulled Skye’s earpiece from her pocket and replaced her own with it. “Hello?”

Several minutes went by with no response. “Someone said you can’t tell me any more, so… if it’s true that you’re attacking soon, then I guess… don’t respond,” she said. “But if it’s not, I want to know everything. I need to know.”

All there was to do now was wait, but as time passed and she was still met with nothing, she knew the answer was already in front of her.

Chapter Text

Commanding small groups into action or assigning them tasks around base was an easy feat, but ordering an entire army of agents and henchmen to commit a grand infiltration operation? Ocean could not be sure she was ready. Here she was, pacing in front of the vault after having gathered the main team of agents and E.G.O soldiers who were all so much more experienced than her, having served for years on end. She could not help but feel like something of an outcast.

At the very least, Brutus and Tek were helpful in sorting out the plan to all the henchmen. They were ready in their station once the okay was given. Now, it was her turn, and her biggest test would be giving the spiel again to all who, just months ago, were her superiors. She stopped her pacing, instead tapping her fingers along the intricate designs of her helmet, which she held to her chest. She turned to Brutus, who waited alongside her. “Are you sure I’m ready for this? I mean, if there’s anything we need to polish, we can do that now, or maybe someone has a better idea? If-”

She stopped when Brutus set a hand on her shoulder, tilting his sunglasses to peer down at her. “You got this.”

With a grateful smile, Ocean turned to the crowd and took a deep breath. “Alright, GHOST, listen up!”

The immediate surge of attention almost overwhelmed her, yet she kept her gaze strong as all eyes locked onto her. “Agent Skye is a SHADOW hostage at The Authority, you already know. We need her out ASAP. I came up with a plan, and we altered it a bit before coming here, but everything’s ready. Except for one thing: we need a small rescue team that will move in with wave three, and we need everyone to pick a wave to help lead.”

“Wave one goes into action as soon as we get our rescue team together,” Brutus said. “It’s the smallest group and each one brings more intensity as we go on.”

“You guys are our best bet at getting in, out, and through to Jules the easiest. After waves one and two get SHADOW engaged, the rescue team will swoop in and find Jules somewhere underground, who should help with getting into the prison. Jules knows her way around best so you have to work with her. This doesn’t have to be anything big, just two or three of you. Is everyone clear?”

A chorus of “yes ma’am” rang through the room. Ocean’s smile widened. “Great, that’s settled! Any volunteers?”

TNTina spoke up as soon as she finished. “I’m in. I’m going through hell to get Skye back, and someone’s gotta keep an eye on Jules.”

“The job’s perfect for you, too, since you’re short enough to fit through the vents easier,” Meowscles teased, elbowing her shoulder.

Tina glared up at him. “ Wow. ” Well if you’re such a tough guy, then I think I found our second volunteer.”

Meowscles smirked. “Well, I guess I walked right into that one.”

Ocean looked back to Brutus eagerly. “Then if that’s settled… is it go time?”

Brutus looked down at her, then over the others. “Move out,” he commanded, and the room began to clear. “Make sure you have the right area for your wave number.”

“Wave one, head out as soon as everyone’s on board! Let’s take SHADOW down! ” Ocean put her helmet on.

“Ocean, wait.”

She huffed as the calling of her name halted her right at the exit. “What is it?” She demanded, the impatience clear in her eyes. Brutus stepped aside to reveal Remedy approaching. Ocean glanced down at her leg, still bandaged underneath her leggings. It took not even a second for her to get the hint. “What? I don’t-”

“I’m sorry, Ocean,” Remedy sighed. “I really recommend you to sit this one out-

“Why should I sit this one out?!” Ocean fumed. “Look, I can move around just fine. I carried a whole load of ammo boxes around yesterday.”

“Which I also advised you not to do, at risk of straining yourself,” Remedy asserted. “Everything’s happened so fast, and I know I said you’d get your stitches out by today, but I’ve hardly had time to focus on that and even so, you wouldn’t have been able to rush straight into battle after getting out. You still need time to rest before you can even think about combat.”

Ocean looked between her and Brutus. She took her helmet off; the anger in her eyes had melted away, replaced by a pleading gleam. “ Please let me go, it’s my plan, I’m the leader…”

Brutus sighed; he had to look away. “Next time, Ocean.”

With an exasperated groan, Ocean stormed further out the door. She stopped to grasp the outside railing with tight fists when Remedy spoke to her again. “Maybe you can see what Fade is up to. He’ll probably be alone and need something to do… he’s sharing a room with the troop until further notice.”

Ocean huffed again and walked away. “Yeah, alright.”

~*~

Unassembled gun parts littered the weapon bench and the surrounding concrete floor as Jules tried to make sense of what was what and what went where. Why is this so complicated? She never had a problem like this before, even on more complicated machinery. It seemed this was the first engineering task to ever stump her. If only she had learned the names of specific parts and their purpose… if only she had learned the basics of weapon assembly at all.

Maybe she was overthinking it, which she had a tendency to do. There were so many parts provided by the weapon bench alone she could use to make improvements, and if they looked similar to what she already had, they would work, right?

No, different guns have different specs. But this is technically classified as an assault rifle…

Through trial and error, as with any other project, she would have to figure it out on her own.

As she figured out which thrown around parts were assault rifle parts, she rearranged them with the drum gun’s pre-existing parts into ways that looked right, but she could not quite trust her judgment on. When she was finished, she loaded the magazine and pointed the weapon to the wall.

Her finger barely dusted the trigger when she heard a gunshot elsewhere.

It sounded distant and heavier: a sniper. Time felt as if it had frozen over The Authority, until the distant rumble of henchmen running around could be heard in the levels above. Jules waited and listened, uneasiness eating at her stomach as she tried to hear for whatever was going on. Nothing more happened.

The moment she shrugged it off, there was another shot, less distant but still far away. Then there were more, and the intervals between each decreased until rapid fires and assault rifles fired from every direction. Only the specific sounds of silencers, a familiar heavy assault rifle, and a boom bow triggered her realization. Her eyes widened and she dug the note from earlier out of her pocket, skimming through the first paragraph. They’ll be launching an attack any hour.

It had not been a trick. Someone from SHADOW risked it all to help her.

Jules shoved the drum gun into her holster, preparing to rush out, until she remembered what else the note said: to wait, and someone would find her.

There were so many questions to be asked, the most prevalent to her being determining the identity of her supposed ally, even more so how they could get information to and from GHOST. Everything the letter said so far was correct. Now, it was a matter of whether the rest was.

Every shot and shout and thud from above made her jump. She resorted to pacing through the room. It was her idea for GHOST to bring a full-blown attack, but what if something went wrong? GHOST risked everything by being here… what if no one made it out alive?

She decided to try the drum gun again.

It made a strange click noise, but no bullets emerged. The gunshot, though concealed by the ruckus above, sounded strange. Her only result was then a dark puff of smoke. She dropped the gun onto the bench with a panicked gasp. “Shoot.” She fanned away the smoke and backed away. Stared at the weapon for a long minute, unsure if she could touch it again.

Minutes passed and she returned to pacing. It felt like five, then thirty, even hours, but Jules could not tell what was real and what was only her impatience. The gunfire never ceased, and the balance between heavy and suppressed weapons at least assured her GHOST’s forces had yet to dwindle.

She reached for the drum gun again when a clank! sounded from inside the vents

Jules secured the gun into her holster and practically flew into the next room. There they were: Tina, shaking out her hand, and Meowscles, still balancing himself after emerging from the cramped vents.

TNTina noticed her first, settling into a glare as soon as she locked eyes with Jules. “There was a damn screw sitting in there,” she huffed. “You’re lucky it wasn’t facing sharp side up or we’d have a different problem.”

“Sorry.” Jules awkwardly shifted her eyes towards the ground.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s not like you put it there on purpose,” Meowscles said. He smirked at Tina. “She’s just pissed I called her short.”

“No, I’m just pissed, thanks.” Tina rolled her eyes and crawled back inside the vent opening. “The office, right? You better not be leading us into an ambush.”

Jules sighed as she disappeared inside. “She’ll never trust me again.”

“You know Tina. She’ll come around. Just give it time,” he reassured, and the two crawled into the vents after her.

Tina knew exactly where she was going; the agents knew their way through the vents like the backs of their hands. As they ascended to the upper levels, the gunfire rose an active, ringing from every direction. “When we get in there, I’m blowin through some walls. All this brick and I need to get rid of it,” Tina said.

“Go ahead,” Jules replied. “You can have the whole building… the last thing SHADOW needs is this base.”

“Yeah, the base that you built,” Tina scoffed. “What’s in it for you to be helping us, huh? For all we know, you’re gonna lock us up, too. Oh yeah, even better, you’re gonna ambush us when we get there, but news flash, I know how-“

“Tina.” Meowscles stopped her, sensing just how uncomfortable Jules was. “She’s here to help.”

Tina remained quiet until they reached the vent opening at their destination. She briefly peeked inside before craning her neck to peer at Jules. “Skye trusts you, right?” The gruffness of her tone had faded almost completely.

Though taken aback with how quiet her voice had suddenly become, it reminded Jules of the one thing they had in common: a determination to free Skye from captivity, whom they both loved. “I haven’t been able to talk to her since… before my message, but I think so.”

“Then I’ll take your word for it. For now.” Tina glanced back through the vent. “We’re here.”

She reached forward to push open. “Wait.” Jules stopped and squeezed next to her. She peered through the bars of the vent into the empty office room—their target was nowhere in sight. “Stingray’s supposed to have the keys, where is he?”

“Is he in on this or something?”

“No… the plan was to take it from him unwillingly, basically. That’s what my note said, but he’s not here.”

“He probably went off to help,” Meowscles said, reminding them this was not just a stealth mission, but a full-blown battleground.

Just as Jules went to push open the vent, the office door opened. Sure enough, in came Stingray and a SHADOW henchman, both backing into the room as if someone was forcing them in. It was Hazard; all three of them had their weapons drawn. “If the henchmen guards all die, and then you die because you’re somewhere else, guess who gets the keys? GHOST! There goes the prisoner,” she said urgently, then threw a set of keys at Stingray. “Just stay here and watch the damn keys, will you? Don’t let anyone get them.”

“Last I recall, I’ve been here longer than you,” Stingray argued. “So if you’re so worried, watch ‘em yourself. I got a battle to fight, too.”

Hazard scoffed. “Whatever.”

She slammed the door in his face. Stingray and the henchman looked at each other, shrugged, and moved to the desk. The agents watched their movements. Stingray told a joke, the henchman laughed, and it was back to sitting around.

As soon as they both faced the other way, Jules made her call. Tina kicked open the vent and the three agents burst into the office. Stingray and the henchman were quick to spin around and re-draw their weapons, but Tina was quicker and served them with a disorienting blow from her boom bow. As soon as the smoke cleared to reveal their stunned opponents, Meowscles took the chance to hold them down, or at the very least, Stingray.

Jules managed to overpower and disarm the henchman after a brief struggle. She pointed the drum gun at him, then at Stingray.

Stingray laughed in her face. “Or else what? You’ll kill me? You oughtta be a fool to believe I still cave to threats.”

Jules and Meowscles glanced at each other. The latter reached for his heavy assault rifle. “One more chance, or you asked for it,” Meowscles threatened.

Stingray shrugged, his eyes locked with Jules. “I’ve got orders.” Jules could feel the contempt radiating from under his mask. With one final look and a nod of confirmation, Meowscles and Jules pulled their respective triggers.

Two weapons fired, but neither proved effective. One’s trajectory was sent towards the wall as Meowscles’s arms were shoved away. The other produced nothing but another cloud of dark smoke.

Stingray watched the latter scene in amusement, completely unfazed. With the distraction, Meowscles delivered a sharp blow upwards to his jaw, knocking him unconscious.

As Jules coughed from the heat clouding her throat, the henchman shoved her off and tried to reach for his gun, which was thrown across the room in the struggle. The second he got away from Jules, Meowscles shot him.

“I forgot,” Jules groaned, picking herself up. “I was messing with the drum gun and messed something up, now it doesn’t work.”

“Then we’ll take theirs,” Tina said, kicking Stingray over. She grabbed the keys from his belt, then the henchman’s assault rifle. She stared at Jules for a long moment before finally handing it over. Then she went straight for the door and peeked out; a few bullets flew past her face and she abruptly shut it. “The prison’s the door right across?”

Jules nodded, tightening the grip on her rifle as the three of them crowded next to the door. “As soon as I open the door we gotta be quick, ‘cause whatever henchmen can see us from the lobby are gonna shoot,” Tina said. “I have an idea though. Ready?”

Without waiting for confirmation, she flung the door open, finally getting to detonate the clinger strapped to her belt. She pitched it into the lobby. Meowscles open the prison door, raising his rifle in preparation for the guards to start shooting, which they did. Jules joined him as they peeked around the door every few seconds to exchange fire with a group of henchmen, who were more than ready for them to arrive.

Tina smirked in satisfaction when she heard an explosion to her right. As Jules fended off against the henchmen, Tina quickly drew her boom bow and fired into the small crowd, giving them the opportunity to rush in and take everyone out.

“Wait,” one of the final two said, dropping his weapon. The other followed suit. “We’ll let you go, don’t shoot!”

Meowscles and Tina glanced at each other, contemplating their plea, but Jules nodded her head and gestured for the door. “Go.”

The two henchmen ran out without hesitation, leaving the trio alone… or rather, quartet. Jules rushed to the farthest cell in the room, sighing in relief as she met eyes with Skye. Her smile widened once she caught sight of Meowscles and TNTina.

“Jules,” Skye exclaimed, her eyes lighting up. She attempted to rise from the wall, but collapsed onto her knees. She crawled forward and grasped the metal bars tightly.

Tina fumbled for the keys attached to her holster, hurrying to unlock the cell door. She crouched down; Skye instantly flung her arms around her neck. “I didn’t know how long I was gonna last,” she whispered, her voice trembling.

“What happened to your legs?” Tina’s face darkened. “Did they do something to you?”

“I missed a grappler jump,” Skye admitted, turning her face away sheepishly. “I hit a tree and then the ground… but I’m okay! I’ll be okay.”

Goosebumps crawled up Jules’s arms. While the three were distracted, she snuck over to the door and listened. Shots, shouts, thuds… heavy, swift thuds, heading straight down the hall. Without thinking, she turned the lock and pressed her back against the door.

Tina spun around the moment the lock clicked, and Jules knew what it must have looked like. “What the hell are you doing?!”

“Blow up the wall. I know another way out.”

She smirked once processing the request and pulled a grenade from its fastened place around her knee. “I thought you’d never ask.”

Once the others had pressed themselves against the opposite wall, she pulled the pin, counting in her head as the grenade ticked in her hand. The agents watched with anticipation as it flew into the wall, exploding just centimeters before hitting it and blowing a giant hole in the center.

Jules led the way through a cafeteria, around a couple corners, and into a small storage room. It was entirely empty; a small light shone inside from a vent opening which led directly outside. “You can take any secret passage on the sea wall—you know, the usual ones—they’ll all take you to the top and you can wait there for backup, or whatever it is you need to do.”

“I’ll tell Brutus we’re ready,” Meowscles said. He opened the vent and crawled through, but not without offering Jules a smile. “Thanks for the help. Good to see you again.”

Jules nodded and gestured for Skye and Tina to go through. “Someone could find us any minute, I don’t want you guys to get hurt.”

Skye turned to her, leaning against Tina for support. “What about you?”

Jules frowned. What about her? She wanted to go with them, she needed to escape SHADOW’s rule. If they were not aware of her intentions already, they definitely would be when Stingray regained consciousness. An inescapable bounty would be placed on her head.

But… going with GHOST could only put them in more danger. With her there, who was to say they would not come for her only to eliminate her family in the process? She could not take any risks. Not yet. “I don’t know.”

Skye took her wrist with one hand. “Jules, please come with us… I don't want you to get hurt,” she pleaded.

“Hey, Skye’s right,” Tina said. “Look, they’re gonna kill you when they find out you helped us. Literally. I don’t like you right now but it doesn’t have to go down that way.”

Jules sighed, wrapping her arms around Skye in a tight hug. “I know, but I don’t want them to cause you any more trouble. I put you all through this, I don’t want to do it again.”

Skye sniffled as she pulled away. “I already lost you Jules, I can’t do it again, I-”

“Skye, we need to go,” Tina said, nudging her towards their escape. “There’s a choppa waiting, we can’t stay too long.”

Skye nodded and hugged Jules one last time. She detached her grappler from her backpack and handed it to her. “If you need an escape plan,” she said, then disappeared through the vent.

“Thanks, Jules,” Tina said briefly, allowing not a chance to respond before she too disappeared.

Jules stood in place, staring at where the GHOST agents once stood. She raised Skye’s grappler to her eyes, contemplating her words. All she had to do was go through and soar onto the sea wall, signal for help… but she made her choice, and she would stand with it.

Then why does it hurt so much…?

She shoved a hand to her mouth as tears trickled down her face. She shook her head and wiped her face. If she were going to do this, she had to be strong. Gradually, the surrounding gunfire began to slow. Jules took a deep breath before opening the door and leaving the tiny storage room. She brisked through the cafeteria, hoping to make it somewhere else before anybody suspected anything… but, when she turned the corner, she came face to face with him, and a line of henchmen at his sides.

“Chaos Agent,” she breathed, “they- they got away-”

“No need to keep up the act, Jules,” Chaos Agent hissed. Jules could not tear her eyes away from the pistol which not-so-subtly stuck out of his left pocket. Chaos Agent knew how to sense fear in even the most stoic of persons, and as still as she tried to stand, she knew he could see her shakes. He kept up the contest, one of his usual tests: seeing how much she could handle before it drove her mad. Until she caved into her anticipation and it ate her alive.

Finally, he chuckled darkly. “I applaud you for sticking to your ruse for so long. Though, you are not a very great actor, and I would hire you for no film of mine.”

Jules kept her gaze focuses on the soulless, ghoulish eyes of his gas mask. “What are you going to do to me, then?” She asked, her hands growing closer and closer to the rifle tucked to her side.

Some of the henchmen noticed her movements and raised their weapons, but Chaos Agent waved them off. “The solution is simple—you could go with them, and all of your burdens will be taken with you. Of course, there is no guarantee we’ll let you go lightly… Your friends’ base is always a tempting target.

Or, you could stay here. We have no use for you anymore, so your stay would not be very long. After all… the extermination of a useless pawn makes way for those greater to succeed. So what will it be, Jules?”

Maybe it went against every choice she told herself to make in order to save GHOST from his wrath… but Jules knew her final answer—of course she knew her final answer. It was the first answer she chose which put them into this very mess. It was the answer which meant, once again, she would put her own life over those of GHOST… but she did not want to die. She had already come too close.

Yet… she could not move. Her mind raced as she pondered all of Chaos Agent’s words… especially his last.

‘The extermination of a useless pawn makes way for those greater to succeed.’ She had heard that saying. From where, she could not put her finger on it.

It was then she was vaguely aware of Chaos Agent stepping closer, pulling the pistol from his pocket, and slowly raising it to her head. She could barely process his actions until he placed his finger onto the trigger.

“Goodbye, Jules,” he said.

Jules snapped out of her daze and ran. She ran as fast as she could towards the storage room, almost tripping herself as she sped around the corner.

Chaos Agent cocked his head to the side, listening as the door around the corner slammed shut. Some of his henchmen followed her out, and he laughed. He laughed maniacally, long and hard. If she was anything like her brother… and thus anything like their father, no one would ever catch her, and in the blink of an eye, she would be gone.

He stopped laughing, abruptly so, and let out one last chuckle as he noted the way the remaining henchmen uncomfortably shifted. He lowered his pistol, waved the henchmen away, and strided down the hall, satisfied with his work. Chaos reigned another day, and he would clean up the mess later.

Chapter Text

Drifter Log #4: Fade

So I’m kinda stuck sitting around here while everyone’s off fighting, but I guess Ocean is keeping me company. Talking to her reminds me a lot of my sister, actually… makes me start missing my family. I know I’ve only been gone for a couple days, but they’re gonna be worried sick if I don’t get home soon. What am I even supposed to tell them? About the butterfly? They’ll call me crazy.

My sister will probably believe me if I show her the masks and cape and everything I found; the butterfly actually came again and dropped off another mask? A blue one that only covers up to my nose. My sister’s always been into legends and paranormal stuff and especially oni demons like these masks for some reason. I’ll just say I got them somewhere special, lost my phone, and give her another traveling excuse. She always believes me. Should work out something like that.

So, Jules brought me here to talk to that Drift dude. Yeah, and she brought me here only to find out he wasn’t even here after she left, and nobody knew where he was at the time. Then he was here, and uh, now he’s not. Again. He went off to fight shadows—or, it wasn’t plural I think—SHADOW with everyone else, so they just left me here with Ocean. She’s the leader apparently, but she can’t fight because her leg is stitched up.

Why is this place so… messed up? All this fighting, and everything’s so… hostile. Everyone’s angry, except for Ocean right now, but I can tell she still wants to go out and fight. I guess that just leaves us at the start.

The only person who doesn’t seem so angry was Jules. She just seemed scared. I think something really clicked with me when I met her, because I don’t usually talk to strangers so much. I want to talk to her again, since she’s the only one I’ve been able to talk to normally so far, but I guess that’ll have to wait, too.

I also haven’t been able to ask how to get home. Just hasn’t come up… it’s totally not because I haven’t been able to talk to anyone. Because I don’t like people. Yeah. Okay, maybe that’s the problem.

Ocean kinda has her own problems she’s dealing with, so I didn’t ask her, just let her rant I guess. As soon as I get to talk to Drift I’m gonna have to ask if he knows how to get back. I’m just hoping he knows something. This place clearly isn’t on the same Earth, considering all the weird magic stuff going on… and, uh, don’t forget about the giant, talking cat…

The Fortilla, right? Let’s hope you’re nice to me.

Signing off,

Fade

Ocean’s fierce glare kept Brutus planted in command ever since they got back.

Fed up with sitting around and being useless (it was her mission plan!), Ocean had taken matters into her own hands. A spare henchman pilot happened to be waiting as potential backup at The Fortilla, so what else was there to do than command them to fly her over The Authority amidst all the action and allow her to get some fire in? In the end, Jules boarded and returned with them, but Brutus since made it clear upon their arrival that he was unhappy with her “reckless” decision. Now, they stood in the vault room as Remedy and her team of medics assessed the crowds.

At first, Ocean shied away from most of Brutus’s reprimands, shame burning her glaring eyes as he did so in front of everyone. But she was done sitting back, and once she was done, there were no chances for him to get any more words in. “Why do you judge every single decision I make? Why do you target every little thing I do around here?!”

“Because I’m gettin’ sick of you not listening, going around putting yourself and others in danger,” he finally managed to argue. In contrast to Ocean’s frustrated shouting, he kept his voice down. “You took Fade with you, who doesn’t have any business being exposed to combat. Had you been shot down, you would’ve been in real danger.”

Fade, who leaned against a nearby wall, perked up at the mention of his name, though he tried to present himself as though he was not watching the exchange. He could still feel the vibrations in his feet, and though he was used to air travel from the many trips his family took around their world, he could not stay straight. Until all the gunfire, he had not minded—he missed his daily vacations. “Hey, I didn’t mind-”

“This whole thing was basically just a suicide mission, anyway,” Ocean huffed under her breath, paying him no mind. “And we didn’t get shot down, did we? I mean, what’s the point of me being the leader here if you won’t let me do anything the way I want to?!”

Brutus sighed, dropping his arms to his side. “Ocean-”

“You always say you think I can run GHOST by myself so why won’t you just trust me?!”

With that, she grabbed her helmet and stormed out of the room, not knowing where was going, only that she would end up breaking something if she did not get out. Brutus crossed his arms again, watching as she stomped away; he debated going after her, ultimately deciding against it with another long sigh.

Fade flinched when she passed by him, taking the exit nearby. A fury ignited her eyes which resisted him from reaching out, and she showed no sign of stopping or wanting to turn back. Instead, he looked to Brutus and took a deep breath.

Ocean had spent a long while ranting to him about her leadership status and the insecurities which came with it while everyone else had gone off to battle; Fade could only listen to her words then with not a single clue on how to advise her. Her struggles of wanting to do more than stay confined to The Fortilla, her feelings of not knowing what it truly meant to be a leader… and above all, her constant need of Brutus’s approval, whether she actually wanted it or not. “ If you’re the leader, why do you need his approval? ” He remembered finally asking. She had only shrugged.

Maybe he had no words to offer then, but now, as he looked to the man who was supposedly the root of her problems, he asked the same question inside his head: why?

Brutus turned a little sharper than intended when Fade tapped his arm. “What is it?”

Fade tugged his hood further over his head, trying to look anywhere but Brutus’s unbroken eye contact. “Sorry, I… I was listening to you guys and she was talking to me about all this stuff while you were gone,” he said. “So she’s, uh, technically the leader, but she needs your approval to do things. Why’s that?”

Brutus sighed again, glancing to where she stormed off. “She doesn’t. Necessarily. But she decides on impulse. It raises too many risks here, ‘specially since we don’t have much,” he explained. “If things go wrong around here, we have nothing to fall back on. So I take care of things.”

“Well… she doesn’t mean to cause any real trouble, right?”

“No. I wouldn’t think so.” Brutus stared into space, taking a moment to think. “It was sudden when I asked her to take over. I assumed she was ready, but maybe I asked for too much. Too fast.”

“Do you think, uh… maybe you could agree on something? Or at least tell her all of this?” Fade suggested. “I don’t think she’s as confident as she lets on.”

A small smile contrasted Brutus’s stoic face. “I’ll talk to her when she’s cooled off. And we’ll get you out of here. Soon as things clear up.”

With that, he stepped away, leaving Fade to himself. He scanned the room until his eyes fell upon Jules, who spoke to their lead medic—Remedy, he had learned. She had suffered some bullet grazings, they discovered on the choppa. Skye, the young captive they had rescued, sat close to her side, her legs having been injured during the incident.

Though Jules had not been so talkative on the helicopter, perhaps now could be his chance to talk to her again. Someone tapped him on the shoulder as soon as he stepped forward, however. When he turned around, he met a figure with attire of similar nature to his own: a long, glowing cloak and a mask radiating with power. “Fade, right? Uh, I’m Drift,” the stranger introduced, and Fade felt a wave of relief wash over him— finally.

“Yeah,” he said. “You can help me, right? I mean, you know why I’m here and everything.”

Drift glanced towards the exit, then back at Fade as he started towards it. “You down for some Sticks before we talk?”

~*~

The moment his plate hit the table, Fade had almost devoured it; he had not realized how hungry he was for a proper meal until then, as snacking on convenience store food while the situation blew over did not quite suffice. Though he had never been a huge fan of seafood, there was something about the food here which tasted so… familiar. More nostalgic than anything experienced back home, aside from being so savory and delectable. “What’s the secret behind these?” He asked, holding his last half-eaten stick into the air.

Drift chuckled when he promptly devoured that, too. “Can’t say. Fishstick himself would never tell, so I couldn’t.”

Fade sat back with a sigh of satisfaction. He stared down at his mask, sitting idly in his lap. “So… when I took my mask off earlier, all the purple magic stuff stopped flowing, and I thought that was weird. Looks like yours is the same way.”

Seeing his own mask on the table, Drift nodded. “I don’t know what it is with masks and magical cloaks and all that. I’ve gotten used to it, seeing it’s been… a while since I got here, I don’t really know. You’re brand new though, right?”

Fade laughed nervously. Did he really stand out that much? “How could you tell?”

“Well, first of all, you’ve never had Sticks before, and that’s a crime. But also like, the way you react to things, it’s clear you don’t know anything about the island. At all. I was the same way when I got to our old island, Brite had to go in circles around me,” Drift explained, smiling fondly at the last memory. “Where are you originally from? Like the reality name, if you can say.”

Tracing the details of his oni mask, Fade contemplated the easiest way to explain. Jules had stared at him blankly when he took her through his world’s features the other day, so it was clear the other islanders would be just as unfamiliar to his realm as he was to theirs. “I mean… there’s no magic like this in my world, just in movies and stuff. Or there’s no big war like this, at least from where I lived. I don’t know if you’ll understand what I’m talking about, but…”

Drift’s eyes lit up with almost a sense of urgency, as if a specific answer had come to mind and he needed it. Regardless, he leaned back in his booth seat, keeping his composure casual. “Hey, nobody here understands my original world, either. Shoot your shot.”

Fade took a deep breath. Maybe I’m overthinking it. I just gotta explain straight up. “I’m from… we call it the west coast. This little town in Oregon, it’s a state, it’s called…” Called… he could not remember. The specifics left him. He shook his head. “Well, it’s in Oregon.”

Drift’s face remained the same, yey Fade swore something flickered in his eyes as he leaned forward again. “I’m from Cali. SoCal.”

Fade gaped at him. Jules was right: Drift was just like him, even down to their general area of origin. “How did you get here?”

“Funny story, actually. I was driving around the desert, and I found a giant Durr Burger—it’s this mascot for another restaurant we have around here, I think it’s just a food truck right now. We should go there some time. But yeah, it was just sitting in the middle of the sand, so I decided to, uh… exercise my creative talents.”

He waved something imaginary in the air with his hand: a spray can. So, vandalism, Fade thought, keeping his laugh to himself.

“Next thing I knew, I was rifted to our old island, and then the whole black hole mess happened and now we’re here.”

“ Black hole? Rifted? And the old-“

“Whoa, hey, maybe one question at a time?” Drift snickered. “Alright. I don’t wanna get much into the first part, but rifts… they’re like portals between reality or whatever, if that makes sense. We usually use them to move around the island when they show up. But what about you? How did you end up here?”

There were still so many unanswered questions, but with the subject change, Fade would save for another time. He thought for a minute, trying to recollect the memories of his arrival, but… much like his hometown, the details were fuzzy. Everything was fuzzy. He had not thought about it since earlier that afternoon, but surely that was not enough time to completely forget everything.

He pulled far into the back of his mind until everything suddenly rushed back to him. “Okay. It’s kinda hard to explain, since I don’t know anything about this place, but… I was just taking a walk. And there was this… thing. It looked like a butterfly, but it was all crystal-looking, like this other thing I saw in the sky when I got here. I think it was a rift, like you said.”

“How long ago was that?” Drift asked. “Because I remember there being a right in the sky a few days ago, but nothing went in or out of it.

“Yeah, it was a few days ago,” Fade said. “So I was in this… white dimension. Everything was bright, and the butterfly, it came to me. I reached for it and everything, and now I’m here.

“Rift butterflies…” Drift muttered.

“Huh?”

“You saw a rift butterfly, it sounds like, and it took you to the in-between. Nobody really knows their significance, or what the in-between even is, except for maybe someone like Singularity, but no one’s seen her in a while. She wouldn’t have told you if you tried.”

Fade stared at the table, his mind flying as he took in all the information Drift had for him. There were so many strange concepts to grasp in this place, but one stood out to him above all. “So the rift stuff, how does it exactly work?”

“There’re lots of ways, really. Most of the time they just appear and you run in, pull out your glider; land somewhere else. Pretty straightforward. Or, back in Athena, we had these things called “right zones” for a while. They affected our locations—Retail Row, Tilted Towers… somewhere, we’d have zombie, somewhere else, we’d turn into objects. Props. They were so… erratic? Rifts are weird in general.”

“So… be careful around rifts. Got it.”

“Then for the rift butterflies-”

He cut off, staring into space behind him. Fade turned his head; as if on cue, a light glimmered in the air above him. He watched in awe as the aforementioned butterfly returned, materializing into its corporeal form. It flew in circles between their heads, then floated down to land on Fade’s hands, folded in his lap. He lifted them, allowing the butterfly to crawl up and perch itself on his fingers.

“I haven’t seen one of those in a long time,” Drift muttered again, his eyes fixed on the creature’s every move.

The butterfly settled on the table for a moment, then shot up and began bumping against Fade’s hands. He cupped them together, turning his palms upwards. The butterfly landed inside and flew around in a flower-like pattern, leaving behind, in an array of luminescent rays, an almost glasslike lotus, blooming fully in his hands. A bright, purplish flame glowed from its center, and with its job done, the butterfly proudly perched itself on Fade’s shoulder.

“Am I supposed to know what this means?” He asked. Drift shrugged, equally slack-jawed under his black face mask. Suddenly, the butterfly disappeared in a quick flash of white. Fade reached for the flower and held it delicately in his hands. “I guess it’s a gift for me…?”

“I don’t know, last time I saw the butterfly, it wasn’t even for a minute,” Drift breathed. He cleared his throat, readjusting his composure. “The butterfly is what brought you here, right?”

Fade nodded, carefully setting the flower to the side as if it would shatter from the slightest wrong touch. “You know, there’s a theory to that, if you’re not rolling your eyes already,” Drift said. “We have these rift god-like people, Luminos and Dream. Dream says the rift butterflies—there’s more than one—they go through different realities looking for ‘lost souls’ or whatever they think is a good fit for the island, whatever that means. Didn’t happen that way to me, so I can’t say.”

Fade picked up his mask and observed it. Somehow, it made perfect sense to him, enough so he could not be sure it was just a theory. “I saw the butterfly when I was out exploring, it led me to my mask like it knew I was gonna follow. I put it on and then I got here… I tried to go up to this radio tower for help, but they all pulled guns on me over there.” His voice trembled as he remembered being circled by numerous men in black. “Then there was this flash of light, and I wasn’t there anymore. I was by some house on a hill.”

“Seems to me like you might already have an idea about your powers. Something to do with rifts, which you kept asking about.” Drift picked up his own mask, which closely resembled some sort of fox. “It’s a kitsune. I did a lot of research about them after I found the mask back on Athena. Before then, I kept… seeing it. Just out of nowhere, around my hometown, like, visions. Thought I was crazy, sp that’s what I decided to paint on the Durr Burger. Since then I know they have special abilities like fire and lightning. Ever since I picked up the mask, I could do that second one. I’d show you now but I don’t wanna waste too much energy. That fight was tiring enough.”

As much as he wanted to know more about the topic of powers, he could tell this conversation would soon end. There was one final question, however, which he was most desperate for the answer to. “So… I haven't really gotten to ask anyone yet, but… I really wanna get back home. My sister’s at university in Iowa and stayed there over summer, so I haven’t seen her since Christmas. She just came home for Thanksgiving and I was supposed to see her.”

For a second, Drift stared at him in silence. Some sort of sadness flickered in his eyes, which he deflected any questioning about by standing up. “We’ll get you home. Promise. But until then, we might have to start working on controlling those powers, learning about them in general… don’t want anything to happen if they got out of hand. We can meet here, another day, and we’ll see if we can figure it out. I’ll probably have to run right now. Don’t know how long my friends can last without getting into trouble. By trouble, I mean last time, Rex drank shampoo.”

“ Shampoo? ”

“Yeah, that was my reaction.”

Fade stood up with him. “Why weren’t you here before this morning?”

“I’m not actually a GHOST agent. Never was, but I like to help out sometimes,” he said. “I’m sorry if I couldn’t give you much. To this day, I still don’t know how my powers came to be, or how the rifts broke into our world. All I can say is I put on a mask, and the next day I was channeled with all this energy that I couldn’t control.”

“It’s fine, you’re busy. I don’t wanna get in the way.”

Drift nodded, smiling under his mask. He extended his hand. “Next week, maybe.”

They shook, and Drift headed to the door. Fade called to him one last time. “Hey, uh… Drift?”

Drift turned. “Yeah?”

Fade smiled. “Thanks. Might not of been everything I needed, but thanks.”

Drift nodded, slipping on his kitsune mask as he disappeared around the corner, not to be seen for the rest of the week, and possibly the entire month.

~*~

Far into the corner of the dock, a pink-haired silhouette sat on the dock and watched as her rod sat idly in the ocean, no sign of catching a bite. To her surprise, her fellow soldier proved to be right: it was a good mind clearer, even if she did not particularly know what to do. Her angered march away from command happened to lead her here for hours, still with nothing taking the bait. Always up for a new challenge, however, she decided she would stay until her catch was made.

Ocean turned her head at the sound of footsteps behind her, somehow heavy and silent at the same time. She knew exactly what that meant, and another silhouette appeared behind her, confirming her suspicion. A small glare settled in her eyes, but to tell the truth, she was no longer angry. Just… disappointed, both in herself and in him. Brutus was right, and always had been. She had put Fade in and herself in danger, all because she could not do what she pleased. No matter what the outcome, it seemed to be a recurring theme between her and all of her subordinates. She knew her tendencies were always of impulse and recklessness… and she knew it would forever be difficult to admit her guilt and doubts to her newfound right-hand man.

Maybe now, though, would finally be the right time. “Hey,” he said, with a little more edge in her voice than intended.

Brutus sighed next to her. He remained standing, his arms crossed, and gazed with her into the distant horizon. Ocean opened her mouth, but Brutus beat her to it. “I’m sorry.”

Ocean slowly turned her gaze up, raising an eyebrow. “ You’re sorry?” With a sigh of her own, she set down her fishing rod and stood up, meeting his eyes. “Hell, I’m sorry, Brutus. I just- I’ve been really having trouble with all of this, and-”

“And that’s partly my fault,” Brutus said, adjusting his sunglasses. “You were one of my best trainees in your recruit wave. Knew you had potential then, and I still do now. You’re right. I need to give you more freedom, but you can’t be acting on impulse. If it could put someone in danger, you need to think. ”

“Yeah, I know… you’re right, too.” Ocean frowned. “I’ll try to work on it, it’s just, like… I haven’t been able to actually do anything, and I’ve just been restless, you know? All these rules and stuff, I could get away with anything when I wasn’t in the middle of it.”

Brutus nodded. “I understand. From now on, we work together. For the sake of GHOST.”

Their heads turned to the fishing rod, its line still cast into the sea, as it started to slowly be dragged into the water. Ocean smiled. “Heh. Caught the bite.”

Brutus’s words lingered in her mind, and she could finally trust it had not been her water knowledge alone to elect her to this position. Despite it all, Brutus truly believed in her… and maybe that all she really needed to know.

~*~

As the sun over the waters, Jules paced around the empty blue warehouse which sat unoccupied at the edge of The Fortilla. At last, she had free access to whatever resources she needed to exercise her creativity again, and to say she looked forward to that was an understatement. Small crates of nuts, bolts, and so on sat around, almost completely untouched, and more were promised to her as time went on. Resources here were clearly lower as compared to the more advanced tools laying around The Authority, but hey, resources were resources, and she could make anything work.

With all the troubles of the day over with, Jules could finally sit down, relax, and build something… if she knew what that something would be.

Being at The Authority, it seemed, had all but ruined her spark. She looked around once more, scouting out a plan, when her eyes fell upon the drum gun, which sat atop the weapon upgrade bench.

Jules picked it up and pointed it at one of the empty crates, one which happened to be sitting under a poster of the very man who claimed the weapon which sat in her hands. His proud smile… she would give anything to see it again, in praise of her and only her. Midas would return, smile brightly at her… and it would be all the assurance she needed to know she had finally done things right. I promise I’ll make you proud, she told herself with a small smile.

She pulled the trigger, hoping for the earlier rounds to have been duds, but once again, the gun went up in a puff of smoke. With a sigh, she set the gun down and rummaged through the weapon bench, setting out a variety of springs, bolts, and other parts which could hopefully solve her problems, as they always did.

“How’s it going?”

Jules dropped one of the springs at Ocean’s sudden voice, whom she turned around to find leaning against the metal-pillared entrance, a lopsided smile on her face. “Sorry to scare you, just wanted to give you a real welcome, you know, without all the other stuff going on.” She wrapped her arm around a support beam and swung around it. “I woulda stopped by earlier but I was kinda… going through something. Just wanted to let you know that whatever you need, I got you.”

For a moment, Jules could only stare at her. Her eyes flickered with something hopeful, and Ocean, she realized, had been the only besides Skye to not treat her like some stonehearted criminal because of her past, save for their very first encounter. Now, she realized, she had been the only one to make her feel exactly that: welcome. Jules mustered a small, awkward smile. “Thanks.”

She held up Midas’s drum gun to show to her. “I’m working on my brother’s drum gun, I did something to mess it up, so… I’ll be test firing it a lot until I work that out. So when you hear gunshots coming from this side, that’s me. In case anyone worries.”

“Got it. You got this.” Ocean flashed a double thumbs up before making her departure; she turned back around after having barely stepped past the exit. “Hey. I was never really around for all this GHOST stuff in the past year. I don’t really know anything about whatever happened before I took over, but… I know everyone’s been kinda harsh on you. I don’t know, you seem fine to me. So if you need any help getting people off your back, I got that too. Really.”

“...Thank you. Again.”

“See you around.”

With that, she held up a “hang loose” hand gesture and went on her way for good. As soon as she was gone, Jules could not help but smile again to herself, this time even brighter. She smoothed out her braids and got back to work.

For a solid hour, she repeated the same process: taking the weapon apart, rearranging, adding, and removing parts, shooting test shots into the water, and each time, her efforts were to no avail. She only grew more frustrated with each attempt; things were mercilessly thrown and she would run her hands through her hair or tug on her braids every few minutes. Every so often, a henchman came by to check on the commotion, and she would snap at them to leave her alone.

She could no longer take it. One final failed shot and she threw the weapon onto the bench, glaring at the springs strewn around and the shells rolling across the floor, taunting her. She swallowed down a lump in her throat. “I can’t do this,” she grumbled to herself; she laid her arms atop the table and rested her head against them. “ I can’t. ”

Chapter Text

If there was one thing Skye always prided herself in, it was her knack for knowing when people needed her help. Being a fairly light sleeper, she sat up in an instant when she heard a quiet knock at the door. She glanced at the sleeping forms of Maya and Tina, who had decided to crash at her apartment for the night, and realized Jules had not returned from the warehouse. She crawled out of her bed with a yawn, wincing as her bruised legs ached from the pressure of standing up. She held onto the wall for support as she inched towards the door. When she finally poked her head out, there Jules stood in the darkness, hugging herself tightly. “Jules?” She asked softly.

“Hey,” Jules greeted back. Her voice cracked. She tried to smile, but Skye could see through the facade. She could see the redness in her cheeks lit only by the soft fairy lights of The Fortilla, as if she had been crying, and she did not hesitate to open her arms. Jules was quick to enter the embrace; Skye could feel her body shudder every now and then with a silent cry, her breaths raggedy against her neck.

“Jules, what’s wrong?” Skye gently asked, tightening her hold. Jules only shook her head with a quiet sniffle. For a few minutes, they stood in silence, drawing comfort from each other’s embrace, until Jules pulled away and wiped at her misty eyes. “Sorry, Skye, I… I just needed someone to talk to, and…”

“You don’t have to be sorry for anything,” Skye hushed her, her smile just as gentle as her voice. An idea popped into her head, and her smile widened as she carefully, yet urgently tugged Jules along, leading her away from the apartment. “C’mon, let’s go get some hot chocolate. It always helps!”

—

Jules silently stared into her mug, waiting as Skye prepared her own inside the small bar located near Sticks. She glanced around, admiring the strings of lightbulbs glowing warmly across The Fortilla, mimicking fairy lights. It was a nice touch, and felt more welcoming than anything she could have prepared for The Authority. As much as she took pride in her own designs, she had to admit The Fortilla in all its stripped down glory impressed her even more than the fancy structures she had designed for both The Agency and The Authority, especially with what little GHOST claimed they had to work with. She could only wish she had been around to contribute.

Skye sat down across from her and immediately took a sip of her beverage. Jules could not help but laugh. “Hey, be careful, you’ll burn your tongue.”

“The best hot chocolate comes at a cost,” Skye giggled. Her laughter melted back into a gentle smile as she set down her mug. “I’m glad you’re laughing… Are you ready to talk?”

Jules sighed and blew on her hot chocolate before taking a small sip. “There’s a lot of things, and… you’re always the first person I think of to come to.”

Skye nodded, reaching across the table to place a reassuring hand over Jules’s. “You know you can tell me anything, Jules. Never fear, Legendary Adventurer Skye is here!”

Jules chuckled once more before her thoughts switched to the malfunctioning drum gun sitting back in the warehouse. She frowned, thinking back to the letter Midas had left her, which Chaos Agent had thrown in her face the day they both found out. I’m leaving my drum gun in your care—I trust you’ll take good care of it and put it to good use until I return.

She could only imagine the disappointed scowl that would no doubt cover his face when he discovered she had accidentally done the contrary. Though known as his most common expression, he would never use it towards her, and on the occasion he did… it withered her and locked her in her room for the rest of the night. Jules looked up, finding Skye still gazing at her expectantly, and let the words flow as she explained everything. How Midas had left behind his prized drum gun behind when he took off, how Hazard had put the idea in her head of upgrading it… how she had mindlessly done so, rearranging parts as she did in every other project, only to realize this time, she truly had no idea what she was doing. She explained how it first malfunctioned at The Authority, and how she spent the past hour trying to get it to simply fire correctly, to no avail.

“And I- I don’t know what to do anymore,” she concluded. “Weapons aren’t my specialty, and now I just ruined the whole gun and he’s going to be mad at me if-”

“Jules, we can fix this.” Skye thankfully stopped her from her nervous rant. “Brutus knows a lot about building weapons and stuff, right? You can take it to him, maybe he’ll know what’s wrong and how to fix it.”

Hesitantly, Jules looked up at her. “I… I don’t know. I don’t know if I can talk to anyone alone yet, after… after everything.

Skye nodded in understanding. “That’s okay, I’ll go with you, of course,” she smiled.

A small smile of her own tugged at the corners of Jules’s lips. “Thanks, Skye.”

She reached for her mug and took a longer sip of her hot chocolate. “I still have to tell him at some point, though. He’s going to be so… disappointed when he finds out.” Her smile faded immediately as she leaned back. That’s an understatement, she thought to herself. “Serves me right, I guess. Since all I seem to do is screw everything up.”

Skye stopped as she went to set down her beverage, nearly dropping the mug. “What…?”

Jules realized she had said that last comment out loud. Skye’s mouth hung slightly agape; Jules stiffened when she reached back across the table to take both of her hands. “Jules, you’re not a screw-up,” she murmured. “Everyone makes mistakes…”

“Yeah, well not everyone floods a whole damn island and betrays their family,” Jules scoffed, her hands tightly clasped around her mug.

“But that wasn’t your fault,” Skye assured, now frowning. “They- they were going to kill you… you couldn’t do anything else. And I don’t know about The Device, but…”

Jules took another sip and set it down harsher than she had meant to. The table shook. “I wasn’t careful enough, Skye,” she scowled. “I clearly didn’t check my plans enough even though I know I went over them so many times! But I still messed everything up, I messed up the island, and GHOST, and now everybody here hates me, and then there was The Shark…”

Skye’s breath caught in her throat at the mention of her beloved former base. It was among the first locations to be flooded with how close it was to the ocean. At the very least, GHOST still believed they had a shadow of a chance. Then, before they could even begin planning their relocation as the floodwaters rose, a dreadful line of explosions had blown their last standing base of operations to ruins. They had managed to salvage some parts and equipment as they were forced to scatter until a new sense of order was established, until eventually, The Fortilla was built and finished. Still, Skye had lost her home, so many henchmen and GHOST members had fallen to the destruction, and above all, her own last ounce of hope shattered. Every time that cursed day was mentioned, it left a sickly feeling in her stomach.

“I’ll always miss The Shark,” Skye lamented. She felt her eyes moisten, and she wiped at them quickly. “It was the only hope I had left for us, then it was destroyed, and I… I felt like I lost everything, especially after we thought you… betrayed us.”

She gave Jules’s hands a reassuring squeeze. “But that’s not the case, right? At least we’re all together again.”

Only then did she realize the mournful, regretful expression on Jules’s face. To her alarm, she pulled her hands away and buried her face in them. “I’m so sorry, Skye,” she sniffled. “I messed up everything for you-”

“No,” Skye cooed, “you didn’t-”

“Skye, it’s my fault… The Shark was my fault! ”

It was like a stab to her heart. Skye felt her breaths stop. She did not believe her. No, it was not true… something bubbled in her chest. Some strange mix of confusion and anger and desperation, that same feeling she had tried to swallow down when the news first came through that Midas and Jules were no longer on their side. “...what are you talking about?” She rasped.

Jules slammed her trembling hands onto the table, the liquid in her mug bouncing with the metal surface. Tears spilled freely down her cheeks and she could only look down in shame. “I made a stupid comment, and someone, they heard me, and they made me do all the calculations and help build the stupid bombs, and they actually went and blew up The Shark with them and it’s- it’s all my f-fault.”

Skye stood up, her fists unknowingly clenched. She could feel her nails digging into her palms. “No, you’re lying, Jules, you didn’t-”

“I’m not lying, Skye… I’m a horrible person.”

Skye stayed uncharacteristically still. Finally, she sat back down and took a breath, but when she opened her mouth, nothing came out. For once, she could not figure out what to say. Then, she asked, “what did you say to them?”

Jules shook her head. “I was talking to Midas before he left, we were talking about GHOST and I said… ‘the worst they could do is blow up The Shark.’ I guess someone was listening and after Midas left they told me it was a great idea and they made me in charge of all of it or they were going to kill me and I- I was so selfish, Skye! I shouldn’t have done it, I should’ve just fought back and everything now would be fine!”

“No, please don’t say that, Jules,” SKye pleaded. It’s- it’s not… your fault, then, and I’m so happy you’re finally back, and that you never wanted to betray us, and… maybe it was stupid but we know they would’ve killed you if you didn’t listen…! We wouldn’t have wanted that, Jules…”

“ We?" Jules laughed bitterly. “ You’re the only one here who hasn’t made it clear you want me gone, and after everything I did to hurt you I don’t get how you can just sit there and tell me everything’s okay!”

Skye stared at the table. “Is that what you want me to say? That it’s not okay…?”

Jules was not sure. All she could be sure of was that she did not deserve how easy Skye sat there and forgave her, as if in the end, none of it really mattered. “I just feel… like everything is my fault,” she choked out. “And I don’t know what else to think because it is all my fault.”

Skye tentatively touched her arm. “It’s not, ” she said, in pure desperation. “I know you, Jules, and you’re not a horrible person, you wouldn’t do any of this on purpose… and you know what, even if you had, I still wouldn’t believe you’re a bad person because-”

“You see this, Skye? This is why Hush decided to target you, because you can be so damn naive sometimes!”

Jules panted for a moment before her hands flew to her mouth in horror of what she had said. Every word of Skye’s kindness only riled her up, and the outburst escaped before she realized it was coming. She caught a glimpse of Skye’s pained expression before burying her head in her hands once more. She felt the table shuffle as Skye stood again, and Jules expected her to leave. She expected her to finally realize what a miscreant she really was and leave her forever.

She did not expect for Skye to hobble over and wrap her arms around her from her head. Jules’s eyes widened at the contact, and though she still could not be sure she deserved it, she welcomed it, falling backwards into Skye’s embrace.

“I know,” Skye whispered. “I know that was my fault.”

Jules frantically shook her head. “No, no, I didn’t mean that… I didn’t…”

Skye tightened her embrace. “I’m childish and- and over-trusting and… and I’m also really stubborn, and that’s why I forgive you.” She sniffled, reaching up to wipe at her eyes. “After we thought you and Midas left I thought… I wouldn’t want to trust anyone again. But you know what? I don’t care. I don’t care, Jules… because I love you. You’re like my sister and I don’t care about anything else.”

She tried to smile through her own tears which began to fall. “You’ve always been here for me. You were scared, and threatened, and people make mistakes when that happens to them… so yeah, it still hurts that we lost everything, but… I know you never wanted this, and that’s all that matters to me.”

Jules trembled in her embrace. She could not believe her. She wanted so badly to, to not be burdened with her guilt and her doubts anymore, but with how far everything had come to, it was just as hard not to hate herself. She swiped at her face in an futile attempt to clear away the tears which only continued to cascade down her cheeks. “Wh-what if I mess everything up again?”

“We’ll get through it. Jules, you work really hard all the time, and I know you get so stressed, and… you get careless sometimes when you do but it doesn’t define you… we can help each other fix anything and I’ll always help you like you do for me.”

“B-But I’ve already put everyone through so much,” Jules cried. “I’ve hurt everyone on the island and I’ve been making so many things that hurt everyone I love and I just can’t stop, I can’t take any of it back, Skye, I can’t do anything right! ”

With a choked breath, Jules began to finally, truly weep, stuttering out broken sobs and gasps as she clung to Skye desperately, finally letting out all of the emotions she had accumulated over the month.

Skye could do nothing but listen to her wails, and as much as it broke her heart to see her in this state… She knew she needed it. So, she let her cry as long as she needed, whether it would be a few minutes or a few hours, until her cries calmed back into quiet sniffles and silent shudders.

“I missed you so much,” she finally whispered, her quiet voice shaking. “I missed this… all of it.”

Slowly, they made their trek back to the apartments, never letting go of each other. Together, they sat on Skye’s bed, and Jules rested her head against her shoulder, her physical and mental exhaustion both catching up to her. “I can’t believe he just up and left,” she whispered. “Midas. When he was the only person I could go to, he didn’t even tell me he was going to try and leave. I didn’t know he was gone until… they got to me.”

Skye turned her head slightly and nuzzled closer. “Why do you think he left…? If he knew the consequences…”

“He said he was going to find a way to take out SHADOW. I don’t think he realizes he can’t do that alone… he’s more stubborn than you.”

They shared a quiet laugh, careful not to wake their roommates up. Jules glanced over at them and frowned. “Tina still manages to hate me while she’s asleep.”

Skye looked over; Tina, while asleep, indeed had a scowl settled on her face. “I think she always sleeps like that,” Skye said with a giggle. She yawned then, closed her eyes, and let her head fall limp against the top of Jules’s. “I won’t let you be alone in this, Jules.”

Jules closed her eyes as well, feeling her body drifting into slumber. “I know,” she whispered, and maybe, just maybe, she would finally sleep soundly for the night.

~*~

When Sparkplug went searching for scrap metal, she did not expect to find gold.

She could see it glisten against the moonlight, a stark contrast to the litter-filled shores of the beach; glitter which taunted her to investigate. What she did not realize at first was how the gold coated a pair of hands, and the bearer was more than a simple, shiny metal. He was by far the most recognizable figure on the island, whether by talk of his powers or his face formerly plastered on every wall. And, above it all, he was the most wanted.

Sparkplug had heard all the rumors: a charismatic, boldly manipulating mastermind. A king who ruled his kingdom of GHOST. Something about a device which broke the storm, yet as she looked into the distance, at its outer edges circling the island, it was clear that had not happened.

Could this even be the same man? His clothing tattered and damp, he stood at the edge of the water and stared at the cornered head of the sunken Shark base. That determination and confidence, as everyone else’s, had washed away with the flood, and he lacked that bold presentation.

Though meddling with the faction war never crossed her interests, the flood roped her straight into it in the form of helping the son of one of GHOST’s fiercest agents design an army of robots, who patrolled the former box factory near the mountains. A bright young… well, cat, who possessed greater skills in robotics than she could imagine. From time to time, she would stick around to listen to him and his father’s stories, sometimes about their normal cat activities, or sometimes about GHOST and even their former leader. They were stories that, despite obvious sentiments of anger and betrayal, were also filled with hope. A longing that he would return.

Cautiously, she crept over. “You’re Mi-”

“Yes.” He curtly cut her off. He did not flinch at her presence, nor turn his head. “I am.”

Sparkplug narrowed her eyes at him. “You know everyone’s lookin’ for you, right?”

He finally turned; his eyes immediately trailed to a wrench sticking out of her pocket. “I can’t say I’m surprised.” His tone was dark. Distant. She resisted the urge to shudder. “Are you an engineer?”

“You could say that,” she said with a smirk, pulling out her aforementioned wrench. “Just find me some scraps and there aren’t any limitations. Is there… something in particular you need help with?”

His gaze turned over the waves once more. “Help me build a boat.”

:A boat,” Sparkplug repeated, suddenly skeptical. “I don’t know, I’ve never tried a boat, I usually just work with cars. Or robots.”

Without hesitation, he stepped forward and took the string tied around her neck into his hand. Her eyes widened as the metal of the attached bolt gilded over, glittering the same shade of his hands. “I’ll pay whatever it is you want.”

She had forgotten he quite literally controlled the island’s gold market. It would be nice to earn some extra cash, maybe invest in a garage when the floodwaters lowered… she had designed robots straight from the scraps of the junkyard, so why not a boat?

Sparkplug held out her hand. “It’s a deal, then. I’ll start planning some schematics and I’ll bring them to you tomorrow, if that works.”

He did not accept the gesture, rather choosing to duck further into the shadows. Sparkplug shrugged, but as she turned to make her departure, he spoke again. “Actually, I have one more request.”

When she faced him again, all she could see was the eerie glow of his single golden eye. “I can’t have anyone else discovering my whereabouts,” he said. “Tell no one about our deal, or that you’ll be helping me.

She took another glance at his golden hands, and her perspective on his ability shifted when she realized the consequences if she were to out him… “You have my word,” she blurted. Then, as if he were never there in the first place, he disappeared into the darkness.

Chapter Text

In the days following the battle at The Authority, GHOST had reverted back to its previous state: uneventful, though at the very least, it seemed its members were less wary of leaving The Fortilla’s confines. Aura found herself not to be one of those members, if mainly for the fact she had nothing to fear in the first place. The faction war never cared for the outsiders hailing from the island, and so that meant more time to scavenge for gold and artifacts to her heart’s content.

No amount could never satisfy her, and with her brother having disappeared some time after the flood hit, it was never as fun without him. Bringing a friend to search the cluttered beaches would have to suffice, she supposed. “Find anything cool yet, Crys?”

“Not really,” Crystal called back. Their past hour of effort in maneuvering through the washed up piles of debris at Sweaty Sands had so far resulted with no findings, at least of anything valuable. “Maybe we should go somewhere else. It doesn’t look like we’ll find anything good around her…”

Aura picked up an empty bottle, examined it, and chucked it out into the ocean. “You can get a head start, then. Off of Holly or something,” she said. “I’m gonna keep looking over here.”

Crystal took her search along the boardwalks, scanning the nearby roads and shallow waters in case anything noteworthy decided to make itself known. Finally, reaching the opposite side of the location, something glinted in the corner of her eye. She trudged through the dampened grasses and stopped by the end of the boardwalk upon realizing what it was: an entire suit of golden knight’s armor washed up on the shore. And, by the looks of it, someone wearing it, unconscious.

She jumped when someone grabbed her shoulders and turned to find Aura. “Found something?”

Without waiting for a response, Aura skipped over to the suit, her eyes lit up at the sight of the gold. She kneeled down and ran her fingers along the metal before abruptly tearing her hand away, narrowing her eyes. “It’s alive?” She questioned. 

She nudged the figure with her foot, turning them over onto their back. Her feminine frame sprawled out on the ground, yet showed no signs of awareness of awakening. Her getup, Aura noted, highly resembled that of Ultima Knight, but she knew there was no point in trying to deal with him or his squad for information. “New looper, I guess? Snapshot, maybe.”

“Should we call someone?” Crystal asked. Aura kneeled down again, carefully placing her hands on the helmet and attempting one hard tug. It would not budge.

“I call dibs.” Aura pulled an earpiece from her pocket and activated it. “Hey, this is Aura. There’s a situation at Sweaty Sands. Someone washed up here, probably need a medic, maybe send a few people to investigate if that’s not some big ask?”

She rolled her eyes when no one responded within the second. “They’re slow,” she mouthed to Crystal, who only laughed. A voice finally came through the other end; she nodded a few times, muttered ‘thanks’ and returned the gadget to her pocket. “Sorry, Crys, guess we’re cutting this one short. Wanna stick around until they get here, though?”

Crystal’s hand flew to her pocket, outlining an earpiece of her own. “Won’t they know?”

Aura shrugged. “Who cares?”

~*~

“Think we got more people lost from the flood?”

In the span of only five minutes, two assistance calls had come into command from different locations, thus finally spicing up the lives of GHOST again. The first, a call from Aura about an unconscious person at Sweaty Sands. Then, Ocean had watched a rift open up and some sort of aircraft fly out of it at an odd angle. She had first assumed it to be another marauder pod; then, a second call came in, where a henchmen scout group cited it as a crash site.

The E.G.O soldiers stood alongside Ocean by the vault; they had decided to follow along when Remedy, the first obvious choice to assess the situation when it was only the first call, had been summoned. “That’s probably the case,” Turk said, looking at the coordinates again. “All that was said for the person washed up was that, no details.”

Cameo reached up and threw her arm around Rippley’s neck. “Well, whatever it is, Rippley and I are hanging out today, so I’m out.”

Rippley nodded and crossed his arms.

“And what is ‘hanging out?’” 8-Ball challenged. “Every time something of importance comes up, that is your excuse. What is possibly more important than this?”

Cameo shrugged. “Chilling. You should try it.”

“Which is what you do every day, even if there is no threat.”

“You know what? This is slander. I’m out,” she said, feigning offense. As she headed for the door with Rippley, she grabbed 8-Ball’s arm and dragged him out with them. “You just invited yourself with us, by the way.”

By the time he could consider protesting, they were already at the door, and he let it happen. “Whatever will we do without him,” Turk sarcastically said; the remaining E.G.O soldiers laughed when 8-Ball faintly responded with " I heard that.”

As soon as they left, in walked the infamous GHOST trio: Skye, Maya, and TNTina, all talking and laughing loudly. “Hey, in comes the trouble.”

Maya elbowed Tina’s side. “Yeah, Tina.”

“I didn’t do anything this time,” she said innocently. “What’s up here?”

“Two problems. Someone washed up at Sweaty Sands, an agent called so we kinda gotta go check it out,” Ocean explained. “Then there’s some crash nearby. We’re sending whoever to each.”

“I saw the crash from here,” Skye said. “It looked pretty bad.”

“Yeah, me too. We would’ve left it alone though if it wasn’t so close.”

“We lost three volunteers already.” Journey nodded to the door with a smile. “If you guys want to join us. I’m going with Rem to the beach.”

“Ooh, I’ll help with the crash, then,” Maya said. “Been a while since I’ve been on a good old low stakes mission.”

Skye bound over to Journey’s side. “I’ll go with you guys!” She frowned when Tina visibly winced. “What, I was asked this time!”

“Yeah, I don’t know if you should be leaving yet,” Tina warned, eyes glazed with concern; fear, even. Skye could see it. “Don’t know what’s gonna happen or if whoever’s there will screw you over. We just got you back.”

“But that was a week ago, I can’t stay here forever…” Skye turned to Journey and mustered the best pout face she could do. “ Please? ”

Though she laughed at her method of persuasion, Journey turned her eyes away. Skye was a mastermind at bending others to her will by means of childish tactics… and she could never resist. She looked over at Tina with a gentle smile, both reassuring and acknowledging her concern. “She’ll be fine.”

Skye smiled smugly from her success. Her expression then softened and she walked back over to give Tina a hug. “I’ll be fine! I promise.”

 Tina sighed. “Guess I’m outnumbered, then.”

Ocean propped her elbow up against Turk’s shoulder. “We can go to the crash, then, so we’re even.”

“Surprised you don’t wanna get farther out,” Tina teased.

“Eh, I’ve already been out to the Sands. You know, on that one day we don’t talk about.”

“I didn’t say anything.” She pretended to zip her lips. “I’m… gonna sit this one out. You guys got this.”

Before anyone could question her lack of excitement, she was gone. Ocean gestured towards the door after her. “Let’s head out!”

~*~

Aura could be spotted a fair distance away from her attire alone, which glinted with the gold accessories and collectibles which adorned anywhere there was space. Once spotting the GHOST agents, she waved her hands wildly in the air to signal them over. Journey brought their boat to a stop and secured it to the pier.

“They were unconscious?” Remedy asked as Aura walked them over to the location.

Aura shrugged. “Yeah, still is. She’s just over here. Was scavenging or whatever as usual and found her.”

A figure lay sprawled out against a debris island, encased in golden armor which shone brightly under the sun as it poked barely out of the cloudy day. Crystal kneeled beside her; Journey eyed her suspiciously. “Aren’t you working for SHADOW?”

Crystal rolled her eyes at Aura, as if to say, ‘told you so.’ “Yeah, what about it?” Aura challenged.

Journey glanced briefly between the two of them, her gaze then settling back on Crystal. “You should probably leave. So no one gets in trouble.”

“Yeah, I thought so,” Crystal said. She smiled at Aura and began to walk away. “Food truck tomorrow?”

“Five o’clock. Don’t be late, nerd.” Aura smiled back at her. She turned back to the situation at hand, enthusiastically eyeing the armored woman… specifically, the golden blade which laid at her side. “You know, if things go wrong, I call dibs on the armor, maybe,” she urged. “Or better yet, I can take the sword off your hands and you can-”

“Thank you, Aura,” Journey said abruptly, nodding at her politely.

“Fine, be careful, then,” Aura advised. “Looks pretty sharp.”

As she disappeared from the scene, Remedy advanced towards the unconscious knight and kneeled at her side. She pressed around her stomach, then lightly tugged at the helmet, which would not budge. “It’s hard to assess anything with all this armor… I’d need to get her somewhere I can do so properly. The good news is, she’s breathing. We should get her back to the infirmary.”

The knight suddenly stirred and lifted her arm, laying it over her stomach as she launched into a fit of watery coughs and wheezes. Remedy jumped back at first, but immediately jumped back in to help her sit up. The knight finally looked up; upon locking eyes with Remedy, she pushed her away and jumped swiftly to her feet.

Though taken back by her sudden agility, Remedy followed and reached for her. “Wait, I need to make sure you-”

In one swift motion, the knight grabbed her blade and pivoted backwards, pointing the tip towards Remedy’s chest. “Not another step forward,” she bellowed, backing further away.

Journey rested a hesitant hand on her rifle, and Remedy followed suit. Skye surveyed the circumstances from behind, her eyes darting back and forth between the knight and her friends. She could read the edge in the knight’s stance: she would be more than willing to lash out if anyone tried anything mildly threatening. Her hands gripped the sword’s handle so tightly that they were shaking. Skye held her hands in the air and rushed forward, close enough to be clearly seen, but not get caught by any potential crossfire. “Wait! We don’t mean any harm.”

After looking her over for a curious moment, the knight lowered her blade just a little. Skye smiled her signature bright smile, full of optimism and reassurance. It would only waver when the knight took longer to move, until finally, she eased her stance, dropping her weaponized arm completely to her side. She placed her free hand on her hip and only spoke once they too lowered their weapons and their guards. “Speak,” she said simply, specifically to Skye.

Skye glanced back at Journey, silently asking for her input. Journey only smiled back at her, a gentle assurance she could take charge. “Hi, I’m Skye! We’re sorry for scaring you.” She stepped closer. The knight took another small, cautious step back. “One of our friends said they found you unconscious and we just wanted to make sure you’re alright.”

“Remedy here is our medic,” Journey added, resting a hand on Remedy’s shoulder. “She needed to get close to make sure you were still alive.”

“What’s your name?”

The knight stared blankly past them, her gaze fixed on the waters surrounding them. Before Skye could ask again, she finally looked up and answered. “Eternal Knight is what I am known by. Apologies, I… could not remember for a moment.”

“That happens a lot here,” Remedy said. “It’s… kind of just the nature. Of the island.”

“I see.” Eternal Knight sheathed her sword and finally took a step forwards. “I’m sure you may understand I am an outsider to this land. My ship was taken by storm and this is where I have ended up. I am on a journey to find… if you have heard of it, what is called the ‘Knight’s Guild.’”

She all but spat at their name, her tone nothing short of bitter behind the urgency to get along with her journey. She shook her head; just as quick as it appeared, the venom was gone. Journey and Remedy looked at each other, silently confirming they knew nothing. Skye, however, first lost in her thoughts, suddenly sprang up. “The knights? I think they call themselves that sometimes. Ultima Knight, Red Knight, and Black Knight. The Knight’s Guild.”

The beady red eyes of Eternal Knight’s helmet glowed just a bit brighter. “You are familiar with them?”

“Kind of! Black Knight visited The Agency once. When we still had it..” Her smile faded. She sighed and plastered it back on. “I asked him a bunch of stuff until he got away from me.”

“Then you know where I may find them.”

Skye shook her head. “No, the knights kinda… do their own thing. Away from everyone. That’s what Lynx said, at least.”

“Of course,” Eternal Knight muttered. She looked around at the high floodwaters once more. “I suppose I will have to search for them myself. Once more. Now, if I may ask, these waters… do they spread across this entire land? It would help to know if they will make any trouble.”

Skye’s gaze turned to the ground. “Um… I guess they do. It’s not supposed to be like this, though, it’s…”

This time not as eager to hide her frown as the flood came to light, she looked back at Journey with pleading eyes. Journey quickly stepped forward, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. “The island’s flooded, it’s a long story. Our former leader created… something was supposed to free us from the island, I guess, and that would’ve fixed the memory issues I think. Most of us still don’t understand it. It didn’t go over well and created all of this. The southeast part of the island isn’t really affected though. Just everything else.”

“I see,” Eternal Knight said, her tone softer. “My condolences to all you may have lost.”

Skye’s smile returned; she nudged away Journey’s arm. “If you want, you could join us!”

Eternal Knight turned her head curiously. “Join you?”

“We’re GHOST,” Journey explained. “We’re at war with a rival faction, SHADOW, and we’re a little low on resources. An extra hand could always help.”

“A war, you say?” Eternal Knight hummed. “I have no time for such an affair. I have only one intention, and that is finding my… the knights. It is why I am here at all. Thank you for your time, but if my efforts are not to be wasted, I must be setting off.”

“Aw, if you say so,” Skye said. “The island’s always an adventure, though. Good luck!”

Eternal Knight nodded. She set a hand on Skye’s shoulder. “You remind me of my apprentice back home. May you keep your kindness and your determination. I wish you luck as well.”

With that, she pivoted, making an equally dramatic departure to her sentimental goodbye.

“The Knight’s Guild, huh,” Journey wondered aloud, turning to Skye. “How did you know about all of that?”

“I did my research,” Skye sang with a smile. She sped off towards the boat. “Come on! You still owe me a practice session with my grappler.”

~*~

Dearest Lorena,

Only the brave dare to cross the bridge between reality as we know it. Only the foolish follow the ocean’s waves when the sun sets. But when the storm comes, why does the butterfly continue on its journey? Because it knows somewhere out there, it preys on its next target to enter the loop. Its journey to the target is a long and winding road, and it must persevere through the struggle. No matter the cost.

Finding herself atop a fort that had definitely seen better days, Eternal Knight stared into the distance, scanning the island as she scouted possible locations for her fellow knights which she so desperately sought. Though her recent memories remained scattered, she could finally put names to appearances as they flashed through her mind, not only from titles to helmets, but even the true faces behind them to the real names past their aliases.

One by one, she could see each of her fondest past memories as they projected from her head to the sky surrounding her. Fights against troublesome bandits wandering the streets of their village. Light-hearted quarrels against Black Knight and Red Knight as they trained her throughout her youth, to full-fledged arguments as they questioned each other’s motives and actions. Then, one by one, they all left, leaving her abandoned in a larger, beautiful fort in favor of this strange island, unkempt island.

She unsheathed her sword, tentatively set it down, and reached inside the sheath, where she pulled out a scroll. Even now, she could not make sense of it, though she supposed there was nothing in this place she could make sense of. She had followed the letter’s twisted words here, and she still could not understand… and if the smeared, water-ridden writing had anything to say, she never would.

Once the answer is clear, perhaps we will all return together. The Knight’s Guild, for now, is at three of its four members. Or, maybe, you will face temptation one day. You will follow through on that temptation, and you will reach us before we are done. Then, The Knight’s Guild will officially be one again.

Why does the butterfly go on its journey? Because it has a destination to reach, and it will persevere through the struggle to reach that destination. You have always said you had an unfulfilled journey to find. In a sense, you are the butterfly, and you need to determine both the journey and the destination.

No matter the cost.

Best Regards,

Ultima Knight.

With a sigh, she set the scroll back inside her sheath and covered it with her blade. “Ultima Knight,” she said to herself. It had been signed with his name. She had followed the butterfly to her destination, but it had been a lie. The Knight’s Guild was not one yet, and she could not be certain they would ever be one again.

Chapter Text

Drifter Log #5: ?

Reality Zero. It has been quite a while.

Of all the worlds we have travelled, this one remains the strangest, and by far the most dangerous. It was never so much what could be seen, but what could, or could not be felt. I vowed never to return here, but my promise seems to have eluded me… after already being broken by Deo.

I don’t understand it. He knows the danger of this place just as well; it weighed on our minds for weeks, months, even years after my escape. He understands that… we both will be lost, if we are here for too long. I thought he understood. Maybe I was not clear enough, though I had made it clear a thousand times over before he departed.

If I am lucky, I will not have to fight for my life now. Maybe things have changed, if only a little. Maybe I can find someone friendly to help, unlike our recent mission. This island has changed drastically in appearance, but its unsettling air remains. Maybe I will see our old crew again, and maybe they will recognize me… if their memories are not too far gone now.

What I am certain of is that the same thing will not happen to me. It will not happen to Deo. We will find each other and leave before it does. I meant what I said before he left: I cannot lose him.

I can’t.

Signed,

?

~*~

When they got around to the crash site, SHADOW had beaten them to it. Whether they happened to be in the area or they simply had a sixth sense which told them where GHOST would be at all times, Ocean knew either was a possibility. She urged her trio behind a distant rock where they could survey and think of a plan.

“I see four,” Ocean relayed. Two are guarding the door or whatever and the other two guys are just kinda walking around.”

“Great, but we’re still outnumbered,” Turk said.

“I don’t know, Ocean could count as two people if she really wanted to,” Maya joked.

Ocean shushed them as one of the henchmen’s voices carried over. “ No, I know I saw someone. ”

The henchman in question stopped in front of the door of a white spacecraft, its paneling adorned with orange and green highlights. As he went to step inside, the guard to his right shooed him away. Ocean turned to Turk. “You got your sniper?”

He reached for the ground and raised it up to his eye. “Always do.?

“Cool, you get first shot and we’ll take out the others. Let’s go straight in.”

Turk nodded and aimed in, waiting a moment for the perfect shot. With a loud bang, the farthest patrolling henchman hit the ground, now alerting the enemy of their presence. Ocean and Maya followed suit, taking out two more before they could fully identify where they were. With one remaining, the agents charged; Ocean hit the final SHADOW henchman with a less lethal spot and signaled towards the ship. “This is ours . You know anything about it?”

The henchman attempted to squirm out of Maya’s grasp as she restrained them; Turk helped hold them down. They finally gave up and collapsed into Maya’s arms, groaning in pain as they held a hand against their bleeding injury. “No. We were just here for parts. Wasn’t my idea. But I think there’s someone in there, we were just about to get to that.”

“Yeah? Your buddies didn’t think so.” Ocean kept her rifle pointed at them for a good few seconds, then lowering it as she stepped into the doorway of the ship. She nodded to Maya and Turk, who eased their grasps on the henchman. “Well guess what? It’s your lucky day, you’re one of us now.”

She stepped inside the ship, shrugging off a quick ‘be careful’ from Maya as she looked around the spacious interior. Though the inside seemed bigger than how it looked from outside, it was more so there was little to look at besides buttons and screws and other flashy technological attachments scattered around the walls. If someone were here, the options for a hiding spot were practically none, unless they were actually a ghost. Ocean tried a door at the very back. It would not budge. Only when she turned back in preparation to leave did she notice, in fact, a very real person huddled under the ship’s main control panel.

There sat a woman with green hair tied up into several buns, a helmet laying at her side. Realizing Ocean had noticed her, she threw up a pistol. Ocean threw her rifle to the ground and held her arms up. “Hey, it’s okay, we’re here to help.”

The woman lowered her gun slightly. “We saw the crash, it was pretty close so we thought we’d check it out.” Ocean took off her own helmet and held it at her side with a smile. “We took care of the other guys out there. They were probably gonna do something but you don’t gotta worry about it now.”

She took a step forward. Little by little, the woman continued to lower her pistol until she laid it flat on the ground. Ocean approached fully and offered a hand, pulling her out from under and helping her stand. The woman could only do so for a moment before her legs buckled and she nearly fell. Ocean helped her stay steady and stand on her own for a longer minute before giving her space once more. “I’m Ocean. Leader of GHOST. Our base is right over there.” She pointed to The Fortilla, which could barely be seen through the door of the ship. “The guys we took care of are SHADOW, our enemies. They suck. Like I said, we got it under control.”

The woman stared at her, glanced quickly at the control panel, and turned back. “My name is Sinoa. I am searching for my brother.”

Siona detached a device strapped to her side and studied it. “He landed in this place what must have been days before me, I believe. I followed him here, but he must be elsewhere.”

Ocean led her outside. “I think I saw a rift the other day but it was, like, across the island. We kinda stay around the area here so we don’t run into SHADOW.”

Once outside the ship, Siona took a long, deep breath as she took in the surrounding sights. A small smile found her face. “I haven’t breathed fresh air like this in some time. Most of the realities I visit are… different.”

Before Ocean could ask anything, the SHADOW henchman spoke. “See? I told you.”

“Shut up,” Ocean snapped. She smiled at Maya and Turk. “Hey guys, this is Siona. Good thing we got here when we did.”

Siona nodded to them, still with a smile.

“Never know for sure if that’s gonna be the last of them, SHADOW likes to be unpredictable,” Ocean continued. “You could come with us if you want, just to be safe. Always got some room in the apartments and we got you if anyone tries something with you again.”

Siona pondered this for a moment, then frowned. She glanced at her ship. “My brother…”

“I know, you gotta find him, but it wouldn’t hurt, right?”

~*~

“She was so cool! I wish she came back with us.”

Since both groups arrived and converged again in the vault room, Skye had yet to stop talking about the knight, nor had she let anyone else get a word in unless it were to add on to her points. “She said I reminded her of someone, her apprentice in her home world, I felt so honored! I really wish I could’ve told her more about the knight but-”

“Hey, wait, wait. Home world?” Ocean finally managed to get a question in. “Siona—that’s our rescue’s name—she mentioned something about different realities.

“So we got two more visitors,” Turk said. “Why didn’t the knight come with you?”

“She didn’t want anything to do with the war, which is understandable,” Journey noted.

“I think once she meets SHADOW, she’ll change her mind,” Skye enthused. “I really hope she does. Where’s the astronaut girl? I wanna meet her, too.”

After a playful warning from Journey to not scare her off before she could adjust, and a following argument from Skye that she would stay subtle (which they all knew would be a challenge in itself), Ocean took her to the blue warehouse where Jules often acquainted herself. Siona had only spoken once in the time between leaving the crash site and being left to her own devices at The Fortilla: to ask for a quiet place to collect her thoughts. Ocean quickly learned that was simply the language she liked to speak: few and formal words in favor of gestures and small, expressive noises. Another introvert to add to the mix, Ocean supposed, though even Jules seemed to find it strange.

“I wanted to maybe say hi—not that anyone would believe that—but she seemed wrapped up in something,” Jules said. “I didn’t want to bother her.”

“Where is she?”

Jules led them up to the catwalk, stopping a step or two away from the stairs. In the middle of the walkway, Siona held up a large sheet: a map of the island. Where it came from, nobody could be sure. Strange symbols and navigational patterns were marked all over it, complete with three specific circles around, looking closer, Salty Springs, Pleasant Park, and Retail Row.”

She took the marker held in her mouth and drew more, seemingly unaware of the trio’s presence until Skye stepped forward. “Hi!”

Siona’s head snapped towards her. She briefly glanced between the three women and responded with a single nod and a small, awkward smile. “Hey, we’re not bothering you, right?” Oceana asked.

Siona scanned her map, capped the marker in her hand, and set both carefully on the ground beside her. She turned to them attentively. “Cool. This is Skye and Jules, we wanted to see what you were up to. You know, make sure you were settling in okay.”

“Siona, right?” Skye stepped forward and offered a handshake; Siona simply nodded again, accepting the gesture. When she said nothing in response, Skye’s smile wavered a bit. “Welcome to The Fortilla! How do you like it? I heard you were new to the island, too.”

Siona opened her mouth to finally say something, however, she frowned and looked away at the mention of the island. She eyed her map and stared at it, seemingly lost in thought. Jules cleared her throat and followed her eyes. “What were you doing up here?”

“Charting.” Siona’s eyes lit up immediately. She reached for the device at her side, pressed a few buttons, and pointed it to the wall, where it displayed a holographic image of the island. “My ship took this satellite picture when I first entered. If I am to find my brother, I must understand the land.”

That would be the longest of her responses to the group, it seemed. The conversation carried on in the same manner, with Ocean and occasionally Jules jumping in to ask about her life before the island, her brother and his circumstances, or anything else they could think to prompt more of an answer than the ones they continued to receive. Though known for her eagerness to ambush those whose quiet personas would challenge her extroversion and excitement, Skye was the only one to back off from questioning after her initial greetings. “I gotta go,” she finally said, her voice unnaturally small. Only then did they note her distressed expression as she brushed past them and hurried off, Ollie’s wings drooping dolefully against her hat.

Ocean and Jules glanced at each other. “I’ll go see what that was,” Jules said. She said a quick goodbye to Siona and left.

“I’m sorry.”

Ocean turned back. “Huh?”

“I don’t mean to seem… disinterested. Just that, I’m not used to regular interaction. Pleasantries, aside from with my brother,” Siona explained, now with a solemn expression. She spoke clearly, careful to enunciate every formal word. “In my space travels, my speech is saved for diplomacy. We seek to solve disputes among different realities and offer aid wherever we can. Some realities are less receptive to, well, casual conversation. Anything not having to do with the issues of their homes they seek to discuss.”

“So, what, you talk to like, aliens and stuff?” Ocean asked innocently. “That’s pretty cool. I guess I get it, some people around her are too formal for me. They might as well be aliens.”

Siona hummed in amusement. “This island is ever evolving. It’s interesting to see how things have really changed.”

Ocean tilted her head. She could not identify what, but something about her words perturbed her. “What do you mean?”

That distant, far-off gleam, which several times had previously clouded her eyes, fogged them up again. Her gaze returned downwards and she searched for solace in her thoughts. Before Ocean could dismiss that question, Siona looked up with a small smile and took her hands in her own, gently squeezing them. “Thank you for allowing me to stay,” she said, deflecting further inquiries altogether. “As soon as it is deemed safe for me to do so, I will have to depart. My one goal is still to find my brother and leave. I hope you can understand.”

Behind her firm, kind front, there was something mysterious about the way she carried herself which Ocean just could not figure out. Her curious situation, her hidden desperation to find her brother, her wariness towards the island itself… She wanted to ask again, to learn all she could, but she could tell also that the short answers, at least for now, were all Siona wanted to let be known about herself. So, Ocean nodded, sure to mask the tinge of disappointment in her chest. “Yeah, of course. I gotta run and do… something, I already forgot. I’ll check on you later, okay?”

Siona nodded, and Ocean went on her way.

She breathed a sigh of relief. The usual twenty questions were over, and she could get back to work.

Siona brought the hologram map back up and studied it, running her fingers from location to location as she made a guess at how long it would take to do a thorough search between each. As much as she stressed it was to find her brother, she could not deny some of it was for her own sake. She would not know the first place to search for him, and though she knew she needed to work fast… getting to know this land again could not be so bad.”

…no. This is too risky.

The island, which she knew all too well to be vast and dangerous, now contained a new threat she had gotten involved with too soon, even if she had not meant it. Here she was, fraternizing with one side of a war, and therefore, the target of another side. Had she not learned? This was what expelled them from the last reality. Unless he were already with the enemies—SHADOW, she recalled—Deo had clearly learned more from the situation than her.

At the very least, GHOST indeed was friendly. But pleasantries could not stop her from her journey and her desire to leave as soon as possible. Any friendships she attempted would not last, not if the island had anything to say about it. Her relationships with her former crew, whom she had ventured with since the dawn of her youth, crumbled into dust with their fateful journey. Their long, grueling week spent in this same, yet much different reality… all those years ago.

Siona would not be tempted or distracted; she would not allow it. She would escape this cruel world with her brother, and the island would not interfere before that happened. She could forever swear this on the stars above.

~*~

When Ocean’s mind grasped onto something, her stubbornness left no room for arguments; she would get to the bottom of it and nothing would get in her way until all had been solved. That, however, tended to apply more to her actions than anything she could say or think. So, with the enigma that was Siona’s life and her certain unease regarding the island, she could not help but find herself stuck. She hated being out of the loop, and Siona remained full of untapped mysteries. So, she tried again for answers some minutes ago, though not as strongly as before, and only got the same things: she spent her life in space. Her brother was missing, and she needed to find him. She would stay until things calmed down, then she would need to depart.

All she could do now, she supposed, was study the stars as they glittered afar, using them as inspiration to think up her own stories to go along with the green-haired astronaut.

“Ocean?”

She smiled almost in relief when Jules’s voice pulled her out of her spiraling thoughts. “Hey. I talked to Siona some more after you left earlier. I still can’t get anything out of her, but she says she’s sorry if she didn’t seem, you know, interested.” Jules joined her in leaning against the railing. “So what happened with Skye?”

The small smile on Jules’s face vanished immediately. “I came here to talk to you about that, actually.”

That doesn’t sound good, though Ocean figured as much. She glanced behind at the Sticks building, which taunted her from across the waters all night. “Sticks to-go? You wanna grab some and talk?”

Before they knew it, they found themselves on a ledge which connected the two command buildings of The Fortilla. Ocean’s favorite spot, as she had decided during the base’s construction. She loved how it centered everything, leaving a perfect view one way towards the ocean, where the sky went through its daily phases, and another way towards the dam, which held the most breathtaking, vibrant sunrises she had ever seen, before and on the island. It allowed her a place to clear her mind when her leadership duties became too much and she found herself drowning in the confinement of The Fortilla.

Though it took waiting for their food to arrive and halfway through their walk to get past the pleasantries and awkward small talk, their conversation finally began to flow. For Jules, it was a breath of fresh air; it would often take longer for her to transition from stranger to acquaintance, and even for some of the agents she had gotten to know over her years actively amongst E.G.O and GHOST, she had trouble believing she ever even reached that acquaintance stage. It helped in the present that Ocean knew how to carry on when a topic died down, but more than that, there was something about her that made everything seem so easy.

Alas, the good feelings dimmed when Ocean brought back to light the topic they had initially come here for. “So what about Skye, huh?”

Shaken up, she considered saying. It had been a while since Jules had seen the girl so unsteady. With the circumstances, however, she could not blame her; her own time spent directly with SHADOW left her knowing the feeling exactly. Jules sighed, drumming her fingers against her knees. “Quiet people, um… they set her off now, I think. So with Siona being how she is… she trusted the wrong person in the past. It didn’t end well.”

A painful expression crossed her face. As she clearly wished not to recount the experience, Ocean jumped straight to the solution. “So we should probably keep them apart, then, if we can.”

Jules swallowed and nodded. “I don’t think Siona’s up to anything. Personally. But this other person had this hidden plan and I know it still bothers her and a lot of people, so…”

“Got it.” A comfortable silence settled between them, soon broken by Ocean. “Hey, so… I wanted to ask you something, too.”

Jules shifted and straightened her braids out over her shoulders. “What is it?”

“I just keep thinking about how I should’ve been around for GHOST, you know?” She started, her face faintly solemn. “Especially now that I’m the leader and I don’t know anything. All these people here have these things I don’t know about, and traumas, and then I go and mention them like it’s nothing and it really gets people down. Like, there was this day I wanted to get out of here and I took Turk with me up to Sweaty Sands. Across from where The Shark is. His sister died there and I made him remember that, head on.”

She took a breath. “And now with Siona being here and Skye getting upset, I still see I gotta be careful, and that is not a word in my vocabulary.”

Jules pondered her words. She grimaced at the mention of The Shark, but pushed aside her regret for the moment. “I think they’d understand that. Especially if you… admit to it. They can’t blame you for something you didn’t know.”

Ocean shrugged. “Yeah, but I should’ve known, or like, bothered to figure it out. You know?” She cleared her throat and raised her hands out in front of her, capturing the darkened sky between them. “What was it like? During The Device, maybe even before that. When the flood wall showed up, I saw that. It was like, everything was normal, and then the wall was just there. Then everything went to shit.”

The sequences of events from that dreadful day began to play at once, and as much as she hated to recall any of it… Jules let the words flow. How she and Midas knew about the strange time loop which plagued the island now and then, never with anyone knowing it had ever happened. How they managed to activate their plans in the loop, and as a result, no one ever saw the Device in progress. Her, controlling The Device from beneath the purposefully destroyed Agency, while the ruthlessness of the storm fought against its control. For a fleeting moment, the storm disappeared. Butterflies roamed the ground and rainbows glittered in the air; the island felt more peaceful than ever before. Then, the storm came back and threw its final obstacle at them: the flood wall.

The flood consumed the island. SHADOW took over, and she would belong to them. Midas would flee, and then there was The Shark.

Her throat constricted the more she spoke about it. She could not breathe, she realized. Ocean’s distant voice reminded her she could stop, but… for as much as she did not know if she could get through any more, she wanted to. She needed to.

They were back to the beginning of it all, when Midas had given her the blueprints. When he convinced her to take a job as a double agent and report all her findings to him from A.L.T.E.R’s scientists, so they could begin their task of freeing the island. The Grotto would later be seized. The Rig would be seized and destroyed. The Yacht would be seized. Midas, Skye, and TNTina would nearly perish at different points in time while she spent her time in the comfort of the enemy’s workshop.

For a moment, Rue, Sorana, and Toxin convinced her SHADOW was never as bad as she had been led to believe. Then, Sorana would take her against the wall; her truth would be uncovered, and the trust of who she dared to call a friend would once more be severed. Jules would sit in a cold, dark space, beaten and bruised and starving and waiting until her enemies decided her time would end. Storm The Agency occurred. She would be forced to watch as The Agency fell under Renegade Shadow, using details forced from her and therefore making it partly her fault. The E.G.O soldier team would finally be the ones to free her from the madness, as the agents recovered from their agony.

Only then did she stop. She could not do it anymore.

Her arms. She could feel them press against her chest and suffocate her. Ocean’s blurry hand waved in front of her. A distraction. She needed a distraction, and as if reading her mind, Ocean would give it. Now her turn, she explained her own life story and the events leading up to her role at The Fortilla. How, despite having a family, the waves felt like her only true family throughout her childhood and up until her time with E.G.O. How she had built something of a celebrity status of herself, participating in all the water sports and competitions she could find, until the glory of them wore off and she sought different thrills to spice up her life, ultimately resulting in E.G.O.

Her moments of true involvement ended up being few and far in between, limited to missions which were not quite big enough for the top agents, but too big for the henchmen. She helped in Renegade Shadow’s fall, supposedly, when the agents continued in recovery and the same E.G.O soldier team remained in charge. Then, as she did after every time of need, she retreated to the outskirts of the island, rarely to be seen until SHADOW gained their heightened egos and GHOST required a new source of motivation.

As Jules managed to calm herself, Ocean steered the topic back to their previous one. “With The Device, did you know it was going to end up like this? I mean, with the flood.”

Though Jules breathed in, hoping to stutter out a quick response, she realized she could find no clear words. Yes, she initially wanted to say. The storm was dangerous and the island itself was unstable. Midas and all the scientists she spoke with at A.L.T.E.R knew and relayed that much. Yet, they had been so close…! She had seen the clear sky with her own eyes. The purple tint of the atmosphere’s edges were gone; how could she not believe they had won, then?

All she learned in the end about their treacherous reality, however, was that the ruthless tempest could not be tamed despite anyone’s best efforts. Even after winning, they had lost. “...no. Not until after it all happened.”

“Yeah, but people are still blaming you for that.” Ocean leaned back rather aggressively, her palms slamming onto the metal ledge. Her eyes twitched; she closed them and sighed. “How did you end up in all this? 

Jules took one final deep breath, calming the last of her raging nerves. “I never really had a say.” She cleared her throat, allowing her still shaking voice to grow firmer. “Midas was raised on the idea he would inherit E.G.O from our father.”

“Oh yeah, he’s your brother. I kinda forgot about that.”

“We were still young when our parents died, so the organization watched over us… we couldn’t have just left. I couldn’t have just left if I wanted to. Midas needed me.”

“Yeah, but… if at any points there’s stuff you don’t want to, you shouldn’t have to, right? I don’t know, I’m an only child so I don’t know how it goes, but it shouldn’t be one-sided. Everyone thinks he’s this epic ‘king’ or whatever, so that still makes you royalty.”

Jules stared distantly into the water below, searching for reassurance through her words. Though she could tell it was Ocean’s intention, she could find none of it within herself. Right, she wanted to say, to agree. But… “I wish it was easy like that. I guess I just hate the confrontation, so I don’t say no, especially to someone like Midas. I figured The Device would just be another easy project, then he asked me about being a double agent, and I couldn’t say no because then he’d keep nagging me about it or worse… then because I couldn’t say no it just led to even more confrontation with SHADOW, and now no one here can fully trust me either.”

To her, none of it was and would ever be easy. Ocean always presented herself with so much confidence; her convictions and determination could be felt radiating from her person. The only confidence and true content Jules knew she carried would always be when in the comfort of her workshop, wherever it would be at the time, as she tinkered away at spontaneous projects and perfected those she developed over time. Solitude, her best friend, kept her company more than any real person could so long as she did what she always loved.

She did love her brother, and she loved seeing him happy in his own way. She did not love her own need for perfection, and she sure did not love Midas’s obsession with it. His obsession with needing everything done to his perfect vision, by his word and no one else’s.

She shook her head. “I love being an engineer. I love building and creating, but I’m GHOST’s engineer specifically, I’m always being tied to Midas, I’m always getting pushed out of my comfort zone and I just can’t stand up for myself for some reason. I can’t tell anyone else like this that I’m tired of all of it.”

Ocean sat silent for a moment, her face fixing onto the distant, neverending waters alongside Jules’s. “This stupid war, right? Telling you what you have to do. Except it sounds to me like you were just being dragged along. Midas made the plays, people should be mad at him. I guess that’s also hard since he’s not here, though.”

She shrugged, offering Jules a warm, relaxed mix of a smile and a smirk. “You can always start now, right?” Noting Jules’s puzzled expression, she clarified, “standing up for yourself. Easier said than done, yeah, but if it really comes down it I know you can. You did pretty good that first time we saw each other.

As Jules considered this, she knew there was one way she could start. “Can I tell you something?”

“Shoot.”

She hugged her arms to herself, this time consciously and for comfort. She could not be sure what possessed her to be willing to tell this to Ocean, her boss now and the one with the power to exile her right there if she so pleased. She had been there for her every step of the way, though, more so than most of GHOST who knew her for so long. Perhaps she could start by owning up to her guilt; she knew she could not hold onto it forever without being eaten alive. So, it was worth a shot. “The Shark… that… it was my fault.”

Ocean stopped in the middle of chewing on a fry. She swallowed and looked at her incredulously. “Like, the explosion? Really?”

Jules nodded hesitantly, yet she shared her expression at how tame that reaction was. She expected some sort of rage—even Skye reacted with a moment of anger—but there were no hints of it. Only pure, unadulterated confusion. “They had me build the bombs they used to rig the place with,” Jules continued. “I didn’t want to, I really wish I could have stopped it, but…”

“You couldn’t.”

Jules could not fathom how much it did not seem to bother her. Just to be clear, she asked, “this doesn’t change what you think about me?”

Ocean shrugged again. “Nah. After everything SHADOW put us through in just these past couple weeks? I get it. You had to do what you had to do. And like I said, there’s… a lot more I can’t assume because I wasn’t there. I should’ve been.”

She stared downwards, lost in thought. Then, she scooped all of her trash into her empty bag and crumpled it in one abrupt motion. “You know what? I’m not sorry anymore, I changed my mind. Starting right now we’re not blaming ourselves.”

Jules could finally find it in herself to laugh. “Where did that come from?”

Ocean stood up and extended her hand. “Sometimes you just gotta not care about things. It helps with getting over the crazy stuff sometimes ‘cause then you stop worrying about everything so much.”

“I’ll try to keep that in mind.” With still a smile, less shy and finally one of content, Jules took her hand and stood with her. “I liked getting all of that out without feeling… like I’m being judged. Thanks for the talk tonight?”

“Hey, right back at ya. I never feel like I can just talk in general anymore without it having to be important or whatever. Want me to walk you back?”

So, with both in a better mood than when they started and content with getting to know each other a little better, they set off for the apartments.

Chapter Text

As the sun fell into late afternoon, Fade stood on a dock outside the mall with only one thought running through his mind: I’m bored.

How long had it been since arriving here? Something over a week, maybe two? In that short period of time, it seemed he had been everywhere he could possibly be at The Fortilla. Though he had yet to memorize every corner and walkway by heart, a daily routine of the same path was already established, and no matter how many times he tried to mix it up, he tired of it quickly. Even with his more… unconventional methods in getting high up for good views, there were only so many angles he could take of the same parts of the island.

Every so often, some of the more laid back agents would let him wander around the command building. Despite knowing nothing about the agents of GHOST, he found himself to be pretty good with names. TNTina and Meowscles were easy to remember with their obscurity; then there was Tek and Skye, a technician and an adventurer, neither of whom seemed to know when to stop talking. Not that he minded, because the behavior reminded him of his sister.

Routines were never to his liking. Whether he had chores to do or not, he would always find the time to walk or drive where the roads and sidewalks took him. He missed that about his hometown and his vast home world in general; a place less confining with no shortages of adventure yet to plague him in his twenty-one years of life. If there was one thing he did not miss, it was this dragging feeling of restlessness tearing him up as he found himself trapped by circumstance. It was why he took a year off from his studies, but despite his best efforts, it only caught back up to him.

After getting caught lurking and chased away from the power plant, he had ended up examining every item of every aisle in the mall, thirty minutes later leading to where he stood on the docks. Fishing seemed to be a popular activity around the base and a viable next option, but as much as he did not mind the hobby, Fade knew he could not sit around anymore as he waited for each bite.

“Hey,” said a voice in his ear; he flinched and spun around to find Ocean standing right there; he had not heard a single footstep. “What’s up?” She asked. Her helmet concealed most of her face, leaving her eyes exposed with a shine of amusement in them at her successful ambush. Suddenly he found himself back in his world, walking through the door of his house only to be frighteningly greeted by his sister… I’ll get back to you, Alyssa.

Fade sighed. “I’m bored, I guess. I mean… not that I’m not glad to be here and not, you know, with SHADOW or whatever, but there’s only so much you can do here, right?”

“Yeah, I get it,” Ocean laughed. “The Fortilla’s kinda boring after you get used to it, right? I kinda went through a phase of that too. Aren’t any sharks around because we have to kill them before they get too close, totally not because of me… I’d say we could get out, take a boat and explore a bit, but I kinda already learned my lesson with that. It’s safer to stay here until we can maybe get the upper hand. SHADOW… I dunno. This whole war’s pretty wack.”

Fade smiled a bit, though it was short-lived as he replayed her words. “There’s sharks?”

“Yeah, and they’re massive.” She spread her arms out for emphasis. “You can ride with them if you get a fishing rod. Hella fun pastime. I’m showing you how that one works next time we get a chance.”

He gulped. “You, uh… wouldn’t force me to ride a shark. I’m not experienced, you know.”

Her eyes twinkled deviously, and she slipped off her helmet to reveal a smirk upturning her lips. “Oh, I’m totally showing you.”

Fade chuckled nervously at her offer (dare he even say threat). The conversation turned to silence, which Ocean broke as soon as she found something to say. “Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask… what’s it like over where you come from? Is it bigger than the island? Once you’ve been around here long enough you kinda just know everything and figure out how to deal with it, but from what you told me the other day, there’s gotta be a lot more going on. I mean, besides the fact we’re kinda at war here. What did you do over there?”

His eyes lit up. “Well, uh, I like to travel. It’s hard to really tell how big the island is since… you know, the flood, but it’s definitely way smaller than… anyway, you know how I’m taking a semester off? From college?”

Ocean nodded.

“I got bored, like I usually do, so I’m giving it a break and I’ll start again in the spring. I’m trying to go around, get some traveling out of my system before I go back. It’s kinda hard to stay in one place, you know?”

“Heh, word. So no war, you can go wherever you want, you can take breaks whenever you want- man. That sounds perfect.”

“I mean, I wouldn’t say perfect… I just got lucky to be on the stable side of things. Lots of things still go bad, just like… uh, here. There’s wars but not where I live.” He looked into the distance at multiple structures similar to The Fortilla floating about. His eyes had wandered to them multiple times over the week, but no one ever seemed to mention them. “What are those buildings over there?”

“What, The Rig?” She asked, not even looking. She did not have to, anyway—the two spaced out structures were the only things there to see, and GHOST had probably seen them a million times over. “One of our bases blew up, like, a while back. SHADOW took them over but I guess they got bored of it when the flood hit. We don’t really go out there unless we need to grab some spare parts. “That’s really it. Maybe I can-”

She paused and held a hand to her earpiece. “Hang on,” she said, turning away. She asked a few questions and hummed agreements before turning back. “I gotta go deal with a few things, assign some tasks out too, but like I was saying, I can probably take you over to explore some time. If it’s clear, obviously.”

“You, uh, you’re sure it’s okay?”

“Yeah, maybe I’ll break something in tech so we have an extra reason to go,” she laughed. She slid her helmet back on and lightly punched his shoulder. “I’ll see ya later.”

Without any hesitance, Ocean jumped straight into the water and began to swim towards the command building, stopping once to wave. Fade waved back and sighed, already bored without her presence.

He realized something as he glanced around the vicinity: there were motorboats parked in every corner of the place. His father had let him drive one once on vacation… maybe he still had it in him. Fade searched the edge of the shores for an easily accessible boat, knowing this was the last thing he should be doing… but he also knew that he would not allow restlessness to overtake him today. If he needed an adventure, he was getting one.

~*~

Fade stumbled as soon as he touched the ground, heaving a sigh of relief as he steadied himself and looked over his unscathed boat. It turned out he had nothing to worry about, as driving a motorboat was just like driving a car. Until he remembered boats do not have wheels, and roads do not sway like the water. Also, he may have been speeding and had almost beached the vehicle completely… nothing to worry about, indeed.

The crumbling buildings of The Rig were far more intimidating now that he observed them up close. The place seems sturdy enough to where it would not fully collapse, which he assumed it would have done long ago if the opposite were true. Nothing to worry about, indeed.

The island the buildings sat on was just as cluttered with garbage and debris as the ones housing The Fortilla, but he had figured out how to navigate through all the junk well enough that it was not much of a pain anymore. He examined the large metal cargo containers around the area—they were all closed, empty, or had some machine in them he did not dare to tamper with or get close to. Noting nothing of interest outside, he took the first staircase in his vision, leading inside. A large vault sat inside, designed exactly as the one back on base, only open. He poked his head inside, expecting, or at least hoping, to find something decently grand, only for the underwhelming conclusion to be a bunch of wooden crates. He kicked one—it sounded hollow.

Duh. The place was abandoned; it would not be a surprise if every inch of this building was exactly the same, but he would have to wait and see.

Each staircase he ascended led into another empty corridor, the only difference being each one higher than the last. Finally, towards the top, an open door led outside. He looked out at The Fortilla, where spotlights illuminated the sky as the sun made its slow descent towards the horizon. It was strange; the sun and moon both rose and fell on the same side. The general features of the island were never anything short of bizarre. There was its sense of time, which felt like it went by at the speed of light, yet at the same time, dragged on all day. The weather had no variation—though he supposed it was only the season—and instead opted for the same humid, partly cloudy sky, which transformed into a beautiful array of colored lights in the crystal clear night sky. Finally, needless to say, there were the various nonhuman lifeforms who wandered about, from the cat-human hybrid to a literal tree he had seen once or twice around base.

He took a step outside, only to find his foot midair as he realized there was a drop, and that there were voices coming from somewhere above him.

“What about that guy we saw on that boat?”

“Nah, he’s helpless. Don’t worry about it.”

Are they talking about me? Fade narrowed his eyes and stepped back inside. He found a door on the opposite wall—it blended in well enough that he missed it before. He carefully turned the wheel in the middle and pried it open; it led outside and up another staircase. The voices grew louder as he climbed up, chatting and laughing without any care in the world.

At the top, two women sat together over a railing, a bag of fast food between them. He recognized one of them from around The Fortilla, a mostly absent GHOST agent who always had a shining new trinket adorning her neck or wrists when she decided to loudly declare her “golden” presence. The other he had never seen before, though he assumed that to be true for half of the island’s residents. He had only seen a good fourth of the island, after all.

As much as he wanted to explore this upper level thoroughly, he did not want the extra confrontation. Much to his disappointment, the entire building had been empty thus far, so he likely would not find anything exciting up here. He went to turn around, but he must have moved his feet a little too loudly, or the girl with black pigtails had really good hearing. She spun around and locked eyes with him, freezing him in his spot as her smile faded.

The GHOST agent turned and narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him. He wished he had his cloak to hide in, but he had left it sitting on his bed. “What do you want? We’re kinda busy here.”

Fade sputtered out some gibberish answer. The other girl sipped loudly from a straw. “If you need something for your base, you can look around. We won’t bother you. Maybe Aura will, though, she kinda watches people like a hawk.”

Aura elbowed her, though she never took her eyes off of him. “Thought you weren’t supposed to leave, that’s what I heard. How’d you get here on your own, you a spy now?”

“Uh, no, just exploring,” he replied, glancing past them—two strange objects hung from a crane. One closely resembled a large missile, and he gulped before turning back. “No one knows I’m here, except for you now, I guess.”

Aura looked back at the other girl and smirked. “I heard SHADOW lurks around, trying to hog all the leftover tech every night. Should probably leave before it gets dark, else they’ll come and get us all.”

Her friend rolled her eyes and smiled. “Yeah, um, she’s right. I think the sharks come out at night, too, so you should-”

“I’m not leaving until I actually see danger.” Fade crossed his arms. Maybe he wanted to believe them just to get out of this building and its potential dangers, such as the missiles… and to avoid an argument. But he was no fool; he could see clearly through their efforts, and he believed Ocean over them either way. “You’re just trying to get me out of here.”

They looked at each other; the girl with glasses cleared her throat nervously. “Can you keep a secret?”

“Uh, I can try,” Fade said, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s not really my strong suit, unless it’s really life-threatening or something.”

Aura stepped forward, pointing a finger at him. “Okay, so you won’t run off and make a big deal if I tell you Crys here is a SHADOW member?”

Fade looked between them. SHADOW, the supposed bad guys Jules had saved him from when they met… and these two were friends?

He sighed. Assuming no insider information was being exchanged between the two, they were not technically doing any wrong.
“Yeah, okay. Uh… I’m gonna check out the rest of the place.”

Aura waved dismissively, and Fade could not have left that conversation any quicker. He warily eyed the hanging missile as he snuck around the corner. There were more oil machines and tech which had been untouched by any of the wreckage, the latter all similar to the panels found all over The Fortilla’s command building. With each part of this run-down structure he explored, he could see how its rusted, yet color parts fit into The Fortilla’s construction.

He pressed a few computer buttons—they did nothing, seeing as they were not powered— and tuned in to Aura and Crystal’s conversation as he tiptoed around. It was not that he meant to eavesdrop, just that… Well, they were not exactly quiet.

“Dig up anything cool lately?”

“Not really… I haven’t been digging much at all, really, I would’ve invited you if I did. Bronco and I found a really big load of these cool gems a week or something before the flood hit. I haven’t been motivated to do that lately with him missing, though… like you are with your brother right now.”

“Tch, Guild always ends up lost. He’s probably fine. He’ll find me. Always does.”

“Don’t you worry?”

“...okay, it has been a while, but it’s whatever, he’ll be fine. Definitely. Moving on… what do you think they’ll do with the knight armor?”

“I thought I saw her earlier, actually… She was talking to some of our henchmen, but I think she disappeared right after.”

Fade remembered Ocean mentioning a knight found off the shores of Sweaty Sands—were they talking about the same one? Potentially working with SHADOW? Maybe I should tell Ocean. To be safe. He kicked away a small crate after nearly tripping over it.

“Oh, great. More war people. It’s so dumb. They all act like they can control us, well, news flash, you can’t. Some of us got more important things to do, like, treasure hunting? Way more important.”

“I mean, they don’t seem to care about any of us from Athena, huh? That’s why we’re out here, isn’t it?”

From Athena. That certainly caught his attention. Fade crept back over to them and sat on a large crate; they stopped talking as soon as they saw him. He recalled his conversation with Drift and the little details he told him about the place, the “old island” which half of the island’s residents came from. He had been long hoping to ask more about it, but Drift had yet to return to The Fortilla. Maybe he could finally get more answers. “Athena?”

“Oh yeah, you’re one of them , Aura said, spitting out the last word. She looked over at The Fortilla and rolled her eyes. “I swear, they’re so judgy. That girl, Journey, she was all ‘ aren’t you from SHADOW?’ Who cares, the world doesn’t revolve around this stupid war. We could all just leave if we wanted to and they wouldn’t even care.”

Crystal raised her eyebrows at her. “Are you done?”

Aura took a long, exaggerated breath and sat back down. “Yeah, I’m done.”

“Okay, well, there’s a lot we could tell you,” Crystal said with a laugh, turning back to Fade. “We used to be on another island about the same size as this one. Things were about the same as they are here, I mean, besides this whole war thing. It was more fun there without it, even though I was only there for a little bit of it… then the whole thing got sucked in by a black hole. Next thing we knew, we were here.”

“Remember that time I pushed you down the crater at Loot Lake? In the shopping cart?”

“Mm, yeah, right after you tried to kill me?”

“Uh, I did not try to kill you, and if I did, it was because you were digging around in one of my spots.”

“I think you’ve been looped too many times because you most definitely tried to kill me.”

Looped. There that word was. Another word of the island he had heard, whether it be in loud conversations from the henchmen or something brisk in the vault room exchanged between leaders. It only seemed to be used in passing conversation, as if everyone but him knew what it meant. From the way it was used, especially now, he had picked up something to do with memory loss… and if there was any explanation for some of the memory problems he had lately, this had to be the answer. “Looped?”

Aura and Crystal looked slowly at each other. The latter elbowed the former. “Your turn.”

“Yeah, I kinda forgot you were here already.” Aura cleared her throat. “Fine. So, the loop, at random times there’s this weird cycle where a bunch of us just… stop existing? Or something. A hundred of us on the island, and we fight each other but you don’t really remember the specifics after, you just remember all the feelings and I guess there’s like deja vu whenever you get into an actual fight here. Us Atheneans, ‘cause that’s a word, we’ve been through it for a while. Again, weird.”

“And there’s… memory loss?” A shiver ran down Fade’s spine. He remembered how, during his conversation with Drift, he had forgotten about his encounters with SHADOW and the butterfly. Then, it all suddenly flooded back. It seemed if he wanted to recount such experiences, he needed to actively think about them, as if manifesting them back into existence. What if the same experience happened, but with the memories of his family? Of his life before being thrown into this world? One day, would everything leave his unconscious thoughts and eventually be forgotten completely?

He could not think about that. Not if he wished to keep his sanity once returning home.

“It… shouldn’t affect anything huge, usually.” Crystal seemed to sense his uneasiness; her words were hesitant, and whether or not she meant it, filled with fake assurance. “Unless you’ve been here for a super long time. All the little things that seem insignificant are what go away first.”

“Yeah, people like Renegade Raider don’t remember anything about their home worlds. She’s been there the longest.” Aura leaned toward him. “Okay, enough with all that. How easy can you find epic treasures around where you come from? Or just gold. That works too.”

“Gold?” Fade raised an eyebrow. He remembered her apparent obsession with the precious metal and shrugged. “I mean… My sister's convinced there’s a lot around where we lived, but I don’t really know. SHe took me panning around some rivers but we, uh, never got lucky.”

“Boring.” Aura leaned back and sipped loudly from her drink.

“But what you said before, about not being able to remember anything… Has anyone tried just leaving?”

“Yeah, but it’s not like we actually can-”

She yelped when Crystal elbowed her. “Oh. Uh, maybe you can?” She deadpanned.

Fade narrowed his eyes at them both. “No, you were saying we can’t leave. What do you mean like that?”

The silence was agonizing. They stared at each other, communicating in subtle facial expressions, as if not wanting to directly reveal a truth he had already begun to string together. He longed for them to reassure him there was a way, any way, he could return to his world. Finally, Crystal solemnly looked back at him, and he felt his heart sink as she told him the final, heart-crushing truth he dreaded to hear since arriving on the island. “No one’s ever made it out… alive, at least. And we don’t even remember much about our own worlds; as far as we know, there’s no way beyond the island. We can’t help you with that part, I’m sorry.”

His downturned gaze frozen at the cold floor, her words repeated over and over and over until his head spun. Without another glance their way, Fade nodded, heading straight for the stairs. He knew he would not be in the right state of mind to properly drive a motorboat back, but he did not care—he needed the truth again from a different team of people, and boy would he get it.

Chapter Text

“I don’t understand what happened here.” Brutus peered down at the disassembled drum gun with a look of pure astonishment. It was the most Jules had seen him emote in a while; his reaction alone told her just how much she messed up her brother’s weapon in all her attempts to do the contrary. “Several smaller parts are missing, and the parts you chose aren’t compatible with this specific model. It shouldn’t have let you attach anything not part of the assembly. I’ll have to look further for the smoke. You should’ve stopped the first time.”

Jules bit her cheek. Now understanding her wrongdoings, she could clearly think back to her initial upgrade attempts and see the parts which she had left sitting on The Authority’s upgrade bench. In her defense, she had been interrupted before she could realize, but how had she been so careless? She sighed. “I just did what I always do when I’m stuck. Rearrange parts and hope for the best. But then people kept calling for me and then there was Skye and I just… forgot.”

She glanced over at Ocean, who sat on the other side of the room with Siona and Tek. Though Skye initially offered to come with her, Jules allowed her to back out once finding Siona there, whom Ocean brought to command in hopes of getting her out of her shell. It seemed to be working; she had been locked into a long conversation with Tek about tech stuff since she arrived.

Ocean looked up, as if feeling her gaze, and flashed her a thumbs up. Though she had not known her very long, Jules found her company to be just as comforting as her honorary sister’s. Her mere presence on the other side of the room gave her enough confidence to be present and not hiding in the warehouse as she normally did. Jules smiled back at her and turned back to Brutus. “I wish I left it alone. I didn’t know what I was doing and this time all I did was mess it up,” she said with a sigh.

Brutus picked up one of the pieces he had taken out. “Midas has a unique model. Even if you understood, none of the pieces you found at a typical bench would have fit. He got this before the island. From your father. ”

He muttered the last part in a darker tone, once which made her shudder. Their father and anything related to his former reign over E.G.O before the island was a topic they tended to avoid. Jules only remembered bits and pieces of her youth and her relationship with her parents, but she remembered just enough to know Midas despised them. Brutus shared his hatred, as he had been the first Midas opened up to after… well. Things went wrong, which Jules had been an unfortunate last minute witness to.

“I’ll have to dig around,” Brutus said. “The people of Athena have experience with drum guns. I might be able to get certain parts from them. I can get it back into service.”

Jules sighed, this time in relief. “Thanks… how long will it be?”

“A few days to a week. Depends on who I get hold of and when I can get started.”

He separated the parts, pushing one group off to the side and piecing the rest back together inside the gun. Jules watched carefully, noting what went where and what would not work. Though she figured she would not attempt another project like this any time soon, it would help to know how to properly do things if it eventually came down to it.

As he put the drum gun back together, Brutus glanced down at her a few times, his strange, unreadable expression crossed with a contemplative gleam in his eyes. As if there was something urgent he needed to get off his chest. “Hazard could have told you this,” he started hesitantly. “She’s skilled in this subject.”

Hazard. It seemed no matter where she was, Jules could never escape her, whether in person or now in conversation. Something about the mention of her this time in particular set off the alarms in her head. Jules looked down at her belt pouch and remembered the piece of paper still folded there: a letter addressed to her… of which the sender’s identity finally dawned on her.

The pieces slowly fitted together once she had shaken off the adrenaline of the battle, but Jules had not wanted to make assumptions then. When she first found the letter, however, it was Hazard who came bursting through the next door over, breathless and almost shocked to see her so suddenly. Of course. Who else could have placed it, unless she were only a proxy? After all, Hazard had also been the one to order Stingray into the empty office with the keys. Now, with Brutus casually bringing her up…

Despite her pushy nature and penchant for getting into everyone’s business, Hazard was never so bad, Jules supposed. Her lack of hostility made for a pleasant surprise, a breath of fresh air from the condescending glares she received from other SHADOW members. There had to be a reason for it, and what other reason than a tip directly from Brutus? The same man who disappeared every so often for “secret” meetings which he dared not tell anyone about, even Midas, who occasionally complained to her about it.

Jules slid the note over to him. He picked it up and skimmed over it. Though Brutus was a mastermind at stoic, unreadable expressions, his eyes always revealed his true emotions if you got past the sunglasses and paid close enough attention. Something flashed in them: recognition at the handwriting. Regardless, he set it back down and returned to working on the drum gun. “What is it?”

“Someone left this for me on the day of the attack,” Jules explained. “I don’t know who, but it told me everything I needed to know about what your guys’ plan was and what I needed to do.”

Brutus finished putting the weapon together and set it aside. “A coincidence.”

“But everything was right. Exactly right.” She glanced around the room and lowered her voice. “It’s Hazard, isn’t it? You and her.”

He stood still, his eyes scanning the wall as he looked for something to say. After a moment of agonizing silence, he sighed deeply and nodded. “Yes. We’ve been working together for a while,” he said, just as lowly. “I stopped contact after the mess of Storm The Agency and getting you back. After the flood we cleared things up and I asked her to keep an eye on you. She told me what really happened with you and Midas. She never told me he disappeared. I found that out when you came here.”

So that’s why he didn’t seem surprised then. Before Jules could ask him any more about this revelation, he shoved the drum gun into a case. “I have to make a few calls,” he announced to the room, and this time, Jules knew exactly what he meant. He left without another word or glance anyone’s way.

Ocean gestured her over. “So what’s happening?”

“He has to find some new parts. Hopefully it’ll be fixed within the week.”

“I bet it won’t even take that long. I’ve seen what you guys can do.”

Jules’s smile was short-lived, however, when Fade came storming in. “So I can’t leave?!”

He paused at the doorway, his heavy breaths carrying through the room. As soon as his eyes locked with hers, they fixed into a cold, withering glare. Her breath caught in her throat. “Is everything okay…?”

Fade slowly walked forward, his fists clenched at his side. “You all lied to my face and told me you were gonna help me get back home, but you can’t do that if there’s no way home, can you?!”

She could only stare at him, mouth slightly agape, as she realized what he had pieced together. The topic of returning home, which he found his way to in every conversation… and the harsh truth behind it which she, the factions, and any looper who had been there long enough knew: there was no way of helping him leave, and there lay nothing but the fabric of space and time to greet anyone who ventured too far away from the island’s borders.

Ocean stood up and stepped his way. He immediately stepped back. “Hey, slow down, dude. What’s going on?”

“I’m trapped on this stupid island forever and no one knows how to get me out of here! Drift lied to me too, didn’t he? He said he was going to help me but I know that was a lie too, wasn’t it? Everyone here is trapped, so what does that mean for me?!”

His eyes never left Jules. When she could not respond, only able to look away in shame, he huffed and stormed out, leaving the room behind him in silence.

Ocean turned to Jules. “So, uh… is it too late to have the islander talk?”

Jules knew there were no excuses. She knew about the island more than any GHOST agent, aside from her brother. It was her, his supposed savior, who neglected to let him down gently or be honest at all. Therefore, it was her who had to set this right. She took a deep breath and headed out the door.

“I understand him.”

Ocean turned to find Siona standing next to her. For the first time since being brought to command, she had spoken to her. “I wish to speak to him well.”

Before she could advance, Ocean grabbed her shoulder. “Maybe you should wait a minute, you know, ‘til he cools off. We can go check on him when she’s done.”

~*~

Though he could have gone anywhere else, Fade did not have the heart to stray any farther than down the flight of stairs he originally came up. He found himself leaning against a railing, staring into the water. Rage burned in the back of his mind as he pondered all the times he had been lied to, each a different variant of “we’ll help you” when seeking answers on his home situation. If they really knew in the first place, I could have been gone already.

Fade looked back on his conversation with Drift, and in this final playback, he picked up on the hesitant moments he had not paid attention to then. The way it took longer to answer his questions about home than any of the rest… every one of his so-called saviors and acquaintances had done nothing more than instill false hope in him. He could feel betrayal crawl up his back, and though his fire still burned, at the front of his mind, he only found emptiness.

As he gazed into the distance, he faintly made out the dark silhouettes of the mountains he always saw, which must have been miles upon miles away. If there truly were no way to leave, why were they there, taunting him? What if they were his ticket home? His eyes trailed to his boat, stationed not too far away. He could hop on, drive off towards that unknown terrain, and perhaps all his problems would be solved. Then, there were Crystal’s words: no one’s ever made it out alive.

Could he really trust that? Could he trust the word of anyone here anymore? What if someone did escape, and no one ever found out? What if, when he reached some unseen barrier, the island did the same teleportation magic it did to bring him here in the first place, and suddenly, he found himself back home?

All he had to do was take the boat…

Right now…

“Hey…”

He did not have to turn his head to know who it was. He had already grown accustomed to her voice—a tone that was deep, soft, and at most times he had spoken to him, reassuring.

But she knew too, didn’t she?

Fade shook his head, his eyes never leaving the silent ocean before him. “You know… I was supposed to meet with my sister the day you found me,” he said softly.
I haven’t seen her in person for more than a year.”

Jules stood behind him, silently searching for the right words to say. This is Skye’s expertise, not mine, she stressed to herself, and she almost regretted sending her away. It was not Skye who brought him here, however, nor was it her who knew so much about their fate. It was not Skye who Fade seemed to find himself more comfortable around… it was and had always been Jules.

From Midas’s constant sheltering in her youth to SHADOW’s brooding eyes when she was their prisoner… in a way, however different their situations were, she knew the feeling of being trapped. Even now, she could always feel the distrusting eyes of GHOST survey her every move, as if daring her to make another mistake. She could never escape the dreadful eyes of the factions, though the general hostility of both the island and her previous world had taught her and most in her similar situation to cope with it in their own strange ways.

Fade had only so recently been ripped from a world that seemed like paradise to her. One without a nagging war and strange concepts. No storm. No loop. Contrary to her missing brother, who she missed like hell despite his careless abandonment of her, a happy family waited for him to return home. It was not fair for her to keep such a secret, and she could not blame him for his anger.

She reached out for his shoulder, but shied away when he abruptly turned around. “Why didn’t you tell me? If you didn’t know, why would you lie to me?”

Jules’s frown deepened. She could only look away once more, her introverted mind unable to string words together, much less execute them. If she had told him that day on the bridge, she knew she could have avoided this. She knew there was no excuse.

As Fade scowled, turning back to the ocean, Jules knew she had to get over herself. So, she set her gloved hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry. I know the most about this and I should’ve told you, but we… I… didn’t want you to be down about it. But if there was any way I could help you go home, I would do it, I would help. I really would.”

Fade repeated her words a few times through his head. It made sense, he supposed… and he could always count on Jules to be genuine. He sighed. “Thanks.”

She smiled warmly, softly, and Fade knew it was pure luck for her to have crossed paths with him on the day they did. Their first encounter itself made him feel more welcome than all the days he spent rotting from boredom at The Fortilla.

A soft, blue glow shone down on both of them. Its color alone told him all he needed to know. Jules gasped beside him, her eyes lighting up in wonder as she stared at what he knew to be his not-so-faithful companion: the rift butterfly.

Jules stood on the tip of her toes to get a better look. The butterfly flew around her a couple times before settling on top of her head. Jules reached up and stuck out her finger. She brought the butterfly to her face when it crawled on and examined it. “This is a rift butterfly, isn’t it? I know about them but I’ve never seen one up close like this… it’s beautiful,” she breathed with an awestruck smile. “Where do you think it came from?”

Fade huffed, his eyes glued to the waves below. “Yeah, I’ve seen it already. Who cares? It’s just a stupid butterfly.”

Jules tore her eyes away from the sight to gape at him. “Stupid?”

“It’s all your fault,” Fade grumbled under his breath. He abruptly turned, his brows furrowed at the butterfly as it continued to crawl up her arm. It felt glasslike and icy against her skin; she almost thought it would shatter at how sharply Fade stared it down. “I’m stuck here because of you! You made me take the mask, you teleported me here and now I can’t even talk to my family! Haven’t you done enough?! Just- just go, leave me alone!”

The butterfly leapt off Jules’s arm and hovered in the air, as if taken aback by his outburst. It hesitantly approached him, then taking a greater stride to land on his head. He swatted at it a few times before his arms dropped limply to his sides. “Why are you still here? I don’t want to see you anymore, just go. ”

His voice broke on his final word. Alerted, the butterfly again leapt backwards. It floated in its place, as if considering his request, before finally flying off, disappearing for good with a small, white flash.

Staring at where the creature disappeared from, Jules’s head snapped to the ground at the sound of a sniffle. Fade had sunk to his knees, his sullen expression still directed at the water. Jules kneeled beside him. “Was all of that true?”

Fade sighed softly, wiping at his eyes. “I followed the- the butterfly through the park and it took me to my mask. The other one. Then it brought me here, and nobody knows where I am, my sister’s probably turning our city upside down looking for me and I can’t even tell her or my family I’m okay. I just- I don’t know what to do, Jules.”

Seeing just how hard he tried to contain his tears in front of her, Jules placed a hand on his knee. “What if I never see them again?” He breathed in shakily. “I’m terrified. ”

He wiped at his eyes again, but despite his efforts, a tear clearly managed to escape and roll down his cheek. In that moment, Jules got over her nerves and reached out for him, pulling him into a cautious, gentle hug. Though hesitant at first, he fell into it, wrapping his arms around her torso and holding on tightly.

His silent tears fell freely as he rested his chin upon her shoulder, matching his breaths to hers in an attempt to calm himself. It felt strange to cry, to show so much vulnerability to someone he had not even known for a month. But there was something so utterly calming about her embrace, something which washed away his worries and made him feel safe. After a final shuddering breath, Fade drew back and wiped away the remaining tears sitting on his cheeks.

Once the rain had passed, he still found so many nagging questions within himself, the hail which had yet to melt. He looked into the distance again. “They said there’s nothing beyond the island, but those mountains over there, why can’t I just go there? What if that helps me back to my home? What’s so bad that’s keeping me, or anyone from leaving? Or at least trying?”

Jules followed his gaze, frowning. She knew this part would come sooner or later. She opened her mouth to explain, however… She knew the easier way to go about this, not to mention, a method far more believable than her words alone. “Come on. I’ll show you.”

She stood up and held out her hand, helping him up with a soft smile. She kept her grasp firm as she led him towards the boat.

Fade leaned slightly over the side, watching with anticipation as they drew farther away from the shore. The farther they went out, a purplish tint stained the atmosphere which made his skin crawl as it became more visible. Jules finally slowed the boat as a translucent blue wall came into view, spreading up into the sky until covered by dark violet clouds.

He looked at Jules for an explanation. An indiscernible look of sorrow filled her eyes as she stared into the wall. “What is this?” Fade asked. He flinched when several distant beams of lightning struck at quick intervals.

“It’s the storm.” Jules crossed her arms to herself. “You asked how the island flooded before. It was… my fault. My brother and I, we were trying to stop, to break it, to control it, even. Something went wrong with our device and it made everything worse.”

An overwhelming urge came over him to reach out and touch it; Jules quickly grabbed his wrist before he could stick his hand through the wall. He sent her an odd look, which diminished when she closed her eyes, exhaling deeply. “It’s not… it could kill you. That’s why we can’t leave. It’s circled around the whole island. It doesn’t move in, except for this whole process called the loop that no one really understands. Midas does, maybe, and the people from Athena, but otherwise…”

Fade nodded, sitting back in his seat. “Okay. The storm. What do you mean by, it can kill me?”

“It works like radiation, and it only takes two minutes at most to get you unless you’re really smart about how you go in it. It gets more aggressive the longer you’re in it, and even if you survive long enough, the island just… ends.”

“Has it always been like this?”

“Always, and the storm’s been any less violent.”

She backed up the boat and turned around, thinking back to her first few months on the island when she was still a teenager and the E.G.O vs A.L.T.E.R war had gotten its footing in their new circumstances. Midas one day rushed in and dragged her out the door, took her on a boat, and showed her the very prison wall standing before them now. She remembered staring at it with awe and reaching out as Fade had done, only to be pulled back by her brother as he explained how dangerous it was. For those months, Midas had developed a strange obsession with it, stopping at nothing to figure out everything he could about the storm… even testing out his own durability inside it.

Brutus found him on the edge of the island and practically carried him home. He had been so sick and tired, both from the storm’s aggression and the exhaustion of his endless studies finally catching up with him. Any longer executing his stupid ideas, and she was sure she would have lost her brother.

How could he have believed they could fight it? How could she have believed, much less agreed?

She shook her head. Maybe it was finally time to heed Ocean’s advice and not worry about it so much. It was her turn for questioning, anyway. “Who told you about all of this?”

Fade flinched, remembering his promise to the two friends to keep their secret. Of course, he was never good with keeping them, but he did not have to reveal all the details, right? “Uh… Crys. That’s what it was.”

Wait, that’s the enemy girl. “No- no, not- nobody, ” he stuttered out, mentally giving himself a facepalm.

Jules thought for a moment. “Crystal?” To his surprise, she did not seem alerted. “Was she with Aura?”

“Yeah.” This time, Fade physically slapped his palm to his forehead. “I mean-”

Jules just laughed. “Durr Burger?”

“You, uh… you know about them?”

“ Everyone knows. Crystal’s especially obvious sometimes, and Aura doesn’t have a problem telling everyone she can do what she wants.”

They soon arrived back at The Fortilla, where Ocean and Siona approached them as soon as they were off the boat. Ocean slung her arm around Fade’s neck. “Hey, is everything good now?”

Fade looked between the three of them, his gaze ending on Jules. With a small smile, he nodded.

“Cool. Hey, Siona wanted to talk to you,” Ocean said, nudging her forward.

Siona glanced back at her, as if asking permission to speak. Ocean nodded at her. “You are new here, correct? To this island.”

When Fade nodded, she closed her eyes, letting her mouth hang open as she quieted second thoughts and spoke again. “I am not.”

The trio before her immediately shifted in varying levels of surprise or confusion. She expected this, though she could not say she was prepared for their silent reactions. Either way, none of them interrupted, so she continued. “The storm, the loop, the island. I have been here before. A long time ago, when this island took on a different form. Athena.”

She found herself fidgeting with her hands—a rare habit, always masked by her need for professionalism. Her nerves had already overtaken her, and she knew she could no longer keep to her formalities as her eyes drifted to the ground. “I was with a team of fellow astronauts. They all became bound to this place. I did not. I managed to escape and my memories remained mostly intact.” With hesitance, she looked back up at Fade. “You have been here for how long?”

Fade had to think for a moment, and even then, he was not too sure with his answer. He supposed it did not matter all that much. “Two weeks, maybe.”

Siona frowned, both in dread and a hint of confusion. “They were gone in one. The nature of this reality seems to have changed since my last visit, but… I warn you, all of you, to be careful. And I wanted to say that… I understand you. Your desire to leave, I currently share. When I escaped the first time, it was my brother who monitored from outside. Now, he is lost somewhere here, and I fear if I do not find him soon, I could lose him, may it be in memory or from unseen forces. Such as this war.”

Her frown deepened as she recalled the circumstances which expelled them from their last reality. How, in a moment of temptation after days of subtle manipulation, Deo chose a side in the war which plagued the planet. The side labelled by their allied clients as harmful menaces, the side they had come to help dispel. Traitors, their allies would shout at them. She in turn would shout at Deo, questioning what he had done.

The tension, then the threats, then the weapons. They would scramble to their ship, narrowly escaping as both sides cursed their names. Such was the cost of meddling with things they were not sent to meddle with, and as long as she stayed with GHOST, it was not a far off worry that the same could happen here.

They had been so kind, however. Understanding and generous and so willing to hear her out… Perhaps it was not such a bad thing to be here, and perhaps they could help her.

“This island is and has always been a strange place. Your frustration is well-placed, and I can only imagine what you must be feeling, because it is that frustration and that madness which kept me from losing my mind and my memories the first time.”

Siona took Fade’s hands, looking between the trio with a newfound spark in her eye. “In time, maybe, we may all escape. But for now, it is in our best interests to keep each other grounded. So, I will try to be more active in my time here, and I will not leave so soon.”

Though she shyly uttered the last part, she knew past all her doubts that she meant it. She squeezed Fade’s hands tighter, her eyes softening as she looked him straight in the eyes. “And I will share your pain so you are not alone. So we may both keep our minds from driving us mad.”

With a small smile, she turned back to Ocean. “If you will allow me… I am willing to share more. I know you’ve been seeking answers.”

Ocean beamed. “Totally. We’ll keep you here as long as you want.”

As Ocean led the crew to a less tight spot to catch up, Fade could finally smile fully as he trailed just behind the group, listening to their laughter. It was strange, but with the sudden knowledge he would be trapped in this damned fort longer than he hoped, it did not seem so bad after all.

Perhaps, with these new friends—he almost dared to call them a second family—he could almost call this strange island some sense of a home. A hideaway from the responsibilities and bores of his previous world. They continued to be nothing but kind and caring, doing everything they could to keep his mind from the subject. It would be a long time before he fully came to terms with the situation, but as long as they were by his side… perhaps he could learn to cope with this new lifestyle.

Chapter Text

Drifter Log #6: Kit

It’s good for me to go out again! Dad’s been busy with things at The Fortilla and I haven’t been there in a while, but it’s okay because there’s too much water there, anyway. Don’t want to get my fur or robot wet! I missed going to Catty Corner with him though, so I’m gonna ask if we can go when Lynx drops me off. I heard Jules is back there too! I missed her. I can’t wait to show her the robots I made, I know how she loves her mechanics. That reminds me, I have to show her the launcher thing I made, too. She designed it herself but she never got to try and make it because of stupid SHADOW. Brutus helped me figure it out, that and a cool shotgun! I haven’t been able to use them. They’re both at Catty Corner, too.

I wish everyone didn’t think they have to watch me all the time. They keep telling me it’s too dangerous. I may be small, but I can fight, too! I know Jules gets it. She says her brother always watched her when she was small and she didn’t like it. I bet I can convince her to convince dad that I can take care of myself. Then he’ll let me go places more by myself. Or he’ll let me hang around him more.

Anyway, off to The Fortilla I go!

Signing off,

Kit

“Hi, Jules!”

Jules raised her welding helmet to sit atop her head, unable to help the wide smile which spread across her face upon hearing a familiar childlike voice. It seemed Meowscles’s hints that she picked up were correct: today would finally be the day Kit made his appearance, whom Jules had been asking about since settling in at The Fortilla.

She gently pushed aside a recently started project and spun around; her hands immediately flew to her mouth. Kit sat atop a human-sized mech before her, made of scrapped metals and spare appliances and car parts. She remembered sewing the exact design together in her sketchbook, her eyes darting around the box factory for inspiration as Meowscles and Kit discussed with her a way to allow the latter better mobility. Meowscles approached and stood at his son’s side, holding the very sketchbook she thought was lost to her forever. Both cats held the same adorable wide-eyed smile upon their faces, the one which only they were capable of wearing, as the sketchbook hung flipped open to the page of the original design.

Jules had not been given a chance to think about the project, as complications had arisen which otherwise required her full attention, to say the least… Now, here they were, pridefully showcasing it to her in a grand reveal, built exactly to her vision. “This looks amazing,” she gushed; joyous tears spring to her eyes. “How did-”

“Kit’s idea,” Meowscles said, handing her the sketchbook. “We took parts from Catty Corner when we converted it. The little genius did most of the work.”

“Hey, I’m not so little anymore,” Kit said, crossing his—the mech’s—arms. He stepped forward and enveloped Jules in a hug. The metal arms rubbing against her skin felt odd at first, but she fully welcomed it, knowing she would easily get used to the feeling. She reached up to scratch behind his ear; Kit purred and leaned his head into her hand. “I really missed you, Jules.”

“You said ‘Catty Corner?’” Jules asked, stepping back.

Kit’s eyes widened again. “Yeah, dad! Jules hasn’t seen it yet. Can we go up there? I wanna see my robots again! I haven’t been there since we last went together, but that was weeks ago.”

Meowscles frowned. “Lynx was supposed to take you up there.”

“Yeah, but she’s busy, says she’s working on her catsuit again. She didn’t touch it since she got hurt at The Agency and she wanted to get it ready to go again. So I was just stuck at home since you won’t let me go out, but we can go today, right? Can we?”

“I don’t know… Boss has me scheduled around here today. I was thinking we could do some fishing in-between.”

“Oh.” Kit’s ears drooped a bit. “Okay. It was just a thought.”

Hearing his dejected voice, Jules gave him another scritch. “I could take him there,” she offered to Meowscles cautiously.

He glanced between her and her tools scattered across the table. “You’re busy with something, aren’t you?”

She shrugged. “I could use a break, plus I could get extra parts from the factory if I need to.”

Kit’s ears perked back up. “It’ll be fine, dad! Right? Sparkplug might even be there, so I’ll have extra eyes on me.”

They both faced him with eager smiles, and Meowscles could no longer resist, even plastering on one of his own. “Alright. But come back no later than sundown, okay?”

“Alright dad!” Meowscles could only give his son a quick pat on the head before he took off. “C’mon, Jules!”

Jules laughed at his excitement. “Jules.” Meowscles stopped her as she started to follow. “It Sparkplug’s there, you can come back if you need to. Just… let me know if you do, okay? Can I trust you?”

Her smile faltered at the last question, though she supposed she could not blame him for his uncertainty. She gave him a pet and firmly nodded. “I won’t let anything happen to him. I promise.”

~*~

“Did you program this in?”

Jules could only laugh as Kit rolled on his mech along the yellow steel bridge. It was a startling (understatement of her year) surprise to watch the top half of his mech fly off and somersault onto the ground, but her worry quickly replaced itself with awe when the wheel inflated and the lower half jumped aboard, creating a makeshift motorcycle.

“Yeah, I did it all by myself! I showed Lynx when she was able to take me last,” he raved. A rock song blasted from an unidentifiable speaker, which they found themselves headbanging to as they strolled along. “Dad doesn’t know yet, I have to do things a bit in secret because he doesn’t trust me to do stuff by myself sometimes…”

Sounds familiar, she wanted to sigh.

Sure enough, she could see through the beams of the bridge that the former box factory had a few upgrades. A tall sign reading ‘GAS’ added the most defining touch to the added buildings. A few cars were parked around the vicinity; a pair of islanders moved about through the windows of a small convenience store. A third person sat alone at a nearby picnic bench, and Kit only needed to see the red cap on their head before speeding over. “Hi, Sparkplug!”

Sparkplug turned, spinning a gear around her finger. Her casual smile brightened a bit as she reached down to pet him. “Hey, Kit, it’s been a bit. We keep missing each other,” she said. “Lots of business comes by, it looks like. The robots are doing just fine. It kinda feels like you guys leave me to handle things myself though, which is weird, considering this is Catty Corner after all.”

“I know,” Kit laughed. He returned his mech to normal form and sat across from her. “Dad gets really busy and now Lynx is too and they won’t let me come by myself. This time I got Jules to come along, though!”

Jules lingered a few feet away. Sparkplug raised an eyebrow at her and simply said, “hey.”

With a small frown towards her blunt reaction, Jules nodded briefly and sat next to Kit. Sparkplug eyed her carefully. “You staying safe?”

“What do you mean?”

She glanced in the direction of The Authority, though it could not be seen from their angle. “Just that a lot of rumors are going around. A lot of people are still mad about the flood.

“Oh yeah, The Device,” Kit said. “But it was an accident, Jules, right? And dad said you never actually turned SHADOW! Those stupid guys made you, right?”

Jules’s frown deepened. This was not a conversation she hoped to have once coming here. “I… yeah, Midas and I were forced. I managed to get out and they just… let me go, so I’m, um, glad to be here now.”

“Sparkplug helped us out a lot while you were gone,” Kit said, turning to the mechanic with a smile of adoration. “She helped me build the robots and taught me a lot of things and showed me how she fixes stuff! She’s really cool, Jules, huh? Like you!”

A pang of jealousy hit her chest. She nodded, swallowing it down. It’s not my place to say otherwise. I wasn’t around to have the audacity to. “Where are the robots you keep talking about?” She asked, clearing her throat.

“They’re probably all bunched up near the factory. They still tend to do stuff like that. I can go get one,” Sparkplug offered.

“No, that’s fine,” Jules said, a little sharper than intended. “I’ll go find them.”

With a small wave, she set off towards the factory, which was now surrounded by fencing and large containers. There, a robot similar in detail to Kit’s mech turned the corner, patrolling with an assault rifle. She looked into the yard, where several more were clustered near a vault, as Sparkplug anticipated. “Wow,” she breathed—where had they found all the scraps to do this?

“Aren’t they cool?” Kit said, startling her from behind. “Watch this: henchmen! ”

All at once, the henchmen turned to him and stood at ease, one even dropping its assault rifle to salute him. “They keep track of everything while you and your dad are gone?” Jules asked.

“Yep! They listen to him and Lynx and Sparkplug, too. We oughta get them to listen to you, too.”

He took her hand and dragged her to the garage entrance. Together, they lifted up the door and ducked inside. It had been entirely converted into a workshop. Extra parts, replacements for his mech, Jules assumed, hung on the walls and were strewn across a set of counters. “How long was this place in development?”

“Pretty much right after everyone moved to The Fortilla. By the way, what were you working on in the warehouse? It looked really neat, even though it didn’t look very big yet.”

Jules’s gaze fell to the floor. A fuzzy memory flashed through her head. For a moment, she remembered a sense of peace. Rainbows glistening, not a cloud in the sky… then, a rush of wind, and Ohm had flown off her arm, never to be seen again. “I’m trying to make another robot. Like Ohm,” she said with a sigh. “I don’t know where he is and-”

“Ohm’s missing? That’s a shame.” Kit stopped in front of the counters and hopped off his mech. “I miss fighting with him. He always tried to steal my food and peck me!”

Jules chuckled and picked a gear up off the floor. “I miss him too… I’ve had him around for a while, since I was still a kid. He was my best friend when Midas was always busy preparing for his leader stuff. I told you this once, right?”

“Yeah, and when I first met him, he stole my fish right away and I couldn’t catch him. Then dad told me to stop stealing food!”

“To be fair, that was his first.” Jules playfully scratched the top of his head. Kit nudged her hand away and swatted at it. “So, he had a good reason to steal it, since it wasn’t yours in the first place.”

“Whatever.” Kit watched with a smile as she picked a few more items up off the counter and examined, likely thinking of all the possibilities she could create from them. It was good to have her back, and he wished he could think like her. Sure, Sparkplug was cool and all, but she did not know him the way Jules did.

He could tell just how much she missed Ohm, and he had overheard his dad saying she could leave him if something dire called to her… Well, another owl companion was a dire enough call, right? “You should go back and work on your thingy! For the Ohm 2.0.”

“I wouldn’t say Ohm 2.0,” she said, her enthusiasm dampening. “I don’t want to leave you by yourself, either-”

“But Sparkplug is here, remember? I’ll be fine, really, you should go work on your thing! I’ll just work on my mech and you can probably come visit sometime at Lynx’s house, right?”

Jules glanced between him and the gears in her gloved hand. She had promised Meowscles nothing would happen… but the location was well-guarded, right? She sighed. “Okay, I’ll tell your dad I’m going back, then… it’s okay if I borrow some parts, right?”

“Yeah, anything you need,” he said, climbing back onto his mech. They gathered together a few tools and equipment, all of which they shoved into a spare toolbox. Afterward, Kit practically shoved her over to the garage, though careful not to accidentally push her into the door. “You have to tell me when you finish it!”

“It’ll probably take a few days, but I will. You’re sure you can handle it here by yourself?”

“ Yes, I’ll be fine, Jules,” Kit urged. “I won’t even leave the building! It’ll be fine, really.”

Jules smiled and nodded. “Okay, well… I’m glad I got to see you again. I might see if I can come along to get you when it’s time to go. Stay safe.”

They shared one last hug before she went on her way. As soon as she disappeared, Kit dashed into his little workshop, gathering as many trinkets and tools he could find and dumping them onto the counters. Today, he would do exactly what she did: he would use the parts before him to construct a masterpiece, and he would wing whatever that vision of a masterpiece would become.

His eyes trailed back to his mech. It would be a nice start.

Time flew by as he tinkered with the specs of it. He had not given it a proper tune-up since its creation. By the time he took a step back for a break, he was sure Jules had long since made it back to The Fortilla. Next on the list, it was time to test the speed limits.

“Hey, Kit?”

Sparkplug ducked into the garage. “Look, I’ll be back as quick as I can, but I remembered I have to meet with someone over near the docks about, uh… car parts. How long do you think you can hold off on your own?”

Kit looked down at the little contraption in his paws he had thrown together on a whim. “I’ll be fine! The robots will help out, right?”

Sparkplug nodded. “They’ll hold the fort well enough if it comes down to that. This shouldn’t take long. Tell your dad for me, okay?”

~*~

Some two hours or later, Sparkplug showed no sign of returning. Kit did not mind; rather, he preferred having the place to himself. Though he would have loved to hang out with his father or his friends at The Fortilla, he found he could never have moments like this to himself. His parents seemed to think he needed a supervisor every second of the day. It did not help that recently, he would always be stuck at home with Lynx, while his dad continued to take care of more dangerous work around GHOST.

I’m gonna be a grown kit, he grumbled to himself, fumbling to untangle some wiring. I wish they would let me be on my own sometimes.

Perhaps that was why he exploited Jules’s eagerness to see him; he always had her wrapped around his paws. The most freedom given to him since the flood were the times where his parents were busy and he would be left to his own devices with Sparkplug during Catty Corner’s construction. He could never escape their prying eyes no matter what he did or where he trotted.

Finally, he could have some peace. Nust me and my own henchmen.

Then, he heard a distant bang.

Kit’s ears perked up when metal clattered somewhere outside. He hopped onto his mech and headed towards the source… where he found one of his robots lying in the middle of the road. He crouched next to it and pawed at its head, watching as it sputtered, short-circuited, spasmed, and finally went still.

He frantically spun around, keeping visuals of the other henchmen in the vicinity. They turned side to side with static movements as they too tried to identify the root of their predicament. Kit flinched when another bang came from the mountains, matching, he realized, a gunshot. Behind him, another robot fell.

Kit cowered into the seat of his mech, his ears pressed flat against his head. “H…Hello?” He cautiously sounded out. Nothing responded but what he could fully acknowledge as a sniper shot, a sound which sent him darting up to his room in the factory, rummaging through drawers and blankets for what could be his only hope of survival.

“Where is it?” He hissed. His robotic hands moved faster within the minute. Finally, buried underneath a pile of boxes, he pulled out his two prized weapons: a charge shotgun, upgraded to do deadly damage courtesy of Brutus, and a shockwave grenade launcher, the contraption thought of by none other than Jules.

The window crashed behind where he stood. He jumped around the corner, ducking into his mech seat as shards of glass flew inwards, luckily not reaching far enough to pierce his center tire. A bullet shell rolled across the floor. A large, jagged hole gaped through the window. A steady stream of gunfire began to ring through Catty Corner as his henchmen did their best to defend against the threat. Kit recognized the weapons of the enemies: heavy artillery, matching his father’s weapon of choice.

Why is SHADOW here? He pushed the door open into the main room and ducked against the wall, cowering further into his seat when a different door slammed directly underneath him. Footsteps poured inside. Items clattered against the ground and one of the tall storage shelves beside the balcony shook. He hopped off the mech and peeked over the railing; several SHADOW henchmen were knocking items over and rummaging around.

“Take whatever you want and find the cat,” ordered an accented voice. A familiar woman in red stepped into the garage, though Kit did not know enough SHADOW to identify who exactly she was. “Bring him to me, but don’t harm him, no?”

They’re after me…?

As quickly and quietly as he could, Kit jumped back onto his mech and inched closer, holding his shotgun in the air. Two henchmen passed under. He held down the trigger, listening to the gun’s hiss. One of the henchmen froze upon hearing the weapon charge up. Kit aimed for the head and released, closing his eyes as the shot rang through the building.

“There he is!” The woman shouted. Kit dashed back several doors, stopping on the outside balcony as a set of henchmen began to rush the stairs. He pulled out his launcher and fired, counting a second before jumping into the air as the shockwave blasted him higher. He landed on the yellow container stacked above the vault— right, the vault! That’s gotta be what they’re after!

Actually, he did not even have access to it. His keycard stayed at home, and even if it were here, he would never let SHADOW get ahold of it. This was his domain.

Kit peered over the edge, watching as the henchmen poured out of the building from several exit points. A few of his own army rushed over to take on the horde One robot managed to down three enemies until the woman in red caught up to it. She knocked it over and allowed one of her own to take the rifle from its grasp. She stepped on top of it, took out a pickaxe matching her color scheme, and lodged it between its middle parts. The robot went limp.

Kit shot a shockwave grenade between his remaining henchmen, who were struggling to hit their shots, and SHADOW’s henchmen. An opposing group redirected the focus to him and rushed up the stairs of the container. Kit shot another shockwave for himself, launching himself towards the gas station where several more enemies rummaged through the convenience store.

His other room was on the second floor—maybe he could make it! He could seek refuge and call for help-

Before that thought could be finished, he stumbled onto the ground. The top half of his mech fell with him; a bullet hole had punctured and deflated the tire. He had no time to mourn over it as he galloped for the stairs to his office. Perhaps he was small enough to be undetectable; alas, that meant he could not reach the door handle, even on his hinds. He scratched on the door a few times, then jumped up in a desperate attempt to take hold of the handle. A few vain attempts later, he hung on and bounced, throwing his tiny body around as much as possible to get the damned thing open. It finally creaked slowly inwards, allowing him to jump inside.

Kit slinked into the corner behind his desk. Everything had gone silent. Not a single footstep or movement rustled outside. His only means of contacting someone were through his mech, though even if he tried, someone would surely hear him.

At last, a single set of steps grew closer and closer to the building. A pair of boots. Only one person amongst the SHADOW menaces wore them. The distant engine of a helicopter rumbled in the distance. Maybe backup is here…!

Kit crouched into a pouncing position. The footsteps grew louder, passing underneath, then up the stairs and to the office, stopping in front of the door. It creaked open again. In stepped the woman in red. Her eyes twinkled behind her glasses as she scanned the room, soon falling upon him. Though he planned to pounce, any confidence he wore vanished when they looked eyes.

“Aw, it seems the little kitty is trapped,” she sneered. Kit hissed as she tiptoed closer to him. She reached over to pick him up; he swatted at her hand. She crouched down before him, and to his surprise, her smile softened. She slowly reached her hand back out, stopping it just in front of his nose and allowing him to sniff. “I’ll be gentle now, hm? Rue will take good care of you.”

Regardless of her gentle tone, Kit hissed again and backed further into the corner. There was no more space. It seemed he could do nothing but struggle as she picked him up, handling him in such a way his claws could not reach her. With a loud yowl, he gave in, going limp in her arms once he realized nothing more could be done.

“Let’s go,” she barked to the henchmen. The helicopter heard before had landed on top of the factory, clearly not for him. Kit whimpered as Rue carried him out; he had no doubts he would suffer the same fate as Skye had just a couple weeks ago.

As they descended into the air, he gazed at his broken mech lying in the middle of the road, keeping the first robot company who had fallen to SHADOW’s games. A series of shots rang out; the gas pumps exploded in a fiery, blazing mess.

Perhaps his father and all those prying eyes at GHOST were right. His lack of supervision only ended in disaster, and he had let everyone down.

~*~

“It doesn’t shoot as fast.”

Jules glowered at the drum gun between her hands, firing a few quick rounds herself to ensure her ears did not deceive her. She had immediately noticed something to be off, and knew no doubt Midas’s sharp ears would not be pleased if he were to suddenly show his face again.

“I couldn’t locate the exact parts, but I got as close as I could,” Brutus explained. “It’s a small difference, but I’m sorry.”

Jules sighed. “He’s going to know I messed it up, like I always do with his stupid plans. I should’ve left it alone, but I wanted to do something right, and now we’re here because I keep over or under-calculating and making everything worse-”

“Hey. Relax, Jules.” Brutus set a hand on her shoulder. “Midas isn’t here to notice.”

Her frown deepened. A question she thought had left her once again returned to nag her. “Do you think he’s… alive?”

Something twitched in his expression. Before he could respond, Meowscles rushed in. “I need to head to Catty Corner,” he said, a razor sharp edge in his voice. “Can you cover the rest of the shipments?”

“What’s the rush?”

He eyed Jules in an icy cold glare. “Lynx called. She’s up at Catty Corner. Kit isn’t there and it’s ransacked.

“What?” Jules froze. This could not be the case. No, she had called the second they reached the yellow bridge and Kit had spoken to confirm it. She made extra sure Sparkplug was there when she left. Everything had been perfectly fine… but Meowscles did not believe any of that now. “No, I- I made sure everything was okay when I left, Meow, I swear- I don’t know what’s happening-”

“Well, I’m gonna find out,” he said sharply, and with no room for debate, he set off.

~*~

“This wasn’t how I left it, that’s for sure.”

Sparkplug scanned the destructive site of Catty Corner. Small flames flickered in place where the gas pumps once stood. Picnic benches laid toppled and sideways. All robots but one—Sparkplug’s own—sat tattered and SHADOW henchmen were dead on their backs. There were no signs of life. “I got caught up with a client,” she confessed—she never thought being gone for a little too long could lead to something like this. “I ended up getting stuck there longer than I wanted to, I couldn’t exactly say no.”

Meowscles growled. “What client is more important than my son?!”

“Look, I can’t say his- their name. I couldn’t reschedule, they’re really picky about when we meet. I don’t even have a way to contact them except for the times they set up. I should’ve thought about that ahead of time. I’m sorry.”

“Hey, we’ll figure this out, okay?” Lynx stroked the back of Meowscles’ head, trying to calm him. “You should go.”

Sparkplug nodded and headed for her truck. “We checked everywhere,” Lynx told Meowscles. “The vault, the factory, every room. He’s not here.”

With an aggravated sigh, Meowscles charged towards the factory to search himself. A loud squawk stopped him in his tracks. He looked up. “Ohm?”

GHOST’s very own robotic owl companion flew into view above. Meowscles held his arm out for him to perch onto. Ohm cocked his head to the side, stared him in the eye, and squawked again. “You’re back? Do you know what happened?”

Ohm nodded, flapping his wings. His eyes glowed and projected an image into the air. An audio transmission began to play, and the voice which came from it had Meowscles clenching his fists harder with each word he heard.

It was her all along.

~*~

“Jules?”

Jules looked up from her project for the third time, at last just a few parts away from finishing its robotic endoskeleton. Skye stood at the entrance of the warehouse, her face written with worry. Jules bounced up.  “Any word on Kit?”

Skye nodded. “They want you in the vault room. I don’t know what’s going on, but everyone looked pretty upset, so I told them I’d get you.”

That’s not a good sign. “Okay,” she nodded, attempting a smile which she knew would convince nobody.

The moment she walked into command, her eyes lit up when a familiar figure flew over to her. “You found him?” A real smile spread across her face as Ohm rested atop her shoulder and nuzzled his head against her cheek.

“He found us, actually,” Meowscles growled. Her smile faded at how full of hatred she realized his expression wore, something even fiercer than the glare he had given her before he had left.

A light flashed before her. She looked to her companion to find his orange eyes glowing, projecting an image of a wavelength. It swerved and bounced as it played an audio recording which made her blood run cold.

“ I can get him to Catty Corner alone. They won’t suspect anything. Chaos Agent was right to let me go—the more they start to trust me, the more dirt I can get for you. ”

It was her voice, but she never said that. “No,” she whispered. All eyes viciously watched her. She took a step back, frantically shaking her head. “No, I- I didn’t-”

“See, what the hell did I say?” TNTina spat in her face. No one bothered to restrain her this time. “All part of the plan, huh? Pretending you-”

“Wait, but that couldn’t have been Jules,” Skye said cautiously, though even her eyes began to glimmer with uncertainty. Still, she stepped in front of Tina and tightly grabbed Jules’s hand, feeling as her body began to tremble. “It didn’t sound anything like her… ‘dirt?’ That’s not even something she would say.”

“Who else would it be, Skye?!” Tina argued back. “Why else would she come back? Do we gotta start a tally? Let’s see. She flooded the island-”

“By accident. ”

“She went to SHADOW-”

“They forced her!”

“You weren’t there, Skye, we don’t know that they didn’t just leave us in the dust on purpose!”

“Well, you weren’t there, either!”

“Yeah, well she’s the one who blew up the damn Shark!”

Whatever chatter that had begun to spark amongst the agents in the room died immediately. All eyes flew back to Jules. Brutus stepped forward, roughly placing a hand on Tina’s shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. He eyed Jules warily. “That was you?”

“I…”

“Tina, you were eavesdropping?!” Skye blurted, now confirming the accusation hanging in the air.

Jules stepped back again, fighting tears of terror as the gazes of venom across the room threatened to poison her then and there. Her breaths heavy and overpowering her racing thoughts, she desperately looked to Brutus, the last person she could think of to trust her. To defend her.

To her dismay, he glanced around and sighed. “I think it’s best you go,” he said with a scowl.

At last, her fate had been sealed, the fate she questioned since first arriving at The Fortilla. Everyone’s trust towards her had been nothing but uncertain. Now, it was official. Her greatest companion fell into the wrong hands and shattered every last sliver of trust GHOST may have had.

Knowing no more words could quell her problems, Jules fled the room, ignoring Skye’s protests and pushing past Fade, who stood in the entrance upon hearing the commotion. He glanced inside once and followed after her.

Skye spun around to glare at Tina. Her tone darkened. “What the hell, Tina?!”

Tina furrowed her brows, taken aback by the outburst. Skye rarely swore. Regardless, she could not fight the blind anger in her chest. “Me? Why are you defending her so much? After everything she did to us? To you?! ”

“I trust her!”

“And where did that get you last time, huh? Prison time at The Authority?”

Skye’s glare faltered. “That was my fault, I left even though I wasn’t supposed to. You won’t even give her a chance!”

“What about all the times before that?” Once she started, she could not stop herself. “You said the same about Hush and where did that lead? A bullet to the chest and a week in the infirmary because you just ‘trusted’ her?”

“ Stop it! ” Skye’s breath hitched. No matter the situation, she could never escape the memory. Being held hostage in a SHADOW safehouse, all because her naivety had clouded her vision and put her trust into the wrong hands… but this was different. This was Jules, who she had known long enough to consider a sister. And Tina, the same woman who swore to punish anyone who wronged or harmed her, had the nerve to use her worst incident against her.

Tina only realized her mistake when she noticed Skye’s pained expression, filled with so much betrayal. She could only avert her eyes and sigh. “Sorry. Look, we’re trying to look out for you, but you won’t listen-”

She could not finish before Skye shook her head and spun around, pleading Jules’s name under her breath as she chased afterward.

—

Jules had not run very far. In fact, Fade found her just a few feet away, curled up against the railing where they had talked a few days prior. Realizing his presence and that someone had come after her, she rapidly blinked back her tears. “Why can’t I stick up for myself?” She choked out, turning her head away when he kneeled beside her. “Every time someone confronts me I just freeze up, nobody trust me, I- I don’t know what I’m going to do and I didn’t try to do anything to earn anyone’s trust, I-”

“Hey, hey, what happened?” Fade asked softly, resting a hand on her knee.

“I don’t know, I- I left Kit at Catty Corner because… because… and someone got ahold of Ohm, and it was probably SHADOW, and now they all think I purposely got him captured.” She sniffled a few times, trying to control her breathing to no avail. Her arms crossed even tighter against her chest. “But I wouldn’t, I could never hurt him, I don’t know what to do, because no one ever believes me-”

“Hey… breathe,” he murmured. She looked at him with glossy eyes, gasping for air between sobs. Fade gently moved her arms away from her chest. “I believe you.”

Jules almost wanted to smile, not that she could find one within herself. She stared into his eyes, taking another moment to try and calm herself.

“Jules!”

Skye ran forward, dropping to her knees in front of her. She wrapped her arms around her tightly, and Jules held on for dear life. “Are you okay?! I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything-”

“It’s okay,” Jules whispered, burying her face in her shoulder. “At least they know now.”

“Hey, are you all okay?”

Before she knew it, Ocean and Siona were at her side, too. Siona set a hand on Jules’s shoulder, retracting when she flinched away. “I was at the top, I saw everything,” Ocean said. “We gotta think of something fast, here.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” Fade said. “They’re not gonna let her back in there, right?”

“Hell no, especially Tina or Meowscles.” Ocean crouched down on the other side of Jules. She reached for her other shoulder, stopping when Siona gestured her not to. “Hey, I trust you. We all do, or we wouldn’t be here. You made it hella clear you hate SHADOW and whatever they’re up to so we’re gonna help you fight back. Got it?”

Jules finally found herself able to smile and managed a weak nod.

“Our own plan,” Siona offered.

Ocean smiled encouragingly. “Yeah, you know all about The Authority, right? If we can get in, you’d know all the places to look for Kit, right?”

Jules looked between the group gathered before her, feeling her confidence build little by little. Actually, she had an exact plan of every crevice in the enemy base… and she knew exactly where to find it.

For once, with the help of her new support posse… It was time for her to take charge.

Chapter Text

Drifter Log #7: Eternal Knight

My patience has begun to wear thin.

With each day spent on this curious island, I feel myself drifting a little more. Some days, I am in one place, and only a moment later, I find I have wandered far across the waters into somewhere unfamiliar. There are only two views which are constant: the bases of the two organizations who dwell here. There is no escaping this conflict, no matter how much I avoid it in my travels. I have no room for conflict in my journey, and I have told myself I will not cave to the demands of the petty war which seems to plague this world. Even so, I cannot help but feel drawn to it.

Perhaps I am used to conflict. Conflict is what orphaned me. Conflict is what ripped my family apart when I had finally begun to stand. Conflict is a constant in this unstable life I desperately seek to piece back together. Until that can happen, I remain unfulfilled. I am the butterfly, as my guardian describes. I do not know my destination, and so long as conflict interrupts the journey, my fate is sealed: to be lost forever.

Perhaps conflict, as always, is to attach itself to the journey no matter what. The question is whether or not I will succumb to it in the end. I can only hope this does not happen; I will not let it happen.

Signed,

Eternal Knight

~*~

Donning her helmet, now as shiny and black as the walls she stood upon, Eternal Knight found herself stuck on one question: how did I end up in this mess?

Though she found no luck thus far in locating her fellow knights, this did not surprise her. From what she could gather from her still scattered memories, it was in their nature to stay hidden and out of public affairs unless their aid was directly sought or required. Even a steadfast knight set on her mission needed a break, so after days of nonstop searching, she sat by a riverside for a rest.

A group of the island’s inhabitants, all carrying weapons and dressed in black, approached her in the middle of the day. They were pushy, rough, and ordered her around, resulting in her carrying a crate of their valuables back to their base. She had seen their tall building many times, and something about its aura kept her from going near it. An aura of hostility, an aura telling her to steer clear or fall victim to its trickery. Her interactions with its guards only solidified those feelings, and she knew these were the rivals GHOST spoke of: SHADOW.

Despite her unpleasant encounter, it was not in her nature to reject a request for aid. So, she entered the building with them. She spoke to their strange leader, who hid behind a gas mask as she did behind her helmet. Surprisingly amicable, she would describe him. Then, he offered her payment and an alliance as if she were some assassin-for-hire. Had he not additionally offered potential insight on the location of the knights, she would have declined instantly.

That, and she saw their symbol on several walls. A symbol marked by a skull, staring at her with soulless eyes… if she were to join them, that would become her own unsettling emblem.

Though she desired information more than anything, she asked for a chance to think it over.

A deafening rumble approached overhead, and a large contraption landed high up on the building. Before she could ponder whatever witchcraft it appeared to be, similar roaring sounds erupted from below the wall. Several watercrafts breezed across the water. A plethora of men dressed in SHADOW’s signature black raced into the premises, with many carrying bags of unknown objects. “Is something happening?” She asked this to a group of henchmen when they passed her, and they responded with varying answers.

Something about bait, about luring ‘them’ in. When asked to specify, they laughed in her face and carried on with their mission. It was then she made up her fragile mind about joining them and promptly decided to leave… as soon as she could remember how to do so without jumping into the sea and waterlogging her armor.

Eternal Knight stood on the sea wall of The Authority, surveying the sun as it fell behind the western waters. If only she had not taken a break; now her journey was set off a day, and she had almost dragged herself into a war she already claimed to not want to take part in.

“You don’t want to join us, then?”

A woman with a hood approached her, an odd smile decorating her face. Eternal Knight reached for her sheathe, and the woman too laughed at her. “I got the hint, ‘kay?”

Eternal Knight turned away, keeping her hand on the sword of her handle. “I do not fit in with your people, nor have they explained to me your ways at all. Your men mock me. Your men refuse to give me answers. I wish to no longer remain her. This environment does not sit right.”

“Yep, a lot of people really take that hint about us,” the woman said. Her green eyes twinkled under her head. Her smile softened, then turned into a frown completely. She looked to the southwest, and Eternal Knight followed her gaze. There, she saw the supposed base of GHOST, a strange fortress floating on the ocean’s surface. She had not quite ventured that far due to the unfriendliness of the island’s waters… but as much as she did not dare to admit it, the organization intrigued her. The woman pointed to it. “We’re trying to lure GHOST in. We captured one of their agent’s sons, so everyone here’s prepping for an attack. We’re ready for them this time. We’re convinced of it. Oh, yeah, and we ransacked one of their locations and framed someone they already barely trust. Tech stuff. Horrible, right?”

Eternal Knight scowled underneath her helmet. “If you have come to persuade me, you have done a terrible job thus far.”

She stepped forward, deciding then that jumping into the water would only be a minor inconvenience if it meant escaping this wretched place. Before she could step off the wall, the woman grabbed her wrist. “Take all that info I just told you to GHOST,” she whispered; her eyes expressed nothing short of desperation. “All of it. You see a big bald-headed guy with sunglasses, goes by Brutus, tell him Hazard sent you.”

“Hazard?” She questioned, but the woman had already walked away. Eternal Knight sighed—it appeared her journey would only continue to be extended.

~*~

“I know I brought them,” Jules grumbled, wincing as every tool she threw out of her toolbox clattered against the cold metal floor. Alas, there was no time to worry about whether or not any of them would break in the process. “I wasn’t sure where to put them, so I just… shoved them in here for safe-keeping. They probably got pushed to the bottom when I was… working on things.

“What are you looking for?” Ocean asked, twirling her earpiece in-between her fingers. Despite the constant lighting of her earpiece, she refused to answer to whoever continued to ping her; if they wanted to be unhelpful by flinging blame around, it was their loss. She glanced at the main building, where the rest of GHOST no doubt attempted to shape their own plan together. As much as she was not averse to the idea of rushing in and raining hell upon SHADOW, she knew it would not be the best idea this time around. If Tina and Meowscles had any say, she knew that was exactly what they were thinking.

“Got it,” Jules announced, pulling out a large blueprint. She unfolded it and smoothed it out on a nearby crate; the others crowded around to observe what was her original design of The Authority. “I stole it back as soon as they finished building. I don’t know if they know it’s gone, or if they even cared enough to look into it.”

“They act all high and mighty about it being a high-security prison, and you literally put one room of prison cells in there,” Ocean said with a laugh. When she looked up, Jules stood frozen, her hand in her pocket and her face pale. “What?”

Jules pulled out an earpiece—specifically, her SHADOW-issued earpiece, which glowed red, indicating it was on. She had completely forgotten to discard it; had she really gone so long without realizing she still had it? She promptly threw it on the ground and stepped on it, letting out a sigh as it sparked underneath her boot. “Great,” she muttered. “They were listening, they’ve been tracking- Terra listens to everything she can. They probably knew I took Kit to Catty Corner, they probably knew he was alone, I shouldn’t have left him alone in the first place. It’s all my fault again. Of course it is.”

Ocean stomped on the earpiece another time for good measure. “How much do you think they heard just now? Either way, we might have to change our plans.

“We don’t exactly have a plan yet,” Fade pointed out. “Uh… maybe just that we know where to go, but since you guys were there last time, they probably know that anyway.”

Jules took a deep breath. “We can still make this work… it would be better if we don’t do a full attack like the last time.” She reached into her pocket again, this time pulling out a piece of chalk, which she had meant to retrieve in the first place. She marked various locations across the blueprint as she spoke. “Okay. They probably realized most of us know the vents like the back of our hands, so I don’t think they would have put Kit near any entrances, especially since Kit’s small enough to easily crawl through and get away. He could also squeeze through the bars of the prison cells, being a cat and all, unless they put him in a carrier or kennel inside the cell. I still don’t think they would put him there after we escaped last time, though, so that’s out.”

“Hey, look at you go.” Ocean held her hand up for a fist bump, which Jules accepted with a shy smile. “So, we need to get in and look around these places, but that’s kinda hard for just five of us to do, and I don’t think any of us make convincing henchmen. They know our voices and stuff. Except Fade, but he’s not, y’know, experienced in this. No offense?”

Fade shrugged. “None taken.”

“So we could throw together an undercover team of our henchmen, if we can find some who want to help,” Skye suggested. But… I don’t know if they’ll trust Jules enough to volunteer.”

“Yeah, word gets out quick and they like to gossip. Very loudly,” Ocean said. “We can probably find some to rally up if we…”

She trailed off as a series of shouts rose up in the distance, recognizable once again as a group of said henchmen. Ocean could only groan; they responded this way every time something was out of the ordinary. First, sharks, then Jules and Fade, and now whatever went on this time. “I’ll see what’s going on,” she offered.

“I’m coming with,” Skye said. The two headed off towards the apartments, the source of the commotion. Sure enough, a blob of white suits stood out against the darkened silhouettes of the buildings; they circled around a figure. Skye could see the shiny tip of a different helmet sticking through the crowd. By the shape alone, she immediately knew who had come to visit. She quickened her pace and pushed through the henchmen. “Eternal Knight!”

Recognizing her name from Skye’s stories, Ocean ordered for arms down. “You came,” Skye enthused.

Eternal Knight adjusted one of her shoulder pauldrons and stepped forward. It did not occur to Skye until then that her armor had questionably changed colors from a shining gold to a glossy black, reminiscent of their rivals. Eternal Knight seemed to notice her curious gaze. “I’ve been amongst SHADOW recently.” Several of the henchmen raised their weapons. Skye could not help but take a step back. “I’ve decided I want no part of their cruel, dishonorable methods.”

There was a collective breath of relief. “I’ve been redirected here by one of their agents. I need to speak to who I assume is the leader.”

“Yeah, that’s me,” Ocean said. “Do you know something?”

Eternal Knight shook her head. “Brutus is what I have been told. You do not match the description.”

Ocean frowned. “I mean, yeah, he’s here. But I’m the leader. Whoever it was told you wrong.”

Eternal Knight looked to Skye, as if asking for her word and hers only. Skye nodded. “I see,” Eternal Knight said. “I apologize. I suppose the lady told me to speak to GHOST as a whole, but I have been ordered to mention her name to him. It is urgent.”

Though the knight made her will clear, Ocean held on to her skepticism. Going back to command at this point, especially with a new face, would likely worsen the situation. Thankfully, Skye seemed to know exactly how to please her. “We can take you to him, but we have a bit of a problem… Do you think you could tell us? We can figure it out together.”

—

“We’re taking too long.” Meowscles paced back and forth around command, watching Brutus and Tek every so often as they oversaw the tech panels. At least, he assumed that was what they were doing. Maya had been sent to get close to The Authority and figure something out from a distance, but they only had so much time to gather intel. “If we don’t get this figured out now, I’ll take the ziplines and go after him myself.”

“We’re working on it,” Tek urged, though really, his focus lay in sorting through whatever effects SHADOW had done to Ohm. Actually, he was more invested in the animatronic’s overall wiring than anything else… He looked up, feeling Brutus’s eyes glowering at him, reminding him to redirect his focus. Tek lowered his voice, though it made virtually no difference from his normal speaking voice. “Okay, but I’m kinda stressing out here. You sure we can’t just do what we did last time? Y’know, run in in a blaze of glory?”

“The hell do we got to lose?” Tina drew her boom bow. “I’m with Meowscles. We go now or let him die.”

“Don’t say that,” Meowscles snapped; he could really use a long petting session. “Look, Lynx is putting aside her retirement to help with this. If she can do that, we need something to work with. Now. ”

“Anything figured out yet or are we still yelling at each other?”

Ocean casually popped into the entrance. “Where have you been?” Brutus demanded, striding over.

“Hey, listen, we got a plan,” she said. Eternal Knight stepped into the doorway behind her. Meowscles and TNTina jumped to alert upon seeing the unexpected visitor. Ocean held her hands up. “She’s with us, she’s got some info on SHADOW.”

Once they had eased, Eternal Knight stepped further in. She studied Brutus; he matched all of the features described by Hazard. Just to be certain, she asked, “you are ‘Brutus?’”

Brutus crossed his arms. “I am.”

“I was sent by from your rivals by Haz-”

That was all he needed to hear. Brutus held his hand up, silencing her, and walked closer. “Hazard?” He whispered, and she nodded. “Alright. What is it?”

“They’ve captured one of your own-”

“Yeah, we know,” Tina interrupted, glaring at her suspiciously. “We figured that out already.”

Eternal Knight’s gaze lingered upon her as she bit down a contemptuous retort. “You’re being lured, as I heard one of their soldiers say. They expect you to attack, and have their forces prepared and on heavy guard. As I’ve been told directly, one of your agents has been framed. She awaits outside.”

They looked to the door; sure enough, Jules peeked inside like an anxious child. She looked behind herself; Fade and Siona nudged her gently inside. “Seriously?” Tina growled. “Are we still -”

Skye stepped in and sent her a glare, cutting her off immediately. She averted her gaze. “They used some sort of ‘tech stuff,’” Skye said. “Tek, do you know what they might’ve done?”

Tek glanced up from Ohm and nudged the owl out of sight. “Uh… oh, actually, if they have samples of Jules’s voice, they can use those to replicate it, and then they probably implemented that into Ohm here and, ah, sent him to Catty Corner to find a familiar place. We baited out Renegade Shadow using a similar tactic, remember? I know that, uh… Terra, she likes to keep things backed up, so that’s probably how they got ahold of Jules’s voice. From her earpiece and whatnot.”

Jules pulled the broken earpiece from her pocket, holding it up for the entire room to see. “This. I had it on me the whole time. That’s definitely how they knew Kit and I were going to Catty Corner, and that he was going to be alone, and I know I can’t keep making these excuses but I screwed up, okay? I’m done with SHADOW, I’ve been done with them since they… since I had to watch… since Storm The Agency. But what do I have to do to make you trust me? ”

She crushed the SHADOW earpiece between her gloves in the silence that followed, resisting the urge to smile as it crackled one last time in her grasp, further setting her free from the organization’s hold on her. She waited in agony for someone, anyone to speak; Meowscles finally relented and stepped over to her, towering over her. Despite his crossed arms and flat ears, he was not quite growling anymore. “Look. You still know The Authority best, and if there’s anyone who can help us at least fine Kit, it’s probably you. So don’t mess this one up.”

With a scoff, Tina rolled her eyes again. “Please.”

With a new spark in her eyes, Jules nodded. If there was finally a time to prove herself to GHOST, to her family, it was now. She could not shrink back anymore. She could not run, hide or cry… not if she were to regain their trust once and for all.

~*~

“Piece of cake.”

8-Ball shushed Tek for… well, he had lost count. The man was a technical genius, sure, and some even said he was a deadshot in terms of aim. Spy work, however… it definitely was not his strong suit. It was a wonder the agents had settled on someone so naturally loud to help with this task. Even the two rookie henchmen they had brought along were quieter than him, which said a lot.

Maya had stalked a group of SHADOW henchmen meandering about Salty Springs. After receiving the information, a group of the same number was promptly made up to overpower and pose as them. They had successfully made it inside The Authority without any questions, despite an almost slip-up from Tek as they pieced together an explanation over their whereabouts. 8-Ball could distinctly remember Toxin mocking E.G.O back in the day for supposedly focusing more on brawn in their members than brain, but it amused him how brainless their men seemed to be nowadays.

“Where do we go first, S-214?” Tek asked, putting on a gruff impersonation of the henchman he had personally stolen his identity from.

8-Ball sighed. “The underground. And I am not referring to any of us by the SHADOW henchmen numbers.”

“Suit yourself. I’m just trying to keep the cover strong, y’know?” Tek’s eyes widened as he glanced into a room with a vast array of advanced panels lining the center. Where had they found the time to make all of this in the month it took to build The Authority? He could not doubt Jules’s ingenuity, but he also could not help but wonder if Terra had anything to do with any of it. What if she had not turned her back, and had accompanied him on this mission? She no doubt would have been just as amazed-

“You are moving through too slowly.”

Tek snapped out of his daze when a voice came from his earpiece—it was Siona’s, as she had taken over his position at The Fortilla of watching over comms and locations while he was deployed in the field. 8-Ball elbowed him and pointed into the vault lair. There were indeed more henchmen than there probably should have been—four—standing guard, though none of them seemed to be paying attention. 8-Ball turned to the squad.“We may have to split up to further avoid detection. All four of us traveling together may feed into suspicions.”

“I thought the moral of the story is usually along the lines of, ‘don’t split up, or everyone dies,’” Tek scoffed.

“My only moral is not to listen to others when they mock me.” 8-Ball sighed. “Check the underground with… S-104. I will take S-258 elsewhere.”

Tek nodded, heading for the door outside. “Got it. Limited earpiece contact?”

“Of course. Only to notify if there are any major developments, such as locating Kit.”

—

While she drummed her fingers against her desk in utter boredom, something in the signals finally caught her attention. She perked up and watched; the entire base was to be on high alert, after all. It was an earpiece signal, but not from a SHADOW-registered one. Something about its numbers were familiar. Funny—it came from the same place Jules liked to make her secret little calls. No one would take her seriously when she informed them that their “sad little engineer” had been working with GHOST all along, so if it was anything of interest, perhaps it would be better to take matters into her own hands this time.

Another signal came in; she glanced around and relayed the signal to her own earpiece. “ The cat requests a status?” This particular signal came from a foreign location.

“The underground is clear.”

The second voice was more than just familiar. She blinked a few times. That certainly was not the engineer—at least, not the one she expected.

She looked at the numbers closer, racking her brain for an answer. It finally came to her: a certain tech specialist, doing espionage, of all things. She could not help but snicker as she thought of how bad an idea that was.

Right. Back to work. She stood up and signaled over the nearest tech hecnhman. “I have to take care of something. Send ‘S-229’ to the room on the left flight of stairs, with the vending machine? And keep an eye on ‘S214.’ They might be plotting against us.”

~*~

As soon as Tek stepped into the small room he had been ordered into, the air shifted and caused him to shiver. Someone had called him from the SHADOW earpiece he forgot he had stolen from the real S-229. Knowing he would have to tend to the call to avoid suspicion, he had sent his henchman duo to find 8-Ball, and now he was stuck here after his aimless wandering had finally led him to the correct room. What could be the purpose? The chilled air gave him the vibe of an execution room, though maybe he was just being dramatic. Of course, this could just be how SHADOW ran things: they picked off who they did not like and sent them to be executed in private. At least he had a pistol on him.

To keep himself occupied, he pressed every button on the vending machine. Pockets are empty. Shoulda kept some gold on me.

He leaned against the machine, replaying the voice that had summoned him and seeing if he could identify it. It did not sound like someone important, but if he were being honest, all SHADOW agents sounded the same to him. Menacing tryhards, but they’re really just annoying and-

“Huh. They actually sent you.”

Familiar…

A silver-haired figure woman closed the door behind her, and when she turned around, Tek stumbled back, nearly falling to the ground. Terra watched with an amused smirk as he struggled to find his footing. Terra.

He had not seen her since…

He could not do this anymore. He could not tell whether he was happy or not to finally see her again, but he knew for sure he could not face her. Unfortunately, she blocked the only escape he had. Tek took a deep breath, cleared his throat, and possessed a deeper tone, attempting to match the voice of the henchman—or, what he thought was the henchman’s voice, considering he had only heard him yell. “Yeah, uhh, they… they sent me. To, y’know, come here. Because, ah… yeah. You- you needed something?”

Terra leaned against the door. “That’s what I said, yep. You were scared it was something worse, huh? Like we were going to kill you, maybe?”

“No, just… so, how is everything… going? ‘Cause apparently you, uhh, didn’t think they were going to send me in?”

Her smile faded. “I don’t know. Nobody took me seriously when I found out Jules was contacting GHOST, however long ago that was, so I wasn’t sure they’d believe me now when I thought… you and S-214 are planning something?”

Tek paled, and he never thought he would be happier to be wearing a full-coverage SHADOW disguise. Terra could read faces extremely well, though he knew the same could not be said about body language “N-No, we’re not. What gave you that idea?” He cursed his panicked stutter, though she did not seem to notice it. He thought back on her first statement— nobody took her seriously? This is Terra! She always takes her work seriously. “How could they not take you seriously, anyway?”

“Again, I don’t know.” She shrugged “They just thought Jules was incapable of doing that. Everybody seems to be underestimating GHOST. It’s been that way since we took over. I used to work for them, right? They’re smarter than we think, but nobody wants to admit it.”

Answers Ocean’s question, I guess, Tek thought. SHADOW’s not exactly stupid, just cocky.

Terra began walking forward. Tek gulped as she surveyed him before turning to the vending machine. “Well, thanks for being a friend. You still have time, right? For more of a chat. That’s really why I brought you here. Keeping tabs on GHOST is a little stressful.”

“Stressful? I thought you were Terra!” He could not help as his normal tone slipped through. Terra raised an eyebrow, and he cleared his throat again, hoping he had not already given himself away. “Uhh, what I meant is, can’t you handle it? I mean, I heard you were able to handle everything. Must be how you… y’know, switched sides so fast.”

With a small smile, she pulled a can from the flap of the vending machine. “Flattering. It’s not stressful, per se, just that the ‘thinking we’re all that’ part is stressful. We wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place if someone had just listened to me the first time about Jules.”

“Yeah, she’d… probably be dead, and Skye too… and GHOST would probably either give up completely, or… fight back even harder.” Definitely a good thing they didn’t listen to her the first time.

Terra popped open the tab of her drink and awkwardly took a sip, visibly uncomfortable the more he spoke, at least giving him the sign she had not turned completely into another one of SHADOW’s heartless monsters. “Maybe it is a good thing, then. I wouldn’t want them… dead, I don’t think… I’m just not numb enough to others’ pain, yet. I’ve only properly been here since January, after all.”

She shook her head. “Well… I’m thinking of starting my own training league for anyone interested in the tech field. We need more trained eyes if we’re going to rule the island… you should join, Tek.”

Hearing her speak his name again… “Clever idea as usual, Ter,” he said with a smile, and by the time he reached her old nickname, his voice impression disappeared completely. It felt like their old conversations, their old memories… and he realized his mistake too late. As his smile vanished, a small one formed on her face, though hers was almost a smirk. She leaned back against the vending machine and took another nonchalant sip, as if nothing was out of the ordinary, but… this… this was all some sick plan, wasn’t it?

Tek eyed the door. He could escape. He could stutter out some jumbled excuse as to why he had to leave, and he could run.

Metal clattered against the floor and a clear, carbonated liquid spilled onto it. He felt a spike of pain to his back. He fell to his knees from the force of a boot striking him from behind. His black cap was pulled from his head, and as his mask was pulled next, allowing strands of his wild hair to fly into his face. His sunglasses flew off and cracked against the concrete. He craned his neck, allowing his now uncovered eyes to meet with the turquoise pair of who he once considered his childhood friend’s. She threw the head coverings to the ground with a half-smile, which faded into a focused gaze as she pulled her pistol from her holster, pointing it at him to ensure he could not try anything. She reached for her earpiece, no doubt to call for backup.

He did not want to, but… he knew what he had to do. Tek shook off the ache in his back and spun himself around, allowing himself to kick out her legs and instigate a struggle. As they both found their way to their feet and wrestled for the gun, Tek drove his elbow into her stomach, wincing as she grunted in pain and doubled over. He grabbed the gun from her grasp and shoved her to the ground, suppressing the urge to help her as she fell onto her back and her elbows slid against the concrete. The robotic arm guard on her right arm let out a deafening scratch.

He couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt in his chest as she lifted her bare elbow and gingerly pressed her fingers against it, drawing back to find blood. She met his gaze again. Hers held a hint of fear as Tek pointed the pistol at her, but she laughed it off. “You weren’t that agile when I left,” she sneered. Her eyes shifted to the gun. “You wouldn’t. You’re not emotionally capable enough.”

“Maybe I would, after everything.” Tek scowled, tightening his grip and inching closer. He glanced towards the door; plenty of forces wandered outside who could easily apprehend him while 8-Ball and the henchmen were still on the lookout for Kit. Besides, she was right. He could never bring himself to pull the trigger on her, and she sure knew it. It did not hurt to bluff, though, if it meant stalling for time. “But I can’t. It’ll alert someone out there.”

“Oh, please.” Terra rolled her eyes, reaching for her earpiece again.

“I’ll take the risk if you do it,” Tek shouted quickly, tapping the side of the trigger. She rested her hand against the earpiece, but did nothing afterward, examining his face.

She sighed and adjusted into a more comfortable sitting position, dropping the hand on her earpiece into her lap and resting her cheek on her other. “Fine. Humor me, then.”

Terra laughed as his head tilted to the side. It was a gentler, genuine laugh she could not prevent from escaping at seeing his typical gesture of confusion. She cleared her throat immediately, lifting her head. “Who knows how long we’ll be here, huh? Pass the time. Talk to me. Ask me something, anything. A few things.

“Alright, like why you’ve become a stone-hearted jerk?”

She laughed again. “That’s the best you’ve got? You went and cursed out a medic back when you were figuring out your arm situation. And you called Midas an ‘egotistical jerkass’ behind his back, even that was better. You can do better.”

Tek’s face softened at the memories, but he shook her head, quickly fixing back into a glare. Nostalgia would not cloud his focus, and as 8-Ball said, don’t listen to others when they mock you. “Well, since you can’t answer that one, I’ll move on. Where’s Kit?”

His earpiece buzzed with static. 8-Ball’s voice rang through after a moment. “We found him. I’ve sent the information to command. Where do you stand?”

Terra reached for her earpiece again while he was distracted. Tek caught the movement immediately and tightened his grip, prompting her to retract her hand. He was almost tempted to draw the pistol from his own holster and scare her more with the threat of double. “I’m a little held up at the moment,” he said lowly, watching her closely as he did so. “I’ll find you when I can.”

8-Ball replied with a confirmation. “Nevermind, got my answer to that one,” Tek said to Terra. “Fine. Why did you guys kidnap Kit?”

Terra shrugged. “Fear.”

He waited for her to continue, but she said nothing more. With a small voice, he asked the one thing he knew he needed off his chest. “...why did you switch to SHADOW?”

Her eyes softened, yet she did nothing but stare at him in thickening silence. She finally sighed. “GHOST was getting boring, alright? We’re both restless, you know that. I like the offense here more and we never did anything over there unless SHADOW wanted to pick the fight, so what did I do? I went to the offensive side.”

His mouth fell slightly agape. The pistol lowered slightly. “What, and you just… didn’t even think of telling me?”

“Yeah, well you might be into the whole ‘feelings’ spiel but I’m not, in fact now I want to drop this conversation,” she said, glaring again. “Actually, you know what? I will set the scene for you, since you need to be explained every last detail all the time. Do you feel appreciated at GHOST? Do you feel like you’re doing any good?”

Tek could give nothing but a hesitant nod; he had been thanked plenty of times for his technical know-how, even directly by Ocean. “Well, GHOST never made an effort to tell me I was doing any good. Chaos Agent came to me back in September, so I accepted it. And they appreciated me. Until the flood. At least here, we have a boss who we can actually trust in some capacity. Nobody ever knew what the hell Midas was doing.”

Which was true, he knew. Even after rebuilding GHOST following Renegade Shadow’s attack, he could not recall knowing anything of Midas’s plans until he crowded everyone at The Shark and gave them some watered down explanation of The Device a day before its launch.

“I just- I gave up my purpose at GHOST when I introduced you to the job, Tek. Maybe that’s my fault because you’re more outspoken than me and it was easier for you to just… I don’t know, not be only an asset or a servant. I don’t know. I needed something more. I found it here.”

Tek dropped his hands to his sides completely, however kept a tight grip on the pistol just in case. “We- we could have talked this out, Ter,” he said, his frown deepening. “We could have figured something out, I- I didn’t notice you weren’t… happy, I should have… I’m sorry, Ter.”

Her expression flickered, but with what, he could not tell. All that he could see next was her left hand. The same hand she could use to call for backup. It twitched upwards ever so slightly, and he aimed the pistol at her immediately, this time with both hands. “After everything-”

“I only brought you here to try and get you to tell me what GHOST is doing, okay? I knew it was you the whole time. I didn’t think you were going to get me in this whole, again, feelings spiel,” she said, standing up. “Do whatever you want. I’m done talking now.”

“I’m not,” Tek hissed. He took a step forward, keeping the gun pointed at her. “So basically you just up and left without any explanation to become another one of SHADOW’s monsters because what, you got bored?”

“You know it would have been the same for you if you got bored,” she argued. “We’re both restless like that, and-”

“Do you care about me anymore, Ter? 21 years of friendship and you didn’t even try to salvage it-”

“ You didn’t either. ” Her glare wavered. “I’m not pure evil, SHADOW isn’t. GHOST isn’t pure good. We’re all making this war cause up as we go and you don’t get to call me a monster because I did what I had to do. ”

“You’re avoiding the topic,” Tek said, taking another step forward.

“You’re not any less dramatic than when I left-”

“ Do you know how alone I was after you left?! ” He growled. She fell silent and her glare softened completely. “I wanted to quit, actually, I did, I stopped showing to work for weeks because I lost my purpose without you, Ter. My best friend betrayed me. It was an utter betrayal, Ter, and you didn’t care enough to warn me about any of it. Not just me, but GHOST as a whole.”

Through his rage, he watched as her eyes glossed over the more he spoke. She blinked a few times. “You’re blowing this out of proportion,” she rasped. “I’m not.. I didn’t-”

“No, you didn’t, Ter,” he shouted, unable to fight his rising voice. Maybe he was blowing it out of proportion. Maybe his hurt finally escaped containment and could only paint her in a bad light, but he could not help it anymore. “But you know what? It doesn’t matter anymore because I found my purpose again without you. Serving GHOST. But you don’t understand, I lost myself, Ter. We lost 21 years because you were being selfish, does that set the scene for you? Does it?! ”

She couldn’t find the words in herself to respond. To ease his mind. To apologize nor tell him he was wrong. It was too late for words alone.

There was one last contrast they knew existed between them: he could keep trying until he got it right.. But when something was beyond the point of salvageability, the only thing she could do was move on and hope whatever she left behind would fix itself on its own. So, with gritted teeth and so many emotions in her throat, her hand flew to her earpiece. “Terra. Get 214. Backup in-”

Tek closed his eyes, held his breath, and let his own emotions pull the trigger, echoing through the room and quite possibly the entire lobby of The Authority.

Chapter Text

“It does not feel right to be back here.”

Though its unwelcoming aura kept her at a distance, Eternal Knight stood on a boat north of The Authority, surveying the island’s center fortress. The henchmen on guard atop the entrance stood in motionless, menacing stances. She could not tell if they were aware of their presence, and she knew she could not so easily waltz back onto their turf. She raised a GHOST-issued earpiece up to her head; she did not want to go through the hassle of removing her helmet, so she kept it concealed in her hand. “I am to search for your newly-captured agents, correct?”

“And issue them a plan of escape,” Siona said from the other end. “I will have visuals on your location at all times. Jules, Meowscles, and Lynx await in the southern mountains for your call of success.”

“And you’re sure they will not suspect anything?” Eternal Knight started the boat. “I told the ally of Brutus that I want no part of this organization already. If she has spread the word to her leader, then I will likely be unwelcome.”

A beat of silence followed. Eternal Knight shook the earpiece. “Hazard won’t talk.” Brutus’s voice took over. “She counted on your involvement. That’s why she sent you. Pretend to be one of them and hold off as long as you can.”

Eternal Knight sighed and lodged the earpiece inside her sheath. With the training GHOST had given her all night in handling a motorboat, she carefully pulled up to the dock and waited. A henchman peered down at her and pointed their gun. “What business do you have here?”

“I’m here to speak to your leader about a certain matter. I was here once before.”

“Yeah? What matter?”

“A matter that does not involve you,” she challenged with equal snark.

A familiar hood approached the henchman from behind and whispered something in their ear. The henchman shook their hood; after more prodding, they walked off, grumbling to themself. Hazard gave Eternal Knight a wave and gestured to get out of the boat. “Welcome back.”

“My stay is temporary,” Eternal Knight said, dropping her voice to a whisper. She scanned the surrounding area and pulled out the earpiece just enough for Hazard to see it. “I’ve been sent to be one of your kind, as your leader seemed to trust me just earlier tonight. Different forces have the kitten covered. I must investigate the whereabouts of the other captured agents.

“Yeah, their tech guy messed something up and now they’re all in prison,” Hazard said with a snort. “8-Ball and whoever the others are, some henchmen, I think. Easy prey.”

Eternal Knight nodded and raised the earpiece. “They’re held in the prison. All four of your agents.”

Hazard raised an eyebrow. “What was that?”

“What?”

She snatched the earpiece from Eternal Knight’s hand and traded it into her ear with her own. “Much easier, see?”

Eternal Knight sighed. Her eyes trailed to where the flying contraption had landed earlier. She had sensed an unseen force watching her from the moment she stepped onto the gate, and there she saw him. She could make out the distinct form of Chaos Agent, identifiable by the soulless eyes of his mask which stared straight back at her. She could not help but shiver. He matched the expression presented in the logo on the walls.

Why was he watching? Did he sense her as well, or was he there for the sake of watching? Had he seen her with the earpiece?

Truthfully, she did not want any of those answers.

Hazard mumbled something into the earpiece she had taken out. As she did so, she linked Eternal Knight’s arm, slowly guiding her towards the lobby of The Authority. She finally gave Eternal Knight her own earpiece back and looked at her with a mischievous smile. “Come on, I got the okay to show you around, if you know what I mean.” She winked; of course, they both knew their tour would not just be for leisure.

—

“So you’re just gonna sit up here and watch while they waltz around base? And what, you don’t think any of it’s suspicious?”

Chaos Agent turned his head at the waspish tongue of Sorana, who stood at the exit to the helipad. “That I am,” he said simply. “The knight is bound to slip up, and she will perish. Hazard will take care of it.”

“Yeah, because letting Miss Flighty do her thing is the best way to handle this.” Sorana rolled her eyes, watching as he stepped inside. She closed the door and continued to lean against it with her arms crossed. “Let’s go ahead and kill the prisoners. The cat while we’re at it, too. GHOST won’t have any business to do, then. By the time they get here they’ll already be crushed.”

Chaos Agent rested his hand against his mask, boredly spinning the end of his tie around his free fingers. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, now. There’s no need to rush this.”

Some years ago, Sorana knew a great leader who would have been just as eager to amp up the drama. A being of destruction who never tolerated failure, whose fuse burned up and destroyed his own quarters at even the thought of inaction among his underlings.

This pathetic lump of ooze sitting before her was no longer anything of the sort.

With gritted teeth, Sorana kicked at the door, pushing herself forward. “What the hell happened to getting the job done? How do you expect anyone to get anything done around here if our own damn leader is gonna sit here and do nothing?”

As much as she hoped that would get some sort of reaction out of him, who was she kidding? He only continued to stare blankly at her; if anything, the only thing spanning through his snide mind was sick, unseen amusement at her annoyance.

So, it was time to step up her game. “Huh. ‘Don’t get ahead of yourself,’ where have I heard that one before? Oh, right, when Toxin told me all about how you shot her in front of everyone and acted like nothing happened afterward. May as well shoot me too, since I have nothing better to do than ‘get ahead of myself.’”

The spinning stopped. Chaos Agent froze, his expressionless gaze locked onto her. “Do not speak her name.” His voice ran low. Hissy. “What have you contributed to this organization since the fall of Renegade Shadow? Nothing.”

“Under your command,” she challenged. “Want to know why she’s dead? Because you did exactly that, nothing. She bled out all alone in her lab because while me and SHADOW were trying to handle things with Jules, no one knew where the hell you were.”

Chaos Agent stood up, his hands slamming onto the desk.

Sorana did not flinch. Rather, she walked around his desk, staring straight up into his soulless eyes. “Maybe you should, I don’t know, admit you’re wrong for once in your sad little molten life. And don’t give me that ‘I’m never wrong’ crap like you always do. You were wrong the second you let Jules live after she scored us those blueprints. Where the hell did your brain go there? We’re only in this mess because of you.”

“Shut up.” He grabbed her shirt and lifted her up, bringing her face close to his. She could only smirk. Something had already snapped; he never responded in such a manner to her simple teasing. “It appears I was wrong for remotely believing you were a good choice as a higher-up. I have given you everything you have wanted from the miserable life you came to this organization from, and you are just as ungrateful as the first day we threw you here.”

“So fire me,” she scoffed. “You’ve clearly wanted to since I got to the island. Go ahead. Then you can’t stop me from doing whatever I want, which is still giving hell to Jules. You’ll lose your best mercenary, then Toxin’s replacement.”

She hoped that would finally elicit a better reaction; she would not be surprised if he tore her into pieces right there. It would have been better than what she got.

He looked away at the mention of Toxin’s name. Though his grip on her remained bone-crushing, his head bowed down, staring daggers into the desk besides them. Sorana immediately put two and two together. “Then she was just a replacement for Toxin. That’s why you kept her around.”

Chaos Agent said nothing. “We had no problem almost killing her,” she reminded him. “Me and Shadow had it. We had GHOST taken care of. Then, Toxin dies and all of a sudden you won’t let us pull through. Now they’re both dead because of you. You’re just as weak as we’ve been making out GHOST to be.”

He growled. “Since when did you take it upon yourself to become my reverse therapist?”

“Since you stopped doing shit for us in March!”

A long moment later, Chaos Agent threw her to the side, his ears tingling with delight as she hit the wall with a curse. He turned away and heaved out a long sigh, straightening his tie. He would never admit it to her, but she spoke only the truth. Jules’s ingenuity rivaled the work of his best scientist, and having her presence around before she escaped, even if their only interactions were her shaking breaths, her screams, her tears as he toyed with her mental state…

The man buried deep inside him, from before he became the monster that he is, fought back more and more every day to make him feel. He had a taste, one which ran through each lead scientist of A.L.T.E.R’s lines. The original, once his dearest and closest companion, who would never cease her work until it changed the world. The second, feisty and intelligent and ready to sacrifice all in the name of science. The third, his protege, whose determination and loyalty shone above her peers from the beginning. The third, whom he raised from just another murky-eyed scientist to one of his most beloved servants. The third, whom he did not find until it was too late, whose work had long been washed away with the flood, who held his mind and his inactions hostage since GHOST took her away.

Just as E.G.O did to the man before the monster.

Jules almost fit that mold. She would have, had he had more time to break and mold her. She would be another great lead, built from broken scratch to serve him and break any spirit his rivals had left.

But he cannot think of that now; it is only a distraction. His one true goal, forever and always, was to eradicate GHOST. Not to reminisce over what he once had and what he could have had. The chaos of GHOST breaking apart meant nothing if his empire did not proudly stand to witness it.

Chaos Agent sighed and made his way back to the helipad door. “Rue will take care of the cat. I trust she will handle things and report if anything goes awry. You will see to it that everyone else who dares cross us is disposed of.”

“What, while you still do absolutely nothing?”

He had already disappeared outside.

“Right,” Sorana grumbled, running her hands through her short hair. At the very least, she had permission to do as she intended. She would have done so anyway.

She grabbed the pistol he had left on his desk and headed towards the stairs. He can be fine letting GHOST play us, but I’m not.

~•~

“They’re definitely ready. There’s a lot more patrolling the wall.

Atop the roof of the boat shop in the mountains, Lynx peered through the scope of a sniper onto The Authority’s sea wall. As expected, dozens of henchmen were spread across the base, which did not require a lens to be seen.

“You did things this way last time, right?” She lowered the sniper for the time being. “You’d figure they’d send a patrol to these mountains just in case.”

“I guess it’s the superiority complex,” Jules said, running her fingers along the rope of Skye’s grappler. With her permission, she had expanded its range and brought it along. If Lynx and Meowscles could provide a good enough distraction and keep the wall forces occupied, it was her who would swoop in for their hostage location at the location 8-Ball had described. She knew exactly what room he told her about: the meeting room, complete with the same table stolen from the days of The Agency. Her nose scrunched in reflexive disgust; if things were to finally turn around, that table would be the first thing taken back from SHADOW’s clutches. It was likely the only GHOST-related object left in the fortress, and a source of too many memories to not be retrieved. “I know my plan to get in and out… what about you two? And everyone else?”

“We’re cats,” Meowscles boomed with confidence. Crouched on one knee beside Lynx, he had his rifle locked onto a random henchman target. “We know how to slip away if they catch us.”

“Kit wasn’t so lucky,” Jules muttered.

“You left him alone. Of course he wasn’t.”

“You say that now, but the little guy’s already pretty feisty,” Lynx noted, standing up. “If SHADOW wasn’t so… SHADOW, he probably could’ve handled himself. Did some target practice a few days ago at Catty Corner and the kid’s a pretty good shot.”

Meowscles lowered his gun as well, turning to her with his eyebrows raised. “He said he hasn’t been there since I took him a few weeks ago. Since you were busy with your suit.”

“Last part’s true, he’s been helping with it. But I did take him up to Catty the other day. Swear on it.”

Meowscles turned to Jules. “Did he tell you that?”

Jules shook her head, just as confused.

Meowscles sighed. “Of course he didn’t, the little runt. He always thinks he can get away with these things.”

Lynx not-so-subtly rolled her eyes. “Well, you know what they say. Strict parents raise sneaky kids.”

Meowscles’s head snapped back to her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Hey, it’s like I said. You should give him a little more credit. He’s not as helpless as you think.”

Though she would not say it out loud, especially with Meowscles already on edge, Jules agreed with Lynx on every level. She knew firsthand the effects of an overbearing, obsessive guardian. Kit was practically a teenager in human years; he surely wanted his independence, just as she had for years under Midas’s watchful eye. It had already been hard to convince Meowscles to let them go when he was not privy to Kit’s latest whereabouts, so if Kit had told the truth…

…well, they would not have been in this situation in the first place. Maybe in this case, the information would not have been such a bad thing.

“He showed me his mech additions, the ones he made himself,” Jules added.

“Oh yeah, that little inflatable wheel trick and rock music quirk. Gave me a heart attack at first, but that was pretty neat. Completely slipped under my radar to get that done and nothing exploded.”

“Alright, alright, I think I get the point,” Meowscles grumbled.

Their earpieces crackled with static, followed by Siona’s voice. “Everything is ready.”

Meowscles turned to Lynx. “Ready?”

Lynx raised her sniper, locked in on the target Meowscles originally held, and fired. She dropped her weapon with a playful smirk. “The cat comes back.”

She nodded her head towards The Authority, and as she flipped off onto the dirt trail of the mountain, her catsuit activated, shining in pristine condition after its damage during Storm The Agency.

As she slid down the hills and flipped around gunfire from the guards atop the sea wall, Meowscles turned to Jules. “Bring him home,” he said with shining eyes. “Please.”

With that, he ran after Lynx.

Jules took a deep breath, then another, pulling her grappler back up. She would point it at the sea wall, latch onto it, and glide over. Everyone now counted on her.

She examined the grappler. Listened to the gunfire which consumed The Authority. Aimed at the wall… and stared.

“Jules? You’re good to go.”

Siona’s voice startled her. Her hand flew up to her earpiece, but she had no answer. It was only when the astronaut’s smooth, calming voice hit her ears again that she could catch her breaths just before they quickened.

“Whenever you’re ready. I believe in you.”

A familiar robotic coo echoed through the sky. Jules looked up. Before being sent in, Tek had worked with her to rid her beloved owl companion of whatever virus SHADOW put in him. She took another deep breath and smiled up at Ohm, who squawked back at her. “Ready?”

Don’t mess this one up. Everyone is counting on you.

~*~

As SHADOW henchmen ran about the fortress, Hazard did not have to worry about seeming suspicious. She had built up her image as an oddity among her peers over several years of A.L.T.E.R work. While everyone else made a big deal out of GHOST’s miniature attack, she proceeded to calmly drag Eternal Knight along, giggling like a madwoman at every frantic agent who ran by. The only person to stop her was Riptide, who gave her a hasty “why the hell aren’t you helping?” To which she nudged the knight along and responded, “what? Can’t help our newbies out?”

Luckily, she faced no more questions, only her first suspicious look before Riptide trudged away.

She had given Eternal Knight a swift, rather boring tour of The Authority’s upper floors. With the current distraction, however, it was time for a redirect. So, here they were in the lobby. “That’s an office and that’s a bathroom,” Hazard said quickly, taking Eternal Knight down a hallway.

“And I’m assuming this is where they are,” Eternal Knight said, stopping in front of the prison door.”

“Yep, and this is the prison,” Hazard confirmed, throwing the door open.

There they were, the four prisoners… as well as a fifth and sixth person: Sorana and a henchman guard.

Hazard blinked. She expected the henchman guard, maybe two or three, all of which could easily be taken on. But Sorana… not only was she here, but she held a pistol directly to the head of a prisoner. “And you’re here too,” Hazard said with a wide, fake smile. “What’s going on?”

Sorana eyed Eternal Knight suspiciously. “Last I remembered, inside the prison isn’t on the tour list.”

“Aw, but there’s nothing wrong with being familiar with the place, is there?”

Sorana rolled her eyes and aimed her pistol at Eternal Knight. “You wanna be loyal to us? Stay the hell out of the way.” A quick survey of the knight later, she tossed the pistol to her. “Better yet, help. We need these guys gone. Take your pick.”

Eternal Knight stared at the firearm in her hand; she had never used such a thing. Her eyes darted back and forth between Sorana and across the row of prisoners. Sorana pointed a finger gun at 8-Ball and raised an eyebrow when Eternal Knight stared at her. She would have to shoot one of it meant keeping up the ruse, but how could she? This was not the point of her mission. She could only wonder if this was their sick way of pulling her into the conflict. That her aid was only to force herself and GHOST into a trap.

She glanced at Hazard, her concealed eyes staring through her like a lost puppy. The only advice Hazard decided to offer was to use both hands. She then caught the hand gestures of the henchman furthest to the side, who, with limited mobility due to their shackles, pointed to their side.

“Hurry up, or I’ll do it for you,” Sorana urged. She placed her hand on another pistol sitting in her holster. Eternal Knight looked once towards Hazard, who simply waited for her next move with a curious expression. Eternal Knight sighed and pulled the trigger, aiming for the ground next to the henchman and intently watching to insure she had not actually hit them. Unprepared for the recoil of the weapon, the gun fell from her grasp.

The henchman fell backwards, proceeded to writhe in fake pain, and went still. No blood spilled from their body, an indicator she had done a successful fake. Sorana looked from the henchman to Eternal Knight, raised an eyebrow… and, to the horror of everyone else in the room, shot them again with her own pistol. For good. “Have to make sure they’re dead,” she said simply. “Should’ve taught that too, Hazard.”

Hazard, unbothered by the fact she had just witnessed murder, raised her hands defensively. “Heh, don’t gotta be so aggressive with it, do you?”

With an aggravated sigh, Sorana shoved past them. “Whatever. You finish the job here. I gotta check on Rue. Keep an eye on the knight while you’re at it, because I don’t trust her.”

With that, she fired a shot next to Eternal Knight for fun and ran out the door.

Immediately, Hazard pulled the SHADOW guard into a choke hold and threw him to the ground. She ripped Eternal Knight’s sword from her sheath and plunged it into the guard, then nudged the body off to the side and handed the now-stained-crimson blade back to its owner. “What on earth was that for?” Eternal Knight demanded, dangling the blade away from herself.

“Hey, I gotta keep ‘em off my trail. I work for them, remember?” Hazard crouched down to the uninjured GHOST henchman and began picking away at the locks to their shackles. “Sorana took the keys, so we gotta do this the hard way.”

She threw a pin of some sort to Eternal Knight, who followed her lead and worked at Tek’s restraints. A strong gaze could be felt to their right, where 8-Ball glared warily at Hazard. A fresh cut leaked blood from his unmasked cheek, where an uncontrolled bullet had likely ricocheted and grazed him. “Your help is not desired,” he spat at her.

“Yeah? Be lucky you’re getting it in the first place,” Hazard fired back. She moved over to 8-Ball, who moved his hands away at first. As Eternal Knight finished with Tek’s shackles, they then noticed how unresponsive he was, his eyes glazed over and blank as though all the life had been sucked from him. “What’s up with him?”

8-Ball glanced solemnly over. “Terra is dead. His friend. They had an encounter which led to our capture.”

“The tech girl?” Hazard paused, her eyes widening. She finally managed to get ahold of his hands. “So that’s why comms are all over the place. Guess I didn’t have to worry that much about the cameras, then.”

8-Ball lunged forward and grabbed her wrist. “Why are you here?”

“She is an ally.” Eternal Knight stepped in. “Though, no one on either end is supposed to know.”

Hazard slowly plucked his hands off of her and continued her task. “We can be here all day if you want, not like time is ticking or anything.”

The shackles came undone. 8-Ball sighed. “I will keep a close eye on you.” He immediately went to the shot GHOST henchman and felt around their neck, frowning when he found no pulse.

“Fair. Just don’t tell anyone I’m involved, ‘kay?” Hazard shoved him towards the door with her knee, then did the same with the other henchman. She turned to Eternal Knight. “I have something else I gotta do, so… get out safely, I guess. Kill whoever gets in your way, ya know… whatever it takes to escape.”

Though she debated a final word, whether a thanks for helping or a plea for her to continue helping, Eternal Knight could say nothing before Hazard disappeared into the hall. With a sigh, she helped Tek up, who had finally begun to show vigilance in leaving, and led the way to their own escape.

~*~

Clear. Jules had made it to the exterior walls of The Authority mostly without detection, excluding a few quickly evaded henchman run-ins. Ohm sat somewhere atop the building, keeping watch. Strangely, this side of the building seemed less heavily guarded as the rest… could this really be where Kit was held? The air was still and silent, save for the ambience of gunfire. Jules took aim with her drum gun, braced herself for who or whatever laid on the other side, and shoved open the door to her destination.

The meeting room was empty. Any piece of furniture previously present, including the meeting table, had been cleared or stacked against the wall. A kennel sat in the center of the room. The only trace of Kit being here was a pile of shredded fur which had been swept away into a corner.

Something was wrong. 8-Ball could not have been wrong. He was GHOST’s best observer and had even claimed to have seen Kit himself…!

There was a second room attached to this wing, she remembered: a small office to her left. If a positive outcome were to result from this infiltration, that office was her last hope before the lead went dead. She tentatively reached for the handle, flung the door open, and whipped her weapon back in the air.

No living figures lurked inside; nothing filled the room at all. Nothing was there, nothing but the high-pitched beeps of proximity mines. She slammed the door shut and jumped away just as a blast knocked her to her knees. Her body felt like it had been engulfed in flames; she was sure some of her clothing was singed, perhaps even the ends of her braids. Dust and rubble poured from the wall. Something clattered on the ground in front of her, and a gunshot pieced through her ringing ears. Coughing dryly into her soot-covered hand, Jules tried to look up. She could only hope the shot had not been onto her and the sting masked by her adrenaline.

By the exterior exit of the large, empty room stood the lady in red, pointing a smoking pistol towards the ceiling. Jules almost breathed a sigh in relief, until she found in Rue’s arms a trembling, wide-eyed calico kitten.

“Aww, look at the poor kitty,” Rue sneered. A devilish gleam twinkled in her eyes. She pointed the firearm to Kit’s head. “We don’t want to upset him further, no?”

Jules felt around for her drum gun. It was somewhere behind her, dropped on the ground where she could not reach. Knowing any attempts to lunge for it could end in disaster, she kept her eyes locked on Kit as she attempted to stand. “Rue… Rue, leave him out of this.” Her knees buckled and she held her hands up. “He’s- he’s just-”

“Why would they send you?” Rue sneered, her voice a low, haunting whisper, though its volume did not diminish its ridicule. “Last I recall, you weren’t very useful to anyone’s cause, hm? It would be a shame if, say, something were to happen to this little one because you couldn’t save the day. He’s so cute.”

She waved the pistol around as she spoke, shoving it firmly against Kit’s head as she emphasized the word cute. Jules closed her agape mouth and stared her down. Of all the people in this twisted organization, she knew Rue would never pull the trigger against something, someone so helpless. The helpless had nothing to contribute, nothing for SHADOW to gain. A kitten meant nothing to them, but she knew it meant something to Rue. “Was this your idea? To capture him?”

“But of course.” Rue smirked and held Kit closer to her chest. He squirmed once in her grasp, but her grip was too strong and his claws did not phase her. “How else could we lure you here? I assume your little army isn’t far behind, but we’re ready. I just have to distract you long enough for those cats on the wall to die, and there goes this little guy.”

Her expression wavered at the mention of Meowscles and Lynx perishing. “You wouldn’t kill a cat. He has nothing to do with any of this.”

Jules took a limping step forward, prompting Rue to turn the pistol on her and take an equal step back. The pistol shook and nearly fell from her grasp. “I could easily dispose of him.” She gestured again towards Kit’s head with the barrel. “He is just a cat. He- he doesn’t mean anything to me or SHADOW’s plans. I could… I could-”

“Rue, you love cats, you told me a million times,” Jules said, taking another step forward. Rue stepped back, shaking her head frantically. “You switched places with Riptide on a mission once just so you wouldn’t have to fight Meowscles, remember?”

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.” It was her voice’s turn to tremble. “I… I just knew Riptide would match his strength better. It had nothing to do with-”

“You tried to ask about him when he was kicked off The Yacht, because you heard he was hurt.”

“Shut up.”

“You asked me everyday for a month about Kit when we found-”

“You think you know me so well, don’t you?” Rue finally snapped. “You have me all figured out, Jules, hm? Maybe if you cared enough while you were one of us, I would actually believe that!”

Jules blinked.

“You’re not completely oblivious, stop it,” Rue growled. “Did you forget who was there for you that day Midas left you behind? All those times I’ve asked you for nothing more than a chat? And you just pretend I don’t exist!”

Rue was mad at her… because she would not pay attention to her?

She supposed it made sense. In her time as a double agent, Rue was always somewhere in her presence, whether in trying to coax her out of the garage at Steamy Stacks or spying in when one of the other higher-ups called her in for a meeting. On multiple occasions she would encourage her to join her for different excursions outside of work, there was even a couple weeks ago when she threw in a comment about spending time together before taking her to Skye… Jules never thought any of it was serious.

How could she have? SHADOW did not have the best track record of not wanting her dead and disgracefully buried. Rue knew that.

“So ungrateful,” Rue continued. “I pulled so many strings to keep you alive and this is my repayment?”

This time, Jules took a step back. “What?”

“Don’t ‘what’ me! You knew exactly what you were doing each time you turned me down! ‘Woe is me, this wretched Rue lady is bothering me again!’ You really are just like your brother, hm? Because you don’t care about anyone but yourself.”

Jules scowled. She had not abandoned anybody on purpose. She did not leave anyone, much less her own kin, alone to die on purpose. She was not her brother.

She was, however, guilty of all Rue had laid out. Jules would make excuses not to be around her, but she would have done the same to any other member of SHADOW, even Sorana if she was not terrified of her to begin with. She did not hate Rue, truth be told; she was the only higher-up or even general SHADOW member she had come to be indifferent towards in her time among them. She knew, however, that she could not use that as an excuse. “...I’m sorry for rejecting you,” Jules tried, “but we wouldn’t have been able to be friends without me dragging you into-”

“You made time for Sorana, and even after we turned you SHADOW for real, you still wouldn’t give me a chance!”

“I’m- I’m not good at being social, Rue!”

“Stop it,” Rue screamed, and Jules was sure her voice echoed halfway through The Authority. She held her hands back up as Rue pointed the pistol directly at her face. Her grasps on both Kit and the firearm were tight, the latter to the point her knuckles turned white. Rue sucked in a sharp breath before continuing at the same volume, her fake accent having melted away. “You’re just trying to save your skin! But I won’t take it. I’ll kill you, Jules, I’ll kill you and I’ll kill him and I’ll do what everyone wants, to put an end to everything! I’m done trying to be your friend, and if you-”

An assault rifle fired from behind. Rue let out an ear-piercing shriek as her grasps on both Kit and the gun loosened. Kit took the opportunity to leap from her arms and scamper towards Jules, who fell to her knees to catch the kitten as he leapt into her arms.

She looked up at the sight before them. Blood the shade of her coat trickled from her mouth as Rue fell to her knees. Her teeth clenched together, her arms crossed tightly over her chest, and as she tried to speak, there was another shot. She collapsed forward onto the black concrete floor.

With Kit now safe in her arms, Jules’s hand flew to her earpiece. “I have Kit.”

Any commands said afterwards were incoherent mumblings to her, for her attention had been redirected upwards. Behind where Rue once stood, GHOST’s supposed ally kept her assault rifle pointed at Rue’s motionless body as she stepped farther into the dimly lit room. “Not too late, am I?” Hazard stepped over the body, drawing closer to the center.

“Don’t let them take me again!” Kit nuzzled into Jules’s neck at the sound of the new voice. She kept his head against her shoulder so he could not see the bloody sight on the ground.

Hazard set her gun next to Rue and held her hands up. “Was Brutus in on this?” That was the first thing she wondered aloud.

Hazard chuckled. “Yeah, figured you’d figure that part out. You know, the letter, the timing and all that. Actually, I’m just supposed to deliver messages and stuff, but the uh… ‘saving you guys’ part here was on my own.” She gestured awkwardly towards Rue.

So many questions swam through Jules’s head, but one rose above the rest. “Why are you helping us…?”

Hazard’s playful smile disappeared and she shrugged, resting her arms at her sides. “Just sick of this war thing, I guess. Never been much of a fighter, just a… fly in your ear, ya know? But I’m one of your ‘bad guys,’ so… I guess this is redeeming myself or something.”

She crouched beside Rue. “I’ll take care of this or something. You don’t mind if I frame you for it, do ya?”

Jules glanced at Rue’s body and stepped past it, inching towards the door. “Is it true? She said something about… keeping me from dying. When you guys had me, that she…”

“Hey, don’t let the dead person take all the credit.” Her eyes softened. “But yeah. I had some part of it, too. I tried to get into her head too but I don’t know how much of it was actually my influence. Think she just wanted a friend who wasn’t a jerk. But, the bombs for The Shark, The Authority, that was all her.”

Jules snuck one last look at Rue, her feelings swirling. The woman had done everything possible to ensure SHADOW’s motto applied to her in captivity: as long as she was useful, she could stick around. Unfortunately, she could not stick around now to ponder if she felt any differently about her now-murdered savior. “Thanks, Hazard,” she said with a small smile. “We’ll all get out of this at some point.”

The door on the opposite side of the room flung open. Hazard lunged for her assault rifle. Behind a raised pistol hid the furious eyes of who would now become SHADOW’s new second-in-command. “What the hell did you do?”

Hazard glanced over her shoulder, her playful smile having returned. “Whatcha standing there for?”

Yet Jules could not focus. She could not move. She could only see Sorana’s hate-filled eyes, the grey industrial walls, the lines of henchmen staring her down, ready to strike her down at the slightest wrong movement. She could feel the tactical knives imprinting her skin, the weakness of her body. She could hear the taunts of her enemies, the explosions and screams and yells of terror and agony through a video feed, she hears…

Kit. She could hear him whine, shaking against her chest. Jules closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and burst through the unblocked door.

Pulling her grappler out, she held Kit tightly over her shoulder and aimed for the sea wall. Boat motors roared in full power from the east side. She looked just in time to see Lynx flip off, most likely onto one of the vehicles. Kit did not have to be told twice to hang on to her shirt, his claws only creating a mildly uncomfortable feeling under the adrenaline coursing through her. She aimed for where Lynx had disappeared; Ohm flew overhead, allowing her to grab ahold of him and glide safely over the wall to the boat containing both Lynx and Meowscles.

As the boat swerved back and forth to dodge fire, she nearly miscalculated her landing and dover over the side. Someone grabs her arm and holds her steady. She was vaguely aware of Kit leaping off of her and into his father’s arms. The boat sped off, and they were finally safe. The same hand holding her moved to caress her shoulder. A sharp pain erupted in her side, then her left shoulder. She collapsed to her knees as voices told her pounding ears to hold tight.

Her head was swimming. Dark spots filled her vision.

All at once, her senses cleared. Her half-closed eyes shot open, and she found herself gazing at the sky. Lynx kneeled at her side, her knee pressed against the literal side of her body and her hands pressed against her burning shoulder. “Hey, can you hear me?” She asked, her voice filled with masked worry.

Jules nodded twice, blinking rapidly to ensure she really was awake. A cloth was now pressed firmly against her shoulder. She had only one assumption. “Did I get hit?”

“Two places, just before you landed, I think,” Lynx said. “We got you, don’t worry. We already got Remedy waiting for you back home.”

Home. Jules exhaled in deep relief, letting out a noise mixed somewhere between a joyful laugh and a sob. She looked up at Meowscles, who, behind his own worried wide eyes, held a content smile on his face as he tightly held onto his son.

She had done it. She had saved the day.

~*~

Two months.

Two victories.

Two points in time where GHOST could finally catch a well-deserved break. Against the odds, they had beat SHADOW. Twice.

Most agents, as expected, were quite content with this outcome. Sure, they still had nowhere to go but The Fortilla, but they had won. Twice. It was a much needed confidence booster, a much needed instillation of hope for their survival. They had proven that, despite their watered down resources, they had yet to lose their fight. Deep down, they held onto their sense of determination, and it finally paid off.

Of course, some were not completely content. Some had been killed over the course of the war, and some had killed their own. Some were still missing someone or something important, but they could push aside their worries for an evening to celebrate their second victory.

Jules was one of those agents. She had taken a blast and two bullets to rescue Kit, and thus had finally proven her loyalties once and for all. Of course, it came at the cost of bruised ribs, a stitched up side and shoulder, and being unable to physically celebrate with the rest of GHOST. However, with the help of slurp and being able to rest knowing Kit was safe, she would be alright.

Speaking of which, her eyes lit up as Siona descended the stairs with the kitten in question in her arms. “Hi, Jules!”

“Getting used to being spoiled?” She shared a glance with Siona, who snickered quietly.

Kit jumped into Jules’s lap, curled into a ball, and rested his head atop her knee. “Siona carried me all around The Fortilla, since I don’t have my mech anymore…”

Jules reached forward to bundle him in her arms as she adjusted into a sitting position. “As soon as everything gets cleaned up, we’ll get to work. I can even help this time,” she said, stroking his head affectionately.

“How are you doing?” Siona asked her.

“I can’t really feel anything right now. The slurp and pain medicine kicked in pretty good.”

“Good.” Siona sat on the bed next to her, setting a gentle hand on her arm. “I knew you could do it.”

Another set of footsteps stomped down the stairs. When Jules looked up, her smile faded. There stood Tina, who to everyone’s surprise, seemed rather nervous. She kept her eyes averted at first; after an audible breath of mixed preparation and apprehension, she sat in the closest infirmary bed. Her eyes finally trailed up from the floor, and she muttered a quiet, “hey.”

Siona’s grip protectively tightened; she let go as soon as she realized. Jules nodded to her, and the astronaut left them alone.

Jules fidgeted with Kit’s ear, unsure what to think as she and Tina sat in silence. Tina was never quiet like this.

“Sorry for… you know. Being a jerk. And everything else,” Tina finally said. She sighed, picking at her chipped nails. “I mean… I was just mad. Obviously. We’ve never been too close, but I can’t give shit to Midas, so you’re the next best option.”

Jules could not help but snort. “I can’t do that either, so… I’m my own best option, too.”

They shared a soft laugh. “I guess it’s also ‘cause Skye went through a lot when you guys turned,” Tina continued. “Seeing her literally cry almost every day made it easier to hate you guys. Even when you told us about being forced into it and everything. Guess I should’ve just listened.”

“Well, um… I made a lot of mistakes anyway, so it isn’t completely unjustified.” Jules frowned at the reminder of The Shark and Skye’s anguish, but alas, there was no way to change the past. “Really, I… you don’t have to be sorry for thinking the worst. I’m just glad I finally got the chance to prove myself.”

And so, with shy smiles of silent gratitude to be forgiven by the other, their eyes drifted out the infirmary’s small windows to the outside world, where the starry sky was lit by its everynight rays of emerald.

~*~

Twice.

Two months, two losses, and two points in time where SHADOW had to scramble to pick up their fallen pieces.

Against all odds, they lost to GHOST. Twice.

Most agents, as expected, were frustrated by this. They were so close to a certain victory. They had taken the enemy’s hope away for survival. They had thrown salt in the wound by controlling the island from what was once the enemy’s centerpiece, a grand structure placed over the ruins of where GHOST once stood a chance. Well, now they did stand a chance again, all because SHADOW became too cocky to believe the enemy could rise again.

Many had killed, and many had been killed. The latter was not supposed to happen, and against all odds, it had. But as the blood of Rue pooled beneath her lifeless body in the crumbled office, none of SHADOW’s high emotions could match the pure, seething rage of who would be their new second-in-command.

As the motors of GHOST-issued motorboats ceased their distant roars, Sorana had yet to break the standoff as she eyed the traitor. She held her pistol straight in front of her, her arm stretched and steady, and stepped forward. “What did you do?” She demanded again.

“It’s not what it looks like.” Hazard stood her ground, her rifle raised equally. “It was Jules. You saw her.”

“Yeah, bullshit. You let her run and now you got your rifle on me.”

“Yours down first, boss.”

Sorana scoffed, inching closer. “You’re always running around contributing nothing, and you don’t think someone’s a little suspicious about it?”

“Oh, calm down, Riptide. What are you gonna do, call me a bunch of useless insults like that old moaner?”

The barrel of Sorana’s pistol pressed against the traitor’s forehead. “What. Did. You. Do?”

Hazard could feel her chest tighten as her breaths went shallow. Her trembling feet as they dared to stumble backwards, fingers shaking as they rested against the trigger of her rifle. Yet her cheeky smile remained, and she refused to falter her mischievous nature as her amusement taunted her superior further.

A rifle fired, then a pistol milliseconds after. The back door flung open again, and the case of SHADOW’s traitor would have to be put to rest another day.

The cat’s gone. GHOST and all its hidden allies got away.

The news would soon reach their leader, and one message above all would send him over the edge.

Rue’s dead.

Chaos Agent was a being of cruelty. A manipulative mastermind with no ounce of a heart.

But the man he was before the transformation had one, and it loved to throw him off.

Rue. A.L.T.E.R’s daughter—maybe even his own—and the last remaining link to the days of glory shared with the first lead.

He would have his revenge one day, but today was not yet that day.