Chapter 14: Law, Rebellion and Chaos

I was having another vivid dream when I was woken up by a loud banging on my door. What time was it? I struggled out of bed.

“Emergency meeting in 15 minutes,” the voice announced.

Then it was gone.

Half asleep, I quickly tried to get dressed. In my haste and weariness, I stumbled over while putting on my pants and smacked my head on the dresser. I got back on my feet and steadied myself on the wall. I could still hear the piano in my head. I didn’t want to get up. I would have much rather been listening to piano girl; my yellow canary. I had a feeling that this was going to be another very long day.

I sighed.

I made my way to the kitchen where everyone was gathered. Hana and Fiori were already there. They were standing on chairs in the middle of the room. Arno waved at me, I joined him.

“You’re flying solo today?” he inquired.

“If you mean, I’m not with Meyer and Eli, well… Eli isn’t talking to me. And Meyer… I’d say he’s old enough to take care of himself,” I answered with a hint of sarcasm.

He laughed heartily.

It annoyed me.

It was too early for that. It was too early for anything. I just wanted to go back to bed.

Meyer chose that moment to arrive. He looked exhausted, like someone who hadn’t slept all night.

“So, what did you hack into last night?” I hazarded.

“Shut up!” he replied, with a twinkle in his eye.

Hana was about to talk. I couldn’t find Eli anywhere in the room, nor Yuki. As a matter of fact, Ashe and Doran were missing too.

Hana raised her voice to get people’s attention. She looked very different from the last time I had seen her. She had her powerful stance back. Her hair was neatly brushed into a high ponytail and she was wearing black jeans with a black racer tank top.

She was armed.

That caught my attention.

That was unusual.

She never carried weapons.

Others did. But not her.

I could see a handgun in the small of her back. She had a knife around her thigh and grenades on her belt. With Fiori at her side, she spoke confidently. There was no twitching, no hesitation. She was at the top of her game.

“You’ve probably noticed, some of our best soldiers are missing right now. They left early this morning, to take position. Today is the day we take down the government. I would have liked to have had more time to prepare, but things are such that if we do not strike now, the opportunity may never present itself again. We have obtained information that leads us to believe that the government is planning an imminent species cleansing...”

Meyer nudged me, he was all smiles: “I’m the one that accessed that information,” he whispered proudly.

Hana went on: “We cannot let that happen. Eugenic policies must be terminated!” She took a dramatic pause and looked around the room. She had everyone’s attention. With a solemn tone she avowed: “Today we fight to take back what has always been ours; the right to live. We fight to end divisive politics. We fight to end segregation. We fight so that children can stay with their parents. But first and foremost, we fight for the right to be.”

The room went wild. People were drunk on her words.

I was skeptical.

All this sounded good on paper, but how was she planning to take down a whole government. Arno was cheering next to me. Meyer was up in arms screaming: “Let’s take down the government… let’s make those bastards pay!”

I could see a smile on Hana’s face. She was basking in the glory, the courage, the romance of the moment amidst the cacophonic chaos. Fiori was standing proud too, right by her side.

A very powerful looking duo, I thought.

“So, how do we do it you ask?” That was Hana again. “You will all be assigned teams. Most teams will merely act as surveillance or back up. A few of you will be assigned moderately dangerous tasks. The bulk of the attack will be conducted by a special team under the leadership of Fiori.”

The crowd burst out in cheers again. I started feeling anxious. This was ridiculous. Did none of them see how foolish this was?

Fiori quickly regained the silence.

Hana continued her address: “As we speak, our special team should already be on location waiting for our signal to deploy. The plan is simple. We will detonate a hydrogen bomb in the senate, which is located in the administrative building. We will force the government to unveil their human super weapon. When that happens, Fiori’s team will be in charge of neutralizing that threat. Meanwhile, the back up teams will do a sweep of the main avenue, pushing residents toward the central administrative building where I will make my official demands, and seize control of the government.”

She paused… and then very solemnly announced: “My friends! Let today be the start of a new era! An era of unity! Let us all meet again tonight, to raise a glass to freedom!”

Hana was done talking, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. My head started throbbing. Between the loud cheers and my early morning tumble, a headache had crept up on me. I followed Arno and Meyer and lined up behind a table waiting to find out my assigned group. People all around were chattering excitedly. I rubbed my forehead. I was having cold sweats. I needed to leave the room; get some fresh air.

It was finally my turn. Team beta I was told. Fine! That worked for me. I pushed my way through the crowd and ended up in the hallway.

Meyer followed me. “Arno and I are staying here,” he grunted.

His disappointment was obvious.

“Yeah… Eli is on the front line, you get to join her, and here I am stuck at the hotel. Great! Just great!”

I scratched my forehead trying to look sympathetic, but I couldn’t think of anything to say. I would have gladly traded places with him. I had no ambition of standing on the front line. I would have been perfectly content to stay back in the safety of the hotel.

“I’m sure there’s a reason for that,” was the only thing I could come up with. It did little to appease him, so I added: “You’re a brilliant hacker Meyer. We are lucky to have you on our side. We don’t need you on the front line. What we need, is for you to support us from the shadows.”

“Hear these words of wisdom from your friend,” reasoned Arno who had just joined us. “Because he’s right.”

“Whatever!” Meyer spoke under his breath.

I ignored him.

Hana was calling me.

It was time to go.

I reluctantly said goodbye to my friends and followed Hana.