Jeff ignored Roth and snuck around the temple. It was a strange thing to actually see where he was going compounded with knowing exactly what was ahead of him as he skulked in the dark. It felt even more amazing that Roth’s body knew exactly what to do. Muscle memory took over when he started to sneak and climb up, opening a window quietly to get in. Jeff didn’t need to think about it anymore than Roth needed to think about echolocating or sound source localizing. The difference between them was experience and instinct. Even with muscle memory, Jeff wouldn’t know what to do if he needed to fight any more than Roth knew how to sprint in a dark maze.

He stayed in the dark shadow of the hall as one of the young priests in training walked across carrying water. As soon as he was at a blind spot, he followed the boy careful of any other sounds that might signal an approach. He slunk behind a column as the boy knelt and knocked in a specific rhythm before opening a trap door. The trap door scraped and squealed open to a cacophony of voices and the boy went in closing the trap door above him.

‘If you’re doing this, then do it right,’ Roth growled as Jeff was about to move. ‘Wait for him to get out. If he’s a servant as he seems to be, then he will crawl back out. That is when you get in.’

‘Thanks.’

‘I’m only helping you because this is my body.’

As Roth predicted, the boy climbed back up and went back the way he came. After a few seconds, Roth urged him and he snuck up to the trap door. He knocked in the same pattern as the boy and opened the trap door. Jeff tried to do it as quietly as he could, but the hinges were no longer working as it used to and the boards we no longer aligned.

‘Why are you even trying to be quiet when you already knocked?’ Roth mentally shook his head.

Jeff grimaced. Yeah. That didn’t make sense. He peeked inside and saw the tops of the heads of men from the Outer Reaches. Heads worn and dirtied by their work. No, this didn’t seem like people from the Magnate Families conducting activities. There was a lone voice rising above wave of mutterings and assent.

A hard man looked at him and nodded his head, telling him to come down. Roth did so and stayed at the back in the shadows observing the people that came. They were mostly workers. Angry workers. Fed-up workers. At the head was Dai and Nadia. A rebellion meeting, then?

‘Why am I getting pulled back into this?’ Roth sighed.

‘At least we know they’re not a threat to us.’ Jeff said.

“…and now, they’re having the games twice a year! And who pays? Desperate men and women who would do anything to save their family from hunger and poverty. To give them a chance in the world.” Nadia spoke, her voice carried through the crowd. “We, who have nothing more to lose if it means that our families get a chance at a better life. We, who were falsely accused and forcibly put in the Games for redemption.”

“And then what?” Someone from the crowd spoke up. “We storm the Games, we get killed. They have weapons, trained guards and even their beasts and jademechs. What do we have? We can’t hit them!”

The crowd muttered.

“Yes we can!” Nadia spoke lifting the jadetech they lifted from the lab. “We attacked the Zobu Family lab and took this. Armor that could withstand even jademechs. Armor that can give us the extra strength, speed and agility we need. With these, three of us can take down a jademech. We can fight back once I replicate this.”

“If you can, then they can too,” another man spoke. “And you stealing it means that they can create more of that thing and do it faster, equipping more of their people. And they have more people.”

For once, Jeff and Roth were in agreement. The rebellion might have a point. They needed to fight back against the rule of the Magnate Families, but what they were proposing was a head-on collision. In every way, the rebellion was at a disadvantage. They had more people, had more resources, more trained fighters and more of basically everything. All the rebellion had was disgruntled people who wanted change but were too afraid to move for the sake of their families.

Soon the people were talking over one another. Obviously, neither Dai nor Nadia had the ability to charm people into joining them. If things went on like this, they would be caught, killed and squashed even before they did anything meaningful.

And that would expose Roth. He could always run away, but Taisao City was his home. This was where he grew up, lived and became who he was. This was where he made and lost friends. Where he honed his skills and abilities. Where he made connections and established himself. This was his home. He hated and loved it. It was driven to the ground and yet full of opportunity. Which meant that agreeing with the rebellion had tied his fate to them. If they get rooted out, he would be too even if he cut ties with them. The attack on the Zobu family lab wasn’t something that was easily forgivable. Not with the damages he caused.

Jeff, on the other hand had a softer heart. He saw Roth’s memories of the Games and shuddered. Men and women, old and young—the Games didn’t choose. Anyone who wanted to give their families one hundred tokens could join the Games and secure the money. Those who survived were given their own place in Mid-Town. One had to be extremely lucky to survive. In the last twenty years there had only been one survivor in all the Games. Roth. And he would be the first to admit that if luck hadn’t been on his side, he would have died. And thinking about what those people would go through out of desperation, or because those who were framed were needed to shut up…Jeff felt sick.

It was that moment of weakness that Jeff retreated and Roth took over. It surprised Roth that Jeff would give control back to him. Jeff would push to help. It was evident in his thoughts and in his heart, but he didn’t push. That surprised Roth.

‘It is your body, Roth,” Jeff answered the unspoken question. ‘I want to help, I really do, but that would mean that I would hijack your body. Understand Roth, I’m not a tyrant. I don’t want you to do what you think is needless risk for you. For us. If we’re going to help these people, I want us to do it together. I have skills and knowledge you can use and between the both of us, you will be better at using everything and make sure we survive. The question is, would you really want to? Or would you just slink back in the shadows, hope everything blows over and that the rebels will never speak your name.’

‘You’re trying to manipulate me.’

Jeff mentally shook his head. ‘I really want you to decide. Do you really want to be a thief forever? I know deep in your heart you just want to have a safe and quiet life. That’s why you always make sure of your job. You don’t want any more danger, but what else can you do? This is what you’re good at. But what if things can be made right and you can have that normal life you always wished for as a kid?’

Roth didn’t answer back. Somewhere deep inside of him was a buried, dead dream of living in peace with a family in a nice little home and a job that his children would be proud of. A dream of giving the kind of life to his children that he had been jealous of as a kid.

Would joining the rebels resurrect that childhood dream? They were talking of storming the Games. Freeing the people who joined. Creating distractions and using jadetech to beat the guards and get more people to their cause. They had the heart and the dream of a better Taisao, but their methods would kill them. Part of him wanted to believe they could pull it off, but in reality, they would be crushed. And the bigger problem would be the torture after they were caught. Names would be asked. And his name would come up. He had evaded manhunts before, but looking for a nameless, faceless thief was something he could always use to his advantage. These rebels knew his face. Perhaps not his name, but his face would be more than enough.

They argued about how best to storm the cells. How foolish it was. And by that time Roth couldn’t help but laugh. The more he heard, the funnier their plans sounded, until he was laughing aloud that people stopped talking and turned to him. He was still in the shadows, most of his upper body covered in darkness.

“Really, you don’t find all of this funny?” Roth said as his laughter died down. “You ragtag bunch of people going against trained soldiers in jadetech that is still in its prototype stages. Assuming that you can even outfit half of your number in it. You really think you can win?”

Nadia’s face grew red, face a mask of fury. “And you think we should just stand around and see our people killed? Who are you anyway?”

“Your resources don’t match that of the Families. Your people and skills don’t either. Face it, storming the place is suicide. What you need to do is steal the players. No players. No Games. Get them to your cause and protect them and they will be your army. Be careful and root out snitches. Be merciless. Then let people talk. Let people know what happened. Then little by little steal the confidence of the Families. Steal their resources. Weaken them by poking at their core strengths but never engage. Hit when they’re smug, disappear when they want to fight. You’re small and agile. Use that against a lumbering, slow behemoth. Grow your base and steal the hearts and minds of the people. The outer reaches have Taisao surrounded. What better positioning can you ask for.”

A wave of mutters rushed through the crowd. Excited whispers. A plan that actually could work. Faces changed from worried to hopeful. From hesitant to eager. Even Dai started to see the point in what he said. He could see the old man thinking of all the things they could do.

“You know who to ask for when you want to think of actually succeeding.” He turned his back to them amazed at how he put together such a plan so quickly.

‘Do I have you to thank for that?’ Roth asked.

‘That’s both of our experiences combined. CIA and actual criminal experience. I guess I just have to remember terrorist guerilla tactics. They’re insanely efficient and effective.”

“Shadow? Wait!”

Without pause, Roth retreated and climbed up out of the cellar running back the way he came before anyone could even run up to him. It was bad enough that Nadia screamed out who he was, it’s even worse if they saw his face.

One thing he was sure though, he would hear from them again very soon.