EPISODE 6 - PART 2

- SAFETY MEASURES -

[WHITE]

‘I’m indeed an idiot… how things escalated so quickly? All because of some stupid money. First, I thought it was some kind of scam, or maybe a low pay job, but for it to be terrorist-related… what bad luck.’

As Vincent’s body was being dragged, he couldn’t do a thing, everything was black and from time to time light pierced his closed eyelids, there was nothing to get a hold of, so he constantly got drifted away by his thoughts and memories, as if he was in a tour inside his head.

(“I’m not… going to… let you go…” he remembers the scene where he stood in front of Patrick at the alley.)

‘What a joke, I was just bluffing because I wanted more information and hold him in place, I was feeling so much pain that I couldn’t run. Even so it kind of worked, it would be best to have stayed hidden back there.’

[Andriel sighs in disapproval. “If you kept hidden, then he would have followed you on the next day,” he starts to count his fingers. “He knew where you studied, you had an appointment with him, and he knew your name. Not quite the good position you had there, not that this is better though.”]

‘Shut up, old man, I did this because you are an idiot and left us in debt, what was I supposed to do, be a cook? A miner? Or maybe a scientist? Oh, wait, you just taught me how to fight, and the fucking military doesn’t have any kind of job for my age, then how am I going to work if the only thing I know is to read body language? That doesn’t pay the bills, especially not for a 16-year-old.’

[“Well… that’s true, but I just did what you asked me to do, I’m granting your wish to protect-”]

‘Stop that, fuck. I’m fucking dead now, that’s what this all ended up...’

…[“You sure about that?”]

‘What do you mean?’

(“Yes, kidnap you, are you joking?” Patrick laughs.)

(“What do you think they are doing? They already have a plan to survive, but that doesn’t evolve us.”)

(“We accept anyone who wants to join. So, what do you say?”)

[“Refreshed your mind now? He never planned to kidnap you, much less to kill you, he’s desperate, desperate to do something that you can do, desperate enough to hunt you on the streets with a pistol to kill or to capture you, that’s why he’s having the trouble to drag you to however hole he’s going to.”]

‘But… what is it? My abilities?’

(“… anyone can tell that you’re not that smart.”)

(“… how did you know I was following you? I’m pretty sure I did a good job on the first hours,… so I made myself visible for you to do something.”)

‘No, he didn’t know what I was capable of, that’s why he kept testing me. He wanted something else… but the only thing it could be…’

(“So, Vincent… are you liking the Academy?” Patrick says it in his costume with the broken oval glasses.)

‘Because I’m from the academy, not only that but from the main platoon…’

[“Where some important elite families’ children are; a platoon which you need to be talented to be in; and the opportunity to go to Liberty when graduate. There is a lot of opportunities for a terrorist to act or get information.”]

‘That’s why he kept asking me for my opinion and lowered his guard, he wanted me to be one of them from start to end, even so he knew I wasn’t going to “fit”.’

[“That’s the base of it, now you need to act accordingly, I can’t tell you what to do, in fact, I wouldn’t know what to do in this situation if I were you. But remember that your life is on the line, and you only have one of that.”]

‘Jeez, no pressure I guess.’

[“But I must say, that your swing right on that terrorist scum’s eye was quite amazing.”]

‘Wasn’t it? To tell you the truth I didn’t know my swing was going to hit a bullseye, that was more luck then practice, I just thought I wouldn’t need that piece of broken glass and even if I missed, I could have run hoping for him to not shot me.’

[“And do you think he was going to spare you? If you didn’t have hit his eye, that is.”]

‘No,… I doubt it, he wasn’t pursuing me with anger just now, he was actually… smiling the whole time.’

[“… Like he had found the solution which he was so desperate about… ?”]

‘The hell… It was there all along, right? But I didn’t pay attention to those details.’

[“That’s normal, but that’s exactly why you shouldn’t be normal. What you’re facing is this kind of enemy and that kind of situation or this fortress is going to be just like mine, destroyed and forgotten.”]

‘Damn, so dramatic, that’s why I know you aren’t the real deal, only the craziness of my mind.’

[“You got me,” he laughs, Andriel never laughed before. “But… I’m not going to be here next time for you to decipher the things that are happening, that’s why I trained you for. What you’re up against is way worse than this.”]

‘Wait what? What do you mean?’

“Wakey-wakey, little prince.”

The water splashing on Vincent’s face wakes him up in a scare, making him shiver by the coldness.

“There you go.”

The one in front of him is someone unrecognizable, red hair and eyes, with a strange hat and an eye patch, but his smile is still the same.

“Patrick…” Vincent snarls.

“Oh my, exactly two seconds, you are smart after all.”

Patrick’s smile opens even wider.

“What do you want?” Vincent asks.

“Right to business, ay?” Patrick says with a different accent and voice pitch. “Just remember to check if your belts are safe to go before leaving!” He says changing it again to a more children-like voice and pointing down.

Looking around, Vincent’s arms and legs are tied up on a chair, the entire place is dark and appears to be underground, with a monotone of stones everywhere, the entire place is illuminated by a single yellowish lantern, which makes their shadows to have more contrast.

Besides that, there’s some old metal barrels and boxes around at the walls’ corners, and a single metallic door at the far left.

“Where the hell am I?”

“My Working Office.” Patrick talks like a polite elite, walking to the side and lifting his hands.

This place… I recognize it from that “Fortress’ defense safety measures” book that I read because of the academy’s classes, it’s an underground bunker-like which has the entire city interconnected.

“So you guys are using the civilian’s emergency tunnels to hide, huh? How much depraved you need to be, to use a place that’s supposed to protect everyone from the SAE to plot terrorist attacks, and still be proud to say you’re the people’s will?”

Patrick puts both hands to his own chin, turning his head slightly with a smile. “You’re so cute when you’re thinking.” He says in a more feminine voice.

“Stop fucking around, are you going to say anything useful?”

Patrick bursts into laughter, needing a moment to control himself. “Aw, man, you keep talking about protection like it is serious. Do you know why I was confident enough to shot you before?”

‘Because you were desperate?’

“Because I knew the guards weren’t going to show up. And did they? Do you remember how many shots I fired? It was four or five? I didn’t count, to be honest.”

“And why were you so sure about that?”

“The people are way too afraid to get involved and the guards aren’t crazy enough to come here at the outermost layer of the fortress. You see, because of all their ‘safety measures’ against SAE, this place is like a fortress of our own. Who knew that using us a shield would bite their own asses?”

“They aren’t using people like ‘a shield’, they gave more protection to each house and a place to go if something bad happens.”

“Do you mean this place? Do you know an interesting fact about these emergency tunnels? They don’t actually go anywhere, it’s just a bunch of underground rooms at the civils area, while the elite has their tunnels, right to their personal aircraft.”

“So, you are saying they will fly away, to where?”

“Who the fucking knows, maybe to Liberty, or to fucking Heaven’s Hope for all I care. But they have a plan and they aren’t telling us anything. We aren’t important, for them, we are already dead.”

That last part surprises Vincent, making him remember something.

(“No use to be friends with dead people.”)

If it wasn’t for what Fenik had said before in the classroom Vincent would see it as something crazy, but what if this was true? If they see us as dead people, why would they care, when saving themselves.

“But that doesn’t mean you can kill innocents.”

“Sacrifices for a better ending. What’s the cost of a few people when way more is going to be saved? Besides, our targets are always evil, like the corrupt elite, people that committed crimes and weren’t truly punished, people that weakens our society. But sometimes there are… accidents.”

“Like twenty-one people dead? That type of accident?”

“That was an unfortunate event, indeed, but we are not only about killing, we want change, and that can come from many ways. Being an artist, a pacifist movement leader, a politician, or a recruiter, just like me. If you’re with the cause, then you’re with us.”

Vincent forces his tied hands on the chair arms.

“What a hero. Then why am I tied down?”

“You were running before, right?” Patrick says in a sad voice before changing again. “Too stressed out, man! Keep it cool.”

“I mean, why am I being forced to be here?”

“Oh, that. Well…” Patrick hesitates. “It’s more complicated, you see, you kind of forced my hand.”

“For what I remember you were the one who started following me, then told me about those terrorist shit.”

Patrick sighs. “All right, all right. It’s being too hard to recruit people nowadays, so my superiors are almost taking me by the neck. Not that they are going to kill me, that was the wrong way to put it, it’s just that they need me.”

“And why’s that? Why they need you that much?”

“You’re making way too many questions, kid.”

“After all the trouble you had to drag me here, it must be for something important.”

“Well… I guess there’s no hiding it anymore.” Patrick puts his hand on his temple. “The thing is, this election… is going to be the last one.”

Vincent frowns for Patrick to continue.

“Something really bad is going to happen, all the important elite families know that, but the problem is that we don’t know what it is, nobody knows what exactly it is.”

“If nobody knows, how the hell you are so sure about this?”

“It’s hard to explain, but some rumors are spreading around for a few years now, some say it’s the Perfect Entity arrival, others say SAE is going to invade us, while some say there’s going to be a war, the only thing they have in common is that… they are predicted to happen in two years.”

“That’s madness, why does anyone believe it?”

“I have my sources, trusty sources. If you doubt yourself, then join us, this year there are five elite children on your platoon if I remember it right, their names are Stella, Oskar… Lawrence, Fritz, and Fenik. You do know them, right?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“The only thing you need to do is to gather some information on them and bring it back, that way we can solve this mystery. No killing, no accidents.”

Patrick looks to Vincent with a hopeful serious look. All he told in the last minutes were true, at least for what Vincent could read on his facial expressions.

‘But just because he isn’t lying, it doesn’t mean he’s right.’

Vincent smirks, “Alright, I’ll watch out for them.”

“That’s-!”

“But… I won’t work with you.” Vincent starts speaking calmly. “So, why don’t we reach an agreement? What about You let me free, then, if I see necessary, I can tell you any kind of information I have.”

“How the hell that would work? You would randomly gather information and then you might give it to us? That’s gibberish. You need our support and we need to gather as much information as possible, that’s the deal.”

“Then I have one more question for you.”

Patrick hesitates. “What is it?”

“Why were you following me? If I refused after you knew where my house was, what would you do?...”

“That’s… just to see if you were trustworthy.”

“Yeah? There are better ways to know that without creeping around right on the first day. Do you know what I think? I think you would threaten me, to kill me or my family, isn’t that right? Maybe some friends I know too-”

“That’s not it, I swear.”

“Do you think I would trust you after killing that man in the middle of the street? Or after you did whatever the fuck you did with that family in ‘your house’? This never was about justice or freedom, was it? The only thing you are… is afraid, afraid that you can’t survive, and so you’re selfish enough to do whatever it is necessary. Either choice I choose, I’ll be trapped, I know I already lost this, but...“

Patrick goes a step back as if someone had just taken his victory away, being disappointed with the results.

“…I’ll never join you, even if it means my death, I prefer to not have my hands dirty with some idiots killing.”

Even when Vincent’s situation is a clear defeat, he’s smiling with pride. He already knew he was going to lose from the start, there’s no way to fight, no escape, no help. So for Vincent, he didn’t lose anything since that woman on the second floor closed her window when he was fleeing.

The odds weren’t in favor of him, so much if fact, that it was almost like destiny… to die. Even so, he won’t give up.

(“No matter how dire the situation is, never give up. If there’s a chance in a million, then you still have a chance.”)

With patience and focus, the only thing Vincent can do is to look forward, waiting for Patrick to act, and then respond accordingly.

Who knows? It’s not like someone can see what’ll happen in the future, not him nor Patrick, maybe, there’s still a window open, and he’ll only know it if he kept running and looking upwards. Maybe the time he brought to weaken the ropes was sufficient for a last try. Or maybe this is destiny. This is an all-or-nothing bet, which he was playing from the start.

‘And the only chance to win… is killing him.’

“Wow, I would clap for your speech, but it would be a waste of my time.” Patrick closes his fist. “You’ll do what I say, willingly or not.”

And as if someone has told him what was going to happen beforehand, Vincent glanced to the side in a split second, not expecting it to be so fast, just enough to see why he would be knocked unconscious.

! Left side.