2.28.2

Identifying Factors

While Astrid inwardly panicked over her exposure, Kelvin endured a lecture on what would happen if he resisted again. Then the captors threw him in with his fellows.

Astrid caught only the tail end before being hauled off by Rue and two others. Presumably, she guessed, to where they held the other “difficult” charges.

What she found waiting for her, instead, was a barren office with barely enough room for a thick wooden desk and a flat metal table along the wall. She spotted no chairs. Before she could see more, the three S.O. tackled the Channeler down onto the table.

She struggled, on instinct, but they overpowered her. They shackled her wrists together in rope ties. But the true restraint came in a device she’d never seen before. It looked like a crown wrought in metal, and they it pulled over the Channeler’s head. The tight fit scraped along Astrid’s forehead when the trio wrestled it into position as low as they could just above her brows. They clearly wanted it snug enough to make removal a challenge.

The perforated metal that encased the device felt familiar to Astrid’s skin, however. The texture and weight matched that of the faraday cage Dell placed over her music player.

The way Rue patted the device provided all the confirmation needed for now.

The Channeler glared at the one face she knew. The one she hoped she’d never see again. And yet somehow, still the most welcome of all the Opposition with which she shared a building.

The ex-soldier nearly heaved with disgust when her fingers brushed the chain of Astrid’s tag necklace.

The trooper then trudged to the door, where she conversed tersely with Paulsen as though Astrid no longer deserved acknowledgement.

The remaining S.O. fighters rearranged things in the room. They pushed the table to the innermost wall and shoved Astrid to sit atop it. Then moved the desk closer to the door for a watch point. Fitting all of them in the tight space rendered it crowded. But Astrid looked to her former colleague, and pointedly ignored all others.

“She’s got dog tags on,” Rue shared. “London’s team can’t be far. I say we take the tags off, and make the body disappear.”

“No,” Paulsen disagreed. “Your captain has given us the opportunity to strengthen our platform. Having the EMS’s first Channeler involved can’t be ignored.

“If it’s decided she couldn’t be trusted, they’ll trust none of them. We need her body there. And identifiable.”

The man glared over Rue’s shoulder at the specialist.

“Either way, you are right that it means they know our position. We can’t afford to stay here any longer. I’ll notify the others. We put things in motion tonight.”

Rue nodded decisively. Seemingly satisfied with that decision.

“You can handle this one, can’t you?”

“Most enthusiastically,” Rue assured.

“Good. I’ll have someone fill in for you on the deck. Consider this your personal assignment. Prepare to leave in a few hours. We’ll have to leave behind the frenzied ones to tantrum themselves into oblivion.”

Paulsen gestured with two fingers that the other agents should follow him to their next task. And they departed with the principal to leave the rough and tumble Rue alone with her charge.

~~~

Once settled, and Astrid made it clear she didn’t intend to fight or run, Rue, for her part, look at ease. No longer furious and frustrated. She looked vindicated. Validated. Calm.

She sat perched atop the heavy desk by the door. One leg tucked beneath her, the other swung back and forth over the floor.

Armed. Armored. Confident. Rue.

The woman didn’t even react when singing rose from the distance. The new Channelers were indoctrinated with the others into their nightly performance. Astrid nearly squirmed to the sound, but Rue hardly seemed to notice. Or care.

In anything her energy felt more stable than any time before.

“So that’s it then?” Astrid finally asked her. “You feel good about this?”

“Uh, yeah. I do.” Rue answered.

“I knew we’d see you again. People like you don’t just go away.”

“Funny, I thought the same thing about you,” Rue teased. “Gotta put a stop to it one way or another, right, Channeler?”

“You’re still convinced there’s no other way?”

Rue snorted a wry chuckle. “Can we not, okay? You know how I feel, I know how you feel. We’ve done this before. Can we at least enjoy the benefit of not having to play it out one more time?”

“I knew you hated Channelers, I just didn’t know you’d go so far as targeting kids, Rue.”

“Don’t.” Rue’s calm projection slipped, only a moment. “Don’t say my name.”

“Why is that such a problem for you?”

“Jesus, because I don’t like you!”

“What the hell is the matter with you?!” Astrid finally shouted at the woman.

Rue quirked a brow and folded her arms. Her lips lilted in a coy smile that reminded Astrid of bourbon on the Penny Station.

“I see I’m not the only one who's changed.”

Rue almost seemed proud of that. She kicked her leg idly, back to her usual, blithe self.

“You wanted to kill me for so long. I swore you’d never be in a room with me again without doing it,” Astrid combated.

“I’m going to kill you. Don’t worry.” Rue patted at an oversized pistol holstered at her thigh. A show of intimidation. “Just when the time is right. When it matters most.”

“You sure about that?”

Rue quirked a smile. “Why do you think I’m in such a good mood?”

“I’m actually happy with the way this worked out,” the woman added after a thought. “You’ll get to see it. Channelers unleashed on the capital. The Static Opposition swooping in to put you all down and do what no one else could. The balance of support will shift right before your eyes. It might be the last thing you ever see.”

“What do you think the captain will think when he figures out what you’ve done?” Astrid challenged.

“You really think I give a flying fuck what London thinks anymore?” Rue rejected.

“Yes,” Astrid pushed. She knew better than to try any of her abilities with her shiny new crown contraption. But some things she didn’t need Channeler abilities to sense. “I do. I think you care more than you want to. I know you still think of them as your team.”

The toughened woman measured herself. But when she spoke, she sounded unconcerned as ever.

“Captain London will blame himself. That’s why he keeps taking on these lost causes and making decisions without reporting it to the Board,” Rue reasoned. “He likes the responsibility. Being ‘radical’. It’s his identity. All the glory, and all the blame, it was always going to be his. And it was always going to cost him eventually.”

“He chose his team because he thought we could make a difference. Even you! He chose me, Rue! Doesn’t that mean anything to you?!”

“You cannot seriously still be this self-deluded. You honestly think he chose you because you’re special? That out of all the Sanctuaries, out of all of the Channelers, it had to be you, Astrid Hale. For what, your manners?”

The specialist scowled. Rue hopped down from her perch. She may have once been frustrated, but Astrid recognized no frustration to Rue’s assertions now. She spoke with acceptance. Serenity. Even when irritated, she remained in control.

Something dark, with which the soldier could never come to terms, colored Rue in the past. But it clearly held no power over her any longer. Under the calculated look in Rue’s eyes, Astrid found herself truly intimidated.

“He chose you because of me, you stupid, selfish, spoiled brat,” Rue declared. “Because we’re sisters. He knew exactly where, and to who, he was going. Because he thought we’d bond. That you’d have some kind of loyalty to me.”

Astrid froze. But her brain wouldn’t, couldn’t process or consider such a thing.

“You’re lying,” she said instead. “Or he told you that, so you’d cut me some slack.”

“Jesus, really?!” Rue balked. “After all the bullshit you’ve swallowed, that’s what you don’t believe? Tell me, Astrid, have you honestly made a single step that wasn’t orchestrated by him?”

“You said you lost a cousin here, at Maxwell. Your little cousin?”

“Her death was no more tragic than all the others. And I sure as shit wasn’t going to tell you the truth!” Rue’s face twisted with remnants of remorse and repulsion. “I couldn’t even say the fucking words myself! And if you thought that was a good enough reason for me to hate you, how are you going to argue against the real reason, huh?”

“I-”

“Don’t bother. I’ve come to terms with it,” Rue insisted. Her energy, though pitched in white noise, pinged with tranquility on the subject. “London’s a manipulator, Astrid, and everyone knows it. The Opposition assumed he hid it from me, just like he did you. They brought it to me immediately after I joined. No games. No plays.

“I get it now. It’s okay that I hate you. It’s okay my mother is dead. I’m going to get to finally deal with that. And it brought me here, where I can make sure it doesn’t happen to others.”

Astrid thought her face might break from the tension between her brows. “That’s why London chose me?”

“Not feeling so special now, are you?” Rue grinned to humble her opponent. A true grin.

“That’s why he chose me…” Astrid repeated.

Not because she was proactive. Protective. Well-mannered. Well-trained. It wasn’t because she helped Maya that day, or because he saw something special in her. But because of Rue.

Another misdirection. Another omission.

She’d been played from day one.

“Look, don’t get your panties in a twist about it. London is just doing his job. And he gets his way a lot.” Rue emphasized the last word.

“Who else knows…?” Astrid stared into a corner.