Part 14~

As Keira, Leopard, and Abigail arrived at the Base, gunshots rang out.

"Get down!" Leopard growled. The three leapt to the ground, but soon realized that the guards were not shooting at them but at a dark shape, flitting in and out of the clouds above.

"Shadow," Abigail breathed. Shade was diving and whirling on currents of wind, ascending above the clouds and down again in a pattern like an obsidian needle in a sheet of white wool.

One of the shots sang dangerously close to Shade. Keira, Abigail, and Leopard shared grim looks.

Their plan would be used.

Leopard climbed a tree and ran along the bough, dropping down onto a True Guardsman's head. She leapt off just as the Guard's comrades shot at her, accidentally hitting their fellow agent instead. They attempted to fire again, but cold tendrils of psionic energy lashed around them and dragged them into the underbrush.

Leopard whirled, hands straight out, and slammed two men's heads together. She fought with the viciousness of a wolverine and the agility of, well, a leopard. Men began running, but psionic energy dragged them screaming into the woods.

"Wolf howl!" Abigail yelled. Leopard and Keira covered their ears just as a noise like a thousand nails being run raw against chalkboards mauled the air. Guards crumpled, screaming and clawing at their ears.

A Guard shot Abigail with a tranquilizer dart right before he collapsed; her voice tapered like a record winding down. Leopard leapt at him, but it was a wild leap; he ducked and shot her too. In a minute, backup guards dragged an unconscious Keira out of the woods.

Bags were put over the girls' heads, and they were bound and lead to the Hall.

But Shade was nowhere to be found.

Shade watched in awe as her friends took out three-quarters of the Battalion. She then blinked and shook her head; her friends were not fighting the Battalion so that she could watch like a fool.

Shade dove and saw a massive stone hallway with no windows. A prison?

Shade hoped so.

She dove and clawed a hole with her claws. A bound, redheaded form lay in the center of the room. Shade choked, before growling and clawing through the stone.

Centurion Firelock sat alone, with the bound form of Curio in front of her.

Centurion Firelock's mask looked almost insectoid, made of pitch black one-way bulletproof glass. She wore red combat armor, and lounged on the throne.

Shade ignored her despite her instincts and bolted to Curio. Curio was gaunt, but felt so alive in Shade's hands. So very, very alive.

"Shade," Centurion Firelock said, voice changer robotic and echoing, "I see you turned yourself in."

Shade turned to face Centurion Firelock. "Let me go," she growled, "along with my sister. I have backup outside."

"This backup?" Centurion Firelock asked.

Shade turned as the doors opened. Three bound figures were thrown in: Leopard, Abigail, Keira. Shade gasped.

"Shade," Centurion Firelock stepped down from the throne, "I'm so glad you did this. I would have hated to send the entire Base after you."

Shade snarled. She discreetly nudged the unconscious Curio with her foot. Curio did not stir.

"Shade," Firelock said, "I only want what's best for you. The best scientists in the world are working on a cure for the Forbidden disorder. Don't you want to be normal?"

"I am normal," Shade snapped, "you're the psychopath!"

Firelock stepped back. Shade picked up Curio, then began to grab Keira, Abigail, and Leopard.

"You will not change your mind?"

"No."

"Not even consider it?"

"Never. Not for you. Not for anyone. If they can't accept me for who I am, I don't care about them."

The room echoed with the last of her words. As they faded, Firelock pressed red-gloved fingers to buttons on the sides of the black mask, and it rippled away, falling in on itself like so many shards of obsidian, so many Forbidden names.

Shade couldn't hear, couldn't breathe, couldn't feel. Her grip loosened, and her friends fell to the floor.

Centurion Firelock was not. She wasn't. It-

Catherine Dragon stood in front of Shade, pity in her eyes.

"Not even for your sister?" Catherine asked. 

Shade snarled. "You're a liar," Shade said, "you-you must be in makeup. You liar. You scummy, disgusting-"

"Sniff the air, sister," Curio said, smiling. Shade's nose disobeyed Shade's command not to.

Keira smelled like books and seawater: Keira. Abigail smelled like sand and sunlight: Abigail. Leopard smelled like leaves and cedarwood: Leopard.

Centurion Firelock smelled like gingerbread and spices: Curio. The smell that Shade had once loved now sickened her.

And Curio, the one prone on the ground, smelled like-

No. No. She'd been betrayed once today. Not again.

"Go ahead and take off your disguise," Curio said to the "unconscious" fake Curio prone on the ground.

Shade backed away, stumbling, horrified.

The Curio on the ground woke up and sobbed. Her body's surface rippled.

Somebody sat, huddled, where fake-Curio had been.

It made sense. Somebody had been gone "collecting firewood" during the time that the video screen's message would have been recorded. Somebody had known where the base was.

Shade barely felt the tranquilizer pierce her back. She barely felt herself lose consciousness. She only heard Somebody sobbing and Curio whisper "you'll be cured, sister, cured and happy..."

Somebody sat huddled on the ground, shaking. She turned to Curio only to see a gun pointed at her face.

"P-please give me my brother. I won't tell, I'll leave. We had a deal. Please."

Curio nodded to a guard. A young boy with short brown hair with a flame red streak stumbled forward. Somebody embraced her little brother, sobbing. He sobbed too.

Somebody left and didn't try anything. The guns of fifty True Guards were trained on her, after all.

She led her brother into the hillside.

She would be back, and if she could, she'd kill Curio herself. 

A comic I drew:

 I can't draw with a mouse, lol. Right click and then hit "open in new tab."

Liberty stared at the tiny slip of paper in her hand, in complete and utter shock.

She'd known something was wrong as soon as the pigeon fluttered through her open window. Whatever message it was carrying, the information was so sensitive that even her usual channels - which were plenty secure for normal purposes - couldn't be trusted with it. Or else whoever had sent it didn't have access to the usual channels. Not a good sign, in any case. The pigeon had squeaked wildly and taken off for the top of the dresser when she tried to grab it, but Liberty had soon discovered that the bird liked sunflower seeds. Once it had been given some of those, it had calmed down enough to let her take the curl of paper off its leg.

She'd said a brief prayer to whatever God or gods might happen to exist, then opened the message. Whatever she'd been expecting, this was not it.

The Nest has gone to ground. Serpent One is in the pack- betrayed us. Agent Leopard has more info. -Guardian

Without warning Liberty flung down the message, stamped her foot on the floor so hard the downstairs neighbors might think she was moving furniture, and screamed a particularly nasty curse before she could stop herself. Then her knees gave way and she sank down on the bed, teeth gritted against the bile rising in her throat.

Liberty's least favorite thing in the entire world, behind actual physical pain, was discovering that one of her agents was a traitor. Not only was there the direct impact of whatever the turncoat had done to think about, but she also had to change everything now. Every code, every security protocol, everything Curio could possibly know that would compromise Starbird if divulged.

Liberty pushed all those dire thoughts aside for a moment, and focused on her shaking breath. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.

Calm down. Think. Assess the damage, then do something about it. 

Liberty sat at her desk, booted up her computer, and got down to business.

************

Mist One stared at his desktop monitor, in complete and utter shock.

"What's happened?" Two asked from her seat on the sofa, seeing his expression. One didn't reply. He needed a moment to process.

Oh my gosh. Serpent One is - Curio is - she - how? How did we not see it? How did we not know?! Fire and destruction, we almost sent Chameleon there. We almost sent him there, except the scentmask went down, and we never knew. We never knew.

Two's curiosity got the better of her, and she got up from the sofa to come look at what had gotten her husband so upset. When she read Liberty's cataclysmic lines, in the cold impersonal font of One's decoding program, she clapped her hands to her mouth to stifle a shriek.

"Does Peapod know?" she asked, in a tremulous voice.

"I have no idea. Geez, I hope Chameleon's alright."

Chameleon was a Forbidden boy they'd picked up just last week. They'd been all ready to send him south to Serpent Scentmask when Liberty had informed him of the scentmask's destruction. Peapod Scentmask was a good deal further away in the opposite direction, and over a national border to boot, but Mist Three had gamely agreed to take him there. She'd called yesterday morning to say things were going all right, but they hadn't heard from Chameleon or Three since.

"What'll we do?"

One shook his head and let out an unsteady breath. "Whatever we can, love. Whatever we can."

So I assume that Somebody told the True Guard where the camp was... what's really interesting is that I think Brookeira did some intentional foreshadowing. Owlgirl said "Don't worry, I didn't give away any information." and Shade says "Well, somebody obviously did!" It was good subtle foreshadowing, A+ to Brookeira!