Chapter 14: Resent

Within the Resistance HQ, V monitors the city above, and takes matters into his own hands.

V readjusted his gauntlets on the bed in his dimly lit room. He looked into the fractured mirror in front of him, making sure that he had put his armour on correctly. His shift to watch the surveillance was approaching, no matter how much he wanted time to slow down. He sighed after he calibrated his helmet’s eye pieces and fell back on his creaky mattress. Silence filled the room, much to V’s relief. He turned his head to face the photo on his nightstand. It was one of a young woman in a messy ponytail holding a little girl with similar hair.

“Haven’t enjoyed silence this much since Grace was little, and she’d cry all night,” V chuckled, looking at the woman, “it was always you that got her to settle down. I don’t know how you did it.”

The man’s thoughts were quickly derailed as the Taplican anthem burst from the mirror. V’s reflection rippled into a bright yellow background with a slowly spinning circle with ‘Taplica Morning Report’ written inside of it. V groaned from his position on the furniture as the music faded out and a professionally dressed woman replaced the logo, staring in front of her with papers on the desk she was sitting at.

“Good morning, one and all, on this spectacular day in Taplica City,” the woman cheerfully said. “I’m Treesa Lentora with your morning report so let’s not delay. Despite the lengths that police went to during the terrorist attack at a health care demonstration a few days ago, anonymous sources have stated that these criminals still have intentions to disrupt the peace of the city. Police chief Tonio Clairant stated in a conference yesterday evening that…”

V got up, vainly looked for a power switch to turn the broadcast off. He absolutely despised looking at the woman presenting the news, with her cheerfulness and never-aging face. It was mandatory for all citizens to watch the broadcast so the Lord had arranged an override on all electronics capable of transmitting video feed to play the morning report. Fortunately, V thought, the gadgets at the base were smothered in enough cloaking programs to hide the rest of the transmissions, allowing them to operate in secrecy. Feeling slightly defeated, V sat on the edge of his mattress once more, and began to watch the rest of the broadcast.

“...today at Tafe Square from the 12:00 to the 16:00 position so be sure to bundle up your little ones for a splashing good time! Speaking of splash, let’s look at the weather report with the lovely Carthy Von Ethoros-Gaprrom so you can prepare accordingly for those festivities.”

The mirror then rippled to show a younger woman with dark brown hair and light brown eyes, smiling as she stood in front of a green screen. To V, this was the only good part of the broadcast. At the very least, Carthy was easier to look at.

“You’re in luck, Treesa, as yesterday’s storm clouds have now rolled away to give us some well-needed sun,” Carthy replied, pointing to the green screen. “As you can see, the map behind me here shows that the clouds are now going over towards the uncharted areas of Magraan, towards the mountain range on the far end over here. That means we’ve got nothing but clear skies and warm temperatures as we go about the Season Celebration today. Later in the week, we will see some showers again, but for now we’ve got nothing except good things to look forward to, especially in the sports department. Tell us more about that, Strathonox.”

“It’d be my pleasure,” a man’s voice chimed in as the mirror once again rippled to show a man in a casual suit. His blonde hair was spiked back, and his blue eyes pierced the screen. A banner that read Strathonox Addime rose from the bottom of the screen. “What a week we have to look forward to, sports fans. Tonight, at the 19:00 position, the North Taplica Monkeys will face off against division rivals South-East Taplica Stinkbugs in the must-see game of the season. Two days from now, we’ll see the North-East Taplica Mules against the North-Center Taplica Elephants for the final spot in the play-offs and they’ll be facing off again the following night in the final game of the cycle before we head off to the Taplican Cup series. Stay tuned for coverage on that following the Season Celebration this afternoon!”

“And that is all the news we have for this morning,” Treesa said as she appeared in the mirror. “From all of us here at the Taplica Morning Report room, we wish you all a fantastic day, and take care!”

The final few bars of the anthem played and the mirror rippled for a final time until V was staring at his reflection. The man sighed heavily, extracting himself from his room to make his way towards his station.

The halls of the base were surprisingly busy for the 08:00 position. V passed his various allies, overhearing the pointless chatter that they exchanged. The exposed light fixtures flickered sporadically. V turned the last corner and walked into the surveillance room. Verners turned the chair around, smirking.

“Glad to see you showed up,” Verners teased, “it was starting to get boring up there.”

“Nothing to report, then?” V asked, leaning his blaster against the doorframe.

“Well, I did catch a young couple sneak off into an alleyway. Kind of wish we had enough funding to set some cameras up - “

“You know we’re limited as it is. The last thing on the list of needs are cameras so you can live out some weird fantasy.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Well, now that you’re here, I’m gonna head to sleep. Just hope Lammie isn’t hogging the bunk again…” Verners opened the door and left, leaving V to his job. He sat in the chair and leaned back, switching his focus from one monitor screen to the next.

The streets of Taplica were the same as they always were during that time. People commuting to work, some having conversations with friends at a coffee shop, and others sitting in front of shops, begging. It was the same familiar scene with only the faces of people changing each day. V shook his head.

“Why can’t these people see it,” he asked himself, “how do they not know how corrupt this city is? We’ve done so much to open their eyes…”

As V glanced at the far right screen, he witnessed a woman get her purse snatched. She called out to the caper in vain as he ran as fast as he could around the corner. V recognized the street. He grabbed his blaster next to the door and stormed out of the room. The schematics of the city was one of the first things V memorized when he was recruited into the Resistance. He knew where the crook was going and he walked through the interior of the base until he was in Taplica’s sewer system.

The wide tunnels made every noise that V created boom. The dank area was something that the armoured man was familiar with. He searched out the proper manhole cover and popped it out. Among the casual walking, frantic footsteps approached rapidly. V grabbed the ankle of one of the legs, causing the sprinter to fall onto the pavement. The crook was panicking as he was dragged into the sewer. The manhole was quickly covered.

“That was bold of you, robbing some woman in broad daylight,” V taunted, “you remind me of someone I once knew. He too did whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. You know what happened to him? It all caught up to him and it took his life away.”

“Who even are you? How about you f*****g tell me that,” the man demanded, taking a gun out from under his coat. “Get me out of here before I shoot. I’ll shoot, damn it!”

V ignored the man’s warnings, reaching behind his back and arming himself with his own blaster: the prototype that he and Lammie created. He took a step towards the purse-snatcher, who took a step back. One step turned into two, then three, until the cornered man shot rounds at his aggressor. The flash of the gunshots blinded both of them, their ears ringing. The crook unloaded the entire clip. V stood in front of him, unphased.

“You’re going to want to invest in some armour too,” V said, “here’s why.”

V grabbed the stock of his shotgun like the hilt of a sword and swung at the man’s legs, catching him off guard. As his enemy tumbled, V slammed the thick barrel into the man’s stomach, causing him to crash onto the cement face-up. Shrill screaming filled the sewers and V stared down at the man writhing in pain on the ground. He held his blaster tightly, aiming it directly at the thief. A shot rang out and a bullet hole was created in the concrete next to the injured man’s head.

“Get out of this life you’re in,” V stated, “it’s the only way you’re going to keep what you have. You know where this is, so come down here if you’re fed up with the destruction you’ve caused. I’ll fix it for you, and I won’t miss next time.”   

V removed the manhole cover, grabbed the quivering man, and tossed him back up to the streets. The purse was wrapped around his neck, something that onlookers noticed only after the manhole shut. V retreated back to his post, winding through the base’s corridors. Commander Eber was leaning over the vacant desk of the surveillance room. She turned to face her companion.

“I saw you on the tape,” Eber stated, “what do you think you were doing?”

“I was trying to help someone out,” V replied, “isn’t that what we’re supposed to do?”

“Not to that extent, V. You need to stop going on these random spurts of heroism. Yes, the people of Taplica need our help. Yes, we’re fighting to save them. That’s the whole point of our movement. But we need to know when and how to properly strike and you doing what you did back there exposes us. People can then find us, bomb us, or do whatever else.”

“Commander, we can’t just strike at times we find convenient. We have to appear in times like that to establish trust in the city. No one will join our cause without that.”

V placed his blaster next to the door and walked back into his seat. He sighed, running a finger across the small dents left by the thief’s bullets. Commander Eber examined the damages. She shook her head.

“You’re going to get yourself killed one of these days,” she said as she walked towards the door, “you’ve really changed, you know.”

“I guess...but that’s just the way things go sometimes, isn’t it?”

Eber scoffed.

“You have a point,” she turned to her comrade, “just don’t do that again. Being an idiot was never part of your job description.”

The door closed, leaving V alone to do his task. The screens illuminated the small office. As he observed the people above ground, he felt something tug at him. A part of him seemed to yearn for the surface life. All the blissfully ignorant laughter and smiles; it hurt to see them. He leaned back in the chair and shifted focus from one monitor to another, one mundane task to the next. One scene to another. Snippets of people’s lives flashed in front of him. It was his task to report anything unusual to Commander Eber. The footage would then be leaked to be used as propaganda for their cause. This time, however, V couldn’t muster the effort to perform his task. His mind wandered from his job to the life he once had, the one he lost all those years ago. The people on his screens only served as sharp reminders of his own misery and loathing.

“Alexis, Grace, where are you,” V asked aloud, “I promise that I’ll find you, no matter how long it takes. Wherever Ebecade took you...I’ll free both of you.”

*****

09 Gausut, Cycle 1976: 22 years before the Taplican Raid

Felicia playfully pushed Jayven away, wiping the melted ice cream from her cheek. They had finished attending the Carm-Eon Fair and walked to the pier along the south coast. The sun was setting over the horizon, casting its brilliant reds over the surface of the ocean.

“You can deny it all you want,” Jayven teased, “but we both know I smoked you in that game. You weren’t even close with that lousy aim of yours.”

“Yeah? Well, aren’t you a gentleman then, to give me the prize you won,” Felicia replied. She held the small plush leopard in front of her friend’s face.

“What can I say? My mom raised me right.”

“Fortunately. I wish some people who came into the bistro had your kind of temperament. I can’t handle it when people act so entitled to stuff. I think you’d kill it as a waiter.”

“What makes you say that,” Jayven questioned, blushing slightly. He took a seat on the wooden boardwalk, his feet swinging back and forth as he stared at the rusted colour ocean.

“To start off, you know how to handle people,” Felicia took a seat close to Jayven, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone make friends with the ride worker in such a short amount of time. Good enough of a friend, in fact, to get us a free ride on the Spinner Drop, and the whole ride all to ourselves.”

“How talking about magical ponies turned into a free ride is beyond me,” Jayven laughed, remembering the conversation, “even if I do have that skill, didn’t someone already get hired at Dareve?”

“We did hire a new girl, but we’ll be needing another new worker soon. I put in my two weeks notice yesterday...I can’t handle it there.”

“You’re quitting? What’s wrong there that makes you want to quit?”

“You saw my boss yell at me the day we met, right? Well, try having that happen every time you mess. Which is every day because - “

As she used her arms to demonstrate her point, Felicia’s grip on the leopard loosened and the plush was tossed into the waves.

“Because that’s why,” she groaned into her hands, frustrated, “I always find a way to mess something up!”

“Hey now, you’re too hard on yourself,” Jayven gently put a hand on his friend’s shoulder, “you’re good at many things. You just need to find what those are and apply yourself to them. If you want an example, you’re really good at listening. Another good thing is your ability to empathize well with others.”

“How do you know that? Maybe I’m not all that you’re making me up to be. Maybe I’m just a big dummy…”

“You can think that all you want, but that’s not how I’ll see you.”

Jayven leaned back, using his hands to keep himself up. Felicia sighed, nodding slightly as she did the same. She jerked her hand back when it brushed Jayven’s. She settled her hand next to his. As the sun dipped over the horizon, the two found their pinkies interlocked, laughing about the day that they had spent together.

Author's Note

I know that this chapter is a little on the short side, but there's only so much that can be done with this setting. Next time, it'll be better.