Untitled 4

Darkness. Cold. A glimmer of light.

I sit up. I am in a cell. The floor is cold hard stone. The cells are made out of cold iron bars. The air smells faintly of salt. There is a cell next to me, the singing girl. Everything else is darkness.

“Hey, what’s your name?” It’s the girl in the next cell, Kyndra, noticing that I’m awake.

“Darknight.” The name I've gone by so long seems more natural to me than my given name.

“Darknight? Cool! I’m a big fan. What’s the world’s most well-known villain doing in Incitatus' secret prison?” She seems way too perky, for someone locked in a jail cell.

“It’s a long story.” I’m not ready to relive the events leading up to my capture.

“Tell me about it. I’ve been in here for what feels like forever.”

“How did you get here?” Who are you? I want to ask.

“Mission that went wrong. I was doing something and got cocky. Didn’t disable the security well enough. Got caught. Typical story.”

“Mission for who?” She knows who I am. It’s only fair that she tell me who she is.

“If I tell you, I’d have to kill you,” she laughs, but then her face becomes solemn. “No, seriously. I’d have to kill you, and Incitatus took away my dagger, and I prefer not to get my hands dirty. Cleaning the blood out of the joints takes FOREVER.”

“Wait a minute… I’ve heard that phrase before.” Didn’t Pitch or one of the Serephimbians say that? “Are you working for Serephimbia?” She looks shocked.

“How did you know?”

“I have my sources,” I say loftily. We both laugh. “I know Pitch, Quiver, and Talon. And Crescent.” I think for a moment. “And that griffin, whats-her-name, Jenny?”

“I see. I don’t know all of them directly, but they’re pretty famous in Serephimbia world. Anyone on campus would see you as a celebrity, just being associated with them.”

“Well, I don’t see myself walking through Seraphimbia’s base anytime soon. Although, Jay and Darkling are probably thinking up some way to rescue me.”

“That’s good. But I don’t know how they’ll find this place. It doesn’t show up on any of the floorplans, even the top secret ones,” as she pauses to think, her face turns thoughtful. “Wait... did you say... Jay?”

“Uh, yeah, why?” I can tell that she recognizes the name.

“Because my best friend from birth’s name was Jules. I called her Jay our entire lives. Hmm. Must be a coincidence. Jay disappeared from her bedroom in 7th grade, bedroom window open and computer-phone gone. Everyone figured that she got kidnapped and was killed, since no one has seen her since. Well, I mean, no one had told me anything about it before I got captured.”

“That’s when she joined Darkling at S.O.S.. I think she had a couple gadgets when she got there.”

“WHAT??! That’s so cool! Do you know anyone named Mandy or Morgan? They disappeared in 7th and 8th grade, too,” Kyndra is excited.

“Morgan is Swift, she worked for S.W.O.R.D.. Mandy was Peregrinator’s alias… she’s my daughter, so yeah I know her.” Kyndra scowls slightly when I mention S.W.O.R.D.

“Mandy was adopted? She looked just like her parents!!” My eye twitches.

“She does look just like her parents,” I say through gritted teeth.

“But everyone says that you’re super ugly, and Mandy was really pretty, albeit the shapeless shirts and camo pants. No offense,” she adds as an afterthought. I clench my jaw harder and try to focus, instead of getting angry.

“What’s with your right side?” I ask. This entire time, she’s been sitting sideways against her bars, so that I can only see the left side of her. The right side of her has been hidden from view this entire time. “I thought you said they took your weapons?”

“I had only brought a few weapons. Like I said, cocky.”

“You’re avoiding my question,” I feel light-headed, like I’m about to pass out again. It’s getting harder to gather my thoughts.

“Fine. But if I show you my right side, you have to show me your face.” For some reason, she seems wary, on edge, all of a sudden.

“Fine by me,” I say. I pull my hood off and she turns towards me, revealing a shining silver arm and hand, where her right arm used to be. There’s no hair on the right side of her head, only on the top, back, and left sides. In its place is gleaming metal. In her right eye, I can see the tell-tale white dot of something pulled up in her vision, the way Jay looks at camera feeds. She’s a cyborg. Kyndra is equally ogling my face.

“I love your scar. Who gave it to you?” she asks, seemingly in admiration. My vision is tunneling.

“Umm... Fortitudo, why?”

“Does he look worse than you?’

“He’s dead.”

“Good. I would’ve been disappointed if he wasn’t,” she winks. The room is spinning.

“I- I- I have to-to sleep,” my eyes close seemingly on their own. I slump back onto the floor.

A glimmer of light. Cold. Darkness.

Author's Note

Hooray!! Darknight's alive!! And... he got... Gena's name wrong... Good job Zavier XD