We're in a private dining room, finally able to breathe. To relax, if only for a minute. Dabria has guards on the lookout, to be sure. We have an impossible mission ahead of us. But for now, we eat and drink, releasing the pressures of the past few weeks. Members of Dabria's team dine at nearby tables, talking and laughing, enjoying themselves. I'm surprised by how young most of them are. In any other situation, they could be mistaken for a typical group of young people, instead of seasoned soldiers who have probably charted up dozens of kills between the lot of them.
I sit in a booth with Enigma, Dabria, Zen, and Keno, who has found acceptance with Dabria and her people. He and the remaining members of his crew have completely assimilated with Dabria's team, accepted into the close-knit family that Dabria heads with a combination of tough love and military discipline.
I recognize it as the irresistible pull of Dabria's presence, the charisma she exudes like pheromones from her pores. She's a natural leader, the kind of person that commands attention with every movement, every word. She has a way of making even the most ridiculous statements sound perfectly rational. Under her spell, Keno sits beside Enigma, who led a raid with Cyber Corp and killed members of his crew just weeks ago. Now he laughs at something she says, any animosity put behind them. They're on the same side now.
I'm the only one out of place.
It should be easy to slide into Dabria's surrogate family. I know myself better than anyone else, so I recognize the void where a family should be. Dead parents, no siblings, only friends are in Immersion, and most of them are digital. People like me are starving for connection. For a second of eye contact without judgment, but with understanding. Moments of close contact in the comfort of unspoken words.
But I know better than to expect that with Dabria or her people. I'm a tool in her hand, valuable for as long as I'm useful. She smiles, looking relaxed and comfortable for the first time since I've known her. But her eye is watchful, ever alert when she looks at me. I will never gain her trust, not after what I've shown her. So she'll use me. She'll allow me to pit my abilities against her enemies, never minding the thirty-six hours of recovery when I barely knew who or where I was, brain a foggy wilderness of hallucinations and unrepressed memories. If I died from the encounter, she'd feel regret. But only because I didn't last long enough to help bring her master plan to realization.
"You're a hard man to read."
I look up. Enigma gazes at me from across the table, gray eyes intent as if trying to decipher my secrets. With street clothes on and her silver hair pulled back, she looks younger than before. Maybe the lack of stress has something to do with it as well. It's strange to be here, so close to her. Everything that's happened to me started in a similar situation, only she was the hunter and I was her prey. Now, I don't know what we are. Friends? Allies? Teammates?
It could be just forbidden hope on my part, but I can't shake the feeling that she's hiding something. Occasionally I see the dart of her eyes, the compression of her lips as if trying to hold back words. I don't know why that makes her feel like a kindred spirit, but somehow I feel a closeness to her that I can't define. Conversation flows around us, but it almost feels as if we're alone. Enigma leans in closer.
"I never thanked you for what you did."
I study my bowl of ramen, suddenly uncomfortable. "I barely did anything. It was a group effort. Dabria was the mastermind."
"You risked your life. You could have died doing what you did to Kane. I don't know how Dabria convinced you but…" Her eyes glisten with emotion. "I appreciate it."
I don't know whether to laugh or cry. How Dabria convinced me, I want to scream, is by taking everything I love and threatening to destroy it.
But I don't tell Enigma that. I can't. Because she's looking at me in a way that people never look at me. With gratitude. With admiration. And I don't want to spoil that. I want to savor it for a little while longer before it's spoiled forever. Before she finds out what I am.
I glance in the darkened corner of the room, where a massive shape and the glint of coal-black eyes are barely visible. Zen's monstrous teddy bear protector, Brutus. He's always watching. And right now, his unsettling stare is directed right at me. As if he can read my mind. As if he knows.
That's stupid. He's just a robot.
Dabria activates the window shutters, opening them to an expansive view of the landscape outside. Red-orange sky and desert wilderness as far as the eye can see. And in the distance, a glistening half-circle of light. It looks like the sun setting, but it's an energy shield. The dome that protects Los Nuevos, the City of Innovation. The technological wonder of the world, where Jude Maximillian's global-dominating corporation creates synthetic humanoids along with every other tool and device integral to human existence. Including Elysia.
Hel appears from nowhere, leaning over my shoulder to whisper in my ear. "Do you know what that is? The land of Oz, baby. You're off to see the wizard. Where we can finally be whatever we want to be."
I blink, and Hel vanishes. But the view of the domed city remains, glittering as if from the magic within, beckoning for me to enter and claim its secrets.
Dabria turns to us, face again that of a stern warrior. "You can't see it from here, but at this very moment, Syn City is under attack. Kilgore agreed to help us because in exchange, I gave him the location of the facility where he could steal bypass codes to enter the dome. He's led a team of Blood Legion and mercenary soldiers inside, where right now they've activated a failsafe to disable the synoid security forces and take the city."
Surprised murmurs from her crew. Zen raises a hand. "But… I thought we were supposed to infiltrate the city."
"Kilgore has his mission. We have ours. Our path is mutual, but our goals independent. We'll move in regardless of the success or failure of his objectives."
Enigma folds her arms, brows knitted in thought. "If he fails, it will be impossible for us to get inside. The codes will be changed, the security upgraded, every defense on high alert. How are we supposed to deal with that?"
"We have something they won't expect. A secret key that will not only get us inside but into the very inner sanctum where we can finally do some damage to the Elysian slavery machine that's destroying the foundations of humanity."
Her eyes slide to me as she's speaking, as if acknowledging a secret known only to the two of us. I remember the synoid she showed me in the military compound. The carbon copy of Jude Maximillian. I know what she expects me to do: use it to access Syn City. Get her inside so that she can corrupt the databanks of Elysia, bring the entire system crashing down. Erase the coding and backups so that it will take decades to rebuild.
A tiny smile touches her lips. "It's time that everyone knows exactly what the plan is."
She breaks everything down. It sounds insane; the kind of foolishness anyone in their right mind would reject outright. But they don't scoff at the madness. They don't debate or argue. All of them hang on to her every word, nodding and approving because of who she is. Because of what she's done. Because they believe in her.
All I can think about is who's going to die before it's all over. Dabria, Zen, Keno, Enigma? Everyone? I can't say. But I know it's all going to end badly. It's inevitable. I know that just like I know my reflection in the mirror: sallow face, shifty eyes, guilty demeanor. They're fools to give their trust to someone like me. Because of me, their plans are ruined from the very start. They won't die because of an ambush or from being outwitted by their opponents.