Agents Of Revelations...

[zarathrustra_ink]

For four days, we took turns playing look out while Jan slept. Every time his body would stir, the glow would return. It didn't work when Toilyn tried, but for me, when I would touch him, the blue and gold would calm itself, once again out of sight, but never out of mind.

"What's that all about?" She'd questioned on the second night. 

I removed my hand from Jan's chest to turn to her. "What?"

"He wasn't a traffic light last we saw him unless I missed something." 

I shrugged. I had as much understanding as she did: None. 

"You should get some sleep." Toilyn advised as I followed her down the stairs. Again, we were huddled inside the doctor's home. Not the best plan, but at the moment, our only plan. We had no idea what was going on at Luminous. There weren't many available options. 

"Hey, what's that look?" Toilyn waved her hand in front of my face. "Cheer up. We're still alive."

"For now." I replied, throwing my legs over the arm of the loveseat. 

Toilyn settled across from me on the couch. "It's been three days."

Exactly. I thought, rolling everything through my mind like a tumbleweed. It felt as if we'd been in this forever, but only a small amount of time had passed. In three days, how were we still alive?

"You never explained what happened back there." I said, changing the subject. "At Noir."

"Which part?" 

I mimicked how she'd held up her palms in the lab.

"So you're saying you've never pushed the red jewel?" She tapped hers with the nail on her middle finger. 

"Obviously." 

She fiddled with the lace on her bracelet. "It's a kill switch. Ashes everything the beam touches. Well, no. That's not quite accurate. I think our moods control it because I've used it to subdue a few agents without actually killing them." She tilted her head thoughtfully. "I'm sure they wished I had though. It's never pretty."

"Is that why your record at Luminous is so long?"

She continued to fiddle with the lace, now guiltily. "I don't use it often, but it has gotten me out of a lot of tight spots." She smiled thoughtfully. "Since Jan messed with yours, it probably spits out roses or some shit now."

Jan… Somehow all conversations led back to him. I turned my nose upwards as if he could be seen through the floorboards. 

"Hey, he's going to wake up and we're going to save the world…" Toilyn's gaze took its place alongside mine on the ceiling.

"What do you think they did to him?" 

She moved as if she was going to shrug, but thought better of it. "Have you considered that whatever happened to Jan, Luminous knew it had to happen?"

Yes. No matter how much I didn't want to absorb the suspicion, I couldn't shake the feeling. Aloud: "But what?"

She rested her elbows on her knees. "The tech."

"What about it?"

"If Bateman's assignment was to watch Jan, Luminous had to know that Noir would eventually get interested in him."

"The remote, Toy. We already knew that."

"What if Noir's motivations were about his remote, but Luminous' are about the rest of it?"

She had my attention now. "He can't do anything else."

"Oh yes he can." She nodded thoughtfully. "Remember how his chest had all that dried up blood with no marks?" She crossed a line on her chest. Two more before: "He can heal himself. All of this has to have something to do with that tech."

"Altura!" I sat straight up excitedly. "When Gillian cornered me in her office, she said that my meddling turned two assignments into one."

She mumbled something.

"Huh? What?"

She jumped up and started pacing back and forth around the coffee table. On her seventh rotation, she snapped her fingers triumphantly.

"Care to share with the rest of the congregation?" 

"Him! Jan!"

Oh, well that explains everything… "Him, Jan… What?" 

"I think…" She clapped her hands. "No, I'm almost certain. Jan's the cure." 

"That would mean Luminous knew he needed to be captured by Noir for his tech to… I don't know. Whatever they did to him." 

"Whatever it takes." Only the voice wasn't coming from either of us. Coming down the stairs, slowly, slowly… Almost as if she was floating, was the last face I expected to see: Juniper. "Z…" She greeted as her boot lifted from the final stair. "Toylin…" Inside the corridors of Luminous, her essence always carried a familiar air, almost as if she was meant to be there, but here… Here inside our “safe house” she seemed out of place, otherworldly even; reminding me that she always was, we’d just somehow forgotten. Juniper just was and at that moment, she was outside the library, where we’d never seen. Where she didn’t belong.  

Turquoise and purple waves of hair swayed from side to side as she glided around the couch. She came to a stop beside Toilyn, whose mouth was now hanging open. 

"Are you planning on catching flies in that thing?" She smiled, though the humor didn't quite touch the glassiness of her white eyes. She waved at the couch behind them. "Shall we sit?"

Toilyn didn't relax until Juniper had already taken a seat and even then, she took her place apprehensively. 

"Don’t you have some books to file?" 

"Gillian thought it best if I come." 

"Toilyn's right, isn't she?" I questioned. There was no need for pleasantries, only honesty.

"For the most part." Juniper's voice swirled through the room, brushing every surface like a feather. 

Toilyn gritted her teeth. "Luminous knew then. Luminous knew the whole time." 

"I knew." Juniper said quietly.

"You're Luminous!" I snapped. 

Juniper's head jerked up at the harshness in my voice. "Not everything that exists within those walls is Luminous." She paused as if contemplating her words. She nodded though neither Toilyn nor I had uttered a sound. "I saved your job all those years ago."

She didn't go into specifics but then again, it wasn't needed. The trimmers of Brie's ghost never left the deepest caverns of my subconscious. No matter the lengths I took to cast her out, she would always be there, lying in wait.

"Gillian was going to terminate you, but I couldn't allow that to happen. I knew in order for the timeline to be spared, you had to exist." Juniper continued. 

"Then why were they trying to take her off the case?!" Toilyn demanded. 

"Because I told her you needed to believe nobody would go after him." 

"Wait… What?" I didn't like how any of this sounded. They used me… Us. They used us. "You tricked me!"

"I knew Toilyn wouldn't let you go after him alone, yes." Again, Juniper's head was nodding and again, I didn't like what was falling from her face.

"We could have died!" Toilyn exclaimed, jumping to her feet. I knew that fiery burning in her gaze all too well. She was already flexing her fingers.

"I knew because of her bond with Jan…"

"Who?! Not me!" Juniper was one wrong syllable away from Toilyn's fist connecting with every body part they felt like pummeling. 

"No. Not you." If Juniper was worried in any way about Toilyn, her poker face was unclockable. "You."

"We don't have a-"

Her hand was up, swatting my protests away. "I knew you wouldn't stop until you had him back."

"No, stop trying to pretty this up, Juniper. Luminous sacrificed us." Toilyn said angrily. "Nine times out of ten, since Z had broken law before, Gillian had no problem sending her in there with no back up. In her eyes, Z is expendable."

"You were there." Juniper stated matter of factly. "As I knew you would be."

"Only me!" Toilyn's fists were shaking now. "That means in your eyes, I'm expendable too!"

"And yet, you made sure she made it out." Her face still a mask of tranquility, she glanced up at Toilyn. "As I knew you would."

"I'm going to check on Jan before I do something I won't regret." Toilyn turned on her heels and stomped away from the living room. She continued to stomp each and every step until she was at the top. 

"Are you angry with me too?"

Yes. Aloud: "No, I'm confused. When I was at the library… Juniper, you spoke to me." Something clicked. "Wait a second, when I came to you for advice, were you just keeping me distracted?"

"He had to open the letter." That wasn't an admission, but all the same, it spoke volumes. 

"But the wreck, his assistant, none of it was his fault."

Glassy white eyes cascaded through the betrayal in my expression. "He needed to believe it was." She blinked once. Twice. "Had he not humbled himself, neither you nor Toilyn would be alive. Opening that letter set into motion the man who protected the both of you." She stood. "I'm not apologetic in any way if that's what you're seeking. He's the cure. One man can save millions of lives in this timeline."

"But what about us, Juniper? What about me? I thought… I thought we were friends. Wait… Where are you going?"

Her tiny feet were almost at the stairs, as if I wasn't questioning every conversation that had ever passed between us. Light illuminated the curtains, allowing sunlight to peek through as the sun rose. The shroud of what was left of night had slowly fallen away during our conversation, giving way to the fourth day. "He's about to wake up." Her hand on the banister, Juniper paused to look at me. "My silence gave him the push he needed to protect you." Even with the distance, I could tell that I'd hurt her somehow. Oh, the irony! She allowed Luminous to use us for a suicide mission and somehow I was being offensive. Before I could raise this point, she continued: "Don't ever question my love for you, Z. We are friends."

 

******

I had no concept of time. It could have been hours, possibly days. For however long, when I regained consciousness, my wrists were bound above my head. Some type of conversation was always happening around me. How frazzled it sounded, they were determined for me to wake up. Whoever "they" were. 

I had no idea when someone had graciously relieved me of my shirt, but I was reminded to thank them every time that sliver of leather lashed across my bare chest. Sometimes it was needles. I had overheard them mentioning they were attempting to synthesize the pills in my utility belt. From what I could gather with strained hearing, they were shooting me up with it like I was some kind of a fiend. Though their curiosity was keeping me alive, something about the revelation didn't sit right with me.

One thing I was careful to make note of was how I was hardly ever alone. There was always the sound of shoes in the room, except when those shoes were boots. Somehow I knew the boots were more important. They carried a different kind of weight. 

Female weight, I'd theorized by the aroma of perfume wafting towards my nostrils whenever she was near. 

Another day had come to a close, or so I'd told myself. 

Again, I could hear boots. Step. Step. Step. The same steps I had been listening to for the longest, but dared not lift my head. If she knows you’re awake, she’ll come over here. I warned myself. Somehow I knew this to be true. Though I willed myself to remain statuesque, the silent chant meant absolutely nothing to her. The more I mentally begged her not to, the closer she came until I could feel the warmth of her breath tickling my skin. I resisted the urge to jerk away as she ran her fingers along an already healed lash across my stomach.

“I know you’re awake.” Her words were like a fist punching through my chest to grip my heart. Almost instantly, it started to beat faster. “I can see the sweat beading on your brow.” I couldn’t help but wonder if she could smell the terror seeping from my pores. She backed up a few inches. I couldn’t see her, but I was still aware of her presence. Whenever anyone else was with me, they paid the doors no mind. Everything about her felt different, right down to how she vacated the room. She was always careful to close the door behind herself. 

“Do you know where you are?” From the sound of it, she was further away now. A lot further. Good.

Don’t open your eyes… Don’t open your eyes… The last thing I remembered was saving Toilyn's life. After that, my entire existence was a blur.  Time seemed to pass slowly yet, I was aware the world was ambling along without me. I had no idea how long my hands had been roped to that ceiling, but I knew it had been forever since I was near a friendly face. Z… Toilyn… Were they alive?... And if they were, were they elsewhere in a similar predicament? 

Through the slits that I would chance here and there, I could tell I was in a lab of sorts. I had no idea who she was, but I could make out a hazy view of the boots I'd come to memorize. They were a deep, leathery brown. Above those, she was wearing a black jumper. Swaying in the small of her back was a long, sleek, black braid. Her hand was hovering over a metal table, in deep thought. Finally she selected a syringe. She flicked the needle before holding it up to the light.

When I first awoke, because she was always alone, I thought I'd imagined myself a companion. A few days later, maybe she was a ghost. (Or maybe I was hyping up my thoughts to override my common sense.) Either way, neither was not the case. The hands I was watching were of a darker complexion. Definitely real, definitely alive. 

"Dax!"

I knew that name. This was bad. A separate set of boots shuffled into the lab. I barely had enough time to reclose my eyes. 

"You screamed?"

"Funny." She didn't sound like it was hilarious in the slightest. "Did you find Dr. Patil?"

"Yes. I disposed of him. We caught up to the wife, but we're unable to locate the kids."

"Forget the kids. A man is more likely to spill his guts to the woman of the house. Not the babies."

"Suri…"

Suri. Did I say bad? I was mistaken. This was the stuff of nightmares. "Going by your tone, I can tell I'm not going to like what you're about to say next." I could hear movement. Possibly her turning to face him. "Let me guess: Your team didn't locate the blueprint." 

His reply was inaudible, but her "Dammit, Dax!" was not. "How could you have been so careless in the first place?!" The sound of a slap resonated through the room. "Find them!"

"Suri…"

"Don't Suri me…" She mimicked his tone flawlessly. "Do you realize what your stupidity may have cost us?!"

"Stupidity? Need I remind you that you were the one who insisted upon toting them to the college? Why were they on you in the first place?"

Sounds of a struggle, at first. Those merged into ones of a different kind of connection. Were they really… Yep, no mistaking that sound. They were full on making out like I wasn't hanging just a few feet away. Ugh… Dax and Suri… Ew. Just wait 'til I tell Z. Mentally, I sighed. If I live that long.

"You worry too much." Dax's voice whispered into what I imagined were a pair of lustful eyes attached to a sadist. 

"We almost didn't grab him!" I was ninety-six percent certain the "him" in question was me. "If we're going to crush Luminous once and for all, there can be no more mistakes." 

"There won't be. Let me handle this." 

A few days later, or nights, or whenever, for some reason, I could tell something had happened. I didn’t feel any different as they bustled about me, but I knew something wasn’t the same as it had been. For one, though movement in the room always felt unsure and rushed, this felt more grave, as if they were trying to move onto something else. I waited just in case someone decided to double back. Finally, I couldn’t take the suspense any longer. I opened my eyes to a tiny slit. I looked down at my torso. It appeared no different than the last time I’d seen it. Whenever that was. Bruised but nonetheless, healed. I studied my pants then chanced a look at my arms. Both sets were filthy but at least I wasn't just a Christmas ornament in my boxers. For all intents and purposes, I was relatively unharmed. I was so busy scrutinizing my limbs that I didn’t hear the footsteps at the door. The knob turned slowly, catching my attention.

I barely had time for my eyes to slam close before Suri burst into the room: “Wake up!” She slapped me. It stung, but with all the practice of staying motionless, I had enough common sense to not react. She did it again.

"I know you're awake!" She pressed my cheeks between either of her fingers, hard. "All we needed was your tech!"

She shoved me away from her. I could make out the sounds of her pacing back and forth. "If they're here, (Somebody's here!) there has to be more to you than that stupid remote." She jabbed a finger at my chest. "Marlo!"

"Yes ma'am?" 

"Get the defibrillator."

"Ma'am? Why?"

"If he wants to pretend to be a corpse, perhaps we should treat him as such."

"Ma'am?"

"If you ma'am me one more time… Get the defibrillator, Marlo!"

Instantly, all pretenses drained from me. My heart began to race; threatening to tear its way out of my chest. I struggled against the restraints.

Suri grabbed me once more. "I knew you were awake." She sneered though I had yet to open my eyes. I didn't know what was about to happen, but my knowledge of defibrillators was enough to know I didn't want to watch it happen.

I could hear the door opening again. "Shiloh, where's Marlo?" 

"Suri, you can't do this." Came the response. "This is Dax. This isn't you."

"I don't know why you're even here. Where is your idiotic brother?! He's such a waste. I don't know why you insist on keeping him around." Suri snapped.

"The same reason you've obviously forgotten about." I heard whoever Shiloh was, murmuring. 

"What did you just say?"

"N-Nothing." Came the hasty response. "That's right. Now, bring me the damn defibrillator!"

"Suri…"

"Now Shiloh or you'll be the next thing I hang from this ceiling!"

There was a short silence. A set of nails raked my torso, a small warning that Suri was still present. I could hear the door reopening. Three words, full of reluctance, filled my ears: "Plug it in.

Please… There was enough hesitation for me to scrape together a little hope. All of it dissolved under Shiloh's sigh of resignation. "Just turn this dial and when you're ready…"

"I know how to use it!" The sounds of what I assumed was Suri snatching the paddles from Shiloh prickled my eyelashes. "Get out!"

"Are you sure?"

"I want that damn tech!"

The cool touch of metal caressed my skin. I yerked away from the invasion. "All you have to do is tell me what I want to know." When there was no response, she tiptoed so close to me that I could smell what she had for lunch on her breath. "Fine then."

There was no need to shout "Clear!" This wasn't a medical drama. 

I couldn't keep my eyes closed any longer. Every piece of me felt like it was on fire. A scream ripped from my vocal cords. I thought I knew every sound that my body could ever produce, but no. Pain tore from every part of me and there was nothing I could do. 

Her laughing face warped into an expression of pain. She clapped her hands over her ears. “Stop it!” She shrieked.

Blue began to tear from my feet. It started as a slow burn, at the tips of my toes before crawling up my legs. I attempted to close my mind off from the pain, but it rippled from me anyway. I was a slave to the throbbing agony.

“Stop it!” She was screaming now. Our screams mingled in the middle of the floor. The blue was now curling from the tips of my fingers. It poured uncontrollably from me. She tried to scramble from the room but the glow had all but blinded her.  She clambered to a wall in order to feel her way out.

"Shiloh?!" She steadied herself on a piece of railing. "Dammit, Shiloh?!" I could still make out her screeching for Shiloh as she frantically pulled herself through the door.

Toilyn… Z... 

There was a time where I imagined our paths crossing again. Were these my last moments, I didn't want to waste them crippled with torment. I wanted to think of better times, better scenery. I wanted to remember how Toilyn's nose would scrunch up right before she said something sarcastic or how Z would smile at nothing in particular when she thought nobody was watching. I wanted to embrace them. No, cling… I was clinging to them. Neither of them liked me much, but they were friends… My friends…

And I loved them.

My lips parted, releasing the only sound that meant anything to me: “Z...”

And then, the world went dark.