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22 – Two Steps Forward
The trail finally came to an end at the base of a steep hill. The root they’d been following had come up out of the ground and lay on the surface, its slow pulses making it seem like a sleepy snake on a cold morning. Curt put his hand to his ear, acknowledged something, then pointed at the other three recruits on the East side of the hill, and they moved to join them. One of Brian’s cronies had a bandage around his arm, and bright orange paint had splattered onto his pants. ‘How many?’ Brian asked Curt. ‘One sentinel. Red saw four.’ ‘One conscious,’ Red elaborated, ‘the other three…
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18 – A Step Towards Things Looking Up
The river was the first thing she saw as the world became clear again. Stef looked around, and immediately recognised the broad path beneath her feet and the sounds of kids playing: South Bank, a wide stretch of parklands, cafes and touristy spots. It was a place people went, so it was somewhere she tended to avoid. There were people around, but no one was pointing and shouting at two people appearing as though by teleport. ‘How do people not see that?’ she asked. ‘Okay, maybe you’re clever and stuff, and usually shift into areas where people wouldn’t look, but-’ She gestured around. ‘There are people here. And with everyone…
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17 – Sounds and Meaning
The world was fog. Stef stared at nothing. Sometimes there were noises. These feelings were too big and too…outside of her wheelhouse. She hadn’t been built to deal with shit like this. She’d barely been built to function as a person. There’d been a reason that staying inside, speaking with no-one and barely existing had been her comfortable speed for years. More noise. Maybe it was stompy boots back to finish the job. Doing things meant experiencing things. Meant dealing with consequences. Meant having to… She shouldn’t have been the one to survive. It should be her brains on someone else’s fingers right now. Except that person would have been…
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07 – Mirror to Be
Until Magnolia returned, there was nothing to do but study. Curt read through all of the required departmental books – familiarising himself at least a little with the faces of those people he’d be working with. After going through each of the photos, he required the recruit-accessible versions of the files for the three department heads. He quickly pursued the file for Combat – Agent Taylor – there was only so much you could assume from one photo. Still, Taylor looked like one of those rough-and-tumble guys who played rugby on the weekends. Big, tough. The kind of agent who could punch someone’s head from their shoulders. Red hair was…
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12 – Objectivity
For a single moment when she’d first put on the uniform, she’d been a different person. There’d been a rip in spacetime, showing her a world where she was competent, where she wasn’t a total loser. In this reality, “total loser” was starting to look like an aspirational goal. Stef stared into the bathroom mirror and tried to calculate how much longer Ryan would let her hide before he sent someone in after her to enquire if she was experiencing a medical emergency. So far, he’d given her fifteen minutes, twenty would be pushing it. For the thirty-eighth time, she looked to the large frosted window, not quite able to…
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11 – Crystal Laser Magic
Stef slumped as the world became solid again, and moved to lean against the nearest wall – which was hard, almost every inch of wall space in this room was blocked by a cupboard, screen or set of cabinets. It wasn’t like shifting hurt, and if she took the time to think about it, it wasn’t particularly disorientating, but some part of her knew it was probably a wise idea to take breaths until the idea – the reality – of instant teleportation became something normal. Jones stood in the centre of the room, leaning on a long bench that looked like it belonged in a high school science room.…
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10 – The Last Suit
Stef slammed the door to the warehouse shut – she was already safe, but something about a closed door always made her feel truly secure. Like how hiding in a toilet stall at school didn’t provide any real protection from the outside world, but gave you the false sense that you had some control over a tiny space in the world. Kayden was crouched beside the agent, pressing a very bloody handkerchief to his face. She marvelled at his condition in comparison to hers – she had a ripped shirt and some minor scratches from where the hob’s sharp shoes had landed on her, but other than that, she was…
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09 – Laughter in the Dark
Stef looked back at the brick wall, sure of three things: First, that the sound of flesh against flesh was her buzz cut opponent slapping himself in the head as he sat atop the wall. Second, she wasn’t the ruler of the internets. Not yet. Third, the volcano-slash-agent was probably strong enough to push the wall down on her head and leave her as some sort of meaty hacker pancake. A delayed fourth thought slowly crawled into her brain, telling her that she couldn’t stay behind the wall forever – one way or another, she had to receive judgement for her maybe-brilliant method of fulfilling the task. Beside her, the…
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08 – Litmus
There was a knock. ‘Uuuuugh.’ There was another knock, louder this time. ‘Uuugh!’ ‘Miss Mimosa? Stef lifted her head up and felt a soft weight on her head. Blanket. Sleep time. Good sleepy time. She dropped her head back down and started to sink back into the warmth of unconsciousness. Another knock. Stop ignoring the door. Stef wiggled forward, expecting her bed’s headboard – knocking her head against that usually gave her the slight jolt of consciousness to get up when sleeping seemed like the better option. Instead, her head hit nothing, there was the brief sensation of empty space, and then her hands hit carpet, the rest of her…
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07 – Wake Up Call
Ryan knocked on the door of room thirteen. There was no response. He knocked again, harder, and still received no response. He unlocked the door with a thought, knocked once more, then slowly pushed the door open, as to not spook to the young woman. He stepped into the room, leaving the door open, and looked around. The quilt and pillows were a mess, but there was no obvious potential recruit in the bed. Idly, Ryan looked towards the built-in wardrobe but heard a soft snore before he could investigate the likely hiding spot. He looked to the bed again. Fingers extended past the end of the bed, and he…
