Unity by Carl Stubblefield (epub read online books TXT) 📕

Aurora looked up at Rory. “Did they do something to you?”

Rory nodded woodenly, even that small gesture taking obvious effort.

“And now you can’t talk about it…” She stopped to think. “Do we really need to get out? If so, how?”

“Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads,” he said in a grim voice.

“A transport, then. I thought they were limiting travel. You can get one? Of course you can get one. I need to get the others before they go through this processing.” Aurora accessed a terminal nearby, looking through the directory. “Let’s see where the rest of the Crew is… Yuki and Darik are in the C wing, Pulse and Anastasia are in the same area on the second floor. I can’t tell where any of the others are, maybe they’ve already been processed? At least having most of the Crew in close together should make our job a little bit easier. I’m not seeing Seneschal or Pulse.”

She widened the search and found Harmony and Grimdark in Admin, probably doing their debriefings.

I have to get to Tempest and let him know what’s happening. Too many thoughts raced through her mind as she tried to come up with a plan on getting everyone out safely.

“You’re my only hope,” he said, laying one of his mammoth hands gently on her shoulder.

“Don’t get your hopes up, we’re not out of the fire yet.”

“This is the part I hate the worst about being a super. Debriefing. Takes so long and it always feels like an interrogation,” Harmony griped to Grimdark as they sat outside the soundproof office. Grimdark sat stiffly upright, his arms folded and eyes closed.

“We could have to write up our own reports, trust me—is worse.” he replied matter-of-factly, keeping his eyes closed.

“At least this time I actually have something to report, and they make us wait out here like kids outside the principal’s office. They need to know about hybrids in the Faction.”

“So you will tattle?” He cracked an eye and peered at her.

“You mean you’re not?!” Harmony folded her arms with a harumph. “Why is everyone protecting her? She’s a hybrid, they need to know—”

“Unless we are reporting to someone who is a hidden hybrid? Neh?”

“Well… Wait, what? You think it goes that far?” Harmony bit her fingernail as she contemplated the implications.

“I joke. Partially. Something here is… off. Isolation… That is new. We have done nothing treasonous, so their motives confuse me.”

“I’ve noticed that too, people have been keeping to themselves. It’s creepy. What do you think is going on, if it’s not hybrid infiltration?”

“I believe it is infiltration. Just not hybrids. Something even worse has—”

The door swung open and a burly man with slicked back hair looked out. His face marred by a perpetual scowl.

“Grimdark, you’re up,” he barked with a sharp motioning of his head to get in the office.

Grimdark calmly rose and stepped into the room, hearing the *hiss* and *click* as the door sealed behind him. Mr. Burly jabbed a thumb at the open doorway beyond and returned to his seat and picked up a newspaper he was reading.

Grimdark straightened his waistcoat, cracked his neck, and entered the office. Once again there was a *hiss* and *click* as the slender man behind the desk pushed a button and the door sealed behind him. He stared at Grimdark for a few seconds, assessing him, then waving towards one of the chairs in front of the desk. He steepled his fingers while continuing to evaluate Grimdark.

Grimdark stared back. These types never intimidated him, despite how they tried. He kept his expression impassive, waiting for the supervisor to speak first. With irritation, the man pushed up his wire frame glasses and cleared his throat.

“From what I hear from the other supers, your group has stumbled upon what appears to be an abandoned base?” He licked a fingertip and looked through some papers arranged in neatly staggered overlapping piles and slid one out of the ream. “Yes, this is it. From an old file, but still it would make a valuable addition to Purple Faction’s resources.”

“That is not correct.”

The man’s eyebrows lowered. “It is not valuable? I would have to disagree…”

“It is not abandoned. It has been claimed, and DNA-keyed to new owner.”

“Yes. I had assumed as much.” He set the paper down in front of him and laced his fingers together, resting them atop the report. “This is the main reason I have called you in today. I have enough from the other reports that I believe we have a good idea of what has happened in your absence, and we need to get all of our agents on the same page. You have missed the ceremony in your absence, I presume?” He pulled another report from a pile on the other side of his desk. “Yes. You’re on the list. We’ll need to take care of that before you go.”

“Before I go where?”

“Why, back to the base to claim it for the Faction instead of whomever has taken it.”

“But it already belongs to someone, who has—”

The interviewer blinked and shook his head sharply as he interrupted. “I would strongly urge you to reconsider.”

“My answer is firm. The base is not ours to take.”

“I would remind you that you are a member of Purple Faction, and that Faction interests take precedence over any personal friendships or alliances.” The assessor shook his head with exaggerated disappointment.

“I will not do it. What do you want the manor for?”

“That is not your concern. But I can see that your lack of cooperation will require us to do this in a less savory way. Because of the insolence of supers like you, who want to make their personal agendas supersede the goals of the Faction, there have been some changes implemented. You will go through the ceremony and bind yourself to Purple Faction before you will be allowed to go out on any more missions. Your older brother has already gone through this process. It