Page 12

Born Anew

Ultima: Rio

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T he wait is always the worst part.

Since the confrontation with Elite, Master Cedric hadn’t mentioned anything, but he knew. He always knew. It’s just a matter of time until he’s ready to address the issues. Surely, my time is coming soon.

But Clyde Strife’s time is today.

I wait outside Master Cedric’s office, flinching each time a howl pierces and splits through the cracks of the door where air can escape. The intervals when Clyde screams are completely random and haunting. He was completely out of line, so he deserves this.

Right?

After fifteen minutes of mournful wails, a thud crashes to the floor.

Master Cedric whips the door open in his full glory and is dressed in a dapper gray suit. His zebra striped hair slicks back and pairs well with his peach skin. He fixes his maroon tie and stares at me.

“Get this filth out of my office,” he demands. “He’ll do well recovering in the infirmary for a few days. I appreciate your quick thinking and transparency.”

“Y-Yes, sir. Do you st-still want to meet after?” I can feel my pulse vibrating out of my butt.

“I’m in a rather foul mood, Commander. Take care of the matters you have, and we’ll reschedule.”

Cedric strolls away without another word, leaving Clyde in full view unconscious on the floor in Cedric’s office. I page for Scotland to help me drag Clyde to the infirmary and try not to weep in front of him from the mental exhaustion.

It’s been days since the confrontation with Elite and my phone won’t stop buzzing. Members have pieced together this member to the one who attacked the twins. I avoided hosting a meeting and instead sent an announcement.

My phone vibrates and I’m tempted to ignore it because it’s probably another notification from the U-Knit app. I check it and see a text from my mom. I’m way overdue on my weekly visits.

Agitation peaks when another notification comes from the app with yet another inane question about the mysterious girl who is coded as “Malice” since her real name is unknown.

Before Scotland can grill me with more questions about Clyde, I rush to the basement. I wait outside Natasha’s basement room when Drake finally emerges right through the concrete wall, like a ghost. He grins at me, wrinkling the scar that cuts through his right eye and cheek.

“Still alive and ready to go,” Drake says. “Wanna unlock the door?”

“Is she really ready to go, or is she slumped over in the corner?”

He snickers, widening his heinous grin. “What do you think?”

I frown and unlock the door. Sure enough, Natasha is tucked in the corner of the concrete room, hair fallen over her ash face.

The narrow basement halls are empty and damp as we drag her down to a similar, small room with a dim ceiling light and a bulky wooden chair in the center. We sit her down and wait, but she makes no effort to move.

The thought of Malice eats my brain stem, rendering me ill-equipped to process my mindless wanderings. I want to study her because what kind of person is gifted with such incredible talent? Her prowess is intoxicating in all the wrong ways, but I need more of it.

“Yo.” Drake stares at me. “We gonna do this or nah?”

I slowly blink, focusing on Natasha as her head hangs low.

“Y-Yeah. Sorry,” I mumble. “Just the usual routine.”

I hold her down while Drake clamps the chair cuffs around her wrists, followed by her ankles, neck, and waist. He tightens and buckles each clamp until it looks like Natasha’s limbs are turning blue.

“So, that situation the other day,” I begin. Drake’s grin resurfaces. “What’d you make of that?”

He grunts and reaches for the metal helmet sitting on the floor. He plops it right on Natasha’s head and buckles it under her chin. Finally, she’s alert and squirms in the chair.

“What... what’re you doing?” Natasha asks.

“Oh, now she talks,” Drake scoffs. He turns to me and shrugs. “Are you asking about Malice? Pretty badass to stand up to Clyde like that if you ask me.”

Natasha writhes in the chair with a shaky sob. Her face is covered from the helmet, but tears stream down her cheeks and drip from her chin. I want to look away to preserve the humanity I have left, but I just stare. She was probably a great Elite member; now she’ll become a worthy Ultima member.

Even Drake is impressed with Malice and the thought fidgets. My hands tingle as power pools at the tips of my fingers. I can’t get my head out of the grass about that girl. Drake is waiting and Natasha is crying hysterically.

“Wh-what’re... you doing? What’re you d-doing to me?!”

“Don’t worry, your memories outside of Elite will remain intact. We just wanna switch up that loyalty of yours,” I tell her.

I hold the helmet steady in my hands with just the fingertips touching the metal. Drake steps back and leans against the wall. Natasha tries to kick and reach for me with her legs and arms, but she’s strapped tightly into the chair.

Power hums within me as it builds in my chest, and I exhale in time to release it through my fingers. It takes a second but lightning shoots from my hands and onto the helmet. It scatters like vermin down Natasha’s body and contains itself within the chair, cackling and shocking every inch of her. She screams until the lightning engulfs her and veins are popping out of her neck, arms, hands, and legs.

I step away, making sure the lightning can still function without me, and it appears to do so well. It circles, dances, and attacks Natasha and it will do so for at least twenty-four hours.

We slip out and slam the door shut. I look sternly into Drake’s seafoam-green eyes and finally settle some of the agitation I’m feeling. I can’t believe there was a time before me when Ultima manually had to create their own electricity to shock Elite members. It’s effortless now but also exhausting .

“Sorry that I keep asking, but she’s fine without a mouthguard, right?” he asks.

There’s a lot of commotion above us upstairs. It must be shift change and people coming and going for new missions assigned. I have so many progress reports to review, and they’re due tomorrow. All I want to do is sit and think about how to capture this Elite member.

“Yes, eventually I want to switch to an injection and get rid of the chair.”

“That would be great. I never was a fan of this method,” Drake grumbles.

“What? Then why do you help me every time we kidnap someone?”

“Because it’s a brilliant use of my power to walk through walls. Why would I ever do that any other time? It’s handy when you don’t know what the other side of the door is like.” He crosses his arms. “Unlike Katarzyna, I for one, actually like to make use of ALL of my powers, ya know?”

“Jerk, you’re just as bad as Clyde,” I chuckle.

“Speaking of, I’m late for another round of chess. Same spot tomorrow?” He doesn’t bother waiting for my response and instead pats my shoulder and jets off down the hall.

Too bad he didn’t wait for me to tell him Clyde won’t be playing chess for a while.

I barely blink when tomorrow arrives, and I’m waiting in the same spot for Drake to come downstairs. I haven’t looked at a single report. I brewed mint tea, ate junk, and fell asleep.

Footsteps quickly tap toward me as I look up and meet Katarzyna’s wary gaze. She’s hardly assigned fieldwork and busies herself with administrative “missions” so it’s odd when she wears her black cargo shorts and double-breasted navy vest jacket.

She scratches her neck, fidgets, and looks at the low ceiling. “Um... hey.”

“Hi there.” I’m stiff and unsure. Now isn’t the time to plague my mind with thoughts about that Elite member, but it’s sure gonna happen right now. “Can we maybe chat another time? I’m waiting for Drake.”

“I promise I’ll be quick,” she insists. “That day on Emerald scared me.”

Then why the hell did you even go? It brings me back to the original point that she usually stays inside. I didn’t think anything of it when she showed up that day, but I’ll forever regret her being there because now I’ll never hear the end of how scared she is and how bad this is.

“I know. It frightened everyone. It’s being handled.”

“How are you going to handle that?” Katarzyna asks. A breeze wafts through the hallway, carefully pushing Katarzyna’s silvery flyaway hair. Her thin lips have a natural downward arc, so her frown looks severe when she stares at me.

My jaw clenches. “Let it go. I will handle it.”

“She only summoned a shield and even I felt the intensity of her power. Do you think she can summon Skylar? Is he real?” she whispers.

Oh great, did the twins get in her head too about the mythical creature?

Drake comes down the hall, whistling with his hands in his jacket. He joins us and looks at Katarzyna. “‘Sup, Kate?”

Her face hardens as her stare burns a hole into my eyes. “Nothing.” She brushes by me without a second look. Drake glances at the door and then at me.

“Didn’t realize Clyde was down for the count.”

“You saw the way he behaved on Emerald, are you that surprised?”

“Heh, no sir.” He brings up his crooked smirk and lets his head melt right through the concrete wall. The rest of his body remains in the hallway with me until he pulls his head out and nods in confirmation.

Now that my lightning is gone, we enter and undo the clamps and buckles. Sour metal pollutes my nostrils, so I attempt several times with failure to hold my breath while taking the helmet off.

Natasha is still intact, every bit of her with lacerations now. Her once vibrant blue eyes are accompanied by black flecks in the irises. That intense look could drown the world with fire.

“Natasha Redly, where do your loyalties lie?” I ask.

“Ultima,” she replies.

“And what is our goal?” Drake asks.

A sneer forms on her tanned face. “To be agents of safety for the dragons, preserve the peace on Zeala, and smother those Elite losers.”

Drake frowns and rocks on his heels. I don’t have time to question it because Natasha stands up and looks at her limbs. The procedure worked like it always does and I couldn’t be prouder of the results. My lightning enhanced this process tremendously, allowing me to command where to attack someone’s body and brain and let it do its thing.

We escort her to the infirmary to get examined for a new hire appointment. I send a text to Tess to grab Natasha in an hour to get her acclimated into Ultima. She’ll need to change out of that ridiculous Elite uniform which is an insulting copy of ours but in different colors, and we’ll need to see what rooms are available to assign her. When she’s ready, she’ll officially defect from Elite.

Drake waits for me outside the infirmary as an injured member limps in with crutches and a cast on her leg.

“You okay?” I ask Drake. “Something on your mind?”

“The injections you were talking about switching to, can I be part of the research for that? Maybe even be a test subject?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it. Why?”

“No particular reason, if it’s in an effort to help our tactics be less invasive, then I’m all for the cause.”

“Really? Since when do you care about our methods?” I cross my arms.

Drake stiffens, quiet long enough for me to see an end to this conversation, so I walk back into the wing. Natasha’s curtain is open as a doctor examines her pupils with a light. Her eyes dart over to me, bringing up a freckled smile. The doctor makes a note on her chart and clips it to the end of her bed before closing the curtain on us. Natasha waves and tilts her head, allowing her wavy, flaming hair to cascade to the side of her shoulder.

“Feeling well and welcomed, I assume?” I ask. She nods. “Any chance you know of an Elite member with black hair, golden eyes, darkish beige skin?”

Natasha looks up for a moment before meeting my eyes. “Elite? Hmm, I’m afraid I don’t know. I can’t remember anyone’s names. Sorry.”

“That’s okay. I have paperwork for you to fill out, but I’m assuming fire is your power? I’ll also take you to meet Master Cedric.”

“Yes, I can conjure and manipulate it. I’ve been very blessed by Fire Superior, Frank.”

I avoid anyone who mentions being blessed by the Superiors because they tend to worship them more than I can emotionally agree with.

“Cool, I have lightning.”

She perks up with big eyes. “I remember! Which Superior Traced you? That’s such a rare element to have out of the four.”

My shoulders drop from a ripple of despondence. “Sadly, I do not know.”

T he twins want to drag me and Lynn for dinner in the cafeteria. Lynn refuses several times until she gives in, but the irritation is clear on her sour face. Their suspension is driving them up the wall, but it’s always better than the alternative of seeing Cedric.

Well, anything is better than that.

“So, you believe us now?” Derrick asks, poking a spoon in his bowl of mac and cheese.

Lynn rolls her eyes. Her hair is wet from her shower. “I do not have time for gloating.”

“But it’s true! If we waited long enough, she may have summoned Skylar,” Eric says, menacingly. Without looking, he leaves his hand open for Derrick to give a high-five with a straight face. “Malice the Baddie is out to get us all.”

I choke on my ramen. “What the hell? Who says stuff like that?”

“We do,” the twins reply.

My phone rings while everyone is eating. The secretary asks me to come to the lobby. I give a look before swinging my legs from the bench and stalking down the hall. Some members hang around, whispering, giggling, or waving at me. When the light of the lobby shocks me, my eyes settle on a woman in a white business suit that looks ready to burst from her flexed muscles protruding through the fabric. Two puny Guards accompany her, but when I get closer, I notice their Garnet Island insignia.

I recognize the woman with beady eyes; she reaches out to shake my hand.

“Mildred, right? Commander Rio Shackler.”

Her handshake is firm enough that the bones in my hand grind against each other. I wince a little but maintain my confident smile.

“Yes, Mildred Anguine.” She clears her throat. She’s basically King Remington’s right-hand associate. I think Garnet Island is the only place that has an advisor.

“Welcome to Ultima. What brings you all the way over here today?”

Mildred pulls out a tiny picture presenting a young girl with a blue mohawk standing outside. “Alas, I am utterly broken from the loss of my heart. My joy has run away from home, and it feels like eons since I’ve seen her. The media is ruthless, so I’ve held my tongue on my cries for help.”

“I understand, ma’am.”

From the corner of my eye, the twins and Lynn peek from the hallway.

Mildred lowers her voice and leans toward me. “I hate to speak ill of a fellow organization, but can you imagine the hurt I felt in my bones when I went to Elite, and they turned me away? It did not sit well with my soul.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. I’ve exhausted my resources. I’m hopeful I can trouble you with this?” Mildred asks. She tucks the photo back into her jacket and straightens her tall posture.

“I will handle this and report it to Master Cedric,” I tell her.

Mildred smiles widely. “Splendid! May peace be with you and Cedric as we keep this under wraps, yes?”

I return the smile and swallow hard, my neck aching from craning to look up at her.

“No worries, this will be kept strictly confidential.”

The Guards and I salute each other before they turn to escort Mildred out. The twins run up to me while Lynn strolls behind, arms folded.

“Okay, who was THAT ?” Derrick asks. “I think I’m gonna call her... Lady Behemoth.”

“Mildred Anguine,” Lynn murmurs, looking at the front doors. “I remember her from when I lived on Garnet Island. She has dirt on the King.”

“Ooh juicy! What kind of dirt? Or is it like mud?” Eric asks.

Lynn’s green eyes slice through Eric with a sleek glare. “None of your business.”

“Okay, listen up. My meeting with Cedric got rescheduled to today, and I want approval on aggressively recruiting that Elite chick. Will you guys help?” I finally ask.

The twins howl, bouncing off the high ceiling and echoing throughout the lobby.

“If I am going to work with them, then they need to shut up,” Lynn says as they’re still screaming and jumping in the background. “Or I will shove my violin bow down their throats and up their buttocks.”

I quickly nod. “Yeah, we can get them under control, I’m sure.”

My phone buzzes from a text by Cedric, needing to reschedule our meeting again. He’s stuck in meetings and conferences with the monarchs. While Ultima is not being deployed, it seems Cedric is happy to give his expertise on dragon safety since that’s what we’re all about.

I send an announcement to everyone of a change in regimen. Everyone is now required to log in a total of ten hours of training in their profiles or they’ll receive a warning. This gets a lot of push back from commuters and my part-time employees. We install a giant mecha dragon to swing throughout the gym to help members manage safety protocols during high stress moments for the sacred creatures. Agility is ranked high amongst everyone as no one gets burned from the hydraulics.

I patrol the gym and watch the sweat-drenched members complete obstacle courses and strength training. The requirement used to be five hours logged per week. Few members pass me without speaking; their growth is punctuated by distasteful glares and grunts.

Scotland is here wearing a loose gray shirt that can’t keep up with the amount of sweat it’s sucking in. He zips down the gym and back to his spot within two seconds, and then again and again until he stops and salutes me.

“Hi, Commander Rio.”

“How’s the asthma compared to your speed?”

“Eh, manageable,” he huffs. “But is this really necessary?”

I gesture to the twins at the other side of the gym. Eric trips over his feet, so Derrick is helping him stand. They look like deflated goofballs struggling.

“That chick defeated the twins. She’s a serious threat.”

“To whom exactly? You? Or everyone?” Scotland asks. “For the love of Superiors, it’s the TWINS we’re talking about here. They need each other to tie their own freaking shoes, so of course she beat them. I heard they were drunk, too. Why punish us for their idiocy?”

The infirmary complains because everyone is coming in more for muscle soreness and bodily aches likely caused by the sessions. I’ve been too caught up with this that I haven’t had time for anything else and I haven’t gained the approval yet for my hunting squad. Every day it’s been observing practices, bringing in employees for write-ups for not meeting their quotas, receiving a higher volume of emails to convert into missions, and other daily tasks. Elite has been silent the whole week.

Did they even notice Natasha has been missing?

“I’m not easing up. They’ve been too quiet.”

Scotland sighs and whips his shaggy blond hair from his glum face. “Guess I should get back to my rotations then.” He races off and continues his laps across the gym.

“Hey Rio, can I talk to you for a sec?” I don’t know where Drake came from, but he rushes up with unwavering intensity. We step out the gym and he immediately places his hand on the wall and leans into it.

“So? What’s up?”

He exhales, changes his stance, and claps his hands together with his legs spread apart. The shift is brief because he adjusts himself again and pulls on his t-shirt through his uniform jacket and fans his apparent clammy face.

“Dude.”

“Okay, sorry! Uh... so, I like someone. Not here, but um, yeah. I like this girl. I feel like... I dunno like my feelings are an act of betrayal. I know we can date people, but this particular person is a conflict of interest,” he says. “I can’t deal with this. I thought about it after seeing Natasha change. You should brainwash me.”

“No. That’s for people who are loyal to Elite.”

“What if I’m loyal to Elite then?” he asks.

“You’re not,” I remark. “And what does being loyal to Elite have to do with anything?”

One of the security agents whistles for my attention at the door. A lady and gentleman screen in before being directed to my direction. Their freckled faces are distinct enough from each other, but obvious to me they look like someone I know.

“Hello, my name is Rio Shackler. I’m the Commander of Ultima. Anything I can help you lovely folks with today? You may check in at our receptionist desk for information on auditions,” I offer with a slight gesture to the desk.

The man shakes his head gruffy—fiery mustache and beard crowding his lower half of his face. The woman frowns.

“H-Hi Mr. Shackler. I’m Loo Redly, and this is my wife, Tana.” he gestures to the woman. “We were informed that our daughter, Natasha, ran away in Emerald Island. Elite has not heard from her, but we received an anonymous tip that she was being held here.”

“I, um... I’m sorry but I—”

“Please!” Tana sobs. “If she’s with Ultima, that’s fine. We just want to make sure our baby girl is safe.”

This has never happened before. What’s the harm in telling them?

Two more visitors screen in through security and walk to the reception desk, but I swear I’ve seen them before.

One girl is short with a round face and gray eyes resembling Katarzyna. The other has dirty-blond hair tucked in a green baseball cap worn backward. Trace Marks accompany their arms, but it’s not triggering a memory. They linger, holding up brochures.

Drake follows my eyes and gasps.

“Oh gosh. Oh crap.” He presses against the wall and sinks right through to the other side, now back in the gym.

“M-Mr. Shackler,” Tana’s shaky voice demands my attention. “Have you seen our daughter?”

Katarzyna comes from the other side of the lobby with a stack of envelopes in her hands. She addresses the two girls with the receptionist while I’m still tongue tied with Natasha’s parents.

“I think you should come back another time with a scheduled appointment with Master Cedric,” I tell them. From my periphery, the petite scarlet haired girl leaves the building, while the tall blond continues talking at the desk, Katarzyna’s stiff, her jaw clenched tight.

Tana frowns and wipes a clean slap across my face, silencing all the noise in the lobby. The security agents rush over as I blink hard from the stinging pain.

“You know something!” Tana screams with an accusatory finger at me. “If you didn’t, you could’ve just told us no! You did something to our little girl.”

“Get them out of here now,” I order the security agents.

They proceed to roughly grab Natasha’s parents and shove them toward the front door. Loo trips and falls on the squeaky floor, but security shows no mercy and grabs his arm to force him back up. The blond breaks away from Katarzyna to intercept the crying parents, and I finally get a better view of her face.

The girl Malice protected on Emerald Island.

She’s with Elite.

She reaches out to get their attention. “Hey! Stop that! They’re not resisting—”

A third security agent grabs the girl’s arm.

“You can shut up and leave too!” they bark at her.

“Don’t touch me!” she hisses. Her hat flies off, revealing her medium-length hair that somehow grows. Her washed-out blue eyes vibrate in their sockets until they shift into green snake eyes. Patches of the girl’s skin rapidly form into blue, green, and gray scales as her hair rises from her head. The strands move with minds of their own, weaving into braids and changing into a shiny texture until we’re staring at a girl with a headful of snakes.

Loo and Tana Redly hold each other and run out the building while our remaining security surrounds the girl.

I run to Katarzyna. “What did she say to you?”

“Are those... real snakes?” she whispers.

The girl makes eye contact with one passing member who instantly turns to stone.

A slither of panic quivers through me as I regain my thought process. “EVERYONE COVER YOUR EYES!”

But Katarzyna is already rigid in my hold. Her entire body stone with a gaping expression toward the snake chick.

Security whip out their batons that expand into black, wide immunity shields as they hold them close to peek through the window and close in on the girl. Some people run away, and others are ducking. A few are too slow at processing my words and have been petrified, too.

“LEAVE IF YOU CAN! GET OUT OR HIDE!” I bark at anyone remaining in the lobby. The receptionist is already under her marble curved desk while members returning from a shift turn around and run out.

I stare at her feet. She hasn’t moved, so she must be looking around at members and petrifying them—a simple task. Dozens of statues are scattered in the lobby of my team.

Panicked screams drown the hallway. The lobby is littered with frozen members while survivors are crouched with ragged, wobbly breathing and scrunched brows. Hot sweat coils through me as fear makes a home inside. Deep breaths aren’t manageable because I psych myself out with my rigid breathing.

The snake girl is surrounded until all the shields are touching each other and she has no one left to petrify. Now detained, I can throw her in the basement and continue operations as planned with conversion.

A security agent reaches between two shields and stabs the girl with a syringe needle, completely disarming her snake head and returning her back to the wavy blond. Through the swarm of legs, I see her kneel to the floor before all the shields disappear, and her hands are tied behind her back.

“Hold her there!” I order them.

“Not so fast, Commander.” A Guard in black military gear creeps in through the door, crossbow ready and aimed at the girl. “I’ll take it from here.”

I gasp. “Wh-what? With all due respect, this incident occurred on our property.”

“C-Commander, I called law enforcement so they could arrest her,” the young secretary says. Security steps aside for the Guard to grab the chick off the floor and escort her out the building with a nod at the remaining members in the lobby.

I grab the phone from the secretary’s desk to page nurses for help with the petrified victims. The gym doors open with hesitant heads poking out. Drake is the first to rush to me.

“Rio, I am so sorry about that. I... I just couldn’t do it,” he says.

I grunt and fight the suffocating urge to throat punch him. “Go away.”

Several tech workers come to clean up the mess, while the nurses roll out platforms to wheel the stoned victims into care.

Up on the balcony, Master Cedric glares down at me. I look away, ashamed and alone in the middle of the lobby, frozen in time while everyone is moving around. The series of events was too unbelievable to fully grasp.

Lynn approaches me with the twins.

“Are you okay, Commander?” she asks. The twins are behind her, both separately peering over each of her shoulders.

I’m tethered to another realm of thoughts suspended in disbelief. I failed my team with my uncertainty. My day with Cedric will come soon.

But until then...

When my brain operates again, I change out of my uniform and leave.

A s the train approaches the Topaz station, music booms from outside, causing vibrations in my seat. When I step out, my eyes tear up from the excessive vibrancy of the island as animated citizens embark on their extravaganzas. People are floating on balloons, shooting candy to little kids. It’s great to be home.

I grab a taxi and am greeted by Guards at my destination. The bushes are clipped perfectly to line up with the walkway as I stroll by. I go through the heavy double doors, past the foyer, and into a small room with the thick scent of citrus. Mom is seated behind the desk, but she’s on the phone and turned in her chair, facing the window. I close the doors and take a seat.

When she wraps up the call, she spins around to set the phone on the receiver and looks up with her inordinate eyes.

I smile at her. “Hey, ma. Sorry it took me so long.”

Queen Sophie smiles back. “Rio, dear. Care for some tea?”