New Recruit

Sam looked around the inside of the bunker. He was quite impressed, but he had a lot of questions like: Why is this here? How long has this been here?

One stood out

Who are these people?

"Have a seat, Sam," Riley said slightly more hostile than she was a few minutes ago. Who could blame her? She just found out that her brother figure was almost killed a few months ago, and that the reason for his close call was in their safe haven.

Even though he said he didn't mean to, she couldn't help but be upset. Cody was helping Archer, bringing him water and ushering him into bed. Sabrina was leaning against the kitchen counter, glaring at Sam.

Sam was no idiot. He knew that whatever trust they had for him, that little bit, was now gone. Swept under the rug. He needed to gain it back slowly, so that he doesn't get murdered.

He took off his bandana and cloak. Without the hood obstructing their view, the girls noticed a pair of russet brown eyes. Sam had light skin and short hair with tight-curls. He was lean and muscular in a black body suit. He removed his black gloves and put his items of clothing in a neat pile on the chair next to him and sat on the one that Riley offered with his legs crossed.

"Well, that was a quick interview," Sam commented.

"Don't get your hopes up, you're not in yet," Sabrina called from her spot in the kitchen, playing with her knife intimidatingly.

"She's right. Why should we let you join?", Riley asked him.

Sam thought for a moment. "Well, you certainly looked like you needed the help back there," he pointed out. Sabrina let out a dry laugh at that, but let him continue while Riley situated herself on the couch.

"Also, I have information. Valuable information. I've got contacts, I guess and well I have some resources and a brain." The girls looked unimpressed.

"I also, just like most people, want all of this to stop. Sure, the world wasn't perfect before and it certainly isn't now. But the thing is, I'm not most people, because they say they want change, but they're too damn scared to do anything about it. I'm willing to put myself out there and I have been. I just feel like I could make more of a difference. I was completely fine by myself. It wasn't as efficient though, some jobs just need more than one person to accomplish, as much as I hate to admit. Also, I can dish out a lot of damage. Just saying," Sam concluded confidently.

"Good to know," Riley said slightly impressed.

Sabrina stabbed her knife into a cutting block on the counter and walked over to the two.

"Being in a team is different from going solo. Your comrades' well-being is top priority," Sabrina lectured.

"I'm aware of how a team works," Sam said.

Luckily Cody emerged from the room. His presence alone was enough to defuse the situation.

"He's asleep now. Should be fine when he wakes up. Still, that was scary," Cody admitted and sat beside Riley, leaning onto her shoulder where she comforted him.

"He's a tank, he'll be fine buddy," Riley consoled the smaller boy.

"I know, but he's stupid," Cody said angrily.

Sabrina laughed at that.

"So she's not a demon," Sam observed.

Sabrina scowled at him and walked away to the room.

"She's usually super friendly. Guess it hit her harder than we expected. Weird," Riley deduced.

"So, you guys are?", Sam asked uncertain. Tapping against his lap, he recalled the name's Archer and Riley from their previous conversation upstairs, but he just wanted to make sure.

"Oh yeah, our bad," Cody said, springing back to his cheery self. "I'm Cody," he said placing his hand over his chest, "this is Riley," he said gesturing to the girl next to him, "the other one is Lia and Archer is the tall one."

"Cool," Sam said simply.

Lia, his mind echoed. Hmm.

Sabrina came back with Cody's tablet and something else in her hand. She wordlessly handed it to Cody. The blonde boy recognised it as the things Sam gave him upstairs, and he knew what to do.

"So Sam," she started, calmer than before and sat down on the other sofa, "What were you doing at the hospital today?", she asked.

"I needed some medical supplies. Also, these weird looking heal-y guns. Heard most hospitals have them. It would really help if I was on a solo mission," he explained, leaning forward.

"The med guns?", Cody asked, pulling his tablet onto his lap and plugging the drive in.

"Yes!"

"We found some," Riley said.

"Really?"

"Yep," Cody said popping the 'p'.

"We had to use one though," Sabrina said.

"How many do you still have?", Sam asked.

"Two, Riley and I found 'em in the basement," Cody supplied.

"Okay, that's better than not having any," Sam shrugged.

"Now that that's cleared up, we'd like to see this information of yours," Riley requested.

"Can do," Sam said scooching to the edge of his chair, "I think your little brainiac is sifting through it there."

Sabrina eyed Sam carefully, this drive could have false information on it, but something nagged at her mind. The way that Sam carried himself out, it was open yet closed, similar to herself. She knew he could be hiding something sinister behind that friendly mask, but everything he did and said felt so... genuine.

She wanted to trust him. In fact, she knew she could. That may be silly considering the fact that they'd just met and that she completely blew up on him, but Sabrina trusted her gut. It was usually right. She didn't settle into that trust completely though. The lingering bitterness she felt, it stayed there. Slowly fading, but still there nonetheless.

Maybe once Archer woke up and assured everyone that he was fine and went back to his usual broody self, she'd relax and be okay with it.

Even though she didn't show it, she had accepted this new recruit already.

"Whoa!", Cody exclaimed, snapping Sabrina back to the present. She looked over at him with interest as did the other girl. Sam just sat with a smug expression.

"Where did you even get this from?", Cody asked completely bewildered.

"Show, never tell," Sam said unhelpfully with a wink as if it gave them and the universe answers as to how he'd gotten his hands on this information.

"What's on it, Cody?", Sabrina asked while moving towards him. He didn't have the time to answer because she was already behind him, arms resting over the back of the couch as she hovered over his head inspecting the screen.

Her eyes lit up with surprise as well, looking down, she saw that Riley had a similar expression.

"You- What- How-", she stammered, trying to form a sentence, "You got blueprints?"

"For the new sentries?", Riley finished.

Cody jerked out of his stupor and began tapping frantically, trying to copy the files onto his tablet.

"It would seem so," Sam said. He leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes for dramatics and then opened them quickly as if realising something.

"Did you make sure your tablet can't be tracked?", he asked Cody.

"I... didn't actually," he admitted looking down and then started panicking. "Why didn't I do that?? I mean, that's like basic rebel-ing 101, how could I not make sure things couldn't be traced to me? This could give away our position and-"

Sabrina and Riley just stared wide-eyed at the word vomit coming out of Cody's mouth. It was picking up speed to the point where they couldn't even decipher what he was saying. Somehow it didn't occur to them that they should probably calm him down, until he was turning blue and Sam looked at them with a face of concern mixed with confusion.

Riley was the first to act, placing her hands on his shoulders and shaking him gently. The touch seemed to ground him, and he turned his attention to her, still panicking. She spoke in a soft and calm voice. "Hey, listen to me. Follow my breathing," she instructed and then slowly inhaled and exhaled. Cody followed her and soon his breathing evened out, and he closed his eyes to calm himself.

Sabrina affectionately nudged the back of his head with her elbow, "You good there, hovertrain?", she teased lightly. He chuckled at that and nodded.

He took a deep breath in again and spoke, "No, I didn't secure my tablet. I didn't really have the means too, and I also kind of didn't think about it."

Sam nodded slowly, still trying to comprehend what in the world just happened. He had the feeling that he's going to have to get used to these types of things.

"Okay... So the thing is I deal with a lot of junk and while I was dealing with that junk, I figured out that a component in some old tech, if programmed correctly, could act as a protective chip that blocks out foreign frequencies that it hasn't been paired up with," he explained.

"So it makes devices immune to all hacking?", Sabrina asked. "Well, yeah. I guess most of it," Sam said. She raised a questioning eyebrow at that. "What? It's not like I had it being hacked into from every type of computer. I tested out a hypothesis and it worked. I'm not sure if it's completely immune."

"Cody has an old laptop. Think that could work?", Riley suggested. "How old is it?", Sam inquired.

Cody left to the room to get his old laptop and arrived quickly.

"And Archer said I should throw it out," he said mostly to himself with a smirk. "Will this do?", he asked handing it over to Sam whose face just lit up like a Christmas tree.

"I must say kid, you've got good taste and yes, this will work," he said with a smile. Cody returned it.

"What else is on that drive?", Riley asked. Cody tapped again a few times and a bunch of addresses and maps came up on the screen, which he projected onto the table surface.

Cody studied them carefully. "These are all-"

"Outposts," Sabrina finished. "All of them?", Riley asked.

"All of them," Sam confirmed.

Sabrina furrowed her brows, contemplating. Thoughts ran through her mind. Doubts, flickers of hope, their next move, Archer, Sam, her family, her dad-

As if struck by some force, she looked at her hand which hovered by her neck subconsciously. What was it reaching for? She looked down and then it clicked.

Her friends watched as her thoughtful expression melted into one of complete horror.

"Lia?", Cody called out softly, uncertain.

She stumbled backward, reaching into her pockets, eyes darting around the room but never focusing on one thing for too long.

Where is it?! Where is it?! I couldn't have lost it! Please, don't tell me I lost it...

She ran to the corner of the room, vaguely aware of the panicked voices calling out her name. She couldn't care less how absolutely crazy she looked right now. She pulled her bag out from the pile, rummaging through it like a rabid animal.

It has to be in here! Where else could it be? I can't lose it!

A hand clasped her shoulder. She shook it off, running into the room, opening draws, looking under the bed. She spun around violently and her eyes landed on the sleeping form at the bottom bunk.

Archer.

That's when she realised. That fight. The knife. The cut on her shoulder. She didn't realise it when it mattered. It was gone. The only thing she had left.

Riley ran into the room, Cody behind her. They're expressions softened when they saw Sabrina. Her face, it looked so defeated. So hurt. There was an ocean of regret and guilt swimming in her eyes, threatening to spill over.

Riley didn't know what was wrong. Neither did Cody. But that didn't stop them from walking over and wrapping their arms around her. Sabrina welcomed the embrace, and they all sank down on their knees. She buried her face into Riley's shoulder, letting her tears soak the raven-haired girl's shirt.

"It was all I had left," she whispered softly. It was so broken.

That chain, it was the last thing her father gave to her. It was the thing that grounded her. It made her aware of her goal. It was her motivation to stay strong. It was a remembrance of her family name.

Whenever she felt the cold creep up her neck, her limbs going numb, when she thought she was going to drown, it was there. It was the ice that helped her float. And now it was gone. Sabrina felt herself slowly slipping into the depths. The surface far away from her.

And she drowned.