26: Kelsie

Splitting off from Cassy I head to my room. Thoughts spin through my head a million miles a minute. An innocent girl was sold to us. All because she was different and her family didn't want her. The shock of how much the Underground has done, heck, how much I'VE done, that's allowed families to be torn apart is finally hitting me.

Allowing children to be sold is the lowest of the low. Some of the kids in our protection, if you can even call it that, are rescues. I look at Becca and all the kids we rescued from Edinburgh. If we hadn't taken them in, who knows what would happen to them. The few months ago that we found them and stopped Michel from kidnapping more meta children feels like a lifetime ago.

"How have I missed this? Richard has told me so much and yet somehow this is what I missed?" I immediately grab my laptop and open a backdoor into all of the Underground's files.

"C'mon. I know you're here somewhere. So where are you?"

None of the files lead me to what I want to find. So now, it's time to dig deeper. Straight to Richard's personal files. He gave me the access code long ago and thought I would only use it when I took over or if he needed something.

I finally find my target hidden deep inside Richard's files. He cleverly hid all sales as finances thinking that if anyone found them. They'd just think it was the costs used to run the Underground.

"Now let's see what he's done recently."

Clicking on the file, familiar faces show up. Faces I grew close with over the past few months.

"They're all gone." I whisper in shock.

At that moment, Marin walks in.

"Who's gone?"

"The kids. All the kids are gone." Tears begin streaming down my face. "He sold them."

"No. He couldn't have. Do you know where he sold them to?" The shock on Marin's face was evident and he grabbed onto a chair to support himself.

"I'm trying. We need to get them out of there."

"Did he keep any of them?" Marin whispers.

I quickly scan the file to see if any of the kids we rescued are not on it. "From the looks of it he kept Becca and Sammy."

Marin remains silent for a moment before the realization hits. "Of course. The most valuable are a fire meta and a teleportation meta. Who in their right mind would let valuable assets go?"

"First of all," I wipe the tears off my face. "They aren't assets. They're kids. Richard may see them as pawns in this little game of his, but they are so much more than that. He needs Becca so he can hide here in his little hole and Sammy can become the weapon he needs to burn enemies to the ground."

"He wouldn't do that to kids!"

"Oh, he will. Trust me."

The silence Marin causes is almost deafening.

"He did it to me. Just be glad he didn't find you earlier or you'd be in the same place."

"I'm sorry Kelsie. I always forget you grew up here," he quietly apologizes.

I simply ignore him and begin pacing the room while trying to figure out a plan. "First thing we need to do is get Sammy and Becca out of here. Sammy is still young so his powers are still wild. A fire set at the right spot in their room can look like a complete accident and 'kill them.' I use air quotes to prove my point. I can pull some fakes from the morgue and get Emerson to work their magic. It should look like they recently died and Emerson will be put on examination duty so they can fake it. Mark might be able to tailor specific parts of them so they can pass for Becca and Sammy."

Marin listens while writing the entire thing down. "But where will we keep them? And what about the investigation of their room? Richard my be stupid, but he's not that stupid. All your hideouts are in the Underground's system and they'll immediately check those."

"If you don't think I have other places for us to stay, you're a little slow. If I've learned anything from Richard, other than how to eliminate my enemies, it's how to hide in case someone comes looking for me. And what we'll be using doesn't leave a trace. It was created by the Underground for purposes like this."

An eyebrow raise is the only thing I get from Marin.

"What? People have come after me a few times."

"And I'm going to guess they aren't around anymore?"

"If you call being buried deeper than you can think 'still around', then yes, they're still around."

He sighs in exasperation. "You know, for someone who moonlights as a vigilante, you really are violent. And have a higher body count than you should."

"Yeah yeah. Besides, Dagger isn't the one with a body count," I remind him.

"Not yet…"

"I haven't done anything dumb as her and I don't plan on starting now."

"You really need to be careful how much you say about her down here," Marin reminds me. "They're listening and will use that against you."

"What if that's exactly what I want them to do? Create a fake persona for who Dagger is and let them eliminate who I need them to."

"You don't have that many personal enemies!" He insists.

"That you know of. I just put someone hell bent on destroying me in one of the most secure cells we have."

"Need I remind you that your sister just broke out of that same cell a little over a week ago?"

"Victoria is NOT like Serenity," I snarl. "Her powers rely on having a meta around her. . She only befriended me because of how powerful I am. I may use people as pawns all the time, but I never like playing one unless I have an ulterior motive."

Walking over to the kitchen area, Marin pulls out a mug, fills it with water, and puts it in the microwave. "Okay. You don't have to get all worked up. I did find one flaw in this plan of yours."

"And what exactly would that be?" I ask. There are never flaws in my plans. I was raised to never have a flaw or weakness.

"Are we sure Mark can change faces?"

"He's done it for me before."

"Then if you're so sure about that, the plan is fine. What is the time frame for this?"

I erase all emotion from my face and look at Marin dead in the eye. "Early tomorrow morning we make our move."

~~~

The next twenty four hours are filled with finalizing how Sammy and Becca will be taken out of the Underground.

Two small bodies are pulled from the archive. Both were victims of anti-meta crimes and now they will be used to save metas. Mark alters the detail of their faces until they look like an identical twin of Sammy and Becca.

Emerson however, is a whole other story.

"Listen to me Kelsie. You know what will happen if they find out what happened. He'll kill both of us!" They madly whisper. The fear is evident in their eyes. "He already doesn't like me because of my power."

"You will be fine Em. I'll get you out of here soon. You just have to trust me."

"The last time I trusted someone I ended up here."

"And this time will get you out. I need your help with this otherwise we're all doomed. Please help us," I beg.

"You better be grateful I'm sticking my neck out for you kid."

A massive grin splits my face in half. "Thank you so much Em! I promise you won't regret this."

"I better not," they say under their breath.

~~~

The clock in our room clicks to four A.M. Marin and I dress in new tech developed for the purpose of stealth. Carefully making our way through the halls of the Underground using Marin's invisibility, we arrive at Sammy and Becca's new room.

I light up the point of my finger and melt through the screws holding a large vent in place on the wall. A large bundle sits inside.

"Hey, guys. We need you to wake up."

I can hear them waking up. In a dazed voice Becca asks, "What are we doing?"

"Going somewhere safe," Marin tells her in a calm voice.

"Is it with the other kids?" Sammy sounds so confused.

"I'm sorry baby, but it isn't." It breaks my heart to tell them that but for now we need to get out of here.

Marin helps Sammy and Becca out of their beds while I unwrap the decoys. Laying them in the right beds, I set the fuse in Fake Sammy's hand and link it with my phone. No one will come by here until the morning and the rooms are fireproof so the fire will not spread.

Quietly making my way over to Marin, I take Sammy from him and rest one hand on Marin's shoulder. He quickly turns invisible and we rush to the garage. I turn off all motion sensors and cameras and use the smallest beam of light to help guide us to my car.

"Stay here," I whisper. "And stay invisible.We can't get in the car quite yet. I'll be back soon."

Marin nods and as soon as I remove my hand from him, he disappears from me. On my way out I turn the cameras and sensors back on.

I set off pacing the halls of the Underground, making sure to ditch my gear as I go. Eventually, I find myself down by Richard's office. Unfortunately, I am not looking where I am going and run face first into when it opens.

"Ow."

Richard looks at me in shock. "Well hello there Kelsie. What are you doing up?"

"Couldn't sleep." The bags under my eyes from the past few weeks are enough to prove my point.

"Considering all you've been through, that's not shocking."

'Bold words coming from the man who locked me in a cell,' I think. "I might go out for a short little drive. To take my mind off things."

"Well don't let me stop you."

Richard letting me do something? That's a new one. "Thank you Father. If you need anything let me know."

"Of course Kelsie."

A quick turn and I am making my way back to the garage. I switch the lights on and make my way to the car. As I get in, the back seat door on the passenger side opens before shutting and then Marin appears next to me in the passenger seat.

"Make sure to stay out of sight until we're out of here." My mouth barely moves.As soon as the words leave my mouth, all three of my extra passengers disappear. I start the car and pull out of the garage, taking them away to a better life. The sun rising shows the start of a new day for the city

~~~

We finish tucking Sammy and Becca into their new beds.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Marin asks as we walk out.

"I don't know." My answer is completely honest. "If he finds them, who knows what'll happen. I started it right after we got here."

That's when the call comes.

I answer my phone. "Hello?"

"Kelsie, return to base now." The voice on the other end is demanding. Richard really knows how to make you feel threatened.

Noticing the change of emotions on my face, Marin mouths, "Everything okay?"

I simply nod. "Why? Did something happen?"

A pause comes from the other end. "There's been an incident with some of our members?"

I put as much worry as I can into my voice. "Who?" I quietly ask.

"They're still trying to ID the bodies. We'll know soon. Just get back here now." The line goes silent.

"It worked. IT WORKED!" I excitedly say. "Nothing went wrong!"

"You still might want to get back there," he reminds me.

"What about them?" I jerk my head towards the room.

"They'll be fine. As long as we put it on lockdown, everything will be okay."

"I'll still stress about them."

"I know you will."

~~~

We rush back to the Underground. It started raining while we were in the safe house and we pass a sandwich shop on the way back. In the parking lot, I notice a very familiar Four Runner. I haven't talked to Serenity since she escaped. She's tried texting me but I've not answered. I'm scared to talk to her after what I did.

As soon as I park the car, we run through the Underground, careful not to go straight to where the fire is.

I stop one of our agents, her name is Emma if I remember correctly, and ask, "Where is my father?"

She points down the hall. "Down there. You can't miss them."

"Thank you."

We take off running and Marin carefully asks, "Why did you ask her?"

"To keep up our alibi."

A few seconds later we stop before trying to wind through the crowd that has gathered. People are gawking at the scene and won't let us through.

"I've had enough of this." Summoning all the strength I can, I light my whole body up and let a blinding light flood the hallway. People shield their eyes against it and try hiding behind each other. "EVERYONE! BACK TO WORK!" I command. As soon as I let the light fade, everyone but the agents working the scene disperse.

I walk up to Richard. "So, what happened here?"