Four| Resistance|

The Archalian Resistance was formed about a year after the Anopoly came to power. At first, it was seen by Derrick Reyes as a small band of children trying to insight rebellion. He had waved it off, saying they're not a threat worth the manpower. Reyes and the Anopoly continued to ignore as the Resistance gained support from the people, and their numbers grew.  The thing that finally caught the twisted eyes of the Anopoly were the members with an Ativ, a rare genetic mutation caused by the radiation field. Those with Ativi have abilities in a way, some can control fire, others can levitate off the ground, a small few have multiple abilities while most just have the one. But as with most things energy depletes and needs to replenish, and Ativi have two different forms of energy in their body, their stamina, which determents how far they can perfom till exhaustion, and their Archivin. The Archivin is a secondary energy, but more vital, if an Ativi's archivin depletes its fatal. 

This risk is intensified by the inequal amount of archivin among the Ativi; some people have an excessive amount while others can barely hold using their Ativ for a few minutes without passing out. The stronger Ativi suppress their ability to avoid exploitation, but suppressing an Ativ is excruciatingly difficult and even deadly.  Many tribal elders from before the Anopoly believed the Ativ was a gift from the gods and guardian spirits, my grandma believed that my Ativ was a gift from the Pheonix. I knew that wasn't the case but still humored her anyway, besides questioning an Elder was partially asking for a slap to the face. 

As the resistance gained Ativi and support, we went on the Anopoly's radar, claiming every bit of disobedience on us.  We inadvertently gave them a way to avoid changing the government, to further ignore the oppression around them. Unfortunately for them, I'm a hell of a lot smarter than my father, and I'm done having my intelligence exploited to oppress innocent, helpless people. The Anopoly's gonna get a rude awakening when they realize they've played right into my hands, I've known our respective sides were on the precipice of war for years, all it'll take is one little push. One small gust of wind to topple the tower of cards, because if you play your card right all it takes is one move. Then it's checkmate. 

I was pulled from my thoughts by the sound of a door slamming shut, as I turned off and dismounted my bike. I looked up and saw Iain staring down at me from the stairs, a cocky lopsided grin on his face. The wind has completely ruffled his chesnut brown hair blocking one of his eyes that always seemed too blue for the borderline apocalyptic world around him. It was strange how those blue orbs could look so war-hardened and cold, while simultaneously being just as gentle, caring, and understanding as my mothers. 

"Took ya long enough," he said sarcasm tainting from his words, "I almost thought that abduction bullshit was true," the sarcasm fell replaced by a serious tone that I rarely heard. 

 "Uh, I'm hurt," I scoffed a small laugh escaped my lips but was quickly replaced by a grim line, "They're sending more scouts, I took two out on the way in." 

Upon hearing my voice Iain's face turned into the less rarely seen soldier look, handing me Arachnid when I met him on the stairs. I breathed a small sigh as I turned towards the old factory that the resistance calls HQ, relieved to have my weapon back, but as with most of my positive emotions, it was short-lived. I turned to face Iain and found him saluting me, "Pheonix," he said standing at attention. 

   "At ease soldier," I laughed at his formality, and soon we were both laughing like lunatics. As I regained my composure, "Can you get a security report from the highway cams," I asked my tone stern. 

"Back to 'stone-cold sniper' are we?" Iain said in mock disappointment. I glared bullets at him, which always seemed to shut him up.  "Oh yeah the cocky bastard's back from the resource run you sent him on." His words held an unrelented distain as if the words could take the form of living flesh and shoot him.

The man he was referring to's name is Marcus Tarkin, an ex-commander of the Archalian army. I had originally sent him out on the run to get his cocky ass out of the way, and so some work would get done around here.

"Great," I breathed an exasperated sigh, "Tell him to piss off and leave me alone." At this point I don't have enough shits to give his nonsense.

"You do realize, despite how much I'd love to, I can't" Iain said, and I was about to turn and blow his ass two blocks away with Arachnid, when Marcus came around the corner.

"Hey Pheonix, Welcome back," Marcus said, the prideful tone in his voice was like poison to my senses as it fill my ears. I wanted nothing more than to shoot a hole right through his chest, which I took as a sign to get the hell out of here.

"Make a list of the resources you got and leave  in my office, I want mass, and amount. Once you've done that I'll figure out how to distribute it across our ranks." I said in a commanding tone as I walked through the door.  "Iain, get the cams report and let everyone know. if they need me I'll be in the weapons lab, but if it's trivial they can ask you."

"Alright, I'll have that done by 10-11:00 tops." Iain said, he must of known I was trying to get away from the diplomacy that came with leading the Resistance, and back into my element. Munitions.

That was one thing I couldn't stand diplomats and politics, always out for their own gain, all the while claiming they're for the people. It's all a hoax, a carefully planned facade to hide their lust for power, going as far as instilling false hope in the populous. Then they crash it down, leaving rebellions to pick up the pieces. Sometimes I just wish that governments didn't exist, and people could do what ever without offending someone.

'Sadly, you and I both know that's a foolish hope Z, just face it.' A small strange version of my voice said, I recognized it clear as glass.

It was me, or rather what I become when I fire a gun. Another sadistic part of me that feeds off my doubts. A horrible thing to have if you're a skeptic, but ironically enough, it was born from my skepticism.  And I can't help but feed her.

My madness.