28: Kelsie

Pieces of hair fall to the floor around me. Looking in the mirror, I see a very different girl from the one I've known. My face looks weary as if life itself was carving a permanent mark on me. My hair is now the shortest it's ever been, hitting a little longer than chin length.

I've heard nothing from Serenity until yesterday when she sent a text about her abduction. Then she asked about meeting up at Cafe Express and I didn't answer for a while. Finally deciding it would be good, for both of us, I sent back "Sure. Maybe 1 this afternoon?"

She answers with "Sounds good :)"

I let out a sigh of relief. If she's willing to meet me, then she must still think I'm not connected to what happened to her.

Choosing what to bring with me is hard. Richard still doesn't trust me and I need to prove my undying loyalty once and for all. Ropes will be easy enough to make but I need something to subdue Serenity. Rifling through my stash of toxins, I decide on Alprazolam. A high enough dose will make her sleepy and in turn, more compliant. Perfect for getting Serenity to the Underground without a fight.

Carefully measuring out the dose, I slide the vial into a padded pocket and grab a few of my daggers. One of them brings back memories. My first weapon, the one with the trench where I can bury light. I haven't used it in years since carrying weapons on campus is prohibited and I can create daggers quicker than I can arm this one.

I grab my wallet and head to the garage. Cassy materializes out of the wall and falls in step beside me.

"Where are you off to?" She asks.

"To see my sister," I answer.

She perks up at that. "Can I go?"

I laugh. "I wish you could. Things are ending today. I'm bringing her here, to her new home, no matter the risk."

"Oh." Silence falls between us. "Do you need me to do anything to prepare for her arrival?" Cassy finally asks.

"You know the room next to mine?"

"Yep."

"Get it as meta proofed as possible. Find Mark. He can craft anything you need and he does it fast."

"Where do I find him?"

"With the armor crafters. Tell him I sent you and the Underground's future depends on this getting done."

"Is there anything specific you need him to make?" Cassy pulls out her phone.

"Power dampeners. And LOTS of them. Just make sure I can still function when I'm in there. She's the only one that needs to be weakened." She starts typing down everything I say. "The strongest lights you can get, any shadow gives her weapons to work with. Reinforce the door and walls, get some food in there and water bottles. If you need to recruit other members, then do it. Just don't tell my father. That'll be handled once I have her in my custody."

"Yes ma'am. Is there anything else that needs to be handled?"

"Get me a fingerprint lock. Only one person is going to be allowed access to her and that's me ."

"Got it. When can I expect you back?"

I pause. "Give me around two and a half to three hours."

"Perfect." Cassy turns and walks through the wall. I pray everything goes according to plan.

~~~

Parking right in front of Cafe Express, I find Serenity's Four Runner parked just down from me.

Double checking to make sure the Alprazolam is still secure, I take a deep breath, step out of my Tesla and head inside.

Serenity waves to me from a table in the back and I wave back before ordering a smoothie. As I approach the table, she stands up to give me a hug.

"You cut your hair!" She exclaims.

"I did! A change is what I need right now." I don't say anything about how she looks. Where I look worn, she looks even worse. "I wanted to ask about what you mentioned yesterday about being abducted."

Serenity's face pales. 'Does she know that I was involved with it? That I was the one who kidnapped her and locked her away?'

"I don't remember much,'' she finally says. "Only bits and pieces. But whoever took me has been after me for a long time."

Her words are carefully spoken. "They may be the same people who killed my parents, but I have no way of knowing. I didn't see any faces."

"I'm so sorry Serenity. I wish there is something I can do to help."

"SMOOTHIE FOR KELSIE!" My name rings through Cafe Express as the lady announces my smoothie is ready.

"I'll be right back." I start standing up but Serenity stops me.

"You stay here. I'll grab your drink."

I see my opportunity. While she stands up, I slide the vial out of it's pocket and begin unscrewing it. As soon as she starts walking towards the counter, I pour a small amount into her matte. The vial is just put away when she gets back to the table. Hopefully she didn't see me put it in her drink.

"Here you go!" She sets my smoothie down in front of me and sits down. I take a sip and immediately notice it tastes off. Interesting.

"Thanks for grabbing that."

"It was no problem. Besides, you look worn out."

"You don't look much better," I let out a small laugh.

Surprisingly, she laughs. "It's been a long few weeks since we last saw each other."

"Same here. Some kids I know died in a fire and their parents are distraught."

Her face falls. "Do they know what caused the fire?"

"Best they can tell, one of them was a fire meta who's powers came out. His sister just happened to get caught in it," I honestly tell her.

"That's awful. Are their parents metas?" Serenity takes a sip of her drink.

"From what I know, they are." No need to tell her Marin and I have taken over the role of Sammy and Becca's parents.

"It's so sad to hear of metas that die. They don't deserve the treatment everyone gets them."

"Yeah." I fall silent.

Immediately, Serenity notices something is wrong. "Are you okay?" She asks. "You've barely touched your smoothie."

"Yeah, I'm fine," I assure her. "Guess I'm just tired. Maybe I should've gotten something with some caffeine in it."

~~~

About an hour later, Serenity starts to look drowsy. "I- I think I'm going to go home," she says with a yawn.

"Do you want me to take you? Driving like this may not be a good idea," I suggest.

"If you don't mind." Now, Serenity is struggling to keep her eyes open. Just what I want to happen.

"Then let's go. I can come back and get your car if you don't mind," I suggest. We stand up from the table and she nearly collapses. Wrapping my arms around her, I guide her out of Cafe Express and to my Tesla. "What's your address?" I ask while buckling her in.

She mumbles something I can't quite make out.

"Okay. We'll be there soon." Quickly rifling through Serenity's pockets, I pull out her car keys and slide them into one of the pockets in my jacket.

~~~

I carefully carry Serenity through the halls of the Underground, making sure to keep her face hidden. The keys to her car were passed to Cassy as soon as I arrived and she left to get the Four Runner back here. Anything that can track Serenity was disposed of on the way here.

After I put her on the bed in the room next to mine, I tie her hands behind her back and flick on the lights. Serenity squirms a little as they go on, but falls still again, and I take that as my cue to leave.

The door is double locked, the power dampeners are on, and cameras are activated. Now all I can do is wait for her to wake up and get adjusted. Then, the big entrance will happen.

~~~

"Why won't she wake up!" I slam my head on the table in frustration. The camera monitors in Serenity's room are all linked in here. Cassy is in the small kitchen area making some coffee.

She hands me a coffee and asks, "Well, how much did you drug her?"

"Not a lot." I chug half of the coffee. "I mean, it was Alprazolam and I only used about five milligrams or so."

She nearly chokes. "I'm sorry, HOW MUCH?"

"Five milligrams. I've used that much before on other prisoners."

"I barely take half a milligram of it. Your sister is going to be out for a few hours." The look on Cassy's face tells me she's trying not to die laughing.

"Well shit."

That puts Cassy over the edge and she dissolves into giggles.. "Y'know, I always thought you were untouchable, nothing more than the perfect weapon of the Underground. But seeing this little mishap-"

"It's more than a little mishap," I mumble.

"This little mishap, tells me you aren't exactly what you seem to be."

"Then what do you think I am?"

"Someone who knows what the right thing is, but keeps herself from doing it except in certain situations. There's more to you than meets the eye Kelsie."

"What certain situations are you talking about?"

"You remember Sammy and Becca, right?"

"Of course I do. I helped get them here with help from Marin and my father. But they died in that fire."

"Or so you say."

What is she getting at here?

"You forget I can walk through walls. I took a wrong turn and saw everything."

"Everything?"

"Everything. As long as the kids are safe that's all that matters to me."

I let out a sigh of relief. "They're safe. I have a safe house not too far away from here. Marin has been taking care of them there."

"And you're sure they're safe?"

"I know they are. We're going to try getting them to good families that can take care of them."

"You're separating them?"

"Just to two different families that live close to each other. They're all each other has."

"Good. I think I'm gonna get some sleep. If she wakes up, lemme know and I'll be here soon."

"Okay. Just make sure to get some rest. Things can go badly and I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Are you that worried she's going to do something?"

"After what happened last time, I am taking every precaution in the book."

~~~

Well over a day goes by with no signs of Serenity waking up anytime soon. Finally, she begins to wake up and move around the room. As soon as she finds the cameras, she realizes what's happened.

"What does the Underground want from me?" She yells at the camera. "I've done nothing to you! You're the ones who killed my parents!"

She tries using her powers, but they don't work. The combination of lights and dampeners seem to have completely inhibited her powers.

"Good job on those power dampeners Mark," I say to no one in particular.

I give her a little while to adjust to her new room before going in there. Changing into Dagger's uniform, I pull up my mask and unlock the door.

Serenity whirls around, fists up and ready to fight me. However, once she sees that it is me, she grabs me in a hug.

"Thank goodness! I thought I was stuck here forever!"

Brushing her off, I slam the door and drape myself over one of the chairs I put in there. "And who said I was here to rescue you?"

Betrayal fills her eyes. "I see how it is. I'm nothing more than someone in your way."

"Oh sweet, sweet Shadow," Serenity looks up at the mention of her hero name, "You really think I wanted to help you?"

"Isn't that what you do? Help people who can't help themselves?"

Evil laughter fills the room. "That's what I made you think. Every time we saw each other, I pieced together a little more of your identity. Your mask doesn't hide that much of your face."

Inching closer, Serenity takes a closer look at my features. "How didn't I see this sooner?"

"See what?" I snarl.

"This whole time, everything has been pointing to you!"

"Elaboration please." I start picking at my nails with one of the daggers I have on me.

"How convenient that a new hero comes to town, right after I meet my sister. Of course the hair is a dead giveaway now, Kelsie. So, do you want to explain why you're working with them? The people who killed my parents?"

"You're telling me, that after all this time, you haven't figured it out." I pull my mask down.

"Figured what out?"

"I don't just know who killed your parents, I AM the one who killed them."

Serenity lunges at me. A wave of my hand and she's stopped by ropes of light.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO THEM? THEY WERE INNOCENT!" She yells.

"Your mother might've been innocent, but your father was anything but. He was going to ruin everything we've worked for." I connect the ropes to the ceiling and let her hang there. "Then I would've been put on the streets, actually, in jail. I have blood on my hands but I'm willing to do what is necessary to erase that."

"But why did you kill them?" Serenity fights the ropes tying her up.

"I did what I was told to do. Your mother begged me to let her go, that she needed to protect her daughter. Your father, he broke the minute he saw your poor mothers corpse. I still remember the last words he heard."

"And I bet they weren't I'm sorry," she spits at me.

"They weren't. It was 'If only you were still useful" I say in Japanese. "While I regret it, I did what needed to be done."

"You were only seventeen. No normal seventeen year old would've done that."

"Don't you understand. I was raised in this life. It took everything I had to not run after killing your parents. Leaving a girl parentless was the last thing I wanted."

"THEN WHY? WHY DIDN'T YOU DISOBEY ORDERS?" She yells, tears streaming down her face.

"I couldn't have gotten to him on time. My father, Richard," his name comes out laced with poison, "would've immediately teleported out and stabbed me in the back faster than I can blink. All the work I've done the past year is to make sure I can take him down with zero problems. I found you, Imōto*, and you became the key piece, the one he would NEVER see coming."

"So why not tell me? Why go through this whole little charade to gain my trust?"

"If I had told you when we first met that I killed your parents and now wanted your help, would you trust me?"

Reluctantly, she says "No."

"That's what I thought. I initially thought you didn't have powers, that you were a normal person. But then I put it together. What good is light without the shadows to balance it. If you would just join me, we can crumble this whole damn system and live normal lives."

I can see her thinking over her choices. "And if I don't join you?"

"Simple," I say in the most heartless way possible. "We leave you here to rot for the rest of your life, brainwash you into the perfect soldier until you're forced to help me, or flat out kill you. Choice is yours. I'm giving you three days."

"What are you going to do? Let me starve?" She asks while I cut her down.

"There's food and water stored in the cabinets. The bathroom is through there," I point to a door in the back of the room. "It connects to mine but the door won't open from your side. I put clothes in there as well."

"Well, thank you, I guess." She rubs her wrists from where the light ropes were.

"You're welcome. I'll see you in three days." I shut the door and walk back to my room.

~~~

"How did it go?" Cassy asks a few hours later. She was out of the Underground when Serenity first woke up.

"Actually decent. She knows what happened years ago, nothing important," I say when she goes to ask what happened. "She's still hurt but we may have an ally when this is all dead. My guess is she wants to kill my father herself."

"How? He won't even let Serenity near him."

"Number one perk of having a twin: we can switch places. If I cut her hair, he'll think nothing of it and she'll get her chance. Then, I'll be free to dismantle this whole thing."

"Then let's hope she's on our side."

~~~

I go to check on Serenity the next morning, bringing along some hot food and some books from my collection.

"Just thought I'd come see how you're doing," I say after locking the door. "I brought some food!" I hold the plate up with a smile.

"What is it? There's no poison in it, is there?"

"None at all. It's not much use when I have you where I want you. But I wanted to ask you, have you made a decision?"

"I have." Serenity sits down on her bed. "I'll help but only if I get to kill the Demon Lord."

"You've got a deal. But don't you want me dead as well?"

"Considering you're taking this whole place apart once we're done, no. That and I can't see any more of my family die."

"Then you might want to cut your hair."

Nervously, she reaches up to it. "Do I have to?"

"It's the only way you'll get close to Richard." I open one of my pockets and pull a knife out of it. It feels that same as it does the day it came into my possession, lightweight, cold, and pure shadow. "I brought this as a peace offering," I say, holding it out to her.

"Where did you get this?" She asks in awe, turning it over in her hands.

"From you. Before I even knew exactly who you were."

"But when? I haven't used anything like this since before I came to Atlanta."

"When we were eighteen, I sent a man named Daniel Rogers after you. His mission was to bring you back here to us, to me, to figure out exactly who you were. You killed him and this came back with the body. I've hung onto it, not knowing where it came from."

"And what makes you think I won't use it on you now?" The question holds a lot of weight, but the answer is easy.

"You know what's right, Serenity. And killing me, definitely not the right thing."

Squaring her shoulders, Serenity looks me dead in the eye. "Then let's kill him. We can end it here and now," she says in the surest tone possible.