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Welcome back, hopefully I'll post this either Tuesday or Wednesday. If I'm early or late sorry :T

So I mention a few locations in this one. I made up "coast city" as kind of the GRA capitol of the Western States of America (more info on that below), where the offices are based.

One of my friends asked about where Gibraltar was, it is irl a location but there is not actual land called Gibraltar.

It's a strait between Spain and Morocco. However in this story (post nuclear apockalypse) one of the most heavily bombarded areas was Morocco simply because of the large nuclear stockpile other countries put there.

In effect the land went all over the place and there was a small section on the coast that had bombs dropped on all sides and not directly because of the high civilian concentration.

This eventually became Gibraltar because while it belonged to New Morocco it was closest to Spain.

Being separated from the mainland government by the radioactive land led Gibraltar into being virtually ruined and anarchistic until war died down and the government got back in.

But even then Gibraltar was a screwed up place from its time left alone.

As for all my mentions of East Asia, it's a Jinn sympathizing region and also where the movement started. GRA is slowly backing out of the region but maintains presence to combat Jinn.

America in this universe is also divided south north and west. Obviously during the war they were hit harder than anyone (even by their own allies who were afraid of their nuclear arsenal) and so they joined with neighboring countries in order to remain stable. They are well off now but everyone's happy the way it is.

New Egypt and New Morocco are new because of more/less territory.

While Alcatraz takes place in the future I never really set a date but sometime in the early 22nd century sounds about right.

Bit of a history lesson there. My friend also asked me another question I'd like to get opinions on if you see the journal "Elephant in the Room"

I like to take myself to sides of the spectrum I've never been to and this applies to everything. This is the main purpose of writing Alcatraz, and I told myself when I publicize something I'm not shying away from anything no matter how controverstial it is. But Idk if that goes a little too far, and my readers dictate what I write, as I do what pleases the general consensus.

///

Everything was empty as the office was only open to lategoers at this time. _Really_lategoers.

Not that Riley preferred staying up late, but when you were GRA you did whatever they told you.

Her flight had come in an hour later than expected, but the one time she'd spoken face to face with James Harper previously gave her the impression he would still be here.

Looking out the windows as she walked down the hallway, it reminded her of certain sections in the Bangkok office, where they gave a view of the streets below.

Ceiling to floor. Except those were bulletproof Plexiglas.

And they gave a view of the GRA airfield and a barbed wire fence.

The sun was just coming up over the concrete jungle, and Riley appreciated the view, taking her earbuds out as she neared the GSS head's office at the end of the hall.

It reminded her of Ottawa, back home. Her grandfather.

She hadn't been there in years, most of her civilian time spent in the Western States, specifically California with her brother.

Looking away for fear of lingering, she kept going to the end of the hall.

Knocking on the door, there were no guards.

Doing a quick 180 as well, she figured if someone was going to kill her they would have.

And her glock was right there in her back pocket.

Harper, much to her relief, opened the door. He didn't look tired at first but then she noticed the coffee on his desk.

"Come on in, Riley."

Walking in and taking a seat, the bluejay felt slightly less vulnerable.

Familiar creak of a computer chair and middle aged exhale as Harper sat down.

He stacked some files, then passed them to her.

"I want you, to the best of your ability, to identify the attacker yesterday at the Bangkok compound."

"Alright..."

Every paper had a new face and name and some information, and the stack was innumerably large.

Riley flipped through them, seeing that most Jinn operatives did wear masks.

Another trend is when they were unmasked they appeared to never go into the field again.

"You were in GSS at one point, weren't you, Hayes?"

He said, looking through a dossier with her name scribbled on the side.

"Yeah. Joined at 20, but... I took some fletchettes to the spine early on and now they say I can't do action."

"Well," he said, the words passing through his mind like any other Head of Department fed information all day, "overwatch of other squadrons is its own calling, and a noble one at that."

Looking through, I was having no luck finding-

There. There she was.

The photograph wasn't a mugshot or even an upclose, it was as if it was shot from a high powered camera almost a mile away.

And she was staring straight at it, hand raised in a waving gesture.

Her mask brought back bad memories and made me feel sick...

Through all the other masks I'd seen looking at the others in the linup... They all seemed to be for practicality or stealth or armor...

Hers was just for fear.

"There's no real name, here, sir."

He scowled. "So it was her... Afraid we have very little information on this particular Jinn operative. We don't even know if she works for them, she's killed her own. May just be a hired gun."

Staring at her, remembering the laugh, throwing back the gun, Riley's shock when it fell to her feet.

The fearlessness of...

Lynx. The only name given.

A shiver ran down Riley's spine and the migraine started, extremely sensitive in that area...

Tell Harper Lynx says hello

Ears ringing, she had to go lie down or something, and hoped Harper didn't have much more to say.

"Well, thank you for your cooperation. I'm sure you'll find the tech support offices here better than the ones in Bangkok, and probably your living accommodations too."

Shaking his hand, she stood. "Thank you, Mr. Harper."

Not giving a word in response, he went straight back to his coffee. It was six in the morning, after all.

She caught a glimpse of three kids in a picture on his wall. One of them was older than the other two, a gray fox with tan tips at the end of his ears, meaning Harper's wife was of that species.

There was a boy that took heavily after James, a less stocky build however, more muscular. She noticed he was dressed up and figured he'd just come home from overseas when it was taken.

The girl was youngest, also a gray fox but polar of Harper himself. She had a similar build to Riley, but looked to be taller, a streak of green in her short hair.

Riley noticed Harper stared at his pictures a lot, the office life and more broad, the GRA life didn't allow for much time with your family.

///

Setting down her suitcase, the new apartment was roomy, and modern, if anything.

It gave a view of the GRA building across the street, as well as the rest of Coast City.

In a corner a new (and less cluttered, for that matter) setup was present, shielded from the windows glare and with a less blue and more warm green tone.

Going over to check it out before anything else, the familiar red circle popped up in the top right.

Her assigned squadron was doing a simulation.

///

I didn't want to open my eyes. Whatever doubts I'd had about getting used to this life had melted away.

I had school today, didn't I-

...

Oh. Right.

Pulling my sheets up further, I was tempted to sleep in.

But old fears stopped me, as well as Gibraltar instinct.

I couldn't sleep in, and had a hard time sleeping at night.

All stemmed from several cases of sleep paralysis when I was a kid, and for fear of it happening, I always got up early, unless I couldn't help myself like yesterday.

Getting out of bed and looking in a mirror, my bruises ached at the sudden movement and around my ribs and arms there were odd colored spots in the skin, red, purple, yellow.

Wincing and pulling on a shirt, I opened the door to my room and walked out.

The hallway had several floor to ceiling windows and flags from several countries there.

Among those present were France, the South United States, Britain, Australia, New Egypt, and my own New Morocco.

I could pick out who was who from my teammates accents and customs, but New Egypt and France were a mystery.

Deciding to take a morning walk, I was still in my bedclothes and had no desire to go outside in the snow.

My teammates rooms were all uniform and I assumed they were still asleep. Looking at the digital once I got to the catwalk it was 4 in the morning.

Surprised, but it was too late. Once I was up I was up.

I wasn't hungry so I walked through the kitchen, and found myself in the concrete hallway.

I had shoes on and made an effort not to drag my feet as to the echoey sound it made.

Walking down the last set of stairs I looked into the server room, dark and mysterious.

Walking in, my time in Gibraltar replaced the feeling of eerie quietness with rare peace and quiet.

I heard something. I wasn't alone.

Turning around, Reyna was staring at me, syringe in hand.

"Up early, cat."

"I couldn't sleep. What are you doing down here?"

"I wanted to run the simulation again myself to get a better feel of the mission."

I looked at her questioningly. "We're allowed to do that by ourselves?"

"I asked Marshall yesterday and he said we have free reign of the equipment if we know how to use it."

I was sure Reyna was an expert of sorts.

"Can I do it with you?"

She gave a somewhat reluctant nod, as if she'd written me off but then decided to be kind.

"Thanks."

The jackal still said nothing, putting a needle on the syringe as I sat down.

"Let's see if you can make it as you did yesterday, wallhacks."

The last thing I saw was her face, but as the darkness took me all that was left was her eyes.

So dark.

///

For a moment I was alone in the courtyard, and panicked.

Was Reyna coming? What went wrong?

I saw a man walk in front of a large hole in the fortress I hadn't noticed before.

He spotted me, kept moving, then did a second glance.

Turning on me, his gun fired only for a second before everything went black again.

"New entry. Resetting simulation."

I had this sensation of ethereality before the world came back. On the left was the jackal.

"Apologies. I had to start the simulation and then inject myself, or we would just be asleep in the chairs for an hour or two."

I nodded. If she wasn't awake to start the simulation we'd just be asleep.

Seeing the man again, I aimed my gun and fired as soon as he walked by, landing about two shots in him.

Reyna was puzzled once more. "As Rochelle said..."

"I saw him before the simulation reset."

"The simulation is auto programmed to change AI behavior each time. He could not have walked there twice."

...Then what was there earlier? He'd shot...

No time to think, Reyna was off.

Running after her fast as I could, my gun rattled at my side. The simulation must have automatically given me what I had last time since we skipped the arsenal.

There was a crackling in my headset, and at first I assumed it be be Reyna but then the voice came on.

"What are you kids doing up so early?" Riley asked, yawning early afterwards.

"Couldn't sleep. You?"

"Had an appointment with Harper."

Reyna's eyebrows shot up for a moment, the two of us outside the entryway.

"Who's that?" I asked.

Reyna and Riley alike gave and incoherent and disappointed sentence.

"You honestly don't know?"

"No... Am I supposed to?"

"Yes! He's the fucking head of the GSS, Tai!" Riley sounded frustrated and tired herself, if I was right it was just getting to 1 or so in Bangkok.

I assumed she was there because back then I knew little about her and only heard about Lynx's attack later, and most of the Overwatch Division was stationed there.

My head was only filled with postwar history and the odd GRA facts, I had a hard time with names and worse, what was behind those names.

Shaking her head, Reyna peeked through the door just incase someone was there and practically executed the man who'd taken out Rochelle last time, coincidentally here a bit earlier.

The dead on accuracy was eerily similar. Same red dot on his forehead, blood leaking.

Not wasting any time, Reyna walked straight into the hall, and I remembered what she said about AI behavioral patterns.

Looking around, we went up the stairs in a tactical crouch, checking all sides.

"Scanning heat sigs... Most of them are in the room, a few are where Alvin had an angle on last time, one in the fort side across from you."

Reyna quickly and discreetly jogged to the end of the hall, and the much nosier cat behind her once more was amazed by her speed.

I wondered if I was going to get beat up again today... My bruises didn't carry over into the simulation but I'd certainly felt them when I woke up and had discolored yellow and purple spots on my ribs and arms.

Reyna held up a closed fist, and I stopped behind her, leaning on the wall. My cat ears barely picked up on the small but deep inhalation.

Turning the corner sharply, I saw her shadow and flashes of white as she opened fire, cries of surprise and anguish ringing out.

She stayed there almost a good ten seconds before drawing back, nearly knocking me over as I edged back and the discarded mag was thrown back towards where we came.

"Drop six. Nice job."

I saw her caress her cheek with the back of her hand, calmly acknowledging she was bleeding.

"Are you hurt?" I asked, eyeing the gash on her cheek.

"A graze there..." She took a deep breath. "Something a bit deeper here."

Reyna motioned towards her stomach where dark fluids were pouring out.

I flinched, and she winced as she tried it with her fingers.

"Was too reckless..." She pulled her sidearm and began wreaking havoc on the few that remained, leaving me feeling useless like last time.

A gunshot far louder than the others almost deafened me, and I fell to my knees, covering my ears and wincing.

Reyna fell to the ground, head hitting hard on the brick and mortar, staining the light gray dark red.

A soundless cry of fear escaping my throat, the world went black for a moment.

Loud ringing, the gunshots getting louder and closer...

Gasping, as if I'd been nearly drowning, I was standing up in my original position, shakily clutching my carbine.

"You good, Tai?" Riley was saying something but...

I couldn't get over than my jackal was still standing, and firing.

An immediate and enigmatic understanding passed and I grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her back around the corner just as a shot fired where she was.

She seemed angry, but then looked back at the bullethole in the wall behind her, and taking a moment to think about the trajectory, she attained.

Looking back at me, once again I found us staring at one another, both looking for an explanation.

"...Kill the last two, Gibraltar."

Nervously, I peeked around the corner and this time she jerked me back.

"Quickly. You don't know where your targets are but they don't know when you're coming out."

I did, and correcting my aim, I fired on one, then fell on my back as the small training in Gibraltar gave me, giving a lesser target and making it take more time to aim for the last guy.

Reyna nodded her approval. "I saw you do that yesterday when you... predicted the man coming around the corner. I will take note."

Getting up, I felt like I'd accomplished something at least other than the three tangoes I had to my name now that Reyna took something from it.

We walked back down the hallway towards the infamous door.

It hit me that we'd already taken 4 casualties before we even opened it last time, and Reyna watched behind us for fear of a repeat of Riddick.

Planting the suction-like device on the door, Riley was saying something in congratulations but I was once more lost in translation and thought, looking out the arrow loops into the artificial sky, and where Alvin was gunned.

Motioning in front of her, first I didn't understand what Reyna wanted me to do, but then remembered.

When you were down to three or less, it was necessary to stack up on the door, but to my surprise, I was in front.

Many nervous emotions running through me, it was as if this was a test.

Reyna had tested me several times, and though this was no lesson in pain, I had no clue what I was getting into then.

A memory from Gibraltar. Final exam, last year. We'd put a canine at the head of the stack and his muzzle was poking out.

He took a bullet to that area, staggering away and holding his wound, he was peppered.

I only saw the low quality wound but the sheer realism haunted me, even when his body disappeared after a second on the ground.

This one was manually activated, and holding the clicker, an explosion of smoke and dust dissiminated on my fur, giving me an ashen appearance, and the kaput door was smoking, gunfire ringing out.

Even as a cat, I drew back for fear of my short muzzle getting nailed. Reyna's hand was still on my shoulder, and I realized I was supposed to go in just as the breach blew.

I caught a whisper of either "don't worry about it" or "idiot" amidst the calamity, and Reyna slipped in, her lesser companion darting in after her.

Taking me by surprise, she'd capped one on her way in, then killed a window sniper with his back still turned, human shielded another, and capped one in the head.

Last man was clubbed to death with a wicked piece of black metal on her back.

She faltered on her way to the hostage, and falling to one knee, I helped her up and remembered her stomach wound.

"That's what you get for not going into the arsenal. Need those meds. First mistake, always was." Riley's tsk-tsk reminded me it wasn't in fact, real, but only some of my concern went away, as the pain certainly was.

Reyna motioned across the room to the bound man, and I ripped through the binds with my knife.

He spoke something in German and remembering Hellsberg's geographic location, I didn't understand.

"Do you speak European Common?" Reyna asked calmly. Of course, GSS' simulations would have more depth.

I might have been able to hold a full conversation with one of the Jinn operatives had I found one that wouldn't kill me on sight.

But the man shook his head. He was a generic looking otter but I sympathized with the harsh treatment he'd been put through.

Real or not.

I paused as Reyna helped him up.

I was forgetting something, wasn't I?

As realization shocked me, I ripped my sidearm back out of its holster, carbine laying on the ground from where I had to put it down to untie the hostage.

I was barely able to raise it before a shot careened through my skull, the world going red and then dark.

I'd died the same death.

///

Shooting out of my chair again, this time I went straight forward, and then tripped and landed on all fours.

Sweat on my collar once more, headache threatening to erupt, I saw combat boots and looked up, realizing I'd landed right in front of Reyna.

Jerking back, I rose again, stifling the nausea...

Reyna was still in a dreamlike state, her eyes in a wince but calm in expression.

Her braids were tied back again but a few of them spilled over her shoulders, black as her fur.

Sitting back in my chair across from her, I waited for her to come out.

Looking at her face she had lighter yet barely noticeable patterns around her eyes and cheeks, pronouncing them even if you hadn't caught them at first.

She had an almost bluish tint to her fur, even in the server room's electric colored lights.

I hadn't seen many jackals, most being in New Egypt polar my side of Africa. I realized that must be where she was from, the flag, and her cross Arabic and deeper English accent.

Now that I had a moment to look without her intensity blinding me, deep green eyes full of ruthlessness and judgement, she was...

She was beautiful. Exotic, alien. Something I'd never seen before. And a never felt before feeling overcame me.

One braid fell in her eyes and subconsciously I brushed it away, only realizing what I'd done afterwards.

A loud buzzing noise, and the jingling sound of the server room's speaker turning on.

"Mission successful. Playlist updated. To discard mission, press one on the nearest terminal. To view highlights, press..."

As the computer's voice came on, her eyes snapped open, and she leaned forward in her chair a moment, threatening to fall.

We shared a moment until I grinned. "Hostage extracted?"

Somewhat less than a smile graced her features. "Jake is going to be displeased with my accomplishment."

"Screw that, we have a victory under our belt."

Interrupting the droning of the computer woman's voice, Riley came on. "Didn't expect much from two but wow. I'll message Marshall in a bit but for now I'm going to make myself some damn coffee, you kids tire me..."

Riley didn't sound much older than us, I heard once that most Squad Support had once been GSS but were taken out of action.

"Lesson today?"

"I was going to give you time to rest after your bruising, but you seem to have initiative." Mentally scolding myself, it was just my luck.

Reyna walked back up the stairs, my eyes on.

Just my luck.

///

Eating breakfast, we hadn't done this yesterday simply because everyone had been so tired and gotten up later.

Rochelle made pancakes and I wolfed them down quicker than anyone, but decided to stay behind to be polite.

Jake seemed to notice my bruising, looking at the discolored spots on my arms, and the one slightly out of my collar on my neck.

"Jeez, Tai, you fall down the stairs or something?"

I looked over at Reyna for a permission of sorts, and she subtly nodded.

"I've been training with Reyna." Jake's eye twitched and I could tell the two were at odds over yesterday still.

"Oh. That's nice." Nice wasn't empathized or sarcastic but in another life it would have been.

Remembering how Reyna took charge of me personally during the simulation, shaking off a deep wound, we'd completed it by ourselves.

The two that were last alive last time. My narcissistic and boastful side said it was skill.

But I knew the truth.

Some call it ESP, Marshall had said.

"In other news," the jackal spoke, "Tai and I completed simulation 1 early this morning."

Everyone stopped eating for a moment, Alvin pausing with a fork in his mouth.

There was silence. "No way."

"We didn't expect to. Perhaps we were lucky with AI positions and behavior."

"That's bullshit, we got destroyed last time!" Jake exclaimed, not sounding pleased.

I knew that if I'd completed Hellsberg Fortress with anyone else he would have been congratulating me.

"I am not lying to you, check the records if you must."

"You know, they were the last two left when we originally tried it"- Alvin started.

"We were supposed to complete these all as a team."

"With that logic you'll need everyone alive in the end."

"Yes,_I do. With your logic, we can afford to drop a few _teammates every time we go out into real combat!"

That put everyone quiet once more.

"Jake, a perfect squadron is unrealistic"-

"Alvin, in your training, didn't you have to start over every time you lost someone?"

The retriever shook his head. "It's like Riddick said, that's... Unrealistic."

Jake massaged his temples, his eyes hidden from my angle by his forearms.

"Well... Fine. Do things your own way, and anyone who wants to do things the right way can come with me."

He headed down to the simulation rooms, and taking a glance over his shoulder, no one was following him.

He opened his mouth to speak, but the wolf didn't say anything, continuing upstairs.

///

"He will cause us much turmoil. There is no thing as what he wants."

I followed Reyna down the stairs and into the sparring room, my stomach full of not just pancakes but butterflies.

It had been a day and my wounds still hurt miserably. I really wasn't prepared and I expected some form of remorse from the one who'd discolored me...

"I decided," Reyna began, "that you took a well enough thrashing yesterday. You see who I am and know my authority in this room."

So it was about that, then.

"The original reason for the Lesson in Pain exercise is to prepare for the next lesson." Motioning me to stand in front of her, I walked over.

"Now that you have felt where your techniques get you, the student will accept that they are, in fact, wrong."

Instead of telling me to raise my arms, she grabbed them and pulled them up to a sort of boxing position.

"Your arms have felt the wrath. They are bruised, and tired. So now, instead of blocking, I want you to deflect."

"Deflect?"

She opened her mouth, but decided a demonstration would be better.

"Try and punch me, as hard as you can. Channel the rage that has built."

I wasn't angry now, but thinking of that helpless and dominated feeling yesterday, I drew upon that.

Full-force, she blocked my strike with her forearms coming in front of her face, and then my hook with a single one by her head.

Slapping down my fist when it went for her stomach, but then she swatted aside my next attack.

"The first three techniques will cause me pain in my arms. Depending on how hard you punch, I may not be able to block. If you are wearing fisticuffs, that is completely out of the question."

I nodded, not letting on that I was tired from just those four strikes.

"However, the fourth I deflected. I redirected the energy past me and into the air. Not only an expense of energy for my opponent, but I saved my own and didn't hurt myself blocking."

"So I just... swat it aside?"

She raised her arms now, which worried me.

"Optimal target is the forearm and up, where you'll have leverage over the rest of me. Lean away from the strikes as well. Make them go over your shoulders."

I did, and to my surprise she advanced forward with her attacks, stepping towards me and weaving into my defenses.

I was barely keeping up, the severe leaning away of my attacks keeping me above water, backing away from her.

Once more I caught her intense green eyes, analyzing everything I was and leaving nothing untouched.

I felt a fist graze my ear and began going faster, pushing away harder, moving more agile.

Something passed in her eyes, and the next swat away, she grabbed my shoulder and brought her opposite knee up, stopping just before my ribs.

"Unnecessary to bruise you further. But you can see now that every technique has a countertechnique."

"Yeah..." I huffed, breaths ragged and loud, watching her put her knee down for fear she would strike me anyway.

"Now, try me."

I went at her and instantly my frustration picked up as everything I did was rendered futile.

Powering past my pain and ragged breathing, bruises, and the strain put on me, I picked up my speed as well, punching faster and harder.

Nothing was going to get past the Trojan warrior, and despite this I felt like I would.

At one point I stopped just to catch her off guard, maybe make her swat the air expecting something, showing her own insolence.

No, nothing. She stopped as I did, standing perfectly still. I feigned a moment to breathe, as if I hadn't been trying to extract failure, and continued.

As I did I realized I could still do the countertechnique...

Grabbing her opposite shoulder, my knee came up and slammed... Into blocking hands.

She nodded. "Was waiting on you to do that. But."

Grabbing my leg still planted on the ground and pulling it out from under me, she pushed me down, and once more I was as yesterday, arms and everything else practically immobilized.

"You have done well, but for every technique, there is a counter. No opponent can be too powerful."

Getting off me, she offered me a hand and I took it, but then remembered she was a-

I was pulled up.

Nope. This was Reyna.

"We call this concept the Chain in Trojan. One does not have a hierarchy of combatants, but moves and counterattacks. You work your way up during combat and at some point the combat will become extremely predictable."

A question popped in my head I'd been meaning to ask her since I met her, loudly protesting lest I forget.

"Your last name is Trojan, right?" "Yes, though it is not my birthname."

"Well, are you related to Ramses Trojan?" She scoffed. "You know him, and not James Harper... Yes, he is my uncle. I am related through my mother."

I'd heard odd things about Trojans, sometimes Jake or Alvin made inside jokes they'd learned in the military, or from what they did now in my old current events class at South End.

While we would marvel at the stupidity of Trojan's military for attacking a certain area, or doing something.

And then a week later the GRA would publicize information that made them seem like geniuses for doing such.

"So you really did train with him?"

"Ramses trained me in manners, and politics, and the virtues of a silver tongue, and commissioned trainers for everything else. He thinks it went to waste since I left to follow my calling in the GRA."

From the countless pictures and tests I'd taken on political figures, the eyes of Ramses Trojan struck me as if they were so intense, so powerful and wise, so godlike, that nothing could touch him.

I realized why I had been transfixed on Reyna's every time I saw her face.

"My younger brother Jared is currently being trained as successor to Uncle Ramses, though he is only ten now."

"Were you raised by him?" I'd sat down, one leg outstretched and the other bent, my hand resting on it.

"By my mother and father until I was ten, when they were..." She paused. "Jinn gunned them down publicly."

I felt extreme sorrow despite never knowing them or their names or what they even looked like, mostly because this was the first sign of weakness I had ever seen in Reyna.

"I apologize for asking..."

"Do not, Tai. Witholdance is only a sheath to the blade of a man's mind." Reyna was poetic as usual in her speech, and I felt she wasn't quoting anyone but her own, never blunt.

"Did you know your parents, Tai?" For a moment I was offended at her after I'd clearly seen her recoil at my question, but then remembered her words to me.

Besides, hard to get offended over some folks you never met.

"No. I was raised by several generous people, but they either failed to support or died themselves."

She nodded sharply as a bird would. "To share one's past is not a light thing, even when they know little of it."

I wondered if Ramses Trojan spoke as if the 19th century was still in order.

///

Hanging upside down from the rafters of the GRA building, I contemplated.

Idly shaking the can of red spray paint, the silver one at her hip for the Jinn Eye later, no one would see the Lynx in the dead of night with the darkness enveloping.

James Harper was leaving for a flight home back to Connecticut in a week and I was going to make it...

Well, at least before the flight, memorable.

Strategies running over in my head, I began to spray the message on the brick, and then finished with the silver Jinn Eye to the right of it, at the edge of the building where the citylight still reached, ever so slightly.

While Gynezis encouraged me not to go in public with mask or armor on, for me there was no getting by because of the reasons only I knew and I fought to protect from.

Would one remove their face because it looked ugly?

A cynical laugh escaping my throat, I entered the building through the ventilation ducts and dropped into the vacant office of James Harper.

From my bug, I'd deduced the support girl I left alive had come and spoken about her relocation, James staying up all night to wait for her.

And then conversation turned to myself, the ruthless attacker.

The edge in Riley's voice had made me laugh. As much as I wanted to mess with her again, no wasting time.

When opportunity presented itself it may not rear its flashing head again for all time.

Changing the files on Harper's computer to request Global Squadron #201 as his security, I needed to have a conversation with a certain member.

Not for Jinn's goals, not Gynezis, but my own.

I would send for whoever we had in the area, I needed as many Jinn as I could find for this one.

///

Gearing up for the squadron's first real mission.

So if people refer to Tai as "Gibraltar", it may sound weird but at this point it's synonymous with his character.

Just like referring to Alvin as Tex or Riley as Cali. Places they're from.

Dunno if I ever put that in the main chapters but those are the locations they're from. If you haven't already, check out the characters section on my profile, I have a lot of info that I might mention out of nowhere and a lot of stuff will play into the plot.

UGGGGH Today was eventful at the least.

School Orchestra concert (I play cello). The middle school that feeds into my high school came over and we made them look like trash haha

Also had to give an oral report on our heroes in Eng 3.

Started off saying mine was in South Africa and also dead so as a guy who doesn't speak too much I got everyone's attention real quick lmao (Nelson Mandela)

For those of you that came over from my fanfiction.net account you know I love to include interminable details to increase my wordcount

** Again, sorry if anything in this chapter looks odd, I typed most of it up in my phone, didn't have much besides that to do at school today. **

I highly recommend you check out The While Horizon, as well as A Tail of Two Peoples, I'm really into those right now.

And as always promote your own stories below, as long as they are not strictly erotica.

Love to find new material!

-Djynn