Antumbra - A Lost Cause

Uncovered - Chapter Thirty

Cassius sat in the meeting room, foot tapping the tune to his favourite song, already losing the battle with boredom. The footage he'd just watched was quite entertaining, if somewhat unprecedented, but now he had to wait for his brother to return to discuss the next phase of their plan. It was quite the wait. Cassius often wondered if his adopted brother often took his time on purpose as petty revenge for Cassius outranking him. He gave a quick glance back at the security feed of the Hybrid girl's room, watching as she sat patiently while a doctor did a few more examinations. Cassius didn't care much for her, personally. Her reluctance to cooperate frustrated him, but her exceptional combat abilities confused him. Furthermore she was a Hybrid, and while Cassius bore no ill-will towards them, she was still unusual. Her blue skin, the white markings across her body, and her head. When Cassius questioned the doctor as to what exactly it was, they explained it was cutaneous horns. Cassius had never heard of it, but it was essentially a growth of keratin in place of hair. The doctors said it was non-cancerous and, in her case, completely healthy, but description still made him recoil. It basically meant she had giant, soft fingernails for hair. How such people could live with these deformities Cassius could never understand, and she was one of the more normal ones. Her friends were even more bizarre, and Cassius pitied them. As much as his gut reaction to it was mild revulsion, they were still people, and hadn't chosen to be born that way. It confused his emotions and made it difficult to interact with them, so he left that to Marcus, who seemed more than eager to speak with her. As if on cue, the door to the meeting room hissed open, and Marcus walked in, looking very stoic as he took a seat across from his brother.

"Well well, ladies man," Cassius said with a coy grin, "look at you busting out the charm. Scary part is, it almost looks like she fell for it."

"I was entirely sincere," Marcus said, making Cassius smile. He knew Marcus was telling the truth, for all his guile and plotting, his brother very much wore his heart on his sleeve.

"Still, you kind of led her on a little," said Cassius, feigning sympathy, "but I suppose it worked, and that's what's important."

"I don't regret getting her involved," Marcus said, "as unfortunate as it is, we need her."

"So no changes, then?" Cassius asked, "did the tests reveal anything?"

"Aside from her visible abnormalities," said Marcus, "she seems entirely normal. Nothing that would make her compatible with the Antumbra in ways a normal human could not. No obvious explanation why she lacks signs of exposure to its radiation, but I made sure sufficient shielding was added to the power source just to be safe."

"And her piloting abilities?" Asked Cassius, "does anything about her explain that?"

"I have my theories," Marcus said, "but for now I'm hesitant to draw any conclusions. It's almost as if the machine itself has taken a liking to her."

"Well I don't like it," Cassius said, not that his concerns would change their course, "relying on so many unknowns. Say we send Smurfette into battle and the Argonaut decides it doesn't like her anymore? Or she gets scared, goes rogue, makes a bad call? There's a reason we don't take random civilians and throw them into Argonauts."

"You're overreacting," Marcus said, "have faith. I find it apropos that the one to lead the charge towards a better future for the downtrodden be one of the lowest class. Besides, once Constance is finished with her, she won't be a civilian anymore."

"You're still serious about that?" Asked Cassius. He was still not convinced it was a wise move to have their old friend be the one to train the Hybrid girl. Cassius dropped his tone, "Constance doesn't do things by halves. I get it, the kid kind of 'fits' with the team, but she's not nearly strong enough to receive that kind of punishment. I'd feel bad for her."

"Cassius," Marcus said, looking his brother in the eyes, "that girl is stronger than either we or her know. We see that strength bubble to the surface when she's in the Antumbra. Being a pilot isn't about physical strength, that's what the machine is for. That drive exists in Arva, somewhere buried deep down, and I think she still has surprises left in store for us." Marcus smiled his signature incorrigible look of self-assurance, "If anything I feel bad for Constance."