Fortnite: Island

Chapter 12: Agent

Drift, as an agent, would be that member of IO that did the jobs. There weren't any jobs available yet, though, so he found himself alone, in his room, on the second floor down from the top. There was no telling where Tek, Rox and CRZ-8 had ended up. Drift hoped that they were ok.
The guard that took him to his room said that the previous owner of the room had looped and then returned to IO the following day, and he didn't remember a thing. He said that Brutus, who organised the rooms, decided to place him on a different floor because he thought that the occupants of the floor would find it spooky.
Drift wanted to take a shower because he smelled of sweat from the stress of the interview, but the guard said that the pipes weren't working on the floor. He did say that an engineer would be sent up soon, though. So, Drift sat, alone and bored, in his room.
And then he decided that being alone and bored wasn't enough. He had to do something helpful. Maybe he could go searching for a laptop he could use to message the Scientist? He could probably tell him about the interview.
One annoying thing about IO was that every agent had to have a key card that was used to access elevators, open certain doors, including the bedroom doors, log into the computers, or even use the coffee machine. It was annoying when Drift forgot about it, but he understood why they needed this. No forgeries would be able to get through the system.
Each key card had a different clearance, that opened different rooms. For example, an agent like Drift, or Karve, as his card said, could access any place apart from engineer bunks, or supply rooms. Agents wouldn't need to access those, anyway. On the other hand, an engineer, like the one that would be going to his room to fix his pipes, needed to request access to a bedroom. They couldn't access the coffee machines without paying, but they could access supply closets. It was a complicated system, to say the least.
When Drift stepped outside, the floor was practically deserted. There wasn't a person in sight. That meant that Drift could slip away to the top floor unnoticed. Except he wouldn't be unnoticed, because a man, carrying a red toolbox and whistling a tune (admittedly not very well) wandered onto the floor.
The man was a red fox, with dirt brown ears and sly, yellow eyes. He was wearing a teal jumpsuit that was dotted in stains that ranged from oil stains to grape juice stains. On his shoulders, he had black shoulder plates with magenta spikes on them. His fluffy orange tail wrapped around his bare ankles.
"Heya, pal." the fox nodded.
Drift nodded back, "Hello."
As Drift passed him, he accidentally tripped over the fox's feet and the pair went tumbling over. All of the tools fell out of the toolbox. He cringed inwardly and began to blush from embarrassment. He scurried up and then helped up the fox. Drift began to sweat again, and he found himself wishing the pipes were working again so he could take a shower.
"I'm so sorry!" Drift cried, "Here, let me help."
"Ah, don't worry 'bout it." the fox shook his head, "Happens all the time. Honestly? You just saying that you wanted to help really means a lot."
"People should really pay you more respect, you probably do a lot around here." Drift scratched the back of his head.
"The people who don't respect me have their... reasons. Anyway, I should get going." the fox waved.
"So should I." Drift turned to leave, but then called back, "Hey, I didn't get your name."
"Fennix, you?" Fennix answered.
"Karve." Drift lied.
Fennix waved and Drift waved back, and they both went their separate ways. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Fennix slide his hand into his jumpsuit pocket, as if he was putting something in there, but Drift didn't think anything of it. He suddenly found himself feeling quite peckish, and he thought he'd go buy something from the Cafeteria before he contacted the Scientist.
Drift scanned his pass on the elevator and moved on up to the top floor. The top floor was where all the action happened - offices, the passage onto the island, a lab, and more. It was quite interesting, seeing the things which IO needed.
Drift meandered through the corridor, through the Bridge and into the Cafeteria. Drift had a minimal amount of money, but it would be enough to just buy a snack, which was all he wanted, really. Maybe crisps or an egg or something.
Drift slid into the queue behind someone with ginger hair. Wait, could it be her? Not just her, Her? It was. None other than Aura was stood in front of him. Drift took a sharp intake of breath in shock. A guard looked at him, and then went back to his own business.
"Hey." Drift whispered.
No response.
"Hey!"
"Hello?" Aura responded.
"I swear that I've seen you before." Drift asked.
"Oh, I'm everywhere. IO asks me to do most of their dirty work for them. I'm going to assume that you're new here." Aura sighed, "Were you a spectator or a victim?"
"Oh... a spectator." Drift lied, "I'm Karve, by the way. What's your name?"
"Aura."
"Sorry, I'm new on the island as well as in IO."
"It's fine. Oh, I'm next in the queue, sorry." Aura sighed, "Maybe we could talk again later?"
"Uuh, yeah."
"Bye, Karve." Aura waved.
She bought a ham sandwich and a can of Fanta and moved on. Drift watched her pay. It was interesting. He'd never expected Aura to have... well, feelings. She'd always been so ruthless, but technically she was only like that because she was paid to be that way. Suddenly, Drift felt bad for her and her situation.
Drift moved forward and grabbed his crisps. They were just the default flavour, nothing that interesting. But they only cost 50p, so this was worth the money. Oh well. He'd get paid and he'd be able to buy better foods another day.
He once again moved forward, this time to pay. Drift recognised the man at the counter as Grill Sergeant, one of the many loops of Jonesy, one of a few original loopers on the island. He held out his hand to take the money, and Drift reached into his coat pocket for the money he had.
But it wasn't there.
Aura reappeared, "Hey, is something up?"
"I had money. Not a lot, but it was all I had." Drift sighed.
"No money, no food. Sorry, kid." Grill Sergeant shook his head.
"Can you save these for me?" Drift asked, pasking Grill Sergeant the crisps, "I'll be back."
Aura and Drift made their way out of the Cafeteria. Drift had a think about where he could've left the money. Maybe he'd left it in his room, or... Oh! Maybe he'd left it when he'd bumped into Fennix earlier? Drift started to walk with a little more purpose, and Aura continued to follow.
"What's with the speedup? Do you know where you left your stuff now?" Aura asked.
"On the floor near my room. I bumped into someone and I think it fell out of my pocket." Drift grimaced, "I know, I should've looked."
Aura suddenly looked serious, "Who did you bump into?"
"What?"
"Who did you bump into, Karve?"
"Umm... that fox engineer, Fennix. He's in my room fixing my pipes at the moment." Drift answered.
"Goddamnit! That absolute scandal!" Aura bellowed.
"What is it?"
"I've seen it happen before. He trips people up and steals the things they drop when they're not looking!" Aura scowled, "I can't believe he's not been caught yet."
Drift felt frustrated, almost betrayed. He'd actually apologised to that sly fox. Drift didn't want to believe Aura, but everything about her had a ring of truth and a... well, an aura of experience. Drift wouldn't have even been surprised if Aura had never looped.
"We might be able to catch him in your room if we're quick." Aura instructed, scanning her key card to the elevator. She was also labelled as being an agent, "What floor are you on?"
"Floor 2." Drift grumbled.
"Oh, hey! I'm on that floor too. There was a guy called Midas staying on our floor, and he was cool, but he got killed." Aura said, "Apparently he looped and came back to IO, without being prompted. Isn't that weird?"
Drift didn't feel it necessary to say that he was the person now staying in this Midas person's room. Instead, he wanted to get out more information about Fennix and the sorts of things he does. Using that information, he could probably form some sort of backup plan.
"That's cool and all, but actually I want to hear a bit more about Fennix." Drift pressed.
Aura didn't answer and instead closed her eyes in concentration, "Sorry if this us a bit sudden, but I know your voice."
Drift couldn't remember if he'd spoken during their encounter at the volcano.
"I remember the names, faces and voices of everyone I've killed." Aura grumbled, "Sorry if I'm creeping you out."
"It's fine." Drift smiled, even though he was terrified.
But then Drift analysed Aura's words in his head. She said the people she'd killed, not those she'd hunted, meaning that she was most likely mistaken. Drift let out a quiet sigh of relief.
"Drift? Drift was his name, yeah." Aura thought.
"Never heard of that name in my life." Drift lied.
"Are you ok? Your voice is trembling."
The elevator opened and Drift steadied himself and his voice, "Yeah, I'm fine. Tell me more about Drift."
"Ok, then. So, Drift was a huge deal in IO a year or two back. He was 'unstable', as Doctor Slone, the leader of IO, said. So, me and someone else were sent to kill him and his girlfriend." Aura explained, "I felt bad killing him, which was weird, because I always thought of my murders as a chance for people to be happy in their next loop, since nobody here really is. But he was already happy. I killed someone and it hurt me too. But it didn't hurt my ally."
"Who was your ally?" Drift dared to ask.
"It was a B-something... I don't know, I'll try and remember later." Aura shook her head, "We're here."
Drift felt like he was going to be sick. That was why he couldn't remember his past, the Scientist was right - he had looped. And by Aura's hands, no less. But she was forced into it, and he found himself not blaming her. And he'd had a girlfriend, an old girlfriend, who'd looped with him.
Suddenly, Drift didn't care about Fennix, or the money, or his snack, or his contact with the Scientist. He just wanted to be left alone to think. And then Drift suddenly desperately wanted to talk to the Scientist. Maybe he could help. And then he had another thought.
Aura could help.
But then Drift shook his head. Sure, Aura was nice, and she was giving up her lunch break to help out Drift with his petty troubles, but he couldn't trust her with his identity. Not yet. But it was always an option, so Drift stuffed it to the back if his mind for later.
He scanned his key card on the door to his room. Aura put her finger on her lips and slowly pushed the door open. There were loud metallic sounds coming from the bathroom, meaning that Fennix was still in there. On the other end of the room was Drift's bed. It looked considerably more comforting than it had done earlier.
"Be ready to jump him." Aura whispered, "Fennix is pretty slippery."
Drift nodded. As they neared closer to the door, Drift could've sworn that he could hear water running as well as the metallic sounds of the pipes. Maybe he was testing the temperature of the water in the shower? Or the speed of the water? It didn't matter; all the pair would need was one moment where they could jump him.

To be continued...