The Blazing Rebellion

Chapter 35

Sera POV

When Sera left the Spectre building, she was confused to find that there were no texts from John. She'd expected him to ask her about what was going on, or to at least ask when she'd be back... it unnerved her a bit that there was nothing.

She wanted to tell him everything, but it had just gotten harder with Spectre's new mission for her. She would suddenly be busy every day while working at NXGen as a spy for Spectre. It hurt her head to think about how much more effort it would take her. Not only did she have to figure out how to do things for NXGen as if it was a real job, but she also had to search for secrets. If she was caught snooping, too, it would cause a lot of problems...

Sera forced herself to act normal the next day at school. Luckily, John didn't ask her about anything. He seemed distracted too. She would've noticed the change in his behavior more if she hadn't been so worried about the mission. Hopefully it just meant he'd given up on trying to find out what she was doing.

As soon as school ended, Sera prepared herself to tell John she was busy yet again. However, before she could, he spoke up.

"Can we hang out later this week instead of today?" He asked her. She frowned. Before, he'd been wanting to hang out every day. What's with the sudden change?

"Alright," She answered. They both stood staring at each other for a minute.

"You're busy again?" John guessed. She nodded. He waited for another second before giving her a small smile and walking back into the school building. She watched him go, feeling her heart pull at her chest. She wanted so badly to call him back. Maybe involving him would make it easier. It would make her feel so much better to have the support...

She opened her mouth, but it was too late. He was gone. I couldn't have told him, anyway. Sighing, she turned and left Wellston to meet up with Kayden.

Sera arrived at the NXGen building an hour later. Leilah had given her a different set of clothes and a pair of fake glasses for the week; it would help her to look less suspicious while in the NXGen building. She'd gotten in under the pretense of helping Spectre's spy out for the week to discuss a few things. Spectre had even given Sera a fake ID. For the week, she'd be named 'Meryl.'

Apparently, Spectre had also already planned exactly how her week would go. The first few days would be easier; she simply needed to act like she was there to do what they'd said she was. If any information showed up that way, it would be much simpler. Later on, however, it got more difficult. Sera would have to finish the week by stealing the badge of a higher-up at NXGen in order to find the information Spectre wanted.

This had worried her more than anything else when Leilah had told her about the adjustment to the mission. Of course, Sera had known there would have to be more. She wouldn't be able to bring back anything of value simply by working there for a week. However, she'd hoped that they would wait to really search for information until later.

It appeared that Spectre was impatient.

"Ah, Miss Meryl! It's nice to meet you. Please follow me and I can show you around!" A women with teal hair whom Sera recognized as the spy for Spectre called as Sera entered the NXGen building. She nodded in acknowledgement, scanning her fake ID before following the other women down multiple hallways. Sera noticed that some of the rooms had scanning devices in front of the doors, most likely to make sure no one was going anywhere they shouldn't be; that would make it harder.

She forced her face to relax. If I have the ID of one of the higher workers here, I should be able to get in with no problems. Spectre has it all figured out. She hoped that was true, anyway.

"Right this way!" Spectre's spy called to her, leading her into a large meeting room. "We'll be discussing plans for the upcoming week here."

Both Sera and the spy waited for the door to close behind them before speaking again. Sera took a deep breath, preparing to ask for the details once again, before realizing that it might not be best to initiate this conversation. After all, Spectre had told her to keep quiet and discuss as little as possible; the other member would have more of an idea of what to tell her than she would to ask.

Sure enough, the other women spoke a minute later. "I'll give you a tour of the building today. You have two main things to do: memorize where you'll have to get into to find information, and figure out where you'll be able to steal the pass to get inside. I have some of the details here." The spy slid a sheet of paper across the table at her. It was a list of names and places, although several of them were highlighted. Spectre's spy pointed out two of them to her. "These are the only really important ones. You'll need to use your ability to both steal the ID and put it back after getting into this room."

"Got it." Sera slipped the paper into her pocket. Spectre's spy nodded to confirm she'd figured it out before putting on a smile and opening the meeting room's door again.

"Now, let me show you everything NXGen has to offer!"