The Defiant

A Second Goodbye

Roan

I stood by Sparrow's side in the meeting room as everyone chatted before we discussed what I had told my boyfriends. 

"I hate these things," Sparrow whispered to me. "Everyone just talks and talks about the war and shit. For a whole hour. Twice a day!"

I twined my arm around his and squeezed his hand in response. 

He narrowed his eyes a second before raising a finger like he had a brilliant idea. "Morse code!"

I raised a brow in question. 

"We could learn morse code. You don't like to talk in public, so you could just tap and spell things out to us. Like this-"

He tapped on my palm a few times sporadically.

I tilted my head. 

What did you spell? I asked with my expression.

He smirked. "Nothing. I don't know morse code."

Someone cleared their throat at the head of the table, and I turned to look at the person. 

It was a woman who looked around fifty dressed in a pencil skirt and button-down shirt. She had a very professional aura around her. The folders she held in her hand and the pen in her breast pocket emphasized that.

"So, today we are discussing this "General" who oversaw the facility in South Dakota," she started, passing the stack of folders to the person on her left. They were passed around, and we got our own. 

Sparrow took the papers out a couple of inches and rolled his eyes. 

He laid the stack on the table and fished a pen from the bottom of the manilla folder. He scribbled a square in white space at the top angrily. 'Stinky bastard' he wrote next to the square. 'Soon to be a dead man' he wrote underneath. 

Then he scribbled over the already blacked-out spot again. "There," he muttered. 

I looked down at the page again and realized he had scribbled a picture of the general. He had even used his powers to blank out the image, so I wouldn't have to see the man in the brief moment of angry scribbling. 

My chest fluttered at his gesture, and I traced a heart on his palm. 

"We have gained some new information regarding this man's powers thanks to Mr. Jacobs," announced the woman. 

At the sound of my last name, I glanced at her to see her gesture toward me. 

A few heads turned my way, and I looked down at the ground, shuffling closer to Sparrow. 

I didn't want anyone in this room to look at me. Or talk to me. Only Sparrow.

"As we all know, the General can trap people in a sort of 'dream realm'. So far, only three people have been stuck in the dream realm. That includes Ezra Hall, Levi Gray, and Roan Jacobs. All three of which are rated as Grade A in terms of chemical intake. Each one of these people has been retrieved from the dream realm via Roan's power."

She took a moment to let everyone process before beginning her monologue again. 

"The terms of this man's power have updated; he can not take a victim if he does not know where they are. Currently, any former inhabitants of the Chemical Z facility are assumed safe."

The group let out a sigh of relief. 

"Next, more information regarding the technicalities of Chemical Z. In the words of the general, 'Chemical Z only fuses with the elite'. Chemical Z is so complex that it can identify human genes and pick out which are to its liking. According to Nate, The chemical had picked out people complimenting one another. More quoted words from the general regarding Mr. Jacobs and his significant other, Mr. Richardson: 'you were made for each other. It was written in the code of your being.' Basically, he implies  they are something like 'soul mates.' He also believes that all those affected by Chemical Z are supposed to 'be together'. That is supposedly referencing a romantic relationship. From that, I am guessing that he is deranged, seeing as more than half of the Chemical Z patients are younger than eighteen."