CODES

F O R T Y

With Zara having agreed to help us feels more like a solid plan than Xerses, Matthews, and I aimlessly walking through an ancient monument with no sense of direction. We knew the computer weapon was inside of here, yes, but where? The lowest levels, sure, but where? I hated going into a fight not knowing what to expect. The last time that happened, I ran on pure adrenaline. And died for the second time.

"Okay, look at me," as the four of us walked, I turned and faced Zara, but didn't stop moving, "is that weapon where Polk is, and is that machine you need us to use in there, too?"

She nodded, blowing strands of hair out of her face. Xerses kept her hands behind her back, holding her firm. Matthews looked as if he didn't want to touch her; I'd never seen him so frustrated. But frustration was universal and could be for a while... if we didn't stop this.

"Okay, so here's the plan, and I need you to agree with it, but when we get there and locate the weapon, we're going to take out Polk first," I said.

She tensed, eye twitching.

"Told you," Matthews hissed as he passed his fingers over the wall beside him, "she isn't going to help us."

"I am," Zara countered. "I need to." Then she looked back at me. "I promise I'm going to help."

"Perfect," I gave her a small reassuring smile to let her know I believed her, "because once we stop him, I'll need you to give Clara back her body."

This time she stopped completely. Xerses, shocked, accidentally walked into her and looked at me, as if waiting for directions. Matthews turned and stood beside me. He scoffed and that sound was loud, echoing in the hall.

Zara gritted her teeth. "Where am I supposed to go? I'll need a body to hop into."

I gulped and sighed, shaking my head. "We will work on the body and once it's ready, you know you can hop into it."

She frowned. "But I—"

"Listen—" Behind her, Xerses' expression softened, as did his hold. He let her go and her hands fell at her side. Matthews may have hissed, and moved to grab her, but I stuck my hand out to stop him because she didn't look like she was going to run. Instead, she looked back at Xerses, eyes widening, cheeks red.

Xerses smiled. "Hanging in the Void again, just a few minutes, won't hurt, okay? As many times as you and I have hopped in and out, it's okay. Once we have a body made, you can hop back in it."

The corner of her mouth twitched up into a weak smile. "Oh sweet boy," she whispered. "Thank you."

"Okay, this isn't weird at all." Matthews turned and huffed, arms shooting up above his head.

I shot him a side glance. "Stop," I warned.

"No." He looked back at me. "We're over here, gettin' help from the woman who, just over a year ago, want to us all, and now—"

"She is helping and," I grabbed his arm, pulling him close, and dropped my voice to a whisper, "unless you have a better plan for this machine shit and a way to take down Polk's army—"

Zara took a step toward us. "An army of Codes just like you, Roger," she said.

"Codes? Like me?" I sucked my teeth, staring into her eyes. "With what data? How many of them are there?"

Zara hesitated. She looked back at Xerses before passing her gaze to Matthews. She pulled her cheeks in, clearly biting down on them. When she looked back at me, she pointed behind me, lifting her chin. "Hank's in a room down the hall, up the stairs on the left."