The Outskirts: Thé Crystal Keepers (Jace x OC)

The Crystal Keepers: 13

At the bottom of a long ladder awaited a room full of machines, computers, worktables, beanbag chairs, shaggy carpets, soda cans, Zowie wrappers, overloaded bookshelves, glowing crystals, faded posters, and a beat-up dartboard riddled with tiny holes. Two ceiling fans turned lazily, barely stirring the stale air.
A guy with greasy hair in a tank top sat cross-legged, tinkering with a little robot. He might have been in his late teens or early twenties. He smiled at Trickster. "I heard you were coming this way."
"Not from City Patrol I hope," Trickster said.
"There was plenty of chatter," a girl said, coming into the room. She wore a scarf in her hair and loose pajamas. Her slippers looked like raccoons. "You guys had them scrambling."
"Googol called me on my most private communicator," the guy said. He looked between me and Mira. "Which one of you is Secret?" Mira waved shyly. "I'm Forge." He nodded at the girl. "This is Scandal."
"These are my friends Kendal, Cole, Dalton, and Jace," Mira said.
"So far they're scrappier than they look," Trickster said, slapping Jace's arm. "You should have seen this one put a Zero flat on his back. Just grabbed his ankles and yanked the rug out from under him. It was tidy."
Jace grinned proudly.
"Are you guys Crystal Keepers?" Cole asked.
"Former CKs," Forge said. "Scandal and I graduated to full membership in the Unseen more than two years ago."
"They're both skilled tinkers," Roulette said. "We call them our Gadgeteers."
"Googol is the head Gadgeteer," Forge said.
"We help him design the rigs," Scandal added.
"We make all kinds of tech," Forge said. "We run thruports, harvest data, intercept comms."
"What do the Crystal Keepers mostly do?" Cole asked.
"Energy is transmitted by harmonic crystals," Roulette said. "If you snag the right crystal, you get access to the entire network of crystals sharing the same harmonics."
"It's most valuable for spying," Trickster said, displaying the communicator they took from the patrolman. "Which reminds me. Here's another link into City Patrol comms." He tossed it underhand.
"Nice," Forge said, catching the communicator. "These have little crystals inside. The size doesn't matter. It's all about the harmonics."
"You can also use a crystal to hijack energy," Scandal said. "The monorail tracks and trains, for example, are powered by crystals harmonically linked to highly juiced crystals inside of power facilities. Tap into that energy, and you can power all sorts of things.
"What about Sidekick?" Cole asked. "Is he coming in?"
"Sidekick is already here," Forge said, pocketing the communicator. "The bot will stay outside as lookout. Secret, you're so young. Why is Googol willing to torch our operations in Zeropolis to bring you in? He doesn't care if we all go down as long as you're secure. I've never heard him so adamant."
"We're not supposed to ask," Trickster reminded him.
"When has that stopped us?" Forge argued. "We spend all day doing stuff we're not supposed to do. It's our job description. What does Googol really expect? He knows who we are. I'm asking. She can tell what she wants."
"Keeping my identity secret doesn't just protect me," Mira said. "It protects you. Trust me. You don't want to know why the government wants to find me."
"I know it could endanger me," Forge said. "And I want to know. I live to uncover secrets. I'm good at keeping them."
"Me too," Roulette said softly.
"Don't get me wrong," Trickster said. "If you're spilling, I want in too."
"Not me," Scandal said. "I have enough trouble without soaking up high-stakes secrets Googol wants me to avoid."
Mira glanced at me. I could tell that she was wavering. Who wouldn't? These people were on their side and had just helped them evade capture.
"Up to you," I said.
Mira sighed. "I really shouldn't. It's for your own good. Unless things go badly, you'll find out sooner or later. The secret won't keep forever."
"Say no more," Forge grumbled. "I won't force the issue. I just couldn't resist trying." He rubbed his hands together. "For now, this will be your haven. We'll wait for orders from Googol. I know you four need fresh ID cards. I'll get you fed. A place to sleep. Anything else I can do for you?"
"Dalton, Cole, and I are looking for some friends," I said. "Googol told us you might be able to help."
"Possibly," Forge said. "Who are the friends?"
"We came here from Outside," I said. "A bunch of other kids were brought here with us as slaves."
"I noticed Dalton's mark," Forge said. "But you have a freemark."
"It was a bondmark at first," I  said. "Long story.
Anyhow, the High King bought the slaves with shaping powers and shipped them around the Outskirts. We found Dalton in Elloweer."
"Do they have names?" Forge asked.
"Jenna Hunt," Cole put in. "Blake Daniels. Lacie Clark. Sarah, um, what's Sarah's last name?"
"I don't know," Dalton said.
"It's Miller. Sarah Miller." I said. "But our top priority is Jenna."
"You know she came here?" Forge asked.
"No idea," I said. "We just know she's not in Elloweer."
"The records I can check only cover Zeropolis," Forge said. "And it's a big city. I've lost access to some of our best databanks because they've swapped out crystals. Sometimes slaves are given aliases, especially new slaves, to wipe out the old life. I can't guarantee success, but I'll look."
"What do you expect to do it you find somebody?" Roulette asked.
"Talk to them," Cole said. "Free them if we can."
"Fair warning," Roulette said, folding her arms.
"Freeing slaves doesn't go over well. Once that mark is on there, you can't really hide."
"We freed Dalton," Cole said.
"You found Dalton," Trickster corrected. "You helped him escape. He's not free. He still has his bondmark. He has to pose as a slave. That's the best you can offer any slave. And if you take too many slaves, you get burned."
"There are a lot of former slaves in the Unseen," Roulette said. "But they have to stay unseen. They can't live normal lives."
"This is still way better than actual slavery," Dalton said.
"You were in Elloweer?" Forge asked.
"Yeah," Dalton said.
"I can draft some ownership documents to match your new ID cards," Forge said. "You want to belong to Cole?"
"Sure," Dalton said.
"What about me?" Jace protested.
"Anyone but Jace," Dalton replied. "No offense."
"I'd be a good master," Jace said. "I'm way more fun than Cole."
"You can really create slave documents for Dalton?" Mira asked.
"I can make it all look fully legal," Forge said. "Googol wants you to have the royal treatment." "Good," Roulette said. "They could use haircuts."
"Your fakes are good?" Dalton asked.
Forge chuckled. "There's a reason Googol sent you here."
"He's the best," Trickster said. "As far as tech goes, this is Outpost 139. The cards won't be fakes. Forge uses the same equipment as the government, and stashes the info in all the same places. These ID cards will be real."
"Thanks for the oversell," Forge said. "Takes all the pressure off me."
"Let me see you," Roulette said. She made me, Mira, Dalton, Jace, and Cole line up. Then she paced the line, inspecting us.
"Yeah, okay. I see possibilities. I can make you guys look local. You're not bad looking youngsters."
At that, Jace nudged me, a lazy smirk on his face. I rolled my eyes, but I couldn't resist a smile.
Roulette continued. "With the right clothes and some color in your hair? You could look tidy."
"More importantly," Forge said, "you'll look different from your original ID photos. When we take pictures, I want you to make faces. Nothing too drastic or the ID will look bogus. But scowl a little. Or smile really big. If we get it right, these new cards will let you start over."
"And he can load up a bunch of credits," Trickster said.
"We don't want to get carried away," Forge said. "Let's just say you won't be poor."
"Will we get nifty names like you guys have?" Jace asked.
"You aren't Crystal Keepers," Trickster said.
"And we don't put our code names on IDs," Roulette added.
"I'll handle the names," Forge said. "You want some of the most common names in Zeropolis. Not the very most common. That can look like you're hiding. Fifteenth to fortieth most popular is about right. Your original ID cards are compromised. Changing your looks and taking on common names will make it harder for the City Patrol to connect you to those original identities."
"Try to make the new ones last a little longer," Trickster said.
"It was out of our control," Mira said. "Joe didn't know his fake ID had been flagged."
"That's our other big challenge tonight," Forge said. "Finding the best way to bust out Joe."
"Do you know him?" Mira asked.
"He's a good man," Forge said. "We'll find a way."
"You mentioned you have access to thruports," Dalton said.
"Right," Forge replied. "You want to kidnap an old girlfriend too?"
Dalton blushed. "No. But it would be interesting to check my email. Poke around a little."
"As long as you don't get your hopes up,"
Forge said. "I've seen it a thousand times. Nobody you really want to contact will respond."
"We've heard," Cole said.
"I'll set you up with thruports in the morning," Forge said. "We'll take care of the IDs then too. Tonight I have to help plan a jailbreak. Scandal will show you around. We have food and hammocks."
"Is this place safer than the other base?" Jace asked.
"Fair question," Forge said. "Short answer? Yes. A lot less people know about my lair. Of the Crystal Keepers, only Trickster, Roulette, Duckling, and Jetstream know. Not many of the Unseen know either. Most of my forgeries are carried out remotely. Very few people come and go. The fact that Googol had you come here shows how highly he values you."
"Which is what makes us so curious," Trickster said.
"It also helps that we're under a virtually abandoned storehouse," Forge went on. "I have access to lots of weird spare parts when I need them, and nobody is ever around."
"What about all the crystals you have?" Cole asked. "You're connected to a lot of information. Could they trace those connections back to you?"
"Nice," Forge said. "You're thinking like a techno-mancer. Sure, there are ways, but I take lots of precautions. It wouldn't be easy for them to figure out they could spy on me, and one of my alarms would almost certainly give them away if they tried."
"Come on," Scandal said. "Let's get you some food."
Me and the others followed her through a tunnel to a low table. Dinner awaited them—cubes of meat, mashed potatoes, green beans, and cups of pale green liquid.
"Seven settings," Trickster said. "You didn't think any of us would be captured?"
"I try to stay optimistic," Scandal said.
We sat down on the benches on either side of the table.
I picked up a piece of meat with my fork and studied it.
"Any guesses?" Dalton asked.
"Beef?" Cole tried.
"It's kind of a mix," Trickster said. "Don't think of it as a certain type of meat or it seems gross. Consider it a highly processed celebration of all meat."
I tried a bite. It was more tender and juicy than I expected, tasting more like sausage than steak. "Not bad."
"If you want food fresh from a farm, Zeropolis is the wrong place to find it," Scandal said. "But we have abundant food, it doesn't cost much, it tastes pretty good, and unlike a lot of the processed food in your world, it's highly nutritious."
I tried the potatoes. They didn't quite taste real, but they had a nice buttery, cheesy flavor. I had never been a fan of green beans, but I tried to eat some to be polite.
"I like the drink," Dalton said, taking a long sip.
"Me too," Roulette said. "Limelicious. Sweet but not too sweet."
"And lots of vitamins," Scandal said.
As the food began to settle, I could feel the busy day catching up with me. Had I woken up today at that inn in Outpost 121? It felt like that had happened in another lifetime. My eyes were droopy.
"Let me take care of the plates," Scandal said. "You guys must be exhausted. We're not fancy here, but a good hammock can be pretty comfy."
We followed her down a hall to a room with several hammocks at different heights. The room was kind of dumpy, the paint on the wooden walls stained and peeling, but the hammocks looked clean.
"We have several guest rooms," Scandal said. "Take your pick."
"Mind if I join you, Trickster?" Jace asked.
"Not a bit," he said.
"Dalton and I will take this one," Cole said.
"Mira and Kendal can bunk with me. Kendals got some explaining to do." Roulette said.
"She does?" Jace asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I do?" I responded innocently. I was hoping I would be able to stall until she forgot about it.
Roulette gave me a pointed look and pulled me toward the next room, the boys watching us with confusion.
"Sleep well," Scandal said. "You'll be safe here. Let me know if you need anything."
Roulette dragged me into the room, Mira followed and shut the door behind her.