The Outskirts: Thé Crystal Keepers (Jace x OC)

The Crystal Keepers: 29 *

It was fairly early in the morning when Hunter dropped me off. He had given me a communicator that only connected to him. The idea was after I told Googol what happened, they would make a plan to get Constance back. He brought me as close to the base as he could, about a hundred yards away. I knew that more than likely Trickster was out patrolling, and that he would bring me inside.
As if on cue, Trickster dropped off a building in front of me.
"What the hell Kendal! We were all so worried." He said, giving me a hug.
"My bad," I said through a laugh. "The Hunter finally caught me I guess. I have a long story to tell everyone."
He brought me inside, and everyone crowed around me. Cole was back from his mission as well. When I finally got to Jace, I hugged him as tight as I could, not wanting to let go, until someone cleared there throat.
"I presume it was the Hunter that took you?" Googol asked.
"Yeah," I said. "Turns out, the Hunter is my brother. It's just Hunter, actually."
"She's lost her mind." Trickster said matter of factly.
"No," I said. "I'm serious. I didn't believe it either at first. But that's why he's been chasing me for so long."
"Look Kendal, there is no way—" Trickster started.
"Hear her out." Jace growled, sending him a piercing glare. Trickster swallowed and looked away.
"Right. So after he caught me, he let me look around, and I didn't believe him, but he knew stuff no one else could possibly know. He's been sending emails to our family just like I did. When I finally believed him and asked him about Stafford, he had no idea that the daughters were alive. He did some digging and eventually believed me and found out the truth, then quit enforcers and is here to help us find Constance." I turned to Cole. "You know where she is right?" 
"Slow down." Googol said. "We're going to have to hear the whole story."
"There's to much." I said. "There isn't time. She's in danger."
"Everyone just relax for a minute." Nova said. "We need to seriously consider the consequences of trusting the Hunter."
"He's my brother!" I said, getting more frustrated by the second. "You have to trust me."
Nova pulled the adults, along with Trickster and Roulette out of the room to talk.
I groaned and yanked Cole into the other room.
"I need the location of Constance." I said.
"Kendal are you sure about this? I—"
I shook my head. "I've never been so sure about anything. Hunter is trying to help us. He has gear that can get Constance back without even putting ourselves in danger. We need to take this opportunity before it's too late."
"You're going to leave." He said, the realization dawning in him. "As soon as I give you the location, you're going to leave."
"Yes, but—"
"I'll give it to you right now on one condition." He said, waiting for me to look at him. "I'm coming with you."
"You can't—"
"I am, or I'll tell Googol that you're going to leave and you won't get to save Constance." He said firmly.
I sighed, then pulled out the communicator and switched it on. "Hunter?"
"Right here. What's up?"
"Cole agreed to give me the location as long as he gets to come with us."
"He can't. The deal was you and me go alone." He said annoyed.
"Yeah well, Googol and Nova don't trust you enough, and this needs to happen now. They don't even know we're talking to you."
He sighed, and it was quiet for a minute. "Fine. I'm outside, about a hundred yards away to the East. Don't tell anyone else you're leaving."
"Got it." I said, switching it off. "Let's go."
It killed me to leave Jace when we had just found each other again, but if Constance was really in danger, we had to find her. Luckily, we were next to an escape exit, and we didn't have to try and sneak away.
We met up with Hunter a few minutes later.
"Holy crap." Cole said. "You have a flying car."
"It's actually a drone. Now get in."

~Timeskip~

Night had fallen by the time Hunter had parked the drone in a secret garage, and led me and Cole out to the street and summoned a levcar with a blank ID card.
We all wore regular clothes.
Cole had grilled Hunter the entire ride, and finally seamed to come to terms with the fact that he actually was my brother.
"Nice card," Cole said, getting into the car after me.
Hunter held up the ID, a blue rectangle with nothing printed on it.
"No photo, so I can't use it at checkpoints. The great thing is it randomly mimics over ten million existing ID cards. According to all records, we're not riding in this levear. It's some other Zeropolitan citizen."
"Cool," I said.
"It's only the beginning," Hunter promised. "Just wait. In Zeropolis, I work with a technomancer named Clayton Barnes. Only Googol and Abram Trench can rival his talent. He makes certain types of tech better than anybody. He developed the drones I use, and he created this card."
"Where exactly are we going?" Cole asked.
"I have a few hideouts in Zeropolis that only I know about. We're going to my favorite. We'll control the drones from there."
"We're going after Constance tonight, right?"
"I work with smart, suspicious people," Hunter said. "No matter what precautions we take, we'll only have a few days at best before they realize that I've gone over to the other side. We need to do everything we can before then. I left three drones in position, along with some other gizmos Clay provided to get us inside. We just have to fire them up and find your princess."
"What about after we find Constance?" I asked.
"All figured out, little sis," Hunter said with a cocky smile.
"I'm not that much littler than you." I said with a scowl.
Hunter laughed. "I know, it's weird. You've aged a couple of years since I've seen you, and I've stayed about the same. You're catching up.
"You were saying?" Cole interrupted.
Hunter smiled. "We use the drones to take her to a safe house. Then we contact the Unseen."
"How?"
"Remember that communicator they toasted when I almost captured you?"
I nodded.
"I was able to crack the harmonics on that crystal. I kept the frequency to myself, so my own people shouldn't be listening in. Even if the Unseen aren't actively using that frequency anymore, I bet they're still monitoring it. Once we get in touch, we'll set up a time and place to deliver Constance."
"They're in Old Zeropolis," I said, "Will we use the tunnels?"
"That's one option," Hunter replied. "Or we could fly again, in my nice machine instead of the dumpy one we used earlier."
"What?" Cole asked.
"Abram Trench doesn't allow air travel in Zeropolis. But the technology has existed here for a long time. I answer to the High Shaper, not the Grand Shaper, so I have a magnetic glider."
"No way."
"Yep. It's another of Clay's creations. No wheels. The glider hovers like the warboard you used the day I almost caught you. Good work that day, by the way. You kept your cool and did a great job using your tech to escape. It's part of why I want you to help me extract Constance."
"Thanks," I said. "So the glider flies really low?"
"No," Hunter said with a chuckle. "That would be the worst. The hovering just works like the landing gear. Once you're up, the glider flies like normal and propels itself, which maybe makes it not a true glider. But it's small and light. Seats four. Thanks to the energy crystals, it basically has infinite fuel. I only fly it at night. It would stand out too much in the daylight."
"You're a pilot?"
"I can pilot the glider. A lot of the systems are automatic. I basically just steer and control the speed. It won't let me crash. I can't land it where there isn't enough metal for the hover system to work, and it automatically corrects if I'm in danger of a collision or going into a spin. It's awesome. I'll miss working with Clayton."
I considered what that meant.
"You're giving up a lot to join the resistance." I said.
Hunter shook his head. "Who wouldn't give up working for the bad guys? Sure, I had lots of cool stuff. But I had no idea I was being used to hurt good people. Accepting that is hard. Giving up the stuff is easy. Think about how much you miss our family. What's a bunch of stuff compared to that? Wouldn't you trade anything to be back with them? I found my sister! That's worth more than any of those gadgets."
"I'm impressed." I said.
"What did you expect? I thought I was helping the good guys catch bad guys. Or at least the pretty good guys catch worse guys. I really thought you had been tricked by the Unseen. I was trying to help you. Instead, you helped me learn what's really going on."
"They're going to be mad," Cole said.
"That's a major understatement," Hunter replied. "Being an Enforcer isn't a part time job. You join for life, and you don't betray them. They'll come after me hard. Both Owandell and the High King will want my hide."
"I'm sorry," Cole said.
I snorted. "Feel sorry for us. We'll be lucky if Googol doesn't kill us when we get back."
"Or Jace." Cole said. "He's still in worse than us. When we get back, we'll at least have Constance."
"It isn't all bad," Hunter said. "Things are changing. Everybody knows that much. The High King is weakening, Owandell is gaining followers, and crazy stuff is going on across the kingdoms. I'm pretty well known, so when I disappear, it'll send another signal that something's wrong. It will be good for the resistance when people hear I'm on their side. When the Unseen decide to tell everyone about the princesses, I can help the story seem more believable. And I might help convince some of the people I worked with to switch sides as well."
For a time I stared out the window at the city lights. I contemplated all Hunter was leaving behind. Starting out as a slave, he had built a new life for himself here. And now he was throwing it away to do what he thought was right.
"I wish I could remember you," I said.
"Me too," Hunter replied. "It's too bad."
"I wish I could give you the welcome you deserve," I said. "You must be a great guy. I'm glad you're my brother."
Wiping tears away, Hunter looked up. "I wish you could remember me too. But it's enough that you believe me. I've been so lonely here. Finding you feels like a miracle. We weren't just siblings, Kendal. We were good friends, too. We messed around together all the time, pulling pranks on Ashley, and Cole and Dalton too," he said, turning Cole. "We'll be friends again. You'll see."
As they continued from street to street, our levcar swerving among the others, I fought to recall Hunter. I could remember the events surrounding some of the pictures I had seen online with Hunter in them, a trip to California, a football game, Ashley's birthday. In contradiction to the photos, Hunter made no appearance in the memories.
After a long effort, I stopped trying. It was frustrating. If I could just remember something, it would mean I could hope that the rest of my family might one day remember me. It would also just be comforting. Knowing I had a brother was amazing, but actually remembering would make it mean more.
Eventually the levcar let us out at the base of a soaring skyscraper. Hunter led me and Cole into the lobby and used a small crystal sphere to open a nondescript door off to one side.
Beyond the doorway, Hunter used the sphere to open the doors of a sender.
"It's a private elevator," Hunter explained.
"Don't you mean sender?" I said with a grin.
"You're such a local," Hunter said, rolling his eyes. "There are a few other private senders in this hall, but I'm the only person with access to this one." We entered and the doors closed. "Want to push the button?"
Only two floors were represented, 100 and G. I pressed 100. "Is it the penthouse?"
"The building advertises one hundred twenty floors," Hunter said. "The penthouse was too visible. The building actually goes up to one hundred twenty-three, the real ninety-nine, one hundred, and one hundred one aren't labeled and get skipped by all the other senders. The emergency stairway is kept closed, and has blank metal doors on my floors. My rooms here are nice and private."
The sender doors opened to reveal a lab. The worktables were a little messy, with mechanical gear and a variety of crystals on most of them. Hunter walked through the lab without a second glance and guided us into an adjoining room where three harnesses hung from the ceiling.
"Is this where we control the drones?" Cole asked.
"You guessed it," Hunter said. "Come here."
Hunter first adjusted the height of one of the harnesses, and then helped Cole step into it, and then Hunter helped me.
Standing in the harness left my feet just a little above the floor. If I stretched, my feet could brush it. As Hunter strapped braces around my chest and onto my limbs, I was reminded of the battle suit.
"You'll see everything the drone sees," Hunter said. "Hear what the drone hears. The harness does a surprisingly good job of helping you feel what the drone feels. Just pretend you're the drone. It'll mimic your movements."
"Is there a screen?" I asked.
"The screen and the headphones are built into the helmet," Hunter said, putting one on my head. "If you want to talk to me, just talk. I'll be right next to you in my own harness. If you want to speak as the drone, hold down this button on your wrist."
I looked at the button Hunter was indicating.
"Got it."
Hunter went on to list some of the weapons systems and safety features. Me and Cole listened silently.
"If things go bad," Hunter said, "I can switch your drone to bot mode, so it will control itself. If we end up needing to fight, I'll probably go that route. But hopefully this will be a quiet mission, in and out "
Hunter strapped himself into his own harness. "You two ready?"
"What are we doing first?" Cole asked.
"Our drones are right above the secret lair," Hunter said. "Abram Trench uses a sender for access. Clayton prepared a swarm of workbots that will help us break in."
"Does he know what we're doing?" I asked.
"Just the basics. None of the details. We work together like that a lot. Our first plan will be to use the elevator shaft. If that doesn't work, we'll try the ventilation system. The security is really good on this place, but not perfect. Clayton's workbots can break codes, fool cameras, rewire circuits, switch out crystals, cut through bonded crystal, and basically do a million other things. Some are small, and some are smaller. While the workbots do their magic, you get used to being the drone."
"Okay," I said, feeling uncertain.
"Don't worry," Hunter said. "The best way to get used to piloting a drone is to do it. I could talk about it all night, but you won't get it until you try it out. If you can handle one of Googol's battle suits, this should be a snap. Ready to switch on?"
"Sure," Cole said, and I agreed.
"Open the little hatch on your wrist. That's right. Hit the button, then close the hatch. You don't want to power down accidentally."
I pressed the button, and my screen, which had been clear, became a dimly lit room. By turning his head, my could look around the room as if I were really there.
Looking down at myself, I could see the robotic body. On one side, I saw two other drone robots.
"How does it feel?" Hunter asked.
"This is awesome!" Cole said.
"It feels so real." I agreed.
"Impossibly real," Cole said. "Kind of like a perfect video game."
"Good description," Hunter said. "And like in a video game, you can be fearless when necessary. You can't actually hurt yourself. The drone will take the punishment."
Cole laughed. "That's good. If something happened to Kendal, her boyfriend would most likely strangle us."
Hunter frowned. "Boyfriend?"
I sighed. "Is this really important right now? We can discuss it later."
"If my little sister has a boyfriend, I'd say this is pretty important." Hunter said. "What's his name?"
"His name is Jace," I started. "And he's—"
"He's a trouble maker and a prankster, and he's a grumpy jerk to the rest of us most of the time, but he's a total softy around her and he's fiercely loyal and protective and has basically offered to die for her multiple times." Cole said matter of factly.
I glared at him.
"I like this guy already," Hunter said with a grin.
"Oh yeah, they're adorable." Cole said sarcastically. "They even do this thing sometimes where they link their pointer fingers together."
I was speechless, and kind of weirded out. "Why do you know that?"
Cole shrugged. "I observe." He turned to my brother. "It's mostly only when we're in a big group and she's nervous about something."
Hunter grinned. "I need to meet this guy."
"Whatever," I muttered. "Are we going to do this or what?"
"Yeah yeah fine," Hunter said. "Trying walking."
I took a step, and the harness shifted, allowing me to feel how the movement changed my balance. As I walked around a little and used my hands, I found that Hunter was right operating the drone felt very natural. My body had become a big video game controller, with the drone moving however I did.
A variety of little bots scurried across the floor of the room. Some hovered. They began dismantling panels around a dark crystal door with a socket beside it.
"Try jumping," Hunter said. "The drones have pretty good hops, though you can't go quite as high as with Googol's battle suit."
I practiced jumping, and I saw Cole practicing punching and kicking. The ceiling wasn't very high, so I couldn't push the limits, but I got the feel of how much effort to put into a jump to go different distances.
Across the room, the crystal door opened.
"That was fast," Cole said.
"Clayton is the best at this kind of thing," Hunter said. "At least he's on my side this final time. I'lI take the lead."
Me and Cole followed Hunter through the doorway and into a short hall. I was already starting to think of the drone as myself, and Hunter's drone as Hunter. Same with Cole. It was dark, so Hunter switched on a light attached to his wrist. The workbots swarmed a pair of sender doors and the panel beside them.
Hunter stretched, then jogged in place with high knees.
We mimicked his stretching.
The doors opened, revealing an empty shaft. Hunter, me, and Cole walked over and looked down. Hunter's light illuminated a long drop.
"The bots have communicated that they can't make the elevator go," Hunter reported. "So they shut it down. We'll climb down the service ladders."
Hunter went first, reaching around the corner into the shaft and starting down a metal ladder. I followed, Cole behind me. Workbots scurried down the walls or hovered past them.
It was a long, dull climb down to the elevator. When we arrived, a hole had been cut in the top. We dropped inside and found the doors open.
"Almost too easy," Hunter said, hesitating. He shined his light out into the bare hall. "The bots didn't have a very hard time disengaging the alarms and the physical defenses. That's bizarre. Abram Trench doesn't want this place penetrated, and he knows his tech."
"Could it be a trap?" Cole asked.
"I don't see how," Hunter said. "If nobody knows about this place, why set a trap that invites people in? Who was your source on this? Could Abram know the info leaked?"
"This is a pretty big secret," I said, turning to Cole.
Cole wavered for a second about revealing it, but told Hunter. "The queen told me."
"Wait. Queen Harmony?"
"She has a connection with her daughters. She can sense their locations with her shaping. Abram Trench should have no way of knowing that she knows. I'm the first person she
told."
"Wow," Hunter said. "None of us had any idea the resistance had such powerful connections. The High King would flip out."
"That's why it's a big secret." I said.
Hunter put his hands on his hips. "So this probably isn't a trap, but the place isn't as well defended as it should be. What's up with that?"
"Does he think keeping it secret is good enough?" Cole asked.
"In my experience, Abram Trench is almost as careful as the High King," Hunter said. "I would expect him to take every possible precaution. The bots keep fanning out and . . . wait a minute . . . we're losing them. Losing them fast."
"How can you tell?" I asked.
"A display on my screen interfaces with them," Hunter said. "Well, maybe this is a good thing. I've lost contact with all of them. So some aspects of the defenses are working. And working well. That's a lot of tough little bots to trash so quickly."
"What if the same defenses destroy us, too?" Cole said. "Our drones, I mean."
"Only one way to find out," Hunter said.
Hunter led the way out of the sender and down a hall. We rounded a corner, moved through a widened section of the hall, then down a long flight of stairs. At the bottom we found an open door.
"Did the workbots do that?" I asked.
"I'm not sure," Hunter said. "If so, it happened right as I was losing contact."
We passed through the doorway into a large, dark room. Hunter shined his light around, but before I could see much, the lights came on, dispelling all shadows. The room had a long worktable against one wall, a huge silver and pink machine against another, and a variety of computers and other devices against a third.
"I don't get many visitors," said a rich female voice that seemed to come from above them on all sides. It took me a moment to spot the speakers.
"We haven't been introduced. I'm Roxie. Who might you be?"