Elysium Falling (ONC 2024 Long List)

Chapter 12 Echoes

The room had red painted walls and the view wasn't so bad from up here. It beat the shaded gray he'd grown used to below. The quiet of the high-rise apartment was a stark contrast to the chaos that had engulfed the streets just weeks before. Up here, the world seemed almost peaceful, insulated from the turmoil of below. The red painted walls might have to go. It was high enough that he could no longer hear the sirens from the destroyed building that once housed the secret unit known as The Watchers. Hell it was high enough that the dungy smell of the streets was a distant memory. The air was almost what one would call clean.

He moved away from the window, his gaze returning to the stack that held all that was left of Miranda. The small blue and gray stack, nestled in his hand as began turning it over and over, mindlessly, letting the memories pour in. The metal was warm to the touch. It was everything he had left of Miranda. He should have taken it and spun her back up in virtual immediately, let her know everything was ok that he had her. 

He was also afraid of what he would find. Was Miranda who she said she was? How much did she know? Dik had said she came in unwillingly. But could he take Dik's word at face value?

In the aftermath of The Watchers being taken down all hell had broken loose. The secrets long buried, the assassination orders were all laid bare for public consumption. 

He was kicking himself for losing sight of Dana Margrave. Wherever she was - she was beyond his reach for the moment. 

Dik Paramar was now heading up an investigative unit into the Breach on the palace. Rowan had to laugh at that. Dik was a good man in a bad spot. The digital battlefield was just heating up. Dik had a handle on it but mostly Rowan understood he was tightening down the lid from the desk. 

Men like himself and Dik didn't retire. Rowan as beginning to understand that now. It wasn't because he hadn't tried. He was an expensive asset now. There was so much invested in him, in his training. 

His current hope was to choose the job that allowed him to maintain a relationship with Miranda, some kind of life for her. But as he rolled the stack that contained her essence in his hand he had to admit he was afraid of spinning her back up and finding out that the damage done was too great.

Dana would pay for that when he found her. It was on his to do list.

<Rowan, it's time you know that?>

Rowan sat up straighter clasping the stack in his hand. "I know."

Atlas was leagues above The Watchers. Rowan pondered the reality of his new position with Atlas. It was an organization shrouded in even more secrecy than The Watchers had been, if such a thing were possible. They operated in the shadows of shadows, influencing events and politics at levels even he hadn't fully realized until he was approached by their recruiter. The proposition had been simple: lend his skills and experience to Atlas's causes, and in return, they would provide him not just with resources, but a chance at a genuine exit—a real retirement, not just a cessation of duty before an untimely death. 

It was a chance at honor that The Watchers would have denied him. A chance at real freedom and real life, not just the mindless obedience practiced by sycophants.  Naturally he jumped at it. He still wasn't sure of the costs, or who exactly was pulling the strings.

<We have it, Rowan.>

His head shot up. One of the promises Atlas made was in return for his assistance in bringing The Watchers down they'd provide Miranda with a new body. One created specifically to her with her DNA. DNA routinely kept on file was easy to replicate in ways that the mind was not. It had taken weeks since the incident to grow with the proper muscle enhancements.