The Seventh | A Dark Matter Fanfiction | Two (Portia Lin)

Chapter 26

"Hey," Two called out from the second floor of the storage level, catching Three's attention. He looked up from where he was sitting on a crate, munching on veggie chips.

"Hey," Three replied, nodding in greeting as Two made her way down the stairs to join him.

"One day I'm scraping by on powdered porridge, and the next, I'm eating all the dehydrated veg chips I can stand," Three remarked with a grin. "Success is sweet. And salty."

Two took a seat on the crate across from him. "You know, when I taste the green ones, there's this little tickle in the back of my mind, like I'm trying to remember something, but I just... I just can't. It's only the green ones." Three continued.

"Here," Three offered, holding out a chip to Two. She took it, studying it for a moment before popping it into her mouth.

"I keep wondering, maybe if I just think hard enough, or eat hard enough, maybe I might remember," Three mused, his hands instinctively twirling his pistol as he spoke.

Two observed the motion knowingly.

"What?" He asked when he noticed her gaze, "Oh... I don't know, it's like Four with his weapons, or Six with the Marauder or Five fixing things, Seven fixing people..."

"Muscle memory," she said, "It's an action you repeat so many times it creates a long-term memory in your brain, one so powerful that flying or fixing or that, becomes automatic."

"Mhmm," Three agreed, his focus returning to the task at hand.

"So, tell me," Two began, her tone turning more serious. "When you found out One wasn't really Jace Corso, why'd you keep it a secret?"

Three paused, considering his response. "I told you. I saw an opportunity, I took it, that's it."

"And you weren't worried about the potential consequences?" Two pressed, her gaze steady.

"Consequences? Guy's about as dangerous as white bread," Three replied nonchalantly, moving to an open crate to retrieve hydration packets.

"I'm talking about you," Two insisted, standing up to follow him. "You didn't even consider that if the rest of us found out, it would hurt your standing with this crew?"

"I didn't think I had a standing," Three admitted, his tone tinged with resignation. "Okay, yeah. I did consider it. But I decided to play the odds. It was the wrong decision, what do you want me to say? That I learned a valuable lesson, sure. No more secrets."

"We need to trust each other," Two stated firmly.

"Do we?" Three countered. "Because we are who we are. We're not gonna change. And more than likely, we're just gonna fall back into our old habits. Muscle memory... killing, thieving..."

"Betraying?" Two interjected.

"Somebody gutted our memories, probably because they thought it would make it easier to handle us. Make it easier to turn us in," Three continued, his voice darkening.

"One of us is a traitor," Two concluded, her expression grim.

"You wanna play process-of-elimination?" Three asked, raising an eyebrow.

"After you," Two replied, her gaze unwavering.

"Okay," Three said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Five. Computers and gadgets are her thing. Double-dealing and conspiracy, not so much."

"Six is a suspect in a mass murder," Two added. "Innocent or not, that type of rap sheet doesn't offer much in the way of deal opportunities."

"Four, he's got that weird nobility thing going on," Three remarked. "He'd rather lop off his own arm than dishonor himself by betraying us."