Consoulia Chronicles: Booting Up [~ read description]

Chapter 20: Usefulness

The boom from upstairs shook the basement, causing a few games from Zander's shelving to hit the ground. Those that weren't sent falling either stayed stable or could come loose and fall if the shelf was so much as bumped into. Spire and Iris were restraining Sotoro from going upstairs as Mia stayed close to Clover's computer, presumably because when coming down the stairs, the only side seen first was Zander's side. At least that's what Mia remembered. 

"We can't stay down here while they're in trouble we've gotta do something!" Sotoro rambled, producing his aero-bolas from his Identity Choker. "If she touches so much as one hair on their heads I'm breaking her Choker!" 



"No, stop!" Clover begged. 

"Get your hands off me!" Zander screeched as well.

They were tied up back to back in a room upstairs that the siblings hadn't entered for years. It was always hidden away by a wall of cardboard boxes and electrical supplies, plus the overhead light had been burned out for a while.

The other Consouloids in the house wouldn't admit it, but Zander had overheard even the most hardheaded of the bunch admit that the room down the upstairs hallway gave her the creeps. The others shared in that sentiment. 

For all of their lives, even after hosting so many Consouloids at a time, the siblings were the only ones who knew that this room with the king sized bed at the center wall with a nightstand on each side had belonged to the missing half of their family. It was on this dusty, undisturbed bed, they were bound sitting up against each other's backs. 

 Every surface from the nightstand to the lampshades, to the vanity and its mirror was blanketed in dust. Just walking in kicked up enough dust bunnies to set off Clover's allergies. Surprisingly, even Agent Reality sneezed. 

She checked around the master bedroom as the siblings struggled. Agent Reality investigated everything, disturbing the dust blankets on the curtains, the vanity, and an old picture on the wall. There were two who looked like younger versions of Clover and Zander, but two older figures had joined them; a woman with black hair, and a man with blond hair and glasses. 

"Who are these people? Where are they?" she interrogated, believing that they were also involved. "Talk!" she demanded, producing what looked like a blue sledgehammer made of water. 

Clover looked behind her shoulder, as she wasn't the sibling facing the photo. "Those people were our parents, thank you," she spat.
"And they've been gone since we were teenagers. We'd hand you photos of the funeral if we hadn't been swamped with work and school to go," Zander muttered as Agent Reality bumped into a shelf. 

It started to rain outside. As the droplets that hit the window multiplied and crashed into the glass with greater force, she picked up a single, thin book off of the floor. She skimmed the pages and put it back on the shelf.  "I'm sorry for your loss," the agent plainly replied.

Next to the book was an old photograph that depicted a couple in a tuxedo and a white dress. It sat next to a frame of a marriage certificate making the union between Connor and Maple Primrose official. "Y'know, it's probably raining in the living room right now," Zander lamented, remembering the hole. 

"Silence!" she commanded. "I'm Agent Reality, and I work with forces beyond your understanding. If you wish to not join your parents, I'd suggest telling me where those Consouloids are," she got into Zander's face, grabbing his cheeks and pulling him closer, dragging Clover as well. "Where. Are. They?" 

"Ma'am, I have no idea what you're talking about. I just got home from work and Clover's a mere college student. You won't get anywhere with us." Zander explained, boasting a confident grin. "You wouldn't hurt a family just trying to support itself, right? Like, me and Clover are like two peas in a pod." None of them saw it, but his sister rolled her eyes. 

"Cut the shit and tell us what it is that you want!" Clover shouted from behind him. 

Letting go of his face, Agent Reality turned the two bound siblings together so Clover was facing her. "I like a woman that gets right down to business," although her intentions were far from it, or at least Clover had hoped they were, her voice was sultry. "Us Consouloids weren't always as we are now. A few hundred years ago, the solar system that the planet, Consoulia, happens to be a part of had been more, let's say, natural. Our ancestors used to be a magical race that could control the elements." 

"Just about anything," Agent Reality held her sledgehammer, watching the watery energy emanate from it. She swung it around, thankfully not hurting anyone or anything as she created a stream of bubbles, but the very air around it knocked over the book and picture frame, as well as created a brief gust that tousled the siblings' hair. "Including water." 

"It is said that a couple of humans on top of the world promised us prosperity to last generations if we gave our lives over to them, and so, our people did. Our world became a magical race whose technology acts as a conduit for our mana, but the Consouloids you're keeping seek to destroy our precious way of life." 



Meanwhile, Zerrin and Myrtle pulled up to the house, got out of the family hatchback, racing through the rain to Rhea's car. Zerrin had backed up and rubbed her hands together, lurching herself at it with an extended fist as if intending to punch her way through a window. Myrtle chose to try the door before she registered what it was that her partner was doing, watching as she careened carelessly through the open car door into the backseat with a thud. 

"I was promised a real reward if I found those rebels. If you ask me, I couldn't care less about wider society as it is now. I just want my humans back," the agent said, looking at herself in the vanity.  


Zerrin got out of the backseat after scrounging for what felt like forever, giving Myrtle a hug as she successfully stole the Revival Chokers, but the celebration ended as they realized there was a hole in the house. Exchanging worried glances, Myrtle and Zerrin ran to investigate. 


"Usually a small group of people wouldn't be a drop in the bucket," Agent Reality looked down at her sledgehammer; the metal had been dented slightly for what looked like years. "I should've been sent here earlier. It's such a shame that Ken and Stephanie had to die before someone took action around here. So," she raised it again, glowering at Clover. "Where are they? Where are the Consouloids?" 


"Oh, we've got plenty of game consoles if you want to interrogate those, but you'd be hard pressed to get an answer out of a gray box that's about thirty years old by now," Zander claimed as he looked behind his shoulder. "Or better yet, you could try booking that slim looking console that everyone acts like it's a sin to operate the controller without the wrist strap." 

"This isn't a game!"