The forgetters are the 'protectors' of the den, they were originally a group of robots that the government created that would roam the streets, and seek out trouble, and do their best to help anywhere they could, but after a while, the government of the underground became more and more corrupt and realized that it was too expensive to build an entire robot with complete circuit board, and all of the parts that went into building the machine, so they started building a smaller, cheaper machine that basically only had the basic training for the robot on it, but had a small needle on one end where it would be inserted into a human host once they died. The device takes over the humans brain, and basically destroys it, removing everything except for the basic functions, essentially turning them into zombies, they couldn't talk, and would kill on sight, so people started to arm their houses with one inch thick steel in some cases, once the governments army was big enough they realized that if they kept doing this, it would destroy the entire society down here, so they programmed the small devices so that when they went into the human host, it kept the memories that the human had before they died, the robots began to be able to talk, and be stable. People started to mistake forgetters for people that they had lost, seeing as they basically where that person, they were easily mistaken, the government saw this as an opportunity, to get into the higher rankings of the 'peasants' so they started to kill people that had many contacts, like gang leaders, and such. At first people didn't catch on, but after a while, you just knew when someone had been downloaded, their eyes almost glowed, and their skin had no flaws, they looked synthetic.
I began to unpack my bag, putting my clothes away in he small cracked dresser, and hiding my diary, and the cards under them. I walked over to the mirror that was hanging above a desk in the corner of the grey room,
"Hold you head up." I said pushing my head up slightly with my thumb,
"Smile, and be strong.." I smiled at myself in the mirror, but I couldn't lie to myself, I could see the pain, and dread in my own eyes, I turned away from the mirror, took a deep breath and went into the hall. At the end of the hall there was a door that read 'qualified only' I'm guessing that's the door he wanted me to go into, since the other end of the hall is a wall with a flower painting on it. I walked cautiously to the end of the hall.
"F-Frank?" I said quietly
"Come on in Cas" he said pulling the door open. I walked in, the room was completely black, with a red light illuminating it. He pointed to a chair, and I sat down in it, looking around at the interesting decor.
"What is this place?" I asked
"It's your new home dear" he said closing the door hard behind me, I jumped a little, and faced front with my hands in my lap,
"Do you know who the allies are, and please don't say a board game" he said sitting down in front of me.
"They're a bedtime story, something adults tell kids to help them sleep at night, and story to give adults hope" I answered
"Yeah, I get that, but, did your parents every tell you the stories?" He asked, I nodded slightly.
"Good" he said relaxing back in his chair
"So they told you that they're both members right? Like, not just members, but like the head bitches basically... Or at least they were..."
"Wait, what?" I said tensing up, and sitting up taller in my chair,
"Wait, they didn't tell you?" I shook my head
"Well, I used to be the only leader, before they showed up, I only had about ten, maybe fifteen members, but when they showed up at my door, all beaten, and bruised, I took them in, and after a while, I learned to trust them, then I showed them the allies, they took to it right away, they were both good leaders, he'll, I would even say that they jump started the group," he paused, and whipped away a couple of tears then continued.
"After I put them in leadership with me, the people came In by the dozen, I had over four hundred members before I knew what to do with 'em, but, now that their gone, I need you to join me, be my sidekick, and help me take this to the next level, and hopefully about five hundred more levels above that... I see a lot of both of your parents in you kid, so, what do you say?" He held out his hand, I Haden's realized that I had started to cry, I reached my hand out, and shook his hand,
"Good, but first things first," he pushed a button under the desk, the wall behind him opened up into an about ten foot deep room with stairs on either side,
"Now, welcome to the allies..." He let go of my hand, and stood up, I stood up and followed him through the door way, we walked up one of the stair cases that lead to a larger room,
"All of this is made from the sewer passages that they don't use anymore, this gives us access to almost anywhere below the 536th level, it's pretty amazing!" He said walking up another staircase, I could hear talking up ahead, we got up to the top of the stairs, there were two women in leather wear standing talking to each other.
"Mable!! Calliegh!!" Frank said putting his arms out.
"For the last time, it's not Mable, it's Malliegh.." One of the girls said looking at me with a huge smile on her face.
"Oh, right, this is the commander's daughter, Cassidy." He said moving to the side so they could see me more clearly. All of the color drained from both of their faces,
"We are so sorry about what happened to your parents," one of them said putting out her arms to hug me, I stood completely still.
"It's fine.." I said, hoping someone would catch on and change the subject.
"S-so, how can we help you Frank?" The other one said turning her attention away from me, and to Frank.
"How are we doing with the map? Anything yet?" Frank asked. One of them sighed, and said,
" not quite yet, but we're getting there... We should have it before next year, but it would really really help if we had a man on the inside of the government to access their computers.
"Well, how could we do that?" Frank asked
One of the girls sarcastically cleared her throat, and looked in my direction. Frank looked over at me, and his eyes widened.
"No, no no no, no, no! She just lost her parents for heavens sake, we are not sending this child into that area, especially when she doesn't even know half the shit that's going on!"
"Well, she's the only one small enough to fit into the vent that accesses the government computer center..."
"Just sayin." She said messing with her nails.
"No, no, we can't do that, I won't let you, please, there has to be a different way," Frank said desperately.
"Nope, sorry there's not, why do you have such an attachment to the kid anyways?" She asked I could see the anger building up in his eyes, I grabbed his arm,
"I'll do it, what ever it is.." I said looking up at him.
"No, you can't, I won't let you, I promised!" He said kneeling down to talk to me.
"If it's the only way for you to get to the next level, how hard could it be?" I said. He looked down and nodded,
"Fine, but you have to be as safe as possible okay?" He said gesturing to the two ladies who seemed very happy that I said I would do it.
"Okay, so, here's the plan," one of them said while the other one rushed over to the computer, and began typing,
"So, we have very advanced technology here, we are going to try to make this as simple as possible for you, okay?" She explained,
"So all you have to do is go into this vent" she said pointing to a spot on a map that the other one had pulled up.
"Once you get there, you go straight, then take the first left, then the next right, then go straight, you should get to a ladder, go up that ladder until you get to level 555, this is where they keep the computer center, once your there, go to the room on the right, there should be one computer in that room with a big red and green dashed IDA port on the front, that's where your going to plug this in, and hit enter on the key board, then it will download, that should only take a second, once it gets to a
Hundred, pull it out, and go back the same way you came, got it?" She said standing up straight, and clasping her hands.
"...can you right that down please..?" I asked, she signed, and degas to write on a piece of paper, she handed me the paper.
"Here's how you get there" she pointed to the top of the sheet,
"And here's how you get back" she said pointing to the bottom of the paper, at the very top of the paper in the title box it read 'idiots guide to doing this mission'
"You shouldn't run into any trouble, but I case you do, just remember to run like hell, okay?" She said in a perky tone. Frank put his hand on my upper back, and pulled me off to the side.
"You sure you're ready to do this?" He said quietly,
"Well, no, but, what other choice do
I have? Sit around and wait for them to figure out what we're doing?" I said looking him straight in the eye. He slightly shook his head, then nodded,
"Okay." He said looking me in back straight in the eyes.
"She'll go tomorrow morning." He said standing up, and pushing my back towards the door.
"Wow, hold up, no, we need her to do this now!" One of them said,
"Well you can wait what, five? Six? Hours, can't you?" He said very sarcastically starting to push me towards the door again.
"Fine! But have her here at five on the dot, no later, but earlier if possible, the early morning is a weak point for security"
"Shock there" she other one said under her breath, the one that was talking first snapped at her, then went back to talking,
"That's the best chance for her to get in there, and out of there, with no interruptions, or complications, okay?" She said picking up a clipboard. Frank didn't seem to be listening at all, but nodded, and then walked me back to my room,
"Go check on your sister, I'm going to bed, big day for you tomorrow kid, get some rest." He said walking towards his room, I walked over to Maggie's room, the lights were off but I knew she wasn't asleep,
"Maggie?" I said quietly, she ran out of the darkness, and hugged me, I picked her up, and pulled her in tight,
"Where were you?" She asked.
"I was just in the door Mags," I replied.
"I-I couldn't find you, I was so scared, please don't leave like that again." She said.
"I promise." I said trying to set he down on her bed, but she held tight to my body,
"D-do you want to sleep with me tonight Maggie?" I asked, she nodded, I grabbed her blanket that wait payed neatly on the dresser, and brought her to my room, I placed her on the bed with her blanket, and turned off the light, I lied down in the bed, Maggie moved towards me, and I put my arm under her head, and held her tight, she fell asleep with in minutes, but I had not chance at sleeping, I tried to close my eyes, but every time I did, I saw a different form of pain.
