Stuff Of Legend

Chapter 13

         It has been twenty-four hours since Piper and the others returned from Ajax's. After Piper left Caldwell's office, she went straight to her cabin. Along the way she got some glances from other ATLAS members. Like she predicted, word got out pretty fast. The story mainly came from Gia and Logan, but Piper wasn't mad. It is what it is and she is who she's always been. She had made it back to her cabin with minimal contact. She didn't know what to do once she got there so she took a shower. She tried washing away the dried blood that had blended in with her dark hair.

When she got out, Wren and Audrey were in the cabin. Obviously, Wren had told Audrey about it. Piper just walked over to her bed, waiting to see who would speak up first.

"I don't think it matters," Wren said. "Everyone's got a history."

That was the extent of the conversation. Audrey nodded like she agreed, but didn't say anything. Piper spent the rest of the day reading one of her books. Instead of going up to eat with everyone else, she just found some food in Bischoff. It wasn't that she was embarrassed that everyone knew, she just figured it would be best if she let talk flare down some.

She slept in the next morning. When she woke, Audrey was long gone and Wren was getting ready to head out. She noticed Piper awake.

"Caldwell gave us the day off. You, me, Charlie, Logan, Red, and Gia. He's not happy that people talked about what happened, but he must've known it was going to get out." She told Piper. Piper sat up in bed.

"Where are you going?" Piper asked.

"To see Caldwell. Charlie and I wanted to be debriefed on what happened after we got taken. You can come too, if you want." Wren offered.

"Nah," Piper said, "I'll see him soon enough."

"Alright," Wren said. She opened the door, but before she left, she said, "I meant what I said yesterday. It is what it is. I think other people are accepting that. Stuff like this will blow over fast. We've all got a job to do, no need to spend time on stuff that doesn't matter anymore."

With that, Wren left. Piper knew that Wren meant well. Piper liked Wren, she really was a good person. With Piper having the day off, she figured she would do what she did yesterday: stay locked up and wait for the storm to blow over. But she was hungry. After growing up on the streets, Piper can ignore hunger pains and she doesn't get them that often anymore. But here, she's had three meals every day, her body was getting accustomed to it, even if she just had a peck to eat at the meals. She put on a jacket and went out to Bischoff to get food.

Most everyone was gone from Stone Village. It was Monday so mostly everyone was at their classes or doing some kind of work around here. Piper went into the kitchen in Bischoff. Logan was already there, also searching for food.

Logan and Piper hadn't had much solo interaction before they were put on the same team for the mission. He had talked to her when she first came here, but that was just an introduction. She had seen plenty of him. He's the social type, Piper has noticed. His face was nearly all clear from the encounter with RJ. He was supposedly a good fighter and a good ATLAS agent, but other than what rumors Piper has heard, she didn't really know Logan Landor at all.

"Not much here," he said to her, "we need to get restocked from the main dining hall. Normally we have like cereal and bagels and stuff, but now we only have yogurt and couple of milks. And those stupid granola bars, you know? The ones that you'll only eat if you're dying from starvation." Logan just shook his head at the disappointing fridge and grabbed a small carton of milk. "And then there's this. Plain milk. We haven't had chocolate milk in a week. I swear the apocalypse is upon us."