Clair de Lune

39. Expendable

"Essentially, we'll be moving towards the facility in groups; I want Marshall and Osiris in one car, Sergei and Murmur in one, Thamyris and Lily, and finally, Necro and Hellfire."

I sat at the table, gently clinking my nails against the metal as I listened to Kelvin speak. He wasn't the most interesting man to listen to, but I knew that it would be better if I did. He was laying out our route through the facility, explaining what he was attempting to do along the way.

"Necro and Hellfire will be team one, they're the first in. Sergei and Murmur, you're team two, and you'll be posing as a returning agent with a captured S Class with you. Once you pull the alarm and he raises his army, Necro and Hellfire will breach the building from their position in the arbor. When the security is taken out, the rest of you will be handed keycards and sent in to release your assigned cellblock. Marshall has A, Osiris has B, Lily has C, and Thamyris has D. Remember, we will not be releasing the S Class subjects, as they could potentially devastate and completely jeopardize the plan."

"I still don't see why." Marshall spoke up, and Osiris nodded in agreement.

"They don't all think the same way we do, and freedom to them is freedom. They'll go after the PASCI agents, the ones under our control, and it won't be good for anyone." Kelvin explained before turning to me, "You, I'm not sure why, but I trust you the most with this task. I need you to get to the heart of the facility, the power supply. It's all water based, but if we destroy the machinery, it all goes boom. We have a remote detonated explosive pack I want you to plant."

"You do know, it's not all fire I can survive, right?" I raised an eyebrow, "it's just my own."

"I know, that's the whole meaning of "remote detonated"," he said sarcastically, "once everyone is back out and running, we set off the charge and we leave, home free."

"You're really going to send her in to do that?" Osiris piped up, sitting up in her chair and narrowing her eyes, "it's not that I don't trust her, I trust her more than I trust anyone here, but she's not as strong as the rest of us. Who's to say she'd even make it that far?"

"Listen, I'll say this right now and cut to the chase," Kelvin tapped the table with his finger, "she's expendable."

"WHAT?!"

I jumped out of my half-asleep state as Necro launched upright, the chair he was sitting in going flying to the ground behind him. I blinked a couple of times as I processed what he said, and the moment the gears clicked, I narrowed my eyes.

"I'm the only one capable of destroying the building if anything goes wrong with the explosives," I spat, "and I'm the expendable one?"

"The truth is, you aren't strong enough to create a fire that big. If something goes wrong, the next person in line takes your place. Do you know who that is?"

I settled down, my eyes glancing to Lily as I clenched my teeth and nodded. Truth is, I was pretty expendable in terms of usefulness. I folded my arms across my chest and kept my eyes on the table as the minutes passed, and he went back to explaining the route. I knew my job just from listening, and I could find exactly where he wanted me to go. That didn't mean I was too happy about it though.

He rolled up his map and put it away, saying something about training and getting ready. We had a total of eight days now to get ready, and I wasn't too thrilled about it. That number always seemed to hang over my shoulder, holding a handful of dread along with it. The moment he walked out of the room the air seemed to disperse and everyone went back to their usual chatter. Everyone but Necro, that is. I could feel his eyeless stare burrowing into my skull and I got up, storming from the room and marching across the padded floors to the hallway. I kicked the door open to the bathroom and found all of the stalls open and empty, the long mirror on the wall reflecting that. I stopped in front of it, staring myself down as if I was challenging myself to be someone I wasn't; a subordinate, a drone, a pawn in the army's chess game. My stomach heaved at the thought and I pulled my arm back, ready to slam my hand into the mirror when I finally noticed the bruises on my neck. I pulled my arm down and slumped my shoulders, poking the two small spots with gentle pressure; they didn't hurt, and in fact, they weren't even that bad. Slightly purple in hue, but that was already fading into sickly yellows and sour greens.