How Much I Know - a Renegades | Marissa Meyer fan fiction

Chapter 30

Kahless had left Mara and Narcissa at home and instead went to watch the Puppeteer's questioning. She watched from behind the one-way mirror that rested through the wall and waited for the team to arrive. She sincerely hoped that Nova wasn't coming, because Winston Pratt's reaction to her uniform would be obvious and incriminating.

A few minutes later, Adrian, Ruby, Oscar, and Nova entered the room. They had a short conversation about who was to sit in the chair, ending with Oscar because of his bone disease and being the "bad cop." Apparently, that was a selling factor for him.

The team stopped talking when Winston was brought in. They were told they had (5? 15? 10? IDK) minutes until the Anarchist would be brought out again. Then, the Renegades that had carried Winston in left the patrol team alone.

"So," Adrian began, "who was Nightmare?"

And thus the questioning started. Stunningly, Winston defended Nova's identity. He didn't tell anyone any information about her but explained how he used to animate puppets for her. Winston described himself as a father to her. Kahless was sure that Nova must be dying of guilt inside, and Kahless cringed in sympathy.

Another reason Kahless cringed during the conversation, however, was for a different reason. Adrian had just offered to bring Winston some, "games or cards or books or puppets... No, you're probably not allowed to have those. But I'll see what I can do," if Winston just told them who Nightmare was.

But, as previously stated, Winston shared nothing. Kahless was impressed.

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"Who are you? I've heard you called Karen by some, but most people don't have the faintest clue who you are. And what were you doing leaving the holding cells at the exact same time as us? What are you not telling me?"

Kahless sighed and looked up from her food at Adrian. She was eating alone, seeing as it was unfair for her to use Mara's food and Mara needed to stay with Narcissa. "Please forget it, okay? If everybody needed to know, you would know too. It would be easiest for both of us if you just forgot I even exist. You will know when necessary. In the meantime, let me eat in peace."

Adrian didn't look so easy to drop the subject. "I never even knew your name! When you asked for drawing lessons, I taught you without even worrying about your name! You owe me one."

Kahless had never gotten the point of "owing" a person anything. Mara blushed and looked away if anyone so much as mentioned paying her back. But Adrian looked willing to use any advantage he had.

"The Council will tell you when it's time, Adrian. Good luck." With that, Kahless swiftly stood and marched away, depositing her tray. Adrian stared after her with that same look of confusion. Kahless realized that she kind of felt bad for him. He didn't even suspect Nova's villain identity.

But Kahless did not turn around, and instead continued in her original direction, out of the cafeteria.

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Kahless sighed. She absolutely despised not feeling useful. She would always regret it later. Kahless had already asked Mara if she needed her, and Mara told her no. Kahless was surprised at the answer because Mara always gladly accepted Kahless's company. It was odd for her to reply no to anything unless she suspected that it would hurt anyone to say yes. Maybe it was a misunderstanding on Mara's part.

But that was fine. There were plenty of things she could do around HQ. Unfortunately, many of those tasks were full of repeated motions that let Kahless's mind wander every time. A wandering mind was not pleasing to her.

Instead, Kahless decided to read a few more incident reports. They would keep her occupied if nothing else.

On the 17th floor (Sorry if that's wrong!) Kahless found a few Renegades pouring over the screens. Among them was Nova. It was only fitting, seeing as in the Council meeting the other day Nova was offered a job entering information in the Renegade database.

Kahless grinned to herself when she thought of all the things Nova could do to fudge the information. And the Renegades would have no idea what happened to them.

She took a seat at an isolated computer and continued reading the files. All was normal until she came on the file of her mother's and Nova's parent's and sister's deaths. Kahless blinked. They had this on file? Soon Nova would come across this...

KINGSBOROUGH APARTMENTS, SEPTEMBER

Two men and a woman appear to be shot, along with a baby child. One man and woman's identities are David and (Ugh! What was her name?) Artino. The baby child is their younger daughter. It seems to be a few hours after their deaths. Blood is spilling everywhere. There isn't a body for the family's other daughter, age 6 at the time.

The fingerprints on the gun that killed all four of the civilians were of the unidentified man, gloves, and a young child (image below).

Kahless bit her lip. Nova, if she hadn't found this already, would soon find this out. So would the other Renegades. It was dated the day that Nova's parents allegedly died. (Kahless had thought it necessary to read Nova's fake paperwork.)

The reason the report didn't mention Kahless's mother was that the Council didn't want anyone finding out about Kahless's identity, even though that seemed unlikely.  

She decided that for the Anarchists' and Renegades' sakes, Kahless should fudge the information a bit. Just a little.

Kahless clicked on the image of the fingerprints, which she recognized as Nightmare's, although the ridges were less defined, and deleted the picture. She typed in different text, not listing either Alec Artino or Nova. It was surprisingly simple, given she had the 6-letter password: BCDITT. It stood for Blacklight, Captain Chromium, Dread Warden, Lady Indomitable, Thunderbird, and Tsunami; in alphabetical order. The I was in recognition of Georgia Rawles, the sixth original Renegade. To show that her death and life were still remembered.

Once that was dealt with, she continued the list of incidents, saving her changes.

The next was a report on Lady Indomitable's death. It was a simple article that Kahless had read many times, but she clicked on it for a reason even she didn't understand herself.

THE ALLEY OF WEST ST. AND NORTH AVE.

Georgia Rawles (alias Lady Indomitable) seems to have fallen from a six-story warehouse. A few of her bones are broken, and the back of her head hit the street hard, cracking her skull slightly.

Kahless frowned. The previous times she had read the report, the last sentence was followed by, "She is paralyzed as what would be the reaction to strong terror." Apparently, Nova had been doing something to the information on the database. Nice, Kahless thought, smiling slightly.