My Covert Bodyguard

58: Last Jump

After leaving Lei with her family, I let myself turn around and take in my surroundings.

The auditorium was decimated. All of the Shadow Legion loyalists were brought to the prison cells, and the groans of the people leftover were deathly silent compared to the pandemonium that was here only moments ago. There were injured people with red ribbons pinned to their chest being guided to the infirmary, and I could only imagine the medics, despite most of them being brought from the Curtis Society, working around the clock for the next weeks. I also had to send them down to the dungeons to treat injured prisoners as well.

The recovery process was going to be long.

I took in a deep breath and headed towards the dungeons. I spotted an agent closing the last of the prison doors, and he turned around to talk to someone. Their heads snapped up to see the owner of the footsteps, and I was shocked to see the tall man.

"Theo!" I exclaimed, and he grinned at me. As I reached him, he surprised me with a hug. 

"I am astounded by your strength and courage, Cassandra. We couldn't have taken the Shadow Legion down without you." I sighed into his large shoulders, a shuddering breath released from my lungs. I knew there was so much more work to do, but the scariest part was over.

And I had an abundant source of support now.

"Here, let me take you to see where the Scarletts are." He said, and took me down the dark, winding halls to one of the largest cells in the area. All my family members were there, huddled in the darkness with wounds all over their bodies, and they looked up at me with such hate I couldn't maintain eye contact with them.

I knew I should say something to them. I could spur the same explanation I had been; that things had been derailed for a long time now and that everything would improve from now. That this transition will be difficult but once it's done they will see my ways. But I also knew they would never listen to me. I was still mainly an outsider to them, and they never trusted me to begin with. And in their perspective, I uprooted their luxurious lifestyle to be replaced by listening to the demands of a new dictator (aka me). In all honesty I felt guilty, and I had to stop myself from apologizing.

Thankfully someone approached me before I opened my stupid mouth to blabber nonsense to my extended family.

"Cassandra, I knew you were capable of brilliant things."

My family members looked at Aunt Helen with gaping eyes to see her talking to me so fondly. 

"Helen, you betrayed us?" A man I recognized as an uncle of mine exclaimed.

Aunt Helen turned to them with no mercy in her eyes. "This family betrayed the Scarlett Legion long before I betrayed any of you. If you are ever able to sort your morals, maybe you will start to understand." The Scarletts started to stand in protests and yells, and I quickly ushered us away. I didn't have the energy to deal with that controversy right now.

"Theo, I'd like you to meet my aunt Helen, she was the woman helping and mentoring me through all this. She's the oldest member of the Shadow Legion."

Theo beamed at my great aunt and raised his hand to shake. "Hello, I'm Theodore Reiner, head of the... Curtis Society, as you call it. Thank you for bridging the gap of our rivalries to take down an evil among us."

Aunt Helen shook his hand, and she looked at least twenty years younger. "I look forward to working with you to make the Scarlett Legion what it used to be." Theo momentarily looked confused by the name Scarlett, but he looked to me and I nodded. It would all make sense soon.

We all headed to the rendezvous point, where I immediately spotted Brook and Kyle. They ran over to me, and I waved weakly. "We should call a meeting for anyone healthy enough to attend, to explain the plan for the next few days. It's already chaos, and our new revolutionaries have no idea what's going on. We can't let any uprisings happen, we need to make it crystal clear what the next steps are. We can use the North Auditorium, or the training gym. And we need to send medics down to the dungeon immediately, there are seriously injured people down here and we don't want any more deaths than we already do. And—"