Redeemers

Chapter 9: the Base

Light pours into her surroundings, turning her closed eye lids into to pleasant red. Cotton clouds float in recesses of her mind, and she can't help but think that she had never woken up this peacefully in her life. Air rushes out of her nostrils, and she relishes the feeling. The feeling of softness beneath her. She trails her fingers gently against it, and she had never felt anything like it. The silence, the small sense of freedom to wake however she likes...

But the moment flees as easily as her imaginings of butterflies. Where am I? The thought crosses the threshold of her mind just as the panic sets in. The last thing she could remember was a flash of light bursting across her vision, and shielding her eyes against it. Unfamiliar territory.

Her eyes snap open as instincts grip her, as always. There is no such thing as waking up peacefully, at least not for Annora. The light is immediately blinding to the point that it makes her close her eyes once again. With more care, Annora once again peels her eyes open. The whit light is still garish, but still not as blinding as before.

Over her head hangs an industrial grey ceiling, not unlike the roofs of garages she encountered when working with Meme or Crookx, but not the same either. Not to mention the fact that she hadn't seen them in well over a week. No, this place is something different.

Her thoughts drift to a time seven years ago, a time she had almost forgotten, a time in which she had no fear. But this couldn't be the same place. No, she had seen that place, the charred husk of it, five years ago, the very sight of it making her believe her family to be dead.

No, this could not be that place.

For a moment, her mind wanders instead to if this is some sort of nightmare, the kind where you believe yourself to be safe when in reality, you are lying in a lion's den.

Her stomach clenches painfully in a pang of anxiety. They would have woken her with a pail of water if she was arrested. Perhaps she woke before they thought she would. Maybe she can escape before they could even have a chance to get into her head as they had seven years ago.

She abruptly draws her body into a seated position, her very bones singing with protest and her head spins. As the world rights itself, Annora works through her confusion. Shouldn't she be belted down? They would at least have the sense to cuff her down, Vandrin would see to it after her latest escape, wouldn't he?

What if  he isn't here? The voice of reason intones from the back of her head. Just then, the minutes before the explosion of white comes to her mind. The flashes of color in a sea of black. The Redeemers. The rest floods back in a tidal wave. Her brother. Her brother is alive.

"Holy shit!" A voice exclaims to Annora's dismay. Her eyes immediately snap to the source, no matter how dizzying. A boy stands with his mouth hanging open so wide she could swear that he has already swallowed multiple flies. The thought would normally make her shudder, but she can't seem to do anything but stare back at the boy. She has never seen him before, but he looks familiar with his sandy blond hair, pale skin and angular features. Realization strikes her. He looks like Blue, with green eyes. Brothers maybe?

"Language." Another voice lilts from behind the boy. Annora's eyes shift to the newcomer. A young woman, maybe even Annora's age, smiles back at her. This girl is the exact opposite of the boy with chocolate skin and a barely contained mass of black curls. Her entire body is sheathed in yellow metal. The Yellow Redeemer.

Behind the two sits another, Blue. He is still in his blue Redeemer suit, but turned away from Annora facing the warped metal of his hovercycle. He rubs his head with a free hand, "Damn it, Fransix! Why'd you have to shout like that!"

The boy, Fransix, only points at Annora, not  bothering to shut his mouth. Blue's gaze follows his finger to Annora, and his eyes widen. Suddenly he scrambles to his feet, "You didn't put her under?"