Sienna Asma

Working Against Us

Dominic

"So how was your flight?" Leader Hills asks politely. Just like all his other questions, he doesn't get an answer.

We've been climbing stairs for what seems like forever, passing by Soldier after Soldier. They whisper past us or talk loudly, joking with one another. It's weird to see trained killing machines laughing and threatening to kill one another teasingly.

"Here we are," Leader Hill says when we stop walking. He punches in a code, something too long for me to memorize. The doors slide open revealing long rows of computers and filing cabinets aligning the walls. He walks over to the only blank wall with light being projected on it. He gestures us over to him and he pulls out a remote from his pocket.

"Time for a little history lesson," he says gleefully.

I look at Theo who's full focus is on Leader Hill. I'm counting on him to remember everything we learn and to decipher anything that seems suspicious or doesn't make sense.

Hopefully, he won't let me down.

"Oh, you all can just grab a rolling chair. Get comfortable now, this is my favorite subject." Leader Hill waits patiently as we grab the chairs. Once seated, he presses a button showing Sienna.

Her beautiful face makes my heart stop and my throat clog. I didn't realize just how much I miss her. I don't even know where we'll stand after we find her. She might even be gone already.

"Sienna Dewe, the last Key alive. Let's start from the beginning, shall we?" He changes the visual to a picture of five people. Two I recognize as Master Varrien and Leader Hill. There's two women, one a redhead and the other a brunette. The last man has platinum blond hair and green eyes. Eyes that I depise.

"These are the Creators of the Soldiers," Leader Hill starts. "Of course there were other unimportant scientists apart of the process, but we donated not only our minds and knowledge, but our eggs and sperm cells to the cause."

That seems daunting. All the Soldiers, in some way are related. I mean sure, their moms and dads could be different, but I'm sure they didn't do a DNA test for all of them. I couldn't imagine killing my brothers.

"Sienna is General Ryan's and I's daughter," he continues. A red circle appears around the brunette's face. "We were the best of friends, until we all got our Soldiers. We all had different ideas on how to use them. Master Varrien and General Ryan want world domination. I was a fanatic and just wanted to see if creating robotic trained killers could be done. Chief Gene," a circle goes around the blond man's face, "and Head Joya," a circle appears around the redhead's head, "were insane. The realization of what they had done, drove them mad. They were in love with each other and believed they should die together. I would've been fine with that, if they hadn't taken 400 lives with them. They believed they were doing the Soldiers a justice, ending their miserable lives that had barely began. It disappointed Varrien, Ryan and I deeply."

Leader Hill pauses as he appears deep in thought.

"This is all interesting, but you said something about Sienna being a key," Theo reminds.

"Yeah, and we still don't know where the hell she is. You're wasting time," Dean snaps.

Leader Hill looks startled at Dean's comment and raises a brow at me. I can't control what he does, and he has every right to be mad. This whole situation is new and...just plain shitty. The only reason I'm not lashing out at Leader Hill, is because that won't get us anywhere. He says he has answers, and it's not like we were getting anywhere back home. Also, with saving Sienna as our objective, I don't have to feel the pain from Cole and Theo's betrayal.

"Right." Leader Hill fixes his composure and smiles once again. It's uncanny how alike it is to Sienna. "Five special Soldiers were made, each with their own power. My Key, for instance, had the power to walk through anything and go invisible. He was my son, and he will be missed. He died while trying to find Sienna." He goes silent once again, mourning Sienna's brother. "It was all pointless. She was nowhere near where he was looking, she was with you guys." He looks at us with a pitiful look. "That doesn't matter, however. What does matter, is that all the other Keys are gone. Sienna is the last one and that makes her the most dangerous Soldier."

"You keep saying Sienna. Are you sure you're not referring to Asma?" Theo asks for clarification.

Leader Hill smiles, like he loves Theo's naivety, "No, I mean Sienna. Asma is amazing on her own, but only Sienna has the power all the Keys had."

"And what power is that?" I yell, not liking his critical talk.

"The power to shut all the Soldiers down. Sienna has a code embedded in her genetics. If we input that code in one of the original computers," he gestures to the gigantic computer in the corner of the room, "all the Soldiers would be deactivated and drop like flies." He claps his hands like that's the most wonderful thing in the world when it's the opposite.

Deactivating the Soldiers could be amazing but, what would that do to the human sides of the Soldiers? What would that do to Sienna? She's practically seventy five percent Soldier now, would seventy five percent of her die?

Leader Hill doesn't give me the chance to answer. The picture changes to a building as he begins to speak. "After learning that Sienna was kidnapped, we searched high and low for where she could be. We believe General Ryan took her. Th-"

"Well, let's go get her!" Cole interrupts, standing up.

Leader Hill jumps, but that creepily big smile stays on his face. "Not yet, my boy. Just as I, General Ryan has a little less that two hundred Soldiers protecting her. On top of that, if she convinced Sienna onto her side, then we would be going against a Key with the power of immortality."

"Immortality?" Both Dean and Theo ask frowning.

Theo looks at Dean with hope that Dean is completely oblivious to. He's too angry to realize Theo's soft looks of pain.

"Oh yes, that's my lovely little daughter's power. She can't die. It's really the perfect power for such an important person. I'm afraid if she's on General Ryan's side, she'll be quite the opponent," he chuckles to himself at the end.

So Sienna has immortality. It makes sense now. I mean, why else could she come back to life? It's because she's important and has to stay alive for other purposes. Not because higher forces thought the four of us deserved a happy ending together.

No, it's obvious now. The forces have been working against us all along.