The City in the Sky

Chapter 2

I snap back into reality when I hear the ping of my alarm clock indicating that something is happening soon. That's how The Agency alerts us about missions, announcements, etc. This time the alert is for an announcement in forty-five minutes. I decide to go take a shower. Even though I will only have about twenty minutes until they shut off the hot water. Each shower is timed, and you only get twenty minutes of warm water, that's how they control the water bill.

Once I have my towel, clothes, and digital watch that I always keep with me I head to my bathroom. I get in the shower and just when I start to enjoy the calming effect of the warm water, memories from today come running back again.

As I'm running through The Pitts chasing after Zephyr's most wanted fugitive, The Traitor I see that she's coming up on a tunnel system under a bridge which could be a possible escape route. She had escaped custody after I brought her in instead of the thief. The rain has started to pick up, changing from a light mist to a pouring shower. Even with the rain beginning to slow us down, I know I need to stop her. I won't let her get away, she killed my friend. I aim and shoot right beside her, careful not to actually hit her, The Agency wants her back alive. She falls over from the shock of the bullet hitting the ground right beside her. When I get to where she collapsed I point my gun at her, pinning her to the ground.

"Agent, do you really think you can take me in, you have no backup. Besides, you wouldn't turn in your own sister would you?" The Traitor said chuckling at my dumbfounded expression after telling me what I hope is false information.

It's the kind of laugh that makes her sound crazy, that would make most people run in the opposite direction. I guess that's what years of living alone on the run will do to you. Anyone with half a brain wouldn't have even tracked her, much less try to engage her without backup. However, I had been training for situations like this since the day I could hold a weapon. I was trained to never show weakness or mercy in the face of an enemy. However, after hearing what she had just told me my facade was slipping quickly, washing away with the rain that's dripping from my short brown hair, down my face, then to the ground creating a puddle on the debris-covered ground of The Pitts.

I move towards her, forcing her to slide back under the large collapsed bridge. This area in the city is known for its tragic past. Almost everything was destroyed in this place after an earthquake from Castilan, the planet below. It decimated all of what used to be a thriving part of Zephyr in its wake. That's why she had been hiding here, not many patrols come to The Pitts and if they do, they don't stay long.

I shook my head in an attempt to clear my thoughts. Focusing my mind back on the task at hand. My parents left me with The Agency. They abandoned me. The Agency is the only thing I have that's even close to a family. They are my family, the only ones that have ever truly cared for me.

Only when she laughs once more do I realize I said that out loud to argue back at her in an attempt to deny what she said.

"Silly boy, your parents didn't abandon you. They were on the run from The Agency. They were caught and killed. The Agency took you as a prize for their success." The Traitor said again, almost sounding sincere. That couldn't be possible. This ex-agent has been spreading rumors about The Agency for about a year now.

"Why?" I whispered to myself almost believing her, then louder "Why would they kill my parents but not me?!"

"Because..." She trailed off momentarily. "They were my parents too. The Agency figured out who our parents were, where they were from. But you and me, we were just children, ones they thought they could manipulate and use to their advantage. It seems they succeeded with one."