Ella was still in her own thoughts while leaning on the guardrail when she heard the door of the balcony open behind her and noticed the wearer of the blue hoodie joining her and leaning on the guardrail.
"I should tell you something that Henrik forgot to mention." Blue said to Ella.
"Who's Henrik?" Ella asked curiously.
"Oh. Of course. He didn't tell you his name. Henrik is Yellow today. But he forgot to mention that the UNP's chairman is visiting the city tomorrow and every important place will be heavily guarded tomorrow. I heard what you intend to do, so if you're doing this, you'll have to do it tonight. Tomorrow it'd be too hard and tomorrow night it might be too late if the negotiating parties come to an agreement." Blue explained.
"Henrik did mention that the chairman is coming to visit the city but he didn't say that's it's tomorrow. So this really is our only chance since he won't publish our message unless we do this. I have to tell the others about this." Ella said back.
"I also wanted to say another thing."48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo1I5ljF0tt
"What is it?" Ella asked curiously.
"Thank you for at least trying to console me after what happened to Markus... I mean Lime. That was more than anyone else here did. Sorry that I responded so rudely to it." Blue said sincerely.
"I understand. My greatest loss was when I lost my mother and I was angry at everyone for a week. I wasn't upset at your reaction." Ella assured.
"I'm glad you understand." Blue said and remained quet while looking down from the balcony.
Ella didn't want to snoop into Blue's personal matters at such a sore time so she wanted to ask something else.
"What is your actual name?" Ella asked.
"Since I don't care about the color code, I might as well tell you. My name is Sofia." Blue answered.
"I feel better knowing your actual name. My name is Ella." Ella said back but Sofia just stayed quiet.
"You can tell me if anything is on your mind, Sofia." Ella said after a silent moment.
"I want to share this with someone because those other guys wouldn't want to hear this but... Never mind. Why should I bother you with it?" Sofia said and went quiet again.
"You don't have to say anything that you don't want to say." Ella replied and Sofia sighed loudly.
"I loved him. And I wanted to say it to him but I never did because I was scared that he didn't feel the same way. I always figured that I'd just say it later when the time is right. Now it's too late and I'll never know if he also loved me." Sofia said, each sentence being more hard to get out than the last.
"Oh no." Ella just quietly and sympathetically said back.
"Now I'll wonder for the rest of my life."
"I know that my condolences don't matter, but I'm so so sorry to hear that. That's awful. I hope you enjoyed your time together at least. For what that's worth."
"I won't forget him ever in my life." Sofia said and looked down from the balcony and then continued:
"Maybe you should get going. You only have this one night and you shouldn't waste time."
"Why are you looking down there? What are you thinking about?" Ella asked, ignoring Sofia's request.
"Oh, don't worry. I'm not thinking what you think I'm thinking. I just like looking down from here when I need to calm myself down." Sofia assured.
"Are you telling the truth right now?" Ella asked anyway.
"I'm okay. You don't need to worry about me. But you should worry about your situation and get to it."
"Well... You're right. Please be here when we get back." Ella said and took a step away before getting her arm grabbed by Sofia.
"Please don't make the same mistake that I made." Sofia said to her.
"What do you mean by that?" Ella asked her.
"If you want to say something to somebody, say it. Don't wait." Sofia said to Ella and let go of her arm.
Ella gave her a reassuring look and left the balcony to go back inside.
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Inside the dim room that was lit only by the lights of monitors Ella walked straight to the twins who were talking some last minute plans with Henrik of the yellow hoodie.
"You ready to go?" 32A asked when she saw Ella walking closer.
"I am ready. And I'm also ready for something els..." Ella almost said before 32A grabbed her wrist and started dragging her.
"Good. The yellow man just told us how much of a hurry we're in so we should get going right now and not waste time here admiring the scenery. Lets go." 32A said while dragging Ella who felt like she should just remain quiet and go along.
Ella looked at Toivo who followed behind and shrugged at her as he had nothing to add to what 32A just said.
"You can let go of me now. I know how to walk." Ella said to 32A in the staircase while still being dragged by the wrist.
"You're probably right. Sorry about that. I'm just kind of nervous about the stakes here." 32A said back and let go.
"We have no ride but we do have directions to the place now." Toivo commented.
"And we also have a new hoodie for you. Now you don't have to wear that coast guard's jacket that you've been seen wearing many times." 32A said and handed Ella the pink hoodie.
"Oh. That's useful. Do I just throw the jacket away now?" Ella said back.
"Maybe I should just take your jacket back to the homebase and come back here. Don't run away without me." Toivo suggested.
"We're not that busy." 32A said and stopped.
Ella removed the coast guard's jacket and handed it to Toivo who was wearing the yellow hoodie that was three sizes too large for him.
"Are you nervous at all?" Ella asked 32A while they were alone in the staircase.
"Of course I am. But compared to other situations that I've been in the past few days, this is nothing. I'll tell you about them later." 32A answered.
"You know, the girl in the blue hoodie up there told me that if you want to say something to someone, you shouldn't wait. Just putting that out there."
"It's not that important. And I wouldn't want to worry you with tales that are now in the past. We have enough to worry now." 32A said back and chuckled.
It didn't take long for Toivo to return without Ella's jacket and now wearing a smaller and bluer hoodie and being ready to continue.
"So who has the directions?" Ella asked.
"Both of us." The twins answered at the same time.
"Handy." Ella just said back.
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Outside on the streets 32A led the way and looked at directions on her burner phone while having trouble to comprehend where they are on the map and which way is North.
"This is confusing." 32A complained.
"Let me look at it. I know how to use these things." Ella politely requested and got the phone handed to her.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoenB6Zj4DP
"Since you're the native." 32A said to Ella.
"Aha. All we have to do is follow this coastline until we come to the bridge that leads to the island on the eastern side of this island... Oh, so if you didn't notice or know, this city is made up of a few different islands that are connected by multiple bridges. Pretty neat. Anyway, so once we're on the next island, we have to walk east for a while and turn north where we'll find a massively wide building. I mean look at that. That's the size of a... Wait a second. Is that the park that my friend told me was flattened to make room for some government building? Huh. It must be. Well, at least it'll be easy to spot." Ella said while looking at the small screen of the burner phone.
"Lead the way then." 32A said to Ella who then took the lead.
"Should we wear the hoods to hide our faces better?" Toivo suggested.
"We'd just look suspicious. Just the three of us all walking as a group under hoods." Ella replied and was a little humored by the idea.
"Why is that suspicious?" 32A wondered.
"If you've ever lived in a city, you'd know." Ella answered.
"Well, I haven't."
"I know. But as I said to Toivo earlier, confidence makes you seem less suspicious. If you act like you've done something wrong and are being chased, people will think that that's the case. We've done nothing wrong, so let's act like it. Anyone who walks past will think nothing of us." Ella assured.
Just as she said that she was approached by some strange young woman in a white jacket and a hat who had a camera and an eager attitude and was speaking English.
"Uhh. Excuse me. Do you have a moment?" The stranger asked nervously.
"Uhh... Sure?" Ella replied in English, being the only one who could speak it.
"Okay. Good. Are you okay with being photographed?"
"No! No thank you. We really are not. But what would it be for?" Ella answered and asked.
"I'm just travelling to all of the capitals in the UNP member states and writing articles about them and I want to have photos with locals. You seem like a colorful group, literally, so you caught my eye." The stranger assured.
"So that's what you want a picture for? Hold on. Who are you really?" Ella asked and got serious and suspcious of the eager stranger.
"What? You think I'm not telling the truth? Okay, here are some of my previous articles and the photos I've taken. This would be no different." The stranger assured and showed some article on her phone featuring a photo where she was posing with some people on the London Bridge.
"Well, I could ask my friends here if they want to." Ella answered and turned to the twins and switched languages.
"This woman wants to take a photo with us for an article. She doesn't recognize us and she's not from here. What do we say to her?" Ella asked the twins.
"That's not a good idea. We don't want any publicity right now." Toivo replied.
"We might actually. If we're seen with ordinary people without making anyone sick or causing any kind of trouble, that might make us look better and more harmless. It might actually be good for us." 32A countered with.
"Yeah, think about it! If people see that picture, they'll see you as just ordinary people and it might actually change some people's minds." Ella added.
"So we're posing for the photo then?" Toivo asked.
"Sure. Let's do it." 32A added.
Ella then turned to the stranger and gave her an answer. The eager stranger told them to stand in a row with their backs facing the frozen body of water that was covered in snow behind all of them. The eager stranger then squeezed in between them and took a front facing photograph with the lights from the opposite shore being in the background.
"Thank you. What are your names?" The stranger asked Ella.
"My name is Ella and these two are Toivo and 32A. They're not from here. They're from a place where nobody is allowed to go to or come from. Be sure to include that in your article. And also mention that their people are all over the city without causing any outbreaks." Ella boldly said to the stranger who looked confused.
"Wait. Are they from the place where they dropped the nuke?"
"No, another place that had some disease."
"I've heard about something like that. So they're from the place where there was a disease that destroyed an entire society?"
"Yep. That one. And they've been here for ten years now and I've never seen them sick." Ella said proudly.
"So there isn't a disease in there anymore?"
"Well, my dad and many others have made regular trips there and they never came back sick. So safe to say that that's the case. 32A recently stayed there for a couple of days and she's no different than before, except maybe attitude wise. Spread the word." Ella said to the stranger.
"I'll mention that in my article. Thank you for your time and your story. Nice to meet you, Ella. I hope to come back to this city." The stranger said and walked away.
"I don't." Ella quietly said to herself in her own language.
"Don't what?" Toivo asked her.
"What did you say to her? You mentioned Toivo's name and I assume my name too. It sounded like you mentioned my name." 32A asked.
"I told her the whole truth about you and where you came from. I told her to spread the word and to include that in her article that she wants to write. This is how we win." Ella assured.
"Or maybe she'll get the police after us. We should get somewhere else from here before they come." Toivo worried.
"Well, we're supposed to get moving anyway. We're not on an evening walk here." 32A said.
"Right. Anyway, did you test out if these things can even call?" Ella asked and shook the phone in her hand.
"We tested all the functions that we think we'll need. Like calling and text messaging." 32A answered.
"Good. So this will be easy. Well, maybe not easy but at least we have a working emergency plan." Ella said while walking ahead.
They walked a long way along the street on the edge of their specific island with the frozen waters on their left side. It was already dark in the city and the streets were lit with street lights and distant lights of buildings. Most people didn't look at their faces when walking past but some people gave them second looks. Ella just smiled at all of those people. After finally arriving at the southeastern tip of the island and seeing the bridge that leads to the other island, they also saw a wide brown brick building with several flagpoles outside of it, all holding up flags of the United Nation Project. Toivo got interested in the building and Ella was eager to talk.
"Is that our destination? Looks pretty big." Toivo wondered.
"No, we're not even in the right island yet. That island is on the other side of that bridge and from there we still have some walking to do. Didn't you remember? That there is the city hall. Of course they're waving the UNP's flags to show where their loyalty lies. You could make a comment about that if you really read into it. Some juicy secrets could be in there but we were asked to go to the central police so that's where we'll go." Ella explained.
"So does the minister live there?" 32A asked.
"No, he doesn't. Maybe you should have read some of my textbooks about society studies like your big brother did." Ella teased.
"Big? Are you serious? And what should have I read from your books? Is that where they tell you where the big men live? The king lived in his palace, didn't he?" 32A asked.
"Well, nobody actually lives in the city hall. That's just where some important people do their important work." Ella explained.
"Ella knows best again." Toivo said to 32A teasingly.
"If only she knew who the older one here is." 32A said bitterly and kept following quietly.
They crossed the bridge that leads to the second island and kept following the sidewalk. Just when the bridge ended, Ella saw a police car coming from the front and only had a few moments to think.
"Now might be a good time to put the hoods on!" She said to the two others.
"But doesn't that make us look suspicious?" 32A wondered.
"The police know what we look like. Maybe you don't have to do it." Ella replied.
"I think they might know me if any of them saw me get inside the van. I'll do it too then." 32A said with little conviction and put on the hood of her gray jacket and the others put on their hoods too.
The police car kept coming closer from the road ahead and as it approached, it appeared to gradually slow down.
"Don't do anything, Toivo. Just walk confidently and look innocent." Ella said without turning her head.
The police car slowed down and finally stopped once it got right next to the walkers. The driver's window was rolled down.
"What are you youngsters up to here?" The driving officer shouted from the car.
"On our way home!" Toivo shouted back.
"From where?"
"From our work!" 32A answered.
"And what's your work? And what's that black X on your jacket? I think my buddy mentioned something about someone who had a similar one. Is that related to your work? And what's with the hoods? It makes you look a little odd, if you know what I mean."
"We're street artists! And our team is called the X. We have members all over the city. That's what your buddy saw, sir." Ella replied confidently.
"Street artists? Ah, yes. Of course. You're coming from the direction of the legal graffiti area. Makes sense. And of course the hoods are for not getting your heads in paint. Well, have a safe way home." The driver said before rolling the window back up and driving away.
"So that's our story now then, I guess." Toivo stated.
"Well, it seemed like a believable story." Ella said and led the way again.
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Ella followed the directions on the burner phone and led the way through the streets of the capital city where street sweepers and street cleaners were at work. She had to explain the graffiti team story to a few more officer's along the way but after a lenghty walk towards north an unmistakable building came to their vision. The southern wall of the building was tall and wide and made of tinted glass panels with black frames between all of the panels. Nobody from the outside could see inside the building, but everybody outside could see the big bold white letters saying "SWEDISH STATE'S CENTRAL POLICE" with shining LED-lights.
"No doubt that we're in the right place now." Toivo stated.
"So now would be a good moment for you two to stay back while I go in." 32A said to the others and extended her hand to request the phone from Ella who gave it back.
"But where should we go?" Toivo wondered.
"Well, there's a hotel right there." 32A suggested.
"We are not going into a hotel to just sit in the lobby and be visible for everybody there. Someone would know us no matter how much confidence we have." Toivo said.
"We could just sit on the bus stop and pretend to be passed out junkies who have hoods on." Ella suggested.
"And what if some cop tells us to get up and go home?" Toivo asked.
"I don't think they care. I mean look over there. There's already someone passed out with a hood on over there on that bus stop and that officer just walked past him." Ella said and pointed.
"Huh. I guess that could work then." Toivo said back.
"Let's try it then. Hide in plain sight. Come on. Let's go." Ella said and led the way to the opposite bus stop to the one where the hooded sleeper was staying in.
They both sat down on the bench at the bus stop with their hoods on and looked down.
"This feels so stupid. And the cop is still on that other street. Why isn't he going away?" Toivo said to Ella while sitting there.
"Just commit to it and if something goes wrong, create a distraction and run." Ella said and commited to the act.
When neither was paying attention, the hooded man from the opposite stop moved over to their stop and sat next to Ella and stayed quiet for a moment before opening his mouth.
"You buying or selling?" The stranger asked.
"What? Neither. We're just waiting for a ride." Ella replied.
"You don't need to lie to me. I'm buying and selling."
"Well, we're not. Sorry. I do hope you get help though." Ella replied and heard the now nearby police officer say a bad word in frustration.
The hooded man left the bench and walked away, as did the officer just a minute later.
"What was that all about?" Toivo asked.
"I don't know. Almost looked like they were working together. Anyway, did you notice if Three made it in yet?" Ella asked.
"She's about to. There she is at the door." Toivo said and looked.
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At the door 32A looked at the imposing building and then tried her hand at the door handle.
"Here we go. The place is still open. That's a good thing." She thought as she opened the door and stepped in.
The first thing she saw was a reception desk at the end of the lobby and a large emblem featuring two rapier swords crossed beneath three crowns, all plastered over a globe icon on the wall. Very bright lamps were attached to the ceiling and there were large framed paintings of important looking people on the walls with chairs underneath the paintings. 32A walked up to the reception desk and peeked over it.
"Anybody here?" She said out loud but heard no response.
"I guess not. So how do I do this? Do I just jump over the desk and go through that door behind it and see what I can find?" She wondered and kept looking around.
"The door must have been open for a reason. I'd figure it would have been locked if nobody is inside." She wondered and turned around to look at the door.
"Ahem. What is your business here?" A voice asked from the reception desk and 32A turned around quickly to face the voice.
"Uhh. I came to... Umm..." 32A mumbled.
"Yes?" The receptionist replied curiously.
"No, I mean... Can I report a missing cat here?"
"A missing cat?"
"Yes. My cat ran away."
"This is the Swedish state's central police. Your missing cat is something you should tell your local street watch about. But fine. We can delegate this issue since you're here already." The receptionist said and started doing something on the computer and then asked for the cat's details.
"Well, my cat is very fat. It's white and has a brown stripe in its back and two very sharp teeth. Almost like a sabertooth tiger. You know what that is?" 32A explained, thinking about the cat in the Sabertooth homebase.
"Do I know what a sabertooth tiger is?" The receptionist asked tiredly.
"Yeah. A sabertooth tiger is like a really big cat with..."
"I know what it is. Or was."
"Wait. Was? They don't exist anymore? But I saw picture of one in a..."
"Why are we talking about this? Is there any more notable details about your cat?"
"It has a scar in its forehead."
"Uh-huh. And which street watch patrol do we send this information to?"
"Uhh...The street patrol with the ludicrously tall captain." 32A replied, hoping that her answer would go through.
"Oh. Of course. You could have mentioned it by name but I know what you're talking about. And what phone number or email do they contact?" The receptionist asked.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkLa4bFDVtM
32A dug her phone from her pocket and then scrolled the contacts list.
"Why is there a contact called Pizza here? I mean, uhh... Tell them to call this number." 32A said and showed the number of Pizza to the receptionist who wrote it down.
"There. Anything else you had to get sorted here?" The receptionist asked.
"Not really." 32A answered and put her hands in her pockets.
"Well. Have a good evening then." The receptionist wished.
"I will. Thank you." 32A replied awkwardly and very slowly turned around to walk away.
When she heard the receptionist walk out of a door, she rushed to a bathroom on the left corner of the reception room. She called the number of Toivo's burner phone while leaning on the sink.
"New plan. I'm waiting in the bathroom until the place closes and then I'll sneak in when everyone is gone. Are you all okay in there?" 32A asked.
"It's cold in here. And now we have to wait here for how many more hours?" Toivo asked with frustration.
"Go inside somewhere then. Or keep each other warm. I don't care. But there's still people here. If I go sneaking in there now, I won't get anywhere."
"Fine. We'll go somewhere. I'll tell you where we are when you get back." Toivo said.
"Sounds good. I don't actually know when the lights go out in this place but I should probably be quiet so I don't get found. So bye." 32A said and hung up.
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