Valerie paced back and forth across the room. Jessica stared from her chair. Her friend's fits were typically on display whenever she failed to nab AV tickets, but something seemed off tonight. Valerie's attire – The only thing skin-tight article was her black shirt. Homegirl dressed much like herself, pocketed vest and everything. Even the forehead goggles were new, blue covert-style lenses.
Jessica was in a belittling mood. "What did you do, or what did you miss out on?"
"Uhhh, I don't even know where to start, homegirl."
"You said you needed me."
"That's only because I'm in a bind, Jess."
"Okay then, what constitutes a 'bind' in your dictionary?"
Valerie breathed in then out.
In.
Out.
"I'm with the resistance."
Jessica's finger twitched. Anger ruptured her bowels, rising further into her throat. Hot with unease, her analytical eyes leered in blind resentment. Rage stiffened her joints until she quivered. Her hands wrapped into fists, and the heat of her heart targeted Valerie, who still seemed lost in thought.
With stomps and fumbling force, she wrapped Valerie's neck and slammed her against the wall. The girl's eyes bulged from surprise, pain, and wonder. Jessica's words blew into her ears.
"Either you're joking and have a fucked-up sense of humor, or you're sleeping with murderers! Do you know what's going on?"
Val struggled to breathe, slave to unrecognizable rage on a familiar face. Choked by hand, her friend's red eyes choked by remorse, all she could do was cackle and latch onto the wrist.
A knock on the door. Jessica loosened her grip, at which point Valerie kicked her leg then backhanded her chin. That didn't stop Jess from rushing again. Valerie evaded, coupling the maneuver with an upward knee to the stomach.
Jess hit the floor, and all she could do was moan on the ground. Valerie solemnly crouched beside her.
"I need you to calm down, Jess."
"Why?" she moaned.
The door to the apartment opened from the other side. Valerie aimed a Baretta pistol with a rail weight attachment. The arrival, clad in black, was Shannon.
She blinked and threw her arms up into the air. Her arms lowered, however, when Valerie's face illuminated.
"What are you doing?"
Val spoke slowly. "I can explain."
Jessica's hand sprung and caught the gun barrel, so Shannon charged. In the ensuing struggle, Shannon took the barrel between her fingers, while Jess pulled Valerie's other arm away. Splitting her strength, Valerie could do nothing as Shannon stepped between them.
Eventually, Shannon tugged the gun out of Valerie's stubborn fingers then pushed her onto the bed. Likewise, due to her friend's constant jostling, she shoved Jessica onto the spinning chair. The woman's insurmountable speed and strength were not enough to dissuade Valerie, who seethed, "That's mine!"
Shannon toted the gun overhead when Valerie threw a fist. She parried and blocked an incoming kick with her leg. Their feud ended the moment Valerie was pistol-whipped on the side of her face. "Ow..."
"I'll do it hard next time! "Shannon growled before turning to Jessica.
The two were set on opposite sides now, Jess on the chair and Val on the bed sadly rubbing herself. A moment to breathe, at last, Shannon tucked the pistol in her back waistline. "So, what the shit is going on?"
Val swallowed. "I need to explain something about the day before yesterday!"
"It was all over the news!" Jessica snapped. "Everybody saw—heard what the crackpot said on a live broadcast! Explain it! Go on. Tell me alllll about the resistance."
"Please, calm the fuck down!"
"Hold on!" interrupted Shannon. "Hold on. Hold on. Hold on." She caressed her brow deliberately. "Go back. Whyyy are we talking about the resistance? And why were you"—turning to Valerie—"attacking her?" She pointed at Jessica.
"Oh, she didn't tell you?" Jessica snarled. "Because she just told me she's with some underground sadists."
Shannon zoomed to Val. "Get the fuck out—"
Valerie stood up. "I'm no terrorist, but I can't really talk—"
"Who are you protecting?" Jessica leaned forward in her chair. "You know Beth is gone because of them?"
Valerie froze.
"I heard her name on the news, baby girl," Shannon shakenly replied. "I'm sorry."
On the other side of her, Val buried her face in her hands and sniffled.
"Why is she crying?" Jessica sneered.
"Beth is dead," Valerie sniffed. "I didn't know. It wasn't who you think."
"Is that what you came to tell me?"
Valerie reached into her pocket and revealed a white chip. Twice, she spun it in her hands like a piece of jewelry then cautiously approached. "Here," she said. "The answers might be in there."
Red suspicion colored Jessica's cheeks as she turned from Valerie to the drive. At that moment, she considered the secrets filling the gap between them. Finding answers, it seemed, would start here. Throwing Valerie one last leer, she sighed. "Tap the switch for me, Shannon?"
Shannon complied, and the room's furniture began shifting. Valerie distanced herself from the folding bed, Shannon stepped closer to Jessica, and all three of them watched and waited as the RWBY poster appeared with its color palette. It accentuated the sleek desktop hitherto hidden from view.
"Babel on!"
They watched as the nine holo-panels blinked their neon blue borders.
"Good evening, Lynx."
Jess rolled into key range.
"Who the hell is Lynx?" said Shannon.
The holo-panels illuminated a lynx cat, inviting more confusion. Not until the flash drive was installed did they focus as one. "This better not be some damn malware," muttered Jessica. Black folders appeared on the center screen, each with a label that had the girls scratching their heads. "You've got a circus of an encryption here. I hope you have a key."
Valerie presented a note.
"Okay then." Jessica found a message written in pencil. "That's über retro."
Shannon eyed Valerie. "What are these supposed to be?"
"Answers to a lot of things," Valerie said confidently.
"And who do those answers belong to?"
"Shh!" Jess waded through files. Each panel held a separate set of unlocked folders full of plain text, video, audio, and more with each finger swipe: "Titan Ops, AEF, ASGARD, Black Well, Spearhead, Goliath..." Her volume upscaled with every name she read. "You've got corporate experiments, federal projects, and all this data no one even knows exists! How in the mountain of madness did you—"
"Go to Black Well!" said Valerie.
Click. "And what are we looking for?"
"Anything related to July 4th, this year."
Jessica's brow shot up when she saw the hope between her friend's parted lips. To fulfill the request, she returned to the interface. Another sealed file eventually scattered a list of dates, including the date and time of Pine Rim's destruction. There was much more, however. "These are individually encrypted," she said. Access denied.
"Is there something you can do about that?" Valerie implored.
"Your key doesn't work."
"There has to be something you can do!"
"And what do you hope to find?"
"An explanation! Something that explains Pine Rime! Anything!"
"You need a backdoor or a circumvention tool, which takes time. We're not going to see this tonight. Whatever it is."
Valerie expelled a loud sigh, moaned, held her head and nailed her scalp. But by the end, it was Shannon who lost patience.
"Are you gonna tell us where you got this?" she barked. "I mean, you have her" —pointing at Jessica — "throwing her brain against the wall and haven't even bothered to explain where this came from or why you want it. Forreal? You're not exactly bolstering our trust right now."
Disarmed by the callout, Valerie dragged her glossy gaze over the wall. She was bitter silent until her lips tired from quivering. Somberly, she faced her friends. "It was taken from Goliath HQ. Don't ask me how."
Jessica shot upright in her chair. "Is that a fact?"
"That's all I can say for sure. It went through a lot of channels before it came to me. The fact that it did means something went wrong in the process."
"SK-3." Jessica weaved through her keyboard, manipulating pop-up after pop-up on the screen. "From what I know about Goliath's programming logic—wait a minute!" She gawked at Valerie as her fingers typed away. "You're absolutely sure Goliath's behind this?"
"The only thing I can say, for sure, is they're involved, jeffa."
Shannon leaned over Jessica's shoulder. "Yo, you actually plan on hacking those files?"
"In a sense," she replied.
"How the heck you gonna do that?"
A deep breath. "I don't want to bore you with the det—I do cryptanalysis for them as a freelancer. Not official. Off the books. Actually, don't ever repeat what I just said."
Shannon was speechless for the next few seconds. Wary, rolling her eyes in the attempt to process everything, she snapped.
"Y'all need to get your shit together and stop these secrets! Okay? What else are you hiding, hmm? You a secret agent, too? And how 'bout chu?" She glared at Valerie. "Is Valerie your real name or a fucken code name?"
"Maybe that's classified," whispered Val.
"Don't be short with me!"
Valerie gritted her teeth. "I'm not that short."
ns 15.158.61.20da2
