Chapter Sixteen
Part Two: Inhumane
At sunset later that day, the girls were in their living quarters. Vanity was sitting at one of the small desks with a mirror in front of her, while Quill was lying on her bed on the top bunk, and Dart was leaning against the ladder between the two bunk beds. She was on her Slate looking at the deployment records of the Southern Enclosure, While Vanity undid her bun, Quill looked down at her as her slightly green tinted, white, hair flowed freely. She’d never seen Vanity with her hair down, it was waver than she would’ve thought.
“This will be us in a month… sent out in the middle of nowhere to fend for ourselves.” Muttered Dart unenthusiastically. She turned off her Slate and returned it to her jacket pocket.
“Don’t normal Abyssus Squads have 100 members when they start off? Six seems a little… a little unfair.” Added Quill nervously. Her mind drifted to the Abyssus Units back at the Frontline Enclosure, and what their fate was despite their numbers, her turquoise eyes dilated.
“…I guess we’ll just have to do our best, even if we’re at a disadvantage.” She muttered as confidently as she could.
Vanity adjusted her hair while looking into the mirror, and tied it back up into an orderly high bun. “Well according to that Intrinsic Illow, we aren’t a normal Abyssus Unit squad. Whatever that means.”
Dart nodded her head. “That’s right… she never got to tell us exactly what we are, we got interrupted… hell, does she even know?”
Quill was taking off her pink sweater and neatly folding it at the foot of the bed; she does every night before she goes to sleep. “Who knows! Though Soleria Illow seems really nice, she went through the effort to learn our codes by heart and everything!”
Dart scoffed. She couldn’t disagree more. “Our codes and what we’re good for is about all she knows it seems.” She grumbled. She was recalling what she said about Vanity, after discovering she helped during the previous mission. “I would expect you to use your ability…” “I’m assuming that’s why you’re here.” It pissed Dart off more than she could express.
Vanity and Quill both glanced at the unit. They didn’t quite know what she meant by that, but they had a feeling they could guess. It’s the same story when it comes to the dynamics between the Intrinsic and humans like them.
“If she really cared she would at least ask us for our real names, I know she knows we have them. She’s treating us like damn pets.” She growled, while looking down at her hand.
Dart formed a fist, her eyes burning with rage. “She’s a self righteous asshole like the rest. We’re nothing but pawns to her plans, and she’s nothing more than an Intrinsic with a savior complex.”
No one in the bedroom said a word, Dart most likely wasn’t wrong. There was only silence, but it was brief as the room door slid the door open from outside. The three ladies turned to see who had entered, to reveal Fives and Zero.
“Hey! I wanted to check and see if you ladies wanted to come to the dining hall with us-“ Fives words trailed off as he noticed everyone's facial expressions. Dart looked furious, while Vanity and Quill had a look of disappointment.
“Woah! Why do you all look like you saw something terrible? What did I miss?” He cried out, his voice full of concern.
Dart’s face softened as her anger eased. The three girls exchanged looks trying to see who would speak up first.
“It was nothing Fives, don’t worry about it.” Declared Dart, which immediately got her a look from Zero. Their cold light blue eyes stared into her soul.
“Lying doesn’t really fit you.” Stated Zero bluntly.
Dart clenched her teeth and sighed. “I’ll tell you all later, but it’s not important right now.” She said, correcting herself.
“Stop all that lying Cobalt, it makes you more unlikable than you already are!” Said a disembodied voice. Its mocking tone irritated Dart, and she would soon know why.
Below leaned into the doorway revealing himself, over Fives and Zero. Dart looked at him with an unamused expression. Below noticed, he frowned at her reaction to seeing him and lifted an eyebrow. “What? Are you not happy to see me, Bluie?” He wanted to shout, but then he realized he practically torments her; Dart’s reaction was completely justified.
“Oh yeah, and Below is with us!” Smiled Fives. “So are you all coming to eat?”
“Yeah, thanks for inviting us, and not just running off to eat without us.” said the mauve haired girl while she unfolded her sweater to wrap around her waist once more.
Quill then cautiously climbed down the ladder from the top bunk, as Vanity stood up, stretched and walked over to Fives at the door.
“Sure! I don’t see why not, a little food hasn’t hurt anyone. Let's go.” She grinned.
Meanwhile, in an office within the 5th Core, the sound of a wall clock's monotonous ticking filled the air. In the extravagant room there was only one desk in front of four large windows. At the head of that desk, Cephyr Orion sat scrambling through countless papers in frantic silence; the sound of the ticking and crumbling paper was all there was.
Then out of the blue, the double doors to his office flew open with a loud bang. Startled, Cephyr dropped everything he was holding and looked up at who had entered his office. It was one of his fellow Intrinsic, Millue Constance, already with a gleam in her deep blue eye.
“M-Millue Constance? My, what possessed you to pay me a visit?” Asked Cephyr nervously, he already had enough to deal with, he was hoping she wasn’t going to add more.
Millue gracefully walked into his office with a slight grin. “I come bearing terrible news, Cephyr Orion.”
“Have you heard about the Abyssiti that was spotted up on top of the wall earlier today? It was an A-class at least… truly a frightening sight!”
The double doors closed behind the small Intrinsic with a loud thud.
Cephyr buried his head into his hands, defeated. “That's all I’ve heard this entire afternoon! I’ve received several reports and calls about it since it’s happened!” He cried out, though it came out muffled.
“They want the 5th Core Council to terminate the Abyssus Squad that allowed the Abyssiti to get so close to our city, but I checked the Deployment reports and no squad was stationed near here.”
“I don’t even know who killed the damn thing. Teh! It’s like I don’t even have control of my own damn city!” Chuckled Cephyr while running his fingers through his hair. He felt as though he was going to lose his mind.
Millue let out a slight puff of air as she stood back on the heels of her shoes, while putting her hands behind her back. “My my, it seems as though every day our nation strays further and further from being able to properly defend ourselves from the Abyssiti…”
She covered her mouth, as if she was ashamed by what she just said. Though, it was nothing more than antics.
“Shame really, the Human Restoration Project worked for over 170 years, so they must’ve been doing something right. Now however… they’re obsolete.”
Cephyr rubbed his fingers against the bridge of his nose as the ticking of the clock continued in the background. His face seemed to be perpetually disconcerted.
“What about Soleria Illow and her plans? Wasn’t she working on something on that matter?” Asked Millue, though she already knew the answer to that question. As she had willingly helped Soleria, by loaning her family’s facility to the Intrinsic.
“I do hope she’s okay.” Muttered Millue.
“I will take a trip to Illow’s estate by the end of this week, you can accompany me if you’d wish to, Constance. To see if her endeavors amounted to anything.” Began Cephyr. Though his voice wasn’t full of spite, he sounded like he was hoping she had come up with some miracle solution to their situation.
“I have the full support of the Melgrave Family to end the Restoration Project, after all .” He said bluntly. He was thinking back to the conversation that he and Mariot Melgrave had, during his time in the 1st Core.
The dainty Intrinsic’s face brightened up upon hearing that. Millue leaned her hands against her face, eyes gleaming with intrigue.
“Oh?” She responded.
Cephyr sat upright at his desk, composing himself to the best of his ability. Then, locked eye contact with Millue Constance as she stood before him.
“That means I can enact my plan to eradicate all of humanity whenever I so choose.” His green eyes drifted downward toward his desk. Pausing, Cephyr swallowed a lump in his throat.
“…which I will do… Once I discover an effective and humane method to do so.”
Millue put her hand over her mouth and chuckled. Her giggle was like a child’s, though it was devoid of all innocence. Cephyr lifted an eyebrow, he couldn’t see how his previous statement could’ve been humorous.
“Oh pardon me, Cephyr Orion.” She cried out, attempting to collect herself.
“Discover a humane way to do this, you say?” She grinned and looked at Cephyr with her cold dark blue eyes. “Don’t be delusional sir, You’re single handedly going to green light a plan that would kill thousands.”
“There is no humane way to do that, as unfortunate as that might be.” She said, apologetic only in tone.
Cephyr took a deep breath and looked down at his desk once more, tearing himself away from her malevolent gaze. He’d almost forgotten to breathe, he understood the weight of his choice, it was strangling him. Yes, he was willing to do it for these ideals of his, but Millue was right, he wasn’t noble. Not in the slightest. His method of salvation for humanity is down right genocide, nothing more, nothing less.
Millue waited for him to respond, but Cephyr was silent for quite some time.
“Right… right. You are correct. Well then… depending on Soleria’s progress, she will determine if I begin the end of the Human Restoration project or not.” Declared Cephyr.
“Of course. I wouldn’t have it any other way!”
Millue respectfully bowed her head to the 5th Core Lead. Her straight platinum hair draped over her face.
“I will deliver the news that she will be expecting guests in a week's time.”
In a high rise apartment the three moons shone through one of the many blue tinted windows of a kitchen. The largest of the moons was glowing pearl white, it’s ridged crack down the middle could be seen through the nighttime clouds; with the other 2 moons lining beside it. The moonlight created a perfect spotlight that framed the dining table with a crystal chandelier hanging above. It was a luxurious gallery, with marble floors. Soleria Illow was waltzing about the area setting up the table, she placed fancy candles in the middle of the table, followed by two plates. Each plate had a giant slab of cooked meat with various vegetables on the side.
Then the Intrinsic skipped over to her cabinet and pulled out two small, square boxes. She opened them to reveal that they were glazed cakes. She got two saucer plates and placed them adjacent to the meal. Soleria beamed at her dinner arrangements, she was quite proud of what she set up in such a short amount of time.
“Perfect!” She smiled with a twinkle in her golden eyes.
Finally, almost on cue with her finishing her dinner set up, she heard three rhythmic knocks at her apartment doors. Soleria made her way to open it. As her hand reached towards the door handle, she caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror and briefly froze. Her smile gradually faded as she looked at her reflection; the Intrinsic took a deep breath, shaking her head and attempting to look pleasant. Soleria opened her apartment door to whoever was knocking.
“Took you long enough, Illow. What were you doing? Hiding a dead body?”
Soleria smirked with an awkward chuckle. “Heh. No, I surely wasn’t doing that Sam.”
Samyer Felise was standing at the other side of the door, dressed in a suit jacket, though her button down was partially untucked. She was holding a bottle of something, however her hand was covering the label so Soleria couldn’t quite tell what it was. Samyer stared blankly at Soleria and scratched the back of her ear.
“So, are you going to let me in? Or…”
“Yes! Of course! Sorry!” Cried out Soleria. She held her door open and gestured to her childhood friend to come in.
