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| Back after a hiatus, but back! |
Act 2, Chapter 12: Dead Air, Part 1
Morgan and Robin both left the front gate of Spectrum, it's only been 2 weeks since the test was finished, and they both managed to get promoted. Admittedly, being promoted isn't as lucrative as they expected, as it only increased their pay grade by about 20%. It was a little more wiggle room in the month, but at best it just means they can spend the small increase on better food or maybe a couple extra sets of clothes. “You know, for the fact I have a slight limp now, I expected a huge reward.” Robin stated, Morgan stretching just a bit as one of her shoulders were bandaged up. It was hard to put on anything difficult, she had to ask Robin to help put her black tank top on from just how busted her shoulder felt.
“I'll take anything I can get.” Morgan replied with a chuckle, before she winced and hissed from the sharp pain going up her shoulder. She not only dislocated it, she fractured it at her attempt to relocate it... This really was a dumb move. “I guess that's true, maybe I'm just spoiled from not having a budget growing up.” Robin mentioned, Morgan turning her head and raising her eyebrow as they slowly progressed down the street. “You know, I barely heard of the Goldshore family besides in the occasional newspaper article. You're the real deal so.. Tell me about 'em?” Morgan asked, but Robin just chuckled a little at her. “I'm surprised you're interested, you're usually hanging out with Erika.” Robin admitted, but Morgan just shrugged her good shoulder, reaching out and gently slapping her fingers against the cyclone fencing of a park they were walking past. “I was going to find out eventually, right?” She mentioned as Robin took a short breath.
“Well, Rosewall has had this
arrangement of kingdoms for the last 400 years or so. A lineage of
Kings ran the country, but couldn't feasibly take care of the land.
He assigned various other houses who attempted to stake a claim at
the throne to hold various territories. House Goldshore was a very
minor house, not one of the seven that became very prevalent.” She
said, slipping her hands into the pockets of he dress, wearing a long
flowing white gown for the summer, her hair braided in a long tail
down to her lower back. “It ran pretty smoothly, even if the head
of the house was technically a Viscount and not a Duke, we weren't
ambitious and we were pretty well off compared to most other places..
But the Ash Scramble a couple of years ago changed everything. Towns
imploded in gang violence, and even Astra invaded us to try and take
some land from us. The Rift opening has caused this whole world to
become a lot more desperate of a place.” Robin continued with a
light sigh, Morgan gently kicked a pebble to watch it roll across the
ground, before dropping into the road just as a car passed by.
“When the kingdom dissolved, some of
the members of the large houses took charge and formed a council. We
were a pretty small house, so we weren't able to influence any
decisions.. but it turned out that it wasn't really helping out case.
The gold mine we used for our treasury began to run out and we pretty
much lost our biggest financial backbone. We slowly entered a pretty
big debt, especially because of my fathers fraudulent spending.”
Robin added, Morgan lightly nodding a bit as they continued to their
destination. “I joined Spectrum to get away from that life for a
while.. Refocus and try to get my life back on track... Also because
my brother wants to make a name for himself and watch over him.”
She finally finished, Morgan chuckling a little bit at the last part.
“I remember a while back me complaining that you didn't think your
motivations through, joining only to protect your little brother...”
Morgan commented, Robin nodded her head once as she turned more to
face her.
“While I'm still looking out for my brother, I decided to stay because I want the Rift to finally end... Maybe after that, I can go back home and have a kid with a husband I actually care about.” She said with a shrug of the shoulders, Morgan nodding as well. “So.. Where are we going?” Robin finally asked, Morgan turned to face her other shoulder, pointing to a tattoo on her shoulder. “A... Chess piece?” Robin wondered aloud, a black knight's chess piece tattooed onto Morgan's shoulder which looked slightly faded, indicating that she got that quite a while back. “I got this tattoo back when I was a member of Checkmate, I want to visit some of them to see what they're up to.” Morgan halfway explained, but Robin just stared at her confused as they walked down the curb to cross a road, hopping quickly onto the next side of the road as they cut back into the city. “And checkmate is..?” Robin wondered aloud.
“Well, back when I was younger, my friends and I made this group called Checkmate. It was a kind of gang... We would brawl with each other and any willing participants and have people bet on us to see which one would win. We would take those earnings from people betting one either us or the guest fighters winning, and we would take the earnings and use it to buy supplies for the needy.” Morgan said with a grin, Robin chuckling a bit. “And that tattoo means you had a membership?” Robin replied as they passed by a small fast food place. “I was the 'knight' of Checkmate. It pretty much means I won a lot of fights.” Morgan said, pointing her good arm at herself as Robin smirked a little bit. “Impressive, do you think they're still up and functioning?” Robin replied.
“That's what I want to find out, I'm taking you with me because well.. I wanted to talk to you. You could turn around if you really wanted to.” Morgan added, Robin nodding gently. “Well color me curious, I want to see it for myself.” She added, but Robin just kept trekking along with her. “It'll be fine, don't worry so much about it.” Robin said with a little bit of a smile. They slowly walked through the city until they entered The Barrows, a underprivileged part of town just a couple of miles past the old orphanage she lived in, as they approached a wall, Morgan walked up and placed her hand on the concrete side of the building. “What are you even doing?” Robin asked her as Robin pointed to the graffiti, an intricate symbol drawn on it. “This used to be our old tag we used to help direct people to the location of the fights.” She said, patting on it as Morgan turned a shoulder to begin walking toward the next marker.
And just as Morgan thought, there was another one just down the block, facing the right side of the building. She gestured Robin to follow her once again, as she was still standing back at the first checkpoint. Robin jogged over to catch up as they followed check point by checkpoint through streets and alleyways. They finally arrived in a small warehouse, probably used as small vehicle production facility before it was closed down.. A typical case for being shut down as more industrial and efficient methods began to outstrip the heartiness of elbow grease. Men woke up to find out that they were replaced by a computer, and promptly had their asses kicked out collectively to the street, the pinnacle of hard times.
The approached up the concrete stoop, the door was rusty and covered with a thick layer of both dust and oxidization that turned the door a rustic brown. There was sort of a faded painting of a checkerboard hastily painted on the front, this wasn't really helping the matter. “...Do you think people still hang out here?” Robin asked, apprehensive. Morgan felt a pang of thought in her head.. How long has it been since she's been here? This -was- her hobby every week when she didn't have chores, or school work.. When she left school, she started working on making her own motorcycle, finding work and winning fights held by the gang to see who was the toughest... It's been nearly a year since she joined the school, and she was in her twenties. 'Holy shit, I'm in my twenties..?' She thought, before Robin snapped her fingers to bring her back to the real world once again.
“Why did you just zone out..?” Robin said, before Morgan just grabbed the door and pushed it open. “They have to be here.” Morgan said, before her and Robin stepped inside. The floor was coated with thick dust, the metal parts of cars were pushed to the side and what could be seen of a cyclone fence was resting on each side of the dimly lit building. There were faded spray paintings denoting an octagon on the ground. “Looks abandoned.” Robin mentioned as she stepped inside, the sound of her footsteps echoing about the room. Morgan felt her heart sink a little bit.. I guess a group where people punch each other for fun and profit with a bunch of rambunctious teenagers spending their allowances was an easy concept to grow out of, What a shame. “Long abandoned.” Morgan chimed in, gently walking over and finding an old set of barstools, some of the seats they used for spectators if they got sick of standing, Morgan dragged both stools along the ground and sat them next to eachother, gently patting one to let Robin take a seat. Robin dusted off the seat before taking a seat on it, though Morgan didn't care, showing no caution of getting her jeans dirty.
“You see that octagon over there..?” Morgan said, pointing to the painting on the ground. “We would prop up chain link fencing along it, standing it up with rebar along with way as a makeshift fighting ring. We started using the painting on the ground because we couldn't eye an octagon to save our lives.” Morgan said, Robin chuckling a little bit at that. “Geometry not a thing in public school?” Robin idly joked, Morgan chuckling once as her leg crossed over the other one, letting one of her black boots dangle off the other side. “We had to constantly pull the cage open and closed because none of us were good enough to make a door frame, it was the most clown-shoes thing you'd ever seen.” Morgan said with a grin, Robin giving her own polite chuckle in response.
After that, the conversations slowed as they realized the short pause became longer, just sitting next to eachother for 5 minutes in complete silence. “It's so quiet in here...” Robin muttered to herself as Morgan stood from her chair, walking forward just a bit as she looked around. “It's so quiet I could hear my heart beat for a bit.” Morgan she added as she turned to face Robin. “Morgan.. I had a question.” Robin asked Morgan lifted a brow as she turned to face her, arms crossing over her chest as she nodded to her. “Yeah, ask away.” Morgan replied, before Robin stood up, slowly walking to the fencing leaning against the wall and softly running her hand along the grates. “Do you ever wake up and realize that.. this is the world we live in?” Robin asked, but that just made Morgan confused. “...What the fuck was that?” Morgan replied in her typical crass way, this would normally offend Robin but she's been around Morgan long enough to just... not care.
“Well.. Think about it. We're in a pretty desperate situation. Monsters are attacking us from a physically impossible phenomenon... And yet we have quiet, and happy days sometimes. We wake up in our beds and all of this terror just seems so far away that it's hard to imagine that it's even real.” Robin explained, Morgan gently walking up beside her and watching her play with the fence grating. “That's a very meta sense of denial you got, there.” Morgan replied, but Robin softly rubbed one of her arms, looking back at her with a frown. “We go on missions and deal with some horror movie shit, I still find it hard to sleep at the end of the day and I've been doing this for a year now.” Morgan argued, but Robin just grabbed one of the half inch thick steel rebars that Morgan mentioned a short while back.
“Yeah but... It doesn't happen often enough to feel normal.” Robin said, gently letting it hit the ground with a metallic ping sound filling the room for a brief moment. “It's hard to have a happy and relaxing day, days where I'm at peace, or having fun with you guys, when it's a very realistic possibility that at the same moment... far, far away.. some boy's parents were killed. I'm just relaxing in a chair whilst he cries over the remains of his burning home, his life completely in shattered remains.” She explained, Morgan frowning a little bit. “That's just how life is, sometimes...” Morgan replied, but Robin just softly shook her head. “I don't feel like it's okay, I just wish it didn't happen at all.” Robin said, somewhat upset.
“Uhm... Where did all of this even come from?” Morgan asked, not one for melodrama and clearly just kind of confused. “I just.. I've been feeling like that for a long time, I just wanted to saythat it just feels so strange to live in a world like this.. and not be miserable all the time. I feel guilty.” Robin added as Morgan just pat her once on the shoulder. “Whatever makes you feel better.. Wanna get some food?” She asked, before a ringing came from her pocket it. Morgan's hair on her neck stood up as she quickly rushed down to her pocket, pulling out a red cell phone... the one that Stella gave her and told her that one day she would accept the call. The LED was lighting the phone's caller ID, a blank space with no numbers listed.
“Uhh.. Morgan?” Robin asked as Morgan hit the talk button and turned away from her. “I need to take this.” She said with an urgency not normally seen from her as she rushed to the other side of the building, as far away from Morgan as possible. She decided to slowly, but quietly approach her from behind as Morgan spoke to someone on the phone. “Is this our contact?” The man asked, Morgan quickly replying with “Yes, this is Morgan.” The man on the phone muttered something to someone behind him. “This is a pretty big deal to get one of these phones from the boss, they're only given to her special contacts, and from what I heard... that was your first meeting with her.” He said, slightly astounded, but Morgan just sighed. “Look, she told me just to do.. whatever my orders are. Can you explain what I'm doing?” She asked, as the man fiddled with some papers to get the details that were printed out.
“Your job is pretty much act as a face as you deal with a situation in a town called Ravenglass.” He added, Morgan staying quiet just to let him talk. “Silent Fall is going to be making a move soon and they know it, they're trying to move a base in a more discrete location to use more guerrilla tactics in their weird as shit 'Violent Protests.' Having a base in the town they're planning on attacking is just stupid and they're currently planning on moving several hundred of their members into this new building.” He continued, Morgan tapping her foot some as he realized he should just continue.
“It's a ghost town, so it's a pretty smart move... The only hitch in their plan? There's a fairly big group of locals squatting in a hotel district who have been raiding their caravans for months now.” He continued, before Morgan spoke up. “Why would locals squat a ghost town?” She asked, but he audibly shrugged. “I guess they hope to rebuild, or maybe they're just insane.” He replied, before flipping a paper. “Our informants have signified that they maybe intending on wiping out these stragglers.. yet, they're skilled enough to steal from them and not get caught until only recently? Stella wants them as allies, and she wants you to be her negotiator.” He explained.
Morgan wondered aloud. “Why would she send me, and not someone more skilled?” She asked, the man just chuckled. “One of the members of the group Silent Fall is going to wipe out... One of our boys did some digging, and you perhaps know of him. Ever heard of a Gabriel Caine?” He asked her, Morgan gasped sharply... The redheaded kid back when she joined Spectrum? She might not have been great friends with him, but he always seemed like a good kid. How in the hell did he get to Ravenglass? “Before you ask, we hacked the records of Spectrum, cross referenced it with the census database and even sent someone on a stakeout to confirm that this is indeed someone you knew... All of this was taken into account, your prior friendship will be our key to get them as our allies.” He mentioned, Morgan slowly pacing just past Robin as she talked, almost completely ignoring her.
“Why do you need a bunch of squatters and petty thieves?” Morgan asked, but the man just chuckled. “Well... They have enough training to be stealing from what could be described as one of the biggest terrorist organizations in the past decade. The thing about crime families that you should know... It's about connections. You make as many allies as you can, forge bonds with as many people as possible... Because one day? Someone will ask them to betray you.. and you want them to an answer with a resounding 'No.' The boss wants them as allies and contacts... Do this, and we'll arrange to free your brother.” He said, Morgan clenching her fist at the word, the plastic of the phone creaking just a bit as she did. “How will you free him?” She asked, he took a couple of seconds to breathe before answering. “Hostage trading is the answer, we have... 'acquired' Elliot's beloved daughter just this last week as we prepared for your mission. If you're successful, we will trade him back his daughter, he normally doesn't let people who work for him leave... But this is a scenario he can't refuse. You will have your brother, and the boss will have about 200 more people joining her ranks... Everybody wins.” He replied, though.. Morgans heart raced as she gripped the phone tight once again. They kidnapped Elliot's daughter as a bargaining chip? What the fuck is wrong with them?
Morgan swallowed her pride, and some of her morals at that very second.“...Tell me what I'm doing.” Morgan said as she closed her eyes. “You will be meeting us tonight at 9pm near a place called Greyson park. It's not too far from Spectrum Academy, so if you look it up online you will be able to find it.” He said, Morgan grabbing a pen from her pocket and scrawling the area and time roughly on the back of her hand, her skin turning red and swelling slightly where the ball point pen rubbed against in her writing. “You may bring a friend to help you out.. but there are two warnings to this, and these warnings are dire.” He said, Morgan waiting on baited breath.
“You must trust that this ally will be loyal to you, if word gets out about this.. We're talking about a potential gang war with the law getting involved.. It will be a shitstorm and the blame will rest entirely onto your shoulders.” He mentioned, Morgan nodding some as he added the next warning. “Do not bring your Spectrum armband. This will go horribly wrong if she gets involved.” He said firmly, Making sure Morgan understood that this was a terrible idea if she brought her armband, it would pretty much constantly track and monitor them. “Is this clear?” He asked, Morgan just softly replying before turning off the phone. “Yes, clear.” Robin pressed her hand onto Morgan's shoulder, clearly concerned. “What was that?” Morgan had a brief panic attack when she realized Robin was still with her... Did she hear all that? Did she talk too loud?
“It doesn't concern you.” Morgan tried to brush the entire thing off, but Robin was stubborn and she knew it.. There was no way she was going to make it out without some details slipping. “As both your friend and ally... I demand to know what you are going to do! What is that red phone for?” Robin said, Morgan putting the phone in her pocket as she frowned. “Please, don't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you... If you do, I'll beat the shit out of you... Got it?” Morgan warned, Robin gently nodding at her before letting her continue. “My brother is in Silent Fall.” She said, Robin gasping a bit as she stomped her foot down, her loafers making a strange and dull thud on the concrete. “You -do- know that's a terrorist organization, right? That's completely mad!” She shouted, Morgan sighing and shaking her head gently. “Of course I fucking know.. Nick didn't know that, and wanted out... But Silent Fall doesn't like people who stir too much trouble... They threatened to kill him if he deserted them. I tried to go to Spectrum to help, but they said they were just going to arrest him when... Well.. He's forced into this!” Morgan added, Robin frowning and looking at the ground.
“I had to get help from outside means... I can't name names... But these people can set my brother free and he won't be thrown into prison like a damn pig.” Morgan stated, Robin gently rubbing her chin as she thought it over. “So... Doing this task for the people on this phone will set him free, do you know it will even work?” Robin asked her, but Morgan just slowly began to walk for the door and head back outside to the streets of The Barrows. “I don't know... But this is my only shot... It's either this, or having my brother get killed knowing that didn't help him.” Morgan stated as Robin grabbed her wrist, looking up at it to see the address written down on it. “So, this is where you're going?” Robin asked, Morgan just gently nodded. “They said I could bring a friend if it really helped...” Morgan mentioned, but Robin just sighed. “Let's go get food.. We'll discuss this more when the time comes.” Robin answered as they both started to walk down the road.
“While I'm still looking out for my brother, I decided to stay because I want the Rift to finally end... Maybe after that, I can go back home and have a kid with a husband I actually care about.” She said with a shrug of the shoulders, Morgan nodding as well. “So.. Where are we going?” Robin finally asked, Morgan turned to face her other shoulder, pointing to a tattoo on her shoulder. “A... Chess piece?” Robin wondered aloud, a black knight's chess piece tattooed onto Morgan's shoulder which looked slightly faded, indicating that she got that quite a while back. “I got this tattoo back when I was a member of Checkmate, I want to visit some of them to see what they're up to.” Morgan halfway explained, but Robin just stared at her confused as they walked down the curb to cross a road, hopping quickly onto the next side of the road as they cut back into the city. “And checkmate is..?” Robin wondered aloud.
“Well, back when I was younger, my friends and I made this group called Checkmate. It was a kind of gang... We would brawl with each other and any willing participants and have people bet on us to see which one would win. We would take those earnings from people betting one either us or the guest fighters winning, and we would take the earnings and use it to buy supplies for the needy.” Morgan said with a grin, Robin chuckling a bit. “And that tattoo means you had a membership?” Robin replied as they passed by a small fast food place. “I was the 'knight' of Checkmate. It pretty much means I won a lot of fights.” Morgan said, pointing her good arm at herself as Robin smirked a little bit. “Impressive, do you think they're still up and functioning?” Robin replied.
“That's what I want to find out, I'm taking you with me because well.. I wanted to talk to you. You could turn around if you really wanted to.” Morgan added, Robin nodding gently. “Well color me curious, I want to see it for myself.” She added, but Robin just kept trekking along with her. “It'll be fine, don't worry so much about it.” Robin said with a little bit of a smile. They slowly walked through the city until they entered The Barrows, a underprivileged part of town just a couple of miles past the old orphanage she lived in, as they approached a wall, Morgan walked up and placed her hand on the concrete side of the building. “What are you even doing?” Robin asked her as Robin pointed to the graffiti, an intricate symbol drawn on it. “This used to be our old tag we used to help direct people to the location of the fights.” She said, patting on it as Morgan turned a shoulder to begin walking toward the next marker.
And just as Morgan thought, there was another one just down the block, facing the right side of the building. She gestured Robin to follow her once again, as she was still standing back at the first checkpoint. Robin jogged over to catch up as they followed check point by checkpoint through streets and alleyways. They finally arrived in a small warehouse, probably used as small vehicle production facility before it was closed down.. A typical case for being shut down as more industrial and efficient methods began to outstrip the heartiness of elbow grease. Men woke up to find out that they were replaced by a computer, and promptly had their asses kicked out collectively to the street, the pinnacle of hard times.
The approached up the concrete stoop, the door was rusty and covered with a thick layer of both dust and oxidization that turned the door a rustic brown. There was sort of a faded painting of a checkerboard hastily painted on the front, this wasn't really helping the matter. “...Do you think people still hang out here?” Robin asked, apprehensive. Morgan felt a pang of thought in her head.. How long has it been since she's been here? This -was- her hobby every week when she didn't have chores, or school work.. When she left school, she started working on making her own motorcycle, finding work and winning fights held by the gang to see who was the toughest... It's been nearly a year since she joined the school, and she was in her twenties. 'Holy shit, I'm in my twenties..?' She thought, before Robin snapped her fingers to bring her back to the real world once again.
“Why did you just zone out..?” Robin said, before Morgan just grabbed the door and pushed it open. “They have to be here.” Morgan said, before her and Robin stepped inside. The floor was coated with thick dust, the metal parts of cars were pushed to the side and what could be seen of a cyclone fence was resting on each side of the dimly lit building. There were faded spray paintings denoting an octagon on the ground. “Looks abandoned.” Robin mentioned as she stepped inside, the sound of her footsteps echoing about the room. Morgan felt her heart sink a little bit.. I guess a group where people punch each other for fun and profit with a bunch of rambunctious teenagers spending their allowances was an easy concept to grow out of, What a shame. “Long abandoned.” Morgan chimed in, gently walking over and finding an old set of barstools, some of the seats they used for spectators if they got sick of standing, Morgan dragged both stools along the ground and sat them next to eachother, gently patting one to let Robin take a seat. Robin dusted off the seat before taking a seat on it, though Morgan didn't care, showing no caution of getting her jeans dirty.
“You see that octagon over there..?” Morgan said, pointing to the painting on the ground. “We would prop up chain link fencing along it, standing it up with rebar along with way as a makeshift fighting ring. We started using the painting on the ground because we couldn't eye an octagon to save our lives.” Morgan said, Robin chuckling a little bit at that. “Geometry not a thing in public school?” Robin idly joked, Morgan chuckling once as her leg crossed over the other one, letting one of her black boots dangle off the other side. “We had to constantly pull the cage open and closed because none of us were good enough to make a door frame, it was the most clown-shoes thing you'd ever seen.” Morgan said with a grin, Robin giving her own polite chuckle in response.
After that, the conversations slowed as they realized the short pause became longer, just sitting next to eachother for 5 minutes in complete silence. “It's so quiet in here...” Robin muttered to herself as Morgan stood from her chair, walking forward just a bit as she looked around. “It's so quiet I could hear my heart beat for a bit.” Morgan she added as she turned to face Robin. “Morgan.. I had a question.” Robin asked Morgan lifted a brow as she turned to face her, arms crossing over her chest as she nodded to her. “Yeah, ask away.” Morgan replied, before Robin stood up, slowly walking to the fencing leaning against the wall and softly running her hand along the grates. “Do you ever wake up and realize that.. this is the world we live in?” Robin asked, but that just made Morgan confused. “...What the fuck was that?” Morgan replied in her typical crass way, this would normally offend Robin but she's been around Morgan long enough to just... not care.
“Well.. Think about it. We're in a pretty desperate situation. Monsters are attacking us from a physically impossible phenomenon... And yet we have quiet, and happy days sometimes. We wake up in our beds and all of this terror just seems so far away that it's hard to imagine that it's even real.” Robin explained, Morgan gently walking up beside her and watching her play with the fence grating. “That's a very meta sense of denial you got, there.” Morgan replied, but Robin softly rubbed one of her arms, looking back at her with a frown. “We go on missions and deal with some horror movie shit, I still find it hard to sleep at the end of the day and I've been doing this for a year now.” Morgan argued, but Robin just grabbed one of the half inch thick steel rebars that Morgan mentioned a short while back.
“Yeah but... It doesn't happen often enough to feel normal.” Robin said, gently letting it hit the ground with a metallic ping sound filling the room for a brief moment. “It's hard to have a happy and relaxing day, days where I'm at peace, or having fun with you guys, when it's a very realistic possibility that at the same moment... far, far away.. some boy's parents were killed. I'm just relaxing in a chair whilst he cries over the remains of his burning home, his life completely in shattered remains.” She explained, Morgan frowning a little bit. “That's just how life is, sometimes...” Morgan replied, but Robin just softly shook her head. “I don't feel like it's okay, I just wish it didn't happen at all.” Robin said, somewhat upset.
“Uhm... Where did all of this even come from?” Morgan asked, not one for melodrama and clearly just kind of confused. “I just.. I've been feeling like that for a long time, I just wanted to saythat it just feels so strange to live in a world like this.. and not be miserable all the time. I feel guilty.” Robin added as Morgan just pat her once on the shoulder. “Whatever makes you feel better.. Wanna get some food?” She asked, before a ringing came from her pocket it. Morgan's hair on her neck stood up as she quickly rushed down to her pocket, pulling out a red cell phone... the one that Stella gave her and told her that one day she would accept the call. The LED was lighting the phone's caller ID, a blank space with no numbers listed.
“Uhh.. Morgan?” Robin asked as Morgan hit the talk button and turned away from her. “I need to take this.” She said with an urgency not normally seen from her as she rushed to the other side of the building, as far away from Morgan as possible. She decided to slowly, but quietly approach her from behind as Morgan spoke to someone on the phone. “Is this our contact?” The man asked, Morgan quickly replying with “Yes, this is Morgan.” The man on the phone muttered something to someone behind him. “This is a pretty big deal to get one of these phones from the boss, they're only given to her special contacts, and from what I heard... that was your first meeting with her.” He said, slightly astounded, but Morgan just sighed. “Look, she told me just to do.. whatever my orders are. Can you explain what I'm doing?” She asked, as the man fiddled with some papers to get the details that were printed out.
“Your job is pretty much act as a face as you deal with a situation in a town called Ravenglass.” He added, Morgan staying quiet just to let him talk. “Silent Fall is going to be making a move soon and they know it, they're trying to move a base in a more discrete location to use more guerrilla tactics in their weird as shit 'Violent Protests.' Having a base in the town they're planning on attacking is just stupid and they're currently planning on moving several hundred of their members into this new building.” He continued, Morgan tapping her foot some as he realized he should just continue.
“It's a ghost town, so it's a pretty smart move... The only hitch in their plan? There's a fairly big group of locals squatting in a hotel district who have been raiding their caravans for months now.” He continued, before Morgan spoke up. “Why would locals squat a ghost town?” She asked, but he audibly shrugged. “I guess they hope to rebuild, or maybe they're just insane.” He replied, before flipping a paper. “Our informants have signified that they maybe intending on wiping out these stragglers.. yet, they're skilled enough to steal from them and not get caught until only recently? Stella wants them as allies, and she wants you to be her negotiator.” He explained.
Morgan wondered aloud. “Why would she send me, and not someone more skilled?” She asked, the man just chuckled. “One of the members of the group Silent Fall is going to wipe out... One of our boys did some digging, and you perhaps know of him. Ever heard of a Gabriel Caine?” He asked her, Morgan gasped sharply... The redheaded kid back when she joined Spectrum? She might not have been great friends with him, but he always seemed like a good kid. How in the hell did he get to Ravenglass? “Before you ask, we hacked the records of Spectrum, cross referenced it with the census database and even sent someone on a stakeout to confirm that this is indeed someone you knew... All of this was taken into account, your prior friendship will be our key to get them as our allies.” He mentioned, Morgan slowly pacing just past Robin as she talked, almost completely ignoring her.
“Why do you need a bunch of squatters and petty thieves?” Morgan asked, but the man just chuckled. “Well... They have enough training to be stealing from what could be described as one of the biggest terrorist organizations in the past decade. The thing about crime families that you should know... It's about connections. You make as many allies as you can, forge bonds with as many people as possible... Because one day? Someone will ask them to betray you.. and you want them to an answer with a resounding 'No.' The boss wants them as allies and contacts... Do this, and we'll arrange to free your brother.” He said, Morgan clenching her fist at the word, the plastic of the phone creaking just a bit as she did. “How will you free him?” She asked, he took a couple of seconds to breathe before answering. “Hostage trading is the answer, we have... 'acquired' Elliot's beloved daughter just this last week as we prepared for your mission. If you're successful, we will trade him back his daughter, he normally doesn't let people who work for him leave... But this is a scenario he can't refuse. You will have your brother, and the boss will have about 200 more people joining her ranks... Everybody wins.” He replied, though.. Morgans heart raced as she gripped the phone tight once again. They kidnapped Elliot's daughter as a bargaining chip? What the fuck is wrong with them?
Morgan swallowed her pride, and some of her morals at that very second.“...Tell me what I'm doing.” Morgan said as she closed her eyes. “You will be meeting us tonight at 9pm near a place called Greyson park. It's not too far from Spectrum Academy, so if you look it up online you will be able to find it.” He said, Morgan grabbing a pen from her pocket and scrawling the area and time roughly on the back of her hand, her skin turning red and swelling slightly where the ball point pen rubbed against in her writing. “You may bring a friend to help you out.. but there are two warnings to this, and these warnings are dire.” He said, Morgan waiting on baited breath.
“You must trust that this ally will be loyal to you, if word gets out about this.. We're talking about a potential gang war with the law getting involved.. It will be a shitstorm and the blame will rest entirely onto your shoulders.” He mentioned, Morgan nodding some as he added the next warning. “Do not bring your Spectrum armband. This will go horribly wrong if she gets involved.” He said firmly, Making sure Morgan understood that this was a terrible idea if she brought her armband, it would pretty much constantly track and monitor them. “Is this clear?” He asked, Morgan just softly replying before turning off the phone. “Yes, clear.” Robin pressed her hand onto Morgan's shoulder, clearly concerned. “What was that?” Morgan had a brief panic attack when she realized Robin was still with her... Did she hear all that? Did she talk too loud?
“It doesn't concern you.” Morgan tried to brush the entire thing off, but Robin was stubborn and she knew it.. There was no way she was going to make it out without some details slipping. “As both your friend and ally... I demand to know what you are going to do! What is that red phone for?” Robin said, Morgan putting the phone in her pocket as she frowned. “Please, don't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you... If you do, I'll beat the shit out of you... Got it?” Morgan warned, Robin gently nodding at her before letting her continue. “My brother is in Silent Fall.” She said, Robin gasping a bit as she stomped her foot down, her loafers making a strange and dull thud on the concrete. “You -do- know that's a terrorist organization, right? That's completely mad!” She shouted, Morgan sighing and shaking her head gently. “Of course I fucking know.. Nick didn't know that, and wanted out... But Silent Fall doesn't like people who stir too much trouble... They threatened to kill him if he deserted them. I tried to go to Spectrum to help, but they said they were just going to arrest him when... Well.. He's forced into this!” Morgan added, Robin frowning and looking at the ground.
“I had to get help from outside means... I can't name names... But these people can set my brother free and he won't be thrown into prison like a damn pig.” Morgan stated, Robin gently rubbing her chin as she thought it over. “So... Doing this task for the people on this phone will set him free, do you know it will even work?” Robin asked her, but Morgan just slowly began to walk for the door and head back outside to the streets of The Barrows. “I don't know... But this is my only shot... It's either this, or having my brother get killed knowing that didn't help him.” Morgan stated as Robin grabbed her wrist, looking up at it to see the address written down on it. “So, this is where you're going?” Robin asked, Morgan just gently nodded. “They said I could bring a friend if it really helped...” Morgan mentioned, but Robin just sighed. “Let's go get food.. We'll discuss this more when the time comes.” Robin answered as they both started to walk down the road.
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