First Contact

Upon my return to The Recluse, I was ushered back into the same meeting room I was first informed of my job in, and the same five shadowy figures were displayed before me. "I assumed Edward is dead?" The soft voice of the second woman on the council spoke up. Her voice made me nervous, to be honest, like she was ready to manipulate me faster than the speed of light.

I nodded and again spoke up. "Edward is dead." I stood there for a moment. As it turns out they were musted and talking amongst themselves. It took a moment for them to talk to me again, and I was nervous as to what they had to say.

"And of the woman? Estelle?" The fourth member of the council spoke, a young man by the sounds of it, ambitious too, judging by the fact he was bossing me around. "We assume you have some sort of plan for her?"

"That I do. I plan to use her to bait out resistance elements, and lead me to other leaders." I wasn't sure if they knew I could lie to them so easily, but I was about to find out. Given the mumbles I could overhear, they weren't too dissatisfied with my performance, and one, the older woman, seemed marginally impressed with the efficiency I had put on display.

"Very well, Elias," The first member of the council spoke, the gruff man. "We grant you permission to follow this lead you have planted. You will be left to your own devices and expected to report to us monthly. We also expect to be informed whenever you find major targets. You are also permitted to give actual targets to the resistance to establish your credibility."

That was better than I could have ever expected. I had just been given permission to start the destruction of this Regime. I thanked them and left the room, seeing Juno, again, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.

"How'd it go?" She seemed indifferent, but I could tell she had at least something riding on this, something worth shutting up about and accepting whatever job was given to her. I smirked and began to walk off, stopping after I passed her to see if she would follow.

"It went well, but I have a lot of work to get to, so if we could walk and talk that would be great." I watched stand up straight and start walking with me, we began walking to our shared floor, taking the first elevator to the ground floor, discussing what I planned to do and how.

Once we got into the second elevator up to our floor, we got a small bit more personal. "So, where'd you grow up Elias? There's nothing on your file." I glanced at her. What spurred such a question.

"I grew up on one of the small villages on the outskirts of the city until it flooded after an old dam burst. From there I lived in Requiem, at first in one of the processing centres for kids without parents, and then in the police barracks until I got my own place." Juno nodded along and crossed her arms, looking at the floor. "Yourself?"

"Requiem all my life. First in the old residential district on the north side of the city, then I was recruited into this program and moved to The Recluse around seventeen. I've seen hundreds of people walk through those doors and never come back for one reason or another."

That caught my attention, alas the elevator doors opened and we split ways, I returned to my small room and sat at the laptop, plugging my phone in and getting ready to email Estelle. The dashboard following me around wherever I looked.

What to write? What to write? I know, a small, low investment target... say a specialised patrol. I had access to almost the entire cities security system given my new objective, so I had to select this carefully.

These specialised patrols were three-man teams with the objective of clearing an area for a VIP to go through in a few days time, so I got to work writing the email. It didn't take long to get a response, Estelle being confused as to who I am and how I know she is apart of the resistance.

It took hours to convince her to at least give this a shot. I only found out days later, when the attack was reported on the news, which was, of course, state-owned and very bias. I got another email a day later thanking me for the information, I then went on to explain the significance of that target, embellishing a bit here and there. The guards were securing it for a tour from a district governor, something like that.

The resistance had just disrupted his plans by a while, keeping him in place for them to do something about, or just inconvenience him, which is all they can do for now. Well, it was established that I now had a contact in the resistance, and they have a contact in the regime.

My cover had to be maintained, however, so whenever I got actionable intel, I had to take it, that occurred when Estelle let slip that they were to move on a target soon, and, given their actions in the past, I had an idea it would be a supply depot in the west of the city.