CHAPTER 3: CHANGE

PART 1: TRUTH
VIOLET "You're alive?"
KEITH "I sure am."
After being in disbelief Violet ran towards Keith and hugged him. All the people that gave Keith mean eyes earlier are now confused wondering who Keith was.
VIOLET "I thought you didn't make it, why did you take so long?"
KEITH "I came as soon as I could, I woke up like nine days ago."
VIOLET "Nine days? I woke up two months ago, let me change my questions then, how did you come so soon?"
KEITH "After waking up and finding out about the experiment, I figured you would be here so I followed."
VIOLET "How did you find out so quickly?"
KEITH "OH yeah! Halfdan never told you, did he? Then how did YOU find out?"
VIOLET "W-wait Halfdan? He told you about the experiment?"
KEITH "he said that the experiment is finished and he had no more use of me, so he decided to let me go. Honestly, he probably didn't want to explain in detail but I came back and pushed for more answers out of him."
VIOLET "So I wasn't supposed to wake up two months ago. Did my experiment fail?"
KEITH "You don't know do you."
VIOLET "Know what?"
KEITH "They wipe our memories every time we wake up. It wasn't you waking up that messed the experiment up it was your escape. Did you think we were in a coma for that long?"
VIOLET "How am I supposed to know? I don't remember forgetting."
KEITH "I said the same thing! Anyway, how did you find out and what happened?"
VIOLET "Well..."

----TWO MONTHS AGO: VIOLET'S POINT OF VIEW
Violet "Eurgh"
Opening her eyes with a violent headache, was Violet in an unfamiliar place, it looked like a normal at first view, but she felt off and didn't know exactly why maybe the headache and the numbness in all of her limbs or the feeling of unfamiliarity with her own body.
? "Hello miss, do you feel okay?"
Violet didn't notice the man that just entered the room and was talking to her.
Violet "When? Who are you?"
Halfdan "I'm your doctor, Halfdan Alexis."
Violet "Doctor? What happened to me?"
Asking that question Violet tried to remember what happened to her before this. However, a sharp pain in the head was all she got, not even a single memory appeared.
Violet "Argh, my head."
Halfdan "It appears that we still need a bit of improvement to the medicine."
Violet "What? Why can't I remember a thing."
Halfdan "Don't worry too much, most of your memories will be back soon."
Violet "Most of them?"
Halfdan "I misspoke I meant all of them, sorry."
Violet "What happened to me to be in the hospital and in such a state?"
Halfdan "You were in accident."
Holding the handrail Violet tried standing up slowly but surely. The heart monitor beside the bed was off with a reflection on it.
Violet "Why do I look old?"
Halfdan "Oh? You remember being younger?"
Suddenly another wave of pain washed over her and her memories were back, not all of them but she didn't know that.
Violet "Keith! Where's Keith? what happened after that?"
Halfdan "Calm down please, we found you alone I don't know who this Keith person is but there is a big chance he didn't make it, most people didn't, you are one of the only ones."
Violet "Oh, oh no what happened? how could this be?"
Halfdan "After that bomb threat, the only place that actually got bombed was close to where you were. The last people you met; they were sent there to get everyone out. Unfortunately, they couldn't save everyone and you and this friend of yours were caught under the rubble."
Violet "And I was the only one that survived?"
Halfdan "No, a lot of people survived, but Keith isn't a patient's name."
Violet "And why do I look like this?"
Halfdan "You were in a coma, miss."
Violet "A coma? For 10 years?"
Halfdan "Something like that. Anyway, we are going to send you on a tour of the city outside, to see what changed in the time you were sleeping in."
Violet "I'm going out? I thought people that were in a coma were supposed to recover their muscle strength, especially if it was a long time."
Halfdan "I thought you stood up just fine do you rather staying inside?"
Violet "N-no, I want to see the outside."
After being assigned to a guide Violet was escorted outside, to be met with the same sights of control and dystopia that Keith saw in the City of Tears.
Violet "What happened to this city to be like this?"
Guide "What do you mean miss? It had always been this way. And everyone is happy and safe in here so there is nothing to worry about."
Violet "Nothing to worry about, huh."
Violet didn't like what she was seeing not one bit any of it, and even if the people were safe Violet didn't believe that they were happy, maybe forced to be happy but not genuinely.
They continued walking though, and Violet quickly became familiar with the city because it was basically repeating itself over and over.
Looking even further past, Violet noticed something like a gate.
Violet "What's that gate over there?"
Guide "Oh that, it is the separator between the city and the outside."
Violet "So, behind that is this outside?"
Guide "Yes."
Violet "I'm getting sick of this; can we go back now?"
Guide "As you wish miss."
Violet didn't know what she expected but that was better than the truth. They went back to the "hospital".

Entering the room she woke up in, Violet was there alone, so she decided to look around for anything interesting like a phone or even a newspaper. But nothing.
Violet "Wait, I think I found something."
Searching inside the cabinets she found what appears to be a torn page out of a book of some sort.
|||Day 1:
On August 9th 1945 was the last nuclear bomb deployed by a human nation onto another human nation it was the second World War on Japan Nagasaki. However today that changes.
It's the 18th of July 2022, In the United States of America. I'm Praise Daniel a 25-year-old journalist who got caught up in the cross fire of what has been an endless fight for power and control.
To whoever is reading this at anytime, anywhere, if you do exist, I'm going to record my life story until a day comes when I am inevitably unable to do so, World War III started today and it started with a bang there hasn't been a recorded war in history that started with an atomic bomb, there is certainly one that ended with those events. But in our so called "Modern era" we started with the worst possible weapon imaginable. It is the first day of war and multiple nuclear bombs have been deployed to the USA not counting the ones it sent towards its enemies which couldn't be underestimated, I doubt the 1,389 active nuclear arsenal it has will go unused especially when its considered self-defence.
The parties involved are all the countries in possession to any nuclear power;
1. Russia
2. United States
3. China
4. France
5. United Kingdom
6. Pakistan
7. India
8. Israel
9. North Korea
And to my knowledge there hasn't been any negotiations at all, no threat, no warning, nothing. It started out of thin air this morning.
I and multiple other people were going on our daily life when all the screens of New York's Times square turned in unison instantly into nuclear warnings delivering the news of the third world war with instruction on what to do in the situation. That was absolutely useless, everyone and everything were in chaos, people were panicking and for good reason this wasn't a joke it was war, a war that can be the end of the world.
As soon as I hear the sirens, the warning and the screams I headed to the underground station it being the safest place to be in this situation I'm in, and I wasn't the only one with this bright idea because the entrance was crowded full of people trying to go inside. And in typical human fashion there isn't any humanity, order, peace or empathy in the face of danger it was an awful sight to witness, people pushing others around it didn't matter if they were elderly, sick, women, children. It was a survival of the fittest situation.
And I wish that was the end of that on top of the chaos between the people outside, in this specific station you have to have either a station card or a ticket to enter at all you couldn't even jump over the barrier if you tried, and that didn't change in this situation. So, even if you succeeded in reaching the gate you won't be able to enter without a card or a ticket and that fed even more to the fire of this chaos.
I did not want to be a part of what I was critiquing so, I decided to run and run until I reached a safer place, I stopped under a bridge the bridge was made of concrete and there was a couple of stairs that took me inside some sort of storage room and it was better than nothing.
A massive BOOM sound ringed through the place and quickly a terrible earthquake followed suite, I was holding my breath waiting for it to end and as I was exhaling another explosion roared, then another and another and another. A total of 5 massive explosion, the sound varied from loud to quieter, they weren't all sent the same coordinate but to different and further places which made me doubt that these five were the only ones even if I wished with all my heart that this was it.
I was crouching hugging my legs in the corner scared that the roof of this storage room will collapse waiting for any change even I didn't know what I was waiting for, I read online that most radiation will be gone by the 48-hour mark and it will be safe in 4 weeks' time but that is too much time I have nothing on me but my bag which in turn has money, my phone, laptop, a notebook, some pens and that's it I couldn't survive for multiple days with these random things. And as I was lost in my anxious thoughts considering my situation the storage door, I closed with a chair was being forced open by someone outside, that was impossible the blast would have surely got rid of anyone outside so how is it that a person was capable of surviving.
I was completely frozen, terrified already from what happened before and now this turn of events, the door was broken and a person wearing a hazmat suit even more advanced than anything I saw before after going down the steps and coming closer to me the person inside the suit removed the helmet revealing his face to me.
Hazmat suit person "Hello there Praise Daniel, I wish that you accompany me to a safer place." he said while holding both the helmet and another suit.
"And who might you be?" I replied.
Halfdan "My name is Halfdan here to offer you shelter, I know you were stressing over your food and supplies that are none existing here so it will be for your best interest to follow me."
"How can I trust you?" does this person really think I will follow him blindly?
Halfdan "I'm sorry if I don't look like the most trust worthy person around but do you really have another choice?"
This guy is really pushy, wait was that a threat? Anyway "You have a point I don't have a choice please help me."
Halfdan "That's more like it." with a smirk he gave me the other suit he was holding and said he was going to wait outside until I changed.
After changing I went outside and followed him. After going for a pretty far distance he opened a large stone door and we entered closing the door behind us and going down the huge number of stairs.
Reaching the final steps, I was greeted by a plethora of looks from everyone inside, the place was big but even then, it was mostly full of people. The guy I think his name was Halfdan ordered me to remove the suit and give it to one of the people working here and even if it was weird for me to be ordered around, I did what he said, then followed him to an office.
Halfdan "Take a seat." I sat down at his proposal and waited for what he had to say about this situation.
Halfdan "We are a part of the Secret Research Unit or SRU for short all the people or I should say most of the people here are going to contribute for our cause. And we are asking you to join too."
"Which cause is this going to be?" I really dislike the way this guy speaks.
Halfdan "You are going to be a test subject to the anti-aging medicine we developed."
"A test subject? Anti-aging? Does this medicine really work?" I can't believe what he said he has to explain.
Halfdan "It does work for the most part but that's not the point if you accept our offer, you will be one of the first and only people on earth to have a way longer life-span."
"For the most part? Are you saying you tried this before and it ended in bad ways?"
Halfdan "That's exactly why we are recruiting test subjects with your help we will be able to make the real deal you just have to accept our conditions and you will be one safe from everything outside and two with full access to our anti-aging medicine."
"You make it seem like the all-out war outside is nothing more than an inconvenience to you."
Halfdan "Oh it is but without it we couldn't possibly be able to do this, you see human experimentation is very strictly illegal and frowned upon, we were barely able to continue testing our search for immortality by using orphans but now we have all of you and many, many more from all around the world to make into test subjects."
"That's sick." All the words he was saying had a sinister undertone and a worse sense of superiority.
"I refuse to do this." How can I accept while knowing these sick people are doing these horrible things and are probably going to do to me the same exact thing.
Halfdan "Too bad, well we expect you out of this shelter in 10 days, we're not monsters so we are going to give some minimum supplies for you to survive the outside but that is going to be the extent of our kindness I hope you live but I doubt you will survive for more than a month."
"What?" He was speaking to me like I was useless to him.
Halfdan "I'm sorry but you are not special I think you saw the amount of people in here and most of them didn't have useless morals and accepted, you can leave this office and ask any of the other employees if you need something."
And that was it I am to live in this shelter for 10 days then be thrown out to the wild to fend for myself. Before I slept, I took out the notebook I had in my bag and wrote what happened today and decided to write everything else that is going to happen.
I don't have a clue to what I'm going to do in my situation, All I can do is hope I made the right decision and that I'm going to be okay.
If you're reading this in the future, I hope it's better now. |||
Violet "Test subjects? Immortality? Halfdan?"
Halfdan "What is that you're holding."
This is the second time Halfdan appeared unnoticed to Violet but it wasn't because Violet wasn't paying attention no, he appeared out of nowhere behind her.
Violet "I should be the one asking questions."
Halfdan didn't hesitate and just snatched the page out of her hand.
Halfdan "Who put this here, no, this is not good."
Snatching it back Violet took a few steps back.
Violet "You were lying to me weren't you."
Halfdan "This wasn't supposed to happen, whoever put that there is going to get punished, listen to me Violet we are not doing this to hurt you."
Violet "And how can I know that? You could be just lying to me. Because everything else was a lie. There was a whole WW3 happening, and you weren't the least bit concerned about it."
Halfdan "What is written there is not the truth, are you really going to believe everything you're going to read?"
Violet "Oh? You're just making me believe it more with every word you say. Your true colors are not pretty are they."
Halfdan's fake smile dropped and he closed the distance between himself and Violet in an instant, trying to grab her. Somehow, Violet was able to barely dodge him, then she took off running out of the building. And quickly after her was Halfdan with a cold look in his eyes he was fast on his feet, but Violet was as fast as he was.
Going down the staircase, and leaving the building, Violet tried to lose him by going in the small alleyways between buildings but Halfdan always ends up in front of her, was that because he knew the city better than her, or was there another reason, but it wasn't the time for speculation, Violet wasn't safe.
This game of cat and mouse was going for a while, and Violet was getting tiered by the second every way she goes she finds that Halfdan was either in front or behind her.
Violet "A change of plans."
Violet turned around and left the complex puzzle of the alleyways and was out on the public street, she headed to the wave of people walking in a group and got lost inside of them. She was successful there wasn't a single trace of Halfdan around.
After more running just to be safe, Violet took a break on the sidewalk catching her breath. However, the world wasn't kind to her.
BREAKING NEWS "A new criminal was reported today by the hospital she is a very dangerous crazed person called Violet Greenfield, if you see her, please contact the police at once. Here is a picture of her."
Violet "WHAT!! COME ON."
Everyone around Violet stared at her, and all of them took some kind of device out of their pockets, took a picture of her and called the police.
Violet "(Sigh)I'm regarded as a criminal anyway so..."
Making up that excuse, Violet entered the shop nearby stole a bag and filled it with lots and lots of food and drink, thinking that she has to take some to survive outside. Then headed straight for the gate.
Being pursued by police cars, Violet went into the alleyways, and it actually worked for her favour this time, having done this once before, and with the heavily similar structures of the city, she was repeating the same route throughout all the run. Until she reached the gate, it was basically empty and opened for her to leave, and before she actually left, she took a bike with her.

Not knowing her destination, Violet was basically roaming the world randomly for two weeks surviving of off the food and drink she stole, and travelling on the bike discovering what the outside had to offer from monsters to ruins. Until one day, she saw another city looking place.
Violet was hesitant seeing what happened with the other city, but she ran out of food and drink, and was desperate. So, she went anyway, after getting questioned by the guards she was let in.
The feeling she got from this city was the opposite of the other one, which gave her comfort.
Spending more and more time in the Underground, she discovered the situation of the people called Outlaws, and the reason for the place's existence. Most people here were living in denial of their situation, being poor, homeless. The place was overpopulated, way too free and was filled with actual criminals.
Getting tired of this Violet wanted change, and so the resistance camp was created.
----END OF FLASH BACK

KEITH "What a story, I wish I was a part of it."
VIOLET "Well you are now."
KEITH "You found a page of the journal, right? The first one?"
VIOLET "Yeah, here it is, I took it with me and preserved it as best as I could."
KEITH "I actually found two other pages on my way here."
VIOLET "Can I have look?"
After reading the other two and comparing them, it was clear that the same person was behind all three from the hand-writing and style.
KEITH "So his name was Praise, huh?"
VIOLET "And he wasn't that lucky after the first day, I wonder what happened to him."
KEITH "These SRU people are probably the ones behind both the war and the City of Tears."
VIOLET "That's highly likely. By the way how did you find this place and come at this time?"
KEITH "Oh, someone named Reinhard told me they might know something about you here, as for the time, I got carried away by the momentum and forgot it was night time."
VIOLET "Reinhard? The old red headed man?"
KEITH "You know him? He said he didn't know you."
VIOLET "He should know who I am, he is a part of the resistance too."
KEITH "He does have the personality and back story of a member, but would he lie about not knowing you?"
VIOLET "Beats me. I am famous but not everyone knows my appearance and personality."
KEITH "I guess I did just give him a vague description of your appearance and personality to him. Another question though how did you manage to make a resistance camp all on your own in a month's time."
VIOLET "The Underground is filled with criminals, but it's also filled with people that are fed up with the City of Tears and want change to happen. What I did was just give them a figurehead of sorts they can get behind (Me) and brought them all to a place they can let their frustrations out."
KEITH "So you just had to make an ad of sorts."
VIOLET "A speech in front of hundreds of people did the trick. And all I had to do after that was wait for members. Word spreads fast, and a lot of people were waiting for something like this to happen."
KEITH "What does your resistance have in terms of power?"
VIOLET "We have around 3000 men, and all the offensive power we need from weapons to armour, all we need right now is a solid plan of action."
KEITH "A plan... do you have one?"
VIOLET "I would have liked having a complex plan, but all I have right now is just charging the place and getting rid of Halfdan and his SRU guys."
KEITH "Do you have any information on them, like where they stay, how much power they have or anything at all."
VIOLET "Unfortunately, no. All we know is that Halfdan is their leader, and that the military people that were situated on top of the Underground used to act oddly."
KEITH "hmm... I might have an idea."
VIOLET "Wait, are you joining the resistance?"
KEITH "Of course I am."
VIOLET "I knew you would, What's your idea?"
KEITH "Infiltration."

PART 2: OVERTHROWAL
VIOLET "Infiltration? You plan to go in as if none of this happened, aren't you a criminal now?"
KEITH "No actually I have a perfect score on my profile, you probably did too before you discovered the truth and was followed out the city by cops."
VIOLET "And how are you going to explain coming here?"
KEITH "Easy, I will just say that after finding you, you were very different to what I remembered and that you tried attacking me. Which was the only reason I went to the Underground; I will also describe it as poorly as I could."
VIOLET "And you plan on doing that alone."
KEITH "I was, but I think I might be able to get an accomplice there."
VIOLET "And what will the resistance do."
KEITH "Is there any way we can communicate?"
VIOLET "Yes, we have engineers here that can make something like a phone possible."
KEITH "Well its settled then, how much time will take you to prepare and reach the city?"
VIOLET "For the whole 3000 of us to be ready that might take four days, as for the trip at the soonest, we can reach the city in two weeks."
KEITH "I can probably reach the city in a week, so that leaves me with around 10 days. That might be enough time to infiltrate the place and get information."
VIOLET "Then let's start preparations immediately. You heard the Conversation men. What are you waiting for."
Engrossed by the conversation Keith totally forgot about the people around him.
MAN "W-wait president, can you tell us who this man is."
KEITH "Sorry, I might have given the wrong impression. I'm Keith nice to meet you all."
VIOLET "Mark, Keith is a very close friend to me. And if you were paying attention to our conversation, you can tell that he is smart, I mean he just came and he gave us a plan."
MARK "But can he be trusted?"
Violet turned back to Keith and gave him a stern look.
VIOLET "Can you be trusted?"
KEITH "It's a given that I'm going to say yes, but even if you don't trust me. Do you have another choice? I'm the only person capable of infiltrating the SRU."
VIOLET "You heard him, if we're going with his plan. He is the only person in the Underground with a clean profile let alone a perfect one."
MARK "Y-you have a point."
KEITH "Chill out Mike, I'm really not a bad guy."
Saying that Keith left the place Violet following him.
KEITH "How much time will take the engineer to make the communication device? And actually, I might need something that disturbs their surveillance two of them."
After hearing that Violet went back inside, stayed for a bit then came back out.
VIOLET "Around next morning, this morning technically. A few hours will suffice."
KEITH "Great, in the meantime can you come with to buy the journey's supplies. You're paying."
VIOLET "Fine, let's go."
Violet took Keith to the shops she frequented, talking to each other like they used to.
After the supply run Keith and Violet came back to the camp checking in on the progress of the engineer. He was finished, and it looked exactly like a phone.
KEITH "Now we can actually start the plan."
VIOLET "Take care, we will be there as scheduled."
KEITH "I hope so, I will be calling you every day from now on."
VIOLET "Please do."
And Keith was out heading straight for the City of Tears this time prepared.

---A WEEK LATER
KEITH "I see the gate."
The journey went much smoother than last time with no hiccups, and it was time for the plan to actually start. Keith managed to enter the city seeing no guards at all he just snuck inside.
It was basically night time so no one was around. Firstly, Keith had to find a specific person, going to the bus stop where they met Keith hoped he might find her there.
The bus stop had a light shining down on it, it was empty, and that was expected at a time like this. Keith sat down to have a little break.
KEITH "Of course she's not here."
? "Who's not here?"
Turning towards the familiar voice, Keith saw the person he was looking for.
KEITH "What the? What are you doing here."
It was Rose wearing sporty clothes with sweat dripping from her forehead.
ROSE "I can ask you the same thing, but you're the weird one here, I was just taking my daily early morning run."
KEITH "I guess so, I disappear for two weeks and just appear again one day."
ROSE "Anyway, who's she and why would she be here?"
KEITH "That would be you, this is where we met so I just thought of starting here."
ROSE "You're looking for me? Why?"
KEITH "It's a long story..."
Keith tells her everything she needed to know about their plan.
KEITH "Are you in?"
ROSE "YES, just tell me what I need to do."
KEITH "Nice okay, but first I need to talk to you about something important."
ROSE "More important than the revolution?"
KEITH "For you it might be, you told me if I didn't take you with me to check on your father."
ROSE "Did you meet dad?"
KEITH "I did."
ROSE "WHERE IS HE? HOW IS HE? WHAT DID HE SAY?"
KEITH "Hah, like father like daughter, that's exactly what he said to me."
ROSE "Is he okay?"
KEITH "Other than looking old, nothing seems amiss with him, quite the opposite really, he was strong and I only met him because he wanted to help me, and I'm going to repay him."
ROSE "Repay him? How you're not even in the same vicinity."
KEITH "I'll repay him by fixing your relationship with you mother."
ROSE "H-huh wait what?"
KEITH "Reinhard told me the story and how it happened, and that he was afraid that you misunderstood your mother. And that was exactly what ended up happening."
ROSE "WHAT IS THERE TO MISSUNDERSTAND! She betrayed father threw him away like he didn't mean anything to her just to save her skin, that selfish..."
KEITH "Turns out Reinhard was the one who told her to report him, guess why?"
Rose was getting very emotional for some reason she might be even more upset about the situation than Keith thought, her eyes were watery and she was screaming.
ROSE "THAT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE WHY WOULD HE DO THAT!"
KEITH "To protect both you and your mother. He would have been found out either way and if they were to find him still living in his home with his family, they are going to suspect you too."
ROSE "H-huh?"
KEITH "And guess what happens then, all of you are going to be evicted together."
ROSE "Why would they keep this a secret from me?"
KEITH "You were too stubborn to listen to their explanation, and you are a daddy's daughter so you wouldn't even listen to your mother. His words not mine."
ROSE "Argh, and I ran away from home, living by my own away from mom. How can I confront her now?"
KEITH "That's why I'm here. It's dawn so I think your mom is awake so let's pay her a visit."
Rose led the way to her mother's residence fidgeting anxiously behind Keith as he was ringing the doorbell. *ring* *ring* they heard an "I'm coming!" then quickly after Rose's mother, or Reinhard's wife opened the door.
MOTHER "Hello, how can I..."
Rose and her mother's gazes met and both of them froze.
KEITH "Hello there, Rose's mother, I'm a friend of both your daughter here and your husband, Reinhard. I convinced Rose to come here for you to explain what happened by the request of Reinhard."
Saying that he grabbed Rose by the shoulders and forced her inside the house "Hope you can solve this misunderstanding." then closed the door letting the two deal with it alone.
KEITH "Let's just wait now, I don't want any part of that."
Keith ended up waiting for three hours in front their door waiting for Rose. The door opened revealing a smiling Rose from behind it.
ROSE "Goodbye Mom."
MOTHER "Be safe don't forget to come back."
ROSE "All right, I'll come back as much as I can."
Closing the door behind her Rose turned to Keith.
KEITH "Took you long enough."
ROSE "Why were you waiting for me."
KEITH "I still need you for the mission Rose."
ROSE "Thank you, I don't know if I could have done it without you Keith."
KEITH "Don't thank me, I just pushed you inside."
ROSE "And that push was all I needed."
After that exchange Keith led Rose to where he thought would be the place where Halfdan would be, where he woke up, Halfdan's apartment. Leaving Rose in the hallway Keith rang his doorbell he still remembers on the 5th floor the 521st room.
*Ring**Ring**Ring* Immediately opening the door was Halfdan with same outfit.
HALFDAN "Keith? What are you doing here? Didn't you go to find Violet?"
KEITH "I-I did and did find her it's just that..."
HALFDAN "Huh?"
KEITH "I WAS WRONG! I apologize, that woman was nothing like the Violet I knew she even tried to attack me."
HALFDAN "I knew it. How was the Underground?"
KEITH "It was awful, filled with criminals and dangerous people. I regret going through all the painfully long way there just to be met with THAT."
HALFDAN "I knew you would be reasonable Keith."
KEITH "Can I please make a request."
HALFDAN "What is it?"
KEITH "I want to join you with my friend Rose there her father turned out to be another outlaw and he was corrupting her with his thoughts since she was a child and after realizing that with my help, she wants to change to the better and serve under the City of Tears."
ROSE "I apologize for doubting you for even a second. And I wish to repay this city."
HALFDAN "Hahahaha, and here I thought you were as stupid as the others. You chose correctly Keith and Rose you can join the SRU and be a part of the city."
Halfdan got Keith and Rose inside his car and drove them towards the tall tower in the centre of the city.
HALFDAN "In that tower lies everything. The Eye tower is the reason for this city's nurture. And you're going to be a part of it."
After a tedious tour of most of the building, and a lot of paperwork Keith and Rose were finally let to rest inside a shared working room.
ROSE "I'm exhausted."
KEITH "Wait I forgot to give you this."
Keith threw the disruptive pin given to him by Violet to Rose.
KEITH "You don't even need to put it on just press it."
ROSE "Okay, what does it do?"
KEITH "It pretty much removes the surveillance they have on us at all times."
ROSE "So we can freely speak, wait I didn't have this when you told me about the plan!"
KEITH "Don't worry I was already using it, and you didn't say anything suspicious."
ROSE "(Sigh) that's a relief. Your acting skills were impeccable by the way."
KEITH "Thank you, you were quick to improvise too."
ROSE "You honestly scared me when you were talking to Halfdan."
KEITH "Yeah, I tried the desperate begging act, and he took the bait. I'm going to contact the resistance, anything you want to say to daddy Reinhard?"
ROSE "CUT IT OFF!"
KEITH "Hahaha."
Keith and Rose succeeded in the infiltration, and for the rest of the week they acted as though they were normal employees, while collecting as much data as possible.
Reporting every night their findings to the resistance and discussing the plan with them.
VIOLET "Preparations are complete, we are approximately a kilometre away, say the word and we will storm the city. Over."
KEITH "So let's review what we found out: the surveillance, profiles and security systems are all controlled by an AI, the Eye Tower was built for the purpose of containing this AI. The city's military doesn't consist of humans rather by robots that are controlled by the same AI. We found the server room, it had strict security and passwords, but going there several times with Halfdan I know all the passwords I need to get inside; this server room can shut down the AI, which will deem the city defenceless against the tiniest attack. Halfdan is the leader of the SRU and if he falls all the city's government falls with him, so he is our clear target. Over."
VIOLET "Confirmed, we will be waiting for the signal. Over and out."
KEITH "Get ready Rose, this is the day we've been waiting for."
ROSE "I'm so anxious."
KEITH "Me too, because if we fail the whole thing fails. No pressure."
ROSE "DON'T SAY THAT!"
KEITH "Haha, let's start."
Keith takes out his work phone while heading toward the server room and calls Halfdan.
KEITH "Hello? Halfdan?"
HALFDAN "Hey Keith, what's up you don't call me that often."
KEITH "Are you in the tower I wanted to speak to you about something."
HALFDAN "I'm not but I could come if it's important."
KEITH "Yes, please do. I will be waiting in the waiting room."
HALFDAN "See you then."
Hanging up Keith was entering the fifth password for the server room; he remembers all of them by heart, and five more doors to go.
Finally, inside, Keith calls Violet, and approaches the turn off switch.
KEITH "Violet, do you copy?"
VIOLET "Yes Keith."
KEITH "Start in 3...2...1...0."
As soon as he said zero, he pressed the off switch rendering the AI, the security systems and the military useless. And all 3000-resistance members stormed the city.
The Eye Tower was in chaos, the AI was in charge of almost every aspect of the city and its people, the employees of the tower included. Confused to what had happened was Halfdan that just came by the request of Keith.
HALFDAN "No... KEITH!!!"
KEITH "You don't have to shout I'm right here."
Keith and Rose were standing behind him.
ROSE "I can't believe you called dad and Violet stupid in front of us then making the worst decision of your life."
KEITH "Oh!"
Halfdan quickly ran towards Rose but Keith took her hand and ran with her to the staircase.
Going from floor to floor as fast as they could with Halfdan after them they had a destination in mind the 21st floor.
HALFDAN "YOU THINK YOU CAN RUN FROM ME?"
KEITH "That's not quite what we're doing, no. VIOLET, REINHARD NOW!"
HALFDAN "WHAT?!"
Shattering the window, Were Violet and Reinhard on an enforced car, they made the leap from the building closest to the tower, the form the city was in let them leap from building to building until they reached Keith and Rose.
VIOLET "Were we late to the party?"
REINHARD "I still can't believe that idea worked."
HALFDAN "W-what are YOU doing here?"
ROSE "The city is being stormed by outlaws at the moment."
HALFDAN "How did this happen."
ROSE "It was your fault."
Halfdan furious now tried attacking Rose again, but Reinhard stopped him, and both Keith and Violet started attacking Halfdan.
Halfdan was overwhelmed getting hit by the three of them from all directions with no breaks, and no out. Until, *BANG* Rose shot him.
KEITH "You're done Halfdan, your city is over."
HALFDAN "You're foolish for thinking this is the only City of Tears in the world."

PART 3: UNITY
KEITH & VIOLET & ROSE & REINHARD "THERE IS MORE??"
HALFDAN "Hehe (cough)(cough) of course there is..."
Saying that and breathing his last breath, Halfdan closed his eyes.
KEITH "There are other Cities of Tears in the world huh."
VIOLET "If what he said is true, then this fight is far from over."
ROSE "NO! I don't want to do this again."
REINHARD "It won't be the same, even if we fought again, now we are free."
KEITH "Yeah, and after some work and convincing, we can unite the Underground and this City of Tears, that will majorly help us."
VIOLET "And I don't doubt the existence of people like us in those other Cities of Tears, we just need to find them and we will have the biggest resistance group."
REINHARD "And we will save all the others like we saved ourselves."
ROSE "Why are you so optimistic about this."
KEITH "Because we just won Rose, we beat them once we of course could do it again."
ROSE "I guess you have a point."
KEITH "Calm down and enjoy the moment. There will come a day where all the world is free."
VIOLET "We just need to make that world ourselves."
REINHARD "Together."
ROSE "(Sigh) That's right."
------END
WRITTEN BY OUNARU.