Page 126 of Fragile Facade
“Everything we did to bring all the besties together has gone to shit, Director!” Kyd shouts. “Locky has to defend Ghost, The Misfits are getting all the extra hate, and soon, I’ll have to drop out of the asylum theatre program.” He huffs. “Everything was so fun and now it’s not so fun.” His hands go to his hips, he shakes his pink hair, and he huffs again.
I need to tell them it’s going to get even worse. Instead, I look at Ghost and Riot. “But at least these two are finally on the same team.” I smile at them.
“End of the line butt buddies,” Menace goads. “How’s it feel to be at the bottom… Riot?”
Riot simply grins, shrugging. “Wouldn’t you know?”
“Not yet,” Menace answers honestly. “Top dog around here, baby.” He winks. I make a mental note to keep tabs on Cain Carson because I don’t think the boy knows he’s caught the attention of a killer.
Krypt scoffs at Menace, or maybe at his brother and best friend. It’s hard to tell with Krypt since he usually dislikes everything and everyone. Me, a lot of the time. “Are we here to talk about?—”
“Oh, fuck off, Krypt,” Soren snaps, bending forward to look down the line at his best friend. “We all had to hear about you and my brother. Had to take a fucking vote on it, for shit’s sake.”
“Oh!” Kyd shoots out of line. “If we’re voting again, I vote that Ghost moves into Riot’s room and we do a tradesy! I want Ghost’s room.”
“You have the most rooms out of all of us,” Glitch weighs in. “One at Vile House, one in the long-term patient ward, and one in our ward of the asylum.”
“And the floor in Axel’s lab,” Seven adds with a laugh. “Like a little puppy following his owner around.”
“No denials because this puppy bites,” Kyd says, waving them off. “But Ghost’s room has the best floorspace for my theatre practice, and Facts has been teaching me how to ballroom dance. Please, Ghosty!”
While they bicker about rooms, I watch them fondly. I enjoy seeing my boys like this, brotherly and giving each other a hard time for fun reasons rather than dire ones. They’re all so harsh and intense that it always brings a smile to my face when they remember to have fun. Kyd might have the darkest, most deranged side out of all of them, but half the reason I brought him into the ten was because he’s lighthearted and reminds the others to work together and enjoy the little things.
I don’t know how the debate ends, but somehow, Kyd is smiling and Monster even smirks a little.
“Sit down, boys. We’ve got a shitstorm coming.” The fatigue and stress creep into my voice, and they all stop laughing as they sit down.
“Because of me?” Ghost asks. “Because I’m the town traitor who brought Reaper Corp into Moros?” He slumps back, and Riot must touch him under the table because, with a heated scowl, he looks at his new… boyfriend?
“More than that,” I tell him, sitting at the head. “I’ve got bad news and worse news. Which do you want first?”
No one says anything, but their attention is focused.
“They still haven’t figured out what we stole from Reaper City, which means they’re putting new codes and protection on everything. All their data is being encrypted, and Axel is having a harder time trying to crack the prisoners we have.” I look at Glitch, letting him take over.
“I’m trying to hack as fast as they’re switching everything out, but… I wouldn’t be surprised if they block me out entirely. Really soon. I’m only one guy, and they have whole teams on it.”
“Which means we’re switching tactics,” I say. “Back to Axel’s original plan.”
“Capture. Brainwash. Release back to Reaper City,” Kyd says.
“Hello.” Facts raises his hand. “We also verified two rats in The Misfits. Lockan Tate is aware, and he’s awaiting a meeting with us to sort out the best method of dealing with them.”
“Like, use them or kill them?” Ransom asks.
“Exactly,” Facts answers.
“We also just received this.” I cast my tablet to the screen. “It’s not an idle threat.” I press play.
As the video threat from Reaper Corp plays, I pay attention to their reactions. Anger, vengeance, god complexes, rage and protectiveness, and under it all, fear.
“You may have poisoned our city,” the modulated voice behind the shadow person on the video says, “but we’ve been poisoning your town for years. We’re coming for you, Moros, and we’ve been slowly taking you out right under your noses.”
Fists clench and snarls resound, but before the video even ends, the con room door bangs open.
“The town has gone mad,” Axel says, breathless like he ran here from the asylum, his eyelid fluttering like crazy. “Come look.”
“Masks on!” I remind them all as we rush out of the room to look through the front windows of Vile House.
