Cloud Cent Chronicles: Part 3 Chapter 7

 

Breaking Free

    Cloud and Yun had pseudocognative rec boards installed. Stronger one’s than what I had. That whole time, Yun and Cloud said nothing, did nothing. I know Yun wouldn’t have just stood there without interjecting at all. As for Cloud, well, I don’t really know the guy, but from what I’ve read in his articles, it doesn’t seem like he would either. When The Leader said that the rebellion would stay in prison, Yun didn’t react whatsoever. And the stuff about needing the unredacted copies of the articles? What utter b.s. Those articles are true. If they weren’t, he wouldn’t need the unredacted copies. He just doesn’t know where the usb with the articles is. No one in the rebellion knows either, not even Yun. He needs me to tell him where it is. 

The Leader knows he can’t kill me, so recruiting me is his best option. I tell him where the usb is and Yun and I get to go free...or he just sends me to prison. 50/50 shot honestly. But those are better odds than not telling him and definitely going to prison. It makes sense to go for it. It’s Yun and my best shot of going free.

    This makes sense, doesn’t it? This is what I wanted. This is what I set out to do. I wanted to save Yun. I wanted to be free. Then why haven’t I agreed yet? If I take this out, what will happen to Sun and the rebellion? Even if Sun did manage to free them, they wouldn't be safe. The Sergeants will be after them. I...I can’t leave them for dead. But...what do I do now? I’m pretty sure The Leader won’t let me just say, “I appreciate the offer, but I need to think about it some more” and let me leave.

    “Well, Shadow, what do you say?” The Leader asked. Shadow looked at The Leader, then to Cloud. His eyes landed on Yun.

    “Well, I do appreciate the offer, but I’m gonna have to pass.”

    “...What?”

    “Sorry, I’m just not interested in a new position as your lap dog at the moment. Like I said though, I do appreciate the offer.” The Leader smiled.

    “Hm, and here I was thinking that my plan was quite clever. For the record, I really would have let you two go if you cooperated.”

“I believe you. Answer’s still no.”

“And now what’s your plan? What do you intend to do?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. I’ve been trying to plan my way through all of this for so long. I’ve been trying to do everything myself.” Shadow felt the ground rumble slightly. No one else seemed to feel it.

The elevator!

“So I think,” the rumbling grew stronger, “that I’m going to sit back and trust.” The elevator doors behind Shadow opened and several members of the rebellion came flooding out, led by Sun. Sun used the Spider-silk to blast the handcuffs off of Shadow.

“Aw, I knew you cared.” Shadow said to Sun.

“Please. I just needed a place to upload the articles.” Sun said.

“Sure, because the top of the governor center is the easiest place to do that.” Sun didn’t answer. His eyes were focused ahead, looking between Yun, The Leader, and Cloud.

“Yun...Cloud...what are you two doing with The Leader. Yun, when you weren’t with the rest of the rebellion I-I thought you were dead!”

“Sun,” The Leader said through Yun, “I’m sorry. I-” Sun didn’t let Yun finish. He raised the external modifier at Yun.

“That man ruined my life! I don’t care what you have to say! If you’re with him, then you’re against us.” The rest of the rebellion stayed silent, standing behind Sun and Shadow.

“Sun, wait! You don’t understand!” Shadow shouted. “This isn’t what it looks like!” Sun ignored him.

“And Cloud! You’re alive! You abandoned us, and for what? To join The Leader. What, did he pay you off after your interview!? Was your salary not enough payment for the truth!? Lies pay better do they?

“Sun!”

“Oh don’t try to defend them. Shadow! You risked everything to save Yun, and here she is living it up with The Leader! We’re ending this now! This is our chance, Shadow!”

“WOULD YOU LISTEN TO ME, SUN!?” Shadow was able to catch Sun’s attention. “Please Sun. Just trust me. I get it, I really do. But please, you have to just trust me. When this whole thing started, I didn’t trust Yun and I got us into a ton of trouble. I think...I think I’ve learned a bit since then. Please Sun, don’t make the same mistake I did. Please, trust me. Yun and Cloud are not our enemies.”

All this time, The Leader sat there with a smile on his face, watching the situation unfold. 

“Sun. Listen to me. Blast Yun.” Shadow told him.

“What!?” The smile broke from The Leader’s face. “What are you doing!?”

“Just a light blast, Sun. Trust me.”

Sun sighed. He hesitated for a moment, then did what Shadow asked. Yun stumbled backward, blinked, and tackled The Leader. Sun quickly caught onto what was happening and did the same to Cloud. Cloud Cent blinked quickly, returning to control.

“Oh, it is good to be back! Shadow...Sun, was it? Thank you. Sun, do I know you from somewhere? I swear you look so familiar. Oh man, is this gonna make a great story!”

“Hey,” The Leader shouted from underneath Yun, “get off of me! Do you know who I am!? You can’t do this! You can’t kill me!”

“I’m not going to kill you.” Yun told him, venom in her voice. “You’re going to watch as your choices catch up to you. You’re going to watch your world crumbles and know that you brought all of this on yourself.”

“Sun, thank you for trusting me.” Shadow said

“Yeah well, maybe I do care about you. Just a bit.”

“Aww.”

“Shut up. Now, you about ready to end this?”

“End?” Yun interjected. “You’ve got it wrong Sun. This is just going to be the beginning. There’s a whole lot more to come after this.”

“Personally,” Cloud said, “I’m looking forward to it. After the interview I did with the bastard on the floor, I was jumped by a bunch of Sergeants. I thought that I was gonna be killed. I kind of assumed something like that would happen. I made my peace with it. Instead, I was used as a tool. I’m glad that my articles made a difference. I hope they continue to do so.”

“There’s no going back from this.” Shadow said. “People are gonna freak. We’re sure we want to do this?”

“Yes.”

“Absolutely.”

“Ok then. Sun, you have the usb. Can you just, give me a moment to get ready?” Shadow glanced at Yun. Sun got the message.

“Go ahead.”

    Shadow and Yun went to a corner of the room to talk.

    “Thanks for saving me, Shadow. I...I didn’t know if I was ever going to be free again.”

    “It’s my fault you were captured in the first place. If I had just stayed and helped.”

    “If you had stayed, then we wouldn’t have the articles. We wouldn’t be able to start fixing this city. Shadow, if you had the articles this whole time...why didn’t you release them yet?”

    “Because...what would have been the point of a new city if there aren’t people there to enjoy it with?” Yun smiled.

    “Come on. Let’s start building that new city.”