Agents and Protagonists Pt. 3

Why the hell did this guy always want to talk to me right before I fell asleep? Not that I could help it in this case… or the previous for that matter…

I sighed, “What do you want?”

Lars' smile fainted the tiniest bit as he sat on the bunk next to mine. “You don’t have to be all hostile, you know? This talk of ours will be completely recreational. Nothing more, nothing less… At least I hope it’s nothing less.”

He didn’t seem like he was here to rub his victory in my face. Unlike Fence, that wouldn’t do much to me anyway. I’m a defeated man now.

“...”

“Well, if that’s how you want to be, I’ll just talk and you can listen. I was curious how you feel about the Scavenger Lords now. After what I told you when we first met and then getting to see your father, I imagine there’s been some conflict boiling in your small brain. But, hey, if you don’t want to talk-”

“It’s a lie.”

“What?”

“What you told me about the Scavenger Lords and this world, it was a lie, wasn’t it? My father is so devoted to retaking the surface, that he often overlooks me. What other possible reason could he have to not be with me?”

Lars sighed, “Yeah… It’s not an easy thing to accept, I know how you feel. When I first learned that the Scavenger Lords all have no intention of retaking the surface, even someone like me felt pretty sick. It is true though. I don’t lie much and I’m sure you picked up on that.”

He was right. As sick in the head, as Lars is, he never came off as a liar whatsoever. I’d even say he takes pride in being the way he is. Lying about Scavenger Lords on the first day we met had absolutely zero merit anyway.

“Then why? If my father isn’t working so hard to retake the surface, then why is he always out scavenging and doing the most for humanity?”

“That’s something I think he should tell you himself. I don’t want you to hate your father but someone like you should know the truth of our world.”

Someone like me? “What does that mean?”

“You’re a new-generation human torch. What, don’t tell me you really thought you were the only one? Hell no, your kind has been around for a very long time. They started with babies born in the year 2000 and kept it going from there. Scientists and certain governments had concerns about Y2K. A new breed of human was meant to be silently introduced into the gene pool until they would soon become the norm. Of course, to tell if your genetic experimentation was worth a damn, you’d have to gauge some results before it was too late. How do you think you experiment on a human to tell if they’re fire-proof? It wasn’t pretty, I’ll say that much. The few times I had clearance to work with people on these experiments were quite harrowing. I know, I’m no saint by any means but breeding and killing for the sake of progress is even a bit much for me.”

What? What the hell was he saying? “What are you talking about?”

“Did your father ever tell you what happened to your mother? She died or walked out on you, something like that? Eh, whatever, not like that matters, it might be from his side anyway. With his status, I wouldn’t doubt it. I don’t know everything about it, just what I’ve been told and observed, but from what I picked up, it seemed that this genetic experiment didn’t go as planned. Even those that could reproduce, wouldn’t have children that carried over the traits of flame-resistance. Do you know how fucked up it is to burn a baby just to prove a point? It wasn’t a couple of them either. They had to burn children across many different age groups just to make sure the gene wasn’t something randomly unlocked with age.”

My mind was melting and not in a good way. Just as I felt like the world began to fall into my grasp, it grew a million times larger.

I shouted, “What the hell was the point of it then?!”

Everyone looked my way. It appears even Clarine woke up from that. Fence stood up, but I cowered back down. To them, I was nothing more than a spoiled brat complaining about a mission not going the way I planned.

Lars looked at all of them and cringed a little bit. “Calm down, Bane… Nobody is completely sure of why they did this but come on… Put it together. We live in a world where fire plagues the surface. Sure, they say Y2K blindsided us but the fact that they also started these experiments during the year 2000… Let’s not be idiots. If it makes you feel any better, I doubt your father is a mustache-twirling villain by any means. He just gave into a system full of hypocrites…”

Is that why Clarine and Rocco never looked at me in shock? They knew what was happening to me this whole time and played the fool… No, they made a fool out of me.

My father would never work for a system like this, let alone spearhead it. Something is missing. Something isn’t right.

“You’re wrong, Lars. I don’t know what piece you’re missing but my father would never do anything like this. You don’t know him like I do. He’s a strong, loving, and compassionate person.”

Lars facepalmed. “Yeah, I don’t doubt any of that. In fact, I know it to be true. You say I don’t know your father, but I’ve known him longer than you have. Did you really think we only met recently? We used to be like brothers… If you believe that all good people don’t get wrapped up in doing awful things, you don’t see humanity for what it is. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that. Most people live their entire lives with a flawed and skewed perception of how our species is in our best and worst moments. It’s better that way. If most of them understood how humanity truly worked, they’d probably end up like me…”

Lars was being unusually pessimistic. It seemed like even he had his gripes with the world. I always saw him as a carefree guy that made the world fit his perspective. Maybe it was the other way around…

I was going to say something but then I heard a sound in the distance. It almost reminded me of that crunchy surface from Milona but it was a lot more elegant and refined. My eyes darted to the elevator door and there he was.

My father finally made it back and the dwellers seemed to be nowhere in sight behind him. He closed the elevator door, took a look at me, and smiled before heading over to Clarine and Rocco.

I stood up from the bunk and walked over to my father as well. Lars stayed back. Clarine seemed to have her bearings together now.

She coughed, “I see the bastard sitting over there. Did circumstances change?”

My father was going to speak but I spoke first. “Yes, we failed. I failed. I’m sorry…”

Clarine seemed a bit taken aback. “Sorry? You don’t have to be sorry, kid. If anything, this is exactly how I wanted things to be. No senseless killing, just all of us being able to move on with our lives.”

She had a large bandage around her forehead and while the blood seemed to be leaking onto it, none of it actually came out.

My father scoffed, “Lars is no longer of our concern…” He bent down on one knee in front of Clarine. “And I regret to inform you that Masir was compromised during battle. We couldn’t recover any of his remains… I’m sorry.”

Clarine’s face was blank. “Someone like him would’ve never lasted in a field like this. That’s all there is to it.”

Fence seemed disgusted by the remark but he quickly realized this was how Clarine coped.

“I’ll route us back to Ylvona…” My father finished.

This was the end of the line. Every single one of us took a defeat in one way or another. Even Lars didn’t seem to be happy with his circumstances. This whole time I’ve been blaming myself and my incompetence for the way this mission played out, and sure, a lot of it is my fault… But then again.

“Father, wait. Before we leave, I was hoping we could talk about something.”

My father sighed, “Can’t this wait until we’re en route to Ylvona?”

I thought about it. Going to Ylvona meant going back to that castle and going back to the castle meant waiting until things were decided for us. Screw that.

“No, we need to talk now.”

He sat down next to Clarine on the bunk. “Is it something we can talk about here?”

Truthfully, it wasn’t. This would have probably gone a lot smoother if it were just him and me, but even Rocco and Fence were a part of this. I wanted them to hear everything that was about to be discussed.

“Yeah, it’s fine… I learned recently that I’m not the only human that could light on fire. Turns out there were many more like me. Lars said this world did some nasty things to eventually create someone of my capabilities. What do you know about this?”

My heart started to thump and my blood began to boil. My father looked at me in the same innocent manner he always did. His face was shocked but I could tell he composed himself as if he did no wrong. Something about him vexed me.

He stood up and began to walk over somewhere else. “Bane, we should probably talk about this somewhere else-”

I grabbed his arm and put him back down on that bunk. “No, everyone’s hearing this. Tell us the truth. Why do you, Scavenger Lords, not want to retake the surface? Why did you guys experiment on innocent people long before Y2K? What happened to my mother? Why do I exist?”

Clarine’s face sank as she heard me pose those questions. Fence seemed confused. My father stared at me with almost hatred in his eyes. I couldn’t foresee what was about to happen but these answers would change everything…