Trust

With the passkey that Ko stole off one of the guards, we got inside the warehouse. A single hallway took us into a giant room with what had to be thousands of crates, all stacked high, towering over us like skyscrapers of wood and plastic. We removed our cloaks, since they were working against us in this well lit room.

A few men were patrolling around the room in pairs of two. Based on what we could see just from the entrance, this place was maze-like. I wasn't looking forward to running around it like a mouse and dodging guards, especially if they knew the layout better then we did.

“Maybe we don't have to mouse it out.” Ko climbed up onto a box and tested if it would hold her weight. “We might be able to climb up these and work our way across the top.”

“I'm starting to think we really are ninja,” Ekko commented. “We might be able to do a little of that, but there’s a walkway at that level, and it looks like guards pass by once in a while.”

They'd just done a pass, but the next duo was dangerously close to another run on it.

“We'll switch up high and low as we go,” I said. “Let's move.”

We had a general idea where we were heading. The crates would be in the north west corner of the building with a prominent letter M decaled on them. So that was the direction we’d be heading.

We started by moving along a path on the ground floor. A pair of guards were heading our way, so we immediately climbed the boxes as quietly as we could.

Just when we thought we were safe, those guards on the walkway were coming by. It was right back to the ground floor with us. That was clear for a bit, but more guards appeared, forcing us to climb up again.

*Slip!*

I caught Ko before she slipped off a crate, barely holding her by the collar.

In a swift motion, I pulled her up and we quickly ducked behind some crates to let the guards pass.

“Did you hear that?” one asked.

“It sounded like it came from Second Squad. You know how noisy those idiots can be.”

They passed by without noticing us.

“Thanks for that,” Ko whispered to me.

“Just be careful,” I replied. “I won’t let them catch you.”

Ko stayed silent, turning her head away so we wouldn't make eye contact.

“I know you wouldn’t.”

Ekko had moved on ahead without us, probably not noticing what was going on. She’d cleared a lot of distance, making it almost to the boxes.

Ko and I caught up quickly. With just a bit more of this cat and mouse game, we reached our destination. Lo and behold, our prizes dormantly awaited us.

“Alright, everyone take one,” I ordered.

We all took a box. These were lighter than I thought, but not exactly easy to carry.

To mediate this, we tied them up with some rope and held them up against our backs.

“All secure.” Ekko gave a thumbs up.

“Mine’s good too,” Ko said.

Great. We had the packages, and we were ready to start heading back to the sanctuary. The problem was that we pretty much had to do everything we just did again, but in reverse.

“Hold on…” Ko lifted a hand, pointing to a vent in the wall. “That’s big enough for us to crawl into.”

“You think it leads outside?” I questioned.

Ko nodded. “Maybe not outside, but it should get us to the hallway again.”

“Sounds good to me.” I replied, immediately working to get the grate down. While I was getting that unscrewed, Ekko was keeping watch.

I felt a tug on my jacket, so I turned to see Ko standing behind me. I couldn't see her face behind that mask, but her slouching posture seemed sad.

“Do you trust me?” she asked out of the blue.

“Of course I do,” I replied.

“Please. No matter what happens, you have to keep trusting me.”

She must have been feeling doubt about this vent leading us out of here. I had some doubts too, but we didn’t have much other choice at the moment. So it was our best bet.

“Ko, no matter what, we trust each other. End of story.” I smiled, finally getting the grate off.

“R-right.” Ko nodded.

Ekko was giving me the signal that guards were coming, so we all dove into the vent and started crawling our way through. It was dusty as could be in here, but that was a small price to pay for escaping.

***

The vents lead us back out into the hallway just before the entrance we’d taken to get in here. Ekko was the first to drop in, helping Ko and I get down as well. Our cloaks were hidden off to the side, so we geared back up.

I tried opening the door with the passkey, but it wasn’t working. Either something was blocking the door, or the car wasn't working anymore.

“There’s a window here with a lock,” Ekko improvised an idea. “I can try and pick it."

“Get too it,” I nodded.

I followed Ko a little down the hallway, making sure to keep watch for anyone who might be coming this way. Everything was looking clear, but something was wrong with Ko.

She was shivering like a leaf and very antsy. the minor amount of skin I could see behind her mask looked red and sweaty.

I kneeled down, carefully pulling up her mask for a moment to see her face. It was red and she looked like she wanted to cry.

“Ko, what's going on?” I asked.

“I’m sorry…” she cried out.

SLAM!

Metal bars fell down from above and cut us off from Ekko.

“What the hell is this?!” I shouted. The timing between Ko's apology and that gate coming down was too perfect to have been a coincidence. “Ko, what’s going on?”

Ko ignored my question and undid the knot holding the box to her back, then slipped it through the metal bars.

“Ekko, please, get these back to the sanctuary,” Ko pleaded. “We’ll be there soon, I promise.”

“Wait!” with futile might, Ekko attempted to pull apart the metal bars, but she certainly didn’t have the strength.

Suddenly, a bunch of guards were heading for us from down the hall. Way too many for us to fight all at once. I wanted nothing more then to take out every single one of them with my gun, freeing myself and my sister to escape. It would have been easy, but Ko held on tightly to my arm, preventing me from acting on my survival instincts.

I wanted to get angry. I wanted to throw Ko aside and use my rage to tare apart my enemies, the ones who would rob me of my freedom to feel, but every part of me was saying I should trust Ko. She's no fool. Whatever she had planned here, it surly had to have been important.

Following her example, I slid my box through the bars just in time. If that was my last action as a freeman, at least I could say I did my part to make this world slightly better.

Ekko didn’t want to leave us, but she couldn’t let herself get captured too, not when we were so close to getting these boxes out of here. With hesitation, Ekko managed to get herself out the window and escape.

As for us two, we had a pair of handcuffs slapped over our wrists. These shackles weren't very much different from taking a pill in a way. I was at there mercy, unable to fully express myself. No matter how much I squirmed and fought their control, a hard punch would always put me in my place.