The Alliance

The Alliance (?) is the 21st chapter of Season One.

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Dane, having only completed two beginner first aid courses, was panic-stricken. He ripped his coat off and sealed the area. He put pressure on it. He then did something he never thought he’d do. Mouth to mouth.

“You’re doing it wrong,” chortled a menacingly familiar voice from behind. It was Adrien. “Adrien! Who did this?! Please help me!” Dane begged. “Help you? No, I’m not here to help you.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you, man?!” Dane stood up and grabbed Adrien by the shoulders. As both of his hands stretched out to reach them, exposing his chest, Adrien placed the gun to his chest. Dane’s face went pale again, but in a different way. He stared right into Adrien’s eyes.

“Why are you doing this?” he said softly. For a moment he thought he could see a spark of remorse in Adrien’s eyes, before he pulled the trigger. Then a second time. Then a third time.

“No! I’m out of ammo!” Adrien scorned, but before he could make another move, Dane had him on his knees. He then picked up the gun and put it in his pocket. Adrien rolled over to his side, winded.

“Taekwondo, you bastard!” Dane spat at him, kicking him the side. “What’s wrong with you?!?!” He could still feel a mild pulse in Ezra. Dane then began to scream. But no one heard him. Everyone walked past in the distant, like they were in another world. “You carefully planned this out, didn’t you?” “No...” Adrien uttered. Dane ripped his phone out of his pocket, breaking the zip, and dialled 911. The operator answered, to his exasperated voice. “Please calm down, sir, what’s the problem?” “I’m in the city square of Seattle, my friend has been shot- please bring an ambulance, and police!! In the East carpark!! Please!” The operator attempted to calm him down, and tell him the correct procedure to take care of Ezra. But suddenly a hand grabbed the phone from behind. Dane stuttered in terror. He looked behind him, and looked up to see Muhammad. “Old friend,” Muhammad spoke gently.

He passed the phone to a hooded figure behind him, dressed in googles, a ski mask, and with some of her bangs visible through the side of the mask. “W..w...” Dane shuddered. The womanly figure behind him held her arm around his chest, and patted his back, calming him down. “What are you going to do with me?” Dane began crying. “It’s okay, it’s not how it seems. This, is Ben Walden’s son.” “But.. Finley.. Walden..” “What are you talking about?” said the masked figure. “It’s always been Walden. I don’t know where Finley came from.” Dane thought about the type of person Ezra described Ben as, having a “technological edge”, assuming he had done something to register a different surname for his son. Or, Adrien had asked the teachers in advance to call his surname out differently on the role. Or, something to do with a wife. Dane palmed his head, coming to terms with what was happening. “I’ve known him for so long...” Dane thought carefully about the strange amounts of money Adrien used to bring to school to share with his friends. He then thought about the sort of leadership qualities Adrien seemed to be born with. He was born to lead. But at the same time, he was lonely. It didn’t matter anymore- Dane wanted him dead at the time, though. He turned to Adrien and continued kicking him.

“We need him alive for questioning,” said Muhammad. Suddenly, a black sedan pulled up. And out stepped Miss Tanen.

“People are closing in.. quick, here’s a mop, clean up the blood spill, we’ll take him over to our quarters.”

“Miss Tanen?!” said Dane, astounded.

“Agent Tanen, that is, Everybody, in!”

The hooded figure guided Dane into the sedan, which was spacier than it looked from the outside, and they drove off, leaving bystanders bewildered by what was going on.

“My mum...” said Dane, looking out the window.

“SHE’S ONE HOT MOMMA, YOU GOTTA ADMIT!” Lois chuckled, poking her head around from the front seat.

“MUM!!!!” Dane grabbed his mum by the cheeks and kissed her.

“We found her locked in a car as we pulled up, attached to it was a bomb. Luckily I had my bomb disabling kit.. it was a pretty poor effort. Adrien has much to learn...”

“Oh, we’ll make sure he learns,” Muhammad laughed.

Dane joined in the laughter, suddenly feeling overwhelmed with relief. Ezra was in a small compartment in the back of the sedan, connected to an oxygen tank. He was breathing. His wound had been treated correctly by Muhammad, who seemed to be a medical whizz.

“I can’t.. thank you enough.. but, I still don’t understand. Miss Tanen?? An agent? And Muhammad?”

“An agent...” said Muhammad.

“But what about all.. Eric dreamt the future, and..”

“Yes, so we’ve heard,” said Miss Tanen. “We know as well.”

“Oh, by the way, here’s your phone,” said the masked figure, suddenly unmasking herself and revealing herself to be Scarlet, without the glasses. She looked stunning. Dane almost felt lovestruck. “The excuse I made up for the call was good enough to not have them waste resources tracking us. Our quarters must remain secret at all times.”

Suddenly Ezra began to twitch. He felt trapped in his own body for a moment. He knew what was going on. It was like he’d been there, but hadn’t been there. Suddenly he opened his eyes, to a different room. A different place... reality. It was a dream.

Ezra looked up. Then down. He was in a plain, white room, with a large square window to his right and a rectangular set of drawers to his left, all in white. Through the window, all he could make out were hallways. Everything was uniformed in the same colour. Ezra glanced down to see he was shackled, from the feet to his neck, to a wheely bed. He also twitched his mouth to realise he was gagged. Ezra began to panic and wriggle. Suddenly he heard a beeping sound. Pulling his eyes down to look at his right arm, he found a small box, with tiny lights and little holes on it, he was unsure whether it was a microphone or a speaker, or both. It was attached to his shackle. It made a beeping sound, which repeated for about ten seconds until it stopped when another sound replaced it. The glass door opened in front of him, and there, standing in front of him, was Ben Walden.

But then behind Ben another figure emerged. He couldn’t help but notice the large reflective shades the figure was wearing, and the dead black fedora hat, which looked like a black hole in contrast with the rest of the room.

“Sleep well, did we? Or should I say.. dream well.. hahaha!”

Ben held up a syringe next to Ezra’s face. He then pulled something off his face. Ezra flinched, as he ripped the rope out of his mouth. He let out a deep breath and spat. “Why are you doing this? Please-”

“Mm hmm, that’s what the other guy with the x-ray vision said, until his eyes ended up burning alive...”

“Enough,” said the shady figure. “Yes Ow- I mean, Lord,” bowed Ben, as he stepped away, and headed towards the door. “Leave him to me,” the figure snarled, pointing to the door. The figure clutched Ezra’s cheekbones. “I need no introduction.” “Who are you?!?!” Ezra bared his teeth. “Possibly the last.. face.. well, pair of shades, you will ever see.”

As the person smiled, Ezra noticed how polished his teeth were. So polished, they had a reflection. He also noticed the figure was extremely clean shaven, and had a perfect complex, with not even the smallest imperfection in sight to the naked eye.

“So, you are.. the one.. you see the future.”

“No, it’s now clear to me I don’t.”

“Tell me what you saw, and it won’t be the last thing you ever say,” said the figure, deepening his voice, as he pulled out a small pair of pliers.

“What?” Ezra said, in a bizarrely low voice.

“Tell me what you saw in your dreams.”

“I saw...” Ezra almost smirked sinisterly, as he got the hang of what was happening. “I saw.. fire.. fury...” Ezra explained, trying to put on the most morbid expression he could. “I didn’t want to.. I...”

“Swear to me you’re telling the truth...” the mysterious person grunted, as he inserted the pliers into Ezra’s mouth, threateningly.

Ezra’s heart felt like it was going to jump out of his skin. Then he came to terms. He was wanted. At least part of him was. He would be dead already if he was in severe danger. Ezra thought of just refusing to talk, or starting to demand things, then devising an escape plan, but this was unwise, as he had no clue of the facility and what was to expect.

“Will you let me go if I tell the truth?” Ezra said, gazing into the figure’s shades.

The figure paused for a moment. “Yes.. yes, of course, I’m sorry, it’s just a lot of pressure, this job, especially night shift. I missed the damn footy game for this! If you tell me what you know, we can get on with our world domination plan, give you amnesia, let you go, and, well, we can all forget this happened!”

Ezra smiled gullibly. “That is honestly what I saw,” he said, pretending to tear up.

The figure stared vacantly at him for a moment. Ezra thought he was almost about to break, but then the figure got up and turned his head to the door.

“Ben!! Put him back to sleep! Try something else..”

As Owen walked past Ben and out of the door, he pushed him into the doorway.

“ARE YOU TELLING THE TRUTH?!?” Ben yelled at Ezra.

He picked up a syringe which has been dropped on the floor. “I SWEAR, I WILL GORGE THIS SO DEEP INTO YOU! YOU SAW, A FUTURE FOR YOURSELF. YOU SAW HOPE. SOME SORT OF... ASSOCIATION? UNION? ALLIANCE? HA! I SAW THAT! THAT LOOK IN YOUR EYES!!!”

Ezra pretended he had fallen asleep.

“ARGH!!!” Ben threw the syringe at the floor, and stormed out of the room.

He turned the lights off. Ezra was left in darkness.

Characters

 * Ezra White
 * Dane Young
 * Ben Walden
 * Adrien Walden
 * Muhammad Praveen
 * Sarah Tanen
 * Owen Calder
 * Lois Young