Subject Seventeen: Wraith Among Shadows
Chapter 17

“So you’re definitely with us then?” I ask.

Seven nods her head furiously and clings to Five. Her hair bobs up and down as she does. I look at their hands which are wrapped together. Yuck. I can’t stand all this lovey-dovey stuff.

I look at Nine who nods at me. Then I look to the troublemaker, Ten. He’s staring at the ground with his hands clasped together. I honestly think this is the first time I’ve seen him think.

“If what you’re saying is true,” he begins. “If it is true. Then I may have had a family before all of this.”

“Correct,” I spit at him. He ignores the spite in my voice. I know I’m not helping... but whatever.

“Which means that if a war was to start now then they could be casualties. Including the people that were once a part of my life...”

I ease up at this. I’m beginning to actually feel sorry for Ten right now. I promise myself this is the only moment I’ll allow myself to feel like this.

“Also,” Ten continues. “Even if I say I’m in with you guys, you seem to be forgetting something.”

“Nine wouldn’t forget anything,” Five says. “Everything is accounted for.”

“No, he has. Not taking into account the Eight’s nuisance ability of magnetism and that bloody hound that can teleport all over the place, there’s someone else none of us have even thought about.”

We all stare at him for a few seconds before the realisation hits us. He’s completely right. All this time we have been talking about who on the team we should trust and considered everyone’s different personalities. However we’ve forgotten one person.

“Twelve,” we all say in unison.

“We’re going to need him,” Ten says.

“I did consider him but his power is troublesome,” Nine says, pushing his glasses up. “More troublesome that that is the fact that he mentally unstable. Hence the reason he is still in the psych ward. We need to seriously consider whether or not to release him, Ten.”

Ten nods. I’m surprised by how easily we convinced him. I had thought that he would prove to be one of the most troublesome to win over to our side.

“So what’s the plan?” Seven asks.

“Well,” Nine says. “I’ve been hiding something from you guys for a while now. I needed to know whether I could trust you all.”

I knew it. Something felt off about everything Nine has told me so far. I let him continue.

“Two, you may remember that on the journey back from the research center I told you we were planning a coup. But I never told you who we are. Four, Six and Fifteen are working together with me.”

I bow my head down in frustration. Now it makes perfect sense. I remember how he shifted uncomfortably at the mention of their names. I remember how he told me he still has a card he hasn’t played. He’s always hiding something, isn’t he?

“Of course you are…” I say. “So what’s the deal with them fighting us during the last mission then?”

“Well about that,” Nine says. “When Three attempted to kill them I was the one who made the plan to help them fake their deaths and escape. I’m also the one who has plotted their every move since then. Their attacks and presence is to convince the Doctor and Sanders that it’s only them who are defects and the rest of us are still loyal. It’s also just to be a big pain in the ass to distract them from the rest of us.. Of course what Three did to Four is unfortunate, but he’s still alive at least.”

We all sigh with relief, thankful to hear our jolly mascot; Four, is alive and well. Nine continues talking and then stops abruptly when we hear footsteps outside the door. The steps are fast and loud, hitting the floor hard. A lighter pair of steps trails behind it.

We all brace ourselves for the worst. Nine has pulled out a gun from somewhere; he must have stolen it from the armoury. Ten’s hands are lighting up and I can already feel the lightning heading to my hands.

The door flings open and we all hesitate as Thirteen strides in. The rest however, are put back on guard when Seventeen strolls in after him.

“Relax,” Thirteen says, as the door shuts behind Seventeen. “If I wanted you guys dead you’d be dead by now.”

Nine holds his hand up and everyone calms down. I look at Seventeen and embrace the feeling of calmness that washes over me. It’s good to see him again. He looks... better.

“Are you here to finally join us, Thirteen?” Nine says.

“I was always on your side,” Thirteen replies. “Now all of you are going to listen to what I’m about to say. And you’re going to do it carefully without interrupting me. Quiet, Ten.”

Thirteen holds up a finger to silence Ten before he has the chance to talk. I hate how he does that.

“Well, screw you, Thirteen,” Ten says. Thirteen ignores him continues to talk.

Thirteen tells us about how the Baltec struggle lead a secret faction of the Chinese government to create this programme and what they've done leading up to now to incite the sparks for the next world war. As he continues explaining the things he and Seventeen discovered, I start to realise that while I was close, I was still completely off the mark. It's so much worse than I thought. Now Thirteen turns towards Nine.

“Nine, I may have been giving you advice every now and then, but I’ve only been saving your skin barely. You’re smart, but you make mistakes. Some of which has been noticed by Sanders. Make one more wrong move and Three fills your skull with lead.”

Nine shudders at this statement. I can feel Ten twitching all the way from the other side of the room.

“Twelve will join us, as well as Fourteen. I’ve made damn well sure of that. We’re going to lead a resistance and put an end to Youdu.”

“Youdu?” we all ask.

“It’s the name of the Chinese faction we fight for. Really, Nine? I thought you would at least have gotten that information by now.”

“I see,” Nine replies, dismissing the last comment. “Youdu refers to the capital city of the underworld in Chinese mythology. What’s more, there are four people in charge, just like the four emperors. The Doctor, Sanders, the Director and someone else we don’t know.”

“Glad to see you know your history, Nine,” Thirteen says. “There’s a battle coming and none of us can prevent it. What we can do, however, is save the world before it’s too late.”

“And how do we do that?” I ask.

Thirteen points to Seventeen before replying. “By ending it.”

“Wait, what?” I ask, confused. I can tell everyone else has the same question in response to what Thirteen just said but we're all ignored as he continues to speak.

“The first thing we need to do is unlock his memory. We need Fourteen to do that.”

“We’re all wondering where he is,” Five says.

Seventeen raise his hand and points towards the ceiling. Above us. My theory is correct. Fourteen is somewhere in this facility. Above us should be Block A.

“So what’s the plan?” Ten says. “We save him and get him to restore Seventeen’s memories?”

“It’s not that easy,” Thirteen replies. “Sanders has taken his mother and sister hostage by implanting bombs into the necks. Until we deal with that Fourteen will be our enemy.”

“I’m guessing there’s a failsafe or something to deactivate the bombs,” Nine says. “If so, then Sanders or the Doctor will know about it. We need to replace it.”

“Excuse me,” Seven says. “I have a question.”

“Go ahead,” Nine says.

“You’re forgetting that Three and Eight are our enemies?”

“We’ll kill Eight,” Thirteen says, taking everyone aback. “Three can’t die yet; she still has her uses. I can get everyone one else to our side except Eleven. She’s too loyal and I can’t be bothered to persuade her. She'll either be swayed to our side when it all goes down or Five will control her.”

Five nods. This sudden burst of information is struggling to fit inside my head. I need time to process all of this. I hate how Thirteen overloads your brain with information.

“What about the transmitters inside of us?” I ask.

“Nine will deal with that,” Thirteen says. “From now on, everyone listens to every word I say. One foot out of line and you die. Disobey me you die. Get careless you die. Ask questions you die. Everyone should be on high alert. I’ll give you details of the plan in a few days. For now you should act in one way. Act as if the war has already started. Bear in mind that this is just the beginning. And one more thing.”

Thirteen turns to me. His stare makes me want to run away as usual. I force myself to stare back into his all-seeing eyes.

“For the next few days, the only ones who should interact with Seventeen voluntarily are myself, Nine and Two.”

I struggle to catch my breath when he says my name. He doesn't want anyone but me. him and Nine to interact with Seventeen? That’s absurd. For what reason? He’s put me through enough emotional turmoil. I don’t need to be his babysitter now. I don’t have a chance to say anything as Thirteen walks out of the room and Seventeen follows him close behind.

“What in god’s name was that all about?” Five says.

“I’ve learned that it’s best not to question Thirteen,” Nine says. “I hate to admit it but he knows more about anything than any one of us. Thank god he’s on our side, but right now we need to follow his instructions. You should all leave before Three spots us and becomes suspicious.”

Everyone nods and scrambles out of Nine’s room. Only I remain. Nine waits till the door is shut before turning to meet my gaze. He walks over to his desk and sits down. Taking off his glasses, he releases a huge sigh and tilts his head to the right.

“So?” he asks.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” I say. “Suddenly replaceing out we’re a secret faction of the Chinese military performing acts of terrorism to start the third world war… Discovering all the memories I have are fake? All of this? I can’t do it. I just can’t. It’s too much.”

“I understand how you feel, Two. But we have to do it. We have a duty to set things right. Because of us thousands of people are dead and millions more will die. At least think about the millions we can still save.”

“I understand that. I do, honestly. I’m just worried we’re in over our head. When I think about whether we succeed in breaking out of here or not, I still wonder whether we have what it takes to stop a war.”

“We do. We’ll replace a way.”

I stand up and pat down my jeans. I head towards the door and pause right in front of it. Turning back I see Nine has already started writing some things down on pieces of paper. He glances at me for a second and for some reason I feel embarrassed. Great. I always saw Nine as a friend but now he feels like a reliable older brother. I should just be honest with him.

“One more thing,” I say. Nine turns his head to look at me, his expression questioning me. “I don’t care what happens to me. I know we’re taking big risks. But protect him for me.”

With that I walk out. I feel my heart beating frantically in my chest. I can’t believe I really just said that. Maybe I am in love with Seventeen after all. I shake my head as I enter my room. That was just to reassure myself that I don't have to worry about him moving forward. There’s no way on earth I can allow myself to succumb to my feelings. Relationships are dangerous. They are a liability.

Jumping on to my bed, my mind flashes back to the moment I exited the jet on the return journey from the military base. I’ve been wondering for a while now, but why were the soldiers mobilised? That's a question best left answered by Thirteen I guess.

I don’t bother to change into my PJs tonight. I just flop down face-first into my bed. I bask in the softness of my bed and wrap myself in my sapphire sheets.

I don’t know what Thirteen is planning. All I need to know now is whether we’ll be able to trust him. I want to trust him. I need to trust him. Right now it looks as if he is our only lifeline.

All we have to do now is replace a way to save Fourteen’s family and extract Twelve from the psych ward. If I remember correctly, the psych ward is on the level below us. We're only allowed access to this level. there's no way to do it quietly. We're going out with a bang.

Now it begins. I know what we have to do. Our battle starts now.