A hover passed over the depressing looking city, rattling the windows of the store fronts and homes. The faint blue lights, that dotted the underside of the ship, disappeared into distance, but not before leaving the reminder that The Monarch's control still lay over the city. The sky was black, the color finally matching the state of the world that remained beneath it.

River leaned back in her chair, the heel of her boots resting on the table before her. Another hover passed overhead but she barely gave it a thought, her concentration on the blueprint on the screen before her. As she scanned the document, she flipped a knife in her hand. She did this without looking, knowing the exact pressure she needed to give it to get the right amount of rotations to ensure she caught the blade. Again and again the knife twirled through the air and was snatched by River's absentminded hand.

The store around her was barely full of merchandise and even what was there was hardly worth buying. This did not concern River in the least, it was not her source of revenue. An alert popped up on River's screen distracting from her study of the house. She tapped it and watched as a trio of men moved towards the store entrance. She cocked her head, picking up the sound of their boots on the crumbling city street. She slid her hand across the screen wiping it of all images. She then hit a button on the underside of the table and the screen was submerged into the wood. She did this all with an unhurried air as if she could care less whether what she had been looking at were seen or not.

The door opened and the ancient bell overhead gave out a weak ding like the cough of a dying man. Though the store was not small, the newcomers seemed to take up the whole space. The man at the front, the obvious leader, was in his early twenties. He had a dark good looking face that seemed to be carved from stone. In it were black, hard eyes, strong nose, wide mouth and a jaw you could sharpen a knife on. Along his right temple he had a long scar, that instead of detracting from his looks only added to them. The men behind him looked like boulders with faces. River wondered what brains lied behind the impassive faces and narrowed eyes.

"Yes?" she said, in a bored tone.

When the men's gazes landed on her, their expressions shifted to something of surprise. The reaction was nothing new to her. She had a face that commanded attention. Though not traditionally beautiful, it was striking with its high cheek bones, piercing blue eyes, that looked like cracked ice, narrow nose, thin lips and a chin that could have been described as definite if the owner couldn't have cared less. It was all framed by short, black cropped hair.

Once they regained their composure, the men approached the table where she sat, giving the store a brief once over. They wore the simple dark blue shirt of the Rebellion along with the bands on their arms that marked their rank. Strapped to their belts were weapons that would cost them their lives if they were found with them. River smirked at their arrogance and silently cheered their blatant disregard for the rules. They stopped before her, their expressions once again hard.

"Are you River?" the leader asked.

"Who cares to know?" she asked.

"I'm Captain Dimitri Turner with the Rebellion and I do."

River leaned further back in her chair and tossed the knife up to the ceiling. The blade touched the splintered rafters before falling back into her hand.

"I'm River," she said, not looking at them, her gaze following the knife as it soared up and then down. "What do you want?"

Dimitri didn't reply right away, his gaze boring into her, as if trying to force her attention with his stare. River noticed his look but didn't respond to it, her eyes still trained on the knife.

"Look Sargent," she said. "If you're not going to speak then leave."

"It's Captain," Dimitri said.

"Whatever you say Major."

"It's Captain," he said, through gritted teeth.

River caught the knife and looked at Dimitri with an indifferent air.

"Was there a reason for this visit or were you looking for some blankets?" She waved the knife about. "As you can see we have an excellent selection." She went back to tossing the knife. "Take your pick."  

"I have come to you because the Rebellion wishes to recruit you."

River gave him a wide eyed look that spoke only of mockery.

"That is truly shocking. I would be surprised if I hadn't had five other members come in and try to do the same thing," she said. She pulled her boots off the table and dropped them to the floor. She then leaned on the table, her face going serious. "You know Private-"

"Captain."

"-I'm going to help the Rebellion out." Dimitri's expression betrayed a look of hope. "I'm going to give you a piece of advice. Communication." Dimitri's face fell back behind his hard mask. River gave him a wide smile. "That is what you need. Communication."

She leaned back in her chair again.

"Five other people have already been here and done this with me." She shrugged. "They probably figured since they couldn't sway me with the ugly ones, that they would try to do it with the good looking one since I'm an eighteen-year-old girl." She rested her head back and looked up at the ceiling. "Jokes on them. I preferred the ugly ones more."

Dimitri's face went even harder, his eyes glaring at her.

"I don't see why the Rebellion thinks we need you to succeed," he said.

She looked at him, her face saying she was unconcerned with his anger.

"Do you want me to tell you or do you want to work on that whole communication problem your cause seems to be having?"

Dimitri took a step forward and crossed his arms, showing his toned arms even through the shirt. "They say you are a military genius and have abilities that no common human should have. They say that you could be the weapon that helps take down the Monarch."

"Is that what they are saying? I had hoped stunning was in that list as well. Pity it's not. Do you mind adding that?"

Dimitri uncurled his arms and placed his hands on the table, leaning forward.

"I don't believe it," he said, looking her up and down. "That's why I chose to come. I wanted to see what everyone believed to be true. Now I see they are all wrong."

River shrugged and went back to tossing the knife into the air. In the blink of an eye Dimitri stretched out a hand to catch the knife, but River was faster, reading his intentions the second he shifted. She pulled a second knife from her boot and flung it at the first. The second knife dug through the first blade's handle and trapped them both in the wood plank above. She laced her fingers and laid them on her stomach, staring at Dimitri. He looked at her, unable to mask his shock at the speed at which she had moved.

"Look Lieutenant, believe it or not, I don't care. I'm growing bored. So do us both a favor and leave," she said.

Dimitri returned to his senses and straightened up, his hands falling behind his back. River couldn't help herself from grinning at his rigid military posture. Dimitri ignored the grin, a new look of intrigue in his gaze. He didn't say anything for a second and River's gaze dropped to the band on his arm.

"Tell me Corporal-"

"Captain."

"How did you get to be at your rank when you are barely over what? Twenty?"

Dimitri lifted his chin ever so slightly as if taking her question as a challenge.

"I joined the Rebellion at fifteen and worked my way up by proving myself."

River started clapping, the motion slow and her expression flat. Dimitri leveled her with a fierce glare. She waved her hands out.

"That's what you wanted, right? A cheer for serving for so long?"

A hint of confusion entered Dimitri's eyes.

"Do you honestly care nothing for the Rebellion and the freedom this world?"

"No. I thought they would have told you that. I guess it comes back to my original advice, communication."

"But you see what the Monarch does to this land. How they enslave their people and look out only for themselves."

"Yes, I do."

"And still you don't care."

"Yes. Because I have no reason to care. I see both sides completely and understand each side. In doing so I have become impartial to both agendas."

Dimitri gave a forced chuckle that tried to match River's own mockery.

"You think you see everything?"

"No, I know I see everything. There is a difference. I am really growing bored of this conversation and so I will lower myself to your level and prove it. The Rebellion's next action is to take out Governor Rinds. Correct?"

Dimitri looked startled at the statement and so did the two soldiers behind him.

"From your stupid looks of shock, I am correct."

"How do you know this?"

"Really General, how you reached your ranking is baffling even me at this point. Did you not hear yourself when you said I was a military genius? I know this is your next move just like I know the Monarch will hit your base in Division three in two days." She waved her hand carelessly. "There I have helped the Rebellion, now leave me in peace."

"If that is true, then all the rest of what they said must be true."

River smiled. "Great! You believe." Her face dropped. "Now go away." 

Dimitri didn't move, his eyes never leaving her, a curiosity burning in them. River recognized the look and rolled her eyes.

"You really are like all the other men. You want me to prove I am what they say I am. If I do will you go away?"

"Yes." Dimitri said.

"Fine, shoot me."

"What?"

"Pretty and deaf. A great combination. Shoot me."

"It's not that the thought didn't cross my mind, but I will not have your blood on my hands."

River brought her boots back up to the table.

"You won't have my blood on your hands. Other Rebellion soldiers' blood, yes, but not mine. Now go ahead and shoot me. If you don't want to, let rock one or rock two do it." She nodded to the men past Dimitri's shoulders.

"We are more than just walking guns," the man on the right said.

River nodded and smiled.

"I applaud you for breaking the stereotype. Now Colonel, let's get this done with so I can go back to my life and you can go die for a cause that's not worth fighting for."

She added a smirk, knowing it would tip him over. Dimitri pulled his gun from in his belt in one smooth motion and fired at her head.

The second his hand moved towards his gun, River was ready. She heard the sound of the gun clicking and in that moment shifted to the left and raised her right shoulder. The shot nicked her and pain skittered through her. She gritted her teeth and didn't make a sound. Dimitri lowered his gun, almost surprised by his own actions. The men all looked at the red mark that bloomed on her shirt. River looked over at it, her face showing nothing more than unconcern.

"I'm sorry-" Dimitri started to say.

"I meant for that to happen so you could see this," she said.

She pulled back the collar of her shirt, revealing the wound. Dimitri opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when the wound sealed itself. River wiped away the stray blood with her sleeve.

"How...is that possible?" Dimitri said. "I know the Monarch have means of healing everything but that is..."

River rolled her eyes looking annoyed. "Yes, it's amazing. Now we had a deal. Leave. And tell the Rebellion to stop sending people to recruit me."

Dimitri nodded but seemed reluctant to leave, his mind spinning with a million and one ideas on how they could use River's ability to beat the Monarch.

"Go!" River said.

Dimitri turned and motioned for the men to leave. River sank back in the chair. At the door, he looked back.

"Do you honestly care for nothing?" he asked.

River hesitated for half a second. Dimitri caught the pause.

"No," she said. "I care for nothing. Now goodbye."

After a second he left. When the door clicked shut, she stood and walked towards a door on the far side of the store. She opened it, revealing a staircase with wooden planks worn smooth by time and use. She climbed the creaking steps. At the top of the stairs, River pulled out a key and unlocked a door, that was anything but old.

The room beyond contradicted the dismisal state the rest of the building and the city was in. Every inch was sterile and the lights that burned were a soft yellow, instead of the normal harsh light of the cheap bulbs. A bed lay at the center holding a woman in her late forties with graying black hair. Her face was thin and her skin wore the off white color of illness. Her breathing was the slow rhythmic sound of prolonged sleep.

River stood in the doorway, staring at the women, with not a look of affection but of a something deeper. A need. A need to know what lay in her head. A need to have her return to reality so River could unlock the secrets of her mind.

A man in his mid-fifties with stark white hair and a face that seemed frozen at forty, turned from his table. On the table was every medical device and substance money could buy, and still it wasn't enough. He removed his glasses and looked at River with an indifferent gaze.

"Who was it?" he asked.

River moved further into the room and shut the door.

"Another Rebellion recruiting officer. The third Captain they've sent. They are desperate. Which makes sense since the Monarch is closing in on their fifth base and they have been grasping at straws for another strategy."

The man cleaned his glasses on the edge of his shirt and put them back on.

"Do you know what they must do?" he asked.

She gave him a flat look that told him that was a stupid question.

"Do they know what you are?" he asked.

River crossed her arms and looked at the woman in the bed.

"I don't even know what I am, so how could they?"

"Nothing has come back to you?"

River turned to him, her face finally showing emotion in a touch of anger.

"No, Victor. Nothing has come back. I have only memories of the past two years when I woke up and abilities I don't know how I got and a brain that any Rebellion or Monarch Captain would kill to have. I can see every move on the board, but not my own past." She waved her hand at the bed and the woman. "The only key I have won't wake up and tell me how I came to be here! So no, nothing has come back!"

Victor just stared at her with unsympathetic eyes, his face unchanged. River looked away, reining in her frustration.

"Any changes?" she asked.

Victor removed his glasses and methodically cleaned them again. Not a good sign. River didn't wait for him to say the words she knew where coming.

"I'm going out," she said.

"Another job?" he asked.

She didn't answer, because, like she had known his answer, he knew hers. She grabbed a gray jacket from a hook and pulled it on. With one last glance at the woman, she left, shutting the door behind her. She descended the stairs and made her way out onto the darkened street.

The city had once been a thriving place, but poverty and war had stripped it of its glory. One Division over from the Monarch, the city still held richer parts, but River did not live there. Around her tall skyscrapers loomed like silent guards, with missing eyes and scars from battles fought. Only the stars that hid behind murky clouds lit the city. The paved streets were broken and lined with jagged cuts that stretched for miles. Dirt and grim coated every surface.

River tucked her hands into her pockets and headed down the street, walking in the center, unconcerned with being seen. The city was quiet, the weary minds and bodies of its occupants lost to the world of sleep, freed from reality for just a bit. They clung to the realm of dreams with a hunger that their stomachs knew in the day time. River had only traveled a block, before she heard the sound of footsteps, a sound no other human would be able to hear at that distance.

She did nothing but tracked the steps as they kept pace with her; slowing when she did and quickening when she did. Through the city the two pair of boots walked, becoming familiar with each other. Eventually, River put from her mind her silent and distant companion and focused on the job ahead.

She moved from the run down side of the city to the cleaner and wealthier part. Here some of the buildings still had lights burning in their windows. The paint had not started peeling away. The houses almost looked smug in comparison to the rest of the state of the city. River's pace slowed, as did her tail, as she entered a neighborhood gaudy in its cleanliness.

She stopped in front of a four story house made of red brick and surrounded by a black iron gate. Beyond the barrier was a paved courtyard large enough to fit a hover. No lights were on, but that didn't mean it wasn't protected. She stood staring at it, then looked to the accompanying houses, her half thought out plan taking full form in her head. She reached down to check her knife in her boot but remembered it was currently pinned to the rafters of the store.

With a sigh, she turned and walked away from the house and in the direction of a dark alleyway. The switch in directions was so surprising that the figure in the alley didn't have time to respond.

"Turner, you don't by any chance have a knife I can borrow, do you?" River asked.

Dimitri didn't speak right away, startled by the question. She held out a hand.

"I promise I'll return it less than half an hour. If you stay here it will make it all the more easy of keeping that promise."

Dimitri pulled a knife from his boot and handed it over to her.

"How did you know it was me?"

River flipped the knife once, testing the weight.

"Because no one else would be stupid enough to tail me. Besides you have been doing it since the shop." She held up the knife. "I'll return this shortly."

She turned away and walked to the house next to the one she had been studying. Though for all outward appearances looked like a house with a wealthy family; River could see there was an air about it that said they would not be staying long. The windows lacked curtains and the marks of a hover on the stone had faded.

She stopped by the house and looked over its fence. Made of the same black iron as its neighbor, it did not hold the threat the other did. River put the knife into her boot and slipped on a pair of gloves. She jumped, grabbing hold of the bar at the top. She hoisted herself up and balanced on the narrow piece of metal. She took a breath and leaped towards the house that was only a few feet away. She landed on the small balcony, dropping into a crouch.

No noise came from inside.

She then moved to the edge and started scaling the walls, her fingers finding the tiniest grooves and cracks to find perch in. Faster than was possible, she made it to the roof. She turned and surveyed the house across the way. The distance was further than she had done before but not out of her abilities. She moved back, gaining room to run. With another breath to steady herself, she raced to the edge. Without a touch of hesitation, she jumped.

Her body slammed against the side of the building as she gripped the stone ledge. She winced as the shock of the impact ran through her. She looked down, finding she landed exactly where she intended, above the fourth floor window. Before lowering herself down, she looked to the alleyway. Dimitri had stepped further into the street, his amazement pulling him from hiding. She smiled at the shocked look on his face as he stared at her. She released her hold on the ledge and fell. Her boots collided with the lip of the window frame first, before she latched onto the top with her hands.

Deftly, she pulled the knife from her boot and used it to slip the latch of the window. She pushed the windows open and climbed in. The house was silent, not a single alarmed raised. She mocked the owners for their arrogance at thinking height stopped some buglers.

Her search was swift as she knew exactly what she was looking for and where it was hidden. It was less than five minutes before she was back on the ledge and retracing her steps.

When she jumped down from the neighboring black gate, Dimitri was waiting for her. She handed him the knife with a nod.

"Thanks."

She turned and headed back towards the street.

"I want to hire you to help us win," he said.

River stopped and twisted back.

"An interesting tactic," she said.

"One that will work?" he asked.

Her expression went thoughtful as she turned away.

"Give me the number and we'll see," she said.

*****************

Hey-woah!

Okay! So where in the world did River come from? Ummm...probably from reading a lot of Dystopian books with really young girls where the whole revolution pivots on the them. Don't get me wrong I love those books but I wanted to write a book where the girl has a legit reason for being the face of the rebellion but actually has no desire to be.

Anyways, River is actually a science experiment created by the Monarch (I don't know if I like the name, it was the best I could come up with. If you have a better one let me know.) to make them win the war. But before she can be used the scientist who created her stole her away. The woman in the bed is the scientist. Before she can explain to River who she is, she falls ill from something (still working that out) and goes into a coma. Anyways, the story is about River trying to make sense of who she is. Should be fun!

What do you think of her? And how I came up with the idea?

Vote, comment, follow. I feel like she would be really great friends with Carter, what do you think?