27.

I drive back into the city.

I wonder about Copper as I pass the numerous streets. I expect him to burst into my head any minute, furious, but I know that my powers cut our signal, or whatever it is, for a bit.

Probably for the better. I don't want to be persuaded from what I'm doing. The memory of that axe planted into Copper's back makes me sick.

I won't lose Copper. I just won't.

I drive, following Indigo's instructions, until I come to a towering skyscraper.

I stare up at the imposing structure, puncturing the sky. The pink hues of the horizon reflect off of it, making it look like a torch burning in the middle of the city. Although it is early, people are already milling about, preparing for a day of business and money-making.

I pull into the parking lot, feeding some coins I find into the parking teller. I drive all the way at the top of the parking quarters, where no one is around yet, and start unloading the guns that are packed in the back seat the moment I park.

I clip a belt around my waist that has multiple holders for knives and guns. I generously equip myself with as many weapons as possible, even with a hand grenade, which freaks me out just to touch, but will probably be useful at some point. I have to leave Bellona behind.

To conceal my inventory, I reach in and grab the old familiar, black hoodie of Copper's. It has been on the floor of the back seat ever since I took it off after the fight at Onyx's apartment.

Even that seems like a lifetime a go, though it's been a mere couple of weeks.

I pull the sweater over my head. I pause to press the fabric to my nose, and smile when I find that it still smells like Copper, a light, manly scent. I close my eyes and take a breath, strengthening my resolve.

I hope I am able to walk out of this building. I hope I can survive this so I can see Copper again.

Before I leave, I grab the two suit cases filled with the brain chips, and I also pick up the sack I have prepared to present to Gold. The one with Gray's severed head in it.

Maybe also delivering Micheal Benson to S.H.A.D.E. would have upped my chances of negotiating my freedom with Gold, but I find that I am content with my choice to let him go. I don't want to be a monster, not anymore than I have to be.

I understand, with the thudding of Gray's head against my thigh as I walk down the brightly lit flights of stairs that will lead me to the walkway of the building, that I am also not a hero. Not at all.

All I am is a girl who loves a boy, and wants the safety of her family, and the safety of her own life for that matter.  And I want to live for me, not for them. And for other people too, to help them escape this nightmare.

I know I am being watched the moment I approach the building. 

I do not match the scenery of the tidily dressed corporate types shuffling in and out of the austere skyscraper.

I am black and blue, dressed in a baggy hoodie, and conspicuously carrying two suspicious silver suit cases and a ruddy looking sack that is blotched an undeniable red, limping my way through the entrance.

I hear the static of security radios, and see the men in black suits moving within the perimiter of the large, posh lobby.

A woman sits at a mahogany desk, bright lipped and stylish.

This place fronts as a CEO building for marketing, where moguls and those in commerce meet to discuss business plans, expansions, and liquidations of companies.  I'm sure that all really happens here, but S.H.A.D.E. also uses this building to conduct its meetings and to gather the head of its Primaries, the Red, Blues, and Greens. Gold's office rests at the very top, naturally.

As I limp past the front desk to the elevators, the woman behind the desk eyes me nervously, and I see her speak into a microphone discreetly tucked behind her ear.

Before I can press a finger to the elevator button, two hands clamp down on either of my shoulders.

"That's far enough, 21448," one of the mammoths of a man whispers down to me. "Don't make a scene."

"I have a bomb strapped to my chest," I lie. "If I don't enter the code every ten minutes, it will detonate." I feel their grasps on me falter. "You could take me away and try to pry it off of me, but I can't garuntee that I don't have a detonator hidden somewhere to just set it off." I hear them shift to look at each other. "Are you two Blacks?" I ask casually. "Pretty shitty security job you're stuck with. I'm a Black too, that's why I don't care if I have to commit suicide to get the job done. Comes with the territory, right boys?"

By now, the people around us, ordinary business people, are starting to whisper about us standing around here. Something fishy is obviously going on, with my unusual appearance and suit cases while these two security guys stand woodenly behind me.

"I suggest you press the button," I say. "I'm going up. All the way."

"Like hell you are," the other one grunts.

"I will blow this place apart. Just watch me."

After a pause, one of them sighs and hits the button. He speaks softly into his mic. "Boss, we have a situation. It's her."

I only hear a the smallest crackle in response, but the guy nods, then looks to a camera that is observing us in the corner of the lobby.

The elevator dings, and a load of people exit, all of them scrunching up their nose at my appearance.

We climb on, and when a man tries to enter with us, one of the mammoths stops him, advising him to wait for the next one. The man looks at me with general disgust at first, but as the door slides closed, his face pales as he takes in my determined expression.

Yes. Get out of here.

Midway to the top floor, the elevator stops, and when the doors slide open, Silver is standing before me.

I haven't seen him since he killed my Swatch and tried to murder me.

His face is grim, his eyes narrowed at me with superiority. "Ebony," he says plainly.

I just glare at him.

He walks onto the elevator, and when the doors close, he presses a button that halts its voyage upward.

In the tight space, surrounded by these three enemies, I am not afraid.  This doesn't seem to be the response Silver wanted from me. He's used to seeing me crying and pleading.  But I'm so different now than when he last seen me.

"You've looked better," he says, looking me up and down. "But I suppose that sweater is hiding weapons? Probably armed to the teeth?"

"Yeah, I got weapons, but I also have a bomb."

"You aren't going to see Gold."

"I am."

He moves towards me, shoving me into the elevator wall, hand at my throat. The other two go rigid, afraid to be blown to smithereens. "You don't give orders. You're a Black. You do what we say, you die when we say. That's it. You've transgressed your place."

"It's funny that you still think you own me."

"It's hysterical that you believe we don't. You literally just walked back into the cage, you dumb animal. I know you won't kill yourself, I know that you're afraid. You know you can't win this."

I smile at him. "You don't think that I'll do it? You think I'm too scared?"

He is about to answer, but I watch his eyes change as they regard me. I know the exact moment he registers that I am different now. His pupil becomes so small, pinning me with his stormy stare. "Why do you want to see Gold?"

"To negotiate."

"S.H.A.D.E. doesn't negotiate."

"I have information Gold will want to hear, and I have done you enough favors. It's only fair."

"Fair?" he laughs darkly. "What fairy tale are you living in?"

I build the heat up behind my eyes and I let it seep into my stare, let it run up his hand that is latched around my throat.

He pulls his hand back as if recoiling from a bite, his eyes wild.

"I don't believe in fairy tales. But I do believe in being given a fair chance, in getting what you are due. You see, I am giving all three of you a chance to live right now. So far, you're really putting that chance to the test."

Silver looks murderously at me, his nostrils flaring.

"Sir," one of the security guards says hesitantly, "I think she's serious."

"Hush, you dog!" Silver snaps at him. He turns around and jams a finger into the button. The elevator starts to move up again.

Silver whispers fervently into his headpiece, tapping his foot anxiously.

The elevator door opens, and we are in a small loft where two girls are sitting at a desk, looking stressed beyond belief. I smile at them, and they look like they will faint.

"Go," Silver tells them, and with a nervous chirp, they get up and hurry to the elevator, eager to get away from me. Silver turns his sneer to me, his dark eyebrows creasing his forehead with anger. "We can't let you see Gold armed."

I click my tongue at him. "We've come this far without me having to resort to violence. Let's not start now. I will be keeping my weapons and bomb in tact."

"I'm beginning to think you're a walking bomb," he growls down at me.

I shrug non-committally.

"Let's go," he seethes, leading the way down the hall to the oak door that reads Gold on a steel plate. Finally, my nerves make themselves known.

This is it. I could die here. This could be it.

"Wait here", Silver grumbles begrudgingly before entering the office.

The two security guards shift uncomfortably, obviously wanting to bolt like the two receptionists did. "I feel bad for you," I tell them, and this seems to startle them. They look at me differently after that. 

Silver comes back out, and I notice that his face is pastier than it was before, that his hand that grips the knob is shaking ever so slightly.

Shit. Now I'm afraid. But I have to be calm and collected, like Copper always is in situations like this.

"She'll see you now," Silver says.

She'll?

He pushes the door wide open, and there she is.

Not male, not old, but a young woman, dressed primly in a pristine white suit jacket and pencil dress, heels to match, hair clipped up into a fancy bun. She stands in the middle of the grand room, upright and proud, her face daring as she looks at me.

"Ebony," she says, "we finally meet."