Arc 2.5

((It's time for short story #2! After this, Talent de Lune will resume, later this month.

Foreword: It's decently long, about 4k words with a lot of pictures. A prequel to TDL, centered on Ambre, Sarah Chu, and Dan Penwood. There is implied violence (somewhat cartoonish), the brief appearances of guns, and pretty much every character is morally dubious. Take care while reading!))

---

Spring, 2012. It’s a beautiful day, and Sarah Chu is deep underground, examining vats of electrically-charged nonthermal plasma with her closest friend-coworkers.

Ambre looks to be about two seconds away from breaking the glass cover and sticking her hands inside. “Would this stuff burn my hands off?” she asks morbidly.

“No, it’d probably evaporate into the air and you’d waste a million dollars,” Penwood says.

Ambre grins. “Cool.”

Secretary Malla stares at them. “Please do not break the glass.”

Today’s primary task is a brief day-trip to Bright Industries. The company is both a top financial backer for the FHTC and an important supplier, providing a key component for Sarah’s patented Talent suppressor tech. Talent Plasma. Its formula is complicated, finicky, and vague; even Sarah and Penwood, the ones who refined it, have not been able to puzzle out the exact nature of its one secret ingredient.

Well, as long as they can use the stuff without burning their hands off.

Last week, Bright Industries requested Sarah’s presence. She pays them annual visits, and though this year’s trip has come a little early, it’s been standard thus far. She’s toured the facilities, now all that’s left is to hold a conference with the company’s top brass about her latest work on Talent suppressor tech.

She asked Penwood to accompany her, and Ambre was allowed to tag along after complaining of boredom.

It’s best to keep her from getting too bored.

Sarah can admit that the day hasn’t been completely routine, which is a nice change of pace. The CEO of Bright Industries retired recently, passing on the torch to his son. The staff has clearly gone through a bit of upheaval. Sarah feels sorry for those who were fired, but it’s always nice to meet new faces. Well, usually.

Secretary Sarah Malla is new. Their first meeting left something to be desired.

Speaking of Sec. Malla… She steps forward and clears her throat. “Our tour has ended. The board is ready to see you.”

“Great!” Sarah says, trying her best. Malla doesn’t bat an eye, just silently leads them to the elevator and inputs the proper passcodes. Penwood has to tear Ambre away from the plasma vats.

---

They enter the main conference room. As with the past ten rooms, Ambre charges in first, excited to be somewhere new, and Penwood fruitlessly attempts to hold her back by the scarf. For once, Sarah feels a little unprepared for her meeting with the company’s CEO. Her heart rate picks up.

Penwood stays dead silent. Sarah inwardly sighs, stepping forward to shake Bright’s hand. “Yes, of course. I’m Dr. Sarah Chu, and you’ve certainly made an impression, Mr. Bright!” Maybe her grip is a bit strong, because Bright winces.

“But, you…” he trails off, glancing between her and Penwood.

“What?!” Penwood snaps. “Talk to the woman you invited.” He clicks his tongue and drops into an open chair. Ambre does the same, grinning eerily. Bright bares his teeth in an awkward smile.

Contrary to a certain executive, Sarah came prepared for the visit, with a suitcase full of her latest prototypes. And yet, despite the rocky start, Bright and the other board members are an eager audience, much more so than the previous board ever was. They ask lots of interesting questions, acknowledge and admire the effort she’s put into her work. Sarah’s mood is looking up, and by the end of the presentation, she’s pretty pleased.

“We’re out of time,” Penwood points out, eyeing his watch. Sarah holds back a sigh. Too bad.

“It was nice meeting you all!” she says, packing up. “We look forward to your continued generosity.”

Bright beams. “About that…”

Oh no.

Sarah scans the room. At some point, the security guards must’ve moved, because they’re currently covering all the available exits. It’s a bit much for a simple intimidation tactic.

So this is more than simple intimidation.

“What the hell, Agent?!” Penwood jumps up and hisses at Ambre. “You just been sleeping over there??”

Ambre giggles, inordinately pleased. She was getting bored, Sarah realizes, and she allowed them to be surrounded in an attempt to spice things up.

“Please, there’s no need to panic,” Bright says. He sounds perfectly cheerful, and it’s starting to get annoying. “Just a few more minutes of your time. I’d like to make you an offer, Ms. Chu.”

Doctor. She wants to correct him, but the words are stuck in her throat along with her heartbeat.

“Your work has greatly impressed us. Lately—under new leadership, one might say—my company seeks to move in a fresh direction. Hmm, how should I put this?” Bright taps his pearly-white grin in thought, then claps. “Essentially, we’d like to commercialize your inventions! The suppressor tech.”

“It’s not for sale,” Sarah manages, her voice coming out rough—like it always does when she’s frustrated. “I didn’t make this stuff for you to shove it in the hands of anyone and everyone. It’s gotta be regulated. And the FHTC provides that regulation already.”

Penwood makes a doubtful noise. Sarah shoots him a glare. Can he not undermine her argument, please??

“You won’t make much money with principles like that,” Bright chuckles. It’s infuriating.

Sarah isn’t the most righteous person in the world. In fact, she wouldn’t even call herself the most righteous person in the room. But she’s decent enough to understand that—in America at least—the Talents have twelve measly years of very fragile footing. To hand everyone else a specialized way to take them down? No matter what her principles are, Sarah—of all people—can understand how bad that would be.

“I see what the problem is.” Bright ambles back toward the front of the room, gesturing at Malla. Standing at the smart board, she tries three times to bring up a new window, poker-faced. Wow, those things are impossible to use.

Finally, Malla succeeds.

“Man, what?” Sarah asks.

Bright sighs. “We’ll supply you and your companions with unlimited funds, for any and all projects you can think of. And…” He shoots a glance at Ambre. “Your security will gain access to an expansive, expensive arsenal of the highest quality. How does that sound, Ms. Chu?”

Penwood and Ambre freeze.

“You said… Repeat that?” Penwood leans forward. “How much funding?”

“Arsenal means weapons, right?” Ambre asks. “Could I get a real-life morning star? Combined with a flail??”

“Whatever you desire,” Bright says brightly. His confidence is fully restored, and his teeth shine menacingly. “Just ask, and Bright will provide.”

“I take back the bad attitude. This sounds like a nice gig.”

“Anyone you want me to kill?”

“Hold on!” Sarah yells. “We have jobs already! We can’t just ditch the FHTC to mass-produce my technology without any regulations!”

“Why not?” Ambre asks.

Sarah groans. “It’s dangerous! Too dangerous to spread around.”

“So?” Penwood scoffs. “They’re offering us unlimited funding. Applicable to whatever projects we want. Isn’t that the dream, kid?”

It is. “But…I mean…we have to have some measure of morality in this!” Sarah sputters, crossing her arms and drawing the suitcase closer to her. “We make tech for the— the whole national authority on Talents. Our decisions could change the world! We have to—”

Ambre fake-snores. “Boring! You guys talk too much. Show me the weapons!”

Bright sweats. “We, uh, don’t have them yet—”

“Get ready for your ears to fall off with boredom, cause I’m gonna talk some more!” Sarah snaps, standing up. “If no one wants to listen to reason, I’ll just be straight with you! I’m the one with the patent. Talent suppressor tech is mine. So thanks for the job offer, but I’m not interested, Mr. Bright! You can go eat shit!”

“Now that’s just crass.”

Sarah stomps toward the door, shouldering aside bemused security guards through sheer force of will. Bright sighs behind her. “It’s certainly a shame. I was hoping this business would run a bit more smoothly.” He chuckles. “Ever the optimist, I am!”

“He’s so annoying,” Penwood stage-whispers to Ambre.

“Nonetheless, I continue to strive for my goals and I never give up! I— Pardon me, could you—? Could you wait for me to—”

Sarah reaches for the doorknob.

Malla’s hand makes it there first. Her expression is stone.

Bright clears his throat, then finishes lamely. “Er, yes. Hmm. We are going to kill you and steal your work now. Sorry.”

Penwood and Ambre freeze again, for very different reasons.

---

“Why do you want an arsenal so bad?!” Sarah cries as they run. “You’re clearly just as lethal with your bare fists!”

“Swords are pretty!” Ambre yells back, affronted. That’s all??

“Look!” Penwood points.

Just a few paces before them sits the building’s main elevator. Standing inside are a couple of terrified employees, one mashing the ‘close doors’ button.

“MOVE!!” Sarah, Penwood, and Ambre all shout in unison. The employees scream and flee instantly.

The three of them slide to a stop inside the newly-vacated elevator box. Ambre punches an actual hole through the ‘close doors’ button, unhelpfully. By some miracle, however, the doors do indeed close before Bright and his cronies can reach them.

“Let’s try the second floor,” Sarah whispers, just in case.

The lights go out completely, and a deafening, descending, analog noise obnoxiously announces a power outage.

“What was that?” Ambre hisses, the typically vivid amber of her scarf just barely visible in the dark.

“Some sort of lockdown,” Sarah groans. “They’ve cut the power on us.” She presses an elevator button fruitlessly to demonstrate. It makes a plastic clicking noise, but doesn’t light up.

“We’re trapped,” Penwood says, more bluntly.

It’s so quiet without the hum of electronics. On the other side of the door, they can hear all those armed Bright Industries employees talking to one another. This is bad. They’ll be found, sooner or later.

Ambre sounds like she’s moving around. Penwood audibly inhales like he’s going to tell her to be quiet, but she speaks first. “Come on,” Ambre whispers. “We can crawl into the elevator shaft.”

Sarah tries to find Penwood’s eyes in the darkness. Without anything to reflect off his glasses, he’s practically invisible. “Get going,” he tells her, unreadable when she can’t see him. “Better put some distance between us and Agent Smith, over there.”

“What?” Ambre breathes somewhere above them, missing the reference.

“It’s from the Matrix,” Penwood sighs. “Just go.”

---

“...Nice one, Chu,” he mutters a couple minutes later, squashed into the corner of the elevator shaft. You’d think a booming business like this could build wider elevators, damn. “We can kiss that dream budget goodbye thanks to—” He gestures at the blood on Ambre. “—all this.”

“Sorry for having scruples,” Sarah grumbles back. The adrenaline crash has left her disappointed and low. She’s stuck in close quarters with two people she’s quite upset at, currently, and she still can’t even see.

Ambre seems to lean over, audibly shuffling in place. “Are you mad at us, Sarah?” She seems younger than she is, like this, her voice disembodied and childish. Granted, Sarah really can’t vouch for her maturity, and that’s not even considering the child-rearing acumen of a top-secret, governmental, child-soldier factory.

When she thinks about that too hard, a buzzing sense of anxiety rises in her chest. Is she a hypocrite, for raising a stink about Talent technology restrictions while averting her eyes from the moral crisis of Ambre’s entire thirteen years of life?

“I’m kind of mad at you,” Sarah responds, curling tighter into a ball and clutching her suitcase like a blanket.

Ambre huffs unhappily.

“Mostly I’m mad at Penwood.”

He’s unbothered. “Great, ‘cause I’m mad at you too. We can all be mad at each other.”

He’s infuriating, sometimes. Sarah has never expected emotional heavy-lifting from Penwood, not even when they first met and she didn’t know him—he was her boss, after all. He was practical and unconventional enough to immediately promote her to the highest position he could bargain for, but it had nothing to do with sentiment. Though he seems to have grown fond of her over these past six years, he hasn’t changed. He’s as stubborn and selfish as ever.

“If I’m that troublesome, why not just let me get killed?” Sarah attacks, and then immediately regrets it. She sounds like a moody teenager. She sounds like his disregard for her objections hurt her. It’s true, but it’s pitiful.

Penwood seems to soften, just a bit. “You’re both troublesome, but I’d get bored if either of you died or disappeared. You’re more important than fully-funded mad science.” He says the last bit with reluctant resignation, but as a whole…

Those were pretty kind words, coming from Penwood. Sarah cracks a smile.

“Yeah,” she says, “you guys need me around to keep you in check.”

“Aww, I hate being in check,” Ambre sighs.

“So what now, kid?” Penwood asks. “You’re the one with the sense of propriety—you decide what we do next. We’re essentially blind, definitely trapped, and every single person in this building wants to track us down and kill us.”

Ambre grins. “The dead ones don’t. Want me to make them all dead?”

Penwood contemplates it.

“Not this time,” Sarah says, and her smile begins to grow as she gets to her feet. “I’ve got an idea.”

---

Sarah stands before the Power Room. The only thing between her and that plasma is a 20-character passcode and three feet of solid steel.

…That sounds more intimidating than it actually is.

Hey, the three of them made it out of that elevator shaft and down to the basement with zero tools!

A little clumsily, perhaps, but they made it down. Now they just need to get inside that room.

Sarah examines the digital lock, Penwood and Ambre hovering over her shoulders to watch. She doubts she’ll be able to guess the passcode, even if she did catch a glimpse when Sec. Malla let them in on the tour. She’s going to have to crack the mechanism open manually and determine a course of action from there.

“Ambre.” Sarah turns to her. “Help me with–”

“Wait.”

The three of them freeze.

“…Just let us do this,” Sarah pleads.

Secretary Sarah Malla offers no sympathy, dry and unforgiving. “What are you planning to do in the Power Room?” she asks.

“You know it’s not right to give this tech to people who might misuse it.” Sarah steps forward and Sec. Malla moves the gun in her direction. Ambre tenses, glances between them, and deliberately untenses. Sarah slows way down.

“When you say things like that, it makes you sound like a child,” Malla says. Sarah is quietly offended. She’s 23. “You think the government won’t misuse your technology? You think they aren’t misusing it right now?”

“I…”

No, she wants to say, I trust them. They’ve taken care of me since I was 17. But even without saying it aloud, suddenly the words don’t feel good enough.

“I’d still choose one group with scary-ass lasers over two.”

Sarah turns, surprised. Penwood ambles forward, hands in his pockets and genuinely pretty unconcerned by the gun. He sighs at her. “You’re catching flies, kid.” She closes her open mouth.

He continues. “The FHTC’s not perfect, but our boss is actually a total goody-two-shoes. It’s annoying, but in terms of—” He rolls his eyes and finger quotes. “—society’s ethics, she’s a decent person, I guess. And a hard worker.”

Sarah’s heart warms. He’s actually kind of getting it. He’s actually trying to help.

“Well! None of that matters to me,” Ambre chirps, “but Sarah is a grown-up woman! Don’t call her a child, she tries really hard to be responsible!” By the end of the sentence, her voice goes affronted on Sarah’s behalf, and she drops into a rare angry frown. “You’re a woman too, so you should know it’s annoying when people act like you don’t know anything while you’re trying to make a point.”

Malla stares at all of them, unwavering for one heartbeat, two. Then she stops aiming at them and lifts the pistol like she’s showing it off. It’s got the safety on, Sarah realizes. Malla was bluffing.

She sets the gun down and points at the door to the Power Room. “Don’t mess with the digital lock. If you input the wrong code or force it open, it’ll tase you.”

Sarah breaks into an incredulous laugh. Ambre is already grinning, and Penwood huffs in amusement. “So you’ll help us?” Sarah asks, just to be sure.

Malla shrugs, and a small, warm smile settles on her face. “We do have the same name,” she says.

Sarah’s cheeks hurt from smiling in return. “I suppose.”

---

A loud thud echoes through the chamber. Then again, and again. With a lot of repetitive effort, the main door finally slams open.

“Goodness, people!” Bright shouts, beaming angrily. “Take a little longer, why don’t you? How hard can it be to ram down a door?!”

“It’s three feet of solid, electrified steel,” a security guard points out.

“Regardless!”

A crowd of employees and guards swarm into the Power Room, sweeping through the aisles. Bright follows, dusting off his already immaculate suit. “Find Sarah Chu and her little friends,” he commands. “And for god’s sake, watch out for that red-haired gremlin! She’s ruthless!” He shudders.

“Hey, Bright!”

His head snaps up, and then his expression drops with dawning horror.

“How’s it going?”

“Now hold on…” Bright is sweating. “We can talk this out!”

Sarah’s jerry-rigged the control panel for the plasma vats. With one press of a button, the glass covers preventing their contents from ‘evaporating into the air and wasting a million dollars’ will pop open.

“I apologize for trying to kill you!” Bright calls to her, inanely. “Why don’t we renegotiate? I’d love to have you on my payroll, even now! And…and we would be very responsible with your technology, oh yes! Tell her, Malla!”

“He told me he wanted to make Talent suppressor water-guns,” Malla says. “For the youth.™”

“I never said that!” Bright lies. “Listen, I don’t think you understand how much money we’re willing to offer you! You could do anything you wanted! No rules, no restrictions, no one standing in your way. You’d be set for life; your great-great-great grandchildren would be set for life! You don’t need to worry about anyone else!”

Penwood and Ambre listen to his speech, open-mouthed. Of course they would; as much as they care about Sarah on a personal level, Bright’s pitching them their wildest dreams. But this decision isn’t up to them, it’s up to her.

They may be selfish, but Penwood made things clear—they like her better than mad-science and power trips.

And that sort of selfishness is just fine with her.

“No one’s forcing me to worry about people,” Sarah calls down. “No one’s forcing me to worry about anything! And all those rules and restrictions, they don’t bother me. If they make the world a better place, why would I have a problem?”

“They…!” Bright sputters. “They make the world a boring place! They make it a safe place! Don’t you understand, Ms. Chu?!”

“Yeah, better than you!” Sarah yells. “And that’s Doctor Chu!!”

She pushes the button.

Bright clutches at his skull, gibbering in disbelief while his employees freeze at the loss of guidance. Ambre laughs and tries to grab at the mist like a child. Penwood sighs, grumpy as usual, but he watches the air glow with a sort of wonder. Malla nudges Sarah’s arm.

“Hey. Is this stuff going to poison us?”

Sarah chuckles, “Probably not!”

“How reassuring.”

The air is still purple as the four of them descend to the main floor. Bright is scrambling, trying to push the glass covers back into place, for all the good they’ll do now.

“You…” He turns to Sarah, his expression the utter picture of despair. “Look what you’ve done. I’ll— I’ll sue you! I’ll ruin your life! You’ll be fired!!”

Sarah crosses her arms. “Of course I won’t,” she huffs. “You literally tried to kill me.”

The words seem to spark something in him, and Bright lunges for a nearby guard’s holster. He shoves the gun right in her face, hand shaking with rage, and Sarah’s stomach drops into her feet.

If moments like this move in slow-mo on TV, Sarah realizes that in real life, they’re like a blur. She catches glimpses, Penwoods hair in front of her, his elbow jabbing into her side on accident. Ambre’s hand outstretched, close to the barrel, about to throw his aim up to the ceiling.

Before Bright can fire, however, a raised voice gives him pause.

“When you called me, Chu, I can admit I was hoping to discover that the mess you three have landed yourselves in was the result of a misunderstanding. Clearly, my hopes have been dashed.”

All of them turn. Framed in the main doorway is Miriam Bosser, the head of the science division, and Sarah, Penwood, and Ambre’s direct supervisor.

The goody-two-shoes.

“Stand down, Brandon Bright,” Miriam says. From behind her, FHTC officers file into the room, and the Bright employees quickly surrender their weapons.

“This is…ridiculous,” Bright wheezes, the gun dropping from his hand. Sarah spares it a glance, then does a double-take. Oh yeah, he’s an idiot. It’s got the safety on.

Malla sets a hand on Bright’s shoulder. He stares up at her, pleading, like she can summon up a miracle and fix the disaster he caused.

“Mr. Bright,” Malla says. “I resign.”

Bright’s head drops down in defeat.

It’s over.

---

“You are not getting off scot free,” Miriam says sternly. “Not this time.”

The chaos is settling down. Sarah’s heart rate has returned to normal. Ambre is back to being bored. All in a day’s work!

“Sure, sure,” Penwood says, obnoxiously. “Just give us a slap on the wrist and let us get back to work.”

“I don’t think you realize the magnitude of this screw-up,” Miriam insists. “Bright Industries is our main supplier of Talent Plasma, and guess what they no longer have any stock of? Crale is going to rip my head off for allowing you three to run around unsupervised.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sarah asks, offended.

“You’re like children. When the three of you join together, the results are explosive. You’re the black sheep of the FHTC. If you weren’t so important, we’d have fired you—”

“Okay! Damn, that’s harsh!”

Miriam sighs. “My head is going to be ripped off.”

“Sorry for being so troublesome!”

“Don’t apologize.” Penwood grins. “You talk a big game, but you like rushing into danger as much as me and Ambre do. That’s why Miriam’s lumping you in with us.”

“That’s silly,” Sarah sputters. “I do not like danger!”

“You were the one who wanted to destroy all that plasma,” Ambre muses, “instead of running away.”

“I just—!”

Miriam’s eyes laser in on Sarah. “Is this true?” she asks, low and dangerous.

Sarah freezes. No other choice. She turns and runs. “Maybe-it’s-true-but-you-can’t-judge-me-I-was-under-duress-okay-see-you-later!!”

“Sarah Chu!” Miriam yells after her. “Get back here! You are actively being troublesome right now!”

It’s easy to forget her worries, with Ambre and Penwood cackling and the wind in her face and the adrenaline of the day still simmering under her skin. It’s easy to ignore the questions she faced and the answers she couldn’t give.

When you say things like that, it makes you sound like a child. You think the government won’t misuse your technology? You think they aren’t misusing it right now?

Hey, she said it herself! Sarah isn’t the most righteous person in the world.

Eventually, she’ll have no choice but to face herself. She isn’t quite sure what she’ll do, when that day comes. Will she run away again? Will it be right to run?

In the meantime, a few more mistakes can’t hurt.

---

Later that month, Sarah will have her first encounter with her dream girl. …Maybe her nightmare girl. How ironic!

Well, she does like danger.