FGI 8: From Chaos and Madness

It’s been fifteen years today.

Today is a very important day.

I carefully peek out of my office window, my heart pounding as I listen. I swear, one of these days I’m going to get caught and banished for treason. They’re going to take me, beat me, shoot me, then feed me to the dark monsters past the sixth gate into a hell I could not even imagine.

I have heard of the harsh punishments and the morbid reckonings from employees who broke protocol. For years, I have been walking on eggshells, terrified of being found out.

Another shaky breath escapes my lips as I watch the armed bots march past my office with their weapons in their metal grips. I can hear the familiar clicks of their boots on the white, shiny floors in perfect rhythm like some space command center of war. I close my eyes in silent relief, so thankful no one suspects me and raids my little office.

I’m on borrowed time, waiting for the right moment. The shock on their faces if they were to raid my office.

I make a sound in my throat as I watch. All the evidence I have acquired over the long years, being so careful. I’m everyone’s last hope, if that’s even still a thing. It’s been so long that I feel like my efforts are just shrugged off now. Even Zoya’s gaze is distant and glazed over when I tell her all the damning evidence I have. Lately, no one is really interested in my conspiracies and my theories, like they’re tired of hearing them.

No matter. I still believe Pierce is out there somewhere.

Someplace.

He has to be.

I take a deep breath, not wanting to get weak by bad thoughts of him not surviving fifteen years on a desolate planet. I mean, I realize it’s never been done. The survival rate is usually the time the person dies of dehydration or is a beast’s next meal. It’s crazy for me to think that after fifteen years he is still breathing. I just have this feeling that Pierce would not let himself go down that way.

I mentally forbade him to give up since the day they led him away in handcuffs. Where there is a will, there is a way, right?

But, of course, they were threatened. If they so much as stepped out of line, bad things would happen to their kids, the perfect target for compliance. The typical bullying Vincent is known for to gain obedience. The man has become such a tyrant since Pierce’s banishment. I could go on for hours about how he thinks he controls the Universe with his lies and cover-ups.

Plot twist.

He has overlooked me, not realizing I’m his biggest threat.

I made a vow to myself when I witnessed the court hearing and saw the man that I idolized since I was a little girl get sentenced to death. They deceived Zoya into betraying Pierce and used her against him. But that’s another story for another day, not having the energy to dig up that pain. The look on Pierce’s face when Zoya was the key person in the trial to banish him—Vincent and her fae sisters played her like a flute.

I take a deep breath, pushing the memories aside quickly.

Back to the plot twist.

Little shy, ugly April. She’s up to nothing.

Nothing at all.

“Look away, you bastards,” I whisper, turning to walk towards my desk. They moved me to the accounting department, the fools. That meant I had access to the computers and system files, having years to find discrepancies in their paperwork.

And boy, did I find so many.

Information that would get me killed in a heartbeat—such damning information that I’m surprised the evidence was not immediately burned. But why should they take such precautions when everyone was fired except nerdy April, who wouldn’t hurt a fly? They needed someone to train the new employees, and someone who knew the software had to stay. So, they picked the last person who would cause them trouble.

Me.

Bad move.

They got careless with their filings and accounts. Even now—they seem to cook the books on Alpha missions. One hundred percent success rate for Legacy Inc., breaking records and receiving extraordinary honors from the high Celestial Court.

I snort. Such a damn lie. Only Pierce could produce numbers like that.

They’re lucky to be getting a forty percent success rate, and that is unacceptable—if anyone knew this, Vincent would be shipped out so fast that the solar system would shift and implode on itself.

This is unprecedented.

Everyone who used to be employed at FGI knows that deliberately killing off the bad guys can and will have major butterfly effects. This will get bigger than what Vincent can handle and cover up one day. Worlds will be affected by this like a chain reaction. There is a reason why this kind of thing is forbidden. The energy that surrounds this universe will be damaged so greatly that it may be permanently damaged.

It’s appalling.