Dystopian Chaos

Healing and Planning

Shadow sipped at his hot coffee, the dark chocolate flavoring enhancing the rich taste of the drink. Sally had informed him that before the meeting Commander Tower had wanted to speak with him. Shadow's curiosity peaked and agreed to the meeting. Now, he was waiting anxiously for the arrival of the human Elder.

Shadow looked up to see the elderly human approaching him, his stride confident and assured. Shadow could sense the agenda in the Man's eyes, and he internally prepared for confrontation.

Tower gestured to the chair, "may I?"

Shadow nodded and the human took a seat across from him.

"Hello Shadow, I was unsure if I would see you again.

"You are familiar to me, yet foreign. What happened since the siege?" Shadow took another sip of coffee, interested in what Tower had to say.

"Gun took me in after the siege and I was raised as a cadet. Everything I knew became GUN."

Shadow raised an eyebrow, "what did they tell you about the ARK... and about me.."

" When I asked about what happened, they told me that you had gone crazy, causing the incident. I believed them, to be honest. For me it became easier to blame a creature I only saw for a moment, then believe that everyone I knew in GUN was lying to me."

Shadow nodded, it sounded consistent with GUN'S former soldiers. "But how did you figure out the truth? Surely they kept it well hidden?"

"When I rose in ranks I found out that many officials were corrupt and silenced anyone who knew the truth. My commanding officers, attendants and record keepers, all of them lied. Once I rose high enough to be a GUN Commander, I weeded out the corruption, firing and court-martialing everyone involved in hiding GUN'S darkest secrets. Only then was I able to access the truth."

Shadow stirred his coffee, his ears folding as he remembered the feeling of GUN'S controlling nature. Finding it all too familiar with the current Regime. He set down his coffee, "Once you knew the truth...did you try to find me?"

The Commander nodded solemnly, a hint of regret sat on his shoulders. "I tried to access Prison Island, but couldn't with all of the security clearances and passwords. That is until GUN fell, by then I was able to round up my squadron, who proved to be loyal to me and we held our own even while underground." He swallowed at the memory, "But I remembered Prison Island. I remembered you, even if you were dead I had to know and see if you could help us.

One day, a squad and I investigated and found the cryo chamber you were supposed to be in, the entire area was empty. But there was evidence of raiders and we thought you had been captured by them."

The Commander sighed, "I followed them to a dead end. I wouldn't hear from you again until about a month ago and even then I needed time to be sure." Tower folded his hands, resting them on the table."Now...how about your side of the story?"

Shadow sighed, he was tired but understood the need for answers, he was just glad that he had a few himself now. "You were right, raiders did find me. But they were so afraid of the Guardian that they just decided to let me go and be someone else's problem. I was scared, the world was nothing like the books Professor Gerald provided."

The Commander nodded, "How did you know about the new Regime?"

"I was taken in and introduced to society by a small family. They educated me, but I hid my powers from them, I didn't want to drag them down with me, in case I was found out."

Shadow stirred at his now cold coffee, "By the time I was ready to leave, I had a job at the Identity Screening Department. I tried my best to slow them down, but didn't really succeed until the Freedom Fighters found me."