Indigo's Owl [Indigo Rewrite]

Chapter 32 - The Weight of Responsibility

Raph stood with his hands braced against the edge of the spare console in Kione's Tech lab, hardly able to believe what he was being told, let alone the damning evidence that was on the screen in front of him.

"How sure are you that this is accurate, Kione?" said Raph, adjusting the robe he'd hastily thrown on over his pyjama pants.

"I confirmed it in every way I could think of before I woke you all up," said Kione, grimacing. "This Project is run, funded, and approved by Elites—or Wardens, whatever you want to call them."

Raph swore.

Kione had woken the team after he'd cracked the 'Project: Spectrum' database, and quite honestly, Raph wasn't entirely convinced he was awake, because everything he'd seen so far felt more like a nightmare.

"I don't care who's running it," said Zoe. Raph glanced at her, noting the ominous Yellow glow peeking through the cracks in her fists. She, like the rest of them, hadn't bothered to change when Kione had called them down, but Raph doubted Zoe's jellyfish shirt and sunflower pyjama pants would stop her from storming Elite HQ. "We have a location. We can go there right now and put a stop to everything." 

"If my tracker is accurate, Shift and Athira are already there," said Kione, flicking a basic map with two dots — one green, one purple — onto the screen over the rest of the horror. "Or at least, they're close."

"Good," said Zoe. "Then let's suit up and head in after them. They'll need all the help they can—"

"No," said Raph, sliding into the seat at the console beside Kione's.

"No?" said Zoe. She flung an arm towards the screen. "Raph, you can't tell me you're happy to let this keep happening."

"We aren't going to," said Raph, moving to connect his wristlet to the console before he stopped himself. The fewer access points the Elites had to Kione's console right now, the better. He clicked his tongue, thinking. "We will do everything we can to put a stop to this, but first, we need a plan. This team is capable, but if we rush in against the entire Elite force by ourselves, we'll be overwhelmed and then this whole thing gets buried. We have to be smart."

Zoe's hand went back to her side, her eyes unblinking as she stared at the screens long enough to make her eyes water, her mouth pressed into a tight line. "I don't want to be smart right now, Raph."

Raph knew how she felt. He wanted nothing more than to march straight into Elite HQ tonight and demand answers — and had it just been him, he might have done just that.

But it wasn't just him. It was the whole team, and as their leader, it was his responsibility to be the smart one regardless of how tempting the idea of storming the Elite's Project and damning the consequences seemed right now.

"I still can't believe this," said Talia. She hadn't moved since Kione's explanation, standing as rigid as the stone she manipulated. She pulled her dressing gown a little tighter around her. "I can't believe this has been going on the whole time. There's no way."

"I promise you, Tal, I checked and triple checked this in every way I could," said Kione in an unusually soft tone, turning his chair to face her. "I'm sorry."

"I feel sick," said Talia, covering her mouth with a hand and heading for the door, finding it locked. She slapped her other palm against it. "Let me out before I break the damned thing. I need—I need to get some air."

Kione glanced at Raph, waiting for the nod before he unlocked the door. Talia rushed out, disappearing into the storage room and out of sight.

"Think she'll be okay?" asked Kione quietly.

"Give her some time," said Raph. "The Elites raised her after villains killed her parents. She considers some of the people named in this database family, and as someone else who recently found out a family member was involved in some questionable activities..." He sighed. "It's hard."

"Athira never did anything close to this," said Zoe stiffly. Her eyes flicked back to the screens, her anger all too clear as she yet again tugged at the thin band around her arm they hadn't yet found a way to remove — another detail the Elites had left out. She gave up with a huff and resorted to running a finger along the chain of her locket. "This is borderline evil. I don't care why they're doing it."  

Raph had his suspicions about what Athira might have done in the past, but Zoe had a point.

"I know, Zo," he said, reaching a hand towards her. She took his hand, her grip steadying him the same way it always had when things got tough. Raph gave her fingers one last squeeze before he released it and took a breath. "Okay. Kione, get me a list of every Elite involved with this Project. I need to know how deep this goes, if there's anyone left we might be able to rely on. Zo, I want you to go through as many of these videos and audio recordings as you can handle, particularly the ones involving the Spectrum."

Kione jerked a thumb towards the screen, where the little green and purple dots were still moving. "What about them?"

Raph looked at the screen for a long moment, considering his answer. "There's no way to get in contact with them, is there?"

"No," said Kione. "Comms were too risky. If someone else were to get a hold of it, they'd have been able to trace it back to me."

Raph hated this part of leading.

"Then right now, all we can do is hope they can handle themselves," he said, turning his attention back to the console. "In the meantime, let's make sure we've got a plan by the time they get back so a certain someone doesn't decide to take the situation into their own hands when they find out what's going on."

Kione raised an eyebrow at him. "You think Athira would care that much?"

"It's not Athira I'm worried about," muttered Raph, his eyes on the green dot. "Let's get to work."

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A/N - A short one, but A RAPH POV CHAPTER

Pls forgive for lack of chapter last week, I was in cosplay prison and totally forgot