The Enhanced

Chapter 23

How weird.

Klaus was keeping an ear out regarding the chaos from last night. But for whatever reason, rumors were minimal. It wasn't like Klaus was only asking a single person. Despite his nature, he had more connections than one would expect. He wouldn't go as far as to call those people friends, but they were allies. They wouldn't lie about not hearing anything.

Klaus had expected some noise. Questions about how things went down or rumors about who led Big Brother to a place that was supposed to be safe. Something on the news about government agents being killed. Maybe rumors being spread about the Enhanced being genetically predisposed to committing arson. But there was nothing.

It was almost disappointing.

Someone was putting a lot of effort into keeping things quiet and Klaus wasn't sure why. Either there was something about the situation that both sides wanted silent or there was a bigger problem.

Maybe Aria would have some ideas. She definitely didn't have any contacts that could provide insight, but she might have some of it herself. And even if she didn't, who else was he supposed to complain to about the state of everything?

Maybe she went out on a walk, Klaus thought when he couldn't find her. She did disappear fairly often, but she always seemed to appear out of thin air when he wanted to see her. He waited on the porch for a while.

Klaus tried to get ahold of Eli and Alex, but neither got back to him.

When the sky started to darken, he was willing to admit he was close to panicking. Was this how the others felt when he was gone for too long? Shit, it was awful. He couldn't sit still. Instead, he paced around with sweaty hands clasped together. The last time Aria was gone for a little too long, it was because she got caught up in the raids.

Half expecting to hear about some sort of disaster, Klaus turned on the radio. He gave up on listening to all of them and settled on the only Enhanced station he knew of. The voice on the other side was listing complaints about the Enhanced, many of which Klaus would have agreed with if he could focus.

When Eli and Alex arrived together, his stomach dropped.

"What is it?" he heard himself demand at the sight of their nervous, ashen faces. "What happened?"

Klaus wasn't the most rational person in the world. He knew that. That inkling of self-awareness was the only thing that kept him from setting the cabin alight, but it was getting harder with every word he heard. 

Klaus didn't interrupt as Eli explained. His eyes slid from Eli to Alex and back, taking in the looks on their faces. Their unease seemed to vanish when he didn't react poorly and Klaus wondered if they cared more about him taking the news badly than what had happened. It made him feel crazy. 

Klaus didn't know what upset him more. That or the realization that he'd been sleeping soundly while his friend was being hurt. It was like something had pierced him through the chest.

When the account was over, Klaus' blood was boiling. "You let him hurt her," Klaus said, voice strange even to his own ears. It was too quiet. Too low. "You watched him hurt her."

"I did," Eli said, like she was talking about seeing an undersaturated sunset or eating a bland meal.

"And now you're both involved in the search for her? So you can drag her into the Elites when we all know she never wanted anything to do with them?"

Alex reached out for him, face falling when Klaus moved out of his reach. "We need to protect ourselves too, Klaus. You know that."

"We'd all be under suspicion if anyone found out she was with us," Eli said. "That could be dangerous. You know we don't take any risks."

"We," Klaus echoed. "As in the Elites. Who kill their allies when they're suspected of anything."

The laugh that bubbled out of him bordered on hysterical. It sounded insane and it wouldn't stop coming, even though he could feel his face twist with rage and his hands shake as he doubled over. He wanted to scream or cry, but this was what was coming out instead.

Klaus was just told his friend was tortured and missing and he was laughing.

Eli and Alex exchanged a look, but they didn't say anything. Probably because they couldn't argue with what he said or because they weren't sure how to handle him. 

Klaus sometimes wondered what the point was of being part of the Elites. Sometimes it felt like they hurt their own as much as the government. There was a period of time when he tried to convince himself he was helping somehow, but he couldn't get himself to believe it. He couldn't even remember the last time the Elites involved him in something that felt right.

The only good he'd ever managed to do was when he doing what they didn't want him to do. When he caused enough chaos to let a few Enhanced slip away from pursuers or leak footage, even if it didn't do much.

"I'm done with this," Klaus said with a manic grin. "Tell Knox I told him to go fuck himself. I'm not going to be a part of this."

"I understand where you're coming from," Alex began cautiously, "but you can't just quit over this."

"Yeah? What can I quit over, Alex? What will I be allowed to walk away from?"

Alex looked to be at a loss for words. He glanced over at Eli with helpless eyes as though she'd be able to soothe him.

Eli leaned back, arms crossed. "You can't. This isn't a normal job. You can't resign. You can't leave. You're stuck in this until we win this fight or you die. If you try to leave first, Knox is going to put out an order to kill you."

Klaus wanted to laugh all over again. This was the first he'd heard Eli admit it. He used to think that getting her to admit the truth about something like this would leave him feeling vindicated. But now, all there was was a sense of sadness.

"You can be replicated. He's not going to tell me to be nice and drag you back. He's going to tell me to put a bullet in your head because you know too much."

"Like you need an excuse."

"I'm trying to help you!"

"You should've helped her!" Klaus cried out, voice cracking.

There was a pause. Wind rattled the windows, howling like it felt as alone as he did.

"If it's between us and a stranger, I'm going to choose us."

"Aria is one of us. She went out there because she was worried about you. She saved and she helped you! And you let some ass barbecue her in return!"

"The Siren -"

"You can't even say her name!"

Eli pursed her lips. "I never said it to begin with."

"Will you be able to say mine when he tells you to kill me?" Klaus wondered.

Eli flinched.

Alex reached out again and this time Klaus didn't pull back. When Alex's hand came down on his shoulder, he blinked almost immediately, his eyes shining. It was the most emotion Klaus saw from him all night.

"Don't do this," Alex said unsteadily.

"Does it feel like I'm going to change my mind?" Klaus asked.

His words were met with silence.

In the quiet, Klaus could hear the thread between the three of them snap.