Terrestrial Undead

Chapter 31

003 sat huddled in their cage with Juju and Bell. None of them talked; there wasn't anything to say. No words could describe Faith's sudden betrayal, and nothing would comfort 003. So they just sat, and waited.
The guards seemed to be keeping their promise— they hadn't laid a finger on one of the vampires. But it remained to be seen how long they would humour the new captain of Airship 11 before they returned to their old ways.
003 was lying facing the stony wall when they received a summons to the central room. The guards accompanied them as they dragged themselves to their feet and towards the torture pit that they had pulled Faith out of. had she forgotten that? How could she send 003 there after what she had been through?
However, when 003 entered the room for the second time, its grisly contents had been scraped out, and only a single old man stood there.
"What do you want, priest?"
"Hello, my wayward child", Priest 4 said in his particular theatrical way, "I come on the insistence of Faith."
"She sent you? I thought she knew me better," 003 grumbled.
"She only asks if you need anything. She is desirous of an audience with you, but doubts whether you are willing."
"You mean after she lead a bunch of violent fanatics to the vampire's doorstep after they rescued her and took her in? Yes, I can see how she might've reached that conclusion." 003 turned away and headed for the door, throwing words over their shoulder. "You can tell her that what I really need is for her to let us go, to forget that damn airship," and in a quieter tone, "and to come back to me and tell me what the hell she thinks she's doing."
"You care for her deeply," the priest replied, circling 003 and blocking their way, "and yet you are against her only chance to thrive in this world. She offers you not only a life outside of crime and violence, but a highly prosperous one in which your past will be pardoned."
"I'm not the one who needs pardoning," 003 snarled up at the pompous old git. He wasn't that tall, but he had an infuriating knack for looking down on anyone outside the Order, regardless of height. Peering down over his obnoxious tangles of bleached facial hair, the priest raised his eyebrows.
"And how many people have you murdered, exactly?"
"However many people needed it," 003 returned, pushing past him. "How many people have your kind murdered?"
"You claim to be above the Order, and yet you perpetuate the same crime you accuse us of."
"You started it!" 003 turned on the old man, well and truly out of patience. "There's no point talking to you. Let me go back to my cell."
Priest 4 sent them away with the command to consider an audience with Faith. It hurt to push her away, but 003 couldn't reconcile the Faith they had known and the things she had done. All their life, 003 had been able to count on Faith. They had known she had secretly wanted to be captain of an airship, but they had never believed she would go this far to actually get there, especially after all they had been through. How could they ever trust her again?
003 sat back down in the cell. As soon as the guard left, Bell spoke as if to the wall.
"What did they want?"
"They want me to talk to Faith. Negotiate, I guess."
"Are you going to?"
003 didn't speak for a very long time. There was no way she could abandon the people who had sheltered them since their escape from the airship. Be that as it may, they had no other way of moving forward. Faith was playing a game; she hadn't forced 003 to talk to her, but she had left them with no other choice. Who did she think she was? Who gave her the right to decide what was best for them?
"Yes," they said at length, "let her have it her way. If they think they've won, that buys us more time."
Faith had clearly forgotten that 003 knew her better than anyone. They'd refresh her memory.