16 #3
“I went straight to The Shield. At first, they didn’t believe anything I was saying.
They wrote it off as the lunatic ravings of a Scavenger.
It was a newly elected Tennessee Marks who finally gave me a chance to explain.
During it all, Keepers were wreaking havoc on the city, and no one knew how to control them.
“I made myself useful by deriving methods to collect Spark and using it to power the city. It was a breakthrough that gave us the means to protect ourselves in ways we never had before. New Manhattan began to thrive, but I never gave up my quest for a cure.
“I begged Marks for the resources to continue my research, which he provided in secret.
I spent a few more years working with a team of brilliant minds.
I also worked to establish the Storm Guard and position myself as its leader.
Eventually, I became so popular with the public that I was offered the title of general and sworn into The Shield.
“By then, Colt had also taken his position. He was close with Marks, and immediately, I got the sense it would always be me against them. As much as Tennessee had initially supported my efforts, I was still Hollowborn. An outsider. I should have known they wouldn’t like having me around.
“So, they took everything from me. One day, I showed up to find my lab and my scientists had all been removed, wiped out. I never knew what became of them, but all those decades of research were erased again. There was a certain irony in that, after everything I’d done.
Marks and Orsen told me I’d wasted enough time and resources searching for a cure that couldn’t be found.
I was devastated. That’s when they created the Extinguishers to help deal with the problem of feral Keepers. ”
General Sol falls quiet, her chest heaving, as if reliving her past has taken a lot of effort.
“Does anyone else know about this?” I ask.
“No one,” she says. “Me, Marks, Orsen, and now the people in this room. I have every reason to believe that anyone else who knew the entire truth is now dead.”
She doesn’t elaborate further.
“What happened to Dr. Mowry?” I ask.
The general shakes her head. “I’m not sure. I haven’t seen him since I left New Georgetown.”
“So we could have had a cure by now?” Rook asks, his tone acidic. “But you ruined that because you wanted to be Society?”
He practically spits the words, and the general flinches.
I can’t really blame him.
Her expression tightens, her shoulders dropping.
“I’m ashamed of what I did,” she says softly. “I will forever regret my choices.”
“You should,” Rook practically snarls. No one says anything for a moment until he speaks again. “Okay, so why are you telling us all this?”
Sol rolls her shoulders. “Time is growing scarce. I don’t know how much longer I have left, and you deserve to know the truth if you’re going to help aid my larger goal.”
“What larger goal?” Rook asks.
“I believe Marks and Orsen continued the research after they stole it from me, and they do have the cure,” she says. “But I haven’t been able to prove it.”
“Why would they hide this?” I ask.
“As long as they control the cure, they control the city. If dozens, or even hundreds, of other people could survive the storms, their positions would be threatened. The entire structure of Society would be at risk.”
“All this because they don’t want to let go of their power?” Rook asks, his jaw feathering in frustration.
“Men will do anything to hold on to their privilege,” Sol says, her voice edged with disdain.
“I felt the same once, but I’ve realized the error of my ways.
It’s what destroyed the world so many centuries ago, and it seems that even with the lessons of the past to guide us, humanity continues to fall into the same pattern again and again. ”
I’m not sure what to say to that. I glance at Rook, who appears equally perplexed.
“So, how do we find their research?” he asks.
General Sol’s expression goes distant, like she’s peering into the regrets of her past. Then before our eyes, she straightens, shifting back into a member of The Shield with a plan and an agenda.
“I need you to return. Infiltrate the social group around the Extinguishers. You’re friends with the Robins girl, and she’s being lauded as a hero for what she did to you.
Gain their trust, learn their secrets. The Extinguishers recruit the weak-willed for a reason. They’re easy to manipulate.”
“Send someone else,” Rook says. “They tried to have Poet killed.”
“You think I haven’t tried?” Sol asks. “But there are very few people I can trust with this knowledge.”
Sol pauses, waiting for us to react.
Eventually, I clear my throat. “So . . . you want Rook and me to go back to school as if nothing happened, convince everyone I’m totally not a danger to anyone, and trick the person who tried to get me murdered into telling me what the Extinguishers know about The Shield’s secret research.
Oh, and keep your secrets so New Manhattan doesn’t crumble. Do I have that right?”
General Sol tips her head and nods, offering me a penetrating look that I feel straight to the marrow of my bones.
“Well, okay,” I say, my tone dry, as reality clamps around my wrists like manacles. “As long as I understand the assignment.”