[REND] B3. 1.3 - Four Bs Assemble

Deen and I picked our chairs and sat. This was a meeting of non-humans. Very cool. Maybe I should transform into Blanchette to add to the cool vibe? But I wouldn’t be able to talk if I did that.

“Sorry, we don’t have much to offer in terms of Fletcher hospitality,” Kelsey said. “I was itching to cook now that I’m back. I had thought of baking something nice since Erind loves pastries so much, but Myra—”

“I didn’t want to go out and buy ingredients,” Myra said. “I’m not even ordering any delivery. We’ll live on cereals and boxed macaroni for as long as we can.” Myra and Kelsey looked at each other and laughed.

I bet they had a pretty eventful weekend working out their bullshit issues. Good for them that they patched things up; I didn’t want any infighting among my pawns. And good for me that Kelsey was gone from my condo. I had my peace back, and it’d be easier to handle Mom’s visit without a monster hanging out at my place. Kelsey wasn’t small enough of a monster to hide under my bed or in my closet.

“I should learn to bake,” Deen muttered under breath, staring at the oven. The hell was she talking about? I didn’t even think that she could fry an egg.

Opening the fridge, Myra took out a huge bottle of brown liquid. “You guys drink root beer? It’s either this or water. Or nothing. I really don’t know what else to offer.”

“We’re fine,” I said. “We should’ve been the ones bringing food to eat.” I left my box of smores in the car because I wasn’t sharing that.  

“Kelsey and I don’t entertain guests here because of obvious reasons,” Myra said. “If we’re too close with people, they might notice my sister’s condition.”

Myra didn’t notice Kelsey looking at the table with a depressed look. If Myra were this tactless, I could understand why Kelsey didn’t trust her much before. This was my chance to remind everyone that I was the most important person in the room.

“But we’ll eventually find a cure,” I said. “Kelsey, did you notice any changes after using your powers when rescuing Myra? I may be mistaken, but you look the same as when we parted ways. It seems that I halted your seeding.” I was the savior of all Adumbrae. I should charge exorcism fees, put up shop downtown with a sign, and everything.

“You’re right.” Kelsey checked herself. “I didn’t get taller or gain new mutations. These small patches of normal skin—” she pointed to a coin-sized exposed skin above her elbow “—didn’t get covered by scales again.”

“Proof that my ‘treatment’ has long-lasting effects,” I said. “What about the Adumbrae in your head? Does it still talk to you?”

“Not at all,” she nonchalantly replied.

The simplicity of Kelsey’s response, with no elaboration whatsoever, as well as the way she said it, made me think that Keke was still around. A constant threat that I should be wary of. Deen met my gaze for a moment. I had apprised her of Keke’s existence, and I sensed that she was of the same thought that Kelsey was lying. Deen and I had a smaller group within our bigger one.

“We’re on the right track,” I said. “If the 4Bs stick together, we’ll succeed in curing ourselves.”

“Yes, we will—What was that?” Kelsey tilted her head. “The 4Bs?” 

“Erind’s name for our group,” Myra said as she arranged four glasses on the table and divided the liter of root beer. “Based on our hair color. Mine’s blue. Deen is blonde. And Erind has black hair. Three Bs. With you here, you’ll be the fourth one.”

“What ‘B’ will I be?” Kelsey combed her hair. “Dark purple…? I can be bitchy to be a member of your group.”

Myra laughed. “That’s what I said when Erind first came up with the name.”

“Weren’t you a brunette?” Deen asked, looking around at the picture frames on the shelves. “I’m right! You and Myra both. That’s our fourth ‘B’—brunette or brown.”

“I… okay.” Kelsey hesitantly combed her hair.

“That works,” I said. “It’s also a reminder that your current form is temporary. We’ll figure out something. It’s going to take time, but we’re not going to stay as Adumbrae.”

“In that span of time, which we don’t know how long,” Deen said, “we should be careful. Maintain our secrets. Prioritize survival. One mistake might be the end of us. Do you know that National Guardsmen are establishing a checkpoint on the way here?” She told Myra and Kelsey about what we had seen, including the bioscanners and the truck of pills.

Deen’s taking charge, huh? It was in her nature to do so, but maybe I should nudge her to the side. I, Red Hood, should be the leader. I was the main character, dammit! Deen was stealing my limelight. This wouldn’t contradict my timid face if I packaged it as rising to the occasion.

After all the shit I had experienced, I was a changed woman, a fighter—I’d slowly implement this narrative.

And I should also research why a ‘limelight’ was called that. Did they use limes, the fruit, in lights in the past? Or was it some other lime?

“I’ve never once left this room since I returned,” Kelsey said, glancing at Myra instead of Deen. Based on Myra’s expression, Kelsey must have tried to leave before, but Myra didn’t allow her. “I guess it’s possible that someone saw me a couple of days ago, when I entered through the window. We did the same trick entering Erind’s room.”

“My place is way high up,” I said. “Twenty-second floor compared to the third floor. Someone walking around could’ve spotted you. But after several days of nothing, the checkpoints will probably transfer elsewhere. Just stay here in the meantime.”

“It’s not a problem for me,” Kelsey replied. “The concern is when Myra goes back to Eloyce tomorrow. Don’t argue!” Kelsey raised a finger as Myra opened her mouth. “You should continue your life. I’m not going to disappear again, I promise.”

Myra sighed. “Yeah, I won’t skip classes tomorrow. I’ll find a route around the checkpoints. They can’t force us to get scanned, right? I can ask for the pills, so I wouldn’t come off as suspicious if I didn’t get out of my car. I’ll even pop a pill right in front of them.”

“Won’t that be dangerous?” I asked. “We don’t know what the effects on… a non-human will be.”

“If it’s anything bad, I’ll just regenerate it,” Myra said, shrugging. “How about you and Kelsey try it? The government may not be blowing ass, and the pills actually work to counter seeding. If it does, I swear that I’ll steal an entire truck and—”

“I think you should calm down on your criminal activities.” Deen’s voice was slightly tense. “You attacked the PCM—”

“You’re going to scold me, too?” Myra frowned. “Can it. I got enough lip from Kelsey. I know what I did wrong. If you’re going to kick me out from the 4Bs—”

“No!” I exclaimed. My precious group should be intact. I had so many uses for them. And I was really proud of coming up with our name. “Let’s discuss other stuff. What do we do about Dario? I feel like we’ll be hearing from him soon.”

Most definitely, Dario knew about the PCM situation by now. Maybe not the full story, but enough of it. He had an information network we weren’t aware of, probably the Professor feeding him intel gathered from spying on government agencies. Would be easy for them to do if the story that the artificial Corebring experiment was a secret government project was true.

Significant things happened in the city without Dario’s participation. He must be bummed that he wasn’t included in the previous season. But I had a feeling that his contract would be renewed for the next season.

“As long as he didn’t know about our part in this shitstorm, it’s all good,” Myra said, “We’ll play dumb, the dumbest bitches who have ever walked the Earth.”

“That’s a bit excessive dumbness, sis,” Kelsey said, chuckling.

“The asshole dictator shouldn’t know that we found you,” Myra said, pointing at Kelsey. “He won’t be so accommodating with a fully transformed Adumbrae. He’ll kill you, and then me, when I try to defend you.”

You’re wrong, I thought, remembering my encounter with Dario at the docks. I was in my Blanchette form. Dario offered an alliance to fight the 2Ms. Of course, I didn’t agree and roughed him up a bit. But that showed he was willing to do anything to accomplish his goals. If he thought that he could use Kelsey and me, he wouldn’t kill us, even though we were Adumbrae.

However, once his goal was completed, he’d dispose of us. We shouldn’t reveal anything to him.

“He also shouldn’t know about Erind,” Deen said. “She’s part Adumbrae and part Corebring.”

“This mysterious Professor would definitely want to experiment on me,” I added.

“Would Johann tell Dario?” Deen asked. “I’m leaning on ‘no’ because he called me for help. But since we’re evaluating possible problems… is this one? We don’t know where Johann’s loyalties lie.”

“Nah, Johann wouldn’t snitch on me,” Myra said. “Trust me. I know him.”

“Why?” I asked, glancing at Kelsey. “Do you have stuff that can be used to blackmail him?” I had told Kelsey that Myra and Johann were probably a thing, and added that Myra was probably hesitant to make it official because she was no longer human. Guilting Kelsey a bit because it was her seeding that pushed Myra to take Dario’s offer.

“Call it a woman’s intuition,” said Myra, blushing. “Deen’s got a good point. Think about it—if Johann had any intention of telling Dario, he would’ve done it when I needed to be, uh, rescued. And don’t point out my mistake. I know that I did wrong. I did a whole lot of wrong things.”

“That’s Operation Dumb 4Bs,” I said, proud of our naming skills. “We don’t know anything. But I don’t think we have much to worry about.”

“I agree,” said Deen. “He wouldn’t have any mission. There’s nothing for us to do. The 2Ms have left. The BID is investigating the PCM. All the more reason for us to maintain our normal lives and refrain from suspicious activities.”

“Dario will probably tell us to keep our heads down and avoid the checkpoints,” I added.

Our best friend tandem was so smooth. But I shouldn’t get carried away and actually think of Deen as a friend. She was a pawn—never forget that. The most useful pawn with future sight powers, and who was willing to protect me.

“We need to meet with Dario,” Myra said. “And I think we need to go on some missions.”

“What?” I asked. Was Myra insane? Well, the answer to that was ‘yes’. But I thought she’d be less so with Kelsey found.

“The pills,” Deen said, looking at Myra. “The pills that help the artificial Core.”

“We need to procure those for Erind.” Myra noticed my questioning stare. “Kelsey told me that you transform into Blanchette and your metal body by summoning masks. You were lying when you said that your form when we fought the Adumbrae inside the PCM lab was your Core power.”

“No way I would’ve told the truth back then,” I replied, grinning. “That’s right, my transformations are my Adumbrae powers. But my Core power has also manifested. It’s connected to my Adumbrae side or something. When I transformed into my mannequin body and linked with Kelsey, my artificial Core activated. It was the key to reversing her seeding.”

“But your own seeding progresses when you use your powers,” Myra said.

“I, uh, yes. Dario’s pills counteract the seeding.”

“It’s clear that we have to play up a need for you to get more pills,” Myra said. “A frigging dangerous mission that needs the entire team and more. We’ll push Dario that you have to join, so you’ll need lots of pills to speed up her powers' development.”

“What mission will that be?” Deen asked, scrunching her nose. “We shouldn’t dive into danger again without a clear picture first. Don’t forget what happened when we entered the bunker and—”

“And Kelsey was actually there,” Myra interjected. “We just didn’t find her. If you have some other idea on how to get pills, let’s hear it out. Not just the pills. I wonder if we can ask Dario for an artificial Core? I want to test it on Kelsey.”

“She’s been going on about that the entire weekend,” Kelsey said, tilting her toward Myra. “Personally, I don’t think it’s going to work. I’m already… like this. If I melded with a Core before the seeding changed my body too much, it might’ve worked. Or perhaps it was one in a billion chance, what happened to Erind. Erind could also be just a different kind of Adumbrae.”

Did Keke tell you that? Keke must’ve sensed something odd with me. It could also be just Kelsey’s observation. My seeding didn’t progress the same way as hers. “I’m… I’m not sure what’s going on with me,” I said. “Maybe… I am special.”

“Your specialness might be the cure for Adumbrae,” Myra said, raising her glass of root beer to me. “We should put it to good use. Can you transform now and link with Kelsey? A few days have passed since you last did. The Adumbrae inside her could be messing with things, like cockroaches returning after a week of spraying the entire place.”

Kelsey’s face remained impassive. Shouldn’t she have agreed with Myra? I’d imagine that she’d be eager to return to human.

“But Erind’s own seeding will advance,” Deen said. “We don’t have—”

“I have a couple of pills from Dario left,” Myra said. “Just one session or something. Pretty please, Erind? We can also use this opportunity to learn more about your transformation.”

I nodded. “I’ll do it.”

(Author’s Notes: How will the 4Bs get more pills or even an artificial Core? But before that, some Pino testing. There are a lot of things we need to find out about the Pino power, which is more complex than Blanchette. And we still haven’t named Pino in the story. Thank you for your continued support!)