Year E3029

Ocea

The dark glow of the night sky flashed by the window. Main Street became crowded as hover cars pulled into the Moonstone building. With zero corners, this dome-like structure looked like a moon crashed into the blue field. The tall grass of teal and navy shined in the light with the wind blowing around, giving the appearance that there was a body of water there.

"Ocea, take this," Wyatt said from the back seat. He reached his body over my shoulder, bumping Fin's elbow.

"Dude, watch it," Fin said while shifting his sunglasses and focusing on the road as we waited for the front entrance to drop me off.

Wyatt ignored him. "This will make it so we can communicate with one another," he said, handing over a little device to stick in my ear. "Dylan will drop off Stopper and park the car in the back alley, while Fin and I will park this rig in the employee area."

I put the little tan bug-like device in my ear at the exact moment of Wyatt. He smiled at me, then talked in a normal tone. "Stopper, you there?"

"Copy. Project Sexy is three cars behind," Stopper said, feeling like he was in my head.

"Where were you?" I questioned Stopper, angry that Wyatt and Fin were the only ones at the sewer exit on time. They told us they would catch up on the mission, but I felt uneasy leaving without everyone in order.

"Sorry, that was my fault," I heard another voice.

"Jackson?" I questioned.

"Yep," he replied. "Here to help my Savior friends out."

"Okay, time to go," Fin said, pulling up to the drop-off.

I hated doing this right now. Opening my door, I stepped out of the car, letting the wind blow my dress around. I brushed the front of me and walked up the front steps without looking back. The blue dress flowed smoothly down to the ground with a slit up the front, showing off my leg. The silk brushed my skin comfortably, then tightened around my melons.

"Damn, Ocea," Stopper's voice echoed in my ear. "You clean up good."

I rolled my eyes. "Wish I could say the same for you," I whispered while stepping up to a guy in a black suit.

His hand was already reaching out for my information card. I handed him the invite with a smile, faking my emotions. He raked down my body, then coughed into his elbow. The invite glowed a bright color once he scanned it, jumping out of his hand and flying away. I watched with my mouth open, seeing the bug hovering with the others.

"Veil bug?" I questioned.

Dad was obsessed with finding one of these bugs when I was little. He said it would bring good luck. Little did I know, I had one in my hands this whole time.

"You are table twelve," the man said, catching my attention.

"Thank you," I responded, stepping around him as female safforians in see-through violet dresses opened the double door for me.

Walking in, I scanned the area, seeing round tables scattered in an open room. There was a large glass chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Minor drops of water fell from the crystals into a fountain directly below. Music played from a young man in the corner on the piano as servers walked around with pre-made drinks.

"Would you like a glass of lightning eel?" a soft voice said into my ear. I glanced over at a man in a pink-clear dress shirt. His pecks were visible with a tint of rose while he tucked the awkward shirt into white dress pants. He coughed out, catching me eyeing his nipple rings.

"No, thank you," I said to him, glaring at the teal animal in the alcohol. It swam around absorbing the toxins, not knowing it was about to die.

"Have a good evening," Nipple Rings said with a single nod, then shuffled around me to the next person.

I scanned the room. A yellow safforian grabbed a lightning eel drink, downed it like a shot, then yelled up at the ceiling. The female had all eyes on her as she danced in a circle, bumping into everyone around her.

My memories filled my mind, bringing me back to one of the worst days of my life.

✧✧✧

"The Saviors will unite! The Saviors will save all!" a birdroid megaphone yelled in rhythm while a blue safforian hung from the truck. His youthful expression glanced at me.

I escaped to my house, hoping my parents would follow, but they didn't.

"What are you doing?" I asked in panic as they flagged down the truck. "Stop!" I yelled.

The blue teenager jumped off the truck before me with an enormous grin. "Fin," he said with his hand out.

I stepped back as another teenage boy opened the truck door, hitting Fin and causing him to stumble to the ground. He straight-smiled at me, shaking his brown hair. His matching eyes watched my every move before he nodded his head to look cool.

"Wyatt," he said. "And we are the Saviors. The anti-Men Of Suits group, ready to fight for our freedom."

My mouth gaped open, not ready to trust anyone. "I—" My eyes widened with tears before I ran toward my parents.

"Mom," I cried as a burly man explained things to her. She smiled my way, giving me a brave face, but I knew everything scared her.

"Honey bee," she said. "This is Chester, the leader of this group."

I wrapped my fingers in my hair, spinning around to see smoke coming from a block over. My dad ran out of our house with a backpack in his hand. He rushed over to me, forcing the bag onto my back.

"Ocea, you and your mom will go with these two young men while I go with Chester," he said, eyeing Chester. When we were in public, my dad always became Beck, not my dad. Keeping my secret of being a half-offspring was always a top priority.

"But—" I tried to protest, but he was persistent, pushing me back toward the boys.

Chester walked my mom over. "Wyatt, this is Ocea and her mom, Kat," he said while my mom interlocked her hand with mine. "Take them to the safe house with the others."

Wyatt's eyebrows arched in. "Dad," he said with a whiny voice. "I want to go with you."

Chester shook his head in disappointment. "No. Now get going."

My mom let my hand go, grabbing my dad's. She whispered something to him before kissing his cheek. Adults only knew one thing to keep the important stuff from us. My parents were keeping a secret from me, and the Saviors too.

Wyatt patted my shoulders. "This way," he said.

My Mom and I followed Wyatt and Fin between houses. We climbed over fences, ducking in the shadows with screams of tears echoing around us. A loud thud in the little blue corg house shook my core, followed by cries from a childish voice. I cupped my hands over my ears, trying to keep up with the boys.

Fin stopped at a bush, pulling Wyatt near him. He pointed through the leaves while whispering something.

Wyatt waved his hands quickly, prompting my mom and me to duck beside them. I peeked between the branches, seeing lines of safforians and humans. They were almost robotic, waiting their turn. My eyes followed to the beginning. A group in suits and white lab coats rushed around, organizing everyone. The label was in black letters on a gold rock van they were operating from.

"Men Of Suits," I whispered.

"Next," a woman said, causing a yellow safforian to walk to her.

She pulled back the hair of the girl with sunshine strands, scanning her forehead with a device. As it beeped back at her, she checked her tablet, swiping at the information.

"Red," she said, pointing at the screen.

A tall man grabbed the tablet, scrunching his bushy eyebrows together. "Looks like she still has movement in her frontal lobe. Put her down for the reproductive program only and assign her a low-level job. Mark her report as free-thinking," he said, biting his nails. "Report all as free-thinking when they have frontal lobe movement after being chipped."

The girl in the lab coat tilted her head at him. "What does that mean?"

"It means they will push back at the Men Of Suits regarding the required agenda," he responded. "Let me know if you see anyone with movement in the hippocampus. All memories shall be gone, no exceptions."

"Okay," she pushed the yellow safforian to a nearby station. "Next."

I glanced over at Wyatt while he typed down information on a tablet, reporting what we had witnessed. Looking up, I see Fin already watching me. His blue eyes were expressionless before changing his attention back to the crowd.

"Mom," I said toward her as she kept listening to the lady in the lab coat.

"Hold on," she responded, causing me to peek back at the Men Of Suits.

"Blue," the lady said with excitement. "No movement besides the parts the chip is controlling."

The man hummed in approval. "Assign him for the Men Of Suits program," he said, guiding the man to an unfamiliar area than the others.

✧✧✧

A shove from my backside had me out of my memory, looking at the yellow female safforian.

"Hello there, sexy," she said to a server before I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Meeting your true love can be nerve-racking for some," a voice said.

I glanced over at an orange safforian male. He had a badge on to announce he was a stiff. His tan hands brushed his tie before he tucked it into his suit.

"Yeah," I replied, vague to him.

He patted my back. "Better take your seat," he said before walking toward the yellow safforian. He waved for other MOS to follow him as they maintained the female.

The man grabbed her arm, but she yanked back. He fell backward into another man, knocking him to the ground. The stiff didn't even care that he pushed someone to the floor. The guy stood up fast, shaking his dark, curly head. His deep brown eyes glanced up, freezing as he made eye contact with me.

I did a shy wave to Thomas, pretending I was tucking flyaways of my purple hair behind my ear. His eyes scanned me as an enormous smile formed on his face. With one step toward me, the lights went out as a lady from the ceiling slowly dropped. She tied her hand into a rope, swinging herself around. She spun, dancing mid-air above us to the music and lights.

"Please find your table," a voice over the music sounded, directing everyone to their spots.

I looked around for table twelve as a man joined the lady in the air. They glided together, spinning around the chandelier. Water sprayed up from the fountain, soaking them as they danced. The lights blinked in a teal, shining on them.

I noticed the number twelve hovering above a table as the hologram made it bounce. Walking on my tiptoes, maneuvering around people, I reached for the backside of the chair as a set of hands grabbed it and pulled it out for me.

"Here you go, beautiful," Stopper's voice echoed twice in my head. The little device in my ear rang as he stepped closer.

"Ouch," I said, holding my ear. "Back off a little, Stopper."

He jumped back, giving me a straight smile. "Sorry," he mouthed before side-stepping around our table and sitting across from me.

"You two are drawing attention," Fin said from the device. "Knock it off."

I rolled my eyes, irritated with Fin, looking around to find him and Wyatt. Stopper's laughter caught my attention, glancing at him. He covered his mouth with his palm and then pointed over my shoulder behind me. In my chair, I leaned forward to catch what was so funny. Wyatt stood straight with a tray, handing Thomas's date a lightning eel.

The pink shirt was too tight on him, pronouncing his pecks more than the rest of the servers. The back of the shirt hung over his left pocket, not being tucked in properly.

Wyatt paused, smiling at Becca, the girl assigned to Thomas. I could see from here that his cheeks were red as she said something to him. She laughed loudly with Wyatt as I moved my attention from her white teeth to Thomas.

He was already watching me. His smile grew when we locked our eyes together. I covered my mouth with my hand.

"Stop flirting with the girl and do your job," I said.

Wyatt straightened up, side-eyeing in my direction. He nodded to Becca, then handed Thomas a drink. He walked to the edge of the room, scanning his eyes.

"With this many stiffs. I think the leader is for sure here," Wyatt said.

"Agree," I replied to Wyatt, grabbing my napkin and placing it on my lap.

While everyone was paying attention to the flying dancers, I was watching the MOS. They were constantly exiting down a dark hallway. I could barely see them turn off to the right, but not sure where they went from there.

"Spill your drink on me," I whispered, but Stopper heard as he perked up.

"Why?" Stop said. "What?" He was confused. "No."

I brought the orange drink in my neon yellow glass closer to my face, hiding my lips. "Spill your drink on me. So, I can act like I'm going to the bathroom, but I'll snoop around."

"Not yet," Dylan said in my ear. "I haven't tapped into the security cameras in the rest of the building." The sound of a keyboard clicked in our ears.

"We don't have all night," I replied through my smiling teeth without moving my lips.

Stopper tilted his head with a devilish grin. He leaned over the small round table, flicking the bottom of my glass. His eyes watched the liquid pour down the front of my dress, soaking my breast.

My mouth dropped, ready to put on a show, but Stopper stood before me.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to," Stop said too loud, making the room look over at us.

Stopper grabbed napkins from the table as I stood. His hand pressed on my lower neck, drying my skin. The corner of his lips perked up as his fingers brushed my collarbone.

"Hands, buddy," I whispered, wrapping my fingers around his palm and stopping his movement. I stepped backward from Stop, leaving the dining area with my heels clicking on every step.

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