Page 87 of Fragile Facade
Menace is running a sparring and hand-to-hand combat training session while Ransom and Seven have a group of trainees set up at the gun range, teaching them to work a pistol. Riot and Kyd are handing out security supplies to people who have come to fortify their houses, and Monster is prowling between it all, judging people for their weaknesses. He’s always been sensitive to the vulnerability of others. He’s smaller than everyone in Vile House, short and petite, but his dark hair clashes nicely with his bright yellow mask, and his energy is worse than a twister. He’s constantly churned up, and when he gets manic, he’s every deadly part of the tornado, never once being the eye of the storm.
“What do you wanna do with your mom’s place?” Glitch asks, stepping up beside me to watch the training. “We can secure it and put up video surveillance if you want.”
Honestly, I wouldn’t care if it burned to the ground like Remi’s house did. Mom has apparently been burning bridges for years, so even though she’s locked up in the asylum for now and no one is missing her, they’ll notice if her house is empty.
“Selena is gonna stay there, so talk to her about it.” I look at my family members as they struggle through arming and disarming guns. “You’re still close with your family, right? Like, all of them?” I ask him.
“My parents and Lockan, yeah.”
Glitch’s birth name is Makoa Kamaka. He spent the first ten years of his life living in Hawaii until his mom’s best friend, Lockan’s mom, talked them into moving to Moros. We’re the same age, so even as a kid, I remember Makoa and his long dark hair coming to town. I thought he was a pussy, but one day out in the woods by the cemetery, I saw him shoot an arrow and pin an asshole kid to a tree for fucking with Lock. And when the time came for the beating, he let Lock do it and never tried to take any of the credit for himself. I liked them both right after that. I felt challenged by them both… and I enjoyed the sensation.
“You ever feel like they’re a burden to you?” I ask.
Glitch snorts out a laugh. “Fuck, you’re a dick.”
Not arguing that.
“If anything, I’m the burden to them. They barely know shit about me anymore because I have to keep Vile House a secret. I go missing for weeks at a time and they don’t know what I’m doing. Pretty sure they think I have a drug addiction or something. Having things open to Lockan makes it easier now. We’re closer, so we’ve been going to visit my parents more.”
Lock’s parents are both dead, so Glitch’s parents took him in as a pre-teen, and they basically grew up as brothers. They didn’t like that Lock joined The Misfits, but they’re perfectly fine with it now.
“Why?” Glitch asks.
I nod at the Sauder group, shaking my head at how pitiful and frail they are. “How the fuck did I come from that bloodline?”
“You think you’re better than them?”
I glare at Glitch from behind my mask. “I know I am.”
“Your ego tells you that you are,” he agrees, pissing me off. “But you started like them.”
“Yeah, when I was a kid. I haven’t been that pathetic since I was eleven.”
“Whatever,” he snorts again. “What’re you asking me?”
“If it’d be easier to just kill them all now so I don’t have to protect them in the war.”
“Fucking hell, Ghost. You’re twisted as fuck.” He steps in front of me to block my view of my family. “If you don’t care if they’re alive or dead, why bother killing them to save them from the war?”
“To end the curse.”
“Oh.” He nods, dropping his hands from my shoulders. “Why not get all their brains mapped and have Medic, Psych, and Axel start them on meds like Remi?”
Because that’ll mean I need the same meds as those tragic losers. Riot won’t tell me what my scans showed, and I’m too much of a hypocrite to ask. If I believe my mind is superior, then it is, and I won’t have to deal with the utter disappointment of being the same as all these other idiots.
“Where’s Lock?” I ask instead.
Glitch nods his head to Lock and The Misfits, going through their own training while also rebuilding their reputation with the townsfolk. I don’t say goodbye, just walk over to Lock and tug him aside.
“You find your traitor?”
Lock turns his back on his crew to speak to me. “No, but out of everyone here, only three of them joined about two years ago. If that lady in Reaper City is to be believed, then those are the only ones it could be because everyone else comes from a known family in town.”
“Director wants to test them. Feed them information that is different from what the other members know and see if any of it makes it back to Reaper Corp. Glitch has spyware all over that place now, so he can listen for trigger words.”
“Glitch,” Lock says with a laugh. “That’s gonna take me a bit to get used to. But okay, what’s the info I’m leaking?”
“Ransom will tell you.” I nod at his red mask and strong body. “Let me know if you need help.”
