REND

Jubjub blinked. “M-my help?”

“I have no one to turn to,” I said, wielding puppy dog eyes.

“We can tell Dario about—no.” She chewed her lip. “No… we can’t do that.”

“Why not?” I simulated how the conversation would branch out and the replies I should give. Though my neurons whirred in overdrive for this enjoyable game, I noted that Jubjub didn’t point me to Deen. Dario should suspect that Deen and I were in cahoots with each other. He didn’t tell Jubjub about it?

Perhaps not. I couldn’t pinpoint what it was with Jubjub, but there was something… odd… with her.

My read was that she was a decent person who thought straight. Simply simple, the vibes of a nice employee striving to do her best, even though her best didn’t amount to much. I couldn’t picture her massacring the innocent survivors from the Tea Party’s attack on Greaves’ Tech Fair to wipe out witnesses of her group.

Or perhaps she could do it because she was very good at following orders and didn’t have a complicated brain to agonize over morality and all that nonsense.  

“Why not? Uh…” Jubjub checked the ground for an answer. “Because there might be some misunderstanding.”

“You said I’m a good person.”

“Yes, you are! But… you’re also an Adumbrae.”

“There, it comes out,” I said, sounding offended. “Did you lie when you told me that you were checking if I was an enemy? You guys, whoever you are, already think I’m the enemy.”

“They still don’t know what happened to you,” Jubjub insisted. “That it wasn’t your fault. If I tell them, then they—”

“Won’t change their mind,” I cut in. “That’s why you don’t want me to ask Dario for help. Have you at least told him that I saved you back in Vegas?”

Jubjub shook her head, wearing an apologetic expression. 

I folded my arms across my chest. “If he knew what I did, it could’ve changed his mind, right? Or not. You didn’t believe it’d affect his view of me. You knew he was set on Adumbrae as the enemy.”

“That was because I didn’t want him to think I was getting soft.” Jubjub handed me another chunk of her personality. Was this why she killed the Tech Fair attack survivors?

“Are you gonna tell Dario about—” I gestured around us “—all of what happened here?”

“I’ll keep our conversation a secret,” she replied. “But I have to report what you said to that ape monster over there about what the 2Ms did to you.” She held up her hands. “Please don’t get angry! I’m just doing my job. I can’t betray the Professor and Dario.”

Dario won’t know if you won’t tell him in the first place! I wanted to yell. Jubjub has a weird brain.

However, I did want her to pass my made-up story to Dario. That’d fuck up the Professor’s mind, thinking the 2Ms has this revolutionary technology to make Adumbrae of my strength. Things were going so well Jubjub jumped parts of the script to the result I wanted.  

She also confirmed my theory that she was a good-employee type of person. I refrained from asking her why she couldn’t betray Dario and the Professor; that’d paint me an enemy instead of the ‘innocent victim’. What was important was that she took debts seriously, explaining her killing Theo—even though there was no need for her to ‘help’ me—and talking to me despite the danger.

One funny thing was that she didn’t consider withholding from Dario that I saved her as a betrayal.

“If Dario only knew about your real story,” Jubjub said, nodding eagerly as if it’d convince me, and probably convince herself too. “If he changes his mind, then I’ll tell him that we’ve talked. If not, then… But I promise to give it my all persuading him. That’s all I can do for you.”

“It’s not only that you can help me with, Jubilee. I frankly don’t think Dario will listen to you anyway.” Indirectly, I was saying that her offer wasn’t enough of a payment.

“I don’t know how to turn you back into a human if you’re going to ask me about that,” she said. “It’s not even possible to turn myself back. That’s what they told me—by ‘they’, I’m referring to the Professor and Dario. Only those two talked to me, and it was mostly Dario who gave me instructions. I don’t have information to share even if I wanted to.”

“Not that. I know you’re just a lowly subordinate so you won’t know the top-secret stuff.” By reminding Jubjub of her station vis-à-vis their organization, I wanted to loosen the binds of her loyalty. “I’m asking for your help when we get to Red Island.”

I was confident she’d aid help in some way, as in genuinely help, not fake help to trick me into trusting her. If she had ulterior motives, she would’ve volunteered not to tell Dario my fake story to show I could trust her. She could’ve made shit up to appease me, but she didn’t.

Certainly, she’d agree to feed Dario info from me about Red Island. She’d also tell me about whatever Dario would tell her because I was a “good person” and didn’t have any evil motives. By knowing both sides, I could easily counteract Dario’s plans and get him on board mine without him knowing he was dancing on my palm—my mutated golden palm.

“Why do you want to go there?” she blankly asked.

I glared at her.

“Oh! For revenge. You want me to help with your revenge. But it’s such a dangerous place. Dario’s aim for this trip is only to get its location, not go there.”

It was my turn to blankly ask, “He’s not going to attack Red Island?”

“Of course, not. That’ll be suicide.”

“Bu-but isn’t that our purpose for this trip?”

“On paper, it is,” said Jubjub. “According to Dario, he had to say we’re attacking Red Island to bolster group unity and keep up our guard. If he told us the truth that this was a mere scouting mission, the others wouldn’t take it as seriously as we should. He also said that the group would feel relieved and grateful to him if he’d pretend to decide to cancel the mission—this last one might be the real reason. I’m not really smart enough to figure out his brainy plans.”

“That’s… a good explanation.” Did I plan for nothing? Was I dumb as shit?

Mark’s strongest and most loyal Adumbrae were stationed at Red Island, including some prick who could erase memories. There should also be tons of mutated creatures from their experiments. Jubjub was right—it’d be a suicide mission for the team to go there, even if only to spy and stuff like that.

Recalling our Eve mission, Dario wanted to only scout the hideout of the 2Ms. We weren’t attacking because it was too dangerous. Red Island was probably ten times, twenty times more dangerous than Eve’s underground arena. I’d even say fifty times worse if there were a bunch of Stella and Bob-level Adumbrae there. I think those were the names of the two very hard-to-kill now-dead shits who attacked my condo.

Why in a melted ice cream’s ass did I think Dario would march to assured death? He was the master of playing safe. I just realized not once had I seen him put his neck on the line. When the going gets tough, he is gone or was never there at all. He was like a manager who never works the lines but still takes credit.  

I thought Dario wanted me and the 2Ms to destroy each other, employing some devious backstabbery. I was going to turn the tables and destroy him and the 2Ms instead. All that was just in my head. I was overcomplicating stuff.

“Thanks to you, we discovered the location of the transport to Red Island,” said Jubjub, snapping me out of thoughts. “The next step is attaching a tracker on the ships—a challenging task. But we have time. According to Dario, the ships will depart tomorrow.”

How did he know that? “They’ll leave at night so they won’t be seen,” I said, wondering if Dario was got lucky guessing. “We can’t be certain which night. I mean, yeah, the rich people don’t want their vacation cut short, especially before being turned into monsters. But how can Dario be so sure?”

“He had them—the Professor and other people helping him—review past movements of the Isla de Sangre, comparing it with other cruise ships offering the same itinerary. Most offer only three nights compared to our four. It appeared that the Isla de Sangre took a longer time returning to California on its last day.”

Interesting. “What if the ship’s just taking it slow on the return trip? Fuel’s expensive.”

“Dario said they checked port records and social media posts of passengers about the time the ship leaves Mexico and reaches California in past trips. Then they cross-checked that with the last images of the ship caught by satellite. Something about its positions suggests it’s going out of its way for… something. Sorry for the poor explanation; I couldn’t fully grasp what Dario had told me. At the least, he explained it to me. Usually, he’d just tell me what to do, and I’d follow.”

“Handy having so many resources, satellites and all that. Can’t they just track the smaller ships leaving Isla de Sangre?”

“They’ll point some satellites in this area tomorrow. But since the departure will be night time and there is going to be thick cloud cover tomorrow—the 2Ms likely took that into account—the satellites aren’t helpful.”

I hadn’t even thought about clouds. My image of satellites having near-godlike tracking of people was colored by unrealistic spy movies. “How about scanning this whole area for Red Island?” I suggested. “Like, there can’t be that many islands around here suitable for a base or something.”

“They’re looking at the islands, but nothing so far.” Jubjub shrugged. “Dario suspects that the 2Ms have an Adumbrae that could cloak the area. His other theory was that the 2Ms’ base is disguised from the sky.”

Dario this, Dario that. Did Jubjub not have any independent thoughts?

“My only chance of reaching Red Islands is on those small ships,” I mumbled while stroking my chin, pretending I was talking to myself. “I have to catch them tomorrow night.”

“Erind, no!” Jubjub reached for my shoulders but hesitated to touch me. She ended up awkwardly patting me. “You shouldn’t go there. You’ll die. I know you’re very strong, but this is different from facing the Tea Party. An Adumbrae-making facility is on Red Island.”

“Thanks for the concern, but I have to destroy them. They have to pay for what they did to me.”

“You don’t have to be the one to make them pay. Finding the ships going there—good job to you and Reo—is enough. The Professor will deal with it. This isn’t our fight anymore.”

“It is my fight! They turned me into a monster.”

“Erm, yes, sorry. It is your fight. But you have to pick your fights, is what I’m saying. Leading the Professor to the Red Island is where your revenge ends. I’m guessing you know that it’s not only the Professor supporting us. It’s a whole organization. Let them destroy the 2Ms.”

“Fine… I won’t go to the Red Island,” I dejectedly said.

“Promise me. I don’t want you to die before I repay you.”

Strange choice of words there. Was it intentional? “I promise.”

I was going to the Red Island, even if I had to swim the entire Pacific Ocean looking for it. This massive bump in my plans egged me on. I was pissed at the wrong assumptions I made. Just my petty side. Also, I was already here. Might as well have fun. And I wanted to know how strong I had become. Was my recklessness surfacing again?

I’d consume all of Red Island first before the Professor sent forces there. I’d grow stronger and stronger. That’d be fucking awesome. Eliminating the 2Ms was for my safety and peace. Getting stronger was also for my safety and peace; the Professor would think twice about bothering me. My hand would become more golden, but who cared?

“I have a question if you don’t mind,” said Jubjub.

“Go ahead,” I absentmindedly replied, puzzling over whether I should bring Deen to the Red Island.

“How did you know that Dario’s cover story isn’t true? You’re not as surprised as I expected.”

Obviously, I couldn’t reveal that it was Myra who told me. “The men of the 2Ms. Well, not exactly men. There was a woman with them. She was probably their leader. She told me a lot of stuff.”

Jubjub nodded, her eyes bright. She seemed pleased with herself. “The attack on your condo, I get it. That was why the 2Ms sent their forces there—they knew how strong you were and wanted muscle to convince you to join their side.”

“Something like that.” I didn’t want her questioning me more, so I said, “What becomes of me? Dario and the Professor think I’m the enemy.”

Jubjub looked like she was going to say something, but didn’t continue. 

“I can’t go to the government and, uh, like just report I’m an Adumbrae,” I went on. “Even if your secret organization doesn’t stop me with all its hidden connections, I’ll still get experimented on by the military just the same. The Corebrings are out. I don’t know how to contact any true Adumbrae.”

“Don’t try to side with them!”

“They probably won’t accept a fake like me. Anyway, that’s that. I don’t know what to do.”

“I… I’m not sure how to help you,” said Jubjub. “But I’ll find a way to repay you for saving my life. I can’t help you now, but I will someday.” She looked around. “We should get going. I need to talk to Dario about this. He’ll think something’s wrong if I miss a report.”

“Oh, there’s something you can help me with,” I said. “Can you buy me clothes? I’ll bury the headless monkey here while waiting for you to return.”