Mercy - Shawn Mendes

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Jed... I stood up, my chair tipping backwards. It echoed loudly through the metal room. "Jed's life is in danger and you didn't tell me!" I shrieked, moving close to Rayma. "We're all sitting here doing nothing while he's sitting in a room waiting to die!" A sob caught in my throat.

    I turned around, surprised to see several guards behind me. The closest one held a syringe in his hand and a damp cloth in his other.

    "Silver, you need to calm down." He said, stepping forwards. "I'm going to inject this in you to help."

    "Don't touch me!" I screamed. "I'm going and helping Jed, whether you like it or not." I glared at Clanio with those last words, daring him to stop me.

    "You can't, Silver." He finally said, scratching the back of his neck "You're not trained."

    "I don't care. I know the castle, unlike your stupid soldiers." I swept through the crowd of guards and marched out into the hall. My mind was still in a state of shock. If I'd known that Jed was in danger I would've never gone in that room. I was seething with anger.

    I entered the large center room again, hiding behind a pile of rubbish as a troop of soldiers marched past. They all held weapons over their shoulders, and were dressed in gray jumpsuits with masks over their faces. As they disappeared into a dark tunnel with no lights, I stood up and followed them.

    It was dark and I was scared that I was going to bump into one of them or get lost. Luckily nothing happened. I arrived at a dimly lit room after several twists and turns. My eyes picked out a group of men standing around a map.

    A table of gray jumpsuits and guns stood right outside the door, where they could be watched. I got onto my hands and knees and began to crawl silently towards it, hoping that no one would spot me. I hid behind the slender legs, using the darkness as a cover.

    My hand felt around on the table. It brushed against soft material, and I pulled. A jumble of cloth fell onto me. I reached past them and wrapped my fingers tightly around a heavy metal gun. It made a small squeak as it was dragged across the table. I stopped, holding my breath. The men had started an argument, and their voices were now growing loud. I finished pulling the gun off the table and then ran around the corner behind me.

    Quickly I shed my heavy dress, listening as it fell to the floor. I pulled the tight jumpsuit over my thin underclothes, and then pulled the mask over my face. I strapped the gun to my hip, in a special pocket, and then picked up my dress. I ran to the edge of the darkness, wondering how to get rid of it without being caught.

    Rayma and Clanio were talking loudly in the center of the room. Behind Clanio stood a troop of more masked men. They were fidgeting as they waited for orders. I could hear Clanio tell them to search every branch of the base for me, and my plan fit into mind. Two men headed into my branch, passing so close I could touch their clothes. They took no notice of me, just kep going until they vanished around the corner.

    I ran over to corner and peered around it. The men were talking softly as they swept over the floor with large flashlights. I lay the dress by the wall, hoping the soldiers wouldn't see it, and then ran to the edge of the tunnel. I stepped into the light and walked to the center table, ripping a piece of paper off of the pad and picking up a small pen.

    "What are you doing, soldier?" Clanio spoke right behind me. I jumped, spinning around.

    "T-the planners need another piece of paper, sir." I responded, lowering my voice.

    "Well take the whole pad, not just one sheet." Clanio growled. "We don't want to waste anything, do we?"

    "Uh... N-no sir." I stuttered, picking up the pad. I walked back to the tunnel and, checking to see if anyone was watching, quickly dropped the pad by the entrance, hiding it under a small cart.

    The dress was still in a rumpled heap when I returned. I quickly used one of the pens that were supplied in the suit and wrote down:

"You can't stop me from saving Jed..."

I stuck the paper to the dress and then picked it up. "I found something!" I yelled, running out of the tunnel. Rayma and Clanio rushed over. "I found this dress on the floor, along with this note." I handed it over to Clanio.

Rayma and Clanio read it over, their faces turning pale. I watched them, my stomach churning. What if my disguise was found out? What if they noticed an uneven amount of soldiers?

"That stupid girl is gonna get us all killed." Clanio grumbled. "I almost regret giving her shelter here."

Rayma looked at him. "We'll just have to find her, after the mission." 

"You're right." Clanio walked over to the wall and picked up a small black circle. "All soldiers come immediately to HQ." He said. I jumped as it reverberated through the halls, fading slowly away.

I lined up with the others as they poured in from each division. Rayma and Clanio watched us closely, walking slowly between the lines. I held my breath as they passed beside me. Rayma stole a quick glance at me before hurrying ahead.

"We have a mission to save Jed."  Clanio began slowly. "We had Princess Silver here a while ago to help with the planning, but she's in love with Jed and ran off to save him when she heard he was in prison." The room filled with soft laughter. My cheeks burned and I looked loathingly towards Clanio.

"We have a plan." Rayma hit a button on the wall. The wall behind her lit up with an image of the castle layout. Numbers were drawn around certain rooms, and a line of arrows pointed down the chosen route towards the prison. I tuned out as the plan was explained. Once I got in there I was taking my own route. I knew that if I dressed up as myself, no one would suspect me. I could get anywhere, and give the soldiers access to the prison.

"You'll all be going this time because of the mistake factor." Clanio's voice broke through my trail of thought. "We have no space for mistakes. One mistake could bring down the whole rebellion, and while Jed would gladly give up his life for the rebellion he holds information that we need in order to bring down Queen Vesta." 

"We'll be talking to you through the headpieces in your masks. These will allow us to keep up with the mission while we watch your trackers on the screen." Clanio pressed a button on the wall and the screen changed to a map of the entire city. Over the location of the rebel base camp there were small red dots that indicated us. "Keep anything from hitting the tracker or we'll lose you and you won't get the plans."

I grinned. If I got rid of the tracker, which was a smooth piece located on my chest, I could do anything I wanted without it being recorded.

"Any questions about the procedure?" Clanio asked, looking at the soldiers. No one spoke. "Okay the, good luck soldiers. May luck go with you."

We started to run down the hall towards the doors.