Year E3029

Ocea

"Okay, let's get you guys to the house," Dan said, brushing his hand through his blue hair. His expression always showed a high smile, like he couldn't frown to save his life.

He led the way down an alley with tall buildings. Fin stayed beside him while the twins walked in the back of the pack. Dan's shoulders were broader than his brothers while his older age showed the muscles on his biceps. His jeans fit tight on his thighs, stretching the fabric.

I glanced up at the brick building with smoke floating in the air. My mother kept close to me, with her head bobbing between the sky and behind us. Her purple hair was frizzy around her face as the curly strands brushed her cheeks.

"Typical Chief Niven, sending Dan to check and see if his son is doing his job," Stop whispered to Wyatt, but I could hear them behind me.

"It's bull," Wyatt responded with anger in his voice.

I glanced over my shoulder at Stopper while his eyes connected with mine. He smiled slightly before wrapping his arm around Wyatt.

"Honestly, I thought we would have seen Dan sooner." Stop brought Wyatt's head down, rubbing the top of his hair.

I paused, turning around to face them. "How long had you two known each other?"

Wyatt shoved Stopper off of him. "Maybe a year," he said with a smile. "My dad and I took in Stopper and his sister when they entered our restaurant."

"Restaurant?"

"Yeah, we weren't always Saviors." He frowned, glancing at his feet. "This group only came together maybe a month ago when the Cyder family approached my dad for help."

My mother chimed in, listening to our conversation. "How did the Cyder family know this was going to happen?"

"I don't know," Wyatt responded, continuing to walk by me. "You will need to ask my father."

My mother ran by me, grabbing Dan's arm. "Hey, how did your family know about the Men Of Suits before today?" she asked, side-eyeing me. "Do you know who the leader is?"

✧✧✧

Warm arms wrapped around my body as my face snuggled into a hard chest. I slowly opened my eyes to see the dark forest walking by. Thomas's arms tightened around my body, jumping up to leverage me better. His brown eyes glanced down, seeing me trying to open mine.

"Ocea?" he questioned. "How do you feel?"

"Thomas?" I asked back while he kept me curled in his arms.

"Here, let me set you down," he said, stepping over a rock and lightly placing me on a log.

Thomas knelt before me, brushing his hand on my chin. He tilted my head up while he whistled into the dark forest. Pope flew from the above trees, landing on his shoulder with his green insect skin glowing a blue tint within his body.

"Damn, that's going to bruise." Thomas grabbed Pope, bringing him closer to my face.

I reached up, touching my cheeks, feeling the soreness sting down my neck. My nose burned while my finger tapped the bridge, knowing where it broke.

"That fucker," I said, looking at Thomas. "How did you get us to the forest?" I glanced at the dark trees with strands of lights flying around.

Thomas smiled, petting Pope's back. "This guy bit him on the neck," he said, changing his expression to an uneasy frown. "Saved us, but don't piss off Pope."

I glanced down, seeing blood covering the front of my shirt. "Thank you, Pope."

Thomas stood up, reaching his hand out. I wrapped my fingers into his palm as he helped me up. He brought his arm around my back, gripping my hip.

Pope flew onto the path, walking before us, lighting the way. His large rear bobbed back and forth with every step.

"We better get to the camp before this forest eats us alive," Thomas whispered.

The wind picked up, blowing the tall trees surrounding us. The night insects buzzed above our heads, lighting zig-zags behind them. A mound of dirt overflowed with ground crawling bugs as their antennas blinked colors of orange and red.

I closed one eye as pain swelled in my head. "Do you know if we are even walking the right way?"

Thomas paused, looking over his shoulder. I could see the city lights on his cheeks with the reflection of the tall buildings in his eyes.

"Yes," he said, stepping closer with his grip tighter on my hip to help me walk. "I remember—"

Feet stomping from the dark forest had us tensed up. We silently crept into a bush while Pope flew into the trees above. The shrub wiggled from within because of our presence, but stopped once we held still. An orange insect crawled out of our hiding spot, flying into the sky.

A shadow ran up our path, paused, and shined its glow light in the forest. "The criminals ran this way!" a male voice yelled.

His light scanned over us quickly before they turned to another shadow jogging up.

"Where did they go?" a female voice asked as the light shined on her face, showing Becca.

Thomas pushed the bush to the side. "Here," he said, helping me to a stance.

"Oh, damn!" Wyatt yelled, shining his light my way. "What happened to your face?"

I glared at him, yanking his light insect from his palms. "How else?"

Wyatt laughed out, brushing his palm on his bald head.

"He sucker punched me," I said, shoving him.

"Looks like you will have to up your training with Stop." Wyatt raised a brow, chuckling.

I huffed out, scuffing. "Never."

"Where's Dr. Coachman?" Becca asked.

I relaxed my shoulder as Thomas put his hand in his hair. We both glanced at each other with sad expressions.

"Oh," she said, biting her cheek.

"He gave us a clue," Thomas said, prompting me to look at him, confused.

"Clue?" Wyatt grabbed Becca's hand, bringing her closer. "What about the chip remover?"

"Yes, but Dr. Coachman died telling us something important about the Men Of Suits." Thomas glanced at me, hoping I would say something.

I froze, thinking of Cole dying in my arms. He called me by my mother's name, but knowing the MOS would hurt his family if they knew he helped us. If they knew, he helped my parents. We knew my father gave us a clue from the past about the chips, but did Cole know more than just that?

"It's in the name," I said. "Thomas is correct. He died telling me, M-O-S."

"It's in the name," Thomas finished my sentence.

A rustle from the trees above shook while Pope flew down. Becca screamed, hugging around Wyatt while the insect landed on my shoulder.

"Can we discuss all this back at the camp?" she asked with her face pushed against Wyatt's torso.

"Yes," Wyatt replied, wrapping his arm around her and walking down the path.

I glanced at Thomas while he reached his hand out for me. "Did you still need help?"

I shook my head with a slight smile. "No, I should be able to walk now."

"Darn," he replied as we followed behind the others.

"So, what do you think Cole meant?" I asked, biting on my fingers.

"Well, he spelled M-O-S to us, so I don't think it is in the full name but more like—" he said.

"An initialism," I interrupted.

✧✧✧

"This is so obvious!" Stopper yelled as the morning sun shined behind him. "M-O-S." He waved his arms above his head before jumping over the fire pit with no flame. "It's the strip club in the high rise." He swatted away small flies as they flew around his head, causing them to fly into the cave at our camp.

Dylan set down a metal piece from the spacecraft, glaring at Stop. "But why?"

"It's a front," Stopper said, wiggling his eyebrows. "Secret headquarters in the day and strip club at night."

"I mean, it's not the worst idea," I replied. "The name of the club is called Moss."

"But it's that too obvious?" Becca gripped a log near the entrance of Camp Corn Pops, rolling it near the cave. "Plus, when was the club made?"

"True," I pointed at Becca. "It's got to be old enough to be part of the City of Cerise when my mother was young."

Stopper made an expression on his face, like he knew someone would bring this up. "Exactly." He put his foot on the log that Becca had moved over, blocking her from sitting down. "This club had been around since before the human landing."

"How do you know that?" Wyatt asked, pushing Stop and waving for Becca to sit.

"Because the sign on the front door says so." Stop broadened his shoulders, proud of himself.

"Of course, you know that." Dylan stood from his makeshift worktable. "I need to step back from this spacecraft before I lose my mind, so I'm down."

"Down for what?" Wyatt asked.

"To see if the strip club is the clue to taking down the Men Of Suits," I said, but doubled back. "Now that I said it out loud, this is a dumbass idea."

"Too dumb not to be true." Stop stepped close to me. "Or too dumb to be cleverly true?"

Dylan and Wyatt glanced at Stopper like he lost all his brain cells. The wind whistled through the cave while Becca picked at her dirty fingernails.

"Why not give it a look?" she asked, surprising us all. "Who are we hurting if we go to the club?" She stood from the log. "Waste a day of trying to figure this out, but at least we can say it's a bust."

Stop smiled. "Or see that I got it on the first try."

"Doubt it," she replied, looking from him to Wyatt. "Now, on to more important matters." She pointed at her arm. "Remove my chip, please, Ocea." Her eyes widened as she glanced at me.

"Yes," I said with a smile.

I glanced at Thomas, already running toward the cave, fetching the tool. Wyatt grabbed the wooden chair he made a few years ago, setting it before Becca. She sat, placing her hands on her knees with a sweet smile.

"Oh, I want to watch this," Stopper said, walking over and patting Wyatt on the back. "Ya girl gonna be free from the MOS."

Wyatt stepped away from him. "Stop," he said. "She's not my—"

Becca peeked over her shoulder at Wyatt, expressionless.

"Oh, fuck it," Wyatt said, almost in a whisper, before cupping her cheeks and bending over to connect his lips with hers.

Becca melted into him, standing with her arms around his shoulders. I smiled, feeling my heart warm, while Thomas jogged out of the cave and froze. We glanced at each other as his eyes caught a lump in my throat. Swallowing hard, I looked down at my hands playing with my fingers.

"Okay, let's do this," Wyatt said, helping Becca back into her seat.

Thomas walked over to me, handing the tool over. "Here."

"Thank you," I replied as his warm fingers brushed mine.

"So, how does it work?" Dylan asked while we all surrounded Becca.

I held the chip removal tool in my palm so Dylan could see it. He reached for it but paused, glancing at me.

"Could I?" he asked with a cheeky smile.

"Sure." I moved the tool closer to him as he snagged it from my hands.

"Wow," he expressed. "He made it completely of human technology." Dylan flipped it over. "You sure Dr. Coachman is a safforian?"

"Yeah," I replied. "I believe so."

Dylan eyed the tool even closer, practically placing it on his face. "A safforian using human technology."

"Does that mean the Men Of Suits leader might be a human?" Thomas asked, causing everyone to look at him with clarification.

"I mean, I'm not shocked." Stop laughed, grabbing the tool from Dylan. "A dystopian group, taking over, and it dates back to when aliens landed on our planet."

"Shut it," I replied, ripping the tool from his hands. "Let's get this chip out of Becca's arm."

Becca smiled at Wyatt before shifting in her seat for me. I walked closer to her, crouching down to her eye level.

"This may hurt." I held my hand out while Thomas placed a human skin razor in my palm.

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