Rebellion

My fingers ran over the gold badge I was about to pin on to my shoulder. I haven’t worn this in two years. I haven’t worn the entire uniform in two years. To think I was back to this. I sighed and sucked it up, all the pain and regret and denial. I can’t go back now.

Maybe it’s time I make a few changes. I know the first time, I really didn’t want to mess with how things were done or get on Iris’ bad side, but now that I’ve taken control of the Western Hemisphere, I think it’s safe to say I can do whatever I want, how I want to.

The engineers are still trying to fix the damage I caused to the core. Honestly, I hope they have fun with that because I couldn’t figure out how to remove the chip without suggesting the destruction of the core itself. I made myself very clear to Iris that I wanted my chip back the way I had it programmed, with no damages, and no other interference of any kind. If that condition is broken, he can consider our deal null. Sure, I was going to be on my best behavior, but Iris really got to me before.

There’s a number of things I can do now. There’s nothing to lose. I already have a broad criminal record, a record only I will be able to see. My health is probably never going to get better, however I will try because I can. And if Iris thinks he can cross me to get me to stay in line, well I have a lot of people backing me up.

I’m already Commander, the sectors aren’t going to want anything else now. Iris pretty much lost control once he gave them that immediately.

I walked into the building quietly, wanting to avoid the stares and whispering. In fact, why should I avoid anyone today? Who cares about today? Nothing ever gets done on the first day. I walked right up to the front desk, a group talking quietly amongst themselves until I got up to them. They just leaned towards me as they looked out for anyone else that might swing by.

“Hey, Aurora.” Nova whispered. “Some of us heard what happened.” She said as she looked around.

Someone’s spreading more rumors. For now, I didn’t care. There wasn’t much that was going to make me look any worse.

“Why don’t all of you leave for the day?” I suggested.

“It’s seven.” Eclipse said, a bit skeptical of the good gesture. “And you just got here. We’re going to be dealing with a lot of people once they figure out you’re back.” She said quietly.

“That’s why I’m letting you leave.” I shrugged. “I’m feeling in a yelling mood this morning.”

“You sure?”

“Go ahead.” I said and straightened up.

Since today is my first day, I don’t care what happens. Its not like I can actually do what I want but I planned to try.

I have a habit of proving I’m the best at whatever it is I do, and I will do that.

The first place I discreetly tried to go to was my command room. I didn’t want anyone on this floor to see me yet so I quickly made my way around to the room.

All the lights were off, the windows were tinted, there was useless furniture that I wouldn’t use. Ever. The lack of light wasn’t my aesthetic. Neither was the lack of simplicity. I walked to the center of the room and stopped at the steps; for a second, I hesitated because I didn’t want to have anything to do with all the stuff that was in the room.

I had to settle the uncertainty for now to do my job. At the moment, I am not in the position to fight my way out of this.

I took the few steps forward and walked around to turn the screen on. A dark blue hologram came up to show the loading icon.

“Welcome.” The system said.

The screen was blank. I didn’t want to reinstate my authority yet. Once I do that, nothing will be blank. There will always be something for me to look at or do or take charge of.

I didn’t want that.

“Reinstate.” I said quietly.

The system scanned my eyes and my name appeared on the screen.

“Welcome, Aurora.”

“Revert settings.”

The room began to brighten up as the tint from the windows disappeared. The furniture was removed as well. The main lights dimmed once the sunlight made it through. When I turned around, I saw the chair I used to always sit in when I was bored or tired, the one where my feet never really touched the ground. This was the only egg shaped chair I could ever get comfortable in, and I actually really liked how it was pink on the inside and white on the outside.

I could always sleep in that chair when I didn’t have anywhere else to go.

It’s like nothing changed.

The floor, the walls, the lights, the windows, nothing. That’s the only thing I like about the system right now. It knows what I like.

I turned it off and went to sit down to listen to the silence.

I wasn’t that hurt. I wasn’t that bothered. Maybe that just means I can handle being back. Or maybe I’m so miserable that it doesn’t even matter. Either way, I’m still here and I can’t bail.

I can deal with it.

I sighed and got up from my seat after some time to think and mope. I left the room and wondered what else I should do on my first day. Maybe I could purposely ignore some people just for the fun of it. Or I could bother some other countries’ officials, or scare them. I had a lot of options today.

Before I could even think of going to another floor, I was greeted by two others who have been waiting for this moment to come. I’m sure they thought that smiling would’ve been inappropriate so they kept it to themselves but I could tell they were happy.

“Hi.” Libra said shyly as she looked around, holding on to her tablet that was pressed into her dress.

“You’re back.” Haroldo also was a little nervous.

Do they think I’m mad about what happened to me? I wasn’t terribly upset as I should have been. I had my time to get over it.

“Did you hear what happened?” I asked them.

“No, which makes it odd because you would have to be dragged against your will to take this position again.” Haroldo explained.

“You know how we freaked out about Iris watching us?” I asked and they nodded. “Turns out, they made a deal about me coming back as Commander.”

Their eyes widened with surprise.

“Nothing happens to me as long as I come back.” I continued.

“And they actually got you with that?” Libra was shocked.

“Yep.” I nodded.

“That’s so mean. Here I thought you came back out of the goodness of your heart but instead we all got played.” Libra said.

“I knew something was up, but that’s harsh.” Haroldo said.

The sectors get what they want. I haven’t forgotten that. They just really hated Janus to the point that they wanted him gone.

“I’m not sure if I want to purge people that were loyal to Janus or just leave them alone.” I began to walk and they followed beside me.

“What are they going to do anyway?” Haroldo shrugged.

“Their loyalty wavered because they didn’t know what to do.” Libra said. “It’s not like we gave them a clear option to pick sides anyway.”

“And it’s not like anyone would actually double cross you, or you know, go for the whole assassination thing.” Haroldo added.

“That’s a little out there.” Libra agreed.

Would someone actually kill me? No, it’s not that serious. Right? I stopped walking and looked at the two of them. I was thinking about the outcome mostly, but I stared at the two of them since they really weren’t that worried.

I shouldn’t be worried either.

“Maybe we should...” Libra stopped talking and her attention turned elsewhere.

Haroldo was looking too.

She pushed him forward once I glanced the other way, only to find that Sirus was waiting for me. He isn’t even that nearby but he manages to scare people off. Libra and Haroldo didn’t waste another second to leave.

Now what?

I don’t like babysitting him. Now I’m back to constantly watching his behavior because he likes to mess around with people and make them uncomfortable.

I’m still pissed off about everything that happened. I’m more than pissed. He knows that. I want to make him suffer for what he did.

Things will definitely change.

I walked over to Sirus, and he just had that smug grin on his face, like he won. And sometimes, he swears he has my best interest at heart, that he wants to make sure I’m okay, that he cares, but deep down, he’s only in this for himself.

That’s fine.

I’m in this for myself now, too.

Sirus thinks I will give in to all of his games. Things aren’t going back to normal just because I’m here again. Sirus always gets what he wants, but I also get what I want, and I will always win.

Since we were alone, I was going to take this chance to make sure he understood that I will no longer tolerate any and all of his sexual engagements unless I feel up to it. He won’t like it and I won’t care. He wants to play games but I don’t. The teasing and the joking around stops now.

I will threaten him too. I’ll make him angry, and spiteful, and vengeful.

Other than that, I will make him so miserable he will start to hate me again.

My aggression apparently started when Sirus groped me so here’s what he gets out of that.

I pushed his hand away from me and glared at him, ready to start just the first moment of pure hell.

“You’re not going to touch me. At all. Until I let you touch me.” I said. And when he laughed, it prompted me to get more serious. “You no longer have probations left, so one more mark against you and you’re terminated.”

“That was under Janus-”

“No, that’s under me.” I corrected him.

He didn’t like that.

“So you’re not getting anything from me until I feel like its okay.” I said, watching his expression change. He thought I was absurd.

There is no way I will bargain with him.

“And how long will that take-”

"Until I say so." I said through my teeth as I glared up at him.

Now he seemed to understand the threat. This is where he tries to find his way out, anything that will tell him he can still do whatever he wants.

That’s not how it’s going to happen.

“I will write complaint after complaint to Human Resources until they finally have the guts to fire you.” I threatened him. “Don’t ever cross me again, Sirus.” I frowned bitterly.

He glared down at me, a response to threats that actually make him uncomfortable.

“You were the one that wanted me to come back. And I’m miserable, so now I’ll make you miserable.” This is what’s going to change. ”That is what a relationship is. We average our misery.” I said bitterly as I pressed the silver button for the elevator.

I’m sure he was already angry with me, cursing me out in his mind. He could say anything he wants but there’s nothing that will make me not want to make him angry.

If he doesn’t like it, he can stop this any time he’d like.

I took his silence as compliance.

It’s good to know that Sirus will be obedient from now on.

The elevator doors opened and I stepped inside first, pressing the button for the ground floor. Sirus was apparently going to follow me. If he thinks he can threaten me in a private setting, he’ll have to think again. I’ve lost my patience because of everything that has happened, and Sirus doesn’t get special privileges just because I’m closer with him than with anyone else. So when he pressed the red button to stop the elevator, I was definitely ready to take him on.

He came closer to me but he put his hands on the wall so if I ask him what he’s doing, he can tell me that he’s not touching me. I wasn’t intimidated, but it didn’t seem that way when I backed up against the wall just because he was too close.

He was way too close.

Yet, he just left it like that. He wasn’t planning on doing anything because of what I said to him. He looked me in the eyes, waiting for me to do something but I barely moved.

I did say Sirus couldn’t touch me, but I could touch him.

My hand lifted to his face. My thumb rubbed slowly against his cheek. I moved my hand again, letting my fingers curl in his hair as I just barely closed the distance between us. He knows that I won’t completely give up on everything we do. I don’t mind the touching, the kissing, the fondling. It’s been almost six years of that.

But I told him I’m still pissed and him crossing my personal space to make a point doesn’t make me feel any better.

I yanked on his hair to bring his head back.

“Do you think I’m kidding?” I asked him loudly. “I am still mad that you double crossed me, Sirus. Just trying to find your way in my emotions isn’t going to help you!”

My fingers tightened in his hair when I thought he was going to touch me again. I hope he actually does feel pain because I want him to. I’m so annoyed that he can get away with whatever he wants and I have to suffer.

“You always say you hate the test of loyalty, but it seems like you’re not as loyal as you say you are.” I said and he glared at me. Clearly he knows the issue here. “Do not keep secrets from me, Sirus.” I warned him as I gripped his hair harder to cause more pain.

“It was to help you-” he started but I yanked harder on his hair to make him stop. His hands held on to my wrist but I kept my fingers tightly locked in his hair just so he couldn’t fight me.

“All that was to help yourself. I’m not an idiot.” I said through my teeth. “Don’t double cross me again. I will ruin you if you do.”

I don’t like being lied to. I especially don’t like it when people think they’re only helping me. How foolish of Sirus to believe he can get away with that excuse. My mood changed drastically. Now I don’t feel so sparing like I did two minutes ago.

I let go of Sirus’ hair, but that was because I had nothing else to say to him. If I hadn’t kept him at eye level, he probably would’ve ignored me. If only I was taller than him, maybe he would take my threats seriously. I moved to press the red button again so I could get the hell off.

“You know, the threatening is pretty hot.” He said behind me.

I turned to yell at him but all that escaped my mouth was wind. I couldn’t even find my voice to get it out because I got so angry in just a second. Sirus really knows how to get to me and that’s the worst part about this.

“It gives me chills.” He shivered. I didn’t think he was being amusing by continuing to mess with me.

“You think this is funny.” I should’ve known.

“Get angrier so you’ll do something about it.”

This is not a game! The fact that he thinks it is got me more upset. I can’t believe I thought I could threaten Sirus. That never works and he’s just showing me that now.

“Leave me alone, Sirus.” I said bitterly. “I am so tired of your constant terrible behavior and your blatant disrespect.” I sighed and did my best to take a deep breath to calm myself down.

“Nothing I haven’t heard before.” He said.

I just had to keep it in. I had to keep it to myself so I don’t get any angrier. Sirus knows how to provoke me. The more I let him make me give in to that, the worse this will get. I just have to remind myself that I’m not going to tolerate any of what he does.

“Just don’t talk. Don’t say anything to me or anyone else.” I said as the elevator doors opened.

I walked out quickly and hoped he wouldn’t follow me. There were other people around so Sirus wouldn’t act out. Well I’m hoping he wouldn’t. At least here, I don’t have to worry about him doing something stupid.

“So I can’t tell anyone I’m fucking the boss?” I heard him ask loudly from where he was.

And everyone here heard him.

I stopped walking when I heard his comment. I don’t think I’ve ever felt a heat so strong boiling in my stomach. Sirus always gets his way, and I’m so tired of it. His comment was so inappropriate and disrespectful that I didn’t know how to handle it on the spot.

I don’t like how quiet it got, how I could hear whispering just because current conversations had to stop. I bet people were looking at me and that’s what made me turn red.

Sirus just had to say it out loud didn’t he?

I turned around to see him still standing in the elevator, holding the doors open so he could watch me. There was a smile on his face, a triumphant smile. I just wanted to wipe it off violently. My hands balled up by my sides and I was desperate to hold back my outburst.

But I couldn’t.

I snapped and couldn’t hold my anger.

“You’re fired!” I yelled at him.

“Talk to human resources.” He said because he knows I have to go through them first.

“What makes you think I won’t?” I asked loudly because he thought I was bluffing.

He moved his hands from the sides of the elevator and took a step back so the silver doors could close. I was still angry but I clearly could not go after him. All I could do was glare.

My face was probably red hot.

I don’t like that it was still quiet in the lobby. Only more rumors will start up again and I don’t have the patience to continue dealing with it. Today was not a good day to show my face again.

I went to sit next to Nova at the front desk. The silence was slowly being replaced by people talking and picking up their conversations again.

“Just another day at the office.” She said in response to what happened. I sighed quietly. “Looks like it started off great for you.” She laughed.

“I’m not in the mood.” I groaned.

“That’s okay.” She said kindly. “Other than Sirus embarrassing you in front of everyone, how are you taking this?” She asked.

Not well.

“I’m fine.” I lied anyway.

“If it makes you feel any better, you’ve been getting flowers from a lot of people.” She pointed to a corner across the lobby where five drones were wheeling around, guarding a lot of flowers, mostly roses. “You’ve also got quite a few messages that the Computer had to discard.” She added.

“Nothing’s changed.” I sighed.

Who’s going to come find me first? Which official am I going to have to deal with? Now everyone’s going to have to brief me on everything that has happened and that just means a lot of meetings and unnecessary information I don’t care about.

I groaned and leaned my head back while I spun in the chair.

“So when’s your wedding?” I asked because that was never discussed with me. I would hope that Nova plans to invite me.

“I’ll tell you when mine is when you tell me when yours is.” she said.

Where is she...What? I looked at her and saw her smirk. That’s not funny. I don’t know why people think their jokes are okay with me but most of the time it’s not. I kept a plain face as I stared at her.

“Relax.”

“Thank goodness I don’t have the power to fire anyone for real.” I sighed. With how easy I get irritated now, this entire department would be gone.

“I see the way you two look at each other. Both of you are sly.” She continued to smile as she worked. “I think you two together are very entertaining.” she said.

I held my breath. I don’t know what she wanted me to say to that. There’s nothing entertaining about it. Frankly, it’s annoying. Sirus just wants me to fight him and one day I will, however, it will not be today. I blew air into my cheeks as I thought of something to do.

“Do you want me to take messages today or should we wait till tomorrow?” She asked.

“Discard them. Everyone will just send more tomorrow.” I spun in the chair. “I don’t need the flowers either.” I said.

“They can brighten up the place a bit.” She glanced at me.

“Nova. We are in a glass building. I’m sure we can let the sun in once in a while if you’re worried about the light.”

“I’ll keep them then.” She said politely.

She can gladly have them all if she wants them. I wasn’t going to do anything with them. Maybe I should bring a bouquet home for my mom. She’s been worried about me lately, the least I could do is show her I’m alive.

“Rhea’s coming over in an hour. She says she has a disclosure for you to sign.” Nova said.

Well that’s my cue to run.

“What disclosure? She knows my entire life now.” I complained. What else could she possibly want from me? She knows everything.

“Sirus has to sign one too.” She said.

Oh...no.

“Tell Rhea I’m not here.” I got up quickly and took off so I could hide in my command room. I would prefer to not deal with Rhea.

Because of everything that has happened with the Rebellion, her department has been intervening much more to keep the rest of us in line. And I get it, that’s her job, but I don’t like it. Now she wants me to sign a disclosure that explicitly states that I’m in a relationship with a subordinate and will swear to keep it professional. I’ve avoided her long enough before to dodge the claim but I’m sure now she has her proof.

I kept myself in my command room for a while. The globe at the center of the room spun slowly, red lights flashing around in certain countries. I decided to use the time to try and make a new profile that I could use as a cover. My original is a complete mess and I took down the other one for Phoebe a couple days ago.

One day, I won’t have to worry about keeping my health and work related issues a secret.

Someone came into the room but I didn’t turn around to see who it was. I kept the hologram running despite the fact that it had all of my information since I was born. At this point, there’s only so much I can hide. However, I still worked on the fake profile because I needed that done before Rhea gets here.

I barely moved as Sirus stood next to me.

“What now?” I asked bitterly.

He just shrugged.

I wasn’t as mad as I was before, though I should be. The difference between me and him is that I can let go of my anger when I see that it’s not important or useless. Sirus has this inability to let things be when it pisses him off.

It’s a little shocking that he has nothing to say considering that I did threaten him. It’s good that he thinks I’m still mad at him.

“I’m surprised you thought I was going to admit I didn’t want you to leave.” He said.

So he wants to bring that up?

“I mean, you’re not wrong, but would that really come out of my mouth?”

Sirus has a tendency to keep things to himself. And I don’t care. However, this part involves me and these are the things I have to know. I just want him to talk to me more, because I won’t know anything if he doesn’t.

I waved the hologram away and turned towards him.

“How can you not want to tell me things like this? You can save both of us the time and trouble if you just tell me.” I said, almost begging him to let go of whatever stupid pride he was holding on to.

He didn’t say anything for a few seconds as I stared at him. Was that the end of the conversation? What does he want?

“Are you finished talking or should I give you a minute?” He asked.

Before I said anything, I just decided that I shouldn’t. I turned towards the globe again and lifted the hologram with my profile information on it. I should let him continue talking since apparently he doesn’t tell me things often. Conversations like this happen on rare occasions. Sirus doesn’t like being bombarded with questions that make him dig unnecessarily deep into his emotions. I understand where it comes from but it’s about time he gets rid of that tendency.

“Its easier to let you figure things out on your own, though sometimes you take long.” He shrugged. I was about to say something but he looked down at me quickly, warning me to keep my mouth shut because he still wasn’t done.

It was a struggle to keep myself quiet when he was actually trying to tell me things.

“I also truly thought if I told you, you still would’ve done whatever you wanted.” He said.

Now I felt bad. If he had told me, I would’ve thought about him, too. I’m always under the impression that he doesn’t care what I do or think sometimes. If I had known that this was how he felt, I would’ve been more considerate.

“You know I wouldn’t have, Sirus.” I had to tell him. “I’m not that mean.”

“You’re not that nice either.” He added.

It makes me wonder if Sirus is actually a sensitive person and is trying to protect himself from whatever might hurt him. Does he think I will break his heart? I’m not cruel.

“I don’t know, I just didn’t want to talk about it since everything was going on and you had enough to deal with.” He sighed.

“So tell me now.” I said. “Tell me that you don’t want me to go anywhere.” I looked up at him.

Was that too much for him? Am I giving him too much responsibility?

It’d be nice to hear him say it.

“You don’t think me not wanting to see you in jail is common sense?” He asked after a second of silence.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. It is too much for him. What was I expecting? I turned away so I could keep working.

“You know, I cried in front of you.” I pointed out.

“Yeah, like five times,” he said, and added, “this year.” I wasn’t thrilled that he put it like that.

I ignored his comment. Clearly he wasn’t done so I wasn’t going to draw attention to anything he says. That’s the only way he’ll keep talking.

“It bothered me a lot that you thought being somewhere else was your only option.” He admitted. “It pissed me off actually. I can’t count the number of times I wanted to tell you to shut up.”

Well he should’ve if it meant so much to him.

“And how miserable could you possibly be that you would think I would feel bad?” He asked.

I turned to him again, all of my attention on him.

“I think I can handle your problems as well as my own, Aurora. It’s not that big a deal.” He said.

Oh.

Well he should tell me things like this more often. I would feel better if he did.

“Thanks for telling me.” I said kindly.

“Hm.”

“I really appreciate it.”

“Yeah, right.”

“But, I actually want to hear you say you don’t want me to leave.” I said. That was the whole point of this but he somehow managed to avoid saying the phrase.

“Where would you even go without me?”

“Oh, so you’d follow me if I decided to go somewhere else?”

“Common sense.” He said.

“Okay.” I rolled my eyes. Again he managed to avoid saying it but I had my answer for now.

I wasn’t going to test to see if Sirus would really drop everything just to go somewhere else. It’s not like I could leave anymore considering how I have a new occupation. But I do have a feeling that he would follow if I told him I wanted to try a new environment. Considering everything that’s happened, and how he was basically pushed to his limit, I know he means well.

“We should get going. Rhea’s coming with relationship disclosures for us to sign.” I said as I began turning everything off.

Sirus was not going to stay long enough to get caught and neither was I. “If we just resign now, we can avoid her.”

“How fast do you think we can do that?”

“As long as we don’t show up again, I’m sure that counts.” He said as I followed behind him out of the room.

It’s nice to know he would quit with me if we really had to. For now, we were just going to run from Rhea so we don’t have to publicly state that we are together. If that’s what we want to call it.

We have a lot of time to figure it out.