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Parasite is the third part of The Underground series

Chapter 7 of 29

Symbiotic Relations

The cold, red dawn of the Arcadian morning was just beginning to break over the horizon as Jenna walked quickly beside Alias down the desolate streets. Even with her thick peacoat wrapped tightly around her and pink beanie covering her ears, she still felt the chill of the wind that would sweep down the streets. It had even snowed a bit last night, giving everything an almost serene look about them. It was all an illusion though. Soon the sun would come in full force, chasing the shadows away, and melting whatever snow was left on the ground, leaving Arcadia as she normally was; cold, wet, and ugly.

"Where are we meeting him?" Jenna asked, looking over at Alias, warm in his long trenchcoat, armed to the teeth with several pistols and ammunition to boot, but concealing his heat to the public.

"Paragon Park." Alias replied, moving quickly to keep his body heat flowing. "Public place, several exits, and somewhere Isis would doubtfully have anyone placed. She thinks she's got our number. That mean's she underestimates us, so we'll use that to our advantage." She watched as Alias shook his head, shrugging. "This Trilby guy could be a Godsend if he is who he says he is. Mick should be meeting us there."

This caught Jenna off guard. "So, you both are talking again?" She asked, thinking about how they had left things last night.

"Well, it pissed me off he didn't give any warning, but I don't know all the circumstances. I was considering the possibility that Mick could have been the one to tell her about Lazarus Plaza to guarantee my cooperation."

Mick? A snitch? But Mick was one of them, not a sellout. That didn't make sense to Jenna at all. "Come on," Jenna started, "Mick wouldn't do that."

"I've seen a lot of people do things I didn't think they'd ever do. Sometimes, it's just a question of survival. Integrity is a good thing, especially when your word is your greatest collateral." She listened as Alias explained more about his world. "You never know when someone could decide that it's easier to save their own ass than protect yours."

"Do you still think he did?" Jenna asked solemnly.

"Knowing a bit more about Isis, it makes it more and more unlikely. She could have found that out from a number of sources. I went through Zias Noxid of the Equinox faction for that stunt. I'm hoping it was more along those lines."

Jenna thought about this for a minute; the idea of Mick selling them out to Isis. "Maybe you just need to have a little more faith in those around you."

"I give faith where faith is deserved." Alias replied in his dark tone. "I know Mick better than I know any of my other arms dealers, but still I don't know him that well."

A light turned red at an intersection, and both Jenna and Alias hurried across the busy street. Jenna couldn't help but notice the people in their cars. Normal people, living normal lives. As she crossed, she noticed a few girls, probably on their way to school close to her age, in a car as she passed. One in the passenger seat, texting, while the girl behind the wheel chatted to her friend sitting in the back. After a second they all broke out laughing about only God knows what. A flash of her old life whipped through her mind, but to be honest... she couldn't really say if she missed it or not. There was so much about that life she wouldn't mind going back to, but she didn't know if any of those things were truly worth it. You could only text so much until you realized that your popularity didn't fill in any of the gaps in your life. Maybe she had always belonged in a place like this, she had just been raised by the wrong people; been fathered by the wrong fox.

Yes... Her mind spoke. Jenna has daddy issues.

But all that seemed so insignificant compared to what she was facing these days. Yes, it had been extremely traumatic going as cold turkey as she had from the real world to being sucked into The Underground. She had been on a date with some guy she met at a party at the University of Palamont, only to watch his body get ripped to shreds by bullets. Had Alias not been there, she could have ended up the same. Her clothes had been saturated with his blood, and Alias hadn't exactly been the easiest to get along with in those early hours that they knew each other.

Eventually, Jenna was forced to snap out of her trance of naivety. The young vixen began to take her life into her own paws, learning that she was responsible for her own survival. She had two choices, either sit back and submit to the people who wished to take her life, or fight. She fought, and with help from Alias, she felt like she could say she won.

They crossed the street into Paragon, and continued to walk deeper and deeper into the park in the middle of Arcadia. Alias seemed to know where they were going, as he led them through twists and turns. Jenna at one point thought they had become hopelessly lost in the labyrinth of concrete paths, however as they rounded a bend, she caught sight of a black and white cat, sitting on a lonely park bench. A figure she recognized as James Trilby. As they approached, Trilby's single eye looked over at them, and stood up.

"It's almost seven," he informed them both, "I was about to give up."

"The walk was a little longer than I remember." Alias explained. "We have one more person on the way, he should be here any minute."

Trilby raised an eyebrow. "This is starting to involve a lot a people. Two's company, but three's a crowd."

"He wants to see Isis burn as badly as any of us. I'm pretty sure she's got his balls in a sling." Alias replied. "I let him know the basics, but I haven't gone into the whole rogue... computer... thing... and your wife."

Trilby nodded, then looked over at Jenna as she once again pulled her pink beanie down over her ears to shield them from the cold. "And how'd you end up a part of all this."

"Picked the wrong roommate." She replied, intending to be sarcastic. "She needs someone who knows computers. I'm alright, I guess..."

"Don't let her fool you." Alias interjected. "She knows her shit. I thought I was decent until I met her."

"We'll you're going to need it." Trilby replied. "A friend back at OCB sent me the schematics on the detonator for the radiological weapon Isis is having you people steal. The encryption is experimental, but solid. The control unit that'll set it off is worthless unless you crack the activation code. My guess is that's what Isis will be having you work on."

A flash of alarm resonated through Jenna's mind. "So, if things go wrong and OCB doesn't get Isis and she sells this thing, then I'll have directly helped terrorists?" She asked, taken aback.

"If things go to hell, we'll all have that cross to carry." Trilby replied. "But I've got a plan."

Hearing footsteps behind them, Jenna turned to see Mick. Even at this ungodly hour in the morning, Mick still found a way to look like he was headed out to the clubs for the evening. His hair was gelled, and he still wore his blazer... wait a second, from last night? Actually, he was wearing everything from last night. Why would he be waring-

"Oh...." Jenna let out quietly. Oh damn... he doesn't know about Leigh and Trilby...

"I'd like to see those prints." Alias said looking at Trilby who nodded, as his one good eye jumped over to Mick in suspicion. "Agent Trilby, this is Michael Stallard, the guy I was telling you about." Alias said, introducing them both.

"Hey." Mick yawned, looking like he hadn't slept much. "You can call me, Mick. Everyone else does."

"Jim Trilby." The feline replied, shaking Mick's extended paw. "I assume you're here for the same reason they are?"

"Hell yeah!" Mick replied as if it was a stupid question. "That bitch pisses me off to no end! She's blackmailing us all to do her dirty work!"

"I thought you were an arms dealer?" Trilby asked, scowling.

"Well... yeah." Mick replied. "Getting someone a shotgun is different from getting someone a dirty bomb."

Trilby nodded his approval. "Couldn't agree with you more. Has Alias brought you up to speed?"

"Didn't have much time to talk last night." Mick nodded. "But OCB wants her popped?"

"Short answer, yes." Trilby confirmed.

"Somehow... that makes perfect sense." Mick scoffed. "So Isis gave me the game plan. She wants us to move tonight." He explained. "I pulled a few strings and made some calls, I even had to give away my first born child, but I was able to find the designer of the control unit she wants to use. Also the explosives and hot stuff is being delivered tonight, labeled as medical equipment to get past port authority."

"Radioactivity in a harbor? Won't they check that?" Jenna asked, remembering all the news reports she had seen about increasing security at piers around the nation. "That's a pretty big red flag."

Alias looked over at her. "Hundreds of thousands of shipping containers enter and leave harbors daily. They don't have time to check every container. Professional smugglers know how to pack crates so they aren't flagged."

"Having people who work the pier on your payroll doesn't hurt either." Mick chimed in.

Trilby nodded. "Once a container got flagged because x-ray scans showed the container was "denser" towards the back of the crate." He said, while making quotation marks with one paw. "It was said to contain boxes of cookies. They called every agency known to society down there, you know what they found?" He asked, looking slightly amused. "After unloading nearly a ton of sugar cookies, they found the back half of the crate was full of fig cookies causing the density difference. The FBI was called in to search a giant cookie jar. Port security is a joke..."

"I'm not sure where my source got the radioactive material, but I have a hunch that it's leftovers from a larger project by a private contractor. Nothing government, or officially government." Mick continued. "Jenna, you should be able to hack the control unit so we can use it, but there's one thing we don't have."

"Which is?" Alias asked.

"The unit can only be activated by using an electronic keycard specifically designed for that model of transport. If she tries and makes one mistake while hacking it, by design the bomb will go active and detonate right then and there."

"So unless you have the perfect hack..." Jenna concluded. No way. They couldn't expect her to crack that in one try. "Hacking is all about trial and error." Jenna started, looking around at the others. "Even with the Blackwell..." She hook her head. "There's no guarantee..."

"Then what are the options?" Alias asked, turning back to Mick.

"Isis doesn't want us to attempt to hack it. She knows there's no way. So we're going after that key." Mick informed.

Alias nodded, following along. "Alright, so we're stealing it?"

Mick shook his head in response. "The designer for these control units is living in Arcadia. Technically they're still experimental, so this guy has the only known key in existence, which he keeps on his person basically all the time." He looked over at Jenna. "You'll have to knock out building security while Alias gets the card."

"That's easy enough." Alias replied shrugging it off. "You had me worried there for a second."

"Then you've got to take this guy out."

Jenna noticed Trilby becoming suddenly interested.

"Wait a second." Alias rejected. "No one ever mentioned blood money to me. That's not something I take lightly."

"Look," Mick continued, "the card has an integrated transponder that can't be deactivated. He finds his card gone, he's going to render it useless-"

"Thus, she can't hack the detonator." Trilby finished.

"Pretty much." Mick nodded.

Alias looked from Trilby to Mick, brow furrowed. "Well, do we know anything about this guy?" However, Mick shook his head. "So, he could be anyone then?"

"Let's just assume, he's a man who designed a universal control unit for a large weapon's ordinance." Trilby's deep voice suggested. "And leave it at that."

"Ah... fuck me..." Alias cursed, walking around in a small circle looking frustrated. "You don't kill someone you don't know anything about!" He said in a harsh tone. "We don't know what this could mean!"

"But if you don't we all know what it will mean." Mick shot back in a grave tone of his own.

Alias sighed, breath visible in the early morning air, and shook his head. However, the black fox said nothing, and simply looked out into Paragon Park, his shaggy black hair teased by the frigid wind.

His deep emerald eyes went to Trilby. "You're willing to go along with this; OCB and the justice system be damned?"

"They made their decision." The feline replied, similar stern look in the only eye he had left. Still, with just the one, his look made even Jenna feel a little uncomfortable. This was someone with very little to lose... maybe that's why she was drawing parallels. "Now, I've made my own." With that, Trilby reached into his coat, pulling out his wallet and tossed it to Alias, who easily caught it. "If it's my agency history you're concerned with, keep it. I have very little time to prove myself to you, but I assure you at the same time, I have nothing to hide."

Jenna watched as Alias opened the wallet slowly, his eyes scanning over Trilby's OCB credentials. Both she and Mick watched his facial expression, which was hard to determine because his face was blank. He simply studied Trilby's expired ID.

"Well..." Alias said quietly after a time, flipping the wallet shut. "I don't have any better offers." He concluded, tossing Trilby's wallet back to him. "But I still want to see the case files, and I mean within the next twenty-four hours."

"Done." Trilby shrugged, acting as if it were a simple request.

"You said you had a plan?" Mick broke into the conversation.

"Yes." Trilby replied without thought. "Right now, Isis believes it has you all under control. That's Isis's biggest flaw; control." He explained. "It wants things done in an orderly, controlled routine. It's a machine; it craves efficiency, which is how we'll take it down."

"Machine?" Mick asked, looking around confused. "What?" He looked at Alias, who shook his head, indicating he'd explain later.

Inhaling slowly, he pulled what was left of his short cigarette from his lips, dropping it to the cold ground in an explosion of tiny hot embers. "Get in touch with Isis, let it know you're willing to accept the terms, but for a cut."

Jenna scowled, thinking about how much good that would do. "What will that do?"

"If Isis thinks you're committed beyond just saving each other's collective asses, it'll start trusting each of you more, and we can learn the grand scheme." He nodded to Alias and Mick. "It'll put you both on the ground floor of its operation, provided you can prove your worth. It'll probably even agree to an outrageous payment for your trouble."

"Sounds good so far." Mick commented, mind clearly on the payoff.

Trilby, however, shook his head. "It'll agree, only because Isis will have every intention of killing you once you've completed your job."

"So, we'll have to keep being useful to her." Alias nodded.

"Exactly." Trilby nodded. "I'm not going to try and keep anything from you. OCB tried to plant moles in Isis's operation before. A few weeks after one of our guys went undercover, somehow she made him for OCB." Everyone was quite for a second as Trilby's voice trailed off. "We found his body in a crate of frozen fish; addressed to me."

"So, unless we want more fish deliveries..."

"We play this like all of you are in for the ride. Do as it tells you, no counter-mission." Trilby then looked at Alias. Jenna could see their eyes connect as if there were a direct line of communication from Trilby's mind to Alias's. "That includes any contracts she brings to you."

"It's only a job." Alias replied in a firm tone. "I've done plenty before."

"You." Trilby said, looking to Mick. "How close are you to Isis?" He asked.

"Lets just say, because of her I have new respect for older women. She's crazier than any other chick I've been with." Mick replied with the intention of being funny, not in any sort of disrespectful tone, but rather one that matched his personality. Normally, Jenna simply would let out a laugh and roll her eyes, but her face twisted into a slight grimace. Clearly, Mick had no idea he was talking about Trilby's wife. As far as the mink was concerned she was just some bad bitch the OCB wanted to bring in. "I'm sure if things keep going the way they are, I can get close enough to her to start learning things."

"You... do this often?" Trilby asked in a low tone, his fingers fumbling anxiously for another cigarette.

Mick scoffed. "Last night I made up for all the time I'd missed! If there was ever a woman to use sex as a weapon, she'd be an expert. Until I learned how seriously fucked up this whole situation was, I found it hard to ever say no when she's down on her-"

"Hey Mick," Jenna cut into the conversation, "can we not just bypass the key's transponder and program it not to respond to the deactivation code?" She blurted out, trying to get Mick to stop digging his own grave.

However, Mick didn't even notice or take a hint at how awkward things had grown between everyone. "No." He replied, shaking his head, clearly still oblivious. "It's an integrated system, would render the whole key useless removing that part."

As Mick talked, Jenna felt Alias slowly lean next to her ear. "Good save..." He whispered.

She simply didn't reply to this, letting it go, and hoped that Trilby would do the same.

"Let me know as soon as you've met with Isis again." Trilby replied. "Carry out the assignment. If you think she's setting you up, just walk away. We'll deal with it from there." His one eye then went to Alias. "I'll have those files to you tomorrow, but for now, I think it's best that we part ways." Trilby lit up another cig, letting it smolder between the fingers of his paw. "Good luck tonight... for all of us." He finished, forebodingly, then turned and began slowly walking out of the park.

He then suddenly stopped to turn around. "Rumor is, Isis may have contacted more than just you people." Trilby called over his shoulder. "You never know who else they might be talking to." He finished, then continued on his way.

The remaining trio stood, watching the hunching agent slowly walking away into the cold distance. Taking in a deep breath of the frosty air, Jenna turned to Alias and Mick.

"Mick," Alias began slowly, "there's something you need to hear."

The stylish mink folded his arms. "Like an apology?" He asked, sounding a bit put off from Alias's demeanor towards him last night.

"Well... yeah, that too." Alias agreed. "But... there's something else you need to know about Isis."

With Jenna's help, Alias explained as best he could what Trilby's relation with Isis was. However, he never mentioned anything about Leigh, or the fact she and Jim were married.

"You're fucking with me, right?" Mick asked, looking from Alias to Jenna. "Ha, ha, big laugh, applause, applause, applause!" He shook his head, feeling as if they were playing a trick on him.

"This isn't a joke, Mick." Alias reaffirmed. "That's the exact story Trilby told us both last night. Jenna?"

Jenna nodded as Mick looked over at her; bewildered expression on his face.

"That's ridiculous!" Mick rejected. "Are you hearing yourself?"

"Yes, and I also was looking in Trilby's... eye the whole time he was telling us this." Alias sighed. "You can't make this kind of stuff up."

Mick looked like his world had just been rocked. As if the very foundations of his reality had just shattered. "Fuck me sideways..." He let out in quiet exasperation.

"Speaking of which..." He turned to Jenna. "You want this one?" He asked, in a dry tone. "I didn't want to take it from you."

"This one what?" Mick asked, brow furrowing.

"You always say I'm too blunt." Jenna replied in a normal tone.

"No, I said that you need to develop a little tact, but in this case I don't really see a point."

"What the hell are you both talking about now?" They heard a confused Mick question them.

"Oh what_ever_!" Jenna let out sounding like it was two separate parts, amused that he even went into tact. "I'm just honest with people, but they always think I'm just joking... but I'm really just telling them the truth."

"I'm just saying, there are ways to go about it so you don't give the wrong impression." They both looked over at Mick. "But right here I can see your point..."

A small smile crept across her muzzle. Yeah, it was just Mick, so what was the point? However, Jenna had another idea. "So let's hear it." Jenna replied, crossing her arms. "Let's here tact according to Alias the assassin."

"Alright..." Alias said, moving from her looking over at Jenna. "Hey, Mick?" Alias asked very casually.

"Yes?" He hissed, sounding quite annoyed.

"Um, this is kind of my fault, but I forgot to mention that Isis is... well, was, I guess, right?" Alias looked over at Jenna looking to confirm the validity of what he was saying. "Well, anyway, when I said she was a body under the influence of an AI, did you never wonder where that body came from?"

Mick opened his mouth to say something, but then he slowly stopped.

"You see... when you..." He looked over at Jenna. She felt a surge of pride as Alias started to falter. The vixen simply shrugged innocently. "I mean... aw, fuck it." He finally said at last. "Isis took Trilby's wife's body as a host. That's why an ex-OCB agent who's been discharged from work is trying to apprehend her."

Again there was blanketed silence between the three. Alias stood there unwavering. He simply stared at Mick as if this news wasn't really important. Mick looked between the two with an unsure sense of shock and horror. All the while, Jenna felt satisfied that her method of conveying bad news went unchallenged.

Suddenly, Mick's brain kicked in and started processing this. "Wait, so you mean that I'm-"

"Sleeping with Trilby's wife, yes." Alias confirmed nodding.

"And that I just-"

"Totally referred to her as a complete whore." Again he replied in a dry tone, blunt and honest.

Mick threw his arms up in the air, looking a little pissed. "Great!" He said loudly, eyebrows forming an angry scowl. "Just great!" His anger then turned on Alias. "You didn't think I needed to know that last night?"

Alias let out a scoff, shaking his head slowly. "You were the one in a hurry to get off the phone last night... I wasn't going to slow you down."

Jenna tried to repress a giggle, paw clamping over her mouth, causing it to come out more like an amused snort.

"Besides," Alias continued, "how was I supposed to know you were going to start into that on a first meeting with someone?"

"That's just how I am!" Mick shouted, he pointed at Alias. "That's exactly how I acted around you when we first met. It's just what I do! I make bad jokes and awkward remarks!"

"Yeah, and I thought it was funny when I met you!" Alias replied, sounding like he didn't understand why they were arguing about this. "But that doesn't mean everyone appreciates it. Trilby just might not be one of those guys and, Mick..." Alias said, cringing a little, "you kind of slept with his wife... then rubbed it in his face." Alias shook his head slowly. "A little much even for me."

"But I didn't know that!" Mick snapped back, trying to make Alias accept the blame. "And you didn't tell me, so it's your fault I even said anything."

"I told you it's kind of my fault, but you still didn't have to go into it." Alias said. "But still, it was you." Alias nodded, shrugging. "You slept with his wife, not me."

"You did not tell me-"

"If we could get back to matters of importance." Jenna cut in. She had enough of all this. "You two can argue about who was responsible for making Mick look like a jackass some other time, because right now, I'm freezing and tired." The blue vixen turned to Mick. "Mick, a woman used sex to get control of you." Jenna stated dryly, refusing to believe they had discussed it for this long. Her brow furrowed. "I'm sure it won't be the last time it happens."

"Oh, now you're going to start in!" Mick muttered as they began to walk from their meeting spot back the way they came.

Jenna then paused, spinning around and faced both Alias and Mick with a look of determination in her eyes. Personally, she was getting sick of being dragged around while these so called "veterans" of The Underground bickered like little kids over candy.

"Alias?" Jenna said aloud, still a hint of agitation in her voice. However, the black fox simply raised his eyebrow. "Details, details, details!"

"How often-"

"And this time it turned out to be a big deal." Jenna finished for him, folding her arms. "Because something isn't important to you, doesn't mean it won't affect anyone else!" The young vixen sighed, resting her forehead against her paw. "Like it or not, we're all in this together. If we're going to get through this, then we need to start working like one." Jenna paused for a moment, thinking about their pasts both Mick and Alias had shared with her. The one greatest things those two had in common was the fact they did solo work. Not wonderful grounds to start on.

"Guys, I can't do this alone." Jenna said quietly, feeling the chill of the Arcadian breeze that ripped through her warm peacoat. "Neither can you, either of you. We've all leaned on each other before. We took down Xen Hets, we took down Waverly." Again she paused, taking a deep breath to calm herself. "Now, we're going to take down Isis." She concluded.

"But first we need to figure out what the hell we're doing."