Reborn Heart of Steel

In particular, the days that followed our meeting with Zoe were a rather indistinct combination of secret work and increasing nervous tension. When Chase and I moved back to my house, we took over my basement and set up shop, so to speak, for another hunt. The Curriculum walls were decorated by various maps, timelines and pieces of information linked by the red string hanging from the ceiling and growing thicker every day. Hidden in the middle of all these was Zoe’s notebook. We’d spent hours staring at the bizarre symbols present in the text, which looked like arrays of random combinations of numbers and letters. Together with the badly done sketches of constellations, which were as incomprehensible to us as before, no matter how much we frustrated ourselves. Chase threw the pen on the table with annoyance, “This is useless, we are never going to make it”. More than 3 hours had been spent on the search, and it was gradually getting to our nerves. “Perhaps, the whole thing is a myth. As in, there is no code at all, and all that we are reading are the words of a frightened girl. ” I closed my eyes and vigorously shook my head; there was no way I could stop now. “No, there is something here; we just can’t see it yet. ” I looked down to the notebook; it was filled with random writing now tucked under my arm I had turned the pages many times before. I followed suit and a small slip of paper fell to the floor. Chase lowered himself down to pick it up and scrunched his face as he looked at the piece of paper. “Hi Bri, got this new phenomenon: I don’t believe we’ve witnessed this one before. ” I took my seat and realized that he was right. My heart began to race as I listened to him. The paper was covered in the same messy handwriting as the rest of the notebook, but this message was clear: “The plan is set for the night of the blood moon The Raven flies. ” “The blood moon,” I whispered that one word, feeling a wave of coldness spread out from my spine. I guess that has to be important. Chase was already on the computer, typing at great speed on it. After thinking for a while, he blurted out, “There is a lunar eclipse ahead”. “They sometimes refer to it as the ‘blood moon’ given the red hue on it is seen; the occurrence is about one week and a few days from now. ” I felt an adrenaline rush . This was it our first real lead since we had resumed the operation of our investigation. “The constellation drawings,” I spoke out, more to break the silence, than out of any other impulse. “Perhaps this is not a set of stars randomly selected like in most constellations. What if these stars are actually pointing at something?” So we submerged ourselves into the notebook again and spent time studying every single drawing carefully. This pattern was discovered as we surfaced and started to collaborate on the task. Little did we know that the ‘stars’ were not stars by any manner of means, but destinations. Specific places around the city that we had previously pinpointed as strong points for The Raven and the Phoenix Organization to be functioning from. ‘Hey, let me show you why ?’ said Chase and indicated one of the drawings. “This one here, it’s different from the others. For example just look here at this ‘star’. It is bigger, or, I would say, it is more emphasized. ” I put on a fascinated look on my face and kept fixed on my position as my heart was pounding. He was right. But as soon as I looked closer I could see why I had thought that I had already seen it before. Chase, that is the wreck of the old observatory which is located which is on the outskirts of the town and has not been operative for quite a long time. We looked at each other with a drawing sense of comprehension. The observation would give a clear view of the lunar eclipse to avoid cloudy and hazy background occurrences. And its position ensured that it was out of sight and thus a perfect place for secret meetings. “This has to be,” I could barely whisper in the last words. “However, whatever plan is in store for The Raven, it is going to happen at the observatory on the night of the eclipse. He nodded, seeing on his face both excitement and anxiety at the same time. “However, what does he have in mind? And how does Zoe now turn into a part of all of this? With that, we spent several hours reviewing all the materials collected so far in search of clues linking them to the observatory or the upcoming eclipse. While doing all this, a conclusive picture that was so cold was being depicted. “Look at this”, I told him while showing him a series of the shipping manifests we managed to find. “Chemical deliveries to firms we believe are fronts for The Raven have skyrocketed. And these parts… , Chase, I believe that they have received all the components necessary to assemble a bomb. ” Chase’s face paled. “A bomb? Where and why and what did he hope to gain for himself out of that wicked act?”

In response to his words, I nodded my head and at once my thoughts were in a whirl. “I have no idea, but whatever it is, it’s huge. And I believe… I believe Zoe got wind of it in one way or the other. That’s where her cousin went missing from. ” Then we were all silent for a few moments and the reality of what we had found sank in. This was far bigger than what we had envisioned, at least as we had brainstormed with our imagination. The Raven was not only some kind of criminal genius, no, he was a terrorist planning a possibly devastating event. “We have to stop him,” Chase said, the words that were ringing repeatedly in Chase’s head filled with determination. “But how? We can’t go to the police, not after they cover up what we saw with Agent Harris. ” I nodded, recalling the secret conversation we had just observed. “And we cannot afford to alert The Raven to the fact that we are aware of it. Both of them seem to be observing us too closely. ” For hours, we debated on what we were going to do, envisioning the possible consequences of our choice. It must be mentioned that the night was spent crawling through a basement, and so, as the light inside grew brighter and the first rays of sunlight penetrated the basement’s windows, we made the decision. “We will have to do this ourselves,” I replied, fired up after so many hours of arguing. “We will sit in the observatory and try to gather as much evidence as possible, then we will try to stop whatever The Raven plans on doing. By going to the higher authority” Chase agreed, maybe it was the determination of someone who was fully aware that there was no way out, he was going to go for it. “It is dangerous but there seems to be no other way round it, and we cannot afford to sit back and let him go about killing people. ” As we started to plan how we were going to carry out the stake out, my phone chimed of an incoming text message. It was from Harris: The message read “Emergency must see you immediately, you have to come to the park in the next 20 min without company. ” I shared the message with Chase but this time a strange anxious feeling was knotting my stomach. I asked him ‘What do you think, should I trust him?’ Chase hesitated. “I don’t know. It could be a trap. But if he really wants to show me something new…” I made a decision. “I’ll go. But you should stay here and continue to work on our plan. If I don’t return within one hour, consider that something happened to me. ” The scowling look on Chase’s face said that he would have preferred to argue, but he simply nodded. “Careful, Bri these guys are not joking, you and I are in this deep, and we cannot afford to screw up. ”

I stood in the basement not quite sure what to expect, but my heart was palpitating with lots of imaginations. Even as I strolled to the park, I had a strange feeling and I felt that I was being followed. It was a cold wind, which only seemed to blow danger in every whisper of the leaves in the passing car. When I got to the park it was empty; the moisture on the green gave a creepy touch to the normally recognizable environment. I immediately turned my gaze around searching for any sign of Zoe. “Bri. ” At hearing my name I whirled round, my heart in my mouth. But as I opened the door and looked into the darkness, she was not the one who stood before me. It was Agent Harris frowning and looking intense with his hand placed over the revolver holstered at his side. ‘Let’s talk,’ he whispered, aroused in a manner that told me things were serious, and he needed to tell me something about them. “There isn’t much time. ” I was standing there, unable to do anything, stunned and confused, while my mind was going through a hundred questions at the speed of light. Was this a trap? Had Agent Harris been a part of The Raven team from the start? Or maybe he was here with the intention of helping us? I had not yet the chance to decide what my reply would be, when a clear snap went through the park. Both of Agent Harris’s eyes went wide with a sense of surprise, and he nearly tripped forward. When he pulled his hands away from his chest, I noticed the growing red stain on his back. About a mile away a solitary form emerged momentarily from the thickening vapors which obscured the vast plain, and clutched at a great, bronzed and flint-lock musket. And beside Agent Harris’s hand, which was outstretched as if to grasp at something just beyond his reach, was a USB drive that was as enigmatic as the man lying on the floor in front of me. When I heard the first scream of the sirens in the distance, I sensed an increasing sense of dread and felt that icy feeling that comes with the moment when there is no possible way to justify someone’s murder and no way to avoid getting caught. It was a break, ugly and bloody, but however terrible the price was paid, we had it, and now I had to make the choice. Lose our best chance to stop The Raven’s plan, and run for our lives? Or to just wait for me to be wrapped in a murder I had nothing to do with? Time was drawing near, and it was only a matter of a few seconds for me to make the decision.Exclusive © content by N(ô)ve/l/Drama.Org.