Chapter Text
Jack Kelly knew how rough life could be.
He knew it more than most, and these days, most knew it damn well.
But he had a...unique perspective on how horrible life could be.
Jack Kelly, the most wanted criminal in all of the Republic, who skulked in back alleys and took shelter with people who had nothing to lose if he got caught under his roof, who sabotaged and fought and ran and was the most notorious person the government hated and also the most mysterious. The most hated.
Even the people with the most advanced technology and highly trained operatives couldn’t manage to get a clear picture of him, or even a clear description. They didn’t even know his name.
“This one is my favorite yet.” Even while they were hiding and waiting, Race managed to look like he was relaxing someplace nice, examining the picture of somebody who was supposedly Jack that was up on a billboard across the street. “I don’t know who he is, but he’s hotter than you, Jacky.” Jack glanced up, away from the house he was carefully watching to see what Race was talking about and had to admit, he was right.
Wanted: Day, Traitor to the Republic, Reward for Information leading to Apprehension.
“If I had cheekbones like that we’d eat more regularly.”
“Or the eyes. Hot damn. That guy could convince anyone to give up anything for a kiss.” Jack laughed quietly.
“Hang on, he’s home.” Race’s focus snapped back to the house they were watching.
“God he looks awful.” He said quietly. “How many does he have now?”
“They just got one more. So seven now.” Race let out a low whistle.
“And he’s the only one who’s working?”
“There’s three other than Blink who work, the other four are too young.” Jack scanned the street, noting the things he would need to know later. The lights would go off in a half hour, people were ducking inside already, and the coast would be clear once the blackouts hit.
“Is he okay?” Race asked quietly, checking the bag they had ready and making sure everything was ready.
“I don’t know.” Jack answered, focusing on the house again to avoid meeting Race’s eyes. “Same as last time, last I talked to Blink. Getting by.”
“And he still doesn’t know?”
“How can he? Race, it’s dangerous having Blink know who I am, let alone anybody else.”
“He’s your brother.”
“And if he knew who I was, he’d be at risk.” Jack shook his head. “You think I wouldn’t tell him if I could? I haven’t seen him in years, Race, I miss him. I just can’t risk hurting him.”
They stayed silent until the lights when out, when Race passed him the bag.
“Good luck. Be careful.”
“I will. I’ll be back soon.” Jack slipped out of their hiding place carefully, using the shadows he knew so well to sneak behind the house.
When he was six, he’d found the way in he used now. Under the steps in the back, there was a way to crawl forward towards the kitchen, and pop up from floorboards that hadn’t been weak when they were new, but at this point were so close to being rotten that pushing them up wasn’t even hard. Blink was waiting for him, like he always was, silently taking the bag and looking through it, being careful not to make extra noise.
The small room was barely lit by the candle Jack knew would be blown out as soon as he would gone, too precious to be wasted.
“Thank you.” Blink whispered. “We needed these.”
“There’s not much. I’ll try to get more next time.” There were a few sets of clothes, safer for the factories for the boys who would have to work than the rags Jack knew their last sets had become by now, and a little bit of food.
“How did you get this?” Blink held up the thing Jack was most proud of acquiring.
“Same as I get everything. You don’t want to know.” Blink was grinning at the can of peaches, enough to give dessert to everyone in the house with dinner the next night.
“The boys will love these.” Blink looked through the rest of the bag in silence for a minute.
“How’s Crutchie?” Jack broke the silence, barely, whispering. Blink sighed, gently setting the bag down on the table.
“He’s okay. Surviving. The work is too hard for him, but he knows we can’t afford to not have him working.”
“The medicine is still working?” Blink paused slightly too long for Jack to believe him when he nodded. “Blink. Is the medicine still working?”
“We always knew it wouldn’t work forever, Jack.”
“So how is he really?”
“He needs something stronger. It isn’t bad yet, and he thinks we haven’t noticed, but he’s in a lot more pain than he should be.” Blink sighed. “We can’t afford more than we have, and he refuses to let anyone go hungry so he can have stronger medicine.”
“How long before it gets bad?”
“I don’t know, Jack.” Jack suddenly realized how tired Blink looked. He had grease stains covering his clothes, the shadow under his good eye was so dark it looked like a bruise, and Jack could tell he’d lost weight by how his clothes, normally loose already, were hanging even looser. How had he missed this? How had he not noticed his younger brother getting sick and his older brother going hungry? “Jack, we’ll be okay. We always are.”
“Spend your money on food. I’ll get medicine.”
“Jack, it’ll cost-”
“Then I won’t pay. I’m not sitting back and watching him die, Blink, or any of you starve. I can’t take care of him from here, I can from out there.”
“And how am I supposed to explain suddenly being able to afford stronger medicine? Since you won’t let me tell him you’re alive?”
“That’s not an argument anymore, Blink. You know it’s dangerous for you to know, let alone him. If anyone found out, it’s you two they’d hurt.” There was a scuffle outside, a few houses away, prompting Blink to push the curtain aside and look.
“Soldiers. You should go.”
“You’ll get medicine, Blink. I swear it.” Jack hugged Blink tightly before slipping back under the floor, pausing and watching the light above him flicker out before leaving, already trying to plan how he would get his hand on medicine he knew would cost him and Race every penny they had saved up.
He would have to steal it. He wasn’t going to let anything happen to his family.
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By this point, Katherine was used to this office. The screen and keyboard on the desk, the portrait of the Elector hanging on the wall, the flag.
The Dean behind the desk, alternating between looking disappointedly at Katherine and typing up her report.
“I am so tired of this, Katherine.” Katherine shrugged. “Now is not the time to be disrespectful. Off campus, during class hours, scaling a building! And causing a sector wide panic.” The Dean probably would have scared anyone else, especially anyone who’d already gotten in trouble as much as Katherine had. “Eight times, Miss Pulitzer, eight times you’ve been in here this quarter! And you smile and shrug like nothing is going to happen.”
Because nothing would. Katherine knew they wouldn’t kick her out of school, as much as they threatened to. She was the only person in the history of the Republic to get a perfect score on her Trial, and they wouldn’t let go of her, no matter how much trouble she caused. She was going to graduate, she was going to graduate early, and she could get away with anything she wanted to.
“Ms. Adams, Captain Ralph Pulitzer is here for Katherine.”
“Send him in.” The Dean buzzed her brother up, and when he entered the room, Katherine could tell how angry he was. His eyes told her, even while his body language was totally relaxed. “Captain Pulitzer.”
“Deal Adams.”
“I’ll take her for the rest of the day. I assure you, she’s in plenty of trouble.” Katherine could tell Dean Adams wanted to protest, but also knew she would lose. If there was one thing Katherine and her brother had in common, it was their stubbornness. Also, Ralph technically outranked the Dean, and could order her to let Katherine go.
“Of course, Captain. I’ll be seeing you tomorrow, then, Katherine.”
Ralph held himself together until they were in the car, their family friend Morris driving.
“What were you thinking? Are you an absolute idiot? I know you’re not, you’re the smartest person in this damn country, and you still decided to scale a building? With a gun on your back? Two days after Day was confirmed to be in the city, and has not been confirmed to be elsewhere? Were you trying to get yourself killed?”
“I was trying to get myself trained, Ralph! I’ve learned nothing yet this year, and it’s halfway over! Day can-”
“Day is the most wanted criminal in-”
“He can scale five stories in ten seconds-”
“You won’t ever need to chase him up a-”
“And if I do, I’m too slow! I need to-”
“No, Kat, you want to. You want to be better than him when you already are. Kat, you're the best we have, and you’re seventeen. Imagine what you’ll be when you’re done with your training! Now imagine what you’ll be if you fall off a fourteen story building! Dead, Kat, you’ll be dead.”
“It wasn’t a fourteen story building. I was fourteen stories up. It was plenty taller than that.” Morris made a noise from the front seat.
“He’s right.” Ralph said. “It was stupid and dangerous.”
“You got all of that from a grunt?” Ralph was silent for a few minutes.
“How long did it take you?” He finally asked, curiosity getting the best of him. Morris sighed exasperatedly.
“A minute and a half. Still too slow.” Katherine grinned, knowing he couldn’t force himself to be mad anymore.
“Encouraging her will only make her act out more, you know.” Ralph grinned back at her though, ignoring his friend.
“Don’t do it again. But that’s impressive.”
“Take we out with you and I can use my energy for a real purpose.”
“Never again, Kat, you know that. Not after last time.” Katherine huffed, pushing a few flyaway hairs out of her face.
“That was a year ago.”
“And you’re still a kid.”
“I’m seventeen!”
“You haven’t graduated yet.”
“I’m ready, Ralph. Let me come. I know you’re going out tonight. What is it, a routine delivery guard? I can help!”
“You can go home and write an apology letter to Dean Adams. And one to me, for giving me a heart attack.” Katherine stuck out her tongue at her brother’s back, making eye contact with Morris in the rearview mirror, making him laugh a little. She knew he was on Ralph’s side, though. Morris was always on Ralph’s side.
She turned and looked out the window, knowing she wouldn’t win this fight and preferring to watch the view, anyway. They were in a poor sector now, passing through towards the high, bright towers of home a couple miles away. The people outside all had the marks of people working in factories, missing pieces, bruises, cuts, and most of them looked at their car like they were analyzing the best way to loot it. The houses here were small and dilapidated and dirty, matching the people who lived in them.
Beyond them, though, she could see where she lived, and that’s what she loved to look at. The brightly lit towers, the Trial stadium in the foreground, the bright colors that stood out against the blackouts of the rest of the city.
The blackouts were designed to save energy, cutting off power to the poor areas so more could be spared for the sectors with military bases, or colleges. Katherine knew the poor hated them, but she also knew the good purpose they served. Sometimes, the good of the Republic had to outweigh the inconveniences of a few factory workers.
Once they entered their own sector, the atmosphere was immediately radically different, more comfortable. It was home. There were military personnel, off duty, walking in groups or pairs, richer civilians and politicians who were out on the town for the night. While the poor sectors were dark and dangerous, the rich ones were exactly the opposite. They were safe, bright, and warm. The people here waved at each other instead of eye each other like they were casing them out.
And home was the brightly lit apartment where all of her memories of family were. He faded memories of their parents, killed in a car crash when she was little, the clearer ones of Ralph taking care of her, of the celebration they’d had when he’d been assigned to the best unit, when she’d gotten a perfect score on her Trial, their years as just the two of them and occasionally Morris.
Now Ralph and Morris walked her upstairs and left her their, Morris tipping his hat sarcastically to her before leaving, Ralph telling her again to write apology letters.
“I’ll be back late. Don’t wait up.” He kissed her on the forehead before following Morris back out the door, off to their patrol, leaving Katherine alone for the night.