"But, wait… I thought Deputies weren't allowed to have kids-" Alex's voice shook with every word, taking a step back as she felt her legs grow weak.
"And I'm here despite that!" Tennie screamed, her words echoing off the cave walls as tears of rage streamed down her face.
Washington D.C., fifteen years ago:
"Shh, it's okay honey. We'll get you somewhere safe soon." A twenty year old Bloom held a four year old Milo, incessantly crying from the pain of the scrapes and bruises covering his body.
"It's a miracle we found him. That Deputy would've killed him just like she killed his parents." A nineteen year old Alex looked over the hot dog stand they hid behind.
The two women were stuck in a shopping mall, fully empty except for them, Milo, and a Deputy patrolling the stores.
It had been evacuated when the Correctional Forces got a tip that a couple of rebel sympathizers that were spreading anti-government propaganda on their radio show were going to be at the mall that day.
Like some twisted joke, Alex and Bloom had planned to go to the mall that day as well, but when they were turned away at the front door, they grew concerned for whoever was in there, sneaking in through the air vents.
"Shit." Alex muttered, holding her left shoulder.
The skin was broken off, leaving a bloody mess at the joint as frostbite attacked the skin surrounding the wound.
"Just hang in a little longer. Jessica's gonna get you fixed up when we get back." Bloom smiled as she rocked the crying Milo in her arms.
"Where are you hiding?" A calm female voice rang through the empty mall as she exited a clothing store, coming down the hallway with a slow stomp. "Y'know, that couple deserved to die. They would've plunged this great nation into anarchy if they had it their way."
Alex shook her head as she could hear the Deputy growing closer. "Bloom, do you think you can get past the guards at the doors?"
"I mean, yeah. But not with you on my back-" Bloom paused as she saw the look on Alex's face.
"Don't worry about me right now. Just get this guy home." Alex smiled at the baby in Bloom's arms. "I'll find a way out."
Bloom made that face, the one that Alex knew very well.
"I love you, so, so, so much." Bloom said as she pulled Alex in for a kiss.
"I love you too." Alex kissed Bloom.
After a moment of silence, Bloom turned into a blur, disappearing towards the door as it swung open, the guards being unable to react before Bloom and Milo were already down the street and out of sight.
"There you are." The Deputy said, walking towards the hot dog stand the blur had originated from.
The Deputy was small in stature, barely five feet in height. Despite that, her presence was intimidating beyond comparison.
Her icy white hair flowed down both sides of her face, cutting to an abrupt end above her shoulders, while her pale complexion was juxtaposed by her bright blue eyes.
"How many innocent people have you killed?" Alex stood up, facing the Deputy.
The Deputy stopped in her tracks, seemingly amused by the question. "I've never killed anyone innocent-"
"Think about it. How many of those people had brothers, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters." Alex walked around the hot dog stand, her fists tightening with every step.
The Deputy gritted her teeth at the word 'daughter'. "How dare you!"
Alex jumped behind a statue as the Deputy shot a blizzard from her hands, ice covering the metal statue as polar winds shot past the rebel.
"I just need to get into close range, then it'll be my fight." Alex thought as the blizzard stopped.
Alex rushed the Deputy, who was more than ready for her.
"Ice infestation." The Deputy thought, bringing her signature technique to life as her right hand froze over in a layer of blue ice.
Alex threw a left hook to the Deputy's face.
The Deputy ducked, feeling the force of Alex's strike through the wind that passed over her cap.
Before Alex could react, the Deputy grabbed her forearm.
The rebel winced in pain as the ice covering the Deputy's hand spread into Alex's palm.
Crunch
Alex broke free, losing some of the skin on her left forearm in the process.
The rebel ran for a decorative tree on the other side of the hall, holding her forearm in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
Whoosh
The blizzard started up again, catching the end of Alex's boot in its wind.
Crunch
The toe of Alex's left boot broke into what seemed like a million pieces of frozen rubber as it hit the tiling.
"How long are we going to play this game?" The Deputy asked.
Alex didn't answer. She looked around for something, anything to give her an idea.
Her eyes landed on a fallen branch as an idea popped into her head.
"If you come out now, I'll turn you in." The Deputy kept her head on a swivel as she talked. "It doesn't have to end the way you think it will."
Thud
A sound came from her right.
The Deputy spun towards the noise, shooting snow and ice on instinct.
Her eyes adjusted as she realized it was a tree branch, probably fallen from one of the decorative trees.
"Shit. I'm too anxious. This rebel is getting to my head-" The Deputy's thought was interrupted as she felt a sharp pain in her side.
Bam
Alex hit the Deputy's ribs with a right hook that sent her flying across the hallway.
The Deputy crashed through a store display, glass shards falling onto the ground around her.
Alex ran towards her opponent, giving her no time to recover.
Whoosh
The blizzard started up again as Alex tumbled onto the floor in an attempt to escape it.
The Deputy winced in pain as blood dripped down her chin, every breath conjuring up more crimson red from her mouth.
The pain blinded her from the fact she had stopped shooting her polar winds, Alex jumping at the break.
She sprinted towards the fallen Deputy as the woman with white hair tried to sit up, attempting to push past the pain of the glass shards digging into her back.
Boom
Alex collapsed onto the Deputy, starting a barrage of punches, the intensity of which only those who fought Alex knew.
Bam. Bam. Bam.
Every punch felt like a building crashing down on the Deputy's face, blood splattering onto the broken glass on either side of her head.
"I HATE people you like!" Alex screamed, gritting her teeth as the Deputy's blood covered her knuckles just as much as her own blood dripping down from her forearm. "You break apart families, and then try to justify it!"
"Ten… Ten… I love…" The Deputy mumbled between punches, crimson red liquid pouring out of her mouth at each syllable.
"Shut up!" Alex yelled as she continued punching.
After a few more strikes, the Deputy stopped moving, her blue eyes now forever open.
Alex stood up before slumping onto the nearest concrete pillar, blood dripping down her exhausted hands.
Bloom appeared in a flash. "Hurry, the guards are coming-"
She paused as her gaze landed on the dead body across from Alex. Bloom covered her mouth with her hands as her eyes widened at the sight.
"Babe, please. It's okay." Alex ran to Bloom, embracing her as she tried to turn her away from the sight.
"All these years of fighting, and it never gets any easier for her." Alex thought.
"Let's go." Alex said, holding her hand out.
Bloom flinched at the side of her girlfriend's hand, blood dripping down from each digit, making a pool of red on the white tiling below.
They sped back to the compound as fast as Bloom could run while keeping a hold of Alex, the guards still unable to keep track of the two rebels for long.
That image was stuck in Bloom's head every time she thought of that day. The Deputy lay motionless in her mind, covered in broken glass and pools of blood as that red liquid seeped into her icy white hair, her blue eyes staring into the void that was welcoming her.
Present day:
"That was… That was your mom?" Alex's hands grabbed her bright green hair, trying to calm herself down.
"My parents were both Deputies… They both loved each other, loved this great nation." Tennie wiped away the tears falling down her face. "When they found out about me, my father hung himself. He was scared of what the Advisor would do to him. My mom was brave. She raised me in secret, until I was 12… Until you…"
"No…" Alex's back hit the wall of the cavern, her eyes still fixated on Deputy 1001.
"It was for Milo… For his parents." Alex mumbled.
"You took my last parent away from me! You're a monster!" Tennie screamed. "You ripped my family apart!"
"Shut the fuck up!" Alex screamed through her gaiter, those last five words echoing in her head as much as they echoed off of the cavern walls.
"If you think we're murderers, you're no better than us!" Tennie screamed as she raised her arms towards the rebel. "This… This is for my mother."