Oh. That reminded her. She needed a cool call sign like Auntie's if she was going to be a proper operative. Something that wouldn't give away her identity.
Tommy liked to call her a harpy. She wasn't a fan of that moniker, though. Maybe something that had less of a negative connotation.
Like Raven.
For one, it was a bird, and like the phoenix, it could fly. If, you know, phoenixes were real and all.
Elena might not have been as good as Auntie on a waveboard, but she could hold her own.
There was something about soaring in the sky that spoke to her soul. Like she was free. For a long time, it had also made her feel close to her mother. That was before she found out what her egg donor was actually like.
In legends, ravens held a variety of meanings. Considered ill omens in some cultures, messengers in others, and to have created light and thus life itself in still another.
So many different perceptions. So many interpretations of one little bird.
It was kind of poetic, if you thought about it.
The thing she most empathized with, however, was the raven's tendency to be seen as a catalyst for mischief and mayhem.
If her current circumstance didn't lend itself to such symbolism, she didn't know what did.
It was practically fate.
She'd have to remember that for later when she tried to argue in favor of her new call sign with Uncle Jin. For now, she focused on her task, choosing a direction at random, careful to make note of every turn she made to ensure she could find her way back.
To her surprise, she didn't encounter anyone during the journey. The silence was oppressive, sending her heart into her throat as she crept into a large room much different than the others she'd passed.
In the shape of a rotunda, the chamber’s ceiling formed a dome. At the heart of the room was a single platform, walkways extending off it. Below it was a pool of luminescent blue liquid that frothed and moved as if something was down there.
Elena moved closer for a better look.
The metal grates were uncomfortable against her sock covered feet as she ventured further onto the walkway that traveled the perimeter of the room’s upper half. Stairs to one side led down to the platform and the network of the walkways below. From this height, Elena had the perfect vantage with which to do a little spying.
Tanks with the same blue liquid in them flanked the walls. Bodies were curled up at the bottom of most of them, wires protruding from their chests, arms, and legs. There were signs of life, Elena realized with some horror. Bubbles floated from the occupant’s mouths, popping before they reached the surface of the liquid.
Large, thick rods protruded into the pool, connected to the base of what Elena had dubbed the control center located on the central platform in the middle of the room. Elena couldn't get a sense of what those rods were for but they reminded her of a channel of some type. Maybe the pool was a power source.
Unfortunately, she had no intention of venturing closer to find out.
Something thrashed weakly at the bottom of the pool. A coil of its immense body appearing under the surface before it was gone.
"You're unusually restless today, my pet," a man crooned from out of sight.
He glided into view, stepping onto one of the walkways extending over the pool.
Elena ducked back, tucking herself into a tiny crevasse between two metal canisters to avoid detection.
"Struggling is unnecessary. You know you can't escape from this place."
The lilt in the man's voice made Elena tremble. It brought with it a sense of terror, making her second guess just why she'd thought it was a good idea to tempt fate and explore the heart of the enemy's territory. A foe even Auntie and Uncle Jin treated with caution.
What had she been thinking? She wasn't equipped to deal with the consequences of discovery.
Fear gripped her by the throat, holding her immobile. Her hands clenched and unclenched, her breath quickening.
This was her chance. An opportunity to gather important intel that might help Auntie and Uncle Jin later on. Was she really going to cower in a corner and let it pass her by?
She didn't think so. Someone had to stop these monsters. While that person probably wouldn't be her, she could at least do her part.
First step—observing the enemy.
With that pep talk in mind, Elena steeled herself and crawled forward to peer through the metal grates to the room below.
The man stared off to the side at something out of sight.
Elena shifted to try to get a glimpse of what had caught his attention, but couldn't see anything from her vantage point.
She settled back, forcing herself to study the Tsavitee instead.
Her aunties used to say that the more beautiful something was, the deadlier they were likely to be. This man reminded her of that warning. The Tsavitee version of a golden dart frog. A venomous amphibian native to a Haldeel colony planet. Its skin was a highly sought after prize on the black market, not only for its beauty but also its medicinal properties.