Deviation Actions
Literature Text
Aaron had a second stripe on his sleeve which he had earned from several of his chases. It was early in the morning. Everyone was loading on to a bus. Several students had cups of coffee or energy drinks in their hands as they got on to the bus. Aaron found his seat next to Zane who was holding a protein shake in his hands; Aaron had a cup of coffee.
“Scoot over.” Sara said squeezing into the seat with a cup of coffee in her hands. “Should be an interesting field trip. You only get to hear stuff about the Facility.”
“Speak for yourself.” Aaron said looking concerned. “I put a lot of people there.”
“So did I.” Zane responded.
“Me too.” Sara chimed in. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. They’re behind bars.”
“I guess.” Aaron looked down occasionally sipping his coffee as the bus started to move.
It was early enough in the morning that small businesses were just sweeping their fronts and putting out signs for the day. A few people were out walking, some were jogging. It was a peaceful morning. When the bus stopped, they had arrived at the facility. Everyone started to get off the bus and file into squad lines waiting for orders.
“Okay everyone, we’re going to head into the facility now. Do not start an altercation with the inmates. You will follow all academy rules and set an example for these people when they reenter society.” The instructor motioned to the guards at the door who nodded their heads opening them for the students to file inside.
Zane, Sara, and Aaron walked into the building together. There was a rather small visiting area that consisted of clear screens and phones to communicate. They were led through a door that led to the cells. Inmates leaned on their cells glaring at the students. Some were outside attending to menial tasks while being supervised by the guards. One of the inmates spat on a student’s shoes earning them a swift kick in return. The guard glared at the inmate who handed them a card.
“No! No! Don’t take me away!” An inmate was screaming while two guards dragged them down the hall.
“I feel bad for that guy.” Zane crossed his arms.
“Where are they taking him?” Aaron asked.
“We’ll talk about it later.” Zane whispered to him and Sara who nodded their heads seeing some secrecy from Zane.
The students saw a guard whisper into the instructor’s ear. “We’ll take some time now for you to walk around, maybe talk to some of the inmates and see why they’re here.” The instructor dismissed the students walking off with one of the guards. Everyone dispersed from the crowd. Many of them walked over to the cells talking with the inmates. Some students had conversations while others taunted the inmates.
“Psst.” Aaron looked around to see one of the inmates motioning for him to come over. Aaron saw the small criminal mark on his cheek. The boy he was looking at was really familiar. “Having fun?”
“More than you.” Aaron retorted.
“You’re irritating a lot of people.” He looked around cautiously. “There’s a guy in solitary who wants revenge on you. He’s been dueling every chance he gets to hone his skills. They locked him up because he wouldn’t stop. No one knows how he keeps getting his hands on duel disks, but he’s on a path.”
“Is that all you wanted to tell me?”
“Yeah, that’s it.” The boy’s tone changed as he backed into his cell.
Aaron looked around to see Zane chatting with one of the inmates. They appeared to be trading cards. Sara was watching to make sure nothing out of the ordinary was happening.
Aaron felt one of the guards tapping his shoulder. He turned around facing two of them. “Would you mind coming with us?” Aaron nodded his head knowing to follow orders from superior officers. He followed behind them down a corridor leading to one of the Facility’s lower levels. They walked down another corridor until they stopped at a very large cell at the end.
“You actually did your job.” Two cards flew from the cell; the guards caught them. They examined them before stepping back from the cell and leaning against the wall. Someone walked to the bars. It was a boy with purple hair wearing white pants, a decorated purple jacket, and a black shirt. “I’m so glad to finally meet you. I’m Yuri.”
“I’m…”
Aaron was cut off by Yuri. “I know who you are. Unlike most in this place, I have a television. Why don’t you come in?” He snapped his fingers and one of the guards unlocked his cell allowing Aaron to enter. Reluctantly he walked inside hearing the click of the door being locked behind him. He looked around the cell. It was huge; it had to be at least six times the size of a normal cell, and it only had one large bed in it. The room was a bit lavish for a prison cell. It had a mini-fridge, a large TV mounted to the wall, a mahogany desk with a duel disk on it, and in the corner, a large pallet stacked with what looked like duel monsters cards.
“Why did you bring me here?”
“I’m a fan of your work.” Yuri had a sinister grin on his face. “You keep ensuring me a fresh supply of duelists.” He pointed to the large pallet of cards against the wall. “The old guy who lived here before I put him in his place only had half as many cards as I do.”
“What do you plan on doing with them?” Aaron’s fist tightened.
“Living out my life in luxury. Around here, cards are the currency, and I’m the king.” Yuri then motioned to his face. “They’re never going to give me a mark because I’m never going to leave.” Yuri walked over to his desk and opened the top drawer. He pulled out a stack of cards and walked over to Aaron pressing them into his hands. “I owe you a thank you. I handpicked them myself, just for you.”
“I can’t take these.” Aaron tried handing them back to Yuri.
“You can. You earned them.”
“No, I was just doing my job. I need to go.” Aaron walked to the door of the cell. One of the guards unlocked it for him.
“You’re always welcome to visit.” Yuri called out to him. “And I do hope that you’ll be thinking of me and the things that I can do for you.”
Reluctantly, Aaron nodded his head walking out of the cell. He handed the cards to one of the guards who smiled at them greedily.
“Those are not yours.” Yuri glared at the guard who frowned handing him the cards. “Those are for my friend.” Yuri said walking over to the desk and putting them back in the top drawer.
Aaron found his way back upstairs. “Hey, you need to keep up with your group.”
“Sorry, I got caught up talking to one of the prisoners.”
“It’s fine. I’ll take you back to your group.” The guard said leading him down the corridor back to where his classmates were.
Aaron found his way back to his friends. “Where did you go?” Zane asked.
“Some guy really wanted to talk to me. It was nothing.” Sara and Zane could both see that Aaron did not want to talk about it. The trio quickly shifted their attention to the instructor who was lecturing them fearing a reprimand.
While the day was long, the field trip ended as the bus returned to the school; it was dinnertime. Aaron ate quickly and returned to his room, took a shower, and climbed on to the top bunk lost in thought.
Soon, Zane and Sara walked into the room locking the door behind them. “It’s time for a quick story.” Zane said nudging Aaron.
“Take your time.” Aaron climbed off his bed and took the chair by his desk.
“I heard some professors talking about this one.”
“Spying?” Sara looked at him. “That’s my job.”
“Where do you think I learned?” Zane smirked. “Anyway, they were talking about Alex Crest.”
“Didn’t he drop out of school?”
“I heard he got expelled.” Sara said.
“Something else happened to him. He started to side with the Commons. He became corrupt giving away secrets to them. Every raid he was a part of, they knew when and where we were coming. They hid all of their evidence and they made Sector Security look like a joke.”
“So what happened?” Sara asked.
“They started doing more surprise room searches. They found stuff in his room. He had built a network to communicate with them. The information he had was classified to say the least. When they caught him, they couldn’t figure out where to put him. Expulsion was lenient. He was a criminal at this point. Everyone knew if they put him in the Facility, someone would break him out. They sent him somewhere underground to a recycling facility for the worst criminals and anyone who lost in the Friendship Cup. He’s cut off from society doing hard labor in one of the worst and most secretive places in New Domino City.”
“Sounds like a horror story.” Sara said standing up and walking to the door. “I’ll see you guys later.” Sara walked out of the room closing the door behind her.
“What’s on your mind?” Zane looked at Aaron concerned.
“Do you think Alex did all of those things because he thought he was helping?”
“He could have been corrupt. It could be anything.”
“What kind of places did you guys raid together?” Aaron asked a little curious.
“Underground card shops and secret duel clubs usually.”
“Duel clubs?”
“Uh huh. Commons don’t always have places they can duel. They also don’t like us supervising them, so they make these underground clubs where they can hide and duel.”
“Sounds interesting. Can you tell me where some of these clubs are?”
Zane walked over to his desk and pulled out a phone-shaped device and tossed it to Aaron. “Use this. I have plenty of them. It should tell you what you want to know. Just be careful.”
“I will.” Aaron put the device in his desk drawer that locked. “It’s getting late and I have a test tomorrow.” He climbed back into his bunk and closed his eyes. Zane flipped off the light switch to the room and turned on the lamp by his desk to do homework.
