RISING PHOENIX ACT SELECT

CHAPTER 5: IGNITION SYSTEM

When Marco opened the door, chills ran down his spine as he saw who was guarding it. It was the mystery person he saw at the archive room, still wearing the same outfit he donned during their brief encounter. “Heatwave?” the man asked him. Marco was at a loss as to how to respond. Was this a password he had to complete? What is Heatwave referring to? Was this his codename? As precious seconds passed by, Marco knew he had to respond soon. When Marco opened the door, chills ran down his spine as he saw who was guarding it. It was the mystery person he saw at the archive room, still wearing the same outfit he donned during their brief encounter. “Heatwave?” the man asked him. Marco was at a loss as to how to respond. Was this a password he had to complete? What is Heatwave referring to? Was this his codename? As precious seconds passed by, Marco knew he had to respond soon.
“Yes…?” Marco managed to say through his nervousness.

The mystery person paused for a bit and looked inside the room. He turned towards Marco and nodded his head lightly, allowing Marco to enter - much to his relief. Marco slowly walked inside the room, which was completely dark and cramped, only being lit by a single red light coming from a fuse box in the middle of the back wall, which had a set of keys placed on it.

The room was filled with fuse boxes and generators, with pipes and wiring lining the walls, looking almost serpentine in appearance. The other members were also wearing the same thing he did - their Pisay uniform along with their balaclavas and bird masks - which thankfully allowed him to blend in perfectly. The mystery person slowly closed the door when Marco made it to the middle of the room.

He walked to the back of the room, for what felt like an eternity to Marco, and cleared his throat. Staring at the fuse box with the red light, he began to do a roll call. “...Voltage…?” he asked, to which the only girl in the group raised her hand and replied “Present.” At that point, Marco realized that they all had codenames, and that of the member he was impersonating was Heatwave.
“Fahrenheit…?” a guy raised his hand. “Present.”
“Celsius?” another guy raised his hand. “Present, as always.”
“Wildfire?” a big, bulky guy raised his hand and declared himself present.
Soon, the mystery person called out another codename.
“Heatwave?” Marco immediately knew that was his cue.
“Present…” he said meekly.
“And of course, there’s me…Obsidian” the mystery person said, which Marco took note of. Obsidian walked to the middle of the group and took a long pause before beginning his spiel.
“I wish we could all be here…the rest of us are either busy with other commitments or just sick, just so you know. Rest assured, everything will still go as it should,” he explained calmly. “Everything last week went exactly according to plan. I’ve disposed of the ashes of those papers somewhere they’ll never find.”

Marco could not believe the admission he’d just heard. He then remembered thinking about recording everything, but it was too late to do that now without it being suspicious. “This may be a huge victory for us, but I must remind you all that this is the first step of a much bigger initiative. An initiative that won’t work if any of you let your guard down,” Obsidian explained further as he paced around the group.
“Tell that to Octane…” Marco overheard Fahrenheit whisper jeeringly to Celsius while nudging him on the shoulder, which Obsidian noticed but quickly ignored.

“But - and you all know about this - we still have a big problem on our hands,” Obsidian clarified. “That flash drive is still out there. We are running out of time. If we don’t get it back soon, our spark could go out before we…light it,” Obsidian said sternly.
“Any updates on tracking down the drive…or Radium…?” he asked calmly as he stopped pacing, looking sternly over the group.
“Naghahanap pa kami,” Voltage explained.
“Pasensya na.”

Hearing this, Obsidian stared emotionless at Voltage. He walked up to her slowly, stopping just inches away from her. “It’s been 5 months. Why haven’t we found them yet…?” he asked Voltage through gritted teeth.
“Madulas siya…alam mo iyan,” she replied in a defensive tone.
“Kaya naman napakagaling siya noon…” Obsidian stared at her for a few seconds and proceeded to walk away.
“You keep failing this cause…all of you. Let me remind you all what we’re fighting for. We’re trying to destroy an institution that has failed us…a system that has turned us into shells of ourselves. No one said it would be easy. We’re doing this simply because it’s the right thing to do. To prevent the suffering of so many more who may come after us. And that will only happen if Pisay crumbles.”

As the members started to bow their heads in shame, Marco was shocked by the extreme manifesto Obsidian just expressed. He knew that he was surrounded by lunatics and that he was in grave, grave danger. Whatever he did next would have to be very cautiously thought out. “And when this institution crumbles…” Obsidian added, “...a new one will take its place, bigger and better than this one. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes.” Obsidian eyed Marco as he said this, which made him tense up.

“That is why we are called the Rising Phoenix. Do you understand…?” Obsidian asked, to which all the members nodded lightly to.
“Good. I hope you understand now why we have to find that drive. It is of utmost importance…” he continued.

“Isn’t that right, Marco…?” Obsidian said as he looked straight at him.

Marco was caught incredibly off-guard. His cover was blown. He was exposed to the wolves surrounding him. The other members looked at each other, confused. They were sure that Heatwave wasn’t named Marco. They murmured to each other and began to rapidly approach him. This was it. This was how he was going to die. Before they could lay a finger on him though, Obsidian told them to stop. Immediately, they all stopped in their tracks. He motioned to them to form a circle around a terrified Marco.

“I’ve been waiting for you to show up…” Obsidian said as he walked up to Marco. He was still trembling from what was happening at the moment. Unable to hold form much longer, his left knee fell to the ground, which made him use his left fist for support.
“I don’t want to hurt you…I just want you to understand,” he said as he walked in front of Marco and looked down at him.
“You’re a guy with lots of potential…and I think at the moment, it’s not being put to good use. We could use someone with your influence in the Rising Phoenix.”

“How…did you know…?” Marco asked, trembling and still looking down at the floor. “Oh…we know everything,” Obsidian replied. “We have our ways.”

“I know that you always feel inadequate…like no matter what you do, you’ll never be good enough. That’s not a pleasant feeling, is it…?” he asked Marco. All he could do was nod his head in agreement, since he knew that what Obsidian was saying was true.
“Who do you think is pushing that feeling onto you…?” Obsidian asked, to which Marco stayed silent.
“It’s Pisay, Marco. They’ve been the problem all this time, and we’re the only ones who have the capability to admit it.”

“You could be part of something bigger than yourself. Something that will finally give you the importance you deserve. A chance to make this country just a little bit…better,” he told Marco. “But if Pisay collapses…” Marco asked meekly, “...where will I go…?”

“There are other high schools. You’ll be at peace knowing something greater will arise from its destruction,” Obsidian replied. He walked to the back of the room to the red-lit fuse box and grabbed the keys he placed on it.
“We burned those papers for a greater purpose…as a part of our ultimate plan.” He used the keys to unlock the fuse box and took a set of papers out of the box before locking it once more.

“We are firm believers in second chances. And for the record, I’m sorry you got caught in the crossfire. You shouldn’t have to be collateral damage. That’s why we saved this.” Obsidian then held up the papers in front of Marco’s face. As he looked at them, he couldn’t believe what was written on them.
“MADLANGBAYAN, Marco Janus L.” it said on the top. They were his perio answer sheets, all perfectly preserved and not burnt to ash like he’d thought a few minutes ago. Obsidian motioned to Wildfire to open the door while he briefly looked behind him and pressed the earpiece he was wearing, telling someone on the other side to “Get in position”.

The white light from the hallway cut into the room and created a harsh shadow in front of Marco, who was still kneeling. “If you join us,” Obsidian posited, “...you can get your answer sheets back. You can say that you found them at the back of the ASTB. You won’t have to do the retake tomorrow. Everything will be right again.” Marco didn’t know what to say. He had a difficult decision before him. Would he join the very people he’d been hunting for a week?

He continued to kneel on the floor as the members surrounding him eagerly awaited his response. Obsidian stood still, waiting as well. Marco could feel his right hand gravitating towards the papers, desperately wanting to take the easy way out of his predicament. He grasped the papers with his pointer and thumb before coming to his senses. “...what about Darren…?”

Obsidian’s moment of satisfaction was swiftly cut short. “What about him?” Obsidian asked him. “What we’re doing here is more important than some classmate. You’ll see.” Marco paused for a moment, anger building up inside him.
“He’s more than that to me,” Marco said as he looked up at Obsidian.
“And so is Brianna, and everyone else I care about. They lost their papers too. They also matter!” he told Obsidian as he slowly got up from the floor.
“That’s one aspect I regret about this whole thing. But this is how it must be. They wouldn’t understand us, Marco. Nobody truly does,” Obsidian told him sternly, attempting to swing him back to their side.

“No. I know why you chose me. You chose me because you thought you could exploit my insecurities and goad me into joining your radical cause. Well I’m telling you now, MALI KA! Hindi ako sasali dito!” he said right to Obsidian’s face. Obsidian remained silent, both surprised and angry at what he’d been told, but showing none of it on his face.
“Ok. I see how it is,” he told Marco. All the members remained still, awaiting Obsidian’s instructions. Suddenly. Obsidian shouted “Close the door!” to Wildfire, who was still holding it open. When Marco heard that, he knew he had to get out immediately.

He jumped as hard as he could towards the exit right as Wildfire was closing the door, narrowly passing through the gap right before it disappeared. Marco then quickly got up and ran away from the electrical room as fast as he could. “Get him,” Obsidian said calmly to all the members in the room, which prompted them to spring into action and chase after Marco. After giving the order, Obsidian pressed his earpiece once more and spoke.

“He bailed.”
“You know what to do.”