RISING PHOENIX ACT SELECT

CHAPTER 26: NEGATIVE FINDING

Marco shook his head, utterly defeated by what he had just learned. A moment of silence followed as pure rage began to well up in Marco. Brianna reached over and ripped the tape off Marco’s mouth to let him talk.
“I HATE YOU!” Marco screamed as loud as he could at Brianna, who remained motionless. He tried to break out of his restraints once more, trying to lunge at her. As he failed to get out, Brianna began to laugh in amusement.
“Where's Glenn…?!” Marco asked through gritted teeth as he looked around and realized he didn't know his whereabouts.
“He’s…somewhere else, I’ll say,” Brianna told him, “I’m surprised how far he got, honestly. He ran like hell.”

“Let…me…GO!” Marco yelled out in frustration.
“You know, it's funny…” Brianna mocked as she stood in front of him, “...you just led us to the one thing we needed to complete our plan - the server addresses of the other campuses. And you played right into our hands every time,” Brianna said as she leaned in towards Marco as he struggled.
“You had every chance to figure out it was me but you didn’t. You were so blinded by your mission, your utter determination to prevent real change from happening - that you never realized I was your enemy all along,” she continued.

“Think about it…way back when you infiltrated that meeting in the electrical room…I was the one who pointed you there. Did you honestly think we meet there and leave the door open for no reason?” she asked Marco as she began to laugh once more. As he looked back at that moment, Marco questioned how he hadn’t realized that.
“And when you were chasing one of my fighters on the go-kart…? I was never beaten. I didn’t even have a scratch on me,” Brianna told him, referring to the moment Marco saw Obsidian run out of the forest without Brianna. Soon, her mind flashed back to that very moment.

…She quickly began making her way to the giant cotton tree in the middle of the forest. Walking slowly, she looked behind the tree and was surprised to find nobody behind it. Suddenly, someone grabbed her by the arm…
Brianna nearly fell over as Obsidian dragged her behind the tree.
“HEY!” she yelled out, irritated that he had tugged so hard.
“Sorry, Bri…I don’t know what to do from here…” Obsidian explained apologetically. He tried to dust her off, but she swatted his hand away.
“Keep the illusion going. I’ll stay here and you run out…make it look like you defeated me. Do it now!” she ordered as she heard the go-kart getting closer. Obsidian promptly obeyed and ran out of the forest, which is what Marco saw.

“And that deal at the 4th Floor auditorium? I was the voice at the other end of your recording device,” Brianna revealed, which brought back Marco’s memory of the ominous words he heard on the other end - we’re everywhere.
“I jumped in just at the right time…to make myself the hero of the fight. To make you trust me even more. And you fell for it.”
As she said this, her mind harkened back to the events of the fight.

…“Brianna…?!” Marco yelled out.
Before she could respond, she made her way through the divider, with Celsius and Fahrenheit targeting her instead. The divider slammed shut as Voltage slowly got back up, staring at Marco with pure anger behind her eyes…
Out of Marco’s sight, Brianna held up her hand towards Celsius and Fahrenheit.
“Why are you here?” Celsius asked.
“I’m gaining his trust. I can feel him shutting me out of the investigation. This will make him keep me in his inner circle,” Brianna explained. All three of them stood around as they listened to Marco and Voltage fight on the other side. After a few seconds, Brianna walked up to the divider.
“I have to make him believe we fought here,” she said as she slammed the divider wall with her fist. She then slapped herself hard on the cheek to make it seem like she sustained damage.
“When Voltage tells you to go, you go, OK?” she told Celsius and Fahrenheit as she laid down on the ground. The two looked at each other in confusion, but agreed to the plan regardless. Soon after, Voltage opened the divider, and they both retreated with her as instructed.

By now, it was beginning to dawn on Marco how little he really knew about Brianna.
“I could go on and on, but you get the point,” Brianna told him, “Aside from those two idiots meeting in the library, I planned everything. When we stole those perio papers way back then, we knew what they were going to do next - go digital. And now, we're primed to achieve maximum damage.”
Marco realized she was right, recalling how he took his perios on tablets and heard a worker take out papers from the Records Room. It all made sense. Silence followed as Marco took in all of this information.
“Why…why would you do this…?” he asked, feeling utterly hopeless and defeated. Brianna looked down and scoffed.
“The real question is why didn’t I do this earlier,” she fired back.
Brianna walked over to Prairie’s side, looking at her before looking back at Marco.
“She doesn’t know, does she…?” Brianna asked. Marco refused to answer, which she took as a sign she was right. She took a deep breath before beginning to explain her storied past.

“I was born out of wedlock,” she recounted.
“I started life as the black sheep. The scapegoat. A burden everyone had to put up with…and it’s never changed. My parents…my classmates…everyone else. They all treated me the same - like the dirt beneath their feet. My elementary classmates had a habit of…singling me out. And they would make it known. Very known. I’d come home with bruises and no one cared. That’s why I learned self-defense…I had to fight back,” she explained as she walked in front of Marco.

“My only refuge was my textbooks. They were my only friends. I studied relentlessly…and eventually, I managed to claw my way to the top. People started to respect me…and the beatings got less frequent. Then I decided to take this little exam called the NCE on a whim. I wasn’t expecting anything. But when the results came in? I did it. I was overjoyed…my efforts were finally recognized, and most of all, I thought my parents would finally be proud of me. But…I was wrong,” she said as her mind flashed back to that very moment.

Brianna peeked around the corner, seeing that her parents were watching TV on their worn-down couch. She slowly walked up to them, clutching the day’s newspaper in her hand.
“Mama? Papa?” she called out to them.
She walked up to them and showed them the newspaper, with the NCE results right there. Her name was circled in red marker.
“Nakapasa ako sa NCE…!” she said, squealing with joy. However, her parents continued watching TV regardless.
“OK,” her mom told her nonchalantly.
“Edi dun ka mag-aaral. Mamaya na natin pag-usapan 'to,” her dad followed as he switched the channel. Neither of them even glanced at her. The smile slowly melted off Brianna’s face as she realized they still didn’t care.
She dejectedly walked back to her room, choosing to forget her parents’ reaction and focus on her success in getting in.

Marco and Prairie sat in silence, feeling pitiful for Brianna. They slowly began to understand her motives.
“I thought things would get better after I got into Pisay, that I could finally be someone…I did stop worrying about my safety, but then the worst came to pass. My victory was a fluke. Every quarter, I would come just short of treses and quatros - and my parents were not happy. And my social life wasn’t any better. I became invisible. Every time I tried to reach out to someone…I’d end up pushing them away. I hated myself…and I still do,” Brianna continued.

“But my final straw came in 4th Quarter,” she explained further.
“I discovered something about myself that…scared me. I felt ashamed. I tried to push it down. I tried to cure myself…but nothing worked. I realized that I couldn’t change it - I had to live with this now. It didn’t help my feeling of not belonging anywhere. The world wanted me to choose…but I couldn’t. What made it worse was that there was this…girl I used to talk to. Her name was Hazel. And one day…we did something…reckless,” she said as she recalled another moment from the past.

Brianna was alone in one of the IS Labs, only accompanied by Hazel. They were left cleaning up the mess from a previous experiment. The two of them had barely talked since after everyone had already left.
“This sucks…” Brianna muttered as she wiped experiment residue off one of the wooden tables. She looked over at Hazel, who sat a few feet away.
“Hazel, are you done?” she asked.
“Yeah…” she told Brianna, “I just wanted to ask you something.”
“What is it?” she asked, perking up.
“I’ve kinda speculated on this for a while, but…are you, you know?” Hazel asked, making it very clear what she was implying. Brianna instantly blushed upon hearing this.
“Oh, wow…well, not entirely, if you know what I mean…” she replied, “...why?”
“Bri…” Hazel asked her, “...what are we…?”

Brianna stopped sweeping. She didn’t know how to answer her.
“I don’t know…” she told Hazel.
“I’m scared…I don’t know what everyone else will think. You do…feel the same way, right?” Hazel asked nervously.
“...I do,” Brianna told her. Hazel blushed in kind. Brianna slowly walked up to her, ending up just inches away from her face. She was slightly nervous pulling such a brave maneuver. Hazel, on the other hand, was freaking out on the inside.
“Why don’t we try something…new?” Brianna asked as she confidently leaned closer. Hazel reciprocated, and they began inching ever closer to one another.
But from the corner of her eye, Brianna saw something that made her heart drop.
It was Sir Ernest, watching from the window. He saw the whole thing.

“I remember that day like it was yesterday,” Brianna explained, “...he immediately reported both of us to the D.O., and…they told my parents. They were angry. Very, very angry. They couldn’t understand it. From that day forward, I was nothing but the devil to them. An evil presence that needed to be eliminated. And that’s when I couldn’t take it anymore. My entire existence has been nothing but pain and agony. I’d been kicked down over and over and over.”

“And when you’re kicked down…it’s hard not to kick back.”

With that, Brianna’s story came to an end. The whole room fell silent for what felt like an eternity. Marco knew parts of her story - but now knowing the full picture, it finally began to dawn on him how ignorant he was. After a few seconds, Brianna walked in front of him and spoke once more.
“You were the only person whose friendship I’ve managed to maintain in my whole life,” Brianna revealed to him. She was right, Marco thought - he’d never seen her hang out with anyone else before.
“When I met you, it seemed like you actually cared about me. But I’ve noticed that over the years, you seem to care more and more about yourself. Your grades. Your self-image. And I…didn’t fit in it - not unusual for me. You don’t have to tell me. And with you trying so hard to take down the Rising Phoenix - my greatest creation, the product of my blood, sweat, and tears - all while pushing me away? That was it for me.”
Brianna knelt down and got to Marco’s eye level.

“Now? I’d kill you if I had to. And I would relish it. Every single second.”

Suddenly, Marco heard someone else enter the shed. Whoever it was seemed to be carrying a cane - the same one from the 4th Floor Audi - as he could hear it tapping on the wooden floor. Brianna immediately stood up and approached them.
“Alani,” Brianna said as she hugged her tightly, “I’ve been waiting for you, my love…”
Marco was confused. He wasn’t aware of any Alani in the batch.
“My cane,” Brianna said as she took it from her and used it.
“The coat, please…” Alani requested as she pointed at Brianna’s coat, which she reluctantly gave, thinking it reduced her intimidation factor. Alani proceeded to cover up her body with it while putting on her black mask.
The pair then walked in front of Marco, allowing him to see who it was. Marco was shocked. The one he’d been hunting up until now - Obsidian - was Brianna’s lover. As Alani put a blue, pink, and white colored clip-on bow in her hair, the realization slowly dawned on Marco.

“The world was against us both. Grade 8 was when we decided to fight back…we agreed to make our dreams reality. An organization that would stand up - and eventually destroy - Pisay itself. She was the only one with the initiative to do something about it. I’m so glad we found each other,” Brianna explained as she lifted her hand to caress Alani’s cheek. She, however, moved her head out of the way. Brianna tried again, but she did the same thing.

“Is something wrong, babe…?” she asked in a calm manner that masked anger building within.
“Why did you tie them so tightly…? Look at them…!” Alani asked angrily as she motioned towards Marco and Prairie.
“Since when did I allow you to get sympathetic for these…wastes of life?” Brianna asked as she tilted her head. She was clearly growing angrier by the second.
“We didn’t have to do this…! We have them surrounded, it doesn’t matter…!”
“Babe, I don’t care if it matters or not. I’m doing this to prove a point!”
“What point?! That we’re barbarians…?” Alani asked, tears beginning to well up in her eyes.
“We are not barbarians! Everything we do is for the greater good! How do you still not understand that?! Maybe you’re just ungrateful!” Brianna countered as she lifted her cane towards her.

“Ungrateful? I did all your dirty work for you! The recruiting…the crimes…posing as the true leader…! That was me, not you! I made you! You’re the ungrateful one!”
Brianna walked closer to her, barely holding back anger at what she said.
“For the thousandth time, you did not make me! I’m the one keeping this whole thing together! You listen to me! That’s the order of power here. I don’t care how you feel about that!”
“You don’t care how I feel about anything!”

“You know what? I’m leaving you, Alani! And I’m never coming back!”
“No, no - wait! Please, stay!” Alani begged as she hugged Brianna as tight as she could, stopping her from walking to the door.
“Stay with me, please…I need you…I love you…I love you,” she said over and over as tears escaped from her eyes, with Brianna staring listlessly out of her sight. Marco couldn’t believe what he was witnessing. This couldn’t be love, he thought.

Alani knelt down and cried, with Brianna continuing to show no emotion. After a minute, she wiped her tears away and stood back up. She walked up to the corner of the room, getting herself out of Brianna’s way. She put the cane back on the ground before starting her spiel.
“Don’t you realize, Marco? We didn’t do all of this for no reason; we were pushed to this point. All of us,” Brianna explained.
“Pisay tricked me. Same as Alani. They made us believe we could trust them…but we shouldn’t have. So we started the Rising Phoenix…to stand up for those who couldn’t.”
“Voltage was a star student before coming to Pisay. She got whittled down by the stress and hecticness of her new environment - to the point where she became a husk of herself. She had no more purpose, no outlet for her talents in electronics. Then we found her.”
“Overclock used to compete for Pisay abroad in math compets. Then Pisay implicated his whole team for cheating in a compet - even though he had no idea what they were doing. He was never allowed to compete again, and he was left with nothing to do. Then we found him.”

“That was him…?” Marco asked, remembering that scandal from a few years ago.
“Yes, he was part of it. And them…?” Brianna said as she looked at the Rising Phoenix members standing all around them, “...they’re some new recruits from this past year. Grade 8, Grade 9…they’re actually pretty good at what they do. And like us, they were wronged by Pisay. But then…we found them.”
Marco couldn’t help but feel disgusted. She was indeed manipulating lower years into joining her cause.
“You should be ashamed of yourself, Bri. This has gone too far!” Marco called out to her.
“You don’t get to call me that anymore, Marco. Not after you abandoned me as my only friend!”
“What, is that it? The entirety of Pisay has to pay for your pain? Your anger?!”
“Yes! They do, Marco! They do.”

“It’s not just Pisay either! We looked through S.P.E.C.T.R.E. It’s infiltrated government servers! You are committing treason! You’ll go to jail if this thing goes off!” Marco angrily explained.
“I know, Marco. I just don’t care,” Brianna told him.
“WHAT?!”
“If there’s collateral damage…it may be the only way to get them to listen.”
“Are you insane?! You can’t just put a torch to everything! What is wrong with you?!” Marco yelled out, shaking the chair he was tied to.

“I’d be glad to burn it all, Marco. First Pisay, then the world. But even then…the world is not enough.”

“Are you hearing yourself? You don’t get to decide everyone else’s fate, Brianna!” Marco yelled, “I’ve had it bad too! I don’t even have a dad anymore…do you know how it feels? At least yours is still alive! I don’t go around making everyone else pay for it…unlike you!”
“My father thinks I shouldn’t be allowed to live…!” she yelled back as she pointed her cane at him, “I might as well not exist to my parents. I’m unwanted! I’ve always been unwanted! Don’t you understand?! Do you know how painful that is?!”
At that moment, the two of them ran out of breath from yelling at each other. A strangely peaceful silence soon filled the entire room. It lasted for some time, with the Rising Phoenix recruits and Alani watching it all unfold.
“You betrayed me…” Marco muttered.
“Then you shouldn’t have trusted me to begin with,” Brianna replied.

More silence followed as Marco hung his head in defeat. Brianna put her cane on the ground and started talking once more.
“There’s no point trying. You can’t stop us anymore…” Brianna told him, “In a few minutes, everything will finally come to an end.”
She went to a nearby table with a laptop placed on top and began to dragged it in front of Marco. She swiped lightly on the mousepad, which brought the screen back to life. She used the end of her cane to lift up Marco’s chin. On the screen, he saw something that made his heart drop. It was a timer titled S.P.E.C.T.R.E. ACTIVATION, and it showed 14 minutes, 5 seconds, and 230 milliseconds on the clock.
“Now you can witness the fruits of your labor,” she said mockingly as the timer counted down before him.

“Before I go, there’s one last loose end I need to tie up…” Brianna explained as she gave her cane to one of the recruits and grabbed something else in return. She then knelt down in front of Marco and held it in front of his face. It was Voltage’s taser, the same one she used in the 4th Floor Audi and at prom.
“She made herself a better version, so I get to use this…” she explained as she pressed the button to turn it on, producing a visible electric arc between its prongs.
“Now, tell me…where is the drive? Your drive.”
Marco sat there, terrified. He knew the drive was still hidden inside his shoe. He stayed silent, not wanting to help Brianna. After a few seconds, she grew impatient.

“Don’t want to talk? Very well…”
Suddenly, she jammed the end of the taser into Marco’s side, electrocuting him. He let out a bloodcurdling scream as the shock continued to course through his body. Prairie wished she could cover her ears, but all she could do was grin and bear the agonizing screams. Alani looked away, unable to watch. All the while, Brianna remained numb and focused. After a few seconds, she took the taser off Marco.
“Let’s try this again…” Brianna told Marco as he coughed and wheezed forcibly, “...where is the drive…?”
“I don’t know…I left it with Glenn! I don’t know where he put it, he must’ve tossed it!” Marco said convincingly enough.

“That makes sense,” Brianna told him.
Marco felt some relief, as it seemed Brianna bought that explanation. Suddenly, she plunged the taser back into him. His screams reverberated through the room. The Rising Phoenix recruits stood there emotionless as Prairie began to tear up from what was happening. Marco could feel the pain beginning to bring him to the point of unconsciousness, and he was ready to give in. Just then, Alani interrupted.
“Bri…” he told her, “...we’re running out of time. Maybe we should do the speech now.”
Brianna slowly took the taser off Marco and gave it to a nearby recruit.
“Alright…” she replied, “...we don’t need the drive anyway. We have our own.”
Brianna looked back at Marco, who was looking down at the ground, gasping for air.
“If you still have it, we’ll just have to find it off your corpse.”

She stood up and got her cane back before accompanying Alani to the door. Before they left, Brianna had some parting words.
“I’ll be back, you two. I have an…announcement…to make,” she explained as she pulled out what looked like some kind of wired microphone.
“Have fun.”
With that, she shut the door, leaving Marco and Prairie inside. As Marco watched the timer in front of him hit 12 minutes, his hope had all but evaporated.



This was it - the end of Pisay.


And it was all his fault.