Shard bounces outside the cell with a pillow in each arm. His face pokes between them. In his hands, he carries a bowl of popcorn. "Are you excited? Because I'm excited!" The nightshift guards, whom Shard calls the Cooler Twins, let him in the cell. "I've never had a slumber party before. Or at least one that I wanted..." He puts the bowl on the table. "Catch!" Shard chucks a pillow at Octavia.

  Her face catches it before it falls in her lap. The impact tosses her head a little.

  "Nice catch." Shard smiles.

  Octavia snarls.

  He tosses his pillow on the bunk above and snags a few pieces of popcorn from the bowl. Shard shoves them under his mask. "Mm. Still warm. Want some?" He holds the bowl out to Octavia.

  As much as she wants to refuse so not to indulge Shard's crazy slumber party notion, she doesn't want to turn down the opportunity of extra food. She hesitantly takes a handful and picks pieces out of her hand. The popcorn is decent. It is warm but plain.

  The taste reminds her of late summer nights with her sister. A few times, Octavia and Aurora stole the microwave from their kitchen to pop popcorn in their room. They would open the window to let the smell out and huddle together under a blanket fort to watch dramas past their bedtimes. Aurora liked her popcorn plain so that's how Octavia would eat it.

  Octavia smells the popcorn. She feels the breeze from her bedroom window, the soft pillow hugged to herself, and Aurora's warmth as she turns the mini projector on to watch Emergency! Dial 0-0-0 - a medical drama their parents deemed inappropriate for them.

  The memories fade away as Octavia swallows the last popcorn piece. She's not hungry anymore. She wants to throw the popcorn out of the cell.

  Shard eats another handful before using Octavia's bunk as a step to join his pillow on his bunk. The popcorn goes with him. He peeks down at Octavia. "So what channel do you wanna watch, roomie?"

  "Watch channels? With what screen?" Octavia says.

  "That one." Shard points to the box in the corner of the room.

  "You've got to be kidding me."

  "Believe it. That's a gen-u-ine TV right there. No projectors. No touch screen. Just a good ol’ hunka plastic with glass and wires. Straight from the good ol’ days. Or at least better ones." Shard pulls a plastic rectangle lined with buttons out of his jacket. Pressing a big, red button, Shard turns the TV on.

  An image fades on to the screen. The image is not nearly as clear as the Hologram Projectors at home but is still discernible. A drama that was popular when Octavia was little plays soundlessly. Octavia's eyes almost pop out of her head like popcorn when she realizes it's Emergency! Dial 0-0-0. Does Shard know such a little detail like this to torture her? She thinks it's a recording until she notices the corner of the screen. The translucent NetNetwork "NN" symbol displays the current date and time underneath. A bar in the bottom of the screen scrolls through news headlines. One of the lines is how many days the hostages have been in custody.

  Octavia can't believe this dinosaur technology was displaying live NetNetwork feed. "How is that possible?" she says in her dumbfoundedness.

  "Magic, obviously, since us Chromies have no idea about sophisticated technology." Shard laughs at her.

  Whatever expression she has that Shard laughs at transforms into a scowl. Of course Shard would laugh. How would the Chromies not have some tech knowledge? The EMP Shard had the day of the party should have been a hint as well as how they came to find out about the party. They knew to check the EcoTerrace for traps and how it should function in general. Now this tech of blending new and old is something Octavia had never seen before. The Chromies had always been displayed as bumbling idiots who managed heavy hits out of pure luck and swinging twentieth century weapons around. People who talk and act so uncouth could never actually be smart, especially Shard. But he has been their leader, and they may not have been operating off luck after all. Could the way Shard acts be an act?

  Octavia suppresses a shudder. Her irritation for Shard's behavior has been overshadowing her fear of him. The irritation has also been keeping her from falling into terror of what brutality she knows he is capable of.

  She takes a breath.

  He's still irritating, Octavia thinks. He's just playing with my head. Trying to undermine me. Her fingers dig into her pillow. So why not try undermine him? He's not going to kill me, anyway. He might come close but won’t go through with it. He wants whatever my payment is. And I refuse to sit here anymore without some sort of fight. If I can't win with my fists, my parents always tell me I'll get in trouble with my mouth.

  "Whatcha wanna watch, roomie?" Shard asks, again.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Octavia stays silent in thought.

  "Alrighty. I'll choose then." Shard presses buttons on the plastic and the channels change. "Let's go to my favorite source of entertainment, NetNews!" Shard presses another button, and Marcy Hunniesett's voice fills the cell.

  Octavia watches Shard instead of the news. The bowl of popcorn sits next to him. He picks at it and shoves pieces under his mask. The mask never leaves his face. Many Chromies she's seen constantly have their masks on but there are plenty that don't, like Marque and Tam. Masks do well to hide the identities of Chromies, except Shard. Everyone knows what he looks like with his mask on. He made sure everyone would since the first time he emerged as the Chromy leader. Besides, hair and eyes like his are hard to hide.

  "Enjoying this view more?" Without looking away from TV, Shard wiggles his shoulders.

  Octavia scoffs. "You're so full of yourself."

  "If I was, Sweet-hart, things would be a lot different."

  A screeching beep comes from the TV. Marcy Hunniesett's expression changes. Her finger presses in her ear and she nods. Other anchors on screen mimic her. They nod with her and look to her.

  "We just got notification that three hostages taken from the Dock House Abductions have been retrieved from the Outskirts," Marcy says. "Among those returned are Mindy Winters, Lucille Stickler, and Ajax Turner. All were turned over unconscious, two with severe injuries, one with minor injuries. Mindy Winters, beloved NetCeleb and daughter of Councilwoman Winters and Lieutenant General Winters, was returned with a gunshot wound to the head and in critical condition. She's currently being treated at an undisclosed hospital. Lucille Stickler, daughter of Councilman Stickler, has a broken nose and has not woken up from whatever has sedated her and is being tested for possible reasons and solutions. She is also at an undisclosed hospital. Ajax Turner, son of Councilman Turner, was received with severe injuries caused by gunshot wounds to the foot and shoulder and blunt force trauma. He is being treated at Heavensbee Memorial Hospital."

  Marcy and the other anchors go back and forth about what this could mean. They comment on the horrible conditions the hostages were returned in and speculate how the others are being treated. Worries and beliefs of the photos coming in as they speak being fabricated by the Chromies rise.

  Shard laughs and makes his own comments as they go back and forth, seeming to forget Octavia is there. She does her best to block Shard out as she hangs on to every word. Every word spoken, she hopes to hear an update on Mindy's condition, but the anchors go in circles with thoughts. Her nerves grind every minute there is no word on her. Commercials break the show.

  "Well that was riveting. I told you she'd be all right. She's in the hospital all cozy where she'll be fine," Shard says. He lays back on his bunk and dangles his hand above her. "Want the remote?"

  "That doesn't tell me anything." Octavia eyes the remote. "How will I know she will be okay?"

  "Doubting your hospitals? Your tech? Or questioning the accuracy of the anchors?"

  "No. I'm doubting you." Octavia snatches the remote from Shard. She accidentally presses buttons as she does. The channel changes. "Change it back!" Octavia holds the remote up to him.

  "Do you trust me to put it back on the right channel?" Shard pushes the remote down. He's grinning. "Let's see if you’re a smart girl. Figure it out yourself. Good night." Shard lies on his back and pulls his hood out of his jacket and down to his nose.

  Octavia huffs.

  Most of the numbers on the remote are rubbed off. Numbers exist for the channels but such knowledge is something for a trivia show or programmer. There's no need to learn the numbers when it's easier to search channels by name. But there is no keyboard on the remote. Octavia tries speaking into it.

  "NetNews."

  The channel doesn't change.

  Shard and a guard snicker. Octavia growls. It brings more laughter.

  She resists the urge to throw the remote at them.

  Not knowing what else to do, she presses a button at random.

  Nothing happens for a moment until the TV deafeningly screams a commercial about hair removal cream.

  "THIS CREAM WORKS EVERYWHERE."

  "Wah!" Shard flies off his bunk. He lands on the floor next to Octavia with a smack. The bowl of popcorn follows him down. Popcorn coats him. The bowl hits him in the chest. His bulging eyes blink at the ceiling.

  Octavia smacks a hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh. One of the twins shares a similar expression with Octavia. The other one laughs.

  "Ha, HA. Laugh it up, Nickie," Shard says over the TV as he sits up. He snatches the remote from Octavia. "Gimme that." He turns the volume down. After brushing some popcorn that landed on him back into the bowl, he climbs back to his bunk.

  "Rhinehart got you good," Nickie says between chuckles.

  "Thank you for stating the obvious." Shard returns to the news channel. He pulls his hood over his face and crosses his arms. "Good night."

  Octavia holds her hand over her mouth and stretches the corners of it straight.

  Nickie glances at Shard before giving Octavia a grin squishing his eyes and a sly thumbs up.

  Octavia's face drops to glare at Nickie.

  Nickie doesn't glare back. His eyes soften in a way someone would look at an injured animal.

  Turning away from him, Octavia lies on her side and hugs the pillow to her head. She watches the news.

  Shard snores.

  Octavia grunts. Does his whole existence depend on aggravating her?

  Octavia doesn't realize she's fallen asleep until she hears a high-pitched beep beep beep. A red graphic with "BREAKING NEWS" flashes across the screen. Octavia swallows her breath. Shard moans above her.

  A heavy-eyed Marcy Hunniesett takes the screen. "This just in, Lucille Stickler, daughter of Councilman Stickler, aged 15, has passed away. A few short hours after arriving at the hospital and despite the best efforts of the medical staff, Lucille Stickler passed away from a propofol overdose administered to her by the Chromies. Doctors continue to monitor Mindy Winters and Ajax Turner for any signs of overdose or poisoning. We as a nation mourn the loss of such a precious soul."