Jordan kept her promise. She wolfed down the sandwiches, then started shouting again. This has landed her back in her bubble, and in another set of quarters.
“I’m Compassion,” says the Agent. They have not removed their armor, even in their own quarters.
“You’re a big…” Jordan is good at learning lessons, and so searches her vocabulary for something appropriate that won’t be a bad-as-in-bad-to-use word. “Meanie.”
Meanie sucks. I need better bad words. When I’m older I can use all of the really bad words, but not now.
“I suppose you’d think so,” the Agent says with a shrug.
“Lemme go home.”
Compassion shakes their head. “I’m sorry, Jordan, we can’t do that. You really are a Void Shadow Agent, so we have to take precautions. You’ve got a very dangerous power.”
“I’m a princess!” shouts Jordan. “I help people!”
The Agent shakes their head again, but it’s less decisive, more confused. “Who are you helping? You’re the enemy of the Concordance.”
Jordan ticks off people on her fingers. “So first there was the construction guy, an’ a woman who made toys, an’ a dancer, an’ someone at the bakery, an’ a bike messenger. They all had negative energy an’ turned into monsters, so I saved 'em with Perfect Purification. Plus, I stopped a robbery which woulda made people sad if their stuff was taken.”
She looks at Compassion through narrowed eyes. “An’ then you three messed it all up. You’ll be sorry.”
Compassion tilts their head. “Why would you want to help people? You’re a Void Shadow Agent.”
“You keep sayin’ that, but why is that bad?”
“Well, because you’re the enemies of the Concordance.”
Jordan remembers the stresses her big brother has endured. “An’ why is the Concordance the good guys?” she demands.
Compassion pauses.
“Well?”
The Agent stiffens slightly. The voice of feeling they had a moment ago is gone, replaced with a monotone. “The Universal Concordance is a galaxy-wide organization dedicated to upholding the cosmic Virtues of Honesty, Compassion, Valor, Justice, Sacrifice, Honor, and Humility.”
Jordan’s tone is acid. “Whicha’ those lets you kidnap little girls offa’ their planet?”
The same monotone answers without hesitation. “Justice. It is axiomatic that the existence of life as a whole is superior to its nonexistence. The Virtues are self-evidently beneficial for the flourishing of life in the galaxy. The Void Shadow Collective is dedicated to undermining the cosmic Virtues, as demonstrated by their antagonism toward the Universal Concordance, which upholds them. The Virtue of Justice demands that we defend life, hence oppose its enemies. Hence we oppose the Collective. As you are a member of the Collective, we exercise our right to protect life by apprehending you.”
This is a lot of big talk. Jordan thinks she gets it. She doesn’t like it, but she gets it. “How was I hurtin’ life or whatever by purifyin’ people of bad energy?”
“We cannot vouch for the authenticity of those actions. It is your affiliation with the Collective which merited your apprehension.”
Jordan peers up at the Agent. This sounds like how it is when Anty talks. Is this what I sounded like to other people?
She realizes she doesn’t like it very much.
“Is that you talkin’, or is that your voice?”
Compassion pauses again, a perplexed expression on their face. “Well… It’s the shard,” they admit. “They’re more eloquent than I am on big mission topics like that. I thought you’d want the best answer possible.”
“So I’m bein’ blamed for people I’ve never met, is that the size of it?” Jordan loves the phrase ‘the size of it’ and has wanted to use it since forever. This seems like the perfect moment. Everyone’s bigger than her, and ‘size’ makes her feel bigger in return.
“Well, yes.”
Jordan, hands on hips, stares defiantly up at the tall Agent. “For someone named Compassion, you’re pretty mean.”
The Agent actually looks hurt, and Jordan feels bad immediately. Not bad enough to take it back. Mom and Dad aren’t here to tell her to apologize, either. She’s not sure what she should do now.
“I’m sorry,” she says.
“No, no, it’s fine…” The Agent takes a seat on their couch. Even leaning over, hands on their knees, they’re tall, but Jordan thinks they’re somehow smaller.
Jordan grows apprehensive. “The Concordance seems pretty mean, but you’re not. I just wanna know what I did wrong. An’ nobody’s tellin’ me.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Jordan.” The Agent speaks, and realizing what they said, looks up, worry-stricken. “Look. Maybe you should talk to Honesty about this.”
Jordan feels like she messed up big time. “I’m sorry,” she says again. She’s not sure what else to do but repeat it. It doesn’t seem to help.
“I’m Kirk. To you, I’m sir.”
This Agent is the shortest, which makes Jordan happy. He’s also the bossiest and loudest. This annoys her immensely.
“Sir Kirk.”
“Call me sir.”
“Is Sir your first name?”
“My name is Kirk.” Jordan can tell he’s getting frustrated, and she’s secretly gleeful. But the secret to fighting an older boy is persistence. She’s learned this vital lesson in verbally sparring with Adam.
“Okay, Kirk.”
She can tell he’s given up on this part, and exults in her victory.
“Just keep your mouth shut, kid. I don’t have tolerance for your shit,” he growls.
Jordan mugs at him with her best ogre-goblin facial expression.
“Stop that.”
She sticks her tongue out, thumbs in her ears, fingers wiggling mockingly.
“I said stop that.”
Next is what she thinks of as the “booger-zombie” face, complete with one squinty eye and one wide open. Holding this too long makes her eyes water, but it’s worth it.
“Just… stop being stupid,” Kirk growls.
“You’re not s’posed to say that word,” crows Jordan. “It’s insultin’ to people with dish abilities.”
Kirk tries to go back to the book he was reading when Jordan was dumped on him. “Shut up, I said.”
“Make me.”
He balls up a fist, and for a moment Jordan worries he’s going to hit. Then she remembers the bubble around her. If she can’t punch through it, he can’t either, right?
The fist relaxes. “How about I eject you into space, then?”
Jordan isn’t actually sure what that would entail, so doesn’t really find it that daunting. But it sounds like he’s escalating, and she’s committing. “Then Adam would come and make you sorry for messin’ with me.”
She recognizes the flare of anger at the mention of her brother’s name. “SG4 would crush Adam Amari,” Kirk boasts. “He’s welcome to come here. We’ll hand him his ass in a hot minute.”
Jordan knows this kind of boasting. She’s on familiar turf.
“You ran away from Concord. So big. So tough.”
“Shut up!” roars Kirk, flaring with energy.
Jordan is really worried. She pushed too hard, too much, and knows it. There’s the bubble, but it’s in the control of these people, and they could just drop it. She freezes, unable to do anything but wait and find out what he does next.
Kirk throws the book across the room and stalks toward the bubble. “Listen. Adam Amari is nothing. If he wasn’t such a fuckup as an Agent, the Concordance wouldn’t have chosen us three. Him and his broken shard, him messing around with Keynomes which are off limits, him getting all the attention from the higher-ups, him being so special they put him in charge of a Tribunal for another broken shard. He’s nothing! Do you hear me? He’s nothing!”
“You’re cryin’,” Jordan points out, softly.
Kirk rubs his eyes in furious realization. “I am not!”
She senses a moment here, and she’s not sure if she should fill it. But she does.
“Why do you hate my brother so much?”
Kirk seems to remember himself. “None of your business.”
Jordan makes an important realization. “I’m in this bubble 'causa my brother. Not 'causa the Void Shadows. You just don’t like Adam.”
These words strike their mark with precision, and Kirk turns away, unable to look at her any longer.
She pushes forward. “Adam’s still parta the Concordance, isn’t he. If he’s so terrible at bein’ Concord, they’d kick him out, or tell him to stop, or whatever.”
Kirk wheels, and now Jordan can see glee in his glistening eyes. “Oh, that’s going to happen, you little punk brat. Adam’s gonna come here, where everyone can see. He’s going to try to rescue you, and then everyone will know what a fucking pathetic nobody he is. And then SG4 will be in charge of Earth. And I will personally rip that defective, useless shard out of him.”