Override (Glitch)

able to finish us off.”
    “But you just said it. She knows every move we’ll make. She’ll see us coming if we try to rescue him,” City said.
    Taylor looked at her calmly. “Yes, she will most likely see it coming. But we still have to try.”
    “Even if we get past all the security measures she’s sure to have, there’s still her compulsion power to consider,” Tyryn said quietly. “She could use her power to make us surrender, or even turn against each other.”
    “Tyryn’s right,” I said. “I’ve seen her make people throw themselves into concrete walls, stab themselves. As soon as you get within a hundred yards of her, she could make you all attack one another.”
    “What about the gas? That could take out her power,” Xona said.
    Taylor shook her head. “No one could get close enough to administer it without falling under her compulsion first.”
    A terrifying realization settled in my bones. I felt cold. Really, I’d known it all along. There could be no other way. “It has to be me, and me alone.” My voice was loud in the suddenly still room.
    Taylor nodded. I could see she’d long ago come to the same conclusions. “Yes. Every day he stays with the Chancellor is another day the Resistance’s secrets are compromised. More and more Rez cells are getting cracked. We thought it was because her network of spies was increasing, but it’s clear now it’s because she has access to Adrien and his visions. The only way we have a fighting chance is if we remove him and kill the Chancellor. Then all knowledge of the future Adrien’s already told her dies with her. She wouldn’t have trusted anyone else with those secrets.”
    I nodded. “So I go in alone, kill her, and get Adrien.” The words sounded absurd to me even as I said them. I had the urge to laugh hysterically. It was beyond impossible. I balled my hands into fists instead.
    “And if the girl fails?” asked one of the Rez fighters. “What then?”
    “That’s why Zoel is not going alone,” Taylor said.
    “But I have to—” I started, but she interrupted me.
    “You can’t even operate a duo. How do you expect to get there?”
    I thought about how much trouble Adrien had when he’d driven the thing during our escape from the alcove, and he’d grown up driving and flying. The panic I’d been trying to contain threatened to bubble out. “So what do we do?”
    “I’ll fly you in as close as I can get and still be out of the Chancellor’s range of compulsion. We’ll land here.” She pointed to the rooftop of a building near where Ginni said Adrien and the Chancellor were. “There’s a skywalk connecting the two buildings.” She zoomed in and I saw a glass-enclosed walkway threaded between the top floors.
    Sophia looked at the General. “But if the Chancellor does somehow manage to catch you in her compulsion web, you’ll tell her all the Rez’s secrets. I should be the one driving Zoel in. I’m no one, I don’t matter.”
    “I will be taking her,” Taylor said, her voice hard. “I’m the best pilot here, and I’ve pulled myself out of the inner circle of intelligence for quite some time now, since I come and go so often. Not that it will matter. I won’t get close enough for the Chancellor to use her compulsion on me anyway.”
    Taylor directed her attention back to me. “You stay on coms with Ginni and she can direct you to where Adrien and the Chancellor are in the building. The rest of the team will follow at a distance behind us in an attack transport in case we encounter any difficulties trying to leave. Once the Chancellor is dead, they can move in without risking falling under her compulsion.”
    “But what if it doesn’t work?” pressed the Rez fighter who’d spoken up earlier. “What if the girl is unable to kill the Chancellor? Then we’ll have lost valuable resources and the Chancellor will still have the seer.”
    “That’s the other reason I will be leading this mission,” the General said. “Adrien’s knowledge is too powerful a weapon. Many more will die if he’s allowed to remain the Chancellor’s pawn, so I take the burden on myself. Should Zoel fail, I will bomb the building with Adrien in it.”
    Her words were like a punch to my chest.
    “No!” Sophia screamed. “You can’t!”
    “Restrain her,” Taylor said, her voice steady. Two Rez fighters grabbed Sophia’s arms to hold her back. She kicked and fought against them. “I’m sorry, Sophia, but there is no