Legend

June and Thomas are watching Commander Jameson “work on” a spy from the Colonies through the window. As they watch, they argue about whether June should go undercover in the Lake sector to find Day. June is going, despite Thomas’s protests. Just then, the imprisoned spy screams, and Commander Jameson waves June, Thomas, and another soldier into the room. The prisoner is hanging upside-down, and Commander Jameson has just threatened to bomb his hometown. He refuses again to tell Commander Jameson his name, so Thomas punches him in the stomach and holds a knife to one of the man’s fingers. The man gives his name: Emerson Adam Graham. When Graham insults the Republic, Thomas hits his face, knocking out a tooth. Thomas seems to enjoy this, which chills June.

June scoffs at Graham’s insistence that the Republic is cruel and terrible: these are lies, and the Colonies just want the Republic’s land. Graham refuses to give up any information, so Commander Jameson tells Thomas and the soldier to “[t]ry as hard as you want.” June forces herself to watch and learn. But the screams make her ears ring, and the spy has straight hair like she does. He also reminds her of Metias.

Thomas drops June at her apartment later with a kiss on her cheek. He promises to watch out for her while she’s in the field and asks her to keep her microphone on. Inside, June settles on the couch with Ollie, flips through some of Metias’s journals, and listens to the recording of her conversation with Day again. She tells Ollie she’s going to get Metias’s killer.

Bright and early the next morning, June walks through the Lake sector. She’s dressed in secondhand clothes and has Day’s pendant in her pocket. It’s filthy here, with garbage everywhere. June reminds herself not to act disgusted, since she’s trying to look like she lives here. When a few men catcall her, June wonders if she can catch the plague from “these people” despite being vaccinated. She remembers Metias telling her not to judge the poor—but he was kinder than she is. Thomas briefly checks in through June’s earpiece, and then June turns it off with a click of her tongue. She spends her day listening to beggars talking about the plague and where to find food or shelter. Nobody talks about Day. The next two days pass in much the same way—until June accidentally ends up in a Skiz fight.