Lens

Brooklyn, 2095. Seventeen-year-old Riley Taylor longs to escape the crushing poverty of the slums. Stuck with her best friend in a totalitarian police state, their only hope of freedom is joining the military. But when Riley gets ripped away from him in their first brutal combat, she’s shocked to discover why so many recruits come home in coffins.

She’s served in battle. She’s killed. She’s watched as her friends have fallen away, either to death or to the brainwashing that forces the government’s agenda into young, hungry minds. But Riley is one of the few citizens who has seen the inside of the Stilts, the flooded buildings that surround Manhattan. Now that she knows what life is really like on the other side of the wall, she must decide which path to take. She can continue her career as a soldier in the Service, or she can turn spy against the government and begin working with the Volunteers.

Riley Taylor is on a mission. She has escaped the dreaded burning plants along with a new faction of Volunteers. Now, she must fight to rid the country of the oppressive control the government has over its people. The first step in doing this is to free the citizens of the lens system and the castes it designates for each person. But when she suffers a major injury and winds up in the hospital, she is shocked to find out the next role the rich benefactors, who fund the activities of the Volunteers, have in store for her. 

After many months pretending to be someone else, Riley is devastated to learn that Alex has been brainwashed, and his new mission is to kill her; it is only her fake identity that is saving her from his wrath. The sadistic leader of the Champions, Damien, is finally dead, but his violent orders to his following Champions still remain, putting both Riley and Alex in constant peril. Will Riley survive if Alex finds out the truth about her? And can he handle learning the truth about himself?.

The year 2099. Riley Taylor has defeated the terrorist group the Champions and is now faced with a different sort of enemy: the State. Trouble is, there isn’t one single person to blame for the way life in America is now, and instead of confronting a foe, she must root out the evil in the system piece by piece, law by insidious law. To do this, Riley will need the help of the Volunteers. But rebuilding her crew from scratch will not be an easy task, and taking on the government will require a team of specialized allies.