Project: MI
Chapter 16

JustinPage never before associated the interruption of a dream with the breaking of awindow, but the incessant angry bee buzzing of his cell phone readily broughtthe image to his mind. Groaning, his hand emerged from underneath the coversand, cautiously, felt around for the offending object. Quite by accident, healso knocked his alarm clock to the floor, where it struck with a loud bang.

“Justin! You’d better not bebreaking anything up there! Mom will be pissed if you did!”he heard his older sister—Erin—shout from the next room over.

Swearingunder his breath, he threw back his blanket.

“I’mnot!” he bellowed back irritably, snatching up his phone and hitting the replybutton without looking at the caller ID. “All right,” he seethed into it.“Whoever this is, talk. Kyle, if it’s you I am so burying your head in cement for waking me up…”

“Relax, it’s just me,”came Beth’s voice from the other end. Justin instantly found himself relaxing.

“Sorry,”he apologized, running a hand through his tangled mess of hair. “Bad day.” ‘Course, you know. “What’s up?”

“I’m sorry to interrupt you aftereverything that happened but…are you doing anything now?”

Justinraised an eyebrow at that. Normally when Beth called him to ask what he wasdoing, it usually came with the tag of Jamie’s name. For an insanely briefmoment he had the image of Beth asking him out on a date.

Stupid… She’s just a machine,he berated himself, blushing lightly. “Not really,” he grumbled, getting out ofbed and stumbling over his clock. It showed the time as being 4:30 in theafternoon. He hesitated between the instinct to say he wasn’t doing anythingand the knowledge of his sister being in the house, acting as his babysitterwhile his mother was back at work. He ground his teeth together remembering howfreaked out she had been after hearing about the heroi attack on the school. Ifhe left the house while she was finishing her shift at the hospital, therewould be Hel to pay. “Why? Does Jamie want to get together or something?”

Thethought struck him as odd, given what happened. Then again, as he thought aboutit, maybe not so. His parents don’t seemto care much about him…

“I still need to discuss thingswith him, but there’s been a bit of a…development…with me…and I’d like to haveyour help.”

“Myhelp?” Justin snorted. “Don’t know what I can do. If it’s got something to dowith you shouldn’t you be talking to the feds? They’re the ones with all thetech stuff anyway. Heck, Kyle would be better than me. This sort of thing is hisobsession isn’t it?”

Hethought on that for a second, briefly remembering a time when the boy tinkeredwith his home computer. Could he even call that an obsession?

“If it’s all the same, I’d ratherleave the government and Kyle out of this,” Bethreplied. “Actually it’s from your sisterthat I need help. I can’t explain it over the phone. If you could mention thisto her so she could leave herself available it would be appreciated.”

Justinglanced at his desk where a pile of homework sat. There was a chance schoolwould be closed but… As good an excuse asany, he thought, dropping a pair of shorts to the floor and heading over tohis desk, sweeping the pile into a book bag.

“Yeah,sure. Just tell Jamie to bring his school stuff so I can copy from him. He’susually done by now…”

“I’ll pass it along.”Beth sighed, causing Justin to raise an eyebrow. Did she sound…exhausted? “I’ll call you again when we’re ready toleave. Bye.”

Withthat, Justin was greeted with the sound of silence, leaving him staring at thephone for a moment before pocketing it. Shaking his head, he ruffled his hairto get the bed-head out of it. It didn’t help much, but at least he looked morepresentable.

Hissister was going to be really annoyed with him now.

Bethhung up on Justin and returned her attention to Jamie as he clung to hisCerberus. Monster’s tongues were darting around his face, lapping at the spotswhere blood had been drying from earlier.

“Ohgods…” Jamie felt tears of relief start to spring forth in his eyes and heburied his face in Monster’s purple fur to hide them. “How…?” He found himselfunable to finish, but the dark-haired girl standing in the doorway next to theolder woman—almost a younger version of her—took up the reigns of conversation,knowing what he meant.

“Ifound him in the park,” Kira replied. “I’ve…we’ve…”the girl glanced at her mother briefly before continuing. “…been looking forhis owner.” In spite of how she felt about her mother tagging along and foulingup her plans, she found herself smiling at the sight of the boy reuniting withhis Cerberus. Man’s best friend, shethought. “We’re glad to have found you.”

“T-Thankyou!” Jamie breathed, breaking away from Monster and getting up to face themfully. His face flushed with embarrassment. He didn’t like being so emotionalin front of people, but he couldn’t help himself. “You…” Jamie blinked as helooked at the girl. “Hey! You’re the one who rescued me and Justin at school!”

Amandaturned a raised eyebrow at her daughter, who pretended not to notice her suddenattention. “Yeah, I…uh…was trying to tell you about your critter then,but…well…you know the rest.” She swallowed, feeling a touch nervous from hermother’s scrutiny. “I’m Kira by the way.”

“I’mJamie,” the boy smiled, extending one hand while rubbing the back of his headnervously. “Thank you so much. You have no idea what this means to me.”

Kiralooked at his offered hand uncertainly for a moment before returning thegesture. The handshake was awkward, but to Kira it felt as though theirconnection was sealed now, allowing her to more easily enter his world and lifewithout arousing suspicions.

Eventhough she didn’t much like her reasons for doing so.

This doesn’t feel right,she thought, dropping her hand from his.

“Areyou all right?” Amanda asked Jamie, tilting her head to one side. “I don’t meanto pry but…your face…”

“Hm?”Jamie looked over at the older woman who pointed at her own face indicatively.Following her direction he poked at his face and quickly remembered that he hadbeen bleeding earlier. “Oh! Yeah, I’m all right. I just…um…” Can’t really tell them that I’ve beenvisited by a metamorph or anything or that my powers are acting up andeverything in between. “…just had an accident.” He forced a chuckle.“Tripped. I tripped, that’s all.”

“Well,as long as you’re okay,” Amanda nodded accepting this excuse while her eyesflashed down to the Companion module clipped to his waist. “I hate to cut thisshort but we should get going. We have some errands to run.”

We don’t have any errands,Kira thought, but didn’t protest. She found herself hating the awkwardness andany chance to escape it was welcome.

“Huh?Oh!” Jamie bobbed his head up and down. “Thanks again. Thank you so much!”

“Sure,”Kira said, reluctantly turning to follow her mother. “See you around.”

Thedoor closed with a click and Jamie again dropped down to embrace Monster. Bethblinked from her spot on Jamie’s belt loop.

“I got a hold of Justin…” shebegan.

“Heseems like a nice young man,” Amanda started as both she and Kira made theirway down the walk. “So he goes to your school?”

“Yeah,”Kira nodded, feeling relieved that this was done and over with—or at least thispart of her contact with the boy. “I think everyone’s heard of him at somepoint or another. He’s a heroi you know.”

“SoI gathered from the Companion he has,” Amanda said. Kira glanced at hercatching the tone in her voice.

“Somethingwrong about that? Ran was—is—aheroi.”

Furrowingher brow she looked over her shoulder and back at the Grey’s house. “I justcouldn’t help but…wonder if that blood was really from an accident. His nose…There wasn’t any swelling or anything. I wonder…”

“Wonderwhat?”

Amandashook her head. “It might be nothing, but…I don’t want you near him after this.You’ve returned his Cerberus. Leave it at that, okay Kira?”

Kiraraised an eyebrow. “Why would I do that? The kid’s a year younger than me.Looks like he’s a bit of a dork too with how he was holding that Cerberus.”

“Iwouldn’t talk if I were you, young lady,” Amanda teased. “I saw you smile justthen. You’ve grown fond of the animal. Maybe I should get you one so you don’thave an excuse to visit…”

“Monster,Mom. He has a name. And I told you, I’m not going near him.”

“Didyou?” Amanda’s eyes were thoughtful. “I must be hard of hearing now.”

Kiraglowered at her as they turned down the street. “I don’t get it. Why don’t youwant me near him because of a bloody nose?”

Amandacouldn’t say, still not certain about what she had seen—even sensed. The whole time she was at thedoorway, the hair on the back of her neck was prickling as though there were anelectrical current running in the air. Q-Fieldactivation, and a big one. That and a bloody nose… I think I know what kind of accident he had, and it hurt his body in some way.She bit her lower lip.

“Ithink he might be self-destructing,”shesaid finally.

Teruosat on the hard metal chair, arms folded over his chest and staring at themirror off to his side. Across from him, he heard a polite cough.

“I’mlistening,” he replied indifferently.

“Itwould help if you would take this seriously,” said the man across from him. “Ifyou would appreciate the severity of the situation you are in…”

“Iboth appreciate and understand,”Teruo replied, not moving his head. “I think we’ve established all evidencepoints to me by now so I don’t know why we’re still talking about this.”

Theman sighed and looked down at the folder in front of him. “Trespassing ontogovernment property; damage to government property—namely vehicles andGuardians, but there is also the matter of your leg injury.” The man leanedback in his chair. “That especially is a grievous offense since you’re a valuedresource. It’s almost as bad as your possession of illegal and decommissionedtransmat devices.”

“Ihealed up,” Teruo rebutted, raising his previously injured leg for emphasis. Hewiggled his toes within his shoe, but the effect was lost on the man. “It takesmore than falling off a power line to disable even a heroi like me. Don’tworry. Your ‘property’ wasn’t in any danger.”

“Hadyou been spotted immediately you would have been. The law is quite clear inregards to the level of commotion you caused.”

Teruoshrugged nonchalantly. “It’s not my fault that I need materials to work withbut I can’t get any.”

“Itwould help if you were forthcoming about what you need these materials for.”

“Andit would help if what I needed wasn’t also illegal. Guess we’re at an impasse.”

“Fromyour perspective. You will be placed under around-the-clock surveillance, humanand AI. Your network privileges are also suspended until further notice. Anyunauthorized online activity will be result in the immediate loss of yourcomputer and all tech equipment you own.”

“Uhoh. I’m ‘grounded’. Again.”

“Thereis also this caveat. There is an Epsilon Sentinel in the city. Should youcontinue to cause trouble, we will give further judgment of your case over tohim. It is within his authority to deal with you as he sees fit.”

Teruoshifted in his chair. “My butt hurts,” he grumbled. “Can I leave yet?”

Theman sighed. “As long as you have an understanding, then yes.”

“Finally.”Sliding out of his chair, he got up and headed over to the door. “I need abath.” Running a hand over his arms he grimaced at the grime. Normally he hadno problems with being dirty, given his chosen ‘profession’, but being forcedto go for the entire night since his arrest without being able to clean himselfwas a bit unfair.

To top it all off, all my workfrom yesterday was for nothing. The transmat disks I salvaged have been takenfrom me. I don’t even know if they found that CD that Maher guy gave me. Crap,I hope they didn’t…

Hesighed despondently as he exited the room and was quickly flanked by twoagents. Today was not off to a good start.

The worst part about it is thatJohn is going to give me an earful about this when I get home. Take up more ofmy time, make me feel bad that I put him in such an awkward spot… Not that Ican blame him for making me feel bad. I mean, it is an awkward spot to be in… Strikes andgutters, and today I really hit a lot of gutters. There’s really nothing I cando except to ride out the rapids and wait things out. With my luck, the wholemess with the city will have solved itself and I won’t be able to check it out.

Crap. Now I really hope that they didn’t replace that CD…

Aroundand around, the thoughts played through his mind, from the moment he got intothe van that would bring him home to the moment that he hopped out in themiddle of John’s driveway. John Smith was there waiting for him at the door, adark look on his face.

“Welcomehome,” he said, his tone neutral.

“Hey,”Teruo replied, trying hard to meet the man’s gaze and ultimately failing. Thelook of reproach was hard to face. “I…uh…” He coughed uncomfortably as the doorto the house closed behind him, leaving him alone with his caretaker. “…I wantto say that…I’m sorry.”

“Isee,” John replied, his voice still devoid of any emotion. “Sorry that you’reactually in trouble and it’s causing problems for others, or sorry that youwere just caught?”

Teruobit down on his response, not trusting himself to say something that would betaken out of context.

“Well?”John prodded, not content with leaving the issue alone.

“Alittle bit of both,” Teruo responded after a second of hesitation.

“Isee. So it didn’t matter enough what other people have to deal with because ofyour actions?”

What part of both was absent in this conversation? Teruonearly shot back at him. Instead he opted for a different approach, one thatfelt more logical. “I weighed the risks and I messed up. If things were calmer,we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.”

Or if we were at least it wouldbe less of a big deal since there wouldn’t have been freakin’ assault cars andexpensive tanks in the area…

“It’snot like I didn’t think about you,”Teruo continued. “I just didn’t count on…everything I found when I got there. Ineeded to get into the junkyard.”

“SoI’ve gathered based on the list found on your person and the transmat disks youhad under your bed. What in the name of all the gods did you need with buildinga transmat platform?”

Teruowas silent. Seeing this, John massaged his forehead and gave a heavy, shakysigh.

“Fine.Under law we can’t make you tell us anything unless we determine it’s a matterof national security. No psychics can be used either.” He swept his handsoutward uselessly, his expression helpless. “I don’t know what to do with you, Teruo. In all honesty, I don’t knowwhat to do. Can you tell me? I’m supposed to keep you safe and out of trouble,and provide you with what you need—legally—toshow that you can be of use to the country, but you go your own way, dowhatever you think you can get away with… I’m useless in keeping you underwraps.”

Hedropped his hands to his sides. As Teruo watched, he saw something in the man’sexpression that communicated nothing but utter hopelessness at his situation.John turned away.

“Somuch for my education,” he said under his breath. “I thought that would give mesome insight…” He sighed again. “Go upstairs, Teruo. I need time to think. Doyou want any take-out Tianchao?”

Teruowinced. John was offering him one of his favorite foods for dinner? The tasteof good food would not mix well with the bitterness of this homecoming.

Well, it’s not like he has tocook it or anything, he thought. “Yeah, sure,” hesaid, heading toward the stairs. “I’ll have whatever.”

It’s still there.Teruo sighed with relief upon replaceing that his secret hideaway still containedMaher’s CD. He was fortunate enough that they left him all his computerequipment. In spite of being stripped of network access, viewing the contentsof the information would be no problem. The only thing that concerned him inthis regard was surveillance. Finishing pretending to check his equipment hegot out from under his desk and dusted himself off, no longer caring for howdirty he was. He was in a dark enough mood. He might as well be the partoutwardly as well.

Human and AI are going to bemonitoring me, he thought. Wonder if that means they have heroi psychically spying too. They’retechnically human after all. He looked up at his ceiling and gave a quickvisual inspection of it. Nothing out ofthe ordinary, but that doesn’t mean much. Still, they’d be stupid to leaveanything technological where I can get my hands on it.

Therewas a loud tapping on the window, but he ignored it. He wasn’t sure how hecould even begin searching for surveillance, or if he should at all.

Forgetting for a moment that Idon’t yet know the extent of the surveillance, any more active searches wouldsend up alarms on the CHC’s end and then I could wind up being judged by thatEpsilon Sentinel.

Bitingon his tongue, he let out a little hiss. He heard whispers of the Sentinels.Almost every heroi that was past the Alpha Three stage heard of them in oneform or another. To the average citizen there was little difference betweenthem and any other heroi, but the reality… Ah,there’s the rub.

Givingup for the time being, Teruo flopped back onto his bed, eyes closed andsurrendering himself to the silence. Silent that is, save for the incessanttapping on his window. Furrowing his brow he doubled his efforts to ignore it.

What am I going to do? Whatshould I do?

Atap.

Laying low is probably my bestbet for now. It’ll get me back in good graces with John and afterward we canprobably work something out with the CHC… If I can get him together with Jennyit might go a long way to smooth things over…

Anothertap.

Maybe I should do some work onCHC approved projects. It’s kind of what I’m supposed to be doing anyway, and…

Twotaps now in rapid succession.

…and I need to do something aboutthat.

Withan irritated growl, he got up from his bed and stormed over to his window. It lookedas though there was a bird on the other end.

“Stupid,”he grumbled, knocking his knuckles against the glass in the hopes that doing sohe would startle the bird away. “There’s nothing in here you could want. Goaway.”

Thebird responded by merely tapping against the window again, this time moreforcefully, causing a small crack to appear in the glass.

Well here’s something Edgar AllenPoe never imagined from his raven…

Alarmedand furious, he pulled out his Doctor Device—grateful that the CHC didn’tconfiscate it—and activated it. Grabbing hold of the window he unlatched it andthrew it open, electricity dancing on the end of the Doctor upon activation.

Hesquawked as the bird flew right at his face. Flailing the Doctor in front ofhim uselessly he fell back to the floor with a thud. There was a flash of lightover on his bed as he rolled over into a crouch.

“Wha…?”Tilting his head to one side, Teruo found himself looking in confusion at thesight of a pale-faced, white-haired, amber-eyed girl sitting on his bed, wavingat him with a small, amused smile on her face.

“HiTeruo Kato,” she greeted. “Sorry about bursting in like this, but I was hopingto talk to you.”

Oh Hel…Teruo groaned.