Project: MI
Chapter 6

First there was darkness. And then there was light.A face followed; then directions; then a thought. She had her target, but sheneeded to know more. A small…test was required before escalation, to see whatsort of person she was dealing with.

“Acknowledge if you understand your missionobjectives,” spoke a voice through the darkness. The voice she recognized.

“Mission objectives acknowledged,” she spokeeagerly. Reaching out with her mind, the darkness, broken only by the facebefore her, exploded into a fearsome light that dissolved into the image of anexpansive cityscape that rapidly flew toward her. People… Places… Things… Shewould become a part of them once again. She wasn’t free, but that didn’tmatter. For now, as long as she had her task, she was a part of the world oflight again.

If she had her way, she would never be parted from it again.

Unfortunately, like always, the mission came first.She would obey without question.

Teruo sat on hisbed, going over a number of spread sheets displaying historical dates andgraphs. Taking a quick swig of soda, he scowled.

NASO’s satellite reports show oscillating planetaryorbits which indicates a localized warp in space and time within the solarsystem, hemused. Global time differential is alsooff by about three hours. He glanced at his computer, his thoughts surging.Recent studies in tree ring data seems toconfirm it as well, but that’s not as reliable. I could still be wrong…

He rubbed hiseyes. In spite of the caffeine, his brain felt exhausted. He knew that he wasin denial. He had gone over the numbers at least five times and compared themto previous recordings dating back to the Roman Empire and the HellenisticPeriod…all pre-Golden Age material. Try as he might to believe otherwise, he knewwhat was coming.

That city is going to kick it all off if it comesthrough.

“Damn it…” hemuttered, poking a finger in his ear and digging around its waxy cannel. “What’mI gonna do?” He paused on that line for a moment before chuckling. The heroi inhim was talking it seemed. “Do?” he answered himself with an amusement he didnot feel. “What can I do? I’m just akid. A freakishly smart kid whoannoys the public with his inventions and costs taxpayer’s their money, butstill…”

This is too big for me. Far, far too big. I’d needeither a team to handle this, or…

There it wasagain. His heroi blood talking. He huffed slightly, blowing at his hair infrustration.

Just let the feds handle it. They did a good jobhiding it so far, and if what Kitsune has told me so far, it seems like they’replanning on dealing with it anyway. They’ve probably got a anti-matter mineaimed at it and everything.

Deep downthough, he knew that was just the same false delusion that he had been tellinghimself so far. Who knew where thatcity had been in the years since it vanished? Or what—never mind who—it brought back with it.

Teruo grippedthe sides of his head and ruffled his hair, letting out a frustrated groan. Thecall of his blood was strong. This task…it was everything he and his kind were born for.

No wonder the feds are trying to keep it quiet, he thoughtmiserably, falling back on his bed and casting his eyes up toward the ceiling. Besides not panicking the civilianpopulation that is. They have a hard enough time just keeping us heroi undertheir thumbs. And they don’t want to involve Albion or any of the othercountries out there. It’d be the perfect excuse for an invasion after all…

There was awarning knock on his door before it opened. Teruo sat up to replace his keeper,John Smith enter, a serious expression on his face.

“Just to remindyou, we’re going down to the CHC tomorrow for tests. I want you in bed at adecent hour.”

“I won’t mess upyour tests, you have my word,” Teruo replied. “I’ll get plenty of REM sleep forthe Herculean trial before me.”

John raised aneyebrow at that. “It’s only a brain scan…”

“A test is atest,” Teruo returned with a shrug. “Anything else?”

John shook hishead with wry amusement. “Only what you want for dinner tonight. Otherwise I’llbe forced to whip something up at my own discretion.”

“Spare me theprescribed health menu and pile on the carbs.” Teruo fell back onto the bed. “Ihave a feeling my brain is going to need allthe energy it can get, for the morrow, my destiny awakens.”

“No need tosound like you’re the Chosen One,” John joked, starting to close the door.“I’ll leave you to your work for now and go shopping for the ‘right’ food.” Heglanced at the papers surrounding Teruo. “Don’t work yourself into a fit. I’ll callyou when your afternoon cartoons are on.”

“…thanks…” Teruomuttered, his cheeks flushing in embarrassment as his door closed with a click.All work and no play makes Jack a dullboy, he thought with some annoyance. Butmaybe that’s just what I need. He glanced back over at his computer. Itstill displayed the last image recorded by the investigative probe; afog-filled city that was little more welcoming than a graveyard.

His geneticscalled for him to do something. He wantedto do something. He could see the threat looming in the distance without havingto be psychically gifted.

I need more to go on, he thought, hisgaze drifting over to his desk drawer. AndI know just what I need to do to get it.

“Dude, he stilllooks pretty angry,” Justin whispered to Kyle, pointing to Jamie as hecontinued to storm ahead of them, Monster’s leash held tightly in one hand. Theother boy glanced at him.

“Gee, youthink?” Kyle asked sarcastically. “What gave it away? The way his ears turnbright red whenever he’s upset? Or was it the fact that he got attacked by theA-hole?”

Justin snorted.“I didn’t think he would calm down right away,” he replied. “But we’ve beenwalking forever now. He usually works it out of his system by now.”

“Bradley waspretty ugly today,” Kyle shrugged, leaving Justin to contemplate the incidentfor a moment.

“Yeah… Yeah hewas.” Lowering his head, he picked up his pace and began to close the distanceto Jamie.

“Come on…” Kylegroaned at the prospect of having to keep up with his friends. “Can’t we justslow down already?”

“He’s ourfriend, ain’t he?”

“Do you guyshave to be so loud?” Jamie asked, looking over his shoulder while slowing downhis pace. His expression was still upset, but he was rapidly schooling it intosomething more neutral. Not that Justin was fooled by it though. As heapproached him, he swung a companionable arm around his shoulder.

“Take it easyman,” Justin said, giving his shoulder a pat. “We can be quiet if you want…”

“No you can’t,”Kyle said, coming abreast the pair. “Your mouth caused things to get worse.”

Justin shot hima dark look before returning to Jamie. “Look, if you want to walk to the endsof the Earth to cool yourself off, that’s fine by me. I’ll follow. Kyle mighthave a problem though, so you might want to check with him first.”

“You’re agrade-A…a grade-A jerk,” Kyle fumed, grasping for a way to insult him while notwanting to breach the etiquette of their friendship. Even if Justin didn’t carefor caution, someone had to thinkabout that sort of thing.

“Would you guysknock it off?” Jamie asked, removing Justin’s arm from around him. “I’m notangry. I don’t need to be babied by you two.”

“Fine, fine,”Justin replied, giving him a placating gesture. “We’re still doing what weplanned for today though, right?”

Jamie shrugged.“If you want to. It doesn’t matter to me.”

“Cool. My momsaid she can get me into the hospital, seeing as how I’m following in herfootsteps and all.” A proud smile beamed on his face as he planted his fists onhis hips. Jamie felt his anger melt a little.

“Are you sureit’s going to be okay?”

“Sure. I mean,it’s just a tour after all. Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Well…” Jamielooked a little uncertain. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s because it’s the heroiwing of the hospital that bugs me. It almost feels like a disaster waiting tohappen.”

“Don’t invitethe devil by calling its name,” Justin reprimanded. “Better to wish on stars.”

Jamie didn’tlook convinced. For every silver lining there was a dark cloud, as today hadalready proved.

“What aboutMonster?” Kyle prompted, realizing something. “They don’t let pets into thehospital.”

“Oh yeah, thanksfor reminding me. Why’d you bring him along anyway?”

“My folkswouldn’t have remembered to let him out today,” Jamie reminded. Justin lookedas though he were about to make a comment, but a quick elbow in his ribscourtesy of Kyle made him rethink that.

“Okay. Maybethere’s…something else we can do then?” He ran his hand through his hair. “Man…And today they were going to bring out a seriously freakish-looking heroi. Allteeth and everything. This big. I swear to the gods. This big!” For emphasis he spread his arms out as far as they couldgo. “Mom says that they were going to try reversing his mutation.”

“Perhaps it is better to steer clear of the hospitalfor the time being,”piped in Beth’s voice from Jamie’s belt. “Heroigenetics, particularly in regards to the type you just described, has proven tobe quite resistant to treatment. It might even provoke an ‘attack’ response.”

“Attackresponse?” Kyle asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s where theheroi’s mutation goes completely crazy and freaks out on everyone,” Justinreplied before waving him off. “I’m not too worried about that. Mom says thatthe hospital is full of power negation equipment and Guardians. Plus the newHall Monitors…”

But…what happensif none of that works?”

“What did I just get donesaying about calling on the devil, man?” Justin grabbed the side of his head infrustration. “But all right. If you guys want to be a bunch of pansies aboutthis, we won’t go. We’ll just… I don’t know. Just take a walk through the parkand go to the game store at the mall or something. Whatever. It’s not like wedon’t have the whole day and my mom isn’t expecting us.” He then sneered atKyle. “In fact, she bet me that you would chicken out. If you want, you canhold onto Monster’s leash and wait for Jamie and me to come back…”

Kyle’s mouthopened for a moment before snapping shut. “I…” he began after a moment.“I’m…with Beth on this one. I think the whole thing is a bad idea.”

Justin sighed,dejected. “Wish you told me that last week when we were talking about it then.”He glanced at Jamie. “How about you? Are you looking to bail?’

Jamie lookeddown at Monster, and both of the Cerberus’ heads looked back up at him, tongueswagging out of his mouths. He bit his lip. He wasn’t feeling as enthusiasticabout this outing as he had before, but the sense of helplessness from hisencounter with Bradley sat very strongly with him. He didn’t want to look weakin front of his friend. He tightened his hold on Monster’s leash, unconsciouslyfeeling energy coursing through his fingers; the very same that sparked againstthe doorknob that very morning.

“If you’re okaywith waiting for us,” he said to Kyle, holding out Monster’s leashindicatively. Kyle eyed it uncertainly before reluctantly nodding.

“Jamie,” began Beth warningly. “I don’t believe that the CHC will approveof this.”

“Relax,” Justinsaid, folding his hands behind his head. “It’s like I said. The heroi wing hasgot everything it needs to keep it safe without calling in the army.”

“Even so…” began Beth, but before she could finishwhat she was saying a woman wearing a grey trench coat bumped into Jamieroughly, nearly causing him to lose his balance. As he steadied himself, the woman’shand leapt forth and snatched Monster’s leash, ripping it out of the boy’shand.

“Hey!” bothJamie and Justin shouted at once while Monster snarled in response to theirdistress, both sets of fangs snapping at the woman. Undaunted, she simplylifted Monster up by his collar and took off at a run.

“Bu-wha…?”Justin stared in stark amazement. “Did…did that chick just steal your Cerberus?Who the heck steals a Cerberus?!”

Jamie didn’tbother to answer him, and instead, without thinking, leapt after thetrench-coated female. She already had a head start, and with her longer legs sheeasily kept the distance between them from shrinking. Jamie threw everything hehad into the run, barely feeling the crackling electricity that was starting tocurl around his body.

She stole Monster! She stole Monster!!! All at once the feeling ofhelplessness from earlier came crashing back down to him. He wasn’t even surehow he was going to make the woman give the animal back. Every adult around himlooked to be ignoring the chase. Damn it!he cursed, feeling fear swell in his lungs. He heard Justin and Kyle shoutingsomething behind him, but he didn’t hear. They were reaching an intersection.Traffic was busy, but the woman didn’t appear to be slowing down at all to makea turn. Was she going to go straight out into the middle of the road with allthe cars barreling down the road like that? The thought lent new strength tohis legs and he churned them all the harder, striving to get every ounce ofspeed out of them to catch the woman before something disastrous happened.

Got to get there before she… he thought whensudden the woman then did something he completely didn’t expect. Coming to theend of the sidewalk, the woman crouched slightly and then blasted into the sky,becoming a tiny, dark dot against the sky.

“NO!” Jamie shouted as the sight finally caught the attention ofpassersby. He continued to charge headlong regardless, trying desperately totrack the woman’s movement before losing him behind a tall building. Hisexpression transformed into a mixture of livid hopelessness as he threw himselfout past the crowd at the end of the sidewalk and came to a halt.

“No!” heexclaimed, slamming one foot down on the pavement in fury. “No, no, no, no, n-!”

A loud honksnapped Jamie to attention and he found himself freezing up at the sight of acar barreling toward him, tires screeching in an attempt to stop. It would betoo late though. No matter what the driver did, the car was going to smear himall across the road…

Thencame a change. The world suddenly seemed to slow down around Jamie and allnoise abruptly disappeared.Beforethe car even touched him, a jolt of something he could only describe aselectricity shocked his body, causing the boy to jolt out of his frozencomposure and, quite unexpectedly, send him flying through the air. Through thewhipping of the air around him from the sudden explosion of force, he heardsomething tear, but he didn’t get a chance to see what it was as he foundhimself rapidly crashing through a flurry of tree branches and leaves with hardground below racing to meet him.

Therewas a snapping of wood and Jamie shouted in pain and surprise as the branchesscratched and clawed at his exposed skin, and the next thing he knew painexploded in his back, blacking out his vision and all consciousness.

Thewoman wearing the trench coat floated through the air above the sea of trees,watching from a distance the area where Jamie had crashed, waiting forsomething…anything to happen. Shetilted her head to one side before speaking in a soft tone of voice.

“Target has met expectations,”she intoned in an almost pleased yet mechanical manner, lowering herselfdownward. In her arms, Monster struggled and squirmed, jaws snapping and salivaflying. She turned to look at the Cerberus before one set of jaws clamped shutaround her face, fangs gnashing to replace something to cause enough damage to lethim go. The woman tsked at the attackbut was otherwise unaffected by it. Dropping the Cerberus, she raised a handand sent a jolt of lightning at the creature. It slammed into Monster andknocked him backward into some brush, eyes rolling in his heads as he made aloud gagging noise in both throats. He lay there for a moment, sides heavingbefore finally struggling back to his feet.

Seeingthe woman, he growled.

“You are not needed,”she said to the Cerberus, raising a hand. “Butyou will have a purpose.”

Lightningcrackled around his fingers and she sent another blast in the direction of thetwo-headed hound.

Ashe slowed to a halt, Justin could only stare, dumbstruck at the sight he hadjust witnessed. Pointing up at the tree line, he could only stare dumbly atKyle, who looked equally awestruck and confused at the sight as he was.

“Did…DidJamie just…” he began, and received a slow, stunned nod from his pale-facedfriend. In front of them, all traffic had ground to a stop and drivers weregetting out to see…whatever there was to see.

Justin’scell phone buzzed and he answered it out of reflex. His eyes lit up as he sawthe text message.

“It’sBeth!” he exclaimed. “She says that he’s landed in the park! Holy…! We’ve gotto replace him!”

Withnothing more to be said between them, the pair took off together.

The door toDaria’s office opened and she looked up to see a dark-haired woman enter,escorted by one of her agents.

“Amanda Foster,as you ordered.”

Daria nodded asshe turned off her computer and phone. “Thank you agent Coleman. That will beall. Wait outside.”

Coleman raisedan eyebrow, but nodded and did as he was bid. The door closed with a gentleclick as he exited the room, leaving the two women alone. Lacing her fingerstogether and tapping her forefingers against her lips, she leaned back in herchair, her expression gauging.

“So you’re thedirector of this place now?” Amanda asked.

“Yes. I waspromoted just last week. Formerdirector Burton is currently serving in an advisory role in the PrimeMinister’s cabinet.”

“I’m proud ofyou,” Amanda replied, a smile crossing her features. “You’re moving up in theworld.”

At this, Daria’sface became cold.

“Don’t patronizeme.”

Amanda sigheddespondently. “I only wanted to congratulate you.”

Daria droppedher hands and leaned forward, eager to move on. “I want to have a discussionwith you about your daughter…”

Amanda raised aneyebrow all of a sudden and at once Daria felt the hair on the nape of her neckbegin to stand up.

“I would adviseyou against making any threatening gestures,” she continued, her voice firm.“I’m not accusing either you or your daughter of anything. I only want an…update if you would.”

“Kira has notexhibited any powers if that’s what you’re talking about,” Amanda repliedstiffly. Daria felt the hair on her neck begin to settle down as the otherwoman relaxed her hold on her Q-Field.

“As far as youknow.” Daria backed up and withdrew a folder from her desk drawer. She slid itover to Amanda, who took it quizzically. “However, a recent incident has givenme reason to want to give you a heads up and reassess the situation.” she eyedAmanda carefully as she picked up the folder and began flipping through it.

Amanda turned apage and bit her bottom lip. “This is Romana Pax’s records. Are you sure youcan trust it?”

“Our own testsshow residual Q-Field particles remained in the area in a manner common withyoung and inexperienced heroi,” Daria supplied. “Visuals from cameras acrossthe street imply that the body build is in the same ballpark. We’re stillgathering data, but what we do have you should know is already quite thorough.”Daria adjusted herself in her seat. “You need to look into this,” shecontinued. “Because of your history, Burton was willing to cut you a lot of slack and look the other way. Ican’t do that with you.”

Amanda closedthe folder and replaced it on the desk, her expression betraying sorrow. “Sorryabout that,” she said, her tone tense.

“It’snot…personal,” Daria clarified. “I want you to know that. It’s just that Idon’t have the same pull that Burton did. He had political capital to throwaround. I don’t, and I will be watched very closely. By proxy, anything I dorisks bringing Burton down, and then where will you be?”

Right back to where you were when we first discoveredyou were in our jurisdiction, if not worse, Daria thought, but neither shenor Amanda had to mention that.

“I’m sure thatthis is all just a misunderstanding,” Amanda said. “Is that everything?”

“I’m afraid so,”she said, turning her cell phone back on and hitting the power button to hercomputer. Getting up, she led the woman to the door and opened it. “AgentColeman?” she asked the man, quickly replaceing him standing off to the side. “Ms.Baker will be leaving now. If you could arrange for a taxi to take her…”

“Thanks, butthat won’t be necessary,” Amanda interjected, waving the director off casually.

“Very well,”Daria said with a stiff nod. “Agent Coleman, if you could escort her to thelobby…”

“Of course,director,” Coleman nodded before turning to Amanda. “If you would follow me,ma’am.”

Amanda gave hima sardonic look. “Don’t. I hate to be reminded of my age.”

“My apologies,miss.”

Daria closed thedoor on the conversation and leaned her head against its hard, wooden frame.She let out a heavy sigh as tension ran out of her shoulders.

I’m sorry Burton, she thought in the quiet of heroffice. I know it’s not professional,but I hate dealing with her. I hope to the gods that her daughter isn’tinvolved in the Romana Pax break-in. I hope she’s not either…

Pushing her headoff the door, she composed herself and headed back toward her desk. Settingherself back down in her chair, she threaded her hands together and leaned intothem, her mind already starting to formulate a ‘Plan B’ if things became aworst-case scenario.

More and more I replace myself hating this job, she thoughtdryly.

Jamie awokeabruptly with a frightened shout, his legs jerking against the dirt ground. Thefirst thing that he noticed was the painful, rapid drumming of his heart as itattempted to hammer its way out of his chest. The second thing he noticed wasthat he was, much to his surprise, very much alive.

A bird fluttereddown next to him, picked at the ground, cocked its head in his direction,chirped, and then flew off.

What…happened?

Groaning fromthe effort, he pushed himself off the ground, and his body protested in turn aspain shot through him. He managed to get to one knee before vertigo seized him,nearly causing him to collapse. Managing to hang on, he blearily took a lookaround. Next to him stood a proud oak tree, surrounded by a scattering ofthick, shattered branches. He blinked at it, a very uneasy feeling coursingthrough him and he turned his head, not wanting to think about what could havecaused such devastation.

This… It looks like I’m in the park, but…how…?

In answer, thememory of him hurtling through the air and crashing through a tree. The pain…

“Beth!” Jamiegrabbed his arms, quickly checking them for injuries before dropping his handsdown to his belt. “Beth! Are you…?”

“I’m fine,” she replied. “I contacted Justin and Kyle. They’re coming to replace you. Are you all right?”

“Um…” he did aquick inspection of his person and soon his eyebrows were knotted up inconfusion. “I…am?” That’s not right…Shakily he stood up and approached the broken tree. “Did I…do this?”’

“My sensors detected an elevated level of activityin your Q-Field…”

“But I don’t have one!” Jamie exclaimed. Realizingthat he was shouting now, he took a quick look around to see if anyone wasnearby. His gaze hesitated on the crater in the ground where he landed beforespeaking again, this time much more quietly. “I took my meds!” he hissed,unclipping Beth from his belt and bringing her up to eye level. “You know I did! What’s going on?!”

“Calm down, Jamie. It could have been a result ofyour body simply getting used to the dose. You’re approaching puberty, so it’snot…entirely surprising.” Her electric eye winked three times in rapidsuccession. Jamie knew what that meant. She didn’t believe what she said anymore than he did.

“You’re lying.”

“There are cases of this happening before,” Beth replied. “But…I don’t think it’s ever been anythinglike…this.” Her eyes blinked twice now. Jamie imagined she was worried. “I have sent out a report and should bereceiving a response shortly.”

“Oh man…” Jamiemoaned, his eyes wide and his voice shaking. Dropping Beth to his side, heturned back to the tree. “This… I can’t believe…” Bringing his head to restagainst the tree he kept it there for a moment before another thought occurredto him. “Monster…! Oh my God! What happened! That guy took him! Beth! Did yousee where he…”

“I’m sorry Jamie,” Beth repliedsadly. “I did not. My vision was blockedonce we landed.”

“Oh that’s just…great!” With that angry cry he slammed afist against the tree…causing its trunk to promptly explode on him. Jamie fellback down to the ground, spitting splinters and wiping his hands across hisface. Yet, miraculously he remained unharmed.

“Invulnerability…?He whispered between spits. “Is that it? Is that my power?” He looked down athis hand and then back at the tree. “And super strength?” His fingers flexedand curled into a tight fist, a thought occurring to him.

“Your Q-Field is still unstable,” Beth warned,already guessing what was running through his mind. “I can’t predict what it will do or become at this point, and…Jamie, wedon’t know where Monster’s kidnapper went. I think that we should remain hereuntil…”

Ignoring her,Jamie dashed off with a burst of energy. He no longer cared now. He had power… Power with which to do somethingto replace his Cerberus. Heaven help whoever it was that stole Monster, becausewhen he did, no force on Earth was going to stop him from getting him back.

“Would you lookat that,” Anderson breathed in awe at the image of Jamie being transmitted tothe screen in front of him. “It looks like Steiner was right on the money withthis one.”

Next to him,Beck snorted. “Super strength is hardly a rare power. Approximately 40% of allheroi are projected to develop some measure of augmented physical capabilitiesranging from Olympic level athlete to what we see here, which appears to be theupper tier of Beta class.” Dipping a finger into his pudding, he scooped someout and stuck it in his mouth. “The fact that he was targeted before this doesn’t mean much. Lots of heroi can be activated by bizarre occurrences andcoincidences, from green rocks to cosmic radiation. We need a bit more proof ofwhat he can become.” Stepping over to the computer, he tapped on some controls.“Our girl can’t give us Q-Field measurements, but this kid’s Companion can.What do they have to say?”

A readoutappeared in the lower left hand corner.

“He’s leakinglike a sieve,” Anderson whistled in amazement. “Q-particle level at 200 partsper million… He’s on fire!”

More like he should be, Beck correctedmentally, licking a finger. He didn’t say it out loud though. For now, it wasbest to focus on what was in front of them and not speculate on odd occurrenceswithout additional data.

“They always arewhen they enter the fever stage,” Beck reminded scooping out another helping ofpudding and sticking it in his mouth. He frowned. “The Companion Module issending out more distress calls…”

Anderson lookedup at Beck. “It’s not a problem. We’re intercepting all of its transmissionsgoing to the CHC right now.”

“Great causessucceed by not taking stupid risks,” Beck replied, placing his pudding cup onthe computer’s desk and leaning forward. “As rushed as we are with the currentoperation, Steiner doesn’t want loose ends that lead to stupid risks. I want anew patch tailored to this specific AI. I don’t want it talking with anyone butits owner and us.”

“A new one?” Anderson began to protest.“But we’re already about to roll out a…” His jaw snapped shut as Beck fixed himwith a dark glare. After a moment he looked away and said, “Yes sir.”

Beck folded hisarms together and leaned back slightly. “Sorry about that,” he said toAnderson, feeling just a touch guilty about the demand, knowing perfectly wellwhere he was coming from. “I’ll make sure everyone is given overtime pay forthis one. We’ll get through this.”

“Of course sir.”

Glancing down atthe readout, he narrowed his eyes. “Q-Particle level just dropped down to 139parts per million and decreasing steadily. Looks like he’s bottoming out.”

“Should I haveour girl push him again?” Anderson asked. Beck tapped a finger on his armbefore glancing over his shoulder thoughtfully.

“No,” he saidafter a moment of consideration. “Let him run out of steam for now. There’s noreason to run him into an early grave this soon in the game.”

Kira exited theGrey’s house with as little difficulty as when she entered, though she couldn’tsay that she felt that she accomplished anything in spite of her discovery. Thethought left her feeling a bit sour.

Nothing else to do but run with it until somethinghappens,she thought. All I’ve got to do is replacethe kid and keep an eye on him. The first way to do that would be to…become hisfriend. She grimaced, not at all liking the idea. She was older than theboy by two years and she was in middle school. She doubted that events wouldtranspire to allow them to encounter each other easily. Pulling out her phone,she flipped it open and left the alley. She needed more information, so as wasthe norm she had to touch base with Malcolm.

“What’s up?”came the response almost immediately after dialing the number.

“I need moreinfo,” she said bluntly. “The kid’s school… Who he hangs out with… Anything youcan get me.”

“So you found something.”

“He’s a heroi,”she said in a lower voice, taking a quick look around her to make sure no onewas nearby. “He’s got a Companion. Is that enough for you?”

“Probably not,” Malcolm replied. “There are about a thousand heroi living inthis city…”

Kira felt hertemper start to twist toward snapping. “Then what the heck did I go through allthis for?!” she exclaimed, barely able to reign in her voice. “After everythingI did—everything—that’s all you have to say?!”

“I was hoping for something more,” Malcolm statedunapologetically. “A Companion Device isstandard feature for registered heroi, emergent or otherwise. It doesn’t reallytell us anything.”

“Some hacker youare then,” Kira shot back, making a harrumphingsound. “You don’t seem to be replaceing out anything…”

“I’m replaceing out a great deal,” Malcolmreassured.

“Any of ityou’re willing to share?”

“I’m not sure how much of it is even connected toour current case. Suffice to say, we’re still operating under the idea thatJamie Grey is a person of interest to Romana Pax… As well as the CHC. Not agood combination. It’s like being between a rock and a hard place.”

“Whatever,” Kiragrunted. “So there’s no change. Fine. Just send me some information so I can…”A beep from her phone interrupted her. “Hang on a second,” she said. “I’ve gotsomeone trying to call me.”

“Sure thing.”

Puttingher contact on hold, Kira glanced at the caller ID and sighed again as she hitthe answer button.

She’d only get angry if I ignoredher, she thought. “Hey Mom.”

“Kira!”exclaimed the excited voice of her mother on the other end. “I just got home.You wouldn’t believe the kind of day that I had…”

I’m pretty sure I can believe it,Kira thought dully. “Yeah, okay Mom. Look, I’ve got a friend on the other endand…”

“Where are you by the way?”the girl’s mother interrupted, and Kira had to stop herself from grinding herteeth. “I was hoping that we could hangout after I got home, but you weren’t there when I went to look for you.”

“I’mjust out. I needed to get some fresh air. I’ll be home in a little while. LikeI said, I’ve got a friend on the other end, and I can’t leave him hanging forvery long.”

“Kira…”

“I’llsee you later Mom,” Kira said quickly. She switched callers, ending thatconversation and returning to the previous one.

“That was quick,”her contact said in a joking tone. “Shenormally keeps you on for quite a while.”

Kira ran a handthrough her hair and made an exasperated sigh. “I just…don’t want to talk toher right now. This is more important.”

Her contact madea sound of agreement, and Kira picked up where she left off.

“Anyway,just send me whatever you can get on this Jamie kid so I can be ready. I don’tlike going into this sort of thing blind.”

“I’ll send you whatever I can getmy digital fingers on,” Malcolm replied. In her mind’seye, she imagined him giving her a little sarcastic bow.

“Thanks,”she said in a despondent tone. “I’ll talk to you later.” With that, she hung upand heaved a heavy sigh. The more she thought about this, the more it seemedlike this was a bad idea.

I can’t think like that,she thought, steeling herself. There’s noother way right now. Where else can I go on this?

Nowhere, she answered herself. There was nowhere else she could turn to. Nowhereand no one. Not the CHC, and especiallynot her mother.

Itwasn’t long before she came across the first piece of expansive green broken bya clump of brush that signaled the park’s beginning. She hurried across thestreet, seeking to lose herself in the thick of vegetation. It grewincreasingly dense as she plowed into it. She grinned. It never took long forthe park to swallow whoever entered it. She was sure to lose whatever GuardianSpheres were flying around on patrol. She went deeper, casting her eyes up atthe sky in search of possible pursuit.

So far so good,she thought.

Shewandered the park like that for the next thirty minutes; keeping an eye outaround her until eventually she finished up at a bench. Sighing in slightfrustration, she sat down on it and flipped open her cell phone, angling thescreen just enough so that she could catch reflections of anything behind her.Once she would have laughed at herself in amusement for taking such a paranoidprecaution. Now…

Things are different,she thought bitterly. I’m not the stupidlittle girl I used to be, thanks to Mom. If it weren’t for her, I’d still have…

Herthumb hesitated over the center navigation button on her phone, going with thetrain of thought. Before either thought or thumb could finish their journey,the sound of rustling brush behind her caused her to jerk back to reality, cellphone cover snapping shut. She was on her feet and spinning around, one handclosed into a tight fist while in her mind’s eye, a blue light was justbeginning to flair to life.

Therewas a loud bark and in the next moment a large, purple-furred, two-headedCerberus staggered into view, dragging a leash behind it. Kira stood therefor a moment, dumbfounded before the animal’s bark regained her attention.

“You scared theheck out of me, you dumb dog,” she grumbled, placing one hand on her hip. Shegave the critter a once over as it sat there, looking up at her with dark,sparkling eyes. Its solitary tail, a contrast to its bobbing twin heads, setabout wagging as its gaze met hers. Kira grimaced.

It doesn’t look like it went through a good time, she thought,noting the long scar of singed fur in its side. It’s really favoring that side. How bad is it hurt? Worried, shetook a step toward it. In response, the Cerberus backed off, growling at her.

“Easy there,”she soothed, holding out a hand. Its growl intensified as it drew toward itsmouth, but the Cerberus’s right head took a moment to sniff. She smiledslightly as, finally, its tongue came out and gave her skin a light lap.

Guess two heads can be better than one, she mused as itbegan to calm down and took a trusting step toward her. Kneeling down, shewrapped the animal in a gentle hug and inspected its wound. Burnt, crimsonflesh stood out against blackened fur, and the Cerberus whined against hertouch.

“Easy,” sheshushed. “I’ll be careful. Just let me see.” She parted dry fur and sniffed.This was recent. She turned up the collar and found a set of tags. Lifting themup, she found a name and ID number, but nothing else.

“What kind oftrouble did you get into?” she wondered aloud. The Cerberus—Monster according to its tags—simplylooked at her, cocking both heads with large, round eyes, before eventuallynuzzling her with its snouts and letting out an explosive sneeze. In spite ofherself, Kira’s expression softened, and she ran her hands across its ears. Snortingat herself for the sentiment that she could feel building within her, she stoodup, still holding the leash.

“Why’d you have to be cute?” she asked with annoyedsarcasm.