Project: MI
Chapter 9

Teruo sat at hisdesk, tapping his pencil rhythmically as he listened to his tutor drone on atthe front of the room, wishing that he were anywhere else but there.

Even the MRI room would be better than here, andthat’s a couple floors up. He massaged his temples as they throbbed a little,clearly disagreeing with his belief. Ohshut up, he told it mentally before going right back to tapping his pencil.At that moment, the droning stopped and was quickly replaced by the click-clack of shoes as his teacherapproached him. Teruo looked up at him, unimpressed by the suit-wearing man. Heresisted the urge to comment on the painfully pitiful attempt at covering abald spot. Instead he opted for something a little more neutral.

“Why’d you stop,Tweed?” he asked, using his personalnickname for the man—Mr. Mark Anthony—due to his penchant for wearing onlytweed suits whenever he saw him. Mr. Anthony sniffed dryly as he drew to a haltnext to the boy.

“The CHC isn’tpaying me to teach you when you aren’t doing anything,” he announced in a low,almost dangerous tone.

“I’m justdrowning out my thoughts, sir,” Teruo replied, poking at his head with theeraser of his pencil. “It gets pretty busy, and when it does I can’t focus onwhat you’re saying.” He smiled. “Don’t worry about me not taking notes. I’llremember everything you said, no problem.”

“Is that so?” Mr.Anthony strolled over to the chalk board and erased what he had written.Picking up his chalk, he wrote out an equation and then returned to Teruo.

“Solve for X,”he said, holding out the chalk to the young boy. Teruo sighed.

Give me a robot to design any day of the week, he thoughtbitterly, taking the chalk and getting out of his chair. Mr. Anthony was onlythe second private math teacher that he had been assigned in the past yearsince the government decided it was more worth their tax dollars to put him in special classes. Being older than thefirst one, he had more patience with Teruo’s antics and was more than willingto put him on the spot rather than take a passive approach. He wasn’t difficultto keep up with, but the very fact that it took more effort to do the bareminimum required to do the work and ignore the rest of his lessons than withthe previous teacher more than made him wish that he applied himself more.

It would have been easier… It still can be. All Ihave to do is get him off my back. Coming to a stop at the board, hecontemplated it for a moment—the board, not the equation. In his mind’s eye, heenvisioned it not as something to write on, but as a mystical monolith fromwhich knowledge was derived upon contact, much like it had been depicted as inone of his favorite science fiction novels, MMDCCLIV:A Space Odyssey.

From the stars, knowledge, he thought,bringing the chalk to rest on the board.

“Very good,” Mr.Anthony said, clapping his hands lightly as Teruo finished writing out hisanswer. “It’s not often that you prove me wrong.” Folding his hands behind hisback, he looked down at the boy as he left the board. “All you need to do is toapply yourself and rid yourself of unnecessary distractions and…” He furrowedhis brow as Teruo brushed past him. “Where are you…? Return to your seat!”

“I need to usethe little boy’s room,” Teruo said over his shoulder. “My bladder’s got anitch.”

Mr. Anthony’s mouth drew up into one tight line,unhappy about this interruption to his lesson plan.

“Very well,” hesaid carefully, following after him. “But only that and nothing else.”

Grinning, Teruo,accompanied by his temporary watcher, exited the room.

Withinminutes, he stepped into the bathroom and entered the closest stall, ploppinghimself down on the toilet without even bothering to unzip or anything.Instead, he pulled out his cell phone and checked the time.

Well, this is the right time, soit should be on its way here. All that’s left is to wait. I just hope that itdidn’t wander too far off; otherwise I’m going to have to make up an excuseabout being constipated.

Hedrummed his feet against the tiled floor and hummed quietly to himself,counting off the seconds, which rapidly turned into minutes. Finally, he got upwith a sigh of disgust and opened the door, just in time to see a small pieceof ceiling tile fall to the floor in front of him. Following its course, he sawa familiar, bronze-like device with mechanical spider-legs peeking out at himfrom a hole in the ceiling.

Thedevice beeped at him and a smile sprang to life on his face.

“Hey!About time! Get down here. We’ve got to get going.”

Withanother beep, the device crawled out and dropped down into its creator’swaiting hands, landing on its back. Spinning uselessly like an overturnedturtle for a moment, spindly legs flexing, it soon righted itself and retractedits limbs into its body.

“Goodboy,” Teruo nodded. “Did you get anything good?”

Thedevice beeped, red eye flashing.

“Dumbquestion. I’ll take that as a yes though. All right. Into the pocket you go.”

Withthat, Teruo stuffed the device into his pants pocket and, after patting itaffectionately to make sure that it was safe and sound, he quickly swept up theceiling tile fragments and dunked them in the trash. Immediately afterward, hewent over to the sink and quickly dashed his hands beneath it. An automaticspray of water activated, wetting him down, and he retracted quickly.

All employees must wash hands,he thought. I may not be an employee, butI’ll do it anyway.

Dryinghis hands on his shirt, he opened the door and stepped outside where Mr.Anthony was waiting to greet him.

“Areyou ready to go?” he asked.

“Iwas born ready,” Teruo grinned.

“Iapologize for the rather impromptu meeting,” Richard apologized to the fiveindividuals portrayed on his computer screen, among whom was Elizabeth andGordon. Elizabeth looked exhausted.

No doubt due to jetlag,Richard thought.

“No need to apologize for anything,”Gordon stated gruffly, his jowls quivering. “Yousaid that there was a situation developing…?”

“Indeedthere is, though it isn’t what you would think it would be at first glance.”Clearing his throat, Richard continued. “Yesterday, a heroi exhibited anextraordinary amount of Q-Field radiation within the approximate range of 200parts per million.”

Thatcaused everyone to take notice. Even Elizabeth’s exhaustion seemed to meltunder this news.

“Bullocks!”Gordon scowled. “That is impossible!”

“I’m afraid that I mustagree—partially—with Gordon,” said one ofthe attendees, Alfred. “Such a high amountof activity would have caught the attention of the media. We would have heardabout it by now. Long before even.”

“That,unfortunately, is precisely my point,” Richard replied. “Beck is continuing tocheck all newsfeeds, but it seems that, for whatever reason, there has been nomention of the incident.” He ran his gaze across each attendee, gauging theirreaction. “As I’m sure you know, the last time something like this occurred wasduring the end of the Bronze Age, a rather…apocalyptic scenario that gave us arather interesting statue in this city’s park.”

“Do you know anything about theheroi in question?” asked Elizabeth, shifting in herseat.

“Hewas involved in an incident last year involving another heroi named AdamBishop. I can send you what information I have if you would like. The CHC onlyrecently reopened his case.”

“Please do,” Eblizabethnodded. “I think I might remember thatone. Was there anything that could have triggered such an event?”

“Yes.He became a target by our systems during a test run.”

“And you didn’t tell usimmediately when this happened?!” exclaimedAlfred, incredulous.

“Anoversight,” Richard apologized. “I was dealing with a problem with our system’shandler… You remember Our Girl, correct? She still retains some of her spiritit seems.”

“Unacceptable!”Alfred exclaimed, his ears turning bright red in anger. “Everything could have been undone because of this! I…”

“Alfred!”snapped Elizabeth, cutting him off. Richard cast his gaze toward her, waitingas she composed herself. “Steiner, Alfredis right. You should have contacted us and apprised us of the situation as soonas it happened. It almost looks like things are falling apart under your care.”

Richardoffered her an apologetic smile. “As I said, it was an oversight. The CHC wouldbecome involved in any scenario. I just didn’t expect the heoi to have quitethis magnitutde of a Q-Field. It won’t happen again, I assure you.”

“It won’t,”agreed Elizabeth, her tone a warning. “However,it should be noted,” she glanced to the side, and Richard surmised she waslooking at Alfred’s portrait, “thatSteiner is bringing another situation to our attention; one that we didn’t anticipate, but should have. Thesuppression of information.”

“We already accounted for theCHC…” began Alfred, only to be cut off byRichard.

“It’sunlikely to be just the CHC. Theircyber influence would only apply to a small area confined within the New Worldhemisphere. The Old World is another matter altogether.”

“Are you saying that Albion…?”

“WhatI am saying is that there is a possibility that there is a third party takingan interest in certain affairs. The Ages are accelerating in their passing.Albion would not miss that, and they would have the most reason to seek out theheroi in question.”

“What do you propose we do?”asked Elizabeth, regarding Richard with contemplative eyes. Richard smiled.

“Ithink my doing something has caused enough trouble for the time being. So whyact when our enemies can take care of the job for us?”

Kirawaded through the crowd as classes changed once more, her eyes furtivelyscanning each and every face for Jamie Grey. Thanks to the reappearance ofMonique she hadn’t been able to touch base with him immediately. She felt bad,thinking of her friend in such a way, especially after how long it had beensince she last saw her.

Never mind that it’s my fault forher getting hurt, she thought, reflecting on theugly scar that crisscrossed her forehead. With great effort she brushed theimage out of her mind, opting instead to focus on what she needed to preparefor. How am I supposed to talk to thiskid? Just walk up to him and say ‘I found your Cerberus’? She wished thatshe or her mother had taken the time to look up the SPCA and see if there wereany postings. For all she knew the kid didn’t do any such thing. She just had to talk about her day and pester me about mine. And that mess with themirror… She shook her head, amazed that she managed to talk herself aroundcorners. I swear it’s almost like she’slooking to see if I’m getting into trouble or something.

‘Course, with the way things havebeen between us, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case. Ran would be madat me for this. Ran would be mad at me about a lot of things right now.

Moreand more she felt like she was simply wasting her time being here and wantednothing more than the school day to be over so that she could get down to whatreally mattered.

I used to like being here,she thought, turning a corner.

Why did there have to be a popquiz today?

Jamiecurled his fingers through the mess of his hair as he struggled with aquestion, trying to decide which of the multiple-choice options were correct.

What was the name of the tribefirst encountered by the settlers in Nova Britannia?

a.) Iroquois

b.) Inca

c.) Abenaki

d.) Anishinaabe

Jamiecircled B, half-remembering somethingabout a Latin ship being blown off course during a trip to Africa and windingup at the tip of the southern half of the New World. He sighed despondently,wishing that they were in a later period of history, such as the Three Ages. The Golden Age especially,as he had extensive knowledge on it. Hoping that he was right, he worked hisway through the remainder of the exam and turned the paper over, just in timefor the teacher to speak up.

“Allright,” Mister Miller announced, glancing up from his stop watch. “Time’s up.Finish whatever you have in front of you and turn ‘em in.”

Therewere a number of groans at this, leading Jamie to believe that more than a fairamount of the class had not done any studying in the three weeks since schoolstarted. He felt a little bit better, having a certain degree of companionshipwith those who were in his boat, but only a little.

Not like my parents will ask anyquestions, he thought. A part of him wondered ifthat could even be called a silver lining in that particular storm cloud. Hetried to imagine what his father would say if he had a failing grade and forthe life of him he came up with nothing. His mother was a slightly different storythough, as she was often at work.

At least she has an excuse…

“Allright, break out your notebooks,” Mister Miller continued, flipping off thelights and turning on the overhead projector. “From here on out this week we’recovering the next stage of the industrial revolution and how it impacted thecolonies in the New World. You’ll want to know about the Hispania and BritanniaCold War that went on at the time and the Hispania and Novia War that came outof it.”

Jamieshifted in his seat. Out of all history, this was decidedly the part he hatedthe most. Raising his hand, he waved it urgently.

“Yes,James?”

“CanI go to the bathroom? I need to take my pills now.”

Whileit wasn’t true, Mister Miller frowned at him and nodded. In spite of being aheroi, Jamie never caused any trouble so it was easy to allow him out forbathroom breaks. “Sign yourself out and take the hall pass.”

Gettingout of his seat, he quickly strode toward to the front of the class. As he didso, a foot came out in front of him and he tripped over it. Barely recovering,he shot a sharp, angry look at a thin, dark-haired boy that Jamie instantlyrecognized as one of the boys that ran with Bradley Moore, Josh Roberts.

“Watchwhere you’re goin’ James,” the older boy grinned.

“Behaveyourself, Josh,” Miller said, handing Jamie the hall pass.

Fuming,Jamie went to the front of the room and signed himself out. Exiting theclassroom, he sighed.

Well, that’s something that Ididn’t need on my mind, he thought, remembering the scufflein the park from yesterday. He hadn’t seen Bradley at all since then, for whichhe counted his blessings, but it already made him wonder how much interest hewas going to have to pay as a result.

Just get through the day. If noone’s seen Monster then I’ll go out and look for him. He’s a smart Cerberus, sohe might head toward our usual hangout in the park.

Hegrimaced, knowing that he was fooling himself. That is, if he got away. I mean, that guy jumped into the air! He mighthave flown too! I… He arrived at the Men’s room and paused at its entrance.I really wish that I had something to go on. Anything.

Hepushed open the door and headed over to the nearest stall, not paying attentionto the student washing his hands near the entrance. Reaching down, he unclippedBeth from his belt.

“Anythingnew about Mo-.” He blinked as his words trailed off. Beth’s electronic eye wasdull and without light. Did her batterywear out? was all he had time to wonder before all at once his visionvanished into darkness as a hood swept over his head. Jamie gave a muffledshout of surprise as he grabbed the sides of the hood, trying to pull it off.Its owner bore down on him and the cloth sack pulled tight against his face.

“Justcalm down…” he heard a voice hiss, but Jamie barely heard it over his panic.Thoughts of Bradley Moore sent a shiver of panic across his mind. Withoutthinking, he dropped an arm and swung to the side. He felt his fist connectwith something hard and sure, causing his attacker’s hold to fall from his headwith a grunt. Jamie’s hands returned to the hood and the cloth began to lift…

…onlyto fall back down as he felt something hard—a fist he thought—smash into hisright kidney. Giving a garbled cry, Jamie collapsed to the floor like a ton ofbricks, sparks flashing across his darkened vision.

What’s going on?!his mind exclaimed in utter shock, bringing up images of him destroying a treeyesterday with just a punch and suffering none the worse for wear from it. My powers…! The answer, of course, cameto him right away. The pills.

Sure picked a godsawful time towork all of a sudden… his mind painfully rasped,remembering yesterday’s incident as he struggled to right himself. Once morehis hands reached for the hood, but at once a powerful, commanding voice boomedin the quiet of the bathroom, causing his hands to stop dead in their tracks.

“Leaveit on,” the voice said from behind the darkness. “I only wanted to have a quickchat with you.” There was a sudden change then in the tone of the voice as itsowner continued to speak. The sounds changed, becoming softer and morefeminine. “Sorry that I had to be rough with you. It’s just… Well… You…” Therewas a hesitant pause. “I’m sorry,” the owner said finally, as if at a loss forwords.

“Wha…What the heck do you want?” Jamie’s mind was racing, trying to figure out justwhat was going on. “Is this about Bradley?”

Jamiefelt a hand gently trace a reassuring hand across his face, rubbing his hair—orwould have, were it not for the hood that covered his face.

“No,”the voice answered. “Would you hear me out?”

Jamiegrunted, trying to sit up, but the pain shooting through him caused him tothink otherwise. He weighed his options. So far his attacker wasn’t attackinghim anymore but still could if the mood suited. And here he was, completelyhelpless.

“Don’tgot a choice, do I?”

“Sureyou do,” the voice said, sounding a bit perplexed. “I’m asking aren’t I?”

You attacked me!he wanted to shout, but decided against it, not wanting to replace out what herresponse would be if he did. “Fine,” he groaned, finally getting into a sitting position. “Shoot.”

“Ineed to meet you after school in the park. Down by the Gilgamesh statue. Will you meet me there?”

If it gets you out of herefaster… “Yeah… Sure. I’ll be there.”

“Goodto hear. Thank you.” The voice sounded relieved. “After school,” she—or he,Jamie was no longer sure at this point—emphasized. “Come alone.” There was apause before the speaker continued. “If you don’t come alone…if you bring anybody with you, there will beconsequences. Please… Don’t make me hurt anybody.”

Therefollowed a brief pall of silence before the door opened and shut. Jamie quicklytore off the hood—a gold cloth mask—and pressed a hand to his back where he hadbeen punched.

Jeez… Oh gods, what the heck isgoing on?!

“Jamie?”

Beth!”His head snapping up, he saw his Companion Device alive and awake once more,electric eye buzzing as it swung around, trying to locate him. Wincing, the boysnatched her up off the floor. “Are you all right?”

“I am fine. For some reason Ideactivated. What about you? Why were you on the floor and…”Her eye swiveled down to his hand where he still held the hood. “Jamie… What happened?”

Theboy swallowed. “I’m in trouble.”