Price: Death of a Hero

Chapter 11


Our race started badly for me. It took less than a minute before my chest tightened, and I was on the ground next to two copies of myself. One in mid running stride, the other planted face first into the rubber of the track. I knew based upon my fight with Kitten that I could get up to seven or eight bodies under the right circumstances, but there was dignity in having your ass handed to you by one of the scariest Imbued on the continent. Just seeing it stuck up into the air like this, not so much.


At least it broke down fast enough that my classmates didn't really get a chance to look. "Okay, does your power always work like that?" Except for Alex. He offered his hand to help me up.


I accepted, and the snap of information flooded my senses. Dude was in stupid good health, or at least I couldn't detect anything that suggested otherwise. "Nah, just lost my balance. First time I've ever tried to run with these powers." And it hurt like a bitch, too. "I'm pretty new to them."


"Wanna call off the race?" Alex offered.


"Nah, I think I'm good, gotta figure it out eventually, right?"


"Cool." We got in position. "Three, two, one, go!"


This time, when I took off I was prepared for it. I lasted a bit longer before my lungs started to burn, and then there was the snap of pain as my body was remade and the old one returned to light. I stumbled, but kept my footing and kept running. Alex was ahead of me, but not by as much as I'd expected. I can do this. I pushed harder.


There was a snap as my power activated again, and this time I barely slipped at all. It hurt, like a hard slap only covering my whole body, but I was no stranger to pain. Throughout my life I had to be careful of everything. Asthma like mine was one of those things that trained you to fear breathing, let alone a real workout. Compared to the surgeries and fear that the next incident could be the last, this pain was meaningless. No, it was very much meaningful. It was liberation from the past. It was freedom.


Snap. My perceptions shifted again. Now that I was testing it, I discovered a bit of a trick. I could control, somewhat, where I appeared. Before I'd been doing it on instinct, getting myself in positions that could let me attack Kitten. Now I was aware that I had control. Manifesting directly in front of my old self, cheating in a foot or two of distance each time. Alex still had the lead, but I was catching up. More than that, I was getting faster now that I figured out what I could do, and he would have to slow down eventually.


It took six laps for me to do it, but I did take the lead. By this time, the four teams on the football field had stopped playing to watch us race. For the first time since my powers became public, I was having fun. We were getting to the final stretch and I was going to- and then Alex shot past me. Holy shit, he is faster than me, by a whole fucking lot in fact. And just like that, I lost the race.


You asshole, you let me think I could win. "So, what was that at the end?"


He was bent over, gasping. "That. Hardest. Ever run. Water. Please."


Well, at least I made him work for it. "Uh, sure, I'll be back in a minute." I started jogging over to where they kept the bottled water, then decided that it was more fun to sprint, considering I only had seconds before I set off my asthma no matter how fast I was running. A couple snaps of my power later, and I was back to Alex. "Here's your water. I'm pretty sure it's not really from a mountain spring."


He smiled and took the bottle. "Sure it is. The Potomac is from a mountain spring, too."


"Plus or minus sewage, drug needles, and a few bodies." I watched as he chugged the bottle. "So, why'd you hold back until the very end there?"


"What?" He looked at me, confused.


"Letting me have the lead until the end. You coulda done that whenever you wanted."


"That's how you're... well, how everyone without powers at least, is supposed to run. You can be a machine, but the rest of us have limits. Burning up too much strength early means you'll tire out before the race is over. So you save it for the last possible moment. If we're being honest, I almost didn't make it. One lap longer, or if it were a lot hotter or colder out, or you were even a bit faster, or if I didn't have years of training to know my limits and how to push past them. I was so close to losing it's not funny."


"Good to know. Too bad I'm disqualified from sports forever and will never be able to use it."


"I dunno, you could probably apply it to fighting villains. Let them think they have a chance, then they'll wear themselves out trying to fight you instead of realizing it's impossible and running away instead."


"That's a pretty good idea." It even almost worked on Kitten, and she had super combat skills to fight me with. Though I had no clue if she actually could get tired, considering she was able to regenerate. "Maybe I can use that to help a team. Draw fire until everyone's too tired to fight before my friends finish the job."


"That's a strategy some track teams employ. Having one of their own run too hard, and hope the other team tries to keep up and burns themselves out. It really doesn't work that well, since everyone knows that trick and how to not fall for it. But it could work against supervillains. Unless they're like you and don't get tired, at least. But even then, you'll be able to figure out how their powers work without anyone getting hurt. Call yourself the Human Decoy or something."


Sounds like a really uncomfortable battle plan. "That's goddamn perfect." Then I thought about the things Kitten suggested, like Captain Jihad and Whipping Boy. Human Decoy had similarly unpleasant connotations. "The name needs a lot of work, however."


"Probably."


Not much was said after that. Little ideas about how to use my power to draw fire toward me instead of more vulnerable targets, costume designs, stuff like that. Then Alex hit the showers early. Since my power was apparently self cleaning except for other people's blood, I skipped the shower and changed back to normal clothes before anyone else got to the locker room. I didn't plan on changing around other people.


Biology was next, and that went about as well as biology always did. I was kinda curious how my power sense would handle dissecting frogs, but, well, that would never happen. They weren't gonna give us access to scalpels or chemicals. So this was one of those boring classes where the teacher didn't try to make us do group projects or any such crap as that. Simply sit down, shut up, and get instructed on what you'd need to test for this week. It was boring as hell, but I was left alone.


And then the hallway after school. Now that about fifty people had seen my power used I don't know how many times, the only doubts left about my abilities was just how much I was actually capable of. They probably already decided I couldn't fly, but flight was a pretty uncommon power to begin with. The common wisdom was that every Imbued came with at least one way to hurt someone. The ones that didn't instead were even more scary, like the mind readers and precogs who could ruin you without any violence being used whatsoever.


A pair of hands wrapped around my face from behind. The flash of power insight let me know it was Cassie before she even spoke. "So, I'm guessing you don't come with eyes in the back of your head, either."


After giving Alex a run for his money, I was actually feeling really good about myself right now. "Nope, but what I do have is infinite stamina." Huh, so apparently I can tell if someone's breathing and heart rate suddenly change. "Didn't you say something about requiring me to ask nicely, first?"


It didn't take long for her get control of her emotions. She took her hands away from my eyes. "Have to give you the chance to ask, right?"


I shrugged, suddenly realizing what I just said. Making jokes was one thing, but following through with someone who implied she'd say yes was scary as hell. That and everyone was watching us right now. "Yeah, I guess you have a point." I turned to face her. "So, what's up?"


She fidgeted slightly. "Just wondering what you had planned after school."


"Umm, studying, mostly." I glanced at the other students filing past us. One of the hottest girls in the school chatting up the only known Imbued in the school wasn't enough to risk missing the bus. Although if the statistics were right, there should be at least a couple more of us here. Maybe even as many as ten, since this school had a lot of 'at risk' students. Clearly, they were much better at hiding their powers than I was.


"The teachers giving you a hard time?"


"Not school homework. There's a lot of things I need to know, now that I have powers."


"So, you're totes doing the hero thing, huh?"


"Hey, maybe I wanna be a villain instead, ever thought of that?"


She laughed, perhaps a little louder than was needed for such a lame joke. "I really didn't take you for the bad boy type."


I had no idea how to approach that one. My mind went immediately to Erica, the kinds of guys she liked. "No, I can't imagine anyone would."


"That's a compliment, trust me," she smiled, stepping just a little closer. "I know a lot of girls actually go for that sorta thing, but they're stupid. Bad boys grow up to be bad men, usually with drug problems and a felony."


"Well, drugs don't work on me, so no problems there." But if you want a guy who's not likely to have a felony, you may want to keep looking. I tried to ignore her functionally calling Erica stupid, too. "It's gonna take weeks before I'm ready to actually go out on patrol. Now, I'd better go before I miss the bus."


"I can drive you home." She hesitated for a moment. "Y'know, it'll be faster. Then you can maybe get a head start on the whole hero business."


"That's..." I was about to tell her no, but then I caught the look in her eye. The one that no heterosexual man was going to say no to. "... really nice of you. But I wouldn't want to inconvenience you."


"It's cool. My afternoon's pretty clear today. We can hang out for a little while, you can show me what you're doing."


Cassie's car wasn't all that impressive, the thing was probably older than she was, but this was not the sort of school that had 'rich kids'. Those of us that had nice cars usually got them by selling drugs. Or themselves, there was always that option. We road in relative silence, making small talk about the day, classmates, and me filling her in about my race with Alex. She heard a few things from some of the other girls. She tried to make it sound like I was the star of that spectacle, but it was clear enough that Alex won the popularity contest. After all, he managed to beat the superhuman.


I was okay with letting him have the spotlight. It was kind of a risk letting the gangs know I could be beaten, if only in a foot race, but he earned it. Besides, I had a lot of ideas how to actually use my powers as a weapon now, thanks to him. Things I wish I knew about when I fought Kitten. The more I thought about it, the more things I knew I did wrong in that fight. But eventually we wound up at my home.


"So, umm, thanks for the ride." I had no idea what I was supposed to do next. "Do you, uh, want to come in? I can show you my work."


She smiled at me. "Sure, that sounds like fun."


It wasn't until we were inside that I realized I made a slight miscalculation. "Umm, we'll have to go to my bedroom. That's where I keep my computer."


"I guess that makes sense." She followed me back, taking the occasional glance. I hoped I didn't make too bad an impression. We didn't exactly have the nicest furnishings, but at least we weren't livin' it ghetto style. I tapped a kitchen chair on our way through.


"Sorry, my room's a bit disorganized." I kicked a dirty shirt under my bed. I'd pick it up later. Probably.


"No, that's fine. You should see my bedroom." She looked around after a moment. "Uh, you only have one chair." She smiled slyly. "Do you want me on the bed?"


Oh, you have absolutely no idea. I activated my power, calling up the chair my power had memorized. "Nah, I got that covered."


"You have the power to create furniture?"


I set the chair down next to my computer desk. "Not exactly. I can just teleport things I've touched. It's how I can use my power without, y'know, losing my clothes." I decided not to tell her I could do that to other people, sans clothing. I didn't want her thinking that I could just randomly undress her with a thought. Not yet, at least. "If someone hits me with a weapon, I can take it away from them. Or a bunch of other tricks that'll help me fight villains."


"That's really cool."


"I know, right?" The powers thing was kinda cool, after all. I slid my nice chair out, and let it roll a bit to Cassie. "Here you go."


"You're letting me use the nice chair?"


"You're kinda my guest, it'd be rude not to."


She smiled at me, pushing the chair back. "Thanks, but I think I have a better idea. Have a seat."


"Uh, okay?" I sat down, and she sat down on my lap.


"So, do you think this works?"


I have a girl in my lap. So yes, whatever it is, it's totally working for me right now. Oh shit, I need to find something to think about other than her in my lap right now. "Yeah, this works, now let's get to work." I used my feet to pull them over to the computer. It was only on sleep mode, so it booted up fast enough. I started going through details about all the different hero and villain groups, how I was planning to take out a few of the smaller ones first just to get a reputation, then build a team and go for the bigger names.


"Uh, why don't you just join the official heroes?" Cassie asked after a bit.


Kitten. "I don't think they're doing a good job. Seriously, when was the last time you met a cop that actually helps people? Powers or otherwise. They only protect the people who already have money and power, the ones that don't need them to begin with. I want to help the people who actually need help. And joining the police will only get in the way of that."


Cassie hesitated for a moment. "I guess you're right." She leaned back against me, giving me a view that distracted me from the computer. "It would be kinda nice to have heroes actually be heroes again, instead of just cops with extra powers."


"Uh, yeah. So, umm, does this count as 'all over me', now?" I shifted my head a bit closer to hers. She was really, absurdly, beautiful, and at some point I just lost interest in trying to ignore that.


She looked over her shoulder to face me. "I guess it does." She leaned in a bit, and a moment later I was surprised to realize we were kissing. Her lips were really, really nice. Soft, warm, and they tasted like cotton candy. I didn't even know they had cotton candy flavored lipstick, but that's what Cassie was using. "I'll just pretend this is how you asked nicely."


"That works." I went in to kiss her again, glad she didn't seem to think I was doing a bad job. I wrapped my arms around her, and let my hands do a bit of wandering, slipping under her shirt. Her heartbeat started to increase, and I let my hands slide up.


Then she grabbed my arms. "No!"


I stopped, and she stood up. "Uh." Fuck.


She glanced at my door. "Umm, I think I should go now." She was already rushing out the door. I thought about chasing after her, but then what would I say? God damn it.


The rest of the night wasn't exactly thrilling. Mom came home with more takeout, and I tried to focus on school or hero work instead of on Cassie. I'd have to see her tomorrow, try to find a way to talk to her in private. Apologize for fucking up and scaring her off. I just didn't want her to... I wasn't even sure what I wanted. I'd just have to start with finding a way to tell her I'm sorry.


======================


A/N- Zach should just go for Alex. Way less drama that way.

 

Chapter 12- Com


The ability to transmit my consciousness anywhere I wanted was pretty damn nice. I could telecommute to work without the slightest of effort. Well, that was the theory. In reality, my boss shot that idea down so hard I never brought it up again. So I got to enjoy D.C. traffic twice a day.


I was only a step into my office when Silf spoke to me through the intercom. "Special project for you."


Oh joy. My computer started itself, thanks to Silf's commands. Nothing unusual, that. Silf was our tech support and genius hacker, amongst other things. She pretty much was our computer system. "So, how special is this special project?" I sat at my desk, looking at the screen.


"We have a new Imbued. He claims to have discovered his powers on Monday. Accidentally, in class. We have video of him from yesterday."


A video activated, showing a shitty cell video of two kids racing on a school track. It didn't take long to see what was so special, as one boy duplicated himself, and then the original dissolved into color. Yellow, blue, and green. Second stage, already? "He's lying about when he got his powers."


"We believe he is the Imbued who fought Kitten two days ago."


"You're shitting me."


"His power appears to be a self correcting short range teleportation. Making him a likely candidate for Tank Eight. For all of Kitten's known abilities, she doesn't have Breaker options."


"I thought we agreed that Anima went after Kitten. I mean, she did download the files, right?"


"Correct. However, recent forensics suggest the battle was ongoing for several minutes before before those files were accessed."


Which probably rules her out. "Why me? You know I'm not a recruiter. Why not Sympathy, this is the sort of thing she's best at."


"EV at less than five percent if we send Sympathy. Thimble's numbers suggest you have the greatest possible odds of a satisfactory result."


And because free will is for other people, we trust the precogs over any other factors. "So, what do we have on this kid? A primer for before I read the full report, please."


"Zachariah Matthew Parker, age sixteen. Student at Hamilton High. Average low B student. Based upon grade distribution, appears intelligent but unmotivated. Better than average math and science comprehension. Probable left brain thinker; I would suggest a logical, non-emotional approach."


"Could be why Sympathy's not top of the list. She's better at emotional methods than logical ones." Saying it out loud, I didn't buy it. Sympathy was a genius at understanding people. "That and the kid might be gay. Second class citizens always do get the lion's share of new Imbued.


"It is a theory worth considering. I shall see if I can find more evidence to that effect." Silf offered. "His parents are Michelle and Jacob Parker, divorced nine years ago. Mother is an administrative assistant at a pediatrics clinic, father is career military. Possible secondary approach could be through the father."


Okay. Now I just have to decide if Zach was the type of kid who wants to impress his father, or the type that wants to rebel. "He's got a highly visible power, which suggests he has a more attention seeking nature. His power's ability to protect him hints at a fear of physical harm. What are the odds that he's being abused?"


"Unlikely." Another video popped up, this time showing an interview between him and his principal. "Profiling suggests a distant relationship with his parents, but he does not show signs of fearing them or other adult figures."


In other words, the bog standard parent-teen relationship. "This is going to be a long day." I settled in for a detailed review of this kid who might be one of the strongest superhumans on the continent.


....


I manifested into the meeting room. A glow of red light, cast from my projection body, clashed with the florescent lights.


It struck me, that they were using their boardroom for this get together, and it still was pretty trashy. Smaller than I would have expected for a school with this many students, and there were clear signs that the drywall needed repairs. My low spectrum vision revealed even more, the layers of damage beneath the paint that indicated substandard repair work done on the walls. With a moment of concentration, I had my real body speak. "Silf, you in position?"


"I am always in position."


I surpressed an impulse to use that as a chance to flirt with her. Office romance was least of the reasons that was a bad idea. So I picked the least sexy topic imaginable. "While we're waiting, what's the policy on reporting rats in a school?"


"How certain are you?"


Silf probably knew more about how my vision worked than I did, so this was more for the sake of protocol than anything. "Well, they're either rats or squirrels. Which do you think is more likely to be crawling around under the floors? I'm counting around sixty or so in my range."


"Based upon your range and the average reproduction rate of common rat species in near ideal situations, I estimate the colony at two months old. I will file and submit a report of a suspected vermin infestation to Principal Jensen." Silf waited for a moment. "I am also including a list of assistance programs that the school qualifies for, yet has failed to file. It is likely the administration does not know about them, they are rather obscure."


"You've probably cost the taxpayers more in obscure grants and tax loopholes than Disney."


"All for good causes, I assure you. Now be ready, the suspect is almost there."


The door opened, giving me a view of both the Principal and the kid. Neither were someone I would glance twice at on the street. Zach got most of my attention. I scanned his body with the full suite of my vision. I long ago learned my power sight dropped as low as the microwave spectrum. Well, that's interesting.


"Good day. Do you prefer I call you Mister Parker, or Zach?" Simultaneously, I was talking to Silf. "He has no signs of old injuries. His power must have healed all surgical scars."


"Noting in file. Esper Value at tentative ninety seven percent." I resisted the urge to smile, Silf always did know how to flatter me.


The kid simply shrugged, awkwardly sitting down. "Doesn't really matter. So, are you always like this?"


Hmm, faking apathy. Again, bog standard teen behavior that reveals nothing. "This is my power in action. I create a projection and can speak or see through it. It's only a hologram, no ability to touch anything." I passed my hand through the desk a couple times while carefully making sure I didn't hit anything with my real body, and observing his emotional responses through my sight.


It only yielded a small amount of information. He was nervous, I knew that much, but there could be any number of reasons for that. There was another spike in emotion when I told him about my power, but I wasn't sure what that meant.


"So I'm not even important enough to send someone in person?" He tried to act annoyed by this, and on some level he may have been. He got a flashy power, after all, and that was always a sign of someone who wanted to be taken seriously. But the calming of his heart rate and breathing made it clear he was relieved by this news.


"I'm sure my boss has a good reason for that. Or maybe your principal asked him not to disrupt classes by having costumed heroes in the halls." All things that could be true and would hopefully put the kid at ease. "But we do want to talk to you about your abilities."


"This about yesterday? Coach Murray said to run laps, so I ran laps. I'm pretty sure I'm banned from gym forever, now."


Silf gave me a running commentary from her side. "My profile suggests he is upset by this. Change the subject."


"I expect that would be hard for you, having that option taken from you so abruptly by your powers. I've never been much of an athlete, myself." I gestured with my projection, it was an exact replica of my body and outfit after all. When I was Zach's age, I was the last kid picked in gym. Twenty years and about fifty pounds hadn't improved my physique from then. Hopefully pretending I didn't know that he was in the same boat before his powers would make him feel more confident. "Would you like a place to use your powers athletically? Even get training on using them better?"


His eyes narrowed in distrust. "You mean you want to sign me up for PREP, right? That's a really stupid name, by the way."


Silf realized it the same moment I did. Or maybe she was just giving me an extra second to make me feel like my thoughts weren't so much molasses compared to hers. "Someone has already talked to him about this. Trying to defend PREP will only alienate him further."


"Won't hear me arguing with that." Except all the times when I have to because it's part of my job. "But thousands of businesses have people dedicated solely to reading through and finding ideal candidates for jobs that would otherwise be incredibly hard to do. Even the lower end Imbued can make millions of dollars before they're twenty. I work part time for NASA, checking for possible damage to shuttles or the International Space Station."


"Yeah, I don't care. All the jobs my power can do are summed up as 'oops, but at least we don't have to pay for a funeral'. I'll pass, thanks." He sighed, perhaps a bit theatrically. "Look, I don't mean to be rude, but I have actual things to worry about and I was hoping to take care of them during lunch. So can we just put on a file that you did your best and I invoked my right as a red blooded 'murican to tell the government to fuck off? Because that would be awesome, thanks."


"We never stood a chance, did we?" I made extra careful not to accidentally say that with my projection form. I didn't think I was stressed enough to make that mistake, but there was no such thing as being too cautious.


"It appears we did not," Silf agreed.


"Okay, dropping the recruitment angle and treat this as an interview with a hostile witness." Simultaneously, I spoke through my projection. "Okay, let's just drop the bullshit and get straight to important part. We know about Kitten."


His heart rate jumped immediately. Nerve struck. The only question was which nerve. "Are you accusing me of something?"


I shuffled through approaches, plans of attack. "We know there was an encounter between her and an as yet unidentified Imbued. Someone, and we don't know who, fought her to a standstill and forced her to use powers she never revealed she had. There are only five Imbued in this region who rank high enough do such a thing. Four of them protect heads of state. And then there's Anima." Again, the increased heartbeat. "We'll be going after her next, assuming you're not our mystery vigilante."


"You can just keep looking, then. But out of curiosity, what if I were?"


Bingo. "There's not much we can do. The damage occurred to a condemned building, and there's no identified victim of a crime. Awful lot of blood, but testing's already confirmed that it belongs to a female regenerator. Congrats, you're one of exactly three people who've made Kitten bleed and lived to brag."


The kid shrugged, looking at the wall behind me. "Sounds like whoever did that was a real badass."


Someone else might have said something stupid about how powers are random, decided only by luck. But I knew better. We earned what we got, one way or another. "Yes, so if we have another top tier Imbued out there, they're going to be a priority target. Right now, we have the advantage of resources and found you first. But it won't be long before villains come to recruit."


His heart was racing now. "I expect this badass would be able to handle any villains that try."


"And his family? Does he have the power to protect them?" If this kid wanted to play that game, I'd go along with it.


"We both know villains don't go after families. Something about suicide by surge?"


Silf's voice distracted me a moment. "That is not common knowledge. He has been talking to someone."


"I'll keep fishing." I turned my attention back to Zach. "Sure, that's true of normal villains. But Kitten isn't a normal villain. Not only is she a violent psycho, she has a power that lets her see biopatterns. She can identify anyone she's encountered before, after they're out of costume." His heart jumped again. That was something I could take advantage of. "So, you see, we need to find this mystery Imbued who fought her, get his family into protection before she tracks them down." I knew I messed up before I even finished the sentence.


"Fuck you." He stood, his body language going hostile. It was an empty gesture considering I wasn't really there to be threatened. "If you gave one shit about Kitten's victims, you'd have stopped her years ago! Instead you've decided it's better just to let her run free than risk your own asses!"


"It appears our suspicions are correct. He could only know that information if he had access to restricted files." Silf caught that before I did. "This suggests that Anima shared that information with him. Sapphire will not be pleased."


That was drama I wished would stop chewing our metaphorical asses, but I noticed something else entirely. The kid was one of those.


I let my projection vanish and reappear closer to him, standing. I put my hand on his shoulder. I couldn't touch him, but my projections did generate the same amount of heat energy as a human body, he'd feel the warmth. "Listen to me, Zach. Believe it or not, I understand what you're going through. You're not the first Imbued whose powers came with a mission, the first to have the belief that he's the only one who can make a difference. I've seen this story repeated time and again. If you keep going down this path, it will destroy you. It's not worth it. She's not worth it."


"Don't you fucking dare-" His fist passed through me and slammed into the wall hard enough to break his hand. The shouting didn't stop when that body started to dissolve itself, it simply moved to another him. "-talk about Erica like that!" He'd already pulled open the door. "This conversation is over!"


Damn. "You saw that, didn't you?"


"The boost in proprioception and mental processing, negating any confusion about the perspective shift?"


I nodded. "He has a brief moment where he possesses both brains' abilities. Superhuman speed for a second or two."


"It confirms Tank Eight status. His ability to restore and cannibalize is a highly efficient defense, coupled with the secondaries to truly take advantage of the power."


I was more concerned with how Kitten had a similar ability to boost her mental abilities. This was going to involve a lot of paperwork.


....


Commander Mitchels didn't look at all pleased with my report. "Com, I agree with your assessment that Zach was a lost cause before you arrived, but it does not make our jobs easier when independents shout profanities at us while storming out of the room."


"There was critical information I didn't have. Some I still don't have. We know where he got the idea that we were avoiding a fight with Kitten."


Sapphire shifted, and I could tell that she was upset. She should be, this particular SNAFU fell at her feet as well. More than anything, though, I was a little surprised she actually cared about what she did to Anima. I wisely kept my mouth shut.


Sapphire looked over at Sympathy, and after a moment, she calmed down and became almost neutral about the whole affair. I knew they were Pairbonded, but it was still creepy as hell how their hearts literally beat in unison when they spoke to one another through their bond. It was downright nonhuman how they were so in tune with one another. Like those movies about spooky psychic twins, only they were my coworkers.


Mitchels brought us back on course. "It might be time to cut Anima off from our network. Letting her think we didn't know was an unorthodox plan in the first place, even if it has given us some good results. But giving this new kid access makes it too much a liability."


"You're probably right, Commander," Sapphire's voice was calm. Either she was the best actress in the world, or she didn't feel upset at all.


I didn't offer an opinion, this wasn't really my place to say. "I would like more information on Erica."


Silf, as always, was the first on the ball. "I believe I have found a match. Erica Tanner, classmate to his sister. Recently found murdered. Sealed juvenile record. Do I have permission to invoke Class Five protocols?"


Mitchels' heartrate jumped. "Is this really that dire?"


Time for me to jump to Silf's defense. "I believe it is. Zach's already functionally admitted to fighting Kitten once. Even new to his powers, he forced her to use abilities that confirm she's fourth stage. And he seems to have every intent on a rematch. It could be the catalyst."


Mitchels shook his head. "Do it."


"Erica Lynn Tanner, age twenty two, multiple priors for drug possession with intent to distribute starting at thirteen. CPS investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing by the father, who claimed to be unaware of her activities. Reported as a runaway at sixteen, hospitalized soon after due to a violent assault by her then boyfriend." Silf paused for a second. "It is a long file. She was found dead fifteen days ago. The murder was classified as gang violence, the girl a prostitute or drug runner operating the wrong streets."


I rubbed my eyes with my hand. "Bet you any amount of money if we reopen that investigation, we'll trace it straight to Kitten's feet." I took a slow breath. "What's worse, I'm pretty certain this was the source of Zach's Imbuement. And to make this a trifecta of bad news, I think he surged during his fight with her."


Sympathy spoke first. "That's a problem, maybe I should try to talk to him."


I shook my head. "No, no. We know he's in contact with Anima, enough that she gave him access to Kitten's records. I can't begin to guess what Anima told him, but I bet that's why Thimble said you were a bad choice."


Sympathy looked away from me, back toward Sapphire. The two of them were nowhere near as subtle as they thought they were. It was Sapphire that spoke up next. "Then the situation may not be as bad as it looks. He's already formed a strong rapport with Anima. It may be a loss in terms of recruitment, but if we keep Zach from starting a small war with Kitten, that would be victory enough. Anima will push for that as hard as anyone."


Mitchels finally came to a conclusion. "Okay, we can use that. Silf, it shouldn't be too long before Anima peaks in on his profile, to learn what we know about him. See if you can't drop hints to help her control him. Sympathy, Com, I'd like the two of you to help with any insights you can. And keep looking for ways to gain his cooperation. Hopefully we can stop this before it becomes a problem."


"Yes, sir." And God help us all if we can't.


======================


A/N- Somewhat early chapter today to make up for the late one Friday! Also- meet a bunch of new characters!

 

Chapter 13


That god damn glowing red fatass! Shoulda called him something before I stormed out. I resolved to have a smartass line next time I saw him. Something along the lines of 'so, you're what happens when Santa knocks up Rudolf', yeah, that would have been perfect. I was half tempted to turn around and do just that, but I had more important things to worry about right now.


At least I didn't blow it and let something important slip. I didn't admit to fighting Kitten, which meant they couldn't touch me. I didn't let him see anything about my power that everyone didn't already know. In retrospect, showing off to Cassie wasn't bright, but even if she did blab about that one trick, I could cope. Not like I expected to hide that power for very long once I went public as a hero.


Lunch wasn't quite half over when I finally got to the room. Cassie was sitting with her cheerleader friends, and a couple of the jocks. Damn. I really hoped I'd be able to talk to her somewhere that wasn't totally conspicuous. I really didn't want her to tell me to go to hell publicly. At least, not this publicly. One of her friends, some brunette senior whose name I didn't know, noticed me first. Then Cassie looked up, and looked away a moment later. Well, fuck me then. I'd try to talk to her after school. We had history together fourth period, she'd have to skip to avoid me. And if she really wanted to avoid me that badly, I'd take that as her answer.


I glanced around for a place to sit. I wasn't in the mood for the geek table and another round of twenty questions about my powers. Wasn't really even in the mood for lunch, if we were being honest. So recently after a restore, and with all this crap on my mind, it was easier just to skip eating than force myself. I went over to Alex's table, instead.


Despite Alex being the cool sports star that didn't let the other jocks pick on the unpopular kids, his table was nothing but the sports guys and occasionally their girlfriends. In any other school, he'd be every geek's favorite person. In this school, well, there were still the gangs. I'd have to put that high on my list of things to fix here.


I opted to sit on the other side of the table from Alex, stopping behind that side. Had a guy from the football team there. One of the blockers, I didn't know his actual position, just that he was a big black guy. Like, pretty sure he was on 'roids big. "Hey, got some room for me?"


He looked around at me. "Kinda bu-" then he recognized me. "Ah, guess it can keep 'till practice." He scooted over a bit, prompting everyone to shuffle just a bit to the left to make space.


Alex shrugged. "Yeah, we can take care of it later, Bear."


Is that a nickname or his species? The quarters were still a bit cramped, but I had space enough. After sitting down I realized I barely came up to Bear's shoulders. "Sorry to be a bother, I hope I didn't interrupt anything important."


Alex shook his head. "Nothing that can't wait, just a scheduling issue. So, why aren't you hanging out with your girlfriend?"


"She's not my girlfriend." Oh, that didn't sound like a gradeschooler whining at all. "Still in the getting to know each other phase."


One of the girls spoke up, and again with the names I didn't know. "I heard you got into her car after school yesterday."


Not knowing about them doesn't stop them from knowing about me. Hurray. "All we did was talk. Mostly about school and superhero stuff." Can we please drop this conversation?


"Well, you better fix that soon." Bear jumped in. "Chicks like it when the guy takes charge. If you don't seal the deal, she'll find someone who will."


There were murmurs of agreement from a lot of the others who had decided this was the most interesting conversation at the table. I decided that explaining that I tried this and got shot down and yelled at was probably not the correct course of action, so instead I shrugged it off.


"You're probably right. On the plus side, at least I don't have to worry about standing girls up and lying about it because I'm scared to tell them I have powers. I don't know why they keep recycling that plot, it was already old in the sixties."


There was a painful pause before one of the girls spoke up. "Oh! Like Son of Manwolf Two!"


Another girl cut in. "Isn't that the one where Jackman does a full frontal scene?"


"Man, that scene was so badass!" One of the other guys laughed. "They blew up a building on him, and then showed him howling while regrowing his skin. My little brother almost threw up! Hey, do you think you could take being in an exploding building?"


A few expectant gazes turned my way. "Umm, yeah, I don't see why not. It doesn't matter how bad I'm hurt, my power kicks in and I'm fine a moment later." Compared to Kitten's attacks, an exploding building sounded cozy. "I'd probably just find myself standing on the sidewalk or something after a second."


Bear's voice cut in. "So, think you could take him? The movie Manwolf, I mean. I know the real one's dead."


I had no idea. Kitten would have eaten Manwolf alive, but I couldn't claim I held up much better. "Umm. Yeah, I think I would win that one. Sure, he might have claws and the ability to fight by sense of smell alone, but I can't be killed. There's no way he'd be able to beat me, and since his powers require eating fresh meat to charge up, I could just keep fighting him until he ran out of power and starved."


"You mean nothing can hurt you, at all?" Bear didn't seem to buy it.


No, plenty of things hurt like a bitch, I just can't be injured or killed. "Nothing I've run into so far." If I did have such an obvious vulnerability, Kitten would have shoved it down my throat already. "Unless I have some kind of special vulnerability to claws. I don't exactly make a habit of letting other men shove their fingers inside me." That earned a few chuckles and the occasional complaint. "But enough about my love life. Hey, Alex, how come we never see you with a girl?" Consider that payback for putting me on the spot earlier.


Alex shifted a bit. "That's... complicated."


"He has a mysterious girlfriend he won't tell us about because he's ashamed."


"It's true." Alex smirked, looking at the guy who made that comment. "But can you blame me? Anyone would be ashamed to introduce girls to my friends."


There was a chorus of retorts. I only heard a few of them. "That's cold." "Asshole." "I see how it be." A balled up wrapper came out of nowhere, and Alex was barely able to block it in time. It was all good natured, though.


Alex just shook his head. "In all seriousness, it's complex. And that's even before considering my parents. Umm, that's not to say they're bad or anything, but they really push me and my sisters to succeed. Sports, school, the whole nine yards. I don't have time to have a girlfriend and deal with all that. And I don't have superpowers that add six hours to every day of my life. Besides, she's got other things to worry about. There'll be plenty of time after high school."


There was a time when I told myself something like that. Did not work out for me. "Don't be so sure about that. Life's too short, and all that shit. Do you really want to risk asking 'what if' for the rest of your life, if something bad happens?"


He hesitated for a moment, and I could swear he was studying me. "Yeah, you're probably right."


I glanced at the clock, then stood up. "I... gotta take care of a couple things before class."


"Cool."


I managed to get out of the cafeteria before starting to cry. By the time I made it to home ec, I'd gotten control of myself. Didn't mean I was paying an awful lot of attention to the teacher or my project, but at least I wasn't about to humiliate myself by running out of class for a third time in a month.


On the plus side, we were finally finished those gingerbread houses- I think the teacher took pity on me to give me a 'C' on that one- and now we were dealing with fake checkbooks and balancing imaginary budgets. Which left me next to Ferne clacking away on her calculator.


This is like the world's most boring 4x game, only done on paper. "Somehow, I suspect 'jokes on you, I don't need food' won't be an acceptable answer."


"Are you planning to run out of class today?" Ferne seemed to have no problems, tapping away at her calculator.


"What gives you that idea?"


"Nothing, but if you're planning to cheat by removing the food budget, I'm thinking I'll claim a small business that adds an average of fifty dollars a week."


It took me a minute to get what she meant. "But that'd only be a one time thing. You can't claim a whole week off of that."


"Wall Street begs to differ." Ferne's voice was the same near monotone as everything else she said.


I chuckled, that was actually pretty funny. "You'll make a wonderful investment banker, some day."


Ferne smiled, if briefly. "You take that back right now."


Holy shit, I actually made her crack a smile. "Okay, that's encouraging. I'd hate to imagine my first villain would be 'that chick in my class'. It's just lazy storytelling to have the hero and the villain in school together."


"As far as tired clichés go, it has seen more mileage than most." Ferne looked down at her papers, shuffling them around. "And of course they're always either best friends or worst enemies once their identities get revealed."


"Not to mention it always happens right after a major climax when the writers are out of ideas. See, that's why I blew my identity right after getting my powers. I wanted to be original, so I got it out of the way before I had a nemesis." Except Kitten, and I'm pretty sure she wasn't in school. Based upon a remarkable lack of corpses. "Now we'd better get back to work before the teacher awakens and summons a plague of locusts on us."


"Speak for yourself, I finished five minutes ago."


"That's so not fair."


"Would you like a tutor? For a limited time, it's only ten dollars. I'll even throw in a couple book rescues for free."


Okay, this was worth it just to call her bluff. I reached into my pocket and grabbed a five, offering it to her. "You have a deal. I'll get you the other half tomorrow."


She reached over to grab it. "I'll just file the other half as a second quarter tax write off and third quarter profit."


Her hand brushed against mine, followed by my power instantly mapping her body. And I had absolutely no idea what I was looking at. Several images of different people, they flashed by too quickly for me to really get an idea of how many. I could tell some were male, some female. One might have been Ferne's. Oh, you have got to be kidding me.


She sighed, clearly not happy. "Nothing makes us more vulnerable than loneliness, except greed."


Was that a quote from somewhere? I got the gist of it, that she knew that I knew. "Umm, maybe we should talk later."


"How's tomorrow sound?"


"Good, I guess."


Put that on the pile with all the other crap I have to worry about. At least now I wasn't so nervous about seeing Cassie.


....


Okay, turns out I lied. Cassie terrifies me right now. Enough that I was thinking about ditching history altogether. Instead, I got there early. She couldn't quite meet my eyes here, either, instead doing everything she could to stare at her book. My former favorite teacher, as perky as ever, had us back on on the western expansion era of history, with the legends and the turmoil of that era. I couldn't help but notice Miss Harmon's tone was a whole lot less positive than the textbook.


She clearly wanted us to think about the horrors inflicted on the natives. The book, when it bothered putting effort into sounding like it cared at all, portrayed the pioneers as heroic explorers discovering new lands for America. Generally, the fact that other people were there first got ignored. Not that I was paying much attention. The total amount of brainpower I had left for class could have been done by a potato.


I jumped when the bell rang, rushing to get out before Cassie did. She wasn't in as much of a rush, so by the time she got out the halls were already starting to clear. She hesitated, like she was going to turn and go back into the classroom rather than talk to me.


"I'm sorry!" I barked that just a bit to loud, and other students looked at me. A couple of the girls even inched a bit closer, intent on hearing the rest of the conversation. "Umm, yeah, sorry about yesterday. Can we, well, talk about it? Maybe outside?"


She smiled at me, and it felt like the world had been lifted off my shoulders. "Oh, god, I was going to apologize to you!"


The pair of gossip hounds tried to inch closer without being noticed. "Really?" Of all the many hundreds of things I had expected to hear, that was not one of them. Seriously, why didn't I get telepathy? I could have erased Kitten's brain and gone on to understand the female mind. Best power ever.


"Yeah, really," Cassie insisted, pulling me out of that train of thought. She stepped closer to me, close enough that we could talk without eavesdroppers hearing. Unless they wanted to get into touch range. Close enough that I could smell her perfume. "I was a bitch, I'm sorry."


"Hey, I'm the one who, uh," tried to feel you up.


"No, no, that's perfectly natural. It's just..." she hesitated for a moment. "Well, I've never actually done that before."


"Oh." There were like thirty rumors that said otherwise. Not that I bought into the rumor mill. "That's okay, we don't have to do anything you're uncomfortable with."


"Really? Are you sure?"


"Well, seeing as I like to imagine I'm not a steaming sack of donkey shit, yeah. What kind of asshole says otherwise?"


"Umm... all of my ex boyfriends. And both my ex girlfriends."


"Girlfriends? So you're..." this could be lots of fun in the future.


"Over that phase." Well, never mind that plan. "I was just kinda hoping girls would be, y'know, less dickish than guys. Turns out I was wrong."


"Oh. Well, as an aspiring superhero, I think I'm contractually required to treat you with respect. So, do you forgive me for getting a little too, umm, feely?"


"Of course. Want me to drive you home again? I was having fun helping you with your homework. Maybe we can look into costume design this time?"


Yes! Yes yes yes! "Sure. It'll be just like yesterday, but without the makeout session."


"Hey, I didn't say we couldn't do that." Cassie had leaned in close enough that I could feel the heat of her breath. "Just, no more."


"Deal."


======================


A/N- For those familiar with Amelia. I originally wrote a scene involving portions of this chapter for that story- involving Zach and Emma- that I didn't use because I knew eventually I'd use them for this story. Very close to the beginning chapters of that story. That... was almost a year ago... Christ.

For the one person who guessed there was something special going on with Ferne. Congrats. You are awesome.

And there are a LOT of book and movie references in this chapter. Y'know, aside just to my own.

Also, I'll be using this weekend to get a wordpress account. All my online shopping around has begun to bore me. So that, and putting my name up for various fiction sites to draw attention (and bidding readers to vote the story up on them) will come soon, too.

 

Chapter 14


The ride home with Cassie was, at the very least, a welcome reprieve from the damn bus. I vowed that the first thing I did once I got the money would be buying a car. I wasn't a Gadgeteer, so a suit of flying battle armor wasn't an option, but it'd be nice to avoid public transportation. More than that, now that I was back on Cassie's good side, I had to wonder about Ferne. Whatever her power was, it functionally countered mine. Maybe all she had was the ability to scramble superhuman senses. Someone should give her a sniper rifle and send her after Kitten, if that was the case.

"You've been quiet, today. Something on your mind?"


Lots and lots of things. "Just overwhelmed by your beauty, is all."


Her laugh was musical. "Naturally. But usually you're more talkative. Now are you gonna dish, or am I gonna have to break out the boy band music?"


"Sorry, if it was just me, I'd be happy to. But this involves other people. Not my secrets to share."


"Even under threat of Bieber?"


"You listen to Bieber?" Suddenly I'm having second thoughts about everything.


"No." Oh thank God. She spared me a glance, before turning her eyes back to the road. "Okay, I'll let you keep your secrets. Besides, a little bit of mystery is attractive."


I couldn't say I agreed with her. As far as I was concerned drawing things out was just a waste of time and energy. I'd lost too much already by not being strong enough to act when I had the chance, and never wanted to experience that again. But I didn't care to argue about it. She might see it as me trying to pressure her into doing... things. And then she'd proceed to tell all her friends, and it would be impossible for me to ever get another date in school.


It wasn't much longer before we got to my place. I grabbed a chair on my way through the kitchen, only for Cassie to interrupt. "That's sweet, but, we can do it the same way we did before."


That chair was quickly forgotten, much like another shirt that joined its comrade under my bed. You'd think, seeing as I don't sleep, that I'd devote a little more time to cleaning my room, but you'd be wrong. I started up the computer and she plopped down in my lap.


"Best seat in the house," she stated as she shifted her hips, getting herself comfortable. I had to agree.


As it turned out, Cassie had a real sense for fashion, and that apparently extended to superhero costume design. I may have lied to her a bit about how my powers worked, claiming my costume was protected by my power, while knowing that wasn't completely true. Kitten was proof my power could be overwhelmed. What we eventually worked out was a costume based on the colors my power used. Dark blue for the legs, dark green for the upper body (she kept telling me no every time I suggested black), and yellow along the elbows and shins designed to imitate trim on a dress uniform, or some sort of armor plating.


She even talked me out of going without a mask, insisting I at least wear goggles and a mask to protect my eyes and lungs. If only so I can fight a little better when there's a lot of debris. My power may heal damage, but being able to see and breathe required some air quality. And the plan was to add other features as I could afford them. Turns out, Cassie knew more than me about accessioning my costume as well.


There were lots of things online to be purchased by supers, like hands free cell phones designed to integrate with face masks and goggles. Special fabrics and dyes that came with advertisements like 'as safe and easy as a coloring book'. Also expensive as hell, a full make your costume kit was like two grand. Hiring someone else was even worse. Hell, just Cassie's design advice, if I'd gone to a professional, would have been a couple hundred bucks.


Eventually, we stopped focusing so much on work and spent our time kissing. I, of course, was a complete gentleman and kept my hands to myself, despite all temptation. What I planned to do with them after she left was nobody's business but my own.


Then the phone rang. I looked apologetically at Cassie, and she stood up so I could go get it. The number didn't show, but I answered it anyway. After that nutjob Gadgeteer in New Jersey invented robot spiders that would travel through phone lines and attack telemarketers, I almost felt bad for not answering. Even now, twelve years later, they still made the news on occasion. Urban legend was that they found a way to breed.


"Hello?"


A mechanically altered voice spoke a moment later. Another of those things you could buy just about anywhere, voice modulators. "I just wanted to plan our meeting tomorrow."


That would be Ferne, then. Strangely, the modulator made her sound more enthusiastic than normal. "How did you get my number?"


"The white pages are online, so anyone who knows your name can find your phone number and address. You may want to look into that."


Well, fuck me then. "Ah, the internet, preferred by stalkers everywhere. So, what's the plan?" I glanced at where Cassie was peaking from the door to my room. "I've got company right now."


"The park next to the library, midnight tonight, sound acceptable?"


"Yeah, if you want to get mugged by a junky, raped by the dealer, and then arrested for prostitution."


"I was under the impression your power was better than that. I will be arriving in costume."


"Is this a plot to lure me into a fight with some supervillain in the park? Because this is starting to sound like a plot to lure me into a fight with some supervillain in the park, and I have enough on my plate already."


"That would be the dumbest plot on the planet. I only have a vague idea how your power works. Why risk you escaping and reporting me for doing something stupid and illegal, when I could instead do absolutely nothing and be perfectly fine?"


"Okay, you have a point. See you then." I turned off the phone and looked at Cassie. "Sorry about that. If this was a movie I'd now be coming up with an elaborate excuse for that call that makes you suspicious. God I hate those plots."


She didn't make a comment on that, simply wrapped her arms around me and gave me a quick kiss. "It's good timing, anyway. I really should get to work on my homework. I'll have to beg off tomorrow, too, got the other type of French quiz to study for. What about Friday?"


"I'd love to, but I've got more business. But if you want to hang out Saturday and help lie to my dad, that would be a huge solid. I need you to pretend we were on a date last weekend."


"Okay, I can do that." One last kiss, and she headed out the door.


Then I went back to browsing the lists of various powered individuals out there. I found Muwth, which is how you spell the name of the woman who sent Anima after me. She had the power to look at a person and know if they were going to die unnaturally within the next two days and when, to the minute. She had a career as a 'risk consultant' dating back to the early 1950s, with a lot of satisfied, and important, customers. There was no mention of the power she used to find me.


And a bunch of others, who meant pretty much nothing to me. There were a lot of people and a lot of powers out there. I looked up Com, confirming he was a member of Arlington's Imbued Police Division. A cop who got a badge because he had superpowers.


Sapphire was listed, too, but I already knew about her. She was a flying brick, one of very few Imbued who had that combo. For whatever reason, flight was super rare. She was a serious celebrity, too, having several movies to her name, and even did cameos of herself a few times. She was also one of the few supers that gave absolutely no clue about who they were under the mask. The dark blue costume she wore was form fitting enough to suggest an attractive woman underneath, but no one knew her approximate age or race, save that she started her career in the eighties.


I also looked up Sympathy, and found exactly nothing of value. A probably Hispanic or Asian woman who wore a sundress and masquerade mask, complete with elbow length gloves and slippers, and all of it sky blue. No one had any idea what her powers actually were, and online speculation wasn't any help. It seemed like she could change what powers she was using at will.


The more I looked at these three, the more it pissed me off. Between Sapphire and Com, they should have been able to stop Kitten. There's no way she could evade Com, and Sapphire once stood there and let some jackass unload an M-16 at her, until the gun overheated. They could take her, and they refused. They didn't even report that she was in town. All the news sites and online followings that dealt with Imbued had Kitten listed her last known location as somewhere in West Virginia. It was enough to make me want to yell at the computer.


While doing that, I also paid close attention to the clock, and wondered where Mom was. She didn't get back until late, late enough that I opted to just pretend I was asleep.


Much like with Cassie, I kept details about my power from her. She was out like a light in only a few minutes, and I was out the door. The park was nowhere near a quick trip, but this late on a Wednesday, and the ability to sprint as long as I liked meant I got there without much trouble. I wasn't sure whether to smile or frown at how people saw me coming and dipped into the alleys to avoid my notice.


The park was occupied by a couple strung out druggies when I got there. They seemed to be attempting to have sex on one of the tables, and failing miserably. A laser pen flashed my eyes from the darkness of one of the trails. I followed that, taking it as a sign.


The girl that stepped into the clearing did not look like Ferne at all. For one thing, she was about six inches taller, and had curves, as opposed to Ferne's almost prepubescently small figure. Blonde hair done up in a ponytale stuck out of the back of her mask. The dominant color of the outfit was red, with white trim highlighting her figure.


"Platforms, padding, and a wig." The voice was modulated, but Ferne's personality shone through.


"Is that your power, to know when someone's checking you out?"


She shrugged. "Not really. I just know how to pay attention. Now, what's it going to cost for you to keep your mouth shut about my powers?"
I blinked, now I was confused. "I wasn't planning on telling. But I am trying to start my own team, and I'm looking for members."


"My power isn't really good for the hero, or even villain, role. I'm not interested in it, either."


"What can you do?" I wanted to know her power before I decided if she was worth pushing into saying yes. Some Imbued really did have utterly useless powers, but Ferne seemed to feel she was safe coming to a place like this in the middle of the night, so she couldn't have been that vulnerable.


"I can give other people powers."


What. "What." Someone who could give people powers was absurd. Like, world altering potential.


"There are limits. The best I've ever managed only barely qualifies as a two on the scales." Ferne leaned back against a tree. "Twenty extra IQ points, a ten percent increase in endurance, curing a minor physical illness, the ability to regrow a limb over the course of a couple weeks. Really minor things, as far as powers are considered. And it's powered by love."


What. "Seriously."


"I am being serious. My power requires a personal connection. Love isn't quite the right word, but the more trust and respect someone has for me, the stronger their feelings for me, the more power I can grant. And the more power I gain from them."


"So you feed off people?"


She paused for a moment. "My bonds are more like sharing than feeding. I'm as strong as the strongest person I'm connected to, plus a little extra per everyone else in the group. Same with intelligence, and I have access to knowledge and skills from everyone. It doesn't hurt them at all. And it's barely enough to make me a little bit superhuman at everything normal human beings are capable of, but no more than that."


I thought back to the last few weeks. If I thought Ferne was inscrutable before, now I was utterly perplexed. She had access to however many other people, she had to know the meaning of every joke I made. "You... you were grooming me, weren't you? Planning to add me to your collection?"


"I like to think of it as a partnership. We both gain something from it. I could have cured your asthma, granted you improved muscle growth or boosted learning ability. The talent you'd need to become a leader in any field you desired."


"So you're telling me this now, why?"


She hesitated for a moment. "I've never had a chance to use my power on another superhuman, before. For all I know, it would give me the ability to use your power. Or maybe it'd work like normal, giving us both a little bit more power."


"And having an Imbued who owes you wouldn't hurt."


"It would have been nice, if it was possible."


Does that mean she can't use her power on supers? "But it's not."


"I need you to trust me first." Ah, that explains it. "Maybe you're wondering if my power can be used to hurt people I've formed partnerships with. Or if I can steal your power. I don't have any mind reading abilities, just enough to sense how strong the bond between us is. And right now most people who don't know me at all trust me more than you do."


She wasn't wrong. More than the lack of trust, I felt betrayed, somehow. Like everything she did was some kind of plot to use me. If it were a matter of trading for power, I might have still taken her up on her offer. A little bit more strength or speed, more skill, that was something I'd take, to use against Kitten. But I couldn't force myself to trust her. "Well, I guess that settles that. You're sure you don't want to be a part of my team?"
"No. I'm just not a fighter. Maybe if you need help I can research something for you or make a few phone calls. Some of my partners have a fair amount of influence. No, I won't tell you who any of them are."


I wasn't really expecting her to. "I guess that's that, then. See you in school?"


"Yeah." She turned back toward the darker part of the trail. "And, Zach? Please remember that I told you the truth, even knowing it might hurt my chances. That has to be worth something, right?


"Umm, a bit, I guess." Not enough to let me trust her, but it was a little bit. On the plus side, at least she wasn't an enemy. I turned and headed for home.


=====================


A/N- This will be the last update of Price here. From now on, it'll be found solely on my wordpress. https://pricestory.wordpress.com

Please forgive the less than polished site. I have no goddamn clue how to craft a website, and every second learning to do that is one not spent writing.