Project: MI
Chapter 13

Thedoor to Jamie’s room opened and Monique stepped inside. “All finished,” shereported to Beth as she swung her eye toward her. The girl glanced over atJamie and she scrunched her mouth up in disappointment. “Still asleep?”

“I’m registering neural activityconsistent with REM,” Beth replied, a touch of asarcastic tone in her voice. “And there’sthe fact that he’s still lying in bed, so yes. He’s still asleep.”

Moniquechuckled and closed the door behind her. “I’ll pretend that you were beingserious.” Pulling out her cell phone she flipped it open. “His parents arelate,” she said, typing a quick message. Sitting in her charger on Jamie’sdesk, Beth swiveled her electric eye around to face the pale-faced heroi andblinked twice.

“They often are. They are…quitebusy with their work.”

“Isthat a fact?” Leaning back against the window, Monique stretched and yawnedbefore continuing over to Jamie’s desk and setting the Companion down in herbattery charger. “Well, just so long as he wakes up before they get here. I’dlike to have a little pow-wow with him again without having to sneak back outunnoticed.”

“I didn’t think that would bedifficult for you,” Beth said.

“Onlywhen no one notices any inconsistencies.”

“I see…”Beth blinked twice thoughtfully. “Shouldn’tyou take a…more human-like form for when Jamie wakes up? So you don’t surprisehim?”

Moniqueturned her gold-ringed gaze up at the Companion Device and smirked wickedly. “Isuppose that I could take on a morepleasing shape. What kind of girls does he like?” She glowed and at once herbody became taller, more feminine and shapely. Still grinning, she leanedforward and jutted her chest out, her neckline showing off the soft swell of apair of breasts. “Or does he prefer boys?” she continued, hair spilling downher shoulders.

Beth’selectric eye winked on and off in rapid succession, as though in panic.

“Um…I…I think he’s a little tooyoung for…for that sort of thing! Can’t…Can’t you…um…just…look like someone alittle more…ah…normal?”

“What’snormal?” Monique asked, folding her arms over her chest and stretching ashapely leg out. Not wanting to be entirely insensitive to the Companion, sheglowed again and her body collapsed a little, reducing her physique whileretaining a semblance of her curves. “You’re making a lot of fuss aboutbodies.”

IfBeth had eyebrows, she would have frowned at the metamorph. Instead she optedfor a single, delayed blink. “Part of myjob is to protect Jamie to the best of my abilities.”

“Sowhat’s dangerous about a little skin?” Monique asked, still grinning. “Are youafraid I might mess him up?”

“Do you think you might not? Howold are you anyway? I’ve run a scan on you several times and I can’t seem todetermine your age.”

“Oldenough for there to not be a problem. Don’t worry about your scanners. I blamemy heroi genes and the fact that I can look however I want. I can be any age atany time as long as I have the energy for it.”

“Old enough to…” Bethblinked.

“LikeI said, don’t worry about it,” Monique giggled. Her eyes glanced over at Jamiewhile he slept on his bed before looking back at Beth. A playful light dancedwithin her amber irises. “Kind of cute isn’t he?”

Beth’seye narrowed to a needle-fine point. Monique couldn’t help but laugh, holdingher stomach and doubling over at the Companion.

“What’s so funny?”Beth asked in a low, dark tone.

“You,”Monique replied, pointing a finger in the AI’s direction. “You’re like a motherhen. You don’t have to worry about me, okay? Will that calm your circuits?”

“In what way don’t I have toworry about you? Your age or what your…your…amorous intentions are?”

“Iactually meant that I don’t mean him any harm, but I suppose that will doalso.” Monique flashed the AI another smirk, causing Beth’s electric eye tohave another delayed blink.

Alow moan interrupted whatever they might have said next. Turning toward thesource of the sound, Monique saw Jamie shifting in his bed.

“Is he awake?”Beth asked this time, her eye swiveling toward him. Pushing away from the wall,Monique walked over to the boy’s bed, her expression serious, and gentlybrushed a finger across his forehead. Jamie reflexively stiffened from hertouch and shivered. A slight glow manifested around his body before receding.

Jamiegroaned once more and slowly cracked his eyes open. Smiling with relief,Monique turned her attention down to him. Still disoriented, the boy could onlystare at her pale face before, finally, something clicked in his head. Giving astartled cry he tumbled off her lap and his bed, striking the floor with aheavy, bone jarring thud.

“Ah!”Beth began, shaking in her battery charger as he rolled over onto his back andscrambled to his feet, backing away from the albino-skinned girl. With a hurtlook on her face, Monique stood up and cocked her hip to one side, placing onehand on it.

“Gladthat you’re okay,” she said, tilting her head to one side, giving him aonce-over with her amber-eyes. “Now, if you don’t mind…”

Shetook a step toward him, and in his disorientation, Jamie scrambled backward.Light flickered around his body once more and Monique grunted, blinking as shefound herself bumping against an invisible wall.

“Un…?”She backed up uncertainly and reached out, splaying her fingers against theunseen, unmoving force. “I…see. Hey,I know that we got off to a rocky start, but…”

“Getout!” Jamie shouted, trying to get to his feet. Unfortunately, his movementswere unsteady and, disoriented as he was, not fully aware of the edge of thedesk that hung above him. His head banged into it with a sickening crunch andhe collapsed back down, white stars exploding across his vision. Moniquewatched with a mixture of amusement and embarrassed disappointment as a penrolled off the desk and clattered to the floor between Jamie’s legs.

“Ow…”the boy groaned, rubbing the top of his head.

Well…Monique pressed her hand against the invisible wall, replaceing that it remainedintact. …at least he didn’t lose hisconcentration. I guess all would-be saviors have problems like this that thehistory books don’t say anything about.

“Icome here to help and you want me gone,” she began, picking up the threads ofconversation. Jamie looked up at her with a glare, his mind starting to stumbleits way out of its fog.

“Youwere the one who attacked me in the bathroom, weren’t you? And you jumped medownstairs.”

“IfI was really such a bad person, you wouldn’t be here right now,” Moniqueremarked. “Look, I’m here to helpyou! I know that’s hard to believe but…” She pressed her lips together into onethin line. “Look, what can I do to get you to believe me?”

Abead of sweat crawled down Jamie’s face. He could feel his arms and legsshaking. He placed his hands on the floor to steady himself. “By getting out ofhere! I don’t want to see you again!”

“I…can’treally do that. You’re in danger and…a lotdepends on you staying alive.”

Jamie’smouth dropped open, a combination of angry denial and frank curiosity. Special?Him? That sounded like the biggest lie imaginable, and yet…a part of him wanted to believe, or at least listen towhat she meant by that.

Warmthsuddenly began to flow from his nose and Jamie wiped at it, surprised to replaceblood on his hand. “Ah…?” he began, his voice little more than a whisper at thesight.

Blood.

Itmade him feel sick to see blood, eversince he was a child. Back when his brother died, he had a horrible nightmareabout being surrounded by the thick, bubbly, hot substance; drowning in it…

Theshaking of his hand went from bad to worse and he clutched his head in suddenpain, the light around him vanishing. Monique dropped down in front of him justthen, a Kleenex in one hand from his nightstand. She closed it around his handand quickly mopped it up before dabbing it at his face.

“You’rehemorrhaging a little,” she said. For an instant, her expression reminded himof his mother, the way she was before the accident with his brother. “You’reburning too much energy. You don’t know how to micromanage your resources yet.”She paused and withdrew her hand. “I…can teach you a little. So you can protectyourself. Have fewer accidents. Would that help you trust me a little?”

Atonce Jamie’s anger returned and he brushed her hand away from him. “Why does itmatter to you?” he demanded hotly. “Why am I so freakin’ important?” His headsnapped over to his Companion. “Beth! Call the cops!”

“She’s keeping me from doing so,”Beth replied regretfully. Jamie felt his heart plunge into his stomach, but nomore so than what she said next. “Jamie…I…think you should listen to what she has to say.”

“No…No way. She got you?”

Stupid! I’ve been out for howlong? This girl could’ve reprogrammed her! I… I can’t trust anyone anymore… Heswallowed, reaching a decision. I’ve gotto get out of here.

Savagely,Jamie surged upward and jumped, causing Monique to jerk backward in surprise,giving him a clear path past her. His mind sought out his powers, or rather therough feeling of them that he found whenever they activated, but unfortunatelyhe not only didn’t replace them, but his shaky legs gave out on him almostimmediately upon landing behind the girl. The world swam and distorted aroundhim as waves of nausea overwhelmed him, and in the next moment he found himselfbarely holding himself up from the floor, gasping harshly.

“Jamie!”he heard Beth shout in exclamation. He felt Monique’s arms close around him andsteady him.

“Whatare you doing?” she asked her voice full of worry. “I’m not going to…”

“Get…out!!!”

Hedidn’t know if it was the tone in his voice, or the light that flickered on andoff around him as he struggled to figure out how to activate his powers—hecouldn’t remember wanting them so badly than now—but he felt her hands pullback from him. Breathing heavily he turned his head to replace her backing off,arms raised in a placating gesture. He tasted warm copper—more blood—as itdripped down around his mouth.

“Allright,” Monique said, amber eyes wide and worried. “If…that’s how you want it.I’ll still be around though, in case you change your mind.” Turning, she madeher way over to the boy’s window and pushed it open with a grunt. She pausedand glanced over at Beth.

“Theball’s in your court for now,” she said to the Companion Device. With that, herQ-Field flashed around her body and she transformed into a small sparrow.Quickly flapping her wings she deftly exited the room and was gone.

Finally…

Atthat, Jamie felt the strength go out of his arms, and it took everything he hadleft to turn himself over onto his back. He sniffed. His mouth was smearedcrimson, leaving him to wonder at what sort of nightmare he must look likeright now.

“Jamie,”began Beth tentatively. “Are you allright?”

“Great,”Jamie muttered in response, though more out of habit than anything else, as concernabout what Monique did to his Companion was now ever in the back of his mind.“Just…great.”

Hehalf-imagined Beth’s eye winking in her usual manner whenever she was upset andstressed.

“I don’t know if we can trusther,” the AI began after allowing him to restfor a moment. “But there is definitelysomething going on that I believe she has brought to light. About the peoplewho make your medicine, and…about you. Jamie, she said that you’re beingwatched. That any information I send out about you is being edited so that noone notices what’s happening. Your medicine… It’s like someone wants you to fully become a heroi and…she said somethingabout you being an…M. I’m currentlychecking my data base for more information but…do you have any idea what shemeans by that?”

Jamiecracked open his eyes and stared exhaustedly at the ceiling. Right now hedidn’t care about whatever that girl told Beth. With great effort he pushedhimself up to a sitting position, took a careful breath and stood up. His headswam and his balance wavered, but once it became clear that he wasn’t going tofall over and die he staggered over to the window—clumsily tripping on his deskchair as he did so. Taking hold of the window it he slid it shut. He leaned onthe windowsill, taking deep, careful breaths in an attempt to calm himself.

Helooked over at Beth and flinched away from her electronic gaze.

“Jamie…”she began. “What can I do to help?”

Herpleading tone was heartbreaking. But he couldn’t be sure about what Monique didto her, even if he asked.

“She’s a computer.The thought hurt. In the year that he knew her, she was never just a computer to him. Now however…

Clenchinghis eyes shut, he said, “Justin. C-Call Justin. I need to talk to somebody!”

Maybe he can help…

Monique,in her sparrow body, lighted on a nearby tree branch and flittered around,adjusting herself so that she faced Jamie’s window. Watching as the boy closedthe window and leaned against it, she tilted her head to one side.

I’m not sure why I thought thiswould be a good idea, she thought sadly. A momentlater she took back to the air, losing herself to the blue sky above.

Atfirst, Teruo thought going down to the junkyard was a great idea—brillianteven. He started having doubts when he saw the first military jeep labeled CHCroll by.

Something’s up,he thought, wondering if any of the solders within the vehicle noticed him.That they would recognize him he highly doubted, but all it would take was areference or even a video recording for someone higher up the chain of commandto figure out exactly what he didn’t want anyone to know.

Abovehim he heard the warbling sound of Guardian Spheres, all flying in the directionof the junkyard. Curious, he decided to follow their path, if only to figureout the mystery and determine if he could still gain access to the place. Atthe rate CHC forces were arriving, he doubted that he’d be able to.

Oh man, please tell me that thistrip isn’t going to be a waste of time… he thought,biting on his lower lip. I’ve waitedfreakin’ forever for this!

Ashe drew nearer, his suspicions became increasingly more certain. More GuardianSpheres flew across the sky in a V-shaped pattern, and on one occasion he hadto turn his back to the street as another CHC vehicle drove by in order toprevent himself from being recognized. Licking his lips, he thought back toJohn’s sudden recall back to work.

Was that related? Heran a tongue across his mouth, turning to stare at the back of the vehicle asit retreated down the street. This isbad… Very, very bad… Shouldering his pack, he pressed onward, holding ontothe now increasingly obvious foolish hope that things were still going to gohis way.

Prettysoon he was creeping from corner to corner, staying as low to the ground aspossible—helped by the fact that not only was he very small, but also that thestreets fast became vacant. His pace had come to a painstakingly slow crawl.

“Thisis nuts,” he whispered, ducking into an alleyway just in time to avoid beingspotted by more agents driving by—this time in an armored vehicle carrying whatappeared to be a light model rail gun. His eyes wide, he waited for the agentsto pass before venturing back out. “Just what the heck happened?”

Intel. I need intel.

Creepingback into the alley, he dropped his bag and began digging through it, producingthe spider-legged disk from earlier. Pressing on it, it sprouted legs and stoodat attention.

“Ineed you to scout ahead,” he said. “Arial view of the junkyard. Can you dothat?”

Thedevice clicked and beeped in response. Its back unfolded and a pair ofinsect-like wings emerged. Buzzing rapidly, it gently took to the air and roseup. Pulling out a small data pad he turned it on and activated a link with histiny robot.

“Okay,”he mused as the image came in quickly. “Let’s see…” He shook his head andcoughed, feeling a little disoriented by the rapidly retreating ground. “Let’sdo a sensor sweep, passive scan.” Pressing a button on the pad, there was asmall ping noise. The screen shiftedfrom a real-time video transmission to a base computer layout of the streets.Numbers and colored dots materialized and Teruo winced.

“OldSerpent…” he breathed, running a hand across his mouth. “They’ve got everythingincluding armor support. They don’t want anyonegetting in. Just who the heck are they expecting?”

Anotherping and more information came in. His eyes rose up in shock.

Adamant-tipped munitions?!Shittin’ ass! Are they expecting to fight a Gamma?! There should be a newsreport out there if that’s the case! Why haven’t I…?Teruo’s train of thought came to a grinding halt as he slapped himself on theside of his head. Duh! he beratedhimself. I was watching cartoons allafternoon! I didn’t bother with the news or anything!

Bringinghis hand around to his mouth again he tapped a finger on it contemplatively. I can’t let this opportunity go to waste.There has to be a way…but what?

Sightingpower lines, it wasn’t long before he got an idea.

Power transformers… he thought, asmall smile drawing across his face. Yeah…That should be the ticket… Getting up from the ground, he checked his datapad for the locations of the CHC vehicles and took off to the nearest one.

What should it be…? he wondered,coming to a stop in front of the power line. I could wedge a piece of metal between the transformers to overloadthem and create an EMP blast. That might do the job. He kicked at the post.Not exactly something I want to do. It’dbe noticed, but…it should create a hole in their ranks long enough for me toget through. What other choice is there?

He sighed andtook his bag off his shoulder. Unzipping it he began to pull out some tools.Nothing particularly fancy, at least from his perspective, but just somethinghe needed to do the job. One was a simple Avalon Army Knife; foldable blade,pliers, a small screw driver…the basics. He also had duct tape, rubber glovesthat he had bought with his allowance some months before following an‘incident’ dealing with electricity, a hammer…light weight tools and not asingle one of them belonging to the kind of high tech. Pulling on the glovesand putting the hammer in his belt loop he began to climb up the pole, placinghis feet on its ladder rungs.

After what feltlike an eternity, he reached the top. Wiping his brow, he withdrew his hammerand reached down, aiming its metal head between the transformers. It clangedagainst them, but not where he needed it to be. Biting his lip he clenched hiseyes shut. I’m too short… I can’t reach.Maybe if I… Hiking himself up, he tried to angle the hammer’s head closer…

It slipped fromhis hand and fell between the two transformers. Its clawed end hooked on andwedged itself in as its handle swung down between them. Sparks flew and Teruonearly fell off in surprise.

“Whoa!” heshouted, his legs swinging as he tried to grab onto the pole. “Got to go! Gotto go…now!!!”

He started todescend rapidly down the pole, his feet skipping rungs as he went while abovehim the transformer sparked and raged.

Upon exploding,Teruo’s grip missed their mark and he plummeted the rest of the way down. Hehit the asphalt hard and pain ripped its way through his right leg. He clutchedat the limb, gritting his teeth so tightly he was afraid they would crack underthe pressure.

“Got…to…go…” he grated, rolling over to his leftknee. His right leg protested but he ignored it. He had to get going before CHCpersonal closed in to fill the gap that he hopedwas there.

As if to confirmhis hope, a number of Guardian Spheres suddenly crashed down to earth,rebounding off the streets and rolling under parked cars. That was all themotivation he needed. Forcing himself up to his feet, he took off at ahalf-limp, half-run, pushing himself as hard as he could. He resisted the urgeto check his data pad for information. Although he had modified it, he had no ideaif it had been enough to resist an EMP, let alone one that went off at pointblank range. Never mind that digging it back out of his bag would waste timethat he did not have.

Hobbling alongat a ragged pace, it wasn’t long before he heard the sound of approachingvehicles. Straining his ears, he gauged their speed and distance and calculatedit against the time it would take for him to get to the Junkyard gate.

Swearing underhis breath, he threw himself into another side alley and dove beneath a trashdumpster. Grime from an uncounted number of garbage dumps soaked into thefabric of his clothes, but he ignored it. Instead he focused on pulling himselfas far along the ground as possible so as to not be seen. As he heard the soundof vehicles screeching to a halt and agents shouting orders as they piled out,he could only wonder how he was going to get out of this one.

That did not go at all as I hoped it would, he thought,grimacing from the pain in his leg. Serpent!This is gonna suck!

Jamiesat at his desk, his head in his hands and still trying to calm down from hisencounter with Monique. Try as he might, he found himself unable to do so. Bethsat on her battery charger, watching him.

“Jamie,” shebegan after several long minutes of watching the boy shudder and try to get ahold of himself. “We need to talk aboutwhat happened.”

“Idon’t want to talk,” Jamie replied, his voice muffled by his hands. “Can’t youjust call the CHC?”

“Jamie, I…”Beth’s eye blinked as she measured her words carefully. “…I don’t know if we can trust the CHC to help here. I… She says thatmy messages are being intercepted. Part of my update did include somethinginvolving communications and transmissions, but I don’t have the equipment todetermine how much of what she said is true.”

Hereye glanced away. She was afraid to tell him the other problem—that if theywent to the CHC there was a chance he would be executed now that his powerswere awakening and growing in power. His display at school was problematicenough, and if her sensor readings of the household were correct he would be inserious trouble if they approached them now. All the worries and fears that thegovernment held about heroi would all come crashing down on Jamie’s head. Shefeared that, in the worst case scenario, he would break under the pressure andallow his powers to run wild.

TheCHC’s files were full of heroi who had this happen.

I have to protect him,Beth thought firmly. His mental health isnow my top priority. Maybe… “Jamie, I think you should take your medicine. Thatgirl has kept you from taking it at your scheduled time.”

Jamie’shead rose from his hands, a confused eyebrow raised. Beth’s eye shrank a littleat the remaining dried crust of blood around his mouth.

“But…didn’tyou say something about my medicine?”

“She said something was wrong with yourmedicine. That it was replaced with a placebo. It’s…um…how do I explain it?It’s supposed to make you think thatyou’re better. You’re tricking yourself. I am equipped to monitor your vitals.If what she said is true, I’ll be able to detect it.”

“Idon’t get it. If it’s not real, then it wouldn’t be working at all.”

“Like I said, you’d be trickingyourself. That’s the whole point of it. I don’t know for certain how well itwould work though on a heroi with developing powers. I’m looking through themedical literature now, but my access is limited as much of it is classifiedinformation.” Beth sighed. “Either way, it might be better than nothing right now until we knowfor sure.”

Itwas a desperate hope, but a hope that she clung too nonetheless. A placebocould do worlds of wonders in keeping Jamie’s powers under wraps as long as he believed that it still worked…

Theboy’s head rose and he grimaced. He didn’t look particularly thrilled at thenotion of taking his suppressant, but he got up all the same. Unplugging Bethfrom her charger, he clipped her to his waist and headed off in the directionof the bathroom. Doubts still plagued him about Beth but right now…right now heneeded the familiarity of her presence. As he approached the room with thepicture of the rabbit hung on it he paused and stared at it.

“Whatam I going to do?” he wondered aloud. He hung his head, allowing his hair tohide his eyes. “Jeez… He would knowbetter how to handle this than me.”

And he was just a kid…

Allat once Jamie hated himself for the fear, anger, and hesitation that roiledwithin him. “I told myself I wouldn’t be like this again,” he said, “but here Iam, being a coward. Again.” Tears threatened to spill from his eyes. Clenchinghis teeth he rubbed an arm over his face.

“You shouldn’t tell yourselfthat,” Beth urged.

“ButI am!” Jamie exclaimed, throwing hisarm away from his face fiercely. “Justin’s right! A spade is a spade no matterwhat! Right now…” Bringing his hands back up to his face he took hold of hishair and tugged hard on them. “…I’m a spade. And I promised I wouldn’t be. Whatthe Hel is wrong with me?”

“Jamie! Language!”

Inspite of himself, Jamie found himself barking a harsh laugh. It helped to breaksome of his tension. Sniffing with as much dignity as he could muster hedropped his hands back to his sides and took a shaky breath. “I’ve got to get ahold of myself. I promised…”

Thesound of his doorbell ringing broke his train of thought. Spinning around,eyebrow raised, he stood there wondering who could possibly be at the door now.Beth only got a hold of Justin’svoicemail. My folks wouldn’t be home until later. Much later. Could it be AuntAnn? No, she’s not in town right now…

Theringing of the doorbell told him that the only way he would replace out for surewas to actually go downstairs and replace out. Rushing down the stairs—and nearlytripping as he did so—he went to the door and unbolted it. With a naivety thatignored the experiences from the past two days he opened the door…

…andfound a familiar, purple-furred Cerberus jumping up into his arms, tongues outand already seeking skin to lick.

“Wha…?!Monster! Hey! You’re… Gah!” With astartled cry, the boy tumbled backward in a heap with his Cerberus on top ofhim, barking happily while it licked him furiously. From the corner of his eye,he saw a dark-haired girl and a woman standing in the doorway, both of whomlooked oddly familiar.

“Lookslike someone is happy to see you,” said Amanda Baker as she and Kira bothobserved the scene in front of them.