Project: MI
Chapter 4

Jamie came to astop in front of the park playground and took a quick look around him, warilyregarding some older boys playing hoop ball before hurriedly crossing over intothe blacktop and making his way over to the jungle-gym. Jamie kept the junglegym between himself and the teens as best as he could, but resisted the urge tohide behind it. Doing so, he reasoned, might draw their attention, which wassomething he did not want.

“Bad day tobring you along,” he muttered to Monster, patting his side. The two-headedCerberus nuzzled one of his heads against the boy’s leg, tongue hanging out ofhis mouth as he looked up at him with the other head goofily. Jamie sighed. That purple really stands out…

He took anotherquick glance at the blacktop. So far none of the boys playing noticed him yet,but that didn’t make him feel any better. He really hoped that his friends would get here soon.

“Come on you guys…” he muttered under hisbreath. Sensing his anxiety, Monster bumped up against him, trying to calm himdown.

“Jamie, it won’t do you any good to be worryingabout them right now,” Beth said from his belt loop. “And you know that your friends will not get here any faster justbecause you want them to.”

Jamie kicked atthe dirt and groaned.

“Not helpingBeth,” he replied, flashing another glance over at the game. The ball bouncedon the steel rim before falling into the hoop below. There was a loud chorus oftriumph from one of the two teams and a ruckus of angry curses from the other.Jamie leaned against the jungle gym and scowled. “Why’d they have to come here of all places? I thought they hadanother place that was closer to where they live.”

“If you would like, I could contact Justin and Kyleand let them know you would like to meet up somewhere else.”

“Could you?”Jamie asked, feeling a bit relieved by the suggestion. “I don’t want to be hereif they’re here.”

As he watchedthe gang of boys battle back and forth, the orange ball striking the pavement,shouts and orders going between each of them, his gaze fell upon one boy inparticular; a tall boy with burning red-hair, wearing a tank-top to show offhis already impressive biceps, and mouth drawn back in an almost predatorysmile. Jamie chewed on his lower lip, fighting down the nervous fear thatcrawled beneath his skin. His eyes, brilliant green, swept in his direction andhis lips curled back to shout something.

“Hey! Jamie!”

“Ohmy gods!” the boy jumped, twirling around to the source of the voice,recognizing instantly in spite of his heart pounding out what felt like adeliberate attempt to escape his chest. Jamie cringed, but at the same timerejoiced inwardly, unable to discern whether he should be blessed or cursed. Herecognized the owner of the voice. Justin Page. Friend, trouble-maker, andeverything in between. To Jamie, he was a good, if somewhat overbearing friend.To everyone else, he was overbearing, loudmouthed, and at times foulmouthed aswell.

Next to him aswell was their much shorter and mutual friend by the name of Kyle Guziak. Thatleft him feeling a bit better, but not by much. If there was ever a yin toJustin’s yang, Kyle was it, if to an extreme. The boy was shorter than any ofthem and had a confidence to match his short stature. Where Jamie was quiet,Kyle would be silent. Where Jamie would fidget, Kyle would squirm. Where Jamiewould anxiously think about what kind of conversation to strike up with a newfriend, Kyle would sweat and blurt out whatever came to mind, often stutteringso badly one would think that Common was a second language to him. He was notpopular, least of all with girls who, much to his dismay, likened him to aslug. Pale-faced, sweaty Kyle, who stammered and stuttered his way throughwords and often looked ashamed to be seen in public. Still, when he was in hiselement, he was kind and polite, and as confident as any of them…but only whenin his element.

“Hey guys,”Jamie greeted, waving at his friends as casually as he could while Monsterbounced over to the pair.

“Hey yourself,”Justin grinned, one hand happily receiving a Cerberus ear while glancing downat the boy’s belt. “Hey, Beth. I thought you said this sucker was going to belate.”

“He is,” the AI greeted with amusement in hertone as she swung against Jamie’s waist. “Andso are you. Did you take your time getting here?”

“Pretty much,”Justin replied. “Kyle wanted to swing by the game store today, so I figured wemight as well kill some time. He jerked a thumb in the direction of the hoopball game. “Do you want to make tracks? Kyle’s been looking like he’s ready tofreak at any second.”

“I am not!” Kyle protested heatedly. Jamiefroze at the sound of his voice and quickly glanced over at the hoop ballcourt, wondering if any of the boys overheard him. So far it didn’t appear tobe the case.

“Try and wakethe dead why don’t you,” Justin said sarcastically, fixing their friend with adry look. Pushing himself off from the jungle gym he looped an arm around Kyleand pulled him down against his armpit.

“Lemme go!” Kylecomplained, struggling against his friend’s grip. Grinning, Kyle tightened hishold and adjusted his footing.

“So where do youwant to go?” Justin asked Jamie casually, as though Kyle weren’t fighting tobreak free.

“Uh…well, Iwas…kind of thinking the hospital? Like you said? To see if what your mom saidwas true…”

“Of course it’strue!” Justin replied indignantly. “Like I told you over the phone, that sortof thing doesn’t happen oft…”

“Let…go!” Kyle exclaimed, finally rippinghimself free from Justin’s arm. The smaller boy fell back a step and heglowered at Justin. “Jeez… Do you even use deodorant?! Your pits stink!”

“It’s all foryou,” Justin laughed, waving a hand underneath his arm. “Sorry about thatthough,” he said sheepishly. “The stick ran out and I forgot to ask Mom if shecould get me a new one. I washed though!”

“Sure didn’tsmell like it,” Kyle grimaced, squeezing his nose shut for emphasis. “Gods!It’s like you swam up a swamp!”

Jamie chuckledlightly and looked over at the hoop ball court. It seemed that Kyle’s cry hadfinally caught their attention and all activity had ceased, save for one of theboys who was now pointing in their direction.

“Um…guys? Ithink we might want to get out of here…”

“Hmmm…” Justinrubbed his chin thoughtfully, following Jamie’s gaze. “Yeah, I guess so…”

“Justin?” came Beth’s voice, a concerned tone init. “I can tell by scanning you that yourthinking is not in line with what Jamie is suggesting…”

“Wait, what?”began Jamie, raising an eyebrow at his friend. Justin glared at the machine.

“Tattler… You’relike the little sister I never had or something.”

“What does shemean?”

“C’mon Jamie.It’s been a year and you’re a heroi! I keep telling you that you don’t have togo letting people push you around…”

“Uh…he’s a suppressed heroi,” Kyle pointed out.“And it’s against the law for him to use his powers, remember?”

What powers? Jamie felt his fingers curling into hispalms while his stomach worked itself into a knot. He remembered the game bookfrom the morning, but the medicine rendered the whole thing a moot point.

“Eh,” Justinwaved dismissively. “He’s got Monster. These punks can’t do anything that hewon’t burn ‘em for.” He winked at the Cerberus and both of the animal’s headsat once tilted to its left questioningly.

“Uh…Justin?”began Kyle tentatively. “Monster’s fire glands were removed…”

“Oh…right,”Justin frowned, returning his look in the direction of the hoop ball court. Asmaller group of the boys had detached themselves from the others and were nowheading in their direction. “Guess it’s time for a retreat then.”

Jamie and Kyleboth nodded in agreement and all three started to head off together, Jamietugging on Monster’s leash to get him moving.

“Hey! Grey!”bellowed a voice of one of the approaching boys behind them, causing all Jamieand Kyle to both freeze up in their tracks, while Justin continued on a couplepaces before stopping, turning to look at them with a raised eyebrow.

“Uh…guys? Isn’tthis where we’re supposed to be ignoring him and keep on walking?”

“Right!” Kylesaid quickly, taking hold of Jamie by the arm and, with strength that surprisedthe other boy, began to drag him forward. Jamie’s feet stumbled for a momentand he threw a look over his shoulder.

Oh great, he thought, quickly looking away as hisworst fears were realized. The boy at the head of the group, burning red-hairand bulging biceps, was known amongst friends, family, and teachers as BradleyMoore. Outside of them, and more specifically to the terrified students thatattended the same school as him, he was known not by a specific name but moreby a feeling of abject terror. His trademark hair color was joked about once bya more learned classmate of Jamie’s as the remains of the volcano thatdestroyed Pompeii.

Quickly gettinghis feet back under him, he fumbled for his Companion.

“Uh… Beth?” hestammered, attempting to unclip her. Unfortunately, his fingers were nowshaking so badly that they missed the chain completely.

“Jamie, I need to record this in case he triesanything against you.”

Jamie swallowed,trying to gulp down his fear and get somesense of calm in his fingers. He knew Beth was only trying to do her job, butif Bradley damaged her module…

Monster growledat his side just a split second before Bradley’s next bellow caused Jamie tofreeze in his tracks.

“Grey!!!”

Beth clipped offfrom Jamie’s belt as the trio spun around. Jamie had enough time to realizethat he couldn’t pocket the Companion without her being noticed.

Please don’t say anything, he thought desperately,trying to cover her with his fingers as much as he could without appearingobvious.

“Didn’t you hearme calling you James?” the red-haired boy asked, his troop of boys coming to ahalt behind him as he stopped in front of the young heroi.

“Uh…hey…Brad,”Jamie began carefully, tugging on Monster’s leash to keep him back. “How arethings?”

“Fine,” Bradleygrinned, folding his arms over his chest. “Just wondering what you’re doinghere.” He looked over at Justin, who was scowling at him. “What’s your problem?You’re still hanging out with these guys?”

“You got eyesright?” Justin replied, pointing at his own for emphasis, to which both Jamieand Kyle blanched noticeably. It seemed that their friend was intent on havingthings get off to a rocky start despite his earlier intention of leaving assoon as possible.

“Just wanted tomake sure,” Bradley chuckled. He looked at the others behind him. “You’d thinkhe’d be getting tired of them by now, but hey, like my old man says, to eachtheir own, right?”

“Yeah, sure,”Justin harrumphed. Bringing his armsto rest on his friends’ shoulders, he began to steer them in a direction thatfaced away from their fellow schoolmate. “Anyway, we’ve got to get out ofhere.”

“What’s therush?” Bradley asked, a mischievous light appearing in his eyes. “You don’thave time to catch up?” Slowly he reached out toward Jamie to stop the trio,but without looking, Jamie’s hand parted from his friend just long enough toslap Bradley’s arm away before returning to its resting location. Bradley’seyebrows rose up in surprise at this, and red warmed his cheeks as one of hisfriends made a sharp whistling noise.

“You steppin’ tome?” Bradley asked, moving a foot closer. Jamie could only nod numbly. Hisbrain felt like every fuse was popping all at once. He couldn’t think clearlyand was now simply reacting. The air warmed and cooled around him in waves, andhe felt an odd sense of dampness hanging close to his armpits. Sweat? He wasgoing to worry about that later.

He almost didn’tnotice Justin appearing by his side.

“Knock it off,”Justin said, throwing a sharp glare over his shoulder. “We’ve got a friend inthe hospital that we’re visiting. They got caught in that freak heroi attackyesterday. We don’t have time for you yankin’ us around.” Grabbing hold ofJamie’s enclosed hand, he pulled it up, revealing Beth for the other boys tosee. “Smile. You’re being watched.”

“Cease and desist,” Beth warned,her electric eye seemingly narrowing. A red dot appeared on Bradley’s foreheadand the boy finished retracting his hand with a chuckle.

“Whatever yousay Officer Mom,” he replied in an innocent tone. “Just don’t hurt me…”

There was aflash of movement and Jamie’s hand was thrown to the side, skin red andstinging. Beth’s module flew through the air before landing a few feet away onthe ground.

“Piss on that,”Bradley scoffed. “You think I care?” He craned his head in the Companion’sdirection. “Josh?”

“On it,” saidone of the boys, detaching himself from the group.

“Hey!” Justinshouted, starting forward, only for Bradley to grab him roughly by the shirtand shove him backwards. Justin’s feet pin-wheeled for a moment before catchinghis balance.

“Take it easy,”sneered Bradley as his friend handed him Beth’s module. “I was just having Joshpick it back up for him.” Smirking, the fiery-haired boy dusted off the machinebefore holding it out for Jamie. “Go on,” he said. “Just take it back.”

Jamie eyedBradley with suspicion, already knowing how this was going to go. He experiencedenough of his ‘games’ to figure out what his next move was. What could he dothough?

Doing nothing only makes things worse. If I dosomething…it won’t be as bad. Usually.

So he did whatBradley expected. He reached out, and the older boy pulled Beth back. Bradleylaughed at his fruitless attempt.

“Now say thatyou’re sorry for ignoring me when I called you.”

By Jamie’s side,Monster growled viciously, eyes narrowing. Bradley only eyed him with mildamusement.

“Keep your muttcool,” said one of the boys behind Bradley.

“Just give herback,” Jamie said, his face flushing deep red in anger. A slight aura began toappear around the hand that held Monster’s leash as he tightened his grip, butit went unnoticed.

“This isstupid!” Justin snarled, and with that the boy launched himself at Bradley,surprising Jamie. Bradley, out of experience with his antics, simply launched avicious kick at Justin’s unprotected abdomen. Justin’s eyes bulged in theirsockets as all the air left his lungs in one mad rush, and he collapsed to theground, arms clutching his stomach, gasping.

“Jus—!” beganJamie, only for Bradley to grab him by the ear and pull him forward.

“I wasn’t donewith you,” he hissed, tugging and twisting with each word he spoke. “Come on.Say. You’re. Sorry.”

That did it.With a guttural snarl, Monster jumped upward and his jaws closed aroundBradley’s arm. The older boy screamed in surprise as the Cerberus’ fangs bitinto his unprotected flesh, causing him to drop Beth to the ground again. Jamieblinked in surprise and pulled backward, the light around his leash handintensifying briefly. With one more yank, Monster’s fangs ripped away and bothhim and Jamie collapsed to the ground in a heap. Swearing up a storm, Bradleystaggered backward, clutching hold of his arm in order to stem the flow ofblood that seeped through his fingers.

“Bastard!” Bradley howled, throwing off hisfriends’ attempts at helping him. “Get offa me! I said get off!” The crowd backed off, suddenly wary of the teen. Scramblingto his feet, Jamie tried to do likewise, instantly knowing as they did that nowthat he was pissed, he would turn on anyoneregardless of what side they were on. With a snarl, Bradley stomped overtoward him and Monster attempted to lunge at him once more. Instinctively Jamiepulled him back…

There was ameaty smack as Bradley’s fist struck Jamie on his left cheekbone, sending himcareening to the ground with a heavy thud. For a wonder, his grip on Monster’sleash tightened, preventing him from retaliating. Not that it helped, nor wasBradley grateful for the further absence of Cerberus fangs in his body.

“S-Stop it!”Jamie heard Kyle cry as he struggled to get back up. Bradley’s shadow fell overhim.

Here it comes…

“What’s going on here?!”

Jamie blinked asthe expected blow didn’t come, but an adult did in its place. Bradley fell backas a dark-haired woman wearing a jean jacket stormed up, blue-eyes looking asthough she just broke open the Underworld and all Hell was vomiting forth in allits fury and vengeance.

“I asked what the hell is going on here?!”the woman demanded, not bothering to mince words.

“That kid’sCerberus attacked…”

“…because your friend attacked his owner!” the womansnapped to the first boy who dared to speak. “I’ve got eyes like a hawk. I saw what happened!”

“Screw you, youold bat…” began Bradley, anger still burning in his voice. The woman was quickto turn her fury on him. Much to Jamie’s surprise, Bradley staggered back under her glare, and a physical sense of oppressiveness fell over the playground, asthough the air was slowly becoming solid. Jamie found himself gasping forbreath as fear rolled over him like a blanket. Suddenly he was unsure if thewoman was his rescuer.

“I’m sorry,”began the woman, her voice dripping. “Would you care to repeat that? Because Iwas almost sure that you said youwere going to get out of here.”

None of the boysin Bradley’s troupe would admit it amongst themselves—it had to be a trick ofthe light, or the tenseness of the situation—but privately they would havesworn on a stack of holy books that the woman’s eyes darkened for half a second as the sensation of weight in the airincreased in intensity.

“Brad…” beganone of the boys—Josh—laying a hand on the boy’s shoulder. That seemed to snaphim back to reality and he, along with the rest, took a step back.

“We’re out ofhere,” he replied. With one final glare at Jamie, he was true to his word, andtogether the group soldiered off.

“Ho…ly…crap…”wheezed Justin, struggling to his feet while Jamie let go of a breath that hedidn’t know he had been holding. “Remind me to never piss you off.”

“Watch yourmouth,” the woman said, turning to face the three boys, giving Justin a firmlook. The cloud that had initially surrounded her was gone, but she held ontothe air of authority just enough for Justin to grimace without making a snappyresponse in return.

For once, thought Jamie, getting up. Standing upon his hind legs, Monster’s two heads went straight for his cheek, tongues lappingout in an attempt to wash the bruise that was already forming. Approaching him,the woman looked him over.

“You don’t lookthe worse for wear. Are you okay?” She reached out toward his face and Jamieflinched back.

“S-Sorry,” hestammered, averting his eyes. “I’m a little wound up right now…”

Pressing herlips together, she nodded in understanding and didn’t press the issue. Reachinginto her handbag, she dug through it. “It looked like your Cerberus messed thatkid’s arm up pretty bad.” She glanced in the direction of the retreating gangof boys and frowned. “Can’t say that I feel sorry for him, but…his folks mightlook for a lawsuit because of it.” She produced a card and handed it to Jamie.“I need to meet up with someone soon, so I can’t stick around for very long,but take this in case there is trouble and you need someone to testify foryou.” She smiled comfortingly at him as Jamie reluctantly took the card andread the name off it. Amanda Baker.

Why does that name sound familiar…? he wondered beforequickly dismissing the thought.

“Um…thanks?”

“Is that aquestion or a response?” the woman grinned, hoping to ease the tension in theair.

“A res…I mean thanks!” Jamie quickly bowed his head atthe woman respectfully, earning him a raised eyebrow.

“You’re prettyold fashioned,” she chuckled. “See you around kiddo.” Shrugging her bag backonto her shoulder, she headed off, giving the trio a small wave.

“Jeez…” Justinbreathed as Kyle approached, picking up Beth and holding him out for Jamie totake. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,”Jamie replied, clipping Beth back to his waist.

“Not you,”Justin snorted. “I can already see how you are. I’m asking Beth. She took twotumbles you know.”

“I am undamaged,” the Companion replied. “I’m a bit frazzled though. That…was a badone.”

“Every meetingwith that guy is a bad one.”

“Compared to other bad ones,” Beth clarified before continuing. “He’s getting worse. I’m going to have to file a report. His behavioris becoming too dangerous. For Jamie. For…everyone around him and…” TheCompanion paused. “I’m sorry, Jamie. Ididn’t mean…”

“Don’t worryabout it,” Jamie said, patting Beth’s casing. “Let’s just get out of here.”Tugging on Monster’s leash, the three friends headed off.

Amanda Bakerwatched the three boys as they wandered away before pulling out her cell phoneand checking the time.

“You weren’tgoing to do anything to stop that mess, Agent Coleman?” she asked to the manapproaching casually behind her. The man, dirty-blond hair and wearing the darksuit that characterized agents belonging to the Center of Heroi Control, didnot react in surprise at having been noticed without being seen.

“I was assessingyour response, Ms. Foster,” he replied simply. “All heroi are to be approachedwith caution.”

“I wasn’t goingto hurt them,” Amanda said, pocketing her phone. The agent shrugged.

“All the same.”

“Anyway, what’sthis all about?” Amanda asked, sounding more than a little bit miffed. “I wasin the middle of a design meeting and I had to pull some strings to get out ofthere without telling anyone that the CHC wanted to see me. You’re not helpingeither by the way with that look.” She gave the agent an appraising look andsniffed derisively. “Where’s Daria? She gave me the call. I thought she would meet me here.”

“I’m going tohave to ask you to come with me,” Agent Coleman replied simply. Amanda’s earspricked at a warbling sound—no, twowarbling sounds—from above them.

Guardians… she thought, not looking up.

“What’s goingon?” she asked, her muscles tensing up.

“Please don’tresist. We have the frequency of your Q Field on file. We don’t need anincident that would become subject to public or oversight scrutiny.” His eyes,amber colored, flicked over to Amanda. “A scandal would be bad for you and yourdaughter I would imagine.”

Amanda narrowedher eyes, seething for a moment before finally nodding in agreement.

“All right,” shesaid. “Lead on.”