Project: MI
Chapter 8

Jamieawoke to replace the ceiling staring back at him, although ‘awoke’ was very much alie as far as he was concerned. Simply opening his eyes was by far the moreaccurate description and even that so long as he was generous with it. He hadnot slept. Not one dream flittered across his subconscious—at least not onethat he was aware of. In spite of the aching exhaustion that filled his limbs,requiring him to be half-dragged back home, he did little more than lie therewith his eyes closed, feeling time just drag by.

Thinkingabout Monster.

Jamiemade an exasperated groan as he sat up in bed and looked at the alarm clock. Itread at five of six and would go off soon. Restless as he was, he turned offthe alarm setting and pulled himself the rest of the way out of his warm nest.Over on his desk, Beth’s electric eye winked on, detecting his movement.

“You’re already getting up?”she asked curiously.

“Mightas well,” Jamie replied, heading over to his dresser and pulling open a drawer.

“I detected rhythms in yourbreathing that was inconsistent with…”

“Yeah,I couldn’t fall asleep,” Jamie interrupted, tugging on a plain blue shirt.“Like you can’t guess why.”

“I’m sorry that there hasn’t beenanything on Monster. These things take time.”

“Don’t…!”he began sharply before taking hold of himself. Taking slow, deep breaths, hecalmed down. “I know,” he said finally, and left it at that. He hated sayingit.

Afterpulling on his pants, he grabbed his school bag and looked through it.

“Crud,”he muttered, seeing a slightly crumpled sheet of paper sticking out of a book.“I forgot to do my homework…”

Today is just going to get worse,he thought. He just wanted to skip school and go looking for Monster.Unfortunately, Beth being by his side would negate that possibility. She kepttrack of his movements and reported everything he did. For the first time thathe could remember, he found himself hating her, and he hated himself forfeeling that way.

She’s just doing her job. It’snot like she has a choice either. I can’t tell her to look the other way andnot say a thing. Zipping up his bag with moreforce than necessary, he pulled on his shoes.

“Areyou all charged up?” he asked.

“One moment please,”Beth replied. “I am currently downloadinga new patch. My communication protocols have been updated. I can’t be unpluggeduntil I am finished.”

“Hm,”Jamie grunted, setting himself down on the floor. “No rush.” He glanced aroundhis room, a strange feeling coming over him that something was off. After amoment he brushed it off, more worried about Monster’s absence than anythingelse. Closing his eyes, he curled his fingers into his palms, resisting theurge to hit his desk.

Afteryesterday’s incident in the park and after coming home without his Cerberus,the last thing he wanted to do was explain anything, such as how he destroyedhis desk.

Not that they won’t figure itout.

“Download complete,”Beth said. “You may unplug me now.”

SnatchingBeth off her charger, he quickly clipped her to his belt and lifted his bag offthe floor. Exiting the room, he found himself nearly jumping in surprise as hecame face to face with his mother, a bland expression on her face.

“Iwas just about to come get you,” she said, her tone equally as dull. “I didn’thear your alarm go off.”

“Iwoke up early,” he explained, shrugging his bag onto his shoulder in anindicative fashion.

“Oh,”she said in a disinterested manner before brushing past him. “Any word onMonster?”

“Sadly no,” Bethsaid in a sorrowful tone. “I checked theSPCA’s website regularly and so far no new information has been posted.”

Thewoman came to a rest beside the door near the stairs and laid her hand to reston the rabbit picture.

“Well,hopefully something will come up,” she replied. “Don’t forget to take yourpills before you leave.”

Withthat said she dropped her hand and began to head down the stairs. Jamie stoodthere for a moment, his eyes fixated on the door, one hand locked in a tightfist shaking. Making a disgusted sound, he stormed right past it, not botheringto touch its doorknob as per his usual custom.

“I’llreplace him,” he declared under his breath. “I’ll bring Monster home!”

The elevatordoors to the third floor of the CHC office building slid open, and John and Teruoboth stepped out. The dark-haired boy had a sullen look on his face as he tooka look around him.

“I hate thesecarpets,” he grumbled under his breath.

“So you’ve saidfor the hundredth time,” John replied. He frowned at the boy. “And don’t tell me…”

“Thirty-seven,”Teruo interrupted. John sighed.

“Let’s just getthis over with, okay? The sooner the better, you know that.” He thought for amoment before a small smile crept across his face. “If you behave yourself,I’ll take you somewhere.”

“You’ve alreadytaken me somewhere.” Teruo glanced up at him, his expression annoyed.

There’s just no winning with this kid. “Somewhere you want to be.”

“I don’t goout,” Teruo replied. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he turned and startedto make his way down the hall. “Hey Jason,” he greeted casually to a manpassing by. Jason nodded in turn before raising an eyebrow at John.

“He’s goingahead of you?” he asked, pointing at the boy questioningly. John resisted theurge to wince.

“He’s just familiarwith his way around this place,” John replied, clapping his coworker on theshoulder. “Don’t worry about it. Anything new to report?”

“Just that ourdepartment is getting a few new case files. Nothing too spectacular I think.Oh!” Jason snapped his fingers. “The Grey case is being reopened. You rememberthat one right? From about a year ago?”

John nodded, butnot in an enthusiastic manner. Great. Onemore pile of paperwork that I need to worry about…

“Anyway,” Jasoncontinued. “Someone from Clark General will be contacting your department soon,so be ready.”

“All right. Letthe team leader know that I’ll be in soon. Talk to you later.”

“Right. Later.”

With that, thetwo men parted ways and John strode after Teruo as he disappeared around acorner. For the briefest of moments, the young man felt as though his heartstopped in his chest at losing sight of him, but upon rounding the corner itquickly found reason to continue beating as he came across Teruo leaningagainst the wall, smirking.

“Don’t break therules, John.”

“Clever,” Johnsaid, taking the boy by the shoulder and leading him forward. “It’s more you that should be observing them. Whenyou’re here, you stay within my sight, or those you’re assigned to work with.”

“Which you’ve saidover and over…”

“I know.” Johnsmiled, deciding to indulge him this time. “How many times has it been?”

Teruo returnedthe smile. “Thirty-eight.”

Behind the pairas they left the spot Teruo had been, a small, bronze-colored, circular devicelifted itself up on needle thin legs. A red light lit up at its front andwatched them go until they disappeared from view, and then it scrambled away.

“All right,”said a technician as he applied a sensor to Teruo’s forehead. “This won’t hurta bit.”

“Normally peoplelike you lie about that,” Teruo replied jokingly. The technician smiled.

“Correction: doctors lie about that. I work withmachines.”

“What’s yourpoint?” asked Teruo before continuing matter-of-factly. “Isn’t my body amachine?”

“I’d ask thebiologist,” the technician quipped right back, “but ours is off today.” Hefurrowed his brow thoughtfully for a second. “Hey, since you’re so good withtech, wouldn’t you be able to answer that question?”

“Uh…” Teruohesitated, not sure how to respond to that. “Well…the guts I deal with are…metal-based.That’s all my Q-Field allows me to understand.”

“Hmmm… Too bad.You’d probably make an excellent surgeon if it did.” He stood back, nodding tohimself. “All right. We’re ready to get to work.”

Teruo, dressedin nothing but a hospital gown, swung his legs up and lay himself down on thebed. No sooner did he do so did the bed jerk and begin drawing him into asmall, tunnel-like device, whereupon it stopped. Teruo’s fingers curled intohis palm anxiously. He scanned the interior with his eyes, taking in everylittle detail. There were three frames dotted with slight bulges in theirsurface. Their proximity made him swallow.

It’s just like being in a womb, he thought tohimself, and as though the thought had been a signal, the tension in his bodybegan to ease up, and his fingers relaxed.

“So, what areyou going to do this time?” Teruo said aloud. “Beam images into my head?”

“That’s theplan,” said the technician from outside. Teruo could hear him moving around,pressing buttons. “Good to see that you knew that pretty quick.”

“Q-Fieldscheat,” Teruo remarked, shifting. “You had to have seen my report cards,right?”

“I’m not privyto that kind of information. Only your guardian and the higher ups have accessto that.”

“Right.” Teruoshifted again. “Look, can we hurry this up?”

“Don’t worry,kid. We’ll get this wrapped up in no time, and then you can have all the icecream in the world.”

“Anotherdoctor’s lie,” Teruo grumbled. “You sure you don’t practice?”

“Pretty sure.I’ve got a degree that tells me so, and I spent a great deal of time practicingit. So…no. Pretty sure I didn’t study medicine. Are you ready?”

“As ready asI’ll ever be.”

“Okay. Here wego.”

There was a wineof machinery powering up, and then the frames burst with sudden light, notintense enough to hurt him, but enough to make Teruo clench his eyes shutreflexively. As he did so, an image of a rocket filled his mind. The lightflashed again, and there was a satellite. Again, and there was a computer.Again, and again, and again; more images, more pieces of technology.

“Okay, okay,” hesaid hoarsely under his throat. “Cut it out. I’m starting to get a headache.”

“Stoppingprogram.”

The bed withdrewfrom the tunnel, and Teruo sat up, nursing his forehead. The technician cameover to him, a glass of water in his hand.

“Sorry aboutthat. I thought we had adjusted the thing this time. How’re you feeling?”

Teruo pointed atthe hand on his head in response before accepting the glass of water. Brieflyhe wondered why people always offered water to someone whenever they had justbeen upset, but shrugged the thought aside and took a swallow anyway. He wasn’tone to turn down free hospitality.

The info that I get out of this place had better beworth the pain of coming here, he thought.

“Would you lookat that?”

John turned tohis blond-haired coworker, Samantha Laurent and nodded before returning hisattention to the computer screen.

“Teruo’s Q-Fielddefinitely received the information broadcast to him.”

“I know, butlook here.” Samantha reached out and tapped the screen where an image of abrain—Teruo’s—stood out prominently. “This sort of activity we usually see whenwe’re problem solving, particularly when a person is experiencing REM sleep.This is all Parietal Lobe action when we’re dreaming, yet he’s awake. He’s notsleep walking or anything.” Samantha looked at John with amusement. “He was awake when you brought him in,right?”

“I had to workto drag him out of bed, but he was awake,” John replied. “It certainly sayssomething though. When a person becomes a heroi, the first signs involvedreams—usually extremely lucid ones.”

“Sometimes theamount of lucidity determines what kind of Heroi, or how strong, they become.Remember the Sleep Walker incident?”

“That was wellbefore our time,” John pointed out. “We missed it by a good fifty years.”

Samantha tappeda finger against her lips, her eyes alight with excitement. “It’s times likethis that I wish the higher ups would let us into the archives. We couldunderstand this so much better if we had access to all the research from theprevious Ages. All the studies that were done on psychics… Think of how thatcould help us!”

John shruggednonchalantly. He wasn’t entirely certain that the previous Ages had anythingthat could be safely learned from. Exceptmaybe to learn not to do what they did back then, he mused.

“This is allvery interesting, but we haven’t yet picked out the mechanism that lets Teruodo what he does. Most people can’t look at something and instantly know allthere is to know about how it works and what it takes to build it.”

“Maybe it’s likeone of those old ideas…you know, where the brain is only using ten percent ofits ability to work.”

John rolled hiseyes. “That was long ago proven to be…be…”

“Bullshit?”Samantha smirked.

“Yes. Thankyou.”

“You’re too muchof a stickler, John. You need to lighten up; cut loose a little.”

Here we go again… “Let’s not get away from this.With Teruo we know that his power is based in the brain, particularly in how itprocesses information. But this isn’t quite what the Parietal Lobe does. It’s…it’smostly spatial recognition, isn’t it?”

“People stopdreaming when they have damage to it.” Samantha fixed John with a slight frown.“What did they teach you at university?”

“I was mostlystudying child psychology.” Which was whyI hooked up with being Teruo’s guardian. I didn’t have a choice in the matter.“So what do you think?”

Samantha huffedand leaned back in her chair. “I wish I could really tell you. Sigmund Freudhad a lot to say on the development of the heroi psyche, particularly in the areaof dreams. Biologically speaking though, there may be some organ or connectionin the brain that we just haven’t mapped out yet. Who knows? It could be thatTeruo’s head is connected to the Internet and he’s able to do a search forwhatever he sees. That doesn’t explain the howhe does it, except for the Q-Field, but it’s not like we understand that anybetter.” She tapped a finger on her forearm. “Not without peeking into what thearchives have to say anyway…”

“I doubt thatTeruo’s head can somehow access the Internet,” John said. “I’ve seen hisgrades.”

“So have I,”Samantha nodded. “Average intelligence. Intense dislike for mathematics. Idon’t know. Can simple intuition be a superpower?”

“He is anAlpha-3,” John noted. “The landscape of the Alpha description usually means basicenhancements or minor mutations to the body. Like Mallory for instance…”

“God I love herhair,” Samantha sighed, leaning into her hand dreamily. “How’d she get solucky? All the guys rave about her.”

“Uh…yeah. Sure.”

“Except you, ofcourse,” Samantha pointed out. “You should rave about her too. Or is Teruo onthe money with you wanting to get it on with a certain police officer?”

“Sam!!!”exclaimed John in surprise. Samantha chuckled.

“I see how itis. Yep. She’s got you, hook, line, and sinker.”

John rolled hiseyes and opened his mouth to say something, but before he could get so much asa word out, the phone on the desk started ringing. Reaching over, he picked itup.

“John Smith, Centerof Heroi Control. How may I help you?”

“Do you have tomake it sound like we’re in customer services?” Samantha whispered, plainlyannoyed. John ignored her.

“This is Doctor Parsons from Clark General Hospital.I was contacted in regards to a former patient by the name of James Grey, andwas referred to your department…”

Someone got ahead of me, thought John.

“Yes, thank youfor getting back to us,” John began, leaning back in his chair. “Sorry to bringup old news, but we need all the information that you have available regardingthe patient in question. Additionally, if it’s not too much trouble, we wouldlike to interview anyone in your staff who had contact with him during thattime frame.”

“It…can be arranged,” the doctor saidcarefully, and John suddenly had an image of the man as the sort who did notlike to have his time wasted on seemingly nonsensical tasks. “I can arrange for my secretary to compile alist for you by the end of the day…”

“Please do so.”

“Will that be all?”

“Just one morequestion,” John replied, smiling a little. “Do you like coffee?”

7:45

Kira hated bustransportation. Even before she became able to fly she hated it. Once, when shewas still in her single digits, she purposefully missed the bus just so shecould see how long it would take her to get to school on foot. She knew howclose she was, so it left her with an odd feeling that something was offwhenever she arrived there so late in the morning. Sure enough, she was therein only twenty minutes.

Her motheryelled at her for doing so, telling her about all the muggers and kidnappersthat preyed the streets and how she was oh-so-worried about her being on herown like that. So until she got her powers, she rode the bus just so as to notworry her. After, it was just to keep up appearances.

She sighed. I still can’t believe that I got out of thatwithout her realizing what was going on. I nearly punched through the wall!She flexed her hand and looked down at it. Barely four months ago would shehave had a nasty bruise coloring her flesh, and that was if she was lucky. Invulnerability more than had its perks.

Just what happened yesterday? Was she trying tocontact me using her powers? She felt so real… That’s…not something that shecan do. Could do. Her mouth twisted itself into agrimace. What are they doing to her overthere?

The bus drew toa halt in front of the school. Grabbing her book bag she wove herself into thegaggle of students that were already entering the aisle against bus regulationsand within short order got off.

So far it wastaking everything she had to keep from taking off now and storming into RomanaPax to replace her sister. She couldn’t afford to do anything more than keep a lowprofile. She didn’t want to end up like her mother or the boy, James.

Pulling out hercell phone she checked her messages. Stillnothing from Malcolm, she thought. Whenis he going to get back to me? Sighing and shaking her head, she pocketedthe phone. Maybe he can’t make heads or tailsof what I told him either. Maybe he’s not as good as I thought he was. Eitherway, something is going to have to happen later. I’ll pay him a visit afterschool and see what’s what then. If he doesn’t give me something… She letthe thought drift off as she envisioned herself ripping the ground apart aroundMalcolm’s base. It did little to assuage her disappointment in how things wereprogressing.

Getting through the day is going to be tough, she mused uponpassing through the school’s main entrance.

She set herselfdown in the cafeteria, a tray with a bowl of cereal and a carton of milksitting on it. Breaking open the milk carton, she poured it over her breakfastand set about stirring it together.

Another tray wasset down directly across from her.

“What do youwant?”

That was whatshe would have said as she looked up, eyes full of annoyance, but she got asfar as the word ‘what’ before she found herself facing a thin, plain lookinggirl with curly brown hair with a purple, fuzzy sweater.

“Hey Kira,” thegirl smiled. “Long time no see.”

Kira’s mouthworked, trying to say something…anything.After a couple seconds of stunned amazement, she finally stammered out, “M-Monique?! Wha-? When did you…?”

“So I can sithere?”

In her shock,Kira found herself completely forgetting all her worries.

“When did you…?”She shook her head, trying to loosen the cobwebs that took hold in her mind.“Oh…wow. I don’t believe this!”

“I thought thatwould be the case. Mom wanted me to tell you as soon as I woke up, but I wantedto keep things quiet to surprise you.” She scrunched her face up in her usualway when she looked like she caught someone. It was an expression Kira foundthat she missed a great deal.

“When did youget out of the hospital?” Kira asked, finally managing to collect herself.

“Oh…about awhile ago,” she said teasingly. Kira did not look appeased by this evasiveanswer.

“When?” shereiterated. “The last time I visited you…triedto…was when they moved you, and they wouldn’t tell me where!”

“Doesn’tmatter,” Monique replied, leaning back in her chair. “I’m back. That’s allthat’s important, right?” She brushed at her bangs and Kira’s eyes were drawnto the dark, knotted-looking scar that ran along the corner of her head. Shewinced and turned away. Monique gave her a sympathetic look.

“Does it reallylook that bad?” she asked, her hand dropping from her hair.

“It looks…” Kiratrailed off, unable to say more as she pressed her lips together into one tightline. Monique reached over and touched her forearm.

“Don’t worryabout it. I don’t really remember much anyways.” She smiled again, this time amuch more natural one that was all sparkling white teeth. “You want to gettogether after school and hang out? We’ve got a lot to catch up on.”

“I…” Before Kiracould properly answer, she saw out of the corner of her eye a familiar faceemerge from the cafeteria line, quickly followed by two other boys. James… she thought, floored by thisdevelopment before repeating the name in her mind more strongly. James! He’s here?! He attends school here? He…

“Kira?”

The girlblinked, remembering the matter at hand. Dropping her gaze, she poked at herbreakfast, suddenly replaceing it no longer appetizing.

“I…havesomething else I’ve got to take care of,” she replied. She offered her friendan apologetic look. “Next time?” she offered, hating herself for doing this toher friend—her best friend, whom shefelt deserved blowing off not in the least.

Monique lookeddisappointed, but she nodded. “Guess I should have told you after all,” shesaid, her smile smaller now. “But…” Her lips curved wider again. “…that look onyour face was totally worth it!”

Something isn’t right…

The thoughthammered over and over inside Beck’s mind as he strode through the halls ofRomana Pax, anxiously munching on the contents from a bag of chips, unmindfulof the crumbs that spilled down his shirt. Throwing open his office door hefrowned at the intern that jumped at his entrance.

“What are you sojumpy about?” he asked sardonically. “Also, didn’t I fire you?”

“But…but youtold me that you would see me tomorrow…and to take the day off. I thought youwere just…”

“Get me somepudding from the vending machine up on the third floor,” Beck interrupted,tossing some change to the young man, who just barely caught them. He stared atBeck, flummoxed, causing the man to roll his eyes in exasperation.

“What are youwaiting for? An invitation? Go on! I require some privacy for a few minutes.”

Scrambling outof his seat, the youth was out the door so quickly that Beck imagined a puff ofsmoke rising behind him. Shaking his head, he made a tsking sound and wandered over to his computer, quickly firing itup. Accessing the network, he immediately ran through all the updates to therelevant newsfeeds. Scowling, he pulled out his cell phone and immediatelybegan dialing Steiner’s number. A buzz and a click later, he spoke before theman had so much as a chance to give a groggy hello.

“There’s nothinggoing on about yesterday,” he said. “The news isn’t saying anything about our Chosen Kid’s little outburst. Might want to getyour ass down here. We need to chew the fat on this one.”