Delsin slipped through the buildings and alleys as quickly as he could. He tried to avoid use of his powers, even if they saved time. Cameras captured every inch of the city. As he stood as nonchalantly as possible waiting for his new informant, someone seemed to almost melt out of a wall.
"Are you Delsin Rowe?" She was a little shorter than Delsin, with shaggy black hair hanging over a pair of sunglasses. When she spoke, a thin Irish accent ghosted through her words.
"Yeah." Delsin slid his hands into his pockets. "Who are you?"
"I'm Lydia McBride. I need to see Eugene, but the city's locked down too tightly for me to find him. A little bird told me that you've got a way through the city, and you know Eugene."
"I know him," Delsin narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "but I don't know you."
Lydia slid a hand out of her pocket, revealing fingertips blackened as if she had dipped her fingers into charcoal dust. Her fingernails were elongated, curved unnaturally into claws.
"I'm one of the chosen few, Delsin. Please, just take me to Eugene."
Delsin didn't say another word. He simply nodded, turned on his heel, and led the way through the Conduit Network, with careful knocks and safewords, signal phrases and rehearsed codenames. They made their way slowly back to Eugene's lair, and the back entrance they had build when the front had become too dangerous to use. Delsin kept having to turn back and check for Lydia, since she seemed to fade out of existence behind him.
He knocked three times on the back entrance, and counted to three in his head before he knocked for a fourth time. Eugene pulled open the door and stepped aside. Delsin stepped through the doorway, turning to watch as Lydia slipped through behind him. Eugene closed the door and turned as Lydia slipped her hood off her head and pulled her sunglasses off. She shook her wavy black hair out before turning to scan the hideout, and Delsin jumped slightly, startled. Her eyes were bright violet, and her pupils were slits in the center of her eyes. She turned her gaze on Delsin, nodding in thanks, as Eugene rubbed his arm.
"Uh, hi Lydia…"
"Hello, Eugene." Lydia turned, offering a warm smile. "It's been a while."
"Eugene, who's at the door?" Fetch spoke up from the couch, her tablet in her hands.
"It's Lydia. She was the one who called Delsin." Eugene turned his attention back to Lydia, his gaze meeting hers for only a fraction of a second before he lowered his eyes to the ground.
"Lydia," Eugene hesitated. "I'm sorry I never came back for you. I know they were hard on you, pushing you, and I never… I didn't think I would be able to escape, and I couldn't…"
"It's okay, Eugene. You wouldn't have been able to find me even if you came back for me. When they found out that the truck had been derailed, they moved me to the lowest floor of the compound. I was completely isolated. Augustine was the only one permitted to know where I lived, and they gassed me to bring me in for experiments." Lydia reached out, touching his arm gently. He turned his gaze to her fingertips, his brow furrowed, and he took her hand.
"You were able to retract your claws before, and this residue…" He rubbed her fingertip, a chalky black dust rubbing off on his hands but not revealing the skin beneath.
"Augustine… She ramped up my schedule. It was constant training, experiments, and beatings. She spent hours making me work with my hands, and… Well, my cloaking abilities aren't able to keep up. My power level is so high now that my cloak is slipping. I have been working hard just to get to this point…" Lydia shrugged, and Delsin shuddered. What her power set might have been eluded him, and he didn't want to guess.
"Lydia, I'm so sorry…" Eugene squeezed her hand, his head lowered. She reached out, brushing the side of his face with her knuckle.
"I'm okay, Eugene. Don't worry." Eugene nodded, glancing up at her.
"I'll take you to your room." They walked away, and Delsin sighed before he walked over to sit next to Fetch.
"Glad t' see ya, D." Fetch said, handing him a cola.
"You too, Fetch."
They both knew every day might be their last.
