Chapter Five

The sun's morning rays pierced through the curtains. The room was faintly aglow, warmth barely reaching my skin.

I sat on the edge of the bed wearing the same clothes as the night before—shoes still on my feet. As it turned out, I'd fallen asleep almost instantly. I didn't wake up once and I felt relatively refreshed.

Cherie was in a similar state with the added trouble of smearing her make-up on the pillows. Figuratively dead to the world, the girl had no reaction when I awoke.

Seeing as nothing happened, I reached for the paper containing the Wi-Fi password. My phone connected, thus making it possible to surf the web.

The news was the first thing I checked. Searching for anything to do with Buffalo, I found what I was searching for.

Preemptive Evacuation of Buffalo, NY: Did it Save Lives or Make the Situation Worse?

According to the article, the actual evacuation was a result of Thinkers predicting a potential A-class threat in the city. There was some backlash for the abruptness of the evac, since the Teeth had capitalized on the situation.

Yes, the gang was not the A-class threat that the law enforcement was so worried about. They didn't even mention that a large group of Teeth were brutally massacred, just that they were driven off after multiple civilian casualties. Not a single cape to be found.

Why the Teeth were doing that in the first place. It was likely connected to another article talking about how the Teeth were losing ground to mercenaries over in Boston.

When putting everything together, I came to one conclusion: we needed to get moving.

"Wake up," I nudged the girl, prodding her face with the rabbit. "It's time to leave. Thinkers might be tracking our position."

Mumbling a curse under her breath, Cherie swiped at the rabbit. Her motion was put to a stop when she felt the drool from the rabbit's mouth.

"GAH!" Jerking away, my partner in crime fell off the bed and landed with a painful thump. "Fucking hell- what was that for?!"

I looked down on the girl, face betraying no emotion. "Thinkers are onto us. Grab what's yours; we're getting back on the road."

Cherie grumbled in disappointment. "Couldn't we at least get breakfast first? Feels like forever since I last ate something."

"Sure, why not." I held the rabbit out to her, "Doesn't have a lot of meat, but I've heard intestines are a delicacy somewhere."

Gagging, Cherie pretended to not notice the rabbit's eye dilate. "You know what, I can wait."

Hopping into the car, I handed the keys to the Master manipulator. After a few turns, we were back on the I-90.

I opened my poorly folded map and made sure we were on route. It was looking like we were going to arrive at our destination early if traffic remained this sparse.

"So… Thinkers, huh? Where'd you get that from?"

"The evacuation. Thinker's were preparing for an A-class threat and the Teeth weren't part of that prediction."

We sat there, a quiet air filling the car. Cherie hummed absently as she tapped the gearshift to an unheard beat.

"Wait a second- you're saying the threat was you?"

While the girl was lacking in some areas, it was nice to know she could catch on quickly. Amusement flashed by as I nodded to her question. "Of course. Who else but yours truly."

"I guess I could see it. You're some kind of biotinker, like Bonesaw. Is she your secret sister, or something?"

I was going to correct her, but Cherie continued on that train of thought, giving me no time to speak.

"Oh, I see! Bonesaw was taken from you at a young age and you've spent years searching for her. Then you learn about how she's a part of the S9 and you're on a journey towards avenging her. And you have similar powers because you're so close to each other."

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I could only sigh as Cherie let out a bark of laughter. "I'm just kidding! No need to get your panties in a knot."

"Then ignoring your Bonesaw tirade… no, I'm not a biotinker. My power is far more incomprehensible in nature."

Cherie waited for a continuation of the topic, only to receive nothing.

"Don't leave me hanging… You can't drop a bomb like that and expect me to be satisfied." She huffed and gave me a sidelong glance. "Please?"

"Okay, how about this? I'll tell you a little about my power, and then you go. Equal exchange, or whatever it's called."

It was a reasonable request. And there weren't too many downsides to having a chat with the girl. That was the only reason I agreed.

"I have an emotion based Master power, but you already know that. Really, what's interesting about it is how I perceive emotions. It's sort of like music to my ears, no pun intended. Emotions have a sort of tune to them that allows me to differentiate each one. And every person tends to have a unique mix of sounds."

She was right about it being interesting. Although, as a musician, I found her descriptions to be lacking. Maybe it was something I should discuss with her later on, but it was now my turn.

"My power isn't really constrained to a single power classification. And I don't mean that I have more than one power—my ability is versatile. And for the sake of saving time, let's just say it's a Shaker power."

"Shaker? How does a Shaker power create stuff like Lepus?" She paused, taking note of my raised brow. "Don't give me that look! It's a good name, and I'm not going to keep calling him 'rabbit'."

That was an awful lot of thought for a measly Agent. Whatever floated her boat.

But I had to think about that one. Simplifying my power was a bit of a chore. A small price to pay for decent conversation. "I can alter a certain amount of space around me and it sort of bends reality to fit a general idea. And if the idea requires a proxy to fulfil that purpose, then a proxy is created. The rabbit and the book are physical byproducts of my power.

Cherie turned away from the road and scrutinized me. She dragged her hand through her hair, a frustrated groan leaving her lips.

"So, like, if you ever felt like recreating the devastation of an Endbringer, then some fake one would appear out of thin air?"

"That's… one way of putting it. Though, I don't think something as mundane as destroying a couple buildings would work." The car darkened for a moment as we drove under an overpass.

Blinking, the girl's eyes darted between the road and myself. "It wouldn't 'work'?"

I scratched the back of my head, not entirely comfortable with the topic.

"It's the closest thing my power has to a limit..."

A/N: Not much to say here.

Random Reader: Yeah, the story sits in a kind of strange place. I initially started this story as a writing exercise, where I'd write a chapter with as little editing as possible (aside from spelling and grammar corrections). It seems that this style of writing led to the story having a sort of mysterious feel, due to the vague details and minimal internal monologues.