Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Six
...
Ammie felt like a rebellious teenager as she opened her apartment door at nine thirty. Surprised not to see Core waiting, she headed to his room quietly and looked in. Ammie saw Phineas and Finnley curled up on either side of Corvin, all three already asleep and snoring gently. Turning Corvin's bedroom light off, Ammie headed to her room - narrowly missing the Roomba - and got ready for bed, thinking back on her date with Sport.
Sport had improved his bowling over the course of their game, but she had thoroughly kicked his ass, as promised. Ammie had done an embarrassing celebratory dance and Sport had laughed before he'd tugged her onto his lap and kissed her so intensely that she forgot her own name. Ammie had made out with him and Sport's hands had rested at her sides like a gentleman, even though she'd worn the short dress and her ass was right there. It wasn't until Nikki wolf whistled that Ammie remembered they were in public. She pulled away from Sport reluctantly, who grinned at her like he knew exactly what he'd done to her. Ammie slipped off his lap before she embarrassed herself further and sat on a seat to change her shoes over, her lips tingling and heart racing.
"It's quarter to eight. I promised to have you home in fifteen minutes," Sport said.
Ammie sat the bowling shoes beside her and looked at Sport, who had already changed back into his combat boots and returned his ball to the rack. He'd done it with such speed and efficiency that he'd still had time to watch her bowl and get her third strike and do her embarrassing dance. For the first time in a long, long time, Ammie didn't want her night to end so soon.
"You promised Core I'd be back by nine."
Sport grinned. "Yes, but I promised you I'd have you in bed by eight, didn't I?"
Ammie wanted that. A lot. She could already imagine being pressed up against Sport's body and kissing him and the slow slide of skin against skin. He would be loving and attentive and it had been far too long since she'd had sex with someone, but it wasn't something you really forgot. She wanted that, but she couldn't. Not tonight, not on their first date, and weirdly enough, not without Core getting his twenty questions.
It was another way of finding out about a potential date, not only the answer to the questions, but also the response to her son. He could be scathing when he wanted to be, reducing her potential dates down to their base fears in minutes. Anyone who dated her tended to find that out fast during the twenty questions, and some dates had left running before the date had even begun. She wanted to see how Sport would handle Core's questions and attitude. For all that she said he inherited it from his father, Ammie knew she could be a hurtful bitch at times, too. If her dates couldn't handle Core, they couldn't handle her.
Sport figured that her silence was a no, though she was biting her lip like she was still deciding. "I'll drive you home and you can decide what we do then. I don't want to pressure you, Ammie."
"I don't want to disappoint you but I'm not ready for that so soon in our relationship," Ammie said.
His heart felt lighter as she said 'relationship' and Sport smiled. "You couldn't disappoint me, Ammie."
Ammie smiled back at him, glad for his words, and nodded. "I'll return your shoes and be right back."
Sport watched as she gathered their shoes and headed to the counter, then looked at the screen with their scores. He'd improved since the first few turns, working out the trajectory and strength needed to knock over the pins. He'd managed enough strikes towards the end that he'd impressed Ammie, but she had a score of more than three hundred and he had barely managed two hundred.
"Ready to go?" Ammie asked brightly, smiling as he stood and looked at her. "Here, I had a copy made for you," she said, handing him a rectangle piece of paper.
"What is it?" Sport asked, even as he accepted it and realised it was the scorecard.
"The scorecard of our first date," Ammie said, rising up on her toes to kiss his cheek.
"So there'll be a second date?" Sport asked hopefully, leaving with Ammie and heading to his car.
"Oh, at least three. You choose the next place and then we're back here to see if you've improved," Ammie said with a decisive tone and evil cackle that made Sport want to kiss her all over again.
He held the car door open for her, watching as she sat, her dress sliding up her thighs slightly. She'd chosen that dress to torture him, he just knew it; but damn, was it the best kind of torture. Going to the driver's seat, Sport put his belt on and started the ignition, driving out of the parking lot and towards their apartment building.
"How early should I arrive for our second date to get through Corvin's twenty questions?" Sport asked with a grin.
"Depends on your answers. An hour is the longest he's delayed any of my dates. The shortest was thirty minutes. That was with his own father; he wouldn't let go of his leg," Ammie added with a laugh.
Sport concentrated on the road and wondered if he should ask and potentially ruin their date. "Can I ask about him? I don't want to upset you though, so... "
"Oh. No, it's all right. I mean, I'm always upset when I think of him, and it's bound to come up eventually. Cade died when Core was younger. It was murder, technically, and he's probably laughing about that wherever he is. He was a raven shapeshifter, and had a wicked sense of humour."
Sport pulled over onto the side of the road so he could look at Ammie properly. "Your husband was murdered?"
"It was a family reunion. We had a barbecue going and there was a huge tree in the back yard and they'd all shifted because you could do that on your own property in those days. I went out with Core to get bread so they could have time to catch up without feeling like they needed to stay human for my benefit. The tree went over the fence to our neighbour's backyard and he hated the birds squawking so he shot at them. His lawyer said it was a warning shot to scare them off, since he didn't know they were shifters, but Cade was shot right in the chest and that gun had a damn scope," Ammie snapped, her arms wrapped around her stomach like she was trying to hold herself together.
Sport didn't know what to say to that.
Ammie sniffled and wiped at her eyes with her hands, wincing when she saw the mascara on her skin. "Sorry, Sport. It's not the usual first date topic I get into. I always say I'm fine and then this happens," she muttered, shaking her head.
Sport shook his head. "You don't need to apologise, Ammie. That neighbour of yours, is he still in prison? Or alive?"
Ammie snorted. "He didn't go to prison. Cade was a shifter so that made him less than human, apparently. I had several funerals to plan, since he'd killed a large number of my family with a buckshot rifle after killing Cade, which was a defensive action, according to the sleazy lawyer. The legal costs were too much on top of everything else, so I had to drop the case. I also had to move house, since I couldn't stand living next to him and seeing him every day. Any time there's a street party or barbecue I just think of Cade and... well, we've moved a lot since then."
Sport clenched his jaw, but tried to ease his tension as he reached across the car to open the glove compartment. "There's some tissues in there. How opposed are you to your old neighbour showing up in the news for being killed in a gruesome way?"
Ammie laughed as she wiped at her tears with a tissue. "I don't know. It's been ten years and I'm still not over it, but I don't know if that's justice."
Sport could argue otherwise but just nodded instead. He would find out about that asshole and make his own decision as to what justice entailed. "Does Corvin know?"
"Yes. I found Cade and the others when we got home, and I tried to shield him from it, but," she breathed shakily here, the memory just as fresh as if it had been yesterday; the fear and revulsion of finding her family half-shifted or dead and bloodied, trying to keep her son inside but Corvin darting around her frozen legs, "he was difficult to catch and he saw them all. My lawyer wanted to use him as a sympathy vote for the jury, but I refused. Poor Corvin had already been traumatised enough."
"Jesus Christ."
Ammie sniffled again and gave a short laugh. "Great way to end a first date, huh?"
Sport stopped contemplating a civilian's murder and looked to Ammie again. "I can't do much right now, but I can give you a hug, if you'd like?"
Ammie nodded and turned to face him, but Sport surprised her by getting out of the car entirely. She watched as he crossed to her side and opened the door. "I thought you meant a hug inside where it's warm," she admitted, stepping out of the car.
"I'll keep you warm," Sport promised, wrapping her up in a hug, arms tight and his chest hard against hers.
Ammie felt... safe. She hadn't realised the feeling had been missing since that very moment, and she was surprised by the realisation. She hadn't felt safe since Cade had been shot in their backyard ten years ago. It might have been the burnt barbecue smell that had her moving every few years, but she knew that it was fear that had kept her from letting Corvin fly outside. She couldn't bear to lose her son, too.
Safe and warm in Sport's embrace, Ammie sobbed until she had no tears left. She thought she'd cried a lifetime of tears in the weeks following Cade's death, but apparently she still had more to give.
Sport didn't need to investigate the asshole to make his decision, after all. He'd killed Ammie's husband, got away with it scot free, and he'd made her cry. He was a dead man. So was his lawyer; there was a difference between doing a job and letting a murderer go free.
Ammie was quiet as Sport drove them home, wondering what Cade would have thought of him. He'd probably be delighted that Sport had offered to kill her old neighbour, she mused.
"Thank you for going on a date with me, Ammie. I'm going to frame the scorecard," Sport said with a grin once he'd parked.
Pulled from her thoughts, she looked at him in surprise. "Really?"
Sport nodded. "Yeah, of course. It'll be a larger frame so I can add the scorecard for when I kick your ass," he said with a grin.
Ammie laughed. "Oh, you think you can win after one game? Ooh, you are on!"
"Look forward to it, Ammie. Can I walk you to your apartment?"
Ammie thought about it for a moment and nodded. "Sure. Fair warning: Core might attack at the front door, and he'll say these twenty questions don't count."
Sport nodded. "All right, I'll prepare myself for it."
Ammie grinned and got out of the car, Sport hurrying to get out and follow her to the elevator. Ammie pressed the button and looked at the display, frowning when it didn't show the elevator moving. "Do you think someone's holding the door open?" she asked after a few moments of watching the motionless display.
"Oh, for fu- Champ is on security. Sorry about this," he said with a sigh, turning and making some complicated hand movements at the camera.
If there was a response, Ammie didn't see it, and the elevator didn't move.
"Bastard," Sport growled.
"What's wrong?" Ammie asked with a frown.
"He's a drama queen, that's what's wrong. Gets off on watching other people," Sport said, giving the camera the finger.
"So... we're stuck down here unless we have sex?!" Ammie said, her voice almost a squeak.
"Oh, no. He'd send the elevator down for a kiss, but it'd have to be... um, intense?"
"The one we had at the bowling alley wasn't?" Ammie asked, her cheeks red.
Sport grinned down at her. "That was practically tame."
"Oh. How intense are you talking?" Ammie asked, biting at her lip and looking up at Sport with wide eyes.
"The kind of kiss that makes you weak and wet, where you get bruised and bitten and don't realise it until the next day, the kind of kiss you crave more than oxygen."
Sport advanced on her with each word, his body pressing up against hers, and Ammie made a soft noise of want, practically scrambling up his body to kiss him just like that. Sport held his hands under her thighs and kissed her so thoroughly she felt like he was being devoured.
Neither one noticed as the elevator started to descend.
...
"Shit! Fucking fucker of a fucking... fuck."
"Uh, Adam? Is everything okay? I knocked several times and texted, but you didn't answer," Ethan said, frowning at him, even as Adam buried his face in his hands and groaned loudly. "Are you all right?"
"No, I'm not. What do you want?" he asked, his frustration and impatience making him brusque.
It felt like there was a clock counting down his deadline in his head, and nothing Adam was attempting was working, which made the incessant ticking so much worse.
"Zach made lunch. Vegetable curry pies, fries, and apple pies for dessert. It's all hand-held, so you don't have to leave. We know how busy you are," Ethan added, offering the plate to him. He was curious about what Adam was actually doing, but he hadn't given them any details, and Ethan didn't want to push when he was clearly annoyed by the task.
"Thanks, Eth. Thank Zach for me, too?" Adam asked, taking the plate and trying hard to stop from sighing. He took a bite of what he hoped was the vegetable pie, finding it warm and helping to ease a tension he didn't even know he'd had.
"Of course. Are you all right, Adam? You look about as frustrated as I felt when I translated the Super Bureau documents," he added, equal parts amused and worried for his friend.
"Yeah, I'm... wait. The documents. There was one with instructions, wasn't there?" Adam asked, his eyes widening as he set the plate down, wiped his hands off on his jeans, and started typing on his keyboard.
"Well, there were several. What instructions are you looking for?" Ethan asked.
Adam was so focused on finding, searching, and skim-reading the results that he didn't hear Ethan's question.
Realising that Adam's attention was completely focused on the computer, Ethan left his room quietly, setting a reminder on his phone to bring Adam water later. He'd drink it if it was nearby, and the food would be eaten eventually as well, but for now, he clearly needed to focus.
Adam scrolled, his heart hammering in his chest in time with that fucking ticking - tick, thump, tick, thump - and held his breath as he read the next section titled 'Opening Super Bureau Devices - Internal and External'. As he came across the instructions for the Super Bureau portable drives, Adam exhaled loudly and almost relaxed. He kept reading and swore again when he saw that there was a time limit for the devices when they were first plugged into a non-Super Bureau computer. If he didn't open and unlock it in the next... ten minutes, everything would be erased. Fuck!
"So much for two days, Honey," he muttered, clicking to the portable hard drive's screen and following the instructions step by step carefully. He hadn't made it this far only to fuck it all up now.
In exactly six minutes, Adam had accessed the portable hard drive and found all of the files Honey had added to the device. All three-thousand of them. Thankfully, he now had a few hours to use the device since he'd unlocked and opened it, but it would take weeks to read through them individually, not hours! If Honey didn't know [unknown]'s name, there would be no way to refine the results to something smaller. Shit, shit, shit...
Grabbing his phone, he swiped through his contacts and pressed Honey's name.
"Hi, Adam."
"Did you know I was going to call?"
"Caller ID," Honey replied, grinning. "I still don't know [unknown]'s name, sorry, but you actually opening the device did help to narrow the threads. Try a search for Montana."
"All right... I'm down to one-thousand results. Is there anything else I can do to narrow it again?"
"You've still got your cross-referencing program, right?"
"Yeah. I can compare these with the ones we got last time. Will I have enough time? There's a fail safe on the device for external and non-Super Bureau computers - I won't be able to copy or save these onto my computer."
"I know. Cross-reference within the device first, then compare to the files we got last time."
"I can print these, right? I can scan them again and then cross reference everything."
"You can, but it will take too long. Print them anyway, but prioritise the cross referencing. Make sure to write it on paper, not your phone. I'm pretty sure the Super Bureau has some of the words on a watchlist. You'll get something important, it's either an address or something that will get us closer," Honey said, frustrated that so much of her vision was blocked.
There were times when the entire state of Montana disappeared from her vision completely. She knew that whatever was happening there was bigger than any of them would be expecting, and she hated that she couldn't see it.
"Okay. Thanks, Honey. Do you know if [unknown] is all right?"
Honey shook her head before realising that it was a phone call and Adam couldn't see. "I have no idea. I'm sorry, Adam."
"It was a long shot, all good. Thanks, anyway. Seeya," Adam said, ending the call after Honey returned his farewell, and opened the cross referencing program.
The cross referencing program took longer to work than a simple search. Not only did it have to compare each file with the other nine-hundred and ninety-nine files, but it also had to translate languages or symbols, depending on who had written the file, and then highlight the comparisons in yellow.
After forty-five minutes, a beep alerted Adam to the program finishing its comparison, even though his eyes had been glued to the screen the whole time, his heart still beating in sync with the countdown clock. One thousand results were down to three-hundred and twenty. Even if he had a year, Adam doubted he'd be able to read all of those documents.
Opening the first two comparison files, Adam cursed when he saw both files full of yellow. Shit, he'd forgotten to add a word to actually compare; his search for Montana had limited the files, but the cross referencing program didn't know that he'd wanted to see Montana in each of the files, too. Instead, it had compared all of the files with everything they contained. Shit, no wonder it had taken so fucking long!
Going back a step to get the thousand documents again, Adam lamented at the wasted time. He sure as fuck wouldn't be making that mistake again! Entering Montana in the cross reference program this time, Adam hoped the results would still be translated and the program wouldn't have to redo all of the work. His hopes were dashed when he saw the progression bar crawling at the same pace it had forty-five minutes ago. Super Goddamn it, he'd have to update the program to make sure the translated documents stayed translated.
For now, all Adam could do was sit, wait, and watch. And eat, he added, realising his lunch was still sitting on his desk.
Taking a bite of the curry pie, Adam figured he could start printing the documents. He just needed the printer, and he didn't know where Terrence was. He couldn't use the map and location at the same time as the cross referencing program or it'd take hours for the damn thing to finish, so Adam licked his thumb, dried it off, and then unlocked his phone to call Terrence instead.
"Hello? Who's this?" Terrence asked, breathless and clearly distracted, if he didn't realise who had called him.
"Hey, Terrence. Do you have a minute to make a printer for me? I need the same kind you made for Eth with those Super Bureau documents, can you do that again?"
"Oh. Uh. Yeah, I... I can do that. I'll be there soon, okay?"
"You can do it from a distance, dude. Don't want to take you away from whatever you're doing," Adam said, then frowned on realising he was talking to himself since Terrence had ended the call. "Okay, see you soon," he muttered, setting his phone down and grabbing a few fries, wrinkling his nose when they were cold. "Ah, fuck it. Ain't the first time."
A beep sounded, Adam looking at his computer in confusion; the cross referencing had finished already? Maybe it had kept everything translated, after all. He frowned when he saw the number of results. How the hell did it go from one-thousand results down to five?!
Shoving the fries in his mouth and chewing, Adam cleaned his fingers off on his pants before opening the first set of comparison files. Black text on a white screen. Scrolling through the documents, Adam sat up and tried to find the yellow highlighting for any mention of Montana. The program should have taken him directly to the highlighted comparison. Maybe his program was broken? No, that didn't make sense. He'd used this program on thousands of documents; why would it be broken now?
Scrolling fiercely in frustration, he caught a flash of yellow and hurried to scroll back up, carefully this time. A few words were highlighted in yellow: Subject 368, unexpected death, scientists, and weirdly, kitten. Adam frowned, writing them down on a notepad before opening the next two comparison documents. This time, two sets of numbers were highlighted: 48.104797, -111.202644. It looked like more of the Super Bureau's code, probably referring to other documents; Adam wrote them down, double-checking the numbers before continuing to the next set of files. Art, movement, tattoo, wife. The next comparison - extraction, results inconclusive, pregnancy - made even less sense, and Adam didn't know if he wanted to read the documents to find out what results they'd tried for, let alone what they were "extracting" for pregnancy to be another cross-referenced word. Shuddering, Adam clicked the fifth comparison. By now, he wasn't entirely sure if he wanted it to make sense or not.
Ignorance was bliss, but knowledge was power, so which was the truth?
Scrolling through the documents to find the highlighted words, Adam forced himself to breathe when he realised he was holding his breath again.
He saw yellow and stopped scrolling so abruptly, he felt like he'd been frozen by Freeze Girl. The highlighted word was 'technology', which could be about [unknown], right? His mouth felt dry and Adam started scrolling again, even as he sipped at the water that had been left by the plate of food. He scrolled through thirty-eight pages to find the rest of the highlighted words: distance decrease, limited access, and scrambled communications. It could definitely be about [unknown], but it didn't make sense, either.
Decreasing meant a smaller range, obviously, but from what Adam knew of [unknown], they could communicate across the world in seconds, as fast as it took for a data packet to be transferred through an Internet network. Limited access could be in relation to [unknown]'s ability to power up or perhaps accessing an external source, like the UN's secure databases. Adam would have assumed that scrambled communications meant encryption, but on reading the document, he saw that results from the so-called "tests" returned every other word or paragraph, rather than the whole document as they had expected. Maybe it was about [unknown], then? It wasn't their location, but the result of an experiment performed on them, and from what he could understand and assume from his skim-reading of the document, it sounded like they were losing their power. Maybe that's why he hadn't heard from [unknown] in months? How did someone lose their power? Was it natural or was it a result of these tests?
Feeling nauseous at the thought, Adam curled his arms around his stomach to try to keep everything in. It helped for a moment, but then he started thinking about what sort of tests might have been performed on [unknown] to lose an internal power like theirs, and it wasn't enough after all. He bolted out of his room to the bathroom.
"Ace, you okay?" Zach asked, knocking on the door gently when Adam stopped heaving and the toilet flushed. "It wasn't the food, was it?"
"No."
Zach blinked. "Was that an answer to my first or second question?"
"Both."
"Uh... Oh, okay. Can I come in?"
"Okay."
Zach opened the door carefully to see Adam sitting in front of the toilet, looking utterly wrecked. "You want to talk about it? Is it about France?"
Adam shook his head.
"Assuming that's an answer for both? I've gotta stop asking so many questions in a row," he muttered, scratching the back of his head. Adam just nodded in response. "Okay. Want something to drink or eat? We've got electrolytes in the fridge," Zach offered.
The thought of food made Adam feel nauseous again, but he knew he'd need something to drink to replace his fluids, at the very least. "Yeah, I'll have the electrolytes. Is there orange?"
"Yes. There's lemon, too, but it looks like pee."
Adam snorted, then winced as his throat ached at the action. "Ow, fuck."
"Here, I'll help you up, and we'll get your drink, yeah?" Zach offered, holding a hand out for him.
Adam was surprised when Zach lifted him to his feet far more easily than he expected. "You been working out, man?"
"Hmm? Nah, I've been carrying those giant bags of flour for Ammie. Coffee beans, too. I had too much sugar and had to work it off, and the gym is intimidating as fuck, so it was either that or try to climb the pirate ship's mast in the playground."
"Try again, y'mean. Did anyone reach the crow's nest yet?"
"Ry, and he made it look so easy! He climbed on top of the captain's cabin, then did a thing and boom, he was on the shredded ropes. Whoever broke the ropes deserves itching powder in their underwear."
"It was probably done on purpose so no one would fall off," Adam pointed out.
Zach opened and closed his mouth, then concentrated on pouring Adam's drink. "That's so not the point, dude."
Adam grinned and took the offered drink. "I know. Thanks, Zed. Where'd Eth go?"
"Training arena; he's trying to melt across the vine pit, I think?"
"Huh. Okay, hope he makes it. Reforming in that pit doesn't sound pleasant."
Zach paused, frowning. "Shit, it really doesn't. I'm gonna go check on him. Will you be okay?"
"Yeah, dude, I'll be fine. Go on," Adam said, waving for Zach to go.
Zach hurried out of the kitchen and to the trap door. "Hey, Honey, hey, Terrence! Ace's in the kitchen; can you look after him while I check on Eth?"
"Sure. What happened?" Terrence asked, but Zach was already gone. He looked at Honey. "What happened?"
"Let's go ask Adam," she said, trying to sound kind as she guided Terrence down the hallway.
"What happened? Are you all right?" Terrence asked as soon as he saw Adam, Adam almost dropping the glass he was holding.
"Super Jesus! It's fine, just... I threw up, but I'm fine now. Zach got electrolytes for me, I'm fine," Adam said.
"Nah, dude, you're not. You didn't puke at the shitton of blood and wires in kids' heads. Why were you sick now? Are you sick, sick? Do you want to go to the Sanctuary? Ida's there, she can check you out. I think, at least. I don't know if she - "
"Terrence, calm down. I just... I worked out the hard drive, Honey. It's in my room," Adam said with a sigh, sitting on the bench and burying his head in his hands. "They've got [unknown] and experimenting on them, like, bad experimenting."
Terrence raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.
"I just... Their power's internal, man, just like mine. I think," Adam shuddered bodily, his hands slipping from his face for a moment, "I think they're doing shit to [unknown]'s brain, like they did to those kids. It... The experiments might be taking away their power."
Terrence swallowed hard at Adam's words. It was one thing to wear a cuff and take away your own power - or even have it done at Maxville Super Penitentiary - but to have a power forcibly removed for life was something else entirely. "Fuck."
Adam laughed hollowly, the sound muffled behind his hands. He sighed and pulled away. "Yeah, you said it."
Honey knocked on the doorframe. "We need to plan a break out." Adam and Terrence both looked over to her, their surprise obvious on their faces if her responding grin was any indication. "It's better than sitting here doing nothing and being left with your thoughts, am I right?"
"Good point," Terrence said, nodding.
"Yeah, but we don't know where they are. How do we plan to break them out of something we can't find?"
Honey held up the notepad with the transcribed words. "You wrote their location down yourself, Ace. Longitude and latitude. We're going to need access to a satellite."
Adam blinked, then nodded and stood. "All right, I can do that; [unknown] left me a backdoor into the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. I can piggyback off one of the satellites they control."
"Less talking, more hacking."
"It's not hacking, it's - no, I'm not going into it, we'll be here all damned day," Adam muttered, taking the offered notepad from Honey and heading to his room. "Honey?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks. You too, Terrence."
"Anytime," Honey said with a brief smile. "Don't forget about the printer, Terrence."
"Oh, right. Thanks," he said, hurrying after Adam.
"Downstairs, dude. I can't fit that big-ass printer in here."
"Yeah... I just, uh... wanted to check that it connected," Terrence stalled.
"Oh. I'll go downstairs and check on it, then. Don't touch my settings, yeah?"
"Wouldn't dream of it."
Honey tried not to look too amused at poor Terrence's failed attempt to stay with Adam longer as Adam headed downstairs to check on the printer. "Printer, Terrence," she prompted when Adam was out of earshot.
"Oh, shit," Terrence swore, realising he hadn't even made the damn thing yet.
"I'll meet you downstairs for the planning, okay? Adam will join us with his tablet once he's got everything automated to print," she added kindly.
"Okay. Thanks."
Honey headed downstairs after Adam to rescue Ethan and Zach from the vine pit so they could help with the planning. Along the way, she texted the group chat to join them at the Hive as soon as possible, knowing that Layla and Warren could join with a video call from the Sanctuary.
...
"You're certain about the location and who's there?" Layla asked once Honey and Adam had explained.
Beside her, Warren was feeling nauseous at the thought of his power being taken away. Out of view of the camera, he clutched Layla's hand tightly. She held on just as tightly, and he tried to focus on the conversation. Twinges of pain were making their way around his body due to the lowered dose of medicine, and while he knew his power was slowly coming back and helping to heal him, Warren ached. He knew that until the drugs were out of his system entirely, he would be wrestling with the pain and sharp twinges of nerves and muscles spasming. The nausea sure as fuck wasn't helping.
"No, I can't see it properly for some reason. But I know that the coordinates lead to somewhere in the middle of Montana, and there's nothing on the map. The Super Bureau wouldn't refer to a place and experiments if there was nothing there."
"It's not a place they're planning on setting up experiments, either. They're literally doing it. The shit they've done to [unknown] is right there in black and white," Adam said, holding up the printed report.
"Please stop talking about it, dude," Craig said, shuddering in revulsion.
Grant tsked and wrapped his arms around Craig, holding him close. "It's all right, babe. They're not getting anywhere near you."
Craig clung on to Grant tightly, hoping he was right. He still had the FitBit that Adam had upgraded and Eth's water droplet, but what if it wasn't enough? What if the Super Bureau did something that even cancelled out Lay and Warren's brand?
"If the orphanage had those Wardens, what's this place going to have for protection?" Zach asked, looking around.
"No idea, but we'd better train," Warren said.
"You have to recover first," Wendy said firmly, glaring. "You don't recover, you'll be putting yourself and us in danger, and I'll kick your ass, never mind whatever's at this place."
"Agreed," Justina called from where she was reading through one of the reports in French. "Also, these people are fucked up. Like, not just in the 'working for an evil corporation' thing, either. They're talking about this shit like it's no more exciting than the weather. No offence, Wendy."
"None taken."
"If we wait to recover and then train, we're not going to get there for weeks, maybe even longer."
"We also have midterms coming up. What?" Ethan said when several people looked at him.
"Shit... Honey, do you have any idea on who can help with this? I know you can't see Montana, but maybe the group before we go or get there?" Layla asked.
Honey nodded. "I've been looking, and I only get a few glimpses, but it looks like the Special Forces guys. You'll have to brand them sooner rather than later, Layla and Warren."
"We can do that once the drugs wear off next week. Is it enough time?" Warren asked.
"I have no idea. No one's got a calendar around in those visions."
Ethan frowned and looked around the training arena. "You're right; we really should have a calendar here."
"Digital calendar projection work for you?" Terrence asked, powering on the projector overhead.
"Only if it doesn't add to the electricity costs."
Terrence winced.
"Dibs on a dolphin calendar! Ooh, or a puppies and kittens one!" Justina called.
"How about a landscape one? That's way more generic," Robin said, rolling their eyes.
"Yeah, I don't know how I'd feel about 'murder Jetstream' on a puppies and kittens calendar," Craig said, snickering.
"That's just crying out for premeditated murder in court. Not to mention damning evidence if this place was ever raided," Ethan pointed out.
"Of course it's premeditated, you've gotta plan that shit."
"How about the Fire Department's calendar? They had one this year for charity, didn't they, Warren?" Zach asked, grinning.
Warren scowled even as Layla and the others laughed. "I hate you so much right now."
"You love me."
...
End of the hundred and sixty-sixth chapter.
I hope you liked it! Thanks for reading.
