Disclaimer: I do not own the DC characters of Hawk and Dove, whom I loosely based my main characters on.
"Come on, let me try it," said Dan, holding out his hands.
Carrie clutched her mug tighter, shaking her head. "I don't trust you, Daniel," she said quietly.
"Do you want hot tea or not?" Dan said, gesturing for her to give him the mug.
Carrie, who had been complaining about her lukewarm cup of tea, handed it over with a frown. Dan cupped the mug in his hands and concentrated on the liquid. He imagined the heat he constantly felt under his skin moving and pooling in his hands. He concentrated on the coldness of Carrie's tea. Then, his grin grew as the tea started to steam and even bubble in his hands.
"Ha!" he looked up at his friend, "I told you I could do it!"
"Well, don't burn it!" said Carrie, though she was also smiling.
Phil squeezed his arm. "Way to go, Dan, that's a real improvement."
"Yeah," said Chris from across the lunch table, "He's been here for two weeks and he's better than you are after nine months."
Phil shrugged. "I wish I could argue," he said.
"Phil's been getting better too," Dan jumped in, "Just yesterday he iced over an entire wall on purpose. And it wasn't just frost, the thing was frozen."
He blushed. "Well, Dan melted it right away," he added.
"And then we were stuck with a huge puddle of water, but you know, it was still cool."
Chris held in a laugh as he bit into his muffin. The rest of the table caught onto the pun, trying to hold in their laughter as well, and Dan rubbed his temple in annoyance. "Shut up, all of you," he muttered, "I'm excited, alright?"
Dan's excitement had been growing and growing since he started working with The Cause. Ever since that first evening with Jenna in the bomb shelter room -which is basically a square room made of cinderblocks and steel rods- Dan's control and even the use of his powers have been improving quite a bit. Phil has also been getting so much better in the same amount of time. It didn't take long for Jenna to figure out that Dan and Phil were right- their powers complement each other so well that even being in the same room makes it easier for the both of them.
Phil keeps Dan from overheating. Dan keeps Phil from frosting over. It's a good system. Jenna and Alfie are thrilled. They're glad they have powers like Dan and Phil's on their side, and they're glad they got to them before Dr. Hurley brainwashed them. At least that's what Carrie says, who doesn't have a problem expressing her opinions about The School's administration.
"Can you make your own corporeal flame yet? Like hold one in your hand?" Zoe asked from her place at Dan's elbow.
He shook his head. "I don't know if I'll ever be able to," he replied, "Shutter Shock says that I might not be capable." He still felt so strange using Cause nicknames outside of the old gym. He knew that was their purpose, and he was catching on, but he felt so strange.
"Well, she can do it," said Carrie, "Her powers are similar to yours and Phil's, just with electricity. She can produce a visible bolt of lightning if she wants to."
Luke Cutforth plopped into the seat next to Chris then, with Emma on his heels. "What's this about lightning?" he asked.
This is the part when Dan starts to sweat a little. People overhear them talking about The Cause all the time, and everyone except for he and Phil (shocker) seem to be able to cover it up well. He always worries that one of these days he'll be interrogated and blow the whole thing.
"A character in a book I'm reading," Carrie lied smoothly. She took a delicate sip of her tea. "It's quite interesting. Oh, the musings of the civilians on their freaky brethren," she said airily. Dan had never read a novel with about people like him. It never occurred to him that they would even exist.
It was also strange to him that they were friends with those who weren't members.
"So, what has Charlie been having you guys do in your sessions?" Chris asked nonchalantly.
"Heartrate control," said Phil, "We've been doing a lot of physical activity, and then lying on the ground afterwards."
"The lying down part is my favorite," said Dan while he ripped a piece of toast in half.
"You two have been doing physical activity?" Emma laughed, raising her eyebrow.
Dan looked indignant while Phil laughed as well. "Don't sound so surprised. Charlie's been making us run and lift things to get our heartrates up. Then we have to sit and focus on bringing them down without harming anything in the process," he explained. Dan was thankful for Charlie's subtle help in his real training. Jenna's been threatening to make them both work out, and being horrifically out of shape at the moment, he's glad Charlie has been taking it slow and building up their stamina. It's also pretty nice to just be able to sit on the floor with Phil for twenty-minute intervals.
"Suit and ties ahead," said Chris as he lifted his feet off the table. It didn't take long for Dan to figure out that men and women in suits were government officials, and they were not friends. They hovered around every couple days, watching training sessions and classes and occasionally bringing in students to make sure they were "adjusting well" to life at the School. According to The Cause, it was just a subtle way to make sure everyone was conforming.
Dan didn't have to look over his shoulder to know that the men were coming towards them. Carrie and Chris seemed to be making steady eye contact, and even Luke and Emma seemed curious. The footsteps on the linoleum got louder until they halted right behind Dan. He gulped and waited for them to tell him he was being arrested, that they knew-
"Mr. Lester," said a male voice, "Will you come with us, please? Dr. Hurley would like to speak with you."
Phil turned first and Dan followed suit. Both boys exchanged a look and Phil nodded. "Okay," he said and got to his feet. Dan looked over at Zoe and gave her a questioning look, but she just shook her head. She didn't know either. This didn't add up. Phil has been here for months, and now Dr. Hurley wanted to see him. Wasn't a bit too late to be wondering how he was adjusting?
Once Phil had left with the two men, Dan turned back to the table. "Have any of you had a meeting with Dr. Hurley yet?" he asked.
They all shook their heads. "Both of my neighbors have gone though," Emma mused, "They both said Dr. Hurley asked them how they were liking it here. Were they learning, enjoying themselves, eating enough? Things like that."
"Seems innocent enough," added Carrie.
Dan could tell she was trying very hard not to express her opinion on the matter. It was strange that Phil was asked to go after he's been attending the school for months, and that Dr. Hurley was meeting with people herself. She was supposedly a high politician with real life responsibilities. What was she doing meeting with a bunch of kids every day?
Zoe squeezed Dan's arm. "Come on, time to go," she said, getting up.
Hours later Dan was lying on the ground, breathing hard. He had been running around the training room for he didn't know how long, alone, while the rest of the students complained about hot it was getting in there because of it. It was just because Phil wasn't there. They never had problems like that when they were together.
When the light over him was blacked out, Dan opened one eye to spot Charlie standing over him, hands on his hips. "Hey," he said, "How are you doing?"
Dan lifted his hand for Charlie to touch. This was usually how Charlie checked his and Phil's pulses as well as the temperature of their skin. He put his hand to Dan's wrist but snapped back almost immediately. Dan closed his eyes again.
"You're burning hot, Dan."
"It's because Phil isn't here," he panted in response. Plus, Dan was sick with worry over him.
"Where is he, anyway?" asked Charlie.
"I haven't seen him since this morning. The suit and ties took him in for a meeting with Dr. Hurley."
Charlie scrubbed a hand through his hair and sighed. "You can stay there for the rest of the session, if you want," he said, "There's no use training the two of you separately. Plus, you made it bloody hot in here, mate."
Dan dropped his arm over his eyes and took deep breaths. He wasn't used to running this much, but even though he was out of breath, he didn't have any aching muscles.
After training Dan went back to his room. When he walked in, Phil was there, laying on the sofa and staring at the ceiling. "Hey, where have you been all day?"
"Seeing Dr. Hurley," he replied.
"For hours?" Dan said, pulling off his still sweaty shirt, "You missed the lot of training, and your reading class-"
"I know," Phil interrupted and Dan paused. "I didn't feel like going. I… don't feel very well," he continued, finally glancing away from the ceiling.
Dan grabbed another t-shirt while he thought. Phil was fine this morning, and now he didn't feel good. He's been here for months, yet Dr. Hurley wanted to meet with him. And he came back not feeling well. This just felt more and more suspicious with every new detail.
Dan leaned against the counter and watched Phil for a moment. "What did you talk about in the meeting?"
Phil shrugged. "Normal stuff, I guess," he said, "How is my training, am I improving, am I taking care of myself. It was kind of like a check up."
"This doesn't sound normal, Phil."
The other boy took another breath and sat up. He sat there for a few moments and both of them were silent. Dan was about to ask something else when Phil piped up again. "She asked about the resistance."
Dan's eyes widened considerably. "Wha-at? Is that what's got you so worked up?" he asked. Phil nodded. "Well, what did you say?"
"I tried not to say anything. Told her I didn't know what she was talking about, but she kept asking really specific questions. She asked how I knew how to get to the basement, why were parts going missing from the scrap yard, and stuff like that," Phil replied, pulling his legs to his chest.
Dan walked over and sat in the space the legs had vacated. "How does she know all this?" he asked slowly.
Phil shook his head. "I don't know. But then again, I'm not so sure she really knows anything. She asked me questions about the resistance, but it was all… coincidental, you know?" he said.
The younger one nodded. "You're right. You're naturally curious; you could have just stumbled upon the old gym. And parts could be going missing from those junk cars for a number of reasons," he said.
Smiling a little, Phil nodded. "Those statements are very similar to what I told Dr. Hurley," he muttered.
Dan smiled too. "I guess we're rubbing off on each other."
The next evening when Dan and Phil went to the resistance meeting, they shared Phil's encounter with the headmistress. The entire group was silent as Jenna and Alfie exchanged a couple glances. "We have a mole," said Alfie after the silence.
"A mole?" asked Zoe in confusion.
"Someone feeding the administration our information," PJ contributed. Dan looked around, and everyone else seemed to have the same idea. He felt like he knew all these people personally, and he was even friends with a handful of them. Who would be horrible enough to sell them all out?
Jenna cleared her throat. "Here's what we're going to do," she said, "I'll give you all some time to think, especially whoever is leaking information. If the culprit doesn't come forward, I'll have Concussion go through all of your minds. Then we'll know for sure."
Dan looked over at Marcus, who was leaning against the wall with a couple others with a frown on his face. "I really need a better name," he said.
After that the meeting went as usual. Dan spent all his time with Phil and Jenna, doing the same exercises he did the previous session. Now that he could do them by heart, his mind was in different place, thinking about whom out of this group could be the mole. And at this point, it could be anyone, meaning he really didn't know who was trustworthy anymore.