Project: MI
Chapter 16

Justin Page never before associated the interruption of a dream with the breaking of a window, but the incessant angry bee buzzing of his cell phone readily brought the image to his mind. Groaning, his hand emerged from underneath the covers and, cautiously, felt around for the offending object. Quite by accident, he also knocked his alarm clock to the floor, where it struck with a loud bang.

“Justin! You’d better not be breaking anything up there! Mom will be pissed if you did!” he heard his older sister—Erin—shout from the next room over.

Swearing under his breath, he threw back his blanket.

“I’m not!” he bellowed back irritably, snatching up his phone and hitting the reply button without looking at the caller ID. “All right,” he seethed into it. “Whoever this is, talk. Kyle, if it’s you I am so burying your head in cement for waking me up…”

“Relax, it’s just me,” came Beth’s voice from the other end. Justin instantly found himself relaxing.

“Sorry,” he apologized, running a hand through his tangled mess of hair. “Bad day.” ‘Course, you know. “What’s up?”

“I’m sorry to interrupt you after everything that happened but…are you doing anything now?”

Justin raised an eyebrow at that. Normally when Beth called him to ask what he was doing, it usually came with the tag of Jamie’s name. For an insanely brief moment he had the image of Beth asking him out on a date.

Stupid… She’s just a machine, he berated himself, blushing lightly. “Not really,” he grumbled, getting out of bed and stumbling over his clock. It showed the time as being 4:30 in the afternoon. He hesitated between the instinct to say he wasn’t doing anything and the knowledge of his sister being in the house, acting as his babysitter while his mother was back at work. He ground his teeth together remembering how freaked out she had been after hearing about the heroi attack on the school. If he left the house while she was finishing her shift at the hospital, there would be Hel to pay. “Why? Does Jamie want to get together or something?”

The thought struck him as odd, given what happened. Then again, as he thought about it, maybe not so. His parents don’t seem to care much about him…

“I still need to discuss things with him, but there’s been a bit of a…development…with me…and I’d like to have your help.”

“My help?” Justin snorted. “Don’t know what I can do. If it’s got something to do with you shouldn’t you be talking to the feds? They’re the ones with all the tech stuff anyway. Heck, Kyle would be better than me. This sort of thing is his obsession isn’t it?”

He thought on that for a second, briefly remembering a time when the boy tinkered with his home computer. Could he even call that an obsession?

“If it’s all the same, I’d rather leave the government and Kyle out of this,” Beth replied. “Actually it’s from your sister that I need help. I can’t explain it over the phone. If you could mention this to her so she could leave herself available it would be appreciated.”

Justin glanced at his desk where a pile of homework sat. There was a chance school would be closed but… As good an excuse as any, he thought, dropping a pair of shorts to the floor and heading over to his desk, sweeping the pile into a book bag.

“Yeah, sure. Just tell Jamie to bring his school stuff so I can copy from him. He’s usually done by now…”

“I’ll pass it along.” Beth sighed, causing Justin to raise an eyebrow. Did she sound…exhausted? “I’ll call you again when we’re ready to leave. Bye.”

With that, Justin was greeted with the sound of silence, leaving him staring at the phone for a moment before pocketing it. Shaking his head, he ruffled his hair to get the bed-head out of it. It didn’t help much, but at least he looked more presentable.

His sister was going to be really annoyed with him now.

Beth hung up on Justin and returned her attention to Jamie as he clung to his Cerberus. Monster’s tongues were darting around his face, lapping at the spots where blood had been drying from earlier.

“Oh gods…” Jamie felt tears of relief start to spring forth in his eyes and he buried his face in Monster’s purple fur to hide them. “How…?” He found himself unable to finish, but the dark-haired girl standing in the doorway next to the older woman—almost a younger version of her—took up the reigns of conversation, knowing what he meant.

“I found him in the park,” Kira replied. “I’ve…we’ve…” the girl glanced at her mother briefly before continuing. “…been looking for his owner.” In spite of how she felt about her mother tagging along and fouling up her plans, she found herself smiling at the sight of the boy reuniting with his Cerberus. Man’s best friend, she thought. “We’re glad to have found you.”

“T-Thank you!” Jamie breathed, breaking away from Monster and getting up to face them fully. His face flushed with embarrassment. He didn’t like being so emotional in front of people, but he couldn’t help himself. “You…” Jamie blinked as he looked at the girl. “Hey! You’re the one who rescued me and Justin at school!”

Amanda turned a raised eyebrow at her daughter, who pretended not to notice her sudden attention. “Yeah, I…uh…was trying to tell you about your critter then, but…well…you know the rest.” She swallowed, feeling a touch nervous from her mother’s scrutiny. “I’m Kira by the way.”

“I’m Jamie,” the boy smiled, extending one hand while rubbing the back of his head nervously. “Thank you so much. You have no idea what this means to me.”

Kira looked at his offered hand uncertainly for a moment before returning the gesture. The handshake was awkward, but to Kira it felt as though their connection was sealed now, allowing her to more easily enter his world and life without arousing suspicions.

Even though she didn’t much like her reasons for doing so.

This doesn’t feel right, she thought, dropping her hand from his.

“Are you all right?” Amanda asked Jamie, tilting her head to one side. “I don’t mean to pry but…your face…”

“Hm?” Jamie looked over at the older woman who pointed at her own face indicatively. Following her direction he poked at his face and quickly remembered that he had been bleeding earlier. “Oh! Yeah, I’m all right. I just…um…” Can’t really tell them that I’ve been visited by a metamorph or anything or that my powers are acting up and everything in between. “…just had an accident.” He forced a chuckle. “Tripped. I tripped, that’s all.”

“Well, as long as you’re okay,” Amanda nodded accepting this excuse while her eyes flashed down to the Companion module clipped to his waist. “I hate to cut this short but we should get going. We have some errands to run.”

We don’t have any errands, Kira thought, but didn’t protest. She found herself hating the awkwardness and any chance to escape it was welcome.

“Huh? Oh!” Jamie bobbed his head up and down. “Thanks again. Thank you so much!”

“Sure,” Kira said, reluctantly turning to follow her mother. “See you around.”

The door closed with a click and Jamie again dropped down to embrace Monster. Beth blinked from her spot on Jamie’s belt loop.

“I got a hold of Justin…” she began.

“He seems like a nice young man,” Amanda started as both she and Kira made their way down the walk. “So he goes to your school?”

“Yeah,” Kira nodded, feeling relieved that this was done and over with—or at least this part of her contact with the boy. “I think everyone’s heard of him at some point or another. He’s a heroi you know.”

“So I gathered from the Companion he has,” Amanda said. Kira glanced at her catching the tone in her voice.

“Something wrong about that? Ran was—is—a heroi.”

Furrowing her brow she looked over her shoulder and back at the Grey’s house. “I just couldn’t help but…wonder if that blood was really from an accident. His nose… There wasn’t any swelling or anything. I wonder…”

“Wonder what?”

Amanda shook her head. “It might be nothing, but…I don’t want you near him after this. You’ve returned his Cerberus. Leave it at that, okay Kira?”

Kira raised an eyebrow. “Why would I do that? The kid’s a year younger than me. Looks like he’s a bit of a dork too with how he was holding that Cerberus.”

“I wouldn’t talk if I were you, young lady,” Amanda teased. “I saw you smile just then. You’ve grown fond of the animal. Maybe I should get you one so you don’t have an excuse to visit…”

“Monster, Mom. He has a name. And I told you, I’m not going near him.”

“Did you?” Amanda’s eyes were thoughtful. “I must be hard of hearing now.”

Kira glowered at her as they turned down the street. “I don’t get it. Why don’t you want me near him because of a bloody nose?”

Amanda couldn’t say, still not certain about what she had seen—even sensed. The whole time she was at the doorway, the hair on the back of her neck was prickling as though there were an electrical current running in the air. Q-Field activation, and a big one. That and a bloody nose… I think I know what kind of accident he had, and it hurt his body in some way. She bit her lower lip.

“I think he might be self-destructing,”she said finally.

Teruo sat on the hard metal chair, arms folded over his chest and staring at the mirror off to his side. Across from him, he heard a polite cough.

“I’m listening,” he replied indifferently.

“It would help if you would take this seriously,” said the man across from him. “If you would appreciate the severity of the situation you are in…”

“I both appreciate and understand,” Teruo replied, not moving his head. “I think we’ve established all evidence points to me by now so I don’t know why we’re still talking about this.”

The man sighed and looked down at the folder in front of him. “Trespassing onto government property; damage to government property—namely vehicles and Guardians, but there is also the matter of your leg injury.” The man leaned back in his chair. “That especially is a grievous offense since you’re a valued resource. It’s almost as bad as your possession of illegal and decommissioned transmat devices.”

“I healed up,” Teruo rebutted, raising his previously injured leg for emphasis. He wiggled his toes within his shoe, but the effect was lost on the man. “It takes more than falling off a power line to disable even a heroi like me. Don’t worry. Your ‘property’ wasn’t in any danger.”

“Had you been spotted immediately you would have been. The law is quite clear in regards to the level of commotion you caused.”

Teruo shrugged nonchalantly. “It’s not my fault that I need materials to work with but I can’t get any.”

“It would help if you were forthcoming about what you need these materials for.”

“And it would help if what I needed wasn’t also illegal. Guess we’re at an impasse.”

“From your perspective. You will be placed under around-the-clock surveillance, human and AI. Your network privileges are also suspended until further notice. Any unauthorized online activity will be result in the immediate loss of your computer and all tech equipment you own.”

“Uh oh. I’m ‘grounded’. Again.”

“There is also this caveat. There is an Epsilon Sentinel in the city. Should you continue to cause trouble, we will give further judgment of your case over to him. It is within his authority to deal with you as he sees fit.”

Teruo shifted in his chair. “My butt hurts,” he grumbled. “Can I leave yet?”

The man sighed. “As long as you have an understanding, then yes.”

“Finally.” Sliding out of his chair, he got up and headed over to the door. “I need a bath.” Running a hand over his arms he grimaced at the grime. Normally he had no problems with being dirty, given his chosen ‘profession’, but being forced to go for the entire night since his arrest without being able to clean himself was a bit unfair.

To top it all off, all my work from yesterday was for nothing. The transmat disks I salvaged have been taken from me. I don’t even know if they found that CD that Maher guy gave me. Crap, I hope they didn’t…

He sighed despondently as he exited the room and was quickly flanked by two agents. Today was not off to a good start.

The worst part about it is that John is going to give me an earful about this when I get home. Take up more of my time, make me feel bad that I put him in such an awkward spot… Not that I can blame him for making me feel bad. I mean, it is an awkward spot to be in… Strikes and gutters, and today I really hit a lot of gutters. There’s really nothing I can do except to ride out the rapids and wait things out. With my luck, the whole mess with the city will have solved itself and I won’t be able to check it out.

Crap. Now I really hope that they didn’t find that CD…

Around and around, the thoughts played through his mind, from the moment he got into the van that would bring him home to the moment that he hopped out in the middle of John’s driveway. John Smith was there waiting for him at the door, a dark look on his face.

“Welcome home,” he said, his tone neutral.

“Hey,” Teruo replied, trying hard to meet the man’s gaze and ultimately failing. The look of reproach was hard to face. “I…uh…” He coughed uncomfortably as the door to the house closed behind him, leaving him alone with his caretaker. “…I want to say that…I’m sorry.”

“I see,” John replied, his voice still devoid of any emotion. “Sorry that you’re actually in trouble and it’s causing problems for others, or sorry that you were just caught?”

Teruo bit down on his response, not trusting himself to say something that would be taken out of context.

“Well?” John prodded, not content with leaving the issue alone.

“A little bit of both,” Teruo responded after a second of hesitation.

“I see. So it didn’t matter enough what other people have to deal with because of your actions?”

What part of both was absent in this conversation? Teruo nearly shot back at him. Instead he opted for a different approach, one that felt more logical. “I weighed the risks and I messed up. If things were calmer, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.”

Or if we were at least it would be less of a big deal since there wouldn’t have been freakin’ assault cars and expensive tanks in the area…

“It’s not like I didn’t think about you,” Teruo continued. “I just didn’t count on…everything I found when I got there. I needed to get into the junkyard.”

“So I’ve gathered based on the list found on your person and the transmat disks you had under your bed. What in the name of all the gods did you need with building a transmat platform?”

Teruo was silent. Seeing this, John massaged his forehead and gave a heavy, shaky sigh.

“Fine. Under law we can’t make you tell us anything unless we determine it’s a matter of national security. No psychics can be used either.” He swept his hands outward uselessly, his expression helpless. “I don’t know what to do with you, Teruo. In all honesty, I don’t know what to do. Can you tell me? I’m supposed to keep you safe and out of trouble, and provide you with what you need—legally—to show that you can be of use to the country, but you go your own way, do whatever you think you can get away with… I’m useless in keeping you under wraps.”

He dropped his hands to his sides. As Teruo watched, he saw something in the man’s expression that communicated nothing but utter hopelessness at his situation. John turned away.

“So much for my education,” he said under his breath. “I thought that would give me some insight…” He sighed again. “Go upstairs, Teruo. I need time to think. Do you want any take-out Tianchao?”

Teruo winced. John was offering him one of his favorite foods for dinner? The taste of good food would not mix well with the bitterness of this homecoming.

Well, it’s not like he has to cook it or anything, he thought. “Yeah, sure,” he said, heading toward the stairs. “I’ll have whatever.”

It’s still there. Teruo sighed with relief upon finding that his secret hideaway still contained Maher’s CD. He was fortunate enough that they left him all his computer equipment. In spite of being stripped of network access, viewing the contents of the information would be no problem. The only thing that concerned him in this regard was surveillance. Finishing pretending to check his equipment he got out from under his desk and dusted himself off, no longer caring for how dirty he was. He was in a dark enough mood. He might as well be the part outwardly as well.

Human and AI are going to be monitoring me, he thought. Wonder if that means they have heroi psychically spying too. They’re technically human after all. He looked up at his ceiling and gave a quick visual inspection of it. Nothing out of the ordinary, but that doesn’t mean much. Still, they’d be stupid to leave anything technological where I can get my hands on it.

There was a loud tapping on the window, but he ignored it. He wasn’t sure how he could even begin searching for surveillance, or if he should at all.

Forgetting for a moment that I don’t yet know the extent of the surveillance, any more active searches would send up alarms on the CHC’s end and then I could wind up being judged by that Epsilon Sentinel.

Biting on his tongue, he let out a little hiss. He heard whispers of the Sentinels. Almost every heroi that was past the Alpha Three stage heard of them in one form or another. To the average citizen there was little difference between them and any other heroi, but the reality… Ah, there’s the rub.

Giving up for the time being, Teruo flopped back onto his bed, eyes closed and surrendering himself to the silence. Silent that is, save for the incessant tapping on his window. Furrowing his brow he doubled his efforts to ignore it.

What am I going to do? What should I do?

A tap.

Laying low is probably my best bet for now. It’ll get me back in good graces with John and afterward we can probably work something out with the CHC… If I can get him together with Jenny it might go a long way to smooth things over…

Another tap.

Maybe I should do some work on CHC approved projects. It’s kind of what I’m supposed to be doing anyway, and…

Two taps now in rapid succession.

…and I need to do something about that.

With an irritated growl, he got up from his bed and stormed over to his window. It looked as though there was a bird on the other end.

“Stupid,” he grumbled, knocking his knuckles against the glass in the hopes that doing so he would startle the bird away. “There’s nothing in here you could want. Go away.”

The bird responded by merely tapping against the window again, this time more forcefully, causing a small crack to appear in the glass.

Well here’s something Edgar Allen Poe never imagined from his raven…

Alarmed and furious, he pulled out his Doctor Device—grateful that the CHC didn’t confiscate it—and activated it. Grabbing hold of the window he unlatched it and threw it open, electricity dancing on the end of the Doctor upon activation.

He squawked as the bird flew right at his face. Flailing the Doctor in front of him uselessly he fell back to the floor with a thud. There was a flash of light over on his bed as he rolled over into a crouch.

“Wha…?” Tilting his head to one side, Teruo found himself looking in confusion at the sight of a pale-faced, white-haired, amber-eyed girl sitting on his bed, waving at him with a small, amused smile on her face.

“Hi Teruo Kato,” she greeted. “Sorry about bursting in like this, but I was hoping to talk to you.”

Oh Hel… Teruo groaned.

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