Project: MI
Chapter 4

Jamie came to a stop in front of the park playground and took a quick look around him, warily regarding some older boys playing hoop ball before hurriedly crossing over into the blacktop and making his way over to the jungle-gym. Jamie kept the jungle gym between himself and the teens as best as he could, but resisted the urge to hide behind it. Doing so, he reasoned, might draw their attention, which was something he did not want.

“Bad day to bring you along,” he muttered to Monster, patting his side. The two-headed Cerberus nuzzled one of his heads against the boy’s leg, tongue hanging out of his mouth as he looked up at him with the other head goofily. Jamie sighed. That purple really stands out…

He took another quick glance at the blacktop. So far none of the boys playing noticed him yet, but that didn’t make him feel any better. He really hoped that his friends would get here soon.

“Come on you guys…” he muttered under his breath. Sensing his anxiety, Monster bumped up against him, trying to calm him down.

“Jamie, it won’t do you any good to be worrying about them right now,” Beth said from his belt loop. “And you know that your friends will not get here any faster just because you want them to.”

Jamie kicked at the dirt and groaned.

“Not helping Beth,” he replied, flashing another glance over at the game. The ball bounced on the steel rim before falling into the hoop below. There was a loud chorus of triumph from one of the two teams and a ruckus of angry curses from the other. Jamie leaned against the jungle gym and scowled. “Why’d they have to come here of all places? I thought they had another place that was closer to where they live.”

“If you would like, I could contact Justin and Kyle and let them know you would like to meet up somewhere else.”

“Could you?” Jamie asked, feeling a bit relieved by the suggestion. “I don’t want to be here if they’re here.”

As he watched the gang of boys battle back and forth, the orange ball striking the pavement, shouts and orders going between each of them, his gaze fell upon one boy in particular; a tall boy with burning red-hair, wearing a tank-top to show off his already impressive biceps, and mouth drawn back in an almost predatory smile. Jamie chewed on his lower lip, fighting down the nervous fear that crawled beneath his skin. His eyes, brilliant green, swept in his direction and his lips curled back to shout something.

“Hey! Jamie!”

“Oh my gods!” the boy jumped, twirling around to the source of the voice, recognizing instantly in spite of his heart pounding out what felt like a deliberate attempt to escape his chest. Jamie cringed, but at the same time rejoiced inwardly, unable to discern whether he should be blessed or cursed. He recognized the owner of the voice. Justin Page. Friend, trouble-maker, and everything in between. To Jamie, he was a good, if somewhat overbearing friend. To everyone else, he was overbearing, loudmouthed, and at times foulmouthed as well.

Next to him as well was their much shorter and mutual friend by the name of Kyle Guziak. That left him feeling a bit better, but not by much. If there was ever a yin to Justin’s yang, Kyle was it, if to an extreme. The boy was shorter than any of them and had a confidence to match his short stature. Where Jamie was quiet, Kyle would be silent. Where Jamie would fidget, Kyle would squirm. Where Jamie would anxiously think about what kind of conversation to strike up with a new friend, Kyle would sweat and blurt out whatever came to mind, often stuttering so badly one would think that Common was a second language to him. He was not popular, least of all with girls who, much to his dismay, likened him to a slug. Pale-faced, sweaty Kyle, who stammered and stuttered his way through words and often looked ashamed to be seen in public. Still, when he was in his element, he was kind and polite, and as confident as any of them…but only when in his element.

“Hey guys,” Jamie greeted, waving at his friends as casually as he could while Monster bounced over to the pair.

“Hey yourself,” Justin grinned, one hand happily receiving a Cerberus ear while glancing down at the boy’s belt. “Hey, Beth. I thought you said this sucker was going to be late.”

“He is,” the AI greeted with amusement in her tone as she swung against Jamie’s waist. “And so are you. Did you take your time getting here?”

“Pretty much,” Justin replied. “Kyle wanted to swing by the game store today, so I figured we might as well kill some time. He jerked a thumb in the direction of the hoop ball game. “Do you want to make tracks? Kyle’s been looking like he’s ready to freak at any second.”

“I am not!” Kyle protested heatedly. Jamie froze at the sound of his voice and quickly glanced over at the hoop ball court, wondering if any of the boys overheard him. So far it didn’t appear to be the case.

“Try and wake the dead why don’t you,” Justin said sarcastically, fixing their friend with a dry look. Pushing himself off from the jungle gym he looped an arm around Kyle and pulled him down against his armpit.

“Lemme go!” Kyle complained, struggling against his friend’s grip. Grinning, Kyle tightened his hold and adjusted his footing.

“So where do you want to go?” Justin asked Jamie casually, as though Kyle weren’t fighting to break free.

“Uh…well, I was…kind of thinking the hospital? Like you said? To see if what your mom said was true…”

“Of course it’s true!” Justin replied indignantly. “Like I told you over the phone, that sort of thing doesn’t happen oft…”

“Let…go!” Kyle exclaimed, finally ripping himself free from Justin’s arm. The smaller boy fell back a step and he glowered at Justin. “Jeez… Do you even use deodorant?! Your pits stink!”

“It’s all for you,” Justin laughed, waving a hand underneath his arm. “Sorry about that though,” he said sheepishly. “The stick ran out and I forgot to ask Mom if she could get me a new one. I washed though!”

“Sure didn’t smell like it,” Kyle grimaced, squeezing his nose shut for emphasis. “Gods! It’s like you swam up a swamp!”

Jamie chuckled lightly and looked over at the hoop ball court. It seemed that Kyle’s cry had finally caught their attention and all activity had ceased, save for one of the boys who was now pointing in their direction.

“Um…guys? I think we might want to get out of here…”

“Hmmm…” Justin rubbed his chin thoughtfully, following Jamie’s gaze. “Yeah, I guess so…”

“Justin?” came Beth’s voice, a concerned tone in it. “I can tell by scanning you that your thinking is not in line with what Jamie is suggesting…”

“Wait, what?” began Jamie, raising an eyebrow at his friend. Justin glared at the machine.

“Tattler… You’re like the little sister I never had or something.”

“What does she mean?”

“C’mon Jamie. It’s been a year and you’re a heroi! I keep telling you that you don’t have to go letting people push you around…”

“Uh…he’s a suppressed heroi,” Kyle pointed out. “And it’s against the law for him to use his powers, remember?”

What powers? Jamie felt his fingers curling into his palms while his stomach worked itself into a knot. He remembered the game book from the morning, but the medicine rendered the whole thing a moot point.

“Eh,” Justin waved dismissively. “He’s got Monster. These punks can’t do anything that he won’t burn ‘em for.” He winked at the Cerberus and both of the animal’s heads at once tilted to its left questioningly.

“Uh…Justin?” began Kyle tentatively. “Monster’s fire glands were removed…”

“Oh…right,” Justin frowned, returning his look in the direction of the hoop ball court. A smaller group of the boys had detached themselves from the others and were now heading in their direction. “Guess it’s time for a retreat then.”

Jamie and Kyle both nodded in agreement and all three started to head off together, Jamie tugging on Monster’s leash to get him moving.

“Hey! Grey!” bellowed a voice of one of the approaching boys behind them, causing all Jamie and Kyle to both freeze up in their tracks, while Justin continued on a couple paces before stopping, turning to look at them with a raised eyebrow.

“Uh…guys? Isn’t this where we’re supposed to be ignoring him and keep on walking?”

“Right!” Kyle said quickly, taking hold of Jamie by the arm and, with strength that surprised the other boy, began to drag him forward. Jamie’s feet stumbled for a moment and he threw a look over his shoulder.

Oh great, he thought, quickly looking away as his worst fears were realized. The boy at the head of the group, burning red-hair and bulging biceps, was known amongst friends, family, and teachers as Bradley Moore. Outside of them, and more specifically to the terrified students that attended the same school as him, he was known not by a specific name but more by a feeling of abject terror. His trademark hair color was joked about once by a more learned classmate of Jamie’s as the remains of the volcano that destroyed Pompeii.

Quickly getting his feet back under him, he fumbled for his Companion.

“Uh… Beth?” he stammered, attempting to unclip her. Unfortunately, his fingers were now shaking so badly that they missed the chain completely.

“Jamie, I need to record this in case he tries anything against you.”

Jamie swallowed, trying to gulp down his fear and get some sense of calm in his fingers. He knew Beth was only trying to do her job, but if Bradley damaged her module…

Monster growled at his side just a split second before Bradley’s next bellow caused Jamie to freeze in his tracks.

“Grey!!!”

Beth clipped off from Jamie’s belt as the trio spun around. Jamie had enough time to realize that he couldn’t pocket the Companion without her being noticed.

Please don’t say anything, he thought desperately, trying to cover her with his fingers as much as he could without appearing obvious.

“Didn’t you hear me calling you James?” the red-haired boy asked, his troop of boys coming to a halt behind him as he stopped in front of the young heroi.

“Uh…hey…Brad,” Jamie began carefully, tugging on Monster’s leash to keep him back. “How are things?”

“Fine,” Bradley grinned, folding his arms over his chest. “Just wondering what you’re doing here.” He looked over at Justin, who was scowling at him. “What’s your problem? You’re still hanging out with these guys?”

“You got eyes right?” Justin replied, pointing at his own for emphasis, to which both Jamie and Kyle blanched noticeably. It seemed that their friend was intent on having things get off to a rocky start despite his earlier intention of leaving as soon as possible.

“Just wanted to make sure,” Bradley chuckled. He looked at the others behind him. “You’d think he’d be getting tired of them by now, but hey, like my old man says, to each their own, right?”

“Yeah, sure,” Justin harrumphed. Bringing his arms to rest on his friends’ shoulders, he began to steer them in a direction that faced away from their fellow schoolmate. “Anyway, we’ve got to get out of here.”

“What’s the rush?” Bradley asked, a mischievous light appearing in his eyes. “You don’t have time to catch up?” Slowly he reached out toward Jamie to stop the trio, but without looking, Jamie’s hand parted from his friend just long enough to slap Bradley’s arm away before returning to its resting location. Bradley’s eyebrows rose up in surprise at this, and red warmed his cheeks as one of his friends made a sharp whistling noise.

“You steppin’ to me?” Bradley asked, moving a foot closer. Jamie could only nod numbly. His brain felt like every fuse was popping all at once. He couldn’t think clearly and was now simply reacting. The air warmed and cooled around him in waves, and he felt an odd sense of dampness hanging close to his armpits. Sweat? He was going to worry about that later.

He almost didn’t notice Justin appearing by his side.

“Knock it off,” Justin said, throwing a sharp glare over his shoulder. “We’ve got a friend in the hospital that we’re visiting. They got caught in that freak heroi attack yesterday. We don’t have time for you yankin’ us around.” Grabbing hold of Jamie’s enclosed hand, he pulled it up, revealing Beth for the other boys to see. “Smile. You’re being watched.”

“Cease and desist,” Beth warned, her electric eye seemingly narrowing. A red dot appeared on Bradley’s forehead and the boy finished retracting his hand with a chuckle.

“Whatever you say Officer Mom,” he replied in an innocent tone. “Just don’t hurt me…”

There was a flash of movement and Jamie’s hand was thrown to the side, skin red and stinging. Beth’s module flew through the air before landing a few feet away on the ground.

“Piss on that,” Bradley scoffed. “You think I care?” He craned his head in the Companion’s direction. “Josh?”

“On it,” said one of the boys, detaching himself from the group.

“Hey!” Justin shouted, starting forward, only for Bradley to grab him roughly by the shirt and shove him backwards. Justin’s feet pin-wheeled for a moment before catching his balance.

“Take it easy,” sneered Bradley as his friend handed him Beth’s module. “I was just having Josh pick it back up for him.” Smirking, the fiery-haired boy dusted off the machine before holding it out for Jamie. “Go on,” he said. “Just take it back.”

Jamie eyed Bradley with suspicion, already knowing how this was going to go. He experienced enough of his ‘games’ to figure out what his next move was. What could he do though?

Doing nothing only makes things worse. If I do something…it won’t be as bad. Usually.

So he did what Bradley expected. He reached out, and the older boy pulled Beth back. Bradley laughed at his fruitless attempt.

“Now say that you’re sorry for ignoring me when I called you.”

By Jamie’s side, Monster growled viciously, eyes narrowing. Bradley only eyed him with mild amusement.

“Keep your mutt cool,” said one of the boys behind Bradley.

“Just give her back,” Jamie said, his face flushing deep red in anger. A slight aura began to appear around the hand that held Monster’s leash as he tightened his grip, but it went unnoticed.

“This is stupid!” Justin snarled, and with that the boy launched himself at Bradley, surprising Jamie. Bradley, out of experience with his antics, simply launched a vicious kick at Justin’s unprotected abdomen. Justin’s eyes bulged in their sockets as all the air left his lungs in one mad rush, and he collapsed to the ground, arms clutching his stomach, gasping.

“Jus—!” began Jamie, only for Bradley to grab him by the ear and pull him forward.

“I wasn’t done with you,” he hissed, tugging and twisting with each word he spoke. “Come on. Say. You’re. Sorry.”

That did it. With a guttural snarl, Monster jumped upward and his jaws closed around Bradley’s arm. The older boy screamed in surprise as the Cerberus’ fangs bit into his unprotected flesh, causing him to drop Beth to the ground again. Jamie blinked in surprise and pulled backward, the light around his leash hand intensifying briefly. With one more yank, Monster’s fangs ripped away and both him and Jamie collapsed to the ground in a heap. Swearing up a storm, Bradley staggered backward, clutching hold of his arm in order to stem the flow of blood that seeped through his fingers.

“Bastard!” Bradley howled, throwing off his friends’ attempts at helping him. “Get offa me! I said get off!” The crowd backed off, suddenly wary of the teen. Scrambling to his feet, Jamie tried to do likewise, instantly knowing as they did that now that he was pissed, he would turn on anyone regardless of what side they were on. With a snarl, Bradley stomped over toward him and Monster attempted to lunge at him once more. Instinctively Jamie pulled him back…

There was a meaty smack as Bradley’s fist struck Jamie on his left cheekbone, sending him careening to the ground with a heavy thud. For a wonder, his grip on Monster’s leash tightened, preventing him from retaliating. Not that it helped, nor was Bradley grateful for the further absence of Cerberus fangs in his body.

“S-Stop it!” Jamie heard Kyle cry as he struggled to get back up. Bradley’s shadow fell over him.

Here it comes…

“What’s going on here?!”

Jamie blinked as the expected blow didn’t come, but an adult did in its place. Bradley fell back as a dark-haired woman wearing a jean jacket stormed up, blue-eyes looking as though she just broke open the Underworld and all Hell was vomiting forth in all its fury and vengeance.

“I asked what the hell is going on here?!” the woman demanded, not bothering to mince words.

“That kid’s Cerberus attacked…”

“…because your friend attacked his owner!” the woman snapped to the first boy who dared to speak. “I’ve got eyes like a hawk. I saw what happened!”

“Screw you, you old bat…” began Bradley, anger still burning in his voice. The woman was quick to turn her fury on him. Much to Jamie’s surprise, Bradley staggered back under her glare, and a physical sense of oppressiveness fell over the playground, as though the air was slowly becoming solid. Jamie found himself gasping for breath as fear rolled over him like a blanket. Suddenly he was unsure if the woman was his rescuer.

“I’m sorry,” began the woman, her voice dripping. “Would you care to repeat that? Because I was almost sure that you said you were going to get out of here.”

None of the boys in Bradley’s troupe would admit it amongst themselves—it had to be a trick of the light, or the tenseness of the situation—but privately they would have sworn on a stack of holy books that the woman’s eyes darkened for half a second as the sensation of weight in the air increased in intensity.

“Brad…” began one of the boys—Josh—laying a hand on the boy’s shoulder. That seemed to snap him back to reality and he, along with the rest, took a step back.

“We’re out of here,” he replied. With one final glare at Jamie, he was true to his word, and together the group soldiered off.

“Ho…ly…crap…” wheezed Justin, struggling to his feet while Jamie let go of a breath that he didn’t know he had been holding. “Remind me to never piss you off.”

“Watch your mouth,” the woman said, turning to face the three boys, giving Justin a firm look. The cloud that had initially surrounded her was gone, but she held onto the air of authority just enough for Justin to grimace without making a snappy response in return.

For once, thought Jamie, getting up. Standing up on his hind legs, Monster’s two heads went straight for his cheek, tongues lapping out in an attempt to wash the bruise that was already forming. Approaching him, the woman looked him over.

“You don’t look the worse for wear. Are you okay?” She reached out toward his face and Jamie flinched back.

“S-Sorry,” he stammered, averting his eyes. “I’m a little wound up right now…”

Pressing her lips together, she nodded in understanding and didn’t press the issue. Reaching into her handbag, she dug through it. “It looked like your Cerberus messed that kid’s arm up pretty bad.” She glanced in the direction of the retreating gang of boys and frowned. “Can’t say that I feel sorry for him, but…his folks might look for a lawsuit because of it.” She produced a card and handed it to Jamie. “I need to meet up with someone soon, so I can’t stick around for very long, but take this in case there is trouble and you need someone to testify for you.” She smiled comfortingly at him as Jamie reluctantly took the card and read the name off it. Amanda Baker.

Why does that name sound familiar…? he wondered before quickly dismissing the thought.

“Um…thanks?”

“Is that a question or a response?” the woman grinned, hoping to ease the tension in the air.

“A res…I mean thanks!” Jamie quickly bowed his head at the woman respectfully, earning him a raised eyebrow.

“You’re pretty old fashioned,” she chuckled. “See you around kiddo.” Shrugging her bag back onto her shoulder, she headed off, giving the trio a small wave.

“Jeez…” Justin breathed as Kyle approached, picking up Beth and holding him out for Jamie to take. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” Jamie replied, clipping Beth back to his waist.

“Not you,” Justin snorted. “I can already see how you are. I’m asking Beth. She took two tumbles you know.”

“I am undamaged,” the Companion replied. “I’m a bit frazzled though. That…was a bad one.”

“Every meeting with that guy is a bad one.”

“Compared to other bad ones,” Beth clarified before continuing. “He’s getting worse. I’m going to have to file a report. His behavior is becoming too dangerous. For Jamie. For…everyone around him and…” The Companion paused. “I’m sorry, Jamie. I didn’t mean…”

“Don’t worry about it,” Jamie said, patting Beth’s casing. “Let’s just get out of here.” Tugging on Monster’s leash, the three friends headed off.

Amanda Baker watched the three boys as they wandered away before pulling out her cell phone and checking the time.

“You weren’t going to do anything to stop that mess, Agent Coleman?” she asked to the man approaching casually behind her. The man, dirty-blond hair and wearing the dark suit that characterized agents belonging to the Center of Heroi Control, did not react in surprise at having been noticed without being seen.

“I was assessing your response, Ms. Foster,” he replied simply. “All heroi are to be approached with caution.”

“I wasn’t going to hurt them,” Amanda said, pocketing her phone. The agent shrugged.

“All the same.”

“Anyway, what’s this all about?” Amanda asked, sounding more than a little bit miffed. “I was in the middle of a design meeting and I had to pull some strings to get out of there without telling anyone that the CHC wanted to see me. You’re not helping either by the way with that look.” She gave the agent an appraising look and sniffed derisively. “Where’s Daria? She gave me the call. I thought she would meet me here.”

“I’m going to have to ask you to come with me,” Agent Coleman replied simply. Amanda’s ears pricked at a warbling sound—no, two warbling sounds—from above them.

Guardians… she thought, not looking up.

“What’s going on?” she asked, her muscles tensing up.

“Please don’t resist. We have the frequency of your Q Field on file. We don’t need an incident that would become subject to public or oversight scrutiny.” His eyes, amber colored, flicked over to Amanda. “A scandal would be bad for you and your daughter I would imagine.”

Amanda narrowed her eyes, seething for a moment before finally nodding in agreement.

“All right,” she said. “Lead on.”

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