I had noticed the biggest difference in her attitude after she told me she loved me and proceeded to give me most of her blood to save my life. She had spent those following few days either in my lap or holding my hand most of the time, and she allowed me to make virtually all the decisions.
Not to mention, her offer for me to take her blood a second time, even when she wasn’t back to full health…
I felt a little stupid for having not realized the significant change in her demeanor and behavior after that critical moment. She should have left me to die. It would have been the best move, especially when the alternative risked her own safety. And she was more important to the team than I was. I might be powerful, but I was also extremely dangerous and possibly unpredictable.
Even Zane had commented that if the military found out how invincible I was, then they might try to get rid of me, especially if they discovered I couldn’t be controlled. Which said a lot about Zane.
It also said a lot about Trinity, revealing that her decisions were grounded in her feelings for me, rather than pure strategic logic. Everything from her saving Liz to saving my life, instead of abandoning me. It was all for love.
“Everything alright, Jake?” Ava asked.
I blinked at her, realizing I had stopped at the entrance to the barracks, with her having stopped just inside, angled sideways. She must have looked over her shoulder again to see if I was still following.
I gave her an apologetic look, knowing I’d probably missed something after having been lost in my own thoughts for the last few minutes. “Umm, yeah.” I paused. “What are we doing exactly?” I wondered.
She gave me a concerned look. “Showering and changing. And then a quick lunch, followed by heading over to wait on the new team members to be brought in.” She paused. “Do you need to eat?” she wondered seriously.
My eyes widened slightly. I really didn’t like this subject. “Umm, no I’m still okay.”
“Because I know where they keep the blood bags,” she continued. “I can go grab you one.”
I shook my head and took a step towards her, hoping she’d resume walking so we could drop this subject. She didn’t turn around though, and after another couple of steps I was standing too close. It would be more awkward if she was fully facing me, but she was still angled sideways.
She looked up at me with an expression I didn’t fully understand. I felt like there was an ocean of depth to her brown eyes, hiding an unfathomable number of secrets – many more than she had shared with me previously. And an unfathomable amount of emotions on every spectrum possible. There was pain, hesitation, concern, sympathy, and many combinations I couldn’t even identify.
I knew my diet and overall monstrous nature worried her. I knew she felt both sympathetic for my plight, and fearful of what I was capable of. And I knew I sometimes reminded her of her psychotic father, along with all the associated trauma and pain.
And I felt like I was barely scratching the surface of just how horrible her upbringing had been. And even more stunned by how she had turned out, considering her circumstances.
When I realized she wasn’t going to continue walking, I felt like I should take a step back to avoid invading her personal space, but found myself unable to do so.
Because I could feel that warmth again, radiating out of her body and hitting me like a tidal wave. It had never really left, but it had certainly turned up a notch in the last thirty seconds.
“Jake, are you okay?” she wondered, her tone laced with a deep concern.
I sighed, turning my head away. “I’m really not hungry. Trust me, I’ll eat if I need to.”
“Promise?” she asked quietly.
I met her gaze again, and inclined my head slightly in a failed nod. “Yeah, I promise. I’d much rather get my meal from a blood-bag than a person.” My expression darkened. “Trust me, no one is more upset about what I did to Trinity than I am.”
“R-Right,” she agreed, looking away. She then finally turned around to head down the hall.
I followed her, only to stop after I had long since passed the bay area where the guys slept, realizing I was about to follow Ava all the way to her room. She glanced in my direction as soon as she reached her door, her slightly panicked expression indicated she must have realized what I had almost done.
I turned around in embarrassment and marched back down the hall, hoping desperately she wasn’t going to start distancing herself from me, thinking I was becoming too attached. I passed Zayden just as he was coming out of the massive room, his usual scowl on his face as he headed for the bathroom half naked.
Thankfully, he ignored me completely, allowing me to grab my stuff and follow after him.
Once I got into the shower, I soaped up and rinsed off quickly, only to linger under the supposedly hot water, unable to feel its warmth. Technically, I could detect that it had heat, but it wasn’t the same as the other forms of warmth I’d experienced in the last week and a half.
I did still feel warm in the sense that I wasn’t hungry, but that sensation had done nothing to protect me from the freezing sensation I’d experienced when told the lie about Trinity. And it was nothing like the warmth I got from a person’s physical touch.
After about a minute of attempting to get the same sensation from the steaming water, I finally caught another taste of what I was searching for, though not from the shower. Zayden was obviously eager to eat lunch, so he rushed through his shower just as I had done.
The moment he left the bathroom, I immediately grabbed my towel and bolted over to the wall that had been erected to separate the large bathroom into two, only to sit down on the floor, leaning against it.
I felt like a pervert, knowing exactly what I was doing. But with no one watching me, I didn’t really care.
I was sitting closer to the source of warmth, sitting under it just like someone might sit under a hot shower, basking in its heat. And what was worse – I was reaching out with my sixth sense too, indistinctly sensing Ava’s exposed form to detect that she was sitting on her heels underneath the running water, her back curled as if she were praying.
Her hands weren’t clasped together though, instead appearing as if she had just found a comfortable position to do what I was doing, only with water instead of whatever weird energy I was sensing from her.
And so we both sat like that, the wall between us, until she finally finished up her shower and headed back to her room.
I had brought my clothes with me, so I dried off and changed in the bathroom. I then left and waited for Ava by the exit to the barracks, feeling a little stupid for spying on her. I mean, it wasn’t like I could distinguish details, but it still felt like I had invaded her privacy. She had been under the impression she was alone, away from prying eyes. I doubted she would be very happy if she knew, although reaching out with my sixth sense required virtually no effort, making it easy to invade someone’s privacy even accidentally.
When she came down the hall, I took off for the cafeteria without waiting for her, afraid she might see something in my expression that would give me away. She followed after me without trying to catch up, like we were hiking in single-file again.
In the cafeteria, I sat down diagonally across the table from Zayden, and stared at the wall. I half expected him to complain that there was plenty of other seating, especially since he had seemed annoyed to be so close to all of us in the last few days, but he appeared to be focused on consuming as many calories as possible.
Ava sat down next to him, across from me, and went to work on her own unappetizing meal. It was while they were finishing that I finally spoke up, having just sensed something in the distance.
“Well, that’s potentially problematic,” I scoffed.
They both stopped eating.
“What is?” Zayden snapped.
“The guy they called Magnitude – the one who seems to have a gravity manipulation power – they’re bringing him by car right now.”
“
Do you think it’s because of you,” Ava whispered urgently.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “They think he can restrain me, so maybe they’re bringing him in case I get out of hand.”
“Either that, or adding him to the team,” Zayden suggested with a mouthful of food.
“Ugh, swallow before you speak,” Ava chastised him.
“That’s what he said,” he retorted with a grin.
Ava rolled her eyes and gave me her attention again. ”Zay’s right though. They might be adding him. Do you think that would be a problem?” she wondered.
I shrugged. “I mean, I don’t have an issue with the guy. I just figured his ability had limited uses. Then again, I have no idea how powerful he is when he’s been given permission to kill.”
Ava’s brow furrowed as she considered that. “If they are adding him, then they might be really desperate considering it seems his normal job is restraining people who get out of hand.”
“Why would they be desperate?” I asked seriously. “I thought there were a ton of people waiting to get on this team?”
She nodded. “There are, but the issue is control. Too many of them are delinquents and criminals who might sabotage the mission the moment they get the chance, whether that be by running away or just causing problems in general. And even if they can catch those who run away, they don’t want to waste the resources to do so if they can avoid it.”
“All I know,” Zayden chimed in with a mouth full of food again. “Is we’re about to have a massive territory dispute with two or three new guys joining. Everyone wanting to try to be top dog.”
Ava groaned, her voice sounding nonchalant. “Don’t kill anyone, Zayden.”
He smirked. “Oh, I won’t. But if the gravity bastard tries using his ability on me, I’m frying his ass.”
I sighed heavily, prompting them both to take a break from their bantering to glance at me. “I guess if he uses his ability on me, then I’ll have to pretend like it’s working,” I realized.
Zayden’s grin widened. “Sucks for you, punk-ass.”
“Do you just smash random words together?” I asked seriously. “Because you come up with some of the strangest insults.”
“Ass-wipe,” he scoffed, focusing on his food again instead of getting into it with me.
Ava sighed. “I wonder who they’re going to make the new leader,” she wondered quietly.
“It sure as hell won’t be me,” Zayden grumbled. “I’m not stupid enough to think it would be. And it definitely won’t be this smartass,” he added, gesturing towards me.
She nodded in agreement, which wasn’t surprising. There was no way they’d make me the squad leader at this point – besides being too new, there were also way too many reservations about my controllability and emotional stability.
Ava responded after a moment of thought. “Which means they might trust either me or this gravity guy with the role. Granted, that also depends on who else they add, but in their minds, this guy would be the most capable of making sure people stay in line.”
I nodded in agreement. “I guess there’s only one way to find out,” I commented as Zayden took his last bite.
We both watched him down a carton of milk before getting up to toss his trash away. Ava followed suit, so I got up to wait for them by the door.
“Just remember,” I added. “We aren’t supposed to know what his ability is.”
“Right,” Ava agreed before pausing. “And Jake, maybe you should sit on the bleachers with me.”
“Oh…umm, sure,” I agreed as we followed Zayden. “Are you worried I’ll try to fight someone?” I wondered after a moment.
She didn’t respond.
“I’ll sit with you,” I promised more firmly.
She nodded beside me. “And don’t forget to look sad,” she added.
“Oh…” I paused. “Right.”
My range for detecting threats had definitely gotten larger, because the vehicle bringing Magnitude was still a few minutes away from base.
We all headed to the gymnasium, running across a couple of soldiers heading out of the building. The two of them gave our small group nods as they passed, but otherwise kept to themselves. In the gym, Zayden headed straight for a closet to grab a basketball, while I followed Ava over to the bleachers. She must have really wanted me to stay out of any drama that unfolded because she sat on the far end of the room.
I felt strange again in this situation, considering how everything was unfolding. When I had first arrived on base, Ava and Zane were sitting on the bleachers while Zayden shot hoops. But now I wasn’t the new guy anymore, at least not the newest. I was the one sitting with Ava, and Zayden was playing his solo game as usual.
“Here he comes,” I announced in a normal volume as I sensed him walking down the hall with a soldier.
Zayden made one last shot, and then stuck the ball under his arm to be ready for the arrival.
Two soldiers walked through the double doors then, both of them dressed in uniform and roughly the same age as Zane, the only significant distinction being that one was tan like Ava and the other was much darker.
I knew which one was Magnitude though – the darker one. The top of his head was full of short curly hair, and his irises were so dark they looked black from across the room.
He said something quietly to the other guy, who nodded before heading out of the room, leaving it at just the four of us.
Without hesitation, the man walked right over, his expression grim. “Zayden Clay,” he said in greeting, before directing his attention towards the bleachers. “Ava Locklear, Jacob Knight,” he continued. “I’m Robert Harris, current codename Siphon, the new squad leader.”
My eyes widened slightly as I realized they’d changed his codename – but of course they did. Otherwise I might have a problem with him right away, simply because they had him try to flatten me once. But that meant they may have changed Avery’s codename too. He could mention her and I not even know it.
Ava and Zayden both shifted their weight, trying to hide their surprise as well.
Robert didn’t seem to notice as he continued, his somber gaze focusing on me. “Let me just start off by saying, I’m sorry for your loss. Trinity Graham was an exceptional leader, and Zane Fowler had served on this team for almost a decade – the longest of anyone on Omega squad. I’ve also heard that Elizabeth Mason was well on her way to becoming an important part of this team.”
I stared at him in disbelief.
Crap, was he actually a nice guy? And he seemed so sincere in his grief on our behalf, that I suddenly felt like they were really dead myself.
After a brief pause, he continued. “While it’s only natural that we experience losses in this line of work, it is a tragedy to lose half a squad in an unexpected terrorist attack like this. And while I understand your need to mourn the loss of your comrades and friends, let us strive to work together to prevent any more losses from here on out.”
Part of me wanted to scoff at him at that last part, his words seeming a little too cliché, but he just seemed so…sincere. Either he was an amazing actor, which very well may be possible, or else he really did care. I supposed only time would tell though.
Robert was still looking at me, making me suspect he was anticipating a response. I really didn’t feel like it though. I mean, what was I supposed to say? Thanks?
Maybe my teammates were right to lie to me about Trinity. I really did suck at acting.
I was glad when Zayden chimed in. “Well damn, you’re not at all what I expected. Most of the new people are assholes.”
Robert shifted his gaze and gave him a somber smile. “I’ve been around long enough to have seen my share of loss as well,” he replied. “So while I understand it doesn’t really make it any better, I do get it.”
“Who else is joining the team?” Ava wondered right away, since he seemed so approachable.
He smiled more warmly at her. “That,” he emphasized, “they haven’
t told me. I know of one soldier by the codename Splinter who may be helping if the mission absolutely requires it, but the other addition has currently not been disclosed. It’s possible they are still attempting to decide who would be the best fit.”
“What kind of criteria do they even use?” I finally asked. “Like, are they debating about which ability to add to the team, or is it more like, which person is least likely to sabotage our missions?”
Robert gave me a small smile. “Both,” he replied. “Both factors are always important. However, it is also possible they are waiting on some new intel to come in, which is why I’ve come to pick you up Mr. Knight.”
My brow furrowed. “Wait, we’re leaving already?”
“You and I are, yes,” he clarified carefully. “Your two comrades will stay on base while we investigate a possible lead into who’s responsible for this massive bombing that’s wrecked entire nations.”
Ava and I exchanged a glance, prompting her to speak up. “Is there a reason why you’re only taking Jake?”
He pursed his lips, seeming to debate on how he wanted to respond. By the way he was acting, I was beginning to wonder if he had been told to be careful not to provoke me. After all, I had killed one of their guys already – the one called Panic. However, it was also just as possible that he was attempting to build rapport with us, so that missions would go smoother in the field. Certainly, he could pull his rank and spout out orders, but he must know that wouldn’t be well received, even if we did ultimately listen.
“It’s fine,” I finally replied, meeting Ava’s gaze. “I’ll be fine,” I rephrased.
I knew that’s what it stemmed from. She was worried about me – worried this wasn’t what it seemed, especially since Ava would be the best candidate for intel, without question. She could literally infiltrate anyplace in the world without being caught.
She gave me a worried look, before inclining her chin slightly. “Just be careful,” she whispered.
“He will come back safely,” Robert attempted to reassure her. “I can promise you that.”
Ava’s eyes narrowed, sarcasm filling her tone. “Well, thank you for those kind words, but you’ll have to forgive me for having some reservations considering all we’ve been through.”
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