Omega Zero

by Kurtis Eckstein

  What if that warmth wasn’t something internal? What if that heat was an actual inferno?

  I shivered at the thought. Would Zayden’s body get physically warmer if his temper got out of control? He always seemed pissed, but that wasn’t like real anger… I mean, I had just witnessed his head explode into flames when I made him pissed only yesterday, which was bad enough of a problem.

  But even worse, would Zayden explode in flames if he got aroused?

  I mean, Ava was super attractive and yet this arrogant bastard, who didn’t seem like the shy-type at all, hadn’t made a move on her as far as I was aware. Was there a reason for that? A reason beyond potentially risking his spot on the team?

  The idea sounded like a nightmare. I could never be around Trinity or anyone else without risking burning them alive. Which meant he was dead right. I needed to stay away from his blood at all cost, and I needed to be extra careful about who I fed on from now on. All it could take was a drop of the wrong person’s blood and I might be cursed with something I could never get rid of.

  I was already cursed in needing blood to begin with, so adding more curses truly would be a nightmare.

  I shifted my gaze to the girl still in my lap. “Umm, Blair?”

  “Yes?” she squeaked.

  “Can you get off now?”

  “Yes,” she squeaked again, not budging an inch. She responded as if she was going to agree to anything I asked of her.

  I realized I wasn’t helping either with my own fingers buried in the yellow fur on her thighs. I forced myself to release my grip, shifting my weight underneath her slightly to encourage her to get up.

  Instead, if felt like she forced herself down even more.

  “Okay, that’s enough,” Ava chimed in. “Blair, off! Now!”

  She gulped, before slowly unclasping her hands and pressing a hand against the wall by my head as she began getting to her feet. The tension in the air seemed to rise for a moment, prompting me to close my eyes and hold my breath. That definitely helped, because suddenly I couldn’t smell her thick enticing scent again. My head cleared a little.

  I finally opened my eyes once she walked into the room and closed the door behind her.

  Ava appeared pensive. “You’re still going to have to keep your distance,” she whispered.

  I sighed heavily, Trinity’s appearance flashing before my eyes. She’d probably be pissed if she knew about this, and rightfully so. I’d be pissed if she were acting like this around another guy. I cleared my throat. “Right,” I agreed. “And I’m sorry. This was all new for me.”

  “At least now we know why you reacted to her like that,” Ava considered. “We might as well consider you as a beast now too, since you’ve mimicked some of Zane’s powers, and hers as well.”

  “Do you think it’s a permanent change?” I wondered. “Or do you think these abilities will go away with time?”

  She shook her head. “I have no idea. Trinity might have been able to tell us how long that man was able to steal her power for, but we can’t ask her…since she’s gone and all…” Her voice trailed off. I knew Ava was being careful to not speak like Trinity was still alive in case anyone overheard.

  I nodded in agreement. “I think I’m going to skip this run,” I commented. “And dinner too, since I won’t be eating anyway.”

  Her eyes widened in surprise. “Okay?”

  “Mind if I hide in your room?” I continued.

  Her brow furrowed. “Yeah, sure. But why?”

  I sighed. “To get some time to myself,” I whispered, pointing towards Blair’s new room, so Ava would know that I was really saying, ‘time away from Blair.’

  Ava’s eyes widened slightly, before she nodded in agreement. “Of course. Good idea.” She paused. “And I’m sorry for kicking you in the face,” she added.

  I grinned at her. “I didn’t mind.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Well good. Maybe I’ll do it again just for fun sometime.”

  I scoffed, getting to my feet. “I didn’t ‘not mind’ that much.”

  She grinned. “It was very satisfying though,” she said playfully. “I need to start kicking more people in the face.”

  I rolled my eyes this time, shaking my head as I walked down the hall to her room. “Well, I guess if you really need to vent that badly, then my face is all yours for kicking.”

  Surprisingly, she didn’t respond, only giving me a small nod when I glanced back at her.

  Chapter 15: Compliments

  I stayed in Ava’s room like promised, sitting in the corner while trying to consider everything that had just happened. It was hard not to pay attention to them running on the track outside though. Blair really was fast running on two legs, although her speed was difficult to compare to mine without running beside her. Granted, thinking about that was problematic.

  Because I wanted to run with her.

  And I also wanted to wrestle with her again.

  After a while, I began focusing on what I had done earlier with my eyes to distract myself, attempting to make my irises shift again. It was initially a struggle to determine when I was doing it though. After a few tries, I got up to explore the room a little, looking for something reflective.

  Ava had a necklace sitting on her desk with a simple silver heart attached that was engraved with a cross on one side – I’d never seen her wear it, so I assumed it must be more of a memento. I tried using the backside to see my reflection, but the metal wasn’t shiny enough. I then found a small compact makeup case with a mirror inside the lid. It was otherwise empty though – no makeup or application sponge.

  I sat back down against the wall and focused on shifting my eyes, checking the tiny mirror occasionally to see if I had gotten it right. It took a while to figure out how it felt, but eventually I nailed it down, sensing yet another kind of warmth behind my eyes when they shifted.

  I then thought back to the other metahumans I’d taken blood from, including Trinity, wondering how I might have mimicked their powers, but it was difficult to test. My night vision had improved a ton recently, so I supposed I may have gotten that from Trinity – the girl who was virtually in perpetual daylight due to her special eyes. I recalled her saying that the military’s scientists believed her eyes actually emitted a light-frequency that only she could see. That was the only way they could explain her being able to see even in total darkness as if it was daytime.

  Otherwise though, as far as her other abilities I didn’t exactly have a test subject to try killing without my blood, and whereas Trinity knew exactly what she was doing, I didn’t. Not to mention, I hadn’t mimicked anyone’s powers perfectly. I couldn’t generate a large passive shield like Liz could, nor could I transform into a wolf like Zane – at least, as far as I knew. Replicating the general appearance of Blair’s paralyzing eye was the only thing that had been physically noticeable so far, and I was pretty sure I hadn’t even fully replicated the power – just part of the appearance.

  And I had no idea what benefit I might have gained from Zane’s yellow werewolf eye. Maybe it would have been night vision if it weren’t for the fact I had already gained that from Trinity. Really, the benefit from Zane was being able to return my eyes back to normal.

  When Ava returned from dinner, she sat down on her bed to share that a soldier had stopped by to inform them we would be starting a mission tomorrow afternoon, although we were to eat meals like normal the next day. She then noticed that I had her compact in my grasp, looking surprised and even a little shaken that I was holding it. I apologized when I saw her expression, explaining what I had been doing with the mirror inside. I got up to try to give it back, but she shook her head and told me to continue using it. She then gathered a clean set of clothes and went to take a shower, making me promise to stay in her room while she was gone.

  I did so, a little concerned by her behavior. I wondered if the compact had been a gift from someone she missed. She appeared to have collected herself by the time she retu
rned. We then spent the rest of the evening socializing while she had me share little things about my past. I didn’t think anything regarding my life was too exciting though. Very mundane in every way. Completely normal. But she seemed interested…maybe a little envious too of my normal childhood. Of my normal everything.

  When she started looking sleepy, I got up to excuse myself.

  “What are you doing?” she exclaimed in surprise.

  “Umm, letting you get some sleep.”

  She shook her head. “No,” she replied firmly. “You’re staying in here tonight.”

  I gawked at her. “I am?”

  “Yes, you are. It’s not like you haven’t watched me sleep before, and I’m not about to risk you sneaking into Blair’s bed.”

  I scoffed. “I’m not going to do that.”

  “Or her sneaking into your bed,” she continued. She paused when I gave her a look, prompting her to realize I wouldn’t be sleeping in a bed either way. “You know what I mean! Do I need to sleep in front of the door?” she asked seriously.

  I rolled my eyes. “No ma’am, I’ll be good.”

  “Good,” she snapped. “Now go sit in your corner.”

  I grinned at her, prompting her to crack a smile too.

  “Besides,” she continued in a softer tone. “I might need you to wake me up…”

  I held her gaze for a few long seconds, before complying, resting my chin on my knees while she got comfortable in bed. We were both then silent as she slowly fell asleep.

  She didn’t need me to wake her up though.

  She slept soundly all night, while I spent several hours solidifying my resolve to not get involved with Blair. Everything had taken me by surprise because it had been so instinctual, but I had to realize that I couldn’t always trust my instincts. After all, my instincts were what had led me to interact with Liz in such a way that she became obsessed, and likewise they were what led me to almost getting in over my head with this new girl.

  Blair was undeniably attractive, and I was sure that finishing that primal ritual would have been amazing, but I wouldn’t pick her over Trinity.

  By the time Ava woke up the next morning, I felt confident that I could be around Blair without getting distracted again. Which was a good thing, because Robert showed up in the morning at breakfast. Blair had been shooting me glances nonstop, her mismatched eyes enticing me to hold her gaze, but she finally stopped when our leader appeared, knowing she had to be careful about what he saw.

  Robert wasn’t paying attention anyway though. He wouldn’t even look at me as he began handing out files for us to review. No doubt our last interaction was still fresh in his thoughts. It felt like it had been a long time ago to me, but I also didn’t sleep, which meant double the time had passed in my perception.

  He cleared his throat as he began giving us a summary. “We have three locations we are hitting later this evening, based on the information Knight and I collected two days ago. Our approach won’t be the same for each location though.” His gaze focused on Ava. “Locklear, you and Knight will be attending a wedding reception in an attempt to gather any information you can regarding the terrorists. We have reason to believe the group responsible will be there, using the party as a front for their meeting. Your fake identities and documentations are in the files I handed you, along with your backstories. We’ve already hacked their system to make sure your fake names are on the guest list.”

  “Why them?” Zayden scoffed.

  Robert’s eyes narrowed. “Because we need discrete killers for their mission. Santos obviously can’t go out in public, and you’re better suited for the mission you’ve been assigned. The two of you will be on standby near their location, and then you’ll raid a warehouse at oh-four-hundred hours, long after the rest of us have accomplished our missions.”

  “What about you?” Ava wondered.

  He sighed. “I’ll be working with the other metahuman I mentioned by the codename Splinter. We’ll be targeting the third location, doing reconnaissance much like you and Knight.”

  I finally spoke up. “So, does our mission involve killing, or not?” I wondered seriously.

  He finally met my gaze, his eyes hard. “Recon is your priority. Locklear will likely do most of the work, since she can walk through walls. However, if you discover those responsible for the attack and have the opportunity to discretely take them out, then do so. We don’t fully know what we’re dealing with though, so use caution.”

  “Wait,” Ava exclaimed, looking at a document in her folder. “This says interviews with those responsible for guarding the nuclear launch sites revealed possible sabotage.”

  Robert cleared his throat, opening his own folder and flipping through a few pages. “Right. All nuclear systems are offline, so they were investigating sabotage as a possible explanation. They found in each location at least one technician who had gaps in their memory. However, when doing a lie detector test, it was determined they might not have memory loss at all, but rather they were vehemently lying about their involvement.”

  “What does that mean?” Zayden asked seriously.

  Robert shrugged. “It’s difficult to say. These aren’t civilians guarding our nuclear weapons – they are soldiers. So the idea that a soldier committed treason at each location is…suspicious, to say the least. They have a lengthy list of possible explanations on the next page, including metahuman involvement, but it’s just as possible that they were moles planted a long time ago.”

  I spoke up again. “Couldn’t they have been hypnotized or something?” I wondered. “That’s sort of what happened to me on my first mission.”

  “I’m not very familiar with that situation,” he admitted. “But I believe that possibility is on the list. The problem is, widespread hypnotism isn’t known to exist. Really, any kind of ability that would make a soldier betray his country isn’t known to exist. At least, not on this scale. A metahuman like that would have been required to visit these people individually over the course of many years in preparation for this kind of attack, and usually the power’s effects have a limited timeframe, wearing off eventually. Not to mention, this happened worldwide. It wasn’t just our country that launched nukes.”

  Ava spoke up again. “If this was a metahuman, do you think they could make other metahumans turn on each other?” she wondered. “Were any of the people potentially brainwashed not normal?”

  He shook his head. “They were all normal soldiers, but that doesn’t mean the possibility doesn’t exist. Hence the need for discretion. If you have to kill someone, they shouldn’t even see it coming. This is a war we need to be fighting in the shadows, not with open battles.”

  Blair unexpectedly spoke up. “Okay, I’ve got just one serious question for you.”

  Robert gave her a confused look. “Okay?”

  “Can I call you Bob?” she asked with a straight face.

  He glared at her. “No, you may not,” he snapped. “Stay on topic!”

  “Aww come on!” she insisted. “I gave everyone nicknames, and nothing rhymes well with Robert.” She said his name with disgust. “Like, Jakey-wakey, Zayden-brazen, and Ava-neva.”

  “Umm, no,” Zayden scoffed. “You are not calling me that.”

  “Aw come on!” she repeated.

  Ava chimed in. “Okay, I get Jakey-wakey and Zayden-brazen, but what about mine?”

  What I wanted to know was how Blair knew I didn’t sleep, but I decided not to ask right now. She had remained in her room all night, but maybe she could sense my alertness through the wall? Honestly, I didn’t know the full extent of her abilities. She might be able to do more than I assumed, especially when it came to interacting with someone else like her.

  Blair shrugged in response to Ava’s question. “I think neva means ‘it’s snowing’ in Spanish. And I think snow is pretty.”

  “Are you Hispanic?” Ava wondered.

  “Half-Filipino,” she corrected her. “And I think my dad was of German desce
nt. Not sure, but that’s why my fur is blonde.”

  It looked like Robert was about to pop a vein in his forehead. “Are you really twenty-four?” he snapped. “Our just four?! You’re the second oldest here and you’re acting like a child!”

  Blair glared at him. “Fine,” she humphed, crossing her arms.

  “Any other questions?” Robert snapped.

  “Yes,” Ava said in a calming tone. “Clothing. I definitely don’t have anything to wear to a wedding party.”

  Robert took a deep breath, and stood up straighter. “Right. I’ll be taking you and Knight into the city around lunchtime to get a suit and dress.”

  Blair leaned back in her seat with a pout. “Dammit, I want to go dress shopping.”

  “This isn’t a vacation,” Robert snapped.

  “Will I get to keep the dress?” Ava wondered.

  He nodded, still looking irritated. “Considering it might get covered in blood, definitely. They aren’t going to chance returning a soiled dress.”

  Ava shifted her gaze back to Blair. “We’re about the same size, so I’ll let you wear it after the mission.”

  “Really?!” Blair exclaimed. “I’ve never worn a dress!”

  Ava frowned. “That’s a shame. You’re too pretty to have not worn a dress.”

  “I know,” Blair agreed with another pout. “Make sure it’s red or black, so blood stains won’t ruin it.”

  “Are you two done?” Robert demanded.

  Both girls tried to suppress a smile.

  “No more fooling around,” he continued in an authoritative tone. “I shouldn’t even have to say this, but I expect all of you to take this seriously. You have three hours to memorize the information in these files! Understood?!”

  “Yes sir,” we all replied in sync.

  “Good, then finish your meal and get to it! I’ll be back to pick up Locklear and Knight later.”

  And with that, he turned around and left the mess hall. We all exchanged a glance before Zayden returned to shoveling food into his mouth. Not having anything better to do myself, I went ahead and began flipping through the pages. I paused when I got to information regarding my fake identity, which included a counterfeit driver’s license.