Omega Zero

by Kurtis Eckstein

  My grin widened. “Anything you can do is going to be better than me.”

  She smirked and swung her hips in an arc right away as if she was loosening up before beginning to move her arms and hips with the beat of the music. Despite myself, I gawked at her, because she was actually really good. I should have realized she was being modest, because no one would laugh at her. Glancing around, there were plenty of people acting like idiots who might be fun to laugh at, but not her.

  “Wow Noah,” she laughed. “You really are full of compliments tonight. That expression is worth a thousand words!”

  “Where did you learn to dance like that?” I asked seriously. I knew that would be something a husband wouldn’t ask his wife – he should already know this kind of thing – but no one was paying attention to us anyway…well, except for the few glances Ava was getting from other guys, but they were ogling every hot girl in the room in turn.

  She grinned and leaned in as if it was a part of a move. “My high school had a dancing class. I did that instead of band. Technically I didn’t have to do either, but I wasn’t able to get out of the house a ton back then.”

  I nodded in understanding, assuming the undertones of that statement involved her father. I pursed my lips then as she resumed her rhythmic movements, thrusting her hips smoothly in my direction every few beats like it was a taunt to join her.

  Two weeks ago, and I wouldn’t have been able to join her, because my body didn’t know how to dance – certainly not anything that resembled what she was doing. However, my body was different now – for the most part, it did exactly what I wanted, so as I watched her move I realized I could probably mimic her.

  The only problem was, some of the moves she was doing likely didn’t look right on a guy.

  A second later – another taunt with her hips later – and I decided I didn’t care.

  Between my near invincibility, combined with my newly discovered apex predator mindset, I didn’t give a damn what any strangers thought of me anymore. I had loosely been keeping track of the bride’s father, but in that moment, all of my focus was on Ava instead, and no one else mattered. I was aware I had to be careful with that mindset though, since those thoughts were tied to my eyes transforming. But I felt certain I could feel confident while keeping my irises normal.

  She threw her hips toward me again, and this time I answered her taunt.

  She gawked at me in surprise at my attempt to dance, before grinning widely. I wasn’t in sync though, not with her or the music, which prompted her to reach out and grab my hips to get them moving at the right tempo. She then grabbed my arm, bumping her pelvis against me once with the beat, before pulling away to see if her small adjustments had helped.

  I continued to move my body without care, knowing I wasn’t getting it exactly right, because she kept emphasizing certain movements for me to try to copy. However, after a good ten or fifteen minutes, she seemed to shift away from her role as dance instructor to a girl just enjoying the music. I cycled through the thirteen moves she had just taught me, letting the music dictate how my body was flowing, while she let loose and twisted around to press her back against my chest for a moment before doing an entirely different set of moves right up next to me.

  I hadn’t broken out in a sweat, and probably wouldn’t no matter how long I moved around, but suddenly it felt like someone turned up the temperature by a thousand degrees. It felt like this dance had just become something else entirely.

  I was glad when she spun back around and continued dancing as if nothing significant had happened. I tried to continue having fun with her, but now my body was doing everything on autopilot as if I’d done this routine a million times. In the meantime, all I could do was watch the oscillating lights play off her red shiny dress like I was in a trance.

  Finally, I got a break when the music shifted to a different type of beat altogether. I glanced over at the DJ to see one of the groomsmen stepping down from the podium. He must have requested a slow dance because all the songs thus far had been extremely intense.

  Ava threw her arms around my neck and pulled herself in close. “Well, here’s your slow song,” she laughed, sounding a little out of breath. “I’m surprised you learned so fast,” she added.

  Her body was already touching mine, but I wrapped my arms around her thin waist and pulled her firmly against me, prompting her to yelp in surprise. I tried to keep my tone lighthearted, even though I felt like a tightly wound spring. “I wouldn’t have learned that fast two weeks ago,” I admitted.

  Ava nodded slowly, her expression looking a little alarmed after I hugged her. “I would have been patient with you,” she replied cautiously, examining my expression. She then tightened her arms and brought her mouth up to my ear. “Everything okay?” she whispered.

  I nodded, feeling the warmth of her breath on my skin. It was too hot. Way too hot.

  Unexpectedly, I began feeling really dizzy, causing me to press more heavily into her. Ava grunted from the effort of unexpectedly supporting some of my weight. “Noah!” she hissed in my ear in alarm. “What’s wrong?”

  “Dizzy,” I choked out, the room beginning to spin rapidly around me.

  Ava quickly shifted herself to underneath my arm, letting me lean against her while urging me to move towards the wall. Once we got there, I used it for support instead, trying to center myself. It felt like the entire room was twirling around me, flickers of light appearing in my immediate vicinity like someone had shot me into space after giving me a good spin.

  And even worse, I had this weird sensation that I was being watched again, like an unseen pair of eyes were laser focused on me, although I couldn’t perceive anyone significant except Ava. Everyone else was normal. No other metahumans.

  “Noah,” Ava repeated.

  “W-What?” I gasped, trying to make the room stop spinning.

  “You’re sweating,” she whispered. “Like, you’re drenched.”

  I reached up to wipe my forehead, and sure enough she was right. “I don’t know what’s wrong,” I managed after a moment.

  “Can you make it to the bathroom? We’re getting a few glances now.”

  I nodded as those spinning lights slowed down a little, while beginning to erupt into cold colorless flames. I returned my arm to Ava’s shoulder, my eyes open but unseeing as I focused on the shifting energy flowing past me like a stream of water.

  I didn’t even realize we were in the men’s restroom until Ava was speaking to someone. My eyes began focusing on my hands grasping the black marble sink in front of me, while I focused intently on her words. Most of the flames of energy were gone now, all except two.

  “Don’t mind me. My husband isn’t feeling well,” Ava said to someone.

  “Is h-he going to b-be alright?” a man stuttered.

  “Yeah, he just took his medicine, so he’ll be back to normal in a few minutes.” Ava then began patting my forehead with a paper towel while rubbing my back soothingly. The other colorless fire flowed away, until there was only one left, along with flickers of flames in the near distance.

  “Talk to me,” Ava whispered next to my ear. “What’s wrong? What are you feeling? You look sick.”

  I shook my head, and then finally looked up to stare at myself in the mirror. I hadn’t noticed it previously, but both of my eyes had small bursts of crimson all around the pitch-black pupils, like an eclipsed sun in the middle of the bright blue sky – except the sun was blood red instead of yellow.

  I was initially shocked by the sight, but I took a deep breath and the burst of crimson slowly vanished away.

  Another invisible flame appeared then, just before a man walked into the bathroom. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Ava, who promptingly gave him the same explanation as the last guy.

  The man shrugged and proceeded to walk over to the urinal to relieve himself, before walking back out without washing his hands.

  The bundle of energy left with him.

  Ava wrinkled
her nose. “Ugh, please tell me you wash your hands,” she hissed.

  I barked out a laugh at that unexpected comment. “When I need to use the restroom,” I said with a wry smile, looking down at the black countertop again.

  She got the point right away – I hadn’t used the bathroom in a while now.

  “Are you feeling better?” she wondered, her concern returning.

  I nodded and stood up straight, shifting my gaze from her reflection in the mirror to the real her standing next to me.

  And then it hit me.

  I gasped, taking a step backwards. “Av–” I shut my mouth when I almost said her name before trying again. “Madison,” I whispered, “I can feel you.”

  Ava’s brow knitted together. “What?” she replied back just as quietly. “You mean like you can sense me?” she tried clarifying.

  I shook my head, staring at her while simultaneously staring into her. I reflexively reached out to touch her, only to be unable to reach her despite the fact that she was so close to me. That’s when I realized my physical arms hadn’t moved. Something else had moved inside of me.

  I looked down automatically, afraid I had tried touching her with my blood, only to see nothing out of the ordinary. I then returned my gaze to her, beginning to piece everything together as more flashes of invisible light entered and left my perception.

  “Trinity,” I whispered, without thinking to use codenames.

  Ava’s brow furrowed even more. “What?”

  I quickly continued. “I think…I think this is her ability. Everyone in my perception that comes within a certain range lights up – as soon as they are close enough, I can see them. See them in a way I’ve never been able to before.”

  Her eyes widened in shock, prompting her to move closer and wrap her arms around me, pulling her lips up to my ear. Her tone was urgent now. “Are you sure?” she whispered. “It’s been days since you absorbed her blood, whereas you gained Feral’s ability right away. Can you suck people’s lives out too?”

  I slowly shook my head as she pulled away to meet my gaze, her body still pressed against mine. “I don’t know,” I admitted. “I tried to reach out to–”

  My voice cut off, because without even thinking of the consequences, I reached out again to touch the bundle of energy in front of me, prompting Ava’s eyes to instantly widened in panic. I immediately withdrew myself, her entire body beginning to shake violently in my arms.

  “I’m sorry,” I hissed urgently, seeing a look of pure terror in her eyes.

  She began sucking in deep breaths as she tried to control herself.

  Another man walked in then, pausing to evaluate the situation, only to turn right back around and walk out when he saw her gasping for breath in my arms. I assumed there must be a guy-code or something for this kind of situation – assuming the woman was willingly participating in whatever was going down, then you didn’t interrupt what was happening in the restroom.

  After a moment, she sucked in another deep breath, and met my gaze hesitantly. “W-What did you do just now?” she asked in a shaky voice.

  I pulled her more firmly against me, trying to be reassuring. “I just sort of…touched you,” I admitted. “I’m sorry,” I repeated, putting as much feeling into my words as possible. “Did I hurt you?” I added seriously.

  She shook her head slowly, seeming to finally get ahold of herself. “N-No. It just felt like… Well, it felt like I was about to die. Like there was this overwhelming sense of impending doom.”

  “I’m sorry,” I repeated for the third time.

  She nodded, her body relaxing more. “It’s…fine. We don’t have time for this right now anyway.” She cleared her throat. “It was fun dancing with you for a while, but we need to use this opportunity while everyone’s distracted.” Her deep brown eyes focused intently on mine. “You haven’t noticed anything?”

  I felt bad that I had lost track of the bride’s father, but I knew the real issue was detecting threats. I reached out with my sixth sense to scan through the throngs of people in the ballroom, as well as those lingering in the hallway, but still didn’t detect anything suspicious.

  I hadn’t realized that Ava had led me so far away from the ballroom, but we were pretty far down the hall. It appeared there were a lot more people clustered in a restroom closer to the dancefloor, with an endless cycle of guests going in and out. But the important thing was, no metahumans.

  I then focused further out, reaching in the direction I was fairly certain the mansion was in, but I didn’t sense anyone special there either. I shook my head.

  She pulled her lips up to my ear again. “Okay, then I’ll slip into the floor and glance over the place before heading to the mansion. It’s pretty far away from here, so I’ll probably be gone for at least thirty minutes minimum. Hopefully I can find a few computers to download the hacking software to.”

  I nodded, holding her tight as I pulled her into one of the stalls. I could sense someone else heading towards the restroom again, having noticed there was a second one further down the hall, and I didn’t want to chance them seeing her slip into the floor. “Be safe,” I whispered, locking the door behind me in the cramped space. “I’ll wait for you here.”

  She nodded, hiking up her skirt to reveal her smooth tan legs as she pulled out two black earpieces from a small pouch in the same leg holster that held her knife on her inner thigh. She handed one to me, inserting the other in her own ear, before slipping out her long military knife as well.

  “Remember, try to keep it to one-word statements,” she reminded me. “And only if it’s absolutely necessary. They’re likely scanning the frequencies for any signs of an enemy. If you sense another metahuman just say, ‘sense’ and the direction relative to me – nothing more. I won’t be able to respond verbally if I’m in the ground or a wall.”

  I nodded in agreement, prompting her to give me a small smile and begin sinking into the floor as if she was falling into her own shadow. For a millisecond she was at an awkward height, before the rest of her head turned into a shadow as well while sinking further.

  And then she was gone, just like that.

  Chapter 17: Compromised

  I turned around to face the stall door, so that anyone seeing my shoes underneath would assume I was sitting down based on my feet placement. I also decided to unbutton both my pants and shirt to let my skin air out. Plus, my pants being bunched up at my ankles would further make it seem as if I was using the toilet. I didn’t really notice the moisture on my skin, much like I didn’t feel uncomfortable when drenched from rain, but I really had produced a ton of sweat out of nowhere. It was the first time in two weeks, almost as if I had broken a fever I wasn’t previously aware of.

  Once I was situated, I continued to scan the area for any signs of a threat, focusing far into the distance in the direction Ava was heading now.

  It was difficult not having any clues to go on. All we knew was we were supposed to be here, but we had no idea what kind of information we were looking for. No doubt, Ava would hit every unattended computer and phone she could find in the mansion. The military believed there might be a secret meeting held during this event, but even that wasn’t solid intel.

  When another guy came into the bathroom, out of curiosity I tried to reach out towards him to see if I could touch the invisible flame like I had done to Ava, but to no avail. It almost felt like I had an invisible third arm coming out of my chest, but it wasn’t even half the length of my physical arms. I looked down again, resting my hand on my bare muscled chest, still not seeing or feeling anything.

  The reason I assumed it was Trinity’s power was because I couldn’t think of anyone else it might belong to. Plus, in hindsight, it sort of fit with how I imagined her ability might work.

  But if this really was her power, then what did that mean for me? Would I be able to suck out people’s lives like her? And how did it even work? Did she have invisible arms that could grab people’s lifeforce?

/>   If she did, then she must have a ton of them since she had described her ability as being able to kill anyone within a seventy-foot radius with no limit to the number.

  However, for me, I wasn’t sure having her power provided any benefit. I could already sense people from a great distance, and I doubted absorbing someone’s lifeforce would replace my need for blood. Not to mention, I would practically have to be holding my victim in my arms to do it.

  So I supposed that while this was an interesting new development, it didn’t really affect anything. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder ‘why now?’ I had obtained her ability to see in the dark rather quickly, and I obtained Blair’s slitted left eye almost immediately. Did certain abilities take longer to mimic than others?

  I honestly wasn’t sure. I just hoped I didn’t start sprouting fur in a few days like Blair had, although hopefully Zane’s inherent ‘transforming’ ability might allow me to return to normal if I did.

  While I was contemplating everything, my sixth sense still focused on Ava now beneath the mansion, my muscles locked up when a threat came out of nowhere.

  Literally, there was nothing in her vicinity, and then it lit up like a ghost manifesting out of thin air.

  My hand shot up to my earpiece. There was someone in the bathroom still, but I didn’t care right now. I had to warn her immediately.

  “Sense, northwest!” I hissed, trying to orient myself to her location. “Left,” I added in reference to the way she was facing. I stopped transmitting and continued speaking, attempting to rack my brain for something that would sound normal. “Stupid game! Ugh, and my phone’s about to die too!”

  It seemed to work, with the guy laughing quietly before leaving the bathroom without incident. He would probably just assume he misheard what I said previously, or that he just didn’t understand because he didn’t know the context. Either way, I was ignoring him now, focused intently on Ava’s location.

  I tried to sense the details of her exact position in relation to the threat, but they were too far away. The best I could detect was that she appeared to be cautious about approaching the other metahuman, seeming to observe them for a while up close before finally backing off. I half expected her to continue scoping out the mansion, but instead she began heading straight back in my direction at full speed.