A couple more scientists came into the room, wearing the same big rubber gloves as before, and holding small, empty needles. They quickly drew blood from Derek and Akane. The rest of the team looked at each other for a moment, sighed, and then let them do the same.
“We'll know the results soon,” Butler said.
“But if we can't give you a spec, Big Boss can probably float you a toy voucher.”
It was MC's voice, coming from the speakers in the upper corners of the room. She sounded a bit stranger than normal, less formal.
Butler frowned. “Mary Christina, what are you talking about?”
“Adam. He'll want in on this, right? If we can't give him a spec, we can at least buff him up with the toy maker. Give him a fighting chance.”
“I can't use the toy maker,” Adam said sullenly. “I'm lutum informis. It's useless on me.”
Butler pursed his lips. “Well, not quite useless, but you are right in that it is not easy. And I don't think it will be necessary, regardless. This will be dangerous enough for the ones with powers if all my theories pan out. If we can't give you a power, you'll stay out. Understand?”
Adam frowned. “Mary Christina's the one who suggested it.”
“Don't call me Mary Christina,” MC said instantly.
Adam blinked. “But he called you...”
“Because he won't stop.”
“Ah.”
One of the lab techs returned from the entrance behind us. “We have the results, sir.”
Butler waved his hand. “Go ahead, I don't have time for secrecy.”
“There is no evidence that the Paladin's blood creates screamers, sir. Unfortunately, the subjects did not exhibit any powers either.”
Butler raised an eyebrow. “Paladins?”
“My idea,” MC said. “I passed it along to Doctor Clarke. Don't you think it will sell?”
Butler sighed again. “Yes, very clever. Be sure to keep the test subjects in isolation for at least twenty-four hours, just in case.”
The tech left with a nod.
“Well, it was a small chance anyway. Now, Miss Akiyama—” Akane flinched noticeably. “... ah, yes, your file did mention that you were a bit shy.” He turned to Derek instead. “Mister Huntsman. I assume it was either you or your Akane who killed the screamer? Did you get its blood on you? I'm hoping you'll be immune.”
Derek brushed back his hair in consternation. “No, Adam was the one who killed her. And no one came into contact with her blood until after she died. More evidence for the theory that dead screamers can't infect people.”
“Mister Anders?” Butler looked at Adam with new interest. “That is... unexpected. I was under the impression that you had no combat experience.” He shrugged slightly. “Of course, my spies have been looking into you for about half an hour, so they may have missed some things.”
“No training,” Adam said. He seemed a bit offended, though Ling couldn't tell why. “I picked up a gun and shot her. It wasn't that hard.”
“Hm... doctor?”
Another one of the lab techs came in and placed a stethoscope on Adam's heart, under his shirt.
“Hey, what the—”
“Seems normal,” the man said. He pried open Adam's eyelid and shone a penlight in his eye. “He seems fine. No signs of shock. Of course, that is just a preliminary analysis...”
“Thank you, doctor. That will be all.” The man nodded and left. Butler rubbed his chin. “Now, this is very interesting. A natural-born killer. Your kind always find a place in Domina. You could be useful after all.”
“We still don't know why he didn't get a spec,” MC pointed out.
“And I still don't know mine,” Ling added. “Or Laura's.”
“Oh, I figured out mine this morning,” Laura said nonchalantly. “And I'm guessing you did too.”
Everyone stared at her, but it was MC who spoke. “You were gonna mention this when?”
She shrugged. “Soon. It didn't seem important. But my power is the ability to detect lies. Which is why I know Mister Butler has been completely honest with us, and how I know—” She smiled at Ling. “—that she knows what her power is.”
Tezuka's name, Ling swore to herself. Somehow, she had known this was going to happen. Yesterday, when she had used her power for the first time, she had known she was going to get dragged into something like this. Why had she even bothered hiding it in the first place? Oh, that's right, because as interesting as anime was, she didn't want to actually live one.
“At least that confirms the theory about who has powers,” Butler said. “Although I am still interested in why you were the ones who received them, this explains why Adam was left out. If you received your powers this morning or earlier, Adam has only been here a few hours.”
“So... you're saying Derek's patient zero,” Laura said slowly. “Or I am. And we infected those close to us?”
“Or someone did it intentionally, since you don't seem contagious,” MC said.
“That seems the most likely possibility,” Derek agreed. “I haven't seen Laura in years, and when I ran into her earlier, Adam was with me. If I was infected then, there'd be no reason he would be excluded.”
“So there are two questions left,” Adam said. “One: We need Ling to tell us her power.”
In all the excitement, Ling had hoped that everyone had forgotten about that. Apparently not.
“Two: We need to figure out who else could be infected. It shouldn't be that hard. Call a few people, ask them if they heard screaming about an hour ago.”
“Lizzy,” Akane said. She didn't elaborate, but Derek nodded in understanding.
“She'd be a logical choice. She's connected to both me and Laura.”
“I'll call her,” Laura said, pulling out her phone. “She's my roommate. And I already tested it; my ability works fine over the phone.”
“Put it on speaker,” Butler said. Laura nodded and dialed. She held out the phone, and they could all hear it ringing for a few minutes before it was picked up.
A sweet girl's voice answered. “Hello? Laura? Where are you? You said you were going to get sheets over an hour ago.”
“Yeah, I ran into some people and got caught up in something. Don't worry about it. I have a quick question: Did you hear screaming about an hour ago, but couldn't find the source?”
“Hm? Yeah, I did. It went on for about... ten? Twenty minutes? Then it stopped. Why, was it something important?”
They all looked at each other. There it was. Confirmation that more than just the four of them had powers. Ling hadn't met this Lizzy, but she guessed they needed to bring her into the fold.
“Why...” Laura shook her head and started again. “Why didn't you investigate?”
There was a pause on the other side of the line.
“What could I have done?”
Everyone looked at Laura, but she just blinked. “Yeah, you're right, I'm sorry. I'll see you later.”
“Alright, bye.” She hung up, and Laura squirreled her phone away.
“She was telling the truth the whole time,” she said. “She heard the screamer, which means she has a power.”
“A power she doesn't know about,” Derek said. “I want to keep her out of this. And I'd like to ask you to do the same.” The last was directed at Butler, who nodded. “Good, then if there's nothing else, we'll be leaving now. You have your meetings, and we need to figure out the limits of our powers. We'll contact MC if we hear a screamer.”
“Hey, hang on,” Adam said. “Don't just sign us all up. I'll admit he has some good points, but I don't want to work with a gang lord.”
“Zombie apocalypse, Mister Anders,” Butler said with surprising gentleness. “No one gets to be picky.”
“No, I'm with Adam, we should think about this.” Ling thought working with Necessarius might be a good idea, but again, she knew she wasn't very smart. The least she could do was convince the smarter people to think more. “Besides, how'd you even know a
bout us?”
“The truck driver who almost hit Derek and Adam called it in,” MC said cheerfully. “He didn't know what was going on, but we figured it out quickly. We called you, and were lucky enough that you had already aggroed a screamer.”
“I can understand why you wouldn't want to work with me,” Butler continued as if no one had spoken, “but this is for the good of the city.”
“My father knew you before you became Big Boss,” Laura said, while looking him in the eye. Well, sunglasses. “He told me stories. Can you swear to me that all you want is to safeguard the city?”
“I swear that all I want is to safeguard everyone,” Butler said quietly. “But this city is all I can control.”
Laura shrugged. “Good enough for me.”
“That's three against two,” Butler said. “One of whom can apparently detect lies. Now, I won't force you two to work with me, but if you're not willing to help, then things will get more complicated.”
“Wait one second,” Ling said. “Akane hasn't answered.”
She jumped at her name, looked at me, then at Butler. She bowed her head and whispered, barely audible, “I'm with Derek.”
“As I said,” Butler continued with a small smile, “three against two. So what will it be?”
Adam rubbed his head. “I... I guess I'm in. But I'll need weapons and practice.” He smiled. “I'm already taking Applied Firearms at AU, so I guess that will help.”
Butler nodded. “A small selection of firearms will be delivered to your dorm room within an hour. The code on the case will be '14113.' If you don't like the guns we give you, call Mary Christina, and she'll arrange for new ones to be sent to you.”
Adam nodded in thanks... and everyone turned to Ling. She sighed.
“I've got a bad feeling about this,” she muttered. “But yeah. I'm in.”
Chapter 9: EXERCITIUM
DEREK
“Derek, this is a bad idea.”
He frowned at Akane. The others were looking around the empty rooftop he had brought them to, searching for things to help them test the limits of their powers. Akane, on the other hand, had a serious look on her face.
“I assume you're not talking about the training.”
“No. Allying with the Necessarians is...” She sighed. “Something you should have thought over.”
“I did. Butler is the most powerful man in the city. His resources will be invaluable.”
She glared. “He got to his position by killing anyone who disagreed with him.”
“And by honoring deals and protecting the citizens,” Derek said. “There's a reason he has such a large following.”
“I...” She sighed again and leaned her forehead against her sheathed sword. “I really think you're giving him too much credit. You always try to see the best in people, but...”
Derek put his hand on her shoulder. “Akane. I'm not asking you to trust them. I'm just asking you not to start a fight.”
She blushed. She did that a lot. “Of course. And I will. Not start a fight, I mean. But I'll be ready if they try to start one.”
“Good. Now, c'mon. We need to do some tests.”
Akane immediately blurred forward, almost too fast for the eye to see, only to stop, grinning, next to Laura.
“No,” Laura admonished her. “We need to perform actual measurements.” She fished out her phone. “I have a timer app. Let's mark off ten feet increments and see how fast you can go.”
Akane frowned, and opened her mouth to retort, but Derek stopped her. “Laura has a point. Just do as she says. Find chalk or something.”
She shut her mouth, nodded a little sullenly, and headed back downstairs. Most of the skyscraper was made up of clothing stores, but the top two were undergoing renovations. They might have something we could use.
“I probably should have gone,” Adam said from where he was leaning on an air conditioning unit. “It's not like I have anything better to do.”
“Don't be stupid. Of course you do,” Laura said, probably more harshly than she intended. She strode over and handed him her gun, grip first. “You've shot a gun exactly once. You need practice.”
Adam took the pistol with some hesitation. “I'm... not really sure about this.”
“Once Butler sends you your guns, I'll show you a good shooting range,” Derek said. Maybe introduce him to some monster slayer friends, too. Mohamed the Silver always liked training new guys. “Right now, we just need to make sure you can shoot straight.”
He looked at Derek a little sideways. “I did kill someone earlier, you know.”
The way he said it—as if it was nothing particularly important—worried Derek, but he kept it to himself. “That could easily have been a fluke.”
“It wasn't.”
Derek grinned at him. “Then prove me wrong.” He pointed at the other side of the roof, where Laura and Ling were setting up a few discarded cans on the three-foot high safety wall at the edge.
Adam gave him a bit of a look, like he wasn't sure what to make of all this, and raised the gun in one hand. He sighted carefully, pulled the trigger...
And missed. By about ten feet.
Ling laughed, but quickly covered it up with a cough. “Want some advice?”
Adam rubbed his forehead. “If you even think the phrase 'in anime... '”
Ling just rolled her eyes and stepped up to him. She grabbed his left hand and brought it up to his right. “First off, always use two hands. You managed to shoot the screamer one-handed, but that was just luck.”
“Always use two hands,” Adam said with a nod. “Got it.”
“Now, widen your stance. Yeah, like that.” She moved behind him and adjusted him a little bit. “Good, that's perfect. Breathe normally. Aim, and squeeze the trigger. Don't pull. Now... fire.”
Another shot echoed.
The cans stayed where they were.
Adam sighed and let his arms fall to his sides.
Ling shook her head. “No, no, that was good! You were a lot closer that time.”
Akane came back about then, before Adam could fire again, holding a few cans of spray paint.
“Hold up for a little while,” Derek said to Ling and Adam. “Let's see what Akane can do.”
She blushed a little as everyone turned to her, but nodded.
Laura took charge the moment it became clear they were willing to be scientific, and the rest of the time passed under her instruction. She marked off three ten-foot increments for Akane to practice, and after some trial and error managed to nail down her maximum speed as about a hundred miles per hour, and activating it sped up her mind to match, but she drained through her reserves in a fraction of a real-time second that way. She could also dial down the speed for a corresponding increase in duration.
“Ling, you're up next,” Laura said as she noted something down in her phone.
Ling frowned. She was a little busy giving Adam more tips. “Look here, Frosty—”
Laura gave her such a glare that her mouth clicked shut with an audible snap.
“Please tell me how you discovered your powers,” Laura said. “Add in a few lies, but don't tell me what they are.”
“Wait,” Derek said before Ling did anything. She certainly didn't look like she enjoyed getting ordered around. “Didn't you already test that truthteller thing?”
Laura shrugged. “Of course. But it doesn't hurt to be thorough. Ling? Any time you're ready.”
Ling looked livid, but did as suggested anyway. “Last night, when I was doing some football practice alone, I nearly ran into a concrete wall.” She shrugged. “It exploded. With a bit of effort, I found out I was able to use telekinesis on dirt and stone.”
There was a long pause.
“That's it?” Derek asked hesitantly.
She grinned. “Yeah, basically. I can do some weird things with it, and I didn't test it that much, but... yeah.” She turned back to Laura. “Well? Which parts were lies?”
“It wasn't a
t night,” Laura said. “And it wasn't a concrete wall. Everything else was true.”
Ling frowned. “Well... no.” She scratched at her ear. “I mean, yeah, it was yesterday afternoon, and it was a brick wall, not a concrete one. But it wasn't football. It was soccer.”
Laura cursed, and her hand went briefly to the diamond ring on her necklace. “Right. Well... since soccer is another word for football... were you specifically trying to use it to beat me?”
Ling nodded, a little worried.
“Well,” Laura muttered. “Clearly it's not quite as infallible as I was hoping. At least I don't seem to have this 'reservoir' you three mentioned. I've left it on ever since I found out about it.” She sighed, then shook her head to clear it. “Let's do some more tests. See what else we can do.”
They played—ah, practiced—for a couple of hours. They learned quite a few important things. Ling's power had limited finesse, but she could shape a few hundred pounds of dirt or rock and hit people with it. Laura had her practice making walls. As she pointed out, Derek wouldn't always be available, and a wall of concrete could stop bullets just as easily as his shields. Ling tired quickly, and could only make a few major shapes before having to rest.
Derek's were pretty easy. He could adjust the size of the shields, from a large dome to a small shell the size of a watch. Smaller shields were stronger and easier to maintain. He held up one the size of a big frisbee indefinitely. He couldn't really change the shape, though, but maybe that would come in time.
They finally slowed down at around seven, as the sun was setting. They were tired and sweaty and the building's staff looked at them funny as they left, but they felt good. Adam and Ling were already chatting like old friends, and even Laura was putting in a comment every once in a while. Akane kept her head down, as usual, but she had always been shy. It took her weeks to psych herself up for a roommate. This was just too much for her.
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