by S D Rogue
Kaito nodded and left without saying goodbye. Hana noted that he was obviously distracted.
York walked them past several desks. Nobody looked up or acknowledged them as they walked. At an elevator in the back, York scanned his hand again and the doors opened. “We’ll be adding all of you to the system today, so you’ll be able to come and go as you please—but I recommend not leaving without checking in and making sure it’s okay.”
When Hana heard the word “barracks” she expected to be led to a large room with bunk beds. That was not the case. When the elevator opened, it looked like they were in a modernist luxury apartment—complete with a chef. There was a large dining area big enough for two dozen people, a living area that was best suited for entertaining, and a large balcony patio that overlooked the palace on the opposite side of the street.
A young couple was sitting at the table when they stepped out into the living area. They both had bleached white hair and wore makeup that made them look like Goth kids.
“We have visitors,” the man said, adjusting his black leather jacket. “I’m Leith.” He looked down at the woman next to him. “And this is my twin sister, Mira—I’m the better looking one, of course.”
Mira rolled her eyes, annoyed, and looked back down at the magazine she had been flipping through.
“Is your superpower being good looking?” Embry teased.
Leith looked over at Mira. “Shall we show them what we can do?” Mira didn’t acknowledge him. She seemed annoyed by everything Leith said.
York went forward, “This apartment is quite expensive—please be careful.”
Leith smiled and went to the kitchen. He pulled the refrigerator from the wall, carried it to the living room, and with no effort tossed it to his sister, who, while still reading her magazine, lifted one arm and caught it with her hand.
As everyone stared amazed at their strength, York looked irritated. “The circus is over,” he announced. “Put the refrigerator back.” He turned the opposite direction and everyone followed his lead. He motioned at a staircase. “I’ll let you each explore on your own, but up the stairs is the library. Next to that is the screening room—if there’s any movie not in the collection, just page the staff and it will be added.”
York was about to speak when a loud noise came out of the elevator. “Awesome!” Hana turned and saw three teenage boys exiting the elevator.
York was unamused as he said, “Ah, yes—the teens.” He looked at them slightly irritated. “These are our newest recruits. They’re all coming from a school in Europe that helps them with their…abilities.”
“And what abilities are those?” Roman, a Paladin that had gotten off the plane with them, quizzed, studying each of them. Roman’s ability was intelligence, and he seemed to take more of an interest in abilities than anyone else.
York looked at them. “Why don’t you introduced yourselves and your abilities?”
A pale-face Greek teen with blonde hair parted in the middle spoke up. “Alex,” he said. “I have superior reflexes.”
Dallas, who was behind him, tossed a cup at his head. Alex’s hand lifted and, without turning, he was able to catch it.
“Not bad,” Embry admired.
“I’m Finn,” a short Norwegian teen with brown, slicked back hair said. “I can climb walls.”
“Like Spider-man,” Leith smirked.
Finn looked at him, annoyed. “I have no web.”
“Noted,” he said.
“Voss,” the largest of the three teens began. He had curly red hair and a baritone voice. “I can create lightening—and electrocute people.”
“Nice,” Leith admired.
York positioned himself in front of everyone and explained, “I know I’m a bad host, but there’s a lot I need to go over downstairs.” He looked behind them at a set of separate elevators. “There are 40 rooms,” York explained, “five on each floor—eight floors total. About half of them are occupied with other visiting agents and Paladins.”
“This sort of puts our base at Pendleton to shame,” Frank whispered to Hana.
“My assistant is going to call your name and tell you what room you’ll be in. There’s a chef if you’re hungry. Anything else, there’s a buzzer on the wall.” With that, he left in the same elevator they had arrived in.
###
Hana’s room was on the fifth floor. The room was pretty bare. There was a bed, a dresser and a bathroom. It was basic compared to the rest of the building. She walked to the window and admired the view. A knock came at the door. Bashir was there when she opened it.
“Is everything okay with the room?” he asked.
She stepped back and let him inside, “I mean, it’s no Motel 6, but the view is nice.”
Bashir looked out the window at the palace and said, “Would you like a tour? We might have some free time.”
“Aren’t we supposed to be running and hiding from supervillains?”
“I have a meeting tomorrow, then it’s basically just free time,” Bashir explained. “Can’t just sit around all day. I’ll make sure you’re safe.”
“Sure,” Hana said, “could be fun.”
“It’s a date?”
“A date?” Hana said, caught off guard.
Bashir became a little embarrassed, and added, “We can just call it a distraction.”
“I…” Hana began but considered her words, “I like you—but I don’t date Paladins.”
“Then just sightseeing—fair?”
“Fair.”
He was about to leave when Hana called after him. He turned at the door and Hana asked, “There seemed to be a lot of commotion downstairs—and Kaito was really…distracted. There something you aren’t telling me?”
Bashir smiled. “You’re safe.”
Hana nodded. “Okay—but what’s going on?”
###
After lunch, York brought them downstairs again into the main area of the headquarters for a briefing. There were several dozen people there. At the front was York and next to him Kaito—still looking distracted.
“So here’s what we know,” York began, showing an image of the building Bashir had been in the night of the first attack. “About three days ago, there was an ambush on this location. Bashir was hurt, but luckily survived. The other Paladin—a young recruit—was not so lucky, unfortunately. After the attack, several more locations were hit and we believe there have been multiple Paladin casualties.”
York looked over at Bashir. “On the flight to Tokyo, my team did several scans and blood panels on Bashir.”
Hana looked curiously at Bashir wondering when all this had happened. They were together nearly the entire flight.
“We believe whoever is behind this is taking genetic samples of Paladins to try and recreate the DNA—most likely to duplicate them into humans.”
“Do we know who’s behind it?” Roman asked.
York nodded. “We haven’t counted out the Chinese, but we have no concrete evidence yet. We have intelligence that suggest they’ve been trying to create a super army of soldiers with extraordinary skills.” York looked out the window and reflected with his back turned. “This is something I’ve been fearing for some time. There’s someone out there who wants what we all want—they want your powers. We know from some of you that they’ve been successful at taking them away. What we don’t know is why or if they’ve been able to recreate them.” He looked over at one of the scientist. “My lab has been trying for years to recreate what you have, and we’ve never been anywhere close to successful. So I don’t think this is the case.”
“Wait.” Hana said. Everyone turned to her. “You’ve been trying to recreate Paladin powers—essentially playing the part of God?”
York turned back around. He smiled at Hana’s question. “We are just trying to understand you better.”
“So what now?” This came from Frank.
“For now, we stay where we are. W
e’re planning a few missions as we speak to try and figure out who is behind this. I’ve asked Bashir to take a meeting tomorrow with a Chinese startup that may have ties to the people behind this.” He turned his attention to Hana again. “Hana, I understand you have some skills of your own that we might be able to use.”
Hana looked at him, confused. She turned to Bashir, annoyed that he had revealed her secret.
“There are no secrets here, Hana,” York explained. “If there’s something we can use, then we need your help—and right now, we could really use someone with your kind of hearing.”
“You’ll be safe,” Bashir promised.
“I can handle myself,” Hana said, annoyed.
As the meeting concluded, Hana left before Bashir could talk to her. Frank caught up to her in the hall in front of her bedroom. “We’ve known each other for how long and this is how I find out you’re a Paladin?”
“I’m not exactly a Paladin. I have good hearing. That’s all.”
“You can be my superhero any day,” Frank laughed. “There are so many places I want to take you to eavesdrop.”
“Hana?” Came another man’s voice. She looked across the hall and saw a man leaving his room.
Victor, Hana thought, closing her eyes and cringing.
A crooked smile came across his face as he pushed past Frank and said, “Well, well, well—has destiny placed us on the same floor?”
“I’m pretty sure it was York’s assistant.”
“Well maybe she was tipped off.” He smiled again—this time more creepy. He added, “It’s a good thing—I’ll make sure you are protected.”
“I’ve done okay so far.”
“I’ve heard. I just got in while all of you were meeting. York’s assistant filled me in. It seems like Bashir couldn’t take care of you.”
Hana rolled her eyes. “He was injured—and honestly, I don’t think he has a problem with a woman taking care of him.”
“With me, that would never be the case—you wouldn’t have to worry—you’d always be safe.”
Hana mockingly put her hands to her cheeks and said sweetly, annoyed, “My Prince Charming.” She brushed past him. “Thanks but no thanks.”
“Do you think we can still do that—thing?” Frank said, failing miserably at thinking up an excuse to get rid of him.
“Oh, yes!” Hana brightly said. “Frank and I have a—thing. Please excuse us.” She quickly opened her door and nearly knocked Frank over pushing him inside and slamming the door.
“You’re just full of secrets!” Frank laughed. “Did you used to date a Paladin?”
Hana grunted, “Hardly.” She collapsed on the bed. “Can we just not talk about it?”
Frank collapsed next to her. “I hear the Japanese soaps are pretty intense—care to give it a go?”
Hana tossed the remote at him, but didn’t answer.
The encounter brought back memories of her first and last date with a Paladin. Victor said he would make her dinner and brought her to his apartment. Normally, she would never go to a man’s apartment on a first date, but he had always been so charming with her during therapy. It wasn’t even technically a date. It was him repaying her for all of her help—and yet there was still the undertone that this was more than a thank you dinner. She even went shopping for a new dress that she had hoped would impress him—a black Madewell dress that she had found on clearance.
When she got there, he had candles on the table—music playing in the background—the lights slightly dimmed—the works. And then he served the food: pasta. And not just any pasta. Pasta that was from the Olive Garden. He didn’t admit it. He actually talked about the ingredients and how it was his great grandma’s recipe. His mistake was leaving the bag and takeout container on the counter. He didn’t even try to hide it. Hana thought he was joking. But he kept the story going for over ten minutes. He even pointed at his KitchenAid, which looked like it had never been used, and said he made the noodles from scratch.
The guy from therapy was gone. And in his place was someone completely different—a man who only wanted to get in her pants. He bragged about working out. About all the lives he had saved. About the women who always admired him.
She barely spoke throughout dinner. She knew it was a mistake almost from the moment she walked in the room. And when it was over, he stood next to her and looked down at her cleavage. “Now I’d like to thank you in my own—special way.”
Hana had looked at him, confused.
He took her hand. “You’re pretty. I’m magnificent. I know it’s every woman’s fantasy to be with a superhero.”
Hana pushed her chair back and stood up. “I think you’ve got the wrong idea about things.”
“Do I?” He smiled.
“Yeah.” Hana said, taking another step back. “Thanks for dinner—the Olive Garden is always good. But it’s late.”
He tried to stop her, but she ignored his pleas.
After that it was awkward between them. He had tried to apologize. Hana did the best she could to be professionally distant from him. Less than a month after the “date” he had been assigned overseas. That was almost a year ago, and Hana had not seen him since.
Frank laughed at something happening on the TV. It was all in Japanese, but Frank didn’t seem to mind. He was engrossed in it. Hana closed her eyes and quickly started drifting off.
A knock woke her. She turned and Frank was gone. She slowly stumbled to the door, and Bashir was standing in the hall with a plate of food. “You didn’t come down for dinner.”
Hana stared at him and remembered that she was mad at him for telling York about her abilities.
“I’m sorry—I should have asked your permission to tell him.”
“Yeah.”
“We were going over how the meeting would go down and it just slipped out because we were trying to figure out a way to listen in on what they said before and after we left the meeting.” He added sincerely, “I was wrong.”
Hana looked at the plate. “No dessert?”
Bashir smiled. He walked into the room, put the plate on the table near the window, and was gone and back in a flash with two slices of cake.
“How did you know I wanted to two?”
Bashir couldn’t tell if she was kidding. She motioned to the chair next to the table. “Sit—if the cake is good, then all is forgiven.”
“And if it’s not?”
Hana thought. “You better have somewhere pretty impressive that you’re taking me tomorrow.”
She took a bite of the cake. Bashir looked at her curiously. “Well?”
“You still better have something pretty impressive planned for tomorrow after everything you’ve put me through,” Hana teased. “But this is probably the best cake I’ve ever had.”
“I thought you’d say that—York brought in a dessert chef for the next few days.”
“A dessert chef?”
Bashir nodded.
“He really spares no expense.”
Chapter Eight
T
he next morning, Hana went to the balcony next to the living room and sipped coffee while waiting for Bashir to leave for their meeting. It was only seven, but the streets were already bustling with people. It made her forget why she was there; for a moment she wanted to go down with them—immerse herself in the culture.
Japan had been on her short list of places she wanted to visit; now she was here, and she was stuck in a luxury apartment with a bunch of Paladins. It was all a little surreal.
“Great view isn’t it?” York said, standing next to her holding a mug.
Hana nodded. “It’s pretty amazing.”
“I can get you a tour later if you’d like. I have a lot of connections.”
Hana smiled. “I imagine you do. And I might take you up on that offer.”
York’s tone changed. “So Hana—your power…have you ever been tested?”
“Te
sted?”
“You know—had tests run to have it studied.”
Hana shrugged. “The agency ran some test when I first started working for them. Why?”
“It’s interesting that I had never heard of you before this trip.”
“Why is that interesting?”
“I just like to keep tabs—I work pretty closely with the EHA—on the research side of things.”
Hana shrugged. “I’m not like the other Paladins—I’d hardly even call myself one. I just hear really well.”
“I’d like to bring you into my lab—I’d really like to learn more about it. I’m fascinated by the abilities of Paladins.”
“Maybe after all of this,” Hana offered.
York nodded. “Bashir has always been—not anti-science, but protective of his abilities. He’s never been big on capitalizing on them. He’s wanted to keep them to himself.”
“What do you mean?”
“He hates test. I think he’s afraid I’m going to figure out his powers and take them for myself.” He explained. “But what if we could find a way to—recreate them?”
“If you could do that you’d be able to buy another one of your fancy jets,” Hana laughed. “But I’m not sure any company should have that kind of power.”
“I see you do have some of Bashir’s traits—you sound just like him.” York smiled. “There just needs to be accountability and responsibility—it needs to be in the hands of the right person.”
“Someone like you.” Hana smiled.
York’s expression changed. “I’ll have my assistant set something up.”
Hana looked over at him oddly, but he was already walking away.
“Ready to go?” Bashir said moments later.
She looked at him strangely, but nodded.
“Everything okay?” he asked as they got into the elevator.
“Are you sure York is…safe?”
“How do you mean?” Bashir said.
“I talked to him today and—sometimes he seems like a really nice guy, and sometimes he seems like a super villain.”