by H. L. Burke
“Sounds a little on the technical side, but I guess I’m all right with that.” Fade nodded. “Ladies first?”
Prism settled onto the bench on the other side of Aiden from Keeper, crossed her legs, uncrossed them, then gripped the edge of the bench with her hands.
“You all right, Luce?” Keeper glanced over Aiden at her.
“She’s afraid Tanvi’s going to ruin Beyonce’s pretty face,” Aiden answered.
“No, I am not.” Prism forced herself to slouch in her seat.
Tanvi feinted towards Fade. He didn’t flinch.
Tanvi paused. “Dude, I thought you said you were ready?”
“Oh, I am,” he said. “Take your best shot.”
Something dawned on Prism, and she leaned forward in her seat.
A look of displeasure passed over Tanvi’s face as if she might’ve realized the same thing Prism was starting to. In spite of this, she swung a punch directly at Fade’s gut.
Her blow cut through him like a hawk diving through fog.
Aiden’s chip crunching stopped mid-chew, and Keeper laughed.
Again Tanvi struck. Her foot shot up in a snap-fast push kick. Her momentum carried her right through Fade’s body. She skidded to a halt.
“Oh, man, that felt weird.” She shuddered, her braid bouncing at the back of her head. She glared at Fade. “So that’s how we’re going to play it? You do know you can’t win like this.”
He held up his hands. “You said the loser is the one who gives up first. I can stand here all day, and considering I spent the last five years in a detention cell with limited sources of entertainment, I’m willing to bet I’m far more patient than you are.”
Tanvi’s mouth wrinkled in displeasure but just as quickly turned into a smile. She laughed. “You clever bastard. Well, I’m not done yet. You can only do that while you’re concentrating from my understanding. Let me see if I can break your concentration.” She glanced around. “Hey, Phone.”
“Yes, Forte,” an electronic voice echoed from the bench next to Aiden.
“Play my Hot Dance Playlist.”
Swelling synth chords rose from the phone’s speakers.
Prism’s eyes widened. “‘Angel with a Shotgun’? Really, Tanvi?”
“You have to hit a guy below the belt.” Tanvi winked then spun around. “Hey, Pris, you remember when we did a duet to this in dance class? The rumors about us being a couple that started to go around afterwards were hilarious—”
Prism’s cheeks warmed, and Aiden coughed. Fade’s eyebrows arched, ever so slightly. Tanvi performed a flying leap, right at his head.
He ducked. Needlessly. Her toes clipped through the top of his head as if he hadn’t even been there.
As the song played, Tanvi leaped, spun, and gyrated with grace but also all the ferocity of a woman who could bend steel bars without breaking a sweat. Every so often she aimed a kick or a punch through Fade, but he stood, unmoved. Aiden, however, began to shift uncomfortably in his seat.
Prism lowered her voice to a whisper. “If you need to go take a cold shower—”
“Shut up,” he hissed.
The song finally ended with Tanvi giving one last impressive jump kick right through Fade’s body. She doubled over, laughing.
Relief flowed through Prism. Fade was no idiot.
“This is dumb.” Aiden jumped out of his seat. “He’s cheating.”
“How do you figure?” Fade crossed his arms. “These are my powers. It’s no more cheating than knocking someone out at a touch.”
“Whatever. I’m not going to sit here and watch you make a fool of us—”
“I don’t feel like a fool, but thanks for that, Aiden.” Tanvi sniffed. “Fade’s right. I wanted to take him on specifically because of his abilities.” She sidled closer to Fade. “It’s not his fault that they make him literally untouchable.” She threw up an elbow. Again it went right through him.
“Nice try,” Fade chuckled.
“Can’t blame a girl.” She winked at him.
“Whatever.” Aiden stomped out.
“Aiden, chill out—” Prism called to him, but the door slammed without him so much as looking back.
Keeper picked up his cat. “I’ll go after him. Good fight, Fade, Tanvi. Highly entertaining.”
Prism sighed. How could she get Aiden on board?
Tanvi clapped Fade on the shoulder. This time he was solid. “Lunch is on me. Pizza? Sushi?”
“I have no memory of having tried sushi, so let’s go with that.”
“Great.” Tanvi took up a towel from a nearby bench and wiped at her face. “Well, you might not have broken a sweat, but I certainly did. I want a good shower before I go out in public. Meet me at the front in twenty minutes?”
Fade started. “I thought we’d be getting takeout.”
“Nah. A workout like that merits a full on lunch on location with a waiter bringing me sake.” Tanvi tossed the towel to one side. “I’m going to see if I can’t get Aiden to come along. He speaks half decent Japanese, and we always get better service when he flirts with the waitresses.” She hurried out the door.
Prism cautiously approached Fade, whose mouth had wrinkled in displeasure.
“You did good.” She offered him her hand. “I was worried, but you handled that perfectly.”
“According to everyone but Aiden.” He shook his head.
“He’s just being difficult.” She hazarded a comforting smile. “The whole listening to thoughts thing makes him suspicious of new people, especially someone like you who he can’t read at will.”
“Does he read you?” He tilted his head to one side. “Seems like that would be awkward.”
“We reached an agreement early on that he wouldn’t get into my brain unless there was some sort of emergency. He’s so used to not reading me that he says that when he has to, it’s harder than it is with strangers, like he’s breaking through his own mental roadblocks as well as my natural defenses. Thankfully, when you’ve known someone as long as I’ve known Aiden—all our lives literally—you develop communication that doesn’t really require superpowers to feel like it’s superpowered, if you know what I mean.”
“I guess.” He continued to gaze past her at the door, as if hoping or fearing someone was about to come through it ... or fearing to walk through it himself.
She placed her hand on his shoulder. “Hey, it doesn’t take superpowers to see that you’re worried about something. Is it Aiden? I can talk with him—”
“No, it’s not.” His muscles tightened beneath her touch, and his powers flickered, sending energy buzzing through her. “It’s lunch. I was too hungry and happy to be out to worry about it when we went to the diner, but since then I’ve had time to think about it. It was kind of a miracle nobody recognized me. My face must’ve been all over the news after my arrest.”
“It’s been five years. In the information age, that might as well be a lifetime.” She squeezed his shoulder in a way she hoped was encouraging. “A thousand other scandals and disasters have happened since then.”
He snorted. “So basically you’re saying the defining moment of my life, where I screwed up everything, is old news and I shouldn’t be so self-centered?”
She bit down on her tongue. “No, but I’m saying it might be easier to move around in public than you’d think. Sables are common enough nowadays that no one thinks anything of me and the rest of the team going about our day-to-day business. Also, you’ll be with us. We’re a team. We look out for each other. That’s how it works.”
“Tell that to Aiden.” He let out a long breath. “Well, I can’t hide from the world forever. If I’m going to start living life again, it might as well be with some California rolls and a little hot sake.”
Chapter Eight
Three Months Later
Fade crouched behind the concrete wall, his powers flickering in and out as live fire strafed the area around him. When the dust cleared he hit his earpiece.
; “Aiden, where’s the target?”
“Shut up, Sia. I’m working on it.”
Fade grit his teeth and scanned the area for his teammates. Even though he knew this was fake—an exercise set up in the Marine’s MOUT (Military Operations on Urban Terrain) town—he didn’t want to screw up and get someone injured. Carefully controlled training exercise or not, super-abled or not, live fire was no joke. Even the sables were only allowed to use it under highly specific, DOSA and DOD approved scenarios. A flash of light alerted him to Prism’s location, on the other side of one of the “houses.” Fade ghosted and ran right through the walls.
Prism gasped and threw up her hands as he appeared next to her.
“Easy!” he soothed.
“Always keep me apprised of your location.” Her voice had a slight delay from her lip movements. “These things are stressful enough without you popping out of walls like a deranged ghost in a cheap horror movie.”
“Sorry. I know that’s not you, anyway.” He poked at her, and sure enough, his finger went right through her.
I’m two feet to your left, but the point still stands.”
“I’ve got a handle on the hostage,” Aiden’s voice reverberated through their earpieces. “He’s being held in the bunker three buildings up from me. Looks like there are two hostiles on him. Want to use a flashbang? Make our job easier.”
“You just like the boom.” Prism rolled her eyes. “We’re not going to risk permanent hearing loss to some poor volunteer because you got impatient.”
“The point to live fire training is for us to grow accustomed to using our equipment—”
“Then we can go out to the firing range and you can chuck a few later,” Prism said through gritted teeth. “No, we’re not using flashbangs today.”
“Bossy.”
She tapped her ear to mute the channel. “It’s a wonder the military puts up with us.”
“Us or Aiden?” Fade snickered.
She smiled and slipped into a bad version of Keeper’s accent. “Six of one, half a dozen of the other.”
“If you’re not keen on using a flashbang, what about something a wee bit more natural,” Keeper chimed in over the line as if summoned. “I’ve got an eye on some tarantulas ...”
“They do realize you essentially are a flashbang, don’t they?” Fade arched an eyebrow.
“She always gets to do the takedowns,” Tanvi groaned, breaking in for the first time since they’d started the exercise. Fade vaguely knew she was shadowing Keeper.
Prism tapped her ear again. “Quiet, everyone. Aiden, we went over multiple strategies before we started this, none of which involved flashbangs. You’re our mastermind. If you weren’t salivating over big booms, what would you do?”
Aiden sighed. “Keeper, setting aside the tarantulas, as awesome as that would be, do you have any birds you can work with?”
“Flock of red-winged blackbirds within shouting distance and five or six turkey vultures. What do you need?”
“Let’s go with the blackbirds. We’re looking for numbers, not strength here,” Aiden replied. “Plan number three is the best in this set up and with our current resources. You all remember the brief?”
“Yep.”
“Yeah.”
“Aye.” A volley of responses shot through the line.
“Okay, I trust you all to get in your places then.”
Muting his mic, Fade peered around the building that sheltered them. “I still can’t believe that kid is our team strategist.”
“Trust me. He seems like he’s lazy and careless, but you don’t want to go up against him in a chess match.” Prism let her projection fade, flickering into view immediately beside him. “You know the plan?”
He nodded. “See you on the other side.”
Fading fully, he took off at a sprint, barrelling through cinder block walls as if they were fog. With a chorus of whistles and caws, a massive flock of blackbirds rose from the trees in the distance. The group of birds swept over the MOUT town like a single organism, undulating like a jellyfish in the sky. They swirled around the bunker Aiden had indicated as their target zone. Using his ability to soften handholds in a wall, he quickly climbed to the top of a barrier within sight of the bunker door. A shot rang out, but the bullet grazed through him like a puff of air. His heart still quickened. Something in the back of his mind, that uncomfortable feeling of déjà vu again, said that this was not the first time he’d been shot at, but unlike eating hamburgers or playing video games, the sense of unwarranted familiarity was anything but comforting.
Flashes to his left alerted him to Prism. Her brightly colored outfit gave away her position, but considering it was likely her projection rather than her true self, that was probably the point. If everything was going right, Tanvi, Keeper, and Aiden were closing in on the opposite side of the bunker.
This is where I have to trust my team ... and that is why I’d rather work alone.
Fade clenched his jaw, reminding himself that this was a training exercise, not life or death, then dove off the wall. He hit the dirt running. More shots whiffed through him as the blackbirds continued to swarm.
“Remember, secure the hostage or it’s a loss,” Prism’s voice crackled in his ear.
Fade reached the side of the building and pressed himself into it.
Prism appeared beside him. Muffled shouts rose from within the bunker.
Fade stretched out his arms, flattening his hands against the rough wall. His ability to project a fade was limited to an area about the size of his own body, but Prism could easily fit through that.
“Ready?” he asked.
She nodded, her mouth set firm.
His energy flooded into the wall which rippled like a muddy puddle.
Prism tapped her earpiece. “Team, making entry in three ...”
Fade’s muscles tightened.
“Two.”
The blackbirds screeched.
“One!” Prism dove through the soft spot, hands outstretched. Fade followed as her light burst exploded through the room.
He staggered back, dazzled.
Damnit! Why didn’t I close my eyes?
Concentration snapped, his powers flickered out leaving him solid and weak-kneed. He dropped into a defensive crouch.
With a thunderous crash, Tanvi barreled through the back wall as if it had been paper. She tackled the armed man next to the bound “hostage.” Prism swung about the room, shooting out another blast before a second armed combatant could raise his rifle. Aiden dove into the room through Tanvi’s breach and went straight for the stunned rifleman. At a touch, the man was on the ground.
Prism yanked the hostage—a hooded man—to his feet and sliced through the zip ties on his wrists with a burst of her lasers.
“Ready for extraction.” She pulled the hood off, revealing a bored looking fellow in his late twenties. Apparently being fake-kidnapped was routine for him. “Keeper, you got us covered?”
“Go now!”
The cackling of the blackbirds rose to a frenzy. Prism projected herself and the hostage in front of herself, moving the images out through the massive hole in the wall.
“Move out!” she ordered.
Fade shook himself off and found his powers accessible again.
Lesson learned. Be glad no one noticed.
The group surrounded their charge and waited as Fade shoved his hands against the wall and created another soft spot. He held it as each member of his team in turn slipped through, Tanvi first, invisible Prism with her charge next, then Aiden bringing up the rear. As soon as Aiden disappeared, Fade hopped through ... into a sea of blackbirds.
Keeper’s feathered friends circled them, so close he could feel their wings stirring the air. The flickering wings and black feathers obscured the sky.
“Aiden!” Prism’s voice came in shrill, both over the earpieces but also right in front of Fade. “I’m having a hard time focusing on the projection with the bird cover. I think I�
�ve got to let it go.”
“Close your eyes.” Aiden stepped forward and grasped his sister—or what Fade assumed was his sister. It looked a bit like he was holding onto air. “I’ll guide you.”
Prism’s outline shuddered in and out of visibility before disappearing altogether again. The group pressed forward.
What felt like a lifetime later, they crossed the agreed upon marker for the safe zone. The birds lifted revealing the pure blue sky and the observing military higher-ups who were there to make sure things didn’t go tragically awry—or at least to write butt-covering explanations if something did blow up in their faces.
“We did it!” Prism buoyantly popped back into view.
“About time,” the guy they’d “rescued” said. “I want lunch.”
“So do I!” Keeper strode out of the bushes, Yui the cat on his shoulder. Fade had gotten used to the cat accompanying them on training missions over the last few weeks. While Keeper loved all his animals, his affinity for that particular cat was over the top to say the least.
“We’ll swing through a drive-thru on the way back to HQ.” Prism’s shoulders slouched, her eyes tired. “I want to debrief and go over a few things we could’ve done better.”
“Better?” Tanvi widened her eyes to a comical degree. “That was perfect, Pris! Did you see how I took down that wall?”
“There’s always something to learn.” Prism frowned as they walked up the hill to where the transport bus waited.
“Oh, come on, Luce!” Aiden groaned. “You don’t always have to be the team mom. Just mark the exercise as complete and let it go.”
Fade hesitated. “She’s right. I screwed up.”
All eyes snapped to him. He cleared his throat. He could’ve kept it under wraps, but he owed it to Prism to back her up here, even at the cost of some pride. “I forgot to shield my eyes when we breached the bunker, and I got a face-full of Prism’s powers.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “If I’d taken a shot in that moment, I couldn’t have absorbed it. Would’ve taken me down, possibly worse.”
Prism bit her bottom lip. “Something to consider.”
“Thanks a lot, Sting.” Aiden growled as they climbed aboard the bus. “I was looking forward to an afternoon off. Learning to watch your eyes is working with Lucia 101.”