“Hi, Sienna,” came a mild voice, a familiar one.
I shone the flashlight at the man who held Kurt. “Reed, what are you doing?”
I hadn’t seen him since the day I killed Wolfe; he had fled from the basement before the Directorate arrived. He was muscular and it showed, even through his leather jacket. His dark skin stood out in contrast to Hannegan’s face, which was turning red. His long brown hair was in a ponytail and he held a gun pointed at me then Zack, in turn.
“Well, well,” Zack said, his own gun out and pointed at Reed. “If it isn’t your old friend.”
“Friend, enemy,” I said, wary, “when they’re pointing a gun at you, what’s the difference?”
“A friend doesn’t pull the trigger.” Reed clubbed Kurt on the head, and I watched the big man’s eyes roll up as he went unconscious. Zack tensed, as though he were about to shoot, but Reed held the gun up in surrender as he let Hannegan sink to the ground, letting him slide to the floor gently. “I have to talk to Sienna.” He looked at me. “I don’t want your boyfriend listening in either, but I’m willing to let him walk away instead of sending him off into the clouds.”
“You can try—” Zack snapped.
“I can do it,” Reed said. “You eager to cross me? I’m a meta, you’re a Directorate agent. Do you want to find out what my power is just so you can try to keep her from having a conversation?”
Zack did not flinch nor lower his weapon. “You want to talk to her? Talk. She’s right there.”
“If I wanted the entire Directorate leadership to hear what I have to say to her, I’d visit your campus.” Reed’s lip curled at the end.
“You should come visit. I’d love to see you out there; it’d be fun to watch M-Squad beat you down and throw you in a holding cell for interrogation.” Zack’s eyes were narrowed, the gun still pointed at Reed. “I’m not letting her out of my sight.”
“I’ll go over to the corner with him, we’ll talk,” I said to Zack, who looked sidelong at me, mutinous. “It’ll be fine. “ I worried when he didn’t blink, but he finally gave me a subtle nod of the head. He kept the gun pointed, following Reed, who joined me in a corner. “All right,” I said when we were out of Zack’s earshot, “what’s so damned important that you had to crack Hannegan over the head?”
“That?” Reed chucked a thumb over his shoulder where Zack was nudging Kurt with his foot, trying to rouse him without taking the gun off Reed. “That was for him driving you back to your house when you went after Wolfe the last time.” Reed’s expression darkened. “It was only because you discovered your power that you even survived.” He glanced back to Hannegan, who had yet to stir. “But you’re still hanging around with him—with them.”
“I haven’t been presented with any other options,” I said, bitterness inflecting my tone. “In case you forgot, right after I killed Wolfe, you freaked out on me and bailed.”
“I didn’t bail on you,” he said. “I got the hell out of there before the Directorate decided to make me a test subject.”
“You yelled at me.”
“I’m sorry,” he said with sincerity, “ but I didn’t want to get my soul drained. Besides,” he looked wary, “I suspect your head is full enough now without me adding another voice to the chorus.”
My eyes widened and I felt my jaw drop in shock. “You know?”
“If the Directorate had experience with incubi or succubi, they’d know too,” Reed said. “They’re trying to view metas through a scientific lens, and there’s not one big enough yet to explain how metas work. Take this Gavrikov they just caught, for example,” he said with a smile. “Explain to me scientifically how someone can fly without wings or sprout fire from their skin without burning it off?” He shrugged. “Maybe there’s a scientific explanation, but it’s so far outside our grasp right now that we might as well be talking about myth and magic, like the ancients used to describe us.”
“How did you know about Gavrikov?” I kept my voice hushed.
“Everyone in the meta world knows about Gavrikov. He’s been a legend and a whisper since he detonated in Russia a hundred plus years ago.”
I squinted at him, trying to recall. “The Tunguska blast? I read that was a meteor.”
His smile grew deeper. “There was no meteor; there was Gavrikov.” He shrugged. “Or so the rumor goes.”
“How goes the rumor about me?” I tightened my jaw.
He nodded, the smile sticking in place on his face, but no longer sincere. “It goes that your mother, Sierra Nealon, who everyone thought was dead, is a succubus, and has a daughter just like her. Whip smart, stronger than any other ten metas combined, and currently hiding behind the tender mercies of Old Man Winter in Minneapolis.”
I absorbed his words. People whom I had never met were discussing me, as though I were some commodity waiting to be bartered. “How did you know I was here?”
“I’ve been watching the place for a few days, waiting for…” he hesitated, “…someone. Wolfe didn’t bother to cover his tracks, so I expect the police will be here in the next day or so.” He cast a look around. “Hope you found what you were looking for, because this is likely your last shot at this place.”
I held up my mom’s purse and I.D. “Know anything about my mom?”
Reed was cool when he answered. “A few things. Where she worked, known associates from before she disappeared, that sort of stuff.” He looked back to Kurt, who was sitting up now. “Nothing I can share while you’re still with them.”
“You got a better deal for me?” I stared him down. “Because as I recall, when Wolfe was hot on my heels, you told me to stay put.”
He shrugged. “Here in the U.S., I don’t have a quarter of the force the Directorate could use to defend you. In fact, I’m with an organization that’s big overseas, not so much here. The Directorate is king of meta activity on this continent, for now. But if you want to come with me…”
“Where?”
“Can’t say until you decide to come along.” He shrugged again. “Sorry for the secrecy, but we’re not on the Directorate’s radar and I’m of a mind to keep it that way.”
I looked at him pityingly. “You just knocked out one of their agents; I think you’re on their radar now.”
“Heh, maybe me,” he said, “but not we. They don’t know who I work for. And I suspect it’ll remain that way for some time.”
I looked at him, a hard, long look. “Forget the background stuff. Do you know where my mom is?”
I saw pity flood his face, along with a sincere regret. “I don’t. I’m sorry. If I knew anything that I thought would help, I’d tell you, but I don’t. There are a lot of people looking for her, and not just from the Directorate. All the major players have people in town, but I think she’s gone quiet. Maybe Wolfe got after her, maybe something else spooked her, but if she could disappear for all those years with you, she can hide even better without someone else to slow her down. Not to say you slowed her down.”
“No, it’s fine,” I said. “I’m sure I did; it’s probably why I was locked away all those years, to keep her profile low.”
“Or to keep you out of harm’s way.” His voice got softer and his eyes lost their gleam. “These people that are after you now? At least you have the power to fight back. Imagine Wolfe coming after you when you were seven.”
I shuddered, and deep inside felt Wolfe stir with interest at that idea. A few images floated to the surface of my mind, of places I’d never been, people I’d never met—young girls, all. I could taste bile rising in the back of my mouth and wished for nothing so much as the ability to drive his frightening psyche from my head. “That would have been bad. So what now for you?”
“I’ll be around,” he said. “I assume you’re not taking me up on my offer?”
I lowered my voice even more. “Can you get this maniac out of my head?”
He looked over to where Zack and Kurt were waiting for me. “I don’t think so. Once he’s in, he’
s part of you from now on.” He shrugged. “There aren’t many experts on what you’re going through, and I don’t work with any. Counting you, there are three succubi on record. Only a couple of incubi.”
I rubbed my head. “I’m losing my mind. I don’t know how any of this works.” I snorted in wry amusement. “I don’t even know how my mom had me without killing my father, whoever he was.” I thought about it for a moment. “Hell, maybe she did.” I shook my head. “I know nothing about myself, where I came from, who my mother really is. You can tell me a little more, but I’d have to leave and go somewhere mysterious, somewhere outside the country?” He looked at me and nodded, and I knew he realized my decision was made. “Sorry,” I said. “I think I’m gonna stick it out here a while longer.”
“I figured. Like I said, I’ll be around.” He smiled, and with a gloved hand he brushed my cheek, sending a tingle through me. “You know how to get in touch with me.” He turned and started away.
“Bad choice of words,” I said to him with an impish smile. “I think the last thing you want is me touching you.”
“There are worse ways to go.” He laughed, shook his head, and disappeared out the door.
Chapter 5
After I watched him leave, I returned to where Zack and Kurt waited for me. The older man held his head, and let out a near hissing sound when I approached. “Every time I go somewhere with you…” he said.
“You blame this on me? Last time we went somewhere together, I believe you made it out just fine.” I smiled, and a look of panic crossed his features; the eyes widened, his mouth opened slightly and I would have bet his mouth was drier than the air outside. He looked at Zack, who was frowning. “I don’t see anything else,” I said, changing the subject to spare Kurt. “We can leave.”
“Let me be the first to say, ‘Thank God’ at the thought of getting outta here,” Kurt said with a grunt. He led the way, and I looked around, not quite forlorn but wondering if I was missing something, some subtle clue that might tell me more about where Mom was. I stared at the dark corners of the warehouse, as though I could sift the secrets out of the shadows if I only concentrated long enough.
“Come on,” Zack said. I looked back to find him standing behind me, and his eyes were warm. He put a hand on my shoulder, and even through the heavy cloth I felt the gentle pressure. I didn’t want to but I felt myself involuntarily close my eyes and wondered what it would feel like without his glove or my coat and shirt.
I forced a smile and buried that thought as Kurt yelled from the door. “Come on!” Without waiting for us, he pushed through to outside. Zack and I were only a few steps behind him as the door started to close, but before it did something silvery appeared with a flash and hit Kurt, sending the older man spiraling out of our field of vision.
I hesitated but was quicker to move than Zack. I burst out the door, felt my shoes hit the snow, the frigid air slamming me in the face followed by a metal-encased hand cracking me in the cheek. My feet left the ground and I landed in the snow. My jaw was on fire, and I felt the biting cold of the wet mush run down my collar. Before I had time to cry out, something punched me in the back of the head, and I felt a hand lift me to my feet.
I was dazed, but even so I recognized that what was in front of me seemed wrong. It was shaped like a man, but covered in metal. The figure was angular and the chest was boxy, like a robot I’d seen once in a movie. The head was roughly cylindrical with a rounded dome, giving me a flashback to the time Mom let me watch Iron Man on TV. I saw a metal fist raise and I squirmed to get out of the grasp of the metal man before the blow reached me.
I felt my coat rip along the collar as I pulled down and put my weight into it. Much as I might wish I was lighter when I looked in the mirror, I was thankful at that moment that I didn’t look like a model as I slipped underneath the punch he had leveled at me. The metal man followed through and I heard a crunch. I rolled across the snow and to my feet, looking back to see he’d buried his hand in the concrete wall all the way to the elbow.
As he struggled to pull his hand back out, I realized he was grunting, which meant he wasn’t a robot. I can’t tell you how thankful I was in that moment; I was afraid that someone had perfected some sort of seeker droid and turned it loose on me. “All right, Full Metal Jackass,” I said to him. “You want a fight, you sucker-punching Tony Stark wannabe?” I cracked my knuckles. “I’ll give you a fight.”
I darted low as he came at me again. I could tell from his breathing that the armor had some weight and heft to it. His fist whistled through the air in front of my face as he winged another punch at me. After it passed, I raised up and gave him a solid kick to the gut, just like I would have back when Mom and I broke boards in the basement. After all, I was a super-powerful meta, right? I should be able to break through steel; I had before, after all.
I heard a crack as I connected and realized that something had broken, all right—but I was pretty sure it was my foot. Full Metal Jackass went staggering back and fell over, which was the only saving grace in the whole thing, because I dropped to the ground, clutching at my foot, which felt like I had slammed it in a door well over a hundred times. I let out a stream of curses as I went down.
As I lay on the ground, clutching my appendage and plumbing the depths of my error in judgment, I tried to roll over. I had enough presence of mind to realize that the metallic monkey wasn’t going to be down for as long as I was and that I needed to do something to avoid him and that screaming and rolling around wasn’t going to do it. I got to one knee as I saw him rising to his feet, a hulking metal goliath. His eyes were two slits, and behind them I could see pupils staring back at me as I rested my weight on one leg. I raised my hand in a defensive posture that was purely for show; I doubted I’d be able to effectively evade him while hobbling.
“Hey Man of Steel!” Zack’s shout caused him to turn. I saw Zack holding a very familiar weapon in both his hands. He’d been to the trunk of the car, clearly. “I bet you think you’re invincible, beating up a girl like that. Boy, are you in for a shock.”
I cringed, partly from his pun, partly from the ache in my foot as Zack discharged the weapon into the metal-suited man. A forked bolt of lightning arced from the barrel and made contact with the front plate of Full Metal Jackass’s armor. The metal man shuddered only slightly, and then took a menacing step toward Zack, then another, before breaking into a run toward him, the electricity diffusing harmlessly off the metal as though it weren’t conducting it.
I took two aggressive hops forward before the metallic tool could get any momentum and slammed into him with my shoulder, knocking him face-first into the snow. I saw a joint open between his helmet and his neck as he fell, a patch of exposed skin no wider than my fist that showed a strip of weathered flesh. I reared back, letting fly a punch aimed at the open spot. I connected and heard him shout in pain as his face slammed into his helmet, which impacted into the snow.
He started to stir and the gap in his armor closed as he lifted his head, making him effectively invulnerable again. “Let’s get outta here,” I said to Zack and limped my way to Kurt, slinging his bulky ass over my shoulder in a fireman’s carry. I made my way to the car one hobbled step at a time. I threw Kurt in the back seat unceremoniously and heard him let out a moan as he landed on the padded cloth. I slipped into the passenger seat as Zack tossed the gun onto the floorboard at my feet.
In the rearview mirror I could see Full Metal Jackass rising to his feet as Zack floored the car. He didn’t chase us, but his eye slits were watching as we slid out of the parking lot, following us until we rounded the corner and disappeared from his sight.
Chapter 6
“Do you want to grab some breakfast with me?” Zack’s words shocked me enough that I think my head spun. The ride back to the Directorate had been long and filled with Kurt’s surliness. I didn’t even bother to defend myself as he loosed a profanity-laden tirade about Reed colluding with me that lasted until we were well out
into the farmland. I felt fortunate Zack was driving because with the fat man wailing and gnashing his teeth as he was, I had no faith he could have driven the car without putting us into a snowy ditch.
I blinked at Zack, amazed that he would offer after what had just happened, and I wondered if my head was twitching like Dr. Sessions did, brain trying to understand the question that was posed. “You want me to go like this?” I gestured to my coat, which was shredded from the collar to halfway down the back and hung open, the zipper ripped from the seam. My shirt and jeans were soaked and filthy, my hair was still wet from the snow in the parking lot and I could feel the grains of dirt in it. I couldn’t see my cheek but the throbbing in it told me that I had a bruise of no small scale where I had been punched.
“You look fine and the cafeteria’s bound to be open by now.” He smiled at me and I felt my better judgment slipping away. “I’m starving. The last leg of the flight feels like the longest trip I’ve ever taken. Facing off with your friends in the warehouse didn’t help matters at all.” His voice hit a sour note and I couldn’t tell if it was because of Reed or the armored ass.
“Friends? I don’t know if you saw, but that armored tool damned near took my head off.” I snorted, more from annoyance than anything, and it faded fast. “All right,” I said, taken aback by his…I don’t know, boyish charm. I felt my stomach roll over and knew that either I was hungry or Wolfe was reacting to my mooning over Zack. Forgotten was the fact that I avoided the cafeteria and the people who visited it, those people who hated me so. I watched Kurt limp off toward the medical unit for a once-over by Dr. Perugini.
The cafeteria was showing the first signs of life when we entered, with workers behind the glass counter adding food to the display and a few people already sitting at tables. The cafeteria was huge, a massive structure with glass windows for walls that stretched a hundred feet into the air on two sides, giving it an open feeling. I looked at the edges of the room and realized for the first time that the panes along the perimeter were doors that could be opened to what I presumed was a patio outside; with the snow covering the ground it was impossible to tell, but it seemed like there was an eating area out there.
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