The Sound of Wind

by Raegan Millhollin

  **

  Christian, CJ, and Hugo, stepped out of Christian’s car in the parking garage across from the Four Seasons. The Head of Security had assembled his team a half-hour ago, while they were waiting for CJ to respond to the message Hugo had left her about the situation. They were on standby back at Gideon, since many of them would be vulnerable to poison, but were ready to serve as the cleanup crew if things went well, and the final defense if things did not. Hugo was vulnerable too, unlike Christian and CJ, but he could disable The Dragon’s daughter before she would even know something was wrong, which would be preferable since they didn’t know what other talents she possessed, or how many surfaces she could poison before they got to her.

  “My turn?” CJ asked, tilting her head with a grin.

  “Try not to cross any electrical wires,” Christian advised as confirmation, “if the lights start flickering she’ll probably know something is up.”

  CJ gave a sloppy salute, “Aye, Aye, Captain!” And then she crackled as she transformed into electricity and sank into the ground to perform her first assignment, locating Akemi.

  Hugo’s stomach tightened the second she left, and the squirrelly feeling magnified as the seconds passed. He gnawed on his thumb, wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans, shifted, and adjusted his earpiece, always aware that Christian was giving him an irritated sideways glance; it didn’t prevent Hugo from reciting his nervous ticks.

  Several minutes of eternity later there was a crackle, and then CJ’s voice rode across the earpiece, “Found her!” She announced, her voice full of pride, “She’s alone on the 3rd floor, room 308.” CJ finished her repot with longing in her voice, “She’s eating waffles for dinner, and they look so good!”

  Christian stifled a smile at that, “Ok, we’re on our way.”

  “Can’t I just zap her?” CJ asked, genuinely confused despite the fact that they’d gone over the plan already.

  The Head of Security stopped halfway through rolling his eyes, “No, we need to find out if she came alone first. We can’t take her back to the office, so knocking her out right now would just make this take longer. So stay put for now.”

  CJ’s huff was clear across the line, and then she responded dejectedly, “Ok. I’ll go wait in her walls.” And then the lightning monster’s channel went back to static.

  Much to Hugo’s surprise, Christian suddenly fixed him with a questioning look, “Are you ready for this?”

  Hugo carefully considered the suspiciously thoughtful question. They’d most likely have to kill Akemi. Could he do that again? Was there any other choice? She was willing to kill an entire building full of people to avenge one person, even against the will of her father, and despite the fact that her brother had technically been in the wrong. She deserved to die for that, didn’t she? Did it mean anything different if they killed her for a crime she hadn’t committed yet? Wasn’t that a story by Phillip K. Dick?

  Hugo shook his head to dislodge the ridiculous thoughts, getting strands of hair in his eyes. Christian frowned, mistaking the motion for a negative answer. “Ok, we can handle this. Just stay here and-”

  “No, no I’m fine,” Hugo cut him off firmly, “I just had a weird thought. I’m fine, let’s go.” He tried to smile reassuringly, but he was nowhere near Clem’s perfection of the art, which was clear by the skepticism in Christian’s look.

  “Ok,” he said slowly, his voice almost wary, “let’s go then.”

  It was calmingly quiet as they rode the elevator up to the lobby of the Seattle Art Museum and then crossed the street to the hotel in the heavy rain. They entered the warmly lit lobby full of plants, a water fountain, and a shining front desk, immediately heading for the elevator to look like they belonged there. The second elevator ride was as quiet as the first, but Christian kept sliding his gaze towards Hugo, probably looking for signs of a breakdown; but there wouldn’t be any to find because the calm was complete; Akemi was a monster, she deserved to die.

  Christian looked down both branches of the hallway as Hugo walked up to the door with the shiny gold ‘308’ on it. He sucked in a slow breath and the door to the suite rattled slightly; he hadn’t vacuumed the room, simply thinned the air so that it would be hard for Akemi to concentrate, hard for her to focus, hard for her to lie.

  Satisfied with his findings, the Head of Security turned to marble and pushed the door with measured force, easily snapping the electronic lock, but not knocking the door off its hinges. He stepped into the room first, gun raised, to find Akemi on her knees next to a writing desk, attempting to suck more air into her lungs. Christian closed the door after Hugo stepped into the room to join them.

  The Japanese woman with long black hair pulled up into a tight knot, stared up at them with dark, hate-filled eyes. Her Japanese was sharp, if slightly breathless, “Ready to die?”

  Hugo slipped his hands in his pockets to make sure he didn’t touch anything. When he answered it was flat and in English, “No we are not. I think you should be more concerned about yourself.” The lights flickered to punctuate the statement; Akemi did not miss CJ’s threat, her eyes widening slightly as she took an involuntary visual sweep of the room. Hugo hoped CJ didn’t know they were ready to carry through with the implied threat.

  Akemi responded in Japanese, “So then kill me; you will not leave this room alive either.”

  Something in the threat made Hugo pause for a moment, not because he was intimidated, but because it introduced the nagging thought that they were missing something. Could she affect stone? Had she put something on the door? Hugo frowned, estimating that that was probably unlikely; she couldn’t have been expecting them, could she?

  Everyone was waiting for him to speak, unable to understand what Akemi was saying; he decided to take a chance, “So, where are your lackeys?” The woman’s eyes narrowed and she made a sound that bordered on a growl, telegraphing that the guess had been correct. Hugo wished Clem had come along, it would have been nice to know what she was thinking in that moment. However, understandably, the telepath wasn’t even anywhere near the office.

  It suddenly occurred to Hugo that Akemi’s breathing was slower than it should have been, she was preserving oxygen. He didn’t have time to call out a warning or do more than stumble backwards before she literally launched herself at him.

  CJ was faster than anyone else. She was leaping out of Akemi’s slightly smoking body before Hugo could finishing stumbling. Christian was next; he righted Hugo before he hit the ground, likely to his death. And that’s when Hugo noticed Christian’s hand was eroding. It was hard to see at first, but fine cracks were forming in his palm and fingers where he’d touched the door.

  “Christian! Your hand!” The marble man glanced blandly down at the appendage, and if he was alarmed by what he saw it was impossible to tell in his stone form. He held his infected hand out, waving it slightly, and then pointed to the door, then pointed at Hugo and the lightning monster observing the exchange over the unconscious poisoner. “Don’t be stupid, we’ll think of something.” Hugo was surprised by the confidence in his voice, but it was probably dampened by the fact that he started pinching his lower lip with his teeth right afterwards. He glanced around the room; if the door had been infected it would be safe to assume that everything else was. Sure, they already had what they wanted, but they couldn’t leave the room to poison the hotel staff or the management, they didn’t need a city-wide quarantine situation because of one room; what he wouldn’t give for a powerful fire or ice manipulator.

  Then his eyes landed on CJ crackling. It was worth a shot, but a test first, “CJ, fry the shit out of Christian’s arm, but don’t use up too much energy, if this works, you’ll be destroying a bunch of things.” Both elemental creatures didn’t move for several seconds and then Christian shrugged, followed by CJ brightening considerably and arching over to him. She didn’t dive into his body, but ran an outstretch electrical arm along his hand like a scanner.

  Hugo backed across the ro
om because he was having trouble diverting the massive amount of heat CJ was generating with his air shield. The carpet caught fire, which made Hugo smile; that was exactly what he’d been hoping for. However, CJ didn’t seem satisfied. She brightened again, and then a few moments later, Christian’s arm started to ooze. He was watching the girl carefully, probably thankful that he couldn’t feel anything in that form.

  “Ok, that’s enough CJ,” Hugo said a little nervously. The lightning girl dimmed again and bounced away from Christian so that Hugo could come up and examine his hand. The marble quickly hardened, but the fingers were twisted and distorted from the shifting of the previously liquid stone; the black veins were gone at least. Hugo bit his lip again, “That’s going to hurt, isn’t it?” Christian shrugged.

  Hugo turned towards CJ to try and put the image from his mind, “Ok CJ. I want you to turn everything in this room either to ash or a pile of goo. There is probably poison everywhere and we’ll need to get rid of it. Don’t worry about fires, I can handle those. That is if Christian is willing to help shield me from the worst of the heat?” Hugo glanced back long enough to see Christian nod, and then turned to find CJ bouncing, very bright, “Ok then, let’s get started.”

  The entire processes took several minutes. Hugo stood behind Christian in an empty corner of the room while CJ burned and melted everything, vacuuming the fires behind her. The lightning girl was very enthusiastic about her job. The walls of the room took the most time because they had to coordinate their abilities to strip the walls without burning through it or the wiring. Hugo hoped that was enough, because he didn’t want to burn down the entire hotel for one woman.

  Once they were finally standing in the gutted room with Akemi’s still-unconscious body, Christian started to pull out his gun. Hugo glared at him; the man hesitated.

  “CJ, since you can take care of it faster than we can, can you go to Christian’s car and let the standby team know we’re not going to need them?” The young woman bounced and then arched, diving into the floor. Hugo glared at Christian again, “She’s a teenager,” he snapped, “could you please refrain from killing people right in front of her?” Hugo’s tone made it clear that it wasn’t actually a question. Christian shrugged, walked over to the unconscious woman, placed a foot on her head, and then pressed down hard enough to crack her skull without completely crushing it. The marble man looked pointedly at Hugo, however Hugo almost missed the gesture, so focused on the chunky matter sliding out of the body’s ears. Eventually their eyes met, and then Hugo turned, walking out of the room; Christian followed him.

  CJ was running out of the parking garage towards them just as they were halfway across the road, waving her cell phone high above her head, “Hugo! Hugo!” CJ called breathlessly, even though she was only a few feet away at that point, “Ninjas are attacking the office!” The girl sounded positively delighted, “We can go fight ninjas! Hurry up!” Hugo started to wonder why CJ wasn’t there already, but then remembered she took her bodyguard job very seriously.

  Christian, who had turned back to flesh in the elevator, trying to hide the grimace at his mutilated hand, responded first, “What details did you get?” As he spoke, he picked up his pace, but didn’t charge into a run as much as the tenseness in his body suggested he wanted to.

  “Umm…” CJ was walking alongside them as they went into the parking garage, but she kept surging forward a few steps and then needing to hang back, “They have them confined to the hallway outside of Mr. Gideon’s office, but are monitoring the security cameras for more. Sandra…Sarah…Lulu? Um whatever, the secretary lady’s name is, is safe. Mr. Gideon went to his winter home.”

  Christian nodded approvingly, “Good.”

  “Ninja’s!” CJ exclaimed loudly just as they entered the quiet lobby of the museum, causing Hugo to cringe. Then, just as they were about to step onto the elevator into the parking garage, Christian’s phone rang.

  “It’s Mr. Gideon,” the Head of Security announced as he answered the call; CJ and Hugo watched him expectantly. “Sir?” After a short pause Christian’s eyes widened slightly, “We’re almost to the car sir. It’s on the third level of the SAM parking garage,” Christian nodded, “Yes, we’ll meet you down there sir.” A moment later Christian slipped his phone back in his pocket, pushing the elevator’s down button again. Christian returned his attention to the two people staring expectantly at him. “Gideon’s winter home in New Zealand is being attacked too. Not by Akemi's men, but a group he described as possibly ex-military. Since everyone else is tied up, he wants us to head over there and at the very least evacuate Conrad and Sarah.”

  They all stepped into the elevator as Hugo asked the obvious questions, “Why would anyone attack his winter home? Who are Conrad and Sarah? They aren’t in the database.”

  Christian looked uncomfortable for a moment, and then sighed, shrugging, “They are probably after Sarah. She’s a little girl who can erase or change information or patterns, digital and material. Conrad is her…butler? Bodyguard.”

  “Is she Mr. Gideon’s lovechild? Is that why he hides her away?” CJ asked excitedly.

  “No, she’s not Mr. Gideon’s lovechild, she’s-” Christian abruptly cut himself off as the doors slid open and they saw Mr. Gideon waiting for them by Christian’s car, “Sir.”

  “Hi Christian. Hugo, CJ, glad to see you. My apologies it is under such tense circumstances; I trust Christian gave you my inadequate explanation of the situation?”

  “I was hoping you knew about how many people we were dealing with,” Christian responded before anyone else could say anything.

  “42 people I believe. Conrad has managed to keep them out of the house so far, but that’s going to change soon. I’m sad to admit they have a more efficient and portable version of our monofilament blade with them.”

  Christian frowned, the extent of his worried expression, “So it would be safe to assume that with some time they'll be able to get into the panic room?” Mr. Gideon nodded solemnly at that. “Well, then it sounds like we don’t have enough time to wait for the rest of the team to neutralize the threat at the office.” Christian turned his gaze on CJ and Hugo, “You both ready?”

  CJ’s head bobbed enthusiastically, somehow preventing Hugo from asking the multitude of questions in his head. They were in a hurry, he could ask them later, so he nodded as well.

  “Then get in the car, we’ll use it to get closer to the building. Hugo, you drive, because you’re going to be creating a path for us.”

  Hugo slipped around to the driver’s side, understanding what Christian was asking him to do. Would it be enough? Creating a series of small vacuums seemed inefficient and dangerous.

  His thoughts were halted for a moment when Christian spoke again, “Sir?”

  Mr. Gideon nodded, smiling warmly at them, “Thank you so much for helping, Hugo, CJ, this really means a lot to me. Sarah is a precious girl. Good luck,” and then the portal opened on the outskirts of what had once been a vast, lush lawn, now trampled by the mob that was just starting to surge through the front door.

  Hugo needed a way to stop them all quickly. He needed a bigger vacuum. It had to be possible. In the files he’d read of people with abilities, sometimes there were brief, powerful spikes in the range or strength of their abilities under stress, no one knew exactly how it happened, but-

  “Drive forward,” Christian commanded, Hugo drew in a long, deep breath and held it. “CJ, turn into lightning, but stay in the car until I move.”

  CJ saluted sloppily, “Roger that,” and then crackled until she was pure, powerful electricity.

  Hugo closed his eyes to shut them out, and then gently let the breath he’d been holding escape with all the tension in his muscles. Then he put pressure on the accelerator and the car lurched forward and through the portal. One moment they were in the parking garage in Seattle, the next they were in New Zealand, using human bodies as a decelerator.

  Hugo didn’t notice. Instead
he was drawing another breath, focusing on the sound of the wind. The windows of the mansion blew outwards, spraying glass into the sudden silence. Wind shoved past the car, jostling it and spewing glass as the vacuum spread outwards for what looked like a little over a mile. And then he was exhaling and the wind came roaring back in a torrent of vegetation and death. Hugo dug his fingers into the steering wheel, gritting his teeth as he pushed back against the storm, slowing it to the point where the wind just tumbled harmlessly against the frame of the building. CJ and Christian needed no more invitation; one marble, the other lightning, they left the vehicle.

  As Hugo’s vision cleared of black stars, he heard a few controlled shots, and lifted his head in time to see Christian striding past the last falling body, into the house. For a moment Hugo considered staying put and letting the two more powerful people handle the remaining force, but then a terrible thought occurred to him. These people were too well-equipped. They were most likely dealing with the people who set up Octavia and her facility, which meant the assault team was probably in possession of the Inhibitor.

  The lawn was a disaster area, but that barely registered as Hugo climbed out of the van and followed the matter-mimic cautiously into the building. He managed to catch up to Christian just as he was reaching the monitor room. He looked at Hugo, head cocked to the side.

  “I can guide you guys?”

  Christian nodded in response and immediately turned and walked away. Hugo continued into the security station, shut and locked the door, and then surveyed the monitors. There were three teams. One was purposefully heading downstairs towards the panic room, where CJ was chatting with the little girl. He relayed the information and CJ sparked, sinking into the floor like a ghost.

  Something fluttered, drawing Hugo’s attention to another monitor. A tall, wiry man with short, salt-and-pepper hair, white gloves, and a blood-splattered button-down shirt, ran into the kitchen with the second team, brandishing a dishtowel that quickly went from comical to deadly. The man was clearly a matter-manipulator, and not afraid to kill. “Christian! Conrad’s in the kitchen, facing down four guys!” Christian surged into a thundering run and charged through the wall, heading in a straight line for the kitchen. It would be a few seconds before he got there.

  Hugo flicked his eyes past the team that was still milling about the pool and back to CJ’s monitor, just as she was gliding and jolting out of one of the assailants, who was, predictably, dropping like a stone. And then Hugo heard over the radio something that made him very nervous.

  “That’s Subject 132! Disengage and abort the mission!” Two of the guys immediately complied, but the third was reaching for a canister on his belt; Hugo could tell exactly what it was, but was too slow to respond. The green gas filled the room and CJ fizzled into a solid and incredibly vulnerable girl. Focusing, Hugo touched the monitor in the space between CJ and the guy. It probably wasn’t necessary, but he didn’t have enough time to consider what would or wouldn’t work. Regardless, the remote blast of air shoved the guy into the far wall, the gas trailing him in a chaotic swirl like a comet.

  CJ’s face tightened. She was pissed. Her muscles tensed and she started surging forward.

  “Stop!” Hugo unintentionally screamed through the intercom, however, as frantic as it sounded, it had the desired effect, CJ complied instantly. “Wait until you change back. Then I’ll tell you where to go, understand?” CJ glared up at the camera, nodding tersely.

  Satisfied, Hugo flicked his attention to the pool group, who were moving purposefully, but cautiously, towards the front of the house; they still had time there. He moved back to the kitchen just in time to watch Conrad drop from a dart. Hugo’s breath caught in his throat. Christian gunned down a second guy, as the third came loose from a metal manacle that had harmlessly turned back into a dishcloth. A moment later another dart managed to embed itself in Christian’s chest, crackling ineffectively with electricity. This team also had two canisters.

  “Christian, their grenades are filled with the gas inhibitor, and it works very quickly,” Hugo pointed out. Christian nodded and, as if he’d heard the transmission, one of the assailants immediately started reaching for a canister, as the two remaining members of the team began their retreat. Christian wasn’t going to let them. Carefully he lined up his shot and the canister exploded in a plum of green smoke around the guy. The second guy threw his canister and Christian quickly ducked behind the kitchen island and out of harm’s way.

  Hugo flipped his attention back through the second group, to CJ who was just sparking back up. Hugo swept his eyes along the bank of monitors to find her retreating group of three. They still had a canister. “CJ, they’re in the southwest corner of the lawn, heading out. Don’t get close to them.” The enraged bolt of electricity arched into the wall.

  Christian was just laying out the last of the kitchen crew when Hugo turned back to that monitor, “Christian, one group is trying to escape over the back wall.” The marble man immediately started charging in that direction. If he kept up that pace he’d get to the backyard while the intruders were still climbing over the wall, making them sitting ducks.

  CJ’s guys, encased in an almost organized shower of sparks were firing blindly. Even Hugo, from his vantage point had trouble spotting CJ’s hand barely protruding from the ground in the chaos. Helpless, they started to collapse. Hugo opened his mouth to direct CJ towards the last group, but covered it as he watched Christian tear a guy’s arm to shreds with his gun, just so the man could plummet from the fence and crash to the ground. CJ didn’t need to see that. “CJ, I think we’re done. Can you head down to the panic room and make sure Sarah is ok?” The shaped electricity bobbed and then streaked back into the house.

  Hugo returned his attention to Christian, “That takes care of everyone.” Christian nodded and headed back into the disturbingly demolished house. It looked like a bloody war had taken place on the estate…and the four of them had been the cause of most of it.

  Hugo had located all of the estate’s guards by the time Christian had made it to the security center. Most were laid out in the building, but Hugo couldn’t tell if they were injured or dead. A few had been outside. He cringed a little. He hadn’t really considered that…and they were all close to the house where it had taken the longest for the air to return, so they probably either had brain damage or were dead.

  Christian distracted him when he snapped the lock on the door that he'd forgotten to undo, before walking in to shove a piece of paper at him; it was the instructions for contacting the cleanup crew. He followed the instructions as he realized he was staring at a rather large dent in Christian’s marble chest. He added Dr. McFadden to the request, as her expertise would be necessary in helping with the first wave of patients on their way back to the company.

  “Hugo,” CJ’s voice came over the intercom from the panic room, “Sarah’s erased everything.”

  “What?” Hugo looked to Christian, but the man couldn’t talk in marble form, so he just nodded.

  “Sarah got scared and I think she overdid the erasey thing. My cell phone is blank. I think she’s wiped the entry codes to the panic room too.” Christian wrote down on a piece of paper to contact the security team again. They’d need to get him new badges. The panic room was an easy fix, he could just force his way in.

  “Not yet. Sarah shouldn’t see this,” Hugo waved vaguely at the damage they’d caused.

  Christian added: ‘I’ll clear a path to the helipad first,’ and then the marble man walked out of the security station.

  “Thanks CJ, we’re taking care of it. Christian will be down in a bit to let Sarah out, will you stay with her until then and keep her company?”

  “Sure thing Captain!” CJ returned enthusiastically. Hugo let out a breath. He had hoped he could shield her from the worst of the damage too, so it was a good thing she was being compliant.“Can you replace the numbers in my phone though, since you remember everything?”

  Hugo n
odded, “Of course, I’ll do it as soon as I get a chance.”

  “Cool!”

  Hugo’s cell phone rang. “Thanks CJ, talk to you in a bit.” When he picked it up nothing came up on caller id, but he had no problem recognizing the number, “Hi Dr. McFadden.”

  “What happened? They said you requested me specifically to come out to the winter home.”

  “Christian got hurt, so he can’t change back to human form. He could use your expertise before anyone sees how bad it is and we can't explain how he miraculously got better.”

  Crysta replied with a measure of relief in her voice, “I understand.”

  “Is it alright? I mean, you’d have to explain it to Christian, but I think you can trust him not to tell anyone.”

  “Of course it’s fine,” her tone sounded genuine.

  “Thanks. Call me when you touch down, I’ll meet you in the security room.”

  “Alright. I’ll see you soon. Bye.”

  “Bye,” Hugo hung up and glanced vaguely around the room. There really wasn’t much else to do. He wanted to help Christian, but understood the head of security had left him there to make sure they didn’t have any other visitors before the cavalry arrived. Standing there, sudden exhaustion fell heavily on him; his eyelids drooped. He could barely keep himself upright, so he slid into a swivel chair and lit a cigarette. He could sleep later, now he needed to wait. He watched on the monitors as Christian dragged bodies, confiscated weapons, and tied up the few people who were still alive. It took him a little over an hour, but would have taken even longer without Conrad’s help once he woke up from the dart. Once the path was clear, they joined Hugo in the security room.

  “Hello, I’m Conrad,” the tall man with slicked back, salt-and-pepper hair offered his hand to Hugo.

  Hugo, limbs feeling like they were full of lead, stood to take the offered hand, but before he could make contact, everything went black.

  Hugo opened his eyes very slowly. He felt great, and he was warm, but he was in a bed he didn’t recognize. He pushed himself into a sitting position. His shoes were at the edge of the bed, his scarf and sweater folded and draped over the back of a chair. He pulled them back on, and stepped out into the hallway. He was in Mr. Gideon’s winter home still. Hugo wandered, a little lost, through several hallways until he found the security room again. Conrad and Christian were in there. Christian was still marble with a huge dent in his chest; the security team and medical staff hadn’t shown up yet. They both turned to Hugo as he walked in.

  “How are you feeling?” Conrad asked for the both of them.

  Hugo blushed a little, passing out wasn’t exactly dignified, “Fine actually. I think I just overexerted myself. Sorry.”

  “Don’t be, you were a tremendous help,” Conrad gave him a thin smile.

  Christian scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to Hugo. ‘I didn’t know you had that kind of range or output.’

  Hugo shook his head, “I didn’t either. I mean from what I’ve learned about how our abilities work, and what I’ve seen other people capable of, it seemed like a possibility, but I’d never needed to try. And it would have been too dangerous to test in the labs, if I lost control of it.”

  “Well, we’re glad you tried,” Conrad said, smiling a little. Were they…impressed?

  Hugo stared at the bank of monitors behind them. There was a pile of dead bodies in one of the rooms. Hugo tried not to count them, but there were thirty-two. And they were impressed. His attention to the monitors was pulled away when Christian handed him another piece of paper. ‘So do you think those were the people funding Octavia and her facility?’

  Hugo nodded, “I’m almost certain of it. They had a form of the inhibitor and they were very well-equipped. I just don’t understand how they knew about Sarah.” Christian shrugged. Then a flock of helicopters appeared on a few of the monitors. They touched down and Crysta called Hugo on her cell. He let her know how to get to the security room, trying to pick a route with the least amount of damage.

  “Conrad, can you go check on CJ and Sarah, make sure they’re ready to go to the helicopter as soon as everyone’s ready?” The man nodded and headed out of the room. Christian stood to meet his team. “Wait a second. Let Crysta take a look at you first.” Christian tilted his head at him. “You’ll understand in a minute.” Speaking of the doctor, Hugo turned off the monitors in the worst of the rooms and then the cameras into the security room just as she was entering.

  The doctor took one look at the large dent in Christian’s chest and shook her head, “Christian, what on earth were you doing?” Then she glanced at Hugo, “Did you explain anything to him?”

  “Not yet, I was waiting for you.”

  Dr. McFadden nodded, setting her medical bag in one of the chairs, “Ok. I’m going to do something that I would very much like for you to keep to yourself.” The doctor was looking up at Christian, her face serious, “Can you do that for me?” The man looked a little confused and then nodded. Hugo walked over and shut the door to the control room. “Good.” Crysta set both her small hands over the wound, barely covering it. Then she stared at it very intently. When she pulled her hands away, the crater had turned into a small fracture. The doctor brushed her hands of the dust, examining her work. She repeated the procedure with Christian’s hand, managing to repair it completely. “Ok, now sit down and turn back. I should be able to sew up the wound without any problems."

  Christian removed his shirt and did what he was told. He grimaced as the doctor carefully attended to her work, but he didn’t say anything until she was done. “You can repair objects? I didn’t think you had any abilities. Even Dr. Arliss said you didn’t.”

  “And I’d like to keep it that way,” Dr. McFadden said with a small smile.

  “Well, I don’t get it, but alright. I won’t tell anyone. And thanks.”

  She smiled, nodding once, “Thanks.”

  “Ok, I’m going to go help the team out. Doctor?”

  Crysta grabbed her bag, and nodded to him, “Let’s go.”

  He was alone in the room. Slowly Hugo turned all the monitors back on and watched people sort through the bodies. He sat down in a chair, unable to take his eyes off the screens. The front lawn was a mess, even without the bodies. There were dead birds and shrubs littering the ground, stretching past the point the cameras could monitor. He hadn’t intended for it to go that far, just to cover the yard. He wondered if it were possible to make the vacuum bigger.

  He knew he should be upset, he’d just killed a lot of people, but Christian had thanked him. He’d done the right thing, he’d helped save Sarah. This was who he was, a killer, murdering people to protect others, and no one punished him because he was doing the right thing. It was just the way the world worked, and he needed to accept that. Hugo drew in a slow, deep breath. Maybe it would be a good idea to make some coffee.