Chapter Twenty - What Makes it Right
Hugo slowly pushed the door to room 312 open, listening to the serene beep of a monitored heart before entering the dimly lit room. Mr. Gideon was sitting up in the bed, watching him enter as if he’d been expecting him.
“Welcome, Hugo,” the man said serenely, an almost sleepy smile on his face. The greeting made Hugo shiver, ice traveling down his spine. “Have a seat,” The CEO and Founder motioned to a spot next to him on the bed.
Despite the terror and disgust at the thought, Hugo approached the bed. The effort he put into trying to stop himself caused the muscles in his legs to quiver, but he still ended up sitting on the soft, blood-red comforter. The bed creaked, but didn’t stop when the mattress bounced back, continuing its rusty rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
He found it impossible to not meet Alexander Gideon’s light blue gaze. “I hate you,” Hugo nearly breathed the confession, his voice was so soft.
Mr. Gideon chuckled, placing a hand on Hugo’s head, stroking his hair several times while he spoke, “Of course you don’t, everyone loves me.”
With what seemed like a monumentally slow effort, Hugo jerked away from the man’s hand and scooted away, settling further down on the bed, “You’re evil.”
“No, no,” Mr. Gideon responded, shaking his head. His voice was patient and calm, as if explaining something to a dense child, “I’m just trying to save the world, like you, right?”
Hugo felt like he was falling, and then his eyes snapped open to the dark of his bedroom. He lay there, staring at the shadowy cavern of his ceiling, rewinding the dream to play it again. Was that really what this all amounted to? A difference of methods? He wasn’t any better than Mr. Gideon, but he wasn’t any worse. They’d both done terrible things with the best of intentions. Mr. Gideon hadn’t learned from his mistakes. Hugo would. He hoped.
Hugo pushed himself into a sitting position, fumbling for his phone resting on the nightstand. When he turned it on the phone politely informed him that it was almost a full day later and that he had two messages. They were both invitations to dinner, one from Dr. McFadden and CJ, and one from his band mates. He didn’t want to see anyone, but the thought of seeing his old friends after the things he’d seen and done seemed especially appalling. He thought he should probably talk to Crysta and CJ. Didn’t want to, but he’d have to do it eventually anyway, so he sent a text to Dr. McFadden to accept the invitation.
Then he typed up a report of what had happened to Madeline for Mr. Hansen. Going over the events in meticulous detail strangely didn't invoke an emotional response; he'd done what he could for Madeline, and failed.
Once he'd completed the report, he pulled out a few sheets of paper to write down some thoughts on improving the inhibitor further. Dr. McFadden had also been interested in creating an inoculate to neutralize the inhibitor, so he jotted down some of his theories on how to make that work as well. He couldn’t come up with a permanent solution, just something that would work for a few hours before it was completely broken down and filtered through the blood stream. And maybe that was for the best, he didn’t want to give someone the inoculate to find out later that they were losing control of their powers and now they had no option but to kill the person.
He met CJ and Dr. McFadden at a Red Robin. He’d almost taken the bus there before realizing he didn’t need to anymore, in fact, he could’ve taken them out to dinner anywhere in the world. However, they were already at the table with beverages when he showed up, so he decided it would have to be another time. CJ waved him over, and Crysta smiled slightly as he approached.
“Hey,” he greeted, sitting down. The doctor opened her mouth but the waitress came to take their order and everyone was temporary distracted. When there was silence at the table, Crysta hesitated again.
“Are you done sulking?” CJ asked, tilting her head.
Hugo’s face reddened. His actions over the last few days sounded really dumb when she put it like that, but ultimately it was a valid question. “Yes,” he said while staring at the table.
“Great. You vacuumed me, you jerk!” CJ flicked her straw wrapper at him.
Hugo jerked his attention back to her, “Sorry! I didn’t realize you were there. And it never bothered you before.”
CJ snorted, “I was lightning dummy!”
“Yeah, I know that, I just…sorry,” Hugo picked at his jeans.
CJ swatted the air absentmindedly, “Yeah, yeah, alright, just don’t do it again.”
“I won’t.”
Crysta gave Hugo a long, apologetic glance, her eyes dark, “Madeline’s funeral is tomorrow. Mr. Hansen is flying in her brother and his family tonight. Can you…?”
Hugo nodded, relieved that it had already been taken care of, “Yeah.”
Crysta cleared her throat, taking a sip from her water, “So…you can…uh…do what Mr. Gideon does now?”
Hugo shrugged, “I guess. I mean, I thought it might be possible, I just couldn’t figure it out until… well…recently. I think it works a little differently though, I can adjust for air pressure changes.”
The doctor nodded, taking another sip. She wasn’t entirely interested in this conversation, she was focused on something else, but she was having trouble getting to it. “That will be handy, won’t it?”
“Very. What’s up?”
Crysta looked a little startled that she’d been caught, releasing her straw to lean back in her chair. Then she relaxed, sighing a little, “I spoke to Charles.”
“What?” Hugo and CJ responded in unison.
Crysta waved their surprise off with her hands, “It’s ok,” she laughed a little, “he wanted to recruit me. Said I could be a lot of use to them.”
“Why did he…how did he get a hold of you?”
“Actually,” she started, a note of amusement in her voice, “I was taking a walk after talking to Mr. Hansen, and he pulled up beside me and asked me to get in, so I did.”
“And you got in?” Hugo almost yelled.
“Yes Hugo, she said that. Aren’t you listening?” CJ shook her head in exasperation.
“I did,” Crysta still sounded amused, “not the best decision I’ve ever made, but it turned out alright.”
“Are you going to…?” Hugo returned his attention to the table, his voice dipping down. It was her decision. Who would want to stay now that Mr. Gideon wasn’t going to be a threat? Why was he staying? Maybe it was time to leave, but where would he go?
“Of course not! But I also told him I was loyal to my friends and not Mr. Gideon. We worked out an arrangement. I’d give them any information I could on Mr. Gideon, and they would help me with my research.” The doctor smiled, pleased with her results, and he had to admit, it was a good deal. She was in an excellent position to get the Agency all the information they could ever want on Mr. Gideon and they could definitely benefit from knowing the Agency’s mistakes with the inhibitor, and how it reacted with their test subjects.
“That’s good. Just, be careful, ok? Let me know when you’re going to go visit him.”
Crysta nodded, “If I do, I certainly will.”
After dinner was over and they were walking out of the restaurant, Crysta put a hand lightly on his arm, so he slowed down to match her pace. She spoke up, “CJ, go on ahead, we’ll catch up in a bit.”
CJ gave him an irritated look, then started quickly walking away. “Fine,” she called over her shoulder, and then she was pushing her way through the doors and down the street. Hugo cringed a little.
“What’s up?” He prompted as they exited the restaurant themselves, going in the opposite direction. Not that it would matter where they went now, he’d be able to get them back quickly.
The doctor drew in a deep breath, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She brushed out her coat, watching the ground carefully as they walked, “The surgery is Monday. Mr. Hansen and Dr. Arliss finally approved it on Friday. It took a while to convince them, they do
n’t like deceiving Mr. Gideon, but I made them see that it was for the best.”
“Good.”
“But what if he finds out? He might kill me.” She was staring at him now; he could see puffs of steamy air leaving her lips.
Hugo shook his head, “He doesn’t find out. I saw it. You make him better and it seemed like you were on good terms with him. And even if he did, I wouldn’t let him hurt you.” It sounded like an empty promise to him, but she smiled anyway.
“I meant it, you know that right?” She said suddenly, her clear blue eyes looking right into him, “I am loyal to you. I know I’m not CJ, but I will do my best to protect you too.”
Hugo’s face turned bright red. This was silly. Why were CJ and Crysta helping him, he was nothing special. Crysta had risked exposing herself to save him. It made no sense. Eventually they’d figure it out and he’d be alone again, even if he needed them, which he did, he couldn’t do anything on his own. But he had to say something. Be polite Hugo, be polite, “Uh, I…um….thanks.” His face was still really red.
Crysta smiled at him, her eyes bright, “I wish you’d take me with you when you go off to do these stupid, dangerous things, but I understand why you don’t, and I appreciate it. I know you don’t understand my reasons for keeping my abilities hidden, but I’m happy that you respect that anyway.”
Hugo’s face wasn’t getting any less red. He shoved his hands in his pockets, taking careful stock of the street they were walking down, “Um…ok…” The doctor let out a slight giggle behind her hand and then went back to smiling at him. “Want me to take you home?”
“In a bit.”
Loyal? Loyal? Hugo chewed on his lip, hands deep in his pockets. What was he doing with his life that he needed loyalties? Allies and not friends. He played with the edge of his scarf as they walked down the street in silence. Loyalty meant she would listen to him, think he was making good decisions. Loyalty meant he could get her killed.
The Sound of Wind Page 81