by L. C. Mawson
“Of course, Mademoiselle Bennett.”
As soon as they were in the lift, Mademoiselle Bennett hit the topmost button, labelled Control.
“So, you have a robot receptionist?” Claire asked, the silence getting to her.
“I am the Aspect Tower AI fragment,” Lita said over the speaker in the lift.
“AI fragment?” Claire asked as the lift reached the top floor.
She exited to see a large room filled with machinery. Most of it was exposed wires and black frames with silver metal and blinking lights jutting out. But then she looked a little closer and saw that there seemed to be organic matter threaded throughout. She shuddered, deciding that she definitely didn’t want to know more. She knew in theory that Rena had organic technology, but she was happier not knowing the details.
“How much do you know of the Rena?” Mademoiselle Bennett asked her as she walked to a large console, shaped like a semi-circle.
Claire shrugged. “They created the monsters through genetic experimentation as weapons. They thought they’d test them on Earth since they didn’t rate Humans as beings evolved enough to care about, but they figured we would give the monsters a good fight.
“A group of Rena didn’t agree with that decision and so they came to Earth to help us fight.”
“And now there are no more Rena,” Mademoiselle Bennett concluded. “Just their part-Human descendants.”
Claire tried not to smirk. She still wasn’t convinced that the Rena had no idea how the two species’ pheromones would affect each other. Why wouldn’t you want to save a species that looked nearly identical to yours if boning could pretty much be guaranteed when you were alone in a room together?
“So we get their powers, right?” Claire asked.
“Not quite. The Aspect powers aren’t entirely biological.” Mademoiselle Bennett moved over to the console and pressed a few buttons.
A clear compartment rose up, out of the top of the console, showing some kind of mechanism that was attached to a wrist-strap. It was small, but Claire was mostly concerned by the wires with spiked ends which looked as if they would poke into her skin.
“This is the source of Love’s power,” Mademoiselle Bennett told her. “You, of course, have some innate ability, but not nearly enough to make a difference in battle. This amplifies that potential into very real power.”
Claire couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow, too distracted to worry about the meek persona she usually employed to stay out of trouble.
“I wouldn’t call making the enemy friendly for all of five minutes, if you’re lucky, ‘power’.”
“That all has to do with the ability of the Aspect to control their emotional state. Love is one of the hardest to cling to in the heat of battle, and so it is a difficult power to wield. But the systems think that you have the most potential to succeed.”
“Yeah, I don’t think you have the right girl there,” Claire told her, folding her arms.
“Because of what happened to you? To your family?”
Claire felt her teeth clench together and put effort into stopping them from grinding. She hated having to wear her mouth guard.
“Our systems are never wrong.”
“But what if they are? Even alien computers can glitch out.”
Mademoiselle Bennett removed the device from the console before passing it over to Claire.
“If you don’t have the ability then the device won’t be able to bond with you. It’s as simple as that.”
Claire nodded, taking the device and slipping it around her wrist with no hesitation. She was sure it wouldn’t work.
The wires around it started to twist and uncoil like tiny snakes. After a moment, they struck quickly, piercing her skin and causing her an intense flash of pain that seemed to last forever.
As the pain faded, she realised that the device was very firmly stuck to her arm, a glowing fuchsia bar across the middle.
“See?” Mademoiselle Bennett said without an ounce of smugness, for which Claire was thankful. “You’re the next Love.”
Claire groaned, shaking her head. “This thing doesn’t come off, does it?”
“Not until you die.”
Claire sighed. “Yeah, I figured as much.”
“This is not the curse you seem to think it is,” Mademoiselle Bennett assured her.
“Oh really? Because, as far as I’m aware, the life expectancy for the Aspect of Love isn’t exactly high.”
Mademoiselle Bennett gave her a pleasant smile. “Don’t worry, Love. I have no doubt that you’ll master this skill quickly.”
Claire folded her arms protectively across her chest. “I suppose I have to drop my name too?”
Mademoiselle Bennett nodded. “It is unwise to cling to anything from your past life. Even your name. You need to focus on the task at hand.”
“Killing monsters?”
“Exactly. The Aspects are the one true hope humanity has against the darkness.”
Claire - or Love she supposed now - thought that was just a poetic way of saying that she was little but a living weapon, but she kept that thought to herself.
“Come on, let’s go and meet the others.”
THE LIFT TOOK CLAIRE - Love, she reminded herself - and Mademoiselle Bennett to the communal floor and they entered without note, possibly because the Aspects were watching TV at the other end of the room. The TV itself was turned up extremely loud and many of the Aspects were yelling at it.
Claire stepped forward to get a better look at the TV. The camera was shaky and dancing between the combatants, but Claire recognised them after a few moments. Doubt and Confidence. They were based at the Tower in what used to be South Africa and were one of the rare opposite team-ups, where you rarely saw one without the other. Justice and Vengeance were the only other one Claire could think of. When it worked, they were the most powerful of teams, but when it didn’t work, their powers cancelled each other out, meaning that not many risked it.
“Come on!” Vengeance yelled at the screen, throwing his fist into the air.
“Will you please sit still?” the woman next to him asked and Claire frowned, sure that she was Mademoiselle Bennett.
“Sorry, Em,” Vengeance said.
Em rolled her eyes before returning to his arm, a suture tool in her hand telling Claire that she was fixing up a wound of his.
“My brother never could learn to sit still,” Justice said, drawing Claire’s attention to her. She was sitting on the edge of a chair in a pair of light blue jeans and a green tank top. As far as Claire could remember, she was Vengeance’s identical twin. She’d read an article a while back and remembered that Justice was trans and that her and her brother’s hair was naturally white-blond, despite their light brown skin, which was a much rarer occurrence than silver eyes, but still an effect of their Rena genes. The rest of the article had been her going on about how they had to be “fair” in how they dealt with the monsters, which Claire truly didn’t understand. She got that she was the Aspect of Justice, but these were engineered weapons they were fighting. Eliminating them was more important than “fairness”.
The girl next to Em, a short, pale redhead dressed in a ratty old pair of joggers and an oversized t-shirt, with her hair pulled back into a messy ponytail, slapped Em on the shoulder. It looked like it would hurt. The girl was heavily-set and clearly strong.
“Just leave him be,” she said as Claire finally recognised her as Jealousy. “He deserves the injury for being so stupid.”
Em frowned in reply as her long dark hair, tied back in a tidy bun, morphed into the same ginger ponytail Jealousy had.
“Well, I’m going to have to if you guys keep distracting me,” she said sharply, with Jealousy’s voice coming out of her mouth, though her face was still Mademoiselle Bennett’s. “I’m losing Bennett’s medical skills.”
“Well, I’m here if you need a refresh,” Mademoiselle Bennett said, drawing their attention to both her and Claire. “This is the new
Aspect of Love.”
The figure sitting behind Justice sauntered up out of her seat but stopped dead as she saw Claire. Claire took a moment to discern Hate’s facial expression but she definitely seemed... angry. Claire hoped that she was wrong about that, but she folded her arms and frowned, her jaw clenched.
Another girl quickly jumped in front of Claire, momentarily distracting her. She had jet black skin, shoulder-length locs and a wide smile. Next to her pear-shaped figure, Claire’s almost looked hour-glass. She was wearing a long dress with a red and orange pattern which was a little too busy for Claire’s eyes.
“Hi!” the girl greeted. “I’m Serenity.”
“Cl- Love. But I guess Mademoiselle Bennett just said that...”
“It’s fine,” Serenity assured her. “We were all new here once. Come on, let me introduce you.” She turned, letting Claire see the rest of the team again, who were now all standing, waiting. She couldn’t help but notice that Hate had left.
“This is Empathy,” Serenity told her. “Don’t be concerned if her appearance changes. It’s just part of her power.”
Claire was actually a little disturbed by the fact that Empathy now looked identical to her, except for her clothing. Claire was still wearing her workout gear, whereas Empathy was wearing a black, knee-length dress with a white collar and flower pattern across it.
“Hey,” Empathy greeted with Claire’s voice, giving an awkward wave.
“Hey,” Claire replied, giving the same wave before stopping halfway through, realising that Empathy had stolen her own standard greeting.
“And this is Jealousy,” Serenity continued. “Don’t worry if she makes off-hand comments about how much prettier you are than her or something. She has to be jealous to keep her power level up.”
Jealousy rolled her eyes. “If I’m going to be jealous about anything, it’s your hair. It’s so much thicker than mine...”
“Anyway, these are the twins, Justice and Vengeance.” Serenity indicated to the twins. Justice gave her a warm smile, and Vengeance did the same, though all his did was awkwardly remind her of the poster of him she’d had in her room at St Cecilia’s.
She really hoped that Mademoiselle Bennett hadn’t packed that...
“We’ve technically already met,” Vengeance said. “At the ice rink, right?”
Claire nodded. “Yeah.”
“She managed to kill a monster. Hate was particularly impressed.”
Claire tried not to look too concerned at the mention of Hate, wondering why she'd left so suddenly.
“Wait, you killed a monster before you got your powers?” Jealousy asked.
Claire shrugged. “I just hit it in the eye with an ice pole.”
“You hit it in the eye with an ice pole?!” Jealousy repeated, incredulously. “What the hell are you going to be able to do with your powers?”
“It was just luck,” Claire figured, getting more uncomfortable by the second.
“You shouldn’t sell yourself short,” Justice told her. “It’s still a good start.”
“Where’s Pain?” Empathy asked quickly, twirling her hair as Claire often did. “We still need to introduce him and Hate.”
Claire wondered if Empathy had changed the subject deliberately, sensing her discomfort, but she was thankful either way.
“I’m here,” Claire heard a small voice say, drawing her attention to the boy standing just slightly behind Jealousy. The same boy she'd seen with the other Aspects at the ice rink.
“Don’t worry about him,” Serenity assured her. “Pain has a tendency to sneak around, but he’s harmless. Just like the rest of us.”
“Unless you’re a monster,” Empathy figured.
Serenity rolled her eyes. “Well, obviously, but that goes without saying.”
Mademoiselle Bennett stepped in at that point. “While I’m sure you all want to get acquainted, I imagine Love wants to get settled in before going to bed.”
The others nodded understandingly as Justice turned to her brother.
“Training tomorrow? Get her up to scratch?”
Vengeance nodded before turning to Claire. “The fourteenth floor is for combat training. Meet us there tomorrow morning at nine o’clock. We’ll help you to get up to speed.”
“Can I come too?” Empathy asked.
The others frowned, making Claire wonder what had prompted that response.
Justice shrugged. “The more the merrier.”
“Cool,” Empathy said as the others headed off.
“Come on,” Mademoiselle Bennett said to Claire. “I’ll show you to your room.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Claire couldn’t sleep. She'd been given an entire floor to herself. An entire apartment, with a fully stocked kitchen and all of her things unpacked and placed neatly around. She wondered how long it would take her to make a mess of it.
The bed she was trying to sleep on was cosy, with a foam mattress and her weighted blanket on top, just waiting for her. The room was pitch black with the lights out, though the spotlights in the ceiling would reveal a room of white and pastel colours, with plastic where her room at St Cecelia’s had had wood.
In the dark, however, it could be the same room, even down to Claire’s glow-in-the-dark star stickers, which had somehow been recovered from the ceiling of her room at St Cecelia’s and placed in the same, accurate constellations here. She was a little sad that someone else had put them up. She’d found it quite fun, balancing on her mattress while she figured out exactly where Orion should go.
No, the bed wasn’t the problem. Nor was the light, which was usually what kept her up. No, she was pretty sure that it was the low-level anxiety. Not enough to send her into an anxiety attack, or even enough for her to consider getting up and making herself a cup of tea. Just enough to keep her awake.
She groaned, sitting up. The lights automatically turned on dimly as she got out of bed, illuminating her path as she slipped on her fuzzy slipper boots. She took her hair clip from the bedside table and quickly pinned up the hair currently stuck to her face. She'd to figure out what was making her anxious and work through it.
The ‘what’ was easy. Being the new Love meant death. Plain and simple. She’d be lying if she said that she hadn’t faced death before. There’d been a mutated flu virus going around when she was twelve. Something about it mixing with a Rena virus to make something that would almost certainly mean a death sentence if a Human contracted it. Or even if a Half-Blood did. Claire caught a cold at least twice a year, and one of them usually turned into a prolonged chest-infection. She shouldn’t have been surprised when she caught the Rena flu. The fact that she'd survived had been the surprising thing.
Of course, that was just the example she could actually remember. No matter how Claire looked at it, it seemed she was marked for death, and that her luck was probably on the verge of running out.
And then there was Hate. Claire knew that, when facing almost certain death in the next year or so, she had more important things to worry about than her new girlfriend.
Was it even girlfriend? That had been the word she'd used, but not one they had both agreed on at any point.
It was ridiculous for her to be worried about Hate seemingly avoiding her when she had much more important things going on. But, still, she couldn’t stop obsessing. She wanted to put it down to the fact that Hate wasn’t supposed to date anyone. That seemed like the most logical reason Hate would avoid her. Claire had been her dirty little secret and now she was scared the others would find out. But Claire couldn’t stop the nagging feeling that it was somehow her fault. That she'd messed up and Hate no longer wanted to speak to her.
She decided to go for a walk. She wondered if she was allowed out of the compound. Usually, if she couldn’t sleep or had particularly bad brain fog, she would put on her headphones and go for a walk. Not that she'd been allowed to leave St Cecelia’s campus at nights, but the grounds had been large enough to walk around, usually after grabbing
a cup of tea and pastry from the common room.
She went into her wardrobe, swapping her tank top for a dress to wear with her leggings before slipping on her ballet pumps and tugging on her zipper hoodie.
As she reached the lift, she was surprised to see it already arriving at her floor as Hate got out.
“Hate?” Claire asked, trying hard to keep a hopeful tone from her voice.
Hate blinked at her and Claire frowned as she realised that her silver eyes were now the same silver tinted lilac as her own. Within seconds, her hair grew and lightened as her skin darkened and she grew a few inches taller, her hips and chest blossoming out.
“Empathy,” Claire said, figuring out who was actually in front of her. “What are you doing here?”
Empathy gave an awkward shrug. “You couldn’t sleep and I’m still a little tuned into you. I thought I’d come and see if you wanted to talk.”
“If you’re tuned into me, why did you look like Hate before?”
“I ran into her on my way up. She was up training but she went to bed after we talked.”
“What did you talk about?” Claire asked, trying not to seem too eager.
Empathy looked sheepish. “In all honesty, not much. She’s all confused and twisted up and I couldn’t stand to be around her for too long.”
“And I’m better?” Claire asked with a raised eyebrow.
Empathy shrugged. “You might feel better if you talk to another Aspect. I figured learning about the Love before you might help your anxiety. I can’t help Hate.”
“I was just about to go for a walk. Maybe go to a cafe. Are we allowed out?”
“Of course. Mademoiselle Bennett will call us if we’re needed. Do you mind if I tag along?”
“No, it’s fine,” Claire figured, getting in the lift.
Just as Empathy had said, Lita let them out of the door without much trouble and they headed down to the high street.
“Is it not weird?” Claire asked after a minute or so of silence. “Being me, I mean. You seem to absorb my autism as well.”
“Actually, no. I was... Am?” She frowned before shaking her head. “Before I became Empathy, I was Autistic. Being around the others... That’s strange. I only feel like me if I lock myself in my room for days. I don’t even know what I look like anymore... Being around Hate helps a little. It’s not the same, but it’s closer. Being around you is definitely a relief.”