"What part of 'I don't trust either of you' makes you think you're invited?"
She shrugged. "You wanna leave us here, your only safe spot, instead? Pretty stupid if you ask me."
I scowled at her and popped another popcorn in my mouth. I imagined her head was the kernel, my teeth crunching down on it a bit more savagely than if I'd been watching my show. "You can come but if you fuck Nate or me over, I'm turning him loose on both of you."
"The ladies will behave themselves," Nate said, his tone measured. "And they're on the level; or I think they are. Give them a chance, Edwin. It may be the last one we have."
The finality in his voice made me sigh. I trusted Nate. The guy had a second sense, maybe an animal sense, about people and their intentions. Except where his fiancée had been concerned. "Point remains. They try to pull anything and I'm feeding them to you. Give it five minutes and let's be ready to head out the door. Logan Patterson is not the kind of man one is late for."
"I've only met him once," Isabella said. "But when I did, he seemed friendly enough. Serious, but friendly. And he's the best area coordinator I've ever met, Scribe included. Thomaston hasn't had a bit of lawlessness for... I don't know how long. At least since the Kipa invasion and that's been what, like eight years ago?"
"Nine," Nate said. "It was right after Lexi and I got together."
A quick glance at Lexi gave me plenty of information. She turned her head away as if she hadn't heard her former fiancé say such things. I rolled my eyes. If I'd cheated on Cassie, not that it would ever happen, I'd have begged forgiveness. Not turned my nose up at it and looked off into my suitcase.
The five minutes passed more quickly than I would have preferred. We got back into the car they'd all come in and zipped through traffic at breakneck speeds. I just hoped the local cops knew that Alliance members were supposed to be allowed to drive like idiots when on recall or assignment or whatever. Otherwise, if we got pulled over, we were up shit creek.
We flew past a cop who was sitting on his hood, watching the world go by. I flinched, but the colorful spin of blue and red lights never followed us. Instead, Izzy waved joyfully at the man as we zoomed past and he waved right back.
Which meant that they were looking for this vehicle, were aware of who was likely in it, and what was going on. On one hand, that meant we weren't getting arrested. On the other, it sent a shiver down my spine. No one deserves that kind of power, and Logan had it in spades.
There were no armed guards outside of the Thomaston Alliance building, but six uniformed superheroes met us at the door. They recognized me on sight, but, thankfully, not the others. I saw the question in their faces, but I shrugged. "Un-uniformed friendlies," I said, in way of explanation.
Obviously, the notion made it into their minds. Superheroes still tried to keep their identities more or less under wraps; which was becoming far more difficult in a world where every corner had a security camera and everyone had a smartphone. I'd seen comparison pictures between me and a guy named Altitude, a Flyer who was more or less a spy for the Alliance. We had the same hair, the same eyes, and a lot of the same body structure.
But we weren't the same person. I didn't have any powers and he was attached to the Costa Negra Alliance building thousands of miles away. Still, the internet was convinced that I was Altitude and that he ran support part-time in Yarborough then... what, flew home on the weekends? Fuck if I knew.
We walked into the Thomaston building and my breath caught. Just beyond the entrance was a space station built on the idea of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Computers, blinking lights, huge reel-to-reel recording stations; they had it all and so much more. Though some of the machines were older, they served better that way. I ran to the dividing glass to drool all over it, my heart in my throat.
What if I'd taken the opportunity to come here, instead? I would have been well out of the madness of the superhero business. I could have been one of any of the white coats bustling around in there, making discoveries, working with excellent technology, or even building databases that served the Alliance better than the ones we had now.
But I wouldn't have had Cassie, or Adam. I wouldn't have had any of the people who stood at my back, though two of them were traitors. Technically three, I guessed, but Nate had redeemed himself during that fight that seemed so very long ago. Had it only been a few weeks, really? Yeah. Right around a month and a half.
What the fuck were we going to look like a year from now?
"Can I help you?"
The voice belonged to a man who had Cassie's chin and jaw structure. James Clark I knew, at least on sight, because of his social media presence. I immediately extended a hand. "Edwin Noll, I work at Yarborough."
"You're my cousin's boyfriend!" he said, excitement in his voice. "Come in, come in. All of you. Bring your friends. Cassie and the others are in here. They had a brush with security but I got things calmed down."
"They had a what?" I asked, following him. Nate ran to catch the door behind me and held it for the ladies.
He rolled his eyes. "A brief skirmish with security. It was a misunderstanding. They're all safe and sound. Cassie, Edwin's here!"
I heard a crash near the door to an office, then it ripped open and Cassie practically tackled me. I caught her and spun her around, gentle as I could be, and kissed her. She threw her arms around my neck and kissed back, bright, cheerful. I hadn't seen her like that in so long that it melted my heart.
"You're all right?" I asked, running my hand down her side.
She nestled into me and sighed. "Good enough. Things are fucked to pieces, but it's good enough." Then she realized the others behind me and blinked. "Wow. You brought everybody."
"Technically, they brought themselves. But that doesn't matter. What's going on?"
Cassie drew away from me, took my hand by the wrist, and waved the others after us. She dragged me into the office she'd just leaped from. Adam lay unconscious on the couch, Nishelle sitting on the edge of the desk. She gave me a little nod and I returned it. Izzy, Nate, and Lexi followed us.
"Things are a mess," Cassie said. "Patterson is aware of the situation in Yarborough but is hesitant to step in. He doesn't want to overstep his boundaries and he thinks that coming down hard on Scribe would do that. Instead, he's thinking about sending us all in together as a group, with back up from here, and working our way in. Trying to talk him into a more rational state of mind."
Nate snorted. "It's not going to happen. I'll talk to Patterson myself, if I have to. Scribe's brains are scrambled. He tried to kill me."
Cassie moved from me to Nate and I felt a faint pang of jealousy. I'd been threatened, too, just... you know. Over a phone.
"What did he do?" she asked, looking him over. "Are you hurt?"
He smiled down at her and slid down the wall to sit on the ground, pulling her with him. She fell into his lap. "Nothing that you can't fix, Cassie."
Lexi cleared her throat. "I'd really prefer not to watch that."
"The door's right behind you," Nishelle snapped.
And that caught my attention. Nishelle had spent most of the last time I'd spoken with her growling about not being enough for Cassie, about the three of us attaching ourselves to Cassie, and about the injustice of the world in general. Seeing her step up like that was a big deal and it warmed the... how do they say it? It warmed the cockles of my cold, dead heart. Right?
Lexi had a look on her face as if she were thinking about it until Isabella intervened. "We have to stick together. I'm sorry about the situation. Lexi won't open her mouth again, I promise." As Izzy said it, Lexi started to speak. Izzy shook her head. "We'll talk later. We'll get through this. But we are not abandoning them in their time of need. Not after the shit we started. Do you understand me?"
"I..." Lexi sighed as she looked around the room. "Fine. I guess."
"You're the one that cheated on me," Nate murmured, kissing Cassie's neck. "Not the other way around. If you wanted me, you had me. And i
t's your own fault that you don't have me anymore. I'm happy. Let me be."
I watched the room like some sort of sports game and began to envy Adam. Though he was suffering from some kind of long-term problems associated with the Dream, as far as I could tell, at least he didn't have to watch this high school bullshit play out in front of him.
Isabella took Lexi to her brother and gently pulled his head up so Izzy could sit with it in her lap. Worry was painted over every line in her face as she stroked his hair. It occurred to me how little the Reeds had been involved, though Creed's picture had been posted all over the place on the news. Hell, his family had never even called him to check on either of them after Izzy's treachery. At least I'd had relatives who had called to check on me.
Mind you, most of them had scolded me for being anywhere near the action. But they understood that sometimes such things happened. When Cassie's parents had been called in, they'd shown up at a moment's notice. Maybe they hadn't approved of us or Nishelle or whatever, but at least they had been there.
Where were any of the Reeds for Izzy and Adam?
Maybe that was why Izzy was so protective of him.
Maybe they only really had each other.
I shook the thought away and sighed. Then I turned out of the office to head back and speak with James, knowing he would know things that I didn't; things that I desperately needed to know. Though intelligence wasn't strictly part of my job -all- the time, it was imperative I knew what was happening at Yarborough to help us make sensible decisions.
Because as of yet, we weren't making any.
Chapter 7
You could kill them all. One quick thought, one slash of your hand through the air. It would all be over. You could go with them. It would be peaceful. No more fighting. No more sorrow.
I shifted in my dream, much like Nate's powers let him. I ran along a bridge, down a hill, and through a canal. There were vehicles behind me, screaming, bellowing for me to give myself up. But there was nothing to give up, except for the people I loved. My paws were raw on the hard ground, my heart hammering my ribs. There was nothing, but there was everything.
And all I wanted was some sweet release.
Do it. Do it, Adam. Force them to the ground. Crush them all. Don't listen to them, just do it.
Do it. Do it. Do it.
I jerked awake and I ripped the gravity in the room to thirty times normal Earth pressure, forcing the couch beneath me to give a mutilated scream. It smashed then threatened to continue into the basement below us. A little whistle sounded above me and the gravity relaxed once more.
"Izzy?" I asked, searching the world above.
"Mmhmmm mmmm hmm hmm hmm," Izzy hummed, her fingers strumming through my hair.
When I'd passed out, Cassie had been the one doing that. Where the hell was I, that Izzy was here and allowed to take care of me? "Iz?"
"It's me. Who else would it be?"
A little part of me unwound, relieved. Allison wouldn't put that sour tone in her voice, she'd have made her bouncy, cheerful. But Izzy wouldn't have been, not finding me on a couch somewhere. I made a mental note to make a claim for the furniture with the Alliance and stopped short. There would be no more claims to file. Our days as superheroes were over.
"If anyone else were in here, you would have flattened them," Isabella said. "But I've been fending off that stuff for years. It's why I dismissed them all. We thought you might react poorly to the unknown surroundings but that? Wow, Adam. Just, wow. Good thing the doctor wasn't here."
"Doctor?" I asked.
She hummed another little melody and the couch pulled itself back together, good as new. "He's going to get Allison out of your head and help you cope with what you did." I started to object but she shushed me. "We all know you killed her. Any of us would have done the same and Logan is busy trying to fix the situation with the press, God bless him. It was self-defense."
"It wasn't."
"It was. You over-exerted your powers on her. Fine. No one is going to argue that. But you were attacked and you were acting to defend yourself and everyone else around you, gumdrop," Izzy said, brushing my bangs out of my face. "What do you think superheroes do?"
I shivered, and not in the good way. "They protect the weak."
"And?"
I knew the answer. "And sometimes, they kill people."
"And sometimes they kill people," she echoed. "Mom and Dad told us that when we were three years old, Adam. And it's held true forever. You don't get to be a superhero and keep a clean slate. We went into this knowing that. And you can't break on me just because it's finally come true, do you understand?"
She wanted to shake me. Her fingers curled in my shirt and my hair and I felt the frustration in her. I understood. Had the tables been turned, I probably would have been in tears. I reached out and took her hand in mind. "I understand."
"Wonderful. Doctor Clark?"
The man resembled Cassie more than I'd expected. They were distant cousins, if I remembered correctly, but I could feel that weird mental vibrato that I got around Cassie ever so close to him. I scooted back a little bit, frowning.
He extended his hands, a gesture of peace. "Easy. I'm not going to hurt you. You've suffered some psychic trauma, but I can fix that for you. If you're interested."
"What are the risks?" Izzy asked, her arms wrapping around my shoulders.
James paused, then looked at me. "Should she be involved in this conversation?"
I only nodded, putting my hand over hers.
"Alright, then. The risks are high. You never know how someone is going to come out on the other side, and given the way he's been reported to been acting? It sounds like he's had a lot of his mind chewed up and spit out. No guarantees I can fix it all or that he'll be right if I do. It's possible that it makes it worse."
"But only possible," I said.
He nodded in return. "Only possible, and the sooner we get to it? The lower those risks are. I won't lie to you, Adam. It's scary stuff, especially after how you've been feeling. You had a huge breakdown on the news. It looks bad. But I won't know how bad until I'm in."
I ticked through the possibilities in my mind. On one hand, I could sit here and wrestle with Allison's ghost, both literally and metaphorically, for the rest of my life. It had already driven me to drinking and hurting others. I'd kill Circuit. I'd killed Allison. The next person could be someone I loved.
The obvious answer to that was to run away and never return, like Simba. But I wasn't that kind of person. It rubbed me wrong and it wouldn't stop me from hurting innocents, if that was what Allison wanted. No one knew if I had an actual echo in my head or not, or if she was still controlling me, or if it was just -me-.
The last potential worried me more than any of the others.
What if I was just fucking broken?
There was only one way to find out, and that way sat in front of me looking like he was eager to pop my head off my shoulders and see what was inside.
"Can Izzy stay in here?"
He glanced at my sister and shook his head. "It's probably better if she doesn't. I can stop an attack from you. I can't predict what you might do to her, not so easily. But she can wait outside with the others and I'll be sure to tell you how you did as soon as we're finished. And, unless you're dangerous, I don't see any reason why she can't come right back in afterward."
I took a deep breath, sighed it out, and hugged Isabella close. "I love you, Iz."
"You're gonna do it?"
I nodded against her.
"I love you, too," she said, kissing my forehead.
Then my last advocate got up and left, locking the door behind herself. I faced James down and sat up straight, hands open palm-up on my knees, and swallowed. "Am I supposed to be this scared?"
"Probably best that you are. You were terrified, upset, and angry when she got in your head. It might be easier to get her out if you're in the same frame of mind," James said, popping his fingers. Then he looked
down at his hands and shook his head. "It's so silly. That's all for effect. I don't even use my hands."
I watched him warily, and we were suddenly in a room far and away from everything else. A flat, white plain of existence stretched out between the two of us. I scuffed my shoe against the floor and tilted my head. No sound. No resistance. "Weird."
"It takes some getting used to. While I'll be working on the fixes internally, you'll be... for lack of a better word, fighting your way through your trauma. Does that make sense?"
"Not in the slightest, but I'm willing to try anything."
He smiled at me and vanished. All I could hear was his voice. "Just prepare yourself like you would for a brawl on the streets. You'll be facing down Allison herself while I work on other matters. It's going to be okay. Just remember that you can't possibly lose so long as you believe in yourself."
Allied: A Superhero Reverse Harem Romance (The PTB Alliance Book 3) Page 6