New Identity

by Tenaya MKD

  Cayde came to my rescue. “Alright Eric, back off. She's brand new here. Let her ease in.” I was beginning to wonder if my feelings were so obvious to everyone, or just him.

  “Oh, come on. I'm just curious!” Eric said. He sounded like a boy who'd just been scolded, even though his teen years were well behind him. Turning back to me with a smug look on his face, he said, “I have superstrength. Though, you might have already guessed that.”

  I actually could have guessed that.

  He struck me as the type who would value the very well-defined muscles stretching out his jumpsuit, more than his brain cells.

  Zane jumped in eagerly. “I teleport!” He was very proud. He blinked, and in an instant, he was sitting on the other side of Lily. There was no evidence that he had moved, other than the slightest stirring of her hair. She jumped, startled by his sudden appearance, but then smiled as she nudged him playfully with her shoulder.

  “Wow!” I said, thoroughly impressed. And a bit jealous.

  Superstrength and teleportation are real abilities! Mine is a hindrance at best.

  “So, what about you, Cayde? What is your power?” I asked. I could totally imagine him doing something badass.

  “I’m not as cool as these guys,” he answered.

  “What are you doing here, then? It seems like you need a power to join the secret club.”

  “Actually, you don't. It just so happens that the people with most reason to be here are powered.”

  “So why are you here?”

  Zane, Eric, and Lily all quickly got up to leave. “Nice meeting you, Nova!” Zane shouted over his shoulder as he was walking away. They were at a table across the room before I could respond.

  “Is that an inappropriate question to ask?” I wouldn't back down from it though. If he expected me to trust him, then I needed to know these things. He had promised me answers.

  “Somewhat. I don’t mind answering though.” He pushed his tray away and sighed. “The short version is, that my parents are the ones who first teamed up with Chief Markham to build this facility. They started when I was fourteen—just a couple years before my parents were murdered.”

  My face froze. I hadn't expected to be asking him to talk about his parents’ death. But I stood by the notion that I had needed to know.

  A story like that showed that his motivations for being at the facility were pure. But it also said to me that he could be blind to whatever bullshit might be going on. He was emotionally attached to the place.

  “I didn't realize I was asking something so personal.” I turned my gaze down to my remaining eggs.

  “It's okay. I would have needed to tell you anyway. It's not a secret. You need to know why I believe in what we do here, if I’m going to expect you to do the same.”

  That seemed like a perfect setup for my biggest question. “What is it that you do here, exactly?”

  He dabbed his lips with a napkin, then discarded it onto his tray. “Let's go meet Chief Markham.”

  I shoveled a last few bites of fake bacon and eggs into my mouth and got up to follow.

  As people ahead of us entered the hallway, they dispersed to different rooms, saying goodbyes and making promises to see each other later for drinks or card games.

  I tried to imagine doing something so normal after the week I’d had. I couldn’t even picture it.

  9

  Cayde led me to the room labeled 1. He knocked a quick two beats. Then we waited—and waited. I was willing to accept no one was home, when the metal door finally creaked open.

  Cayde's back straightened, and his chin lifted a little higher. “Hello, Chief. May we come in?” His voice was layered with respect. This man was obviously someone Cayde revered.

  The first thing I noticed about Chief Markham was his jawline. Angular and strong, it led to a square chin covered by a short, graying beard. His hair was cut short around his ears, with just enough length on the top to style into a point. Dark circles under his eyes told me he worked late nights, as well as early mornings. His jumpsuit was freshly ironed, and the boots he wore were polished to a shine.

  “Yes, come on in. Please, introduce our new friend.”

  I hadn't decided we were friends yet. But I bit my tongue, reminding myself of the kindnesses that Cayde had shown me. If this Chief person was important to him, I could be respectful. At least, until given a reason not to be.

  “I’m Nova.” I extended my hand to shake his. His grip was firm as he squeezed my hand. I could tell it was his way of sending the message that he was the authority, and he would be respected. I could appreciate that. It didn't mean I wouldn't challenge him if I felt it was necessary, though. I hoped my responding squeeze and steady eye contact sent him that message.

  “Pleased to meet you, Nova. I’m Chief Markham. Welcome to the facility.”

  Cayde took a seat in one of the two chairs in front of Chief Markham's desk, so I sat in the other. The chief sat behind his grand wooden desk. Then we all just looked at one another, like no one was sure who should start first.

  I decided to give them a short window to speak, before I volunteered myself and bombarded them with my questions. My eyes were drawn to the tall, metal bookshelves that were set into the wall behind Chief Markham. They were lined with books on various historic events, different technologies, and some biographies. In other words, it was a wall of terribly boring books.

  Definitely won’t be borrowing any of those.

  The chief’s orderly living quarters behind me were quite a bit bigger than my room, but that’s not saying much. There was something I liked about the fact that he saw his people in his personal space. But it also meant that there were no days off around here. Life revolved around work. At least for Chief Markham.

  The boys still hadn't started the conversation, so I kicked it off. “Thanks for giving me a place to stay. And a body, of course... And the food here is great!”

  “You're welcome,” Chief said. Cayde chuckled quietly at my awkwardness. Chief Markham’s expression, however, didn’t crack a millimeter.

  With niceties out of the way, I dove in. “I need to know the details of what it is you do here. Cayde, how were you able to find me? What 'readings' were you talking about yesterday? And why do I have this ability? How do so many people here have abilities?” Once I had started, it was hard to stop.

  It was Chief who answered first. “This place exists to protect powered people. Our community happens to have some of the most influential people in the world as enemies. This facility is a safe haven.”

  “Influential people? Like who?”

  Chief Markham shifted forward in his chair, placing his folded hands on top of his desk. “Among the world’s wealthiest people, there is a group of elitists who believe that the general public is so beneath them, so useless, that they have an obligation to take control. Their money gives them nearly unlimited influence on the world.”

  “These people have their fingers in media, elections, government policy, business, world health, whatever they want,” Cayde added.

  “Are you talking about rich actors and CEOs?”

  “No, we’re talking about billionaires, even trillionaires,” Cayde answered. “The kind who prefer to control things from out of the public eye. Most people wouldn’t even recognize their names.”

  I waited a beat, half expecting them to start laughing and tell me I’d been punked. Their expressions remained serious though. Dead serious.

  “So, these mysterious elitists, who run the world, are after powered people?” I couldn’t help but sound disbelieving.

  The chief nodded. “At least some of them are.”

  I am barely wrapping my head around powered people and now they want me to get behind a secret society of shitty, rich guys too?

  It was too much. If it hadn’t been for the fact that my entire life, as far as I could remember, had been filled with impossible circumstances, I probably wouldn’t have believed any of it.

  “O
kay…” I shifted forward in my chair. “I just don’t understand how anyone could have so much control over things, and people not know it. Everything is public these days.”

  “People don’t know, because they aren't meant to know,” Cayde answered. “Imagine if people knew that so much of their lives was being manipulated by a handful of people they haven’t elected. Or even heard of.”

  Unfortunately, I could imagine it. Some might not do much about it, people can be pretty apathetic when their needs are met. But I could see some people protesting, or even rioting, against something like that.

  “Their goal is to control everything, while seemingly controlling nothing,” Cayde continued, “That’s why we call them Shadow. Shadow Governors.”

  Sounds like a rock band…

  “So where do people with powers come into it? Are these Shadow Governors the ones who tried to kidnap me?”

  “Definitely,” Chief Markham said. “The Crowley family is probably the wealthiest in the world, and I believe they are the leaders in Shadow. David, the youngest, has taken a special interest in people with abilities. You would be far from the first to be attacked by him.”

  The blasé look on my kidnappers’ faces came to mind.

  I knew right away they were professionals.

  “But why would he do that?”

  Cayde looked at me with an eyebrow cocked, like it should be obvious. “If your goal was to have as much power as possible, wouldn't you find people with literal superpowers pretty interesting?”

  I suppose I would…

  That conclusion sat in my gut, like a rock. I sunk into my chair, like that rock was pulling me down.

  If someone this rich, and power-hungry, is really after me…This is not an enemy I want to have.

  “The powered community has stayed underground as much as possible,” Markham said. “I don't know how he found out we exist. But over the last fifteen years, he has attacked or kidnapped powered people and their families, all over the country.”

  Fifteen years?

  A shiver crept down my back. That’s a long time to perfect tracking and kidnapping people. “He attacks not only powered people, but their families too?”

  Markham nodded. “This facility was built when Cayde's parents and I got together to investigate the first of the disappearances. We spent years looking for missing people. By the time Rae had perfected GWNN, there must have been no one left to find.”

  The chief’s eyes became vacant. They shifted to stare into the space behind me. “God only knows what they went through.” His voice was nearly a whisper.

  I was sure the terrible scenarios—that he’d likely imagined many times over—were playing behind his eyes like a horror film he couldn’t turn off.

  When his attention came back to the room, he shifted in his seat, leaning back and turning away from Cayde by a fraction. “Then Rae and Logan were killed too.” Cayde’s gaze dropped to his hands, folded in his lap.

  Cayde's parents.

  “We aren't sure if they were all killed because of the threat they posed to the status quo, or if they were somehow used to further Shadow's agendas. Either way, the result is that the community of powered people in the U.S. has dwindled drastically. And it wasn't very big to begin with.”

  As the magnitude of what they were telling me sank in, the rock in my gut grew heavier. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to lift myself out of my seat by the end of this conversation.

  How will I ever be safe if someone like this is after me? I’ll never get my life back…

  My mind froze on that thought. But as I sat there, spiraling, a small voice in the back of my mind spoke up.

  Unacceptable.

  A spark of determination ignited behind my eyes.

  Living in fear is not an option.

  I forced my back straight. “So, what are you guys doing in an underground bunker, growing a garden, instead of fighting back?”

  I'd hit a nerve. Cayde looked back and forth from my face to the chief’s. Rigid in his seat, Chief Markham set his jaw. He narrowed his eyes on me for a moment, before reigning himself in enough to answer calmly. “Everyone living here is someone who we saved from a terrible fate at Crowley’s hands. We saved you, didn't we?”

  I could only nod. Fully trusting these people wasn't possible. But I sure as hell was glad I hadn't been taken by the Shadow guys. They seemed infinitely worse. To kill people, simply because they had potential you found threatening? To kill their families, just to make sure no one talked? That is evil.

  I’ll just have to find a way to do more myself. Somehow…

  Chief Markham had given me a lot of information to take in. I'd gone from being an amnesiac, freaking out over waking in a new body daily, to being part of a community of jumpsuit-wearing, special people hunted by powerful, secret elitists. All in the span of a conversation. It was overwhelming, to say the least. There were more questions to ask though.

  “How did you find me, Cayde?”

  He turned to Chief Markham. “Should I take her to see GWNN?”

  “Yeah, show her around.”

  Chief Markham stood to see us out. As we reached the door, he extended his hand to me. When I took it, this time he didn’t squeeze it. Instead, he softly placed his other palm over our clasped hands. He said with sincerity, “I am glad you are here, Nova.”

  “Thank you, Chief Markham.”

  10

  Cayde and I walked down the hall without speaking. I was focused on processing what I’d just heard. And based on the way his brows were scrunched together, Cayde was thinking about something unpleasant. It wasn’t hard to guess where his thoughts might be.

  His place here made perfect sense, now. Shadow brought his family here and then took his parents from him. It was only natural that he’d be committed to this place. And its mission to fuck those guys over.

  “Does Chief Markham have a power?” I asked Cayde, breaking our silence.

  He pulled himself back from his thoughts, relaxing his face. “No. His wife did though.”

  We stopped at one of the unlabeled doors before I could ask any more questions. This door didn’t have a small window like the others did. And it had a large lock instead of a handle.

  Cayde used one of the multiple keys on his ring to unlock it. Before he opened the door, he said, “Brace yourself.”

  “Should I be scared?”

  “No, not at all. But it can be overwhelming the first time.”

  He pushed open the door and allowed me to enter first. I barely made it five steps in before I froze on the spot, gaping at what surrounded me. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. It was technology, but also so much more than that. Enchanting, but cold and technical too. “Overwhelming” had been him putting it simply.

  The room was filled with a resonance—a dull hum that vibrated the air down to the oxygen in my lungs. My skin lightly tingled, charged with an energy. It was invigorating.

  Glowing gray and blue wires hung from ports in panels lining the ceiling and walls. They reminded me of veins and arteries, all leading to a central, crystalline structure—the heart—suspended in the room’s center. The crystal itself was white, but it emanated glowing lights in pinks, greens, and blues. The colors pulsed down the wires and filled the room. Each mingling together, but not mixing.

  The glow was the room’s only light source, but it was enough to see clearly. The colors cast on Cayde’s face made him look like he was part of a dream—not a solid person standing next to me.

  “Is this magic?” I asked Cayde softly, hardly even registering that I’d said it.

  He laughed. “Not literally. But kind of. It’s a computer. A very complex computer. With a distinct purpose.”

  “What is that purpose?”

  “To harmonize with the high-frequency gamma wave pattern that all powered brains use. With this system, we are able to track powered people all over the continent. Plus, protect the facility from being tracked by Crowley’s sa
tellite system. Those are its main uses. But it’s also able to influence gamma waves in order to help someone control their abilities. Keeping you in this body is an example of that.

  “Wow,” was all I managed to say.

  Mesmerized, I took steps in each direction to see the crystal from every angle. I moved as close as I could, but was held back by a large control panel covered with intimidating buttons and screens. These were definitely not the kinds of buttons that made you want to push them. They were the ominous kind that made you afraid of what they might do.

  Above the center screen, there was a small plaque with the letters G.W.N.N. engraved.

  “Wait. This is Gwen?” I’d been expecting to meet a woman with glasses and a science degree.

  “This is GWNN,” he said with pride. “The Gamma Wave Neural Network. The most valuable piece of this facility. And the most important tool we have.”

  My eyes were drawn back to the magnificent colors. “How does it work?”

  “That isn't one hundred percent clear.”

  I shot him a confused look, making him laugh.

  “So, my mom's powers gave her a unique view of the world, particularly science. She was amazing. To her, the world, and everything in it, was a puzzle. She could see all of the individual pieces at once, along with exactly how they fit together.” He smiled, gently pressing his hand to the console. “She had started teaching me to use GWNN, but didn't have the chance to explain all the mechanics of it before she died.”

  This machine was obviously more to him than just a tool. He looked at it like it was a way in which his mother lived on. Maybe even a way that she still guided him.

  “I'm not sure I would have understood even if she had explained it, though,” he went on. “No one can see things the way she did. I do know that this unbelievably rare crystal is able to interconnect with gamma wave patterns at the high frequency that powered brains emit.”

  “Only powered people have gamma waves?”

  “Actually, most people are capable of gamma waves in certain circumstances, but powered brains emit them constantly in even higher frequencies. Depending on the person’s power, and if they are using it at the time, the strength of the signal varies. But it’s always there.”