Metawars: The Complete Series: Trance, Changeling, Tempest, Chimera (14 page)

McNally leaned forward, her attention fixed on Gage. “What about violent crime rates, Cipher?”

“They spiked after the end of the War. The Rangers were gone. The police and military were in turmoil. MHC had their heads up their asses congratulating themselves on stopping the MetaHuman problem, even though they didn’t do shit.”

Grayson flinched. Gage’s attention snapped toward the balding man a moment, then turned back to McNally. His nostrils flared. He was concentrating on more than just the conversation.

“Cipher, how do you know all of this?” McNally asked.

Exactly what I wanted to know. His understanding of current events far exceeded mine, and while I appreciated his knowledge insofar as it shut Grayson up, it made me feel a little stupid. I didn’t know enough to hold my own against a pair of federal agents—maybe I wasn’t the one who should be leading this unit.

Gage made a rude noise. “I can read, Agent McNally. I was fifteen when we lost our powers. I watched the news and read the feeds and kept track of Congress. I may be a freak, but I’m not an idiot.”

Grayson shook his head. “I don’t think—”

“Stop it, Alexander,” McNally said. “Perhaps we were too quick to judge you, and I apologize.”

I bit my lip to keep silent.
No kidding
danced on the tip of my tongue.

She continued: “Please understand, there is no way to gauge how the public will react to your presence. Every poll taken just this year about the results of the War has the vast majority of responders in favor of the loss of Meta powers, and that is not encouraging. We need you to work with us.”

Rita McNally was a straight-talker, and I liked that. I sort of liked her. She seemed to be taking the time to consider our point of view, and she seemed genuinely interested in helping us, rather than tossing around blame like Alexander Grayson. MHC
had been Ranger allies for decades prior to the War. Hopefully we could keep that relationship open. Funding was nice.

“We understand that,” I said, trying to keep my frustration out of my tone. “But we’re not here to parade around and assure people that we’re the heroes. We don’t have the luxury or the time. There is one Bane on the loose right now, and he’s already killed five of us and critically wounded a sixth. Our energy lies there, and in making sure no one else gets off Manhattan Island.”

“Manhattan Island is quite secure,” Grayson said.

“You’ll excuse me if I don’t take your word for it. Is there anything else we can do for you folks today?”

McNally stood up and unlocked her briefcase. “I will be holding a press conference this evening, outside of the headquarters gate, and announcing that the Rangers have been called once again to protect us. I’ll do my best to avoid directly commenting on the deaths of your friends, or on the situation in New York, but I need you to be prepared for the backlash the next time you go out in public.”

“Are our faces going to be plastered all over the media?”

“If necessary, yes. Costumes and code names only, of course. I will also be making a plea for any Metas in hiding to come forward and identify themselves. Once citizens learn just how outnumbered you are, they may start to panic. We need to increase your numbers.”

“No kidding.”

I needed to ask Dr. Seward about his progress in locating new Metas, those whose powers hadn’t been identified before the end of the War and who were too young to have
chosen a side. Or been located and adopted into one or the other, like Gage and Marco. Certainly whatever magic created us in the first place wouldn’t give back our powers and then leave us so outnumbered. I hoped.

McNally produced a small business card and placed it on the conference table. “This is my direct contact information, Trance,” she said. “Call me if you have questions or need any advice. I was part of MHC for twelve years.”

“Thank you,” I said. Something else occurred to me, although I hated bringing it up. “Listen, when Specter attacked us in Bakersfield he … um, there were two people—”

“The bodies have been taken care of.”

“Oh. Thanks?”

She nodded.

Grayson stood and left the room without a word. McNally snapped her briefcase closed, picked it up, and strolled toward us. She passed Gage, and then paused next to me.

“You remind me of your father,” she whispered. “Hinder was a good man. He would have been proud of you.” To Gage, she added, “So was your brother.”

I gaped at her back as she left the room.

“That was certainly strange,” Gage said.

“Strange, but enlightening.”

“Grayson was hiding something, I’m just not sure what. I could smell his fear, Teresa. He’s afraid of us.”

“So is most of the planet.” I debated my next words, unable to take them back once they were said, and realized I meant them. “I think I trust Agent McNally, Gage. She seems to genuinely want to help us.”

“I agree she wants to help.”

“But?”

He shook his head. “I’m not sure. She was so careful with her reactions, so controlled.”

“Like she’d practiced her answers in anticipation of meeting you?”

“Maybe.”

Huh. It didn’t mean she was lying, but it did give me pause. Made me think. I picked up the woman’s business card. Home and cellular numbers, plus her extension at the ATF satellite office building in Burbank. I slipped the card into my back pocket. It felt odd to want to give my trust so easily to a woman I’d known less than fifteen minutes. Just as I’d given it to Gage, Renee, Dr. Seward, and my other fellow Rangers.

Should I give it or withhold it?

We were back at home in a place where we’d grown up and been trained for what we were doing now. I didn’t know what my teammates’ lives had been like for the last decade; they didn’t know about mine. Would they still look at me like a leader if they knew I was a felon? Did it matter? I wasn’t her anymore. We weren’t who the MHC had made us when they sent us away. We were Rangers, and we couldn’t do this if we didn’t let ourselves trust each other.

I had to let myself trust them. Not so much the agents. Not until they earned it.

“Still want to know what’s happening in New York?” Gage asked.

I nodded. “More than ever.”

R
enee’s blue face filled the monitor, obscuring my view of the room behind her. She blinked, frowned, and then stepped back to reveal the Manhattan Island Penitentiary’s main control room. Serious-looking armed guards walked to and fro. Some carried files or paperwork, others nothing but an angry expression.

“Hey, T, you look a lot better,” Renee said.

“Thanks.” I stood in front of the monitor on our end, Gage by my side. It had taken the MIP guards almost thirty minutes to locate one of our people. Renee and William had been inspecting Bane activity in the north, among the remains of Harlem, when we called. Gage teased me incessantly about my lack of patience until someone finally rustled up Renee.

“Not a lot to report here,” she said. “So far, the Banes aren’t making much effort to escape the island. They’re mostly keeping to themselves. Only a few have actively engaged their powers, but not against us or each other. One guy transmuted dirty water into sparkling clean water.”

“That seems odd, doesn’t it?” Gage asked.

“Pretty odd, yeah, but I’m not knocking a good thing. Disinterested Banes are ones we don’t have to fight. They just seem … I don’t know, out of sorts.”

“What do you mean?”

“Kind of dazed, I guess. Like they got their powers back, only they don’t remember what they’re supposed to do with them. You think it’s some sort of radical rehabilitation program that actually worked?”

“Dunno,” I said. “Have you tried talking to the warden about it?”

“Repeatedly, but he doesn’t have time for me or Caliber. I don’t think he realizes that we’re not the same as those guys he’s been babysitting for a decade and a half. He sees blue skin and big muscles and thinks the worst of us.”

“I know the feeling.” Grayson had been no different in his judgment. At the moment, I didn’t care why the Banes were so apathetic about their powers, as long as it kept them from all-out rebellion. Once we had Specter under control, maybe life wouldn’t be as hard as I imagined.

“Just be careful out there, Flex,” Gage said. “An ATF agent is doing a press conference today in Los Angeles, announcing our return. Once people know who we are, our anonymity is out the window.”

Flex giggled. “He says to the girl with blue skin. Take a look at your team, Cipher. Most of us don’t fit in at a family picnic. Although I can see Trance’s look becoming a popular fashion statement.”

“I hope not,” I said.

“Purple contact lenses will be all the rage.”

“Shut up, Flex.”

“Remember, Flex,” Gage said, “you’re our eyes and ears out there. If you see anything suspicious, let us know immediately. We both got funny vibes from one of the agents they sent to watchdog us, and I don’t think everyone is on our side. You and Caliber need to watch each other’s backs.”

“We will,” Renee said. “In fact, I’ll be watching his back very seriously. Remember in school he used to hate my powers, and I’d tease him with them? You know what he told me? He had a crush on me the whole time. What do you think, T? Do you see sex in our future?”

Gage grunted.

I coughed. “I’d rather not let my mind go there, if you don’t mind.”

She giggled again, and then sobered. “You do the same, okay? Watch each other’s backs, I mean. And maybe go have sex or something, you both look tense.”

She cut the call short before I could muster a reply. I settled for staring at the blank monitor. Gage blew hard through his nose, lips twisted in a strange grimace.

“What?” I asked.

“Renee Duvall and her casual conversations. She’s unbelievable,” he said, an odd layer of annoyance in his voice.

“She keeps you on your toes.”

“Something tells me Agent McNally will, too.”

“I won’t be her poster girl for Ranger support, Gage. A few photos with schoolchildren and old folks smiling won’t erase decades of violence.”

“No, it won’t, and there’s no reason to expect it to. We have to earn back that trust and not from politicking.”

“So what, then? We keep a bus full of kids from toppling off a bridge into the river? Pull orphans from a burning building? Stop a mudslide in Malibu?”

He turned until he stood toe to toe with me and tried to act stern. Humor still peeked through. “Okay, you do realize that the unspoken rules of superheroing states that one of those events will magically occur within our immediate vicinity?”

“Well, good,” I said, flashing him a bright smile. This close I could smell a hint of shaving cream and something else. Something decidedly male and uniquely Gage. “We can get that step in our careers over and done with, and move on to more important matters.”

“Such as?”

“Picking out uniforms?”

“I’d rather wear my jeans.”

“I don’t know.” I quirked an eyebrow and gave him a once-over. “I think you’d look good in something skintight and leather.”

I expected him to laugh; I didn’t anticipate his completely blank stare. Crap. “Sorry, that wasn’t—”

Gage interrupted my retraction by cupping my chin with his free hand and lowering his head. My heart threatened to beat right out of my chest. He brushed his lips across my mouth so gently I thought he missed. Just the lightest of strokes that set my nerves on fire.

Indecision forced me to pause. Knowledge of a turning
point. He wouldn’t talk about Oregon, but he’d offer tentative kisses. Our conversations skirted deeper pain, while remaining surface and casual. If words couldn’t bring us together, maybe something else could.

Not knowing how many more “laters” I had, I captured his lips in a crushing kiss. Arms circled my waist, hands tangled in my hair. His mouth, his tongue, his intense heat and flavor and scent—all surrounded me and forced a soft moan from my throat.

He broke the kiss, but didn’t pull away. Every inch of his body seemed to vibrate. His intense, silver-flecked eyes drilled into me, trying to see past the lavender exterior. The intensity of it was overwhelming. “You frighten me, Teresa.”

Confusion overpowered my tumultuous emotions and I tensed, stifled by his tight embrace.

He must have read something in my expression. “I just meant I’ve never felt like this after knowing someone for only a couple of days. Like I’ve … I don’t know.”

I thought I did. “Like you’ve found something you didn’t know you wanted in the first place? Or is that kind of corny?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah, it’s corny?”

“No.” He traced the side of his thumb down my cheek. “The other part.”

“And you’re afraid of messing up and losing it, like you’ve lost everything else?”

His face hardened, the once-open emotions shuttering. Shutting down.

Concerned, I splayed my fingers against his chest. Felt his
heart beating there. “Sorry, I was just remembering something a shrink said to me during one of our multiple sessions dedicated to my inability to commit to a relationship.” A topic I felt awkward broaching with Gage or anyone else—one that would probably have to be broached before we went any further with … whatever it was we were doing.

“Gage, what is it about me that frightens you? I’d really like to know.” When he didn’t respond, I gave him a hint. “Is it what Dr. Seward said about my potentially dying?”

“No, that’s not it.” His body thrummed with tension. “The potentiality of your death does frighten me, Teresa. It terrifies me. But your powers are stronger than anyone else’s here, maybe stronger than anyone else active, and they’re not yours. You have them for a reason that no one knows or is sharing, and it scares me to death.”

“I’m not going to explode, Gage.” I thought of yesterday’s episode and cringed. “At least, I hope not.”

He rested his forehead against mine. Our height difference made looking up awkward, so I closed my eyes. His breath was sweet, warm, and his mouth so close. The butterflies in my stomach stirred.

“Please talk to me, Gage. About anything.”

“Teresa, I—”