The room reeked of cleaning agents as every spotless surface gave off the scent. Despite Nudge’s best efforts to the contrary, the janitors were showing their proficiency as strike team cleaners. Countering all of Nudge’s best laid plans. Even in a small, out of the way, room like this they could find every sign of human touch and remove it. The chair next to him had housed an open bag of chips just yesterday. Now it was gone, moved back to the kitchen. On principle, Nudge refused to make the walk back there for what should be at his fingertips.

If the janitors had been working for him, he’d be impressed. In such a large complex, they’d found the dirty room. It was a feat worthy of recognition. However, they worked for his boss and her ideological regime of spotless spaces made proficient workers. Perfect drones for the Platinum Dutchess.

Hiding behind his green mask with brown highlights, Nudge’s face went sour as he tried to remember if they’d followed him in the last few days. It’d certainly explain how the cleaners always knew where his messes were. Though mess was a term Nudge used with some trepidation as most rooms he visited bore little more than fingerprints when he left. But even that was too much for these clean freaks.

Glowering at the room around him, the deep blue walls and small central table stared back, unfazed by the human’s thoughts. Even the large image behind him, of a tower on a hill, offered no sympathy.

In front of Nudge was a microphone and speaker, two items he’d moved as soon as he arrived. He knew they’d be moved back later, but for now they were his silent protest at the injustice of these neat freaks.

The screens bolted to the wall were another story. They’d grown accustomed to his games and locked them in place. He was half tempted to tear the bolts out, but the paperwork would outweigh his fun.

A single light buzzed quietly on the ceiling, its muted glow the rooms sole source of illumination. For there were no windows here. They brought with them a security risk far larger than any creature comforts they could provide.

For such a small space Nudge found it was quite loud. He could hear multiple people talking at the same time. Though they weren’t talking over each other, instead having separate discussions at the same time.

Through all the commotion Nudge sat alone at the table. Well, as alone as you could be when there were dozens of people on the screens in front of you. Each masked face enthralled by the discussion. Not that you could see their faces through the masks, but their emotions were plain, nonetheless. It was in their voices and the way they moved with the conversation. Bobbing up and down to the flow of it. These people had an interest in what was being covered and he should as well. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t find the inspiration to feel that way. Maybe that was brought on by age. He’d found it much harder to feign interest in this stuff over the last couple decades. Whatever it was he was stuck here for the time being, might as well make the most of it.

Settling back into his chair Nudge’s greatest desire was to take off his mask. It’s snugly fitted fabric had long since gone from an itchy nuisance to a full blown annoyance. Hours in the thing tended to do that. Instead, he tried to distract himself by looking at each of the masked figures in front of him and discern their thoughts. It was a great way to pass the time, while also honing your skills. Running his eyes over the people, he found some were eager to prove themselves while others were trying to behave to some unseen standard. Neither group looking truly in their element.

Reading people was second nature to Nudge. It was a skill he’d learned with the help of his power, honed through years of experience. At first his power guided him, showing him the intricacies of the human body. It didn’t let him read someone's mind, that power was a step beyond anyone. But he could read other things. In the end people could lie on the outside, putting on a mask with ease, but on the inside it was a different story. After years of practice he’d become an expert at looking past the mask. Not even requiring his power on most people. Only the toughest of wills or those lost to their own mind could sneak past him.

He was unique in his skill as a lie detector. No one else could use their powers to look into others. Even if his findings couldn’t be used in court, they bought him a distinct advantage.

The faces on the screens talked on. Going over some Cowl in who knows where doing who knows what. In all honesty Nudge hadn’t been listening for a while now. A fact he wasn’t ashamed of in the slightest.

Sure the prospect of fighting a Cowl sounded exciting. Any Cowl garnering this much attention had to be strong. Which meant the fight would be a blast. But there was a catch, there always was.

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This time it was his chance of being part of the fight. He’d been in these meetings before. Had a strong Cowl dangled in front of him just like this. Only for it to be pulled away at the last second. From those experiences he knew there was zero chance he’d be involved in the fight. The most he could hope for was being held in reserve, ready to jump in if things went belly up. Something he wasn’t going to do if he had any say in it.

Nudge wondered why they tempted him with the prospect of a decent fight just to pull it away? But he already knew the answer, even if he didn’t like it. These meetings were about forming bonds between teams. Giving each other ideas on how to face a tough enemy. Having another team jump into your fight, especially if they were better equipped to deal with it, was bound to cause some friction. Even more so when the Heroes stepping in weren’t from the area. So even the thought of it was frowned upon.

No need to get all worked up, it’d be bad for his blood pressure, Nudge thought. Though that might be a nice surprise for the doctors during his next checkup. He could almost see their startled faces right now. One of his vitals not at peak performance, I’d be an event for the history books. Thinking about the commotion it’d cause almost made up for the waste of time that was this meeting.

Looking over the faces again a small symbol on the bottom of the screens pulsed. A little microphone with a red line through it. The only feature needed for any video meeting. Too bad everyone didn’t use it.

Nudge turned away from the meeting and back to what was really drawing his focus. A tablet situated next to the camera. It was in the perfect spot for him to rest his eyes on while appearing to look into the camera. The meeting attendees couldn’t complain he wasn’t paying attention if he was always looking at the camera. Little did they know he was focused on the other device. It was a trick he was proud of. A younger version of himself would have been embarrassed by the display. Now those sentiments were pushed aside and practicality took their place.

On the perfectly situated screen was Ullr’s press conference. Nudge asked his team leader for permission to head over there only yesterday, when he’d gotten news of the upheaval. The request, like all his others, was shot down. He’d be the first to admit he almost left anyway. Regardless of what punishment it’d bring.

The situation out in Iowa begged for his help. Even if the other Heroes were happy to watch things deteriorate, he knew better. But he had to stay. There were worse things on the horizon and he’d need the Watch’s help with what was to come.

Witnessing Ullr go on about the betrayal, Nudge paid close attention to his body language. There was something in it, well hidden through years of practice, but there regardless. Nudge tried to coax the secret out, but his best efforts all ended the same way, in failure. This man was one of the rare people Nudge couldn’t fully understand. He’d have to use his power to grasp what was hiding there.

After a good fifteen minutes Ullr left the stage, calling an end to his riveting press conference. It left Nudge alone with his thoughts, trying to decipher what he’d just witnessed. One impression kept coming to his mind, something was being avoided in the news conference. The more he watched the more confident he was of that single fact. Now what to do with that information Nudge wondered.

“Nudge how would you approach this fight?” a voice from the screen asked. Pulling Nudge back to reality and the meeting he was supposed to be a part of.

Subtly muting Ullr’s press conference, which had already switched over to a table discussion, the ‘experts’ going over things they knew nothing about. Nudge turned on the conference room’s microphone and said, “It’s always hard to tell with these top tier Cowls. Honestly I’d call in backup to make sure you capture him. You could put in a nice word with my team leader and maybe I could join.”

There was a round of chuckling to that as some of the other Heroes expressed their desire to join in the fight as well.

“I’ll keep that under advisement,” a deep voice said. If Nudge remembered correctly, that was one of the German Heroes, but the man’s name and team eluded him. He must be the person going to go up against the Cowl, lucky guy.

The conversation picked back up after that. Mission accomplished for his part, the question was successfully dodged with no one knowing he wasn’t paying attention.

Now back to more pressing matters. How was he going to learn what was happening in Iowa? If he couldn’t be there, the next best thing was a proxy. The local Heroes were the obvious choice, but after the last news conference he threw that option out the window. Something just didn’t feel right about it. Best to avoid them until he knew more.

Then he remembered meeting a young detective awhile back. They’d run into each other at a conference when the man was still green. The wide eyed detective’s enthusiasm had been hard to contain. The two spent a good hour going over ways for Heroes and local officers to better coordinate their efforts before they were forced apart. A noble, if difficult task to work on. If memory serves, the man worked out of Des Moines, Iowa.

It was decided, he’d give the detective a call and ask for any information about what was really going on. They didn’t have a close relationship, but the detective gave Nudge a good feeling when they first met. And that was all Nudge needed to know to trust the man over the local Heroes.

Now to remember what he’d gone by back then. Getting a call from Nudge, out of the blue, would freak the detective out. Even if the man was on the older side now.

With the meeting plodding along, Nudge made plans for the coming days. Hoping they’d lead to a little excitement down the road.