෴Raz෴

෴Hex෴

X hours ago.

  The morning sunlight snapped Raz out of another nightmare. He woke with a start, and then rolled over. Sia was laying on her side, looking back at him.

  Her furrowed brow and tight lips betrayed her concern. “Another bad dream?”

  He nodded. “It wasn’t so bad, I was just trapped back there. I was trying to escape, but I couldn’t get away. I was sprinting through the building. The halls kept looping me back into my cell. I finally saw the exit door right before I woke up.”

  He shrugged one of his shoulders. “So, it wasn’t terrible, but I wouldn’t call it a good dream.”

  She scooted over and kissed him. “Sorry to hear that. Do you feel like you need to, I don’t know, talk about it? If not to me, then someone?”

  Raz pinched the sheet between his fingers and began to slowly pull it down. He watched the way the edge of the sheet slid away from her body. “Maybe, but right now, I can think of a better way to get my mind off it.”

  Sia smiled and scooted closer still. “Oh I just bet you can. I can’t wait to hear your plan.”

  He tried to respond, but she interrupted him with a kiss.

  “Well yes, it was something along those lines.” He managed to whisper a moment later.

෴෴෴ ෴෴෴ ෴෴෴

  Later.

  “—so anyway, mom, when you get this, give me a call. It’s important. Talk to you then.” Raz ended the call and tossed the phone toward the couch next to Sia.

  She snatched the phone out of the air. “Still just getting voicemail?”

  He nodded.

  She tapped the seat next to her. “Come here, relax for a second. What’s really bothering you?”

  He paced the room. “So much!” he exclaimed with a sigh. “I’m worried about my mom. She always has that phone with her. I make fun of that industrial strength integrated battery case, but damn if it doesn’t give her crazy battery life. She should be picking up! I don’t understand this message she left me and yes, I’m freaking out a little bit.”

  Sia caught his eye and patted the couch again. “Seriously, have a seat, take a breath. Your mom not picking up the phone isn’t the real problem and you know it. So like I asked before, what’s really bothering you? Is it the dreams?”

  Raz sat down next to her and sagged back into the couch. “No. Yes. Maybe? I don’t know. Everything feels fucked up. I feel lost. I’m sure I should be doing something right now. I just don’t know what it is. I—I’m not sure I’d know how to do, whatever it is I need to do?”

  She nodded, “That makes sense I guess. Let’s talk about what you want to accomplish. Maybe we can chunk it up some and make some achievable steps.”

  He leaned forward and put his face into his hands. “I’m not even sure if this is a rational response, but I feel like I need to be accomplishing something. I think I’d feel better if I could, I don’t know, make a todo list, and then check some things off it.”

  “I don’t think it’s weird, or irrational. You spent time confined, cooped up and unable to do much of anything. Seems like a reasonable response to want to do things and get things done. Setting, and achieving, goals is a very normal thing to enjoy.”

  I wonder if she’s going to fight me on this.

  Raz took in a long deep breath, and then let it out in a burst. “You’re right. I know you’re right. But I need to do something. Honestly. I don’t care what he said, I think I’m going to head home.”

  Sia smiled. “Ok. I’ll come with you.”

  He got to his feet with a troubled expression.

  She studied his face, “That is, would you like me to come with you?”

  He took her hand and pulled her off the couch to stand next to him. “Oh yeah, you’re welcome to come. I think I half expected you to try and stop me. I’ll be glad for the company, uh, and I’ll need to owe you for the cab ride.”

  She laughed. “I’ve got it covered.”

  Outside on the street they were met by an idling white minivan with tinted windows. Nona got out, winked at him and headed upstairs.

  Sia got in on the passenger side. Raz waited a few seconds, shrugged, and got behind the wheel.

  He set off for his house. “I didn’t think you had a car. Now that I know about, well you know, the poofing around thing, I’m even more surprised you have one.”

  She nodded. “Never know when you might need to move things heavier than you can lift.”

  “I was wondering about that. How much can you, I guess, carry?”

  She was silent for a moment, looking out the tinted window as the city streets flowed by. “Carry is probably a good way to put it. It depends.”

  Raz changed lanes and got onto the interstate. “Thanks for letting me drive. It feels good.”

  Sia smiled. “Not to go all therapist on you, but it seemed like something you might like, having a little more control of your movements and environment.”

  He glanced down at his hands on the wheel. “Yeah, that makes sense. Also reminds me, I’m going to need a new car.”

  She shrugged, “Well, until then, you can drive Dolly.”

  “Dolly? Did you name your minivan?” He chuckled. “Thanks though, you’re probably right about needing to feel a bit more in control of my own life. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have said anything about enjoying driving a minivan before.”

  She looked at him in mock outrage. “Rude! Dolly doesn’t appreciate your backhanded compliments.” She patted the dashboard. “Don’t worry Dolly, he doesn’t mean anything by it.”

  Raz glanced at her, she seemed to be sincere. “Uh, ok. New topic. Why do you even have a vehicle if you can, you know, pop around.”

  She watched the cityscape for a moment before answering. “Like I said, sometimes I need to move things bigger than I can carry. So I use Dolly.”

  “Oh, that's what you mean! Dolly as in hand truck. Ok I take it back, that's cute.” he patted the dash.

  “So anyway, I get that it depends, but in general, how much can you carry?”

  She rolled the window down a crack. “There are a lot of factors that affect it. So tell me, what’s your plan once you get home?”

  [Vocal stress suggests she is evading this question.]

  Yeah, I noticed, she’s not being all that subtle either.

  Raz pulled off the interstate onto one of the suburban boulevards. “Is this something you don’t want to talk about?”

  Sia shifted in her seat. “I guess it’s just a habit. But you should know, among people with any abilities, it’s considered pretty rude to dig into someone’s exact capabilities.”

  Raz thought about this as he turned into his neighborhood. “So although I already know about your teleportation, and the multiple bodies, it's rude to ask about further details?”

  “Yes. No. I mean, really I don’t mind telling you, but it’s something you should know about. It’s just, I don’t know, the etiquette of that world?”

  Great, more secret keeping culture bullshit, and now I’m going to be part of it.

  Raz glanced over at her. “So does that mean if I had an ability, I shouldn’t ask you about yours, and I shouldn’t tell people about mine?”

  She looked out the window at the suburban houses occasionally broken up by stands of trees. “It’s hard to say. My view of the world is pretty small. Maybe other places and groups are different. My job, that is, my normal work for a company called WD40, they—”

  “Hold up, you work for WD40, like the spray can company?”

  She shook her head. “No, much different company. The name doesn’t matter. So anyway, they only know what I’ve told them about my abilities. Mid—my real boss, well, he’s a special case. I’ve never had to tell him anything. He just somehow always knew what I could do. Even when I lucked out and had an ability increase, he knew about it right—.”

  Sia interrupted herself. “Oh shit! Don’t freak out! Keep driving! Don’t slow down, don’t stop.” her tone was suddenly deadly serious.

  Raz turned onto his street. “Ok jeeze, I’m not trying to be rude. Just give it to me straight, should we not talk about abilit—oh what the fuck!”

  A burned-out, charred pile of rubble and ash came into view where Raz’s suburban home had been. Police tape and a torn up front yard completed the appearance of devastation. The houses on either side were relatively untouched, although the closer one showed signs of heat damage on its siding.

  Her urgent tone cut through his confusion. “Seriously, don’t stop, don’t slow down. Just keep driving.”

  Raz kept driving, and soon turned the next corner. A few blocks later he pulled over and looked at her. “What the hell? Did you know about that?”

  She shook her head sharply. “No, I came by your house last week to make sure things were ok, and the house was fine.”

  Raz glanced around them and then back at her. “Well, how’d you know about it before we got there?”

  She drew a few ragged breaths. “You know that spot I asked you to always keep clear for me to leave my things when I’m at your place?”

  He nodded, his brow furrowing. “Yeah, but is your OCD really the—. Oh, that's your landing zone!”

  She nodded. “I sent an aspect into your living room to scout ahead. I couldn't see anything, but I have to assume I landed colocated on a lot of solid material.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  She paused and suppressed a shudder. “I already released that body, but I could taste an acrid smoke, I knew something major had happened. Now we both know the current situation, but not how, or why.”

  He looked at her, concern turning to worry on his face. “Are you ok? That sounds like how it was when you got your abilities.” He paused, “I assume we can talk about that?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, we can, and yeah, it was a lot like that.”

  He waited for her to finish.

  “Yeah, I’m ok. Dying is pretty bad, but I released it quickly enough that it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.” She kept her face turned away.

  Raz waited a moment longer until it was clear she’d said her piece. “You don’t look ok. But I’ll take you at your word. Why didn’t you want me to stop and see the place?”

  She mumbled something under her breath, then sighed. “Standard operating protocol. If a safe house is blown, usually not so literally, you assume it’s also under surveillance.”

  Raz stared at Sia for a full minute without speaking. She was just about to say something when he gave a slow blink and shook his head slightly. “Standard. Operating. Protocol. Who are you? Have I even met the real you?” he said.

  Bee, help me be on max alert. If someone is even looking at us funny I want to know about it.

  A low buzz started up in the back of his head.

  Sia rubbed her eyes. “Everything you know about me is the real me. I’ve never been more who I really am, than when I’m with you.” she waved her hands, “The rest of this, the covert ops and paramilitary bullshit, that's all stuff I’ve had to learn and adapt to since my abilities manifested.”

  “Ok, I can’t say I have any idea what that would be like, we’ll need to talk about it more sometime.” He suddenly burst out laughing.

  She arched a brow at him.

  He kept laughing, even as he started to run out of breath.

  “I’m glad I amuse you.” her tone cool.

  He slowly brought the laughter under control. “Sorry about that. I just had a funny thought. Guys sometimes talk about how they’d react to women with a more… varied history or experience than they have. But, I’m pretty sure this is not what they are talking about.”

  They laughed together for a moment before lapsing into a comfortable silence.

  Raz broke the silence. “So, did you see a suspicious panel van or something?”

  She giggled. “That is so 20 years ago. Now days they can use anything from satellites to small camera drones. The reality is that you just cannot tell if a location is being watched. But, to my mind, if it is, they are waiting for, and expecting you to, stop and look at the place. At the very least they’ll be looking more carefully at anyone who stops and looks. So that's the one thing you can’t afford to do.”

  Raz shrugged helplessly. “But… who is the ‘they’? I thought everyone there was killed or captured?”

   She frowned. “That’s a good point. I’m… I’m not really sure. Maybe I’m just being paranoid. But it’s a pretty damn big coincidence don’t you think?”

  “Do you think they might have been covering their tracks? I heard from someone that cops found my car abandoned somewhere, and it had been torched.”

  Her jaw dropped. “You never mentioned that! I thought you just didn’t know where your car was. Who did you hear that from?”

  “Well, to be honest, there just didn’t seem like a great time to bring a terrible ex-girlfriend into the conversation.”

  Raz started the van up, and drove them back to Sia’s apartment as he told her the parts of the story he’d left out.

  Sia had more questions about his ex, and Raz was happy enough to keep the conversation on comparatively normal topics.

  What a messed up world I’ve stepped into. A world where talking about my ex girlfriend to my current girlfriend is the safe and relaxed topic.

  They pulled into her parking spot at the apartment garage and got out. “—so anyway, that was the night I realized I needed to break up with her. She didn’t take it all that well, but it couldn’t have been that big of a deal, because she just started dating the other guy right away. She was a real class act that way.” he burst into laughter at the memory.

  Sia joined him in laughter, but quickly regained her composure. “Yeah, sounds like a fun lady. Do I need to do that kind of stuff to keep your attention?”

  They reached her apartment door. “I know you’re kidding, but just for the record, the answer is ‘Oh hell no!’ One of the things I like about you is that I just can’t imagine you doing trashy bullshit drama queen stuff like that.” he exclaimed.

  She turned and winked at him. “So you’re ok with me being a dirty girl, just not trashy?”

  “I think that might be why learning all this stuff about you is putting me off my stride. I’m having to reevaluate you, and figure you out all over again, who you are and what you’re capabl—”

  [Energy signature inside matches opponent designate Doktor Midnight.]

  She nodded and pulled out her key. “Well I try not to be—”

  Raz reached around her and gently placed his hand over her mouth. He leaned in close and whispered in her ear. “He’s back. Should we go somewhere else?”

  She shook her head. “I’ll have to talk to him again sooner or later, and based on past experience you should listen to him.” she whispered back.

  Raz shook his head, a dubious expression clouding his face. “All right. I’ll follow your lead for now.”

  Inside Midnight sat on the couch in the same shimmery tailored black suit they’d seen him in last, watching the news on mute. He immediately got up from the couch and braced them in the entryway.

  “Where have you been!?” Midnight demanded. “I told you to stay here and keep a low profile!”

  Sia appeared to shrink under his accusing tone.

  [Fear effect resisted.]

  This time, Raz didn’t engage. He grabbed Sia and pulled her unresisting form stumbling back outside with him. “Let us know when you can have a conversation without that shit going off every time you’re upset!” he called out over his shoulder.

  A moment later Midnight caught up with them on the stairs. “Sorry about that! I didn’t mean for that to go off again. I know we’re getting off to a bad start again. I’ve been sick with worry for the both of you!”

  Raz heard it clearly when he muttered “I can’t lose anyone else today” under his breath.

  What do we think?

  [No signs of deception.]

  Sia stirred and then shook herself. “You said you were going to keep that under control! You know that messes with all of me!” she looked at Midnight with a tight angry expression.

  Midnight swallowed and bowed his head. “I know, I’ll do better. I’m out of practice for—” he shrugged and waved his hand around the room, “all this.” He looked up at them and his weathered face seemed to have gained another decade of hard living. “I know it’s no excuse, but I’ve had a very rough day.”

  She pushed past him without a word and headed toward her bedroom.

  Raz watched her leave and then sat down on the couch. He looked at Midnight. “So what do you want here?”

  The older man sat down on the couch across the room. He ignored the question and looked at Raz intently. “I’m a little hungry. Are you hungry?”

  Raz realized he hadn’t eaten all day and was quite hungry. At that instant he noticed a flicker on the edge of his HUD followed by the message:

  [Opponent Midnight ‘administrative’ access request auto denied.]

  What the hell does that mean? What just happened?”

  Midnight sat looking at him, waiting on his response.

  [Opponent Midnight requested the ability to view, manage, and control your ability set. This prompt was auto-denied due to opponent designation.]

  A pale blue box appeared in his vision. ‘Entity: Midnight: (designated opponent), requests access (closest user match: ‘administrative’) to host interface. It was followed by two response buttons that were grayed out, and then a long warning about not granting this ability to anyone you don’t trust, and how to revoke the access.

  Raz frowned and then shrugged. “I guess it depends. I could maybe eat.”

  Midnight shook his head so minutely Raz almost didn’t catch it. “Well, I want some food. Do you like pizza?”

  [Opponent Midnight ‘administrative’ access request auto denied.]

  I think he’s trying to get me to say yes with that prompt up.

  Raz shrugged. “It’s ok. I’m more in the mood for wings.”

  Midnight smiled. “Oh yeah, I could go for wings. Do you want me to get some? My treat.”

  [Opponent Midnight ‘administrative’ access request auto denied.]

  Raz tilted his head to the side slightly. “Hmm, you know, maybe pizza after all.”

  The nearly concealed look of frustration on Midnight’s face was gone almost instantly after appearing.

  The older man nodded. “Yeah ok, how about we get some delivery from that place in midtown that does the multi layer cheese?”

  Can I get remote access on other HUDS like that?

  [Remote access is a sub ability found in Advanced Interface 3 and Advanced Cognition rank 2.]

  So no.

  [Not yet.]

  Raz shook his head. “You look like twenty miles of bad road. Get yourself food if you want it, I’ll pass. But if that means we’re stuck with you, then you might as well tell me what’s going on.”

  Midnight rubbed his temples with his thumb and forefinger and chuckled darkly. “Oh yeah, why don’t I unburden myself to you. What could go wrong with that? The whole situation where we’re even having this conversation drives home what—” he paused for a fraction of a second “What was it he used to say, Man plans, God laughs I’ve come to understand that one all too well.”

  Another saying Dad liked.

  Midnight shook his head, “How about you man, what's your plan?”

  Raz rolled his eyes, “So you can tell me why whatever I want to do is a bad idea?”

  Midnight shrugged, the light glinting off the muted iridescence of his jacket shoulders. “Well, only if what you want to do is a bad idea.”

  Raz leaned forward and rubbed his temples with his thumb and forefinger. “Man, I don’t know. My life is in freefall, and I’m not even sure what to reach for. I guess I’ll figure out what I need to do, to get my life back on track and start doing it. I’ll probably have to stay with Sia or my—”

  Sia burst back into the room with reddened eyes. “They got your mom’s house too!”

  Both men stared at her wide eyed for an instant before leaping to their feet. They both spoke at once.

  Sia stopped at their outburst and put her hands up to stall further interruptions.

  “Adele’s house is gone. It’s a crater just like yours. Burned out, no major damage to the neighboring houses.”

  Raz felt the strength go out of his legs and fell more than sat back down onto the loveseat.

  This can’t be happening. Why would someone do this to her place, to mine!? What do they want? Who are they?

  Sitting there with his face in his hands, oblivious to the rest of the room Raz worked himself into a fury, his fists clenching as tension drew each muscle into taut readiness.

  Midnight and Sia talked in low voices across the room. Raz ignored them and thought about his childhood bedroom and the family room hearth he’d built with his father.

  A high pitched almost subliminal sound caught his ear and he looked up at Midnight.

  The old man withdrew an unusual looking device from a jacket pocket that Raz could swear hadn’t existed before he started reaching for it. He looked down at the device reading something. His face paled as his free hand clenched into a fist.

  “Finally!” He exclaimed, and then looked around the room at Raz and Sia as though he’d forgotten he wasn’t alone.

  “This is urgent, I need to go.”

  He reached the door and looked back at them. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  “Where are you going? What’s so urgent?” Raz asked.

  He ignored the questions. “Don’t go anywhere till I get back!” he called out over his shoulder.

  Raz jumped to his feet and crossed the room in an instant. Midnight was already out of sight. He looked back at Sia.

  “I am really starting to hate that guy.”

෴෴෴ ෴෴෴ ෴෴෴

෴Martine෴

෴Candace෴

෴෴෴ ෴෴෴෴෴෴

Guilty Pleasures and Redirection

  Reginald Martine sat in his office with a different news channel on each of the many screens in the room. Several of the screens showed the dusty form of Doktor Midnight digging deep into the target site. Each small broken form that was unearthed landed like a blow. He sat in the chair, back rigid, hands clenched into fists so tight his short fingernails dug into his palms.

  “What have I done? So much death, and for what?”

  At that moment his assistant swept into the room from the outer office. “Oh hey Reggie, let's turn this boring stuff off and take a break. I know something much more interesting to talk about.”

  Without waiting for a reply she hit a series of buttons to switch all the monitors off. She bent low in front of him and whispered in his ear.

  He tried and failed to suppress a smile. “Candace, sometimes I think you’re the one who really runs this place. You always seem to know just what to say to make me feel better about staying the course.”

  She giggled softly. “Oh Reggie, don’t be silly. You’re in charge. I just try to help you out where I can. And you know, at times like these, you should really call me Candy.”

  He chuckled but shook his head. “I’m serious. I don’t know what I’d do without you, and anyone who doubts you’re the power behind the—”

  A tiny frown crossed her face for the barest instant before she smiled lasciviously, and leaned in close again to whisper something else in his ear as she ran one of her hands up his thigh.

  He shifted in his seat and glanced down her low cut top presented there for his gaze. As she stood up, he coughed. “Well, when you put it that way, we should get going and address that issue right away, it sounds important. I can always contact McAvoy later.”

  He adjusted his pants before getting to his feet and following her into the next room.