CHAPTER 26

Jasmine watched as Adam exited the Twisted Sip, wondering if this was really the right move. She would have preferred it if Agnes stayed with Roger and his wife at least for a night to extract more information, but it appeared she really wanted to leave.

“What did you do to him?” The barman said, grabbing her shoulder.

The girl turned her head. “What are you accusing me of, mister Kizinger?”

Roger tightened his grip, letting her know that he wouldn’t allow her to leave. “Adam’s changed. He’s not behaving right, and I’m sure you have something to do with it.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, he’s been like this ever since we got to him.” She deadpanned as she swatted his hand off of her. “How did he behave before, though, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Why would you even want to know?” Roger grunted.

“It might help us trace back what happened to him.” Jasmine quickly responded. She wondered where the lies were coming from.

“Adam is… was— how do you call it? Grandiose? Bombastic, that’s the fucking word! He was a fighter, and he wasn’t scared of standing up for himself, but he was also everyone’s friend. Seeing him like this now… it’s strange.” He fretted. You still haven’t answered my question, by the way. How did you find him?”

“Sir, Adam gave himself up to the TIA. Now, I’m afraid I must leave, but we’ll come by tomorrow if that’s alright?”

“Fine.” He sighed. “Can you swing by in the morning? I open at noon, and you already made me lose a lot of money tonight.”

“No problem, we’ll be there. Thank you for your time, mister Kizinger, have a good rest of your day.” Jasmine finished.

The girl got up and left the empty bar, hearing her footstep reverberate across the entire room. She pushed the saloon door open and noticed Agnes waiting for her outside, still wearing Adam’s form. A large crowd had formed outside the bar, mostly made out of people who had been kicked out an hour earlier waiting to see if they could get back in or that were simply interested in the commotion and the abnormality of the situation. They were surrounding Agnes.

“So you’re back in town, eh, Adam? Those metahuman fucks didn’t treat you that well, eh?” A man said.

“You family warned you, but you were still a fool, just like your dad was. Metahuman loving fuck.” Another one said.

“You should be hiding in shame, but it looks like you have none.” An older lady added.

Jasmine clearly noticed that Agnes was on the brink of blowing up at these people, so she quickly strode forward toward her. She gently tapped on her shoulder.

“Adam, it’s time to leave.” Jasmine said.

“Oh, thank the Allfather.” Agnes said through gritted teeth.

Jasmine took a step, but a large man stepped in front of her, stopping her from leaving.

“Is this the TIA bitch that got us kicked out of the bar?” He spoke with slurred speech, and his breath reeked of alcohol. “Are you banging her, Adam? Looks a little too young for me, but I’d still tap that.” He continued as he tried to grab her arm, even if he was too drunk to do so.

As if she had been struck by lightning, Jasmine’s entire body froze and shut down. The obnoxious jeering of the crowd became background noise, and her vision became blurry. All Jasmine could hear was her heart pounding harshly against her ribcage and her accelerating breathing.

“D— don’t touch me!” She came back to reality and screamed. Jasmine stumbled backward and fell onto the pavement. Tears welled up in her eyes. Looking up, all she saw was the man’s grin. His yellowish teeth.

Why did they always smile?

Adam’s fist flew straight into his cheek, knocking out a loose tooth and a mouthful of spit.

“She told you to stop, you fucking asshole.” She said in Adam’s voice, standing tall over him. She grabbed Jasmine’s hand and lifted her up.

The two left in a hurry, making their way back toward the motel in silence. Eventually, when they reached an empty street, Agnes painfully changed back into her original form. Jasmine’s face was completely still and all she wanted to do was take a shower. She felt dirty.

She had to clean it off.

Eventually, the girls made it back to the Mountainside Motel, and the letters on the roof had turned on. Green neon illuminated the small empty parking lot. Agnes still didn’t let go of Jasmine’s hand, and she led her to the second floor. As it turned out, the landlord did live on the upper floor. Their room had a sign clearly stating that this was where they’d have to register.

Agnes knocked.

“Ben! About fucking time, I was wondering to think you forgot me, come in.” A loud voice boomed from inside the room.

Agnes cracked the door open. “I don’t know who this Ben is but he sounds in trouble.” She answered. “We’re here to get a room?”

“Oh. Oh. My apologies!” The man said, grabbing a cane to stand up. He had white hair and was clean-shaven, but that wasn’t what Jasmine first saw. First, a portion of his face was heavily scarred and burned, and second? He was missing his right leg. “Room for two, right? How many nights?”

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“Six nights, please. We’ll pay upfront.” Agnes clarified.

“Sounds good to me! Allfather, the last time I had clients, they were an odd bunch. Strange ideas, but they did pay, so I didn’t mind.” The man said, walking with the use of his cane toward a drawer. He opened it and handed them a form. “Fill this in first.”

Jasmine looked over at the form. Agnes groaned.

“Um, we don’t have a credit card, but can we use cash?” She filled in the rest of the form.

“Sounds fine to me.” The man said, sitting back at his desk with a sigh of relief. Jasmine couldn’t help but look at his missing leg.

“Hey, my eyes are up here, young lady.” He said, tapping his cane on the ground.

“Oh, sorry.” She replied, her eyes meeting his.

“Just don’t stare too much. Every time I meet someone new, it’s all they can look at.” The landlord sighed. “It gets tiring.”

“Alright, I’m done, and here’s the cash. Five hundred and twenty-two marks, if I can count correctly.” Agnes placed the money on his desk and perked up. “What now?”

The man cracked his knuckles, and got up a second time, straining against his walking stick. “Here.” He said, opening up another drawer. He threw a key at Agnes, which she failed to catch. “Oops, my bad.”

“No prob’” She said, picking up the key.

“It’s the key to room five, on the first floor. It has a shower, a fridge, and a kitchen. No television, though, I sold those years ago. Ah, and there’s a laundromat in the back of the property.”

“Thank you... we never got your name?” Agnes continued.

“Finn Beck, but just call me Finn. I’ll be in here if you need anything.” He said with a slight smile. Finn wasn’t looking at them, though, he was counting his bills.

The girls were about to walk out when he called out.

“Oh, and if you see a short man with a really fucked up crooked nose around here, tell him he’s horribly late to his job.”

“That’s Ben, I’m assuming.” Agnes muttered.

They walked down the stairs and toward their room. Jasmine had calmed down by now, feeling bad for letting that drunkard get the better of her. She had to be stronger. Stepping inside the room was undoubtedly an… experience. The floors were dusty, and it was clear no one had stepped inside of it for months, at least. The entrance directly led to the bedroom, which had two single beds along with a bedside table separating the two. A door opposite of the beds led to the kitchen and the last door to the bathroom. It was simple, but it would do. Agnes rushed to a window and opened it as wide as she could manage.

“Allfather, these floors are so fucking dirty.” She groaned. “At least the beds are fine…”

“It’s not bad. At least we have a place to stay.”

Agnes acquiesced with a nod.

“Listen…” Jasmine continued, as she laid her bag flat on her bed. “Thanks for earlier, I don’t know what happened.” She lied. Jasmine knew exactly what had happened.

“Don’t sweat it, he was a grade-A asshole. You just have to be aggressive with them, I think. When they push, you push back, you know what I mean? And if he tries to get physical, well, you did get military training.”

The girl nodded silently. She knew that she would have been able to defend herself, but would her body let her?

“Anyway, my knuckles hurt like a bitch now.” Her friend said, blowing on her fists.

“Crap. Come here, let me see.” She said, patting down next to her.

Agnes sat and Jasmine grabbed her hand. “Oh, that doesn’t look too bad.” Her knuckles were slightly swollen and red. “Although it would be nice to have Franz here. Here, let me grab the first aid kit.”

Jasmine rummaged through her bag and pulled out a white metallic box. Opening it, she found what she was looking for instantly “Ah, here it is. Give me your hand again.” The girl continued.

Agnes followed her lead, and she placed a cold pack over her fist.’

“Ah.” Agnes moaned. “Don’t do it so suddenly.”

“Stop being a baby, it’s supposed to be cold. Keep it there for… I think the TIA guys said twenty minutes at a time. It makes the swelling go down.”

“Alright, alright.” She groaned, placing her feet on the bed.

“That was my bed…”

“I’m injured, you aren’t.” Agnes said, smirking. “Now, can we speak about the—”

“The mission, yes.” Jasmine interrupted her. She started taking off her clothes. “I think that it went pretty well, we got a lot of information. Director Oppenheimer will be satisfied.”

“Yeah, agreed. Not going to lie, I thought it was going to take way longer to start actually getting results. What about Andrea, though? No more of her help, I assume, since the news of me being with the TIA is probably going to spread.”

Jasmine threw her clothes on her old bed, which coincidentally ended up being Agnes’ face. “That was uncalled for.” She said, throwing the clothes back on the ground. “But yeah, I mean we did lie to her. It sucks, because she apparently knows everyone, but I guess we did get a lot from her already. Let’s just hope we don’t run into her in the streets, that would be awkward. Awkward but funny.”

“I fail to see the humor in that. Anyway, I’m going to shower, and then we can call HQ.” Jasmine said as she strode into the bathroom.

“Sounds good to me.”

The bathroom was even filthier than the bedroom. The floor was made out of pale tiles, but they were no longer white, instead, traces of dirt, muck, and dust littered it. The walls had holes in them, revealing the pipeworks and wires that delivered water and electricity.

“Ew, ew, ew.” She muttered. Jasmine slowly stepped toward the shower, carefully avoiding the worst spots to step on. Even then, she felt the dirt accumulate on her feet.

“This place better have running water.” Jasmine groaned. She twisted the shower handle and breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the water hit the ceramic floor. The girl placed her hand under the water and bit her lip. Cold. She did like cold showers, but she really felt like taking a hot one today, especially with the chill of Autumn in the north. She waited to see if the water warmed up to no avail. She couldn’t wait any longer. Jasmine needed to feel clean.

At least the water cleaned some of the dirty floors. Jasmine took a deep breath and stepped under the water.

Cold.

Jasmine stopped breathing, and her body turned invisible. She watched the water wash over her imperceptible body, warping around seemingly nothing. She felt at peace for a few seconds.

The metahuman turned her head toward the right and found a dusty old soap bottle. Did soap have an expiration date? Jasmine shook the bottle and poured the soap into her hand, and then emptied the entire remains of the bottle on herself. She scrubbed hard, and it still wasn’t enough. She needed another bottle. More soap. She needed—

Cold.

Jasmine turned off the running water and felt tears well up into her eyes. She sobbed quietly, sitting there in the shower as the memories kept flooding back. She had done so well to forget. To shove it into a corner of her mind, never to be brought up again.

The cold hadn’t been enough to distract her. Jasmine slowly lifted herself up, using the walls as support. She felt weaker than she had been in months— weaker than she was in the hospital. The girl wiped herself dry with a towel and looked into the dirty mirror. Jasmine rubbed her eyes, trying to mask the fact that she had been crying, and then she heard a loud knock.

“Fuck me! Wrong fist! My bad. Um, are you, like, done showering? You’ve been in here a while.” Agnes’ voice seeped through the door.

“Just a second!” She answered, steeling herself. “I’m drying myself.”

“Alright, no prob’. I’m here if you need anything.” Agnes said, sounding further away.

Jasmine took a deep breath and made sure she was ready. She creaked the door open and peaked her head out.

“Woah, that was some fast drying.” Her friend said with a hint of sarcasm, raising her eyebrows.

“Not in the mood.” Jasmine bit back. “Pass me some clothes from my bag, the bathroom was too dirty to have them in here.”

“Sure, but I’m wounded over here.” Agnes acquiesced. She began digging through her bag. “Any preference?”

“Just something comfortable enough to sleep in is fine.” Jasmine answered as she laid her head against the doorframe.

“How about this, then?” Agnes prodded, lifting some grey pants and a t-shirt.

“Perfect, thank you.” Jasmine said. She opened the door. “Throw them here.”

Agnes listened and gave her the clothes. “You don’t mind being naked in front of me, huh. I thought you’d be a prude.”

“No, I’m used to it now.” She answered abruptly.

“Used to it—” Agnes started, but when she realized what Jasmine had meant, her eyes widened. “Shit, my bad. I’m a real dumbass.”

“Don’t worry about it. Now, do you want to shower too, or can we call Oppenheimer?” The metahuman asked as she sat on the bed.

“Nah, I’m too lazy to shower, I’ll do it tomorrow morning.”

“Sounds good.” Jasmine said, grabbing her phone. The girl had wanted her and her friends to have one, but this was not truly hers. It was the TIA’s. “Ready?” She looked at Agnes.

“Ready for him to be a bitch, yeah.”

Jasmine dialed his number, put the phone on speaker, and placed it on the bed.