“Welcome back curious folk! It’s been a long marathon of questions from chat, you’ve given Query and I a lot to chew on! Before lock up though, we should pose at least one more question to you chat, it’s only fair, after all this is the Question! Now, have you ever thought about what lies beyond Xoxia? Beyond the snowstorm of guards, the secure walls and shoot on sight death troopers? Why of course you have! However, this is a century old question even the oldies have stopped asking, shushing you young curious folk into blind obedience and patience— the Mayor will provide, the Mayor will reveal, the Mayor this and that! Ugh, aren’t you sick of it? I am. So here’s a hint— an abyss only Metahuman’s can survive…. yup, that’s it! Goodluck figuring it out and yes, I do know the answer, how dare you? Hahah, until next time curious folk, Eroteme out!”

***

The stringent, unmistakable scent of antiseptics and disinfectants stir Erich awake. Knowing exactly where he is Erich doesn’t bother opening his eyes and simply feels around his surroundings with his other senses. The bed is comfortable at least, more so than his own back at the apartment and as his nose got used to the smell of bleach and medicine it smells better too. Rain and snow raged outside, rattling and banging the window sills with its howls. Even with the windows shut Erich suffers a chilling updraft; the cause he attributes to his lack of clothes, it didn’t feel like he had anything on besides a thin layer of cloth— a hospital gown surely.

He feels something else though, something cold and metal clinging to his wrist. He let out a sigh and opens his eyes, confirming with groan the metal cuffs chaining him to the bed. Of course he’d be arrested after that mess of a robbery, after all those deaths and…

“Cynthia…Lynx..” the image summons itself fresh and vivid as a polaroid in his hand. He pushes down the rising panic, reminding himself he’s no longer there and…wait, what about them? What about her? He forced Lynx to halt for ten seconds, he remembers counting down but afterwards what? Did he pass out for nothing? Did he get arrested for nothing?

Forcing himself upright he takes a cursory glance around the hospital room. A bedside table stood near him with a newspaper, the headline read ‘Midtown in Chaos! M.C.U subdue Lynx!’. He let out a sigh at it and looks to the drawn curtains, wishing for some non-artificial light in the blanch white, fluorescent room reeking of trouble and consequence.

A persistent itch along his arm forces him to pull up the loose sleeves of the polka dot gown he’s dressed in, revealing strips of red and black flexi-metal attached to his forearm like a bandage. They look like shimmering crimson and black barcodes and have some kind of fluid that sloshed about with his movements, bubbling up if he shifts too much. He's seen them covering meta criminals; the M.C.U would slap as many as needed, sometimes even employing collars to subdue metahuman’s and their abilities— not that his needed to be subdued, they're useless and unreliable as is.

The newspaper on the table mentions nothing of Frost Bitch or himself for that matter but if she’s alive and captured she’d have the same strips lining her body, perhaps more according to her classification. Still, if he had these on then officers from the M.C.U would be waiting for him on the other side of the door, soon to come in and check up on him. It’s the worst possible outcome for him, one he never stopped to consider because, well, why would he? Vertigo said he’d only be robbing a store and splitting the profits between the crew that help him carry it out. No one was meant to die, no one was meant to get arrested or hurt this bad. It wasn’t meant to make citywide news for fuck sake.

The shrill upbeat beeping beside him forces him to calm down. Alongside the meta-suppressant strips they were monitoring his vital signs with a little box standing guard over his bed. He has half a mind to rip off all the wires and try peeling off the suppressant strips but that will only bring more attention and he isn’t ready to face anyone yet. Curious as he is about Cynthia’s state he will beg for a spare few moments before facing the consequences of his hubris.

Of course, Vertigo wouldn’t send Neil and the whole crew to rob a simple store. The signs were there from the start and I refused to acknowledge it. Berating himself for his greed he stifles the welling tears by biting the inside of his cheek. How will he get out of this now? Is there any escape to be had? It’s the M.C.U this time not XCPD, they can’t, no, won’t be bribed and even if they would, where will he get the credits? His entire life savings is an insult rather than a bargaining chip and Vertigo would sooner kill him than admit to any association— even though there’s insurmountable evidence to the fact.

I’m fucked.

The door slides open as a nurse walks in with her eyes on a chart, she looks up and gasps at Erich. He gives an awkward smile and waves two lazy fingers at her as she stutters, searching about the room before running right back out, shutting the door behind her. Erich sighs, pulls himself in an upright sitting position and settles into his breathing techniques for what comes next.

One, two, three, four. Exhale. One, two, three, four. Inhale. He continues like that until the pounding in his heart stops and the blood rushing throughout his head stops being so noisy. He shuts his eyes and lets out a final exhale as the door slides open once again, this time two strict figures walk in, shunning the nurse that came in before and shutting the door behind them. Both figures dress in clean, dark blue suits and have the badge of the M.C.U pinned to their breast. The leading figure, a tall, lean man with a straight jawline as though carved from stone pulls a chair to Erich’s bed, falling into it and unbuttoning his suit for comfort as he crosses his legs and fixes Erich with a sharp gaze.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

The other stands beside him, a woman or perhaps a girl as she looks not much older than Erich. Her eyes held a darkness when they walked in the room and shunned the nurse away but now she wears a smile as bright as the stark white room he's trapped in. Her dark hair is thin, straight and falls short in a sharp curve above her neckline. She crossed her hands in front of her as she takes point at the end of Erich’s bed, smiling down at him with a softness that can only be manufactured in Xoxia.

“And how are you feeling today, Erich?” strangely, she’s the one to speak first while the man continues to gaze at Erich, his stern stare unmoving from him even as the room floods with an awkward vibe.

“Uhh…I’m only now waking up so…I guess I’m good.” Erich says and she nods knowingly but doesn’t say anything else. Pointing at the newspaper on the table he asks, “I guess you left this for me…is, is Cynthia alright?”

The woman inhales to speak but the answer comes from the man, he taps his band and a black and white holographic file juts out in front of him with Cynthia’s headshot, “The Frost Bitch is alive. We cannot divulge any more about your partner at the moment, Erich Underwood, though I would be more concerned about yourself.” He says without looking away from the file.

“Yes, you should be more concerned about yourself, Erich, you’re in a very precarious situation after all.” The woman says, holding her sympathetic smile as she presses a hand on the man’s shoulder, “I’m Officer Bethany and this is my superior, Officer Rick, we’re from the Metahuman Control Unit and your crimes have gotten several people killed, Erich.”

At this Erich glances between the two staring at him expectantly and narrows his eyes at Bethany, “My crimes? I didn’t orchestrate any of this, I’m a goon and some ways a victim.” He makes his point rattling against the handcuffs but that only has both Officers lose their visage of politeness and sneer.

“Careful now, Erich, we’re only here to help.” Rick says, legs uncrossed and on the tip of his toes, ready to leap from his seat with his fingers inching towards a concealed weapon in his jacket.

Taking a breath, Erich raises his free hand in surrender, “I’m a harmless goon, I don’t have any partners, I didn’t even…fuck it.”

“No, tell us, if anyone can help you out of this position it’ll be us, that’s why we’re here.” Bethany says, coming round to the side of the bed and half-sitting on it. Her lips are thin as she spoke but eyes wide with every emotion behind her words, “You’re a smart kid, I see it. You don’t want any more of that life do you?”

Erich blinks and rubs his temple, “Wait, wait…what are we talking about now? What’s going to happen to me?” It isn’t going to be anything good from the precautions they’ve taken alone and though the smiles behind Bethany’s words are soothing, Erich knew just about a tenth of everything she said was genuine.

Rick crosses his legs again, swiping to the next holographic file on his band, “You’re rushing him, Bethany. He has no idea so let’s enlighten him first.” Fixing Erich with a blank look as the headshot shimmers from Cynthia to one of himself. “Erich Underwood, orphan, middle school dropout, known drug dealer servicing multiple neighbourhoods Downtown including but not limited to Ardak Avenue where he personally resides. Suspected Epsilon rank Metahuman criminal facing multiple murder charges among several counts of drug trafficking and battery.”

Murder charges. It has a terrible ring to it said aloud. His life could be ruined with all the evidence they have on his trafficking of Vie, add the murder atop and— I’ll never find her, I’ll never leave this place.

Erich pulls himself up again but Bethany inches closer and snatches his hand in hers, “Like I said, that doesn’t have to be your life. We’ve done enough research to know you didn’t have any choice with those…misdemeanours but we also know you purposely went out on this adventure for the sake of your wallet. Something about an escape from Xoxia?”

It’s as if she were reading his thoughts. Gulping, Erich slides his hand away from her grasp and she maintains a sheepish smile all through, “What…what do you want?”

Officer Rick dismisses the hologram and stands, buttoning his jacket as he walks over to the end of the bed, “To help you, Erich. All this can be forgiven with a little work here and there, if you’re especially good we will personally sponsor your search for your mother, out of Xoxia, within, wherever the search leads you.”

“How do you…right, Metahuman Control Unit.” Erich mutters to himself. They would know everything, every slight leverage they can employ to control and moderate Metahumans but even for them a promise like that sounds too good to be true. “I don’t believe you’ll let a single Metahuman not under your thumb out of Xoxia and even then…what exactly do you people want?”

“Why, you of course.” Bethany says with cheer, leaning ever closer so her soft scents of flowerbeds and bubble-gum fills Erich’s nostrils, “You were right at the start, we left that newspaper for you, Erich, but not for the reasons you think. We left it to show you what you’re capable of. Why, you alone stopped a Gamma level Metahuman, quite literally too. Your powers, they’ve piqued the interest of several of our superiors that will help you but only if you help them.”

Rick continues from where she stops, “Your circumstances forced you to crime but you’re no criminal and you no longer need to be. If you accept our offer, we’ll make the charges disappear and have you working with the M.C.U after a probationary year at Yelnat Academy.”

“Yelnat Academy? Isn’t that—”

Bethany giggles, “Yes, it is, you’ll only be there a year to fill in the gap in your education. As brilliant as your ability is, it needs an educated mind to wield it properly, don’t you think?” She pats Erich’s shoulder before stepping out to button her jacket as well, “As a show of good faith you’ll be released as soon as your doctor gives the all clear but make no mistake, this is the best way to atone for your crimes, better than sitting in with the true villains at Hielo Penitentiary, ey?”

Bethany walks off before a word can come to his mind, Rick lingers at the door contemplating for a second before looking over with his blank stare, “You’ll know how to reach us when you’re ready, I hope you make the right choice, Erich Underwood.”