Turning away from the sight, Erich hisses as for the ninth time this morning his skin is pricked and some measure of fluid is pumped through his veins. This one, like the one he had an hour ago, made him woozy and forced him to belch a nauseous smelling gas the mask over his face captures. His attending nurse nodded encouragingly as she did the past four times, lulling him into a sense of security that this would in fact be the last ‘test’ or ‘samples’ she subjects him to. But Bethany’s relaxing on a couch and enjoying a large beef warp tells him otherwise.

“This is the last one, I promise.” Coming from Dolores, Bethany’s attractive, blond haired assistant gave assuaged some of his piling doubts and growing distaste. Out of everyone that’s coming in to poke and prod at him and force him into roundabout meaningless exercises of strength and endurance, Dolores is the only one that remained at his side, watching and encouraging through it all even though they’d just met.

Through the daze Erich manages to smile back at her as the nurse marks down her final readings and organizes the many vials of blood samples and fluids into a compact box, “That will be all, sir.” She says, walking over with her prize and standing in Bethany’s relaxed view.

Chewing rapidly, Bethany takes her feet off the table and nods, “Y-yes, very good. Send the results to my office and remember…”

“Yes sir, I’ll keep it confidential.” The nurse glances back at Erich with a smile and an unmistakable predatory glint in her eye that makes him uncomfortable. She heads out the door of the penthouse without another word though Erich has a feeling he’ll be seeing more of her.

Dolores offers a glance of orange juice and a slice of the large wrap Bethany continues gorging down as she glances over at him. Grateful, Erich drowns the litany of bitter tastes and smells from his throat, rejuvenating his senses with the sugar content and a bite of the wrap. He can’t blame Bethany for gorging, it was very good.

“What now?” Erich starts, not one to beat about the bush any longer. It’s the first time seeing Bethany since she left that night. He’d been locked in for three days and a night before the lock on the door stirred him from his reckless slumber so early in the morning the sun wouldn’t rise for another three hours.

She had the sense to come with breakfast but more importantly a revised service contract that made things clearer, most especially the timeline of how and when he’d be able to get info on his mother.

Xerai Black.

That’s her name. He’d never learned it or gotten a chance to and though he sorely misses the photo of her, learning her name is the first major milestone he’s had in the search. Thinking back now his plans to look for her felt ridiculous; all he knew is that she was out there, beyond Xoxia and with the picture he would find her somehow. Even if it meant bothering everyone in the middle of their day to ask if they’ve seen her.

Having her name changes things by a lot, for one he signed their stupid contract. The milestones Bethany included could be called standard or obvious given the circumstances of their new relation. Helping enforce Xoxia’s laws on Steve and his gang, Tareh and the remainder of the Lynx, Letharguy and his crew and finally, what has to be the most challenging task he’s been asked to accomplish— capturing Hell.

He shivers at the thought but quickly put it aside. Before any of that comes to pass, as in, before the M.C.U locates and corners any of these metahuman criminals for him to sic, Yelnats Academy awaits him.

“You know, school.” She replies with a shrug, swallows her last mouthful and sighs while rubbing her belly, “That was soo good.”

Erich groans in response. There was nothing here that the Downtown burrows held a candle to and while he enjoys the luxury and shine, he couldn’t help the stained feeling of pride and wonder why it couldn’t be the same down there or even have some approximation.

The answer was obvious though and just like everything he couldn’t immediately care about, Erich set it aside. He doubts it but maybe helping roundup the metahuman criminals would help things Downtown progress.

Dolores sighs at her superior, “We’ll head to Yelnat to enrol you in one of their courses or two if you like. The final session starts in a few weeks so you should get familiar with the environs and some of the classwork before then.”

“We’re going now?”

“Yep!” Bethany claps with an all too satisfied grin, “Let’s go!”

***

Ambivalence is the word. Erich thinks little of enrolling with Yelnat Academy, at best it will cover his glaring gap in worthwhile subjects and at worse, it will be a distraction to far more important events in his life. Like finding where she went and why.

It’s the first question he asked right after Bethany provided her name, Xerai Black. Come to think of it, why is he Underwood while she’s Black? His mother was the only parent figure around, in fact, for some time he might have believed he were some kind of miracle babe with no fraternal donor involved in the process. There must have been, of course, but Erich wasn’t and isn’t in the least bit interested. If he isn’t in any of his fleeting memories or a single picture, then what did he matter?

What does matter though is where and why Xerai, his mother, left. He has a creeping feeling it had something to do with his powers but…it still doesn’t make any sense why she’d leave at all. Yelnat Academy has existed longer than Erich has lived, if his powers were a turbulence to her life then Yelnat would be the way, right?

Maybe we weren’t as well off as I thought.

It’s plausible. Yelnat has been one for the elites and Erich wondered his way from Midtown to Downtown in hunger the first weeks of his mother’s disappearance before being picked up by some dinky foster care home he promptly ran away from once reality began making more sense— right around the time he dropped out of school and met Austin.

Austin. Another matter that disturbs him. He didn’t mention his involvement to Bethany as he wasn’t asked, but given Frost Bitch’s greater ambivalence to Vertigo and everyone associated, its likely Bethany and her partner Rick already know about what happened to him.

“So,” Bethany breaks the silence of the car ride, coming out of her own thoughts to disturb Erich surely, “Have you got any expectations?”

After three encounters with the woman Erich decides he doesn’t like talking to her very much. She’s friendly, overly so but worse is her way of knowing things. In the three isolating days he spent in the penthouse, Erich had plenty time to replay their second encounter and conclude she must be some sort of telepath. It’s the only explanation for the meals and eerily precise questions.

“Am I supposed to?”

“Oh, well, I figured you haven’t been in school in a minute.” She mumbles, shuffling ever close. Dolores at the front shakes her head. “Not to mention, this school will actually teach you a thing or two about your abilities.”

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Erich stiffens at the mention, “What’s there to learn?”

Dolores snickers, “For starters, the very answer to that question. What do you think your abilities are anyway?”

What are they? He tries not to think about it too much, the experience has always been painful. The first on Christmas Eve, how long that went, how alone everything was. And then his first arrest trying to shoplift with it only to fall unconscious mid-theft, embarrassing, painful and the reason he ever got into that insidious foster home in the first place. And so…

“They’re a curse.”

That brought a cold draft over Dolores and Bethany’s natural stew of mirth. Bethany even straightens up, going from leaning to appraising while Dolores tries not to catch a glance at him through either glass mirror.

Then like an insensitive bull Bethany says, “Eesh, teen brood, Rick wasn’t kidding.” Erich regards her with an incensed glare and a smirk creeps onto her lips, “If that gets you mad I’d better warn you now, students at Yelnat are different from Downtown youths like yourself. For one, most enjoy having their abilities and don’t have a backstory as dark and depressing as yours is. Understand that and keep the rage in your back pocket for more important people, Vertigo for one.”

She’s crude but right. There isn’t any time to waste breeding some inter-burrow rivalry with the pompous, entitled children that will be in attendance. They will never understand Erich and he likely wouldn’t understand them either, so it’s a waste of time to concern with them rather than his true goals here. He let out a breath, rolling his eyes at Bethany’s baiting grin and instead says to Dolores, “So, what will they have to teach me?”

Her eyes widen in surprise and quickly the snuffed mirth reignites itself behind them, “Glad you asked! Besides the mandated sessions with the councillor every two weeks, there are a ton of subjects to interact with at Yelnat. Bethany majored Communications and I found Robotics amusing and had a minor in Ethics, Law and Policy— that’s all one subject mind you.” She cringes.

“Your situation is pretty interesting so you get the privilege of dropping in and starting from scratch, did I mention this is the final year for the set you’re joining? It’s graduation and M.C.U induction right after that.”

“For most of them anyway. You’ll have some heading right into secret divisions or back to suckle on their mother’s teat, it’s an any which way environment.” Bethany snorts, seemingly given up on pressing into Erich she leans against her door and glares out the window in thought.

Dolores tries not to look flustered and as if for clarification says, “Yeah, take a look at me, my parents wanted me to found a company and make some use of this…pretty face but I found the M.C.U a lot charming, especially with a brood like Bethany.” She giggles.

“Hey! I’m not brooding…or maybe Erich’s infected me with his cooties.”

Erich groans at the chortling pair, once again it rounds about to him as the butt of the joke. The car tips unto a highway, freeing itself from the traction pull of Xoxia’s skylanes in a not-so=smooth transition. They pull into a high fenced neighbourhood that forms a strict pentagon of luscious green bushery, neat lawns and garden fronts. The neighbourhood falls away as they enter high-class, high-moving streets with men, women and droids navigating through traffic in two seaters, autonomous vehicles, some hovering at over three metres in height and others crawling at the street level as they did.

Fine restaurants, abundant shopping malls and interesting shaped buildings reeking of Uptown supremacy fill Erich’s view as the car climbs up an inclined street littered with fenced sections. Sighting a ridiculously sized library emblazoned in the Yelnat’s name smack in the midst of what looks like a dog park, Erich figures the campus must occupy the surrounding area. The growing number of youthful faces trolleying down the half of the street with backpacks, notes and in frequent pairs of two all the way up to groups of six confirms it more than anything.

Erich watches a boy with a rabbit bot step into a bar, music leaking out of it as well as glimpse of the rapidly intoxicating set of customers. They drive past sweatshops, a pastries store named ‘Tasty Bonds’, ‘Antique’ the cozy looking coffee shop hidden at a corner stop and a basketball court going through warm-ups as students change in their clothes for jerseys.

The entire place is its own community. Bethany pinches his side, startling from his unawares marvelling so he meets her ever present smirk and raised eyebrow, “You like it? You wouldn’t mind staying here for the year would you?”

“What?”

“Yeah, meant to tell you but the rent on that penthouse is insane!”

Dolores bursts out laughing at the front, “She’s partly kidding, I think. It’s more important you’re where your enemies would look and I don’t think any of them suspect Erich Underwood will be schooling.”

“They wouldn’t think I’m living in a penthouse either but I understand.” He did or rather he has to. Finding Vertigo will only work on his terms and up till now he’s been working on the stage Steve set. Better to keep the advantage and gather intel on his location discreetly; Steve has all it takes to get rid of him, far more money, reputation and a deadly power. For now, Erich only has his anonymity and a healthy sum of cash coming in from the M.C.U, no doubt they’ll be monitoring how every dime of XCredit is spent, but Erich’s given up on covering crimes to the M.C.U, especially when it will only benefit them in the end.

“Good! Oh look!” Bethany excitedly points out her window, a fountain of colourful liquids pours out the middle of the main campus grounds, hosting a bazaar of students scattered in close distance from it with party cups littered about.

“Haha, the Messiah Fountain still works!” Dolores looks like she’s about to cheer but Bethany beats her to it.

“Go Stray Cyclops!” she screams out her window much to the driver’s alarm.

Again, Dolores and Bethany devolved into mirth filled laughter while Erich shakes his head at the two, missing out on what’s so funny. He sighs as the car comes to a stop at the front of a large, rectangular entrance with spinning doors leading into the reception. It carries almost the same luxurious interior design of the hotel the penthouse is at except its walls are enchanted with emblems depicting one eye in some way or form. A Cyclops.

The trio wordlessly step out and the car zooms off to park somewhere out of sight. Already Erich’s body cringes at the number of eyes analysing his person, and even more so when Bethany makes him grab onto her like he’s leading her down a red carpet. Well, technically we are walking down one but still!

She stands a head taller than him in her flat shoes so she leans her head against his as they walk hand in hand over Dolores’ pathetic attempts to stifle her giggles. Even the receptionist they walk up to has an amused look at both of them as he greets, “It’s always nice to welcome esteemed alumni to their Halls. Welcome, Bethany Grant, Dolores Silvertown, may I make an appointment or do you have one already?”

His formal, almost rehearsed greeting marks him as a droid. Erich looks for confirmation and spots the little green-red light pulsing at the side of his neck— that’s no implant.

Bethany lazily flashes her badge, “Yeah, just tell Cleo we’re coming up.”

The droid seems to glitch as it makes that polite face people do before saying no only for it to blank and smile, “Why yes, of course.”

Bethany leads him and Dolores down what has to be memory lane for the two. Keeping it in mind Erich watches out for any sign of the M.C.U Officers in their earlier years amongst the displays of trophies, art and genius robotic models. Rather than a plaque detailing her accomplishment, Erich stumbles upon a tome settled upon a pedestal and encased in protective glass.

“Dolores Silvertown, Theory of Humanities Self Bias Versus Evolution?” Reading it aloud catches their attention, Dolores spotted it a while before and chose to avoid as she snickers sheepishly.

“It’s nothing.”

“Yeah, sure, let’s call it that.” Bethany rolls her eyes so hard Dolores is forced to pinch her, “Ow!”

They come upon a hallway with its own reception and a spread of comfortable chairs, couches and beanies with blankets and pillows for the near dozen people in line— students snacking on chocolate bars, pulling their hairs out or blocking out the world with headsets.

The receptionist at the counter, wielding the same face as the last offers a generous smile and gestures, “Please make yourself comfortable, the Councillor has been alerted of your visit and will attend to you soon.”

Soon appears to be now as the door everyone is lined up at clicks open, letting out a pair of voices and a young girl clinging to her backpack while trying not to descend any further into the mood that has her eyes red.

“Athena, please don’t forget!” A woman’s voice inside hollers, “And the thing with your Uncle, I’d love to see you both. Bye!”

Bethany steals the door from Athena before it can snap back. She’s got pink, white and black streaks of colour in her short curly mop of hair. An eyebrow and nose piercing, a loose white top that outlines the sports bra underneath. She has on jean shorts and her sneakers are untied. Sparing Bethany a respectful nod, she ducks past Erich, her eye flitting to his for a second before she disappears around the corner.

“Cleo! What a pleasure it is!” Bethany squeals on the inside.

“Come on Erich, let’s introduce you.” Dolores says at the door, urging him to follow while apologizing to a disinterested young man for cutting in line.

“Right, let’s get it over with.”