I’ve seen how this ends…
Danny was trying to control his breathing, but the pressure was getting to him. The janitor’s closet in the library was small and poorly ventilated, and the heat wasn’t helping any. The Warden’s clothes already fit him awkwardly, and he didn’t want to add being a sweaty mess to the list of challenges for today.
Finally the earpiece Emi had made clicked, and Lucia’s voice came through. “We’re good, the Dean’s heading to the barracks as usual. I wish we knew what he did in there,” she said.
“We have all the information we’re going to get,” Vincent’s voice answered. “We do this now or never. Waiting on you, Danny.” Okay, it’s time, Danny thought. He triggered the transformation the only way he knew how, picturing the Warden in his mind, and repeating his little mantra. I wish I were the Warden, I wish I were the Warden…
He felt his body change. The experience was still supremely uncomfortable, though blessedly brief, and–surprisingly–never painful. After a few moments the cheap brown suit felt comfortable on his body, and he instinctively stood up straighter, and let his face fall into a no-nonsense expression. It was time to put this thing to the test.
He burst out of the janitor’s closet as if it was a perfectly normal place for the Dean to be, challenging anyone to question his motives with his aggressive posture. The hallway was empty, and he grumbled a little in disappointment. Without appearing to rush, he began to make his way outside and toward the nearby Admin building.
They’d been especially careful to make sure he wouldn’t cross paths with the real Warden, and Lucia was shadowing the man now for that exact purpose, but Danny still felt nervous. The sun was blinding, and he realized with some irritation that Dean Allister’s eyes were more sensitive to light than his own.
Every transformation taught him something new about people, and broadened his understanding of what this world was like. He’d shifted forms a few dozen times now, and he’d been short, tall, color blind, even suffered from allergies once. He’d learned the hard way that his friend Edward was lactose intolerant, and didn’t share that piece of trivia with anyone.
Now he added light-sensitivity to the list as he crossed the courtyard toward the Admin building. It was interesting to be able to walk freely around the campus, he was normally confined to the dorms for his transformations, and seeing the other students react to him was so funny he struggled to maintain the Warden’s famously bland expression.
Some of them stumbled when they accidentally got too close. Others appeared to be working up the nerve to speak to him, but hung their heads at his glare. A few even turned and almost ran away, and it was that truly special degree of cowardice that had Danny holding in his mirth.
Not that he wasn’t scared of Dean Allister, or ‘Waller’ as he’d been known in his superhero days. But Danny wouldn’t openly retreat from the man…would he? He put those thoughts away as he approached the door. A guard was standing to one side, and he found himself holding his breath until the man mumbled “Sir,” and gave a small nod.
The Dean didn’t even nod back, ignoring the guard, even as the man opened the door for him. He was too important to busy himself with rabble…at least that was what Danny’s skill told him. He wished he understood how the skill worked, as it didn’t seem to need Danny’s actual experiences to draw from, was he connected to his target somehow?
He went through the halls, trying to avoid eye contact with the many administrators that were required to keep a prison for super children running. He went straight for the stairwell, and tried to look too busy for anyone to risk interrupting him or starting a conversation.
No one even tried, and Danny was amused to discover the Dean’s employees avoided him even more blatantly than most of the students. Apparently ‘the Warden’ was equally loved by everyone in his care. At last he reached the stairwell, and wasn’t surprised to find it the same bland combination of concrete and metal that the rest of the Farm was made from.
He practically jogged up the steps when he noticed they were clear, and only slowed down when he neared the top floor. Another guard nodded and opened the door, which required a bioscan Danny was grateful to avoid. They thought his transformed biology would work, but he’d rather find that out alone with the safe, not next to a trigger-happy guard.
The upper floor was a departure from the rest of the Farm, and Danny had to try not to look surprised. He presumed it was tied to the esteemed visitors who would spend most of their time here, but the deep red walls, lined with paintings and artifacts of the Invasion was a bit of a shock after years of gray.
He continued down the wide hallway, spotting the secretary Denise at the far end. There were several more guards lining the hall as expected, and Danny waited till none were nearby to whisper, “I’m in.”
“Your KD is transmitting,” Emi’s voice responded. “I can see ahead of you fine, but keep the device in your front pocket.” I know, I know, he thought. As if the two Villaris weren’t enough, Emi was proving to be another authoritarian. Sometimes Danny felt like the only one with a job, except he had three managers.
Denise looked up as he approached, and it was immediately clear that at least one person in this building wouldn’t hesitate to speak to him. “Did you forget something, Dean Allister?” the middle aged woman asked in a respectful tone.
“Yes,” the Dean answered simply, then swept past her. Danny hadn’t known what he was going to say until she’d asked the question, and he was incredibly grateful when his skill still pushed him toward being vague and important. They had no idea why the Warden went to barracks. What might he have forgotten? Keys, cake, a speedo?
Thankfully he was through the double wooden doors without having to make something up, and he subtly glanced back to see Denise appearing completely unbothered by the exchange. He barely had the doors closed before he let out a relieved breath–though his heart was still pounding in his chest.
He looked around the room, and was surprised to find it even more densely decorated than the outside hall. There was the expected desk and computer, and an elaborate bookshelf, but there were also over a dozen display cases and glass-covered wall-hangings. They all appeared to contain various pieces of Invader memorabilia.
The most common were interesting pieces of jagged metal, some with that weird Invader writing on it. There were other things though. Something that looked like a metal book, another that might have been half of a sword–though the handle looked like it was made for a giant. The Dean was a collector. Awesome.
Danny resisted the urge to start touching everything in sight. “I’m in-er,” he said to the crew.
“What?” Vincent asked.
“He’s in the Dean’s office. Focus, Danny,” Emi said.
“I’m working so hard,” Danny said as he tried to lift the broken sword.
“The Dean is still in the barracks, but the time he spends there isn’t consistent. Be serious, Danny!” Lucia growled in his ear.
“Fine, fine,” Danny said, looking around the office. “Emi, I don’t see a safe,” he said after a cursory glance.
“There should be a biometric scanner on the wall,” she responded. “It just looks like a metal plate; it could be easy to miss.” Danny frowned, doing another cursory glance before beginning to slowly circle the room. He didn’t see the plate, but as he came around to the other side of the large desk made of some kind of red wood, he made a different discovery.
“Whoa, his computer is still on,” he said with surprise, then leaned forward to read the display.
“Ignore it,” Vincent said sternly. “We know what we’re here for.”
“There’s a file open,” Danny said, as if Vincent hadn’t spoken. “It’s student records…more than just our time here. It has background information on us…and it has current family information.”
There was a long silence as they all took that in. The Villari siblings certainly didn’t expect to hear anything about their own parents, but they understood that Emi and Danny had left people behind. “Danny, please,” Lucia said quietly. “When we’re out of here you can find them yourself. But we need to get out of here!”
Danny tucked away his KD so Emi wasn’t watching, then rapidly typed in his own name. It had been years since he’d last seen his parents, and no matter how they’d left it, he still loved them, and missed them. Vincent was saying something, but Danny pulled out his earpiece. Scrolling down and reading as rapidly as he could, he tried to take in everything at once.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
They’d moved, apparently, and were somewhere in Oregon, though the record wasn’t specific for some reason. His mother had given up real estate apparently, and his father was a factory worker again. There wasn’t much else, until he saw their medical records were attached. Curiously he pulled them up, and scanned through, until his eyes began to tear up.
He stared at the screen for a long time. He didn’t know how much, but eventually his attention was drawn back to the earpiece, which he could hear even though it was on the desk. Quickly he closed down his own file, and returned the computer to how he’d found it. At last he put the earpiece back in.
“DANNY!” Lucia was yelling.
“I’m here,” he said, his voice flat. “My parents had another kid,” he continued. “I have a brother. He’s three.”
“Danny, he’ll be there any minute!” Vincent said with a rare note of panic.
“What? My brother?” Danny asked, his mind struggling to make sense of the situation. How could his parents do this? Had they already given up on him?
“The Dean!” Lucia said with fury. “He’s on his way back!” Danny’s eyes shot open as adrenaline cleared his mind. He took a few desperate steps toward the door before slapping himself in the face, then turned around and began furiously running his hands over the walls, looking for the metal plate Emi had told him about.
“Danny, please tell us you found the chip,” Vincent implored.
“I need more time!” Danny almost yelled, though fortunately he remembered to keep his voice low enough that Denise wouldn’t hear from her desk.
“I can try to distract him,” Lucia said. “I’ll ask him about becoming a hero or something, that’s believable.” Danny was already shaking his head, the Dean barely saw the students as people. A moment later Lucia’s voice came back, “He didn’t even look at me,” she said in a stunned tone.
“He’s heading toward the same entrance he left from,” Vincent said. “He won’t see the same guard that let you in, but he’ll be inside soon, and this is all over.”
“I…I have a distraction,” Emi said in a quiet voice. Danny paused, curious, but almost immediately resumed his search. He was now sure that he’d checked every square inch of visible wall, and had begun pushing decorations aside.
“What is it?” Vincent asked, but his voice was back a second later. “Never mind, if it’ll buy Danny time, use it!” Danny checked the last wall-hanging with a frustrated sigh, where was this thing!? He leaned back against the desk, and was in the middle of a long sigh when an explosion rocked the building.
Everything shook, and he was halfway under the desk before it stopped, and he cautiously looked around. “Did I do that, somehow?” he asked in open confusion.
“I set off a bomb,” Emi answered, and the earpiece was silent for a minute.
“He’s heading toward the explosion,” Lucia reported. “It’s on the East side of campus, you have some time, Danny.” Danny didn’t hesitate, determined to make up for the time he’d wasted. The explosion had knocked a few things off the wall, and the metal book had left an impressive dent in the wooden floor. It had also shifted the massive sword…something caught Danny’s eye.
Rushing over, he saw the corner of a metal square peeking out from behind the handle. Relief rushed over him, and he began pushing with all his might against the frame that held the sword. It was slow, painful work, but inch by inch it slid to one side. Stupid Warden with his stupid super strength, he thought.
“Dean Allister,” cracked Denise’s voice from a plain device on the desk. “Dean, there’s been an explosion, and Guard Captain Malary is looking for you.” Danny swore, then went to the small black box that was apparently an intercom.
“Denise, did you give the Captain my location?” he asked in an irritated voice.
“Of course not, Dean Allister,” she responded, sounding worried.
“Excellent, Denise, because obviously I would never have been back in my office during a crisis. Is that understood?” he said, trying to make it sound like a threat.
“U–understood, Dean Allister. I’ll tell the Captain you’re…already on your way to the explosion…because of course you are, sir,” she said in a frightened voice. That was way too easy, what does he do to this poor woman? Danny thought.
He managed to push the sword the last of the way, revealing the plate, and slapped his sweaty hand on it without hesitation. A small square of the wall next to it popped open immediately, and Danny hungrily pulled it the rest of the way to look inside. There were numerous papers and documents piled up inside on the bottom shelf, as well as a number of small objects on the top.
“Danny, report in,” Vincent said.
“We’re good,” Danny answered. “About to leave, I’ll contact you when I’m safe…or if anything changes.”
“Understood,” came Vincent’s response.
Danny pulled out the fake chip Emi had given him from his coat pocket. It was a long flat rectangle of silver, with golden grooves on one end. He had to move a few strange objects out of the way to find its twin–the Dean apparently used this safe for more than just official business, as it was nearly full with items that clearly belonged to his collection.
The actual chip had been tossed to the back unceremoniously, but Danny still made sure to place the fake in exactly the same spot. As he was withdrawing his arm, however, something caught his eye. It was a small, hexagonal black stone, and it was wedged into the corner as if forgotten.
Without knowing why, he quickly palmed it as well. No way the Warden goes searching for whatever this thing is between now and tomorrow, he thought, still unsure why he felt compelled to take the strange object. He stashed both prizes in his pockets, then quietly closed the safe, and laboriously pushed the sword’s frame back into place.
Without wasting another moment, Danny exited the office as rapidly as his skill told him the Dean would move in this situation. Denise didn’t even look up from her desk, and he hoped he hadn’t traumatized the poor woman. She seemed unexpectedly affected by what he’d thought was a relatively subtle threat. No time to worry about that now, he thought.
The guards in the hall looked nervous, and clearly expected him to round them up or at least comment on the explosion. Thankfully Danny was certain the Dean would never concern himself with what they thought, and he strode past them. It had only been a few minutes since Emi’s distraction, so he felt his urgency would be understood.
He reached the bottom floor without incident, but when he stepped into the hallway he saw Instructors Smythe and Callum coming through the doors. They turned in his direction, and he quickly ducked through the nearest open door. It was a washroom, and he locked it behind him.
His anxiety was rising, they definitely saw me, he thought. But how clearly? His body was starting to shake as he lost his concentration, and after a moment’s hesitation Danny let the Dean’s form slip away. He took a minute to catch his breath.
He knew students wouldn’t be allowed in the Admin building, but he couldn’t get past those instructors as the Dean. They would push for information, maybe even insist on joining him in examining the explosion. He needed another way out.
Finally he made his choice, and his form shifted once again. Moments later he exited the bathroom, feeling unusually uncomfortable, and more than a little worried this criminally stupid plan wouldn’t work. He didn’t think anyone but the instructors would have noticed him duck into the washroom, as the hallway was fairly clear, but even fooling two people was going to be challenging.
He was counting on the implausibility of the situation working in his favor. People simply didn’t walk around wondering if they were speaking to an imposter perfectly mimicking someone else’s form. That said, there were other…challenges he had to make work, with little time to prepare.
He clutched the Dean’s jack closed over his new–and confusing–bosom, then began walking down the hall. The instructors were nearly at the washroom already, and stared at him with open shock. Smythe spoke first, “Denise…we thought we saw…You’re wearing the Dean’s clothes.”
Danny let out a bubbly laugh in Denise’s voice, hoping it was charming. “Would you believe I spilled soup all over my dress? I’m so incredibly embarrassed!” Soup. Soup is my plan, Danny thought, feeling his face redden. This is the saddest way anyone will ever die.
“Soup?” Instructor Callum asked, heavy with doubt.
“It was the explosion!” Danny said with more glee than he’d meant to, as the thought entered his mind and left his mouth at the same moment. “I was eating soup, and then I heard the explosion–felt it, really–and I threw my soup all over myself.”
“Right, of course,” Smythe said awkwardly. “So you put on–”
“Dean Allister’s spare suit! He won’t mind, he’ll understand it was a soup-related emergency,” Danny finished. Shockingly, this was how his skill told him Denise would handle this moment.
“Sure, the Dean is a very understanding man,” Callum said, and Danny felt a little envious of just how marvelously sarcastic the tone was. “Anyway, is the Dean still in his office?” the instructor asked. “We want to know what the hell is going on.” They began to push past Danny, but that was unacceptable. The real Denise was still upstairs.
“No!” he said, way too loud. “No,” he repeated in a more normal tone. “He’s on his way to the site of the explosion, and he wants you both there!” The instructors looked at one another.
“I’m not sure we should be out there right now…not until we’re sure it’s safe,” Smythe said. “We can just wait for the Dean in his office.” Nope, nope, nope, he thought helpfully.
“Actually security is worried that if this is some kind of attack, the Dean’s office would be a high priority target. If you really want to be safe, you should be with Waller himself, right?” Did Denise’s voice sound desperate?
The two instructors looked at one another, then finally nodded. “That’s a good point,” Callum said, then turned back to the doors and began walking. Smythe shrugged and followed. Evidently Denise didn’t warrant a goodbye. Rude.
Danny gave them a moment’s head start, then hurriedly exited the building. He drew a few glances as he sped back to the library, but looks he could handle. He tried not to seem too conspicuous as he practically ran to the janitor’s closet, but almost everyone he saw was more excited by the explosion than a frightened secretary, and soon he was alone once more.
His body changing back was of particular importance this time, and he took a couple of nervous glances at key areas to make sure he was himself again. Satisfied, he quickly changed back into his own clothes, then stuffed the Dean’s into the bag he’d hidden among the cleaning supplies.
He took both stolen objects out and stared at them for a long moment. Why the hell did I risk taking this stupid stone? Tucking it away, he examined the narrow keychip for a moment, before reaching up and tapping his earpiece.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby claim the right to cross out the last line of the plan. I have our ticket out of here.”