Pepsi woke to hear crying above her. Why is mommy crying? She wondered. Did someone hurt her again? She stretched, and disentangled herself from mommy’s shirt and its comforting smell. Maybe mommy didn’t want to be in this weird place that wasn’t home either?
Unsure of what to do, Pepsi crawled out from under the bed, and leapt for the bed, missing by a few inches, and scrabbling with her claws to climb the rest of the way up. Umph! She thought. This bed is too high. I need a box. She looked and could see mommy crying into her pillow. “Brrup!” she said. Mommy, please don’t cry. Who hurt you?
She crept over, and gently touched her mommy’s face, and licked her cheek free of tears. The tears were salty, but Pepsi knew that when mommy cried, kitty kisses made the crying stop. Please stop crying, mommy, she said – but she couldn’t speak in human ‘mouth noises,’ so all that came out was a gentle purr, and a “meow!”
Pepsi hadn’t always understood the mouth noises mommy made, but ever since the bad lightning storm and the loud noise, and mommy coming home smelling happy and different, she had been able to understand more and more of the mouth noises people like mommy made. She knew her human name was Pepsi, which was hilarious, considering she was actually named ‘Joy Bringer’ in cat talk – proper speech. She kept kissing mommy, and licking up the tears, while tapping her face to let her know she was there, and she cared. Soon, mommy stopped crying and turned over to face her.
“Hey Baby.” Mommy said. “I could have handled that better, huh?”
“Brrup!” I replied. I love you mommy. Please don’t be sad anymore. She called me her baby a lot. I liked being her baby. I think she’s a good mommy.
“I love you, baby.” She gave me a big hug, and kissed my nose. I didn’t mind being manhandled much – it was how she showed she loved me. She took care of me, and I took care of her. We’re family.
“Meow! Purrr…” I tried to ask Who made you cry? Is everything okay? But I couldn’t make the right mouth noises, and mrowed in frustration. Why are mouth noises so hard? I thought. It’s not fair!
“Yeah, I should have stayed and defended myself, Pepsi – but I was so shocked. She just put that out there, in front of everyone. I didn’t know what to do.” Mommy replied.
Someone definitely made Mommy cry, I thought. I curled up next to Mommy’s face and purred, letting my warmth seep into my human mom, and my purring begin to relax her. Mommy must have liked it, cause she didn’t move me for several minutes.
“Hey, baby. I have to move you.” She said, and I smiled. Mommy always warned before she moved me.
I felt gentle, strong hands carefully lift me to the bed next to Mommy’s head.
There was a knock at the apartment door – I refused to call it my apartment, yet, I thought. It was probably another human, either to help Mommy stop crying, or to make her cry more. “Mrowr!” Mommy, don’t answer it! I cried. “Stay with me and be happy for now. Don’t let them hurt you again!” Again, Mommy didn’t understand me, so I got up and rubbed against her back, and bumped my head to show her I cared.
When mommy didn’t seem to notice my headbutt of protection, she left me to go answer the door. I decided she needed extra protection, so I hopped down and raced after her. No one was going to hurt Mommy again, if I could help it!
* * *
I answered the door, to find Ms. Potter standing outside. She looked concerned, and worried – but not angry, or any other emotion I could name to fit the situation. “Hi, Ms. Potter. I suppose I’m under arrest?”
“Not yet, Miss Castle.” Ms. Potter began. “Can we talk, privately?”
“Yeah,” Karen began, sounding resigned. “Come on in.”
“Mrow!” Pepsi called out.
“Is your cat angry at me?” Ms. Potter asked as Pepsi charged over to Karen and started purring and rubbing, and weaving in between her legs.
“No, Ms. Potter. She’s just being over protective. She takes care of me.” I replied.
Ms. Potter smiled. “She’s a cute kitty. How old?”
“Just under three years. She’s still young. She has a lot of kitten in her still.” I replied.
“Karen, I know this is a stressful situation,” Ms. Potter began, while sitting in one of the chairs in the kitchenette. “I need to know your side of the story. I need to clear you so you can be part of the MRT, or I need to know so your situation can be dealt with.”
“You mean, arresting me?” I asked.
“Maybe. It’s more likely you’d have a formal inquiry about the events that led to Jessica’s shocking statement, and you’d be judged on that. Please remember that the RCMP is a paramilitary agency, and although its members are subject to law and order, it is often a version of military law, not civilian law that prevails. Please, tell me what happened.”
“What if I do? I mean, it’s my word against Jessica’s, isn’t it? People could say I made up a story to clear my name.”
“Yes and no, Karen.” Ms. Potter replied. “I was given a power the night of the Emergence as well – one that only my superiors in the government know of. I’m a truth reader. I can tell when people are telling me the truth, and when they are lying – even if they lie by omission. I had to vet every one of you because I was the only one who could make sure there weren’t any bad apples.”
“Jessica isn’t a bad apple?” Karen asked, surprised.
“No. Jessica is a typical young adult woman who might be spoiled and catered to, and she might have meant to hurt your feelings just to show she could – or to prove her point, or something like that – but when I talked to her about how she felt about helping people, she didn’t lie to me, and she seemed like a good choice. You haven’t been exposed to socializing with young women much, have you Karen?”
“Does it show that much?” I asked.
“Yeah, kind of.” She replied. “You might need to talk to some of the others – like Krissie – to get an idea of what to expect. Girls can be kind of bitchy with one another.”
“I noticed. Okay, Ms. Potter. What can I tell you to satisfy your curiosity?”
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“Maybe tell me the circumstances about what happened, and when.” She replied.
I sighed. “It all began the day of the Emergence. I was in my workplace – a customer service hive for Precision Telecom, and I was getting ready to tell HR I wanted to transition in the workplace.” I sipped at a cup of water. “There was a bright flash – like lightning, followed by a peal of thunder so loud it sounded like an explosion. Lights played over me, and for a moment, I blacked out.”
“Go on.” Ms. Potter suggested.
“When I came to my senses, I didn’t know what was happening. I could hear literally everything! I was seeing through walls, and seeing people and objects as clouds of atoms – but still as coherent people and objects. I was looking at the fractal patterns of the crystalline cell structure of a cup on the counter.” I sighed, tears welling in my eyes. “But at the same time, while I was overwhelmed with information, dazzled and dazed by all the sensory input, my eyes were shooting out lasers, cutting into the supporting beams of the building, and severing walls and causing gods know what kind of damage.”
“Oh my god…” Ms. Potter muttered.
I sobbed. “I didn’t know how to turn it off! I tried, but I didn’t know how! In the end I had to close my eyes, and shuffle out of the office slowly, until a friend found me and got me out of the building and away from the noise.”
“Why shuffling?” Ms. Potter asked.
“I tried moving a little bit, and flung myself into the ceiling, shattering some tiles. My strength was so enhanced, I was afraid if I tried walking normally, I’d smash through the ceiling completely and end up squished or on another floor. I was so scared!” Tears were flowing freely, and I idly skritched Pepsi, who was trying to make me feel better at my feet.
“My friend, Eddie, got me out of the building. The fire alarm was going off, and the building shifted a few times, and everyone evacuated. I could hear that the building was empty… Do you understand what I mean by that, Ms. Potter? I could literally hear every heartbeat, every word being said in that building. I knew it was empty, because the heartbeats and voices moved outside. I can’t even begin to explain to you what it was like.”
“It sounds hard to understand, Karen, I agree. Please go on.”
“There were maybe 200 people outside the building, and it kept shifting, because of the damage I did to it with my heat vision. It collapsed, and about a dozen people were too close… The building… The building fell on them, and I heard them scream. I heard their heartbeats stop and get cut short.” I looked as Ms. Potter with mournful eyes. “I killed them. Please believe me, I didn’t want to hurt anyone. I want to help people. I became the Guardian to try and make up for what I had done – so no one else has to die from people like me, either by accident, or on purpose.” I couldn’t contain myself anymore, and started sobbing – deep heaving sobs that shook my body from top to bottom.
Ms. Potter looked on in silence for a few moments, and reached her hand out to squeeze Karen’s hand in support. She waited patiently for Karen to finish crying, which took a little while, and when Karen seemed to have cried it out, she spoke. “I can’t imagine what you felt, in that moment, Karen. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have powers like yours. Many of the others seemed to have an instinctive knowledge of how to use their abilities – but it seems obvious from your description that you did not. I believe you told me the truth. I believe you didn’t mean any harm. The only question is what do we do now?”
I shrugged, not knowing what to say. I was so overwhelmed emotionally, I was ready for whatever judgement that might be handed down.
“Can you answer a few questions for me, Karen? Before I have to talk to my boss?” Ms. Potter asked.
“I… I’ll try.”
“Do you know how to control your powers now?”
“Yes, for the most part. I can filter out my senses, and turn off my heat vision. I can control my strength, but I’m not sure of the level of control on that yet.”
“Okay, good. What are you prepared to do to keep an event like this from happening again?”
“Literally anything that doesn’t involve hurting others. I would give my life to prevent that day from happening again.” I replied. “I… I would do whatever it takes to protect peoples lives.”
“Would you kill to save lives?” Ms. Potter asked quietly.
“I don’t know.” I answered. “I would try to find another way. There’s always another way. Killing would always be my last resort.”
“And what are you prepared to do to protect the people of Canada, as an RCMP and MRT officer, should you be allowed to stay in the program?”
I stiffened my chin, and looked up at Ms. Potters face, looking her in the eyes. “I would do everything the law would allow.” I said. “And if the law, for whatever reason prohibited me from saving lives due to some legal issue, I would break the law and save human lives – whether they’re normal or Emerged, unless attempting to do so would put other people at risk. I would make the choice, and I would live with it.”
Ms. Potter could see the fire in Karen’s belly. She could feel the strength of her conviction. She knew Karen spoke the truth as she knew it. “Thank you, Karen. You’ve told me all I need to know. I’ll talk to my boss, and make some recommendations, and I’m sure it will work out.”
“Will it?” I asked. “How?”
“I have the ear of some very powerful people, who desperately want the MRT program to succeed. I also have a great deal of leeway in working with all of you – and what I say carries a great deal of weight with the people in charge of the program.” Ms. Potter replied. “I suspect they will be inclined to not pursue this legally – to treat it as an accident and a tragedy, not a crime. That, at least, will be my official recommendation, if it helps any.”
“It does,” I said, sniffling. “Why?”
“Because, Karen, we’ve never seen anyone with the breadth of powers you have, at the strength or level you possess. Because every being that Emerged with your power level in other countries has so far shown to be an existential threat to human life – and you to me, do not. We have reports of someone who might have the ability to alter reality by mental command, and another who claims he can actually time travel. We can’t even begin to comprehend the danger these people will pose in the future – but we know they aren’t friendly. For whatever reason, you haven’t let your Emergence drive you mad with power. You could literally be humanity’s last line of defence against beings like those two I mentioned.” She paused, and smiled. “But the most important reason why is because I trust you. I believe in you. I’m not sure why, but when you told me about how much it hurt when those people died, I had… I had a feeling. I felt you would never stop trying to inspire me – us – all of us, to be better than we are. To be more than we think we can be. I can’t explain it better than that, Karen. I believe in you.”
“Are you serious?!” I asked, rubbing the last of the tears from my eyes.
“Deadly.” Ms. Potter replied.
“Um… No pressure?” I tried joking, and was relieved to see Ms. Potter’s eyes light up with humor too.
“Agreed!” She began. “Let’s not put the cart before the horse, or put the weight of the world on your shoulders yet, Karen. For now, just sit tight, and do your best while training. I’ll take care of the rest – and I promise you, I will speak on your behalf.”
“Thanks, Ms. Potter.”
“Please, call me Nadine.” She replied. “I feel like a school marm in the 1800’s.”
I smiled. “Thanks, Nadine.”
“You’re welcome.” She stood, and brushed down her skirt. “I need to report to my boss. In the meantime, I suggest if you’re able, you go talk to the others instead of leaving them hanging.”
“I guess… I guess I could do that.” I replied.
“Alright then.” Nadine said her farewells, and slipped out of the apartment, leaving Karen alone for a moment with Pepsi.
“I guess I need to go talk to them, don’t I Pepsi baby?” I asked my little furkitten.
“Mrow! Meow!” She replied, rubbing up against my legs, and bumping my leg with her headbutts. She even flopped and my feet and rolled over, trying to look cute and get my attention by showing me her tummy. And maybe, just maybe, I might touch her murder button.
“Not right now, Pepsi.” I said quietly. No matter what, Pepsi had my back, I thought, smiling. “Love you too, little girl.” I said, and got up to go talk to my friends.
* * *
I saw mommy cry again, and was angry with the new lady – Ms. Potter I think her name was – because she made mommy cry. I soon could see it was almost a good cry, so I kept cuddling mommy, and I think she felt better, eventually. I also heard a name… the human named Jessica started all this. She made mommy cry! I knew I had to keep mommy safe, so when she left the apartment, I slipped out to look for this nasty Jessica. You won’t hurt my mommy again, I promised. I won’t let you! I sharpened my claws, and crept down the hallway, wondering what Jessica would look like. I didn’t want to hurt anyone wrong – mommy wouldn’t like that.
I started to hunt. This Jessica wouldn’t hurt my mommy again!