I woke with a start, cold beads of sweat dripping from my face. I was used to randomly waking up in the middle of the night, but this time was different. Instead of waking up to complete silence, I heard a muffled voice, presumably coming from outside. As I silently crept out of bed, I turned to look out the window, only to realize that it was closed.
"Okay, so either I'm hearing things, or—" I cut off as someone whispered my name.
"Jacob!" the voice called out. "I swear… Get up, you—"
"I'm up! I'm up! You couldn't have given me a moment, Carmen? I know you're always inside my head, but it's not even three yet. Did you miss me that much?" An awkward silence followed as I waited for an answer, punctuated only by the occasional booming of thunder.
"Normally, I'd roll my eyes, but this time, you're kinda right. I just need someone to talk to. I don't exactly do well with storms. I'm sorry to wake you up. I should've just left you alone."
"Hey, it's totally okay. I'm not going to get mad at you for that. I'm not gonna make you tell me why you don't like them, but is there anything I should avoid mentioning? I want to help, and I don't want to say anything that makes you upset."
"You're fine. I'd rather not talk about it, but I appreciate you caring. Just please try not to mention the name 'Victoria' or any other form of the name."
"No need to thank me. I'll always be here if you need someone to talk to."
"Okay. It's nothing big, just some bad stuff happened one night, while it was storming, and it ruined it for me. I've always panicked during storms since, and it makes it impossible for me to sleep."
"Oh, I'm sorry. Are you going to be okay?"
"I'll be fine. It's just especially hard right now, since it's only a couple days away from the night it happened. Thanks for asking, though. I just… I might as well tell you what happened, so this isn't as confusing."
"No, it's okay. Really, you don't have to. I don't want you to do anything you're not comfortable with."
"It's fine. Morgan and Lilith already know. I should at least tell you why, since we're on the same side or whatever. Can I call? It'd be easier that way."
"Sure, just a second."
"Okay, I'll call you, then. Already have your number. You know… Mindreader and all."
She called me a few seconds later, and we started talking."
"Let's see… I was nine, so this was about six years ago… It was storming really bad, so I couldn't sleep. I could've sworn that I saw someone outside, but everyone tells me that there was no one there. I walked to my window, but all I saw was the porch light. One of my parents must've forgotten to turn it off. So I went back to bed. Just as I started to doze off, I started to smell smoke. I panicked and tried to wake my parents up.
"We all had bedrooms on the second floor, so it took some time to get out of the house. By the time we called the fire department, our house was just a shell. A husky of what once was. Sirens sounded in the distance, just as every family on our street started to come outside. Even though it was a little past midnight, the street was busier than if it was noon.
"Something that stood out to me was the teenager standing by the edge of the road, just past the intersection. Victoria, I think her name was. She didn't live on the street. She rode my bus, but she lived about a mile away. Her grandparents lived a bit closer, but they were still seven blocks away. There was no way she could've seen the fire from either house, let alone be there in that amount of time, unless she had started running just as it had happened."
Carmen's last sentence made me put all of the pieces together, and realize what happened. "What if she was already there when the fire was set?"
"Wait… You think that she set the fire?"
"I'm not saying it for certain. But the 'porch light' you mentioned could've been a fire she started. That would explain how she got there so quickly. You said your parents never forget to turn it off. Maybe they didn't."
"Well, yeah, but there wasn't any accelerant or matches. There was nothing left that could've started the fire." Carmen's voice abruptly stopped.
"Carmen? Is everything okay?"
"There was nothing left to start the fire." she murmured.
"I know, you just said that."
"No, don't you get it? There was nothing left to create fire!"
"Because she can't leave herself at the scene of the crime!" I continued, finishing her thought. "So you think…"
"Victoria is like us. Yeah."
Neither of us spoke for nearly a minute. We couldn't believe the realization we came to, and neither of us wanted to, in all honesty. We had no idea how we were going to tell Morgan and Lilith, as they were both asleep, and we weren't going to wake them.
"Wait…" I began. "You said this was six years ago? That means that she's at least twenty now. She could do a lot more damage, if she's capable of starting fires at any moment. Let's hope that we're not. Because if we are…"
"Junior's not our only problem." Carmen finished. "Maybe she needs a heat source to start a fire, though. She could've used the light. Or maybe she needs something that'll burn. Hopefully we still have time. I'll let Morgan and Lilith know when they wake up. Thank you for letting me call you. It's hard to read minds when I'm like this. Especially with all of the intrusive thoughts that distract me."
"No problem! I totally get it. I'll talk to you later? Get some sleep, okay? We may need it later today."
"Yea, you too. Night."
Turning off my phone, I set it on my nightstand. After minutes of restlessness, I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
I woke to sunshine bursting through the window, and a loud buzzing noise, like a muffled jackhammer. At first, I didn't think much of it, until I checked my phone and saw that it was nearly noon, and I had thirteen texts from Morgan, as well as four missed calls. Figuring it was extremely important, I called her back, still bleary-eyed, and struggling to focus.
"Hey, are you up yet? I know you're awake, but are you up? We're ready to go whenever you are. Uncle Chris texted, saying that we should bring our masks with us if possible. Do you want me to bring yours, and you can just meet us there, or do you want to meet us here? We're all at the base. I guess that's what we're calling it, at least until we can think of a better name for it." she said, a slight eagerness to her voice.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sure. I'll meet you at the base. Just give me a minute to finish getting ready." I responded, trying to form coherent sentences, knowing that I hadn't even started getting ready.
"Okay, just please try to hurry. We're not sure how important the 'items' Uncle Chris has are, and he takes his break at exactly noon. See you in a few minutes, then."
I hung up, grumbling, and turned to look at my dresser, only to roll right off the bed, hitting the floor with a thud. Great. This is exactly how I want to start the day. I thought, peeling myself off of the wooden floor. Well, at least I'm up now. Brushing myself off, I quickly got ready. After a few minutes of sneaking around, trying not to get caught by my siblings, who were all thankfully in their rooms with the doors closed, I ran to the base, hoping I wasn't too late.
When I reached the base, I realized that I had no idea how to get inside. Morgan had opened it for me the last time, so I knew where to enter, but not how. "Well, what better time to practice my ability than when I need to?" I muttered to myself. Taking a step away from where I remembered the door was, I centered myself, beginning to feel the individual particles, as if I had been practicing for years.
As I concentrated, the world seemed to melt away, leaving only the restraints holding the bush together, and myself. I could feel the restraints slipping, presumably from my own doing. Even though I wasn't doing much, I could sense the plants moving, breaking apart from each other. Thinking that I had finally done it, I stood a second longer, eyes closed in content and anticipation.
"Jacob? Are you okay?" a voice asked. I couldn't tell whose voice, or even where it came from. It was as if the voice was travelling through water, as it was muffled.
When I opened my eyes, I saw Morgan standing in front of me, directly in front of the opening that she had created. Well, there's always next time, I thought. I'll get it, I just need to keep trying.
"Yeah, I'm good, I just needed to take a second. I was about to text you and let you know that I was here, but I realized that I could just let Carmen know. I thought that closing my eyes and concentrating may help her hear me better." I lied, maintaining a straight face.
"Okay. That's actually a good idea. Better reception that way." she joked, laughing to herself. "Well, Carmen told me she could sense you walking up. I hope I didn't keep you long."
"You're good. I only just walked up. Is everyone ready?"
"Almost. Carmen filled us in on your conversation. How are you feeling?"
"I'm as okay as can be expected. It's always hard, learning that there's someone else against you... But it is what it is. Hopefully, she stays to herself, and we don't have to encounter her."
"I hope not. I don't think we could handle another villain, especially one with her abilities."
We stopped talking as we approached Lilith and Carmen, since they were still talking about Victoria. We stopped a few feet away, and started our own conversation when Lilith waved us over.
"Hey, Jacob." she said, directly addressing me before speaking to all three of us. "Okay, now is everyone ready?"
"Almost." I answered. "I just need to get my mask, and then I'm good."
"Oh, right. You kinda need this." She handed me my mask, looking down as she did. My hand brushed hers as I reached for the mask, and the mask slipped out of her hand, drifting lazily to the ground.
"I'm so sorry. I just figured I'd grab it, because Chris starts his break in… six—no, seven—minutes, so we have time until we have to be there, but I want to get there before he leaves."
"Alright, well I think we're all good, then. We all have our masks, and I don't think we need anything else."
We left and made it with four minutes left before Chris went on break, and there was only one customer in the gas station. As we passed by him, he glared at us, golden irises seeming to bore into our souls. After a few seconds, he paid for his items and left, just as Chris switched the sign off, indicating that the store was closed. Walking over to where we were, he flipped through the keys on his lanyard, holding up a brass key with a slight tarnish.
"Okay, the shipment is in the back. Morgan, you may want to be the one to open the box. It's the third one on the second shelf, directly to your left." he explained.
"Okay… But why me? I would've opened it anyways, but why did you specifically want me to open it?" she asked.
"You'll see. It's nothing bad, I swear."
Chris opened the door as the four of us exchanged worried glances. We walked past him, searching for the box where he said it would be. Morgan took down a slim metal case, carefully setting it down on the table behind her. If anything in that room was absolutely necessary for our team, it would have been in that box.
"I thought you said it was a box. This is practically the physical embodiment of superhuman technology right here." I commented.
"Well, I couldn't have casually mentioned the high-tech briefcase. I have cameras in the main area. They would've picked up on what I said, and if anyone had to pull footage, they'd hear me, and the store would be searched." Chris stated.
"So won't they be able to hear us in here?" Carmen asked.
"Nope. Sound-proofed the room just for this reason. I get some… personal shipments here sometimes. Why do you think I haven't hired anyone else to help out?"
"This is Alex's work, isn't it? There's no way it could possibly be anyone else's. That's why you wanted me to open it." Morgan interrupted.
"Wait, who's Alex?" I asked.
"Just someone who owes me a few favors, and I owe them a few favors. It's more of a mutualistic relationship than anything else."
"Of course you'd say that. You get free stuff that only the Secret Service should ever be allowed to have." Morgan stated.
"That's not true. Well, not entirely. It's not free, we exchange services. We ran our own business a few years back. Alex built computers, and I programmed them. But that was years ago. Since then, we've helped each other out on personal projects. This just happened to be one of mine."
"If the stuff comes in this thing, Alex had to know what they were doing. Seriously, how did they even manage to get a case like this?" Carmen asked.
"It's custom designed. What can I say? Alex knows technology."
"Can I open it now, or do you want to keep talking while it sits here?" Morgan interrupted, arms folded across her chest."
"Go ahead." I responded. "We're all focused now."
She nodded, reaching for the box. As she went to unlatch it, she hesitated. "This isn't one of the ones that electrocutes you if you use the wrong fingerprint, is it? I'm not falling for that one. Not again."
Chris chuckled, a wistful look in his eye. "No, but I do like that case. One of Alex's best." He stopped, returning to the present. "No, that one's on the other shelf. Alex only made one for each of us."
"Okay, I'm just making sure." She unlatched the case, scanning the contents, before turning it so the rest of us could see.
"It's… just a few metal disks." Carmen said. "And they're really small. I can only see them because they're each a different color."
As I looked at the case's contents, I noticed the small disks, no larger than a pencil eraser, each in a pair. Standing alone was a regular earpiece, like the ones you see in movies.
"Wait, why are there only three disks? I'm gonna assume that the earpiece is for Chris, and that we get the headphones and microphones, or whatever those are. But there are only three." Lilith commented.
"There's a black one to the left of the burgundy one, directly above the green." I pointed out, indicating where I was referring to.
"Seriously, Lilith, how blind are you?" Carmen retorted.
Lilith looked down, her face turning beet red. She opened her mouth, then shut it almost as quickly. Catching a glimpse of movement, I glanced down at her hands, noticing she was trying to keep them from trembling.
"Honestly, I didn't even see them at first either. They blend in really well with the black foam on the bottom of the case. The only reason I noticed it was because I could see the glint of light on the metal from where I'm standing." I reassured her.
Lilith looked up at me for a second before she smiled shyly, mouthing a "thanks" before her eyes quickly darted to the ground, then back up to the case.
"I had Alex make each of you an earpiece and a fastener for your masks." Chris explained. "They're incredibly thin, so they won't get in the way, but they had to be large enough to put a circuit board in. The fasteners are pressurized, too. One tap turns them on, a second one turns it off. I have absolutely no idea how it was done, but that's why I don't work with circuitry."
We each picked up our earpieces, fastening to their masks. Carmen and Morgan turned them on before I could warn them. Immediately, a piercing ring rang throughout the room. Within less than a second, they both pressed the fastener, cutting both earpieces off.
"What the… What was that?" Carmen asked, covering her ear closest to the earpiece.
"Feedback." I replied. "You can't have two communication devices on the same channel or frequency within a certain range, or you'll get feedback. It's the signal from one being amplified by the other, and vice-versa."
"Well I hate it. I'm probably going to go deaf because of it now."
"I'm sure you'll be fine." Chris told her. "Feedback doesn't have any lasting consequences. Alex said that they were designed to limit feedback, so the feedback should only act up within a foot or so."
Morgan and Carmen were easily four feet apart, so Morgan tapped her fastener to test it out. Carmen, however, immediately clamped both hands over hers, unwilling to risk causing feedback again. Since I had just finished fastening my earpiece to my mask, I turned mine on, and heard no feedback.
"Well, I guess that settles that problem." Morgan said, cutting her earpiece off.
"How far do they reach?" I asked. "I'm assuming pretty far, since Alex knows how to make them compact, and nearly invisible, unless you know where to look."
"I'm pretty sure Alex mentioned something about the range, but I can't quite remember. I think it was around twenty miles or so. About the same distance as a police radio." Chris explained. "They broadcast far enough to where you won't need to worry about the range, even if you're on the other side of the city."
"That's good, because we may need that feature, if we have to deal with Junior and Victoria at the same time." I replied.
"Junior and who?"
As Carmen told Chris about who Victoria was, and what she could do, we walked back out to the main area of the gas station so Chris could turn the sign back on, as it had been nearly fifteen minutes since he started his break, and we had already finished what we needed to do. Looking at the sign, I noticed a small slip of paper, no larger than a playing card, struggling to stay attached to the door. Stepping outside, I quickly glanced around me, making sure no one else was around. I slowly peeled the object, which I realized was cardstock, off of the door, as it was held by a single adhesive dot. Silently reading the note, I walked towards the rest of the team. I didn't notice Morgan talking until she put out an arm to stop me.
"Jacob, are you okay? You seem a little distracted." she said.
Wordlessly, I handed her the note, jaw set and eyes narrow. She took it, reading it aloud.
"Cherish your team while it lasts. Because it won't. A house divided in two shall not stand. Yours too, shall fall."
Lilith looked at the note, noticing a signature at the bottom of it. "'X?' Who is that? You'd think Junior or Victoria would sign with their name or initial."
"So that means…" Carmen began.
"Yep. Looks like we have another villain to worry about."