by C. B. Lee
Bells tucks this piece of information away; he’ll need to tell Abby and the others if they’re going to get her dad free. If Bells can get out of here, that is.
“Whatever,” he says casually. “But what do you want with me?”
Orion’s smile is wide and gleaming. “It’s just a friendly invitation, Chameleon. You know, it’s the strangest thing. The League bankrolled all my experiments and then, when those experiments became public knowledge, sent me to Corrections, and now I’m public enemy number one—wait, no, that’s you.”
“I don’t care about that. I know they’re wrong, and it doesn’t matter.”
“The League is looking for you.” Orion steeples her fingers and smiles at Bells; her teeth are unnaturally straight and white. “I can turn you in for a sizable reward. And then I’ll be back in their good graces.”
“So what are you waiting for? Why not take me directly to League headquarters and present me? Put a big bow on my head?” Orion must need him, or else she’s got a plan that doesn’t involve the League.
“As fetching as that sounds, you would be wasted on them. I’m not going to turn you in until I can show them I’m the most powerful meta-human in the country.”
“Right.” Bells steps back.
Orion taps her chin. Her blue nail polish, though cracked on most of her fingers, is a throwback to her classic put-together Captain look. “The thing is, I need more power. My supply has been running low. And thanks to you, I don’t have all my resources anymore.”
“You mean all the people you’ve kidnapped? The villains?”
Orion shrugs. “Losing Genevieve was a blow, but I still had a few. And I can get more meta-humans. It’s just a matter of finding them.” She taps Bells on the forehead. “Barry, Barry, Barry. Or should I say Bells Broussard? I know your name, you know. That was smart, not registering under your real name.”
Her mouth falls open. “That’s it!” Orion says. “The Registry! Claudia, we need to get the Registry, and I’ll be able to pick and choose from every single meta-human in the Collective!”
Bells tries not to let his face betray his horror. She’s going to kidnap more people?
Claudia’s face remains a passive mask, expressionless. “Good idea, boss.”
Orion claps Claudia on the back. “I am full of great ideas. Claudia even had some ideas of her own. This little genius developed her own version of my power supplement, but so far I’ve only been able to test it on her.”
“It works. I’ve told you so many times,” Claudia says.
“Ah, yes, but you still get tapped out after about three hours. Pushing it for B-class, you know? And how do I know you’re not lying to me about your previous rating?”
“I’ve gotten stronger. You know this.” Claudia’s voice is cool. She picks up a stray bit of metal from the ground and crushes it to small pieces.
The display shakes Bells; Claudia has superstrength, but he’s only seen her use it for hero work. This casual show is meant to intimidate. He’s not sure he’s the only intended audience.
Orion shakes her hair in a move reminiscent of her holoads for shampoo. “I just need to be sure. I took a reading when we first nabbed you, before you fell asleep.”
What could the machine have measured? At the training center, he was careful not to show how much he could do. He doesn’t know what his rating is. He shifted yesterday for most of the day, so…
“Base level at a solid B-class. So about three hours of power-use before you tap out,” Orion muses. “That was yesterday. And you’ve had eight hours of rest, so let’s see if we’re back to B-class.”
Bells exhales a sigh of relief, but he hasn’t shifted today. What will the machine pick up? He glances at the dial’s needle pointing between “A” and “F.”
“Let’s see where it is now, right after you’ve taken the supplement.” Orion gestures to Claudia.
Claudia grabs two of the cell bars and stretches them apart. A bead of sweat forms on her head. How much has she been straining her powers while on the run with Orion?
Bringing the machine, Orion steps through the gap. Claudia follows and holds Bells by the shoulders. “Don’t try anything clever,” she says, tightening her grip.
The comeback dies in his mouth, and he swallows hard as Orion inflates a fabric cuff to a tight squeeze and then deflates it. She slips a device on his finger, pricks another finger and blots up the blood with a thin strip of paper, and feeds the strip with the spot of blood to the machine.
It beeps and whirs, and the lever moves. It flips past the “B” and moves toward “A,” and Bells watches in horror as it tries to continue past that.
Orion shrieks, jumping up and down. Her delight radiates across her face, briefly transforming her into her old self. She gestures at Claudia. “They work! They work! Give them to me. I’ll take another now.”
“Of course they work.” Claudia narrows her eyes at Bells. There’s an unspoken question there, but she doesn’t say anything else, just takes the tin out of her pocket and hands it to Orion.
Orion shakes out a mint, then two, and pops them into her mouth. She closes her eyes. “Excellent job on the flavoring, by the way. I knew you were listening when I pointed out the last batch tasted too much like cinnamon.”
Claudia paces. “Do you want to do the second test?”
Orion laughs and throws her head back; there’s a wild gleam in her eyes. “Absolutely. You’re gonna have to use your power for this one, Chameleon. Gotta get an active read on how much of the gamma-protein you’re using. Since you haven’t shifted today, we’ll be able to see how saturated it is, and that will tell us how much you’ll be able to use your power today.”
Claudia nods. “Most B-class meta-humans are solidly in the sixty to eighty milligrams per deciliter range. He was at fifteen last night when we brought him in, and was actively shapeshifting at the time.” She turns to Bells and puts her iron grip on his shoulder. “Change.”
“No,” Bells says. “You’ve already got what you needed.”
Orion clicks her tongue. “It works. Your power level is up an entire class. But I need to know about stamina. And this won’t work unless you’re using your ability.” She sniffs and looks down her nose at him. “Now, are we back to sixty or even higher now?”
Claudia’s nails dig into his shirt. He doesn’t see the point of going along with her charade any longer. He’s at their mercy. Does it matter whether it’s Claudia’s or Orion’s game he’s playing? Bells looks at Claudia and is hit with a sudden pang of sadness; she’s got the same pinched expression that Jess makes when she’s tired. He hates what Claudia did. And yet, Orion’s experiments have clearly taken a toll on Claudia. He doesn’t understand her choices, but maybe she regrets them.
Orion is tapping her feet on the floor. “Go on, shift. You’re part of something bigger now: a brand new development in the evolution of meta-human biology. You can join me at the start of a new era.”
Bells concentrates on pushing all of his disgust into his expression.
“Don’t you want to be a part of something better?”
“I’m not going to help you,” Bells says. “You know I’m gonna do everything in my power to stop you, so my answer is definitely no.”
Orion’s grin tightens. “I thought you might say that. You see this?” She takes the syringe out of the case and very slowly draws the serum into the needle. Shining in the scant light, a bead of liquid drips off the tip.
“I can nullify your abilities. You’ll never shift again. You’ll be stuck in that body forever.” Orion steps closer, bringing the needle up to his bare shoulder. “So let me tell you what you’re gonna do. You’re gonna shift some small detail of your appearance. Make a toenail grow longer; it doesn’t matter what. Then, I’m going to measure your gamma protein levels, and you’re going to tell me everything you know ab
out the newest training center and where it is. I’m going to need a lot more subjects for my experiments if I’m ever going to be the most powerful meta-human again.”
Bells should be terrified that Captain Orion knows who he is, that all the precautions that he’s taken, that his parents took, the fake name and fake identity and shifting the entire time he was at training, that all that was for nothing. He squares his shoulders and glares at her.
“So what, you read my file, you think you know me? I’ve had a lifetime of figuring myself out, and I’m still doing that. But I knew I was trans before I knew I had abilities. My body is just one aspect of who I am, and if you take my powers away, I’m still me.”
Bells’ heart is racing like a hovertrain off its tracks. He’s afraid, but he pulls himself together and faces that fear head on. “You think I would betray my friends, everything I believe in, for this? My body isn’t me. I am everything in my mind and heart and what I believe in.”
He’s shaking. He’s afraid of losing his powers, afraid of Orion, afraid of a life where he couldn’t find the joy of changing his appearance, couldn’t use his abilities to be a hero and protect his friends and others.
But there are more ways to help people.
“Go ahead,” Bells says, staring her down.
There is no sound but the whine of wind outside.
Eyes as cold as ice, Orion stares at him. “You’ll change your mind.”
She transfers the serum back into its vial, shuts the little case, and then turns around. Her ragged cape trails after her as she steps out of the cell.
Claudia is watching Bells with an unreadable expression; her mouth is pinched as if she wants to say something.
She follows Orion and turns around to bend the bars closed.
“Come along, Claudia. We’ve got work to do.”
Claudia nods and follows Orion down the hallway, but not before she turns around and glances back at Bells once more.
Bells has given up counting the cracks in the ceiling and the number of bars and has already documented all the interesting parts of his cell. He’s paced it, measured it, and now he’s on his back, daydreaming about his dad’s gumbo—and a huge slab of cornbread.
His stomach growls, and Bells groans.
He hears footsteps and voices. It’s Claudia and Orion in the warehouse, and Bells strains to listen.
“We can have him take the supplement again in a few hours, measure the effect of compound usage—”
“No, no, I already have the data I need from you. I just needed another meta-human to make sure that you weren’t imagining the results. Now that I know it’s working—”
“Of course it’s working.” Claudia huffs.
“We’re going to have to find more meta-humans to do the stamina trials.”
“What about Bells?”
“Chameleon? Useless. You heard him back there. He won’t participate in the experiment.”
“We could take him with us. The three of us, with our powers, we could be unstoppable. We could challenge the League together. We don’t have to—”
Orion snorts. “Didn’t you hear what he said? That kind of conviction? He’ll never see reason. After all, I can still run the experiments with just his blood. Best to leave him here to freeze to death.”
There’s silence, and then Claudia speaks in a clipped tone. “You know, I never thought I’d see the day when Captain Orion willingly gets her hands dirty.”
The ensuing laugh is cold. “Please. You know I’m willing to do anything to get my status back. Come along. I have a contact who may know where the Registry is being kept. Let’s go.”
The footsteps fade, and then Bells is left alone again.
Bells awakes to the sound of metal creaking. “Back to taunt me?” he asks.
Claudia’s face is barely visible in the dark, and it takes a moment for Bells to figure out what she’s doing. She’s holding one of the metal bars, and it’s bent in half. “Go.”
“What?” He steps forward. Is this a trap?
“Go on, don’t make me regret this.”
“Claudia—”
“I’m serious,” she says, tapping her foot, and looking every inch the annoyed Jess’ big sister that he remembers. “Here’s your DED and a credit chip. There’s enough to get a hovertrain to Vegas, and from there you can make your way back to Andover.”
Too many things are happening at once, but Bells steps out of the cell, straps the DED to his wrist, and pockets the chip. “Thanks, Claudia. You don’t know how much this—”
“Shut up and get out of here.”
“Come on, come with me. Jess misses you. Your parents miss you. You can’t enjoy being at Orion’s beck and call.”
“I can’t. Someone’s got to keep an eye on her.”
“But— you’re helping me, you obviously don’t—”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m already stuck here and, believe me, I’m already doing all I can to stop Orion from perfecting those supplements.”
Another thought occurs to him, something that’s been at the back of his mind for some time. “You’ve known it was me. Chameleon. All along.”
Claudia rolls her eyes. “You weren’t exactly subtle back at the base.”
“And you told Orion.”
“Of course. Apparently I didn’t know everything, though. You’re stronger than your files say you are. I lied about the measurements I took last night, so I would have proof that the ‘supplements’ worked today. But you’re A-class.”
“Are you gonna tell her?”
Claudia’s eyebrows raise. “Maybe. If it’s useful to me. At the moment it isn’t.”
Bells blinks. “But why…” Why haven’t you turned me in before, he wants to know. This whole time, he thought Orion was the biggest threat. But now he doesn’t know. “You haven’t told the League. So you’re… part of the Resistance?”
“Ugh, no. Like I would work with those losers.” Claudia huffs, seeming much more like her old self.
“Why are you helping me?”
Claudia scoffs. “Please. I’m helping me. I’ve got my own plans, and believe me, I’m still gonna come out of this on top, a hero and everything that goes with it.”
Before Bells can ponder what that means, Claudia grabs his elbow and pulls him out of the cell with more strength than needed.
“Here. Take this, too.” She shrugs off her fluffy coat and hands it to Bells. “It’s about a thirty-minute walk to Elk Ridge. You can catch the hovertrain there.” She hesitates as Bells strides past her. “Don’t tell anyone I helped you. Especially Jess.”
It is, indeed, snowing as Bells leaves the warehouse. He tugs the coat tight around him, buttons it up to the collar, and pulls the hood over his head. He must look ridiculous, but he doesn’t care. It’s warm.
He runs. It’s hard going. The snow, packed hard and covered in ice, causes him to slip a few times. His shoes are no match for the bitter cold, and his socks are wet. Despite his cold feet, he continues. If only Jess were here to tell him where to go. Claudia said it was thirty minutes from the warehouse to a place called Elk Ridge. But thirty minutes in which direction?
Bells comes upon an abandoned town. At the sight of the ruined buildings covered in snow, he shivers. Unmaintained territory. But in what region? He hopes that the credit chip actually does have enough money to get him back to Vegas.
He wanders through the town, wondering about the people who lived here long ago. He passes hardware stores, a store selling clothing and furniture. He has a brief laugh at twenty-first century fashion. Skinny jeans, that’s hilarious. How did people move?
Near a rusted stoplight, a vestige from an era when everyone drove their own cars and traffic needed to be regulated, he sees:
SALT LAKE CITY 62 MILES
ELK RIDGE 1 MILE
&
nbsp; Bells takes a deep breath and turns in the direction of the arrow. He’s so cold, but he keeps going, has to keep going. In the distance, the lights of Elk Ridge beckon him. He can make it. He coughs, stuffs his hands in his pockets, and shuffles forward.
He is nearly frozen when he walks into the hoverstation. It’s empty save for the glowing kiosk in the corner with TICKETS flickering across the dash and an automat. There isn’t even a MonRobot in sight.
At the kiosk, Bells flicks through the menu, and his jaw drops. It costs how much to get to Vegas? No wonder few people ever travel. He scans the credit chip and breathes a sigh of relief when there’s just enough for a ticket. He purchases the ticket and selects the option to send the details to a disposable chip instead of his personal DED. He doesn’t want anyone to know he was here.
He spends the rest of the credit chip on hot chocolate and a protein bar at the automat. The warmth of the hot chocolate goes right to his bones, but the protein bar is a bit more difficult to get down. He misses his dad’s cooking. He misses his parents. He just wants to go home.
When the train finally arrives, Bells finds a seat in an empty compartment. Out the window, snow flurries illuminated by the lights from the station cascade against the night sky. He takes off the wet shoes and socks, tucks his feet under his thighs, and falls into a restless sleep.
Vegas Central Station is a cacophony. Bells rubs at his eyes, struggling to adjust to the rush of the crowds and the chaos of colors. Everyone is bustling about their morning business: going to work, traveling. He gets a lot of looks at his disheveled appearance and he tries to hurry to the buses. His feet squish uncomfortably in his wet shoes.
“Buses now leaving for Andover and Crystal Springs!”
Bells runs. “Hey, hey, wait up!” He tries to dart around people and trips over his feet. Ugh, too late. The bus is already leaving.
He slows to a jog and huffs as he approaches the ticket dispenser. Another bus is leaving in an hour; that’s not too bad. Bells swipes his DED and then groans. It’s dead.
Bells digs in his pocket, produces the datachip Claudia gave him, and pokes at the screen.
