“And what is Jess’s power?”
“I’m sure you can ask her yourself,” Ava said as a small cloud appeared in front of them.
The cloud turned black and rain began to fall from it, but rather than hit the sidewalk, the droplets formed into the shape of a man a couple heads shorter than Roman with shaved eyebrows and gaunt cheeks.
“How many?” he asked to confirm.
“All of us,” Ava told him.
The man nodded and glanced up at his cloud, and as he did it doubled in size. Roman looked down at his hands just as he was sucked up into the cumulus formation.
He was still looking at his hands when his body began to reform.
The first thing he noticed was the large window on one side of the room letting in copious amounts of light. He instinctively walked to the window and looked out at a city of oddly shaped buildings, a large rail station in the distance, a few skyscrapers on the horizon, the sun creating a haze through a few wispy clouds.
“Where are we again?” Roman asked, turning back to Ava. The orange light of the sun extended all the way to her feet.
“We’re in a penthouse our government owns in the Western Province. This is the Turnstone District, in the city of Ravja. This district used to be the city’s military stronghold, also home to working-class families. It still has a few military installations, but after some rebuilding, the district has grown in popularity, hence new builds like this. Our government has purchased several of the buildings, renting them out to wealthy people from across our world as well as using them for diplomatic apartments and for missions like ours.”
“Good to know,” Roman said as he took in the hardwood floors, the open concept living area, and the sleek furniture. Miranda the telepath was seated on one of the couches, a lock of blue hair in her face.
She set down her magazine and turned to Roman and Ava.
“I was expecting you an hour ago,” she said.
“I had something to take care of,” Roman told her, and as soon as the words left his lips he felt the reach at the back of his head, the telepath sifting through his thoughts. “No,” he told Miranda firmly. “I do not consent.”
“You really are no fun,” she said with a pout.
“Which room is mine?” Roman asked.
“Down the hall, the first room on the left,” Ava said. “Why? It’s not like you have any luggage.”
“I would prefer to keep my thoughts to myself,” he told her, “which may be hard here in the living room.”
Roman heard a door shut down the hallway.
The woman known as Jess stepped out into the living room, immediately giving him a skeptical look. She was a few pounds overweight with messy blonde hair and a couple moles on her face that made her look interesting, a bit different from the women around her.
“We never really introduced ourselves,” Roman started to say as his dolls moved to the couch.
If they were feeling awkward in the situation, they weren’t showing it. Celia merely sat down, crossing one leg over the other and smiling at Miranda while Coma sat on a different chair, legs wide, her red eyes locked on the telepath.
“We did,” Jess said shortly. “And…”
“Yes?” Roman asked.
“Never mind. Are we ready?” she asked, turning to Ava.
“Yes, I believe we are. Also, I know there are factions within the agency that don’t agree with adding Roman to this mission, and I would like to address those factions now,” Ava said, narrowing her eyes on Jess. “I’m the leader of this mission. Regardless of how we got here, we are here now, and I want everyone to work together. I don’t want you sifting through his thoughts,” she told Miranda, “and I want you to work with him as if you’ve already done missions together,” she told Jess. “Professionalism. Anything else is unacceptable.”
“What about his dolls?” Jess asked.
“Treat them like humans,” Ava said without skipping a beat. “Treat them like you would treat me or any other agent. They have parts of his consciousness, as you may recall, and while their usage can be a bit unorthodox, they do come in handy.”
“Thank you, Ava,” Celia said with a smile on her face. “Is there anything I can do to help around here? Is anyone hungry? Maybe I can make some tea. I noticed the place is pretty clean, but if there’s anything that needs fixing or cleaning, I can try my best.”
“Oh boy,” Casper said from Roman’s pocket.
Jess and Miranda both looked at Roman’s chest, noticing the tiny doll climb out of his pocket and scale up to his shoulder.
“So that’s your tiny doll?” Jess asked, slightly horrified.
“It looks like he has a small one and a big one now!” Casper said, laughing so hard she nearly fell off Roman’s shoulder.
Jess glared at the tiny doll. “What was that?”
“Ignore her,” Ava said. “Roman, please deactivate Casper for the time being. Casper, take no offense.”
“Hey…” the tiny doll started to say. The life left her body, and as she fell, Roman caught her and tucked her back in his pocket.
Ava motioned everyone to the dining area, which featured a long table surrounded by chairs and an incredible view of the city. “Let’s go over today’s plan. And Celia, sure, we would love some tea and any snacks you can find.”
“My pleasure,” Celia said. “I’ll do my best.”
“Are you ready for this?” Roman asked, one of his hands on Coma’s shoulder.
“Yes,” she said with a nod. She wore a new mask now, one that was gray rather than black.
Roman pressed as much of his power as he possibly could into her, his knees buckling almost immediately. Ava came to his aid, helping him sit while Celia deactivated immediately and fell onto the sofa.
“Okay,” Roman said, his eyes closed, strength instantly returning to him. “Actually, it’s not that bad now.”
As she had been instructed to do, Ava tied a black blindfold over his face.
Roman heard a flash indicating a teleporter had arrived, his consciousness now partially inside Coma’s head. It wasn’t perfect, the periphery of what he saw covered in black scratches, but it would work.
It was something he’d meant to really try out before, and what Ava had proposed gave him the perfect opportunity. She’d been reluctant at first, but he’d convinced her he could do it. If Margo can do it, so can I, Roman had reasoned with himself.
The teleporter, who wore street clothes, simply lifted his hand in the air when Coma stepped forward, and a corona of light instantly radiated from his fingers to engulf her.
They began to reform in Overtone Heights, near a public park that didn’t look much larger than a block. There was a wrought-iron fence around it, and vines spiraled up a statue in its center.
Roman watched through Coma’s eyes as she approached the statue, which featured a female exemplar with tail and horns next to a man who had spikes tearing out of his arms. Portions of the statue were covered in vines, but other parts were also exposed, such as one of the woman’s horns. Coma curiously looked at a placard in front of the statues.
Roman couldn’t quite make out what it said, his vision too distorted.
He felt something creep at the back of his mind. “Hands off,” he said as his vision started to fade away.
Relax, Miranda thought to him, I’m only trying to see what is happening as well. I won’t pry.
Roman nodded, waiting for Coma to take her seat.
A man stumbled into the park, slurring some song under his breath as he looked up at the statue. He drunkenly whipped his penis out and began taking a piss at the base of it.
As he urinated, he made a snorting sound, which was just about the time he noticed Coma.
Still pissing, the disheveled man turned to her, cock in hand.
“We have hostile locals,” Roman reported.
“Engage if need be,” Ava reminded him.
Roman was glad for this; he had no way of actually communica
ting with Coma beyond seeing what she was seeing and, oddly enough, hearing what she was hearing in a weirdly distorted way, which meant he wouldn’t be able to stop her if she reacted violently.
“Sitting here all by yourself, huh?” the man asked, just finishing up. He zipped himself back up and adjusted the front of his pants. “Care for some company?”
“If you know what’s good for you, you will leave here now,” Coma told him.
The man laughed. “There’s no one around to stop me, honey,” he said as he took a step closer to her. “And look at you. So goddamn sexy. You look like one of those fuck dolls. Anyone ever tell you that? Perfect eleven, baby. That’s what you look like.”
“I would suggest that you leave,” Coma told him.
“You would suggest?” The man laughed so hard he nearly fell over. Instead, he belched, making an uncomfortable grimace with his face as he let it all out. “Whatever,” he said as he stumbled past Coma. “And fuck you, you stuck-up bitch.”
Coma merely returned her attention to the statue.
“Are you sure he’s coming?” Roman asked aloud.
“He should be there now,” Ava told him.
“Do you think he’ll be drunk?”
“There’s no telling.”
A man in a black trench coat and black boots approached the statue a few minutes later. He looked up at it, licked his lips, and then turned to see Coma. “You can’t be the one,” the man said, his bushy white eyebrows narrowing on her.
“Are you Devil?” Coma asked.
“They sent you?”
She nodded.
“I thought they were going to send someone else, perhaps that other one, the one that’s a little bit heavier with the blonde hair. A lot bit heavier. Ha! They really have started recruiting them young, haven’t they?” Devil asked as he approached her. The man saw that there was some piss on the ground and stepped around it.
“I suppose so,” Coma said.
“Do you know who they are?” Devil nodded up at the statue of the woman with horns and the man with spikes tearing out of his skin.
“No.”
“They are the goddamn reason the Western Plague never reached your pathetic country. But you wouldn’t know that, fucking Centralian—you wouldn’t know about the sacrifice those two made. Most people don’t. Most people just come here and look at the statues, maybe a few of them jerk off because the woman was hot. Apparently, someone pissed on it. The statue used to look better about five years ago. You know, they put the vines up because they want to represent new growth, but the vines have a way of making it look shabby. Just an opinion.”
“Do you have the information I need?” Coma asked, not skipping a beat.
“You see, that’s not how this is going to work. You’re not going to show up, some new recruit wearing a short skirt, thinking you’re going to just use me for information. We need to establish a relationship, a bit of a rapport, if you understand what I’m saying here,” the man named Devil said, offering her a grin. “What do you think their names are, the exemplars in the statue?”
“I don’t care.”
“Destry and Amethyst. Pretty much no one around here knows that. Hell, I probably shouldn’t know it. But I was here when it happened, one of those too crazy to leave,” Devil said. “The things I witness, stuff of goddamn nightmares if you ask me. I actually saw them on patrol once. The man could morph his bones, and that one, she looked normal most of the time unless you gave her alcohol—then she turned into that damn demon thing. But I digress. I guess it doesn’t matter who they are, that’s why the placard doesn’t say their names. It just says they were part of the Protectorate.”
Roman watched as Coma removed her mask, dropping it to the ground. The mask formed into the exemplar known as Jess, who had just about the most amazing morphing skill Roman had ever seen.
Rather than shapeshift into another person, Jess was able to actually shapeshift into inanimate objects, and for the most part, it didn’t matter the size of the object she morphed into.
“Enough,” Jess said.
“Jess?” the informant named Devil asked, clearly startled.
“She doesn’t need to hear your made-up story about the statue,” Jess told him crossly. “And fuck whatever you were saying earlier about me.”
“You? I wasn’t talking about you,” he started to say. “Honest!”
“You have information, and we’re here for that information. So, what do you have?”
“Argh,” Devil said, glancing down at his hands. “Fine, fine. I’ll get to it. There’s a guy that just moved in, matches this description of yours. Heavy, with a mustache.”
“Did he have cat girls with him?”
Devil shrugged. “I don’t know that part, but I know he’s holed up in a hotel six blocks away. The place is called the Magnificent Hotel and Bar, and apparently it lives up to its namesake. He’s taken over the entire presidential suite. Ha! I love that they call the top floor in that hotel the presidential suite. What president is going to stay in Overtone Heights?”
“Does he have a security detail?”
“He had several people with him, so yeah, maybe. But that’s all I know, Jess, honest. He matches your description though, and the one your telepath showed me. I’m pretty sure it’s him. And he was there just a few hours ago, so I’m guessing he’s there now.”
“We will be in contact,” Jess said as a teleporter appeared.
Coma and Jess reappeared in the Centralian government apartment in the Turnstone District. Roman removed his blindfold, taking in a deep breath as he opened his eyes and the light blinded him for a moment.
“Great,” Roman told Coma when his powers returned to him.
“I knew this disguise would take Devil off guard,” said Jess, smirking over at Ava and Miranda.
“Do we have any intel on this hotel in question?” Roman asked Ava.
“Working on it right now,” she said, clearly in the middle of firing off messages. Eventually, she glanced over at Roman, who immediately looked away, standing to cover the awkwardness.
“Well, I’m ready.”
“Same,” Coma said.
“I thought she was going to get in a fight back there,” said Jess. “You’re tough, girl,” she told Coma.
“If I had to, I would have.”
“She has an enhanced skeleton,” Roman explained, “made of metal. Well, show them for yourself.”
Coma nodded.
The plastic on her arm melted away as a long blade formed, the materials swirling together at the base of her weapon turning into a strange amalgamation of pink and silver.
“I did not expect that,” Miranda said, the telepath now standing with her arms crossed over her chest.
Roman glanced at her, stopping himself just in time from looking at the way her breasts were being lifted by her arms, almost like she was wearing a corset.
He shook his head. It was always a struggle.
“Here’s how this is going to happen,” Ava started to say. “We aren’t able to evacuate the hotel because command seems to think it would scare Kevin off. So that’s out of the question. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to go in as quickly as we can, meaning this is going to be a hit. So masks on. Miranda, you will be masks off outside, dealing with crowd control. Jess, you will take the rear entrance to ensnare Kevin or either one of his cat girls, Turquoise and Obsidian, if they escape. Remember the two women are poisonous, and you should consider them armed and extremely dangerous. Your best bet will be to take them out immediately. However, if you can keep one alive, that will help us locate Kevin’s pleasure house. Of course, if you see them coming out of the front, Miranda, you know what to do.”
“What about me?” Roman asked Ava.
“You, me, and Coma will be the main point of attack. You and Coma will go into the lobby after registering for a room. I’ll come in from the top. You and I will be in constant communication, and when you’re ready for me, I’ll make
my entrance through a window.”
“Okay,” Roman said.
“You’ll find the clothing you need in your room, as well as masks. You should wear one, and you should as well,” Ava told Coma. “It will completely cover your face; there are no discernible markings on it or the uniforms. As I said, this is a hit, and we are going to make it as smooth and as fast as possible.”
“Got it,” Roman said, ignoring the voice at the back of his head saying what they were about to do was crazy.
He knew not to listen to this voice.
After Ava finished her briefing, Roman and Coma went to his bedroom, where he opened the closet door to find several black bodysuits.
There were two sizes, and one fit him perfectly.
Running his hand along the outer material told him that it was armored for wrist guards, but not much else. So while he would be able to deflect a blast, he would need to use his power to handle it if someone came at him with a knife or anything else.
He found the black mask and pulled it over his face, just his orange eyes visible.
There was a female costume as well, which Coma went for after Roman had changed. She took off her dress and quickly slipped into the bodysuit, Roman watching her undress.
“You look great,” he said as she pulled the mask over her chin.
Coma approached him and Roman slowly placed a hand on her hip, staring down at the doll in her black dress and mask.
“I’m glad you approve,” she said as she turned to the door, Roman watching her leave.
He shook his head and took in a deep breath, feeling the tension follow Coma out of the room.
“Teleporter is here!” he heard Jess call from the living room.
Roman joined the team, everyone wearing black now except Miranda, who was in street clothes.
“Remember,” Ava said, “hit and run. We have a team of teleporters on call. Roman, I need you to be in constant communication with me once you get inside.”
Roman nodded.
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