Chapter Twenty-Five

Did I finally have enough brainpower to work on these two chapters as drafts and post them at the same time so there isn't an awkward twenty-minute pause? Yes! Will I remember to do that next week.... probably not 😂😂

Chapter Twenty-Five

"Zana, I know you are hurting right now but lying on the couch isn't helping you or anyone," Cathleen's voice rings from the speaker of my phone.

"I will have you know that I am in the kitchen cooking, and I went and did rounds the last two nights," I say as I grab some eggs from the fridge.

"Yes, but you aren't talking to Thalia or anyone else regularly," Cathleen says.

"I'm talking to you right now," I say.

"Yes, and how many times have I called?"

"This would be the eighth time," I reply sheepishly. I am sure she has more important things to do than call and try to get a hold of a heartbroken teenager.

"Zana you need to talk to someone, or you are going to explode," Cathleen says, and I can hear her becoming frustrated. I wonder if she is speaking from experience. Her persistence tells me this is something she is connecting with personally for some reason.

"It isn't that big of a deal Cathleen, he was one friend and I will be fine," I say flustered.

"We just wish you had told us what happened before acting," Aviva's voice calls out from the background.

"I did what I had to," I say seriously before hanging up the call. I have to go supply shopping for school with Dr. Hayes this afternoon.

Turning on the stove, I start making myself breakfast while marinating tonight's dinner. I easily move around the tiny kitchen and prep everything before cleaning up and getting changed into some nice clothes. When T walks through the door at one in the afternoon I just look at her baffled.

"Your home?" I ask and she has a dazed look on her face.

"I'm being transferred to a different shelter," she says surprised.

"Is that a good thing?" I ask her perplexed and there is a knock at the door. She spins on her heel and welcomes her father in, and he looks just as confused as I feel.

"Tali? What are you doing home at this hour?" He asks confused.

"I am being transferred," she repeats, and I want to ask more questions.

"Well, why don't we talk about that over dinner. I want to take Zana supply shopping," he says, and I grab my phone and tighten my boots.

"Okay," she says still in a daze herself.

Dr. Hayes and I walk outside and there is a fancy car waiting for us. Sliding inside, he carefully gets in and I see his cane across the back of the seat. Buckling up, the driver takes off and I have no clue where we are going but we arrive at some fancy shop over on the other side of town. Stepping out of the car we stroll into the store and he pulls the printed list out of his pocket and walks over to one of the employees.

She smiles wildly and helps us pick up my uniforms and everything I will need. I end up getting knives with wooden handles, but they are almost stained purple and I am excited to take them home and practice with them. We go to a few stores over and pick up some of the books I need, and Dr. Hayes and I talk about cooking and school. I enjoy the conversation and almost feel at ease in his company. He tells me he found some old recipe cards his wife to use and next time he comes by he will bring them for me.

After we finish shopping, I carefully lay my bags in the trunk before the driver takes off, as we start to leave this part of town, I see a group of five boys and my heart leaps into my throat and I swallow hard. Rubbing my eyes, I see that it is indeed them and just look away. That chapter in my life is over now, I forced it closed.

Dinner gets overcooked slightly but Dr. Hayes raves endlessly about my cooking and when he looks at his daughter, I see a tenderness there. The pain of Greyson's behavior still lingers heavily on us, but I can tell how hard the two are just trying to enjoy one another's company after so many years apart.

When Thalia leaves with Dr. Hayes to walk him over to his hotel. I change into my uniform and text her that I am going out. Hovering on the fire escape for a moment I take off when I hear a fire alarm going off a few blocks away. Connecting into the network, I save some people from a fire. I also help with a nasty car crash before I continue my rounds.

Landing on the roof of a random building, I check for cameras and find none. Sitting down on the edge, my mind spins endlessly as I try to piece together everything. Pulling the stone out from under my suit, I wrap my hand around and can see my hunched over figure sitting way too close to the edge. Where did this stone come from? Who sent it to Paradigm? Why couldn't I find anything in that building? Was the company that far gone that they burned everything?

Holding the stone tightly, something burns inside me. Nothing makes sense! I am going to get answers if it brings me as close to death as I can manage. Turning my boots on, I shoot into the sky and hover over the city. The buildings are much shorter than the ones in New York and thousands of the roofs are sinking, or delipidated in some way shape, or form. Dialing Faith, she answers immediately. I can't say I am surprised by that, we've actually been texting frequently the last few days and I got to hear her play the piano over video chat. It's been nice to have some people to talk to.

"Hey Zana, what's up?" She asks me in her cheery voice, I can hear the guys in the background.

"I need backup, are you guys busy?" I ask her curiously.

"Armed back up, or just standard Maverick backup?" Faith asks quickly as I take off, forwarding my location to all of them I pause.

"Normal backup, I am on my way to Paradigm. That building isn't as empty as it seems," I grunt, and I hear some unintelligible chatter.

"Okay we will be there shortly," Faith says, and she seems excited by this. I know she doesn't run any public missions, so I am not surprised she is energized by something a little less of a spectacle.

Landing in the middle of the field behind the building. I look for any lights or signs of life and find nothing. Nerves start to pick at me, and I have the life startled out of me by the three people landing practically on top of me.

"We've got lights," Cabe says and he hands me a headband with an obnoxiously bright light on it.

"What's the plan?" Orion asks me as he adjusts his mask, we are all dressed in the Maverick's all-black version of the suit.

"We're going into the basement," I say. We all sort of avoided that area. It was hard to find, and we were told the stairs collapsed but I don't think anyone ever went and actually checked.

"Do you have any idea what is down there?" Cabe asks me curiously.

"No, but if I was trying to hide something a basement seems like a logical place to start," I say, and I clench and release my hands nervously. Stalking over to the door, I easily undo the lock and we move inside. I watch as the three reach up and touch their ears.

"Why?" I ask quietly and Faith moves her hair and I faintly see a mechanism behind her ear. That must enhance their hearing or something like that. I still have a lot to learn about this trio.

We creep through the building and the rats all run away from us as I vaguely understand where I am going. We get lost for a few moments before I find the very dirty hallway. Tilting my head down, I see an abnormal amount of stains on the dingy tiles. Clenching my teeth, I lead the way even as fear slowly consumes me. We turn a corner cautiously and see a heavy metal door with the glass shattered out of the little window.

"X marks the spot," Faith grumbles as we slowly approach. Stilling for a moment, I wait for any signs of life and they don't signify that there is any. Carefully pulling on the handle, the door doesn't budge. Bracing myself, I yank hard and find it to be locked.

"Do you have a grand plan to unlock the door?" Faith asks me wryly. I roll my eyes at her tone, I never expected the amount of sarcasm she throws around but I don't mind it.

"Step back," I grumble. Sucking in a deep breath, as I exhale, I smash my fist into the drywall. A massive gaping hole forms as the drywall crumbles away. Pulling my hands out, I yank the thick crystals off and the skin underneath stings as I stick them to the door carefully. I smash my other hand onto the floor and repeat the process as I cover the area around the door handle in the crystals.

"Fragments missing from me, unify," I mumble, and they start to grow together.

"Release!" I hiss and there is a small explosion that knocks me on my butt. Two hands pull me up and I kick the pick proof door handle clear off.

"I can work with that," Faith says before kneeling and peering inside. Within minutes the door is open. Faith steps back and I realize I need to lead them downstairs. Trying to see, I find a light switch, but it doesn't turn anything on.

"Let me clear the stairs, they might be unsteady," I say and they all nod. A strange feeling courses through me as I realize I am giving them orders.

Shaking it away I test the first stair and it seems unsteady but doesn't give. Looking closely, I can see the metal is horrifically rusted all the way down. Tentatively putting all my weight on the staircase, a strange smell starts to creep up from the dark hole, but I do my best to ignore it. Making two more steps down, I am pitched forward and am completely weightless for a moment before I smash hard into the concrete. My skull hurts and I feel a deep crystallization forming on my head and my shoulder.

"Aegis!" I hear three voices call out. I can't see anything; I smashed my headlamp and I start to panic. My gag reflex kicks in as the awful, burnt smell intensifies.

"Screw it!" I hear Orion yell and suddenly the area is lit up. I can see multiple stairs missing from here, but how did I miss that while it was right in front of me?

"Are you okay?" Cabe asks me and he carefully helps me up. The smell intensifies and we all glance to the corner where there is a massive incinerator with the hatch swinging open.

"Oh my gosh," Cabe says before turning to the side, yanking off his mask and vomiting. The smell is strong even without the incinerator on and one thing is clear, a lot of bodies were burned down here. I hear someone else retching and I have to yank my mask off to throw up.

"I am so sorry," I wheeze, trying to breathe through the burning in my throat.

"Let's search this blasted place and get out of here," Faith says, and she looks green.

Faith stands close to me so I can see, and we slowly look around the empty room I point towards the far side of the room, the opposite side from the incinerator, and we see another door. She picks the lock with ease and when we open it, there is a strange creature wriggling on the floor. My stomach churns and I scramble backward. Watching as two knives spin perfectly and nail the snake-like thing to the floor, it stops moving after a few moments. Glancing at Faith and Cabe, they look alarmed and alert, but nowhere as terrified as I feel.

"That wall of filing cabinets looks awfully promising," Orion says bleakly. Carefully sidestepping the creature, its completely white eyes stare at nothing, and my gag reflex is triggered as it oozes a neon-like substance. Yanking on a cabinet in the middle it's locked.

"Are you kidding me?!" I yell frustration and I easily undo the lock with the same method from before. Practically throwing the drawer open, it's empty. Looking in despair at the other three, Faith and Orion and I start picking and opening all of the drawers, searching for anything while Cabe keeps a lookout.

"They are all empty!" Faith exclaims annoyed and I resist the urge to smash my fist into the metal.

"I don't get it! They didn't know we were coming that day; how could they have cleaned up so well?" I ask desperate and Faith's eyes are cold and distant.

"They cleaned up a while ago, this is to clean for a rush job," she says and my hopes shatter into pieces. Looking away from the three metahumans, tears blur my vision as I am consumed with grief. I am never going to get answers! Everything is gone!

"Aegis, is there anywhere else we can look?" Cabe asks and I pause. We cleared most of the building and I know Aviva has even been here once or twice searching through all of the offices after I did. There is nothing here.

"No, I'm sorry I wasted your time," I say, and I feel a hand on my arm and Faith gives me an understanding look. Orion grabs their knives and closes them before we gather in the center of the room. I grab onto Orion hard and the world falls from beneath our feet and we smash into my kitchen.

"Shit!" T curses in shock, she jumps up from the couch and rushes over to us. Pulling the headlamp off, I throw it straight into the trash and start dissolving the crystals on my head before turning back around.

"What were you four doing?" T asks exasperated before the shadows in the living room swirl violently.

"What exactly were you four up to?!" Cathleen and Aviva scream and Alexander just stands awkwardly behind them. I grumble a few curses words and wish the ground would swallow me whole on the spot.

What do we think of Zana's growing friendship with Faith and the rest of the Metac trio(Cabe and Orion)? I always felt like Zana was like a missing piece in the group when I conceptualized her. And well... maybe there is one more missing piece but that's for another book 😁

Three chapters left after this one!!!

Stay safe everyone

XX Cc