From Within and Without
Chapter Five: Assault

He had been pumped so full of antibiotics, his blood must have been sterile. It seemed almost over the top for a simple gunshot wound – people shot themselves in the foot all the time and probably didn’t have as much fuss made over them.

“You’re quite lucky,” the doctor, an exceptionally lanky man in green scrubs, had said, “The bullet went straight through. It made everything easier than having to fish it out of there.”

“Hallelujah,” Kris had drawled, glancing down at the wrappings it was in. He was no psychic, but he foresaw several weeks of limping ahead. Great, he thought, it wasn’t like this would hamper his work.

Don’t be sarcastic, Sylvester had snapped, You’re lucky you got off as lightly as you did.

Don’t I know it, Kris had said, coolly, I don’t envy Takashi.

Kris had been released later that same day, as he’d insisted upon it. They’d reluctantly agreed. Takashi was still in the hospital, having been admitted.  He was still unconscious, although he had a brief period of waking where he was muttering something incoherent, before he slipped out again. His face reminded Kris now of something that had been smashed and clumsily glued back together, with criss-crossing wounds all over. There would be plenty of scarring for the poor guy, he was sure. He was also sure that Danielle wouldn’t take too kindly to the mantra of ‘chicks dig scars’, either. Who could have guessed glass would shatter so easily?

To top everything off on a sour note, he must have been inadvertently projecting, for as he hobbled slowly up the stairs, everyone he seemed to pass regarded him with open irritation. Sophie was wailing by the time he’d opened the door, Andrew had a distinctly grumpy look on his face, and Danielle…

“About damn time you came back,” she had said with a snap, trying to hold onto the wailing toddler.  She all but tried to shove her at him.  “I’ve been waiting all afternoon for you to get back to I can check on my boyfriend.”  And she was gone not too long after that, although she wasn’t gone long.  Just long enough to access Takashi’s condition, and decide she was needed more at the apartment than at her unconscious boyfriend’s side.

Sylvester was of no more help than anyone else, although he could safely say his mood was his own, and not influenced by Kris’ already touchy state of mind. Later that night, when the children were tucked into bed and he’d relegated himself to the couch, did he resurface.

You know…

Yeah, yeah, Angie’s not going to like this, he said, wriggling the injured foot. He hissed. Even with it bandaged and propped up on the couch’s armrest, the motion still hurt. You don’t need to tell me that.

I was going to say you shouldn’t take your anger out on everyone else—

I’m hardly taking it out on anyone else, let alone the kids. Is that what you’re implying?

—including me, Sylvester pointed out, I’m just as sensitive to emotions as you are. I know no one expects to be shot, but sulking isn’t going to do a damn thing.

Aren’t you suddenly all high and mighty? Kris said, futilely trying to assume a comfortable position, I’ve seen you get all ‘sulky’ before too over far less.

All right, so it wasn’t a promising start to the weekend, Sylvester said, looking aggravated; the smell of cigarette smoke doubled, and Kris made a face, There’s still next weekend, and your kids are perfectly safe. Isn’t that what you’ve worried about since Day One?

This isn’t about them being in danger, he said, starting to lose his train of thought, This is about me not being able to spend enough time with them, and this doesn’t help…

It might have been the drugs he’d been given, or it might have been sheer stress, but he didn’t wake until well the next morning, the point where everyone else was already awake. Andrew was poking and prodding his foot, and he hissed.

“Drew, stop that,” he mumbled.

The children seemed to be in a better mood that day, thankfully for his nerves, though Danielle was still slightly annoyed. He decided it was best if he left her to her own devices, and tried to spend the day as best he could.

“What’s wrong with your foot?”

“It got a little hole ripped in it, Drew,” Kris said, hobbling over to the kitchen, “It’s okay. I just need to not step on it.”

He knew he would regret that later.

“Daddy got a boo-boo,” Sophie said, “On his foot. And his face.”

“I can imagine,” Angelina added, her eyes sweeping over the bandaged foot, and then to his face. There was no sadness from her that day, just anger mixed in with sheer exasperation.

“Go get your things,” Kris said, mostly as a pretext to get the children out of the way, “Soap, you left your suitcase in the bedroom. It’s not as bad as it looks, Angie—”

“That’s not the point,” she said, “You were injured and you didn’t call me?”

“Why, so you could take the kids home? I’m perfectly capable of taking care of them.”

“Have you seen yourself?” Angelina said, “You’ve got a bruise on your cheek the size of Texas and you’re limping everywhere. Don’t you have a crutch?”

“I don’t need a crutch—”

“Why must you be so damn stubborn?” she sighed, “You don’t look like you’re in any state to take care of two toddlers and I wish you would’ve called so I could pick them up.”

“This is my time with the kids, and I want to get as much of it as possible,” he said, “Danielle watched them here and there when I couldn’t.”

“I don’t bring them here so they can be watched by Danielle. Danielle is not their mother. I bring them here so you can watch them. That’s the whole point of custody, that you get time with your kids. And if you’re having troubles taking care of them…”

“I’m not having troubles,” he said, her anger starting to seep into him, “I’m limping a bit—”

“You’re hopping on your good foot,” she said, “And this is one of the lesser injuries. I wish you wouldn’t put yourself in danger like this—”

“Hey, I wasn’t expecting them to pull out their guns—”

“That’s what I’m trying to say!” Angelina said, throwing her hands up in the air, “You weren’t expecting them to draw guns. You shouldn’t have been in the situation to begin with! I don’t know details, but no legitimate organization should be sending up unarmed volunteers against armed agents! And you agree to go out and do it, that’s what I don’t understand! Would the world implode if you just said no once in a while, that you don’t want to go out and get used for target practice?”

Kris’ jaw clenched. “You don’t understand,” he said slowly, trying to flood himself with calm feelings, “And that’s fine. But don’t pretend like you know what’s going on.”

Angelina sighed. “I know you’re being exceptionally stupid and narrow-minded – you have children to think about, too, not just yourself – but you didn’t listen to me two years ago, so why should I expect you to listen now?”

Sunday night was spent lying in bed, finally feeling weary rather than angry. When he awoke Monday morning, it was only lessened by the fogginess of sleep.

Danielle, on the other hand, was her usual alert and slightly annoying self that morning.  She had a dream that Takashi was going to be waking that morning, and she was preparing herself to visit him so she could be there when he did.  She didn’t have an exact time, although she knew it was morning because the nurses found him awake as they were doing morning rounds.  She...just didn’t know when they did their morning rounds.  For all she knew, he could be awake already.

She left Kris to his own devices after she made sure he was awake and wouldn’t be surprised to see her gone when he woke.  The hospital wasn’t overly surprised to see her, since she spent a lot f time there the day before, after Angelina had taken the kids, until they kicked her out.  They probably thought she was there because she couldn’t stand to spend a second away from her boyfriend.  While it was mostly true, she did have another injured person to take care of, and he was just as much a priority.  The difference was that Kris needed her help now, whereas Takashi wouldn’t even know the difference.

She was still kicking herself for not seeing the situation sooner.  She had seen one of the guys taking a swing at Takashi, but what she couldn’t see was the outcome of the swing.  She had hoped the warning would have been enough, but she had forgotten telepaths tended to be really focused internally when they were taking to each other.  This was one reason why Danielle preferred going after other Abilities, because it didn’t give Takashi a reason to be distracted.  Still, she wish she could have seen them actually using their guns.  It had been a last ditch effort on that one guy’s part, to take out one of the agents, although he completely missed.

Damn Kris and his bright ideas. 

She stared at Takashi from the chair in the room, leaning forward to study his face.  He was clearly sleeping now, having shifted sometime in the night, probably around the time she had her dream, and he looked so peaceful despite his bandages.  It wasn’t as bad as everyone was making it out to be.  The doctors did their best to patch him up so there would be minimal scaring, and the worst of it was the blow to his head.  They decided he hadn’t had a concussion, although she hadn’t been able to figure out how they knew.  But they told her that it was just a really bad blow, and that, once he woke up fully, he’d be fine.

He was going to be angry as hell, but he was going to be fine.

The thing that was really annoying her was that she couldn’t see if they were right or not.  Her inner eye seemed to be blocking something, and she would get strange flashes of something, although it was nothing concrete.  It was like every time she was about to figure it out, the image would disappear, and she’d loose sense of it.  She’d still get flashes of upcoming events, none of which included Kris or Takashi.  But this new sight was just making her frustrated at this point.

She was still inside her head when something soft touched her hand.  She jumped, and focused back on reality to see Takashi staring at her.  “Hey,” he said softly and hoarsely. 

“Hey,” she said, smiling with relief.

He frowned, though.  “What happened?” he asked.  “Why am I in a hospital?”

“You were an idiot,” she said simply.  “I told you to duck—”

He continued to frown as he tried to recall events.  “That...guy...”

“His name is Fredrick Hertz, and he’s find.  He got off with the least damage, just a black eye and a gashed tongue.”

“We got him, then?”

“Yeah, they guys backed off as soon as they shot Kris.”

Takashi’s eyes widened before he winced.  “He got shot?”

She shrugged.  “Yeah, in the foot.  It wasn’t pleasant, but I’m afraid he’ll live.”

Takashi still looked a little alarmed and confused.  “Oh.”

She patted his arm.  “You don’t have anything to worry about other than staying here and waiting until the doctor’s realize that it’s not this incident that caused the brain damage.”

“Ha ha, spare the jokes.  I’m injured here.  I think.”

She grinned, happy that he was more or less okay, before leaning over, wrapping his arms around his neck, and giving him a very long good morning kiss.

***

Trinity did her best to stifle the yawn that was threatening to escape as she stepped out of the building where her last class of the day – Mythology – was held.  She liked Mythology, it was just that she hadn’t had enough sleep the last few days.  Something was bothering her, although she had no clue what it was.  It was possibly the fact that her cousin was finally in town, and could obviously come and see her whenever she felt she could.

It could be thinking of Melissa starting school the previous day in a new school, despite how late in the year it was, and thinking of her trying to fit in.

It could also be what Danielle said when she last saw her, about those people chasing after her.  And how Melissa was just as unique as Trinity was, and the possibility of someone going after her was slowly eating the sleep out of her.

It was bad enough she had to worry about someone coming after her; now she had to worry about someone going after her ten year old cousin.  And sure, Melissa could probably take care of herself, but Trinity felt it was her duty to protect her, to make sure she didn’t have to take care of herself.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized she couldn’t be mad at Danielle for disappearing like that, if it was to protect Trinity.  Trinity would probably do the same now if it meant protecting Melissa someway.  She wasn’t entirely sure how, but her younger cousin, who she hadn’t seen in what seemed like forever, had somehow gotten under her skin after that Saturday they spent together.  It was bizarre, but Trinity didn’t mind it too much.

Unless her new love for her cousin was Melissa’s doing in the first place, in which she was going to kill the little monster herself.

Still, the last thing she expected as she started to climb the stairs up to her room was hearing her phone go off.  She had to pause on the stairwell to pull it out, in case it was her mother deciding to wise up and actually call her cell phone, but was surprised to see an unknown number listed.  Confused, she decided to answer it.  “Hello?”

“Hey, Tri,” her sister said a little too happily on the other end.

Trinity sighed.  “Of course you would somehow call when I’m only halfway up the stairs.”

Danielle snorted.  “Still not over your fear of elevators, huh?” she asked, and Trinity could almost see her smiling.

“Dani, this building’s nearly older than Grandpa.  You think I’d trust the elevator here?”

Danielle laughed, and Trinity rolled her eyes as she restarted her climb.  “What do you want, Dani?”

“Well, it’s Tuesday.”

Trinity paused.  “Yeah.  You want to go to the zoo today?”

“Sure, why not?  You don’t have any tests for a while, and nothing due.  It’s the perfect time.”

“You’ve been spying on me, haven’t you?”

“No, just that since seeing you, I keep getting flashes of when your tests and projects are, and I see your perfecting free and clear this week.  And, like I said, it is Tuesday.”

Trinity grumbled as she pushed open the door to her floor, wishing she hadn’t agreed to go.  “I might have other plans.”

“Vegging out is not a legitimate ‘other plan’, Tri.”

“Advanced warning would be nice,” Trinity grumbled.

“Excellent.  I’ll pick you up in about a half an hour.  Which dorm are you in again?”

“What, you can’t see that?”

“Shut up.”

Trinity had nothing else to do other than prepare to head to the zoo with her sister  Unfortunately, her last class of the day ended just as the other schools did, which meant there was going to be an influx of younger kids at the zoo for whatever reason.  Danielle should know that, that Trinity didn’t like being at the zoo when it was slightly overcrowded, but she did promise, after all.  Besides, she needed some major catching up time with her sister.

She was more or less ready and standing outside her building, having tossed her excuse at Lillian as she walked into the room.  Lillian had wanted to come down and meet Danielle, but Trinity quickly squashed that idea.  She wanted this over with as soon as possible, and having her roommate tag along wasn’t going to help matters.  It wasn’t that she didn’t want to spend time with her sister; it was that she didn’t want to spend time with her on a schoolday.

She wasn’t sure what she was expecting when she saw Danielle walk up, but she certainly wasn’t expecting her to look like she did.  “You look like shit,” Trinity commented as she stopped.

“Thanks a lot,” Danielle said coolly.  Trinity couldn’t think of a time when she saw Danielle annoyed.  This confused her.

“Something wrong?” Trinity asked as Danielle took the lead heading to the Park.

“Nothing major.  Just some…problems with my roommates.  They’re…having problems lately.”

“What sort of problems?  Arguing problems?” Trinity asked.  “I mean, I know how girls can be.  Get my roommate and Sasha together, and I think I have a good idea.”

“No, no,” Danielle said, laughing.  “Both my roommates are guys.”  Trinity bulked a little.  Her sister was never the type to do things like live with two guys, and, if Trinity’s speculations were right, one of them had to be her boyfriend.  Danielle certainly wasn’t the sure to live with her boyfriend before they got married.  “They…got into a little trouble over the weekend.”

“It wasn’t that shooting, was it?” Trinity asked.  “The one where that one guy got shoved through a window?”

Danielle stopped and stared at her blankly.  “How…how did you know about that?”

“History,” Trinity said, shrugging as she walked past her sister.  “One of the things we got to do is present on current events in the beginning of class, and today’s was about the minor shooting incident close to campus this weekend.”

“Eh,” Danielle said, looking a little torn.  “Yeah, actually it was.”

“Shot in the foot.  Ouch.”

“You don’t know the half of it,” Danielle muttered.

The zoo had always been a favorite spot for Trinity and her sister.  She could remember most weekends where the two of them would beg their parents to take them, or Matthew when he was old enough to supervise them.  Of course, as they got older, their enthusiasm for going to the zoon every weekend waned a little, but it was still exciting to go.  Especially with so many fond memories.  But Danielle seemed distracted, moreso than usual, drifting in and out and having trouble focusing.

“Dani, what’s wrong?” Trinity asked as the two of them sat on a bench outside the penguin enclosure, eating the pretzels Danielle just bought.

“Nothing, why do you ask?”

“Because you’re a space case today.  I won’t think you’d take me do the zoo when you’re having so many problems at home.”

Again, Danielle looked at her blankly.  “There’s nothing wrong at home, although Takashi’s supposed to come home tomorrow.  I think.”  She blanked out for a moment, and Trinity sighed.  “It’s just…I’m worried about my visions.  They aren’t as…clear as they used to be.”

Trinity shrugged.  “Mom says that they wane and wax sometimes, especially in psychics.  It’s nothing really, its just shifting a little as you get older.  I wouldn’t worry about it too much.”

“It’s just…troublesome,” Danielle sighed.  “I could have prevented the whole incident on Saturday if I had just seen it.”

Trinity rolled her eyes.  “Sometimes you can’t completely predict the future.  I mean, people change their minds all the time.  How many times have something you seen not come to just because you told us about it?  The future’s not as set in stone as you like, Dani.  You’ll just have to deal with it.”

Danielle shook her head as she pulled herself back to the present, and Trinity sighed.  She hated having a psychic sister.  At least with her Ability, she could control when she used it.  Everyone else, it seemed, was at the Ability’s whim.  Mediums never chose when they saw spirits; telepaths never really chose when they read minds.  They could filter out what they heard, but they couldn’t just say ‘oh, gee, I’ll read that guy’s mind right there’.  It all seemed so…tiresome for Trinity.

Of course, the most she had to worry about was accidentally floating some random object behind her, and freaking people out.  None of that was inside her head.

“It’s troublesome,” Danielle insisted. 

“Yeah, because it’s an Ability,” Trinity told her.  “It’s not supposed to be easy.  God only gave them to people who could handle it.”

Danielle gave her a funny look.  “Aren’t you like atheist or something?  I didn’t think you believed in God.”

“I was raised Christian, so I’m forced to believe God’s up there somewhere.  Just because I don’t practice it doesn’t mean I don’t believe in it.  Besides, it’s the best argument I have against those uber-religious freaks who attack me because of my Ability.  If God didn’t want me to have it, then God wouldn’t have given it to me.”

“Huh,” Danielle said, sipping on her lemonade.

They were silent for a moment.  “So, did Mom tell you what Missy’s Ability was?”

“No,” Danielle said.  “I haven’t talked to Mom since I saw her last.  Isn’t she a telepath, or something?”

“A reverse telepath, actually.  She doesn’t read minds, but rather puts thoughts in your head.”

Danielle stared at her, a look of fear crossing her face.  “You’re…you’re kidding, right?”

“Nope.  She came to visit me on Saturday.  Trust me, I know that’s what she does.  It’s creepy, and half the time she doesn’t realize she’s doing it.  Which is why she was sent to Mom, so she can work a little on control.”

Danielle looked very freaked out.  “A reverse telepath.  Great.  Is there no end to the freaks in this family?”

Trinity smiled.  “We are the oldest family with Abilities,” she pointed out.  “Which means we get the first pick of the mutations.”

Danielle shook her head.  “You haven’t told anyone about this, have you?”

“Mom wants us to keep it a secret, for some reason.  I haven’t told anyone but you.”

“Good, keep it that way.  If word gets out…,” she shuddered.  “It’d be bad.”

“Oh, trust me, I know,” Trinity said, sipping on her own lemonade.  “Which is why I haven’t told anyone?”

Danielle didn’t say much after that, and the conversation on the walk home was pretty much null and void. Trinity could tell something was eating at her sister, but she couldn’t place what it was.  She was a little worried, since she had learned at an early age to be worried whenever Danielle was.  But she was more worried for Danielle than what the future would hold.  But, then again, she was used to worrying about her sister, too fragile, really, for this world.  It wasn’t anything new on her part.

It was just worrisome because she was out in the real world, and Trinity wasn’t sure her roommates would be able to protect her as well as they could be.  She was worried something might actually happen to her sister, and neither she nor her brother would be around to stop it. 

When Danielle dropped her off for the evening, a little earlier than Trinity expected, Trinity decided that she was going to do all in her power to find out exactly what was going on with her sister, and she wasn’t going to be above anything to find out.

***

“We have plenty of other people who can do this job,” Roxanne muttered into her cell phone, her free hand clapped over her other ear to block out noise, “People who might actually be able to speak his language.”

“Look, Roxie,” James said soothingly, “We’ve got enough intel to see that he just might be interested if it’s done by a woman—”

“Then send Emma,” Roxanne pointed out, leaning against the brick, “If you want a woman who can spout off technobabble, it’s her.”

“Emma’s not forceful enough for this sort of thing,” he said, “I wanted you because I know you could pin him down and make him listen.”

“Oh, I’m sure he’ll listen to me,” she said, “If he’s the kind of guy who goes home with some skank at three in the morning, I don’t think he’ll listen to me.”

James’ chuckle sounded frustrated. “Roxie, babe, you’re not some cheap barfly.”

“Yeah, yeah, I could down him if he got unruly enough, I know,” she said, “You just want me to seduce him, don’t you?  That’s what this is – you can’t send Arabelle because she’s denser than a brick and would forget what she was sent for, you can’t send Emma because she couldn’t be seductive if she tried, you know better than to even think of asking Kim, so that leaves me. Honestly, Jim. I’d expect Harry to suggest this sort of crap, but you?”

James, who had been trying to get a word in edgewise the entire speech, finally cut in. “Seduce him? Babe, this is strictly business. You’re the only one who I’d trust with this. I doubt Arabelle could be aggressive enough to get the point across, Emma would rattle off so many obscure technical terms that even he’d be lost, and Kim would shout at him for half an hour and think she was persuasive. You’re calm enough and intelligent enough that I think you could do it.”

“Business at a frat house?” Roxanne drawled, glancing over to the entrance. Several indecipherable Greek letters hung over the main doorway. Judging by the sounds emanating from the place, it might as well have read ‘Beer House’.

“It’s not ideal,” James admitted, “But ten bucks says everyone else is drunk enough that no one will even notice you. I’m not asking you to sleep with him – God, no – or seduce him. Just plant the idea in his head however you can. Please, Roxie. Just this once.”

Roxanne let out an aggravated sigh. “It damn well better be just this once. And he’d damn well better be here, or else I swear to God…”

Saying good-bye to James and hanging up, Roxanne tried to compose herself. It wasn’t prostitution. It was just a little sleazy. Just as well, she thought, the place looked like it was used to a little sleaze here and there. She straightened her posture, adjusted her shrug, collected her things – cell phone in purse, right alongside the mace (how she wished tasers were legal for civilians…) – and headed for the door. 

There was music blaring when she stepped inside, loud enough that she wasn’t immediately noticed, and the few eyes that caught hers already looked buzzed. Still, some of them lingered for longer than she wanted. Not that she could blame them; how many women walked into frat parties wearing a red silk corset? Not like they were looking at that.

Damn it, where was he? She knew Wednesday night wasn’t exactly the time for drinking (then again, these were frat boys…), but the damn intel had said that he was no stranger to the place, and the damn intel had better have been right.

Relief coursed through her as she spotted what had to be him. He was no movie star, with a lanky frame and pale skin that suggested he didn’t get outside much. Everyone insisted he was a computer whiz, so that wasn’t terribly surprising. As long as he didn’t live in his mother’s basement, she told herself she could get through this.

It took her only a few strides to get where he was standing, and she stood as tall as she could.

“Hey there, handsome,” she said, with the most convincing fake grin she could muster, “You wouldn’t happen to be Irvine Wilson, would you?”

Irvine turned to her, a little surprised that someone was addressing him.  He hadn’t had enough to drink – just the one – or been there long enough for any female to think it was okay to approach him.  And this one was hardly the ‘usual’ type, the ones who would walk up with their girlfriends, who would giggle the moment the one addressing him would do so.  And then they would all giggle in high pitch tones as she talked to him.

But usually, by that point, he was so far gone that he couldn’t even remember it happening the next day.  So it never counted.

This girl, though, was completely the opposite of those girls.  They were usually tiny things, looking like they were merely toothpicks in human form, with varying shades of blonde hair and deep tans.  This one was fairly average in size, and, well, not blonde.  In fact, her hair was black.  She also looked a little older than the freshman girls that usually hung around the party.  But still, there was something about this one, the way her voice sounded, well, normal, and didn’t irritate him.  She seemed to have some spark of intelligence to her, and, well, she wasn’t that bad to look at.  In fact, she was rather...exotic, the sort of girl that drew everyone’s eye.

Why she was addressing him he couldn’t figure out, but it intrigued him.  “Yeah, I am, gorgeous.  What can I do for you?”

“The name’s Roxanne,” she said cheerily, relieved that he still seemed sober. She extended her hand for a shake, a formality she’d gotten used to, but one that wasn’t necessary at a party. “You wouldn’t believe how many places I searched to find you. I’m here to talk business. Mind if we sit down somewhere? Makes things a little easier.”

Irvine took the offered hand a little confused, since most girls weren’t so formal with him.  “Business?” he asked, gesturing to the couch in the middle of the room, which was surprisingly empty at the moment.  “No one comes to a party to talk business.”

“You’re a surprisingly difficult man to get a hold of,” she lied with a smile, reclining on the couch, “Personally, I’m not the partying type myself – not these sorts of parties, at least – but I just had to find you...and it just so happened to be at a party. Funny how these things work out.”

“Uh,” he said, since he knew that, if someone wanted to get a hold of him as badly as this girl apparently wanted it, it was quite easy.  He knew his schedule was probably easily accessible, and it wasn’t like he got out all that much.  “Okay.  If you say so.  What type of ‘business’ do you have with me that you’d ‘venture out’ to a frat party for, gorgeous?”

She grinned. Good. He was being cooperative and seemed to be keeping his eyes off her chest. This was promising. “I hear you’re quite the techno-wizard. Personally, that’s not my thing, but as long as I can do the basics, I consider myself competent. Anyway, my superiors are just raving about you, and we’d like to make you an offer of...employment. Have you heard of an organization called R.E.V.E.R.A. by any chance?”

Irvine rolled his eyes.  “This again, huh?  Look, I’ve told your superiors that I wasn’t going to just...join their little ‘organization’ just because they were begging me to.  Do you realize how many companies are lining up to offer me the exact same job as soon as I gradate?  If they can offer me something the others can’t, then, well, I might.  Although...,” he paused to give her a good looking over.  “If they employ people like you there, they might have a chance.”

“Unfortunately people like me aren’t as common as you’d like,” she drawled with a smile, leaning a little closer to him, “Of course, people like you aren’t common either. That’s why we want to get a hold of you. Trust me, when R.E.V.E.R.A. sees talent like yours, they go for it. This isn’t just your run of the mill, slaving in a cubicle all day tech support. They’re offering something a little more...what’s the word I want? Rewarding. I can’t delve too deeply into specifics right here and now, but trust me when I say this is far more important than anything else those other companies could ever offer.”

“Uh huh,” he said.  “I’ve heard it all before, from your little group as well as everyone else that’s come to me.  You’ll have to do better than that.”

Her smile became a touch more tense. He was a tough sell. All right, she told herself, might as well do what she could in a public space. Never mind that there were enough drunk people that she didn’t think they’d notice what she was saying; better safe than sorry. That mantra had kept them afloat. James had damned well better appreciate all the shilling she was doing for him, she thought. Her expression didn’t waver. 

“All right, then, let’s try something else. Tell me what you’re picturing when I say ‘employment’. Is it some low-level IT job, fixing computers and showing people higher up than you how to turn on a printer because they’re too stupid to figure it out on their own? And, maybe, maybe, if you work hard enough and show enough talent you’ll crawl your way up the top, but not after being thoroughly sick of your job, and dealing with one idiot after another. If you’re thinking that here, you’re dead wrong. Never mind mere tech support, we’ve got something better on the table. Something where you can actually see the result of your efforts beyond the network working properly. Something where you know you’ll have an impact.”

Her grin broadened, and she gestured for him to come closer with a smooth gesture of her finger. “Like I said, I can’t go into specifics here, but it’s something that could possibly be a little...under the table, if you know what I mean. Why else would they go to the trouble of sending little old me to talk to you in person? This isn’t something we could leave lying around on an answering machine for anyone to stumble across. If you’re in it for the money, it pays a hell of a lot better than anything else – I don’t do what you do, but trust me, I know – but what am I saying?” she said, shifting her tone to the normal conversational one again. “You don’t seem the type in it for the money.”

He leaned forward playfully.  “But what if I am, gorgeous,” he said, playing along.  “Who’s to say I didn’t get into this field just for the hell of it?  After all, it is a highly sought after and very well paid field.”  She had caught him, though, since that had been what most of the other companies were mostly offering.  Sure, he sort of expected to be the low man on the totem pole to start off with, to start in a small cubicle, and then work his way – quickly – up the top.  “After all, I have every intention of marrying young, and I’m sure my wife will keep me buried in shoes, or something.”

“You show too much talent to be in it just for the money, handsome,” she drawled, “You can usually spot those types a mile off – they’ll learn just enough to be competent, and from what I hear, you’re more than merely competent. R.E.V.E.R.A. rewards skills like that, because...well, let’s be honest, when you have talent, you should be able to put it to use doing things worthy of your time. Let the intro jobs be filled by people less spectacular. Let them claw their way to the top. You shouldn’t have to do that.”

She relaxed a little bit, fishing for Harry’s business card in her purse. It was James doing all of this, but public was public. Might as well let him deal with Harry; everyone else had to do the same thing. It was like initiation.

“If you’re interested, how about I give you this, and you can arrange a little talk with the higher-ups to get the details?” she said, offering him the card, which rested between two of her fingers, “Get a job you can deserve so you can pay for all those shoes your wife buys, and then some. You don’t strike me as the marrying young type, but what do I know? I didn’t think you went for the ditzy, shoe-buying type, either.”

The emphasize her point, she did a quick scan of the room, especially the women. Lots of them looked like Arabelle types. Lots of them probably were Arabelle types. None of them seemed interesting enough to Roxanne that she would bother trying to be nice to them.

Irvine took the proffered card, smiling as he did so.  “See, the problem here is that you hardly know me,” he said, still playing along.  “You don’t know what type of man I am.  Of course, that could easily be changed.” 

She smiled back. The flirting was to be expected. He didn’t seem too into it; it was something about the way he moved that suggested that. That was more than fine with her; she had planted the seed of interest in him, and he had the card, so anything beyond was simply for fun. After all, she was at a party; who went to a party and didn’t have some fun?

“Okay, what type of man are you?” she murmured, her smile growing, “I’m dying to know.”

“Ah, well then, I suppose you’ll either have to stick around and find out, or we could just skip the pleasantries, and I could take you back to my apartment and show you.”

The smile faded a little. “I guess I’ll have to stick around, because I don’t go home with strangers. That’s just not my style.”

He shrugged, smiling.  “Well, good for you,” he said.  “That would mean you’re the smartest girl here.”

“There isn’t much in the way of smarts around here, is there?” she agreed, glancing around, “Can’t see what the attraction is, myself. If you just want to get wasted there are easier ways of going about it. Unless you somehow want to surround yourself with these sorts of girls, but they’re all over. I’m half convinced they’re the only types of girls on campus. That, and dewy-eyed freshmen looking forward to the ‘college experience’, but half of them are just these types in the making. It’s almost sickening, really. Not that my two cents count for much,” she said wryly, her smile broadening again.

“Well, I’m sure that’s not the only type of girl on campus,” he said slowly.

“No, but they’re the most visible,” she said, “After all, look at how many are here. The rest of them are your average, plain Jane sorts, the kind that don’t really stand out too much so these bimbos shine through. Of course there can be idiots in that bunch too, but they’re usually sensible enough to realize it and keep their heads down.”

He frowned.  “What are you implying?” he asked, not realizing completely what he was saying.

“What I’m saying is, there’s idiots everywhere, and you’ll have to deal with them more than anyone else. We all know where these girls will end up, but the ‘girl next doors’ will be the mousey, not much to look at, paper-pushing types that you’ll have to show how to turn on a printer,” she said, reclining a little on the couch, “The ones who start out as dewy-eyed freshmen determined not to be the blonde bimbos, and skate through their useless major, only to realize that it won’t carry them as far as they’d hoped. Essentially, the plain ones are mediocre at best, incompetent at worst, and tiring as hell to deal with.”

He paused, slowly lowering the cup from his lips.  He glared for a few moments before shoving the business card back at her and standing.  “We’re done here.  And you can tell your ‘superiors’ that they might want to have someone with more class pick up potential employees next time.”  Without a word, he turned his back on her, and made a point of heading out the door, getting as far away as he could from her.

“Aren’t you a big man, throwing out barbs like that?” Roxanne called to him as he left, her tone growing icier, “I didn’t start tossing insults at you.”

There was no response, and she stayed on the couch for a bit, the frown growing as she stared at the business card lying on the couch cushion. Shit, damn it all, whatever swear word one wanted to use, there was no denying that something had triggered something fierce in him, and she had been the one to do it. Well, there went her night, wasting it all on a scrawny, pale ‘genius’. Class, hah. This was the man who went home with skanks at three in the morning, according to the intel. This was the man who kept flirting his way through something that could have been strictly business, and kept away from apparently triggering topics. This was the man who’d propositioned her – ‘not asking you to sleep with him’, huh Jim? He would have. This man didn’t know what class was. 

Someone else swaggered up to the couch, a generic ‘jock’ sort, with a deep tan and holding a plastic cup full of beer.

“Hey there, beautiful,” he said, in a way that his drunk mind must have considered seductive, “Saw you were having trouble with your date.”

“Yeah, he left,” she said, standing, “And now I think I’m going to do the same thing.”

“Aw, come on,” he said, sitting down just as she stood, sweeping up the business card in one fluid motion. He didn’t notice. “I saw him. You’re way out of his league.”

“And so are you,” she said coolly, making a beeline for the back door. He’d left through the front; she didn’t want to risk being seen. He might have made a fuss about it, and that was the last thing she wanted to deal with at that moment. Class. She swiped a cup of beer on the way out, downing it in one or two large gulps. Cheap beer. Not the sort James usually bought. It left a bad taste in her mouth.

The night felt much cooler than indoors, and she took the long way to where the car was waiting. She pulled out her cell phone with some trepidation, hitting speed dial. Every ring of the phone seemed to be a new irritation.

“Jim?” she said, without waiting for a response, “You’re not going to like this...”

***

Trinity was having a very strange dream.  It wasn’t like most of her other dreams, which were mostly inconsistent and tended to be all over the place.  For some odd reason, she was in California, living her worst nightmare.  She was in an earthquake!  The idea terrified her, although she suspect she would never be in one, and earthquake disaster movies fascinated her.  There was shaking, and things were falling, and it was just terrible all around.

What made things worse as that the last shake caused her to fall out of bed, and she lay in a heap, trembling for a bit before she realized something was wrong.  That it wasn’t the dream that made her fall out of bed.  It took her a few seconds more to realize what she was hearing, what she had heard, what had woke her up.

She threw her hands over her head as another explosion rattled the room, although this one wasn’t as loud as the first one.  There was a commotion in the hallways as students started waking and running in them, wondering what the hell was going on, and if they should evacuate.  This, of course, had to be a night when Lillian decided to spend the night with her boyfriend.  Trinity started to get up, but quickly ducked again as another explosion rocked the room.

Clearly, this wasn’t happening to her building, just a building close by, she told herself.  She was being silly, reacting this way.  But it was just so natural to do so, to make sure nothing was going to fall on her head or anything.  She slowly pulled herself up, clutching at the bed, and crawled to her door.  It was a little better in the hallway, where there were more people, and she could judge how she should be acting a little better.  All of them were terrified, but there seemed to be a handful of people who were the types to look crisis in the eyes, and see opportunity there.  They were directing the other students, being calm and orderly, and generally helping the situation.  Trinity wanted to be like those people, but she had no clue what was going on.

She slowly crawled back in her room, where it seemed she’d do the least amount of damage, and clapped her hands over her ears as something else exploded.  She barely ever noticed her phone ringing, and she made a grab at it, ready to reassure her mother she was fine.

But it wasn’t her mother on the phone.  She hadn’t heard about this yet.

“Trinity?” Danielle asked frantically yet softly.  “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she responded, somehow confused.  “Well, more or less.  Physically, I’m fine.”

“God damn it all, I saw this!” she said, mostly to herself.  “I know I did!”

“What’s...what’s going on, do you know?”

“Not specifically.  It’s only now that I realize what the visions meant.  They were telling me one o the buildings near campus was going to get bombed.  I should have known this!  I could have had people out there, and I could haev saved lives!”

“Was it a dorm building?” Trinity asked.

Danielle was silent for a moment.  “No...” she said slowly.

“I wouldn’t worry about the loss of life, then.  Most of these buildings are pretty empty after hours.  I always hear people daring other people to break in at this time of night.”

“That doesn’t help matters, Tri!” Danielle all but shouted, but still keeping her voice down.  Trinity had a feeling that Danielle didn’t want someone to know she was talking to her.  “It doesn’t!”

The door flew open, and Trinity stared at the calmed faced sophomore in her doorway.  “We’re being evacuated.  You need to get downstairs...now...”

Trinity nodded solemnly, and picked herself up off the floor.  She followed the sophomore out, still clutching the phone to her ear.  “You’re being evacuated?” Danielle was asking.  “That’s good, that’s good.  People need to know about this.”

“Trust me, Dani, people are going to know about this.”

She had to consciously keep a sort of force field around her, a trick she taught herself back in high school, to keep the crowd from encroaching on her personal space.  People were terrified, and they had a police escort take them several blocks away with the rest of the students on campus, as well as a few people who happened to live in apartments nearby.  “How far way are you?”

“A couple blocks,” Trinity said.  “Can you see it from your apartment?  I bet Mom and Dad could see it from theirs.  The fire’s freaking huge.”

Danielle was silent for a moment.  “My God,” she muttered to herself, and Trinity had a feeling she just looked out the window. 

“I wouldn’t worry about it.  It...just looks worse because it’s dark, and it’s late, and we’re tired.”

“Worse that it looks, Tri?”

“Yeah, yeah, shut up.  The firefighters will deal with it.  It’s mostly just on this one side, isn’t it?”

Trinity jerked with the rest of the group huddle together as another explosion rocked the night, and she had a feeling it was going to be a long night.  She realized they were all just small explosions, designed to be small explosions, and that it just sounded bad because they were so close.  Now that they were further away, the noise wasn’t as loud, but the explosion was still just as impressive.

“This is bad, Tri.  This is really bad.”

“You don’t need to tell me twice,” Trinity muttered into the mouthpiece.  She jut hoped that things will calm down enough soon that the inferno wouldn’t spread and take out her dorm building with it.  The last thing she needed was to have all her stuff go up in a fire. 

But it was definitely going to be a long night.