My fingers tapped out a nonsensical pattern on the metal table. I was considering taking a nap, but I knew that if I did that something would interrupt me. It had been over an hour since Zephyr had hauled me back to the SRT before the situation at the Courtesan warehouse was properly resolved. My mind was still replaying the events out of sequence. It was me lingering on those memories that stopped me from slipping into the sweet embrace of sleep.

Okay, I didn’t actually know for sure that was what would happen if I dozed off. But every minute longer I spent waiting just made me more and more sure. Zephyr’s tactics were really easy to read. She was making me stew, wearing me down before she even started the interrogation. The worst part was that it was working.

It went back to my first real thoughts of the day, suddenly realising I had been on autopilot. I had to focus to, well, be focused. But there wasn’t anything to focus on in this room and I was losing focus more and more frequently.

I suddenly stopped tapping the pattern. Someone was approaching, I could feel it through the vibrations in my boots.

There was the faintest trace of sound travelling up my costume and the person approaching stopped. I stayed entirely still, the other person did the same. Eventually there were traces of talking again, and the person who had been approaching turned and left. I let my fingers resume tapping.

It was games like this that made me certain Zephyr was trying to break me down for an interrogation. This time I had won, but had consequently delayed whatever it was that I was being held here for. I was honestly baffled by this treatment. I had done well at the warehouse, held my own with three other, more senior heroes against one of Graceland’s most reviled villains, and hadn’t needed any coddling. When Prism was going haywire, it had been me that subdued him. When an APC had tried to run me over, I stopped it in its tracks.

It sucked that I was playing these mind games with the people who were supposed to be on my team.

The next time someone approached I just looked at the door at about the time they reached it, but before they turned the handle. If anyone was watching me for tells, the warning to turn away came too late. The door opened and a well dressed older woman stepped through.

She was wearing a pencil skirt and blouse that had frills coming down the front. She had several buttons undone, showing off her cleavage. Over her shoulders was a dark red jacket and she held a file in her hands. She was holding it so I couldn’t see the front of it, and therefore couldn’t glean any information.

I’d seen this woman before, she was gifted with an ability but didn’t dress up in costume. Her name was Meretha, and she was a Whisper. Which set off the worst kind of alarm bells in my mind.

“Hello, Michael.” She spoke first.

Using my real name right out of the gate, huh? So that’s how it was going to be.

“Meretha.” I responded flatly. She may have used my name, I had taken my physical mask off because I was in ‘home’ territory, but I had decided against disabling the power obscuring my features.

“You know my name.” Meretha placed a hand over her heart as she pulled out the chair opposite me. It was more of a comment than a question, and too soft to be an explicative. “We had not spoken before, so I thought I would need to introduce myself.”

Whisper abilities were difficult to identify by nature. Was she already using her’s?

Meretha continued. “In any case, we have been informed by Blinker that you were in close proximity to Halcion earlier tonight. Because of this, you were placed in isolation in the interest of safety.”

“Safety.” I repeated.

“That is correct.”

That was a bullshit excuse and everyone knew it. There were vibrations coming from the other side of the two way mirror from the same moment I had responded. Someone behind the looking glass felt a similar degree of incredulity and was commenting on it. I deigned not to respond further and let her keep going.

“Furthermore, now that enough time has passed to be certain that you were not subjected to Halcion’s ability, Zephyr will be handling your debrief momentarily.” Meretha gave me a smile.

“Of course.” I said flatly. Of course she would be taking charge of this. Our argument from days ago was probably feuling Zephyr misguided fervor in this crusade against me.

Seriously. Why?

“I will be remaining in this room to mediate the debriefing, and to take notes. It has been noted that the two of you do not have the most… oiled working relationship.”

I shifted my head to look in her direction. “Is that how you would describe it?”

Meretha made to push her chair back. “Do you have any questions before I step aside?”

“Yeah.” I said, wondering if I should demand the specifics of her power. In the end, I decided that would tip my hand in a way that probably wouldn’t benefit me, while the other side was definitely tipping theirs. Meretha was here to extract something from me, most likely. I had no idea what they were looking for. If they looked and found nothing, however, that would be a point in my favour.

So instead I went with, “When can I get my phone back? I need to let my foster mom know where I am.”

Two phones had been confiscated off of me when I returned to the SRT. My civilian Vphone and my Sentry issued one. When Zephyr had immediately homed in on me upon arrival, I had had what Waterlad might describe as a ‘bad feeling’ and tossed the phone onto another property when Zephyr wasn’t focusing on me. Right now it was in or under some random person’s bush in their front lawn.

It had been a risky move, but it paid off.

Meretha gave another smile. “Rosie has taken care of that, don’t you worry.”

That just made me worry more.

Meretha finished standing from the table and moved to the side of the room opposite the door. Today the table was arranged so I was facing the mirror, rather than the adjacent wall. So I was left to stare at either myself of Meretha while we waited. I detected no movement through my boots.

“Did Zephyr tell you when she was going to be here?” I asked Meretha.

“She said she will be down shortly.” She responded. After a moment she started humming to herself.

I returned my attention to the mirror. Specifically the half that was closer to the entrance door. “She’s going to be late if she doesn’t start moving.”

I felt the vibrations of discussion start in earnest and smiled. The fact that no one could perceive my smile just made me want to smile more, but I controlled that urge. After ten or fifteen seconds it petered out. Started again. Then stopped. I kept my gaze held in exactly the same spot the entire time.

After another few minutes of me staring and Meretha humming a tuneless song, there was movement from behind the mirror. Barely there and almost imperceptible, but quite blatant when I looked with my mind’s eye.

“I don’t know, I don’t think she’s coming.” I said a moment before the door opened. I looked to see as Zephyr stepped through. I put on the most obviously surprised voice I could and leaned back a little. “Zephyr? I didn’t think you would show up.”

She didn’t grace that with a response and seated herself forcefully. Zephyr opened the file in front of her, the one Meretha had entered with, and started the ‘debrief’ without even looking down.

“Lock, how did you know that the Racketeers would make a move tonight?”

It looked like she was cutting to the chase this time, not letting me establish a flow. Was she refraining from belittling me because this was being recorded? If it was, I could use that to my advantage.

“I’m sorry, what?” My confusion was partially real. I recalled conversations I had with actors from what felt like a lifetime ago. Using their advice, I used the confusion from being accused so suddenly to smother the chill that swept through my body in response the accurate accusation.

“Look at the facts.” Zephyr said, glancing down. “Two days ago you were involved in an altercation with the Racketeers and they got away. One day ago you were at the site where they stole a large amount of contraband from several stores and got away. And today you specifically asked to be on a late patrol. On this patrol, you were involved in an altercation with the Racketeers and they got away.”

She leaned forwards, “Do you have an explanation?”

Shit, this was bad. I needed to take stock and figure out how to deal with this. First, I needed to get a good first reaction from myself.

“That I have bad luck?” I improvised. Not what I hoped for, but it’d do. Zephyr almost snorted hearing that. It was difficult to gauge her reaction further thanks to the mask. I decided to double down. “No, seriously, I do.” If she responded to that, I would have time to think. My response to her question would be inconsequential, and I could possibly find a hole in her accusation.

“What makes you think that?” Zephyr took the bait.

Score. “The fact that I came from Salt Lake City is a big one. Or should I go into how I’ve been in the foster system since I was six? Or how about the fact that I just today realised that my childhood hero is dead?”

“Stop.” Zephyr said, interrupting my momentum entirely. “I didn’t ask for your life story, I asked for an explanation on how you were involved in an incident involving the Racketeers three days in a row.”

I mourned the loss of thinking time, but I had come up with two potential answers to this accusation. They would have to do. I went with the first one.

“They’ve been really active since Clothesline showed up.” I said, managing to get past Clothesline’s name without tripping. “They go on an evangelical revenge spree, then go shoplifting? How about you tell me how that makes sense?”

Getting her to say it meant I wouldn’t be repeating exactly what I told Voidling. Honest people recalled information, not scripts. Liars repeated themselves.

Zephyr didn’t take the bait this time. “I’m asking the questions. Not you.”

I shrugged. It wasn’t that much of a loss and I’d already come up with a different way to phrase it. “It doesn’t, that’s how. Unshaken was repeating that eighteen ways to Sunday and I agreed. So I asked Voidling and if I could to a double patrol just in case, and he said yes. That’s how that happened. The other two were random chance.”

I considered the ramifications of using the second answer I came up with. Then I decided that yes, I did want to address the strawman in the room.

“And why are you putting so much emphasis on them getting away? They’re Employees of Boss, that’s what they do.”

Zephyr just grunted, and I knew I had won that point. It was a pointless point, but if Zephyr was going to strawman me to win an argument, I was going to deconstruct that straw man and make him mine. Meretha chuckled amidst her humming. I glanced at her standing against the wall with her hands overlapping in front of her. So much for her taking notes.

Meanwhile, Zephyr decided to change tactics. “When was the last time you interacted with Sting?”

I registered the question. I hadn’t been expecting this direction of questions. “The night before Greenflame, in the gym. Then I heard him driving away as I left.”

“How would you describe your relationship with him?”

“Amicable.” I deigned not to say he was the friendliest of the Sentinels.

“What were you doing after the incident involving the Entrepreneurs and the Rising Sun?”

I was a little stunned. No need to act for that one. “I thought this was a debrief for today.”

“And we’ll get to that.” Zephyr snapped back at me, reminding me of the time I spent in her office. “Answer. The. Question.”

“I don’t… really remember.” I glanced at Meretha, who was watching with an impassive expression. I would receive no help from her. I turned back to the costumed Sentinel and realised just how felt tired of this I was. “Why don’t you just say it?”

“Say what?” Her voice dripped with venom. She was daring me to elaborate.

Fine by me. “Tell me what you’re accusing me of and I’ll tell you why that’s a stupid idea.”

To Zephyr’s credit, she took me up on that offer without hesitation. “Clothesline’s wounds are consistent with abilities displayed by a physical Disrupter, which you match the description of. You confessed to breaking her leg. It’s not much of a stretch of the imagination to see you finding her to finish the job.”

I was dumbfounded. Again, not acting.

There was one word in my mind. “How!?”

“That’s very much what I would like to know.” Zephyr shot back. “You had the means and the motive. Your alibi is shaky. I want to make sure that no details were left out, and I will be matching what you say here to what you said before. If it doesn’t match then…”

I blinked. “It won’t fucking match, because I don’t fucking remember what I said!” Maybe I was still a little messed up after choking Prism to unconsciousness earlier. “I’ll try anyway. I went home and had dinner. I talked with Sofiya for a while. I went to bed. I didn’t fucking look at the clock because I wasn’t aware I needed an alibi.”

Meretha placed a hand on the table between us. “There are others watching this~ It’s in your interest to keep the peace~”

It took her the same amount of time to say each sentence, and both sentences had the same cadence to them. When she was done Meretha went right back to humming. But she didn’t withdraw until I gave her a nod and five seconds had passed.

So her power clearly involved singing.

It was more evidence against Zephyr, so I didn’t say anything. Evidence for what exactly, I couldn’t say, but it was something.

“Now-” Zephyr started, but I was so done with her.

“No.” I said.

“Excuse me?”

“No.” I repeated. “No.”

“Explain yourself.” An order.

“No.”

Zephyr shared a look with Meretha. I didn’t catch the latter’s expression.

“Lock.” Zephyr said, tone still commanding.

I looked up, but didn’t grace her with a verbal response. The tiredness that had been building since Prism was still growing. I very much wanted to sleep.

“How long have I been awake?” I asked, my voice cracking.

Zephyr shook her head. “The matter with Clothesline-”

“Isn’t even your responsibility.” I finished for her. “It’s the Heroes of Yesterday who have that case. You working on it is overstepping your bounds.”

“It would go against my duty to rule anything out.”

“Like Slingshot?” I asked. “Like Satellite? How about Unshaken and Blinker? How about any of the villains who could have taken advantage of Clothesline’s broken leg? How about registering the fact that a Monarch or a Whisper could have done it with a little effort? A ghost could have done it even! Prism’s power would have worked wonders. It probably wasn’t him, since he’s on the avenging crusade, but the point stands. Clothesline fell from a great height, all a ghost would need to do is make it seem like the floor was still going when really it wasn’t. The rest of the wounds could have been done with a goddamn crowbar. Have you even considered that?”

Zephyr faltered.

It infuriated me.

“Zephyr.” Meretha said shortly. Her voice was soft, scared. “I can’t change it.” She wasn’t singing anymore.

“Change what?” Zephyr asked, turning her attention away from me. Giving me an opening.

I moved the way I wanted to, uncrossing my arms and touching the side of the table with the tips of my fingers. I reveled in evaluating exactly how much force I should put into a push to hurt Zephyr. I had already cancelled gravity and locked the metal object. Neither of them knew what I was doing. That made it better. I pushed with two fingers and felt the attempted force trying to take hold. I found them and exaggerated them to match the gunshots that had been put into my back not but two hours ago. Then I doubled both.

“He’s going to attack you.” Meretha said.

Zephyr didn’t get a chance to react. I unlocked the table and the force of four bullets dented the table where I had been touching it. The rest of the force carried the thing into Zephyr’s stomach, eliciting a sound of pain from the so called hero that was so, so cathartic.

But that wasn’t enough. I reached forwards and pushed. Both with my hands and with my power, using more force than I had in the initial attack. Moments later I had Zephyr pinned against the wall and locked the table. She started pushing on it, but it was useless. I kept one hand on the table and reached back for my chair.

I found nothing. In my rush to push Zephyr against the wall I had knocked my chair over and left it behind. The chair Zephyr had been using on the other hand, was well within my reach. Wind picked up in the room as I spent time finding a weapon.

“Lock, stop!” Meretha was yelling.

Just noise.

I leapt onto the table with a weightless chair in one hand and an immobile table in the other. Since removing my hand would have cancelled my power, I made sure to keep my palm flat on the surface the entire time.

The chair was unwieldy, so I had to pause and make sure I wasn’t going to miss thanks to striking with the feet forward. Once I aimed, I struck. One of Zephyr’s arms flickered from where it was trapped beneath the table and met the chair, knocking it up with with a blast of air far more powerful than what I was putting into it. I let it go and reached for her mask with the same hand.

Zephyr tried to push me away, but her power had spent so much air that her arm couldn’t sustain itself. It needed to reconstitute mass and in doing so sucked my arm along with the air around it towards her.

I got a grip on the mask and pushed. Zephyr gurgled in pain. I pushed harder. She grit her teeth. Then I started using my power and Zephyr’s head ended up being pushed so hard that it was actually cracking the mirror I had pinned her against.

I grinned like a madman and reduced the force my hand was placing on the mask while simultaneously maintaining it with my power. I doubled the force on the mask and retreated at the same time, finally taking my hand off the table.

Zephyr’s head snapped back and the whole pane shattered. It took me a moment to recognise what I was looking at on the other side.

Past the now motionless body of Zephyr a camera and tripod was set up, which was unsurprising. I expected one of the two figures past the mirror, Theo, the director of the Regulation in Graceland. There was no way I had been held for over an hour without his permission. The one I wasn’t expecting was Blinker, who was standing like a deer in the headlights with one hand on an open door. I pointed at him.

“You’re supposed to be looking out for me.” I said.

Predictably, he didn’t respond. He just stayed frozen in place. I sighed internally.

I noticed someone was humming. My head snapped towards Meretha, who startled as I rounded on her.

“Never again.” I told her. I stepped closer. “You hear me?”

She nodded frantically, but she wasn’t listening. She kept humming.

“Didn’t you hear me? I was talking about your power. Never use it on me again!”

“I’m sorry.” Meretha whispered. The moment the sound of her music ceased I closed my eyes and let myself drift.

Funny. That was all I really wanted to do.

~~~

I startled awake in a cell.

My costume was still on me, as well as the contents in my pockets. The Vphones were still missing, though. I looked around the cell and took in the bare furniture. The bed.

Yeah, that was it. Whoever had left me here had decided not to put the covers over me, which I realised with a shiver. I glanced towards each corner of the ceiling and found a camera looking at me. It was on the other side of some bars, and was well out of my reach.

Well shit. This was something I never wanted to wake up to. I tried to recall what happened before I fell asleep and with that nudge, the floodgates were opened. Seeing Halcion at work first hand, choking Prism to unconsciousness, Zephyr’s insane accusations, Meretha’s ability.

Meretha’s ability.

It hadn’t clouded my head at all when she was singing. I could still think straight when she did, it was after she stopped that things went fucky. The first time she stopped it was like all my inhibitions had been removed and I hadn’t even realised anything had changed until after the fact. The second time my eyes had just rolled up in my head and I’d fallen asleep.

Why had I done that? I wanted to sleep, sure, but I also wanted a goddamn explanation. After the revelation that Blinker was in on this conspiracy that had sprung up for some reason, that should have been at the forefront of my mind. Since Meretha’s ability took away inhibitions, why hadn’t I just demanded answers.

Maybe she meddled with desires. Took some agency in the order of things and forced the victim to act on whatever was on the top of the ‘most wanted’ list. Some because she hadn’t been able to stop me from attacking Zephyr.

As I mused on that I stood and waved at the camera. I touched the wall and recognised that I was in the SRT. Specifically in the second basement level where criminals were sometimes put for overnight stays before they could be transferred to more permanent holding facilities. Then I touched the cell door and felt its inner mechanisms. The thing snapped into focus and I felt a sense of satisfaction.

Lockpicking was a skill I revered before I had manifested. After manifesting, so much had been demanding my focus, even when I felt lost, that it hadn’t occurred to me to try using my power. Now, with the inner mechanisms of the lock visible in my sixth sense, I realised I could perform the art in a way that I had been incapable of before gaining powers. The best part was, I didn’t even need a lockpick.

I applied localised forces and removed friction from around the tumblers as I rotated the lock with a finger. Rotational movement wasn’t something I had really wrapped my head around yet, so I still needed to apply a force physically for that. One by one, the bits fell into their open positions and the lock was no longer locked.

I took a moment to appreciate how I, Lock, had unlocked a lock.

Then I shook my head and pushed the door open, then sat back down on the bed. I had no idea what grounds they had cited keeping me in here overnight, and I knew it was day because I felt the temperature of the sun on the eastern side of the SRT, but I wasn’t about to leave my cell and give them another reason to lock me up. Me opening the door did give them that reason, in a way. But since I wasn’t actually leaving, it became more of a message.

One that was responded to by Orcus.

“You shouldn’t have done that.” He announced his presence and slid the door shut. “You are giving them more reasons to antagonize you.”

I gestured at the camera. “Does that record sound?”

Orcus looked to see what I was referring to. “No. However, the Vphones on my person likely give Rosie a direct line to this conversation.”

So yes, I was being recorded. “When is this going to stop?”

Orcus said, “When Zephyr decides that enough is enough.” His voice was flat and without cadence. But it was wrought with purpose like I expected from Orcus. “That may end one of two ways.”

With me leaving or with Zephyr leaving, I expected. “Why?”

“I am unable to say.”

“So there is something.” I said.

Orcus denied, “If there was, I would not be the one to tell you.”

My eyes narrowed. “Then why are you the one here?”

“Because there are pieces of news that I am here to deliver.” He produced two phones from his person and handed them through the bars. They were my phones. I took them and checked both for notifications. Nothing on either. Incredibly suspicious.

I decided to check the old fashioned way later and tucked them both away. “What?”

Orcus may have been my favourite Sentinel, but that wasn’t a very high bar. I was done with being polite.

Orcus said, “Officially, the events of last night, the private ones, did not occur.”

“Bullshit. There’s video evidence.”

“The camera was damaged and the footage was lost. I inspected it myself.”

I sighed. They were pulling wool over Orcus’ eyes as well.

Orcus continued, “I was not involved with matters yesterday. The stories disturb me.”

“Why the fuck weren’t you here, Orcus?” I demanded.

He said, “It was my day off.”

That caught me off guard. He had been such a persistent presence that I hadn’t even considered the possibility that heroes got days off. What the hell did he even do when he wasn’t in costume? Plus, he was Orcus. There was no way there was someone normal under that mask.

A confused, “Really?” Was all I was able to muster in response.

Orcus said, “The second thing that I am here to address is your release.” He turned the lock closed, then back the other way. Orcus slid the door open and stepped back. “You were held due to the fact that your disguise can only be removed by you. Moving you to your place of residence would have likely compromised your identity.”

“Why not give me a bed in the sick bay?”

Orcus explained, “Because the Sentinel you assaulted is there. There is also the fact that you did assault your superior even if the event didn’t really happen.”

I didn’t respond. I knew there were beds in other parts of the building, but it wasn’t a point worth pursuing. The fact that it was getting kicked under the bed was just depressing, anyway. Trying to dig that one up was going to be painful.

Orcus said, “The third piece of information I have to deliver is that you have been relieved of duty for the following ten days.”

“Fine.” I had been expecting something like that, anyway.

“You should find your way to your changing quarters and use them for their intended purpose, then leave. Not just for your sake.”

I breathed slowly once. Taking my time to experience the breath in a way that anyone who practiced meditation would envy. If they could, that is. “Thanks.” I told Orcus and walked past him towards the nearest elevator. He let me walk alone, which I was grateful for.

~~~

One shower and one discarded costume later I was walking to the Elevator. A young girl with blond hair walked past in pyjamas.

“Mornin’ Lock.” She mumbled as she passed.

“Lucidity?” I asked. There was no one else it could be, but she was in pyjamas in the SRT. It took me off guard.

She froze, her back to me. She slowly turned and I activated my mask before she finished the turn. Lucidity looked much more awake now, with wide eyes and her head actually held up instead of looking at the floor. It put the scars carving up the side of her face and most of her forehead on display. Her left eye was milky white while the other was green with specks brown spattered in it. The left eyebrow had three gaps in it where scars interrupted the growth of hair.

I… hadn’t been expecting that.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, breaking the silence.

“Live here.” She answered detachedly. It raised a lot of questions.

“I was just leaving.” I pointed towards the elevators.

“Uh…” Lucidity scratched the back of her head. “Um…”

“I’m going to the nearest cafe, getting breakfast and a hot cocoa.”

“But it’s early.” Lucidity complained.

I frowned. “I didn’t say you were coming.”

“I want to.”

“You can.”

Hold the fuck up.

What the hell were we saying? I had just compromised Lucidity’s identity. Shouldn’t we be talking about that? She could be wrapped up with Zephyr and Blinker. She apparently lived in the SRT. The chances of her having no stakes in the mess that was me being a Sentry were slim to none.

Lucidity fell over before I could say anything more, then reappeared moments later properly dressed. She was wearing a faint green dress, and boots that reminded me of Madeleine’s. Her hair had been made immaculate in the five seconds she was gone. Where had her pyjamas gone? I decided not to ask.

She looked happy, expectant of the meal, and she trusted me from what I was seeing. That was the thing that was taking me off guard this time. She didn’t have any reservations over her identity being compromised, either. Which was also throwing me for a loop.

Then again, she just told me she lived here. She might not have an identity to compromise. My identity was open anyway, given the events of yesterday, yet the weapon was still armed. The words ‘fuck it’ travelled through my mind.

“We can’t call each other by moniker like this.” I turned my mask off. “Call me Michael.”

Lucidity didn’t respond with words. She pointed at me and went, “Aah!”

I was worried that she was scared of me for some reason, I didn’t think I had a scary face. Worry turned to confusion when she quickly devolved into laughing. “What?”

“I was right!” She stopped and laughed some more. “You’re so obvious!”

I didn’t appreciate how blunt she was being, so I ushered her to the elevator because we were apparently getting breakfast now. I got an explanation on the way down between the laughs. It turned out when you asked how to sign up with the heroes, then signed up a week later people tended to figure you out. Especially when people referred to a twelve year old that was more powerful than she had any right being.

Lucidity had looked at my face using X-ray goggles somewhere near the beginning. Normally that wouldn’t work, but the goggles specifically picked up shape, not colour. My power had been powerless in the face of it. Lucidity, or Elsbeth as she introduced herself, apologised unrepentantly and laughed when I expressed my dissatisfaction with the idea of that.

I expect she had also overheard Collage mention that I met Lucidity before signing on.

We found a cafe- not a Greasy Pete’s- and ordered food. Elsbeth got pancakes and a soda. I got pancakes as well, because fuck it, and a hot cocoa- or a hot chocolate as it was on the menu. We had just sat down when Lucidity pointed past me and went “Aah!” again.

I looked over and saw the person she was pointing at. He had walked into the cafe and was standing by the till, looking at the menu. He heard Elsbeth and turned. When he saw me he pointed at me and went “Aah!”

I refused to do the same, but I felt the compulsion. If you ignored how the hair was dark brown instead of black, it was like looking in a mirror.