There were no other missions this month since both Venom and Terrence were still taking the lessons that Stanton ordered. Bootcamp continued, but wasn’t mandatory anymore. All it took was a single routine procedure for you to be cleared, which explained a lot about how they treated their powereds. Needless to say I wouldn’t visit that place ever again if I could help it. Julia and I still exchanged a few emails now and then. We had a meeting scheduled soon.

Speaking of which, during this period, I attended five more meetings from Gekko. He was not present in any of them, some representative in his stead. Unfortunately, all five of them were even harder to follow than my initial one, it was all about the specifics of each project. My presence was more symbolic than anything else.

Just like Frank said, it was boring but was easy money. I asked Molly to stop telling me when new enhancements were available, since the expectation was leaving me anxious. However, now that I had the cointo make some purchases, it was time to take a look.

“Molly, show me my current balance and the new enhancements available, please.

“There are one thousand five hundred and seventy eight golden years in your account.

Searching for new enhancements since previous search…

Enhancements found, opening list....”

“Pickard sensory enhancement (1)

This ability allows you to improve all your five senses beyond your human capabilities. It requires deliberate training in order to progress. It is the recommended sensory enhancement for the Orion branch.

Cost: 625 golden years.”

...

“Ubiquitous sensory enhancement (NA) was unlocked, but blocked by agent Cedric Lowell Cunningham.

Hummingbird sensory enhancement (NA) was unlocked, but blocked by agent Cedric Lowell Cunningham.

Would you like to visualize the unavailable enhancements? (Y/N)

Would you like to contest the unavailable enhancements? (Y/N)”

Curiosity killed the cat, might as well kill me too because I'm gonna take a peak.

“Molly don’t contest, but please show me the description of the enhancements that were blocked.”

“Ubiquitous sensory enhancement (1) (NA)

This ability allows you to improve all your five senses beyond your human capabilities. It requires deliberate training in order to progress. The learning curve is considered softer than the Pickard sensory enhancement and his immediates effects are more palpable. However this ability does not allow for individual skill improvement. Improvement on this enhancement levels all five senses as a whole. It is not used in any current branch known to you.

As more branches are known, more information might become available.”

Interesting. I could see why Cedric would want to keep this one unavailable. Molly showed me the other one.

“Hummingbird sensory enhancement (NA)

This ability improves your five senses beyond your human capabilities. It works by enhancing your perception at will by using your metabolic energy to speed the process. This enhancement is final and incompatible with any other sensory trees. The limit for augmentation is only limited by the caloric store of the said agent. It is not used in any current branch known to you.

As more branches are known, more information might become available.”

Not hard to see why this enhancement was blocked. It was situational and limiting. I failed to see how any of this caloric thing might work.

There weren’t many enhancements that I could purchase at the moment, which only made my choice easier. I asked Molly to show me memory enhancement once again.

“Memory enhancement [boosted skill] (I)

This enhancement makes it easier to store and recall information.

You spent your life teaching others, the books you owned are an integral part of who you are. Your abilities are highly compatible with this enhancement, expect a greater effect to take place when compared to its regular potency.

To upgrade boosted skills is often recommended, although user discretion is still advised.

Original cost: 315 golden years.

Current cost: 365 golden years.”

The upgrades I bought seemed to be getting more expensive as more abilities were being added to my list. Frank wrote that much in his book. They were still reasonable and I was looking forward to unlocking more, so I asked Molly to purchase the Memory enhancement and the sensory enhancement for me.

“System is installing Memory enhancement (I)...

Memory enhancement has been installed.

The enhancement is fully operational.”

“System is installing Pickard sensory enhancement (I)...

Sensory enhancement has been installed.

The enhancement is fully operational.”

Good, I still had a little bit of money to spend in case I needed it. As expected, I could feel no immediate effect. It didn’t matter, I had another meeting to go to. The shooting range I called withdrew their invitation after they discovered I was a powered in the American Legionnaires. They sent five hundred dollars as a courtesy. Talk about not wanting to ruffle any feathers. I didn’t blame them, but I still needed a place to practice so I called officer Stanton. Apparently, the NYPD offered free lessons for us so I decided to pay a visit.

Disregarding my own advice, I decided to be a little adventurous and rode my Harley into the station. A blue light could be seen from afar at the top of the building, it beamed at a five point two seconds interval. As soon as I parked near the premises a single police officer came towards me.

“Can I help you sir?” An older black officer carefully approached. His voice was calm. I would think that this kind of duty would be something for a rookie, not an older officer like him.

“Yes.” I put my hand inside my jacket, he noticed the movement but didn’t react.

“You should be more mindful when you are around police, my friend.”

Slowly pulling Stanton’s card, I handed it to him. Glad he was not jumpy. “Officer Frederic Stanton said I could use the shooting facilities.”

As he took the card he put it in his own pocket, not even looking at it. “Stanton is a good officer. Rare thing these days.”

“You knew I was coming?”

“Yes, he told me he was babysitting your group, I asked if I could help.” He motioned for me to follow him.

Instead of taking his lead, I stopped and looked him straight in the eye.

“Why are you escorting me?”

“The eye in the sky told me we had a powered on the premises, somebody has to escort you. Might as well be me.”

“I don’t know much about the NYPD, but even I can tell you are not the kind of man to volunteer for grunt work.”

“No I am not,” his eyes were sharp and his voice was deep. He reminded me of Cedric, despite being shorter and still having a full head of hair. No mustache either.

“And yet here you are doing it. How did that happen?”

“Put my nose where I shouldn’t one too many times. Happens to the best of us.”

“I’m… Billy.” I extended my hand.

He squinted his eyes, “And you don’t look like a Billy to me.” He shook my hand, but kept his hold as he asked.

“I’m not.”

“Why the alias?”

“Let’s just say you are not the only one who put his nose where he shouldn’t.”

He chuckled. “I’m Charlie.”

“Nice to meet you.”

Walking beside him through the parking lot, I passed the front door, seeing that many officers were still in the building, even though it was already late. As I walked I could see some of them glancing at me. The wall had a thin sheet which showed stats and the latest news in superb quality. On the left corner there was a big NYPD logo on it. Under it, it was written “New York city, officially in a pacified status since 2008.” No need for Phantom Menace here.

After we passed the desks, we walked into a narrow corridor. Mostly closed doors by now. The building looked cheap, but you could find some topnotch technology here and there. The door that led to the practice facilities held automatic biodata just like my hotel.

We entered the shooting range, but I knew that it wouldn’t do much good just to practice here. The mind-capsule offered far better facilities and different training options. What I needed was somebody willing to breakdown a training regimen that could potentialize my time.

“So what do you have in mind?” he asked, his arms folded, covering up his badge.

“Stanton said to me you had a gift for this kind of thing.”

“I have a gift for many things. But what do you need specifically?”

“Can you keep a secret?”

His lips quivered in amusement. “You wouldn’t have driven all the way here if I couldn’t.”

“I have access to facilities far better than this one for me to practice, but I’m not seeing much progress with the time I’m putting in.”

“How much better?”

“Fixed and moving targets, identical real life simulations. Extensive selection of guns and terrain. You name it.”

Charlie's eyebrows rose. “Definitely better than what we have here. What do you think is holding you back?”

“The pistol I have is much different than any ordinary weapon.” I showed it to him, the darkness of the metal and the patterns shifting through it made my statement quite clear.

“May I hold it?”

Never a good idea to hand your gun to someone you don’t know, but this was not a regular gun and I knew a thing or two now. One of them was that binded guns couldn’t hurt their own owners. “Molly, lower security credentials and enable sharing personal firearms,” I asked her mentally, handing the Colt over to him.

He examined it carefully. Pointing at a target without pulling the trigger. He weighed the pistol against his hand and took a closer look at the chamber.

“It definitely feels different than your regular pistol. Looks much older than what we have now too. But what really throws me off is the weight. It is nothing like I have ever seen.”

“Doesn’t feel strange to me, but I never used anything else.”

He scratched his neck. “Well, if something is wrong, there is only one sure way to figure it out. Let me see how you use it.” Charlie put on his safety glasses and ear protection and gave me the same equipment. He handed my gun back, and I took position. I went through the motions hundreds of times. “Posture looks good, breathing looks good. Go on.” I pulled the trigger and hit the target accurately. “So far no problems.”

I nodded. “It is not so hard to aim, but my draw is too slow I think. I don’t see me fearing well against some of the threats I’ll have to face. Even for a regular citizen I’m too slow.”

“I hear you. Do it again, but this time I want you to close your eyes. You will shoot any target that you see in front of you, regardless if it is in your lane or not.”

Closing my eyes I waited for the signal. My fingers twitched as I did so. As I slowed down my breath, he gave me my cue.

“Now!”

Diving straight into action, I pulled the trigger as fast I possibly could, shooting the three targets I could see in front of me, missing one completely and hitting the others somewhat accurately.

“Not very good. Nine point five seconds.” Charlie told me as he stopped he looked over the clock in the far right of the room we’re using.

“Nine point eight two,” I corrected him, putting my gun back into the holster.

“Are you sure?”

“When it comes to time, I’m never wrong.”

“Tell me more,” he said, closing his arms. A caught a mix of skepticism and curiosity from his tone.

I saw no reason to lie. My need for improvement took precedence over my need for secrecy. “It took six minutes and thirty four seconds for you to approach me. Seven minutes and twenty two seconds for us to enter and cross the hallway. We have been in this room for nine minutes and seventeen seconds.

“You can keep tab of even the seconds of all your interactions?”

“Milliseconds.”

He scratched his chin. “Then I have an idea, it is simple but I think it might fix your problem. You have a teacher or somebody that is really good with the same type of pistol, don’t ya?”

“Until a moment ago, I thought you were perceptive, but this is something else.”

He shrugged. “I also have some abilities so to speak.”

“Powered?”

“Vanilla powered.”

“Don’t you have to register just like me?”

“Not when you’re already working in the force, especially when my power is something so small. All do respect, but I never dreamed of being a sitting duck for some greedy egomaniacal bastard.”

“Aren’t you the police?”

Charlie chuckled. “You got me there. Ok. I want you to think about the first time this person shot something for real. Can you remember the details?”

“I think I can.” I closed my eyes. The image was fuzzy, but I could picture the gist of it. The way Milch drew his pistol, how his shoulders and elbows moved, the way he squeezed the trigger. It was lightning quick, but doable.

We repeated the same process. He shouted and I opened my eyes shooting more targets this time. I could see that the marks were already more precise.

“Eight point-”

“Five,” I finished his sentence. “What do you have in mind?”

“You have a great memory and great timing. Combine them to emulate your teacher. There is no better lesson. Divide them into steps and try to beat your time in each of the motions.”

“And you guessed that just by looking at me once?”

“Ever since I got my gift, all it takes it’s to look once. I know what I know.” The certainty of his gaze broke no argument.

“That’s not a bad plan, but frankly the knowledge that you have about me seems more concerning than the improvement that you brought me.”

“My power is all about helping and understanding, but one of the restrictions is that I can’t harm or tell on the people I help.”

“And I should just take your word for it?”

“It is in my file, I’m sure you could find a way to see it.”

“Might I help, Ern?”

“Go on.”

“There is no technology or being in the world that can brute force his way into your memories, abilities or interactions. Charlie has a supernatural ability to pick up on your body language, traits and patterns of speech in order to understand you better. Even though I can’t guarantee that he won’t harm you with said information, anything considered crucial for The Company is hidden even from such soft methods of perception.”

“I assume you want something in return?” I asked. He was the first one to appear when I got here and he volunteered when Stanton told him about me. The man had to have plans of his own.

“Yes, a small favor. If you happen to rise in the ranks or have a chance to improve my situation in any way, I want you to promise that you will do whatever you can to make it happen.”

“And how do you know I will actually fulfill my promise?”

“That it’s not that hard to figure out… Billy.”

“Aren't you mistaking me for somebody else? I don’t have the kind of pull that you think I have.”

“I know you know some pretty powerful people. Maybe there is something you can do to help me down the line.”

The hairs on my neck stood up. Nobody should know about The Company. Frank and Cedric made sure of that. How could he know? It wasn’t through his perception, I trusted Molly. What kind of pow-

In a heartbeat the world stopped completely. Literally stopped. There was no sound and no movement. The fans, the clock, everything ceased to move. Charlie just stood there, his mouth hanging open as he looked at me, frozen in the middle of his sentence.

“Classified breach of information might have occurred. Operator asked for outside help. Permissions revoked, operator withdrawn. Special operator requested. Operator confirmed. Waiting for analysis…”

“Agent Montgomery what seems to be the problem?” A female voice spoke inside my head, the sound smooth like velvet. A lower tone than Molly. She sounded nonchalant, older too.

My body remained frozen as I answered her mentally. “The officer in front of me seems to somehow know about The Company or some of my coworkers. I don’t know how he got this information.”

“Understood. I’m just gonna take a peek.”

There wasn’t any light or any grandiose effect from her search. There was a little pressure in my stomach, a speck of my essence was forcefully spent. In front of my eyes a rounded leaf materialized out of thin air. The little thing glided slowly back and forth. The leaf was getting slower as it got close to the floor. It almost seemed to have stopped when it finally did. It took minutes for it to complete its journey before it landed with a soft crunch. The leaf withered immediately and turned to dust. The moment it happened everything got back to normal. Charlie resumed talking, but I was too overwhelmed to be able to listen.

“There is no record of the Company in his memory. The person he was referring to was Luminous, powered human from the American Legionnaires. If you want to know more about her, ask Charlie. Pretty neat dude, if you ask me. Anyway, my job here is done. Take care.”

“Suspected breach handled. False positive confirmed. No extraordinary measures had to be taken. Special operator withdrawn, current Operator reinstated.”

“Billy, are you alright?” Charlie touched my arm. The touch startled me.

“Ye… Yeah… fine.” I ran my fingers through my hair.

“You don’t look fine, you look pale as hell. Are you sure you don’t want something… some water maybe? Have a seat.”

“No. I’ve gotta get going. I’ll call you for your input when I need to, we have much to talk about still, but not today.

He understood what I meant and didn’t push any further. For a second there, I thought I made a huge mistake. That wasn’t something I wanted to experience again.

“Ok, you take care.”

“You and me both.”