Zeta scouted for a table. She walked slowly, yet with purpose as she chose the perfect place to sit. Her choices were plentiful as the cafeteria was currently empty, but that would soon change as more people entered in to begin their day. She and Isaac purposely woke up early to find a secluded area to talk, but she wondered if she should have waited. Surely, the place she chose to sit would not matter in the long run, but she wanted to ensure nobody would be able to listen in to their conversation. In the end, she opted for a table nearing the middle of the cafeteria, but placed towards the walls, in particular by the emergency exit. The traffic there was low, but she also did not know about the surveillance and traffic just outside the door.

The cafeteria was an odd sight so early in the morning. Zeta would often skip out on a filling breakfast, and instead would grab a light, quick snack that they offered on a makeshift stand just outside the entrance. She rarely, if ever, went inside the cafeteria.

Her first impression was that it was too bright. The ceiling cast bright, fluorescent bars of light that she had never noticed before. She would come in for lunch and dinner, but it was never this bright. Perhaps, she was accustomed to the field house’s lighting by the time she made it into the cafeteria, or perhaps it was because she was up earlier than usual. Whatever the reason was, she hoped the lights would dim down. She wished she could recoil her head into a hood or even her orange and black jumpsuit but that would only cause her discomfort.

Isaac approached her, his tray at hand.

“Finally decided on what you wanted to eat?”

“Not really. I grabbed a bunch of food hoping I would want to eat it.” He slid into a seat and went straight to business. “You were saying?”

Zeta said, “Like I said, I saw Jericho with Yorke yesterday, and something was going on between them, something bad. Whatever it was, it gave me bad vibes. My stomach still feels sick.”

“Do you think she tried something similar with Cade?” Isaac said. “We should tell Jericho about Cade.”

“I told you we weren’t going to refer to him by name anymore.”

“Oh, it was a slip-up. I’m sorry.” Isaac said. He squirmed his jaw and mouth around. “That name sounds weird when I say it. Ca— I forgot what name I said.”

“Name?” Zeta said. “What are you talking about?”

Zeta watched as an ant traveled across the table. Its head was detached barely hanging on by a thread and a few of its legs were missing, but it carried on and moved as if it were not severed. It moved towards Isaac and made its ascent up his food tray.

“Ant,” she said flatly. She ripped open a plastic utensil set and removed a fork. Using the fork, she scratched lightly against her skin writing the word ant on her forearm.

Zeta gave a subtle nod to Isaac. She took note of the bug and its odd features before Isaac squashed it. He pressed his thumb deeply into and smothered the insect confirming its death.

“That’s the fourth one in the past couple of days,” she said. “No way is it a coincidence anymore.”

“I saw more this morning,” he said. “They were healthier, although still missing a few legs. I cleaned the room and sprayed it with some bug killer I found in a storage room. I removed any traces of food too, but they keep coming back. We either have an ant problem or someone is listening to our conversations. Do you know anyone that can control ants?”

“Nope,” she said. “I finally saw the severed body parts like you mentioned.”

“Freaky, huh?”

“It is,” she said. “But, if someone was spying on us, then why would they make it so obvious?”

“Maybe they’re trying to communicate.”

“Weird way of doing it.”

“Maybe someone new?” Isaac said as he wiped away ant guts into a napkin.

“Possibly,” she said. “That’s nasty. Wash your hands.”

“Later,” Isaac said. He nodded to a direction behind Zeta. “Jericho’s coming here.”

Zeta turned her head to watch the boy with white and black hair make his way towards them. His eyes pointed towards the ground until he reached the table.

“Hey,” Jericho said. “You two are up early. I missed your snoring Isaac.”

“The same can be said about you,” Isaac said. “I snore?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Very loudly.”

“I can vouch,” Zeta said.

“I’ve never been told that,” Isaac said. “Are you feeling good?”

Jericho turned to Zeta, then back to Isaac. “Did you tell him what happened?”

Zeta said, “I only told him that something weird happened and I must have come at the right time.”

“You sure did.” Jericho looked off into the distance for a few seconds. “Damn, these lights are bright as hell. I think I’m okay. Thank you for asking.” He tried to put together a smile, but he quickly gave up.

“Jericho—“ Zeta began.

“I’m good,” he said. He waited, realizing his interruption. “Sorry, I’m good. I’d rather just forget about it for a moment. I’m trying to focus on one thing right now.”

“And that would be?” Isaac said.

“Getting out of here,” Jericho said. “I’m trying to get my two recommendations in. I was going to ask why you two never told me about getting promoted out of here, but I guess it makes sense. We’re the group that gets by, by getting by. It doesn’t seem like it was worth the effort anyway, but, hey, I’m in this deep. I might as well continue.”

Isaac said, “Well, you nailed the explanation we would have given you. It’s not worth it, but I don’t want to discourage you. Who are you getting to vouch for you?”

“Meacham, possibly Yorke if I’m still on her good side.” He paused to take another bite from his sandwich. “I want to leave. I’ll do anyth— nevermind.”

“Fuck, heads up,” Isaac said. “Or maybe heads down. Don’t catch attention. Just eat normally. Jericho, that means you.”

Zeta switched seats discreetly to take a better view of her surroundings. Facing the emergency exit would not benefit her. Guards, some of her friends, and other staff slowly made their way into the cafeteria. Her eyes moved around from person to person until they fixated on one.

“What’s he doing here?” Zeta said as she opened a juice cup.

Jericho disobeyed Isaac’s orders and he began to turn his head. Isaac smacked his arm lightly.

“What was that for?” Jericho said as he moved his head back to look at Isaac.

“I told you to eat normally, bro.”

“Right,” Jericho said. He took a bite from his sandwich. “What lucky person has both of your attention? I admit I’m intrigued.”

“There’s a big shot here. They call him Harper.” Isaac said.

“What’s he look like? Give me the deets.”

“He’s fairly young, possibly in his mid-twenties. His hair is like yours, but more white.”

“White hair?” Jericho said. He turned his head, this time almost getting a full 180-degree spin, but this time Zeta smacked him on the head. Thwack!

“What did we say about turning your head?” Zeta said.

“Come on,” Jericho said. “It’s not every day I get to see someone with white hair.”

“You see one every day,” Isaac said. “We have mirrors.”

“No, but—“ Jericho huffed. He felt the side of his head. “Damn, Zeta. You smacked the shit out of me.”

Isaac said, “Boohoo. Mr. Healer can heal but still gets hurt. We already told you not to look multiple times. What did you expect? Anyway, Harper comes in from time to time, but what he does varies. It’s best whatever his business is doesn’t involve you and you should keep it that way.”

“Correct,” Harper said. He magically appeared in the empty seat next to Jericho.

Zeta froze but could tell the others were just as frightened by the sudden appearance. She did not know what his ability was but based on what she witnessed it was either speed or teleportation related.

“Hello, Isaac,” he held out a hand for Isaac to shake. Isaac was still frozen, so Harper took it upon himself to use his other hand to grab Isaac’s arm. Harper then positioned Isaac’s hand into his own and shook it. He turned to Zeta and lent out a hand as well. “Hello, Zeta. You two are just the people I’ve been wanting to see.”

Zeta forced her arm up and it shook in the air.

“Handshake, not armshake, Zeta,” Harper said. He grabbed her hand and it shook even more.

“I’m not here to see you, Jericho, but it is a pleasure to meet someone like me. Your progress sounds promising. Doctor Yorke speaks highly of you but I think she’s biased.”

Someone like me? She thought. Who are you Jericho?

Harper lent out a hand for Jericho, but all he could muster was a nod. Harper smiled lightly and instead of grabbing Jericho’s hand to shake, he ruffled up his hair.

“Now, the reason I’m here,” Harper said. He spoke soothingly, at a moderate pace. “Isaac, Zeta, it sounds like Doctor Yorke doesn’t like either of your progress and it turns out she doesn’t want to spend time on you two. She called me last night telling me how much she wanted to get rid of you two, how you two weren’t worth the effort.” He pointed to Zeta. “Especially you, Zeta. She said you were getting in the way of Jericho’s progress. Is that true? Are you two dating? Is he getting distracted? Do you hate each other? What’s the situation?”

Zeta cleared her throat to speak. “I haven’t done anything.”

“Then why does she want to get rid of you so dearly?”

“I don’t know.”

“She doesn’t know, she says. I don’t like that answer, I think.”

“I swear it,” Zeta said. “I haven’t done anything to interfere with Jericho’s progress.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” he said. “You seem trustworthy. Now, Isaac, why would you not be worth the effort? I’m sure you’re working hard, so tell me your side of things.”

Isaac mumbled as he spoke, “I try my best, not much else I can do.”

“What is your best?” Harper said. A plate of food appeared in front of him and he took a bite into a sandwich. He chose the same meal as Jericho. “Feel free to eat while you think. All we’re doing is having a friendly breakfast chat.”

“I don’t know how else to put it,” Isaac said. “I might have hit a plateau or something, but—“

“A plateau, huh?” Harper used a napkin to wipe mayo from his face. “Have you discussed this with Doctor Yorke?”

“No.”

“No? Another answer I don’t like. They do all they can to assist you, but they can’t help you get over a plateau? Is that your fault or is that Doctor Yorke’s? Surely, Doctor Yorke must know about this or even your instructor? Who is your instructor? Meacham? No, it must be Watkins. Maybe Watkins is to blame for your poor performance? Should I talk to him?”

Zeta grit her teeth. His insistent questions were starting to annoy her.

Harper turned his head, but not in a way that was visually distinguishable to Zeta. One second he was looking at Isaac as he spoke to him, and a moment later his head was turned and his eyes now fixated on her. She recoiled and looked away, but could still see those predatory eyes. It was like an animal hunting for its target, its eyes on the prize. She wanted to run, but she was unsure if she could even move.

Harper now appeared to the right of Zeta and he would switch positions looking at her from various points of view.

“You’re not very good at containing your ability, are you?” Harper said as he continued to phase around her. “That’s interesting. Your ability seeped out a bit, but it must take a considerable amount of effort to control. I wonder how the guards have reacted to this.”

Zeta remembered when she was still fairly new in the facility. Her ability leaked out slightly, which caused a situation with a guard. Zeta was a generally calm person, one that assessed the situation before reacting, but, sometimes she would react as any person would; she would get angry and lose her integrity. She ended up losing her cool and her ability flowed uncontrollably, which created a slew of terrible events. It was why she insisted Jericho control himself, to not use his abilities outside of the field house. They had beaten the rule into her, literally.

“My, my,” Harper said. “Somebody is getting angry. Shall I beat you to a pulp before we meet Doctor Yorke to discuss this further?”

Zeta started to speak but Jericho punched Harper in the face or at least attempted to. Harper dodged the attack by phasing out of existence and Jericho’s hand practically went through Harper’s body.

“Can we act civil about this?” Harper asked. He shook his head like a disappointed father. “You don’t want to see me take control of this situation, so calm yourselves.”

Zeta looked away and closed her eyes to recollect herself. A minute must have passed, but she needed to focus, to maintain a calm demeanor.

“Good.” Harper nodded at Zeta, then looked towards Jericho. “What about you? Do you want to fight someone like me or will you stand down?”

Jericho slammed the table and diffused his anger that way.

“Good,” Harper said. “After breakfast, shall we meet with Doctor Yorke and get this entire situation sorted? I don’t want to give up on you two, especially with how much time, money, and resources they’ve put into the both of you. Does that sound good?”

“Sure,” Isaac said.

“Okay,” Zeta said.

She knew neither of them wanted to go and she wanted to discuss the situation with Isaac in private, but Harper decided to stay at the table until they finished their so-called friendly breakfast. Not many breakfasts scored low on the uncomfortable scale, but this was one of them. At least the food was good.