String - Ignition 9.8 (Patreon)

One by one, my drones filtered back into my workshop. 

No one spoke as I guided them back to their charging stations, each one letting out a low hum as the camouflage deactivated. I’d been cutting it close on the battery, and I wasn’t sure if I would be able to get them back on time. New Market was a hotspot, every nearby Walker and Sweeper was on high alert. I managed, but it was by no means an easy task.

“Well, that confirms it, Mirage is still in the city,” I said, addressing the rest of the team. I somehow managed to reign in my bleeding rage fast enough to retrieve my drones with a focused mind, but that didn’t save the table I overturned in my outburst. “Silver lining, every encounter we learn something new about him. He’s able to manipulate Mia’s senses through her statues, but he’s incapable of doing the same to me through my drones. He might be playing with us, but he’s going to run out of tricks soon.”

I was trying to lay out the pieces of information to find the silver lining. I wanted to ignore the fact I was stupid enough to fall for one of Mirage’s tricks, so I decided to focus on something else. There was no sense in throwing more of a tantrum. All I could do was learn from this and move forward. Now, I had to assume every Mirage sighting was a calculated move. 

He wanted to exploit our impulsiveness and inexperience. I wasn’t going to let him do that anymore.

“So… like, how are we going to take this guy out? If Mia can’t… you know…” Liam mimed snapping someone’s neck, causing Mia to shudder violently. “…and you can’t kill him without collateral damage, what’s left? The way I see it, we just gotta get in there and do it, like how we took Grim down.” 

“Grim and Mirage are two completely different threats,” Sam said. “Grim thought he was nigh invincible, he walked into any kind of danger because nothing could realistically kill him. Even his stupid weakness didn’t harm him directly. Mirage is very different. He’s aware of how vulnerable he is. He’s flesh and blood like the rest of us with no enhancements. If he’s not careful, a single bullet could end him, and he knows that.”

“That’s what makes him dangerous,” Lucy muttered.

“Exactly,” Sam nodded. “Mentalists are crafty. We think differently – we see the world differently. Mirage is making the best of the hand he’s been dealt. He’s trying to mess with us and we can’t let him unbalance us like he almost did tonight. If we do, we’ll fall apart just as fast as The Cains.”

Liam frowned.

“Even with the Super Boogeyman supporting us?”

My scowl deepened. I saw Sam gearing up for some kind of clever metaphor, but I beat her to it.

“Nobody wants to stay on a sinking ship. If we make a habit of fucking up, Cyberspace won’t bother covering for us,” I said, stealing a look at Sam. Her lips pressed in a thin line, but she said nothing. “Worse still, we’re unproven and they care about their secrecy. If we get captured, there’s no way we don’t commit suicide while the guards just so happen to look the other way,” I said, the words shocking me just as much as everyone else. The only ones who weren’t surprised were Sam and Lucy. “That’s how it’ll go down.”

“Nah man,” Liam shook his head. “Fuck that. There’s no—”

“They would,” Lucy interrupted, looking exactly how I felt – resigned. “Pandora has done the same. If someone with privileged information becomes a liability, they’re either heavily re-educated, or executed.”

“For once, I’m glad I didn’t have to say it,” Sam sighed. “We can’t afford to make knee-jerk decisions like this. Mirage almost got exactly what he wanted, and I’d sooner let Pink redo my wardrobe than give him an easy win,” she ran a hand through her hair before turning her gaze to me. “He’s a piece of shit and I know he gets under your skin. I know what that’s like, but you’ve got to be more composed.”

Sam bent down and picked up the table I knocked over. One by one, she collected the scattered items and placed them back on the table amidst the silence. 

As much as I wanted to argue for the sake of my pride, she was right. I had been too eager to solve this problem, and the longer it lingered, the more anxious it made me. I needed to accept the fact that Mirage was going to play his game. I needed to be patient and wait for the right opportunity.

I took a slow breath and pressed the button to open my helmet.

Alright then. If you’re going to play your game, then I’m going to play mine.

“You’re right, I was too hasty,” I admitted. “If Mirage is just going to poke at us to see if we react, we can’t give him the satisfaction. If we’re actually going to get rid of him, we need to find out where he’s hiding and end him there. His power affects people, confronting him in the open just gives him more options.”

“Doing that is going to be difficult with all of Ajax’s stuff around. Any sign of a scuffle and they’ll come running. Besides, weren't we supposed to bust up the closet Walker?” Liam asked. “I thought Sam was cooking up a plan to capture one or something. Once we have one of those things on our side, we can do pretty much whatever we want.”

Sam drummed her fingers against the table, her gaze sweeping the room. I noticed her gaze lingering on Lucy, and I suspected she was going to try to change the subject. My suspicions were proven incorrect.

“I’m still putting it together. It’s going to take a bit longer because I want to make sure all my bases are covered. Essentially, it boils down to this,” she moved back over to the whiteboard. “These war machines don’t screw around, and it’s not going to be like fighting other supers. While they are exceptionally lethal, they won’t deploy any of that until they’ve taken an assessment of our threat. Given that Bayside has a bunch of underage supers running around – like us – they’ll be trying to subdue us first.”

I nodded along in agreement. I was operating on the opposite side of the law, and I even understood the necessity for non-lethal settings. Ajax would have a moral obligation to include similar settings in their Mechatech designs, granted, these war machines were named aptly for a reason.

“Non-lethal at first,” I said.

“At first,” Sam nodded. “I wager good odds that once they figure out what we’re trying to do, they’ll turn us into a red paste on the wall. Depending on what Ajax knows about you Max, and the fact that you can be mostly disabled with an EMP, they might make an exception for you. I wouldn’t bank on it though.”

“How long would it take for them to figure us out?” Liam asked.

“Anywhere between one and five seconds? It depends how aggressive we are in our ambush,” Sam replied. “Like I said, the goal isn’t to fight the Walker, but for Max to use his power to incapacitate it.”

“Oh…” Liam murmured, realization striking him like a bolt of lightning. “That’s why you said five seconds before, because we don’t want to be around when it starts trying to kill us,” he looked around for confirmation. Sam just smiled and nodded while I agreed with a shrug. Mia still didn’t look thrilled and Lucy looked like she was trying to decide if we had all lost our minds. “So… you don’t have anything solid yet?”

“Not quite. It’s… complicated,” Sam admitted. Her usual confident smile was gone. “Before, I figured they wouldn’t send another after us assuming we were successful, but I’m not so sure anymore. I’ve done more research on how Ajax coordinates them against The Iron Maiden. So far, everything I’ve come up with leads to swift retaliation.”

“Hmm,” Liam rubbed his chin in thought. “I’m guessing that ‘retaliation’ would end very badly for us?”

“Badly is putting it lightly,” Sam huffed. “Which is why we might need to pace ourselves a bit. With all the shit I’ve been dealing with regarding Seraphim and her psycho boyfriend, I’ve been struggling to focus. Gold can only think about one thing at a time, and too much information gives us both headaches. I just need more time.”

“How much time?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Sam shrugged. “Maybe a couple of days? A week? I’m helping Liam find his sister as well,” she waved a hand in Liam’s direction before running that same hand through her hair. “So I’m spread a little thin at the moment. Sometimes I wish I had a separate brain for every project I wanna work on.”

“We’ll get to it,” I opted for the passive solution, despite how much it irked me. “We do have a lot on our plate, especially since Mirage is still in Bayside. Can’t be too careful, I guess. Abby told me Ajax is supposed to be leaving to deliver equipment to Ashton, Caldon, and Zachery Port soon, so maybe the ambush could wait till after The Mothership leaves Bayside?”

“That…” Sam’s brow rose as she pointed at me. “…is a good idea. Can’t believe I didn’t think of that.”

“You didn’t?” Liam sounded confused. “I thought that was the whole idea?”

“No,” Sam’s laugh held a little bit of annoyance in it. “I thought when The Mothership leaves it’d take the Walkers with it. But like I just said, I’ve been struggling recently. Cut me some slack, some things slip through.”

I saw Mia rub her eyes in frustration, and Sam noticed as well. She seemed to be going with the flow for the sake of Liam and the rest of us. It was plain to see she didn’t like the direction we were taking, but she wasn’t speaking up for one reason or another.

“Something wrong?” I asked, directing my question to Mia. “You’ve been pretty quiet.”

“I… I’m sorry, I’m just overwhelmed.” Mia crossed her arms. “I can’t be the only one, right? I’m trying to adjust and see things from the same perspective, but it’s hard. I don’t understand why we can’t just wait for all this to blow over.”

“Oh, honey, I would love to just kick back and relax, but we’re working with one of the most notorious supers in the world,” Sam’s condescending tone did not help Mia’s mood. “We’re going to have work to do, work that sometimes we’re not gonna wanna do. That’s just how it is. Time to suck it up and make the best of a shitty situation.”

“What if I say no?” Mia asked, and I could have sworn it sounded like a challenge.

“Then you say no,” Sam shrugged like it was no big deal. “I’m just trying to give you advice. We’re friends and in this together, so I would rather that we’re all on the same page. You want to start excluding yourself, go ahead and be my guest. I’m not your mom, but be aware that at some point Cyberspace will start demanding cooperation.”

Sam didn’t need to explain what that would entail.

I watched Lucy turn away from the conversation with a demoralized expression. Despite not having powers, she was just as familiar with how life for evohumans worked.

“I just don’t want to be responsible for starting another war. I don’t want that on my conscience,” Mia threw her hands up in frustration. “Is that such a big ask, to be a halfway decent person? Is there no compromise?”

“If you wanted that, you should have ran to The ECU when you had the chance. You chose to stick around for our sake,” Sam said with a tinge of sympathy. “Trust me, I…” she paused and sighed. “…I get how that feels. Sometimes circumstances out of our control force us down paths we don’t like. When I first got my powers and joined the Rookies, I wanted to make the best of it, but things didn’t work out the way I hoped.”

A curious look crossed Liam’s face.

“Your powers?”

A weak laugh escaped Sam’s lips.

“I was no different from any other kid, I looked up to heroes thinking they’re the best and can do no wrong. Then I got my powers and got a taste of the action for myself,” Sam recounted. I almost mistook her distant look for nostalgia. “Can any of you imagine what it was like trying to follow instructions when I switched to Pink? How my ‘superiors’ reacted to Gold’s criticism? Or how many of my teammates got hurt when I couldn’t control Red? It didn’t work for me, nothing did.”

Mia’s sour expression softened as Sam went on.

“Everything I’m doing here isn’t for shits and giggles. I’m doing it because it’s the only thing I can do. I don’t want to hurt people, I’m not a psychopath, but I’ve long since accepted that people are going to get hurt no matter what I do,” Sam continued. “The ECU’s policy on vigilantism is extreme, and unfortunately, being an independent hero doesn’t pay,” she shot me a quick look. “Unless you’re a Mechakinetic, and even then there are countless hoops you have to jump through. It’s not even worth it in the end because you’ll probably just end up getting kidnapped because you aren’t allowed to develop anything to defend yourself.”

Mia just stared at Sam, more demoralized than Lucy had been just a moment ago.

“It’s really like that?” Mia asked, turning to face me. “Is that how—”

“Pretty much,” I rolled my shoulders, recalling my first few weeks as Upgrade. “I wanted money, so I did odd jobs here and there. Sold some slight modifications, repaired some computers and phones. Improved things. I went around dressed sorta like Liam because I didn’t want to stand out. It was exceptionally stupid, but I wanted to stay independent. I modified a taser because it technically got around The ECU’s Mechatech weapon policy.”

“By the way, it didn’t,” Sam said off-handedly. “It launched the projectiles just fast enough that they could have caused brain damage if they hit the wrong spot. However, you were low-profile enough for them not to bother. They would have approached you eventually and it would’ve come up. Probably as leverage to get you to join in exchange for the charges ‘disappearing’.”

I sighed and rolled my eyes.

“Good to know.”

“The point is,” Sam continued, her focus firmly fixed on Mia. “Shit’s going to get nasty, and if you’re going to stay sane, you need to have a goal, something to stay focused on. If you have that, it can distract you from the terrible things that are going on, make all this worth it – and I know that’s a really fucked up way to look at things, but you have to be doing this for something. Otherwise what’s the point?”

Mia actually seemed to consider her words. Lucy looked appalled, and Liam didn’t seem to mind at all.

After a few moments, Mia looked like she had an epiphany.

“Okay,” she nodded. “Okay yeah, I think I got mine.”

“Really?” Liam looked puzzled but curious. I had to admit, I was too. “That was quick.”

“It’s nothing big. It’s actually been on my mind for a while now,” Mia rubbed her neck. “I’ve been spying on my family, and I’ve discovered some things about them that—” she stopped and frowned. “—that I’m not quite comfortable sharing right now,” she shot Sam a quick glare. Sam returned the glare with a genuine smile and a nod of reassurance. “But… my mom is pregnant.”

Mia left it at that. It looked like she wanted to say more, and I suspected there was more to it than just that, but I understood her desire for privacy.

“Hey, that’s awesome!” Liam clapped. “You get to be a big sister. Do you know—”

“No,” Mia cut him off. “I don’t really know much else. She’s not showing much, so I don’t know how far along she is.”

“Oh,” Liam replied awkwardly. “Still cool though.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Mia looked just as uncomfortable as Liam. “Anyway, aren’t you guys supposed to be looking into what happened to Natasha? Maybe we should focus on that first, since Sam’s still coming up with a plan for Ajax’s stuff and dealing with the Seraphim thing?”

“Oh, right, Yeah. There’s some annoying stuff there to deal with,” Liam tried to explain. “Apparently we have to get in contact with The Iron Maiden since the assignment Cyberspace gave her had something to do with them. Cyberspace said they were going to sort something out so we can actually start the investigation. I think they're stalling, but it’s whatever.”

“Well, if there’s any way I can help, let me know,” Mia said with a smile. “If there’s a chance she’s out there somewhere, I’d want to help. She was — is — one of my best friends.”

Liam looked at me and shrugged.

“We don’t have much to go on, but yeah, we can keep you in the loop.”

Mia gave us a thankful nod, and Sam clapped with renewed enthusiasm.

“Alright! Now, let’s—”

The door to my workshop suddenly swung open.

“—see who that is!”

We turned to see Francis stroll in carrying a duffle bag. He had left to run a few errands not long before Sam got back to the hideout, and he had been pretty vague about where he was going. He removed his hat and placed it down on the table before moving over to us.

“G’evening,” Francis said, dropping the duffle bag. “You’ve all been busy from what I hear. Almost got caught up in the commotion Mirage started at New Market,” he continued, giving me a pointed look. “I figured you’d know better than to jump the gun by now.”

I wrinkled my nose and looked away.

“Yeah, I’d thought so too.”

“Well, don’t torture yourself about it,” Francis clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Nothing went wrong, just try to make sure he can’t bait you like that again. Second chances are rare and you’ve already used yours. You’d need the luck of a god to get another.”

“I mean, it’s not like he actually went out there,” Liam came to my defense. “It’s not like Mirage would have captured or killed one of us, and Max isn’t crazy enough to open fire on civilians just to kill the dude.”

“No,” Francis agreed. “But his drones could have been caught by the Walkers, and that wouldn’t have looked good with all the chaos Mirage caused tonight.”

“How’d you even find out?” I asked. “Did Cyberspace tell you?”

“They’ve been keeping an eye on things,” Francis confirmed. “I don’t believe they would have intervened unless they were sure you were going to do something incredibly stupid. They sounded confident in your restraint, despite how eager you were to spring Mirage’s trap,” Francis’ lip curled with clear distaste. “They said it would be ‘a good learning experience’.’” 

“Oooh,” Sam breathed slowly. “They don’t need to be so patronizing, we’re not children. We were never in any real danger. I would have stopped Max if I believed it was going to be truly detrimental.”

“Would you?” Lucy challenged, not believing a word. “If it were me, I wouldn’t have let those drones leave the workshop. That was all completely unnecessary,” she pointed toward Mia. “Her power was enough to show that this guy was still around. That’s all we really needed to know.”

“Except we learned that his power was capable of altering her senses through her statues,” I countered. “That is very significant information to have. We now know that any information she’s able to gather involving Mirage can’t be trusted.”

Lucy glared and crossed her arms.

“Max, this could have ended horribly. If those Walkers took your drones out, Ajax and The ECU could have traced them back to you and we would all be busted.”

“Not necessarily,” Sam held up a hand. “Yeah, it would make us look bad. Mirage would have succeeded in making us out to be aggressive and chaotic, but tracing the drones back here would require a stable connection. Walkers wouldn’t exactly leave his drones in a state where they’re able to do that. Even if they were disabled, I trust Max enough to disconnect from his drones before being compromised.”

“I have basic redundancies built in,” I explained. “I can self-destruct them if I really need to. In this case I probably would’ve just disconnected and left it intact. There’s nothing in there the ECU probably hasn't already guessed I have, and preserving it would allow their Mentalists to know that I didn’t cause the small riot. Giving away a bit of what I can do would have been worth the reduced aggression.”

Lucy let her hands fall to her side as she blew out a sigh.

“Right, of course. Silly me, assuming you would forget to add something like that. Any chance you can put the same amount of effort into our homework assignments?”

“Homework and school are entirely irrelevant,” I replied neutrally. “I figured you’d be a little more understanding about what happened, given what you know now.”

Lucy rolled her eyes, frowning.

“A joke. It was a joke.”

I smiled.

“I know. It just wasn’t very funny.”

Lucy’s frown turned into a sickly sweet smile.

“Neither was inviting Wildfire to your house for dinner.”

I felt everyone’s gaze land on me. 

Mia and Liam looked dumbfounded. Francis was just as stoic as ever, but I detected a bit of confusion in his features. It was like he was trying to figure out if what Lucy said was actually true or not. The biggest reaction was Sam, whose face contorted into a dark, black storm. She flashed to Red, and then to Gold. She lingered a bit on Gold before changing back to Blue.

“Tell me she’s fucking joking.”

I swallowed.

This wasn’t going to be easy to explain.