LED drove us through the streets in the early morning. We were after following the blue car of the restless Paul. He was a receptionist at the power training and cataloguing facility and the one who had informed us of the valuable trigger.
At first, he had been a little reluctant to just outright bring us to the safe house of the revolutionaries. Led talked him into just doing it, as our time was short. the team send to track the newly powered guy down would be arriving at the city at any time.
It was a harsh reality. Spyglass was also reminded of it. That information gatherers were really valuable and any group would go to extreme lengths to put their hands into one. And, because of that, she was again a bundle of nervousness. Way more irritable as well.
We arrived in a the more suburban side of the city, lots of houses packed into rows, each a bit different form the other though. With different materials and sizes, some with yards open others completely closed behind walls. The streets were narrower too, and we followed closely behind. Going inside the neighborhood until the blue car stopped in a house with a big front yard. It no walls around it whatsoever.
Led parked and we all exited the car. Paul was waiting for us close to his car. I looked the house over. it was a simple suburban house.
A little on the bigger side with a wide wooden door at the front, and the widows all made from black glass. It was a little weird but I guess it made sense; if you wanted to hide something what better way than just camouflaging it.
We all entered the house, and seeing it was just as normal inside as outside. A living room with one of those beaten down grayish couches, a tv, and a transparent coffee table on top of a furry carpet. I was expecting the outside to be just a front, So I was a bit weirded out. A hard looking woman entered the room then. Looking us over cautiously one of her hands hidden behind her back.
Seeing Paul she smiled at him. “They’re with you?”
“Yeah, they're the ones I told you about.”
She frowned a bit at that. Leaning forward she said in a lower voice. “The Dawnbreakers?”
Paul only nodded and the woman didn’t say anything anymore. He gestured for us to follow him again as he entered deeper in the house. We passed by the kitchen where the woman was. Passing by her I saw that her other hand carried a pistol. And then we went straight through to a laundry room. it was a small one with two tanks and a thick humidity to the air. It was getting crowded with so many of us trying to get inside.
Paul at the front turned an awkward smile towards us. "Back off a bit. I’ll open it in a second.”
Open what I wondered but didn’t need to wait for long as Paul opened the cabinet. a tall two door slim thing. He took the piles of mats and carpets out of it, and revealed a bare white back, by this point I already knew where this was going.
He nudged the thing to the side a bit revealing a dark space as the back of the cabinet slid to the side. He put his hand through it and pushed the whole thing to the side. Fully uncovering a hidden basement entrance.
“Yep, secret entrance! knew it.” Spotlight said, I laughed a bit and we all entered one by one.
The inside of the basement was much bigger, and seemingly the size of two of the living rooms. There were various coaches and tables, and even a snooker table. The most prominent feature though were the missing posters.
The walls were dotted with them. They were from people of all ages. Just the word missing repeated in red over and over. Together with the word there was a mixture of bland document photos with smiling social media profile ones. The paper on them warped by time and the humidity.
In the middle of the room sitting in one of the couches were two men, they had quite a disparity in age with one looking bearing on his fifties and the other just entering his twenties.
Paul went to them directly, and they both noticed us entering and stopped their conversation. Paul let himself go on the couch. He seemed to relax immensely now that we were here hidden in his hidden base.
“And what are all these people?” The old guy asked Paul
“Ah, yeah. Sorry. these are the famous Dawnbreakers. That’s as far as I know. I didn’t get around to asking their names.”
The young and the old guys both perked up at this, intrigued.
“it's good to see that our names precede us. LED said taking the center stage once more. I’m LED. These here are my operative team. We came here to offer refuge to the new triggered. I gather that’s you?” He said looking at the younger one out of the three men in the couch.
He looked nervous. He looked over at the old man and Paul for some reassurance. They nodded to him and he hesitantly got up. He was a thin man. His mannerisms reminded me of Glassmetal. Was it common for university students to act this way? They said he would have some kind of information gathering powers. I was curious to know what it would entail. I still hadn't felt anything, so it wasn’t passive or he was avoiding using it on us.
“Hi, I'm David.” He said trying to give us a smile.
“I guess we should introduce ourselves to put everyone at ease? Spotlight said, stepping forward. “I'm Spotlight, at your disposition.”
We all eyed each other, not really sure who was supposed to go next. Payback took the initiative. “I’m payback.”
“You can call me Spyglass.” She said simply.
“I go by Matrix.” I told them. It still felt weird to use it as my actual name. even more so to new people like now.
“Oh! it just as I thought; Getting the nicknames doesn’t really work.”
“Work for what?” LED asked him
“My power. I gather information when people tell me their names.” He answered vaguely.
We all nodded. He hesitated, but said anyway. “Would any of you tell me your actual names? Just so I can confirm you all really are who you say you are.”
I was about to just volunteer as I hoped it would make my power enter in contact with his when Spyglass spoke first. “That’s fine, but I’ll scan you first. to see if that’s really what your powers do.”
He tilted his head. But then shrugged. “Okay, I guess.”
“I'll start, think that you want me to know about your powers” David nodded at that and spyglass’ eyes shined as her powers did their work. A couple moments later they were back to normal.
“It is as he says.” She nodded passing the all clear.
“I'm fine letting him know my name.” I said raising my voice. Everyone looked at me. “It might even give me something" I added.
“It makes sense, sure.” LED nodded.
I stepped forward till I was standing with the revolutionaries. David and the two unenhanced. The old guy had still to introduce himself, but it wasn’t like we had left much space in the conversation.
“What would you gain from me learning stuff from you?”
“Well, won't you find out?”
He smiled at me, and I thrust my hand between us. “Nice to meet you, I’m joseph.”
He clasped my hand as well, but even before he moved, I felt it. The moment I told him my name was like a had stepped into a trigger. Not of a trap but just of an effect. Then I felt something settle over my mind, not invading it or anything but existing at its border.
Time seemed to go away as I focused completely in my matrix. I felt at the foreign object in my mind. it existed in the place powers did, and I could easily interact with it with the long tendrils of matrix. I had created them for exactly this purpose; meta power hands as they were. It was only a bump, but it contained the same beauty of impossible tiny and long scriptures of fractals that my matrix heavily adorned now.
It was the actual language of power, and with each new addition to my encyclopedia I understood a little bit more of it. I touched the blob with my Matrix, and it was easy enough to absorb the pieces that made it function. Even as I felt its effect taking hold while I was comprehending it. I knew I could detach it and fling it away easily, but that would defeat all the purpose. As learning from a power took way longer than simply defending from it.
In moments I knew how to defend myself from the effect as that seemed to be the first thing my powers gathered, and it bridged a gap to exactly how it was done. It was similar to a mind parasite just that it didn’t outright eat anything but made the mind copy all of its memories associated to subjects. All the minds knowledge, and it engorged itself in that. growing bigger as it transformed the information into the fractal language that seemed to code powers. What I could see was how it made the mind work for its purpose.
I couldn’t access minds, but I tried to nudge my matrix tendrils into doing the same. slotting the concept pieces into them and smoothing over their ‘writing’ making a nice flowy fractal, as it felt when it was something that actually worked. Because of that I knew it was going to be successful even before trying.
And it did. touching the little mind sucker and activating the copied power. it was as easily as it was to awaken my matrix or to pull on a transformation. The mind sucker started copying its intricate composition onto the attached matrix tendril. lots of it really didn’t seem to matter that much. Things about how it was shaped and how it existed, it seemed too complex to just understand.
It was liking looking at an advanced physics formula, but without understanding what each symbol did. I guess it couldn't be too easy to just understand everything about powers.
The trigger was there; a defined phenomenon that would put into action the power. it had no manual control part like some other powers did. And I saw those pieces on myself, only that the trigger were attacks. Could I change the phenomenon that caused the trigger?
“A pleasure meeting you, Joseph.” David said, violently lurching me out of the trance I was on, time seemed to flow back again at its normal pace, and I looked around a bit disoriented.
“Are you okay there?” LED asked me the others also looking a little worried.
I shook my head focusing on the now. letting aside the new discoveries and pieces to be sorted out at a later date, but feeling really happy with the results. I had empowered the capability of my tendrils to gather information and maybe even discovered a new form to trigger my powers. it would need to wait to be tested though.
I looked over and David was with his eyes glazed over, rooted in place, I looked at old guy and Paul with an asking face.
“It's fine, he gets like that after using his powers.”
“Not that you can say anything. huh Joseph” Spotlight quipped at me.
“True. you were like ten seconds just staring into space, and I think the guy was waiting for his power to do the its job. Then, like he has a delay, just answers your greeting. and it changes to him standing there like a brainless ghoul.” Spyglass said smiling at the comical scene.
“Wow, you really know a lot about powers.” David said coming to himself. everyone stopped the laughing to look at him.
“So, convinced now?” LED asked
“Yeah, of course. Sorry to have doubted you all” he seemed way less nervous now. I guess if he got all the information I know, then he knew about everyone just as much as me, and I was completely at ease with them.
“There’s just a little problem.” He said smudging his face a bit.
“What is it? Payback asked.
“You know the other receptionist you all talked to?” David asked us. Paul looking over as well getting up from the couch
“it’s Mark. What about him?”
“It was from him that I learned the Families had been informed of my trigger.”
“No way.” Paul said, takin a step back and sitting again.
“It is as it is. With the tracking team supposed to arrive today, and you all having gone there to ask about Paul he should have informed them already. I know he keeps an eye on Paul. Sorry Paul didn’t want to worry you more, but he knows you're a member of the revolutionaries here in the city.
“Fuck!” Paul exclaimed. Getting up and pacing the room. “The motherfucker always smiling and leading me on.”
“Yeah, he didn’t want you to be suspicious that he wasn’t interested in joining. you were pretty obvious that you were already part of it though Paul. you need to work on that.”
“Never mind that. Do you think they're coming here?” Paul asked nervously.
“Depends on the type of tracker, but it's very possible.” David said nodding
“I'll look it up” Spyglass said her eyes shining again. “he’s still in the facility, he’s with four others. No one I know of. That doesn’t tell us anything though.
“Military teams are 3 to 5 members; it could be them.” Payback said
“It doesn’t prove anything, but it also doesn't change our plans. We should go now.” LED said a hint of urgency in his voice.
Everyone nodded. Paul was left looking side to side confused. “Do I go as well?”
“We think you’re a target. So, yeah. Absolutely.” LED confirmed to him the guy deflating in relief.
The old guy clapped him in a hug. “Stay safe.” He said grimly. Paul nodded hugging him back.
David got a backpack from a corner of the room, and we all shuffled one behind the other out of the hidden basement. A sense of urgency in the air now.
“You take your car, follow us this time.” led said to Paul as we quickly made our way through the house.
The woman was sitting in the living room jumping to her feet alarmed as we barreled through the space.
“What's going on?” she asked franticly
“Mark is a fucking X9”
“He ratted you out? I told you the guy was suspicious.”
Paul nodded still mad about the situation. “Doesn't matter anymore. I'll be going with them.”
We were all standing around in the living room. Everyone on their feet with the energy to get the hell out of this city. The woman nodded to Paul giving him a hug as well. We turned to keep going but the door opened on its own.
The creaking seemed very loud as everyone stopped dead on their tracks.
“Are you now?” Asked an amused voice from the other side. The door opening to reveal a pale man completely dressed in military fatigue with his hand on the handle.
He had a small smile on his face. It was the fakest smile I had ever seen.
His dead eyes coldly regarded the assorted people on the room.
