For the next little while, I play with and practice with my new powers while Basilisk leaves me be. It seems to come out of me pretty easily; it’s almost like it wants to be used. I use it to restore my top back to sparkling condition (yay!) and freshen up the rest of my outfit; it was starting to feel really grody with all the me all over it. I grab the wheelie chair next and turn it into all sorts of things; a four post chair, a wooden rocker, a beanbag, a sign that says ‘chair’. I try pushing the limits and seeing just what I can get away with. It doesn’t seem to matter the mass or the material; if I want it and it’s in my reach, it’s like putty to me. I picture in my mind's eye the item twisting into exactly what I want, brush my fingers against it, and off it goes. I can rip it out nearly instantly too, once I get the hang of it. I have no idea how it works, and frankly I’m not going to question it. 

It doesn’t seem to take that much out of me, for the small stuff. The wilder I get, though, the colder my heart feels, the longer it takes for the next one to happen. It must not be limitless then. The more ‘something out of nothing’ I make, the more comes out from me. That heat in my chest… It must be some kind of, energy source, or transformation juice, or whatever. That’s what’s letting me do this. 

God, I just need to know everything about this! Why don’t these things come with manuals? I reach out and turn the sign into a pile of cushions, while flopping down into them. Ugh! Am I just going to have to trial and error this? How the hell do those capes figure everything out about themselves!

The door on the wall swings open; I barely lift my head. “Alright kid. Here.” Basilisk had bothered to go and put his mask back on. I guess he was the kind of person to live in it. Another mark down on paranoid. Oh, and he has food! He’s holding out one of those cheap bowls of instant ramen with a little plastic fork swimming inside it. That makes sense, looking at this place. Probably hasn’t eaten anything but this in ten years. God, I know college kids who live better than this. Guess he’s not in it for the glamor. 

I debate making a snarky comment, but think better of it. This man could still kill me with one touch. Instead I just pick up the food with a quick “Thank you, sir.” 

He scowls at that. “I’m not your dad. Stop with all the honorifics. It’s insincere.” 

I look down into the bowl. Ugh, it doesn’t even seem like one of the nice ones! It’s just a plain ass chicken noodle, thin and light, mostly broth. I glance at my glass digits holding onto the bowl. Hmmm, I could… My stomach rumbles, and I disregard the thought. No, no. What if whatever I do makes it inedible? I feel like I’m starving; I don’t want to risk making myself sick to experiment. 

“So,” I say between mouthfuls of bland pasta, “what do you want me to call you.” 

“Not sir, not mister, no more of this cutesy act. Just Basilisk.” He crosses his arms. “Besides, I’m a doctor anyways.”

I shrug, shoveling more watery noodles in. “Really then? The codename?” I think back to the night we met, what Shiftra had been mocking him with. “I mean, why not just Cla–” 

“You keep that goddamned name out of your mouth!” He cuts me off, rears back his hand, ready to hit me, an actual look of anger on his. He stops himself though, squeezes his fist, shaking it, and putting it down. I freeze still as well. I keep forgetting what just one touch from this man could do. He breathes in, and stares daggers at me. “You don’t know that name. If you’re here, that’s rule number one. No one knows anyone else. No names, no identities, no faces, no information on your other life. If you even have one. I don’t know yours and you don’t know mine. You’re a code name and a mask. Keep it that way.” 

I sit down on the cushions, drinking up the broth. It’s soothing on my throat; I didn’t realize how parched I was. “Alright, boss. Err, Basilisk.” I place the trash next to me. At least this means that I won’t have to worry about him digging into me and seeing who I really am, then. And I won’t have to think of a fake name to give him, either. Even if it might be a little fun. Hey, wait. Did he say no one else here? “Does that mean that there’s others running around besides us?”

“You’ll find out.” Cryptic. Is he ever going to give me anything? Eventually, he seems to get tired of the ‘let’s stare at each other’ game, and he breaks from his position. He walks over to me, rummaging into his pocket. “I really shouldn’t give you this, but here.” He unceremoniously tosses a little plastic brick at me, clacking down on the floor. "Make your calls, call off the hounds.” My face lights up, and I grab the little flip and beam up at him, hugging it to me. He’s alright after all! He’s… Actually, he’s staring at me. “Hurry up. We don’t have all day.”

“Uh… Basilisk?” I scratch idly behind my ear (and then stop when I realize how sharp my nails actually are now!) “Do you think I can get a little privacy with this?” 

“No. I need to know you’re not about to fuck me.” 

Well, I guess that answers that. He’s no nonsense to a tee. But I can’t risk him overhearing about, about me being… About me lying to him. Not with how he reacts. God, and I’m just realizing I’m going to have to use my other voice! He needs to go.

“Uh, dude. This is secret identity stuff! Didn’t you just say we’re not supposed to know each other? And yet you’re going to listen in here?” He stares down at me, refusing to budge. “Come on. I saved your life. Why would I go through all that just to turn you in anyways?”

“You did not save my life, you merely got in the way of me…” He taps his finger on his bicep, shakes his head. Fidgety. “Fine. Go to a private area. Make your call, and then call me back in. But remember. If you are stupid enough to call in CCHIP; you stepped in to stop a top level CCHIP officer from making an, ‘arrest’, in your civilian clothes. You’re an accomplice now, and that was before you became dangerous. If they’re ready to blow a hole through my chest, imagine what they’re willing to do to you.” He looks down to my chest, the glass veins peeking up over my top. “Again.”

I gulp, and he turns away from me, and out the door. 

I give it a few minutes for him to really make it out of earshot. I need to trust that he’s going to actually give me the courtesy he’s said. For all his bluster so far, he’s been quite accommodating, actually. Still, I’m at his mercy. Even if I’m not entirely defenseless now, I’d still rather not gamble on this one. 

The phone in my hand is just an old chunky flip. If I had to guess, it’s likely a burner, something for absolute emergencies. If I also have to guess, he probably has a half dozen of them stashed away somewhere.

First thing I do is text David’s cell phone number; nobody picks up an unknown number anymore. Luckily he’s had the same all his life and it’s incredibly easy to remember, so I can at least do that much. ‘Hey dude, it’s Jason. Pick up!’ I then immediately slam on the green dial button, and listen to the ringtone go through. It’s only mid dial that I realize I don’t have any kind of story for where I’ve been. Shit! That’s gotta be the first thing they ask for, right? Let’s see… Work? No, I’m supposed to work at a cafe. Maybe I got sick… No, outside of my house? Did I go to a hospital? That’ll make them worry worse! Uh, shotgun wedding? Surprise impromptu vacation? Aliens?? Hell, maybe I should just say the tru–

“Jason?” It’s Kitty! What is she doing answering David’s phone? I guess they were together then. I didn’t know they hung out without me. “Where the hell have you been?”

“Hi–” I nearly forgot to stop talking in my thrown voice. It feels almost sacrilegious not to while I’m dressed like this. I give some coughs, clear my throat, and try again. “Hey Kitty. Sorry, I was away from my cell phone. I hope you didn’t worry too much.” 

“Clearly. Don’t worry, I didn’t. Prince Charming over there has been a wreck, though.” A pause, and then I hear a muffled yelling through the receiver. It sounded like ‘I told you he’s fine!’ “You’ve been away from your apartment too. You feel like filling us in?” 

I pace around, fidgeting with the phone in my hand. “You see, uh, I’m out of town, my…”

Again, more muffled yelling from the receiver, very clearly David yelling my name and running up. “Hey, put me on! Or put it on speaker, something!”

“Go ahead,” I say. “It’s easier to all talk at once.” 

I hear a beep on the line. “Alright, call’s open,” says Kitty. “Seriously then, where were you?”

“Exactly,” David yells out through the phone. “I swear I’ve been to half the coffee shops in town trying to figure out a lead on where you were! Oh, and by the by. When you get back, you’re gonna have’ta actually tell me exactly where you work. I’m not playing the guessing game again.” Hahaha! Nope, that’s not happening buddy.  

Alright, this is it. Come on, think of something that keeps me out of town, but not anything that would scare them at all. Family. Make up some family. “My cousin. Cl… Clive. He lives out of town, you know him, right?”

“Dude,” David says, “no, I don’t.”

I lean in. “Come on! Tall, disheveled. Older than me. Permanent scowl. Like if a ghoul had less charm.” 

Kitty speaks up. “Jay, I am certain you have never mentioned this man before in your life. I had no idea you even had a cousin.” 

I lower my voice a bit, put as much emotion into my act as possible. “I try not to think about it. You know how much I avoid my family? Well, he’s the black sheep of the black sheep. I’d rather pretend the whole lot of them don’t exist anymore, so I doubly so don’t hear about him.” 

Kitty makes a ‘hrumph’ noise; I doubt I’ve convinced her. But David leans into the receiver and says, “No, dude, I get it. Families are hard. Sometimes we drift apart. Sometimes they deserve it.”

“Okay,” Kitty says, “you have a mysterious cousin that you hate. Why did you disappear with him, then?”

Ok, god, why would I disappear with him? “You see… His house… Uh, got hit by a cape. Collateral damage. Not totalled or anything, but enough to blow a hole in the side and to break a ton of stuff in here.” I pick up one of the loose contraptions laying around, its metal pistons creaking and grinding as I shift it around in my hands. “Trust me, it’s like a tornado came through here. Clive showed up at my apartment begging me to come help him sort through the trash and write up his claims, patch up his wall, that kind of stuff. Said no one else talks to him so he didn’t really have other options.”

“So a man you don’t like shows up at your house asking for you to jump.” Kitty says. “And let me guess, you said ‘how high’.” 

I run my hand through my hair, grumbling softly. “Yeah, basically. By the time we were halfway to his place, I realized I forgot my phone at home. I didn’t really think it’d be a big deal, guys. Like, I didn’t really think you’d be that incensed that I was out for a few days.”

“A few days!” David’s voice rings out. “Jason, you disappeared without a trace for nearly a week! Do you realize how terrifying that is? Someone could have grabbed you off the street, you could have been trapped somewhere. Hell, a cape could have turned you into a smear on the road!” 

I huff, shrinking in on myself, fiddling with the hem of my skirt. “Look, I’m a grown man, David. I can take care of myself.”

He sighs. “It’s just, it’s a dangerous world out there. You don’t have to help everyone, dude, it’s not your job. One day you’re gonna stick your neck out for the wrong person and you’re gonna get hurt instead.” 

I clink my glass fingers together and sigh. “Yeah. Thanks for the advice. Look, I’m going to go. I’ll be back in a day or two. Please, stop worrying about me, you guys.”

Before either of them can respond again, I click off the call button, and shut the phone down. I walk out of the room, down the hallway, to find Basilisk standing there waiting for me, leaning against the wall, his arms crossed.

“You done with your little phone call, kid?” I nod, and he holds out his hand. “Waste of a perfectly good burner. Now I’ve gotta torch the contaminated thing.” 

I’ve started to have enough of this guy. Instead of handing it back, I just sink my nails into it, listening to it bubble and hiss as it twists into water in my hands, slipping out onto a puddle on the floor. “There, saved you the step.” We stare down each other for a moment. I can almost make out a smirk on his face. “So then. What happens next. I don’t imagine I just walk out of here, do I?”

He actually shrugs at that. “Can’t stop you. Well, won’t stop you. Option’s there, you walk out of here and then you stay out of my way. You’d be on your own for everything. Your powers, your health, that glass shit. With CCHIP.” 

“Doesn’t sound like much of an option, then. But I like rolling the dice. I take it there’s an option to stay then, and you will help?” He nods once, about as minimal effort as he can. “And why would you be offering this?”

“Because,” he says with a smirk on his face, “I would need you to do some things for me.”

“Well, when would I start?”

His smirk breaks out into a full on grin. “Tonight.”

CassieSandwich

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