Page 29 of Captured Immune

“I’d like to say I’m a field agent too, but for now, I’m just Victor’s assistant.”

“What do you do for him?”

“Whatever he wants. I run errands around base, deliver messages, do paperwork here and there.” Katie sits in a seat two away from mine and gestures toward my steaming mug. “And I make zoffee. Ya know, the important stuff.”

I lift my mug to take a sip. It burns my tongue a little. “Zoffee is important. It takes a skilled person to brew it well.”

“Victor says I’m the best at it. He assigned me my first on-base mission today—not because I make good zoffee. I’ve been asking for a mission for months. I’m super excited about it.”

I know she is by her excitement rushing through my head. “What is it?”

She narrows her eyes at me. “You’re a field agent. You should know the rules. We don’t go into details about missions amongst each other.”

“Right. I was just testing you.”

“Surrre you were.” Katie gestures toward my damp clothing, with her eyebrows pressed together. “So did ya swim here?”

“The Teleporter ported me here right under the waterfall.”

She giggles. “Sorry, I don’t mean to laugh. That’s just kinda funny. You don’t seem to mind that you’re wet though.”

“It’s whatever.” I do mind, but what can I do about it? It’s not like I possess a gift that can make my clothes instantly dry.

Victor appears in the doorway, wearing a dark brown suit. “Katie, the folders, please.”

Katie jumps to her feet and grabs the manila folders from the end of the table. She hands them to Victor with a mousey “Here you go, sir.”

“Thank you.” Victor makes his way around the table to the head seat. Two of his bodyguards station themselves on opposite sides of the room. A third one stands outside the door. “Katie, can you text me updates on your mission as you go today?”

“Yes, sir.” She takes her iPad from the table and hugs it against her chest.

“Thanks. Nothing else for now. Feel free to take a break before your assignment arrives. Shouldn’t be too long.”

I’ll never understand how Victor can talk to people so nicely when he always addresses me with revulsion. When I was a young child, Uncle V was my best friend. He’d take me out for pie at two in the morning. We’d ride around the neighborhood on roller skates. We’d have sleepovers at his house and spend hours building blanket forts together.

After Aunt Jodi left him for her soul mate, leaving behind only an apology note, he transformed into the angry man he is today. Now he acts as if looking at me is detrimental to his health. The day he lost her was the day I lost my Uncle V.

Sometimes, I still hold out for the day he returns to that loving uncle I made all those good memories with. Deep under all that bitterness somewhere, way,waydeep, I’m confident there’s that same man who used to treat me like his own son. I’d be lying if I said that when I accepted Arella’s mission, I didn’t hope my success would bring that man back.

The room is silent after Katie leaves. Neither Victor nor his bodyguards acknowledge my existence, so I take a sip of my zoffee and pretend they don’t exist either.

A few awkward minutes later, two field agents join us. They take the chairs across the table from me. One is a stocky short man. The other is a tall blonde woman with tattoos running up and down each arm. Victor chitchats with them for a while with a smile on his face that’s never directed at me.

It’s just before one thirty when Victor says, “All right. Let’s get started.”

Good.The faster we start, the faster I can get outta here. I want to be at Arella’s apartment as soon as she wakes up.

“The Royals have been getting their hands on powerful weapons,” Victor says. “By that, I don’t mean guns or tanks. They’re collecting Tickers. Anyone know what that is?”

When the other agents shake their heads, I raise my hand. Quickly, I realize it’s a mistake.

“What is this? A fucking middle school? Put your goddamn hand down and answer the question.”

Resisting the urge to snap back at my uncle, I lower my arm. “It’s a Pyro with an illness called smother. Unlike Dormants where their powers just aren’t active, Zordis with smother still have active flames. The flames are simplysmotheredas if their skin’s a containment system. They can’t produce fire outside of their bodies, but inside, those flames and energy build until they eventually explode like a bomb.”

Victor nods, the most approval I’ve gotten from him in years. “The range of a Ticker’s explosion is anywhere between five feet to five miles. It incinerates everything in its path.”

“Sounds like a bad day for anyone nearby,” tattoo lady says.

---