Chapter 10
TEN
ALEX
There was a sort of guilt that swept in once we walked into Nightmyre PD.
I’d been so focused on the hospital and distracting myself from any thoughts of Joon that I nearly forgot about them.
Leo and Reed tailed me, both dressed in street clothes rather than their Hero suits.
A secretary whose face I remembered but name I couldn’t place smiled as soon as she saw me.
She was a physical type Variant; large canines, and elephant shaped ears that hung down to her shoulders.
“Alex,” she cooed. “It’s been a while. How are you?”
Her eyes cast behind me, to the two men that followed, and a blush washed over her cheeks. I cocked my head, attempting to gain her attention.
“I’ve been busy, but good. Is Gabriel around?”
It took her a moment to process my question before she blinked and smiled again. “Of course, he’s—”
“Mija!” My shoulders tensed immediately at the tone. “Where have you been? Minnie’s been worried sick, you know.”
If Doctor B gave off dad energy, Gabriel Hernandez had him beat by miles. He was only in his mid thirties, but at this point, I was an adopted daughter. After Joon died, he was the one who recommended that I start seeing his wife, Minnie. I took contracts with Gabriel and saw Minnie on Wednesdays.
Oh… shit. Today is Wednesday.
Minnie was going to kill me.
“Gabriel,” I slapped on a grin and held out my arms as he brought me into a quick hug. “I’m sorry, the VIA captured me for the day. Can you tell Minnie I’m sorry? Or is she…you know?”
Gabriel was only a few inches taller than me, and his thick black hair had wisps of gray already edging at the sides of his head. The lines around his eyes creased as if he were in pain.
“Unfortunately, I’m going to leave that task up to you. I’m afraid to go home, to be honest,” he chuckled nervously, and I couldn’t help but smirk.
“I’ll call her when we’re done.”
He leaned in, whispering in my ear as if we had a secret to share. “If you don’t, I’m never bringing you leftovers again. I’m serious—I barely made it out of the house alive.”
I couldn’t help but rear my head back and laugh.
After Joon, the Hernandez family took to feeding me.
It was their love language. Gabriel, Minnie or their children would leave freshly cooked meals at my doorstep, and after a few weeks, I actually started eating them.
Even when I got better, they never stopped.
I could never find the right words to thank them.
Someone cleared their throat behind us, and I spun around to find Leo staring daggers at me.
And here I thought we were actually starting to become friendly. Woe is me.
“Friends?” Gabriel paused, assessing the boys with suspicion.
“We’re agents with the VIA,” Reed lied through his teeth, and I was grateful that Minnie wasn’t around to sense it. “Alex is going to help us with the latest haul.”
“Ah, so that’s where you’ve been,” Gabriel nodded. “First the hospital, and now the VIA. Everyone’s trying to steal my best asset, huh? I hope you’re paying her well.”
Not at all, actually. Just hoping for my freedom at this point, I groaned inwardly.
Leo shifted on his feet before crossing his arms with a pout. “We don’t want to take up too much of your time. Can you show us where they are?”
Gabriel hesitated; his face had no filter. It screamed at me, asking if I was safe, if I needed an out. I definitely did.
“We’ll be out of your hair soon,” I tried to make my laugh less nervous. “If it’s not too much trouble.”
Gabriel gave me a pat on the shoulder before giving Leo a sarcasm filled smile. “Never too much trouble for you, Mija. Come on, I’ll bring you down.”
I could swear the air got hotter, and I snapped a glare to Leo, who only stood with a blank face.
In the Academy, I always wondered what made him so fucking grumpy.
I didn’t bother to wonder anymore. Some people were meant to be miserable.
Unfortunately, I’d become one of them, too. At least I wasn’t a pyromaniac to boot.
We made our way to the elevator that would take us to the Variant containment unit.
I’d made the trip too many times to count; I knew exactly which floor they’d be held on, which doors Gabriel would need to swipe his badge on to get us through.
When the elevator opened on the seventh floor below ground, and the air got cool, we approached my second home.
White walls and tile floors spanned down the hallway. Guards with bulletproof gear and heavy guns held in front of them stood in formation, nodding their heads as we passed. Gabriel murmured soft greetings before we finally reached my favorite room—interrogation.
“Are you, ah…” he mused, sliding his ID card through until the door beeped and unlocked. “Will this be okay?”
I raised a brow before walking in. “Has Minnie been breaking confidentiality?”
He jumped, and I was sure his head would have hit the roof if I’d been any more blunt. “No! Of course not, she would never. I just…well, I can tell when she comes home. June is always hard.”
I swallowed as I made my way behind the oak desk in the room, a large two-way mirror giving us a view of the real action.
“I’m doing fine, I promise,” I sighed as I ran my fingers along the table. “Just need to get this mission over with, and we’ll be back to business as usual.”
Reed and Leo remained silent, and I was grateful.
I didn’t want questions, didn’t want their prodding or curiosity.
Nightmyre PD was my territory—I’d be damned if the VIA stole that from me, too.
Joon always said that we’d be the ones taking from them, one day.
That he’d rise to the top, dragging me with him, and we could fix the system together.
“We’ll make it so they see everyone as equals,” he’d said. “Heroes shouldn’t be put into classes. Your ability isn’t less than mine, Alex. They can’t put a value on Variants. We can show them.”
Joon had shown them something, but not what he wanted.
He’d shown them that he’d die for them, and I showed the VIA that I didn’t have it in me, after all.
I was the coward, and Joon would always be the perfect Hero.
It hadn’t hit me until now. I was about to come face to face with Villains; ones that were connected with the same organization that caused Joon’s death.
There was no room for mistakes, no room for melancholy or regrets.
My throat swelled, and my chest went tight. Sweat began to form on my palms as I stared at the ground. When was the last time Gabriel had anyone mop the place?
Smudges covered the white tile, and I wasn’t sure if it was from scuff marks or coffee that had been spilled and never cleaned correctly.
My heart pounded, and I started counting the small squares, staring into the grooves.
It was easier to fixate on my surroundings—counting threads or tiles was the only way to stay out of my own head, sometimes.
Minnie called it a grounding technique; I called it avoidance.
“…Alex?”
A sharp ringing filled my ears, and my scalp started to tingle.
Thirteen rows, and fifty squares per row, then that makes—
“Sloth,” a low voice ground out.
I snapped my head up, venom on my tongue. “What?”
Leo’s eyes were dark, intense, and fixated on me. Insecurity clawed at my back, and the hair on my arms stood on end—could he see me spiraling? Could he tell that I was drowning? Did he ever drown? I didn’t see it; I couldn’t see my pain reflected in him. Leo was stone, as always.
But he blinked, and something flickered in his eyes when he opened them again. “Answer the question.”
“What question?”
He jutted his chin toward Gabriel, who had a stack of files already in his arms and a set of keys between his fingers. “I was wondering how many you want to see. Are you sure about this? I know your ability can take a toll—”
I shook my head frantically, pulling my shoulders back as if it’d give me some sense of authority. “All of them.”
Gabriel’s eyes softened as he frowned. “You don’t have to push yourself.”
“I’ve got it. The sooner we get this over with, the better. I want to see all of them… please.”
After the fifth interrogation, I’d started nodding in and out of sleep.
Reed and Gabriel took turns reviving me with smelling salts, but they weren’t enough.
I held a tube beneath my nose as my eyes drooped—the smell didn’t even register.
Gabriel had muttered something about getting something stronger before rushing away, and had yet to return.
How long had he been gone? I was anxious to get to the next prisoner, ready to be done.
A lukewarm cup of coffee was clutched in my other hand, a pitiful excuse for a pick me up.
“Alex,” someone whispered beside me.
I stared into the pitch black mug and wondered where the cream had gone.
Had I surpassed it entirely? It didn’t matter.
We weren’t getting anywhere, and my brief glimpse of confidence had faded entirely.
I was good before. Dahlia was right—I’d completed missions no one else could, been the kind of Hero that people didn’t expect, the kind of Hero that Joon was proud of.
Sure, I wasn’t on the battlefield going toe to toe with Villains, but I broke them.
But that was before Joon, before his sweet words and whispers of encouragement disappeared.
Before I’d let the upgrades on my equipment slip and stopped practicing with my ability.
Every contract I’d done since his death had been simple, easy.
A way to get by, pay the bills, but not enough to make any real change or challenge myself.
After hours of interrogation, I had nothing to show for it. No one talked; no one uttered a single word that could be helpful.
The VIA put its trust in the wrong Hero. Maybe that means they’ll discharge me for uselessness. It would have been easier that way.
“She’s tired; we should stop now,” another voice sounded beside me.
But I could only stare into my mug and wonder what time it was. Two a.m.? Three? Had morning come already, shining a light on my failures? I’d wasted everyone's time.
“Get out,” someone breathed.
I barely noticed the shuffling of footsteps or the click of the door. My chair spun, and suddenly I was face to face with a permanent frown.
“Where are you right now?” Leo leveled his eyes with mine, and I had to blink to brush away the fog that edged into my vision.
“Nightmyre PD, unless I’m hallucinating again.”
His scowl was ferocious. Leo never showed joy, not that I’d seen, anyway. But this look was pointed, the way it always was; a clear disappointment in me, in what I could do. Maybe he was right. I wasn’t meant to be a Hero; I’d made the right choice in quitting.
“You’re doubting yourself,” he said finally.
I scoffed before taking a sip of the sludge from my cup; police department coffee had a specific taste. Despair, and car oil.
“I can keep going,” I lied.
He leaned in, placing both hands on my chair. “You need to take a break. It’s been twelve hours, Alex. This is too much.”
“I can do it.”
Leo rolled his eyes before letting out a long sigh. I hadn’t noticed he’d lit a cigarette, hadn’t noticed the ashtray beside me that was filled with them. The smoke wafted up, and I took a deep inhale, almost willing the nicotine to enter my lungs and give me a power up.
“I know you can do it,” he said, and my heart stopped.
Leo always said no. Always claimed I couldn’t, that I wasn’t strong enough. But here he was, giving me his full attention, and telling me I could. I didn’t know how to take that, didn’t know how to decipher why it brought me a sense of comfort.
He rolled his neck before glancing at the two-way mirror that divided us from the interrogation room.
I took breaks in between—fifteen minutes at most — while they prepared the prisoners.
The next one was ready for me; a bald man covered in tattoos, glaring straight through the mirror as if he could see us.
“I’m not saying you can’t, Alex. I’m saying you shouldn’t.
Heroes aren’t invincible; you know that.
What happens when you get stuck? When these fucking salts can’t bring you back?
” He waved his hand toward the vials placed on the table, a strange assortment that screamed we should be the ones behind bars.
“I’ll keep going,” I said, monotone.
Flames started to crawl along his forearms, and I reared back on instinct. His face contorted, and smoke pushed through his teeth before they disappeared.
“We all have limits,” he growled, before reaching over to snatch a tissue from a box I hadn’t even realized was there. “We can start again tomorrow. Get some rest, reorganize.”
I opened my mouth to protest as he pressed the tissue against my nose, and his frown softened. When he pulled it away, the white had been blotted with crimson. Ammonia tended to have that effect after extended use. I’d overdone it for sure.
“Those salts are gonna rot your brain, you know,” he huffed.
“I won’t die of a nosebleed,” I murmured before snatching the tissue back. “Stop acting worried. I just need some more time, and then we’ll be done.”
“It’s five a.m. which is insane, and you’re exhausted. Forget the nosebleed—we all need to sleep.”
I froze. I didn’t realize how long it’d been, and my body finally cried out for mercy. I wanted to sleep, wanted to dream my own dreams. But the VIA was waiting, the organization wouldn’t stop, and we needed answers. Joon deserved justice.
“One more,” I breathed before throwing back the rest of the sludge in my cup. “One more, and then we’ll start again tomorrow, I promise. I won’t waste your time.”
Leo cocked his head. “Is that what this is? You think you’re wasting my time?”
I didn’t respond.
His brows pinched together as he watched me.
“We’ve been at this for three years. Four, if you count the time before Joon died.
He and I worked on this mission for a year together, and didn’t get anywhere.
We couldn’t figure out what the fuck these guys were planning, where they’re coming from, any of it.
I’ll give you more than twelve hours, Alex. I can give you that much, at least.”
A cigarette hung out of his mouth as dark circles framed his eyes, and I nodded. “One more.”
He tensed, and I was sure he would reject me. But slowly, he softened, and the red glow behind his brown eyes faded.
“Only if I come in this time,” he dropped his head. “If you let me in, then we’ll do one more. And then you rest. Deal?”
I swallowed my pride. “Deal.”