Hostage

Chapter 1 - Prologue

Ryder Zales, Rivington Hero School legacy and combat-training devotee in spite of the fact that he was pretty sure the incredible gift of hydromancy running through his veins guaranteed him a spot on the hero team of his choosing once he graduated, sat across from his Combat Theory professor’s desk with an ankle propped up on his opposite knee. He was the portrait of composure: letterman jacket open, posture relaxed, reddish-brown hair messily spiked with gel so everyone would know he gave a shit about his appearance, but not too much of one. Grinning, he swirled the coffee in the cup held between his hands, kept hot with one easy trick of his powers.

“You’re sure you didn’t see Mr. Lawson after–”

“After our gathering–”

“--party,” Dr. Hastings finished, her green eyes boring into his from across the surface of her desk.

Theatrically, he sighed and set his mug down to lean forward in his chair, elbows on his knees. “Okay, okay, maybe a few of us were drinking.” It had all gone down at his off-campus apartment: he and a few friends had decided, a while back, to try their hand at the whole crimefighting thing, even if they hadn’t yet been admitted into the Heroics Division, and after their successful citizen’s arrest of a drug dealer, they’d decided to celebrate. “But it’s not like I gave any booze to the underclassmen! They were allowed to be there! If they drank while my back was turned–”

“Let’s try to focus on the disappearance of Mr. Lawson,” said Dr. Hastings. “Would you like any more coffee?”

“Sure, sure,” said Ryder. She refilled his cup, and he answered her questions to the best of his ability. “Guy said he was going out to get more ice, never came back, and we figured he wasn’t feeling the party anymore and went home.”

“Yes, yes…and he hasn’t been seen in the last week. You know, of course, that in addition to this teaching post, I’m also involved with recruitment within the Division?”

“Yeah, duh.” She’d promised Ryder a good word as long as he kept performing his best when it came time to spar.

“Which is why I’ve known they’ve had their eye on Mr. Lawson for a potential stateside defender for quite sometime.”

Skeptically, Ryder raised an eyebrow. “That guy?”

***

“As a matter of fact, the Division feels positively about all four of you. Your ambition is impressive, to say the least.”

“All four of us?” asked Eric Orozco. A first-generation Genetic Deviant, and finding that his parents were none too happy to have a ‘freak’ in the family, he’d been allowed to attend Rivington despite their begrudging nature on account of it was the best chance he stood of learning to ‘control’ his powers. Bit of a laugh, really: he could fly, but that was all, and he couldn’t really hurt anyone with that, unless they got whiplash watching him take off. If it’d had been up to him, he’d have suffered his years at this austere university and gone on to become an accountant or something.

But then, Ryder Zales had recruited him into his clique of student heroes. Ryder Zales, Rivington’s resident Mr. McCool on campus, and how could Eric have said no?

Even if it did sideline him into being the guy who kept watch from above. It was the same with Johnny, who had no powers, just a knack for being quick in a fight. Eric wasn’t even sure where Ryder had found him, only that he’d been instrumental in everything they’d accomplished so far. And there was whatever was going on with Jenny…

“Why, yes.” Dr. Hastings, Eric’s interrogator, had been pacing her office floor, mug of tea in hand, since the start of his questioning. Her spindly fingers were starting to shake from holding the heavy mug, and her glossy black hair had begun to unravel from its tight, tight bun. “Mr. Lawson, despite his Genetic Typicality, has caught the eye of my higher-ups within the Division just the same as yourself, Mr. Zales, and Ms. Joplin, which is likely why he was singled out for abduction–”

“Gee, you really think he was abducted?” asked Eric. With one hoodie-sleeved wrist, he rubbed the crust from his sleepless eyes. Tossed aside an overgrown fringe of dark hair. It had been a while, yeah, since he’d seen Johnny, but it’d been a while since he’d been to class either, and it had been a late night of gaming before he was summoned to Hastings’ office. People fell off the map all the time, right? They came back.

Right?

“This is a very serious matter, Mr. Orozco,” said Dr. Hastings. “Mr. Lawson’s lack of powers combined with the Division’s interest makes him a prime target for supervillainous organizations who would see your whole squad destroyed before you ever saw state endorsement. It’s imperative that you tell me everything you know about your friend.”

“Well, ge–” Eric stifled a yawn between one hand. “Gee…Johnny never talked about himself or his past. Well, maybe he did with Jenny, in private, but there was something weird going on there, between him and her…”

Dr. Hastings pinched the bridge of her nose, clenching her eyes tightly shut.

He told her what he knew and then she said he could sleep on the couch in the lobby outside her office. “Just please, send in Miss Joplin.”

***

“Are you SURE Mr. Lawson never mentioned anything that might have been a clue? No family, no past…?”

Jeanette Joplin crossed her ankles under her professor’s desk, then uncrossed them, then crossed them the other way. In her Oxford flats and calf-high socks, strawberry-blonde hair loosed to the middle of her back over the conservative collar of a past-the-knee dress meant for modesty, but doubled as a convenient means to conceal a slight roll of belly pudge growing in, she was the last person who’d be pegged for a super-strong bruiser who could throw an opponent across campus with one punch, but that was why Ryder had recruited her: she was the team’s element of surprise.

Now, though? She felt she had ended up the most surprised of all in this entire mess she’d fallen into.

Some of her family were regular folks, and others were Ble–sorry, Deviants; that was what they said here. Dad had wanted to send her to St. Raymond’s, but Mom argued that Louisiana was too far, especially after her brother decided to stay down there. (He visited for holidays, but his family and his business were there now, and Mom didn’t want to lose her little girl.) It was going to be Bellvue Academy for the Gifted, until Rivington offered her the scholarship.

And Ryder was always telling her these pretty things, about how as part of the squad, she was protecting American people, and wasn’t that her purpose, given to her from on high? She knew he wasn’t a believer, but it felt validating to have him humor her.

Everything had been going great, until Johnny disappeared, and now Dr. Hastings was asking her questions, and she didn’t know what to say. “He never said anything, no. Nothing about family, or any of that. His Mybrid friends are our Mybrid friends–mine, Ryder’s, and Eric’s, I mean. And he doesn’t go here, so…”

“Speaking of Mr. Zales and Mr. Orozco…they both happened to mention the…possibility…” Hastings sat back down in her office chair and rattled some ice left in the glass of water from which she’d been intermittently sipping.

“The possibility of what?”

“They just said Mr. Lawson paid special attention to you.” Hastings’ slim shoulders shrugged. “They said he–”

“Being Johnny?”

“Yes. They mentioned noticing Mr. Lawson pushing food on you. Almost as if he meant to fatten you up.”

“Wait a minute…are you accusing me of something?” Jenny asked, her voice beginning to shake. “Are you saying I made Johnny go away? He ‘made me fat’ and I decided to get revenge? Because it’s not that! Okay, maybe I’ve…put on a few. But call it a fault of my own willpower! He didn’t do anything wrong!” she pleaded across the desk, hands folded on its surface now, fingers entwined.

“You’re not under arrest, darling,” said Hastings. “I’m just trying to understand.”