I let out a long sigh before crossing my arms. “Daydream. I wanted to check in about Daydream. Did you find her yet?”
It was impulsive—walking into Dahlia’s office last night, assuming she’d still be there. She was consistent, at least. No one in the VIA was sure if she even had a home, from all the times she’d been spotted wandering the halls at three a.m. with a cup of coffee and dead eyes. After seeing that rider again, my mind was stuck on Alex.
Where was she? How was she doing? Was she safe?
Joon had mentioned her getting a motorcycle once. At the time, I hadn’t believed it, couldn’t imagine Alex’s small frame on a bike, or her nodding off in traffic and causing a wreck. Now… it couldn’t be possible, right? After all these years, seeing her twice in one week? But I was growing fidgety, blowing through my cigarettes faster than before. I needed to know, and then it would be over.
I won’t have to bother with her again after this.
“You’ve given me exactly,” Dahlia checked her watch, “fourteen hours and twenty-seven minutes to look into your request. I have nine reports, seven leads, and two pissed off donors to get through by tonight. Do you think I’ve found her yet? Do you think that’s a priority, Cinder? Please, I’d love to know.”
My cheeks warmed, and I gave her a shaky smile. Dahlia had no superhuman abilities, aside from the tendency to freeze a man with a single glare.
I cleared my throat. “Well… I figured since you’re so great at your job and all, it would be?—”
“—easy? Nothing about this job is easy, kiddo,” she sighed. “Luckily for you, I’m a genius.” Dahlia pushed up the glasses on her nose with a smirk as I balked. “I’ve already put a flag on her chip and started downloading all the data linked to it. We’ll know every move she’s made in the past seven years, just give me a day or two.”
My body tensed as I reared back. “Jesus,she’s not Nightmyre’s most wanted! I needed to check on her, not get her damn social security number. Won’t flagging her chip cause issues?”
The woman deadpanned, and I was certain that I’d fucked up. So badly, in fact, that I was sure that Joon was ready to come back from the grave and smash my skull in. This was why I wasn’tnice,why I didn’t do things out of the good of my heart, or whatever the fuck. It always turned into a shitshow.
“I don’t dofavors.I get the information, and if it’s in the VIA’s best interest, I dig deeper. What do you know about Daydream?”
I swallowed hard, hesitant to open my mouth again. For all I knew, Dahlia would pull Alex out from beneath her desk in handcuffs next.
“She’s only third class, I don’t think you’re gonna find much…”
Dahlia sighed, finally turning her eyes back to her computer screen. She began typing again, the blue glare on her glasses shielding her eyes.
“First class Heroes always manage to underestimate the ones below them,” she hummed. “You have your status because you pack a punch, yousell, regardless of if the press is positive or negative. But the Heroes in the background? They’re full of surprises. Daydream… I think she’ll be quite a pleasant surprise, based on what I’ve found already.”
“I wanted to know if she was alive, not do a full background check,” I groaned.
Dahlia was locking back in now, her brows knitting as she leaned into her keyboard. “She’s alive, alright. Give me a few days, you’ll see. For now, focus on those recent detainees. The PD hasn’t been able to break them yet, and any Hero I send in comes out empty. The crime rate has gone up by twenty percent in the past six months, and there’s no doubt that damn organization is behind it. I need answers, so go get them.”
Reed rappedon the door as a Cheshire grin spread across his face.
“What?” I leaned against the wall, still in a daze.
Car horns honked, echoing through the halls of the apartment complex. The scent of spices mixed with what I could only assume was mold, and my empty stomach churned. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten.
It had been two days since the meeting with Dahlia. Checking my phone became an obsession, and my bedsheets found a new home on the cement floor. When dawn broke, I’d pace in front of her office. Interrupting her again would be a death sentence, so I settled on wearing down the carpet, and waiting for her to emerge. Apparently, the woman had never heard of a fucking lunch break. Unleashing Dahlia’s wrath would be inevitable if I had to wait another day.
Alex haunted my mind, and guilt gnawed at me. Maybe she wouldn’t notice the flag on her account. Maybe she wouldn’t realize the VIA was actively scanning her chip for information. Maybe she wouldn’t know I was the one who set off the hunt.And, maybe, I wouldn’t be going insane if Dahlia would just give me an update.
Focus, idiot. Heroes don’t get distracted.
Our debrief this morning was like listening to TV static. The VIA was taking another Hero into our unit, and Reed and I were in charge of collecting the new asset. That’s all I managed to grasp before my thoughts slipped back to Alex. I hadn’t even realized I’d fallen asleep, until Reed slapped me awake and dragged me out of headquarters. Somehow, we ended up in a building that had too many code violations to count.
Reed knocked again and shrugged. “I’m curious. They said this one should be good; helped lead intelligence missions here and overseas. You remember that guy in Chicago, the one that was selling chip removal tools in the underground markets? She was the one who finally put him out of business, too.”
His information dump went in one ear and out the other as a series of clangs followed by curses filtered through the door. I raised a brow at the chaos and tilted my head toward the sound.
“It’ll be exciting to meet someone you went to the academy with,” he chirped, unphased. “I bet she could tell some stories. What’s it been — eight years since you graduated?”
Steam pulsed through my suit, and my body went rigid. Reed glanced up, his mismatched eyes squinting momentarily before his grin grew.
“Oh… someone didn’t get the memo again,” he whistled. “You’ve gotta stop sleeping through meetings, dude. That’s, like, half our job.”
