“You sure?”
He ran his hands over his shirt, the same one he had worn yesterday. With a quick run of his fingers through his beard, he nodded. His nervousness made my powers work even harder.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
I pushed the door open, ready for a drone to come speeding out or find Janet on the floor with Arthur in aheadlock. It wasn’t the first time we saw Connor butt naked as he experimented with public nudity. Eyes clenched tight, expecting an explosion to erupt from one of the interior offices.
Waiting.
Waiting.
“Welcome to Secret Identities Incorporated. How may I be of assistance?”
It sounded like her. Never in the history of knowing our overwhelming administrative assistant had she offered assistance. I cracked an eye open, expecting her to be held at gunpoint. The trolls still littered the receptionist's desk, but she remained seated, eyelashes fluttering as she waited for an answer.
“Is that music?” I muttered. Janet’s usual death metal had been replaced with mild jazz. “The Illuminati…” Orion’s conspiracy was right. They had found a way to mind-control the entire city, starting with the one woman who could shatter their empire.
“Janet?” I moved across the office as Booker followed. She clacked away at the keyboard despite the screen not being on. “Is everything okay?”
“Mr. Carter, I went through your mail.” She handed me a stack of envelopes that had been all but shredded as she “screened” my messages. “You also have a voicemail from VTV about a potential interview.”
“Janet, you’re freaking me out.”
“This must be Booker.” She stood, leaning over the desk with her hand out. If she didn’t lunge at him and pinch his butt, I’d claim she had been possessed. “It’s lovely to meet you.”
They shook hands. “Drew’s told me all about you.”
“Ignore him.” She chuckled. Not a diabolic laugh that suggested chaos was in the air, but a genuine laugh. “He likes to exaggerate. Connor’s expecting you.”
There it was. Connor had alerted them. Inmixedcompany, she had put on the guise of an actual administrative assistant. I took the envelope and walked past Arthur’s office. He was on the phone, but gave a slight wave.
“Not as embarrassing as you assumed?”
We entered the hallway, and I was scared to pass the windows, peeking into Orion and Wyatt’s offices. The normalcy… in Secret Identities bordered on unnatural. They wanted to maintain a level of discretion so nobody discovered we were superheroes hiding within the company. I had come to expect a certain amount of disaster in our day-to-day operations. This, however, made my skin crawl.
“Janet acting normal is even more terrifying.”
I leaned forward, peeking into Wyatt’s office. I stifled a laugh. “This is more what I expect.” Booker joined me, watching Wyatt as he carefully unwrapped a fudgy bar. “He’s about to make sweet love to his sweet.” Once he had the wrapper pulled back, he took the tiniest of nibbles, his eyes rolling back in his head.
“It’s sweet,” Booker said. “Your friends are trying to impress.”
Really? Why?
We moved past Orion’s office to see him talking to a projection of Hudson. The only abnormal thing was him in a suit jacket, hiding his anarchy t-shirt. I wondered if anybody knew they had gone from committed boyfriends to future husbands? Next time Hudson stopped by, I wanted all the juicy details of their engagement.
The last office had been a storage room that we converted into Connor’s office. Between him and Orion, the app never had a flaw. It meant that Connor had plenty of time to work as dispatch for superheroes across Vanguard. He’d claim it was for protecting the city, but our friendly AI-turned-human might have a voyeuristic streak we’d eventually need to address.
Booker’s statement made my eyes widen. What if Connorknewabout last night? It would explain why the entire office had a different vibe. They weren’t looking at Booker as a co-worker or even as a human they had to be careful around. The question was, how much did Connor know?
I opened his door to find him sitting at his desk. It had amonitor and keyboard, neither hooked up. Most often, we’d come in for a ream of printer paper, and he’d sit there, unmoving as his mind was literally elsewhere. He might have a physical body, but he still retained plenty of skills from when he had been a computer program.
“Connor, this is Booker.”
His eyes opened. “I know.” He stood as we had taught him, holding out his hand. Unlike with Janet, Booker didn’t seem as amused. It wasn’t much different than the scowl he gave Ms. Keyes. Not hostile, but still suspicious.
“Connor has some hobbies that are less than legal.” Both of us, it seemed.
“Laws don’t apply to me.” Technically true. There were no laws governing an AI inhabiting a genetically created body. Vanguard could barely keep up with laws for supers; this probably wasn’t on their radar.
