Robert Crane - Untouched

I took two aggressive hops forward before the metallic tool could get any momentum and slammed into him with my shoulder, knocking him face-first into the snow. I saw a joint open between his helmet and his neck as he fell, a patch of exposed skin no wider than my fist that showed a strip of weathered flesh. I reared back, letting fly a punch aimed at the open spot. I connected and heard him shout in pain as his face slammed into his helmet, which impacted into the snow.

He started to stir and the gap in his armor closed as he lifted his head, making him effectively invulnerable again. “Let’s get outta here,” I said to Zack and limped my way to Kurt, slinging his bulky ass over my shoulder in a fireman’s carry. I made my way to the car one hobbled step at a time. I threw Kurt in the back seat unceremoniously and heard him let out a moan as he landed on the padded cloth. I slipped into the passenger seat as Zack tossed the gun onto the floorboard at my feet.

In the rearview mirror I could see Full Metal Jackass rising to his feet as Zack floored the car. He didn’t chase us, but his eye slits were watching as we slid out of the parking lot, following us until we rounded the corner and disappeared from his sight.

“Do you want to grab some breakfast with me?” Zack’s words shocked me enough that I think my head spun. The ride back to the Directorate had been long and filled with Kurt’s surliness. I didn’t even bother to defend myself as he loosed a profanity-laden tirade about Reed colluding with me that lasted until we were well out into the farmland. I felt fortunate Zack was driving because with the fat man wailing and gnashing his teeth as he was, I had no faith he could have driven the car without putting us into a snowy ditch.

I blinked at Zack, amazed that he would offer after what had just happened, and I wondered if my head was twitching like Dr. Sessions did, brain trying to understand the question that was posed. “You want me to go like this?” I gestured to my coat, which was shredded from the collar to halfway down the back and hung open, the zipper ripped from the seam. My shirt and jeans were soaked and filthy, my hair was still wet from the snow in the parking lot and I could feel the grains of dirt in it. I couldn’t see my cheek but the throbbing in it told me that I had a bruise of no small scale where I had been punched.

“You look fine and the cafeteria’s bound to be open by now.” He smiled at me and I felt my better judgment slipping away. “I’m starving. The last leg of the flight feels like the longest trip I’ve ever taken. Facing off with your friends in the warehouse didn’t help matters at all.” His voice hit a sour note and I couldn’t tell if it was because of Reed or the armored ass.

“Friends? I don’t know if you saw, but that armored tool damned near took my head off.” I snorted, more from annoyance than anything, and it faded fast. “All right,” I said, taken aback by his…I don’t know, boyish charm. I felt my stomach roll over and knew that either I was hungry or Wolfe was reacting to my mooning over Zack. Forgotten was the fact that I avoided the cafeteria and the people who visited it, those people who hated me so. I watched Kurt limp off toward the medical unit for a once-over by Dr. Perugini.

The cafeteria was showing the first signs of life when we entered, with workers behind the glass counter adding food to the display and a few people already sitting at tables. The cafeteria was huge, a massive structure with glass windows for walls that stretched a hundred feet into the air on two sides, giving it an open feeling. I looked at the edges of the room and realized for the first time that the panes along the perimeter were doors that could be opened to what I presumed was a patio outside; with the snow covering the ground it was impossible to tell, but it seemed like there was an eating area out there.

The framework of the whole thing was metal struts that held the glass in place. I wondered idly if one could climb it, then wondered why I’d ever need to. I decided that I could, probably with ease, because the segments were no more than four- or five-foot square. On the opposite side of the room I shifted my attention to the cafeteria workers. When they saw me enter the line with Zack, several of them scowled. After we had collected our food, I let Zack lead me to a table by the windows, in the corner.

Others were here, a half dozen people scattered throughout the cafeteria. One caught my eye; a young man who I’d had words with in the past, here in this room. He’d been the only one in this place with enough guts to confront me after the first incident where I’d gotten agents killed. Everyone else had just gossiped behind my back. He had a rounded nose and his dark hair was curly and cut short. He hadn’t caught sight of me yet, and was focused on the doll he was sitting across from.

When I thought of her as a doll, I shuddered. Damn Wolfe. She was tanned, with blond hair that fell below her shoulders, and green eyes that seemed very alight. Her smile was wide and genuine, and left me with the feeling that she had too many teeth, or they were too big for her mouth, or something. I wasn’t jealous of her good looks, really. Well, not much anyway.

“Scott,” Zack called out, stirring the young man out of his conversation. He turned and saw Zack and broke into a wide grin as he stood. Zack put his tray down and they did one of those manly greetings where they gripped hands and bumped shoulders.

The man he called Scott shook his head, his smile still wide. “When did you get back?” I wondered how well they knew each other.

“Just now.” He nodded to me. “Have you met Sienna Nealon yet?”

Scott’s features tensed and he looked me over. “Briefly.”

I felt a flash of annoyance as I remembered what I probably looked like. “Have we met?” I kept a straight face. “I don’t recall.”

“My God,” the girl next to Scott breathed. “What happened to you?”

“I got into a fight with a guy who thought he was the Black Knight,” I quipped. “It turns out he didn’t get so much as a flesh wound, but maybe next time things will be different.”

“Sienna, this is Scott Byerly,” Zack said. “He might be in training with the agents soon.” Zack nodded back at me. “You better watch out, Sienna’s pretty powerful. If she decided to go into training I think she’d give you a run for your money.”

“Is that so?” Scott’s reply was cool, far cooler than I would have given him credit for. He seemed like a hothead based on our first meeting. “I heard she might have some power, but there was a rumor she didn’t have the…” He paused, as if searching for the right word, “…motivation to use it.”

Courage, he means . Wolfe was so helpful. I was seeing red, and he was encouraging me to wrap this guy’s head around the nearest table edge. I had to restrain myself to keep from showing Scotty Byerly exactly how motivated I was to use my power by throwing his limp and battered body through the nearest window. I wondered if I punted him how far he’d fly before landing headfirst in the snow like a lawn dart.

“Oh, she’s motivated,” Zack said before I could answer. “She killed that maniac Wolfe, you know.”

“I heard about that!” Scott’s companion bubbled with the enthusiasm he was lacking. “It’s all everyone talks about since I got here, how this crazy meta killed dozens of agents and how she,” she nodded at me, oh-so-helpfully, “went into a basement with him and was the only one to come out alive.” Her eyes were as glowing as they had been when talking to him.

“This is Kat Forrest,” Scott looked pained as he introduced her to us. “She just got here from our Arizona campus a few days ago.”