Aisha

The easiest way to gain trust is to be trustworthy my grandmother used to tell me. She probably still passes on that advice. I stand outside for a few minutes, listening to Sharon's footsteps and then the sound of her car starting and pulling away as I try to decide what to do. If there is an angle she is playing, I can't see it. It is way too much of a risk for her and anyone could see, outside of my little tantrum, we weren't going to risk our lives or the lives of our parents by being anything less than cooperative. She gains nothing by coming up with an elaborate network of gifted people somehow at risk of extermination. She is like us. She could have been the person shielding for Tim. She could have been listening to us all along. If that is true then she has been protecting us. She could have exposed us a million different times in a million different ways; most crucially by undermining our new alliance with Adrian by exposing that we had lied to him about our ability to communicate telepathically. So she's telling the truth. What should I do with the truth? I could keep it to myself- which seems stupid. If I need to step up and lead, they need to trust me. We were going to cooperate anyway, I remind myself as I turn back towards the house. Steve is in the kitchen, finishing up the salad. Considering I have watched him fly, hurl massive objects using the power of his mind and shield himself from a bullet fired directly into his brain I shouldn't be surprised that Steve can handle himself in the kitchen. Except that I am. Because I have never seen him do any form of cooking the entire time I've known him.

"You are going to catch a fly in your mouth if you continue to stand there, slack jawed staring at me" He smiles as he chops up a cucumber.

"Since when do you cook?"

"Since when does chopping things count as cooking?"

"Since when does that count as an answer?"

"Since when is a boyfriend not allowed to maintain a slight air of mystery around himself?" He raises an eyebrow.

"Oh. Excuse me" I return playfully "I'll just leave you and your air of mystery to finish the salad."

Andrew walks in and the levity is sucked out of the room. Well, for me at least. Steve turns to Andrew and smiles warmly.

"You know what I was thinking?" Steve asks.

"No." Andrew replies grimly sitting on the kitchen island.

"When all this is over….If all this is ever over.. we should head down to Tibet. The monks, the temples, the freezing ass weather. Sounds perfect, right?"

Andrew flashes a ghost of a smile.

"You would want to go?" Andrew asks.

"I always thought we would. We're all still alive so there isn't anything stopping us."

"Right, nothing" Andrew gestures to the walls "Sorry, man, I was just pointing at all the nothing that isn't stopping us," He finishes awkwardly.

"I don't see anything stopping us," Steve deadpans.

I laugh.

"I don't know if you can come, Aisha. It's a dudes only Tibet trip. You know the kind?"

"Oh yeah- tale as old as time. My boyfriend and his friends flew off to Tibet and left me behind. I totally understand."

"You can come" Andrew says seriously.

"Thanks, Andrew" I don't try to hide my surprise.

"Yeah. Tibet," Andrew muses.

Over dinner Andrew squares his body to face Adrian.

"So, the beacon?" He begins. Adrian tenses.

I am considering whether to intervene or to let it play out. Andrew can be the bad guy and I can get answers.

"Look" Adrian puts down his cutlery "I was nervous and I forgot and I wanted to demonstrate leadership. I figured it would end up making me more valuable. I didn't, I still don't" He pauses and looks down at his plate "I don't want to die."

"How did you forget, though?" Matt asks incredulously.

"You aren't a soldier." Steve suggests calmly.

We all turn and watch his face. His face crumples under the weight of the truth.

"What?" It is my turn to be incredulous.

"I was in basic training. I was on watch duty and that's when I found it," Adrian admits.

"So you haven't been in active duty?" Steve confirms.

"No. They don't say it like that but, no." Adrian admits.

We all spend some time digesting the information.

"It doesn't really matter so why lie about it?" I ask.

Even as I ask I know the answer. He didn't want to die. He had no one looking out for him.

"It was stupid" He sighs.

Andrew scoffs in response.

"We'll all do better next time" I say, in an attempt to conclude the conversation.

We are called in for more debrief after dinner where we have to discuss our strengths and weaknesses on our last mission. The weaknesses outweigh the strengths. Everyone is criticized pretty heavily but Adrien gets it the worst. After debrief we run drills for hours without a break. Sharon shields thoroughly but after a few hours she doesn't have to. I barely have the strength to stand up. The shield keeps coming down. They made it stronger. We make it through every time and the simulation resets with a slight variation. I assume leadership and the whole team seems to respond. We make it through and it resets. Matt has been leading Steve through the course while I have been flying to get a better vantage point and call out any surprises. We can't all fly. We tried this once but it triggers something that makes the whole thing very messy. I use my masking when I'm up there- it helps. The last time we run it, it all goes to shit. Matt gets smacked in the face by a flying piece of debri. Andrew runs over to help him and Steve. Matt shakes Andrew off angrily. Steve is disoriented by their anger. The force field is closing. Adrien is already on the other side. I watch them anxiously for a moment, willing them to remember what is important. That doesn't work and the descending force field means I have to land. I grab the three idiots and hurl them to the finish. The field speeds up. There isn't any room to fly. There's barely any room to stand. I crawl towards the end. Fog clouds my vision. Excellent. I try to create a breeze to clear a path. It doesn't work. I hear it getting closer. It sounds like the sides are closing in as well. I feel an arm reach for me and begin to drag me out. He is too late. The force field crashes into us. Nothing prepared me for the feeling of that level of voltage crashing into me. Blacking out is a relief. We are revived and informed that the session is over. The mood is heavy as we trudge back to the house. My whole body is tingling, the ache is bone deep and there is a ringing in my ears. Everyone's pain, anger and frustration is like a thick wool blanket. I can't make out the specific and yet the din is overpowering.

"Do you think they are sending us out again soon?" Matt definitely asks stupid questions when he is nervous. I head to my room, studiously avoid looking at my bed and will myself to the shower. We have training tomorrow and the shower will help with the soreness. I change into my pyjamas before heading into Steve's room. I pick up an uncomfortable pang of jealousy from Adrian who misses his girlfriend so much as he passes me in the hall it is a dull ache. God, it is exhausting to feel everything. I shield as best as I can and duck into Steve's room. The adrenaline is wearing off and my whole body sags.

"Who is it?" He asks as he hears me enter.

"It's me" He must be exhausted if he couldn't tell as I walked in.

"You came back for me." I note as I climb into bed with him.

"Of course I did" His voice is gruff but he shifts on to his back and carefully opens his arms to accommodate me.

"So.. that's what that thing feels like" I joke weakly.

"The worst."

"I didn't think it was that bad." We both laugh.

Sharon is one of us I confess, deciding to pass it on telepathically in case the house is bugged. Which means shielding so the others don't catch it by mistake.

"What?"

She has abilities, like us I add.

"She told you?" He asks, sitting up.

No. She came over to warn me. She told me we should play along, bide our time, make ourselves useful and wait for an opportunity.

"I agree with that" He says neutrally.

"Do you think I should tell the others?" I ask.

The fewer lies to keep track of, the better He thinks.

"Thank you for coming back for me," I say reaching over him to turn off the lamp.

"I think they just wanted to punish you after your display. Tomorrow won't be as rough, hopefully" He says, squeezing my hand as I settle in next to him.

"Honestly I'm not sure I'll be able to get out of bed tomorrow. Everything aches" I groan.

We lie in the dark for a little.

"We'll get out of this" He promises.

We tell everyone over breakfast. Andrew has a worrying non-reaction. Adrian is bewildered but I can feel him forcing himself to calm down. He takes a few deep breaths and Matt speaks first.

"So what does that mean- abilities?"

"I don't know. I couldn't really tell. She claims she is on our side. That we should just cooperate." I've been using the euphemism 'cooperate' for a while now. Even though I know what it means. Kill. Act as assassins for America. I'm from one of those countries full of disposable brown people. How do I reconcile this?

I know Steve agrees with me.

"Sorry, thinking too loudly."

"Moral and sociopolitical concerns aside, we need to be concerned with our survival primarily. Especially if there are others. Especially if they can help." Adrian says.

"Okay. Say we survive. Say we get out. We can't go back to our old lives. We can't stop running. What do we file this assassin period of our lives under? Youthful indiscretions? The things we had to do to survive?" I stab my eggs.

"We'll figure it out because we'll be alive to figure it out." Steve squeezes my hand.

"For today, I was thinking we should play up our injuries" Andrew suggests.

We all turn to look at him blankly.

"Everyone still hurts, right?" He asks

Everyone nods tentatively. I definitely still hurt. A giant bruise has bloomed on my torso, which I need to get taken care of. I'm worried I'm bleeding internally. Our ability to regenerate has gotten stronger with all the training but it isn't instant and it isn't complete.

"I think because I came back from the dead they think that we heal immediately and are indestructible. Which is why they can use voltage that high for training. If we are going to keep our strength up for whatever comes up next, we need them to take it easier on us. Maybe see us as human" Andrew explains.

This is actually a good idea.

"Maybe this will help?" I lift my shirt exposing the bruise.

Matt and Adrian inhale loudly, proving that it looks as bad as I think it does.

"It doesn't hurt that much." I note.

"You are the one they were trying to punish yesterday. Maybe this will help. Really play it up." Andrew encourages.

When we get to the center I shyly approach Sharon. It actually isn't that hard to play up my injuries. Just the sight of a new, reconfigured obstacle course makes me feel sick.

"Aisha" She greets me cooly while checking something on her tablet.

"Can I please see a Doctor?" I ask disgusted by the meekness in my voice. I raise my shirt to reveal the bruise.

She looks at me and cannot hide her reaction to it. Without another word she walks out and leaves us standing in the training hanger. We suspect there is an observatory somewhere where Sharon and Tim get their orders from superiors we have never met or seen. It is pretty difficult to sense someone you have never met. I can tell they are in the building but I have no idea what they want. Sharon comes back and ushers us all into the building where we had they took our blood on the first day. I am seen to first. They ask me to change into a hospital gown and I get a full work up. A person hands me some contrast fluid to drink and I am wheeled to an MRI. I'm not sure where the others are. I am starting to wonder if this was a good idea. I do not like ingesting strange things and being isolated. In the MRI, I start to panic.

"You need to hold still or the images will be blurry and you'll just have to do it again." Comes a kind deep voice through the intercom.

"I don't like small spaces." I squirm more.

"There's nothing I can do about that, ma'am. My orders are to get the scan so you really need to be still." His tone is growing impatient.

"Do I look old enough to be a ma'am?" I ask.

No one replies.

"Call me Aisha. Please" I ask.

"Okay, Aisha. I can't do anything about the confined space but how about we just chat and you stay still until this is over" He offers

"Okay" I agree.

The machine starts again and he chats to me while avoiding giving me any information about where we are or who he is. It is exceptionally dull small talk. But it opens him up and I find a way in. I now have a way to find out how to disarm our trackers.

"Do you have a name?" I ask as I come out of the machine.

He gives me a smile that shows that I should know better. But he thinks it. Michael. Michael thinks I am cute. Thank you, Michael. You are going to be useful.

I don't need surgery since the internal bleeding is resolving itself but I get some medicine and I get to spend the day in the medical bay. Which I thought would be nice and restful but I actually feel disconnected and nervous. At the end of training I am sent home with everyone else.

"Wow do I look as tired at the end of the day as you guys do right now?" I joke. They all look fried.

"They actually went easy on us today. We have a session tomorrow that will not involve running around." Steve smiles.

"Really?"

"Yup. Espionage stuff." Adrian confirms.

"Perfect" I smile and telepathically pass on my day with my new friend Michael.