Chương 234: Chapter 233 - Trying

Alexander stepped off the shuttle, alone, and headed for the palace. A new Orbital Assault Combat Suit sat safely in his ring, though 'stuffed' might be a better description. He was beginning to run out of space for all his really important things. Jasmine and Brandt had joined them aboard the command ship hours ago, and while his personal deal with the Space Force had been signed already, the broader negotiations were ongoing.

He'd left Talia with the authority to vote for Grimnir on whatever final decision might be required. Maximilian was determined to squeeze as much of AEGIS's advanced facilities and intelligence out of the deal as he could, while Marcus still hoped to rope the Compact into stepping into the power vacuum left behind. They would settle somewhere in the middle. But Alexander wasn't worried. Talia knew where he would draw the line, and if it happened that Grimnir was outvoted, well.

That was the price of letting Maximilian win one over him at the arbitration in Dubai. He might be many things, but a sore loser wasn't one of them. Fair was fair. He pulled up the System's comms interface and called Augustus. The old man answered almost immediately.

"Alexander."

"Auggy. Are you busy right now?"

"Yes. We're still transporting people to the domes." A pause.

"Why? Is something wrong?"

"What? Must something be wrong for me to call my favorite portal guy?" Silence.

"Yes," Augustus said. Alexander sighed.

"Well, okay. But you're incorrect this time. Because something is actually very right for once."

"Does it have something to do with your trip to the fleet?"

"It does. I met the Fleet Admiral—""You met Jody Porter?" Augustus's voice shifted in a way Alexander rarely heard. Genuine surprise.

"Steel Mill Porter?"

"Ye—wait. Steel Mill?"

"The woman is a legend, Alex. She took command of First Fleet when it was a demoralized wreck from the war and rotated back to Earth defense. Understaffed, under-equipped, half the officer corps requesting transfers. Within three years, she'd turned it into the most effective fighting force in human space." Augustus's tone carried real respect.

"They call her the Steel Mill because everything that passes through her hands comes out stronger. Recruits, ships, losing battlefronts. She takes the raw material and forges something out of it." Alexander thought about that for a moment. The short woman with the gray bun and the deep lines who'd made even Tier 3s snap to attention with a wave of her hand. Who'd dressed down a Galactic Councilor and put an admiral in his place with a look. She was pretty scary. For a normal person. If she was a normal person.

He glanced up at the sky. He hadn't been able to use his powers to check who was and wasn't superhuman aboard that ship. Bardot's Domain and Kitty's threat had seen to that.

"Anyway, yes. Her and Robert. The ONI guy."

"Robbie?" Augustus actually sounded impressed.

"Well, you are full of surprises today. He's a good man. We went through basic together. Served on a few ships with him when he was coming up through the ranks, too."

"Do you just know every naval officer or something?" Alexander frowned.

"What about the analyst who apparently wrote a whole profile on me?" Augustus was quiet for a moment.

"Ah. You must be talking about Anna. She's good people, too." Alexander's frown deepened. He stared at nothing for a few seconds.

"You're fucking with me, right?" Augustus laughed.

"So. What did you want?" There had to be something in the Martian air. Everyone kept messing with him. It wasn't right. He was the one who messed with people! Alexander exhaled.

"I need you to gather Gabe, Annie, and Carmen. Bring them and yourself to my office at the palace.""'Your' office?" Augustus laughed again.

"You mean the Sheikha's stolen tea room?"

"It has a desk now; therefore, it's an office."

"Keep telling yourself that," Augustus said.

"Why do you need us?"

"Because your friend Robbie bribed me with intel on where Santiago is hiding. And I want my eye." The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"They say an eye for an eye leaves both parties blind, Alex."

"Then I'll build myself new ones. Using Santiago's tech."

Alexander sat behind the desk, the manila folders spread across its surface. He'd been reading through them while waiting. Augustus's portal opened in the center of the room. The old man stepped through first, wand in hand, followed by Annie, then Carmen, then Gabriel. The portal closed behind them without a sound. Annie swaggered over to the desk, arms tucked behind her head.

"Alright, we're here. What's the big emergency?" Gabriel cocked his head.

"I think Alexander is planning to kill someone." Carmen glanced at him. Something flickered across her expression, but she said nothing. Annie turned to Gabriel.

"You know what he's going to do before he does it? That's..." She grinned.

"The coolest power ever!" Gabriel shook his head.

"No—I mean, yes, I can, sometimes, but I wasn't using my power." He pointed at Alexander's face.

"He just gets this intense look whenever he's planning to kill someone." Augustus raised an eyebrow.

"How many times have you seen him planning to kill someone to recognize it at a glance?" Gabriel shrugged.

"Must be at least a few hundred times." Carmen's eyes widened. Just a fraction. Alexander caught it with Hyperawareness but couldn't place what was going on with her. She'd been different since the Oasis. Quieter. More watchful. Her gaze lingered on people in a way it hadn't before, as though she was seeing something the rest of them couldn't. He'd meant to ask about her awakening, but they'd only spoken briefly. She and the rest of the crew had been going nonstop, helping people across the city.

Annie continued without missing a beat.

"Holy shit. Alexander is going to murder that many people?" She leaned closer to Augustus and spoke more quietly. Still loud enough to be heard by everyone.

"Should we stop him before he gets a taste for it? While we still can?" Alexander stared at them. He'd called this meeting. He was supposed to be running it. And yet here he was, three sentences in, already the butt of the joke. Definitely something in the air.

"If you're all quite done," he said, leaning forward and tapping the folders on the desk.

"Sit down. We have a lot to discuss." Annie grinned at him, but she took a seat with the others. Alexander swept his gaze across them. It really was an odd collection of people who'd gathered in Grimnir. Augustus sat with the air of a man ready for a briefing, his suit somehow still immaculate despite the Martian dust that seemed to get on everything. Annie immediately put her boots on the desk. Her red leather jacket was almost as much a part of her image as her MetaMetal by now.

Carmen's posture was that of a woman who'd spent years in a captain's chair, but something continued to be slightly off about her. She kept squinting ever so slightly, as if she were trying to focus on something just out of reach. Gabriel eased himself into the last chair, still thin, still careful with his movements.

"The Space Force gave me the locations of two Santiago Systems research stations. One produces serum. The other is a classified cybernetics lab." He paused.

"Gabriel Santiago is hiding at one of them." The room went still. Annie's boots came off the desk.

"I'm planning to…" He trailed off.

"Damn it, Gabe. I had a whole dramatic declaration prepared, and now you've ruined it. I thought you said you were going to be my best friend?" Gabriel cocked his head.

"Oh, so you are going to kill someone? I was just guessing." Alexander just stared. Annie gasped.

"Wait. So you lied? You can't read his face?" Gabriel turned to her.

"Of course not. That's why we all start cheating when we start playing poker soon. He's impossible to read unless he wants you to, and then it's only because he's setting you up."

"We're going to play poker?" Augustus asked.

"You're going to cheat?" Alexander demanded. Carmen shook her head.

"I can't tell if he's being honest or completely lying. My power is usually clearer than this." Alexander turned to her. Annie beat him to it.

"You're a truth-seer?!" Then she frowned.

"Wait. If that's true, and we're all going to be playing poker, you'll be the worst."

"No," Carmen said.

"My power is to evaluate. It's not as reliable as a truth-seer's honesty detection, but it's capable of much more." Gabriel held out a hand.

"It's good to meet the real you for the first time, Carmen." She looked confused, but took his hand.

"We met before coming to Dubai, though?" He shook her hand once. She gasped and let go as if burned. Augustus leaned closer.

"What happened?" Carmen was staring at Gabriel. This time her expression was easy to interpret. Shock.

"She's fine," Gabriel said, glancing at the others before turning back to Carmen.

"The staff at the Oasis were scared of what your power might reveal, so they didn't test it fully. It's understandable, really. Grimnir has a fearsome reputation." He waved his hand in the air.

"Your power fully activates when someone willingly shakes your hand." Carmen closed her mouth.

"That… was a lot." She shook her head.

"There's no way that was all real though. Right?" Gabriel nodded.

"It's real. I was completely open. But your power isn't infallible. None are. People can trick it through simple pretense if they have a strong enough Will."

"But we barely know you. How could you have so much… loyalty? I can't think of a better word for it." Gabriel smiled.

"Because we're friends." Then his eye twitched, and he looked away awkwardly.

"Sorry. I mean, we will be friends." Alexander studied Carmen's face. There was something he was reading as awe there. Respect, too. Whatever she'd 'evaluated', it had changed something for her.

"What can you do, exactly?" he asked. Carmen took a breath, let it out slowly, and settled back into the chair.

"Touchstone. Which makes sense in hindsight. I can evaluate people. Their honesty, their skills, their intent. How reliable they are." She tilted her head slightly, studying Alexander with a frown.

"How dangerous they are. It's like getting a sense of someone's whole character, except I don't have the vocabulary for half of what I'm feeling and seeing yet." The way she looked at him when she said that wasn't lost on him. They could discuss it later.

"That's a very useful power," he said.

"And it seems very you."

"It is, and I'm quite happy with it. I just wish it wasn't so difficult to understand." Alexander exchanged looks with everyone else in the room. Then smiled at Carmen.

"You'll get used to it." He leaned back in the chair.

"Let's refocus. I'm planning—""To kill Gabriel Santiago," Annie drawled.

"We know." He sighed.

"Yes. That."