Translation, please? (Mia)

[Jonah King]

The first time Jonah had watched The Matrix, he had been struck by something.

Not a fear of technology (as one might expect), or a fear of the lack of acting talent of Keanu Reeves. Oh no. Jonah had taken one look at the small, squalid flat belonging to Neo the Hacker, and been instantly struck by how similar it was to the small, dark room belonging to his closest friend: Mia Keystone. It had astonished him. It was as if the director had known her, or something.

The first time Jonah had ever been in said room, he had actually been a little scared. Apart from the fact that they were technically breaking the rule that, although the dorms were co-ed, you weren’t supposed to have members of the opposite sex in there with you (and it was a stupid rule, in Jonah’s opinion. Anyone who knew him and Mia would surely know that they weren’t about to become illicit lovers. Surely anyone who knew them would know that they weren’t about to become illicit anything, and definitely not with each other.), to be invited into what appeared at first glance to be a small, warm cave – of the sort, for instance, that bats would reside in – had been a rather nerve-wracking experience. And although Jonah was now unafraid of Mia’s room, he still experienced a strange frisson whenever he got past the security (and how Mia had managed to hook the door up to a coded keypad was beyond him).

Besides, he reasoned to himself as he approached the entrance to the dorms, I might as well be a monk, anyway, and they all know it. Jonah’s fervent dislike of physical contact was known by all the teachers now, after a couple of unpleasant hand-on-the-shoulder incidents when he had first arrived. No, if he were caught in Mia’s room, Jonah hoped that it would not be assumed they were doing anything too against the rules.

In Jonah’s left hand, he held a carrier bag containing six packets of Reese’s cups – a personal weakness he and Mia both shared. In his right, he held a slip of paper. He managed to get in without being seen, and gave a soft knock before tapping in the code and letting himself into Mia’s small, dark room.

As usual, he sat himself down on the bed, threw the bag of chocolate for Mia to catch and held out the scrap of paper he had been holding. The conversations between the two friends were often ongoing through a variety of methods – e-mails and texts were passed more frequently than speech, and while most people would separate a letter and a face-to-face conversation, Jonah’s and Mia’s was long, rambling, and ongoing. They talked however they wanted to. In this instance, Jonah had been unable to decode something written – as was often the case with Mia, due to his lack of exposure to Internet language.

On the paper was written ‘to troll and pwn n00bs’, and Jonah held it out to Mia with an expression of complete puzzlement. The question was obvious: ‘what the hell does that mean?’

[Mia Keystone]

When Mia was coding, not much could get her attention. To anyone watching, it just looked like she was staring blankly at the screen, but if anyone tried to interrupt her, the reaction was usually loud and violent. Mia was one quarter Japanese and while she didn’t really mention it much, it showed when she karate chopped the face of anyone who was too near when she came out of a code session.

Jonah was the exception. Her eyes flicked to the second monitor as her camera picked up the tall teenager punching in the code to the lock she’d installed. Hammel had insisted that members of security had the number but it kept students out. Again, Jonah was the exception. When he walked in she glanced back over her shoulder and with a sigh brought the lights up a few notches.

Her usual coding expression (ie. completely blank except when she occasionally chewed her lip ring) broke into a crooked smile as she caught the bag he tossed her and ripped it open. Stuffing some chocolate peanut goodness into her mouth, she reached across and grabbed the paper from her silent friend. It took her a second to read her own words, and about .2 seconds before she laughed one short loud HA.

Usually, Mia would get Jonah to actually ask. His dislike of talking was fine; it wasn’t like Mia couldn’t just text instantly, but it wasn’t good for him to never use his voice. Practice makes perfect, and it was always really frustrating when other people got angry or thought he was stupid. Because then Mia had to take them down and as much fun as that was, it wasn’t as fun for Jonah.

But, it was the new year. So she’d give him a few free passes. Or one.

”One second, dude,” she said, making sure she was facing him, then turned back to her computer. The stream of green numbers on black shrank down to a small icon in the corner, and across the now black screen white letters began to appear across the screen.

It means make fun of idiots by showing them they know shit about the internet.

Mia grinned, then spun around in her chair. Most of the space in the room was filled with monitors and other equipment, so the bed and chair were pretty close together. Emptying a few more Reece cups onto the bed, Mia tapped Jonah’s knee very quickly (she didn’t want him to spazz) to make sure he was looking at her. ”Hey, dude, got your file and shit. Happy New year.”

[Jonah King]

As Jonah would be the first to admit, the reason he had written down the puzzling sentence - rather than saying it to Mia - was because he could think of no way to pronounce it. ‘Pwn’ was not in his vocabulary, and he didn’t want to embarrass himself by attempting to work out how to say the word ‘n00b’. Nope, Jonah was always resolutely on the safe side when it came to things like that. He usually tried to be on the safe side by not talking too much, but Mia had an annoying habit of playing dumb whenever he tried to use expressions and gestures instead of words.

He was used to it now, and always felt les self-conscious around Mia anyway (they had known each other for so long, and they were alone – it wasn’t as if anyone else could hear him). She had never seemed to care what he sounded like. For someone who claimed to have no ability to engage with people, Mia was remarkably good at being a friend.

Looking up at the screen as she ‘wrote’, Jonah’s expression – at first curious – gave way to an amused smile. Ah yes, Mia’s favourite game. There seemed to be a lot of snotty kids on the internet, and Mia spent an inordinate amount of her time playing tricks on them, telling them off for rookie mistakes, and essentially teaching them some manners. Jonah dreaded to think how many young people were out in the world at this very moment, afraid to touch their computers in case the scary lady came out again and sent them some unspeakable virus. There were probably a lot of kids out there who had been grounded by their parents for looking at X-rated items online, unaware that their children were innocent and it was, in fact, Mia who had been causing the pop-ups.

At least, from the way she spoke about it, they always seemed to deserve everything she gave them.

The tap on his knee made him flinch, just a little. Being so close to Mia meant that he had to concentrate pretty hard on blocking her out, and for a moment there the barriers came down – luckily, though, listening to Mia’s thoughts was the equivalent of reading binary: she thought very fast, and mostly in a vocabulary of words and images which meant absolutely nothing to him. Pulling himself together, Jonah looked up after a moment and saw what she was saying to him, offering a warm smile. ’And to you,’ he replied, offering her another peanut-butter cup. Then, before he bit into his own piece of chocolate: ‘Thanks. I owe you one.’ After all, he was gaining a sibling. It was important to know what this person was going to be like, and only Mia could tell him that.

‘Good holiday?’ he asked. ’Apart from being mistaken for an elf?’ His smile was teasing, and he readied himself to duck in case she aimed her habitual slap at his head.

[Mia Keystone]

Seeing Jonah’s smirk and guessing he now got exactly what she meant, Mia grinned to herself and closed the window, letting one of her decoders run automatically as she, for future hilarity, pinned the note to her bulletin board. It was a noble mission, after all. the rest of the paper there was all written in her own code, a mixture of binary and letters that made no sense to anyone but her, and even she forgot what was what sometimes.

There was also a picture of her family riding elephants in Bali, her with a huge wide brimmed hat and black black sunglasses and her brother in stupidly tight jeans and a v-neck. He was so gay. So very very gay.

The flinch was, as always, sort of upsetting for all that she was used to it. Mia wasn’t stupid, and she was not sentimental; it had nothing to do with her at all, it was just about contact, but Jonah was pretty much the only person she touched at the school. It was ok though, he’d explained her mind was too freaky for him to understand. Only he was a bit nicer about it then that. It still had made her laugh; he’d seemed really worried she would be offended or something.

Mia took the chocolate and ate it in two bites. Jonah’s voice was always sort of... flat. That wasn’t right, it just didn’t have inflections or stuff she was used to with people. In a way, it was like a computer. But, well, not. Mia rolled her eyes and passed over the file, including pictures, a birth record, and the rather interesting information that his sister was considering marrying a meta. ”You always owe me one,” she pointed out. ”He’s pretty clean. Got a DUI a few years ago, but yeah... The big news is in there.” she pointed, then made a point of looking at the paper shredder she had installed. No paper trails, please.

Slumping back in her chair, Mia spun herself in a circle and groaned. “Dad’s family came over for dinner,” she said finally when she’d stopped spinning. “Ate so much fucking food. Mom’s trying to fatten me up or something. Ollie and I went out for New Years. Don’t remember much.” Instead of swatting him, like she was tempted to do when she was in a position to reach his head, Mia piffed a Reece Cup at him with an offended scoff. ”I got to ride in Santa’s sleigh, dude. I got the pointy shoes and everything. What about you, BFG? Did you even have a beer with the countdown?”

Mia drank. Not stupidly, but she was known to shut herself in her room with a bottle of something strong. It helped when you could get a fake id easy as winking. She also knew Jonah did not. Brain thing. Again, Mia was glad she communicated with wires and not neurons. That shit got messed up.

[Jonah King]

The biggest stride Jonah had made in recent years of speech therapy was his ability to inflect a sentence with a rise at the end, and therefore make it into a question. It made things much easier, but he still had to rely heavily on facial expressions when it came to other statements. Not for the first time, he wished that Mia knew how to sign. You could say things so much more clearly when you signed. Tone, emotion, humour: it was all so much easier when it wasn’t verbal. But Mia couldn’t sign, and Jonah was used to that by now. He just had to work at using his words carefully.

Looking down at the page where Mia had pointed, Jonah felt his jaw drop. Well, that was something his sister had neglected to mention when she introduced her new man. Not that Jonah could blame her for not telling their mother (one bombshell at a time, after all), but she could at least have told him. Maybe she hadn’t even told Robert about Jonah’s telepathy – he wouldn’t put it past her. His siblings had taken their cue from their parents when it came to Jonah’s ability: they all just preferred not to believe that it existed. Maybe Rachel didn’t even know about Robert’s meta status? Jonah frowned as he leafed through the documents on his lap. That would be just plain dishonest, especially given his sister’s pregnancy. So she had to know about it, surely? His expression, when he finally looked up at Mia, said it all: Wow. He committed Robert’s e-mail address to memory, and handed the file to his friend, pointing at her shredder.

She didn’t remember much of New Year’s? ‘Must have been a good night, then,’ he replied with a dry smile. Grinning, he caught the chocolate she threw at him, placing it daintily on his knee. Mia’s mention of an elf outfit made him smirk. He couldn’t see her in anything so undignified – except, perhaps, that dress which she had bought for a rather ill-fated surveillance mission…‘I can imagine it now… he told her, affecting a dreamy expression before looking back to see her next question. ’I’m only a giant compared to you!’

Jonah had tried his first alcohol with Mia, and it was an experience he never wished to repeat. Suffice to say, he had never touched the stuff again, and he had never really recovered from hearing everything that a drunk Mia had been thinking at the time. When drink made her thoughts slow down enough for him to understand them, it was a bad, bad thing. Shaking his head fervently at the idea of beer, he made a face at her. ’Deaf party,’ he told her. ’We had fun.’ Jonah had once tried to explain to Mia what it was like to go to the deaf club during the holidays – the closest he had yet come was to say that it would be the same if she were kept away from all technology for three weeks, and then put into a room with all her laptops, monitors, and gadgets. It was more than a language, it was a sense of belonging. ’And it meant I wasn’t home. Mom and Rachel weren’t speaking that day.’

Getting out of the house had been a blessing.

’What was that text about, the other day?’ he asked, suddenly remembering. Jonah looked curiously at Mia, trying to work out if that was guilt or confusion he could see in her expression. ‘The one where you told me to delete our e-mails?’ He had done it, of course, but he was still confused as to why he had needed to. Suspicion began to prickle in his stomach, and he looked at Mia more closely. ’What’s happened?’

[Mia Keystone]

It was tricky, always tricky with the Kings. Mia sighed and propped her chin on her hands as Jonah started frowning over the files. They weren't exactly meta friendly... Did his sister even know who she was marrying? Then again, Mia wasn't going to blame her for not being open... they were oh so accepting about Jonah's telepathy after all. Sarcasm, that was. Extreme sarcasm. The Keystones were of the opinion anything was ok as long as you didn't hurt anyone; it was a good thing, given they had one meta daughter and one extremely gay son.

But hey, talking to Rachel was totally his business. That kind of shit was not her deal. The shredder buzzed as the papers were cut to pieces. Paper trail gone.

Mia smirked and shrugged. "Totally scored," she laughed, even as the computer behind her flashed a big wink smiley. He'd been kinda cute, had reminded her of Malcolm Reynolds and had gotten the Scott Pilgrim reference she'd made. Hadn't bothered with the whole number issue when she told him to make like a tree and leave the next morning. Just shrugged and left. He was smart for that; Mia was not a fan of being hassled.

It was hard not to laugh as Jonah started gazing off into the distance as if looking at the holy grail or some shit. Instead, she cuffed him over the head and raised her eyebrows in a very clear don't even think about it expression. Sure, Mia can't use the proper forms of sign language but she makes do. Hers was just a bit.... simpler. Also, ruder. And a little more violent at times. She waved off the height thing; the dude was tall. End of story.

"Your mom is intense, dude," Mia shook her head, pushing the idea of exactly how a deaf party worked out of her mind. "Pretty sure she's tried to kill me with her brain a few times. Just saying, if looks could kill..." she had to laugh; Mrs King was not the biggest fan of her son's short, pierced, tattooed friend. Mia seemed to be a shining example of everything the woman disliked in a girl, let alone a meta. Maybe she was worried her son and Mia weren't just friends which, in itself, just made the technopath laugh. Well, sometimes. She laughed at it sometimes. Sobertimes, anyway.

At the mention of the deleted emails, Mia's whole body seized up and the slightly relaxed smirk twisted into a scowl. Her jaw tightened, and she spun around in her chair quickly. Some things were not so good to say out loud; Mia would like to think she could find any bugs but after that little episode.... her fingers raced over the keyboard as she monitored any possible outside access.

Got a visit from the head of fucking security. They've been monitoring data access, and of course I'm on their 'to watch' list.

It was worrying her more then she cared to admit; sure, the hippy hating security guard himself hadn't been too bad. He clearly couldn't tell a gigabit from a bit of ram. It was more realising the extra attention was coming after her sale. She may have fucked up. She may have fucked up badly. The text stopped, and Mia tapped her fingers on the keyboard absently for a moment. Instinct said to keep it secret but it was King, it wasn't like he'd sell her out.

I might have sold some intel to the wrong person. A file on a teacher.

She spun around and with a groan slid to lie on her mattress, near Jonah's feet. Poking her head up, she frowned. "I'm kinda worried, actually. I mean, the money's in my account, the teacher's a fully grown man... why the fuck am I worried?" She buried her face in her comforter, an ostrich with her head in the sand. Things like guilt and other emotional shit were not in her area of expertise. For her hearing challenged friend, however...

[Jonah King]

Jonah could clearly remember the first time he had introduced Mia to his mother. His parents had been in the process of dropping him back at Hammel after the summer holiday, and Mia had taken the unusual step of actually leaving her room to greet him. She had bounced over to his room, and introduced herself his mother in her typically verbose fashion. Mrs King’s expression when she beheld her youngest son’s closest friend was one which would live down through the ages. It had, until Rachel introduced her new man and let slip the news of her pregnancy, been their mother’s most shellshocked expression to date. The King family had remembered it for years afterwards – first for the surprise (presumably at the fact that Jonah actually had a friend) and then for the horror which had slowly pervaded her features when she had fully taken in Mia’s startling appearance.

The best game for Jonah to play whenever ‘that Mia girl’ was mentioned was to drop hints that he and Mia were, in fact, romantically involved. It provided hours of fun for all the family.

Jonah didn’t need to be telepathic to know that there was something really serious going on when Mia turned to her computer. The only things she didn’t talk aloud about were her ‘missions’ and any subsequent trouble she had gotten herself into. Usually he didn’t quite understand her need for such secrecy, but her body language told him that this was a situation wholly out of the ordinary. Curious, he watched the computer screen in front of her, saying nothing – he didn’t want to distract her.

The head of security? Jonah raised an eyebrow, but still remained silent. Then she admitted her action, and he nodded, slowly. Mia made her way onto the bed but he was still looking at the words on the screen, trying to work out what was going on. There had to be a connection between her sale and the visit from the security guard – but what? Who would want to hurt one of the teachers at Hammel, of all places? Jonah knew Mia well enough to know that she wouldn’t have much of an idea who she had made the sale to – she didn’t tend to ask questions about things like that, and if they were shady they were hardly likely to tell her what they did for a living.

’Because you don’t know who the ‘wrong person’ is,’ Jonah told her succinctly, in answer to her question. Mia’s problem was that she had no idea what kind of trouble she could be getting the teacher into, and as a result she was powerless to do anything about it. Impressed though he was that Mia seemed at long last to have developed some kind of conscience, Jonah knew her all too well: she had always had her moral code. He also knew that she wouldn’t like to have the entire conversation aloud, where anyone could overhear them. Leaning over to the computer, he tapped out:

Buyer could be-
Family
Anti-meta?

Which teacher?

Gently, he nudged the covers nearest her head to make her look up, and pointed to what he had written.

[Mia Keystone]

With a groan that fell on (pardon the pun) deaf ears, Mia rolled over and glanced at the screen. A part of her still freaked out a little when someone who wasn’t her touched Kaylee, but she also freaked when someone who wasn’t her got too close to Jonah too so she’d learnt to let it go. Her eyes scanned over the words in a matter of instants and she pushed herself up and rested her hand on the corner of the laptop.

The questions began answering themselves, but there were still a lot of unknowns. It made Mia very very uneasy, like her viewpoint had been twisted, or like someone had put those blinkers she saw on cart horses on her while she slept. Unacceptable. Her slight feelings of guilt were quickly over ridden and barred out as she started searching. Her eyes were intent as she chewed on her lip. Jonah, though right next to her, could have been a mile away for all intents and purposes.

First things first: who she’d sold out intel on.

Professor Jacob Dalton, English teacher. New. Been here just over a month now.

family:

The files Mia had found on Dalton’s birth and family popped up in a number of small files, her eyes blank as she went quickly over everything to see if she had left a gap, or forgotten to cross a t. No. There was no attempt at communication... It was possible... highly unlikely. Probability was low.

Has an ex wife. Possible, though doubtful. Cutoff seems absolute. No electronic communication I could find between him and his family.

Anti meta... Now this was an interesting situation. Quickly, Mia typed out MSAD and had the letters hang down, and started running possibilities.

MSAD mentioned by security. Possible anti meta, or meta supremacy. Dalton was in media twenty years ago, seems unlikely to be targeted for that.

A smirk, one of Mia’s more familiar expressions, spread across her face and she brought up the image of the english teacher in super hero costume. What was this, the X men?

Ip address from within Vermont. options: trace Ip address and
demand answers (chance of success: low)
tell Dalton (problem; self implication)
investigate personally.

With a sigh Mia detached, still scowling at the screen as she looked over the options, then to Jonah. Was it ok for her to even be sharing this? Mia was not easily scared, and even less easily swayed from a task, but that security guy had made it sound like it would be a lot more dangerous then the usual missions Mia dragged Jonah on. This wasn’t asking for a diversion while she snuck into Dr Campbell’s office in a hollowed out filing cabinet. She grimaced and shook her head.

”Fucking hell, if I hadn’t heard about this stupid MSAD I wouldn’t give a shit. Not like the teachers need protecting.” She rubbed at her forehead absently, then rolled her eyes at Jonah. Couldn’t let him think she was getting upset or something. Hell, half the time Mia made an effort to convince him she didn’t have any emotions passed contempt, anger, amusement and occasionally hunger

[Jonah King]

Dalton? Jonah frowned at the screen, frankly surprised at the identity of the man who was causing Mia such trouble. Dalton seemed so…normal. A couple of the other teachers could drop political hints occasionally, but Dalton had never done or said anything like that. True, Jonah had only ever come across the man in the context of an English class (possibly his least favourite of all classes: if Jacob Dalton said ‘Shakespeare’s language needs to be heard, not read’ one more time, Jonah had the feeling that his anger would get the better of him), but he had never exhibited any qualities which would cause him to have any enemies. And surely Hammel wouldn’t employ any teacher whose past or politics would be likely to get them into major trouble? They had young people to think, of, after all.

’I think MSAD is meta supremacy,’ Jonah murmured in response to Mia’s musings on the nature of the organisation. He couldn’t remember where he had caught the phrase, but someone had mentioned them once or twice. They sounded pretty nasty, from the way people spoke about them. He watched as she wrote the rest, and went silent as he considered the options that his friend had laid out in front of them.

And it definitely was them. There was no way Jonah was going to let Mia do this one on her own. She was going to need backup.

The motion of Mia shaking her head caught his attention, and he turned in time to see what she said to him. She obviously thought that he couldn’t see how perturbed she really was by all of this – alright, he would play along with that. But Jonah knew Mia far, far too well. The close proximity between them meant that he could sense her nervousness, but even if she had been on the other side of the school he would have known from her body language and expression that she was more worried than she was going to let on.

Thoughtfully, he turned back to the computer screen. ’Option one wouldn’t work,’ he said after a moment, nodding his agreement with her initial conclusion. Which left the other two to consider. ’I could try? Jonah suggested, looking over at Mia for an opinion. ’Ask if he knows MSAD? Get it into a conversation?’ It would be easy enough for him to schedule a meeting with Dalton – Jonah’s difficulty with English meant that any teacher was usually always willing to give him some extra time to see if he could make any kind of breakthrough. But there was no guarantee that Dalton would answer any of his questions, and too many would surely make him suspicious.

So…option 3. Jonah felt something twist in his stomach as he looked at the word ‘surveillance’. This wouldn’t be like Operation Plant Pot, or Operation Dressing Gown. No keeping watch, or distracting the target with meaningless questions. If it was tied up with a supremacy group, then it could get nasty. ’Dangerous,’ he reminded her, pointing at option 3 on the screen so that Mia would know what he was referring to. Then he thought better of speaking aloud, and leaned over to the keyboard again:

Can we get in without being seen?
Or pretend to join?
Could be targeting the school as well as D.

[Mia Keystone]

Mia’s fingers tapped quickly on the corner of Kaylee’s case as her teeth worried her lip almost bloody. Her other hand went to her mouth and she started chewing absently at her nails. where did you get that? Mia trusted Jonah, heck she let him touch Kaylee and NO ONE touched Kaylee but for something potentially this big, she need to be able to check. Any sense of fun or enjoyment had leaked from the room, and for a moment Mia really hated Dalton for being a subject of interest to some random nutjob. She was hanging out with her best/only friend for the first time in the new year and now there was this hanging over them like some sort of cloud of doom.

Meta supremacy.

Quickly, almost absently, Mia glanced back at Jonah to see how he was handling this. If he was right, this was not just a bit of a slip, this wasn’t something she could look the other way with...

If this was right. It might not be. Hell, it might just be his ex wife.


Jonah looked worried, but he was focusing and not being stupid or emotional or anything that would make Mia want to short circuit. Like she had expected differently... Quickly Mia looked back to the computer as a drunken frog took a lopsided leap in her chest. God, he was going to want to go with her... That was not a good idea. That tiny part of Mia that wasn’t governed by hard, cold logic and general curiosity was trying very hard to let her know how un-ok that idea was.

All the while, the technopath was trying to slow down her breathing, to make sure that the telepath just inches from her wouldn’t start worrying about too much other than the whole meta supremacy issue thing. Her jaw tightened until he looked away, and she glared at her nails for a moment before turning back to the laptop.

As he spoke, Mia highlighted and deleted the first option. While Mia loved the head on approach with a slightly unhealthy passion, this was not a blunt force job. When Jonah said MSAD for the second time out loud, Mia turned around and widened her eyes, pressing her lips together in a very clear for fucks sakes be careful message, then shook her head.

I got a visit from the head of security about this. Threatened to confiscate every last thing I own, or expel me. You got to Dalton and mention the MSAD, which we know next to nothing about, and you’ll be under suspicion too. Not happening. End of story.

Mia’s mouth worked and her jaw tightened so much she thought it might crack. ”Fucker thinks I’m a terrorist, or as good as. Thinks I did this to help support the meta supremacy.” Mia’s nostrils were flaring as she tried hard to keep her anger under control. ”I may have lost my tempter.” Somehow, the words got out from between tightly clenched teeth as she started chewing on her lip rings again, and her eyes flicked to the hole she'd punched in the wall. Then her eyes caught what what Jonah was writing and she pressed her hand to the lap top as text started screaming across the screen.

No no no no no. I can get in. You stay.

She hadn’t really thought... stupid of her, of course he’d want to come. Her eyes fixed on the screen, she hit her spare hand against the desk in frustration. The night was ruined. She stuffed a Reece cup into her mouth and chewed angrily.

Best option: house investigation. Infiltration of group too dangerous. School possible target? Possible. Highly likely. If it is a meta group. Worst case scenario. If break in, solo. NOT SAFE KING

Mia turned to her best friend and glared, shoulders solid with tension as she dug herself in for what she expected would be an argument. Even as she tried to stare down her telepathic friend, her hand was on her computer making sure everything they had been typing was being backed up and erased from the main computers. ”Look, maybe it’s not this bad. Maybe it’s nothing. I’ve had security over before. They’ve sent me to a shrink and everything; accusing me of cyber terrorism is only a few steps up right?”

Then Kaylee beeped, once. Trace complete.

[Jonah King]

Jonah knew exactly how Mia felt – they should have been doing something other than this. They should have been eating chocolate and swapping stories of what happened during the holidays. Mia should have been showing him funny pictures or random YouTube clips (with subtitles, if she could get them) to make him laugh, and he should have been showing her an episode of a new TV series he had discovered while at home. That was the way it had always worked – and both of them had always enjoyed it. They should have been sitting side-by-side on her bed, watching an episode of Battlestar Galactica, and Mia should have been chattering away about the characters, delighted to have finally found someone who didn’t care that she liked to talk and comment all the way through everything she watched.

Instead, they were doing this. Whatever ‘this’ was – Jonah still wasn’t sure.

He had known that she wouldn’t want him involved. Well, tough luck, he was going to be involved no matter what happened. ’Mia,’ he murmured softly at her vehement denial, a rare use of her first name to make her pay attention to him. They only called each other by their first names when something was very, very serious. NOT SAFE, she had typed on the screen – did she think he didn’t know that?

A meta supremacy group were hardly likely to be a bunch of pussycats. Presumably, if they could get access to the school, they could persuade students to start joining them – and if they had enough of the teachers under their control, meta supremacy would just become part of the atmosphere at Hammel. An army of metas, all wanting to assert their authority over humankind…melodramatic, sure, but Jonah had the feeling that such a move would be right up the MSAD’s alley. Most of the younger pupils here were afraid of their own abilities – how afraid would non-metas be of them? It would be the perfect situation.

When Mia turned, and gave him her little monologue, he answered her with a raised eyebrow. You don’t believe that, his expression said, and he knew exactly why she was saying it to him – she was hoping that he would just reply with ‘Oh, OK, then. Let’s leave it,’ and she could go about this mission by herself. Carefully he framed the words in his head, speaking after a moment: ’If it’s nothing, no harm in checking it out,’ he told her eventually, in one of the succinct phrases which had become his trademark. But Jonah could sense her anger, and how upset she was. Holding up a hand to forestall any further argument from her, he searched for a way to make her understand what he was saying. Finally, he hit on it.

Jonah reinforced every mental block he had, and reached out gently to lay a hand on Mia’s shoulder.

It was probably the first time he’d voluntarily touched anyone since he was thirteen, and Mia would know it. To his surprise, it wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be – usually, he was unprepared for touch, but this time he had been able to bring up his own defences: and Mia’s naturally difficult-to-read mind made it easier again. He could hear her talking behind a door, but he couldn’t make out any of the words. For a moment he experience the usual disorientation, but then he pulled his control back – and with it, his senses. ’Two are better than one,’ he told her, offering a smile. It was what she had said to him, the first time she had asked him to come along on one of her missions. He squeezed her shoulder comfortingly, and then let go. The world span for a moment, and then he was back on the bed, turning to lock eyes with his best friend. ’I want to help.’

[Mia Keystone]

Mia didn’t look around, still pressing angrily down on Kaylee with her hand and mind. Don’t Mia me, King, she shook her head angrily, that was so low. No one appealed to Mia’s soft side, as she did not have one at all. Not even a tenth of one. So if Jonah was trying to get some sort of emotion out of her he was sadly mistaken! It would not work, and he was not coming if there was any chance he could get hurt.

Meeting Jonah’s eyes, Mia was both impressed and disgusted to see one of her own favorite expressions used against her. ”Shut up,” she said unnecessarily, and scowled darkly at her feet. He was right, of course. But it wasn’t nothing, because someone wouldn’t threaten to expel her over nothing. They wouldn’t take away all her computers over nothing. ”King, I really don’t want to have to wor-” Worry. she’d been going to say worry. But he’d grabbed her shoulder. He’d willingly touched her, and Mia’s eyes went wide as she looked up from her shoes to stare at him.

She’d thought he would fall down when he let go and her first instinct was to grab him to make sure he didn’t fall, but that was never a good idea. Still, the magnitude of what he’d just done was enough to make Mia feel decidedly uncomfortably, emotional. He was staring at her and her face was getting warm. It was awkward, enough that she spun around in her chair to face the computer again. Fine, she wrote up on her screen, transmitting it to the other five or six monitors around the room so Jonah would know just how fine she was. Her face felt warm; why’d he have to go calling her Mia and being all reasonable and shit...

Kaylee was still beeping, and Mia pulled the file up to let Jonah read as the information flooded past her in a stream of codes. Vermont. Local. she wrote up, then frowned as she took out the rest. Ip traced back to... Mia dove deeper, pulling up blue prints from the city hall achieves. Big house. Under van Drake. There will be a security system; I can take care of that. Suggest electrician cover?

The blue jumpsuits were extremely unflattering but they worked well in getting Mia to the electrician panel. From there, Mia could short out the system, or at least locate and eliminate the cameras that were causing problems.

Are you sure Mia’s hand twitched and the words were wiped before they could get into view. It would be insulting to question him again, now. After all that. Instead she spun around again and ran her hands through her shaggy hair. Even for someone as information-hungry as the tiny technopath, she’d had enough doom and gloom for one night. ”Fuck this. Want to play Gears of War?” With a casual shrug (her shoulders were going to be in knots tomorrow from all this tension) she ripped open another Reece cup with her teeth, and if she was perhaps a bit more savage then she was at other times, well, that was ok given the circumstances.

[Jonah King]

Jonah couldn’t describe how he felt when he let go of Mia’s shoulder. It was as if there had been a line, previously, between them, and now he had crossed that line without even realising that he was going to. It was new and strange, and he couldn’t help feeling that he had done something which he shouldn’t have – although he could find no reason for thinking that. His gut was telling him to be careful, and he could feel Mia’s discomfort: he guessed that she was feeling the same way. He felt a moment of resentment (things had never felt like that between them before, and it upset him), but couldn’t decide who he was resenting, exactly. Dalton? The MSAD? Himself? Maybe, for a moment there, he had wondered what things would have been like if their almost-kiss when they were sixteen had actually worked. But then he scolded himself for being stupid, and looked up at the flickering monitors.

Fine. He gave a small smile at the combination of the word and her expression. In their own ways, they were both as eloquent as each other when they didn’t speak verbally.

He watched the screen as Mia started to write up the basics of what she was learning from the quickly-flashing code on the monitor. Who would have known they had a terrorist organisation on their doorstep? They hid that one very well, from students and parents alike. Jonah still couldn’t quite believe that he and Mia had become mixed up in this. Equally, he couldn’t quite work out why Mia had been selling information about anyone to strangers in the first place, but that was an issue for another night. She wouldn’t take kindly to being asked now (Jonah could guess her threshold for serious topics, and they were rapidly approaching it), but he resolved that he would tackle it at some point. It was as if Mia had no way of working out what would lead to trouble and what wouldn’t.

Sometimes he wondered if she was crazy, but then he always realised that if she was crazy then he was just as mental for being friends with her. Surely they cancelled one another out?

But anyway, there was no point in asking her about it now. It had happened, and nothing was going to un-happen it. Jonah might as well get used to it, and do the best that he could to keep his best friend from getting herself into even more serious trouble. Going in as electricians was sensible (so far as anything in this scenario could sufficiently be described as ‘sensible’) – they had used that disguise before, and it had worked. Catching Mia’s attention with a hand movement, he gave a thumbs-up to her plan. ’Looks good to me.’

Just as he had thought, Mia had reached the end of her tether. Finger-combing her hair: a classic sign. People always tended to think that Mia changed subject willy-nilly, with no idea of where she was going, but Jonah knew that wasn’t the case. If you knew what to look for, then following her train of thought was easy: then again, being friends with her from the age of thirteen did give him the home-ground advantage. He could imagine that the uninitiated would find her a little…baffling at times. At her suggestion a bright, relieved smile came to his face, and he nodded vigorously.

’Gears of War sounds good,’ he replied (and strange, he had never really noticed before that he said ‘sounds good’ when, of course, nothing sound ed good to him. It was so much a figure of speech that he said it without thinking.) He helped himself to a Reese cup, and grinned.

’But no cheating this time.’