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“I… didn’t say we should break a prisoner out, no, but… I could possibly get clearance to use him to read their minds,” Ellison says.
“Just don’t get your suit dirty and I think this plan will work,” Deus says with a grin before patting Ellison on the shoulder. “Good job, my man. I might even invite you to my next Torture Timez.”
“Please don’t,” he says as he turns away. “I will inquire about this. In the meantime, I hope the group of you can quietly sit here and not destroy anything.”
“Do you need help?” I ask.
“No. It’d be best to do it alone because Valerie will allow me to leave but none of you. It’s weird how she trusts me but knows the group of you would just cause more chaos. I’ll be back when I have more answers. Don’t blow anything up or murder anyone while I’m gone, or the plan might go to shit. Do you understand?” He looks right at Deus when he asks that.
Deus does his best to stare at Zacia. “Oh wow, it’s a kitty!”
“I have a dog,” Lex says. “He’s cute too. You should come see him.”
Ellison stares at Lex for an extremely long moment and I’m wondering if he’s of the belief that Lex should commit seppuku for talking out of turn, but instead, he goes, “I’m rather fond of dogs” before doing a brisk strut to the elevator.
He gets inside and rides off as the three of us stare after him.
Deus shakes his head. “Sometimes… I have this weird thought like I bet it’d be nice if he smacked my ass with that clipboard of his and then he talks, and it makes me feel weird inside. Anyone else feel like that?” Deus asks to a completely silent audience. “No? Huh… Anyway. Where’s Landon?”
“Sleeping,” I say.
Lex shakes his head and points down the hall. “Not anymore. He headed off that way. Said that he had to train to be the best villain in the world or something equally stupid. I didn’t really listen.”
I scrutinize Lex for a moment, positive he misheard something. “What? That doesn’t sound like Landon at all. He hates training. Is he dying?” I take off at a jog with Zacia galloping after me. When I reach the training room, I find Landon staring up at the corner where he’s somehow wedged an entire truck into it, front end stuffed just a little bit into the ceiling.
Deus finds this hilarious as I rush over to Landon.
“I thought you weresleeping,” I say.
His shoulders slump as he looks over at me. “Well, I wasn’t. I could barely sleep. I just lay awake while you snoozed so peacefully because I couldn’t stop thinking about how that gunman could have killed you or Lex, and I couldn’tdoanything. I was practically useless because I used up my power… if I’d trained like Valerie wanted, I could have kept you both safe…”
I stare at this man who is both amazing as hell and delusional all at once. “Landon… You… you picked up abomb.” I try to emphasize this by making some kind of bomb-like hand motion. “You literally grabbed abomband threw it into the skywhileholding up the entire second story of abuilding.Do you even understand how powerful you are? And that’s without training or anything… Landon, there’s a reason why everyone wants to know so badly if you’re going to become the city’s hero because if you became a villain, there isn’t a damn person who could stop you.”
Landon still doesn’t seem satisfied for some odd reason. “Yet I still couldn’t stop that guy when he was going to shoot you.”
He grabs some weight equipment and picks it up with his mind. He doesn’t seem sure of what to do with it now that it’s suspended in the air with nowhere to toss it around.
“Landon,” I say as I grab for him and grip him tightly by the shoulders. “Tossing around a truck and whatever else you’re trying to move isn’t going to change anything.”
“You’re right. I need something bigger. I need a building.”
I pull him in close, hugging him to me as I hear the stuff drop. “Stop. Let your brain settle and recover. We’re going to need you to use it here in a bit, okay?”
He sinks into me. “Fine.”
“What about control instead?” Lex says. “Instead of throwing giant things around, what if you work on controlling multiple things at once? Like other ways to strengthen it without… you know, ripping buildings in half.”
“That sounds boring. I can already manipulate multiple things at once. But I suppose…”
“And while you do that, we’ll tell you about Ellison’s and Lex’s plan to use your brother to get information out these people,” I say.
That seems to perk him up. “Now, I like the sound of that,” Landon says as he squeezes me before letting go.
“And… maybe… you guys could help me,” Lex says, sounding hesitant. “Landon, your power is so… controlled. I don’t know how to get even a fraction of that control.”
“Okay… yeah, I guess we could all work harder to see what we can do,” I say.
Lex looks nervous but gives us a determined smile and a nod.
