Super: Origins (48 page)

“By the way,” Casey said, chewing on some bread, “don't talk with your mouth full.”

The two of them started giggling but ended up nearly falling off the couch laughing. When they finished eating, Casey insisted on a bath for Lex and stayed with her, chatting and washing her hair, until the water went cold. Lex could feel the now-familiar pain behind her eyes as she brushed her teeth and got ready for bed, but decided to just tough it out. Yawning widely by the time she crawled under the covers, Lex watched Casey chuckle as she stood near the edge of the bed.

“Get some sleep. If you start to feel bad in the middle of the night or you need something, just call me and I'll come over, OK? I should hear you if you shout, or you can call me on my cell phone.”

“Yes, Mom,” Lex said with a grin, then, a moment later, her face turned serious. “Casey,” she started again as the taller woman began to turn away, “thanks for taking care of me.”

Casey touched Lex's shoulder as she reached to turn the bedside lamp off. “I'm glad to, Lex. That's what friends are for. Good night.”

“Good night,” Lex replied, feeling warm and happy as she heard her door close behind Casey and drifted away into sleep.

The rest of the week seemed to hurry by, but Lex had a start as she checked the holder by her door Friday morning. Along with her schedule, which she was happy to find Mr. Chen's name on again, she found a formal-looking piece of card paper with an invitation on it. As Lex read she realized her request had been approved. The invitation asked those invited to dress for dinner and be ready to leave by six on Saturday evening for a meal to celebrate recent accomplishments.

She held it out in front of her, raising an eyebrow in Casey's direction as she walked into the kitchen that morning. Casey smiled and laughed a little.

“Yeah, I got one, too. What did you ask them for, anyway? Dressing for dinner,” the blonde intoned, and then shook her head, smirking.

Lex shrugged. “I guess they got a little carried away. I figured maybe I could get them to spring for Italian or something. I didn't realize they were into fine dining.”

The hours flew for Lex while she worked with Mr. Chen again, following his movements as he explained things, listening to his suggestions, and showing him what she'd come up with so far. By the time noon rolled around, Lex felt surprised at the hour, but even more surprised to see Serena in the kitchen. She appeared to have been waiting for Lex, because the minute she came in the room, Serena jumped up off the stool she'd been sitting on at the kitchen island and began talking excitedly.

“Lex, Casey said you guys are going out Saturday night. I want to go, too! Can I go?”

Lex directed a sharp look at Casey, working on something at the counter. “She asked, so I told her,” Casey said with a shrug.

“Well, Serena,” Lex started, her mind spinning, trying to think of an excuse, but unable to come up with a good one. “I can ask, but I guess Clara or someone will have to approve it, since they're picking up the bill.”

“Oh, come on. Tell them I'll pay for my part, but I just want to go! I've never gone out with Riss before. Maybe we can all go clubbing afterwards.”

“I don't know if they'd allow us to do that, but it would be fun,” Lex admitted with a smile. “OK, I'll call Clara and ask about it.”

“Now,” Serena asked, wiggling in excitement, handing Lex her cell phone.

Lex sighed but moved to do so, noting that Clara's number had been programmed into the phone.

Looking at the other two while listening to the phone ring, Lex tapped her fingers against the back of her phone, thinking about the upcoming conversation, and trying to think how she could bring her question up, then greeted Clara when she answered.

“Hey, thanks for putting together the evening out for us,” Lex started, hoping she could ease into the topic.

“Well, we discussed what you said, and decided it was a good idea,” Clara replied, sounding pleased. “I take it you got your invitations today?”

“Yes, and that's why I'm calling, actually. Serena heard that we're going, and wants to go with us.”

“No. Absolutely not.”

Lex pulled back from the phone for a moment at that emphatic statement, then continued. “Is there some reason why not? She really just wants to go along with the rest of us. She said she'll pick up her part of the tab, if you're worried about the budget.”

A long silence prevailed at the other end of the phone. Finally, Clara spoke again, her voice low and serious. “All right, she can accompany you. But under no circumstances are she and Riss to be left alone together. Is that understood? It is your responsibility to ensure that. Can you guarantee it?”

Lex frowned in confusion. “Sure. Thanks.”

“All right, then if there's nothing else I have to go.”

“No, nothing. Thanks again, Clara.”

Lex looked back up at Casey and Serena with an odd expression on her face as she hung up. “She said you can go, Serena,” Lex recounted, “but she also said that you and Riss couldn't be alone at any time.”

Serena laughed as she took her phone back. “Well, there goes my plan to seduce her. That's fine, though, seriously; if that's all they're worried about, I can agree to that.”

By the time six rolled around on Saturday evening, Lex and Serena began walking down the stairs to find Casey and Riss already waiting for them. Since Serena had been allowed to come along, she'd insisted on putting together Lex's outfit and hair, especially after she got Lex to admit that she didn't have anything appropriate to wear.

She'd outfitted Lex with a red velvet dress that fell to her ankle, had a mid-thigh slit up the right side, short sleeves, and dipped low in front. Serena had fussed over her hair, somehow made her up to minimize the bruising along her jaw (which had subsided somewhat, but still showed several colors), then finally looked at her in the mirror and sighed while handing her some elbow-length black velvet gloves.

“Definitely a good choice,” she had pouted. “Your arms and shoulders are so much better defined than mine.”

Serena had gone with a sleeveless jade green silk dress that rose to a high collar before it dived low to show off her cleavage. The dress fell just above her knees and had been slit on both sides to just under her hips. She wore matching high heels and had swept up her hair in a way that looked sophisticated and sexy all at once, leaving Lex just shaking her head, wondering how her friend did it.

Serena came to a stop on the stairs as she spotted Casey, looking her up and down, smiling with approval. The blonde had worn a deep blue satin dress that hung a few inches above her knees with a modest v-neck and short sleeves, the bodice fitted, and the skirt fuller.

“You look good enough to eat,” Serena said with a smirk.

Casey rolled her eyes at Serena as she put her coat on. “Cut it out. I feel like an ass. I'm not used to wearing dresses.”

“You should wear them more. You look really nice,” Lex said, trying to put her friend at ease while giving Serena a quick shake of her head to dissuade her from teasing Casey any further.

Riss wore an eggplant-colored dress that looked almost black in the low light, sleeveless with a scoop neck and simple lines; it had been fitted through her waist and then came to a skirt that billowed at her feet. Riss looked at Serena with a questioning glance at Lex, who shrugged as minutely as she could. Riss raised her eyebrows with an expression that almost said it couldn't be helped, donned black opera-length gloves and her coat, and then looked back at the others before going out the front door.

The drive took about an hour, and Lex wasn't exactly sure where they'd gotten to when they arrived, aside from it being somewhere in Virginia. When Lex got out of the car, along with a sky full of stars the only thing she saw was the restaurant, a plain looking two-story building in a field with nothing else nearby for about a quarter mile. The isolation set up a nervous churning in her stomach.

“I can see why they chose this place,” Riss said quietly to Lex as they went inside.

The interior had been dimly lit and lavishly decorated with dark woods, fine linens, china and glassware, and a big fire crackling in a stone fireplace that dominated one wall. Lex could see an open dining area as well as some smaller rooms along the four surrounding walls. After talking to the man near the door about their reservation, he led them to one of the private rooms along the back wall of the restaurant.

After they'd ordered and had been left alone again, Riss cleared off the table in front of her and brought her bag up. She pulled out the sniffer tool Lex had ordered for the security job and turned it on, setting it in the middle of the table. Everyone watched with interest as she pulled out the ultra-thin laptop that Lex had given her for the holidays and woke it up, attached the sniffer to it, and typed something, then looked up at the rest of them.

“All right, ladies,” Riss said in her usual low calm tones. “We can talk freely for the first time. Lex, I have to thank you for ordering the sniffer and for getting me this computer; otherwise, we wouldn't be.”

“What do you mean, speak freely?” Casey asked, looking at Riss with a frown.

“We're monitored at all times, something I think everyone is aware of at the facilities, which have cameras and microphones everywhere. However, I don't think most of you know that we continue to be monitored through listening devices in our jumpsuits when we go out for a job, and by the mobile devices we're forced to carry when we're not in the building. It's likely that even some of our casual clothing has been bugged.”

Casey's face went white. “I'm sorry,” Riss said, more softly. “I know that's bad news, but I had no way of letting anyone know that before now, not without disappearing.”

“What do you mean?” Lex asked, swallowing carefully as a panicky surge ran through her.

Riss sighed. “Let me start with what I know, and then we can get to any questions. Just so you know, I've put together a program to broadcast cut versions of previous audio recorded of us to all our sponsors' snooping devices, and the sniffer, which I altered, sends that signal out as well as screens us from any other way they might have of trying to spy on us. Unfortunately, I have some bad news for you and then a proposition. But before we start, are you certain that Serena can be trusted?” Riss asked, looking at the other woman a little dubiously.

Lex put a hand on Serena's arm because the redhead looked like she was about to yell, and asked Riss, “What is this all about? I'm sure we could trust Serena if she knew what was so important.”

“Your life is in danger, Lex,” Riss said quietly. “I have a lot of proof here I want to show you so that you can see what's going on. My life is in danger, too, but it's probably not as close for me as it is for you.”

Lex's hand dropped nervelessly and she could see Serena turn towards her, concern marking her face. “If that's the case, you can trust me,” Serena said, her normal bantering tone gone. “What's going on?”

Riss gestured for all of them to move close, and then started bringing information up for them to look at on her laptop. “While Lex and I put the security plan together for our facility, our sponsors also saw fit to hook us up with the network at their main facility, Metamorphix Sciences, Inc., better known as MSI, uptown. Since one of my crappy jobs at the facility is to be one of the monitors, I used the new connection to find out some things they don't want us to know.

“I should back up a little, though,” Riss continued, a frown on her face. “From the time I arrived here, our sponsors have both wanted and not wanted me to work on their computers. Lex, at least, knows that I can communicate with computers just by thinking about it. What I haven't told anyone until now is that there's nothing stored on a computer anywhere that I can't find and access, and nothing I've found yet that I haven't been able to get a computer to do if I ask the right way. I've taken care that our sponsors don't know the extent of my talents, because if they did…well, I'll show you in a minute.”

She paused for a moment to let everything sink in, looking at each of them in turn, and then went on. “So, although they don't know it, I infiltrated everything available at the main facility almost immediately. Until the past couple of weeks, though, I didn't know I should be concerned about certain things. I was distracted by the fact that I'm a prisoner.”

“What?” Lex leaned forward in her chair, looking at Riss, incredulous. Riss sighed, still busy with her computer, but glanced at Lex and continued.

“No reason you would know, but I am imprisoned at the facility. That's why I had to figure out a way to get that message to you. I knew the only way I could ever get any time to talk privately would be to ask you to get me out of there for a while. I figured they might go for it since they try to keep the fact that I'm a prisoner under wraps. I've been talented with computers since I was a kid, and I did do some hacking, but I never did anything malicious. However, someone set me up for some clumsy hack and that's how MSI got their hands on me, since I'd refused when they'd asked nicely. When I investigated recently, I found out that someone on the payroll of the people who run this place set the hack up.”

She met Lex's eyes again, and Lex could feel her expression turning incredulous, sad, and worried. Riss shook her head and continued. “So it was wasted time figuring if there was a way I could get out of here based on proving someone else's guilt.”

“What do you mean?” Casey asked with a frown. “Surely if you could prove your innocence–”

Riss' sigh stopped the other woman. “That had nothing to do with it. I guess since I'm a prisoner the people that run the facility felt they could be more honest with me. They made it clear to me a while back that they have no intention of ever letting me go. I just didn't know at the time that it meant they were the ones who made sure I ended up here in the first place. That, of course, made me curious about other people who have been on these teams. So, I did some research.”

She brought up a team roster on the screen. “This is the list of all of the teams in the country, and all of the people who've been on them since this system was put into place about 15-20 years ago,” Riss said, pointing out their team and their names. “At first, you can see that a number of people moved on to other things, but within the last decade, the government made some new laws to govern us. As you can see, no one from then on has been allowed to leave.”