“This is the last time I will ask you, Michael,” she said softly, almost sadly. “If you still don’t give me an answer, then I will have to address the matter as an Auditor. And,” she added thoughtfully, “then I won’t be asking at all.”
Michael looked up at her, his face contorted, and then turned away.
“Guys,” Rebecca said, breaking the tense silence, “you are aware that both of you have your own offices, right?”
She looked over at them hopefully, but neither of them acknowledged her presence. Rebecca swore to herself quietly, first in English, and then when she ran out of curses, switched over to Spanish.
“As I said earlier,” Michael began, his face composed and his voice calm, if tinged with a certain regret, “the boy’s abilities as a catalyst are already unprecedented. With the right partner, or even group of partners, he could be a formidable…”
“Battery,” Alice cut in grimly, sitting down on the edge of Rebecca’s desk. “You want to use Warner as a battery, because you’re afraid of what might happen if you actually let him develop those powers, right?”
“That’s not it!” Michael sputtered. “You know what kind of potential the boy has! And you should know better than anyone what the consequences of that boy using Black Protocols will be. We had this conversation about Mitsuru, once, and look how that turned out. Or have you,” Michael added pointedly, “forgotten about that too?”
Alice winced, and then, after a moment, gave Michael a bitter smile.
“You are afraid, in other words, and because you’re afraid, you want to deny him the opportunity to choose for himself. Pathetic.” Alice looked down at him coldly, her smile wider. “And he’s not ‘the boy’. His name is Alexander.”
Rebecca started, giving Alice an appraising look.
Alex made a show of yawning and stretching, sitting up slowly, well aware that all the eyes in the room had immediately shifted over to him the moment he stirred.
“Alex. And he’s awake,” Alex said disinterestedly. “Been awake for a while now.” He looked up at Alice, and grinned at her sleepily. “You must be Miss Gallow, right?”
Rebecca’s eyes narrowed.
“Alex,” she asked softly, in a tone that could not be ignored, “how do you know about Alice?”
Alex laughed and ran his fingers through his hair, brushing his bangs out of his eyes.
“Because everyone talks about an Auditor named Alice Gallow who they are all afraid of, who wears black all the time,” Alex said, a bit sheepishly. “And she’s arguing with Michael like that’s no big deal, so…”
Alice shook her head, stifling a laugh.
“This kid isn’t half dumb,” Alice observed. “I might be able to like you, Alex Warner.”
Alex nodded solemnly.
“I am difficult not to like, Miss Gallow,” he agreed. “Actually, I’m hopeless. There’s no teaching me anything.”
“I told you,” Alice said, looking over at Michael with a mischievous grin, “Alex and I are like two peas in a pod.”
“And that’s exactly what worries me.” Michael said flatly, arms folded.
Rebecca pitched her cigarette butt out the window and then hurriedly occupied the chair behind her desk that Alice had vacated.
“Actually, that worries me some too,” Rebecca said thoughtfully. “What do you think about all this, Alex?”
Alex’s expression went suddenly blank, and he shot quick looks at both Alice and Michael before answering, his face clearly showing strain.
“Well,” he said cautiously, choosing his words carefully, “I mean, Michael has been training me since I got here, and I’ve learned a lot from him, so I don’t really think it’s for me to say.”
Alice guffawed, and then shot him a look of utter disappointment.
“That what you think, Alex? Then maybe I was wrong about you after all. Maybe you aren’t in the right place, if you’re that eager to play good soldier.”
“What?”
Alex’s jaw hung open in frank astonishment.
“Michael isn’t going to fight for you, or even with you, Alex,” Alice said bluntly. “Michael is going to teach you what he can, and he’ll do the best possible job of it. But once you are in the field, Michael will be back here at the Academy with the next generation of promising youngsters. Nobody can make that kind of decision for you,” Alice warned him, “no matter how good their intentions. Or your own. You have to take ownership of your life, eventually.”
Rebecca nodded, looking sadly back at her cigarettes, sitting back on the window sill, where she’d left them.
“Alice is right, Alex,” Rebecca said. “This is something you have to decide for yourself.”
Michael looked helplessly from one woman to the other, eyes blazing, but neither one would meet his eyes. Alex shook his head and looked glum.
“Well, then I don’t know enough about it to make the decision,” he snapped. “It’s not even a fair question. But, I do know that if you smoke another cigarette in here, Rebecca, that I am leaving,” he added crossly.
Rebecca froze, her expression wounded.
“Why is it that no one respects my office?” Rebecca slumped into her chair in resignation. “First people start coming here to have arguments, now students are telling me I’m not allowed to smoke. What’s next? Enforced nap time?”
Michael stood up.
“Well, I think this is settled for now…” he began, turning towards the door.
“What’s settled, exactly?”
Alice’s tone was jovial, but Alex was starting to notice something about the tall woman’s smile. It was off, somehow. Whatever a smile was supposed to be — warm, bright, inviting, comforting, whatever — Alice’s expression was the polar opposite of that. The last thing you wanted to see.
The last thing, Alex reminded himself, that any number of people had seen, if even half the stories were true.
Michael paused on his way to the door, but didn’t look back at Alice.
“Alex said he doesn’t understand what we’re talking about,” Michael said calmly. “Until he does, this discussion is pointless.”
Alice sat down next to Alex on the couch, and gave him a friendly pat on the knee.
“Here, I’ll make it simple,” Alice suggested. “Alex, you remember the Weir who attacked you and Mitzi in the park?”
Rebecca’s jaw almost hit the floor, though again, no one seemed to notice. After a moment, she decided the expression was wasted without an audience, and quietly closed her mouth.
“Did you call Mitsuru…?”
Again, no one paid her any attention. Rebecca had to fight the impulse to go and check to see if her name was still on the office door.
“Did you like that?” Alice asked Alex, inspecting his face like she actually expected him to look happy. “Did you like lying there while Mitsuru did all the work?”
Alex stared at her, eyes wide.
“Um…” he muttered, shaking his head. “I don’t really…”
“Damn it, Alice.”
Michael glared at Alice, but she paid him no mind.
“Or did you like being saved, Alex?”
Alice pushed one finger against his chest playfully.
“It makes things a whole lot easier, when you are the victim. Everything is black and white, and nobody ever expects anything else from you.”
Alex pushed her hand away, clearly annoyed.
“Of course not,” Alex said, his voice trembling. “I didn’t want any of that stuff to happen. But it isn’t like I had
