You know that old cartoon where a cat gets scared, and it jumps up and gets its claws stuck in the ceiling? Well, it's a good thing I wasn't in felinthro form when I heard that, or I probably would have done the same thing[m/] and the ceiling probably wasn't strong enough to support my weight.
"W- why does the sergeant want to talk to me?" I asked, trying to keep the panic from showing in my voice.
"I don't know," his secretary answered curtly. "All I know is that he told me to come fetch you personally. Come with me, I'll show you the way to his office."
Her tone of voice told me she wasn't happy about being forced to leave her desk to run errands when a page over the intercom would have sufficed, but frankly that was the least of my worries. What were the odds Sergeant Chase would want to speak to me right after I got done having a hot 69 with Nina, and he
didn't
know about it? Not likely, I could figure that much out on my own. Right then, the last thing in the world I wanted to do was follow that lady. Something told me that doing so would lead me straight to the Divider.
Then again, I told myself, running away and hiding is
another
way to get sent to the Divider, isn't it?
Steeling my nerves, I forced my feet to move and went after her. We made our way through the academy with me almost having to jog to keep up with the secretary's brisk pace. Damn, how could a woman with such scrawny legs walk so fast without having, like, rockets stapled to her heels? The hallways were deserted, all the other recruits in training, but the school was so big that it still took us almost ten minutes to get from the dorms to the staff offices.
"Have a seat," she told me when we got to Sergeant Chase's waiting room. She picked up her phone while I headed for one of the chairs set against the wall. "Sir? Michael Arghen is here to see you. Okay, I'll send him in." I sat down, and the secretary hung up the phone. "He says you can go right in."
I stood back up.
"Okay," I said, trying to stay as calm and professional as I could. "Thank you."
With hands that seemed to be moving on their own, I opened the door and stepped into the office. Sergeant Chase was standing behind his desk with his hands folded behind his back and a serious expression on his face.
"Thank you for coming, Michael," he said. "Shut the door behind you, please."
"Yes, sir, Sergeant Chase," I said, doing as he said and trying to sound as respectful as humanly possible.
"Have a seat," he told me, nodding towards one of the chairs in front of his desk. He sat down himself as I approached, and I joined him.
"May I ask why I'm here, sir?" I asked when he didn't say anything right away.
"Oh, I think you know good and well why you're here, son," Chase said, clasping his hands in front of him and leaning towards me.
I tried not to gasp, but I couldn't do anything to stop the sweat from coming from my brow. Shit, he knew. He knew, he knew,
heknewheknewheknewheknewheknew.
"Um..." I stammered, struggling to think of what to say. What
could
I say? "C- could you be a little more specific, sir?"
Damn, I was an idiot.
Sergeant Chase's frown deepened. "I'm your commanding officer, boy. Don't play dumb with me!"
There was nothing for it, then. I hung my head in shame. "Sorry, sir."
Chase nodded. "That's more like it. This is a military base for training superhuman warriors, after all. There's not a single damn room here without at least three security cameras."
I cringed. Of course he was going to find out! What had I been thinking? What had
Nina
been thinking?
"It seems like you're getting rather close to your personal trainer, Michael."
"Yes, sir," I said in a hoarse whisper. This was it. It was all over. "I'm sorry, sir."
"Relationships with your superior officers are normally forbidden, you know that, right?"
I nodded. "If I can, sir, I'd like to take full..." My voice trailed off.
Did he just say
normally?
"Normally," Chase said again, "this would be grounds for dishonorable discharge for both of you, and a trip to the Divider." I tensed up. "However..."
I unconsciously leaned forward in my seat, my heart trying to jump up through my throat and out my mouth. Fuck this bastard, was he
enjoying
building up the suspense? However fucking
what?
"However," he said again, "in this one, singular case, I am willing to make an exception."
I blinked in surprise. Had he really just said...
"Yes, you heard me right. Nina Stukson is one of the greatest C.A.T. agents to ever live, one we can't afford to lose. Lately, though, I've noticing that she's been, eh, off her game, you might say. Her spirits have been lowering, the quality of her work degrading. We think," he paused and gave me a meaningful look, "that it might have something to do with your brother."
I think I must have been in shock, because the only thing that I could think to say was, "Travis? What about him?" A more suitable remark would have been,
"Holy shit, sir, you mean you're
not