The Nephilim Protocol

Crashing Down

"Guys, I'm really not in the mood," I say, rubbing my forehead. The beef sandwiches they've given us for lunch are dry and tough, the bread is pasty, and this apple juice is basically sugar water.

"Come on, just once more!" Sue urges. "It's badass, man!"

"Seriously. In the cafeteria?"

"No-one's watching," Dolphin says. "We've got you covered. Just try for one more inch."

I sigh and focus on my hand. A little flickering butter knife of flame materializes in my hand. It extends barely four inches past my thumb.

The others deflate. "Come on, you're not even trying," Ball Buster says.

"Of course I'm not." I stab the flaming butter knife into my beef sandwich and saw it back and forth. "I've been doing this all morning. Can we stop with it already?"

"That dagger you were slinging at Sue was at least double that long." Dolphin frowns, sitting back. "And you said you had some sort of machete when you were fighting. That's ... what ... a foot and a half?"

"I don't know what to tell you." I change the butter knife to a bread knife. The jagged teeth catch on the bread and start to cut it apart. "Adrenaline, maybe. Can we just accept that none of us know how our powers really work?"

"Mouse seems to have a pretty good handle on his," Dolphin says, looking over at his roommate.

"He's got a consistent handle on his," Ball Buster says. "There's a difference. He hasn't had a huge dramatic flare-up of his power. It's just always been consistently low-key."

Sue watches me cut the bread. "Still, you can make toast. That's pretty dope."

I laugh.

"Hey guys." A shadow falls over the table. I move aside to make room for Sidewinder, and the other guys reluctantly do the same.

"Everything okay?" he asks.

"Eh," I shrug. "What'd you tell Jackhammer?"

He shrugs back. "What was I supposed to tell him? I asked him if he thought Val was seeing other guys. He punched me in the face."

Whatever. I don't much care if Jackhammer knows or not. He can have her.

Mouse pats me on the shoulder. "Cheer up. If you wave your hand, fifty more will come."

I don't even bother to ask about the phrase.

Ball Buster's eyes get round. "Shit. One of the fifty's coming now."

Faith, the tan-skinned pixie cut, is walking straight towards our table, her face set in its perpetually bland expression. She walks up and nods at me. "Hey, Square," she says.

"Hey, Faith." I really hope she doesn't notice Dolphin's eyes.

Faith slaps Dolphin on the arm. "Move," she says. "I need to sit down." Dolphin looks startled, but he moves. "So," she says to me, sitting down. "Heard you and Val broke up."

"Something like that."

"Hm. I did tell you she was nuts."

"You did," I agree.

"Nuts how?" Ball Buster asks.

"Just the way she views things. First night we roomed together, she had this long rant about how men were all about sex and how you needed to 'work' them."