All I've Ever Known

Papers

I went there early, praying Jordan would wait the full two hours before showing up here. I still couldn't believe that they wouldn't let this go, but I couldn't deny the small part of me that wanted them to know the truth. I also couldn't believe I was actually about to tell them anything, despite the trouble it could get me into.

I paced the grimy concrete room, trying to focus on the parts of the story that matter and the parts I can skip past. I have to stay on topic, and despite everything, I'd rather Jordan not get in trouble for knowing too much. I thumbed the worn pages of my notebook - the last remaining evidence of my dreams. I had turned off all my devices before I got here, so I was just listening carefully for Jordan or other intruders.

Jordan arrived a few minutes after the agreed upon time, rolling their eyes at the cliche of it all.

"An abandoned warehouse? Really? Are we in a fucking Marvel movie?" They said dryly.

"Turn off all your devices if you haven't already." I said coolly, needing to stay focused. They did so without a word before tucking their phone back into their pocket. "I turned mine off back on campus." I added. They made a small gesture with their head, wanting me to begin.

"Are you sure you still want to be involved? If they find out it could cause problems for both of us. Brink wasn't bluffing."

"How'd you -" They stammered.

"I know what all the faculty were briefed to say. I know what Brink told you, I know what Park told you, I even know what Jeffries told you. If you had spoken to Shetty, I know what she would have told you. You don't think I spent the whole summer just fighting, do you?" I said dryly. They paused, considering that.

"That checks out, actually." They admitted.

"The point being - I can't unsay what I'm going to say. This is your last chance to back out."

"I didn't come here to fuck around." Alright, well, they had their chance.

"There's a lot even I don't know. But the short version is Vought made me a deal for some technology I'd been working on. I don't know how they knew about it. I didn't want to give it up. But... things happened and it made me change my mind. My dad's lawyer Robert works with my contact at Vought to sort everything out."

"That's Grace, right? The one who called you earlier?" I refrained from rolling my eyes. Of course they were eavesdropping on my calls.

"Yes. It takes a lot of paperwork to rewrite 2 years of history. For instance, today, Grace needed me to sign a statement for my old peers reminding them that they can't discuss me or our work."

"And this technology... were they weapons??" I stared at them for a few seconds, trying to see if they were joking.

"Are you insane?" They raised an eyebrow skeptically. "No, it wasn't fucking weapons. It was a fancy heart monitor." I said, exasperated. "I was 19 attending a technical school in fucking Rochester, NY. Of course I wasn't designing weapons." It was their turn to be shocked.

"A... heart monitor?" They asked.

"I was in freshman statistics when I found a database of heart problems in supes. It seemed random - but after talking to Luke and a few other friends of mine, we realized that we might be able to catch the problems before it's deadly." Jordan just sort of blinked at me.

"Why does Vought give one flying fuck about your pet project if it isn't dangerous?"

"That is one of the many things I don't know. I mean I have theories. I have theories about all of this. But I don't even know how they found out about it. One day, some suit showed up offering me money to finish my education at GodU and then work for Vought's R&D department upon graduation. Just as long as I gave them the rights to anything I produced. I said no at first, but after Sammy, and... well, after a year of Vought hounding me to take the deal, I finally did. Because of my previous work, they figured Park would be a good mentor for me. They erased everything I'd ever done, and rewrote the last 2+ years of my life. From what I understand, they don't really care about my ranking as long as I'm in the top 50 - they just want to show how good GodU is at 'recognizing potential' or whatever the fuck." I explained.