Fugitives

Inhibitor

"Does it hurt?" Willow asked as she inspected the bracelet on Smii7y's wrist. It hummed slightly and the metal was cold on Smii7y's skin, making him shiver. They sat in the meeting room alone.

Smii7y shook his head, "Not at all."

"Are you sure? You keep shaking." She asked as she looked up at him with her green eyes.

"I'm sure. The shivering is from my ability. Well, lack of. My body can't maintain homeostasis without it." Smii7y said. He rubbed his arm and felt the goosebumps that covered them.

"I'm going to pretend I know what that word means and hope I'm right." She said with a slight smile.

Smii7y chuckled, "It's how your body knows when to sweat when it's hot or shiver when it's cold. I'm just constantly cold without my ability. Even if it's hot."

"Don't you miss your ability then if it keeps you warm? I'd go crazy if I didn't have my ability and mine doesn't affect my body. You're okay with being a norm?" She asked.

Smii7y raised an eyebrow, "We talked about not using that word."

"Oh please. You guys use way worse." She brushed off with a smile, "But I'm serious."

Smii7y thought for a moment, "Yeah. I'm okay being normal for a while. Helps ease my mind I guess."

"Can we show the government that it wasn't you who robbed the bank?" She asked.

Smii7y looked at her. "Doubtful. They do think it was me but Sparrow is trying to keep them off my back." He answered.

"That's not fair. It wasn't you." She huffed.

"It's hard to prove it wasn't." He shrugged.

"I wanna give them a piece of my mind." She mumbled.

Smii7y chuckled, "You sound like Kryoz. How are you doing in school?"

Her face drained a bit of color, "Great..."

"Are you lying?" Smii7y asked.

She sighed, "Fine, fine. Mr. Horizon isn't the best teacher ever, though. He says I should be at an 8th-grade reading level and know what multiplication tables are but I've never even seen a book before we joined A.P.S." She said.

"General Horizon is your teacher? On the plane?" Smii7y asked with furrowed brows.

"Yeah. He asks me what four times four is all the time and I don't even know what times are." Willow explained, "Don't even get me started on reading. I don't know the difference between their, there, and they're."

"That's bullshit. I'll talk to Sparrow. I'm sure I won't be deployed on missions a lot anymore." Smii7y said as he glanced at his shaky hand.

Willow gasped, "You could teach me! That would be way more fun than old Mr. Horizon! I'll go ask Sparrow!"

"Wait! Willow!" Smii7y shouted after her but she had already run out of the room to find Sparrow. He smiled to himself and then glanced down at the bracelet. It was odd to be without his ability so hopefully they'd find out who was framing him.

A few days later, Sparrow explained that they were conducting an investigation at the bank and they wanted Smii7y there for some reason. The plane was parked in a humid forest somewhere in Mexico's wilderness. It was hard to function without his ability. The shivers were starting to get on his nerves and he was already left out of one mission.

"Smii7y." Sparrow called from the cargo bay of the plane. Byze and Nogla had taken the rest of the team to go into town for a bit of recon on an upcoming mission. Smii7y had to stay on the plane.