Haunt (Regenerate #5)

Chapter 11

I'm still trying to figure out what's going on. I don't know who this newcomer is or why he was threatening Mark. And I'm vaguely aware that I should be helping him. I'm not sure either of them have actually noticed me yet.

They're a blur of motion though, hard to follow. Whoever this guy is, he's an impressive fighter. Better than Mark, I think. He uses a knife, slashing it as he easily dodges Mark's attacks.

He catches Mark's arm with his knife, the blade slicing cleanly through his suit. That must be one sharp knife.

Mark's distracted by the cut, and a moment later, the man has him pinned up against the wall.

The man cocks his head to one side. "Given your reputation, I would have expected more of a fight."

Mark catches me moving slowly toward the man. He's probably wondering why I'm not zapping him. He doesn't know I'm me. He thinks I'm Mia.

When I'm close enough, I lunge for the man. Not my most graceful attack, but it works to throw him off balance.

He rolls out from under me easily. Then he stands and takes a few steps back, brushing the dust off his clothes.

"Pleasure to meet you," he says. "I'd best be going, though."

I glance at Mark, wondering if we should follow him. He shakes his head slightly, and the man makes his way around the corner and out of sight.

I shift back into my regular face, giving Mark a hard look. Lorna lands next to me a second later, dropping a limp body in front of me.

"Where's Mia?" she asks.

I glance back to where I left Mia. Lorna sees her, and is at her side in an instant.

"Fly her somewhere safe?" Mark says. "Thalia and I can get these two locked away."

Lorna nods, and the next thing I know she's flying off with Mia. Mark and I make sure the two captives are restrained before tossing them in the backseat of the car.

We're quiet as we drive to a holding cell (apparently Mark has them hidden all over the city, because we never seem to be too far from one). Mark winces as he drops the telekinetic in a cell. It's only then that I remember that he's injured.

"How badly did he cut you?" I ask as we walk back out to the car.

Mark sort of shrugs. "Nothing that can't wait until we're back at headquarters to patch up."

"I thought your suit was supposed to protect you from knives," I say.

He starts the car engine. "Yeah. I thought that too."

"Who was that guy, anyway?"

"You were there, you know as much as I do," he says.

"Jess didn't tell us about him," I say.

Mark shakes his head. "I don't think he's powered. Just a good fighter. A really good fighter."

"Good enough to kick your trash, apparently," I say.

"Thanks for your sympathies," Mark says.

We're quiet the rest of the way back to headquarters. He keeps his eyes on the road, which is unfortunate because then he can't see me glaring at him. Which I suppose is probably why he does it.

Lorna's already finished taking care of Mia by the time we arrive, so she gets to work bandaging his shoulder. She makes quick work of it, and when she hurries out of the room to go check on Mia again, I'm left alone with Mark.

"You're still mad that I didn't include you in the mission." He says.

"What gave it away?"

"The continuous glowering was a hint," he says.

"Of course I'm still mad," I say. "You shouldn't have left me behind. And because you did people on our team got hurt. That knife guy could have killed you."

"Your concern is touching," he says.

I hold up a finger. "I'm not done. When Derek and I broke up you said that we had to remain professional. That it was important to keep the team functional. Now you're not even following your own advice. So no more leaving me behind on missions. Are we clear?"

"I already realized I was an idiot," Mark says. "I didn't really need the lecture. If you're done now, I can proceed to my apology."

"Fine," I say. "But if it's not really good, I'm going to give you another lecture."

He sighs. "I am sorry. I don't know what more you want me to say that you haven't already said yourself. I was being petty and I should have let you come along. You sort of muddle my brain though and make it hard to act professionally."

"Are you apologizing or flirting with me?"

"I've always been a good multitasker."

I give him a blank stare. "As you can see, I'm very impressed."

His lip quirks up. "Go on a date with me."

"No way," I say.

"Why?" he asks. "Afraid you'll enjoy yourself?"

"No," I say. "I'm still mad at you. Why would you even think now is a good time to ask me out?"

"I'm persistent," he says.

"You're persistently annoying alright," I say. "And stop doing that."

He leans back slightly on the examining table. He hasn't bothered to put a shirt back on since Lorna finished bandaging him up.

"Stop doing what?" he asks.

I gesture vaguely in his direction. "That."

It only makes him smirk harder. "What? Being brilliant? Handsome?"

"Cocky," I say. "And doing that thing where you try on different personalities like new suits."

He looks confused like that, so I try to explain. "Sometimes you're a brooding vigilante and other times you're a suave billionaire and other times you're a science geek. Right now you're doing the second one."

"I'm always a science geek," he says.

"But sometimes you act like it more than others."

He considers for a moment. "Those are all me, though. They're just different sides of me. And maybe I'm just trying to find an angle of me that you actually like seeing. We scientists are all about trial and error."

"Emphasis on the error," I say. "Now that we're clear on the not-leaving-me-behind-for-petty-reasons policy, I'm going to get going."

"You know you can't stay mad at me forever," he calls as I start walking out the door.

I turn to face him so he can see my eye roll. "Put a shirt on," I say before slamming the door behind me.