Deja Vu [DRAFT ONE: UPDATED DRAFT ABOVE]

6: Adam

Anthem catches me in the Veins one morning, before my brother is awake, and admittedly I'm glad to see her for once.

Her gold, piercing eyes watch mine, like a predator scanning its prey for weakness, and she asks, "Is something the matter?" Her tone is unsettling, the emphasis on the wrong parts of the word so that she sounds cold and probing instead of concerned.

"Not particularly. Next mission's tomorrow?" I ask with a casual shrug.

"Yes." her eyes slide over me, "But you knew that, already."

"I came to ask about my powers. I'm not pulling my weight in battle."

"No, you really aren't." Anthem sighs. "You spend more time watching your teammates than fighting with them, you're klutzy when you do fight, and your lack of confidence and ability cripples the team as a whole, nearly as badly as Serena's does. It's a let down to me, personally- you must understand, I had expectations for you."

"Then give me something to work with." I insist.

"I want you to close your eyes." Anthem says.

I do. "This isn't the part where you tell me 'the power is in me' or something, right? Because that would be lame. Incredibly lame."

I can feel Anthem's disappointment as if I was experiencing it myself, but she replies anyways, "Reach past yourself. You are looking for traces of light beyond your closed eyes."

I shut my eyes tighter, but nothing is immediately obvious. I think I can see a faint freckling towards the edge of my vision, not that that's unusual- kind of like an afterimage. However, when I raise my hand, I notice that the purple flecking rises with it. "I think I see me." I say.

"Yes. That's Diosite. You should be able to sense its rivalling shard as well, the one with the opposite charge to what we possess- what we are seeking, together."

I open my eyes. "Do I get anything else?"

"No. It's merely an extension of your natural abilities that I've alerted you to."

It's so useless. I feel some emotion- not quite anger, but maybe disappointment- burning in my throat, but I manage to choke out, "Thank you."

Anthem doesn't have to say anything. Her shrewd, intense disappointment is more than enough.

Fine. Guess we'll do this the hard way. "But I can't redraw, either. There's no magic power scrambler."

"Adam, have you changed since this began?" Anthem asks.

"Not substantially," I admit.

"Then your powers aren't going to change."

I bite my lip. "One more thing. If I was to resign- not that I would- could you give my powers to someone more qualified?"

I expect more silence from her, some kind of contempt, but she answers immediately. "No. If there had been better candidates, I wouldn't have chosen you. But more importantly? You don't want to."

***

"Looks like a dead end to me, unless any of you can fit into vents." I tell the group. It's the sixth dead end we've stumbled onto in these hallways.

Harper steps forwards.

"Yeah, if anyone could fit, she could." Evan laughs.

Harper shoots him a furious look before turning to me. "Chief. Can you get down on your knees and burn that grate off?"

I unsheathe my blade and begin cutting a hole in the vent, which is at around ankle level. They're one of the few features of the place that so much as resembles a normal hallway. The eerily perfect coat of white paint and lack of doors or segments makes the rest of it almost alien, but aliens wouldn't need good old human ventilation systems. The grate falls off, taking some wall with it. "What's the plan?"