Mutants: Normal

7-2: Turbulence

Kill me now. Zero grumbled incoherently as he flopped into another position on his seat. After all, total boredom demanded constant movement to survive.

Upon entering the jet, each one of them had chosen a different row to sit in. It had basically been a ghost town from then on. Ranulf was taking up the front two seats on the left; Pierre sat in the row across from him. Zero had settled in the two seats across the aisle from Fang. Even Shuigu and Hua were sitting on opposites sides of the jet. There was so much tension in the air Zero could have sworn he heard the crackling of electricity.

No one was speaking—at least, not loud enough to be audible.

Finally, Ranulf broke the hour-long silence. "God, what's with the silent treatment—I thought the person who offended some of us was still back at the base?" he joked, leaning his seat back so that he could tilt his head to see Zero and Fang in the rows behind him.

"Sorry, I haven't been sleeping well," Zero told him, rubbing his eyes. It's kind of impossible when you feel like your roommate is constantly watching you.

"Since when was talking mandatory?" Fang retorted at the same time, crossing his arms. "It's also nice to hear your own thoughts in silence."

Ranulf's eyes crinkled. "True," he agreed, lazily dipping his seat farther back. "But I'm too stupid and have nothing to nothing to think about. Has anyone got any cards? We could play poker or something."

"How about President?" Zero blurted out.

"Sure, that works too," Ranulf said. "Anything to kill the silence. Shuigu, is this what it was like on the car with Fang and Pierre? No wonder you were complaining."

Shuigu looked like he wanted to say something, but then he just stared at Ranulf like he would die if anything slipped out.

"Shuigu, are you still thinking about the talk we had? The past is the past, right? No hard feelings...? Fine, ignore me," Ranulf harrumphed. "Just so happens that I have cards here. I only asked as a conversation starter. Zero, it's an order, let's play. You're the only one who likes having fun, I guess."

Zero watched Ranulf closely as a miniature table slid out between the two of their seats. Ranulf turned his chair around to face Zero before trying to convince the others to join in. Nothing, Zero realized, studying Ranulf's face. He hides everything with that carefree happiness of his. No hostility, no nothing. Sadly, a lack of hostility didn't make Zero feel any more at ease. Why did I have to go on that mission? Right now, Ranulf was trying his best to brighten everyone's mood, but all Zero could think about was his involvement with the Jingcheng investigation. But that kind of thinking is pointless... A flashback of the dead girl in the alleyway reminded Zero again of his lonely but determined decision.

In the end, Ranulf's "coaxing" had everyone playing cards. They gathered around the little table on the left aisle, squishing their six bodies into four seats, and voted on a game. Zero wasn't surprised that they ended up playing some game that Hua made up while at the base with the brother-sister pair voting as a team. It was somewhat like Cheat: you needed to put a card (or cards) face down when it was your turn, supposedly the next in an order or combination. But if you cheated and someone found you out, then you had to give up the number of cards that were in the pile. If the person calling out was wrong, the penalty would happen to them. There were some technicalities that allowed the pile size to be reduced, and the last person with cards was the winner.

Hua was out first because she flushed a furious shade of violet whenever she cheated. Shuigu was out next, but Zero guessed he had lost on purpose to comfort his sister. Zero got out after a slip in words with a large discard pile in front of him.