To Be Like the Guardians

Part 1: The Plan, Chapter 7: Mallory's Task

Mallory sat at his desk, working on his load of extra work and waiting for Agent B. Howard to arrive. When he had searched for her to ask her to come to his office, he hadn't expected to find an excuse. Nor had he expected the L.E.R. headquarters to feel so creepy right now. He had been here after hours before, but this time it felt different, as if it held dark secrets on the other side of its happy facade.

She was coming, right? It was a couple minutes after eight. She wouldn't choose this time to flaunt defiance in the face of authority, would she? She hadn't ever not shown up for anything before. Hopefully she was just late.

"The danger grows closer. You're running out of time."

"Shut up. Be patient."

"We are patient. The danger is not."

"There is really no reason for you to be..." He heard footsteps echo through the empty halls and stopped talking to the voices in his head. They silenced as well, and his body stilled.

The noise stopped in front of his office, near the front of the building. Beth twisted the doorknob and opened the door. Her haze that grew ever fainter was a pale purple, but she met his gaze with a confident stare. Eye contact that burned through him as if she could read the words of his plan aloud to him, repeat back his thoughts.

"Don't ruin this, Bennett, or else the danger will overcome your loved ones."

As if she could hear the voices in his head.

She sat down in the light chair across from him at his desk, and he shut his laptop.

"Don't worry," he told her. "You don't know why you're here."

She raised her dark eyebrows. "I'm not worried, sir."

"Yes you are. My Power-Inducer tells me so."

"But you're not wearing it. I don't see it on you."

"I'll put it back soon enough. The chemicals still run through me, for now."

She frowned and broke eye contact for a second. Her haze turned orange, then immediately back to purple.

"So you didn't tell me to come here in order to fire me?"

"Of course not. If I had wanted to fire you, I wouldn't have brought you in here so late. As it is, this conversation needs to stay between us, okay? You must not tell anyone what I'm about to tell you. Not your friends, not your family, not your significant other, if you have one. Got it?"

Beth narrowed her eyes. "What if someone asks me about this?"

"You are to lie."

Silence.

"I'm not good at lying," Beth said.

"Are you sure this is the person you want?"

"Then try your best," Mallory said, clutching his vibrating arm beneath the desk.

"Okay." Beth gave a slight nod, her eyes still boring holes into Mallory.

"So, here's the thing. I'm gonna give you a Power-Inducer."

Beth's eyes widened, and her haze turned a bright yellow. Happiness. Mallory knew she had protested against not everyone getting Power-Inducers before, greatly irritating Fiona. But Beth had to be wondering why, out of all people, he was giving one to her.

"And why won't you let me tell anyone about it, sir?"

"I'll explain that later. Come back tomorrow night at this time for training." He paused. "You are dismissed."

Beth hesitated for a second, then got up and left, shutting his office door behind her. Mallory still had to steal a couple of Power-Inducers from Fiona, since they weren't kept in the storage rooms like the other weapons, and she didn't leave for about an hour, but he had wanted to tell Beth as soon as possible.

As for why he had picked her out of all people, there were many reasons. He had grounds to fire her if she tried to disclose the mission for her to kill Pitch. (He didn't want to do it himself, with Pitch's threat.) She was a natural rebel and didn't mind breaking other people's rules. But most importantly, with her strong personality, she was likely to gain a strong power from a Power-Inducer.

The founding members of the L.E.R. had questioned whether hiring her was a great idea, with her track record at school and all, but he was glad they had accepted her. If anyone could complete his mission, it was her.

*/*/*/*

As Beth drove out of the parking lot of the plus-shaped building, an itch in her grew. It felt similar to the itch she had experienced when first learning about the L.E.R., but it wasn't as strong, fortunately. However, it was more terrifying.

The meeting with Agent M. Bennett, him setting her up to a task...it felt eerily familiar, and yet she had never done anything like that for him before.

She parked her car in a parking garage and walked over to her apartment, then up the elevator to the third level. She knocked on Irene's door.

"It's me, Beth."

"Come in. It's unlocked."

Beth entered her friend's apartment, the only light being that of the television screen, illuminating in blue her friend's face, shiny Xbox controller, and green couch she was sitting on.

"How'd it go?" Irene asked. "You didn't get fired, right?"

"Right. It was...weird." Beth had no qualms about telling her friend what Bennett had told her. Maybe her family, but not her friend. It wasn't like Bennett was ever going to find out, and Beth needed someone to talk about it to. "He's going to give me a Power-Inducer tomorrow."

Irene paused her game and looked over at Beth with wide eyes. "A Power-Inducer? Awesome! Why?" She patted the yellow pillow beside her, and Beth grabbed a second controller from the counter and joined in the game.

"He says he won't tell me yet. He also told me not to tell anyone about it, so please don't talk about it at the headquarters."

"Okay. Why won't he tell you?"

"I don't know. The thing is, though...when he told me that, I felt the itch again."

Irene furrowed her eyebrows. "That's strange. You haven't done anything with him before, right?"

"Right. Not that I can remember, anyway. Maybe it has something to do with the summer that I forgot."

"But the L.E.R. didn't exist then."

"No, it didn't." Beth paused. "I hope I don't start to have more 'episodes' again. Especially not in front of Graham. Speaking of that...how do I not be angry, Irene?"

Irene shrugged, then blasted an enemy on the screen. "I don't know. That's just kind of who you are, Beth. You care so much about everything. You just have to learn how to control it."

"How?"

"I wish I could tell you. I'm not angry all the time because it looks exhausting, caring so much about everything all the time. Sometimes just looking at you makes me tired." "Kidding," she said as Beth glared. "Kind of. Maybe you should try not caring."

Beth shrugged. "I could try, but I'm not sure how much that would work. I could still try, though. How do I not care?"

"Just...think of one thing that's important to you, and stick with that. No veering off and getting concerned about other things."

What was most important to Beth? She didn't know. There was her safety, her friend, Graham...

"I don't know what to choose."

"Well, since Graham's worrying you, maybe start with that."

"Okay." Beth could only hope that it would work, especially with this new task from Bennett that might disrupt her life and make her even angrier.

She had a bad feeling about it.