Death or a job? Not really much of a choice all things considered.

  I’d prefer to know more about this man. I could safely assume this is the man who Keiji and Andree called boss. Perhaps buying some time might help me ask the right question to the memories.

  “What would I be doing, if I took this job? And how do I know you would even uphold your end of the deal?”

  “You are sharp aren’t you? Let’s see, I would have you do a bit of what Andree did as a spy. However, he was useful in his own way by not being an Exalt. You on the other hand, have powers. I will need to know more about your abilities to better determine the jobs you would go on. You would be on a team with a few other Exalts already hired in my service.” The voice paused, and when he spoke again, his voice sounded different, like when he had spoken directly to Keiji. “Stealth, sabotage, assassinations. I have needs that must be met, so wherever you fit in best will be where I put you. As for your second question, you have no way of knowing. You would need to put your trust in me.”

  Despite my earlier reluctance, the voice made sense. I’d have to trust him. Plus, if he was willing to help me understand my powers, then that’s just another bonus for me. But, assassinations… More killing. I couldn’t stop the grimace from crossing my face. I hated how I felt after killing Andree, I couldn’t imagine doing that to other people, people who wouldn’t be threatening my life.

  “If you are still undecided,” there a was a hint of frustration now. “Know that you won’t be working for free. You’ll have room, food, and a salary based on the jobs you complete. It’s quite favorable to you. And, well, we did find you at the scene of a grisly murder. Add the murder of a detective questioning you about the incident, you’d look like a criminal on the run.”

  Damn it, he kept distracting me from asking the questions in the memories. Something about his voice, it made it difficult to focus on anything I wanted. He had a point too. Sure, it seemed to match the MO of this Reaper, but they could just as easily turn me over to the authorities as a prime suspect. Though for Andree, they’d have me dead to rights. At this point, if I don’t say yes, I’m dead, or I’m in jail for life.

  Better to be alive. To fight another day.

  Was it really? I couldn’t be too sure. All I knew was that I didn’t want to die. I wanted to know what happened to me. That made the answer obvious.

  “I accept.”

  “Excellent!” The voice sounded pleased. Like he truly would have regretted having my brains blown out. “Delta Squad, you can stand down. Alpha Squad, keep your sights on him for now.”

  The group in front of me lowered their guns and disbanded. They left through doors just out of sight. After a few seconds, it was just Keiji and I standing there. Me still by the elevator, and him by the path to the entrance of the building. I didn’t see this Alpha Squad anywhere.

  “Don’t bother looking, they are out of sight from you. They can and will shoot you dead if you try anything. Sorry,” Again, he genuinely sounded sorry about this. “I need to make sure you aren’t trying to pull anything.”

  His voice sounded completely genuine. If he was some villain mastermind, I had no read on him.

  “Once we have some trust established, these sorts of things won’t be needed. Please just wait there for now.”

  I wasn’t really sure what to feel. This sincerity from the voice was not what I was expecting. Except there was one thing I couldn’t shake from my mind just yet.

  “Are you The Order? Andree mentioned them right before he died, saying he was needed.”

  Silence. No more talking it seemed. Probably a stupid question in all honesty, I mean who else could this be? So I just sat down, trying to keep Keiji in my field of view. He didn’t move, and he didn’t take his eyes off of me. Gone was the jovial man who had come in to greet me with a smile. An act. I had to remind myself that was all it had been. An act.

  Left with nothing else to do, my mind drifted once more to the new muscle. Was it worth the risk of trying it out here? Or would this unseen Alpha squad shoot me down? Or Keiji for that matter. Perhaps this was something to check with my new employer.

  “Hey, umm, boss? I was wondering if I could try and experiment with my powers while we wait?”

  “I wouldn’t if I were you.” Keiji said with harsh laugh. “Actually, maybe you should. Go on, give it a shot. Just do it away from me, I don’t want your blood to ruin my coat.”

  With no order from my mystery boss, I figured it might be safer to trust Keiji on this. I declined from messing with any powers for now. Instead I just sat there. I didn’t want to risk looking into Andree’s memories now. There was nothing that would be helpful to me. Except, if he had done this before.

  Know the enemy.

  That’s what I was trying to do, but I was also trying not to get killed. Caught in this inner turmoil, I sat and stewed, doing nothing to help my situation.

  “Thank you for you patience.” The voice said much later. It had to have been a half hour of me just sitting there. “Alpha Team has been pulled away. As long as you don’t do anything directly towards Keiji, you are fine to experiment freely. As for your earlier question, about The Order. I’m merely one part of it, as we all are.”

  “Are you sure Keiji wont just shoot me?” I blurted out.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  “As much as I would like to,” Keiji responded. “I wont disobey an order. Don’t provoke me, and you have nothing to worry about.” With that said, he seemed to relax. Pulling out a cigarette, he lit it and started to smoke.

  With the approval, I finally flexed the new muscle. Instead of feeling a string tying me to my shadow, I found myself seeing some scenery overlapping reality. Based on the lack of reaction from Keiji, it seemed he didn’t see whatever this was. It was a scarecrow, with 9 crows on or around it. All of it was very transparent, like none of it was really here. I felt connections to each one of them. With 9 flexes, I called each one to me. As I did, each crow became solid, and each one looked exactly like the one I had seen earlier in my room. I released the muscle, letting it relax. My head was hurting, like it had a minor headache, and yet, standing in front of me were the 9 crows.

  This time, Keiji reacted immediatly.

  “Wh-where did those come from??” He sputtered, his cigarette falling to the floor. Cursing, he stomped on it, grinding it with his foot.

  “I guess, from me? This is what I had wanted to try earlier.”

  “A little warning next time would be appreciated.” he huffed, getting another cigarette and lighting it.

  We lapsed back into silence, with the only noise coming from my crows. They hopped around me, cawing every so often. Two had decided to perch on my shoulders, resting there as they looked around.They would caw angrily when one of the others tried to hop on, flapping their wings to shoo the others off. the other just hung out on the ground, or hopped around. I looked at one who was still in front of me after being told off by the crow on my left shoulder.

  “Fly.”

  I’m not sure why I said it, some random impulse that came to mind, and yet the crow took off flying. It flew around the room, heading up towards the taller ceilings, and swooping down. I felt a pull in my mind once again, similar to the one that brought the scarecrow to me, and gave into it.

  I nearly puked again. I was seeing through the eyes of the crow as it flew around the room, I could see what it saw. The feeling was surreal. At certain points I could see myself sitting there in the crows eyes. The feeling of sitting still but seeing everything move around me as the crow flew was amazing. Despite the initial motion sickness, I was already starting to get used to the movement.

  “What are you doing?” Keiji asked.

  I cringed, I heard the voice twice, at a bit of a delay. It was like hearing yourself speak twice. Not only sight, but hearing too. These crows would make the perfect scouting tool. Still, it wouldn’t do to leave his question hanging. Common courtesy and all.

  “Just having my crow fly. As far as I can tell they are harmless, so don’t worry about me attacking or trying anything. Probably best used for scouting from what I can tell.”

  “Oh, and why is that?”

  I cringed again from the double speak delay. I pulled back from the crow, and felt it was much easier. No longer seeing through the crows eyes and hearing through it’s ears, I looked at Keiji.

  “Because, I can hear what they hear and see what they see. If I focus on one of them that is.”

  It was brief, but it almost looked like Keiji was impressed at that answer. It was gone too quick for me to know for sure though.

  No questions or comments from the boss though. Maybe he’s not impressed at the power, not impressed with me. He hired me to replace a very useful asset in Andree.

  Prove him wrong. Show your strength.

  As the intrusive thought hit me, it made me wonder. Where were these coming from? Did I always have them, or was it coming from my powers? It had proven helpful, but it had also proven to prefer violence and action. I had given in and listened to it, and it had kept me alive. But how much of that was just luck?

  “Thank you for your patience, the both of you.” The sudden sound of the man’s voice startled me from my thoughts. “Keiji, I’m entrusting you to take him to the hideout with the rest of the team. Make sure he gets introduced to them, and that Nebula understands the situation fully. I’ll be speaking to them so that they are expecting your arrival.”

  I looked over to Keiji, seeing him nod. “Understood. Ray, let’s go.”

  With that, he began walking towards the front door. This was it. This was the start of my new life. Working for a criminal boss. Being a murderer. I shivered at the thought.

  Stepping outside, I was blinded by the orange light in the sky. The sun was setting. Had I spent nearly a full day in here? It must be, it was dark when I woke up previously. Then the wind blew and I felt it cut me to the bone. I was in nothing but the weird outfit I had woke up in, and it provided no insulation from the wind.

  “Hurry up!” Keiji yelled.

  Right. Don’t upset the man who might still shoot me. Keiji’s vehicle was a standard black sedan. Nothing special about it except for the darker windows. I made my way to the front passenger seat, but noticed it was locked.

  “You ride in the back. And be careful with those crows!!”

  The crows! I had completely forgotten about them. They felt like just another extension of myself. I opened the back door, and willed the crows to hop in on the floor. Once the two on my shoulders were in the vehicle, I got in myself and closed the door.

  The car ride was silent, neither of us wanting to talk to the other. It was incredibly awkward, and it made the whole ride drag on even longer. I tried to pass the time by taking in the city as we drove. We were driving towards an area with many tall buildings, with lights just starting to turn on and be visible in the final bit of daylight. If I looked out past them, I could see a snow capped mountain range that the city seemed to be built up next too. It was definitely winter. The closer we got, the more i could see of the are next to the mountain. In fact, one area caught my eye enough that I braved asking a question.

  “Keiji, that are over to the right of us, by the mountainside. Why is covered in almost a dome of fog?”

  “That?” He said with a gruff humph. “Ask your new team about that. I wasn’t a part of it.”

  The car fell into silence once more. I watched that are of the city intently, trying to take in as much detail as I could. It really did seem like a dome that was keeping all the fog in. The surface was smooth looking, with nothing dissipating into the air. The fog was too thick to see deep into, but the bit I could see on the edges showed what seemed to be buildings encased in ice. I didn’t take my eyes off of it until it was blocked from view.

  We drove through the grid like streets, passing buildings taller than I had seen before. Finally though, we pulled in front of one that seemed to have a very similar look to the one we just left. The whole ride had probably taken 15 minutes since there had been little traffic.

  “We’re here.” He spoke. Keiji pulled the car around the side of the building where an underground parking lot was located. It was empty, but he still parked way in the corner, where his car would be neatly hidden from prying eyes.

  “Let’s go.” He turned the car off. “And be careful of those birds… We shouldn’t be seen but still.”

  We got out of the car, walking towards the lit elevator area. There were 6 elevators to choose from, and Keiji walked to the middle one on the left side. We waited for the elevator in silence. When it arrived, we walked in and Keiji hit the floor buttons in an odd sequence. I kept the crows close to me, one on each shoulder, one on my head, and the other six around my feet.

  14 5 12 3 20 8

  With a shudder the elevator moved backwards, then with a click, it plummeted down.

  “That will be your code to enter here. Remember it.”

  I nodded slowly. How did someone set all of this up? secret facilities under multiple buildings, it was all so insane.

  With a ding, the doors opened. I was face to face with my new team.