concealing ➸ tomlinson

xiii

"there's more damage." louis cut him off, pulling the sleeve down and walking again. "as long as i'm out of here within a few days, i'm fine."

"fine? jesus, it looked like someone tried to skin you."

"if jacob had let them, they probably would've."

zayn bit the inside of his cheek. "god i hate that creep."

"join the club."

"if it's any consolation, kris and i broke his door."

"that was you two?"

"kris came up with the idea, i just made the tools and helped."

louis smiled to himself. it didn't exactly measure up to the cuts and bruises, but it was something. his friends weren't just handing him empty promises like before. they were really willing to help him. although it slightly irked him that only when things got physical that they wanted to help, he didn't mind all that much.

a breath of fresh air.

he and zayn finally came to a set of double doors. this had been the only place louis had purposely neglected to show kris. he'd mentioned it, sure, but he hadn't told her where in the building it was.

inside the room looked like an office, despite being inhabited by people nearly 24/7. small stalls were pressed into the room, each occupied by a single person. except, they weren't really people. they were humanoids, brought to life by zayn; if you checked, you'd find his signature scrawled on their necks as a tattoo. they were created without the need for food, water, sleep, or even rest. their minds were nearly absent of substance.

almost. somehow, they always recognized zayn. when he and louis walked in, they looked up and began talking excitedly. zayn shyly waved, continuing down to the other end of the room.

"ever consider getting them to feed you grapes on a silver platter in your pyramid?" louis nudged him with his shoulder.

"dude, i'm not their pharaoh."

"good, i really don't care to imagine you in a tunic."

zayn rolled his eyes. "i look damn fine in anything, so shut up."

the conversation stopped as they came to mr. hill's door. louis knocked twice, then opened the door without waiting for a response.

"are there any open missions?" he asked immediately.

mr. hill patiently looked up.

"sir, i am practically jumping off the walls of this place." louis explained, "just any group mission'll do."

"you just brought in kris." mr. hill said, "the only known person of our kind with a black aura- i did do research. isn't she enough to keep you occupied?"

louis felt his face flush significantly.

zayn jumped in. "that's why we're asking for a group mission, sir. we can study her, for lack of a better term." he rubbed the back of his neck. "she, well.... has more than one power, as it turns out."

"what?" louis and mr. hill asked in sync.

louis looked him in the eye. "are you dicking with us?"

"no, i'm not." zayn exhaled, "last night, she turned invisible all on her own. no jokes."

mr. hill had noticeably paled. "well, there's no reason to suspect that'll be the last odd thing we get out of her."

louis nervously played with the cuffs of his sweater. "if we get her working with certain situations, maybe we can unlock them somehow? like power-up's in a game?"

"really? that's your compairison?"

louis glared at his friend. "you aren't any better than me. shut up."

"at least you understand the general concept." mr. hill said. after thinking a moment, he sighed. "kris won't learn all that much here. it's for the better that she get out into the world, learn how things are."

louis felt his worry evaporate, a large weight gone from his chest. "great, when can we leave and on what objective?"

"actually, we just got word in from the west coast. there's reason to suspect that we have an entire government building full. we're looking for discrete, quiet, in and out with any of our kind that you can find."

that was something else louis knew he'd need to explain to kris. the general public didn't know about them. the old folks in dc did. and they were literally mind blown by the prospect of powers. which made them a really big problem- if you weren't careful enough, they'd get you and your freedom would be gone.

"we'll call in an airlift; if we're lucky, it'll be here in the morning.

zayn asked, "how many people can we take along?"

"no more than ten."

louis nodded and opened the door again. "bless you, mr. hill. we'll see you bright and early tomorrow!"

he yanked zayn out with him and closed the door behind him. then, dropped his voice to a hushed whisper. "you were serious about kris turning invisible?"

zayn nodded. "i shit you not, she turned invisible, and then visible right in front of me."

the two pushed through the double doors and then stopped.

"alright, we have room for seven more people. you're coming, right?"

"that wasn't obvious?"

louis smiled, then began drumming his fingers on his left arm. "we have kris as a given. harry and niall definitely need to come along. courtney, of course."

"liam'd be an asset too, right?"

louis nodded. "yeah. anyone else? oh- maddie, maddie too."

"that's eight." zayn said, "do we need anyone else?"

louis ran through the list of everyone else in the base in his head. "no, we're good with eight."

"ok, i'll let them know. and you go to the infirmary."

"zayn-"

his friend glared at him, which cut him off. "get yourself healed up, or i'm dragging you down there by the ear." he patted louis's shoulder, then began walking back down the hall.

louis rolled his eyes, but there wouldn't be any reason not to get a bit of fixing up. the nurses were made by zayn too; they didn't ask questions and didn't talk about who they treated to anyone. he'd get in and out without problems.

well, maybe.

if you were logged into the infirmary more than twice a week, mr. hill was notified. louis, unfortunately, had an unsettling feeling that he'd be stopping by that place more than twice.

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