Asylum

Plan in Motion

"If we're going to talk, I want to drink something warm and you're paying for it," he snaps.

Sighing, I glance back at the dojo, squinting my eyes to focus my vision better. Ren and Kya look at the cherry blossom trees, which have never bloomed in wintertime. Hesitantly, I slide off the building, landing on my feet like a cat. "Sounds fair enough."

I take Cerberus to an indoors sushi place, where he orders a cup of warm water and I get a sampler platter of their best fish rolls. Cerberus is still sleepy; his hair is a mess, his loose shirt s wrinkled, he's wearing pajama flannel pants, and only had time to slide on flipflops. He's either really exhausted or he just doesn't care what other people think. Probably both. "So," Cerberus starts once his eyes open a bit more and he seems alert. "What is so important right now?"

"A few things," I tell him, using chopsticks to pluck a California roll from my dish. "One, you mentioned in a previous meeting that you discovered your power by accidentally linking to someone in a passing van. You teleported. How long ago was that?"

Cerberus frowns, considering his steaming water for a while. He runs a crooked finger around the rim of his glass cup, chewing on his bottom lip. It's funny: for someone who ruthlessly pounds on the Reaper when his MPD kicks in, he sure is a timid kid. "You want to talk about my past? That's why I'm here at this time?"

"I said I had a few things to talk about. This is just one of them."

He sighs then pushes his drink aside. "That was around six years ago. Sarah and I came into Asylum in the same year. Why?"

I furrow my brows. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, Xavier," he snaps, suddenly defensive. "I'm pretty sure I can remember the day I learned I had supernatural powers. I asked you why."

"Take it easy," I calm him down, giving him a dismissive wave of my hand. "It's just that I thought no two people had the same ability. So, how did you teleport if teleporting was my thing?"

Cerberus shrugs. "You were a late bloomer. Maybe it was someone else's power until, somehow, you took it away. I don't know. It's not really an issue of mine. What else did you want to talk about?"

"My, you're in a rush," I grouch, chewing on another sushi roll.

Evenly, Cerberus stares at me; defeat and boredom swirling in his green-gray eyes. "It's been a long day."

"Why didn't you just take them in when you had the chance? Why bother fighting Ren?"

Cerberus runs his hands through his hair, which makes it even wilder. "Bringing them to the bunker wasn't about that. Reaper didn't need information or to take them all in yet. She needed to push Kya into using her dark powers. She's got a type of lingering hold on the Reaper, and triggering some change in Kya was the only way to do it."

"Did it work?" I ask.

"We got Kya to use it, but Reaper's condition has worsened."

"What kind of condition?"

Cerberus leans over our table, pointing a dysfunctional finger in my transformed face. "Are you our superior in SD? No? I didn't think so. If this is an interrogation on today's events, save your breath. Nothing great happened."

"Fine," I give in, putting my hands up in a surrender position. "I have one more question."

Angrily, Cerberus swipes his water from the table and chugs it down like he's never tasted H2O before. "What is it?" Boy, he's cranky when he's tired.