The foster mother came upstairs the next morning, startling Zane's head from Joseph's chest. She turned away to look at the wall as Zane struggled from the blankets, careful not to wake Joseph, who had not noticed her come in. She chuckled.
He had found out her name was Marlene, and she had taken care of hundreds of foster kids throughout her life. This house had been her home since she was a girl, and she continued to use it as a foster home so the kids she took in could experience what she had. Even in a perfect world free of climate change and poverty, still human beings abandoned their children. But when they did in London, Marlene was there, ready to take them in. Zane figured the category of unwanted children included him now. It wasn't a great feeling.
Her face was aged and wrinkled, but she was still a beautiful woman. Auburn hair flowed down past her shoulders, a soft color in contrast to Daisy and Anastasia's. Her eyes were a gentle and tender hazel and were filled with compassion and apology. She carried a tray with two cups of tea. "I've already visited your friends," she said, her voice soft as not to wake Joseph. "They told me of your... predicament."
Zane understood why they had told Marlene. She was very easy to talk to, much like Joseph said Zane was. He wanted to tell her everything he ever remembered, have her tell him it was all okay. He wanted her to be the mother he'd never really had, and it was pretty pathetic.
He nodded, not trusting himself to be able to close the dam of the words if it opened. She gazed back at him softly. "I hate to think that problems like yours still exist in our world, and I run a foster home." They shared a quiet laugh. "Either way, I'm willing to help out as much as I can. I want to do anything possible to eliminate this threat from your life. It's my responsibility as a foster mother to care for the kids I take in. Granted, you're a little older than most of my kids, but you have much bigger problems."
He smiled. "We can't ask you to do anything, Marlene," he said quietly. "You've done more than enough." She offered him both cups of tea. He took one for himself and placed the other on the nightstand for Joseph. "Thank you."
She smiled back. "I know you can probably take care of this by yourself, but Daisy spoke to me of the necessity of questioning those two from the car. I won't ask too many questions, but she did tell me something was done to you that makes you very dangerous and wanted dead." She tucked the tray between her arm and side. "I'm unwilling to participate, but I can get you into FEPE. That's likely where they went. FEPE has maps of the entire city. If they're trying to find you, they'll head there." Marlene's fingernails tapped against the tray. "I can't help you beyond that."
Zane grabbed her hand. "You're helping more than enough," he told her. "I can't imagine how much it must cost you to house us, even for two days. And getting us into FEPE is beyond generous. Your information has been invaluable and we can never thank you enough."
She laughed. "You young folk are so flattering," she chuckled, standing up. "We'll leave for FEPE at noon. I have a shift at the front desk. Be ready." She gave him one last soft gaze before leaving the room. "I loved a man once like you do now. It is the most wonderful feeling you'll ever experience. He's a kind boy. I hope you have plenty of time with each other. You only live once."
Her words comforted him. He did love Joseph, and her wisdom made him feel even better about himself. Wawrzynski faded away even more. He was obsolete. Zane had only to focus on keeping Joseph safe and interrogating the two people they'd seen in the car. They were the key to everything: Zane knew it. Wawrzynski had bothered to send them in to kill Zane and his friends, they were obviously important to his schemes.
He sat on the bed and watched Joseph's chest rise and fall through the blanket. He was smiling stupidly, but he loved it. Joseph was so beautiful, with his blue eyes that Zane had seen glint with laughter the night before, his ruffled brown hair that was so normal in color but unique in hairstyle.
Joseph, who had evidently woken up sometime during Zane and Marlene's conversation, said, "So we're going to FEPE today?"
Zane nodded. "Marlene thinks that's where they'll go to try and find us. She said they have maps there."
"We can't put her in danger, Z,"
"I know. She works there. She'll get us in when she goes for her afternoon shift. She said she'll do no more, and I never expected her to. We'll figure it out from there." He interlocked his fingers, twisting and turning them.
Joseph sipped his tea. He hissed at the heat of it. "We're trying to question the yellow girl and the small guy?" he asked curiously. Zane nodded. "But Jonas said that girl's been injected. What if she's stronger than us?"
"Then I'll get us out of there," Zane said, watching his own hands as they brought the mug to his mouth. The ace of spades rocketed to the front of his thoughts.
"How do you think they'll react?" Zane didn't need to ask to know he was talking about Zane's ability to take apart and reform other things besides himself, including other people. He was asking how their friends would react if they knew he could have gotten them out sooner. It may not be pretty, but if it kept Joseph safe, Zane would do it.
"I don't care," he said honestly. "I think they'll take life over death any day. If they don't, they've got some things to think about." He furrowed his brow. "If they don't know after seeing the files, then they must be pretty dense or just unobservant."
"I love it when you're defending yourself," Joseph said, smiling. "It's really cute."
"You flatter me," Zane said, planting a kiss on his cheek. He drained the last of his tea, leaving only the bag at the bottom. He waited patiently for Joseph to finish his.
"You know," Joseph theorized, swirling the remaining tea around in his mug. "I always wanted some cheesy romantic movie relationship with you, but everything in New Vancouver was a man and woman couple. Even though they were prohibited and hoarded by my mother, they still weren't very inclusive. So, seeing as you are not a woman, thankfully, or I am not a woman, thankfully, I don't want that with you."
Zane had no idea what kind of cheesy romantic movie relationship Joseph wanted with him, because he had never seen any. "Why not?" he said instead.
"Because those are set stories," Joseph told him, fixing him with a blue-eyed gaze. "I want us to create our own story. I want to be everything I've ever seen and known about relationships and I want even more than that. I want that because of you. You don't know it, but you deserve far more than what you've been through. You deserve a life you can be proud of and live for a long time. I want to give you that."
Zane was silent for a moment. "You wiped out the voice," he said quietly. "The one that told me to go back and obey orders. It's gone, because of you. So thank you."
Joseph smiled. "I'm glad it's gone," he said. "And I'm happy we get to make our own stories now. No more concrete paths. I know the future is uncertain and that scares you, but I'm here to help you." He handed over his mug and struggled out of the blankets, his shirt askew overtop his chest. He reached down and pulled it over his head, reaching for his pack on the floor for a clean article of clothing.
"I'm getting out of here before your pants come off," Zane said, stifling a laugh. He turned around with the mugs. Worries about the upcoming day bombarded his brain, but he shoved them aside. That was later. This was now.
"I know you want to see them off," Joseph smirked.
Zane rolled his eyes as he lightly closed the door behind him, leaving Joseph to change.
He descended the stairs and entered Marlene's kitchen, where she sat sipping her own cup of tea with a buttered piece of toast in front of her. They exchanged smiles and he walked over to the sink.
"I hope you don't mind me asking, but where did you come from? You seem... different. Like your actions are more robotic, more planned. And you analyze everything anyone says as if it's your lifeline." She took a bite of her toast, and Zane's stomach twisted.
"Daisy didn't tell you?" he asked calmly as he surveyed the sink of dirty dishes before him. Making a decision, he grabbed a cloth and the dish soap and began to fill the sink. Marlene grunted negatively. Zane sighed. "New Vancouver," he told her without turning around.
She gasped. "I thought nobody was supposed to go in or out," she said, astounded. "Is Joseph from New Vancouver as well?"
Zane nodded, perceptible enough that she could tell he nodded from watching the back of his head. "We weren't supposed to leave," he said. He considered how much he should tell Marlene. Even if he told her everything, nobody would believe her if she told them: it was a horrendously imaginable thing to imagine human experiments had escaped from an enclosed city and were convinced another world war was imminent. All of their identification was in New Vancouver. Even Daisy and the others' personal information had been transferred to New Vancouver when they were selected for the experiment.
He sighed. "I don't know if I should tell you much," he said. "It's quite startling." He scrubbed his and Joseph's mug before moving onto the rest of Marlene's dishes.
She laughed. "Startling, I can handle. I've fostered horribly traumatized children with gruesome stories of life on the streets or in abusive families. I'm almost entirely convinced I can handle anything you throw at me."
Zane told her everything, including everything he had never told anybody. She listened attentively as he described being kept prisoner in Wawrzynski's facility and his struggle to find the courage to escape. He told her about his and Joseph's budding relationship, and his hysterical friendship with Daisy. He told her about the serum and what it did to them, what it gave them. He told her of escaping and finally of coming to London only to find they were the targets.
When he was finished, the dishes were clean and drying. He towelled off his wrinkled hands and sat down next to her. Her toast lay forgotten in front of her. "Why don't you just run away?" she asked. The answer to that question had been an unspoken agreement between himself and his friends.
"The harder we try to get away, the harder he'll try to get us back," he told her sadly. "Our only choice is to stay here and hope we can question those two from the car. Wawrzynski is surely planning an attack with Japan's governors, and we have to find out where, so we can prevent it."
"So it'll be you seven against a major world power and a crazed city specializing in biological weapons designed to kill and create suffering?" she asked, a motherly look creeping into her gaze. Her fingers tightened around her mug, the tips whitening with worry. Her lips pursed.
"Marlene," he began. He took a deep breath. What he was going to say next, he knew was true, but hated to admit it. It spoke of power and greed, lust and want. "We are unstoppable." She lifted her head to look at him, and his stomach flipped. He didn't want her to see him as a power-hungry weapon, bloodthirsty and craving violence. But what he said was the truth. He knew it, and he hoped she did, too. Wawrzynski had created exactly what he wanted: unstoppable weapons of mass destruction. But he didn't know how to control them.
"I just don't want you to get hurt," she whispered. "The reason I got into foster care was because I always got way too attached to problematic or troubled children. I suppose you guys are no different. Your problems are larger than I'd ever imagined. I only hope getting you into FEPE scratches one problem off your list of many."
"It does, Marlene," he told her, gently prying the mug from her hands and quickly washing it. "It helps us greatly. I only hope you don't have to get involved too much."
"I'm already in over my head," she chuckled.
"Please don't go any further," he implored her. She whispered a promise and a reassurance to him and he went back up the stairs. There were still several hours until they left for the FEPE building, the large glass skyscraper deep in downtown London.
When he reached the top of the stairs, Joseph leaned over the railing, watching him carefully. He was dressed in a dark polo shirt with the top two buttons undone, probably intentionally. Tight black jeans covered his legs and simple white sneakers rested against the thin carpet stretching the length of the hallway. He had swept his hair back like a wave, but a few stray strands poked out. More irregularity that was probably intentional. He frowned. "Everything you told her," he said. "About how you felt in that room. Was it true?"
Zane cringed. "Yes," he said. He averted his eyes. "Does it make you hate me?"
"On the contrary," Joseph said, striding forward and taking Zane's hand. Zane lifted his eyes from the tight black jeans. "It makes me want to hold your hand and help you forget it." His eyes developed a twinkle of humor and admiration. "I don't want you to feel that way again. Ever."
Zane blushed at Joseph's honesty. "Thank you," he said. Joseph looped a finger in Zane's belt loop and pulled him in close for a kiss. Zane tilted Joseph's head downward by way of fingers in his hair. His other hand reached up to caress the other boy's cheek. Joseph groaned slightly and Zane broke the kiss.
"We've got to head to FEPE soon," he said.
Joseph whined. "Are you gonna make me work that much to get into your pants?"
"I'm just getting started,"
"You're so hot,"
Zane blushed again.