Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Nick sat alone, in silence, trying desperately to make sense of all this new information. Try as he might, however, he just couldn’t wrap his mind around everything.

“Blackwell was in my dream,” Nick thought. “How do you explain that?”

What bothered Nick even more wasn’t how his dream was turning out to be true, but Erica’s relation to Blackwell.

“She loved him. What happened?”

Nick’s eyes were growing heavy. He glanced at the clock on the wall. It had been almost an hour since everyone went to sleep.

Nick sighed and stood up. He didn’t care how late it was. He wanted answers now and something as little as sleep wasn’t going to stand in his way. Nick walked up to Henry’s door and knocked hard.

“What?!” Henry yelled, throwing the door open. Upon seeing Nick, his expression softened, but he remained very clearly annoyed. “You do know it’s one in the morning, right?”

“Sorry,” Nick responded, though he wasn’t very sorry. “But I need answers. Who is Nicholas Blackwell?”

Upon hearing the name, Henry’s tired expression wavered, replaced for a quick second by shock. “Who told you that name?”

“Erica.”

“Erica did?!” Henry asked in disbelief. “How’d you get her to talk about him?”

“What do you mean?” Nick replied, smiling slightly in triumph. He saw an opening, an opening he could easily exploit.

Henry sighed and rubbed his face in his hands. “Fine,” he stated flatly. “I guess I can tell you. Come on.”

They walked over to the couches and sat down, facing one another. Henry thought for a moment, then began.

“Blackwell was the first Enhanced the CIA ever came across, partly because he is the most powerful Enhanced in the world, so he attracted a lot of attention. Something happened that I don’t know about that caused the CIA to notice him and track him down. Before they discovered him, no one knew about us. They were scared of him. They wanted to lock him away forever as a threat to national security, but a rising star in the CIA suggested a different option. He wanted to work with Blackwell to form an organization that would monitor Enhanced activity and use them for the good of mankind. Thus, the Enhanced Division was born.”

“Who was it?” Nick asked. “The CIA agent.”

“You met him,” Henry said with a laugh. “Special Agent James Minus.”

“Really?” Nick asked in disbelief. He could hardly believe Minus had actually come up with the idea for the entire Enhanced Division all by himself. He didn’t really strike Nick as much of a thinker.

Henry chuckled. “Yeah. Anyway, Blackwell and Minus worked side by side building up the Enhanced Division. He was actually the Enhanced Warrior’s first member as well. We all have Blackwell and Minus to thank for being here.”

“So, what happened?” Nick asked, finally getting to the point he was so curious about. “Why isn’t he here?”

Henry sighed. “He became too powerful. He was already strong when he started here, but over time, he became even stronger. Almost to the point of being frightening. He began to unlock abilities no one had ever heard of before. He could look into other people’s minds, read their thoughts, and even control them. Can you believe that?”

Nick was silent, his mind reeling. He could believe it.

“He became so powerful, he began to look down on everyone else around him. He saw himself as superior. Eventually, he had enough of everyone. He left the Enhanced Division and disappeared.”

“What happened to him?” Nick asked, his throat going dry.

“We don’t know,” Henry responded with a shrug. “We hear reports from time to time of sightings, but none of them ever pan out. He basically fell off the face of the earth.” Henry’s eyes squinted, suddenly suspicious. “Why are you so curious?”

“I don’t know. I just wanted to know who had my room before me.” Nick put on his best convincing grin, but Henry wasn’t buying it.

Henry shook his head. “No. I woke up at one in the morning to answer your questions, now you have to answer mine. Why are you so curious about Blackwell?”

Nick stayed silent for a moment. Should he tell Henry about the dream? From what he just said, Blackwell could read thoughts, which sounded an awful lot like what happened in his dream.

But what if he was wrong? What if he told Henry about his dream and he laughed it off? The last thing Nick wanted to be on his first day was seen as a joke, or worse yet, crazy.

Nick finally decided on a somewhat believable story. “I found a small box under my bed. It had some stuff in it from the previous occupant of the room. Let’s just say it sparked my curiosity.” It was the truth, but not the full truth.

Henry gave Nick one last skeptical look, but then seemed to buy the story. “Really? What was in it?”

“Nothing much,” Nick replied. “Just nick knacks and a few photos. Nothing too big.”

“Oh,” Henry said, his face falling. It seemed like he expected more to be in the box. “You know, you’re a lot like Blackwell.”

Nick stared at him, dumbfounded. “What?” he stammered.

“It’s true,” Henry continued. “You’re both powerful. You’re both hotheaded. It’s like he’s here again.”

Henry yawned while Nick continued to look shocked. Was he really that similar to Blackwell?

“Anyway,” Henry said. “You should be getting to bed. Goodnight Nick.” Henry began to move back towards his bedroom.

“Okay,” Nick said, standing up himself. “Wait.” Henry turned and looked back at him. “What was between Erica and Blackwell?”

A shocked look appeared on Henry’s face, then quickly vanished. “You know about that too?” he said, to which Nick replied by nodding. Henry sighed. “When Tom and Erica were first brought here, Erica fell for Blackwell hard. They even started going out a week before he left.”

“And he just left her?” Nick asked.

“From what I heard, Blackwell tried to convince Erica to come with him, but she refused. If you want to know why, ask her because none of us know. She wouldn’t even talk to Tom about it.” Henry turned and entered his room. “Goodnight Nick.”

Nick sighed and decided to follow suit, entering his room and crashing down on his bed, knowing he would be absolutely exhausted in the morning.

What he didn’t know was he wasn’t the only one awake. Erica was as well, but not in bed. She was leaning against her door, having been listening to every word Nick and Henry said.

 

Erica sat in silence, absorbing the conversation she had just overheard. It was all true, even if it wasn’t the full story.

During the course of the conversation, several things became startlingly apparent to her.

The first was that no one knew the full story. Henry was the heart and soul of the Enhanced Division’s gossip. If something happened that was worth mentioning, he knew about it. If he didn’t know the full story, no one did, well except Minus of course.

The second was Nick now knew about Blackwell. Surly Minus wouldn’t have mentioned Blackwell to Nick. He would probably be happy if everyone suddenly forgot Blackwell even existed. Now, his newest recruit knew about him, which he most likely not be happy about. 

Thirdly, and probably most unsettling, was how similar Nick was to Blackwell. It had been what was bugging her since they first met. It was why she felt she wanted Tom to get along with him. It was why she wanted desperately to protect him.

Nick had many of the same traits Blackwell valued above all else: Cunning, intelligence, and perseverance. Erica now knew why she felt so unsettled when she read Nick’s emotions. It was like Blackwell was there again.

A tear appeared on the edge of her eye and she wiped it away. “No!” she told herself. “Blackwell is gone! Stop crying about it and get on with your life!”

But she couldn’t. Not matter what she did, his ghostly image was always in the back of her mind, taunting her with his kind smile that had told her so many times “I love you.”

She pulled her knees up close to her chest and buried her face in them as tears began to flow uncontrollably. She had been trying for a while now to suppress the memories, but they were never gone. They were always there, and no matter how much she tried to ignore them and get on with her life, they would never leave her.

She timidly climbed to her feet and crossed the room to her bed. She laid down and allowed her tears to flow down onto upon it, staining the blanket. Slowly, she could no longer stay awake. Exhaustion took her as she drifted off to sleep.

 

“Come on Nick! We have to go!”

Nick was awoken by violent tapping on his arm. He opened his eyes to see Henry leaning over him. “Huh?” Nick said groggily.

“We have an assignment! They told me to come and wake you.”

“Really?!” Nick cried, jumping out of bed, instantly alert. Now that he was fully awake, he could see Henry was dressed in an outfit very similar to the one Erica had been wearing when they had first met. “You mean I can come with you guys?”

“Yeah,” Henry said with a smile. “No better way to learn than on the job, right?”

Nick smiled and bolted past Henry into the main room, where everyone else was already waiting. They too were dressed in matching black outfits, which Nick noticed were all slightly different. Nick tried his best to memorize the differences as quickly as he could before they put their masks on.

“Do I get one?” Nick asked, excited.

Tom looked at him and smiled his signature cruel grin. “No. I guess they didn’t think you were important enough to have one.”

Nick frowned, catching Lizzie’s attention. “Don’t worry Nick. I’m sure they just haven’t had time to make you one yet.” She examined him up and down for a brief moment. “Are you really going dressed in that?”

Nick looked down at himself. He had gone to sleep in his jeans and T-shirt like he always did and didn’t see anything wrong with it. Thinking about it more, though, it did seem funny to run off to fight crime in wrinkled clothes that looked like you just crawled out of bed, which is what Nick had just done.

“One second,” Nick said and hurried back into his room. He removed a clean pair of jeans from his bag and threw his black bikers jacket on over his T-shirt. He grabbed his mask purely out of instinct and shoved it in his pocket.

He ran out of his door a moment later. “Ready,” he said.

“Took you long enough,” Tom muttered under his breath. “Come on everybody.”

They exited the room and ran down the corridor, emerging in the hanger that Nick and Tom had fought in. They ran across the hanger towards a man who was standing next to a set of stairs leading up to a small jet.

The jet was small, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t impressive. It was pure white and as sleek as an arrow. The engines were massive, indicating just how fast the thing could go.

Lizzie noticed his expression and smiled. “Impressive isn’t it? It’s called the Falcon. It was made especially for us. It’s the fastest of its kind. It can get you from New York to San Francisco in an hour.”

Nick had to admit, he was impressed. 

“Morning Raymond,” Tom said to the man as he began to climb the stairs.

Raymond nodded in recognition. “Good morning to you too Mr. McLain.” Nick couldn’t help but smile. Raymond was British, complete with the accent and stereotypical British butler suit. For some reason, Nick found it amusing.

They all quickly boarded and strapped themselves in. Raymond moved towards the front and sat himself down in the pilot’s position. Nick jerked in his seat as the plane lurched from its stagnant position and moved from the hanger, emerging onto a runway.

Nick peered out the window and gazed at the outside terrain. “Where are we?” he asked.

“A remote section in Southern Ohio,” Josh responded. “They wanted the base to be remote, but not too remote so we couldn’t respond quickly to threats.”

“Wait,” Nick said, a detail catching his attention. “You brought me all the way from Washington DC to Ohio while I was unconscious!”

Josh grinned. “Welcome to the CIA.”

The plane lurched forward and began to gain speed. Nick continued to look out the window, his eyes wide with excitement. Believe it or not, he had never actually been in a plane. He probably looked like some giddy eyed tourist, but he didn’t care. This was exciting!

The plane left the runway, causing them all to lean back in their seats. When they reached cruising altitude, Tom unbuckled himself and stood up.

“Alright team, listen up. A break in was reported in a Boeing research facility in Lansing, Michigan. The intruders took hostages and it’s likely they are very heavily armed.”

“Why are we all being called in for a hostage situation? Isn’t this a job for Josh?” Henry asked.

Tom and Josh both shot Henry a vicious scowl, causing him to melt away, probably more due to Tom than Josh. A moment later, Tom continued.

“Because this facility has special ties to the United States military. Several of the projects inside are classified. We need to get in and subdue the perps as quickly as possible. Everyone understand?”

There was a general murmuring of consent among them. Suddenly, Raymond called from the front of the plane.

“We’re approaching the drop sight sir!”

“Thanks Raymond,” Tom called back. “Okay everyone! Prepare for the jump!”

“Wait…jump?” Nick asked, feeling wary all of a sudden.

“Oh didn’t you know?” Tom replied, stepping forward to plant a firm grip on Nick’s shoulder. “We can’t land the plane since that would take too long and attract too much attention. Instead, we jump.”

“Okay,” Nick said, growing more nervous by the second. “Can I have a parachute then?”

Tom laughed cruelly. “Parachute. I thought you were an Enhanced.” The back of the plane suddenly opened, causing wind to whip through the cabin. “Here’s your first lesson. Concentrate on yourself as the thing you wish to move. And don’t forget to mind the ground.” Tom gave Nick a hard push forward, sending him ever closer towards the hatch.

He looked back, a pleading look in his eyes, hoping desperately for someone to jump out and yell “Psych!”, but no one did.

“Good luck!” Lizzie called, giving him a reassuring smile.

Nick turned towards the hatch and looked out, watching the ground fly by beneath them. This was crazy! He had only ever elevated himself a few feet, and even then, it wasn’t flying. More like controlled falling. What made them think he could do this?

Nick looked back at Tom and saw the cruel smile etched on his face. He expected Nick to fail. Anger bubbled up in Nick’s stomach once again. He wasn’t going to let him have that satisfaction.

In what was probably one of the stupidest moves of his life, Nick held his breath, and jumped.