Chapter 9

Chapter 9

There was only one place Erica went when she was feeling conflicted. She went to Fox.

Fox was only his nickname. His real name was Chuck Barkley. He is an elderly gentleman who works in the Enhanced Division as a decryption specialist, but that’s only his day job. When he’s not breaking into some of the most secure computers on the planet, he was Erica’s resident therapist.

Erica opened up to very few people in her life. Tom was one of them, but his overprotective nature usually made discussing things with him…difficult. The only other was Fox, who had a knack for calming someone down with a single look. You would be very hard pressed to find anyone who disliked him.

The nickname came from his appearance. Though he was verging on seventy, he still had a full head of fiery red hair. Hence the nickname “Fox”.

Fox usually worked in his office, so that was where he looked for him first. As she was about to enter, however, Henry popped out of the door.

“Erica!” he said in surprise as he ran into her. “I’m sorry.”

She didn’t respond. “Is Fox in?”

“Yeah. I was just talking to him. Head on in.”

Erica wasn’t surprised Henry was there. Actually, she expected it. When Henry first showed up to the Enhanced Division, he was already pretty good at breaking into heavily guarded places, but his computer skills lacked the same finesse. Fox had personally taken him under his wing, giving him the computer skills that had been invaluable on many missions.

She said goodbye to Henry and headed in. The familiar hum of the computers greeted her. She found Fox seated at his desk, pecking away at the keyboard. Of all the places in the base, Erica always liked Fox’s office the most. For one, it had the greatest view out of its large window wall.

“Erica,” Fox said with a smile, looking up to greet her. “Henry was just telling me about your mission. Glad no one got hurt.”

“Yeah. It went pretty smoothly,” she responded.

“But,” Fox said, holding up a finger and smiling. “You did not come to me to discuss your latest adventure.”

Erica sighed and pulled up a seat of her own. “You know me too well Fox.”

Fox let out a hearty laugh. “I would like to think I do. Now…” he leaned forward in his seat so he was closer to Erica. “…what would you like to talk about?”

Erica didn’t respond immediately. Where would she begin?

“Let me venture a guess,” Fox said. “This has something to do with the latest member of your team, Nick Bennet?”

In response to Erica’s shocked look, Fox laughed again. “Not all of us need to read minds to see the obvious Erica.”

Erica smiled slightly. “I guess so. And yes, it is about Nick.”

“And what will be discuss about Mr. Bennet?” Fox said, leaning back in his seat to get comfortable. “I have yet to meet him, but from what I’ve heard from Minus, he is hotheaded and extremely powerful.”

“But,” Fox continued. “We have both learned to never take what Minus says at face value. Why don’t you tell me your opinion?”

“Where do I begin?” Erica sighed, slouching down in her seat. “He is hotheaded, but he’s also sly, cunning, overly ambitious…”

“In other words, he’s Nicholas Blackwell.”

Erica’s expression grew guarded again. Why did he have to say that name? Erica did her best to hide her face from Fox, but it was too late.

“Erica,” Fox said as kindly as he could. “We’ve discussed this. The only way you are going to get over him is if you are actually willing to talk about him in the first place.”

“Can we not?” Erica asked. “Please?”

Fox shook his head. “You came to me because you needed someone to talk to and I am more than happy to do it, but if you want to talk, you have to talk about everything. That includes talking candidly about Blackwell.”

Erica turned her head away from Fox, who had been staring intently at her. “Erica, you may not trust anyone, but you can trust me.”

Erica turned back to Fox, but continued to stare at the ground. Her expression softening slightly. “Okay,” she said.

“Good,” Fox said. “So, where were we?”

“Bennet is a lot like…Nicky.” Erica stammered out.

“Oh yes,” Fox said, smiling slightly. “Call him Blackwell, Erica. With two Nicks running around, it can get a bit confusing.” He paused. “It’s almost uncanny the similarities between them, isn’t it? They’re both powerful. They’re both rebels. Even their names are similar. Nick Bennet. Nicholas Blackwell.”

Erica didn’t say anything, so Fox continued to what he was leading up to. “It seems like Minus has found his replacement.”

“What?” Erica said, looking up. “Replacement?”

“Yes,” Fox confirmed. “He has been looking for quite some time. He knew there was something missing in the team when Blackwell left. It practically tore the team apart. He intended to save the team by filling that gap.”

“You knew?” Erica breathed, suddenly growing angry. “Why didn’t you tell me he was looking for someone else?”

“This is why,” Fox said, pointing at her. “I know you and I knew how you would take the news.”

Erica was still mad, but calmed slightly. She couldn’t stay mad at Fox. “I guess so.”

Fox sighed. “I guess Minus only has to hope Mr. Bennet doesn’t go bad like Blackwell did. That would put another black mark on his record.”

“Blackwell didn’t go bad,” she shot at him. “He’s only a little misguided, but he’s still a good person at heart.”

“Poor choice of words,” Fox replied, trying his best to be soothing. Erica glared at him, causing him to chuckle slightly.

“Anyway,” Fox continued. “He seems to have found a dead ringer with Mr. Bennet. I imagine if Blackwell was here, they would either be the best of friends, or tear each other apart.”

Erica chuckled slightly, causing Fox to shoot her a surprised look. She rarely laughed. “If Tom saw Nick becoming friends with Blackwell, he’d probably kill him on the spot. He hates him already. He wouldn’t want to see him stealing his best friend.”

“Tom hates him?” Fox asked, raising an eyebrow. This was obviously news to him.

“Yeah,” Erica responded. She went on to tell Fox all about how they first met and how he destroyed the city street, then she told him about Tom and Nick’s later altercations, specifically the battle in the hanger.

“Well I can see where his anger is coming from,” Fox said when she was finished. “I have never met anyone more loyal to his friends than Tom. I imagine he’d hate anyone who hurt his sister.”

“What about Blackwell?” Erica said, her voice breaking halfway through. The name was still hard to stay.

“Special case,” Fox responded. “But what we have yet to talk about is your feelings towards Mr. Bennet.”

He looked at her expectantly, awaiting an answer, but Erica didn’t know what to say. “What do you expect me to say?” she asked.

“You said he’s like Blackwell, but that is a pretty general statement. Blackwell had his faults, but we all loved him just the same. What about Mr. Bennet?”

Erica paused, preparing her thoughts to answer. “I don’t know. He seems like a nice guy at heart, but I just can’t tell. He hides it all behind this sly exterior. It’s almost like he’s hiding something.”

“Well everyone has their skeletons,” Fox replied. “What do you think he’s hiding?”

To most people, this question would seem useless. How could you possibly know what someone is hiding? But to Erica, it was a perfectly valid question. She had a knack for being able to tell what people were thinking. She couldn’t read their mind like a book like Blackwell could, but she could tell when something was pressing on someone’s mind.

“I don’t know,” she said truthfully. “Nick is extremely difficult to read. He has so many conflicting emotions. Concentrating on him for just a few seconds gives me a splitting headache.”

“Headaches?” Fox asked. “Has this happened before?”

“Not for a while,” she responded. “It’s hard to read people with really powerful minds. The last time I got a headache from reading someone was…”

“Blackwell,” Fox finished. Erica’s silence confirmed his assumption.

“We’ll just have to wait and see then,” Fox said, leaning back in his chair once more.

“Whatever it is,” Erica said. “It really gets to him. He has an incredibly difficult time using his powers. I’ve tried to read him when he does. Whatever he’s suppressing is preventing him from using his powers.”

“I’ve never heard of that before,” Fox said, curious. “Interesting.” He stood up from his chair. “All I can suggest to you, Erica, is don’t dwell on him. He’s like Blackwell, but he’s not him. Blackwell is gone.”

Erica turned away as tears threatened to roll down her face, but she concentrated on her breathing and the threat diminished.

Fox was right. Nick wasn’t Blackwell. He was a completely different person.

“Thanks Fox,” she said, turning around and pulling him into a hug. “You always know just what to say.”

Fox returned it fondly. “Anytime Erica. Anytime.”

Erica broke away, and with one last wave at Fox, she exited the lab. A minute later, she was back in the living room, laying on the couch with a heavy sigh.

She laid down and closed her eyes, trying her best to relax. It was pretty stupid when she thought about it. The only reason she defended Nick was because he reminded her of Blackwell, but Nick had put her in danger many times. If anything, she shouldn’t be defending him, but mad at him.

“I am mad at him,” she thought to herself. “He came within an inch of killing me. I have no business defending him in the slightest.”

Her thoughts were cut short as the door flew open. Her mind instantly went to Nick, and how she would treat him if he talked to her, but when she opened her eyes, it was Tom, and he was fuming mad.

“Where is he?!” he growled, looking around the room.

“Who?” Erica responded, but she already knew who he was talking about.

“Dark Angel,” he said. “I was training him and he threw me into a wall!”

“Really?” Erica said, raising an eyebrow. The Nick Bennet she knew would never be capable of something like that. She tried to read Tom’s thoughts and saw he was holding something back. Judging from the savage look he had in his eyes, however, she thought it was best if she didn’t say anything.

“I’m going to go hunt him down,” Tom said. “If he comes here, let me know so I can kill him!” With that as his final word, Tom tore out of the room in search of Nick.

Erica, for the second time that day, did something very un-Erica like. She laughed.

“Good luck Nick,” she said to the empty room. “If Tom’s hunting you down, you’re going to need it.”