Chapter 57 (1/2)
Abby took the news regarding Matilda's suspicions about as well as Dan could've hoped.
”No no no, this is the worst, this is terrible,” she moaned, pacing back and forth in her kitchen, still dressed in her pajamas. Dan sat at the table, nursing a cup of coffee and waiting out her panic attack. He had come straight over from the Pearson, after Graham had left, to find Abby only just waking up.
He probably should've waited for her to ingest some caffeine before dropping the news, but this was fine too. Better for her to get it all out now, while she was still too drowsy to consider upping his training regime as punishment for his carelessness. She'd run out of steam eventually, and they could get to work actually solving the problem.
”It's alright,” he tried, testing the waters.
She turned on him like a wild animal, eyes blazing. Her hair puffed outwards, frizzy from stress and disheveled from sleep. She looked more like a pissed off mountain lion than the beautiful woman that she was.
”It is not alright!” she snarled viciously. ”She's gonna catch you and you're gonna get caught and you'll go to jail and I'll have to call Mama Ana to rescue you and then I'll owe her for the rest of my life and you'll have to go on the run and that is not alright!” Her words fired out in rapid staccato, and she was wheezing by the end of her rant.
Dan, very carefully, stood up and gave her a hug. She bristled at the contact, at first, before slowly sinking into him. He rubbed circles into her back until she was breathing steady once more.
”I'm okay now,” she murmured, her face pressed into his shoulder. ”Sorry.”
”You got nothin' to apologize for,” Dan replied, leading her over to the table and sitting her down. He took a quick look into the nearest cabinet, digging out another coffee cup and filling it. He stuffed the mug into her hand, then took a seat across the table.
She sipped at it with a heavenly sigh. ”Thanks.”
”Anytime.” Dan grinned. ”You good now?”
”Mm good,” she mumbled into her cup. She took another delicate sip. ”Ahh~”
”So,” Dan attempted once more, ”any ideas on how to fix this?”
Abby reclined into her seat, shifting around to get comfortable and kicking her fluffy slipper-clad feet onto the table. ”Well,” she mused, ”a good start would be to deny everything. You might've given away the game already, but she doesn't exactly have proof of anything.”
Dan frowned. ”Would that work? She's got a recording of me.”
”Do you think you messed up on camera?” Abby asked curiously.
”Well, no,” he admitted, ”but I must have. She seemed fairly certain that something was off about me.”
”She might've just been legitimately curious about your mutated upgrade, at first,” Abby pointed out. ”I'm sure you becoming a stuttering mess as soon as she questioned you on it wasn't suspicious at all.” Her last words were drawn out, dripping with sarcasm.
Dan flushed, taking a sip of his own coffee to hide his face. ”It seemed reasonable at the time.”
”Mmhmm,” Abby hummed affectionately. ”So either she has solid video evidence of your power doing something it shouldn't, or she made a guess based off your spectacular poker face.”
”Those seem to be the options, yes,” Dan muttered into his cup.
”Denial is still your best bet,” Abby summarized, tilting her cup in Dan's direction. ”You're technically registered as a mutate, yeah?”
”Marcus entered me into the system, somehow,” Dan clarified slowly. ”I've got no idea how good my, um, cover is. He basically told me to try not to get arrested for anything serious.”
”So it might hold up to a basic background check,” Abby mused, twirling a strand of hair through her finger. ”This Matilda,” she packed more vitriol into that name than Dan heard in an average year, ”clearly has friends in law enforcement, so we can assume that she can get your registry information.”
Dan fidgeted in his seat, uncomfortably aware of how serious this could be. ”Is that a good thing?”
”Could be,” Abby replied with a shrug. ”I doubt she'll expect you to have the capability to dupe the upgrade registry. That's... not something just anyone can do.”
Yet another reminder of Marcus's mysterious background. Dan would get those answers, eventually.
”If you wanted to be certain,” Abby offered slowly, ”then I could ask Mama Ana to take a closer look into your background. She would be able to find out how secure your file actually is, and let us know if there are any issues.”
A cold wind flowed through Dan's body in a wave. He felt as if someone had trod over his grave.
”I'll pass on that, thanks,” he responded weakly. ”Your grandmother terrifies me, and I don't want her to know any more about me than she already does.”
Abby mumbled something into her coffee mug.
”What was that?” Dan asked, dread pooling in his stomach.
”I said, uh, she probably already knows something is off about you.” Abby's eyes widened, and she flailed her free hand. ”N-not that there's anything wrong with you! It's just, um, she's a little paranoid? She probably gave you a rigorous background check after the first time I mentioned your name. But she clearly approves of you, because she let you into the mansion! Or, at least, doesn't disapprove too much...” She trailed off, to Dan's growing horror.
”That's—” Dan exhaled forcefully. ”Nope! Not dealing with that right now. Let's table that issue. Moving right along!”
”Right!” Abby nodded in agreement. ”Other options. Um.” She scrunched her forehead in thought. ”I guess you could tell her the truth?” The uncertainty in her voice exposed just how little she favored her own suggestion.
”I don't think so,” Dan immediately replied. ”Not only is she a total stranger to me, she's already proven that she isn't averse to a bit of implied blackmail. I'm not gonna give her more power over me.”
Abby sighed in relief. ”Oh, good. Because that was a really bad idea.”
Dan held his hand up, thumb and index finger barely apart. ”Just a little bit.”
Abby rolled her eyes. ”Anyway. My suggestion is this: go meet with her, see what she has to say, and play as dumb as possible. This woman is an upgrade analyst, not a scientist. Mutations are poorly understood as is; she's got no way to confirm her suspicions so long as you're careful around her.”
”Why meet with her at all?” Dan asked curiously. ”Why not just ignore her completely?”
”Why risk her making a fuss?” Abby replied with a shrug. ”Better to entertain her curiosity, but make it clear that there's absolutely nothing interesting going on with your power.” She paused. ”Alternatively, you could pretend that your mutation was poorly documented, and go along with whatever ideas she suggests. Up to you.”
Dan ran his hand through his hair, rubbing at the back of his head. ”I think I'm gonna make a list of exactly what aspects of my power I'm allowed to show in public, and stick to that from now on.”