Chapter 91 (1/2)
The little group quickly relocated to the living room. Dan was shooed away to the couch by Abby, who went straight to the kitchen to make drinks for their guests. She dug through Dan's cabinets with the confidence of a person who had placed everything there to be found, and quickly had a pot of coffee boiling merrily away.
Freya made small talk with Dan about their shared Academy class, while Connor tossed in the occasional comment. Dan watched as the boy's leg bounced up and down continuously throughout their entire conversation. He seemed less composed than usual and his remarks lacked the sharp bite that they usually held. His mind was clearly elsewhere.
Fortunately, Abby quickly finished her work and joined in, smoking mugs of bitter caffeine in hand. With drinks distributed and energy levels slowly normalizing, the chatter drifted to a different topic. No one present had much tolerance for menial conversations, so more serious business was quickly brought to light.
”I don't really know where to begin,” Dan admitted, as he ran a finger along the edge of his mug. He felt, now that the two APD-hopefuls were actually here in front of him, a little nervous about his plan. And more than a little guilty about the lies he was about to spin. It wouldn't be anything direct, nor any more dishonest than the lie he told every day about his power, but it still felt like a betrayal. It was a bittersweet feeling, confirmation that he truly felt that they were his friends.
Soon, he promised himself. Once everything with Anastasia was resolved, and his identity was secure, then he'd tell them. For now, the lie would have to suffice.
”Treat it like a transaction, Newman,” Connor spoke up impatiently. ”We're trading advice.” He made a get-on-with-it motion, twirling his finger parallel to the ground. ”I'm being irrationally generous by letting you go first, so hurry it up!”
Then again, sometimes lying came easy.
”More like uncharacteristically generous,” Dan sniped back, rolling his eyes. ”Alright, then. The rundown.”
He flicked his eyes to Freya. ”You remember Matilda Fairbanks?”
The statuesque Valkyrie raised one of her immaculate eyebrows. ”The upgrade analyst?”
”The very same,” Dan confirmed. He filled in Graham, ”She shadowed one of our training exercises as a favor to our teacher. And after, she volunteered to train a few of us one on one.”
The younger man nodded, repeating his finger motion.
This was where things got a little... deceitful. Dan took a deep breath. ”I haven't mentioned it yet to Officer Tawny, but she's been harassing me ever since then. Phone calls, weird messages, and acting generally sketchy during our training sessions.”
”What!?”
Freya's exclamation made him jump, and he found the blonde girl staring at him, aghast.
”She's been behaving inappropriately towards you?” Freya demanded, almost rising out of her seat. Her head jerked to Abby. ”Did he tell you about this?”
”Not in the way you think,” Abby replied in a bland monotone, flicking her hand dismissively. ”The crazy old bat is obsessed with his mutation.”
Abby's calm facade took the wind out of Freya's sails. The blonde slumped back into her seat. ”Oh. Well, you should still say something to our professor,” she told Dan. ”He needs to know that his colleague is being unprofessional.”
”That's...” Never gonna happen. ”Next on my list,” Dan lied. ”I haven't gotten to the important bit yet.”
He paused, schooling his features. ”Matilda always seemed a bit off, and after she started harassing me I asked Abby's grandmother to look into her background.”