Chapter 13

Chris' POV

I watched Stacy stride purposefully towards the slimebag, while Jordan phoned the police and explained the situation. They would need an ambulance as well. That woman was not looking in a good way.

“I'm surprised you didn't notice before I pointed it out,” I commented to Jordan.

“Like every telepath, you learn to treat the thoughts like white noise and ignore it. It's easier with more people about you. I'm glad it doesn't bother you.”

I suspected that her ability to read thoughts would bother a lot of people and, even if you had no choice to constantly hear other people's thoughts, to hear negative crap just because of something you couldn't help, would be a type of hell I didn't want to imagine.

“Yes,” she said with a sad smile, following my thoughts. “There are plus sides,” she said with a smirk of her own, “we make great lovers.”

Naughty, naughty, she wanted me to think about sex. No, she is probably a master of getting people to think in the direction she wants and was steering me away from thinking about the negative aspects. She wouldn't want me feeling sorry for her.

She sighed. “Too intelligent.”

Stacy hadn't actually intervened with the guy, just stood near waiting for the police while prepared to prevent him from leaving or catching the woman before she collapsed. Another of her friends had her phone out and was recording the situation in a non-obvious way.

“Do you know the woman's name?” I asked Jordan, I thought I could help with the woman if the police arrived first, if only to provide moral support.

“He isn't thinking of it and she is out of it. We can move a bit closer if you are worried,” Jordan suggested. “He is beginning to become suspicious of Stacy.”

When the altercation happened it was quick. The police arrived, the man pushed the woman away from him pretending that she was bothering him and tried to walk away. The woman fell to the floor, only to be caught by Stacy who managed to somehow trip him up in the process. Quite masterfully done. I rushed to help with the woman allowing Stacy to keep a better eye on the man, but the police arrived and hustled him outside quickly. We stayed until the ambulance men arrived and took her off our hands. This left me in the middle of the superhero group, feeling a little exposed.

“We need to have a conversation and I think it needs to be private,” Stacy told me. “Will you come back with us?” she asked.

I sighed. “Sure, just let me phone my aunt to let her know I am alright. I figure I should be safe with you guys.” It was half statement and half question.

Stacy nodded.

“Aunt?” Jordan asked.

Telepaths knew when you were lying, so I allowed the fact that Talia was my daughter, but looked like my mother now to rise to the surface of my thoughts.

Jordan still looked confused.

“I'm sixty-eight, I can't call her my daughter now, can I?” I responded.

“She's sixty-eight and knew...” Sarah started.

“This needs to be private. Just let her reassure her 'aunt',” Stacy interrupted.

I put the phone on speaker so they knew there was no funny business. “Hey, princess, I'm going to be a bit delayed, so don't wait up.”

“Oh, what's the problem,” she asked.

“No problem, I err...” I paused thinking of a good excuse and only think of one and it wasn't ideal. “I got lucky,” I said eventually.

“That doesn't sound like you,” she stated.

I pretended to sound hurt. “Hey, that hurts.”

She snort giggled. “I didn't mean that. You have never been interested in one-nighters, even more so now.”

“True, true.” I looked at Stacy with a grin. “But Stacy is special, she has even promised me another date so I should be good. Anyway, as embarrassing as this conversation is, I need to get going. See you tomorrow. Love you.”

“Love you,” she said automatically and I put the phone down before there could be more awkward questions.

Chapter 14

I thought I would be taken back to the superhero building for my interrogation, instead, we went to a set of apartments that were in a non-descript high-rise, behind and towards the sea from the very visible hero building. The entrance was average, clean with a set of post boxes and two elevators facing each other. Once we all piled into the elevator, Stacy placed a hand over my eyes as someone played with the controls. I noticed we were going down, beyond at least two floors below the basement.

As the elevator doors opened, automatic lights came on and showed a tunnel. There was a clear camera before with a phone on the sidewall. Stacy waved before the camera, picked up the phone and explained that they were bringing a guest to security. At the end of the tunnel, there was another elevator that took us up to an open plan area with a kitchen, large dining table with chairs and three different lounge areas, one with a bookcase overflowing, one with a large screen and multiple game stations and a more traditional multiple sofas with a TV.

I was expecting an interrogation room so when the girls steered me to the comfortable seats I was pleasantly surprised. I shared with Jordan my image of a white room, white table and a huge light that someone was shining in my eyes with the hint of a German accent.

“So, what do you want to know?” I asked innocently.

“Everyzing,” Jordan said giving the German accent I was looking for.

“You have compromised our normal identities,” Stacy stated.

“How have I done that?” I asked. “Just because I worked it out, doesn't mean anyone else has.”

“I don't think you get this. You know. We don't know you. That means compromise,” Sarah pointed out.

“That is why we need to talk to you,” Stacy said.

“And I want to know how she knew,” Jordan added.

“Well, I'm here to make sure I organise a second date with Stacy,” I sassed.

“OK, let's start from the beginning. Where do you live and what do you do for a living?” Stacy asked.

“I'm sixty-eight years old and am currently living with my daughter and granddaughter, in a two-bed flat, so I suppose, I am looking for new accommodation. Since I have a biological age of fifteen, I call them my aunt and cousin. I'm retired and moved to the Gold Coast to start afresh. Not really looking for work at the moment, just finding my feet and working out what I want to do.”

“How did you work out our identities?” Sarah asked.

“As is fairly obvious, I have a superpower. I don't mind telling you the basics, but if you try and dig deeper with Jordan here to listen to my thoughts, I'm going to want to leave quickly and if I accidentally think of any dangerous elements, you will cause me to change my identity and run away. Nothing illegal, but I don't want to be a target or let my family become one.”

Everyone looked a lot tenser, so I obviously hadn't expressed myself well.

“You have a lethal power?” Stacy asked.

“Not to other people,” I answered, but it did occur to me then that I didn't know if pulling the soul to a cloned egg was voluntary or my power forced the issue. Either way, it wasn't lethal. “Just has the possibility of ruining my life, not others.”

They looked at Jordan, who nodded her head.

“So you don't want us to ask questions?” Sarah confirmed.

“I don't mind polite questions to expand on what I tell you or for clarification purposes, but no questions about whether I can do anything else and anything I tell you will be kept confidential.” Then I laughed. “This sounds like I am bigging this up. I wouldn't have mentioned any of this if I didn't have a telepath looking at my thoughts. My powers are not really that impressive. It is all DNA based. I can taste DNA. Taste isn't really the right word, but I don't think there is a right word. In the case of my own DNA, besides a core bit of DNA that I call my read-only DNA, that I think represents the elements I cannot change without altering who I am, the rest of my DNA I can swap with other people's DNA. So I can make myself taller, shorter etc, etc. The more I change the longer it takes for the change. If I activate my entire DNA rather than just a section of it, my body goes into a deep sleep for sixteen hours and I wake up with all the changes done and biologically fifteen years old. So age regression is what is on my driving licence and passport. No, I can't activate anyone else's DNA, but I am aware of all the DNA that I come into contact with and can read that DNA to some extent. There is a difference between live DNA and dead DNA. Live DNA which is mainly my DNA as well as bacteria and viruses that enter my body, I can understand completely, whereas dead DNA, which I am guessing is skin cells more than anything else, gives me a general idea. I can tell what someone would look like, what powers they might have, but reading that is more an art than a science. In terms of tonight, I could tell you all had superpowers which is a statistical anomaly, then I noticed the skill sets fit with the known powers of the Gold Coast Supers. The man who spiked my drink left his DNA on my drink, so I knew a man had interfered with it and what he looked like. It was a guess that he had spiked it, but what else was likely?”

There was a pause while they digested my explanation and also thought carefully about what to ask.

“OK, I have a question. I am the strongest regenerator on record in the world. I don't mean that as a boast, but I was told that I am going to live for hundreds of years and would eventually become the longest-living human. Why haven't I heard of someone who could potentially live forever?” Stacy asked.

“Well, that is an easy one. I didn't know I could activate my entire DNA and regress to teenagehood until a few months ago. Let me tell you, growing old isn't fun, so now that I am in a young body again, I feel full of life and want to enjoy myself.”

“You would make a perfect spy. You could look like anybody,” Sarah commented.

“I don't like violence and as much as I appreciate the job you guys do, I wouldn't want to do it myself.”

“A telepath would pick her out in a hot second,” Jordan pointed out.

“She would be a great detective, though. She could probably show us all the faces of the people who were present in a crime scene,” Sarah suggested, not deterred.

“I don't mind helping out, but I wouldn't want to endanger myself or my family. It would probably take about three hours to change my face to someone else's. It wouldn't affect the hair, show any damage that might have occurred or the age although I can tell the age of the DNA I sample, I can't artificially age my body.”

“That would still be really useful. We have software that can age an image or you could work with a sketch artist. Kidnapping or child abductions could really use those abilities and having an idea of perps with what superpowers they possess would be invaluable. I will talk to Derek the manager tomorrow and see if he is interested. You can either be hired full time which includes an apartment that is connected to this office or work as a consultant for a case by case fee structure. That is if he agrees,” Stacy said thoughtfully.

“Do I still get my date?” I asked cheekily.