Xander vol.1 Transmutation (16 page)

Just then, the horn from
one of the cars blew from outside, signaling that the group’s
search time was up. The men huddled together as they left the room,
leaving Nora to sob quietly under the bed, hand still over her
mouth. She waited until she heard the slam of the front door to let
out her sobbing pants, while digging her hand into her back pocket
to get her cellphone.

Chapter 14

With lethargic eyes,
Xander looked around at the room they had put him in. They had
bandaged his wounds, cuffed his wrists together in front of him, as
well as his ankles, and sat him down in a wooden chair behind a
metal table. The room seemed to be some sort of metal as well. The
walls were covered in some sort of metallic paint. The light from
the single naked florescent bulb in the center of the ceiling gave
the room a cold atmosphere, and did nothing to lift Xander’s
spirits.

Which were not actually
too low. Although he had been wounded and apprehended, he was,
nonetheless, curious as to why. He wanted to know just what was
going on, and why he had been captured. He hadn’t harmed anyone –
aside from Richard. But that was self-defense, as Saphora had
instructed. But his inquiries would soon be answered with the
presence of Agent Elba.

The door to the room,
previously locked, slowly swung open, revealing Elba’s tall and
muscular figure, hidden beneath the tailored suit he wore. The
sleeves of his white button down were rolled up to his elbows,
lined with the tip of his red tie. He kept his eyes averted from
Xander as he closed the door behind him, waiting to hear the sound
of it locking before turning around and making his way to the metal
table, which had an empty chair, identical to Xander’s, in front of
it.

Elba sat down with a sigh,
setting the manila folder he was carrying down in front of him,
slightly to his left. Xander sat in silence as he adjusted himself,
scooting the chair forward and resting his folded hands on the
table. Finally, Elba’s brown eyes rose to meet Xander’s violent
ones, a slight grin raising his bottom lids ever so
slightly.

“
Hello,” Elba greeted
wholeheartedly. Xander cocked a brow, almost warily. “I’m Agent
Elba,” Elba introduced, gesturing for Xander to do the same. Xander
eyes glanced to the side momentarily before returning to
Elba’s.

“
Xander.”

“
Xander,” Elba nodded with
a sigh. “Sorry we had to shoot you,” he apologized with a slightly
wider grin.”

“
Are you?” Xander
challenged. Elba raised a brow. “Your people said nothing when
barging in and proceeding to attack me,” he explained. “It doesn’t
seem like a very apologetic course of action.”

Elba gave a small
nod.

“
Would you have gone with
them if they’d asked?” Elba asked, remembering Saphora’s resistance
to as little as questioning. But Elba’s surprise, Xander
complied.

“
Of course.”

Elba’s brows
rose.

“
Really.”

“
I’m assuming you’re – you
and your people, that is, are the reason Saphora’s time on Earth
was so unpleasant,” Xander noted.

Elba grimaced, more out of
confusion than disapproval.

“
And assuming this, you
would have still gone? Seems foolish.”

Xander smiled, shaking his
head.

“
Knowing that does not
make me afraid. Merely aware.”

“
And how do you know your
time with us would not have been as unpleasant?”

Xander hesitated, thinking
of how to phrase his words.

“
Saphora was not confident
in her abilities, which resulted in fear. The case is not so with
me.” The change in Elba’s expression was slight, but did not go
unnoticed by Xander. Xander leaned forward a bit, folding his own
hands. “So, before you do whatever it is you’re going to do, I
suggest you keep that in mind.”

Elba’s face flattened at
the subtle threat.

“
Right,” he hummed. “So,
let’s start. You’ve already admitted to knowing Saphora. That’s
more than good progress.”

“
Am I being charged with
something?” Xander interjected. Elba paused, almost hesitated to
answer.

“
Sorry?”

“
That’s what this is,
isn’t it? People are brought to this … facility when ‘charged’ with
something. A crime, perhaps,” Xander went on to explain. Elba
couldn’t help but grin as he nodded.

“
Ah, so you’ve been doing
some homework.”

“
I’ve got a tutor,” Xander
agreed proudly, pleased to show of his knowledge of the
planet.

“
Did your tutor mention
homeland security? Or the ‘do whatever you want and get away with
it’ badge?”

Xander’s smug expression
faded just slightly.

“
We didn’t get to that
yet”

“
Yes, well,” Elba
chuckled. “I’ve got one of those. So, let’s stick to the topic at
hand.” Finding no come back off the top of his head, Xander let him
continue. “A few days ago, you were in Clemming’s City Mall,
correct? For multiple days, actually.”

Xander was silent,
immediately calling the memory of Richard and the condition he’d
left him in when encountering him. Elba took Xander’s silence as a
signal to continue.

“
And during your last
trip, there was a little
incident
,” he said as he reached
into the manila folder, pulling out a handful a pictures taken from
the mall’s security footage.

He sprawled them out in
front of Xander, each of the photos showing a different angle of
the event. One of Xander walking towards the damaged fountain. Once
of Xander catching and holding Nora, whose face was not in the
shot. One of Richard standing in the fountain, facing them both.
One of Xander and Nora standing behind the compact wall she’d
summoned to protect them. And two more of Xander fighting Richard.
The last photo showing static interference, most likely from the
electric waves Xander was emitting.

Elba let Xander look over
the dispersed pile of photos before continuing, watching his
reaction to them. Xander finally looked up at Elba, their eyes
meeting. Xander leaned back in his seat.

“
You have these, so you
know that my actions were brought on defensively, where as his were
offensive,” Xander pointed out.

Elba nodded.

“
Yes,” Elba agreed. “We
can see that.”

“
Then why he is not being
contained? Questioned?”

“
Simply because we don’t
know where he is.”

“
And you think I do?” Elba
paused, and Xander scoffed, shaking his head. “Why would I know
where he is? Don’t you think I’d be doing my best to avoid him?”
Elba gave a light shrug.

“
Then maybe you could shed
some light on why this happened, and who he is? As well as the
woman here that you appear to be helping. Are they more of your
kind? Like Tebias? Saphora”

Xander laughed.

“
No,” he said. “He’s
human.” Elba frowned, confused and in immediate denial. “Or, I
suppose, was.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
I couldn’t really tell
you,” Xander sighed, resting his folded hands in his
lap.

“
We’re going to need a
little more than that, Xander,” Elba egged. But Xander
shrugged.

“
Sorry. That’s all I
know.”

“
And what about the woman?
The one in the photos.”

“
Not giving her up,”
Xander answered bluntly. “You’re wasting your time.”

Elba paused, watching
Xander’s nonchalant body language with a tremor of aggravation. But
he maintained his composure, remembering the ace he had up his
sleeve. He gave a sigh, opening the folder again as Xander glanced
around the room. Taking out another photo, he carefully - calmly
placed it in front of Xander, drawing his attention. Xander’s eyes
lowered, looking over the photo once quickly, then again more
carefully. His body tensed at what he saw.

It was Loni. A photo taken
of her from someone’s cellphone the day she had wondered into the
café in town. She was waltzing out of the café with the cake she
taken in her mouth. Xander’s jaw clenched, but he fought with his
body to remain still, not wanting to give away a reaction. But Elba
had already seen.

“
Just wondering. Is this
your lion? You know, since Saphora had a dragon and all. And it
isn’t the zoo’s. We were wondering if it was yours,” Elba asked
casually.

“
I don’t have a lion,”
Xander lied, keeping eye contact with Elba.

Elba gave a slow nod, as
if to dismiss the question with that answer. He then pulled out
another photo, and slowly placed it directly on top of the
previous. This one was of Loni sitting behind bars in the cell,
unknown to Xander, that was directly below him. Her eyes were
glowering at the camera and its ower. Her body was spotted in
blood, and her hands were also cuffed. Xander’s hand
twitched.

“
Is
this
your lion?” Elba asked again
with emphasis.

Xander’s eyes snapped from
the photo to the cocky glint in Elba’s eyes. Xander hands slowly
balled into fists as he attempted to keep his composure.

“
Where is she?” Xander
demanded.

Elba sighed, leaning back
in his chair with crossed arms.

“
How about this?” Elba
suggested. “You tell us where that woman is? And we’ll give you
back your lion.”

“
This isn’t a game,”
Xander pressed.

“
No,” Elba agreed. “It’s
not.”

“
Where is she?” he asked
again.

“
Give me an answer, and
you’ll get yours,” Elba assured.

“
You’re regretfully
mistaking my demeanor for tolerance. Or what’s worse,
weakness
.” Xander stood
up, making Elba a little more than aware of the failure of the
stake. “Or worse still –
disloyalty
.” Xander glared down at
Elba, who was slowly backing away from the table in efforts to
stand up. “I’ll ask once more,” Xander offered, as he applied a
magnetic property to the cuffs he wore, and the walls that
surrounded him.

Within the instant, the
cuffs broke apart, each half zipping to either side of the room and
sticking to the walls, leaving his hands and legs free. Elba’s eyes
darted to either wall as he shot up, stepping away from his chair
as the naked bulb flickered.

“
Where. Is. My.
Lion
?”

********

“
So, like, are you tazed
on a regular basis?” Jared asked Loni.

They had been sitting in a
cell in the same building that Xander was being investigated in.
They were both cuffed, both injured – though one significantly more
than the other. Loni was sitting on a bench with Jared, after they
had been taken in from Maverick’s apartment. Neither of them had
been pulled aside for questioning, and just sitting in the cell
with Jared was being to ware on Loni’s nerves.

“
And where’d you learn to
fight like that? You like,
broke
the countertop with that guy’s
face
! Well, helmet, but
–“

“
Human,” Loni breathed.
“I
will
maul
you,” she warned.

“
And why do you keep
calling me human? Is that something you do when you’re mad? Are you
mad?”

Jared couldn’t help his
excitement – and curiosity. Being in that type of situation, it was
the only response he could think of to keep him from thoroughly
freaking out. If he had been sitting in that cell alone, he would
have surely begun to lose his sanity. Having someone to share the
experience with – whether they were engaging or not, was a buffer
for him.

Loni groaned at his
continuous questions. She was sure she would have no remorse in
killing him. The fact of the matter was that she didn’t want to
hear Xander’s mouth about it. But she was reaching her limit of
patience.

“
Do you think they’re
going to kill us?” Jared suddenly asked. “You don’t think they
would, right? Is your stomach okay? Is it still –“

“
Do you
want
death?” Loni asked
with sudden enthusiasm. Surely Xander wouldn’t be angry if the
human as
wishing
for death. “I can
give you
death, human,” she genuinely offered.

Before Jared could answer,
one of the on-guard security men banged their stick against the
bars of the cell, causing a moment of silence. And before Loni
could protest the treatment, she saw the flicker of the lights
above them. It was slight, but noticeable. The first wave went
unnoticed by the others. But the second wave was a lasting one,
with the lights turning off completely for seconds at a time before
flickering again.

Loni slowly stood, her
neck craned to look at the lights. Jared looked around at the
lights, not particularly concerned by them, but waiting for them to
stop. The guards however, seemed to be shifting in their
confidence, catching Loni’s attention. She brought her gaze to the
wall to her left, in time to see a spark of electricity crawl down
the dull stone wall and scatter about the floor. Jared’s feet shot
up from the floor to rest on the bench as he looked on with wide
eyes.