Enhance: Chapter 26

“It’s fucking early again. I thought we agreed we weren’t doing this when it was fucking early.”

“Yeah probably. But it’s still the best way to bond and awake up.” Phase said as he paced around the rooftop. Shade and Rogue were busy putting the buckets in various corners of the rooftop.

“What’re we doing?” Echo asked.

“Read my mind.” Phase told her as he yawned.

She did just that and then nodded. “Oh. This seems like it’ll be fun!” She was excited.

Yumi wrapped her arms around herself and glared. She wasn’t as cold but she had enjoyed being asleep. Shade came back beside her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders and shivered.

Rogue however stayed near his corner to watch and understand what they were doing. Darren walked away for a moment and then sat on the edge of the roof and had their laptop out. He pulled up a quick spreadsheet and then shouted.

“Alright. Team 1, who’s Team 1?”

“I’m taking Team 1.” Phase said.

Feint raised her hand. “Me too.”

Phase grinned at her, “Let’s make sure to not try to phase through each other at the same time again.”

She smiled, “Definitely.”

“Team 2?”

“I want it!” Echo shouted raising both her hands.

Shade yawned slightly. “Alright so Echo and Shade.” Darren decreed.

Shade blinked quickly, “What?”

“Team 3. Rogue and Yumi. Let’s go.”

Yumi rolled her eyes, too tired to even push it. She just pushed Shade away and walked over toward the silent thief. Shade watched her and then looked at the bright smile on Echo’s face. With squinting eyes, he shook his head.

Under his breath he mumbled. “Tune it down sunshine.”

Echo however grabbed his arm and dragged him over toward one of the edges. Phase and Feint did the same. Darren held out two tennis balls and then nodded. “Alright. Go at it!” They threw both of them into the air and instantly they surge forward. No matter how early they were all competitive.

It took several hours before Darren called it. The last call came after Rogue and Yumi made a strange play. Yumi had jumped off Rogue’s back and once she was in the air he teleported under her. She stepped off him again and this time got the perfect shot. Throwing the ball like a meteor it slammed into the bucket almost knocking it over.

Yumi kicked her legs through the air as she came down. Rogue teleported again, grabbing her out of the sky and then landed on the rooftop. Yumi laughed and tried to high five him but he just stepped away. She rolled her eyes and shook his head. “God we gotta teach you to loosen up.”

“Whatever you say.”

“And that’s Team 3 for the win. Team 1 in second and Team 2 in last.” Darren chuckled.

The rest nodded, chest heaving and their breath showing like puffs of white clouds as if they were chain smokers. Phase smiled at everyone and nodded. “Good exercise team.”

“Like always Yumi comes out on top.”

“Learn some humbleness Yu. It’ll take you far.”

“I have to educate the masses Shadeow.”

“Moving right along. What’s on the agenda today?”

As they walked toward the edge of the roof they one by one jumped down to the balcony. Walking through the open door Echo skipped forward toward the kitchen. “I’m making breakfast!”

“Don’t over do it Echo!” Phase shouted.

“Don’t worry. I’ll just do cereal and fruit for everyone.”

“Quick and good for us.” Darren said coming down the stairs like a sensible person. “Anyway, I have a few things left to fix and I’ll have Echo’s mask ready.”

“Really?”

“Yes really.”

They could hear excited clapping from the kitchen and Darren laughed.

Yumi hopped onto the armchair and then crossed her legs over the chair as she looked at them. “Alright that’s you and Echo. What about the rest of us?”

“Check the errand list.”

Rolling her eyes she went to her phone and opened the app, conveniently labeled ‘Errands’. Scrolling through the app until she found the date she nodded. “We’re all busy and you get a free day. Not fair.”

Feint smiled. “I’m working on a project Yumi.”

“I want to see it.” She pouted. “Not that I’m doubting you. I just like knowing what you’re making.”

Feint laughed softly. “You’ll see it soon enough. Soon enough.”

She pouted  again and would have said something when Echo sang a note through their heads. “Breakfast is ready.”

Each of them got out of room quickly, moving into the kitchen. Taking a bowl of cereal, they only ate frosted flakes at the moment, and one of the pieces of fruit. They went back into the kitchen and things fell quickly into joking and playing around. Despite Rogue and Echo being new they were already apart of the group.

As they finished eating, they started stacking their bowls on the table. After the final bowl was stacked they leaned back and enjoyed being stationary. Their muscles were still a bit sore from the game earlier but they were healing over quickly. Aching bodies were nothing for them really.

Yumi got to her feet first and stretched. “What’re we doing?”

“Mall shopping.” Rogue said. Rubbing his nose lightly he picked it for a moment then flicked it away. “Clothes, some more components for gadgets. Etc.”

“Fine. We can do that.” Shade said and stretched. “Come on Yu. Leave Phase and Feint to their house duty.”

Together they gathered in the center of the room before jumping to the balcony and then they were out. Feint watched them go for a moment and then sighed. Phase glanced at her and then ran his fingers through his hair slowly. “I’ve got house work to do.”

She laughed softly. “Sure do. I’ll be here.”             

Cross-legged and balancing her laptop on her knees, the trial began anew. A break in the dam of knowledge. The black screen before her filled with letters, dashes, periods, and colons. Line by line she spit them out like a machine. When she took a rest there were a hundred new lines added to the code.

Reaching out and grabbing her mask she placed it over her face and hooked it up to the computer. “Alright Mask, run new program.”

Across both of her eyes green lit script ran vertically, checking for variables, open applications, and her location. The lenses darkened and then lit up to the point where she had to yank the mask off.

Dazed and seeing spots, she rubbed her eyes hard. Staring at the mask as it spun on the ground she winced. That wasn’t a part of the plan. Not at all. Going over to the mask and lifting it up she sighed.

“Back to square one again.”

Putting the mask on her face she opened her mouth to force quit the program then gasped. A small blinking underscore line blinking into her right eye. She glanced around to take it all in then pulled the mask off. She mumbled something simple and then her computer went to sleep.

“Holy shit…”

“Holy shit what?” Phase walked into the living room half dressed and a little more alert. He was holding a laundry basket under his arm.

“I made it work Phase. The hacking app.”

“The what?”

“The app Phase. It’ll let me remote hack. Hacking on the go in a sense”

“Right.”

“I can see you’re more than excited about this. It’ll mean that I can use the majority of my hacking tools through my mask. I won’t be as fast or efficient as I normally am but that won’t matter. By using this,” and she tapped a lens. “I can beam a signal to most electronics and get a simple trojan going to break into things.”

He smiled as she explained it all and she looked at him. “What’s with that look?”

“Nothing. You just look really cute when you get like this.”

She blushed and then nearly jumped when her mask vibrated suddenly. Putting it on she said, “Mask answer. What is it Yumi?”

“Me, Shade and Rogue are at the mall. Rogue’s being a pile of shit.”

She rubbed her temples. “What’d he do this time?”

“I didn’t do anything. She’s complaining about nothing.”

Glancing in the corner of her eye she saw Rogue and then Shade join in on the call. “Shade is that true?”

“Yes it is. These two are like eight year olds on the playground. Ow!”

“You need to be on my side Shadeow.”

“I’ll be on your side when you start earning it.”

A hand on her shoulder and she glanced over at Phase. “Give it up. I’ll handle the kids.”

“Thank you.” Taking it off she went to sit down again. Phase walked off with the mask on as he spoke. He was in another room and suddenly everything was silent.

She welcomed it but only to realize that with her mask gone she couldn’t do anything. Frowning at the nothing she reached out toward her computer then stopped herself.

She made a breakthrough, she got something done. She was going to take a break. Tapping her fingers against the armrest of the chair and sighed. She really couldn’t relax.

Blowing out heavily she pushed her hair from her face and then folded her arms around herself tightly. A slight chill in the room. They’d have to get someone on that. Probably Rogue. It was easier for him to take care of DIY things since he teleported all over the house.

Sighing again she let out a frustrated sound and grabbed her laptop. Putting it back onto her lap she started to type again, slowly this time. As the characters appeared on screen her tension slipped away and she lost herself in the code. Just double checking at this point.

Once again Phase’s hand on her shoulder brought her out. This time she was more startled. He was wearing a shirt this time. “What?”

“Just letting you know they want to see a movie. Echo’s making dinner but it’ll take a few hours to cook. Come and watch with us.” He placed her mask on the table.

“Yeah sure. Yeah. Sounds fun.”

Darren came out of his own office holding a blank eyeless white mask. Echo rushed out of the kitchen having already gotten the message mentally. She reached out eagerly and Darren laughed but put the mask in her hand. 

She put it on her face slowly and she started. Wincing slightly she squinted behind the mask and Darren held his hands out. “Now be careful. It’ll take a moment for everything to adjust together.”

Echo took a breath a little wobbling. “This is really cool. I’m one of the team now.”

“So we need to have a field test with all of our new teammate?” Phase asked.

“Yep. That’ll be fun.” Feint said and then heard her phone vibrating. She stared at Shade’s caller I.D. and then shook her head. “It’s probably something stupid.”

She picked up her phone and sighed heavily. “Yeah Shade?”

“Rogue and Yumi started fighting. Like actually fighting. I separated them but they’re still trading insults at each other.”

“God, they are children.” She sighed heavily and shook her head. “We’ll be there. Give us like ten. Keep them from causing too much of a scene.”

“Can do.” He ended the called then and she sighed staring at the phone. “So you ready?”

Echo nodded then took off her mask. It left her with a slight jolt, which she frowned at. “Be careful with that. Your mask was hard to put together.”

“I’ll be extra careful. Thank you, Darren.” She was smiling brightly and even they looked a little embarrassed.

“Yeah. No problem.”

“Everyone ready?” Phase asked.

Darren looked down at himself and shrugged. “As ready as I want to be.”

“Yep yep. The slow cooker’s going. Though I wonder if this thing works the way I think. I hope it does. Any way I’m ready.”

“Then let’s go. I doubt Darren wants to rooftop run.”

“No. I’m not quite like you guys. So yes. Regular walking would be nice.”

“Boring but doable.” Phase laughed softly and Darren rolled his eyes. Retrieving his phone, he checked it then locked it. Walking out the front door and making sure everything was in order they headed out. Together they took the elevator down to the first floor.

Once they were outside Phase glanced up at the sunnyish day. “It’s bright up there.”

“What do you mean?” Feint looked at him.

“It’s gray and overcast up there. But it’s all light grey and white. Kinda hurts my eyes to look at.”

“It’s the same if you look at the snow on the ground.” She motioned to the snow around them. “Way too bright for me to look at.”

“So, I guess it’s a pick your poison type of thing. Bright ground or bright sky?”

“Or we could just look straight ahead.” Phase suggested.

She followed his forward gaze and they were people walking, all bundled up. At the same time there were barely any cars driving on the streets too. They were salted but the snow was still piling up on the edges.

“So you going to tell me more about the app?” he asked looking at her.

She blushed again then looked away from him. “You’re teasing me.”

“No no. I’m curious.” Hesitantly he reached out and took her hand.

She glanced at him and smiled. “Well it’s simple. Basically, it’s point and click code.” She looked around and then saw an electronic store and nodded.

“I got it. Watch this” She looked toward an electronic shop and pulled her phone out. “Now this is a small version of what it can do but it still gets the job done. Now watch.”

She pulled up the app, currently just a blank spot, and pointed her phone at it. A dialogue box appeared that said connecting. After a few moments it said connected. Raising it to her mouth she started to talk and it was a blur of words. Once she had finished she looked at the screen. “Success. Here take a look.”

Moving closer to her and looking over shoulder he watched as an image panned around the inside of the store. She was directing it but moving her thumb around the touch screen of the computer. Nothing spectacular about it just control of the camera but it implied a lot more.

“Let me get this straight. You just hacked into their systems using only that app and what? Looking at it.”

She nodded quickly. “And a little bit of vocal coding. The signal is much stronger through my mask. Especially if I use it in tandem with an IHD. But push come to shove the phone gets the job done too.”

“And this works with anything?”

“Anything connected to the internet. Not connected to the internet takes a bit more work.”

“Old fashioned way?”

“Something like that.”

“Can any of us use it?”

“Can you code fearless leader?”

“If you teach me.”

“Maybe I’ll teach you then.”

He smiled at her and she smiled back easily. Darren walked past the two of them rolling their eyes but smiling. “If you two are done flirting let’s get a move on.”

They both moved away from one another and while Echo beamed taking up the rear. She laughed getting laughter out of the two of them. Together the four of them walked in comfortable silence until they were near the theater. Yumi sat up from the ground and waved at the four of them.

“Bout time! Movie starts soon!”

Darren jerked their thumb back. “Blame these two. They were showing off their toys.”

“Let’s just grab our seats.” Shade said going into the theater. The rest of them followed him in.

A couple hours later they were walking down the street together three in front the other four behind. Everyone was just this side of jazzed from the movie itself. They weren’t the only ones on the streets but it was pretty empty. Though the sun had set entirely there were enough lights from the streets to holiday ones that they could make their way around.

“That movie was insane,” Yumi shouted.

“We agree there.” Phase laughed as he zipped up his jacket.

“Of course you agree. You can’t say it was anything but insane.”

“Never thought comic books were that interesting.” Feint pointed out. “I actually held my breath at the ending. Even the villain was redeemed.”

“I kinda hated that.” Shade said. “Too much emotional focus. The guy ruined his life. Should’ve been easy to kill him.”

“Well not everyone can be like us when it comes to taking people out.” Phase pointed out. ”Besides, it’s not always easy.”

“I didn’t like that they killed off the best friend.” Echo pouted.

Yumi went to stand beside Shade, wrapping her arms around his. “He sacrificed himself for his best friend. It’s sad but that was a good friend.”

“But they hated each other.”

“They got over it.”

“Still. I don’t like when people die.”

“It’s apart of life.”

“Who picked the movie?” Feint asked.

“Thank Rogue for that.” Echo said as the thief in question rolled his eyes.

Yumi smirked. “Oh. Maybe he does have good taste.”

“Hey. Don’t you start shit again.” To emphasis this Shade jabbed her forehead. She winced and glared at him, shoving him away. He just grabbed her, pulling her back against him, which she smiled at.

This didn’t go unnoticed by Feint who smirked and leaned into Phase. “Is Yumi blushing?”

“I think she is. Pretty bright in fact.” Phase laughed softly.

Yumi caught wind of this and glared at the two of them. “Shut the fuck up.”

“I didn’t think Yumi could blush like that.” Darren added.

“Shut up!” Her face was burning redder and she glared at the both of them. Shade laughed and then jerked as Yumi punched him. “Don’t laugh you fucker.”

“Something you two want to tell us?” Phase asked with another small laugh.

“No. There’s nothing worth telling.” Yumi said and pouted.

“Nothing at all.” Shade added on. Despite them both denying it they were still standing close to one another.

Phase laughed regardless. “So what do you guys wanna do?”

“Not sure.” Yumi shrugged and they all grew silent to try and decide on something.

Echo however raised her head then tilted it slightly. “Do you guys hear that?”

Rogue raised his eyebrow. “Hear what?”

Echo took a step forward and frowned in thought. “That.” She pointed before she started walking. Her walk however quickly turned into a run as she dashed through the city. The others followed behind her. Her running patterns were a bit sporadic going left, right another right, two more lefts and then down an alley.

However her feet hit snow as she jumped over a railing. As they followed her they were noticing that there were people. Some sitting, most standing and all looking in a direction. The longer they ran the more they started hearing it. It being a soft melody on the wind.

Echo slowed down when she crested a hill. She was staring down at a well-lit amphitheater and there was a band set up. They were playing music, most of it festive to the occasion. And the theater was filled with people singing along or just enjoying the songs.

“A holiday band?” Feint asked.

Echo nodded. “Yep.”

Shade laughed. “You heard this all the way back there?”

She smiling she nodded. “Well what’re we waiting for?” Yumi said as she descended the hill. “Let’s get some seats.”

As they went down Darren slowed and grabbed Phase’s arm. The thief stopped and glanced at them as Darren spoke. “Can I talk to you for a second.”

Phase raised his eyebrow glancing at everyone before nodding. “What is it?”

Darren pulled out their phone, unlocking it and then showing him the screen. “Remember that USB drive I asked you to get?”

“The thing that almost got me killed? Yeah.”

“Well I finally got everything on it decrypted. And among the information there’s a location. I don’t know where it goes or what it’s for but I figured you’d want to know about it.”

Taking the phone he nodded slowly. He read over the address slowly and shook his head. “I don’t know where this is. But I’m willing to check it out.”

“Check it out but be careful. More careful than normal. After the last time I don’t trust a lot of this.”

“Then I’ll probably go by myself. I don’t want to risk anyone else.”

Darren glanced at him and then shook their head. “Not sure if that’s a good idea.”

“Best idea I got.”

Shaking his head, he finally nodded. “Fine. But you need to keep contact with me. I’m not losing a friend over this.”

“Glad we’re friends now.”

Smirking Darren jumped down and started down the hill to find the rest of the group. Phase did so as well and laughed softly. He went to sit down beside Feint and watched the band, enjoying the music.

Slowly he wrapped his arm around Feint’s shoulders, pulling her a bit closer. Her face turned red for a moment as she glanced at him and his face was red too. They both smiled and watched the band.