With plans to meet Lexi tonight and possibly extend his stay with her, Mason got Rayner to set up a meeting between him and Neuman in the shortest possible time.
The deputy director didn’t love any of it, but the psychological profile her people had built on the young man told her if she denied him, he’d fly over to the congresswoman’s office without a second thought.
Hence she acquiesced and warned him to stop flying till the whole thing blew over because Vought had satellites. That seemed to work, making her feel like she was dealing with one of her children.
In order not to compromise the safehouse, they met Neuman in a neutral location. It was another safehouse, this one closer to Manhattan and nestled in a suburban area.
Due to the affluence of the people who called that neighborhood home, the SUVs with tinted windows did not look out of place in the slightest, especially when they were ushered into the estate by armed guards.
Rich people really lived in a different world, Mason thought, putting eyes to the sheer scale of the class divide.
Everyone knew their places and roles so when the cars stopped, he and Rayner alighted and he followed her heat sense spreading out. He noticed something and prompted the older woman immediately.
“How many people are we expecting?”
Rayner and her agents stopped to look at him. “Just Neuman and her assistant? Why?”
“I count three people inside.”
Repeated use of the heat sense had seen him able to piece more and more information with it. Certain emotions and states like arousal stood out due to his trip to the secret supe club.
More uses after that outside buildings filled with people in order to get more accurate and precise readings had developed in a direction he didn’t expect.
He still couldn’t single out individuals, but he could now deduce a rough estimate of how many people were in a particular hotspot by the amount of heat and how congregated the sources were.
Rayner armed herself and her agents did same. She ordered them with silent hand signals and they spread out.
Mason was half tempted to arm himself when he remembered; he was the supe. If anyone should be risking themselves, it was him.
“Tell them to get back, I’m going in.”
“Wai—”
He was off before she could say anything, standing before the door of the house. Rayner blinked at the sudden rush of air and the lack of the obstruction in her sight while said obstruction entered the house.
Inside, Mason did the mental equivalent of throwing up his fist when heat sense broke down the hot spot into three separate ones. A few steps forward brought him around a corner into the living room where three sets of eyes snapped up to meet him.
It was Neuman and her assistant, as he and Rayner confirmed before they set off. The unknown was an old woman. Blonde, short cut hair and with hard eyes framed by crow feet. Those eyes reminded him of his grandfather and something else he couldn’t readily place.
Still, the first thing he wondered about her was if she was a supe.
“Are you a supe?” He asked the old woman, who had gotten on her feet.
“Mason.” Victoria Neuman stood up, seemingly at a loss for words. “I know we said it was just me and my assistant, but—”
“I’m Grace Mallory.” The woman answered for herself. “Rayner should know who I am.”
Mason focused on her. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“She’s not a supe.” Rayner answered while walking out from behind him, holstering her weapon at the same time.
The way she said it with certainty gave him pause. Sure, she knew the woman, but how could she tell? Really tell? There was no reliable way to identify supes other than catching them using their powers.
Neuman resumed the conversation. “I apologize for the surprise, but I asked her about Lamplighter since she’s investigated him before—”
“And I followed her here.” Mallory saw fit to add.
“Let’s go over introductions again. I’m Victoria Neuman. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Sloan.”
He looked at her extended hand and took it swiftly so he wouldn’t send her the wrong message.
“Tell me why you’re happy to see me. `Cause I don’t see it.”
Neuman offered a small laugh and dropped the handshake, gesturing to the couch. Even with Lexi on his mind, he had to admit, Neuman’s beauty… it was up there.
Her long black hair had been tied in a straight pony tail. Her outfit spoke of riches but toned down to functionality, and her middle eastern features reminded him somewhat of Lexi, but if that podcaster’s was 10-20 percent, then Neuman’s was closer to seventy or even eighty percent.
It had nothing to do with the upcoming conversation though, so he focused.
“Once again, I’d like to apologize for what you went through at the Sage Grove Center. I don’t know what goes into the kind of… drastic changes you experienced, but believe me when I say people are horrified. You did not hold back on the descriptions.”
“I needed to get the truth out there.”
Neuman nodded and leaned her upper body forward, interlocking her fingers.“And I admire that about you, but I can also see where you’re coming from. Being on the run and accused of a crime you didn’t commit.”
“Wait.” Something wasn’t right. “How do you know that exactly?”
“Well, we reached out to the police department that labeled you as the suspect hoping to obtain the full footage. They claim what everyone saw on the news is what they received. We did some digging and found out Vought is the one that gave it to them. Normally, we’d subpoena them to produce the full thing but knowing them…”
“It’s gone.”
“They got rid of it. Yeah. And that speaks of your innocence and their guilt more than anything. That’s why I need you and your testimony. It gives us a chance. A huge one.”
Mason took off his hat and placed it down on the couch. “I wouldn’t come here if I didn’t want to do it. What do you need?”
“Oh…” She laughed and looked at Mallory and her assistant. “I came here with a lengthy persuasive argument yet you agreed so easily. You have a habit of catching people off guard Mr. Sloan.”
He smirked at that and said nothing.
“Well…“ She clapped. “Let’s start. Tell me everything. Don’t leave anything out, even if it seems useless or sounds stupid.”
He nodded to show he understood and went right into it, starting from how he tried to catch the camera’s attention all the way to his escape.
Apart from Stan Edgar’s mention of Stormfront and her crooning fans on social media, no one had mentioned the heroine or asked him about her so he kept the little detail that he blasted her head to bits to himself.
When Neuman asked him about her, he stated that by the time she landed near the center, he’d already reached the forest. In fact, upon seeing her, he focused on running even faster, so he had no idea what happened after.
Whether she bought it or not, his story would stay the same.
At the end of it all, she stood up and pocketed, pacing while nodding to herself.
“Well?” Mallory asked, reminding us of her presence.
“The opposition won’t have much pushback. The changes he went through are too obvious for them to poke holes in his identity and credibility. He’ll be a great witness.”
Mason was sure he wasn’t the only one who sensed the “but” coming.
“But… it won’t be enough.” She confirmed his thoughts and looked at him. “Your theory on why they were experimenting with the Compound V is likely correct, but that is something they can absolutely push back on if we try to use it.”
He thought about it for a bit. “Because I’m not a scientist.”
“Yes. That’s why we need more. Lamplighter will be a massive help, but he still won’t give us the win.“
Where the hell were we gonna find a Vought scientist who wasn’t dead or still loyal to his employers?
“I may have someone…” Again, Mallory kept surprising Mason. Who exactly was this woman?
Speaking of the deputy director, she also seemed aware of whom the aged woman spoke about.
“You mean…”
“Yes.”
“Do you think he’ll go for it?”
“I don’t know, but it’s worth a shot.”
“Well,” Neuman stood up. “Whoever it is, get him on board fast. The longer this takes, the more time you give Vought to put up defenses. We have to go now. This meeting came out of nowhere so I had to adjust my schedule.”
I stood up and shook Neuman’s outstretched hand.
“Thank you for doing this,” she said.
“Don’t. I wanted to do it. I just hope we got the bastards.”
“We will.”
We both dropped the handshake and she left with her assistant. I waited till their heat signatures left the building before sitting back down.
“Her assistant. Is she a supe?”
Rayner and Mallory answered at the same time.
““No.””
That prompted the question he’d been holding back this whole to jump to the surface. “How do you two know each other?”
“I used to have her job,” said Mallory.
“It doesn’t explain why you’re here.”
The old woman’s eyes and expression grew haunted for a split second before returning to what counted as normal for her.
“I was just curious.”
“Hm.” Mason shook his head. He guessed the former deputy director of the C.I.A. being curious about him wouldn’t be a total lie. There was another thing on his mind though, and he had two of the most paranoid people on Earth around.
“Don’t you guys find it weird?”
“What?”
“Neuman.“ He answered Mallory. “Her whole life is dedicated to toppling Vought, but she goes around with no protection. Would you do that if you were in her shoes? Go after supes without one or two as protection?”
Mallory laughed, a loud and genuine thing that caught him off guard.
“This may come as a shock to you Mr. Sloan, but not every supe is like you. Almost every single one of them is a fuckup the likes of which you’ve never seen. They’re more likely to kill her due to incompetence or as a favour to Vought.”
“You see I thought of that… but still, no protection at all? I’ve studied people a lot and Neuman… something is off about her. And it’s just not the protection thing.”
“Well, she is a politician. Those guys give people like us the creeps no matter how pleasant they seem.”
Mason shook his head in a “eh, that could be it” motion and dropped the topic. He stood up and grabbed his baseball cap. “This was… great. Nice to meet you,” he held out a hand toward Mallory and she took it.
“But I’ve gotta go.” He gave Rayner his attention after the handshake. “Is it here?”
She nodded and led him outside, Mallory right on their heels.
Near the car that brought them here, an agent passed her a brown paper bag and she removed its contents. It was a SAT phone and stacks of dollar bills. She held the former out first and said, “Use this to keep in touch. Check-ins every 3 hours.”
“Even at night?”
“Especially at night.”
He knew this was the only way he'd get the 10,000 dollars, so he agreed to her demands.
“Where are you going?”
Mason took the stuff and looked at Mallory. “Somewhere Vought can’t find me.”
She shifted her look of disapproval from him to Rayner and the deputy director said, “He’s going to go no matter what I say.”
“Thanks,” said Mason after tucking the brown bag under his armpit. “I’m off.”
He took to the air with a low jump, only going above everyone’s head for a bit before the flame jets blasted into existence and launched him away.
Mallory immediately grew flabbergasted. “He can fly?”
“Yes,” said Rayner.
Since it was dark out, Mason stuck close to the ground and meandered between the trees of the New Jersey woods.
Lexi had listened to his instructions and left Manhattan after withdrawing some money. He directed her to an airbnb close to the old safehouse and had her book it with the burner phone.
The airbnb was a cabin in these woods, however that didn’t mean she was close. Besides, there were a couple of stops he had to make along the way before he got to her. That’s what the money was for.
Were it not for Vought’s satellites, it would’ve been a shorter journey. The jumps were pretty effective though, so he only arrived a few hours after Lexi did, finding her rental parked outside the place.
As he climbed the steps, a large duffel bag filled to the brim with stuff slung appeared from storage and settled in his grip. He did the secret knock he taught Lexi and the door swung open in seconds.
“Hi.” She beamed, out of breath for some reason.
“Hi.” He smiled back.
Slowly, he went in and lowered the bag, finding his palms sweaty and his whole body gearing up for something like it was life or death.
When he turned around after Lexi locked the door, they made eye contact for all of two seconds before the dams holding them back burst and threw them into each other.