Off Grid

Chapter 21: Thin Ice

"This really isn't a good idea, Seven. What if he sees us?"

Marcus was standing on the roof of Mark's electronics, arms crossed against the cold nighttime breeze that swept across the city. Beside him, Seven sat, legs dangling over the edge, as he scanned the street below them.

On a normal night's patrol, the two would have been halfway across the city already. Infiltrator would have been monitoring cameras and tapping into police radio signals. This time though, Seven was on a mission.

"I just want to make sure he gets home okay. He's working late again, and he thought he saw someone following him yesterday. It kind of freaked him out."

"Sounds like it freaked you out a lot more."

"He says he doesn't think it was actually anything, but I just keep thinking that if anything does happen to him, it'll because of me."

"Because of you?"

"Because of Resonance," he clarified.

"So... You think someone might have found out who you are?" Marcus asked, slowly. He was treading dangerous waters.

"I don't know, maybe. I try to be careful, but I could have slipped up somewhere. Lots of people want me dead, or at least out of their way."

"Maybe Off Grid finally figured it out," he suggested.

He was the most obvious. If Marcus didn't already know the truth, it would have been his honest guess.

Seven shook his head. "No, I don't think so. I've been fighting him for a long time. Off Grid has this sort of... Moral code he lives by, if you can call it that. He has limits. I don't think he'd try to get me through Seth. If he knew, I'm sure he'd still use it against me, but not like that."

"Okay. So if not him then...?"

Seven tilted his head up, his eyebrows furrowed in thought. He could see the moon, or at least part of it peeking through the clouds, but not the stars. It was fitting, he thought. Right then, he couldn't see the full picture of what was going on. With Off Grid. With the mayor. With his own boyfriend.

"I don't know. That's what scares me."

Seven hated being kept in the dark. Something was happening, something big. But how was he supposed to fight any of it like this?

"So... Why did you ask me to help you instead of Adrian?"

"I didn't want to bother him, "Seven explained. "He's been kind of weird these last few days. I guess I have been too. We're both still processing what happened, I think."

"Oh. The whole thing with the drug dealer, right? What was that anyway?"

Seven pursed his lips. "I don't know. I didn't know he could do any of that."

"Really? I thought you guys told each other everything," Marcus said.

"We do. Or at least, I thought we did anyway. But that power wasn't... It wasn't new. He had too much control."

"So you think he knew about it already? That's a pretty big thing to keep from you."

"I know, but... Maybe he was just scared to tell me. Maybe he thought I'd freak out or something."

Seven was always trying to see the good in people. Even if it Marcus thought it was misguided, maybe verging on delusional, it was one thing that he thought he could admire.

"He thought his crime fighting, superhero boyfriend would freak out because he has powers? Did he tell you that himself?"

"Well... No. He won't talk to me about it."