Unexpected Consequences

6. Oh, Sugar Honey Iced Tea

I PICKED UP a tennis ball from the workspace table, wiping off a smudge before throwing it from hand to hand. Memories of painful bruises came flooding in, along with a faint whizzing sound that sometimes haunted my nightmares. It can't hurt you, I assured myself. But just to be sure, I looked around to see if the launching machine was anywhere nearby. It wasn't.

The 'practice' space in the Henderson Tech building had been transformed into Jenny's personal workshop. The formerly black floor was now a lighter gray, making the room at lot less ominous. There were two rows of computers and a table that displayed a giant hologram with open design files. Tool drawers and storage cabinets lined one of the walls. But even with all the new stuff in the room, there was a lot of empty space surrounding the worktables.

I bounced the tennis ball off the floor as I meandered around the empty space. The last time I'd been here was July. Ms. Henderson had mostly cut off ties with me, since we both wanted me to be a more independent superhero, but Jenny was still responsible for my equipment and upgrades.

Right now, my suit was lying on the holographic table. Jenny plugged it into her system and hit a few keys until a software update popped up, and then she did the same for one of the gloves. A loading bar appeared, and she leaned back in her chair.

"How was your summer?" I asked, eyeing her design files.

"Good," she replied, nodding. "I went to Cancún. Super hot, but worth it."

"Nice."

"How was yours?"

I shrugged, too. "Good."

She nodded and started rummaging around the table, looking for something. I steered myself away, thankful she hadn't asked about Chicago or Lex—not that I expected her to. The fact that Lex was here wasn't public knowledge. Not yet, anyway. The only way Jenny would know about it was if Kavanagh told her, and he probably didn't.

I walked along the far wall, my shoulder brushing against the windows. The outside shades were pitch-black, making the glass blend right in with the black walls. Jenny always kept the shades down; I wasn't sure if she didn't like sunshine or if she wanted to keep her workshop safe from outside view—even though we were on one of the highest floors in the building.

My phone vibrated with a reminder, and I fumbled to get it out of my pocket. "Uh, how long will this take?"

"Twenty minutes, I think," she said, tapping the software update bar. It was only a quarter of the way through. "I'm fixing and adding some things to your jacket and right glove."

"Any way you can go faster?"

"Why?"

"I'm going to see a movie with my friends," I said, shutting the reminder off. No one but Fei knew what we were watching; she'd gotten our tickets herself and said it would be a surprise. It would also be a bonding exercise, according to Ben, to welcome a new sophomore to our team. And I shouldn't miss it.

Jenny tapped her fingers on her chin, thinking. "You can go, and I can just send the jacket and glove to you later, if that's what you want."

I shook my head. It wasn't like I brought my suit everywhere I went, but it was kind of more important now since I knew that Lex was lurking around the city somewhere, waiting to strike. I wasn't willing to leave the suit here, even for just a day. Besides, no one would be mad if I was only a few minutes late to the movie.

"I'll wait," I said, and then I held up the tennis ball for her to see. "Can I keep this?"

Jenny raised an eyebrow. "Uh, sure?"