Blue Bloods

Angela reached out and flicked a switch on the control board in front of her. Inside the testing room, nothing changed. With exaggerated motions, to be sure Grace could see her, she slid several controls down to the bottom of their respective tracks. Grace staggered along, nearly falling twice, as the treadmill accelerated another notch.

"It's not slowing down!" Grace tore one-handed at the monitoring harness holding her to the machine, clutching to the bar along one side with her other hand. In her fatigued state, she had no hope of keeping to her feet without the bar's support.

Angela activated her intercom. "Try lifting yourself off the belt. If you can do that, I'll try to increase the incline to vertical."

Grace stared at her, wide eyed, the harness forgotten. "What are you trying to do, kill me?"

"No. If you drop off at that point, you'll hit the ground, but you won't be shot back into the wall behind you."

"This thing," Grace tugged feebly at the cable around her chest, "is as dysfunctional as the rest of your damned gear! I'm going to die!"

Despite her frantic manipulation of controls, Angela kept her voice level. "You're perfectly safe in the stress testing chamber, Grace."

"Like hell I am! I'm going to die, all in some misguided attempt to show you the powers I told you I don't have!"

Angela looked at the control board and frowned, thinking about the conversation they'd had in the cafeteria. The front of the treadmill slowly started to rise.

***

Angela poured the young Chinese musician hot tea, dumped several spoonsful of sugar into it. Grace really shouldn't be having caffeine, but right now a comfort drink might help her more than a purely medicinal one. She still needed the calories from the sugar, though. Preparation complete, she walked back over to the table where Grace sat grilling Charlie.

"So, I'm free to go, but you want to perform some tests on me first."

"Yes. If you choose to leave, we won't make you stay."

"Won't. Not can't."

Charlie smiled as he took his tea from Angela. A moment later, the steam stopped rising from Charlie's cup, and he took a sip before speaking. "Technically, we could hold you as a suspect in the possible theft and vandalism of a Dade County emergency vehicle. I doubt we could find a judge who would convict you, but we could legally hold you. We could even press charges, but I try really hard not to be stupid."

Angela hid her frown behind her teacup. She hated when Charlie slipped into his 'Mr. Morgan' persona. Whether he realized it or not, he'd based quite a lot of the mannerisms and speech patterns on Roger Gerard, and Angela still hadn't gotten over how he'd sued the hospital after the Rain. Apparently, the fact that he ran away in the chaos had become Angela's fault.

"How could I possibly be responsible for the theft of the emergency vehicle?" Grace's crisp, precise words contrasted pleasantly with Charlie's slow, considered ones. "I was the patient, remember?"

"You're a blue blood. Small 'b'. Technically, according to the world's best specialist in the condition, you've got haematocyanosis. Thus far, all known haematocyanotic individuals display abilities far beyond those normally possessed by humans, whether it be Flex's ability to reshape her body or Axeman's incredible healing abilities. While I can't tell you who, there are blue bloods who can affect the minds of others."

"So, you're saying I could have mind controlled the paramedics into stealing the ambulance."

"It's possible. I really don't think you did, but it's possible."

Grace tensed; her tea held motionless halfway to her mouth. Angela kicked Charlie's ankle under the table. "Just a reminder, Mr. Morgan. You need to wrap this up soon, because you need your rest."

At Grace's raised eyebrow, Charlie explained. "Doctor Merilyn is also my personal physician." He shrugged and shot Angela a blatantly fake smile. "Apparently, I've been overextending myself, and she's worried I'll do myself a mischief."

"I don't have any powers like you're describing. I'm certain I'd know if I was some kind of... superhuman... thing." She sipped her tea as if to wash the taste of the words from her mouth.

"Blue bloods aren't things, Ms. Chung. Nor are they superhuman. They're as human as you or I. They've just been given talents beyond the norm. Think on your own musical talent, if you will. Could anyone else do what you do?"

Grace tensed, "Certainly, if they practiced long and hard enough."

"But does everyone who practices as long and hard as you do get as good as you?"

"No." She drew the word out, stalling for time. "But no amount of practice will let you lift an automobile, or... fly."

"At present, we have no confirmed reports of blue bloods flying."

Angela decided to cut in; for whatever reason Grace reacted better to her. "There's the Silver Streak."

"Despite the blood sample and documentation he left at your clinic, we have no proof of his claims. Some of them are out and out lies."

Angela smiled despite herself. "Yeah. 'My tears cure cancer. There is no chin beneath my mask, only another fist.' He pulled those two direct off a 'real true facts' website." She turned to Grace. "For all we know, you're the first blue blood to have no unusual abilities. For the safety of yourself and others, though, it might be a good idea to run a few tests, just to be sure."

Grace sighed, then took another long sip of tea before she spoke. "If I do this thing for you, then can I go?"

Charlie cut in again before Angela could stop him. "Like we said, you can go now if you like, but," he shook his head, a fake rueful frown plastered on his face. "Look, I'm sorry we've got off on the wrong foot. You still need some medical attention, and we've got spare space at the moment. Whether you go through the doctor's testing or not, you're welcome to stay as long as you like, and leave whenever you wish. We don't have professional drivers yet, but Troy might be free." At Grace's increased tension, Charlie sighed and set a hand to his waist. He worked a single ring free of the jangling mass of keys and dropped it onto the table.

"That's the key to my pickup." He set a bright blue card next to it. "Our address is on the card. Mail it back to me and let me know where it's parked when you're done with it. Okay?"

Grace eyed the key like a scorpion. "Will I be arrested for stealing your car? Will I even be able to get out of the building?"

He shook his head again, let his keychain retract, and stood. "I really am too tired to talk any more. I hope you're still here when I wake up. If you're not..." He shrugged. "Like I said. Just send me the key when you're done with it."

With that he turned and walked away.

"So. I show you I do not have powers, then I go home."

"If you like. As your doctor at the moment, I'll add one item to that list; first you eat."

Grace smiled. "The tea is too sweet."

"Most everything else is prepackaged at the moment."

The tiny woman shook her head. "I like it this way. Do you have any other items to add?"

"Only a request."

"Make it. If I do not know the song, hum a few bars and I will fake it."

"If you do have powers, stay with us long enough that you feel you can control them."

"Not long enough that you feel I can?"

Angela leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, "It's a trick, really. I told myself I'd leave when I have control of my powers. I'm not sure I'll ever really feel that way, but... I feel safer here, where there are people who can help me if I lose control."

***

They stood before the doorway to the stress testing room. Grace glared at the locks.

"There is a lock on the outside."

"Like I said. I'm worried about when I lose control. There's a lock on the inside, too."

"So... what, if you lose control, you lock yourself in, and they lock you in too?"

"That's one way of looking at it. Another is that I'm locking them out until I feel safe."

Grace laughed, no humor finding its way into the sound. "Safe. I wish I knew how that felt."

***

"I do not feel safe! You told me I would feel safe!" Grace screamed.

"I assure you, Grace, you're safe as houses."

"Houses must not be very safe where you come from!"

The treadmill, already inclined nearly twenty degrees, bounced upward to nearly forty-five degrees. The cable around Grace's chest went taut, and her hand slipped from the bar. Her feet flew out from under her...

Frost swept across the armored Plexiglas window, obscuring Angela's vision. The display from the cameras in the room frosted as well, although she could still make out a humanoid figure via the infrared camera. She tapped a control; the display had inverted, showing the figure as colder than the room. The temperature display read negative Kelvin, a flat impossibility. Before she could clear up the anomaly, Grace hit the treadmill hands first.

The infrared went white, and the biometrics monitors blanked out. At the same moment the frost disappeared as fast as it had arrived. Grace knelt on the floor in the middle of a fading afterimage of the treadmill. Tiny flakes of ash drifted toward the floor, only to be swept up into the whirlwind whipping around the androgynous, icy mannequin Grace had become.

Angela couldn't help it; her sense of humor had only grown worse since the Rain. She grabbed her tablet, shut down the 'runaway treadmill' scenario, stepped away from the fake control panel and knocked on the window.

"So. Still think you don't have powers?"