Oliver almost wished that heād never joined the Genesis Project. His body and mind ached in a throbbing, deep way. Heād never been in so much pain before. Maybe when heād been young ā thirteen or fourteen ā and his mutation had only just begun to manifest itself. Oliver had fully believed that he was going crazy the first time he started to hear the voices, the sound of footsteps, rustling and a television in the background. What else was he supposed to think? Although he knew that mutants were alive and thriving in society, heād never thought that heād be one to have the genetics for it. His parents had kept him blissfully ignorant of that prospect.
If Oliver had had his own way, he would never have gotten involved with the Genesis project in the first place. As much as he hated the government, not for being the government but for being the one thing that he had been raised to infiltrate, it was the only safe place for him. His mother and her ragtag ex-KGB buddies had been so close to catching him because he hadnāt been paying attention to what he was doing. If he turned on his mutation all the time, he ended up exhausted and stretched thin, ready to burst and oh-so very close to having a breakdown. So heād turned it off and ended up with a bullet in his leg and a mental picture to replace the last one he had of his mother.
The Genesis Project was the only safe place for Oliver. How would his mother find him if he was being protected by the people that she would least expect? She knew of his mutation, but she also knew that he wouldnāt have gone to the authorities for protection. Maybe when heād been a teenager he could have gotten away with it, but not now. Now he was a fully grown adult, twenty-five and fully capable of taking responsibility for trying to tear down the American government. Even if Oliver had gotten off easily and made a bargain, his father wouldnāt have and he had been unwilling to leave him behind. He held too much love for him.
Oliver glanced at the girl leaning against the wall, giving her a grim, tight-lipped smile. āI wouldnāt put it past them to poison it, so I didnāt eat any,ā he said. He had thought that when heād had a slice of cake handed to him. Heād ended up picking at it, pretending to eat it and pushing it around on his plate while heād made small talk.
āItās the scientists,ā he said gruffly, turning and pressing his back against the wall, letting his weight sag against it. It was a relief on his body not to be standing upright and supporting himself with his own spine. āThey like poking. With sharp needles. It isnāt particularly pleasant.ā
He gave her the same grim, tight-lipped smile as he had before, looking her over. Heād seen her in the dining hall before heād left. Scanning over everyoneās faces, making mental note of who looked like they could be useful and who looked like someone he should avoid all together. He hadnāt decided on her yet.