The dorms had been in lockdown for days. Reed pulled up in the loop outside the building and I hopped out, taking care to keep the back of my gown tightly shut. I might have tried to convince the nurses to let me keep the remainder of my burned ensemble, but it had actually started to deteriorate minutes after I arrived at the hospital, losing structural integrity shortly after they got me to my own room. Too much of it got turned to ash, I guess. The gown was all I had.
I shuffled toward the front entrance, Scott trailing behind me. When I glanced back at him, he smiled. “Sorry,” he said, “just admiring the view.”
“I invite you to kiss my ass,” I said. “Which, thanks to this hospital gown, is easily accessible.”
He let a low guffaw which I ignored as I stopped at the biometric scanner next to the door. Heavy metal shutters covered the entire front of the dormitory building. I started to lean down to stick my face into the retinal scanner, but I felt my gown part at the slightest hint of bending over.
“Here, I got it,” Scott said, and I felt the tug of a hand clamping the gown shut.
“Thanks,” I said, putting my eyes to the scanner. “Trying to hold that and give a palm scan was going to be awkward.”
I heard the beep of confirmation as the scanner agreed that I was Sienna Nealon, and the shutters rose over the doors and windows with a series of clanks. I waited until they’d finished and stepped through the glass doors into the dormitory foyer.
It was spacious and well designed but still had lingering scorch marks on the once-white walls, and more bullet holes than I could count. It had been the site of a nasty battle, one which I had won but not without significant cost. I tried to ignore all that as I strode toward the elevator, pausing only to hit the button on the security console to initiate lockdown once more.
“I think I like this place better with the windows open,” Scott said as the security shutters dropped and the sunlight disappeared behind the darkened shades.
“I do too,” I said as I paused at the elevator. “But I also like that I don’t have to worry about getting flanked through it.”
Scott was quiet for a minute. “Easier not to worry about those British metas, huh?”
I thought about Karthik and how he had departed with the last of our protectees, a group of metas who couldn’t really fight effectively for themselves, for London only days earlier. “It’s easier,” I said. “Now that they’re out of sight and I don’t have to worry about protecting them, I can care even less if this building gets violated, security-wise.”
“Yeah,” Scott said, nodding, his face pursed with a certain amount of evident sarcasm. “Why not, right? We only live here, after all.”
I smiled at him. “Yeah, we do. But we’re the only ones now—us and Reed and Kat and Janus.” And Ariadne and Zollers … “Maybe I should clear some room on the second floor of headquarters for us to live for the time being. Might be safer.”
“Heh.” Scott just shook his head. “Honestly, if Sovereign or Century comes gunning for us, do you really think being sixty seconds of run time away is going to save us?”
“It might keep us from mounting a defense effectively,” I said and stared at him. “It might be the difference between beating them and having more people die, yeah.” My mind was running through the possibilities now. We’d set up to live in the dorms when there had been good cause to—we’d had metas to protect over here and not enough space to house them in headquarters. Now that those other metas were gone, that need was out the window, but we’d failed to revisit it in our recent meetings because … well, let’s face it, there was a hell of a lot to think about. “We should do it immediately. Go tell Ariadne.”
Scott’s face scrunched up. “How do you think she’s going to react to being told she’s going to lose her private bathroom in favor of the communal showers we’ve got in the HQ locker rooms?”
“I don’t know, why don’t you tell me after you see her reaction.” I waved him off. “This needs to happen, right now.”
He raised an eyebrow at me. “I was escorting you to get your clothes, remember?”
I caught a hint of mischief in his eyes and returned his look with one of faint amusement. Very faint. “As much fun as that would be, saving lives is more important than letting you peep on me getting dressed.”
His brows rolled up and he grinned. “You were gonna let me peep? Awesome—”
“Go,” I said, shaking my head. I felt my cheeks redden. “You can have a show once this is over with.”