One (One Universe)

other again someday.”
    “You don’t get it. This isn’t just that I love him. Something…happens when we’re together.”
    Mom’s eyes flare wide, a mix of shock and interest and fascination and the fulfillment of expectation, when the door on the opposite end of the room swings open.
    President Fisk walks in.

TWENTY-SEVEN
    H e’s impeccably groomed, a Cheshire-cat smile spreading across his face. The swish of his expensive suit fabric echoes annoyingly off the pristine walls.
    But seeing Fisk grinning at Elias, connected to tubes and helpless, isn’t the worst thing. Not by far. Because right next to him, Mr. Hoffman stands gazing at me. He pushes his glasses up and says, “You made it, Merrin.” He doesn’t smile. Not even a little.
    “Welcome back to the Hub, Miss Grey,” Fisk says, his voice steady and quiet. My skin crawls — again.
    “I don’t want to interrupt you,” Fisk says. “Please. Continue. What, exactly, can you and Mr. VanDyne do?”
    “I didn’t say we could do anything.” I raise myself up to my full height and summon every bit of resolve in my body to keep my voice from shaking.
    He takes a step toward where the boys lay, and my skin bristles. “Your brothers are quite remarkable.”
    I keep my mouth shut. I don’t know whether cursing or vomit would come out, but neither would be good right now.
    “You must know just how fascinating they are. When they are together, their speed and agility across water nearly doubles.”
    “Doubles?” I didn’t realize it was that dramatic, and interest about how and why worms its way through my brain.
    “Quite. We think they may have actually inherited the same quality that allowed your mother to attain an additional ability at such an advanced age. One that, if I’m guessing right about you and Mr. VanDyne here, you exhibit most strongly of all.”
    “The boys can only do that because they’re so close...”
    “That doesn’t make any sense, Miss Grey. None at all. If closeness was the answer to our genetic problems, no one we love would have any.”
    “Weaker powers are not a problem. Oneness is not a problem.”
    Fisk tilts his chin up a little and laughs, three staccato beats. Like a robot.
    “Merrin,” he says, approaching me. “You yourself know what a problem you are. You’ve done the research, snooped in your mother’s files, I’m sure. You know that half-Gifteds are a sign that something’s gone wrong. There are so few of us Supers, Merrin, and we’re just starting to gain a stronghold in this society that thought it was necessary to put us in camps 90 years ago. We have to make you better, strengthen you. Or we all weaken. And Supers haven’t come this far to weaken, slowly fade away, become useless. Ones could ruin us. It’s the Biotech Hub’s job to keep that from happening.”
    “And, Merrin,” Mr. Hoffman says, stepping up next to them. “No has ever wanted to change her Oneness as much as you.”
    “The VanDyne twins are similar to your brothers,” Fisk says. “When they are together, they are able to transfer at a near-constant rate. It’s like pressing a gas pedal. You can move in ‘drive,’ but if you press down, you go quickly. We think they can control it. We can get them to control it, here in the arena. Only in a sedated state, at this point, of course, but one day, we should be able to push their powers to such a level that they could move at light speed. Be invisible. Be endlessly useful.”
    “Useful for what ?” I glance back at Elias. I could swear he’s breathing faster than he was a minute ago.
    Has he woken? Has he heard?
    “At any rate,” Fisk says, “with the help of some formulas we’ve been carefully developing over the years — since you were born, in fact, Merrin — we’re hoping to research a little…deeper. Your mother’s blood,” he says as he crosses over to a locked cooler on the wall, “has helped us develop this formula. Along with our most recent addition — your sample, which Mr. Hoffman so kindly collected for us.”
    Mom’s wild eyes flash to me. Like I’ve betrayed her.
    I fight to keep my voice even. “If you already know how to fix me, what do you need Michael and Max for?” I know he doesn’t need them for a goddamned thing.
    “Their bone marrow will tell us something, something we have never been able to figure out about you because, well…you’ve never proven you can do anything. Won’t admit to it. Even to Mr. Hoffman. So, you