Reckoners 01 - Steelheart

team underpowered, and Megan can’t seem to make the tensors work.”
    I took the glove, saying nothing, though I wanted to ask the question.
Why not you, Prof? Why do you refuse to use your own invention?
Tia’s warning not to pry too much made me hold my tongue.
    “I confronted Nightwielder,” I blurted out, only now remembering the reason I’d come to talk with Prof.
    “What?”
    “He was there, at Diamond’s place. I went out and pretended to be one of Diamond’s helpers. I … used a UV fingerprint scanner he had to confirm Nightwielder’s weakness.”
    Prof studied me, his face betraying no emotions. “You’ve had a busy afternoon. I assume you did this at great risk to the entire team?”
    “I … Yes.” Better he heard it from me, rather than Megan, who would undoubtedly report—in great detail—of how I’d deviated from the plan.
    “You show promise,” Prof said. “You take risks; you get results. You have proof of what you said about Nightwielder?”
    “I got a recording.”
    “Impressive.”
    “Megan wasn’t very happy with it.”
    “Megan liked the way things were before,” Prof said. “Adding a new team member always upends the dynamic. Besides, I think she’s worried you’re showing her up. She’s still smarting from being unable to make the tensors work.”
    Megan? Worried that
I
was showing
her
up? Prof must not know her very well.
    “Out with you, then,” Prof said. “I want you up to speed with the tensor by the time we hit the power plant. And don’t worry too much about Megan …”
    “I won’t. Thank you.”
    “… worry about me.”
    I froze.
    Prof started writing on the board and didn’t turn back when he spoke, but his words were sharp. “You got results by risking thelives of my people. I assume nobody was hurt, otherwise you’d have mentioned it by now. You show promise, as I said. But if you brashly get one of my people killed, David Charleston, Megan will not be your problem. I won’t leave enough of you for her to bother with.”
    I swallowed. My mouth had suddenly gone dry.
    “I trust you with their lives,” Prof said, still writing, “and them with yours. Don’t betray that trust, son. Keep your impulses in check. Don’t just act because you can; act because it’s the right thing to do. If you keep that in mind, you’ll be all right.”
    “Yes sir,” I said, leaving with a quick step out the cloth-covered doorway.

21
    “HOW’S the signal?” Prof asked through the earpiece.
    I raised my hand to my ear. “Good,” I said. I wore my mobile—newly tuned to the Reckoner mobiles and made completely secure from Steelheart’s prying—on my wrist mount. I’d also been given one of the jackets. It looked like a thin black and red sports-style jacket—though it had wiring all around the inside lining and a little power pack sewn into the back. That was the part that would extend a concussion field around me if I was hit hard.
    Prof had built it for me himself. He said it would protect me from a short fall or a small explosion, but I shouldn’t try jumping off any cliffs or getting shot in the face. Not like I was intending to do either.
    I wore it proudly. I’d never been officially told I was a member of the team, but these two changes seemed essentially the same thing. Of course, going on this mission was probably a good indication too.
    I glanced at my mobile; it showed that I was only on the line with Prof. Tapping the screen could move me to a line to everyone in the team, cycle me to a single member, or let me pick a few of them to talk to.
    “You in position?” Prof asked.
    “We are.” I stood in a dark tunnel of pure steel, the only light that of my mobile and Megan’s up ahead. She wore a pair of dark jeans and her brown leather jacket, open at the front, over a tight T-shirt. She was inspecting the ceiling.
    “Prof,” I said softly, turning away, “you sure I can’t pair up with Cody for this mission?”
    “Cody and Tia are interference,” Prof said. “We’ve been over this, son.”
    “Maybe I could go with Abraham, then. Or you.” I glanced over my shoulder, then spoke even more softly. “She doesn’t really like me much.”
    “I won’t have two members of my crew not getting along,” Prof said sternly. “You will learn to work together. Megan is a professional. It’ll be fine.”
    Yes, she’s professional
, I thought.
Too professional
. But Prof wasn’t hearing any of it.
    I took a deep breath. Part