The Powerful Pride of an Immortal (Immortal Supers Book 4) by Kurtis Eckstein (ebook reader for surface pro .TXT) 📗

superpowers, but I don’t want to end up with someone’s curse! And obviously there might be something else that makes me really dangerous, but refusing me that information might actually be even more disastrous! What if I kill someone I love because you wouldn’t tell me what I was capable of! What if I accidentally destroy an entire city because you wouldn’t tell me!”

I took a deep breath, staring at Connelly again since she was the human lie detector. “I’m not a bad guy. I don’t want to take over the world, I have zero desire to be in power, and I don’t want a different body from my own. I just want to live my life in peace, and keep my family safe. That’s all! Am I lying?” I demanded.

She hesitated, glancing at the others briefly, before shaking her head.

“So, if I have a dangerous ability, one that could potentially massacre thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people, then I need to know. Because not telling me is basically turning me into another James Willard.”

Still silence.

Suddenly, another idea hit me then.

“And here’s another thought,” I added. “All of you want to refuse me my evaluation, because you’re afraid of what I’ll do if I turned out to be a villain. But the problem is, what happens when a true villain comes along and succeeds in destroying us all, when I could have defeated him if I’d just known what I was capable of!” I scoffed. “I’m not your enemy. Even if I’m Politically Sovereign, I’m still not your enemy. I just want to live my life peacefully and keep my family safe. That’s it. I’ve already lost my family once before, so it shouldn’t be difficult to imagine that those are my absolute core priorities.”

Silence.

“I don’t care about money,” I pressed. “I don’t care about fame or power. I just want to keep my family safe, and I will fight to the death, and beyond, and use every ounce of strength I have to keep them safe. That’s the kind of person you should want to wield apocalypse-level power, especially if an equally powerful threat one day shows its ugly head.”

Silence.

Damn, now they were seriously making me nervous, because I was just upping the scale of destruction I might be capable of causing, and they weren’t even blinking an eye.

Like, shit! What in the hell was I capable of? Seriously?!

Unexpectedly, the man sitting by the wall – the one with heavily wrinkled reddish skin, who came in with General Burnham – the guy who sat down with his tablet, away from the table, and hadn’t spoken a single word thus far…he finally spoke up, keeping his eyes on his device.

“Ms. Fowler, I’d like your opinion.”

Everyone in the room immediately turned to look at him, only to shift their gazes to Winter.

Shit, who in the hell was this guy?

I just assumed he was a nobody. Just Burnham’s lackey or something, but suddenly it was like everyone’s boss had unexpectedly stepped up to the figurative podium.

I turned in my seat to look at her too, seeing that her expression was impassive, her goth chick ‘I couldn’t care less’ look in full force, as she stared at the person addressing her.

“That’s very nice of you to ask,” she said evenly.

He didn’t even bother looking up at her as he responded, his tone almost somber. “Is your assessment inconclusive? Or have you simply decided not to lend us your invaluable opinion?”

She didn’t respond, her gaze remaining steady, ignoring me completely.

Shit.

‘Winter, you aren’t going to screw me over, are you? Or maybe you sincerely just don’t trust me with this information? Shit, I think I can accept that, as much as I hate it. But please don’t let this be some kind of political refusal, where you don’t want to share based on some arbitrary principal. If you trust me, then please tell them the truth.’

Her eyes narrowed slightly, still focused on the mystery guy.

Pennington began to speak up, but ‘the boss’ immediately told him to shut up, still holding Winter’s seafoam gaze.

‘Shit. Winter, I don’t even know if you care about this, but if your opinion is really so important to the outcome of this situation, then I’ll bargain with you afterward. Or owe you one. A favor, or whatever. Not sure there’s anything I can offer you, but I’d be more than happy to try.’

Unexpectedly, she looked at me with a strange expression, some mix of surprise and vulnerability appearing, before it vanished altogether – it all happened so quickly, that I felt like I might have imagined it.

Winter cleared her throat, finally breaking the silence. “If it were up to me, then I would have already told him what he wanted to know,” she replied evenly. “Because what he said is true. You’re basically afraid of enhancing your ally’s nuclear technology, for fear that they might turn on you one day, when really you should be helping to arm your ally. Because, at the end of the day, your enemies will be his enemies, since you foundationally have the same goals.”

“Thank you,” the man replied unconvincingly. “But you know what I’m really asking.”

That vulnerable look appeared in her pale green eyes again, prompting her to turn her head away from us all entirely.

It was again completely silent for a long few seconds.

“Yes,” she finally said. “I trust him.”

The man abruptly stood with a sigh. “Then, that’s good enough for me. Hendricks, I trust that you’ll take care of the details. Let’s get this done so we can prepare for what’s next.”

Jackie looked shaken. “O-Of course, sir.”

He nodded, beginning to walk toward the exit. “General, time to go.”

Burnham got up without another word, and followed the man out of the room.

Shit.

What in the hell just happened?

5: Meeting New People

Heidi Stockton

April 10, 2735 – Current Day – Late Morning

Heidi hesitated, staring at her phone for a long time, her thumb trembling as she debated if she was really going to do