Breezer looked past them at Shade and quickly looked away again.
“You told me you weren't really the leader here,” Jack said. “I'm hoping that was a lie.”
“Hoping?”
Jack sighed, probed, grasped a point of light inside, squeezed it tight. A rush of information. He used Breezer's talent against him. “It's how the others see you,” he said. “You're strong. Resourceful. And you never were a heating engineer.”
“Oh,” Breezer said. “Well. That's a pretence I've kept up since Doomsday.”
“So what was he?” Jenna asked.
“Police,” Jack said. “Serious Organised Crime squad.”
“Amazing,” Breezer said. “How do you do it? What does it feel like?”
“Unnatural,” Jack said. He closed his mind to what Nomad had given him and spat, trying to rid himself of her taste.
“Hungry?” Breezer asked.
“Burgers?” Sparky asked hopefully.
Breezer laughed. It was such a natural, unforced sound that it put Jack instantly at ease, and he glanced back at Shade and gestured.
“Come on,” Jack said. “You do eat, don't you?”
Not so anyone would notice.
“Fine.” Jack followed Sparky and Jenna through the doorway, and as it swung shut he saw Shade slip through from the corner of his eye. Their guard. Jack was already quite certain he would not be required.
The same cooking barrel, the same people around them, but this time Breezer seemed more deferential. He had underestimated Jack and his friends last time. Now, they had proved themselves more resourceful than he could have imagined.
“So you went to your father,” Breezer said. He glanced around the open-plan office, looking for Shade. Dawn sunlight bathed them, casting shadows behind screens and in doorways, and Shade could have been anywhere. “Got one of his monsters protecting you.”
“They're not monsters,” Jack said.
“Then what are they?” Breezer asked.
“Confused,” Jenna said. “They're overwhelmed. Everything changed so quickly. They lost loved ones, saw what became of millions in London, lived amongst the stink and rot of decaying bodies. Then they were hunted and murdered, and they fought back. One of them can…I don't know how, but she slows time. Jumps between moments. They're at odds with their humanity. They're not monsters. They've just had these powers thrust upon them, and they don't know how to handle them.”
“Haven't we all?” Breezer asked.
“Yes,” Jenna said, glancing at Jack. “And I think you all might be fighting madness.”
“Charming,” Breezer said, but he did not dispute what she'd said.
“I told you what my priority was,” Jack said. “My mother, my sister. Everyone they've got at Camp H. Well, now there might be a way to get to them.”
“You've asked Reaper for help,” Breezer said. “And he said yes?”
“He's agreed that by combining talents, you might be able to find Camp H.”
“And can't you do it?” Breezer asked. “Nomad's touch is on you, Jack. Isn't it? Can't you just sit there now and find Camp H?”
“No,” Jack said. “It's not that easy.”
“Why not?”
“Because I'm still learning.” And he was convinced that was the truth. He had used a power similar to Breezer's because the man had been close, and his star had shone brighter in Jack's mind's eye. But he could not do everything. Not yet.
He saw something in Breezer's eyes then that he had already glimpsed in his friends’: fear. He didn't like it at all.
“And how do we…” Breezer waved a hand about, indicating the Irregulars who shared the building with him. “How do we all meet with Reaper and his ‘Superiors,’ and not get spied by the bitch working for the Choppers.”