The kid smirked as Lukas put his hand on their arm. ”Take this outside? What are you going to do? Beat up a 17 year old kid? Big man aren’t you?”

Jack did not expect the sudden searing pain that radiated through their arm from Lukas’ fingers. They didn’t enjoy pain, and usually made efforts to avoid it, but obviously they had pushed the cop too far and he had lost his temper. They managed to restrain themselves from crying out, bringing a hand up to support the injured limb. Which was a great deal more injured than they had expected.

Not only was the pain greater than it should have been from Lukas’s touch, but the injury that appeared to have been inflicted was in the wrong place. It was their forearm. Lukas must have used his ability. Had it been deliberate? A quick glance at the amazed and celebrating Lukas suggested not.

They didn’t have any pain killers, and for them the injury was still relatively fresh, not dulled to the background as it would be after some time. Even so, they kept the pain out of their voice.

”That’s a neat trick. Now are you gonna take it back or what?”

Jack almost laughed at Lukas’ response, they didn’t have the greatest opinion of the US Police force, and by extension, the academy that trained them. It didn’t help that Jack had read the documentation given to wannabe Police Officers and it was laughably lacking. Not that such poor provision was unusual in Police training. Still it was better than no training at all.

Jack might have been offended, if they hadn’t felt like they were playing twenty questions themselves. They rolled their eyes. ”I’m having a conversation, last I checked, you asked me questions too, I’ve just been more honest than you have.”

They stood up and moved a little away from the cop. ”That’s what we normal people do. Ask each other questions, take turns, just cause you don’t get to be the one asking all the questions it doesn’t mean you’re being interrogated. Jeez.”

They shrugged, ”Sucks that your power hurts you though,” they said insincerely.

Jack almost rolled their eyes. This Lukas Pope was definitely not the sharpest knife in the drawer. On the other hand Jack had never seen the inside of the drawer, so they might have a slightly skewed perception. He was hardly the first person Jack had met who had received their powers thanks to the Event, but he was certainly the densest. It was taking all of their patience not to simply call up 177 and have her beat the answers out of him. Jack didn't have much taste for torture, but they were sure the iced Soviet super-weapon had a few interesting red interrogation techniques up her, admittedly short, sleeves.

"I should hope I know a lot about what's going on here, I've spent way too much time here already."

True

"Why else? I'm curious. World changes overnight and what? You just want to hide under a rock? Come on man, where's your curiousity? You must work in a bank or something."

They stood up and paced, feeling restless at how unsuccessfully this was going. "When I saw you watching the door and out the way of the window I thought you might be a cop or something. But no way do I think that now."

They stopped and looked Lukas dead in the eyes. "Why are you here?"

So straight into the questions, and no explanation as to the event that had actually brought him here. Jack had their sources of course, but that didn't mean that they didn't want to hear it from the mouth of someone who had been there. It must be strange for Lukas now. There were metahumans in the Police Force, but the more powerful ones tended to move into Hero work, it was an ideal recruiting ground for the federal program. Of course that left some resentment, many Police officers were fine with Heroes, they were just like SWAT, but with powers. Many others resented them, feeling like they were being pushed out, or told they weren't good enough. Of course, no police officer could ever hope to compete with a powerful metahuman.

"Yeah I'm metahuman, my power's a bit weird though. I can build stuff basically."

A vast oversimplification of Jack's ability, but true enough. Then there was the aspect of Jack's power that had enhanced their intelligence. In truth they no longer thought of that as an ability. It was so much a part of them now that they couldn't envisage it as something separate. Or perhaps they didn't want to think of it as something separate. Maybe they'd just have to be more blunt.

"So what do you do? Your power I mean? Or what do they think you do?"

Jack smiled, then wandered in and glanced around the room, looking casually to see if there were any cameras in the room. Not that it mattered; wiping themselves from the feed had been child's play, almost depressingly so. It was probably why they focused on metahumans so much in their recent researches. Things that followed the normal laws of science were just so depressingly predictable. Metahuman abilities however, seemed to follow strange laws of their own, laws that Jack would dearly love to codify.

Lukas Pope was sat down in the corner, in a chair that faced the door and kept him out of sight of the window. If Jack hadn't known that he was a cop then they would have guessed it simply from this action. It was telling.

Finally they paid attention to the man, looking at his hand almost curiously and weighing up the risks. On the one hand the man appeared to be able to transfer injuries to himself, logically he could transfer them to others in some sort of offensive measure. Perhaps he needed a firm grip, or simply a light touch. Jack didn't know these things yet, and so the offered hand was a risk.

Jack took it, shaking it before returning their hand to their pocket. No agonising pain, no sudden death. Lukas was supposed to be new to abilities, perhaps he could not yet control it, or even more simply had not wanted to harm Jack. They would reserve judgement.

"I'm Jack, you a new patient here?"

Lukas had no way of knowing their true identity or their true purpose here, and Jack could lie with the smooth practice of one born to it. Not that they had lied. They'd merely suggested that they themselves were a patient with their question.

It was an interesting statement, considering that half of what she seemed to get up to in her spare time could in fact advance the human race significantly. They tended to overlook all those other little misdemeanours if what they produced was valuable enough. Look at Einstein. Admittedly some of Josie's crimes would land her a long stint in prison, should they come to light, but that wouldn't prevent someone from profiting from her artificial intelligence work.

The bots themselves were impressive, but not as impressive as the near sentient programs that drove them. If Jack hadn't already constructed Erys they might have been jealous. That was why they hadn't built an AI since. There was too much trouble down that road.

They would have to keep a closer eye on Josie's work, to ensure that she didn't build something she couldn't control. Really, what had the world done before Jack was about to keep an eye on things?

"HAL? Seems a little clichéd, and if the law of dramatic irony has anything to do with it those two will definitely turn on you. If there is such a thing as fate, you are tempting it."

They mulled the question over for a minute, "Something like Olivaw perhaps, I always did enjoy Asimov's laws, simplistic though they are."

They shrugged, "Although you do strike me as the dramatic type. What can I say? So am I, it's so much more fun that way. I think I get it from family. Or not depending on who you ask…"

They dropped another shrimp into their mouth, letting their mind wander to what they remembered of Josie's family, which was precisely everything they'd managed to recover from government and online databases. Their doctor's notes had been particularly interesting. And once Josie had a closer look at the partial designs Jack had given them, they were sure that her loyalty would be solidified, at least partially.

After all, with the Doctor dead, Jack was likely the only person who could give her brother some semblance of a proper life back. They were no medic, but the chip they had designed and partially constructed could bridge damaged nerve fibres, particularly those ones found in the spine.

"Though I'm sure we can help each other with our families."

Jack's mouth quirked, in truth someone like Josephine would be lucky to have access to any of Jack's designs. The girl was bright, they would give her that, almost a breath of fresh air in a world otherwise filled with dull, unintelligent people. Almost. If this had been a few years ago Jack could have considered their intellect an equal to their own. They were entertaining to talk to, and likely would be for some time to come, but they held no illusions that they already outstripped Josephine in intellect. It was faintly amusing that she seemed to think herself an equal.

Of course, to reveal just how advanced some of Jack's designs were would ruin the whole point of this negotiation. Josephine would wonder why Jack was willing to part with concepts of such staggering potential for mere information. Information they could have acquired themselves had they the inclination. No, they would feed her various designs far enough ahead of the curve to maintain her interest, but not so far ahead that they might give away Jack's true nature.

There was another strange physical tic. She had cocked her head, presumably connected to the internet once more. Jack was almost jealous, it was a potent ability, with a myriad of applications.

They began to eat, plucking a shrimp from the top level of the platter and carefully peeling the shell away from it. It was delicious, their opinion of Josephine's taste climbed a notch. At least she could pick a good restaurant.

"I trust in your abilities."

Jack did, but they would check the integrity of the encryption and probably make a few tweaks of their own. They had no doubt that she would do her best to research both themselves, and Anna once she left the restaurant. Not that it would do any good. Jack's family was wealthy anyway, with a great deal of political influence within America, but what wouldn't show up to her would be their influence within the Families, and that influence stretched a lot deeper. As to Anna, Jack had conducted a degree of their own research into her background, and if Jack couldn't find anything, there was nothing to be found.

"It seems we have an accord, I assume we can simply eat and talk about something besides business for a moment. Or would you rather keep business and pleasure separate?"