Streak and Fate walked into the room together. I was sitting on the side of the bed.
They walked right up to me. Fate held out her hand while Streak introduced her.
"Molly, this is Fate. Fate, Molly."
I shook her hand. It felt colder than mine, and I usually have cold hands. I looked up at her and smiled. "Nice to meet you." Then I noticed something about her eyes. Something about the way she looked at me was strange.
"I am most interested to figure out what happened to you," Fate said to me. "Streak has told me you have no recollection of the incident."
I nodded. "Right. I don't remember what happened or how I got to the nuclear plant."
Fate turned away from me and picked up the remote control from the counter. She pointed it at the wall and pushed a button. The whole wall turned on like a TV screen. "This is the footage from the security cameras at Next Gen Energy. I patched together the relevant footage. That is, the footage that should match the location where I found you."
While she explained, the footage played, rewound, replayed. It was in shades of gray. Every now and then there was a flash off-screen. I guess that was fire or sparks or something. The last few seconds of the footage showed me falling into the frame and landing on the floor.
Fate rewound, replayed the clips on the screen. "As you can see, I have found only this footage of you falling. The time code marks this as four minutes and forty-five seconds before I came across your body. I sifted through other security footage from tonight, but most of it is obscured by fire and smoke. I could not identify you in those clips."
"Did you see anyone else there?" I asked.
Fate shook her head. "I found no evidence of a second trespasser."
Trespasser. As in, I was the first one.
"This doesn't tell us anything new, then," Streak said. "We still don't know how Molly got there."
"I believe that is obvious," Fate said.
"Well, thank you for looking anyway." Streak took the remote control from her and turned off the screen.
Fate nodded. "Is there any other way I can be of assistance?"
"No, I think we did all we can do at this point."
"Then you will return Molly to her home?"
"Yeah, I told Atom I'd do that."
"You are aware that protocol applies to her." Talking about me as if I weren't in the room. How charming.
"Yes." Streak held Fate's elbow and walked with her toward the door. "I know the rules, Fate. Thank you."
He came back toward the bed.
"What protocol?" I asked him.
"Well, we don't normally bring non-superheroes here."
"Right..." I wasn't sure I liked where this was going.
"But when we do, we can't let them know where our headquarters are. It's fine while you're in here--there's no way for you to tell where this building is. But we can't take you out of her without you seeing our location. It's a security issue. You can understand that."
"Yeah, but what does that mean?"
Streak shrugged. "We use a mild sedative. That way you fall asleep and I can take you home safely without you finding out where our headquarters are."
"It sounds mobster to me."
"Molly--"
"Never mind." I waved my hand. "You might have saved my life tonight, and I'm thankful for that. Do what you have to do. I trust you."
Streak looked at me for a moment and then turned to the cabinet. He pulled out a small syringe. I pulled up my sleeve and he injected the sedative into my arm.
I felt sleepy almost immediately and then I was out.