Chapter 210: 211 | The Politics of Being Undeniable
"I gave him thirty seconds." Something dangerous flickered in Mera’s green eyes. "He took twenty-nine. If he’d gone over, I would have pulled him out whether the integration was complete or not."
"Even knowing it might have killed you both."
"Even knowing." Mera’s tail unwound from my wrist. Coiled back against her chair. "He’s mine. I don’t share well but I share less badly than I lose. And I refuse to lose him to his own stupid heroic impulses."
Laurana nodded slowly. "Good. That’s what I needed to hear."
"What?"
"I needed to know you’d protect him from himself. He certainly won’t do it on his own." Laurana returned to her side of the desk. Sat down. Crossed her legs in a way that drew attention to their length. "Now. On to the reason I asked you both here."
She opened a drawer. Pulled out a folder thick with documents. Dropped it on the desk between us.
"This arrived from Angelo Corporation’s legal division this morning. A formal request for Rome’s blood work from his last physical examination, citing concerns about anomalous readings that may indicate a previously undiagnosed condition requiring immediate medical attention."
My stomach dropped. "That’s faster than Vivian predicted."
"Your sister underestimated your father’s paranoia. Or overestimated her ability to delay his investigation." Laurana’s fingers tapped the folder. "The academy received a separate request from the NEA an hour later. Standard inquiry into last night’s incident. They want to interview all students who were present during the attack."
"Including me."
"Especially you. Your name appears in the preliminary witness statements nine times. Apparently several of your classmates noticed you running toward the entity while everyone else ran away."
"Heroic instinct. Can’t be helped."
"It can absolutely be helped. You chose not to help it." Laurana’s eyes narrowed. "Which brings us to the real problem."
She opened another drawer. Pulled out a tablet. Turned it to face us.
The screen showed a grainy security camera image. Courtyard grass. Emergency lights. A humanoid figure standing in the center of a dead brown circle.
And me. Walking toward it. Three concentric circles clearly visible in my eyes even through the poor image quality.
"Campus security cameras caught this approximately fourteen seconds before the entity destabilized. The NEA hasn’t requested this footage yet, but they will. When they do, someone is going to ask why Rome D’Angelo, registered Passive Null, appears to have an active ocular manifestation consistent with a drain-type ability."
Mera swore under her breath. Something creative involving portals and uncomfortable body parts.
"Can it be suppressed?"
"Possibly. Academy security answers to the administration, not the NEA. If I make the right requests to the right people, the footage might suffer an unfortunate data corruption." Laurana’s gaze moved to me. "But that buys you weeks at best. Not months. Not years. The truth is coming, Rome. The only question is whether you control how it emerges or let someone else control it for you."
I processed this. Tried to find an angle. A way out. A clever solution that didn’t involve either running or exposure.
Nothing came.
"What do you recommend?"
"I recommend you stop thinking of this as a problem to solve and start thinking of it as an opportunity to exploit." Laurana’s smile turned sharp. "Your father is moving against you. The NEA is asking questions. Campus security has evidence that could destroy your registration. All of these things are true. Also true is that you just saved a campus full of students from a villain attack. You demonstrated abilities that suggest significant power. You risked your life to protect others."
"You want me to go public."
"I want you to consider the advantages of controlling your own narrative rather than letting others construct it for you."
Mera leaned forward. "Are you insane? If he admits to having an unregistered SS-rank ability, the NEA will lock him up for evaluation. Maybe permanently."
"If he admits without preparation, yes. If he admits with the right support structure in place..." Laurana spread her hands. "The law is complicated. Registration violations are serious but not automatically criminal. Especially for abilities that manifested recently. Especially for abilities demonstrated in service of heroic action."
"You’re talking about a legal defense."
"I’m talking about a public relations campaign followed by a legal defense followed by political pressure applied at strategic points." Laurana’s eyes gleamed. "Rome’s father has spent decades building power through corporate channels. Government contacts. Regulatory capture. But he’s neglected the other paths to influence. Media. Public opinion. The hero community itself."
"You want me to become famous."
"I want you to become undeniable. Famous, powerful, and surrounded by allies who will make moving against you politically expensive." She gestured at Mera. "Miss Cross. You have connections in the underground hero community through your family. The provisional hero networks. The agency pipelines."
"Some."
"Rome." Laurana’s attention returned to me. "You have connections through Vanguard. Through the exhibition match. Through every student at this academy who watched you walk toward a monster while they ran away."
"I also have a father who will burn everything to the ground before he lets me win."
"Then we burn it faster and more completely." Laurana stood again. Walked around the desk again. This time she didn’t stop in front of me. She kept walking until she stood behind my chair, her hands resting on my shoulders. "I told you before that I found your situation fascinating. That I wanted to study what you could become."
"I remember."
"I underestimated." Her fingers pressed into my muscles. Finding tension. Working at it. "You’re not just an interesting case study. You’re the most significant development in Essentia theory since the first Root-Types were documented. And I refuse to let your father bury you in some corporate facility while the academic community pretends you don’t exist."
"That’s almost romantic."
"It’s practical." Her hands moved to my neck. Her thumbs traced circles against my skin. "But since we’re being honest..."
She bent down. Her lips brushed my ear. Her breath was warm and carried that smoky expensive scent.
"I also find myself increasingly unwilling to share you with circumstances beyond my control. Your father. The NEA. The various disasters that seem to follow you everywhere." Her voice dropped to something almost private. "I much prefer the disasters I can participate in directly."
