Free Infiltration by Kevin Hardman

the teen quarters were seldom used; they were really only here for the few times each year that teen supers were required to stay at HQ for extended training — usually during summer. Still, they were our rooms, and — since I’d been allowed to select a few custom features — I was anxious to see the finished product.
    Obviously, finishing the teen apartments wasn’t very high on the list of priorities. I briefly pondered if it would be worth asking Mouse, leader of the Alpha League, to move up the timetable for completion. However, it was a subject I’d have to broach with care, since Mouse had made it clear that he was making some changes to the rooms. In fact, I wasn’t even supposed to be here.
    “What do you think you’re doing?” said a disembodied voice that seemed to come from all around me. It was Mouse, of course. Still, having come from nowhere, his voice had startled me slightly and I looked around anxiously for the person speaking.
    “Over by the door, genius,” Mouse’s voice said, almost impatiently.
    I walked over to where the entrance to my quarters was located. Next to the door, at roughly chest level, a circular plate was set into the wall. The plate contained a numbered pad like you’d find on a phone, and beneath that a flashing green button marked “Intercom/Phone.” I pushed the button and the green light ceased flashing and became steady.
    “Now,” said Mouse, with a slight hint of aggravation, “I’ll ask you again: what do you think you’re doing?”
    “I just wanted to see if my place was ready yet,” I responded.
    “And asking somebody never works, right?”
    I ignored his question. Now that I was paying attention, I noticed that his voice was coming from speakers mounted in the ceiling. There must also be a couple of mikes in order for him to hear me.
    “How’d you even know I was up here?” I asked.
    “Motion-activated cameras,” he said. “They’re in all the rooms at the moment.”
    “All the…?” I frowned, not liking this at all. “So, wait a minute. You’ll be able to see exactly where everyone is? Whether we’re in our own rooms or someone else’s?”
    “Yes. We’ll also know whether you’ve been naughty or nice.”
    “Isn’t that a flagrant invasion of privacy?”
    “What are you going to do, file a complaint with the co-op board?”
    “Maybe.”
    “Well, since I am, ostensibly, the co-op board, when it comes across my desk, you may rest assured that I will give due attention and deliberation to your concerns. Then I’ll shred it.”
    I couldn’t help laughing at that. Mouse really had an awesome sense of humor.
    “Okay,” I said, still grinning, “what’s the real reason for the cameras?”
    “The real reason? So I’ll know when boneheads aren’t listening when I tell them to stay out of certain areas of the building.”
    I laughed again, and this time I even heard Mouse chuckling on his end.
    “Alright,” he finally said. “You’re going to find out soon enough anyway. When they’re finished, all of the living quarters will have a secret exit. While we’re in the process of constructing them, I want to make sure that no unauthorized individuals are roaming around on the floors in question. Hence the cameras, which will come out when everything is complete. Satisfied?”
    I nodded. “Seems to make sense.”
    “I’m glad you approve, milord. Now, are you ready for your debriefing?”
    “Sure.”
    “Great, how fast can you get to my” — I teleported and popped up behind him — “lab?”
    “Pretty fast, I’d say,” said an attractive blonde standing next to him. Mouse turned around, already knowing what he would see.
    “One day I’ll learn,” he said, seemingly to himself, “never to ask him that.”
    I grinned, as this was something Mouse said almost every time I popped into his presence, as if he couldn’t get used to the immediacy of my teleportation power. Dressed in the trademark black-and-gold uniform of the