Throughout history there have been stories of those blessed with great power. Heroes and gods...
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Price: Death of a Hero
- Thread starter TanaNari
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Preface
TanaNari
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Throughout history there have been stories of those blessed with great power. Heroes and gods, villains and daemons. But behind the myth and legend, a grain of truth hides. Men who could rend steel with their bare hands, wise women able to turn simple woodland fare into miracle cures.
Through the ages these beings and their strange, alien powers over mind and body have shaped history. Look upon them with awe, for they have the power to reshape the world. Look upon them with pity, for the greater their feats, the more they must suffer.
For every action, there is a reaction.
For every gift, a Price.
(And if that doesn't sell you, the main character utters the phrase "I swear I'm only gay for pay.")
Special thanks to Hoyden over on SV for the first draft of this intro. But not the 'gay for pay' part. That credit goes to me alone.
Through the ages these beings and their strange, alien powers over mind and body have shaped history. Look upon them with awe, for they have the power to reshape the world. Look upon them with pity, for the greater their feats, the more they must suffer.
For every action, there is a reaction.
For every gift, a Price.
(And if that doesn't sell you, the main character utters the phrase "I swear I'm only gay for pay.")
Special thanks to Hoyden over on SV for the first draft of this intro. But not the 'gay for pay' part. That credit goes to me alone.
Alright, looks like I've finally gotten through the writer's block. We'll see how that sticks. So this will be the rough draft of what will eventually be my first published book. It is a rough draft, and pointers are always appreciated. So long as they're actually, y'know, useful. Unlike with Amelia, I'm not going to waste my time with useless complaints here. If you don't know the difference between criticism and complaining... then what you have to offer probably isn't criticism.
The first two chapters of Price: Death of a Hero are almost interchangeable with one another. I personally think it's going to work better this way, leading with an action chapter and then moving into the exposition via flashback. I may be wrong, but the way chapters one and two are designed should make it simple to read them in reverse order with zero difficulties.
The intended goal is around 4-5k chapters done three times a week. If it's anything like Amelia, I'll be going at twice that rate. I will also be claiming a few posts for WoG repository on the story- tidbits of info I couldn't quite fit into the chapter that I may or may not ever find a place for, but feel deserves to be known. And tidbits that may be useful for future reference like character bios.
And while I have your attention, advice for where and how to set up a proper website for this story and/or monetize this whole project would be very, very welcome. This writing shit is harder work than you'd think, and being able to do it full time would make my life so much easier.
... Also, this piece of shit laptop I'm using ain't gonna last much longer. Its replacement can be my first business expense!
The first two chapters of Price: Death of a Hero are almost interchangeable with one another. I personally think it's going to work better this way, leading with an action chapter and then moving into the exposition via flashback. I may be wrong, but the way chapters one and two are designed should make it simple to read them in reverse order with zero difficulties.
The intended goal is around 4-5k chapters done three times a week. If it's anything like Amelia, I'll be going at twice that rate. I will also be claiming a few posts for WoG repository on the story- tidbits of info I couldn't quite fit into the chapter that I may or may not ever find a place for, but feel deserves to be known. And tidbits that may be useful for future reference like character bios.
And while I have your attention, advice for where and how to set up a proper website for this story and/or monetize this whole project would be very, very welcome. This writing shit is harder work than you'd think, and being able to do it full time would make my life so much easier.
... Also, this piece of shit laptop I'm using ain't gonna last much longer. Its replacement can be my first business expense!
Last edited:
Price, Chapter One
TanaNari
Verified Dick
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Chapter 1
I took a slow, deep breath. Okay, this is it. Time to go out there and be a hero. I didn't know why I was so nervous, my power made me unstoppable. I looked out the windshield, psyching myself up.
We'd stopped in the parking lot between a bowling alley and a bar. The former was closed, the latter would be soon. Some woman took a drag of what was probably a cigarette, while watching us suspiciously. That she was wearing a miniskirt and high heels in the middle of October left little question as to her career path.
I glanced over at Laura and gave her my best smile. "This is where I get out and you drive off."
She scowled at me through her metallic blue bangs, pointedly ignoring the audience. "No. This is Erica we're talking about. You owe me this."
I carefully kept my face neutral. She was right, she helped me a lot already, but this was just too dangerous for her. "My powers won't let me protect you. A stray bullet is all it would take for me to be avenging two deaths instead of one. I can't lose you." I hesitated, almost adding the word 'too' to the end of that. I need to cover that up.
"Please," I whispered, desperate for her to actually listen to me for once in either of our lives.
We sat there for a minute as she studied my face. I did my best to project confidence, but there was no one who could read me better than she could. Still, there was no way in hell I could risk her getting hurt out there. I didn't need to sleep anymore, so if nothing else she'd be forced to cave before I did. She must have realized the same thing, because her determined look gave way to regret and acceptance.
"Hurt them extra for me."
I wasn't really sure how it was possible to hurt them more than I was planning, already, but it was an easy promise to make. "I'll torture them extra while waiting for the police to show up." A lie, I had no intentions of letting the police get involved. The already failed their chance. I reached over and pushed the button on her CD player. "Making them listen to this should just about cover it."
She slapped my hand away. "Leave my music alone, asshole!"
"Yeah, you're right. That's probably a violation of the Geneva Convention or something." Honestly, I had no idea what the CD even was. Knowing her tastes, it was probably something tribal or techno. Not that bad, honestly, but I wouldn't be caught dead telling her that.
She pushed the disk back in the player. It automatically started, and I was treated to some combination of synthetic stuff with a sort of Indian sound. "Touch my music again and I'll break your fingers. Again." Not much of a threat, given my powers. I made sure to pretend to be appropriately terrified. After a minute, she spoke up. "So, how long will this take you? Should I wait nearby?"
I shook my head. "No. If this gets messy, the police might get called in." I patted the hilt of the sword hidden under my coat. She got my meaning, this wasn't exactly the legal way to go about things. "Better for them to think I came alone." Or at least that I won't turn over my accomplice. "They'll go easy on me since I'm a minor, and a superhero." If my online research was right, then that was probably true. Either way, I didn't need it to be true, I just needed her to believe it was. And now to distract her so she wouldn't point out how stupid everything I just said was. I gestured at the literal and figurative streetwalker who was still watching us. "She seems nice, you could probably kill a bit of time."
"Just get out of my car."
I'd already pulled the handle and was moving to escape, and then her foot hit me square in my lower back. I stumbled forward into the gravel while Laura's car sped off and turned onto the street. The prostitute's eyes narrowed as she looked at me. Then I realized that there was shimmer of light coming from under my trench coat, indicating that my power had activated. Fuck. Funny thing about pain, the bad injuries don't hurt, at least not until the adrenaline wore off or something. And for me that wasn't a problem anymore.
I fumbled in through the coat, pulling the edge of the sword out of my lower thigh and finding my cell phone. I turned it on before pulling it out and took it to my ear immediately, hoping the glow of the screen was enough to fool her. "Hey, yeah, I was just about to call you." I tried to make my voice sound deeper. Please work, please work. "Sorry, we're not gonna be able to make it to the party. Car problems. Yeah, fuckin' sucks. See ya Monday." I closed the phone and put it away.
My power had done its job a while ago, so I stood up and started walking. The path took me pretty close to the prostitute. "Sorry babe, I tried." I had no idea why I felt the need to acknowledge her, but after she'd watched all that, saying nothing to her felt weird.
"Better luck next time, lover."
With that she lost all interest in me, taking another drag as I walked away. It took me all of another five minutes to find the building whose address I had spent all day memorizing and staring at on the maps. It didn't look like anything special, simply an abandoned auto repair building in a set of neighborhoods that really had no interest in keeping things nice. There weren't any obvious guards, but that didn't mean much in the age of cell phones. Oh well, I don't need to set up or be cautious. My power's too good for that. I pulled down the cheap ski mask and stepped out of the alleyway. This is the moment.
Not even bothering to check to see if the door was locked, I withdrew my cavalry saber and slashed the door handle. The clang of it more smashing the handle than cutting it eliminated all possibility of stealth. I kicked the door and walked in, dragging the tip across the concrete behind me. The blue, white and yellow sparks of my power shimmered along the blade mending the damage it took. Damn my power is badass
My vision was replaced by darkness before I had a chance to say something cool. The sound of a gunshot rang through the building even as my vision returned, awash with light as my power put me back together. Turning the various bits of my body to glowing dust and reassembling even as more bullets tore into me. I just kept walking forward as my injuries mended themselves. Pain wasn't really a thing, and they were using small handguns that didn't have much impact force.
Then I stumbled and dropped to the ground. I may have shouted something, but in the sounds echoing of the gunfire, no one could hear anything. The fuck?
I looked at where a crossbow bolt was sticking out of my shin. It shimmered and then was forced out of the wound even as more shots came in. I finally took the time to really look at my surroundings. Four men, and only three of them had guns. The last one was busy reloading an honest to god crossbow. I rolled the next time he fired. Bullets were nothing, but that weapon actually had an effect on me.
Maybe it was some kind of gadget weapon?
I was up on my feet and running toward him after he missed the second shot. He dodged out of the way of my swing, and my sword cut into a cheap table. Cards and money scattered to the ground and a certain part of me hoped crossbow dude was winning that game. My backswing was better, catching his weapon and knocking it out of his hand. Hopefully it was expensive.
The other men stopped firing, either because they didn't want to hit their buddy, or because they'd just figured out bullets were useless. He backed up against the wall as I took a couple steps closer, my sword pointed at him. The man was probably twice my age, a few inches taller and a lot broader than I was. Kinda looked like my algebra teacher, which was pretty funny to imagine him staring at me in fear.
"Now, there's only two ways for this to go down. Tell me where to find Flux, or we'll test to see if your immortality is as good as mine." I wasn't even breathing hard, another fun side effect of my power. I didn't need to eat, never got tired, and I was pretty sure I didn't need air.
His eyes never left the tip of the blade only a few inches away from his chest. "Uh. He's in the other room, with Kitten."
"Wh-" My question was interrupted with a sudden crunching sound, and my view had changed. Where before I was looking at a man, now I found my head had been twisted around backward, and I got a look at the slender young blonde. A few years younger than me, easily. I immediately knew she was imbued, from the indigo light radiating from her eyes.
"You interrupted my nap," she growled at me. Not a figure of speech, the sound her voice made didn't belong to a human being.
A man's voice spoke up. "You really should not have done that."
I twisted and swung my sword. She had powers, and that made it okay for me to hit her even if she was a little girl. Also, she just broke my neck. I needn't have worried, since she ducked under the blade anyway. I heard a crackling noise as her dark energy aura swirled along her arm and around her hand, condensing into blades as she clawed upward across my jaw and face. Once again I was blinded, but this time I didn't have time to react before something hit me hard in the gut. If it was a punch, she had super strength. If it was a kick, then she probably still had super strength. I slammed hard into the concrete wall of the building.
"So, you're a new face," she said cheerfully as my body restored itself. "High level regeneration, extending to your clothes. That's kinda neat." My vision cleared, and I got a really good look at her. Almost a foot shorter than me, she wearing a tight tank top and cotton shorts that made it pretty clear she had only barely reached puberty. Her short cropped hair only added to the androgyny. "Got a name, newbie?"
I didn't bother answering, simply taking another swing at her. She jumped back, landing feet first on the cheap metal chair. Somehow, she managed to stay balanced, and spring boarded off it and onto my head. Her knee cracked into my face and I found myself on my back. She landed with both feet, toes first, in my stomach. That move actually hurt, and I coughed in surprise.
"Okay, fine, be that way." She turned her head. "Hey, Flux? My powers don't know how to kill this guy."
"Think he has some kind of power that nulls your senses?" I got my first look at Flux. The fucker I was here to kill. I already recognized his costume from pictures I'd found online. Black, with a thin yellow lines in a sort of circuitry pattern across it.
"Nope, they work just fine." She was just standing there, having a conversation, on top of me! I slowly snuck my hand under my trench coat. "I can kick his ass, but there's nothing I can do to kill him."
She wasn't even looking at me. I squeezed the trigger on the little nine mil I'd kept in an inside pocket. Shimmers of blue and white followed the gunshots, mending my coat from where the bullets punched through. Kitten simply flipped backward off of me, doing a handstand as her long skinny legs extended fully above her. Somehow, she avoided every shot.
"See, not a threat at all." She was still standing on her hands. I gripped my sword and took another attempt at hitting her while she was hopefully vulnerable. Again I missed as she casually avoided the attack. I sprang to my feet while she flipped back onto hers. A moment later, she kicked forward and I found myself blinded again, this time for longer. I reached up to my face, feeling around the damaged area. A piece of metal was sticking out of my face. A crossbow bolt? Fu- and then my hand crunched into my skull, and my elbow shattered. She'd kicked my arm hard enough to sink my hand into my skull.
I fell back onto the ground, my power struggling to undo the damage even while she was gripping me. I couldn't see, or hear, through the damage she'd done to me, but my sense of touch told me that I was being grabbed by legs and dragged. Later, I'd wonder what it said about me and my power that I was literally able to function without a brain, but that was lost on me right then.
By the time I'd managed to pull my hand and the crossbow bolt out of my own face, we were out back of the building, and I was laying in the gravel. Kitten was hanging by her legs from the top of the same door I'd broken in through.
"You really kinda suck at this, y'know."
I rose to my feet, glancing and noting the thugs who helped pull me outside had retreated back in. At least they were still afraid of me. "I don't have to be good. You'll get tired eventually. I can keep going until you die of old age if that's what it takes."
"There's a thought." She put a finger up to her face, tilted her head, and made a good imitation of thinking about a problem. Even tilting her head up. Or, well, her perspective of up at least. "Of course, if you become too much of a problem I'm sure I could just bury you alive. Or do you have a power to stop that." Fuck, I didn't think about that. "Oh, you don't? Man, and people think I'm insane."
She dropped off the door, somehow rolling in mid air to land on her feet, and rushing at me. She easily sidestepped my attack, and kicked my leg backward. "Seriously, that's such an obvious weakness!" I turned to block her next attack, and the shimmering dark blue claw of her hand sliced open my wrist. "How is that not the first thing you thought of?"
She sidestepped and her foot came up into my stomach, sending me rolling back again. I wheezed as my body forced my lungs back into their proper place. "Don't worry, I promise not to do that to you. You're fun to fight, in a sad sort of way. Besides, it's not like you're a threat."
I almost screamed as the roughly fourteen year old girl casually evaded another swipe of my sword. She giggled and hopped back. Her smile wasn't malicious at all, almost like she was playing with her pet dog. "Speaking of which, where did you learn to fight? You move like all your combat skills came from watching Saturday morning cartoons. It's boring. I thought Tanks were supposed to have some kind of backup trick? Like super strength or flying or claws? All you've got is super fast regeneration. It's not good enough. You have to be stronger than this!"
I rushed forward, and she evaded me with a backflip. I felt the lightest pressure as the sword's tip briefly caught the inside of her skirt, slashing the cloth. Considering what she was wearing, I couldn't have been more than an inch from hitting flesh. That is always my problem. If I were only a little stronger, a little faster, I could win. But I wasn't, and my powers didn't change that at all.
"Ru~ude!" Her voice was singsong. "I liked these shorts. She looked down at the tear along her inner thigh. "Well, I guess they're still good, battle damage adds character, right?"
I didn't answer, charging forward for another slash. She ducked under, punched the sword aside, and caught me in a judo throw. I ended up face first in the grass, the light shimmers of my power regenerating the various scrapes while I climbed to my feet.
"Kinda neat that you regenerate your clothes, though. Never met anyone who could do that before." Kitten's voice came from behind me, almost speculative. "Think it'll work on more complex stuff? Ooh! Maybe you should think about strapping a bomb to yourself! Then you can go boom whenever you need to! Even I would have trouble fighting that kind of tactic, no matter how garbage you are in a fight. You could call yourself the Kamikaze Kid. Or Captain Jihad!"
Climbing to my feet again, I turned to face her. A growl my only response. I wasn't ready to admit that she was right. I knew nothing about combat past what I'd seen on television and in movies. I didn't think I needed to know what I was doing, my power made me literally unkillable and mostly unstoppable. Turns out, that wasn't enough to win a fight. I put the blade between us, maybe with a bit of luck, I could hit her when she attacked me.
A feigned cough nearby interrupted her taunting. "Come on, Kitten. That's just offensive. Besides, he's clearly new to his power. Maybe he just hasn't figured out what his other abilities are. Not everyone's as lucky as you were to get super combat instincts built in."
"Super ninja instincts!" She pouted and stomped her foot in the gravel.
As if it isn't bad enough that I'm getting my ass handed to me by a little girl. Does she really have to act so childish?
Flux continued speaking. "So, Mister Nameless Vigilante, do you have any limits on your powers that we should know about? Like amount of healing you can do per day? I know she said she can't kill you, but her power can be wrong about these things. If you start feeling like you're at your limit, you really should let us know."
Kitten took her eyes off me. "Flu~ux," she whined. "Stop taking the fun out of it!"
She went to say something more, but I didn't give her the chance. I lunged forward, and she stepped to the side, easily avoiding my attack. Her own deep blue power shimmer formed, right before her claw sliced into my upper arm. Ice crystals spread across my trenchcoat, and my limb went numb. Well, that's a new trick.
She hadn't even bothered to look at me. "And you stop being rude!"
I was immediately awash in light as the damage to my arm, including the cold, was regenerated along with the trench coat. At least I knew I wouldn't have to dedicate a fuckton of money to repair my costume when it took damage.
Her foot came up between my legs, and I almost threw up from the pain of flesh and bone being shredded. Apparently, being able to ignore pain didn't mean that kind of pain. I gritted my teeth, trying desperately to not think about the feeling of suction as she pulled her foot out of... inside me. Tears soaked through my mask, either from the pain or sheer frustration, I couldn't decide at that moment.
"Oh, grody! Now you ruined my shoes!" She lifted her blood soaked foot, and the sandal she was wearing drooped down, heavy with stuff that should have been inside me.
I coughed as my body started restoring itself. Shimmers formed across her foot as the blood and viscera converted into whatever it was my power turned it into, and it rushed back to me, replacing the damage with healthy flesh yet again. Back to full strength, and still not strong enough to matter.
Kitten clapped her hands and laughed with all the glee of a child who got exactly what she wanted for Christmas. "Oh, wow, that's so cool! Look, Flux, he's self cleaning! This is so much fun!"
"I can see that, sweetie." His voice was amused, doting even. "Try not to be too rough on him. After all, if you break him you can't play with him anymore."
She again stopped paying attention in order to argue with her teammate. "Awww, but he's not even tired!"
"Is that so? Because that looked like it hurt. A lot."
"I'm fine!" I rose to my feet, my breathing having returned to normal. I readied myself for her attack.
"See! He's absolutely perfect!" She dove forward and was past my guard before I even had a chance to register that she moved. Her hands planted into the ground and both her heels connecting firmly with my jaw. My teeth slammed together, severing the tip of my tongue. Plus I'm pretty sure a whole bunch of bones got broken. By the time I hit the ground, I was partially blinded by the glow of my own power regenerating me, not that being able to see was doing me any favors. Story of my fucking life. I'm supposed to be strong now. That's what I was promised.
"But you really should wrap this up. We gotta go shopping for a new home. Or at the very least a new door."
She's way too fast for me, and what did Flux say she had? Combat instincts? I turned my head toward him. He was the one I really wanted to kill. Maybe I should just try to get around her and go aft- Everything went black and I could smell the dust through my cheap mask. I couldn't even scream as my own sword found its way through my chest from behind, pinning me into the ground.
"Naughty, naughty," Kitten whispered in my ear. "Don't you know it's rude to ditch a lady at a dance?"
She twisted the blade as she pushed it deeper into the ground. "Honestly, where did you learn your manners? He's right, though. We really should wrap this up. My power's telling me it should take you at least ten minutes to pull yourself out of this." Another twist, and the only thing that kept me from screaming was that the blade was blocking the air. "Face it, you're just not strong enough."
The pain wasn't even the worst part. The worst part was knowing Kitten was right. I was weak. Useless. I couldn't save Erica when she was alive. I couldn't tell her how I felt about her. I couldn't even avenge her death. I'm not strong enough.
I felt the familiar tug in the back of my mind. It was there, the promise that I could have power I needed. It was within reach, if only I accepted it. I reached out, and then hesitated. I didn't know how I could know, but if I did this, something terrible would happen. There had to be another way. Like waiting to go after Flux later, when Kitten wasn't there to protect him. Or even doing what Kitten said and trying the suicide bomber approach. I could feel the power slipping away again. I didn't really need it, and I knew I didn't want it. I could accept defeat now, because the price of victory was too high.
==================
A/N- Kitten may or may not be partially inspired by a certain Cowboy Bebop character.
And somehow I just know that the default fan OTP pairing is gonna be Zach and Kitten. Because that's how these things work.
Also, due to phone company problems, I won't be back on tonight and probably not tomorrow, either.
I took a slow, deep breath. Okay, this is it. Time to go out there and be a hero. I didn't know why I was so nervous, my power made me unstoppable. I looked out the windshield, psyching myself up.
We'd stopped in the parking lot between a bowling alley and a bar. The former was closed, the latter would be soon. Some woman took a drag of what was probably a cigarette, while watching us suspiciously. That she was wearing a miniskirt and high heels in the middle of October left little question as to her career path.
I glanced over at Laura and gave her my best smile. "This is where I get out and you drive off."
She scowled at me through her metallic blue bangs, pointedly ignoring the audience. "No. This is Erica we're talking about. You owe me this."
I carefully kept my face neutral. She was right, she helped me a lot already, but this was just too dangerous for her. "My powers won't let me protect you. A stray bullet is all it would take for me to be avenging two deaths instead of one. I can't lose you." I hesitated, almost adding the word 'too' to the end of that. I need to cover that up.
"Please," I whispered, desperate for her to actually listen to me for once in either of our lives.
We sat there for a minute as she studied my face. I did my best to project confidence, but there was no one who could read me better than she could. Still, there was no way in hell I could risk her getting hurt out there. I didn't need to sleep anymore, so if nothing else she'd be forced to cave before I did. She must have realized the same thing, because her determined look gave way to regret and acceptance.
"Hurt them extra for me."
I wasn't really sure how it was possible to hurt them more than I was planning, already, but it was an easy promise to make. "I'll torture them extra while waiting for the police to show up." A lie, I had no intentions of letting the police get involved. The already failed their chance. I reached over and pushed the button on her CD player. "Making them listen to this should just about cover it."
She slapped my hand away. "Leave my music alone, asshole!"
"Yeah, you're right. That's probably a violation of the Geneva Convention or something." Honestly, I had no idea what the CD even was. Knowing her tastes, it was probably something tribal or techno. Not that bad, honestly, but I wouldn't be caught dead telling her that.
She pushed the disk back in the player. It automatically started, and I was treated to some combination of synthetic stuff with a sort of Indian sound. "Touch my music again and I'll break your fingers. Again." Not much of a threat, given my powers. I made sure to pretend to be appropriately terrified. After a minute, she spoke up. "So, how long will this take you? Should I wait nearby?"
I shook my head. "No. If this gets messy, the police might get called in." I patted the hilt of the sword hidden under my coat. She got my meaning, this wasn't exactly the legal way to go about things. "Better for them to think I came alone." Or at least that I won't turn over my accomplice. "They'll go easy on me since I'm a minor, and a superhero." If my online research was right, then that was probably true. Either way, I didn't need it to be true, I just needed her to believe it was. And now to distract her so she wouldn't point out how stupid everything I just said was. I gestured at the literal and figurative streetwalker who was still watching us. "She seems nice, you could probably kill a bit of time."
"Just get out of my car."
I'd already pulled the handle and was moving to escape, and then her foot hit me square in my lower back. I stumbled forward into the gravel while Laura's car sped off and turned onto the street. The prostitute's eyes narrowed as she looked at me. Then I realized that there was shimmer of light coming from under my trench coat, indicating that my power had activated. Fuck. Funny thing about pain, the bad injuries don't hurt, at least not until the adrenaline wore off or something. And for me that wasn't a problem anymore.
I fumbled in through the coat, pulling the edge of the sword out of my lower thigh and finding my cell phone. I turned it on before pulling it out and took it to my ear immediately, hoping the glow of the screen was enough to fool her. "Hey, yeah, I was just about to call you." I tried to make my voice sound deeper. Please work, please work. "Sorry, we're not gonna be able to make it to the party. Car problems. Yeah, fuckin' sucks. See ya Monday." I closed the phone and put it away.
My power had done its job a while ago, so I stood up and started walking. The path took me pretty close to the prostitute. "Sorry babe, I tried." I had no idea why I felt the need to acknowledge her, but after she'd watched all that, saying nothing to her felt weird.
"Better luck next time, lover."
With that she lost all interest in me, taking another drag as I walked away. It took me all of another five minutes to find the building whose address I had spent all day memorizing and staring at on the maps. It didn't look like anything special, simply an abandoned auto repair building in a set of neighborhoods that really had no interest in keeping things nice. There weren't any obvious guards, but that didn't mean much in the age of cell phones. Oh well, I don't need to set up or be cautious. My power's too good for that. I pulled down the cheap ski mask and stepped out of the alleyway. This is the moment.
Not even bothering to check to see if the door was locked, I withdrew my cavalry saber and slashed the door handle. The clang of it more smashing the handle than cutting it eliminated all possibility of stealth. I kicked the door and walked in, dragging the tip across the concrete behind me. The blue, white and yellow sparks of my power shimmered along the blade mending the damage it took. Damn my power is badass
My vision was replaced by darkness before I had a chance to say something cool. The sound of a gunshot rang through the building even as my vision returned, awash with light as my power put me back together. Turning the various bits of my body to glowing dust and reassembling even as more bullets tore into me. I just kept walking forward as my injuries mended themselves. Pain wasn't really a thing, and they were using small handguns that didn't have much impact force.
Then I stumbled and dropped to the ground. I may have shouted something, but in the sounds echoing of the gunfire, no one could hear anything. The fuck?
I looked at where a crossbow bolt was sticking out of my shin. It shimmered and then was forced out of the wound even as more shots came in. I finally took the time to really look at my surroundings. Four men, and only three of them had guns. The last one was busy reloading an honest to god crossbow. I rolled the next time he fired. Bullets were nothing, but that weapon actually had an effect on me.
Maybe it was some kind of gadget weapon?
I was up on my feet and running toward him after he missed the second shot. He dodged out of the way of my swing, and my sword cut into a cheap table. Cards and money scattered to the ground and a certain part of me hoped crossbow dude was winning that game. My backswing was better, catching his weapon and knocking it out of his hand. Hopefully it was expensive.
The other men stopped firing, either because they didn't want to hit their buddy, or because they'd just figured out bullets were useless. He backed up against the wall as I took a couple steps closer, my sword pointed at him. The man was probably twice my age, a few inches taller and a lot broader than I was. Kinda looked like my algebra teacher, which was pretty funny to imagine him staring at me in fear.
"Now, there's only two ways for this to go down. Tell me where to find Flux, or we'll test to see if your immortality is as good as mine." I wasn't even breathing hard, another fun side effect of my power. I didn't need to eat, never got tired, and I was pretty sure I didn't need air.
His eyes never left the tip of the blade only a few inches away from his chest. "Uh. He's in the other room, with Kitten."
"Wh-" My question was interrupted with a sudden crunching sound, and my view had changed. Where before I was looking at a man, now I found my head had been twisted around backward, and I got a look at the slender young blonde. A few years younger than me, easily. I immediately knew she was imbued, from the indigo light radiating from her eyes.
"You interrupted my nap," she growled at me. Not a figure of speech, the sound her voice made didn't belong to a human being.
A man's voice spoke up. "You really should not have done that."
I twisted and swung my sword. She had powers, and that made it okay for me to hit her even if she was a little girl. Also, she just broke my neck. I needn't have worried, since she ducked under the blade anyway. I heard a crackling noise as her dark energy aura swirled along her arm and around her hand, condensing into blades as she clawed upward across my jaw and face. Once again I was blinded, but this time I didn't have time to react before something hit me hard in the gut. If it was a punch, she had super strength. If it was a kick, then she probably still had super strength. I slammed hard into the concrete wall of the building.
"So, you're a new face," she said cheerfully as my body restored itself. "High level regeneration, extending to your clothes. That's kinda neat." My vision cleared, and I got a really good look at her. Almost a foot shorter than me, she wearing a tight tank top and cotton shorts that made it pretty clear she had only barely reached puberty. Her short cropped hair only added to the androgyny. "Got a name, newbie?"
I didn't bother answering, simply taking another swing at her. She jumped back, landing feet first on the cheap metal chair. Somehow, she managed to stay balanced, and spring boarded off it and onto my head. Her knee cracked into my face and I found myself on my back. She landed with both feet, toes first, in my stomach. That move actually hurt, and I coughed in surprise.
"Okay, fine, be that way." She turned her head. "Hey, Flux? My powers don't know how to kill this guy."
"Think he has some kind of power that nulls your senses?" I got my first look at Flux. The fucker I was here to kill. I already recognized his costume from pictures I'd found online. Black, with a thin yellow lines in a sort of circuitry pattern across it.
"Nope, they work just fine." She was just standing there, having a conversation, on top of me! I slowly snuck my hand under my trench coat. "I can kick his ass, but there's nothing I can do to kill him."
She wasn't even looking at me. I squeezed the trigger on the little nine mil I'd kept in an inside pocket. Shimmers of blue and white followed the gunshots, mending my coat from where the bullets punched through. Kitten simply flipped backward off of me, doing a handstand as her long skinny legs extended fully above her. Somehow, she avoided every shot.
"See, not a threat at all." She was still standing on her hands. I gripped my sword and took another attempt at hitting her while she was hopefully vulnerable. Again I missed as she casually avoided the attack. I sprang to my feet while she flipped back onto hers. A moment later, she kicked forward and I found myself blinded again, this time for longer. I reached up to my face, feeling around the damaged area. A piece of metal was sticking out of my face. A crossbow bolt? Fu- and then my hand crunched into my skull, and my elbow shattered. She'd kicked my arm hard enough to sink my hand into my skull.
I fell back onto the ground, my power struggling to undo the damage even while she was gripping me. I couldn't see, or hear, through the damage she'd done to me, but my sense of touch told me that I was being grabbed by legs and dragged. Later, I'd wonder what it said about me and my power that I was literally able to function without a brain, but that was lost on me right then.
By the time I'd managed to pull my hand and the crossbow bolt out of my own face, we were out back of the building, and I was laying in the gravel. Kitten was hanging by her legs from the top of the same door I'd broken in through.
"You really kinda suck at this, y'know."
I rose to my feet, glancing and noting the thugs who helped pull me outside had retreated back in. At least they were still afraid of me. "I don't have to be good. You'll get tired eventually. I can keep going until you die of old age if that's what it takes."
"There's a thought." She put a finger up to her face, tilted her head, and made a good imitation of thinking about a problem. Even tilting her head up. Or, well, her perspective of up at least. "Of course, if you become too much of a problem I'm sure I could just bury you alive. Or do you have a power to stop that." Fuck, I didn't think about that. "Oh, you don't? Man, and people think I'm insane."
She dropped off the door, somehow rolling in mid air to land on her feet, and rushing at me. She easily sidestepped my attack, and kicked my leg backward. "Seriously, that's such an obvious weakness!" I turned to block her next attack, and the shimmering dark blue claw of her hand sliced open my wrist. "How is that not the first thing you thought of?"
She sidestepped and her foot came up into my stomach, sending me rolling back again. I wheezed as my body forced my lungs back into their proper place. "Don't worry, I promise not to do that to you. You're fun to fight, in a sad sort of way. Besides, it's not like you're a threat."
I almost screamed as the roughly fourteen year old girl casually evaded another swipe of my sword. She giggled and hopped back. Her smile wasn't malicious at all, almost like she was playing with her pet dog. "Speaking of which, where did you learn to fight? You move like all your combat skills came from watching Saturday morning cartoons. It's boring. I thought Tanks were supposed to have some kind of backup trick? Like super strength or flying or claws? All you've got is super fast regeneration. It's not good enough. You have to be stronger than this!"
I rushed forward, and she evaded me with a backflip. I felt the lightest pressure as the sword's tip briefly caught the inside of her skirt, slashing the cloth. Considering what she was wearing, I couldn't have been more than an inch from hitting flesh. That is always my problem. If I were only a little stronger, a little faster, I could win. But I wasn't, and my powers didn't change that at all.
"Ru~ude!" Her voice was singsong. "I liked these shorts. She looked down at the tear along her inner thigh. "Well, I guess they're still good, battle damage adds character, right?"
I didn't answer, charging forward for another slash. She ducked under, punched the sword aside, and caught me in a judo throw. I ended up face first in the grass, the light shimmers of my power regenerating the various scrapes while I climbed to my feet.
"Kinda neat that you regenerate your clothes, though. Never met anyone who could do that before." Kitten's voice came from behind me, almost speculative. "Think it'll work on more complex stuff? Ooh! Maybe you should think about strapping a bomb to yourself! Then you can go boom whenever you need to! Even I would have trouble fighting that kind of tactic, no matter how garbage you are in a fight. You could call yourself the Kamikaze Kid. Or Captain Jihad!"
Climbing to my feet again, I turned to face her. A growl my only response. I wasn't ready to admit that she was right. I knew nothing about combat past what I'd seen on television and in movies. I didn't think I needed to know what I was doing, my power made me literally unkillable and mostly unstoppable. Turns out, that wasn't enough to win a fight. I put the blade between us, maybe with a bit of luck, I could hit her when she attacked me.
A feigned cough nearby interrupted her taunting. "Come on, Kitten. That's just offensive. Besides, he's clearly new to his power. Maybe he just hasn't figured out what his other abilities are. Not everyone's as lucky as you were to get super combat instincts built in."
"Super ninja instincts!" She pouted and stomped her foot in the gravel.
As if it isn't bad enough that I'm getting my ass handed to me by a little girl. Does she really have to act so childish?
Flux continued speaking. "So, Mister Nameless Vigilante, do you have any limits on your powers that we should know about? Like amount of healing you can do per day? I know she said she can't kill you, but her power can be wrong about these things. If you start feeling like you're at your limit, you really should let us know."
Kitten took her eyes off me. "Flu~ux," she whined. "Stop taking the fun out of it!"
She went to say something more, but I didn't give her the chance. I lunged forward, and she stepped to the side, easily avoiding my attack. Her own deep blue power shimmer formed, right before her claw sliced into my upper arm. Ice crystals spread across my trenchcoat, and my limb went numb. Well, that's a new trick.
She hadn't even bothered to look at me. "And you stop being rude!"
I was immediately awash in light as the damage to my arm, including the cold, was regenerated along with the trench coat. At least I knew I wouldn't have to dedicate a fuckton of money to repair my costume when it took damage.
Her foot came up between my legs, and I almost threw up from the pain of flesh and bone being shredded. Apparently, being able to ignore pain didn't mean that kind of pain. I gritted my teeth, trying desperately to not think about the feeling of suction as she pulled her foot out of... inside me. Tears soaked through my mask, either from the pain or sheer frustration, I couldn't decide at that moment.
"Oh, grody! Now you ruined my shoes!" She lifted her blood soaked foot, and the sandal she was wearing drooped down, heavy with stuff that should have been inside me.
I coughed as my body started restoring itself. Shimmers formed across her foot as the blood and viscera converted into whatever it was my power turned it into, and it rushed back to me, replacing the damage with healthy flesh yet again. Back to full strength, and still not strong enough to matter.
Kitten clapped her hands and laughed with all the glee of a child who got exactly what she wanted for Christmas. "Oh, wow, that's so cool! Look, Flux, he's self cleaning! This is so much fun!"
"I can see that, sweetie." His voice was amused, doting even. "Try not to be too rough on him. After all, if you break him you can't play with him anymore."
She again stopped paying attention in order to argue with her teammate. "Awww, but he's not even tired!"
"Is that so? Because that looked like it hurt. A lot."
"I'm fine!" I rose to my feet, my breathing having returned to normal. I readied myself for her attack.
"See! He's absolutely perfect!" She dove forward and was past my guard before I even had a chance to register that she moved. Her hands planted into the ground and both her heels connecting firmly with my jaw. My teeth slammed together, severing the tip of my tongue. Plus I'm pretty sure a whole bunch of bones got broken. By the time I hit the ground, I was partially blinded by the glow of my own power regenerating me, not that being able to see was doing me any favors. Story of my fucking life. I'm supposed to be strong now. That's what I was promised.
"But you really should wrap this up. We gotta go shopping for a new home. Or at the very least a new door."
She's way too fast for me, and what did Flux say she had? Combat instincts? I turned my head toward him. He was the one I really wanted to kill. Maybe I should just try to get around her and go aft- Everything went black and I could smell the dust through my cheap mask. I couldn't even scream as my own sword found its way through my chest from behind, pinning me into the ground.
"Naughty, naughty," Kitten whispered in my ear. "Don't you know it's rude to ditch a lady at a dance?"
She twisted the blade as she pushed it deeper into the ground. "Honestly, where did you learn your manners? He's right, though. We really should wrap this up. My power's telling me it should take you at least ten minutes to pull yourself out of this." Another twist, and the only thing that kept me from screaming was that the blade was blocking the air. "Face it, you're just not strong enough."
The pain wasn't even the worst part. The worst part was knowing Kitten was right. I was weak. Useless. I couldn't save Erica when she was alive. I couldn't tell her how I felt about her. I couldn't even avenge her death. I'm not strong enough.
I felt the familiar tug in the back of my mind. It was there, the promise that I could have power I needed. It was within reach, if only I accepted it. I reached out, and then hesitated. I didn't know how I could know, but if I did this, something terrible would happen. There had to be another way. Like waiting to go after Flux later, when Kitten wasn't there to protect him. Or even doing what Kitten said and trying the suicide bomber approach. I could feel the power slipping away again. I didn't really need it, and I knew I didn't want it. I could accept defeat now, because the price of victory was too high.
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A/N- Kitten may or may not be partially inspired by a certain Cowboy Bebop character.
And somehow I just know that the default fan OTP pairing is gonna be Zach and Kitten. Because that's how these things work.
Also, due to phone company problems, I won't be back on tonight and probably not tomorrow, either.
Last edited:
Price, Chapter Two
TanaNari
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Chapter 2
Why did I ever sign up for home ec? Seriously, what is the point of this class? I glanced around at all the girls in the class wearing surprisingly revealing clothes for late fall. Ah, right, now I remember. What a glorious time to be a teenage boy.
I could have won one of them over if I was given some time to work my charms. Unfortunately, I wound up stuck with Ferne. The girl was every definition of plain, with medium brown hair, eyes, and skin. Probably some kind of Asian mix, if only from her figure. I had more curves. Still, her face was pretty cute, and it's not like I'd have a lot of competition. Hmm, could be worth a shot.
She caught me looking at her from across the table, so I had to make a comment. "Can you explain why we have to do this? I doubt that anyone on the face of the planet has ever uttered 'my life is wonderful and it's all because I learned how to make gingerbread houses'."
Her slight smile never wavered. "Not a clue. I'm just here for the easy 'A'."
And she never laughs at anything I say. Oh well, if my genius is going to be unappreciated anyway, I may as well amuse myself by lobbing one over her head. "Yeah, easy A's are the shared dream of all-" I was cut off mid sentence by a tightening in my chest. Fuck, not now.
"Are you okay?"
I took a slow breath, forcing myself to control my breathing as best I could. Years of practice made it easy enough to lie. "Yeah, just gotta go to the bathroom."
"Gross." Even saying that, her neutral voice and smile were constant.
I tried to focus on that, instead of the hot spiced air of this damn home ec room. Of course this shit school wouldn't have considered ventilation when designing a kitchen. That'd make far too much sense. I glanced at the clock, it was only ten minutes between classes and I couldn't wait for that. Mrs. Schmidt wouldn't accept the bathroom excuse. That fossil hadn't experienced a reason to go to the bathroom since the mid fifties. I needed a better excuse.
I grabbed the tube of icing and squeezed hard, squirting a fair amount of the stuff on my face. A couple of the girls noticed almost immediately and snickered, prompting others to look. Oh, good, I was afraid I'd actually have to make a scene.
The Cryptkeeper in drag that was our Home Ec teacher frowned at the laughter. "Mister Parker, are you aware that you're disrupting class?"
I offered my best smile, and a bit of frosting dropped into my lap. "Sorry, got a little too enthusiastic and it went off early. These things come with a hair trigger." Most of the class was trying very hard not to laugh now. Except for Ferne. "I should probably wash up."
"Please do."
I got up and rushed out the door before she had a chance to tell me to use the classroom sink. Once in the hallway I fumbled for my inhaler, taking one last glance to make sure no one saw before blasting my lungs with the god awful concoction that kept me alive. The pain in my chest quickly eased itself, and I spared one more glance to make sure no one saw me before slipping the inhaler back into my pocket.
Time to clean up from my little stunt. The bathroom wasn't that far away, but I made sure to walk slow. If at all possible, I'd be back in class a minute before the bell rang to let us out. Enough time to grab my books and help Ferne clean up our table, but enough to avoid having to sit back down. I opened the door and walked into the bathroom. It looked and smelled about the same as all other men's rooms in Arlington. Which is to say, like shit. The glow of fluorescent light didn't do the room any favors, and the janitor still hadn't replaced the one that had died before we got out for summer.
I pushed that handle on the dispenser and left some of the brown paper dangling for later. No fucking way was I touching that handle after I was clean. I didn't waste my time checking the soap dispensers. They hadn't worked last year, I didn't expect them to work now. I scrubbed the cream off of my face, gritting my teeth at the itchy sensation of sticky drying sugar on my skin. Resolving internally that the next time I had an attack in class, I'd just walk out of the room. Detentions were less of a pain in the ass.
Near as I could tell, no one bothered to wash the mirrors since spring, either. Past the streaks of dirt and other stuff I hoped was spit, I got a look at myself. What was I thinking? None of the girls in class would give me the time of day. Even Ferne thought she could do better. She was probably right, too. I was short, skinny, and my hair color occupied the least interesting position between blond and brown. Speaking of hair, that gunk just wasn't coming out. I was beginning to suspect the school tried to save a few bucks by using actual glue instead of frosting. Making it back to class before the bell wasn't going to happen. I'd be lucky to avoid being tardy to the next class.
"Hey man, what happened to you?"
I looked up from my position leaning over the sink. Alex was standing by the door. Part of me really wished I could hate the guy. Tall, that kind of good looking that usually belonged in the movies, and star of both the football team and half the school's dreams. He even had rich parents. I was exactly none of those things. "Well, I was gonna take a piss, but then a few guys mistook me for your mother. On the plus side, made twenty bucks."
He chuckled and shook his head. "Fuck you, Zach."
"That costs extra."
He waited a couple seconds, then the smile faded. "But seriously, are you okay? If there's anyone giving you or anyone else trouble, I'll make sure they stop."
I turned back to the mirror and sink, my futile attempts to get this shit out of my hair were used as an equally futile attempt avoid this conversation. I looked at him through the mirror as I kept working on the problem.
It was true, if there was a problem he'd be the person to go to first around here. The teachers in this place didn't really give a fuck about most of us, but Alex got the Raptors to State last year as a Sophomore, and they were talking Championships this time. If he asked the right way, Coach Murray would probably hire a guy from the mob to disappear someone. But my problems weren't that easy to fix.
I offered a lopside smile. "Dude, I don't know what the rumor mill puked up this week, but I promise you I'm only gay for pay. But I am flattered."
"Well, that saves me a trip to the office for one of those outreach pamphlets."
And to top it off, he had a sense of humor. Did I mention how much I wished I could hate this guy? "Pick some up, anyway. They're better toilet paper than the actual toilet paper around here. Think you can fix that?"
"Sorry, some things are just impossible. Not unless you have powers or something. Of course, if you asked me what superpower I would like to have, I think I could do better than 'summon toilet paper'. Notice that when they make movies about people becoming heroes despite having stupid powers, that one's never on the list." He turned and left, apparently content that I was okay.
Yeah, powers. That'd be something. I could think of a few I'd like. Hell, even some of the silly sounding ones could be fun. Anima could summon cartoon monsters and swords and armor that worked. I never could understand why she wasted all that power on making props for children's plays. I could probably even work with summoning toilet paper. Because, hey, when you need it, you really need it.
At least I finally got that shit out of my hair. And then the class bell rang. God damn it. I walked, quickly, back to the home ec room. I could muddle through some classes without needing the textbook. History was not one of those classes. I found myself waiting at the doorway as the other kids filed out. There was no way I was going to push through that mess, so I'd have to wait until they were gone, and then hope I could snag my stuff before the inbound rush cut me off again and made me late for history.
I almost didn't even see Ferne as she stepped out. "Oh, good, you're here." She extended her arms, and I noticed that my books were sitting on top of hers.
I accepted them, while formulating the proper excuse. "Sorry, I figured we only had a few minutes left and I could use the vacation. Thanks for having my back."
She shrugged and started walking. "Even the easiest 'A' requires showing up."
Did... did she just make a joke? Was that her idea of flirting? Or was she just calling me irresponsible? I honestly had no idea. By the time I came up with a quip to throw back at her, it was too late to use it. Something I'd have to wait until Tuesday to sort out. Right now, I would spend my time looking forward to the three day weekened. Columbus may have been an asshole, but thanks to him I got to sleep in on a Monday once a year, so he had my seal of approval.
I managed to get to class well before the bell rang, and had my book open. History was one of the few subjects I ever enjoyed, and Miss Harmon was part of the reason. She was hot, fresh out of college, and had a voice I would listen to read the phone book. Which was good, because this was still history class. Unfortunately, it also meant she was still passionate about the whole teaching and learning thing. So she was all about group projects and finding ways to make us think about history on the theory that it would make us remember the details better. And it worked, too.
Miss Harmon's usual exuberance was missing when I got into the classroom. She looked like she was about to cry, but waited for us to all sit down before speaking. "Well, I was going to have us do a project on the significance of the Lewis and Clarke expedition and colonization of the American West, but something more immediate has come up. She reached up to the TV hanging from the ceiling on... whatever they called that thing they used to hang TVs from ceilings.
It was obviously a recording of a news program, probably one that Miss Harmon made herself. Clearly an amateur recording job, didn't even catch the newscaster at the beginning of the report. Some older lady, I didn't recognize her.
"- preliminary forensic investigation, but the death of the hundred and thirty three year old war hero appears to have been from natural causes."
I recognized the emblem in the little box they used to show pictures next to the people speaking. A red shield with a stylized flower on front. It was one of the most recognizable symbols in the United States that wasn't stars or an eagle. The sigil of the Rose Knight.
Oh. Fuck. Judging by the gasps and murmurs, others were coming to the same conclusion. The last Pope's death wasn't this big. Then again, the Pope didn't have twelve movies based on his life, the earliest three barely even having sound, or a national holiday in his honor. The newscaster carried on, telling us all the things we already knew.
"Solomon Brown, also known as the Rose Knight, retired from the public view five years ago, citing that his growing health concerns were outpacing his powers."
"Rose Knight was one of the last remaining of what are now known as the 'first modern superheroes', those Imbued humans who started the tradition of masked samaritanism that has become synonymous with superheroes over the last century. He served the United States during both World Wars before retiring from the military to fight a different sort of battle. That for racial equality in the United States, and the world at large."
"Awarded the Medal of Freedom in 1953-"
Meanwhile, the screen had gone through several iterations of the hero's image. His early costumes were full body concealing steel. According to legend, he built his first out of the scraps of a demolished tank. By the time the World War Two had rolled around, his armor was on a whole other level, with technology that allowed him to, at least to some degree, manipulate energy. The telltale red glow of the energy fields that gave him his name and made him the force to be feared during the war. They switched to his last suit, timed for when the woman talked about race rights. This final suit showed parts of his face and hands. Despite being terribly scarred from burns that he received in the first world war, he was quite clearly a black man. A detail not lost on the last series of movies dedicated to his life story.
Miss Harmon turned off the TV and hit the stop button on the player underneath, then looked back toward us. "I want you to get into teams of four, and remember you can't work with any of the same people as you worked with for your last two projects. I would like us to honor Mister Brown's legacy by examining the World Wars and the civil rights movement, and how different modern history would be without Imbued involvement. Once you have your group, please select two decades from the twentieth century that you'd like to make a report on and place them on my desk before you leave. Other than that, consider this a free period."
The shuffle for partners was a pain in the ass, but this was a class with a nice convenient thirty two people in it, so one way or another we'd all end up somewhere. Eventually I managed to get Eddie, Cassie and Amber. Didn't know Amber enough to have an opinion, but she was kinda cute as far as black girls go. Eddie was the brains of this pool, no doubt. And Cassie... was eye candy and she knew it. The blonde looked more like twenty than sixteen, and her clothes were as flaunting as possible without being trashy. By high school standards, which meant she was still pretty trashy. She'd be trading pouts and glances at cleavage in exchange for us doing her work for her.
We spent most of the hour talking about which periods we wanted. Amber went the obvious route, advocating the fifties and the civil rights movement. Eddie opted for Prohibition, and I had to admit it had my vote. Back in the era when people still believed mad science was actually science, and the villains practiced bizarre codes of honor and class alongside their brutality. Cassie seemed to have exactly no opinion, so we agreed on presenting those two decades. I didn't have the heart to tell Amber that almost everyone was going to take the fifties and sixties, so the odds were we'd have the twenties.
The bus trip home was as uneventful as a yellow tube full of loud children could hope to be. I ignored the stink of pot from the back and the stink of freshmen from the front as best I could. Followed by the stink of exhaust after I got off my stop. From there, it was a walk in the brisk autumn air to my house. I noticed the dark blue car in the driveway. That was strange, she almost never came over.
I opened the door to find her sitting on the couch. Her makeup was a mess, and it was obvious she was crying despite her metallic blue dyed bangs covering her face. She hadn't even noticed me coming in the door, instead clutching a ratty newspaper.
Dread spread out from my stomach. "Laura? What's wrong?" I was hoping against hope that I was wrong, but I already knew.
"I-it's Erica," she managed to sob, holding the paper out to me. "They found her b-body."
The pain in my stomach climbed up to my chest. I was reading the newspaper before I even realized I was holding it. I can't quite remember what it said, and Laura's abuse of the paper made some parts impossible to read. But the words 'nude', 'sexual assault' and 'mutilated' were enough to let me know more than I ever wanted to know. I clenched my eyes shut and tried not to let those words mar my memories of her. Her laugh, her smile, the feelings I never dared tell her I had.
Everything was so fucking unfair.
Then I realized that the pain in my chest was sharpening. I couldn't breathe. As if I didn't have enough to worry about. And then, I didn't. The pain subsided, if only for a moment; a sample of the things that could be mine. I couldn't explain how I knew, but I understood I could have that, if I wanted it. I didn't doubt. I accepted the power that offered itself to me.
Energy coursed through me, and I could feel everything it was doing. Repairing the damage to my lungs almost immediately. Clearing the inflammation, clearing the allergens that caused that inflammation, removing the causes of those allergies. Removing, replacing, changing, fixing. Laura stared at me, and I could see the glow of my skin reflected through her green eyes. My power was even cleaning the acne off of my face.
"Zach! You got powers?"
Yes. I did. "Good ones. Really good." It didn't get much better than unkillable, now did it? "You still talking to Rex?" The dude was a real scum piece of work, but he was a scum piece of work I could use right now.
Her eyes narrowed, possibly confused by the sudden change of topic. Or maybe just defensive that I'd tell her he was scum again. "He comes by the shop sometimes. Why?" She meant the tattoo parlor she worked at. As neutral an answer as she could give.
"Because if anyone knows how to find Erica's killer, it's him."
My sister's vindictive smile mirrored my own.
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Lots of A/Ns- There's still the possibility that, on the final edit, this will be Chapter One. If so, a certain small part of Ch 3's beginning will become part of the current Ch1/possible Ch2.
The sheer amount of details in this chapter that are more important than they might immediately seem is staggering. Part of the reason I didn't want it as Chapter 1. Lots of information, little action or plot development.
One I will tell you because I couldn't find a non-sloppy way to convey it in the text and I don't think what I included worked well enough: this world's Civil Rights Era started and ended sooner than ours. All the choice historical landmarks occurred in the 50s or really late 40s, as opposed to the late 50s to mid 60s. It's real hard to tell a legendary war hero (and one of the most powerful superheroes on the planet) that he has to sit on the back of the bus.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheLawOfConservationOfDetail TvTropes tells me I now need to find a reason why the home ec teacher being described as "the Cryptkeeper in drag" is important to the story. It's not. Probably.
Information has been added to the first post, the character details section and the worldbuilding section. Be sure and thank those nice readers who caused this to be so.
Why did I ever sign up for home ec? Seriously, what is the point of this class? I glanced around at all the girls in the class wearing surprisingly revealing clothes for late fall. Ah, right, now I remember. What a glorious time to be a teenage boy.
I could have won one of them over if I was given some time to work my charms. Unfortunately, I wound up stuck with Ferne. The girl was every definition of plain, with medium brown hair, eyes, and skin. Probably some kind of Asian mix, if only from her figure. I had more curves. Still, her face was pretty cute, and it's not like I'd have a lot of competition. Hmm, could be worth a shot.
She caught me looking at her from across the table, so I had to make a comment. "Can you explain why we have to do this? I doubt that anyone on the face of the planet has ever uttered 'my life is wonderful and it's all because I learned how to make gingerbread houses'."
Her slight smile never wavered. "Not a clue. I'm just here for the easy 'A'."
And she never laughs at anything I say. Oh well, if my genius is going to be unappreciated anyway, I may as well amuse myself by lobbing one over her head. "Yeah, easy A's are the shared dream of all-" I was cut off mid sentence by a tightening in my chest. Fuck, not now.
"Are you okay?"
I took a slow breath, forcing myself to control my breathing as best I could. Years of practice made it easy enough to lie. "Yeah, just gotta go to the bathroom."
"Gross." Even saying that, her neutral voice and smile were constant.
I tried to focus on that, instead of the hot spiced air of this damn home ec room. Of course this shit school wouldn't have considered ventilation when designing a kitchen. That'd make far too much sense. I glanced at the clock, it was only ten minutes between classes and I couldn't wait for that. Mrs. Schmidt wouldn't accept the bathroom excuse. That fossil hadn't experienced a reason to go to the bathroom since the mid fifties. I needed a better excuse.
I grabbed the tube of icing and squeezed hard, squirting a fair amount of the stuff on my face. A couple of the girls noticed almost immediately and snickered, prompting others to look. Oh, good, I was afraid I'd actually have to make a scene.
The Cryptkeeper in drag that was our Home Ec teacher frowned at the laughter. "Mister Parker, are you aware that you're disrupting class?"
I offered my best smile, and a bit of frosting dropped into my lap. "Sorry, got a little too enthusiastic and it went off early. These things come with a hair trigger." Most of the class was trying very hard not to laugh now. Except for Ferne. "I should probably wash up."
"Please do."
I got up and rushed out the door before she had a chance to tell me to use the classroom sink. Once in the hallway I fumbled for my inhaler, taking one last glance to make sure no one saw before blasting my lungs with the god awful concoction that kept me alive. The pain in my chest quickly eased itself, and I spared one more glance to make sure no one saw me before slipping the inhaler back into my pocket.
Time to clean up from my little stunt. The bathroom wasn't that far away, but I made sure to walk slow. If at all possible, I'd be back in class a minute before the bell rang to let us out. Enough time to grab my books and help Ferne clean up our table, but enough to avoid having to sit back down. I opened the door and walked into the bathroom. It looked and smelled about the same as all other men's rooms in Arlington. Which is to say, like shit. The glow of fluorescent light didn't do the room any favors, and the janitor still hadn't replaced the one that had died before we got out for summer.
I pushed that handle on the dispenser and left some of the brown paper dangling for later. No fucking way was I touching that handle after I was clean. I didn't waste my time checking the soap dispensers. They hadn't worked last year, I didn't expect them to work now. I scrubbed the cream off of my face, gritting my teeth at the itchy sensation of sticky drying sugar on my skin. Resolving internally that the next time I had an attack in class, I'd just walk out of the room. Detentions were less of a pain in the ass.
Near as I could tell, no one bothered to wash the mirrors since spring, either. Past the streaks of dirt and other stuff I hoped was spit, I got a look at myself. What was I thinking? None of the girls in class would give me the time of day. Even Ferne thought she could do better. She was probably right, too. I was short, skinny, and my hair color occupied the least interesting position between blond and brown. Speaking of hair, that gunk just wasn't coming out. I was beginning to suspect the school tried to save a few bucks by using actual glue instead of frosting. Making it back to class before the bell wasn't going to happen. I'd be lucky to avoid being tardy to the next class.
"Hey man, what happened to you?"
I looked up from my position leaning over the sink. Alex was standing by the door. Part of me really wished I could hate the guy. Tall, that kind of good looking that usually belonged in the movies, and star of both the football team and half the school's dreams. He even had rich parents. I was exactly none of those things. "Well, I was gonna take a piss, but then a few guys mistook me for your mother. On the plus side, made twenty bucks."
He chuckled and shook his head. "Fuck you, Zach."
"That costs extra."
He waited a couple seconds, then the smile faded. "But seriously, are you okay? If there's anyone giving you or anyone else trouble, I'll make sure they stop."
I turned back to the mirror and sink, my futile attempts to get this shit out of my hair were used as an equally futile attempt avoid this conversation. I looked at him through the mirror as I kept working on the problem.
It was true, if there was a problem he'd be the person to go to first around here. The teachers in this place didn't really give a fuck about most of us, but Alex got the Raptors to State last year as a Sophomore, and they were talking Championships this time. If he asked the right way, Coach Murray would probably hire a guy from the mob to disappear someone. But my problems weren't that easy to fix.
I offered a lopside smile. "Dude, I don't know what the rumor mill puked up this week, but I promise you I'm only gay for pay. But I am flattered."
"Well, that saves me a trip to the office for one of those outreach pamphlets."
And to top it off, he had a sense of humor. Did I mention how much I wished I could hate this guy? "Pick some up, anyway. They're better toilet paper than the actual toilet paper around here. Think you can fix that?"
"Sorry, some things are just impossible. Not unless you have powers or something. Of course, if you asked me what superpower I would like to have, I think I could do better than 'summon toilet paper'. Notice that when they make movies about people becoming heroes despite having stupid powers, that one's never on the list." He turned and left, apparently content that I was okay.
Yeah, powers. That'd be something. I could think of a few I'd like. Hell, even some of the silly sounding ones could be fun. Anima could summon cartoon monsters and swords and armor that worked. I never could understand why she wasted all that power on making props for children's plays. I could probably even work with summoning toilet paper. Because, hey, when you need it, you really need it.
At least I finally got that shit out of my hair. And then the class bell rang. God damn it. I walked, quickly, back to the home ec room. I could muddle through some classes without needing the textbook. History was not one of those classes. I found myself waiting at the doorway as the other kids filed out. There was no way I was going to push through that mess, so I'd have to wait until they were gone, and then hope I could snag my stuff before the inbound rush cut me off again and made me late for history.
I almost didn't even see Ferne as she stepped out. "Oh, good, you're here." She extended her arms, and I noticed that my books were sitting on top of hers.
I accepted them, while formulating the proper excuse. "Sorry, I figured we only had a few minutes left and I could use the vacation. Thanks for having my back."
She shrugged and started walking. "Even the easiest 'A' requires showing up."
Did... did she just make a joke? Was that her idea of flirting? Or was she just calling me irresponsible? I honestly had no idea. By the time I came up with a quip to throw back at her, it was too late to use it. Something I'd have to wait until Tuesday to sort out. Right now, I would spend my time looking forward to the three day weekened. Columbus may have been an asshole, but thanks to him I got to sleep in on a Monday once a year, so he had my seal of approval.
I managed to get to class well before the bell rang, and had my book open. History was one of the few subjects I ever enjoyed, and Miss Harmon was part of the reason. She was hot, fresh out of college, and had a voice I would listen to read the phone book. Which was good, because this was still history class. Unfortunately, it also meant she was still passionate about the whole teaching and learning thing. So she was all about group projects and finding ways to make us think about history on the theory that it would make us remember the details better. And it worked, too.
Miss Harmon's usual exuberance was missing when I got into the classroom. She looked like she was about to cry, but waited for us to all sit down before speaking. "Well, I was going to have us do a project on the significance of the Lewis and Clarke expedition and colonization of the American West, but something more immediate has come up. She reached up to the TV hanging from the ceiling on... whatever they called that thing they used to hang TVs from ceilings.
It was obviously a recording of a news program, probably one that Miss Harmon made herself. Clearly an amateur recording job, didn't even catch the newscaster at the beginning of the report. Some older lady, I didn't recognize her.
"- preliminary forensic investigation, but the death of the hundred and thirty three year old war hero appears to have been from natural causes."
I recognized the emblem in the little box they used to show pictures next to the people speaking. A red shield with a stylized flower on front. It was one of the most recognizable symbols in the United States that wasn't stars or an eagle. The sigil of the Rose Knight.
Oh. Fuck. Judging by the gasps and murmurs, others were coming to the same conclusion. The last Pope's death wasn't this big. Then again, the Pope didn't have twelve movies based on his life, the earliest three barely even having sound, or a national holiday in his honor. The newscaster carried on, telling us all the things we already knew.
"Solomon Brown, also known as the Rose Knight, retired from the public view five years ago, citing that his growing health concerns were outpacing his powers."
"Rose Knight was one of the last remaining of what are now known as the 'first modern superheroes', those Imbued humans who started the tradition of masked samaritanism that has become synonymous with superheroes over the last century. He served the United States during both World Wars before retiring from the military to fight a different sort of battle. That for racial equality in the United States, and the world at large."
"Awarded the Medal of Freedom in 1953-"
Meanwhile, the screen had gone through several iterations of the hero's image. His early costumes were full body concealing steel. According to legend, he built his first out of the scraps of a demolished tank. By the time the World War Two had rolled around, his armor was on a whole other level, with technology that allowed him to, at least to some degree, manipulate energy. The telltale red glow of the energy fields that gave him his name and made him the force to be feared during the war. They switched to his last suit, timed for when the woman talked about race rights. This final suit showed parts of his face and hands. Despite being terribly scarred from burns that he received in the first world war, he was quite clearly a black man. A detail not lost on the last series of movies dedicated to his life story.
Miss Harmon turned off the TV and hit the stop button on the player underneath, then looked back toward us. "I want you to get into teams of four, and remember you can't work with any of the same people as you worked with for your last two projects. I would like us to honor Mister Brown's legacy by examining the World Wars and the civil rights movement, and how different modern history would be without Imbued involvement. Once you have your group, please select two decades from the twentieth century that you'd like to make a report on and place them on my desk before you leave. Other than that, consider this a free period."
The shuffle for partners was a pain in the ass, but this was a class with a nice convenient thirty two people in it, so one way or another we'd all end up somewhere. Eventually I managed to get Eddie, Cassie and Amber. Didn't know Amber enough to have an opinion, but she was kinda cute as far as black girls go. Eddie was the brains of this pool, no doubt. And Cassie... was eye candy and she knew it. The blonde looked more like twenty than sixteen, and her clothes were as flaunting as possible without being trashy. By high school standards, which meant she was still pretty trashy. She'd be trading pouts and glances at cleavage in exchange for us doing her work for her.
We spent most of the hour talking about which periods we wanted. Amber went the obvious route, advocating the fifties and the civil rights movement. Eddie opted for Prohibition, and I had to admit it had my vote. Back in the era when people still believed mad science was actually science, and the villains practiced bizarre codes of honor and class alongside their brutality. Cassie seemed to have exactly no opinion, so we agreed on presenting those two decades. I didn't have the heart to tell Amber that almost everyone was going to take the fifties and sixties, so the odds were we'd have the twenties.
The bus trip home was as uneventful as a yellow tube full of loud children could hope to be. I ignored the stink of pot from the back and the stink of freshmen from the front as best I could. Followed by the stink of exhaust after I got off my stop. From there, it was a walk in the brisk autumn air to my house. I noticed the dark blue car in the driveway. That was strange, she almost never came over.
I opened the door to find her sitting on the couch. Her makeup was a mess, and it was obvious she was crying despite her metallic blue dyed bangs covering her face. She hadn't even noticed me coming in the door, instead clutching a ratty newspaper.
Dread spread out from my stomach. "Laura? What's wrong?" I was hoping against hope that I was wrong, but I already knew.
"I-it's Erica," she managed to sob, holding the paper out to me. "They found her b-body."
The pain in my stomach climbed up to my chest. I was reading the newspaper before I even realized I was holding it. I can't quite remember what it said, and Laura's abuse of the paper made some parts impossible to read. But the words 'nude', 'sexual assault' and 'mutilated' were enough to let me know more than I ever wanted to know. I clenched my eyes shut and tried not to let those words mar my memories of her. Her laugh, her smile, the feelings I never dared tell her I had.
Everything was so fucking unfair.
Then I realized that the pain in my chest was sharpening. I couldn't breathe. As if I didn't have enough to worry about. And then, I didn't. The pain subsided, if only for a moment; a sample of the things that could be mine. I couldn't explain how I knew, but I understood I could have that, if I wanted it. I didn't doubt. I accepted the power that offered itself to me.
Energy coursed through me, and I could feel everything it was doing. Repairing the damage to my lungs almost immediately. Clearing the inflammation, clearing the allergens that caused that inflammation, removing the causes of those allergies. Removing, replacing, changing, fixing. Laura stared at me, and I could see the glow of my skin reflected through her green eyes. My power was even cleaning the acne off of my face.
"Zach! You got powers?"
Yes. I did. "Good ones. Really good." It didn't get much better than unkillable, now did it? "You still talking to Rex?" The dude was a real scum piece of work, but he was a scum piece of work I could use right now.
Her eyes narrowed, possibly confused by the sudden change of topic. Or maybe just defensive that I'd tell her he was scum again. "He comes by the shop sometimes. Why?" She meant the tattoo parlor she worked at. As neutral an answer as she could give.
"Because if anyone knows how to find Erica's killer, it's him."
My sister's vindictive smile mirrored my own.
======================
Lots of A/Ns- There's still the possibility that, on the final edit, this will be Chapter One. If so, a certain small part of Ch 3's beginning will become part of the current Ch1/possible Ch2.
The sheer amount of details in this chapter that are more important than they might immediately seem is staggering. Part of the reason I didn't want it as Chapter 1. Lots of information, little action or plot development.
One I will tell you because I couldn't find a non-sloppy way to convey it in the text and I don't think what I included worked well enough: this world's Civil Rights Era started and ended sooner than ours. All the choice historical landmarks occurred in the 50s or really late 40s, as opposed to the late 50s to mid 60s. It's real hard to tell a legendary war hero (and one of the most powerful superheroes on the planet) that he has to sit on the back of the bus.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheLawOfConservationOfDetail TvTropes tells me I now need to find a reason why the home ec teacher being described as "the Cryptkeeper in drag" is important to the story. It's not. Probably.
Information has been added to the first post, the character details section and the worldbuilding section. Be sure and thank those nice readers who caused this to be so.
Last edited:
Price, Chapter Three
TanaNari
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Chapter 3
Kitten pushed the blade a little deeper into the ground, and I struggled for screams that my body couldn't give. The humiliation and frustration were worse than the physical pain. I wasn't strong enough to avenge Erica, and I wasn't brave enough to do what I needed to become strong enough. I stopped my struggling attempts to push her off of me and pull myself off of the ground. There wasn't any point. Instead, I struggled to speak. Without lungs, that was impossible, but maybe Kitten knew how to read lips?
Kitten relaxed, leaning in close. "Trying to say something?"
I nodded, and this time when I screamed, I made noise. Kitten had shoved the blade sideways, clearing the path of one of my lungs to regenerate back to my mouth. I gasped for the air my body didn't know I didn't need. The bitter dust we'd kicked out of the gravel was the sweetest smell I'd ever known. I felt her tapping on the handle of the sword, I wouldn't have long before she got impatient. I struggled to get the words out while using only one lung. "H-how. How can you help him? Don't you know what he's done to all those girls?"
She laughed, a short and cheerful sound. "Flux? He doesn't do anything to girls."
What? Rex swore up and down to Laura that he was certain. And as desperately as that asshole wanted in my sister's pants, I trusted him on this. If he fucked up... damn it, now what am I supposed to do? Should I apologize to the supervillains for breaking into their home on misinformation?
She wriggled her hips back and forth on my back, for all the world a child cheerfully showing off that she knows more than an adult. "He's gayer than Hawaiian night at Bruno's. No girls allowed, except for me. I'm the special exception."
The fuck? Kitten was, like, thirteen or fourteen at the most. I looked straight toward Flux. He was suddenly quite interested in studying his feet, managing to look uncomfortable despite the black and yellow body armor hiding all of his features. At least now I didn't feel like I owed him an apology.
She leaned down against me, the full length of her slender torso resting on my back. She whispered softly in my ear. "Besides, there's no way he could have done any of that stuff." Her young voice had no business being that soft and sultry. "Because I did."
Time slowed for me as I reached for that power again, knowing full well I would accept any and all consequences. I needed a way to break free from the sword pinning me to the ground, I needed a way to catch a monster that was faster than human, and I needed a way to hurt her, to kill her. This time, when I changed, there was no surprise. I knew what was coming and was prepared for it to suck. If it turned me into a freak of nature, I could live with that. Not like my time in front of the mirror was spent in rapturous joy to begin with. There was nothing I could lose that meant more to me than killing this monster in a little girl's body.
An eyeblink was all it took, and for a moment I was beside myself quite literally. I struck backward with my elbow, catching Kitten hard in the face. I felt her teeth meet my bone, and my arm went numb. Now I was up on my feet next to her and my two copies. I kicked her square in the rib and was treated to the beautiful sound of her bones cracking from my steel toed boots.
She rolled away as my copy-bodies quickly disintegrated into particles of yellow, blue and green. Rushing to envelop and be absorbed by my body a lot like my old power worked. I, meanwhile, fell upon her with the full weight of my body. One knee hard into her stomach, and the other pinning one of her arms.
I wrapped my hands around her neck, digging my fingers into her throat. Some strange new sense came alive, telling me information about her. It wasn't exact, but it was there. I had a sense of her weight, as if I was carrying her. I had a sense of her physical health, kinda. I knew I knocked out her top front tooth and broke her nose, and I could tell one of her lower ribs was bent inward.
Her heart was beating wildly as she struggled for breath. I felt her leg move almost like it was my own, and brought mine up to block it, locking her back down on the ground. Her deep blue eyes gazed up at me, and she looked so happy. I was choking the life out of her, and she seemed to be enjoying it. Then the smile turned to anger and a deep jungle green light flushed out of her eyes, across both our bodies. My arms went numb almost immediately, and I found myself next to my half-frozen copy. My own power light blended with Kitten's, reflected off the thick layers of ice that her power created.
I looked back at my saber, and somehow I remembered it, how I'd sensed it the way I had sensed Kitten when strangling her. The streamline, uniform material confirmed its status as coming from a cast mold. It appeared in my hands, and the original copy was already dissolving into light and chasing toward the version in my hand. I didn't bother to look, turning back on the monster that took Erica from me. Had taken so many other women from their families and loved ones. I didn't care if she was just a little girl, she didn't get to live after all the horrible things she'd done. I brought the sword, still covered in the colored fog of my power, down on where she was trapped in her own frozen cage.
Blue and red sprayed from where my sword struck, and Kitten rolled away and was up on her feet, blood squirting from her arm. I wasn't fast enough to kill her, but her hand remained on the ground next to my blade. I rose to my feet as she backed off.
"You surged!" She sounded so very, annoyingly happy about that. "I made you surge! You should be just perfect for countering my powers. This will be so much fun."
As much as she was pretending to be happy and confident, I was more pleased to notice that she was backing away from me. For that matter, Flux had taken a few steps back. Even if Rex's intel was slightly off, I was still holding my own against two supervillains dangerous enough that the fuckall useless police were afraid to go after them. Maybe Flux wasn't a rapist and serial killer, but he was still a bastard and I was still going to make him pay. After dealing with Kitten.
"You seem awful cheerful about this." I walked forward casually, happy enough to draw this out a bit longer. After all, I wasn't the one bleeding out right now. Every time her heart beat, it spilled a little bit more of her strength on the ground. I could afford to save my trump card for a little while longer.
"Of course!" Her smile was so goddamn happy, even covered in dirt and blood. "I gave you your powers, right? You got them to kill me, even if you didn't know it was me. And now you got more just to fight me! That means it's your destiny to be the one who finally takes me down! Isn't it just the most romantic thing?" At the last part, she held her hands- well, hand and stub- up to her chest, coating her front with blood.
I wondered just how long was it going to take her to run out of the stuff. To say nothing about everything else that was horribly wrong about what she just said. "Are you insane?" No, seriously, what the fuck is wrong with her?
She simply shrugged. "Probably."
Flux cleared his throat, theatrically. "Kitten, I think it's been made clear that you can't actually beat him. As fun as watching you kids play has been, we really have to get going before the authorities show up."
I gripped my sword as she turned toward him. "Flux! I'm having fun!"
Now! I reached out to her, the same way that I reached out to my sword before. She must have sensed what I was about to do, because her head started turning toward me, and then she was in front of me, right on the perfect path for my swing. She leapt backward, and I felt the tug as the edge of the sword sliced across her stomach. The shimmer of light followed, as her copy dissolved and returned to her body. Much to my surprise, her dismembered arm and a lot of lost blood started returning to her as well, but the bruising on her face remained.
I then realized she was nude as she stood there, clutching her stomach and locking her eyes on mine. Blood dripped down her stomach and coated her from the waist down. "Well, if that's what you wanted, you could have just asked."
I rushed at her. So what if my power somehow didn't extend to other peoples' clothing? That just made fighting them easier to disarm. So what if I accidentally restored her arm when I teleported her? That slice across her stomach was deep enough to slow her down. All I cared about was how I couldn't afford to let her get the upper hand again. I wouldn't allow her to escape. Her body glowed red as she moved, evading my next attack. Either she was slower or I was faster, or some combination of both, because I caught her shoulder.
The blood spray caught my face, and I found myself once again standing to a quickly dissolving copy of myself. Wait, her blood's dangerous, too? Kitten's foot planted itself hard against my knee, and a another copy of me started breaking down. I appeared with it between us, and she grinned through the shimmer of the 'other me' dissolving into light. "You're still not strong enough."
"I'm not the one holding my stomach to keep from bleeding to death." I reached out with my power, summoning her to me again, and she manifested with the sword inches from going through her chest. She was far more ready this time than last, and caught my sword with her bare hands. Before I knew what was happening, I was standing beside a copy of myself with my sword sticking out of his head. The sword fell a heartbeat later as the body disintegrated.
She wiped her hand over the wound I'd made, and there was nothing more than a jagged pink line. "I'm fine. My regeneration may not be as good as yours, but I can heal anything short of death in a few minutes."
I thought I was supposed to have the power to kill her! I shouted internally at whatever force gave me my powers. There was no response, no offer of another power I could still call to win this battle. Apparently, I used up whatever credit I had already. Meanwhile, Kitten just stood there observing me.
I smirked a little. "Well, just means I'll have to try harder next time." My saber manifested itself, and I rushed forward. Trying to figure out a way around her damn superhuman agility and those combat instincts. Wait, the last time I surprised her it was when I just died. That's the ticket.
She sidestepped casually, and I brought the sword low, deliberately stabbing myself in the shin. And then, without giving myself time to think I sliced upward from my new position. A long, sweeping arc. The blade collided with something hard, and she rolled back across the ground with blood spraying everywhere. I moved to press the advantage while I had it. So far, the same trick never worked on her twice.
Then I was moving sideways. I wasn't hit, my body simply decided that it should be traveling sideways without warning or reason. I found myself standing next to the not exactly abandoned car shop, my telltale lights extracting themselves from the me shaped dent in the wall. A yellow and light orange glow came from where Flux was standing. Oh, right, there are two of them and I have no damn clue what the other's power is. Turning me into a human projectile was at least part of it.
"Flux! This is my fight!" Kitten's screeching reminded me of nothing more than a five year old in the Walmart whose mother wouldn't let her have a toy. "I'm the one who gets to beat him!"
"I said we don't have time!" And now Flux was acting like an angry father. As if this whole situation wasn't fucked up enough already. "If you're not done in five minutes, we're leaving you behind. Now stop goofing around!"
She looked at me, and I swear her smile was apologetic. "Promise me you'll find me to play again?"
I gripped the my sword. I still had a shot at this, even with the two of them. All I needed was one lucky shot, and my power guaranteed I'd get my chance eventually. I just had to stay alert and ready.
Kitten charged me, swirls of indigo and occasional dark greens partially concealing her from view. I readied myself, the plan was to take the hit and then retaliate after I reformed. She didn't seem to be able to anticipate it when I did that.
She halted, and the storm of light kept going forward. I froze, and reformed, and froze again. Eventually the lights dimmed, and I was left standing in a frozen, jagged ice bowl. Kitten waved daintily, from the edge of the arena she created for us, then jumped inside. I slipped and fell on my ass, reforming still on my ass. A dagger of ice struck me in the chest, and I reappeared for the dozenth or so time this fight. I shoved the sword into the ground and started using it to climb to my feet, when she kicked the blade, dislodging it and sending me back to the ground. Another dagger, and another.
My eyes blurred a little. No, that was fog as this place slowly warmed up, mixed with the constant glow of both our powers. I mentally called for my sword, and was surprised when it didn't respond. I couldn't find my memory of it with my power. I edged closer to where the sword was laying. And then found myself slightly to the left. Several slivers of ice stuck out of the other copy.
"Wow, it doesn't take a lot to set you off, does it?" Kitten was all smiles again, and I managed a lucky dodge of another dagger of ice. "None of those penetrated deep enough to send you to the hospital. Your power is really, really afraid of letting you get hurt. You must have been a real coward to get a power like that."
Fuck it. I charged forward, and she rolled, grabbing the handle of my sword before coming back up. She hopped back as I slipped and fell on the slick frozen ground. "Nope, you've lost pointy stick privileges. Tell you what, I'll keep it around until the next time we fight. We don't have much time before someone jumps in and ruins all the fun."
The ice bowl around us shattered magnificently into every color of the rainbow, like watching a firecracker going off from the inside. Several spears of white light had pierced through, and a voice carried across the cacophony of crunching ice. "Do you have any fucking clue what time I have to wake up in the morning?"
======================
A/N- To be fair to Rex, not a lot of people associate "serial killer" and "little girl" together. I think he deserves to be cut a break.
A new challenger enters the arena!
And, this may be a spoiler, but Kitten is really fucked up in the head.
... So, how long do I have to wait before my story gets a Wiki this time? Because if it takes nine months like it did last time, I'm gonna be disappointed.
Kitten pushed the blade a little deeper into the ground, and I struggled for screams that my body couldn't give. The humiliation and frustration were worse than the physical pain. I wasn't strong enough to avenge Erica, and I wasn't brave enough to do what I needed to become strong enough. I stopped my struggling attempts to push her off of me and pull myself off of the ground. There wasn't any point. Instead, I struggled to speak. Without lungs, that was impossible, but maybe Kitten knew how to read lips?
Kitten relaxed, leaning in close. "Trying to say something?"
I nodded, and this time when I screamed, I made noise. Kitten had shoved the blade sideways, clearing the path of one of my lungs to regenerate back to my mouth. I gasped for the air my body didn't know I didn't need. The bitter dust we'd kicked out of the gravel was the sweetest smell I'd ever known. I felt her tapping on the handle of the sword, I wouldn't have long before she got impatient. I struggled to get the words out while using only one lung. "H-how. How can you help him? Don't you know what he's done to all those girls?"
She laughed, a short and cheerful sound. "Flux? He doesn't do anything to girls."
What? Rex swore up and down to Laura that he was certain. And as desperately as that asshole wanted in my sister's pants, I trusted him on this. If he fucked up... damn it, now what am I supposed to do? Should I apologize to the supervillains for breaking into their home on misinformation?
She wriggled her hips back and forth on my back, for all the world a child cheerfully showing off that she knows more than an adult. "He's gayer than Hawaiian night at Bruno's. No girls allowed, except for me. I'm the special exception."
The fuck? Kitten was, like, thirteen or fourteen at the most. I looked straight toward Flux. He was suddenly quite interested in studying his feet, managing to look uncomfortable despite the black and yellow body armor hiding all of his features. At least now I didn't feel like I owed him an apology.
She leaned down against me, the full length of her slender torso resting on my back. She whispered softly in my ear. "Besides, there's no way he could have done any of that stuff." Her young voice had no business being that soft and sultry. "Because I did."
Time slowed for me as I reached for that power again, knowing full well I would accept any and all consequences. I needed a way to break free from the sword pinning me to the ground, I needed a way to catch a monster that was faster than human, and I needed a way to hurt her, to kill her. This time, when I changed, there was no surprise. I knew what was coming and was prepared for it to suck. If it turned me into a freak of nature, I could live with that. Not like my time in front of the mirror was spent in rapturous joy to begin with. There was nothing I could lose that meant more to me than killing this monster in a little girl's body.
An eyeblink was all it took, and for a moment I was beside myself quite literally. I struck backward with my elbow, catching Kitten hard in the face. I felt her teeth meet my bone, and my arm went numb. Now I was up on my feet next to her and my two copies. I kicked her square in the rib and was treated to the beautiful sound of her bones cracking from my steel toed boots.
She rolled away as my copy-bodies quickly disintegrated into particles of yellow, blue and green. Rushing to envelop and be absorbed by my body a lot like my old power worked. I, meanwhile, fell upon her with the full weight of my body. One knee hard into her stomach, and the other pinning one of her arms.
I wrapped my hands around her neck, digging my fingers into her throat. Some strange new sense came alive, telling me information about her. It wasn't exact, but it was there. I had a sense of her weight, as if I was carrying her. I had a sense of her physical health, kinda. I knew I knocked out her top front tooth and broke her nose, and I could tell one of her lower ribs was bent inward.
Her heart was beating wildly as she struggled for breath. I felt her leg move almost like it was my own, and brought mine up to block it, locking her back down on the ground. Her deep blue eyes gazed up at me, and she looked so happy. I was choking the life out of her, and she seemed to be enjoying it. Then the smile turned to anger and a deep jungle green light flushed out of her eyes, across both our bodies. My arms went numb almost immediately, and I found myself next to my half-frozen copy. My own power light blended with Kitten's, reflected off the thick layers of ice that her power created.
I looked back at my saber, and somehow I remembered it, how I'd sensed it the way I had sensed Kitten when strangling her. The streamline, uniform material confirmed its status as coming from a cast mold. It appeared in my hands, and the original copy was already dissolving into light and chasing toward the version in my hand. I didn't bother to look, turning back on the monster that took Erica from me. Had taken so many other women from their families and loved ones. I didn't care if she was just a little girl, she didn't get to live after all the horrible things she'd done. I brought the sword, still covered in the colored fog of my power, down on where she was trapped in her own frozen cage.
Blue and red sprayed from where my sword struck, and Kitten rolled away and was up on her feet, blood squirting from her arm. I wasn't fast enough to kill her, but her hand remained on the ground next to my blade. I rose to my feet as she backed off.
"You surged!" She sounded so very, annoyingly happy about that. "I made you surge! You should be just perfect for countering my powers. This will be so much fun."
As much as she was pretending to be happy and confident, I was more pleased to notice that she was backing away from me. For that matter, Flux had taken a few steps back. Even if Rex's intel was slightly off, I was still holding my own against two supervillains dangerous enough that the fuckall useless police were afraid to go after them. Maybe Flux wasn't a rapist and serial killer, but he was still a bastard and I was still going to make him pay. After dealing with Kitten.
"You seem awful cheerful about this." I walked forward casually, happy enough to draw this out a bit longer. After all, I wasn't the one bleeding out right now. Every time her heart beat, it spilled a little bit more of her strength on the ground. I could afford to save my trump card for a little while longer.
"Of course!" Her smile was so goddamn happy, even covered in dirt and blood. "I gave you your powers, right? You got them to kill me, even if you didn't know it was me. And now you got more just to fight me! That means it's your destiny to be the one who finally takes me down! Isn't it just the most romantic thing?" At the last part, she held her hands- well, hand and stub- up to her chest, coating her front with blood.
I wondered just how long was it going to take her to run out of the stuff. To say nothing about everything else that was horribly wrong about what she just said. "Are you insane?" No, seriously, what the fuck is wrong with her?
She simply shrugged. "Probably."
Flux cleared his throat, theatrically. "Kitten, I think it's been made clear that you can't actually beat him. As fun as watching you kids play has been, we really have to get going before the authorities show up."
I gripped my sword as she turned toward him. "Flux! I'm having fun!"
Now! I reached out to her, the same way that I reached out to my sword before. She must have sensed what I was about to do, because her head started turning toward me, and then she was in front of me, right on the perfect path for my swing. She leapt backward, and I felt the tug as the edge of the sword sliced across her stomach. The shimmer of light followed, as her copy dissolved and returned to her body. Much to my surprise, her dismembered arm and a lot of lost blood started returning to her as well, but the bruising on her face remained.
I then realized she was nude as she stood there, clutching her stomach and locking her eyes on mine. Blood dripped down her stomach and coated her from the waist down. "Well, if that's what you wanted, you could have just asked."
I rushed at her. So what if my power somehow didn't extend to other peoples' clothing? That just made fighting them easier to disarm. So what if I accidentally restored her arm when I teleported her? That slice across her stomach was deep enough to slow her down. All I cared about was how I couldn't afford to let her get the upper hand again. I wouldn't allow her to escape. Her body glowed red as she moved, evading my next attack. Either she was slower or I was faster, or some combination of both, because I caught her shoulder.
The blood spray caught my face, and I found myself once again standing to a quickly dissolving copy of myself. Wait, her blood's dangerous, too? Kitten's foot planted itself hard against my knee, and a another copy of me started breaking down. I appeared with it between us, and she grinned through the shimmer of the 'other me' dissolving into light. "You're still not strong enough."
"I'm not the one holding my stomach to keep from bleeding to death." I reached out with my power, summoning her to me again, and she manifested with the sword inches from going through her chest. She was far more ready this time than last, and caught my sword with her bare hands. Before I knew what was happening, I was standing beside a copy of myself with my sword sticking out of his head. The sword fell a heartbeat later as the body disintegrated.
She wiped her hand over the wound I'd made, and there was nothing more than a jagged pink line. "I'm fine. My regeneration may not be as good as yours, but I can heal anything short of death in a few minutes."
I thought I was supposed to have the power to kill her! I shouted internally at whatever force gave me my powers. There was no response, no offer of another power I could still call to win this battle. Apparently, I used up whatever credit I had already. Meanwhile, Kitten just stood there observing me.
I smirked a little. "Well, just means I'll have to try harder next time." My saber manifested itself, and I rushed forward. Trying to figure out a way around her damn superhuman agility and those combat instincts. Wait, the last time I surprised her it was when I just died. That's the ticket.
She sidestepped casually, and I brought the sword low, deliberately stabbing myself in the shin. And then, without giving myself time to think I sliced upward from my new position. A long, sweeping arc. The blade collided with something hard, and she rolled back across the ground with blood spraying everywhere. I moved to press the advantage while I had it. So far, the same trick never worked on her twice.
Then I was moving sideways. I wasn't hit, my body simply decided that it should be traveling sideways without warning or reason. I found myself standing next to the not exactly abandoned car shop, my telltale lights extracting themselves from the me shaped dent in the wall. A yellow and light orange glow came from where Flux was standing. Oh, right, there are two of them and I have no damn clue what the other's power is. Turning me into a human projectile was at least part of it.
"Flux! This is my fight!" Kitten's screeching reminded me of nothing more than a five year old in the Walmart whose mother wouldn't let her have a toy. "I'm the one who gets to beat him!"
"I said we don't have time!" And now Flux was acting like an angry father. As if this whole situation wasn't fucked up enough already. "If you're not done in five minutes, we're leaving you behind. Now stop goofing around!"
She looked at me, and I swear her smile was apologetic. "Promise me you'll find me to play again?"
I gripped the my sword. I still had a shot at this, even with the two of them. All I needed was one lucky shot, and my power guaranteed I'd get my chance eventually. I just had to stay alert and ready.
Kitten charged me, swirls of indigo and occasional dark greens partially concealing her from view. I readied myself, the plan was to take the hit and then retaliate after I reformed. She didn't seem to be able to anticipate it when I did that.
She halted, and the storm of light kept going forward. I froze, and reformed, and froze again. Eventually the lights dimmed, and I was left standing in a frozen, jagged ice bowl. Kitten waved daintily, from the edge of the arena she created for us, then jumped inside. I slipped and fell on my ass, reforming still on my ass. A dagger of ice struck me in the chest, and I reappeared for the dozenth or so time this fight. I shoved the sword into the ground and started using it to climb to my feet, when she kicked the blade, dislodging it and sending me back to the ground. Another dagger, and another.
My eyes blurred a little. No, that was fog as this place slowly warmed up, mixed with the constant glow of both our powers. I mentally called for my sword, and was surprised when it didn't respond. I couldn't find my memory of it with my power. I edged closer to where the sword was laying. And then found myself slightly to the left. Several slivers of ice stuck out of the other copy.
"Wow, it doesn't take a lot to set you off, does it?" Kitten was all smiles again, and I managed a lucky dodge of another dagger of ice. "None of those penetrated deep enough to send you to the hospital. Your power is really, really afraid of letting you get hurt. You must have been a real coward to get a power like that."
Fuck it. I charged forward, and she rolled, grabbing the handle of my sword before coming back up. She hopped back as I slipped and fell on the slick frozen ground. "Nope, you've lost pointy stick privileges. Tell you what, I'll keep it around until the next time we fight. We don't have much time before someone jumps in and ruins all the fun."
The ice bowl around us shattered magnificently into every color of the rainbow, like watching a firecracker going off from the inside. Several spears of white light had pierced through, and a voice carried across the cacophony of crunching ice. "Do you have any fucking clue what time I have to wake up in the morning?"
======================
A/N- To be fair to Rex, not a lot of people associate "serial killer" and "little girl" together. I think he deserves to be cut a break.
A new challenger enters the arena!
And, this may be a spoiler, but Kitten is really fucked up in the head.
... So, how long do I have to wait before my story gets a Wiki this time? Because if it takes nine months like it did last time, I'm gonna be disappointed.
Last edited:
Price, Chapter Four
TanaNari
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Chapter 4
Gold lightning danced across the cloud of perfect white that signified the newcomer's powers. It condensed down, a stark opposite of the fog of frost pouring off of Kitten. Eventually forming a beautifully intricate armor of white and gold that looked bizarrely too perfect, ignoring light sources and shadows. It kinda reminded me of those live action movies with cartoon characters running about. It looked really, really wrong to see something so pristine and clear on this battlefield covered in dust, blood and ice.
Kitten recovered before I did, turning to face the newcomer as I was, very slowly, trying to stand on the absurdly slick ice. "Do you have any idea how rude it is to interrupt someone in the middle of a game?" There was a crackle-pop sound as ice slowly spread itself across Kitten's body. White and crimson splotched across her like the world's worst barbershop pole. She brought my sword up and rested it across her shoulder. "Wait, I know you! You're Anima!"
That's Anima? I'd never seen her in person, but I was pretty sure she didn't usually run around in plate armor.
"And you're Kitten, correct?" There was no hint of femininity in Anima's voice, her words were distorted like an echo through a canyon.
"One and only." Kitten took a couple quick hops away from me, moving faster than she ever had when I was fighting her. She was wearing an armor of her own, now, constructed entirely from ice her power made for her. "They say that we're the most powerful Imbued on the eastern seaboard. That you might even be the strongest on the whole continent."
Anima looked over at me. "You have any friends here? Backup?"
I still hadn't managed to get to my feet, so from my sitting position, I answered. "No." My voice cracked and the word came out as little more than a squeak. I coughed a couple times, for theatrics than an actual need to clear my throat, then spoke deeper than my natural voice. "No, I came alone." I hesitated for a moment, feeling the need to further justify myself. "I don't need any backup."
"It's true. He's been all sorts of fun. I've never met anyone that can take a beating like he can." Kitten was her usual happy self. "You here to settle those 'versus' threads all those losers put up about us online?"
And here Kitten was fucking ignoring me again. "Hey, I'm not the one whose blood is all over everything." Of course, the only reason for that was because my power recovered any lost materials, but Anima didn't need to know that.
"Hush now, the big girls are talking." Kitten's gaze never stopped focusing on Anima. "As I was saying, you don't display your powers in combat much. I'm willing to bet there's a reason for that. Some special weakness, perhaps?"
Anima shook her head, just a little. "I'm a pacifist for personal reasons. It has nothing to do with my powers or their weaknesses."
Kittens smile slipped a little. "Oh, you're one of those. Funny thing about pacifism, it only works if everyone's a pacifist. You've just told me is that you have zero combat experience, and are afraid to kill. Those are weaknesses, and I am so very good at using wea-"
"Won't matter." I could hear the tension in Anima's voice even through the distortion. More white fog and gold lightning started forming around Anima, taking humanoid shapes. They, like the armor, were cartoons imposed on a world where they didn't belong. Blades glinted too brightly, the bowstrings were visible even from where I was sitting. They knelt, bowing their heads toward Anima like faithful who just met their god.
"I've read your files. I know you've got the ability to sense and exploit flaws in an enemy. I know you've translated that skill into a form of living lie detector. Whatever weaknesses my power might have, they do not apply here. If I give the command, you will die, and there will be nothing either of us can do to stop it. Now stand down."
Kitten tilted her head, and chips of ice fell to the ground. "Oh, my, you believe yourself. And my power believes you, too. What did you lose to gain a power like that? Must have been something incredible."
Gold lightning danced along the kneeling cartoon summons, along with the howling of the wind. The chill air didn't stir. "More than enough."
"You are such a hypocrite. You know you can kill me, and you know what I'm going to do because you weren't willing."
Anima tensed up, and the cartoon characters' heads snapped up. They looked like nothing so much as evil cartoon elves. The red glow from their eyes reflected like flames on their too-white, too-sharp teeth. One spoke, his voice like crunching leaves. "Give the word, my Princess, and I shall take her head and place it before you in rightful tribute."
"I think that won't be necessary. For either of you." Flux spoke. Holy shit, I forgot he was there again. Does he have some kind of mind powers? "Kitten, I think you've had your fun for the evening. Besides, your new friend already covered it a dozen times over, and that's before I lost count. I believe, back in the day, they had a name for that. Sorta like a scapegoat, but not..." he paused for a moment of thought.
I didn't believe for an instant he actually forgot, he was just playing up the drama. "Oh, right, now I remember, a whipping boy."
Kitten giggled happily. "Ooh, yeah, I like that!"
"So, Anima, remember to thank him after we're gone. You don't have to worry about getting blood on your precious hands tonight."
"I have your word?"
"Yuppers!" Kitten tilted her head back until it had bent far, far further than a human neck should have been flexible enough to accommodate. I couldn't help but think of a pez dispense are she looked right at me despite still facing toward Anima. "Besides, fate has already selected Whipping Boy to kill me. And who are we to fight destiny?" Kitten then fell backward, rolling a couple times before sitting down next to me, just a little out of arm's reach.
"Looks like I've gotta go now. I'll think of you often." Her smile seemed legitimately sad and disappointed, then it perked right back up. "When I'm gone, be sure to ask Anima what happens when people get in my way. Plus one per month until you manage to stop me. And remember that, from now on, to make sure there's an extra special bond between us, I'll do it using your sword."
I tried to lunge at her, but she was too fast even without the ice slowing me down. She rolled a couple more times, was on her feet, and hopped away without a care in the world. "No need to be so impatient, Whipping Boy! Take your time, get stronger. I promise I'll be counting the days."
And with that, she was running off. She hopped onto the top of some kind of sports car, climbing in through the sun roof as it sped off. A yellow and orange shimmer emanated from Flux, and he moved faster than my eyes could follow, a streak of orange that quickly passed the vehicle. After all of that, they both got away.
"Are you okay?"
I started at Anima's question. I hadn't even heard her walk up to me. I hesitated for a moment, a million questions going through my mind. How did you know I was here? Why did you let Kitten get away? How powerful is she? How powerful are you? What was that shit she was spouting about destiny? But those were questions I could ask in a few minutes, I needed something right away that would thank her, without admitting I was in so far over my head that Chinese people were using my feet to prop up an end table.
Eventually I turned to face her, having settled on the one thing I could trust. "So, when I signed up for this job, I thought I'd be on the other side of daring rescues involving beautiful princesses." I hoped my smile didn't look creepy, considering I was still wearing a ski mask.
Her hand extended out to me. "I'll take that as a yes." Her voice had changed, losing the booming echo and becoming that of a girl. There was nothing special I could say about her voice, other than how completely ordinary it sounded.
I reached out for her. "You just rescued me, and now you're asking for my h-" I froze as I touched her armor. The same senses that let me see Kitten could see into Anima's armor, and what it found there was impossible for me to understand. A storm of power concentrated into a shell as thin as a sheet of paper. There was no inside to the armor, it was hollow. In a way that just shouldn't be possible.
I barely noticed as she helped me to my feet. "Is there something wrong?"
I snapped out of my daze. "No, nothing. It's just, my power lets me know things about what I'm touching. Your armor is." I hesitated, not knowing how to describe it.
"Yeah, I know," she didn't sound too happy. "I hear stuff like that, sometimes. Don't bother trying to figure it out, no one else has managed to, but there are physicists and theologians alike who claim they have. And, no, it's not that special. There's a bunch of people who work the same way, in some form or another."
I could tell she'd had that conversation before, probably a lot. "Well, I know one thing about it." She didn't say a word, and didn't seem to care about my ideas. Its lack of weight, the way it curves in on itself with no beginning and no end, how its consistency changes while staying forever the same. How I couldn't use my power for more than sensing it. "It's absolutely gorgeous."
I earned a 'hmph'. "So, newbie, do you have a name? I highly doubt it's actually Whipping Boy."
"Haven't thought of one," I admitted. "Didn't seem important to me. I was kinda hoping to make a name for myself first." After all, why have a name if you didn't matter enough for people to care?
"And you went after Kitten to make that name?" The incredulity dripped from every word she spoke.
I shrugged and smiled. "Well, you have to admit, if it had worked..." I trailed off, letting her draw her own conclusions. Better to let her believe I was confident in my powers and knew I could take care of myself, instead of stumbling into a fight with someone I'd never even heard of before like a suicidally stupid amateur. No, that is the wrong attitude to have, especially when dealing with someone who might be able to offer help. "But my business with Kitten is personal. She killed..." someone I loved, my neighbor since I was four, my sister's best friend, the girl I was sort of a stalker for. Someone I fantasized about rescuing since I first figured out... "A friend."
Anima hesitated for a moment. "I'm sorry. I assumed the worst about you, instead of thinking you had a good reason for doing what you did. It's just... going after Kitten is insane, and it was easiest to imagine you didn't know."
I felt bad, indirectly lying to her. But that was a feeling I'd gotten used to over the years. "Kitten said something about doing something when people get in her way?" I suspected I already knew the answer, but I needed to hear it.
Anima looked away, searching the sky for something that probably wasn't there. "Two lives. That's her rule, every time the police or any would be heroes manage to stop whatever it is she's trying to do, she kills two people at random. As powerful as she is, she could kill a lot more than that if she goes down fighting. Her danger sense means a sniper or bomb won't work. Overwhelming firepower is the only strategy, and there's only a handful of us who have both the durability and firepower to go up against her. And after that, it's a matter of having the speed to catch her when she runs."
"That why they sent you, instead of a team?"
"Actually, 'they' probably don't know this happened yet," Anima admitted. "If they realized what was going on, they'd probably send someone in. Innocent lives be damned. Guardian would be their first pick. He might be a colossal ass, and wouldn't be able to beat her, but at the very least he wouldn't lose. They'd use whatever intel he could gather to come up with a better strategy. So what if it would ruin dozens of lives in the process?"
Holy fuck that sounded bitter. "So, umm, no offense, but why you? I mean, I thought you didn't do the hero thing. Are you really as powerful as they say?" Kitten certainly thought highly of her power.
"No one is as powerful as they say I am. I'm a pretty hard counter for Kitten, but if Flux had stepped in I'd be dead right now. Mooth promised that wasn't a risk, and this was the best way to save lives. She's an oracle. Knows if someone's going to die within twenty four hours as long as she pictures them in her mind. Also sees the last moment of any Imbued who dies. Or, in your case, a lot of last moments."
Well, that explains that. "Tell her I'll try to keep the dying to a minimum, but I can't make any promises."
"Kitten." A simple, tired acceptance. "Telling you how bad an idea that is won't make a difference, will it?"
"Someone has to stop her." I left the accusation that she could have, and didn't, unspoken. I tried to feel bad about it, but even Kitten was sure she was going to lose if Anima went all out, and that didn't happen. "She said something about it being my destiny to kill her. I don't buy it, but I think I can challenge her without her killing people if I lose. Not that I intend to lose, now that I know exactly what I'm fighting. I can take her."
Anima looked over, studying me for a minute. "She's why you have powers, right? You got your powers right after finding out about your friend that Kitten killed?"
I nodded.
Anima's armor shifted, opening a hole in the side, near her hip. Through the golden glow, I noted she was wearing jeans under her costume. "I really shouldn't be doing this. And if you tell anyone I did, I will swear in a court of law that you're a liar." She pulled a rumpled up series of papers out and handed them to me. "That's what information I have on Kitten, straight out of the police database."
"Isn't that-"
"Illegal? Very." Her voice made it clear she was starting to regret her generosity.
"Thank you." I meant it. I looked at the papers, not trying to read them, simply looking at what I held. Hopefully in here was the information I needed to win our rematch. "Is there anything I can do to, well, if you need help you can ask."
"I'm okay. Listen, we should get going. Would you like me to give you a ride somewhere?"
A part of me felt insulted that she assumed I didn't have a car. She was right, but she didn't know that. "Oh, I see how it is. First you rescue a guy, then you get him to take you back to his place..."
She just stood there stunned, looking for the words. "Nah, I'm joshin' ya. I have a ride, I walked the last couple blocks." All true. "I'm not so rich that I can afford losing a car every time I get into a fight."
"Got a cell? I can't talk you into staying out of this, so the least I can do is make sure you stay away from the worst dangers. There's a lot of things the civilians don't know about. It's better than you running around blind and getting into the wrong kind of mess. And I might be able to get more information about Kitten."
"Sure," I pulled out my shitty cheap cell. "Something to call the police so they could clean things up. You can call me any time after five thirty. My powers include not needing to sleep, so it doesn't matter how late you call."
"Don't spread that information around too much. Some insensitive people might call you lucky."
We swapped numbers and I jogged off before calling Laura.
======================
A/N- Flux has no mind powers. He's just very good at not being the center of attention.
"Mooth" is not a typo, but it isn't the right spelling of the word. I leave it as a bit of a puzzle to see if anyone figures out the meaning to her name.
I wonder if people will ship Zach and Anima, now. Or if Alex/Zach is still the fan OTP.
Zach has mastered the fine art of lying while telling the truth.
And I'm glad I got the weekend as an insulator. The next two chapters? I'm going to need to write both of them before I publish either. Also, as a bonus thingy, I'm considering a look at the police file on Kitten.
Gold lightning danced across the cloud of perfect white that signified the newcomer's powers. It condensed down, a stark opposite of the fog of frost pouring off of Kitten. Eventually forming a beautifully intricate armor of white and gold that looked bizarrely too perfect, ignoring light sources and shadows. It kinda reminded me of those live action movies with cartoon characters running about. It looked really, really wrong to see something so pristine and clear on this battlefield covered in dust, blood and ice.
Kitten recovered before I did, turning to face the newcomer as I was, very slowly, trying to stand on the absurdly slick ice. "Do you have any idea how rude it is to interrupt someone in the middle of a game?" There was a crackle-pop sound as ice slowly spread itself across Kitten's body. White and crimson splotched across her like the world's worst barbershop pole. She brought my sword up and rested it across her shoulder. "Wait, I know you! You're Anima!"
That's Anima? I'd never seen her in person, but I was pretty sure she didn't usually run around in plate armor.
"And you're Kitten, correct?" There was no hint of femininity in Anima's voice, her words were distorted like an echo through a canyon.
"One and only." Kitten took a couple quick hops away from me, moving faster than she ever had when I was fighting her. She was wearing an armor of her own, now, constructed entirely from ice her power made for her. "They say that we're the most powerful Imbued on the eastern seaboard. That you might even be the strongest on the whole continent."
Anima looked over at me. "You have any friends here? Backup?"
I still hadn't managed to get to my feet, so from my sitting position, I answered. "No." My voice cracked and the word came out as little more than a squeak. I coughed a couple times, for theatrics than an actual need to clear my throat, then spoke deeper than my natural voice. "No, I came alone." I hesitated for a moment, feeling the need to further justify myself. "I don't need any backup."
"It's true. He's been all sorts of fun. I've never met anyone that can take a beating like he can." Kitten was her usual happy self. "You here to settle those 'versus' threads all those losers put up about us online?"
And here Kitten was fucking ignoring me again. "Hey, I'm not the one whose blood is all over everything." Of course, the only reason for that was because my power recovered any lost materials, but Anima didn't need to know that.
"Hush now, the big girls are talking." Kitten's gaze never stopped focusing on Anima. "As I was saying, you don't display your powers in combat much. I'm willing to bet there's a reason for that. Some special weakness, perhaps?"
Anima shook her head, just a little. "I'm a pacifist for personal reasons. It has nothing to do with my powers or their weaknesses."
Kittens smile slipped a little. "Oh, you're one of those. Funny thing about pacifism, it only works if everyone's a pacifist. You've just told me is that you have zero combat experience, and are afraid to kill. Those are weaknesses, and I am so very good at using wea-"
"Won't matter." I could hear the tension in Anima's voice even through the distortion. More white fog and gold lightning started forming around Anima, taking humanoid shapes. They, like the armor, were cartoons imposed on a world where they didn't belong. Blades glinted too brightly, the bowstrings were visible even from where I was sitting. They knelt, bowing their heads toward Anima like faithful who just met their god.
"I've read your files. I know you've got the ability to sense and exploit flaws in an enemy. I know you've translated that skill into a form of living lie detector. Whatever weaknesses my power might have, they do not apply here. If I give the command, you will die, and there will be nothing either of us can do to stop it. Now stand down."
Kitten tilted her head, and chips of ice fell to the ground. "Oh, my, you believe yourself. And my power believes you, too. What did you lose to gain a power like that? Must have been something incredible."
Gold lightning danced along the kneeling cartoon summons, along with the howling of the wind. The chill air didn't stir. "More than enough."
"You are such a hypocrite. You know you can kill me, and you know what I'm going to do because you weren't willing."
Anima tensed up, and the cartoon characters' heads snapped up. They looked like nothing so much as evil cartoon elves. The red glow from their eyes reflected like flames on their too-white, too-sharp teeth. One spoke, his voice like crunching leaves. "Give the word, my Princess, and I shall take her head and place it before you in rightful tribute."
"I think that won't be necessary. For either of you." Flux spoke. Holy shit, I forgot he was there again. Does he have some kind of mind powers? "Kitten, I think you've had your fun for the evening. Besides, your new friend already covered it a dozen times over, and that's before I lost count. I believe, back in the day, they had a name for that. Sorta like a scapegoat, but not..." he paused for a moment of thought.
I didn't believe for an instant he actually forgot, he was just playing up the drama. "Oh, right, now I remember, a whipping boy."
Kitten giggled happily. "Ooh, yeah, I like that!"
"So, Anima, remember to thank him after we're gone. You don't have to worry about getting blood on your precious hands tonight."
"I have your word?"
"Yuppers!" Kitten tilted her head back until it had bent far, far further than a human neck should have been flexible enough to accommodate. I couldn't help but think of a pez dispense are she looked right at me despite still facing toward Anima. "Besides, fate has already selected Whipping Boy to kill me. And who are we to fight destiny?" Kitten then fell backward, rolling a couple times before sitting down next to me, just a little out of arm's reach.
"Looks like I've gotta go now. I'll think of you often." Her smile seemed legitimately sad and disappointed, then it perked right back up. "When I'm gone, be sure to ask Anima what happens when people get in my way. Plus one per month until you manage to stop me. And remember that, from now on, to make sure there's an extra special bond between us, I'll do it using your sword."
I tried to lunge at her, but she was too fast even without the ice slowing me down. She rolled a couple more times, was on her feet, and hopped away without a care in the world. "No need to be so impatient, Whipping Boy! Take your time, get stronger. I promise I'll be counting the days."
And with that, she was running off. She hopped onto the top of some kind of sports car, climbing in through the sun roof as it sped off. A yellow and orange shimmer emanated from Flux, and he moved faster than my eyes could follow, a streak of orange that quickly passed the vehicle. After all of that, they both got away.
"Are you okay?"
I started at Anima's question. I hadn't even heard her walk up to me. I hesitated for a moment, a million questions going through my mind. How did you know I was here? Why did you let Kitten get away? How powerful is she? How powerful are you? What was that shit she was spouting about destiny? But those were questions I could ask in a few minutes, I needed something right away that would thank her, without admitting I was in so far over my head that Chinese people were using my feet to prop up an end table.
Eventually I turned to face her, having settled on the one thing I could trust. "So, when I signed up for this job, I thought I'd be on the other side of daring rescues involving beautiful princesses." I hoped my smile didn't look creepy, considering I was still wearing a ski mask.
Her hand extended out to me. "I'll take that as a yes." Her voice had changed, losing the booming echo and becoming that of a girl. There was nothing special I could say about her voice, other than how completely ordinary it sounded.
I reached out for her. "You just rescued me, and now you're asking for my h-" I froze as I touched her armor. The same senses that let me see Kitten could see into Anima's armor, and what it found there was impossible for me to understand. A storm of power concentrated into a shell as thin as a sheet of paper. There was no inside to the armor, it was hollow. In a way that just shouldn't be possible.
I barely noticed as she helped me to my feet. "Is there something wrong?"
I snapped out of my daze. "No, nothing. It's just, my power lets me know things about what I'm touching. Your armor is." I hesitated, not knowing how to describe it.
"Yeah, I know," she didn't sound too happy. "I hear stuff like that, sometimes. Don't bother trying to figure it out, no one else has managed to, but there are physicists and theologians alike who claim they have. And, no, it's not that special. There's a bunch of people who work the same way, in some form or another."
I could tell she'd had that conversation before, probably a lot. "Well, I know one thing about it." She didn't say a word, and didn't seem to care about my ideas. Its lack of weight, the way it curves in on itself with no beginning and no end, how its consistency changes while staying forever the same. How I couldn't use my power for more than sensing it. "It's absolutely gorgeous."
I earned a 'hmph'. "So, newbie, do you have a name? I highly doubt it's actually Whipping Boy."
"Haven't thought of one," I admitted. "Didn't seem important to me. I was kinda hoping to make a name for myself first." After all, why have a name if you didn't matter enough for people to care?
"And you went after Kitten to make that name?" The incredulity dripped from every word she spoke.
I shrugged and smiled. "Well, you have to admit, if it had worked..." I trailed off, letting her draw her own conclusions. Better to let her believe I was confident in my powers and knew I could take care of myself, instead of stumbling into a fight with someone I'd never even heard of before like a suicidally stupid amateur. No, that is the wrong attitude to have, especially when dealing with someone who might be able to offer help. "But my business with Kitten is personal. She killed..." someone I loved, my neighbor since I was four, my sister's best friend, the girl I was sort of a stalker for. Someone I fantasized about rescuing since I first figured out... "A friend."
Anima hesitated for a moment. "I'm sorry. I assumed the worst about you, instead of thinking you had a good reason for doing what you did. It's just... going after Kitten is insane, and it was easiest to imagine you didn't know."
I felt bad, indirectly lying to her. But that was a feeling I'd gotten used to over the years. "Kitten said something about doing something when people get in her way?" I suspected I already knew the answer, but I needed to hear it.
Anima looked away, searching the sky for something that probably wasn't there. "Two lives. That's her rule, every time the police or any would be heroes manage to stop whatever it is she's trying to do, she kills two people at random. As powerful as she is, she could kill a lot more than that if she goes down fighting. Her danger sense means a sniper or bomb won't work. Overwhelming firepower is the only strategy, and there's only a handful of us who have both the durability and firepower to go up against her. And after that, it's a matter of having the speed to catch her when she runs."
"That why they sent you, instead of a team?"
"Actually, 'they' probably don't know this happened yet," Anima admitted. "If they realized what was going on, they'd probably send someone in. Innocent lives be damned. Guardian would be their first pick. He might be a colossal ass, and wouldn't be able to beat her, but at the very least he wouldn't lose. They'd use whatever intel he could gather to come up with a better strategy. So what if it would ruin dozens of lives in the process?"
Holy fuck that sounded bitter. "So, umm, no offense, but why you? I mean, I thought you didn't do the hero thing. Are you really as powerful as they say?" Kitten certainly thought highly of her power.
"No one is as powerful as they say I am. I'm a pretty hard counter for Kitten, but if Flux had stepped in I'd be dead right now. Mooth promised that wasn't a risk, and this was the best way to save lives. She's an oracle. Knows if someone's going to die within twenty four hours as long as she pictures them in her mind. Also sees the last moment of any Imbued who dies. Or, in your case, a lot of last moments."
Well, that explains that. "Tell her I'll try to keep the dying to a minimum, but I can't make any promises."
"Kitten." A simple, tired acceptance. "Telling you how bad an idea that is won't make a difference, will it?"
"Someone has to stop her." I left the accusation that she could have, and didn't, unspoken. I tried to feel bad about it, but even Kitten was sure she was going to lose if Anima went all out, and that didn't happen. "She said something about it being my destiny to kill her. I don't buy it, but I think I can challenge her without her killing people if I lose. Not that I intend to lose, now that I know exactly what I'm fighting. I can take her."
Anima looked over, studying me for a minute. "She's why you have powers, right? You got your powers right after finding out about your friend that Kitten killed?"
I nodded.
Anima's armor shifted, opening a hole in the side, near her hip. Through the golden glow, I noted she was wearing jeans under her costume. "I really shouldn't be doing this. And if you tell anyone I did, I will swear in a court of law that you're a liar." She pulled a rumpled up series of papers out and handed them to me. "That's what information I have on Kitten, straight out of the police database."
"Isn't that-"
"Illegal? Very." Her voice made it clear she was starting to regret her generosity.
"Thank you." I meant it. I looked at the papers, not trying to read them, simply looking at what I held. Hopefully in here was the information I needed to win our rematch. "Is there anything I can do to, well, if you need help you can ask."
"I'm okay. Listen, we should get going. Would you like me to give you a ride somewhere?"
A part of me felt insulted that she assumed I didn't have a car. She was right, but she didn't know that. "Oh, I see how it is. First you rescue a guy, then you get him to take you back to his place..."
She just stood there stunned, looking for the words. "Nah, I'm joshin' ya. I have a ride, I walked the last couple blocks." All true. "I'm not so rich that I can afford losing a car every time I get into a fight."
"Got a cell? I can't talk you into staying out of this, so the least I can do is make sure you stay away from the worst dangers. There's a lot of things the civilians don't know about. It's better than you running around blind and getting into the wrong kind of mess. And I might be able to get more information about Kitten."
"Sure," I pulled out my shitty cheap cell. "Something to call the police so they could clean things up. You can call me any time after five thirty. My powers include not needing to sleep, so it doesn't matter how late you call."
"Don't spread that information around too much. Some insensitive people might call you lucky."
We swapped numbers and I jogged off before calling Laura.
======================
A/N- Flux has no mind powers. He's just very good at not being the center of attention.
"Mooth" is not a typo, but it isn't the right spelling of the word. I leave it as a bit of a puzzle to see if anyone figures out the meaning to her name.
I wonder if people will ship Zach and Anima, now. Or if Alex/Zach is still the fan OTP.
Zach has mastered the fine art of lying while telling the truth.
And I'm glad I got the weekend as an insulator. The next two chapters? I'm going to need to write both of them before I publish either. Also, as a bonus thingy, I'm considering a look at the police file on Kitten.
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Kitten's rap sheet
TanaNari
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Alias: Kitten
Real Name: Unknown.
Former Alias: Killer
Age: Unknown, estimated approximately fifteen years old.
Class: Stage 3-4 Imbued, 4.5 threat value. Class 5 Risk.
Former Associates:
2012- june 2014: Hunter, supposed twin sister (EV 88%). Together were the defunct villain team Hunter-Killer. Hunter presumed killed (EV 99.7%) during a conflict between Hunter-Killer and a collaboration of heroes and villains including Starfall (dec), Arclight, and the Raleigh, NC chapter of Endless Storm.
Jul 2914: Songstress (dec)
Aug-Oct 2014: Sin Eater (dec)
Feb 2015: Scythe (Inc) and Hammer (dec)
Apr 2015: Shadowmancer (Dec)
Criminal Record:
Tried and convicted in absentia of nine (9) counts of Capital Murder, seventeen (17) counts of Felony Murder, thirty eight (38) counts of using powers for a violent crime, twelve (12) counts of injuring an officer of the law during the course of their duties.
Suspect in nineteen (19) counts of Capital or First Degree Murder, thirty three (33) counts of Felony or Second Degree murder, fifty nine (59) counts of resisting arrest, seventy five (75) counts of using powers in a violent crime, and four (4) counts of fleeing the state to avoid prosecution.
Outstanding warrants in FL, NC, PA and VA. Criminal background in GA, SC, WV and DC, arbitration invoked.
Known Powers:
Brawler 3.3- Has superhuman reflexes and combat instincts. Confirmed capable of catching low calibre bullets in flight. Has low level cryokinesis that she regularly uses to create claws of ice. While strength is not superhuman, it is significantly higher than her body type suggests.
Breaker 1.3- Kitten's combat knowledge has allowed her to quickly identify and exploit flaws in other Imbued powers before. Her senses make illusion based powers unlikely to succeed. Confirmed resistance to mind control.
Esper and Tracker 2.7- Ability to sense living things. Suspected mode is an ability to detect the water in blood (EV 47%). Possibly a secondary expression of combat instincts (EV 22%). Walls and other methods of concealment will not work. Kitten has fought while blinded with no apparent reduction of combat ability. Has used this ability to function as a lie detector.
Infiltrator 1.5- In addition to lie detection, Kitten has cosmetic shapeshifting. Capable of altering skin, hair and eye color, facial features, and even make minor adjustments to her height and body type. Likely source of physical strength and regeneration (EV 72%).
Sniper 2.2- In addition to claws, can generate ice daggers. Weapons are fragile and unlikely to be lethal, but extremely dangerous when coupled with her combat instincts. Assume 1.5 using improvised weapons. Threat goes to 2.2 if she opts to use standard firearms.
Stealth 1.5- Can engage in chameleon type blending into an environment, but cannot extend ability to outfit. Can use combat instincts to avoid line of sight.
Tank 2- Uses cryokinesis to form armor made of ice. Has a moderate regeneration ability that allows her to recover from all injuries in a matter of minutes. Likely expression of shapeshifting (EV 72%).
Counter Tactics:
Kitten's combat senses do not appear to have the typical Esper vulnerability of being overwhelmed by excess factors. If anything, she appears to be more effective in chaotic situations. As such, approach combat with her in an orderly and planned fashion, highly coordinated strikes are more effective.
Kitten's Esper ability also doesn't appear to block other Esper abilities. This suggests powers are a form of sensing and reacting to behavior and events around her, not a precognition power. Rely upon Esper assistance in any conflict.
Kitten is extremely overconfident about her abilities. She actively seeks out powerful opponents, and has engaged clearly superior targets in the past. She is also impulsive and can be distracted from a goal by a clever opponent.
While she has a stalker package, she appears to prefer fighting in an open arena where she can exploit her maneuverability. It is possible, though unlikely (EV 22%) that this is due to a flaw in her combat sense.
Best engaged with summoner or high level brawler abilities (EV 58%).
Overall Threat:
4.5- While individually minor, Kitten's abilities are versatile and complimentary, allowing her to accomplish a great deal more than her numbers might suggest. She is functionally immune to ambush, assassination and control tactics.
WARNING: After the events of Releigh, NC, Kitten has become significantly more volatile. It is likely (EV 85% ) she experienced a surge shortly after her sister's death. To date she hasn't displayed any new abilities.
CLASS FIVE EVENT RISK: (EV 77%)
===============
A/N- Zach won't know this. But "EV" is short for Esper Value. They ask a handful of precogs and others of that nature to do their best to verify information that's otherwise run on pure speculation, then boil it down to a percentage based upon some arcane formula. With a bit of time (and clearance), you can get the raw data that contributed to the EV, but those aren't going to be in a standard info printout.
Arbitration means these states (and territory) have given their right to prosecute the accused to the Federal Government. Mainly because it's easier and more cost effective to let the feds do it than have each and every individual state hold their own trials and punishments. Plus, well, states aren't able to convict someone in absentia.
Conviction In Absentia loosely translates to "fuck the Constitution". And is probably the most important bit of Worldbuilding in this whole thing.
And Zach has more stuff in his papers than what's listed here. The rest is mainly specific times, dates and crimes listed in numerical order, taken from numerous police reports. All you dear readers are seeing is the cover letter to a thesis.
Typos kept intentionally- for realism (have you ever read government files? Jeebus Fucknards. I should go through and add MORE typos).
Real Name: Unknown.
Former Alias: Killer
Age: Unknown, estimated approximately fifteen years old.
Class: Stage 3-4 Imbued, 4.5 threat value. Class 5 Risk.
Former Associates:
2012- june 2014: Hunter, supposed twin sister (EV 88%). Together were the defunct villain team Hunter-Killer. Hunter presumed killed (EV 99.7%) during a conflict between Hunter-Killer and a collaboration of heroes and villains including Starfall (dec), Arclight, and the Raleigh, NC chapter of Endless Storm.
Jul 2914: Songstress (dec)
Aug-Oct 2014: Sin Eater (dec)
Feb 2015: Scythe (Inc) and Hammer (dec)
Apr 2015: Shadowmancer (Dec)
Criminal Record:
Tried and convicted in absentia of nine (9) counts of Capital Murder, seventeen (17) counts of Felony Murder, thirty eight (38) counts of using powers for a violent crime, twelve (12) counts of injuring an officer of the law during the course of their duties.
Suspect in nineteen (19) counts of Capital or First Degree Murder, thirty three (33) counts of Felony or Second Degree murder, fifty nine (59) counts of resisting arrest, seventy five (75) counts of using powers in a violent crime, and four (4) counts of fleeing the state to avoid prosecution.
Outstanding warrants in FL, NC, PA and VA. Criminal background in GA, SC, WV and DC, arbitration invoked.
Known Powers:
Brawler 3.3- Has superhuman reflexes and combat instincts. Confirmed capable of catching low calibre bullets in flight. Has low level cryokinesis that she regularly uses to create claws of ice. While strength is not superhuman, it is significantly higher than her body type suggests.
Breaker 1.3- Kitten's combat knowledge has allowed her to quickly identify and exploit flaws in other Imbued powers before. Her senses make illusion based powers unlikely to succeed. Confirmed resistance to mind control.
Esper and Tracker 2.7- Ability to sense living things. Suspected mode is an ability to detect the water in blood (EV 47%). Possibly a secondary expression of combat instincts (EV 22%). Walls and other methods of concealment will not work. Kitten has fought while blinded with no apparent reduction of combat ability. Has used this ability to function as a lie detector.
Infiltrator 1.5- In addition to lie detection, Kitten has cosmetic shapeshifting. Capable of altering skin, hair and eye color, facial features, and even make minor adjustments to her height and body type. Likely source of physical strength and regeneration (EV 72%).
Sniper 2.2- In addition to claws, can generate ice daggers. Weapons are fragile and unlikely to be lethal, but extremely dangerous when coupled with her combat instincts. Assume 1.5 using improvised weapons. Threat goes to 2.2 if she opts to use standard firearms.
Stealth 1.5- Can engage in chameleon type blending into an environment, but cannot extend ability to outfit. Can use combat instincts to avoid line of sight.
Tank 2- Uses cryokinesis to form armor made of ice. Has a moderate regeneration ability that allows her to recover from all injuries in a matter of minutes. Likely expression of shapeshifting (EV 72%).
Counter Tactics:
Kitten's combat senses do not appear to have the typical Esper vulnerability of being overwhelmed by excess factors. If anything, she appears to be more effective in chaotic situations. As such, approach combat with her in an orderly and planned fashion, highly coordinated strikes are more effective.
Kitten's Esper ability also doesn't appear to block other Esper abilities. This suggests powers are a form of sensing and reacting to behavior and events around her, not a precognition power. Rely upon Esper assistance in any conflict.
Kitten is extremely overconfident about her abilities. She actively seeks out powerful opponents, and has engaged clearly superior targets in the past. She is also impulsive and can be distracted from a goal by a clever opponent.
While she has a stalker package, she appears to prefer fighting in an open arena where she can exploit her maneuverability. It is possible, though unlikely (EV 22%) that this is due to a flaw in her combat sense.
Best engaged with summoner or high level brawler abilities (EV 58%).
Overall Threat:
4.5- While individually minor, Kitten's abilities are versatile and complimentary, allowing her to accomplish a great deal more than her numbers might suggest. She is functionally immune to ambush, assassination and control tactics.
WARNING: After the events of Releigh, NC, Kitten has become significantly more volatile. It is likely (EV 85% ) she experienced a surge shortly after her sister's death. To date she hasn't displayed any new abilities.
CLASS FIVE EVENT RISK: (EV 77%)
===============
A/N- Zach won't know this. But "EV" is short for Esper Value. They ask a handful of precogs and others of that nature to do their best to verify information that's otherwise run on pure speculation, then boil it down to a percentage based upon some arcane formula. With a bit of time (and clearance), you can get the raw data that contributed to the EV, but those aren't going to be in a standard info printout.
Arbitration means these states (and territory) have given their right to prosecute the accused to the Federal Government. Mainly because it's easier and more cost effective to let the feds do it than have each and every individual state hold their own trials and punishments. Plus, well, states aren't able to convict someone in absentia.
Conviction In Absentia loosely translates to "fuck the Constitution". And is probably the most important bit of Worldbuilding in this whole thing.
And Zach has more stuff in his papers than what's listed here. The rest is mainly specific times, dates and crimes listed in numerical order, taken from numerous police reports. All you dear readers are seeing is the cover letter to a thesis.
Typos kept intentionally- for realism (have you ever read government files? Jeebus Fucknards. I should go through and add MORE typos).
Last edited:
Chapter Five, Laura
TanaNari
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Chapter 5, Laura
I picked idly at my food. As much as I'm sure the IHOPs around here were used to college kids just lounging around, I wasn't about to try to get away with that. So I ordered coffee and a vegetable soup. And some cheese fries, because at this, I wanted something bad for me. Diet be damned. On the plus side, Sunday night wasn't really a packed house here, so no one tried to harass me. I think the waitress was just glad to have someone here to look at, because she was definitely giving me the eye.
On another night, I might even have seen how that panned out. My tats and short, dyed hairstyle did send a signal that loosely translated to 'obvious dyke'. I wasn't, but the waitresses flirted with me just like they flirted with the guys. And on some nights, I flirted back just to watch them backpedal hard enough to give themselves whiplash. Or in front of a boyfriend, either actual or potential. This was generic male fantasy number three, after all.
Not tonight, though. Tonight my brother was out there trying to kill a man while I pretended I didn't know exactly what was going on. Dreading what it meant if he failed. Dreading what it meant if he succeeded. Zach was far more fragile than he liked to pretend he was, both physically and mentally.
Always playing the clown, never letting anyone see who he really was. They say powers reflect the personalities of their owners, and Zach's power was a perfect example of that. The boy whose greatest fear was being seen as weak, got a power that let him ignore stabbing himself with a sword. A power that meant we no longer had to be on high alert for a trip to the emergency room.
He almost managed to convince me that he no longer felt pain, but that was as much a lie as his claim he was going after Flux for me, or some sense of heroic duty. What he was pursuing tonight wasn't about justice or honor, it was a simple matter of revenge, and love. Another lie he thought he got past me. Yeah, he didn't fool us for a second.
Erica's opinion on the matter was essentially 'he'll be cute in a few years, but he's not my type'. Given Erica's taste in men, that might have been the nicest thing anyone ever said about my kid brother. And then she'd tease him by wearing some of her sluttiest outfits when visiting.
Mom and Dad never noticed a damn thing. Not about Zach, or Erica, or me. Not then, and not now. Dad even bought Zach's excuse that he had a hot date this weekend. Or, maybe he was just relieved to not need to hide how disappointed that his son could never follow in his military footsteps.
I still remembered the day mom finally walked out on his ass. He'd bought one of those at home DNA test kits and sent it out to a lab. Mom got the mail before he did. She thought he was having an affair, and wasn't that a bitch thing for her of all people to get angry over? Shyamalan twist, it turns out he was checking to see if Zach was his.
If I were a different woman, I might have blamed Zach for that. But anyone with half a brain knew that the real cause of our parents' divorce was that they got married. I was just glad that Zach never knew, he was the type who would blame himself. I guess keeping secrets ran in the family. Dad had his alcohol and affairs, mom had her gambling and affairs, and both imagined that nobody knew. And I was the one who knew everything. Yup, sorry little brother, your acting is nothing compared to your big sister's.
My phone buzzed, and almost dropped it when scrambling to look at the text. @ RDV, Safe. Bring big garbage bags.
I let out a sigh of relief, at least I knew he was okay. I wasn't sure what the garbage bags were for, I just hoped it Zach didn't decide to collect a fucking trophy somehow. Powers did fucked up things to people, and my little brother was a few skinned cats away from fitting the profile of a serial killer. I crushed that traitorous thought hard. Zach is my brother, the only real family I have. I trust him.
Luckily enough, this particular restaraunt was fused with a gas station, so I didn't have much of a trip. I was at the pickup spot in only a few minutes, for once thankful that the police never came into this area. I just hoped they didn't have traffic cams at these lights.
Zach stepped out of the alley, shirtless and barefoot, carrying a ball of what I was pretty sure was his clothes. The visibility on these streets left a lot to be desired. "What happened?" I asked the moment he opened the door.
"Don't worry, none of it's mine."
None of what? I looked more closely now, and could see the spatters of crimson on his body and matting his hair. I had some EMT training, in case Zach needed it. Plus it looked really good on a resume, especially in businesses where you dealt with the public. It wasn't an awful lot of blood, no more than a cupful in total. But I was aware of the concept of 'spatter', and for every drop on him there was likely ten times that which wasn't. "Did you?" Oh god, please tell me you didn't kill him.
"Turns out, all my brilliant battle strategies were ruined by one small miscalculation. They ran away."
Oh thank god. No, wait. The anger and indignation on his face told me so much more about the story than his words. I'd seen that look before, the determination and grim certainty of a man who would rather die than back down. A look that every woman both loves and fears seeing in the eyes of someone they care for. He was going to try again. I wouldn't be able to talk him out of it.
"Still, there are worse ways for a fight to end than covered in the other guy's blood. Plus I managed to get a girl's number." Seriously? "And it wasn't even the prostitute. Anima showed up toward the end there, guess she liked what she saw and we're going to talk later. After I've had a long, hot shower. And burned my clothes. Speaking of, need those garbage bags."
I actually relaxed a little. Anima was one of the heavy hitters. Rumor had it they pre authorized mobilizing the army if she went villain. She was the reason the big name gangs and villains stayed out of the DC area. Not that this helped the crime rate any, but at least fewer buildings were lost during our gang wars than most cities. Better than the near anarchy that is New York. Someone like her could protect Zach, maybe even do what I couldn't and slap some sense into him.
I handed the bags, and brushed his hand, just to let him know I was still here for him. He jumped back, as if shocked by my touch. What happened to you out there, that you're now afraid to touch me? "So, what happened to the sword?"
"Let's just say after you put it inside someone a couple times, they take offense. And the weapon." If I blinked, I'd have missed his smile. "Don't worry, I'll get it back during the rematch."
Fuck, that thing wasn't cheap and he knew it. And now it's one more thing for Zach to obsess over.
I cracked the windows, to keep the smell of drying blood to a minimum. Some of the people I hung out with would recognize that scent.
Then I gunned it. We needed to get home as soon as possible, to get him cleaned up and in clean clothes. There was so much we didn't know about his powers, and how they dealt with infection was one of them. Blood borne pathogens were amongst the nastiest and most tenacious out there. Sure, he'd probably heal faster than they could hurt him, but that didn't mean his body purged the infection. He might become a carrier for something incurable like herpes or HIV without even knowing. Or maybe his power wouldn't protect him at all. Or maybe the disease would mutate the disease and make super-AIDS or something. And I was only qualified enough to know that no one was qualified enough to know.
I backed into my driveway and got out, going around the car to the door. With traffic in this town, I didn't even like to drive, and there was no way I was willing to try backing out into the street. Zach waited inside the car as I entered the security code and opened the door. He hopped out, and rushed for the door. If it were any other day, for any other reason, I might have laughed as some of the plastic bags stuck to him. I hit button and was satisfied at the chirp of my car locking itself.
Zach set aside two bags. One containing his clothes, and the other a cheap grocery bag from somewhere. I could see a few loose papers poking out of the top. "Shower first, everything else after."
I nodded my agreement. "Yeah, that's a good idea. I made a mental note to immediately dump some stuff down the drain when he was done. Blood was basically glue once it started drying, and my little brother was going to lose some hair. He was right, though, this was better than what might have happened. He was also right about his clothes, they were pretty much garbage.
I went to my closet and pulled out a box of stuff. Zach had a couple shirts here, for times he crashed here so mom could have a date. The pants and shoes, I could provide. The pants were a bit too big for him, but I had belts and Zach usually wore baggy stuff to begin with. Charged with nervous energy, I paced back and for by the bathroom door until the water stopped running, then I knocked. "Got something for you to wear."
I faced away, but heard the door crack open. Steam rolled around my feet, as Zach took the clothes. "Thanks." The door shut, and I went to sit in the combo kitchen, dining and living room of my apartment.
Now came the hard part. Talking about what happened. Or, more specifically, pushing Zach into talking about it without him locking down and using snark to avoid the topic forever. The door opened again. "Sis, please tell me these pants don't belong to Rex."
"No, do you remember Jacob?"
"Oh, that asshole." The tone made it clear that he thought basically everyone I dated was an asshole. In Jacob's case, he wasn't wrong. I wanted to explain to him that Rex was better than that. Sure, he was rough around the edges, but anyone who saw him with his son could see he was a good father. So much better than our own parents turned out. But now was not the time to have that argument, and Zach was just trying to bait me into it so he could avoid the real elephant in the room.
"Yeah, that asshole," I agreed. "The shoes are his, too. I'll grab you a new pair of shoes while you're at school tomorrow. Still in fourteens?"
"Yeah." Zach opened the bag with the papers, pulling them out and set them, gently, in front of the chair he'd claimed. A moment later a couple handfuls of wadded up bills were placed in front of me.
"Zach, what's this?" Did he really rob the bad guys? Seriously?
"After they ran off I searched their hideout a bit. Trying to find some clue to where they'd run off to. It's less than it looks, about six hundred bucks. It's yours, call it a payment for all the help. I'll need to use some of it to buy some new shoes and maybe a couple extra spare sets of clothes for the future, beyond that it's all yours."
I wanted to object, but the simple fact was I could use the money. About half of the people looking to get inked around here were gang members, and they'd never go to an independent artist if they could get it done by one of their own. Murders happened over less. So that left us indies, as well as the gang artists, all fighting over the other half of the client base. And that meant slim pickings all around. I couldn't afford to turn it down. Instead I gestured at the other papers, in front of him. "Is that what that is? The clues?"
He shrugged noncommittally. "A bit of homework, I guess. Information on Kitten."
"Who?" Not a name I recognized, could have been a new super. Or given how some of the gangs operate it may have been a normal person.
"Rex's intel was off."
Fuck, and here I was hoping that maybe Zach could learn to give the guy a chance if this worked out. It would have been nice if the two of them could get along. They didn't even have to like each other, that would be too much to ask for. But Zach could be a real dick to people he didn't like, and I had enough stress to deal with. "You mean you went after the wrong gang? Well, that's not too big a deal, you still busted up a street gang and walked away with some spare cash. I'll have to be careful about how to ask him to go looking again, we don't want to risk your identity."
"No, he got the right gang, just not the right target," Zach corrected. "Turns out, Flux picked up a girlfriend from down south."
"Kitten? She's the one that..." raped and tortured. "Killed Erica? Is that who you were fighting?"
"Got it in one, sis," Zach was staring at the top of the papers as he spoke. His hands trembled as he turned pages too fast to possibly be reading them. I knew his powers wouldn't let him read at super speed. "Kitten is one of the biggest of the big time. She's killed dozens of people, and is so strong that the police are afraid to go after her. So are the so called fucking heroes. She needs to be stopped, and I'm the only one willing and able to do it."
Oh, Zach. My little brother was smart, smarter than me probably. If he had gone at school with half the focus on his face right now, he could have been a doctor or scientist or anything else he wanted. Except, as dad would have quickly pointed out, an athlete. I stood and walked over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. He flipped the papers on top of each other, preventing me from reading what he had. What little glance I got looked like someone put something into a scanner, copied it, scanned it again, sent that scan through a fax machine, and then another guy scanned that copy and made another new copy before crumpling it into a ball and throwing it into the trash for Zach to get ahold of.
He sat there for a moment, quietly. "You should get a nap. You'll have to take me to school in a few hours. And then you have work tonight."
The message was clear. He didn't want me seeing what he had. It hurt, seeing my little brother trying to protect me where there was nothing I could do to protect him. "Yeah, you're probably right."
I turned and started to walk away.
"Thank you."
"Hey, that's what family's for."
======================
A/N- Some number of my readers have expressed they had difficulties figuring out why Zach's character worked how it did. This chapter is for them. I usually prefer the "show, not tell" school of writing, leaving the subtle hints of the dynamic and leaving readers to fill in the blanks. This chapter is me violating that rule, and doing an awful lot of telling. By highlighting Zach through the eyes of the person who knows him the best, maybe the readers who have trouble with this sort of thing will see deeper in the future.
That being said... I am so glad I did this chapter. It's rare that I feel something came out exactly perfect, and this is one such time. It is everything I hoped it would be and more. Except the grammar, I am sure I screwed that up at least a little. C'monspellcheckers loyal readers!
I've said it a few times, I'll say it again. I roll for the names. In Laura's case, I actually rolled "Lauren". Then "Anne" for a middle name. Minor adjustment was made because "Lauren Anne" does not roll off the tongue well. At this point, I already knew Zach's parents were divorced. So, while Laura does not know this, it is canon that her mom wanted to name her Lauren, but her dad picked the middle name of Anne and refused to back down when asked to change it. And this was their first (but by no means close to last) fight as a couple.
Powers don't actually fuck with people's minds in Price. Well, not any more than any other type of sudden fame or wealth or power or success of ANY sort does. Which can still be an awful lot.
No, Super-AIDS is not a thing that can happen in this setting.
I will be retelling part of this interaction from Zach's perspective once his chapter goes up. Just to display the differences in how the characters think.
I picked idly at my food. As much as I'm sure the IHOPs around here were used to college kids just lounging around, I wasn't about to try to get away with that. So I ordered coffee and a vegetable soup. And some cheese fries, because at this, I wanted something bad for me. Diet be damned. On the plus side, Sunday night wasn't really a packed house here, so no one tried to harass me. I think the waitress was just glad to have someone here to look at, because she was definitely giving me the eye.
On another night, I might even have seen how that panned out. My tats and short, dyed hairstyle did send a signal that loosely translated to 'obvious dyke'. I wasn't, but the waitresses flirted with me just like they flirted with the guys. And on some nights, I flirted back just to watch them backpedal hard enough to give themselves whiplash. Or in front of a boyfriend, either actual or potential. This was generic male fantasy number three, after all.
Not tonight, though. Tonight my brother was out there trying to kill a man while I pretended I didn't know exactly what was going on. Dreading what it meant if he failed. Dreading what it meant if he succeeded. Zach was far more fragile than he liked to pretend he was, both physically and mentally.
Always playing the clown, never letting anyone see who he really was. They say powers reflect the personalities of their owners, and Zach's power was a perfect example of that. The boy whose greatest fear was being seen as weak, got a power that let him ignore stabbing himself with a sword. A power that meant we no longer had to be on high alert for a trip to the emergency room.
He almost managed to convince me that he no longer felt pain, but that was as much a lie as his claim he was going after Flux for me, or some sense of heroic duty. What he was pursuing tonight wasn't about justice or honor, it was a simple matter of revenge, and love. Another lie he thought he got past me. Yeah, he didn't fool us for a second.
Erica's opinion on the matter was essentially 'he'll be cute in a few years, but he's not my type'. Given Erica's taste in men, that might have been the nicest thing anyone ever said about my kid brother. And then she'd tease him by wearing some of her sluttiest outfits when visiting.
Mom and Dad never noticed a damn thing. Not about Zach, or Erica, or me. Not then, and not now. Dad even bought Zach's excuse that he had a hot date this weekend. Or, maybe he was just relieved to not need to hide how disappointed that his son could never follow in his military footsteps.
I still remembered the day mom finally walked out on his ass. He'd bought one of those at home DNA test kits and sent it out to a lab. Mom got the mail before he did. She thought he was having an affair, and wasn't that a bitch thing for her of all people to get angry over? Shyamalan twist, it turns out he was checking to see if Zach was his.
If I were a different woman, I might have blamed Zach for that. But anyone with half a brain knew that the real cause of our parents' divorce was that they got married. I was just glad that Zach never knew, he was the type who would blame himself. I guess keeping secrets ran in the family. Dad had his alcohol and affairs, mom had her gambling and affairs, and both imagined that nobody knew. And I was the one who knew everything. Yup, sorry little brother, your acting is nothing compared to your big sister's.
My phone buzzed, and almost dropped it when scrambling to look at the text. @ RDV, Safe. Bring big garbage bags.
I let out a sigh of relief, at least I knew he was okay. I wasn't sure what the garbage bags were for, I just hoped it Zach didn't decide to collect a fucking trophy somehow. Powers did fucked up things to people, and my little brother was a few skinned cats away from fitting the profile of a serial killer. I crushed that traitorous thought hard. Zach is my brother, the only real family I have. I trust him.
Luckily enough, this particular restaraunt was fused with a gas station, so I didn't have much of a trip. I was at the pickup spot in only a few minutes, for once thankful that the police never came into this area. I just hoped they didn't have traffic cams at these lights.
Zach stepped out of the alley, shirtless and barefoot, carrying a ball of what I was pretty sure was his clothes. The visibility on these streets left a lot to be desired. "What happened?" I asked the moment he opened the door.
"Don't worry, none of it's mine."
None of what? I looked more closely now, and could see the spatters of crimson on his body and matting his hair. I had some EMT training, in case Zach needed it. Plus it looked really good on a resume, especially in businesses where you dealt with the public. It wasn't an awful lot of blood, no more than a cupful in total. But I was aware of the concept of 'spatter', and for every drop on him there was likely ten times that which wasn't. "Did you?" Oh god, please tell me you didn't kill him.
"Turns out, all my brilliant battle strategies were ruined by one small miscalculation. They ran away."
Oh thank god. No, wait. The anger and indignation on his face told me so much more about the story than his words. I'd seen that look before, the determination and grim certainty of a man who would rather die than back down. A look that every woman both loves and fears seeing in the eyes of someone they care for. He was going to try again. I wouldn't be able to talk him out of it.
"Still, there are worse ways for a fight to end than covered in the other guy's blood. Plus I managed to get a girl's number." Seriously? "And it wasn't even the prostitute. Anima showed up toward the end there, guess she liked what she saw and we're going to talk later. After I've had a long, hot shower. And burned my clothes. Speaking of, need those garbage bags."
I actually relaxed a little. Anima was one of the heavy hitters. Rumor had it they pre authorized mobilizing the army if she went villain. She was the reason the big name gangs and villains stayed out of the DC area. Not that this helped the crime rate any, but at least fewer buildings were lost during our gang wars than most cities. Better than the near anarchy that is New York. Someone like her could protect Zach, maybe even do what I couldn't and slap some sense into him.
I handed the bags, and brushed his hand, just to let him know I was still here for him. He jumped back, as if shocked by my touch. What happened to you out there, that you're now afraid to touch me? "So, what happened to the sword?"
"Let's just say after you put it inside someone a couple times, they take offense. And the weapon." If I blinked, I'd have missed his smile. "Don't worry, I'll get it back during the rematch."
Fuck, that thing wasn't cheap and he knew it. And now it's one more thing for Zach to obsess over.
I cracked the windows, to keep the smell of drying blood to a minimum. Some of the people I hung out with would recognize that scent.
Then I gunned it. We needed to get home as soon as possible, to get him cleaned up and in clean clothes. There was so much we didn't know about his powers, and how they dealt with infection was one of them. Blood borne pathogens were amongst the nastiest and most tenacious out there. Sure, he'd probably heal faster than they could hurt him, but that didn't mean his body purged the infection. He might become a carrier for something incurable like herpes or HIV without even knowing. Or maybe his power wouldn't protect him at all. Or maybe the disease would mutate the disease and make super-AIDS or something. And I was only qualified enough to know that no one was qualified enough to know.
I backed into my driveway and got out, going around the car to the door. With traffic in this town, I didn't even like to drive, and there was no way I was willing to try backing out into the street. Zach waited inside the car as I entered the security code and opened the door. He hopped out, and rushed for the door. If it were any other day, for any other reason, I might have laughed as some of the plastic bags stuck to him. I hit button and was satisfied at the chirp of my car locking itself.
Zach set aside two bags. One containing his clothes, and the other a cheap grocery bag from somewhere. I could see a few loose papers poking out of the top. "Shower first, everything else after."
I nodded my agreement. "Yeah, that's a good idea. I made a mental note to immediately dump some stuff down the drain when he was done. Blood was basically glue once it started drying, and my little brother was going to lose some hair. He was right, though, this was better than what might have happened. He was also right about his clothes, they were pretty much garbage.
I went to my closet and pulled out a box of stuff. Zach had a couple shirts here, for times he crashed here so mom could have a date. The pants and shoes, I could provide. The pants were a bit too big for him, but I had belts and Zach usually wore baggy stuff to begin with. Charged with nervous energy, I paced back and for by the bathroom door until the water stopped running, then I knocked. "Got something for you to wear."
I faced away, but heard the door crack open. Steam rolled around my feet, as Zach took the clothes. "Thanks." The door shut, and I went to sit in the combo kitchen, dining and living room of my apartment.
Now came the hard part. Talking about what happened. Or, more specifically, pushing Zach into talking about it without him locking down and using snark to avoid the topic forever. The door opened again. "Sis, please tell me these pants don't belong to Rex."
"No, do you remember Jacob?"
"Oh, that asshole." The tone made it clear that he thought basically everyone I dated was an asshole. In Jacob's case, he wasn't wrong. I wanted to explain to him that Rex was better than that. Sure, he was rough around the edges, but anyone who saw him with his son could see he was a good father. So much better than our own parents turned out. But now was not the time to have that argument, and Zach was just trying to bait me into it so he could avoid the real elephant in the room.
"Yeah, that asshole," I agreed. "The shoes are his, too. I'll grab you a new pair of shoes while you're at school tomorrow. Still in fourteens?"
"Yeah." Zach opened the bag with the papers, pulling them out and set them, gently, in front of the chair he'd claimed. A moment later a couple handfuls of wadded up bills were placed in front of me.
"Zach, what's this?" Did he really rob the bad guys? Seriously?
"After they ran off I searched their hideout a bit. Trying to find some clue to where they'd run off to. It's less than it looks, about six hundred bucks. It's yours, call it a payment for all the help. I'll need to use some of it to buy some new shoes and maybe a couple extra spare sets of clothes for the future, beyond that it's all yours."
I wanted to object, but the simple fact was I could use the money. About half of the people looking to get inked around here were gang members, and they'd never go to an independent artist if they could get it done by one of their own. Murders happened over less. So that left us indies, as well as the gang artists, all fighting over the other half of the client base. And that meant slim pickings all around. I couldn't afford to turn it down. Instead I gestured at the other papers, in front of him. "Is that what that is? The clues?"
He shrugged noncommittally. "A bit of homework, I guess. Information on Kitten."
"Who?" Not a name I recognized, could have been a new super. Or given how some of the gangs operate it may have been a normal person.
"Rex's intel was off."
Fuck, and here I was hoping that maybe Zach could learn to give the guy a chance if this worked out. It would have been nice if the two of them could get along. They didn't even have to like each other, that would be too much to ask for. But Zach could be a real dick to people he didn't like, and I had enough stress to deal with. "You mean you went after the wrong gang? Well, that's not too big a deal, you still busted up a street gang and walked away with some spare cash. I'll have to be careful about how to ask him to go looking again, we don't want to risk your identity."
"No, he got the right gang, just not the right target," Zach corrected. "Turns out, Flux picked up a girlfriend from down south."
"Kitten? She's the one that..." raped and tortured. "Killed Erica? Is that who you were fighting?"
"Got it in one, sis," Zach was staring at the top of the papers as he spoke. His hands trembled as he turned pages too fast to possibly be reading them. I knew his powers wouldn't let him read at super speed. "Kitten is one of the biggest of the big time. She's killed dozens of people, and is so strong that the police are afraid to go after her. So are the so called fucking heroes. She needs to be stopped, and I'm the only one willing and able to do it."
Oh, Zach. My little brother was smart, smarter than me probably. If he had gone at school with half the focus on his face right now, he could have been a doctor or scientist or anything else he wanted. Except, as dad would have quickly pointed out, an athlete. I stood and walked over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. He flipped the papers on top of each other, preventing me from reading what he had. What little glance I got looked like someone put something into a scanner, copied it, scanned it again, sent that scan through a fax machine, and then another guy scanned that copy and made another new copy before crumpling it into a ball and throwing it into the trash for Zach to get ahold of.
He sat there for a moment, quietly. "You should get a nap. You'll have to take me to school in a few hours. And then you have work tonight."
The message was clear. He didn't want me seeing what he had. It hurt, seeing my little brother trying to protect me where there was nothing I could do to protect him. "Yeah, you're probably right."
I turned and started to walk away.
"Thank you."
"Hey, that's what family's for."
======================
A/N- Some number of my readers have expressed they had difficulties figuring out why Zach's character worked how it did. This chapter is for them. I usually prefer the "show, not tell" school of writing, leaving the subtle hints of the dynamic and leaving readers to fill in the blanks. This chapter is me violating that rule, and doing an awful lot of telling. By highlighting Zach through the eyes of the person who knows him the best, maybe the readers who have trouble with this sort of thing will see deeper in the future.
That being said... I am so glad I did this chapter. It's rare that I feel something came out exactly perfect, and this is one such time. It is everything I hoped it would be and more. Except the grammar, I am sure I screwed that up at least a little. C'mon
I've said it a few times, I'll say it again. I roll for the names. In Laura's case, I actually rolled "Lauren". Then "Anne" for a middle name. Minor adjustment was made because "Lauren Anne" does not roll off the tongue well. At this point, I already knew Zach's parents were divorced. So, while Laura does not know this, it is canon that her mom wanted to name her Lauren, but her dad picked the middle name of Anne and refused to back down when asked to change it. And this was their first (but by no means close to last) fight as a couple.
Powers don't actually fuck with people's minds in Price. Well, not any more than any other type of sudden fame or wealth or power or success of ANY sort does. Which can still be an awful lot.
No, Super-AIDS is not a thing that can happen in this setting.
I will be retelling part of this interaction from Zach's perspective once his chapter goes up. Just to display the differences in how the characters think.
Last edited:
Chapter Six
TanaNari
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Chapter 6
@ RDV, Safe. Bring big garbage bags. I texted Laura. I would have shortened the second sentence, but I didn't want there to be any confusion, and there were a lot of 'b's and 'g's in that one.
Then I got to work stripping out of what clothes I could. Thinking my clothes were as invulnerable as I was, I didn't bother bringing a change. Turns out, protecting them from damage didn't include protecting them from blood. It had cooled, in part from Kittens damn ice powers, and in part from just sitting around for so long, which left me sticky everywhere. I tossed the trench coat off to the side, letting it fall to the ground in the alleyway.
I knew I'd have to take it with me when I left. Of all the stupid amateur mistakes I'd made tonight, I still knew better than to leave behind blood covered evidence. But there was no chance of it being wearable again. My shirt, shoes, and mask followed after. The mask was especially painful, having started to dry and stick to my hair. After a minute or so of struggle, I gave up and simply ripped the article of clothing off, earning myself a view of my own half naked and rapidly disintegrating body. My skinny, soft form grimaced in pain as it struggled mightily against a sticky blood soaked mask. It did not make an impressive figure before dissolving into light.
Now as undressed as I was willing to get in a dirty alley cutting between a liquor store and a foot locker, I started balling my clothes and shoes up in the coat. Which, now that I got a good look at it, was torn to shreds. The sleeves were cracked and broken, thanks to being frozen and shattered by Kitten's ice powers. Claw marks and puncture holes adorned the coat, getting progressively worse the further away from my chest they were.
Either Kitten deliberately avoided my central body mass, or this was some clue about how my power worked. Considering my pants were intact despite the number of times I took it in the 'nads, I was betting on my power. At some points during the fight, it stopped protecting my clothes. Stopped protecting my sword, too. Maybe my power could only work so fast, and it put protecting me at higher priority than protecting my clothes? Better than the alternative by a long shot.
I heard the shuffle of shoes on concrete, and looked toward the exit of the alley. A man had stumbled into the opening, holding a paper bag. Fucking drunks, they were as bad as all the other drug addicts. He saw me, then turned around and walked away without saying a thing. Maybe I was a little more intimidating than I thought. That distraction over, I went back to my thoughts about my first real fight, and how completely out of my depths I was.
If Kitten kept going, could she have overwhelmed my power? Killed me, even? She seemed to believe she could end our fight in under five minutes. And I had no idea what her super combat skills and ability to sense weaknesses could do if she was trying. In retrospect, it was obvious she was never really trying during our fight. I glanced at the papers I'd carefully set aside, a detailed list of everything the police knew about her and her powers. At least I had some reading to do before not going to bed. Hopefully I'd be better prepared next time.
Wow. Not exactly shooting for the stars there, are you Zach? You didn't do your homework, and you got schooled. I wouldn't make that mistake again. Next time, I'd come with everything it took to end this. Either I killed her, or I hit her hard enough to force her to kill me. Erica deserved that much, the best I had to offer, and more.
Light from the street pulled me away from those thoughts. The glint of blue paint let me know it was Laura's car. I suppressed a shiver as I stepped out of the alleyway, away from the buildings' shelter against the wind. Well, seems like I lost my ability to ignore the cold. Careful to use the part of my hand that wasn't bloody, I opened the door to the car, and felt the sensation of my new ability activating. Strangely, it only covered the door of the car, not the whole car. I could feel, more than see, inside. I knew the shape of its mechanisms, the movement of the door handle as I pulled it and the latch holding it the door closed shifted. It was actually kinda cool, and would probably have been even better if I actually knew how all those pieces worked.
"What happened?!" Oh, right, and now Laura could get a good look at me.
I didn't smile, there was no possible way to smile while half naked and covered in blood that wasn't disturbing. "Don't worry, none of it's mine."
"So... did you?" Kill him? The words were unspoken, but clear as a bell through the war of fear and hope on her face.
I paused for a second, trying to find my words. There was no way in hell I was going to explain everything that happened. How I could have died in that fight. How according to some psychic I did die many times over. That was a disturbing set of existential questions I quickly quashed. It probably isn't healthy that I can repress that so easily. Oh well. My focus went back to my sister.
"Turns out, all my brilliant battle strategies were ruined by one small miscalculation." That small calculation being pretty much everything I did from the moment I got my powers to the moment the fight started. "They ran away."
Equal parts relief and disappointment washed across her face.
"Still, there are worse ways to end a fight than covered in the other guy's blood. Plus I managed to get a girl's number." Her look was priceless. "And it wasn't even the prostitute. Anima showed up toward the end there, guess she liked what she saw and we're going to talk later. After I've had a long, hot shower. And burned my clothes. Speaking of, need those garbage bags."
She pulled a rectangle box out of the back, and popped it open. Between the two of us, we covered her passenger seat in three layers of garbage bags, and of course an extra to hold the clothes I'd never use again. My senses let me know garbage bags were unsurprisingly the most boring thing I'd manage to touch so far.
In the process, I brushed against Laura's hand, and awareness of her biology snapped into my mind. I could almost, sort of, sense the outlines of her tattoos, but the glancing touch wasn't enough for me to know if that was real, or just my imagination. What I knew I wasn't imagining, were the inorganic parts. A few piercings here or there that I knew about, a couple that didn't surprise me, and a couple more I'd rather not think about. In addition, I was now aware my sister had breast implants. Thanks a lot, powers.
"So, what happened to the sword?"
A psychopath stole it so she could murder people horribly, even though she can do that just fine with her bare hands, for no other reason than to fuck with my head. "Let's just say after you put it inside someone a couple times, they take offense. And the weapon. Don't worry, I'll get it back during the rematch."
We sat in silence the rest of the ride, the window partially down in spite of the cold. Of all the things I'd learned about blood today that I hadn't thought of before, it was that it stank when it started to dry. Not even a normal kind of stink like dog shit or even rotting meat, but a special kind of stench that was so much harder to ignore. A blend of metallic and sweet, calculated to be as repulsive as possible.
I was going to shower like I'd never showered before. I wanted so bad to feel clean again.
....
Going to school wearing someone else's pants was more than a little weird, but I ignored it. Wasn't that hard to do, I had a lot on my mind and all of it had to do with Kitten. I'd done a bit of research online about the numbers. I still had no idea what EV meant. And Class Five got me results on white water rafting and tornadoes.
But the meaning of power ranks had all kinds of stuff about it. Too bad that was bogged down in speculation. And all those damn arguments in those 'versus' threads online. Eventually I was forced to conclude that power levels were bullshit, based more around how effective a power was used than actual raw output. All I could figure out was Kitten was somewhere in the sweet spot between 'too scary to fight' and 'too scary to let live'.
Laura parked about a block and a half from the school, then leaned over and gave me a tight hug.
"Aww, come on, seriously?" My objection wasn't too strenuous, as I hugged her back, doing my best to not think about the information my power was telling me, which was kinda like telling myself not to think about tap dancing elephants. Ooh! Yeah, that's how I'll avoid listening to my power! I'll think about tap dancing elephants!
"Yes, seriously," she insisted. "Look at it this way, I could have done it right in front of the school. Then you'd have to explain to all your friends that the babe in the car hugging you was your sister."
"And now I'll never be able to describe my epic battle with the escaped circus gorilla."
She punched my shoulder, though not hard. "You're such an asshole."
"I'd ask you if you made a habit of hugging assholes, but I've met your boyfriends."
"Get out of my car before I decide to run you over with it." She mussed my hair, digging her fingers just a little harder than she had to.
"Do more harm to the car than to me." I had already opened the door and was getting out. I turned to face her. "Love you. Uh, and about the other thing, I'll be calling her tonight."
She smiled. "Love you, too." Her head turned toward the road. "I'll ask around, see what I can find out, and get back to you on Friday. But you're on your own finding an excuse to put off going to Dad's again."
"I'll think of something." I closed the door and started walking as she drove away. Dad was pretty much the least important thing on my mind. Right now, I had to phone my way through school then call Anima and handle the important part of my day. At least the first two classes were simple enough. Algebra and art. The former, I could do in my sleep. The latter I was shit at even when I tried.
Which was more or less how it worked out, other than a couple brushes in the lunch line that let me know one of the gang kids had a knife sewn into his jacket. That was something I needed to find a way to report anonymously. Not that it would really matter, you couldn't throw a rock in this school without accidentally hitting a gang banger or some poser who wanted to be one. That was something to consider, actually. Kitten may have kicked my ass, but there were other gangs, and most of them weren't protected by top tier Imbued.
And then, after lunch, it was time for Home Ec. I almost looked forward to the class, now that it wasn't like snorting mustard gas just to be in the room. I was smiling as I sat across from Ferne, ready to do the mindless task of decorating gingerbread walls. Only a couple hours away from being able to call Anima and talk to her about what I planned to do.
Ferne poked at some decorative hedge for her house. Hers was several times better looking than mine, but I wasn't too concerned with that. I didn't need to be the best, just good enough.
We didn't speak for a while as I did what I could to keep the roof from sliding off. In retrospect, I probably would have done better if I'd decorated it first and the stuck it to the rest of the building, but I did what I could. It didn't help that my throat was so dry.
I swallowed a bit of saliva. "Does it feel dry in here to you?"
Ferne didn't bother looking up. "No more than usual. Maybe you could see if Mrs. Schmidt will let you get a drink?"
After the other week? Hah. "No, I'll-" And then my chest tightened. An attack was coming on. Fuck! I didn't even have my inhaler. I thought I didn't need it anymore. My powers healed my lungs faster than they could be inflamed. My powers that changed last night. I stood up, ready get out of the classroom. I'd accept the detention or whatever lecture the mummy wanted to give me, anything to avoid what was coming.
But it was too late. I hadn't even stood up, I simply was standing up next to my copy like I'd always been there. I watched in horror as the shimmer of color rushed away from my rapidly vanishing duplicate to merge with me. The colors looked so much brighter in the daylight. And everyone in the class was now staring at me for the worst of all possible reasons.
"Well. Fuck."
======================
A/N- Told you Chapter Two was gonna come back,
Also. I got exactly zero response to last chapter. At all. Not gonna lie, that kinda stings a bit. More than it would have if it was any other chapter.
@ RDV, Safe. Bring big garbage bags. I texted Laura. I would have shortened the second sentence, but I didn't want there to be any confusion, and there were a lot of 'b's and 'g's in that one.
Then I got to work stripping out of what clothes I could. Thinking my clothes were as invulnerable as I was, I didn't bother bringing a change. Turns out, protecting them from damage didn't include protecting them from blood. It had cooled, in part from Kittens damn ice powers, and in part from just sitting around for so long, which left me sticky everywhere. I tossed the trench coat off to the side, letting it fall to the ground in the alleyway.
I knew I'd have to take it with me when I left. Of all the stupid amateur mistakes I'd made tonight, I still knew better than to leave behind blood covered evidence. But there was no chance of it being wearable again. My shirt, shoes, and mask followed after. The mask was especially painful, having started to dry and stick to my hair. After a minute or so of struggle, I gave up and simply ripped the article of clothing off, earning myself a view of my own half naked and rapidly disintegrating body. My skinny, soft form grimaced in pain as it struggled mightily against a sticky blood soaked mask. It did not make an impressive figure before dissolving into light.
Now as undressed as I was willing to get in a dirty alley cutting between a liquor store and a foot locker, I started balling my clothes and shoes up in the coat. Which, now that I got a good look at it, was torn to shreds. The sleeves were cracked and broken, thanks to being frozen and shattered by Kitten's ice powers. Claw marks and puncture holes adorned the coat, getting progressively worse the further away from my chest they were.
Either Kitten deliberately avoided my central body mass, or this was some clue about how my power worked. Considering my pants were intact despite the number of times I took it in the 'nads, I was betting on my power. At some points during the fight, it stopped protecting my clothes. Stopped protecting my sword, too. Maybe my power could only work so fast, and it put protecting me at higher priority than protecting my clothes? Better than the alternative by a long shot.
I heard the shuffle of shoes on concrete, and looked toward the exit of the alley. A man had stumbled into the opening, holding a paper bag. Fucking drunks, they were as bad as all the other drug addicts. He saw me, then turned around and walked away without saying a thing. Maybe I was a little more intimidating than I thought. That distraction over, I went back to my thoughts about my first real fight, and how completely out of my depths I was.
If Kitten kept going, could she have overwhelmed my power? Killed me, even? She seemed to believe she could end our fight in under five minutes. And I had no idea what her super combat skills and ability to sense weaknesses could do if she was trying. In retrospect, it was obvious she was never really trying during our fight. I glanced at the papers I'd carefully set aside, a detailed list of everything the police knew about her and her powers. At least I had some reading to do before not going to bed. Hopefully I'd be better prepared next time.
Wow. Not exactly shooting for the stars there, are you Zach? You didn't do your homework, and you got schooled. I wouldn't make that mistake again. Next time, I'd come with everything it took to end this. Either I killed her, or I hit her hard enough to force her to kill me. Erica deserved that much, the best I had to offer, and more.
Light from the street pulled me away from those thoughts. The glint of blue paint let me know it was Laura's car. I suppressed a shiver as I stepped out of the alleyway, away from the buildings' shelter against the wind. Well, seems like I lost my ability to ignore the cold. Careful to use the part of my hand that wasn't bloody, I opened the door to the car, and felt the sensation of my new ability activating. Strangely, it only covered the door of the car, not the whole car. I could feel, more than see, inside. I knew the shape of its mechanisms, the movement of the door handle as I pulled it and the latch holding it the door closed shifted. It was actually kinda cool, and would probably have been even better if I actually knew how all those pieces worked.
"What happened?!" Oh, right, and now Laura could get a good look at me.
I didn't smile, there was no possible way to smile while half naked and covered in blood that wasn't disturbing. "Don't worry, none of it's mine."
"So... did you?" Kill him? The words were unspoken, but clear as a bell through the war of fear and hope on her face.
I paused for a second, trying to find my words. There was no way in hell I was going to explain everything that happened. How I could have died in that fight. How according to some psychic I did die many times over. That was a disturbing set of existential questions I quickly quashed. It probably isn't healthy that I can repress that so easily. Oh well. My focus went back to my sister.
"Turns out, all my brilliant battle strategies were ruined by one small miscalculation." That small calculation being pretty much everything I did from the moment I got my powers to the moment the fight started. "They ran away."
Equal parts relief and disappointment washed across her face.
"Still, there are worse ways to end a fight than covered in the other guy's blood. Plus I managed to get a girl's number." Her look was priceless. "And it wasn't even the prostitute. Anima showed up toward the end there, guess she liked what she saw and we're going to talk later. After I've had a long, hot shower. And burned my clothes. Speaking of, need those garbage bags."
She pulled a rectangle box out of the back, and popped it open. Between the two of us, we covered her passenger seat in three layers of garbage bags, and of course an extra to hold the clothes I'd never use again. My senses let me know garbage bags were unsurprisingly the most boring thing I'd manage to touch so far.
In the process, I brushed against Laura's hand, and awareness of her biology snapped into my mind. I could almost, sort of, sense the outlines of her tattoos, but the glancing touch wasn't enough for me to know if that was real, or just my imagination. What I knew I wasn't imagining, were the inorganic parts. A few piercings here or there that I knew about, a couple that didn't surprise me, and a couple more I'd rather not think about. In addition, I was now aware my sister had breast implants. Thanks a lot, powers.
"So, what happened to the sword?"
A psychopath stole it so she could murder people horribly, even though she can do that just fine with her bare hands, for no other reason than to fuck with my head. "Let's just say after you put it inside someone a couple times, they take offense. And the weapon. Don't worry, I'll get it back during the rematch."
We sat in silence the rest of the ride, the window partially down in spite of the cold. Of all the things I'd learned about blood today that I hadn't thought of before, it was that it stank when it started to dry. Not even a normal kind of stink like dog shit or even rotting meat, but a special kind of stench that was so much harder to ignore. A blend of metallic and sweet, calculated to be as repulsive as possible.
I was going to shower like I'd never showered before. I wanted so bad to feel clean again.
....
Going to school wearing someone else's pants was more than a little weird, but I ignored it. Wasn't that hard to do, I had a lot on my mind and all of it had to do with Kitten. I'd done a bit of research online about the numbers. I still had no idea what EV meant. And Class Five got me results on white water rafting and tornadoes.
But the meaning of power ranks had all kinds of stuff about it. Too bad that was bogged down in speculation. And all those damn arguments in those 'versus' threads online. Eventually I was forced to conclude that power levels were bullshit, based more around how effective a power was used than actual raw output. All I could figure out was Kitten was somewhere in the sweet spot between 'too scary to fight' and 'too scary to let live'.
Laura parked about a block and a half from the school, then leaned over and gave me a tight hug.
"Aww, come on, seriously?" My objection wasn't too strenuous, as I hugged her back, doing my best to not think about the information my power was telling me, which was kinda like telling myself not to think about tap dancing elephants. Ooh! Yeah, that's how I'll avoid listening to my power! I'll think about tap dancing elephants!
"Yes, seriously," she insisted. "Look at it this way, I could have done it right in front of the school. Then you'd have to explain to all your friends that the babe in the car hugging you was your sister."
"And now I'll never be able to describe my epic battle with the escaped circus gorilla."
She punched my shoulder, though not hard. "You're such an asshole."
"I'd ask you if you made a habit of hugging assholes, but I've met your boyfriends."
"Get out of my car before I decide to run you over with it." She mussed my hair, digging her fingers just a little harder than she had to.
"Do more harm to the car than to me." I had already opened the door and was getting out. I turned to face her. "Love you. Uh, and about the other thing, I'll be calling her tonight."
She smiled. "Love you, too." Her head turned toward the road. "I'll ask around, see what I can find out, and get back to you on Friday. But you're on your own finding an excuse to put off going to Dad's again."
"I'll think of something." I closed the door and started walking as she drove away. Dad was pretty much the least important thing on my mind. Right now, I had to phone my way through school then call Anima and handle the important part of my day. At least the first two classes were simple enough. Algebra and art. The former, I could do in my sleep. The latter I was shit at even when I tried.
Which was more or less how it worked out, other than a couple brushes in the lunch line that let me know one of the gang kids had a knife sewn into his jacket. That was something I needed to find a way to report anonymously. Not that it would really matter, you couldn't throw a rock in this school without accidentally hitting a gang banger or some poser who wanted to be one. That was something to consider, actually. Kitten may have kicked my ass, but there were other gangs, and most of them weren't protected by top tier Imbued.
And then, after lunch, it was time for Home Ec. I almost looked forward to the class, now that it wasn't like snorting mustard gas just to be in the room. I was smiling as I sat across from Ferne, ready to do the mindless task of decorating gingerbread walls. Only a couple hours away from being able to call Anima and talk to her about what I planned to do.
Ferne poked at some decorative hedge for her house. Hers was several times better looking than mine, but I wasn't too concerned with that. I didn't need to be the best, just good enough.
We didn't speak for a while as I did what I could to keep the roof from sliding off. In retrospect, I probably would have done better if I'd decorated it first and the stuck it to the rest of the building, but I did what I could. It didn't help that my throat was so dry.
I swallowed a bit of saliva. "Does it feel dry in here to you?"
Ferne didn't bother looking up. "No more than usual. Maybe you could see if Mrs. Schmidt will let you get a drink?"
After the other week? Hah. "No, I'll-" And then my chest tightened. An attack was coming on. Fuck! I didn't even have my inhaler. I thought I didn't need it anymore. My powers healed my lungs faster than they could be inflamed. My powers that changed last night. I stood up, ready get out of the classroom. I'd accept the detention or whatever lecture the mummy wanted to give me, anything to avoid what was coming.
But it was too late. I hadn't even stood up, I simply was standing up next to my copy like I'd always been there. I watched in horror as the shimmer of color rushed away from my rapidly vanishing duplicate to merge with me. The colors looked so much brighter in the daylight. And everyone in the class was now staring at me for the worst of all possible reasons.
"Well. Fuck."
======================
A/N- Told you Chapter Two was gonna come back,
Also. I got exactly zero response to last chapter. At all. Not gonna lie, that kinda stings a bit. More than it would have if it was any other chapter.
Last edited:
Price, Chapter Seven
TanaNari
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Chapter 7
I rushed out of the classroom, the exclamations of the other students trailing behind me. Future detention be damned, I was out the door before anything else could go wrong. I skipped the bathroom entirely and went to the stairs to the roof. Really, no one was supposed to go up there, but the gangs kept breaking the locks until the school just gave up and let them have their way. They'd still bust people when they caught them, maybe, but the unofficial truce was that the gangs took their business up there, and they wouldn't get caught. In exchange, they kept their shit from spilling out into classes.
What generously counted as a stairwell to the roof was a rickety, metal framework clearly meant only for the janitorial staff. Cigarrette butts found themselves crushed into the corners, and the smell of smoke hung in the air. If upstairs was for the gangs, then the stairs themselves were for kids who just wanted a smoke. A couple of the seniors were there laughing about something. The girl was clearly far more interested in the guy than he was in her, a four trying to bag a seven. They shut up as I walked by. I had to wonder what they thought about me going into the forbidden zone.
Probably about the same thing that the gang kids did when I stepped out on the roof. Kid's gonna get himself stabbed. I glanced at the segregation these gangs had built for themselves. Overall, there were about thirty people up here split into five groups.
Two different clusters of blacks, exchanging hate filled glances at each other and at the skinhead group. The obligatory skinhead group, never leave your trailer without one. And a group with mixed black and white closest to the door. That meant they had the least status.
The hispanic kids dominated the far corner. They were the ones who functionally owned the school. Outnumbering all of the other gangs. They also had the distinction of being the only ones open with their name. Los Fieles.
Most of the gangs these days didn't give themselves names. That practice, much like gang colors, was for the nineties. Now the gangs were run more like terrorist cells, where you only knew your crew and your crew boss. If you really needed to check affiliations, there were any number of codewords or hand signs to give your secrets away, but they kept their memberships as tight and blind as possible. The exception being the supervillains. If your group had one of those, you bragged about it to everyone.
Because having powers changed all the rules.
I laughed at the thought. It probably sounded more psychotic than mirthful, venting the stress of what just happened. The whole point of wearing a mask was to make sure no one knew who you were when you went after assholes like these.
Others glared, sizing me up and deciding just what to do about me. I'm sure they had their share of kids come up here, not realizing their mistake. But most of them didn't laugh like a crazy man. One of the black guys near the door just laughed along with me. "Man, you clearly need to chill. Doctors say too much stress is bad for you. And I have just the prescription." He held out his hand, offering a small dark blue pill. "Don't worry, this one's on the house."
I looked at him. "So, the first one's always free? Swear I've heard that before."
He shrugged. "Hey, still gotta run a business, y'know. Ain't forcin' anyone to accept my hospitality."
A quick glance was all it took to know that was a lie. Whatever the pill was, probably some brand of ex, or Molly, or whatever the fuck they were calling it now, I either took it or there would be trouble. The pill would be physical proof I was up here doing a crime, which made my credibility somewhere between 'zero' and 'perp' if I reported anything later.
In a way, it was almost touching. These people would be more than happy to murder each other and dump the bodies in the Potomac, but they would work together without hesitation to deal with an outsider like me. I either accepted the drugs now, or a hospital trip later.
"Sure, I could use a vacation," I took the pill and popped it in my mouth. Now, conventional wisdom about pills is you're supposed to swallow them and let them hit the system that way. But I knew a few tricks about medicine, and crunched down on the pill, swishing it with saliva and holding it between my lips and gums. They didn't quite go numb, but the chemicals, whatever they were, definitely felt weird.
And then I was standing beside myself. The bitter taste of medicine and the strange sensation of the drugs starting to hit my system vanished, replaced by that damn shimmer of watching myself disolve yet again. "Unfortunately, it's not that easy for me."
"Fuck! He has powers!" No idea who said that, but quiet murmers went through the crowd. Their eyes went from suspicion to fear, and some were reaching into their clothes for what I assumed were weapons. Or maybe cell phones. Didn't really matter to me, either way.
"Relax, guys, I'm not here to cause trouble. Just need some privacy for a phone call." Without the echoes, amongst other things, of the bathrooms. "You don't mind giving me a few minutes of privacy, do you?"
I had to wonder exactly what they were thinking. They knew I had powers, they didn't know what those powers were. And some Imbued got powers like 'anyone who tries to attack me spontaneously combusts', so it was generally considered safer to not start fights with them. Us. And if they did decide to test me, well. A part of me hoped they would try. Thirty teenagers were nothing compared to a single Kitten. Hell, all I really needed to do was tag a few of them with my power. It was much too cold out today to fight naked.
The pusher must have seen some of that in my eyes, because he smiled and stepped aside. "Free country. He and his buddies went inside almost as soon as I stepped past them, leaving me with the others. They were kind enough to clear out and let me have a spot near the edge. I pulled the phone out and dialed Anima's number. Fuck, what am I supposed to do? How do I even ask what I'm supposed to do? I've never known an outed Imbued before, not in person.
She picked up on the third ring. "Uh, I was expecting you later."
May as well just get it out in the open right away. "My cover was blown."
There was hesitation. "Okay, just give me a second." The phone went quiet, kinda like I was being transfered to another line but without the shitty music. I pulled myself together, and gave looks at the people trying to edge close enough to hear the conversation. While waiting I found a good spot against the wall to hide from the wind. The phone clicked after about a minute and a half. "Alright, so how bad? On camera, any witnesses that know your civilian identity? Any way to convince them they're wrong?"
I thought for a second. "Cameras wouldn't surprise me, but doubt it. Couple dozen witnesses who see me almost every day. No mistaking it. They don't know what I can do, but they definitely know I can do something." What the fuck am I supposed to do? "I'm not sure what to do with a public power."
"How did it happen? And where."
"Umm... well, I was in class and" stupidly forgot my inhaler because I thought I was untouchable, same thing that caused me to lose against Kitten. "I fell asleep and my powers activated and everyone saw it."
"I thought you said you didn't need sleep."
"My powers changed while I was fighting Kitten. I didn't realize they changed this much."
"You surged during-? Dammit. Okay, I'm not really qualified to explain surges and we don't have time to worry about that right now. Alright, there are laws preventing colleges from discriminating-"
"High school."
"What?"
"I'm not a college student."
"Of course you're not. Okay, anti-discrimination still in effect. You're good for the rest of the day, but as a minor, the school is mandated by law report your manifestation to the authorities and your parents."
So now Mom and Dad find out. Muck futhering goat testicles. "What about villains? Are they going to come after my family?"
Anima hesitated for a moment. "Ordinarily, I'd say no. There aren't many villains that stupid or psychotic. They tend to get themselves wiped out pretty quickly. But."
"But Kitten." God damn everything.
"But Kitten. It's hard to know what someone like her will do."
I squeezed my eyes shut. She tortured me, humiliated me and mocked me, and all to guarantee I'd come after her again. She was a living lie detector, she had to know there was no need to attack my family, I was going to kill her no matter what. But she might do it just for fun. I put that thought aside, under the long list of things I couldn't change. "What else am I looking at?"
"It depends on a number of things. They'll pull up your school records and point their Espers at you. Find ways to pressure you into PREP. Maybe get your parents to talk to you about it. They'll give you some lines about how PREP is to train you to use your powers if you want to be a hero, or help you find a career where you can make a lot of money using your powers in the private sector. That's partly true, sure, but it's also so they can catalog your abilities and psychological traits in depth, in case they need to take you out."
"Okay, sounds like an easy 'go to hell' to me." I was pretty sure they wouldn't want me going after Kitten once I signed up for their bullshit. That and I really didn't like the idea of them having psychics crawling around in my head. Metaphorically or literally. Normal shrinks were bad enough, I didn't want to deal with ones that had powers.
"If they figure out about Kitten, and some Espers or even normal investigators might put it together, then they'll pull out the really big guns."
"Well, that sounds totally not ominous in any way whatsoever."
"Don't worry, they've learned from experience that hard selling is a bad plan. Especially on someone who might rank in the top hundred supers in the country. Which is a key point here, you walked away from a fight a top level villain that's not afraid of killing her opponents. That makes you almost as high priority as she is. If they ask you to talk to a guidance counselor, then they don't know. If they have one of their people make an appointment with you, they know about Kitten. Then it's just a guess over who they'll send."
"Any hints?"
"Would you say you're easily influenced by women?"
"No, I wouldn't say that." It may be totally true, but I would never actually say it.
"Well, if you were, they'd probably go with Sapphire or Sympathy." She spit out their names. "Might go with one of them anyway. Sapphire's got celebrity behind her, they might figure they can use that for leverage. Sympathy's young, but a truly expert manipulator. I'm pretty sure it's part of her powers. Don't believe anything that lying skank says. Not that Sapphire's much better. They will tell you whatever they think you want to hear, as long as it furthers their goals. Then use you until they think you have nothing left to offer before throwing you away. "
And that is the voice of someone who's been burned hard. Sapphire, I knew of. Flying and super strength, in a solid blue outfit that was basically a full body bathing suit. She'd been doing the hero thing since before I was born. Anima wasn't wrong about the celebrity angle. Sympathy I'd never heard of before. I resolved to look her up online. "Got it, beware the babe brigade."
"After that, I'm not sure. You're not the type who'd listen to Guardian, are you?"
I could hear a note of disapproval in her voice. Not the same vitriolic hatred as when she talked about the other two, simply disapproval. Him, at least, I knew why. "You mean there isn't a law against him talking to people? They really need to fix that."
She chuckled a little, and I relaxed. Anima was someone I really wanted on my side, for a number of reasons. "If only. But I can't tell you who else to expect. I don't really know most of them, or you, well enough to guess how they plan around these things. That and they have Espers, so they'll be able to plan in ways we can't."
"Doesn't matter, I'm not interested in what they're selling." No matter what they might offer, it got between me and Kitten. And that, especially now, was not an option. If I didn't go after her, she would come for me or my family. The bell buzzed for classes. Fuck, I forgot about that. "Umm, I gotta go. I'll call you later, if that's alright."
"It might be best to wait until the heat dies down a bit. I've got a friend who can tell you more about surges. We'll plan for the weekend."
Dammit. "Okay, I can do that." I really don't want to, but I can. "Bye."
I hung up the phone and rushed down to get my books. I even skipped the stairs, in favor of the fast method.
"Jesus fuck!" Huh, same couple as when I went up. Boy, their teachers are gonna be pissed. I was out the door before my copy even finished dissolving on the floor.
At least the damn Home Ec room was already on the top floor, so it didn't take me long to get to the room. Students hesitated as they noticed me, some even backed up out of the doorway so I could get into the classroom.
Ferne cut in through the gap, my books once again on top of hers. "Next time, you owe me ten dollars."
I took the books, and followed her out. "You, uh, don't seem like this surprises you."
She shrugged. "Second thing they teach you in psych. The best way to handle things like this is to let the subject know that nothing's changed between you. Adapt slightly for the context at hand. Right there next to 'how does that make you feel' in the handbook."
Huh, having someone act like I'm normal is surprisingly comforting, actually. "In what part of that handbook do they tell you to tell the 'subject' about that trick?"
"Oh, that one's specific to you. Superhuman senses are more common than any other type of power, and many can work as lie detection. It's better just to tell the truth than risk a perceived violation of trust."
"Huh. Maybe I should get in that class."
"Probably not a bad idea. It won't be an easy 'A', but that's okay, I find the sweetest rewards are the ones you work hardest for."
She walked off, and I couldn't help but take a glance at her 'A' as she did. I've appreciated worse. There was something about her that I couldn't quite figure out. But I still had my history class to worry about, and unlike Home Ec, that one I sorta cared about.
People went silent as I walked into the class. I smiled and acted like nothing was wrong, while wishing that everyone in the school was more like Ferne. Wishing they would just pretend nothing was different, so I could pretend I wasn't different.
Miss Harmon met the class with her smile. "Zach, I heard a rumor that you have powers?"
Oh god damn it, can't I just catch a fucking break? "Something like that."
"Well, then I expect this project will be extra interesting for you, and the rest of the class." Miss Harmon was all smiles, and just like that she went from being my favorite teacher to the class I hoped to trade for psychology.
Using me as a prop for class participation, as if my day isn't garbage enough. Why didn't I get the power to telepathically rewrite memories or something? That's a power I would love to have right about half an hour ago.
Eddie leaned over. "Seriously? Powers, that's cool as hell. What can you do? Lasers? Flight? See through clothing?"
Fuck me sideways. Eddie did more than half the group's work, I almost had an obligation to answer him. "So, in order, the answers are no, I prefer to think of it as 'falling with style', and they said they were fresh out." Huh, I can see through clothes, can't I? Thanks a lot, Eddie, now I'm going to be tempted to use that power every time a girl gets close. "But I can't go around telling everyone what my powers do. The less you know, the better off you are, just in case the supervillains come asking."
Eddie's smile faltered a little. That's right, there are like twenty goddamn gangs in this school, and a few had at least one supervillain in them. Word was going to spread fast. "That's kinda heavy."
Cassie leaned over, giving me a more than generous view down her shirt. "No x-ray vision, huh? Are you sure?"
I managed to pull my eyes away from her cleavage, after it was too late to fool anyone. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'd have noticed by now."
"I believe you." Her look was smoldering. "Guess you just have to do things the old fashioned way, huh?"
What. "Uh... Yeah, I guess I do."
"Okay, class," Miss Harmon spoke, and I used that excuse to look away from Cassie. I had other things to think about right now. Like class. And Kitten. And everyone and their god damn second cousin knowing about me. "Sarah, it's your turn to present for your group."
Sarah wasn't exactly a popular student. For one, she was on the pudgier side. Plus she was only a freshman, in a class mostly for juniors and seniors. She was also very smart, and she wouldn't let you forget it, which didn't earn her a lot of friends. I wasn't exactly an expert on Asian features, but her last name was 'Nguyen', so her features probably came from wherever that was. Anyway, her team got to work setting up pictures and charts on the board. "Our presentation is on the nineteen forties. Starting with the premise that, without Imbued involvement, the Second World War would not have occurred."
Of course she'd pick something like that. Bold and ambitious and basically invalidating most of the other projects simply by saying 'your theory can't exist because mine already disproved it'.
"To start, we have to look a bit earlier, at the Treaty of Versailles, which crippled Germany economically and resulted in a disproportionate number of superhumans in that and other nearby nations. Including, as we all know, The Führer. Whose power allowed him to functionally mind control a nation."
"He took command of the economically depressed Germany, then went on to form alliances with Italy, Russia, and Japan. And used his abilities to conquer Poland within weeks while preventing the allied forces from acting until it was far too late to prevent the brutal conflict to come. Without him, Germany never would have had the resources to start a war to begin with, and if they had it would have been over quickly."
"Let's examine the Versailles treaty in greater depth-"
The intercom buzzed. "Zach Parker, will you please come to the office?"
Yes! I mean. Crap!
=======================
A/N- I enjoyed this chapter.
Ferne has begun to remind me of Daria. I approve heartily of this.
Miss Harmon is based loosely on a real teacher I had (not history, my history teachers were always brain meltingly boring, without exception) who would single out the three not-white students in our class out whenever doing any project that might loosely relate to their ancestry. It was never anything you could point to and say was racist, but it was awkward as hell at times.
Like a less extreme version of Mr. Uberwitz from Boondocks.
And, I don't know if it will ever be possible to say this in the story proper, so I'll say it here: yes, "The Führer" was still Hitler. And no, he did not have powers, the way powers work makes that more or less impossible. But it's a comforting lie that people like to tell themselves.
I rushed out of the classroom, the exclamations of the other students trailing behind me. Future detention be damned, I was out the door before anything else could go wrong. I skipped the bathroom entirely and went to the stairs to the roof. Really, no one was supposed to go up there, but the gangs kept breaking the locks until the school just gave up and let them have their way. They'd still bust people when they caught them, maybe, but the unofficial truce was that the gangs took their business up there, and they wouldn't get caught. In exchange, they kept their shit from spilling out into classes.
What generously counted as a stairwell to the roof was a rickety, metal framework clearly meant only for the janitorial staff. Cigarrette butts found themselves crushed into the corners, and the smell of smoke hung in the air. If upstairs was for the gangs, then the stairs themselves were for kids who just wanted a smoke. A couple of the seniors were there laughing about something. The girl was clearly far more interested in the guy than he was in her, a four trying to bag a seven. They shut up as I walked by. I had to wonder what they thought about me going into the forbidden zone.
Probably about the same thing that the gang kids did when I stepped out on the roof. Kid's gonna get himself stabbed. I glanced at the segregation these gangs had built for themselves. Overall, there were about thirty people up here split into five groups.
Two different clusters of blacks, exchanging hate filled glances at each other and at the skinhead group. The obligatory skinhead group, never leave your trailer without one. And a group with mixed black and white closest to the door. That meant they had the least status.
The hispanic kids dominated the far corner. They were the ones who functionally owned the school. Outnumbering all of the other gangs. They also had the distinction of being the only ones open with their name. Los Fieles.
Most of the gangs these days didn't give themselves names. That practice, much like gang colors, was for the nineties. Now the gangs were run more like terrorist cells, where you only knew your crew and your crew boss. If you really needed to check affiliations, there were any number of codewords or hand signs to give your secrets away, but they kept their memberships as tight and blind as possible. The exception being the supervillains. If your group had one of those, you bragged about it to everyone.
Because having powers changed all the rules.
I laughed at the thought. It probably sounded more psychotic than mirthful, venting the stress of what just happened. The whole point of wearing a mask was to make sure no one knew who you were when you went after assholes like these.
Others glared, sizing me up and deciding just what to do about me. I'm sure they had their share of kids come up here, not realizing their mistake. But most of them didn't laugh like a crazy man. One of the black guys near the door just laughed along with me. "Man, you clearly need to chill. Doctors say too much stress is bad for you. And I have just the prescription." He held out his hand, offering a small dark blue pill. "Don't worry, this one's on the house."
I looked at him. "So, the first one's always free? Swear I've heard that before."
He shrugged. "Hey, still gotta run a business, y'know. Ain't forcin' anyone to accept my hospitality."
A quick glance was all it took to know that was a lie. Whatever the pill was, probably some brand of ex, or Molly, or whatever the fuck they were calling it now, I either took it or there would be trouble. The pill would be physical proof I was up here doing a crime, which made my credibility somewhere between 'zero' and 'perp' if I reported anything later.
In a way, it was almost touching. These people would be more than happy to murder each other and dump the bodies in the Potomac, but they would work together without hesitation to deal with an outsider like me. I either accepted the drugs now, or a hospital trip later.
"Sure, I could use a vacation," I took the pill and popped it in my mouth. Now, conventional wisdom about pills is you're supposed to swallow them and let them hit the system that way. But I knew a few tricks about medicine, and crunched down on the pill, swishing it with saliva and holding it between my lips and gums. They didn't quite go numb, but the chemicals, whatever they were, definitely felt weird.
And then I was standing beside myself. The bitter taste of medicine and the strange sensation of the drugs starting to hit my system vanished, replaced by that damn shimmer of watching myself disolve yet again. "Unfortunately, it's not that easy for me."
"Fuck! He has powers!" No idea who said that, but quiet murmers went through the crowd. Their eyes went from suspicion to fear, and some were reaching into their clothes for what I assumed were weapons. Or maybe cell phones. Didn't really matter to me, either way.
"Relax, guys, I'm not here to cause trouble. Just need some privacy for a phone call." Without the echoes, amongst other things, of the bathrooms. "You don't mind giving me a few minutes of privacy, do you?"
I had to wonder exactly what they were thinking. They knew I had powers, they didn't know what those powers were. And some Imbued got powers like 'anyone who tries to attack me spontaneously combusts', so it was generally considered safer to not start fights with them. Us. And if they did decide to test me, well. A part of me hoped they would try. Thirty teenagers were nothing compared to a single Kitten. Hell, all I really needed to do was tag a few of them with my power. It was much too cold out today to fight naked.
The pusher must have seen some of that in my eyes, because he smiled and stepped aside. "Free country. He and his buddies went inside almost as soon as I stepped past them, leaving me with the others. They were kind enough to clear out and let me have a spot near the edge. I pulled the phone out and dialed Anima's number. Fuck, what am I supposed to do? How do I even ask what I'm supposed to do? I've never known an outed Imbued before, not in person.
She picked up on the third ring. "Uh, I was expecting you later."
May as well just get it out in the open right away. "My cover was blown."
There was hesitation. "Okay, just give me a second." The phone went quiet, kinda like I was being transfered to another line but without the shitty music. I pulled myself together, and gave looks at the people trying to edge close enough to hear the conversation. While waiting I found a good spot against the wall to hide from the wind. The phone clicked after about a minute and a half. "Alright, so how bad? On camera, any witnesses that know your civilian identity? Any way to convince them they're wrong?"
I thought for a second. "Cameras wouldn't surprise me, but doubt it. Couple dozen witnesses who see me almost every day. No mistaking it. They don't know what I can do, but they definitely know I can do something." What the fuck am I supposed to do? "I'm not sure what to do with a public power."
"How did it happen? And where."
"Umm... well, I was in class and" stupidly forgot my inhaler because I thought I was untouchable, same thing that caused me to lose against Kitten. "I fell asleep and my powers activated and everyone saw it."
"I thought you said you didn't need sleep."
"My powers changed while I was fighting Kitten. I didn't realize they changed this much."
"You surged during-? Dammit. Okay, I'm not really qualified to explain surges and we don't have time to worry about that right now. Alright, there are laws preventing colleges from discriminating-"
"High school."
"What?"
"I'm not a college student."
"Of course you're not. Okay, anti-discrimination still in effect. You're good for the rest of the day, but as a minor, the school is mandated by law report your manifestation to the authorities and your parents."
So now Mom and Dad find out. Muck futhering goat testicles. "What about villains? Are they going to come after my family?"
Anima hesitated for a moment. "Ordinarily, I'd say no. There aren't many villains that stupid or psychotic. They tend to get themselves wiped out pretty quickly. But."
"But Kitten." God damn everything.
"But Kitten. It's hard to know what someone like her will do."
I squeezed my eyes shut. She tortured me, humiliated me and mocked me, and all to guarantee I'd come after her again. She was a living lie detector, she had to know there was no need to attack my family, I was going to kill her no matter what. But she might do it just for fun. I put that thought aside, under the long list of things I couldn't change. "What else am I looking at?"
"It depends on a number of things. They'll pull up your school records and point their Espers at you. Find ways to pressure you into PREP. Maybe get your parents to talk to you about it. They'll give you some lines about how PREP is to train you to use your powers if you want to be a hero, or help you find a career where you can make a lot of money using your powers in the private sector. That's partly true, sure, but it's also so they can catalog your abilities and psychological traits in depth, in case they need to take you out."
"Okay, sounds like an easy 'go to hell' to me." I was pretty sure they wouldn't want me going after Kitten once I signed up for their bullshit. That and I really didn't like the idea of them having psychics crawling around in my head. Metaphorically or literally. Normal shrinks were bad enough, I didn't want to deal with ones that had powers.
"If they figure out about Kitten, and some Espers or even normal investigators might put it together, then they'll pull out the really big guns."
"Well, that sounds totally not ominous in any way whatsoever."
"Don't worry, they've learned from experience that hard selling is a bad plan. Especially on someone who might rank in the top hundred supers in the country. Which is a key point here, you walked away from a fight a top level villain that's not afraid of killing her opponents. That makes you almost as high priority as she is. If they ask you to talk to a guidance counselor, then they don't know. If they have one of their people make an appointment with you, they know about Kitten. Then it's just a guess over who they'll send."
"Any hints?"
"Would you say you're easily influenced by women?"
"No, I wouldn't say that." It may be totally true, but I would never actually say it.
"Well, if you were, they'd probably go with Sapphire or Sympathy." She spit out their names. "Might go with one of them anyway. Sapphire's got celebrity behind her, they might figure they can use that for leverage. Sympathy's young, but a truly expert manipulator. I'm pretty sure it's part of her powers. Don't believe anything that lying skank says. Not that Sapphire's much better. They will tell you whatever they think you want to hear, as long as it furthers their goals. Then use you until they think you have nothing left to offer before throwing you away. "
And that is the voice of someone who's been burned hard. Sapphire, I knew of. Flying and super strength, in a solid blue outfit that was basically a full body bathing suit. She'd been doing the hero thing since before I was born. Anima wasn't wrong about the celebrity angle. Sympathy I'd never heard of before. I resolved to look her up online. "Got it, beware the babe brigade."
"After that, I'm not sure. You're not the type who'd listen to Guardian, are you?"
I could hear a note of disapproval in her voice. Not the same vitriolic hatred as when she talked about the other two, simply disapproval. Him, at least, I knew why. "You mean there isn't a law against him talking to people? They really need to fix that."
She chuckled a little, and I relaxed. Anima was someone I really wanted on my side, for a number of reasons. "If only. But I can't tell you who else to expect. I don't really know most of them, or you, well enough to guess how they plan around these things. That and they have Espers, so they'll be able to plan in ways we can't."
"Doesn't matter, I'm not interested in what they're selling." No matter what they might offer, it got between me and Kitten. And that, especially now, was not an option. If I didn't go after her, she would come for me or my family. The bell buzzed for classes. Fuck, I forgot about that. "Umm, I gotta go. I'll call you later, if that's alright."
"It might be best to wait until the heat dies down a bit. I've got a friend who can tell you more about surges. We'll plan for the weekend."
Dammit. "Okay, I can do that." I really don't want to, but I can. "Bye."
I hung up the phone and rushed down to get my books. I even skipped the stairs, in favor of the fast method.
"Jesus fuck!" Huh, same couple as when I went up. Boy, their teachers are gonna be pissed. I was out the door before my copy even finished dissolving on the floor.
At least the damn Home Ec room was already on the top floor, so it didn't take me long to get to the room. Students hesitated as they noticed me, some even backed up out of the doorway so I could get into the classroom.
Ferne cut in through the gap, my books once again on top of hers. "Next time, you owe me ten dollars."
I took the books, and followed her out. "You, uh, don't seem like this surprises you."
She shrugged. "Second thing they teach you in psych. The best way to handle things like this is to let the subject know that nothing's changed between you. Adapt slightly for the context at hand. Right there next to 'how does that make you feel' in the handbook."
Huh, having someone act like I'm normal is surprisingly comforting, actually. "In what part of that handbook do they tell you to tell the 'subject' about that trick?"
"Oh, that one's specific to you. Superhuman senses are more common than any other type of power, and many can work as lie detection. It's better just to tell the truth than risk a perceived violation of trust."
"Huh. Maybe I should get in that class."
"Probably not a bad idea. It won't be an easy 'A', but that's okay, I find the sweetest rewards are the ones you work hardest for."
She walked off, and I couldn't help but take a glance at her 'A' as she did. I've appreciated worse. There was something about her that I couldn't quite figure out. But I still had my history class to worry about, and unlike Home Ec, that one I sorta cared about.
People went silent as I walked into the class. I smiled and acted like nothing was wrong, while wishing that everyone in the school was more like Ferne. Wishing they would just pretend nothing was different, so I could pretend I wasn't different.
Miss Harmon met the class with her smile. "Zach, I heard a rumor that you have powers?"
Oh god damn it, can't I just catch a fucking break? "Something like that."
"Well, then I expect this project will be extra interesting for you, and the rest of the class." Miss Harmon was all smiles, and just like that she went from being my favorite teacher to the class I hoped to trade for psychology.
Using me as a prop for class participation, as if my day isn't garbage enough. Why didn't I get the power to telepathically rewrite memories or something? That's a power I would love to have right about half an hour ago.
Eddie leaned over. "Seriously? Powers, that's cool as hell. What can you do? Lasers? Flight? See through clothing?"
Fuck me sideways. Eddie did more than half the group's work, I almost had an obligation to answer him. "So, in order, the answers are no, I prefer to think of it as 'falling with style', and they said they were fresh out." Huh, I can see through clothes, can't I? Thanks a lot, Eddie, now I'm going to be tempted to use that power every time a girl gets close. "But I can't go around telling everyone what my powers do. The less you know, the better off you are, just in case the supervillains come asking."
Eddie's smile faltered a little. That's right, there are like twenty goddamn gangs in this school, and a few had at least one supervillain in them. Word was going to spread fast. "That's kinda heavy."
Cassie leaned over, giving me a more than generous view down her shirt. "No x-ray vision, huh? Are you sure?"
I managed to pull my eyes away from her cleavage, after it was too late to fool anyone. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'd have noticed by now."
"I believe you." Her look was smoldering. "Guess you just have to do things the old fashioned way, huh?"
What. "Uh... Yeah, I guess I do."
"Okay, class," Miss Harmon spoke, and I used that excuse to look away from Cassie. I had other things to think about right now. Like class. And Kitten. And everyone and their god damn second cousin knowing about me. "Sarah, it's your turn to present for your group."
Sarah wasn't exactly a popular student. For one, she was on the pudgier side. Plus she was only a freshman, in a class mostly for juniors and seniors. She was also very smart, and she wouldn't let you forget it, which didn't earn her a lot of friends. I wasn't exactly an expert on Asian features, but her last name was 'Nguyen', so her features probably came from wherever that was. Anyway, her team got to work setting up pictures and charts on the board. "Our presentation is on the nineteen forties. Starting with the premise that, without Imbued involvement, the Second World War would not have occurred."
Of course she'd pick something like that. Bold and ambitious and basically invalidating most of the other projects simply by saying 'your theory can't exist because mine already disproved it'.
"To start, we have to look a bit earlier, at the Treaty of Versailles, which crippled Germany economically and resulted in a disproportionate number of superhumans in that and other nearby nations. Including, as we all know, The Führer. Whose power allowed him to functionally mind control a nation."
"He took command of the economically depressed Germany, then went on to form alliances with Italy, Russia, and Japan. And used his abilities to conquer Poland within weeks while preventing the allied forces from acting until it was far too late to prevent the brutal conflict to come. Without him, Germany never would have had the resources to start a war to begin with, and if they had it would have been over quickly."
"Let's examine the Versailles treaty in greater depth-"
The intercom buzzed. "Zach Parker, will you please come to the office?"
Yes! I mean. Crap!
=======================
A/N- I enjoyed this chapter.
Ferne has begun to remind me of Daria. I approve heartily of this.
Miss Harmon is based loosely on a real teacher I had (not history, my history teachers were always brain meltingly boring, without exception) who would single out the three not-white students in our class out whenever doing any project that might loosely relate to their ancestry. It was never anything you could point to and say was racist, but it was awkward as hell at times.
Like a less extreme version of Mr. Uberwitz from Boondocks.
And, I don't know if it will ever be possible to say this in the story proper, so I'll say it here: yes, "The Führer" was still Hitler. And no, he did not have powers, the way powers work makes that more or less impossible. But it's a comforting lie that people like to tell themselves.
Last edited:
Price, Chapter Eight
TanaNari
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Chapter 8
Principal Jenson was best described as an unimpressive man. Shorter than most of the students in the school, including half the girls. Thinning salt and pepper hair, skinny, and always in an outfit that tried to be both professional and casual and failed to be either. Add into that how in those few times he actually talked to us he tried to put the 'pal' in 'principal'... poorly. That made it very easy to just dismiss him as a non factor, not even important enough for the students to make fun of behind his back most days.
Which made for a bit of cognitive dissonance for me right now. Sitting in this far too cold office with this man who was probably looking for an excuse to expel me had me thinking a number of things. Easy to dismiss was not one of them.
The tiny man smiled amiably. "So, Zach, is it okay if I call you Zach?"
"No skin off my scr-" No! Bad Zach! "Sure, that's fine, sir."
"Good. I heard from Mrs. Schmidt that you ran out of class earlier today, and now many of the students think you have powers."
I didn't believe for a second that was all he heard, but there was no sense in denying that much. "True on both counts. I got them pretty recently, and didn't know they would go off in the middle of class. Then I sorta panicked."
"How recently, Zach?"
"Pretty sure it was yesterday." That's not lying, right?
"Pretty sure?"
"Yeah, my power is kinda automatic. Only kicks in when I get hurt. And now I know that counts for something as simple as a dry throat. How many people do you know who would hurt themselves on a regular basis on the off chance that they'd miss out on knowing exactly when they got super healing?"
He chuckled, and I couldn't tell how much of it was an act. "You make a good point. So you decided to come to school after getting powers? Before checking to see what their limits were or if you might accidentally use them in class?"
I cringed a little. If I'd thought about it, like, at all, I wouldn't have come in today. "Didn't have much choice." I wracked my brain for a reason why I didn't a choice, I was too old to say I didn't want Mom to miss work or some such. "I'm not exactly on the honor roll as it is. Believe me, if I'd known this was going to happen, I wouldn't have come." That's when it dawned on me. "Are... are you accusing me of doing this on purpose?"
"Not at all, but since you brought it up: you do have a history of disrupting class, Zach."
Fuck you, past me. "Okay, but nothing like this." Not that I could have before, but let's leave that out of the conversation. "There's a line between 'harmless prank' and 'now everyone wonders if every bad thing that happens to them in school might be my fault'. Which it isn't, by the way, I didn't get any of those powers. Just super healing." And a weird sort of teleportation, and an even weirder sort of special senses, but I'm not telling you about those.
"Okay, Zach, I believe you." He sat back in his chair, and only then did I realize that I, too, had leaned forward. "I'll let Mrs. Schmidt know that you won't be misbehaving in her class any longer. Please don't make a liar out of me."
"Yeah, I can do that. Is, umm, is that all?"
"For classes, yes. We're not going to punish you for an accident. But, as you are a minor, we will need to report your manifestation to your mother. It's the law, unless you can give us a reason to bring in a legal advocate. CPS and Outreach can protect you, if you're afraid of being abused or exploited by your family."
The fuck? "No! Nothing like that at all. It's just. Can you at least give me a few hours, so I can let Mom know? I want it to be from me, not some secretary."
He hesitated for a minute. "Ordinarily, I'd say no, but legally we have a window of twenty four hours in which to make contact, and we're always so busy around here. I think we can wait until tomorrow morning to make the call. That's the best I can do, sorry."
I shook my head. "No, that's fine. I can talk to her tonight." Don't have much choice, do I now? "It's not like she wouldn't have found out anyways."
Principal Jenson smiled at me. "That's a very mature attitude to have. But it's 'anyway', not 'anyways'. If you're going to be a superhero, you'll need proper diction. Now get back to class, a good education is valuable no matter what your powers might be."
I cannot believe he said that without irony. "Uh, yes, sir."
I got back to class before our own presentation was ready to go, but in time to watch Sarah's presentation close up. I waited from the doorway, not wanting to interrupt. The fact that her whole topic could be summed up as 'the world would be a happier place without superhumans to screw it over' was not lost on me. No sense convincing her she was even more right by 'ruining' her project twice in one day. I waited until they were done with that before sneaking in, and failing miserably.
No one said anything as I slipped into my seat, next to the rest of my partners for the presentation. "Well, despite all my best efforts, I'm not getting expelled today. I'll have to try harder next time."
"Aww, do you really want to leave that bad?" Cassie pouted at me. "Surely, there has to be something in this school worth enjoying. Besides, we have our own live in superhero, now, how many schools get to say that?"
I was used to her flirting, as was pretty much everyone else in the school, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the attention. Damn she was freakin' gorgeous, and she was clearly inviting me to enjoy the sights. I never really got to do it from so close, even at her most flirty before. Her eyes were the most amazingly dark brown color, and it took a lot of effort to pull myself out of them. "Uh. Yeah, I guess you have a point."
She smiled and turned back to watch the next presentation, leaving me with just traces of whatever perfume she was using.
This one focused on the sixties and its fads of free love and drugs as a somehow good thing. Naturally, attention was put on how badly the Vietnam War damaged our country's reputation, and all the Imbued born out of East Asia during that era. Their premise was how, thanks to the lessons finally being learned about the conditions in which Imbued are created, namely that the side that suffered the most seemed to get the most superhuman reinforcements, it would be the last major policing action the USA, or most other modern nations, ever engaged in. Sometimes called the Last True War.
It was, in many ways, the opposite of Sarah's presentation. That we Imbued made modern war too expensive to fight, so modern nations stopped having wars.
From then on, when countries went to war, it was almost always a shock and awe affair. Committing massive amounts of resources to destroy the enemy and then pull out before the defeated culture had an opportunity to produce enough Imbued to turn the tides. Of course, depending on who you asked that was a bad thing more often than a good one. Creating festering pits of lawlessness and resentment that would express itself in a new type of terrorist warfare that we still hadn't learned how to fight appropriately.
And then it was our turn, to do something far more cheerful with Prohibition. Amber was less than pleased that we missed the Civil Rights Era, but that didn't seem to get in the way of her wanting to get a good grade. Eddie's passion for the subject turned out to be at least a little infectious, and I had fun helping put it all together. Cassie more or less nominated herself to be the one who did the actual presentation, and the rest of us didn't care to stop her. Eddie got stage fright, and Amber was less than enthused that her pick didn't get accepted.
As for me? Well, it was a great opportunity to get graded on standing there not doing anything for a class period. How could I turn that down?
"Our presentation is on the twenties," Cassie said with the calm of someone who was used to being in front of people. "We can't look at the twenties without mentioning Prohibition, and the birth of organized crime as we know it, but we won't focus on it. The politics that got the Eighteenth Amendment passed had little to do with superhumans at the time, and while they were involved on both sides of the conflict, it seems likely that story of violence would have happened either way."
The last part of that was not part of our original script. Maybe Cassie was winging it in response to Sarah, or Eddie penned it in while I was out. Either way, I was happy to have it in there.
"What we will examine today is one thing we can be certain would not have occurred without Imbued: the elaborate death trap. The death trap practice has been around since before superheroes and villains were calling themselves by the name. However, before the twenties it was typically done with improvised methods, such as tying the victim to train tracks or trapping them with a dangerous animal. With the sudden influx of money that came with organized crime, these mechanisms would become increasingly more complex up until slowly falling out of favor in the fifties."
That was our cue to set up the cardboard display, while Cassie turned to look at us. We had a few diagrams of some more simple trap involving a rope, a large tank of water, and sharks with lasers on their foreheads. Yes, we knew that lasers were a shit weapon in general, and even worse underwater. Realism was not our goal.
"What most people do not realize is that the death trap was not, in fact, meant to kill. Quite the opposite, in fact. The traps were intentionally designed to be easily escaped from. Often in just a matter of minutes."
We switched to the next picture, showing a diagram of the tied up people swinging on the rope until getting out from above the trap, safely landing on the ground instead.
"In fact, many of these traps were designed to rescue the supposed victims, were they somehow unable to work out the mechanisms to rescue themselves."
Our next diagram, my personal favorite, had one of the sharks spitting the victim out onto the ground. It was all stick figures, but we managed to make it look humiliating.
Up until my fight with Kitten last night, I thought the whole practice was kinda silly. Now I knew better, having... what did Anima call it, a surge? It was common enough to have a name to itself, and if it worked like mine did then I could see why most villains would prefer their enemies didn't feel like they needed to use it to save themselves.
"You see, the intent of the elaborate death trap was never to kill, merely to delay the heroes so the villain could get his or her important resources to safety before at least attempting to fight the heroes. Toward the end of Prohibition they became something of a competition between villains to see who could create the most impressive trap, all while avoiding harm to the victims. Heroes, too, participated in this competitive game, seeing if they could more quickly defeat a given villain's traps than their friends managed."
We were swapping for the next image, now.
"It is considered by many enthusiasts to be one of the great lost arts." That line was at Eddie's insistence. "And perhaps none exemplify this so much as the traps created by the sonic Gadgeteer known as Maestro. During his twenty year career as a supervillain, he slowly expanded upon a collection of death traps within a series of abandoned gold mines in Sacremento, California. Adding new features to deal with new heroes seeking to stop his illegal mining, bootlegging, and international smuggling operations."
"The end result is now known as The Labyrinth, a hundred and twenty miles of death traps that still function today, decades after his death. Made a museum by his grandson, it is now open to the public. To date no hero, villain or civilian that's accepted the challenge of completing the Labyrinth has ever succeeded. And to date, not a single guest has been injured or killed by any of the traps. Making it functionally the safest amusement park in the world."
"Maestro's technology has been studied extensively. While, like most Gadgeteers, the principal mechanics are impossible for non-Imbued to replicate, most of his technology used entirely mundane components. Including new gold based alloys now used throughout the modern world that might never have been discovered if not for his efforts. These alloys are key components in modern electronics, and it's possible that household computers would not exist to day if not for his contributions to technology. And I don't even want to imagine a world without the internet."
The rest of our presentation was mostly justifications in the argument. Explaining how Maestro's tech was the inspiration that created the micro-transistor, allowing for compact personal computers instead of room sized monsters. And giving some nod to the other remarkably tech heavy supervillains of the twenties. These days, there weren't that many Gadgeteer villains or heroes, they tended to find that corporations and governments made better offers.
We got a few polite claps as we pulled down our displays. All from the guys, I couldn't help but notice. Oh well, that wasn't really my concern. We did a presentation, we'd hopefully get a good grade, I wasn't too concerned. As the next group started doing their presentation, this time about the eighties and how the supers of the time started dressing and acting like rock stars, and how that influenced the music industry in return.
I didn't pay too much attention, far more interested in watching the clock and lamenting the fact that time has three settings. Watching the clock, having fun, and its current mode of 'right before the deadline'.
The bell rang far, far too soon for my liking. Now I had to talk to my mother.
======================
A/N- Later in his life, when asked why he didn't just use his talents to make money legally, Maestro answered with "Sure, take all the fun out of it."
Was gonna gloss over Zach & Co's project, much as I did with the others. Had his conversation with his mom in this chapter instead... But, well, I then started thinking about it. And was compelled to include the death traps. Because it was hilarious.
Also: Authority figures are not completely incompetent in this setting! Seriously, though, I hate it when stories pull that shit. Such lazy, lazy writing.
Principal Jenson was best described as an unimpressive man. Shorter than most of the students in the school, including half the girls. Thinning salt and pepper hair, skinny, and always in an outfit that tried to be both professional and casual and failed to be either. Add into that how in those few times he actually talked to us he tried to put the 'pal' in 'principal'... poorly. That made it very easy to just dismiss him as a non factor, not even important enough for the students to make fun of behind his back most days.
Which made for a bit of cognitive dissonance for me right now. Sitting in this far too cold office with this man who was probably looking for an excuse to expel me had me thinking a number of things. Easy to dismiss was not one of them.
The tiny man smiled amiably. "So, Zach, is it okay if I call you Zach?"
"No skin off my scr-" No! Bad Zach! "Sure, that's fine, sir."
"Good. I heard from Mrs. Schmidt that you ran out of class earlier today, and now many of the students think you have powers."
I didn't believe for a second that was all he heard, but there was no sense in denying that much. "True on both counts. I got them pretty recently, and didn't know they would go off in the middle of class. Then I sorta panicked."
"How recently, Zach?"
"Pretty sure it was yesterday." That's not lying, right?
"Pretty sure?"
"Yeah, my power is kinda automatic. Only kicks in when I get hurt. And now I know that counts for something as simple as a dry throat. How many people do you know who would hurt themselves on a regular basis on the off chance that they'd miss out on knowing exactly when they got super healing?"
He chuckled, and I couldn't tell how much of it was an act. "You make a good point. So you decided to come to school after getting powers? Before checking to see what their limits were or if you might accidentally use them in class?"
I cringed a little. If I'd thought about it, like, at all, I wouldn't have come in today. "Didn't have much choice." I wracked my brain for a reason why I didn't a choice, I was too old to say I didn't want Mom to miss work or some such. "I'm not exactly on the honor roll as it is. Believe me, if I'd known this was going to happen, I wouldn't have come." That's when it dawned on me. "Are... are you accusing me of doing this on purpose?"
"Not at all, but since you brought it up: you do have a history of disrupting class, Zach."
Fuck you, past me. "Okay, but nothing like this." Not that I could have before, but let's leave that out of the conversation. "There's a line between 'harmless prank' and 'now everyone wonders if every bad thing that happens to them in school might be my fault'. Which it isn't, by the way, I didn't get any of those powers. Just super healing." And a weird sort of teleportation, and an even weirder sort of special senses, but I'm not telling you about those.
"Okay, Zach, I believe you." He sat back in his chair, and only then did I realize that I, too, had leaned forward. "I'll let Mrs. Schmidt know that you won't be misbehaving in her class any longer. Please don't make a liar out of me."
"Yeah, I can do that. Is, umm, is that all?"
"For classes, yes. We're not going to punish you for an accident. But, as you are a minor, we will need to report your manifestation to your mother. It's the law, unless you can give us a reason to bring in a legal advocate. CPS and Outreach can protect you, if you're afraid of being abused or exploited by your family."
The fuck? "No! Nothing like that at all. It's just. Can you at least give me a few hours, so I can let Mom know? I want it to be from me, not some secretary."
He hesitated for a minute. "Ordinarily, I'd say no, but legally we have a window of twenty four hours in which to make contact, and we're always so busy around here. I think we can wait until tomorrow morning to make the call. That's the best I can do, sorry."
I shook my head. "No, that's fine. I can talk to her tonight." Don't have much choice, do I now? "It's not like she wouldn't have found out anyways."
Principal Jenson smiled at me. "That's a very mature attitude to have. But it's 'anyway', not 'anyways'. If you're going to be a superhero, you'll need proper diction. Now get back to class, a good education is valuable no matter what your powers might be."
I cannot believe he said that without irony. "Uh, yes, sir."
I got back to class before our own presentation was ready to go, but in time to watch Sarah's presentation close up. I waited from the doorway, not wanting to interrupt. The fact that her whole topic could be summed up as 'the world would be a happier place without superhumans to screw it over' was not lost on me. No sense convincing her she was even more right by 'ruining' her project twice in one day. I waited until they were done with that before sneaking in, and failing miserably.
No one said anything as I slipped into my seat, next to the rest of my partners for the presentation. "Well, despite all my best efforts, I'm not getting expelled today. I'll have to try harder next time."
"Aww, do you really want to leave that bad?" Cassie pouted at me. "Surely, there has to be something in this school worth enjoying. Besides, we have our own live in superhero, now, how many schools get to say that?"
I was used to her flirting, as was pretty much everyone else in the school, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the attention. Damn she was freakin' gorgeous, and she was clearly inviting me to enjoy the sights. I never really got to do it from so close, even at her most flirty before. Her eyes were the most amazingly dark brown color, and it took a lot of effort to pull myself out of them. "Uh. Yeah, I guess you have a point."
She smiled and turned back to watch the next presentation, leaving me with just traces of whatever perfume she was using.
This one focused on the sixties and its fads of free love and drugs as a somehow good thing. Naturally, attention was put on how badly the Vietnam War damaged our country's reputation, and all the Imbued born out of East Asia during that era. Their premise was how, thanks to the lessons finally being learned about the conditions in which Imbued are created, namely that the side that suffered the most seemed to get the most superhuman reinforcements, it would be the last major policing action the USA, or most other modern nations, ever engaged in. Sometimes called the Last True War.
It was, in many ways, the opposite of Sarah's presentation. That we Imbued made modern war too expensive to fight, so modern nations stopped having wars.
From then on, when countries went to war, it was almost always a shock and awe affair. Committing massive amounts of resources to destroy the enemy and then pull out before the defeated culture had an opportunity to produce enough Imbued to turn the tides. Of course, depending on who you asked that was a bad thing more often than a good one. Creating festering pits of lawlessness and resentment that would express itself in a new type of terrorist warfare that we still hadn't learned how to fight appropriately.
And then it was our turn, to do something far more cheerful with Prohibition. Amber was less than pleased that we missed the Civil Rights Era, but that didn't seem to get in the way of her wanting to get a good grade. Eddie's passion for the subject turned out to be at least a little infectious, and I had fun helping put it all together. Cassie more or less nominated herself to be the one who did the actual presentation, and the rest of us didn't care to stop her. Eddie got stage fright, and Amber was less than enthused that her pick didn't get accepted.
As for me? Well, it was a great opportunity to get graded on standing there not doing anything for a class period. How could I turn that down?
"Our presentation is on the twenties," Cassie said with the calm of someone who was used to being in front of people. "We can't look at the twenties without mentioning Prohibition, and the birth of organized crime as we know it, but we won't focus on it. The politics that got the Eighteenth Amendment passed had little to do with superhumans at the time, and while they were involved on both sides of the conflict, it seems likely that story of violence would have happened either way."
The last part of that was not part of our original script. Maybe Cassie was winging it in response to Sarah, or Eddie penned it in while I was out. Either way, I was happy to have it in there.
"What we will examine today is one thing we can be certain would not have occurred without Imbued: the elaborate death trap. The death trap practice has been around since before superheroes and villains were calling themselves by the name. However, before the twenties it was typically done with improvised methods, such as tying the victim to train tracks or trapping them with a dangerous animal. With the sudden influx of money that came with organized crime, these mechanisms would become increasingly more complex up until slowly falling out of favor in the fifties."
That was our cue to set up the cardboard display, while Cassie turned to look at us. We had a few diagrams of some more simple trap involving a rope, a large tank of water, and sharks with lasers on their foreheads. Yes, we knew that lasers were a shit weapon in general, and even worse underwater. Realism was not our goal.
"What most people do not realize is that the death trap was not, in fact, meant to kill. Quite the opposite, in fact. The traps were intentionally designed to be easily escaped from. Often in just a matter of minutes."
We switched to the next picture, showing a diagram of the tied up people swinging on the rope until getting out from above the trap, safely landing on the ground instead.
"In fact, many of these traps were designed to rescue the supposed victims, were they somehow unable to work out the mechanisms to rescue themselves."
Our next diagram, my personal favorite, had one of the sharks spitting the victim out onto the ground. It was all stick figures, but we managed to make it look humiliating.
Up until my fight with Kitten last night, I thought the whole practice was kinda silly. Now I knew better, having... what did Anima call it, a surge? It was common enough to have a name to itself, and if it worked like mine did then I could see why most villains would prefer their enemies didn't feel like they needed to use it to save themselves.
"You see, the intent of the elaborate death trap was never to kill, merely to delay the heroes so the villain could get his or her important resources to safety before at least attempting to fight the heroes. Toward the end of Prohibition they became something of a competition between villains to see who could create the most impressive trap, all while avoiding harm to the victims. Heroes, too, participated in this competitive game, seeing if they could more quickly defeat a given villain's traps than their friends managed."
We were swapping for the next image, now.
"It is considered by many enthusiasts to be one of the great lost arts." That line was at Eddie's insistence. "And perhaps none exemplify this so much as the traps created by the sonic Gadgeteer known as Maestro. During his twenty year career as a supervillain, he slowly expanded upon a collection of death traps within a series of abandoned gold mines in Sacremento, California. Adding new features to deal with new heroes seeking to stop his illegal mining, bootlegging, and international smuggling operations."
"The end result is now known as The Labyrinth, a hundred and twenty miles of death traps that still function today, decades after his death. Made a museum by his grandson, it is now open to the public. To date no hero, villain or civilian that's accepted the challenge of completing the Labyrinth has ever succeeded. And to date, not a single guest has been injured or killed by any of the traps. Making it functionally the safest amusement park in the world."
"Maestro's technology has been studied extensively. While, like most Gadgeteers, the principal mechanics are impossible for non-Imbued to replicate, most of his technology used entirely mundane components. Including new gold based alloys now used throughout the modern world that might never have been discovered if not for his efforts. These alloys are key components in modern electronics, and it's possible that household computers would not exist to day if not for his contributions to technology. And I don't even want to imagine a world without the internet."
The rest of our presentation was mostly justifications in the argument. Explaining how Maestro's tech was the inspiration that created the micro-transistor, allowing for compact personal computers instead of room sized monsters. And giving some nod to the other remarkably tech heavy supervillains of the twenties. These days, there weren't that many Gadgeteer villains or heroes, they tended to find that corporations and governments made better offers.
We got a few polite claps as we pulled down our displays. All from the guys, I couldn't help but notice. Oh well, that wasn't really my concern. We did a presentation, we'd hopefully get a good grade, I wasn't too concerned. As the next group started doing their presentation, this time about the eighties and how the supers of the time started dressing and acting like rock stars, and how that influenced the music industry in return.
I didn't pay too much attention, far more interested in watching the clock and lamenting the fact that time has three settings. Watching the clock, having fun, and its current mode of 'right before the deadline'.
The bell rang far, far too soon for my liking. Now I had to talk to my mother.
======================
A/N- Later in his life, when asked why he didn't just use his talents to make money legally, Maestro answered with "Sure, take all the fun out of it."
Was gonna gloss over Zach & Co's project, much as I did with the others. Had his conversation with his mom in this chapter instead... But, well, I then started thinking about it. And was compelled to include the death traps. Because it was hilarious.
Also: Authority figures are not completely incompetent in this setting! Seriously, though, I hate it when stories pull that shit. Such lazy, lazy writing.
Last edited:
Price, Chapter Nine
TanaNari
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Chapter 9
The bus ride home was no less awkward than the last class. This time, the usual rumble of noise that was the swarm of children packed in a metal tube instead got replaced by hushed murmurs and nervous glances in my direction. Publicly outed superhumans were pretty damn rare, especially amongst kids. Sure, every so often you'd have a specific hero or even villain go public to make a political point. But those were adults, and usually individually wealthy enough to not care about the exposure. Which made me pretty big news.
Oh fuck, the news. How long will it be until I have to deal with the god damn tabloids? No point in thinking about that right now, I could do that later instead of sleeping. Now I had to focus on the immediate.
I found a seat, and my senses expanded as far as the metal legs, but didn't attempt to look into the bus itself. For whatever reason, I knew about bits of gum stuck to the bottom of the seat, but I was blind to the bus. I still didn't know why my power did that, something I'd need to experiment with later. The seat itself was some kind of weird rubber padding, near as I could tell. At least it wasn't asbestos, which given this school I couldn't rule out.
One of the kids from behind leaned over. "So, dude, I hear you have superpowers. What can you do?"
Oh god damn it. "My farts make women fall in love with me. Also they smell like lilacs. Wanna try?" I paused for a second. "Nah, actually, I have the power to make smartass remarks. I'd call myself Sarcastro, but I don't have nearly enough beard to pull that off."
"Yeah, didn't think so. Poser." He dropped back into his seat, mumbling and presumably trying to spread the word that it was a stupid rumor. Ah, if only there wasn't video evidence and dozens of witnesses, then he would be my new best friend.
Home sweet home wasn't any more exciting. While waiting for Mom to get home, I hopped online and my power gave me a full view of my computer along the keyboard wire plugged into it. I didn't understand a single inch of the circuits and wires, but I could sense them as easily as I could sense my own fingers. Then again, I had no clue what fingernails were meant for, either.
Looked like the fan had a ball of lint or something in it. Huh, there's a possible job as one of those screeners in the airport. No. Just no. I would rather spend my time finding a way to kill myself permanently than do that as a career.
Instead I logged on and tried to find the lay of the land, as far as supers in DC and Arlington were concerned. There were the obvious, famous ones of course. The heroes that were one part celebrity, one part police officer. Various foreign dignitaries and their superpowered bodyguards always coming and going, and all the superpowered Secret Service or whatever to keep that powder keg from going off. But none of that was really useful to me.
Kitten was going to want to know I was preparing to go after her. I wasn't going to disappoint. Especially not now, when she could find me out of costume. I was looking for the villains I might be able to go after and the vigilante heroes or indies I might be able to team with.
Turns out, there were a lot of them. Even not counting the big groups like Los Fieles that boasted twenty seven villains. Their leader was called Vertigo, which apparently means the same thing in Spanish as it does in English. A woman who kept her position by virtue of some kind of sniper power that left her victims curled up in pools of their own vomit and other bodily wastes. She went after all the other Hispanic gangs and publicly forced their leaders to kneel before her and beg for her mercy. Thus the name.
She wasn't really that powerful, certainly not suited to go up against Guardian or Sapphire, who had invulnerability on their power lists. But she was a politically savvy gang leader, and violent crime in the areas she controlled was much lower than it used to be. This made her a low priority target for almost the exact opposite reason that Kitten was low priority.
Eighteen more in Lightbringer, the big White Power group around here. Personally, I'd have thought they'd pick something a little less obviously satanic as a name, but that was really the least of my issues with them. Their leader was some kind of pyrokinetic called Crucible. His exact abilities were mostly an unknown, but he tended to be on fire while fighting. Yay.
Various other gangs, each with maybe a single Imbued trying to hold territories of little more than a few square blocks. Flux was listed as one of those B rate gangs. Some villain groups that didn't have territories at all. These were groups I could go after and get a reputation.
Then the indies, like Anima. Only most were not nearly so powerful. All told, there were over two hundred known supers nearby who weren't working for some world government. Way too many for me to start trying to memorize right now. I did notice one unpleasant trend: of those small timers, I was the only one with a public identity.
I heard Mom fumbling with the lock at about a quarter before seven, so I got up from my chair and went out into the halway. I'd still only put together a tiny chunk of the iceburg that was the supers culture in this area. I'd managed to piece together that DC itself was patchwork, fought over by small gangs instead of held by anyone large and organized. Arlington was split in half between the two big gangs, and that resulted in a lot of violence. We didn't have it half as bad as Alexandria, however. That city was one good fight away from an Imbued civil war.
"Hey, Mom," I spoke up the moment she got the door open. She backed in, carrying a large brown grocery bag and a small box that brightly proclaimed itself as coming from KFC.
"Hey, sweetie, I picked you up something on my way home." She set everything down on the counter and gave me a quick one arm hug before heading toward her room. Fortunately, she didn't have any odd piercings or implants for me to try desperately to ignore.
I started putting away the rest of the groceries. Seemed fair, since I got to eat half of them. Which was a question, now that I thought about it. Did I need to eat, anymore? With my old power, I did. Or, at least, I still got hungry. I didn't have the desire to find out what happened if I ignored that feeling. With the new one, well, it seemed to take a few hours to get hungry after I disintegrated. So if I just did that a few times a day, I might be able to skip out on ever needing to eat.
Mom came out wearing a purple evening dress. She clearly had plans for the night, I wasn't going to speculate beyond that. She was a gymnast when younger, and still had a slender figure, so she had no real problem getting dates. But usually that was a weekend thing, when I was at Dad's. Laura and I inherited our height from Dad, and our build from Mom. Plus a little extra from a surgeon, in Laura's case. Being naturally super skinny worked out better for girls, though.
But enough about that, it was time to bite the bullet. "I've got something important to tell you." I took a deep breath. Why didn't I just let the school tell her? "I'm gay."
She rolled her eyes. "Okay, what did you actually do?"
"What? Why don't you believe I could be gay?"
She looked at me like I was an idiot. "Because I am the one who cleans your room. Besides, your sister already pulled that stunt."
I had absolutely no comeback for that. "Okay, fine. The truth is, I have powers now, and I accidentally used them in the middle of class."
She just sighed. "Zach, please. I have a work meeting tonight, then I have to get up early to get in some overtime tomorrow because your father is late on child support. Again."
Hey, don't look at me. All I did was get shot out of a sack. You're the one who married him. "I'm being serious." I picked up the box containing the food, letting it become part of my weird sensory power. Good, it includes the chicken as well. I gave it a toss across the living room.
"Zach!" My mother stopped her otherwise inevitable screaming at me when the box broke down into colored light, rushing back to the copy in my hand. She hesitated for a moment, and then slumped down on the arm of the couch.
"Like I said, powers."
"And everyone knows? What did you do? Why couldn't you be more careful? You should know better than this." Her voice got faster and higher pitched, the way it always did when blaming me for things going wrong.
"It was an accident. My power goes off automatically if I ever get hurt. Perfect healing, but it's pretty obvious."
"You were hurt in school?" Her expression a combination of skepticism, concern, and fear.
"Just an asthma attack, Mom." I didn't like talking about that, even to her. "In Home Ec. By the time I even knew anything was happening, my healing kicked in. I didn't have time to get my inhaler."
She buried her face in her hands. "Dammit, Zach, I knew that class was a bad idea, why didn't you listen?"
No, that isn't even close to what happened. Dad said it was a bad idea and I should take shop instead. You said it would be nice to have a man around the house that knew how to cook for once in your life. Then the two of you argued for an hour while I stayed in my room and played video games. "I didn't have powers when I started the class, Mom. That's not really something you can plan for."
"No, no. You're right. So what are we supposed to do about it?" She looked at me like I had actual answers to that question.
I shrugged, not really sure how to make her feel better about this. If it was Dad- correction, when it was Dad, because there's no way I could avoid telling him forever- he'd be shoving answers at me. Most of which could be summed up as 'join the army and get laid'. Hopefully not in that order. "There's really nothing to do."
"So... there won't be any special meetings or having to transfer you to a new school?" I tried to ignore how relieved she sounded at that part.
"The school will call you sometime tomorrow morning, just to make sure you know I have powers now. There's some law about that, I dunno." I reflected on what Principal Jenson told me when I was in his office. Wait a second... he said he wouldn't ordinarily do something like this, but there's no way he's ever had to do anything like this at all. What a bullshitting asshole. "Really, nothing's changed except now I can't be hurt."
She looked at me, thinking. "What do you mean, can't be hurt?"
"Just what it says on the tin. I have an attack: instant heal. Some gang asshole punches me: instant heal. I accidentally stub my toe on my way to the bathroom: instant heal. Like, last night I got too cold." Kitten turning portions of me to ice totally counts as too cold. "I healed from that, too. That's when I discovered I had this power."
Her eyes narrowed. "Does your sister know?"
Oh, fuck, I totally forgot to call Laura. My shrug was, hopefully, convincing. "She didn't see it happen, and didn't say anything about it this morning when taking me to school. But you know Laura doesn't like to stick her nose in other people's business."
I wasn't sure if Mom bought that or not, but I'd be calling Laura as soon as she left.
We sat there in awkward silence for a couple minutes. "So. Nothing has to change?"
"That's what I said. Plus I can't be hurt. How lucky is that?" Speaking of bullshitting assholes, exhibit 'Ass' right here. "So, yeah, you can go ahead and finish getting ready. There's no need to worry about me at all. In fact, you'll never have to worry about me at all. I just didn't want you to be caught off guard at work."
She nodded, almost automatically. "You're right. Thanks, sweetheart." And then she was up and flitting about with getting herself ready.
I ate lukewarm chicken and potatoes, and wondered what tomorrow would be like.
======================
A/N- Bit of a small chapter. Also late. My girlfriend and I broke up. It was drama free, but understandably enthusiasm damping. On the other hand, I'm now single. So... hello ladies. And the right sort of gentlemen.
Also: trying to generate the relationship dynamic between Zach and his mom took a few attempts. I think it was worth the extra effort, but some of the roughs were pathetic.
And in retrospect, at some point this story became the functionally perfect setup for a dating game. Anima's the older experienced woman option. Cassie's the flirty option. Ferne's the quiet girl option. Alex for the gay option. Laura's the pervert option. Last, there is Kitten, leading up the 'the fact that there are people who would take this path makes me weep for humanity' option.
The bus ride home was no less awkward than the last class. This time, the usual rumble of noise that was the swarm of children packed in a metal tube instead got replaced by hushed murmurs and nervous glances in my direction. Publicly outed superhumans were pretty damn rare, especially amongst kids. Sure, every so often you'd have a specific hero or even villain go public to make a political point. But those were adults, and usually individually wealthy enough to not care about the exposure. Which made me pretty big news.
Oh fuck, the news. How long will it be until I have to deal with the god damn tabloids? No point in thinking about that right now, I could do that later instead of sleeping. Now I had to focus on the immediate.
I found a seat, and my senses expanded as far as the metal legs, but didn't attempt to look into the bus itself. For whatever reason, I knew about bits of gum stuck to the bottom of the seat, but I was blind to the bus. I still didn't know why my power did that, something I'd need to experiment with later. The seat itself was some kind of weird rubber padding, near as I could tell. At least it wasn't asbestos, which given this school I couldn't rule out.
One of the kids from behind leaned over. "So, dude, I hear you have superpowers. What can you do?"
Oh god damn it. "My farts make women fall in love with me. Also they smell like lilacs. Wanna try?" I paused for a second. "Nah, actually, I have the power to make smartass remarks. I'd call myself Sarcastro, but I don't have nearly enough beard to pull that off."
"Yeah, didn't think so. Poser." He dropped back into his seat, mumbling and presumably trying to spread the word that it was a stupid rumor. Ah, if only there wasn't video evidence and dozens of witnesses, then he would be my new best friend.
Home sweet home wasn't any more exciting. While waiting for Mom to get home, I hopped online and my power gave me a full view of my computer along the keyboard wire plugged into it. I didn't understand a single inch of the circuits and wires, but I could sense them as easily as I could sense my own fingers. Then again, I had no clue what fingernails were meant for, either.
Looked like the fan had a ball of lint or something in it. Huh, there's a possible job as one of those screeners in the airport. No. Just no. I would rather spend my time finding a way to kill myself permanently than do that as a career.
Instead I logged on and tried to find the lay of the land, as far as supers in DC and Arlington were concerned. There were the obvious, famous ones of course. The heroes that were one part celebrity, one part police officer. Various foreign dignitaries and their superpowered bodyguards always coming and going, and all the superpowered Secret Service or whatever to keep that powder keg from going off. But none of that was really useful to me.
Kitten was going to want to know I was preparing to go after her. I wasn't going to disappoint. Especially not now, when she could find me out of costume. I was looking for the villains I might be able to go after and the vigilante heroes or indies I might be able to team with.
Turns out, there were a lot of them. Even not counting the big groups like Los Fieles that boasted twenty seven villains. Their leader was called Vertigo, which apparently means the same thing in Spanish as it does in English. A woman who kept her position by virtue of some kind of sniper power that left her victims curled up in pools of their own vomit and other bodily wastes. She went after all the other Hispanic gangs and publicly forced their leaders to kneel before her and beg for her mercy. Thus the name.
She wasn't really that powerful, certainly not suited to go up against Guardian or Sapphire, who had invulnerability on their power lists. But she was a politically savvy gang leader, and violent crime in the areas she controlled was much lower than it used to be. This made her a low priority target for almost the exact opposite reason that Kitten was low priority.
Eighteen more in Lightbringer, the big White Power group around here. Personally, I'd have thought they'd pick something a little less obviously satanic as a name, but that was really the least of my issues with them. Their leader was some kind of pyrokinetic called Crucible. His exact abilities were mostly an unknown, but he tended to be on fire while fighting. Yay.
Various other gangs, each with maybe a single Imbued trying to hold territories of little more than a few square blocks. Flux was listed as one of those B rate gangs. Some villain groups that didn't have territories at all. These were groups I could go after and get a reputation.
Then the indies, like Anima. Only most were not nearly so powerful. All told, there were over two hundred known supers nearby who weren't working for some world government. Way too many for me to start trying to memorize right now. I did notice one unpleasant trend: of those small timers, I was the only one with a public identity.
I heard Mom fumbling with the lock at about a quarter before seven, so I got up from my chair and went out into the halway. I'd still only put together a tiny chunk of the iceburg that was the supers culture in this area. I'd managed to piece together that DC itself was patchwork, fought over by small gangs instead of held by anyone large and organized. Arlington was split in half between the two big gangs, and that resulted in a lot of violence. We didn't have it half as bad as Alexandria, however. That city was one good fight away from an Imbued civil war.
"Hey, Mom," I spoke up the moment she got the door open. She backed in, carrying a large brown grocery bag and a small box that brightly proclaimed itself as coming from KFC.
"Hey, sweetie, I picked you up something on my way home." She set everything down on the counter and gave me a quick one arm hug before heading toward her room. Fortunately, she didn't have any odd piercings or implants for me to try desperately to ignore.
I started putting away the rest of the groceries. Seemed fair, since I got to eat half of them. Which was a question, now that I thought about it. Did I need to eat, anymore? With my old power, I did. Or, at least, I still got hungry. I didn't have the desire to find out what happened if I ignored that feeling. With the new one, well, it seemed to take a few hours to get hungry after I disintegrated. So if I just did that a few times a day, I might be able to skip out on ever needing to eat.
Mom came out wearing a purple evening dress. She clearly had plans for the night, I wasn't going to speculate beyond that. She was a gymnast when younger, and still had a slender figure, so she had no real problem getting dates. But usually that was a weekend thing, when I was at Dad's. Laura and I inherited our height from Dad, and our build from Mom. Plus a little extra from a surgeon, in Laura's case. Being naturally super skinny worked out better for girls, though.
But enough about that, it was time to bite the bullet. "I've got something important to tell you." I took a deep breath. Why didn't I just let the school tell her? "I'm gay."
She rolled her eyes. "Okay, what did you actually do?"
"What? Why don't you believe I could be gay?"
She looked at me like I was an idiot. "Because I am the one who cleans your room. Besides, your sister already pulled that stunt."
I had absolutely no comeback for that. "Okay, fine. The truth is, I have powers now, and I accidentally used them in the middle of class."
She just sighed. "Zach, please. I have a work meeting tonight, then I have to get up early to get in some overtime tomorrow because your father is late on child support. Again."
Hey, don't look at me. All I did was get shot out of a sack. You're the one who married him. "I'm being serious." I picked up the box containing the food, letting it become part of my weird sensory power. Good, it includes the chicken as well. I gave it a toss across the living room.
"Zach!" My mother stopped her otherwise inevitable screaming at me when the box broke down into colored light, rushing back to the copy in my hand. She hesitated for a moment, and then slumped down on the arm of the couch.
"Like I said, powers."
"And everyone knows? What did you do? Why couldn't you be more careful? You should know better than this." Her voice got faster and higher pitched, the way it always did when blaming me for things going wrong.
"It was an accident. My power goes off automatically if I ever get hurt. Perfect healing, but it's pretty obvious."
"You were hurt in school?" Her expression a combination of skepticism, concern, and fear.
"Just an asthma attack, Mom." I didn't like talking about that, even to her. "In Home Ec. By the time I even knew anything was happening, my healing kicked in. I didn't have time to get my inhaler."
She buried her face in her hands. "Dammit, Zach, I knew that class was a bad idea, why didn't you listen?"
No, that isn't even close to what happened. Dad said it was a bad idea and I should take shop instead. You said it would be nice to have a man around the house that knew how to cook for once in your life. Then the two of you argued for an hour while I stayed in my room and played video games. "I didn't have powers when I started the class, Mom. That's not really something you can plan for."
"No, no. You're right. So what are we supposed to do about it?" She looked at me like I had actual answers to that question.
I shrugged, not really sure how to make her feel better about this. If it was Dad- correction, when it was Dad, because there's no way I could avoid telling him forever- he'd be shoving answers at me. Most of which could be summed up as 'join the army and get laid'. Hopefully not in that order. "There's really nothing to do."
"So... there won't be any special meetings or having to transfer you to a new school?" I tried to ignore how relieved she sounded at that part.
"The school will call you sometime tomorrow morning, just to make sure you know I have powers now. There's some law about that, I dunno." I reflected on what Principal Jenson told me when I was in his office. Wait a second... he said he wouldn't ordinarily do something like this, but there's no way he's ever had to do anything like this at all. What a bullshitting asshole. "Really, nothing's changed except now I can't be hurt."
She looked at me, thinking. "What do you mean, can't be hurt?"
"Just what it says on the tin. I have an attack: instant heal. Some gang asshole punches me: instant heal. I accidentally stub my toe on my way to the bathroom: instant heal. Like, last night I got too cold." Kitten turning portions of me to ice totally counts as too cold. "I healed from that, too. That's when I discovered I had this power."
Her eyes narrowed. "Does your sister know?"
Oh, fuck, I totally forgot to call Laura. My shrug was, hopefully, convincing. "She didn't see it happen, and didn't say anything about it this morning when taking me to school. But you know Laura doesn't like to stick her nose in other people's business."
I wasn't sure if Mom bought that or not, but I'd be calling Laura as soon as she left.
We sat there in awkward silence for a couple minutes. "So. Nothing has to change?"
"That's what I said. Plus I can't be hurt. How lucky is that?" Speaking of bullshitting assholes, exhibit 'Ass' right here. "So, yeah, you can go ahead and finish getting ready. There's no need to worry about me at all. In fact, you'll never have to worry about me at all. I just didn't want you to be caught off guard at work."
She nodded, almost automatically. "You're right. Thanks, sweetheart." And then she was up and flitting about with getting herself ready.
I ate lukewarm chicken and potatoes, and wondered what tomorrow would be like.
======================
A/N- Bit of a small chapter. Also late. My girlfriend and I broke up. It was drama free, but understandably enthusiasm damping. On the other hand, I'm now single. So... hello ladies. And the right sort of gentlemen.
Also: trying to generate the relationship dynamic between Zach and his mom took a few attempts. I think it was worth the extra effort, but some of the roughs were pathetic.
And in retrospect, at some point this story became the functionally perfect setup for a dating game. Anima's the older experienced woman option. Cassie's the flirty option. Ferne's the quiet girl option. Alex for the gay option. Laura's the pervert option. Last, there is Kitten, leading up the 'the fact that there are people who would take this path makes me weep for humanity' option.
Last edited:
Price, Chapter Ten
TanaNari
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Chapter 10
Tomorrow morning, at least, wasn't any different than yesterday afternoon. Schoolbus full of annoyance. I really needed to get a car one of these days. Mom and Dad didn't really have the money to pay for one, and Laura was even worse off. I might have been able to get something from the money I, uh, confiscated from Kitten's gang, but Laura would spend it better. No wonder so many supers went villain, that's where the money was.
American Lit had us on the Great Gatsby, one of the few novels after World War One that didn't bother including Imbued, save a few brief mentions of them being 'symbols of a changing world, unwelcomed by the upper class', and bits of speculation about Gatsby being one. Something I found annoying, until yesterday. Still didn't stop me from being bored to tears while reading the damn book. Fortunately, the teacher didn't bother calling on me to answer anything in this class. Miss Carter wasn't interested in anything humor, unless it related to her cats.
Physics was more my style. I'd always been pretty good with math, and this was just another kind of math. That and I got to sit with Ben, one of my few actual friends in school. Nerdy type, but with a razor sharp sense of humor, which made him great to hang out around.
"All over you, huh? Y'know, I'm pretty sure hallucinations means schizophrenia, not powers."
"Por que no los dos?" I shrugged when he just kept looking at me with his 'not buying it for a second' face. "Okay, fine, not literally. But if she gave me a closer look, her nipples would have poked out my eyes."
He smirked at me. "Okay, that sounds like Cassie. So, what were Eddie and Amber up to while you were getting a peep show?"
Probably thanking their lucky stars it would be at least another two or three projects before they'd need to work with either of us again. "Y'know, dude, you really should just ask her out already, I'm sure she'd be into it." Guys aren't exactly knocking down her door.
"I dunno, what if things get weird?"
"Bro, face it, you are weird. So is she, which is why it's perfect."
He suddenly decided looking at the clay was more interesting. "I don't want her to think I'm a stalker or something."
As opposed to actually being a stalker? "Well, the only difference between a stalker and a boy or girlfriend is how the recipient interprets the events."
I waited for a second to let him absorb my wisdom, and he started snickering. "I knew it was love when he used my own silk panties to chloroform me. I awoke to realize I was bound to an office chair. Facing a computer screen filled with lines of text, the gravity of the situation slowly dawned on me. I had found the man I would be with forever."
I fell face first on the desk, laughing. "It's like if Fifty Shades was honest about itself!" After a minute to recover, I finally sat back up. "See, you could just write her something. Not that, but something nice. I bet she'd love that high literature stuff."
"Zach, you only know literature from bathroom walls."
"Hey, that's not true!" I tried to act offended. "I also know limericks, and your mother's phone number. Seriously, though, you're good, and if Amber has half the brains she likes to think she does, she'll jump on the offer."
....
Ben and I had changed subjects like five or six times before class ended and we went to lunch. People made room for me to pass, as before. Fuck, some of the people that others normally made way for, like the more aggressive gang members, didn't bother me. That would change, eventually, as people got used to me. Someone would try to test my powers just to see what I was actually capable of, most likely as part of a gang initiation. That's the tradition, sending the henches after the hero to get an idea of their powers. I probably had a week or two before that.
Ben just watched in awe as everyone backed off. "Dude, you are so fucking lucky."
I cringed a little inside. Luck can kiss my lily white ass, this is only happening because I was stupid and overconfident. I picked up my pace. "Let's go, wouldn't want to hold up the rest of the students."
Ben hurried to catch up. "Dude, what's wrong?"
What's wrong is I'm a fuck up. "Just hungry is all. I kinda skipped breakfast."
"Cool." He didn't quite sound like he believed me, but as long as he didn't pester me about it too much I was good.
We went through the lunch line more or less unaccounted. Contrary to popular opinion, the food here wasn't so bad. All those soccer moms and their push for healthy options meant fresh fruit and veggies if you didn't want to take your chances with the deep fried mystery meat or gas station quality pizza. If Ben thought anything of me picking out a couple apples and a packet of baby carrots, he didn't bring that up, either.
I, as usual, picked my spot in what was generally considered the 'loser' section. Identified quite easily by the lack of gang paraphernalia or attractive females. Normally, this was a blessing, but it was also where the geeks stayed. And if you ever met a geek, you'd know how much they love superpowers. Well, unless you met Sarah. She was the exception that proved the rule.
"Hey, Zach! What powers do you have?" And here it starts.
"How'd you get them?" "How long have you had them" "Why didn't you tell us?" "Can I be your sidekick?"
Why didn't I pick a different table? "Guys. I don't have the power to answer a dozen questions at once. I haven't had them very long and I didn't want anyone to know. I'd rather make the supervillains work for that info." That'd sell at least some of them. I stepped into the gap between the table and bench and sat down. "But if you really wanna know, I can't be hurt." For very long. "Doesn't matter what you do, I'm untouchable."
"What? You're saying you're an eighth level Tank?" David, this time. He fit the nerdy kid stereotype down to the thick glasses and acne. "And that's all you've got?"
"Kinda, I guess." I really didn't feel like sharing my other tricks with them. "Don't have to eat or sleep, either." I confirmed the sleeping part last night, the second I dozed off my power popped and I was wide awake. I couldn't sleep if I wanted to.
David just looked at me like I was an idiot. "Nothing else? Bastion can share his invulnerability with others. And Guardian has the power to warp space and redirect attacks toward himself, or reach attackers faster."
"Yeah, I have a boring power, I know."
"Impossible power. No one ever gets only tank powers. It always comes with something else to make it useful."
Dammit, can't you take the hint? "Well, does never getting tired for any reason count? I could run without resting until I die of old age if I wanted." I paused for a second, hoping that'd be enough for him. "Actually, I don't even know if I can die of old age. Maybe I just haven't figured out the rest of my power?"
"You might be a Breaker," one of the freshmen girls I didn't know offered. "A lot of them have powers that only work if someone else is using powers on them. Like, you could also be immune to mind control or able to see invisible enemies." I would have to thank her later.
David let out an exaggerated sigh. "Seeing invisible is a Tracker power. To be a Breaker, you need to change how other powers work, not simply have a way to counter their powers using your own. Otherwise the category would be meaningless, since almost everyone has a power that can counter at least some other powers."
The girl sneered at him. "Don't ignore me! If he has some kind of Breaker power, he won't know what it is until he meets other Imbued. Therefor, there is absolutely no reason he can't be just a Tank."
"If he has another power, that means he's not just a Tank, he just doesn't- uh." David stopped speaking, distracted by something behind me.
"So, I'm told you were saying something about me being, and I quote, 'all over you'."
Why, hello there fear of death. I'd almost forgotten what you were like. It looks like you're planning to visit for a while. Come in, have a seat, would you like some tea? "Umm, hello, Cassie."
I turned to look at her. Oh, and apparently she brought two of her friends from the cheer squad along as backup. Lovely, now there's going to be three hot girls judging me instead of just one. Ben and the other nearby kids slowly scooted away from me. Traitors. "There may have been a bit of a misunderstanding."
"Yeah, there was definitely a misunderstanding." She placed her hands on my shoulders. "Just so we're clear, letting you get a bit of a peek is not 'all over you'."
I hurried to apologize. "No, you're absolutely right, I'll b-"
She bent over, her arms sliding down my back. The dragging of her fingernails sent shivers along my spine. She didn't stop until her forehead touched mine. My new sense activated, which was... surprisingly not attractive in the least bit. Not because she wasn't attractive, my other senses were telling me details about her scent, the shape of her eyes, the texture and heat of her skin, and they had no complaints. But my power sense was... just not interested, I guess. "Now, how does this compare?"
What. "Bwuh."
"Yeah, I thought so." She stood up and stepped away, much to my disappointment. She turned and took a step away before stopping and looking back. "Oh, and just so we're clear, that wasn't 'all over you', either. If you want to know what that is like, you'll have to ask nicely."
Hey, brain, what am I supposed to do now? Any ideas? No? Of course not, what do you even do besides prop up my skull? I just watched as the three girls left, laughing with one another. It was a lovely view, and it's not like I had anything better to do.
Eventually Ben broke the silence. "So, I think we can take eloquent speaker off the list of Zach's possible secret superpowers."
....
And then it was gym class, where I got to awkwardly change in front of a bunch of other guys. Who were both trying to stare at me because apparently that was the new thing to do in this school, and trying not to stare at me because watching other dudes change is hella gay. Thankfully, no one tried to make conversation, so that was a mercifully quick humiliation.
Coach Murray, and you had better call him 'coach', not 'mister', was a large man in every sense of the word. Over six foot, and built like a linebacker that got hungry one day and ate a donut truck including the driver. He stood right outside the locker entrance and waited for us to all come outside and line line up before speaking. "Alright, in honor of Friday's win, we're doing flag football today."
Mutters of displeasure washed across the crowd. But, then, that would happen no matter what we were supposed to do. Meanwhile, the girls looked just about as happy as their coach- Mrs. Murray, yes our gym coaches are married- told them the same news. Unfortunately, Cassie wasn't in the same class with us, but I noticed Ferne in the back.
"Jones, Carlton, you're picking teams today." He paused for a second. "And, Parker, there was something said about you having powers?"
Oh god damn it, can we skip one class of this? "Yes, coach."
"You're out of the game. Go run laps or something."
"Uh, what?"
"That's the law, Parker. Imbued students are not allowed to participate in competitive sports against ordinary classmates." He actually looked pissed that he couldn't make me play, but then he always looked pissed.
"Oh. Guess I run laps, then." I stepped out of the line. This day was just full of awkward surprises.
"Actually, coach, mind if I beg out, too?" I looked for the source of the voice, and found Alex. "Still feeling a bit banged up, might be better just to take it easy until I'm at one hundred percent."
Coach Murray only paused a moment. "Remember to stretch, and if I don't see eight laps, I'd better get a doctor's note."
"Yes, coach." Alex caught up to me as I headed toward the track. Meanwhile, the others started calling names for their teams. "So, you and Cassie, huh?"
"Just inv..." No, that's not what he asked. "I have absolutely no idea what's up with her."
"I'd explain it to you, but I'm sure you've seen enough videos online."
"Not quite what I meant. Pretty sure she's only interested in me 'cause I have powers now."
Alex shrugged, kneeling down and doing leg stretches near the track. "Yeah, let's be real, it's only because of the powers. That doesn't mean you're not allowed to enjoy it. So go for it, unless you got someone you like better? And if you do, girls love when you turn down other girls to have a shot with them. Especially hotter ones. And Cassie might not be the hottest girl in the school, but she's definitely the hottest in our grade."
He has a point. I have to deal with the bullshit no matter what I do, so I may as well enjoy the benefits. "Is that why you're over here instead of getting picked first for the football game?"
"That and I think it's kinda fucked up that you got singled out like that and have to run the track alone. That's just not cool."
Oh, yay, just what I always wanted, people to feel bad for me. "Not being forced to play stupid games in gym, such hardship, woe is me. I think you just wanted to put the moves on me again."
"Well, seeing as Cassie tried and failed, I probably have a good shot." He stood up, having completed his stretches. "So, you planning to do the superhero thing?"
Sure, I'll get on that right after completing my plans to execute a fourteen year old. The police love to hire premeditated child murderers. "Still thinking about it. I mean, any idiot can be intimidating in a good costume, but my face is public. I've gotta do it without a mask."
"Oh, that's not so hard."
"For you, maybe. You're, like, everything they want superheroes to look like for the cameras."
"Now who's putting the moves on who?" He smiled at me. "Besides, that's easy enough to change. All a matter of the 'tude."
And just like that, he transformed in front of me. Not powers style, just in behavior. He slouched down a little, letting his shoulders slump. A quick run of his fingers through his hair turned a mane into a mop, partially obscuring his eyes. Like that, it was easier to notice flaws in his features I never picked up on before, like his somewhat too large Italian nose now stood out, making his whole face look different.
"See, it's all about 'tude. Body language and the way you carry yourself." And then he was back to standing upright and pushing his hair back into place.
That is freakin' insane. "Yeah, well, you can't hide the fact that you're ripped." And, by extension, I am not.
"True. But that just takes time and effort. It's good for you anyway. Plus it's a way to keep Cassie around after she gets bored with the whole 'has powers' thing. You've got some kind of weird teleportation, right?"
"Uh... yeah, kinda..." Who the hell figured that out so soon? "If I ever get hurt, I heal when teleporting. It cures any poisons and even stops me from getting tired. Or something. I haven't tested it enough to know everything about how it works."
"Huh, that means your body is your weapon. Even more reason to get in shape."
"Right, my ordinary human body."
"Don't sell the 'ordinary human body' short. You can do a lot of damage with just a human body and no concern for your own health. I mean, look at people on drugs like PCP or amphetamines. They shrug off bullets, get up after being hit by a car and break the car in the process, have nearly superhuman reaction times. That's not because these are some kind of gadget drugs or something. Everyone really is always capable of this all the time. As long as you don't mind the fact that you have to destroy yourself to do it."
"And... I have a power that means I don't mind."
"Exactly. And then there's all the other rules in a fight that other people have to follow. Like, only the really stupid and the incredibly cocky will ever go for the face. The bones in your skull are way tougher than the ones in your hands. And there's nothing you can hit other than the eyes which will really slow someone down in a fight. You can do a lot of damage just by letting someone hit you in the head."
And now I feel stupid for the times I hit Kitten in the face. If I'd gone for somewhere else... no, but she could regenerate, too, probably wouldn't have made a difference. "Okay, that's something they don't teach you just anywhere. Kinda like the whole changing your 'tude like that thing."
Alex shrugged. "Unfortunately, my dad and uncles are really into MMA, especially the IA exhibition matches. Personally, I think it's kinda twisted to watch people knife each other while crowds cheer, but you will learn a few things. The rest, that just takes an acting class or two."
Acting classes, that might not be a bad idea. "I've never really thought of any of it like that."
"That, and your powers might let you cheat at working out. Proper body building involves damaging your body so it heals back stronger. If you heal instantly when hurt, that means you might be able to get five or ten times as much actual exercise in the same amount of time. Especially since you could do, like, a hundred reps at your max or sprint for an hour. Shit like that would kill normal people, but you can treat it like a light warm up."
"Or that, I guess."
"Good, now, let's start running before Murray comes over here. Besides, I'm feeling competitive, and racing against someone who can't get tired sounds like fun."
"Superstar versus superhuman, huh?"
"Such an ego, you're no superstar."
"Okay, you're on."
===========================
A/N- I am a little sad I couldn't have ended this chapter where Cassie showed up at lunch. Would have been a fun cliffhanger. Oh well, still think this is one of my better chapters.
Tomorrow morning, at least, wasn't any different than yesterday afternoon. Schoolbus full of annoyance. I really needed to get a car one of these days. Mom and Dad didn't really have the money to pay for one, and Laura was even worse off. I might have been able to get something from the money I, uh, confiscated from Kitten's gang, but Laura would spend it better. No wonder so many supers went villain, that's where the money was.
American Lit had us on the Great Gatsby, one of the few novels after World War One that didn't bother including Imbued, save a few brief mentions of them being 'symbols of a changing world, unwelcomed by the upper class', and bits of speculation about Gatsby being one. Something I found annoying, until yesterday. Still didn't stop me from being bored to tears while reading the damn book. Fortunately, the teacher didn't bother calling on me to answer anything in this class. Miss Carter wasn't interested in anything humor, unless it related to her cats.
Physics was more my style. I'd always been pretty good with math, and this was just another kind of math. That and I got to sit with Ben, one of my few actual friends in school. Nerdy type, but with a razor sharp sense of humor, which made him great to hang out around.
"All over you, huh? Y'know, I'm pretty sure hallucinations means schizophrenia, not powers."
"Por que no los dos?" I shrugged when he just kept looking at me with his 'not buying it for a second' face. "Okay, fine, not literally. But if she gave me a closer look, her nipples would have poked out my eyes."
He smirked at me. "Okay, that sounds like Cassie. So, what were Eddie and Amber up to while you were getting a peep show?"
Probably thanking their lucky stars it would be at least another two or three projects before they'd need to work with either of us again. "Y'know, dude, you really should just ask her out already, I'm sure she'd be into it." Guys aren't exactly knocking down her door.
"I dunno, what if things get weird?"
"Bro, face it, you are weird. So is she, which is why it's perfect."
He suddenly decided looking at the clay was more interesting. "I don't want her to think I'm a stalker or something."
As opposed to actually being a stalker? "Well, the only difference between a stalker and a boy or girlfriend is how the recipient interprets the events."
I waited for a second to let him absorb my wisdom, and he started snickering. "I knew it was love when he used my own silk panties to chloroform me. I awoke to realize I was bound to an office chair. Facing a computer screen filled with lines of text, the gravity of the situation slowly dawned on me. I had found the man I would be with forever."
I fell face first on the desk, laughing. "It's like if Fifty Shades was honest about itself!" After a minute to recover, I finally sat back up. "See, you could just write her something. Not that, but something nice. I bet she'd love that high literature stuff."
"Zach, you only know literature from bathroom walls."
"Hey, that's not true!" I tried to act offended. "I also know limericks, and your mother's phone number. Seriously, though, you're good, and if Amber has half the brains she likes to think she does, she'll jump on the offer."
....
Ben and I had changed subjects like five or six times before class ended and we went to lunch. People made room for me to pass, as before. Fuck, some of the people that others normally made way for, like the more aggressive gang members, didn't bother me. That would change, eventually, as people got used to me. Someone would try to test my powers just to see what I was actually capable of, most likely as part of a gang initiation. That's the tradition, sending the henches after the hero to get an idea of their powers. I probably had a week or two before that.
Ben just watched in awe as everyone backed off. "Dude, you are so fucking lucky."
I cringed a little inside. Luck can kiss my lily white ass, this is only happening because I was stupid and overconfident. I picked up my pace. "Let's go, wouldn't want to hold up the rest of the students."
Ben hurried to catch up. "Dude, what's wrong?"
What's wrong is I'm a fuck up. "Just hungry is all. I kinda skipped breakfast."
"Cool." He didn't quite sound like he believed me, but as long as he didn't pester me about it too much I was good.
We went through the lunch line more or less unaccounted. Contrary to popular opinion, the food here wasn't so bad. All those soccer moms and their push for healthy options meant fresh fruit and veggies if you didn't want to take your chances with the deep fried mystery meat or gas station quality pizza. If Ben thought anything of me picking out a couple apples and a packet of baby carrots, he didn't bring that up, either.
I, as usual, picked my spot in what was generally considered the 'loser' section. Identified quite easily by the lack of gang paraphernalia or attractive females. Normally, this was a blessing, but it was also where the geeks stayed. And if you ever met a geek, you'd know how much they love superpowers. Well, unless you met Sarah. She was the exception that proved the rule.
"Hey, Zach! What powers do you have?" And here it starts.
"How'd you get them?" "How long have you had them" "Why didn't you tell us?" "Can I be your sidekick?"
Why didn't I pick a different table? "Guys. I don't have the power to answer a dozen questions at once. I haven't had them very long and I didn't want anyone to know. I'd rather make the supervillains work for that info." That'd sell at least some of them. I stepped into the gap between the table and bench and sat down. "But if you really wanna know, I can't be hurt." For very long. "Doesn't matter what you do, I'm untouchable."
"What? You're saying you're an eighth level Tank?" David, this time. He fit the nerdy kid stereotype down to the thick glasses and acne. "And that's all you've got?"
"Kinda, I guess." I really didn't feel like sharing my other tricks with them. "Don't have to eat or sleep, either." I confirmed the sleeping part last night, the second I dozed off my power popped and I was wide awake. I couldn't sleep if I wanted to.
David just looked at me like I was an idiot. "Nothing else? Bastion can share his invulnerability with others. And Guardian has the power to warp space and redirect attacks toward himself, or reach attackers faster."
"Yeah, I have a boring power, I know."
"Impossible power. No one ever gets only tank powers. It always comes with something else to make it useful."
Dammit, can't you take the hint? "Well, does never getting tired for any reason count? I could run without resting until I die of old age if I wanted." I paused for a second, hoping that'd be enough for him. "Actually, I don't even know if I can die of old age. Maybe I just haven't figured out the rest of my power?"
"You might be a Breaker," one of the freshmen girls I didn't know offered. "A lot of them have powers that only work if someone else is using powers on them. Like, you could also be immune to mind control or able to see invisible enemies." I would have to thank her later.
David let out an exaggerated sigh. "Seeing invisible is a Tracker power. To be a Breaker, you need to change how other powers work, not simply have a way to counter their powers using your own. Otherwise the category would be meaningless, since almost everyone has a power that can counter at least some other powers."
The girl sneered at him. "Don't ignore me! If he has some kind of Breaker power, he won't know what it is until he meets other Imbued. Therefor, there is absolutely no reason he can't be just a Tank."
"If he has another power, that means he's not just a Tank, he just doesn't- uh." David stopped speaking, distracted by something behind me.
"So, I'm told you were saying something about me being, and I quote, 'all over you'."
Why, hello there fear of death. I'd almost forgotten what you were like. It looks like you're planning to visit for a while. Come in, have a seat, would you like some tea? "Umm, hello, Cassie."
I turned to look at her. Oh, and apparently she brought two of her friends from the cheer squad along as backup. Lovely, now there's going to be three hot girls judging me instead of just one. Ben and the other nearby kids slowly scooted away from me. Traitors. "There may have been a bit of a misunderstanding."
"Yeah, there was definitely a misunderstanding." She placed her hands on my shoulders. "Just so we're clear, letting you get a bit of a peek is not 'all over you'."
I hurried to apologize. "No, you're absolutely right, I'll b-"
She bent over, her arms sliding down my back. The dragging of her fingernails sent shivers along my spine. She didn't stop until her forehead touched mine. My new sense activated, which was... surprisingly not attractive in the least bit. Not because she wasn't attractive, my other senses were telling me details about her scent, the shape of her eyes, the texture and heat of her skin, and they had no complaints. But my power sense was... just not interested, I guess. "Now, how does this compare?"
What. "Bwuh."
"Yeah, I thought so." She stood up and stepped away, much to my disappointment. She turned and took a step away before stopping and looking back. "Oh, and just so we're clear, that wasn't 'all over you', either. If you want to know what that is like, you'll have to ask nicely."
Hey, brain, what am I supposed to do now? Any ideas? No? Of course not, what do you even do besides prop up my skull? I just watched as the three girls left, laughing with one another. It was a lovely view, and it's not like I had anything better to do.
Eventually Ben broke the silence. "So, I think we can take eloquent speaker off the list of Zach's possible secret superpowers."
....
And then it was gym class, where I got to awkwardly change in front of a bunch of other guys. Who were both trying to stare at me because apparently that was the new thing to do in this school, and trying not to stare at me because watching other dudes change is hella gay. Thankfully, no one tried to make conversation, so that was a mercifully quick humiliation.
Coach Murray, and you had better call him 'coach', not 'mister', was a large man in every sense of the word. Over six foot, and built like a linebacker that got hungry one day and ate a donut truck including the driver. He stood right outside the locker entrance and waited for us to all come outside and line line up before speaking. "Alright, in honor of Friday's win, we're doing flag football today."
Mutters of displeasure washed across the crowd. But, then, that would happen no matter what we were supposed to do. Meanwhile, the girls looked just about as happy as their coach- Mrs. Murray, yes our gym coaches are married- told them the same news. Unfortunately, Cassie wasn't in the same class with us, but I noticed Ferne in the back.
"Jones, Carlton, you're picking teams today." He paused for a second. "And, Parker, there was something said about you having powers?"
Oh god damn it, can we skip one class of this? "Yes, coach."
"You're out of the game. Go run laps or something."
"Uh, what?"
"That's the law, Parker. Imbued students are not allowed to participate in competitive sports against ordinary classmates." He actually looked pissed that he couldn't make me play, but then he always looked pissed.
"Oh. Guess I run laps, then." I stepped out of the line. This day was just full of awkward surprises.
"Actually, coach, mind if I beg out, too?" I looked for the source of the voice, and found Alex. "Still feeling a bit banged up, might be better just to take it easy until I'm at one hundred percent."
Coach Murray only paused a moment. "Remember to stretch, and if I don't see eight laps, I'd better get a doctor's note."
"Yes, coach." Alex caught up to me as I headed toward the track. Meanwhile, the others started calling names for their teams. "So, you and Cassie, huh?"
"Just inv..." No, that's not what he asked. "I have absolutely no idea what's up with her."
"I'd explain it to you, but I'm sure you've seen enough videos online."
"Not quite what I meant. Pretty sure she's only interested in me 'cause I have powers now."
Alex shrugged, kneeling down and doing leg stretches near the track. "Yeah, let's be real, it's only because of the powers. That doesn't mean you're not allowed to enjoy it. So go for it, unless you got someone you like better? And if you do, girls love when you turn down other girls to have a shot with them. Especially hotter ones. And Cassie might not be the hottest girl in the school, but she's definitely the hottest in our grade."
He has a point. I have to deal with the bullshit no matter what I do, so I may as well enjoy the benefits. "Is that why you're over here instead of getting picked first for the football game?"
"That and I think it's kinda fucked up that you got singled out like that and have to run the track alone. That's just not cool."
Oh, yay, just what I always wanted, people to feel bad for me. "Not being forced to play stupid games in gym, such hardship, woe is me. I think you just wanted to put the moves on me again."
"Well, seeing as Cassie tried and failed, I probably have a good shot." He stood up, having completed his stretches. "So, you planning to do the superhero thing?"
Sure, I'll get on that right after completing my plans to execute a fourteen year old. The police love to hire premeditated child murderers. "Still thinking about it. I mean, any idiot can be intimidating in a good costume, but my face is public. I've gotta do it without a mask."
"Oh, that's not so hard."
"For you, maybe. You're, like, everything they want superheroes to look like for the cameras."
"Now who's putting the moves on who?" He smiled at me. "Besides, that's easy enough to change. All a matter of the 'tude."
And just like that, he transformed in front of me. Not powers style, just in behavior. He slouched down a little, letting his shoulders slump. A quick run of his fingers through his hair turned a mane into a mop, partially obscuring his eyes. Like that, it was easier to notice flaws in his features I never picked up on before, like his somewhat too large Italian nose now stood out, making his whole face look different.
"See, it's all about 'tude. Body language and the way you carry yourself." And then he was back to standing upright and pushing his hair back into place.
That is freakin' insane. "Yeah, well, you can't hide the fact that you're ripped." And, by extension, I am not.
"True. But that just takes time and effort. It's good for you anyway. Plus it's a way to keep Cassie around after she gets bored with the whole 'has powers' thing. You've got some kind of weird teleportation, right?"
"Uh... yeah, kinda..." Who the hell figured that out so soon? "If I ever get hurt, I heal when teleporting. It cures any poisons and even stops me from getting tired. Or something. I haven't tested it enough to know everything about how it works."
"Huh, that means your body is your weapon. Even more reason to get in shape."
"Right, my ordinary human body."
"Don't sell the 'ordinary human body' short. You can do a lot of damage with just a human body and no concern for your own health. I mean, look at people on drugs like PCP or amphetamines. They shrug off bullets, get up after being hit by a car and break the car in the process, have nearly superhuman reaction times. That's not because these are some kind of gadget drugs or something. Everyone really is always capable of this all the time. As long as you don't mind the fact that you have to destroy yourself to do it."
"And... I have a power that means I don't mind."
"Exactly. And then there's all the other rules in a fight that other people have to follow. Like, only the really stupid and the incredibly cocky will ever go for the face. The bones in your skull are way tougher than the ones in your hands. And there's nothing you can hit other than the eyes which will really slow someone down in a fight. You can do a lot of damage just by letting someone hit you in the head."
And now I feel stupid for the times I hit Kitten in the face. If I'd gone for somewhere else... no, but she could regenerate, too, probably wouldn't have made a difference. "Okay, that's something they don't teach you just anywhere. Kinda like the whole changing your 'tude like that thing."
Alex shrugged. "Unfortunately, my dad and uncles are really into MMA, especially the IA exhibition matches. Personally, I think it's kinda twisted to watch people knife each other while crowds cheer, but you will learn a few things. The rest, that just takes an acting class or two."
Acting classes, that might not be a bad idea. "I've never really thought of any of it like that."
"That, and your powers might let you cheat at working out. Proper body building involves damaging your body so it heals back stronger. If you heal instantly when hurt, that means you might be able to get five or ten times as much actual exercise in the same amount of time. Especially since you could do, like, a hundred reps at your max or sprint for an hour. Shit like that would kill normal people, but you can treat it like a light warm up."
"Or that, I guess."
"Good, now, let's start running before Murray comes over here. Besides, I'm feeling competitive, and racing against someone who can't get tired sounds like fun."
"Superstar versus superhuman, huh?"
"Such an ego, you're no superstar."
"Okay, you're on."
===========================
A/N- I am a little sad I couldn't have ended this chapter where Cassie showed up at lunch. Would have been a fun cliffhanger. Oh well, still think this is one of my better chapters.
Last edited:
Price, Chapter Eleven
TanaNari
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Chapter 11
Our race started badly for me. It took less than a minute before my chest tightened, and I was on the ground next to two copies of myself. One in mid running stride, the other planted face first into the rubber of the track. I knew based upon my fight with Kitten that I could get up to seven or eight bodies under the right circumstances, but there was dignity in having your ass handed to you by one of the scariest Imbued on the continent. Just seeing it stuck up into the air like this, not so much.
At least it broke down fast enough that my classmates didn't really get a chance to look. "Okay, does your power always work like that?" Except for Alex. He offered his hand to help me up.
I accepted, and the snap of information flooded my senses. Dude was in stupid good health, or at least I couldn't detect anything that suggested otherwise. "Nah, just lost my balance. First time I've ever tried to run with these powers." And it hurt like a bitch, too. "I'm pretty new to them."
"Wanna call off the race?" Alex offered.
"Nah, I think I'm good, gotta figure it out eventually, right?"
"Cool." We got in position. "Three, two, one, go!"
This time, when I took off I was prepared for it. I lasted a bit longer before my lungs started to burn, and then there was the snap of pain as my body was remade and the old one returned to light. I stumbled, but kept my footing and kept running. Alex was ahead of me, but not by as much as I'd expected. I can do this. I pushed harder.
There was a snap as my power activated again, and this time I barely slipped at all. It hurt, like a hard slap only covering my whole body, but I was no stranger to pain. Throughout my life I had to be careful of everything. Asthma like mine was one of those things that trained you to fear breathing, let alone a real workout. Compared to the surgeries and fear that the next incident could be the last, this pain was meaningless. No, it was very much meaningful. It was liberation from the past. It was freedom.
Snap. My perceptions shifted again. Now that I was testing it, I discovered a bit of a trick. I could control, somewhat, where I appeared. Before I'd been doing it on instinct, getting myself in positions that could let me attack Kitten. Now I was aware that I had control. Manifesting directly in front of my old self, cheating in a foot or two of distance each time. Alex still had the lead, but I was catching up. More than that, I was getting faster now that I figured out what I could do, and he would have to slow down eventually.
It took six laps for me to do it, but I did take the lead. By this time, the four teams on the football field had stopped playing to watch us race. For the first time since my powers became public, I was having fun. We were getting to the final stretch and I was going to- and then Alex shot past me. Holy shit, he is faster than me, by a whole fucking lot in fact. And just like that, I lost the race.
You asshole, you let me think I could win. "So, what was that at the end?"
He was bent over, gasping. "That. Hardest. Ever run. Water. Please."
Well, at least I made him work for it. "Uh, sure, I'll be back in a minute." I started jogging over to where they kept the bottled water, then decided that it was more fun to sprint, considering I only had seconds before I set off my asthma no matter how fast I was running. A couple snaps of my power later, and I was back to Alex. "Here's your water. I'm pretty sure it's not really from a mountain spring."
He smiled and took the bottle. "Sure it is. The Potomac is from a mountain spring, too."
"Plus or minus sewage, drug needles, and a few bodies." I watched as he chugged the bottle. "So, why'd you hold back until the very end there?"
"What?" He looked at me, confused.
"Letting me have the lead until the end. You coulda done that whenever you wanted."
"That's how you're... well, how everyone without powers at least, is supposed to run. You can be a machine, but the rest of us have limits. Burning up too much strength early means you'll tire out before the race is over. So you save it for the last possible moment. If we're being honest, I almost didn't make it. One lap longer, or if it were a lot hotter or colder out, or you were even a bit faster, or if I didn't have years of training to know my limits and how to push past them. I was so close to losing it's not funny."
"Good to know. Too bad I'm disqualified from sports forever and will never be able to use it."
"I dunno, you could probably apply it to fighting villains. Let them think they have a chance, then they'll wear themselves out trying to fight you instead of realizing it's impossible and running away instead."
"That's a pretty good idea." It even almost worked on Kitten, and she had super combat skills to fight me with. Though I had no clue if she actually could get tired, considering she was able to regenerate. "Maybe I can use that to help a team. Draw fire until everyone's too tired to fight before my friends finish the job."
"That's a strategy some track teams employ. Having one of their own run too hard, and hope the other team tries to keep up and burns themselves out. It really doesn't work that well, since everyone knows that trick and how to not fall for it. But it could work against supervillains. Unless they're like you and don't get tired, at least. But even then, you'll be able to figure out how their powers work without anyone getting hurt. Call yourself the Human Decoy or something."
Sounds like a really uncomfortable battle plan. "That's goddamn perfect." Then I thought about the things Kitten suggested, like Captain Jihad and Whipping Boy. Human Decoy had similarly unpleasant connotations. "The name needs a lot of work, however."
"Probably."
Not much was said after that. Little ideas about how to use my power to draw fire toward me instead of more vulnerable targets, costume designs, stuff like that. Then Alex hit the showers early. Since my power was apparently self cleaning except for other people's blood, I skipped the shower and changed back to normal clothes before anyone else got to the locker room. I didn't plan on changing around other people.
Biology was next, and that went about as well as biology always did. I was kinda curious how my power sense would handle dissecting frogs, but, well, that would never happen. They weren't gonna give us access to scalpels or chemicals. So this was one of those boring classes where the teacher didn't try to make us do group projects or any such crap as that. Simply sit down, shut up, and get instructed on what you'd need to test for this week. It was boring as hell, but I was left alone.
And then the hallway after school. Now that about fifty people had seen my power used I don't know how many times, the only doubts left about my abilities was just how much I was actually capable of. They probably already decided I couldn't fly, but flight was a pretty uncommon power to begin with. The common wisdom was that every Imbued came with at least one way to hurt someone. The ones that didn't instead were even more scary, like the mind readers and precogs who could ruin you without any violence being used whatsoever.
A pair of hands wrapped around my face from behind. The flash of power insight let me know it was Cassie before she even spoke. "So, I'm guessing you don't come with eyes in the back of your head, either."
After giving Alex a run for his money, I was actually feeling really good about myself right now. "Nope, but what I do have is infinite stamina." Huh, so apparently I can tell if someone's breathing and heart rate suddenly change. "Didn't you say something about requiring me to ask nicely, first?"
It didn't take long for her get control of her emotions. She took her hands away from my eyes. "Have to give you the chance to ask, right?"
I shrugged, suddenly realizing what I just said. Making jokes was one thing, but following through with someone who implied she'd say yes was scary as hell. That and everyone was watching us right now. "Yeah, I guess you have a point." I turned to face her. "So, what's up?"
She fidgeted slightly. "Just wondering what you had planned after school."
"Umm, studying, mostly." I glanced at the other students filing past us. One of the hottest girls in the school chatting up the only known Imbued in the school wasn't enough to risk missing the bus. Although if the statistics were right, there should be at least a couple more of us here. Maybe even as many as ten, since this school had a lot of 'at risk' students. Clearly, they were much better at hiding their powers than I was.
"The teachers giving you a hard time?"
"Not school homework. There's a lot of things I need to know, now that I have powers."
"So, you're totes doing the hero thing, huh?"
"Hey, maybe I wanna be a villain instead, ever thought of that?"
She laughed, perhaps a little louder than was needed for such a lame joke. "I really didn't take you for the bad boy type."
I had no idea how to approach that one. My mind went immediately to Erica, the kinds of guys she liked. "No, I can't imagine anyone would."
"That's a compliment, trust me," she smiled, stepping just a little closer. "I know a lot of girls actually go for that sorta thing, but they're stupid. Bad boys grow up to be bad men, usually with drug problems and a felony."
"Well, drugs don't work on me, so no problems there." But if you want a guy who's not likely to have a felony, you may want to keep looking. I tried to ignore her functionally calling Erica stupid, too. "It's gonna take weeks before I'm ready to actually go out on patrol. Now, I'd better go before I miss the bus."
"I can drive you home." She hesitated for a moment. "Y'know, it'll be faster. Then you can maybe get a head start on the whole hero business."
"That's..." I was about to tell her no, but then I caught the look in her eye. The one that no heterosexual man was going to say no to. "... really nice of you. But I wouldn't want to inconvenience you."
"It's cool. My afternoon's pretty clear today. We can hang out for a little while, you can show me what you're doing."
Cassie's car wasn't all that impressive, the thing was probably older than she was, but this was not the sort of school that had 'rich kids'. Those of us that had nice cars usually got them by selling drugs. Or themselves, there was always that option. We road in relative silence, making small talk about the day, classmates, and me filling her in about my race with Alex. She heard a few things from some of the other girls. She tried to make it sound like I was the star of that spectacle, but it was clear enough that Alex won the popularity contest. After all, he managed to beat the superhuman.
I was okay with letting him have the spotlight. It was kind of a risk letting the gangs know I could be beaten, if only in a foot race, but he earned it. Besides, I had a lot of ideas how to actually use my powers as a weapon now, thanks to him. Things I wish I knew about when I fought Kitten. The more I thought about it, the more things I knew I did wrong in that fight. But eventually we wound up at my home.
"So, umm, thanks for the ride." I had no idea what I was supposed to do next. "Do you, uh, want to come in? I can show you my work."
She smiled at me. "Sure, that sounds like fun."
It wasn't until we were inside that I realized I made a slight miscalculation. "Umm, we'll have to go to my bedroom. That's where I keep my computer."
"I guess that makes sense." She followed me back, taking the occasional glance. I hoped I didn't make too bad an impression. We didn't exactly have the nicest furnishings, but at least we weren't livin' it ghetto style. I tapped a kitchen chair on our way through.
"Sorry, my room's a bit disorganized." I kicked a dirty shirt under my bed. I'd pick it up later. Probably.
"No, that's fine. You should see my bedroom." She looked around after a moment. "Uh, you only have one chair." She smiled slyly. "Do you want me on the bed?"
Oh, you have absolutely no idea. I activated my power, calling up the chair my power had memorized. "Nah, I got that covered."
"You have the power to create furniture?"
I set the chair down next to my computer desk. "Not exactly. I can just teleport things I've touched. It's how I can use my power without, y'know, losing my clothes." I decided not to tell her I could do that to other people, sans clothing. I didn't want her thinking that I could just randomly undress her with a thought. Not yet, at least. "If someone hits me with a weapon, I can take it away from them. Or a bunch of other tricks that'll help me fight villains."
"That's really cool."
"I know, right?" The powers thing was kinda cool, after all. I slid my nice chair out, and let it roll a bit to Cassie. "Here you go."
"You're letting me use the nice chair?"
"You're kinda my guest, it'd be rude not to."
She smiled at me, pushing the chair back. "Thanks, but I think I have a better idea. Have a seat."
"Uh, okay?" I sat down, and she sat down on my lap.
"So, do you think this works?"
I have a girl in my lap. So yes, whatever it is, it's totally working for me right now. Oh shit, I need to find something to think about other than her in my lap right now. "Yeah, this works, now let's get to work." I used my feet to pull them over to the computer. It was only on sleep mode, so it booted up fast enough. I started going through details about all the different hero and villain groups, how I was planning to take out a few of the smaller ones first just to get a reputation, then build a team and go for the bigger names.
"Uh, why don't you just join the official heroes?" Cassie asked after a bit.
Kitten. "I don't think they're doing a good job. Seriously, when was the last time you met a cop that actually helps people? Powers or otherwise. They only protect the people who already have money and power, the ones that don't need them to begin with. I want to help the people who actually need help. And joining the police will only get in the way of that."
Cassie hesitated for a moment. "I guess you're right." She leaned back against me, giving me a view that distracted me from the computer. "It would be kinda nice to have heroes actually be heroes again, instead of just cops with extra powers."
"Uh, yeah. So, umm, does this count as 'all over me', now?" I shifted my head a bit closer to hers. She was really, absurdly, beautiful, and at some point I just lost interest in trying to ignore that.
She looked over her shoulder to face me. "I guess it does." She leaned in a bit, and a moment later I was surprised to realize we were kissing. Her lips were really, really nice. Soft, warm, and they tasted like cotton candy. I didn't even know they had cotton candy flavored lipstick, but that's what Cassie was using. "I'll just pretend this is how you asked nicely."
"That works." I went in to kiss her again, glad she didn't seem to think I was doing a bad job. I wrapped my arms around her, and let my hands do a bit of wandering, slipping under her shirt. Her heartbeat started to increase, and I let my hands slide up.
Then she grabbed my arms. "No!"
I stopped, and she stood up. "Uh." Fuck.
She glanced at my door. "Umm, I think I should go now." She was already rushing out the door. I thought about chasing after her, but then what would I say? God damn it.
The rest of the night wasn't exactly thrilling. Mom came home with more takeout, and I tried to focus on school or hero work instead of on Cassie. I'd have to see her tomorrow, try to find a way to talk to her in private. Apologize for fucking up and scaring her off. I just didn't want her to... I wasn't even sure what I wanted. I'd just have to start with finding a way to tell her I'm sorry.
======================
A/N- Zach should just go for Alex. Way less drama that way.
Our race started badly for me. It took less than a minute before my chest tightened, and I was on the ground next to two copies of myself. One in mid running stride, the other planted face first into the rubber of the track. I knew based upon my fight with Kitten that I could get up to seven or eight bodies under the right circumstances, but there was dignity in having your ass handed to you by one of the scariest Imbued on the continent. Just seeing it stuck up into the air like this, not so much.
At least it broke down fast enough that my classmates didn't really get a chance to look. "Okay, does your power always work like that?" Except for Alex. He offered his hand to help me up.
I accepted, and the snap of information flooded my senses. Dude was in stupid good health, or at least I couldn't detect anything that suggested otherwise. "Nah, just lost my balance. First time I've ever tried to run with these powers." And it hurt like a bitch, too. "I'm pretty new to them."
"Wanna call off the race?" Alex offered.
"Nah, I think I'm good, gotta figure it out eventually, right?"
"Cool." We got in position. "Three, two, one, go!"
This time, when I took off I was prepared for it. I lasted a bit longer before my lungs started to burn, and then there was the snap of pain as my body was remade and the old one returned to light. I stumbled, but kept my footing and kept running. Alex was ahead of me, but not by as much as I'd expected. I can do this. I pushed harder.
There was a snap as my power activated again, and this time I barely slipped at all. It hurt, like a hard slap only covering my whole body, but I was no stranger to pain. Throughout my life I had to be careful of everything. Asthma like mine was one of those things that trained you to fear breathing, let alone a real workout. Compared to the surgeries and fear that the next incident could be the last, this pain was meaningless. No, it was very much meaningful. It was liberation from the past. It was freedom.
Snap. My perceptions shifted again. Now that I was testing it, I discovered a bit of a trick. I could control, somewhat, where I appeared. Before I'd been doing it on instinct, getting myself in positions that could let me attack Kitten. Now I was aware that I had control. Manifesting directly in front of my old self, cheating in a foot or two of distance each time. Alex still had the lead, but I was catching up. More than that, I was getting faster now that I figured out what I could do, and he would have to slow down eventually.
It took six laps for me to do it, but I did take the lead. By this time, the four teams on the football field had stopped playing to watch us race. For the first time since my powers became public, I was having fun. We were getting to the final stretch and I was going to- and then Alex shot past me. Holy shit, he is faster than me, by a whole fucking lot in fact. And just like that, I lost the race.
You asshole, you let me think I could win. "So, what was that at the end?"
He was bent over, gasping. "That. Hardest. Ever run. Water. Please."
Well, at least I made him work for it. "Uh, sure, I'll be back in a minute." I started jogging over to where they kept the bottled water, then decided that it was more fun to sprint, considering I only had seconds before I set off my asthma no matter how fast I was running. A couple snaps of my power later, and I was back to Alex. "Here's your water. I'm pretty sure it's not really from a mountain spring."
He smiled and took the bottle. "Sure it is. The Potomac is from a mountain spring, too."
"Plus or minus sewage, drug needles, and a few bodies." I watched as he chugged the bottle. "So, why'd you hold back until the very end there?"
"What?" He looked at me, confused.
"Letting me have the lead until the end. You coulda done that whenever you wanted."
"That's how you're... well, how everyone without powers at least, is supposed to run. You can be a machine, but the rest of us have limits. Burning up too much strength early means you'll tire out before the race is over. So you save it for the last possible moment. If we're being honest, I almost didn't make it. One lap longer, or if it were a lot hotter or colder out, or you were even a bit faster, or if I didn't have years of training to know my limits and how to push past them. I was so close to losing it's not funny."
"Good to know. Too bad I'm disqualified from sports forever and will never be able to use it."
"I dunno, you could probably apply it to fighting villains. Let them think they have a chance, then they'll wear themselves out trying to fight you instead of realizing it's impossible and running away instead."
"That's a pretty good idea." It even almost worked on Kitten, and she had super combat skills to fight me with. Though I had no clue if she actually could get tired, considering she was able to regenerate. "Maybe I can use that to help a team. Draw fire until everyone's too tired to fight before my friends finish the job."
"That's a strategy some track teams employ. Having one of their own run too hard, and hope the other team tries to keep up and burns themselves out. It really doesn't work that well, since everyone knows that trick and how to not fall for it. But it could work against supervillains. Unless they're like you and don't get tired, at least. But even then, you'll be able to figure out how their powers work without anyone getting hurt. Call yourself the Human Decoy or something."
Sounds like a really uncomfortable battle plan. "That's goddamn perfect." Then I thought about the things Kitten suggested, like Captain Jihad and Whipping Boy. Human Decoy had similarly unpleasant connotations. "The name needs a lot of work, however."
"Probably."
Not much was said after that. Little ideas about how to use my power to draw fire toward me instead of more vulnerable targets, costume designs, stuff like that. Then Alex hit the showers early. Since my power was apparently self cleaning except for other people's blood, I skipped the shower and changed back to normal clothes before anyone else got to the locker room. I didn't plan on changing around other people.
Biology was next, and that went about as well as biology always did. I was kinda curious how my power sense would handle dissecting frogs, but, well, that would never happen. They weren't gonna give us access to scalpels or chemicals. So this was one of those boring classes where the teacher didn't try to make us do group projects or any such crap as that. Simply sit down, shut up, and get instructed on what you'd need to test for this week. It was boring as hell, but I was left alone.
And then the hallway after school. Now that about fifty people had seen my power used I don't know how many times, the only doubts left about my abilities was just how much I was actually capable of. They probably already decided I couldn't fly, but flight was a pretty uncommon power to begin with. The common wisdom was that every Imbued came with at least one way to hurt someone. The ones that didn't instead were even more scary, like the mind readers and precogs who could ruin you without any violence being used whatsoever.
A pair of hands wrapped around my face from behind. The flash of power insight let me know it was Cassie before she even spoke. "So, I'm guessing you don't come with eyes in the back of your head, either."
After giving Alex a run for his money, I was actually feeling really good about myself right now. "Nope, but what I do have is infinite stamina." Huh, so apparently I can tell if someone's breathing and heart rate suddenly change. "Didn't you say something about requiring me to ask nicely, first?"
It didn't take long for her get control of her emotions. She took her hands away from my eyes. "Have to give you the chance to ask, right?"
I shrugged, suddenly realizing what I just said. Making jokes was one thing, but following through with someone who implied she'd say yes was scary as hell. That and everyone was watching us right now. "Yeah, I guess you have a point." I turned to face her. "So, what's up?"
She fidgeted slightly. "Just wondering what you had planned after school."
"Umm, studying, mostly." I glanced at the other students filing past us. One of the hottest girls in the school chatting up the only known Imbued in the school wasn't enough to risk missing the bus. Although if the statistics were right, there should be at least a couple more of us here. Maybe even as many as ten, since this school had a lot of 'at risk' students. Clearly, they were much better at hiding their powers than I was.
"The teachers giving you a hard time?"
"Not school homework. There's a lot of things I need to know, now that I have powers."
"So, you're totes doing the hero thing, huh?"
"Hey, maybe I wanna be a villain instead, ever thought of that?"
She laughed, perhaps a little louder than was needed for such a lame joke. "I really didn't take you for the bad boy type."
I had no idea how to approach that one. My mind went immediately to Erica, the kinds of guys she liked. "No, I can't imagine anyone would."
"That's a compliment, trust me," she smiled, stepping just a little closer. "I know a lot of girls actually go for that sorta thing, but they're stupid. Bad boys grow up to be bad men, usually with drug problems and a felony."
"Well, drugs don't work on me, so no problems there." But if you want a guy who's not likely to have a felony, you may want to keep looking. I tried to ignore her functionally calling Erica stupid, too. "It's gonna take weeks before I'm ready to actually go out on patrol. Now, I'd better go before I miss the bus."
"I can drive you home." She hesitated for a moment. "Y'know, it'll be faster. Then you can maybe get a head start on the whole hero business."
"That's..." I was about to tell her no, but then I caught the look in her eye. The one that no heterosexual man was going to say no to. "... really nice of you. But I wouldn't want to inconvenience you."
"It's cool. My afternoon's pretty clear today. We can hang out for a little while, you can show me what you're doing."
Cassie's car wasn't all that impressive, the thing was probably older than she was, but this was not the sort of school that had 'rich kids'. Those of us that had nice cars usually got them by selling drugs. Or themselves, there was always that option. We road in relative silence, making small talk about the day, classmates, and me filling her in about my race with Alex. She heard a few things from some of the other girls. She tried to make it sound like I was the star of that spectacle, but it was clear enough that Alex won the popularity contest. After all, he managed to beat the superhuman.
I was okay with letting him have the spotlight. It was kind of a risk letting the gangs know I could be beaten, if only in a foot race, but he earned it. Besides, I had a lot of ideas how to actually use my powers as a weapon now, thanks to him. Things I wish I knew about when I fought Kitten. The more I thought about it, the more things I knew I did wrong in that fight. But eventually we wound up at my home.
"So, umm, thanks for the ride." I had no idea what I was supposed to do next. "Do you, uh, want to come in? I can show you my work."
She smiled at me. "Sure, that sounds like fun."
It wasn't until we were inside that I realized I made a slight miscalculation. "Umm, we'll have to go to my bedroom. That's where I keep my computer."
"I guess that makes sense." She followed me back, taking the occasional glance. I hoped I didn't make too bad an impression. We didn't exactly have the nicest furnishings, but at least we weren't livin' it ghetto style. I tapped a kitchen chair on our way through.
"Sorry, my room's a bit disorganized." I kicked a dirty shirt under my bed. I'd pick it up later. Probably.
"No, that's fine. You should see my bedroom." She looked around after a moment. "Uh, you only have one chair." She smiled slyly. "Do you want me on the bed?"
Oh, you have absolutely no idea. I activated my power, calling up the chair my power had memorized. "Nah, I got that covered."
"You have the power to create furniture?"
I set the chair down next to my computer desk. "Not exactly. I can just teleport things I've touched. It's how I can use my power without, y'know, losing my clothes." I decided not to tell her I could do that to other people, sans clothing. I didn't want her thinking that I could just randomly undress her with a thought. Not yet, at least. "If someone hits me with a weapon, I can take it away from them. Or a bunch of other tricks that'll help me fight villains."
"That's really cool."
"I know, right?" The powers thing was kinda cool, after all. I slid my nice chair out, and let it roll a bit to Cassie. "Here you go."
"You're letting me use the nice chair?"
"You're kinda my guest, it'd be rude not to."
She smiled at me, pushing the chair back. "Thanks, but I think I have a better idea. Have a seat."
"Uh, okay?" I sat down, and she sat down on my lap.
"So, do you think this works?"
I have a girl in my lap. So yes, whatever it is, it's totally working for me right now. Oh shit, I need to find something to think about other than her in my lap right now. "Yeah, this works, now let's get to work." I used my feet to pull them over to the computer. It was only on sleep mode, so it booted up fast enough. I started going through details about all the different hero and villain groups, how I was planning to take out a few of the smaller ones first just to get a reputation, then build a team and go for the bigger names.
"Uh, why don't you just join the official heroes?" Cassie asked after a bit.
Kitten. "I don't think they're doing a good job. Seriously, when was the last time you met a cop that actually helps people? Powers or otherwise. They only protect the people who already have money and power, the ones that don't need them to begin with. I want to help the people who actually need help. And joining the police will only get in the way of that."
Cassie hesitated for a moment. "I guess you're right." She leaned back against me, giving me a view that distracted me from the computer. "It would be kinda nice to have heroes actually be heroes again, instead of just cops with extra powers."
"Uh, yeah. So, umm, does this count as 'all over me', now?" I shifted my head a bit closer to hers. She was really, absurdly, beautiful, and at some point I just lost interest in trying to ignore that.
She looked over her shoulder to face me. "I guess it does." She leaned in a bit, and a moment later I was surprised to realize we were kissing. Her lips were really, really nice. Soft, warm, and they tasted like cotton candy. I didn't even know they had cotton candy flavored lipstick, but that's what Cassie was using. "I'll just pretend this is how you asked nicely."
"That works." I went in to kiss her again, glad she didn't seem to think I was doing a bad job. I wrapped my arms around her, and let my hands do a bit of wandering, slipping under her shirt. Her heartbeat started to increase, and I let my hands slide up.
Then she grabbed my arms. "No!"
I stopped, and she stood up. "Uh." Fuck.
She glanced at my door. "Umm, I think I should go now." She was already rushing out the door. I thought about chasing after her, but then what would I say? God damn it.
The rest of the night wasn't exactly thrilling. Mom came home with more takeout, and I tried to focus on school or hero work instead of on Cassie. I'd have to see her tomorrow, try to find a way to talk to her in private. Apologize for fucking up and scaring her off. I just didn't want her to... I wasn't even sure what I wanted. I'd just have to start with finding a way to tell her I'm sorry.
======================
A/N- Zach should just go for Alex. Way less drama that way.
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Price, Chapter Twelve: Com
TanaNari
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Chapter 12- Com
The ability to transmit my consciousness anywhere I wanted was pretty damn nice. I could telecommute to work without the slightest of effort. Well, that was the theory. In reality, my boss shot that idea down so hard I never brought it up again. So I got to enjoy D.C. traffic twice a day.
I was only a step into my office when Silf spoke to me through the intercom. "Special project for you."
Oh joy. My computer started itself, thanks to Silf's commands. Nothing unusual, that. Silf was our tech support and genius hacker, amongst other things. She pretty much was our computer system. "So, how special is this special project?" I sat at my desk, looking at the screen.
"We have a new Imbued. He claims to have discovered his powers on Monday. Accidentally, in class. We have video of him from yesterday."
A video activated, showing a shitty cell video of two kids racing on a school track. It didn't take long to see what was so special, as one boy duplicated himself, and then the original dissolved into color. Yellow, blue, and green. Second stage, already? "He's lying about when he got his powers."
"We believe he is the Imbued who fought Kitten two days ago."
"You're shitting me."
"His power appears to be a self correcting short range teleportation. Making him a likely candidate for Tank Eight. For all of Kitten's known abilities, she doesn't have Breaker options."
"I thought we agreed that Anima went after Kitten. I mean, she did download the files, right?"
"Correct. However, recent forensics suggest the battle was ongoing for several minutes before before those files were accessed."
Which probably rules her out. "Why me? You know I'm not a recruiter. Why not Sympathy, this is the sort of thing she's best at."
"EV at less than five percent if we send Sympathy. Thimble's numbers suggest you have the greatest possible odds of a satisfactory result."
And because free will is for other people, we trust the precogs over any other factors. "So, what do we have on this kid? A primer for before I read the full report, please."
"Zachariah Matthew Parker, age sixteen. Student at Hamilton High. Average low B student. Based upon grade distribution, appears intelligent but unmotivated. Better than average math and science comprehension. Probable left brain thinker; I would suggest a logical, non-emotional approach."
"Could be why Sympathy's not top of the list. She's better at emotional methods than logical ones." Saying it out loud, I didn't buy it. Sympathy was a genius at understanding people. "That and the kid might be gay. Second class citizens always do get the lion's share of new Imbued.
"It is a theory worth considering. I shall see if I can find more evidence to that effect." Silf offered. "His parents are Michelle and Jacob Parker, divorced nine years ago. Mother is an administrative assistant at a pediatrics clinic, father is career military. Possible secondary approach could be through the father."
Okay. Now I just have to decide if Zach was the type of kid who wants to impress his father, or the type that wants to rebel. "He's got a highly visible power, which suggests he has a more attention seeking nature. His power's ability to protect him hints at a fear of physical harm. What are the odds that he's being abused?"
"Unlikely." Another video popped up, this time showing an interview between him and his principal. "Profiling suggests a distant relationship with his parents, but he does not show signs of fearing them or other adult figures."
In other words, the bog standard parent-teen relationship. "This is going to be a long day." I settled in for a detailed review of this kid who might be one of the strongest superhumans on the continent.
....
I manifested into the meeting room. A glow of red light, cast from my projection body, clashed with the florescent lights.
It struck me, that they were using their boardroom for this get together, and it still was pretty trashy. Smaller than I would have expected for a school with this many students, and there were clear signs that the drywall needed repairs. My low spectrum vision revealed even more, the layers of damage beneath the paint that indicated substandard repair work done on the walls. With a moment of concentration, I had my real body speak. "Silf, you in position?"
"I am always in position."
I surpressed an impulse to use that as a chance to flirt with her. Office romance was least of the reasons that was a bad idea. So I picked the least sexy topic imaginable. "While we're waiting, what's the policy on reporting rats in a school?"
"How certain are you?"
Silf probably knew more about how my vision worked than I did, so this was more for the sake of protocol than anything. "Well, they're either rats or squirrels. Which do you think is more likely to be crawling around under the floors? I'm counting around sixty or so in my range."
"Based upon your range and the average reproduction rate of common rat species in near ideal situations, I estimate the colony at two months old. I will file and submit a report of a suspected vermin infestation to Principal Jensen." Silf waited for a moment. "I am also including a list of assistance programs that the school qualifies for, yet has failed to file. It is likely the administration does not know about them, they are rather obscure."
"You've probably cost the taxpayers more in obscure grants and tax loopholes than Disney."
"All for good causes, I assure you. Now be ready, the suspect is almost there."
The door opened, giving me a view of both the Principal and the kid. Neither were someone I would glance twice at on the street. Zach got most of my attention. I scanned his body with the full suite of my vision. I long ago learned my power sight dropped as low as the microwave spectrum. Well, that's interesting.
"Good day. Do you prefer I call you Mister Parker, or Zach?" Simultaneously, I was talking to Silf. "He has no signs of old injuries. His power must have healed all surgical scars."
"Noting in file. Esper Value at tentative ninety seven percent." I resisted the urge to smile, Silf always did know how to flatter me.
The kid simply shrugged, awkwardly sitting down. "Doesn't really matter. So, are you always like this?"
Hmm, faking apathy. Again, bog standard teen behavior that reveals nothing. "This is my power in action. I create a projection and can speak or see through it. It's only a hologram, no ability to touch anything." I passed my hand through the desk a couple times while carefully making sure I didn't hit anything with my real body, and observing his emotional responses through my sight.
It only yielded a small amount of information. He was nervous, I knew that much, but there could be any number of reasons for that. There was another spike in emotion when I told him about my power, but I wasn't sure what that meant.
"So I'm not even important enough to send someone in person?" He tried to act annoyed by this, and on some level he may have been. He got a flashy power, after all, and that was always a sign of someone who wanted to be taken seriously. But the calming of his heart rate and breathing made it clear he was relieved by this news.
"I'm sure my boss has a good reason for that. Or maybe your principal asked him not to disrupt classes by having costumed heroes in the halls." All things that could be true and would hopefully put the kid at ease. "But we do want to talk to you about your abilities."
"This about yesterday? Coach Murray said to run laps, so I ran laps. I'm pretty sure I'm banned from gym forever, now."
Silf gave me a running commentary from her side. "My profile suggests he is upset by this. Change the subject."
"I expect that would be hard for you, having that option taken from you so abruptly by your powers. I've never been much of an athlete, myself." I gestured with my projection, it was an exact replica of my body and outfit after all. When I was Zach's age, I was the last kid picked in gym. Twenty years and about fifty pounds hadn't improved my physique from then. Hopefully pretending I didn't know that he was in the same boat before his powers would make him feel more confident. "Would you like a place to use your powers athletically? Even get training on using them better?"
His eyes narrowed in distrust. "You mean you want to sign me up for PREP, right? That's a really stupid name, by the way."
Silf realized it the same moment I did. Or maybe she was just giving me an extra second to make me feel like my thoughts weren't so much molasses compared to hers. "Someone has already talked to him about this. Trying to defend PREP will only alienate him further."
"Won't hear me arguing with that." Except all the times when I have to because it's part of my job. "But thousands of businesses have people dedicated solely to reading through and finding ideal candidates for jobs that would otherwise be incredibly hard to do. Even the lower end Imbued can make millions of dollars before they're twenty. I work part time for NASA, checking for possible damage to shuttles or the International Space Station."
"Yeah, I don't care. All the jobs my power can do are summed up as 'oops, but at least we don't have to pay for a funeral'. I'll pass, thanks." He sighed, perhaps a bit theatrically. "Look, I don't mean to be rude, but I have actual things to worry about and I was hoping to take care of them during lunch. So can we just put on a file that you did your best and I invoked my right as a red blooded 'murican to tell the government to fuck off? Because that would be awesome, thanks."
"We never stood a chance, did we?" I made extra careful not to accidentally say that with my projection form. I didn't think I was stressed enough to make that mistake, but there was no such thing as being too cautious.
"It appears we did not," Silf agreed.
"Okay, dropping the recruitment angle and treat this as an interview with a hostile witness." Simultaneously, I spoke through my projection. "Okay, let's just drop the bullshit and get straight to important part. We know about Kitten."
His heart rate jumped immediately. Nerve struck. The only question was which nerve. "Are you accusing me of something?"
I shuffled through approaches, plans of attack. "We know there was an encounter between her and an as yet unidentified Imbued. Someone, and we don't know who, fought her to a standstill and forced her to use powers she never revealed she had. There are only five Imbued in this region who rank high enough do such a thing. Four of them protect heads of state. And then there's Anima." Again, the increased heartbeat. "We'll be going after her next, assuming you're not our mystery vigilante."
"You can just keep looking, then. But out of curiosity, what if I were?"
Bingo. "There's not much we can do. The damage occurred to a condemned building, and there's no identified victim of a crime. Awful lot of blood, but testing's already confirmed that it belongs to a female regenerator. Congrats, you're one of exactly three people who've made Kitten bleed and lived to brag."
The kid shrugged, looking at the wall behind me. "Sounds like whoever did that was a real badass."
Someone else might have said something stupid about how powers are random, decided only by luck. But I knew better. We earned what we got, one way or another. "Yes, so if we have another top tier Imbued out there, they're going to be a priority target. Right now, we have the advantage of resources and found you first. But it won't be long before villains come to recruit."
His heart was racing now. "I expect this badass would be able to handle any villains that try."
"And his family? Does he have the power to protect them?" If this kid wanted to play that game, I'd go along with it.
"We both know villains don't go after families. Something about suicide by surge?"
Silf's voice distracted me a moment. "That is not common knowledge. He has been talking to someone."
"I'll keep fishing." I turned my attention back to Zach. "Sure, that's true of normal villains. But Kitten isn't a normal villain. Not only is she a violent psycho, she has a power that lets her see biopatterns. She can identify anyone she's encountered before, after they're out of costume." His heart jumped again. That was something I could take advantage of. "So, you see, we need to find this mystery Imbued who fought her, get his family into protection before she tracks them down." I knew I messed up before I even finished the sentence.
"Fuck you." He stood, his body language going hostile. It was an empty gesture considering I wasn't really there to be threatened. "If you gave one shit about Kitten's victims, you'd have stopped her years ago! Instead you've decided it's better just to let her run free than risk your own asses!"
"It appears our suspicions are correct. He could only know that information if he had access to restricted files." Silf caught that before I did. "This suggests that Anima shared that information with him. Sapphire will not be pleased."
That was drama I wished would stop chewing our metaphorical asses, but I noticed something else entirely. The kid was one of those.
I let my projection vanish and reappear closer to him, standing. I put my hand on his shoulder. I couldn't touch him, but my projections did generate the same amount of heat energy as a human body, he'd feel the warmth. "Listen to me, Zach. Believe it or not, I understand what you're going through. You're not the first Imbued whose powers came with a mission, the first to have the belief that he's the only one who can make a difference. I've seen this story repeated time and again. If you keep going down this path, it will destroy you. It's not worth it. She's not worth it."
"Don't you fucking dare-" His fist passed through me and slammed into the wall hard enough to break his hand. The shouting didn't stop when that body started to dissolve itself, it simply moved to another him. "-talk about Erica like that!" He'd already pulled open the door. "This conversation is over!"
Damn. "You saw that, didn't you?"
"The boost in proprioception and mental processing, negating any confusion about the perspective shift?"
I nodded. "He has a brief moment where he possesses both brains' abilities. Superhuman speed for a second or two."
"It confirms Tank Eight status. His ability to restore and cannibalize is a highly efficient defense, coupled with the secondaries to truly take advantage of the power."
I was more concerned with how Kitten had a similar ability to boost her mental abilities. This was going to involve a lot of paperwork.
....
Commander Mitchels didn't look at all pleased with my report. "Com, I agree with your assessment that Zach was a lost cause before you arrived, but it does not make our jobs easier when independents shout profanities at us while storming out of the room."
"There was critical information I didn't have. Some I still don't have. We know where he got the idea that we were avoiding a fight with Kitten."
Sapphire shifted, and I could tell that she was upset. She should be, this particular SNAFU fell at her feet as well. More than anything, though, I was a little surprised she actually cared about what she did to Anima. I wisely kept my mouth shut.
Sapphire looked over at Sympathy, and after a moment, she calmed down and became almost neutral about the whole affair. I knew they were Pairbonded, but it was still creepy as hell how their hearts literally beat in unison when they spoke to one another through their bond. It was downright nonhuman how they were so in tune with one another. Like those movies about spooky psychic twins, only they were my coworkers.
Mitchels brought us back on course. "It might be time to cut Anima off from our network. Letting her think we didn't know was an unorthodox plan in the first place, even if it has given us some good results. But giving this new kid access makes it too much a liability."
"You're probably right, Commander," Sapphire's voice was calm. Either she was the best actress in the world, or she didn't feel upset at all.
I didn't offer an opinion, this wasn't really my place to say. "I would like more information on Erica."
Silf, as always, was the first on the ball. "I believe I have found a match. Erica Tanner, classmate to his sister. Recently found murdered. Sealed juvenile record. Do I have permission to invoke Class Five protocols?"
Mitchels' heartrate jumped. "Is this really that dire?"
Time for me to jump to Silf's defense. "I believe it is. Zach's already functionally admitted to fighting Kitten once. Even new to his powers, he forced her to use abilities that confirm she's fourth stage. And he seems to have every intent on a rematch. It could be the catalyst."
Mitchels shook his head. "Do it."
"Erica Lynn Tanner, age twenty two, multiple priors for drug possession with intent to distribute starting at thirteen. CPS investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing by the father, who claimed to be unaware of her activities. Reported as a runaway at sixteen, hospitalized soon after due to a violent assault by her then boyfriend." Silf paused for a second. "It is a long file. She was found dead fifteen days ago. The murder was classified as gang violence, the girl a prostitute or drug runner operating the wrong streets."
I rubbed my eyes with my hand. "Bet you any amount of money if we reopen that investigation, we'll trace it straight to Kitten's feet." I took a slow breath. "What's worse, I'm pretty certain this was the source of Zach's Imbuement. And to make this a trifecta of bad news, I think he surged during his fight with her."
Sympathy spoke first. "That's a problem, maybe I should try to talk to him."
I shook my head. "No, no. We know he's in contact with Anima, enough that she gave him access to Kitten's records. I can't begin to guess what Anima told him, but I bet that's why Thimble said you were a bad choice."
Sympathy looked away from me, back toward Sapphire. The two of them were nowhere near as subtle as they thought they were. It was Sapphire that spoke up next. "Then the situation may not be as bad as it looks. He's already formed a strong rapport with Anima. It may be a loss in terms of recruitment, but if we keep Zach from starting a small war with Kitten, that would be victory enough. Anima will push for that as hard as anyone."
Mitchels finally came to a conclusion. "Okay, we can use that. Silf, it shouldn't be too long before Anima peaks in on his profile, to learn what we know about him. See if you can't drop hints to help her control him. Sympathy, Com, I'd like the two of you to help with any insights you can. And keep looking for ways to gain his cooperation. Hopefully we can stop this before it becomes a problem."
"Yes, sir." And God help us all if we can't.
======================
A/N- Somewhat early chapter today to make up for the late one Friday! Also- meet a bunch of new characters!
The ability to transmit my consciousness anywhere I wanted was pretty damn nice. I could telecommute to work without the slightest of effort. Well, that was the theory. In reality, my boss shot that idea down so hard I never brought it up again. So I got to enjoy D.C. traffic twice a day.
I was only a step into my office when Silf spoke to me through the intercom. "Special project for you."
Oh joy. My computer started itself, thanks to Silf's commands. Nothing unusual, that. Silf was our tech support and genius hacker, amongst other things. She pretty much was our computer system. "So, how special is this special project?" I sat at my desk, looking at the screen.
"We have a new Imbued. He claims to have discovered his powers on Monday. Accidentally, in class. We have video of him from yesterday."
A video activated, showing a shitty cell video of two kids racing on a school track. It didn't take long to see what was so special, as one boy duplicated himself, and then the original dissolved into color. Yellow, blue, and green. Second stage, already? "He's lying about when he got his powers."
"We believe he is the Imbued who fought Kitten two days ago."
"You're shitting me."
"His power appears to be a self correcting short range teleportation. Making him a likely candidate for Tank Eight. For all of Kitten's known abilities, she doesn't have Breaker options."
"I thought we agreed that Anima went after Kitten. I mean, she did download the files, right?"
"Correct. However, recent forensics suggest the battle was ongoing for several minutes before before those files were accessed."
Which probably rules her out. "Why me? You know I'm not a recruiter. Why not Sympathy, this is the sort of thing she's best at."
"EV at less than five percent if we send Sympathy. Thimble's numbers suggest you have the greatest possible odds of a satisfactory result."
And because free will is for other people, we trust the precogs over any other factors. "So, what do we have on this kid? A primer for before I read the full report, please."
"Zachariah Matthew Parker, age sixteen. Student at Hamilton High. Average low B student. Based upon grade distribution, appears intelligent but unmotivated. Better than average math and science comprehension. Probable left brain thinker; I would suggest a logical, non-emotional approach."
"Could be why Sympathy's not top of the list. She's better at emotional methods than logical ones." Saying it out loud, I didn't buy it. Sympathy was a genius at understanding people. "That and the kid might be gay. Second class citizens always do get the lion's share of new Imbued.
"It is a theory worth considering. I shall see if I can find more evidence to that effect." Silf offered. "His parents are Michelle and Jacob Parker, divorced nine years ago. Mother is an administrative assistant at a pediatrics clinic, father is career military. Possible secondary approach could be through the father."
Okay. Now I just have to decide if Zach was the type of kid who wants to impress his father, or the type that wants to rebel. "He's got a highly visible power, which suggests he has a more attention seeking nature. His power's ability to protect him hints at a fear of physical harm. What are the odds that he's being abused?"
"Unlikely." Another video popped up, this time showing an interview between him and his principal. "Profiling suggests a distant relationship with his parents, but he does not show signs of fearing them or other adult figures."
In other words, the bog standard parent-teen relationship. "This is going to be a long day." I settled in for a detailed review of this kid who might be one of the strongest superhumans on the continent.
....
I manifested into the meeting room. A glow of red light, cast from my projection body, clashed with the florescent lights.
It struck me, that they were using their boardroom for this get together, and it still was pretty trashy. Smaller than I would have expected for a school with this many students, and there were clear signs that the drywall needed repairs. My low spectrum vision revealed even more, the layers of damage beneath the paint that indicated substandard repair work done on the walls. With a moment of concentration, I had my real body speak. "Silf, you in position?"
"I am always in position."
I surpressed an impulse to use that as a chance to flirt with her. Office romance was least of the reasons that was a bad idea. So I picked the least sexy topic imaginable. "While we're waiting, what's the policy on reporting rats in a school?"
"How certain are you?"
Silf probably knew more about how my vision worked than I did, so this was more for the sake of protocol than anything. "Well, they're either rats or squirrels. Which do you think is more likely to be crawling around under the floors? I'm counting around sixty or so in my range."
"Based upon your range and the average reproduction rate of common rat species in near ideal situations, I estimate the colony at two months old. I will file and submit a report of a suspected vermin infestation to Principal Jensen." Silf waited for a moment. "I am also including a list of assistance programs that the school qualifies for, yet has failed to file. It is likely the administration does not know about them, they are rather obscure."
"You've probably cost the taxpayers more in obscure grants and tax loopholes than Disney."
"All for good causes, I assure you. Now be ready, the suspect is almost there."
The door opened, giving me a view of both the Principal and the kid. Neither were someone I would glance twice at on the street. Zach got most of my attention. I scanned his body with the full suite of my vision. I long ago learned my power sight dropped as low as the microwave spectrum. Well, that's interesting.
"Good day. Do you prefer I call you Mister Parker, or Zach?" Simultaneously, I was talking to Silf. "He has no signs of old injuries. His power must have healed all surgical scars."
"Noting in file. Esper Value at tentative ninety seven percent." I resisted the urge to smile, Silf always did know how to flatter me.
The kid simply shrugged, awkwardly sitting down. "Doesn't really matter. So, are you always like this?"
Hmm, faking apathy. Again, bog standard teen behavior that reveals nothing. "This is my power in action. I create a projection and can speak or see through it. It's only a hologram, no ability to touch anything." I passed my hand through the desk a couple times while carefully making sure I didn't hit anything with my real body, and observing his emotional responses through my sight.
It only yielded a small amount of information. He was nervous, I knew that much, but there could be any number of reasons for that. There was another spike in emotion when I told him about my power, but I wasn't sure what that meant.
"So I'm not even important enough to send someone in person?" He tried to act annoyed by this, and on some level he may have been. He got a flashy power, after all, and that was always a sign of someone who wanted to be taken seriously. But the calming of his heart rate and breathing made it clear he was relieved by this news.
"I'm sure my boss has a good reason for that. Or maybe your principal asked him not to disrupt classes by having costumed heroes in the halls." All things that could be true and would hopefully put the kid at ease. "But we do want to talk to you about your abilities."
"This about yesterday? Coach Murray said to run laps, so I ran laps. I'm pretty sure I'm banned from gym forever, now."
Silf gave me a running commentary from her side. "My profile suggests he is upset by this. Change the subject."
"I expect that would be hard for you, having that option taken from you so abruptly by your powers. I've never been much of an athlete, myself." I gestured with my projection, it was an exact replica of my body and outfit after all. When I was Zach's age, I was the last kid picked in gym. Twenty years and about fifty pounds hadn't improved my physique from then. Hopefully pretending I didn't know that he was in the same boat before his powers would make him feel more confident. "Would you like a place to use your powers athletically? Even get training on using them better?"
His eyes narrowed in distrust. "You mean you want to sign me up for PREP, right? That's a really stupid name, by the way."
Silf realized it the same moment I did. Or maybe she was just giving me an extra second to make me feel like my thoughts weren't so much molasses compared to hers. "Someone has already talked to him about this. Trying to defend PREP will only alienate him further."
"Won't hear me arguing with that." Except all the times when I have to because it's part of my job. "But thousands of businesses have people dedicated solely to reading through and finding ideal candidates for jobs that would otherwise be incredibly hard to do. Even the lower end Imbued can make millions of dollars before they're twenty. I work part time for NASA, checking for possible damage to shuttles or the International Space Station."
"Yeah, I don't care. All the jobs my power can do are summed up as 'oops, but at least we don't have to pay for a funeral'. I'll pass, thanks." He sighed, perhaps a bit theatrically. "Look, I don't mean to be rude, but I have actual things to worry about and I was hoping to take care of them during lunch. So can we just put on a file that you did your best and I invoked my right as a red blooded 'murican to tell the government to fuck off? Because that would be awesome, thanks."
"We never stood a chance, did we?" I made extra careful not to accidentally say that with my projection form. I didn't think I was stressed enough to make that mistake, but there was no such thing as being too cautious.
"It appears we did not," Silf agreed.
"Okay, dropping the recruitment angle and treat this as an interview with a hostile witness." Simultaneously, I spoke through my projection. "Okay, let's just drop the bullshit and get straight to important part. We know about Kitten."
His heart rate jumped immediately. Nerve struck. The only question was which nerve. "Are you accusing me of something?"
I shuffled through approaches, plans of attack. "We know there was an encounter between her and an as yet unidentified Imbued. Someone, and we don't know who, fought her to a standstill and forced her to use powers she never revealed she had. There are only five Imbued in this region who rank high enough do such a thing. Four of them protect heads of state. And then there's Anima." Again, the increased heartbeat. "We'll be going after her next, assuming you're not our mystery vigilante."
"You can just keep looking, then. But out of curiosity, what if I were?"
Bingo. "There's not much we can do. The damage occurred to a condemned building, and there's no identified victim of a crime. Awful lot of blood, but testing's already confirmed that it belongs to a female regenerator. Congrats, you're one of exactly three people who've made Kitten bleed and lived to brag."
The kid shrugged, looking at the wall behind me. "Sounds like whoever did that was a real badass."
Someone else might have said something stupid about how powers are random, decided only by luck. But I knew better. We earned what we got, one way or another. "Yes, so if we have another top tier Imbued out there, they're going to be a priority target. Right now, we have the advantage of resources and found you first. But it won't be long before villains come to recruit."
His heart was racing now. "I expect this badass would be able to handle any villains that try."
"And his family? Does he have the power to protect them?" If this kid wanted to play that game, I'd go along with it.
"We both know villains don't go after families. Something about suicide by surge?"
Silf's voice distracted me a moment. "That is not common knowledge. He has been talking to someone."
"I'll keep fishing." I turned my attention back to Zach. "Sure, that's true of normal villains. But Kitten isn't a normal villain. Not only is she a violent psycho, she has a power that lets her see biopatterns. She can identify anyone she's encountered before, after they're out of costume." His heart jumped again. That was something I could take advantage of. "So, you see, we need to find this mystery Imbued who fought her, get his family into protection before she tracks them down." I knew I messed up before I even finished the sentence.
"Fuck you." He stood, his body language going hostile. It was an empty gesture considering I wasn't really there to be threatened. "If you gave one shit about Kitten's victims, you'd have stopped her years ago! Instead you've decided it's better just to let her run free than risk your own asses!"
"It appears our suspicions are correct. He could only know that information if he had access to restricted files." Silf caught that before I did. "This suggests that Anima shared that information with him. Sapphire will not be pleased."
That was drama I wished would stop chewing our metaphorical asses, but I noticed something else entirely. The kid was one of those.
I let my projection vanish and reappear closer to him, standing. I put my hand on his shoulder. I couldn't touch him, but my projections did generate the same amount of heat energy as a human body, he'd feel the warmth. "Listen to me, Zach. Believe it or not, I understand what you're going through. You're not the first Imbued whose powers came with a mission, the first to have the belief that he's the only one who can make a difference. I've seen this story repeated time and again. If you keep going down this path, it will destroy you. It's not worth it. She's not worth it."
"Don't you fucking dare-" His fist passed through me and slammed into the wall hard enough to break his hand. The shouting didn't stop when that body started to dissolve itself, it simply moved to another him. "-talk about Erica like that!" He'd already pulled open the door. "This conversation is over!"
Damn. "You saw that, didn't you?"
"The boost in proprioception and mental processing, negating any confusion about the perspective shift?"
I nodded. "He has a brief moment where he possesses both brains' abilities. Superhuman speed for a second or two."
"It confirms Tank Eight status. His ability to restore and cannibalize is a highly efficient defense, coupled with the secondaries to truly take advantage of the power."
I was more concerned with how Kitten had a similar ability to boost her mental abilities. This was going to involve a lot of paperwork.
....
Commander Mitchels didn't look at all pleased with my report. "Com, I agree with your assessment that Zach was a lost cause before you arrived, but it does not make our jobs easier when independents shout profanities at us while storming out of the room."
"There was critical information I didn't have. Some I still don't have. We know where he got the idea that we were avoiding a fight with Kitten."
Sapphire shifted, and I could tell that she was upset. She should be, this particular SNAFU fell at her feet as well. More than anything, though, I was a little surprised she actually cared about what she did to Anima. I wisely kept my mouth shut.
Sapphire looked over at Sympathy, and after a moment, she calmed down and became almost neutral about the whole affair. I knew they were Pairbonded, but it was still creepy as hell how their hearts literally beat in unison when they spoke to one another through their bond. It was downright nonhuman how they were so in tune with one another. Like those movies about spooky psychic twins, only they were my coworkers.
Mitchels brought us back on course. "It might be time to cut Anima off from our network. Letting her think we didn't know was an unorthodox plan in the first place, even if it has given us some good results. But giving this new kid access makes it too much a liability."
"You're probably right, Commander," Sapphire's voice was calm. Either she was the best actress in the world, or she didn't feel upset at all.
I didn't offer an opinion, this wasn't really my place to say. "I would like more information on Erica."
Silf, as always, was the first on the ball. "I believe I have found a match. Erica Tanner, classmate to his sister. Recently found murdered. Sealed juvenile record. Do I have permission to invoke Class Five protocols?"
Mitchels' heartrate jumped. "Is this really that dire?"
Time for me to jump to Silf's defense. "I believe it is. Zach's already functionally admitted to fighting Kitten once. Even new to his powers, he forced her to use abilities that confirm she's fourth stage. And he seems to have every intent on a rematch. It could be the catalyst."
Mitchels shook his head. "Do it."
"Erica Lynn Tanner, age twenty two, multiple priors for drug possession with intent to distribute starting at thirteen. CPS investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing by the father, who claimed to be unaware of her activities. Reported as a runaway at sixteen, hospitalized soon after due to a violent assault by her then boyfriend." Silf paused for a second. "It is a long file. She was found dead fifteen days ago. The murder was classified as gang violence, the girl a prostitute or drug runner operating the wrong streets."
I rubbed my eyes with my hand. "Bet you any amount of money if we reopen that investigation, we'll trace it straight to Kitten's feet." I took a slow breath. "What's worse, I'm pretty certain this was the source of Zach's Imbuement. And to make this a trifecta of bad news, I think he surged during his fight with her."
Sympathy spoke first. "That's a problem, maybe I should try to talk to him."
I shook my head. "No, no. We know he's in contact with Anima, enough that she gave him access to Kitten's records. I can't begin to guess what Anima told him, but I bet that's why Thimble said you were a bad choice."
Sympathy looked away from me, back toward Sapphire. The two of them were nowhere near as subtle as they thought they were. It was Sapphire that spoke up next. "Then the situation may not be as bad as it looks. He's already formed a strong rapport with Anima. It may be a loss in terms of recruitment, but if we keep Zach from starting a small war with Kitten, that would be victory enough. Anima will push for that as hard as anyone."
Mitchels finally came to a conclusion. "Okay, we can use that. Silf, it shouldn't be too long before Anima peaks in on his profile, to learn what we know about him. See if you can't drop hints to help her control him. Sympathy, Com, I'd like the two of you to help with any insights you can. And keep looking for ways to gain his cooperation. Hopefully we can stop this before it becomes a problem."
"Yes, sir." And God help us all if we can't.
======================
A/N- Somewhat early chapter today to make up for the late one Friday! Also- meet a bunch of new characters!
Last edited:
Price, Chapter Thirteen
TanaNari
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Chapter 13
That god damn glowing red fatass! Shoulda called him something before I stormed out. I resolved to have a smartass line next time I saw him. Something along the lines of 'so, you're what happens when Santa knocks up Rudolf', yeah, that would have been perfect. I was half tempted to turn around and do just that, but I had more important things to worry about right now.
At least I didn't blow it and let something important slip. I didn't admit to fighting Kitten, which meant they couldn't touch me. I didn't let him see anything about my power that everyone didn't already know. In retrospect, showing off to Cassie wasn't bright, but even if she did blab about that one trick, I could cope. Not like I expected to hide that power for very long once I went public as a hero.
Lunch wasn't quite half over when I finally got to the room. Cassie was sitting with her cheerleader friends, and a couple of the jocks. Damn. I really hoped I'd be able to talk to her somewhere that wasn't totally conspicuous. I really didn't want her to tell me to go to hell publicly. At least, not this publicly. One of her friends, some brunette senior whose name I didn't know, noticed me first. Then Cassie looked up, and looked away a moment later. Well, fuck me then. I'd try to talk to her after school. We had history together fourth period, she'd have to skip to avoid me. And if she really wanted to avoid me that badly, I'd take that as her answer.
I glanced around for a place to sit. I wasn't in the mood for the geek table and another round of twenty questions about my powers. Wasn't really even in the mood for lunch, if we were being honest. So recently after a restore, and with all this crap on my mind, it was easier just to skip eating than force myself. I went over to Alex's table, instead.
Despite Alex being the cool sports star that didn't let the other jocks pick on the unpopular kids, his table was nothing but the sports guys and occasionally their girlfriends. In any other school, he'd be every geek's favorite person. In this school, well, there were still the gangs. I'd have to put that high on my list of things to fix here.
I opted to sit on the other side of the table from Alex, stopping behind that side. Had a guy from the football team there. One of the blockers, I didn't know his actual position, just that he was a big black guy. Like, pretty sure he was on 'roids big. "Hey, got some room for me?"
He looked around at me. "Kinda bu-" then he recognized me. "Ah, guess it can keep 'till practice." He scooted over a bit, prompting everyone to shuffle just a bit to the left to make space.
Alex shrugged. "Yeah, we can take care of it later, Bear."
Is that a nickname or his species? The quarters were still a bit cramped, but I had space enough. After sitting down I realized I barely came up to Bear's shoulders. "Sorry to be a bother, I hope I didn't interrupt anything important."
Alex shook his head. "Nothing that can't wait, just a scheduling issue. So, why aren't you hanging out with your girlfriend?"
"She's not my girlfriend." Oh, that didn't sound like a gradeschooler whining at all. "Still in the getting to know each other phase."
One of the girls spoke up, and again with the names I didn't know. "I heard you got into her car after school yesterday."
Not knowing about them doesn't stop them from knowing about me. Hurray. "All we did was talk. Mostly about school and superhero stuff." Can we please drop this conversation?
"Well, you better fix that soon." Bear jumped in. "Chicks like it when the guy takes charge. If you don't seal the deal, she'll find someone who will."
There were murmurs of agreement from a lot of the others who had decided this was the most interesting conversation at the table. I decided that explaining that I tried this and got shot down and yelled at was probably not the correct course of action, so instead I shrugged it off.
"You're probably right. On the plus side, at least I don't have to worry about standing girls up and lying about it because I'm scared to tell them I have powers. I don't know why they keep recycling that plot, it was already old in the sixties."
There was a painful pause before one of the girls spoke up. "Oh! Like Son of Manwolf Two!"
Another girl cut in. "Isn't that the one where Jackman does a full frontal scene?"
"Man, that scene was so badass!" One of the other guys laughed. "They blew up a building on him, and then showed him howling while regrowing his skin. My little brother almost threw up! Hey, do you think you could take being in an exploding building?"
A few expectant gazes turned my way. "Umm, yeah, I don't see why not. It doesn't matter how bad I'm hurt, my power kicks in and I'm fine a moment later." Compared to Kitten's attacks, an exploding building sounded cozy. "I'd probably just find myself standing on the sidewalk or something after a second."
Bear's voice cut in. "So, think you could take him? The movie Manwolf, I mean. I know the real one's dead."
I had no idea. Kitten would have eaten Manwolf alive, but I couldn't claim I held up much better. "Umm. Yeah, I think I would win that one. Sure, he might have claws and the ability to fight by sense of smell alone, but I can't be killed. There's no way he'd be able to beat me, and since his powers require eating fresh meat to charge up, I could just keep fighting him until he ran out of power and starved."
"You mean nothing can hurt you, at all?" Bear didn't seem to buy it.
No, plenty of things hurt like a bitch, I just can't be injured or killed. "Nothing I've run into so far." If I did have such an obvious vulnerability, Kitten would have shoved it down my throat already. "Unless I have some kind of special vulnerability to claws. I don't exactly make a habit of letting other men shove their fingers inside me." That earned a few chuckles and the occasional complaint. "But enough about my love life. Hey, Alex, how come we never see you with a girl?" Consider that payback for putting me on the spot earlier.
Alex shifted a bit. "That's... complicated."
"He has a mysterious girlfriend he won't tell us about because he's ashamed."
"It's true." Alex smirked, looking at the guy who made that comment. "But can you blame me? Anyone would be ashamed to introduce girls to my friends."
There was a chorus of retorts. I only heard a few of them. "That's cold." "Asshole." "I see how it be." A balled up wrapper came out of nowhere, and Alex was barely able to block it in time. It was all good natured, though.
Alex just shook his head. "In all seriousness, it's complex. And that's even before considering my parents. Umm, that's not to say they're bad or anything, but they really push me and my sisters to succeed. Sports, school, the whole nine yards. I don't have time to have a girlfriend and deal with all that. And I don't have superpowers that add six hours to every day of my life. Besides, she's got other things to worry about. There'll be plenty of time after high school."
There was a time when I told myself something like that. Did not work out for me. "Don't be so sure about that. Life's too short, and all that shit. Do you really want to risk asking 'what if' for the rest of your life, if something bad happens?"
He hesitated for a moment, and I could swear he was studying me. "Yeah, you're probably right."
I glanced at the clock, then stood up. "I... gotta take care of a couple things before class."
"Cool."
I managed to get out of the cafeteria before starting to cry. By the time I made it to home ec, I'd gotten control of myself. Didn't mean I was paying an awful lot of attention to the teacher or my project, but at least I wasn't about to humiliate myself by running out of class for a third time in a month.
On the plus side, we were finally finished those gingerbread houses- I think the teacher took pity on me to give me a 'C' on that one- and now we were dealing with fake checkbooks and balancing imaginary budgets. Which left me next to Ferne clacking away on her calculator.
This is like the world's most boring 4x game, only done on paper. "Somehow, I suspect 'jokes on you, I don't need food' won't be an acceptable answer."
"Are you planning to run out of class today?" Ferne seemed to have no problems, tapping away at her calculator.
"What gives you that idea?"
"Nothing, but if you're planning to cheat by removing the food budget, I'm thinking I'll claim a small business that adds an average of fifty dollars a week."
It took me a minute to get what she meant. "But that'd only be a one time thing. You can't claim a whole week off of that."
"Wall Street begs to differ." Ferne's voice was the same near monotone as everything else she said.
I chuckled, that was actually pretty funny. "You'll make a wonderful investment banker, some day."
Ferne smiled, if briefly. "You take that back right now."
Holy shit, I actually made her crack a smile. "Okay, that's encouraging. I'd hate to imagine my first villain would be 'that chick in my class'. It's just lazy storytelling to have the hero and the villain in school together."
"As far as tired clichés go, it has seen more mileage than most." Ferne looked down at her papers, shuffling them around. "And of course they're always either best friends or worst enemies once their identities get revealed."
"Not to mention it always happens right after a major climax when the writers are out of ideas. See, that's why I blew my identity right after getting my powers. I wanted to be original, so I got it out of the way before I had a nemesis." Except Kitten, and I'm pretty sure she wasn't in school. Based upon a remarkable lack of corpses. "Now we'd better get back to work before the teacher awakens and summons a plague of locusts on us."
"Speak for yourself, I finished five minutes ago."
"That's so not fair."
"Would you like a tutor? For a limited time, it's only ten dollars. I'll even throw in a couple book rescues for free."
Okay, this was worth it just to call her bluff. I reached into my pocket and grabbed a five, offering it to her. "You have a deal. I'll get you the other half tomorrow."
She reached over to grab it. "I'll just file the other half as a second quarter tax write off and third quarter profit."
Her hand brushed against mine, followed by my power instantly mapping her body. And I had absolutely no idea what I was looking at. Several images of different people, they flashed by too quickly for me to really get an idea of how many. I could tell some were male, some female. One might have been Ferne's. Oh, you have got to be kidding me.
She sighed, clearly not happy. "Nothing makes us more vulnerable than loneliness, except greed."
Was that a quote from somewhere? I got the gist of it, that she knew that I knew. "Umm, maybe we should talk later."
"How's tomorrow sound?"
"Good, I guess."
Put that on the pile with all the other crap I have to worry about. At least now I wasn't so nervous about seeing Cassie.
....
Okay, turns out I lied. Cassie terrifies me right now. Enough that I was thinking about ditching history altogether. Instead, I got there early. She couldn't quite meet my eyes here, either, instead doing everything she could to stare at her book. My former favorite teacher, as perky as ever, had us back on on the western expansion era of history, with the legends and the turmoil of that era. I couldn't help but notice Miss Harmon's tone was a whole lot less positive than the textbook.
She clearly wanted us to think about the horrors inflicted on the natives. The book, when it bothered putting effort into sounding like it cared at all, portrayed the pioneers as heroic explorers discovering new lands for America. Generally, the fact that other people were there first got ignored. Not that I was paying much attention. The total amount of brainpower I had left for class could have been done by a potato.
I jumped when the bell rang, rushing to get out before Cassie did. She wasn't in as much of a rush, so by the time she got out the halls were already starting to clear. She hesitated, like she was going to turn and go back into the classroom rather than talk to me.
"I'm sorry!" I barked that just a bit to loud, and other students looked at me. A couple of the girls even inched a bit closer, intent on hearing the rest of the conversation. "Umm, yeah, sorry about yesterday. Can we, well, talk about it? Maybe outside?"
She smiled at me, and it felt like the world had been lifted off my shoulders. "Oh, god, I was going to apologize to you!"
The pair of gossip hounds tried to inch closer without being noticed. "Really?" Of all the many hundreds of things I had expected to hear, that was not one of them. Seriously, why didn't I get telepathy? I could have erased Kitten's brain and gone on to understand the female mind. Best power ever.
"Yeah, really," Cassie insisted, pulling me out of that train of thought. She stepped closer to me, close enough that we could talk without eavesdroppers hearing. Unless they wanted to get into touch range. Close enough that I could smell her perfume. "I was a bitch, I'm sorry."
"Hey, I'm the one who, uh," tried to feel you up.
"No, no, that's perfectly natural. It's just..." she hesitated for a moment. "Well, I've never actually done that before."
"Oh." There were like thirty rumors that said otherwise. Not that I bought into the rumor mill. "That's okay, we don't have to do anything you're uncomfortable with."
"Really? Are you sure?"
"Well, seeing as I like to imagine I'm not a steaming sack of donkey shit, yeah. What kind of asshole says otherwise?"
"Umm... all of my ex boyfriends. And both my ex girlfriends."
"Girlfriends? So you're..." this could be lots of fun in the future.
"Over that phase." Well, never mind that plan. "I was just kinda hoping girls would be, y'know, less dickish than guys. Turns out I was wrong."
"Oh. Well, as an aspiring superhero, I think I'm contractually required to treat you with respect. So, do you forgive me for getting a little too, umm, feely?"
"Of course. Want me to drive you home again? I was having fun helping you with your homework. Maybe we can look into costume design this time?"
Yes! Yes yes yes! "Sure. It'll be just like yesterday, but without the makeout session."
"Hey, I didn't say we couldn't do that." Cassie had leaned in close enough that I could feel the heat of her breath. "Just, no more."
"Deal."
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A/N- For those familiar with Amelia. I originally wrote a scene involving portions of this chapter for that story- involving Zach and Emma- that I didn't use because I knew eventually I'd use them for this story. Very close to the beginning chapters of that story. That... was almost a year ago... Christ.
For the one person who guessed there was something special going on with Ferne. Congrats. You are awesome.
And there are a LOT of book and movie references in this chapter. Y'know, aside just to my own.
Also, I'll be using this weekend to get a wordpress account. All my online shopping around has begun to bore me. So that, and putting my name up for various fiction sites to draw attention (and bidding readers to vote the story up on them) will come soon, too.
That god damn glowing red fatass! Shoulda called him something before I stormed out. I resolved to have a smartass line next time I saw him. Something along the lines of 'so, you're what happens when Santa knocks up Rudolf', yeah, that would have been perfect. I was half tempted to turn around and do just that, but I had more important things to worry about right now.
At least I didn't blow it and let something important slip. I didn't admit to fighting Kitten, which meant they couldn't touch me. I didn't let him see anything about my power that everyone didn't already know. In retrospect, showing off to Cassie wasn't bright, but even if she did blab about that one trick, I could cope. Not like I expected to hide that power for very long once I went public as a hero.
Lunch wasn't quite half over when I finally got to the room. Cassie was sitting with her cheerleader friends, and a couple of the jocks. Damn. I really hoped I'd be able to talk to her somewhere that wasn't totally conspicuous. I really didn't want her to tell me to go to hell publicly. At least, not this publicly. One of her friends, some brunette senior whose name I didn't know, noticed me first. Then Cassie looked up, and looked away a moment later. Well, fuck me then. I'd try to talk to her after school. We had history together fourth period, she'd have to skip to avoid me. And if she really wanted to avoid me that badly, I'd take that as her answer.
I glanced around for a place to sit. I wasn't in the mood for the geek table and another round of twenty questions about my powers. Wasn't really even in the mood for lunch, if we were being honest. So recently after a restore, and with all this crap on my mind, it was easier just to skip eating than force myself. I went over to Alex's table, instead.
Despite Alex being the cool sports star that didn't let the other jocks pick on the unpopular kids, his table was nothing but the sports guys and occasionally their girlfriends. In any other school, he'd be every geek's favorite person. In this school, well, there were still the gangs. I'd have to put that high on my list of things to fix here.
I opted to sit on the other side of the table from Alex, stopping behind that side. Had a guy from the football team there. One of the blockers, I didn't know his actual position, just that he was a big black guy. Like, pretty sure he was on 'roids big. "Hey, got some room for me?"
He looked around at me. "Kinda bu-" then he recognized me. "Ah, guess it can keep 'till practice." He scooted over a bit, prompting everyone to shuffle just a bit to the left to make space.
Alex shrugged. "Yeah, we can take care of it later, Bear."
Is that a nickname or his species? The quarters were still a bit cramped, but I had space enough. After sitting down I realized I barely came up to Bear's shoulders. "Sorry to be a bother, I hope I didn't interrupt anything important."
Alex shook his head. "Nothing that can't wait, just a scheduling issue. So, why aren't you hanging out with your girlfriend?"
"She's not my girlfriend." Oh, that didn't sound like a gradeschooler whining at all. "Still in the getting to know each other phase."
One of the girls spoke up, and again with the names I didn't know. "I heard you got into her car after school yesterday."
Not knowing about them doesn't stop them from knowing about me. Hurray. "All we did was talk. Mostly about school and superhero stuff." Can we please drop this conversation?
"Well, you better fix that soon." Bear jumped in. "Chicks like it when the guy takes charge. If you don't seal the deal, she'll find someone who will."
There were murmurs of agreement from a lot of the others who had decided this was the most interesting conversation at the table. I decided that explaining that I tried this and got shot down and yelled at was probably not the correct course of action, so instead I shrugged it off.
"You're probably right. On the plus side, at least I don't have to worry about standing girls up and lying about it because I'm scared to tell them I have powers. I don't know why they keep recycling that plot, it was already old in the sixties."
There was a painful pause before one of the girls spoke up. "Oh! Like Son of Manwolf Two!"
Another girl cut in. "Isn't that the one where Jackman does a full frontal scene?"
"Man, that scene was so badass!" One of the other guys laughed. "They blew up a building on him, and then showed him howling while regrowing his skin. My little brother almost threw up! Hey, do you think you could take being in an exploding building?"
A few expectant gazes turned my way. "Umm, yeah, I don't see why not. It doesn't matter how bad I'm hurt, my power kicks in and I'm fine a moment later." Compared to Kitten's attacks, an exploding building sounded cozy. "I'd probably just find myself standing on the sidewalk or something after a second."
Bear's voice cut in. "So, think you could take him? The movie Manwolf, I mean. I know the real one's dead."
I had no idea. Kitten would have eaten Manwolf alive, but I couldn't claim I held up much better. "Umm. Yeah, I think I would win that one. Sure, he might have claws and the ability to fight by sense of smell alone, but I can't be killed. There's no way he'd be able to beat me, and since his powers require eating fresh meat to charge up, I could just keep fighting him until he ran out of power and starved."
"You mean nothing can hurt you, at all?" Bear didn't seem to buy it.
No, plenty of things hurt like a bitch, I just can't be injured or killed. "Nothing I've run into so far." If I did have such an obvious vulnerability, Kitten would have shoved it down my throat already. "Unless I have some kind of special vulnerability to claws. I don't exactly make a habit of letting other men shove their fingers inside me." That earned a few chuckles and the occasional complaint. "But enough about my love life. Hey, Alex, how come we never see you with a girl?" Consider that payback for putting me on the spot earlier.
Alex shifted a bit. "That's... complicated."
"He has a mysterious girlfriend he won't tell us about because he's ashamed."
"It's true." Alex smirked, looking at the guy who made that comment. "But can you blame me? Anyone would be ashamed to introduce girls to my friends."
There was a chorus of retorts. I only heard a few of them. "That's cold." "Asshole." "I see how it be." A balled up wrapper came out of nowhere, and Alex was barely able to block it in time. It was all good natured, though.
Alex just shook his head. "In all seriousness, it's complex. And that's even before considering my parents. Umm, that's not to say they're bad or anything, but they really push me and my sisters to succeed. Sports, school, the whole nine yards. I don't have time to have a girlfriend and deal with all that. And I don't have superpowers that add six hours to every day of my life. Besides, she's got other things to worry about. There'll be plenty of time after high school."
There was a time when I told myself something like that. Did not work out for me. "Don't be so sure about that. Life's too short, and all that shit. Do you really want to risk asking 'what if' for the rest of your life, if something bad happens?"
He hesitated for a moment, and I could swear he was studying me. "Yeah, you're probably right."
I glanced at the clock, then stood up. "I... gotta take care of a couple things before class."
"Cool."
I managed to get out of the cafeteria before starting to cry. By the time I made it to home ec, I'd gotten control of myself. Didn't mean I was paying an awful lot of attention to the teacher or my project, but at least I wasn't about to humiliate myself by running out of class for a third time in a month.
On the plus side, we were finally finished those gingerbread houses- I think the teacher took pity on me to give me a 'C' on that one- and now we were dealing with fake checkbooks and balancing imaginary budgets. Which left me next to Ferne clacking away on her calculator.
This is like the world's most boring 4x game, only done on paper. "Somehow, I suspect 'jokes on you, I don't need food' won't be an acceptable answer."
"Are you planning to run out of class today?" Ferne seemed to have no problems, tapping away at her calculator.
"What gives you that idea?"
"Nothing, but if you're planning to cheat by removing the food budget, I'm thinking I'll claim a small business that adds an average of fifty dollars a week."
It took me a minute to get what she meant. "But that'd only be a one time thing. You can't claim a whole week off of that."
"Wall Street begs to differ." Ferne's voice was the same near monotone as everything else she said.
I chuckled, that was actually pretty funny. "You'll make a wonderful investment banker, some day."
Ferne smiled, if briefly. "You take that back right now."
Holy shit, I actually made her crack a smile. "Okay, that's encouraging. I'd hate to imagine my first villain would be 'that chick in my class'. It's just lazy storytelling to have the hero and the villain in school together."
"As far as tired clichés go, it has seen more mileage than most." Ferne looked down at her papers, shuffling them around. "And of course they're always either best friends or worst enemies once their identities get revealed."
"Not to mention it always happens right after a major climax when the writers are out of ideas. See, that's why I blew my identity right after getting my powers. I wanted to be original, so I got it out of the way before I had a nemesis." Except Kitten, and I'm pretty sure she wasn't in school. Based upon a remarkable lack of corpses. "Now we'd better get back to work before the teacher awakens and summons a plague of locusts on us."
"Speak for yourself, I finished five minutes ago."
"That's so not fair."
"Would you like a tutor? For a limited time, it's only ten dollars. I'll even throw in a couple book rescues for free."
Okay, this was worth it just to call her bluff. I reached into my pocket and grabbed a five, offering it to her. "You have a deal. I'll get you the other half tomorrow."
She reached over to grab it. "I'll just file the other half as a second quarter tax write off and third quarter profit."
Her hand brushed against mine, followed by my power instantly mapping her body. And I had absolutely no idea what I was looking at. Several images of different people, they flashed by too quickly for me to really get an idea of how many. I could tell some were male, some female. One might have been Ferne's. Oh, you have got to be kidding me.
She sighed, clearly not happy. "Nothing makes us more vulnerable than loneliness, except greed."
Was that a quote from somewhere? I got the gist of it, that she knew that I knew. "Umm, maybe we should talk later."
"How's tomorrow sound?"
"Good, I guess."
Put that on the pile with all the other crap I have to worry about. At least now I wasn't so nervous about seeing Cassie.
....
Okay, turns out I lied. Cassie terrifies me right now. Enough that I was thinking about ditching history altogether. Instead, I got there early. She couldn't quite meet my eyes here, either, instead doing everything she could to stare at her book. My former favorite teacher, as perky as ever, had us back on on the western expansion era of history, with the legends and the turmoil of that era. I couldn't help but notice Miss Harmon's tone was a whole lot less positive than the textbook.
She clearly wanted us to think about the horrors inflicted on the natives. The book, when it bothered putting effort into sounding like it cared at all, portrayed the pioneers as heroic explorers discovering new lands for America. Generally, the fact that other people were there first got ignored. Not that I was paying much attention. The total amount of brainpower I had left for class could have been done by a potato.
I jumped when the bell rang, rushing to get out before Cassie did. She wasn't in as much of a rush, so by the time she got out the halls were already starting to clear. She hesitated, like she was going to turn and go back into the classroom rather than talk to me.
"I'm sorry!" I barked that just a bit to loud, and other students looked at me. A couple of the girls even inched a bit closer, intent on hearing the rest of the conversation. "Umm, yeah, sorry about yesterday. Can we, well, talk about it? Maybe outside?"
She smiled at me, and it felt like the world had been lifted off my shoulders. "Oh, god, I was going to apologize to you!"
The pair of gossip hounds tried to inch closer without being noticed. "Really?" Of all the many hundreds of things I had expected to hear, that was not one of them. Seriously, why didn't I get telepathy? I could have erased Kitten's brain and gone on to understand the female mind. Best power ever.
"Yeah, really," Cassie insisted, pulling me out of that train of thought. She stepped closer to me, close enough that we could talk without eavesdroppers hearing. Unless they wanted to get into touch range. Close enough that I could smell her perfume. "I was a bitch, I'm sorry."
"Hey, I'm the one who, uh," tried to feel you up.
"No, no, that's perfectly natural. It's just..." she hesitated for a moment. "Well, I've never actually done that before."
"Oh." There were like thirty rumors that said otherwise. Not that I bought into the rumor mill. "That's okay, we don't have to do anything you're uncomfortable with."
"Really? Are you sure?"
"Well, seeing as I like to imagine I'm not a steaming sack of donkey shit, yeah. What kind of asshole says otherwise?"
"Umm... all of my ex boyfriends. And both my ex girlfriends."
"Girlfriends? So you're..." this could be lots of fun in the future.
"Over that phase." Well, never mind that plan. "I was just kinda hoping girls would be, y'know, less dickish than guys. Turns out I was wrong."
"Oh. Well, as an aspiring superhero, I think I'm contractually required to treat you with respect. So, do you forgive me for getting a little too, umm, feely?"
"Of course. Want me to drive you home again? I was having fun helping you with your homework. Maybe we can look into costume design this time?"
Yes! Yes yes yes! "Sure. It'll be just like yesterday, but without the makeout session."
"Hey, I didn't say we couldn't do that." Cassie had leaned in close enough that I could feel the heat of her breath. "Just, no more."
"Deal."
======================
A/N- For those familiar with Amelia. I originally wrote a scene involving portions of this chapter for that story- involving Zach and Emma- that I didn't use because I knew eventually I'd use them for this story. Very close to the beginning chapters of that story. That... was almost a year ago... Christ.
For the one person who guessed there was something special going on with Ferne. Congrats. You are awesome.
And there are a LOT of book and movie references in this chapter. Y'know, aside just to my own.
Also, I'll be using this weekend to get a wordpress account. All my online shopping around has begun to bore me. So that, and putting my name up for various fiction sites to draw attention (and bidding readers to vote the story up on them) will come soon, too.
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Chapter 14
TanaNari
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Chapter 14
The ride home with Cassie was, at the very least, a welcome reprieve from the damn bus. I vowed that the first thing I did once I got the money would be buying a car. I wasn't a Gadgeteer, so a suit of flying battle armor wasn't an option, but it'd be nice to avoid public transportation. More than that, now that I was back on Cassie's good side, I had to wonder about Ferne. Whatever her power was, it functionally countered mine. Maybe all she had was the ability to scramble superhuman senses. Someone should give her a sniper rifle and send her after Kitten, if that was the case.
"You've been quiet, today. Something on your mind?"
Lots and lots of things. "Just overwhelmed by your beauty, is all."
Her laugh was musical. "Naturally. But usually you're more talkative. Now are you gonna dish, or am I gonna have to break out the boy band music?"
"Sorry, if it was just me, I'd be happy to. But this involves other people. Not my secrets to share."
"Even under threat of Bieber?"
"You listen to Bieber?" Suddenly I'm having second thoughts about everything.
"No." Oh thank God. She spared me a glance, before turning her eyes back to the road. "Okay, I'll let you keep your secrets. Besides, a little bit of mystery is attractive."
I couldn't say I agreed with her. As far as I was concerned drawing things out was just a waste of time and energy. I'd lost too much already by not being strong enough to act when I had the chance, and never wanted to experience that again. But I didn't care to argue about it. She might see it as me trying to pressure her into doing... things. And then she'd proceed to tell all her friends, and it would be impossible for me to ever get another date in school.
It wasn't much longer before we got to my place. I grabbed a chair on my way through the kitchen, only for Cassie to interrupt. "That's sweet, but, we can do it the same way we did before."
That chair was quickly forgotten, much like another shirt that joined its comrade under my bed. You'd think, seeing as I don't sleep, that I'd devote a little more time to cleaning my room, but you'd be wrong. I started up the computer and she plopped down in my lap.
"Best seat in the house," she stated as she shifted her hips, getting herself comfortable. I had to agree.
As it turned out, Cassie had a real sense for fashion, and that apparently extended to superhero costume design. I may have lied to her a bit about how my powers worked, claiming my costume was protected by my power, while knowing that wasn't completely true. Kitten was proof my power could be overwhelmed. What we eventually worked out was a costume based on the colors my power used. Dark blue for the legs, dark green for the upper body (she kept telling me no every time I suggested black), and yellow along the elbows and shins designed to imitate trim on a dress uniform, or some sort of armor plating.
She even talked me out of going without a mask, insisting I at least wear goggles and a mask to protect my eyes and lungs. If only so I can fight a little better when there's a lot of debris. My power may heal damage, but being able to see and breathe required some air quality. And the plan was to add other features as I could afford them. Turns out, Cassie knew more than me about accessioning my costume as well.
There were lots of things online to be purchased by supers, like hands free cell phones designed to integrate with face masks and goggles. Special fabrics and dyes that came with advertisements like 'as safe and easy as a coloring book'. Also expensive as hell, a full make your costume kit was like two grand. Hiring someone else was even worse. Hell, just Cassie's design advice, if I'd gone to a professional, would have been a couple hundred bucks.
Eventually, we stopped focusing so much on work and spent our time kissing. I, of course, was a complete gentleman and kept my hands to myself, despite all temptation. What I planned to do with them after she left was nobody's business but my own.
Then the phone rang. I looked apologetically at Cassie, and she stood up so I could go get it. The number didn't show, but I answered it anyway. After that nutjob Gadgeteer in New Jersey invented robot spiders that would travel through phone lines and attack telemarketers, I almost felt bad for not answering. Even now, twelve years later, they still made the news on occasion. Urban legend was that they found a way to breed.
"Hello?"
A mechanically altered voice spoke a moment later. Another of those things you could buy just about anywhere, voice modulators. "I just wanted to plan our meeting tomorrow."
That would be Ferne, then. Strangely, the modulator made her sound more enthusiastic than normal. "How did you get my number?"
"The white pages are online, so anyone who knows your name can find your phone number and address. You may want to look into that."
Well, fuck me then. "Ah, the internet, preferred by stalkers everywhere. So, what's the plan?" I glanced at where Cassie was peaking from the door to my room. "I've got company right now."
"The park next to the library, midnight tonight, sound acceptable?"
"Yeah, if you want to get mugged by a junky, raped by the dealer, and then arrested for prostitution."
"I was under the impression your power was better than that. I will be arriving in costume."
"Is this a plot to lure me into a fight with some supervillain in the park? Because this is starting to sound like a plot to lure me into a fight with some supervillain in the park, and I have enough on my plate already."
"That would be the dumbest plot on the planet. I only have a vague idea how your power works. Why risk you escaping and reporting me for doing something stupid and illegal, when I could instead do absolutely nothing and be perfectly fine?"
"Okay, you have a point. See you then." I turned off the phone and looked at Cassie. "Sorry about that. If this was a movie I'd now be coming up with an elaborate excuse for that call that makes you suspicious. God I hate those plots."
She didn't make a comment on that, simply wrapped her arms around me and gave me a quick kiss. "It's good timing, anyway. I really should get to work on my homework. I'll have to beg off tomorrow, too, got the other type of French quiz to study for. What about Friday?"
"I'd love to, but I've got more business. But if you want to hang out Saturday and help lie to my dad, that would be a huge solid. I need you to pretend we were on a date last weekend."
"Okay, I can do that." One last kiss, and she headed out the door.
Then I went back to browsing the lists of various powered individuals out there. I found Muwth, which is how you spell the name of the woman who sent Anima after me. She had the power to look at a person and know if they were going to die unnaturally within the next two days and when, to the minute. She had a career as a 'risk consultant' dating back to the early 1950s, with a lot of satisfied, and important, customers. There was no mention of the power she used to find me.
And a bunch of others, who meant pretty much nothing to me. There were a lot of people and a lot of powers out there. I looked up Com, confirming he was a member of Arlington's Imbued Police Division. A cop who got a badge because he had superpowers.
Sapphire was listed, too, but I already knew about her. She was a flying brick, one of very few Imbued who had that combo. For whatever reason, flight was super rare. She was a serious celebrity, too, having several movies to her name, and even did cameos of herself a few times. She was also one of the few supers that gave absolutely no clue about who they were under the mask. The dark blue costume she wore was form fitting enough to suggest an attractive woman underneath, but no one knew her approximate age or race, save that she started her career in the eighties.
I also looked up Sympathy, and found exactly nothing of value. A probably Hispanic or Asian woman who wore a sundress and masquerade mask, complete with elbow length gloves and slippers, and all of it sky blue. No one had any idea what her powers actually were, and online speculation wasn't any help. It seemed like she could change what powers she was using at will.
The more I looked at these three, the more it pissed me off. Between Sapphire and Com, they should have been able to stop Kitten. There's no way she could evade Com, and Sapphire once stood there and let some jackass unload an M-16 at her, until the gun overheated. They could take her, and they refused. They didn't even report that she was in town. All the news sites and online followings that dealt with Imbued had Kitten listed her last known location as somewhere in West Virginia. It was enough to make me want to yell at the computer.
While doing that, I also paid close attention to the clock, and wondered where Mom was. She didn't get back until late, late enough that I opted to just pretend I was asleep.
Much like with Cassie, I kept details about my power from her. She was out like a light in only a few minutes, and I was out the door. The park was nowhere near a quick trip, but this late on a Wednesday, and the ability to sprint as long as I liked meant I got there without much trouble. I wasn't sure whether to smile or frown at how people saw me coming and dipped into the alleys to avoid my notice.
The park was occupied by a couple strung out druggies when I got there. They seemed to be attempting to have sex on one of the tables, and failing miserably. A laser pen flashed my eyes from the darkness of one of the trails. I followed that, taking it as a sign.
The girl that stepped into the clearing did not look like Ferne at all. For one thing, she was about six inches taller, and had curves, as opposed to Ferne's almost prepubescently small figure. Blonde hair done up in a ponytale stuck out of the back of her mask. The dominant color of the outfit was red, with white trim highlighting her figure.
"Platforms, padding, and a wig." The voice was modulated, but Ferne's personality shone through.
"Is that your power, to know when someone's checking you out?"
She shrugged. "Not really. I just know how to pay attention. Now, what's it going to cost for you to keep your mouth shut about my powers?"
I blinked, now I was confused. "I wasn't planning on telling. But I am trying to start my own team, and I'm looking for members."
"My power isn't really good for the hero, or even villain, role. I'm not interested in it, either."
"What can you do?" I wanted to know her power before I decided if she was worth pushing into saying yes. Some Imbued really did have utterly useless powers, but Ferne seemed to feel she was safe coming to a place like this in the middle of the night, so she couldn't have been that vulnerable.
"I can give other people powers."
What. "What." Someone who could give people powers was absurd. Like, world altering potential.
"There are limits. The best I've ever managed only barely qualifies as a two on the scales." Ferne leaned back against a tree. "Twenty extra IQ points, a ten percent increase in endurance, curing a minor physical illness, the ability to regrow a limb over the course of a couple weeks. Really minor things, as far as powers are considered. And it's powered by love."
What. "Seriously."
"I am being serious. My power requires a personal connection. Love isn't quite the right word, but the more trust and respect someone has for me, the stronger their feelings for me, the more power I can grant. And the more power I gain from them."
"So you feed off people?"
She paused for a moment. "My bonds are more like sharing than feeding. I'm as strong as the strongest person I'm connected to, plus a little extra per everyone else in the group. Same with intelligence, and I have access to knowledge and skills from everyone. It doesn't hurt them at all. And it's barely enough to make me a little bit superhuman at everything normal human beings are capable of, but no more than that."
I thought back to the last few weeks. If I thought Ferne was inscrutable before, now I was utterly perplexed. She had access to however many other people, she had to know the meaning of every joke I made. "You... you were grooming me, weren't you? Planning to add me to your collection?"
"I like to think of it as a partnership. We both gain something from it. I could have cured your asthma, granted you improved muscle growth or boosted learning ability. The talent you'd need to become a leader in any field you desired."
"So you're telling me this now, why?"
She hesitated for a moment. "I've never had a chance to use my power on another superhuman, before. For all I know, it would give me the ability to use your power. Or maybe it'd work like normal, giving us both a little bit more power."
"And having an Imbued who owes you wouldn't hurt."
"It would have been nice, if it was possible."
Does that mean she can't use her power on supers? "But it's not."
"I need you to trust me first." Ah, that explains it. "Maybe you're wondering if my power can be used to hurt people I've formed partnerships with. Or if I can steal your power. I don't have any mind reading abilities, just enough to sense how strong the bond between us is. And right now most people who don't know me at all trust me more than you do."
She wasn't wrong. More than the lack of trust, I felt betrayed, somehow. Like everything she did was some kind of plot to use me. If it were a matter of trading for power, I might have still taken her up on her offer. A little bit more strength or speed, more skill, that was something I'd take, to use against Kitten. But I couldn't force myself to trust her. "Well, I guess that settles that. You're sure you don't want to be a part of my team?"
"No. I'm just not a fighter. Maybe if you need help I can research something for you or make a few phone calls. Some of my partners have a fair amount of influence. No, I won't tell you who any of them are."
I wasn't really expecting her to. "I guess that's that, then. See you in school?"
"Yeah." She turned back toward the darker part of the trail. "And, Zach? Please remember that I told you the truth, even knowing it might hurt my chances. That has to be worth something, right?
"Umm, a bit, I guess." Not enough to let me trust her, but it was a little bit. On the plus side, at least she wasn't an enemy. I turned and headed for home.
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A/N- This will be the last update of Price here. From now on, it'll be found solely on my wordpress. https://pricestory.wordpress.com
Please forgive the less than polished site. I have no goddamn clue how to craft a website, and every second learning to do that is one not spent writing.
The ride home with Cassie was, at the very least, a welcome reprieve from the damn bus. I vowed that the first thing I did once I got the money would be buying a car. I wasn't a Gadgeteer, so a suit of flying battle armor wasn't an option, but it'd be nice to avoid public transportation. More than that, now that I was back on Cassie's good side, I had to wonder about Ferne. Whatever her power was, it functionally countered mine. Maybe all she had was the ability to scramble superhuman senses. Someone should give her a sniper rifle and send her after Kitten, if that was the case.
"You've been quiet, today. Something on your mind?"
Lots and lots of things. "Just overwhelmed by your beauty, is all."
Her laugh was musical. "Naturally. But usually you're more talkative. Now are you gonna dish, or am I gonna have to break out the boy band music?"
"Sorry, if it was just me, I'd be happy to. But this involves other people. Not my secrets to share."
"Even under threat of Bieber?"
"You listen to Bieber?" Suddenly I'm having second thoughts about everything.
"No." Oh thank God. She spared me a glance, before turning her eyes back to the road. "Okay, I'll let you keep your secrets. Besides, a little bit of mystery is attractive."
I couldn't say I agreed with her. As far as I was concerned drawing things out was just a waste of time and energy. I'd lost too much already by not being strong enough to act when I had the chance, and never wanted to experience that again. But I didn't care to argue about it. She might see it as me trying to pressure her into doing... things. And then she'd proceed to tell all her friends, and it would be impossible for me to ever get another date in school.
It wasn't much longer before we got to my place. I grabbed a chair on my way through the kitchen, only for Cassie to interrupt. "That's sweet, but, we can do it the same way we did before."
That chair was quickly forgotten, much like another shirt that joined its comrade under my bed. You'd think, seeing as I don't sleep, that I'd devote a little more time to cleaning my room, but you'd be wrong. I started up the computer and she plopped down in my lap.
"Best seat in the house," she stated as she shifted her hips, getting herself comfortable. I had to agree.
As it turned out, Cassie had a real sense for fashion, and that apparently extended to superhero costume design. I may have lied to her a bit about how my powers worked, claiming my costume was protected by my power, while knowing that wasn't completely true. Kitten was proof my power could be overwhelmed. What we eventually worked out was a costume based on the colors my power used. Dark blue for the legs, dark green for the upper body (she kept telling me no every time I suggested black), and yellow along the elbows and shins designed to imitate trim on a dress uniform, or some sort of armor plating.
She even talked me out of going without a mask, insisting I at least wear goggles and a mask to protect my eyes and lungs. If only so I can fight a little better when there's a lot of debris. My power may heal damage, but being able to see and breathe required some air quality. And the plan was to add other features as I could afford them. Turns out, Cassie knew more than me about accessioning my costume as well.
There were lots of things online to be purchased by supers, like hands free cell phones designed to integrate with face masks and goggles. Special fabrics and dyes that came with advertisements like 'as safe and easy as a coloring book'. Also expensive as hell, a full make your costume kit was like two grand. Hiring someone else was even worse. Hell, just Cassie's design advice, if I'd gone to a professional, would have been a couple hundred bucks.
Eventually, we stopped focusing so much on work and spent our time kissing. I, of course, was a complete gentleman and kept my hands to myself, despite all temptation. What I planned to do with them after she left was nobody's business but my own.
Then the phone rang. I looked apologetically at Cassie, and she stood up so I could go get it. The number didn't show, but I answered it anyway. After that nutjob Gadgeteer in New Jersey invented robot spiders that would travel through phone lines and attack telemarketers, I almost felt bad for not answering. Even now, twelve years later, they still made the news on occasion. Urban legend was that they found a way to breed.
"Hello?"
A mechanically altered voice spoke a moment later. Another of those things you could buy just about anywhere, voice modulators. "I just wanted to plan our meeting tomorrow."
That would be Ferne, then. Strangely, the modulator made her sound more enthusiastic than normal. "How did you get my number?"
"The white pages are online, so anyone who knows your name can find your phone number and address. You may want to look into that."
Well, fuck me then. "Ah, the internet, preferred by stalkers everywhere. So, what's the plan?" I glanced at where Cassie was peaking from the door to my room. "I've got company right now."
"The park next to the library, midnight tonight, sound acceptable?"
"Yeah, if you want to get mugged by a junky, raped by the dealer, and then arrested for prostitution."
"I was under the impression your power was better than that. I will be arriving in costume."
"Is this a plot to lure me into a fight with some supervillain in the park? Because this is starting to sound like a plot to lure me into a fight with some supervillain in the park, and I have enough on my plate already."
"That would be the dumbest plot on the planet. I only have a vague idea how your power works. Why risk you escaping and reporting me for doing something stupid and illegal, when I could instead do absolutely nothing and be perfectly fine?"
"Okay, you have a point. See you then." I turned off the phone and looked at Cassie. "Sorry about that. If this was a movie I'd now be coming up with an elaborate excuse for that call that makes you suspicious. God I hate those plots."
She didn't make a comment on that, simply wrapped her arms around me and gave me a quick kiss. "It's good timing, anyway. I really should get to work on my homework. I'll have to beg off tomorrow, too, got the other type of French quiz to study for. What about Friday?"
"I'd love to, but I've got more business. But if you want to hang out Saturday and help lie to my dad, that would be a huge solid. I need you to pretend we were on a date last weekend."
"Okay, I can do that." One last kiss, and she headed out the door.
Then I went back to browsing the lists of various powered individuals out there. I found Muwth, which is how you spell the name of the woman who sent Anima after me. She had the power to look at a person and know if they were going to die unnaturally within the next two days and when, to the minute. She had a career as a 'risk consultant' dating back to the early 1950s, with a lot of satisfied, and important, customers. There was no mention of the power she used to find me.
And a bunch of others, who meant pretty much nothing to me. There were a lot of people and a lot of powers out there. I looked up Com, confirming he was a member of Arlington's Imbued Police Division. A cop who got a badge because he had superpowers.
Sapphire was listed, too, but I already knew about her. She was a flying brick, one of very few Imbued who had that combo. For whatever reason, flight was super rare. She was a serious celebrity, too, having several movies to her name, and even did cameos of herself a few times. She was also one of the few supers that gave absolutely no clue about who they were under the mask. The dark blue costume she wore was form fitting enough to suggest an attractive woman underneath, but no one knew her approximate age or race, save that she started her career in the eighties.
I also looked up Sympathy, and found exactly nothing of value. A probably Hispanic or Asian woman who wore a sundress and masquerade mask, complete with elbow length gloves and slippers, and all of it sky blue. No one had any idea what her powers actually were, and online speculation wasn't any help. It seemed like she could change what powers she was using at will.
The more I looked at these three, the more it pissed me off. Between Sapphire and Com, they should have been able to stop Kitten. There's no way she could evade Com, and Sapphire once stood there and let some jackass unload an M-16 at her, until the gun overheated. They could take her, and they refused. They didn't even report that she was in town. All the news sites and online followings that dealt with Imbued had Kitten listed her last known location as somewhere in West Virginia. It was enough to make me want to yell at the computer.
While doing that, I also paid close attention to the clock, and wondered where Mom was. She didn't get back until late, late enough that I opted to just pretend I was asleep.
Much like with Cassie, I kept details about my power from her. She was out like a light in only a few minutes, and I was out the door. The park was nowhere near a quick trip, but this late on a Wednesday, and the ability to sprint as long as I liked meant I got there without much trouble. I wasn't sure whether to smile or frown at how people saw me coming and dipped into the alleys to avoid my notice.
The park was occupied by a couple strung out druggies when I got there. They seemed to be attempting to have sex on one of the tables, and failing miserably. A laser pen flashed my eyes from the darkness of one of the trails. I followed that, taking it as a sign.
The girl that stepped into the clearing did not look like Ferne at all. For one thing, she was about six inches taller, and had curves, as opposed to Ferne's almost prepubescently small figure. Blonde hair done up in a ponytale stuck out of the back of her mask. The dominant color of the outfit was red, with white trim highlighting her figure.
"Platforms, padding, and a wig." The voice was modulated, but Ferne's personality shone through.
"Is that your power, to know when someone's checking you out?"
She shrugged. "Not really. I just know how to pay attention. Now, what's it going to cost for you to keep your mouth shut about my powers?"
I blinked, now I was confused. "I wasn't planning on telling. But I am trying to start my own team, and I'm looking for members."
"My power isn't really good for the hero, or even villain, role. I'm not interested in it, either."
"What can you do?" I wanted to know her power before I decided if she was worth pushing into saying yes. Some Imbued really did have utterly useless powers, but Ferne seemed to feel she was safe coming to a place like this in the middle of the night, so she couldn't have been that vulnerable.
"I can give other people powers."
What. "What." Someone who could give people powers was absurd. Like, world altering potential.
"There are limits. The best I've ever managed only barely qualifies as a two on the scales." Ferne leaned back against a tree. "Twenty extra IQ points, a ten percent increase in endurance, curing a minor physical illness, the ability to regrow a limb over the course of a couple weeks. Really minor things, as far as powers are considered. And it's powered by love."
What. "Seriously."
"I am being serious. My power requires a personal connection. Love isn't quite the right word, but the more trust and respect someone has for me, the stronger their feelings for me, the more power I can grant. And the more power I gain from them."
"So you feed off people?"
She paused for a moment. "My bonds are more like sharing than feeding. I'm as strong as the strongest person I'm connected to, plus a little extra per everyone else in the group. Same with intelligence, and I have access to knowledge and skills from everyone. It doesn't hurt them at all. And it's barely enough to make me a little bit superhuman at everything normal human beings are capable of, but no more than that."
I thought back to the last few weeks. If I thought Ferne was inscrutable before, now I was utterly perplexed. She had access to however many other people, she had to know the meaning of every joke I made. "You... you were grooming me, weren't you? Planning to add me to your collection?"
"I like to think of it as a partnership. We both gain something from it. I could have cured your asthma, granted you improved muscle growth or boosted learning ability. The talent you'd need to become a leader in any field you desired."
"So you're telling me this now, why?"
She hesitated for a moment. "I've never had a chance to use my power on another superhuman, before. For all I know, it would give me the ability to use your power. Or maybe it'd work like normal, giving us both a little bit more power."
"And having an Imbued who owes you wouldn't hurt."
"It would have been nice, if it was possible."
Does that mean she can't use her power on supers? "But it's not."
"I need you to trust me first." Ah, that explains it. "Maybe you're wondering if my power can be used to hurt people I've formed partnerships with. Or if I can steal your power. I don't have any mind reading abilities, just enough to sense how strong the bond between us is. And right now most people who don't know me at all trust me more than you do."
She wasn't wrong. More than the lack of trust, I felt betrayed, somehow. Like everything she did was some kind of plot to use me. If it were a matter of trading for power, I might have still taken her up on her offer. A little bit more strength or speed, more skill, that was something I'd take, to use against Kitten. But I couldn't force myself to trust her. "Well, I guess that settles that. You're sure you don't want to be a part of my team?"
"No. I'm just not a fighter. Maybe if you need help I can research something for you or make a few phone calls. Some of my partners have a fair amount of influence. No, I won't tell you who any of them are."
I wasn't really expecting her to. "I guess that's that, then. See you in school?"
"Yeah." She turned back toward the darker part of the trail. "And, Zach? Please remember that I told you the truth, even knowing it might hurt my chances. That has to be worth something, right?
"Umm, a bit, I guess." Not enough to let me trust her, but it was a little bit. On the plus side, at least she wasn't an enemy. I turned and headed for home.
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A/N- This will be the last update of Price here. From now on, it'll be found solely on my wordpress. https://pricestory.wordpress.com
Please forgive the less than polished site. I have no goddamn clue how to craft a website, and every second learning to do that is one not spent writing.
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