Chapter 4

“Are you ready?” Trevor asked as he walked up behind Darius who was washing his face in the pond.
“Yeah I’m almo-” Darius said before water erupted from his hands, shooting him in his face own face and knocking him on his ass.
“F-Fuck! Ahugh… It went up my goddamned nose… Ahaa.. Dammit… It tastes like burning tires!” He yelled as he began spitting.
Trevor watched him cough and retch as the sun peeked over the cityscape. The incident that happened during the night was still fresh in both of their minds. They had taken the addict’s gun and tossed it into the pond. There was no way to call for the police or to contact any heroes so they had just dragged him out of the park and left the man on a bus bench. They figured if he even remembered anything when he woke up he wouldn’t try to mess with them again.
Trevor had explained to Darius that he had heard that all Metas were to report to UHA headquarters in the morning. He figured they were going to recruit any able-bodied Metas to help with rescue efforts. While Trevor’s ability wasn’t really suited for that line of work he thought it would still be good to go down there and see if he could help out. He told Darius he should come as his newly awakened ability could do some good putting out any fires that are still burning.
“You okay?” Trevor asked as he helped him up.
“Yeah… I just got to get used to this.” Darius said back to him as wiped his face with his shirt.
“We should get going now.” Trevor said to him.
“Sure… “ He said still spitting, trying to get the horrid taste out of his mouth.
They both walked back up to their campsite and bid the others farewell.
“Be safe! There are so many crazy people out there.” The young woman said to the both of them.
“Don’t worry. It’s not that far away.” Darius said to her.
“We’ll be back later. I’ll try to see if we can find some more food as well.” Trevor said to her and waved as they both walked away.
With that, they headed out of the park. As they got a block away from the park they noticed that the bench that they had laid the mugger out on was empty. They figured he must have woke up and left or someone had found him and took him to whatever hospitals that were still open. They watched as shop owners were boarding their windows up with whatever they could find in order to secure their shops from theft.
“Man, this city is super fucked.” Darius said.
“Yeah, It’s going to be some time before it gets back to where it was before.” Trevor said back to him.
They continued walking, Darius led the way as Trevor wasn’t the best with directions apparently. As they neared the Association Headquarters, they could see a large crowd gathered on the steps leading up to the large building.
“Well, looks like we’re not late.” Darius said as they walked up to the back of the crowd.
There had to be a few hundred people gathered. The woman to the left of them had glowing yellow eyes and was chatting with another woman that Hair looked as if it was made of silver metal wire. While most people here looked quite normal others had more apparent physical abilities and conditions. One thing was pretty certain though. They were all Metahumans. At the top of the steps was a podium. Behind that were people wearing various uniforms.
“... You know… When you told me you needed to make a statement to the public. I didn’t think you needed me to do it today.” Elizabeth said to Thomas as they stood in the shadow of the UHA building.
“I told you I was picking you up in the morning.” He said to her.
“I thought it was for breakfast! And maybe we would go over a rough draft of a speech… I didn’t know you already had one made out…” She said as she placed her hands on her hips, clearly annoyed.
Elizabeth wore a long gray dress that stopped right above her ankles, Her blouse also matched and to top it off, She was wearing Dark aviator sunglasses. Despite not being able to see her eyes Thomas could tell that she was trying to secretly hex him.
“Will you be alright with the speech? Have you gone through it yet?” He asked her.
“No, but I'll make due. I’ve done more with less.” She said to him.
“When you're up there, please lose the sunglasses.” Thomas said to her.
“God… You’re killing me.” She groaned as she lowered her glasses to reveal her bloodshot eyes.
“Good lord, are you hungover?” He asked
“Short answer, yes. Long answer, yessssss.” She said as she pushed the sunglasses back up her nose.
“What was all that ‘Alcohol doesn't affect me like other people.’ talk?” He asked.
“I drank a lot.” She said a matter of factly.
Thomas rubbed his eyes and sighed. He began regretting reaching out to her far sooner than he had thought he would.
“You sure you can do this? You do look kind of pale.” He said to her.
“That’s because I am pale…” She said back to him.
“... When is the last time you left your apartment?” He asked.
“Oh, I don’t know… Remind me what year it is again?” She said with a laugh, but then stopped and rubbed her head.
“Maybe I should get Galvity to do this after all.” He said.
“You mean the ‘immature primadonna’?” She asked with a smile and a raised eye.
Elizabeth leaned over and looked past Thomas. A small group of heroes was talking to each other. She could see Galvity among them. She clicked her tongue as she looked her over. Her tight yellow leather suit was leaving little to the imagination, and the small designs were clearly accenting her curves of which God graciously bestowed her more than enough of. Elizabeth sighed and wished her own ability had waited until she had been in her twenties before it had activated.
“Shit…” She said as she saw that Cynthia Had looked over and noticed her watching.
“I think she saw me looking at her. Is she coming over here?” Elizabeth asked.
Thomas turned and looked.
“Yup.” He said.
“Hi!” Cynthia said out loud as she walked up to the pair.
“Cynthia, This is-” Thomas said before Cynthia cut him off.
“Elizabeth Abell! A.K.A. Perennial! Of course, I know who she is!” She said jabbing Thomas in the ribs.
“It’s an honor to finally meet you!” Cynthia said and held out her hand.
Elizabeth looked at her, and then to Thomas, and then back to her.
“Uh… Yeah, likewise.” She said back as she took her hand and shook it.
“You’re a personal hero of mine! You helped pave the way for all women heroes! You’re a legend!” She said jumping a little.
Elizabeth smiled and nodded. Cynthia was pretty good, but Elizabeth has been around in this business for far too long. The fake smile. The way she positioned herself so that the crowd could see her shaking her hand. She was sure there were more than a few cameras in the audience. She knew her tight uniform was part of this all too. She had to give it to her, she was damned good at gaming the system that she helped design.
“I’ve been following you to… in the news and stuff. Gravity Girl is always in the headline.” She said to her.
Thomas rubbed his eyes again and sighed.
“Uh… Aha… It’s actually Galvity. Gravity Girl was my junior member alias.” She said, her smile cracking a little.
“Ah! My mistake.” Elizabeth said.
“So! It’s about time for your speech!” Thomas said putting his hand on Elizabeth’s shoulder and pulling her along towards the podium.
“Cynthia, do you think you can go tell AV Guy that we’re about to start?” He asked.
“Sure…” She said giving him a smile and walked off.
Thomas sighed and walked Elizabeth over to the podium.
“Could we not start a fight in public?” Thomas asked her.
“Like that welp could hurt me.” Elizabeth scoffed as the reached the podium.
As they both approached the podium, the other heroes also gathered behind them. Thomas walked up and turned on the microphone. A high pitched whine bellowed over the loudspeakers as people covered their ears in discomfort. The soon died down and Thomas chuckled into the mic.
“Sorry about that.” He said as he looked over to a man standing by a switchboard off to the side.
He was wearing a cape and goggles. A large AV was on his chest. He looked back at Thomas and gave him a thumbs up.
“Who is this guy?” Darius asked Trevor as they watched.
“I think that's Stalwart. I’ve never seen him out of his uniform though…” Trevor said back.
“Hello, and thank you all for coming here today! I know you all must be dealing with your own problems. We here at the UHA appreciate everyone willing to put those problems aside in order to help get the city in a more manageable form. It’s been three days since the Invasion ended and I know many of you have questions about that. That is why I would like to introduce someone special to talk with you. This is Elizabeth Abell. Some of you may know her by her alias Perennial.” Thomas said and motion to Elizabeth by his side.
“Holy shit!” Darius said as he instantly recognized her.
“What?” Trevor asked looking at him.
“Uh… nothing just thought of something.” He said and waved his hand at him.
Darius didn’t want to say that as a 9-year-old he had the biggest crush on Perennial. At the time he didn’t quite grasp her ability or the fact that she was over 200 years old, but that didn’t matter. She was a hero and she only looked a little older than he did. But of course, he wouldn't tell Trevor that. First crushes just don’t go away, they always stick with you. But that was a problem when the object of your crush made you look like a pedophile. They watched as she took to the podium, she clearly stepped on some sort of hidden box as she now faced everyone. Looking out over the mic. She looked down at her speech for a few moments and the looked up and took off her sunglasses.
“Stalwart…” She said turning to Thomas and raising her hand to him.
“Fantasia, Mindrome, Ace, Bronze Fist, Amethyst Heart, Gravity Girl.” She said motioning to each hero.
Cynthia’s eye visibly twitching as she looked at Elizabeth. Elizabeth simply smiled at her.
“And of course AV Guy.” She added and motioned to him, He looked up from the panel and gave the crowd a thumbs up.
“There are other not with us right now as they are in the city carrying out rescue operations. But there are also some that we will never see again.” She said solemnly as she looked down at the crowd.
And by saying that, AV Guy stepped from behind the panel and lifted his hand. Beams of multicolored light shot from his fingers. They collided and weaved together into what could only be described as a hologram. The three-dimensional image of a ceremonial ribbon with the words ‘In Memoriam’ flapped in the wind.
“Ashley Prescot, Alias Moon Flower. Age 42. Died while in service.” Elizabeth said as a model of Moon Flower rotated in the air.
“Barry Fitzgerald Hills, Alias Chrome Dome. Age 34. Died while in service” She said as the visage The large man flexed merrily in the air.
“Stanley Weber, Alias Cataract. Age 31. Died while in service.” As she said his name the image of a man posing with his hands on his hips, looking off into the distance.
Darius titled his head a bit. He absolutely had seen this man before. Or rather he recognized his uniform. It was being worn by the Metahuman that he had tried to help rescue from the collapsed building.
“Cataract? Trevor, do you know anything about him?” He asked.
“No, My guess is he could mess with people's vision.” He said to him.
Elizabeth continued to read names for an additional 10 minutes. When she was done, she had read names of around 30 percent of the total number of registered heroes in Carver City. She allowed for a moment of silence. She could hear audible cries from many in the crowd. She took a deep breath and continued.
“Twenty four hours after the battle with the Invaders began, it ended with the entire invading fleet becoming inoperational. An impromptu collaboration between the UHA, France’s Meta Legion, The British League of Heroes, Japan’s Shining Light Guild and Germany’s Ultra League was formed. Together they managed to confront the Alien Mothership and were successful in destroying it.” She said and looked out over the crowd.
“However, each of these groups paid a heavy price to protect the earth. It has been more than 48 hours and contact with any of these groups has yet to be established. So we are now faced with the overwhelming possibility that none of these brave individuals survived the operation.” Elizabeth said as a hologram projected a group image into the air.
Gasps could be heard as people saw and realized who they had lost. Each of those heroes seemed to take up one of the top 6 places in the UHA popularity polls.
“Darren Warden, Alias Light Star, Age 49. Missing in action” “Jonny Brandish, Alias CEO, Age 37. Missing in action” “Lily Kilgore, Alias Serendipity, Age 32. Missing in action” “Mia Toschi, Alias Quasar, Age 30. Missing in action” “Jacob Strobe, Alias Pile Dozer, Age 52. Missing in action” “Jessica Kincaid, Alias Psi Kick, Age 29. Missing in action”
After allowing a few moments for this information to sink in. Elizabeth looked over at Thomas to see how he was doing. He simply looked back at her and then forward towards the crowd. Jacob Strode had only been about ten years older than Thomas, but he acted as his mentor when he had joined the Association. She knew Thomas respected him deeply, so the loss of him was most likely tearing him up inside. Although you wouldn’t know that by looking at him with his stoic expression.
Elizabeth had told him before that his lack of emotion was partly the reason he was only ranked 36 in the Association when he could easily be in the top ten. His power set was already top tier with super strength, hyper durability, the power of flight and enhanced mental fortitude. The last of with helped with suppressing his emotions. But it was lack of visible empathy that was holding him back. Of course, if you were to tell him that, he would respond with an ‘I don’t care what people think of me.’. Elizabeth took a deep breath and looked back out towards the crowd.
“Now then… The reason we have called all of you here is that the UHA needs your help. We are incredibly short staffed to be able to handle the problems our great city is facing. Roads are blocked, electricity is down and water has stopped flowing.” She said trying to make eye contact with as many people as she could.
“Today we will be conducting interviews with all of you to assess your abilities and how exactly they may be used to help your city. Not everyone will be picked and if you are you can decline. We understand that you all may have families that you want to prioritize over all else. We can promise you that is you do agree, you will be granted temporary…” Elizabeth looked at the speech and quickly over to Thomas.
Thomas averted his eyes away from her. She didn’t like this at all, and by the way that Thomas was acting, he didn’t seem to quite agree with it either. Is this why the speech was given to her with little to no time to go over and revise it. She was going to have one hell of a talk with Thomas after this. She turned back and faked a cough to cover up why she stopped talking.
“Excuse me… We can promise you that is you do agree, you will be granted temporary membership to the United Heroes Association and you and your family will be given certain perks that the UHA can provide, such as housing.” She said, not liking the taste this was left in her mouth.
Handing out membership just on the basis that a person’s ability is useful at this particular moment? The process to get a UHA membership had always been a long and arduous task. It had to be, the Association had to make sure that whoever they allowed in wasn’t going to turn around and start abusing their power. She knew that the UHA was in need of help but this was like handing a police badge to a person just because they had a gun.
“If you would please line up single file and head into the building, we will start assessing you all. Thank you for your cooperation.” She said as the crowd began to applaud her.
Just as she was going to step down Thomas walked up and handed her another piece of paper. She looked at him with confusion and then took it. She read it and then looked up at him in bewilderment. She glared at him, forcing Thomas to look away. She sighed and turned back to the podium.
“And as a very special thanks… The heroes you see standing before you will partake in conducting the interviews.” She said forcing a smile.
She looked over at Thomas who was motioning her to turn the paper over. She narrowed her eyes at him hoping that his head would spontaneously catch fire and then turned the paper over. She looked at the two solitary words printed and took a deep breath.
“................ Including me!” She said and gave the crowd a smile.
As people began to line up, Elizabeth walked towards Thomas and took his hand and lead him around a pillar that helped hold up the entryway to the building.
“The fuck is this shit?!” She yelled softly so that others wouldn't hear as she shoved the papers into his chest.
“Temporary membership? What the hell are you thinking? Are you even thinking?” She seethed at him.
“I know… I agree, but we have no choice. We don’t have time to go through the usual testing. We just have to deal with problems as they crop up.” He said.
Elizabeth stared at him. She shook her head still disagreeing with this.
“And what the hell is this with me interviewing people? I don’t like people!” She hissed.
“Giving people that chance to shake hands and talk with heroes will make them more eager to participate.” He said.
“I’m not a Hero anymore!” She said.
“No, But you are a founder and people will want to meet a founder. Also, the whole public part of ‘Public Relations’ involves you talking to the public. So…” He said before Elizabeth kicked him in the groin.
Thomas let out a small breath, but other than that he showed no reaction to your attempt to hurt his manhood.
“Fuck your tolerance to pain right up the ass!” She said as she turned and kicked his shin as hard as she could.
“Look… Stop that… Look, Take this as an opportunity to turn down everyone you interview if you hate this idea so much. Or at least be incredibly selective. Just at least make a show of it.” He said.
Elizabeth thought about it as she rubbed her foot and waited for the bone in her toe that she was pretty sure broke, to heal.
“It’s fine to just flunk them?” She asked.
Thomas nodded and helped her back up to her feet.
“Fine… You still owe me big time for this.” She said.
“Sure, whatever you want.” He said and motioned for her to proceed into the building.
“I should have drunk more last night…” She whispered to herself.
The main hall was a large open space with various rooms to either side. They had each been set up as interview stations. The long toga line of people snaked to one side then turned and went to the other way, only to turn again and continue on. The line folded 12 times before it hit the entrance doors and then down the steps. Darius and Trevor had luckily managed to weasel their way close to the front during the speech and managed to get into the second fold. Darius looked around, everyone was chatting with each other pretty casually. The overall atmosphere was pretty nice. Everyone was talking about what abilities they had and what they could possibly be used to help.
“So, what do you think?” Darius asked Trevor.
“I don’t think they will pick me.” He said to him.
“Well… Hmm…” Darius said thinking.
While Darius thought his ability was pretty damn amazing, he had to admit that it wasn’t super useful to help rescue people.
“You got a good chance though. You can help put out fires and stuff.” Trevor said to him.
“Yeah, I’m still not sure how to control it yet… Still, think it’s all crazy though. I’m 31 and my power only now awakened.” Darius said with a small laugh.
“That’s not that unheard of.” They both heard in a womanly voice beside them.
They turned to see two sisters looking at them. They both had the same haircut, and where even wearing the same clothes. Darius stared at both of them for a few seconds before Trevor put a hand on his shoulder.
“Excuse him, he turns mute when he meets cute girls.” Trevor said.
“What? I do not!” Darius said somewhat embarrassed.
Darius did think that was true though, both twins were pretty attractive. They both had olive skin and he wondered where her family was from.
“Uh, What were you saying again?” Darius asked.
“It’s not uncommon for a Meta’s ability to awaken late in life. It’s true that most people either find out they are Metahumans by the time they are teenagers. But some people have conditional powers.” She said.
Darius remembered something about this from biology class in high school but he couldn’t quite remember it. He looked at the woman, and then to her sister and realized she hasn’t said a word yet.
“Right, Conditional…” He said.
The woman laughed a bit at him feigning intelligence.
“You know there are three types of abilities. Active, which are abilities that you can control like a muscle in your arm. Passive are abilities that you can not control. And then there are conditional abilities.” She said to him.
“Okay! It's coming back to me now! Conditional are powers you have to do something every time to activate.” Darius said with a bit of a smile as he looked at her.
“Yes! Very good! But that’s not all. There are people that have active and passive abilities, but had a condition to first awaken them.” She said.
“Yeah, I heard about that. It’s kinda rare though right?” Trevor asked her.
“Sorta, it’s hard to study it because conditions can be really weird. About 8 percent of the world's population are Metahumans. But some think that it's actually much higher and their abilities are just stuck behind conditions that are almost impossible for them to achieve.” She said.
“Oh yeah! I remember hearing about this one guy who jumped out of a plane and-” Darius said as the woman cut in.
“Andrew Lockhart, yeah. He is the most well-known case. He was 67 and he did a skydiving trip. Something about crossing it off his bucket list. Anyway, the guy never flew in a plane before and as soon as they got to about 8,000 feet the guy had some sort of seizure and disappeared and reappeared at the airstrip from where he took off from. What actually happened was the condition for his teleportation power to awaken was to simply to be 8,000 feet above ground level. After that he could teleport at will to anyplace he has been before. So you gaining your ability at 35 isn’t so bad.” She said to him.
“Actually I’m 31. So you know…” Darius said bashfully.
“You know a lot about this stuff? My name is Trevor Douglas.” Trevor said as he extended his hand to her.
“Charity Alandria.” She said as she took his hand and shook it.
“Darius Grey.” Darius said and shook her hand as well.
“And your sister's name?” Darius asked as he extended his hand to the mirror image standing beside her. Both of the women giggled at him in perfect unison.
“That’s not my sister.” She said.
“What? Oh! You can make doubles of yourself?” He asked.
“No, no. It’s a common mistake everyone makes. Both of us are one person!” She said.
Darius and Trevor thought about it for a second. Darius began to open his mouth but then stopped to think some more.
“Think of it this way. Two bodies.” She said as both of them motioned to each other.
“One mind!” She said as they pointed to their heads and then began to point to each other but let their fingertips meet in the middle.
“You mean like a hive mind sort of thing?” Darius asked.
“Well… Not really. One of us does not control the other and it’s not sharing thoughts psychically or anything like that. It's sort of hard to explain. The Association already gave me an official ability designation. Passive Quantum Entangled Mind, has a nice ring to it right? Its one of a kind!” She said.
“Wow! I mean, I’m not sure if I fully grasp it but that sounds pretty cool.” Darius said.
“Oh! Uh, I can create water and Trevor can manipulate the taste and smell of anything.” Darius added as Trevor waved his hands like he was casting a spell.
“It’s nice to meet you the both of you.” She said as they moved forward in line.
“So what do you do? For a living that is.” Darius asked.
“A teacher! I was supposed to have had my first day at Carver West High yesterday but it apparently blew up real good during the Invasion so… not sure what to do now. Just moved into the city and already out of a job.” She said.
“You just moved here?” Darius asked.
“Yeah, got a teaching position and here I am.” She said.
“You have a place to live? Did it get damaged?” Trevor asked.
“Luckily my place is fine, no water or electricity though. What about you two?” she asked.
“I lost my home, not sure if my work is alright or not. Just haven’t gone and checked it out yet.” Trevor said.
“Lost my apartment, my workplace is a smoldering heap now… Broke my phone last night. But hey, I got powers now so…” Darius said as he weakly smiled and placed his hands in his pocket and immediately felt a cold wetness on his crotch.
Darius quickly pulled his hands out of his pockets and tried to shake the water from his fingertips.
“Goddamnit! I swear I did not just… I can’t control my powers fully yet… Shit!” Darius yelled out as Trevor turned away and began coughing in a horrible attempt to cover his laughing.
“This isn’t funny! I look like I pissed myself!” He said to him as other people began to look at him.
“It’s fine.. That's a… That's a normal thing… To happen when you just get your ability…” Charity said as she covered her mouths as she desperately attempted to stifle a laugh.
“Oh come on! Not you too!?” He said as he patted his crotch.
“Next! Room three please.” A receptionist said to them.
“Welp, See you in a little bit. Meet you outside man.” Trevor said to Darius.
“It was good meeting you, Charity.” He said and walked off giving her a wave.
They both waved back at him and then resumed their conversation.
“So, You think you will get picked?” He asked.
“No, I don’t see how my ability will help out.” She said.
Darius nodded as he couldn’t really think of a use for it either, but then again he didn’t fully understand it.
“Yours seems useful! Put out fires. Can you drink it?” She asked.
“Uh.. aha… I don’t know. Maybe, but it tastes horrible.” Darius said.
“Oh! Eww… Well, At least you can make people think they wet themselves when they sleep!” She said as both of her began to laugh again.
Darius smiled and nodded a little.
“Haha… It’s not that funny.” He said laughing a little bit himself.
“Next! Room seven please.” They heard.
“Well, That’s me. Nice talking to you. Hope we meet again!” Darius said as he turned to walk to the room.
“Me too. Good luck!” She said back as both of her waved at him.
Darius waved back and walked to room seven. He took a deep breath and opened the door. He walked in and froze. He was confronted by a chair, a table and his first ever crush, Elizabeth Abell.
“Shit…” He said.
Elizabeth looked up from the clipboard she was holding.
“If you're looking for the restroom, it’s down the hall and to the right.” She said.
She was about to look back to the clipboard but then stopped when she saw the dark, wet patch on his crotch.
“Although it seems like you're too late for that.” She said as she scoffed.