First there was Fire... burning all around him, across his skin... in his soul. It was strange. The fire didn't hurt, it didn't scorch his skin or smoke, but it did destroy.
Then, there was The Supplier.
The first time they'd met was almost the same, only he was conscious for that meeting.
"I told you that injecting the serum would get you the boost you were looking for. Ingesting it... well, that's a different case entirely. Good luck, Little Raven."
"Wait, what do you-"
Before Sorli could finish the question, the flames guttered out and plunged him into darkness. Passing and murmuring voices filled in the space; a dull roar of nonsense.
"I don't care how you do it, get that mask off and tell me who he is! Saw his damn face off if you have to!"
"Sir, he went head-to-head with Leap, survived, and aided in chasing her off. I think we can save the face-sawing for after he's conscious, don't you?"
"You call me the moment he's awake."
"Aye... you fuckwit,"
The swirling torrent of noise pressed down on Sorli, it was like someone had turned up the gravity wherever he was. The ground under his feet crunched and cracked with every step he took and not just because of the monumental effort he had to put into moving forward.
The sound of the earth breaking beneath him and the small spouts of dust that he could barely make out in the dark reminded him of only something, something he'd buried deep down.
"Mom? Momma?" Sorli cried. He was on his stomach, crawling over the scattered toys and memorabilia of the living room. The smoke was so thick he had to be almost face-down in the carpet to breathe.
He couldn't tell which villain had shown up, but he did know which member of the National Protectorate had been sent to deal with them.
Freefall - The Momentum Hero - 11th ranked in the National Protectorate. Sorli had his trading cards.
"Sorli? Baby? Where are you?"
"I'm here momma!" Sorli shouted as he ambled forward, reaching desperately for her.
"I've got you baby, you're safe now," she cooed, gripping him tightly in her arms and kissing the top of his head.
He felt so safe.
The building lurched with a boom from outside.
"Come on Freefall! Is that all you've got?" the villain roared. His challenge rattled the windows and shook the building.
Sorli heard something crack under the floorboards.
"Momma?"
"Shhh, it'll be okay, I've got you,"
"Uh-oh Freefall, there are people in these buildings. Seems like you have a choice to make: keep fighting me or let me get away and save them - tough call, isn't it?"
Something slammed into the outside of the building and before Sorli could react, the living room was sideways. Broken glass, burning furniture, and shattered walls fell toward him.
His mother held him closer, tighter.
"It's okay, I've got you. I love you."
Sorli had been six when Freefall and the villain Thorn Titan had used his neighborhood as a wrestling ring. The whole block had been leveled, and while the GSO did participate in the relief efforts, he'd still been left alone and put into the "Home for the Lost," an orphanage supported by the GSO for children who lost their parents following a superhero's battle.
When the rescue workers had found him, their footfalls had crunched on the burning timbers and coal, and had kicked up clouds of ash like dust. There was no way he was back there, he'd just been in King's Gough, gotten his ass kicked by Leap, and taken whatever The Supplier had given him just to make it out alive.
"What is this? Hello?" Sorli's voice cracked with the demand. His hands were shaking, and his lungs seemed to ache with every shallow breath.
"This," The Supplier said, her voice coming from a spun up column of humanoid-shaped ash, "is the boost you got."
"You?" Sori roared as he wheeled on her, "you did this to me?"
"No, Little Raven," she answered, her voice carried a note of melancholy, like she pitied him, "you did this. The memories tied to this place, the force pushing down on it... that's you."
"What are you talking about?" he growled, "How is this a boost?"
The ashen figure pinched the bridge of her nose, took a deep breath, and looked back at Sorli. "This is what is holding you back, to unlock your potential, you need to Let Go."
"What?" blinding light filled the space around Sorli, blasting the ground away.
"I said let go!" Panzer's voice echoed.
Sorli's eyes snapped open and immediately narrowed, while he could still hear the quickening beep of the EKG and other monitors in the room, it wasn't overwhelming. That was due to the sensory deprivation "helmet" that his head was cradled in. All of the padding and sealant inside of the helmet deadened the noise significantly.
He could still feel, though.
"I'm sorry! Sorry!" he shouted through the helmet. Sorli's fingers had, at some point, wrapped around Panzer's hand. He'd felt the creaking of her bones under his grip, the strain they had been under just trying not to break. Sorli had never possessed grip strength like that before.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
"This is going to take some getting used to," he muttered.
He also felt the double layered restraints around his wrists ankles.
"What the hell is this? Why am I tied up?"
"When you came in for initial examination your labs came back with excess blood proteins and the markers for several genetic mutations associated with powers that you have yet to show were in your DNA. All of that, yet nothing in the bloodwork could tell us who you are and we can't take off the domino mask that's on your face." Panzer explained.
Sorli had a feeling he knew where this was going, but she hadn't actually answered the question.
"I don't see what that has to do with chaining me to the bed."
"According to GSO Protocol..."
Sorli tuned out the policy-laden drivel that Panzer spouted. He had no interest in bullshit and even less time. He tested the restraints again. With the strength he'd gained breaking them or the rails on the hospital bed would be easy enough. The sensory deprivation helmet was an issue. He couldn't tell if it was tethered to anything and while he could hear with it on, navigation was going to be a problem.
On the other hand, if he couldn't figure out how to suppress his recently enhanced senses, he'd be out like a light as soon as a gunshot went off.
What's the right move to make? Sorli thought.
He'd have to get past Panzer and the other supers that were bound to be there one way or another and without the time he would need to adapt and hone his new abilities, there was no way he was punching his way out of this one.
"What it boils down to, rookie, is that you either tell us who you are, take the mask off, or the director is going to be the one making the call on what to do with you and I won't be able to help." Panzer finished.
Dammit. Sorli though; he'd missed something. Panzer had offered something and he was too far in his own head about how to get out that an opportunity had gone right over his head.
"If I tell you my name, what happens then?" he asked.
"You'd better be able to explain the blood proteins and the unregistered powers. I'm going to level with you rookie, don't tell me your name if you can't tell me anything else. GSO has hoops to jump through to force your compliance, the Abilities Limitations Act protects unregistered supers, so don't do anything rash." Panzer answered.
Sorli's brain kicked into overdrive - if he could get past Panzer and get out of the building, he'd be considered a "rogue" super. The GSO would hunt him down and the only choice he would have would be to sign up with some villains like Brandao or the Coterie of the Nefarious if they would take him.
The other option was to reveal who he was and hope that the sudden evolution of his powers made him interesting enough to someone that they would want to study the changes. Beyond that, if someone at GSO could help him understand how to develop his powers, control them, and hone them, he'd be able to accomplish a lot.
Worst case I tell them who I am, they move to arrest me anyway, and I do have to punch my way out. Sorli decided.
"I'll surrender myself to the GSO, I'll take off the mask, and identify myself. I need my hands free, this helmet off, and a phone call before any of that happens."
Sorli heard Panzer shift in her seat, the sound of fabric brushing against a leather holster, the touch of a finger against an earpiece, and static.
"Before anything happens, know that I've been given clearance to incapacitate you should you attempt to escape or take other aggressive action, savvy?"
"I understand."
The restraints were released and the sensory deprivation helmet receded into the metal slab under his head. It was a good thing he hadn't tried to run. Within moments of the helmet coming off, Sorli's head started to pound.
"Son of a bitch," he groaned as he sat up, clutching at his temples. He could feel the blood rushing through the veins under his skin through his hands. The sensation was eerie, but didn't serve to distract him from the pain mounting from the overwhelming amount of white noise.
Just breathe, focus, push it down. Sorli repeated to himself.
The rumble subsided, leaving a headache behind. Sorli could finally concentrate on the situation at hand. Before he could ask about where the upper half of the supersuit had gone, the door to Sorli's hospital room flew open. A sharply dressed, blonde haired, blue eyed man strolled into the room like he owned the place. It wasn't just the surety of each step he took, this man literally radiated power.
"You, stop talking, now," he ordered pointing at Sorli with the hand not clutching his black leather briefcase, "Ms. Riggs, give us the room, if you'd be so kind."
"I don't think so, who the fuck are you?" Panzer was on her feet in a flash; her massive handcannon leveled at the man's smirking face. It was the first time Sorli had gotten a good look at the weapon. The thing was a marvel of destruction, the bastard child of a revolver and a sawed-off shotgun and not something Sorli ever wanted to be on the other end of. How could this man be so calm?
"You most certainly will, Ms. Riggs. The young man on the table there is my client. I am his attorney and I know for a fact that no rights have been read, his arrest was made unlawfully, and that if you do not give us the room, you will be in violation of Section 17 of the ALA, sub-section 6B, Heading iii."
Sorli let out a low whistle. This guy knew his stuff.
He reached into his finely tailored suit jacket and flicked a business card to Panzer, who caught it without looking away or lowering her weapon. She studied the card for a full three seconds before holstering her weapon on her right hip, storming out, and pressing her fingers to the communicator in her ear.
"She seems nice," the lawyer commented as he set the briefcase down next to Sorli and handed him a business card.
Isto Raita - Attorney at Law - Raita and Associates.
Sorli had learned early in life that you never judged a book by its cover, but you always judged a suit by their business card and tailoring. The business card was bone white, its font conveyed the level of prestige Isto clearly possessed, and the paper itself was so dense he could have sworn it was steel.
"Look, I don't know how you figured out where I was but I don't think I can afford you." Sorli blurted.
In the time he had taken to analyze the card, the man had popped the briefcase open and walked halfway around the room with a tablet in his hands.
"I told you to stop talking." Isto answered.
Sorli's right eyebrow met his hairline, but he quashed the need to talk back. Isto was allegedly here to help him, he didn't want to go turning that away quite yet.
Isto paused in front of a cart laden with medical instruments and plucked a small metallic sphere from it, then placed the ball on top of the tablet. A point of red light flared on the metal ball, then flickered out.
"Well, Mr. Grimmarson, we'll be able to add Unlawful Surveillance of an Unregistered Super to your pending suit against the GSO. Of course, if you are still intent on joining the organization, we can run the suit through a legal proxy per the Secret Identity clauses of the ALA and ensure that you are properly compensated for the crimes committed against you. Oh, you may speak freely now."
Sorli was on his feet with Isto's lapel firmly in his grip, "How do you know my name?" he growled.
Isto rested his hand atop Sorli's, slowly and deliberately peeling it from his garment.
I probably should have thought about that first. Sorli thought.
"Listen to me and listen well, Sorli," Isto growled, his eyes gleaming with energy, "I didn't come here to be manhandled by a rookie hero middling between street-level and City Guardian. A mutual acquaintance sent me to ensure you didn't compromise them or yourself by doing something as foolish as turning your true identity over to the GSO."
He released Sorli and slammed his palm into the center of his chest. Sorli slid backward over the polished metal floors before his back impacted the far wall.
"Now, look in the case and take the package so I can be on my way to secure your millions." Isto said after taking a deep breath and straightening out his jacket and necktie.
Sorli did just that. The package looked almost like a can of soda without the tapering or the pop top. He fidgeted with it for a moment, trying to find a way to open it before Isto cleared his throat. When Sorli looked up at him, Isto tapped at his left eye, "Like the mask," he said.
Sorli held the cylinder, pointed it away from him, then focused his intent into it, commanding it through his will to open. As it did a crimson raven burst out, crowing and cawing as it circled him, its feathers made of crimson smoke and flame. The corvid circled him twice before it veered inward and collided with his chest. Its red feathers spread in the crest of the Raven then covered the rest of his body in smoldering blackened feathers. It absorbed the nanoweave mesh and the kevlar plates that remained and replicated its features while moving seamlessly with him.
"What the hell kind of lawyer are you?"
"The kind that gets results. Now, let's discuss how walking out of here is going to go, Little Raven."