I sat in class, my head resting in my hand. Mr Hartwell continued talking about longshore drift and the rest of the class scribbled down notes. I sighed, glancing out the window. It had only been two days since we’d been at the lab but Ricardo hadn’t updated me apart from saying that the samples they’d processed so far were okay. Still, I was anxious. After the conversation back at the lab, I didn’t know whether it’d be a good thing if we were okay or not. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something really bad was about to happen to the city. If we were perfectly healthy, then there was a chance that there were others out there who were too.
It had made me really think about how I’d been using my powers. Sure, I’d saved a couple people, but I’d mainly been out for money. I’d realised instinctively that I’d be able to use my powers to make money, which wasn’t wrong in and of itself. The problem was just how I’d gone about it. It had been fine at first, but then I’d tried to justify stealing money from strangers wallets. Who knows what else I would’ve tried to justify. The ski-speedsters were recent, what if they’d been mutated as well. In the two times I’d seen them they’d caused more than enough damage, without a care. What if there were others out there who were worse?
I sat up breathing deeply. Leaning back in my chair and looked back at to the front of the class. I was probably worrying too much. If there were others like me and Amy, they would have shown up already. Amy and I were fine, and nothing was wrong. There was nothing to worry about. I yawned and blew hair out of my face. My sense buzzed lightly, and a piece of paper hit me in the back of my head. That had been happening too. Derrick and his goons had just been getting more and more annoying. I just chose to ignore it. They’d stop eventually.
The bell went and I stood up, packing my things. My sense buzzed a little louder this time, and Derrick past me, followed by the rest of his goons. They laughed among themselves as they left. I sighed. Idiots. I shoved the rest of my books into my bag and slipped it onto my back. I trudged out the classroom, making my way towards my locker. We had gym class now, which would actually be enjoyable now that I wasn’t in crippling pain.
-
“Listen up class!” Mr Bernard shouted. “Today we’re playing basketball again. We’ll do the basics and then get into some games! Now, make some damn layup lines!”
God he was loud. I shuffled along with the others standing at the back of the line. “Look at his uniform. He looks so fucking goofy” Derrick whispered loud enough for me to hear. I grit my teeth and tugged at my t shirt. It wasn’t my fault I’d grown so much. Idiots.
Mr Bernard went through the basics of a layup and then blew the whistle. I was in the advanced class, so people didn’t exactly struggle. We quickly went through all the basics, before Mr Bernard organised us into groups of three. I scowled when I realised I’d been placed with Derrick. He wasn’t exactly pleased either. We made our way over to a purple set of bibs and put them on.
“Don’t get in my way” he said.
“Just fuck off man” I said back, scowling. I’d been ignoring him but he was really starting to get on my nerves. What the hell had I done to him? He stepped towards me clenching his fists, and Marcus, our teammate, stepped between the two of us.
“Come on guys. Settle this later. Let’s have some fun” he said. Derrick stopped and shot me a glare before backing off.
“Idiot” I mumbled.
“Alright groups 1 to 3 are on that hoop, groups 4 to 6 are that hoop, and so on! Play to seven! Ones and twos! Winner stays on! And I don’t want to hear any of you sissies complaining about soft fouls! Am I clear!?” he shouted.
“Yes sir” we said back in unison. He must’ve been a drill sergeant or something like that before he’d become a gym teacher.
We made our way over to the hoop we’d been assigned. Dammit. Quinten and Jaden were on one of the teams, and the other team had a guy who was at least 6’3’’. And I thought I’d gotten tall.
“We’re going first” Derrick said snatching the ball from the 6’3’’ guy. Well, it was nice to know he was an asshole all around, and not just to me. The other teams did rock, paper, scissors, and the team with the 6’3’’ dude won out. Shit. The others on the team were a short scrawny black kid, and a slightly stocky white guy, who looked like he wrestled. Hopefully they weren’t too good. Derrick took the ball to the top of the key and checked up.
The moment the ball came back to his hands he shot a three and clanked it off the rim. Idiot. Before anyone else had a chance to react I shot past the wrestler kid, grabbed the ball, and did a put back.
“He’s fast, stay close to him” the tall kid said to the wrestler. Derrick and the tall kid checked up again, this time the wrestler pressing his entire body weight against me.
Derrick grabbed the ball and thundered towards the tall kid. He barged the tall kid out of the way and continued driving. The short guy shot over to help and plucked the ball from his grasp. It zipped from his hands to the tall guy who had already backpedalled behind the three-point line. Crap. Instinctively I dived and grabbed the ball out of mid-air. Mid way through my flip to land gracefully I realised that there was absolutely no shot, a regular person could ever pull that off. I stopped and pretended to flail crashing to the floor.
When I stood up, most of the gym was staring at me in shock.
“You okay?” Quinten said rushing over.
“I’m fine, I’m fine” I said. I stood up and dusted myself off. I passed the ball to Marcus, who stared at me confused for a second.
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“Let’s play. The retard says he’s fine” Derrick said, clapping his hands together. Asshole. Regardless of the comment’s details it seemed to shake Marcus awake, and play resumed. I purposefully held back, realising that my instincts were a lot sharper than a regular person, even without my sense. We lost pretty quickly once we turned over possession and sat down on a bench to watch as the other group played.
“Come on guys. I can’t do everything” Derrick said, huffing as he sat down.
“You didn’t do anything” I shot back.
“Says you. You must’ve hit your head, you missed some easy shots” he said.
“Yeah, and you air balled threes left and right. You sucked man” I said.
“Shut up, weirdo” he said.
“Hey, at least I’m not the one with a deformed face” I replied. He stood up, turning towards me.
“You got something to say asshole” he said, clenching his fists. I felt a burst of rage flood me and I stood up as well.
“Yeah, I do, you ugly fuck. What’s your problem with me?! Leave me alone” I said, angrily. The anger seemed to catch Derrick off guard, and he took a step back. He was slightly shorter than me now, even if he was stockier.
“Hey guys calm down” Marcus said.
“Butt out of this” Derrick said to him, before turning back to me. “Do you know what my problem is with you? You don’t belong here. I don’t know why you didn’t get expelled for the shit you pulled already” he said with an unexpected vehemence. He jabbed me in the chest with a finger. “You don’t take any of your classes seriously, you’re late all the time, and you’re just plain weird. Even your own cousin doesn’t like you. Nobody does”
I felt a burst of anger and clenched my fist to hit him.
“Whoa! Slow down there” Marcus said standing up between us. I paused, and stepped back, looking down at my hands. I felt all the rage subside, replaced by a horrified fear. I’d been about to punch him. Hard. I’d lifted people with ease, shattered brick, even wrenched a car through the air. I would’ve taken his jaw straight off. I could’ve blown his head off. I fell to the bench my knees suddenly weak.
“That’s what I thought” Derrick said smiling to himself. He kicked me in the shin and sat back down.
This was the exact problem I’d been thinking about earlier. I couldn’t just do whatever the hell I wanted with these powers. If I did, then who knew what that could evolve into. It would be dangerous. I put my face into my hands my world spinning. How the hell had it taken me this long to realise this? Thank God, Amy had stopped me when I’d been pocketing the money from the wallets. I owed her a big thanks. I sighed. I needed to hand the money over to the police. Sure, it’d be nice if I could buy a TV, new clothes, and whatever other stuff I needed, but the money wasn’t mine. I’d taken it from a bunch of criminals selling drugs.
I sat up, leaning against the wall. I’d give the money over and get help from Ricardo. If he found out what had happened, maybe he could fix this. I definitely didn’t deserve these powers, that much was obvious.
-
I sat in the lab spinning around in a chair.
“You’re going to make yourself sick you know?” Amy said. I shrugged, and Amy stopped me with a foot.
“Stop. Watching you spin so much is making me dizzy” she said. I pushed off her chair and continued to spin around, when the door opened to the lab. Lindon and Ricardo stepped back inside, carrying food from downstairs. Ricardo handed me and Amy sandwiches and a bag of chips. He had a small smile on his face.
“Well I’ve got some good news” he said, taking a seat.
“What is it?” I asked.
“You’re ok. From what we can see at least. There weren’t any major complications, and none of the minor ones are life threatening” he said.
“Minor complications?” Amy asked with a hint of concern.
“Well Lucas probably has some issues digesting dairy products, and you’ve got slight colour blindness” Lindon said, before taking another sip of water. “But aside from that none of the samples we took or tests we had you do came back with anything significant. I would like to have you scanned, but it’s not necessary. Plus it might cause a bit too much trouble, and someone might catch on” Ricardo said. Amy breathed a sigh of relief, but I felt a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.
“Can you fix this?” I asked.
“I’m confused. Fix what?” Ricardo said.
“The mutations. I- I don’t want to be like this” I said.
“What?” Amy said, turning to me. “What’re you talking about?!”
“I… I don’t want this, ok? You may be ok with it, but this is messing with my life. I just want to live normally” I said.
“But what about fighting bad guys? You seemed like you were warming to it? I mean you fought against that monster thing when you didn’t have to! That’s got to mean something right?” Amy said, more upset than I’d expected.
“Why’re you so upset?” I said.
“I-“ she paused, and then suddenly retreated into herself looking away. “Never mind.”
The was a beat of silence, then Ricardo spoke up.
“Sorry Lucas, but we can’t help you, right now. We still don’t even fully understand how this happened to you. We just know that you’re medically stable” Ricardo said. I felt my shoulders droop.
“We can help given time though. You’d have to come here regularly, and we’d probably have to take some record of our findings. This is too big to just keep all off the books” Lindon said.
“I- ok. As long as it’s anonymous then I’m fine with that” I said. I glanced at Amy who sat on her chair silently. She glanced up at me and noticed me staring. She looked away, and then her gaze hardened. She stood up and walked towards the door.
“Amy?” I said.
“I’m leaving. I got what I came here for” she said. She stepped out and closed the door behind her. I sat still for a second confused. Why was she just leaving? Why was she so upset? I got up and rushed after her, barely reaching the lift in time. We stood in silence for a few seconds.
“What’s wrong with you? Why did you just leave?” I said, confused.
“Why do you care?” she said, hands in her pockets.
“What? Why’re you acting like this?” I said. She held my gaze for a second, and then looked away. She sighed, then mumbled something under her breath. There were a few more seconds of silence, as I waited for an answer. None came.
“Why’re you so upset?” I said.
“Maybe because you’re being stupid! I mean think about what you said. You can help people. Actually, help people. And you’re just what… throwing that away. Not even! You’re actively trying to get rid of your gift!” she said, her anger palpable.
“Whoa, whoa. Where is this even coming from?” I said.
“I- we could be a team! Genuine superheroes! And saying you don’t want this anymore is like… just telling me to fuck off” she said, her face going red. Why was she getting so angry?
“I said I wasn’t a superhero! I never wanted any of this.” I said back, exasperated.
“I know what you said! But then why wear the mask I gave you? Why wear the hoodie? Why take to the streets and help people? I mean I’m still waiting for you to tell me you’re good to go on the bears thing!” she said emphatically waving her hands. “I just… don’t get you. At all.”
Why had I put on the mask she’d given me? I didn’t have a good reason. I’d worn it just because she’d given it to me. It hadn’t been anything more than a gift from a friend.
“I’m sorry about… everything. But you can’t expect me to just be a superhero. I don’t want that” I said.
“If you haven’t noticed, you already are one. Spider-guy or whatever the bugle calls you” she said crossing her arms, her voice devoid of emotion. The lift came to a stop and she walked out. I paused and followed her, eyeing the guards that looked at us. They watched us carefully, their visors obscuring their eyes.
“Look, I’ll do the thing with you, but that’s it okay? I can’t do anything else” I said. One of the guards opened the door and we made our way down the walkway.
“Fine” Amy said, not looking up at me. When we reached the other end of the walkway guards opened up this door as well. Weird, there hadn’t been any guards on this side of the walkway before. Well, it worked in our favour. Without key cards we would’ve been stuck in the walkway without anyone on the other side.
We made our way through the rest of the hallways in silence.
“Actually, not fine. You help me take down the Bears, and then you can stop” she said.
“What but-“
“You set me back like a week with my investigation, which means they’re more prepared now. So you owe me. You can still quit afterwards” she said.
“I… ok” I said, instantly regretting it. I didn’t want to end our friendship on bad terms, so I didn’t really have a choice. Amy turned to me and smiled slightly, the edges of her mouth picking up in a miniature imitation of her signature grin.
“Come on. I’m hungry and my mom’s cooking sucks. Let’s grab some pizza” she said.