Two days later...
History. The last lesson on a Tuesday. Almost everything about the class was dull. Ninety percent of the time we were reading stuff from a textbook that wasn’t even the least bit interesting. Or maybe Mr Briggs was droning on about how some crisis or event which was only tangentially related to the topic, and definitely wouldn’t be on any test we did. Then nine percent of the time we had discussions. The discussions were either incredibly entertaining to watch, or worse than the regular lessons. There were some real personalities in class, so it was always intense, whether a thought-out discussion, or shouting match. And then, there was the one percent of the class that was always interesting. Hero history. Well, technically it was metahuman history, but the curriculum basically only focused on superheroes. And we’d finally gotten around to it. The only reason I kept picking History classes.
“Now that we’ve finished the lesson, time to see if anyone was paying attention. Can anyone remember the year when metahumans first began appearing in the general populace?” Mr Briggs said. A number of people called out before Mr Briggs silenced the class, the pointed to a raised hand.
“1956?” someone called out.
“A few years too early? Anyone else” he asked. More hands went up.
“Ms Rogers?” he said,
“Wasn’t it 1962?”
“Correct” Mr Briggs said with a smile. “Now who can tell me what the hypothesised causes are?“
Only Lyla raised her hand this time.
“Seriously? Someone other than Ms Han?” Mr Briggs said with a smile as he looked around the room. Still no hands went up.
“Anyone? No? Alright Ms Han”
“There was some kind of cosmic radiation increase and wasn’t there also something to do with Government experimentation? The… Mulholland Project I think?”
“Ah, I see you’ve done your research. I did mention the higher radiation during the lesson, but I’m thinking about more general reasons and less specific cases. Anyone else remember general reasons?”
The class remained silent, a few people looking around, but most glancing to Lyla. Connor and Maeve were unusually silent. I could think of a few reasons for power appearance, but now I was more intrigued about what Lyla had mentioned. The Mulholland project? I recognised the name but didn’t know any details.
“Alright then, since no one wants to speak up, I guess I’ll go back to talking for the remainder of the lesson” Mr Briggs said. He paused, looking over the class and there were a few laughs before he smiled to himself and stood grabbing a piece of chalk and making his way over to the board.
“I’ll give you guys some clues” he said, drawing out a series of dashes across the board. “We’ll play hangman and if anyone in this class but Ms Han has memory better than a goldfish, someone will guess it before the lesson ends. Now any guesses?”
“S?” someone called out. I groaned internally. Who started with S? Basically everyone knew you used the vowels first.
“Well, strange first guess, but it is there” he said, drawing out an s on the last letter of the last word. Well, that didn’t help. I frowned. Ten dashes, two five letter words. One ended in s. Wait did Pyler waves fit? Duh. Of course it did. Had I even been paying attention? I leant back in my chair, glancing around the class as people kept guessing letters and eventually someone guessed the words.
“Now can anyone remember why these are responsible for the majority of metahumans?” Mr Briggs asked.
“Isn’t it because of how it interacts with certain cells?” Connor said.
“No you idiot, that was higher radiation” Maeve retorted.
“No that was-”
“Stop. No arguing today. Please” Mr Briggs said, to the amusement of the class. They both went silent glaring at each other. “Maeve, Connor was just answering a question, no need to insult him. Though Connor, Maeve is correct. Plus, I was looking for the answer as to why they’re responsible for the most metahumans, and not how they create metahumans. Anyone?”
“Because other methods are less reliable” Lyla said.
“Thank you Ms Han. Now does anyone know who they’re named after? This one should be easy”
“Dr Edward Pyler” someone to the back of the class said.
“Bingo”
“Sir, what’s the difference between higher radiation and Plyer waves?” somebody called out.
“Right. Pyler waves are theorised to be responsible for a lot more metahumans, and it’s believed they activate stuff within people’s genes. Higher radiation causes mutations in your cells or damages your DNA in a way that results in mysterious superpowers. Though both are quite rare. Now does anyone have any more questions?”
I glanced around the class. No one. I guess I might as well ask about the Mulholland project. I raised, my hand and Mr Briggs turned to me, his eyes lighting up slightly.
“Yes Mr Onomae?”
“Um… could you tell us more about the Mulholland Project?” I asked. His eyes seemed to light up for a second, before he caught himself, coughing into his hand.
“It’s related to the CIA so if I were to explain it’d be a bit long winded. Is everyone ok with that?” he asked. A unison of yeses came from the class, as I nodded. Mr Briggs smiled and took a seat on his desk.
“The Mulholland Project was a CIA operation that began shortly after World War two, in 1948. Originally it was said to take volunteers and run tests on them. Though it’s very likely the people were not totally aware of what they were signing up for or were not volunteers at all. These claims have been refuted by the Government, though in a couple years the classified documents will be released, so we’ll know if they were lying or not” Mr Briggs said with a small chuckle.
“The experiments were… crude to say the least. They’d inject the ‘volunteers’ with copious amounts of untested drugs meant to improve their physical capability, then place them in physically strenuous situations for days at a time. The majority of the ‘volunteers’ died. and those that didn’t were usually permanently injured.”
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“How many volunteers were there?” someone at the back of the class said.
“It’s estimated there were around 300 in total, and the operation only lasted three months” A murmur went through the class. “Quiet down, quiet down” Mr Briggs said. The class grew still, attention returning back to Mr Briggs.
“Anyway, towards the end of the project some of the researchers had the bright idea of using negative energy, that had only recently been discovered by the Manhattan Project and used in the Golden Boy nuclear warhead. So- yes Jason?”
All eyes turned to a raised hand off to the side of the class.
“I thought NE bombs were only a recent discovery?” Jason said, frowning.
“Ah right, sorry for the confusion. I’m no scientist, but my wife is and she explained it to me a few years ago. The majority of explosive weaponry since WW2 has been negative energy assisted. As I just mentioned it was first used in the detonation of Golden son, the third atomic bomb, which was dropped on Kokura. The Oscorp NE bombs are the first purely negative energy explosions. Fortunately, they’re nowhere near as large as large as theorised”
“Then what happened at that research place? Wasn’t that explosion really big?” someone else said.
“Yes. I can’t quite remember the exact explanation my wife gave, but I believe the answer is we still we don’t know why. There was a lot of theories and politics surrounding it, and I’m pretty sure Oscorp hasn’t been forthcoming with information about their research. But the explosion still wasn’t anywhere near as large as theorised, otherwise we wouldn’t be having this conversation. That said it was larger than the NE hand grenades we currently have” Mr Briggs said nodding.
“Anyway, we’re getting off topic. Where were we… right the Mulholland project’s use of NE. Up until that point, they’re hadn’t been any tests on living organisms, let alone humans. I doubt anybody had been insane enough to even think about it. And then the CIA came forward with this batshi- sorry, crazy idea to test it out on humans. Some people suggest that it had been used on humans before and the idea was only borrowed from a separate hidden secret soldier development unit, though that’s mostly conspiracy”
I scooted forward in my chair, enraptured by Mr Briggs’ words. He was a fun teacher, but I’d never seen him this passionate about something metahuman related.
“Either way they used NE on the test subjects and ended up permanently altering them in almost completely unrepeatable ways on a genetic level. There was no regard for any of the subjects lives, and those that did live had more tests ran on them, or were exposed to more NE. Thanks to the experiments, it’s believe many of the metahumans in Los Angeles are descendants of the survivors, most who only lived due to escaping capture.”
The bell rung loudly and I jumped - startled - earning a few glances from my seatmates. Mr Briggs stood up from the front of his desk and offered a warm smile to everyone.
“Well that’s all for today. Remember your assignment’s due next Monday, please remember to hand it in. Since I don’t see you guys for the rest of the week, have a nice weekend”
I stood, stretching out my legs as I slipped my bag on. School was over for the day, now it was time to climb.
-
My hands ached, my back ached, my legs ached. Heck, everything ached. But I held the wall, gripping it tightly as my fingers slipped.
“You’ve got this man, just reach for the next hold” Micah called out beneath me.
“O-ok” I said, through gritted teeth. I glanced upwards, searching for all the next handholds. They were too far. Way too far. I’d need at least an extra three inches in height just to reach them.
“Come on Yu, reach. You’ve got it” Micah called out again. Did he really expect me to grab it? Well I had to at least try. I’d fall anyway if I just stayed here.
I focused, taking a deep breath and shifted my weight, adjusting my grip. Then with a shaky hand reached upward. I stretched out, the rest of my limbs burning as I reached out whilst trying to maintain my balance. For a moment, just a moment I felt a freeing sense of excitement as my arm stretched out, as I pushed my limits. But it all came crashing down in an instant and then I was falling, dragged towards the Earth by gravity. I hit the mat with a soft thud and let out a sigh.
Micah stepped into view, staring down at me and offered a hand.
“Thanks” I said, taking it and standing. I stood for a second staring up at the wall. I let out a frustrated sigh.
“I thought I had it there for a second” I said scratching my head.
He slapped me on the back.
”Don’t worry man. It’s just a confidence issue, you’ll get it eventually” he said with a big smile. I couldn’t help but be picked up by his mix of encouragement and aura of joy.
“Yeah, I’ll get it next time” I said, clenching my fists with determination.
“Why not try again now? Strike while the iron’s hot”
“You know what? Yeah. Let’s do this” I said, feeling a fervour building in my chest. I stepped forward, and flexed my fingers, rubbing my hands together as I stared up at the course. I’d take it differently this time. Micah was right. It was just a confidence issue. I could do this.
I paused.
“Wait, Micah, what’s the time?”
“Uh… 17:00”
“Crap”
“Don’t you usually leave at half past?”
“Yeah, but I promised my little brother I’d leave early to help him with something”
“Oh, well good luck with whatever you’re doing. See you tomorrow”
“Later” I said, rushing off.
-
I stood, raising my hands as I bellowed triumphantly.
“And once again the winner of the weekly Mario Kart Saga, 94 time consecutive champion, Yu Onomae!” I cried, chanting my name as I ran circles around my little brother.
Ryo fumed silently as he glared at me.
“What is that I hear? The grumblings of a sore loser? The echoes of dissatisfaction?” I said. He turned away from me, arms still crossed as he grumbled.
“Oh and a display of such unsportsmanlike conduct from the loser. What a shame, by now you’d have thought he’d be used to endless defeat” I said. He grumbled more as I kneeled down next to him, trying to get a glimpse of his face as he spun trying to avoid me. I laughed, and began poking the back of his head. He pulled away from me, pulling his arms over his head and bringing his knees to his chest.
“Now the loser has assumed a defence position. The form of a turtle shell. Wow, what striking similarity it shares to the object responsible for his loss” I laughed, lightly poking his back.
“Not funny” he said, still glowering cutely.
“Don’t tease your brother too much” Dad said, poking his head into the room.
“I’m not, I’m not” I laughed, ruffling his hair.
“He is” Ryo cried out, breaking his poor attempt at a stoic demeanour.
“If he does it too much, I’ll tell him off” Dad chuckled, making his way to the kitchen. I glanced down to see Ryo glaring up at me.
“Do you want to play again? Double or nothing?”
“N-no” he responded uncertain.
“Just think about” if you win, you get two championships instead of one” I said, watching as his face twisted with deliberation.
“No, because then if you win then you’ll get two” he said.
“But what if you win?”
He scrunched up his face in thought.
“Y-you have to let me practice first” he said turning to me.
“Fine, you’ve got twenty minutes”
He snatched the controller up and flipped through menus and the screens at a blistering pace. Then he paused. He set the controller down, pouting.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Twenty minutes isn’t enough”
“You didn’t even try”
“I’m not stupid”
“Really?” I joked. This time didn’t sulk or glare at me. He just stared at the floor sadly. “You’re not stupid Ryo” I said, ruffling his hair.
“It’s not fair. You… you’re older” he sniffled, sad now, rather than annoyed.
“Hey, hey, you’ll be my age one day”
“Yeah, but you’ll still be older”
“Sure, but you’ll have years of practice and I’ll have to deal with adult stuff.. I’ll probably be as bad at Mario Kart as dad” I laughed. Ryo’s eyes filled with excitement at the notion. “Hey don’t get any ideas, there’ll still be tonnes of time for me to keep winning” I laughed. He made an annoyed sound grumbling sound.
“Are we being a sore loser again?” I said, chuckling. He turned and shoved me lightly. Gave an exaggerated grunt of pain in response and dramatized falling onto my back, before playing dead. I waited for a few seconds, before peeking an eye out at Ryo. He’d turned away from me again, arms crossed in his signature sulking position.
I rolled over resting my chin against my hands as I stared at Ryo’s back. I pulled him back and tickled him relentlessly until his moodiness vanished, replaced by bouts of laughter. Finally stopped, laughing as he tickled me back. We rolled on the floor in a heap, both of us giggling.
“Come on, let’s play with your action figures. Pride vs Revenger, right?” I said. His face brightened with a smile as he sat up and darted over to the box of toys.
“I get Pride” he beamed.
“Just Pride will never be enough to beat me” I roared, deepening my voice as I imitated Revenger.
“You forget Revenger. Pride usurps all!” Ryo roared, pulling the Pride action figure from his box.