When Gods war in the streets…
It took Vincent longer to get back to his dorm than he would have liked, but he had no choice in the matter. He had to hide from guard patrols several times; the entire campus was seemingly filled with them. There were flashlights and gruff voices everywhere. He also needed to clean up a little.
Vincent had accumulated too much filth, blood, and scorch marks to hide it all, but he needed it to look like this state was due to the fire in the dorm, and not a dozen close calls with a raging super. Thankfully Vincent had seen that the raging guard’s attack had hit a section of the building with washrooms, so a combination of puddle water and scrubbing made it look like he’d been splashed by ruptured pipes after avoiding a fire.
Truthfully he was prepared for his disguise to be inadequate, but once he saw the group of students–still gathered outside, despite the fire being reduced to smoke and embers–he realized he’d fit right in. Evidently the fire hadn’t been contained as quickly as he expected, and a fairly large chunk of the second floor of the building was in ruins.
At least a dozen other students looked as ragged as Vincent did, and he quietly slipped among them, hoping not to draw too much attention. He waited as patiently as he could, though his entire body was a mix of nothing but pain and exhaustion, and he knew if he even leaned against a wall he’d likely fall asleep until morning.
He kept his mind somewhat focused listening to the debates around him. “I’m telling you it was Cedric, that guy is obsessed with fire. He thinks if he plays with it enough he’ll Manifest fire powers”
“No way, dude. Are you blind? Look at the building. You think some matches did that? There’s a shattered brick wall.”
“It could be both, man. Maybe Cedric did Manifest fire powers. A super could definitely mess up a brick wall.”
“What are you guys talking about? It was an explosion! Didn’t you hear it?”
“We didn’t hear anything, we’re North ward, you can’t hear shit back there.”
“It wasn’t just one explosion. There were a bunch, trust me.”
“Shut up, Eric, you’re North ward too.”
Vincent let the words wash over him, barely registering what they were saying. No one said ‘It was Villari being chased by a psycho super-guard,’ so he felt he wasn’t missing anything important. It took almost an hour before the guards declared the dorm was safe for most of the students to go back in. ‘A little smoke won’t hurt Adepts’, apparently.
Vincent followed the procession slowly inside, noting that at least a dozen students were still milling around, apparently not having rooms safe enough to go back to. He put them out of his mind, just grateful he hadn’t gotten anyone killed.
The more time passed since the chase, the more insane it seemed to him. His own actions had been increasingly dangerous and out of character, and he swore he would remember this night as a lesson in how his own behavior could be as unreliable as anyone else’s.
Scared people make bad decisions, he thought wryly. Then at last opened the door to his room, prepared to pass out immediately. He froze, however, with one foot inside. Eric Palmer was sitting at his desk, head in his hands.
Vincent did a double take, glancing back the way he came, then shut the door behind him. This should be good, he thought as Eric looked up. He’d been crying.
“I can explain!” the intruder practically yelled, standing up and holding his hands up in a pacifying gesture. “Just let me explain!” Vincent looked longingly at his bed, then out a slow sigh.
“Okay, explain.”
Two Days Earlier
Danny was taking a Vince-cation, and the world felt a little brighter. He looked around the cafeteria, taking in the sights of a couple hundred teenagers just being idiots together. You could almost believe this was a normal school, filled with normal kids, and that they weren’t just spending every day waiting for something horrible to happen.
“It’s sick, isn’t it?” Emi asked from across the table, and he looked back at her in confusion.
“Huh?” he said
“Everyone’s just acting like nothing happened, like Annissa didn’t just die, and that an NGG certified Hero didn’t just paralyze a nice kid,” she said, while waving a spoonful of cereal around.
“Oh…yeah. I was thinking something along the same lines. Vince would probably say it’s the NGG’s fault for programming us this way. I’m not sure though,” he responded, thinking.
“Vincent would be right,” Lucia said from his left. “We’re all just potential soldiers, or nothing. Everyone here has been told every day of their lives that we belong to the New Global Government; they probably just see Annissa as someone who wasn’t patriotic enough.”
Danny sighed. Lucia was an increasingly tremendous bummer each day. It wasn’t that he blamed her for it, or even thought she should be behaving differently. He just missed the old Lucia. The one who didn’t depress the shit out of him.
“Like I said, I see it differently,” he repeated, and she looked at him curiously. “I think they just want to be kids. And why wouldn’t they? We all know we’re one crappy day away from something terrible. We could get sent to the army, or some douchebag could point at us during a power demonstration,” he ended sadly.
Great, now I’m depressing the shit out of me.
“Or Legacy could have accidentally crushed us with his little trick with the floating army trucks,” Emi added. “I heard that happened at one of the other farms.”
“No way!” Danny said, wishing this didn’t bother him so much. “Legacy would never do that, not even by accident. Just because Ironfist is a piece of shit, doesn’t mean Legacy is too.” He looked back and forth between Emi and Lucia. Please just let me have this, he thought.
Emi was about to open her mouth, but Danny saw Lucia shake her head slightly. He made himself take a deep breath, trying to calm down as he went back to eating his eggs. Was it so much to ask to just be allowed to believe in one good hero?
No one was going to believe that Danny could be a good hero if they didn’t even trust Legacy. That guy’s PR department made him look like Jesus in a super suit. And it wasn’t all nonsense, Danny was sure of it. That guy fought the Invaders for God’s sake. He was the Great Hero’s ward! He had to be for real. He had to be.
Lucia tried to change the subject. “So you’re trying to avoid Vincent, and you still came to breakfast?” she asked.
“He’s been showing up late, to smuggle out leftovers,” Danny replied. “Plus I can just say harvester duty is delayed today.”
“I thought you guys were like, best friends or something,” Emi said, “or more…” she added suggestively.
“Nah Vince isn’t my type,” Danny replied. “I like ‘em dumb” he said, while making an exaggerated wink back at Emi, who chucked a piece of cereal in his face. He ate it. Classic power move.
“Yes, we’re friends, but Vincent has an intensity level that’s challenging even when he’s not…doing what he’s currently doing,” he finished cryptically.
“Danny deserves a day off,” Lucia said. “Harvester duty sounds awful, and if even the monsters running this place think students need a break, it must be worse than it sounds.”
Danny didn’t want to talk about harvesting, so he was relieved when he noticed something strange. “Lucia, why has Elena been both avoiding you, and staring at you pretty much nonstop?” Lucia glanced over at the nearby table, seeing her friend sitting with a small group of other girls.
“Elena’s been…distant since I Manifested,” she said sadly. “We used to talk every day, but I don’t think she knows how to handle this.”
“It’s probably more than that,” Emi said casually from across the table, and Lucia looked at her in surprise. “You know, Kristy’s bullshit,” Emi responded to the questioning stare.
Lucia looked annoyed, but also curious. “What’s Kristy been saying, exactly?” she asked.
“Oh…I wouldn’t worry about it. She’s just bitter,” Emi replied hastily, but Danny was already shaking his head. Emi would soon learn that Lucia didn’t let things go. Neither Villari would, really, though Lucia might give you a little time to think she had before springing a trap when you least expected it.
Not this time. “What the hell did she say?” Lucia demanded, and Emi looked a bit irritated with the tone. Danny didn’t know the new girl well before Vincent accepted her into their plucky crew, but he could already tell she was someone Lucia was going to have a hard time bullying.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Fine,” Emi said with resignation. “She said you faked your Manifestation to get out of fighting her,” she held out a hand to cut off Lucia’s immediate objection. “But, when the faculty showed up and it became obvious that you weren’t faking, she looked like an idiot, so she said a bunch of worse things.”
Emi paused, and when Lucia just huffed and nodded, she continued, “Just don’t shoot the messenger, okay? Kristy said the only reason you Manifested was because you were doing…’favors’ for the guards, in exchange for more Gamma.” Lucia’s jaw dropped, and she turned to stare daggers at Kristy, who was sitting on the other side of Elena.
“Please tell me no one believes that crap. Of all people I can’t believe Elena would, I thought were friends.”
If anything, Emi now looked more uncomfortable. “Well, in Elena’s defense, she actually stuck up for you, but that just made Kristy bully her instead. I think Elena has been trying to get back into her good graces ever since. You’re supposed to be leaving after all, and I doubt she wants to be Kristy’s next punching bag.”
Lucia glared at her, “I’m not a punching bag. Kristy literally hates me because of how many times I’ve beaten her in Self-Defense Class.”
“Don’t worry, Lucia,” Danny said in his the most consoling voice he could use without pissing her off. “You’ve been here forever and everyone knows you. You’re the last person people would believe was Gamma-banging.” Both Emi and Lucia turned to stare at him, looking furious. What did I say?
“‘Gamma-banging’, what the hell is wrong with you?” Emi asked.
“What? That’s what the guys call it. Well, I guess they usually say ‘don’t do it, bro, she’s just a Gamma-banger,’” he looked between the two stunned girls. “Why, what do you call it?”
“Nothing! No one talks like that, you gross, creep!” Emi said, and kicked him in the shin under the table.
“Ow! What the hell? I was being nice!” Danny said defensively. “I specifically said Lucia wasn’t a Gamma-banger!”
“Stop saying it!” Lucia said in an impressively high voice. Then she paused, “Hey, what do you mean I’m the last person people think would do…that?” she asked.
This is going poorly for me, Danny thought. “This is going poorly for me,” he declared. “Oh look, it’s almost time for class. Catch up later!” he called, then hurried outside.
***
The rest of Danny’s day off went by way too fast. He went to a couple of classes, including Hero studies, which was on Legacy’s time in the Psychic war. Dark stuff, but Danny still thought the guy seemed like he was just doing his best. It wasn’t his fault the NGG was a corrupt bunch of a-holes.
Danny decided to pretend that life was normal for a little while, and hung out with the friends who didn’t really like Vincent. They worked out, played soccer, talked about girls, and which instructors were the worst. That was always a tough debate.
It was a good day, he considered, as he walked back toward his dorm, enjoying the cool air. He was even able to forget for a moment that he was working so hard to throw his future away. Danny hated thinking of it like that, but he couldn’t help it.
He was going to save Lucia, he’d already made up his mind about that. He’d known her for years, and she was like a sister to him. She’d even been his first crush, though he’d gotten past that. It was a fair price to pay and he was proud that he hadn’t hesitated, but that didn’t mean he didn’t feel the sting.
No matter how much Vincent poked holes in it, Danny had dreamed of joining a superhero team since he was a kid. And when the NGG doctors told his parents he was an Adept, it had suddenly seemed like an obtainable goal. With all the stuff that happened with his family after that…well it became more of an obsession.
There are good heroes, he told himself for the millionth time.
***
Danny woke up early, as much as he hated it, knowing that he’d be in serious trouble if he didn’t make it to harvester duty on time. He’d already been late once before, and Captain Donovan had told him he’d be kicked off the roster if it happened again. Vincent would be furious if that happened. Plus the plan and stuff.
The sun was barely up as he made his way to the garage, yawning the whole way. He was already dreaming of the sandwiches they got to eat at lunch. It was batshit-crazy that they had to skip breakfast for this nightmare duty, and Danny kept wondering why anyone not trying to escape would take this job.
He supposed the extra Gamma rations must be worth it to the people without a tiny bully forcing them to stash theirs, but for Danny it was just a day of hungry torture. As he lined up with the seven other students in his detail, he wondered absently if Gamma was really as addictive as his friend claimed.
He’d been too young to take it when he and Vincent had met, and the few times he’d tried it since, it had just been uncomfortable. He couldn’t even ask his other friends, as then he’d have to admit he wasn’t taking his. Still, a lot of people on it seemed fine, and he envied how easily a lot of the other guys put on bulk in the gym.
Captain Donovan was pacing back and forth, looking them over and tapping on his K-Device. He wasn’t as bad as Malary or some of the other guards, but he was pretty no-nonsense, and Danny worked hard to stay on his good side. At last the short, dark-skinned man looked up at them. “Alright, straight to the lab, then on the truck. Move it, kids.”
The eight of them jogged lightly to the nearby building. ‘The lab’ was as gray as every other structure in this shithole, and inside it was just a single change room and a washroom. It was all unisex, since they were only putting gear over their school clothes. Danny forced himself to look at every corner though, knowing Vincent would want details on top of details.
In only a couple of minutes they were changed and ready, and Donovan quickly activated the beeping explosives on their harnesses, then hustled them onto the truck. It was pretty cramped, with four students per bench on each side, and Danny tried to get a little more sleep. It was tough on the bumpy road, but soon they hit the high-speed rails and it was comfortably smooth.
Even at a couple hundred miles an hour, it was a long trip, and dreams of sandwiches were preferable to staring around the dimly lit truck interior. Unfortunately, it was one of those days.
“I’m telling you, Legacy made him do it,” said the somewhat nasally voice of Eric Palmer. “Ironfist is a total badass, and I’ve followed his career for years. He single-handedly stopped Magmablade from wiping out half of Colorado. The only reason he’d mess with some kids was if they deserved it–”
“You think Annissa deserved it?” Glenn Stevenson asked with shock.
“No! Let me finish. He’d only have done it if they deserved it–which they didn’t, obviously–or if Legacy ordered him to!”
Why? Danny thought, rage bubbling up. Why here too? Why couldn’t everyone just leave it alone? He tried to stay quiet, but in truth his silence barely lasted a second.
“Just shut the hell up, Palmer! You only ever talk out of your ass, and I’m tired of you stinking up this tiny truck,” Eric’s face was hard to see through the small plastic faceplate in his baggy white suit, but he looked more surprised than upset.
“Geeze, Danny, Villari isn’t even here to impress and you’re still this much of a loud jackass? Legacy’s a big boy; he doesn’t need your lanky ass defending him,” Danny had a great comeback, he totally did, but he angrily stayed quiet, knowing it didn’t really matter.
He pushed his head back against the truck’s cold metal wall. There had to be good heroes. Vincent was wrong. His parents…his parents were wrong. He’d prove it some day. Even if he couldn’t be an NGG certified Hero, he’d find his own way. Then…then maybe they’d let him come home.
He woke up when the truck came to a stop, though he hadn’t realized he was falling asleep. Donovan opened the door a few minutes later, after the guards had formed their perimeter, as usual. The students filed out, then went to retrieve their packs with the Alpha processors.
There hadn’t been much of an orientation, and Danny supposed they didn’t really need it. The packs had big vacuum-like wands that hooked onto your right arm, with a gauge on them that displayed the Alpha particle density.
You walked around in a storm, and when the gauge turned orange, it meant it was dense enough to turn them on and…suck, he guessed. Someone in a lab somewhere turned the raw Alpha into the fabled Gamma, but that had nothing to do with Danny or the harvest workers.
The real challenge was how awful it was out here, and he knew it brought out the worst in him. Even Eric bringing up Legacy shouldn’t have bothered him so much, but he hated the Radstorms so much. They seemed to be haunting him his whole life. It was a Radstorm that gave away that he was an Adept. There was a Radstorm the day the NGG took him away from his parents.
Still, he had to admit that they bothered him less each time. Right now, he could barely see where they were, the storm was so thick. Some random street in New Technopolis, he figured, but it could have been anywhere in the world with how thick the green fog was.
He could only see a few feet in front of him, and he just walked until he reached an obstacle. Walk, hit a wall, or a car, or one of the patrolling guards, then turn and wander in another direction.
Every day he did this for four hours until sandwich time, then another four, then home. Boredom had a way of making things less frightening, he figured. He’d taken to counting how many pivots he made–like a ball bouncing in one of the pinball machines he’d seen as a kid–just to keep from going insane.
One, he thought, as he moved away from the truck, staring at the gauge. Beep, beep, beep, went the bomb that was normally terrifying, but was more infuriating today given his mood. Two, he thought, moving away from a car, and wandering to his left.
The gauge spiked orange, and he held still for a minute as his machine quietly sucked up the particles in the area. Three, he counted, picking another direction at random. Four, he thought, as his foot bumped into something. It was hard to see downward with the bulky helmet, but the thing he’d kicked was soft, so he pulled the mask tight to get a better look.
It was a guard, and there was a bloody hole in the center of her chest. Danny took a few steps back, too panicked even to scream, then he bumped into something else. Whirling around, he came face to face with a man who looked more dead than alive.
The man’s clothes were ragged and filthy, and covered with blood. His skin looked like it may have been dark once, but all the color had been drained by years of Beta use, leaving it gray and sunken. “Giveittomegiveittomegiveittome,” came a ragged whisper, and Danny’s heart threatened to beat out of his chest.
The man’s hands rose up, and Danny could see his fingers ended in broken, splintered bones from scraping Beta remnants off of every possible surface for years. “GIVE IT TO ME!” his voice suddenly roared, and those horrible fingers dug into Danny’s flesh, as the addict slammed him to the ground.
Danny couldn’t breath, and he couldn’t scream. His body was shaking, his chest was on fire, and the madman was tearing into him, seemingly trying to get the backpack by going through Danny. Where were the guards? Where was help? Where was a hero?
He didn’t know the origin of the thought, but as he stared at the monster ripping into him with those sharp, jagged bones, all he could think was: why can’t I be someone else? Why can’t I be anyone else? And then he felt it. His body was spasming, twisting, and the heat of his chest seemed to be spreading outward.
He could feel the bones and muscles of his face changing.