Volume 4: Metaphase

Issue 1: Faces, Old and New

Jannette Adrian Churchwell

By Nova

I took a cautious step into the meeting room and found myself immediately immersed in soft chattering. Clusters of costumed heroes, alongside well-dressed baseliners, stood in a well decorated room. Luxurious, hyper-modern furniture sat in careful arrangements. A light tune—jazz, maybe—played over some high-quality sound system. Most impressive, however, were the large, panoramic windows, which offered a sweeping view of the city.

It was, to be blunt, a lot for what amounted to an introductory briefing. Too much, even. But I suppose the Feds had money to burn, especially if it proved a point. It showed all of us in attendance that this was a “big deal;” it put us on our best behavior.

And I supposed it was mostly necessary. Out of the forty-or-so heroes in the Bay Area, only a few of us had ever really gone after the First Way before. Me and Seraph had fought Sasquatch before, Ripple as well, and I remembered Mr. Mystery had some sort of rivalry with Dog Whistle in particular, but beyond that… I thought back to what Ramirez had said earlier, how the big teams didn’t take Sasquatch seriously, how they’d left just me and Ripple to deal with it. To most of the people in the room, the First Way were just psycho country bumpkins. They terrorized small towns in NorCal, and only occasionally ventured into the city to blow up a tech company once every few years. To the assembled heroes, the First Way was only a threat when they arrived in town en masse. Just one villain wasn’t enough to set off any alarm bells—no one thought the First Way was smart enough to do anything but fight.

Definitely not smart enough to brew powerchems.

But the realization that the First Way were capable of something as scary as brewing powerchems seemed to have brought even the doubters to the Fed’s task force. I quickly scanned the room, counting around twenty heroes idling about, including a few high-profile faces. In one corner stood Vortex, leader of the OhmTech Titans. While I had a brief stint with the Titans, I had never actually met her personally. All the same, despite my misgivings with her team, I found her confidence striking—even from across the room. She had dark brown dreads and her brilliant blue eyes were complimented by a silvery-blue jumpsuit, which seemed to pulse with cyan light as she laughed at something another member of the Titans, Psion, said. I had actually met him before—even worked with him for a few weeks—and I could see his blank expression from here. He looked as he did three years ago; a somber man dressed in a strange white and gray outfit, which flowed in a peculiar, hard to describe way. The outside sun shined off of his bald head with an intensity that almost blinded me… which may have been what prompted Vortex’s laughter. Either way, he did not seem to understand the joke and looked at his leader blankly as she chortled.

Behind her, I could see a couple of other members of the Titans socializing—though one of them, Wasabi, stood off to the side, near the buffet. I raised an eyebrow at him. Of all the Titans to be here, he was the one I wanted to see the least. He had long, shaggy, dirty blond hair, and wore little more than a white t-shirt and a pair of khaki shorts. He stuffed little sandwiches into his mouth, entirely unaware of the snickering from the heroes around him. Other corporate heroes stood in this cluster. I could see Gigabyte from Google, her silvery skin sparkling in a rainbow of colors as she shifted positions. Next to her was Archean from IMAGO, a dinosaur skull mask hiding all his features save a shining white smile. Several others, some I recognized and some I didn’t, hung around chatting, smiling, and snapping photos of themselves and each other.

I shuffled over to the buffet table to grab a quick snack, dodging a handful of social encounters from heroes, politicians, and businessmen I had no intention of talking to. I grabbed a plate of grapes and cheese, glancing over at Wasabi beside me. He glanced back. I turned to leave, but—before I could—I heard a familiar gravely voice say, “Stiiitch, long time no see my man.”

“Wasabi,” I said, quietly and without turning around.

“It’s good to see ya, sister,” Wasabi said, maneuvering in front of me. I could smell that he’d been smoking, which was hardly surprising though I hoped he—at the very least—had laid off the hard stuff since I’d last seen him. I was in no mood to resuscitate him… ever again. “How ya’ve been?” he asked.

“Fine,” I said.

“Great great,” he said, casting his gaze around the room. “Now, is it true,” he said, suddenly locking eyes with me conspiratorially, “that you’re the one who blew this whole First Way thing wide open?”

I sighed. “I mean, not really, Ramire-”

“But, you were the one who put Sasquatch down, got the Feds their evidence, right?”

I sighed again, deeper and fuller. “It was more of a… team effort.”

“Oh yeah, I guess I heard about that. Though, is it true that you and Seraph had broken up? That’s what I heard a while back, but then I was like, ‘nah man, there’s no way,’ and then I hear you’re working with Seraph again with this whole Sasquatch thing. So I guess I’m like, what gives, you know?”

I just looked at him.

“I’m just asking cause me ‘n Psion over there…” He motioned back at the bald hero, who was still talking to Vortex. Psion seemed to know what Wasabi was saying because he suddenly locked eyes and shook his head… I heard his voice in my head, “No.”

Wasabi seemed unaware of this and continued, saying, “Us two got a sort of bet goin’ on, that you and Seraph aren’t really broken up, but you’re just on a break. Psion thinks you’re broken up, but I’m like ‘dude, you know how the media is, they keep saying I’m in rehab when I’m just on a vacay, just makin’ stuff up for views.” Wasabi took a drink from whatever liquid was in his glass. “It’s all bullshit, man, all of it. You know they say that there’s a problem with runaway powers and shit but I’m like, ‘you know what’s the real problem? People makin’ shit up about people who’re just mindin’ their own business, not causin’ any trouble. PowerWatch and that fucking bitch Amelia Schaal just going on and on about corruption this, brutality that, and never once talking about the shit that really matters, like how crime rates are lower now than ever before. Like, whose watch does that happen on? Hers? Yeah, right. That bitch couldn’t figure out why announcin’ the Chinese New Year Parade being the ‘safest ever’ got the Yakuza involved trying to prove a point or whatever…” Wasabi trailed off.

“Uh-huh,” I said, slowly.

“What was I talking about?” Wasabi asked. I shrugged, and moved to leave but before I could Wasabi suddenly said, “Oh yeah! Well I’m just sitting here wonderin’ whether or not you and Seraph are together again and the news is just rumors and bullshit. So, where you two standing?”

I was just silent, wondering how the hell I was going to answer that, when I heard a familiar voice from across the room. “Stitch, hey!” I looked over and saw Ripple waving at me from some couches, where she sat near a few other heroes.

“Gotta go,” I said, trying to keep myself from smiling too much… Not that he would see that under my mask anyways. Before Wasabi could say anything I strode across the room, meeting Ripple at the couches where she sat.

“Oh my God, thank you,” I said.

“No worries!” Ripple said, holding back laughter. “When I saw you got captured by Wasabi of all people…”

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“I survived,” I said with a slight chuckle.

Moving to sit down, I glanced over at the company I now found myself in. Of the three others, the only one I recognized was Mr. Mystery, who sat next to Ripple. As I neared, he suddenly stood up and gave a deep bow. He wore a fancy tailcoat suit, and a top hat, and underneath the formal garb was cloaked in an all concealing white morphsuit. “Stitch, my fair lady,” he said, gently grabbing my hand, “it has been too long.”

“It has,” I said, blushing slightly. I took a seat on a plush chair to the side of Ripple’s couch. “I hope you’ve been well.”

“Thank you, my dear, I have had quite the exciting past few months,” Mr. Mystery said. “Now, I do not know if you have met these two…” He motioned at the pair sitting on the other couch.

I shook my head. While I sorta recognized them, we had never met before. One stood up, hand outstretched. “Call me Earthstrike,” he said. I shook his hand. He was dressed in what looked to be a suit of bronze armor, with a tarnished copper logo of a fist on his breastplate. The lower half of his face was exposed beneath his helmet and I could see a sparkling white smile against lightly tanned skin.

I shook his hand and turned to the other one, who likewise rose to meet me. “Reef,” she said, “a pleasure to meet you.” She was dressed in a glossy pink and blue, pointy armor. It almost resembled a sort of coral, jutting out at odd angles at her shoulders and elbows. She wore a pointed helmet but left her entire face visible. She had vibrant, quite literally pink skin that seemed to glisten in the light. Her warm, rounded face smiled brightly at me.

“G-good to meet you too,” I said, awkwardly shaking their hands before taking a seat at an empty loveseat. Their names were very familiar… but I couldn’t quite place them… They must not cover the same places I usually did.

“We’ve heard a lot about you, Stitch,” Earthstrike said. “It’s really great to finally meet you.”

“Oh yeah, the way you handled Suture’s cartel was great!” Reef said. “Who knows how many people that maniac would have carved up if you hadn’t stopped him.”

I blushed. “Thank you…” I said. It wasn’t really me who did that, honestly Seraph did, uh, all the heavy lifting, but I appreciated it nonetheless.

“And the way you handled Sasquatch, putting him away for good and blowing open the lid on this whole powerchems thing… It was very cool,” Earthstrike said.

“T-that was really more of a… team-effort,” I said, nodding at Ripple.

She smiled slightly. “I didn’t have a hand with Sasquatch,” she said, “and you were the one that discovered the smuggling in the first place. All I did was jump around.”

“Honestly you should be leading this whole thing,” Mr. Mystery said. My eyes went wide and I suddenly felt a bit lightheaded at the suggestion. Mr. Mystery seemed to notice this, as he suddenly cleared his throat and said “Or, uh, maybe not…”

“Irregardless,” Reef interjected, “your track record speaks for itself.”

“Yep, if you ask me you’re one of the rising stars in all of California, let alone the Bay,” Earthstrike said.

“T-thanks.” I said, blushing again. “E-enough about me though… I know we’ve never really met but you guys don’t work in SF proper, right? Or San Jose?”

Earthstrike smirked slightly, but leaned forward. “Nope, Oakland keeps us crazy busy,” he said.

“Though we’re still getting established,” Reef said.

“It’s kept us busy since graduation, that’s for sure,” Earthstrike said.

“That’s right,” Ripple said, “You guys are Starlight Academy’s newest crop of heroes, right?”

“You bet,” Earthstrike said. “Both me and Reef are class of ‘21.”

I stared at them, taken aback. They looked young but I didn’t realize they were that young… Even younger than me! They couldn’t have been older than nineteen if they just graduated last year… Suddenly, it all clicked and I realized who they were. “You guys are part of Dynacrew!” I blurted out.

Earthstrike chuckled. “You got that right,” he said.

I sat back into the chair, impressed. “I’d read about you guys… You’re all about creating a sustainable, community-oriented superhero team!”

“Without all the interference from investors or sponsors,” Reef said. “We’re looking to really help the people who need it, not the companies or government but the people.”

“We basically live off of donations,” Earthstrike says, “which is enough to pay for food, keep the lights on at HQ, and buy the equipment we need.”

“People in the community, and supporters from around the world, give us all we need.”

“It makes them, the people, our bosses,” Earthstrike said, with a slight chuckle. “Keeps us on the straight-and-narrow, focused on what matters.”

There was a commotion from across the room. A woman with a camera was corralling a bunch of heroes into a corner. In the group I saw heroes like Tarantula, Neon-Racer, Solar Flare… All of them were members of Starlight. The heroes were alternating between different poses at the direction of the camerawoman. Earthstrike glanced at them then turned back to us. “Dynacrew only does photoshoots when we want to; and even then it’s just to… like, inspire community action, not to ‘break the internet’ or whatever.”

“Starlight could be worse,” Ripple said. “They’re better than the Titans at least.” She frowned their way.

“Maybe so,” Reef said, “But note: Asteria didn’t even make it to today’s meeting.”

I looked over at the Starlight group and… she was right. I supposed that if Asteria was here I would have instantly noticed. After all, it’s hard to ignore one of the most powerful heroes in the country if you’re in the same room as her.

“I would imagine she had other obligations,” Mr. Mystery said. “Running an organization with scores of heroes in dozens of cities must leave your calendar fairly booked.”

Earthstrike shrugged. “Or maybe she thinks a meeting with some senator is more important than trying to stop a bunch of terrorists growing up in our backyard.”

“And here I thought you were a top-of-the-class Starlight grad. No lost love for your old alma mater?” Ripple asked.

“Nope,” Earthstrike said. “They have their way of doing things, but the four of us in Dynacrew think they need to move past the 2000s.” There was no bitterness in his voice, and he said it so matter-of-factly that I believed him.

Reef nodded. “What they did worked great when heroes were reorganizing out of the Dark 90s, but it’s too… impersonal and corporate for the people of today.”

“That makes sense,” I found myself saying, a little taken aback with the enthusiasm in my voice.

“I think you kids are onto something too,” Ripple said, “glad to see heroes continuing to push the mold, figure out what works best for them and the community.”

“You know…” Earthstrike leaned in, “If any of you are interested… I know you guys like to go your own way, screw the corporate shit and all that.”

“Dynacrew looking to expand?” Ripple asked, smiling slightly.

“We’ve found great success in Oakland,” Reef said, “if we have some more personnel, we could cover everything from Richmond to Freemont.”

“We could set up a talk with Renard, I’m sure he’d be-” I recognized Renard as the name of the leader of the team, but before Earthstrike could say anything else Ripple cut him off.

“Thanks, but no thanks,” she said. “I have my own way of doing things and I bet I’m too old to change.”

“No worries,” Earthstrike said. “Mr. Mystery?”

“I must concur with Ripple,” Mr. Mystery said. “I have a certain… flair that organized cooperation tends to discourage.”

Earthstrike turned to me. “Well Stitch? The door is always open…”

I squirmed awkwardly in my seat and glanced between Ripple and Earthstrike. “I-I…” I stammered. Dynacrew was certainly a more attractive proposal than the other groups in the Bay… and they were also newer heroes like me, not established legends like Ripple, Asteria, or… Seraph. But there was a reason people like Ripple worked alone. And I liked being able to choose when I went on patrol and where….

But how many times had I done that… ever? Seraph called the shots for four years, and now I was spending a lot of time working with Ripple… Was I really working on my own if I just stood in the shadow of others?

But… getting into a team of brand new people, all of whom I barely know? I held in a shudder. At least I knew the dynamic I had with Ripple… committing to a brand new team could change everything.

But would it be for the better or the worse?

“I-I’ll need to think about it,” I finally said.

Earthstrike shrugged. “Like I said, offer’s always open. Let us know if you wanna try something new, there’s nothing wrong with that.”

I nodded and sank back into the chair. He was right, of course, but I just wished new wasn’t so terrifying. I found myself wishing for a way to sample a team like theirs… to figure out whether or not it would be right for me…

But before I could think too much about that, I heard a clinking sound from the front of the room. I saw Ramirez, standing tall, tapping a wine glass with a spoon. “Could I have everyone’s attention!” he said. “The briefing is about to begin.”

The five of us sitting at the couches exchanged glances and turned towards the officer. It was time to learn what the Feds had in mind for us.