When Monday classes had ended for both of them, Kat and Gene found an excuse to ditch each of their roommates. They met up in the student center and found a corner without too many prying eyes. Gene pulled his laptop out of his backpack and plugged it in, before pulling out the USB drive that Dynamo had given them. “Alright,” he said, “Let’s see what’s on this thing.”
He inserted the drive into the laptop, and a small LED light at the center of the Department of Superpowered Affairs symbol lit up as a window opened on the screen. Kat grinned excitedly at Gene as he clicked a folder in the window, which opened to reveal a long list of files in alphabetical order, each with the name of a well-known superpowered individual denoting its contents.
“Oh, wow,” Kat breathed, clicking through the files, “This is perfect for us! There’s so much info on all of these heroes- and villains! Every villain I’ve ever seen on the news, online, or even in real life! There’re people I’ve never even heard of in here- like this guy! Look at his dumb name.”
She pointed to the screen, her finger landing on the name ‘Murdercycle’. Gene hadn’t heard of this villain either, despite both he and Kat following heroic news pretty closely. Kat double-clicked on Murdercycle, but instead of the file opening, a notification popped up on the screen.
“’Insufficient DSA access level,’” Gene read aloud. “’Must have DSA access level 2.’ Alright, I guess we don’t have unlimited superhero knowledge, but I’m sure some of these’ll work.”
Over the next half hour, Kat and Gene found out just how not-unlimited their superhero knowledge was. Over three quarters of the heroes and villains were locked off from them, including Dynamo herself. Once they had clicked through each file, Kat slammed the pen she was using down onto the table. “Finally!” she exclaimed, too loud for the student center they had been working in. Heads turned in their direction, and Kat ducked back behind the laptop before saying, “Finally,” again, but quieter. “We’ve got a list of everyone we have access to. Most of them are… pretty disappointing.”
She handed a graded test on the back of which she had written the list to Gene, and he read over it quickly. “Blowtorch, Magpie, Rock Candy… that’s Maria, right?” Kat nodded and motioned for him to continue. She had known about her roommate’s vigilante moonlighting for a while, and it was only interesting to her now if there was a teamup involved. “Ok, we’ve also got Siren, Eldrich- I’m sure that’s not spelled right- Gremlin, Miss Demeanor… and a handful of other D-listers I’ve never heard of.”
“Well, I won’t say that I’m not disappointed,” Kat sighed, “but this information might still come in handy. I’ve heard of Siren, and we almost fought Miss Demeanor that one time, remember?”
Gene smiled at the memory of one of the first times the two of them had faced a superpowered enemy, but was distracted from his thoughts by his laptop notifying him of a new email. He opened it and saw that it was from a seemingly random email address, but the subject line was what really caught his attention. The sender of the message claimed to be Dynamo.
He hurriedly read the email, while Kat read it over his shoulder with just as much interest, and they both gasped aloud when they reached the end.
‘Hey kid, there’s a program starting up in the DSA that I think you and your friend might be interested in. At its most basic level it’s a training program for young people like yourself with superpowers. The idea is that if we can give the next generation of superpowered individuals quality training, then they’re more likely to use their abilities responsibly, and more effectively. It’s a couple of months long, but we’re willing to pull all the participants out of school if they can start immediately. The DSA will be handling all of the fuss of getting you out of classes if you accept as soon as possible, so let me know by opening the attached file if you’re up for it. I want to warn you, though: this isn’t meant to be anywhere near easy. It’ll be more like boot camp than college, but if you think you’ve got what it takes, we’re accepting all applicants. Only open that file if you can commit, though.
And, off the record, I think the two of you can pull it off if you try.
-Dynamo’
* * *
Laura sat at her desk, working halfheartedly on her computer. Professional heroes were provided with government jobs as cover, but weren’t really obligated to do much. She’d get a paycheck either way, so she wasn’t particularly interested in doing her IT duties if she didn’t have to.
As she typed away without accomplishing much, her phone buzzed. She picked it up, and saw that she had received a notification she had set up for herself. Someone had responded to her recruitment email- and she had only sent it out a few minutes ago. The file she had included was a program she wrote made to let her know when someone opened it, and who they were. Doing anything with electronics was simple for her, even down to something as fine as coding. It was all controlled by electronic signals, and therefore it was controlled by her. Laura could finish her day’s IT work and be done with it, but she just didn’t feel like doing it.
When she checked to see who it was that had accepted the request, she smiled wryly. Gene Simon, and, by proxy, Kat Starling had opened the file. Vivaman owed her five bucks.
* * *
Meanwhile, Terrence Palmer sat at his own desk, much more spacious than the one he had mere days ago. He had gotten a well-deserved promotion thanks to his extensive research into the effects of the Bannister Line, and he didn’t intend to stop there. The Bannister Line theory had been his crowning achievement- the idea that once a human had done something previously unachieved once, it became significantly easier for another human to achieve it, then another, and another, until it became commonplace. Named after Roger Bannister, a former Olympian athlete who was the first person to break the four-minute mile. Only 46 days later, someone else broke his record. Now, almost 1,500 runners
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
When Monday classes had ended for both of them, Kat and Gene found an excuse to ditch each of their roommates. They met up in the student center and found a corner without too many prying eyes. Gene pulled his laptop out of his backpack and plugged it in, before pulling out the USB drive that Dynamo had given them. “Alright,” he said, “Let’s see what’s on this thing.”
He inserted the drive into the laptop, and a small LED light at the center of the Department of Superpowered Affairs symbol lit up as a window opened on the screen. Kat grinned excitedly at Gene as he clicked a folder in the window, which opened to reveal a long list of files in alphabetical order, each with the name of a well-known superpowered individual denoting its contents.
“Oh, wow,” Kat breathed, clicking through the files, “This is perfect for us! There’s so much info on all of these heroes- and villains! Every villain I’ve ever seen on the news, online, or even in real life! There’re people I’ve never even heard of in here- like this guy! Look at his dumb name.”
She pointed to the screen, her finger landing on the name ‘Murdercycle’. Gene hadn’t heard of this villain either, despite both he and Kat following heroic news pretty closely. Kat double-clicked on Murdercycle, but instead of the file opening, a notification popped up on the screen.
“’Insufficient DSA access level,’” Gene read aloud. “’Must have DSA access level 2.’ Alright, I guess we don’t have unlimited superhero knowledge, but I’m sure some of these’ll work.”
Over the next half hour, Kat and Gene found out just how not-unlimited their superhero knowledge was. Over three quarters of the heroes and villains were locked off from them, including Dynamo herself. Once they had clicked through each file, Kat slammed the pen she was using down onto the table. “Finally!” she exclaimed, too loud for the student center they had been working in. Heads turned in their direction, and Kat ducked back behind the laptop before saying, “Finally,” again, but quieter. “We’ve got a list of everyone we have access to. Most of them are… pretty disappointing.”
She handed a graded test on the back of which she had written the list to Gene, and he read over it quickly. “Blowtorch, Magpie, Rock Candy… that’s Maria, right?” Kat nodded and motioned for him to continue. She had known about her roommate’s vigilante moonlighting for a while, and it was only interesting to her now if there was a teamup involved. “Ok, we’ve also got Siren, Eldrich- I’m sure that’s not spelled right- Gremlin, Miss Demeanor… and a handful of other D-listers I’ve never heard of.”
“Well, I won’t say that I’m not disappointed,” Kat sighed, “but this information might still come in handy. I’ve heard of Siren, and we almost fought Miss Demeanor that one time, remember?”
Gene smiled at the memory of one of the first times the two of them had faced a superpowered enemy, but was distracted from his thoughts by his laptop notifying him of a new email. He opened it and saw that it was from a seemingly random email address, but the subject line was what really caught his attention. The sender of the message claimed to be Dynamo.
He hurriedly read the email, while Kat read it over his shoulder with just as much interest, and they both gasped aloud when they reached the end.
‘Hey kid, there’s a program starting up in the DSA that I think you and your friend might be interested in. At its most basic level it’s a training program for young people like yourself with superpowers. The idea is that if we can give the next generation of superpowered individuals quality training, then they’re more likely to use their abilities responsibly, and more effectively. It’s a couple of months long, but we’re willing to pull all the participants out of school if they can start immediately. The DSA will be handling all of the fuss of getting you out of classes if you accept as soon as possible, so let me know by opening the attached file if you’re up for it. I want to warn you, though: this isn’t meant to be anywhere near easy. It’ll be more like boot camp than college, but if you think you’ve got what it takes, we’re accepting all applicants. Only open that file if you can commit, though.
And, off the record, I think the two of you can pull it off if you try.
-Dynamo’
* * *
Laura sat at her desk, working halfheartedly on her computer. Professional heroes were provided with government jobs as cover, but weren’t really obligated to do much. She’d get a paycheck either way, so she wasn’t particularly interested in doing her IT duties if she didn’t have to.
As she typed away without accomplishing much, her phone buzzed. She picked it up, and saw that she had received a notification she had set up for herself. Someone had responded to her recruitment email- and she had only sent it out a few minutes ago. The file she had included was a program she wrote made to let her know when someone opened it, and who they were. Doing anything with electronics was simple for her, even down to something as fine as coding. It was all controlled by electronic signals, and therefore it was controlled by her. Laura could finish her day’s IT work and be done with it, but she just didn’t feel like doing it.
When she checked to see who it was that had accepted the request, she smiled wryly. Gene Simon, and, by proxy, Kat Starling had opened the file. Vivaman owed her five bucks.
* * *
Meanwhile, Terrence Palmer sat at his own desk, much more spacious than the one he had mere days ago. He had gotten a well-deserved promotion thanks to his extensive research into the effects of the Bannister Line, and he didn’t intend to stop there. The Bannister Line theory had been his crowning achievement- the idea that once a human had done something previously unachieved once, it became significantly easier for another human to achieve it, then another, and another, until it became commonplace. Named after Roger Bannister, a former Olympian athlete who was the first person to break the four-minute mile. Only 46 days later, someone else broke his record. Now, almost 1,500 runners have broken the four-minute mile.
With a little investigation, it was easy for scientists to see that this strange effect carried over to many aspects of life- including a more general class of ‘freak events.’ Ever since a man first survived a dip in a vat of toxic waste- and came out the other side better than before- there have been more and more occurrences resulting in superhuman abilities, from technology centuries past the general populous, chemical mishaps leading to unprecedented results, and even genetic mutations being extremely beneficial, there’ve been humans better than humans.
Mr. Palmer was thinking of these observations from his work when a knock was heard at his door. “Oh, hello Ms. Harper. Did you need something?”
“No, I don’t,” said Ms. Harper, who had worked with Terrence for a few years now, “But Mr. Burroughs does. You’ve got a field assignment.”